California Rolls

California rolls are the "sushi" that I usually start sushi virgins off with. There are no strange ingredients and the roll gets a novice used to the flavors of nori and vinegared rice. I will sometimes even wrap it inside out so that the rice, and not the seaweed, is visible on the outside. I really think this is unnecessary and actually prefer the regular maki instead of the uramaki. After I get sushi virgins to enjoy California rolls, I will venture out and maybe do a tempura roll, rainbow roll, or caterpillar roll. The tempura is a baby step since it just introduces fried shrimp into the mix and is drizzled with a yummy tempura sauce. The rainbow is a bigger step because it introduces different types of sashimi and the novice can now decide on the fish they like. The caterpillar roll is an even bigger step since it introduces eel into the mix. The eel is actually very good and people usually like the taste until they find out that unagi is eel.

As for the ingredients for California roll, these are the typical things I use: nori, sushi rice, cucumber, avocado, imitation crab, mayo, black sesame seeds, rice vinegar, sugar, and salt. Tobiko creeps as few people out.



Rice: I keep about 8 different kinds of rice in my pantry (jasmine, brown jasmine, sticky, brown, basmati, brown basmati, sushi or short grain, and black). I buy 5 pounds bags of each except for the jasmine and the sticky rices. Those I purchase in 25 pound bags (my mom does 50 pound bags and at any given time she has an excess of 10 bags in her garage). I store my rice in large food grade buckets or smaller plastic containers. For the sushi I am using a short grain rice. The brand I always turn to is Kokuho Rose. Most American grocery stores carry a brand called Shirakiku. I'm not too thrilled about their products. I keep the Kokuho Rose for when I make sushi or a Japanese or Korean dish.

Imitation crab: I like to buy the imitation crab from Korean of Japanese stores. The crab sticks are long, skinny, and come individually wrapped. The Crab Classic stuff will work in a pinch.

Perfect length for the nori.

Mayo: The ideal mayo to use is the Kewpie brand mayonnaise. It makes an awesome Honey Walnut Prawn dish. I didn't have Kewpie so I used the canola mayo from Whole Foods. This mayo is a requirement for their cranberry tuna salad.

Cucumbers: I don't really have a preference just not the regular slicers cucumbers often found in grocery stores. I like to use pickling, persian or english cucumbers.

Nori: I usually buy the 10 pack since I can never use the 50 pack quickly enough. I don't think they keep very well after they are open. They start to oxidize and turn a purplish color. The funny thing about nori is that I never really associated it with this other algae that I grew up eating. They too were dried in sheets. It wasn't until I was at my aunt's house that I made the connection. I was eating this algae dish she made and she said she used Japanese nori but flavored it so that it would taste like the stuff my grandmother made. This is the same aunt that bought bags of italian meatballs from Costco and boiled them with her pho broth. I swore they were regular beef balls.

1 1/2 cups sushi rice, rinsed and cooked
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt
5 strips cucumber
5 pieces imitation crab meat
1 avocado, cut into strips
black sesame seeds
mayo, as needed

1. Cook the sushi rice in rice cooker. Let the rice sit at "keep warm" setting for at least 15 minutes.
2. Pour rice into a flatter bowl. Add vinegar, sugar, and salt. Using a flat wooden spoon stir the rice while fanning to cool the rice. The rice should be nice and glossy.

3. Place nori on sushi mat. Gently and evenly spread rice on nori sheet. Be gently. The biggest mistake I see people make when I try to teach this is pressing too hard on the rice and squishing the rice grains. You want whole separate grains; not mochi.

4. Sprinkle with black sesame seeds. I often forget this step.

5. On the edge closest to you, place imitation crab, cucumber and avocado. Spread some mayo on the imitation crab. If you have the Kewpie mayo, you can just sqeeze it on. If using flake imitation crab, you will have to tear into smaller pieces and mix with mayo.

6. Starting from the edge closest to you, roll tightly. You want to roll, adjust on the mat, continue to roll, all the while using the mat to help you roll tightly.

