Happy Thanksgiving special edition 2014/火鸡节特辑

This is my 50th post and today is thanksgiving’s day, I am very thankful for all your attention to my blog. I am not a professional; I am just a food lover who loves cooking more than eating. Thank you everyone, please continue supporting me. Happy Thanksgiving!

Tonight’s dinner:

Roasted Brine turkey

Sweet sausage with apple stuffing

Orange flavor carrot

Brussels sprouts with bacon

Sweet potatoes with marshmallows

Mashed potatoes

Turkey dripping with red wine gravy

Cranberry sauce

Mango mousse cake

 Roasted Brine Turkey

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Recipe by Alton Brown

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-roast-turkey-recipe.html

I made some changes to the original recipe.

Ingredients:

13 pound frozen young turkey

For the brine:
1/3 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
12 cup water
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
2 pieces of dried orange peel
3 pieces of ginger

3 spring of rosemary

3spring of thyme

For the aromatics:
1 red apple, sliced
1/2 onion, sliced
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup water
2-4 sprigs rosemary
4leaves sage
Butter 2-3 tablespoons for chicken breast

Directions
a week before roasting:

Begin thawing the turkey in the refrigerator or in a cooler kept at 38 degrees F for 3 days.

2-3 days before roasting:

Combine the water, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice berries, dried orange peel and ginger in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally to dissolve solids and bring to a boil. Then remove the brine from the heat, cool to room temperature.

Combine the brine and Turkey in an oven safe bag. Place the thawed turkey (with innards removed) breast side down in brine. cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area, turning the bird a few times through the whole process.

Remove the bird from brine early in the morning of the day you want to eat and rinse inside and out with cold water. Dry the bird with kitchen paper towels. Discard the brine.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Place some celery, carrot, garlic and onion on the bottom of a half sheet pan alone with one cup chicken stock then put the bird on top of the vegetables.

Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and 1 cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Add steeped aromatics to the turkey’s cavity along with the rosemary and sage. Tuck the wings underneath the bird, and spread the butter underneath the turkey’s skin on the breast part.

Roast the turkey on lowest level of the oven at 450 degrees F for 30-40 minutes or until the color of the skin is brown. Insert a probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Set the thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees F. Once it gets to the color you desire, cover the turkey breast with aluminum foil to prevent it from getting too dark. A 13 pound bird should require a total of about 1.5 -2 hours of roasting(not including the time for browning). Let the turkey rest, loosely covered with foil or a large mixing bowl for 15 minutes before carving.

13 磅凍火鸡

鹵水︰

1/3 杯食鹽

1/2 杯紅糖

12 杯水

1 湯匙黑胡椒

陳皮 2 片

生薑 3 片

3小枝迷迭香

3小枝百里香

香味原料︰

1 個紅蘋果,切成薄片

1/2 的洋蔥,切成薄片

1 条肉桂棒

1 杯水

2-4 小枝迷迭香

4片 鼠尾草

 

黃油 2-3 湯匙涂抹雞胸肉。

烤前一个礼拜:

在冰箱裡開始解凍火鸡。

烤前2-3 天:

