Shanghai Fried Noodles 上海炒面

Shanghai Fried Noodles

I am like super lethargic nowadays. Shanghai's famous humid season has kicked in and it's hot and wet out there, like a steam room minus the aromatherapy. The house is a haven, an air-conditioned haven, and all you want to do is stay at home, leg over the armrest of the Poltrona Frau and do nothing meditate.

I did go shopping with C and her family yesterday near Huaihai Lu. They were on the lookout for a few good fakes and I happened to know a pretty decent place for such things. Even though I was really touched after the wonderful documentary I saw on Hermes' savoir faire (the last time I was flying), I understand that not everyone has the budget to afford anything from their range of luxury products and sometimes starting off with a good fake could actually lead to one buying the real thing when the desire to own one reaches the right degree (finances permitting, of course).

It was nice going in and out of air-conditioned boutiques for a few hours - until the sky was ominously covered all of a sudden (it actually turned dark at 4pm) and then it just poured. We barely managed to find cover and that was when it was cool to be able to whip out the phone and get the driver to rescue us.

We stayed in today since the kids wanted to lunch at the Face restaurant in our compound and play billiards and I wanted to clean up the mosaic bowl that I've just finished making for SIL. Nowadays I do not even have the energy to cook, so we usually eat out, a chance to bring the kids to different restaurants each day, a change from their horrible school canteen lunches.

The simple mosaic bowl I made for SIL

The last series of cooking classes offered by our compound finished in early June and I missed the last class as the family was here and we had other things to do. I've picked up a few useful recipes and one of them was the famous Shanghai Fried Noodles 上海炒面 that is also known as 葱油拌面 according to the chef.

Cooking this dish actually saw me starting to take some interest in the fresh noodles (and later also dumpling skins) being sold in local shops. I've been snubbing them until now, usually preferring dried Cantonese egg noodles or fresh yellow noodles to be found in supermarkets specialising in imported foodstuff.

The freshly-made local noodles are cheap, count about 2 rmb per one-person portion! I do not know anything about the quality of the wheat flour used, but the noodles do not taste too bad and cook quickly - an important consideration in a lazy housewife's book.

The dumpling skins are often too thick for my liking, but if you are not making Cantonese-style dumplings they will do.

Shanghai Fried Noodles :

fresh chinese wheat flour noodles

dark soy sauce

vegetable oil

sesame oil

a bit of minced pork

spring onions (only the green parts)

red bell pepper strips

chinese leafy greens (optional)

Blanche the fresh noodles in rapidly boiling water for about 2 minutes. Remove and rinse them in cold water.

In a large bowl add dark soy sauce (for taste and colour) as well as some sesame oil to the noodles. Toss well.

Fry the spring onions till fragrant in some hot oil. Use only the green bits as the white bits tend to give out too much water when fried. Remove, drain and set aside.

Cook the minced pork (lightly seasoned) and red bell pepper strips in a ladle of oil. Add in Chinese leafy greens if using them. Pour in some hot water and cover, using the steam to finish the cooking.

Pour everything on top of the noodles, add the cooked spring onions and serve. What is really important in this dish are the spring onions so make sure you are generous with them and that they are cooked till fragrant.

Seafood Lasagne (Lasagne aux Fruits de Mer)

Seafood Lasagne

The last time I made a Seafood Lasagne we were still living in Paris. In fact we were in temporary dwellings having returned earlier than planned from Spain (2 weeks before I gave birth to Baby Girl) and not being able to recover our own flat from the tenants.

It was for Hub's birthday. I've thrown him a surprise birthday party, inviting his family and best friend SB. He came back from a business trip to find all these folks waiting for him at home. Cool, wasn't it?

One of the dishes I've prepared was this seafood lasagne. It's easy to make and can feed a decent number of people. My version has 2 different layers of seafood with 2 different sauces, and a garlicky cheesy béchamel.

