by TheLastWonton | Apr 25, 2023 | Baking & Desserts, My Favorites
Lemony, sweet, tangy, with a buttery twist, all baked up altogether, in a flaky crust. Holy schmokin' doodle whackers, this changes everything!
TOP TEN REASONS TO MAKE LEMON BUTTER TARTS
10. They're easy peasy to make.
9. Everyone will exclaim, "What?!! LEMON Butter Tarts??!"
8. Old fashioned Butter Tarts will secretly pay homage to your cleverness.
7. Lemony goodness and flaky pastry are long-time best friends.
6. Family and friends eyes will instantly sparkle as soon as they take their first bite.
5. Anytime you serve Lemon Butter Tarts you'll smile out loud.
4. They're deliciously ambrosial in Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.
3. They'll quickly become one of your favorite desserts to make.
2. You'll be in the running to win the coveted LEMON GOODNESS award.
1. Making them is as much fun as eating them.
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I daresay these Lemon Butter Tarts have already become
a Classic at our house. Yup!
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Big, big, warm Thanks to the Closet Cooking Food Blog
for this deliciousness, for The Last Wonton.
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LEMON BUTTER TARTS ~ Makes 12
Your favorite pastry for a Single Pie crust, chilled. Or here's my fave…..
JUDI'S PASTRY
This recipe makes enough for a double crust pie. Bonus! You get to keep enough pastry for single crust pie in the fridge, for a bit, until you feel like conjuring up a pie, or, oh yeah, another batch of Lemon Butter Tarts!
2 1/2 cups flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 good teaspoon sea salt
1 cup cold lard, cubed
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons ice water
1 tablespoon vinegar
FILLING
1/3 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
Zest of 1 lemon
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
Pinch of salt
For Pastry: In medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt and sugar until evenly combined. Using pastry blender, or your hands, work in lard until mixture resembles fairly fine crumbs, with a few larger pieces, and is all happily plied with the lard, and moist. Add ice water and vinegar and stir like crazy with a fork, or of course, your hands, until dough clumps together.
Divide in half. Press half the dough into disk on floured surface. Roll out the dough, evenly, to about 1/8 inch thickness, turning and flouring to keep from sticking, if necessary. Cut into 12, 3-4 inch rounds. Gently place the rounds into a 12-cup tart (or muffin) tin, coaxing dough, tenderly, into perfect little tart shells. Chill while making the filling.
(Put the rest of the dough into a baggie, or wrap well with saran and refrigerate until you figure out what you want to make next with the rest of the dough. Use within a week, or freeze for later.)
PREHEAT OVEN TO 350F.
For Filling: In medium bowl, mix, mix, mix, or whisk, whisk, whisk, the lemon juice, zest, sugar, egg, egg yolk, butter and salt, until happily well combined. Pour the mixture, evenly, into the tart shells.
Bake in preheated 350F. oven, about 18-20 minutes until set. Smile as you take them out of the oven. Let cool, and sprinkle with a bit of icing sugar if it suits your fancy. Told you they'd make you smile.
by TheLastWonton | Feb 5, 2023 | Appetizers & Snacks, Chicken & Poultry, My Favorites, Recipes
Crunchy, crispy, tender, flavourful, fried chicken bites that make you smile, with every single nibble. Oishii!
I've always so enjoyed having Chicken Karaage when we're out for Japanese food, I mean who doesn't like fried chicken, right?
And, of course, I quite relish when my cooking thoughts like to scoot away from the usual. Don't you? Anyway, as I scooted this time around, it hardly took anytime at all to get started playing around in the kitchen with boneless, skin-on chicken thighs. Yup!
It sometimes tickles my taste buds to do things up a bit differently than the norm. So, as I adventured online I found some food blog recipes and chitchat, about Karaage. Inspiration and I-want-that, won me over.
And, guess what? Japanese Karaage Popcorn Chicken is fun to make. And eat! Of course!
Pop, pop, pop! Oh, oh, 3 tasty, crispy, fried chicken just disappeared! Boom-shaka-laka!
