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Holiday Recipe Alternatives

2007/02/06
Editted by Hellen Zhou, photos by Gu Haifeng and Zhou Bin

It’s February. Valentine’s Day and the Spring Festival are upon us and it’s time for gift-giving, but what will you present your loved ones with, a traditional box of chocolates or an all-purpose hongbao?

If you’re looking for something different, Beijing This Month (BTM) may have the solution: DIY exotic cuisines for holidays in China.

Chocolate remains a must for the Valentine’s Day, so BTM introduces the innovative chocolate green tea tart with Grand Marnier strawberry jelly, presented by Reto Stefania, executive pastry chef, Kerry Centre Hotel.

Stefania, 32, is Swiss-Italian; he has been whipping up traditional cakes and innovations since 1997. His talent has won him awards in international culinary contests and has brought him into celebrated kitchens across continents.

For a novice in Chinese food, Spring Festival dumplings can be a challenge, so try BTM’s favourite Italian ravioli as an alternative, thanks to the support of Giovanni Terracciano, chef de cuisine of cèpe, an Italian restaurant serving authentic northern Italian delights at The Ritz-Carlton Beijing, Financial Street.

Hailing from Naples, Terracciano helmed the award-winning Portman Ritz-Carlton, Shanghai Palladio Italian Restaurant from 2003 through 2006, after working for various reputable Italian restaurants across Europe and Asia, including the Michelin-star restaurants: Il Convivio in Rome and Pichler in Bolzano, Italy.

BTM’s last solution is a yearlong effective recipe for birthday celebrations. Northern Chinese prefer noodles on the anniversaries of their birth, because long noodles imply longevity. BTM is grateful for the Singapore’s laksa, proposed by Jeff Cheng, former executive chef and now director of food and beverage, InterContinental Beijing Financial Street.

Born in Hong Kong and a citizen of Australia, Cheng has worked for such prestigious hotels as the Mandarin Oriental, Peninsula, Four Seasons, and Ritz Carlton. A passion for excellent dining and international travel keeps his skills sharp.

Chocolate Green Tea Tart with Grand Marnier Strawberry Jelly

1. Ingredients

100-grams butter, 80-grams sugar, an egg, 200-grams white flour for sugar dough;

175-grams milk, 75-grams cream liquid, a spoon of green tea powder, 200-grams dark chocolate (chopped), an egg for chocolate green tea mixture

150-grams sugar, 150-grams water, 35-grams Grand Marnier, 200-grams strawberry (cut in quarters), six pieces gelatine leaves for Grand Marnier strawberry jelly

2. Beat butter and sugar together and add egg; add the flour and beat the ingredients slowly until everything is well mixed; leave the dough to rest for a while; roll it out––approximately 1.5 millimetre thick; half-bake it for around 12 minutes at 200 degrees centigrade in a 10-centimetre wide greased baking mould.

This is an optional procedure for DIY lovers, because such sugar dough is available in supermarkets.

3. Boil milk together with cream; add green tea powder and leave for five minutes; reheat the milk mix and pour the hot mix over the chopped dark chocolate and leave it to cool for 10 minutes and add the egg; mix well and strain into a bowl.

4. Brush the half-baked sugar dough tartlet(s) with an egg yolk to prevent sogginess; fill the sugar dough mould with the chocolate green tea mixture; bake at 110 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes until the chocolate mix is a little firm but not fully baked.

5. Soak gelatine leaves in cold water; heat sugar in water until the sugar is dissolved; remove from heat, add the softened gelatine leaves and Grand Marnier; add the strawberries into an expresso cup and fill it with the jellied mixture and let it cool for one hour; put the cup in a hot water bath to remove jelly from cup smoothly.

Ravioli Filled with Prosciutto, Eggplant and Smoked Scamorza with Shrimp and Cherry Tomato Sauce

1. Ingredients:

Semolina flour, white flour, egg yolk, eggplant, basil, prosciutto, shrimp, smoked scamorza, tomato, garllic, pepper, oil

2. Place white flour and semolina flour levelly on the board; add the egg yolk to make soft dough; knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic.

3. Cut the eggplant and prosciutto into small pieces; fry and saute the eggplant with salt, peper, basil and garlic; after frying, add prosciutto and smoked scamorza and mix.

4. Roll the dough into thin rectangle; place a teaspoon of the filling about every two inches on the dough; cover with another strip and cut out with a ravioli cutter (or cut with a knife and press with a fork); nip the edges of the ravioli.

5. Boil the ravioli; peel the shrimp; cut the tomatoes into small piece; fry the shrimp and tomatoes; add chillli powder, tomato sauce and minced basil; after the shrimp sauce boils, add the ravioli.

Seafood Laksa

1. Ingredients:

400-millilitres l aksa stock, 60-grams egg noodle, 40-grams vermicelli, 140-grams king prawn, 25-grams boiled egg, 20-grams bean sprouts, 20-grams bean curd, 30-grams fish cake, five-grams coriander, five-grams Thai red bird-eye chilli, 10-grams shallot, 40-grams chicken breast, five-grams cornstarch, cooking oil, sesame oil.

2. Marinate the chicken with cornstarch, oil, sesame oil and salt; blanch the chicken.

3. Peel the prawn; cut the bean curd and fish cake into pieces.

4. Heat the laksa stock in a pot and put in the prawn, fish cake, bean sprouts and bean curd; boil the egg noodles and vermicelli.

5. Put the prawn, fish cake, bean sprouts and bean curd over the egg noodles and vermicelli; pour some laksa stock; for garnish, use boiled egg, coriander leaves, Thai chilli, and deep fried shallots.



	Article featured in Beijing This Month, February 2007 Publication sponsored by Information Office of the Beijing Municipal Government, Beijing Municipal Bureau of Tourism