Chinese lunch, Quay Lo Dinner

Last Saturday, my best friend Peng and I went to try the food in Di Wei Chinese Restaurant at the Empire Hotel in Subang. 

Our intention was to try the Dim Sum but then there were not many choices, so we decided to order noodles. The one we chose was recommended by the restaurant captain and we were quite happy with it. It had qualities that I like in food. It was very simple but flavorful. It was stir-fried in egg white gravy resulting in a dish that was light, but still unctious and rich tasting. The noodles were al dente and give a nice mouth feel. I believe it is rather easy to make so I am going to try replicating this at home someday.

I liked the design of the restaurant and the service was very good. When the waiter brought the bill, I signed on it and carry on chatting with Peng. The waiter stood right there and did not take the bill away for almost 5 minutes. I got a bit agitated with his hovering. I turned to him and said, “I signed already.” (with a slightly irritated voice). He said to me, “Ma’am, I am sorry I am waiting for your credit card.” Good gracious! Did I think I could eat for free?!! So embarrassing! LOL! I quickly gave him my credit card and apologized to him. AIYOH! 

After lunch, we adjourned to Fresco, a cafe in Jaya Grocers, to have our coffee because I had brought with me the lemon curd cheese cake that I had baked in the morning, to let Peng sample it. Before she ate it, I explained to her that my cheesecake is a cross breed between baked and no baked cheese cake. She laughed and said she would call it half baked. I burst into laughter. A perfect name for my alter ego  Aunty Lucy who now has a cheesecake named for her. I can see it under the counter as an exclusive at Secret Recipe Cake Shop. "Aunty Lucy's Half Baked Cheesecake". LOL! When Peng sank her teeth into her first bite, I could see the approval from her expression. She said it was delicious and the cake melted in her mouth. I will share with you the recipe in my next post. For now, I will give you a sneak peek of this "half baked" confection.

In this post, I would also like to share with you an appetizer dish that I learned from Chef Fabio’s demo, the pancetta wrapped prawn. However, this time I turned it into a meal by plopping it on top of some freshly sauteed spinach with garlic, and pairing it with left over paella rice which I re-purposed to a stuffing for some beautiful fresh capsicums. After filling the peppers I broiled them in the oven and served with the pancetta wrapped prawn. This was a brilliant idea from my Quay Lo. The two dishes complimented each other very well in flavors and we all enjoyed the meal.

Pancetta wrapped prawn

(Chef Fabio’s recipe)

Ingredients:

6 big prawns

6 tsp of gorgonzola cheese

6 pcs. thinly sliced pancetta

ground black pepper to taste

oil to fry the prawn

Method:

Remove head and shells of the prawn, retain the tail. Make a cut at the back of the prawn from head to tail to butterfly it. Season with ground black pepper on both sides. Using palm of your hand and press 1 teaspoon each of gorgonzola cheese to make little bugs that will fit into the opening of the back of the prawns. Close the lip of the prawns to hold the gorgonzola cheese in place. Wrap the prawn with pancetta staring from the tail end. Press the prawn by closing your hand around it to ensure the pancetta will stick to the body. Fry the prawn on both sides till pancetta looks crispy or you can grill the prawn if you prefer. I served it on a bed of  garlic sauté spinach.

Stuffed Capsicum with paella

Ingredients:

Paella (Please click on photo to get the recipe)

3 capsicums

olive oil

Method:

Cut off the top of the capsicum and scoop out all the seeds. Blanch the capsicum and dry it before stuffing in the paella. Oil the baking pan with some olive oil. Spoon  in the paella till the brim of the capsicum and cover with the top piece. Lay them all in the baking pan and roast it in a preheated oven at 180 degrees C for 10 mins. You do not want the capsicum to be too soft and collapse. You just want it to be cooked. This can be served with other side dishes or just with some freshly baked bread and butter.

I am not dreaming, it is REAL!

Just before I left for my trip to the USA, we were watching America Top Chefs. We paid special attention to one of the competitors. We knew that my step daughter Erin had been to his restaurant in the LA area several times and had become acquainted with him. I am talking about Chef Fabio Viviani who was voted the Top Chef, Season 5, Fan Favorite. His restaurant, Cafe Firenze, is just a 10 minute drive from her home. 

