Our Family Kitchen

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2010-08-02T10:19:00.000-07:00

We've moved Our Family Kitchen to a new URL and new look! Visit us at Our Family Kitchen's new home.

Red-Wine-Braised Oxtails

2010-06-13T10:03:00.000-07:00

I was in quite a mood a couple weeks ago in the meat department. Sometimes I see strange cuts of meat and I get too excited. Next thing I know, I am putting away turkey legs and oxtails!
I finally decided to commit my entire Saturday afternoon and make oxtails for our date night. Oxtails are Aaron's favorite so I had to find a really good recipe! This one was nice and simple, and I already had most of the ingredients! This recipe takes about 4 hours, but 3.5 of those hours is just you sitting on the couch while the oxtails cook themselves in the oven! It turned out very tender and delicious, so it is very worth it!

Ingredients
1 bottle of dry red wine
6 large oxtail pieces (about 3 pounds total)
2 tbsp unsalted butter
4 garlic cloves
2 medium carrots
1/2 medium onion
2 celery ribs
6 thyme sprigs
3 bay leafs
3 cups beef broth
salt, pepper

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

In a 4 to 6 quart heavy saucepan boil wine until reduced by about half. Trim oxtails and pat dry. Season oxtails with salt and pepper. In a deep heavy ovenproof kettle just large enough to hold oxtails in one layer heat 1 tbsp butter over moderately high heat until foam subsides and brown oxtails on all sides. Transfer to bowl. Coarsely chop garlic, carrots, onion, and celery. Add vegetables to kettle and cook in 1 tbsp butter over moderately low heat, stirring until softened.

Arrange oxtails over vegetables and add reduced wine, herbs, and enough broth to just cover oxtails. Bring liquid to a boil and braise oxtails, covered, in middle of oven 3 to 3.5 hours, or until meat is very tender but not falling off the bone. Transfer oxtails with a slotted spoon to a bowl and keep warm. Pour braising liquid through a fine sieve into a large saucepan and discard solids. Boil liquid until thick, shiny, and reduced to about 1 3/4 cups and whisk in remaining tablespoon butter.

By the way, this sauce makes for an excellent dip for the Bacon Bread. I'm just sayin'.

Heather's Chocolate Caramel Matzo

2010-06-13T09:44:00.000-07:00

My friend Heather brought these deliciously addicting dessert to the office when she had just started working at our museum...right away I knew I would be friends with her!

Ingredients:
4 to 6 sheets matzo or 40 saltine crackers or crackers of your choice
1 cup (2 sticks or 8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into a few large pieces
1 cup packed light brown sugar
A big pinch of sea salt
1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups semi-or bitter chocolate chips
Extra sea salt for sprinkling
1 cup toasted chopped almonds, pecans (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie/baking sheet completely with foil, then line the base of the foil with parchment paper, cut to fit. (I thought about skipping the parchment paper, but I'm so glad I didn't. If you don't, the toffee mixture you pour over the crackers would stick to the foil and that would be no good! So yes, definitely use parchment paper.)

Line the baking sheet with matzo or crackers, covering all parts. In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter and brown sugar together, and stir it over medium heat until it begins to boil. Once it has begun boiling, let it bubble for three more minutes, stirring it well. It will thicken a bit as it cooks. Remove from the heat and add the salt and vanilla, and then quickly pout it over the matzo or crackers. You'll want to spread it quickly, as it will begin to set as soon as it is poured.

Bake the caramel-covered crackers for 8-15 minutes, watching carefully as it will bubble and the corners might darken too quickly and/or burn. You can reduce the heat if you see this happening. I made two pans of this, and the pan on the bottom got burned...but actually tasting the two I liked the burned taste! That's just me...but do make sure it doesn't burn to the point of BLACK caramel. I had bits of that too and that is just a waste of good butter and sugar.

Remove from oven and immediately cover with chocolate chips. Let stand five minutes, and then spread them evenly across the caramel. An offset spatula works great here. If you're using them, sprinkle the chocolate with toasted chopped nuts. Wait 10 minutes for it to cool completely or stick it in the fridge. Sprinkle sea salt over them.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

Jennifer's Bacon Cheddar Bread with Parmesan Crust

2010-06-13T09:20:00.000-07:00

My friend Jennifer made this bread at last year's Pork-Off competition, and after I ate it, I begged her for the recipe. One year later, I finally got around to making it! She gave me the recipe handwritten on the most adorable recipe card, and now I am going to digitize it for her.

Ingredients:

3 oz Parmesan, grated on large holes of box grater
5 slices of bacon cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 medium onion, minced
3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon table salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
4 oz Gruyere, extra-sharp cheddar, or mild Asiago cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 1/4 cup whole milk
1 large egg
3/4 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 5 x 9 inch loaf pan with cooking spray then sprinkle 1/2 cup Parmesan evenly in bottom of pan.

Fry bacon over medium heat until crisp, 8 minutes. Transfer bacon to paper towel and pour off all but 2 tablespoons bacon fat from skillet. Add onion to skillet and cook until softened, 3 minutes. Set aside.

In large bowl whisk flour, baking powder, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Using rubber spatula, mix in cheese cubes, breaking up clumps until cheese is coated with flour. Add bacon and onion, and stir.

In a medium bowl whisk together milk, egg, and sour cream. Using rubber spatula, gently fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients until just combined. DO NOT OVER MIX. Scrape batter into prepared loaf pan: level surface. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan evenly over surface.

Bake until deep golden brown and toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean, 45-50 minutes. You can broil on high for 3-4 minutes if you want the top to be extra crispy! Cool in pan 5 minutes on wire rack. Invert loaf from pan and continue to cool until warm, about 45 minutes.

Nicole's Manchego, Onion, and Bacon Appetizer

2010-06-13T09:05:00.000-07:00

An easier than easy recipe for a party that Nicole taught me.

Ingredients:

1 block of Manchego cheese
5 slices of bacon (preferably thick, but thin will do too), cut into 1 inch pieces (they'll shrink after they cook
half of a medium sized red onion
Salt
Pepper
Paprika

Fry the bacon on the stove until crisp. Take out and drain on paper towel. Throw away all the fat other than two tbsp.

Cut onion into slices big enough to wrap around half inch cheese cubes. Caramel in the bacon fat with salt, pepper, and paprika.

Cut the cheese into half inch pieces.

Wrap the cheese in the caramelized onions and top with a piece of bacon. Secure with toothpick.

TADA!!

Salt Crusted Baked Fish

2010-05-17T18:05:00.000-07:00

The fish says: "Hello! I am sleeping! In my salty sleeping bag!

Mmmm the garlic inside was yummy...

Although this fish dish uses 1.5 lb of kosher salt, the actual fish is not salty at all! Which means daddy can eat it guilt free! Mom and dad, you can do a small miniature version of this fish when you get a toaster oven, or you can go to wooyi's house and make a feast out of this with some salad!

Ingredients:

2 pounds of coarse or kosher salt

1 cup water

2 pound whole red snapper or whatever fish you prefer.

1 lemon

Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling

Garlic, basil, bay leaf, or whatever fresh you have handy

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

In a bowl stir together salt and water until combined well. On a large baking sheet spread half of the salt mixture in a rectangle just larger than the red snapper and set fish on top. Halve lemon crosswise and cut 3 slices from 1 half, reserving remaining half. Insert slices of lemon and herbs into cavity of fish. Pat remaining sale mixture over fish to cover completely and bake in the middle of oven for 20-25 minutes.

Rap all around edge of salt crust with the back of a large spoon to loosen and lift top off. De-bone, lift the meat and skin from the fish and put onto platter. Squeeze juice from reserved lemon half over fish and drizzle with oil.

Stir fry mushrooms and tomatos with olive oil (or butter if you're feeling wild!), garlic, salt and pepper to taste. Surround the fish with this colorful mixture!

Mmmm Carrot Muffin Yeah!

2010-05-16T19:09:00.000-07:00

Makes 8 muffins:

3/4 cup skim milk
2 egg whites
1 tbsp canola oil
1/2 cup grated apple
1/2 cup shredded carrot
1 cup whole wheat flour
3 tbsp sugar (or substitute 6 packs of splenda if you're trying to avoid sugar)
1 teaspoon baking flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Optional: golden raisins
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl, beat the milk, egg whites, and oil until smooth.

Stir in apple and carrot. Combine the dry ingredients.

Stir into milk texture just until moistened.

Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. Top with raisins.

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool for 5 minutes.

Nicole's Pizza!

2010-05-09T20:56:00.001-07:00

My friend Nicole is very talented at creating healthy but yummy recipes. I tried one of them out today, and I encourage you to do the same!

Veggie-filled "Pizza"

Red pepper sauce:
3 red peppers
3 cloves garlic
olive oil
1/2 a yellow onion, chopped
1 c chicken stock
salt and pepper

'Crust':
1 1/2 cups finely-shredded cabbage
2 tbs whole grain flour (whatever you've got)
1/2 cup chopped onion or shallot
salt and pepper to taste
2 egg whites

To make sauce: Lightly oil whole peppers, then broil them until the skin is blackened in most places. Remove from oven and put in plastic bag - allow to sweat for about 45 minutes. Once cooled, remove skin (this should be easy), then take out seeds and chop roughly. Heat olive oil in a high-sided skillet. Add garlic, onion, salt'n'pepper and cook for 5 minutes, then add red pepper and continue to cook another 5 minutes or so (until onions are softened). Puree in food processor, then return to pan and add chicken stock. Cook down to desired thickness (add more stock if necessary).

To make crust: combine cabbage and onion in a bowl - make sure they're reasonably dry. Add flour, salt and pepper and combine. Then add egg. Pour olive oil in skillet and heat, then press crust mixture into pan. Saute for 6-8 minutes each side, until a nice golden brown.

Spread crust with red pepper sauce and desired toppings (suggestions: turkey italian sausage or meatballs, roasted garlic, sauteed mushrooms, spinach), then sprinkle with grated pecorino romano or parmigiano reggiano. Broil for a few minutes until cheese is melted. Cut into slices. Voila!

I WON!

2010-04-19T08:03:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday, my friend Tobin had his annual cooking competition/birthday party. Last year the theme was pork, and I lost by a small margin. This year the theme was chicken, and I was determined to win! I started preparing the dishes on Thursday night, and spent all day Saturday cooking. I thought I would share my winning dishes with you.

Here I am with the trophy:

Drunken Chicken over Hainanese Rice:

(Drunken Chicken recipe courtesy of RasaMalaysia)

3 lbs chicken, dark meat preferably
2 Tbsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp ground white pepper
0.5 oz. ginger, thinly sliced
4 – 6 green onion, white parts only, sliced lengthwise
1 1/2 C Shaoxing rice wine
2 tsp white sugar

Ice cubes and water

Method:

Mix the salt with the two peppers. Rub the chicken all over with the salt and pepper and let it sit for an hour.

Poaching Method:

Bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a Dutch oven or large pot, add the green onion bottoms and ginger. Add the chicken, make sure there is enough water to cover the chicken, and return to a boil. Lower the heat to a bare simmer and simmer for 10 minutes. If you’re using a whole chicken, when the water is simmering for 10 minutes, lift the chicken out of the water and make sure the stock in the cavity empties back into the pot. Do that 3 times for a whole chicken. For chicken pieces or leg quarters, gently stir the pot once or redistribute the leg quarters so they cook evenly. After 10 minutes, cover, turn off the heat, and allow the chicken to poach undisturbed until the water cools almost to room temperature.

Steaming Method:

Bring water to a boil in the steamer. Place the chicken in an even layer, scatter the green onion and ginger all over and steam over medium heat for 30 – 40 minutes or until the internal temperature near the bone reaches 165 – 170 degrees F. If the chicken pieces are larger, they will take longer to steam. If any of the pieces are touching make sure to redistribute them in the middle of cooking so they cook evenly.

Mix the ice cubes and water and shock the chicken in ice cold water for 2 minutes. If you poached the chicken, shock it after the chicken has cooled to room temperature. If you steamed the chicken, shock it immediately after steaming.

After cooking, cut the chicken into bite sized pieces, or score the chicken meat with a knife. Put the chicken pieces into a large container. Mix 3/4 cup to 1 cup of the chicken stock (the liquid you poached the chicken in or the liquid that comes out of the chicken after steaming) with the sugar and rice wine. Taste the marinade and add salt if needed. Pour it over the chicken pieces and let this sit in the fridge at least overnight before serving. Serve cold.

Hainanese Rice recipe courtesy of Eugenia!

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 tablespoon ginger, finely minced

2 cups of short grain Japanese rice
3 cups organic chicken stock (I use Pacific Brand from Whole Foods)
1/2 of a pork boullion cube

In a medium stock pot over medium heat, melt butter with vegetable oil. Add the garlic and ginger, stir until fragrant but not burnt. Add the rice to the mixture and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until some of the rice is a little brown and toasted.

Add 3 cups of warm chicken stock to the pot and the half of pork boullion cube. Cover tightly and turn the heat down to a bare simmer. Cook undisturbed (don't peek!) for 25 minutes.

Fluff it up with a fork and serve.

Fried Bacon Wrapped Drumsticks with Honey Peach Glaze:

My second recipe was an altered version of Alton Brown's fried chicken recipe. I came up with the honey peach glaze recipe on my own, with a little inspiration from an item on the Rockwood Room Menu:

One family pack of drumsticks (12-14 drumsticks)
Two packs of bacon
toothpicks
1/2 gallon of low fat buttermilk
1 tablespoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons Hungarian paprika
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Flour, for dredging
Vegetable shortening, for frying

Directions

Wrap each drumstick with bacon and pin in place with toothpicks. Place chicken pieces into a plastic container and cover with buttermilk. Cover and refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours.

Melt enough shortening (over low heat) to come halfway up the side of a 12-inch cast iron skillet or heavy fry pan. Once shortening liquefies raise heat to 325 degrees F. Do not allow oil to go over 325 degrees F.

Drain chicken in a colander. Combine salt, paprika, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper. Liberally season chicken with this mixture. Dredge chicken in flour and shake off excess. Leave chicken be for ten minutes then dredge in flour again. This makes them extra crispy!

Place chicken skin side down into the pan. Cook chicken until golden brown on each side, approximately 10 to 12 minutes per side. More importantly, the internal temperature should be right around 180 degrees. (Be careful to monitor shortening temperature every few minutes.)

Drain chicken on a rack over a sheet pan. Don't drain by setting chicken directly on paper towels or brown paper bags. If you need to hold the chicken before serving, cover loosely with foil but avoid holding in a warm oven, especially if it's a gas oven.

Honey Peach Glaze:

Peach glaze can be served on the side or spooned directly over the chicken! Peach glaze modified from Food Network recipe.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
Two fresh and ripe peaches, chopped
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar

In a small saucepan, saute onions in oil until softened. Add peaches, honey, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar and ground pepper. Bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and cook until peaches break down and glaze thickens, about 20-30 minutes.

Ratatouille for Lunch

2010-01-19T12:07:00.001-08:00

Anna and Lilah came by yesterday for lunch. I can only have one friend who is a vegetarian and doesn't drink, and Anna has taken up both slots! If she wasn't so nice and sweet I would have sneaked some bacon grease into the veggies but I made an entirely vegetarian lunch that was actually really delicious and contained no fake products (I absolutely hate fake meat or fake whatever foods).

Ratatouille (Adapted from Nandita's recipe. Thanks, Nandy!)

Ingredients:

For the sauce:

~4 tomatoes (peeled, w/o seeds, chopped - you can use seeded chopped CANNED tomatoes in a pinch)
~3-4 garlic cloves (minced or sliced)
a nice handful of Italian parsley (chopped)
~2 twiggys of fresh thyme, chopped
~8-9 fresh basil leaves (rough cut -- i.e. not too small)
at least 1/4 c olive oil (you can use more if you want. Use a good quality olive oil like Brianna - something you'd eat with your bread)

For the dish:

2 eggplants (about 2 lbs), sliced into 1/2 inch slices. Japanese eggplant work well but regular eggplants are fine also.
2 red bell peppers, seeded and cut into 4-6 slices
2 yellow bell peppers, seeded and cut into 4-6 slices
1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon of chopped fresh thyme and/or rosemary
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 350 F.

First you'll need to prep the egg plant: sprinkle salt over both side of the eggplant slices and lay them flat on top of two layers of paper towel, or a large colander if you have one. Let the eggplant sit for at least half hour to 45 minutes, until moisture comes out of the eggplant slices. Rinse the eggplant slices and squeeze dry between two paper towels. Set aside.

Then you'll make the sauce: In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, heat the olive oil (1/4 cup) until warm. Add the garlic, sautee until cooked, then add the tomatoes, parsley, thyme, basil, simmer until thickened, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile: sautee the bell peppers in 1 tablespoon of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. Set aside. sautee the onion slices until translucent and soft, salt to taste, set aside. Sautee the eggplant slices in 3 tablespoons of olive oil (add more if needed) - you may need to do this in batches. The eggplant slices are done when they are soft and golden brown. Set aside.

To assemble: layer some onions on the bottom of the dish. Then put a layer of the bell peppers, then eggplant slices, and some of the tomatoe sauce. Sprinkle a little salt and the herb mixture. Repeat until you fill the casserole dish. Bake for about 45 minutes until bubbly.

Quinoa Pilaf

Ingredients:

1/2 cup carrots, finely diced
half an onion, finely diced
a cup of mushrooms, sliced
1 tablespoons olive oil or butter
1 cup quinoa, rinsed in a colander through several changes of water
1 3/4 cup hot water or vegetable broth

Place the oil in a medium deep skillet or sauce pan and turn the heat to medium. A minute later, add the onion and carrots and sautee untl soften, about 5 minutes. Add the quinoa and cook, stirring, for at least 5-6 minutes (important - this toasts the quinoa and gives it a good flavor).

Then add the liquid and mushroom slices all at once. Cover and cook until quinoa is tender, about 15 minutes. If all the liquid has been absorbed and quinoa is not tender, you can add a little more (1/4 cup) of water and continue to cook until tender.

White bean salad

Ingredients:

3 cups cooked or canned white beans (I used a mixture of canned cannelini beans and black eyed peas. I also rinsed them before using.)
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh marjoran, chopped
3 scallions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup minced red bell pepper
6 Tablepoons olive oil
2-3 tablespoons red wine vinegar (can also use sherry vinegar or balsamic)
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
salt and pepper

Cook beans with half the thyme for 5 minutes until heated through. Turn off the heat. Add the scallions and red peppers, and cool. In a bowl, whisk olive oil, red wine vinegar, and mustard until emulsified. Add salt, pepper, or additional oil or vinegar to taste. Pour the dressing over the bean mixture and marinate for an hour or up to 24 hours.

I marinated it overnight and served it on top of a bed of arugula that was tossed with a little oil and vinegar.

Seafood Cakes with Mustard Crema

2009-10-24T17:36:00.001-07:00

Once again, this recipe is from my friend Dawn's seafood cooking party. The seafood cakes recipe is actually from a magazine called Cooking Light, but it's so delicious that it doesn't taste like "diet" food at all. I think a big part of that is probably owing to the fact that Matt, who was responsible for making this dish, bought fresh real crab meat from Whole Foods. An expensive but worthwhile investment since the crab meat is the star of the dish.

