Category: Recipes

A few weeks ago, I was organizing my huge mess of a cookbook collection, when this popped up. I've written about this very special spiral notebook before. I found it after my mom passed on in 1996. It's one of the very few things I have from my mother…..the two cases of MD toilet tissue she had hoarded away in her small closet is long gone. The notebook fell on the floor, and opened up to the page with an almond cookie recipe. As a child, I could never help myself when faced with the inevitable jar of almond cookies at the cashier counter of a Chinese Restaurant, or at the register at "Lau's Market", the small store on the corner of 8th Avenue and Waialae. A wave of nostalgia rolled over me……

Very few readers of our humble little blog know that the Missus is a pretty good baker. She bakes weekly, sometimes several times a week for Her co-workers. For some reason, She has never consented to have me do a post on Her cookies or cakes. But in this case, She decided to make this exactly as written.

So how did it turn out? Not bad, perhaps a little paler than I remembered, but more than enough to soothe the soul or break the resistance of a fourth or fifth grader.

Instead of typing out the recipe, I thought I'd let my Mom tell you, in Her own words:

You can click on the photo to enlarge.

As silly as it seems, there's a part of me that would like to believe Mom was telling me something?

Anyway, to all you Mothers out there, we'd like to wish you a wonderful day….not just tomorrow, but everyday.

Also from the little red notebook….how's this for a blast from the past?

1974!!!

OK, so you may never read mmm-yoso again after this recipe…. The Missus and I were shopping at Zion Market, when I noticed good quality English Cucumbers priced at 2 for a buck! Suddenly the idea I had of doing a silly 3 dollar Thursday had gotten even better. I could try to bring this in at under a buck. Again I chose a recipe from Land of Plenty. And just like my Pan Fried Perilla with Cucumber recipe, I again stir fried cucumber(ever so briefly). I realize stir-frying cucumber may sounds strange to most folks, I know it was to me. I distinctly remember the first time I dug to the bottom of a wonderful hot pot, only to bring up a translucent mass of wilted iceberg lettuce. Over the years I've gotten used to it, and in many cases really enjoy vegetables that I ate raw growing up cooked. And those who really can't even think about eating a warm piece of cucumber, don't worry, you'll eat this dish the day after making it, chilled.

This recipe is so easy, and without nature's warning color, the bright and blazing red to warn you, the dish looks fairly benign, but it can be pretty "mala" (numbing hot).

Like most recipes, I've made a few adjustments to suit my taste, and I'm sure you'll do the same if you try this recipe out. I added some Clear Chinese Rice Vinegar and sugar, to help round out the rather straight-forward numbing-heat. I also found that due to the rather uncomplicated flavor of the dish, peanut oil should be used. This dish also uses whole Sichuan Peppercorn. Lastly, is this really a $1 dish….well, you figure it out, 50 cent cucumber plus ingredients, all of which I had in my pantry. I guess if cucumbers weren't on sale, it might be a 2 dollar Tuesday, or something like that.

Spicy Cucumber Salad

1 large English Cucumber
2 Tb kosher salt
2 Tb Peanut oil
6-8 Dried Red Chilies, with the top snipped and seeds removed
2 tsp whole Sichuan Pepper(not roasted)
1 tsp Clear Chinese Rice Wine
1/2 tsp white sugar
2 tsp Sesame Oil

– Peel the cucumber and slice into 2 – 2 1/2 inch lengths, Cut in half lengthwise, and remove seeds. Cut into quarters, than eighths lengthwise, into a baton shape. Place cucumbers into a colander set over a bowl and add salt. Mix well, and set aside for at least 2 hours to draw moisture out of the cucumber..
– After the salting period is complete, shake the cucumber and drain well. Dry with paper towels or a clean kitchen towel.
– Heat a wok over high heat until smoking. Add the peanut oil, and swirl to cure the wok. Add dried red chilies and Sichuan Peppercorn and turn the heat to medium. When the chilies are scalded and fragrant add the cucumber.
– Stir fry the cucumber for a few seconds, add vinegar and sugar, and stir to coat, and dissolve sugar.This process should not last for more than 10-12 seconds. Do not brown the cucumbers.
– Remove the cucumber from heat, add sesame oil, and remove to a container. When the dish has cooled, place into the refrigerator overnight.

You can eat this like any cold dish or pickle.