Erin knew I would be thrillled if I were to get to meet the chef, so she took us to his cooking demo at his restaurant on the first weekend after we arrived in California. While we waited in queue to check in, I had the pleasure to meet this Baby Chef who was in line ahead of us. Are all chefs so charming?

Cafe Firenze is a large, noisy, but nicely decorated restaurant, and very typically Italian. As we walked into the main door, we were greeted by friendly waitresses and waiters. The first thing we saw was a huge marble bar with a wide selection of liquor and wines. More wine seemed to cover every available wall space throughout the restaurant.

Erin introduced us to the co-owner of the restaurant (and an award winning mixologist), Jacopo Falleni, before we were led to our table. He is a warm and friendly guy (also very Italian) and made us all feel very special. My Quay Lo bought their cookbook and Jacopo signed the book for me immediately. I also got Chef Fabio Viviani to sign the book. Prized souvenier!

Jacopo Falleni and Quay Po

Here are the two partners as pictured in the book with barman extraordinaire

Jocopo on the left and Chef Fabio Viviani on the right

I am glad we got a table because the room was packed with attendees. I am not surprised at all. I was told most of his fans are female and sure enough, all of us admiring ladies sat around anxiously awaiting the arrival of Chef Fabio. My Quay Lo yawned, and to no one in particular, wondered aloud what he was doing there.

As soon as we settled down, my step daughter Erin told me that I must try this wonderful Balsamic Martini. WOW!  I cannot find words to describe this drink to you. It was SOOO GOOD!!

Chef Fabio introduced himself and started to show us how to make some of his signature appetizer dishes. His demo was lively and entertaining. He was a humorous guy and I am sure all of us enjoyed ourselves watching him cook. He made cooking look so simple. 

Chef Fabio Viviani in action

Here are the dishes that he cooked and we got to taste. They were simple to do but over the top delicious!

 The focaccia bread was flavorful

Pomodoro sauce with onion, eggs and cheese. The egg was

cooked just right

gamberoni in camicia - pacetta wrapped jumbo prawn filled with 

Italian sharp gorgonzola with parmesan polenta and sauteed "spinachi"

This is an awesome dish which I would like to try soon.

Italian meat ball in pondoro tomato sauce.

Another very simple-to-make dish 

with an explosion of flavors in each bite.

deep fried prawns with homemade mayonnaise

I did not know making our own mayonnaise

is so simple.

After watching the cooking demo, eating the scrumptuous lunch, and maybe another martini or two, we all had stuffed bellies, so we called it a day. There was one last thing to do before we left. I had to take a photo with the chef for my album. Yay I did! 

As soon as we were back at Erin's home, I quickly transferred all the photos taken at the demo into my Quay Lo's computer hard disk and erased those on my SD card. As I was editing the photos I realized the photo of me and Chef Fabio was missing!!! What???  I can't believe I lost the most important photo of the event. Can I be anymore 'Lucy' than that? I was so upset that I screamed out so loud "AUNTIE LUCY!, are you kidding me???!!" My Quay Lo thought I fell down or hurt myself. He came running to me only to find out that I had lost the photo. He sensed that I was very upset and he asked Erin to quickly call the restaurant and tell Chef Fabio what happened, then ask if I could go back and take another photo with him before he leaves. He was kind enough to ask me to return to the restaurant. This time I made very damn sure Aunty Lucy didn't lose it again. I had the photo in my Quay Lo's hard disk, my SD card, and a separate USB flash drive. LOL!!

Chef Favio Viviani and Quay Po

If you would like to know more about Chef Fabio Viviani, watch this interview.
He always make people laugh. Isn't he good looking and cute? LOL!

The first dish that I tried to make at home (here in K.L.) that I learned from the cooking demo is this yummy light meal.

Pomodoro (tomato) sauce with onion, eggs and cheese

Recipe by Chef Favio Viviani with slight variations by yours truly.

Ingredients:

1 can (250gm) plum tomatoes

1 tbs olive oil

1 tsp italian herbs

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp thinly diced spring onion 

1 egg

1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar 

Method:

Heat oil and saute garlic till fragrant. Add plum tomatoes and break them up. Add Italian herbs, salt, pepper and let it simmer for about 10 mins and reduced. Transfer to a bowl. Add cheese and crack an egg onto the sauce. Bake in a pre heated oven at 180 degrees C for 10 mins till cheese is melted and egg white cooked but yolk still runny.


