Beef Noodle Soup with Beef Shank and Tendon

中文： 清汤牛肉牛筋面

I enjoy making all kinds of soup from scratch at home.  They are great right off the stove.  Sometimes I use them as the soup base for Asian hot pot.  Most times I use them to use noodle soup and rice noodle soup.

The picture above is beef rice noodle soup.  And the picture below is beef noodle soup.  Can you tell the difference? O(∩_∩)O~

Ingredients for beef soup:

2 to 3 pounds of beef shank
1 1/2 to 2 pounds of beef tendon
2 to 3 star anises
2 to 3 tablespoon rice cooking wine
1 small piece of ginger root, smashed with knife
4 to 5 dried chili peppers , cut into small pieces
8 to 10 black peppercorns
2 to 3 bay leaves
1 black cardamom pot
2 to 3 cloves
1/4 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
2 to 3 pieces of dried rhizome/ dried ginger slices
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4teaspoon ground white pepper
chopped cilantro
a few drops of sesame oil
chili oil sauce
water for stewing
salt to taste

Ingredients for noodle：

1 cup of bread flour
1/4 cup of water
a pinch of salt

Directions：

Soak both beef tendon and shank in cold water for at least an hour.  Change the water twice in between.

Here are the spices for beef soup: star anises, dried peppers, black peppercorns, dried rhizome/ dried ginger slices, Sichuan peppercorns, black cardamom pot, bay leaves and cloves.  Wrap them with a piece of coffee filter paper.

Tie it up

In a 5.75 quart Staub cast iron pot, add water, beef tendon and shank, rice cooking wine, spice bag and ginger root.

Heat the cast iron pot over high heat.  When the soup comes to boil, remove the white gray bubbles on the top with a spoon.

Cover with lid and reduce to simmer for 3 to 3 1/2 hours. Beef tendon might need longer time to cook.

In the last 15 minutes cooking, add salt, sugar and ground white pepper to taste.

Now we have a pot of wonderful beef soup.

When the soup is being stewed, I make the noodle.

In a medium bowl, add bread flour, water and salt.  Whisk with a pair of chopsticks or a wood spoon.  When everything starts to come together, transfer the dough to a dusted wooden board. 

Knead with hands until the dough is smooth.

Cover with plastic wrap and allow it to rest for at least 30 minutes.

Flatten the ball of dough with a large rolling pin.  And then feed it through the pasta roller for KitchenAid stand mixer for several times.  At the one last time, set the thickness to 3.

Remove the roller, and put on the spaghetti cutter. 

Run the thin dough sheet through pasta cutter.

I do enjoy this moment.

What to do next is pretty easy and simple because most of the hard work is done by now.

Cook the fresh noodle in a large pot of boiling water for 30 to 45 seconds.  Drain well and add it a medium bowl, along with beef soup, sliced beef shank and tendon, a couple teaspoons of chili oil sauce, chopped cilantro and sesame oil.

The beef tendon and shank are sliced hot so they are kind of impossible to slice thinly.

The next morning, I made another bowl of beef rice noodle soup exactly the same way.  I allow the beef shank and tenon to completely chill in the refrigerator before slicing them.  Now they look much better in the soup. O(∩_∩)O~

Time to enjoy!

Espresso Coffee Made with Moka pot

中文： 用摩卡壶煮一壶好咖啡

Both my husband and I are really into coffee recently.  Just simply enjoy a cup of freshly ground and brewed coffee and the lazy cozy Sunday afternoons in the street coffee shop with a good book. O(∩_∩)O~

I pick up the habit to make espresso coffee with moka pot http://amzn.to/1nzUBj5 from a couple Italian friends.  Whenever I hang out with them, there is always a pot of freshly brewed coffee on the stove.  It goes so well with cookies and other sweets!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons coffee beans (use more if prefer stronger darker coffee)
1 /1/2 cups water

I use decaf coffee beans bought from starbucks store.

Add coffee beans to a coffee grinder.  Grind for a few seconds

Add water. There is a maximum water mark on the moka pot.  Be careful not to add too much water; otherwise you might end with a coffee mess on the stove. 

Mine is small.  One and a half cups are the maximum capacity.

Load the ground coffee.

Heat over medium high heat

Soon, the coffee will come out from the top.

More and more coffee comes out.  You will need to cover it now or it will splatter everywhere.

When it stops, remove the moka pot http://amzn.to/1nzUBj5 from heat.

Now enjoy it whatever way you like.  My favorite choice is macaroons!

Chocolate Ganache Glazed Donuts

中文： 巧克力甜甜圈

I suddenly crave for fresh donuts, but the only donut place in town went out of business two years ago.  So I decide to make my own chocolate ganache glazed donuts. O(∩_∩)O~

I make a batch of donuts.  The inner circle dough balls cut from donuts don’t go to waste either.  I fry them along with donuts, top with icing sugar and sprinkle with ground cinnamon  and sugar, yum!

Ingredients：

2 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 cup luke warm whole milk
1 1/2 teaspoon yeast
1 large egg
3 to 4 tablespoons sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons melted butter
1/8 teaspoon salt
oil for frying

Donuts toppings：

Chocolate ganache
sugar
ground cinnamon
icing sugar

Directions：

Add flour, sugar and salt to the bread machine.  Mix together.  Make a well on the top of flour mixture.  Add milk, sprinkle with yeast and let it sit for 5 minutes.

Add egg and melted butter.

Start dough process.

The bread machine finishes kneading.

It also automatically proofs the dough.

Transfer the dough to a well-floured wooden board.  Gently knead it with hands to get rid of any big air bubbles.  Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for 10 minutes.

With a rolling pin, roll the dough to about half inch thin.  Use round biscuit cutters to cut it into donut shapes.  When done, cover them with plastic wrap again and let them rest for about another 20 minutes.

