Linkipe: Girls brunch + Bread + Spreads

Until this month, I had never made bread before. Most recipes I read had so much kneading and resting involved, and mostly I was deterred because I thought, what if I took all this time to prepare this bread and I wake up and just want to go out for breakfast? What happens to that loaf? My laziness gave way when I prepared a holiday brunch for my close girlfriends recently. Around the holidays I am so family focused that I wanted to bring my girl friends together so we could celebrate each other. The idea was a light holiday brunch, casual, colorful, a secret santa component, lots of champagne. I took on a few things that I never tried before and hoped would work out (otherwise, the Frisch's buffet was only a short ride away...). Bread was one of those things and I was so pleasantly surprised at how easy it was!

The Menu

Rosemary + asiago bread

Cranberry "jam", bacon jam

Honeyed goat cheese + olive tapenade

Spaghetti squash salad

Fried eggs 

Orange + pomegranate fruit salad 

Grapefruit champagne cocktail 

Candied citrus peels (to bring home)

This was not a brunch based on my ability to come up with things, but rather an opportunity to make things I've never made before. Below is a list of the links I used in this pursuit!

1) Bread: http://simplysogood.blogspot.com/2010/03/crusty-bread.html

This bread is pretty dense -- I recommend adding things like rosemary and cheese or cranberries to it. When I made a plain version of the loaf, it was a little too dense for me but it was perfect with bacon jam!

2) Candied citrus peels, champagne cocktail, bacon jam: Martha Stewart kills it. The most time consuming thing for this whole brunch was the citrus peels. I was already using grapefruit, oranges and lemon elsewhere in our menu so it made sense not to waste the peels and I am glad for that, but the pith... Oh my goodness the pith. So incredibly annoying to scrape off. However, the end result is very pretty so kind of worth it. For the champagne cocktail, I used grapefruits instead of oranges.

http://www.marthastewart.com/355599/candied-citrus-peel?center=0&gallery=275603&slide=260580

http://www.marthastewart.com/910525/champagne-and-orange-granita-cocktail?center=0&gallery=275544&slide=910525

http://www.marthastewart.com/326881/slow-cooker-bacon-jam

3) Cranberry jam: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Cranberry-Jam-231007

This recipe doesn't use pectin, so it is runnier than what you imagine a typical jam to be like. However, it was really easy to execute, the color is gorgeous, and I liked that you could really taste cranberry rather than a bunch of sugar. The next time I make this, I will probably use less water. 

4) Honeyed goat cheese and olive tapenade: http://sweetpaul.typepad.com/my_weblog/2012/10/re.html

I thought the combination of honey, goat cheese, and the tapenade was really great. However, my goat cheese did not brown up the way the picture looks! It just melted into a sad pool. So, I would probably just set the cheese out so it reaches a creamy room temp, drizzle honey over it, and set it out with the tapenade on the side. 

5) Spaghetti squash salad: This is an intentionally light salad since I knew we'd be eating dense bread and there was already cheese somewhere else on the table so I didn't want to overdo it and put it in here. It is not saucy either. This would be good with crumbled goat cheese or shredded parmesan or asiago cheese if you're eating it as a side to a protein.

(serves 6)

2 small spaghetti squash

1/4 cup pecans

1 tbspn. butter

1 bunch of kale, off the rib and cut into 1 inch pieces 

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 tbspn. olive oil 

1/2 lemon

1 tspn. dijon mustard

1/4 cup olive oil 

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Prick holes in the spaghetti squash and microwave for 4 minutes. Cut each squash lengthwise, then place cut side down on a baking sheet and roast in the oven for half an hour. Scoop out the seeds, go at the squash with a fork and put the flesh into a big bowl. 

Melt the butter in a pan and toss in the pecans. Let them toast until brown and fragrant, then take it off the heat and let the nuts cool. 

Mix together the juice from the lemon, mustard, and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 

Heat the olive oil in a pan and sautee the garlic until translucent. Add the kale, some salt and pepper, and sautee until the kale is brown in some spots (kind of like you roasted it).

Toss the pecans, lemon vinaigrette, and kale with the spaghetti squash and season to taste.

Lobster pot pie

One of the culinary treasures in Cincinnati is Findlay Market, the state's oldest running public market. There is stall after stall of great fresh ingredients -- every cut of meat you could imagine, fresh pasta, an amazing spice counter, and terrific seafood.... all amidst the delicious smell of buttery waffles from Taste of Belgium.

On a trip to the market on Friday, there was a special at Luken's -- $10 for a whole cooked lobster. Um, yes please. I had taken advantage of this around Tyler's birthday when I made lobster rolls but I hadn't seen it since. When I saw it on Friday I was excited because it's the holidays and I wanted us to have a special meal to keep up the holiday spirit -- seafood always makes us jolly!


