July 2014 – Blanca Valencia

Thriving in a Chinese Kitchen (Jul 2014)

When we relocate to China, many of us face having to say bye to four-hob stoves and fancy kitchen equipment and are faced with small kitchens, little countertop space and one-hob burners.

There is no need to panic. The Chinese kitchen is, on close inspection ingenious and versatile. For thousands of years they have managed to prepare feasts with relatively little equipment.

The secret is to create a variety of dishes using different cooking methods: One cold dish, a stew that you can prepare in advance or some steamed dishes that you can stack, a sweet no bake treat, and maybe a last minute stir-fry.

To get started, buy a wok. You can use a wok for stir-frying, stewing, deep-frying, boiling, steaming. It is a truly diverse kitchen tool. They are inexpensive and easy to take care of.

Next, get a good set of bamboo steamer baskets that allow you to cook several things at the same time in a healthy way.

The next items is a good Chinese cleaver and chopping board. Once you start using a cleaver, you will wonder what are those crazy Western knife sets for.

Another indispensable piece of equipment is an electric slow-cooker or a pressure-cooker. This tool will allow you to create an extra “hob” and to make amazing stews out of cheaper cuts of meat, cook pasta, beans and grains

Finally, get some no-bake desserts or sorbet recipes under your belt, for this you will need a square baking tin made out of metal or plastic.

Get yourself ready and you will be hosting dinner parties with ease.

Chocolate Broken Biscuit Cake

300 g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
100 g butter, diced
1 teaspoon espresso powder (optional)
pinch of salt
1 x 400 g can condensed milk
250 g digestive biscuits, broken
Line a 450 g loaf tin with cling film and set aside.

Melt the butter and chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Remove from the heat and add the espresso powder, salt and condensed milk, stirring well. Add in the biscuits and stir until they’re evenly distributed in the chocolate. Pour the mixture into the lined loaf tin, pressing it down evenly and firmly with a spatula. Place in the fridge for about 4 hours or until set. Cut into thin slices or small cubes to serve.

Piedmontese Peppers

There is much more to Italy than pasta and pizza. Although deservedly popular, it is the vegetable dishes of Italy that surprise with their creativity. With great weather and fertile land it is no surprise that we can find such a wide spectrum of vegetables. Fennel, with its aniseed flavor, sliced thinly and drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice or served caramelized on top of bruschetta, it is something unique. The eggplant is extremely popular in Italy where it is cooked in various ways but finds its zenith with Sicilian caponata, a sweet and sour salad of eggplants. Bright green zucchinis are prepared in tortes or sautéed with garlic and herbs. Basil, that most Italian herb, gets transformed into that unforgettable preparation of pesto.

This dish of Piedmontese peppers is my staple lunch in hot summer days. It is also a great recipe to cook for large parties.

Piedmontese Peppers

4 red peppers
4-6 ripe tomatoes, quartered
4 cloves of garlic, sliced
8 anchovies, packed in olive oil, chopped in two
2 tbsp. capers, rinsed
1 small handful of basil leaves
1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 200 C / 400 F / Gas 6.

Cut the peppers in half trying to maintain the stalk intact and remove the seeds. Lay the peppers in a roasting dish.

Place tomato quarters in each pepper half until full. Tuck a few garlic slices into each. Tear the basil and tuck in, tuck in two anchovy halves and a bit of capers. Follow with a drizzle of olive oil and pepper.

Roast the peppers for 30 minutes or until they are starting to blacken around the edges. Alternatively steam for 15 minutes. Eat hot, or room temperature with crusty baguette.