Dawn's six-burner semi-professional stove range browned the seafood cakes perfectly, as you will soon see below! The mustard crema sauce was really delicious (be sure to get coarse grain mustard and use fresh herbs). I think I'll be using that sauce on other seafood dishes as well. If you like sauce, I would double the sauce recipe.

Ingredients

* 1/3 cup light sour cream
* 6 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, divided
* 1 tablespoon stone-ground mustard
* 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, divided
* 7 teaspoons canola oil, divided
* 1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
* 1/4 cup finely chopped celery
* 8 ounces peeled and deveined medium shrimp, chopped
* 8 ounces lump crabmeat, drained and shell pieces removed
* 1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 2 large egg whites, lightly beaten
* 1 large egg, lightly beaten
* 1 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)

Preparation

1. Combine sour cream, 2 tablespoons parsley, mustard, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper, stirring with a whisk until blended. Set aside.

Here is Matt chopping all the ingredients:

2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add 1 teaspoon canola oil to pan, and swirl to coat. Add onion and celery; cook 5 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; cool slightly.

3. Combine shrimp and crab in a large bowl. Stir in onion mixture, remaining pepper, remaining 1/4 cup parsley, cheese, salt, egg whites, and egg; stir gently. Add panko; stir gently. Divide mixture into 8 equal portions; flatten to 1/2-inch-thick patties.

Like this:

4. Heat skillet over medium-high heat. Add remaining 2 tablespoons oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add patties to pan; cook 3 minutes or until lightly browned.

Carefully turn over; cook 3 minutes or until done. Serve with sauce

Salmon Tartare a la The French Laundry

2009-10-23T01:41:00.000-07:00

The first time I had these salmon tartare cornets was at The French Laundry. This is the second time I have made this dish and it is absolutely worth the effort! Technically it is not very difficult but requires some patience. It is definitely a wow dish for company.

In The French Laundry Cookbook, Thomas Keller suggests that you make the crackers into cornets and scoop salmon tartare in there to make it look like an ice cream cone. I had it that way at the French Laundry, and it was indeed adorable. It looks like this:

However, it is beyond my patience to make mini savory cones, so I made them into crackers instead. I found this blogger named Carol a few years back on her blog, French Laundry At Home, where she cooks through the French Laundry cookbook. You can check out how she made the salmon tartare cornets.

I believe she suffered some burns on her fingers when she was trying to form the crackers around the metal cornet mold, which further convinced me to skip that part of the recipe. I may be convinced to try it again if I can find silicone, not metal, molds. \

Some key points in the recipe that you should definitely follow and not skip (I'm serious!):
- Make sure to use the white pepper and all the seasonings as described.
- If you don't have lemon oil, it's ok - I used vegetable oil and some lemon juice at the very end right before serving. But you can find lemon oil or lemon infused olive oil at good grocers or at Rainbow (if you're in SF).
- Dice all the vegetables as tiny as you can.
- Soak the onions in water for as long as you can before adding to the creme fraiche.
- Assemble right before eating so the crackers do not get soggy.

My crackers turn out super buttery, which is mostly great, but they wanted to slip off the Silpat! For next time I am going to investigate whether I can use less butter.

Here goes the recipe:

Cornets

1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
8 tablespoons (4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened but still cool to the touch
2 large egg whites, cold
2 tablespoons black sesame seeds

Salmon Tartare
(makes about 3/4 cup)

4 ounces sushi grade salmon fillet (belly preferred), skin and any pin bones removed and very finely minced
3/4 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
3/4 teaspoon lemon oil
1 1/2 teaspoon finely minced chives
1 1/2 teaspoon finely minced shallots
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
small pinch of freshly ground white pepper, or to taste (do not skip)

Sweet Red Onion Creme Fraiche

1 tablespoon finely minced red onions
1/2 cup crème fraiche
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
freshly ground white pepper to taste
24 chive tips (about 1 inch long)

For the Cornets:
Thomas Keller's instructions:
In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk the softened butter until it is completely smooth and mayonnaise-like in texture. Using a stiff spatula or spoon, beat the egg whites into the dry ingredients until completely incorporated and smooth. Whisk in the softened butter by thirds, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary and whisking until the batter is creamy and without any lumps. Transfer the batter to a smaller container, as it will be easier to work with.

What I did:
Put everything in a small food processor and pulse until combined. Works just fine. I saw him do this on TV in some random clip he did before he reached his current fame.

And then:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Make a 4-inch hollow circular stencil. Place Silpat on the counter (it is easier to work on the Silpat before it is put on the sheet pan). Place the stencil in one corner of the sheet and, holding the stencil flat against the Silpat, scoop some of the batter onto the back of an offset spatula and spread it in an even layer over the stencil. Then run the spatula over the entire stencil to remove any excess batter. After baking the first batch of cornets, you will be able to judge the correct thickness. You may need a little more or less batter to adjust the thickness of the cornets.

About the stencil:
I just used an old folder and traced circles on it. I cut out the circles and taped up the sides.

There should not be any holes in the batter. Lift the stencil and repeat the process to make as many rounds as you have molds or to fill the Silpat, leaving about 1 1/2 inches between the cornets. Sprinkle each cornet with a pinch of black sesame seeds.

Place the Silpat on a heavy baking sheet and bake for 4 to 6 minutes, or until the batter is set and you see it rippling from the heat. The cornets may have browned in some areas, but they will not be evenly browned at this point.

If you are ambitious and want to make them into cornets (cones), follow these instructions:
Open the oven door and place the baking sheet on the door. This will help keep the cornets warm as you roll them and prevent them from becoming too stiff to roll. Flip a cornet over on the sheet pan, sesame seed side down and place 4-1/2 inch cornet mold at the bottom of the round. If you are right-handed, you will want the pointed end on your left and the open end on your right. The tip of the mold should touch the lower left edge (at about 7 o'clock on a clock face) of the cornet.

Fold the bottom of the cornet and around the mold; it should remain on the sheet pan as you roll. Leave the cornet wrapped around the mold and continue to roll the cornets around molds; as you proceed, arrange the rolled cornets, seams side down, on the sheet pan so they lean against each other, to prevent from rolling.

When all the cornets are rolled, return them to the oven shelf, close the door, and bake for an additional 3 to 4 minutes to set the seams and color the cornets a golden brown. If the color is uneven, stand the cornets on end for a minute or so more, until the color is even. Remove the cornets from the oven and allow to cool just slightly, 30 seconds or so.

Gently remove the cornets from the molds and cool for several minutes on paper towels.

If you're not making cornets and you decided to make them into crackers like I did, just bake for about 6-8 minutes until golden brown, remove the batch onto a cookie rack. It will look kind of like this, not really pretty but it doesn't matter because the salmon will cover it up:

Then continue here:
Remove the Silpat from the baking sheet, wipe the excess butter from it, and allow it to cool down before spreading the next batch. Store the cornets for up to 2 days (for maximum flavor) in an airtight container.

For Salmon Tartare:
With a sharp knife, finely mince the salmon fillet (do not use a food processor, as it would damage the texture of the fish) and place it in a small bowl. Stir in the remaining ingredients and taste for seasoning. Cover the bowl and refrigerate the tartare for at least 30 minutes, or up to 12 hours.

For Sweet Red Onion Crème Fraiche:
Place the red onions in a small strainer and rinse them under cold water for several seconds. (Because I don't like onions, I actually soaked them in ice water for about two hours). Dry them on paper towels. In a small metal bowl, whisk the crème fraiche for about 30 seconds to 1 minute, or until it holds soft peaks when you lift the whisk. Fold in the chopped onions and season to taste with the salt and white pepper. Transfer the onion cream to a container, cover, and refrigerate until ready to serve of for up to 6 hours.

To Complete:
If you made the fancy cornets:
Fill just the top 1/2 inch of each cornet with onion cream, leaving the bottom of the cone empty. (This is easily done using a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch plain tip or with the tip of a small knife.) Spoon about 1-1/2 teaspoons of the tartare over the onion cream and mold it into a dome resembling a scoop of ice cream. Lay a chive tip against one side of the tartare to garnish.

If you made the crackers like me:
Top each cracker with 1.5 teaspoons of the tartare, top with onion cream, lay a chive tip on the onion cream.

A closeup:

Eat immediately!

Lemon Squares by America's Best Test Kitchen

2009-10-23T01:03:00.000-07:00

America's Best Test Kitchen is one of my trusted kitchen bibles. Just about every recipe I've tried there has worked out well, probably because the recipes have gone through so much testing!

My new favorite is their lemon squares. The lemon part is really custardy, and the crust is super easy to make. The only thing is that it is a bit tricky to build up the crust since it is so dry and crumbly when you blend it in the food processor (I have also tried the alternative method of grating frozen butter into the dry ingredients. Works wonderfully. Genius, really).

Ingredients
The Crust

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
3/4 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter -- (1 1/2 sticks) at
very cool room temperature, cut into 1-inch pieces, plus extra for greasing pan

The Filling
4 large eggs — beaten lightly
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons finely grated zest — (from two large
lemons)
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice — (from 3 to 4 large
lemons), strained
1/3 cup whole milk
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. For the crust: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter a 13-by-9-inch baking dish and line with one sheet parchment or wax paper. Dot paper with butter, then lay second sheet crosswise over it.

2. Pulse flour, confectioners’ sugar, cornstarch, and salt in food processor workbowl fitted with steel blade. Add butter and process to blend, 8 to 10 seconds, then pulse until mixture is pale yellow and resembles coarse meal, about three 1-second bursts. Sprinkle mixture into lined pan and press firmly with fingers into even, 1/4-inch layer over entire pan bottom and about 1/2 inch up sides. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, then bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. (I had to bake for an additional 10 minutes to make sure the crust is really golden brown. Otherwise it will taste raw).

(If you do not have a food processor, combine the dry ingredients in a big bowl, grate frozen butter over the large hole setting of your grater over the dry ingredients, toss to combine with your fingers)

3. For the filling: Meanwhile, whisk eggs, sugar, and flour in medium bowl, then stir in lemon juice, zest, milk, and salt to blend well.

4. To finish the bars: Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Stir filling mixture to reblend; pour into warm crust. Bake until filling feels firm when touched lightly, about 20 minutes. Transfer pan to wire rack; cool to near room temperature, at least 30 minutes. Transfer to cutting board, fold paper down, and cut into serving-size bars, wiping knife or pizza cutter clean between cuts, as necessary. Sieve confectioners’ sugar over bars, if desired.

This is pretty good at room temperature and some say even better chilled!

Jambalaya by Tom!

2009-10-23T00:43:00.000-07:00

We're really lucky to have a guest chef on Our Family Kitchen - Aaron's pops, Tom! The other day I was in the mood for something from the South and knew that the only person I should ask for a recipe was Tom.

For my first foray into Southern cooking, Tom suggested that I make a jambalaya. His recipe makes for a lot, and at first I was a little puzzled by the steps that were unfamiliar to me (cooking the shrimp in the rice? stewing the sauce for an hour? The enormous amount of onions used?). Well I should have known to never doubt Tom's recipe! I made the dish exactly as prescribed and it was just perfect. Here it goes:

Jambalaya by Tom (with my notes)

Ingredients

3 large onion, chopped

2 bell peppers, chopped

1 cup of oil

1 8-ounce can of tomato sauce

1 6-ounce can of tomato paste

1/2 cup of chopped green onion tops

1/2 cup of chpped parsley

2 cloves of garlic, minced

6 cups of water

5 teaspoons of salt

black pepper and cayenne pepper to your taste (remember you want it to be a little tingly, but not burning hot)

2 bay leaves

4 cups of raw rice (I used Basmati rice)

2 pounds of peeled and deveined shrimp (use 2 lb if you are only using shrimp. For mine I use 1 lb shrimp, 1 lb chicken, 1.5 lb andouille sausage)

Steps:

1. Saute onions and bell pepper in oil over low heat until onions are transparent; add tomato sauce and tomato paste and cook on low heat for one hour.

(Meanwhile I marinated 1 lb chicken thigh pieces in lemon juice, salt, and pepper. I browned the chicken pieces. I also browned the andouille sausage and sliced them)

2. Add remaining ingredients, stir well and bring to a boil; pour into a greased baking dish, cover and bake at 300 degrees F for one hour or until rice is cooked

3. The final product should not be wet; more of the consistency of mashed potatoes, if you get my drift.

4. If you're into white whines, a good Italian Orvietto goes well, but you can also serve it with hearty red wines (a good petite syrah like Spellbound is a good compliment).

5. Serve with a nice green salad, balsamic vinegrette dressing

Aaron Cooked for Me!

2009-09-26T16:07:00.000-07:00

For my birthday this year, Aaron cooked dinner for me for the first time! It was very exciting! Here are the dishes he made:

Stuffed Mushrooms, Baby!

Ingredients:

1 box of white button mushrooms
1/2 lb hot pork sausage
1/2 medium onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
8 ounces of cream cheese
1 whole egg yolk
3/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cups dry white wine
salt and pepper to taste

Preparations Instructions:

Preset oven to 350 degrees
Brown and crumble sausage. Set aside on plate to cool.
Add onions and garlic to the same skillet, cook for 2 minutes over medium low heat.
Pour in wine to deglaze pan, allow liquid to evaporate.
Add in chopped mushroom stems, stir to cook for 2 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set mixture aside on a plate to cool.
In a bowl, combine cream cheese and egg yolk. Stir together with Parmesan cheese.
Add cooled sausage and cooled mushroom stems. Stir mixture together and refrigerate for a short time to firm up.
Smear mixture into the cavity of each mushroom, creating a sizable mound over the top.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow to cool at least ten minutes before serving; the stuffed mushrooms taste better when not piping hot.

Spicey Orange Garlic Shrimp

Ingredients:

2 dozen 26-30 per pound deveined shrimp
3/4 cup orange juice
2-4 cloves of garlic
3 tbsp regular salted butter
1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
1 tsp Old Bay seasoning

Instructions:

Thaw and peel the shrimp. Dry the peeled shrimp by draining them on a paper towel.

Thinly slice your garlic cloves. Add the garlic to 3/4 cup of orange juice. Use a nice high quality O.J. Measure out and add all of the spices to the orance juice as well.

In a large skillet over high heat melt 2 tbsp butter. Once butter has melted add your shrimp. Cook them for about 30-60 seconds and begin flipping them over starting with the ones you placed in the pan first so they don't get overdone. Cook for another 30-60 seconds. Remove the cooked shrimp from the pan, leaving the heat on high.

Once the butter and drippings begin to smoke ever so slightly add the spicy orange galic mixture to the pan and give it a good stir. Add the last tablespoon of butter to the sauce and after a few minutes of cooking and occasional stirring your sauce should be slightly thicker.

Return the shrimp to the pan and give them a nice toss to coat them in the sauce.

Fish Tacos!

2009-08-27T13:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Javier, Eduardo, Aaron, and I got together for dinner. We made a very summer appropriate meal of fish tacos, chips and salsa, and mojitos! I wanted to share the fish taco recipe because it is so easy and healthy:

Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 cup corn

1/2 cup diced red onion

1 cup peeled, chopped jicama

1/2 cup diced red bell pepper

1 cup fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped

1 lime, zested and juiced

2 tablespoons sour cream (I subbed mayo for sour cream because I don't like sour cream)

2 tablespoons cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon ground black pepper

2 tablespoons salt (Dad you can eliminate this for your diet)

6 (4 ounce) fillets tilapia

2 tablespoons olive oil

12 corn or wheat tortillas, warmed

Instructions:

1. Preheat grill for high heat. (Javier doesn't have a grill, so preheated the oven to 350 degrees)

2. In a medium bowl, mix together corn, red onion, jicama, red bell pepper, and cilantro. Stir in lime juice and zest.

3. In a small bowl, combine cayenne pepper, ground black pepper, and salt. Brush each fillet with olive oil, and sprinkle with spices.

4. Arrange fillets on grill grate, and cook for 3 minutes per side. (Oven instructions: pop the fish into the oven for 5 minutes on each side. If you like the grill affect, you can broil it on high for 1 minute each side.) For each fiery fish taco, top two corn tortillas with fish, sour cream, and corn salsa.

Fish Roe Fried Rice!

2009-08-09T14:38:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:

2 cups of white rice

2 eggs

2 filets of tilapia

kosher salt

black pepper

white pepper

cornstarch

1 small box of sweet fish roe

olive oil

Steam rice in rice cooker or cook over stove. Heat a little bit of oil on the wok on high heat until hot. Put in rice and spread in thin layer. leave foor 3 minutes. flip the rice and leave for another 3 minutes. Take out rice and put in a big bowl.

Cut up tilapia into bite size pieces. In a bowl, mix cornstarch, kosher salt, white and black pepper together. Coat tilapia with this mixture. Put in a good bit of oil in the wok and heat on medium high heat. Drop the tilapia pieces into the wok. Pan fry until golden brown. Take out and drain onto some paper towels.

Scramble two eggs and half the fish roe in a bowl. Heat up wok with a bit more oil. Put the egg mixture in. When the bottom of the egg hardens a little bit, put in the rice. Stir it all up! Add a bit more salt. Now put the fish back in and stir it all up for 5 minutes.

Put the entire fried rice back into the big bowl and make a small well in the middle. Put the remaining roe into the wok and fry until cooked. Put all roe into the well.

Easy peasy!

Cauliflower Bread Thingy from Italy!

2009-08-09T14:24:00.000-07:00

Remember this post?Well I finally decided to make it!

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 quart half-and-half
1 head cauliflower (2 pounds), cut into 1-inch-wide florets
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
3 ciabatta rolls
small bit of butter
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Bring half-and-half with cauliflower, covered directly with a round of parchment paper, just to a boil in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, then reduce heat and simmer until cauliflower is tender, 10 to 12 minutes.
Transfer cauliflower with a slotted spoon to a blender and blend with 1/4 cup cooking liquid until smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids), then add salt and pepper. Reheat over low heat, stirring occasionally for 4 minutes.
Slice the ciabatta in half like you would an English muffin. Butter the insides of each piece. Set on a cookie sheet. Stick in the oven on high broil until the top is golden. Take out of oven, spoon puree over the ciabatta. Sprinkle parmesan cheese over puree. Put back in oven and set broil to high. Take out when golden and toasty!

Blue was very helpful in waiting with me right by the oven!

Indian Grilled Chicken Marinated in Milk & Yogurt

2009-07-20T21:06:00.000-07:00

This was a contest winner! Not by me, of course, but still, a winner!
All pictures courtesy of The Pioneer Woman.

You can take out the salt and pepper and it would be very healthy. You can even eliminate the milk, Nandita says, but it's 2% so that shouldn't be a big deal. Yogurt is so good for you. Also, if you think grilling outside is unhealthy (mom and dad) you can make this in the oven.

Recipe once again from the Pioneer Woman. Go here for more pics!

