I have yet again neglected my little food blog. No excuses, but I do have a few posts planned. I have been making this vegetarian mung bean noodle (bún tàu = Chinese noodles, which refers to mung bean noodles and chay = vegetarian) dish fairly regularly recently. This is my mother's go-to dish during Lent, when we abstain from eating meat on Fridays. This is actually a vegan dish as it contains no meat products!
I love the combination of the savoury soy ingredients: fermented bean curd and fried gluten. Fermented bean curd, soft salty cubes of soy found in jars, is often used in Asian cuisine; we often have it in plain congee. My sister loves my mom's chicken marinated in fermented bean curd. Fried gluten, which comes in cans, is used to make faux/mock meat in Asian cuisine. Mung bean noodles (or cellophane noodles), another Asian ingredient, are made out of the starch of... mung beans, what else?
Bún Tàu Chay (Vegetarian Mung Bean Noodle) - Serves 4 One of the reasons it took me a long time to write this post, was that I wanted to figure out how to best cook the noodles. I've tried soaking them and they get too soggy so you just want to rinse them and have them a bit wet. You can add any vegetables you prefer. Mushrooms would be a great addition! Fermented bean curd is quite salty, so you probably won't need to add salt.
* oil * ¼ or so of a napa cabbage, sliced ½" thick * 3 or 4 small bundles of mung bean noodles (I like to buy mung bean noodles in a package of small little bundles) * 6 cubes of fermented bean curd, or to taste * cooked/thawed frozen vegetables of your choice (I sauteed some green beans, corn and carrots beforehand) * 1 can of fried gluten, drained (I don't rinse it because I like the flavouring)
Heat up oil in a large pan. Add the napa cabbage and cook for a few minutes; it will release some liquid.
Quickly rinse the mung bean noodles and add to the cabbage.
Mash the fermented bean curd so it becomes a thick paste, adding a bit of water if needed.
Pour the bean curd paste on the noodles and cabbage, and mix.
Once the cabbage is cooked, add the vegetables and fried gluten. Taste and season to taste, adding salt or more bean curd. Tada!
From top left clockwise: (1) jar of fermented bean curd and can of fried gluten (2) cubes of fermented bean curd (3) mung bean noodles and (4) straining the fried gluten.
When you have excessively eaten meat, this is a great dish to get back to eating healthy and light! It has quickly become a new savoury favourite dish for dinner.
I'm not very proud of my special ability of downing a whole (large) bag of potato chips. I've mentioned before that my weakness is salt. I get a pretty strong craving for salt daily, hence my love for chips. However, I have tried to cut back for 2011. No more large bag of chips for me! So I was really excited to try this kale chip recipe from one of my favourite lifestyle blog Sterling Style.
BBQ Kale Chips Adapted from My Father's Daughter by Gwyneth Paltrow, via Sterling Style. I first tried this with salt, garlic powder and cayenne pepper. I then went looking for Cajun seasoning but could only found a spicy mesquite. I very much prefer the mesquite to salt.
* a bunch of kale * olive oil * spicy mesquite seasoning, seasoning of your choice or simply just salt
Thoroughly clean the kale leaves. Dry the leaves - I used a salad spinner. Cut the leaves off from the thick stem. Tear the leaves in small 1-2" pieces. Place the kale pieces in a large bowl. Drizzle with olive oil, while mixing the leaves so they get coated evenly. Season lightly with your choice of seasoning or salt. (Do this carefully. I over-salted my first two attempts. It may seem like a lot of kale but they shrink down to nothing.) Spread on two parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake for 10 minutes or so at 375F (I switch the baking sheets halfway through), or until the leaves are dried out and crunchy - if you leave them too long, they become brown and slightly bitter. Tada!
The kale chips did a great job of satisfying my craving for salt. The kale gets a really crunchy texture too. Kale has a pretty distinctive taste and I wasn't sure I was going to get past it. These kale chips have really grown on me and are addictive! I now have a new ability: eating a whole bag of kale chips!
A while back, I read Sweet Artichoke's take on Nigella Lawson's Nutella Cake. First of all, I have mixed feelings about Nigella. I started out really liking Nigella, a beautiful woman making simple recipes. Then, with Nigella Express, encouraging the use scissors instead of chopping with a knife, it seemed she was bringing oversimplification to a ridiculous level. Having said all of this, this recipe really appealed to me because 1) it involves Nutella (I'm a sucker for Nutella and I always look forward to spending time with the empty container making sure it's really clean...) and 2) it's simple! Not only that, but it was a big hit with my friends!
