Simply Sophisticated: Seafood Risotto May 4, 2008

Risotto is like a great little black dress. It’s very simple to make yet it gives that feeling of sophistication and class, and is appropriate for any occasions – for a dinner party with friends, or on a lazy night like tonight.

I realized that I hadn’t cooked anything in a long time so I thought tonight would a great time to put on an apron (okay, I don’t do that), roll up my sleeves and slave over the stove for a fantastic supper. But the problem is, I didn’t really want to get down and dirty and also wasn’t crazing anything particularly extravagant (I think the recent heat wave in the Valley has gotten to me a bit. It’s been pretty hot lately, especially in the armpit of hell where I live) so I needed something simple and quick but still satisfies like a real, meaningful dinner. 

Remembering that I still had Arborio rice left from my last risotto attempt and some chicken broth in a pantry (yes, I don’t eat the flesh of the meat but I still freely consume animal products when it comes in a liquid form … haha), I decided to give this Italian comfort food another try.  Only this time, instead of mushrooms and pancetta, I made it with shrimps and scallops I had in a refrigerator.

If Risotto is a little black dress, La Cruset pot is like a wonderful pair of Jimmy Choo heels that completes the outfit. This lime green cast iron pot is magical, and there’s no other way to describe it. The way it makes chopped onion and carrots caramelize is nothing short of perfection, and it has a way of making the cooking process incredibly enjoyable.
With a glass of iced Riesling in her arm, my Risotto was definitely the talk of the party tonight.

 

Vegetarian Feast for My Sister’s Birthday! March 18, 2008

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I’ve been meat-free for more than a month now and I’m happy to report that I haven’t cheated yet. I thought I wouldn’t last a week on this new diet but it seems like semi-vegetarian lifestyle actually suites well with me (I call it “semi” because I still eat fish. Come on, I can’t be that good!).
I hosted a birthday party for my sister the other day and presented a meat-free dinner to a skeptical crowd. Although we had a couple of meat-and-potato guys, dishes were a hit. Even the manly men enjoyed a fresh Nicoise Salad …
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Insalata Caprese …
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Crimini Mushroom with Gorgonzola Cheese and Sun-Dried Tomatoes …
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baked pasta with cream sauce and Greek Salad.
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Happy birthday, Saori!

My New Love: Portobello Panini with Goat Cheese February 8, 2008

I’ve got a total girl crush on Ellie Krieger. Seriously. She’s got some serious poise, class, and a great sense of style in all the dishes she creates. It’s only been a few weeks since my acquisition of her newest cookbook but it’s climbing up to be one of my favorite cookbooks in my small but nutrient-packed collection. My undisputed Domestic Goddess is, and always will be, Nigella Lawson (I worship her) but Ellie is not far behind.
My latest recreation from her cookbook, The Food You Crave, is this Portobello Panini with Gorgonzola and Sun-Dried Tomatoes. My version is slightly different because I used goat cheese I already had in a refrigerator instead of Gorgonzola, and I added a handful of spinach to make this panini a slightly more nutritious and colorful one. I also reconstituted and sandwiched more sun-dried tomatoes than the recipe called for because I love the tangy flavor of the tomatoes. The leftover baby spinach turned into a smoked salmon and capers salad that I added on the side. A sprinkle of lemon juice on the Portobello panini brought all the flavors together and gave it a refreshing final touch. Boy, with meaty and satisfying dish like this, who needs meat?
Next up on my “recreation list,” is White Bean and Roasted Garlic Dip. Maybe I’ll try it out this weekend when we celebrate my father’s birthday!  Will keep you posted.

A Guilt-Free Cookbook: The Food You Crave by Ellie Krieger January 29, 2008

 

As much as I love to cook and bake, you’ll be surprised to see how little cookbooks I own. Cookbooks, for me, are serious business and I don’t take them lightly. Before a book can secure a coveted spot on my lovely Ikea bookshelf, it must undergo an extensive selection process. And although the criteria I set are fairly simple and straightforward, it’s surprising to learn how many books actually make the cut.

