Category: Recipes

After having the delicate Olive Oil Poached White Sea Bass, the Missus wanted something a bit more "earthy". Her request for the next day was, "something with mushrooms…..lots of mushrooms……" This one was easy for me….well to conceptualize. Getting it done after work in time for dinner….well, that was going to be fun. This was actually easy since I had about an ounce of dried porcini mushrooms on hand. So for a play-by-play….

Step 1 – Soak about 3/4 of the dried mushrooms in two cups of warm water

Step 2 – Slice cremini mushrooms, 2 shallots, and grate 4 cloves of garlic.

Step 3 – Place the rest of the dried porcini, salt, and pepper in a coffee grinder and pulverize to a powder.

Step 4 – Combine mushroom powder with 2 Tb potato starch and spread all but 1 Tb of mushroom mixture on a plate

Step 5 – Place halibut on mushroom-potato starch mixture making sure to coat only one side, well.

Step 6 – Season the undusted side of fish with Spanish paprika, granulated garlic, salt, and pepper. set aside.

Step 7 – Strain the porcini soaking liquid. Make polenta using all but 1/3 cup of the mushroom liquid, olive oil, and water. Between stirs, chop the soaked porcini, reserving 3 Tb as a garnish. When polenta is almost done, add all but the reserved chopped porcini mushrooms. Finish with truffle oil and set aside.

Step 8 – Pan fry the halibut in a combination grapeseed-extra virgin olive oil. When the fish is almost done, start step 9.

Step 9 – In a dry pan over medium high heat, place the sliced porcini mishrooms. When the mushrooms start to soften and give off their moisture add extra virgin olive oil, shallots, garlic, Turkish oregano, and reserved mushroom powder. When fragrant add reserved mushroom liquid and white wine and let bubble away. The fish should be ready by now. Set aside. Taste sauce and season (remember, there's salt and pepper in mushroom powder) with salt and pepper. Reduce……

Step 10 – Plate the baby up…….

Somewhere along the line, the Missus chopped some parsley for garnish. I also used some of the chopped porcini as well. I test for doneness using a sharp paring knife.

Man, this was really tasty…and moist.

I put the rest of the polenta in a pan greased with olive oil and then unmolded and stored for future use.

I ended up making this again, this time pan frying the "polenta cakes" a couple of days later.

Not bad for a Thursday night……

So there you go…….Fish 3 ways in 3 days. Whew, I needed a break. Though things started up again the next week, but I didn't work quite as hard.

Though this one is just pan fried halibut with a warm white balsamic vinaigrette.

Thanks for reading!

In my New Year's post, I mentioned the Missus's new found love of shopping and markets….we now share our weekend mornings grocery shopping, something that was a solo job for me less then a year ago. She even shops on Her days off, most Thursdays you'll find Her buying a thousand bunches of kale and chard from the Linda Vista Farmer's Market. Since Catalina changed their set-up, She'll even shop for fish and seafood, often texting me what She thinks is good…..often buying more then She thought….I guess it always looks smaller on the other side of the counter. There is one thing that sometimes makes this a challenge…….She'll often somewhat vaguely request "something good for a change". On the Tuesday after Christmas, She went to Catalina and ended buying a good amount of fish. The wheels were turning…..when I got home from work I received the request. "I want something with Asian flavors that I like….something you've never made before…." On a Tuesday evening?

Luckily, I have some idea of the flavors the Missus enjoys….the "suan-tian-ku-la-xian" thing. Plus, I had a surplus of scallions and a ton of garlic on hand during the Christmas weekend and made scallion oil and garlic oil:

Scallion Oil:
1 cup peanut oil
4-6 bunches green onions, green parts cut into 1 – 1 1/2" pieces, white portion roughly chopped.

– Heat wok until smoking
– Add peanut oil. when oil slightly shimmers, add scallions
– Lower heat. Let scallions lightly fry under low heat until the oil turns a greenish-brown, about 20 minutes. Do not burn scallions!
– Strain into a heat proof container

Garlic Oil (more concentrated then usual):

1/2 cup peanut oil
3 whole bulbs of garlic, cloves peeled, and sliced thinly lengthwise

– Heat wok until smoking
– Add peanut oil. when oil slightly shimmers, add garlic slices
– Lower heat. Let garlic lightly brown under low heat. Do not burn garlic.
– Strain into a heat proof container. Save can use the fried garlic for other dishes.

