Baking Cod with Lemon

Cod is rich in protein, vitamin A, vitamin D, calcium, magnesium and other nutritional elements, with very few fine spines and luscious meat. Fish is rich in magnesium (a good protective element on the cardiovascular system) and is conducive to the prevention of hypertension, myocardial infarction and other cardiovascular diseases.

In view of last week’s disaster, I think I should start with easier dishes rather than complicated ones which I can’t handle at all. Therefore, I pick this dish not only because it is easy to make but also because it requires relatively fewer ingredients.

The ingredients I used:

Cod (1 kg)

Olive oil (2 tablespoons)

Red onions (6 pieces)

Fennel (1 teaspoon)

Lemon ( 6 pieces)

Capers (1 tablespoon)                   White wine ( 20 c.c.)                     Pepper and salt

Procedure:

1.      Wipe the water on the surfaces of the cod and put it into a paper bag.

2.      Sprinkle the olive oil, fennel, and red onions on the fish, and then place the slices of the lemon and capers evenly on it.

3.      Sprinkle some white wine on the cod and fold it up.

4.      Put it into the oven (which is already preheated to 200 degrees) and wait for 25 minutes.

When the cod was taken out of the oven, giving off its special and agreeable aroma, my heart was filled with joy and a sense of accomplishment. Although my cooking ability is still average, I have taken to cooking little by little and truly fond of it.

Orange and Walnut Cake!

This week I took a bold stride into baking field, where I had never set foot in. Although it turned out to be a tragic failure T^T, I derived even more pleasure from this attempt.

The following are the ingredients I used :

1.   fresh orange juice

2.  flour

3.  baking powder

4.  vanilla powder

5.  eggs

6.  brandy (orange flavor)

7.  sugar

8.  walnuts

9.  light olive oil

10.  orange peel

Here is the procedure :

1.   Apply a layer of olive oil and flour on the baking tray.

2.  Have the eggs and sugar stirred, and add the orange juice, vanilla powder, olive oil , and crumbs of the orange peel.

3.  Add flour(1 cup), walnuts(1 cup), baking powder into what I have prepared, and mix them evenly.

4.  Put the mixture into the oven, which is already preheated to 190 degrees), and wait for 30 minutes.

5.  Take the cake out of the baking tray after it becomes cool, and then sprinkle some heated brandy and powdered sugar on it.

“A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” It proved to be a golden saying when I took the recipe lightly. From my previous understanding, baking a cake is no more than an easy job---all I need to do is mix the ingredients together and put it into the oven. Unfortunately, the  outcome didn’t meet my expectation, because I found my cake so flat that it just looked like a pie!(sigh) I guess the problem lies in my negligence of the time, I was so excited that I didn’t wait for the cake to rise. I really learned a valuable lesson this time.

Steamed Shrimp Stuffed Tofu 百花鑲豆腐

What I made this week is called steamed shrimp stuffed tofu. I put its Chinese name under the title because I consider it poetic and suitable. This dish is a genuine Guangdong cuisine. When they give name to a dish there, they like to use the words “百花”, especially refer to the shrimp topped on the dish, presenting pink flower-like color.

The ingredients we need this time are rather easy to prepare: tofu, shrimp, scallion ,and cornflour would be sufficient. The way how to make it is quite easy, too.

1.     Cut the shrimps into very small pieces and mix them thoroughly with salt and olive oil.

2.     Have the tofu sliced and dig a hole to cram the shrimps and apply some cornflour around the hole.

3.     Place the tofu (crammed with shrimps) into a steamer and wait about 3-5 minutes.

4.     Use chopped scallion and soy sauce to make the sauce, and then sprinkle it onto the tofu.

 

Although this dish seems to be very easy to make, I still made a few mistakes in controlling the time. Since the shrimps need more time to be cooked than the tofu but I didn’t notice it, I found that the center part of the shrimp was still raw! So I had no choice but to steam it again.

 

 

 

 

Sea Bass with White Wine Sauce

Nowadays, healthy diet has become the main appeal when people eat. To live out this concept, I decided to make a dish using olive oil! The reason why I chose this dish is that it is easy to make but has high nutritional value.

The following are the ingredients I used:

A sea bass

Capers

Parsley

White wine

Cream

Olive oil

Lemon

Salt

Pepper

 

 

First of all, sprinkle some salt on both sides of the fish, grease the frying pan with olive oil, and then saute the fish until it becomes golden brown.(put the fish on the plate)

Second, whether our dish will be successful comes down to the sauce. To make the sauce, we should cut the parsley into small pieces and stir-fry them with olive oil, capers and white wine, and simmer them for about one minute. Last but not least, add heavy cream and some salt into the sauce, then our work is almost done!

With the sea bass and sauce prepared, sprinkle the sauce on the fish, and slice a lemon to decorate the dish, now our dish can be served!

Hakka cuisine!

To sharpen my cooking skills, I asked my mom to teach me something more challenging this time. I don’t know the name of this dish, so I call it “the Hakka cuisine”. The reason is that this dish is Hakka people’s traditional and classic food.

You don’t need to prepare costly ingredients when making this dish. Just prepare pork, dried squid, dried bean curd, and some celery. Soak the dried squid in the water for about an hour beforehand to make it tender. And then slice them into pieces. Don’t forget to chop the dried bean curd and the celery as well!

The next step is to grease the frying pan and fry the pork until it give off a pleasant smell. Next, stir fry the dried bean curd and celery with the pork for 5 minutes. When they perform a beautiful golden color, it’s time to add some seasoning. Season with rice wine, sugar, salt, and soy-bean sauce, and add a pinch of pepper. Our great work is done!

 

              A Wonderful Experience with Karasumi
   Last weekend is moon festival, all of my relatives got together at my grandmother's home and celebrated it. Because my mother and my aunt are good at cooking, I sneaked into the kitchen, in order to learn some skills. There is one stuff caught my eyes, which is called Karasumi. I found it cool to cook this thing.
   Karasumi is a food made by mullet's roe and dried in sunlight. Its price is very high, so we usually have it on special days. The way to cook it is very simple : we usually soak it into rice wine for half of an hour, and then start roasting it! This step is quite important, because once you lose your attention, the  Karasumi would become too dry, and its color would be imperfect,either. After I haved its 2 sides equally roasted, its presented beautiful golden look and gave off savory smell! To make it a dish, my mother cut several slices of Chinese radish to accompany it. With this arrangement, the  Karasumi will become more tasty and refreshing!
   Although this dish is not difficult to cook, it can be a delicacy if you deal with it with the right method. I'm so contented with the result this time, I hope I can learn some more challenging the next time!