I know that we’re not suppose to judge a book by its cover but screw it, I do. The book must, above all, capture my attention immediately, or I won’t even open it. If the cover is not attractive, how good can the recipes inside be? Cookbooks are about food, and I savor food and books with my eyes first.

I’m not too critical about the amount of photographs inside though. Believe it or not, some of my all-time favorite cookbooks have absolutely no pictures in them. For me, the written words are as delicious, or even more decadent, than pretty glossies. Well-chosen words tell a beautiful story, recreate a special experience, and paint a colorful flavor in my mind. And that is a real treat.

Last but not least, I need to feel the love. The book must have passion, pride, inspiration, a defined point of view, and yes, love. It must also be something that has a tremendous meaning to the author. I don’t look at cookbooks solely as a source of good recipes but also as a dialogue between two people who love and respect food very much.

 

 

My latest cookbook acquisition is Ellie Krieger’s The Food You Crave, which focuses on recreating food we love and crave, only healthier. My ritual when I first bring home the baby is to sit down with a cup of tea, go through the book from cover to cover and mark all the recipes that I would like to try with little stickies. By the time I finished skimming through the book, I had marked more than 30 recipes! Everything in this book is fabulous, using fresh and healthy ingredients. I cannot wait to try Grilled Zucchini Roll-Ups with Herbs adn Cheese (pictured above), Crab Salad in Crisp Wonton Cups, and Portobello Panini with Gorgonzola and Sun-Dried Tomatoes!  How delicious, healthy and satisfying do these sound?  I really appreciate the fact that Krieger, a registered dietitian, included nutrition information on each dish too.

 

 

Well, speaking of healthy and satisfying, I prepared this huge bowl of salad for dinner tonight (serves 2 as dinner, 4 as appetizers). This did not come from Krieger’s book, but it was inspired by a couple of recipes she created that used some of the same ingredients. This is a combination of savory smoked salmon, tangy goat cheese, meaty sautéed Portobello and Shitake mushrooms, creamy cannelloni beans, red onion slices, capers and a vinaigrette dressing on a bed of baby spinach. I bought each ingredient with an intention of creating couple dishes, but I got lazy so I decided to throw everything in a bowl and call it a salad. Despite the sloppy exterior, the salad was absolutely divine, healthy and complete guilt free.

The Food You Crave

By Ellie Krieger

★★★★★

Her Food Network show, Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger, is pretty darn amazing too! 

New Year, New Challenge: Bibimbap January 11, 2008

Look! I spent all day in the kitchen preparing this beautiful Bibimbap for dinner! Okay, I’m lying. These vegetables and marinated pork belly came in plastic containers, courtesy of a neighborhood Korean mega store. God bless them.
Although Korean cuisine tops as one of my all-time favorites (I would say my favorites are ① Japanese, ② Korean, and ③ Italian, in that order), I know nothing about how to prepare any of the dishes. The pungent spices used in Korean dishes are so mysterious to my taste buds that I can never decipher what is what. The fermented soybean pastes aisle at a store alone has rows and rows of selections (which makes my head spin) so I can imagine the complexity, depth and uniqueness of each of ingredient.
Learning a thing or two about how to cook Korean food definitely sits on top of my culinary “to do” list for 2008. I grew up eating Kimchi and Gulgogi but our family never made them at home so I’ve decided that I’m going to be the first one in the family to make my own kimchi! I found a kimchi recipe in a Japanese lifestyle magazine called Esse (I would say it’s a Japanse equivalent of Real Simple), and although it’s not Korean, I trust this recipe will deliver an authentic result. I’ll keep you posted : - )

Delicious Present: Pan-Fried Gyozas January 9, 2008

I still can’t believe Christmas is over. I mean, we spend many months preparing for the big day – shopping for gifts, writing cards, and arranging travel – and bam! it’s over. Just like that. And why is it that even though Christmas falls on the exact same day, every single year, and we still manage to get blindsided by how quickly the day arrives, especially when you’re not prepared? It makes me feel like the end result, although festive and heart warming, doesn’t match up to all the headaches and hard work you had to endure to get there.
There are some things, however, that are worth all the effort because the end result is so wonderful. To me, gyoza-making is one of those special exceptions where every ounce of effort is rewarded in every bite you take afterward.
These Japanese gyozas are so delicious that I willingly mix the cold ground beef with chopped napa cabbage and scallions with my own hands in the freezing kitchen and patiently wrap gazillions of these little dumplings (and make pretty creases). I even welcome the mindless, repetitious work (I actually find it enjoyable, which explains my knitting addiction) so making gyozas serve as somewhat of a therapy for me.

