Creamy Christmas Cabbage

This is dish I only make once a year for Christmas because its so good but so bad for you. It of course involves pork fat. The smoky salty bacon perfectly flavors the bland but sweet cabbage.

Bacon Creamed Chinese Cabbage

1 large chinese cabbage (3-4lbs)

1/2pkg bacon

4Tbsp AP flour

3 cups milk

1/2 cup cream

salt

white pepper

Wash cabbage and cut into 2inch chunks. Cook all the stem portions first till softened. Add the leafy parts and cook till wilted. Remove from pan and drain the liquid. Cut bacon into chunks and render the fat and cook till crispy. Remove bacon from pan and add the flour to the rendered fat (2-3Tbsp) to make a roux. Cook flour and fat paste for 3-4 min to cook out raw flour taste. Add milk slowly and whisk to combine and prevent lumps. Add cream, salt and pepper to taste. Bring mixture to a boil for 2 min while whisking. Stir in cabbage and 3/4 of the bacon. Combine well. Pour into oven safe dish and bake at 350F until bubbly. Sprinkle remaining bacon on top and serve hot.

Aloha! I'll Shoyu Chicken!

Its so cold and miserable in the city right now I thought it might be good to think warm thoughts so I thought of the time I went to Hawaii. My best friend in college grew up in Hawaii and he always made this dish for holiday potlucks.

Shoyu (Soy Sauce) Chicken

1 cup soy sauce

2 cups water

1.5 cup coke

2inch ginger

1 head garlic

1 lemon

3 stalks scallions

1T whole peppercorns

6 pieces chicken thighs or drums (skinless)

Cut ginger into large chunks and smash. Cut head of garlic in half . Cut lemons in half and squeeze juice and put skins in to the pot (or crock pot). Cut scallions into large chunks. Put everything in a pot and cook on a low simmer until the chicken is tender. Serve over rice or noodles. It is even better the next day.

Shoyu chicken over sesame noodles.

The Hawaiians probably eat this with nasty fermented Poi but you don't want to go near that stuff if you're from the mainland (I don't mean China).

Spicy Chuck

Chuck is what some of the kids in my neighborhood use to call my brother (Charles) when we were in elementary school. If you tried to call him that now he will probably pound you down into ground chuck which makes for some decent burgers. Chuck is a large section of the cow's shoulder and depending on which portion you get your roast will be juicy or a bit dry and stringy so you must cook it low and slow. Try to get a portion that doesn't look like a huge block of meat but one that is tied together and has some fat.

Spicy Caramelized Onion Roast Chuck

3lb Chuck (trimmed & tied)

1lrg onion (sliced)

1tsp crushed red pepper

1tsp cayenne pepper

1tsp paprika

1 tsp dry herb mix ( no rosemary)

3T sherry vinegar

1 bottle dark beer

5 cloves garlic

1 cup carrots (large chunks)

1/2cup celery (small chunks)

5 plum tomatoes (peeled & diced)

Preheat oven to 300F. Season meat well with salt and pepper. On high heat, sear meat on all sides in a little veg oil. Remove meat from pan and add onions. Reduce heat slightly and cook until onions start to caramelize. Add crushed red pepper, cayenne, paprika, herbs, vinegar and cook till well caramelized. Remove onions and de-glaze pan with 1/4 of the beer.

Add carrots, celery and garlic. Sweat veggies then add plum tomatoes and rest of the beer. Place the meat and onions back into the pot. Meat should only be 1/3 submerged in liquid.

Place pot into oven with lid on and roast for 4hrs basting periodically. Once done take meat out and slice. Skim fat off liquids at the bottom, strain out the liquids and reduce to make a sauce.

Serve with mashed potatoes and some of the carrots.

Time to start spicing it up.

My favorite cookie of all time is this ginger cookie. I've been trying to perfect it for years and I think I've almost got it to where I want it to be but its still not perfect. I'm a perfectionist so it may never be perfect, but its still darn good. Its crispy around the edges but still chewy in the center and its not too sweet (and if you use splenda you can reduce the calories and not feel as guilty).