在中高溫火候的大湯鍋里加水、 鹽、 紅糖、 胡椒、 陈皮和生薑。偶爾攪拌,煮至沸騰。關火,將鹵水,冷卻至室溫。

鹵水和火鸡一起放入 5 加侖的桶中或火鸡专用烤袋里。將解凍的火鸡 (去除內臟) 放在鹽水里。確保它完全浸入水、 覆蓋,並冷藏,在醃制过程中翻几次身。

将火鸡從鹵水中取出用冷水沖洗內外。用紙巾将火鸡輕輕拍幹。

預熱烤箱至華氏 450 度

将一些切过的洋葱, 西芹,蒜头和胡萝卜放在烤盘里,加入1杯的鸡汤把鸡放上面。

蘋果、 洋蔥、 肉桂棒和 1 杯水放碗里微波5 分鐘。將其倒如火鸡的腹腔内再放入迷迭香,鼠尾草。将牛油涂抹在鸡胸的部位鸡皮下面。

在烤箱最低的架子上烤火雞450度30-40 分鐘。溫度計插入鸡胸最粗的部分烤箱溫度降到 350 華氏度。13 磅重的火雞應该燒 大约1.5-2小時直到鸡胸的温度达到161 華氏度。如果火鸡的颜色达到你所要的程度, 就放一张的锡纸在鸡胸上以防鸡颜色太深。 火鸡熟后放15 分鐘再吃。

Sweet sausage with apple stuffing

IMG_9370

Ingredients:

Extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 onion, small dice
2 ribs celery, small dice

1/2 medium carrot, small dice
Kosher salt pinches
1 pound sweet sausage, casing removed, broken into bite-size chunks
3 cloves garlic, smashed and finely diced
1 sprigs rosemary, leaves finely chopped
7 cups cornbread
1/2 cups dried cranberries

One large apple cut into cubes
16 Oz. chicken stock
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Coat a large sauté pan with olive oil, add the onions, carrot and celery and saute over to medium heat. Season with salt and cook until the vegetables are tender and are very aromatic. Add the sausage and cook until the sausage begins to brown. Stir in the garlic and saute for another 1 to 2 minutes. Add the apple and rosemary and cook for another minute, then remove from heat.

In a large bowl mix together the cornbread, cranberries, and the sausage mixture. Add chicken stock and knead with your hands until the bread is very moist, actually wet. Taste to check for seasoning and season with salt, if needed and transfer to an ovenproof dish.

Bake the stuffing until it is hot all the way through and is crusty on top, about 30 to 35 minutes.

Mango Mousse Cake

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Same recipe that I used for  Blueberry mousse cake. But this time I used Mango and didn’t do the Jello topping. Also I added a few mango roses on top of the cake for decoration

https://caiqinchen.wordpress.com/2014/09/01/blueberry-mousse-cake%E8%93%9D%E8%8E%93%E6%85%95%E6%96%AF%E8%9B%8B%E7%B3%95/

Turkey drippings with white wine gravy

Don’t throw away the yummy turkey drippings, it is the best ingredient  for gravy. Skim the fat from the juice then add 1/3 cup of white wine to the roast pan that you use for your turkey and bring it to boil.  whisk  3 TBSP of flour to it and keep whisking until it is smooth. Pour all the broth mixture back to the pan and cook about 2,3 minutes.

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Brussels sprouts with bacon

Precook 2 pounds of Brussels sprouts in boiling water for a few minutes, drain and set aside. In a skillet add little bit of vegetable oil, add some cut bacon and cook at least 3 minutes( depends on how dry do you like you bacon to be, my parents don’t like dry, crispy bacon, so I only cook about 3 minutes). If you like you bacon to be crispy, get all the bacon out of skillet before you pour Brussels sprouts to the skillet and absorb the fat with a paper towel. Cook the vegetable for about 5 minutes with 1/2 cup of chicken broth. Don’t put too much salt because both bacon and broth are already flavored. Put the bacon back if you previously take them out.

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Mashed potatoes

Boil 3 pounds of potatoes until fork tender then smash with a potatoes smasher. Add 1/3 cup of half and half or milk, 2/3 stick of unsalted butter and 3TBSP of mayonnaise. Flavor it with salt and pepper. If you have chives in hand, it will make this dish taste even better.

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Orange flavor carrot

Precook sliced carrot in boiling water for a few minutes, drain and set aside. In a skillet add some vegetable oil and saute carrot for 2 minutes with pinch of salt. Add water and orange juice(water:juice=2:1) simmer for 20 minutes or until it is tender.

