Food

I was looking to make a quick meal out of what I had in the house, so some noodles with a vegetable stir-fry seemed like just the trick. I had both some shrimp and some chicken shumai in the freezer, and I thought it would be tasty to throw the shumai in. Rather than try to make sure they were thoroughly defrosted in the stir-fry, I just microwaved them first. So anyway, that worked out pretty nicely.

Ingredients
1 onion, diced
2 serrano peppers, sliced
5-6 shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
a bit of broccoli, like separated into broccoli shapes etc
12-15 chicken (or whatever) shumai
2 thingies of somen noodles
olive oil, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil

Directions
Heat some water in a saucepan for the noodles. Heat some olive oil in a skillet in high. I was using frozen shumai, so I popped them in the microwave for 2:30 or so. Once the oil's hot, throw in the onion and serranos and stir fry for a couple of minutes. Add a bit of soy sauce and the shiitakes. Add vinegar or soy as needed to keep things from totally drying out. After a few minutes, add the broccoli and shumai. Meanwhile, drop the noodles in the saucepan when the water boils and boil for 2-3 minutes. Drain them, rinse with cold water, and toss in a couple of bowls with a little sesame oil.

Verdict
putting the shumai in the stir-fry was frankly briliant. that was good, and they went nicely with the shiitake and other ingredients. the problem was the serranos. two were enough to pervade the whole thing with a little too much heat. one would probably have been about right, or less strong peppers. other than that, it was nice for a quick weeknight dinner.

Posted by Mike Perkowitz at 10:50 PM | Permalink

I keep experimenting with fried chicken wings, so here's more. E suggested brining, which turned out to be a really good idea. I also tried chicken breasts as well as the usual wing drumettes.

Ingredients
Brine
4 c warm water
1/2 c kosher salt
1 c sugar
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 serrano peppers, chopped
a dash of soy sauce

2 lb chicken wing drumettes
OR 2 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, trimmed and chopped into chunks (4-5 per breast)

Coating
1/2 c corn starch
1/2 c white whole wheat flour
turmeric, white pepper, ground black pepper, kosher salt to taste

Directions
make the brine. mix the salt and sugar with the water until it dissolves. add the soy sauce, garlic, peppers and chicken, and let marinate overnight in the refrigerator. ... Take the chicken out and remove it from the brine. Let sit until it comes to room temperature, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the coating by mixing everything together. Heat some oil in a pot (I heat it to 6/10 on my stove, whatever that means). Pat the chicken dry and toss in the coating until each piece is coated. When the oil is heated, fry half of the chicken at a time -- 8 minutes for breast pieces, 12 for wingettes. Remove and let drain on a paper towel.

Verdict
a little too salty, and not much garlic and pepper flavor. so next time, less salt in the brine and more garlic and peppers. otherwise, frickin awesome.

Posted by Mike Perkowitz at 07:35 PM | Permalink

I've been hunting for recipes for banh mi, specifically how to prepare the meat. I looked at a bunch of recipes and most of them were pretty useless. However, this one for garlic brined pork banh mi sounded good, so I tried the meat part. though I didn't have any serranos, so I just used some jalapenos, and I only tried 1 pound of pork shoulder.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon each of whole white and black peppercorns
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons kosher salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 serrano chiles, crushed
2 tablespoons minced garlic
3 jalapenos, thinly sliced
2 cups warm water
One 3-pound boneless pork shoulder
About 6 cups cold water
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 1/2 cups coarsely shredded carrots (about 6 carrots)
6 ciabatta rolls or 2 long baguettes, split lengthwise, roll centers slightly hollowed out
Mayonnaise
1/2 pound fine-textured pork pate, thinly sliced (optional)
1 European seedless cucumber‚ halved crosswise and thinly sliced lengthwise
1 cup cilantro leaves
2 tablespoons soy sauce
Hot sauce, for serving

Directions
In a small skillet, toast the white and black peppercorns over moderately high heat until fragrant, about 1 minute. Transfer them to a work surface and using the side of a heavy knife, coarsely crack the peppercorns; transfer to a large, deep bowl. Add the 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons kosher salt and the brown sugar, then add the serrano chiles, garlic and one-third of the jalapenos. Stir in the warm water until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Add the pork and enough cold water to submerge the roast. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Preheat the oven to 400. Drain the pork and pat dry, then transfer to a roasting pan. Let the pork return to room temperature. Roast the pork for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, turning once; the pork is done when an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part registers 165. Let rest for 30 minutes before slicing thinly.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the white vinegar, granulated sugar and table salt and stir until dissolved. Add the carrots and let stand until softened, about 30 minutes. Drain well.
Spread the cut sides of the rolls with mayonnaise and layer the sliced pate on the bottom halves. Top with roasted pork, cucumber, cilantro leaves, pickled carrots and the remaining sliced jalapenos. Sprinkle lightly with the soy sauce and close the sandwiches. Cut the ciabatta rolls in half or the baguettes in thirds and serve with hot sauce.

