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snowy night in new england
my housemates and i had planned to have a few friends over for a nice little dinner, but unfortunately the weather got in the way and only one guest showed up.
here’s what we made:
as an appetizer we had an époisse cheese with baguettes and champagne.
janice made a vegetarian french onion soup from scratch, so no beef stock since she and the guest are vegetarians. the soup was amazing, you could taste the cognac and the gruyère was melted just right.. i could have melted gruyère anytime, let me tell you. we paired this up with a nice beaujolais nouveau.
the salad was a quick all organic salad that the guest brought over. lettuce, colored peppers, radishes, tomatoes, covered in feta cheese. she made a balsamic vinaigrette with a touch of maple syrup. the dressing was just amazing.. need to remember to get the recipe from her for the summer greens that we grow in the garden!
the main course was a “paella” of sorts. i made an asparagus risotto with leeks, shallots, orange zest, saffron and garlic. i used white wine (chardonnay, i think) and lobster broth and got it nice and creamy. daniel made the other part of the “paella,” a bouillabaisse of sorts. he made it with different types of clams, scallops, shrimp in a leek, garlic, shallot sauce. we then combined the bouillabaisse on top of the risotto and voilà! the wine was a nice, crisp sauvignon blanc.
for dessert we had a nice crème caramel that janice made all day. it was nice, creamy and had a nice subtle vanilla flavor; it was paired up with a sauternes i had bought earlier in the year just to have with this dessert. amazing.
this dinner definitely made up for having to shovel the driveway with all that snow, let me tell you.
Drunken Noodles
It’s no secret that I love exploring the worlds of Asian cooking, especially Thai and Vietnamese. One of my favorite Thai dishes to make is Drunken Noodles. I’ve ordered it many times at different restaurants, and always found that the sauce was too thick, heavy, and gravy like, and this took away from the whole dish in general. After searching through some Thai cooking websites I was inspired to try and make the dish at home, minus the icky thickness of the sauce. I’m a regular reader of The Jungle Prince’s Desert Modernism website (though he generally focuses on Korean cooking, he delves into other countries as well.) He makes gorgeous looking food, but after following a few of his recipes, even the one he has for Drunken Noodles, I find that he likes his food about a zillion times spicier than I can handle, and believe me, I can handle pretty spicy food. Below is HIS recipe, minus a whole lot of the hot peppers, and plus a few hints that I found usefull when making this dish.
Ok, on to the cooking. First thing you should know about me, is I rarely measure ingredients. Actually, I usually only measure when baking, because I consider baking more of a science, and cooking more of an experience. When I say a “few” of something, think 3 or 4, a pinch fits in the crook of the palm of your hand. A dash of a liquid is a two second quick pour. Also know that in a star rating, I consider this particular recipe about a 2.5 star in heat. Meaning, it won’t make steam come out of your ears but your lips will have a nice tingle to them after a few bites. Adjust accordingly to your taste by reducing both the fresh and dried chili. Ok. Here we go. Most of these ingredients will be found at any respectable Asian market. Ask for help if you need it – most proprietors will be very very happy to see you. You will need:
1/2 block of extra firm tofu, pressed dry (till it no longer wets a paper towel) and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
About 3/4 pound of shrimp (or cubed chicken if you don’t like shrimp. Or just stick with tofu. It’s not a hard and fast recipe.
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 small white onion, minced
Rice vinegar
Fish sauce
Oyster sauce
Soy sauce
Palm Sugar
Juice of one small lime
Small bunch of coriander/cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
Small bunch of Thai basil leaves (no, you can not use Italian basil) roughly chopped
Small bunch of chopped green onion/scallions (green part only)
Ground pepper
Dried red chili flake
1 hot pepper (I like using the long hot orange/red ones) minced very very fine
One package of the wide rice stick noodles (1/2 inch across work best)
Step One: Prepare marinade:
In a bowl combine a few tablespoons of palm sugar, lime juice, two pinches of dried chili flake, a pinch of ground pepper, and about 1/4 cup each of fish sauce and rice vinegar.
Stir mixture together, and then add tofu.
Step Two: Start the noodles:
Put noodles (as they are out of the package, in a “block” do not separate) in big pot. Cover with cold water. Set aside for about 10-15 minutes, letting the noodles soak. Now is a good time to enjoy a cocktail and some appetizers. Really. You’ve got about 10 minutes or so. After your drink, and the noodle soak, put noodles on burner, and bring to a boil. Keep an eye on your noodles, tasting frequently. You want them very al dente, and not “done” or mushy. If you do not pay attention to your noodles, I guarantee that the mush will happen. When they are al dente, drain, and immediately rinse with cold water. Let them drain, sitting in the colander.
