Today, we have a guest post recipe courtesy of Maria. With St. Patrick’s Day quickly approaching on Mar 17, I thought that Maria’s post came just in time. If you’re interested in posting an entry for Ho Yummy, please let us know!

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Celebrate your heritage—or just cultural diversity!—this St. Patrick’s Day with an easy, tasty, and freezer-friendly Irish recipe. The peas add a splash of green to your grub, and even the Guinness in your fridge gets to play a role, too.

Credit: picture from MarthaStewart.com

Ingredients

• 4 lb beef chuck, cut into 1½” cubes
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• 2 (6 oz) cans of tomato paste
• 2½ lb new potatoes, scrubbed but not peeled
• 2 medium onions, roughly chopped
• 2 (14 oz) cans of reduced-sodium beef broth
• 1 (15 oz) can of Irish stout beer
• 10 cloves of garlic, sliced
• Salt
• Pepper
• 20 oz frozen baby peas, thawed

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350* F. Toss the beef chuck and flour into an oven-safe heavy pot (at least 5 qt) and stir in the tomato paste. Add potatoes, onions, broth, beer, and garlic and season with a pinch of salt and ground pepper. Cover with the lid and turn the heat to medium. Stir occasionally to prevent burning.

2. When the mixture begins to boil, take the pot and put it into the oven. Let it cook (still covered) for about 2 ½ to 3 hours, or until the meat is tender. Take out the pot (carefully!) and stir in the thawed green peas. Taste and season with more salt and pepper if required.

This recipe serves 10, so be sure to bring your friends. If there are leftovers, don’t give them to the dog—stick it in the fridge and enjoy it a week later! Stews only get better with time, so put it on the stove again over medium-low heat until it’s ready to eat.

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About the author: Maria Rainier is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at First in Education where she writes about education, online degrees, and what it takes to succeed as a student working towards an online bachelors degree from home. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.

I saw on Twitter a couple of weeks ago that Ben from Chowtimes was planning a hot pot experiment using bak kut teh as the soup base. Jenkins introduced me to bak kut teh quite a while ago so I was really intrigued by Ben’s proposed experiment. After a bit of banter back and forth, we decided to do a joint post so we could report on our results. Click here to check out Ben’s post on bak kut teh hot pot.

For those of you who may not know, bak kut teh translates loosely to sparerib tea and is a Malaysian specialty. Pork ribs (and other cuts of meat and pork parts) are simmered in a broth flavoured with a variety of spices. The spices usually come in a packet (i.e. tea bag) and varies according to region and the store making the spice blend. It is a really simple dish but also very flavourful and tasty to eat.

To prepare the broth, I used a packet of bak kut teh spices that my mother-in-law brought back from her last trip to Malaysia. I followed the instructions on the back but instead of spareribs, I used pork neck bones that I bought from T&T.

After simmering the soup for about an hour, I strained and transferred the contents to a shallower pot for the hot pot. I invited my parents and grandparents over because hot pot is always more fun in a larger group. Everyone was really impressed with the great flavour from the bak kut teh broth. It was not overly heavy and really flavoured more bland things such as the chicken breast, tofu, and noodles really well. The broth was really easy to make beforehand and you knew exactly what went into it. I’d definitely do this again! Thanks Ben and Nanzaro for the great idea…what are we going to do next?

To compare with what Ben from Chowtimes did with his bak kut teh hot pot, check out his post. He definitely had more variety in his ingredients than I did!

Ingredients for the broth:

• 1 bak kut teh spice packet (we bought ours in Malaysia but my grandpa told me that you can go to any Chinese medicine store and ask them to custom make a packet for you)
• 2L water
• 1 whole garlic
• 2 teaspoons dark soy
• 3 lbs pork neck bones

Ingredients for hot pot:

• anything you want!
• in our case, we had a variety of items including veggies, thinly sliced pork & chicken, mushrooms, squid and cuttlefish balls, udon noodles, vermicelli, and tofu puffs

Directions:

1. Follow the instructions on the bak kut teh spice packet. In my case, I added the garlic, soy, and pork bones to a large stock pot with water
2. Bring the contents to a boil and simmer on medium-low heat for about 1 hour
3. Turn the heat off and scoop out the bones and garlic. You can save the bones for eating later if you’d like. The garlic will also be very soft and goes great with rice.
4. Strain the broth and pour into the pot you want to use for hot pot
5. Bring the contents to a boil and start adding your hot pot ingredients!