7. Slice into about 1/2 inch pieces. Serve with soy sauce, wasabi, and pickled ginger. I am a pursist when it comes to many foods. I don't dip in soy sauce or wasabi. I don't even dip my dim sum in soy sauce or chili sauce. I don't like to drown my food with salty soy sauce. A lot of my friends will pour soy sauce all over their rice before they start eating. I think it interferes with the flavors of the rest of the dishes you are eating. I also never cook my rice with chicken broth when I am preparing rice for an asian meal.

What we like to call the "reject pieces" (end pieces). These pieces are often gobbled up immediately and never make it on to the serving platter.

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Lotus Root Soup with Chicken

This soup is usually made with pork bones or pork ribs but since I still have an aversion to red meat and pork, I decided to make it with chicken drumsticks. I was a semi-vegetarian for many years and just recently started to eat red meat again. Maple bacon was my downfall. I'm still trying to slowly ease into the meat thing. I still cannot eat a steak or other types of red meat when it is presented as a hunk of meat.

When I was in culinary school, my friend Brooke grabbed a piece of chateaubriand and stuff it in my mouth. She said, "try some, it melts in your like butter." I was shocked. I managed to go through all those months of culinary school and not have to taste one thing that was made with red meat. I was really good at cooking and seasoning red meat dishes. I cooked for my dad all the time and I never tasted any of it. My entire family was amazed by this little skill of mine. I was asigned the beef bourgione recipe as one of my final exam items for my stocks and sauces class. I totally aced the test.

3 lotus root segments
handful of dried red dates (approximately 15-20)
4 chicken drumsticks
sea salt, to taste
fish sauce, to taste
water

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil.
2. Wash lotus root thoroughly. Peel the outside of the lotus root with a vegetable peeler and slice into approximately 1/4 inch segments. Discard the dry ends.
3. Add chicken, lotus root, and dates to the pot. Bring to a boil and then lower temp to a simmer. Season with salt, black pepper, and fish sauce. Simmer soup for 2-4 hours.

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Mangosteen

Last week I put together a game for work. It was an exotic fruit/vegetable identification game. Every said it was too tough. I had to admit that I did not know all of them but I knew most of them. What is the difference between durian and jackfruit? They look similar but taste very different.

I included mangosteen as one of identification items. I had mangosteen for the very first time last May when my little sister graduation from UC Berkeley. We visited the Oakland chinatown and I came across a strange looking fruit that I have only seen pictures of. Everyone exclaimed that it was the best tasting fruit on earth. My dad, my mom, my aunt, my uncle, and even my little sister have all had this fruit. My little sister said that when she was studying abroad, she ate mangosteen every single day (she was in Thailand for almost a year). She sat on the stoop with all the other international students and ate mangosteen after mangosteen.

I refused to be the last person on earth to try this heavenly fruit. I grabbed a large bag. It was $7 per pound. Not bad. I read that some stores we selling them for as much as $45 per pound. When we got to my sister's apartment, we laid our findings on the table.

My aunt bought huge bags of cherries and longan. My mom came back with a case of mango. My sister bought a few pounds of rice. She says rice is too heavy to carry on the bus and since we had a car, she bought a few pounds to get her through the rest of the month (she was moving).

I tried a piece. I didn't like it. It wasn't bad but it wasn't that great. The flesh was all squishy. I left the rest for my aunt and sister. They love the stuff. I stuck with the longans. I've decided that I do not care too much for some of these exotic fruits. I went home one day and found dragon fruit in my mom's refrigerator. My mom said that they are growing it up on the hill (their backyard). I cut one open. Yuck! It tastes like cactus!

Time to stop writing. I am thoroughly frustrated with this magnetic power cord thing. At first it was one of the selling points. I killed my very first Vaio laptop when I placed my laptop on the bed and got out of bed to retrieve something. The thing came crashing down and at that time the thing did not have a built in wireless card. The wireless card was sticking out of one of the slots. It landed on the protruding wireless card. I managed to destroy the motherboard. The last laptop died after 18 months. During the 18 months I had repeated AC jack repairs. The darn thing would just stop charging. The repair shop said the jack probably became disconnected with the motherboard when I tripped on the cord. I never trip on cords. So the newest addition works fine except for when I need any PC-based software.