I've received emails in the past about various meals that have been posted. Most of those meals are family-style Chinese in nature, and those emails comment about the paucity of vegetable dishes. I'll let you in on a little secret….we love leftovers. The Missus also believes (perhaps a little misguidedly) that I can stir fry vegetables pretty well. And since we bought the Big Kahuna the Missus has problems with spending $$'s on vegetable dishes She believes we can do just as well at home. So we'll stretch our leftovers adding vegetable dishes along the way. Works well for us, so I thought I'd start posting on a few of those dishes, all of which are very simple, so I hope you don't mind.

Here's a dish that you don't need a Big Kahuna for, a classic Sichuan dish that you'll find everywhere, even in Americanized Sichuan Restaurants.

I've changed this dish a bit over the years. To be able to create this dish on impulse, without too much planning, I replaced the ground pork with dried shrimp. Also, instead of deep frying the beans, I've adopted the "dry-frying" technique that Fuchsia Dunlop uses in her wonderful cookbook, Land of Plenty. It takes a bit more time, but there's no wasted oil, and instead of adding more oil to the dish after dry-frying the green beans, I add my chilies and other ingredients directly to the remaining oil, and this creates even more flavor. I'm also pretty specific regarding a few other items in the dish. I'll use drinking quality Shaoxing wine, it has a mellower and smoother flavor. If you can find good Tianjin preserved vegetable, or really good Ya Cai (Sichuan pickled mustard green leaves), I'm sure it'll make this dish even better. I just used what I had in the cupboard, canned shredded Sichuan preserved vegetable. I've made the Sichuan Peppercorn optional, since the Missus doesn't care for the flavor in this dish. I've also made a similar dish using asparagus. I'll blanch the asparagus first, than do a brief "dry fry", before finishing the dish in the same manner as the green beans.

So here goes…..

Dry Fried Green Beans

3/4 Lb green beans, rinsed, trimmed, and de-stringed, cut or broken into pieces about 2" long.
3-8 Dried Chilies, deseeded
4 cloves of garlic minced
2 Tb Sichuan preserved vegetable chopped
2 Tb dried shrimp chopped (if necessary)
2 tsp Shaoxing wine – drinking quality
2 Tb Premium quality light soy sauce
1-2 tsp ground Sichuan Peppercorn (optional)
1-2 tsp (or more) Chili Oil (hopefully you make you own at home)
1 tsp Sesame Oil
3-4 Tb Peanut Oil
Salt, if necessary.

1 – Heat your wok until it smokes.
2 – Add peanut oil, and turn heat down to medium.
3 – Add green beans and stir fry over medium heat(4-6 minutes) until the skins start to pucker.
4 – Remove the green beans with a slotted spoon(drain off excess oil) to a plate lines with paper towels.
5 – Add dried chilies to remaining oil and scald, add dried shrimp and stir fry until shrimps start to crisp.
6 – Add Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, and stir fry.
7 – Add preserved vegetable, and stir fry until the vegetable is heated. Add Sichuan Peppercorn if desired.
8 – Toss the beans back into the wok and combine. Add chili oil. Taste, and adjust flavoring. Add salt if desired (you probably won't need to).
9 – Remove from heat and add sesame oil.

There you go…….

To tease your tastebuds a bit further, Wandering Chopsticks makes her own version of this dish. You can find that post here.  

Like I mentioned in my "White Chili" post, I've been feeding the Missus and Her co-workers when She has to work on weekends. But there's just so much I can make before I hit the wall. I was wracking my grey matter trying to determine what to make….but while staring at some chicken legs, going for 49 cents a pound, I thought why not doa version of Coq Au Vin, the French chicken fricassee cooked in wine? When I told the Missus, She appeared skeptical, "isn't that French?"

Just keeping things fun, I decided to make this pretty much on the cheap. Not that Coq Au Vin is a fancy-schmansy dish mind you. After all, Coq Au Vin was originally a recipe that marked, ummm, the permanent retirement of a rooster. The chicken was just under 2 bucks, the pearl onions, just under 2 bucks…. the wine? You guessed it, 2 Buck Chuck….good ol'  Charles Shaw. I thought of calling it "Chuck Au Vin", but that would've been a bit repetitive, right? 

I'd made Coq Au Vin before, but looked for additional inspiration from various cookbooks I had lying around. And boy did the recipes differ! Anthony Bourdain's recipe in the Les Halles Cookbook did away with the flour dredge, and marinated the chicken in red wine overnight. Julia Child's classic recipe uses a brandy flambe, Mark Bittman in How To Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food, uses porcini mushrooms for flavoring, and so on. Some other differences, many recipes use tomato, I didn't have any at home, so cross that out. Also, most recipes use the "blanching technique" for the bacon or salt pork(guess which I used) to remove excess salt and the smoky flavor. I thought my dish would need all the help it could get, so I bypassed it.

