Dining

dining Top chefs share family recipes adopted from their mums. By Apple Lee Made with love

Oca rosta Serves 4-6

Ingredients

1 young goose, 4-5kg 1 bunch of fresh herbs such as rosemary, thyme, sage 200g butter 1 whole garlic head 3 anchovies 100g chopped salami Salt Black pepper 1 glass of dry white wine 4 dry apricots or figs

Davide Borin Executive Chef of Pici and

The Pizza Project

My mum Antonella is an amazing cook. Over the years, I’ve stolen many recipes from her. She never really had a recipe book on hand because she makes everything based on experience and her personal taste, like many home chefs. Everything was “a cup of this,” “add a spoon of that” or “a pinch of salt here.” For me, it was difficult to understand how she always nailed the right flavours.

At my hometown Treviso, Italy, we have Oca Rosta (roasted goose) for the Sunday dinners when we gather around with family and friends. We serve this rich and indulgent dish with a side salad made of borlotti beans, raw celery and white onion sliced thinly. I still ask my mum to make it for me when I go home for the holidays.

Method

1. Set the oven at 140°C as the goose requires a low baking temperature. 2. Clean the goose nicely and remove the interior portions if still there, but keep it aside for the sauce. 3. Stuff the goose with the fresh herbs and set on a wide baking tray before placing it in the oven. 4. After 30 minutes, when the goose has sweat out the fat, it is time to remove it from the oven. Wait till the goose has cooled down before breaking down the breast and legs with a kitchen knife or a big pair of scissors. 5. Re-arrange all the parts of the animal on the tray (including the liver and heart) and add butter, garlic, salt and pepper for seasoning. Also be sure to add the white wine for flavour. 6. The meat should simmer in the fat and make what is called confit in French. Add the dry fruit, anchovies and salami for a richer sauce. 7. Continue baking the goose at 140°C for one hour or until the meat of the leg falls off the bone. This is the best way to know when poultry is cooked. 8. Once the goose meat is cooked, set it aside and strain all of the sauce into a blender. Blend the sauce with some water until smooth. 9.Plate the goose with the sauce and serve.

Nathan Green Chef de Cuisine of Henry,

Rosewood Hong Kong

Shepherd’s pie is hands down the ultimate comfort food for me. This is something my mum makes me whenever I go back home to the UK. This dish brings back so many memories, from coming home after playing rugby in the cold to family time spent in front of the fire watching TV together.

This recipe is based on how my mum taught me to make Shepherd’s pie. The truth is we don’t really measure anything – it’s all done by eye. My mum is a fantastic cook and she is great at making homely comfort foods. This has in turn influenced me a fair deal as everything I now create is aimed at taking my guests back to that place of love and comfort found from home-cooked meals.

Shepherd’s pie Serves 4-6

Ingredients Mash

500g Agria potatoes 150g butter 100ml milk

Shepherd’s pie mix

500g lamb mince 75g diced carrot 100g diced onion 50g diced celery 5g dried thyme 10g Bisto granules 1 tbsp tomato paste 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce 250ml lamb stock

Method Topping

1. Wash and peel the potatoes. Cut them roughly into 4 and try to make the pieces even sizes so they all cook at the same time. 2. Place the potatoes into a pan of cold water and add a tablespoon of salt to the water. 3. Gently bring to the boil and lower to a simmer, cook the potatoes until they become tender, a knife should go in without resistance. This should take about 12- 15 minutes. 4. Once cooked, drain the potatoes, allow them to sit in a colander for 4-5 minutes to drain properly. Add them back to the pan and add the butter, mash the potatoes well with a hand masher. 5.Once mashed, start to add the milk and beat with a spatula, season with a little salt and ground white pepper.

Pie mix

1. Heat a heavy based casserole pan and add a little cooking oil. Once smoking hot, crumble in the lamb mince (fry it off in two batches) and allow it to sit for a couple of minutes before stirring. Add a littles salt and pepper and start to stir. Cook the mince until brown, once browned, drain the fat off in a colander over a bowl. Repeat until all the mince is browned, do not wash the pan. 2. Add the fat from your mince back to the pan and heat it back up, sweat off the carrot, onion, celery and thyme until they

Guillaume Galliot Chef de Cuisine of Caprice, Four

Seasons Hotel Hong Kong

Growing up in Loire Valley, France, my mum always made me rice pudding with pumpkin seeds. I used to have this sweet dish for breakfast before school or as an afternoon snack. This recipe has my childhood deeply rooted in it. My mum has always encouraged me to cook whenever I was not in school and she is the one who inspired my love for food and cooking.