My daddy, the little sister, and me at the hotel lobby. My dad is really happy. I know it is hard to tell. My dad is actually really happy. The little sis was the last one to graduate. He sent all three kids to college. Not a small feat for an immigrant who left everything behind and fled from a small town in southern China to Laos, then Thailand, and finally to the US. My dad always wanted to go to school but he never had the opportunity. It is the one thing he regrets. He vowed to educate all his kids. My dad is pretty cool. So is my mom and my grandparents.

Monica, the little sister. This was at one of her many commencement ceremonies. This was the larger Political Science one. Ain't she pretty? Not only is she pretty but she has a very kind heart. Her friend (on the right) didn't have a lei so she gave him one of hers. I guess the lei at graduations is a California thing. No one else seem to know anything about it. A co-worker said that when her daughter graduated from USC, the kids all had leis. It is a little interesting to watch as all the out of state parents come to these commencement ceremonies. They all start to notice the numerous leis and then they flock to the lei vendors at the entrance to purchase leis for their graduating children. They then run to find their children to give them their leis.

A nice toothy grin.

I wasn't at this commencement. I think this was her favorite. It was the Southeast Asian one. We split up the ceremonies. I took my parents and my aunt and uncle. The little sister's bf was also there. We did the Poli Sci honors reception and the Poli Sci commencement. My brother, his fiance, my grandparents, the little sister's bf, and the little sister's bf's parents went to the Social Welfare and the Southeast Asian commencements.

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Gai Lan (Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce)

Growing up we did not have many family meals. When we were younger and when my grandparents lived with us family meals were more frequent but as my parents discovered the conveniences of Costco and take-out, family meals were few and far between. When we did manage to eat a family meal together, the meal usually consisted of some sort of meat or seafood, a stir-fry, a soup, and some sort of green vegetable cooked with a little oyster sauce.

My dad's eyes literally light up when he sees a plate full of perfectly cooked baby bok choy, pea pod leaves or gai lan. I never understood why we had to order it when we were at a restaurant. $10 for a plate of greens? I usually ignored the humble greens at the table. It wasn't until I moved away from home and to a place where asian vegetables were virtually non-existent that I began to appreciate the ordinary mustard green and gai lan.

For the gai lan I am using a different method than the one I was taught. At home both my parents and my grandparents had outside kitchens equipped with high heat propane burners. The burners were concave so that the rounded wok bottoms would fit perfectly. My mom owns ten regular woks and two insanely large woks. You can deep fry an entire case of McDonald's chicken nuggets in one wok.

In order to do a lot of asian cooking, high heat is a must or the vegetables will be limp and mushy. A few weeks ago, after returning from my road trip, I discovered that my mom had packed a few bundles of baby bok choy for me. I cooked it in my Joyce Chen wok on my western burner. Although the bok choy tasted good, they were not as crisp and crunchy as I remembered.

Every time I go to the asian grocery store I check to see the quality of the vegetables. I've been craving gai lan lately. They have been so sweet this season. Imagine my excitement when I was at H-mart and came across these beauties:


Gai Lan:

1 bunch of fresh gai lan
2 tablespoons oil (mild flavor such as canola or peanut)
2 tablespoons sea salt
1 tablespoon msg
2 tablespoons oyster sauce

1. Bring a large stockpot of water to a boil. Add salt, msg, and oil to the water.
2. Wash the gai lan in cold water. My dad always had us soak the vegetables in a tub of water for at least ten minutes. Because most of the vegetables sold at the asian grocery store were organically grown in someone's backyard, the leafy vegetables always seem to come with a house guest. By soaking, the caterpillars, snails, and other garden pests were forced off the leafy greens.
3. Trim the ends.
4. When the water comes to a boil, place the gai lan in the boiling water. Make sure the tips are at the top. The gai lan should be standing up. Cover the pot and boil for a few minutes until tender. Immediately shock the gai lan in ice water. Drain well.
5. Snip each stalk in half with kitchen shears and arrange on serving platter. Drizzle with oyster sauce.