After reducing the wine and sauce, I added a little twist of my own. I added a tablespoon of Demi Glace along with some butter to fortify the sauce. I thought it turned out well, considering. I made buttered egg noodles just to cover my bases. It was also pretty quick, clocking in at a total of 40 minutes prep, one-and-half hours simmer.

Sorta Coq Au Vin

3-4 lbs Chicken parts rinsed and dried
1/2 lb small white mushrooms
1/2 lb Pearl Onions
4 cloves garlic chopped
2 carrots roughly chopped
1 medium onion roughly chopped
2 ribs celery roughly chopped
1/4 lb Bacon sliced crosswise (lardon)
1 Bottle red wine
1-2 Cups chicken stock (optional)
2 Tb Butter
1 Tb Veal Demi Glace (optional)
2 Bays Leaves
3 sprigs Thyme
1/2 Cup flour
Salt and Pepper
1-2 Tb Olive Oil

– Bring a pot of water to a boil. Chop root ends off of pearl onions. Place into boiling water for 1 minute. Allow onions to cool. You'll be able to pop those pearl onions out of their skin.
– Place chicken parts in a gallon ziploc bag. Add flour and shake to coat.Remove chicken from bag to a plate, shaking off excess flour.
– Brown bacon in a Dutch Oven or similar pot. When bacon is browned, remove the bacon with a slotted spoon.
– In the same pot, add pearl onions,add salt and pepper, and saute until slightly browned. Remove onions.
– Add olive oil if necessary, and brown chicken, working in batches. Remove the chicken when browned.
– Add 1 tablespoon of butter, and saute the mushrooms. Remove the mushrooms and set aside.
– Pour off excess fat, and add garlic, celery, onions, and carrots, and saute until vegetables are soft. Deglaze with 1 cup of the red wine, making sure to scrape up all those nice brown bits.
– Add the rest of the red wine, bay leaf, and thyme, and bring to a simmer.
– Add chicken back to pot and simmer; turning every 10-15 minutes until the chicken is done.
– When the chicken is cooked, remove from the pot, and strain cooking liquid.
– Pour strained liquid back into the pot and taste. Add chicken stock, salt and pepper if necessary.
– Reduce liquid by half. You may want to thicken with a classic Beurre Manie (a paste made with 1 tb each butter and flour made into a paste), or be like me and just add butter. I also added the Demi Glace because I had some.
– When sauce is thickened, add pearl onions and mushrooms back (and bacon if desired), and heat.

There you go Half Coq'd Au Vin

Serve with egg noodles.

Did you know I did requests? he-he-he…. On occasion the Missus has to work on weekends. Recently, it has been my habit to cook up a decent batch of food, for the Missus to take to work with Her. I'm kinda flattered that it has gone over rather well. But I guess that there's just so much Chili-Spaghetti, Soy Sauce Chicken, and deconstructed Loco Mocos that I can serve. Recently, one on the Missus's co-workers, and one of my favorite persons in the world "MP", asked the Missus if I could make "White Chili". The Missus, not knowing what White Chili was said, "no problem". The thing is, I didn't even know, nor had I ever heard of White Chili. In fact, I still don't know what White Chili is. So of course I scoured the Internet…. and really didn't find out much, other than it is a "chili" made with white beans and chicken. In fact, I still don't know what the origin of this "chili" (is it really a chili???) is. Ya' know, I admire folks who can whip out dishes they've never tasted, nor heard of, or use ingredients they really have never worked with. I'm not that person…….

I can truly say, I've never had a chance to even consider using Navy Beans….or even Cannelli Beans (white kidneys). I looked over a bunch of recipes, and to my surprise, we had most of the ingredients here at home. This turned out to be a good recipe for left-over rotisserie chicken, it seems that we often have some chicken left over, you know the parts with less flavor (i.e. breast). This usually ends up integrated into several dinners for Sammy and Frankie, but this time, I had use for it (sorry Boyz!).

I worked within what I knew about MP, not good with spicy, nothing to salty, etc……

On the way home from work, I picked up a can of Cannelli Beans, 2 cans of Navy Beans (on sale), and a can of diced green chilies.