When I got home, I mulled over what to do with this lobster. The idea of cold lobster on its own wasn't too appetizing to me. It snowed here, I wanted something warm which would stick to my ribs. I have never made lobster pot pie before and after some research on the internet, I came up with the combination below based on what I had laying around at home (a more dedicated cook probably would have made the crust or purchased some crust, but I had some Ritz crackers to get rid of and this was a perfect opportunity). I also tossed in some crawfish meat, but it is definitely not essential to have that in this dish -- lobster on its own in this is delicious. It was soooo good! And so decadent. It made us feel fancy and all warm inside, which is really what makes a good holiday dinner. Next time I'll make the crust and get one of those cute little lobster cookie cutters.... bon appetit!



Lobster filling: 

Meat from two cooked lobsters, cut into chunks
1/2 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 tbspns. butter
2 tbspns. all purpose flour
1/4 cup sherry
1/2 tspn. paprika
1/2 cup of clam juice or fish stock
1 1/2 cups half and half
1 tbspn. chopped parsley
Salt + pepper to taste

Crust 
1 sleeve of Ritz crackers, crushed by hand or pulsed in a food processor
1 1/2 tbspns. melted butter
A splash of hot sauce (optional)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Melt the butter and sautee the onion + garlic until the onion is translucent. Toss in the lobster heads if you extracted the lobster meat yourself. Add the flour and sautee until all the flour is cooked (no white powder left in the pan). Add the clam juice, sherry, salt and pepper. Simmer for 3 minutes. Stir in the half and half and parsley then take off the heat. Place the mixure into 2 big individual ramekins, or a shallow baking dish.

Mix the Ritz crackers and melted butter together (and the hot sauce if you're using it). Place the crumb mixture over the lobster in the ramekins or baking dish. Bake until the lobster mix is bubbling and the mixture is a nice golden brown -- 10-15 minutes for the ramekins, 15-20 for the baking dish.

The Holiday Season begins!

This is not a recipe post, more of a personal one.

As soon as I have my last bite of turkey, I am ready for the smell of pine and snowy images and cranberry flavored products and Nutcracker figures all over the place. Maybe it's because I have so many fond memories of Christmas with my family. The Pham family tradition starts with stuffing ourselves on Christmas Eve -- sometimes we made turkey, sometimes we ate lots of seafood -- while listening to the same Amy Grant and Kenny G CDs we've been listening to since I was in elementary school. We drink lots of sparkling apple cider (and by "we" I mean me and my sister because we can put down a bottle each of the stuff). Then we gather in front of the tree, sprawling all over the floor and couch in our living room and take turns opening presents. My parents yell at my brother for getting them extravagant gifts, I patiently wait until it's my turn again and anxiously wait for other people to open the gifts I got them. Afterwards we lay there talking, sleepy with our bellies full and our hearts content. The next morning, we go to Rockefeller Center to see the tree.

This is the first year I will not be in New York for Christmas. But regardless of where I am, during the holidays I reflect upon how lucky I am for my friends and family, I look forward to getting treats for the people I love,  and I anticipate the increase in my favorite year round activity -- eating with people I care about. All the holiday parties which pair festive cocktails with tasty appetizers and the belly stuffing feasts with friends and family fill me with an indescribable happiness which really make the holiday season special to me.

Yesterday I made a big pot of beef pho and invited some friends over to share it with us, prepping as I ran my holiday errands throughout the day. Beef pho is a different process for me than chicken pho -- it requires more than a chicken and some pho cubes. But it felt like I was making a "special occasion" meal as I made the stock with oxtail and other cuts of beef on the bone, got together my spices. I made some Vietnamese coffee ice cream (using this recipe), fried up some cha gio I had in the freezer for us to snack on while I prepared everyone's bowls. I'm so happy when I get to share tastes from my culture with my friends -- it quells a little bit of my homesickness, and it makes me feel as if they are getting to know me a bit better on some level. One dinner guest brought over some peppermint ice cream and hot fudge -- which I gladly put out in lieu of the coffee ice cream because who turns down fudge?!

Looking forward to more good times like this throughout the month -- tis the season to be grateful.

Autumn Fried Rice

Old, cold rice is usually the recommended base of good fried rice, and from there it is really all about your imagination....or what else is left over in your fridge. When you're cooking for two, you are often left with some weird amounts of leftover dishes and ingredients, which never really add up to a real meal unless you eat all your leftovers from various meals in one sitting. Fried rice is a solution to that. This autumn fried rice combination was the result of leftover lap xuong that I purchased to make xoi; one lonely beet and some kale that I used in a seasonal meal I made for Tyler's parents; rice I made a few days ago to go with some Trader Joe's frozen teriyaki chicken when I was lazy; a soy dipping sauce I made for some dumplings; and some leeks that I had leftover from this breakfast casserole. Who knew all these things would taste amazing together?!