Nigella's Nutella Cake - Serves 8 Adapted from Nigella Lawson. Since I made the recipe a while ago, I'm not sure changes I made were deliberate or not, such as dipping the hazelnuts in the ganache first (I think deliberate) and using 10% cream instead of whipping cream (that was definitely not deliberate and caused my icing not to be as thick as it should have been).
For the cake: * 6 large eggs, separated (at room temperature) * pinch of salt * 125g (½ cup or 1 stick) soft unsalted butter, softened at room temperature * 400g Nutella (1 jar) * 1 Tbsp Frangelico, rum or water * 100g ground hazelnuts (I ground them myself, skin on because I couldn't find them skinless) * 100g dark chocolate, melted (microwaved or over simmering water)
Preheat the oven to 350F. In a large bowl, whisk the egg whites and salt until stiff but not dry. In a separate bowl, beat the butter and Nutella together, and then add the Frangelico, egg yolks and ground hazelnuts. Fold in the cooled, melted chocolate, then lighten the mixture with a large dollop of egg white, which you can beat in as roughly as you want, before gently folding the rest of them in a third at a time. Line a 9" springform pan with parchment paper. Pour into the prepared tin and cook for 40 minutes or until the cake's beginning to come away at the sides, then let cool on a rack.
Making the batter: (1) mixing the Nutella and butter, (2) adding the egg yolks and ground nuts, (3) adding the egg whites and (4) in the springform pan, ready to bake.
For the icing: * 100g hazelnuts (I couldn't find skinless ones and it was too much effort to peel) * ½ cup 35% cream * 1 Tbsp Frangelico, rum or water * 125g dark chocolate
Toast the hazelnuts in a dry frying pan until the nuts are golden-brown in parts: keep shaking the pan so that they don't burn on one side and stay too pallid on others. Transfer to a plate and let cool. (This is imperative: if they go on the ganache while hot, it'll turn oily.) Over a simmering pot of water, add the cream, liqueur and chopped chocolate in a bowl, and heat gently. Once the chocolate's melted, take the pan off the heat and whisk until it reaches the right consistency to ice the top of the cake. Unmould the cooled cake carefully, leaving it on the base as it will be too difficult to get such a damp cake off in one piece. Ice the top with the chocolate icing, and dot thickly with the whole, toasted hazelnuts (I dipped them in the ganache first and also iced the sides). Tada!
If you love hazelnuts or Nutella (they go hand in hand, don't they?), this is the cake for you. I liked the added texture of the ground hazelnuts. It is a flourless cake, so it is dense and very moist. It's definitely a recipe I will repeat (maybe with shortening for my mom).
Before icing the cake and a slice of cake (I didn't take pics when we cut the cake so that's a leftover piece...).
I know I wrote that I would be better at updating my blog. Unfortunately, my laptop got a virus and was down for a few weeks. Waah-waah! But I hope May will be my more successful month in an unsuccessful 2011. So a few weeks (months?) back, I invited a couple of friends over for lunch before we headed to the home show to see Sarah Richardson (I'm a big fan of all of Sarah's HGTV shows and her design style). I decided to attempt making fried polenta and served with mushrooms. It was easy and quite successful! Fried Polenta and Mushrooms - Makes 8 triangles Adapted from Honest Fare. While I liked that the original recipe has mushrooms in the polenta, I wanted to serve a mushroom sauce over the polenta triangles.
For the polenta: * ½ cup cornmeal * 2 cups water * salt to taste * pepper to taste * ¼ cup Parmesan
Bring 2 cups of water to an almost boil in a large pot. Lower heat and slowly add ½ cup of polenta while stirring so it doesn’t clump (this is an important step and caused me to throw out my first batch because I felt there were lumps). Stir until polenta is creamy and begins to thicken. Add salt (start with a ¼ teaspoon and add more to taste) and ¼ cup Parmesan cheese. Continue cooking and stirring for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Line 9" x 9" pan with parchment paper. Spread polenta evenly across using back of a spoon or spatula. Cover with another sheet of parchment paper. Flatten, smooth and form nice edges by gliding your hands across top of parchment paper. Put in fridge to cool for at least 1 hour (or overnight). Once a solid polenta slab has formed, cut out the cakes into squares, triangles, circles or whatever shape desired.
Preparing the polenta.