Indian Grilled Chicken Marinated in Milk/yogurt

Chicken pieces (whatever kind your family eats)- must have the bone and skin still on.
Plain yogurt
2% Milk
Garam Masala spice
Kosher Salt
Black Pepper
Marinate chicken OVERNIGHT in a mixture of all ingredients.

Heat grill to around 300-400 degrees.
Place chicken skin down on grill and bake for until internal temp is 140.
Flip chicken over and continue to bake until chicken has reached 165 F for at least 4 minutes.
Remove from grill and let it “rest” for at least 3 minutes.

Let me know how it turns out! I made it today with jsut some chicken thighs and it was deLIcious!

Summer Tomato Pasta Salad

2009-07-20T21:01:00.000-07:00

Here is a salad you can do totally without sodium, just take out the parmesan cheese and olives. You can substitute small cubes of mozzarella cheese, but really, you don't even need it! It is delicious on its own!
Recipe from The Pioneer Woman Cooks. Go there for lots and lots of more mouth-watering pictures!
All pictures courtesy of The Pioneer Woman.

Sundried Tomato Pasta Salad
adapted from Ina Garten

Dressing (makes more than enough; spoon leftovers over a block of cream cheese and serve with crackers)
1 7-oz jar sundried tomatoes, drained
4 cloves garlic
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt
pepper

Salad
16 ounces corkscrew pasta
1 jar Kalamata or assorted olives
1 pint rip cherry tomatoes, halved
Several (10 to 15) basil leaves, chopped or julienne
1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Prepare dressing by blending sundried tomatoes, garlic, salt, pepper, and vinegar until tomatoes are chopped. Blend while drizzling in olive oil; continue blending until mixed together.
Cook pasta according to package directions, drain, and rinse with cold water until no longer hot. Pour 2/3 of the dressing over the pasta, add olives, and toss together. Add remaining ingredients, tossing together and adding more dressing until the salad is coated to your liking. Serve on a big platter with an extra sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

Hollow stem vegetables with fermented tofu

2009-06-17T10:42:00.000-07:00

This is a very basic recipe, but to do it well, it has to be done right. Combined with my parents' and relatives' secrets, and my own experiments, here is what I've found works best.
Ingredients:

1 bunch of hollow stemmed vegetable (sometimes called Chinese water spinach or Ong-Choy) Make sure the bunch is very fresh, with no wilted leaves.
4–5 cubes of fermented tofu (see pic below):

(Made in Taiwan. See?)
5 tbs olive oil
3 cloves of garlic
salt
white pepper
a small sprinkle of Hondashi:Separate the stems from the leaves. Cut the stems into 1 inch sections. Soak stems and leaves in two different bowls for 1 hour. Wash and strain both, then pat dry with paper towels.

Mash and cut garlic into chunks. Heat the olive oil in a wok, and throw in the garlic until the oil is very very hot, but make sure to not burn the garlic. Throw in the stems. Stir and coat the stems in the oil. Cook for 3 minutes until the stems turn a bright green color. Add 2 cubes of the fermented tofu and stir until veggies are coated in deliciousness.

Throw in the leaves and stir fry for 2 minutes. Add remaining fermented tofu. Stir until everything is fully coated. Just before you take it out of the wok, add salt, white pepper, and hondashi. Stir to fully flavor.

SO DELICIOUS!!

Baby octopus and tomatos stir fry, Taiwanese style

2009-06-17T10:27:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:
1.5 lb baby octopus or squid
2 tbs sesame oil
cornstarch
salt
white pepper
A LOT of freshly ground black pepper
3 cloves of garlic, mashed and cut into chunks

1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tbs sugar
3 tbs olive oil
1 medium tomato, cut in half then sliced into 1/4" pieces
1 tsp chili pepper flakes

Massage salt, black and white pepper, soy sauce, sesame oil, and sugar into baby octopus. Let it marinade for 30 minutes. Heat up oil in wok and throw in garlic until it sizzles. Next throw in the tomatoes and chili pepper flakes. Let it cook for 2-3 minutes. Coat marinaded octopus with cornstarch, and throw it in the wok. Stir fry for 8-10 minutes. Serve over rice, with a side dish of hollow vegetables with fermented bean curd (recipe to come!).

Zucchini and Squash Fritteres

2009-06-09T11:01:00.000-07:00

These are so good and easy to make. Use a large grater to grate one squash and one zucchini. Coat lightly in flour. Add one egg (or egg white if you want to be healthy) and mix it all up. Add salt and pepper, and any spice you wish to taste. Heat up olive oil and pan fry, about 3-4 minutes each side until golden crispy. Thanks to Nicole for this recipe!

All Season Bean Salad

2009-06-09T09:25:00.000-07:00

Julia Child's recipe, with some modifications from yours truly.

Beans take well to salad dressings, herbs, peppers, onions, and garlic, but be sure to warm the beans before dressing them so they will absorb these added flavors.

Yield: Makes 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients:

3 cups of warm home-cooked beans, or canned beans such as cannellini (I used edamame beans, white corn (both frozen), and canned navy beans.)

3 Tbs finely minced onions or scallions

1 large clove of garlic, puréed and then mashed with 1/4 teaspoon salt

Half of a large lemon

2 Tbs or so good olive oil or salad oil
Herbs, such as fresh or dried thyme, oregano, and sage (I used sage. It's important to use fresh herbs in this recipe. Makes a world of difference.)
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Additional elements, such as one or a combination of: strips of red or green bell pepper or pimiento; hard-boiled eggs; rounds of red onion; sardines, tuna, and/or salami; spinach leaves or salad greens (I used bits of pancetta to make it a full meal!)

Preparation:
Flavoring the beans. Toss the warm beans in a big bowl with the onions or scallions, garlic, several tablespoons of oil, herbs, lemon juice, salt, and pepper to taste. Let stand 30 minutes, tossing several times, and correcting the seasoning.

Serving. Build an elaborate composition with eggs, sardines, and so forth, or use a simple decoration of spinach leaves, strips of red pepper or pimiento, and onion rings. I used pancetta and it was delicious! I served this on the side of zuchinni and squash fritters (recipe to come!)

Another secret from uncle 4 - stir fried squid with Taiwanese cabbage

2008-12-13T16:20:00.000-08:00

At dinner last night, I wrangled another recipe from our family's most illustrious chef, Uncle 4*.

*Side note: If Auntie 1 had kept up on her computer classes and remember how to get to our family blog, she may disagree with me on who is the most illustrious chef in the family. But yesterday she said she's forgotten about how to get into her email again, so let us leave Uncle 4 as our family's top chef for now.

The recipe is for Uncle 4's squid and Taiwanese cabbage stir fry. I remember this dish from a couple of years ago when Aaron visited Taiwan for the first time and proclaimed this dish to be his favorite of the trip. It's really no surprise after you've tasted it!

As we sat around the dinner table, a few of us fought to be the hand model in the picture of the dish. I will post the picture soon so you can see the winner who was photographed with the stirfry!

This stirfry is a little spicy, very savory, and tastes full of fresh seafood flavor. I'm not sure what to use to reproduce the great umami from the fresh squid but I'll definitely try when I get home.

Uncle 4's Stir Fried Squid with Taiwanese Cabbage
(all parenthetical comments directly quoted from the dinner table)
Serves 4-6

Ingredients
2 cups small squid (with skin), rinsed very briefly (or else you will wash the flavor right off!), and cut into medium size pieces
3-4 cups Taiwanese cabbage, washed, cut into about 1 inch pieces
salt
white pepper
cornstarch
garlic, minced
scallion, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 small red chili pepper, in 1/3 inch dice
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons black vinegar
cooking oil

Equipment:
A well-seasoned wok. (Auntie 1 claims that the wok is "seldom washed" to retain the flavor. The wok at my grandma's house has seen a lot of delicious dishes in its day. I'll probably use my cast iron pan at home to approximate the flavor.)

Directions:
In a plate, season the squid with salt, white pepper, and MSG (which I don't have at home. I'll have to ask for a substitute). Sprinkle the squid with about 5-6 Tablespoons of cornstarch, massage it into the squid until the squid is coated with the starch.

Heat "plenty" of oil in your wok over medium high heat. Add scallion, garlic, and chili pepper. Fry until fragrant.

Add the squid and stir fry until barely opaque. Remove and set aside.

With the left over oil in the wok, stir fry the Taiwanese cabbage until cooked through. Add more garlic and hot chili at this point if desired.

When the cabbage is soft, return the squid to the wok and stir fry to combine. The starch in the squid and the juices from the cabbage should create a slightly thickened sauce. If you'd like more sauce, add a little more water and thicken with corn starch.

When the stir fry has the consistency you like, add about 1 teaspoon of sugar and 2 tablespoons of black vinegar (you don't want to taste the vinegar in the dish but just to balance out the flavors).

Serve immediately.

Family Kitchen Roadtrip - Matterhorn and Alembic Bar in San Francisco

2008-10-19T23:59:00.000-07:00

For a little trip outside of our family kitchens, here is a look at our recent tour of San Francisco, where we ate, drank, played with kitties, and repeated the process over three days!

We kicked off the weekend with a fondue dinner at Matterhorn, a Swiss restaurant near my house. The smoked cheese fondue was pretty good, but the star of the night was the steak fondue in oil - with six different types of dipping sauces, no less. The appetizer dishes that came with the fondue were really refreshing - especially the baby artichoke salad with lemon zest. We lingered over the fondue pots and drank some really good, reasonably priced wine.

The next day we went to one of my favorite places to hang out, Alembic Bar in Haight Ashbury. They have wonderful handcrafted old fashioned drinks and a very eclectic menu. We ordered just about every offal that they had on the menu that night, much to the horror of the vegan diner who was sitting next to us on what seemed like her first date.

As we ordered a raw calamari salad to start and followed it by baked bone marrow, roasted madallions of beef tongue, oysters, and house-made corn nuts (memories of 7th grade beckons), we overhear the vegan diner saying to her date, "Bone marrow? Who would think of such a disgusting thing to put on the menu?"

Ah. Well, Amy says you can't trust a vegetarian. I don't even want to know what she would say about vegans.

While the vegan and her date dined on olives and nuts, Amy's oysters arrived fresh on the half shell.

Then the waiter delivered the magnificant baked bone marrow with toasted bread - I didn't catch the look on the vegan diner's face as I was busy spreading marrow on the bread anyway. The marrow is flavored with capers, parsley, and roasted garlic. You spread it over toasted artisan bread. The texture is soft, buttery, fresh, and rich.

I suppose this must have looked pretty scary to a vegan - after all it is a big bone cut lengthwise, probably requiring a band saw. Whatever. It was delicious!

A "Special-ality" - Chris's Meat Loaf

2008-10-19T13:59:00.000-07:00

I have gleaned yet another secret recipe from Chris's ever-surprising repertoire! This time, he brought a secret bag of ingredients to make meat loaf. But being a former investigative journalist (kidding!), I spiked his drink with truth serum (not really!) and got this recipe out of him (seriously!).

Now this is comfort food at its finest - and just the thing to christen my cast iron skillet.

The meatloaf is a mixture of three different kinds of ground meat: beef, pork, and lamb. Chris says his mother usually use all beef at home. Mix in one chopped onion, an egg, garlic salt, crumbled bouillon, and a handful of fresh bread crumbs (we use the bag we got in North Beach when Joey took me on a tour).

Usually the recipe calls for some ketchup but I didn't have any so Chris improved with some shrimp cocktail sauce.

After mixing in all the goodies, you can form the meat loaf in a cast iron skillet in whatever shape you want. For example, the shape of Taiwan:

Or, more appropriate to its name, you can form it into a ...

... meatloaf.

Slather some more cocktail sauce or ketchup on top and sprinkle some regular or brown sugar over the ketchup/cocktail sauce. Bake, covered, at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes, then bake, uncovered, until the top is nice and brown (about 15 more minutes).

While the meatloaf baked, Chris whipped up some mashed potatoes - using a hand held mixer to make sure that the taters are nice and airy.

The result? A delicious, comforting, savory meat loaf dinner!

Mojo and Keelo circled around the kitche and salivated/tried to get onto the kitchen table as the meatloaf baked in the oven.

But wait, Mojo Jojo is looking so weird in that picture! The flash never does him justice. Here is a picture of Mojo looking more like himself:

There, that's better.

Chris's Meat Loaf
1/3 lb ground beef
1/3 lb ground pork
1/3 lb ground lamb
1 egg
1 onion, finely chopped
1 pork bouillon cube, crumbled
about 1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
pinch each of oregano and thyme
1/4 cup ketchup, plus more to glaze
pinch of sugar

Preheat oven to 350F.

Mix all the ingredients together, add more breadcrumbs if necessary. Mixture should be soft. Don't overmix.

Shape the loaf in a cast iron pan, or if you don't have one, use just a regular baking pan. Glaze with more ketchup and pinch of sugar.

Cover, bake for 40 minutes or until the meat loaf is cooked through. Uncover and bake for about 15 more minutes until the top is golden brown.

Swat kittens away before you open the oven door.

Slice and serve with mashed potatoes!

Chris says the leftovers would be perfect for a meatloaf sandwich, but I ate it with rice, of course!

Peking Style Fried Tofu

2008-10-19T13:17:00.000-07:00

1 carton of extra firm tofu
1/2 C flour
1 egg (beaten)
1 T chopped green onion
1 T chopped ginger root
1 T rice wine

Group A:
2 t salt
1 t MSG (or hondashi)
1/2 T sesame oil
1/2 C chicken broth

Cut tofu into 1-1/2 x 1 x 1/2 pieces. Coat each piece lightly with flour, then dip into egg.

Heat up 2 T oil in pan. Arrange tofu piece by piece evenly in the pan and fry over medium heat for 1 minute. When tofu is a golden color, turn over, add 2 T of oil and fry until golden. Add rice wine, scallion, ginger, and group A. Pierce tofu with a fork to allow liquid to soak through. Cook over low flame until liquid is absorbed by the tofu.

Shrimp Balls in Mushroom Soup

2008-10-19T13:03:00.000-07:00

6 oz. raw, shelled shrimp
1 oz. pork fat or pork shoulder (ground)

Group A:
1/2 t rice wine
1/2 t salt
1/2 t MSG (or hondashi)
1/4 t black pepper
1/2 t sesame oil
1 egg white
1 T cornstarch

1 C straw mushrooms (can sub with any mushroom mixture. We used sliced portobellos and short straw mushrooms and they were delicious! Can also try oyster mushrooms.)

Group B:
1/2 T rice wine
6 C chicken or pork broth
2 t MSG (or hondashi)

6 1-inch sections of green onions

Throw pork, shrimp, and group A into the food processor. Cook straw mushrooms in boiling water for 1 minute. Remove and drain.

Shape shrimp paste into balls and place in group B. Heat mixture over medium heat and cook for 2 minutes. Add mushrooms and turan heat to high. When liquid boils, add green onions.

Pig's Feet in Soy Sauce Over Rice

2008-10-19T12:44:00.001-07:00

Serves 3-4

2-2/3 lb pig's feet
1-1/2 T soy sauce
6 1" sections of green onions
4 cloves of garlic, peeled

Group A:
3 C water
3/4 C soy sauce
1 T cooking wine (rice wine or sherry will do)
1/2 T rock sugar or white sugar
1 star anise (or 1.4 t five spice powder)

4 C cooked rice

Chop pig's feet into 5-6 pieces. Blanch in boiling water. Remove, drain, and spoon the soy sauce over the outer service of the pig's feet. Set aside.

Heat 4 T of oil in a preheated wok. Fry the green onion and garlic until fragrant. Put in the pig's feet and fry until the surface is golden brown. Add group A and cook over medium heat for 40 minutes. Cook until 1-1/2 cups of liquid remain (about 1-2 hours more) on medium-low heat.

Szechuan Gherkin Slices (cucumber salad)

2008-10-19T12:34:00.001-07:00

Szechuan Gherkin Slices (cucumber salad)

1 1/3 lbs gherkin cucumbers
1 T salt
10 slices of ginger root, shredded
1 hot red pepper, shredded
1/2 cup of sesame oil
5 dried hot red peppers, cut into 1-inch sections
1 t Szechuan peppercorns
Group A:
2 T vinegar
2 T sugar

1. Cut off tips of cucumbers and cut each into 4 to 6 sections; mix with salt and let it sit for 20 minutes. Rinse lightly in cold water and drain. Place in a bowl and sprinkle shredded ginger and hot red pepper on top.

2. In a small pan, heat up 1/2 C of sesame oil. Stir fry Szechuan peppercorns over medium heat until fragrant. Add dried pepper sections and stir fry for 30 seconds. Remove. Pour mixture over shredded ginger and hot red pepper. Add group A and mix with cucumbers. Refrigerate 6 hours. Before eating, cut each cucumber into 2-inch sections.

Friends Dinner

2008-10-05T08:48:00.000-07:00

Liang, Jing, and Justus came to my house last night and we made a delicious meal! Jing had two awesome cookbooks from which we picked out recipes. I'll post them soon. For now, here are some pictures!

Liang getting the pig hooves ready for hacking!

They were really hard to chop! Good job Liang!

Mushroom (straw and sliced portobello) and shrimp/pork meatball soup in chicken stock and pork boullion.

Jing and Justus made this delicious picked cucumber salad with szechuan pepper oil and vinegar. YOM!!

Pan fried tofu! Jing put something in it that was so good! I will find out when I post the recipes. :P

Best part of the meal: stewed pig's feet! We couldn't believe that they had it at Krogers!

Dinnertime! I was so excited I think I ate too fast!

Forgot to take pictures of the dessert, but we made red bean soup with tapioca! Mmmmm!

Thanks everyone for cooking and coming over!

Cooking with Jojo

2008-09-15T11:16:00.000-07:00

The Food Network chef Mario Batali is famous for his authentic Italian food - he is the chef who inspired my favorite writer, Bill Buford, to take a few years off to become Batali's kitchen slave (as documented in the book, Heat). Despite his un-Italian appearance (red hair in a pony tail, always ruddy cheeks, unfashionable shorts no matter the weather), a lot of food writers have good things to say about him.

To test out one of his recipes, I invite our very own Joey - officially Joey "Jojo" Francesca Lorenzo Favaloro - to be my taste tester. You might know that her family is Sicilian from Palermo and of course most of you remember Joey's dad's fantastic white clam sauce.

The recipe I chose to make was Batali's Penne with Calamari and Malvasia (a red wine made from grapes grown in Italy). True to San Francisco's multicultured vibe, Joey's dad had suggested that we get the calamari at a Chinese seadfood market in the Richmond (where I used to live). With the calamari safely procured and chilling in the fridge, we set off to the rest of our morning.

We started off in sunny and warm North Beach, San Francisco's Italian district, to try to buy some focaccia bread but by the time we got there, they were out because of "the opening day of football." Ugh. Sports.

Undeterred, we went on to gather the rest of our ingredients: , we picked up fresh breadcrumbs from the French Italian Baking Company in North Beach where her father had been a baker for many years. The backroom of the bakery was really spacious with an oven the size of my kitchen at home, according to Joey. She said she and Mandy used to run around in the back all the time, picking up some dough from the machine to play. For dessert, we chose a semi-frozen rum cake from Victoria Pastry Company, who made the wedding cake for Joey’s parents more than two decades ago.