are nice and soft. 3. Now add the tomato paste and further cook on a gentle heat for 2-3 minutes. 4. Add the Worcestershire sauce, Bisto and lamb stock, bring to the boil and then add the lamb mince. 5. Bring the mix to a gentle simmer and cook for 10 minutes. 6. Place your pie mix in your chosen casserole dish, if it looks a little wet drain off some of the gravy. 7. Put your mash in a piping bag and pipe it onto the pie mix. I like to use a fork to rough up the top of the pie a little. 8. Now put the pie in an oven at 180°C for 35-40 minutes or until your potato is golden brown. Serve with Heinz baked beans.

Vanilla rice pudding Serves 4

Ingredients Rice pudding

450g milk 150g cream 100g rice, riz round 40g sugar ½ vanilla bean 1 orange zest

Pumpkin seeds

810g sugar 243g water 1000g pumpkin seeds 110g butter 5g salt

Method Rice pudding

1. In a medium-sized, heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring the milk and rice to a boil over a high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer partially covered until the rice is tender, about 20-25 minutes. Stir frequently to prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pan. 2. Add sugar, vanilla and zest into the mixture and mix well. 3. Stop the stirring with cold cream and let it rest.

Pumpkin seed

1. Pour the water into a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add the sugar and heat over a medium-high heat. You can stir the pan to dissolve the sugar, but once the mixture comes to a boil, stop stirring. 2. Add butter and salt into the caramel mixture, and then add the seeds. 3. Mix all the seeds into the caramel and let it rest.

Life’s a beach Dining news

Meraki at home

Meraki Hospitality Group’s brand new delivery service brings you signature dishes from their Soho restaurants Uma Nota, Jalan and Bedu for pick-up, or delivered straight to your home – at no additional cost. Their weekday lunch sets start from $100 and include popular items, like beef rendang, crispy fried market fish and chicken curry, while dinner is à la carte. meraki-hospitality.com

Maximal Concept’s Southside mainstays Limewood and Sip Song are offering a decadent Mother’s Day feasts by the beach. Seafood and BBQ restaurant Limewood is serving up a laid back family-style brunch with sharing plates like yellowtail crudo, five spice pork belly and a supersized pavlova for the ultimate sweet touch. Over at Thai eatery Sip Song, tuck into a bountiful eight dish lunch featuring signature courses like grilled beef short rib and roti pancake with BBQ pork neck. Repulse Bay. limewood.hk and

sip-song.com

Chef’s table for four

Test Kitchen has introduced a brand new personalised private dining experience featuring five distinguished local chefs. These chefs have worked at some of the world’s most renowned restaurants including L’atelier de Joel Robuchon and Gordon Ramsay Restaurants. The new chef’s table experience caters to only four guests at a time with your selected menu cooked right in front of you and the entire Test Kitchen space reserved exclusively for you and your guests. $1,000 per person. Shop 3, 158A Connaught Road West, Sai Ying Pun. testkitchen.com.hk

The Nesbitt Centre, the inspiring organisation that helps adults with learning difficulties, has recently opened a brand new The Nest Bakery to showcase their delectable cakes and create more job opportunities for individuals with disabilities to live independently. The bakery is also supporting medical staff fighting against Covid-19 by sending a cake to hospital doctors and nurses for every $380 raised. 24 Mui Fong Street, Sai Ying Pun.

nesbittcentre.org.hk

Flour and empower

All things sweet

Building on a successful pastry pop-up at the hotel lobby last year, Four Seasons Hong Kong has recently launched an online patisserie, helmed by executive pastry chef Ringo Chan. The new online boutique boosts handcrafted cakes and fresh pastries which can be ordered from the hotel’s e-shop for collection from The Lounge.

shopfourseasonshk.com

Middle Eastern flavour bomb

Hong Kong’s healthy eating haven Treehouse just got better. The plant-based, eco-friendly eatery founded by Christian Mongendre has expanded with a new Middle Eastern concept, Origin. Currently available for delivery only via Deliveroo in selected areas – including Central, Sheung Wan, Wan Chai – the new menu is inspired by food memories from Mongendre’s wanderings around the world. Dishes include sourdough pita, whole roasted cauliflower and halloumi salad. order.treehouse.eco