Focaccia with Rosemary, Thyme and Red Onion

Focaccia is one of my favourite breads. It is soft, moist, with a nice crust on the outside. Gold by Harlan Goldstein in Hong Kong serves a really good focaccia which comes with a pesto dip. My brother, who is usually really particular about not eating bread before dinner as not to ruin his appetite, would have at least 3 pieces of this focaccia everytime we went to Gold. Each piece was about the size of my fist! It was that delicious. But bread was something I never thought of making myself. It just seemed so hard and time-consuming with all that kneading, yeasty stuff, and having to let it rise.

Then came my study break, and I had a week off from school. I was lazing on the couch one day catching up on my TV shows when my brother walked past, complaining that we had run out of bread (he wanted to make a sandwich). So, being the nice big sister that I am, I offered to make him fresh homemade bread! I looked online for the easiest recipe I could find, tweaked it a bit, and the focaccia came out amazing. My brother loved it (yay!) and I brought it to school to let my classmates (aka guinea pigs) try some. I'm sure they were being polite, but everyone gave positive comments.

This recipe is versatile. You can omit the red onions, switch herbs, and add other toppings. I made another version with garlic and sun-dried tomatoes, which worked really well too. Or make it with just olive oil and garlic, and make your own pesto!

Mix the yeast, honey and warm water together and let it sit for about 5 minutes. During this time, the yeast will be "activated" and begin to froth.

The key to this tasty moist focaccia is the herb infused olive oil. I used thyme and rosemary in mine. After simmering the herbs in the oil, I put the oil and herbs into a bowl to cool down. Then my mom asked me to help her with something and I totally forgot that I was going to make bread. The oil actually sat on the kitchen counter for two days (covered) before I remembered it, so it had been “infusing” all that time and in the end it came out more flavorful and intense.

Bake until golden. The focaccia will be moist and fluffy inside and crunchy on the outside. This bread is so tasty on its own - you won't be needing any dips!

Recipe – adapted from here

Ingredients

½ cup olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon dried thyme)

1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary (or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary)

¼ teaspoon black pepper

1 cup warm water

2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast

¼ teaspoon honey

2 ½ cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

½ red onion, sliced

1 teaspoon Kosher salt

Method

1. In a small cold saucepan, combine olive oil, garlic, thyme, rosemary and the black pepper. On low heat, stir the mixture occasionally until aromatic, for about 8 minutes. Do not let the garlic brown. Pour into a bowl and let it cool.
2. Using the same saucepan, cook the onions on medium low heat until they begin to soften, but not yet translucent. If they are cooked through, they will catch in the oven when you bake the focaccia. Remove from heat.
3. In a large bowl, combine warm water, yeast and honey. Stir and let sit for 5 minutes.
4. Add 1 cup of flour and ¼ cup of the infused oil mixture. Using a spatula, stir a few times until the flour has moistened. Let sit for another 5 minutes.
5. Stir in the remaining 1 ½ cups of flour and the salt. Once the dough comes together, transfer to a floured board and knead the dough 10 to 15 times until smooth. Here is a great tutorial on how to knead dough.
6. Transfer to a large oiled bowl, cover with a warm, damp towel and let it rise for 1 hour. Make sure the bowl is in a warm area without air conditioning or draft, as this will affect the rise of your dough.
7. After 1 hour, heat oven to 230 C/450 F.
8. Use 1 tablespoon of the oil mixture to oil a 9 x 13 inch rimmed baking sheet. If you are using a non-stick pan, then you can skip this step, as the dough itself is oily enough.
9. Transfer dough to the baking sheet and press it down into the pan. Use your fingers to dimple the dough then drizzle the top with 1 tablespoon of the oil mixture. You can save any remaining oil as a marinade, like for lambchops.
10. Let the dough sit for 20 minutes uncovered then bake 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown. Transfer focaccia to a rack and cool.

