Cooking – Page 32

Carnitas-another less expensive meal

August 15, 2008 Cathy Cooking, Recipes, What Cathy Eats!

Blogging…about food…still. That's mmm-yoso!!! Today, Cathy is back with another easy meal.

Hi. I am sort of doing a series of "$5 Fridays" recipes, (OK, well, two in a row anyhow). Meals that can be made, maybe with stuff that is on sale locally in San Diego, for about $5 for two people. But also at regular prices the food is not terribly expensive. Simple recipes.

Carnitas. I *love* carnitas. Essentially, fried pork. Seems so difficult, eh? Nope. A lovely Polish lady by the name of Martha Stewart had this 'recipe' which I have adapted.

Country Style pork shoulder. Sometimes called Country Style ribs.

You've seen them in the grocery store. They were 99¢ a pound two weeks ago, are on sale for $2.29 a pound this week at Vons and apparently some people buy them for $4.46 a pound. As if.

I happen to know that it takes four pounds of this meat to fill my one deep fry pan. (Circulon commercial 12 inch 5.7 L). Buying 4 lbs makes the $5 part kind of not there, unless you figure how many meals you get out of four pounds…There was exactly one bone in all of this package I bought.

Here is the "recipe" part:

Cover all that meat with water.

Add one of my size handfuls of KOSHER or SEA salt, plus this much more. About 1/3 cup total. (Kosher and sea salt are not as salty tasting)

Put on low heat.

Yeah.

Nothing else.

NOTHING. No spices, no herbs. N-o-t-h-i-n-g.

It will boil. The water will get low.

and lower.

You'll hear a sizzle when the water is almost gone. Let it sizzle a bit, so some of the meat sticks to the pan.

The bone(s) will fall out, no problem.

There will be a crispy, salty (but not overly salty) bottom to the pieces.

The meat will shred easily. I promise.

Tender, juicy, excellent.

Serve with tortillas (on sale for $1.25 at Vons), refried beans (75¢ for the generic can or 10 for $10 if you are mathematically challenged), cilantro (25¢ at Henry's) and chopped onion. I don't like cheese or guacamole with it. (although avocados are 77¢ at Henry's). The pure, simple flavors are what matters.

The extra meat tastes wonderful on a salad or reheated for more tacos.

Cathy's Carnitas

4 lb country style pork shoulder/ribs

1/3 C Kosher or sea salt

Water to cover

Boil on low until water is gone. About an hour. Let crisp for about an extra minute or two once you hear the sizzle start.

Remove bones. Shred.

The Lamb Noodle Soup Experiment – Yang Rou Mein

August 13, 2008 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

I usually don’t do cooking posts during the week, but since we seem to be doing "wall to wall lamb", I thought this would be a bit interesting. I’d grown weary of all the different Lamb Shank preparations, and wanted to try something different. About this time, I’d had some "eh" bowls of Niu Rou Mein. So after preparing some Lamb Shanks with Lemon, Tomatoes, and Olives for the Missus to take to work. I thought I’d try to make some Chinese style noodle soup. But with lamb instead of the classic beef. What the Missus dubbed "Yang Rou Mian". So I searched around, but could not find a recipe. So I simply "winged it". And the result is what you see here:

It’s not so much a recipe; I’m only going to list ingredients, and how I prepared the soup. I started trying to measure stuff out, but I had to make adjustments along the way. Overall, I think it was a good test to see if I could actually "cook". So I hope you don’t mind this type of post.

I bought 3 good sized lamb shanks from Siesel’s. I’ve found them to be pretty large, and have good gaminess. I also purchased 4 pounds of lamb bones. I decided to make both a stock out of the bones, as well as braise the shanks. I’d strain and mix the liquid from the braise with the lamb stock. Mostly because I needed a good amount of broth…since I knew I’d have a good quantity of meat. I’m sure you can make this in one pot, but I enjoy the texture of slow cooking shanks in the oven. In addition, the bones need to be simmered for a good long time. Because of the amount of fat, I made this a 2 day project. I skimmed off the fat on the second day before reheating. Plus, it always tastes better the next day, doesn’t it?