Vancouver Foodie Tour, Part 1

When we last left off, I was pondering my dilemma as to how I was going sample three more stops on the Foodie Tour when I was starting to get full. What kind of food person was I?

I was first introduced to ShuRaku a few years back by one of Jenkins’ friends. I liked how it was conveniently located and also enjoyed their food, which featured more than just your usual sushi offerings.

As soon as we walked through the door, we were treated to a Calpis cocktail.

Little Angus Beef Wraps were served with some mashed potato and sweet corn. The beef was nicely marinated but I found the mushy mashed potato a bit of an odd pairing and did not exactly go.

The Zuke Aburi was one of my favourite items here. The lightly seared tuna was very fresh and the chives and sea salt highlighted the delicate flavour of the tuna. This was one of the most popular items with our group as the tuna disappeared quite quickly.

The Ebi Mayo Harumaki was another dish I really enjoyed. The spring rolls were nicely fried and the chili mayo was a great accompaniment to the ebi.

Our next stop was Culinaria, a restaurant operated by the Art Institute of Vancouver. I had actually wanted to check out Culinaria a while ago but they had some odd hours and it never worked out for me.

Already on our tables when we arrived was some wine to go with the dishes we were about to sample.

We were served basically a full-sized meal at Culinaria, which was quite a bit considering we had stopped at five other restaurants already! The first item I sampled was the crab ravioli with smoked salmon sauce located at the bottom of my picture below. The crab ravioli was quite nice but I felt that the smoked salmon was a bit dry and perhaps slightly overcooked. One challenge with the Foodie Tour was that it was sometimes difficult to time our arrival with some of the food so they may not always be presented as they normally would be in a typical setting.

The duck confit with Szechuan pepper jus was quite nice but I couldn’t really taste the Szechuan peppercorns. One thing I did like about the duck was how it was accompanied with some toasted hazelnuts, whose nutty flavour went quite well with the duck.

To top everything off, we were served a chocolate decadence cake, a homemade lady finger, and some strawberries on top of a rhubarb compote. The chocolate cake had a mild chocolate flavour but I would have preferred it if the cake was more chocolate-y. I also think the rhubarb compote would have been nice if it had more tanginess to it because then it may have been a nice contrast to the chocolate cake.

I would have been quite satisfied and full if we had stopped after Culinaria but we had one more stop on our tour. Mijune told me that Creme de la Crumb was actually opened by a couple of her friends, who quit their jobs as financial planners to open a bakery.

Lydia from Creme de la Crumb must have read my mind because as I was figuring out how I would sample all her delicious goodies, she told us that she had provided us with some bags to take home the items we couldn’t finish.

The carrot cake with vanilla bean cream cheese was a very well-made carrot cake. The cake itself was moist and full of flavour from the carrots and spices while the vanilla bean cream cheese gave the cake some sweetness. The cream cheese topping was a bit dense and although I like my frosting to be more airy, I thought the vanilla flavour gave the carrot cake a nice twist on the traditional version.

The scones were definitely my favourite item at Creme de la Crumb. One version was with pears (and I think with nuts) and the other version was coconut and lime. Although they were both delicious and full of flavour, I liked the coconut and lime more just because it is one of my favourite flavour combos. The scones were slightly crispy on the outside and very moist on the inside. They would have gone wonderfully with a nice cup of coffee or tea for breakfast.

Lydia had some freshly baked cinnamon buns prepared for our visit. The cinnamon buns were still warm and sticky, just the way cinnamon buns should be. The buns themselves were moist and the sugary cinnamon filling went very nicely with the vanilla cream cheese on top. As cinnamon buns usually are, these are quite sweet so they would definitely go well with a strong cup of coffee.