I also had some baby bok choy on hand. The rest was pretty simple and the result was this:

The Missus had bought almost two pounds of white sea bass….nice, meaty, and mild. I used half of it, going for the typical Chinese fish marinade….you could almost think of this as the traditional step one - marinating:

2 Tb Shaoxing Wine
2 Tb Grated Ginger
White Pepper

Add ingredients to fish. Gently coat and let sit for 15 minutes.

Right before cooking, I added 2 Tb potato starch to the fish to coat, the traditional step two.

While the fish was marinating, I put together a simple glaze/sauce:

3 Tb Honey
2 Tb Oyster Sauce
3 Tb Premium Soy Sauce
2-3 Tb Chinkiang Black Vinegar
1 Tb Hoisin

– Soften honey in a microwave for 10 seconds
– Combine ingredients

I pan fried the fish in a combination scallion/garlic/peanut oil. At the end, I poured half the glaze over the fish and carefully turned to coat.

I poured the rest of the sauce over the baby bok choy….I went for a pretty classic, old-school, Chinese banquet dish presentation. I topped the bok choy with sesame seeds and fried garlic saved from making the garlic oil.

She enjoyed t so much…..I made this again the following week. This time with halibut.

I was feeling pretty happy putting this together on the fly on a weeknight…..but this just meant that the Missus had to come up with another "challenge"…….. stay tuned!

 

Here's some of the stuff that we've had recently.

I had made three different types of wings for the pig-fest. One of the sauces was sort of a Indonesian inspired sauce that I threw together during a break. It used Kecap Manis, Sambal Olek (an Indonesian brand), lime juice, and honey. Since the only chance I really have of getting to Catalina Offshore is during Saturdays……I try to make the best of things. Here's a pan fried grouper which I cooked in a combo coconut-grapeseed oil.

The sauce went really well with the fish.

The Missus liked it so much that She ended up using it as a dressing.

She placed the fish on top of a shaved chard, kale, brussel sprout salad. The dressing did quite well with the rather bitter salad….even I liked it. So maybe we've found a use for this "wing sauce", which actually wasn't too bad on wings either……

Not everything I end up making is particularly good:

I couple months back, I finally ordered David Chang's Momofuku cookbook. An aquaintance of mine had gone on and on about the "ginger scallion sauce" and the ginger scallion noodles. So I went ahead and made it….exactly like the recipe was written and man, it was pretty bland….so I made adjustments, more scallions, more salt…….man, it was still fairly mild.

The sauce on the right is my ginger scallion pesto, which I made to compare…and I preferred more. It had more  body, the garlic helped the sauce as well….I think hot peanut oil also brought out more flavor. So I dunno……if you look at the photo in the book, the sauce on David Chang's noodles is much darker.

Sometime's recipes from even a trusted source doesn't quite come out. I love Pei Mei's Chinese Cookbook Volume 1. Just about everything I've made from the "Julia Child of Chinese Cooking" has turned out….except for the Sauteed Lamb with Scallions.

I'm thinking it was the additional of vinegar that killed this…… I'll make adjustments and try again.

Luckily, I used only half the lamb and the next night I went back to my stand by; zi ran yang rou.

Cumin Lamb, one of my favorites…….

This is more of the Tunisian style shakshuka, then the potatoand eggplant Turkish version….we love both. But we were a bit disappointed in the versions we had in Tunisia……so much of it looked like scrambled eggs. So when the Missus, a big fan of Yotam Ottolenghi's vegetarian cookbook, Plenty, gave me the green light to get his latest, Jerusalem, I went ahead and ordered it. And wouldn't you know, the first page the Missus opens to is the recipe for Shakshuka! From previous experience with Ottolenghi's recipes, I was certain, with adjustments to our taste, (remember, a recipe for cooking is just an outline) that things would turn out okay at the least.

This recipe uses no onions, but still has a good amount of pungency from the harissa we used. It's a brand we bought from a woman who seels French good at the various Farmer's Markets. You'll have to adjust the amounts based on that. I also bumped up the garlic slightly. You can also check out Cathy's recipe here. The dish she makes is quite similar. The version in the book also uses 4 whole eggs plus 4 yolks….sounded a bit much for us. So we just stuck to three large eggs.

