tinyangrychef

HK Style Russian Borscht & Fresh Garlic Butter Toast

2011-12-22T16:07:00.000-08:00

WELL HAROOOOO~ I'm FINALLY effing back with NEW recipes &.... A BRAND NEW CAMERA! Its my early X'mas & Bday present from Eggplant!! HEHEHE!! Happiest child EVAAA! I posted a picture of it in my random sh*t tab for whoever wants ta check it out..

ANYWAYS! For THIS recipe, its always been a fav of mine in CHA CHAN TENS......AKA Hong Kong style cafes. Authentic Russian Borscht calls for BEETS... that's what makes the soup RED... but beets to me is unappealing...& I've been too spoiled by the HK style. I use to make this with ketchup which I thought was what made the soup red but nonono...do NOT use ketchup. I always wondered why mine tasted funkier. BUT HAVE NO FEAR! Perfected recipe is HERE!...

Ze Ingredients..... (AGAIN I FORGOT to add butter for the garlic butter...)

You don't have to use Angus beef cubes... That was the cheapest package I could find...YA AM CHINESE! Next time tho, I'm going to try ox tail cuz I heard that sh*ts way tastier.

Ze Spices.....

Decided to separate the spices cuz it was kinda crammed with all the veggies.

First take out your le BOUEF out and place in a large bowl

Run your beef under cold water enough to submerge all the pieces

Let your beef bathe in ze water for 20 mins or so, this step allows the "blood water" to come out of the beef

While your beef is taking a bath, get a large stock pot and add 6-7 cups of water and bring to a boil. & yes.. I GOT A F*CKIN MANICURE! FINALLY! Aren't they festive? :]

While you're waiting for your water to boil, prepare all your veggies!

I only used half the cabbage, this was a fairly SMALL ass cabbage & I still felt there was still a bit too much in the soup.. so use 1/4 if you want less cabbage.

Once your water starts boiling, drain your cubes of the blood water

Toss in yo le bouef into it's boiling death

Add 2 cups of chicken stock into your pot, if you don't have chicken stock you could use beef stock

Let the murky water bring to a boil again on medium, cover with a lid and continue prepping your veggies

Chop your cabbage to chip sizes, removing the "heart"... aka the super hard part

Peel potato peel peel potato... (don't mind me.. this "peel banana" nursery rhyme is still stuck in my head)

Wash all your veggies well ! PESTICIDES nowadays!!

Cut your celery to bite size pieces

Cut your carrots into 4s towards the middle to fat end of the carrot so the pieces are almost all the same size

Same with your POTATOOOOOO

With the tomatoes I just sliced them into 4s because after boiling for 2 hours they will become mush anyways!

Slice your onions into 4s.........my nails look like FONG JAOS here... aka chicken feet dimsum wahahah

Now..back hand your garlic! ....also known as smash your garlic cloves with the back of your knife

Heat a skillet with a tablespoon or so with oil olive *MY PAN IS NOT DIRTY...Eggplant just scrubbed the sh*t out of it and now it became like this... professional series my ASS!*

Throw in your chopped onions & smashed garlic, saute until FRAGRANT only.. couple mins or so

Add your saute into the boiling broth, return the skillet to the flame and continue sauteing the next batch of veggies!

Saute your celery & carrot for just a couple mins also because they burn easy! Repeat step and add into the pot. This process is a workout for your arms.... working out and making dinner at the same time, how awesome

For the potatoes you want to get a nice hard skin around them so they are protected from falling apart in the boil process. Just fry them until they are a SLIGHTLY golden and again.. plop them into the soup!

