The Swing of Things

I've been at home, recuperating from my foot surgery, and I've really missed writing this blog, and most of all, cooking! We were down to a little bit of nothing in the fridge, in the way of proteins, and have been subsisting on take-out. My husband doesn't cook very often, and it's been quite an effort to stand in the kitchen and prep ingredients, so take-out was the solution. I think we exhausted about all of our options by the time I was ready to pull a list together and get some food in the house! Finally, last night, Peapod delivered, and our fridge is again stocked with delicious, fresh ingredients, and there's a menu hanging on the door. Ah, getting back into the swing of things now!

I decided to start off simple, with meals that don't take a ton of time, or prep...and best of all, clean up easily. I still have to take it easy on my foot, although I can walk on it, so short stints in the kitchen are best. For my first trick, Asari Sakamushi (Steamed Clams with Soy, Butter and Garlic) with a side of Thai-Style Brussels Sprouts. This meal took a total of about 20 minutes, with only about 8 minutes of actual cooking time, between the two dishes. It was so simple to pull together, totally delicious, and great for a hot summer's evening.

Between the two recipes, there were a total of 11 ingredients, which is great because I could pull everything out without too many trips to the pantry and fridge from my workspace near the stove. I gathered my bottles of olive oil, fish sauce, sake, and soy sauce, and then grabbed some roasted peanuts, garlic cloves, butter, scallions and a lemon. I had unpacked the groceries and left my Brussels sprouts and clams on the counter already so now I was ready to start! Instead of the Manila clams suggested in the recipe, I purchased about 3 pounds of steamers - they were on sale, and they are my favorite! I washed them in some cold water to remove a lot of the grit and set them aside. I trimmed, groomed, and halved my Brussels sprouts too, placing them in a bowl with the olive oil and fish sauce to marinate for a few minutes. That was the extent of the prep, aside from a little chopped garlic!

At the same time, I heated a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat, and also brought the sake and garlic to a boil in a separate deep-walled pan. I definitely had more than 30 clams so I wanted to make sure there was a lot of room for them to open. I placed the Brussels sprouts halved-side down into the cast iron skillet, and left them to caramelize while I tended to my clams. Once the sake was simmering, I poured those clams into the pan and covered them, leaving them to steam for the next 5 minutes. I don't think I've ever steamed clams in a pot with a clear cover before, and I have to stay that it was very cool to actually watch them cooking, and slowly opening. Maybe it's just been too long since I cooked a meal...but I was intrigued!

As the clams finished cooking, it was also time to stir the brussels sprouts and get the other side a bit more browned. I stirred them up, and then removed the clams from the pan with a slotted spoon. In place of the clams, I added some soy sauce, lemon juice, and butter to the pan, allowing it all to meld and get deliciously luxurious and silky, just two or three minutes longer. I poured it all over the clams, sprinkled some sliced scallions on top, and voila...dinner is served!

We ended up baking a loaf of frozen bread towards the end of our dinner, because there was so much delicious broth left over that we couldn't waste! I didn't think we'd need it with all the clams, but, it was too good to just pour down the drain. YUM!!

Bulgogi For The Home Griller

The other night, I made some lamb bulgogi, a Korean dish that is easy, delicious, and makes for lots of leftovers that can be used in many ways! The night before I planned on making Lamb Bulgogi with Asian Pear Dipping Sauce, I prepped my leg of lamb by marinating it in soy sauce and mirin-based marinade which I made according to the linked recipe. It was simple to pull together and as long as you remember to do it the night before, you'll be good to go the next day for a quick and easy dinner.

When I came home the following day, I turned on the grill in the backyard, and left it to heat while I quickly pulled together the Asian Pear dipping sauce. I cooked the leg of lamb on the grill for about 15 minutes on each side, charring the outsides with some beautiful grill marks. Once the lamb was cooked to my satisfaction, I pulled it off to rest while I grilled up some scallions, jalapenos and garlic cloves to use as garnishes in our lettuce wraps full of bulgogi.