Once we were home, we enlisted Chris to help us open and drink the bottles of wine that we had gotten in North Beach before we started prepping our ingredients. There wasn’t much to it – slice the calamari and red onions thinly, chop up the Italian flat leave parsley, and we were ready to go.

The recipe instructs us to make the sauce first – what seemed like too much parsley was actually just right. The calamari cooks lightly in the simple tomato sauce spiked with red pepper flakes, wine, parsley and onions. Don’t skimp on the toppings of toasted breadcrumbs (I toasted them on the stove over low heat until light brown), plenty of pecorino cheese (we used parmesan but it was just as good), olive oil, and more parsley.

I asked Joey what her dad would say about this dish. “He would love it just as it is,” she said. It was a little spicy for all of us so I would probably reduce the amount of red pepper flakes and onions or increase the amount of tomato. I think this dish would be terrific with even more variety of seafood but that is totally up to you - maybe some shrimp, clams, and white fish?

Here is the recipe with our modifications:

Penne with Calamari and Malvasia

Salt

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 small red onion, thinly sliced

Freshly ground black pepper

1 bunch fresh finely chopped Italian parsley, plus more for garnish

1/2 cup malvasia wine (or any full body red wine)

1 can peeled whole plum tomatoes, about 2 cups

1 pound clean calamari, tentacles chopped fine, sliced into large pieces

1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

1 pound dried penne pasta

1/2 cup toasted fresh breadcrumbs

Grated pecorino, for garnish

Place 6 quarts water to boil and add 2 tablespoons salt. In a 12 to 14-inch saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat until smoking. Add the onion, season with salt and pepper and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the parsley, 1/2 cup wine, tomatoes and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes. Add the calamari and the pepper flakes and season, to taste. Stir through to mix the ingredients and remove from heat and let cool.

toast the breadcrumbs in a small pan over low heat until lightly brown. Be sure to stir so it doesn't burn.

When the pot of water reaches a rolling bowl, add the pasta and cook according to the package directions until just al dente. Drain well and pour the hot, cooked pasta into the saucepan with the calamari. Return the pan to the heat and toss until well coated and the calamari is completely opaque. Pour into a heated serving dish and sprinkle with toasted breadcrumbs, drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and garnish with parsley and grated pecorino cheese. Serve immediately.

Chinese-Style Fried Chicken

2008-09-02T17:09:00.001-07:00

I treated myself to some Chinese-style fried chicken yesterday and the day before - it was totally delightful and not very hard to make. I do a shallow pan fry so it's not a huge mess in the kitchen (ugh hate deep fat frying!). I made a batch the day before yesterday, and brought the leftovers with me to eat at a park while tanning. I highly recommend it!

Chinese Fried Chicken

4 pieces of chicken thighs or whole drumsticks, deboned
1 egg yolk
1/2 to 2/3 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon white pepper

5 tablespoons corn starch

vegetable oil for frying

Rinse the chicken and pat dry. Marinate the chicken in egg yolk, salt, and pepper for about half an hour.

Dredge the chicken in corn starch, shake off the excess and set aside.

Heat enough oil to cover a flat frying pan (about .5 cm depth) over medium heat. Slide in the chicken pieces without over crowding the pan. I put a mesh splatter screen over the pan to prevent...splattering.

Fry about 8 minutes on each side, depending on the thickness of the chicken. They should be cooked through in about 15 minutes.

While the chicken cooks, prepare the dipping sauce of your choice. I like to drizzle a mixture of soy sauce, chopped ginger, chopped scallion, thinly sliced jalapeno peppers, with a dash of sugar and lemon juice.

When the chicken is done, set it on paper towels or a cooling rack for a few minutes.

Note: some recipes recommend a second frying to make it really crispy. Well, when I'm making it just for myself, I really can't be bothered. But you should try it and let me know how it goes!

Lori's Sushi Party

2008-08-29T14:02:00.000-07:00

Lori put together a delicious sushi dinner for me last week and I just can't wait to reproduce it on my own!

She made edamame, seaweed salad, and set out ingredients for various rolls. She set out sushi mats lined with Saran Wrap for us to roll our own rolls -- it was a lot of fun. We had nigori sake made in Berkeley to drink, and ginger sorbet for dessert! Fancy pants, Lori!

The menu:
steamed Edamame
seaweed salad (with sesame seeds, sesame oil, and...scallions?)
sushi rice (flavored with rice vinegar, salt, and sugar)

for the rolls:
thinly sliced shitake mushroom
thinly sliced lime
thinly sliced japaleno peppers
cucumber
avocado
sliced mango - not too ripe!
sushi-grade tuna
fresh crab meat, picked over by the nice people at Feletti's
wasabi mayo
chopped Macadamia nuts
soy sauce and wasabi

We created a couple of rolls: a veggie roll with shitake, avocado, cucumber, and mango. A spicy tuna roll with tuna, avocado, cucumber, wasabi mayonnaise, and lime. My favorite was a crab roll with crab meat, avocago, mango, cucumber, and macadamia nuts on top.

I will try to reproduce this party at home some time in the next month so I can set out some pictures. Thanks, Lori!

Nandita's (Oatmeal) Chocolate Chip Cookies

2008-08-27T13:04:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Nandita for this delicious recipe!

(Oatmeal) Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/2 cups flour (substitute 2 cups flour with 1 cup oats for oatmeal choc chip cookies)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt [I didn't add any salt (because I forgot, hahaha) and it turned out just fine!]
1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar (or skip altogether bc the chocolate chips are already really sweet)

1 cup butter (2 sticks) at room temperature (I put a bit less)
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract

2 (i did 2 cups and it was A LOT. try 1.5 cups maybe) cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 300F. Mix flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Cream together the brown sugar and butter. Add the eggs and vanilla extract, blend until smooth. Add the flour mixture to the sugar/butter mixture. Add chocolate chips. Scoop the dough into 2 inch mounds an inch apart onto a cookie sheet. Bake for 22-25 minutes. Remove promptly and let cool on a rack.

Fettucini Alfredo

2008-08-27T12:51:00.000-07:00

Aaron's coworker's wife has perfected her recipe for fettucini Alfredo. Give it a try!

Fettuccini Alfredo
8 oz Fettuccini
½ cup Butter
½ cup Heavy Whipping Cream
¾ cup grated Parmesan (freshly grated makes a big difference!)
½ tsp white ground pepper

Cook Pasta according to directions. Melt butter and whipping cream in a sauce pan. Stir constantly until hot. Remove from heat and add cheese and pepper. Stir in pasta. Serve immediately. Serves 4.

Avo Spinich Panini

2008-08-25T21:34:00.000-07:00

Those of you who know me will know I wasn't blessed with the cooking genes my delightful cousin's have. ;) But! I did spot this on yumsugar and thought it looked too good (also healthy!) not to share!

INGREDIENTS

2 thick slices of sourdough bread
1 teaspoon aioli or mayonnaise
1 slice of pepperjack cheese
1 cup fresh spinach
1/4 cup diced tomato
1/4 of an avocado, cut into slices

DIRECTIONS

Spread aioli or mayonnaise on one slice of sourdough. Top with pepperjack cheese.
Arrange the spinach leaves evenly over the cheese. Top with diced tomato. (Tip: Don't be afraid to put a lot of spinich! It will wilt in the heat and get pressed down as the bread flattens.)
Cover the spinach and tomato with sliced avocado and second slice of sourdough.
In a panini press or grill pan, cook the panini until the bread is lightly browned and crisp. Slice in half and serve.

Makes 1 sandwich.

Summer time is here!

2008-08-01T11:37:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to share a cute picture of these baby tomatoes that my coworker brought in last week for us to enjoy! They were ripe, juicy, and super sweet.

Thanks, Ace!

Auntie's Mushroom Stirfry Revisited

2008-08-01T11:15:00.001-07:00

Whenever I'm a little homesick for Taiwanese food I always go to the recipes I got from my family in my last last visit - they've never done me wrong! I realize that the directions for my aunt's mushroom stirfry recipe was a little vague so here is a new and improved version.

If you are not in an area with a good farmer's market and a cheap mushroom guy, this dish isn't cheap -- the maitake mushrooms at Whole Foods was pretty expensive, add to that the "Chef's Sampler Pack" of assorted mushrooms ($6.99) ... I can't think about how much this dish costs right now!

In any case, the original recipe for the mushroom stirfry was missing a few steps. Here's what I did:

Mushroom Stirfry with pork

1 clove of garlic, chopped
1/2 hot chili pepper, minced (optional)
1/2 cup to 2/3 cup pork (I used a shoulder steak), thinly sliced
3 tablespoons soy sauce
generous sprinkle of white pepper
1 tomato - diced
half a red bell pepper, chopped into 1/2 inch diamonds
half a green bell pepper, chopped into 1/2 inch diamonds
2 to 3 cups of your favorite mushroom -- use a mixture of shitake, maitake, oyster, and brown, all in big irregular slices
1/2 pork flavor boullion cube
3/4 cup hot water
cooking oil

Marinate the pork with soysauce and white pepper for about 15 minutes. Over medium-high heat, stir fry garlic and hot pepper until fragrant. Add pork and tomato, stir fry until cooked. Add the mushroom, stir to combined. Let the mushroom brown a little - don't move them around too much. Add pork boullion cube with the hot water. Cook for5-10 minutes until juices are absorbed. Then add the red and green bell peppers. Cook for about 3 minutes. Serve immediately over rice.

Family Kitchen Field Trip: Meat Pie a la Chris

2008-06-05T21:16:00.000-07:00

Hello family, lace up your sneakers and get ready for a treat: we are taking a field trip to my friend Chris's kitchen for a recipe from his family! I've heard about this humbly named dish from Chris for some time now, but I couldn't quite picture what a "meat pie" looks like. So in my mind I had conjured a few possibilities: a Hot-Pockets type of pastry (hand-held for maximum eating efficiency)? Something like a Sheperd's Pie (the only other meat-filled pie I know)? A meat cobbler dotted with streusel (I hoped not)?

The real meat pie a la Chris is a lot more delightful and delicious and less meaty than I imagined. It's bubbly, cheesy, and fun to make and eat.

In fact, it looks like this (hot sauce on the side because I'm a wimp):

Meat Pie a la Chris

2 ready-made 9 inch frozen pie crusts (we got these from Whole Foods but any good brand will do)
2 cups ground beef
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 onion, diced, about 1/3 inch thick
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 can black beans, drained
1 can corn, drained
1 can tomato, diced
1 cup black olives, chopped roughly
2 stalks scallions, chopped
1 1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup whole milk yogurt or sour cream
hot sauce of your choice

Preheat oven to 400F.
Unwrap the frozen pie crusts and place them on a baking sheet.

In a large saute pan over medium heat, crumble ground beef and cook until cooked-through. Add chopped onion and minced garlic, stir and cook until onion slices are translucent. Salt and pepper to taste. Add the balsamic vinegar and reduce until the vinegar is almost gone.

Note: Now, here is where the recipe gets a little hazy. I had been distracted by Chris's new kittens, who were perched on a leather couch, heads perked up, intently watching the cooking process.

So, while I was distracted by the kittens, there could have been some other seasonings added to the beef but I am not exactly sure what. Judging from the contents of the cupboard, my guess is that it could be garlic powder, a dash of gravy mix, or boullion cube. I think it could be the gravy mix but I am not entirely sure. I will just say for now that it is salt, pepper, and gravy mix with 85 percent certainty.

"The beauty of meat pie is that it's different every time. it changes with moods, seasons, lovers." - Chris of the meat pies

Well, hmmph. Back to the recipe.

Add the drained canned corn, black beans, 2/3 cup of the olives, and diced tomatoes with juice. Season well with salt and pepper (and plenty of it!). Cover and simmer for 15 minutes so the flavors can blend.

Suggested activities while the meat pie filling simmers: 1) play with kittens (if available), 2) play some music from your lap top (a little Daft Punk?) or 3) shred the cheese and take the yogurt/sour cream out of the fridge. I recommend all of the above.

After 15 minutes, simmer the mixture uncovered for 5 more minutes for the liquids to evaporate. The filling should not be soupy.

Divide the filling into the pie crusts evenly. Sprinkle each pie generously with cheese.

Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 20-25 minutes until the cheese is deep golden brown and mixture is bubbling. Rotate the pies in the middle of baking if your baking sheet is just a tad too big to fit into the oven, as it was the case on our field trip.

Remove pies from oven and let it rest for a few minutes until it stops bubbling.

To serve: top each slice with a dollop of yogurt or sour cream, dash of hot sauce, and dot it generously with scallions (it really adds to the flavor) and some more olives.

How to fake the rice part of Hainanese Chicken Rice

2008-05-18T13:15:00.001-07:00

Hainanese chicken rice has to be one of my absolute favorite dishes in the world. Prepared properly, the chicken is tender and fragrant, with a refreshing layer of translucent chicken skin (to some this might sound gross but it is totally delightful). But my favorite part of Hainanese chicken rice is actually the rice -- made with chicken stock and chicken fat from cooking the chicken.

Since I just don't have the time or motivation to cook a whole chicken, I set out to fake just the rice part of the dish last night. And it turned out pretty good! This rice would make a good accompaniment to grilled pork, sautee greens, or ... chicken, of course.

Hainanese Rice Pilaf

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 tablespoon ginger, finely minced

2 cups of short grain Japanese rice
3 cups organic chicken stock (I use Pacific Brand from Whole Foods)
1/2 of a pork boullion cube

In a medium stock pot over medium heat, melt butter with vegetable oil. Add the garlic and ginger, stir until fragrant but not burnt. Add the rice to the mixture and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until some of the rice is a little brown and toasted.

Add 3 cups of warm chicken stock to the pot and the half of pork boullion cube. Cover tightly and turn the heat down to a bare simmer. Cook undisturbed (don't peek!) for 25 minutes.

Fluff it up with a fork and serve.

Mom's pork chops - two ways to serve

2008-05-18T11:28:00.000-07:00

My mom's pork chops are one of my favorite dishes. We ate it a lot as kids -- she'd marinate the chops in soy sauce, garlic, and sugar. Right before searing it in the pan she'd ask me to sprinkle some cornstarch on the chops while she turned them over. They always come out crispy on the outside and very moist and tender on the inside.

My interest in these pork chops was renewed when I saw an article on how to make the perfect pork chops in the new Cook's Illustrated magazine. The test kitchen at Cook's Illustrated had made these scientific conclusions:

1. Center cut chops or rib chops are best. Always buy bone in, about 3/4 inch thickness.
2. Start with a cold pan - these chops are not thick enough to withstand high heat searing and retain their juices. A cold -- or lukewarm -- pan cooks the chops instead of drying it out, while still creating a crust.
3. Cover the chops partway through cooking.

So I called mom to verify this information. She gave me a few more tips: don't trim the fat off the chops, and pound them a bit before marinating.

I made two attempts at this pork chop recipe -- it wasn't exactly like my mom's but in a pinch, it will do. I served it first Chinese style with stir fry cabbage with garlic, and stir fry baby bokchoy with ginger and baby shitake mushrooms.

My second attempt was a little more ambitious -- I serve the chops on a bed of spring mix with sliced green apples and tomato. On top of the chops were some sauteed mushroom caps in garlic and butter. The pan juices made a nice dressing but I whisked some semi homemade ranch for this salad (hidden valley ranch dry mix).

Mom's Pork Chops

Serves 2

2 large bone-in center cut or rib cut pork chops, about 3/4 inch thick
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1-2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1-2 tablespoons olive oil

Pound the chops with a meat mallet a couple of times until tender (or until it relieves your daily stress, whichever comes first). On a plate, sprinkle the soy sauce, sugar, and garlic evenly on both sides of the chops. Marinate for about 20-30 minutes.

In a pan over medium heat, pour enough olive oil to lightly coat the pan. Drain the chops of the marinade and lightly coat with cornstarch. Cook the chops for about 5-6 minutes on each side. Cover midway through. The chops should be lightly sizzling as you cook.

To serve:
2 cups sliced mushrooms - i used baby shitake and baby portabellos. The more variety, the better. (clean the mushrooms with a damp cloth before you slice. Do not wash.)
1 clove of garlic, minced
1-2 tablespoons butter
1-2 tablespoons olive oil

2 handfuls of salad spring mix
1/2 green apple, thinly sliced
1 tomato, sliced

1/2 cup ranch dressing (You can use bottled but I like the semi home made kind -- hidden valley ranch dry mix, whisked with whole milk and mayonnaise).

In a pan over medium heat, add butter, olive oil, and garlic and stir fry until fragrant. Remove the garlic if you don't want a strong garlic taste (that's me). Add mushroom slices and evenly coat them with the oil. Don't move the mushroom slices around too much in the pan, make sure they are cooked and a little brown. Set aside.

On two plates, divide evenly the salad mix. Fan out the apple slices and tomato slices as you like.

Put the porkchops over the greens and pour the pan juices - if not too greasy - over the chops. Top with mushroom mixture. Drizzle ranch dressing over tomato slices and serve dressing on the side.

Asian Chopped Salad - A Crowd Favorite

2008-04-27T19:10:00.000-07:00

Confession: I have made the same salad three times this week for different guests and it's been a clear favorite every time! This Asian chopped salad recipe is from Pioneer Woman's "My Most Favorite Salad Ever," which she adapted from The Naked Chef's recipe. It is light, flavorful, and I think super healthy. The sesame oil and ginger dressing is light-tasting and goes well with the Asian vegetables. I omitted the garlic in the dressing and used maple-coated cashews from Whole Foods in the salad.

Enjoy!

Asian Chopped Salad

Serves four as an entree salad

1 to 2 bunches of soba noodles, cooked, cooled.

Salad vegetables:
1/2 head of finely sliced napa cabbage
1/2 cup finely sliced purple cabbage
half red bell pepper, thinly sliced
half yellow or orange bell pepper, thinly sliced
half English hot house cucumber, sliced, quartered
1 cup mung bean sprouts, cleaned
1 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup cashews, maple coated or roasted
2 tablespoons sliced scallions

Dressing:
3 tablespoons finely minced ginger
8 tablespoons light olive oil
6 tablespoons soy sauce
A little less than 1/3 cup brown sugar
juice of 1 lime
1/2 hot serrano pepper, finely diced (remove seeds if you don't want it too spicy)

Combine vegetables, set aside. In a bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients. The dressing makes quite a bit and can be kept for three days in the fridge.

Toss the vegetables with the dressing. Add the soba noodles if you want to make it a big salad. Or serve it this way, which I prefer:

Toss the salad vegetables with the dressing. Put some soba noodles on each plate. Spoon some salad over the soba noodles, drizzle with more dressing if necessary.

Enjoy!

