Lasagna

I cooked this delicious meaty and cheesy lasagna over the weekend. It was a perfect food for a rainy & cold San Francisco weather as the smell of the tomato sauce and the baked cheese totally warmed up my apartment. The original recipe that I got from my coworker (thank you, AMV!) required three pounds of ground meat but I decided to cut it in half since I added other ingredients like the ricotta cheese and extra vegetables into it. I also used the lasagna recipes at Closet Cooking and Simpy Recipes for inspiration.


Ingredients:
1 medium onion, chopped
10 cloves of garlic, minced
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, finely chopped
1/2 lb each of ground beef, ground pork and sweet Italian sausage
1 lb of Crimini mushrooms, sliced
2 cans of 28oz San Marzano tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 package of Barilla lasagna noodles
1/2 lb of grated Mozarella cheese
1 15 oz Ricotta cheese
2 cups of grated Parmesan cheese
2 eggs
1 teaspoon dry oregano
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon red chili pepper flakes
2 teaspoon garlic powder
salt, sugar & pepper to taste

Directions:

• Saute the onion in olive oil in a deep sauce pan over a medium heat until browned, then add carrot, green bell pepper, garlic and the red chili pepper flakes and cook for another 10 minutes until all vegetables are soft. Set aside.
• In the same pan, add another tablespoon of olive oil and saute the ground meat over medium high heat for 5 minutes or so until totally cooked. Set aside and drain off any excess oil from the meats.
  
• Saute the sliced mushroom in the same pan with a sprinkle of garlic until cooked and then set aside.
• For the Sauce: Return 3/4 of the vegetable mixture, 1/4 of the meat and 3/4 of the mushroom into the same pan and add the two cans of chopped tomatoes, dry oregano, cumin, cinnamon and half garlic powder. Add 1/4 cup of red wine and simmer the sauce for 60 to 90 minutes until it thickens. Add seasoning accordingly.
• For the Meat Filling: In a large bowl, mix the rest of the vegetable mixture, meat, mushroom and seasoning with half of the grated Mozarella cheese. The cheese will melt and become stringy.
• For Cheese Mixture: Mix the Ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese and the two eggs in a bowl
  

Assembling the Lasagna:

• Preheat the oven to 350F.
• If you are using Barilla lasagna noodles, you do not have to cook the pasta first. If not, cook the pasta according to the direction in the box.
• Spread 1 cup of the tomato sauce over the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.
• Place 4 lasagna noodles on top, overlapping a little one top of the other.
• Place 1/2 of the Ricotta cheese mixture on top and layer with 1/2 of the meat filling and 1/3 of the tomato sauce.
• Add another layer of lasagna noodles on top and then repeat with the rest of the Ricotta cheese mixture and meat filling and another 1/3 of the tomato sauce.
• Add another layer of lasagna noodles on top and top everything with the rest of the tomato sauce.
• Cover (tent) the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake in the oven for 50 minutes.
• Take off the aluminum foil and add the remaining Mozarella cheese on top.
• Return to oven uncovered for 10 minutes until the cheeses on top are melted and the edges are slightly browned.
• Cool for 5 minutes before cutting.
• If you have leftover meat mixture or sauce, you can always freeze and use them for pasta sauce in the future.
  

Kimchee Pajeon

I saw this Kimchee Pajeon recipe at Tastespotting and thought that it's easy enough for me to make on a lazy Sunday afternoon when I'm craving some spicy and sour snacks. It's not a heavy pancake and, since it's all vegetables, I assume that it's a pretty darn healthy snack. What do you think? Whatever it is, I'd like to thank A Table for Two for this delicious recipe.


Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup Kimchee juice
1 cup cold water
1 egg
1.5 cup of napa cabbage Kimchee, roughly chopped
4 scallions, cut into 2-inch strips

Directions:

• Add flour, cold water and egg into a mixing bowl and stir until well mixed.
• Add the Kimchee juice, scallions and Napa cabbage Kimchee into the flour and egg mixture and stir until well mixed. The mixture should be thick like a pancake mixture. If it's too watery, add a tablespoon of flour at a time until the right consistency.
• Heat vegetable oil on a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Pour a cup of the batter into the pan using a ladle and spread it evenly across the pan.
• Cook the pancake for 3-4 minutes until golden brown and crisp on one side, flip over and cook for another 3-4 minutes on the other side.
• Repeat with the rest of the batter.
• Cut into slices and serve it with a sprinkle of sea salt and scallion or more chopped Kimchee on top.

