I tried to give this unadorned but deeply flavorful roasted chicken with an Asian touch by using a vibrant sauce of shallots, garlic, jalapeno and soy sauce.  The chef Jonathan Waxman created the Italian version at Barbuto, then-Italian restaurant in the West Village, New York City.  One important thing I also learned that the magic to this legendary crispy-skinned roast chicken is to baste.

 Serve 4

• I whole chicken, 4 to 5 pounds or about 1.75 kg – 2.25kg
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Sea salt and black pepper

For the sauce

• 5 to 6 jalapenos or any long green pepper, minced
• 3 to 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 small shallots minced
• 3 tablespoons cooking oil
• ½ teaspoon or to taste cooking salt
• 2 tablespoons                    light soy sauce
• ½ tablespoon   caster sugar
• 1/3 cup     water
• ½ tablespoon    freshly squeezed lime juice
  

  

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 425F°/210C°. Wash the chicken in hot water and dry with paper towels. Coat the chicken with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Season the chicken with generous amount of sea salt and fresh black pepper. Dab an earthenware or metal baking dish with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and place the chicken inside it. Roast for 30 minutes.
   

   

   

   

   
2. Then basting it every 7 to 8 minutes. Do the basting for 3 to 4 times. Basting is a culinary technique for moistening the surface of roasting meat, poultry, or other foods with pan drippings, stock, butter, or some other liquid. In addition to contributing moisture, basting adds flavor (as long as the basting liquid is flavorful) to the surface of the meat. What you need to do is gradually pouring the liquid at the bottom of the pan, in which the meat is being cooked, over the chicken, spoon by spoon. You will hear the beautiful ‘cracking’ sound after the hot liquid on the chicken skin. Just to be extremely careful, the oven is very hot. You will want to wear heavy baking gloves.
   

   
3. Rotate the pan during basting to allow for even cooking. Bake the chicken till golden. How long does it take to cook a chicken? Generally, it takes between 10 minutes to 12 minutes per pound. The chicken is done when the juices from the thigh run clear (about 165 F°). A 4 to 5 pounds chicken would need to cook about 50 – 60 minutes in the oven of 425 F°. Move the chicken out of the oven. Let the chicken to sit for about 15 minutes.
4. In the meantime, you can start make the sauce. Place a sauce pan over low medium fire, add cooking oil and minced shallots and garlic, fry for about 3 minutes till soft, then add into minced jalapeno, add into soy sauce, sugar and salt, cook for another 2 minutes, add water. Place the sauce in a small sauce bowl. Drip into the freshly squeezed lime juice.
5. Use a knife roughly cut the chicken into big pieces, pour onto 80% of the sauce. Save the rest of 20% to bring it to the dining table for sharing. Ready to serve.

Opo Squash, or “Chinese Long Squash’ or 瓠子hù zǐ,  is a native Chinese and Southeast Asian squash similar to a zucchini. Belonging to the gourd family, it has pale green skin, white flesh and very mild flavor. The humble vegetable is a great source of fiber and provides rich vitamins and minerals. It  can be seasoned with a variety of items, and generally absorbs the flavors of other ingredients when it is used in a stir-fry, soup or stew.
Serves 2-4

500g to 600g     one big long squash瓠子

6 – 8            small dry shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated and minced

2               spring onions, white and green parts separated, chopped

1.5 tablespoons   cooking oil

2 tablespoons       light soy sauce 生抽

¼ cup            chicken stock or water

1 tablespoon       sesame oil (optional)

 Method

1. Place dried shiitake mushrooms in a bowl filled with warm water. Let it rehydrate for about 20-30 minutes till soft. Mince the rehydrated mushrooms and chop the spring onions.
2. Peel the squash, trim the end pieces, then cut the squash into half-inch small pieces. Use the tip of your knife to cut the criss-cross shape on the top for both sides for all the squash pieces. This will help the squash quickly absorb the seasoning sauce later. Place all the squash pieces in a bowl and microwave over high heat for 3-4 minutes till softened.
   

   

   

   
3. Add 1.5 tablespoon of cooking oil in a frying pan over medium high heat. When the oil is hot, place the squash pieces, pan fry for 3-4 minutes till golden, flip the pieces to fry the other side, place minced mushrooms and white parts of the spring onion pieces and cook for another 3-4 minutes. In the meantime, mix the soy sauce and chicken stock. Pour the mixture evenly onto the squash. Cook for another 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle the chopped spring onion greens. Drizzle with sesame oil but this is optional.
   

   

   

   
4. Ready to serve.

This rice cake soup is delicious, comforting and very easy to make. It is perfect for a quick and hearty mid-week meal. Nian Gao (rice cakes), which means “higher every year”, is a squishy, sticky foodstuff made by pounding cooked rice with a wooden cudgel until smooth and elastic, then forming it into cakes that are sliced before cooking. They are chewy in texture, almost like a kind of noodle. Niao Gao comes with different shapes. The type of rice cakes for this recipe are white and shaped into flat ovals which you can find in most of the Asian supermarkets. I choose to use fresh, vacuum packed Korean rice cakes which can be used directly from the package.