Kimchi Fried Rice with Egg

When I was studying in Vancouver, I lived by myself and I would cook dinner for myself on weeknights. It was cheaper than ordering in and I could avoid the copious amounts of MSG, grease and bad oils that came with delivery food. I'm Chinese, so naturally, I had a rice cooker and made rice all the time. And what to do with leftover rice? Make fried rice! I usually just add in anything I could find my fridge, like eggs and turkey slices from the deli, finishing the rice off with a squeeze of Sriracha. However, for a more decadent but still super easy and quick weeknight dinner dish, I present to you my kimchi fried rice! The main ingredients are kimchi, spam, and eggs. And if you have leftover rice from the day before, this dish will take you less than 15 minutes to make. Take that, Jamie Oliver! 

This dish will amaze you. It is so simple to make and uses such humble ingredients, yet it has a myriad of flavours and textures: savoury crunch from the spam, spicy tangy and sweet from the kimchi, richness from the sesame oil and egg, and that layer of umami from the nori. 

The runny yolk forms a beautiful “sauce” that oozes into the rice, calming the sharp kick of the kimchi. This dish not only tastes good but also looks good. Instagram that #foodporn!

Recipe

Serves two

Ingredients

1 tablespoon vegetable oil, plus more for coating rice
1/2 cup cubed spam or sausage or ham
3 cups day-old cooked white rice (or you can cook the rice and put in the fridge to cool down)
1 ½ cup chopped kimchi, plus any juices

1 tablespoon gochujang (this is a spicy Korean paste made with red chili and fermented soybeans. I usually put in two heaped tablespoons for this recipe, but you should start out with one and taste first)

1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 eggs

Nori (dried seaweed), chopped, for garnish

1 stalk scallion (green parts) or spring onion, sliced, for garnish

Method

1. Heat the vegetable oil in a large pan or skillet over medium heat. Add the spam and cook until crispy but not burnt, around 2 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, place the cooled rice in a large bowl and drizzle with a little vegetable oil. With your hands, coat the rice grains with the oil, separating the grains carefully as much as you can without breaking them. 
3. Turn the heat up to medium-high, add the kimchi and juice and stir, until heated through, about 2 minutes.
4. Add the rice and gogujang paste and toss to coat, mixing the ingredients evenly. Stir the mixture around for about a minute to make sure all the rice is colored. Drizzle in the sesame oil.
5. Turn the heat down to medium-low and pat the rice mixture down in the pan in an even layer. Let the rice sit for about 5 minutes. The bottom layer will crisp up and the flavor will be intensified.
6. Add the scallions or green onion into the mixture, stirring to distribute evenly, or leave them as a garnish. Divide the rice mixture into 2 bowls.
7. In a small pan, fry the eggs until the whites have set but the yolks are still runny.
8. Garnish with the scallions and nori.

Caesar Salad with Parmesan Croutons

I try to make “healthy” things from time to time to keep the monster of gluttony inside me at bay. I usually make a salad as a starter for dinner, something simple like cherry tomatoes and arugula with balsamic and olive oil. But tonight I felt like splurging and making something I loved eating when I was young and still do: Caesar salad with crunchy croutons and bacon bits. It was the only salad I ate as a child. That creamy tangy dressing pretty much covered any vegetable taste (yay!) and there was bacon! I still remember my dad had this plastic container of bacon bits in the kitchen and we would sneak a handful like candy now and then.

Regardless of how delicious the salad is, it isn’t healthy to have Caesar dressing from a bottle and bacon when you are cooking at home and can make better choices. So I found a recipe online and tweaked it to make my own Caesar dressing. Much healthier and just as delicious! You can still have a whole bowl of this salad and not feel like you had a full meal. You can omit the Parmesan, but I think a little bit won’t hurt!

Recipe

Ingredients

Romaine lettuce, cut into 1-inch chunks

Croutons:

Bread, cut into small cubes (the recipe called for crusty bread, but I just used plain old white bread)

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoon Parmesan, shredded

Dressing:

Olive oil

2 egg yolks

2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Splash of Worcestershire sauce

1 small can of anchovies, chopped

½ clove of garlic, minced

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Salt

Pepper

Parmesan, shaved

Method

1. For the croutons, heat the olive oil in a pan and fry the bread on low heat until golden and crispy. Add the Parmesan on top. When the cheese has melted, remove the bread and drain on kitchen towels.
2. For the dressing, blend the egg yolks, mustard, Worcestershire sauce. Then slowly drizzle in the oil, whisking constantly, until the sauce is of a mayonnaise consistency. Then mix in the anchovies, garlic and lemon. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Mix the dressing with the lettuce, and top with the croutons and more shaved Parmesan.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Everyone loved the cookies. I think my boyfriend must have eaten at least four in a row! We probably have to spend some extra time at the gym to make up for it.

