Jim Lahey's No-Work Bread

This is my 99th entry (posted on 09/09/09 ... trippy!). I finally made my first bread using yeast. Since baking is not really my strength, I decided to try out Jim Lahey's No-Work Bread (from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything) because it doesn't require much kneading or fancy gadgets.

To make this bread, you have to be very patient and start early because it needs 18 to 24 hour for the dough to rest. After that, the steps are pretty simple and, as you can see from the picture below, the bread turned out with a beautiful crust and moist inside!


Ingredients:
4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups water at about 70F
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
cornmeal

Directions:

• Combine the flour, yeast, and salt in a large bowl.
• Add the water and stir until blended.
• Put the olive oil in a second bowl, transfer the dough to that, turn to coat with oil, cover with plastic wrap.
• Let the dough rest for 18 to 24 hours at about 70F.
  
• The dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles.
• Lightly flour a work surface, remove the dough and fold once or twice.
• Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest for about 15 minutes.
• Using the just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking, gently and quickly shape the dough into a ball.
• Generously coat a silicone baking mat with cornmeal, put the dough seam side down and dust with more cornmeal.
  
• Cover with a plastic wrap and let rise for 2 hours.
• At least half hour before the dough is ready, heat the oven to 450F and put a 3- or 4-quart enamel pot with its cover in the oven as it heats.
• When the dough is ready, carefully remove the pot from the oven and turn the dough over into the pot, seam side up.
• Cover with the lid and bake for 30 minutes.
• Then remove the lid and bake for another 20 minutes.
• Remove the bread with a spatula or tongs to a cooling rack.
• Cool for a least 30 minutes before slicing.

Now I need to start thinking about what to do for my 100th entry. Any suggestions?

Galantine

One of my favorite dishes growing up in Indonesia was Galantine. The Indonesian version is different from the French version's of de-boned stuffed poultry meat poached and served cold, coated with aspic. Ours is more like a meat rolade with hard-boiled eggs inside. I made mine using a mix of ground pork, ground chicken and liver paste and, for extra kick, I added fried shallots into the mixture. It turned out well and as good as what I had back home.


Ingredients:
1 lb of ground pork
1 lb of ground chicken
1 can of liver paste (~120gr)
6 tablespoons of bread crumbs
4 tablespoons of sweet condensed milk
1/4 cup of fried shallots
3 eggs
1 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons of salt
2 teaspoons of pepper
5 hard-boiled eggs
wax paper

Directions:

• Mix the ground meats, liver paste, bread crumbs, milk, shallots, eggs, nutmeg, salt and pepper well in a food processor.
• Lay out the wax paper on a table, put about a third of the meat mixture on the middle of it to cover about half of the wax paper.
• Arrange the hard-boiled eggs on top of the meat mixture and top the eggs with the rest of the meat mixture so it resembles a log.
• Roll the wax paper to enclose the meat & egg log.
• Steam the galantine for 25 minutes.
• After it cools off, open the wax paper and serve the galantine with the tomato sauce.

Tomato Sauce
Ingredients:
3 ripe tomatoes
5 tablespoons of tomato ketchup
5 shallots, finely diced
1 tablespoon of butter
2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon of corn starch
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• Boil the tomatoes until they turn soft, drain saving 1 cup of the water used for boiling, cut the tomatoes into chunks.
• Fry the shallots using the butter over low medium heat in a medium pan.
• Increase the heat to medium and add tomato chunks, 1 cup of the tomato water, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Continue cooking until it boils.
• Remove the pan from the heat and let cool down a little bit before blending in a food processor into a smooth consistency.
• Strain the tomato mixture before returning to the pan.
  
• Cook over medium low heat.
• In a small bowl, dissolve the cornstarch using cold water.
• Add into the pan, stir and continue cooking until it boils again.

Mi Lindo Yucatan

Today, Porgy and I went to Mi Lindo Yucatan in the Mission District. I've been wanting to try it out because I heard good things about it. Since we were not too hungry, we decided to get an appetizer sampler to share, chicken soup and soursop horcata. My Mom usually makes me fresh soursop juice when I go home so having soursop horcata totally brought back memories of home. I really enjoyed my mid afternoon snack at this place - good food, very reasonably price, friendly staff who is proud of the food that she's serving. I will definitely come back here again to try out their other dishes.

Platillo "Mi Lindo Yucatan", a combination platter with Tamales, Panuchos, Salbutes, Flautas, Chilindrinas, Empanadas and Polcanes.