Namu at the Ferry Building

Today, I had lunch at Namu, a Korean food cart at the Ferry Building's Farmers Market, with Mo-Fo. It was a 'reward' lunch since we both went to the gym at 7 o'clock in the morning. When my coworker mentioned about their Kimchee Fried Rice yesterday, I knew that I had to try it soon. Yes, I'm still on a Kimchee kick...


Miso soup with wakame and tofu - perfect for the cold & gloomy San Francisco weather today.


Kimchee Fried Rice with fried egg - delicious, creamy (from the egg yolk) and spicy enough to warm me up from inside.


Korean Ssam Taco - love the succulent meat, sweetish flavor in the sauce and the nori wrap.


I can't wait to go back there again to try out the other stuff like their okonomiyaki and KFC (Korean Fried Chicken)!

Heaven's Dog

A couple months ago, Mo-Fo, ShunBun and I went to Heaven's Dog for lunch. It's one of Charles Phan's newer San Francisco restaurants that focuses on Northern Chinese cuisine. I forgot to blog my visit there until today after seeing these pictures on my iPhone.

The lunch started well as we had the Pisco Apricot Tropical and Bumble Bee Cocktail. Both of them were very well made, super refreshing and gave me a nice buzz.


We ordered Braised Pork Belly in Clam Shell Bun and Scallion Pancakes for appetizer. I love the crisp and salty scallion pancakes and their braised pork belly in clam shell bun was a close second to Momofuku's. I'm so happy that I can find these yummy buns here in San Francisco.


For the main course, I had the Shrimp Wonton Soup (with pork char siu, crackling, thin egg noodle) while Mo-Fo had the Beef Noodle Soup (slow cooked short rib, choy sum, wide rice noodle) and ShunBun had the Timmy's Beef (niman flank steak, ginger, scallion, jalapeno, wide egg noodle). Of course, I had a taste of their food and I enjoyed all of them.


Heaven's Dog is definitely a great place for lunch since it has high quality and delicious food with reasonable prices. I will definitely go back there some time in the near future and I will for sure bring my camera.

Asian-styled Pickled Cucumber

One of my favorite snacks/side dishes growing up was Asian-style pickled cucumber. It's lighter and sweeter than the American-style ones. I love having on the side of spicy Chinese or Indonesian food in a hot weather. There are so many variations of the recipe online - one with just salt and sugar; with or without any of these ingredients - rice vinegar, fish sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, sesame seeds, onions, and shallots. I decided to use this one from Town and Country Markets with a slight modification because it's so simple and sounds so refreshing.


Ingredients:
2 cucumbers, peeled and sliced 1/4-inch thick
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon mirin (Japanese rice wine)
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Directions:

• In a large bowl, sprinkle salt over cucumber slices and let sit for 20 minutes.
• Drain and cover with remaining ingredients.
• Refrigerate for at least 2 hour, or as long as overnight.

Gingerbread Boys

We ate a lot of cookies and sweets this holiday season but somehow I was still itching to bake cookies so I could decorate them. So this weekend, I decided to make Gingerbread Boys using a NYTimes recipe because their Gingerbread Boy picture was so cute.


We had so much fun decorating them though now we need to figure out what to do with those 50+ cookies. Hopefully people at the office are still up for some more sweets this week.

Ingredients:
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup molasses
1 cup butter
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon allspice
4 to 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, more for rolling dough
confectioners' sugar
lemon juice

Directions:

• In a saucepan, combine brown sugar, molasses and butter. Place over medium-low heat and stir until the mixture is just melted and smooth. Remove from heat and mix in baking soda and 1/4 cup cold water. Set aside and allow to cool to room temperature.
• Transfer the mixture into a bigger bowl and add egg, salt, baking powder, ginger and cinnamon; stir to mix well. Add 4 cups of flour and mix well, adding up to 1/2 cup more if the dough seems sticky. Shape into a ball, cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to 24 hours.
• Preheat oven to 350 F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/4-inch thickness, and cut into gingerbread boy shapes using a cookie cutter. Arrange on baking sheets 1-inch apart, and bake until risen and no longer shiny, around 9 to 10 minutes.
• Remove from heat and allow cookies to cool. And then the fun begins... decorate the cookies with icing.
  
• Mix in 1 cup of confectioners' sugar with approximately 2 tablespoons of lemon juice (or water) to create a thick icing paste and use a Ziplock bag with a small cut on the tip as the piping bag.
  

Roasted Duck Breast

Happy New Year, everybody! Can't believe that 2009 is over already. To celebrate this special occasion, instead of eating out at a restaurant and paid a ridiculous price for a 'New Year's Evening special menu', we decided to eat in and have a roasted duck breast, something that I've never made before. I got this Asian-influenced recipe idea from A Series of Kitchen Experiments and NYTimes.