For the mushrooms: * oil * 1 shallot, diced small (or ½ onion) * 2 handfuls of your favourite mushrooms, sliced * 2 thyme sprigs * Marsala wine (optional) * salt and pepper * cream
In a large saucepan, heat up the oil on medium heat. Add the shallots and cook until softened, about 1-2 minutes. Add the mushrooms and thyme leaves. Season with salt and pepper. Add marsala wine if using. Add a bit (or moreto make it saucier) of cream. Once the mushrooms are cooked, set aside.
Putting everything together: Coat bottom of pan in olive oil and heat to medium high heat (it has to be high enough or it will stick). Place a cake on the pan and DON’T move it. Let it fry for 2-3 minutes per side untouched. Flip and repeat. Drain on paper towels. Top with mushrooms. Tada!
Frying the polenta.
I would definitely make this recipe again and would consider making small dainty portions to serve as an appetizer. I still really like the idea of mushrooms in the polenta and would try that next time. While mushrooms is often served on polenta, so many other vegetables, such as asparagus could also be served on top.
I really love canh. What is canh? It's the Vietnamese term for soup. Most Vietnamese meals never go without any canh. It accompanies rice and the main dishes. You can have canhas a side, or I sometimes scoop some canh into my bowl of rice. What's great about canh is that it's actually quite simple to make. It's usually a basic soup and so doesn't require many ingredients. One can make a canh with only a vegetable, a protein, some salt and water. It's a great way to try and taste new vegetables!
It's common to make canh out of greens and one canh that my mom makes is canh xà lách son, xà lách son being watercress. I like watercress in its raw form in salads, but it's pretty tasty cooked too. Try it out!
Canh Xà Lách Son (Vietnamese Watercress Soup) This soup can be made in under 15 minutes.
* oil * 1 Tbsp very finely diced onion * 1-2 Tbsp ground pork * salt and pepper, to taste * watercress, washed and cut in 3" sections (I just use scissors) * 2 cups water
In a small pot, heat up oil. Add onion and pork. Season with salt and pepper. Once the pork is cooked through, add 2 cups of water Add the watercress. Bring the water to a boil. Turn off. Taste and adjust seasoning to taste. Tada!
1862 Rue Ste-Catherine Ouest Montréal, Québec 514.937.2333
On a quick visit to Montréal, my sister and I dropped by Kazu. She'd been raving about this izikaya and I really wanted to try their ramen (because I have never tried ramen before...). Since Kazu only offers ramen at lunch time we dropped by at noon, and it was quite packed with a business crowd. We were able to squeeze onto two chairs by the counter.
Kazu and view from our counter seats.
The lunch menu wasn't very extensive, with about 10 offerings. My sister wanted to try something that was only available at dinner time, so she stuck to her favourite: the tuna and salmon bowl. I obviously had to order the ramen, with chicken I believe (this visit was over 2 months ago...). Our dishes started with a soup and a potato salad.
Soup and potato salad.
Elle's (I'll start using her blog name!) tuna and salmon bowl was piled high with crispy noodles. At the base was sushi rice, topped with fish and a generous amount of vegetables. Elle really likes the dressing and she mixed everything together.
Tuna and salmon bowl.
I was quite excited to receive my ramen bowl. It seemed to have a lot going on: ground pork, seaweed, an egg, snow beans and greens. One of my favourite components tasted like pickled daikon. The noodles (that Elle thought were made on the spot) had a great texture. The broth was quite flavourful. Just as I imagined and more!
Bowl of ramen noodles.
Elle and I decide to splurge a bit and shared a green tea ice cream. We were surprised to see that the green tea flavouring came in powder form. Still, it was quite enjoyable.
Kazu was quite delicious. I really want to come back and try the shrimp burger!! I will definitely have to re-visit!
As an accompaniment to the crab bisque, I was inspired by a popcorn shrimp recipe I saw on Chuck's Day Off. The deep fried version looked mouth watering but I thought I could make a healthier version by pan frying the shrimps instead.
* shrimps * salt, to taste * red chili flakes * 1 egg, beaten * cornstarch * oil
Season shrimps with salt and chili flakes. Dip in egg and then in cornstarch. On high heat, add oil in a frying pan. Add shrimps to the pan. Fry on one side for a minute or two; flip to fry the other side. Tada!
Shrimps in egg wash and pan frying them.
