Food 4 Wibowo

Chapeau!

2011-05-31T23:39:00.000-07:00

A couple weekends ago, Porgy and I went to Chapeau! - a French restaurant in the Richmond District in San Francisco - for a date night. I've been wanting to go there for the past few years but somehow it just never happened... so I was super excited that we finally went. We loved our experience there - Chef Philippe greeted us, the server was attentive and the food was delicious (the Seared Scallop and Basil Risotto in Lobster Sauce was the best dish for the night!). I opted for the 4-course tasting menu while Porgy had the 3-course early bird special.

Kir Royale to start the dinner...

Blue Cheese Puff Pastry with Pear and Salad

Escargot in Butter, Garlic and Parsley

Seared Scallop and Basil Risotto in a Lobster Sauce

Duck Breast and Duck Leg Confit with Polenta and Bok Choy in Orange Sauce

Cassoulet de Toulouse - Canellini Beans, Shredded Braised Lamb Shoulder, Duck Leg Confit, Garlic & Toulouse sausage

Tahitian Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee

Apple Tart with Hazelnut Ice Cream

Banana Bread with Walnuts and Raisins

2011-05-31T23:37:00.000-07:00

After taking a break from baking for awhile, I made a variation of America's Test Kitchen Ultimate Banana Bread - skipping the sliced bananas on top and added some raisins soaked in rum. I made this banana bread earlier this year and I really enjoyed the strong banana taste and moist texture.

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon table salt
5 large very ripe bananas, peeled
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 large eggs
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
1 cup raisins soaked in a couple tablespoons of rum for 30 minutes, drained after
2 teaspoons granulated sugar

Directions:

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray 8 1⁄2 by 4 1⁄2-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.
Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together in large bowl.
Place the bananas in microwave-safe bowl; cover with plastic wrap and cut several steam vents in plastic with paring knife. Microwave on high power until bananas are soft and have released liquid, about 5 minutes. Transfer bananas to fine-mesh strainer placed over medium bowl and allow to drain, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes (you should have 1⁄2 to 3⁄4 cup liquid).
Transfer liquid to medium saucepan and cook over medium-high heat until reduced to 1⁄4 cup, about 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat, stir reduced liquid into bananas, and mash with potato masher until fairly smooth.
Whisk in butter, eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla. Pour banana mixture into flour mixture and stir until just combined with some streaks of flour remaining. Gently fold in walnuts and raisins, if using. Scrape batter into prepared pan and sprinkle granulated sugar evenly over loaf.
Bake until toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean, about 75 minutes.
Cool bread in pan on wire rack 15 minutes, then remove loaf from pan and continue to cool on wire rack.
Serve warm or at room temperature.

Beef Stew in White Wine

2011-05-31T23:36:00.000-07:00

We were in the mood for something comforting so I made this Beef Stew in White Wine based on a recipe from America's Test Kitchen. I didn't have put any anchovy fillets because Porgy is allergic to seafood or any salt pork because I wanted to keep it light. I substituted the red wine with white wine and added some fresh English peas for some crunch.

Ingredients:
2 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through garlic press
1 tablespoon tomato paste
3 pounds of beef stew meat, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
1 large onion, roughly chopped
3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 lb potatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 lb Crimini or button mushrooms, halved
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups white wine
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 bay leaves
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 lb fresh English peas
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon of corn starch
salt & pepper

Directions:

Heat the oven to 300 degrees.
Pat the meat cubes dry with paper towels. Do not season. Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a large heavy-bottomed Dutch oven over high heat until just starting to smoke. Cook the beef cubes in batches until well browned on all sides, about 8 minutes. Repeat the remaining beef adding another tablespoon vegetable oil if necessary, set aside.
Reduce heat to medium, add onion and carrots to the Dutch oven and stir to combine. Cook, scrapping the bottom of pan to loosen any browned bits, until onion is softened about 2 minutes. Add minced garlic, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, until no dry flour remains, about 30 seconds.
Return the beef cubes to the pan along with the beef juice, slowly add wine, scraping bottom of pan to loosen any browned bits. Increase heat to high heat and allow wine to simmer until thickened and slightly reduced, about 2 minutes. Stir in broth, bay leaves, and thyme. Bring to simmer, cover, transfer to oven, and cook for 1 1/2 hours.
Remove pot from oven; remove and discard bay leaves. Stir in potatoes, cover, return to oven, and cook until potatoes are almost tender, about 45 minutes.
Using large spoon, skim any excess fat from surface of stew. Dissolve the corn starch with 1/2 cup of water in a small bowl and pour into the pot. Stir in the English peas and mix carefully until stew is thickened about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Tortiglioni with Sausage and Asparagus in Tomato Sauce

2011-05-31T23:07:00.000-07:00

After eating plenty of Asian food in the past few days, Porgy asked me to cook a pasta dish so I whipped up this dish. It's pretty simple pasta dish - I added some asparagus and fresh basil to make it

Ingredients:
1 package of Tortiglioni
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 shallots, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried chili pepper flakes
1/2 lb sweet Italian sausage, remove from casing
1 28-oz canned whole tomatoes
1 asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 bunch of basil, de-stem and chifonade

Direction:

In a large pan, saute minced garlic, shallots and chili pepper flakes in olive oil over medium heat for 3 minutes.
Add in the sausage, breaking up the pieces and cook until done.
Roughly chopped the tomatoes and pour everything into the pan.
Add in half of the basil, cook until the sauce is boiling, lower the heat to a simmer and stir occasionally. Adjust seasoning by adjusting salt, pepper and sugar accordingly.
In a separate pasta pan, heat up enough water to cook pasta. When the water is boiling, blanch the cut asparagus for 2 minutes, rinse over cold water and set aside.
While the sauce is simmering, cook the Tortiglioni pasta for 2 minutes shorter than the time according to the direction in the package. Drain the pasta and reserve some of the pasta water.
Add in the pasta and asparagus into the tomato sauce mixture, stir gently and cook for a couple more minutes until pasta is cooked al-dente.
Sprinkle the remaining of chiffonade basil on top.

Soyaki-Braised Potatoes & Broccoli

2011-05-31T22:42:00.000-07:00

This Soyaki-Braised Potatoes and Broccoli dish is a variation from Mark Bittman's Soy-Braised Potatoes. It's a tasty vegetarian dish that's easy to make in less than 30 minutes, perfect on top of a bowl of steamed rice.

Ingredients:
1 pound baby Dutch potatoes, cut in half
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons neutral oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup soyaki sauce
1 1/2 cup water
1 pound broccoli florets, cut into pieces
1/2 pound crimini mushroom, sliced
4 green onions, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Directions:

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. When hot, add the potatoes and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Cook, stirring occasionally, until coated in oil and beginning to turn golden.
Add the soy sauce, soyaki sauce and enough water to barely cover the potatoes. Bring to a boil and stirring once in a while to make sure the potatoes aren't sticking, then the heat to medium-low so that the mixture bubbles gently.
Cook, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes almost tender, 15-20 minutes.
Add the cut broccoli florets, sliced mushroom and green onions into the pan and cook for 5 more minutes.
Taste and adjust the seasoning and garnish with toasted sesame seeds.

Oahu

2011-05-23T20:50:00.000-07:00

Aloha! According to Wikipedia, Aloha in Hawaiian language means affection, love, peace, compassion and mercy. It also has been used as an English greeting to say goodbye and hello since the middle of the 19th century. In this case, the Aloha greeting in the start of this post is a Hello to you all.

Porgy and I did a quick 5 days trip to the island of Oahu a couple weeks ago. We had been looking forward to this trip... the idea of relaxing on a sunny beach and eating good Hawaiian and Asian (mostly Japanese)-influenced food made us (well, mostly me) super excited. I researched a couple of books, online and asked our foodie friends for places to go and local restaurants to check out and tagged them on a paper map (yes, I’m old school!) to help me plan our trip better.

The weather was super gorgeous on the day we arrived in Oahu alas the weather for the rest of the days in Hawaii was not that great as it was rainy, windy and pretty cold most of the time. Although we were disappointed because we couldn’t relax on the beach as much as we wanted to, we still had a great time in Oahu. We went to several fantastic restaurants and, unfortunately, also a couple not so good restaurants.

Here are some quick recaps of the restaurants that we went to.

Highly Recommended:

Ramen Nakamura – a ramen place in Waikiki that specializes in Oxtail Ramen. It can be a bit messy gnawing those oxtails but it’s so worth the effort.

Sushi Izakaya Gaku – a sushi restaurant near Waikiki. Fresh and innovative sushi, great sake selection, friendly servers & sushi chefs!

Mitsu-Ken – a hole in the wall take out place around Kahili area that is famous for its garlic chicken.

Helena’s Hawaiian food – somewhat a hole in the wall Hawaiian restaurant (also in Kahili, almost across Mitsu-Ken). It was pretty crowded since it was featured in Travel channel’s Man vs. Food segment earlier this year. Helena (the owner) and her staff are very friendly. Love the Pipikaula- ribs (although a bit salty), the Kalua pig and LauLaau.

Fukuya Deli – a great place to buy boxed/take-out food to bring to the beach near Waikiki.

Mikawon Korean Restaurant – a Korean restaurant in Waikiki by the International Market. We wanted to eat at the restaurant but there was a wait and it’s so smoky inside so we decided to do take-out instead. Pretty good food, huge portion, friendly staff.

McDonald's – the best breakfast ever - Portuguese sausage, scrambled eggs and rice. I wished they have this in the mainland.

Thumbs down:

Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin – we went to this restaurant with high expectation because we had a fantastic experience at a Tonkatsu-specialized restaurant in Tokyo and this restaurant got 4.5 stars on Yelp. Unfortunately, the food here was not good. Period.

Dillingham Saimin – it is supposed to be the #2 saimin place in Oahu, after Palace Saimin. We didn’t go to Palace Saimin Stand because it was closed on Sunday and Monday. Unfortunately, it was not good – the wonton skin was chewy and the broth was too salty. It’s definitely nothing compared to Hamura Saimin in Lihue (Kauai).

Fennel and Orange Salad

2011-04-20T20:58:00.000-07:00

After getting disappointed with his Cheese Straws recipe, I totally scored with this Fennel and Orange Salad from the How to Cook Everything book - it's refreshing, tasty and crunchy. I thought the fennel anise taste would overpower the dish but i was wrong... marinating it with lemon & orange juice made it mellower. I added some raisins, avocado slices and a soft boil eggs and oh it's so good!

Ingredients:
1 pound fennel (1 large or 2-3 small bulbs)
3 small sweet oranges or tangerines
salt
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

Trim and core the fennel and cut into thin slices.
Squeeze the juice from one of the oranges, pour over the fennel, add salt and lemon juice, and let it sit for a couple hours while preparing the orange slices.
Peel the remaining oranges and segment into orange slices.
Add the oranges and cilantro to the fennel, toss, taste and adjust the seasoning as needed.
Add raisins, avocado slices and soft-boiled.

Chicken with Carrots, Mushroom & Figs

2011-04-19T20:36:00.000-07:00

I was searching for what to cook last Sunday and stumbled across several interesting recipes on Martha Stewart's website. Since I could not decide which one to cook, I decided to combine those recipes together and made this Pan Seared, Roast & Braised Chicken with Carrots, Mushroom and Figs. It tasted so delicious and comforting ... yum yum!

Ingredients:
4 chicken thighs
4 drumsticks
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
4 carrots, thinly sliced
1 pound assorted mushrooms (such as shiitake, cremini, and white), stemmed and quartered
1 1/2 cups chicken stock (or white wine)
1 cup quartered dried figs
1 tablespoon corn starch
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Season both sides of the chicken pieces with salt and pepper.
Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a large ovenproof skillet or a Dutch oven over medium-high heat.
Add chicken, skin side down; cook until golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Flip and cook for another 3 minutes on the other side. Transfer to oven and roast for about 10 minutes, transfer to a place and cover.
Cook the onion in the same pan with a couple tablespoons of olive oil for 2-3 minutes and then add in the carrot slices and cook for 5 more minutes.
Add mushroom, chicken stock and the chicken pieces back to the pan, cover, cook stirring occasionally for another 3 minutes.
Dissolve corn starch in a small bowl with a couple tablespoons water and add into the pan.
Add dried figs, chopped parsley and adjust seasoning if needed.

Cheese Straws

2011-04-17T20:39:00.000-07:00

I made these Cheese Straws using Mark Bittman's recipe because I wanted to have some salty snacks in the afternoon and also use them as substitutes for croutons for our salad. They are pretty easy and tasty but I noticed that the direction and measurement in the book are not very clear - I had to add more water than 'a few drops of ice water' because the dough was not doughy enough and baked them for twice as long. I think next time I make them, I would use Smitten Kitchen's recipe since hers is clearer and easier for me to follow.

Ingredients:
1/2 lb cheddar or other flavorful hard cheese
1/3 lb Parmesan cheese
2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper powder
8 tablespoons (1 stick) chilled butter, cut into chunks
~1/4 cup of ice cold water
coarse salt (optional)

Directions:

Heat oven to 450F.
Grate the cheese in a food processor, then remove from the bowl.
Add flour and cayenne to the processor and pulse to mix.
Add butter and process to combine, pulse in the grated cheese.
Knead the dough by hand until the dough comes together, adding ice water one tablespoon at a time.
Roll the dough out into a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick, using flour as necessary, and cut into long strips and about 1/4-1/2 inch wide.
Put on a lightly greased baking sheet or a silicone mat and sprinkle with salt.
Bake until golden brown, 12-15 minutes.

Bacon Fig Scones

2011-04-17T20:05:00.000-07:00

I made this Bacon Fig Scones using Macheesmo's recipe because I was still in the mood some bacon-y scones even after having Bacon Cheddar Scones in the past week and since I had some dried figs that I needed to use. I thought that if bacon and figs are great together with Brussels Sprouts, they would be perfect in pastries too - sweet and salty goodness.

Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 sticks (1/2 lb) unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1/3 lb dried figs, cut into small dice
8 slices bacon, cooked and roughly chopped
1 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 egg
2 tablespoons cream or water
raw sugar for sprinkling

Directions:

Mix flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda together.
Cut in the butter until you have pea-sized pieces.
Add in the chopped figs and bacon and stir to combine.
Add all of the liquid and stir a few times until just mix.
Remove dough from bowl and place on a lightly floured flat surface.
Pat the dough into a ball.
Using a well-floured rolling pin or palms of your hands, flatten the dough into a flat disk about 3/4 - 1 inch thick.
Cut the dough into 8 to 10 wedges, depending on the size scone you prefer.
Whisk the egg and water in a small mixing bowl.
Brush each wedge with the egg wash.
Place scones on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or silicone mat; bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown and no longer sticky in the middle.

Eggplant and Tofu in Spicy Black Bean Sauce

2011-04-14T19:42:00.000-07:00

This Eggplant and Tofu in Spicy Black Bean Sauce is another vegetarian dish that is easy to make and super tasty. It is similar to the one that I made last year but I added Chinese black bean garlic sauce after I saw this dish on Veggie Belly.

Ingredients:
4 medium Chinese eggplants
2 package of cooked fried (yellow) tofu
3 tablespoons oil
1 head of garlic, finely chopped
8 slices ginger, finely chopped
2 Serrano pepper, seeded and finely chopped
4 green onions, cut into 1-inch section
1 tablespoon chili paste (I used Sambal Oelek)
1 tablespoon Chinese black bean garlic sauce
1/2 cup water

Sauce:
1.5 tablespoons soy sauce
1.5 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon mirin
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Cut eggplants length wise and then cut each half into 1-inch pieces.
Cut tofu into 1-inch pieces.
Combine all the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.
Stir fry garlic, ginger and Serrano pepper over medium low heat in a heavy bottom pan or a wok for 5 minutes fragrant.
Add in the eggplant pieces, cook until the eggplants absorb the oil and begin to soften (about 5 minutes).
Add in tofu, green onion and the chili paste and cook for another 2 minutes.
Add the sauce and mix carefully to combine all the ingredients.
Add the water and cover the pan with a lid, lower the heat, simmer for 6-8 minutes until eggplants are fully cooked.
Stir to mix carefully and serve over rice.

Lima Beans, Leeks & Artichoke Stir-Fry

2011-04-14T19:36:00.000-07:00

I came across this recipe from Bitter Sweet when I was looking for a simple vegetable stir-fry dish that is different from the usual Chinese stir fry. I like the fact that it uses frozen vegetables so you can cook it all year round and it has artichoke - as much as I love artichoke, I always think that it’s such a hassle to peel and eat them. I cooked this at the same time I made Spaghetti with Spiced Meat Sauce so I was able to use the same pot of boiling water to blanch the vegetables and cook the pasta.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups frozen shelled and skinned lima/fava beans, blanched quickly for a couple minutes
1 bag frozen artichoke hearts (8oz or 12oz whatever available in your grocery stores), blanched quickly for 1 minute
1 red bell pepper, cut into small diced
1 leek, cut in half lengthwise and thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 Serrano pepper, finely diced
2 sprigs rosemary, finely chopped
¼ cup roughly chopped parsley
Grated zest from 1 lemon

Directions:

Cook the garlic, Serrano pepper and rosemary with a couple tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat until fragrant (~1 minute).
Add in the leeks and cook until the leeks started to soften up.
Add in the blanched lima/fava beans, artichoke hearts and red bell pepper and cook for 3 more minutes.
Add in the chopped parsley and lemon zest, stir to combine and serve.

Bacon Cheddar Scones

2011-04-13T22:43:00.000-07:00

Ever since I got back from my Napa Valley trip, I have been thinking about Bouchon Bakery’s bacon cheddar scone. I searched all over the web trying to find the recipe and if there is a Bouchon Bakery cookbook. Unfortunately, I could not find any – although now I know that the Bouchon Bakery cookbook is on the work to be released some time in 2012. I decided to use the recipe from Dork-a-thon (thank you, Emma!) because I had to have some bacon cheddar scones soon! They turned out really good although they’re not the same as Bouchon’s scones – maybe not enough cheese & bacon? Next time, I’ll try to add more to the mixture. Now, if only I know how to take good pictures of these scones... it's hard to take a good one!

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
1/2 cup chilled unsalted butter, grated
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
4 green onions, thinly sliced
10 slices bacon, cooked and chopped into 1 inch pieces
3/4-1 1/2 cup buttermilk (I used heavy whipping cream instead)
1 large egg
2 tablespoons water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°F .
Stir together flour, baking powder, salt and pepper in a large mixing bowl.
Gradually cut butter in with a pastry blender or two knives until the mixture resembles small peas.
Stir in cheese, green onions, bacon.
Add in 1 cup heavy cream to the flour and cheese mixture.
Mix by hand just until the ingredients are incorporated.
If the dough is too dry to hold together, use the remaining heavy cream, adding one tablespoon at a time, until dough is pliable and can be formed into a ball.
Stir as lightly and as little as possible to ensure a light-textured scone.
Remove dough from bowl and place on a lightly floured flat surface.
Pat the dough into a ball.
Using a well-floured rolling pin or palms of your hands, flatten the dough into a flat disk about ¾-1 inch thick.
Cut the dough into 8 to 10 wedges, depending on the size scone you prefer.
Whisk the egg and water in a small mixing bowl.
Brush each wedge with the egg wash.
Place scones on an ungreased baking sheet lined with parchment paper (or silicone mat); bake 20-22 minutes, or until golden brown and no longer sticky in the middle.
Serve warm and enjoy with a fresh brewed coffee.

