Garlic Croutons

 中文： 蒜香面包块

One of the must-haves when I make salad at home is croutons. The garlicky and crunch croutons add so much flavors and textures to the salad.  I can’t have enough of them! O(∩_∩)O~

You can buy your croutons from store, or you can spend several minutes to make a large batch of your own. 

Ingredients：

1 loaf of French bread
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil (preferably in spray bottle)
1 to 2 teaspoons garlic salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325F/ 163°C

Dice up French bread into little bite size cubes, around half by half inch. 

In a large bowl, add bread cubes, shake while spraying the bread with olive oil.  Try to coat bread cubes as evenly as possible.  Sprinkle with garlic salt, shake well again and spread cubes onto a large baking sheet.

Bake the croutons for 20 to 24 minutes or until they are golden brown.  Cool completely on the baking sheet.  Store in airtight zip-loc bag or container. 

Dutch Baby Pancake with Apple Filling

中文： 铁锅苹果薄饼

The Dutch baby pancake is one of our favorite Saturday and Sunday Brunches.   When it is baking in the oven, I can take my time to make coffee, sunny side up eggs, and pan-fried bacons. Isn’t it wonderful? O(∩_∩)O~ 

Ingredients：

2 eggs
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla exact
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions：

Preheat oven to 425F/218 C.  

You can either preheat an 8 inches cast iron skillet in the oven or on the stove.  Either way is ok. 

Add eggs, flour, milk, sugar and vanilla exact to a blender container; blend on high speed for 20 to 30 seconds or until the batter is runny and smooth.

Add vegetable oil to preheated cast iron skillet, swirl the pan so that the oil can evenly coat the bottom.  Pour in the batter.  Bake it in oven for 22 to 25 minutes, or until the whole pancake is puffy and golden brown. 

The pancake will fall after being out of oven, so that the center is perfect of filling.  I love to fill it with blueberry sauce or apple.

Ingredients for apple filling：

2 to 3 medium size apples (I use the spy apples I got from farmer market.  They are tart and sweet with crunchy texture, which is perfect here.)
1/3 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 to 1/3 cup packed brown sugar (use more if prefer sweeter taste)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 to 1 teaspooncorn starch
2 to 3 tablespoons water
powder sugar to sprinkle on top (optional )

Directions：

Peel and core the apples. Cut into bite size pieces.  Add apple along with ground cinnamon, brown sugar, lemon juice and water to a medium pot.  Cook over medium high heat for about 10 minutes.  Stir constantly to prevent burning at the bottom.

In a small bowl, combine corn starch and 1 to 2 tablespoons water, whisk well and add to apple while stirring.  Cook for another couple minutes, remove from heat and pour onto Dutch baby pancake.  Sprinkle with powder sugar and serve immediately.  

It tastes very much like popover.  Yum! ~O(∩_∩)O~

Steamed Beef and Buttercup Squash

 中文：南瓜盅粉蒸牛肉

My favorite squash is Kabocha squash, but unfortunately it is seldomly available in the city I live in.  So I always go with buttercup squash, which can closely resemble a Kabocha squash.  When cooked, the flesh is a little bit dry, sweet, and mild; and tastes like something between sweet potato and chestnut. 

I like to steam a buttercup squash whole with skin on.  The tough skin can keep the steam moisture out so that the flesh doesn’t get soggy.  I also like to steam it with meat.  The mild squash flavor goes well with pork, beef or chicken. 

Ingredients：

1 medium sized buttercup squash
1/2 lb chuckeye beef
1/4 cup rice
1/2 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/2 to 1 tablespoon spicy bean sauce (available in Asian grocery store)
1/2 teaspoon rice cooking wine
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
1/3 piece of fermented bean curd (available in Asian grocery store)
1/4 cup chicken stock
salt to taste

Directions：

Thinly slice the beef.  In a bowl, add beef, white ground pepper, soy sauce, rice cooking wine, sesame oil, fermented soy bean curd and salt; mix well and let the beef marinate for at least 20 minutes. 

Cut off about 1/5 of the squash.  With a spoon, take the seeds and any inside squash tissue. 

Heat a wok over medium low heat with rice and Sichuan peppercorns in it.  Stir occasionally until the rice turns slightly brown.  Grind the rice and Sichuan peppercorns in a coffee grinder for 5 to 6 seconds. The rice should be coarsely ground now.  The Sichuan peppercorns will add a bit of kicks to it.