This recipe could not be easier and it tasted great! I barely noticed that the shrimps were not actually deep fried. The cornstarch gave the shrimps a crispy coating. Properly seasoning the shrimps made them perfect little salty treats. These would probably be good dipped in sweet chili sauce.
I have been totally neglecting this blog in 2011. Now I have a little backlog of posts and don't really know where to start. I will start with this crab bisque that I made back in January and hopefully, this will get the ball rolling!
I really wanted to make a bisque but killing a crustacean made me nervous. I collected my courage and headed to my nearby Asian grocery store, where I debated between lobster and crab. The lobsters seemed emaciated so I finally came home with a very large crab in a paper bag. I have to admit that he freaked me out a bit, trying to attack me with his claws. But I won in the end and enjoyed a lovely bisque.
Cooking a crab I may have called my mom in a panic to ask her what to do with a crab. A helpful hint she did provide is that since I bought a Dungeness crab there was no need for added salt since the salty ocean water would make the crab salty. I thought picking out the crabmeat was the most labour intensive step of this recipe but fresh crabmeat is worth it!
* 1 Dungeness crab, 1 to 1-½ lb. each
Place the crab in a large pot (I used tongs to not get clawed!). Add about a cup of water - it should not cover the crab but will steam it. Add half an onion. Cover and cook for 10-15 minutes. Twist off the legs and claws and set aside. Place the crab on its back and pull off the small triangular apron-shaped shell flap, then insert your thumb underneath the top shell and pull it off. Remove the dark gray intestines and the feather-shaped white spongy gills from the body and discard. Rinse the crab body well. Break the body in half and remove the meat from the cavities. Crack the legs in several places and remove the meat. Set aside the crabmeat in a bowl. Crack the large claws and carefully remove the meat from each claw in a single piece. Slice the meat and set aside for garnish. Using kitchen shears, cut the shells into small pieces; set aside for the broth.
This guy donated himself to my bisque. Thank you!
Making bisque
* 1 Tbsp unsalted butter * 1 small yellow onion, chopped * 1 carrot, peeled and coarsely chopped * 1 celery stalk, coarsely chopped * ¾ cups chopped tomatoes (fresh or canned) * ¾ cups dry white wine such as Sauvignon Blanc * 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour * 3 cups water * ½ cup heavy cream * pinch of cayenne pepper * salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
In a saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Add the onion, carrot and celery and sauté, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are soft, about 15 minutes. Add the crab shells, tomatoes and wine. Sprinkle the flour over the top and stir to mix well. Add water and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly. Strain the broth through a sieve and transfer to a clean soup pot.
Making the crab broth.
Place the pot over low heat and bring to a gentle simmer. Stir in the cream and cayenne and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Add the reserved crabmeat and heat through. Ladle into bowls and garnish with the claw meat. Tada!
The bisque provided a concentrated flavour of crab. I loved the orange hue of the soup. I did not blend any of the meat so I could enjoy the lumps of meat with the broth. It's a bit time consuming, but well worth the effort. If you want to wow guests this is the recipe to make. You can prepare the broth in advance and just need to heat it up, add the cream and season right before serving. It will be a guaranteed winner!
**************************************************************************** My friend M and I snagged tickets to the opening night of Anita Lo at Koko for the Montréal Highlights Festival. Koko is a very trendy restaurant that is part of the also trendy Opus Hotel.
I was pretty excited to find out that the theme of this year’s festival was "Celebrating Women" and even more so when I saw that Anita Lo, executive chef and owner of Anissa Restaurant in New York, was one of the headliners. M was also enthusiastic about eating food cooked by this Top Chef Masters and Michelin star chef.
We arrived right on time for our 6 pm reservation. We were then sent to the restaurant lobby where our coats were checked and we had to wait a bit more. We finally were seated at a small table next to a huge lounging square leather bench that was a little too trendy for my liking. Unfortunately, we missed out first chance to order a drink (we had quick phone calls to make) and it took a while for the waiter to get back to us. We could see the maître d' and hostess running around; the waiters were still getting last minute info as we were seated but we were pretty much the first guests to arrive.
When the waiter finally arrived to ask us if we’d be taking the wine flight ($125) or not ($75), we asked if there was still time for a cocktail. We were told yes and happily took the waiter's suggestion of the house cocktail: a vodka, passion fruit and blood orange martini served since the opening of the hotel ($12.49). We were not disappointed. It was amazing; the blood orange really came through.