Look how perfectly that lamb is cooked! Yum! I separated a head of iceberg lettuce to use as wraps, because I couldn't find Butter Lettuce at the store this week. Butter lettuce definitely works better because it's not as crispy but this was alright in a pinch.

To finish off the meal, and round it out as well, I made some white rice while the lamb was cooking. It adds a little depth to the lettuce wraps and soaks up the delicious dipping sauce really well. Since making the bulgogi, which is a fun little adventure for a week day meal, and wonderful for entertaining, we've had bulgogi hoagies (ha!) with the lamb, and the dipping sauce, and a little chili sauce, all grilled on a panini grill. The lamb is even delicious to munch on cold, straight out of the fridge. Try this one out, you'll have a fun and interesting meal in under an hour!

Japan for an Evening

Well, we've finally arrived back in Asia for our Japanese dinner. Morimoto, one of my favorite celebrity chefs, has this amazing cookbook full of wonderful dishes that are a bit intimidating. However, I decided to try one for this special occasion! The recipe I chose for tonight's meal is called Nikujaga, his take on a meat and potatoes stew that is actually typical of Japanese home cooking. Of course, he takes an elegant turn on the dish, and it's interesting that the ingredients are decidedly un-japanese, but the meal as a whole is traditional to Japanese cuisine.

I gathered some shaved beef, mirin, soy sauce, potatoes, carrots, onions, sugar, green beans, yam noodles, lemon zest, and some beef stock (not pictured below).

I had a bunch of pots going on the stove for this one. I had half the mirin, soy sauce and sugar in one pot with a quart of beef stock, and the other half of all those ingredients in another pot with the other quart of beef stock. They both had to come to a boil, and the sugar needed to dissolve. Once that was done, the veggies (except for the green beans) went into one, and the other I brought to a rolling boil, because I was going to use it to flash-cook my shaved beef.

I used some chopsticks to dip each piece of shaved beef into the stock until it had just turned color, and then I transferred it to a plate. There was quite a bit of shaved beef in the package I purchased, so this took a little time, but I kept the cooked meat warm with some foil. Meanwhile, I boiled some salted water in yet another pot to blanch my green beans. It only took about 30 seconds of heat before I drained the beans and doused them in some cold water. Then I got back to dunking my beef into the broth.

Once the veggies had been simmering for about 1/2 an hour, I added the noodles to the mixture and allowed them to cook for about 5 minutes. To plate, each bowl got some noodles, veggies and broth. The shaved beef was draped on top and then a nice, handful of green beans got piled on top of that. Finish it off with some of the reduced beef stock, and some lemon zest, and serve! This was a hearty, delicious meal, and I will definitely keep it in my back pocket for a cold winter's night because it was warmed me from the inside out. Yum!

China In A Day

Well, our journey continues tonight, and we've arrived in China. I decided to make a dish called Beef with Mandarin, and then pair it with some Chinese vegetables and hearty brown rice. It made for a simple weeknight meal that was totally satisfying. I would have expected a bit more citrus flavor from using the mandarin peels that the recipe called for, but it was a bit mild for my taste. I think I might actually add a bit of orange juice if I make this again, just to bring out the flavor some more. Chinese cooking varies across it's vast landscape. In the South, Cantonese cooking involves steaming and stir-frying natural ingredients and incorporates lots of soy sauce, ginger and scallions. Peking cuisine, from the North, has a harsher climate, which results in hot pots, lots of dumplings, and of course, the famous Peking duck. Meanwhile, Szechwan food is bright with chillies and spices. And, in Shanghai, meats and fishes are braised slowly to create very rich dishes.

So, I gathered my ingredients and prepared my mise en place for tonight's dinner. I grabbed some rib eye steak, soy sauce, dry sherry, fresh ginger, sesame oil, peanut oil, white pepper, dried mandarin peel, caster sugar, corn starch and beef stock.  I prepped the marinade for the beef first, since it needed to sit and "stew" for 15 minutes before I could continue the process.

