Chilled Cucumber Avocado Soup

Soooo, you know those days where you are either A) too hot to cook, or B) too lazy to cook?  I have those days.  All the time.  And sometimes, you just want to throw a bunch of s#!t in a blender and call it dinner.

So I did.

And it was amazing.  And easy.  No heat required.

Ingredients (serves 2 larger portions): 

2 cucumbers (from my CSA), peeled and seeded

2 avocados, peeled

1 C lite cocount milk

1 tbsp thai green curry paste

2 scallions, diced for garnish

I know.  Its so easy.  You're welcome.

First, prep all the ingredients.  

The cucumber:

Then the avocados:

I love avocados.... hello gorgeous....  yeah, you know who you are.... stop playing coy....

 Mmmmmm....

Moving on.

Throw these beauties in a food processor and whiz around until pureed.

Move the puree to a bowl, add the coconut milk and green curry paste and mix.  Top with scallions and serve.

 Try it.  It was fresh, light, healthy, refreshing, surprisingly filling, AND EASY.  So, so easy.  Seriously, if this takes you longer than 10 minutes, I think we need to have a talk.

Seared Ahi Tuna with Vegetable Glass Noodles

You know how most of the time when you go to grab Chinese take-out or sushi, you walk into the restaurant and it just SMELLS AMAZING?  You think to yourself, "Dammit, why can't I ever seem to reproduce that taste/smell at home?"

I have 2 answers to that quandary:

1) You don't use MSG at home,
2) Vegetable oil + a splash of sesame oil + high heat

I'm one of those people that primarily uses only 2 fats on a regular basis - butter and olive oil.  I usually only use vegetable oil for deep-frying.  MISTAKE!  Holy cow did my apartment smell fantastic last night.  In fact, this was so good I'm storing this gem in my "repeat recipe file", a rare honor.

In honor of full disclosure, this is NOT my recipe.  In fact, the glass noodle recipe is almost entirely Hosea Rosenberg's, which you can find here.  Some of the vegetables I used might be a little different, but other than that, its all his.  I purchased the tuna from Trader Joe's Freezer section, so yeah, that's not really "mine" either.  Basically, I was looking for a quick weeknight dinner that wasn't boring.  Wow, I was blown away by this.  So easy.  So delicious.  Especially the noodles.  I beg you to try them. 

For the Tuna:

I just pan seared it for a minute or so on each side for a nice rare middle.

For the Glass Noodles:

Follow Hosea Rosenberg's recipe to a T, it'll make your apartment smell like [insert your local greasy chinese take-out here].

And the creme de la creme, if you like spicy condiments, I highly recommend this little number:

Sriracha Ginger Yogurt Sauce 

2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 grated ginger (fresh)
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 C rice vinegar
1/4 C orange juice
2 tbsp mirin
2 tbsp white wine
1 tbsp Sriracha
2 tbsp greek yogurt

In a saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil. Add the ginger, onion and garlic and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until softened, about 5 min. Add the vinegar, orange juice, mirin, wine and Sriracha and simmer until the liquid is almost evaporated and the sauce is thickened, 10-15 min. Turn off the heat and add the yogurt. Season with salt and pepper if needed.

I need to make this sauce again, and put it on EVERYTHING. On burgers? Oh, I bet it's amazing.

Final plating: Thinly slice the tuna and fan out on the plate around a pile of glass noodles.  Dollop some Sriracha Ginger Yogurt Sauce on the side and sprinkle toasted sesame seeds and chopped scallions over the whole plate.

Cold Soba Noodles and Veggie Tempura

The February 2011 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by Lisa of Blueberry Girl. She challenged Daring Cooks to make Hiyashi Soba and Tempura. She has various sources for her challenge including japanesefood.about.com, pinkbites.com, and itsybitsyfoodies.com

When I was a vegetarian, every time we would go to a Japanese restaurant for lunch or dinner, I would always order tempura vegetables.  I loved them, especially the sweet potatoes.  I was always curious how they cooked the vegetables perfectly encased in a crunchy, slightly fluffy batter.  Ohhh, and with the dipping sauce... om nom nom.  The eternal trick was always trying to bite a large piece of sweet potato or zucchini in half, after dipping it in the sauce, while tenuously holding it with your chopsticks.  And trying not to dribble the sauce ALL. DOWN. YOUR. CHIN.