I find that by cooking the gai lan in boiling water instead of in a westernized wok on a westernized burner, they stay crisp and crunchy.


Below is Mae Krua brand oyster sauce. My pantry is always stocked with Mae Krua and Lee Kum Kee brands of oyster sauce. My mom kept several bottles of these two brands in her very large pantry. I poured the oyster sauce into a prep bowl and used a spoon to drizzle. This way you can control the drizzle.

I snipped the gai lan in half just like how they do it at dim sum. Some people like it with garlic and ginger. I prefer gai lan pretty plain. I use garlic and ginger when I make baby bok choy.

Dinner tonight was done in less than half an hour. Grilled tofu marinated in Mr. Yoshida sauce, gai lan, and jasmine rice. Dessert is another bowl of almond float.

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Goodies from the Asian store and bakery

I went to Little Saigon Market to find my packets of almond float mix. The Korean market and Pacific Ocean Market did not carry it and my regular asian grocery store (I do not know the name) moved further away from me. I haven't visited Little Saigon Market since my regular store opened. Little Saigon Market is tiny and a bit disorganized. My regular place is larger and the closest thing to the 99 Ranch Markets that I am used to in Southern California.

Little Saigon Market did have my almond float mix. I bought 6 packets. As I was checking out, I spotted fresh silken tofu in gingered syrup (dao fu fah) and I also spotted a banana leaf-wrapped something. I wasn't sure what was in it and the checkout lady did not appear too happy. I added one to my order.

Dao fu fah

The mystery banana leaf wrapped packet. I think it is called banh tet but I can be wrong.

The mystery is solved. It looks like rice flour with a filling of minced pork/chicken with woodear mushrooms. I didn't like the consistency of the rice flour part. My grandmother makes something similar but dough portion comes out so much better. She also uses little slices of bamboo and everything is wrapped in aluminum foil. I actually don't like the banana leaf flavor for something like this. I guess it is whatever you grow up eating. She also makes a vegetarian version for my sister.I then went over to Celestial Bakery in the same center. I'm not sure why they call it a bakery. It appears to be a place for all Chinese treats. They make a lot of goodies and I think they are the best in Denver but if they were in SoCal, they would not make it. Their Chinese sponge cake (my fav) is just okay. I ordered it for Uncle Dopey's birthday because he wanted a Chinese cake and I was on a mission to find it. It did not compare to Chinese cake my sister brought from the bay area. She carried a full sheet cake on the plane! I am not into carrying hard to find food items on the airplane but many of my family and friends do not feel the same way. My brother was asked to bring a full sheet Chinese cake from San Diego to Phoenix. He asked me to go pick up the cake since I was in town. During the 5 hour drive from San Diego to Phoenix, the cake sat in the back seat. I initially had it in the trunk. My brother stopped somewhere along the way and moved the cake to the back seat because it was June and the temperature in Arizona gets to 120 degrees. The cake had to be in the air-conditioned car.

Back to Celestial Bakery. I ended up buying sticky rice and meat wrapped in lotus leaf (lo mai gai) and a couple chicken buns. The lo mai gai was just okay. They didn't use an char sui or mushrooms.

Lo ma gai

Inside of the lo mai gai.

Chicken buns

Yesterday we ventured out to H-Mart (the Korean grocery store). The store is huge (for Denver). I bought lotus root, bitter melon, taro root, cassava root, nori, mega-size Pocky, cans of longan and jackfruit, black rice, mung beans, and kimchi! First I grabbed a container of the regular kimchi. It was only $1.50. Then as I was browsing the store there was a nice little lady selling "fresh" kimchi from huge cardboard boxes lined with plastic. The cucumber kimchi looked so yummy. I asked for a pound. I got a little more than in the container. I put some into a little container and then ate the rest. Kimchi actually makes my mouth water.

The cucumber kimchi had a little too much filler. I think the filler is daikon. I didn't care too much for the filler part. The cukes are amazing!

Regular kimchi

Both containers of kimchi.

