The Art of Fruit and Vegetable Carving...

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon spent at the Tastes of the Hill festival in Richmond Hill, Ontario. This event celebrates diversity and multi-culturalism by offering international foods, trying your hands on traditional crafts and having close encounters with animals from faraway lands in their continent pavilions, and experiencing different on-stage entertainment. A big part of the one day event was the fun interactive food areas with a full line-up of contests such as pasta and watermelon-eating challenges, food demonstrations of various cuisines and kid's cooking classes. 

I went primarily to visit my friend Chef Frederick Oh at his food art sculpture demo booth. At his Richmond Hill Culinary Arts Centre, he offers many different cooking classes, corporate events such as iron chef challenges and interactive demo and dine events where guests learn to prepare their own meals along with the instructor and then enjoy the fruits of their labour together. If you want to learn the techniques in this unique art or want a display created, he's your man!

There was a whole garden of vegetables from radishes, carrots, zucchini, leeks, tomatoes, celery in the structure all carefully placed with short skewers to create a work rivalling the beautiful Japanese flower arrangement art of ikebana.

Me getting into the action with a red beet rose.

Young participants at the Longo's watermelon-eating contest booth!

I asked Fred how long he's been doing this. He tells me it's been five to six years- something he learned when he was taking cooking classes in Thailand and this was one of the courses. It's not something he does all the time, but when you got it... you got it. And Fred rocks it!

Chef Oh transforms a plain watermelon into a work of flower art right before our eyes! Impressive!

Some of my fruit and vegetable carvings from a decade past when I worked in R&D for a gourmet food company...

A chrysanthemum flower made out of a leek.

A bell pepper flower and calla lilies made out of thin slices
of turnip for the petals and baby corn for the centres.

And my very own watermelon carving taught from a class- took me a long time to get to this!

Macaroni in Pork Bones Soup...

My husband has been away on business travel... and food usually means eating breakfast on-the-go, sandwich lunch meetings and some greasy spoon for dinner near the hotel. What could be more comforting than coming home to a hot bowl of good ol' homemade macaroni soup? This is also our easy go-to hearty lunch or dinner when the moment strikes. If you've got pasta in your pantry, bones in your freezer and vegetables on hand, then you got yourself a recipe for pasta in soup!

Macaroni in Pork Bones Soup
Makes 6 to 8 servings

2 lbs. pork neck bones (I find Korean markets sell the meatiest pork bones usually neck bones)
2 slices ginger
salt
1 package (454 g) macaroni or other short pasta, cooked and drained
6 dried shiitake mushrooms, hydrated in water to cover for two hours
1/2 slice of salted turnip (see below) or chicken seasoning to taste
2 cups chopped napa cabbage
1 cup frozen green peas, thawed
green onions for garnish

Bring a pot of water to a boil; add one tsp. of salt and ginger. Add the meat bones. Bring the water back to a boil for two to three minutes, then drain it over a strainer. Rinse the bones under cold running water and wash between the crevices to rid gelatinous fat and any grit. Discard the ginger slices. Rinse the pot, add water and bring it back to a boil with the blanched bones. Add 1 tsp. kosher salt. Cover and reduce heat to medium-low to cook for two hours. If you haven't had time to hydrate dry shiitake mushrooms, add them one hour after.

Skim the layer of fat and scum that builds up on the surface occasionally to achieve a clean broth. 

To season the soup without adding more salt, I usually use salted turnip slices. Often, I add 1/2 of one piece, washed and sliced into thin strips during the last 15 minutes of cooking. But today I trimmed off the bumpy sides and added those instead as my kids don't usually eat them, and I discard them after they cook. Instead, you can add chicken seasoning to taste.

Salted turnip slices can be found in the dried preserved vegetable aisle in Asian markets. 

Remove mushrooms and thinly slice. Add them back along with vegetables into the soup.

Use whatever vegetables you have on hand.

Lots of hunky tender meat to tear off and add to the soup. 

Add the macaroni, bring it all back to a boil and you're ready to eat!

 Nourishing comfort food at it's best!

Hunky meat bones are served dipped in soy sauce mixed with sesame oil.

If you got leftover chicken carcass or bones from a chicken roast, follow this Macaroni in Chicken Soup recipe.

Grilled Zucchini with Garlic...

Zucchini are ubiquitous in the summer... In Ontario, it's prime season throughout the months of July to October. Such a versatile vegetable, they can be blanched, poached, roasted, grilled, stuffed, deep-fried, and even baked into bread and muffins. It is very common to batter and fry the flower blossoms that grow at the top of each vegetable in Italian and French cuisines. With zucchini, simple is best, like I found with this incredibly easy recipe with flavourful results!

Grilled Zucchini with Garlic
Makes 4 to 6 servings

3 medium zucchini
2 cloves garlic, minced
coarse salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
3 Tbsp. good extra virgin olive oil 

Beautiful green and yellow varieties of zucchini in Belleville's farmers market.

A wild fragrant garlic species grown in my parent's backyard.

Slice each zucchini with a mandolin into thin strips. Grill the zucchini until they are tender-crisp on both sides. Place in a bowl and add the garlic, seasoning and oil. Toss and serve.