Minds out of the gutter people.

Clockwise from the top: snap peas, sweet potato, shrimp,
mushrooms, and red bell peppers in the middle

I was so glad that tempura was part of the challenge this month because I may have never tried it otherwise.  Not nearly as hard as I anticipated.  (that's what she said!).

Great, now you've really got me going.

Moving on.

The directions in the challenge were spot-on and I felt that luckily, my chopstick-skills were up to snuff.

For the Soba:

12 oz Soba (buckwheat) noodles
2 qts water

1) Cook the noodles in a pot of boiling water, approx 7-10min, read the package.  Wow, that was easy wasn't it?
2) Once they are done, drain the noodles and rinse under cold water to cool and remove the extra starch.  Keep them in the colander covered by a damp towel until you're read to use them.

Mentsuyu (the noodle sauce):

2 C Kombu dashi (I just heated some nori in hot water and then filtered it, lazy me)
1/3 C soy sauce
1/3 C mirin (sweet rice wine)

1) Put mirin in a sauce pan and heat gently.  Add soy sauce and the dashi soup stock (or if you're lazy like me, the nori soup stock).  Bring to a boil.  Take off the heat and cool.  Refrigerate until ready to use.

Tempura
1 egg yolk
1 C iced water
1/2 C flour, plus extra for dredging
1/2 C cornstarch
1/2 tsp baking powder
vegetable oil, for frying
ice water bath, for the batter
cold, sliced vegetables/fish:

• sweet potato, peeled, sliced and blanched
• carrot, peeled, sliced
• green beans
• snap peas
• bell pepper, sliced
• mushrooms
• eggplant, sliced
• zucchini, sliced
• shrimp, shelled

1) Place ice water in a mixing bowl.  Lightly beat the egg yolk and gradually pour into the iced water, stirring (with chopsticks!) and blending well.  Add flours and baking powder all at once, mix with the chopsticks until loosely combined.  The batter should be runny and lumpy.  Keep the batter cold by placing it in the ice water bath.

2) Heat the oil in a large, deep frying pan (320F for veggies, 340F for seafood).

3) Starting with the veggies, use your chopsticks to grab a veggie, then dip it into a shallow bowl of flour, then into the tempura batter.  Slide the veggie into the hot oil, trying not to overcrowd the pan and drop the temperature of the oil.

4) Place the finished tempura pieces on a wire rack or paper towel to drain. 

5) Continue frying the other items, frequently scooping out any bits of batter to keep the oil clean.

6) Serve immediately with dipping sauce (recipe below)

Spicy Dipping Sauce:

3/4 C soy sauce

3/4 C scallions, finely chopped

2 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1/2 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp English mustard powder

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp sesame oil

salt and pepper, to taste 

2 tbsp water

1) Put all the ingredients in a covered container.  Close the lid and shake the S^&T out of it until the solids (sugar, salt, mustard) are dissolved.  Add and shake in the water and re-season if necessary.

Serve the tempura and soba noodles for dinner.  Pat yourself on the back for making something that seemed so hard and was actually quite easy.  Pop open the special bottle of saki that you bought just for this occasion and make a toast.  To Soba!  To Tempura!  To Laura!

Watermelon-Lemongrass Glazed Shrimp

Earlier this summer, during the height of my summer produce from my Stillman's Farm CSA, I had more watermelon that I could eat.  Which is saying a lot.  Because I LOVE watermelon, especially in the record-high heat we experienced this past summer.  But needless-to-say, I couldn't eat another watermelon, so I decided to try out my new canning equipment and store it away for the winter.  So, that's the long-ish story of how I ended up with Watermelon Jelly.  Sounds grossly sweet doesn't it?  I'm sure you're imagining it on a PB&J and holding back the vomit too, huh?  I had this under control though, because there wasn't just watermelon in my jelly.  I don't think you're read-y for this jell-y (ha! song-poisoned you, didn't I?)  I also added some ginger and lemongrass, thinking that someday I might use it in an asian-inspired dish.