Serve 3-4

Ingredients

For the meat & marinade:

• 250g                    pork loin or chicken, cut into small, thin strips
• 2 teaspoons       Chinese cooking wine (click here for homemade cooking wine)
• 1 tablespoon       light soy sauce生抽
• 1/2 teaspoon       sesame oil
• 1/4 teaspoon       white ground peppercorn白胡椒粉
• 1 teaspoon          corn starch

To assemble the soup:

• 3 tablespoons                vegetable oil
• 2 spring onions            thinly sliced on an angle, white and green parts separated
• 1 small carrot, 80g,      thinly sliced
• 400g                                napa cabbage, stems cut into ½-inch pieces and leaves cut into 1-inch pieces) 大白菜
• 4 cups                              low sodium chicken stock (click chicken stock for homemade chicken stock)
• 4 cups water
• 1/2 teaspoon                 white ground peppercorn
• 1 teaspoon                    sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon                light soy sauce
• 450g                                rice cakes 年糕

Instructions

1. Combine the pork (or chicken) with Chinese cooking wine, light soy sauce, sesame oil, white ground peppercorn, corn starch, and water. Marinate for 15 to 20 minutes.
2. Preheat your wok until it starts to smoke lightly. Over high heat, add 3 tablespoons oil, add white part of the spring onions, fry till fragrant, then add into pork until the meat strips turn pale and half-cooked.
   

   
3. Reduce the heat to medium, add into the carrots. Cook for another minute and add the napa cabbage. Stir fry everything together for a few minutes until the napa cabbage leaves are wilted.
   

   
4. Add 4 cups low sodium chicken stock and 4 cups water. Bring everything to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes, until the thick stems of the napa cabbage are tender. Add salt to taste, ½ teaspoon white ground peppercorn, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, and 1 tablespoon light soy sauce.Sprinkle the rice cakes over the surface of the soup, along with green parts of the scallions. The rice cakes should be resting on top of the soup so they don’t sink into it and stick to the bottom of the wok/pot. Cover and cook for another minute, or as long as it takes to cook the rice cakes through (please see the Recipe Notes if you are using dried rice cakes). Salt to taste again and serve!
   

   

Notes

Since this recipe requires 8 cups of liquid, keep in mind you’ll need a large wok. If your wok isn’t big enough to accommodate the recipe, you can make it in a large, thick-bottomed pot.

The cooking time for rice cakes can vary based on brand, whether the rice cakes were fresh, frozen, or dried to begin with, and how thick or thin they were cut. Cooking time can be anywhere from 1-10 minutes. Fresh rice cakes cook in a minute or two. Frozen rice cakes can be thawed beforehand or thrown into the wok/pot frozen, though they may take an additional couple minutes. Dried rice cakes should be soaked overnight first and may also take a little longer to cook.

Give this healthy, hassel-free and oven-baked recipe a try, and crack open your favorite cold beer to go with it. They can be served as an appetizer, finger food, or as one of several main dishes. The marinade is simple and extremely flavorful. Panko are designed to soak up the marinade and provide a luxuriously crispy coating.

Serve 3-4

• 1000g                      baby back ribs (cut into individual pieces; about 10-12 ribs, washed and pat dry with kitchen towel.)
• 2 tablespoons          Chinese cooking wine (click for  homemade cooking wine)
• ½ to 1 teaspoon       White peppercorn powder 白胡椒粉
• 1 teaspoon                garlic powder or use 2 teaspoons of minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons              caster sugar白糖
• 2 tablespoons            light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon    corn starch
• 1 egg
• 1 and ½ cups            panko breadcrumbs
• 1 and ½ teaspoons  coarse sea salt
• Cilantro or chopped spring inions for garnish (optional)

Method

1. In a large bowl, mix the ribs, Chinese cooking wine, white peppercorn powder, garlic powder, caster sugar, light soy sauce, corn starch and egg until combined. Toss in the ribs until they’re well coated and refrigerate overnight (if you’re scrambling for time, 2 hours will also suffice).
   

   
2. When you’re ready to cook the ribs, preheat oven to 400F° or 200C°, and line a sheet pan with heavy duty foil for easy clean-up. Give the ribs another toss in the marinade.
3. Mix the panko and salt in a separate bowl. Heavily dredge each rib in the panko mixture and place on the sheet pan. Sprinkle any of the remaining panko mixture on top of the ribs.
4. Place the ribs in the middle of the oven, close the oven door, and immediately reduce the temperature to 325 F°. Bake for 30 minutes. Flip each rib and lightly cover them with a sheet of foil. Bake for another 30 minutes – this helps lock the moisture of the ribs. Remove the sheet of foil on the top and flip each rib again and turn up the oven to 400F° or 200C°, bake for another 10 minutes until the ribs become golden.
5. Serve, garnished with cilantro or spring onions if desire