Shakshuka

2-3 Tb Olive Oil
2-4 Tb Harissa (depending on brand)
2-3 Tb Tomato Paste (we used more since we used fresh tomatoes which weren't super ripe)
2 large red bell peppers cut into 1/4" dice
5-6 ripe roma tomatoes diced
4-6 cloves garlic finely minced
2 tsp ground cumin
3-4 large eggs – I crack them in bowls and leave them on the side
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

– Heat olive oil over medium heat in a pan. We used our trusty cast iron pan.
– Add the cumin to "bloom" (not burn), then quickly add harissa, tomato paste, and garlic.
– When fragrant add the red bell peppers and some salt. Stir occasionally for about 8-10 minutes until softened.
– Add tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally until the sauce thickens.
– Taste and adjust seasoning.
– Make divots in the thick sauce and pour eggs into the divots. I stir the whites of the eggs lightly to enhance the cooking time.
– Lower the heat and simmer for 8-12 minutes, or more to let the eggs set-up to taste. If you enjoy your eggs a bit more well done, you can cover them for a few minutes.

The Missus loves the silken texture of the whites…She expected rubbery, but the couple times we've made this, the eggs have always been wonderful.

Here's the requisite drippy egg shot.

One evening, the Missus bought some merguez. I ended up making the shashuka in the sausage drippings……

Really good stuff!

On my last recently consumed post, I noted that I had gone through the two day process for making my mushroom risotto. This time around, I used up my parmesan rind in the stock to make the risotto….which added a wonderful flavor to the risotto, but also made it really rich, perhaps too rich for the Missus as we had a good amount leftover. The left me just the opening I needed to make something I'd been itching to try….Arancini, basically rice croquettes of Sicilian origin. Most arancini have additional filling, meat, a ragu, or the like, but the mushroom risotto had so much flavor I just moved forward "plain jane".

I did make a spicy fresh tomato sauce with some that were getting a bit soft paired with a nice fresh chanterelle mushroom ragu, that was pretty much like this. Roasted baby eggplant finished the whole thing off.

This was super easy….I used panko instead of breadcrumbs, but it was a total by-the-numbers egg wash deal.

I didn't want these too large, so used one of the missus' scoops for cookie dough, then rolled into a golf ball size orb.

Deep fry at 350, until they float, remove for a minute, then place back into oil for about another minute or so.

I knew that I'd enjoy these, but didn't know just how good they would be! Crunchy at first bite, then practically melting in your mouth…. Really delici-yoso!!!

The sauces were a nice compliment. The Missus didn't care for the tomato version, but I thought it really helped to cut the richness.

 I'm sure to be making these again…..it almost has me wishing for leftover risotto!

I'm still in "long weekend mode" so I hope you don't mind this post of stuff I've recently made at home. I'll have something new in San Diego tomorrow!

I mentioned working with leftovers from China Islamic, especially the suan cau yang rou, which really wasn't ready for prime time. By the next day however, the sour flavor of the preserved vegetable had permeated the broth and also tenderized the lamb. We added some frozen tofu and it was a very "cleansing" and hearty lunch served hot pot style.

As for the deep fried duck leftovers; I diced the meat and skin, crisped it up, then went at it "sisig style"…..which, at least to me, sounds much better then "gundam style", or as the Missus calls it "condom style"…..

Sour, spicy, salty….good stuff.

The "back up" canned goods we had was starting to get on the Missus' nerves, so it was time to use and replace them. Time to clear out the cupboards. The baby corn and straw mushrooms were the target of Her wrath, so I needed to use them up. The Missus hates the "tin-ny" taste, so I pour boiled water over them. Did a quick stir fry using both dried and red chilies as my base, hit it with white pepper and shaoxing wine…thickened with a combination of premium soy sauce-sugar-oyster sauce-sesame oil-cornstarch and topped with sesame seeds and cilantro.

We finally had enough left-over mushroom trimmings to make some mushroom stock….so of course that meant mushroom risotto. This time I further fortified the stock with old romano and parmesan cheese rinds….the hard parts, making it richer then ever. The Missus wanted pan seared halibut, so I went with a porcini crust…….

