Bruschetta

Bruschetta is one of my favorite things to make, its simple, fast, and so delicious.

Ingredients 
Serves 4 people 

1. 2-3 tomatoes depending on the size 
2. 2 loaves of french bread 
3. Fresh basil leaves
4. 1 tablespoon of finely minced onions
5. 1 clove of garlic
6. Balsamic vinegar
7. Olive oil 

Directions

1. Slice and dice up your tomatoes 

2. Finely mince a clove of garlic. Some recipes rub the bread with the garlic but I like adding it to the actual bruschetta mixture.

3. Add in the finely minced onions. It's really important that you mince it as finely as you can because a huge chunk of onion would be quite unpleasant!

4. Roll up your leaves into a tight bundle then slice thinly (saw this on cooking shows hehe)

5. Add to the mixture

6. Pour in balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Start by adding a little, mixing, tasting, then adjusting the flavors.

7. It's ok if its a little watery, when you spoon the mixture along with the juices onto the crusty bread, you will be happy it has all this extra moisture. Yum. You can prepare this an hour or two before dinner time and put it in the fridge so all the flavors have time to come together. 

8. Get your two loaves and slice it so that there is a good amount of surface area. If the bread is sliced too small the tomatoes will be falling all over the place when you try to shove it in your mouth!

9. I like to toast the bread until they are a bit browner than I would usually like. But this is perfect for bruschetta because as I mention before there is a lot of delicious juices from the tomato mixture that will seep into the bread so the extra crunchy will be perfect. Enjoy!

Mothers Day Dinner - Lamb Shank Mint Ragu with Pappardelle

Cooking a great meal for loved ones if one of life's greatest pleasures. It always fills me with such happiness when I see my parents and friends enjoying something that I made. It has been so long since I've posted an original recipe and this one was absolutely delicious so I hope you guys will give it a go! It is quite time consuming though but it is so worth it! I definitely don't think I would make it for just anyone though, I was slaving away in the kitchen from 4 until 8:30, but my parents absolutely loved it which made all the hard work so worth it. I also made bruschetta so I will post that recipe next!

Ingredients

Serves 4-6 (sorry a bit vague, my parents and I were stuffed and I still have a huge tub of leftovers)

Cooking time: 4 hours 

1. 2 lamb shanks
2. Fresh mint leaves
3. 7 tomatoes
4. 1 large onion
5. 3 cloves of garlic
6. 4 shallots
7. Half a can of tomato paste 
8. 1 cup of chicken or pork stock
9. 2 carrots 
10. 1 cup of red wine
11. Pappardelle 
12. Salt and pepper

Some ingredients like the canned diced tomatoes were not used.

Directions

1. Slice up the shallots, dice up the onions, and the tomatoes. Slave away :)

2. Grate up the carrot. It is better to grate it than dicing it up because carrots take quite long to cook and you don't want chunks of carrot in your sauce.

Looks like cheddar cheese doesn't it?

3. Rinse the lamb shanks and pat dry with a towel. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.

4. Heat up some oil in a pan and brown the shanks on all sides. The house will smell like lamb heaven now.

5. After the lamb is browned on all sides remove them and put on a plate. This stuff on the pan is gold. Don't get rid of it! Pour in the garlic, onions, and shallots and sauté until translucent.

6. Pour in the carrots. Sauté.

7. And the tomatoes. Cook for about 5 minutes on medium heat.

8. Pour in the cup of red wine. I used Shiraz but anything is fine. Stir.

9. Pour in a cup of stock, I used pork stock. Stir and cook for a couple of minutes.

10. Add in half a can of tomato paste.

11. Add the lamb shanks back into the pan. It's ok if the lamb shanks are not completely submerged into the sauce. You will be flipping them around. Put the lid on and cook for 2-3 hours on low heat. Check on the lamb shanks every 20 or so minutes to flip them around and  to stir the sauce around.

12. Mmmm starting to look so rich and delicious. Take the lamb shanks out when the meat is tender and cut the meat away from the bones. This should be around 1 and half hours to 2 hours. Slice the meat into small pieces but not too small, you still want a bite to them.

Kind of looks like curry...?

13. Add the meat back to the sauce and continue cooking.

14. Take a couple leaves of mint and dice very finely. The mint was lovely in the sauce but make sure you start out with a little and add more after mixing it and tasting it. You don't want the mint to be too overpowering.

15. Heat up a large pot of water and salt it generously. Cook the pappardelle until al dente.

Beautiful ribbons 

16. Plate up! Make a nice pile of the yellow ribbons of pappardelle onto a plate and ladle the delicious sauce on top. Garnish with a sprig of mint. Enjoy!