I made this again nearly 10 years later for the lunch I threw the neighbours (8 of them) a few weeks ago. I guess I stopped making it firstly because the Babies do not eat fish and secondly as we've lived 4 years in Italy making it unnecessary to cook one's own lasagne.

It was well received by my guests and Hub had the leftovers to his delight - and asked why I've stopped making it all these years. I should make it more often, it's true.

The Teenager is away in Singapore for 3 weeks and the Babies are now on holiday. I've decided not to cook too much nowadays as we all need to lose some weight, though I've a few friends coming over for lunch tomorrow. I guess the diet will have to wait another few days.

Seafood Lasagne :

rectangular pasta dough (9-12 sheets depending on how many layers you'll be making)

boiling water

1 large zucchini (sliced lengthwise)

100g grated parmesan cheese

200g grated emmenthal, cheddar, gruyere or mozzarella cheese

6-8 fresh sage leaves

The Prawn and Scallop Layer :

2 dozen large prawns (peeled and gutted)

a dozen scallops

olive oil

2 cloves garlic (sliced)

red chilli (sliced)

1 tsp fennel seeds

a sprinkling of thyme leaves

a few cherry tomatoes (halved)

salt and pepper to taste

The Cod Fish and Salmon Layer :

1 large filet of cod fish

1 large filet of salmon

salt and pepper to taste

red bell pepper sauce*

The Béchamel :

olive oil

3 cloves garlic (minced)

1 l milk

3 tbsp white wine

a pinch of nutmeg

2 bay leaves

1 tsp crushed black pepper

80g butter

65g plain flour

150g grated parmesan cheese

salt to taste

*Red Bell Pepper Sauce :

1 large red bell pepper

olive oil

1 clove garlic

salt and pepper to taste

2 tsp white vinegar

1 tbsp crème fraiche

Blanche the lasagne pasta sheets in boiling water, remove and set aside.

Grill the salmon and cod fish in a bit of olive oil. Season and cut into large cubes. Set aside.

Fry the garlic and chilli in some olive oil till fragrant. Add in fennel seeds, followed by the raw scallops. I usually salt the raw prawns for 10 minutes and then rinse them in order to have prawns that will not release too much water when they are being cooked. Add the prawns and sprinkle some thyme leaves over them. Toss in the tomatoes and season to taste. Set aside.

Prepare the red bell pepper sauce by cooking the largely sliced pepper in olive oil with the garlic in a small pot, covered and on low heat. When it is soft and fragrant, remove from the heat, add the cream and vinegar, season and mix into a rough sauce with a hand mixer. Set aside.

Prepare the béchamel. Gently boil the milk with the bay leaves, nutmeg and pepper. Remove the bay leaves and set aside.

Fry the garlic in olive oil till fragrant, melt the butter in it and stir in the flour. Pour in the milk bit by bit taking care to stir all the time. The flour needs to be cooked or the sauce will taste horrible. Bring the sauce to the boil gently, stir in the wine, remove from the fire and stir in the parmesan cheese. Salt to taste.

Olive oil your lasagne dish and heat your oven to 220°C/425°F.

Place a layer of pasta sheets in the dish and spread the prawns and scallops over them. Pour some béchamel on them, sprinkle over some parmesan cheese and cover with a layer of sliced zucchini. Top with more béchamel and cover with another layer of pasta sheets.

The next layer will contain the grilled cod fish and salmon, covered with the red bell pepper sauce.

The final layer should be pasta, béchamel, parmesan cheese, sage leaves and a layer of cheese good for melting like emmenthal or mozzarella.

Ready for the oven

Bake for between 30 and 45 minutes - watch that the cheese doesn't burn.

Beef Lasagne

Beef Lasagne

I actually made Beef Lasagne the same evening I was preparing the sweet braised pork which probably contributed to our inability to stomach more food that day. I remember now that it was just after the weekly cooking class offered by our residence (we learnt a spring onion crab dish that morning) which set me off on a cooking frenzy 2 days in a row. Yes, I made black pepper crabs too in the same 2 days because the same cooking class got Judy into a similar frenzy and she bought crabs from the wholesale market and even killed them for us! Fei kept saying that she only got so plump because of me and my obsession with food.