For the broth:

4 lbs Lamb Bones
2 stalks Green Onions, the white parts only, very coarsely chopped
2 1" slices ginger smashed
6 cloves of garlic coarsely chopped
3 Star Anise
2 tsp Five Spice Powder
2 Tb Toasted Whole Sichuan Peppercorns
1 tsp Ground Red Chilies
2 Tb Dark Soy Sauce with Mushroom
2 Tb Light Soy Sauce
Chopped Cilantro stems
Salt and White Pepper to taste.

– Cover lamb bones with cold water and add green onions, ginger, garlic, star anise, five spice, sichuan peppercorns, ground chilies, and cilantro stems.
– Bring mixture to a light simmer(do not bring to a hard boil), reduce heat to keep at a low boil.
– Simmer for 3-4 hours.
– Once the stock is ready, strain the broth.
– Pour back into the pot, add dark and light soy sauce, salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.

Meanwhile…….you need…..

2-3 Large Lamb Shanks, or 5-6 Small
Salt
Pepper
Cumin
Ground Sichuan Peppercorns
Ground Red Chilies
1-2 Tb Canola Oil
1/2 Cup Shaoxing wine
3 Stalks Green Onions Chopped
3 Cloves of Garlic Chopped
1 Tb Ground Red Chili
3 Star Anise
2 tsp Five Spice Powder
Water
Dark Soy Sauce with Mushroom
Light Soy Sauce
Salt and White Pepper

Heat your oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit
– Season Lamb Shanks with Salt, Pepper, Sichuan Peppercorns, chili, and cumin (my salute to the Uygher)
– Heat a Dutch Oven or similar pan (I used an old wok) over high heat, and sear the lamb shanks.
– Once lamb shanks are nicely browned, remove the shanks a place on a large plate.
Pour off excess oil, leaving just about 1-2Tb of oil in the pan.
– Add Green Onions, Garlic, and Ground Chili. Stir and cook for about 1-2 minutes.
– Add Shaoxing wine and deglaze the pan, making sure to remove all the nice brown bits from the bottom and sides.
– Add water. There should be enough liquid to cover all but about an inch to an inch and a half of the lamb shanks. Bring liquid to a boil, add soy sauces, five spice, and star anise.
– Place lamb shanks back into pot, and cover well. Place in the oven for about 2 hours.
– Once Lamb shanks reach desired tenderness, remove the shanks from the stewing liquid.
– Strain liquid and add to stock. This will be your broth. Taste and adjust seasoning. Add in any other flavorings you desire, chili, ground sichuan peppercorn, sugar, more cumin etc….
– Remove meat from bones (this should be really easy if the meat is soft and tender). Place bones back into broth.
Place meat into a container along with 1-2 cups of broth. This will keep meat moist, and prevent drying out. Leaving the meat separate makes it much easier to portion out, and the meat will not break up as much.
– Once the broth is cool, place in the refrigerator overnight.

Before reheating broth for serving, skim off as much fat as desired. I heat the meat in the microwave, but you can do whatever you want. I used some store bought Shanghai style noodles that I think is pretty decent. In the North, where the Missus is from, they like their noodles a bit al dente, with a doughy chew.

Garnish with whatever you wish. I used thinly sliced onion, green onion, cilantro leaves, and because this was for me, baby bok choy(the Missus hates Bok Choy in soup). The soup was rich and hearty, and the Missus ended up taking my bowl away and started eating it all up. You can even make a hot pot with Napa Cabbage, Tofu, and bean thread. This little experiment turned out pretty good. I hope you enjoyed it.

Curried chicken salad

August 8, 2008 Cathy Cooking, Recipes, What Cathy Eats!

Yep, the blog mmm-yoso!!! is where you are. Today, it's Cathy's turn.

Hi. A few weeks ago, I was having lunch with Kirk and Carol and we were brainstorming about different things to blog about. I do cook and eat at home..and I have had this habit, for years, of only buying sale items and making a meal out of them(along with some staples I always have in the house). I was going to do a series of "$5 Fridays" but figured that would obligate me to always be doing something, plus not all of you who read this blog have access to the same stores and sales we do out here in Sunny Southern California…so, I decided to show you some of my easy meals that I am making coincidentally with sale items and post something once a week. Hopefully on Friday.