If I ate more real asian food, I would be so healthy and thin. How many calories is in kimchi? It is considered one of the top superfoods. Tofu for dessert? I think the sugar is about the only thing that is unhealthy in the dessert. Even the sugar is better than the corn syrup that is used in most American sweets.

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Recession Pinto Beans with Ham and Green Chiles

The President passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 on February 17th. The act is intended to stimulate the economy and help the country get out of this recession. The section of the act that I have been paying a lot of attention to is the COBRA subsidy for those who lose their jobs between September 1, 2008 through the end of this year. The subsidy will pay for 65% of COBRA premiums for up to 9 months. Many people have been coming to me with questions because they have family and/or friends who have lost their jobs recently. Many employers are not paying enough attention to this therefore they are not notifying their former employees of this subsidy.

I know that times are tough for many out there. People who have never found a need to visit food pantries are now standing in line hoping for enough assistance to get them through the month. It still astonishes me that we still cannot pay our teachers enough money to live on. These are the people that we expect to teach our kids. (This is a topic for a whole different blog.)

If you have ever visited a food pantry, you are probably familiar with the type of "rations" you receive. I worked at a non-profit with a food pantry while I was in college. I sometimes peered down into the little room to see the items on the pantry shelves. The shelves were stocked with (and sometimes not so stocked) canned vegetables, dried pasta, peanut butter, rice, beans, and other non-perishables. Peanut butter was a favorite of those we assisted. Now I always grab a few extra jars of peanut butter whenever they are on sale at the grocery store. I always donate peanut butter when we have food drives. I once asked my little sister, "what do poor people like to eat?" when I was shopping for a food drive. My sister had to remind me that the people who go to food pantries are people and they like to eat what I like to eat. Not so true. I ended up clearing my own pantry (because I always have a well-stocked pantry) and ended up donating boxes of Kashi and Uncle Sam's cereals, containers of almond milk, and jars of pimentos and artichoke hearts.

I have learned by observing the types of food items that my co-workers donated. Ramen is a no-no. Ramen is cheap and is not nutritious. Protein, canned items with pull-top lids, cream of mushroom soup, peanut butter, and other easily prepared items are good. I try not to donate items that require too much prep or spices. Spices are expensive and more often than not, if you are strapped for cash, you will opt to purchase your gallon of milk before you purchase the $4 bottle of spice.

Dried beans are a huge staple at food pantries. They are a frugal way to add nutrition. I have to admit that I don't eat enough beans even though I really do like the way they taste. Beans are one of those items that I never felt like devoting a lot of time and attention to. Canned beans are convenient but I cannot stand they way they taste. Canned garbanzos are the worst. Cooking dried beans just takes so much time and they never seem to be worth the effort.

I buy items from a local non-profit called the Women's Bean Project but I never buy their signature bean soup mixes. I hate the cooking time and the soups turn out pretty ordinary. The payoff is not worth the time invested. I love their cornbread mix. It is the best.

The other day I went to visit my aunt. My uncle made a huge pot of pinto beans. It was so yummy. The beans were creamy and flavorful. I asked him how he cooked it. He said he used bone-in ham and roasted his own green chiles. He used poblanos, anaheims, and jalepenos. The bf ate two big bowls and my uncle sent him home with a huge container.

I was inspired to make some beans. We went to Sunflower Market and the pinto beans were $2 per pound. $2 per pound was a little expensive for pinto beans. We went to Costco and they had 10 and 25 or 50 pound bags. We got the 10 pound bad for a few bucks. Now that is what I call recession food. My uncle said you can usually get bone in ham for about a buck a pound.

Note: Here in Colorado, we get roasted Hatch green chiles during the chile season and many stores sells frozen green chile during the off season. Before I discovered it frozen, I used to buy extra during the chile season and freeze them in little freezer bags. During chile season you can purchase them by the bushel and the vendor will roast them for you. Even Whole Foods sets up a chile roaster outside their stores. To substitute, use fresh poblanos, jalapenos, serranos, anaheims, or other green chile and roast them in the oven or on the grill. Stick the roasted chiles into a plastic bag. After the chiles cool, peel and de-seed them. I like to wash them under running water because I like to get rid of all the seeds. I like the taste of chiles but I cannot stand the heat.