Et Voila!  That's how my BoyfriendApprovedTM Watermelon-Lemongrass Glazed Shrimp and Veggies was born.  Boyfriend told me it was the best dinner I had made in awhile (which I would never take as an insult... or would I? Nah!).  Of course, he's a little biased because anything containing shrimp is a certified winner in his book.

First, I started heating a pan over medium heat, then added some olive oil and butter.  I added a diced small onion, some minced garlic, and grated fresh ginger, letting that cook down until the onions were soft and the ginger fragrant, about 5min.  Added my watermelon jelly and some homemade seafood stock to the onions and let it cook down for about 5-10min.  Once the "sauce" had started to thicken in the pan, I added 1/2 lb medium shrimp that I had peeled earlier and let those cook until just pink throughout. 

On the side I sauteed some quartered porcini mushrooms and sugar snap peas in some oil and butter until browned, but still with a little crunch to them.  I hate it when veggies get cooked to the "mushy" stage.  Blech!  Until I am 500 years old with dentures, I can at least have the pleasure of chewing my food.

I made some coconut jasmine rice on the side (add 1/2 can of lite coconut milk to the water you plan to cook your rice in), and sprinkled some chopped cashews and scallions over the top in the final plating.

Boyfriend was my sous chef.  Here, he adds the finishing touches with artistic flare (>ha!<)

Peanut Soba Noodles

I needed something different from turkey. Shocker, right?

This was one of those got-home-late-from-work-and-need-something-quick dinners.  This took maybe 15min.  Maybe. 

Everyone has (or should have) some kind noodle and peanut butter in their pantry.  Seriously, if you don't, you better be allergic to peanuts or something because there is just no excuse.  And I really don't think it matters whether its creamy or chunky.  We could have this debate all day, but I only buy chunky, Boyfriend only buys creamy... The moral is to buy whatever you like and then use it to make this dish one day when you're starving but have no real food in the house.  Do it because I told you to.  Just kidding.  Kinda.

Mix together the peanut butter (1/4 C), some soy sauce (3 tbsp), rice vinegar (3tbsp), a splash of fish sauce (optional) and honey (1 tbsp) and you've got yourself dinner.  Garnish with scallions and peanuts.  Boom.  Done.

And while we're at it, World, meet Boyfriend.

Not sure why this is so blurry, one of us clearly can't keep still....

And remember, take those measurements I gave above with a grain of salt.  Its not like I actually measured them other than by my well trained (>HA!<) eye.

Asian-Style Pork Burgers

Remember back in the day when I made Pork & Kimchi Dumplings?  Well, at the time, I had purchased a pound of ground pork, but only used half for that recipe, figuring that I wouldn't want 40 dumplings crowding my freezer.  Instead, I've had 1/2 lb of ground pork in said freezer chillin' for like 2 months (ooohhhh, pun intended!).

Fearing freezer-burn, I was brainstorming out to use up the rest of my ground pork.  My first thought went to Ma Po Tofu.  But I don't have any tofu or "Ma Po" sauce, whatever the heck that is, I mean, I usually just buy it pre-made at the Asian grocery store.  Hmmm.... but I think I'm on a roll with the Asian theme.  What else, what else?  What else I usually do with ground meats?  Uhm, spaghetti sauce, dumplings, Shepard's pie, burgers... Burgers! Yes!  I will make Ma Po Pork and Tofu burgers!  Wait... still the issue of no Ma Po or tofu..... so maybe I'll just make Asian-inspired Pork Burgers and use whatever I can find in my pantry.

Burger Stuff

1/2 lb ground pork

1/4 C unseasoned bread crumbs

2 tbsps onion, chopped fine

2 tbsps carrots, peeled and shredded with a peeler or box grater

2 tbsps fresh ginger, grated (not ground)

1 tbsp hoisin sauce

1/2 tbsp sesame oil

1 tsp sambal oelek (more if you like things hot)

1 egg

Getting Burger Into Mouth Stuff

2 good quality buns, brioche would be nice but damn expensive, kaiser works for the less spendy option

1/2 roasted sweet red bell pepper, sliced into thin strips

4 teaspoons hoisin sauce

1 teaspoons white sesame seeds

2 leaves lettuce (next time try napa cabbage slaw?), chopped

2 tbsps scallions, chopped ¼” thick

LET’S DO THIS!