Oh, and I have been on this 'curry craving' kick lately. Maybe it is just turmeric, since a curry is just a blend of spices, one of them always being turmeric…

This week, Henry's has chicken breasts (with skin and bone) for 99¢ a pound. So I bought a four pack and boiled two of them, cooled, skinned and tore the meat off the bone, chopped it up.

Then I mixed : mayonnaise, orange marmalade (assume these are basics in your house), curry powder (bought in the bulk bin at Henry's-one scoop cost 18¢), some fresh lime juice(they are on sale 5/$1 as opposed to 39¢ each for lemons) and some salt and white pepper(again, assume those are basics).

It looks this way because the marmalade has all the skins of the fruit in it, but you can taste and add or subtract the amount of ingredients.

Then I fold the above sauce with the chicken and some green onion tops (25¢ for one bunch this week) until just blended.

Sometimes I chill it, to get the flavors to meld…but depending on the heat of the curry, it doesn't matter…sometimes we just sit down and eat it at room temperature. With rice. Or greens. Or some naan from Trader Joe's.

Cathy's Curried Chicken Salad

3 C cooked diced chicken (or really any meat or fish that is cooked)(leftovers?)

2 green onions, chopped

Put with each other in bowl and set aside.

Whisk together:

1/2 C Mayo , 1/2 C orange marmalade, 1 Tbs lemon or lime juice, 1 tsp curry powder, salt and white pepper.

Stir in with chicken and green onions until just blended.

Quick, simple and, at least this week, less than $5 for at least two servings.

Swiss Noodles

July 27, 2008 ed fromyuma Cooking, Recipes, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

All regular readers of mmm-yoso know that both Kirk and Cathy can cook. ed (from Yuma)? Well, today will prove that (with some help) he is not completely lost in a kitchen.

I still remember getting to know Tina at a party last spring, and as often happens with me, we began discussing food. When she not only told me that she loves spaetzle, but that she also could prepare those tasty egg noodles, I realized we could make wonderful food together – in particular a flavorful Swiss dish that cried out for homemade spaetzle. Now we’d like to share (at least virtually) this traditional meal that is one of our favorites. Here’s how it is done.

Ingredients:

1 medium onion
4-5 slices (or 1/4-1/3 lb) bacon
2 bunches Swiss chard

1/3 lb Swiss cheese (preferably real Gruyere)

2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
pinch nutmeg

black pepper to taste.

Start by chopping the medium onion:

Then dice the four or five slices of bacon (I got some applewood smoked bacon from my local butcher, but bacon ends and pieces work well too):

After discarding the large rib ends, chop up two bunches of Swiss chard (green ribbed if possible). By the way, this is a huge bowl:

Then shred approximately a third of a pound of Swiss Gruyere cheese (pictured is a little over half a pound of aged Gruyere in wedges and then grated):

At the same time, you will need to prepare the dough for the noodles. After you mix together two eggs and half a cup of milk, add a cup and a half of flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, a half a teaspoon of salt, and a pinch of nutmeg, and beat with a wooden spoon or with the dough stirrer on an electric mixer until the ingredients are fully combined, thick, somewhat stiff, and stretchy. The dough should look like this:
At this point, you should have a large pot of lightly salted water being brought to a boil on the stove. On another burner, begin to fry the bacon at medium heat. Cook until much of the bacon fat has been rendered, but do not cook the bacon fully. Then add the chopped onion and mix together and continue frying:
When the bacon and onion mixture is ready, add the chard handful by handful and stir. If you wish the resulting dish to have some crunchy parts, add leaves and rib pieces at the same time. For a more uniform texture, separate the ribs and cook them for a minute or two before adding the leafy parts. Reduce heat, if necessary, to prevent overcooking.

The other half of the dish, the noodles, take less time. Back in the day, my grandmother would have spread the dough out on a small hand-held cutting board and sliced strips of the dough into the boiling water. Lacking my grandmother’s talent, patience, and wrists, most people today will use a spaetzle press to extrude the noodles. One can also extrude the noodles through a colander, but notice that the perforations at the bottom of the well of this press are not round and are irregular in shape; this flatness and lack of uniformity is key to top quality spaetzle:

When the water is boiling, fill up the utensil’s well about halfway, place over the pot, slowly push down, and send the fresh noodles into the boiling water:

Unlike Italian pasta, these egg noodles do not easily overcook, so that one can refill the well and drop more noodles into the boiling water. Using a wooden spoon, stir the noodles and let the water come back to a full boil. At this point the spaetzles are done.

