Chinese New Year Dinner - Tapas Style

I covered the dumplings I made in the previous post, but I didn't highlight any of the other food we ate for New Year's dinner. When I told my sister that we would be having a bunch of dishes but small portions of each, I said we would be having dinner, tapas style. She replied that it meant we would have a lot of random crap for dinner. I said it was fusion cuisine.

Fusion cuisine or not, the food turned out to be really good. My favorite was the bok choy. I was craving green vegetables after being stuck at school all week; weekends are my time to go home and eat my leafy green veggies. The bok choy was boiled and then simply dressed with some oyster sauce and sesame oil - so good and easy. If I had more vegetables, I would make them in this style.

My second favorite dish was the fried rice. It had lap cheong, or Chinese sausage, in it, and I love fried rice with Chinese sausage. Chinese sausage just adds such flavor to fried rice, or any dish for that matter. If you can eat pork, and you can stomach an ingredient list that reads like a liposuction checklist (pork back fat, pork fat....), then I would get a package of Chinese sausage from an Asian grocery store posthaste. It's really easy to cook, and so versatile. But perhaps that's a different post.

The fish came out better than I thought it would. I tried my best to follow this recipe, but I was lacking a lot of things. The two ingredients I was most irritated about not having were the green onions and the shaoxing rice wine. Last semester, I grew green onions on my windowsill so I could always have them, but after I forgot to change the water a couple of times, some funky stuff grew alongside the green onions and I ended up throwing them away. I was going to buy some green onions at a pre-storm shopping trip, but for whatever reason, I decided against it, leaving me green onion-less for New Year's dinner. I've also been meaning to take some rice wine from my house so I don't have to buy an entire bottle to keep at school, but I also didn't do that before being trapped in my apartment. I know dry sherry is the traditionally recommended shaoxing substitute, but I don't have dry sherry. Google told me that a dry white wine or sake could be substituted, and I fortunately have some sake that no one wants to drink.

I actually enjoyed steaming process. I used my MacGyver skills in the kitchen to rig up a steam setup (actually, I just remembered a tip from David Chang's Momofuku book about elevating dishes out of water).

 
The plate with the fish went on the foil donut, and a lid went over the plate. I say "the lid went over the plate" and not "the lid went on the wok" because the wok doesn't have a lid. We took a big pot lid and put it over the plate, trying not to touch the fish. The fish was steamed until done, the ginger was discarded and new ginger added, hot oil was poured over the ginger and fish, and a soy sauce/sake/brown sugar sauce was cooked and poured over the oily fish. Except, the hot oil poured over the fish wasn't hot enough to crisp anything or heat the ginger, so I ended up pouring the soy mixture over the fish, deciding I was unhappy with the dish, pouring all the liquids back together in the wok to heat up, and trying again. It came out tasting okay. Not restaurant-quality, but it wasn't bad.

The instant udon was nothing special. I really love instant udon, so it was awesome for me, but it wasn't anything I would bring out for special occasions. I just followed package directions and cooked it.

All-in-all, we had a lot of food to eat, an excellent way to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit!

And, of course, we had oranges and tangerines for dessert. I cut the oranges into their own serving bowl at my sister's request.

As a digression, I would just like to say that I could not have cooked this dinner without all the stuff I've accumulated in my kitchen. Lack of rice wine aside, I had enough sauces, spices, and other consumable goods to actually make dinner good. If you are ever about to be trapped in a snowstorm, I would say, in all seriousness, buy a lot of shit. Cooking is a lot easier to improvise if you have a lot of materials to work with. Especially sesame oil and Chinese sausage. That stuff makes anything taste and smell delicious.   

Pink Bunny eating orange fruits and drinking orange drink.

Chinese New Year Dinner - Dumplings

With all the snow that hit the Midwest, I've had more time and reasons to cook. Instead of visiting the school cafeteria, Taco Bell, or just going home for meals, I've actually had to fend for myself and cook. This was exciting, until I realized Chinese New Year was on Thursday. And I had virtually no access to a regular grocery store, let alone the Asian grocery store. (I have friends who trekked through the snow to the nearest store to buy food, but I'm not that hardy. I've inherited a lot of Campbell's soup from a roommate; if I ever finish all of it and still can't drive to the store, I will probably die in my apartment.) I had to whip up a Chinese New Year's dinner with only things in my kitchen.