As you would probably expect, I was extremely full after this eating extravaganza and was very glad that I had to walk home that day. I’m not sure if our version of the Foodie Tour is the same as the regular one they offer on their website, but I thoroughly enjoyed my experience on the Granville Food Tour. The groups are a good size and it’s a great opportunity to meet other food-minded individuals. It was also nice to visit so many new restaurants and get a sampling of some of their featured menu items. Another thing I liked about the Foodie Tour was how the restaurants were all reasonably priced so I could see myself going back for a meal. My only slight gripe was that some of our stops were a bit rushed and I would have liked to have more time to enjoy the food, but given the many stops we made and the fact that we were already pushing three hours on a tour that was originally scheduled for two hours, I really shouldn’t complain.

Check out Foodie Tour’s website for more details. Right now, they have Foodie Tours for Downtown Vancouver and Richmond priced at $40 and the Granville Street tour priced at $10 because it is subsidized by the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association. It’s definitely a nice treat for yourself and also makes a great present for a friend.

Details:
Vancouver Foodie Tour

Jenkins and I visited Ping’s Cafe on Main Street (review to come) a while back and one of my favourite dishes from that dinner was dessert. Black sesame desserts have always been one of my favourite dessert items, whether it be pudding made by my mom, bubble tea, or ice cream. So when I tried the delicious black sesame ice cream from Ping’s Cafe, I made it my mission to try and recreate the same thing at home.

This was my my second attempt at black sesame and it turned out pretty well although the colour was not as close to black as I would have liked. This recipe is also quite creamy so the next time I attempt this, I may play around with the cream to milk ratio to see what I like.

Here is what I’m trying to recreate (from Ping’s Cafe):

Black Sesame (Goma) Ice Cream Recipe
adapted from savorybites.com

Makes 1.5L

Ingredients
6 tbsp black sesame paste (in Vancouver, you can buy this from Fujiya, although another option is to make your own using roasted black sesame seeds and grinding them with a mortar & pestle)
3/4 cups whole milk
2 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp ground roasted black sesame seeds

Directions

1. If your sesame seeds have not been roasted, roast the seeds in a pan using a medium heat. Toss frequently until you can smell the sesame seeds. If using whole seeds, grind in a food processor. Set aside.
2. Combine 1/4 cup of sugar with the black sesame paste and whisk until smooth. If you don’t have black sesame paste, you can also the paste with an equal amount of ground black sesame seeds. Keep in mind that the texture of your ice cream will be a bit grainy although the flavour should still be there.
3. In another large bowl, whisk the remaining 3/4 cup of sugar with the egg yolks until the mixture becomes smooth and is a pale yellow colour.
4. Heat the milk in a small sauce pan until the edges just start to bubble (before the whole thing starts to boil).
5. Remove the milk from the heat and slowly add the milk to the yolk mixture while stirring to ensure the eggs don’t cook.
6. Pour the egg, sugar, and milk mixture back into the sauce pan and heat over medium low heat. Ensure you stir constantly as the mixture thickens or else you will get lumps. Once the mixture coats the back of a wooden spoon, immediately remove from the heat.
7. Strain the custard.
8. Slowly mix the custard in with the black sesame mixture. Make sure you add the custard slowly and in small portions or the mixture will separate.
9. Optional – you can cool the black sesame custard mixture by putting the bowl of custard in an ice bath. Make sure none of the water gets into your custard though.
10. Add the cream and ground sesame seeds into the cold ice cream mixture.
11. Churn the ice cream in an ice cream maker for about 35 minutes or until it reaches your desired consistency.
12. You can eat the ice cream at this point but I like my ice cream to harden a bit so I transfer the mixture to an air-tight container, cover the ice cream with plastic wrap, and snap on the lid.

It was another sunny Sunday in Vancouver today and I couldn’t have planned my latest frozen dessert-making endeavour any better. As I’ve blogged about previously, I’ve been an ice cream making fiend ever since Victoria changed my life and bought me an ice cream maker. Making all this ice cream eventually catches up to one’s waistline so I decided to look into making some frozen yogurt. I love the frozen yogurt at Pinkberry and other similar establishments but am not as into the high prices at such places. I figured making my own frozen yogurt had to be more cost effective than buying it from a store.