Spaghetti with Spiced Meat Sauce

2011-04-11T22:05:00.000-07:00

I was not in the mood to make anything complicated and fancy because I was feeling a bit hungover from Saturday night outing so I made this simple & quick pasta dish using Martha Stewart’s recipe. I substituted the rigatoni with organic spaghetti and used ground veal instead and I used the whole (12 oz) can of tomato paste and pasta water to help thicken the sauce and add more flavor. It turned out really good and we didn’t even need to add grated parmesan cheese on top because it’s already so tasty.

Ingredients:
12 ounces spaghetti (or other pasta)
1 pound ground veal
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 12oz can tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 Serrano pepper, finely diced
1 tablespoon aged balsamic vinegar
¼ cup roughly chopped parsley

Directions:

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta until al dente; drain, and return to pot. Set aside.
While pasta is cooking, cook lamb in a large saucepan over medium-high, breaking up with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink, 3 to 5 minutes.
Add Serrano pepper, onion and garlic; season with salt and pepper.
Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is tender, 4 to 6 minutes.
Stir in tomato paste and cinnamon, and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
Add 2 cups of pasta water; bring to a boil.
Reduce to a simmer, and cook until slightly thickened, 8 to 10 minutes.
Stir in vinegar, and season again with salt and pepper.
Add pasta to the sauce pot and the chopped parsley, and toss to combine.

Thought For Food - Hands On

2011-04-11T21:06:00.000-07:00

Do you like to play with your food or ever wonder how you would cook if the evil kitchen elves place things at the bottom of the drawer and hide all your utensils? Well, if you do, this event does just that. Recently our friend Lisa at Autofuss, an amazing production studio here in SF, invited us to attend a food/cooking experience founded by her office called Thought For Food - Hands On.

We cooked a three-course meal without using any utensils, just our hands. No measuring spoons/cups, no forks/spoons/knives, no rolling pin, no whisk – just our two hands, the ingredients, a set of instructions, a couple of bowls, pot of boiling water and diagrams on how to measure ingredients with just your hands. Not to mention the endless glasses of wine.

The menu:

Italian wine
Traditional Caesar salad
Homemade pasta with pesto sauce
Tiramisu

It was a little weird at first using just your hands to scoop up the mascarpone cheese for the tiramisu and rolling out pasta dough with a carrot, but it brought me back to my childhood playing with playdough. As you can see from the pictures below, Porgy and I were not very successful in creating our pasta dish. Some couples were able to rollout their dough thin enough to make pasta strips and ours looked more like potato chips. Although the pasta texture was a bit chewy, the flavor was fantastic.

All in all, it was a fun and educational evening for us – catching up with old friends, doing some experimental cooking, getting our hands really messy and most importantly, I learned that I am totally dependent on my cooking utensils. If you’re interested in checking out Autofuss' next event, Hunger Tool, go to their site for more information.

Napa Valley

2011-04-11T17:28:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, Porgy and I took an impromptu day-off from work and went to Napa Valley for some delicious wine and food loving.

We first stopped at the Bouchon Bakery in Yountville for yummy pastries – I had the bacon cheddar scone and Porgy had the cross bun. Heavenly!

then off to Frog’s Leap Winery to sample their wine flight...

more wine flight at Grgich Hills Estate ...

and finally we had a couple glasses of smooth Cabernet Sauvignon tasting at Silver Oaks.

On the way back we stopped by at BarbersQ to fuel ourselves for the drive home. I got the full rack of baby back ribs while Porgy had the lamb sliders. Their ribs are definitely one of the better ones that I have had since I moved to the SF Bay Area a decade ago. It is annoying that I cannot find a good American-style BBQ restaurant in San Francisco. Do you know a good BBQ restaurant in San Francisco that I should check out?

PS: Since I was the designated driver, I only sipped, swirled and spit the wine. It’s hard for me but it’s the responsible thing to do.

Hawaiian Shoyu Chicken

2011-04-05T21:10:00.000-07:00

After hanging with Auntie Sandy and Mo-Fo at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, I got inspired to make a Hawaiian-inspired dish since they are from Kauai so the next day I made this Hawaiian Shoyu Chicken. It is a delicious meat dish to be eaten with rice for lunch and with salad for a light dinner.

Ingredients:
½ cup of low sodium shoyu (soy sauce)
½ cup of brown sugar or ½ cup of honey
½ cup of chicken broth or water
2 tablespoons of sake (I used dry white wine)
3-6 cloves of garlic, finely minced
2 tablespoons of fresh ginger, grated fine (skins on)
1 teaspoon of Chinese five spice powder
Hot sauce such as Sriracha to taste (I used Sambal Oelek)
5 pounds of chicken thighs
Green onions and sesame seeds for garnish

Directions:

Whisk together soy sauce, brown sugar (or honey), chicken broth, sake, garlic, ginger, five spice powder and hot sauce in a large bowl.
Add the thighs to the marinade and stick in the fridge for one hour.
Heat up the oven to 350 degrees.
Pour the chicken and the marinade onto a large baking pan, arrange so the meaty side is down. Cook for about 40 minutes, turning the chicken 3 or 4 times.
Turn up the oven to 450 degrees our put chicken in a broiler for another 5-10 minutes to brown the chicken, skin side up. Sprinkle with green onions and sesame seeds and serve with white rice.

Carrot Raisin Muffins

2011-03-20T18:10:00.000-07:00

The weather had been so bad in San Francisco lately and the forecast called for another wet and stormy night on Friday. Since I didn't want to go out in the rain by myself while Porgy did some work, I went to the Whole Foods during a rain break and got the ingredients to make Carrot Raisin Muffins. I had a similar muffin from the Golden West earlier in the week and totally loving it. I used the recipe from Craft: (check out their site for step-by-step directions and pictures) and added some extra raisins and almonds to add some sweetness and crunchiness to the muffins.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups white flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3 cups grated carrot
1 cup raisins, soaked in rum for 5 minutes and drained
1/2 cup sliced almonds
8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) butter, melted
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Zest of 1 orange
Juice of 1 orange
2/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon fresh ginger
powdered sugar (optional)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350° F.
Peel and grate about 4-5 carrots, using the regular-sized hole on a box-type cheese grater. Set aside.
Grate the ginger with a microplane grater until you have a fine pulp. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, mix together the sugars, eggs, vanilla, orange zest and juice, milk, and ginger until well combined. Stir in the melted butter.
In a large bowl, stir together the white and wheat flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Mix to combine well.
Add the grated carrot to the flour mixture and stir to coat and evenly distribute. Make a well in the center of the flour and carrot mixture.
Add in the raisins in the liquid mixture and pour everything into the flour mixture. Add ub the sliced almonds and, using a wooden spoon, stir until combined and moistened. Do not over mix.
Line muffin cups with paper liners and pour 1/4 cup batter per muffin cup. Bake on the middle rack for ~25 minutes until the muffins are golden brown or until a toothpick inserted into the muffins comes out clean.
Set on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes, remove the muffins from the tin and let them cool another 10 minutes.
Sprinkle powdered sugar and some more sliced almonds on top.

Roast Pork Hash

2011-03-16T21:31:00.000-07:00

After eating the Roast Pork Shoulder for several days in a row for lunch and dinner, both Porgy and I were getting bored with it so I had to figure out what to do with the 2-lb meat leftover. I remembered reading a NYTimes article on hash and, interestingly enough, one of the recipes was called Country Pork and Apple Hash which uses Pernil-style Roast Pork. Unfortunately, since I do not have any cast-iron pan, I had to use my non-stick pan to cook the hash so it was hard to get the meat and potatoes crisped. All in all, it was a delicious dish and it was specially satisfying to be able to eat it with a sunny side-up egg on top for a Sunday brunch.

Ingredients:
4 large russet potatoes, peeled and diced
Salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 onions, minced
2 pounds roast pork, leftover or pernil from Latin American restaurant
1/2 cup chicken broth
4 sprigs thyme, leaves only
Poached or sunny-side-up eggs, for serving

Directions:

In a large pot, cover potatoes with cold salted water, bring to a simmer and cook until barely tender (do not overcook, or boil rapidly). Drain.
Melt butter in a very wide skillet. Add onions and cook, stirring, until softened and golden around edges, about 10 minutes. Add pork and broth; cook over medium-high heat for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add potatoes and thyme leaves and cook, stirring occasionally and pressing mixture in pan until hot and edges are crisped. Serve topped with eggs, if desired.

Sausage Buns

2011-03-13T20:08:00.000-07:00

At least once or twice a week, I would stop by at a Chinese bakery in Chinatown on the way to work to get a Sausage Bun. I thought that it would be interesting to try making it this weekend so I don't have to do a pit stop on the way to work and save some money. After searching for the recipe online, I finally settled on this one on Toxo Bread because there's a detailed step-by-step instruction.

From this experience, I am convinced that baking bread is NOT my forte because it's just too complicated for me and I only had 1 bun came out looking decent and the other 7 were an embarrassment. Although they tasted good, I'd rather spent $0.95 to get one in Chinatown instead.

Ingredients:
300 grams (2 cups) all-purpose flour
5 grams (1 teaspoon) instant dried yeast 
10 grams (2 teaspoons) white granulated sugar 
6 grams (1 teaspoon) salt 
1 egg, lightly beaten
220-230 grams (1 cup) lukewarm milk

2.5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
8 pieces of hot dog sausages

egg wash: 1 egg, lightly beaten 
sesame seeds, for topping

Directions:
Follow the step-by-step direction at Toxo Bread.

Dippy Eggs and Soldiers

2011-03-10T15:48:00.000-08:00

Some of my most cherished moments with my 8 month old son happen on weekend mornings. Right after I get ready and my husband takes his turn to shower, I announce to my son "foodie time!" and I start to get my breakfast ready while letting him crawl around me in the kitchen.

The bread has been made the night before. I boil the eggs, toast the bread, put on butter, brew a cup of English Breakfast tea, and set a relatively elegant and complicated breakfast onto our dining table. Then I put my son in his high chair and hand him his banana. And we both just dig into our food, like two ferocious animals who haven't eaten in days. At the end of the feast, we look at each other, and laugh uncontrollably for no apparent reason. Him from his sugar high, and me from my egg/butter/bread/caffeine/sugar fix.

This egg/butter/bread/caffeine/sugar is possibly my favorite food combo. Or, we can call it by its fancier name: dippy eggs and soldiers. It's really just soft boiled eggs where you dip your sliced toast in them to scoop out the runny yolk. Simple yet decadent.

To make the homemade buttermilk soldiers:

I have tried many buttermilk bread recipes, and after numerous tweaks here and there, this is my favorite recipe which I have memorized. The key ingredients are wheat gluten and dry milk powder.

Ingredients (yields a small 1lb loaf):
2 and 1/4 cups of King Arthur bread flour
1 egg
1/2 cup of buttermilk
2 and 1/3 tablespoons of butter
1/4 cup of water
1 tablespoon of wheat gluten
1 tablespoon of all purpose flour
1 tablespoon of dry milk powder
1 and 1/2 tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of yeast

Directions:

Follow directions from you bread machine
Or follow directions from this recipe

To make dippy eggs:

Ingredients:
farm fresh eggs (or whatever good quality eggs you can find)

Directions:

Boil a small pot of water.
After water boils, lower carefully the eggs in water along with an egg timer.
Turn down the heat so the water is simmering.
While waiting for eggs to cook, slice your bread, butter them, and brew your tea.
Depending on how hard you want your eggs, it will take between 3 to 5 minutes to cook an egg with fairly runny yolk.

Sake Ochazuke (porridge with broiled salmon)

2011-03-09T13:49:00.000-08:00

At a glance, a bowl of porridge with a piece of no-dressing, no-marinade salmon sounds almost sad. As in, it's-Saturday-night-I-am-home-alone-slurping-instant-ramen sad. But in fact, this dish is full of rich and nice flavors and has quickly become a staple at my house.

The key is to get the right ingredients and not under- or over-cook the salmon. Once you assemble the porridge with a hint of green tea and that dashi stock umami with the fatty crispy salmon skin and slightly salty salmon flakes, the flavor combination just doesn't get better than that. Oh wait, it does, put some roasted seaweed on top. Now you've got the texture, the taste, and the warmth all from a single bowl of pure goodness.

Ingredients
4oz Salted Salmon Belly
1/2 sheet Roasted Seaweed ( like Yamamoto nori)
2 cups Cooked Rice (use Nishiki brand rice)
1 cup Green Tea (use Japanese green tea such as genmaicha for its nuttiness)
1 cup Dashi Stock
Canola Oil
Salt

Direction

Rub the salmon with a generous amount of salt
Cover and let it refrigerate overnight
Remove the salmon and rinse under cold water to remove the salt
Dry the salmon with paper towels or a kitchen towel
Drizzle oil over salmon and place under a broiler in low setting
Broil for 15 minutes until a nice crust has formed; if the skin is still not brown enough, you can turn the broiler to "high" for a couple of minutes and monitor closely to make sure the salmon doesn't burn
Break apart the salmon into flakes and set aside
Add rice to a bowl with salmon flakes and seaweed on top
When you are ready to serve, mix the hot green tea with the stock. You can add as much liquid as you would like, as long as you remember to use it in the ratio of one part tea one part dashi stock.

The Ultimate Bread Pudding

2011-03-09T12:34:00.000-08:00

I am not an advanced chef or baker, but I am quite proud of my bread pudding. I have actually converted a non-bread-pudding-believer once. Bread pudding is just such a great dessert. It's so easy, can be made ahead of time, and you can save it in the fridge and have dessert every night for the rest of the week (depends on how fast you eat it).

I started with this recipe and modified it over the year(s). Here is my version. You can use any fruit toppings really. I have tried quite a few and everything is delicious, except bananas. Do not use bananas ever. They create this inexplicable weird rancid taste.

Do use challah bread! I have tried all kinds of bread (French, sourdough, country-style, brioche). Basically anytime I have stale bread I think, hmm, I don't want them to go to waste so I will make a bread pudding out of them. Nothing tops challah bread.

Ingredients:
1 lb of Challah bread (or a little less depending on if you want your bread pudding to be more bread-y or more custard-y)
1 cup of berries (blueberries and blackberries are excellent; you can even mix a variety of berries)
2 cups of milk
1 cup of heavy cream
3 eggs
1/2 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of bourbon (optional)
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon of salt
butter (for pan)

Directions:

Use day-old Challah bread and tear it into 1" pieces and set them aside in a large bowl.
Whisk eggs, sugar and salt together.
Add the milk a little at a time and whisk to combine.
Gently stir in cream, vanilla, and bourbon.
Pour the milk mixture over the bread cubes and berries and stir to combine, pressing bread down to get the floaters if neccessary; make sure bread cubes are all covered.
Cover and refrigerate over night.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter a 9"x9" casserole pan.
Bake for an hour and let it cool slightly before you serve.

Date Night at Chotto

2011-03-08T23:28:00.000-08:00

Today was one of those days that we both were very blah at the end of the day and we felt that we needed something to cheer us up. We were supposed to go to Tsunami swimming practice tonight but we just did not have it in us to do it and we decided that, instead of going there and do a bad swim session, we would do an impromptu date night at Chotto - a new Japanese Izakaya restaurant in the Marina district.

We started our dinner with a carafe of hot Hakutsuru sake, Imo Age (garlic french fries with spicy miso aioli) and Tori Age (crispy chicken wings, shichimi buffalo sauce).

Bacon Mochi (applewood smoked bacon, mochi, nori) - Very interesting combination, I kind of liked it.

Tsukune (chicken meatball, eggyolk, homemade teriyaki) - I can eat multiple orders of this. Delicious!!!

Tontoro (pork cheek, sea salt, shichimi chili) - Yum yum...

Miso Tonkotsu (pork & chicken broth, miso, chashu) - I think they gave us the Karamiso Tonkotsu (the spicy miso ramen) since it had a nice spiciness to it.

After dinner, we decided to stop by at the La Folie Lounge for some night caps on the way home. Porgy got Dark and Stormy (Goslings dark rum, ginger beer, lime, canton ginger cognac) and I Rye Manhattan (Rittenhouse rye, carpano antica sweet vermouth, bitters).

So did I feel guilty for skipping swimming practice? Eh... kind of but not really. I think it's nice to be able to do this impromptu date nights to keep ourselves sane. We promised ourselves we would go to the practice on Wednesday and Thursday but we'll see how that goes.

Roast Pork Shoulder

2011-03-07T21:52:00.000-08:00

I was so confused on what to make for this week’s lunch. I knew I wanted to cook the Minestrone soup for dinner because of the cold weather but bringing the soup to the office is somewhat out of the question because of potential spillage issue. After browsing online, I decided to make Roast Pork Shoulder – which can be used for lunch with some kind of side vegetables and carbs or for the toppings on our dinner salad – using a recipe from this blog My husband cooks.

It seems that the trick of making a good roast of a big piece of meat are 1) marinate at least overnight and 2) cook it slow and steady in a low oven temperature. I knew about the importance of marinating but stupid me I didn’t read the whole cooking instructions on the site until Sunday afternoon when I found out that it needed to be cooked for 9-10 hours at 250F. After scrambling around to do some more online research while preheating the oven, I found out from Simply Recipes that I can cook it in a much shorter time and still get the caramelization that I want by first cook it uncovered in a 450F oven for 30 minutes and then cook it covered in a 325F oven for 3 hours. Phew! The roast pork shoulder turned out to be super tasty and moist – thanks to all those pork fat!

Ingredients:
4 lbs pork shoulder (boneless)
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup salt
2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons cumin
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 cup of dry white wine

Directions:

In a small bowl mix together the brown sugar, salt, paprika, cumin, red pepper flakes, cayenne, and turmeric.
Pat dry the pork shoulder with paper towels and rub the seasoning mixture evenly over the pork shoulder inside and out.
Wrap the pork shoulder tightly in plastic wrap to hold the marinade against the skin, put it in a large bowl and marinate overnight. It will give up a cup or more of liquid so make sure your container is big enough to prevent spillage.
1 hour before cooking, take out the pork shoulder from the refrigerator.
Preheat the oven to 450°.
Place the pork shoulder on aluminum foil wrapper roasting pan (so it’s easier to clean) and roast uncovered for 30 minutes.
Turn the oven heat down to 325° and add the wine and cover the roasting pan with another sheet of aluminum foil and slow roast for 3 hours until the pork shoulder is very tender and pulls apart easily when probed with a fork. If you want, you can add some more white water every hour or so to baste the pork shoulder.
Transfer the pork shoulder to a serving plate and drizzle the pan juice over the meat.

Meyer Lemon and Blood Orange Marmalade

2011-03-06T18:29:00.000-08:00

Since the Alameda antique fair was canceled because of the rain, I found myself with plenty of time to kill today. We went to grab coffee at Contraband, had brunch at a mom-and-pop diner nearby, cleaned up the aquarium and the house, finished off tax documents, cooked Roast Pork Shoulder (which is still cooking in the oven as I'm blogging) and it's not even dinner time yet. So I decided to catch up with my blog and post this Meyer Lemon and Blood Orange Marmalade that I made about a month ago.

I have never made jams or marmalade before but after having my neighbor's tasty apricot jam, I was compelled to try making it and found that this NYTimes marmalade recipe is easy enough for me to follow. It turned out pretty good although next time I would not use the white part of the orange as it makes the marmalade a bit bitter.