After draining in a colander, the noodles should be added to the frying pan with the other cooked ingredients and quickly stirred together. Place the contents of the frying pan into a bowl and add the shredded cheese to taste. At this point, you may also add fresh grated black pepper (unless, like me, you forget). You will notice that the spaetzle noodles are not smooth and uniform, but rather pitted, bumpy, and irregular. This texture gives these homemade noodles plenty of surface areas so that they interface wonderfully with gravies or sauces. After the ingredients are all stirred together and the cheese has become wonderfully melty and gooey, the dish should look like this:
For our meal, Tina and I had previously chopped up a couple of heirloom tomatoes and added a few leaves of fresh basil:
After we tossed the tomatoes with the basil, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil, we plated this salad next to our main course:
This was more food than two hearty eaters could devour, and probably could serve up to 4 normal people. The heirloom tomato salad was good, but the noodles were supreme. The combination of textures and the creamy smoky flavors made this dish (even though I was at the stove) a success. I have no idea what this dish is called, but with the spaetzle, the Swiss cheese, and the Swiss chard, I guess calling it Swiss Noodles will have to do. Before I got to know Tina, I made the dish with regular packaged egg noodles. It was okay back then, but she just makes things better. Yum!

Red Beans and Rice Monday

July 14, 2008 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

"Honeeeyyyy……Honeeeyyyy!" So sayeth, or screameth, the Missus one evening while I was right in the middle of one of my posts. I already know that nothing particularly good can come out of this. But the Missus is not to be denied. So what prompted the "3 alarm" call? Well, the Missus is watching some show on the Food Network, I’m not quite sure which. I’ve kind of stopped watching Food Network since reality shows have taken over. The Missus is pointing to the screen, and tells me, "I want that." So just what is "that"? Seared Foie Gras? Wagyu beef Ishiyaki(don’t laugh…I’ve been thinking about it)? No, it was Red Beans and Rice! Huh? Talk about a "Latkes moment".

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, even though I haven’t been to New Orleans(yet) in the late 90’s, I spent a year and a half working in places like Atlanta, Columbus(Georgia), Fort Smith(Arkansas), Lawton(Oklahoma), and such. And I really enjoyed the food, though I never developed a taste for Chitlins. Still, I’ve never tried to make Red Beans and Rice. And of course, knowing the Missus, there were certain ~~requests~~ demands to be followed, "ummm, no bacon fat, and I don’t want it to be too fatty." Talk about spoiling all of my fun. Luckily, this request came during the July 4th weekend, and I was already set on going to Iowa Meat Farms. I really like the Ham Hocks they sell, they have a decent amount of meat, and are really nice and smokey.

So what’s with the Red Beans and Rice on Monday thing? From what I’ve read, Monday was traditionally wash day. So using the left over ham bone from Sunday supper, and slow cooking it with beans would be meal that could be left simmering, while you were busy doing the wash.

So this is what I came up with…it is probably different from any of other 1 million or so versions of Red Beans and Rice, but the Missus enjoyed it.

Red Beans and Rice

1 lb Red Beans, picked over, rinsed, and soaked overnight
1 good sized ham hock – or large meaty ham bone
Water
2 (about 1/2lb) Andouille Sausage
1 onion chopped fine
1 bell pepper chopped fine
1/2 Cup celery chopped fine
3-4 garlic cloves minced
2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp dried Oregano
1/2 tsp Cayenne
2 Bay leaves
2 Roma tomatoes seeded and chopped
3-4 Tb(or more) Hot Sauce – I used Crystal Hot Sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste

Chopped scallions for garnish

1 – Drain beans, and place into a pot with the Ham Hock, and bring to a boil. Skim off foam. Reduce to a simmer and cover.

2 – Prick the andouille sausage, and cook over medium heat in a skillet. Turn and brown, and allow for the fat to be released from the sausage(no bacon fat, eh? Thanks for the tip Mark Bittman!). When the sausage is browned remove from pan, and cut into chunks(it doesn’t have to be fully cooked).