I found just what I was looking for from 101 Cookbooks, who had in turn, adapted her recipe from David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop. David has never left me down with his delicious ice cream and dessert recipes so I knew this had to be a winner.

Here is the recipe with some small changes. I like my frozen yogurt to be on the tangier side so added even less sugar than Heidi did.

Frozen Yogurt
Adapted from 101 Cookbooks and David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop

Ingredients
2 750g containers of Balkan- or Greek-style yogurt
2/3 cup less 1 tablespoon sugar (just because I don’t like my frozen yogurt to be too sweet. You can leave it as 2/3 cup if you don’t mind the sweetness)

Directions

• Line a cheesecloth or paper towels over a mesh strainer and put over a bowl.
• Pour the yogurt into the strainer and strain the water overnight or less if you don’t want the consistency of your frozen yogurt to be too thick. Let strain in the refrigerator.
• Spoon out about 1/3 of the strained yogurt into a medium-sized bowl and add the sugar. Whisk the sugar and yogurt together until the sugar has been dissolved.
• Add the remainder of the yogurt and whisk.
• The yogurt mixture should still be cold at this point so start up your ice cream maker and pour in the yogurt mixture.
• Run the ice cream machine for about 30 minutes or until you have reached your desired consistency.
• The frozen yogurt will be quite soft but if you can’t wait, you can start eating it now. I like the texture to be firmer so I put it in the freezer for a few hours before eating. Sometimes, it’s hard to wait though!
• Optional: Add your toppings. Since it is summer, it’s a great time to add fresh fruit.

I strained my Balkan yogurt overnight to give my frozen yogurt a richer consistency. The next time around, I’ll lighten the consistency by using only half the amount of yogurt but will not go through the straining process. I’m not sure which one I’ll like better so will let you know how that goes!

One of my oft-used wedding presents is an ice cream maker from Victoria. She knew how crazy I was about frozen desserts in general and figured I would make good use of an ice cream maker. She was right and ever since I unpacked my ice cream maker, I’ve been busily trying out new flavours of ice cream and gelato to the chagrin of my waistline.

I was at Tricia’s house earlier in the week and we made some yummy chocolate brownie cookies from Claudia Fleming’s book, The Last Course. Tricia and I have semi-regular cookie/dessert baking nights and were inspired by a cookie recipe posted on Chubby Hubby. The cookies sounded quite easy to make so we decided to give it a try. Although our cookies did not puff up as nicely as Chubby Hubby’s, they tasted very chocolaty and its brownie-like crust gave way to a soft and moist cookie inside.

I packed up half the batch of cookies to take home with me and once I got home, I decided to follow through with make use of some pistachio ice cream I had made a few days earlier. I had bought some raw pistachios to make a pistachio ice cream recipe I had found on Chocolate & Zucchini. Instead of the regular method of making a custard first, this recipe used corn starch and followed the Philadelphia ice cream method. I prefer the more traditional method of making a custard…or perhaps I just need more practice making Philadelphia-style ice cream. Next time around, I will try roasting the pistachios first to bring out more of a toasty, nutty flavour.

Now that I had all my materials on hand, I was ready to assemble my ice cream sandwich. The cookies were about two inches in diameter and made for a nice, two-bite ice cream sandwich. Even though I wish there was a more prominent pistachio flavour, the combination of the nuts and the chocolate cookies worked out very well and it didn’t take me long to gobble them down.

