FoodieChat

I read about these chicken wings in Masterchef magazine and I’m not a huge fan of cooking chicken wings as I always fine the bone bits a bit raw. Anyway – since they were so easy, and chicken wings are so cheap, what could I lose?   The recipe was so easy, 4 ingredients: fish sauce, lemongrass, garlic and chicken wings.  I varied the recipe a bit – less fish sauce, and I basted them with honey whilst I baked them.  The lemongrass was heaps easier to chop by using my stick blender processor attachment.  I also marinaded them overnight.  Coming home from work, I put them in the oven on a rack at full blast, brushing with honey to help them become more golden and more sweet – and yum – I was well rewarded.  They were finger licking good.  The best part was that it didn’t even really require an effort as I just went back every so often to baste and turn.  This is going to be on my weeknight dinner list and finger food party list for sure!

Excerpt from the Herald Sun Article (And recipe)

Herald Sun – Dan Hong

MUM’S LEMONGRASS CHICKEN WINGS “Mum used to make these chicken wings, then freeze them for us to eat for dinner when she was busy working in the restaurant. Every time I smell this marinade I think of home! Allow an extra four hours to marinate chicken,” says Dan. Serves 4 Preparation time: 15 minutes, plus 4 hours marinating time Cooking time: 45 minutes Skills needed: Basic 20 chicken wings 4 vine-ripened tomatoes, cut into thin wedges 4 Lebanese cucumbers, in wedges Steamed jasmine rice and Maggi Soy Sauce seasoning (optional)

LEMONGRASS MARINADE 400ml fish sauce 400g caster sugar 2 stalks lemongrass, white part only, finely chopped 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1 tsp ground white pepper Using a sharp knife or kitchen scissors, trim winglet (the meatless last 3cm of wing) from chicken wings and discard, then cut wings in half at the joint. To marinate chicken, whisk all marinade ingredients in a large bowl until sugar dissolves. Add chicken, cover, then refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. Place an oven tray in the oven and preheat to 200C fan-forced. Drain chicken, discarding marinade. Line preheated tray with baking paper and place chicken on top in a single layer. Roast, turning every 10 minutes, for 45 minutes or until golden and sticky. (Remove any smaller pieces 5 minutes earlier, if necessary.) Combine tomatoes and cucumbers in a bowl, then season with salt and pepper. Divide salad, chicken wings and rice among plates. Drizzle rice with a little soy sauce seasoning, if using, to serve. TASTE TIP * Cooking the chicken wings on fan-forced helps to give them that charred, sticky, caramelised finish. If you don’t have a fan-forced oven, turn up the temperature to 220C.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ipad/recipes-straight-from-the-menu/story-fn6cc38y-1226321974035

Truth be known that I am in a bit of a gardening/heirloom vegetable phase, and finally – the heirloom tomato I grew was large enough and ripe enough to pick!

I have to admi, the yield was small – the one large heirloom tomato and two small roma ones, plus a few basil leaves the caterpillars rejected:

But each one super tasty, lovingly tended, and absolutely beautiful. Here’s the yellow one served with the basil and some caramelised balsamic and olive oil.   Amazing.

This little piggy went to market, this little piggy stayed home, this little piggy went wee wee wee all the way to my plate!   It was pigs galore at my friends Ed and Elsie’s wedding banquet at Sky Phoenix!  Usually an 8 course banquet starts off with a suckling pig entree, but this is suckling pig WHOLE entree – served one per table!!!  There were approx 16 tables at the wedding – hence 16 pigs were paraded by their waiters all the way to the front stage for all to applaud the spectacle and to commence salivating.  What made it even more unique was the pigs’ eyes were filled with a light so that they glowed!!!

Each pig was pre-cut into squares of crackling, kinda like peking duck – but with pig!  Each guest then got 2 squares, served atop a pancake with hoisin sauce and two slivers of pickled cucumber.  A bit messy to eat, but it was fantastic.

Looking at the poor piggy – it was then taken to the kitchen to be chopped up and their stir fried for a second course.  there was ssoooo much skin left I would have loved a second plate!! hehehe.

Another unique aspect of Sky Phoenix wedding reception banquets is the dessert. No sweet red bean soup here!  They give you two mango pudding carp per table!! How unique!  It’s so rare that chinese restaurants innovate so this was a very good surprise from the usual banquet fare

Ever wondered why a bottle of real maple syrup costs around $10 whilst maple “flavoured” syrup costs $3.50? Well – it’s harvested from the sap of maple trees – New York Times quotes that it takes approx 162L of sap in order to produce 3.5L of syrup! The sap has only 4% sugar. Yikes. That makes a bottle sound rather cheap then!