Bag of frozen chiles from the last time I made green chile stew. The mix has New Mexico Hatch green chiles, poblanos, and jalapenos. I didn't want my hand in the picture but the frozen chile would not stay in position for photographing. My hand is too white. It has been about a week since I went tanning.


3 lbs (6 cups) dried pinto beans
1/2 pound bacon or 2 tablespoons bacon drippings (I keep a container filled with bacon drippings. At any given time, I have a few pounds of bacon in the fridge.)
1 pound bone-in ham, a few ham bones, or ham hocks. (I used about a pound of bone-in ham steak.)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, diced
1 cup roasted green chiles
1 tablespoon ancho chile powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon Mexican cut oregano (Mexican oregano is very different from Mediterranean oregano. They come from two different plants.)
sea salt
black pepper

Soaking:
There are two camps when it comes to soaking beans. One that believes in soaking and one that does not. I don't like to sit around and watch over a heated pot on the stove. I can't just let it simmer and leave. I fear that something will catch on fire when I am not paying attention. I like to soak and preferably to heat it first, cover, and walk away while it soaks/cooks.

There are many variations for soaking beans.
Overnight soak - Cover the beans with cold water and soak for 8 hours or overnight.
Fast soak - Place beans in large cooking pot. Add 10 cups of water for every 2 cups of beans. Boil for 3 to 4 minutes. Cover and remove from heat. Soak for 1 hour and then cook.
and my preferred method:
Slow soak - Place beans in large cooking pot. Add 10 cups of water for every 2 cups of beans. Boil for 3 to 4 minutes. Cover and remove from heat. Soak for 4 to 8 hours.

1. Use whatever soaking or non-soaking method that you prefer for the beans. At the very least you have to sort and rinse the beans. Set beans aside.
2. Dice the bacon if using. In a large heavy-bottom stock pot, render the bacon until crispy or just heat up some bacon drippings.

This is just over half a pound of thick cut bacon from the butcher. I only had my favorite maple bacon in the fridge and I didn't want the maple flavor in the beans. In the background is a box of Barbara's Bakery Puffins. They taste just like the bf's favorite Oatmeal Squares but they are better for you. They are made with real cane sugar instead of corn syrup. I've been eating a lot of cereal the last week.
3. Add diced ham, ham bone, onions, and garlic. Saute a few minutes until onions are transluscent.
4. Add the beans and enough water to cover. Cover, bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.

Half hour into simmering. The tomatoes are breaking down, the broth is still very liquid and covered with tomato-colored bacon fat.
5. Add green chiles, oregano, cumin, and ancho chile powder. Continue to simmer until beans are tender and creamy. It took just over an hour with the pre-soak method. Take about 1 cup of beans, mash them and reurn to the pot and simmer until the liquid is nice and creamy.
6. Add salt, pepper, and adjust the other seasonings. Serve with shredded cheese and tortillas.

About an hour after simmering. The tomatoes and green chiles have disentigrated and with the mashed beans, the broth is now very thick and creamy.

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Almond Float (Almond Dofu)

I'm a little embarrassed to post this because it doesn't require any real cooking. It is mid-week and I'm too tired to cook. Someone at work said that the time change has really affected his biorhythms. The time change has also thrown my biorhythms out of kilter.

Almond Float is a very popular Hong Kong Dessert and is usually served on one of the carts at dim sum. I never get it at dim sum because it is so easy to make. On Sunday, the group I was with was curious about the jiggly brown stuff on the cart. I told them that it was probably coffee flavored agar agar. Agar agar? What's that? I told them that agar agar is a gelatin derived from seaweed unlike the J-E-double L-O that was derived from hooves. Someone added "horse hooves" to the conversation. Well actually it is from the hooves of many types of animals. I don't think Knox and JELLO is very discriminating.

Agar agar is a gelatin alternative for vegans. It is also often found at the bottom of petri dishes as a microbial culture medium. I've actually used it to make those fragrant gels in the little mason jars. Bath & Body Works used to sell them. I made 50 jars as favors for a baby shower. You can buy agar agar in powdered form (Telephone Brand) and in long threads.