Ingredients:
3 medium Meyer lemons, ends trimmed
1 medium blood orange, ends trimmed
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups Demerara (raw) sugar

Directions:

Place several small plates or saucers in the freezer.
Wash the citrus well under warm running water. Cut the lemons and orange in half lengthwise. Cut each half into 1/8-inch segments, lengthwise. Pluck out any exposed membrane and remove the seeds.
Measure the cut citrus. You should have 2 1/2 cups, but if you have less, use the same volume of water and sugar as you have citrus. (If there are only 2 cups, for example, use 2 cups water and 2 cups sugar.) Place the citrus and the same volume of water into a large, heavy-bottomed pot. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook until the peels are very soft and fully cooked, about 20 to 30 minutes.
Add the sugar to the pot, stir to combine. Turn the heat up to high and bring back to a boil. Lower the heat to medium and let the marmalade simmer until set. It should take about 20 to 30 minutes, but start checking after 15 minutes to see if it is set by spooning a little onto a chilled plate from the freezer. If it looks like jam and not runny syrup, it’s ready. (If you want to use a candy thermometer, you are looking for 222 degrees.)
Allow marmalade to cool to room temperature before serving. Store leftovers in the refrigerator and use within a month.

Minestrone (kind of) Soup

2011-03-06T16:26:00.000-08:00

Today I made this soup based on a simplified Minestrone recipe on NYTimes in preparation for the cold and wet weather coming to San Francisco. To make it even healthier and substantial, I added some sliced sausages and a can of white kidney (cannellini) bean. I am not really sure if I can still call it Minestrone soup or not but I know that now I am ready to take on the rain!

Ingredients:
4 Italian sausages, sliced
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
4 garlic, finely chopped
2 potatoes, cut to 1-inch sections
1 can diced tomatoes, drained & rinsed
1 can white kidney (cannellini) beans, drained & rinsed
1 cup of dry white wine
2 cup of vegetable (or chicken) broth
2 cup of water
1/2 cup of chopped parsley
1 cup of frozen peas
salt & pepper

Directions:

Heat up 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a Dutch oven over a medium heat for a couple of minutes and saute the sliced sausages for a few minutes until totally cooked and set aside.
Add a couple more tablespoons of olive oil into the pan and saute the chopped onion, carrot, celery rib and minced garlic for 5 minutes.
Add the cubes potatoes and cooked for 2 minutes.
Add the drained tomatoes, white wine, broth, and water.
Cook until boil and lower the heat to a simmer for 10 minutes.
Add the drained beans and simmer for another 15 minutes.
Add in the chopped parsley and frozen peas.

Stir-fried Yu Choi and Shiitake Mushroom

2011-02-27T20:33:00.000-08:00

Here is a simple and delicious vegetable dish that can be used as a main dish or a side dish for something like Osso Buco since it can stand up for itself. It took me only 5 minutes to prep and another 5 minutes to cook the dish.

Ingredients:
1 lb yu choi or other chinese vegetables, ends trimmed
1/2 lb shiitake mushroom, sliced
6 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1-inch ginger, julienned
2 tablespoons olive oil

Sauce:
1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 wine
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Directions:

Combine all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
Heat the oil in a wok on a medium high heat and, when hot, add the garlic and ginger and stir-fry quickly for 1 minute or so until fragrant.
Add in the vegetables, mushroom, and sauce and stir until combined. Cover and cook for 2-3 more minutes.

Osso Buco

2011-02-27T20:07:00.000-08:00

It's going to snow in San Francisco... it's going to snow in San Francisco... NOT! After a non-stop hoopla in the news in the past week, snow did not arrive in San Francisco this weekend. Although it was cold, it was sunny all weekend long and it reminded me of the days when Arthur just laid out on the balcony or in front of the window enjoying the sun. My beautiful dog Arthur passed away 2 weeks ago because of lymphoma cancer, he came to my life, turned it up side down for good and I missed him dearly.

I made this Simply Recipes' Osso Buco in expectation that it would be an overcast wet and cold weekend and in memory of Arthur because I know that he would enjoy gnawing the bone marrow out of the shanks. I couldn't find any veal shanks so I used beef shanks instead which means I had to cook it for another hour to get it tender. I served this delicious goodness on top of steamed white rice, sprinkle with gremolata and a side of Stir-fried Yu Choi and Shiitake Mushroom.

Ingredients:
1/4 pound pancetta, diced 1/4 inch cubes (do not substitute bacon)
2-1/2 to 3 pounds veal shanks (4 to 6 pieces 2-3 inches thick)
1/2 cup diced carrot (1/4 inch cubes)
1/2 cup diced celery (1/4 inch cubes)
1 medium onion, diced 1/4 inch pieces
2 tablespoons (about 4 cloves) chopped garlic
3-4 sprigs fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon dried)
1 cup dry white wine
1-2 cups chicken or veal stock
flour for dusting the meat before browning
salt and pepper

Gremolata:
2 tablespoons minced flat (Italian) parsley
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
2 cloves garlic, crushed and minced

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325°F.
Heat a dutch oven on the stove top over medium heat for about five minutes. Add pancetta to pan, cook, stirring occasionally. When the pancetta is crispy and most of the fat has rendered (about 5 minutes of cooking), remove the pancetta to a plate covered with some paper towel and set aside. If necessary, drain off all but two tablespoons of the fat from the pan.
Season the veal shank well with salt and pepper. Dredge the veal shanks through some flour, shake off any excess, and add the meat to the hot fat in the pan. Increase the heat to medium high and cook the meat on each side until well browned (about 5 minutes per side). Remove the shanks to a plate, set aside.
Add the onions, carrots, and celery to the dutch oven. Cook the onion mixture, stirring frequently, until the onions are translucent (about five minutes) and toss in the garlic and thyme. Continue cooking until the vegetables just begin to brown (about 10 minutes).
Add the shanks and the pancetta back to the pan. Pour in the wine, and then add enough stock to come a little more than half way up the side of the shanks. Bring to a simmer. Cover the pan and put it in the oven to cook until the meat is tender, about 2-2.5 hours.
Combine the gremolata ingredients, place in a separate small serving dish.

Thomas Keller's Gruyère Gougères

2011-02-21T10:15:00.000-08:00

I first heard of gougères from Ruth Reichl's book Garlic and Sapphires. The way she described these little cheesy wonders that are so simple, elegant, and so frequently made in the household of a former NYT food critic really makes you salivate. Since then, I have made gruyère gougères several times. The most recent time I opted to use a Thomas Keller recipe. As usual, any recipe touched by Thomas Keller is instantly 50% more complicated than any other recipes. But hey, what other Thomas Keller dishes can be done under an hour (even by a slow cook like me)?

So next time you have friends over and need an appetizer or snack to munch on, make gougères. And make sure they are hot out of the oven when you serve them. That's when they are the puffiest, butteriest, and tastiest.

Note: The recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of salt and the gougères ended up way too salty for me. Since the cheese already has a salty flavor, I'd adjust the salt amount by half next time. Also, add some cayenne pepper! It will make the flavors richer and more intense.

Ingredients:
1 cup water
7 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon kosher salt (I suggest using much less)
1 pinch of sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour4 large eggs (up to 5 eggs)
1 1/4 cups grated Gruyère
Freshly ground white pepper
1 pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with Silpats or parchment paper.
In a medium saucepan, combine the water, butter, salt and sugar and bring to a boil. Add all the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium, and stir with a wooden spoon for 2 minutes, or until the mixture forms a ball and the excess moisture has evaporated. (If the ball forms more quickly, continue to cook and stir for a full 2 minutes.)
Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle and beat for about 30 seconds at medium speed to cool slightly. Add 4 eggs and continue to mix until completely combined and the batter has a smooth, silky texture. Stop the machine and lift up the beater to check the consistency of the batter. The batter in the mixing bowl should form a peak with a tip that falls over. If it is too stiff, beat in the white of the remaining egg. Check again and, if necessary, add the yolk. Finally, mix in 3/4 cup of the Gruyère and adjust the seasoning with salt and white pepper.
Fill a pastry bag fitted with a 3/8-inch plain pastry tip with the gougère batter. Pipe the batter into one-tablespoon mounds on the baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between the gougères as the mixture will spread during the baking. Sprinkle the top of each gougère with about 1/2 teaspoon of the remaining grated cheese.
Bake for 7 to 8 minutes or until they puff and hold their shape. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees F and bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes. When the gougères are done, they should be a light golden brown color. When you break one open, it should be hollow; the inside should be cooked but still slightly moist. Remove the pans from the oven and serve the gougères while hot.

Alton Brown's City Ham

2011-02-21T10:10:00.000-08:00

If you are going, what is City Ham? Is it made from urban pigs? Here is what chef/scientist/nerd Alton Brown has to say about city style ham: A city ham is basically any brined ham that's packed in a plastic bag, held in a refrigerated case and marked "ready to cook", "partially cooked" or "ready to serve". Better city hams are also labeled "ham in natural juices".

Simply put: those big wrapped up hefty chunk of ham you see in grocery stores that's not labeled "lunch meat." I will suggest though, get a piece with a bone in it! They yield a much tastier result.

This recipe does require hours of work, waiting for the ham to slowly roast in the oven. It's perfect for big get-togethers, like Thanksgiving, where you are hosting a large number of people, and will be stuck in the kitchen making food all day anyway. After all, City Ham is a very low maintenance dish. Prep work doesn't take very long, and it makes a very beautiful and delicious entree.

Ingredients:
1 city style (brined) ham
1/4 cup brown mustard
2 cups dark brown sugar
1-ounce bourbon (poured into a spritz bottle)
2 cups crushed ginger snap cookies

Directions:

Heat oven to 250 degrees F.
Remove ham from bag, rinse and drain thoroughly.
Place ham, cut side down, in a roasting pan. Using a small paring knife or clean utility knife set to the smallest blade setting, score the ham from bottom to top, spiraling clockwise as you cut. (If you're using a paring knife, be careful to only cut through the skin and first few layers of fat). Rotate the ham after each cut so that the scores are no more than 2-inches across. Once you've made it all the way around, move the knife to the other hand and repeat, spiraling counter clockwise. The aim is to create a diamond pattern all over the ham. (Don't worry too much about precision here.)
Tent the ham with heavy duty foil, insert a thermometer, and cook for 3 to 4 hours or until the internal temperature at the deepest part of the meat registers 130 degrees F.
Remove and use tongs to pull away the diamonds of skin and any sheets of fat that come off with them.
Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Dab dry with paper towels, then brush on a liberal coat of mustard, using either a basting brush or a clean paint brush (clean as in never-touched paint). Sprinkle on brown sugar, packing loosely as you go until the ham is coated. Spritz this layer lightly with bourbon, then loosely pack on as much of the crushed cookies as you can.
Insert the thermometer (don't use the old hole) and return to the oven (uncovered). Cook until interior temperature reaches 140 degrees F, approximately 1 hour.
Let the roast rest for 1/2 hour before carving.

Momofuku's Crack Pie

2011-02-21T09:39:00.000-08:00

Crack is addicting. That's what we learned from watching Dave Chappelle before he became a underground ghost comedian weaving in and out of small comedy clubs in various cities. So when Vincent challenged me to make a dessert that has "crack" in its name, well, my mouth watered. The only thing that kept me from making it as soon as I looked at the recipe was the fact that the recipe had three parts, and total time adds up to over 10 hours. Oh no.

But once I actually read the recipe again and got the ingredients ready, the process isn't gruesome at all. It's like any dessert, really. Mix the flour, eggs, cream, then bake until the sweet aroma from the oven fills up the kitchen.

Okay, maybe it's a little more complicated than baking a tray of chocolate cookies and more importantly, you do need the patience to wait for it to chill in the fridge for hours. But trust me, the wait is worthwhile! And once the pies are ready, unlike other freshly made desserts that need to consumed within a day or so, crack pies are good for over a week. Whenever you crave something sweet and buttery and gooey, just take out a slice from the fridge and enjoy.

I used this recipe from LA Times, but most recipes you find online don't vary too much.

You can dust the sugar powder in whatever shapes you like. Just make a cutout from a piece of paper and dust the powder on top then remove the paper. Here I did a bunny shape to celebrate Lunar New Year (it's the year of the Hare).

Cookie for crust

Ingredients:
2/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (3 ounces) flour
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) softened butter
1/3 cup (2 1/2 ounces) light brown sugar
3 tablespoons (1 1/4 ounces) sugar
1 egg
1 cup (3 1/2 ounces) rolled oats

Directions:

Heat the oven to 375 degrees.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat the butter, brown sugar and sugar until light and fluffy.
Whisk the egg into the butter mixture until fully incorporated.
With the mixer running, beat in the flour mixture, a little at a time, until fully combined. Stir in the oats until incorporated.
Spread the mixture onto a 9-inch-by-13-inch baking sheet and bake until golden brown and set, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and cool to the touch on a rack. Crumble the cooled cookie to use in the crust.

Crust

Ingredients:

Crumbled cookie for crust
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1 1/2 tablespoons (3/4 ounce) brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Combine the crumbled cookie, butter, brown sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse until evenly combined and blended (a little of the mixture clumped between your fingers should hold together).
Divide the crust between 2 (10-inch) pie tins (smaller pie tins are okay too; you will just end up with a thicker pie).
Press the crust into each shell to form a thin, even layer along the bottom and sides of the tins.
Set the prepared crusts aside while you prepare the filling.

Filling

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups (10 1/2 ounces) sugar
3/4 cup plus a scant 3 tablespoons (7 ounces) light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup plus 1 teaspoon (3/4 ounce) milk powder
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted
3/4 cup plus a scant 2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 egg yolks
2 prepared crusts
Powdered sugar, garnish

Directions:

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, brown sugar, salt and milk powder. Whisk in the melted butter, then whisk in the heavy cream and vanilla.
Gently whisk in the egg yolks, being careful not to add too much air.
Divide the filling evenly between the 2 prepared pie shells.
Bake the pies for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 325 degrees and bake until the filling is slightly jiggly and golden brown (similar to a pecan pie), about 10 minutes. Remove the pies and cool on a rack.
Refrigerate the cooled pies until well chilled. The pies are meant to be served cold, and the filling will be gooey. Dust with powdered sugar before serving. Pies are good for up to a week in the fridge.

Fatty 'Cue Brussels Sprouts

2011-01-31T17:57:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday, Porgy told me that one of his friends made a snide comment because we served Chinese take-out food, cheese and crackers, and frozen Trader Joe’s snacks when we had them over before. It totally annoyed me that someone would say that so I decided to make Roast Leg of Lamb with Roasted Potatoes and Fatty ‘Cue Brussels Sprouts (which I had planned to make on Sunday) that Saturday evening and opened up a nice bottle of Italian Rosso to de-anger myself.

I seasoned the (boneless) leg of lamb with olive oil, salt, pepper and several rosemary sprigs and roasted it in a 400F oven for 20 minutes per pound with the fat side up and used similar seasoning for potatoes (and roasted them for ~30-40 minutes until golden brown and crisped). I saw the Fatty ‘Cue Brussels Sprouts recipe a few months ago on NYTimes website and had been wanting to try it out but had totally forgotten about it until Mo-Fo brought it to my attention again last week because one of her coworkers made it and raved how good it is.

Note: I did not have shallots and fresh Thai bird-eye chili so I used 1/2 of red onions and frozen Thai green chili instead. In the future, I think I might add more chili or chili paste (like Sambal Oelek) at the end to give it more zip.

Ingredients:
2 Thai bird chilies, stems removed
2 garlic cloves
2 small shallots
4 ounces double-smoked bacon, cut crosswise into thin strips
1 tablespoon coriander seeds, crushed
1 pound brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
Kosher salt
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon maple syrup

Directions:

Combine one of the chilies with the garlic and shallots in a food processor and purée, or use a mortar and pestle.
Fry bacon in a large sauté pan over medium heat until most of the fat is rendered, about 5 minutes. Add coriander seeds and stir until fragrant. Transfer bacon to paper towels using a slotted spoon.
Add brussels sprouts to the pan, cut sides down, and cook over medium heat until golden brown on the undersides, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and transfer to paper towels.
Add garlic-shallot paste and cook over low heat until fragrant, about one minute. Return brussels sprouts to pan and cook, stirring, 1 to 2 minutes. Add chicken broth and bring to a simmer.
Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer until sprouts are mostly tender, about 5 minutes. Uncover and reduce broth to the consistency of a glaze.
Thinly slice the remaining chili. Remove pan from heat and stir in the syrup, bacon and sliced chilies. Sprinkle with salt.

Nobu style Miso-glazed Black Cod

2011-01-30T17:29:00.000-08:00

My friend Vincent and I used to work together. Often when we were sitting in our cubicles looking at spreadsheets of numbers and graphs, we have another window open with pictures of beautiful food on them. We would trade recipes, tips on the newest and hottest restaurants, and our current cravings. Anyway, this year Vincent invited me to guest blog and I am going to start it with one of my favorite dishes.

In fact, if I had a last meal, it'll certainly include this as an entree: Miso-glazed black cod. Everytime I order this in a restaurant, I close my eyes and go "mmmmm" (at least in mind I do). The succulent buttery tender fish is indescribably good. Once you've had cod, all the other fishes taste like overcooked dry pieces of chicken.

Unfortunately, it took me a while to realize how easy it is to make it yourself! It's far cheaper, way easier, and no one will care if you want to lick the plate clean afterwards.

Here is the recipe I used from TheKitchn. All the Nobu inspired miso-glazed black cod recipes online are pretty much the same.

Ingredients for two:

1 black cod fillet (half a pound)

2 tablespoons sake
2 tablespoons mirin
2 tablespoons white miso paste
1.5 tablespoons sugar

Directions:

Two to three days beforehand, make the Nobu-style Saikyo Miso marinade and marinate the fish.
Bring the sake and the mirin to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Boil for 20 seconds to evaporate the alcohol. Turn the heat down to low and add the miso paste, mixing with a wooden spoon. When the miso has dissolved completely, turn the heat up to high again and add the sugar, stirring constantly with the wooden spoon to ensure that the bottom of the pan doesn’t burn. Remove from heat once the sugar is fully dissolved. Cool to room temperature.
Pat the black cod fillets thoroughly dry with paper towels. Slather the fish with the miso marinade and place in a non-reactive dish or bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Leave to steep in refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. If you don't have enough time, marinating it for 24 hours is okay too, but 3 days yields a much tastier result.

To cook the fish:

Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C, gas 6). Preheat a grill or broiler. Use "high" for broiler. Lightly wipe off any excess miso clinging to the fillets but don't rinse it off.
Place the fish on the grill, or in a broiler pan, and grill or broil until the surface of the fish turns brown and the marinate starts to bubble. Then bake for 10 minutes.

To serve with rice and bok choy:

Serve with Japanese rice. For bok choy, you can put them in the oven along with the cod. Drizzle them with olive oil and a little salt. Roast for about 5-7 minutes.

America's Test Kitchen Ultimate Banana Bread

2011-01-29T23:57:00.000-08:00

I don’t usually eat breakfast because I am not a big fan of cereal or granola and I’d rather have an extra 15 minutes of sleep. I know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day (I can see Porgy agreeing to this while rolling his eyes…) but it’s just so cumbersome if you don’t have anything simple to heat up and eat right away.

I’ve made banana breads before and I love them since they smell and taste wonderful and they are perfect for breakfast. This America's Test Kitchen Ultimate Banana Bread recipe calls for 5 large bananas to amplify the banana flavor and reducing the liquid from the bananas so the bread won’t get too soggy. So I lifted Arthur up from my lap, put him on Porgy’s and went to Chinatown to buy some B-A-N-A-N-A-S while the song stuck in my head.

