Won-ton Ravioli a la Xuan-Minh

We were very fortunate to have a lovely Swiss lady of Vietnamese origin on our cooking course a few years ago. She kindly offered to teach us how to make a couple of Vietnamese classic dishes and one Ravioli recipe from her grandmother is very special indeed: 

Won-ton Ravioli a la Xuan-Minh

serves 6-8

Ingredients

1 pack of Won ton skin from an Asian shop 

500 gram / 1 pound of finely minced prawns and/ or chicken/ rabbit/ turkey 

1 onion finely chopped

Coriander ( Cilantro) leaves

10 gram / 0.35 oz dried black mushrooms (asian shop) soaked and chopped

3 dried shiitake mushrooms (asian shop) soaked and finely chopped 

Pepper

Salted Soy sauce

sesame oil

Fish sauce ( asian shop). It taste much better than it sounds

Chicken stock  (clear, only cooked on chicken for 2 hours)

Method

Soup: cook the chicken for at least 2 hours in 3 litres of water. Skim off the foam until the soup is clear. Strain and flavour it with fish sauce and pepper , quite a lot of fish sauce.

Stuffing: mix the onion, the mince meat, coriander and finely chopped mushrooms, season with pepper, soy sauce and sesame oil and a bit of fish sauce.

Assemble the ravioli by placing a teaspoon of the filling on each wonton skin. Brush the edges with egg white, then fold them diagonally . Then glue the pointy ends together . Let the ravioli dry for an hour in room temperature .

Bring the soup to a boil and cook the wonton for 2-3 minutes. Place them in a serving bowl, 3-4 per person.

Cover the soup with finely chopped coriander ( cilantro ) and sprinkle some sesame seeds on top and serve.

Carpaccio of beef with Harry’s Bar dressing

Carpaccio of beef with a Harry’s Bar dressing is a wonderful summer lunch menu. Easy to make and exceedingly tasty. It never fails to impress. It helps if you know your butcher as the quality of the beef fillet should be first rate.

Ingredients ( serves 6 )

For the beef 

400g of top quality beef finely sliced.

For the dressing 

185 ml home-made mayonnaise

1-2t sp Worcestershire sauce, to taste

1tsp fresh lemon juice

2 to 3 tbsp milk

salt, freshly ground black pepper

Serve with shavings of Parmigiana cheese and  fresh sunflower shoots ( or sweet pea shoots) . 

Method

Put the mayonnaise in a bowl and whisk in the Worcestershire sauce and lemon juice. Whisk in 

enough milk to make a thin sauce that just coats the back of a wooden spoon. Taste the sauce and 

adjust the seasoning with some salt and pepper adding more Worcestershire sauce as required. 

The dressing should be poured over the beef just before serving along with parmigiana shavings and green sunflower  shoots on top. 

Wine - serve with a nice rosé or white  muscadet.