The group tried the coffee agar dessert. This particular dim sum establishment did not have the almond float. I told the group that I will make the almond variation for them to try. I searched for the almond float agar mix at the asian grocery store. I couldn't find it. When I got home, I found a packet in my pantry.

Why packet? I've tried making this dessert using plain agar, milk, almond extract, and sugar. I wasn't too crazy about the flavor. Perhaps it was the almond extract I was using? I tried a couple different brands of almond extract and still a no go. I prefer the flavor of the mix. There are two brands that I like. The first is JenYi brand "Almon" Dofu mix and the second is Lobo brand Almond Agar Dessert mix. I'm using the Lobo brand this time.

1 envelope Lobo Almond Agar Dessert Mix
3 cups water
1 can fruit cocktail
maraschino cherries (optional)

- Follow directions on packet.
- Allow mixture to set.
- Cut into cubes. (I decided to put them into little plastic cups instead.)
- Serve with fruit cocktail.
- Garnish with maraschino cherries

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Duck Red Curry and Monday Morning Ramblings

I was meeting some friends for dim sum and since I do not usually find myself on that part of town, I was mentally coming up with a list of items I wanted to pick up at the Asian grocery store. I remember the grocery store in the shopping center has a Chinese barbecue section. Their roast ducks are pretty good. I decided to pick up a whole duck. It was a long wait. Apparently this must be the only place in town that sells Chinese roast meats. I also picked up a few other items that I needed around the house.

For this dish I am branching out from my usual chicken red curry. I'm replacing the boring chicken with duck. I looked at various duck curry recipes. They all seem to include pineapple and lychees. I am not too fond of pineapple in savory dishes. I bought some lychees but decided to leave that for snacking instead and make the curry my usual way.

Duck doesn't have very much meat. That is why I only order duck breast when I am at a restaurant. For this dish, I took the time to take all the meat off the bones. I kept the bones for making a stock. You can make this dish by roasting your own duck (a very timely project that involves scalding the duck, coating it with honey, blowing air in between the skin & fat, and air drying) or just purchasing one from your local Chinese barbecue joint.


1 roast duck
4 tablespoons red curry paste
1 can coconut milk
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
3 rose gold potatoes, washed and cubed
1 large white sweet potato, washed and cubed (The store posted a picture of white sweet potatoes. I didn't question it. When I got home and peeled the sweet potato, I discovered that the flesh was orange instead of white.)
1 can sliced bamboo
1 stalk lemon grass, cut into 3 inch sections
4 kaffir lime leaves
1 dried galanga root
salt
pepper
msg
1 disk palm sugar
fish sauce
basil
cilantro
green onions


1. Remove duck meat from bones. Cut the meat into small pieces. I use a pair of kitchen shears. Put reserved bones in a small pot and add enough water to cover. Simmer gently.

Bones ready to make stock:
Duck Meat:

2. Prep the other ingredients while the duck bones simmer. By the time you are done washing, chopping, and dicing, your stock should be ready. Take the stock and strain out the bones.
3. In a dutch oven on medium heat, toast the curry paste until fragrant. Add the cream portion of the coconut milk, reserving the liquid at the bottom. Cook the coconut cream and curry paste until thick.
4. Add garlic and onion. Add the duck stock and the rest of the ingredients except duck meat, cilantro, green onions, and basil . You don't want to cook the meat too long since it is already cooked.
5. When potatoes are tender, add duck meat. Garnish with cilantro, green onions, and basil.

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Almond Anise Biscotti (Clone of Nonni's Cioccolati Biscotti)

My favorite biscotti is not very biscotti-like. I like the kind you can find in the cookie aisle of most grocery stores including Costco. Nonni's classic biscotti dipped in dark chocolate makes a perfect dunking stick. This biscotti has almonds and is flavored with just the right amount of aniseed. Unlike traditional biscotti, the crunch of this biscotti is more cookie-like due to the butter.

I love the look of the pistachio-cranberry biscotti with flecks or orange rind but when it comes to flavor, my favorite is the classic almond-anise.