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon table salt
6 large very ripe bananas (about 2 1/4 pounds), peeled (see note)
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 large eggs
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped (optional)
2 teaspoons granulated sugar

Directions:

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray 8 1⁄2 by 4 1⁄2-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.
Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together in large bowl.
Place 5 bananas in microwave-safe bowl; cover with plastic wrap and cut several steam vents in plastic with paring knife. Microwave on high power until bananas are soft and have released liquid, about 5 minutes. Transfer bananas to fine-mesh strainer placed over medium bowl and allow to drain, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes (you should have 1⁄2 to 3⁄4 cup liquid).
Transfer liquid to medium saucepan and cook over medium-high heat until reduced to 1⁄4 cup, about 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat, stir reduced liquid into bananas, and mash with potato masher until fairly smooth.
Whisk in butter, eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla. Pour banana mixture into flour mixture and stir until just combined with some streaks of flour remaining. Gently fold in walnuts, if using. Scrape batter into prepared pan.
Slice remaining banana diagonally into 1⁄4-inch-thick slices. Shingle banana slices on top of either side of loaf, leaving 1 1⁄2-inch-wide space down center to ensure even rise. Sprinkle granulated sugar evenly over loaf.
Bake until toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean, 55 to 75 minutes.
Cool bread in pan on wire rack 15 minutes, then remove loaf from pan and continue to cool on wire rack.
Serve warm or at room temperature.

Note:

Be sure to use very ripe, heavily speckled (or even black) bananas in this recipe.
This recipe can be made using 5 thawed frozen bananas; since they release a lot of liquid naturally, they can bypass the microwaving in step 2 and go directly into the fine-mesh strainer.
Do not use a thawed frozen banana in step 4; it will be too soft to slice. Instead, simply sprinkle the top of the loaf with sugar.
The test kitchen’s preferred loaf pan measures 8 1⁄2 by 4 1⁄2 inches; if you use a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan, start checking for doneness five minutes earlier than advised in the recipe.
The texture is best when the loaf is eaten fresh, but it can be stored (cool completely first), covered tightly with plastic wrap, for up to 3 days.

Chicken Adobo

2011-01-28T22:48:00.000-08:00

How do you mend a broken heart? No, it’s not what you think… Porgy and I aren’t going to Splitville – well, not that I know of anyway. However, something similarly tragic and saddening happened a couple weeks ago... we found out that Arthur has a lymphoma cancer. After seeing a vet oncologist for consultation, we decided not to do any treatments on him because it’s not fair for him (and for us) to have him suffer through all the medications that he has to take and the chemotherapy sessions that he has to endured just to prolong his life for possibly another year. He still behaves normally (very food oriented and ever so grumpy in the morning) and not showing any other lymphoma symptoms except the enlarged glands so we don’t have to do the inevitable thing anytime soon. I think he’s actually enjoying the fact that we are totally spoiling him nowadays.

Since we’re stuck at home even more (because we feel guilty if we do not spend more time with him), we decided to do some more cooking - Porgy made America's Test Kitchen’s Chicago-style deep dish pizza while I made NYTimes’ Chicken Adobo after reading the their article on how each Filipinos make Chicken Adobo a bit differently from the other person.

I have never made Chicken Adobo with coconut milk before so I thought it is kind of interesting that the recipe calls for it and the marinade mixture smells fantastic. Although I love the taste, I thought the vinegar is a bit too overwhelming in both the chicken and the sauce so if I have to make some adjustment to the recipe, I would cut back on the vinegar and maybe added some palm sugar to help the chicken to caramelize even more.

Ingredients:
1 cup coconut milk
¼ cup soy sauce
1½ cup rice vinegar
12 garlic cloves, peeled
3 whole bird’s-eye chilies or other fiery chili
3 bay leaves
1½ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
3 to 4 pounds chicken thighs

Directions:

Combine all of the marinade ingredients in a large, nonreactive bowl or resealable plastic freezer bag. Add the chicken and turn to coat. Refrigerate overnight or for at least 2 hours.
Place chicken and marinade in a large lidded pot or Dutch oven over high heat and bring to a boil. Immediately reduce heat to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through and tender, around 30 minutes.
Heat broiler. Transfer chicken pieces to a large bowl, raise heat under the pot to medium-high, and reduce the sauce until it achieves almost the consistency of cream, about 10 minutes. Remove bay leaves and chilies.
Place chicken pieces on a roasting pan and place under broiler for 5 to 7 minutes, until they begin to caramelize. Remove, turn chicken, baste with sauce and repeat, 3 to 5 minutes more. Return chicken to sauce and cook for a few minutes more, then place on a platter and drizzle heavily with sauce.

America's Test Kitchen Chicago-Style Deep-Dish Pizza

2011-01-28T13:48:00.000-08:00

Being someone who cooks as rare as a Sade concert, I decided I would take a stab at making a Chicago-Style Deep-Dish Pizza recipe found on America's Test Kitchen website. The recipe seemed somewhat simple and being a visual person, I appreciated the detailed instructions and the illustrations showing how you roll out the dough.

It started out simple and I followed the instructions to a tee. But, by not reading the instructions from beginning to end when I started, I accidentally put all the butter in when making the dough. It called for "3 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted and plus 4 tablespoons, softened". When I first read it, I thought it was asking to put in all the butter in at once. I know is sounds ridiculous, but that is what happens when you never cook. Needless to say, the dough didn't rise and just stuck to the counter when I tried to roll it out. Strike 1! The sauce on the other hand came out perfectly. At least I got that one right on the first try.

After realizing how I screwed up the dough, I decided to try again. With correct amount of butter, the dough came out perfectly. It rolled out smoothly, didn't stick and fit perfectly into the pan.

When applying the toppings, I first applied the Mozzarella cheese. What I thought I read was to apply 2 cups of cheese which I couldn't believe how much cheese there was. I went ahead and applied the sauce, pepperoni and black olives, my favorite toppings. It cooked as described and came out with a golden brown crust. When it came time to cut a slice, the cheese just oozed out. It looked like you were cutting into a lemon custard pie, the cheese was so thick. I tried eating a few slices but it was so rich with cheese it made me nauseous and had to throw it out. After reading the recipe again, it dawned on me that it was two cups AFTER you shred the cheese, not two cups (read: 1 lb) of pre-graded cheese. Strike 2!

I still had another dough role from the second time, so I give it another try. This time I only used 1 cup of shredded cheese, pepperoni, ground sausage and caramelized onions. Finally, after all the stress I finally had a good pizza that was actually edible.

Notes from the ATK folks:

This recipe makes two 9-inch pizzas, serving 4 to 6 each.
Place a damp kitchen towel under the mixer and watch it at all times during kneading to prevent it from wobbling off the counter.
Handle the dough with slightly oiled hands, or it might stick.
ATK prefers Dragone Whole Milk Mozzarella; part-skim mozzarella can also be used, but avoid pre-shredded cheese, as it does not melt well.
ATK preferred brands of crushed tomatoes are Tuttorosso and Muir Glen.
Grate the onion on the large holes of a box grater.

Ingredients:

Dough:

3 1/4 cups (16 1/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 cup (2 3/4 ounces) yellow cornmeal

1 1/2 teaspoons table salt

2 teaspoons sugar

2 1/4 teaspoons instant or rapid-rise yeast

1 1/4 cups water (10 ounces), room temperature

3 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted, plus 4 tablespoons, softened

1 teaspoon plus 4 tablespoons olive oil

Sauce:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup grated onion , from 1 medium onion (see note)

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

table salt

2 medium garlic cloves , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 2 teaspoons)

1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes (see note)

1/4 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh basil leaves

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

ground black pepper

Toppings:

1 pound mozzarella cheese , shredded (about 4 cups)

1/2 ounce grated Parmesan cheese (about 1/4 cup)
Pepperoni, cooked sausage, caramelized onion, pitted olives, roughly chopped basil

Instructions:

For the Dough:

Mix flour, cornmeal, salt, sugar, and yeast in bowl of stand mixer fitted with dough hook on low speed until incorporated, about 1 minute.
Add water and melted butter and mix on low speed until fully combined, 1 to 2 minutes, scraping sides and bottom of bowl occasionally.
Increase speed to medium and knead until dough is glossy and smooth and pulls away from sides of bowl, 4 to 5 minutes. (Dough will only pull away from sides while mixer is on. When mixer is off, dough will fall back to sides.)
Using fingers, coat large bowl with 1 teaspoon olive oil, rubbing excess oil from fingers onto blade of rubber spatula. Using oiled spatula, transfer dough to bowl, turning once to oil top; cover tightly with plastic wrap.
Let rise at room temperature until nearly doubled in volume, 45 to 60 minutes.

For the Sauce:

While dough rises, heat butter in medium saucepan over medium heat until melted.
Add onion, oregano, and 1/2 teaspoon salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid has evaporated and onion is golden brown, about 5 minutes.
Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Stir in tomatoes and sugar, increase heat to high, and bring to simmer.
Lower heat to medium-low and simmer until reduced to 2 1/2 cups, 25 to 30 minutes.
Off heat, stir in basil and oil, then season with salt and pepper.

To Laminate the Dough:

Adjust oven rack to lower position and heat oven to 425 degrees.
Using rubber spatula, turn dough out onto dry work surface and roll into 15- by 12-inch rec-tangle. Using offset spatula, spread softened butter over surface of dough, leaving 1/2-inch border along edges. Starting at short end, roll dough into tight cylinder.
With seam side down, flatten cylinder into 18- by 4-inch rectangle. Cut rectangle in half crosswise.
Working with 1 half, fold into thirds like business letter; pinch seams together to form ball.
Repeat with remaining half.
Return balls to oiled bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let rise in refrigerator until nearly doubled in volume, 40 to 50 minutes.

Combining them all:

Coat two 9-inch round cake pans with 2 tablespoons olive oil each.
Transfer 1 dough ball to dry work surface and roll out into 13-inch disk about 1/4 inch thick.
Transfer dough to pan by rolling dough loosely around rolling pin and unrolling into pan.
Lightly press dough into pan, working into corners and 1 inch up sides.
If dough resists stretching, let it relax 5 minutes before trying again.
Repeat with remaining dough ball.

For each pizza, sprinkle 2 cups grated mozzarella evenly over surface of dough.
Spread 1 1/4 cups tomato sauce over cheese, add whatever toppings you want to use and sprinkle 2 tablespoons Parmesan over sauce.
Bake until crust is golden brown, 20 to 30 minutes.
Remove pizza from oven and let rest 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Thai-style Chicken with Basil, Celery and Red Cabbage

2011-01-09T21:37:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I changed up my meal this week from Italian-style Pesto alla Trapanese to Thai-style Chicken with Basil, Celery and Red Cabbage. I got the idea for this dish from America's Test Kitchen and added some sliced celery and red cabbage because I had them in my fridge and I wanted to add more vegetables & fiber to the dish.

I really love the flavor of this dish (thanks to the combination of fish sauce, chili and basil) and the crunchiness of the cabbage. I guess I will have something to look forward to during lunch time tomorrow!

Ingredients:
2 cups fresh basil leaves , tightly packed
6 medium garlic cloves , peeled
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded
3 green Thai chiles, stemmed & seeded
4 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoon oyster sauce
2 teaspoon rice vinegar
2 tablespoon sugar
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 2-inch pieces
6 medium shallots, peeled and thinly sliced (about 3/4 cup)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
4 celery stalks, sliced
1 head red cabbage, cored and sliced

Directions:

Process 1 cup basil leaves, garlic, and chiles in food processor until finely chopped, 6 to 10 one-second pulses, scraping down bowl with rubber spatula once during processing. Transfer 1 tablespoon basil mixture to small bowl and stir in 2 tablespoon fish sauce, oyster sauce, vinegar, and sugar; set aside. Transfer remaining basil mixture to 12-inch heavy-bottomed nonstick skillet. Do not wash food processor bowl.
Pulse chicken and 1 tablespoon fish sauce in food processor until meat is chopped into - approximate 1/4-inch pieces, six to eight 1-second pulses. Transfer to a medium bowl and refrigerate 15 minutes.
Stir shallots and oil into basil mixture in skillet. Heat over medium-low heat (mixture should start to sizzle after about 1 1/2 minutes; if it doesn’t, adjust heat accordingly), stirring constantly, until garlic and shallots are golden brown, 5 to 8 minutes. Add in the sliced celery and cook for 5 more minutes.
Add chicken, increase heat to medium, and cook, stirring and breaking up chicken with the spatula, until only traces of pink remain, 4-6 minutes. Add reserved basil-fish sauce mixture and continue to cook, stirring constantly until chicken is no longer pink, about 2 more minutes.
Add in the sliced red cabbage and red pepper flakes, stir to combine, cover the pan, and cook for 5 more minutes. Stir in remaining cup basil leaves and cook, stirring constantly, until basil is wilted, 30 to 60 seconds.
If there are too much broth, thickened with 2 tablespoon corn starch dissolved in a small bowl with 1/4 cup of the broth.
Serve immediately over white rice.

Sausage Parmesan Corn Muffin

2011-01-09T15:59:00.000-08:00

Last week I had sweet blueberry muffins for my breakfast and afternoon snacks and Italian pasta for my lunches for the week. To change it up, I decided to do something savory and Asian ... Sausage Parmesan Corn Muffin for my breakfast and afternoon snacks and a Thai-style Chicken with Basil, Celery and Red Cabbage for my lunch.

Since I was too lazy to go to the grocery, I used what I've already had in my fridge & pantry and I followed the super simple sweet corn muffin recipe on the Albers yellow corn meal box and just added the cooked Italian sausage, jalapeno and grated Parmesan cheese when mixing the dry and wet ingredients together. I baked the muffins a couple minutes longer than what the box recommended to compensate for the extra ingredients. Although the color of the muffin is not a bright yellow as some other corn muffins that I've seen before, I really love the taste and the texture of these savory muffins... I can't wait to have them again tomorrow.

Ingredients:
16oz Italian sausage, remove from casing
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup Albers yellow corn meal
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups milk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoon butter, melted

Note: I used Parmesan cheese because I don't have any other cheese. You can use other types of cheese like Cheddar or Jack cheese to make the color pops and the muffins a bit more cheesy gooey.

Directions:

Cook the sausage and minced jalapeno in a pan over a medium heat with 2 tablespoons of oil for 5-8 minutes. Drain the oil off the sausage mixture and set aside to cool.
Preheat oven to 350F and grease or paper-line the muffin cups.
Combine flour, sugar, corn meal, baking powder, 2/3 cup of the Parmesan cheese and salt in a large bowl.
Combine the milk, eggs, oil and slightly cooled melted butter in a small bowl, mix well.
Add the milk-&-egg mixture to the flour mixture; stir a couple of times and then add the sausage and the jalapeno and mix some more until just blended.
Pour into prepared muffin cups filling about 2/3 cup full and top with the rest of grated Parmesan cheese.
Bake for 20-22 minutes until golden brown and when a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool in pans or wire racks for 5 minutes, serve warm.

Ham & Pea Barley Soup

2011-01-05T19:55:00.000-08:00

Brrrr... it's been pretty cold in San Francisco in the past few days, I felt that we needed something warm, soupy and more substantial for dinner besides salad. To keep it somewhat healthy, I made this ham & pea barley soup utilizing the ingredients that I had in my freezer and pantry using Whole Foods' Root Vegetable Stew with Beef and Barley recipe as a guideline.

Ingredients:
1 cup of medium diced ham
2 carrots, small diced
1 onion, finely chopped
1 cup sliced crimini mushroom
1 cup pearled barley
1 bay leaf
2 cups of chicken stock
1/4 cup of flour
2 green onions, finely chopped (or 1/4 cup of parsley)
salt & pepper

Directions:

In a large Dutch oven or soup pot, heat 1 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat and cook the ham cubes for about 5 minutes or so until a bit browned, set aside.
Add remaining 2 tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and stir in the chopped onion and carrots, scrapping the brown ham bits from the bottom of the pot. Cook the vegetables for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the barley and continue to cook, stirring for an additional minute.
Add in the bay leaf, chicken broth and ham back into the pot, bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer. Continue cooking, uncovered, stirring occasionally for 30 minutes.
In a small bowl, mix the flour and 1/2 cup of the cooking broth. Add the flour mixture and the sliced mushroom into the pot and cook for another 30 minutes until barley is cooked and stew is thickened.
Adjust seasoning with salt & pepper and add in the frozen pea and cooked for another 5 minutes.
Garnish with parsley or green onion.

Best Blueberry Muffins?

2011-01-02T20:27:00.000-08:00

In order to pep myself up for first day at the office in 2011, I decided to bake some muffins to snack at the office. I saw this Best Blueberry Muffins recipe on America’s Test Kitchen website and found it interesting the way the ATK folks spiked up the blueberry flavor in the muffin by adding concentrated blueberry jam, instead of adding more blueberries, to keep the blueberries from sinking to the bottom of the muffin.

Since I was feeling lazy, I used a store-bought blueberry jam instead of making my own – and boy oh boy, it was a bad decision. The jam that I bought was not concentrated enough so I had to increase the baking time by 2-3 more minutes per batch and it seemed to make the muffin texture to be more dense. So... unfortunately I can’t tell you whether these are the Best Blueberry Muffins or not – for now that is; I know for sure that I will make them again including the blueberry jam from scratch!

PS: I wonder if I can use this concentrate blueberry jam idea to spike up the blueberry flavor in Ina’s Blueberry Crumb Cake? What do you think?

Ingredients:

1 cup fresh blueberries, picked over
1 1/8 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter , melted and cooled slightly
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For Blueberry jam:

1 cup fresh blueberries, picked over
1 teaspoon sugar

For Lemon-Sugar topping:

1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated zest from 1 lemon

Directions:

Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray standard muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.
Bring 1 cup blueberries and 1 teaspoon sugar to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, mashing berries with spoon several times and stirring frequently, until berries have broken down and mixture is thickened and reduced to 1/4 cup, about 6 minutes. Transfer to small bowl and cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.
Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in large bowl. Whisk remaining 1 1/8 cups sugar and eggs together in medium bowl until thick and homogeneous, about 45 seconds. Slowly whisk in butter and oil until combined. Whisk in buttermilk and vanilla until combined. Using rubber spatula, fold egg mixture and remaining cup blueberries into flour mixture until just moistened. (Batter will be very lumpy with few spots of dry flour; do not overmix.)
Divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups (batter should completely fill cups and mound slightly). Spoon teaspoon of cooked berry mixture into center of each mound of batter. Using chopstick or skewer, gently swirl berry filling into batter using figure-eight motion.
Stir together sugar and lemon zest in small bowl until combined; set aside. Sprinkle lemon sugar evenly over muffins.
Bake until muffin tops are golden and just firm, 17 to 19 minutes, rotating muffin tin from front to back halfway through baking time. Cool muffins in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool 5 minutes before serving.

