The Life of Food is Good.

Dear Fans,

Your warmth and sincerity have contributed significantly to my determination in carrying Cooking With Steven through the last semester of my senior year at college.  I have enjoyed sharing my love for cooking with all of you and I would like to express my gratitude to those of you who have sent me words of encouragement.  However, to help Cooking With Steven, survive, we must act fast, and act now.

I want to continue Cooking With Steven and it is my hope that one day we can all make quick, cheap, simple, and healthy Chinese-inspired dishes.  It is my desire to produce at least one episode a week and provide tips with menu planning and budget control for those of us who are busy college students, professionals or homemakers.  However, throughout the past few months, I have been unable to find any employment that could help sustain the Cooking With Steven endeavour.  The only available option now is to convince investors to finance the project, and with this, I need your help.

Currently, I am at a summer business school and I am determined to find investors.  I must leave in the first week of July.  Tell me how I should improve, how I can better meet your needs, which episode you like and why you think Cooking With Steven should go on  -- this would help me bring a plan to the people with the dough.

Please, if you like the show, leave your comments here, commit yourself to sharing this site with friends, and have them leave comments too.

Act fast, act now to help Cooking With Steven survive!

Yours Sincerely,

Steven Cheng

P.S. Consider being a fan on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cooking-with-Steven/299030158711?ref=search

In France, the folks from the Middle East and Turkey have been recognized for their kebabs, an alternative to MacDo fast food.  And for me, somehow, I was asked to make Vietnamese Springrolls... So, here I am sharing an adulterated version that I came up with to please the folks.

Ingredients

1 packet of Vietnamese rice wrappers
Boiled shrimp/chicken
Shredded Lettuce
Shredded Carrots
Bean Sprouts
Mung Bean Noodle
Fish Sauce
Sugar
Vinegar

Instructions

1. Prepare a large shallow plate and fill it with warm water.
2. Place the dry rice wrapper in the water, and in about 15 seconds it should be pliable.  Soak it too long it will be too sticky and will break.
3. Hold the wrapper by the side and lift it high so it preserves its shape and gently lay it down on a clean surface.  Place the ingredients in the middle and roll.  The spring roll ideally should look long and slender, not fat and squat like a burrito.
4. Eat it with a sauce, here:
5. This depends on your preference.  Roughly, add 1 tablespoon of fish sauce and 1 teaspoon of sugar and 1 teaspoon of vinegar.  Mix and add water until you are satisfied with the taste.

Ingredients

1 pie crust
1 small plain yogurt, about a cup
2  cups sugar
3 cups flour
1 cup oil
1 teaspoon of baking powder (if you're displeased with the quality, use yeast)
3 eggs
1/2 a cup of rum, or any other perfuming agent
(optional) sliced pears, apples, or other fruits

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F
2. Mix all the ingredients and pour it onto the pie crust.
3. Bake for around 40 minutes.
4. (testing for readiness) Place a knife into the pie, if the blade comes out dry, the cake is done.

]]> http://www.cookingwithsteven.com/wp/?feed=rss2&p=233 0 http://www.cookingwithsteven.com/wp/?p=457 http://www.cookingwithsteven.com/wp/?p=457#comments Mon, 31 May 2010 20:36:13 +0000 Steven Cheng http://www.cookingwithsteven.com/wp/?p=457 Ingredients

1 teaspoon of mustard
3 tablespoons each of balsamic and cider vinegar
(About a cup) Equal amounts of canola oil and olive oil (amount added dependent on how acidic you want your vinaigrette to taste)
Salt and Pepper

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, add mustard, and the vinegar while mixing.
2. Add oil very slowly while constantly stirring to achieve a thick smooth body for the vinaigrette.
3. Salt and pepper can be added to the vinaigrette to be mixed in, or to the salad before tossing.

Anyway, on lucky days when there are "les invités" (invited guests for meals), Nelly my host mum would whip up a simple salad with one of the most magnificent vinaigrettes that I know of.  Arugula, fresh tomatoes, and some slivers of cheese with Nelly's Vinaigrette (all in approximation, play with the amount to get what you like):

Ingredients

1 teaspoon of mustard
3 tablespoons each of balsamic and cider vinegar
(About a cup) Equal amounts of canola oil and olive oil (amount added dependent on how acidic you want your vinaigrette to taste)
Salt and Pepper

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, add mustard, and the vinegar while mixing.
2. Add oil very slowly while constantly stirring to achieve a thick smooth body for the vinaigrette.
3. Salt and pepper can be added to the vinaigrette to be mixed in, or to the salad before tossing.

For example, a hilarious butcher who said things like, "I know Japanese, 'Yamamoto Karate!"" (which sounds in French, with colloquial vocab, 'There's a motorbike that's broken down.") and who keeps calling me "Jackie, Michael, Bruce"... before settling on Steven; and also a whole cast of chefs and waitresses.

I spent my mornings in the butchery with Jean-Pierre before heading to school.  Lunch I ate just about everyday at Le Petit Bacchus (a fantastic site with a panoramic view of the restaurant), where Yohann changes his daily menu.  On the weekends, I interned at L'Atelier de Cuisine Gourmande.

This is Yohann and his French humour... unbeknownst to me of course...

Yohann and I. Photo by Emily Rockett.

Here are some of my butchery sketches...

I didn't like my breath afterwards, but who cares? All's that important is that I've more left to get my breath fouled again.

Steamed Egg Custard. Photography by Danny Y. Huang.

Ingredients

4 Eggs
500 ml whole milk
4 tablespoon sugar (approx. 100g)

Cost: <$2.00

Instructions

1. Warm 500 ml of milk and be careful not to let it boil over.  Melt the 4 tablespoons of sugar in it.  Let cool.
2. Prepare a steamer with a bowl in it on high.
3. Whisk 4 eggs and add to the cooled milk.  Pour this into the bowl in the steamer and use a paper towel to remove froth on the sides. (Cover the bowl with plastic wrap for a better looking egg.)
4. Steam for 10 mins.  Serve immediately or chilled.  If chilled, consider adding fresh cold fruits.

Want to impress someone with a dessert but cannot bake? Try steaming.

[Recipe][Photo] [Download]

Steamed Egg Custard. Photograph by Danny Y. Huang.