Yields about 24 biscotti depending on how you shape your loaves and how you cut your slices.

3 large eggs
1 cup baker's sugar
1/4 cup unsalted sweet butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ¼ cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons whole aniseed
3/4 cup whole raw almonds, coarsely chopped

Mise en place:
1. Bring eggs to room temperature.
2. Coarsely chop the raw almonds. You can use the blanched almond slivers but I like the look of whole almonds. I buy mine from the bulk bins of a natural grocery store.
3. Grind the aniseed. I use my nifty Cucina Bella. I love the little machine. It makes my smoothies, grinds up my flax seeds and spices, blends small amounts of soup…

Method:
1. In a large bowl, cream together eggs and sugar. Set aside.
2. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder and anise.
3. Melt the butter in a microwave-safe measuring cup.
4. Add the melted butter and vanilla extract to the creamed eggs and sugar and stir until combined.
5. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and mix well but do not overmix.
6. Fold in the chopped almonds.


7. Cover the dough and refrigerate until cold.
8. After the dough is chilled, preheat the oven to 375 degrees and prepare two baking sheets lined with silicone baking sheets. You can use parchment paper but I tried that at a friend’s house and it burned the bottoms. It could have something to do with the fact that her oven had been on for six hours or maybe the calibration of her oven temp is different from mine.
9. Divide the dough into two parts. I flatten it in the bowl, divided it in half and scooped it out using my plastic pastry scraper. I've had this scraper for a long time. The first day of Baking & Pastry 101, Chef Kramer gave us all a plastic scraper. It was probably a free item from one of the school's sponsors. It says "ConAgra" on it. I use the scraper for cutting dough and for gently folding delicate batters so that I do not overmix (overmixing means tunneling in the finished product).
10. Form each part of the dough into two rectangles about 8 inches by 4 inches and 1 inch high.



11. When the oven is preheated, bake them until deep golden brown. It should take about 20-25 minutes depending on your oven. You may need to shift the baking sheets around and turn them to get even browning.


12. Remove the dough from the oven and let them cool slightly. They should be cool enough to handle and the sugar, as it cools, should harden the dough a bit.
13. Slide the slab onto a cutting board. Using a good serrated knife*, slice the slab into ¾ inch slices.


14. Spread the biscotti slices on a baking sheet, cut side down and bake for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, flip them oven to the other cut side and bake another 10 minutes.



15. Let cool completely.

To dip:
Melt some dark chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. You will have to microwave a few minutes, stir, microwave some more, stir, and continue to do this until the chocolate is melted. Do no scorch the chocolate. Dip the bottoms of the biscotti in the chocolate, place on wax paper and let them set. I did not dip them this time. The bf doesn't like chocolate so I left them plain.

Tips:
1. It is very important to use a good serrated slicer knife. It doesn’t have to be expensive. I used my inexpensive large serrated knife from my cheaper Cuisinart triple-riveted set. I like this set a lot. They have a good weight for handling. The tang of the knife goes all the way through. I find that I turn to this set more often than my f.dick set because my f.dicks are not in a knife block on the counter. They are stored in a portable plastic knife case.
2. I gave this recipe to a co-worker and she said that there was not enough anise flavor. They used ground aniseed. For this recipe I use whole aniseed and I ground it myself. It makes all the difference. I find that 1 ½ teaspoons of whole aniseed is just the right amount. You will have to adjust accordingly if you use ground aniseed or not so fresh aniseed.
3. Let the dough bake until golden brown during the first baking. This will make the slicing easier.
4. Don’t let the almonds clump too close together. It is hard to slice through them all and the biscotti slice with break apart.
5. Variation: You can replace the almond and vanilla with shelled pistachios, dried cranberries, and orange zest. Dip them in melted white chocolate. The colors are gorgeous. You can make a few varieties and place them in the clear treat baggies and give them as holiday gifts. Other flavor additions can include: mini chocolate chips, coconut, dried cherries, pine nuts, dates...use your imagination. You can also vary the extract. I used vanilla for this but you can use lemon, orange, almond, pandan leaf...I think pandan biscotti is next on the list.

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