Asian honey glaced porc belly roast




Honey glaced crispy porc belly

Norwegian crispy porc belly (look up "juleribbe" on Google) is typically served at Christmas, and the Asian version is a bit different from the Norwegian version and served year-round. So what prompted me to make my own version of crispy roast porc belly? I was simply craving for some crispy porc, which I could not find easily in Paris :)

With the tomato vinegar reduction (see dipping sauce for my samosa recipe), the crispy porc can be served as snack. And with some sauteed vegetables, such as carrot and green beans, you'll have a nice lunch dish.

Recipe for 4:

1 kg thin porc with skin

1 teaspoon salt

1 tsp fresh ginger - grated

1 clove garlic - crushed

1 tsp pepper

Marinade for brushing

2 tablespoons butter

2 tblsp honey

1 tblsp soy sauce

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180c degrees

2. Cut squares (1x1 cm) on the skin (easier to cut if the meat is a bit frozen)

3. Make a few long cuts on the meat side and rub with salt, pepper, ginger and garlic.

4. Add a bit of water on a roast pan and put the meat with the skin down

5. Roast for 20min at the lowest section of the oven

6. Meanwhile prepare the marinate by melting butter, then add honey and soy sauce.

7. Flip the meat around (skin side now up) and brush the skin with the marinade

8. Roast for another 20 min and brush with the marinade again. Brush with the juice from meat in the roast pan once you run out of marinade. There should be a bit if water in the pan at whole time.

9. After 90 min, increase the heat to 220c and move the meat higher up
10. The skin should now puff - do not open the oven
11. Once the skin is puffed, take the meat out and let it rest before carving





My 4 year old son loved this dish

Like this recipe? Please donate to Cycle4Girls Vietnam project :) 

Enjoy,

Maison Emil Paris :)

Secret recipe out

According to the general public in Norway, a bakery in a tiny place called Lom makes the best cinnamon buns in Norway. Their "secret" recipe was revealed last week, and of course it didn't go untested by Maison Emil Paris.

Recipe (in Norwegian) here

My son and I just rolled these, but here is a video how you twirl them :)

I modified the recipe slightly and added sourdough to give it a bit more "personal" taste :) The result was fantastic. The best cinnamon buns fabricated so far.

Autumn is here, so what's better than a cup of hot tea and a delicious cinnamon bun? :)

Happy baking,

Maison Emil Paris

Surf and turf samosa

I was born in former South Vietnam and the cuisine from my birth place Vung Tau, often blends porc with seafood. I guess the label for this is 'surf & turf', at least that's the term frequently used in the US and Australia when meat is mixed with seafood.

I had thin filo pastry leftover and decided to make some samosas with my Vietnamese porc and prawn filling. You can make your own filling if you like, with bell peppers, or vegan samosa with sweat potato and ginger. The choice is yours. Indian samosa pastry is different - nice too when well done. And I prefer thin filo pastry over the Chinese spring roll pastry, but use whatever you can find easily. 

My crispy "surf & turf" samosas

Recipe (approx 16-20 samosas)
1 pk of filo pastry (10 round sheets = 20 samosas) 

400gr ground porc
50gr raw prawns - minced or finely chopped
3 teaspoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon flat parsley - finely chopped
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
2 small shallot onions - finely chopped
1/2 small yellow onion - finely chopped
1 garlic clove - minced
1 small carrot - grated
1 small turnip - grated
1-2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Oil for frying

"Surf & turf" ingredients

Method

Step 1 (approx 5 min): Optional step.

You can skip this step and add raw ingredients. This step makes the onion softer.

- Heat the oil over medium heat, add both onions and sweat 2-3 min, and add garlic and sweat 1 more minute. Leave aside to cool. 

Step 2 (approx 15min): Mixing

a. Mix meat and prawn with fishsauce. Mix well by hand for 5 min or use the blender (1-2 min). I used my hand since all my kitchen gear is in a warehouse outside Paris :)
b. Add the onion garlic mixture (lukewarm, but not hot if you decide to sweat it first), carrot and turnip. Mix by hand. You don't want to mash the carrot and turnip, or the herbs using the blender. That's why I added them last in the mixing order.
c. Add pepper and give a final mix. You can add other spices and herbs of your liking. I wanted the meat and prawn to be the central/main flavours, so I kept it simple. Besides I cannot make it too spicey as I have a toddler who would object :)

d. Transfer in a plastic bag and let sit in the fridge for 30 min. The flavours come more together when the meat is rested. However if you are in hurry, just skip and start production. Adapt to your time schedule. Cooking at home is supposed to be fun, not a hassle.