Marinating pieces of cut-up, boneless, skin-on, chicken thighs in a handful of ingredients that speak fluent Japanese creates flavour-popping 'Yes, please-ed-ness!' Soy sauce, garlic, ginger root, sake, mirin = happy Karaage.
Oh wait, I forgot the crunch. Potato starch is the trick that forges the crispy, crispy, golden coating.
I finish our karaage sprinkled with flaky sea salt, and serve with fresh lemon wedges (for squeezing), Kewpie mayo (Japanese mayonnaise) and/or Thai sweet chili sauce. Finger licking good!
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Arigato to Tasty, She Knows and Salu-Salo food blogs
for the delicious inspiration for The Last Wonton.
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JAPANESE KARAAGE POPCORN CHICKEN ~ Serves 2-3
6 boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces
4 tablespoons soy sauce
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons sake
1 tablespoon ginger root, minced or finely grated
1 tablespoon mirin
Good sprinkling of black pepper.
1 cup potato starch
Sunflower, peanut, or corn oil, for frying
Sea salt flakes, lemon wedges, Kewpie mayo, Thai sweet chili sauce for serving – You pick!
In a medium bowl, or large-ish Ziplock bag mix the soy sauce, minced garlic, sake, minced ginger root, mirin and black pepper. Add chicken, mix, mix. Marinate, refrigerated, a minimum of 1 hour, but 2-3 hours mo' bettah, and overnight, just fine.
Add potato starch to a bowl or large pie plate, add chicken pieces. Dredge, mix, coat, coat, coat.
Heat oil in a deep frying pan, to 350F-360F. Fry the chicken in batches, (don't crowd the pan) for 6-8 minutes, until golden brown. Drain/rest the chicken on crumpled paper towels.
Sprinkle chicken with sea salt flakes and serve with your choice of fresh lemon wedges, Kewpie mayo, Thai sweet chili sauce, or?? POP! POP! POP!
by TheLastWonton | Jan 15, 2023 | Drinks & Cocktails, Holiday & Seasonal, My Favorites
Iconic, tropical deliciousness that speaks of the charm of Polynesia, with every sip. A little sweet, a little sour, a rummy pow! Okole Maluna! Or when I'm not in Kona, Bottoms Up!
Mai Tais are fun. Mai Tais are dreamily tropical. Mai Tais are sublimely potent. Mai Tais whisper Hawaiian sweet nothings, every darn time. A-LO-HA!
"Trader Vic" Bergeron claimed to have invented the Mai Tai in 1944, at his restaurant, Trader Vic's in Oakland California.
"In 1953 Trader Vic brought the Mai Tai to the Hawaiian Islands, when he was asked by the Matson Steamship Lines to formalize drinks for the bars at their Royal Hawaiian, Moana and Surfrider Hotels. Any old Kama'aina can tell you about this drink and of it's rapid spread throughout the Islands."
I say, "Mahalo nui loa, Trader Vic!"
To me Mai Tais and Hawaii just go together. It's just the way it is. Might I add, Mai Tai tastings at any of the various restaurants and beach bars on any of the Islands is mahvelously, tastily, delightful.
When we are in Kona, one of my favorite spots to sip Mai Tais, oceanside while listening to good Island tunes, is Don's Mai Tai Bar at the Royal Kona Resort. "I'll have a 'flight' of Mai Tais, please!" Ta da! I usually smile out loud, even before I start sipping. Cheers!
And, might I add, though, of course, Mai Tais are perfectamundo when vacationing in beguiling tropical places, they always go over well at summer time BBQ's, picnics and parties, back home. Or sometimes around Christmas when everyone is dreaming 'white', it's way too fun to throw on John Cruz, Bruddah Iz or Jack Johnson, and get to luau-ing. Jingle those bells!
As you can probably guess, from our blessed years of living on the Big Island, as well as sneaking away to Kona, whenever we can, I have had way too much fun experimenting, and playing around, with Mai Tai ingredients. A damn fine heady pursuit of excellence, if I do say so myself! And though I do still like to change things up a bit, from time to time, this recipe has pretty much become my go-to. Go-to for friends and family, for Island or Okanagan gatherings, or just for moi.