The hiccup in this recipe is the soy dipping sauce -- I don't remember the proportions I used. It's a mix of soy sauce, water, white sugar, chili sauce (tuong ot), white vinegar, and sliced ginger.  Other than that, this is pretty straightforward (and so seasonally tasty!).

(makes 2 hearty servings)

1 bunch of kale, stems removed and chopped

1 golden beet, peeled and chopped (chopped firm persimmons might be great too!)

1 lap xuong sausage, halved and sliced 

1 egg

1 tbspn. water

Salt + pepper 

1 leek, light green/white portion chopped

1/2 white onion, chopped

1/2 tbspn. vegetable oil, plus a little more to fry the egg 

About 3 cups of cold leftover rice (it just depends on what you like your ratio of rice to be in comparison to the other ingredients, or however much rice you have on hand)

Beat the egg with 1 tbspn. water and a pinch of salt. Heat a little bit of vegetable oil in a pan (or wok). Pour the egg in and cook in one layer, like a pancake. Flip once. Remove and set aside to cool. 

Heat 1/2 tbspn. vegetable oil in the same pan. Add the lap xuong and cook until brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel to soak up the oil. Add the leeks and onion to the pan and sautee until translucent. Add the beets. Cook for about 5 minutes, until almost the desired doneness. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the kale and sautee until wilted. Add the rice, breaking it up and tossing it with the vegetables. Slice the egg into strips. Add 1/4 cup of the soy sauce mixture and toss until everything is well coated. Add more soy sauce to taste. Top with freshly ground black pepper.

Linkipe: "Ham + Cheese" Breakfast Casserole

Two good friends of mine got married last night (yay!). I love weddings and I was especially excited about this one, all the more so because I knew there was going to be lots of dancing and drinking into the wee hours of the morning. I knew today would be a lazy day and I wouldn't have the energy to cook anything, so I prepped as much as I could yesterday afternoon. I washed and cut up some berries, I made a lemon vinaigrette for a simple salad to go with our brunch, I purchased an abundance of beverages to help us rehydrate, and I made a breakfast casserole which I could pop into the oven this morning + let cook while I curled back up in bed.

This casserole was really easy to throw together, and the substitutions I made based on what I had on hand did nothing to diminish its deliciousness! I used leeks instead of onions, old baguette instead of challah bread -- still yummy. Good recipe to master before the holidays...

Cheater's Wonton Noodle Soup Broth

This morning I had a craving for something warm and brothy. Asian breakfasts are a little different than the standard American breakfast -- I would say there are very few Asian dishes that are known as breakfast specific dishes. Noodle soups, porridge, meat pies, pastries -- these are all things that can be eaten throughout the day. So having a noodle soup for breakfast is not uncommon. (Having ramen as a snack is not that uncommon either -- it's a miracle I don't weigh more considering my childhood eating habits) A while back, I had leftover filling from the curried turnovers and I used it as wonton filling and threw it into the freezer. This morning was the perfect opportunity to turn them into breakfast.

Just like the cubes I mentioned in my cheater's pho ga recipe, there are special seasoning cubes for wonton soup. "Hoanh thanh" is the Vietnamese translation of wonton (sound it out, it makes sense). I am not listing any specific measurements because this is really something to adjust by taste, and depending on how many bowls you're making. For the broth, a good rule of thumb is to start out with one cube, taste, then add more as needed. As for the toppings, it just depends on what ratio you want. My mom likes more broth than toppings, my dad wants as little broth as possible and lots of toppings. It's flexible.

The soup base is not really the star of this dish -- what makes this kind of soup is the toppings. Some good combinations which you can use with this broth:

Roasted duck + bok choy + duck egg
Roasted pork + bok choy + bean sprouts
Chicken + garlic chives + bean sprouts
Dumplings + bean sprouts + scallions
Tofu + shitake mushrooms + napa cabbage + garlic chives + bean sprouts

You get the idea. You can get adventurous and add chorizo + garlic chives + bean sprouts too -- a little fusian cuisine. If you follow a formula of protein + something crunchy, it'll work. This morning I used wontons + tons of garlic chives + a boiled egg on top of shrimp egg noodles.

That all being said, this isn't a typical recipe. For people who are used to cooking like this, stop reading. You probably stopped a while ago the first time you rolled your eyes and said "duh". For those who have never made this soup on their own before, keep reading to see how super easy it is and have fun throwing this together throughout the winter.

Ok I'll stop talking. Time for cooking.

(for 2 servings)

1 hoanh thanh seasoning cube
16 oz. chicken stock
2 cups of water
An egg based noodle
Wontons

Suggested condiments: Lemongrass chili oil (pictured below); white or red wine vinegar

Bring a mixture of the seasoning cube, water and chicken stock to a boil. Taste -- if too salty, dilute with water. If not flavorful enough, try adding more chicken broth.