Traditional gyozas call for nira (chives) for filling but I usually substitute it by adding napa cabbage and scallions because they’re readily available. I personally like nira so much better and the cabbage and the scallions could not adequately replace the deep flavor of nira, but they still provide great texture to the gyoza.
Unlike the recipe that calls for dashi (fish stock), seaweed bits, flour or cornstarch, and any other special ingredients, our family recipe is quite simple. We just add finely chopped vegetables (water squeezed out) and ground beef together, and flavor the mixture with salt and pepper (preferably white), sesame oil, soy sauce, ginger and garlic. I sometime omit garlic because I like packing leftovers for lunch the following day and I don’t want to be socially unacceptable with the garlic breath.  I just add it to my dipping sauce made by combining soy sauce, rice vinegar and chili oil.

When all the gyozas are filled and wrapped, move them to a hot skillet and pan fry them with oil first. When the meat mixture is cooked (about 7 minutes on medium heat), crank up the heat to high and pour 1/2 cup of water and close the lid until the water completely vaporizes. This allows dumplings to steam, giving them the perfectly crunchy and moist texture. Just be careful not to put too much water, or you’ll end up with soggy gyozas.

What you get at the end of your patience and hard work are lovely presents wrapped beautifully in gyoza wrapper. These, for me, are so much better than gifts I find under the Christmas tree.

Flavor of Home: Spicy Albacore Hand Rolls January 8, 2008

I had been away from home for the last few days and although I’d been fed pretty well during that time, my body was craving for something home-y, particularly something with soy sauce in it (I’m so Japanese). I remembered that I still had a piece of albacore that my boyfriend caught in a freezer so I decided to make spicy albacore hand rolls for dinner. It was perfect because the preparation was quick and simple, and it certainly satisfied my soy sauce and steamed rice cravings!
I absolutely adore mayonnaise and I put a dollop of the smooth, tangy mayo on pretty much anything but there’s one place even the heavenly spread is off limit and that is in a spicy fish mix. Many sushi restaurants prepare spicy tuna and other rolls by adding mayo to the fish mixture, and while it provides the rich creaminess to the overall texture, I find that the distinct flavor of the fish that makes the rolls so delicious gets lost in it. I even think it’s the restaurants’ ploy to disguise the flavor of the fish that are past the expiration date or close to going bad (I’m just saying). I think there are so many other ways to heighten the flavor of the mixture without jeopardizing its integrity.
I made mine by mixing finely chopped scallions, grated garlic and ginger, sesame oil, chili oil (ra yu), a dash of soy sauce and a bit of miso paste with chopped albacore. I smashed the albacore and incorporated all the ingredients by using the face of a knife. The chili oil should give enough heat but if you can handle more, a several squirts of Sriracha should do the job. My boyfriend is the one who recently introduced me to the idea of putting miso in it and it certainly stuck with me.
I made sushi rice by adding sweet rice vinegar to steamed rice and I wrapped the rice and the albacore with seaweed for a homemade sushi roll.

It sure is nice to be home : - )

Happy New Year! Traditional Japanese Osechi Ryori January 2, 2008

I go back and forth about the idea of making New Year’s resolutions. A part of me (about 95% of me) thinks it’s pretty lame. Come on, what makes me believe that I’m going to finally overcome something that I could not do or stay committed for the last 364 days, simply because it’s the first of January? On the other hand, the optimistic part of me (which admittedly rarely peaks its head) likes the whole ritualistic aspect of starting the year fresh. So I compromised and decided to make a “To Do Checklist” for 2008 instead. Those are more realistic, action-oriented, hopefully obtainable goals, and none of the “I’m-going-to-lose-50 lbs.-by-April” crap.