My Mai Tai test kitchen has been busy this week. Just in the last few days it came to be that mai tais had to be made, to make sure this recipe was just right, for you. So, in the last couple of days Kona Mai Tais were savoured, celebrated and lingered over, on a big, wonderful, gecko-tickled, oceanview lanai, up mauka. Okole maluna! (bottoms up!)
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KONA MAI TAIS ~ Makes 1 cocktail
1 1/2 ounces Gold Rum
1-2 ounces Pineapple juice
1 ounce fresh squeezed Lime juice
1 ounce Disaronno (Amaretto)
1/2 ounce Curacao, Triple Sec, or Grand Marnier
1 ounce Dark Rum
Mix gold rum, pineapple juice, lime juice, Disaronno and Curacao in a cocktail shaker with lots of ice. Shakey, shake, shake. Strain into ice-filled glass (Tiki glasses are fun!). Slowly pour in dark rum, so it floats. Garnish, all Islandy. Aloha!
by TheLastWonton | Jan 14, 2023 | Baking & Desserts, Hawaiian, My Favorites
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by TheLastWonton | Jan 12, 2023 | Main Dishes, Pasta & Noodles, Recipes, Sides
Plush, with a brazen blush, this famous, smooth sauce speaks of caramelized tomato, delivers a bit of a kick, and finishes up with a creamy, silky celebration for your taste buds. That's amore!
I finally got around to making and, re-making, and thinking and re-thinking, to come up with my version of this famous sauce. As the Pasta Queen says, "Something amazing happens when you combine garlic, onions, and tomato paste with vodka. It's the chemical reaction of love, just like you are!"
TOP 10 REASONS TO MAKE SPICY VODKA SAUCE PASTA
10. You can boast, to one and all, and mean it, that you EAT LIVE PASSIONATELY!
9. Vodka Sauce is so delicious that both Italy and New York City lay claim to it's creation.
8. You actually get to caramelize tomato paste! Bet you've never done that before.
7. Family and friends will sing your praises. That's Amore!
6. It's so easy to fiddle with the deliciousness of this sauce, to make it just perfect for you and yours.
5. It's fun to imagine all the pasta shapes that want to be loved by Spicy Vodka Sauce.
4. You'll be in the running to win the coveted BRAZEN BLUSH Award!
3. Your favorite people will close their eyes in heavenly deliciousness when they take a mouthful.
2. When you serve it, you'll have a glint in your eyes that will defy Mona Lisa's
1. It doesn't matter if it's Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter, it's always in season.
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Grazie Mille to The Pasta Queen and Gigi Hadid and Sari Diskin,
for this delicious inspiration, for The Last Wonton.
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SPICY VODKA SAUCE PASTA ~ Serves 3 to 4
3/4 pound Campanelle, or your favorite pasta shape
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons butter, divided
1 good-sized shallot, diced
2 plump garlic cloves, minced
3 heaping tablespoons tomato paste
3 heaping tablespoons vodka
3/4 cup whipping cream
1 teaspoon dried red chili flakes (more or less, to your own taste)
Pasta water
1/2 cup plus of grated Parmesan (or I use a blend from the store of Parm, Asiago and Romano)
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper
Put salted water on to boil, for the pasta. Don't forget to swoop up some pasta water, in a measuring cup or similar, once the pasta has been added, and been cooking for a bit. Set pasta water aside.
In large frying pan, over medium high heat, add olive oil, 1 tablespoon butter, diced shallots and minced garlic. Stirring, cook until shallots are softened and a bit caramelized.
Add tomato paste, season with salt and pepper. Stirring occasionally, and adjusting heat if necessary, let the tomato paste cook until it goes from bright red to a deep toasty red, 2 – 4 minutes. Add the vodka and stir, stir to deglaze the pan.
Stirring, add the whipping cream and red chili flakes, to taste. Over medium heat add the drained al dente pasta to the pan, along with 2 tablespoon butter, cheese and some pasta water. Season with salt and pepper and stir, stir, tossing the pasta about, in the pan and adding more pasta water to get the consistency just right, for you.
Plate each serving, and add more cheese and fresh basil to make it all deliciously bellisima. Enjoy!
"Everything you see I owe to pasta."
~ Sophia Loren
