Archive for November, 2007
Szechuan Pepper Chicken Cold Dish
We had Julie demonstrating in the South Arm Community Kitchen again. Julie, who works as a Chinese Language teacher, told us that her students always ask her when her dish will appear in chowtimes again. For us, we still have not quite gotten over it that there are people actually looking forward to our postings.
At this time, Julie showed us a Cold Chicken Dish. This Szechuan pepper Chicken Cold Dish is good especially as snacks with beer. This is also great for potluck. One thing for sure, the colors are just perfect for the coming Christmas season.
Ingredients
- Chicken drumsticks, deboned keeping the skin intact
- Szechuan Pepper Corn powder
- Salt to taste
- Chinese cooking wine
- Japanese cucumber, slice in coin shape
- Strawberry or Cherry tomatoes, cut into halves
- Kitchen string
- Toothpicks
Click on the link below for the instructions.
Popularity: 14% [?]
Caffe Artigiano on West 41st, Vancouver
Polly and I went to Caffe Artigiano for our cake meet. We have no idea that Caffe Artigiano is the home of the Canadian Barista Championships from 2003 to 2006 until I checked their website after I came home. Artigiano also had several medals from the World Barista Championship medals. Not quite gold but silver and bronze … pretty cool.
Caffe Artigiano has 5 outlets in Vancouver in all. They are located on Pender St, Hornby St, West Hasting St, Park Royal in West Vancouver and Kerrisdale. We went to the one in Kerrisdale.
Caffe Artigiano is a very busy caffe as there were many customers come and go while we were there. I wondered why they are called a caffe and not cafe … you have any idea why?
We were quite disappointed in the beginning as we did not find any cheese cake in their buffet. However, there were scones, biscotti, bars, sandwiches and wrap.
We ordered two scones and a biscotti to share. This is the blueberry scones. The serving is quite large. We enjoyed it with some jam.
We liked the second scone better, it’s made with nut and dried fruit. This scones is more crunchy and has lots of nuts and dried fruit in it. The biscotti is not what I expected. This is more cakey like instead of the crunchy type. The scones were $2.95 each while the biscotti was $1.95.
The best is the coffee. I ordered the Caffe Mocha for $3.39. It is very smooth and creamy. The cream formation is so creative.
Polly had the Caffe Latte for $2.99. This is the best coffee we had ever had since our cake meet. For the true coffee lover, you must visit Caffe Artigiano.
Click the link below for more coffee art. You will like some of the prettiest coffee art I have ever seen. Note that the ones below are not from Artigiano’s
Popularity: 17% [?]
Soft Pretzel
Nanzaro’s class had a Halloween party on Halloween Day. I volunteered to help his class in making Soft Pretzels for the party. I went to the school early in the morning at 9 am. Nanzaro’s teacher, Ms T divided the class into small groups of 5 to 6 people and assigned the first 2 groups for the first session of making the Soft Pretzels.
It was fun working with the kids especially on Halloween Day because a lot of them were in costumes. Here is a pair dressed up like Siamese twins where their clothes are joined together.
Here is one injured patient working on the dough.
Ingredients
- 1 package of yeast
- 1.5 cups warm water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 4 cups flour, more for kneading
- 1 egg, beaten
- coarse salt for sprinkling, optional
This is a really fun project for the kids. They get to work on the dough and form the dough into any shape imaginable. This brings out the creativity in the kids.
Instructions
- Measure the warm water into a large mixing bowl
- Sprinkle in the yeast and sugar and stir until it looks cloudy.
- Add the salt and flour and mix with a wooden spoon.
- Bring the dough together with your hand and knead the dough on a floured surface until it’s soft.
- Divide the dough into small portions and give one to each kid.
- Let the kid roll and twist the dough into letters, numerals, snakes and anything they like.
- Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Lay the shaped dough on the cookie sheets.
- Brush with beaten eggs and sprinkle with coarse salt if desired.
- Bake in a preheated 425F oven for 12 to 15 minutes.
Kneading the dough.
Shaping the dough.
Tasting the dough.
Brushing the dough with beaten egg.
The end result is some yummy and amazing looking bread.
More bread.
Ms T working with another group who peel and cut vegetables for the chicken noodle soup, made from scratch.
At lunch time, the class shared a meal of chicken noodle soup, soft bread (pretzel) and …
… some pumpkin and lemon meringue tarts which some of the kids made the day before.
Ms T and class grade 7, thank you for having me to share such a great experience with you all.
Popularity: 9% [?]
Pear Cobbler
At the Caring Place Community Kitchen, Minoo shared a Pear Cobbler recipe. She was away at Sunshine Coast for the weekend and she picked some pears from her girl friend’s neighbour’s pear tree. You may replace the pear with apple.
The Pear Cobbler is best served warm with ice-cream. I love the cinnamon in it.
Ingredients
Crust:
- 1 stick butter (1/4 cup)
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 2 cups flour
- 1/4 cup honey or Maple syrup
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
Filing:
- 8 large pears, peeled and sliced
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1/2 cup honey or Maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon powder
- 1/4 teaspoon mace (optional)
- 1/4 teaspoon grated orange or lemon rind
Click on the link below for the instructions.
Popularity: 14% [?]
Thousand Island Dressing
Since we have some time left, Karen decided to prepare her salad dressing for the community meal. She made Thousand Island Dressing. Karen added some brown sugar to balance the sourness of the lemon juice which varies from bottle to bottle. She’s making the dressing for at least 100 servings.
Did you know where the name Thousand Island came from. I did a bit of a research and found that it is named after the region of Thousand Island where it is first popularized. The Thousand Island region covers New York state and Ontario. So, does this qualify as a Canadian invention? :-)
- 1/4 cup Mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons skim milk plain yogurt
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 cup chili sauce or seafood sauce
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced
- 1 tablespoon chopped sweet onion, Karen used green onion instead
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
 Place the mayonnaise, yogurt, chili sauce, parsley and green onion in a large mixing bowl. |
 Add in the lemon juice and whisk until smooth. |
 If necessary, add water to thin to desired consistency. Add seasoning and adjust seasoning to taste.Cover and chill at least 1 hour before serving. This dressing will last for a week in the refrigerator. |
While preparing this dressing, someone in the group brought up some issue about using raw garlic in dressing which cause garlic breath. Karen told us that to reduce the unpleasant breath of eating raw garlic, we have to remove the greenish stem inside the garlic. Also, the more finely you chop the garlic, the more flavour it yields. However, if your family or guest does not like garlic, leave the garlic in large piece and remove them before serving. She told us she learned these tips from an Italian chef. Once again, Karen, thank you for sharing these tips with us.
Popularity: 9% [?]
Cream Cheese Frosting
While Carrot Cake can be eaten just as it is, normally it is topped with cream cheese icing. So, Karen made a Cream Cheese Frosting for her Carrot Cake. She used a peach flavour cream cheese instead of the regular one. The flavoured cream cheese is sweeter — so, you can if you want to reduce the amount of icing sugar in the recipe.
You know the consistency of the Cream Cheese Frosting is right when a spoon is sticked into the cream cheese, it stands upright without toppling.
Ingredients
- 1 package (259g) of brick cream cheese, softened (Karen used those in tub)
- 1/4 cup butter, softened
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 4 cups icing sugar
Click on the link below for the instructions.
Popularity: 13% [?]
