Chinese Food Thursday - Hoisin Tofu

Recipe:
      
      Based off of Hoisin Tofu and Almonds

I've decided to name Thursdays, Chinese Food Thursdays in an attempt to stave off those cravings for greasy Chinese take out.  I've also been meaning to try to cook more Chinese food now that I have a wok and a great cookbook.  I got the cookbook a few years ago and haven't gotten around to making much out of yet.  Hopefully Chinese Food Thursdays will motivate me to crack it open.

I didn't actually use the cookbook this time though because I had some pre-cubed tofu and bean sprouts left over from the Pad Thai and there are no tofu recipes in it.  I was feeling the need for something healthy after eating out the last few nights and had found the Hoisin Tofu recipe a few days ago.  I thought it looked worth a try.  I've been looking for good tofu recipes that use marinating as a method but have been having more trouble finding them than I thought.  This recipe does have you marinate the tofu for a while in broth which gives it some flavor but not a lot.  The batter though definitely adds good flavor to the tofu.  I'm not very up on the methods of tofu preparation but I'd never heard of battering it and frying it before.

I soaked the tofu for about an hour in the veggie broth and used the batter she recommended.  I didn't whip the egg white at all before adding the cornstarch and hoisin though and I think that was a bad idea.  The cornstarch never really incorporated that well into the egg white.  I changed the sauce proportions to 1/2 of the reserved broth and 3 tablespoons each of hoisin and soy sauce. I didn't bother boiling the sauce and made a separate cornstarch slurry with a tablespoon each of cornstarch and water.

I fried the tofu as per the instructions.  The veggies I used were broccoli, mushrooms, bean sprouts, and red pepper.  I stir fried the broccoli and mushrooms first, added the garlic and cooked that for about 30 seconds.  Then I added cashews instead of almonds and the bean sprouts and red pepper and cooked it all for another minute or two.  Last I added the sauce and the cornstarch slurry.  I served it over short grain white rice, my rice of choice for Chinese and Japanese cuisine.

Our overall impression was that it was pretty good.  The broccoli was a really good addition but the bean sprouts didn't really belong with that particular sauce and next time I'm definitely adding the baby corn.

A Shabbos Feast

Recipes:
          Horseradish-Glazed Brisket
          Sweet Potatoes with Brandy Raisins
          Cauliflower-Leek Kugel

Last Friday I was in the mood to make really do up a Shabbos dinner after I found a beautiful loaf of challah at the grocery store.  I also finally had a brisket after finding one at the farmer's market, anyone know why grocery stores around here don't seem to sell them?  It's a pretty inexpensive cut so it was affordable even at grass fed, organic beef prices.  Many of the traditional Ashkenazi recipes call for tomatoes so I had to do a little research to find one without them.  I picked this recipe because I love horseradish and I was intrigued by the double cooking method of simmering and then roasting. 

The original recipe calls for almost 6 pounds of meat, including short ribs.  I stuck with just the brisket but didn't actually cut down on the amount of herbs in the herb packet.  I'm glad I didn't because I still had to use quite a bit of water to cover the meat and I'm of the opinion that with this cooking method you can't really ever have too many herbs and seasonings.  I simmered it for 3 hours instead of the 3 1/4 to 3 1/2 that the recipe calls call.  That might have still been a little long because the end result seemed a little drier than it should have been.  I also think that next time I'll roast it for slightly less time and a higher temperature because I don't plan on making more than the 2 pound brisket and the crust wasn't quite as brown and crusty as I wanted.  Although that could be because I didn't let it cool down before I brushed the glaze on.

The sweet potatoes were amazing. I substituted pine nuts for the walnuts and I think I liked that better but if you like walnuts I can see how it would add another layer of flavor. I'm not sure I tasted the difference the brandy made with the raisins but it did make them plumper. The maple syrup glaze was amazing. Definitely not for those who don't like sweet potatoes that are super sweet but they were a really good compliment to the meat.

I'd made the cauliflower kugel before but actually followed the recipe more closely this time because I wanted a kosher style meal.  The first time I made it I added about 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese to the cauliflower mixture and more herbs.  We thought it was the most amazing thing to have ever been done with cauliflower.  Then I made it this time without the cheese and it was just so-so.  If I was going to make it without the cheese again I might try adding some lemon zest to perk it up a little.  I also make the topping with panko bread crumbs since it's not Passover.

Fish Tacos and Red Quinoa Salad

After the heavy meals of the last two days it was time for something lighter. I'd been thinking about fish tacos for awhile and finally happened to have cabbage and avocados at the same time so fish tacos it was. This was a first for me, I've only ever eaten fish tacos at restaurants but they're so good I had to try at home. I decided to base mine on this recipe. I chose one that didn't require frying the fish because: 1. it's a lot more work, and 2. I wanted something a little healthier.

