Welcome to China! I told you last week that this one was going to be intimidating. It didn't disappoint in that area! But first, the stats for China. According to Google, China has a population of 1.398 billion people, and the capital is Beijing. If you're like most people I know, you enjoy Chinese food. If you're like me, there are probably so many thoughts on national dishes. I must say, I was quite surprised with their national dish. The national dish is...
Peking Duck!
Do you understand why I thought this may be intimidating?! First off, I wasn't sure where I was going to find duck to make...it's not exactly in every grocery store around here. However, as Handsome Husband and I were walking through the aisles of Costco during our weekly Costco run, we saw duck breasts in the freezer section! Hot dog! We purchased the duck breast, and I needed to figure out how to do Peking Duck with two duck breasts. (The true, authentic way involves leaving a whole duck covered in sauce out for three days...I didn't want to go that far...) To go with our duck, we also made Mandarin Pancakes and Chinese Almond Cookies. Here's what I did:
- Score the skin of the duck.
- Mix the salt, gluten free soy sauce, and five-spice powder in a bowl. Massage mixture into the duck. Leave the breasts, skin side up and uncovered, in the fridge overnight.
- Heat avocado oil in an oven-proof pan over medium-high heat.
- Sear duck breasts , skin side down, until the skins crisp and fat renders out. (Pay attention, or they will burn!)
- When the skin is golden brown and crispy, drain duck fat and flip the breasts so they are skin side up.
- Transfer to a low broiler for about 3 minutes.
- When you remove from the broiler, let the duck rest for 10 minutes.
- When you cut the duck, it will be pink - this is OK. Cut into thin slices.
- Serve with mandarin pancakes, juliened cucumber, green onions, and hoisin sauce.
- Mix flour and salt in a heat-proof bowl.
- Pour boiling water into the flour mixture and mix until a dough ball forms.
- Knead dough for 8 minutes until smooth.
- Cover dough with plastic wrap and let it rest at room temperature for at least an hour.
- Roll dough into a cylinder and cut into 6 pieces.
- Flatten each piece into a small disk, about 2 inches in diameter.
- Brush each of the 6 discs with avocado oil and then layer (so you will have three stacks of two discs).
- Roll the discs into big circles, like a tortilla.
- Heat a frying pan over medium-low heat and put one of the pancakes in the pan.
- Flip pancake after 45 seconds (should have a few faint brown patches).
- Once the second side is done, you should be able to pull the two pieces apart.
- Serve with the duck.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Cream together butter and sugar in a stand mixer, on low, for two minutes.
- Crack 1 egg into butter and sugar mixture, and beat for 1 minute.
- Add the vanilla, almond extract, baking powder, and salt.
- Add the almond and oat flour and beat until the dough forms.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Put about 1 tbsp of dough onto the parchment paper.
- Get your hand slightly wet, and press down on the dough, to flatten them. Top each cookie with a few slivered almonds.
- Crack 1 egg and whisk. Brush the egg over each cookie.
- Cook 15 minutes, until they are tan.
- Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing.
- Enjoy!
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