Hot Off the Frying Pan - Jalapeno Poppers

2008-04-22T12:02:00.001-07:00

The other day I was presented with six big jalapeño peppers. They were so fresh and perfect that the only right thing to do was to make jalapeño poppers. Surprisingly, this is one of the few on-the-fly recipes that I've made successfully! Sorry no pictures right now because we ate them quickly but here is the recipe:

Jalapeño Poppers

Six jalapeno peppers
1/2 cup shredded jack cheese or any mild cheese
2 tablespoons cilantro, finely chopped
2 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped
1/3 teaspoon garlic powder
fresh ground pepper
1 egg, beaten

all purpose flour
ice water

Cut the peppers half lengthwise, clean out the seeds completely - I recommend doing this wearing plastic gloves. Otherwise it could really irritate your skin. If you don't want ANY spice at all, you can cut off the inside membrane of the peppers as well.

In a small bowl, mix together the cheese, cilantro, parsley, garlic powder, and ground pepper until well combined. Pour in HALF of the beaten egg. Mash everything together.

In a shallow bowl, mix together a couple of tablespoons of all purpose flour with maybe 1/3 cup of ice water and the rest of the beaten egg. I don't have an exact recipe for this but just adjust the flour and ice water ratios until the mixture has the consistency of thick pancake batter.

In a sautee pan, heat about 1/4 inch of light olive oil over medium heat. Carefully dip the peppers into the batter and slide into the pan. Cover and fry for about five minutes or until one side is golden brown. Flip the peppers, uncover, and fry the otherside until lightly golden.

Serve immediately.

Broccolini with pine nuts -- and a super easy salad

2008-04-06T20:27:00.000-07:00

So what else did Lori and I make when we deemed ourselves gourmet divas for a night? These side dishes are really easy but I will post them so I'll remember to make them again! I think Dijon mustard and honey would work well as an addition to the avocado and grapefruit salad next time...

Avocado and Grapefruit salad

1 ripe avocado
1 large grape fruit
2 to 3 tablespoons of very fruity olive oil
salt and pepper

Cut and segment the grapefruit. With the leftover grapefuit, squeeze about 1-2 tablespoons of juice in a small bowl, set aside.

Scoop out the avocado and cut into large chunks and mix lightly with the grapefruit segments.

In the small bowl with the grapefruit juice, whisk in the olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Drizzle dressing over grapefruit and avocado. Serve immediately.

Broccolini with pine nuts

1 bunch broccolini, washed and trimmed of tough parts
1/2 cup of diced pancetta (we used pancetta in this dish because we were also making pasta carbonara for dinner. But this dish would work if you just use one to two tablespoons of olive oil mixed with a tablespoon of butter).
2 tablespoons of pine nuts

Cook the pancetta over medium heat until crisp. Add the washed broccolini, cook until the broccolini is to your liking (I like it just crisp and wilted). Add some freshly ground pepper and the pine nuts. If you're not using the pancetta I would sprinkle this with some lemon juice.

Pasta Carbonara with Lori

2008-04-06T20:07:00.000-07:00

Armed with an extremely small budget and a package of diced pancetta in the freezer, my friend Lori and I whipped up a dinner that made us really impressed with ourselves! Granted this was after a couple of glasses of our wonderful local Testarossa chardonnay, but I think it was a great menu, thanks to the awesome choices of produce that Lori brought from the farmer's market.

Our menu:
Pasta carbonara
Sauteed broccolini with pine nuts
Grape fruit and avocado salad (click here for recipes for the side dishes)

Pasta carbonara's sauce is made from a mixture of eggs and Parmesan cheese that cooks in the heat of the just-cooked pasta, so the eggs are not thoroughly cooked. Therefore it's important to use very fresh eggs in this dish and move quickly at the end so that the pasta is still hot enough to cook the eggs. I've seen many recipes that call for cream for this dish but it really isn't necessary.

This is not a low-fat dish but Lori had definitely deserved it after biking up several 45 degree hills to my house! And me, well, eh, anyway, here's the recipe.

Pasta Carbonara

three servings of angel hair pasta or thin spaghetti
two to three eggs - must be very fresh
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (or Parmesan Reggiano)
1 1/2 cup diced pancetta (Italian bacon - as opposed to American bacon, which is smoked.)
fresh ground black pepper

In a small pan, cook the pancetta over medium heat until pancetta is crisp and has released all its fat. Drain some of the fat, saving about one to two tablespoons (or more if you really love bacon fat but I am half-heartedly trying to watch what I eat. Really half-heartedly.)

Bring enough water to boil to cook the pasta. Throw in the pasta and cook until al dente, about 7-10 minutes (you be the judge).

While the pasta is cooking, mix the eggs with the Parmesan cheese in a bowl.

As soon as the pasta is done, drain the pasta (save about a cup of pasta water in a bowl. Return the drained pasta to the still-hot pot, pour the egg-cheese mixture over the pasta immediately. Stir to combine. The egg-cheese mixture will thicken. Add a little of the pasta water you reserved if it looks too thick to you.

Add the pancetta to the pasta, mix well.

Serve immediately with freshly ground black pepper.

Brunch Before The Paint Fumes Got To Us

2008-03-30T21:39:00.000-07:00

Today was the big DIY day of painting my bathroom, so Lala came to my rescue. Before we started painting though, I made brunch for us. She had gotten me The Joy of Cooking a few weeks ago so I thought I'd try one of the recipes for breakfast muffins. I must say I am impressed with myself for having TWO DIY projects in one day. Though the paint job is a lot less impressive than the muffins. More on that later.

I made scrambled eggs with onions, shitake mushrooms, and pancetta -- too easy of a recipe to post here so I won't go through how to scramble an egg.

Orange Walnut Muffins

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1/2 cup walnut pieces (The walnut pieces didn't make it into the muffins today because I was in too much of a rush to remember that I actually bought them. Ah, my wonderful, organized DIY skills strike again!)

2 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
6 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Mix all the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and walnut) in a bowl. Whisk to combine well.

In a separate mixing bowl, mix all the wet ingredients (eggs, sour cream, brown sugar, butter, orange zest, and vanilla). Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Stir until just combined. Do not over mix.

Spoon batter into lined muffin tins. Fill about 2/3 up. Bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick test comes out clean.

I made a glaze with 1/2 cup fresh orange juice and 1/2 cup brown sugar for the muffins. The glaze was quite watery so next time I think I might cook it down on the stove a little while the muffins are baking.

So we ate, painted, felt really good about ourselves, then felt really light headed and tired from breathing in the paint fumes. We left the house in a hurry.

Oh, so, the color I picked, incidentally, has a food name: pernod. According to "the internets," pernod is an apertif, a successor of absinthe, with a delicate licorice scent. The internets also said that pernod is often added to vegetable dishes and fish to give it a sophiscated, herbal taste. Sounds good, no?

It looks like this:
Depending on your monitor, this is meant to be a very pale yellow, sort of like the color of hollandaise sauce. A delicate yellow reminiscent of lemonade.

So why does my bathroom now look like an ill egg yolk explosion?!

I am hoping it is just the lighting. During the day the color actually looked mild and light, the way I intended it to be. But tonight, the lighting in my bathroom is doing some voodoo magic that makes the paint look really scary.

I think I'll eat another muffin now.

My Retro Confession

2008-03-27T22:10:00.001-07:00

(Man, am I pleased with this casserole)

Ok, let me just confess this right now: my dinner tonight contains almost a can of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup. And I liked it.

Usually I have an unreasonable fear of Campbell's Cream of ____ products. I know it's bad for you and the flavor, aside from the cream of mushroom one, just scares me. I also have an unreasonable fear of other foods like hot dogs, donuts, soda (especially the creamed variety), and others. But none of those items would be making an appearance at my dinner table any time soon.

Once upon a time when I was in junior high, casseroles with the Campbell's Cream of _____ were all the rage. I recently discovered a blog called The Pioneer Woman Cooks, a funny food blog with recipes that almost always call for butter and almost always promise to be "man-pleasing." One of these man-pleasing recipes called Chicken Spaghetti has caught my attention, and with frozen cooked chicken and a block of cheddar cheese in my fridge, it was all the excuse I need to try it out.

My corner market didn't have any green bell peppers today so I winged it without. I am not going to write up this recipe in hopes that you may also try it because Pioneer Woman's blog does a good enough job. I basically boiled thin vermicelli, browned some chopped up onions (i like them very well cooked. This is essential in the recipe), mixed it altogether with 1/2 to 3/4 can of Campbell's mushroom soup, cooked chicken, a lot of ground black pepper, some red pepper flakes, shredded cheese (I think sharp cheddar works better but I only had mild Irish cheddar today), and threw it into the oven to brown.

I did get a jar of pimentos to add in the casserole as suggested by the recipe, but it didn't make it because I just couldn't get the damn jar to open! I LOVE living by myself 99 percent of the time, the 1 percent of the time when I hate it is when I can't open a jar or when I have to carry groceries upstairs. I wrapped about four rubber bands around this jar of pimentos and it just would not budge! I think the casserole is fine without it. But since I have no idea what pimentos taste like on their own (out of an olive), I really can't say for sure.

(The jar of hateful pimentos. See the rubber bands?)

Sesame Noodles with Poached Chicken

2008-03-14T16:49:00.000-07:00

For dinner last night I made the old stand-by of sesame noodles with poached chicken and cucumber. It is a recipe I got from uncle 4 and has served me well on many many lazy nights!

Here is an estimation of my recipe. Alas, too hungry yesterday to take pictures :(

Serve 2

white Chinese noodles, enough to serve 2
1 chicken breast
1 cucumber, shredded

Sauce:
3 tablespoons Chinese sesame paste (looks like the bottle on the left here.). Don't use tahini! They sell this at most Asian grocery stores.
about 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon hot water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
pinch of sugar
dash of rice wine vinegar
dash of toasted sesame oil
generous sprinkle of white pepper

optional:
dash of hot chili oil
1 tablespoon grated ginger
1 tablespoon chopped scallions
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

In a small mixing bowl, combine the sesame paste with the vegetable oil. Press down with a spoon to soften the sesame paste until smooth. This might take a few minutes. Add the water, soy sauce, and sugar and stir until combined and smooth. Add the vinegar, sesame oil, and optionally the hot chili oil, ginger, scallions, and cilantro. Mix well. Taste and adjust with soy sauce, water, or vinegar (not too much of the last two). Set aside.

In a medium sized pot, fill half way with water (or just enough to cover chicken breast). Add some salt, pepper, or optionally ginger and scallion to the water. Bring to boil. When the water comes to boil, turn down the heat until the barest simmer (water should be just simmering and not boiling at all). Add chicken breast. Keep lid tightly covered over the lowest heat and poach for 15 minutes. Remove chicken breast onto a plate, shred it to bite size pieces with two forks. Sprinkle with a bit of sesame oil or olive oil, salt, and grated ginger. Cover and set aside.

Cook two servings of noodles until al dente. Drain and pour sauce over it immediately, stir to combine. Sprinkle with white pepper and give it a good stir again. Put the noodles on a plate and top with the shredded chicken and cucumber. Serve immediately.

Curry Vegetable Dip

2008-03-05T18:15:00.000-08:00

I had this really unique vegetable dip at a coworker's housewarming party a few weeks ago. With curry powder and mustard, this dip makes an alternative to the usual ranch. She served it with vegetables like jicama, red bell peppers, carrots, and celery -- I love it with jicama because the creamy curry is such a good contrast with the sweet, crunchy vegetable.

Here is the recipe.

Creamy Curry Dip
1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt
1/4 cup mayo
3-5 Tablespoons plain yellow mustard
1 tsp curry powder
2-3 shakes of worcestershire suace
dill - optional
Combine all and serve with vegetables.

Low fat, low cholestrol oatmeal drop cookies

2008-03-04T08:56:00.000-08:00

Ingredients: to make about 2+1/2 dozen of cookies

(I)
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 or 1/8 tsp baking soda
1 pinch salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

(II)
1/2 cup firm packed light brown sugar
1+1/2 cup Quaker oats

(III)
1/2 cup olive oil
1 large egg, beaten
3 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla extra
1/2 cup craisins (or raisins)

How-to:
1. Pre-heat oven 350F.
2. Combine ingredients in (I).
3. Mix well with (II) and make a well at the center.
4. Add (III) and stir until dry ingredients are moistened.
5. drop by tablespoons 2" apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
6. bake 13~15 mins or until done.

Tonight's Dinner: Pasta Primavera

2008-02-18T22:24:00.000-08:00

Vegetarianism has descended on my kitchen again because I am too lazy to cook/buy meat and eager to use all the vegetables I have in my fridge. Tonight's dinner is pasta primavera, which can be made in about half an hour if you have some vegetables handy!

Pasta Primavera
12 oz linguini or any kind of pasta you want to use

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, sliced
1 orange or yellow bell pepper, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 head broccoli, cleaned and cut into bite size florets
1 cup baby tomatoes, halved
2 cups baby spinach, washed

1/3 cup heavy cream (or 1/2 cup half and half. I happened to have left over heavy cream)
1 cup chicken broth (or water or white wine. I only had water today but it was fine.)
1/3 to 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 - 3 tablespoons fresh bread crumbs (or seasoned Italian bread crumbs)
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme (or use dried. I happened to have fresh)

Boil a large pot of water and cook pasta until al dente. Drain the pasta (do not rinse).

In a large sautee pan over medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add onions, sprinkle with some salt, and cook until translucent and slightly brown.

Add sliced bell peppers and sautee until peppers are nearly done.

Add broccoli florets, stir to cook for about 3 minutes or until almost cooked.

Add the cream, chicken stock, and thyme to the pan with the vegetables and bring mixture to boil. Add baby tomatoes and spinach, stir to combine until spinach is wilted. Add the parmesan cheese and stir until incorporated. The sauce will be thin. Add bread crumbs to thicken the sauce to your liking. Salt and pepper to taste.

Add the pasta into the sautee pan and cook it with the sauce over low heat for one to two minutes until sauce and pasta is well combined.

Serves 4.

p.s. You might want to add more cheese or bread crumbs depending on your liking. The types of vegetables are flexible. These are just what I happened to have. I think the onion and bell peppers are pretty essential to the flavor.

Vegetarian Polenta Entrees

2008-02-17T14:17:00.000-08:00

Having made a huge pot of beef stew, I thought it was time for some vegetarian goodies! I made two vegetarian polenta dishes (on two separate dinners) for Anna and Cathleen, my vegetarian friends, and both came out pretty good :)

The first was a polenta casserole based on Marcela Hazan's polenta bake. Instead of sausage I sauteed some diced eggplant (peeled) in olive oil and added it on top of the tomato sauce.

The second dish I just made up today, loosely based on Mollie Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook.

Creamy Herbed Polenta with Vegetables
Serves four

1 cup polenta meal
4 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
1/4 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup prepared tomatoe sauce (I use Romano's Marinara)

Vegetables: Use whatever you have on hand. Today I had the following:
1 1/2 cup organic baby carrots
1 large yellow bell pepper, sliced
1 large orange bell pepper
1 lb baby spinach

Bring 4 1/2 cups of water in a 4-6 quart heavy saucepan to boil. When it comes to a boil, turn down the heat to medium low. Sprinkle in the polenta little by little -- 1 tablespoon at a time -- and continue to whisk until all the polenta has been added. Continue whisking/stirring and cooking the polenta mixture over low heat for 20 more minutes until the polenta is fully cooked and pulls away from the side of the pan.

While the polenta is cooking (don't forget to stir it), heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a sautee pan over medium heat. Cook the baby carrots and yellow bell peppers over medium heat until slightly brown, cooked through, and slightly caramelized, about 15 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

Remove the baby carrots and yellow bell peppers from the pan. Add two more tablespoons oil. Add baby spinach to the pan until wilted. Season with garlic salt or just salt and pepper.

Warm the cream in the microwave and slowly whisk it into the polenta mixture. Add the mixed herbs and cheese, salt and pepper to taste.

To serve:

Spoon the soft polenta into a shallow bowl. Spoon some marinara sauce in the middle of it. Arrange the sautee vegetables on top of the polenta.

Serve immediately.

Happy Anti-Valentine's

2008-02-15T22:12:00.000-08:00

In protest of Valentine's day, I invited a group of friends of various angst level to my house for dinner last night. I did most of the cooking the night before so on the day of the dinner party it wasn't too much work, and everyone raved about the food!

For appetizer, we had shrimp cocktail in individual shot glasses:

I cheated on the cocktail sauce but it was pretty popular with the guests!

Wasabi Shrimp Cocktail

1 lb large shrimp (size: 20 - 25 count per pound), cleaned and shelled
1/3 teaspoons whole black peppercorn
1 bay leaf
1 small lemon, halved (or half of a large lemon)

Sauce:
1 bottle of Whole Foods 365 organic seafood cocktail sauce (found in the ketchup isle. I believe it is about 10 oz)
1 shot of good vodka
1 teaspoon prepared wasabi paste

celery sticks, cut to fit your shot glass

10 shot glasses

Bring a large pot of water to boil, add the black peppercorn, bay leaf, and lemon about half way through. Put the shrimp in the pot, turn off heat, cover tightly and let poach for about 6-8 minutes. I poached mine for about 8 minutes. Drain and put the shrimp in ice water immediately to stop cooking.

Combine cocktail sauce, vodka, and wasabi paste. Whisk to completely combine (make sure the wasabi paste is completely dissolved. You might want to dissolve it in a little cocktail sauce before you add it in the whole thing).

Pour cocktail sauce in shot glasses, hang two shrimp on the glass and put a celery stick in there. Repeat until you run out of shot glasses! Alternatively you can always serve family style on a plate with the sauce on the side.
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For dinner I made pot roast the night before -- in the Le Crueset pot that Lilah had kindly lent me (we missed you!). The recipe is easy but its success totally depends on the cut of meat you get. I got chuck roast this time and was not totally satisfied. Some pieces were a little dry but it could be my fault for trimming away too much of the fat. Also, it is important to make this with fresh herbs and preferably the night before.

Basic Pot Roast

1/4 cup flour
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
5 pound rump of beef (must have nicely marbled fat)
2 or 3 tablespoons fat or oil
2 onions, sliced
2 carrots, scraped and cubed
Herbs: one to two sprigs fresh rosemary, small bundle of fresh thyme (a little less than the rosemary), two bay leaves
4 to 6 cups of beef stock (I used Pacific brand beef stock)

Cut the beef into large pieces (this is where I deviate from traditional pot roast, which is served as a large piece but since I had so many people, it was easier to cut them into more manageable pieces).

Generously season the beef with salt and pepper.

Combine the flour and paprika. You can add a pinch of ground clove in here if you have it.

Dredge the beef pieces in flour -- a very very light coat.

Heat about 2 tablespoons of oil in your casserole pot over medium-high heat. Brown beef on all sides and remove to a plate. (don't add too many pieces of beef at once -- otherwise the beef won't brown. I do the browning part in a couple of batches.)

Drain the fat in the pot except for two tablespoons of it. Add onions and carrots stir until translucent, scraping any brown bits left from the beef. Put the beef back in the pot and cover with beef stock. Add the herb sprigs and bring to boil. Simmer for about 3.5 hours until meat is tender. Check in the middle of the simmering to see if it needs more salt. Don't add too much at once as the simmering concentrates flavor.