Again with ze tomatoes

& just when you thought it would never end....THE CABBAGE !!!!!!! Now you don't have to follow the order of veggies I chose to stir fry in.... but do begin with garlic and onion so your oil is left with the fragrant smell of them for the rest of your veggies

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas...~ ..... no not quite, we still need to add a few more bad boys to this concoction

5 GOLDEN RINGSSSS 4 CALLING BIRDS 3 BAY LEAVES ......... ok stfu I'm trying to get into the Christmas spirit.

Add 10-15 peppercorns... I actually stood there and counted 15... but then after I threw in like 5 more... for those who know me I freakin LOVE black pepper...like insanely.

Now add 3 spoons of tomato paste! Here comes the red in our soup! It also matches my nails :] Do not worry if the soup is not super red atm, we still have those 3 plump tomatoes in there remember!

As you can see everything is still chunky, but do not fear.. everything will wilt after 2 hours of simmer. Bring your soup to a boil first after adding all the sh*t and then cover with a lid and turn it on low and let the yummyness simmer for 2 hours.

Take out a dab of butter for your garlic butter while your soup is simmering. Leave it at room temperature so it's easier to spread & work with when the time comes

AFTER AN EPISODE OF "THE GOOD WIFE" & 60 MINS LATER....

BAM! What did I tell ya.....everything's wilted!.....including my patience. Hahaha! The bright orange color is just simply fantastic and you could just imagine what my house smelt like...........a HK cafe I guess

Add a little sweetness into your soup, I added about 1 table spoon of sugar

Add 2 dashes of white pepper & SALT TO YOUR DESIRE! Some ppl like it bland as hospital food some ppl love it salty as hell. SO it all depends on YOUR taste buds :]

& for the tang in our borscht... squeeze half a juicy lemon right into ze soup.. MMMMM.....*DROOL*

NOW.....SOME people really like tabasco in their borscht... I'm MEHH about it... you could add 2 drops into it and it does make a difference.. this is completely optional.. if you have a bottle lying around, try it in your own bowl to see if you like it. Personally I prefer without. So.. taste test !

For our fresh garlic butter, please dice up some garlic!

Mix it into your softened room temp butter

Spread the goodness onto slices of french bread

Stick them into the oven either bake or broil, whichever you prefer.. baking takes long.. and my patience as ran out LOL

After 2-3 mins under broil... these smell delish! (I almost burnt them cuz i was FBing, do not try that at home kids) Now dish up your russian borscht...&...

BAM

mMmMmMm.......be sure to make enough to share! OH & one last thing...

Since we only used half a lemon, I usually put the leftover lemon in a small bowl and stick it in my fridge. It acts as a natural deodorizer and its CHEAP! You can throw it out when its all dried up and looks like its beginning to get old!

JUST WANTED TO SAY A BIG THANK YOU ....

2011-12-22T10:20:00.000-08:00

To SCOTTY BOY for creating my AWESOME banner! Notice knife in one hand and beer in the other wahahahha! and yes.. those are braces HAHA! Check out his AWESOMENESS at www.juicemonkeydesigns.com

♥ tinY

Roasted Garlic Arugula Prosciutto Pizza

2011-11-30T22:52:00.000-08:00

Fresh baby arugula, yes. Mozzarella & Parmesan, YES. Prosciutto....f*ck YES! The combo of these ingredients bring out a flavor that makes you want to drop to your knees and believe there is a God...

This recipe is EASY, SIMPLE, & friggin AMAJING! Anybody can make this at home and if you can't.....well.. you've got issues. Because I'm not much of a baker, I bought pre-made Pillsbury Pizza Dough....don't judge me. This pizza is good for lunch, snack, dinner or late night munchies! TRY IT .... & save me a piece when you do.

Ze Ingredients......... I FORGOT THE FLOUR FOR DUSTING, DAMN IT!

For the Parmesan.. I was just using leftover grated Parmesan.. usually this recipe calls for a fresh block of Parmesan cheese and using a vegetable peeler, you peel off thin slices to add on top of the pizza at the end. It's up to you! (Although the fresh peeled Parmesan does taste effing good)

Before you get too excited, first take your bulb of garlic & cut off the top with a sharp knife. This is for our roasted garlic. Again I need a manicure I know.

