Thanksgiving Roasted Hen with Sage

Although I don't usually celebrate Thanksgiving like most North American families do, by throwing a huge family dinner mainly composed of roasted turkey, yam and other goodies, I do enjoy preparing roasted chicken and turkey. It wasn't the case a few months back when I thought that roasting was such a lengthy cooking process to get perfectly cooked poultry that's juicy, tender and flavourful. From past experience, turkey meat I tasted was often dry and bland. Because friends would always tell me that the key to preparing a plump and juicy turkey is to continuously baste it, which can take hours, the idea to even try to prepare one completely turned me off. At last, a friend of mine shared her secret with me. The trick is literally "in the bag". Roasting poultry in a brown paper grocery bag creates a steamy environment that cooks the meat quickly. Two weeks ago, I had tried this roasting method with 2 huge turkey legs and the result was extremely moist and flavourful turkey. This week, I'm using a regular sized grain-fed chicken, which took me only 20 minutes to prepare, and the rest was taken care of by the oven.


Recipe "au pif":
1 whole grain-fed chicken or 10lb turkey
1/3 cup melted unsalted butter (or 1/2 part butter and 1/2 part olive oil)
1 regular brown paper lunch bag (for chicken) or 1 brown paper grocery bag (for turkey)
2 cups baby carrots (washed)
2 large potatoes cut in big pieces
1 small onion, quartered
4 sprigs fresh thyme
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
6 sage leaves (10 for turkey)
3 garlic cloves, mashed (6 for turkey)
1/4 cup lemon zest
1 tbsp spicy salt
1 tbsp ground paprika
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp dried chili flakes
6 lemon peels
2 tbsp flour

For even roasting, let chicken (or turkey) sit at room temperature for 1 hour before cooking.

Place rack in lower third of oven and preheat to 325F.

Apply melted butter to brown paper bag with a pastry brush (IMPORTANT: bag must be thoroughly greased throughout so that it doesn't burn and it will seal in the steam).

Pour in about 1 tbsp of the melted butter inside the cavity of the chicken (or turkey) and apply melted butter all over the skin with a pastry brush.

Season inside out with spicy salt, pepper, paprika and red chili flakes.

Place inside cavity garlic cloves, 2 sprigs thyme, 1 sprigs rosemary, onion quarters and 3 lemon peels. Place 1 sage leave under skin of breast chicken (or turkey) of each breast and leg (4 sage leaves in total).

Place potatoes and carrots, remaining thyme, rosemay, sage and lemon peels in brown paper bag, in a large baking dish, and set chicken (or turkey) on top, breast-side up. Double fold bag's opening and paper clip closed. Roast chicken for about 1 1/2 hours (or 2 1/2 hours for the turkey), undisturbed.

Remove from oven, open bag; be careful of steam inside of bag. Return chichen or turkey into the oven and broil for about 10 minutes for a darker brown colour.

When finished, remove chicken (or turkey) from the bag and place on serving platter with the carrots and potatoes.

While chicken (or turkey) rests, pour the drippings from the bag and the baking dish in a pan. Add a bit of chicken stock if needed. Blend in flour and stir until mixture is golden and becomes thick, over medium-high heat.

Serves 4. (Turkey serves 6-8 people).

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thin Crust Apple Tart

We had gorgeous weather this weekend. It was very sunny and warm enough to walk around in sandals and summer clothes. Lots of Montrealers took advantage of fall's last few days of warm weather to contemplate the gorgeous colours of the leaves or to go out in the countryside to pick apples, as it's peak season for apple and pear picking. Next week I'll be gearing up for this traditional activity, if the nice weather persists, and can't wait to stop by the local family-owned baking joints where they make amazing apple and pumpkin pies. I never thought pumpkin pies would be delicious until I had tried one a few years ago, freshly made straight out of the oven. My view on pumpkin pies or pumpkins alone completely changed that day.

But today, I was in the mood to make a thin crust apple tart, which is incredibly simple to make. It's a recipe that my aunt gave me while I was visiting my relatives in Lausanne, Switzerland a few years ago. Both my aunt and uncle are incredible cooks, especially when it comes to vietnamese and french food. Each time I went over, I always felt like I was greeted by an italian family. There is always so much food! And like italians, my relatives love to watch their guests eat, and they will not stop nagging you until you've eaten everything. With the continuous poking, you'll never hear the end of "eat!". Who says you need to be Italian to eat well?