Posted by Mike Perkowitz at 04:34 PM | Permalink

I wanted to make a sauteed salsa, as opposed to the fresh "tomato-garlic-cilantro in food processor" thing I usually do, and I decided to use a little bacon to get a nice smoky flavor. This would probably be great with the usual cilantro, but I have too many friends who can't eat the stuff; the lemon balm has an interesting flavor, especially combined with some mint. Plus, I have both in my yard.

Ingredients
2 tomatoes
3 cloves garlic
big handful of fresh mint and lemon balm
2 strips bacon
olive oil, fresh-ground black pepper, kosher salt, red pepper flakes

Directions
fry the bacon on medium-high in a medium saucepan. dry the bacon on a paper towel, but leave the grease in the pan. mince the garlic, greens, and bacon (eg, in a food processor). dice the tomatoes or pulse them in the food processor. mix everything together, adding pepper, salt, and red pepper to taste. reheat the bacon grease to medium, adding olive oil if needed. add all the ingredients and saute for 20-30 min on medium-low, stirring occasionally.

Verdict
really good! the bacon gives it some nice depth and flavor, and while you can't really identify the mint or lemon balm, the overall combination of flavors works pretty well.

Posted by Mike Perkowitz at 04:34 PM | Permalink

This is my standard simple brownie recipe. You can find it on the box of at least two different brands of baking chocolate. They're simple but good, at least if you do it right. Don't forget my two brownie secrets: (1) underbake them; and (2) use a pizza cutter to slice them.

Ingredients
4 oz unsweetened baking chocolate
3/4 c (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 c sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 c flour
1 c chopped pecans

Directions
preheat oven to 350. microwave the butter and chocolate in a large glass bowl for two minutes. stir until the chocolate is all melted. mix in the sugar. add the eggs and vanilla. mix in the flour gradually. fold in the nutz. butter and flour a 13x9 pan and pour in the batter. bake for about 30 min; take them out when a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs. if they're a bit fudgy and underdone, that's perfect.

Variations
This is the basic recipe I always experiment with. Use different nuts, or no nuts, or more nuts, or chocolate chips. Add a teaspoon or so of coarse-crystal salt instead of the nuts. Add about a tsp of cayenne pepper, some cinnamon, and ginger powder. etc. I've also been using white whole wheat flour in place of white flour for everything lately and it's great. And you can generally reduce the sugar by 1/2 c or so for a slightly darker, less sweet brownie.

Verdict
Simple and awesome.

Posted by Mike Perkowitz at 09:36 PM | Permalink

I got a good recipe for tom kha gai from Cook's Illustrated, but the problem is that it contains a lot of coconut milk, which is like the bacon of asian cuisine -- delicious but deadly. So I decided to try the same basic approach without the coconut milk, and I combined it with a stir fry for an odd but tasty dish.

Soup Ingredients
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 serrano pepper, sliced
1 tbsp cilantro, chopped
1 tbsp lemon balm, chopped
2 c low sodium chicken stock
1/4 cup lime juice
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp skim mik
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 lb crimini mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 tbsp green tea
1 tsp green curry paste
olive oil

Soup DIrections
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan on medium high. add the garlic, serrano, cilantro, and lemon balm and saute for a couple of minutes. add the chicken stock, soy, fish sauce, milk, and lime juice. bring to a simmer on high, then cover and simmer on low for 10-15 minutes. strain out the solids, rinse the sucepan, and then put back on medium heat. add the sugar and stir. bring it back to a simmer on high and add the mushrooms, let it simmer on medium for about five minutes. mix the curry paste with the green tea, take the soup off the heat, add the tea/paste, and serve.

Stir-fry Ingredients
1 lb boneless chicken breast, medium-sliced
1 small head of broccoli
a smidge of olive oil
fresh-ground black pepper

Stir-fry Directions
Meanwhile, heat the oil to medium-high in a skillet. add the chicken, sprinkle with some pepper, and fry for a few minutes, stirring constantly. add the broccoli and a little more pepper. and stir fry a few minutes until the chicken's done. serve the stir-fry in a bowl, with the soup poured over it.

Verdict
A little too much fish sauce in the soup. The flavor was good but the color was an uninspiring brown, and a little oily (not very). It tasted pretty good though. The stir fry was bland, which is fine since it's meant to have with the soup. It doesn't win any awards for aesthetics but it tasted pretty good.

Posted by Mike Perkowitz at 08:33 PM | Permalink