on a Quest

Chef Que Vinh Dang invited us to the soft launch of his new restaurant Quest. We were excited as we missed his private kitchen TBLS.

Our culinary treat kicked off with Hamachi sashimi, cherry tomato jelly and sea grapes.

Fresh Alaskan King crab with avocado, enveloped in a rice paper roll.

Beef tartar had flavours reminiscent of Vietnamese beef pho.

A perfectly seared Hokkaido scallop served with sweet corn.

A lovely piece of seared Alaskan Black Cod, served on a bed of sugar snap peas.

Charred pork belly with taro and brussel sprouts rounded out our mains.

And to complete our delicious and indulgent meal, a moist almond cake topped with grilled pineapple and homemade salted caramel ice cream.

favourite holiday

Our favourite holiday is here! We love everything about Thanksgiving from the chilly weather and all the cooking, to the smell of pumpkin pie and overeating. It's just simply about being with your loved ones, being thankful for one another and of course, being together to share a great meal.

This year we're doing some Mary's Heritage and Free Range Turkeys.

Roasted - 4 hours.

Deep Fried - 30 minutes.

A large fat separator makes the best pan gravy.

Check out this giant can of pumpkin. It makes 8 pies!

Homemade Pumpkin Pie

makes one 9 inch pie

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp all spice
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs

1 can 15 oz 100% pure pumpkin puree
1 can 12 fl oz evaporated milk (1½ cups)

1  unbaked 9-10” pie crust (Martha Stewart's Pate Brisee)

METHOD:

1. Place oven rack to lower third and preheat to 425F (220C).

2. Mix sugar and spices and beat in eggs.

3. Stir in pumpkin and then gradually evaporated milk. Don’t vigorously beat or over mix. This will create air bubbles which will cause the filling to rise like a soufflé in the oven.

4. Let mixture rest 20 minutes or overnight in the fridge.

5. Take pie shell out of freezer and brush the bottom with egg white (to prevent a soggy crust). Brush the edges with egg wash (yolk + cream).

6. Pour the rested pumpkin mixture into pie shell and cover edge of crust with pie shield. Place pie plate on a baking sheet.

7. Bake at 425F for 15 minutes. Reduce to 350F (180C) and bake for 40 minutes. Remove pie when the centre is still a little wobbly to prevent the filling from over baking and cracking.

8. Garnish with pie cutouts. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours and then refrigerate.

9. Serve cold with freshly whipped cream.

Thanksgiving is not complete without all the sides.

 And the feast (and overeating) begins!

happy cakes

Cupcakes are what I call a happy fun food. They're easy to make from staples found in your pantry, fun to decorate with kids, perfect for a party or play date and they always bring a smile to everyone's face. This simple vanilla cake stays moist and is delicious on its own, or it can be frosted with a fluffy buttercream for an extra special treat!

Happy Cupcakes
makes 36 mini or 18 regular cupcakes
recipe adapted from Sweet Revenge's "Pure" Cupcakes.

INGREDIENTS:
1.5 cups cake flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick (1/2 cup or 113g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk (or substitute 1/2 cup whole milk + 2 tsp lemon juice)
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

METHOD:
1. Preheat oven to 325F (163 C).

2. If not using buttermilk, add lemon juice to milk and let sit undisturbed for 5 minutes. Once the milk fat has separated and accumulated on the top, gently scoop out and discard. Set aside.

3. Fill your muffin tin with cupcake liners. Tip: carefully remove each liner individually from the stack without creasing or flattening the folds. If the liner doesn't sit neatly in the tin, you may end up with a loose liner once the cupcakes are baked.

4. In a medium bowl, sift or whisk together cake flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Tip: if you don't have cake flour on hand, make your own. For every cup of cake flour needed, just measure 1 cup all purpose flour, then remove 2 tbsp of flour and add 2 tbsp of cornstarch. Sift well and there you have instant cake flour.