If you are serving this the next day, here is what I usually do:

When the pot roast is done, I remove the meat with a slotted spoon into a big bowl and remove bay leafs, the herb sprigs (they will be soft and pretty ugly!), and any unsightly bits of overcooked carrots that I don't like). Return meat to the pot and chill overnight. When you serve it the next day, spoon away the fat that has come to the surface (this will be easy to do when you have chilled the pot roast). Bring the pot roast over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Add sliced carrots, potatoes, or mushrooms (depending on your preference) in the last 25 minutes of cooking. Thicken the broth with a slurry made from water and cornstarch.

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For sides I served the squash gratin that we made last year at Lilah's house with Anna, Amy's mashed potatoes, sauteed spinach, and steamed baby green beans. The spinach was super easy but received the most raves! Here is the recipe:

Sauteed spinach with shallots

large bag of washed baby spinach (I think it's really important to use baby spinach. Otherwise the dish always tastes bitter to me).
3 to 4 large cloves of shallots
1 -3 tablespoons good olive oil

salt and fresh ground pepper

Peel and slice shallots into 1/4 inch rings.

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a sautee pan over medium heat. Add the shallots, stir to combine. Sprinkle shallots with a little sea salt. Let the shallots cook until transparent. Take care not to let the shallots burn or brown too quickly. Add one more tablespoons of oil and add the washed spinach. Stir and cook until the spinach is just cooked -- about five minutes or less. Add salt and pepper to taste. Viola!

Mom's Sea Bass Recipe

2008-01-24T16:44:00.000-08:00

Ingredient:

Codfish or sea bass

1 medium tomato, diced

Ginger

Green onion

1 clove garlic , minced

Rice Wine ( 米酒)

Lemon

Black pepper

Salt

How to:

1. Heat a little bit of vegetable oil or olive oil

2. Pan fry ¾ of tomato, ginger, green onion until tomato is soft but not mushy

3. Put codfish or sea bass into this sauce and add minced garlic, wine, lemon juice, black pepper.

Add more water if the sauce looks dry. Spread some sauce on the top of codfish when cooking so the fish will absorb the flavor.

4. Cook until codfish is just done. Don't overcook.

5. Put the fish on plate and leave the sauce in cooking pan.

6. Add salt (and/or more black pepper, lemon juice) to the sauce and continue to reduce until the sauce become more concentrated.

7. Before turning off the stove, stir the fresh ¼ diced tomato to the sauce. Spoon the sauce on the top of fish.

8. Garnish with shredded ( 切絲) green onion and wedge of lemon.

Marcella Hazan's Polenta Bake

2008-01-07T17:04:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite cookbooks is The Classic Italian Cookbook by Marcella Hazan. The copy I have is actually borrowed...ok stolen from a friend's house and it belonged to the landlord. This Italian original was published in 1976, which is probably when my copy of this book was purchased. By the time I had this book in my hands, it has been splattered with sauce, dog eared, and marked with comments in pencil.

This book so far has never failed me. The recipe that I tried over the weekend was Hazan's polenta bake: layers of polenta with bachemel sauce, tomato-meat sauce, and fresh Parmesan cheese. The creamy bachemal sauce cuts the tartness of the tomato sauce, and baked together it's a pretty guilty pleasure.

Make no mistake about it: Hazan is from the traditional school of cooking, requiring standing over the stove and patience. But technique-wise, this dish is not too hard at all. Hazan gives such specific instructions that I will copy it here verbatim -- following her instructions exactly (yes, including 'raining the polenta grain by grain,' has served pretty fantastic results!)

Polenta with Meat Sauce
Serves six
Bechamel Sauce (see below)
Polenta (see below)
2 cups Meat sauce (more on that here)
2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan Cheese

Preheat oven to 450F.
Make the Bechamel sauce, keeping it on the thin side by cooking it less. It should have the consistency of sour cream.
Slice the cold polenta horizontally into three layers, each about 1/2 inch high. (I only had two layers but it worked fine).
Lightly butter an 11 inch lasagne pan (I used a 9x9 and it was fine). Cover with a layer of polenta.
Spread a thin layer of bechamel sauce over the polenta. Then spread the meat sauce and sprinkle with parmasan cheese. Repeat until the final layer of polenta, bachemal, meat sauce, and Parmesan.
Bake in the uppermost level of over for 10-15 minutes until heated through and cheese melts.

(I made this the night before up to the point when the dish is ready for the oven and just kept it in the fridge. Return to room temperature when you are ready to bake.)

Bechamel Sauce
2 cups whole milk
4 Tablespoons butter
3 Tablespoons all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoons salt

In a small sauce pan, heat milk until almost boiling.
While heating the milk, melt butter over low heat in sauce pan.
When butter is melted, add all the flour, stirring constantly with wooden spoon. Let flour and butter bubble for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Don't let the flour become colored.
Turn off the heat and add milk 2 tablespoons at a time, stirring it constantly. As soon as the first 2 tablespoons have been incorporated, add the next 2 tablespoons. When about 1/2 cup of milk has been added, you can start adding 1/4 cup milk at a time. Never add more than 1/4 cup at a time.
When all the milk has been incorporated (the mixture will be thin), turn the heat to low, add the salt, and stir-cook until the sauce is about the consistency of thick cream.

Note: Sauce is best made right before you are ready to use it. If you make it ahead of time, reheat it slowly until it is the right consistency.

Polenta
6.5 cups water
2 cup polenta
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon salt

Bring water to boil in large kettle.
Add the salt, turn the heat to medium low so the water is just simmering, and add the polenta in a very thin stream, stirring with a long wooden spoon. The stream of polenta must be so thin that you can see the individual grains. A good way to do it is to let a fistful of cormeal run through nearly closed fingers. Never stop stirring and keep water at a slow simmer.
Continue stirring for 20 minutes after all the cormeal has been added. The polenta is done when it tears away from the side of the pot.
Pour polenta into pan and cool to set.

Italian meat sauce -- super quick or super slow

2008-01-07T16:42:00.000-08:00

I have been a big fan of Marcella Hazan's book that I stole. Her meat sauce requires some patience but the result is a really mellow, smooth sauce.

The meat sauce is perfect with fresh angel hair pasta or use it in the polenta bake or lasagne.

If you don't have time to make Marcella Hazan's awesome meat sauce, I usually simmer a good store bought sauce to fake it. It tastes intense and home-made as long as you simmer it down to reduce the sauce. Here's what I do:

Sautee one cup of ground beef and one cup of mild Italian sausage.
Combine it with one jar of Rao's Marinara sauce or Romano's Marinara Sauce.
Add 1-2 tablespoons sugar and fresh ground pepper (Rao's sauce is especially tart, so I'd definitely use the sugar).
Simmer over low heat with the lid partially open (or what I sometimes do is put a splatter screen over it) until sauce is reduced by 1/4 or at least when the meat sauce is very thick.
Throw away the jars before guests arrive.

If you fancy yourself an Italian grandma, here is Hazan's recipe:

Bolognese Meat Sauce

1 Tbs vegetable oil
3 Tbs butter
1/2 C. chopped onion
2/3 C. chopped celery
2/3 C. chopped carrot
3/4 pound ground beef chuck
1 C. whole milk
1/8 tsp. grated nutmeg
1 C. dry white wine
1 1/2 C canned Italian plum tomatoes, cut in with their juice
salt
pepper
freshly graded parmigiano-reggiano cheese

1. Put oil and butter in a pot with chopped onion. Turn heat on to medium. Cook and stir onion until translucent. Add chopped celery and carrot. Cook for 2 minutes more, stirring the vegetables to coat them well.

2. Add ground beef, a large pinch of salt, and a few grindings of pepper. Break up the meat and stir well, cooking until the beef has lost its raw, red color.

3. Add the milk and let simmer gently, stirring frequently, until it has bubbled away completely. This can take a while. Add the 1/8 tsp of grated nutmeg and stir.

4. Add the wine and let simmer until it has evaporated. This can take a while. Add tomatoes and stir thoroughly to coat all ingredients. When the tomatoes begin to bubble, turn heat down so that the sauce cooks at the laziest simmer with ocassional bubbles breaking. Cook uncovered for 3 hours or more, stirring from time to time. If the sauce begins to dry out and the fat separates from the meat, add 1/2 C of water to keep it from sticking to the pot. At the end, however, no water should remain and the fat must be separate from the sauce. Taste and correct for salt.

Hazan says you can use 1 part pork to 2 parts beef for a tastier sauce.

Southern Comfort - Buttermilk Pie

2008-01-01T10:28:00.000-08:00

The trouble with buttermilk is that you can only buy it in quarts, so you always have some leftovers. After making some buttermilk oatmeal pancakes over Christmas, I found this buttermilk pie recipe courtesy of the fantastic Makeup Alley Food Board. This recipe is perfect for using up leftover buttermilk and doesn't require too many other fancy ingredients.

Buttermilk pie is a custard-like pie that's a Southern specialty. It also lends easily to variations by adding lemon and berries, cooked apple slices, or even chocolate.

Many of the recipes I had seen on other websites called for a lot more butter and egg yolks in the custard but Debby at Makeup Alley gave me her very refreshing and healthier recipe below.

Debby's Buttermilk Pie

A 9 inch pie dish

Crust:
One package of gingersnaps, enough to make 1 1/2 cups of crumbs
About 1/3 to 1/2 cup melted butter

Pulse the gingersnaps in a food processor until they become very fine crumbs. Moisten the crumbs with the melted butter until it resembles the texture of wet sand. Press tightly into the pie dish.

For filling:
2/3 cup sugar
1 Tbsp butter, melted
1 1/2 cups lowfat buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 Tbsp all-purpose flour (Debby used 4 but I think 3 is enough)
freshly grated lemon zest from one lemon
about 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (my own addition)
freshly grated nutmeg (a sprinkling)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In a bowl, whisk together sugar, buttermilk, eggs, flour, vanilla, lemon zest, salt and nutmeg. Make sure that there are no lumps (I had some trouble with this so I poured the custard over a sieve first).

Pour the filling into the shell. Bake the pie for about 45 minutes until puffed, golden brown, and set.

Let the pie cool on a rack and serve it at room temp or chilled with berries and whip cream.

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To make apple buttermilk pie, slice two tart apples (granny smith works well), cook with a little sugar and cinnamon until juices have evaporated and apples are soft. Put apple slices on the bottom of the pie dish before pouring the buttermilk custard mixture.

Two-sided noodle　（家常　兩面黃）

2007-12-29T19:39:00.000-08:00

Ingredients:
1/3 lb Precooked pan fried noodles (available at Chinese grocery stores. You can substitute fresh Asian noodles or even fresh angel hair pasta if you really can't find Asian noodles)
About 12 large prawns, shelled and deveined
1/2 lb pork tenderloin, thinly sliced across the grain
1 cup Chinese broccoli, washed
2 stalks green onion , roughly chopped

Salt
Soy source
Cornstarch
Cooking Oil

Serves: 2 to 3 persons

Marinate the meat with soy sauce and white pepper for about 15 minutes.

Then:

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Cook the noodles for about 3 minutes. Remove and drain. Set aside.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons cooking oil in a small frying pan (about 3 inch diameter for easy shaping of the noodle cake, similar to making pan cake) over medium high heat. Add the noodles to the heated pan.
Make sure the noodles stay flat and shape into a noodle cake. Cook over medium heat until the surface of noodle turns crunchy. Turn off the heat.
3. In a larger sautee pan, heat 3 tablespoons of cooking oil over medium high heat. Stir fry the green onion with vegetable briefly until cooked. Remove and keep covered on a plate.
Stir fry the shrimp in the pan until pink and cooked through. Remove and keep on the plate with the vegetables.
Stir fry the pork slices in the pan until cooked through.
Return the vegetables and shrimp to the pan with the pork.
Add salt and/or soy source to taste.
Mix two to three teaspoons of cornstarch with about half a cup of water. Add the corn starch mixture to the pan with the vegetables, meat, and shrimp. Stir fry for a short moment until the sauce comes together.
4. Turn the noodle cake over in the small pan and return to medium high heat to cook the other side of the noodles until the other side turns crispy.
5. Put the noodle cake on a plate and pour the vegetable mixture over it.
6. Dinner time. Ooh, Yes!

Chef's secret:
Add a little more cooking oil when making noodle if you like the noodles more crunchy.

Reference cooking recipe : 1. 三鮮兩面黃 2. 四味三鮮兩面黃
If you like to try another variety of the Two sided noodle, the above links provide more complicated style. However, taste is not guaranteed.

Ribs Round Two: Brian's Korean BBQ Marinade

2007-12-27T22:50:00.000-08:00

Our smoke alarm got a pretty good workout this week when we roasted the rest of the ribs last night! It was a battle of Asian marinades and the winning marinade, courtesy of my college friend Brian, is below:

Brian's Korean BBQ Ribs

2 parts medium soy sauce
1 part water
brown sugar
Plenty of chopped scallions
4-5 cloves of garlic, crushed
3-4 tablespoons of sesame oil
Grated ginger to taste
Lost of fresh ground black pepper

Mix together the soy sauce and water in a large glass or glass measuring cup. Pour enough brown sugar into the cup such that when the sugar settles, it reaches to about a third of the cup. (This is exactly how Brian told me the recipe over the phone. I love the inexactitude of homemade recipes because that's how you know it has been passed down in a family kitchen).

Note: For our marinade of two lbs of pork ribs, I used 2 cups soy sauce, 1 cup water, about 1/2 cup sugar because I don't like my meat too sweet.

Stir to dissolve the sugar. Add the scallions, garlic, sesame oil, fresh ground pepper, and grated ginger (Sorry Brian, I know you don't add ginger in your recipe but I love ginger).

Pour over ribs and marinade over night.

Preheat over to 350 degrees.
Wrap the ribs completely in foil. Bake for about an hour until meat is soft.
Remove the ribs from the foil. Turn the over to broil.
Broil the ribs, meat side up, for 10-15 minutes or until crisp and brown on the outside. Or until the smoke alarm goes off.

Christmas dinner part two - from "Authentic Taiwanese Cuisine"

2007-12-25T19:01:00.000-08:00

True to our diverse geographical residences, we made two Taiwanese dishes to accompany the Texas-style smoked ribs. These recipes are from the book, "Authentic Taiwanese Cuisine" by the head chef of Xin-Yeh restaurant in Taipei. The sauce for the asparagus was sweet, rich, and clean-tasting, thanks to the excellent pork stock that Mom made before we came home for Christmas.

Prawns with Pea Shoots

1 lb prawns, shelled and cleaned
1 egg white
pinch of salt
pinch of corn starch
3 cups peashoots, rinsed clean and trimmed
1/4 cup scallions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup ginger, finely minced
1 tablespoon rice wine
2 tablespoons water

Marinate the prawns with egg white, cornstarch, and pinch of salt for 10 minutes.
Over medium high heat, sautee peashoots with vegetable oil until cooked through. Arrange on serving plate.
Over medium high heat, heat 2 tablespoons of cooking oil until hot. Add the scallions and ginger and stir until fragrant.
Add prawns to the pan and sautee until pink and cooked through.
When prawns are cooked through, add the water and rice wine. Cook until evaporated. Plate the prawns over the pea shoots. Serve immediately.

Asparagus with Dried Scallop Sauce

1 lb asparagus, washed and trimmed
About 5 dried scallops
1 cup pork stock
2 tablespoons ginger, finely minced
salt to taste
cornstarch to thicken

Soak the dried scallops in about half of cup hot water until softened (mom did this the night before). Tear the scallops into thin shreds.

Cut the asparagus into 5-6 cm pieces. Bring a pot of hot water, lightly salted, to boil. Blanche the asparagus pieces until it turns bright green. Arrange the asparagus onto a serving plate.

In a small pan, add the dried scallops with its juices, stock, and ginger. Bring to boil. Thicken the sauce with cornstarch. Pour the sauce over the asparagus. Serve immediately.

The star of our Christmas meal: smoked ribs

2007-12-25T18:48:00.000-08:00

Dad and Mom saw an episode of America's Test Kitchen called Rainy Day Barbeque. The result of dad's special smoked ribs, modified from the show's recipe, is stellar!

If you live in a house with a sensitive smoke detector like ours, plan on having a couple of helpers when the smoke alarms goes off, to either fan the smoke away, or climb up on a chair to unscrew the offending alarm.

Oven-Barbecued Spareribs

Serves 4

Rub
6 tablespoons mustard (we used Dijon)
2 tablespoons ketchup (we used sodium-free ketchup)
3 medium cloves garlic , minced (about 1 tablespoon)
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
3 tablespoons brown sugar (we substituted this with 3 tablespoons of honey)

Ribs
2 racks spareribs , 2 1/2 to 3 pounds each, trimmed of surface fat, membrane removed each rack cut in half
1/4 cup Lapsang Souchong tea leaves (finely ground)—from about 10 tea bags, or 1/2 cup loose tea leaves ground to a powder in a spice grinder)
(Dad used a mixture of jasmin, hojicha, black tea, and other assortments from our ever-growing tea cabinet)
1 cup apple juice

1. For the Rub: Combine mustard, ketchup, and garlic in small bowl; combine pepper, paprika, chili powder, cayenne, salt, and sugar in separate small bowl. Spread mustard mixture in thin, even layer over both sides of ribs; coat both sides with spice mixture, then wrap ribs in plastic and refrigerate for at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours.

[For a deeper flavor, we just mixed everything together -- the mustard, ketchup, honey, garlic, and all the spices, and coated the ribs with the mixture]

2. Transfer ribs from refrigerator to freezer for 45 minutes. Adjust one oven rack to lowest position and second rack to upper-middle position (at least 5 inches below broiler).

Place baking stone on lower rack; heat oven to 500 degrees. Sprinkle ground tea evenly over bottom of rimmed baking sheet; set wire rack on sheet.

Place ribs meat side up on rack and cover with heavy-duty foil, crimping edges tightly to seal.

Roast ribs directly on stone for 30 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 250 degrees, leaving oven door open for 1 minute to cool.

While oven is open, carefully open one corner of foil and pour apple juice into bottom of baking sheet; reseal foil. Continue to roast until meat is very tender and begins to pull away from bones, about 1 1/2 hours. (Begin to check ribs after 1 hour; leave loosely covered with foil for remaining cooking time.)

3. Remove foil and carefully flip racks bone side up; place baking sheet on upper-middle oven rack.

[We then coated the ribs with a mixture of sugar and soy sauce]

Turn on broiler; cook ribs until well browned and crispy in spots, 5 to 10 minutes. Flip ribs meat side up and cook until well browned and crispy, 5 to 7 minutes more. Cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting into individual ribs. Serve with barbecue sauce, if desired.

A Very Green Christmas

2007-12-25T18:43:00.001-08:00

This Christmas Mom and Dad had the wonderful idea of using only brown paper as wrapping paper! Mom had collected brown paper for the past few months and here is the wonderful, inventive results under our Christmas tree.

Family-style Roast Chicken Dinner at Lala's House

2007-12-25T17:52:00.000-08:00

My friend Lilah hosted a perfect winter's family meal a couple of weeks ago: a traditional, comforting meal that we made while gossiping and drinking wine.

The menu:
Lemon rosemary roasted chicken with gravy
Squash Gratin
Steamed broccolini with lemon, olive oil, sea salt and pepper
To drink: I think it was a pinot gris.
Dessert: easy apple tart!

