One of My Favorite Food

November 6 2011

In New York, good friends of ours often take us to an Italian Restaurant where I would order the squid ink pasta with seafood over marinara sauce. I have this dish twice a year.

Luckily we have a pasta shop that hubby was driving by on the way to see a client in Somerville, MA. The store is call Dave's Pasta Shop. They make the best fresh pasta, and their sauces are wonderful. They are a bit pricey, but freshness does have a price to it.

I called ahead to see what were their specials of the day, and to my surprise, they had the squid ink pasta. So I had hubby pick up 1/2 pound of squid ink linguini and a pint of marinara sauce. Note that hubby does not eat tomatoes because he is allergic to it, thus, more food for me. So here goes my rendition of the restaurant dish.

7 pieces of Tiger Shrimp (7 because it was $22 per pound and that would be perfect for two meals)

1 pound of mussels

1/2 pound of squid ink pasta

Onions and Garlic

The end result

Drool,
Quilt & Bitch

Thought for Food

May 4 2011,

I was just watching the Rachael Ray show this morning and noticed that audiences were cheering when she poured Marsala wine into a pan.  Why don't we get cheers when we pour Marsala wine into a pan?

I don't get it, do you?

Quilt & Bitch

Vegetable Lo Mien

March 6 2011,

A few nights ago, we had vegetarian lo-mien.

Here are the ingredients that I used. Note that, if you don't like a particular vegetable, substitute it with another vegetable that you enjoy. I usually use bean sprouts in this dish, but I did not have any on hand.

• 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
• 1 small onion sliced and chopped
• a lot of mushrooms, sliced
• peppers, sliced (green, yellow, red, orange or all four colors)
• one package of lo mien
• oyster sauce
• soy sauce
• salt and pepper to taste 

1. Heat wok up with one tablespoon of vegetable oil. After it is heated, add the onions and stir fry it for 2 minutes.

2. Add the mushrooms and cook it until it is done, approximately 7 minutes.

 

This is how the mushrooms should look like when it is done.

3. Add the green peppers or other vegetables of your choice.

4. Add the pre cook lo mien, and mix it well.

5. When the lo mien half cooked, put in 1 tablespoon of soya sauce and 5 tablespoons of oyster sauce. If you like it more saucy, put in 1/4 cup of water. Continue cooking until the lo mien is mixed in well with the rest of the vegetables. If you feel it is still bland, put in a couple more tablespoons of oyster sauce and mix it it well.

Vegetable Lo Mien

Lo Mien

Happy Cooking and Eating,
Quilt & Bitch

Miso Hungry...

February 24 2011,

For the pass week, I have been experimenting with using Miso as the main ingredient for cooking.

I have made the following:
miso soup
miso glazed salmon
miso braised pork

The miso soup was very easy to make, it goes well with the miso glazed salmon.

The miso glazed salmon was good too. I made a few changes to the recipe. I only poured in half off the miso mixture during the first five minutes of broiling. After the first five minutes, I then poured the rest of the mixture in. Believe it or not, 10 minutes of broiling was enough cooking for the salmon. A few reviewers on the website said that it was on the salty side, so if this is your first run at it, use 1 Tablespoon of soy sauce. Trust me, this recipe is a keeper.

The miso braised pork is also a keeper. I did not have a Dutch oven, and I was too lazy to take out the slow cooker. So I just made it in a standard pot, one of those pots that you use for boiling pasta. I cooked it on very low for 5 hours on the stove. This recipe calls for 5 pounds of pork butt or shoulder roast, and I used 5 pounds of pork southern style ribs, and it was yummy. The next time I make this, I will be storing the broth and the meat in two different containers, so that the broth / juice does not seep into the meat while it is in the fridge. And when you heat up the leftovers, combine the meat and the broth / juice and you'll still get a soupy result. This recipe is also good if you want to feed a lot of people with minimal work.