Ammo

It seems like I'm eating in another location that was previously used for military purposes! Ammo is a sleek restaurant and bar that just recently opened at the Asia Society in Admiralty. The entire building is a heritage landmark museum and the space that Ammo occupies used to be a former explosives magazine compound used by the British Army in the mid-19th century. The food is a cross of east and west with an ala carte menu along with a tempting array of tapas. The bar also serves up a bunch of interesting named cocktails that came in various pretty colors.

"Tropicality" and "Lychee"
The drinks were quite pretty and "Tropicality" was recommended with an alarming amount of enthusiasm by our server but we thought it kind of just looked like ribena. The drinks were a bit too sweet and I would have liked a bit more alcohol in them. 

"Blue blue sky"
I thought this drink was super pretty. The light green on the bottom and the sprinkle of blue on the ice was absolutely dreamy. It was also really yummy but once again a dash more of alcohol would be perfect. 

Langoustine
This dish was from the tapas menu and it was delightful little bite of langoustine wrapped with a crispy skin. The head also had some meat and roe which was yummy. The serving was a bit too small but this small bite definitely piqued our appetites. 

Wagyu beef cheek with brioche and polenta
Mmm this was absolutely delicious. The beef cheek was cooked until tender perfection and the polenta was fragrant and along with the crispy brioche created a perfect array of textures and flavors. 

Seared scallops
The scallops were cooked well with a great sear and succulent inside. The puree was sweet and matched the scallops well. A well made dish. 

Slow cooked egg with toro, sea urchin, and roman zucchini sauce 
The toro was flavored very well but when we mixed the entire thing together since us 4 girls shared all our appetizers it definitely made us think of throw up which was not very appetizing. I'm sure if one was eating this dish on their own that visual would not happen. The dish did not provide any type of textual contrast, each element was slimy and soft and that was a bit off putting. 

Burrata ravioli 
The ravioli had a luxurious burrata filling and each ravioli was the perfect size. The meat sauce was rich and full of flavor. The presentation was also very appealing. There was also a slight sprinkling of julienned orange peel which was lovely. I enjoyed this dish greatly.

Angel hair with uni
This dish was the ultimate miss of the night. The angel hair was dry and none of us could detect the rich uni flavor at all. It was quite disappointing because many people have commented that this dish was good. C commented that it was like a bad dish of singaporean fried noodles :( This dish would be much better if there was a creamy uni sauce that really brings out the rich taste of sea urchin. 

Spaghetti Vongole 
Initially V commented that this dish was too spicy but we all ended up quite enjoying it. The spaghetti (or another type of pasta because it seemed thicker?) had a great bite to it and was smothered in the flavorful sauce. The spice was a great kick to the dish and the mussels were juicy and yummy. I would like to order this on my next visit! 

Pappardelle with meatballs
The meatballs were tender and the dish was quite tasty albeit a bit too salty. The pasta was cooked to al dente. The presentation is also quite pretty I really liked the perky orange color. 

Pan fried brioche with vanilla ice cream
The caramelized sugar and the brioche itself was yummy but it was too soft. It felt like it was not cooked enough or it soaked up too much egg mixture. Either way it was a nice sweet end to our dinner.

Overall, apart from a few misses, Ammo seems very promising and I would definitely love to return again. The atmosphere is lovely and many of the dishes were very good. There are definitely some kinks that need to be ironed out but Ammo definitely has a lot of potential. It would also be nice to see more variety on the main course for as of now the only option available for main courses is pasta. One server was also getting on our party's nerves as she was acting a bit erratic and eavesdropped on our conversation too. The rest of the servers were polite and efficient.

Ammo Cafe 

Asia Society 

9 Justice Drive

Admiralty

Hong Kong

Mother's day lunch at Crown Wine Cellars

Happy Mother's Day to all the lovely mothers all over the world! Crown Wine Cellars is a members only restaurant/wine cellar in Deep Water Bay. The building used to be a World War II bunker and offers 6 underground cellars. The restaurant is absolutely stunning as it is a glass house surrounded by greenery. My dad stores his wine collection here and I've only been here once for dinner. It was so beautiful during the day with the sunlight streaming in! Unfortunately the food is only ok but this would be a perfect spot for drinks or coffee.

Smoked salmon with olives and capers
Just normal smoked salmon. Nothing special but it was of decent quality. 

Ribeye with sauteed mushrooms and roasted potatoes
The ribeye was tender but it was quite bland. I had to ask for salt. The mushrooms were good and the vegetables were also done well. Not the best steak I've had but it was also not terrible. 

The best part of the meal was actually dessert but I forgot a picture of it! It was a mini apple pie with ice cream. It was absolutely delicious! Although the food was not spectacular the atmosphere was just so lovely that I would want to come here again. I also remember that dinner was very delicious last time so perhaps they were just having an off day today. 

Crown Wine Cellars 

18 Deep Water Bay Drive

Shouson Hill

Hong Kong