New pizza from Trader Joe's

ps: I use Breville oven, and bake for 15 mins instead of there suggestion.

Chou farci - Pork stuffed cabbage

1. Ingredients:

- A whole savoy cabbage ( just around $1 at farmer market)

- 1 carrot (chopped)

- 1/2 onion (chopped)

- 4-5 mushrooms (chopped)

- Parsley and basil: 1 spoon for each chopped herb (if you don't have fresh leaves, used the dried one that every Trader Joe's sells it)

- 1/2 pound of ground pork

- 1 egg

- Stock: chicken/pork/ beef or vege is ok, even water

- bacon or prosciutto (I bought at Wholefood)

- Salt: 1,5 spoon, pepper

- Cotton string

2. Method:

- Clean the cabbage, cut the leaves out and boil them in boiled water for 1-2 minutes

- Risen the leave under cold water to let them cool down

- Mix meat, egg, chopped onion, carrot, mushroom, 1/2 amount of chopped herbs, salt, and pepper

- On a flat surface (or you can make it in a big bowl to make the round shape), put 3 to 4 strings cross each other before placing the biggest leaves in the shape of blooming flower

- Add a small leave in the center

- Start to stuff: 1 layer of mixed meat (around 1/2 inch) then 1 layer of leaves until all the meat gone.

When stuffing, try to make the whole piece as round as possible.

- Close the outside leaves and tight the strings

- In a medium pot, add stock/ or water (up to 1/2 volume of the pot), heat until it boil, then add the cabbage and the rest of chopped herbs. Make sure the water can cover the cabbage. After it boils again, cook at low medium heat.

- After 1 hour, take the cabbage out, the remain stock you can use to cook soup

- Cover the cabbage with bacon or prosciutto and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degree

- And here is my final chou farci

- This dish can eat with pickle baby cucumber (I bought from Trader Joe's). This one is imported from France.

Roast shrimp with shelf - Vietnamese style

1. Ingredients:

- Shrimps: 6 (for 2 people), I bought these shrimps at Mitsuwa super market, Irvine

- Chopped garlic (2 gloves), shallot (half one), lemon grass (1 spoon), 

- Fish sauce (1 spoon) or Salt (1/4 spoon), sugar (1/2 spoon), dry red chili (1/4 spoon) 

- Olive oil (1 spoon)

2. Method:

- Mix all seasonings well

- Devein and clean the shrimps, dry well with paper towel 

- Marinate shrimp with the sauce for 15 minutes

- If you have skewers, use it, otherwise the put the shrimp into baking tray

- Use roast setting with Breville oven, 420 degree for 15 minutes

Mochilato sweet shaved ice

If you visit Daiso in Irvine, you should also visit this store, especially in a hot summer day!, It locates right next to Daiso store. The restaurant is bigger than it looks from outside. They sell not only ice-cream but also tea, cake, food, and even more than that.

Fresh vanilla puff

I bought single size for 3 people. That was BIG enough! It had ice-cream in the middle of this bowl. The store even gave us an extra bowl of sweet red bean, because he thought there was not enough red bean in the top of shaved ice ~~~~~

Taiwanese style BBQ baby squid

I love the BBQ squid at night market in Taiwan. I don't know which kind of sauce they use to marinate squid or calamari, so I try to imitate it as mixing the sauce by myself. It seems to be "converged". 

I bought a box of baby squid from Nijia, that's whole squid, so I need to clean them by myself (take time and it's dirty job). Next time I will by the cleaned ones from Wholefood!!!

OK, so all you need is:

1. Ingredients:

- Baby squids: 15 or 1 big calamari (I prefer remove their skin, bone and inner part)

- Sauce: 1/4 cups of rice wine (guess white wine is ok), 2 spoons of brown sugar, 1 spoon of soy sauce, if you have oyster sauce, add 1, some dried red chili, 1 spoon of oil (olive oil).

- Skewer (prefer the metal ones), I got these from Mitsuwa: made in Japan!!!

2. Method:

- Making sauce: Add all sauce ingredients into a small pot, heat until broil then simmer for 5 minutes, the mixture will be thinker. Cook it while you prepare the squid (either clean the baby squid or cut a calamari into smaller pieces)

- After the sauce gets cool (warm is ok), add the squids into the pot, mix well and marinate for at least 15 minutes.

- Preheat the oven to 400 degree, then skew the squids into skewers

- I use baking setting, for 20 minutes.

- Here is the BBQ squids, the flavor is great, almost similar to what I ate before. You can eat squid with rice, mix with salad, or just squid

Half-baked Panini Rustic Rolls

We used to buy bread, and had to reheat/ bake it again every time before the meal. Recently, I just find this amazing bread from Trader Joe's: half-baked rolls. Following instruction, after preheating the oven to 425 degree, it takes only 8 minutes for you to have fresh and hot bread every morning.

Here, see how beautiful the roll is! Love it!