Fortunately, there was one fish filet in my freezer - I could still have the traditional fish dish, even if there was only one piece. I had some leftover rice, so I could make some fried rice. My mother insisted on giving my a bag of vegetables before I left for school at the beginning of the week because she was worried that the impending snow storm was going to cut off all of my food lines. While that was a bit of overkill (the school cafeteria remained open), I had some fresh bok choy for a Chinese dinner. My mother also gave me some instant udon noodles. While not ideal for a Chinese New Year noodle dish, I figured it was ethnically closer than the spaghetti noodles I had - noodle dish solved. Later, I remembered I had a box of instant teriyaki-flavored noodles in my cabinet, but that can be dinner for another night. Teriyaki chicken served over a bed of teriyaki noodles, anyone?!

The final coup de grace involved making dumplings from scratch. I had no ground pork or Napa cabbage, the usual fillings I eat in my dumplings. Instead, I had a chicken breast and the bok choy. I didn't have any dumpling wrappers, but, fortunately, wrappers made from scratch only require flour and water. I relied heavily on this recipe from my favorite food blog to make the dough. I halved the recipe, only to make another half batch to finish wrapping the filling. I wasn't able to roll the dumping dough as thin as I needed it to be, so I ended up with less than 56 wrappers. I partially blame by poor gluten-handling skills, but I also apportion blame on the fact that I don't have a rolling pin at my apartment and had to use this:

My Nalgene bottle

 and

Another water bottle.

I definitely think the wrappers could have been thinner, especially after they were boiled. Some of the thicker-walled dumplings had a starchy, sticky kind of mouthfeel after they were boiled.

Even though the rolling part was kind of suspect, we ended up with filled dumplings.

Note the wonton interloper on the tray. And how only one of them is pleated correctly.

The filling for the dumplings came out surprisingly well, especially for something that was thrown together from only on-hand things.

Keeping everything small for easy filling.

Snowed-In Chinese New Year Dumplings
Served 3, with other food, plus leftovers. So maybe 4-ish?

• 1 chicken breast, diced into small pieces
• Bok choy stems, diced (I used enough to equal the volume of the chicken breast.)
• Ginger root, diced (I ended up with about a teaspoon or so of ginger. Most of the ginger was going to the fish)
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• Dumpling wrappers, as needed

Combine everything except the wrappers. Mix until all the liquids are evenly dispersed. You'll know when this is.
I used a small spoon to dump the filling onto the wrappers, which ended up being around 1.5 teaspoons of filling per dumpling. But use your best judgment; if you managed to roll your wrappers thinner and larger, use more. Or maybe you like a high wrapper to filling ratio; use less. Keep filling until the chicken mixture is gone.
Depending on the kind of wrapper you used, the closure method will differ. In my experience, store-bought wrappers need a little liquid to help them seal, but for the homemade wrappers I had, I just pinched them shut without additional liquid. Try pinching the wrappers shut. If they don't stay shut, use a little water or cornstarch slurry to seal them.
Once the dumplings are sealed, boil or steam them to cook. I boiled these by dumping them in a pot of boiling water. Once they float to the top, I let them cook for a minute or two more, and then I take them out. I also fried some of them after they had boiled.

Boiled only.

Fried afterward in a wok with some oil.

We served these with soy sauce and sesame oil - yum!

Misleading Meal

One day I got this frozen dinner for a nighttime snack:

 Look at all those delicious pieces of bacon and all the delicious green peas.

I open the box and heat it up only to find out the pasta is really like this:

Yeah, I separated out all the components, but I didn't eat any of the bacon bits or peas.  That's how many peas and bacon bits I got total.  I think the peas numbered in the single digits to low teens.

If I sprinkled all the peas and bacon on top of my half eaten pasta, the concentration of toppings would look like the box picture.

Date (the fruit, not the romantic encounter) Dinner

Those samplers at Sam's Club know what they're doing. I once had a "Fancy Medjool Date" handed to me on a toothpick by an elderly lady wearing a hairnet, and I was delighted. The date was gooey and honey/raisin-y. My mom hated it, but I wanted to eat more.