Note: I served the dish with freshly baked crusty bread and my good friend, Wendy's brussels sprout chiffonade with hazel nuts. One bite of crusty bread dipped into the sauce followed by a spoonful of brussel sprouts, MM... MM...MM...Brilliant combination. 

Speaking of LOVE

We went to Rome for a holiday in 2000 and we had a great time there. Time flies and eleven years just passed by!

Famous saying, "In Rome, do what the Romans do" just did not apply to me as far as food was concerned when we were there. I remembered I survived my whole trip on bread and pasta. I ate penne pasta in spicy tomato sauce with lots of chilli flakes and NO cheese, for almost every meal.  We found this little family Italian restaurant that we both like. It was a cosy little place with friendly faces. Each time, we were there I ordered the same thing and always reminded the waiter to tell the chef that I want extra spicy hot. I guessed the chef got curious about this customer who always asked for more chillis. He finally came out to greet us and see who this hot stuff is. I am sure he was disappointed when he saw this little, very ordinary looking"Kampung" Chinese lady. LOL! He was such a friendly guy and he chatted with us like old friends. No wonder Italians are reputed to be very expressive and warm people. So this is not just in movie but in real life too. Then, the last night, before we returned to Malaysia, we went there for dinner for one last time. After our dinner, the boss of the restaurant and his manager came to greet us and gave us a big hug. They even walked us to the door and ordered a taxi for us when it was time to leave. They wanted us to take a photo with them and we did.  

The memory of how easy a hug was given by a stranger makes me want to share with you the speech from the late Italian doctor, Dr. Leo Buscaglia. My Quay Lo sent me this link a few days ago.  I did not expect to watch the whole series at one go but I did. Here is a link to Part 1 of 6.

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Leo Buscaglia -Speaking of Love pt 1 of 6

By KathyN

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I enjoyed his speech very much so I was hooked on it until I finished all 6 parts of the series. I could feel a lump in my throat and tears welled up in my eyes throughout listening to what he said about love. He had also written a book called LOVE.  From an article I read, A young reader of the book, Silvana Rosati-Capizzano wrote, “Leo was a University professor by profession. He had an idea for a new class to add to the curriculum. He wanted to introduce a university class on "LOVE". When he pitched his idea to the dean, and with much discussion it was accepted, (after much criticism), but only if he did it on his own time, without load credit and without a salary. The idea seemed ridiculous to the other professors. He ignored the ridiculing and forged ahead with this great idea. The idea was not embraced by many students but slowly and steadily, enrollment increased. It had to be eventually capped at 100 students.

These were students of all ages interested in "Love Class". They shared ideas, feeling and observations that was relevant to the human condition. Although they were never really able to define love, one student did come up with a wonderful explanation:

"I find love much like a mirror. When I love another, he becomes my mirror and I become his, and reflection in each other's love we see infinity!" Isn't this definition beautiful?

There are those that dismiss love as a naïve romantic concept while others find love all encompassing and the greatest, deepest feeling that is meant to be given away. Which one are you?

Did you listen to at least the 1^st part of his speech? Isn’t he amazing?

There is so many ways to share love and I know one sure way is through food.  I did not replicate the spicy penne pasta I had in that family restaurant in Italy but I made my own version. I used my fusion spicy tomato sauce.  Mine is super "All'arrabiata"!!  In Italian, it means "angry style" because of the heat of the chillis. I shared my love through food and even in an "angry style", there is lots of love in it. Enjoy!

Penne Pasta in Quay Po's fusion pomodoro sauce

Ingredients:

penne pasta

pamesan cheese to taste

fusion pomodoro sauce (click on the picture for the recipe)

Method:

Add a teaspoon of  salt to a pot of water and bring to boil. Cook penne pasta till el dante about 9 minutes. Drain water and pour fusion tomato sauce over it. Add parmesan cheese and serve with freshly baked crusty bread.

Notice I did not give you the measurement for the penne pasta?  I don't think it is necessary.

Gnocchi knew me in 2006 but it's only now that we became friends

The first time I saw how gnocchi was made was when I went to a cooking demo with my girlfriend ,Kam at an Italian Food Demonstration in 2006 at an Italian Restaurant in Bangsar called The Mango Tree. The chef is a friend of ours. This restaurant no longer exist. The chef and his family has moved to Ipoh. 

