Sichuan-Style Spicy Orange Beef

 

Sichuan Province of China is one of the largest province in China, and the home of most savory and spicy food in the world. The most famous Sichuan dish is probably Mapo Tofu, a bold, spicy, and distinctive tofu cuisine. The Sichuan cuisine is famous for its bold combination with Sichuan peppercorn, garlic, peanuts, sesame, ginger, and chili pepper, etc, together they have created more than thousands of delicious dish. 

But today we are not going to teach you a traditional, super-spicy Sichuan cuisine, but a mild, flavorful spicy orange beef. This special beef cuisine perfectly balance the spicy taste of chili pepper and the sweetness of the orange, making it a different choice for everyone who would like to enjoy the Sichuan style cuisine.

Here are the ingredients: 

3 Hot Chili Pepper (This is not the usual chili pepper in the supermarket. It is smaller and spicier.)
1tb oil
Orange zests from one orange
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 carrot
500g of beef
1/2 cup of broth
1/3 cup of soy sauce
1TB Cointreau
1TB Honey
Potato starch
water

Steps:


1. Cut the carrot, chili pepper, garlic, and orange zests. Set aside.

 

2. Add oil into the pot and heat the oil. Add pepper, garlic and orange zest into the pot and stir fry for 4 minutes.

 

3. Add the carrot and beef and stir fry for about 2 minutes to brown the beef.

 

 

4. Add the water, broth, soy sauce, honey, and Cointreau. Give it a good stir.

 

  

5. Bring to boil and turn the heat into low. Cook for a hour. (You can check the softness of the beef for yourself and decide the cooking time. If you would like to have a softer beef then you should cook for more than an hour.)

6. Mix the potato starch and water in a small bowl and add the mixture into the pot for another stir.

7. Serve with rice, bread, or noodle. You can also take it as a main dish.

 

Wabi-Sabi: the art of living.

Wabi-sabi is the most striking of what we can define the traditional Japanese culture, and is the most remarkable philosophy that embrace every aspect of Japanese cultural identity. Most people may not even heard of this word, but you must have experience it somehow in your life. The Japanese architecture, industrial design, visual design, zen gardens, pottery, or even life style, are all deeply affected by this philosophy. The importance of Wabi-sabi for Japan, is as the Perfectionism to ancient Greek and Europe. To be general, Wabi-sabi is a form of lifestyle, but to be specific, it is a special kind of aesthetic concept.

Wabi-sabi characterize the beauty of imperfection, transience, incompletion, simplicity, and unconventionality. In fact, in Japan, there are also few people who can explain the meaning of Wabi-sabi. This is because Japanese never put this philosophy with theoretical concepts into the formal education and lectures. Some Japanese experts claim that Wabi-sabi should retain its mysterious characteristic, since this will make it more fascinated. The word Wabi-sabi is the combination of two Chinese characters "侘寂", however, the direct explanation of these two words cannot explain the true meaning of Wabi-sabi at all.

"Wabi" refers to a taste for quiet, vague suggestion, and simplicity, and incorporates rustic beauty, such as patterns found in straw, bamboo, clay, or stone into it. For example, when a traveller explore the wild, at dusk, he needs a shelter to spend the night, so he uses the straws on the ground to make a shelter for his temporary stay. On the next morning, he untie the straws and the shelter vanished. The straws he used return to the original position as it was, undistinguished, as a whole. However, if you look into the details, the crease and bend on the straws suggest the existence of the shelter last night. 

"Sabi" refers to the patina of age, the concept that changes due to use may make an object more beautiful and valuable. This incorporates an appreciation of the cycles of life and careful, artful mending of damage, such as the aged leather bag and the damaged tea cups.

The spiritual value of Wabi-Sabi comes from the continuous observation and confrontation with mother nature. For Japanese, they have tried all their best to fight the nature–the long rainy season, earthquake, flood, tsunami, fire, etc, but they have failed just like all of us did. Therefore, this creates the fundamental, core message of the Wabi-sabi, which are transience, imperfection, and incompletion.

Transience

They learned that life is short and transient, so everything, including those that are hard, rigid, inert, are not eternal. Therefore, everything’s life is short and will come to the end someday.

Imperfection

Everything has defects, especially when we pay close attention to small details. If we use microscope to look into the shaver blade, you will find that the blade is not a smooth surface but has many depression and defects. The end of perfection is imperfection.

Incompletion

Everything is changing and moving, but we always subjectively some time to be "completed". When is the completion of a flower? when they blossom? or when they bear fruits? or even when they withered? In wabi-sabi, there is no theoretical base for completion.

One of the interesting point is how wabi-sabi defines beauty and ugly. 

Wabi-sabi claim that beauty is an ongoing event among you and others at any one time, that is to say, beauty may suddenly appear. If the time, situation, objective condition, subjective condition, etc are correct, something that is regarded ugly in the past may become beautiful now. For example, for some wealthy businessmen to enjoy the tea ceremony, the Wabi-sabi style teahouse should looks like a medieval farmhouse that is without pretension, and boring. However, in an appropriate environment and appropriate condition, the cottages might become extremely stylish.

Duck Breast with Caramel Orange Sauce

Duck Breast with Caramel Orange Sauce is a classic French dish that brings a delightful aroma and unforgettable taste to your table. The caramel orange sauce and the crispy duck breast are the key ingredients to the dish and provide the perfect balance. 

Ingredients: 


1 duck breast

4 oranges

Few drops of fresh lemon juice




3TB orange wine (Cointreau)



1/4 cup wine vinegar



3TB Sugar
2 cups broth (chicken or duck)
2TB corn starch
2TB butter
3TB Port
Salt
Pepper


Steps: 


1. Skin the oranges and cut the zest into small strips

2. Add the zest into water and heat with low heat for 15 minutes. This will remove the spicy and bitter taste on the zest. Dry the zest and set aside.