Really easy to do…..I ground up a couple of pieces of dried porcini mushroom with sea salt and added that to my usual seasoning. I dusted one side with potato starch to give it some crispness.

The dish needed some color and also something to cut the richness. So I sauteed some diced vegetables seasoned with dill and lemon juice. I used the leftover mushroom powder and the tomatoes worked well with the dill.

I reduced the leftover mushroom stock combined with onions, oven-dried tomatoes, and garlic confit left over from the risotto to make a nice pasta for me.

It was of course, made with garlic oil…….

And then there's this…..it's that time of the year. Can you guess what the Missus wanted a couple of weeks ago?

I hope everyone had a great long weekend!

Thanks for reading!

This is basically a very simple stir fry noodle I make at home. It's what I used to accompany my "Three Day Duck". Three oil noodle – three day duck….get it? OK, enough with the silly stuff. The foundation of this dish centers around three oils – garlic, scallion, and sesame. Premium light soy sauce and fresh Shanghai noodles finish the dish off. You can throw in greens, onions, in this case I topped it with some dried shrimp (more on that later), along with onions, sliced the thickness of noodles and left over pea shoots.

The key are two of the flavored oils….which I'll make when I have too many scallions…we always have too much garlic. Anyway, when I'm bored, I'll make these. Stored in the fridge in an airtight container, it'll keep for 3 months or more. I also use these in stir-fries, especially when using something a bit on the blander side like tofu.

Scallion Oil:
1 cup peanut oil
4-6 bunches green onions, green parts cut into 1 – 1 1/2" pieces, white portion roughly chopped.

– Heat wok until smoking
– Add peanut oil. when oil slightly shimmers, add scallions
– Lower heat. Let scallions lightly fry under low heat until the oil turns a greenish-brown, about 20 minutes. Do not burn scallions!
– Strain into a heat proof container

Garlic Oil:
1 cup peanut oil
3 whole bulbs of garlic, cloves peeled, and sliced thinly lengthwise

– Heat wok until smoking
– Add peanut oil. when oil slightly shimmers, add garlic slices
– Lower heat. Let garlic lightly brown under low heat. Do not burn garlic.
– Strain into a heat proof container. You can use the fried garlic for other dishes.

I'm not going to get all condescending on you and tell you how to stir fry noodles. I'm sure you can do that. Just a couple of key items; don't overcook your noodles and always use a bit more oil than you think. I use a combination of the scallion and garlic oil to get things started. Finish with sesame oil. I topped the dish off with these really tasty, slightly salty-sweet fried and dried shrimp we bought during one of our previous trips to Rowland Heights.

So there you go….real easy, huh?

I hope everyone made the most of that extra hour of sleep this "fall back" weekend!

Here's a fun little recipe, adapted from Cecilia Chiang's autobiographical cookbook, The Seventh Daughter. I've been fascinated by the book, not only are the stories great, but the recipes are deceptively easy. Almost too easy. I finally got around to making a couple of things and I have to say, even though I think the recipes are a bit gringo-ized, the duck turned out very crisp, nicely infused with flavor, though a bit on the dry side. I did bump up a lot of the seasoning, but I was happy with the result.

I'll probably use a glaze like the one for my Char Siu Glazed Duck next time, or maybe I'll come up with something more interesting. Though this duck takes three days to prepare, it's pretty easy stuff……. So here goes:

Day 1

1 1/2 Tb Five Spice Powder (we used the stuff we brought back from QingDao)
1/4 cup Shaoxing wine (when using wine of any sort/country, get the drinking variety)
1 thumb size piece of ginger, skin removed (use a spoon), cut into thin slices – about 6-7
2 stalks scallions, green parts cut into 2" pieces, white parts chopped and smashed
1 Tb sea salt
2 duck breast halves

– Mix all ingredients together
– Place duck in marinade and rub well
– Place in a ziploc bag and let marinate overnight

The next day you'll remove the duck from the marinade and take off straggling pieces of ginger and scallions.

Day 2

– Steam these babies for 30 minutes
– Remove from plate and liquid and place on a plate lined with paper towels to cool (I gotta figure something to do with all the oil/liquid that came out of the duck)
– I actually seasoned with a bit more salt and five spice….just because
– Once cool place in the fridge (DO NOT cover) to let dry overnight

The next (big) day these babies will look like they've suffered a bit of shrinkage, which they did.