In a separate pot, bring some water to boil. Cook the noodles according to the package directions. If using wontons, cook them in this separate pot as well. Place your toppings + noodles in a bowl, ready for its broth. I wouldn't suggest cooking these things in the broth itself -- sometimes it makes the broth murky.

Ladle the broth over the noodles + slurp.

Sunday brunch with a good friend

Delicious quiche. Spinach salad with pears + hazelnuts + red onions + cranberries. Homemade zucchini bread. Caramel apple drizzle to top some ice cream for dessert. French press.

So what if it was just the two of us?

Quick + Easy: Goi ga (Vietnamese slaw)

So, you've made pho ga and you have leftover boiled chicken and don't know what to do with it. Solution? Goi ga -- a light salad of shredded cabbage and chicken. It is crunchy and tasty, you'll love boiled chicken in a way you never thought possible.

1.5 cups of shredded chicken (eyeball it depending on how much cabbage you have, how much leftovers you're trying to get rid of, the chicken ratio you want in this)
1 shredded carrot
1 small head of shredded cabbage
1/2 thinly sliced onion
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 tspn. sugar
Torn coriander, mint or Thai basil leaves (or all three!)

Crushed peanuts for garnish
Nuoc cham
Black sesame rice paper crackers (optional)

Dissolve the sugar in the white vinegar. Place the red onions in this mixture and let soak for about 15 minutes. Drain and mix the onions with the rest of the ingredients. Toss with nuoc cham to taste. Top with crushed peanuts and serve with toasted sesame rice paper if using.

Cheater's Pho Ga

There is a calm that comes over me when I start cooking this recipe -- I have a rhythm, a set sequence of actions. I can always adjust this recipe to taste the way I want it to (which I can't say for everything I cook). I never feel nervous that whoever I'm cooking it for won't like it. I don't dread the leftovers -- I could eat this every day. I feel connected to my mother and my culture. I don't feel guilty eating it. I don't feel guilty using pho ga cubes instead of roasting the aromatics myself -- this process is all about ease and comfort to me. The instructions and list of ingredients look long, but don't let that deter you. This is an easy recipe, you just have to rely on your taste buds to guide you.

This is my favorite thing to cook. Enjoy.

1 package dried pho noodles (wide rice noodles)

1 whole chicken, about 4-6 lbs.
1 onion, sliced lengthwise into chunky rounds that you can grill
1 piece of ginger, cut lengthwise into about 5 thick pieces
3 cubes of pho ga seasoning cubes*
3 tbspns. fish sauce
Salt + pepper
Water

Accoutrements:
1 thinly sliced medium white or sweet onion
1 bunch of scallions, sliced
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
Lime wedges
Thai basil
Bean sprouts
Hoisin sauce
Siracha
Pickled jalepenos (optional)**

Soak the dried pho noodles in a large bowl of warm water for at least 5 hours (I throw them into a bowl in the morning before I go to work or before bed).

Trim the chicken of big pieces of fat -- this will mean less to skim off the broth later. Place into a big stockpot (something around 6 qts.), cover with water, and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and cook until done, about 45 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pot and set aside to cool. Once cool, shred the chicken.*** Add the leftover chicken bones back to the pot of broth.

Add more water to the chicken broth until the pot is almost full. Grill the pieces of onion and ginger until you see nice grill marks. I do this directly on my oven range grates because I like the contact of the flame to the ginger and onion, but you can use a grill pan as well. Add it to the chicken broth. Heat the broth until boiling and add 3 of the pho ga seasoning cubes. Once the cubes dissolve, add the fish sauce, then add salt + pepper to taste. If you find that there is not enough depth to the broth, add the last pho ga cube. Simmer this mixture for about another 20 minutes. Add more water if the water level gets too low, but remember to reseason as necessary. Skim any fat off the surface of the broth.

Bring a small pot of water to boil. Using a large spider (this is easiest if you are preparing multiple bowls of pho), place a handful of pho noodles into the boiling water. Mix it around the spider with a pair of chopsticks to make sure all the noodles are submerged. The noodles will cook in about 45 seconds - 1 minute. Lift the spider from the water to drain, and place the cooked noodles into a bowl. Top the noodles with shredded chicken and a bit of the chopped cilantro, scallions and sliced onions. Ladle the broth over the noodles. Repeat as necessary.

Add lime juice, bean sprouts, Thai basil, hoisin sauce and Siracha to taste.

Enjoy!



* These cubes can be found in most large Asian supermarkets. If you live in Cincinnati, you can find them at CAM, Saigon Market at Findlay Market or Jungle Jim's.
** To make quick pickled jalepenos, slice about 3-4 jalepenos into thick rounds and place into a jar or bowl. Heat up about a cup of white vinegar, 2 tbspns. white sugar, and a 1 tspn. salt. until the sugar and salt dissolve. Pour the hot vinegar mixture over the jalepenos, then cover the jar or bowl until the mixture cools. When it cools, place it into the refrigerator until ready to use.
*** I like to separate the meat into a pile of white meat and a pile of dark meat, just in case I have diners with a preference.