I should have followed Elaine's suggestion to rub the marinade only on the duck meat, instead of all over it because the marinade made the skin to be burned-like black when seared. Don't get me wrong, it still tasted wonderful but it would be prettier for the picture. I served this with a side of stir-fried kale cooked with duck-fat and roasted baby potatoes. It was a great meal to close out the year 2009.


Ingredients:
2 Duck Breast, with skin intact
salt & pepper
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon Chinese five-spice powder
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon tamarind juice

Chinese Five Spiced Sauce:
1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
1/8 teaspoon star anise
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
1/2 cup of chicken broth
2 teaspoon of duck fat, reserved from duck breast
1 sprig of fresh thyme
1 clove of garlic, crushed
Salt to taste

Directions:

• Crush cumin with mortar and pestle until powdery fine. In a small bowl, mix well the cumin along with Chinese five-spice powder, honey, soy sauce and tamarind juice until it becomes a thick paste.
• Make small diagonal slits on the duck skin, in a criss-cross pattern at one-inch intervals. Be careful not to cut through to the meat.
• Season the duck breast with salt and pepper and rub the seasoning paste on the meat of the duck and not the skin. Let the duck breast marinate for at least one hour at room temperature or up to 24 hours in the refrigerator.
• Heat a large, heavy skillet on the stove until really hot. Place duck breasts in the skillet skin side down and sear for about five minutes, just until the skin is well browned. Remove the duck breasts from the skillet.
• Reduced heat to medium and pour all the fat out of the skillet. Return the duck breasts to the skillet skin side up and cook for another five minutes.
• Remove the duck breasts onto a cutting board and cover it with some aluminum foil to let it rest for 10 minutes.
• In the same skillet, add two teaspoon of the duck fat and the crushed garlic. Saute until the oil is fragrant and then add in the chicken broth, star anise, brown sugar, five spiced powder and thyme. Stir occasionally, scraping the bottom of the pan for the duck bits & fat, let the sauce boil until it is reduced by half and then strain the sauce.
• To serve, slice the duck breasts on an angle, into slices a quarter to a half-inch thick and serve with some sauce.

Cream Cheese Cinnamon Rolls

Last week for Christmas I made cream cheese cinnamon rolls. I thought it would be great for breakfast after having a wonderful Christmas eve dinner at Mo-Fo Duo's. I came across this recipe a few months ago at Joy the Baker and have been cooing over it ever since. Although it was a bit intimidating and complicated, her directions were very clear and easy to follow. The smell of the rolls baking Christmas morning was heavenly making it definitely worth the effort.


Here's her recipe with minimal adjustments from me...

Ingredients:

For the Dough:
1 1/4 oz package active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon, plus 1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk at room temperature
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted, plus more kneading
3/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for the pan

For the Filling:
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts (I didn't use this because BigDaddy is allergic to it)
1/4 cup raisins
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves (I substituted this with nutmeg)
2 tablespoons maple syrup (I substituted this with honey)
4 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

For the icing:
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup buttermilk

Directions:

• In a bowl of a stand mixer, combine yeast, 1/2 teaspoon sugar and 1/4 cup water heated to 115F. Stir to combine and let sit until frothy and foamy, about 10 minutes.
• Add remaining sugar, milk, brown sugar, vanilla, egg and egg yolk. Beat with a wire whisk by hand until well combined. Fit the bowl onto the mixer, fitting with the dough hook attachment. Add the flour and salt and mix on medium speed until the dough just begins to come together. Turn the machine on medium-high and knead the dough for 4 minutes.
• Add the butter and continue to knead for about 6 minutes. The dough will be wet and sticky. Place the dough on a well floured work surface, and knead about 1/3 cup all-purpose flour into the dough. Set the dough to rest in a large greased bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and allow to rise in a warm place for about 2 hours, until doubled in size.
• While the dough rises, make the filling. Combine the sugar, brown sugar, pecans, raisins, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg in a large bowl. Stir in the honey. Set aside.
  