Day 3

– In my cast iron pan, I heated about an inch and a half of oil to 350 (like I really measured)
– Fry the duck breasts for about two minutes each side

Seemed a bit dry so I served with Hoisin Sauce and sliced scallions.

In her book Cecilia Chiang calls this Sichuan Crispy Duck….but I really don't think that's correct. But whatever you call it, it pretty delicious.

Last weekend when I was bored, I used up five stalks of scallions that were starting to go brown and made some scallion oil. I then used two bulbs of garlic and made some garlic oil…really…I do stuff like that when I'm bored. I served the whole thing up with some Scallion and Garlic Oil Noodles.

Three days, but not much overall time involved…..step 1 I did in the middle of a post when I got bored. Step 2 meant turning on the stove. Step three was tonight……

It was a nice dinner three days in the making.

I'm thinking this is something a bit different. Doesn't really look like much……

We were checking out the "frozen protein zoo" in the back of Seisel's and the Missus had the great idea of cooking up something a bit different….after all, it's getting tougher to come up with stuff for the blog. I've almost exhausted all the basic stuff I've made for years. Actually, I wanted to get the ground kangaroo meat and make burgers….I'd call them "hoppers"….the Missus wasn't amused and immediately said that burgers weren't allowed. So I bought about a pound and quarter of frozen ground antelope, with no idea of what to make.

While discussing potential dishes, shepherds pie came up….well why not? But the Missus came up with the caveat….it couldn't be just any shepherds pie, oh no. So I came up with topping the thing with polenta. In doing a bit of research, I found that antelope was pretty lean….which means dry to me. The Missus didn't want beef stock and I really didn't feel like simmering a bunch of bones on a Saturday. I often use my roasted mushrooms as a base for various dishes and the Missus had bought one of those gigantic bags of oyster mushroom from Zion market. Heck, I had to roast these for Her anyway, right?

So on Saturday evening, I roasted up those mushrooms. On Sunday, I made a double recipe of polenta, 2 cups corn grits to six cups water which I seasoned well. Since butter is persona non grata in our household, I used a good amount of roasted garlic olive oil as a fat. When the polenta was done, I separated off the estimated excess amount, which I formed in an oiled square container. The Missus is having fried polenta cakes with these. The rest I tasted, up the seasoning and fat and mixed in about a cup of thinly sliced scallions, mostly for color. I retrospect, I probably could have added some roasted red peppers or even diced sun dried tomatoes.

As for the base of the Shepherd's Pie, here it is….just a listing. Antelope meat is very lean and very mild with a distinct, almost flat finish. It's easy to come up with a tasteless dish, but this came out pretty well.

1 1/4 lb ground antelope
bacon fat – olive oil – grapeseed oil
1 medium onion diced
4 cloves garlic minced
4-5 cups of roasted wild mushrooms
3 cups (or more) mushroom roasting liquid
2 tb dried Turkish oregano
1 tb dried thyme
2 Bay leaves crushed
1 cup red wine
3 tb sherry vinegar
3 tb Worcestershire Sauce
more salt than you think you'll need
fresh ground black pepper

Luckily the roasted mushroom brought a lot to the dish, not only in mushroom flavor, but there's a good amount of garlic and onions as well. If I do this again, I'll not only use the bacon fat, but lardons of a couple of slices of bacon to start as well. I cooked the mess down until it hit the right consistency, but it into a baking pan…topped with the polenta, which wasn't as easy as it seems and baked at 400 for 20 minutes.

It was actually pretty good. Not much in terms of "exotic" flavors, very lean and chewy. Loved the polenta topping. The top was on the crunchy side, while the part laying on top of the ragout was moist and creamy.

Oh, and this is what the bacon was used for.

The Missus actually made this. After all these years, the Missus is starting to find the joy of cooking! I can't help but laugh when I see Her crushing herbs in Her palm to extrude the oils, all the stuff She used to hassle me about! Now it's sharp knives, the immersion blender, and the Dutch oven, go figure…..

Anyway, I'm thinking we'll do something like this every couple of weeks. Any suggestions???