Thanksgiving Purist

Because of my gluttonous tendencies, I actually can't say no to the Chinese side of the buffet. However, when it comes to my favorite holiday of the year, I really prefer to delve into the butter laden, creamy, richness of all the beloved side dishes that are indispensable alongside pieces of turkey drowned in gravy.  This is the only time of the year that I eat this type of food and I want to eat as much of it as I can while it lasts.

I know that there are all sorts of fancy recipes for stuffing and mashed potatoes and exotically spiced turkey brines.  At the end of the day, I like my mashed potatoes simple.  Potatoes boiled and mashed to a perfect consistency with butter, hot milk, and salt.  Hold the garlic, the cheese, the bacon, the spices, the herbs.  As predictable as it is, I think I also prefer the boring, traditional savory, sage, onions, and celery stuffing over anything fancier.  Candied sweet potatoes need nothing else but brown sugar, maple syrup (or molasses as my aunt uses with resounding success), and butter.  They don't need to be whipped baked twiced, just sliced into wedges or discs and baked to a baked til soft all the way through to a burnished glossyness and cararmelized-edged perfection.  The turkey can be more elaborately prepared or brined in a more interesting fashion...whatever it takes for the breast meat to be juicy and not overdone.  Leave the turducken at home.

This year, I made jap chae noodles (at the request of my mother) and Alton Brown's recipe for green bean casserole from scratch. 

 It was actually super easy to make.  I was surprised that I had some issues with his recipe.  2 medium onions wasn't enough to cover the beans satisfactorily while adding 1/4 of them to the mushroom bechamel sauce.  Tossing the sliced onions in flour and panko crumbs was an ineffective method of coating the onions with breading.  In fact, the flour barely stuck on.  Roasting them at an insanely high 475 degrees for 30 minutes also achieved nothing but shrinking the onions next to nothing and burning the edges 10 minutes into the allotted roasting time.  Next time I'll use my head and revise accordingly.  I ended up salvaging 2/3 of the onions which I sprinkled in a sparse layer on top.  I then sliced 2 more onions, coated them with flour, and deep fried them in small batches.  The casserole was good but a little on the bland side.  Next time I would add more salt to the mushroom sauce.  The sauce needs to be highly seasoned so they can thinly coat the bland green beans.  I might also salt the blanching water more heavily for the beans next time as well.

Adapted from: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/best-ever-green-bean-casserole-recipe/index.html

Pictures to come.

I have been cooking..

..just forgetting to take accompanying pictures.

This is my 5th time making jap chae this month and I feel like
I finally have the flavor profile correct (at least I think. I'm going
to make it again for a friend of mine who is Korean so she can
give me some input on adjusting flavor.

Note: I took the picture using an old camera that has horrible
picture quality.  Colors do not show through and everything
is dark and almost sepia toned. We can pretend it's a picture
from the 70's or something -.-

Upcoming..

Tarte Tatin: http://orangette.blogspot.com/2006/10/tokaji-for-your-tarte-tatin.html

Farmer Market Mondays!

I've been seriously craving white rice with tasty chinese/asian stir-fry recently.  At the end of the day, I'm still a noodle-slurping, rice-shovelling, soy sauce lovin' girl at heart.  Western dishes and pastas and big hunks of protein to carve on your plate are tasty but still not my favorite things to eat on a daily basis.  So, even while loading up on late season heirlooms (50 cents/lb pricier this week than last!), I was inevitably seduced by the asian veg stand.  Beautifully young, light green and glossy, not-too-bitter baby bitter melons and tender dark green leafy bunches of chinese broccoli were calling to me.  In my bag they went.  Along with a splotchy enormous bouquet of intensely aromatic basil.

Check it out:

(left) Sirloin Steak Stir-fry w. Bitter Melon, Orange Peppers, and a smattering of Habanero Pepper

(right) Chinese Eggplant w. Basil, Garlic, Soy Sauce/Sugar/Lime

I am a pro at making Chinese eggplant with basil.  I perfected this when I was stirfrying enormous quantities of it for my friend, Monisha's wedding rehearsal dinner.  The trick is, to saute on very high heat with just enough oil and tons of garlic..and then adding small amounts of water to aid the softening process.  Cover with lid for a while, before taking it off so that it doesn't continue to steam.  You want the eggplant so get cooked through and soft without adding tons and tons of oil for it to absorb into a greasy mess.  Then 2 minutes b4 it's done cooking, add soy sauce, a spoonful of sugar, a tsp or so of lime juice and continue to adjust the flavor until it's balanced to your taste.  The eggplant at this point should be pretty dry in the pan and caramelized in some places.  Add a fistful of freshly picked basil for about a minute and turn off heat. Stir until fully wilted.  The aroma of the dish should be knocking you dead.

(repeat) Israeli Couscous w. Roasted Grape and Orange Sweet Tomatoes, Kalamata Olives, Basil, Scallion.  This was such a tasty dish I had to make it again.  Esp while the tomatoes are still good.