Recipe "au pif":

Phyllo dough sheets (3 to 4 sheets) or pre-made pastry dough

3 Granny Smith apples

1/2 cup melted unsalted butter or olive oil (or half qty butter plus half qty olive oil)

1/4 cup heavy cream (35%)

some icing sugar

Preheat oven at 350F.

Peel apples, remove center and cut them in very thin slices

Brush each phyllo sheet with butter and oil and lay them one on top of the other on a medium sized flat rectangular baking pan (14 inch x 9 1/2 inch), or roll pastry dough size of baking pan, to flatten it at about 1/4 inch thin (1/2 cm).

Lay the slices of the apples on the dough.

Bake for about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and drizzle the heavy cream. Put back in oven and bake for another 15 minutes or until crust is golden brown and edges of some of the apple slices are slightly browned.

Sprinkle some icing sugar.

Serves 4-6 people.

Serve warm with a scoop of ice cream or frozen yogurt, while crust is still crispy.

Sauteed Turkey Meat Balls with Stew

When I smell the crisp and cool autumn air, I imagine the delicious pumpkin pies and the stews simmering on my stove; and...Aaachoo! Unfortunately, at this time of year, mid-September on the east coast of Canada, is the worst time of year for people like me having ragweed allergies. Although I'm usually not thrilled about taking antihistamines, there are days when my allergies are so bad, when my runny nose just can't stop running, my watery eyes are burning like fire and I just can't take it anymore. I'd have had it and say to myself; "OK, that's enough, I'll take one of these little tablets, even if they're expired, but at least I'll breathe normally and be able to smell the food I'm cooking". Problem solved.

For the menu today, I'd like to share with you a recipe for a fabulous dish that turned noses and eyes for its remarkable herbal fragrance and it's velvety texture. It's a dish I had made at least 10 years ago for a couple of friends. I just saw them again a week ago and all they were talking about was that famous dish, which I couldn't remember off hand, and that I had prepared for them. Quickly, I had to look back at my old handwritten cooking recipes and couldn't find it anywhere! So I had to rely on my neurons (or what's left of it, being in my 30's already) and be innovative. Turns out that my intuition had picked up quickly on what I used to make so often a long time ago. And because things change constantly, I had to add a bit of my new essence in this revamped recipe, which turned out more flavourful and soft and creamy in texture than the original recipe. It's also a great alternative to the traditional roasted turkey for Thanksgiving dinners.

There are four important steps to this recipe.

1) the turkey mixture has to be marinated overnight

2) the turkey meat balls have to be sauteed first
3) the veggies; carrots and potatoes also to be sauteed separately
4) prepare the stew

**

Recipe "au pif":

Turkey meal balls:

1 1/2 lb ground turkey (or ground chicken)

1 medium onion finely chopped

1 1/2 cup of cold white steamed/cooked rice

1 large egg

2 tbsp of spicy salt (orange in colour, found in caribbean food stores. Garlic salt will also do)

1 tsp ground pepper

3 Sage leaves

2 tbsp Canola oil to sauter meat balls

**

Potatoes and Carrots:

4 medium sized potatoes chopped in 2 inch cubes or pieces

1 cup peeled and washed baby carrots

3 Sage leaves

1/2 tsp spicy salt or garlic salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1 tbsp Canola oil to sauter potatoes and carrots

**

Sauce for the stew:

1 tbsp flour

2 tbsp pureed tomatoes

1 tsp tomato paste

1 tbsp regular curry powder (mild or hot)

2 tsp chicken bouillon powder

2 tsp red hot chili tabasco sauce

2/3 cup water

3 stems of fresh thyme
2 bay leaves

1 tbsp Canola oil

**

STEP 1:

In large bowl, mix turkey/chicken, rice, egg, onions, spices and sage with your hands until everything is well blended together.

Cover mixture with a plastic film and refrigerate overnight to allow hardening of the mixture. This will make the meat ball rolling process much easier.