Pesto alla Trapanese

2011-01-02T19:48:00.000-08:00

Tada... a relevation! Today I learned that I don't need meat sauce with my pasta to have a hearty delicious meal. I saw this Pasta with Tomato and Almond Pesto (Pesto alla Trapanese) recipe on America's Test Kitchen's Saucy Italian Favorites episode. I thought it was very clever of the Sicilians to use fresh tomatoes and almonds instead of pine nuts as the main ingredients for their pesto. I like the fact that you can make this dish in less than 20 minutes and still end up with a fantastic satisfying meal. The only thing that I would change if you decide to make this, is to double up the portion because you might find yourself in a similar situation where you can't stop eating because it's so delicious!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup slivered almonds
12 ounces cherry or grape tomatoes (about 2 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup packed fresh basil leaves
1 medium garlic clove, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 teaspoon)
1 small pepperoncini (hot peppers in vinegar), stemmed, seeded, and minced (about 1/2 teaspoon) - I substituted this with 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes soaked with 1/2 teaspoon of red wine vinegar
salt
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound pasta, preferably linguine or spaghetti
1 ounce Parmesan cheese, grated (about 1/2 cup), plus extra for serving

Directions:

Toast almonds in small skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently, until pale golden and fragrant, 2 to 4 minutes. Cool almonds to room temperature.
Process cooled almonds, tomatoes, basil, garlic, pepperoncini (or red pepper flakes with vinegar), and 1 teaspoon salt in food processor until smooth, about 1 minute. Scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula. With machine running, slowly drizzle in oil, about 30 seconds.
Meanwhile, bring 4 quarts water to boil in large pot. Add pasta and 1 tablespoon salt and cook until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup cooking water; drain pasta and transfer back to cooking pot.
Add pesto and 1/2 cup Parmesan to cooked pasta, adjusting consistency with reserved pasta cooking water so that pesto coats pasta. Serve immediately, passing Parmesan separately.

Fried Chicken

2010-12-31T22:35:00.001-08:00

You know that you are getting older when you feel relieved and actually happy that you are not going out on New Years. Porgy and I decided to take it easy this evening, but I thought that we should do something special to celebrate. So I decided to make some fried chicken using Kobe seasoning mix (just like what my Mom used to), drink some Champagne and watch Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window. Happy New Year 2011!

Ingredients:
1 chicken, cut into 8 pieces
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon white pepper
1 package of Kobe seasoning flour mix
canola/palm oil for frying

Directions:

Wash and pat the chicken pieces dry.
Season with salt, white pepper, paprika and a couple tablespoon of Kobe seasoning flour and marinade for an hour or so.
Pour enough oil to come just 1/8-inch up the side of a heavy frying pan and heat over medium heat. I don't have any oil/candy thermometer but I think the preferred temperature is ~325F.
Pour the rest of the seasoning flour on a plate and roll the chicken pieces in flour and shake off the excess.
Fry the chicken pieces a few at a time so not to crowd the pan, place them skin side down.
Cook until golden brown on each side, approximately 12 minutes per side.
Drain the cooked chicken pieces on a rack over a sheet pan.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Mushrooms

2010-12-31T22:12:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I think Arthur is just like Brussels sprouts – they are both bitter on the first bite when you first know them and definitely not for everybody but after spending more time with them, you can finally understand, appreciate and love them. Arthur is a handful, at times a bit too much such that he got returned several times before and believes me that we have thought about it before. But we decided to toughen up and stick with him, it’s a continuous process and we are hoping that he will realize that we really love him and are committed to him.

I love making this roasted Brussels Sprouts and Mushrooms dish because they are simple to make, healthy and very delicious. Perfect for a side-dish of a meat or pasta course.

Ingredients:
1 lb Brussels Sprouts
1 lb mixed mushroom (I used a mix of Shiitake and King Trumpet mushroom)
olive oil
salt & pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F.
Cut off the brown ends of the Brussels Sprouts and pull off any yellow outer leaves.
Clean the mushroom by wiping it using a dry paper towel. Do not wash them. Cut into halves if they are big.
Spread the sprouts and mushroom on a baking pan and drizzle with a couple tablespoon of olive oil.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook for 35-40 minutes until crisp on the outside.
Shake the pan a couple of time to brown the sprouts and mushrooms evenly.
Sprinkle with some more salt and pepper if needed.

Hearty Tuscan Bean Soup

2010-12-30T22:19:00.000-08:00

This year is definitely one of those roller-coaster years with lots of ups and downs. The day after I did my previous post, Arthur had a major setback in his separation anxiety training so we had to start somewhat from the beginning all over again, then Porgy had a horrible sore throat for 2 weeks and now I have cold with major sore throat (possibly strep throat) combo and lost my voice since Christmas eve.

While I was resting over the Christmas weekend, I saw an episode of America’s Test Kitchen where they shared a tip on how to make a delicious & hearty Tuscan Bean soup without having the beans fall apart at the end. (The secret is to brine the beans with salt water for overnight, rinse them well, cook them without salt over low heat in a 250F oven for a couple of hours!) I thought that it’s an appropriate dish to make since it’s been cold and rainy in the past few days in San Francisco and that it would make my throat feel somewhat better. Since I'm not a member of America's Test Kitchen, I followed a similar recipe that's available at Food.com.

Ingredients:
Salt
1 lb dried cannellini beans, rinsed and picked over (I used red kidney beans instead)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
6 ounces pancetta or bacon, cut into 1/4-inch pieces (I used Merquez - spicy Moroccan style lamb sausage)
1 large onion, chopped medium
2 medium celery ribs, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
8 medium garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
4 cups low sodium chicken broth
3 cups water
1 bay leaves
1 bunch of kale, stems trimmed and leaves chopped into medium-sized pieces
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained and rinsed
1 sprig fresh rosemary
ground black pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 250F.
Add 1/4 cup of salt to 4 qt water and stir until dissolved. Add the picked over, rinsed beans and leave them to soak overnight at room temperature.
In a large Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium heat until hot and add the sausage (or pancetta/bacon) and cook 6-10 minutes, until the edges are crisp and browned. Remove the sausages.
In the same pan, add onion, celery and carrots and cook until very soft and a little browned, about 15 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minutes.
Drain water from beans and discard. Rinse well and add beans to the pot. Add broth, water and bay leaves. Bring to a simmer, then cover and transfer to a preheated 250°F oven and cook for 60 minutes.
Add kale, tomatoes and sausages to the pot. Re-cover and cook until beans are tender, about another 30 minutes.
Add rosemary sprig and submerge it in the soup. Let stand off heat for 15 minutes, then remove and discard rosemary and bay leaves.
Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and serve with a nice pain epi or sliced baguette.

Cranberry Lemon Scones

2010-11-28T20:28:00.000-08:00

Wow... what crazy several months have been for me - dealing with Arthur, Porgy's new health issue, crazy obnoxious neighbors moving in upstairs AND trying to find a new (and better) job. Fortunately, things finally started to settle down in the past week so I decided to restart this cook-and-blog thingy again. And what could be a better way to get back to the swing of things than by making Ina Garten's Cranberry Scones. I've done them before and they turned out really well. This time, I decided to use lemon zest instead of orange zest and doubled the recipe to make 20 large scones because I wanted to give some to Mo-Fo's family.

Ingredients:
4 cups plus 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons kosher salt
zest of 2 lemons
3/4 pound (3 sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced
4 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup cold heavy cream
2 cup dried cranberries
1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoonsmilk, for egg wash
1/8 cup raw (turbinado) sugar for sprinkling

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
In the bowl, mix 4 cups of flour, 1/4 cup sugar, the baking powder, salt and the zest.
Add the cold butter and mix with a hand mixer until the butter is the size of peas.
Combine the eggs and heavy cream and, with the mixer on low speed, slowly pour into the flour and butter mixture and mix until just blended. The dough will look lumpy and sticky.
Add the dried cranberries to the dough, and fold in until blended. Careful not to over work the dough.
Dump the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead it into a ball. Flour your hands and knead the dough 3/4-inch thick. You should see small bits of butter in the dough.
Roll the dough into a log and cut triangles of dough.
Place the scones on a baking pan lined with parchment paper or silpat.
Brush the tops of the scones with egg wash, sprinkle with raw sugar, and bake for 20 to 22 minutes, until the tops are browned and the insides are fully baked.
The scones will be firm to the touch.

PS: We used a loaner Nikon D80 SLR digital camera to take this picture and the quality is so much better than our Canon point and shoot camera.

Maple-Oatmeal Scones

2010-07-25T19:57:00.000-07:00

It's Porgy's birthday this coming Thursday so I decided to be nice and make him some maple scones for mid-morning snack today and some to freeze so we can have them for breakfast each day this week. He used to buy them from Starbucks almost every day but I thought that fresh home-made ones would be so much better, specially since I used Ina's Maple-Oatmeal Scones recipe. After reading some of the reviews, I added 1 tablespoon sugar to make them a bit sweeter and I used heavy whipping cream instead because I did not have any buttermilk. The scones are super moist and buttery... I am so excited to have them for breakfast this week!

Before icing them...

The final result...

Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 cup quick-cooking (or old fashioned) oats
2 tablespoons baking powder
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
1/2 cup cold heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
4 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon milk or water, for egg wash

For the glaze:
1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the flours, oats, baking powder, sugar and salt. Blend the cold butter in at the lowest speed and mix until the butter is in pea-size pieces.
Combine the heavy cream, maple syrup and eggs and add quickly to the flour-and-butter mixture. Mix until just blended. The dough will be pretty sticky and there should be lumps of butter in the dough.
Dump the dough out onto a well-floured surface and be sure it is combined. Flour your hands and a rolling pin and roll the dough 3/4 to 1 inch thick. Cut into 3-inch rounds with a plain or fluted cutter (I just use a small glass) and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Brush the tops with egg wash. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are crisp and the insides are done.
To make the glaze, combine the confectioners' sugar, maple syrup and vanilla. When the scones are done, cool for 10 minutes and drizzle each scone with the glaze. The warmer the scones are when you glaze them, the thinner the glaze will be.

Roasted Corn Salad

2010-07-20T11:11:00.000-07:00

I saw this Roasted Corn Salad with Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette by Arnold Myint on the second episode of Top Chef Season 7 and thought that it would be a great dish to bring to Mo-Fo Duo's 4th of July BBQ because it looks pretty easy to make and it's a refreshing light side dish. However, I didn't get the chance to bring this dish to the party (or even make it) because I had a huge hangover from drinking too much the night before (yes... the curse of long weekend!)

So I decided to make it last weekend using my new Lodge stove-top cast-iron grill. Unfortunately, the corn kernels were not charred enough because I was too impatient so the charred/smokey flavor was missing. The dish still tasted really good though next time I would be more patient and take my time grilling the corn.

Ingredients:
6 ears of corn, husked
3 limes, zested and juiced
2 sprigs fresh cilantro, chopped
1 red onion, small diced
1 pkg grape tomatoes, halved
4 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons onion powder or 1 tablespoon garlic powder
salt, to taste
sugar, to taste

Directions:

Mix together chili powder, onion/garlic powder, salt, and sugar.
Brush onto corn and grill until some kernels are burnt to a char.
Slice kernels off the cob.
Combine corn kernels with lime zest, lime juice, cilantro, red onion, and grape tomatoes in a mixing bowl.
Season to taste.

Lunch at Il Cane Rosso

2010-07-18T21:45:00.000-07:00

Taking advantage of the long 4th of July weekend, Porgy and I went to Il Cane Rosso at the Ferry Building for lunch. It was a beautiful sunny day so I was somewhat surprised that we were able to get a table outside overlooking the bay (not that I'm complaining...).

I had the Marin Sun Farm Meatloaf with Pancetta-Onion Gravy and Roasted Potatoes ($12.50) and a glass of Boony Doon Rose. I really loved the meatloaf flavor as it was not too ketchup-y or BBQ-y, it's my kind of meatloaf - savory with a hint of tomato sauce.

and Porgy had the Marin Sun Farm Roast Beef Sandwich with lemon aioli, spicy pickled red onions ($9).

PS: These pictures were taken using the new iPhone 4. Not bad huh?

Greek Zuchini and Herb Pie

2010-07-18T17:29:00.000-07:00

Continuing my urge to bake this weekend, I made this Greek Zucchini and Herb Pie (another recipe from NYTimes!) using some leftover frozen phyllo dough and zucchini that I bought earlier in the week. To add extra flavor into the pie and to make it not too healthy, I added the leftover ham cubes that I used in Savory Ham and Gruyere Bread earlier.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 pounds zucchini, ends trimmed
salt to taste
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus additional for brushing the phyllo dough
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup chopped ham
2 teaspoons dried dill
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup chopped scallion
1 cup crumbled feta
3 eggs, beaten
freshly ground pepper
14 sheets phyllo dough

Directions:

Grate the zucchini using a food processor or a hand grater. Place in a large colander, salt generously and let drain for 1 hour, pressing down on it occasionally to squeeze out liquid. After an hour, take up a couple handfuls and squeeze out moisture. Place in a bowl.
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil over medium heat in a large, heavy nonstick skillet over medium heat, and add the onion. Cook, stirring, until tender about five minutes, then add the garlic and chopped ham. Cook, stirring, until the garlic is fragrant, about one minute. Add in the dill, parsley and scallion and cook for a few more minutes. Transfer to the bowl with the zucchini. Stir in the feta, eggs and pepper.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter a 10-inch pie pan. Line the pie dish with seven pieces of phyllo, lightly brushing each piece with oil and turning the dish after each addition so that the edges of the phyllo drape evenly over the pan.
Fill with the zucchini mixture. Fold the draped edges in over the filling, lightly brushing the folded sheets of phyllo, then layer the remaining pieces on top, brushing each piece with olive oil. Stuff the edges into the sides of the pan.
Make a few slashed in the top crust so that steam can escape as the pie bakes. Score in a few places with the tip of a knife, and brush with olive oil. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown. Remove from the heat, and allow to cool for 15 to 30 minutes or to room temperature. Slice in wedges and serve.

Savory Ham and Gruyere Bread

2010-07-18T17:04:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week, I saw this Savory Ham and Gruyere Bread recipe at NYTimes website and thought that it would be a good one to try this weekend. I was so intrigued by its description... "Cake salé is like a homey and crumbly equivalent of the delicate cheese puffs gougères: a salty, cheesy excuse to open a bottle of wine" because we are totally into trying anything that encourages us to drink more.

Since I did not have enough Gruyere cheese, I decided to add roughly chopped Capricious cheese. It was a good move because it adds extra cheesiness and crunchiness to the bread. Both Porgy and I think that this recipe is a keeper.

Ingredients:
unsalted butter, softened, for brushing pan
1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 large eggs
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup milk
6 ounces baked ham, cut into 1/4-inch dice
4 ounces Gruyere, coarsely grate (about 1 cup)
2 ounces Capricious cheese, coarsely chopped

Directions:

Center a rack in the oven and heat to 350 and generously brush a loaf pan with butter.
In a large bowl, whisk flour with baking powder, salt and pepper.
In a medium bowl, lightly whisk eggs, then whisk in milk and olive oil.
Using a rubber spatula, fold in wet ingredients into dry until barely mixed and then fold in ham and cheese.
Scrape batter into loaf pan and smooth top.
Bake loaf for 40 to 50 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs attached.
Transfer to a rack to cool in pan for 5 minutes. Run a knife around the edges to release. Turn loaf onto rack to firm up before slicing, about 30 minutes.
Using a serrated knife, cut into 3/8-inch slices and then cut into halves or quarters.

Stir Fried Green Beans

2010-07-06T18:51:00.001-07:00

I bought a couple of types of green beans at the Farmers Market last week - the French-style haricot-vert and the Chinese long bean because I was in the mood to have a simple stir-fried green beans specially the Asian-style, with some chili sauce and shrimp paste. Porgy helped me cleaned up the green beans and snapping off the ends and cut them into 2-inch sections while we're enjoying our Manhattans.

Ingredients:
1 lb of haricot-vert (French green beans), cut into 2-inch sections
1 lb of Chinese long green bean, cut into 2-inch sections
4 shallots, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 inch of ginger, thinly sliced
3 dried red chili pepper
a small tip of shrimp paste (~1/16 teaspoon)
1 tablespoon of Sambal Oelek
vegetable oil
1/4 cup fried shallots (optional)

Directions:

Heat up a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large wok (or stir-fry pan) over medium heat for a 1-2 minutes until hot.
Add in the green beans and stir fry for 5 minutes or so until they're just about to cook through. Set aside.
Heat up another 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in the wok over medium heat and add in the shallot, garlic and ginger slices along with the red chili pepper and shrimp paste. Cook for 2-3 minutes until fragrant and then add in the Sambal Oelek.
Add in the semi-cooked green beans, add 2 tablespoons of water, cover the wok and cook for 3 more minutes or until the green beans are all cooked through.
Add in the fried shallots, stir and transfer to a serving plate.

Canteen

2010-07-05T22:03:00.000-07:00

Last week Porgy and I celebrated our quasi anniversary by having dinner at Canteen. We used to go there for brunch regularly a few years ago but we had not been there in awhile, in fact the last time I went there was more than a year ago! Our friend, Jeremy, was kind of enough to babysit Arthur so we were able to enjoy dinner without having to worry about him. Things haven't changed much there - the food is deliciously well executed and the atmosphere is wonderfully casual.

Cherry with Blue Cheese and Cracked Pepper

Bigeye Tuna with green tomato, avocado, coriander and chili

Rabbit Salad - Crispy rabbit leg with fresh chickpeas, fava beans, mustard

Sea Bass with sweet corn, peppers, spring onion and scallions

Pork Shoulder Confit with lentils, braised bitter greens, paprika, bacon

Hazelnut Cake with fresh figs

Chocolate Croquettes with espresso sauce

Ike's Place

2010-07-05T21:38:00.000-07:00

After hearing the positive raves about Ike's Place in the Castro and its ongoing legal battle with the landlord for the past few months, we decided to check it out a couple weeks ago. To avoid the long line and wait time, we called in the order first and picked it up 30 minutes later. I got the Name of Girl I'm Dating (Halal Chicken Breast, Honey Mustard, Avocado, PepperJack) on Dutch Crunch bread while Porgy got the Al Bundy (Salami, Ham, French Dressing, Avocado, Smoked Gouda) on Sourdough bread.

After eating the sandwich, we both were not sure whether we liked them or not. Yes, they were tasty and the breads (specially the Dutch Crunch one) were perfectly baked ... but at $9.99 per sandwich, I'd prefer the $3.50 Vietnamese BBQ Pork sandwich from Little Paris Coffee Shop in Chinatown.

Dynamo Donuts

2010-06-29T23:28:00.001-07:00

This morning ShunBun surprised Mo-Fo and I by bringing these delicious Dynamo donuts to our early morning coffee ritual at Blue Bottle Coffee. I have always been wanting to try them out since it first opened because of their interesting flavor combination and the hype surrounding its maple glazed bacon apple donut. After having my share of the donut, I was hooked and kept reaching over Mo-Fo to get the bacon bits that fell off from the donut. I also went nuts over the Spiced Chocolate donut because the chipotle dredge totally compliment the chocolate flavor in a nice way. It was a great way to start a week-day morning!

Lemon Thyme (donut made with lemon zest and fresh thyme and has a lemon honey glaze) and Maple Glazed Bacon Apple (studded with bacon and apple sauted in bacon fat maple glaze and crispy bacon):

Vanilla Bean (vanilla and orange zest donut with a vanilla bean glaze) and Spiced Chocolate (chocolate donut with cinnamon, sugar and chipotle dredge):

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-06-28T21:47:00.000-07:00

Yes, I was quite a busy bee in the kitchen this weekend. I even baked some chocolate chip cookies because Porgy was craving for something chocolaty ever since he saw Alex Guarnaschelli's Chocolate Pots de Creme episode on Food Network. I used my Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe and improvised a little bit by adding some Dutch cocoa powder and a little bit of chili powder.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened (at room temperature)
1 cup light brown sugar
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup Dutch cocoa powder (unsweetened)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground coffee
8 oz of chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven at 300F
Mix together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cocoa powder, chili pepper, cinnamon, ground coffee)
Cream butter and sugar until fluffy
Beat in egg and vanilla extract
Add the dry ingredients into the butter mixture in 2 phases
Mix all together at slow speed
Add in chocolate chips and mix with spatula
Bake for 16 mins for more moist (chewier) cookies or 18 mins for crunchier ones

Poached Egg Breakfast

2010-06-28T21:12:00.000-07:00

After a few days of cold summer weather in San Francisco, it felt so nice to wake up to a warm and sunny morning. This Sunday was one of those days and even Arthur was in a good mood.