IMG_9369

Sweet potatoes with marshmallows

Bake sweet potatoes in a preheat oven (375F) for about 1.5 hours, smash it with a potato smasher. Pour everything to a baking dish WITHOUT ANY SUGAR, add a few pinches of cinnamon powder and mix well. Put some marshmallows on top of it and bake 5 more minutes or until they are melt and golden brown.

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Happy family!

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Good night!

Lemon Grass Pork Chop/香茅猪扒

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Lemon grass one stick

Pork chop 3 pieces

Chop the lemon grass into small pieces.  Smash the pork chops hard with a meat hammer tenderizer so they will become very thin. Marinate the pork with lemon grass, salt and cooking wine overnight.

In a hot skillet add some oil and pan fry the pork chops (pick the lemon grass out before cooking) until golden brown for each side. Add 2 tbsp. of light soy sauce, 1/3 cup of water and 1 tbsp. of honey. Bring it to boil and continue to cook about 1 minute. (The pork chops are already very thin and pan fried, don’t cook too long). This is the best pork chop dish I’ve ever made, so tender and juicy and full of flavor.

檸檬草一条

豬扒 3 片

把檸檬草切成非常小的碎片。用嫩肉锄把猪扒敲得非常薄。加檸檬草、 鹽和料酒腌渍一晚。

熱锅里加一些油煎豬排(烹飪前,必須檸檬草挑出来) 每一面都煎到有点焦黄。加入 2 湯匙的淺色醬油、 1/3 杯的水和 1 湯匙蜂蜜。把它燒開,繼續煮約 1 分鐘。(豬排已經變得非常薄又煎过,不要煮太長時間)。這是我做過最好吃的豬扒菜。又嫩又多汁还充满風味。

Sirloin Stew With White Radish/牛腩燉白蘿蔔

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Sirloin 2 pounds

White radish 3 pounds

Vegetarian mushroom Oyster sauce 5 tbsp

Soy sauce 4 tbsp

Sugar 3 tbsp

Ginger 2 slices

Cooking wine 1 tbsp

Star aniseed 2 pieces

Water 1/3 cup

Blanch the sirloin in boiling water for about 3 minutes and then wash them with running cold water. In a pressure cooker add all the ingredients except white radish, and cook 10 more minutes after the steam comes out of the vent and the weighted pressure regulator begins to jiggle. Turn the gas off and let the pressure all comes out of the pressure cooker and totally cool down, open the pressure cooker and add the white radish and cook for 10 more minutes after the pressure regulator begins to jiggle.

Tips: Different pressure cooker will have different power, adjust your cooking time accordingly. If you like it spicy, add a few pieces of dried red pepper.

牛腩燉白蘿蔔

牛腩 2 磅

白蘿蔔 3 磅

香菇素耗油 5 湯匙

醬油 4 湯匙

糖 3 湯匙

生薑 2 片

料酒 1 湯匙

八角茴香 2 颗

1/3 杯水

牛腩在滾水中焯煮約 3 分鐘,然後用冷水沖洗。在壓力鍋裡添加除了白蘿蔔以外所有的食材,当蒸汽從通風口出来时(壓力調節器開始搖晃)吱吱作响后再煮 10 分鐘。把煤氣關掉讓高壓鍋内所有的壓力完全跑掉,打開高壓鍋加白蘿蔔蓋上盖子当蒸汽從通風口出来吱吱作响后再煮 10 分钟。

小貼士: 不同壓力鍋將有著不同的压力,你的烹飪時間应做相應的調整。如果你喜歡辣,添加幾只幹紅椒。

In the boiling water precook any kind of noodles with some vegetable, then bring the noodles and vegetable to a big bowl, add Sirloin stew with white radish and some broth, it is another simple but fulfilling dish.

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Strawberry Flower/草莓花

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I am not gonna take the credit from my beautiful sister who made this lovely strawberry flower.  Get a fresh and big strawberry and a sharp knife, starting from the bottom cut it layer by layer until you reach the top. Isn’t it beautiful!!! Good night everyone.