1. Knit a cable knit bag.
2. Pack my own lunch as frequently as possible.
3. Visit 10 new restaurants.
4. Never go to sleep angry and tell loved ones how much I love them every day.
5. Start Etsy business.

Easy enough? We’ll just have to see (sorry, they weren’t really food related except for two)!

Well, here’s a New Year’s ritual that I can 100% appreciate – oshechi ryori. The first picture on top is from last year (New Year’s 2007), courtesy of my boyfriend’s family who prepared this beautiful boxed edible art for us. The rest are courtesy of my mother who slaved away in the kitchen the last two days to bring her family the Japanese New Year tradition this year.  Thank you, mom!  I love you! 

Nimono — one of my favorite dishes of all time!

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Burdock (gobo) Kinpira

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Takosu (octopus marinated in vinegar .. yum) and tazunoko (herring roe .. eeewww)
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Mashed yam and chest nuts

Happy New Year, everyone! May 2008 bring good health, happiness and friendship to you and your loved ones .. and of course, good food!

One-Plate Wonderland: Filet Mignon Christmas Dinner December 25, 2007

One thing I hear repeatedly from all my favorite chefs on Food Network is that entertaining doesn’t have to be hard work. This didn’t settle with me at first because I always associated the party’s success by the amount of effort you invested in preparing the supper, but I decided to take the advice from the experts and prepare a simple dinner for Christmas this year. This approach worked out perfectly because I had to work on Christmas Eve (boo) and I really didn’t have time to prepare a grandiose dinner. My boyfriend arriving early from work and helping me with the preparation made all the difference in the world. This was truly a collaboration : - )
I began the Christmas celebration with this little appetizer of sesame crackers, goat cheese brie, cucumber slices, smoked salmon and lemon wedges. I meant to get the regular goat cheese for tanginess but picked this one by accident (Trader Joe’s was just jammed packed all last week!) but it turned out as delicious as the original recipe. I make this appetizer at every opportunity I get because I just love the combination of soft cheese, refreshing cucumber and salty smoked salmon together in my mouth.  And they’re so colorful and fun to eat. 

The second appetizer was Portobello mushrooms stuffed with sautéed garlic, onion, pistachio, panko breadcrumbs, flavored with cayenne pepper, salt and pepper, and topped with Parmesan shavings. I like serving stuffed mushrooms for starter so the guests can start enjoying wine before dinner and they go so well together.

Next up was a very simple salad of baby arugula, sliced red onion and cannellini beans, with homemade vinaigrette dressing — my favorite!

Ever since my epicurean journey to the Northwest, I’ve been fascinated with the beauty of one-plate dinner where the plate becomes the chef’s canvas. I was dying to try something like that myself, so this was the perfect opportunity.  So for the main course, I decided to decorate the plate with festive Christmas colors of green, white and red.
For green, I sautéed and roasted zucchinis, which served as the base of the decoration. Next, to replicate snow, I made herb (thyme, rosemary and oregano) and garlic mashed potatoes, which sat in the center of the plate. I sautéed the spinach with balsamic vinegar for a little texture and additional green.  For red, I made a balsamic reduction to accompany the beef by cooking the vinegar with twigs of herbs for about 10 minutes until the liquid reduced to half.
The life of the party was definitely the filet mignon. My boyfriend was in charge of the meat (it’s a guy thing) and he made them simply divine. He seasoned each beef with salt and pepper, and rubbed minced garlic and chopped herbs (again, thyme, rosemary and oregano). He infused the olive oil with garlic wedges first and seared the meat for a few minutes on all sides, before putting them in the oven at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes. What came out was a perfectly juicy medium rare steak. Mmm. (oh, did I tell you that he’s close to being a professional chef?)

Christmas is such a special time where friends and family come together to enjoy their company. I hope you all have a merry Christmas and a prosperous 2008!

