Unless we're playing flip cup or Scrabble or fantasy football, competitive isn't exactly the word I would use to describe myself. I'm way too laid back for that kind of intensity, but if the occasion should arise, you'll see a whole different side of me. So when Jamie's dad challenged me to a potsticker and fried rice throwdown (a la Bobby Flay), I immediately laughed it off, but once the smack talking got started, so did I. "How does an A.B.C. know how to make potstickers? A.B.C.s don't know how to make potstickers." That's Jamie's dad talking smack on me for being an American Born Chinese. Well, just because I'm not an F.O.B. doesn't mean I didn't spend a good many hours of my childhood folding potstickers. Coincidentally, fried rice was the second dish I ever learned how to make behind my dad's ghetto grilled cheese (Kraft singles with Wonderbread warmed in the toaster oven). I felt like I had the basics down, but there's nothing like a little healthy competition to feed creativity, especially when the prize is a bottle of Blue Label!
Jamie came up with rules and regulations to dissuade any cheating, even though there may or may not have been a few rules bent. We were each allowed one sous chef and our dishes would be judged equally on three categories: originality, taste and presentation. It would not only have to taste good and look good, but we would also have to put our own twist on originals. How would I put my signature on dishes that have been made a hundred times over?
For the potstickers, I knew I had to make my own wrappers. I love making fresh pasta and it really makes all the difference in the world in a simple dish. My filling was pork based, because pork gives you the juiciest dumplings, which just might have something to do with the fattiness. I mixed ground pork with the traditional napa cabbage, shiitakes, ginger, chives and scallions. For bonus flavor points I added dried shrimp, tiger shrimp and kim chee. My trusty sous chef, Misa, helped me assemble the potstickers. Thanks, Mees!
For the fried rice, I wanted to present two dishes: one classic and one contemporary. My classic dish was a replica of my mother's fried rice. Chinese sausage, peas, eggs, shrimp and rice, of course. I drizzled in some homemade chili oil spiked with orange zest right at the end. My second dish was an arancini (fried risotto ball) studded with corn, zucchini, carrots, ginger and garlic. I borrowed a bit of inspiration from Italy. Here are the little nuggets rolled in Panko and ready to be fried.
Since my competitor had home court advantage, I did all my prep work at home. Here's everything ready for transport.
Even though it was a "blind" taste test, the open kitchen pretty much gave away any secrecy. I'm sure many of you will recognize my plating style too. Without further ado... I give you the side by side comparisons.
The garnish on this is dried oregano by the way. Maybe too original? The filling is shrimp, crab and pork.
That's a little chayote slaw on the side. Always nice to have a fresh counterpart to fried foods.
Where's Chiquita Banana? One rice is bacon and ketchup and the other rice is mustard greens, ham and eggs. Team B used Basmati rice, whereas Team a used traditional Jasmine rice.
Thanks to the Changs for hosting and letting us destroy the kitchen. Thanks to all our judges!
I read something recently that dredged up an old hurt---broke open an old wound, so to speak. I dated a very callous, arrogant, cavalier guy in college---for years, don't ask me why. Oh, he cheated on me and what have you, but one of the worst things he did---in a line of horrible, evil things, because that's how he rolled---was something in addition to a spiteful action an ex-roommate actually began.
Whenever I tell people I cook with lard they look at me like I've just told them I like to kick bunnies for fun. Gasp! Mon dieu... quelle horreur?! I know, I know. Lard definitely has a bad rep around these parts, but there's nothing else that quite gives you the same deliciousness. Just ask any tamale or pie crust and taste the difference for yourself.
Since I had some lard leftover from tamale making and fresh peas were in season, I immediately thought of making empanadas filled with harissa, ground beef, peas and carrots. I also made a vegetarian version with chick peas and a butter crust.
Shelling peas and peeling chick peas is definitely a labor of love. I passed the time by watching episodes of The Wire - many of them. Lucky for my finger tips, I had friends to help me form my empanadas.
Conan O'Brien did a little skit recently (In the year 3000?) where YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook merge to become a mega social networking site called "YouTwitFace". Hysterical, except that's already how I feel about Facebook. YAWN! I opened an account just to see if I could find friends from school, but it seems so silly I can't even stand to go on.