Quick + Easy: Potato & Broccoli Soup

After a few fleeting days of glorious fall weather last week, a winter chill is slowly starting to creep into Cincinnati. The changing of the seasons means more than just a change in the availability of ingredients for me -- I stop craving salads. I crave Indian food. I eat more soup.

I love recipes that use potatoes to make a smooth rich soup, rather than a starchy roux or cream. It also helps make the soup more substantial to me, like I am eating a proper meal rather than eating a soup to start. This soup is super fast, cheap, and easy to make. Whenever I am done with a chunk of parmesan cheese, I throw the rind into the freezer to use for soups. However, this soup is still delicious without it. This recipe can be made vegetarian by using vegetable broth rather than chicken broth. It can be made vegan by subbing the veggie broth, omitting the parmesan, and using a squeeze of lemon at the end to brighten the soup (which I did anyway). You can also make a parmesan crisp if you feel fancy, but otherwise, this hearty simple soup + some sourdough rolls did just the trick to warm my bones tonight.

(makes 4 servings)

1 head of broccoli

1 tbspn. of butter

1/2 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 baking potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks

1.5 cups of chicken broth

1.5 cups water

Salt + pepper

1 parmesan rind (optional)

1/2 cup of parmesan, shredded

Lemon wedges (optional)

Cut the broccolli florets into little pieces and set aside. Roughly chop the tough stems of the broccolli and set aside with the potatoes. 

Melt the butter over medium high heat. Add the onion and sautee until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, potato + broccoli stem mix, broth, water, salt + pepper, and parmesan rind to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, simmer for 5 minutes. Add the broccoli florets and simmer for another 5 minutes. Remove the parmesan rind.

Transfer the mixture to a blender and blend until smooth. Return to pot and season with salt + pepper to taste.

Top each bowl with some parmesan and some lemon juice if desired.

Quick + Easy: The easiest dip ever.

I went back and forth about posting this -- it's so simple, was it even worth posting a recipe for it? But I think it's delicious, and I was very excited about it when I first made it (growing up in a household of primarily Asian cuisine, everything not Asian is an exciting discovery for me).

I make this when I crave hummus but I'm too lazy to go to the grocery store. It makes a great quick addition to an array of appetizers, or even a quick lunch (which is why I made it today). Serve it with pitas, pretzels, veggies. Experiment with flavored oils (I used white truffle oil today and it felt so decadent). Throw in whatever herbs you have on hand. Just start with a can of beans.

1 can of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

2 tbspns. olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 lemon, juiced

Salt + pep to taste

Process all of the ingredients together in a processor. Done.

Quick + Easy: Adrienne's Spaghetti with Red Clam Sauce

When Tyler and I first started talking about our families in the early stages of our relationship, he told me that one of his favorite meals was pasta with a clam sauce his mother used to make (his other favorite also involves a pasta sauce made with V8 and fish sauce, but his mother hasn't shared that recipe with me yet!). I was intrigued. Now I am a believer -- this is one of my favorite sauces, and it is incredibly easy to make.

I am posting the recipe just as Adrienne sent it to me -- the only suggestion I'd make is to use a large can of San Marzano tomatoes, which I puree in a food processor until smooth. The sauce is a little watery once it mixes with the spaghetti, but don't let that scare you off. This recipe is perfect as-is.

Saute onions and garlic in olive oil
Add 2 cans of chopped clams (or larger if you have them)
Add 1 small can of tomato sauce - or any similar red sauce
Add whatever herbs you like - but not much because this is good because it's NOT that special!
And maybe a tiny bit of white wine

Serve over spaghetti and top with parmesan

Roasted Pepper & Calamari Salad With Cilantro Dressing

The dressing for this salad is so tasty I just want to smother everything in it. Yum.

1 red bell pepper

1 yellow bell pepper

8 pieces of calamari/squid, with tentacles (you may adjust this depending on how big the calamari are)

1 bunch of cilantro

1 lime, juiced

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1/3 cup of olive oil, plus more for grilling 

Salt + pepper

Grill the peppers on a grill pan (rotate it on the pan until the sides are nice and black and blistered). When all sides of the pepper are nicely charred, place the peppers in a large bowl and cover with a kitchen towel for about 10 minutes. Most of the skin should rub off with gentle nudging at this point. Slice the peppers and set aside. 

Throw the cilantro, lime juice, garlic, salt + pepper, and olive oil in a food processor and blend until it's as smooth or as chunky as you want it. Set aside.