This was an incredible side to serve with hamburgers to extend the flavours of summer!

Simply irresistible- the caramelized taste with aromatic garlic, slick fine olive oil and crunchy salt! TIP: Doing eggplants this way is delicious too, or serve a combination of both for variety! 

If you like zucchini, give Zucchini Fritters and Zucchini Bread a try. These recipes are delicious and the latter is perfect for sneaking in extra vegetables and a whole lotta yummy flavours for those picky eaters!

Corn Tempura (Tomorokoshi-Age)...

I love foreign food films, especially Japanese ones that has food interwoven effortlessly with everyday life... but with food scenes leaving a huge impact! This was the case when I watched Still Walking by director Hirokazu Kore-eda showing lots of scenes in the kitchen with the Yokoyama family preparing various meals. The most memorable food that caused my eyes to grow wide and my appetite to go wild was of crispy corn tempuras; these were casually eaten by hand as a snack by the young Yokoyama children as they romped and played or sat around for conversations. Could you imagine how happy I was when I found an insert in the DVD called cooking with Kore-eda- a series of the screenplay's recipes? And of course, there was the corn tempura, based on the director's mom's recipe. No need to mess around with it as it cooks up beautifully, but I've added my own tips to make it that much more fail-proof. Happy frying!

Corn Tempura (Tomorokashi-Age)

Makes about 15 pieces

Oil for frying

3 ears of corn, kernels removed

1/2 cup flour, plus 1 Tbsp. for tossing/dredging

1/2 tsp. baking powder

Salt and pepper to taste

1 egg yolk

1/2 cup ice cold water (this is important for crispy results)

toasted sesame oil

Place an ear of corn onto a chopping board and slice down along the kernels to give a clean cut. Do this for all sides to remove all kernels and for all cobs.

I like to hover the cob just over a good-size bowl and carefully slice down into all the sides. 

In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup flour, baking powder, salt and pepper. In a larger bowl, combine the egg yolk and water. Add the flour mixture to the yolk mixture and combine to form a batter. Toss the corn kernels in the extra 1 Tbsp. flour first and stir them into the batter. TIP: Chilling both the flour mixture and water before using, helps make the tempura batter extra crispy!

Remove the corn from the batter with a slotted spoon to form small patties, adding a touch of sesame oil on top with a spoon before frying. When oil is ready, carefully slip the corn mixture into the oil one at a time. Deep-fry in batches until they are golden brown (do not over crowd), then drain on paper towel-lined plate. TIP: Oil is ready when a few drops of batter sink halfway to the bottom, and float back up quickly- oil is about 340 F.

TIP: Use plenty of oil, with enough room to toss and flip the ingredients around. Overcrowding will cause overlapping preventing heat from distributing evenly, thus resulting in greasy and mushy outcomes. Remember to thoroughly remove the fried batter bits between batches to keep the clarity of the oil and not have burnt bits on the food.

If the batter is cold, it will sizzle right when it hits the hot oil.

Positively crispy, addictive with burst of sweet corn in every bite!

But little did you know that behind the meal scenes we were actually having Mexican for dinner- Lol! Honestly, it was a perfect complementary side to tacos- so sweet and flavourful on its own it did not require to be dipped in tempura sauce to mix the tastes up! YUM!

Can't muster the idea of attempting it at home, give it a try in Toronto's first authentic traditional udon restaurant MeNami in North York. Photo credits to Yelp.ca.

Japanese Anmitsu Dessert...

Anmitsu (あんみつ) is a cool summer dessert made of small cubes of agar agar jelly, sweet adzuki bean paste, mochi, a variety of fruits, ice cream, and boiled peas.  It’s usually served with black sugar syrup called kuromitu often made with Okinawan black sugar that you pour onto the jelly before eating. Having had refreshing anmitsu during my trips to Japan several times sans kids, it's both delicious and nostalgic of my free-spirited eating romps with my husband and brother who lives there. What I love most about this dessert, is the agar agar cubes, so light in the mouth feel, slightly sweet and chilled- totally perfect with the adjacent accompaniments as a refreshing snack or after dinner sweet any time of the year! 

I skipped all the compliments except for fruit and made it super simple to make and eat! But jazz it up with some or all the fixin's as you wish!

A plastic desserts display at one of the many dessert houses during my visit to Tokyo, Japan in 2005.

Agar or agar agar is a white translucent jelly made of seaweed, which is suitable for vegetarian/vegan diet instead of animal/chemical-based gelatin. The jelly texture eats cleanly and not jell-O-ish. Prepare by following the instructions on the package- regardless of brand it usually involves cooking in water, adding sugar and some flavouring.

Agar comes in many forms. Follow instructions.

This brand involves soaking in water to soften.

I used lemon oil to flavour the jelly- you can leave plain or add Vanilla extract.

Boil in water to dissolve then add sugar to cook and flavour at the end.

Pour into shallow pan and let cool and solidify in fridge.

Some fruit I chopped up that I had on hand to serve with.