Chocolate Brownie Cookies
Makes 5 dozen cookies, from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course

Ingredients
35g all-purpose flour
¼ tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
2 large eggs
135g sugar
½ tbsp brewed espresso
1 tsp vanilla extract
30g unsalted butter
140g bittersweet chocolate, chopped
55g unsweetened chocolate, chopped
¾ cup mini dark chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375ºF/190ºC. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, briefly whip the eggs to break them up. Add the sugar, espresso, and vanilla and beat on high for 15 minutes, until thick. While the eggs are whipping, place the butter in the top layer of a double boiler, or in a metal bowl suspended over a pot of simmering water, and scatter the chocolate on top. Heat until the butter and chocolate melt. Remove from over the water and stir the chocolate and butter until smooth. Gently fold the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture until partially combined (there should still be some streaks). Add the flour mixture to the batter and carefully fold it in. If the batter is very runny, let it rest until it thickens slightly, about 5 minutes. Drop the batter by heaping teaspoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets and bake until puffed and cracked, 8 to 9 minutes. Cool on a wire rack before removing from the sheets.

Pistachio Gelato
Adapted from Chocolate & Zucchini

Ingredients
150 grams (1 1/4 cup) raw (= untoasted, unsalted) shelled pistachios
65 grams (1/3 cup) sugar
1/2 liter (2 cups) whole milk
2 tablespoons cornstarch
30 grams (1 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons) honey

Method
In the bowl of a food processor (or blender, or mini-chopper), combine the pistachios and sugar, and process in short pulses until the mixture is reduced to a fine powder. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine 60 ml (1/4 cup) of the milk with the cornstarch, and stir with a spoon to dissolve. Set aside.

Combine the rest of the milk (440 ml or 1 3/4 cups) with the pistachio mixture in a medium saucepan. Set over medium heat and bring just to a simmer, stirring regularly with a wooden spoon. Add the cornstarch mixture and cook for 3 more minutes, stirring continuously as the mixture thickens. The custard is ready when it coats the wooden spoon, and you can trace a neat path on the back of said spoon with your finger.

Remove from the heat and let cool for a few minutes. (At this point, you can opt to strain the custard through a fine-mesh sieve if you’d prefer a smooth texture; I myself like the tiny chunks of pistachio.)

Let cool to room temperature on the counter, whisking from time to time to prevent the formation of a skin, then cover and refrigerate overnight or until completely chilled.

Whisk the chilled mixture, and churn in your ice cream maker for about 35 minutes or until you reach your desired consistency.

It’s been a bit over a week since Valentine’s Day and I thought I should share with you what Jenkins and I did that day before it started to become untimely. Jenkins and I are usually pretty low-key for V-day and we try not to buy too much into the commercialism of it all. The past few years, we “celebrated” by going to our favourite HK-style diners but since this is our first year as “marrieds”, we decided to cook dinner together.

We scoured the internet and our cookbooks for some tasty and simple recipes. Jenkins and I ended up finding a couple of good recipes for the first and second courses, both from Gordon Ramsay. We originally wanted to make dessert as well, but we didn’t want to be overly ambitious so we bought a couple of tasty looking desserts from Ganache Patisserie.

For the first course, we made a spaghettini with crab, chilli, and lime by adapting the recipe found here.  (I’ll also include the recipes at the bottom of this post along with my mods.) The recipe called for a red chilli but we ended up using a serrano pepper instead, which turned out to be good but I prefer it to be spicier. I was also uncertain about the amount of spring onions to be used, but it really added a nice flavour to the dish and gave it a very fresh taste. As you can see in the picture below, I made a bit too much for 2 people so we were able to pack a lot of it away for lunch the next day.

For our main course, Jenkins and I made mashed potatoes with a pan-fried crispy skin trout. Although the skin did not work out to be as crispy as we anticipated, this was a very tasty dish. See the original recipe here.

First, Jenkins worked on the tomato and potato sides while I prepped the trout. We cut large cherry tomatoes and roasted them in the oven with some olive oil and salt. Then we peeled the boiled potatoes and mixed them with a mustard vinaigrette, spring onions, and flat leaf parsley. I enjoyed the mashed potatoes immensely and this is a much healthier alternative to the traditional mashed potatoes made with milk and cream.

The pan-fried trout turned out to be the tricky part. I normally broil my fish in the oven so was not prepared for the splattering of oil as the trout was cooking in the pan. We scored the skin of the fish to make it crispy but this did not turn out as well as we would have liked.