• Tamales: Corn meal dough stuffed with chicken mixed with traditional yucatecan sauce, wrapped in banana leaves and steamed
• Panuchos: Fried home made tortilla stuffed with black bean puree. Topped with grilled chicken, cabbage, tomato, pickled red onions and avocado.
• Salbutes: Fried tortilla puffs topped with grilled chicken, lettuce, fresh tomatoes, pickled red onions and avocado.
• Flautas: Fried taquitos stuffed with chicken. Served with tomatillo sauce, sour cream and crumbled queso fresco.
• Chilindrinas: Crisp tortilla packets with hard boiled eggs and spinach. Served with tomato sauce and cheese.
• Empanadas: Corn dough stuffed with ground beef and topped with tomato sauce.
• Polcanes: Corn meal dumplings stuffed with a mixture of lima beans and crushed pumpkin seeds. Served with pickled red onions.

Sopa del Dia, chicken soup with pickled red onion and cabbage.


FYI, taking pictures using iPhone in this restaurant is a bit tricky because the restaurant wall is bright lime green with some turquoise-hint color. I had to photoshop the pictures to balance the colors. Next time I go there, I'll make sure to bring a digital camera!

Sweet and Sour Spareribs

I finally dusted off my Chinese food recipe collection this weekend. I don't usually cook Chinese food that often because I think that they're too complicated for me. However, this Sweet and Sour Spareribs recipe seems pretty simple enough for me to follow and it looks so delicious because it's not like those sweet and sour dishes in Chinese Restaurant.


Ingredients:
1.5 lb of pork spareribs
1 tablespoon of rice vinegar
2 tablespoons of rice wine
3 tablespoons of sugar
3 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce
5 tablespoons of water
4 slices of ginger root
4 stalks of green onion

Directions:

• Wash and cut spareribs into 3 inches long each.
• Boil the spareribs in pan filled enough water to cover them.
• Remove the meat when the water boils.
• Drain the spareribs well.
• Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a wok and stir fry the ginger until fragrant.
• Pour all the seasonings, green onions and spareribs into the wok, bring to boil.
• Cover with lid and cook over low heat until the sauce almost gone (approximately 30 minutes), turning the ribs to baste from time to time.

Spicy Eggplant Balado

This is my take on Egg Balado - an Indonesian dish of fried eggs with spicy chili sauce. Since I'm trying to be healthier, I decided to use eggplants instead of eggs. It turned out really well because the eggplants soak up the sauce.


Ingredients:
1 Eggplant, cut into medium-sized cubes
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped (OR 3 shallots, finely diced)
20 cherry tomatoes, halved (OR 3 tomatoes, chopped)
1 .5 tablespoons of Sambal Oelek
2 tablespoons of sweet soy sauce
3 teaspoons of sugar
2 teaspoons of salt

Directions:

• Mix the Sambal Oelek, sweet soy sauce, sugar and salt in a bowl.
• Stir fry the onion in a pan with olive oil.
• Add in the chili paste, stir.
• Add in the eggplant cubes and stir until eggplant is soft but not too soft (mushy).
• You can add fried eggs or hard boiled eggs on top when serving.
  

Porgy's Caprese Pasta Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

On an extremely rare occasion and if the stars and moon are aligned, Porgy will actually make dinner. After watching Mostly Martha, a German romantic comedy all about food, he was craving pasta and decided to make Caprese Pasta Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette -- recipe from the Cooking Photographer. It looks simple enough but it took him forever since he barely knows how to cut parsley. However, it turned out refreshing and perfect for summer. Good job Porgy!


Ingredients:
Lemon Vinaigrette
2 teaspoons finely grated lemons zest
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
¼ cup lightly packed fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
2 garlic cloves, chopped
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more if needed to wet pasta

Pasta
1 pound of fusilli pasta
1 pound diced ripe tomatoes
16 ounce tub fresh mozzarella pearls, drained
Lemon vinaigrette
Lots of fresh basil, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• Blend the lemon zest and juice, parsley, garlic, salt, and pepper in a blender.
• With the machine running gradually blend in the oil.
• Season the vinaigrette to taste with more salt and pepper.
• Cook the pasta according to the package direction, al dente, drain and rinse with cold water.
  
• Move the pasta to a large serving bowl and toss together with the rest of the ingredients.
• Top with grated pecorino cheese.

Raisin Scones

This past weekend, I decided to try out a scone recipe from Pastry Pal because it called for 2 cups of heavy whipping cream. The other scone recipe that I tried before never called for that much cream. I pretty much followed her recipe and directions, except that I added zest from 1 lemon. I finally bought a dough cutter per her suggestion to mix the butter and flour and found that it's so much easier than using a wire whisk. Thanks Irina.

We have been enjoying these moist and crumbly scones with daily espresso and lattes from our new Saeco coffee machine (we call her Sophia) every morning. Yum yum!


Ingredients:
4 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks butter, cut up into small pieces (i put mine in freezer after cutting to keep it cold)
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup golden raisins
zest of 1 lemon
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
turbinado sugar, for sprinkling

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400F.
• Toss the raisins and lemon zest with 1 tablespoon of the flour in a small bowl.
  
• Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
• Mix the butter cubes into the flour mix with a dough cutter.
  
• Pour in the heavy cream and mix a little bit (but do not over mix).
• Add in the raisins and lemon zest and mix with a wooden spoon (or spatula) carefully.
• Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to 1.5" thickness.
• Cut the dough in 12 equal pieces (mine was kind of free-from cuts, instead of nice and neat like hers).
• In a small bowl, mix the egg with the milk for egg wash.
• Brush the top of each scone with the egg wash and sprinkle with the turbinado sugar.
• Bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown.
• Cool for 5 minutes or so on the pan before transferring them on a cooling rack.
• Enjoy!
  

Olive Fried Rice

I was looking at the photos from my vacation to Singapore and Indonesia a few years ago and was reminded of my first Olive Fried Rice and all its briny and saltiness goodness. After Googling around the web, I noticed that almost all of the recipes use salted Chinese olives. Since I could not find it in San Francisco Chinatown, I had to use chopped black Mediterranean olives and added a mixture of soy sauce, fish sauce, oyster sauce and sesame oil instead.


Ingredients:
3 garlic, minced
1/2 small onion, chopped
1/2 lb ground pork
3 Chinese sausage, sliced
1 8oz can of black olives, chopped
2 tablespoons sesame oil
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 teaspoons fish sauce
6 cups of cooked rice (preferably a day old and on the drier side)
1 16oz frozen spinach, dethawed, squeezed and drained
a small bunch of parsley, chopped
3 green onion, chopped
4 eggs
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• Mix the chopped olive with the sesame oil, soy sauce, oyster sauce and fish sauce in a bowl. Set aside.
• Make a thin omellete using the 4 eggs. After it's done, cut into thin strips. Set aside.
  
• In a large wok or pan, stir fry the garlic and onion over medium high heat with 2 tablespoon of olive oil until fragrant.
• Add in the ground pork, stir occasionally until the meat is cooked.
• Add in the sliced Chinese sausages, spinach and the olive mixture. Cook for another minute or two.
  
• Try to loosen the grains of the day-old rice before adding it into the pan. Mix the rice well with the olive mixture and cook for several minutes until the rice is heated through.
• Add in the chopped parsley and green onion.
• Adjust seasoning with salt, pepper and with any of the sauces.
• Serve fried rice with thin strips of egg omelette on top.
  

Italian Sausage with Beans in Cream Sauce

Yeay... I found out today that I have more than 10,000 unique visitors to my blog. Thanks everyone, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

I love making food spontaneously based on what I have in my kitchen and without following any recipes, especially after making multiple dishes over the weekend. It enables me to be more creative and to try out new combination of flavors. The only difficult part for me was naming the dish.


Ingredients:
1 package of uncooked sweet Italian breakfast sausages (take them out from the casing and crumbled)
1 clove of garlic
1 bunch of basil leaves, chopped
1 can of red kidney bean
1 can of garbanzo bean
1/4 cup cream
1 tablespoon of mirin
salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

• In a large pan, cook the garlic over a low heat with 3 tablespoon of oil until fragrant.
• Increase the heat to medium, add in the crumbled sausage and cook thoroughly.
• Add in basil leaves, the beans and mirin.
• Mix well, cover and cook for 3 minutes.
• Uncover, add in the cream and cook for another 2 minutes.

Spanakopita

Another dish that I served at my Mad Men Season 3 Premiere party was Spanakopita. I spent most of my Sunday afternoon in the kitchen making Bruschetta, Curried Chicken Wings, Ham and Chard Quiche (similar to this one that I made a couple months ago), and Spanakopita. I got the Spanakopita recipe from Closet Cooking and I decided to follow his directions completely because it was my first attempt using phyllo dough. Since I do not have an 8x8 inch baking pan, I used my 9x13 inch baking pan. I should have increased my spinach filling quantity so my Spanakopita was not as thick as it should be but it still tasted darn good.

Note: I stacked a couple slices of the Spanakopita to create height in the picture below.


Ingredients:
2 pounds spinach (steamed, drained, squeezed well and chopped)
6 oz feta (crumbled)
1/4 cup dill (chopped)
1/4 cup parsley (chopped)
3 green onions (sliced)
3 eggs (lightly beaten)
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup olive oil
phyllo dough

Directions:

• Mix the spinach, feta, dill, parsley, green onions, eggs, salt and pepper in a large bowl.
• Brush the bottom of 8x8 inch (or in my case 9x13 inch) baking pan with olive oil.
• Cut the phyllo dough to fit the pan and lay a sheet of phyllo dough on the pan.
• Brush the top with olive oil, and lay another sheet on top. Repeat until you have 6-9 layers.
• Place the spinach mixture on top of the phyllo dough.
• Repeat layering with phyllo dough until you have 6-9 layers.
• Bake in a preheated 350F oven until golden brown (about 30-40 minutes)