Lemon Rosemary Roasted Chicken

1 organic chicken, 3-4 lbs
1 lemon, cut in halves
2 stalks celery, diced
1 cup baby carrots
1 small onion, quartered
4 cloves garlic
1 bunch fresh rosemary
3 tablespoons butter
sea salt
freshly ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 425F.

Clean and pat dry the chicken.
Rub salt and pepper generously all over the chicken, including the cavity.
Stuff the garlic, lemon, and a couple of stalks of rosemary inside the cavity.
Chop the rest of the rosemary leaves finely, mix with one tablespoon of butter.
With your fingers, loosen the chicken skin and work the rosemary butter between the skin and the meat of the chicken.
Rub the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter all over the chicken.
(We didn't tie the chicken but if you want, truss the chicken with kitchen string)
Place the chicken in a large baking pan. Scatter the onions, carrots, and celery around the chicken.
Bake for about an hour and 15 to 20 minutes.
Let the chicken rest for at least 15 minutes before carving.

Optional: we made gravy!
Pour all the drippings in the pan into a bowl. Ladle out the fat from the drippings -- you will have left only a little bit of brown chicken jus. Press the roasted vegetables in a sieve and add the juices to the pan. Return the chicken jus to the roasting pan, scraping up any of the brown bits. Heat the gravy until hot, thicken with some cornstarch (make a slurry with corn starch and water first) and return to boil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Squash Gratin

1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs (we made ours with a whole grain bread, which adds really great flavor)
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon pepper
4 cups cubed peeled acorn squash (about 1 pound)
2 cups cubed peeled butternut squash (about 1/2 pound)
1 tablespoon olive oil
Olive oil-flavored vegetable cooking spray (optional. You can just coat the pan with some olive oil)
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese

Combine the first 6 ingredients in a large bowl, and stir well.
Add squashes, parsnip, and oil, tossing to coat.
Spoon squash mixture into a 2-quart casserole coated with cooking spray.
Cover and bake at 325° for 1 1/2 hours or until the squash is soft.
Sprinkle with cheese, and bake, uncovered, an additional 15 minutes.
Garnish with oregano, if desired.

Note: the recipe says to bake it at 325F but since we were also roasting the chicken, we just baked the gratin with the chicken at 425F. Still turned out fine! I think it was even better since the squash was caramelized a bit.

Easy upside down apple tart

2 Tablespoon butter
10-12 apples, cored and sliced
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 pinch each of ground ginger, allspice, and nutmeg.
1 sheet of puff pastry

Sautee the first four ingredients in a cast iron pan over medium high heat until apples are cooked and the liquid evaporated.

Rolled out the sheet of puff pastry and tuck it over the top of the cast iron skillet.
Bake at 400 F for approx 20 mins until the puff pastry is golden and cooked through. Invert it onto a plate.
Cut into slices and serve with plain whipped cream.

An Indian dinner in "the best city in California"

2007-09-14T11:57:00.000-07:00

Brown Geek's parents are in town from India and kindly invited me to their house for dinner. Life is funny this way: it really couldn't have come at a better time for me to be in the company of a such a close-knit family who really understand how difficult it is to live so far apart from one another.

Brown Geek informed me at the door that just like in Taiwanese culture, you call your friend's mom and dad "Auntie" and "Uncle." After a glass of wine and a tour of the house, Auntie sat me and Brown Geek down with a plate of bonda, spicy mashed potato balls, coated with chickpea flour and fried. On the plate was also a scoop kesari, rich yellow cream of wheat with pieces of cashew -- it was sweet, cooked with ghee and scented with cardamom. It is customary to give the guest something sweet at the beginning of the meal, he said.

Auntie and Uncle watched me carefully as I sat down at the table (they said they wouldn't eat until Brown Geek's younger brother came home). I loved the cream of wheat, of course -- it is a version that is about 100 times better than what I make every morning for breakfast from the box. And the bonda -- Auntie seemed worried for some reason because she had added some chili powder to the potato mix even though Brown Geek had somewhat exaggerated my wimpy tolerance for spice. I surprised her by eating all six bondas on my plate.

Relieved, she broke into a smile and told Brown Geek something that sounded (and looked like), "I told you so!" I had long heard that she is by far the best cook in the family, and I can see there is proof in the reputation.

Since there is little chance that I would be able to reproduce the bonda in my own kitchen, I managed to at least wrangle some information from Auntie about the bonda seasoning: tumeric, chili powder, salt and asafetida (a powdered gum resin, according to wikipedia, that imparts a strong onion/garlic flavor). She had a whole bowl of them made already, sitting in a stainless steel bowl and covered with a paper towel.

After I finished my appetizer, which, under any normal circumstance, would have been enough for a meal for a normal-size human being, it was time to fry up the much-anticipated uthapam.

Uthapam is a South Indian vegetable pancake. The very first time I had uthapam was actually when Brown Geek ordered it at our old company when everyone would work overtime. I remember taking a bite and demanding to know what it is. Up until that point I had never really had South Indian food before. Apparently, his efforts of ordering food had not escaped the radar of the managers at our old company. During dinner, Uncle proudly showed me all the awards that Brown Geek had won from the company, not the least of which was a Good Samaritan award (a frosted glass plaque mounted on a wooden wine bottle -- !!!) for ordering all those late-night dinners.

The preparation for the pancake had started the evening before I arrived -- dal and rice had been soaking in water the previous night ("For one hour..." Uncle and Brown Geek tried to tell me, but who am I to listen to these guys? Auntie corrected them: "Three hours," she said.) Auntie then grinds the soaked grains in a special contraption, which may or may not look like it was from a Star Trek episode. The batter is lightly fermented, I believe.

To the thick white batter, Auntie added a bowl of very neatly chopped red onions and a little bit of chopped small green chili peppers. Then came another bowl of perfectly diced carrots, tomato, and bits of cilantro. In a flat frying pan over high heat and a couple of tablespoons of oil, she pours in a ladle of the batter. A few minutes later she drizzles a spoonful of oil over the pancake. A few minutes later she turns the pancake, drizzling a bit more oil onto the other side. (When do you know to turn it? I asked. By practice, she said. It looked like she turns them when they form bubbles on the surface. Since I probably won't have an audience of uthapam eaters soon, you'll have to trust my scientific observations here)

While standing over the stove watching the uthapam cook to crispy perfection, Auntie and Uncle disagreed on the virtues of the gas stove versus electric stove. She says the electric is fine, but I have a feeling that she is such a seasoned cook that she could probably conjure up this meal over a camp fire if it came to that.

There was no disagreement in the house, however, about whether this was the best uthapam ever, period. The pancakes were crisp on the outside and very tender on the inside, with just a hint of sourness in the batter. The most entertaining part of the uthapam experience, however, came from Auntie's famouse sambar -- a spicy soup for you to dip the uthapam. She had mixed her own sambar spice mix and brought two whole containers of it here from India. To the soup she added "drumstick" -- a vegetable that looks somewhat like baby okra.

Brown Geek and his brother had convinced me that you eat the drumstick just as you would any other vegetable -- but I was so unnerved by the gleeful way they were waiting for me to bite into it that I made them tell me how to eat this very strange-looking vegetable.

It turns out that the outside of the drumstick is very tough -- you wouldn't be able to bite into it even when it has been cooked down in the sambar. You pick up the stalk of "drumstick" and press it with your teeth, squeezing out the soft seeds and flesh of the vegetable. It tasted somewhat like a cooked cucumber to me.

Rounding out the meal, Uncle challenged me to a scoop of some spicy pickled green mango, mixed with a bit of yogurt to cut the heat. He also brought out a small bowl of very ripe, cold mango pieces. Unfortunately by this time I was too full to obtain any useful information about these items.

After dinner, Uncle told us that he had concluded California as the best state in the United States to live, and this very spot being the best city in California. Washington D.C. came in a distant second. (Auntie shook her head from side to side to agree, and Brown Geek's brother playfully pushed her head down, telling her to nod instead). Uncle showed me his binder of travel journal, writing, clippings and prayers that he has kept in his trip. He recorded each leg of his journey carefully, noting the length of Central Park in kilometers and naming all the boroughs of New York.

"Thank you for sharing this with me," I told him.

He said something and the family roared with laughter. Apparently he thought I said, "Thank you for giving this to me." Calmly, with a very straight face he had asked Brown Geek, "She thinks she's taking this with her?!"

So, instead of his travel journal, I took home a ziplock bag full of bonda and the kesari.

Also thanks to Brown Geek and Karthik for the photos!

A quick Japanese meal

2007-08-27T09:23:00.000-07:00

I finally went grocery shopping at a Japanese grocery store near my house and got inspired (read: hungry) to make a quick Japanese meal for myself. As I usually get too bored and lazy cooking for myself, I like to make quick, easy stuff.

Also I am woefully inept at grocery shopping -- that is, I am somehow incapable of planning for a week's worth of meals on the spot, so I usually end up either with enough to make just three meals, or once I ended up buying a lot of lunchable type items like apple sauce, juice boxes, jellow, etc., all things that came neatly, individually packaged. These recipes don't call for much but just the staples in your pantry.

Japanese sauteed ginger pork

3 tablespoon grated fresh ginger root
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sake
2 tablespoons mirin (do not subsitute Chinese cooking wines. It doesn't work!)
1 pound thinly sliced pork loin or pork for sukiyaki (as labeled at my supermarket. It's a little fatty so I trimmed some of the fat off)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3/4 cup scallion, cut in 2-inch pieces

In a large bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons of the ginger with soy sauce, sake and mirin. Add the sliced pork, cover, and marinate for about 15 minutes.
Heat the oil in a skillet or wok over high heat. Add the scallion pieces and the 1 tablespoon of reserved grated ginger, stir until fragrant, about a minute. Add the pork and lay them flat on the pan and fry until brown. The pork should have a brown, crispy look to it. Do not cook on low or medium heat, as the juices will not cook fast enough to get a crispy texture.
Serve over hot steamed rice.

note: I think whisking in maybe half a tablespoon of miso into the dressing could be good. Will try that next time.

Eggplant with Sesame Dressing

2 small Japanese eggplant, sliced in the diagonal into 2 inch long pieces
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
salt
Sesame dressing (see below)
2 teaspoons toasted white sesame seeds

Rub the eggplant slices with salt. Let them sit on a plate lined with paper towels for about 15 minutes. Some liquid will come out of the eggplant. Rinse the eggplant slices and pat dry.
Over medium heat, add the oil to a flat sautee pan. Cook the eggplant until brown on all sides.

Drizzle with dressing and a sprinkle of toasted white sesame seeds.

A note about the sesame dressing:
Ok I cheated. I used bottled dressing! I know that is not in the spirit of this blog but here is the dressing that I used:

But I HAVE made sesame dressing before, I swear. And here is the recipe for the sesame dressing:
* 3 tbsps rice wine vinegar
* 1 tbsp sesame oil
* 1 tbsp soy sauce
* 1 tsp sugar
* 1 tsp ground white sesame seeds

Whisk all ingredients together except the oil. Add the oil slowly and whisk into emulsion.

Anthony Bourdain Blogs Top Chef

2007-08-19T14:19:00.000-07:00

Anthony Bourdain -- he who eats live, beating cobra hearts, chain smokes like it's going out of style, and wears a black leather jacket no matter where -- is my favorite culinary bad boy. As if I am not already enough of an Anthony Bourdain fan, he now blogs about the reality show Top Chef for Bravo! TV network! Thanks to Amy for pointing this blog my way. Food blogging can't get much better than this:

(Commenting on an episode where some female contestants balked at the idea of having to cook while wearing heels and dressy club attire. Howie is one of the most unbearable chefs in the competition.)

"I gotta tell ya; I've worked with women cooks who could crank out a hundred fifty meals off a very busy grill station in freakin' stilettos and still have the energy to give Howie the beating of his life..."

Chef Rocco DiSpirito came out as the guest judge for an episode. Unfortunately he looked a little like either Nicole Kidman or, according to Bourdain, David Gest -- just a touch too much of the Botox.

"There was no glory to be had last night. There were no winners. Not when everybody, contestants and judges alike, were left wiping Rocco's Frozen Love Juice off their faces at the end."

Anthony's Blog on Top Chef

Some of Anthony Bourdain's books:
Kitchen Confidential
The Nasty Bits
Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook
A Cook's Tour
Typhoid Mary

Panera's summer strawberry poppyseed salad

2007-08-19T14:07:00.000-07:00

I have been somewhat addicted to this salad this summer at Panera cafe. Though I usually don't like sweet-ish salads, I really love this one! I think it is easily reproduced with store bought dressing (use Brianna's dressing. Link below).

Strawberry and Poppyseed Salad

4 cups Romain lettuce, wash, dried, cut and chilled
1 cup blueberries, washed and picked over
1/2 cup sliced pineapples (optional)
1 cup sliced strawberries
1 cup canned mandarin orange segments (substitute fresh mandarin orange if you want)
1 cup poached or grilled chicken breast
Brianna's home-style poppyseed dressing
Handful of roasted walnuts, optional

I have no more instructions than toss everything to combine, serve immediately!

A good complement to this meal is some bread and iced apricot black tea.

Enjoy what's left of your summer this year!

Hong Kong Style Cheese Rice Seafood Casserole

2007-08-17T14:04:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I think I have figured out approximately how to make a Hong Kong Style Cheese Rice Seafood Casserole. Yay!

Ingredients:

Rice portion:
2 cups of cooked rice
1/2 pound scallop
1/2 pound shrimp
2 medium sized shallots (or onions if you prefer)
3 eggs
ketchup (amount to your liking)
butter/olive oil (for you healthy people)
frozen carrot/peas/corn
1 bag of mozzarella and parmesan cheese mix
Salt and pepper

Sauce:
1-1 1/2 cups of white wine (a dry wine like a chardonnay)
2 cups heavy whipped cream
1 medium sized shallot (or onion)
Salt and pepper

Rice portion:
Stir in the butter/olive oil in a heated pan. Add shallots and let it fry a little. Add in shrimp and scallop. Stir until pink/cooked. Add in frozen peas/carrots/corn. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir in rice and mix with seafood etc. Beat 3 eggs in a bowl, then pour over rice so that the rice has a nice yellow color. Stir until egg is cooked. Add ketchup to your taste level.

Sauce:
Add wine and shallots to heated pan. Simmer over medium heat until it has almost evaporated. Whisk in cream and continue to let it simmer until it is bubbling a bit. add in salt and pepper.

And now the casserole:
Pour cream over rice and mix together. If there is not enough sauce, you should make more. It really depends on how creamy you like your casserole to be. Scoop rice mixture into two oval baking pans. now put a layer of the cheese over it. If you want it to be more crispy, consider mixing in grated parmesan in the cheese mixture. Put into oven on high broil and let it cook until the top is brown and crispy (usually takes about 5-8 minutes, depending on your oven.)

VOILA! Very yummy and rich, so maybe only eat it once every two months.

Old Fashioned Chocolate cake

2007-08-17T13:57:00.000-07:00

I made this yesterday and it was super easy and yummy! I don't remember the last time I baked not from a cake-mix, so it was quite a feat for me. If I can do it, you can too!

Cake:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup superfine sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup best-quality cocoa
1 1/2 sticks soft unsalted butter
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons good-quality vanilla extract
2/3 cup sour cream

Special equipment: 2 (each 8-inch diameter) layer tins with removable bases, buttered

Frosting:
6 ounces good-quality semisweet chocolate, broken into small pieces
3/4 stick unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon good-quality vanilla extract
Sugar flowers, to decorate, optional

Take everything out of the refrigerator so that all ingredients can come room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Put all the cake ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, cocoa, butter, eggs, vanilla, and sour cream into a food processor and process until you have a smooth, thick batter. If you want to go the long way around, just mix the flour, sugar and leavening agents in a large bowl and beat in the soft butter until you have a combined and creamy mixture. Now whisk together the cocoa, sour cream, vanilla, and eggs and beat this into your bowl of mixture.

Divide this batter, using a rubber spatula to help you scrape and spread, into the prepared tins and bake until a cake tester comes out clean, which should be about 35 minutes, but it is wise to start checking at 25 minutes. Also, it might make sense to switch the 2 cakes around in the oven halfway through cooking time. Remove the cakes, in their tins, to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes before turning out of their tins. Don't worry about any cracks as they will easily be covered by the frosting later.

To make this icing, melt the chocolate and butter in a good-sized bowl either in the microwave or suspended over a pan of simmering water. Go slowly either way: you don't want any burning or seizing.

While the chocolate and butter is cooling a little, sieve the confectioners' sugar into another bowl. Or, easier still, put the icing sugar into the food processor and blitz to remove lumps.

Add the corn syrup to the cooled chocolate mixture, followed by the sour cream and vanilla and then when all this is combined whisk in the sieved confectioners' sugar. Or just pour this mixture down the funnel of the food processor onto the powdered sugar, with the motor running.

You may need to add a little boiling water, say a teaspoon or so, or indeed some more confectioners' sugar, depending on whether you need the frosting to be thiner or thicker. It should be liquid enough to coat easily, but thick enough not to drip off.

Choose your cake stand or plate and cut 4 strips of baking parchment to form a square and sit 1 of the cakes, uppermost (i.e. slightly domed) side down.

Spoon about 1/3 of the frosting onto the center of the cake-half and spread with a knife or spatula until you cover the top of it evenly. Sit the other cake on top, normal way up, pressing gently to sandwich the 2 together.

Spoon another 1/3 of the frosting onto the top of the cake and spread it in a swirly, textured way (though you can go for a smooth finish if you prefer, and have the patience). Spread the sides of the cake with icing and leave a few minutes until set, then carefully pull away the paper strips.

Auntie #1's Mapo Tofu Recipe Goes to California

2007-08-08T23:57:00.000-07:00

My friend Nandita made Auntie #1's Mapo Tofu recipe last weekend and reported great success! She said it was absolutely delicious. The only thing she would correct would be the amount of water. She says much less than 1 cup.

Anybody else tried this?

Veggie Fried Rice -- With the Right Soy Sauce!

2007-08-08T23:44:00.000-07:00

Finally I have realized what has been wrong with my fried rice: I have been using the wrong soy sauce! Ever since I smuggled a bottle of the soy sauce used at Ahma's house, my Chinese cooking has improved by at least...20 percent by conservative estimates! I think using fresh shiitake mushroom probably helped a lot too.

I have been making this vegetable fried rice lately. It is so easy that I hesitated posting it, but given the lack of my culinary adventures lately, here it is.

Vegetable Fried Rice

4 cups cooked white or brown rice
1.5 cups fresh button shiitake mushroom, lightly washed and diced
3/4 cup cooked soy beans (edamame)
3/4 cups cooked corn (I use frozen white corn and cook it in the microwave)
1/2 cup diced red and yellow bell peppers
3/4 cup cooked broccoli or broccoli rabe
Vegetable oil
Soy sauce to taste
Sea salt and pepper to taste.