After the demonstration I never followed up and made any gnocchi at home. That is because back then, I was really not interested in cooking at all.  To be honest, I was not a big fan of gnocchi but after I tasted the gnocchi from this recipe that I am about to share with you, I would say I could even have a craving for it.

It has now become a trademark dish for me. So I will share with you this wonderful recipe of spinach ricotta gnocchi with gorgonzola sauce. I urge you to try it because the delightful smooth texture of gnocchi, with the  edgy flavor of the creamy sauce, is insanely pleasing to the palette.  I poured myself and my Quay Lo a glass of white wine each and we enjoyed the meal. We both said at the same time after our bite of the last piece of gnocchi on our plates… Aaah…DIVINE!

Spinach Ricotta Gnocchi with Gorgonzola sauce

Largely adapted from simplyrecipe.com

 Making the gnocchi

This recipe was featured in Asian Food Channel (Official) Facebook page on 5th September 2012

Ingredients for Gnocchi:

3 ounces fresh or frozen spinach

1 egg

2 tsp salt

1 1/2 pounds whole milk ricotta cheese, drained of excess moisture

1/3 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

Pinch of nutmeg

Method: 

1 Fill a medium saucepan halfway with water and heat until bubbles just begin to form. Add spinach and cook until tender, about 1 minute. Drain. Let spinach cool enough to touch, then squeeze as much moisture as you can out of it. You can also use a potato ricer if you have one to squeeze the excess water out of the spinach.

2 Add the spinach, egg, salt, and half of the ricotta to a food processor. Pulse until completely blended. Transfer mixture to a large bowl, mix in the remaining ricotta and the Parmesan cheese. Stir a pinch of nutmeg into the flour. Add the flour in by hand, starting with a half of the flour. Mix everything with your hands until the mixture holds together as a pliable dough.

3 Put the dough out on a lightly floured smooth, clean surface. Knead gently for about a minute, adding additional flour if needed, if the dough is too sticky. (At this point, if you wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for an hour, it will be easier to roll out.) When the dough is smooth and pliable, and still just a little bit sticky, divide it into 4 portions, each the size of an orange.

4 Flour your hands lightly. Using both hands, and a light touch, roll the dough out with a back and forth motion, starting at the center and stretching the dough out, to form a roll. This is the tricky part. You don't want to put so much pressure so that you compress the dough, but you do need enough pressure to create a rope of dough. The trick is to stretch the dough sideways as you are rolling. Once the segment you are working on gets to be about a foot long, you may find it easier to cut it in half, and then start working on each separately.

Roll the dough out until the roll is about the size of a middle finger. (Note that if your hands or the board is a little too floured, you may not have enough traction between your skin and the dough to easily stretch it sideways.) Cut each roll into 1-inch pieces.

5 Hold a fork at a 45% angle with its tines facing down on the work board, the curved part of the fork facing away from you. Starting with the curved outside bottom of the fork, press each piece of dough up along the length of the tines. Let the gnocchi fall back down. This is a pretty quick motion, the result is an indentation of the fork tines on one side of the gnocchi, and an indentation of your fingertip on the other side.

Place the gnocchi on a lightly floured cookie sheet. At this point they can be cooked, or kept in the refrigerator several hours or even overnight for prep minded chefs.

6 To cook the gnocchi, fill a large wide pot half-way with water. Bring to a boil, add 1 teaspoon of salt for every quart of water. Once the salt has dissolved, gently drop the gnocchi in the water, one by one. Try to do this in a way that the gnocchi are not falling in on top of each other, but rest on the bottom of the pan in a single layer. As the gnocchi cooks, they will rise to the surface of the water after a couple minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove the risen gnocchi from the pot, place in a serving bowl. Sometimes the gnocchi can stick a little at the bottom. If you suspect this, nudge them a little to unstick them. As you remove some gnocchi, you can add a few more to the pan.

Gorgonzola Sauce

Ingredients:

½ C whipping cream

100gms gorgonzola cheese, cut into cubes

¼ C chives, chopped

¼ tsp ground black pepper

Method:

Bring cream to near boil. Add cheese a bit at a time while stirring until well blended. Pour over gnocchi and finish with black ground pepper and chives.

You can serve your gnocchi with a meat chop of your choice, such as a small beef steak, or chicken, or as the "primo" course in a full multi course Italian meal. I have served it with a fried chicken chop and garnished with truffle balsamic in these pictures.