Step 3 (30-45min): Production 
a. If you use the round sheet, cut it in half. 

b. Add filling

Triangle filing does not need to be perfect

c. Fold in triangle - there are so many methods to fold samosas, some very mathematical - just google and you'll see. The below method is quick and easy - it does not make perfect corners - who cares? Bottom line is "taste" and "efficiency" at home

Fold and cover the filling

2nd fold - right or left - doesn't matter

3rd fold

4th fold - oups forgot to take photos - over to you to play :)

d. Cover all the samosas with a kitchen towel to keep them from drying

Samosa production

Step 4: Frying
a. Heat oil in a medium size pan.
b. When hot but not smoking, add 4-5 simosas. Fry for approx 60-90sec or until golden. Flip and fry the other size. When the oil is too hot, the filo pastry will burn easily and the inside is not cooked. So this step requires a bit of patience :)

c. Drain on a paper towel for excess oil.

I use sunflower oil and medium high temperature

You can also freeze the samosas if you don't want to fry them all. Just put them in an airtight container.

Dipping sauce (yield 1/2 cup dip)

I prefer a sweet tomato thick dip for my samosas, but you can use whatever dip you like, such as curry mayo, aioli, Thai sweet & sour, or no dip at all.

Ingredients

1 cup water
1/2 cup castor sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
1 tablespoon tomato puree

Bring sugar, water and vinegar to a boil and cook until reduced approx. 50%. Add tomato puree, mix and boil to reduce a bit further. Leave to cool. It will thicken more.

Et voila, ready to serve your guests.

Like this recipe? Please donate to Cycle4Girls Vietnam project :) 

Bon appétit,

Maison Emil Paris :)

Salad sprouter

Alfalfa sprouts ready to eat

My son likes "gardening", and since we live in a typical city apartment without a terrace or balcony, a salad sprouter is the perfect "gardening" solution. It's fun and it's healthy to eat too :)

The first thing my son asks when he wakes up in the morning: have my plants grown? And then he would run to check the sprouter :) This is a great project for toddlers. It teaches them the nurturing aspect of life :)

Day 1 2 tablespoons of alfalfa seeds soaked in a big glass of water or bowl overnight

Seeds soaked overnight

Day 2 Spread the seeds directly on the sprouter and water twice a day (lunch and evening). I use a wet baby clothes in addition, just to compare with the salad sprouter

Salad sprouter - easy to use

Day 3 Growing nicely

Day 3 of growth

Day 4 Greens leaves start to blossom

Green alfalfa sprouts

Day 5, 6, 7 Ready to eat :)

Factory & Co - NY style fast food in Paris

The best American fastfood in Paris? It's called Factory &Co and they have multiple restaurants and a foodtruck around Paris. I visited the branch in Bercy Village, and to my surprise it's good, especially the fresh bagels. Line 14 Direction Pyramids takes you to Bercy Village :)

By 2pm the line was getting long

Juicy burger

Burger bun made of fresh bagel

Our lunch

Definitely American looking cake

Line 14 direction Pyramides takes you to Bercy Villlage

Get off at Cour Saint-Emilion

Skål - it's Friday :)

There are probably many cool roof terraces serving fancy cocktails, but sometimes it's equally nice to mix a drink at home and bring a toast to my unknown neighbours across the street :)

Aperol cocktail

2 parts Aperol

2 parts orange juice

1 part sparkling water

Lots of ice

Skål - cheers - kampai - dante :) 

Wishing you a wonderful weekend,

Maison Emil Paris :)

Lunch with Swedish moms

It's "la rentree" at Swedish School Paris, meaning time for old and new kids to start school and for old and new parents to catch up and to get to know each other :)

Maison Emil Paris invited 6 fulltime mommies to catch up over a nice lunch.

Menu:
Gravlax
Baked scallop
Slow roast cherry tomatoes on filo pastry served with fresh goat cheese (mild version)
Trofie pasta with Asian pesto (green curry paste) and chicken (cooked in duck fat overnight)
Assorted cheese
Madeleine with coconut sorbet

Cheese platter

I was hungry and didn't have much time to cook lunch. In my fridge, I found the following items:

• Norwegian sweet goat cheese (brown) - hard to find, but try it if you happen to be in Norway :)
• French comte
• Fresh French goat cheese with pepper
• Mozzarella
• Fresh figues
• Cherry tomatoes
• Rocket, and other greens
• Pineapple coulis
• Cucumber

So it's cheese and bread for lunch then :)

The flavours work well together, salty, sweet, peppery - I will redo this dish :)

Happy reading,

Maison Emil Paris :)

Strawberry 2 ways

Want to have something fresh for dessert? Try the below dish ...

Dried cranberries maserated in white wine and limoncello, strawberry sorbet, and fresh strawberries (cut in 4) :)

Maserate and leave in a glass jar

100 g dried cranberries

100 gr dry white wine

25 gr limoncello

Strawberry sorbet 

In the professional kitchen, we get to use this wonderful machine called PacoJet to make sorbet and icecream. But you can also make your own sorbet without PacoJet if you have a freezer at home. 

300g strawberries

100g sugar

50g glucose 

150 ml water

To make syrup, bring water, sugar and glucose to a boil. Set aside and chill. Pour the syrup over the strawberries. Blend. Cover. Freeze. Take out and stir occasionally.

Bon appetit,
Maison Emil Paris