Enjoy,
Quilt & Bitch

Show + Tell :: Star Bed Quilt + Food Porn

January 29, 2010

A few nights a ago, we had steak with Ortega's Black Beans & Rice Mix and glazed onions. The steak we used was a Sirlion Bonessless Tips. The steak was marinated with 2 to 3 tablespoon of vegetable oil and two to three limes, depending on how limey you want it to be. Marinate the steak for a minimum of 24 hours. The longer you marinate it, the more limey the steak taste.

Since we currently don't have an out door grill, we grilled the steak on the Foreman grill. I believe hubby grills it just under three minutes per side. We prefer the steak medium rare, but more on the rare side.

The onions was done with one whole onion and one tablespoon of butter. Heat the butter till it has melted, and turn the stove heat to medium and put in the chopped onions. Cook for 15 minutes or so and then throw in a dash of salt. Continue cooking for an additional 5 minutes.

(Above: Steak with onions and rice)

On to my quilts.

This is the latest quilt, another wobbly star quilt. It is a queen size quilt. The fabrics as always is batik. The background fabric of the star is a mystical character that is playing a flute. I am blanking on the name of it.

I think that'll the last of my bed quilts for some time. I am packing away my sewing machine and focusing on my hand work quilts.

Quilt & Bitch

What's For Dinner?

September 8, 2009

Last night, we had had Agadeshi Tofu (Japanese Fried Tofu) and jellyfish over carrots and daikon.

Agadeshi Tofu is one of my favorite dishes. It's pretty easy to make, but it does stink up the whole place because of the deep frying.

Below is the recipe which makes 4 servings.

Ingredients:

• 2 blocks of firm tofu
• 1 cup dashi soup stock
• 1 tablespoon soya sauce
• 1 tablespoon mirin
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger (optional)
• potato starch or corn starch (preferably potato starch)
• vegetable oil for frying

How to cook:

• A few hours before frying the tofu, take tofu out from wrapper or container, put it on a plate wrapped in a towel and put another plate on top of it and put a heavy object on top of the plate. This takes the excess water out of the tofu
• Heat enough oil for in a sauce pan on high
• Meanwhile make your sauce by putting the dashi, soy sauce and pirin in another pan on medium high. Cook until sauce boils and set it aside
• Depending on the size of the tofu, cut it into quarters of halves
• Dust tofu with potato starch on all 6 sides
• Fry tofu in the oil until it turns golden brown
• Once all the tofu are fried, put tofu in a bowl and pour the sauce over it.
• Put grated ginger on top of each tofu (optional)

A note about the dashi stock. I buy the instant dashi (or Bonito Fish Soup Stock or Hon-dashi) because that is all I know. To make the instant dashi stock, you use one cup of water with 1 teaspoon of the little pellets. You also use this to make miso soup.

(Above: Hon-Dashi)

(Above: Agadeshi Tofu)

We also had the jellyfish. This was the instant jellyfish. It came in a packet with premade seasonings and sauce. It was ok. The ones at the restaurant is better.

(Above: Jellyfish with carrots and daikon)

This morning I went to Hannaford's to do my grocery shopping. After picking up a bunch of stuff I went to the check-out counter. There were four people in front of me waiting to be checked out. There was only one line and it was not moving. Turns out that all the cash registers in the store was not working and they had to reboot it.

Fine, five minutes later the store employee tried again, and this time one of the register was working. We all moved to the other register in a civilized manner, except for one person who was at the back of the line and cut in front of all of us who were already in line.

I was surprise by this because we here in Massachusetts do not do that. We rush to the next available register wanting to be the first in line. I'm pretty impressed.

The guy in front of me had a couple of items and needed to use the credit card machine. Turns out that the credit card machine was also down. He did not have cash, so he abandoned his groceries. I checked my wallet and realized that I only had $18 of cash, and knew this was not enough. I told the cashier that I had to go to the car to get cash. She said fine, and she rang the person behind me.