The mandarin peel is a weird little ingredient, let me just tell you. A very nice lady at the local Asian market helped me find it on the shelf on Monday, and I brought them home. I was having trouble interpreting to the shopkeeper and she spoke both Chinese and English. She came to my rescue! I took them out of the bag and well, they were really hard. The recipe calls for them to be finely chopped? I can't get my knife through it...nor could i get it to chop up in a mini food processor. Wait a minute...I missed something on the front of the bag. "Must boil for 10 minutes before using." Ah...that makes a bit of sense. I took care of that next so that I could have all my ingredients together. Check out the difference between the really hard mandarin peel, and the reconstitued one that was much easier to chop!

My mise en place is now complete!

I heated some peanut oil in a wok and then added the beef with its marinade. Once all the beef was almost cooked through, with a nice bit of color on it, I added the white pepper, chopped mandarin peel, some soy sauce and caster sugar. In another bowl, I combined the cornstarch with a bit of the beef stock, and once it was incorporated, I added the rest of the broth to the bowl. This acted as the thickening agent for the sauce. After the beef and other ingredients had stir-fried briefly, I added the broth mixture to the wok and stirred until the sauce boiled and thickened. You'll know it when this happens so don't take it off the heat too soon, or you'll have a watery mess.

I served this dish over some brown rice, and I was glad that I opted to make the Chinese greens as well. I would have been craving a veggie if I hadn't. As it was, this was a very balanced and hearty meal for a weeknight. It came together rather quickly, and it was quite simple to prepare! I find that when I do make Chinese food at home, it usually comes together quickly, and can be a great quick fix if you keep all the spices and sauces on hand. My pantry is never without soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil or peanut oil...they are staples of Asian cooking...and I do a lot of that! So, next time you crave Chinese take-out, think twice...and give it a whirl for yourself. You'll get a healthier, heartier meal, and I promise you'll be full for longer!

A Successful Attempt at a Korean Favorite

Remember my recent post about all different types of Asian cuisine and their differences? Well, tonight I made an attempt at a Korean favorite of ours, Bibimbap. Traditionally, Bibimbap is a dish served in a warm clay pot, consisting of rice, vegetables, thinly sliced beef and a fried egg, topped with a Korean red chile paste. The recipe I decided to use is a part of The Professional Chef, a textbook from The Culinary Institute of America. I usually use this book as a reference guide, in order to master techniques, but I thought I'd give this recipe a shot, and I'm very glad I did!

From Flickr - by Eunmi Han

This particular version of Bibimbap called for some skirt steak to be marinated in some soy sauce, garlic, ginger, green onions, sesame oil, crushed sesame seeds and pepper. The marinade was really tasty and added some great flavor to the dish. Once I'd made the marinade, I put the vegetables together. The recipe called for daikon, radish, carrots and cucumbers all julienned. One of my cucumbers had gone bad in the refrigerator :( and I didn't have any daikon, but I used some jicama instead, and also added some julienned shiitake mushrooms as well. Even though the recipe called for raw vegetables, I threw them in the wok with some peanut oil for a few minutes, just to soften the carrots and take the chill off the rest of the veggies. Everytime I've ever had Bibimbap, the vegetables have been cooked so I altered that part a little bit. I threw them in a stainless steel bowl and topped it with a pot lid so that steam could continue to cook the veggies a little bit while I finished off the rest of the dish.

While my rice cooked in my wonderful rice cooker, I threw the marinated beef into the wok with a bit of vegetable oil. It didn't take more than a few minutes for the small pieces to cook through, and while that was happening, I fried two eggs in a skillet, keeping them "sunny-side up" so that they would be runny when the yolk was broken over the dish. My rice cooker clicked when it was finished and I spooned some sticky rice onto each plate. I topped the rice with my steaming carrots, jicama, radish and shiitake mushrooms. I sprinkled some chiffonade of iceberg lettuce on top of that, and as it started to wilt from the heat, I piled on some beef. Lastly, I laid the fried egg on top of all of this!