Heat about 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok over medium high heat. Throw in the mushroom dices and let cook for about a minute or two. Don't stir too much. Let the mushrooms brown a little bit. When the mushrooms are cooked, push them to the side of the wok. Add two tablespoons soysauce into the side of the hot wok. When the soysauce bubbles, stir it together with the mushrooms until combined. Add the rest of the vegetables and cook for two to three more minutes together until flavors meld. Add cooked rice and stir fry until combined. Add a table spoon more oil if neccessary. Pour one to two tablespoons of soysauce onto the side of the wok and combine with the rice to taste. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Simple. Viola!

I eat this with anything. More stir fried vegetables or even an egg!

Orecchiette with Arugula and Cherry Tomatos

2007-07-31T13:30:00.000-07:00

An excellent recipe from Lidia's Italian Kitchen!

Ingredients: (for 2 servings)

1 bag of cherry tomatos
1 box of baby arugula
1/2 lb of Orecchiette ("ear lobe" pasta, or substitute any small pastas)
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
4-5 medium sized garlic cloves
1-2 teaspoon crushed chili pepper (the kind you get with your pizza)
salt

Boil water for the pasta. Slice cherry tomatos in half.

Peel and crush garlic cloves. Warm olive oil in pan on medium high heat, add garlic. Slice cherry tomatos in half. Add to pan. Turn heat down to medium. Add tomatos, salt, and crushed chili pepper. Stir.

Add pasta in boiling water. Cook for 9-10 minutes. Add arugula into the pot with the water and pasta. Let it cook for 2 minutes.

Take pasta and arugula out of the water. Add to garlic tomato mixture. Tomatos should be soft with the skin wrinkled.

The sauce shouldn't be too thick, and the pasta and arugula should just float in the mixture.

Can be served with parmesan cheese. For meat portion, you can choose to make parmesan chicken! And for dessert, may I suggest some store bought chocolate cake?

Chicken Salad

2007-07-05T16:40:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:
Home made mayo: Refer to earlier post
Chicken breast
Lemon pepper (seasoning mix)
celery
Granny smith apple (green)
Gala apple (red)

Season chicken with lemon pepper and salt (or AlsoSalt). Grill chicken breast on a frying pan with no oil on a nonstick pan. Cut chicken into .5 inch squares, and put aside to cool. Chop celery into small pieces, and cut apples into thin slices, halved. Make homemade mayo. Mix everything together and stick it in the fridge to cool.

Use egg bread or whatever bread you desire. Toast and butter. Let it cool.
Take salad out after it has been chilled and spread over bread to make sandwich. Lunch is ready!

Chicken Meatball Soup

2007-07-04T04:14:00.000-07:00

a 5-minute recipe; easy to make; easy to eat

Ingredients: make about 20 meatballs
ground chicken - 1 lb
fine chopped onions - about 2 cups
green onion - optional
egg - 1 large
corn starch - 2 to 3 tbsp
seasoning - soy sauce, white pepper, salt,...
depend on your taste buds

How to:
1. boil 6~7 cups of water
2. mix all ingredients well but not over mix.
Suggestion: use fork to mix.
3. spoon the mix to boiling water one by one. Cook until done.

Marco Polo Bakery/English School

2007-06-12T23:54:00.000-07:00

It is still somewhat beyond my logic why a bakery would be in the same space as an English school, but whoever came up with this idea is a genius. In the Chun Chung area, Wooyi took us to the marvelous Marco Polo bakery where she bought a warm, crusty roll stuffed with cubes of mild cheese. (Amy, sorry we didn't take you!) I don't know why the cheese didn't melt during the baking but the cheese cubes retained their shape pretty nicely.

Unsurprisingly, I have not had any brilliant bakery finds since I have returned to California. BUT, I have realized that the idea of combining a bakery with any other type of business is totally brilliant! Now if I can just get my Honda dealer to build a bakery inside it...

Pancakes for Dinner

2007-06-11T18:16:00.000-07:00

...or, linner! My favorite meal, somewhere between lunch and dinner, is a perfect time for pancakes. Below is a great recipe by Nigella. It doesn't have the weird baking soda taste, and you can disregard the salt (I've never tried it without the salt but I think it should be OK.)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1 1/3 cups milk
butter for frying

Nigella writes: "The easiest way to make these is to put all the ingredients into a blender and blitz. But if you do mix up the batter by hand in a bowl, make a well in the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar, beat in the eggs, melted butter, and milk, and transfer to a pitcher: it's much easier to pour the batter into the pan that to spoon it. I like to leave the batter for 20 minutes before using it; you may then want to add more milk to the mixture if you're frying in the blini pan, so that it runs right to the edges. When you cook the pancakes, all you need to remember is that when the upper side of the pancake is blistering and bubbling it's time to cook the second side, and this needs only about 1 minute, if that. 1 get 11 blini-sized pancakes out of this, maybe 16 silver-dollar sized ones on the griddle."

Try adding bananas and/or walnuts like the picture on the left!
Serve with sausage meat, which you can also buy salt free from the grocery store. Just add some AlsoSalt and you're home free!

Let me know how it turns out.

Love,
Amy

Who's afraid of home-made mayo?

2007-06-07T21:13:00.000-07:00

I read an article in this month's Martha Stewart magazine about how easy and wonderful home-made mayonnaise can be. Oh, mayonnaise: there's the mayo that went on top of the french fries in Amsterdam (somewhat unthinkable but immensely edible); then there is the Japanese Cutepie mayonnaise which (guiltily I must admit) is delicious with spam and rice. It also made me think of the decadent potato salad we make in the summer, for which home-made mayo is a must.

But then Martha goes on to give a recipe that uses egg yolk, vinegar, and olive oil. Olive oil? Ack. I think not.

Martha's tip said that mayonnaise is more difficult to make on a hot day. True?

In her magazine Martha uses a Kitchenaid mixer to make the mayonnaise, a luxury -- or perhaps unnecessary because I recall wooyi and cousin wawa whisking mayonnaise with a couple of chopsticks in a big bowl.

What's our family's mayo recipe?

A delicious blog

2007-06-05T23:11:00.000-07:00

My friend Ted recommended this very popular food blog maintained by a lady who calls herself "spot." Her blog is called 甜蜜的邂逅. Most of her posts are about her cooking, including excellent photos like this one, of organic aiyu jelly !

I think the author had received some organic aiyu jelly seeds in the mail and perhaps made it herself...I'm not totally sure but she definitely takes beautiful photographs and does a great job styling her food! She doesn't always have complete recipes but the photos and sentiments on the blog are enough to get me into the kitchen. . . or at least in front of the computer to post something of my own.

Scallops on a hot summer day -- adapted from Gourmet

2007-06-04T17:50:00.000-07:00

It was nice and warm for a change here so I decided to make a scallop dish I saw in this month's Gourmet magazine. The magazine calls for a kind of scallop "ceviche" -- grilled scallops, cucumbers, lime, and orange segments all marinated together and chilled. But after making the dish I discovered that chilled, cooked scallops aren't as exciting as scallops coming hot from the grill (or hot pan). So here is my adaptation of the Gourmet recipe.

Scallops with cucumber salad

3/4 of an English cucumber, halved, seeded, and thinly sliced
1 navel orange, cut into segments
1/2 carrot, thinly sliced (optional)
2 tablespoons of shallots, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
sea salt
freshly grind pepper
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 lb large scallops

In a bowl, combine cucumber, oranges, shallots, lime juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper. Chill thoroughly.
Combine the scallops with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. IN a hot pan or grill, sear the scallops on both sides until cooked.
On a plate, set the cucumber salad and put scallops over them. Serve immediately.

*I am also thinking that a balsalmic vinegar glaze might be nice over the scallops..more experimentation for this weekend!

Everything is better with butter...and bacon

2007-06-02T08:07:00.000-07:00

Uncle #4 made a truly delicious bean sprout stirfry with some pretty surprising ingredients. I could have eaten the whole plate myself. But then, you can't go wrong with bacon!

Stir Fried Bean Sprout with Bacon

Half of an onion, thinly sliced
1/3 cup of bacon, diced in about 2 cm by 2 cm pieces
1 clove of garlic, sliced
1 red chili pepper, sliced (optional)
4 - 6 cups bean sprouts, wash and dried
salt and black pepper to taste
MSG (Uncle #4 claims we are all too afraid of MSG! But Wooyi says you can use mushroom-based granules)
1/2 tablespoon butter

Over medium heat, stir fry onion and bacon for a few minutes. Then turn down the head to medium low and add the sliced garlic and the red chili pepper (optional). Stir fry until onion is translucent. Add a dash of black pepper. Turn the heat to high and add bean sprouts. Stir fry until bean sprouts are cooked. Add salt, MSG (optional) and combine to taste. Melt the butter over the side of the wok and stir until combined. Serve immediately (over rice, of course).

Meatballs! YOM.

2007-06-01T15:40:00.000-07:00

1 cup fine fresh bread crumbs
1 1/2 cups milk
2 medium onions
1 1/2 pounds ground pork
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup minced fresh flat-leafed parsley leaves

1/2 cup olive oil

In a large bowl soak bread crumbs in milk 10 minutes. Finely chop onions. Add onions and remaining meatball ingredients to bread crumb mixture and with your hands blend together until just combined well (do not overmix). Form mixture into walnut-size balls and arrange on large trays or baking sheets.

In a large heavy skillet heat 2 tablespoons oil over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking and brown meatballs in batches without crowding, shaking skillet to maintain round shape and adding remaining oil as necessary.

Parmesan Chicken with Baby Greens

2007-06-01T15:26:00.000-07:00

Here is my contribution. I made it the other day and it was very good and easy. You can also use pork chops instead of chicken breast. You can also omit the baby greens part, if you don't like vegetables.

2/3 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) or fresh breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh marjoram (or any herb you choose, like basil, thyme, etc. Or you can omit it completely.)
1 egg
4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves (about 1 1/2 pounds total)

4 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar (don't really need that either if you don't have it.)

6 cups mixed baby greens

Stir together panko, Parmesan, and marjoram on large plate. Whisk egg in small shallow bowl. Place chicken in plastic bag. Using rolling pin, pound to flatten to 1/2-inch thickness. Place chicken on plate; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Brush on all sides with egg. Dredge in panko mixture, turning to coat evenly.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook until deep golden and cooked through, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to plate. Reduce heat to medium; cool skillet slightly. Add remaining 2 tablespoons oil and vinegar. Stir, scraping up browned bits, until vinaigrette is just hot.

Divide baby greens among 4 plates. Drizzle with vinaigrette and top with chicken. Sprinkle with pepper and serve.

Makes 4 servings.

Kabocha: cook at your own risk

2007-06-01T02:43:00.000-07:00

I was making kabocha (Japanese pumpkin) last night while talking on the phone with my grandmother. I thought of simmering it Japanese-style like she always does. So I carefully cut off the seemingly tough green skin, dicing it and throwing it in a soy sauce broth that I sweetened with brown sugar.

I told her that I was making Japanese pumpkin for dinner and she seemed really excited.

"Kabocha! So easy. No need to peel the skin. That's the best part! Great texture. And just simmer it in some soysauce and water -- no need for sugar! The kabocha itself is very sweet!"

Hmph. Oops.

Well, what can I say. She was right.

Made correctly by someone with a good camera, the dish should look like this:

Simmered Japanese Pumpkin (Kabocha)

1 kabocha squash, diced into 1"x1" cubes
1/2 cup water (Or you can use water + two pinches of Hondashi granules)
3 Tablespoons brown sugar (if you like it sweet. Or if you're me)
1 to 2 Tablespoons soy sauce

Combine water with soy sauce and sugar in a shallow pan. Add squash, bring to to boil over medium high heat. Turn heat down and simmer for about 15 minutes, add more water if the broth dries out. Serve warm or room temperature.

燉日本南瓜

1個日本南瓜, 切成1 " x1 " 塊

1 / 2杯水(或你可以用水+兩匙的Hondashi )

3大匙紅糖 (如果你喜歡甜一點. 或者,如果你像我, 沒聽奶奶的話)

1至2大匙醬油

水加紅糖, 醬油, 煮開. 放入南瓜, 用大火蒸5 - 7分鐘, 用小火燉10分鐘. 如果醬汁乾了, 放多一點水.

Plum juice from Grumpy

2007-06-01T02:12:00.000-07:00

On a very hot day, Auntie #5 took us "Chung-zhon Market” – City Center Market. It was an area that we hadn’t been to – at least not for the last 20 years. When we arrived at the market via Taipei’s subway, the day seemed to have gotten hotter. Coming out of the 228 Peace Park from the MRT station, Wooyi pointed to a big, cracking wood sign and told us that this food stall has been there for many many years.

Under the sign was a very tall and very cranky man who was filling plastic cups with a light brown plum juice. Wooyi walked up to buy a cup of plum juice, but when the man wasn’t looking, she whispered for us to grab an extra straw so we can share -- the man will get mad if he sees us sharing.

Behind the man was a plain white freezer that I couldn’t see inside. It turned out to be “three-flavored ice cream” – an old fashion treat that tasted like it was made out of rice milk, not cream.

What were the flavors? The man grumbled and said, “You’ll know when you eat it.” Our guesses were taro root, vanilla, MAYBE strawberry.

Auntie #1's stir-fried mushroom with pork

2007-06-01T01:53:00.000-07:00

This is the big meal that Auntie #1 made for us in Bianchao -- she was kind enough to be my first guinea pig of the family recipe project when I sat down with her at Ahma's house. Here are two recipes she shared with me. I don't have exact measurements as I haven't yet reproduced this dish myself so I am just guessing here. But if you have better measurements please comment and let me know!

Stir-fried mushrooms with pork
(lower right corner of the photo)
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 cup to 2/3 cup pork, sliced
1 tomato - diced
half a red bell pepper, roughly chopped
half a green bell pepper, roughly chopped
mixture of your favorite mushroom -- we had shitake, maitake, and brown, all in big irregular slices
1/2 to 1 pork flavor boullion cube
cooking oil

Over medium heat, stir fry garlic until fragrant. Add pork and tomato, stir fry until cooked. Add the mushroom, stir fry until combined. Add pork boullion cube. Then add the red and green bell peppers.

Whether you should thicken this dish with cornstarch is still under debate between Aunt 1 and Uncle 4, who made this dish again a few days later.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The crowning glory of the dinner was the Mapo Tofu, of which I had obtained the recipe from Aunt #1 a week before I went to her house for dinner.

Mapo Tofu

2 cloves of garlic
minced pork
soy sauce
water (I am guessing 1 to 1 1/2 cups but she said just use your judgment)
mushroom essence/powder
pepper (white or black?)
1 red chili pepper, sliced
2 large pieces of tofu, diced
corn starch to thicken
dash sesame oil
green onions, sliced, to taste

Marinate minced pork in soy sauce for 5 to 10 minutes. Slice one clove of garlic. Finely chop the other clove, set aside. In a wok over medium high heat, stir fry the garlic slices until fragrant. Add minced pork to the wok, stirfry until cooked. Add 1 to 1 1/2 cups of water, more soysauce to taste, and the mushroom essence, pepper, and chili pepper. Stir to combine. Add the tofu and bring to boil. Thicken with corn starch. Turn off the heat and sprinkle with the finely chopped garlic, green onions, and a dash of sesame oil.

Ready, set, blog!

2007-06-01T00:46:00.000-07:00

Tonight while eating my lackluster dinner, I started reading recipes from my trip in Taiwan and wishing that I had some of the mushroom stirfry from Auntie #1's house back in April.

I realized that just about everyone in our family is a food expert. You all have been my culinary and gastronic guides. Some of you know that I have been wanting to gather a family cookbook, so here I have set up a space where we can share everything and anything gastronomic:
a new recipe
an interesting dish you ate at a restaurant
a new food discovery
a good book about food
a great food memory

The Blogger software is incredibly easy to use so I hope you will participate and put up some of your own posts to share!

Our Family Kitchen

Our Family Kitchen has a new home!

Red-Wine-Braised Oxtails

Heather's Chocolate Caramel Matzo

Jennifer's Bacon Cheddar Bread with Parmesan Crust

Nicole's Manchego, Onion, and Bacon Appetizer

Salt Crusted Baked Fish

Mmmm Carrot Muffin Yeah!

Nicole's Pizza!

I WON!

Directions

Ratatouille for Lunch

Seafood Cakes with Mustard Crema

Salmon Tartare a la The French Laundry

Lemon Squares by America's Best Test Kitchen

Jambalaya by Tom!

Aaron Cooked for Me!

Fish Tacos!

Fish Roe Fried Rice!

Cauliflower Bread Thingy from Italy!

Indian Grilled Chicken Marinated in Milk & Yogurt

Summer Tomato Pasta Salad

Hollow stem vegetables with fermented tofu

Baby octopus and tomatos stir fry, Taiwanese style

Zucchini and Squash Fritteres

All Season Bean Salad

Another secret from uncle 4 - stir fried squid with Taiwanese cabbage

Family Kitchen Roadtrip - Matterhorn and Alembic Bar in San Francisco

A "Special-ality" - Chris's Meat Loaf

Peking Style Fried Tofu

Shrimp Balls in Mushroom Soup

Pig's Feet in Soy Sauce Over Rice

Szechuan Gherkin Slices (cucumber salad)

Friends Dinner

Cooking with Jojo

Chinese-Style Fried Chicken

Lori's Sushi Party

Nandita's (Oatmeal) Chocolate Chip Cookies

Fettucini Alfredo

Avo Spinich Panini

Summer time is here!

Auntie's Mushroom Stirfry Revisited

Family Kitchen Field Trip: Meat Pie a la Chris

How to fake the rice part of Hainanese Chicken Rice

Mom's pork chops - two ways to serve

Asian Chopped Salad - A Crowd Favorite

Hot Off the Frying Pan - Jalapeno Poppers

Broccolini with pine nuts -- and a super easy salad

Pasta Carbonara with Lori

Brunch Before The Paint Fumes Got To Us

My Retro Confession

Sesame Noodles with Poached Chicken

Curry Vegetable Dip

Low fat, low cholestrol oatmeal drop cookies

Tonight's Dinner: Pasta Primavera

Vegetarian Polenta Entrees

Happy Anti-Valentine's

Mom's Sea Bass Recipe

Marcella Hazan's Polenta Bake

Italian meat sauce -- super quick or super slow

Southern Comfort - Buttermilk Pie

Two-sided noodle （家常 兩面黃）

Ribs Round Two: Brian's Korean BBQ Marinade

Christmas dinner part two - from "Authentic Taiwanese Cuisine"

The star of our Christmas meal: smoked ribs

A Very Green Christmas

Family-style Roast Chicken Dinner at Lala's House

An Indian dinner in "the best city in California"

A quick Japanese meal

Anthony Bourdain Blogs Top Chef

Panera's summer strawberry poppyseed salad

Hong Kong Style Cheese Rice Seafood Casserole

Old Fashioned Chocolate cake

Auntie #1's Mapo Tofu Recipe Goes to California

Veggie Fried Rice -- With the Right Soy Sauce!

Orecchiette with Arugula and Cherry Tomatos

Chicken Salad

Chicken Meatball Soup

Marco Polo Bakery/English School

Pancakes for Dinner

Two-sided noodle　（家常　兩面黃）