Super Salmon,Tomato and Basil Stack with home-made Bearnaise Suace

My cousin just became a father one week ago, and the baby is a boy!  My cousin is on my father's side, so he has the same last name with me, and his son can carry on our family line. If my grandpa were still alive, he would be very happy to see his great-grandson. Actually I don't care about much our family line can continue or not: the last name “Zhou” belongs to 34% of Chinese population. 

My uncle's family will become very busy from now on.  They have to do all the house work and help take care of the baby all the time. That's really common in China: the whole family will take care of a baby, usually at least 4 people.  That led me to think of one couple, our friends, who had twins a few months ago.  They get the babies up by themselves, and when I saw them I was really surprised at how calm they are!  If I were them, I must be panicked.  But when I saw these friends, one who needs go to work and the other who is completing his PhD - they have a dog too!- I really admire them.   Especially when I saw her feed the two babies at the same time with two milk bottle and made it look easy, I'm kind of touched.  Another remarkable woman worked until she was eight months pregnant, chasing terrorists with a stick.  And one month after her delivery, Clare Danes appeared at the Golden Globe awards, looking like she was never pregnant!  Compared with them, Chinese young people are too spoiled and dependent.   

I found this great brunch from New Great Dishes of the World by Robert Carrier.

This elegant dish is actually more easy to make than it looks.

Here is the recipe:

 

 

Béarnaise Sauce: 

By Brian Turner From Ready Steady Cook

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp water
• ½ shallot, finely chopped
• 3 black peppercorns
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon leaves
• 1 large egg yolk
• 75g butter, melted
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Direction

1. Place the vinegar, water, shallot, peppercorns and tarragon stalks into a small saucepan over a medium heat and simmer, until you have half a tablespoon of liquid remaining. Strain the liquid into a bowl and set aside.
   
2. Place the egg yolk and tarragon vinegar reduction into a food processor and blend together until light and frothy.
   
3. With the food processor still running on its slowest speed, add the melted butter, 1 tbsp at a time, until the sauce is thick and smooth. Be careful not to over beat the mixture as it may separate.
   
4. Stir in the chopped tarragon and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Turkey and sweetcorn meatballs

Another deep-frying delicious dish from Ottolenghi.  I have renewed this cookbook three times from library already! The vibrant-colour roasted pepper sauce is really eye-catching. In the Chinese way you can dip the meatball in Worcestershire sauce or Chinese vinegar.

Turkey and sweetcorn meatballs

Adapted from Ottolenghi :the cookbook

Serves 4 

Ingrediants:

100g sweetcorn kernels (fresh or frozen)
3 slices of stale white bread, crusts removed

500g minced turkey breast

1 free-range egg

4 green onions, finely chopped

2 tbsp finely chopped parsley

2  ½ tsp ground cumin

1 ½ tsp salt

½ tsp black pepper

1 garlic clove, crushed
1 Tbs Chinese cooking wine
1 tsp ginger chopped 

Sunflower oil, for frying

Roasted pepper sauce

4 red peppers

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

25g coriander, leaves and stalks 

1 garlic clove, peeled

1 small dried chilli, deseeded

2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

2 tbsp cider vinegar or white wine vinegar

Direction:

Preheat the oven to 200C. To prepare the peppers for the sauce, quarter them with a sharp knife and shave off the white parts and the seeds. Put them in a roasting tray and roast in the oven for 35 minutes or until soft. Transfer the hot peppers to a bowl and cover it with cling film. 
Once they have cooled down a little, you can peel them. Place them in a blender or food processor with their roasting juices and add the rest of the sauce ingredients. Process until smooth, then taste and adjust the salt if necessary. Set aside.

For the meatballs, place a heavy non-stick frying pan over a high heat and throw in the corn kernels. Toss them in the hot pan for 2-3 minutes, until lightly blackened. Remove and leave to cool.

Soak the bread in cold water for a minute, then squeeze well and crumble it into a large bowl. Add all the rest of the ingredients except the sunflower oil and mix well.
Pour a 5mm depth of sunflower oil into heavy frying pan. Allow it to heat up well and then fry about a teaspoon of the mince mix in it. Remove, let cool a little and then taste. Adjust the amount of salt and pepper in the uncooked mixture to your liking.

With wet hands or two spoons, shape the mince mix into balls, about the size of golf balls. Cook them in small batches in the hot oil, turning them around in the pan until they are golden brown all over. Transfer to an oven tray, place in the oven at 200C/Gas mark 6 and cook for about 5 minutes. When you press one with your finger, the meat should bounce back. If unsure, break one open to check that it is cooked inside. Serve hot or warm, with the pepper sauce on the side.