Toss the calamari in some olive oil. Grill for a few minutes per side. Slice, then toss with the peppers and cilantro dressing. Salt to taste. Serve warm or at room temperature. 

Xoi lap xuong

I just purchased tickets to see my family for Thanksgiving this week and it's making me feel like Thanksgiving is just around the corner, even though we've barely reached Halloween. My family makes a mix of Asian and typical American Thanksgiving foods for our big meal -- a turkey marinated in Peking duck spices, stuffing and cranberry sauce along side a bowl of quick pickled cucumbers, onions & radishes, and always always xôi lạp xưởng -- sticky rice with chinese sausage. My mother has perfected a quick method of cooking this dish in a microwave, so if you exclude the time spent soaking the rice this meal takes less than 20 minutes. Awesome. A small price to pay for a taste of home.

The soy sauce and sugar quantities listed below are a minimum suggested amount -- it is easier to add soy sauce to taste when you eat. You can adjust accordingly when you become more comfortable cooking this dish.

2 cups of sticky rice (it may be labeled as "nep" in an Asian store)
8 dried shitake mushrooms or fresh shitake mushrooms
1 tspn. vegetable oil

1 1/2 chinese sausages, halved and cut into half moon shaped pieces
1 1/2 carrots, diced

1/4 onion, diced
handful of dried baby shrimp (optional)
1 1/2 tbspns. soy sauce
1 tspn. white sugar

In a large microwave safe bowl, cover the rice with warm water and soak overnight.

When ready to cook, drain the water and then cover the rice again with enough water to just cover the rice. Place a paper towel over the bowl and cook in the microwave for 8 minutes. Take the bowl out and stir the rice, cover again with the paper towel and cook for an additional 5 minutes. If the rice is still soggy and all the water hasn't been absorbed, keep microwaving it in 3 minute increments until the rice is moist and sticky, but not too wet.

In the meantime, if using dried shitake mushrooms, bring a pot of water to boil. Cook the mushrooms until tender, drain, rinse with cold water, pat dry and slice.

Heat the oil in a sautee pan. Add the chinese sausages and sautee until lightly browned. Add the carrots, onion,  mushrooms, and dried baby shrimp (if using). Sautee until the onions are translucent. Add the soy sauce and sugar, cook until the sugar dissolves.

Combine the sauteed mixture with the cooked rice. Makes 4 servings.

Curried Chicken & Shrimp Turnovers

There's a Vietnamese savory pastry called "banh pate so", which is pronounced a lot like "banh pate chaud." There is a lot of French influence on words in the Vietnamese language as well as its cuisine -- Vietnamese sandwiches are made on baguettes and include pate, cream puffs can be found in many Vietnamese bakeries, and puff pastry is used to make these little savory treats. This recipe is a variation of the typical banh pate so, which are usually made with ground pork, mushrooms, and maybe a soy type of base. Feel free to experiment with green onions instead of the white onion I use here, with a mix of diced vegetables in place of the meat -- there are endless variations of things that can be turned into delicious triangles of savory goodness!


Curried Chicken & Shrimp Turnovers
(makes 36 turnovers)

1/2 white or yellow onion, diced
1/2 tspn. curry powder
1 tspn. vegetable oil
1 lb. ground chicken
1/2 lb. ground raw shrimp*
1 1/2 tbspns. fish sauce
1/2 carrot, shredded
2 packages Pepperidge Farm puff pastry sheets, slightly thawed


Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Sautee the diced onion in the vegetable oil and curry powder until translucent. Set aside to cool.

Unroll the puff pastry sheets -- there are two sheets per package. The sheet unrolled will be in 3 columns -- cut the sheets into 9 squares each as shown.

When the onions have cooled, mix them together with the chicken, shrimp, fish sauce, and carrots. Spoon the mixture onto each square, being careful not to overfill it, otherwise you might end up with a raw center when you bake these. Fold the square into a triangle as pictured. Take a fork to seal the edges. Repeat.

Place the triangles onto a baking sheet -- you can use a Silpat or place them directly onto a metal baking sheet. You don't have to spray the sheet with anything -- the grease from the puff pastry pretty much ensures that it won't stick! Place the tray into the oven and bake until golden brown -- about 25 - 30 minutes.

I usually dip these into nuoc cham, but they can be eaten on their own. Enjoy!

Cha gio (Vietnamese spring rolls)

The first time I made this without my mother, I felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. I felt like I crossed the threshold into good Vietnamese hostess-dom -- my mother often has these in her freezer, ready to fry up if unexpected guests pop by or her grown children come to visit & feel like pigging out on these in the middle of the night.  I have fond memories watching Vietnamese music videos with her as she rolled these -- my job was to peel the spring roll wrappers so they'd be ready for her to use. I like having these for guests and also for an easy midweek dinner of bun cha gio. Once you get the rolling down, this is an easy appetizer/meal component that is dangerously addictive.