**

STEP2:

Make approx. 2-inch-diameter turkey meat balls with your hands, until no more meat mixture is left. Should make about 25-30 meat balls.

Sauté the meat balls in hot oil, on medium-high heat, in a large sauce pan and shake the pan to continuously roll the meat balls around to ensure even browning on the outside for about 5-7 minutes. The surface of the meat balls should be lightly brown but the interior uncooked. It'll be cooked in the stew later.

Put meat balls aside.

**

STEP3:

In separate bowl, mix potatoes and carrots with sage and spices.

Using same saucepan in which the meat balls were sauteed, heat oil on medium-high heat and sauté for 5-7 minutes the potatoes and carrots until they have a softer texture, but not yet fully cooked.

Put potatoes and carrots aside

**

STEP 4:

In same saucepan used for the meatballs and veggies, heat a little bit of canola oil on medium-high heat and stir in flour. Continuous stir until you get a paste.

Add in tomato paste and tomato puree, chicken bouillon powder, curry powder, tabasco sauce and water, and continuously stir until sauce thickens (add more water if sauce is too think. Sauce should have a gravy-consistency but still be a little runny. The sauce will thicken later with the addition of the potatoes and carrots.)

Add in the sauteed carrots, potatoes and meat balls last in the sauce. Throw in the thyme and bay leaves.

Cover and simmer at medium heat for about 30 minutes, to allow the steam to cook the turkey and vegetables.

After 30 minutes, lay on a serving dish, the vegetables and sauce and add the meat balls on that layer by pouring sauce over the meat balls.

Enjoy a hearty meal for social or family gatherings on a festive day or any other day you feel like having an internationally-flavoured stew.

Chewy Oatmeal Cranberry-Raisin-Ginger Cookies

It was perfect weather for sleeping in this morning. There's something comforting about the sound of trickling rain on the window pane and the coolness of the air in the bedroom, while I'm tucked in warmly under my duvet. Rainy and damp weekends are a bummer for those who look forward to spending this time of leisure outside to gather with family and friends, to play sports, or to lazy around on a hammock. For a homebody like me, rainy days are often graciously welcomed to catch up with sleep and cooking. They're also wonderful occasions to take fabulous close-up photos of plants and flowers with rain droplets hanging from the tip of their leaves or petals. What more can a new photography and blogging enthusiast need more? It's interesting how gloomy days are perceived negatively by most, and is automatically tagged as a boring day, because there is nothing to do. What do you mean, nothing to do?! Even if we had a day planned ahead to do things outside, it's a great opportunity to catch up with stuff that our hectic schedules would seldom allow us to do. To name a few, there's reading, catching up with movies on DVD, experimenting with new cooking recipes, spending valuable time alone to reconnect with oneself, and my favorite, catch up with sleep!

My close friends and work colleagues know how much sleep is important to me. So much they know me that right before a weekend forecasted with showers for the entire two days, my colleagues will tease me and ask me with an ironic tone "Oh, look at that, they're announcing rain ALL weekend Q. So what are your plans for this weekend...?". It doesn't stop here. Same teasing happens as soon as I arrive at the office from a rainy weekend. I definitely built a reputation at work, that the teasing has become an inside joke between my colleagues and me. Others, who don't know me well, will go as far as believing that I have a sleep condition and start preaching me about going to have my condition checked out! It's hilarious. I love sleeping. period.

All this to say, that rainy days are great to do just about anything simple and soothing, like slowly sipping hot green tea infused with fresh ginger and nibbling on homemade chewy oatmeal cookies, at the comfort of my own home.

**

Recipe "au pif":

3/4 whole wheat flour

3/4 all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

pinch of salt

pinch of baking powder

5 cardamon seeds crushed

2 cloves crushed
2 sticks unsalted butter (or 1 stick butter and 5 tbsp margarine) softened at room temp.

1/2 cup raw sugar cane

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 - 2 cups rolled oats (not instant oatmeal)

1 cup raisins (soaked in warm water for 15 minutes)

1 cup dried cranberries (soaked in warm water for 15 minutes)

1 tbsp minced ginger mixed with 1 tbsp warm honey (or 1 tbsp ginger jam)

Preheat overn to 350F.