3 – Add the onion, celery, and bell pepper in the pan, and cook in the sausage fat. When the trinity starts getting translucent, add chunks of sausage back into the pan, along with the tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes break down.

4 – When the ham hock is tender(this was about 2 hours) remove the ham hock, strip off all the meat, chop, and return to pot. Add all the spices and garlic, simmer for 15 minutes, taste, and adjust salt and pepper.

5 – Add the sausage and vegetable mixture, and cook until the texture of the beans are to your preference.

6 – Just before finishing, I removed bout 1/4 of the beans with a slotted spoon and mashed them up to thicken the mixture.

7 – Garnish with chopped scallions, and add hot sauce to taste.

A couple of things; remember to crush the dry herbs before adding them. The andouille sausage from Iowa Meat Farms tasted a bit different from what I was used to, more like linguica, but I don’t think it affected the dish much.

What about the other ham hock?

Well, the Missus also wanted some collard greens, so that’s what ended up happening. Lots of rinsing, trimming’ and slicing.

There were a couple of problems with this…..the Missus decided to start in on the collard greens before I thought they were ready. And She finished all of them….I used 3 bunches of collard greens. I don’t think I’ll include a recipe, since it’s really not much at all. But I will add a little equation for you:

Red Beans + Collard Greens = you get the picture, right?

Sammy, you better stay upwind from Momma tonight!

Hunan Smoked Pork and Fresh Bamboo Shoots

July 12, 2008 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

While in Phnom Penh, when not checking things out, or eating, the Missus was glues to the television…..and the 3 Taiwanese channels!!! Beyond the various soap operas, there were a few Taiwanese cooking shows; and one of them featured Fresh Bamboo Shoots. Needless to say, the Missus was smitten, and upon returning home, She requested a dish using Fresh Bamboo Shoots. Fresh Bamboo was pretty rare when I was growing up, and quite expensive as well. We had a neighbor, whose son would, on occasion, return from "hiking" with Fresh Shoots. These were usually eaten raw, as "sashimi", or after a few days, simmered in the water left from rinsing rice. I've read that rice bran is also used instead of the rinse water to cook Bamboo Shoots. Needless to say, the shoots we bought weren't what I would call super fresh, but they would pass muster in a stir fry.

It just so happened that we had a ton of leftover rice, and we really don't keep rice bran in the house…..so remembering the cooking show, I used 1/8 of a cup of rice instead. I cut off about 2 inches of the top of the shoot at an angle, and also about a half inch of the bottom, which had become hard. Brought the bamboo shoot to a boil, reduced the heat to a mild simmer, covered, and simmered for about an hour and a half. I knew it was cooked when I could pass a skewer rather easily into the shoot. I left it to cool in the water. Although most recipes recommend adding a few chilies to the liquid to reduce bitterness, I didn't do that. After the shoot is cool, you proceed to peel the thing. I cut off the tender tip, and gave it to the Missus as a snack. She thought it was fairly sweet, and loved the "crunch".

So what to do with the beast? Having left over Hunan Smoked Pork from another recipe, we decided that a simple stir-fry with the smoked pork and leeks on the Big Kahuna would do fine.

This is so easy, it's kind of embarrassing…..but it just shows that the simpler the better. You can do a number of things with the recipe…add chilies, other veggies, and so forth.

Hunan Smoked Pork and Fresh Bamboo Shoots.

1/4 Sliced Hunan Smoked Pork
1 Bamboo Shoot sliced
1 Leek Sliced
2 Tb Good Quality Light Soy Sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste

1 – In a hot wok stir fry pork until it releases some fat.

2 – Add Bamboo Shoots and stir fry, until fragrant, and it starts getting tender.

3 – Add soy sauce, and leek, and stir fry until leek is tender, but not soft and mushy.

4 – Reduce heat, taste, and adjust flavoring.

So, what’s cooking this (long) weekend?