Add oil to a wok  or pot.  Heat it over high heat.  When the oil gets hot, fry the donuts until both sides are golden brown. Each side takes about 1 minute, more or less.

Dip them in the chocolate ganache.

Cool on a cooling rack.

Now it is time to enjoy！O(∩_∩)O~

I know you want a bite of these too!

Do not waste the center part cut from donut dough.  Fry them to golden brown too.  Top with icing sugar and sprinkle with ground cinnamon and sugar.

They are surprisingly tasty too! O(∩_∩)O~

Coco Macarons

中文： 可可马卡龙

Coco powder and chocolate go so well with macarons.  Whenever I make macarons, I have to make it with one of them.  O(∩_∩)O~

Ingredients:

2 large egg whites
110 g powder sugar
45 g granulated sugar
50 g almond flour
10 g coco powder
a pinch of cream of tartar

Direction:

Combine powder sugar, coco powder and almond flour.  Pour the mixture into food processor. 

Run the process for about 10 seconds. 

Shift the flour mixture through a flour shifter or strainer.

Discard any big almond pieces.

Add cream of tartar to the egg whites.  Beat the egg white with an electric whisk.

Beat at low speed for about 1 minute.  Switch to medium speed for 3 to 4 minutes.  And then beat at high speed for 1 to 2 minutes.  Add sugar in three batches in between.  Stop beating when the stiff peak forms.

Add shifted almond flour mixture.

With a rubber spatula, gently fold the flour mixture into egg whites.

Fold it gently until the batter can fall smoothly like a silky ribbon.

Prepare a 14 inch decorating bag with Wilton NO. 12 tip.  Use a wide mouth drinking glass to help the bag to stand up straight which will make it so much easier to pour the batter.

Fill the pastry bag with almond batter.

Line 2 cookie pans with silicone baking mats.

Squeeze a dollar coin size batter onto the silicone mat, about a quarter inch in height.   Repeat it until all the batter is finished. 

Tap the bottom of the cookie pan when done to smooth the cookie dough tops.

Let the pan sit on countertop until the surface becomes dry to touch.  It might take 30 to 60 minutes depending on the humidity around.

Preheat the oven to 325F.

Bake in the oven for 12 to 14 minutes. 

Allow the cookies to cool down on the silicone mats before removing them. 

Use any filling of your choice: jam, chocolate, cheese, nutella……….  Be creative! 

I love chocolate.  So I always go with chocolate gouache.  

I also make a batch of original ones.  Although there is no food coloring added, they still look pretty, don’t they? O(∩_∩)O~

Pan-fried Chinese Buns with Pork and Shiitake Mushrooms Filling

中文：生煎全麦香菇肉包

Got some really good and fresh shiitake mushrooms during my last grocery trip near Detroit.  I use some to make pan-fried Chinese buns with pork.  And they are fantastic! O(∩_∩)O~

Vinegar and chili sauce is a popular dipping sauce for pan-fried buns.  It is refreshing and enhances the flavors.

Ingredients for the bun dough：

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 to 2 tablespoons gluten flour
1/2 to 1/3 cup of warm water
1 teaspoon yeast
1 to 2 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 to 2 teaspoon oil
 

For pork and shiitake mushrooms filling：

2/3 to 1 cup ground pork
6 large fresh shiitake mushrooms
1 to 2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1tablespoon rice cooking wine
4 to 6 tablespoons chicken stock/ water
a pinch of freshly ground ginger
salt to taste

For pan-frying：

2 to 4 tablespoons oil
1/3 to 1/2 cup of water
chopped green onion
white sesame seeds
 

Directions：

The dough takes longer time to make so I start with bun dough.

In the stand mixer mixing bowl, add all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, gluten flour, sugar and salt.  Mix them with hand or a whisk. 

Make a well in the middle of the flour.  Add warm water; sprinkle with yeast and let it sit for 5 minutes. 

Stand mixer kneads the dough at speed 2 until the dough is smooth and elastic.  It takes between 10 to 15 minutes.

Cover the bowl with lid. The dough proofs for 25 to 35 minutes.  It doesn’t have to double in size.  

When waiting for the dough to be ready, I make the pork and shiitake mushrooms filling.

In a medium mixing bowl, add ground pork, soy sauce, ground white pepper, oyster sauce, sugar, rice cooking wine, ground ginger and salt.  Mix them well.  The best tool to do this is a pair of chop sticks.

When whisking with chop sticks, slowly add chicken stock/ water.  Don’t worry about the filling getting too thin.  Ground pork will absorb the liquid. 

Clean the shiitake mushroom with a damp towel or rinse them under running if there is a lot of dirt.  Pat day with kitchen towel and add to food processor.

Chop finely

Add to the pork and mix well again.

Gently knead the dough to get rid of any large air bubbles.  Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit for another 10 minutes.

Evenly divide the dough into small pieces.  I like to make small buns so I divide it into 28 small pieces of dough.

Press down the dough with palm.  With a small rolling pin, roll the dough edge thin.

Add two to three tablespoons of pork filling to the center.

Wrap it up

Repeat the process until all 28 are done.

Cover them with plastic wrap and proof for another 10 to 15 minutes.

Heat a 12 inches cast iron skillet over medium high heat. 

Add oil and then the buns.  Pan fry for about 1 minute.  Add water and cover with lid.

When the water is almost gone, which takes between 6 to 10 minutes, reduce the heat to medium low.  Cook for another 4 to 6 minutes.  It will cook buns bottom to be golden brown, crispy, crunchy and yummy. 

Serve immediately with bottom side up. 

In winter time, I like to serve with the cast iron skillet so that they would stay hot for longer time.

They go really great with sweet rice vinegar and chili sauce!