Cola ribs the Chinese way – a simple recipe
Cooking with cola is not that unusual – Nigella, for example, offers a ham in Coca-Cola recipe. The popular drink has also made its way into Chinese home cooking, and instead of using the oven, the ribs are all cooked in a pan. Coca-Cola’s flavourings include vanilla and coriander, which are both enhanced in this recipe.
The prep time is around 5 minutes, but you do have to leave the meat marinading for some time, ideally overnight, so it’s a dish you can prepare in advance. We’ll need to let the ribs simmer on the hob for around 45 minutes as well.
Ingredients
1 rack of ribs
1 tbsp of light soy sauce
1 tbsp of dark soy sauce
1 tbsp of Chinese Shaoxing rice wine
1 tbsp of corn flour
A pinch of ground vanilla (optional)
250ml of Coca-Cola
A handful of coriander
Continue reading “Cola ribs the Chinese way – a simple recipe”
Comics in the Kitchen at Orbital Comics
When I heard about the new exhibition Comics in the Kitchen at Orbital Comics, I pictured infinite possibilities. Would we see posters picturing the most shocking Chew‘s visions, after he’s eaten a soup of forbidden meat? Or would we be presented with one of Yukihira Soma‘s delicious recipes that would cause visionary ecstasy to whomever tries them? A Marvel themed lasagna feast or a super-powered noodle soup? My imagination went far, but didn’t stray from the comic-themed, as if by being at a comic book store the exhibit should have been about the favourite heroes their customers are familiar with. Instead, the main star was indeed food itself.
Grabbing a bunch of food loving illustrators, the Orbital staff asked them what they enjoy cooking these days, and the result is a collection of mouthwatering illustrations, complete with instructions for the recipe. The styles were various, from manga to monochrome, from water colours to graphic prints, real recipes with exact measurements and ingredients, like Gazpacho or Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe, to recipes and stories of imaginative nature only, like Cooking with the Bread Cat. “At Orbital most of the staff are foodies,” explains one of the organisers, Camila, “so we thought it would be a great idea to celebrate it with an exhibition.” Framed for the viewers, all illustrations are gratifying for fellow illustrators and comic connoisseurs like Orbital usual crowd, but also mouthwatering for the foodie who knows nothing about comics and enjoys good humour and that style of art, with a smile rather than a pretentious, serious face.
Asian honey and butter bread recipe – a simple dessert
This honey and butter bread is quite commonly found in Korean and some other Asian cafes, and doesn’t require any actual bread baking (although it does require a few minutes in the oven). The core ingredients are – yes – honey and butter. The ideal bread to use is milk bread, but you can make it with ordinary sliced bread as well. I’m using half brown and white bread here for an easy and healthier option.
The prep work only takes about 2 minutes, and then it’s a quick 10 minutes in the oven before it’s ready to serve as a dessert or a sweet pick-me-up.
Ingredients
2-3 thick slices of bread
2 tbsps of clear honey
A few slices of unsalted butter
Dash of cinamon
Whipped cream
Chocolate sauce
Continue reading “Asian honey and butter bread recipe – a simple dessert”
Classic Tomato Sauce (Salsa di pomodoro fresco)
As the queen of pasta sauces, Tomato sauce is well known worldwide. Yet, it is a classic Italian recipe we cannot skip, especially after our blog post about fresh, home made pasta. Also, there are so many variations of it, that you can obviously find your own way around it depending on your gusto. For example, you can still make it even if you don’t have carrots and celery in the fridge, by just frying onion and garlic. You can also use a bottled tomato passata if you don’t want to go through the steps of tomato preparation, and if you do, I recommend this one. But, as said before regarding fresh tomatos vs ready passata or peeled tomatoes, it won’t taste as good even though it does save you some cooking time, especially now that the tomato season is starting. So take your time, get your hands a bit dirty and enjoy!
Continue reading “Classic Tomato Sauce (Salsa di pomodoro fresco)”
The Savannah Bar & Restaurant
“Communication is the creative expression of all that’s within us (…) creativity combines will and consciousness and moves us forward into the future. When we create, we make something that has not existed before.” Forgive us the initial mindful quote, but I had to start with this because I believe that for the first time, during The Savannah opening party, I was asked a very important question: why the blog? Given the mundane occasion, I doubt the question was intended to create such deep thoughts in me. Yet, as I was sitting in the stunning surroundings of the newly opened Savannah restaurant, where everything around whispers introspection, where the relaxing décor and the video projections on the wall make time slow down, the simple truth came as an answer.