When putting the recipe together, the first thing I noticed was how "flat" the dish was. Even with the green chilies, it was fairly bland. I added some cherry peppers, using only the green ones (to fit in the color scheme). When reading the recipes, it seemed like the chili was not hearty enough for my taste. Until I read one that used cannelli beans pureed with chicken broth as a thickening agent. In essence, a typical White Bean Puree was used to give the dish body. The dish also sorely needed some acid, which is why I ended up adding Pinot Grigio (nice and crisp), and some vinegar seemed to complete the equation. A dollop of sour cream also added to the dish, lime added more acid, and a palate cleansing citrus, and I thought that corn tortillas just seemed right…… funny how the mind works.

Enough with the verbage, I'm sure you want me to get on with the recipe. If you love heat, you can add jalapenos, or be like me when I had my one bowl, I added several dashes of hot sauce.

White Chili

3 Cups Rotisserie Chicken, shredded
2 15oz cans of Navy Beans, drained
1 15oz can of Cannelli Beans, drained
1 onion minced
3 cloves garlic minced
2 Tb Olive Oil
4 Cups Chicken stock/broth
1 4oz can diced green chilies
4-5 Green Cherry Peppers, diced
1/4 cup Pinot Grigio, or similar white wine
1 Tb white vinegar
2 tsp cumin seeds (remember to crush)
2 tsp oregano
Salt and Pepper to taste

Garnishes/Sides
1-2 Cups grated Monterey Jack Cheese
Sliced scallions
Cilantro leaves
Sour Cream
Lime
Tortillas
Hot Sauce

– In a food processor, combine Cannelli Beans and 3/4 cup chicken broth and process until smooth. Put aside.
– Heat a dutch oven or similar pot on medium heat. Add olive oil, onions, and garlic, and saute until fragrant and translucent.
– Add the remainder of the chicken broth, oregano, cumin, green chilies, and cherry peppers (or whatever chilies you want – but try to keep the color scheme in mind).
– Bring back to a simmer, and add wine and vinegar.
– Add bean puree to thicken.
– Bring to a simmer, taste and adjust seasoning.
– Simmer for 1-2 hours (or leave overnight, it'll taste even better), and serve with the sides and garnishes of your choice.

I'm guessing it'll taste even better with home made chicken stock. And geeez some nice cheese biscuits!

So maybe someone can tell me…… what is "real" White Chili supposed to be?

Next request……. quick Coq Au Vin…….

Walking along the meat department of 99 Ranch Market, I was in search of something to make for dinner. Something easy and low stress…..when my eyes happened upon these:

The humble chicken drumstick. As I stood and stared(obviously mouth agape – good thing there were no flies around) at the styrofoam tray of poultry, my mind took me back to the joys of the drumstick. Has there ever been anything more perfectly designed than natures own "meat-on-a-stick?" And as a child, I adored them. So on this day, instead of the chicken legs, or whole fryer that I had been contemplating, I returned home with 8 drumsticks.

But what to do with them…….would it be a simple "fry-job"? Or perhaps a dijon based baked drumstick? There seemed to be a  infinite number of options…… As I put away my groceries, direction became pretty clear. I had purchased some Gailan (Chinese Broccoli), so the direction would have to be Asian. And so I settled on doing a basic "Soy Sauce Chicken" recipe. Something I've been making for years. After all, I was doing drumsticks, so isn't there anything more basic than doing a simple soy sauce braise?

So here you go, a simple, Sunday, soy sauce, dish. You may want to make it on Saturday, and heat it on Sunday, it will taste better.

Soy Sauce Chicken Drumsticks

8-10 Chicken Drumsticks, or 3lbs various chicken parts, ORRR 1 whole fryer.
2 cloves of garlic smashed
2 3/4" pieces ginger smashed
2 star anise
4 scallions, white parts only, bruised
2 cups water
1 cup light soy sauce
2-3 Tb dark soy sauce
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup Shao Xing Wine

1 – In a wok or dutch oven combine water, ginger, star anise, garlic, and scallions, over medium heat.
2 – When water starts to boil, add soy sauce, sugar, and Shao Xing. Stir to dissolve sugar. At about this point, I always taste my braising liquid….if you've never done that before, please do…it may taste "yuck", but after making dishes over time, you'll be able to better predict how things will turn out, and make adjustments.
3 – Add chicken to wok, turning several times to make sure chicken is fully coated for about 5 minutes.
4 – Turn heat to low, and simmer chicken, turning every 8-10 minutes until done. These drumsticks took only 20 minutes. Do not overcook, the chicken will fall apart and get mushy.
5 – Serve with a little dish of the sauce.

You can take this in many directions….soy sauce eggs anyone? I found this to be close to the salty edge, so I made up a Ginger-Scallion Oil, just like what I make for my cold ginger chicken, which cut the salt and fat real well:

I hope you had a great weekend!