July 5, 2008 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

It’s really nice when Independence Day falls either on a Friday or Monday. You really get to enjoy a nice long weekend. I usually do double duty on the first weekend in July….both to celebrate the 4th, and to celebrate Sammy and Frankie’s Birthday. This year, instead of grilling, I decided to stay indoors. I dropped by Iowa Meat Farms and grabbed a 2lb Beef Tenderloin. If anything, I’ve always gotten pretty good service at IMF, they cut and tied a tenderloin while I waited. I also picked up some beef rib bones for Da’ Boyz. At home I sliced off about one-fourth of the tenderloin, this was their share. I seasoned the tenderloin well, and seared it in my cast iron skillet, and finished in the oven. No rocket science, here.

While waiting for the tenderloin to finish, I smoked some corn in my stovetop smoker.

I had also browned the Da’ Boyz share of meat and bones, thrown that in the oven as well. Sammy, who really doesn’t care much for all the chopping, hacking, and pounding in the kitchen, going against character, kept hanging around. I think he knew something was up.

As much as I love Beef Tenderloin, I enjoy Beef Tenderloin sandwiches even more! So while I’m waiting for the beef to finish off, I prepped some Roasted Mushrooms. This time, I just used some white button and criminis. After mixing, I dumped it on a large piece of foil, made s double layer of mushrooms:

I folded up the foil into a little pouch. I also sliced 4 bulbs of garlic crosswise, topped with sea salt and olive oil, and wrapped in aluminum foil.

Then I started up on some mirin caramelized onions. Real easy stuff:

Mirin Caramelized Onions

2 medium sweet onions sliced
4-6 Tb Mirin
2-3 Tb White Sugar
2 Tb Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and Cracked Pepper to Taste

1 – Place onions is a cool dry pan.
2 – Turn heat to medium. Stir onions every few minutes.
3 – After about 5 minutes, when onions start to soften, add Olive Oil, 2 Tb Sugar, Salt and pepper, and stir.
4 – When onions have started getting translucent add 3 Tb mirin, stir turn heat down to low, and cover.
5 – Check onions and stir about every 5 minutes or so. When onions start getting "sticky" taste, and adjust flavoring.
6 – When onions are golden, soft, and "sticky" they are ready.

You can adjust the recipe for any number of uses…add garlic, butter, rosemary, oregano, balsamic vinegar, crushed red pepper, etc, etc… I gave "ballpark" amounts, because they’ll have to be adjusted based on the sweetness of the onions.

So, even though I had a nice Beef Tenderloin Salad.

I was thinking ahead to today’s sandwich:

Some prepared Horseradish mixed with roasted garlic, a layer of beef tenderloin, a layer of mirin caramelized onions, some roasted mushrooms….

On Ciabatta I got from Bread and Cie. Topped with local tomatoes(from the Fruit Stand), onion sprouts, and arugula.

Of course while eating the sandwich, I was already thinking ahead. Hmmm, maybe a nice pasta with the roasted mushrooms and garlic?

We hope everyone is having a fun, safe, and delici-yoso long weekend!

Chinese Style Barbecued Ribs

June 23, 2008 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

How many times have I gone shopping and just threw something in my basket for absolutely no reason at all. Sigh. Of course, eventually you must go home, unload your groceries, and stare at that randomly chosen item, and wonder why you bought it. Buyer’s remorse rears its ugly head. Such was the situation with a recent purchase; a rack of St Louis Style Ribs(aka Spareribs), a cut from the lower portion of the of the pig. I cleaned the ribs up a bit, removing the rear membrane, the meat flap(Da Boyz lucked out on this one), though I left the rib tips on. Though I really didn’t do a very detailed job like this. And in the end, I still didn’t know what the heck I was going to do with these. No smoker at my disposal, and I really wanted to do something "Asian".

So this is what I came up with:

It’s sort of Char Siu-ish, except I used whatever I had on hand(sorry no red bean curd), and I got to play with red food coloring…muah-ha-ha-ha. In retrospect, I could have left the ribs in the oven to caramelize for a few more minutes…..but the smell, oh the smell! You can do without the food coloring…..but there something about the combination of those burnt bits and the red color that sets my stomach off. You may want to bake in foil for several hours before starting the regular cooking to tenderize, but I was too lazy. So here you go…another recipe from you friendly neighborhood hack cook.