My sage and rosemary plants

I didn't make the pasta for the lasagne myself this time and the packet of Barilla I got from Carrefour was really expensive. I just realised that I've never blogged properly about lasagne probably because it's one of those simple dishes that requires quite a bit of preparation and I've never managed to find enough natural light at the end to have a picture taken. I still haven't, but have decided to blog about it anyway.

Basically making lasagne is about making pasta, béchamel and bolognese/ragu and putting everything together. It's easy, but it does take quite a bit of time and organisation. There is however no need to go the Bologna Chamber of Commerce way and cook your meat in milk etc for the ragu because once you've mixed your meat sauce with the béchamel you wouldn't quite remember how it looked like before.

Fresh out of the oven

Beef Lasagne :

rectangular pasta dough (9-12 sheets depending on how many layers you'll be making)

boiling water

100g grated parmesan cheese

200g grated emmenthal, cheddar, gruyere or mozzarella cheese

6-8 fresh sage leaves

The Béchamel :

1 l milk

a pinch of nutmeg

2 bay leaves

1 tsp crushed black pepper

80g butter

65g plain flour

150g grated parmesan cheese

salt to taste

The Meat Sauce :

500g minced beef

olive oil

3 cloves garlic (chopped)

1 small onion (chopped)

1 sprig fresh rosemary

1 bay leaf

a few basil leaves

400ml tomato purée

400g tin of ripe peeled plum tomatoes

1 bird's eye chilli (chopped)

salt and pepper to taste

Prepare the meat sauce first. Hand form the beef into patties and grill them till they are brown on the outside. Chop roughly and set aside.

Heat up some olive oil and fry the onions and garlic till fragrant. Add in the fresh herbs, the tomato purée and tinned tomatoes, chilli, salt and pepper. Gently add the meat into the sauce. Cover and simmer while you prepare the white sauce.

Gently boil the milk with the bay leaves, nutmeg and pepper. Remove the bay leaves and set aside.

Melt the butter in a small pot and stir in the flour. Pour in the milk bit by bit taking care to stir all the time. The flour needs to be cooked or the sauce will taste horrible. Bring the sauce to the boil gently, remove from the fire and stir in the parmesan cheese. Salt to taste.

Bring a pot of water to boil and blanch the pasta sheets. Even if they tell you there's no need to pre-cook them, I'd still do it because the taste of raw pasta is not fabulous.

Olive oil your lasagne dish and heat your oven to 220°C/425°F.

Place a layer of pasta sheets in the dish and spread the meat sauce over them. Pour some béchamel over the meat sauce, sprinkle over some parmesan cheese and cover with another layer of pasta sheets.

Repeat till you've reached the top of the lasagne dish. The final layer should be pasta, béchamel, parmesan cheese, sage leaves and a layer of cheese good for melting like emmenthal or mozzarella.

Before going into the oven

Bake for between 30 and 45 minutes - watch that the cheese doesn't burn.

I was hoping to get a daylight shot of just a serving of lasagne the next day but the kids took the remaining 2 portions with them in their lunch bags so the plan couldn't come to fruition. A German kid also had 2 servings actually, he happened to pass by the house and invited himself to dinner when he saw the lasagne.

Chicken Dan Dan Noodles

Chicken Dan Dan Noodles

In my quest for a local substitute for imported tahini (which is very expensive here in Shanghai), I ended up buying a few jars of sesame paste some of which also contain peanut butter (and are therefore not suitable for making hoummous). Currently not in a figure condition to enjoy peanut/sesame butter sandwiches, I had to find some better use for said pastes and came up with a bowl of Chicken Dan Dan Noodles for lunch.