I decided to make Poached Egg breakfast with breakfast sausages from Little City Market in North Beach and hash browns from Trader Joe's. Since I have never made poached eggs before, I went to Simply Recipes site because I know that Elise always has great step-by-step directions for her recipes.

Slowly frying the sausages...

Poaching the eggs (my pictures are not as good as Elise's) - even Arthur had one.

Our Sunday breakfast... yummy!

Eggplant and Minced Meat with Thai Peanut Butter Sauce

2010-06-28T18:35:00.000-07:00

When I first started to cook this dish, I wanted to make stuffed eggplants with some kind of South East Asian flavored mince meat. However, when I made the stuffing, I noticed that the peanut butter sauce was too creamy to be used as stuffing so I improvised and cut up those eggplants into bite-size pieces and mix them with the mince meat. It turned out pretty good - though now I'm on a hunt for a good stuffed eggplant recipe!

Ingredients:
3 eggplants, cut into half and then into 2-inch sections (I used Chinese eggplants)
1 lb ground pork
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 shallots, finely chopped
1 stalk lemon grass root, finely chopped
1 green chili pepper, seeded and finely chopped
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1 cup coconut cream
3 tablespoons fish sauce
3 teaspoons brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped parsley

Directions:

Heat up the oven to 400F degree and bake the eggplant slices in the oven for 25-30 minutes until cooked.
Mix the peanut butter, coconut cream, fish sauce and brown sugar in a small bowl. Set aside.
In the mean time, stir fry the pork with a couple tablespoons of oil over medium high heat for a few minutes until well colored.
Add chopped garlic, shallot, lemon grass and green chili pepper and cook for 2 more minutes.
Add in the peanut butter sauce mix and cook for several minutes until the mixture thickened.
Stir in the eggplant pieces and chopped parsley, adjust seasoning and serve over white rice.

Beef Tongseng

2010-06-27T12:40:00.000-07:00

I'm back!!! Finally I'm not as crazy busy with work and Arthur. Yes... Arthur still has his moments from time to time but at least I don't have to keep worrying about him all the time because Porgy and I decided to put him in a doggie day care. We love this particular doggie day care because they also do trainings and long walks with their "customers".

Earlier this week, I met up with close family friends who were visiting from Indonesia. They brought an Indonesian cookbook for me from my sister and I've been going through the recipes in the past couple of days. Yesterday, I decided to make this Indonesian Beef in Spicy & Sweet Soy Sauce called Beef Tongseng. In Indonesia, you would make this dish with goat or lamb meat but I find that fatty beef meat can be a good substitute for them. I followed a recipe from Gramedia International's "Menu Sehari-hari" cookbook.

Ingredients:
1 lb beef eye roast, cut into 1-inch cube
6 shallots, thinly sliced
2 bay leaves
1 lemon grass stalk, bruised
1 tablespoon tamarind water
5 tablespoons sweet soy sauce
4 1/4 cups water
1/2 head of small cabbage, de-bone and roughly cut into thin strips
10 red chilli pepper, seeded and cut into strips
salt and sugar to taste
4 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon black peppercorn
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1/2 tablespoon minced galangal

Directions:

Using mortar and pestle or food processor, grind the garlic, black peppercorns, coriander, ginger and galangal until they become a smooth paste.
Stir fry the shallots with 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil over medium heat for 3 minutes or so until light yellow colored.
Add seasoning paste, bay leaves and lemon grass and cook for another couple of minutes until fragrant.
Add the meat, toss around and cook until the meat change color.
Add in the water, soy sauce and tamarind water. When the water boils, lower the heat and continue cooking until the meat is soft.
When the stock has reduced by half, add the chopped cabbage and chili pepper.
Adjust seasoning with salt and sugar according to taste.
Finish cooking when the stock/sauce boils again and serve over white rice.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Raisin Cookies

2010-06-04T23:20:00.000-07:00

What to do if you're craving for 2 types of cookies? Combine them together! I have been craving both Oatmeal Raisin and Chocolate Chip cookies so I decided to make this Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Raisin Cookies. I used Smitten Kitchen's Oatmeal Raisin Cookie recipe for the base and substitute the chopped walnut with chocolate chips. Both Porgy and I really enjoyed the end product – the bitter sweet chocolate taste mixed with the chewiness of the oatmeal and the tart of the raisins... yum!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick or 4 oz) butter, softened
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together. Stir this into the butter/sugar mixture. Stir in the oats, raisins and chocolate chips.
Per Smitten Kitchen's suggestion, I chilled the dough for 30 minutes or so in the fridge to help the cookies maintain their 'thickness' and then scoop the cookies onto a baking sheet.
Bake them for 12 minutes or so until they are golden brown at the edges but still soft on top. Let them sit on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool.

Otsu Soba

2010-06-03T23:01:00.001-07:00

A couple weeks ago, I made this cold buckwheat soba salad with lightly fried tofu and ginger dressing called Otsu Soba because Porgy and I were craving for something light, refreshing and delicious. I used these two sites, WeHeartFood and DinnerWithJulie for my recipe source and according to one of you they are based on Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks (thanks for letting me know of another wonderful site!) Otsu Soba is a perfect left-over food for us since you don't need to warm it up and you can just eat it cold out of the fridge.

It was my first time cooking with Soba so I was pretty excited about that and now I can't wait to cook another Soba dish... wonder what's next. Maybe Zaru Soba – cold soba noodles with tsuyu dipping sauce?

Ingredients:
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons grape seed oil
2 tablespoons sesame oil
finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

12 ounces dried soba noodles
12 ounces extra-firm tofu
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cucumber, peeled, cut in half lengthwise and thinly sliced
1 small handful of cilantro sprigs
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds
1/4 cup shredded toasted Nori

Directions:

Drain and press the tofu for 30 minutes or so, pat it dry, and cut it into 1-inch rectangles.
Make the dressing by combining the rice vinegar, soy sauce, cayenne, salt, grape seed oil, sesame oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, honey, and ginger in a jar and shake vigorously until it's mixed well.
Cook the soba in plenty of rapidly boiling salted water just until tender according to the package direction then drain and rinse well under cold running water.
In a well-oiled saute pan, brown the tofu on all sides over medium high heat. It took me about 3-4 minutes of each side. Toss gently once and continue cooking for another minute or so until the tofu is firm, golden brown, and bouncy.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the soba, tofu, 1/4 cup cilantro, green onions, cucumber and about half of the dressing. Toss gently until well combined.
Serve on individual serving bowls (or plates), garnish with more cilantro, toasted sesame seeds and shredded Nori. Add more dressing if needed.

Stir-Fried Beef with Broccolini and Shitake Mushroom

2010-06-01T16:13:00.000-07:00

I was surprised to find Broccolini in the Farmers Market a couple weeks ago since I thought they are only available during the Winter and Spring time. Maybe I am wrong? Since it was an impulse purchase, I did not know what to use them for. After looking at the contents of my refrigerator and browsing some cookbooks, I made Stir-Fried Beef with Broccolini and Shitake Mushroom – with sauce that's similar to the Noodle with Red-braised Short Ribs and Asparagus post.

Ingredients:
1 lb of Broccolini
1 lb of fresh Shitake mushroom, halved
0.5 lb of stir fry beef meat
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
5 garlic, smashed with skins removed
1-inch ginger, cut into julienne strips
4 green onions, cut into 1-inch sections
5 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons Shaoxing cooking wine
1 tablespoon Mirin
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 1/2 cup water

Directions:

Marinate the beef with 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon Shaoxing cooking wine, 1 tablespoon Mirin and 1 teaspoon of cornstarch for 30 minutes.
Mix the rest of the sauce ingredients (soy sauce, Shaoxing cooking wine, sesame oil, sugar, salt, black pepper, cornstarch) in a bowl and set aside.
In a large pot, blanch the Broccolini for 1-2 minutes until the color turns bright green and plunge to cold ice bath to stop the cooking process. Set aside.
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok or large saute pan until hot but not smoking.
Add the meat and stir with spatula until all pieces are coated with oil, shaking the pan occasionally to prevent sticking. Fry until the meat just cooked, set aside.
Add the rest of the oil and stir fry garlic, ginger and half of the green onions for 1-2 minutes.
Add the sauce and mushroom, stir to blend and cover with lid, lower heat to a simmer and braise for 5-6 minutes.
Add the meat, Broccolini and the rest of the green onions into the pan, stir well until all is coated evenly with the sauce.
Adjust seasoning and transfer to a serving dish.

The Spinach Twins

2010-05-31T22:58:00.001-07:00

In the past couple of weeks, Porgy and I have been watching Julia Child's The French Chef DVDs that we checked out from the library. One of the episode on the 1st DVD is called Spinach Twins - where Julia Child and Simone Beck made a Frenchified Spinach, Mushroom and Ham Turnover.

Since there was no recipe on the DVD or on the PBS website and I could not find one anywhere online, I had to watch the episode a couple of time to make sure that I got the recipe down. At the end I decided to improvise a little bit since I did not want to have the cream sauce on the side and, since I dethawed both puff-pastry dough (by mistake), I doubled the ingredients and ended up with two very delicious Spinach Turnover.

Ingredients:
2 16oz frozen chopped spinach, dethawed and drained well
4 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
1 to 1.5 cup heavy cream
2 garlic, finely minced
8 oz Crimini mushroom, quartered
8 oz ham, cubed
1.5 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup grated Gruyere cheese
1 egg

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400F.
Saute the garlic and mushroom with 2 tablespoons of butter for 8-10 minutes. Set aside.
Saute the ham with 1 tablespoon of olive oil for 5 minutes or so. Set aside.
Squeeze the water out of one handful of spinach at a time. Make sure the spinach is well drained so it won't make the puff pastry soggy. Set aside.
Saute the chopped onion with 2 tablespoons of butter for 8-10 minutes until a little bit caramelized.
Lower the heat, add in the flour and milk and stir vigorously with a wire-whisk. Keep mixing until the mixture is boiling and thicken up.
Add in the salt, pepper and nutmeg. Mix well.
Add in the heavy cream, a little at a time while whisking until the cream sauce is not too thick. I think I used about 1 cup of heavy cream.
Add the grated Gruyere cheese and mix well.
Stir in the spinach into the cream and cheese mixture. Set aside.
Roll the pastry dough into 1/4-inch thick on a floured surface.
Glaze the dough with an egg glaze (1 egg lightly beaten with 1 teaspoon water).
Put about 4 tablespoons of spinach mixture on half of the dough, saving 1-inch border.
Add a layer of the saute mushroom and ham and then top again with the spinach mixture. Smooth the top with a spatula.
Fold the dough over to cover the spinach, mushroom and ham. Lightly press the side to seal it and use fork tighten it.
Glaze the top with with the egg glaze and make a diagonal pattern using the fork.
Repeat the process with the 2nd pastry dough (if you decide to make two of them). However, if you don't want to cook them right away, do not glaze the top with the egg glaze. You only glaze the top just before you bake them.
Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until the top is golden brown.

White House Fruit and Oat Bars

2010-05-29T11:01:00.000-07:00

Continuing my attempt to eat and snack healthier, I decided to make White House Fruit and Oat bars. They are perfect for mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks and definitely are better than opening up a bag of chips or candies.

Ingredients:
9 tablespoons grapeseed oil, plus extra for brushing pan
3 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup mixed seeds, such as pumpkin, sunflower and sesame
3/4 cup honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
pinch of salt
2 cups mixed dried fruit, such as raisins, cranberries, apricots, etc.
1.5 teaspoons ground cinnamon or cardamom

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 F, line a 9x13-inch baking pan with parchment paper or foil, letting a few inches hang over side of pan. Brush with oil.
Spread oats and sees on another baking pan and toast in oven just until golden and fragrant, 6 to 8 minutes, shaking pan once.
In a saucepan, combine oil, honey, brown sugar, maple syrup and salt. Stir over medium heat until smooth and hot.
In a mixing bowl, toss together toasted oats and seeds, dried fruit and cinnamon (or cardamom. Pour hot sugar mixture over and stir until well combined.
While mixture is warm, transfer to prepared pan, pressing into pan evenly with an offset spatula.
Bake until brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer pan to a rack and let cool completely. Using the overhanging foil or paper, lift out of pan and place on a work surface. Cut into bars, about 1.5 inches by 3 inches.

Pasta and Asparagus in Mustard Sauce

2010-05-28T22:06:00.000-07:00

I got the idea for this mustard sauce from a Julia Child's show where she made a simple salad dressing using mustard. After watching, I thought to myself that it probably make sense to tweak her mustard salad dressing to become a pasta sauce by adding some heavy cream. Since I didn't have any heavy cream, I had to use corn starch dissolved in water. Although it still tasted good, I think it would be so much better if I had used heavy cream.

Ingredients:
1 package of dry Penne pasta
1 bunch of asparagus, cut into 1.5-inch sections
2 shallots, finely minced
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
3 links of sausage, sliced
1/2 cup pitted French black olives, cut in halves
1/2 cup of dry white wine or Vermouth
2 green onions, chopped
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons of corn starch dissolved in 3/4 cup of water
(or 3/4 cup heavy cream)
salt & pepper

Directions:

Cook the Penne pasta according to the package's direction.
Two minutes before the pasta is cooked, add in the asparagus into the boiling water.
Drain well and rinse over cold water.
In a large pan, saute the minced shallot and garlic with olive oil until fragrant.
Add in the sausage and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Add in the black olive and the dry white wine and cook for another 3 minutes until the alcohol is cooked through.
Mix the mustard and the corn starch solution (or the heavy cream) in a small bowl and add it to the pan, cook until it boils again.
Return the pasta and asparagus to the pan and add in the chopped green onion.
Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

Rawon

2010-05-27T22:53:00.000-07:00

Geesh... I can't believe that it's almost end of May already, time definitely flies by quickly. Although I had been cooking plenty of interesting dishes, I didn't have the time to blog them because I had been pretty busy with other things. Since I kind of feel bad about neglecting this blog (don't ask why), I promise that I'll try to be more diligent.

I had been thinking about Rawon (an Indonesian black beef soup) since I had a small portion of it a my sister's place in Indonesia a few months ago. Here is my family's version of this dish courtesy of my Mom.

Ingredients:
2 lb beef stew meat
6 large garlic cloves
10 shallots
4 teaspoons coriander seeds
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
10 black nut (kluwek), rinsed and soaked in warm water
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
salt & pepper
1 teaspoon red chili flakes
1-inch galangal, peeled and bruised
4 kaffir lime leaves, bruised
1 stalk lemongrass
2 bay leaves, torn in half
2 tablespoons palm sugar
1 red chili, cut into strips
vegetable oil
3 green onions, chopped
hard boiled eggs
bean sprouts

Directions:

Cook the beef stew meat cubes in a pressure cooker for 30 minutes to help the meat becomes tender quickly without having to simmer the soup for hours.
Take out the meat cubes and save the strained beef broth.
Using a mortar and pestle, grind the garlic, shallot and coriander seeds in batches with some salt and white pepper. Put the mashed-up mixture into a food processor, add in the turmeric powder, kluwek meat, grated ginger and red chili flakes and grind/puree until smooth.
In a heavy bottom pan, heat 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil over a medium heat and stir fry the spice paste for a couple of minutes until fragrant.
Add in the galangal, kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass and torn bay leaves and stir fry some more for a couple of minutes or so.
Add in the cooked meat cubes, mix well so the cubes are coated with the spice paste and cook for a minute or two.
Add in enough strained beef stock (or water) to completely cover the meat plus an extra inch and cook until boil.
When the soup is boiling, lower the heat to a simmer, cover the pan and let simmer for 30 minutes or so until the spice flavor is absorbed by the meat.
In the mean time, you can make several hard boiled eggs and blanch the beansprouts (optional).
Add the chopped green onions and red chili strips and adjust seasoning by adding salt, pepper or palm sugar accordingly.
Serve over rice with halved hard boiled eggs, blanched beansprouts and shrimp crackers (if you have any).

Meatballs and Spaghetti

2010-05-08T21:36:00.000-07:00

Since I have been nothing but Asian dishes in the past couple of weeks, I decided to be nice to Porgy and make him Meatballs and Spaghetti using Ina Garten's recipe. Instead of using a mix of ground beef, pork and veal, I used half ground pork and half breakfast sausage from Fatted Calf and added some chopped basil to the meatball mix and to the sauce.

Ingredients:

For the meatballs:
1 pound ground pork
1 pound uncooked breakfast sausage
1 1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 extra-large egg, beaten
Vegetable oil
Olive oil

For the sauce:
1 tablespoon good olive oil
1 cup chopped yellow onion (1 onion)
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 cup good red wine, such as Chianti
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 cup chopped fresh basil
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For serving:
1 1/2 pounds spaghetti, cooked according to package directions
Freshly grated Parmesan

Directions:

Place the ground meats, bread crumbs, parsley, basil, Parmesan, salt, pepper, nutmeg, egg, and 3/4 cup warm water in a bowl. Combine very lightly with a fork.
Using your hands, lightly form the mixture into 2-inch meatballs. You will have 18-20 meatballs.
Pour equal amounts of vegetable oil and olive oil into a large (12-inch) skillet to a depth of 1/4-inch. Heat the oil.
Very carefully, in batches, place the meatballs in the oil and brown them well on all sides over medium-low heat, turning carefully with a spatula or a fork. This should take about 10 minutes for each batch. Don't crowd the meatballs.
Remove the meatballs to a plate covered with paper towels. Discard the oil but don't clean the pan.
For the sauce, heat the olive oil in the same pan. Add the onion and saute over medium heat until translucent, 5 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute.
Add the wine and cook on high heat, scraping up all the brown bits in the pan, until almost all the liquid evaporates, about 3 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, parsley, salt, and pepper.
Return the meatballs to the sauce, cover, and simmer on the lowest heat for 25 to 30 minutes, until the meatballs are cooked through.
Serve hot on cooked spaghetti and top with grated Parmesan.

Sour Cream Banana Bread

2010-05-08T21:09:00.000-07:00

Since I had a few very ripe bananas and some left over sour cream that needed to be used as soon as possible, I made this Sour Cream Banana Bread using a recipe from Chow.com. Although it is a little bit simpler than my previous banana bread post because it does not have any chopped toasted walnuts or brown sugar crumb toppings, it still tastes pretty darn delicious.

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 very ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 1/4 cups)
1/2 cup sour cream

Directions:

Heat the oven to 350°F and arrange a rack in the middle.
Coat a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with butter and dust it with flour, tapping out the excess.
Whisk together 2 1/4 cups flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon in a large bowl to aerate and break up any lumps. Set aside.
Place sugar, eggs, oil, and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until thoroughly combined, about 2 minutes.
Add bananas and sour cream and mix until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add flour mixture, and mix until just combined.
Turn batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, the top is golden brown, and the bread is pulling away from the sides of the pan, about 1 hour.
Transfer to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes.
Slide a knife around the perimeter of the pan, invert to release the bread, and cool completely on the wire rack before serving.
Note: I used an additional 1/4 cup of flour than the original recipe because the mixture was a bit too liquid-y.

