Sweaty Guinea Pig Goes Live

Mark Bittman's my hero. Not only does he use easy-to-find ingredients
to make delicious dishes, but he also does it with little time and
effort. I made his couscous dessert the other night when two of my
friends were over. Although I didn't have all the ingredients listed,
I could easily use other substitutes to make the dish. The main
ingredients of the dessert were couscous, sugar, milk (any type of
"milk", such as almond, soy, etc), and cream (or creme fraiche, or
anything that binds). A basic couscous pudding can be made by stirring
couscous into hot milk with sugar and let it soak up the liquid. I
went a little further by adding vanilla extract, dried fruits and
nuts. I had this dessert on the table within 15 minutes after we
finished our entree (I made puttanesca for the main dish).
 
Another reason why I love this dessert is its "flexibility". You can
add ricotta cheese, mascarpone cheese, whipped cream, etc, to enhance
both texture and flavor. Making dessert does not have to be
difficult...a little imagination can often make a great last
impression of the meal.

     

Click here to download:

Couscous_Pudding.zip (5106 KB)

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I have finally been able to make the granola into bars consistently,
and that's what I have been munching on when I am hungry (besides
having it for breakfast).

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100 dollars only for food and drinks in February - a challenge among 4
friends. Please visit our Feb Challenge Posterous and keep us going
with your encouragement!

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I was craving toast dipped in runny yolk this morning. I had some
leftover banana bread, so I decided to make banana French toast with
"chocolate dusting" and two types of eggs, sunny side up and
over-easy.
 
I used 1 egg, 1 1/2 tablespoon buttermilk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract,
and a pinch of kosher salt for toast dip, which turned out to be
fantastic; French toast tasted not too sweet and had a hint of sour
cream and vanilla. For the "chocolate dust", I mixed 1 part of each
cocoa powder and icing sugar. The mixture was a great topping for
French toast along with pure maple syrup. My chocolate dust gives a
little bitterness from the cocoa, but it also brings you a touch of
sweetness from the icing sugar.
 
Next to my French toast, I took my time to perfect eggs sunny side up
and over-easy; these two types of eggs are definitely the hardest to
make in my opinion. They need gentle and evenly distributed heat and
undivided attention (seriously...don't walk away from your eggs).
 
On the side, I had organic whole milk with homemade granola cereal and
coffee. This is the way I like to start my weekend.
 
How do you like to start your weekend?
 

         

Click here to download:

Oh_nice....zip (9105 KB)

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Bain-Marie is just another term for "double boiler" used by
professional chefs or snotty amateur cooks, like myself.
 
I have been staying in my uncle's house while down in Dallas the last
few days. He does not have a microwave in his kitchen (what a
nightmare); therefore, I couldn't reheat leftover fried rice. I was
really bothered by the leftover - knowing that my uncle would throw it
away after I leave. After contemplating about different methods, such
as refrying (ugh, grease fried rice), steaming, stewing, or using a
double boiler, to reheat the fried rice, I settled for using a double
boiler. I put about 2 cups of water into a pan and put the rice pot on
top of the water and gently heated it wit medium-low heat. Double boiler
provided gentle and evenly distributed heat, and my fried rice was
heated successfully. Can I really live without a microwave?...probably
not, or at least I don't want to, but knowing that I could reheat my
food with Bain-Marie is absolutely brilliant!
 
Try it!

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The best way to cook for one person or few people is to cook
everything in one pot. Yes, that's also the way how man cooks, but
that does not mean the one-pot dish has to be coarse and tasteless. I
love making chow mein because it's easy and quick and has a lot of
flavors.

For the vegetables, I used three types of bell peppers
(green, orange, and red), wild mushrooms, and onions. The secret to
cook these vegetables evenly is to take your time and slice them
finely, and that's the delicate part of the dish (your speed will pick
up when you cook more often). For the condiments, I sliced ginger,
garlic, chili, green onions, and basil. Since stir fry is done on high heat, the
cooking shouldn't take more than 5 to 10 minutes. I dropped the
noodles into boiling water 3 minutes before stir fry other
ingredients. When 3 minutes were up, I cooked the vegetables and
chicken strips really quickly on high heat (make sure to open your
fans, windows, or doors) and added the noodles to them. I immediately
added 1 1/2 tablespoon of soy sauce and sprinkled about 1 tablespoon
of plain flour to give the noodles a nice silky texture. All done in
less than 10 minutes. Totally cooking time was about 30 minutes
including preparation. What a bliss to have gourmet Chinese food on
any given night!

     

Click here to download:

Chicken_Chow_Mein.zip (6395 KB)

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Dallas has been rainy and misty for the last few days, and it's
definitely a little depressing. To energize myself, I woke up this
morning to run. I originally planned to jog to Cottonwood park, which
you can find on the map (near the top right hand side corner).
However, I somehow took the wrong turn and went the opposite way. I
followed my instinct and tried to get back to the familiar territory.
However, I ended up on Lydon B. Johnson Highway (boy...that woke me up
totally.) The cars were coming towards me at at least 60 miles per
hour, and I was hopping on and off the road to avoid water splash
and...being hit. Thankfully, a mile later, I was back at Coit Road,
where I started my run.
 
I miss my Central Park.

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I am currently down at Dallas doing some consulting job for my uncle.
I made dinner to celebrate Chinese New Year. I pan-seared a sirloin
steak (it's the year of ox) as part of the entree. I love cooking with
sirloin steak. It has the perfect fat and lean meat ratio for good
browning on the outside and staysing medium rare (or rare for my own
preference) inside. On the side, I made wild fried rice with bell
peppers and steamed butter broccoli. Not your traditional party meal,
but it was good enough on a Monday night!

   

Click here to download:

Ox_Dinner.zip (4285 KB)

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In continuation of my previous entry on chutney, I have made two
simple dishes that went very well with cranberry chutney. The first
one is Braised Pork Roast, and the second one is Winter Squash Congee
with Shiitake Mushrooms.
 
Have you ever made your own chutney? and what have you had with chutney?

   

Click here to download:

Use_of_My_Cranberry_Chutney.zip (4434 KB)

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A few days ago, I posted Barack Obama's inauguration luncheon menu.
One of the items on the menu was duck and pheasant with cherry
chutney. To help to celebrate the new era, I decided to make chutney,
cranberry flavor, to pair with other foods I had planned to make later
on (you will get to see those later).
 
Chutney is similar to jam, except for its more sour and spicy (both
coming chilies and spices like cumin or cinnamon) taste. Chutney is
originated from India, and it's used as a condiment in many Indian
dishes. Chutney was brought to western world by British soldiers and
has thus become one of the popular jar-foods in western Europe and New
England.
 
There are many types of chutney, and mango chutney is the one of the
oldest flavors. However, sky is the limit when making fresh chutney.
You may choose whatever seasonal fruits and cook them with onions,
chilies, spices (cumin, cinnamon, cardamon, etc), and a shot of
vinegar of your like. Once you have created your chutney, you can
blitz it in a processor or blender into a paste or leave it in chunks.
Chutney goes exceptionally well with pork (as you can guess what my
next food entry will feature...). So go on...impress your family and
friends with some exotic flavors with homemade chutney!

       

Click here to download:

Cranberry_Chutney.zip (7669 KB)

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