Oil two large cookie sheets or line them with waxed paper

With whisk or electric mixer, beat butter/margarine until creamy. Add sugar cane, eggs and vanilla; beat until smooth and creamy.

Mix flour, salt, baking powder, nutmeg, cardamon and cloves in a separate bowl.

Stir flour mixture into the butter mixture. Add in rolled oats, raisins, cranberries, ginger and honey. With spatula, fold mixture until all ingredients are well blended.

With ice cream scooper, place cookie dough onto cookie sheets leaving at least 2 inches between each scoop.

Bake for 20-25 minutes,until edges of cookies are golden brown but center is light beige. Do not overbake them, otherwise cookies will not be soft and chewy.

Makes about 15-18 cookies.

The cardamon seeds and ginger make a huge difference in the flavours of this cookie.

Original Pasta alla Genovese

Summer is coming to a close. Temperatures are already cooler and days are shorter. Ragweed season is already taking a toll on me with a very itchy nose and watery eyes. I'm definitely not a big fan of fall season with its cold, humid and damp weather, especially here on the east coast of Canada. I am, on the other hand, looking forward to cooking lots of hearty meals and soups. Fall and winter are the seasons I can cook up a storm, just like today. I managed to post 4 recipes in one day! I wouldn't call it obsession, but prefer calling it a passion.

Today was a perfect day to try out an Italian-style stew that caught my attention last week, while I was watching my favorite cooking show A la di Stasio. The nice thing about cooking shows is that you see how a dish is actually prepared, making it easier for the viewer to follow a recipe successfully. And I was right, the stew turned out fantastic! It's a stew that consists of 20 minutes of preparation and 6-8 hours of braising! Sounds exhaustive. It's actually a meal that you fix in minutes and just forget about it for the rest of your day. 6-8 hours is plenty of time to catch up with my sleep, reading or updating my blog...even better, cook another meal!

Unfortunately, a good friend of mine who now resides in France, will probably turn green when she sees the ingredients of this recipe. As much as she loves eating good food, she can't stand onions! With all due respect, onions is used in almost every recipe around the world. But that's ok...I know people who will appreciate it for it's simplicity and for it's italian flavours.

Recipe "au pif":

4 1/2 lb regular yellow onions, peeled (12 medium sized onions)

olive oil

butter

2 lb (about 1 kilo) beef chuck shoulder (beef side)

1 cup diced prosciutto

1lb ziti or penne pasta (or macaroni, rigatoni...any pasta!)

grated Romano or Parmigiano Reggiano

salt and pepper

**

Blanch the onions by putting them first in a large pan filled with cold water. Bring to a boil and cook for 1 minute. Discard water and soak onions in cold water. Blanching the onions will release some of the acidic bitter taste and enhance the colour of the onions.

Cut the onions in halves and then in thin slices with a very sharp knife (blanched onions have slippery layers of skin, and you won't stop cursing if you don't use a sharp knife).

In a large pan, heat olive oil and a bit of butter and brown all sides of the beef shoulder. Season with salt and pepper.

Add the onions, a bit of salt and stir.

Add in the prosciutto, stir and cover.

Allow to braise on very low heat (the minimum) for 6-8 hours.

This stew can also be cooked in the oven at 250F for the same amount of time, 6-8 hours.

After 6-8 hours, remove braised beef, put aside in large dish and keep warm.
Cook pasta in boiling water in a large pan, until "al dente".

Drain pasta.

Add sauce and meat to pasta, wait 1 minute for flavours to blend, add grated cheese if desired, and enjoy...

Assolutamente delicioso!

Banana and coconut "pain perdu"

Believe me, this cake is as yummy as it looks.

It melts in your mouth and is eaten best when the cake is warm and very moist, fresh out of the oven.

While I spent most of my life growing up in Montreal, I always kept part of the French culture with me from the first 5 years I grew up in France, especially when it came to food! Aah, the smell and taste of butter. Although I was only 5 years old, I remember the most painful moments at that age, when I left my friends in France for a new life with my parents and little brother to Canada, as much as I remember the most pleasant ones; picking up muscles by the beach in Normandie and eating them endlessly with my little camarades. I also vividly remember the aromas of baking gâteau de riz or gâteau quatre-quarts drifting from my nanny's kitchen at la campagne (the countryside in Normandie). How can one forget such pleasant experiences?

