September 2014 – Blanca Valencia

Thriving in a Chinese Kitchen (Sep 2014)

People who seem to cook out of thin air always surprise us, but the undisclosed reason for their success is a well-stocked pantry.

Here in China food shopping can be stressful, especially at the beginning when you don’t know where to shop and what is available. Metro, Carrefour, Ikea and local markets are all great options. Japanese store Jiu Guang has an amazing meat section, where meats are cut to suit all tastes, whether it’s thinly sliced, cubed or ground.

Apart from my weekly shopping for vegetables, fruits and meats these are ingredients I always have at hand.

In my freezer I have frozen salmon from Ikea, peas, shrimp, corn and homemade ice cream and granita.
In my fridge; butter, eggs, parmesan, capers, miso, pickled ginger, kimchi, Sichuan peppers, oyster sauce, dried shrimp and Chinese style sausages for fried rice.
In my larder you will find rice, pasta, canned tomatoes, sesame oil, rice vinegar, curry pastes, extra virgin olive oil (check the dates), tomato sauces, canned tuna, canned coconut milk (great for curries and smoothies), green dried lentils from Carrefour, canned cannellini beans, chocolate, coffee, flour, sugar and condensed milk (which you can boil to make caramel sauce for banoffee pie).
For spices I stick to Chinese; star anise, cumin, Sichuan pepper and cassia bark. Spices can be a bit tricky to find and I would not recommend buying those big bottles of spices from Metro (especially the ground ones). Those bottles are for restaurants with a high turnover. Sadly they will go off quickly and taste like sawdust.
For some interesting treats I have Petit Ecolier chocolate cookies, fig jam for cheese and elderflower cordial from Ikea to make great gin and tonics, gelatins and drinks.

This granita is really a “cupboards bare” dessert. You can also make it with different fruits.

Espresso Granita

2 cups espresso
4 tbsp sugar, or more to taste
½ cup of sweet whipped cream
2 tbsp grated chocolate

Place the espresso and sugar in a small saucepan and heat over medium-high heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Taste, and if it seems too bitter, add a little more sugar. Cool to room temperature.

Pour mixture into shallow nonstick metal baking pan. Freeze until icy around the edges (about 25 minutes). Using a fork, stir the ice crystals into middle of pan.
Freeze, stirring edges into center every 30 minutes, for about 2 hours. Put granita into small bowls and top with whipped cream and grated chocolate.

Romesco Sauce

When one thinks of Spanish food, tapas always come to mind. These little morsels, served with drinks, are what define Spanish eating. Ferran Adria, our most famous chef, says that “more than food; Tapas is a way of life”. As a Spaniard I love sitting or standing in crowded bars; whether eating a traditional, perfectly fried eggplant with cane honey or drinking an avant garde shot of cherry gazpacho with frozen cheese. With tapas you don’t stand still in one place, but you move from bar to bar and define your own itinerary and menu.

In some provinces, tapas are free with your drink; in others you pay.

Anything can be transformed into a tapa: olives, potato salad, stuffed piquillo peppersor meatballs.

Romesco sauce, a mix of roasted tomatoes, hazelnuts and bread lifts any roasted vegetable. Try this recipe at your next barbeque.

Asparagus with romesco sauce

Serves 4

5 canned tomatoes
1 roasted pepper
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
40 grams whole blanched almonds
40 grams hazelnuts
2 slices of baguette
1 small dried chili pepper, soaked in hot water
2 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon sherry or wine vinegar
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
500 grs of asparagus, steamed, roasted or barbequed

Put the olive oil in a frying pan over a medium to high heat and add the almonds and hazelnuts. Take out and set aside and then add the bread. When it’s golden brown, remove from the heat and leave to cool.

Cut open the soaked pepper and scrape out the seeds with a spoon, then add this to the food processor or blender along with the garlic and nut and bread mixture. Add the tomatoes, pepper and vinegar, then pulse the whole lot to a chunky paste. Adjust the seasoning.

Serve with the asparagus.