We write for self expression, we write because we are larger than life and we need a personal project, we write about food because we cook, and we cook – again – not only because we love eating but because it is another form of self expression. Yes, of course, the aim is to become a better and recognised version of ourselves, and we are aware of the effort and time that takes.
Dough Drop Knot Egg and Tomato Soup – Chinese Gnocchi
When you think of Chinese food, rice usually comes to mind, but actually flour-based recipes are just as common in the north. This dough drop soup is a home-cooked staple from the north of China as it looks more filling than it is, and it’s really easy to make, so became popular in the Sixties, when food was scarce. You don’t have to worry about making the dough drops even or pretty, because the whole point is that they are supposed to look lumpy and uneven – part of the handmade charm. Continue reading “Dough Drop Knot Egg and Tomato Soup – Chinese Gnocchi”
First Time Making: Miso Aubergines
I often have lunch at a small Japanese restaurant on Brewer Street called Kulu Kulu. In one of their colourful bowls, they serve this delicious aubergine dish. I like it so much that even after the first bowl, every time another one comes around on the conveyer belt, it’s so tempting to go for seconds! This vegan friendly dish is rather simple, but getting the right combination of flavours is not as simple (I learned the hard way) as it seems. I will try and share the learnings gleaned from my first attempt, for which I took inspiration from this Japan Centre recipe. Continue reading “First Time Making: Miso Aubergines”
Sardinian Pasta (Malloreddus) with Asparagus and Sea Urchins
During the Easter break, I went to visit my father who at the moment works in Belgium. Even though he works around the world, he always brings with him a stock of Italian ingredients so he can cook his favourite Sardinian food wherever he is. To make this recipe, he used canned sea urchins, which you don’t find so easily in London. Continue reading “Sardinian Pasta (Malloreddus) with Asparagus and Sea Urchins”
Sweet corn and salted egg yolk – a golden Chinese snack recipe
Happy St Patrick’s day! In celebration this week, here’s a simple sweet corn snack that’d go well with a beer or two. A name for this Chinese snack means “a granary full of golden grains” (jin gu man cang), but it’s much more straightforward than it sounds: these are fried sweet corn kernels topped with salted egg yolks. There’s no need to add any other spices or flavours to it: the natural sweetness of the sweet corn balances perfectly with the salted eggs.
You can keep the egg whites to use in other recipes. For example, they can be mixed with minced pork.
This is very easy to make, and only takes around 10 minutes. The portions below serve two. If you are using frozen sweet corn, then please defrost it beforehand! Also, I’m using whole wheat flour in this version of the recipe, so the colour is a bit darker.
Ingredients
1.5-2 cups of sweet corn kernels
3-4 tbsps of plain flour
2 salted egg yolks
You’ll also need some water and plenty of oil for frying.
Continue reading “Sweet corn and salted egg yolk – a golden Chinese snack recipe”
Madrid: a culinary city break
When I told friends that the city break in Madrid was quite a culinary one, they said that, well, every time I go on holiday it ends up being a culinary trip! But what better than food to tell you the story of the place you are visiting? Out of all the curiosities travelling might trigger, this one is undoubtedly the most satisfying. Knowing what people eat is like entering into their everyday life, inside their habits, their most familiar thoughts. At Blender and Basil we represent two of the most traditional cuisines in the world, where eating is so important that every life event is discussed or celebrated around the table: decisions and compromises, promises and arguments, hellos and good byes. In Spain, too, it goes just like that, so I did my best to taste some of the most traditional dishes in the country.
La Daniela
Can you have a whole banquet inside a croqueta? At La Daniela I learned you can. We visited this wonderful restaurant at our arrival in Madrid and on an empty stomach. Once sat at the bar and chatting away with the most pleasant waiter, we definitely got carried away with the orders. Croquetas de Cocido, Croquetas de Jamon, Callos (tripe), Salmorejo soup with aubergines, Russian salad and, on the house, Ropa Vieja (another Cocido derivate dish). The highlights of our quite extensive menu were definitely the Croquetas de Cocido and Callos. Both rich on the palate and heavy on the stomach, these dishes are very representative of the city. The former, a derivate dish of the cocido madrileño, in croquetas the heart of all cocido tastes mixed with beshamel sauce. The latter can be a tricky one to get right, as tripes are very fat: but this one had just the right mixture of elements to make it irresistible. Just like their personelle, who made us feel at home and let us stay a little later after closing time to chat away and finish our vino.
Blender & Basil 