I ran to the car and took my emergency cash. This consisted of a bunch of one dollar bills and three five dollar bills. I got back and my grocery rang up to $36 plus some change. I crossed my fingers as a slowly counted the wad of cash. Ta dah... I had $3 extra to put back in my emergency stash.

Moral of this story is, keep your singles and fives in the car just in case you need cash.

Quilt & Bitch

What's for Lunch?

September 1, 2009

Lunch was lemon pepper pappardelle pasta with grilled zucchini, squash and onions. You can find the pasta at Trader Joe's. A 8 oz package costs $1.99. This can feed 3 people comfortably, even though the package does not look that big.

(Above: Trader Joe's Lemon Pepper Pappardelle Pasta)

(Above: Zucchini, Squash and Onions)

(Above: The meal)

This meal is not at all hard or intensive.

• Set your oven rack to the highest point in the oven
• Preheat oven to broil at 400 degrees ferenheit
• Start with 2 zucchinis, 2 squash and 1/2 an onion (you can use more or less of each).
• Cut up the vegetables in big chunks on a bias
• Coat the vegetables generously with olive oil
• Put vegetables, excluding the onions onto a baking pan
• Broil for approximately 15 minutes
• In the mean time, cook the pasta according to the directions on the package
• After 15 minutes, turn each of the vegetables over and combine the onion
• If you have parmesan cheese, sprinkle the cheese over the vegetables (instead of using salt)
• Put back the pan in the oven for another 10 - 15 minutes. Watch the oven carefully because it might burn if you are not careful
• Once the pasta and vegetables are done, toss them together

Quilt & Bitch

Food Porn

July 11, 2009

Still no word from Mike Webb about the status of the cue. We got a sneak peak in person a few weeks ago, and pictures of it a few days ago.

I baked another one today, and I think the temperature was just a little bit too high. But it's ok. Pretty isn't it, except for that wart looking burnt bubble in the middle. This is another attempt just in case Webb happens to call tomorrow or Monday, this cheese cake will go straight to him. As for the other cake, it is still in the fridge.

I figured out a few secrets after baking the last one and this one.
1. Cut a round parchment paper approximately 2 inches wider than the bottom of the cake and butter the parchment paper generously before baking the crust. This way, getting it out from the pan is very easy.

2. Keep oven temperature approximately 250 degrees ferenheit, and bake for one hour. Then check to see whether it is done or not, if not continue baking and checking every 10 minutes or so.

Quilt & Bitch

Where's my Cue?

July 6, 2009

Yesterday hubby got an email from our pool cue maker, Mike Webb., telling us our cue was delayed. Hubby has been waiting exactly one year for his cue, and I for six months. Hubby is itching to get his cue, but I on the other hand was more concern about the cheese cake that I had baked yesterday morning in preparation for delivery to Mike for today or tomorrow.

I had hubby call Mike, to ask approximately when we would be coming down to deliver the cake for him. Mike had thought that he was calling to scream at him about the delay of the cue. Come on, hubby's waited a whole year... a couple of days, or a couple of more weeks wouldn't make any difference.

The result is, if hubby is going to visit a friend to play pool, I'll have hubby bring that cheese cake for his pool playing buddy, and I'll just make another one tomorrow. If not, Mike will just have to eat a couple days old cake.

This cheese cake turned out beautiful. No cracks in sight, and the color was perfect. We'll see.

Quilt & Bitch

To Trade or Not to Trade?

June 17, 2009

Hubby and I recently discovered Ortega's brand of rice. We have only tried the Black Beans & Rice Mix, and it is outstanding. As I was making the rice, he remarked "Damn that rice smells good, I think I am going to trade you in for a Mexican". But since we have Ortega rice, I doubt he'll trade me in. :)

Quilt & Bitch

What's for Lunch?

March 26, 2009

I made porridge with thousand year old egg with water spinach (Kang Kung) for lunch yesterday.

