of chervil, milk mayonnaise, and chicken burgers

chervil mayo chicken sandwiches on toasted seven-seed bread.

I have to confess that despite my apparent adventurous streak, I frequently use the same herbs over and over again. This is due partly to my cheerful reliance on my little windowsill herb garden, which currently flourishes with mint, rosemary and garlic chives, but let's face it... variety is fun, and there are only so many facets I can tease out of those three, awesome as they are.

So I've decided I should expand my repertoire and when I spotted chervil at the markets recently, it felt like the perfect challenge, because I knew absolutely zilch about it.

Chervil looks like a tinier, daintier version of flat-leaf parsley, and upon sampling it I found that it has a similar taste too, but gentler and with a bonus hint of anise. Now I have to say that my feelings toward parsley and aniseed are lukewarm at best - I'll accept small amounts in my food, but I don't go out of my way for them - however, I have developed quite an affection for chervil, perhaps because it has a much subtler magic to it. In fact, I bought it again at South Melbourne Market the very week after my first purchase, and I can see it sneaking into my meals more often in the future.

A few simple ideas for chervil? Chop it up and toss it together with balsamic vinegar, olive oil and almond flakes to create a simple salad. Serve it fresh atop a hot noodle broth. Use it anywhere you can imagine using parsley. Trust that it will deliver. It did for me.

chervil.

But wait, there's more! I did a bit of poking around online to see what others have done with their chervil and came across David Lebovitz's chervil mayonnaise recipe, which is basically a chervil-ised adaptation of David Leite's milk mayonnaise - an intriguing eggless mayonnaise recipe of Portuguese origins that uses milk in lieu of yolks.

This milk mayonnaise, it works. If you feel a bit iffy about raw eggs, it will change your life. Fresh mayo, no eggs, no worries - and if you're vegan, soy milk will do, too!

I decided to start with Leite's mayonnaise, with the idea that I would just dress some roughly chopped chervil with it afterwards, instead of incorporating finely chopped chervil as per Lebovitz's way. Initially, I foolishly attempted this by hand with a balloon whisk, which took me nowhere, but once I transferred the mixture to a little blender, it emulsified beautifully, smooth and thick. I then foolishly washed my chervil just before dredging it through the mayonnaise (instead of doing it earlier and letting it dry). The excess moisture undid my efforts and I ended up with a slightly watery concoction.

Oh well, live and learn. By the way, if you're suspiciously wondering why my milk mayonnaise is so vibrantly yellow, it's due to the carotene-rich oil I used. It's all legit, I promise!

Despite my gaffes, dinner was served. Toasted organic sourdough seven-seed bread. Pan-fried free-range chicken patties. Freshly blended milk mayonnaise. Garlands of chervil. Simon helping me out with the photographs, because he knows better on how to fight the curse of artificial lighting, and because I could really use a break after all my travails. Standing by the kitchen bench together as we devoured our burgers. Happiness.

chervil mayo chicken burgers on toasted seven-seed bread.

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chinese borscht / abc soup / luo song tang

If you have some kind of Chinese background, you probably know this soup, and you've probably made it dozens, maybe even hundreds of times before. At home, my mum calls this luo song tang (罗宋汤). My cousins call it ABC soup. I've seen Chinese restaurants with English menus refer to it as Chinese borscht. Whatever you choose to call it, it's delicious, ridiculously easy, and the meat and vegetables involved can be sourced very cheaply. Great taste-to-effort ratio, great ROI with simple ingredients. What's not to love?

chinese borscht, aka abc soup, aka luo song tang (罗宋汤).

Everyone seems to have their own way of making this soup, with slight (or not-so-slight) variations in ingredients plus other quirks. My mum always uses either chicken or pork, but I've seen others use beef. I've even tried making it with lamb, which is rather unorthodox but also wonderful. But that's not all. Which cut? On the bone or filleted? (For the record, I prefer using not-so-lean cuts, and I find meat on the bone tends to end up more lusciously tender.) Aside from that, the choice and balance of vegetables also vary. Then there's the matter of method and presentation. Some people like the ingredients fine and dainty in the form of little cubes - not me. Chunky and hearty is how I roll.

In the end, you play with the basic idea and make this your own. No one I know bothers with a recipe when they make Chinese borscht, at least not after their first attempt. It's rustic, adaptable, effortlessly delicious - and that's why we love it.

Without further ado, here's a rough guide to how I usually do it...

A lovely and nutritious soup-stew, perfect for any weather.

chinese borscht / abc soup / luo song tang 罗宋汤 (serves 2)

3 cups water (add more if it reduces too much during the cooking process)
2 medium potatoes, cut into chunks
1 medium carrot, sliced diagonally
1 large tomato, cut into wedges
1 small onion, roughly sliced
2 cloves garlic, whole and unpeeled (optional)
3 chicken thigh fillets, roughly chopped, or 4 chicken drumsticks on the bone
seasonings: light soy sauce and white pepper, or salt and freshly ground black pepper

I usually approach this in a fairly casual manner: I pour the water into a large pot over a robust flame, and while waiting for it to boil, I set about chopping up my ingredients and throwing them into the pot as I go.