When agar agar is completely set, remove from fridge and score sides to loosen; carefully flip onto a chopping board. Score 3/4" width lines vertically and horizontally to form cubes. Arrange the cubes in the serving bowls along with the fruits to make it pretty.

A dessert lifter makes picking up the cubes easier.

So amazing eating this al fresco on a nice day served along cooled strong green tea.

 

Enjoying the most of the outdoors, what seems to be the last of our summer days...

A fun and refreshing treat for everyone!

Dumplings 101....

Who can resist dreamy scrumptious jiaozi dumplings? We've had countless handmade dumplings go through this household and it remains a supreme beloved comfort staple and a quick go-to meal- weekend lunch or easy weeknight dinner when batches are prepared and frozen raw to cook up on these no-nonsense days. Making dumplings at home is easy if you take advantage of the many good pre-made wrappers available in grocery stores.

Differences are seen amongst various regions in both the methods of making jiaozi and cooking them. For example, in most areas of Beijing and Hebei Provinces, dumpling wrappers are made with a rolling stick. Other parts such as Shanxi Province, wrappers are hand-pressed. Fillings can be anything from a variety of vegetables, mushrooms, meat to seafood. In Northern China, the skins are chewier, and popular stuffing entail lamb or pumpkin. Oil and cornstarch are important ingredients to keep the filling moist but firm. Regardless of the fillings, wrapping skills needs to be artful to make jiaozi attractive. Dumplings may be round, rolled, pleated or moon-shaped that can be boiled, steamed, pan or deep-fried. Ways of serving Chinese dumplings also vary from region to region. Typically, Northern Chinese dumplings are boiled in clear water and served dry traditionally with black vinegar. Another way is to pan fry them, steam in a little water or broth until they are slightly crispy and golden brown. This recipe is a family favourite and some ways to cook them, even trying my hands on a new extra crispy-base version- see method.

Pork, Shrimp and Chive Dumplings
Makes about 100 dumplings

2 packages of dumpling wrappers (found in refrigerated section with fresh noodles and tofu)

2 lbs. ground pork (you can use lean however I find regular ground provides the best texture)
1 lb. shrimps, shelled and deveined, soaked in water to cover with 1/2 tsp. salt, rinsed, drained, pat dry and chopped
1 cup preserved radish, chopped or water chestnuts, drained finely chopped
1 large bunch Chinese chives, thinly chopped
2 tsp. salt

¼ tsp. ground white pepper

1/2 tsp. chicken seasoning

2 Tbsp. cooking wine

2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. sesame oil
1-1/2 Tbsp. cornstarch 

Place ground pork in a bowl. Add salt, pepper, chicken seasoning cooking wine, soy sauce and oil; incorporate well then add cornstarch and mix again. Add shrimps, radish or water chestnuts and chives and mix well. Chill at least one hour or several hours if possible for flavours to meld.

Assemble dumplings right before cooking. See Illustration One below for more wrapping instructions. Wet half the wrapper rim with water and place one Tbsp. filling in centre of wrapper. Fold the wrapper over so that the dry edge meets the wet one. Press along seam to seal shut. Repeat with wrappers. Cook immediately or freeze remaining lined on a tray with minimal overlap for one hour (*see tip below). Do not refrigerate prepared dumplings or they will get moist and stick together and to the plate.

Here are a variety of wrapping and cooking tips in an article I wrote and developed recipes for Asian Gourmet Magazine's Summer 2008 issue titled, "Do-it-Yourself Dumplings".

Illustration One: Different ways to wrap dumplings.

Illustration Two: Different ways to cook dumplings.

*Take partially frozen dumplings from freezer after one hour and place into a freezer bag. 
Freeze for one month. Remove as many as needed. 
See illustration Two for instructions to cook from frozen.

Tonight, I tried for the first time to make extra crispy based dumplings with steamed tops: Heat a large skillet with 1 Tbsp. oil on medium high. Lay the prepared dumplings in a circular pattern and let pan-fry for two minutes until golden brown underside. Make a slurry with 2 tsp. potato starch and 1/3 cup water per batch. Drizzle over the dumplings in a circular motion and cover lid immediately. Let steam for three minutes. Remove lid and let cook until the slurry on the pan appears golden and crisp. Carefully place a serving plate over top; keeping your hand steady on the plate, tip the skillet upside down to remove "attached dumplings" onto the plate.

For the first batch, I wanted to test the slurry in creating a crispy base! 
They didn't stick together but crispy they were.

The second batch, held together when flipped to form a circle, but the bottoms burned a bit. 
Not bad for the first go! Next time, I will mind the heat better and it'll turn out just right...

UPDATE: In my next attempt, success with slightly lower heat! 

Mix 2 tsp. potato starch to 1/3 cup water for each batch of 15 to 20 dumplings.

Crispy, delectable extension of skin!

Dipped in red vinegar sauce or soy sauce mixed with toasted sesame oil,
dumplings are lapped up immediately!

Dumplings Mania!! See more recipes over on a recent post cooking them up in my cooking class.

Pan-Fried Chinese-Style and Steamed-Top Crispy Bottom Japanese-Style Gyozas.

For these recipes, see my Dumplings 101 Part Two Post.