When my parents were settling down in Canada and adapting to the north american culture, my mother kept some of the French influence in her cooking, like her famous banana cake, that very much resembles a "pain perdu" (also known as bread pudding in english), using mainly ripened bananas and stale bread. If you don't know what to do with stale bread and overly ripened bananas, this is the perfect recipe to have these foods not go to waste. Apples and pears can also be used, if desired. AND because this cake is really not sweet, unlike donuts and muffins, it can be eaten for breakfast as well.

Recipe "au pif":

4-5 ripened bananas, cut in 1/2-inch slices

1 bagette sliced in about 15 pieces

2 cups 1% milk

1/2 cup coconut milk

1 large egg

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon powder (or freshly grated cinnamon stick)

1/2 cup raw cane sugar (or regular white powdered sugar)

Preheat oven at 350F.

Mix milk, coconut milk, egg, vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon and sugar in medium-sized bowl, with wisk.

In a 8 1/2 inch square pan, stack one layer of bread and one layer of bananas. Press firmly throughly to flatten.

Pour in just enough milk mixture so that it covers the bread and banana layer.

Repeat these steps until you run out of bread and bananas, or until you reached the top of your pan.

With your hands, press firmly and throughout until liquid reaches the surface of the cake and the bread and bananas are completely soaked and tightly squeezed together. Basically, the cake has to be submerged in the liquid. If you can, lay a brick or heavy pan (that can go into the oven) over a sheet of greased aluminium foil, on top of the cake, to compress the cake. Bake for about 15 minutes until the cake has set and remove the weight (brick or pan).

Bake for about 40-45 minutes, until cake is golden brown.

Drizzle a bit of rum or add a scoop of ice cream to enjoy this heavenly exotic "bread pudding" cake.

Broiled salmon with garlic and ginger

Although there are days when I am looking forward to my weekends to cook up a storm, there are also days when I just feel physically drained from a hectic week at work that I don't even think about looking at my pots and pans or at my super sleek Bosch range (which I fell in love with the day I first saw it). I just lie in bed or on my couch and dream of having a personal cook to prepare gourmet meals for the weekend and the week ahead. Wouldn't it be nice to have that sometimes? We all deserve a little break once in a while.

When I don't have the energy to even look up on the internet for simple and easy recipes, and don't want to feed myself with junk food, I call my mom to the rescue. No, no, no, my mother would not come over to cook for me because a) she lives in a different city (5 hours away by car) and b) she's as lazy as I am and loves sleeping as much as I do! But ever since she's retired, she's become a great source of ideas for fast and nutritious recipes. Vietnamese cuisine is often light and healthy, unlike other asian cuisines which tend to be more oily and heavy.

I couldn't believe how simple and quick this recipe sounded when she told me about it the other day. Most importantly, she told me how my father loves this dish, which was a good sign that I would love it too as he and I have very similar tastes in food.

Recipe "au pif":

Salmon:

2 lb salmon fillet (the more fat the better)

1 tsp fish sauce (nuoc mam)

1 tsp canola oil

1 tsp lemon

1/2 tsp minced garlic

1/2 tsp minced ginger

Dipping sauce:

1 tbsp fish sauce (nuoc mam)

1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp minced ginger

1/2 tsp thinly sliced cayenne pepper (very HOT, don't rub your face after cutting)

Mix all above ingredients in small bowl.

Marinate salmon fillet in fish sauce, oil, lemon, garlic and ginger for about an hour, refrigerate.

Once well marinated, salmon is broiled for 5 minutes in the oven. Turn off broil and leave salmon to bake for max 10 minutes in low heat at 200F to make sure salmon is not overcooked, but nice and moist.

Vietnamese families love dipping pieces of this salmon in the garlic/ginger/chili/fish sauce.

Makes 4 servings.

Phyllo crust chicken pie "piquante"

Lately, I have been craving for chicken and meat pies. Perhaps, fall is just around the corner and my body is calling for warm and hearty meals. It started right after work last Thursday late afternoon when my stomach started growling like a lion. To calm myself down, I got off one bus stop earlier so that I could get myself something edible and sinful at a local French pâtisserie. Although their cakes and pastries aren't the best I've ever tasted, to my surprise, their chicken and meat pies are incredibly gratifying. While eating one of their rich and buttery chicken pies, I was immediately inspired to make one this weekend. I eliminated the hassle of making the pie crust, by substituting the pie dough with phyllo dough.
Once again, it's simple, yet rich and buttery.