Take a piece of foil and place your beheaded garlic bulb on top & drizzle olive oil over it. (I apologize for my sprouting garlic... its not poisonous & I will remove the stems after, I promise)

Wrap up your lubed up bulb to make an atomic bomb.

Stick your garlic bomb anywhere inside the oven & pre-heat your oven to 500°F. This way you're roasting the garlic & pre-heading the oven at the same time. Effing genius.

While your oven is heating, chop your red onion, the thinner it is, the better it'll taste. Ok maybe not, but it does look pwreetier.

Open your pre-made pizza dough......my dough decided to explode open with a *BOOM* when I started ripping. Scared the sh*t out of me -_-''

Flour your counter and roll your dough out.

I found this dough to be very elasticy....I shall try another brand another time. Even though this pizza was good, I'm going to try flat bread or thin crust next time. It could also be because I DON'T HAVE A FRIGGIN ROLLING PIN...making it difficult for me to thin it out *sadface*

Stretch it out with your hands so it will become warmer and easier to work with.

After you roll out your dough to as thin as you can, place your dough onto a greased baking pan. Now stab the dough with a fork all over, this is your anger management exercise of the day.

When your dough and oven is ready to meet, take your garlic bomb out with some tongs, please becareful!

Place your dough into the oven and set your timer for 8 minutes, check every 2 minutes to see if your dough is burning, every oven is different so remember to watch your dough! What you want to achieve here is a crispy browned bottom and browning around the edge of the pizza.

Open up your garlic and using your hands or a fork, remove the cloves from the shells. Becareful its kinda hot.

ZOMFG... if there's anything I love more than garlic.....its roasted garlic. Crush your cloves with the back of a knife and chop them up, they're very soft so its no chore. (I removed the sprouts, as promise, hehe)

When your pizza has reached the desired brown color , take it out with oven mitts & turn your oven DOWN to 350°F. Scatter your roasted garlic all over.....common now... don't be shy.

Next comes the mozzarella............zomggggg.

Sprinkle the pixie dust (Parmesan cheese) and giggle like a school girl from overwhelming excitement.

Spread a generous amount of your chopped red onion (I could only put a little cuz Eggplant doesn't like onions & keeps complaining..... F U!!!)

Stick your baby back into the oven at 350°F for 4-5mins.....after 4 mins I switched the oven to broil to piss off the cheese and red onion. When the top turns golden all over, take your pizza out.

Oh...HAROOO PRWEEZZZ.....we're not finished yet.

In a large bowl, toss in your baby arugula.

Drizzle with olive oil, don't worry, it gets better.

Drizzle your balsamic vinegar......wait for it..

Crack some fresh black pepper on top.....

Sprinkle your salt ....

NOW MIXXXX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This alone could be eaten as a salad, you can pop in a few cherry tomatoes, a liddo red onion, capers and BAM it's like a Cactus Club salad that you don't have to pay $16.99 for!!!!

Take your arugula creation and spread generously over your patiently waiting pizza.

Open your prosciutto and take whiff of that bad boy..... RawRRR

Pick up your prosciutto with tongs/chopsticks/fork/whatever the hell you have & slice them or use your hands & peel them into thinner pieces. I admit 2 pieces went missing during this process........into my mouth.

Shred...shred...shred ...NOmmNomMNommMmM....

Take your prosciutto and place generously...& i mean generously.. all around your pizza.

Crack some fresh black pepper on top.... its so...beautiful...*tear*

Slice your pizza into 4 pieces or however many pieces you want. you can shove the whole effing thing into your mouth for all I care! (I would) Place your pieces on a nice shiny plate...

TADAAAA!!!!!!!

To be honest I devoured one slice before I took this picture...NOMNOMNOM, ENJOY! Pls try this out!