Indonesian Ginger Chicken

2010-05-04T22:28:00.000-07:00

It was my turn to cook (which I do maybe three times a year) and you can never go wrong with Ina Garten. After looking through her most popular recipes on Food Networks website, I settled on #12 Indonesian Ginger Chicken since after all VW is from Indonesia.

It turned out OK, but I was disappointed with the overall flavor because it was a little weak and needed more flavor - even after VW added more seasonings like sweet soy sauce, shallots, kaffir lime leaves, and chili. Maybe finishing the chicken off on the grill would have made a world of difference?

Ingredients:

1 cup honey

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup sweet soy sauce

1/4 cup minced garlic (8 to 12 cloves)

2 shallots, finely minced

1/2 cup peeled and grated fresh ginger root

2 kaffir lime leaves

2 Thai green chile (whole, not cut)

4 whole chicken legs

2 halves chicken breast

Directions:

Cook the honey, soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, garlic, shallots and ginger root in a small saucepan over low heat until the honey is melted.
Arrange the chicken pieces in 1 layer in a shallow baking pan, skin side down, and pour on the sauce.
Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil.
Marinate overnight in the refrigerator.
Preheat the oven to 350F, place the baking pan in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.
Uncover the pan, turn the chicken skin side up, and raise the temperature to 375F.
Continue baking for 30 minutes or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh and the sauce is a rich, dark brown.
Suggested additional step: Finish off the chicken on a grill skin side down or on a broiler skin side up for a couple minutes until the skins are a little bit charred.

Asparagus and Chopped Eggs

2010-04-29T22:19:00.000-07:00

In addition to the farm fresh eggs, I also got these asparagus at the Castro Farmers' Market to make a simple roasted asparagus and crumbled some chopped boiled eggs on top.

Ingredients:
1 lb asparagus tips
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and fresh ground pepper
2 hard-boiled eggs, roughly chopped

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400F.
Wash and dry the asparagus
Toss with olive oil, spread on a baking sheet on a single layer, sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Bake for 15 minutes, turn once while baking.
Sprinkle the chopped eggs on top and serve.

Asparagus

Farm Fresh Eggs

2010-04-29T20:59:00.000-07:00

One of the reasons I love living in San Francisco is the almost-daily Farmers' Market somewhere in the city. Yesterday, I went to the Castro Farmers' Market to get some vegetables and, while browsing the vendors, made an impulse purchase of Farm Fresh Eggs at Shelly's Garden.

I love the taste of fresh eggs... they are so much more delicious and sweeter (if that even makes sense) than eggs from those big grocery stores. Since these eggs were laid just a couple days ago, I woke up a little bit earlier this morning to make a simple breakfast – a couple of sunny side up eggs with a side of hashbrowns using my new Scanpan pan. Delicious!

Chicken in Black Bean Sauce

2010-04-28T22:39:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite lunch spots in San Francisco Financial District is the Henry's Hunan Restaurant on Sacramento Street. I go there at least once a month with MoFo and we usually always order the same food: Dumplings, Chicken with Black Bean Sauce and Chicken with Bean Curd. We used to be able to finish them all in one seating but sadly we can't do it anymore because we just can't eat that much anymore and we don't want to do a face plant onto our desks when we get back to the office. This dish is my attempt to make their Chicken with Black Bean Sauce and I think it's pretty darn good. I'm definitely looking forward to eat it for lunch for the next few days.

Ingredients:
1 lb chicken meat (thigh or breast meat), cut into 1-inch cubes
1 head of cabbage, cut into quarters and then roughly sliced
2 carrots, sliced into 1/4-inch coins
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion, cut into quarters and then roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 tablespoon finely grated ginger
2 tablespoons Shaoxing cooking wine
1 tablespoon sesame oil
3 tablespoons Chinese Black Bean and Garlic sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup of roughly chopped basil leaves
1/2 cup of chopped green onion
1 teaspoon corn starch

Directions:

Marinate the chicken meat in ginger, Shaoxing cooking wine and sesame oil for 30 minutes.
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in the pan until hot and then add the marinated chicken. Stir fry until it cooks through (about 5 minutes or so) and set aside.
Add in the chopped onion and garlic into the hot pan and stir fry until fragrant.
Add in the chopped cabbage, carrots, salt, white pepper and continue cooking on a medium heat for 5 minutes.
Add in the Black Bean and Garlic sauce and sugar, stir the mixture, lower the heat, cover the pan and continue cooking for another 5-7 minutes until the carrots starting to soften up.
In a small bowl, dissolve the corn starch with a little water.
Return the chicken meat into the pan, add the corn starch mixture, chopped green onion and basil leaves.
Adjust seasoning as needed, stir well and continue cooking for another minute or two until the sauce started to boil and thicken up.
Serve over rice.

Vegetable and Tofu Soup

2010-04-27T22:47:00.000-07:00

After eating plenty of cupcakes in the past few days, we both felt that we should eat better so I made this light yet very tasty Vegetable and Tofu Soup. It is another fantastic recipe from Periplus' Homestyle Chinese Cooking cookbook – I'm loving this cookbook more and more!

Ingredients:
6 cups of water
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 lb fresh Shiitake mushrooms (or 8-10 dried Shiitake mushrooms)
1/2 lb of fresh bok choy or similar Chinese vegetables
1 package of firm or soft tofu, cut into 1-inch cubes
5 slices ginger, cut into thin strips
2 teaspoons white pepper
2 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon Shaoxing cooking wine
1 teaspoon Mirin
1/2 cup of chopped fresh cilantro
2 green onions, finely chopped

Directions:

If using dried Shiitake mushrooms, soak them in hot water for 15 minutes and drain.
Bring water to a boil in a large pot and then add salt.
Cut the mushroom stems and then cut each mushroom in half.
Wash and rinse the vegetables, removing any dirt, any tough or wilted stems, and separate the leaves.
Add the mushroom to the boiling water, and let the water return to boil, then add the tofu, ginger, white pepper, soy sauce, Shaoxing cooking wine and Mirin. Return to boil on medium flame, cover with lid and simmer for about 15 minutes (or 20 minutes if using dried mushrooms).
Add the vegetables and stir, let water return to boil and simmer for 1 more minutes.
Sprinkle chopped parsley and green onion prior to serving.

Car Bomb Cupcakes

2010-04-26T14:02:00.000-07:00

In the past few weeks, I have been craving for cupcakes... specially those from Kara's Cupcakes. Although they were super duper delicious, I started to wonder if it made sense to spend $3 per cupcake – so I decided to make some myself. Since both Porgy and I are self-professed alcohol lovers, I used this Chocolate Whiskey and Beer Cupcakes from Smitten Kitchen - it's an intepretation of the Car Bomb drink in a cupcake form. It was my first time EVER making cupcakes and I am not much of a baker so I followed her direction to the T.

However, if I ever make this again, I would cut the Ganache filling in half to avoid having too much leftover at the end or maybe substitute it with some Salted Caramel filling to cut the richness and add some saltiness. I also had some difficulties with the Bailey's Buttercream icing. Who knew that making icing was that hard... I think my mistake was that I didn't let the butter warmed up enough to the room temperature. And since I sucked big time with the piping works, I used a couple of small spoons to drop a dollop of icing on top of each cupcakes. I think they still look pretty darn cute, don't they?

Ingredients:

The Guinness chocolate cupcakes:
1 cup stout (such as Guinness)
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Ganache filling:
(already cut to half the amount in the original recipe)
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoons butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons Irish whiskey (I like it strong)

Baileys frosting:
3 to 4 cups confections sugar (I used almost 3.5 cups)
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 tablespoons Baileys

Directions:

Follow the direction at Smitten Kitchen since she's the pro.

Dan Dan Noodles

2010-04-25T22:35:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, ShunBun made Dan Dan Noodles using Jamie Oliver's recipe. When he told me about it, I remembered reading a similar recipe at Appetite for China. They looked very appetizing so last weekend I decided to make it by combining both recipes together and substituting the Sichuan peppercorn with dried red chili pepper. Some people might think that this dish is not an authentic Sichuan dish because I didn't use any Sichuan peppercorn. I don't care because the result was a total success as each bite contains full punch of spicy, salty and crunchy goodness.

Ingredients:
1 lb ground pork
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons peanut (or vegetable) oil
4 tablespoons garlic, finely chopped
3 tablespoons ginger, peeled and finely chopped
5 tablespoons onion, finely chopped
3 tablespoons peanut butter
3 tablespoons chili oil
1.5 teaspoons sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon dry red chili pepper
8 oz chicken stock
1 pack dry spaghetti noodle
1/2 lb of Choy Sum (Chinese vegetable)
3 green onions, chopped
1 cup roasted peanuts, finely chopped

Directions:

Marinate the ground pork with 1 tablespoon of soy sauce of 1 teaspoon of salt for 30 minutes.
In a large skillet, stir fry the pork with 2 tablespoons of oil for 10-12 minutes until it's golden and crunchy. Pour away any excess fat, then add honey and toss until all the ground pork is nicely coated. Cook for another minute and then set aside.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil (to be used to cook the noodle and blanch the vegetable).
Reheat the skillet and add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil and stir fry the garlic, ginger and onions until fragrant for about 2 minutes or so.
Add the peanut butter, soy sauce, chili oil, sesame oil, dry red chili pepper, salt and chicken stock and simmer for 5-7 minutes.
Cook the noodles according to the direction (7-8 minutes). Add in the Choy Sum in the last minute to quickly boil them. Drain the noodles and vegetable well.
Return the noodles, vegetable, cooked meat and the peanut sauce into the pot.
Add in the chopped green onions and roasted peanuts and mix well.

Indian Mee

2010-04-13T21:17:00.000-07:00

We still could not finish the Roast Leg of Lamb even after eating it for 5 days on and off so I had to figure out what to do with the rest of them. Flipping through my collection of cookbooks, I decided to make this Indian Mee recipe on a Primarasa's Hidangan Asia – an Indian-inspired Chinese noodle dish. The recipe called for fresh thick yellow noodle but I had to substitute it with dry Chinese egg noodles instead. It was not the best decision because the noodles were a bit too thin... so if you want to try it out, I recommend you to use spaghetti noddle instead.

Ingredients:
1 lb of lamb meat, cubed
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
4 teaspoons black pepper
1 tablespoon ghee
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 half onion, sliced
1/2 package of fried yellow tofu, cut into 1-inch cubes
12 oz dry Chinese egg noodles
1/2 lb Choy Sum (Chinese vegetable)
4 green onions, cut into 1-inch sections
2 eggs, beaten with a little bit of water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup fried shallot
1/2 cup chopped parsley

Curry sauce:
2 tablespoons soy sauce
4 tablespoons tomato ketchup
1 teaspoon tumeric powder
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
3/4 teaspoon paprika powder
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Marinate the lamb meat with soy sauce, dark soy sauce and black pepper for 30 minutes or so.
Boil the dry egg noodle for 4-5 minutes or according to the direction. Add in the Choy Sum in the last minute to quickly boil them.
Heat up the ghee and 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a wok and stir fry the sliced onion until translucent.
Add in the curry sauce and stir well until fragrant.
Add in the lamb meat cubes and cook until they change color.
Add in the cooked noodle, stir until all is mixed well while adding the tofu and green onions.
Move the noodle mixture to the side of the wok, add in the rest of the vegetable oil in the center of the wok.
When the oil is hot, pour in the beaten egg. Let it sit for awhile until the egg started to harden and then stir a little to scramble it.
Move the noodle mixture back to the middle of the wok, add in the lemon juice, parsley and 1/2 cup of the fried shallots and mix well.
Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle the rest of the fried shallots on top.

Stir-fried Sweet Peas and Mushrooms with Ginger and Spring Onions

2010-04-12T21:38:00.000-07:00

I'm glad that spring is here because it means that I can get fresh peas (sweet peas, English peas, fava beans, etc.) at the Farmers Market and that I can finally try out this stir-fry recipe that I saw in Periplus' Homestyle Chinese Cooking cookbook. It says in the book that "snowpeas and mushrooms are a classic combination in Chinese cuisine because they harmonize opposite yin and yang qualities in three different ways: flavors (sweet and smokey), textures (crispy and mushy), colors (bright green and dark brown)" and I kind of agree with that. I used sweet peas instead of snow peas and added fried yellow tofu to add some meatiness to the dish. I really love this cookbook because it has a lot of great recipes that are not like the typical greasy Chinese food available at restaurants.

Ingredients:
1 lb fresh sweet peas
1 lb fresh Shiitake mushrooms
1/2 package of fried yellow tofu, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1-inch ginger, slice into fine shreds
4 green onions, cut into 1-inch sections
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons Shaoxing cooking wine
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sesame oil

Directions:

Wash the sweet peas, snap off the tips and pull away the strings from each sides.
Clean the mushroom with damp cloth to remove any grit and dirt and cut in half
Combine the soy sauce, cooking wine, sugar, salt and sesame oil in a small bowl and set aside.
In a pot of boiling water, quickly blanch the sweet peas for 30 seconds and shock them in ice cold water to keep the bright green color.
Heat the oil in a saute pan until hot and then add in the mushroom and ginger slices, stir fry for 2 minutes.
Add the sauce and the tofu cubes and cook for another minute.
Add the blanched sweet peas and the green onion and stir fry for a couple more minutes.
Transfer to a serving dish.

Margarita

2010-04-12T19:30:00.000-07:00

This weekend I splurged on a few delicious goodies and skipped going to the gym (again!) I hope my food-craving trend does not continue on much longer because I'm freaking out thinking how much running I have to do to burn all these calories off so I can be prepared for the summer.

Kara's Cupcakes - Java, Fleur De Sel, Chocolate Velvet and Kara's Karrot cupcakes

Yum Yum Fish Sushi - Rainbow, Salmon Skin and Spicy Hamachi rolls and Unagi nigiri

and homemade Margaritas (thanks for the recipe, Liza!) – Yes, surprisingly enough I enjoyed drinking the Margaritas while having sushi or maybe I was already too sloshed up to care?

Ingredients:
1.5 oz blue agave sweetener
2 oz sparkling water
4 oz freshly squeezed lime juice
6 oz Tequila
0.5 oz Triple sSec

Directions:

Pour all of the ingredients into a shaker.
Add a handful of ice cubes.
Shake vigorously.
Use the lime wedges to moisten tumbler glasses and coat with salt.
Pour the tequila mixture into the glass, add more ice cubes if necessary.

Chard and Feta Quiche

2010-04-11T22:20:00.001-07:00

I made this Chard and Feta Quiche after getting tired of eating Roasted Leg of Lamb for both lunch and dinner for 3 days in a row. This recipe was similar to my other quiche recipes except that I used a couple bunched of rainbow chard and feta cheese. Since I used quite a bit of vegetables, I added one more egg and heavy cream and baked the whole thing in a deep gratin dish instead of a round pie dish.

We had a difficult time going back eating the lamb again after having this dish. It was a wonderful light(-ish compared to the lamb) dish to have with a side arugula salad and a glass of Pinot Gris because the weather was so nice last week. Now I need to figure out what to do with the rest of the roasted lamb meat.

Ingredients:

1 frozen puff pastry sheet
2 tablespoons oil

1 onion, cut into half and thinly sliced
2 bunches of Rainbow Chard, washed and roughly chopped
4 eggs
3/4 cup heavy cream
Fresh ground pepper
Fresh ground nutmeg
1 package of feta cheese

Directions:

Roll the puff pastry dough to fit the gratin dish and bake for 15 minutes at 400°F. After it's done, lower the oven temperature to 375°F and place the pie pan on a wire rack to cool.
Saute the onion and the chopped chard stem with olive oil over a medium heat for about 8 minutes or so until the onion is soft and starting to caramelize.
Add the chopped chard leaves, cook for 8 more minutes over a medium high heat until the liquid is evaporated.
Add a third of the cheese on the bottom of crust until it's all covered, top with the vegetable mixture and then cover with the remaining cheese.
Mix together the eggs with the heavy cream and season with freshly ground pepper and nutmeg.
Pour over the vegetable mixture and cheese.
Bake for 30-35 minutes and cool on a wire rack for about 10-15 minutes before slicing.

Easter - Roast Leg of Lamb

2010-04-11T19:44:00.000-07:00

For Easter this year, Porgy and I decided to have a mellow at-home dinner of Roasted Leg of Lamb that I got the day before from Little City Market in North Beach with some vegetables from the Farmers Market. The butcher at the market was nice enough to write down the direction how the lamb should be cooked (375 degree for 1 hour and 40 minutes) on the wrapping paper. I guess I would be that nice too if someone just spent $35 on a piece of meat. Well, this dish is better last for more than a couple of days.

Ingredients:
3.5 lbs of boneless leg of lamb
3 tablespoons of Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons of chopped fresh rosemary
2 tablespoons of finely chopped garlic
olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 onion, quartered
1 lb of fingerling potatoes, scrubbed clean
1 lb of baby carrots, scrubbed clean
0.5 lb of fresh Shiitake mushroom, sliced in half

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degree.
Mix the mustard, rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper with a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a small bowl.
Rub the leg of lamb with the seasoning mix and let it sit for one hour at room temperature.
Put the lamb in a roasting pan and cook for 30 minutes.
Toss the potatoes, carrots and mushroom with a couple tablespoons of olive oil, salt and pepper and add in the vegetables into the pan.
Cook everything for another 30 minutes uncovered.
Cover the pan with the aluminum foil and cook for another 40 minutes.
Let the lamb meat rest for 15 minutes before slicing.

Broccolini with Sausage and Shitake Mushroom

2010-04-11T19:19:00.000-07:00

Here's a simple quick stir-fried vegetable dish that I made over the Easter weekend. It's delicious and healthy – just make sure to get young broccolini so it's not too tough or too stringy.

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 shallots, finely chopped
1-inch ginger, finely chopped
1 lb broccolini
2 uncooked sausages
10 fresh Shiitake mushroom, destem and cut into slices
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon Shaoxing cooking wine
2 tablespoons chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a large pan, quickly stir-fry the garlic, shallots and ginger with olive oil over a medium heat for a couple of minutes until fragrant.
Take the sausages out of the casing, crumble them into the pan and cook for 5 minutes until they are almost cooked.
Add in the sliced mushroom and cook for 3 more minutes.
And then add in the broccolini along with the soy sauce, Shaoxing wine and chicken broth.
Stir well, lower the heat, cover the pan and cook for 5 minutes or so until the broccolini is tender.
Adjust seasoning using salt and pepper.

Lemon Drop Cocktails

2010-03-31T23:19:00.000-07:00

One of our favorite ways to use up all these lemons that I zested for scones was to make a few Lemon Drop cocktails – we either have it straight up in a martini glass or over ice in a tumbler glass. My lemon drop recipe is pretty simple and can be adjusted according to taste.

Ingredients:
6 oz vodka
3 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 oz Triple Sec or orange flavored liquor (Grand Marnier)
1 tablespoon sugar

Directions:

Chill a couple martini glasses in the freezer.
Pour the lemon juice, vodka and triple sec into a shaker.
Add a handful of ice cubes and shake vigorously.
Use the lemon wedges to moisten the glasses and coat with sugar.
Strain the lemon vodka mixture into the glass.

Raisin Pineapple Ginger Scones

2010-03-31T22:37:00.000-07:00

I took yesterday off to chill, take care of Arthur and do some quick errands around the house. Interestingly enough I was already bored by 1pm because I did all of my errands already and Arthur could not play too much because he was still recovering from his procedure. After rummaging my kitchen cabinet, I decided to make Raisin Pineapple Ginger Scones by following my Cranberry Orange Scone recipe – substituting the cranberry with half cup of raisin and half cup of sugared pineapple and adding some ginger powder to the dry ingredients. The scone texture was not good as my previous scones because I used whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour so I still have to figure out how to work with whole wheat flour correctly.