Overall though, both Jenkins and I enjoyed this dish quite a bit. The moist and flaky trout went really well with the sweet roasted tomatoes and the fresh garden-y taste of the mashed potatoes. I was uncertain if so many raw spring onions would make the potatoes too strong in flavour but the flavours all went very well together.

By this point, Jenkins and I were both quite full. We took a break by watching a movie before making our way to dessert. We had gone to Ganache earlier in the day and selected two items: one that we were sure we’d like and another that sounded a bit more unusual.

Our traditional/safe choice was the Chocolat-Pistache. It combined two of my favourite flavours together so I did not see how this could go wrong. The layers of light chocolate and pistachio mousse went very well together in a creamy and light combination and did not overwhelm one another. The two mousse layers were separated by a light and slightly crunchy pistachio layer. I also enjoyed the base layer of chocolate, which had a mild hint of orange to it and a slightly crispy and crunchy texture.

Our unusual choice was the Blanc Sichuan. When Jenkins and I read the description in the bakery, it did not sound too appealing to us but at the same time, I could not shake the feeling that its interesting blend of flavours may turn out to be quite tasty. The Blanc Sichuan was a white chocolate cheesecake with Szechuan peppers and had a rhubarb compote in the centre all on a chocolate cake base. My first bite into this cheesecake was quite delightful. It had the rich dense texture of most cheesecakes and the sweet white chocolate flavour created an interesting contrast to the peppery taste of the peppers. I found that the peppers did not really hit me until shortly after my initial bite. The rhubarb also added a tangy component to the peppery and sweet taste which surprisingly worked. I would definitely recommend this cheesecake to anyone who isn’t afraid of trying something different. Even if your taste preferences are more on the traditional side, I would still recommend you try this.

All in all, Jenkins and I had a very enjoyable V-day dinner. We were very glad that we made the decision to buy dessert though as the first two courses took a bit longer to prepare than we expected.

For the recipes that we used as well as the modifications that I made (in blue), click on “read more”.

Gordon Ramsay’s Angel Hair Pasta with Crab, Chilli, and Lime

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 200g angel hair pasta <I used spaghettini instead>
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 red chilli <I used a serrano pepper but I think red chillis would have been better>
• 4 spring onions
• Approx 75ml dry white wine
• 1 lime
• 250g white crab meat <the recipe recommended fresh crab meat but we used canned crab leg meat from Costco, which turned out quite well and was a lot less work!>
• Handful of flat leaf parsley
• Salt
• Black pepper
• Olive oil
• Extra virgin olive oil

Method

1. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. When it comes to a rolling boil, add the pasta and cook according to pack instructions until al dente (approximately 3-4 minutes). <Note that spaghettini will take slightly longer to cook>

2. Heat another large pan with the olive oil. Chop the spring onions, thinly slice the chilli (deseed if you prefer) and crush the garlic. Sauté for 1-2 minutes and season with salt and pepper.

3. Add the wine to the pan and cook out for a minute to reduce. Add the crab meat, stir together and allow to heat through.

4. Drain the pasta and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Add the pasta to the crab mixture, chop the parsley and toss the ingredients to combine.

5. Divide between warm plates and serve immediately with a generous squeeze of lime juice, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Wild Sea Trout and Baby Leeks with Crushed Potato and Tomato Butter
<Jenkins and I actually found our original recipe on You Tube and this was the closest approximation we could find >

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 2 wild sea trout or salmon fillets, with skin, about 150g each <we used steelhead trout from Costco>
• 250g new potatoes, peeled
• Sea salt and pepper
• 125g vine-ripened cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to drizzle
• 125g baby leeks, halved <we skipped this>
• Few spring onions, chopped
• 2 tbsp classic vinaigrette<we made this with lemon juice, olive oil, white wine vinegar, salt, pepper, and a dash of water>

Tomato butter sauce: <we skipped this sauce>

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 125g vine-ripened cherry tomatoes
• 1 tsp sherry vinegar
• 1 tsp sugar
• 50ml double cream
• 25g butter, diced
• 1 tbsp chopped basil

Method
1. Check the fish fillets for tiny bones, score the skin-side deeply and set aside. Cook the potatoes in salted water until tender. Heat the oven to 190C/Gas 5.

