[Christmas Feast_Salmon Kebab Pockets]

Da da!!
This is my other way to make good use and good dish with the leftover banana leaves - - -> Salmon Kebabs in pockets made from banana leaves. Of course, if you have a whole fish you could wrap it in the leave and either BBQ (weather permitted =)) or grill it in the oven. Banana leave has this unique smell and taste when put on grill (either on a BBQ grill or oven grill). It's great with seafood, chicken and pork. Not so good with beef, unsure about lamb tho'.

Ingredients:
Salmon (or seafood you desire), cut in cubes
Red onions (I love the taste after grilling)
Mushrooms
Cucumber

Methods:
1. Marinate the salmond with a little olive oil, vinegar, and some finely chopped Italian parsley for 20mins.
2. Arrange the Salmon cubes, red onions, mushrooms, and cucumber on bamboo sticks.
3. Preheat the oven to 350F.
4. Lightly grill the kebabs on a non-stick frying pan. DO NOT OVER-COOKED!!! This step is done just for some brown colour on the Salmon and to release the sweet taste of the red onions.
5. Wrap up the kebabs with the banana leaves. Secure the pockets with toothpicks. Spray the pockets with
6. Arrange the pockets in an ovenproof dish and grill for 30mins.


pic#1: Hot from the oven Salmon Kebab Pockets



pic#2: What it looks like inside the pocket.

[Christmas Eve Luncheon]

The family - the in-laws, husband's bro's family, and us got together for a Christmas eve luncheon on the 24th at a Cantonese restaurant for dimsum. After that everyone came back to our place for an afternoon of fun (some played games on the pc, surfed the net on the other, played mahjong, or just plain chit-chatting and nibbling).

It was another good on all grounds family gathering. Mmmm... come to think of it, maybe my expectation of the family gathering is getting lower and lower or else why would I be so pleased by just a simple gathering?? Uhhh??


Anyway, just wanting to show off a pic of my toenails (painted specially for the holidays) taken by my husband as we're getting the car after a very satisfying luncheon. Yeap... that was his shadow!! =))

[Christmas Feast_Honey Baked Chicken]

Found *ecstatic* and bought some banana leaves at our local grocery store a few days before Christmas. Had not thought of what I want to do with them but was sure I will think of something. At the time, I just wanna buy them and get them home. =))

Just the night before Christmas eve (Christmas eve eve?? =)) I said to myself why not use some of the leave to make a banana leave woven and use the rest for something else. This would sure be a show taker!! So here we are! =))

Preparation:
The night before:
*Banana Leave Woven*
Shred the banana leaves to strips.
Best if you can have them same width and length.
Start weaving!! Just make it big enough for the dish you're serving the bird (ie. pic#1).
Once done, leave it on the bencetop overnight.


Pic#1: Finished weaving!

*The Bird*
Marinade:
Garlic mince
Ginger mince
Sweet Mirin
White Merlot (I used Beringer)
Oyster Sauce

1. Mix the marinade together (except oyster sauce) and leave for ~30mins.
2. Rub the bird (in and out) with oyster sauce.
3. Then when 30mins is up, put the bird in a plastic bag (best with Ziploc bag, if you have one), and pour the marinade over the bird.
4. Leave in the fridge for overnight.

On the day:
1. Cover the weavened leaves. You don't want it to go too dry.
2. When ready, preheat the oven to 425F.
3. Put the bird on an ovenproof baking dish (breast side down). Reserve the marinade.
4. Chop up some vegie in chunks (ie. celery, carrot, onion, garlic) and put them in the cavity.
5. Mix the marinade with melted butter and honey. Set aside.
6. Put the bird in the oven for 30mins, then brush with the honey butter marinade. Bake for another 30mins or until golden. Brush with the marinade at a 10-minute interval.
7. Reduce the temp to 400F and turn the breast side up, bake until golden, brush with the marinade at a 10-minute interval. Bake the breast side for about 30 ~ 45mins.
8. Turn the breast side down, put a few lemon slices on the bird, brush with the marinade, and bake for a further 20mins.
9. Reduce the temp to 375F and bake for another 20mins.
10. Take the bird out, set aside.
11. When ready to serve, put the bird the prepared serving dish lined witht the woven (pic#2 & #3).


Pic#2: How do you like my new outfit?!


Pic#3: I'm ready if you are!!

[Real Hearty Steak]

Ahhh... as promised, here is the recipe to my hearty steak.




Ingredients:
2 nice pieces of beef steaks (type of steak to your desire, I used Skirt steaks on this recipe)
1 tspn fresh ground pepper (or less if you prefer less peppery)
1 tspn olive oil
3 tspns light soy sauce
1/2 tspn honey
1/2 tspn water

Methods:
1. Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl and marinate the steak for 30mins to an hour.
2. Fire up your pan to medium heat. Lightly sear both sides and toss the pan in an oven of 325F for 20 ~ 25mins of light grilling (make sure your pan is ok to be left in an oven for 20 or so minutes otherwise transfer the steaks to an ovenproof dish).
3. Take the pan out from the oven (REMEMBER to use your oven mitts as the handle will be hot!!) and leave it in the pan for about 5mins before plating.

[Walnut Cookies]

Made these the day after Christmas and it took my husband 1.5 days to finish them all. Oooh ... did I mention along with a box of the homemade biscottis too?


*The 2 round pieces are the walnut cookies. The one next to it is the mixed berry biscotti.

Makes ~35
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, diced
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tspns vanilla extract
1 cup walnuts, finely chopped

Methods:
1. Preheat oven to 150C/300F and grease two baking sheets.
2. Cream the butter until soft. Add the sugar and continue to beat until light and fluffy. Stir in the flour, vanilla extract and chopped walnuts.
3. Drop teaspoons of the batter onto the prepared baking sheets. Flatten slightly. Sprinkle with ginger spiced sugar.
4. Bake the cookies for about 25mins, or until golden.
5. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack. Leave to cool.

Ginger spiced sugar:
sugar + ground ginger + ground cinnamon + ground nutmeg

[Real Hearty]

Friday ... mmmm... for some reason Friday tends to give me the inspiration to have something special, something different for dinner. Either something new or something that we have not had for a while.

So... after some careful consideration and calculation (heheheheee...), I decided to cook ourselves some steak with baked pasta as side (a BIG side as you can see from the pic).

The finished product - steak with simple marinate (will post recipe later), decorated with iceberg lettuce by the corners.


Baked pasta topped with potato slices then layered with fine shredded mozzarella cheese.


Overall ... it's a real hearty Friday dinner!!

[Tuppakaka]

I can't remember where I got the recipe to this fabulous cake from. It's a Swedish cake (according to the recipe), soooo easy to make ... great with either a cuppa black coffee or tea.



Here comes the recipe:

Ingredients:
2 Eggs
1 1/4 Cups Caster Sugar (I used 1 cup)
1/3 Cup Butter, melted
1 Cup + 1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon All-Purpose Flour (don't know why the specific of 1 Tbspn and 1 tspn)
1/2 Cup Dry Breadcrumbs
1/2 Cup Sliced Almond

Methods:
1. Preheat oven to 400F. Grease a 9" cake tin and sprinkle with dry breadcrumbs.
2. Mix together the eggs and sugar, stir in the melted butter to the mix. Add flour and mix until smooth.
3. Spread the batter into the prepared tin and sprinkle the sliced almonds on top.
4. Bake for 25 minutes or until top is brown. Allow cake to cool before slicing.

optional:
Put the kettle on and make yourself a cuppa coffee or tea to enjoy the cake with. ^.^