我不會把做這可愛的草莓花的功勞從我美麗的妹妹那拿走。要个又大又新鮮的草莓和一把锋利的刀,從底部一層又一層的往上切。 漂亮吧 !!!晚安了大家。

Hot Spicy Fish With Tofu/水煮活鱼

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One live bass about one pound

5 oz. soft tofu

3 oz sour mustard

A few pieces of dried red pepper

some dried pepper corn

Slices of ginger, garlic and some scallion

slice the 2 big pieces of fish meat from the fish then slice them really thin. Marinated the sliced fish with a little bit of white pepper and 1/3 Tsp of salt, 1/2 Tbsp of cooking wine and some sweet potato starch.

In a hot non stick pan, add some oil then add ginger, garlic and scallion (white part) and sauteed until the fragrance comes out, add 1 tbsp of thick broad-bean sauce and sauteed for a couple of minutes, add 3 cup of water or broth alone with the sour mustard and tofu. Bring the broth to boil then add in the sliced fish and cook for 3 minutes. Pour everything in a big bowl. Add the green part of the scallion and dried red pepper and dried pepper corn on top of it. In a separated skillet add at least 3 Tbsp of oil( I don’t like my dish to have too much oil, so I only used 2 Tbsp) heat it up until you see smoke, pour the oil to the spices on top of the dish. It is ready to serve.

Tip: The thick broad bean sauce is very salty, so do not add any more salt for this dish. If you don’t mind fish bone, cook the head and bone in it too, but make sure cook  a few minutes first before you add in the fish meat. If you like it very spicy, and you want to add more the thick broad bean sauce, then you need to add more water or cook it with hot oil at the beginning.

The very spicy one will look like this.

IMG_1467

一只約一磅的活鲈鱼
5 盎司的嫩豆腐
3 盎司的酸菜
幹辣椒幾只
一些幹的花椒粒
几片生薑、 大蒜和一些蔥
切魚的肉出来,切成薄薄的片。用少許位白胡椒粉和 1/3 茶匙的鹽,1/2 湯匙料酒和一些紅薯澱粉醃制魚片。
在 熱的不粘平底鍋里加些油,然後添加生薑、 大蒜、 大蔥 (白色部分) 炒到香,加入 1 湯匙的郫县豆瓣酱醬1,2分鐘,加入 3 杯水或清湯与酸菜还有豆腐。把汤煮开後加魚片煮 3 分鐘。倒入一個大碗裡。添加蔥綠色的部分和乾紅辣椒和幹花椒在它的上面。在一個煎鍋中添加至少 3 湯匙油 (我不喜歡我的菜有太多的油,所以我只用了 2 湯匙) 加熱到冒烟后倒在香料上。
提示: 郫县豆瓣酱很咸,所以請不要加鹽了,這道菜。如果你不介意魚骨,加进去一起煮,但在您加魚肉之前要先煮几分钟。如果你喜歡很辣,想要添加更多郫县豆瓣酱醬,那你需要添加更多的水或開始煮时用辣油。

Tapioca With Taro and Pumkin/芋头南瓜西米露

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Some taro cut into small pieces

Some Japanese pumpkin cut into small pieces

7 oz. of Aroy-D coconut milk

4 oz of Tapioca

In a cooking pot add water and bring to boil, add the tapioca and cook for 2-3 minutes, turn the heat off and cover it for 15 minutes.  Then rinse it and add 3-4 cup of cold water and the taro and pumpkin ( cut into very small pieces) then bring it to boil again then turn the heat a little lower and cook until the tapioca is clear without white color in the center. Add the coconut milk ( you can add more if you add 4 cup of water or if you prefer it to be very creamy)and some coconut flavor sugar or rock sugar, when it is boiling again, it is ready.