Recipe "au pif":
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 1/2 cups frozen peas and carrots
2 tbsp melted butter
1 tbsp canola oil
3 tsp chicken bouillon (powder) or 2 cubes of chicken bouillon
1 1/2 cups 1% milk
1 1/4 cups water
1/2 cup flour
2 1/2 cups grilled or roasted chicken breast, sliced or shredded in 2 inch long pieces
1 tsp dry red chili flakes or 1 chopped pickled jalapeno pepper
3-4 phyllo sheets (each brushed with oil)
salt and pepper

Preheat oven at 350F.

Cook mushrooms, peas and carrots in butter and oil in a big skillet or saucepan.
When mushrooms are cooked, remove from heat.
Using whisk, stir in salt and tons of pepper (about 1 1/2 tbsp), bouillon, milk and water.
Slowly add the flour, whisking the whole time.
Cook on medium-low heat until the mixture thickens and gets bubbly.
Stir in chicken and warm through (about 5 minutes stirring).
Before baking, stir in red chili flakes or pickled jalapeno pepper.

Pour in chicken mixture in baking pan and cover with phyllo sheets. Fold and tuck in edges of the phyllo dough.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until phyllo crust is golden brown.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Lobster in Spicy Blackbean Sauce

Chinese cooking is a breeze when you think about stir-fries. But when it comes to Chinese restaurant-style cooking, now that's another story. It's not that easy, unless you were raised by a Chinese family. It takes time and practice to realize that a good wok, the intense cooking heat, the right cooking wines/oils, and speed make a major difference in the aromas and flavours in Chinese cuisine.

Although I don't have a gas stove (my next investment) and have a decent wok, I was able to re-create one of my favourite dishes, lobster in blackbean sauce, just like in popular chinese restaurants. I was so proud of myself that day, especially when my parents, who will not eat chinese food other than at renowned chinese restaurants, started licking their fingers and asked for more!

One helpful tip to make fabulous lobster in blackbean sauce enjoyable to eat is to crack open the lobster shell in advance, in places where the meat is hard to reach (like claws). You want to make sure your guests don't battle with their food all evening.

Recipe "au pif":
Lobster:
1 huge fresh lobster (if you can't cut it yourself, you can ask the store to do it for you)
1 tbsp corn starch
2 tsp coarse sea salt
2 tsp ground black pepper (lots)

Sauce:
3/4 lb ground pork
1/2 cup finely chopped red bell pepper (about 3/4 of 1 red bell pepper)
1 cup chopped green onions (scallions)
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1 tbsp black bean sauce (local asian grocery store)
1 tbsp oyster sauce (local asian grocery store)
1 tbsp corn starch
1/2 - 1 tsp red chili paste (depending on how much heat you can take)
1 1/2 cup water

4 tbsp canola oil for cooking

Coat the lobster pieces with the corn starch, salt and pepper.

In a small bowl mix water, corn starch, oyster sauce and chili paste with a wisk and put aside for later to make the sauce.

Heat 2 tbsp canola oil in wok or big sauce pan.
Stir fry the lobster pieces for about 5-10 minutes until golden and meat is cooked (check by poking with a knife if meat is white inside out).
Remove lobster and put aside in a large dish.
At medium heat, heat 1 tbsp canola oil in wok and add in ground pork (with a wooden spoon continuously break and stir the pork to make sure pork is cooked in fine granular pieces, and not chunks).
Remove cooked pork and put aside.
Increase heat at high, add in remaining 1 tbsp of the canola oil in wok and stir fry scallions, garlic, red bell peppers. Immediately add in the cooked pork and stir.
Pour in the water mixture, lower heat and stir until sauce becomes thick like gravy.
Pour the sauce over the lobster.


Serve warm with white steamed Jasmin rice.

Serves 4...or 2 hungry people.