I had my first bowl of Dan Dan noodles at Ding Tai Fung last year and didn't like it. I felt that it was too peanut buttery. I've wanted to make my own version since then and was glad that I found a moment to do so a few days ago. Life has been hectic lately between meetings for Global Child Day (GCD), my mosaic and calligraphy hobbies, recent passion for picking up the piano again (too much stess?), housework, lunches with friends, cooking classes and preparing to receive friends and family to Shanghai starting from the end of May.

I've also been having quite a headache over Baby Girl and her lacking behind (according to all her teachers) in almost all of her subjects. We need to figure out if she's having problems learning, if she's slow and/or if she's lazy. How's that?

Dan dan noodles are also known as spicy Sichuan noodles. Though it has become such an important part of the Taiwanese snack culture that we probably think of Taiwan (or even American Chinese) first and Sichuan second when it comes to the dish outside China. My version was, I think, more Taiwanese than Sichuanese (if you go by the ones I've eaten in Sichuanese restaurants thus far).

I didn't have use of the driver that morning so I couldn't buy any fresh Shanghainese noodles (that I felt would go well with the sauce). I used fresh ramen meant for lanzhou lamian instead which worked out quite well actually. It was more springy and had a firmer bite compared to Shanghai noodles. I didn't use any spring onions because I do not like them much.

The result was a slightly sweet, salty, peanut buttery, acidic and fiery bowl of noodles.

Chicken Dan Dan Noodles :

peanut oil

1 large clove garlic (minced)

1 large slice fresh ginger (julienned)

1 tbsp sesame paste

1 tbsp dark soy sauce (or if you prefer it sweet use kecap manis instead)

1 tbsp chilli oil (I also used chilli padi)

1 tbsp black vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

125ml chicken stock

fresh wheat noodles for 1-2 persons

Garnishing :

1 tbsp roasted sichuan peppercorns

fried beancurd skin (sliced)

cucumber (sliced)

100g cooked chicken meat (shredded, normally minced pork is used)

Bring a pot of water to boil and cook the fresh noodles till they are al dente. Drain and set aside.

Combine all the sauce ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

Heat up the peanut oil and fry the ginger and garlic till fragrant. Stir in the sauce ingredients and simmer till well combined.

Pour the sauce over the noodles and garnish with shredded chicken, cucumber, bean curd skin, chopped spring onions and roasted Sichuan peppercorns. Mix well before tucking in.

Chicken Pilaf and Egyptian Day At School

Chicken Pilaf

While the kids were excited about Egyptian Day and have probably learnt quite a bit about pharaohs, mummies and ancient Egypt, mums like myself were up to here (picture the chin) having to run around getting a costume ready, find material to help them create their projects (e.g. posters, models...) and cook something for the Egyptian lunch.

Part of the small buffet spread (didn't feel that there was enough food this year)

I actually had a costume tailor-made (for 250rmb!) last year when Baby Girl was in Year 3 so I was keen for Baby Boy to use it. It took some heavy-handed negotiation as he refused to "wear a skirt". I had to throw in a pharaoh's headdress, a jewel-studded stick, a necklace and the threat not to contribute anything to the buffet to get the boy to agree to wearing said costume. It was well-worth it as he looked quite splendid in the set-up and I believe that he had a great time this morning.

The Pharaoh with his Mummy best friend

I also managed to find an ingenious way to avoid having to work on our friend's project. Kids' projects are often parents' projects, who was the school trying to kid? I was inspired while picking up Lego pieces all over the house to suggest to the boy that he make a pyramid (model) out of Lego. I must admit that he surprised me. Took under 2 hours to build a pyramid - all on his own - and even thought of building an entrance leading to a chamber where a body was being mummified...Isn't he clever or what?

Baby Boy's Lego Pyramid

See the cadaver inside?

For the buffet, I wanted to make life easy and just bring fruit. I mean what did the ancient Egyptians eat besides bread, beer and foie gras? But baby Boy objected to it, which was just as well since most of the other parents brought bread or fruit which would make the meal a little too healthy kids being kids. I made 2 portions of Chicken Pilaf this morning and it was one of the few mains on offer which explained why it disappeared within minutes of lunch starting.