Chinese Style Barbecue Ribs

Marinade
1/3 Cup Hoisin
1/3 Cup Light Soy Sauce
2 Tb Sugar
3 Tb Honey
2 Tb Shaoxing Wine
1 Tb Oyster Sauce
1/2 Tsp Five Spice Powder
2 Cloves Garlic finely minced
1/2 Tsp Red Food Coloring(optional)

Finishing Glaze:
3 Tb Honey
1 Tb Water
1 Tb Oyster Sauce

2-3 1/2 Lbs St Louis Style(spareribs) cut into individual ribs

1 – Mix the marinade.

2 – Mix together with ribs in a large ziplock bag

3 – Marinate over night

4 – Preheat oven to 350.

5 – Arrange ribs on a rack above a roasting pan filled halfway with water.

6 – Bake for 40 minutes. Turn ribs and bake for another 30-40 minutes. Baste with remaining marinade after turning. Remember to check your water.

7 – Mix "finishing glaze". I added water because the honey I had was so hard and thick.

8 – Turn oven up to 450. Turn ribs and bake for 10 minutes. Turn ribs and baste with glaze and bake until desired color is achieved (10-15) more minutes.

9 – Remove ribs from oven and baste with glaze one more time.

Serve with rice. It is nice to use the oven, you can have the Big Kahuna reserved for other stuff. In this case, some nice Black Bean Chicken.

And our 30 second green vegetable…that’s all the time it takes on the Big Kahuna. With only salt, slices of garlic, and dried shrimp. High heat does the rest.

Hunan Smoked Pork and Shishito Peppers

May 30, 2008 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

I've usually mentioned my Mother In Law in cooking posts. She carries on the family's Jiaozi tradition. But I thought I'd give my Father In Law some equal time. The Missus's Father is from Hunan Province, which has its own great culinary tradition. My FIL is a pretty quiet and reserved gentleman. And he'll defer to my MIL when it comes to food. There were a few times when I've seen and learned about the foods he grew up eating. His family's business in the highly agricultural Hunan province was growing and drying Lily Bud. With no refrigeration, smoking was the main means of preserving meats. In fact "La Rou", Hunan smoked pork/ham is quite well known.

I first got a hint as to what He considered home style Hunan flavors when I bought some of the wonderful Smoked Marlin that is available at all the poke and fish counters back home. I had also purchased some Shishito Peppers, I really don't recall why, perhaps I had some tempura in mind. The peppers ended up in a stir fry, along with a good amount of the smoked fish.

Thus began my introduction to Hunan food, not a very traditional dish, but I started understanding the flavors. I'm still a neophyte when it comes to Hunan cuisine, but I'm learning. The biggest problem for us has been finding a decent brand of Hunan La Rou. Most of them are terrible, too much camphor, too much salt, too many additives, which many times adds up to a mothball-plastic flavor. Not good eats. But recently, we found a decent brand, pictured above. It is still not top notch, a bit too hard and nitrite laden, but the texture when cooked is pretty good, and most of all it doesn't taste like plastic.

I've always noticed Shishito Peppers at Zion Market, usually at a pretty inexpensive(for Shishito) $1.99/lb. The peppers are usually on the "old" side, and not suitable for tempura. You can tell by how hard and brittle the pepper is. The Missus is a stickler for "correct cuts", and over time I've developed a way of slicing the peppers that keep the shape, and yet allows you to remove the slightly bitter seeds, which can be really hard in older peppers.

I slice the top off the peppers, and make an incision along three-quarters of the pepper.

I remove the vein and hard seeds. You can tell by how brown the seeds are, that these peppers are on the "older" side.

Once you are done, the pepper retains a reasonable facsimile of its shape.

Yes, it is a pain, which is why I don't make this very often. You can substitute green and red bell peppers.

The recipe itself is, as all of the stuff I make very simple. The real wildcard in the mix, is that I used the Big Kahuna to make this. There ain't nothing like high heat for these dishes. Plus, I get to channel my inner pyro….

Hunan Smoked Pork with Shishito Peppers

1/4 lb Sliced Hunan Smoked Pork
1/2 lb Shishito Peppers seeds removed, and sliced
5 Dried Chilies
2 Serrano or Jalapeno Chilies seeds removed, and sliced
2-3 Tb Light Soy Sauce
3 Tb Canola Oil
Salt(if necessary) to taste

1 – Heat wok until smoking.