Dinner Impossible? Healthy Thanksgiving Dinner November 26, 2007

Changes are difficult to swallow, especially when it comes to something so grand like a holiday supper. But when my mother, an amazing chef, handed me the honor to cook the special dinner for the family this year, I was committed in making something fresh, homemade and healthy — unlike the usual artery-clotting delights that is Thanksgiving dinner.
I was determined to create everything from scratch this year, and none of the packaged stuff was to appear on the table. Most of the ingredients came from Whole Foods, and although they were a little more pricey than usual, the freshness made everything worth the extra splurge. Unfortunately, I could not afford the turkey from Whole Foods so I settled for Butterball’s 8.9-pound birdie, which turned out very juicy, tender and flavorful. I stuffed the bird with lemons and oranges, along with bundles of thyme and rosemary. Aside from giving turkey the light finish, putting citrus in the cavity seemed more humane than stuffing the bird with all the dressing up its behind …

I began the meal with leek and potato soup, a recipe courtesy of my favorite Gourmet Next Door, Amy Finley. I watched her prepare this simple but hearty soup on her new show the other day and got inspired to create a soup dish as a starter. I like Amy – the worthy winner of The Next Food Network Star (I even voted for her!) — and her cooking, which is very simple but elegant. Soup is not something that appears on our table regularly (unless it’s a miso soup) so I caught everyone by surprise when I brought out the warm, comfort delight. It was a bit tough to make this pureed soup without an immersion blender though. I had to use a regular blender and made a big mess (although it is nothing new when I’m in a kitchen)!

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The side dishes included:
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Brussels sprouts sautéed with minced shallots, garlic, and Pancetta. I used the thinly-sliced Pancetta and chicken broth to soften the Brussels sprouts to reduce the amount of oil that went into the pan. I made this especially for my father because ① he’s probably never had this strange looking vegetable before, and ② he is the biggest cabbage fan in the world.  I knew he would find the dish quite amuzing. 
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Sautéed spinach with red onion. This is such a simple but delicious dish. What makes it so delicious is the drizzle of balsamic vinegar that goes in right before serving. The tanginess of the vinegar really brings out the sweetness of the onion and spinach.
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Sweet mashed potato. I still don’t know the difference between yams and sweet potatoes but I think I used the latter … I steamed the potatoes instead of boiling them to help retain the flavor and nutrients and mashed it up with a tiny bit of half-and-half. Absolutely no sugar was added but it was sweet and absolutely heavenly. I think this was my favorite side dish of the night.
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Roasted zucchini and squash. I made my own version of Herb de Provence by mixing thyme, sage and rosemary to my course sea salt and sprinkled it generously on olive-oil-coated zucchini and squash and roasted in the oven for 30 minutes. I decorated the turkey platter with them.
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Stuffing. Okay, I cheated on this one. I bought the boxed stuffing and added chopped celery, carrots, onion and chicken broth to create this holiday staple. I mistakenly picked up the cornbread stuffing instead of the regular so I didn’t care too much for it. Bummer.
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Couple of the things I forgot to photograph were: ① Green bean casserole (Thanksgiving is not complete without the casserole!), ② Cranberry Sauce I made by cooking fresh berries in freshly-squeezed orange juice and a sprinkle of sugar. It was really tangy and tasted nothing like the canned one, and thought it was delicious, and ③ Spaghetti salad with romaine lettuce, which is my mother’s specialty and she made it for us.

Because I’m more a baker than a cook, I was most concerned about the outcome of the pumpkin pie. I made the Pate Brisee from scratch by mixing the flour and butter in a blender (yep, I don’t have a food processor either), blind baked it, and pour the pumpkin pie mixture. I thought the result was fabulous. The dough was flaky and the edges of the pie caramelized perfectly in the oven.
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It took me about four hours (except the turkey) to create everything for a small party but I had a blast! I can’t wait until Christmas dinner. And I would like to take this moment to send my sincere thanks to everybody and everything that makes my every day full of joy and happiness.
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