Chicken (Lamb/Beef/Shrimp) Pilaf :

500g chicken thigh meat (deboned)

100g plain yoghurt

1½ tbsp curry powder

1 tsp pepper

3 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp butter

1 small onion (chopped)

2 bay leaves

5-6 curry leaves

1 small cinnamon bark

4 whole cloves

4 green cardamom seeds

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tbsp cumin seeds

1 tsp ground turmeric

1 tbsp ground coriander seeds

2-3 tbsp ginger-garlic paste

2-3 cups basmati rice (rinsed and drained)

3-5 cups chicken stock

½ tsp salt

Garnishing (optional)

raisins

sliced almonds (dry roasted)

fresh coriander leaves

fresh mint leaves

fried shallots

Slice the chicken into bite-sized pieces and marinate them with the curry powder, pepper and yoghurt for a few hours. Only salt as you are cooking the meat.

In a frying pan heat a bit of oil till smoking and brown the chicken pieces. Remove and set aside.

Heat up the vegetable oil in a large pot and fry the onions, bay leaves, curry leaves, whole spices, ground spices and ginger-garlic paste till fragrant.

If using vegetables like peas, long beans or carrots (all chopped, of course), add them now.

Add the butter and the basmati rice and coat the grains thoroughly with the fragrant oil.

Stir the cooked chicken into the rice. Pour in the chicken stock, stir in the salt. Cover and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes, then lower the heat to the lowest and let the rice cook in its own steam for 15-20 minutes.

Before serving fluff up the rice with a fork and garnish with raisons, nuts, fresh herbs, fried shallots etc. As the school has a nut-free policy and kids usually do not like to eat anything green, I cooked a very simple Chicken Pilaf for the occasion.

A few of the projects presented by the other Year 3s

Gai See Hor Fun 鸡丝河粉

鸡丝河粉

I made a Vietnamese Beef Pho one evening and a roast chicken the next and found myself with some leftover chicken breast, beef stock and flat rice noodles. Images of Gai See Hor Fun 鸡丝河粉 started to flash before me so that was what I made myself for lunch.

I grew up more or less with 2 versions of this dish : flat rice noodles in clear soup and flat rice noodles in dark gravy. And have somehow always preferred the latter. So it was the dark gravy version that I will blog about. We usually use the thinner flat rice noodles to make this dish, but I had to make-do with whatever I could find here, of course. So fresh medium-broad rice noodles'll have to do.

Flat Rice Noodles and Shredded Chicken Meat in Dark Gravy (serves 1) :

a piece of fresh ginger

2 garlic cloves

1 tbsp sesame oil

200ml meat stock

2 tsp light soy sauce

2 tsp dark soy sauce

1/2 tsp fish sauce

2 tsp small rock sugar

salt and pepper to taste

2 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 1-2 tsp water

flat rice noodles (cooked and drained)

chicken meat (cooked and shredded)

bean sprouts (blanched)

spinach (blanched)

fresh chilli

fried shallots

Pound the ginger and garlic into a rough paste. Fry the paste in the sesame oil in a small sauce pan till it turns fragrant.

Pour in the stock. Followed by the sauces and rock sugar. Stir to mix well. Taste to adjust the seasoning, adding salt or sugar if necessary.

Prepare the serving plate. Fill it with the cooked and drained flat rice noodles. Top with the blanched bean sprouts and spinach.

Dip the chicken meat for a minute in the gravy still cooking on the stove. Remove, shred and garnish the noodles with.

Stir the cornstarch into the gravy to thicken it. Remove from the heat and pass the gravy through a sieve.

Pour the gravy over the noodles. Add chilli and fried shallots if desired.