2. To make the tomato butter sauce, heat the olive oil in a small pan, add the tomatoes and cook over a low heat for 10 minutes. Transfer to a blender or food processor, add the sherry vinegar and sugar and whiz to a purée. Pass through a sieve back into the pan. Add the cream and simmer for a few minutes. Whisk in the butter and basil. Keep warm. <we skipped this>

3. Put the tomato halves, cut-side up, on a baking tray, drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake for about 5 minutes (or slowly overnight at 100C/Gas 1/4). <we roasted our tomatoes for about 15 minutes and the blitzed it for 5 minutes on broil>

4. Drain the potatoes, toss with a little olive oil over heat, then crush lightly with the back of a fork. Stir in the spring onions and vinaigrette. Season to taste.

5. To cook the fish, heat a non-stick frying pan and add the olive oil. Fry the fish, skin-side down, for 31ž2 minutes or until the skin is crisp, then turn and cook for 30 seconds only. Season lightly and rest in the pan for a few minutes.

6. Pile the crushed potato and leeks in the centre of two warm serving plates and top with the fish fillets. Surround with the cherry tomatoes and serve the tomato butter sauce on the side.

With Valentine’s Day coming up, I decided to try making chocolate covered strawberries, something I’ve wanted to do for a long time! I’ve always loved eating these at our catered work functions, as they seem to make the strawberries extra tasty.

The task appears simple enough – heat up chocolate, dip, cool, and serve. Before venturing forth, I checked for recipes online to see what other tips and tricks others have. Some appeared fairly complicated, but I decided to stick with simple, easy and quick.

I went down to my local Superstore and purchased a pound of Strawberries for $5, along with bulk Callebault chocolate baking chunks, about 250 grams of each. I didn’t end up melting all of it – my suggestion is to start with a small amount, and keep adding chunks as you need them. I’m no kitchen connoisseur, as you’ll soon see – my makeshift double-boiler consisted of a saucepot with an inch of water in it, and a ceramic mixing bowl.

I washed and patted dry the strawberries while starting to melt the chocolate on low heat. Make sure to keep the bottom of the bowl out of the hot water as this will make the chocolate too hot. I started with white chocolate first as that’s my favourite, and used a trick I learned from one of the recipes I came across – using toothpicks to hold the strawberries as you rotate them around.

I’m alright with things being a little messy, so I just rolled them as best as I could, and tried pulling them out so that that last point of contact is the little tip on the bottom of the berry. I noticed as I moved along my batch that the chocolate mixture starts to become dry if you take too long, making it harder to have a nice smooth coat of chocolate. Some cooks recommend adding shortening to the mixture, but I don’t find this too appealing. All I did was added some more chocolate chunks, and that seemed to help with the consistency problem. I think the key is to act fast, however.

Next up was milk chocolate – some prefer dark as this might be too sweet but I figured I would give it a try. I made a few milk chocolate ones and tried to copy the tuxedo strawberries by dipping my white chocolate ones at an angle. Make sure you have refrigerated these first, as you don’t want the two mixtures blending in to one another. Another trick I tried was drizzling the opposite coloured chocolate onto the berries. Some suggested using a fork to do this but I found it very difficult. Some of my drizzles became plops and I had to improvise and blend things together! I have to say I didn’t get very far with the tuxedo idea, but perhaps with practice and a steadier hand, I’m sure one could get these to look great. I popped everything into the fridge to cool and poured the remaining chocolate into a small dish with some dried cranberries to form a candy bar of sorts.

I just tried one of the white chocolate strawberries with milk chocolate drizzle and it was ho yummy! Looking back, I spent about $11 on the strawberries and chocolate, and the whole process was quite fun and relaxing. This recipe, if you can call it that, yielded 17 strawberries. You can easily take breaks while melting the chocolate as everything is pretty steady on low heat. I would love to do this with my little niece who would enjoy licking the mixing bowl afterwards!

Let us know if you have any other tips and tricks, or comments on store-bought ones that you have tasted!