Maybe it was serendipity, maybe it was good seasonal planning on MSLO's part, but a few weeks later I got an issue of Everyday Food magazine in which the "Have You Tried...?" section highlighted....Wheat Germ!

I jest. It was dates, everyone's least known drupe fruit!

The next time I was at Sam's Club, I bought dates so I could make two of the dishes from the magazine - a delicious chicken dish and a festive date pudding.

The braised chicken with dates was surprisingly delicious. I was weary of the yellowish, watery mass that was the braising chicken, but it was pretty tasty, especially with couscous.

 There are a lot of onions, so this dish has to be good.  There are few things more mouthwatering than the smell of sauteing onions when I'm hungry.

Dates in the background, minced ginger in the foreground.
 

Mmm.  These assorted chicken parts have been browned for flavor, but are still raw and teeming with Salmonella and E. Coli and all sorts of other bacteria inside.

Cooking the sauce with dates, cilantro, and spices.

Braised Chicken with Dates
(from Everyday Food magazine, or Martha Stewart's website)
Serves 4

• 1 whole chicken (3.5-4 lbs, quartered) OR 4 split breasts OR 4 leg quarters    (I didn't have a quartered chicken, so I used 3 leg quarters and 2 thighs.  All in all, I preferred the thighs.  They were much easier to eat.)
• Salt
• Ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 yellow onions, chopped finely
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika (or regular paprika.  It works just as well.)
• 2 tablespoons fresh ginger, peeled and minced
• 3/4 teaspoon ground coriander (I omitted this and it was fine.)
• 2.5 cups water
• 1 cup chopped pitted dates (about 4 ounces)
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
• 2 lemons, halved, for serving (or not.  I didn't want to buy a lemon, so I left this out.)

Salt and pepper the chicken pieces.  Heat the olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven (if you are so fortunate as to have one) over medium-high heat.  Cook the chicken, skin side down, until it is brown and crisp, about 6 minutes.  Flip the chicken and cook for about 6 minutes more.  Transfer the chicken to a plate.
Add onions to the pot, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft, about 5 minutes.  Add the ginger, paprika, and coriander.  Cook for 2 minutes, stirring. 
Place chicken evenly over the onions and spices.  Add the water and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook until chicken is done, about 40-45 minutes.
Move the chicken to a serving dish.  Increase the heat to high and boil the cooking liquid until it is reduced by half, 12 to 15 minutes. 
Stir in dates and cilantro.  Season with salt and pepper. 
Pour sauce over chicken and serve with lemon halves and couscous. 

Chicken with sauce and couscous.  A hearty Middle Eastern-esque dinner.

Pork Potpourri

I went to a casino a couple of months ago (last year, in 2009!) and I had THE MOST DELICIOUS pork chops in my entire life.

They were labeled as an unassuming "Pork Chops with Fruit Chutney", but after I took my first bite, I was in a gluttonous heaven. The pork was coated with bread crumbs and herbs, and the fruit chutney was a very wintry mix of cranberries and apples laced with cinnamon. The pork was juicy; the fruit chutney was flavorful. I kept cramming pork and fruit into my mouth to bask in the deliciousness. If no one else were at the restaurant, and the floor were cleaner, I would have rolled around, twitching in frenzied delight.

I got three servings. It was that good.

This recipe isn't exactly the same thing, but it helps stave off cravings until I get back to the buffet. It's from a recipe I found on Recipezaar while I frantically searched the Internet for the original. It does have the benefit of smelling really good while it's cooking, hence the "potpourri" title. Also, I needed a "p" word to keep up with the alliteration.

Pork, onions, and apples, marinating in their own juices. Is that kosher?

Browning some onions. They smell delicious, especially if you're starving.

Maillard-reactioning the pork.

Pork buried under a monochromatic layer of onions and apples. It's like a pretentious painting title.

Cranberries, courtesy of the school's cafeteria.

I think rice is a delicious accompaniment to pork and fruits. But I think rice is delicious with almost anything.

Pork Chops with Apples and Cranberries
(from Recipezaar)
Serves 4

• 1 large onion, halved, sliced
  
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  
• 4-6 boneless pork chops, about 3/4-inch thickness
  
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1/4 cup flour
  
• 2 cups coarsely chopped apples (about 2 small apples or 1 medium apple. I've used Fuji and Granny Smiths/generic red apples from the school cafeteria. Both were delicious.)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  
• 1/2 cup apple cider or apple juice (I have apple juice on hand so that's what I always use.)
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
  
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  
• 1 dash ground allspice
  
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries (Craisins!)
  