Ingredients

1 Can of pre-made pizza dough (thin-crust suggested)
Prosciutto
Baby Arugula or Reg Arugula
Mozzarella Cheese
Parmesan Cheese
Red Onion
Garlic
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Black Pepper
Salt
Flour *For Dusting*

INSTRUCTIONS

Take your bulb of garlic and chop off the top, leaving shells on.

Drizzle olive oil into the bulb & wrap up with foil. Preheat your oven to 500° & stick in your bulb of garlic as the oven is preheating so you save time by roasting the garlic and preheating the oven at the same time.

Dust your kitchen counter with flour and roll out your dough to as thin as possible, poke holes all over with a fork and place on a greased baking pan.

When the oven is done preheating, take out your foiled garlic bulb & place your pizza dough into the oven for 6-8 minutes, until the edges are slightly golden.

As your pizza is baking, take out the cloves from the wrapped roasted garlic, please becareful as it might be hot. Smash up and dice your garlic, set aside.

Prepare your arugula topping. Place a handful of arugula into a mixing bowl and dress with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, black pepper, & salt. Taste to your desire.

Thinly slice your red onion.

Once the dough is slightly golden, take it out of the oven and turn your oven down to 350°. Spread your garlic, mozzarella & parmesan generously over the pizza and top with chopped red onions. Stick your pizza back into the oven until the cheese top is bubbly and golden, about 3-6 mins.

When your pizza looks happy and golden , take it out with oven mits and begin spreading the rest of your toppings. Place a good amount of arugula over your pizza while it's still hot/warm so the leaves will wilt a bit, making it easier to bite off the pizza. Take your prosciutto out of the package and shred with your fingers and place a good amount over the arugula.

Top your pizza with fresh black pepper & slice to desired slices.

ENJOY!

**There's no measurements for the ingredients because its up to you how much of each item you want to pile onto your pizza. The more the merrier! Happy piling!**

Black Truffle Sea Salt Mushroom Risotto

2011-11-28T12:33:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! Welcome to my first ever cooking blog entry ! After sh*tloads of encouragement from friends I've decided to finally blog my cooking instead of just posting pictures on my Facebook & getting hunger death threats. I hope you all enjoy this as much as I do because it's my sweat, blood & ... tears... from cutting onions (Eggplant would agree, hes witnessed it too many times)

Alright enough jibber-jabber, I decided to make this dish because my gf Anita bought me a jar of Black Truffle Sea Salt from Dean & Deluca in NYC. I've personally never seen or smelt black truffle...lemme tell you.. this stuff is PUNGENT.....I MEAN REALLY PUNGENT. She shoved it in my face when I was hungover & I nearly barfed in her face. But I've also been told this stuff is amazeballs on risotto and SO I decided to give it a go...

Ze Ingredients...

(Since I'm a noob at blogging, I forgot to put in my bottle of dried thyme in there, but that ingredient is optional)

First pour your low sodium chicken stock into a pot & set the heat on low to get it to simmer. Forgive my fugly chipped polish.

Once your chicken stock is hot, take your dried porcini mushrooms and soak them in stock., set aside. FYI this sh*t smells fantastic.

Dice up your onions & try not to cry. (like me)

Slice up your shallots (remind me to buy a wooden chopping board, my pics turn out so pasty lookin)

Finely dice up your garlic.

Heat up a skillet to Medium High & drizzle olive oil to coat the pan..add butter.......this combo is friggin amazing.

Spread the melting butter evenly around the pan & wait until the butter makes sweet love to the olive oil to form baby bubbles/foam.

Turn your heat down to Medium & throw in your combo of onion,shallot, & garlic and prepare to die from the jizzmatic aroma that will emerge in a couple minutes.

Saute the mix for about 2-3 mins until the onions start to become translucent.

Add your risotto rice and coat evenly with butter mix, saute for a minute or so but don't let the rice brown.