Step 3: Wok n Roll
Heat a small amount (barely coat the bottom) oil in a wok (I like chili oil, but feel free to use whatever light oil you like, if not chili, I’d probably go with safflower oil)
Start cooking the onion, garlic, and hot pepper. Do NOT let them brown.
Toss in shrimp, cooking until just starting to turn pink (should happen pretty quick)
Add tofu and marinade, as well as a few tablespoons of oyster sauce. Cook for just a minute or two, liquid will start to thicken a bit.
Add noodles, and carefully toss them about in the wok, coating them all. Now toss in your basil leaves and green onion. Remove from heat.
Serve with a generous amount of chopped coriander on top. I also top mine with some extra sliced hot pepper.
Voila. This recipe can be made kosher by removing the oyster sauce (add more fish sauce) and the shrimp. Enjoy!
Heeeerree Fishy Fishy...
As my wife and I continue along on our journey to eating healthier, I’ve been learning to disassociate myself from the healthy = boring/yucky equation. We’ve been trying to have a fish meal at least twice weekly, and have been succeeding at this! Luckily, we live in a fishing community, where great fresh seafood is available year round. For this dinner I steamed some brussels sprouts, which I then sliced and sprinkled with sea salt and pepper. I sautéed some sugar snap peas (frozen, but what can you do. They weren’t bad) in some olive oil with garlic, red pepper flake, and salt/pepper.
The Haddock was broiled. I rubbed a tiny amont of olive oil and then topped with some black pepper, salt, cayenne, paprika, and garlic powder. When broiling fish I find it REALLY helpful if you layer thin slices of lemon on the broiling pan before laying the fish down atop it. This does a great job of keeping the fish from getting stuck to the pan, and infuses the fish with a really nice flavor that I find to be less acidic than just squirting the fish after it’s cooked. Also, Haddock is one of those easy cook fishes – when the meat starts “flaking,” it’s done perfectly.
Some nice plating, an edible tomato garnish and this meal looked and tasted great!
Autumn Harvest Feast
This past weekend, Lex and I took a trip with Carrie and Kathy to Larriland Farms, a pick-your-own farm. It was the last weekend of the season, so we got in under the wire. While there, we picked up fresh apple cider, three jars of fruit jams and preserves, a couple of pie pumpkins, four acorn squash, a whole bunch of spinach picked from one of their fields, some homemade fudge and homemade fruit treats. On the way home, I was inspired by all the beautiful fall foliage to make an autumn-themed meal using all the vegetables I’d just purchased.
Yesterday’s dinner consisted of the following menu:
Sausage-stuffed acorn squash
Wilted garlic spinach
Savory mashed pumpkin
Sweet potato biscuits
Pumpkin bars (for dessert)
Sparkling apple cider (Just added club soda to the fresh cider and served cold)
My personal verdict:
Loved the sausage-stuffed squash. The savory sausage and the sweet squash was a good combo (not unlike applesauce and pork chops). The spinach was also a winner. Anything with that much garlick (12 cloves to 1.5 lbs of spinach befor the wilt) can’t lose! I enjoyed the mashed pumpkin, but Lex said it was “too exotic” for her palate. I might try mixing the pumpkin with potatoes next time and see if that helps her enjoy it more. I like squash, though, so this worked for me. If you like zucchini casserole, then you’ll like this. The biscuits were total losers! Sweet hockey pucks. I probably overhandled the dough, which didn’t help, but they were going to be heavy no matter what I did. Using yams in place of milk is NOT a winning combo when trying to come up with a light and fluffy biscuit. Another mistake I made: dropping them instead of rolling and cutting. This needs to be a THIN biscuit if it’s going to work at all. I ended up tossing these out. The pumpkin bars ended up more like cake primarily because I used too small a pan. My complaint about this recipe is the high level of oil used in it. They seemed a bit greasy to me. Finally, I enjoyed my little apple cider “mocktail.” The club soda cut some of the sugar in the cider, which was intensely sweet, and the drink helped to set off what was-on the whole-not a light meal. This is definitely “comfort food,” though certainly not the usual fare.
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