Add ground rice and chicken stock to the beef; mix well again.  Make sure each piece is evenly coated with ground rice. 

Stuff the squash with marinated beef. 

Steam it for 50 to 60 minutes. 

Cut the squash into 8 or 10 slices.  Serve immediately.  

Asian Style Stewed Chicken with Mushrooms

 中文： 小鸡炖蘑菇

This is one of my favorite ways to cook young hen or chicken.  The broth is loaded with intense chicken and mushroom flavor.  It is really the go-to comfort food during chilly season. 

Ingredients：

1organic Cornish hen (can also be substituted with 6 chicken wings or drumpsticks)
1 package of crab mushrooms (150g, available in Asian grocery store)（约454克）
2 packages of enoki mushrooms (100g/3.5 oz each, also available in Asian grocery store)
1 piece of ginger, thinly sliced
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
3 to 4 fresh chili peppers
1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
1 star anise
5 to 6 tablespoon soy sauce
1 to 1/2 teaspoon dark soy sauce
1 to 2 tablespoons rice cooking wine
2 to 3 teaspoons sugar
4 to 6 dried Asian dates (optional)
2 to 3 tablespoon cooking oil
salt and black pepper to taste
2 cups of boiling water

Directions：

Trim the mushroom roots. Wipe clean with damn kitchen paper tower or rinse quickly under running water.

With a sharp cleaver, dice the Cornish hen into 1 by 2 inches pieces.  Soak in a large bowl of water for 20 to 30 minutes.  Rinse and drain well.

Heat a large wok over high heat.  Add oil and sugar.  Wait for the sugar to melt and become amber color.  Add chicken and stir fry for a couple minutes.  Add ginger, chili pepper, Sichuan peppercorns and star anise; continue to stir fry until the chicken is golden brown. 

Add boiling water along with soy sauce, dark soy sauce, rice cooking wine and dates.  Cover with lid and reduce the heat to simmer for 30 to 35 minutes.  Add mushrooms and salt to taste. Cook over high heat until the broth is boiling again.  Continue to cook over medium heat for another five to six minutes. 

I love to serve it in a mini cast iron wok which my husband brought back from China.  It can be heated over a candle or chafing dish fuel so that the whole dish can stay hot for the entire meal.  That is really comforting in cold winter. O(∩_∩)O~ 

mooncakes with red bean and lotus seed fillings

 中文： 莲蓉月饼和豆沙月饼

Mid-autumn Day is a very important traditional holiday in China.  It is like thanksgiving to American people.  It is the day that whole family and close friends get together and celebrate.  The moon on this night is said to be the brightest of the whole year.  So it is also a tradition for the Chinese people to admire and worship the moon after dark.

Of course we don’t worship the moon empty handed.  Mooncakes have been part of this tradition for thousands of years.  At first they were round shape to resemble the shape of the moon, which also why they were named mooncakes.  The square ones have been developed and they become my personal favorite.  I made most of my mooncakes with a square mold. 

The making of mooncakes is very labor intensive.  I start with making syrup weeks before the day, and I also make the cake fillings and the dough from scratch.  It is well worthy of the time I spent.

I would post the detailed recipe later. It took me a long time to make them from scratch and may take even longer to write down every single detail.  If you never had these before, and you are curious about what they taste like or interested in Mid-autumn Day tradition, I would simply just suggest you buy a box from Asian grocery store.

The syrup I made way before the holiday

Red bean paste filling and lotus seed paste filling; each of them is 30 g.

Each piece of dough is 18 g.

Press down the dough and wrap it around the filling.

Roll it into a round ball again.

Press with a mooncake mold, release it and there you have a perfect mooncake ready for the oven.

Place them a couple inches apart from each other in a baking pan lined with silicone matt.

Bake in an oven preheated to 375F/ 191°C for 5 minutes; take them out and brush egg yolk wash on the top very gently; sent them back to the oven and bake for another 15 minutes or until they are gold brown. 

Let them cool to room temperature and store in an airtight container. 

The taste and flavor would be the best on second and third day.

I love to dress up my homemade snack with these cute little dessert bags.  Are they lovely and pretty? O(∩_∩)O~