5. In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy. Add eggs one by one and beat until well combined.

6. Mix in flour in three parts, alternating with buttermilk. Stir in vanilla.

7. Fill cupcake liners half full with batter and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 15-20 minutes for mini or 20-25 minutes for regular cupcakes. Rotate muffin tins halfway through baking.

4. Once the cupcakes are done, transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely. Unfrosted cupcakes can be stored at room temperature in an air tight container up to 3 days. Cupcakes must be completely cool before storing or else condensation will form and you'll end up with soggy cakes and liners that will start separating.

5. Frost the tops of each cupcake with buttercream and decorate as desired. Frosted cupcakes should be consumed the same day.

mexican with a twist

We were invited to CHINO during their soft opening earlier this month.

This cool new Kennedy Town hangout with former NOBU chef Erik Idos at the helm serves modern Mexican infused with and inspired by Asian ingredients.

Tortilla chips fresh out of the fryer. Served with pico de gallo, tomatillo salsa, guac and our personal favourite, a very unique and delicious shiso leaf salsa.

Grilled local corn with chipotle, kewpie mayo and queso oaxaca.

Pumpkin and sweet potato kakiage with lobster and uni.

For the vegetarians out there, black bean and mushroom soft tacos.

For the meat eaters, a chili glazed wagyu steak served with king trumpet mushrooms.

Other items on the menu we tried were house made vegetable and jalapeno pickles, a fresh local white fish ceviche, mushroom mizuna salad, a very crisp shrimp tostada, a filling and moist chicken tostada that was topped with a nice gooey fried egg, and a spicy and warming tortilla soup made with a chipotle and dashi broth. We loved how the do it yourself fish tacos were presented; each morsel of lightly battered and fried sea bass nestled in between the filleted fish.

For dessert we had CHINO's take on tres leches which was made with the addition of Thai tea. It had a Japanese cereal topping that gave the moist and dense cake a nice crunch. Alas we finished it too quickly to get a photo.

fall produce

Fall brings our favourite citrus, the blood orange, back in town.

Also look at the vibrant colours of these rainbow carrots. 

Full of flavour raw, they just needed a fat, an acid, some fresh herbs and a bit of seasoning to be served as a slaw.

And of course it's pumpkin season too. This meaty and dense white variety was so fragrant when we cut it open.

It was almost a shame we turned it into a Jack O'lantern instead of eating it.

here there everywhere

It's fun and interesting to see how produce ends up on our tables. Last summer, we visited some table grape farms in Central Valley, CA. One of the largest producers in the region is Sun World and we got a chance to see the labour intensive process it takes to get grapes from vineyard to distribution. And now this summer at a supermarket in Toronto, we see the product at the next stage, ready for the consumer on the retail shelf. These grapes have trucked quite the distance to get here.

Beautiful Hass avocados while we were visiting St. Louis, MO. They are just a lovelier shade of green when they don't have fly to HK.

Back in HK, it's back to business with 3 different food shows occurring during the same week.

It's also Alaskan King Salmon season and we are fortunate to nab one. It was over 14 lbs and just barely fit on our counter.

Arrived by air and super fresh.

Wild salmon really does taste so much better than the farmed variety.

Next week we're expecting a shipment of these baby rainbow carrots from CA. The colours are amazing.

farmers market

We were in Toronto for part of the summer and the lovely part about being in North America are the really great farmers markets.

Summer's bounty of really fresh organic baby beets.

Ontario strawberries.

This mushroom seller was really friendly and an abundance of knowledge of just about every type of mushroom there was.

He was a really good salesman and we walked away with 4 different varieties.

I just loved the stall where they prepackaged washed and chopped organic kale grown just an hour or so away.
 

And nothing welcomes you to summer in Canada like a big tall Bloody Caesar.

more of Italy

Where to go next?

Rome.

Tuscany.

It really is as beautiful as they say.

Another sausage and ham producer.

 Best part of the day; sampling!