Apart from sweets, I enjoy cooking savory things too. I used to cook for myself almost every weeknight when I was studying abroad, and now I usually cook on the weekends with my family as guinea pigs. One of the easiest sides to whip up and impress with flavor are roasted brussels sprouts. I absolutely hated them until I made this recipe for a special request. I had only eaten the boiled icky kind before so I was hesitant to try roasting them. But now I am a convert and I love them roasted like this. They are super easy to make! You just cut them up and put them in the oven. I add bacon to give it extra depth in flavor and I find that it helps caramelize the sprouts more to make them sweeter.

MmmMMMm crispy bacon and caramelized sprouts!

Recipe

Ingredients

• Brussel sprouts (one pack should be enough for 2 people as a side)
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• Olive oil
• Bacon, chopped

Method

1. Preheat oven to 195C/380F.
2. After rinsing the sprouts, remember to drain well or else they will be harder to crisp up in the oven.
3. Chop the hard stem off the bottom of the sprouts and then in half.
4. Put the sprouts on a baking tray in one layer and toss with oil, salt and pepper.
5. Put the bacon evenly throughout the layer of sprouts.
6. Bake for 30 minutes* or until the sprouts become crisp 

*Depending on your oven, you may have to check the sprouts at the 15-minute mark to make sure they don’t burn.

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt

It’s only fitting to start my new blog with one of the most loved (and easy) recipes of all time. I absolutely love chocolate chip cookies. But it’s even better with a sprinkle of sea salt! I find that the salt brings out the richness of the chocolate, and makes the cookie even more flavorful. This recipe uses dark or semi-sweet chocolate, but feel free to substitute for milk. There is also Greek yogurt in this recipe, which makes the cookie moist. Enjoy! These will surely impress anyone.

Brown butter – this creates an amazing hazelnut aroma which adds richness to the cookies. Make sure not to over brown it or it will taste bitter! Keep whisking!

Blend the sugars with the butter.

Add the dry ingredients bit by bit. Stop mixing once all the flour bits are gone.

Add the chocolate chips. I only had dark and semi-sweet at home, which were of different brands and sizes. But I guess the cookies turned out looking okay!

I made one batch of 16 without sprinkling sea salt on top, and one batch with. Both came out delicious.

Recipe – adapted from Serious Eats

Makes 32 medium cookies

Ingredients

•  2 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
• ½ teaspoon of sea salt, plus more for sprinkling
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 ½ cups packed dark brown sugar
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon plain Greek yogurt
• ¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• ¾ cup dark chocolate chips

Method

1. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. The butter will begin to foam. Make sure you whisk consistently during this process. After a couple of minutes, the butter will begin to brown on the bottom of the saucepan. Continue to whisk and remove from heat as soon as the butter begins to brown and give off a nutty aroma. Immediately transfer the butter to a bowl to prevent burning. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside. 
3. Whisk butter and sugars until blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, vanilla, and yogurt until combined. Add the dry ingredients bit by bit and mix until combined and you don’t see anymore of the flour.
4. Stir in the chocolate chips.
5. Chill your dough for 2 hours in the refrigerator. This makes it easier to form the dough into balls and keep a uniform shape when baking.
6. When the dough is chilled, preheat the oven to 350F/175C.
7. Use a tablespoon and measure out the dough to roll into balls. I used about 2 tablespoons per dough ball. Place dough balls on cookie sheet, 2 inches apart and sprinkle each dough ball with a little bit of sea salt.
8. Bake the cookies 8-10 minutes or until the edges of the cookies begin to turn golden brown. Mine were done at 8 minutes. They will look a bit underdone in the middle, but will continue to cook on the baking sheet when out of the oven. Cool the cookies on the sheets and sprinkle with a little sea salt. 
9. Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets after 5 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.