一些芋頭切成小塊
一些日本南瓜切成小塊
7 盎司的 Aroy D 椰奶
4 盎司的西米
在 一個鍋中加水煮开, 添加 西米煮 2-3 分钟,关火覆蓋 15 分鐘。然後沖洗,並加 3-4 杯冷水和芋頭,南瓜 (切成非常小) 然後把它再次煮沸後把溫度調低一點,煮西米到清晰透明没有中心的白顏色。加入椰奶 (你可以加更多如果您之前加 4 杯水或如果你喜歡它很浓) 和一些椰子味的糖或冰糖,當它再次煮開的時候,就可以了。

Fried Meat Balls/四喜丸子

四喜丸子

原料:五花肉550克、鸡蛋1个、马蹄5个、葱姜末+葱姜片适量。
做法:
1、五花肉剁成馅;
2、马蹄去皮剁碎;
3、肉馅中打入鸡蛋,加入葱姜末,调入料酒1大匙,生抽1大匙,盐2小匙, 鸡粉1 小勺,白胡椒粉少许 ,沿一个方向搅打至上劲大概5分钟,然后加入马蹄碎搅匀;
4、将肉馅做成4个大丸子;
5、.锅中入油,六成热时放入丸子炸至表面金黄后捞出沥油;
6、砂锅中加 1杯的水,放入炸好的丸子、葱姜片和几粒花椒大料,加入3汤勺的香菇素耗油,煮开后转小火炖半个小时,然后捞出丸子;
7、砂锅中剩下的汤汁继续烧开,调入水淀粉(干淀粉1小匙+水1大匙)勾芡至浓稠,淋上香油,然后浇在丸子上即可。

Ingredients:

Pork Belly 550 grams
1 egg
Water chestnuts 5 pieces
Minced ginger
Green onion and ginger a few slices

1 Chop pork into really thin small pieces (a little bit bigger than ground meat);

2 Minced water chestnuts;

3 Add egg, minced ginger into pork alone with 1 tablespoon cooking wine, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 2 tsp. of salt, a little bit of chicken powder, a little bit of white pepper. Mix along in one direction for about 5 minutes, add the minced water chestnut at the end;

4 Make 4 even size balls out of the pork;

5 Add oil in a cooking pot, when the oil reach medium high heat fry meatballs until golden brown;
6 Add1 cup of water in a casserole, add fried Meatball, sliced green onion and ginger and a few grains of aniseed and dried pepper corn, add 3 tablespoons of vegetarian mushroom oyster sauce, bring the sauce to boil then simmer for half an hour, then remove balls;

7 Continue to cook the remaining sauce in the Casserole, add the water starch (dry starch 1 teaspoon + 1 tablespoon water) gently until thickened, add a few drops of sesame oil, then pour over the meatballs.

Stewed Pork Belly Taiwan Style/台湾卤肉饭

IMG_0527IMG_0533

主料

  • 五花肉 2 磅
  • 红葱头 5 粒
  • 鸡蛋 5 个
  • 干香菇 几个
  • 虾米(适量)

调料

  • 料酒 汤匙
  • 冰糖、(适量)
  • 胡椒粉。(适量)
  • 生抽4 汤匙
  • 蚝油5 汤匙
  • 五香粉 ½ 茶匙
  • 八角3 颗
  • 姜片 3 片
  • 蒜末 1茶匙
  • 陈皮1 小片
  • 花椒 1茶匙

在6成热的油中加入红葱头炸至变干。捞出备用。

五花肉洗净,切大段后焯水,去血沫。焯好的五花肉切成小丁,备用。 炒锅内倒入适量油,爆香姜片,蒜末和其他香料 这时倒入五花肉丁,炒至肉色变白。然后加入生抽、料酒、五香粉、八角、冰糖,蚝油,胡椒粉,虾米, 香菇翻炒均匀。加入适量水,没过五花肉1-2cm即可。最后加入红葱干,大火将汤汁煮滚后,转小火慢炖(可倒入砂锅中慢炖),此时加入提前煮好水煮蛋,炖制1.5个小时。

