Zesty & Spicy

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Kimchi & lobster pancakes

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Every time I get the chance to eat at ChezBong in Chinatown, the Korean green onion pancakes is something I almost always order.  What’s being presented to you, today, isn’t an authentic Korean recipe but it’s been inspired by the savoury pancakes recipe you can find in Maangchi‘s cookbook.  It’s been said on Twitch already but, thank you so much again to the sweet reader who bought me this book, so much deliciousness in there from such an incredible lady.

So here it is… my twist on the beloved Korean green onion pancakes made with homemade kimchi, lobster, grilled corn and the obvious: green onions.

Bon appétit!

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Sausage & Shrimp Puff Pastry Rolls

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For days where you want a blast of flavor and don’t care about your diet…  For either a game day, a friendly gathering or really just because your heart wants it.  No need to start a guilt trip here, we all need a few days like this every months 😉

Serve these delicious puff pastry sausage and shrimps with Dijon mustard, regular mustard or ketchup depending on what you prefer!

Sausage & Shrimp Puff Pastry Rolls
 
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Ingredients
  • Puff pastry dough
  • For the Filling:
  • 9 raw shrimps, skin, vein and everything else removed
  • 8 roasted garlic cloves
  • ½ tightly packed cup of freshly chopped basil leaves
  • ¼ teaspoon of fish sauce
  • ½ teaspoon of cane sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of low sodium soy sauce
  • 6 tablespoon of VERY FINELY chopped carrots
  • 3 tablespoon of VERY FINELY chopped celery
  • ¼ teaspoon of ginger powder
  • Inside membrane of 2 small Mergez sausages**
  • For the Egg Wash:
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon of water
  • For the Garnish:
  • Sesame seeds
  • ** Make sure you take one that the inside is a "pulverized paste" without too many big chunks. The goal here is that this sausage stuffing will keep the filling together.
Instructions
  1. - Pre-heat your oven at 350. Line a parchment paper on a baking sheet.
  2. - Mix all the ingredients for your filling in a food processor and blend everything together till it becomes a nice and smooth paste. In another small bowl, prepare your egg wash by whisking the egg and water, reserve in the fridge till the end.
  3. - Roll your pastry dough (making sure it's always cold - never let your puff pastry get to room temperature - I usually work with a cold ice pack on the side) and make a few rectangles or squares of dough, the size you want.
  4. - Time to add your filling and roll your pastry, follow the graphic below for the easy technique.
  5. - Brush with your egg wash, sprinkle some sesame seeds on the top and bake at 350 for 45 minutes or till the crust is golden brown.
  6. Serve with any dipping sauce you want but I like mine with either ketchup of Dijon mustard!
  7. IMPORTANT NOTE - Since you can find a lot of different style of Mergez... If, during the cooking process, you find there is a lot of juices coming out of the pastry, you can move your rolls on the paper to make sure it doesn't boil in juice and make the dough saggy.

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Fish Broth #01

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FishBroth_01

I knew I did good to keep all those shrimps shells in my freezer from past recipes.  I had two medium bags full so I thought this could be the right time to use them.   What’s fun and so easy about making your own broth is that you can make it with pretty much everything: shells, bones, even the head and the tail of the fish you previously cooked.  Keep everything in the freezer and you’ll be happy you did once you try this recipe or create your own.  Homemade broth is so much better than the store version because you are 100%  sure of everything in it, you’ll be able to customize it and control the salt quantities.

Ok this one is going in to the kitchen basics section because even if it’s sort of a recipe, I find making broth is part of the basic of cooking.  There is so many different ways to make broth, like I’ve said, and this is why I wrote this one as #01.

Now be adventurous and try to customize your broth by adding different ingredients.  You can modify it to  better match the final recipe you have in mind and this could be the difference between a good meal and an awesome one.   I created this broth for a fish soup/dinner I made few weeks ago when I had some friends over.  The soup came out amazing and it’s in big part because of this broth.  The recipe will be on the blog shortly so stay tuned and enjoy this one 🙂

This recipe will give you one full regular size masson jar and a bit more that you will be able to keep in the fridge.  Since the recipe is custom, I don’t suggest you try to can it but maybe with a pressure canner it would become safe enough for shelf storage but I haven’t tried.  I kept my masson jar in the fridge and almost used the entire thing when I made my soup….

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Pork and Shrimps Chinese Dumplings/Wontons

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Ohhh Dumplings!  I have a serious obsessions over them.  Either it’s the classic Chinese pork and shrimps served with hot sauce or dijon mustard, like the one I’m presenting you today, or something more exotic like bananas and strawberries served with chocolate or maple/honey sauce, I love them all…

They are fairly easy to do and it only take a bit of patience because the result is beyond tasty and you can be sure that you will be surprising your guest with these cute little appetizers.  What’s also fun about them is that they are super versatile!  You can pretty much fill them with anything you like and either steam, fry, boil and bake them without any problems and every ways will end up different and delicious.

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Like I’ve mentioned, today I’m presenting you how to make the classic pork and shrimps dumplings that are shaped in a cute little “coin purse” or like I enjoying calling them; the kitty cat heads because of the cute “cat ears” on top.  I even prepared some step by step photos of the folding process because I thought maybe my bad, broken English would have been too complicated for you guys to understand. 😉 lol

I hope you’ll enjoy this recipe!

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