3. Season the duck breast with salt, pepper and 1/3 of the orange zest. Leave it for about 15 minutes.




4. When we wait for the duck breast, we can start making the caramel orange sauce. First add 3TB sugar and 1/4 cup wine vinegar into a pot and heat with medium heat for several minutes until the liquid turns into a brown syrup. Turn the heat to low and add the broth and Port. Keep stirring and add the corn starch and rest of the zest. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes until it is mildly thick. This is the base of the sauce and you can leave it aside.






5. Slice the skin of the duck and dry it. Add the oil into the grill pan and saute the duck from the skin side. Spoon the duck oil and basting the duck meat side. This will ensure the great texture of the duck meat.

6. Saute the duck skin side down for about 20 minutes. Turn to the meat side and saute for another 3 to 4 minutes. This will cook the duck to well-done. Place the duck on the plate for another 5 minutes and serve.

7. Prepare another pot. Spoon 1TB of the duck oil from the grill pan into the pot. Add 1/2 cup of the Port and bring to boil. Take out the extra foam during the duration. When the sauce reduce to about 2 to 3 TB, add it into the sauce base we made previously. Turn to the low heat and add 2TB of the Cointreau into the sauce. Finally season the sauce with several drops of lemon juice. Add 2TB butter and stir well before serving. 

接下來就是

中烤

Crunchy Pepper Steak with Brandy Cream Sauce

 

To those who love meat and steak, this wonderful and finger-licking crunchy pepper steak is your final destination. The crispy crust of the pepper steak provide a perfect balance with the creamy brandy sauce. Nothing is better than that! 


Ingredients：
Steak 900g (We choose beef rib here.)
Peppercorn    2TB
Butter
Onion       1/4
Broth or water   1/2 cup
Brandy or Cognac     1/3 cup
Whipped Cream    1/2 cup

Steps：
Preparation of the steak:
1. Crushed the peppercorn.
2. Dry the steak with paper towels (water will affect the final colorization of the steak and makes it less beautiful)and rub the crushed peppercorn on both sides of the steak. 
3. Cover the steak with a oven paper and leave stand for about 30 minutes. (If you like stronger flavor of pepper you can leave it for 3 hours) 





Prepare the Brandy Cream Sauce:


1. Saute the butter and onion for about a minute.





2.Add the broth (or water) and turn to high heat, bring to boil.


3. Add the brandy and cook for another 2 or 3 minutes until the alcohol is evaporated. 


4. Add the whipped cream and stir for about 2 minutes.


5. Turn off the heat. Add 2TB of the butter and stir well. You can leave the sauce aside and re-heat it when it's time to serve.


Saute the steak:
1. Add 1Tb of oil and 1TB of butter to the Flambo Juicy Grill. Turn on medium heat.
2. Add the steak into the grill pan and saute both side for about 4 minutes. This will create a texture of medium steak and is the perfect condition for serving. 
3. Season the steak for salt and serve with the Brandy Cream Sauce.

 


 

A French Classic--Ratatouille!

Ratatouille is a traditional French stewed vegetable dish, originated in Nice. 
Originally, it is a very popular and common dish among farmers in southeast France, and there are no specific ingredients or techniques to prepare this wonderful dish. 
At that time, farmers always took a bunch of fresh local vegetables together, boiled in a big pot and enable the natural juice from the vegetables to cook themselves. It was a very casual dish and represent the local atmosphere of freedom and joy.
But right now, by many delicate improvement by famous chefs, Ratatouille is not just a farmers' dish with no rules. It is now a classic dish that represent France and the taste of the Mediterranean. 
Usually, ratatouille is served as a side dish, but from time to time, it can be also served as a meal on its own, with bread, rice, or pasta. 
Many young ladies and dieters enjoy ratatouille a lot because it is low in fat and calories, while providing great amount of nutrients for our body.


Ingredients:

Eggplant 400g

Zucchini 400g

2 Green Pepper
Onion 200g
Tomato 400g
Garlic: 2 cloves, minced
Parsley 3TB
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper


Steps:

1. Prepare the tomato: Remove the stem and slightly slice a cross on the bottom. Put the tomato in the boiled water for about 10 sec and skin it by the cross. You will find it really easy to skin the tomato. Then cut the tomato in half, remove the juice and seed. Slice the tomato into a 1cm cube and set aside.

2. Cut the green pepper and onion, set aside. Cut the eggplants and zucchini into small cubes and put into a large bowl. Sprinkle about 1tb salt on it and set aside for about 30 minutes. This will remove the extra juice from eggplant and zucchini. After 30 minutes, use paper towel to dry  them up.

3. Add 4 TB of olive oil into a pan. Saute both side of the eggplant and zucchini for about 1 minutes. Then set aside.





4. Cook the onion and green pepper for about 10 minutes, or unti they are soft. Add the garlic and tomato on it. Season with salt and pepper. Cover the pan and cook for another 5 minutes.


Then take away the lid and cook for a minute.


5. Put 1/3 of the tomato and onion mixture at the bottom and sprinkle 1TB of parsley.



Then put 1/2 of the eggplant and zucchini on top.



Put 1/2 of the rest of the tomato mixture on top.


Sprinkle 1 TB of parsley.


Then put the rest of the eggpant mixture.


Finally, the rest of the tomato mixture and 1TB of parsley.



Cover the casserole and simmer for 10 minutes.


After 10 minutes of simmer, stir the ratatouille and increase the heat to medium. Cook the ratatouille uncovered for another 15 minutes. (and keep stirring during the process)



Then it's all done and ready to serve!