(Above: Porridge with thousand year old egg and water spinach)

The thousand year old egg is black / grayish in color, with the yolk being grayish / greenish in color. It definitely is an acquired taste, similar to foie gras. Common names include preserved egg, thousand year old egg, hundred year old egg and disgusting tasting egg. This egg was also featured on "Fear Factor".

This egg is usually made of duck eggs, where the eggs get placed in a pot mixed with "clay, ash, salt, lime and rice straw for several weeks to several months". (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_egg)

You can find these in Asian supermarket, usually placed next to the regular chicken eggs. The package comes in different sizes, where you can buy from 4 eggs to 12 eggs. These eggs have a life span of approximately 6 months in the refrigerator. The package of 4 duck preserved eggs range from a price of $3.00 - $5.00 per package.

When you buy the eggs, you do not need to do anything to it, except to peel the outer shell and slice into bite size pieces. Yummy.

Lunch today was Chicken a la king.

(Above: Chicken ala king)

Below are the directions that I have altered from the original one, making it easier for me when I need to cook this meal.

Ingredients

Pan 1
1 (4.5 ounce) can mushrooms, drained, liquid reserved
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 onion chopped
3 stalks of Celery
2 stalks of Carrots
Peas (optional)

Pan 2 (Sauce Pan)
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoons chicken bouillon powder
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/4 cups hot water

Pan 3 (Big Pan)
4 boneless chicken breast halves, chopped

Other
4 ounces chopped pimento

Directions

• In Pan 1 - Cook and stir drained mushrooms and green pepper, peas, celery, carrots in butter or margarine over medium heat for 5 minutes. Remove from heat
  
  
• In Pan 2 - Cook cubed chicken until done
  
  
• In Pan 3 – Melt ½ cup of butter, blend flour, salt, and pepper. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is bubbly. Remove from heat
  
  
• In Pan 3 –Stir in instant bouillon, milk, water, and reserved mushroom liquid. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir for 1 minute
  
  
• Stir in everything from Pan 1 and Pan 2 into Pan 3. Heat through. And mix in pimento
  
  
• Serve over rice

Quilt & Bitch

What's for Dinner?

March 12, 2009

Broiled Eel (Unagi) over rice. The eel was bought from a Japanese supermarket frozen, for $4.95. It is very simple to prepare.

(Above: Eel (Unagi) over rice)

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Take eel out from freezer
• Cut plastic wrapping from eel
• Place eel on cookie sheet
• When the oven temperature reaches 350 degrees, put cookie sheet with eel into oven
• Let bake for 15 minutes
• And viola, food is ready, serve over rice

Okie dokie, some of you might say, ewww, how can anyone eat eel? Well, try it once and maybe you'll like it.

My history of food is, I eat anything and everything. I'll always try something at least once. I rarely reject food that is placed in front of me.

If you asked me what my favorite food is, my answer is everything. Ok, ok, maybe I do have a few, so here is a list:

• "Thousand year old egg" over congee (porridge)
• Jellyfish
• Apple fish soup
  
• Ha Chong (Rice Noodle with shrimp - dim sum)
• Sushi
  
• Avocado
• Beef Chow Fun
• Fish with ginger and scallion
• Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup)

Quilt & Bitch

What's for Dinner?

March 10, 2009

Shrimp and asparagus with Mascarpone cheese. Yummy. Here's the recipe. I substituted scallops with shrimp and substituted mushrooms with asparagus.

(Above:
Shrimp and asparagus with Mascarpone cheese)

Update on hubby's foot: He is recovering very well. He is able to take the bandage off and change it daily. By next Wednesday, he should be able to go back to walking. Yoo hoo!

Quilt & Bitch

What's for Lunch?

March 8, 2009

Pepper Beef. Beef with green peppers over rice. Quick, simple and satisfying.