I make these with ground chicken because I think they're a little lighter, but in Vietnam they are made with ground pork. Some recipes will also call for thinly sliced mushrooms, but my mother never put them in hers so I don't put them in mine. I make a big batch of these and freeze them -- when you're ready to make them, you just throw them right into the fryer, you don't have to thaw them out. They last about 2 months (although I confess I've kept them longer) in the freezer.

Cha gio 

(makes 50 or more, depending on how you roll them)

1 lb. ground chicken

1 lb. shrimp, peeled

1 carrot, shredded

1/2 med. onion, chopped

1 sm. package of vermicelli

2 eggs  

2 tbspns. fish sauce

Ground pepper

1 package spring roll wrappers, thawed*

Lettuce leaves, separated from their core (use a soft lettuce like green or red lettuce, which are good for rolling)

Vegetable oil for frying

In small bowl, soak the vermicelli noodles in warm water until they are soft. The vermicelli noodles for this recipe are like glass noodles, and are sold in little packages in sets of six like this:

 While the noodles are soaking, place the shrimp in a food processor and pulse until chopped (avoid making it into a paste). Mix the ground shrimp with the ground chicken, fish sauce, carrots, 1 egg & onion. When the noodles are soft, cut them with a kitchen scissor so that the strands are about 2 inches or so in length, and add to the meat mixture. Add some black pepper. Get down and dirty -- mix the mixture with your hands (my mom wears gloves).





Cut the spring roll wrappers diagonally so that you have two sets of triangle shaped wrappers. If you set up your rolling station like the photo from the beginning of this post, you won't have to move until you're done. Crack the 2nd egg, whisk it and place it in a small bowl.

Take a spring roll wrapper (be careful peeling it away from the other wrappers -- they rip easily as they thaw) and place it on a plate, the pointy side facing away from you. Fold the two corners over toward the center as pictured below. Place about a fat pinky's worth of the meat mixture onto the middle toward the bottom of the wrapper. Fight the temptation to put too much meat into these spring rolls -- the thicker you make them, the harder it'll be for you to deep fry them batch after batch without ending up with a raw center. Fold the two sides of the wrapper over the mixture, and roll up. The tricky part here is applying the right amount of pressure -- you don't want a roll that's wrapped too loosely because you don't want it to fall apart, and have random crisp pieces of wrapper. Also, it's ugly once it's all fried up. Once you get to the top, spread some of the egg on the pointy part of the wrapper to seal it to the rest of the roll. Repeat repeat repeat until you run out of the meat mixture.

Heat up the vegetable oil for deep frying -- I don't know the exact temperature, my family uses a wooden chopstick to test the temp. If we place the tip of the chopstick in the oil and little bubbles form around the chopstick, it's ready. You can also use a deep fryer. Depending on what size pot you're using to deep fry these rolls, I would say place about 7-8 of these in the oil at a time when you fry them. Turn them around with a spider. When they are nice and golden, remove them from the oil and place on a plate with a paper towel. Repeat to cook as many as you need. For bun cha gio, you could place about 3-4 per person. As an appetizer, you can plan for about 5 pp. Roll up these rolls in a piece of lettuce, dip into nuoc cham, and enjoy!

* You can purchase spring roll wrappers in the freezer section of any Asian grocery store. There is usually two sizes -- get the bigger one for this recipe.

Nuoc cham, nuoc mam

One of my jobs as a kid was to prepare whatever dipping sauce we were going to use for our meal. I was confused at first whenever my mom told me to prepare the nuoc mam, because I didn't know what to use and when and for what. I've realized that my preparations of these sauces will never taste the same as my mother's for some reason, but knowing how to make nuoc cham or nuoc mam pha will get you pretty far with a lot of Vietnamese dishes, so I decided to make a separate post for it for easy reference. When I make it, I usually make a mason jar full and keep it in the fridge, it lasts for about a 1 month. But you can play around with the proportions to make as little or as much as you need. You can also add more sugar if you want it to be a little sweeter, more fish sauce if you like this sauce saltier. This is the sauce you would use for vermicelli dishes, rice dishes, and as a dipping sauce for things like cha gio.

Nuoc cham

2 tbspns. fish sauce
1 lime's worth of juice (if you don't have fresh limes, use white vinegar to taste)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1.5 tbspn. white sugar
1 cup room temperature water
Red chili sauce (Tuong ot toi, not the kind you use for pho. It is in a jar, not a squeezy bottle)

Mix the sugar, garlic and lime juice together until the sugar dissolves. Add the fish sauce, water and red chili sauce to taste.

Banchan!