Mac and Cheese with Bacon and Porcini Bits

It was crazy how one could suddenly develop a craving for macaroni and cheese. But I suspect that Carrefour selling grated French emmental cheese 2 for the price of 1 contributed some towards said craving. Imported cheese (if there were Chinese ones I prefer to remain in ignorance) costs quite a lot here in Shanghai, so my need to take advantage of the offer could surely be understood.

10 months after leaving Modena finally saw the onset of pasta withdrawal symptoms da noi. The kids have been asking for spaghetti alla carbonara, Hub all'arrabbiata and I for some reason kept seeing macaroni or chifferi as the Italians prefer when it comes to short elbow-shaped pasta. Actually I do not recall seeing macaroni when I was living in Italy. There was Maccheroni, but it was long and best eaten with meat sauces.

Imported pasta isn't cheap in Shanghai, but one should rejoice in the fact that one could find them rather easily. Armed with my packet of chifferi from Barilla, vintage cheddar from Kerrygold (Ireland) and the French emmental from President, I was ready to cook myself some Mac and Cheese with Bacon and Porcini bits.

It's the end of the Chinese porcini season and I managed to buy some of the last fresh mushrooms a few days ago. Mac and Cheese is basically comfort food that is often featured in kids' menus in American-style diners here though precisely because it's so basic I prefer to make it myself. I have seen packets of Kraft Mac n Cheese mixes at the supermarket and the thought of eating them freaked me out for some reason.

What I love about the dish is the gratinated cheese, so I usually make shallow casseroles that have more surface area for melted cheese. And I also like to make Mac and Cheese in individual ramekins because any excuse to use my Emile Henry porcelain bakeware is a good one.

Mac and Cheese with Bacon and Porcini Bits :

The pasta :

Cook enough elbow pasta (to fill up 3/4 of your bakeware) in salted boiling water. Needless to say the pasta has to be al dente. Drain and place in the casserole.

The Béchamel :

Melt some butter in a small pot. Add a pinch of nutmeg, generous turn of ground black pepper and salt.

Stir in a bit of flour and milk to make the béchamel. Keep stirring and make sure that the flour is cooked before using the sauce. Make enough to cover the pasta in its recipient.

Add grated cheddar cheese to the sauce and stir to melt it (over low heat). Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

Pour the sauce into the bakeware and coat the cooked pasta with it.

The Filling :

Cut a few slices of bacon and a fresh porcini into small pieces and cook in a frying pan (adding a bit of butter or olive oil if necessary) till the bacon is crisp. Add minced garlic and cook till fragrant.

Stir into the pasta-béchamel mixture.

Final Touch :

Pre-heat oven to 375°C.

Top the pasta casserole generously with grated emmental cheese. Many would add panko or other breadcrumbs to the dish at this stage but I prefer it without.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. In the last 5 minutes turn on the broiler if necessary to bronze the cheese and make sure that it's nicely gratinated.

Eat it hot!

葱花拌面 Caramelised Onions on Noodles

Caramelised Onions on Noodles

I ate this at 鼎泰丰 (Din Tai Fung)'s Yuyuan branch a few weeks ago when I brought MIL there to try its famous xiaolongbao and became quite hooked on the simple noodles. Visions of caramelised onions filled my head for days until I couldn't stand it any longer.

The bathroom scale has run out of battery and I could no longer weigh myself until I get new ones (those round flat 2430s are really expensive) - and you knew that the batteries were running low when you were weighing 70 kgs and still eating tonnes of carbo one night and suddenly before your very eyes the weight kept decreasing till you were weighing 50 (I do so wish). Sigh, I really wish I could stay away from the rice and noodles - especially at night - but I couldn't and so you now get this piece on my Caramelised Onions on Noodles 葱花拌面.

I bought an enormous yellow onion from the supermarket a few days ago and surprisingly needed only half of it to make this dish. I ate 2 portions of noodles the other day and still have a small bowl of caramelised onion sauce left - probably enough for another 2 portions. If you are running on a low budget, give the cheap spaghetti a miss (used to cook penne with BBQ sauce almost every day when I was a student in Paris, adding cheap Frankfurt sausages from ED/Leader Price occasionally for the protein) and go for this onion noodles instead. And didn't I read somewhere that yellow onions have antioxidant properties, can improve men's sexual prowess etc?