(Above: Pepper Beef)

Ingredients:
1 - 1.5 pound of beef
2 green bell peppers
1 small onion
2 Tablespoon of vegetable oil

1 teaspoon white pepper
1 Tablespoon of corn starch mix with 1 Tablespoon of water
1/4 cup of water

For marinate:
3 Tablespoon soy sauce
2 Tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon white pepper

For sauce:
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 Tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 Tablespoon oyster sauce

• Cut beef into bite size
• Mix marinade and put marinate with beef, and mix well
• Put beef in fridge for 30 minutes
• Meanwhile, cut up onions and green bell peppers into small pieces
• Once the 30 minutes is up, heat up pan with oil
• Once oil is heated up, cook onions until soft, approximately 2 minutes
• Cook beef for approximately 2 minutes
• Put sauce and green bell peppers in with beef and put in the remaining 1 teaspoon of white pepper
• Pour 1/4 cup of water and put the cornstarch mixture with the beef
  
• Continue cooking for another 1 minute or until the beef is to your liking
• Taste and if you think it needs a little bit more oyster sauce, put one more Tablespoon of oyster sauce if needed
  
• Remove from heat and serve over white rice

Note: Corn starch is used in most Chinese cooking to make the sauce thicker. Sometimes chicken stock is used instead of water. So depending on how saucy you want the sauce to be, you can adjust the amount of water / chicken stock you put in and the corn starch mixture.

Quilt & Bitch

What's for Dinner?

March 6, 2009

Chicken Kung Pao, with straw mushrooms (canned) and water chestnuts (canned) over rice. The recipe is available here. This is a quick and easy recipe. The time consuming part is the marinade. You will need to marinate it for 30 minutes.

I've never ordered Chicken Kung Pao at a Chinese restaurant, and I don't know if it tastes similar, but it is quite good and easy to make.

(Above: Chicken Kung Pao)

Quilt & Bitch

What's for Lunch?

February 27, 2009

Chicken patties Indian style, topped with Indonesian Kecap Manis "Sweet Soya Sauce".

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup or more of Vegetable Oil
  
• 1 package of ground chicken
• 1 egg
  
• 1 small onion (very finely diced)
• 1 cup or more of Japanese panko bread crumbs
• Cumin (2 shakes)
  
• Tumeric (1 shake)
  
• Garam Masala (3 shakes)
  
• Curry (3 shakes)
  
• Salt 1 teaspoon
  

I don't have the exact measurement of the spices because I just throw it in and it always turns out good.

You can either mix the ingredients in a stand mixer or by hand.

• Mix ground chicken, diced onions, eggs, salt and all the spices well
• Heat vegetable oil to high, and bring it down to medium heat when it is hot
• Form chicken patties into oval shape
• Coat chicken patties with panko bread crumb
• Fry chicken patties until golden brown
• Serve over rice
  

(Above: Chicken Patties Indian style topped with Kecap Manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce)

Quilt & Bitch

What's for Lunch?

February 24, 2009

Chicken Donburi. It's a mixture of chicken, onions and eggs.

(Above: Chicken Donburi)

I don't remember where I got the recipe from, but it came from somewhere.

Ingredients:
1 - 1.5 pounds of chicken
2 medium onions
4 Tablespoons of water
4 Tablespoons of soy sauce
2 Tablespoons of mirin
1 teaspoon dashi granules
5 eggs, lightly beaten
2 spring onions

• Heat oil in a frying pan over high heat and stir fry the chicken until golden and tender, set aside
• Reheat the pan, add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes
• Add water, soy sauce, mirin and dashi granules to the onions
• Stir to dissolve the dashi and bring the stock to the boil. Cook for 3 minutes or until onion is tender
• Return the chicken to the pan and pour in the eggs, stirring gently to just break up the eggs
• Cover and simmer over very low heat for 4 to 5 minutes or until the eggs are just set
• Remove from heat and sprinkle with spring onions (scallions)

Below are ingredients that I use on a daily basis.
From left to right:

• Oyster Sauce (Lee Kum Kee brand)
• Rice Cooking Wine
• Seasoning Sauce
• Light superior Soy Sauce (Cloud Plain or Pearl River brand)
• Sesame Oil (Kadoya brand)
• Mirin, Sweet Cooking Seasoning (Kikkoman)
• Chilli sauce - Sambal Manis Pedas (translates to Sweet and Hot Chilli Sauce, Indonesian) (ABC Brand)
• Hon-Dashi, Dashi granules

(Above: Ingredients)

Oyster sauce (first from left) can be used in many ways. It can be used on meat and vegetables. Be careful with how much you use, because a little goes a long way. Start with one Tablespoon and work your way up depending on your taste preference.

Rice Cooking wine (second from left), I have no idea what this is used for, but it is called for in many recipes that I cook up.

The seasoning sauce (third from left) can be used for vegetables. Simply stir fry the vegetable and put a little bit of the seasoning sauce on, and continue stir frying until mixed well.

Soy sauce (fourth from left) is a staple at home. I use this almost in all dishes, including pasta. I am picky with the brand, make sure you buy light superior soy sauce, either the brand called "Cloud Plains" or "Pearl River". Other brands tend to be heavier and taste funny.

Sesame Oil (fifth from left) gives the food a sesame taste. I use this in a lot of the dishes I cook. Everything seems to taste better with sesame oil. I don't use this as a cooking oil, but as a sauce or flavoring. You only need to use a little bit of this too, approximately 1 teaspoon.

Mirin (sixth from left) is a Japanese sweet cooking oil. This is used in some Japanese dishes. The Korean Bolgogi uses mirin, and some sauces also uses this.

The chilli sauce (seventh from left) is a chilli sauce that has the consistenancy of ketchup. This is used to top something that you want spicy. It is made in Indonesia. Since one of my local asian supermarket closed recently, I am trying to find other stores that carry it.

Dashi (eighth from left) is a type of instant kelp soup stock. It gives a fishy taste and is used in food that are brothy. Dashi is usually mixed with water.

Quilt & Bitch

What's for Lunch?

February 22, 2009

Pork with napa cabbage over rice with onions. The sauce I use is oyster sauce and a little bit of soy sauce. Yummy.

(Above: Pork with napa cabbage over rice)

Quilt & Bitch

What's for Lunch?

February 21, 2009

Pork fried rice. Leftover rice, with peas, chinese barbeque pork, eggs, peas, onions, scallions.

(Above: Pork Fried Rice, not Pok Flied Lice)

Make the rice a day ahead and put it in the fridge. You need approximately 1.5 cups of rice. This will feed approximately 3 -4 people.

• Heat the pan or wok
• Put 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil
• Stir fry the onions until soft
• Take out onions and set aside
• Put 1 Tablespoon of vegetable oil
• Dump rice and break it up with spatula or wooden spoon.
  I have found it if I squish the rice with force, it will break apart.
  
• When rice is hot and not stuck together, break three eggs on top of the pile of rice and mix.
  (Other recipes have you cook the eggs ahead of time and set it aside, but I prefer the eggs on top of the rice to give it the yellowish color)
• Put 2 Tablespoon of soy sauce
  If you think the rice needs more oil, more a little more oil in.
  
• Put peas and onions and continue mixing for 2 minutes or so.
• Put chopped scallions on top of rice and mix.

Quilt & Bitch

What's for Lunch?

February 19, 2009

Korean Steak, also known as Bulgogi. The recipe is available here. Because I like my meat very thin, I used beef shaved steak, the same beef used for philly cheese steak. It takes 5 minutes to cook, but make sure you marinate it for 1 day or so to let the flavor sink in.

(Above: Awesome Korean Steak, aka Bulgogi)

Below is a picture of a refrigerator full of soda bottles. Notice that they are all toppled over. The soda guy had to straighten it all. There were two of these refrigerator.

Quilt & Bitch