My mom told me once that she has a Korean coworker who often packs a variety of banchan to eat with rice for lunch. That's always stuck with me -- it sounds so fun! And full of so many possibilities. I'm the kind of person who doesn't like to eat the same thing every day, so I figured I'd have 5 options available and pack 4 for lunch every day, with a little bit of rice. Everything turned out great and I can't wait for Monday! (My fifth banchan is store bought kimchi)

Sauteed anchovies
1 small bag of dried anchovies + 2 tbspns. soy sauce + 1 tbspn. Sesame oil + 2 tbspns. sugar + 1/2 tbspn. vegetable oil + 1 sliced jalepeno (optional)

Soak the anchovies in cold water for about 15 minutes. Heat up the vegetable oil in a sautee pan, and throw in the anchovies, soy sauce, jalepenos & sugar. Stir everything over medium high heat -- the sauce should be kind of caramel-y and mostly on the sweet side, the anchovies will provide the saltiness. Once the sugar dissolves and the sauce is a little thicker, sprinkle sesame seeds on top and serve.

Soy shitake mushrooms

Bean sprout banchan (I tweaked this recipe by adding more sugar since it was coming out a little salty for my taste)

Spicy pickled cucumbers
This recipe calls for Asian garlic chives, which are broader & flat & super long, unlike typical American chives. As the recipe says, if you can't find these, you can just use the green onions and omit the chives -- I wouldn't substitute the Asian chives with regular chives. I also ended up only using 4 cucumbers but I had to double the quantities for the sauce. Everything came out great though!

Hudy Bread

This bread is not for the light of heart. It is a dense, heavy bread but my goodness is it delicious! And so incredibly easy. It’s a version of Guinness bread, but I wanted to use Hudy Amber to be a good Cincinnatian. Any darker beer will do, green onions instead of chives would be delicious I’m sure. This bread is dangerous.

2 3/4 cups sifted all purpose flour
3 tbspns sugar
1 tbspn baking powder
1 tspn salt
1 (12-ounce) bottle of Hudy Amber
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup chopped chives
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375° F. Line 8 1/2- x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan with parchment paper, or coat with butter.

In a mixing bowl, thoroughly whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Pour in the beer and mix until the dry ingredients are evenly moistened. Fold in 3/4 cup of the cheese and the chives.

Transfer the batter to prepared pan. Pour the melted butter evenly over top of the dough. Bake about 30 minutes then scatter the remaining 1/4 cup of cheese over the top. Return the loaf to the oven and bake 15 to 20 minutes longer or until a tester inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes.

Turn out and serve warm, sliced.

Chicken + Veggie + Rice Soup

A bowl of this, a slice of beer bread — cold weather taste bud nirvana.

4 chicken thighs (I used 2 chicken thighs and some ground sausage I had lying around, so if you have something like that or chicken sausage, feel free to throw it in. You can also do two thighs and a breast, 2 breasts — whatever you have on hand)

1 tbspn paprika

1/2 tspn dried thyme

 1 tspn freshly chopped oregano (or 1/2 tspn dried)

1/2 tspn garlic powder 

salt and pepper to taste 

Olive oil

1 cup mirepoix (celery, carrot, onion in whatever proportion you like)

1/4 cup corn kernels (about 1 ear’s worth)

2 cups (packed) baby spinach

2 bay leaves

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

48 oz. chicken stock

3/4 cup white rice (cooked, if you are not going to eat all of the soup at once)

Mix together the paprika, thyme, oregano, garlic powder, salt and pepper in a bowl. Rub in this mixture onto the chicken pieces. Heat up some olive oil in a soup pot. Brown the chicken pieces. Add the mirepoix, corn, garlic, and bay leaves. Sautee until the onions are translucent. Add the spinach and stir so it wilts. Add the chicken broth and rice (if you’re going to eat all the soup in one sitting) and bring to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes (test the rice for doneness). Remove the bay leaves, shred the chicken and bon appetit!

WOMB Cookies (Walnut Oatmeal Maple Banana Cookies)

I had a rotting banana and two packets of instant maple & brown sugar oatmeal. I wanted to get rid of them. Thus, these chewy, delicious cookies were born, fitting in perfectly with my desire to make comforting fall foods to celebrate the first day of fall. Can’t wait to make ice cream sandwiches with these bad boys!

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spices (or cinnamon)

2 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1 large egg

1/4 cup mashed ripe banana

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups instant maple and brown sugar oatmeal 

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Preheatoven to 350°; line two baking sheets with parchment paper or use a silpat.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pumpkin spice in a bowl.

In a large bowl, with a mixer, cream together the butter and the sugar on medium speed.  

Add the egg, followed by the mashed banana and vanilla extract.

Using a wooden spoon, stir in the banana mixture with the flour mixture, then stir in the oatmeal packets until just combined. Stirin the chopped walnuts.

Drop tablespoonfuls of the dough onto the baking sheets and bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until cookies become light brown at the edges.

Let cool on baking sheet for 3 or 4 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.