1) Mix the burger ingredients thoroughly in a large bowl and form into 2 patties about 3/4" thick, or at least the same size as your buns and slightly concave in the center (for even cooking, plus they puff up when cooked).

**The patties are very "loose" and fall apart easily.  I found that forming them in my hand and plopping them straight onto the press/grill worked best.

2) Wash your hands thoroughly after handling the raw meat and egg mixture.  Eeewwww!

3) Heat up and oil Panini press (aka my grill), or any type of grill-like thing you feel like using.

4) Place (or plop, see above) the patties on the grill. Cook these babies for about 6-7min.

** Its slightly quicker and don’t need to flip if using a press.  If using a grill, cook 6-7min then gently flip the burgers and cook another 4-6min.

5) Open lid (of your press) at the 6-7min mark and dollop some of the hoisin sauce on the top of each burger and spread. Theoretically, you should cook until the internal temp is around 160F.  However, I rarely take temperatures unless its a roast.... so don't be surprised when I end up with some terrible food-bourne illness.  I just poke them to see if they are firm, aka done.

6) I like my buns toasted, but Boyfriend does not.  Thus, I only toasted one bun.  I recommend it.  It’s just better that way.

7) Assembly:  Bun, lettuce, roasted red pepper strips, burger (hoisin side up), sprinkle of sesame seeds and scallions.

8) Place top of bun next to fancy-schmancy burger. Admire your work.  Shout “Dinner’s Ready” with authority.

Drink: We drank a light 2007 Domaine des Salices Pinot Noir with this meal.  Not because I thought it would be the "best" pairing, I actually think a light ale, good lager, a dryish Riesling, or a pink wine would be better.  However, pink wine is a hard sell in my house.  Red wine is loved by all.  So I chose a light one so as not to overwhelm the flavors of my pork burger.

Served with: Roasted cauliflower and a cold soba noodle salad with cucumbers, carrots, soy sauce, sesame oil, chili oil, rice vinegar, lime juice and zest, topped with toasted sesame seeds and scallions.

 The finished product was a fantastic mix of flavors.  Sweet from the hoisin and bell peppers, spicy from the sambal oelek, crunchy from the carrots and lettuce.  OM NOM NOM.  Not your usual burger, but a seriously welcomed departure.  I will definitely be making this again.  Boyfriend suggested next time to make them a little thicker for a bigger mouth-load of yummy burger-ness.  I agree.  It just happened that my buns were huge so I had to thin out my burgers to fit.

PS. Roasted cauliflower is the way to go always!  Sooooo much better than steaming it.  Roasting it really brings out better flavors and textures.  Highly recommended!

More Dumplings! Lemongrass Chicken

I had a very productive kitchen this Sunday.  Especially considering I didn't wake up until noon. 

First order of business: Make a HUGE batch of dumplings to store in the freezer for those night when I need a snack and have nothing in the house.

I used the same basic method that I described before here with Pork & Kimchi.  This time I made a Thai-style lemongrass chicken filling instead. 

Ingredients:
1 lb ground chicken
1+ cup finely shredded napa cabbage
1 egg
1 1/2 tbsp chopped cilantro (I would have used more but that's all I had)
1 tbsp dried chives (use fresh if you have it!)
2 tbsps finely diced lemongrass (I got mine in the freezer section of my local Asian market)
1 tbsp minced ginger
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 tsp salt
** optional: I added 1 tbsp sambel oelek for heat

Mix all ingredients in a bowl.  Use 1 tbsp filling per dumpling.  I substituted gyoza wrappers (thanks Katie!)  this time instead of making the dough.  Worked fine, but I didn't get the same shape.... they look more like ravioli than dumplings.... oh well.  This recipe made approx. 40 dumplings.... SWEET!  I froze them separated on cookie trays then piled them into a freezer bag for later snacking.  Again, cook as mentioned before here.