Did I ever tell you guys about how photographically challenged I am? Before I started this blog I knew less than nothing (seriously) about ISOs and apertures and white balances. I mean come on, how do you balance white? Isn't it just one color? Shoulder shrug. And until I went through B's super intensive photography crash course, that's the way my brain worked. Fortunately for me and my blog, I'm surrounded by some very talented, knowledgeable and most importantly patient people that are always coming to save my day.
Lately I had been on cruise control and pretty darn proud of myself for being all independent. Why is it that disaster always strikes when you're least suspecting? So the sequence of events goes something like this... Take pictures. Look at pictures on camera display. OK we're good to go. Food goes in the belly. Next day, load photos onto computer from CF card. Oh wait. No food photos. POOF they've disappered! Lots of muttering and expletives. @#$%! *&^()! There were only pictures of my friend's adorable puppy. Definitely not food... in my book anyway. ;)
If you love a happy ending keep reading...
This is where the story comes full circle. The "parents" of Kiba, who I was dogsitting, live out in Monterey Park. So while I was out on that side of town, I scored these gorgeous, live spot prawn from 99 Ranch - my favorite place to buy all things Asian. The prawns were so sweet that a simple broil with salt, pepper and olive oil was perfect. To accompany them, I sauteed some pea shoots with tons of garlic, sesame oil, soy sauce and a splash of Shaoxing rice wine. Yay to easy meals, magical programs and great friends.
Have you ever heard of four Asians and a Jew making Mexican tamales? Though it sounds like the beginning to a really bad, non-PC joke, it was actually my Saturday. Believe it! We were inspired by a recent tamale making episode of Alton Brown's "Good Eats" and of course our love of tamales. Most of the ones out on the market seem to be about 25% filling and 75% masa. We wanted super filled, super saucy tamales, so why take chances when we can make them just how we want them. As gung ho as we all were about tamale making, did any of us really have any business venturing into the secret society of abuela work?
Thanks to Jamie, our tamale hostess, our filling combinations were endless. We had beef, pork, chicken and even oxtails! Cheeses included Jack, Oaxacan string cheese, panela and echilado cheese. It was nice to use the combination of a meltable, mild cheese alongside a spicy, salty cheese like the enchilado. Vegetables included roasted poblanos, roasted jalapenos, corn and black beans.
Gotta have a little cerveza while you work.
I was a big fan of the "compound tamale" - meat, cheese, beans, corn and roasted peppers all stuffed into a thin layer of masa. Flavor bomb!
The tamales took a few hours to assemble, but even longer to steam since we had to split our 100+ tamales into batches.
Once our tamales were ready, we really wished that we would have somehow marked them so we could find the oxtail ones first. No problem though. If we had to eat five or ten just to get to one oxtail, well then it was still worth it.
Are all mothers funny worrywarts like my mom? I sure hope so because it's quite an endearing trait, though I'm certain any teenager out there would refute that. My sisters and I got together for a little Mexico ATVing trip recently, and you would laugh if you could see my sister's luggage. She had to check-in her luggage because it was filled with allergy medicine, sunblock, a Sonicare replacement head, dog snacks (those were actually from my sister, but can you see where she gets it from?) and ten hefty pounds of kumquats - all for me. I made out like a thief and was especially excited about all the kumquats. Yay! I had made a special request for them since we're right in the thick of citrus season. My parents have two super fruitful kumquat trees. My mom had apologized to me since she thought she had only packed enough for me to eat and not to make preserves/compote/jam. Sheesh mom! Ten pounds? How many kumquats do you think one person can eat? There's yet another charming motherly quality.
I had more than enough to make preserves and with National Grilled Cheese Month in full swing, I thought that a mascarpone cheese with strawberry and kumquat preserves would make a nice dessert sandwich. It would also highlight California's seasonal fruits. Kumquats are sweet on the outside and tart on the inside offering a nice foil to the sweet strawberries.