葱花拌面 :

1 medium-large yellow onion (finely sliced)

2 tbsp canola oil

2 garlic cloves (chopped)

1 small piece fresh ginger (chopped)

1 fresh red chilli (sliced)

2 tbsp chinese cooking wine

2 tbsp sugar

2 tsp dark soy sauce

2 tbsp light soy sauce

2 tbsp fragrant vinegar

hot water as required

fresh noodles (cooked and drained)

soy sauce

sesame oil

pepper

Heat the oil in a small casserole with a lid and fry the ginger, garlic and chillies till fragrant.

Add the onions. Fry till they turn brown, lower the heat, cover the pot and let them sweat, stirring from time to time to prevent burning.

They will become soft and brown. Pour in the wine and stir in the sugar, but only after the onions are already brown.

Stir in the soy sauces to provide colour and salt to the onions. Only add in the vinegar towards the end or it'll evaporate too much. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary (it should taste sweet, salty and vinegary). Add some hot water if necessary to dilute the sauce.

Cook and drain the noodles. Immediately toss with a dash of light soy sauce and sesame oil.

Divide the noodles into serving bowls and spoon some of the caramelised onion sauce on top. Add pepper to taste. Mix well before eating.

I am now busy packing. We're leaving on Wednesday morning. The kids will have to miss a few days of school but I'm sure it'll do everyone some good to be back in France. We're going to bring them to Paris for a few days. They were all born in the capital, but left France when they were very young. The Babies have almost no recollection of their time in the city - something we hope to remedy. I've already bought tickets to the Eiffel Tower, Cité des Sciences and hopefully we'll find time to visit Montmartre, the Latin Quarter and the Champs Elysées as well.

A bientôt!

Duck Confit and Porcini Risotto

Duck Confit and Cepe Risotto

We served our last few duck confit when we had the Ms over for lunch and there were 2 legs left over which were just begging to be served with a risotto. Actually I got the idea from a restaurant here in Shanghai which had a duck confit risotto on its menu though I have never tried it.

I also have a last jar of porcini (cèpe) preserved in oil left so I thought that it would make a lovely Duck Confit and Porcini Risotto for dinner. I didn't plan on sharing it with the children (they had home-made hamburgers), but they took a look at the dish and decided that they wanted to have some too. Hub thought that it was a great idea (he was hesitant about it at first). Now I'll have to stock up on duck confit the next time we return to France. And I am still trying to find fresh porcini here in Shanghai.

Duck Confit and Cepe Risotto :

2 duck confit legs

1 small red onion (diced)

2 garlic cloves (diced)

duck fat

fresh rosemary

arborio rice for 2

a few porcini mushrooms (cubed)

a dash of sweet white wine

750ml hot chicken stock (boiled also with duck bones)

salt and pepper to taste

fresh parsley

grated parmesan cheese

Cook the duck confit legs in their own fat in a hot frying pan till the skin is crispy. Shred the meat and set aside. Reserve the bones for the stock.

Prepare a small pot of chicken stock. Add the duck bones for more flavour.

Heat up more duck fat in the frying pan and fry the onions, garlic and rosemary till fragrant. Add the arborio rice and coat the grains thoroughly with the fat.

Stir in the porcini mushrooms and the wine. Lower the fire and pour some stock into the pan. Let the rice absorb the stock and keep adding more stock until the rice is almost cooked. This will take about 10-15 minutes. Do not cover.

Add the shredded duck confit to the rice and give it a gentle stir. Rice should be al dente and there should still be liquid in the pan. If you allow the liquid to be totally absorbed before you turn off the heat rice will be overcooked and risotto too dry.

Serve hot with salt, pepper, parsley and parmesan cheese. And a good red wine.