In the very background, note the yellow and pink streaked sunset-y slices of heirloom resting on a small plate. this heirloom is called a "Pineapple." this tomato seriously tasted as sweet as candy. def more fruit than veggie tasting.  My cousin, Jess, did not love it bc it wasn't tomato-y enough for her...which I took to mean not acidic enough. There is no tangy acidity to balance out the sugars.  I enjoyed eating these sweet slices with a smattering of coarse sea salt sprinkled on top to sort of pique the flavor a bit.

Roasted Grape/Orange Sweets w. Garlic for our snacking pleasure.

Jess's Farmer's Market Birthday Dinner

Nectarine Crisp
Equipment: 9x13 casserole dish (or baking pan)
Fruit: 3lbs+ nectarines and yellow peaches (1.5 lbs is ~4 large nectarines...we used 5 each, 10 total)
(1/2 pint raspberries)
(1 large crisp/sweet apple : Honey Crisp) <= we added extra fruit for color, variety of flavor and texture. optional.

Filling:
-1/4 cup sugar (I used half white/half brown sugar. you could use all white or all brown. I only used 1/4 cup bc the fruit itself was very sweet, and I prefer fruit desserts to be on the tangy side anyway. If you're using a more tart fruit, like say, grannysmith apples, you can up the amount to 1/3 or 1/2 depending on how sweet you'd like to go)
-3 Tbsp flour (I added 1.5 extra Tbsp on top of this + a bit more sugar bc I added the apples later and they needed to get tossed in some of the flour/sugar mixture too)
-1/8-1/4 tsp ground ginger (to taste..I used a few sparing sprinkles, probably could have used more..up to you how strong you want the spice to be..i mainly wanted to showcase the flavor of the fruit)
-pinch salt

Topping:
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup flour
1 cup oats
1.5 sticks unsalted butter (if cold from fridge, microwave for 10-12 seconds to soften the stick slightly)

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees
-Cut/prep fruit to desired size. I kept them in big chunks. The apple I cut a little smaller bc the fruit is harder...that way the cooking time won't vary so much.
-In a med bowl, thoroughly mix the flour/sugar/spices
-Place all fruit in casserole dish and sprinkle/toss the flour/sugar/spice mixture, evenly coating all of the fruit. Just tumble in the raspberries after first tossing the sturdier fruit and toss them very gently so they don't get too crushed.
-Make the topping: in a bowl, thoroughly combine 1 cup each of the brown sugar, flour, and oats. Then add the slightly softened 1.5 sticks of butter and smash together, rubbing with fingers until you get crumbles. If the you've overworked it and the crumbles are too soft bc the butter is sort of melting, put the topping mixture back into the fridge for 10-15 min to chill a bit.
-Distribute crisp topping evenly over the fruit.
-Bake on middle rack of oven @ 350 for 45-50 min.
-To keep warm before serving, put crisp in oven on lowest oven setting 100-170 degrees.
















Heirloom Tomato Salad
Jess and I were looking for a variety of flavors, colors, and sizes. The best way to cut the tomatoes is to showcase their size and distinguishing characteristics. For the smaller, striped tomatoes, little wedges showcase the seeds/flesh and also the skin. For huge tomatoes, you want to show off the size gorgeous red and patterns inside when you cut them into big round steak-like slices.

-Green and Red Zebra: for their beautiful colors and striped skin. these tomatoes are known for their lemony acidity
-yellow tomatoes (name unknown): they were really ripe and pretty. not the best flavor as it turns out, but still okay
-Aussie: the gargantuan deeply red tomato, with good old fashioned ripe tomato flavor. the sign said it has "good balance of sugars and acids"
-Orange Sweets: the orange cherry tomatoes that tasted like candy
-red grape tomatoes: these were from Russo's not the Central Sq. farmer market, still tasty

We bought enough for 2 slices of each of the smaller tomatoes + 1 large slice of the big red Aussie. All were bt $2-3/lb. We bought 1 pint of the orange sweets for the couscous salad and save a few for the red leaf lettuce salad.

Red Leaf Lettuce Salad
-washed, torn into bite size pieces, spun dry
-chopped herbs (parsely, mint, basil)
-halved cherry/grape tomatoes
-balsamic dressing: equal parts EVOO + balsamic vinegar, 1.5 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper







Pearl Couscous Salad w. Roasted Tomatoes
Adapted from: http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/07/pearly-whites/

-We doubled the recipe. Instead of using chicken broth to cook the couscous, Jess toasted the couscous in some oil first before adding water to cook them. I forgot to include the kalamata olives, although I am sure that would have been an extremely tasty addition.
-Decided to use cheaper grape tomatoes to make the pureed roasted tomato dressing. The other tomatoes that we mixed in with the couscous at the end were a combo of grape + orange sweets, roasted in the oven for 250 for 1 hour tossed lightly with olive oil, a few whole cloves of garlic, and generously salted.