Pickled Sour Pork appetizers

Although the name of this appetizer may not sound appealing to taste for most westerners, but for asians, especially southeast asians, it's a relish! When I used to live with my parents during my early college years, I would always look forward to have a couple of those sour pork munchies with my mother after a long day's of school classes, and my mother's long day at work. As we would savour these spicy asian tidbits with a wonderful glass of Porto or red Martini, my father never really appreciated wine or any other famous digestif that marry well with this authentic and popular vietnamese finger food. On the other hand, my mother and I had made it a ritual to have our aperitif late afternoons rendez-vous. Now that we both live in different cities, my mother always makes sure that she brings some to Montreal everytime my parents come to visit every now and then, so that we can both enjoy the apperitif together like the good old days. The sour taste of the pickled pork and the sweet dry taste of red Martini or Porto blend exceptionally well, and creates an indescribable sensation of satisfaction and relaxation. Meaning, it's break time, time stands still and no one or nothing can take that precious moment away from you. For most it's an acquired taste, and for those already experienced, it's a "Calgon-take-me-away" moment.

I have to admit that I have never prepared these appetizers as they were always readily available in local asian grocery stores. Apparently, my mother had prepared it a long time ago, and it doesn't seem that hard to make. In case you are interested, the recipe is as follows:

Recipe "au pif":
1 pound pork loin, sliced
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1/4 cup fish sauce
4 ounces pork skin (instead of preparing the pork sking you can buy it frozen)
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 cup uncooked rice, roasted
ground banana leaves
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 small red chili, sliced
1/2 cup pickled baby leeks

Pound pork meat thin and marinate with a portion of the salt, sugar and fish sauce. Cook pork skin until golden; allow to cool and cut into fine strips. Gently saute the garlic in oil until fragrant, then add remaining fish sauce and sugar, and reduce to a thick consistency.
Combine pork meat, pork skin, garlic, fish sauce and the rice meal. Shape into patties and place on banana leaf. Add a slice of garlic and a slice of chili before wrapping the "sausage" in the leaf. Refrigerate for 2 days. Serve with pickled leeks.

But if you're lazy like me and know that the already available pickled sour pork goodies can be easily purchased at local asian grocery stores, and are as good as home made versions, by all means, get one already made!

Moist Banana and Tofu cake

First time I had this cake, it reminded me of a "pain perdu"style cake that a relative of mine from France used to make for me when I was wee high. Mind you, I'm still wee high, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying as much good food as I can. My high school friend Sandra gave me this recipe one day, and I was so pleased to have found the texture of this cake to be similar to the delicious cakes I had in France, dense, yet very moist. This cake is nice and moist when first made but should be eaten within a few days if not frozen because it tends to dry out fairly quickly. But it freezes very well if you'd like to save some for later days. If you don't like walnuts or are allergic to any types of nuts, you can add raisins or dried cranberries (soaked in warm water for about 30 minutes, to moisten them). Great thing about this dessert, it has no eggs!

Recipe "au pif":
Soft tofu (size of 2 large eggs)
1 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
1/4 cup soya milk
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup raw cane sugar (or cassonade)
1 1/2 - 2 cups mashed bananas (the more the better - makes the cake moist)
1 cup soft white flour
1 cup soft wholes wheat flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup oil
2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 cup walnuts (or raisins, dried cranberries soaked in warm water to swell them up)

Makes one 9-inch loaf.

Blend the tofu in blender or processor until smooth.
Add oil, sugar, and vanilla and blend again.
In a separate bowl, combine the mashed bananas, lemon juice and soya milk. If you don't have soya milk, blend a little tofu with water until you get the texture of milk.
In another bowl, combine the white and whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda and chopped walnuts (or raisins, cranberries).
Alternately add dry then liquid ingredients to tofu mixutre. Mix with a spatula until well combined.
Oil a 9 x 3 1/2 inch loaf pan, or simply use a silicone pan (marvelous invention - it doesn't stick!). Fill the pan with the batter and bake at 325F about 50 minutes or 40 minutes (in convection oven) or until knife comes out clean.

Because this cake is not overly sweet that can only be eaten as a dessert, its lightly and naturally sweet taste (from the bananas) makes this cake enjoyable to eat for breakfast, with plain yogurt and fruits.