Ingredients:
2 cups plus 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 cup sugar
3 teaspoons of ginger powder
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoons kosher salt
zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon
3/8 pound (1.5 stick) cold unsalted butter, diced
2 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup cold heavy cream
1/2 cup of raisins
1/2 cup of chopped sugared pinneaple
1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water or milk, for egg wash
1/8 cup sugar for sprinkling

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Mix 2 cups of flour, 1/8 cup sugar, ginger powder, baking powder, salt and the zest in a food processor.
Add the cold butter and quickly pulse until the butter is the size of peas.
Combine the eggs and heavy cream in a small bowl and slowly pour into the flour and butter mixture in the food processor and mix until just blended. The dough will look lumpy, sticky and form a ball.
Combine the raisins, diced pineapple and 1/8 cup of flour, add to the dough, and fold in using a spatula until blended.
Dump the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead it into a ball. Flour your hands and knead the dough 3/4-inch thick. You should see small bits of butter in the dough.
Roll the dough into a log and cut triangles of dough.
Place the scones on a baking pan lined with parchment paper or silpat.
Brush the tops of the scones with egg wash, sprinkle with sugar, and bake for 20 to 22 minutes, until the tops are browned and the insides are fully baked.
The scones will be firm to the touch.
Allow the scones to cool for a couple minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.

Italian Sausage, Fennel and Vegetable Pesto Pizza

2010-03-30T13:44:00.000-07:00

This is my first official pizza entry as Pissaladiere is technically not a pizza. It is also an easy one to make because I have already had most of the ingredients ready since they're similar to the ones in the Spaghetti with Broccolini and Peas in Pesto Sauce that I made over the weekend. I added some Italian sausage and fennel slices to give additional flavor to it.

The good thing about making a pizza is that you can add almost anything you want or have in the fridge. I don't have any pizza stone so I used a baking sheet to bake the pizza on and good thing it turned out well.

Ingredients:
1 pizza dough (I used plain pizza dough from Trader's Joe)
2 links of sweet Italian sausage
1 fennel, cored and sliced
2 green garlic, one sliced to 2" pieces and the other roughly chopped
a few leaves each of spinach, arugula and dandelions
a handful of Broccolini
1 cup of shredded Mozzarella cheese
pesto sauce

Directions:

Pre-heat up the oven to 450 degree.
Take the sausages out of the link, break out of bite-size pieces.
Cook the sausage pieces with a little bit of olive oil for 5 minutes over medium heat until they are almost cooked. Add in the sliced fennel and chopped green garlic and cook for another 4 minutes until the fennel slices are starting to soften up. Set aside.
Work on the pizza dough according to the package direction (rest in a room temperature for 20 minutes, stretch by hand or using a rolling pin over a lightly floured surface to 12" diameter circle and move onto a lightly oiled baking pan or pizza stone if you have one).
Top the pizza with about 1/4 cup of the pesto sauce, then with the vegetables, sliced green garlic, sausage bits and mozzarella cheese.
Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes until the cheese is bubbling and the bottom of the pizza is golden brown.

Spaghetti with Broccolini and Peas in Pesto Sauce

2010-03-30T11:12:00.000-07:00

Ah... the intention of cooking healthy food can sometimes be derailed because of last minute improvisation (like adding too much cheese...). I'm not sure if this is a healthy and nutritious dish or not but I'd like to think so, specially since Porgy said that it's a very 'green' dish.

It's all started when I read this Recipe for Health article on NYTimes. I thought to myself 'Hey, that's a good idea to make simple, healthy and delicious vegetarian dish!' so I decided to make it over the weekend. Since I didn't have any parsley and edamame, I substituted spinach, arugula and dandelions for parsley and frozen shelled peas for edamame. And since I wanted to make extra 'pesto sauce' to use for pizza topping later on, I tripled the amounts of the olive oil and added extra Parmesan cheese to the sauce.

Ingredients:
4 large garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
1 packed cup of spinach
1 packed cup of arugula
1 packed cup of dandelion
1/3 cup of olive oil
1 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
1 package of dried spaghetti
1 cup of frozen peas
1 handful of Broccolini
1/2 cup of dry white wine

Directions:

In a food processor, pulse-chop the garlic for a few seconds. Add in the spinach, arugula, dandelion and Parmesan cheese and then pulse-chop some more until finely chopped. With the machine running, drizzle in the olive oil. Taste and season with salt and pepper accordingly.
In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook the dried spaghetti pasta according to the direction in the package.
About 5 minutes before the spaghetti is done cooking, add the frozen peas and Broccolini into the pot. Drain well.
Using the same pot, cook the 'pesto sauce' with the dry white wine for a couple of minutes until it boils and then add in the spaghetti, peas and Broccolini.
Toss the mixture together, add grated Parmesan cheese, salt or pepper if necessary.

Lemon, Orange and Thyme Olive Oil Cake

2010-03-29T21:09:00.000-07:00

What do you think I would make if I have plenty of lemons? First, I will make a couple glasses of Lemon Drops (the cocktail drink of course, NOT the candy) and, then after getting some buzz of it, I would attempt to make some kind of lemony desserts. I received a few lemons from AMV last week so I decided to make a variation of this yummy looking Lemon Cake - adding in extra lemon and orange zest and using thyme instead of lavender.

Side note: I used Whole Wheat Flour from Trader's Joe so the cake texture turned out to be a bit grainy (accordingly to Mo-Fo, it's corn-cake like). I guess I still need to figure out when and how to substitute all-purpose flour with whole-wheat flour correctly. Any recommendations?

Ingredients:
1.5 cups all purpose flour
1 cup + 1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup olive oil
5 teaspoon lemon zest
5 teaspoon lemon juice
2 teaspoon orange zest
2 teaspoon freshly minced thyme leaves

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Mix the flour, 1 cup of sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
In a medium bowl, mix the eggs, milk, olive oil, 4 teaspoon of the lemon zest, 1 teaspoon of the orange zest and the thyme leaves.
Add in the wet mixture to the dry ingredients in the large bowl and stir with a wooden spatula to combine. The batter will be on the wet-side.
Pour the batter into a greased and floured 8.5"x4.5" loaf pan and bake for 55-60 minutes, until a wooden skewer comes out clean.
A few minutes before the cake is ready, start making the glaze by heating 1/2 cup of sugar and the lemon juice in a small pot until the sugar becomes a syrup.
When the cake is done, remove it from the oven and, while it's still in the pan, poke holes about 1" apart from the top of the cake all the way to the bottom using a long wooden skewer.
Pour half of the glaze over the cake (while it's in the pan), let the cake soak the syrup and rest for 15 minutes before removing it from the pan to a platter.
Add in the rest of the lemon zest (1 teaspoon) and orange zest (1 teaspoon) into the pot and cook over a low heat for 5 minutes or so until thicken. Be careful not to burn the syrup.
Remove the syrup from the heat and wait for 30 seconds before pouring the thicken syrup over the cake.
Let the cake cool for 30 minutes or so before serving.

Asparagus, Mushroom and Caramelized Onion Quiche

2010-03-29T20:41:00.000-07:00

Oh boy... the past few weeks have been very stressful and tiring for us as Arthur, our Terrier mix, had been limping. We brought him to the vet a couple weeks ago but they couldn't find anything wrong with his foot. Yesterday we went back to the vet for further examinations and they found several 'foreign objects' including a small broken glass in his paw. They were able to take out most of the objects except one... so after spending $500+ for the visit, Arthur is still not 100%. I really hope that 'foreign object' will come out by itself some time soon so he can be back to his cheery self and we don't have to stress out about him too much anymore.

So anyway... tonight I decided to catch up with my blog starting with this Asparagus, Mushroom and Caramelized Onion Quiche. Continuing with my effort to eat more vegetables and less meat, I made this quiche a couple weekends ago. It's an easy, hearty and healthy(ish) dish that can be eaten with a side salad for a light lunch or dinner. It is similar to what I did before, I just modified the recipe based on what I had in my fridge.

Ingredients:

1 frozen puff pastry sheet
2 tablespoons ghee (or butter)

1 onion, cut into half and thinly sliced
1 bunch asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup of sliced Crimini mushroom
1/2 cup milk (preferably half-and-half, but I didn't have any)
3 large eggs
Fresh ground pepper
Fresh ground nutmeg
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Roll the puff pastry dough to fit a pie pan and bake for 15 minutes at 400°F. After it's done, lower the oven temperature to 375°F and place the pie pan on a wire rack to cool.
Saute the onion with the ghee over a medium heat for about 8 minutes or so until the onion is soft and starting to caramelize.
Add the mushroom, cook for 5 more minutes over a medium high heat until the mushroom's juices are evaporated.
Add in the asparagus and cook for another 3 minutes or so until the asparagus are just cooked.
Add half of the cheese on the bottom of crust until it's all covered, top with the vegetable mixture and then cover with the remaining cheese.
Mix together the eggs with the milk and season with freshly ground pepper and nutmeg.
Pour over the vegetable mixture and cheese.
Bake for 30-35 minutes and cool on a wire rack for about 10-15 minutes before slicing.

Eggplant and Tofu Braised in Fragrant Sauce

2010-03-15T22:03:00.000-07:00

One of my 'ambitious' goals this year is to eat less meat. This is a hard one for me because 1) I love love love meat and 2) I'm somewhat clueless when cooking vegetables. I usually put at least a little bit of meat in my vegetable dishes but tonight I decided to go all vegetarian by adding tofu to substitute for the meat. This dish was inspired by one of the recipes in Periplus' Homestyle Chinese Cooking cookbook and has a similar taste as the Spicy Eggplant Balado that I made a few months ago.

Ingredients:
5 medium Chinese eggplants
1 package of cooked fried (yellow) tofu
3 tablespoons oil
8 cloves garlic, finely chopped
8 slices ginger, finely chopped
2 leeks, well washed and chopped
1 stalk lemon grass (white part only), sliced in half and bruised
4 green onions, finely chopped
1.5 tablespoons chili paste (I used Sambal Oelek)
3/8 cup water
1/2 cup fried shallots (optional)

Sauce:
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1.5 tablespoons Shaoxing cooking wine
1.5 tablespoons sugar
1.5 teaspoons vinegar
1.5 teaspoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon mirin
3/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Cut eggplants length wise and then cut each half into 2-inch pieces.
Combine all the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.
Stir fry garlic, ginger, leek, lemon grass and eggplants over medium heat in a heavy bottom pan or a wok for 4 minutes until the eggplants absorb the oil and begin to soften.
Add in tofu, green onion and the chili paste and cook for another 2 minutes.
Add the sauce and mix carefully to combine all the ingredients.
Add the water and cover the pan with a lid, lower the heat and simmer for 6 minutes.
Sprinkle with fried shallots on top, stir one more time and serve.

Chicken and Vegetable Cobbler

2010-03-13T19:38:00.000-08:00

I love a good chicken pot pie but I have never made it before because I'm too lazy to make the dough. So when I saw Mark Bittman's article last week on NYTimes, I knew that I would make his Chicken and Vegetable Cobbler this weekend. I added garlic, shallots, ham and more carrots to his recipe in order to stretch the dish even more. It turned out really well and it's definitely easier than making it the traditional way.

Ingredients:
2 leeks, well washed and chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 shallot, finely chopped
salt and ground black pepper
2 cups of quartered crimini mushroom
1.5 cups of chicken stock
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
4 carrots, sliced into coins
2 boneless chicken thighs, diced
1 cup cubed ham
1 cup frozen peas
2 tablespoons corn starch
1 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into bits
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 egg

Directions:

Heat oven to 400F.
In a large skillet, stir fry the leek, garlic and shallot with oil over medium heat.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes.
Add mushrooms and cook until liquid has released and evaporated, about 8 to 10 minutes.
Add stock and rosemary; bring to a boil, and let bubble for a minute or two.
Add carrots, ham and chicken and reduce heat so the liquid simmers and cook for 8 to 10 minutes until carrots are almost tender and chicken is cooked through.
Add peas and cook, stirring occasionally for another minute or so.
Take out rosemary stem and discard.
Whisk cornstarch with a few tablespoons of broth to make a slurry, add slurry to pot and stir until liquid thickens slightly.
Transfer everything to an ovenproof dish and set aside.
Put flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a food processor.
Add butter and process until mixture resembles small peas, no more than 30 seconds.
Add in buttermilk and egg and mix quickly until it just comes together; it should be sticky.
Drop spoonfuls of batter on top of vegetables and chicken and smooth with a knife, covering as much surface area as possible but leaving a few gaps for steam to escape.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes until golden on top and bubbly underneath.
Scoop into bowls and serve immediately.

Excelsior Bagelen Biscuit

2010-03-10T22:32:00.000-08:00

When visiting my family a few weeks ago in Indonesia, I squealed for joy when I saw this turquoise-colored tin can. Although I have not had it in 20 plus years, somehow I still remember the name so I yelled out 'Bagelen!' and went on to grab a couple Bagelen Biscuit to munch on. Oh... these yummy butter spread biscuits are so airy and crunchy, full with some sweet and salty flavors.

According to the packaging, the company 'Excelsior' is located in Bandung (West Java). It's been around since 1919 and their biscuits only have wheat flour, eggs, sugar, butter, milk, vanilla powder and yeast as the ingredients. I don't know how they did it but the result is totally magic to me.

Chicken in Caramel Sauce

2010-03-09T23:10:00.001-08:00

Lately, I have been craving for something on the sweet side for my daily meal, so I decided to make Chicken in Caramel Sauce - a pretty simple Vietnamese dish. One thing to watch out for is the sweetness level, so you don't get bored by the third meal. So for my version of Chicken in Caramel Sauce, I added some vegetables (carrots for crunchy texture and tomatoes and green bell pepper for a bit of acidity) and chili pepper powder for some heat.

Ingredients:
1 lb chicken breast or thigh meat, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons minced garlic
4 tablespoons minced shallot
6 tablespoons minced ginger
6 tablespoons water
1 carrots, cut into half coins
2 tomatoes, cut into bite sized chunks
1 green bell pepper, cut into 1-inch strips
10 stalks green onions, cut into 1-inch sections

Caramel Sauce:
2 tablespoons fish sauce
4 tablespoons palm sugar
1 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon red chili pepper

Direction:

Mix the sauce ingredients well in a bowl. Set aside.
In a medium size sauce pan, boil the carrots for 2 minutes. Add in the tomatoes and green bell pepper and cook for another minute, drain and set aside.
Stir fry the chicken meat cubes in a frying pan with half of the vegetable oil for 4 minutes or so until it changes color. Set aside.
Add the rest of the vegetable oil into the frying pan and stir fry the garlic, shallot and ginger over medium heat for 4 minutes or so until fragrant and softened.
Add in the caramel sauce, stir and continue cooking until the liquid boils and starts to thicken.
Add in the water, stir until smooth and return to boil.
Return the chicken pieces into the pan, cook for approximately 15 minutes until the liquid thickens and becomes glossy. Stir occasionally.
Add the vegetables and the green onion in the pan and cook for another 5 minutes.
Serve over rice. Enjoy!

Noodle with Red-braised Short Ribs and Asparagus

2010-03-07T19:22:00.000-08:00

What to do when the other person wants to have a non-Asian dish but you want to have one? My solution is to make an Asian-inspired pasta dish without actually telling the person. I figured that as long as it tastes good, Porgy would not mind having spaghetti with Asian-inspired home style red-braised sauce. I used one of the recipes in Periplus' Homestyle Chinese Cooking cookbook as an inspiration for the sauce. You can make this a vegetarian dish by skipping the short ribs meat and substituting it with sliced mushroom or tofu.

Ingredients:
1 package of spaghetti pasta
2 bunches of asparagus, cut into 2-inch sections
1 cup of short ribs meats, cut into 0.5-inch cubes
3 tablespoon of ghee (unclarified butter) or olive oil
1/2 onion, sliced
8 cloves garlic, smashed with skins removed
8 slices ginger
5 green onions, cut into 2-inch sections
6 tablespoons soy sauce
4 tablespoons Shaoxing cooking wine
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon crushed red chili pepper
2 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 1/2 cup water

Directions:

Cook the pasta al-dente according to the package direction. Three minutes before the pasta is done, add in the cut asparagus. Drain and set aside.
Mix all of the sauce ingredients together (soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, sesame oil, sugar, salt, black pepper, chili pepper and dissolved cornstarch) in a bowl.
Heat up the ghee in a heavy bottom pan over high heat and stir fry the short ribs meat for about 4 minutes or so until they are somewhat browned.
Add in the onion, garlic, ginger and half of the green onion and cook for another 3 minutes.
Add in the sauce, stir to blend, cover the pan, lower heat and braise for 5 to 6 minutes.
Add in the cooked spaghetti, asparagus and the rest of the green onion into the pan and stir gently so they are well mixed.

Indonesian Street Food

2010-02-27T06:13:00.001-08:00

Here are some examples of Indonesian street food that I've had while in Indonesia. Our parents did not allow us to buy street foods when we were kids so it's definitely an exciting experience for me to have them now. Sometimes I wished that I was not such a picky eater growing up because I could have enjoyed all of these delicious food more often then especially since they are so cheap at US $ 1 for 10 of them. Oh well, I guess it's better late than never!

Bolang Baling in Semarang. I used to eat these donut-like fried dough about once every month or so growing up and, like the Western version, they're best when they just come out of the fryer. This one is located on Kampung Utri Road, near Dr.Cipto Road.

Kue Leker in Semarang. These are dry and crunchy crepes filled with either chocolate, caramel, banana, peanuts (for the sweet ones) or eggs, cheese, green onion, mini sausages (for the savory ones). Leker is loosely translated to 'delicious' and, boy..., they are indeed delicious! I love the sweet ones because eating them is just like eating light desserts. Kue Leker Pak Paimo is located in front of the Loyola high school on Karanganyar Road.

Putu Bumbung and Klepon in Jakarta. This gentleman pushes his cart passing through my sister's house in Permata Hijau almost every day. We can hear the cart's distinct steaming kettle-like sound from inside the house about 50 yards away so can rush outside to flag him and order these delicious Putu Bumbung (freshly made rice-flour with aren (palm) sugar and fresh coconut steamed inside 2-inch bamboo sections placed on top of a make-shift steamer - 3rd picture below) and Klepon (boiled sticky rice flour balls with aren sugar inside with fresh coconut shaving outside - foreground, 4th picture).

Fried Banana

2010-02-26T04:32:00.000-08:00

If you enjoy Fried Banana at Thai or Indonesian restaurants, here is a simple recipe for you to try. I apologize for not knowing the exact measurement for this recipe because I only watched my Mom making them. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

ripe but still firm bananas
wheat flour
rice flour
a pinch of salt
warm water
peanut or canola oil for frying

Directions:

Since the bananas that we used were already too ripe, we sliced it to smaller pieces so they cook better.
Mix the 3 part of wheat flour to 1 part of rice flour with a pinch of salt and add the warm water a little bit at a time so that the mixture is not too thin.
Put the banana slices in the flour mixture and mix slowly to make sure that each of them is coated with the flour mixture.
Heat up oil in a frying pan or wok over low medium heat until hot.
Fry a ladle of the banana and flour mixture a few at a time so not to crowd the pan for 4 to 5 minutes each sides until golden brown.
Put the fried bananas over paper towel to soak the excess frying oil.