Roasted Boneless Leg of Lamb w/ herb/spiced/butter crust
boneless leg of lamb (I bought a huge 6 lb-er from McKinnon's in Davis Sq on Elm St)
6-8 cloves garlic
1/2 cup parsley
1/4 cup cilantro
1/4 cup mint
1 cup pitted green olives (Goya makes the cheapest. and there is no red pepper stuffed in)
1 stick butter (softened to room temp)
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp coriander
2 tsp ground fennel seed (optional. i love fennel though so i added it)
2 tsp paprika (i only had smoked paprika on hand, it's a more assertive flavor though)
1 tsp cayenne (if you want to add some spice)
1 Tbsp coarse kosher salt

-Put all the rub ingredients into a food processor and blend til it looks like a poopy pesto.
-Rinse and pat dry your leg of lamb. Place on platter. Generously salt and pepper both sides.
-Using your hands/spatula, slather the lamb all over with the spiced herb butter rub. Bc the leg of lamb I got was so huge, I cut slits into the fattiest side so I could stuff the rub in. I also ended up cutting the roast in half bc it was too huge.
-Place lamb into a large ziploc bag. Make as airtight as possible. Put into another bag or container in case of spillage/leakage.
-Marinate in fridge overnight or at least 6-8 hours.
-Remove from fridge 30 min roasting time.
-Roast on high heat @ 425 for 20 min
-Lower temperature to 350 and roast for another hour (maybe less...)

Note: I overcooked mine. I would consult this link (and others online) and/or invest in a meat thermometer if you want to get that perfect rosy red interior for a medium rare roast..which is what I was hoping for..(oops!):

http://elise.com/recipes/archives/001720roast_leg_of_lamb.php

I also was not hardcore enough to put the roast directly onto the oven rack...plus I think I had a much messier marinade to deal with.

Recipe loosely adapted from: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/olive-and-spice-rubbed-leg-of-lamb-recipe/index.html






Earl Grey Panna Cotta (4-6 servings: I doubled this recipe for 10 ppl and I had a lot of leftovers)
3 cups cream (I used half heavy cream/ half whole milk..to make it less rich, increase proportion of whole milk)
1 pkg (aka 2 tsp) of gelatin (the amount of gelatin per pkg varies. i always measure)
1 tsp v. extract (I used only 1/2 tsp bc I didn't want it to overpower the Earl Grey flavor)
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
5 bags of Earl Grey tea

-1 cup cream in medium saucepan, sprinkle 1 pkg (2 tsp) gelatin, stirring constantly on low heat til completely dissolved
-Add remaining cups of cream+sugar+vanilla extract. Medium heat, stirring constantly til sugar dissolved. Put in 5 tea bags.
-Once mixture begins to steam, turn off heat, cover the saucepan with a lid and let steep for 15-30 min. Taste to make sure the tea flavor is strong/to your liking.
-Pour into small ramekins/cups/etc.
-Chill til panna cotta is set. Approx 4 hours...at least.

On the horizon..

(1) Sunday Night Dinner and a Movie: Spaghetti Carbonara, Peach Cobbler, white wine?

(2) My cousin Jessica's 25th birthday dinner on Monday 9/14.
Theme: local, seasonal, famer market produce
Menu Ideas
Starters: salad or some sort
Main: ?
Sides: Israeli Couscous + Oven-dried Tomatoes and Basil
Dessert: Necatarine Crisp/Galette, Earl Grey Panna Cotta

Red Cooked Salmon

Mise en Place
3-4 cloves garlic, large mince (I like lots of big chunks of garlic for this dish, it's up to you)
1.5-2 inch length chunk of ginger, thinly sliced 2-inch sticks
2 scallions, sliced into 2-inch pieces (white and green parts)
2 thai chilis, thinly sliced rounds

soy sauce
white vinegar
sugar
water

2 fillets of salmon (usually boneless, skin on), scaled, rinsed, patted dry with paper towels (gently)

Directions:

Drizzle enough canola/olive oil to cover bottom of large wok. Heat on high til drop of water dances when flicked onto oil. Carefully place salmon fillets skin-side down. Sear on high-med high heat for 3-4 minutes until browned. Do not move the salmon around in the pan while its browning. Gently flip. Turn down heat a little. Now add all of the aromatics into the oil (spreading them around/bt the salmon fillets evenly.) Drizzle soy sauce over the aromatics. Add some water so that it's not overwhelmingly salty and to create more sauce. Pour a little vinegar. Sprinkle a spoonful of sugar. Taste the sauce and adjust seasoning/flavor. You want a balance between the saltiness of the soy, sweetness of the sugar, and acidity from the vinegar. Stir to make sure vin/sugar are incorporated into the soy sauce. Adjust heat so the sauce is simmering but not boiling furiously. Cover wok with lid and allow to gently cook and steam for another 4-6 minutes until fish is cooked through.

I make the same dish with shell-on shrimp. If you have some leftover red wine or a bottle of whiskey on hand, add a bit of that as well to the sauce as you're making it.

It's one of my favorite Chinese things to cook.