Add your white wine and shove your face in it and take a big whiff...the smell is godlike. The wine will evaporate quickly so becareful. Once the wine has evaporated, add a ladle of stock and stir continuously.

Repeat the ladle of stock and stir step until you want to pull your hair out.

After 6-7 ladles of stock, you can take a few grains and try if the risotto is near dondies. Perfectly (or near perfect) cooked risotto should taste al dente like in pasta, with no hardness whatsoever. When it still has a little crunch, prepare your shrooms to be tossed in.

Drain your porcini mushrooms that was soaked earlier BUT SAVE THE STOCK! Its got really OompF mushroom flavor that you can add to your risotto. Slice up both shrooms!

You can use any mushrooms you like with this dish, but its suggested to use portobello, crimini...I wouldn't be fearless & try enoki... that sh*t belongs in hotpot & hotpot only.

Add your white shrooms to ze rice & add dried thyme. (thyme is optional)

Add your chopped up porcini mushroom and the reserved mushroom broth!

Doesn't this look amajing? & it smells f*ckin awesome too.

Test your risotto again and again until you think it's good to go. When you think it is, stop adding stock so the rice can absorb the leftover broth and add your parmesan cheese! You can add freshly grated or prepared parmesan, its up to you! Stir to coat evenly. Turn off your stove and keep stirring until you get a nice gooey consistency.

Plate your creation on a dish and sprinkle your black truffle sea salt over the risotto. This part could be optional but let me tell you... it makes a HUGE ASS DIFFERENCE with the salt... I can't explain it...trust me...I was reluctant at first because of the smell it produces... but it was delish!

Garnish your plate/risotto with dried or FRESH parsley (I didn't have any on hand ATM...*sadface*) Top risotto with freshly cracked black pepper.....

And...VOILA!!!!!!!!!!

YES!!!!! You didn't slave over your stove ladling & stirring for 40 mins for nothing!!! This is def worth a try at home and I promise you will not regret it!

I made this recipe with the intention of saving extras for lunch ...... but....me & Eggplant just kept...eating.... DON'T JUDGE US!

RECIPE

Yeilds 2-3 *Depending how hungry you are*

INGREDIENTS

Arborio/Risotto Rice - 1 Cup

Onion - Half

Shallot - 1 Clove

Garlic - 2 Cloves

Butter - 1 Tablespoon

Olive Oil - 2 Tablespoons

Parmesan Cheese - 2 Tablespoons

Dry White Wine - 1/2 Cup

Low Sodium Chicken Stock - 3-5 Cups

Dried Porcini Mushrooms - 1/2 Cup

White Mushrooms - 5 Pieces

Salt (if you think its not salty enough)

Dried Thyme 1 Teaspoon (optional)

Black Truffle Sea Salt - Dash for finishing

Freshly Grounded Black Pepper - Dash for finishing

INSTRUCTIONS

Heat chicken stock to a simmer and take out dried porcini mushrooms into a small bowl. Pour hot stock into the bowl and let the mushroom soak, set aside. Heat a skillet on medium high and melt butter and olive oil together. When the oil is starting to foam, turn heat to medium and add garlic, shallots, and onion. Saute until onions become translucent, about 2-3 mins.

Add your arborio rice and coat well and saute for a couple mins but make sure to not brown the rice. Add your wine white and becareful because it will evaporate very quickly. When the liquid is almost gone, add a ladle of hot stock into your risotto and stir continuously, repeat this step until the rice is almost soft.

Slice up your white mushrooms and drain your soaked porcini mushrooms but reserve the liquid. Add mushrooms, thyme and reserved mushroom stock into you risotto and continue cooking until your risotto has become al dente.

When risotto is al dente, turn off stove and stir in parmesan cheese, add a dash of black pepper and make sure your consistency is gooey but still holds it's shape. Plate your risotto on your desired dish and finish off with a dash of black truffle salt and dried/fresh parsley. Crack some black pepper on top if you desire! Enjoy!