2 – Add canola oil and swirl to season wok.

3 – Tear dried chilies in half and scald.(Wear protective gear, i.e. haz-mat suit, if necessary)

4 – Add Smoked pork and stir fry until pork has released some fat, and is starting to caramelize.

5 – Add Serrano or Jalapenos and quickly stir to mix.

6 – Push ingredients to the side of the wok, and add Shishito Peppers. Stir fry until fragrant and peppers have softened, but is not mushy, nor burnt.

7 – Add Soy sauce and mix. Taste and adjust flavor.

Ma Po Tofu (Ma Po Dou Fu)

May 20, 2008 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

In the comments of my post on Peng’s Homestyle Bean Curd, KevinK asked if I’d make some Ma Po Dou Fu, Chongqing-style. Now I’m not sure if this is Chongqing style, but I think it turned out fairly good. According to the Missus; "hey, this is not too bad." Translation: "This is one of the best things you’ve made in a while. You better be able to duplicate it!"

First, let’s clarify a few things. First, there must be thousands of different versions of this dish; I’ve seen it in everything from Muslim Chinese to Japanese Restaurants. In fact, Chopstix has a version they call Mabo Ramen, a very sweet, soy laden ground meat dish. But if I’m having the real deal, there are 2 things I always look for; a nice layer of red, spicy oil, and this:

The legend regarding this dish is well known, though I’ve read at least 3 variations. For me, the "Ma" stands for "numbing", which can only be provided by Sichuan Peppercorns. And for me, any place serving a classic rendition of this dish must use Sichuan Peppercorns.

This recipe is based on the version in Fuchsia Dunlop’s Land of Plenty. I’ve made a few changes. Since the Missus wanted this vegetarian, I eschewed the ground meat. In most cases, the meat is ground pork, but in Land of Plenty, Ms. Dunlop notes that in Sichuan, the traditional recipe calls for Ground Beef, which is pretty unique. No stock, meant increasing a few ingredients, and adding a few. I added Chinkiang Black Vinegar, minced garlic, and grated ginger, all of which added depth to the dish. I wasn’t able to find any Pixian Chili Bean Paste, or Chili Bean Paste made with Broad Beans, which has a much better flavor than the stuff made with soy beans. I ended up adding twice the amount of bean paste to adjust. I also used scallions instead of leeks. One last thing, I knew we had tofu in the frig, I just didn’t realize that it was firm bean curd, I’d have preferredsoft tofu. So here it is:

Ma Po Dou Fu (The Pock-marked Old Woman’s Bean Curd)

1 Block Bean Curd
2-3 Scallions cut in "Horse Ear" slices
2/3 Cup Canola Oil
4 Tb Sichuan Chili Bean Paste
1 Tb Fermented Black Beans, rinsed
2 Tb Ground Red Chilies
1 1/2 Cup Water
2-3 Tb Sugar
3 Tb Light Soy Sauce
2 Cloves Garlic minced
2 Tsp Grated Ginger
Salt to taste
Chili Oil to Taste
3 Tb Cornstarch mixed in 4 Tb Cold Water
1 Tsp Ground Roasted Sichuan Peppercorn

1 – Cut bean curd in to 1" by 1" cubes, and steep in simmering water.

2 – Heat oil in a wok over medium heat. When oil shimmers add bean paste and ground chilies and stir fry until oil turns red in color. Add Fermented Black Beans, Ginger, and Garlic and stir fry for about 30 seconds, until oil is fragrant.

3 – Pour in stock and stir well.

4 – When mixture is simmering, drain bean curd and add to mixture. Mix carefully, using the back of your wok scoop to push bean curd.

5 – Add 2Tb sugar, vinegar and soy sauce. Mix carefully, and taste. Add salt, chili oil(if desired), and more sugar if necessary.

6 – Simmer until the bean curd is well coated in the sauce, and has absorbed the flavor.

7 – Add scallions

8 – With mixture simmering add cornstarch mixture a little at a time until the sauce has thickened to the desired texture.

9 – Serve in a bowl, topped with ground Sichuan Peppercorns.

There you go Kevin, I hope it meets with your approval!