I do either the potatoes or the carrots first, then fling in the tomatoes, onion and garlic. By this time, the water is boiling quite merrily and I'll put the chicken in, turn the heat down and let it gently simmer, covered, for approximately 45 minutes or until everything is superbly tender and the potatoes and carrots are almost, but not quite falling apart into the gradually thickening soup. Now all it needs is a final touch of light soy sauce and white pepper - alternatively, salt and cracked black pepper is also always a good bet.

Serve this as a soup entree, or have it as a main meal with steamed rice.

Oh, and one more thing! Feel free to double or even triple the recipe if you have a generously sized pot and ample space in the refrigerator, for after you finishing cooking this, the flavours will continue to schmooze and mingle even as it cools down, begging you to re-heat it again hours later for another meal. Your Chinese borscht then transforms from a summer-friendly soup into a winter-worthy stew. Either way, it's homely bliss to warm one's soul, over and over again...

come on, have a spoonful of chinese borscht!

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homemade bbq sauce + grilled chicken wings

A couple of weekends ago, I decided to make my own bbq sauce. While I've thrown together quick marinades and dressings before, I've never actually made an American-style bbq sauce. I think perhaps I should have simmered it down... as it was, it ended up being still just more like a marinade after all. I'm posting it up because I'm still pretty happy with it!

the fresh ingredients for bbq sauce

Looking at the ingredients of several bbq sauces, they vary quite wildly but what I gathered was that generally you want something sour, something sweet, something salty and something savoury/spicy. With that in mind, I came up with this...

homemade barbecue sauce/marinade

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses
1 tablespoons tomato sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 chilli, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 a single celery stalk, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1/4 teaspoon ginger powder

- Process all ingredients (except tomato sauce, blackstrap molasses and ginger powder) in a blender until smooth.
- Place blended mixture in a bowl and stir in tomato sauce, blackstrap molasses and ginger powder until fully combined.
- Let stand for a few hours, OR simmer it down in a saucepan until thick and sticky (read further for more of my thoughts on this).

Be warned, this will smell fairly strong! But it will mellow down after you let it stand for a few hours. This bbq sauce can be used to marinate your meat of choice, or even vegetables. The above yielded enough for about half a dozen generously sized chicken wings. As I didn't simmer it down, the sauce wasn't very thick and sticky so instead of saving some to keep for serving with the wings later like a proper bbq sauce, I just used it all up as a marinade. Hmm... now I'm thinking perhaps that would've been worth a try after all. Even though the consistency wasn't that of a traditional bbq sauce, I still liked the taste - and it had a freshness that a cooked version wouldn't have.

I used it all as a marinade. Wish I'd saved some to use as a dip for later!

After letting my chicken wings soak up the marinade for a few hours, I grilled them and they turned out golden brown and succulent, with a sweet, savoury, spicy hint from the bbq marinade. So my bbq sauce adventure may not have turned out quite the way I wanted, but it still had a nice ending after all.

the grilled chicken wings had a nice touch of flavour from the bbq marinade, and were very juicy!

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anthony's schnitzels: a visual guide

the cooked schnitzels, served with a salad

Simon's housemate, Anthony, is a professional magician. He's also quite the whiz in the kitchen. So I like to say that he's a magician in the kitchen. Ah, what would I do without bad puns. Anyway, on a fine afternoon he told me he was about to make schnitzels from scratch, and if I would like to have a look at how he does it, so of course I seized the opportunity to watch and learn. 

When I get there, he's already got the kitchen bench all decked out with the ingredients:

- six pieces of chicken
- couple of eggs
- dash of red wine
- handful of parsley, chopped
- cup of breadcrumbs
- couple tablespoonfuls of finely grated parmesan

In a bowl he has a liquid mixture made from lightly beaten eggs, with a dash of red wine added. Now you can use your meat of choice, and on this occasion Anthony is using chicken. So the chicken pieces go in, followed by some chopped up parsley. We leave them there for awhile.

chicken and parsley in a liquid mixture consisting of eggs and red wine

In the meantime, breadcrumbs go into another bowl to create the dry mixture, along with some finely grated parmesan and a little of the leftover parsley.

the dry mixture for coating: breadcrumbs, finely grated parmesan and more parsley

The chicken is then retrieved from the liquid mixture and goes into the dry mixture. Turn them lightly so that the dry mixture adheres evenly to the surface of the chicken on all sides.

gently coat chicken pieces in dry mixture by turning them

And that's it! The schnitzels are now ready to be grilled, pan-fried, or baked. They can also be stored in the fridge or freezer to be used later as desired.

schnitzels, ready to cook or keep

These were cooked later that evening, but unfortunately I missed out on tasting them as I had other dinner plans. By all accounts, however, the schnitzels were scrumptious, and now I know how to make them myself!
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