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Melt the butter and saute the onions until they are lightly browned.
While the onions are cooking, salt and pepper the pork chops, and then dredge them in flour.
Once the onions are done, move them to a plate. Add the vegetable oil to the skillet and cook the pork chops, about 2 minutes on each side. Each side should be golden brown. If there's not enough space in the skillet for all of them at once, cook the pork in batches.
While the pork is cooking mix the apples, lemon juice, apple cider, brown sugar, cinnamon, and allspice in a bowl or something.
Once all the pork is cooked, add the onions on top. Be sure to wedge all the pork chops back if they were cooked in batches. Add the apple 'n' apple juice mixture to the skillet.
Bring the juices to a simmer, reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook uncovered for 5 minutes.
Cover the skillet and cook for 20 minutes. (I like to read food blogs and drool while I wait. The dish smells really fragrant and delicious.)
Uncover the skillet and add the cranberries. Stir and cook for 2 more minutes.
Alternatively, cook covered for 19 minutes, then add the cranberries and cook for 3 more minutes. I like my cranberries to be fully hydrated and soft.
Add salt to taste. I think a good sprinkling of salt enhances this dish, but I like salt.

So luscious....

Garlic Glorification

Who doesn't love garlic? People always complain about garlic and garlic breath, but everyone I know really likes garlic in his/her food.

To celebrate all things garlic, we made cheesy garlic bread, cream of garlic soup, and some green beans almondine with garlic salt for supper.

The garlic bread is from the Pioneer Woman Cooks blog. It is EXTREMELY filling. I couldn't finish my piece (and I eat a lot). This could have been because we added extra cheese, and our pieces were halves of the loaves.

Look at all of that cheese. @_@

I could, however, finish all of the garlic soup. It was pretty good for just garlic, bread, and onions with broth and cream. The hardest part was watching the bread and garlic to make sure it didn't burn. I failed that part....but the good news is, if everything isn't super burned, you can cut off the burned parts and resume cooking. That's what we did, and we didn't think it was that bad.

One thing I would have changed was the size of big pieces of garlic in the finished soup.  The next time I make this soup, I would either use a blender to puree the cooked garlic cloves or roughly chop them and add them back to the soup.  I love garlic, but even I find biting into a whole clove of garlic disconcerting.  I would have preferred smaller bits in my soup.

This is a good soup for a winter night.

Cooking some breads in a pot.

Bread + stock. It's getting more soup-like.

Wow! It looks like a Campbell's product?

Cream of Garlic Soup
(from Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin by Kenny Shopsin and Carolynn Carreño)
Serves 4

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 12 whole peeled garlic cloves
• 6 to 8 inches of baguette, cut into cubes
• 2 thick slices onion, chopped
  
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 teaspoons grated Parmesan cheese
• Ground nutmeg (optional)
• Salt and pepper (optional)

Heat butter in a saute pan (or pot) over high heat. When the butter is hot, but before it browns, add the garlic and bread cubes. Brown them on all sides, but watch to make sure they don't burn. (This happened to me. I didn't watch the pot closely enough and burned some of the garlic. I ended up cutting off all the burnt segments so the soup wouldn't be bitter.  While you have the garlic out to cut off the burnt sides, you could chop or puree them.)
Add the chopped onion and saute until soft and translucent but not brown, about 4 to 5 minutes.
Add stock and whisk. Keep whisking until the bread is sort of disintegrated into the broth. The crusts didn't really disintegrate for me, so I eventually gave up.
Add the cream and Parmesan cheese.
Stir some more until cream is heated. Add salt and pepper if desired. Also, add the nutmeg now if you don't top the bowls with it.
Ladle out the soup into bowls (or plates?). Season to taste with salt, pepper, and nutmeg if you haven't done so already.

It's my soup in a bowl! (OooOOhhh.)
Soup in a bowl? Dick in a box? Get it? No?

One of my roommates made the green beans almandine from what I can only assume is a secret family recipe. It was a nice green counterpoint to the cheesy bread and creamy soup.