The abundance of tiny seeds makes the process a bit tedious, but once you get in a rhythm, it goes pretty quick. The payoff is well worth it too. The kumquat rind, like most citrus fruits, contains a good amount of pectin so there's no need to add any extra to help it set up. Just add a little sugar and water and simmer until it's thick to your liking. Here's the finished product with some homemade raw fleur de sel butter made by Susan.
Delicious classic combo. Butter and preserves. I'll be eating lots of this since homemade butter has a short shelf life. Oh darn. I HAVE to eat all this yummy butter quickly. Thanks Susan! How about some more pictures you ask? Yes, I too love photo heavy blog posts! Here you go.
The whole reason I made the preserves was to make a dessert grilled cheese, so let's not forget that. Here it is...
Grilled cheese was two slices of Wonder bread with a slice of Kraft American cheese back in the day, but now that I'm all grown up so has my grilled cheese. With April being National Grilled Cheese Month and all, I had a dinner party centered around this ooey gooey treat. I'll take any excuse to eat more bread and/or cheese.
I got the idea to use sliced beef tongue in my grilled cheese sandwich while doing research on passover recipes. Apparently tongue is not only a prominent food in Latin culture, as I had originally thought. I love lengua tacos and tortas, so why not a lengua grilled cheese sandwich. It would be like a pressed torta.
Cooking tongue is not for the faint of heart. It's ugly and covered with taste buds and downright gross, but once it's cooked and tender, oh the deliciousness. I made a grilled cheese sandwich with sliced tongue, panela, aged white cheddar, pickled jalapenos and cilantro. I served it with wedges of lime and roasted green onions.
How will you be celebrating National Grilled Cheese Month?
When I told you that my spicy, pickled carrots were so good that you'd want to plan a meal around them, I was speaking from experience. From first tangy crunch, I knew that a taco night was imminent. Do I sound like I mean business or what?
If Santa Monica Seafood and I were boyfriend and girlfriend, we would be broken up. Game over. We were honeymooning for a while there and high on aquatic life eating our way through the freshest seafood. Then somewhere along the way, they moved into their new fancy pants storefront and got lazy and dumb. Beauty does not replace quality or knowledge people. Let me explain. Last Thursday, I walk in and before I can peruse the whole counter I get asked if I need help by a guy that we'll call Mr. SMS. I say, "I'm making fish tacos tonight. I'm thinking of a firm, white fish." Mr. SMS asks, "When's the last time you made fish tacos?" I think, "Why does that matter?" but I say, " Never. Is your tilapia fresh?" He replies, "No it's been frozen but I think the white roughy would be good." He's pointing at the Basa, which is out of the question, since it's actually a type of catfish and B thinks catfish tastes like dirt. This guy totally just made up a type of fish and I found this article to prove it. They are trying to pass off catfish as roughy. Jeez. Try to dupe me. Just give me a cubic zirconia already and call it a day. Long story short, or really I should say, short story long, I went with the black cod and was happy with my choice until I found rows of pin bones running down the fillets. Now tell me why I pay a premium on fish from Mr. SMS and why I should stop watching Youtube videos about objectophillia.
Getting back to the eats now. After tedious tweezing of the pin bones and much cursing under my breath, I battered my strips of cod in a batter of Dos Equis Amber beer and flour. To punch it up I added a spoonful of chile powder, salt and pepper. A quick bath in hot Safflower oil and they were all set to be nestled in warm corn tortillas with a red cabbage slaw and lots of salsa. Also quick squeeze of lime is essential.
Having a refreshing salad of jicama, radishes and oranges cuts nicely through the heat and any richness from the battered fish.
Cravings be gone.
These spicy, taco stand-style, pickled carrots are so good that you'll want to plan a whole meal around them.
I simmered my peeled carrots in the brine until they were cooked but still really crunchy. They will continue to cook a bit as the brine cools. Once at room temperature, transfer your jars to the refrigerator to chill. I couldn't resist eating a few that night, but I think they were best after a few days. Refreshing, crunchy and spicy these were great just out of the jar. B and I also cut these up into slivers for sandwiches and used them in place of pepperoncinis/pickles. Delicious!