And this is how I use a roll for breakfast, ces't la vie!

How to Roast duck thighs

In Asia, duck is a kind of "cold" meat, it means it can help you feel better in a hot day~~~~
So, it's time to do it. This simple dish, I believe anyone can do it, if you have a oven. However, to make  the meat have better flavor, it takes time to marinate.

1. Ingredient
- 2 duck thighs (you can find at wholefood, about $4 each)
- BBQ sauce, I bought from Trader Joe's: Kansas city style BBQ sauce
- Garlic: 2 gloves
- Green onion: 1
- Flour: 1 spoon
- Vegetable: Any you can have, cabbage, potato, squash....: today I use baby squash from farmer market

2. Method
- Clean the duck thighs under water and dry with paper towel

- Put them in a bowl, add BB sauce: 1/2 cup
- Mix well then put in refrigerator before cook 2 hours

- Preheat oven to 380 degree (I use Breville Compact Smart Oven ) at roast setting and cook for 30 mins, skin side up

- Turn the thighs and cook at 350 degree for 15 mins


- While roast duck, you can prepare the sauce and vegetable. If you use potato, it takes more time, I use squash so time for cooking just 5 minutes: slice squash, heat pan with 1 tea spoon of oil, add chopped garlic, than add squash, add salt and black pepper, stir well, add 1/2 cup of water, turn heat to high, close lid and wait 3 minutes, then your side vegetable is done!

- Sauce: add flour to 1/2 cup of water, mix well than add to the small pot with the left marinated sauce, cook well, then add chopped green onion, it's ready for you to add to the meat.


- Finally, turn again, skin side up, add some honey if you want to the skin, cook for another 5 mins.

Roast lamb rack

At Trader Joe's, it's easy to find frenched lamb rack. For two people, buy a small pack, around $13 is enough.

1. Ingredients.
- Lamb rack: use a small knife, separate racks it into piece
- Butter: 1/2 spoon or use olive oil
- Seasoning: 1 tea spoon salt (better to use sea salt),black pepper (few) and 1 tea spoon of  Thyme, rosemary, oregano, basil. You can find dried one in Trader Joe's, too.
- Lemon: 1 small piece

2. Method:
- Ground all season (if you can)
Here it how I do with a Japanese grinder bowl

- Mix seasoning with butter then rub the mixture to lamb rack, marinate for 30-60 minutes.
- Roast at 400 degree for 15 mins, then turn the meat, and roast at 300 degree for 5 mins.

You can add some drop of lemon juice

How to Bake ground pork with lemon grass skewers

Lemon grass is very good for health because it contains beta carotene, a kind of antioxidant, that's why it is used a lot in Vietnamese food, Thais food, especially  in summer.

You can find it in whole food, asian market like Mitsuwa, or 99 ranch, Hmart. I often buy it at farmer market every Saturday morning (next to UCI): only $1.5 for a big bunch.

With lemon grass, you can cook a lots of dish, here is a very simple baking dish with my beloved Breville Compact Smart Oven . All you need are:

1.Ingredients:

- Ground pork (or chicken): 1/2 pound

- Lemon grass: 3 to 4 

- Onion: 1/2

- Garlic: 2 gloves (None is ok)

- Green onion: 3

- Seasoning: black pepper, fish sauce: 1,5 spoon. If you don't have fish sauce, use some salt (depend on how salty you want, normally: 1/2 tea spoon)

- Sauce: lemon juice  (or rice or white vinegar): 1/2 spoon, sugar: 1 spoon, garlic: 1 glove, fish sauce: 1,5 spoons, water: 1/2 cup

If you don't have fish sauce in your kitchen, you can use salt: 1 tea spoon to replace it, or you can make any sauce you want: like tomato sauce

- Optional (but better to have): cilantro, mint, lecture for wrap

2. Method

- Use a big bow or even a small pot, add meat in

- Mix the meat with chopped garlic, onion, green onion and all seasonings. Leave it there for 15-30 minutes.

- Wash lemon grass, throw the outmost layer, cut into two pieces (6 inches long), then you will have 10 skewers. You can cut them thinner if you don't have enough lemon grass

- Preheat the oven to 400 degree F

- Use a little bit oil to make to baking rack not stick to meat

- Form the meat around lemon grass skewer, try to make it flat (but not two flat, otherwise the meat will be too dry)

- Bake in 15 mins, then turn over the meat, bake for another 5 mins.

Make fish sauce  If you dont have time to make Vietnamese fish sauce, use this way.

It with vege wrap, or rice, or use it as an appetizer 

Frozen Chives pie from Taiwan

This is the first time I bought frozen chives pie from 99 ranch. The product was imported from Taiwan that in cludes no preservatives, color, and it was handmade 100%.

Before

Using Brevile oven is so easy to make it become so beautifully brown and crispy like this, just 12 mins at 230 degree C

After

One bite test: awesome!