IMG_9283 IMG_9284IMG_9291

The main ingredient:

  • Pork  belly 2 pounds
  • Red Shallots 5
  • Egg 5
  • Dried mushrooms a few
  • Dried shrimp a few

Seasoning:

  • The cooking wine 2tbsp
  • Rock sugar a few pieces
  • White pepper A little bit
  • Soy sauce 4 tbsp.
  • Oyster sauce 5 tbsp.
  • Five spice powder ½ TSP
  • Star anise 3 pieces
  • Ginger 3 slices
  • Garlic 1tsp
  • Dried Orange peel 1 small piece
  • Dried Pepper corn 1tsp

In a sauteed deep fry the sliced red shallots in oil until dry. Remove and reserve.

Wash the pork belly, cut into cubes and blanch them in hot water for about 3 minutes and set aside. Pour enough oil in the wok and stir-fry the ginger, garlic and other spices then pour the pork in and stir-fry until color turns white. Then add the soy sauce, cooking wine, allspice, star anise, sugar, oyster sauce, dried pepper corns, shrimp and mushrooms stir evenly. Add some water (over pork 1-2cm).  Finally add in dried red shallots Bring it to boil then turn the heat low to simmer (pour everything into a Casserole for best result) and add the pre-cook boil eggs, simmer about hour and half. .

Pumpkin Cakes/南瓜饼

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1/2 Japanese pumpkin

1/2 bag of glutinous rice flour

1 bowl of home made sweet red bean paste ( store bought will be fine too)

Cut pumpkin into small pieces and steam over water until fork tender. Scoop pumpkin meat out and mix with half bag of  glutinous rice flour or until the dough is not sticky anymore. Cut the dough into 12 even pieces, wrap the small red bean paste ball into the pumpkin dough and flatten it thin. Garnishing it with black sesame on one side.  In a non stick skillet add a little bit of oil and pan fried each side of pumpkin cakes with low heat until they turn clear yellow color.

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1/2 日本南瓜
1/2 袋糯米粉
自製甜紅豆沙 1 碗 (买的也可以)
把南瓜切成小塊蒸到软烂。把南瓜肉用汤勺挖出和半袋糯米粉和好或直到麵團不再粘手。把麵團切成 12 塊、 用南瓜麵團包裹小的紅豆沙球然后摁扁。用黑芝麻裝飾它其中一面。在不粘鍋中添加一點點的油用小火两面煎直到他們變成透明的黃颜色
This is steam pumpkin cake. Same way of doing it but steam over water for about 10 minutes./猛火蒸10 分钟。
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Deep fried pumpkin cake/炸南瓜煎堆
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Pumpkin Soup/南瓜汤

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1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley

4 cups pumpkin puree

1 cup chopped onion

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

6 cups chicken stock

5 whole black peppercorns

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

Heat stock, salt, pumpkin, onion, thyme, garlic, and peppercorns. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 30 minutes uncovered.

Puree the soup in small batches (1 cup at a time) using a food processor or blender.

Return to pan, and bring to a boil again. Reduce heat to low, and simmer for another 30 minutes, uncovered. Stir in heavy cream. Pour into soup bowls and garnish with fresh parsley.

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1 茶匙切碎的新鮮歐芹
4 杯南瓜泥
1 杯切碎的洋蔥
1 又 1/2 茶匙鹽
6 杯雞湯
5 黑胡椒
1/2 杯重攪打稀奶油
1 丁香大蒜,切碎
1/2 茶匙切碎的新鮮百里香
加热鹽、 南瓜、 洋蔥、 百里香、 大蒜和花椒。煮至沸騰,用文火煮 30 分鐘。 
醬湯 使用食物處理機或攪拌機绞碎。
返回到锅里並再次煮至沸騰。小火燉 30 分鐘,拌入奶油。倒入湯碗,飾以新鮮歐芹。