Second order of business: Make bread.  I am challenging myself to learn how to make bread.  I'm sick of paying $2 for bread filled with chemicals and/or $5-6 for a loaf from an artisanal bakery.  It costs $2 for 3 packages of yeast, $3 for a bag of flour, and water is "free".  That's at least 6 loaves of bread for $5 plus some elbow grease minus chemicals, additives, and other needless synthetic ingredients.  Oh, and THANK GOD KATIE HAS A KITCHENAID STAND MIXER ... it really cuts out the "elbow grease" part of the equation :)  I'm going to have to get myself one of those if we ever stop living together.

Loaf #1: followed Julie Child's french bread recipe mostly... she calls for like 4 rising steps and I'm sorry... I just don't have ALL DAY to be watching bread rise.  I had serious issues with her recipe.  First, my dough was so so so wet when I (read: kitchenaid) was kneading the initial ingredients together.  I couldn't even really get it out of the mixing bowl.  I kept adding flour until it freed itself from the mixing bowl (with hesitation, I might add).  It DID rise though.  When I attempted to punch it down, however, it swallowed up my fist like quicksand.  Stupid Julie Child recipe!!  I let it rise one more time then POURED it onto a baking sheet and threw it in the oven (450F).

Loaves #2 and #3: Since I was convinced that Loaf #1 was a complete failure, I started another batch with this recipe off the internet.  This recipe worked great, makes 2 loaves, and took 1/2 the time of Julia's.  So where did it go wrong?  I was engrossed in watching "America: The Story of Us" and forgot about my bread in the oven :(  I caught it before both loaves were ruined, but since I missed the egg-wash step they didn't get that nice golden brown crust.

RESULTS:  Amazingly all 3 loaves turned out completely edible, tasty, and that first loaf wasn't nearly as dense as I had predicted.  In fact, between me, Katie, and Reed... we almost finished the first loaf last night.  Oh fresh baked bread... it gets you every time!

I forgot to take any pics, but I'll make some sandwiches for lunch this week to showcase my lovely yeasty creations.

Pork and Kimchi Dumplings

I absolutely love potstickers.  Or are they dumplings?  Potstickers?  Who cares... they're tasty, bite-sized, and can be cooked from frozen!!

I was super-intimidated by this recipe because I am sooo bad at making dough.  Bread dough, pie dough, pizza dough.... name a dough, I've screwed it up. 

I was convinced it would fail.  But hey, I'm an academic scientist.... I'm getting very, very comfortable with the concept of failure :)

First, I made the dough.  EASIEST DOUGH RECIPE EVER.  Literally, flour + water = dumpling dough.  How could I screw this one up, you might ask?  Well, here's how - I can't leave anything alone... I decided to do half white flour, half whole wheat.  Why?  Obviously because I like screwing things up :)

But it worked anyway!! ...amazing....

Step 1: mix flour and water until a wet dough forms, knead it for 5min, let rest on the counter for 15min while you prepare the filling.

Step 2: Prepare filling.  Use whatever you want, just mix it together and add an egg.  I chose ground pork and kimchi (monster jar in the fridge!).  I also added some garlic, ginger, S&P.

                                    

Step 3: After dough has rested for the allotted 15min, divide in half.  Roll each half into a "snake" and cut into 12 pieces (kinda like making gnocchi).  Roll each piece into a ball, like so:

Step 4: Roll out each ball into a thin circle (maybe 3"?) and plop 1 tbsp of your filling in the middle.

Step 5: Bring one side over to the other and pinch the seam to seal the dumpling together.

Step 6: Last but never least!  Heat some vegetable oil in a skillet over hight heat, add dumplings and fry until the bottoms are lightly browned.  Then, and here's the scary part, add about a 1/4 cup of water and cover the skillet to let the dumplings steam until the insides are cooked through.  Then (even scarier) take the lid off and finish browning the dumplings until golden brown and delicious.  Prepare to clean oil splatters off your range for days. 

                         

I made a dipping sauce using low-sodium soy sauce, rice vinegar, a splash of mirin (not necessary) and a splash of hot chili sesame oil (also not necessary, but I love the heat - regular sesame oil would be great too).

Whatever you don't cook right away can be frozen and tastes just as great straight out of the freezer into some hot oil.

OM NOM NOM!