For the sauce, the recipe really just called for Korean Red Chile paste but I wanted to thin the paste a bit so I mixed in some fish sauce, some rice wine vinegar and a little bit of sweet rice wine. It did exactly what I wanted it to do, and thinned down to more of a sauce...which was great for dripping over the already delicious concoction.

Normally, this dish is served in a clay dish that stays warm for an extended period, and continues to cook the rice while you eat, making it crispy and crunchy on the sides of the bowl. It adds something special to the dish, but even without those clay dishes, I really think I nailed the authenticity. It was so delicious and reminiscent of our trips to Korean restaurants! It's always a good feeling when you know you can make something that you love to order out - less money spent, more confidence in my culinary achievements! Try making your favorite restaurant dish at home...and share your experiences with us! We're rooting for you!

Also, check out my new and improved Stock Your Kitchen page. I've renovated it so that you can automatically add my recommendations to your Amazon shopping cart, should you be interested in purchasing something that I've mentioned in any of my posts. Hopefully, this will be more convenient!

Top 10 : Pantry Items You Should Always Have on Hand

Happy Friday, my culinary cuties! I would like to take a moment to thank everyone that's reading this blog. The response has been tremendous thus far, and I'm extremely excited to see where this takes me. It's so encouraging to see that there are so many readers, and that you are leaving comments and asking questions. Keep it coming, and I promise I will too!



Today, I wanted to touch base on some ingredients that should ALWAYS be in your pantry. If I run out of one of these things, it immediately goes on my shopping list for next time.

1. Olive Oil is used in almost every recipe. If you don't have olive oil, don't start cooking.

2. Balsamic Vinegar can be used in a lot of ways. If you have this and olive oil, you've got salad dressing! Additionally, you can reduce balsamic vinegar to make a glaze for meats or vegetables.

3. Soy Sauce is a staple in any Asian-inspired meal. If you have stuff to throw in a stir-fry, you better have soy sauce. I recommend the low-sodium variety, as its a bit less salty, and also a little better for you.

4. Red/White Wine Vinegar is a handy condiment for salad dressings as well as marinades. Many recipes call for it and it's good to have on hand in the event of a last minute dinner choice.

5. Arborio Rice is what we use to make risotto, along with the chicken stock below. A dinner made of leftover veggies thrown into a risotto dish is an instant success. 

6. Chicken Stock is an essential part of soups, sauces, and as I just mentioned, risotto! Keep it on hand for all of the above! (Again, if you can find low-sodium varieties, I recommend them.)

7. Canned Tomatoes (diced, crushed, whole, and paste) are a must-have! I keep a few cans of each of these in the pantry at all times. They make great sauces for a quick pasta, as well as a wonderful base for stews and chilis. 

8. Flour ... what is there to say about flour. You can make cookies with it, you can bread chicken with it, you can fry stuff coated in it, along with eggs you've got fresh pasta...always have flour in your house.

9. Breadcrumbs (or Panko) have many uses. If you are making burgers, you need breadcrumbs to hold the meat together, if you are making chicken or pork, you can coat it in breadcrumbs before baking, broiling or sautéing it, and they also make a great topping for a baked pasta dish. Panko is a Japanese bread crumb that adds a little bit more of a crunch than generic breadcrumbs. I prefer them.

10. Kosher Salt is a wonderful way to season your food. It's a bit less harsh than table salt and because it comes in a large box, is easier to measure amounts with as well. If you find that you're not getting the whole seasoning aspect of cooking, and want to follow a recipe TO-THE-LETTER, this is a good way to measure your salt before putting it into a dish.



This should get you started on building a pantry full of usable ingredients. I'll try and provide more of these top-ten type lists to give you hints into what you should be buying when you go to the grocery store. If you have a stocked pantry, you'll actually end up spending less each week at the grocery store because half of the ingredients will already be in your possession. That prepared feeling you'll get is priceless!