The first course consisted of tuna sashimi with mentaiko and radishes. It was amazing. The tuna was so fresh and the texture was perfect. It was accompanied by thin slices of radishes, microgreens, scallions, and (I’m pretty sure) rice paddy herb. The pollock roe was in a mayonnaise-like sauce which tasted strangely egg-y to me; I could have gone without. M really appreciated the accompaniment of radishes for texture. It was accompanied by Kinuyuki JunmaiGinjo, a sake sake which we were not digging.
Tuna sashimi with mentaiko and radishes.
The service glitch came about at this time, on top of not geting a bread basket until the second course. We were served our wine pairing but didn’t see our second course until the waiter came to give us our third wine pairing and we told him we hadn’t received the second course yet. He was surprised, served us our third wine anyway and mumbled something about a rush. We were working really hard on the dissatisfied faces at this point. It took us two hours to get 2 courses. I think that since our neighbors complained the rush was put on them at our expense.
The second course, sea urchin and chanterelle chawan mushi with lotus roots, intrigued us and pushed our adventurous side. Having heard so much of chawan mushiI was looking forward to trying it, but savoury custard is not really my thing. This one tasted like a miso soup in custard form. The sea urchin was a bit lost on me. The texture was very similar to the custard and the fresh ocean salt taste was a bit lost in the dashi-soy flavouring of the custard (and M kept jabbering about it being booggers). The one thing I did appreciate was the chanterelles and the cubes of crunchy lotus seeds that we didn’t realize were sitting at the bottom of our ramekin (I figured the lotus root chip topping was it!). This was our least favourite dish of the evening. The wine, D’Arenberg Hermit Crab Marsanne (McLaren Vale 2008, AUS), was lovely and had a grassy very unexpected bouquet but tasted nothing like what it smelled. Sorry can’t get much more into it than that.
Sea urchin and chanterelle chawan mushi with lotus roots.
The third course of grilled sea scallops with loufah (sic), sweet miso and bacon was a homerun! Two scallops charred to perfection sat on thinly sliced loofah with a runny sauce and dabs of sweet miso sprinkled with crunchy bits of bacon topped with microgreens. The bitterness of the char brought out the sweetness of the scallops, which were amazingly fresh. This was a hit with both of us as was the fourth course. The scallops were so good I don’t remember the wine (it was Sella & Mosca, Thilion, Alghero DOC, Sardinia 2008, ITA).
Grilled sea scallops with loufah (sic), sweet miso and bacon
Following the third course, we received a quick visit from the owner or manager (information carefully garnered by M’s eavesdropping) of the restaurant who was wining and dining food critics (including Lesley Chesterman of Gazette fame) around us, one of which was pretty out there but also providing us which much needed entertainment! She asked us how things were going and I was too polite to say anything and she was very quick so I felt I didn’t get the chance to, and was quickly scolded for it by M who didn’t dare either! M suggested she was trying to save the situation after the mishap.
The waiter returned for the wine pairing (Pfeiffer Shiraz, Rutherglen 2009, AUS) for the next course and committed a major faux pas by firstly, pouring a red into a white wine glass and secondly a glass that had been already used. The roasted rack of lamb with South African flavourings was cooked perfectly, with a side of meat stuffing with peanuts, raisins and spices that strangely reminded me of a Moroccan influence. The stuffing was topped with a white disk that resembled paneer in texture and taste but we were both unsure of what it was. There was a very acidic dark sauce also laced with spices that I wasn’t fond of but M enjoyed. The roasted carrots were glazed and deliciously sweet. The shiraz was very nice and paired well, but I can’t say I can distinguish it from other shiraz I’ve liked.
Roasted rack of lamb with South African flavourings.
The last course, warm poppy seed bread and butter pudding with Meyer lemon curd, was underwhelming in description, but really delicious. The bread pudding had the loveliest texture and offered great contrast with the crunchy crust. The Meyer lemon sauce was out of this world. The sweet Muscat (Rosenblum Cellars, Gallagher Reserve, Black Muscat, California 2006, USA) paired quite well with the acidity of the curd.
Warm poppy seed bread and butter pudding with Meyer lemon curd.
The restaurant owner/manager visited again at the end of our meal and I missed my second chance to bring up our issues. It was interesting to see ingredients that I’m familiar with used in other applications such as the rice paddy herb and the loofah. All in all a great meal, the service could have been better, the waiter was polite and more attentive than most but waiting an hour for a course was definitely not appreciated. But we will definitely be keeping our eyes out next year for another dinner to try.