I used Tilapia as my fish, substituted paprika for the ancho chile powder, left out the jalapeno and put a squeeze of lime into the marinade. I also cut the fish into smaller pieces so that I could cook the thinner pieces of the Tilapia fillets separately from the thicker ones. I did decide to make the onions because the better fish tacos I've had usually have some sort of slaw as a topping and I thought the onions might give the same effect but for a lot less work. I chose Savoy cabbage and an Avocado cream as the other accompaniments.  I made the avocado cream by mashing one avocado with a pinch of kosher salt and the juice of half a lime and mixing that with 4 oz. of greek yogurt. Most recipes call for sour cream but I liked the tanginess of the greek yogurt and it's healthier.

The marinade for the fish was really good. I think next time I'll use a heartier fish like cod as it might stand up better to the crunch of the cabbage.  The onions were good but a little overpowering, a little bit went a looong way to flavor the taco.  We also had super tiny tacos because I really wanted taco size tortillas and we only had burrito size ones.  So I used a 4" round biscuit cutter to cut out smaller circles and then saved the scraps for dessert.  What's that you say?  I'm a little crazy?  Well, yes, yes I probably am.  But they were super cute!  And I then used the scraps to make dessert.  The meal couldn't be too healthy you see, so I deep fried the scraps and sprinkled them with confectioner's sugar.  Such an easy dessert and yet so amazingly delicious.

To go with the tacos I made a red quinoa and black bean salad. I'd had the red quinoa in my pantry for awhile and hadn't been struck with any inspiration for it. Then I saw this salad featured on the Tasty Kitchen blog and thought it looked yummy.  This was also the first time I'd made red quinoa and was surprised to find it was somewhat crunchy when cooked, certainly more so than the regular quinoa I've made before. Otherwise the salad was pretty good, not amazing, but pretty good.  The dressing was very acidic, I'd definitely use less lime juice next time and probably up the amount of garlic and cumin.  I used Trader Joe's grilled corn because I love the smokiness that they've achieved with it and it added a nice layer to the flavor profile.  I really like making my food cute too, hence the nice molded shape of the salad.  I should probably find something a little more productive to do with my time, but I just can't resist.

I had the salad for lunch today topped with the leftover fish and some of the avocado cream and I have to say it tasted even better than it did last night.

Sloppy Joes

 

It snowed, sleeted and froze rained yesterday. What is the past tense of freezing rain? Do you say rained freezing rain? I kind of like how colloquial and incorrect froze rained sounds, so I'm sticking with that.  Such vile winter weather called for comfort food and dessert.  I decided on sloppy joes and baked apples because I've been craving each for a little while and it gave me a chance to use my new dutch oven and the new corer I just got.  Yay, new kitchen tools!

I hadn't made sloppy joes in a long time because the recipe I've been using since I was in middle school used tomato sauce as the sauce base.  So that one was out of rotation due to Joel's intolerance.  And then, the Pioneer Woman saved me.  Her brilliant recipe uses ketchup as the base for the sauce.   How come I never thought of this?  Oh right, because I still need to use recipes for the majority of my cooking.  I am getting over the need to measure ingredients exactly though.  Baby steps, baby steps.  So now Joel has been introduced to the wonders of the sloppy joe.  He's coming around to my view that it's one of the most wonderful foods known to man.  He never had them as a child because his father thought they were too messy.  I love the combination of sweet and tangy, although this recipe is slightly heavy on the sweet due to the ketchup.

I follow Ree's recipe pretty closely but make a few changes.  First I cut it in half because I'm not feeding the army that she is. Even with a pound of meat there was enough for me to freeze for another meal for the two of us.  I saute the onion, garlic, and pepper before the meat because that's what my original recipe called for and I don't think the veggies cook enough when you add them after browning the meat.  I also add a tablespoon of tomato paste to the veggies for the last minute or so because it gets nice and caramelized that way and gives a little extra kick to the meat.  Of her optional ingredients I use the earlier mentioned tomato paste and 2 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce.

As a side I ended up making braised fingerling coins from Epicurious.  We were supposed to have sweet potato fries but all my sweet potatoes had gone bad on me.  I, again, cut the recipe down.  And based on many of the comments used chicken stock instead of water and cut down on the butter.  I think I'd cut even more down on the butter next time because they were really rich.  Really good, but really rich.  And we needed a veggie so frozen corn it was.  Frozen corn is elevated to a whole new level with just the addition of a small pat of butter and salt and pepper before it's microwaved and it's easy so I defend its humble position on my plates.

I'd been craving baked apples for like a month now and was just waiting to get a corer to make them because I never have much luck using a paring knife for hollowing out apples.  I finally got the corer and had some golden delicious apples that aren't good for much besides baking anymore so voila, baked apples.  I mixed 2 tablespoons brown sugar with some chopped almonds, craisins, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and a pinch of ground nutmeg. That got stuffed into each apple and then topped with a pat of butter and baked at 350 F for 45 minutes.  Once out of the oven they each got a hat of vanilla ice cream and were devoured very quickly.  Well at least after Joel had asked for an explanation on how to eat it since he'd never had one before.  Seriously, never had a baked apple!  I'm very happy he's so willing to try new things because who could not like a baked apple?  These could have been a little better though, I don't think golden delicious make for the best flavor.  Still hit the spot though.