• When the dough has doubled in size, dump it from the bowl onto a heavily floured work surface and gently knead the dough until it is no longer sticky (for a couple minutes), adding more flour (a couple tablespoons of flour) as needed. Once it's no longer sticky, place a kitchen towel over the dough and let rest for 5 minutes before rolling it out.
• Using a floured rolling pin, roll the dough into a 10x10-inch square.
• In a small bowl, mix the cream cheese with a knife or spoon with it's smooth and spreadable.
• Spread the cream cheese evenly over the dough square and fold the square into thirds. Take the open ends of the rectangle and fold into thirds again, to make a smaller dough square.
• Invert the dough so that the seam is face down and, using the rolling pin, gently roll it into a 10x20-inch rectangle. Some of the cream cheese might sneaks through so be gentle.
• Turn the dough so that the short edge is near (or parallel) to you and brush the top of the dough with half of the melted butter.
• Pour all of the filling onto the dough. Spread evenly, leaving a 1-inch boarder at one of the short edges of the dough so the roll can be properly sealed. Lightly press the filling into the dough.
• Carefully lift up the bottom edge of the dough and roll it forward into a tight cylinder. Place dough cylinder seam side down on a cutting board. Using a sharp, thin knife, trim off the uneven edges and cut the cylinder into 8 equal slices.
• Put the slices, cut side up and evenly spaced in a buttered 9x13-inch baking dish. Joy recommended light colored metal baking dish but I used a Pyrex baking dish instead. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place to let rise for 2 hours OR refrigerate rolls overnight.
• Heat the oven to 375F and uncover the rolls. If you refrigerated the rolls, let them sit at room temperature for 15 minutes or so before baking. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes.
• While the rolls are baking, whisk together the confectioner sugar and buttermilk in a small bowl until smooth.
• Transfer the pan of cinnamon rolls to a cooling rack. Brush with remaining butter and let cool for 5 minutes. Using a fork, drizzle the icing over the rolls.
  
• Serve immediately and enjoy!
  

Il Cane Rosso

Last night, after having a flight of wine at Press Club, I went to Il Cane Rosso in the Ferry Building with Porgy, Mo-Fo Duo, Auntie Sandy. It's a joint venture between Daniel Patterson of Coi and Lauren Kiino of (soon to be opened) Bracina and was first opened as a casual rotiseerie and sandwich shop earlier this year and started to serve early (5-8pm) dinner a couple months ago. Their menu is pretty straight forward yet high quality comfort food sourced from local farmers. Although Daniel Patterson is not the chef (Douglas Borkowski is), I still think that it's a good opportunity to sample DP food vision for a reasonable price. As usual, I forgot to bring my camera so I had to take pictures using my iPhone.


I felt so San Franciscan foodie because of we all sat on the hallway of Ferry Building in front the shop and that we had to endure the cold breeze every time people coming in and going out of the building. After checking out the menu, we all opted for the family style 3-course prix fixe dinner for $25 and picked the non-vegetarian option.

Arugula and radicchio salad with warm chicharrones, pecorino and sherry vinaigrette

House-smoked Marin Sun Farms spareribs with fennel-orange barbeque sauce and creamy Ridgecut polenta

Citrus torta with yogurt mousse and candied orange

In general, I think the food was great - although the ribs were a bit too salty for us. I loved the light and tasty salad with the chicharrones bits and the refreshing Citrus Torta. Porgy who usually only likes chocolate-based desserts even ate some of mine because he enjoyed it so much. I know I will go back there again for either lunch or dinner some time in near future.

Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Figs

I made this Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Fig dish for the Christmas Eve dinner at Mo-Fo Duo's. It was a combination of two recipes from David Chang's Momofuku book and Mark Bittman's Minimalist article. Porgy bought me a signed copy of the Momofuku book a couple months ago so I was glad that I was finally able to use it.


I loved Mark Bittman's idea of adding both the salty component (bacon) and the sweet component (fig) to the bitter and nutty Brussels sprouts but I liked having my sprouts halved instead of shredded (like the one in Momofuku book). Next time, I would add in some kimchi to provide some heat to the dish - as suggested by David Chang.


Ingredients:
1/2 lb bacon, cut into 1-inch strips
1 lb Brussels Sprouts, halved
1 cup dried figs, stemmed and quartered
1 shallot, finely diced
1/4 cup dry white wine
salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

• Pre-heat the oven to 375F.
• In a oven proof large skillet over low medium heat, cook bacon, stirring occasionally, until it crisps (for about 8 minutes).
• Put the bacon on a plate lined with paper towel to drain off the excess oil.
• Remove most of the bacon fat, leaving approximately 2 tablespoons on the pan, and add the sprout halves cut side down in a single layer.
• Increase the heat to medium high and cook the sprouts, undisturbed for 6-8 minutes until the bottoms are well browned (and burned a bit).
• Add in the shallots, dried figs and 1 more tablespoon of bacon fat and stir for a couple of minutes.
• Add in the white wine and shake the pan to redistribute the sprouts.
• Put the whole pan into the pre-heated oven and bake for 10 minutes until the Brussels sprouts are tender.
  
• Season with salt and pepper.
  
• Add the bacon back into the pan.