Pad Thai (Take 2)

When we were browsing through the Asian Supermarket the other day I decided it was time to pick up the supplies for another round of Pad Thai.  Side note about the Asian Supermarket, the fresh sections (fish and produce) are amazing and cheap but I'm sad it's put the other Asian markets on Central Avenue out of business.  The Supermarket covers so many different countries, including India, it's lost a lot of the specialization that Kim's and Lee's had.  They don't have Okonomiyaki mix for example.  Change is sad in this instance :(. 

Moving on to dinner though, I thought sufficient enough time had passed (over a year) from my last attempt that it was time to try again.  You see, the last time I tried to make this dish I didn't really do any research into what the ingredients I wanted really were.  I thought fish sauce, tamarind and palm sugar would be easy enough.  Not so much though,  I ended up with the right tamarind but the fish sauce I got was a gray, gelatinous substance.  I'm still not really sure what type it was.  And it was so strong that by the time dinner was ready I was so nauseous from the aroma, having never cooked with any fish sauce before, that I couldn't eat any of it.  That and the noodles didn't really get cooked enough in my portion and they were overcooked in Joel's.

So, onto tonight.  I armed myself with the instructions from Chez Pim again, which I found by Googling pad thai instructions (not recipe).  I used her guide the first time as well and it's long but worth reading and I trust the commenters, I was just a dope.  The Golden Boy fish sauce that I purchased for this go around was indeed much less pungent, at least it was after I finally opened it after Googling the instructions on how to get into the darn thing.  Once you get the plastic overwrap off and flip open the yellow top you are confronted by a seemingly impenetrable white plastic nipple.  Really there's no other way to describe it.  And I wasn't the only one who had this problem because there are at least 4 threads about it on Chowhound alone.  Once of the posters named it Superwoman's Nipple and we had to agree.  So I attacked the nipple with my trusty kitchen shears (and man, you couldn't just cut that thing off, I had to jab the scissors in and dig it out) while Joel patiently scraped the palm sugar out of the container.  I had thought that getting the jar of palm sugar would be easier to deal with than the hard pats you can get in a bag.  I was incorrect, but at least I had reinforcements. 

Chez Pim calls for starting the sauce with 1/2 each of fish sauce, tamarind and palm sugar and then tasting and adding to get your desired result.  I cut the amount in half for just the two of us, unfortunately, I'm not familiar enough with how the sauce should taste before it gets added to all of the ingredients.  The final result was a bit too heavy on the tamarind, the milder fish sauce was really a lot milder.  Also, I was using my new wok which I apparently didn't season well enough because the sauce burned onto the middle making cooking the second batch a little difficult.  The shrimp were super tasty and I added tofu which even Joel agreed actually tasted good.  The noodles though, those darn noodles, they stuck together.  Maybe the third time will be the charm?  I was able to eat it this time so things are definitely looking up.

About Me

My name is Becky, I'm not quite 30, and I love to cook. My mom had me and my sister helping in the kitchen as soon as we could stand on a chair and hold a spoon. When I was 13 I decided I didn't want the spaghetti my dad was planning to make for a family dinner of 15 people.  I volunteered to make lasagna, from scratch, and I did.  It was delicious. My parents raised me with the philosophy that you have to try every food once and then if you don't like it you don't have to eat it. But you have to try it.   This philosophy has become deeply ingrained in all aspects of my life but it still holds the most weight when it comes to food. 

I am an equal opportunity eater. I'm trying to incorporate more vegetarian meals into our diet but I'm not giving up my meat, cream or butter anytime soon. I soothe myself with the mantra that everything is good in moderation.  I'm one of those rare breeds that likes baking just as much as cooking and I have a teeny obsession with cake decorating tools. I like experimenting with cuisine from all different cultures and regions. You probably won't see me cooking with pork (religious reasons), cottage cheese (texture reasons, although I will put it in baked dishes occasionally), tomatoes (husband's allergic), or scallops (I just don't like them). I love grocery shopping, especially ethnic markets and I think farmer's markets are a little bit of heaven. First thing I want to do in a foreign country? Go to a market.  I try not to buy too many things for myself but that $64 per ounce truffle? Yes, please.

I've been married 2 and 1/2 years to my wonderful husband, Joel, whom I've known since 2^ndgrade. He works from home and I'm an unemployed librarian so we spend 90% more time with each other than most other married couples would find bearable. We love it. I also love old maps, trees and our two cats, Nori and Miso.  My other hobbies include cross-stitching, hiking, cross country skiing, reading, and sleeping. Oh do I love a good nap.