Ginger Cookies

2.75 cups AP

2.5tsp Baking Soda

0.5tsp salt

1T ground ginger

0.5tsp all spice

1tsp ground black/mixed pepper

3T fresh ginger,microplaned

1.5 sticks butter (soft)

0.5 cup light brn sugar

0.5cup splenda (for baking) or granulated sugar

1/3 cup unsulfured molasses

1 lrg egg

Cream your butter and sugars together. Add eggs and cream till very light. Add molasses, salt, gingers and spices and continue to paddle the mixture to fully incorporate the spices. Add flour, baking soda mix till combined. Scoop batter and refrigerate until firm enough to roll into balls and coat with granulated sugar. Bake at 350F until they puff and start to crack. Do not over bake.

Chasing Tail

Every fall everyone in my family would count the days until it was cold enough for my dad to make his hearty oxtail stew. I don't know where he learned to make it, but everyone in the family has tried to replicate it and it is never the same. I on the other hand, just make it better (my dad doesn't think so but what does he know). I also make it in a crock pot because I like to set it and forget it, though that is pretty hard because the delicious smell will fill the house.

Oxtail Stew

1.5 cups carrots

1 cup celery

1 lrg onion

4 plum tomatoes*

2 cloves garlic

1tsp herbs de Provence

1/4cup soy sauce

3lbs oxtail

3 med russet potatoes

14oz chicken stock

2 cups water (or enough to cover)

*you may take a short cut and use canned Italian plum tomatoes if you don't mind/like/can't taste the tin can in your stew

Dice the carrots, celery and onions very small. Blanche, peel and remove seeds from tomatoes (very important for texture) then dice.

Season the oxtail pieces with salt and pepper and roast in the oven at 450F until they are browned. Remove from pan and place in crock pot. Turn crock pot to high.

Using the pan and fat from your oxtail sweat down your onions, carrots and celery. Add your herbs and garlic (whole smashed). Add your diced tomatoes and 1/4c soy sauce then cook to reduce liquids. Add to crock pot.

Bring chicken stock, water and secret ingredient* 1/2c root beer to a boil and pour into crock pot. Add diced potatoes. Cook for 5 hrs until oxtails are tender. It is best to make this a day in advance to develop the flavors and so you can skim the fat off the top once it cools. If you are impatient like my family just use a ladle and skim the oil off the top once its ready.

Garnish with (lots of cilantro... just kidding) chili oil if you like it spicy.

*root beer can be left out and substituted with beer or water depending on if you like flavor OR not, and a tablespoon of sugar.

Chilly night is perfect for Chili Night!

I was inspired from watching the national chili cook-off contest on TV and it turned out to be perfect for a cold rainy.

It is Texas style, strictly meat only! In competition chili making they all use tri-tip sirloin. If that isn't available to you I hear chuck is also okay but whatever you do DO NOT use ground meat! Personally I also like beef shank meat but that has quite a bit of sinew that you would have to cut around but the texture once cooked won't be all dry and fibrous as chuck might be. I bet beef cheek might be good as well.

Crockpot Chili

2lbs Tri-tip sirloin (cut into small chunks)

1 onion (diced small)

16oz jar of salsa

80z tomato puree

1T tomato paste

1bottle med/dark beer

3T chili powder

2tsp garlic powder

2tsp cumin

1tsp cayenne pepper(more or less depending on taste)

1tsp chipotle chili powder

2tsp oregano

1tsp smoky paprika

salt& pepper to taste

Sweat onions and brown the meat then add all the dry spices. Dump all of the meat mixture and the rest of the ingredients into the crock pot and turn on high for 3-4hrs.

I served mine over cilantro rice, topped with avocado, pickled guidilla peppers, corn and more cilantro! (sorry all you cilantro haters are fools).

Carrot Pumpkin Cake

Carrot Pumpkin Cake

1c sugar

0.5c brown sugar

3/4c veg oil

1tsp vanilla

3large eggs

1.5c pumpkin puree

2.5c AP flour

2tsp pumpkin pie spice mix

1.5tsp baking powder

1.5tsp baking soda

1tsp salt

3c shredded carrot

0.5 c walnuts

Combine eggs and sugars and mix until eggs are light and fluffy. Add the oil, vanilla and pumpkin and mix till fully incorporated. Add the dry ingredients and carrots and fold till combined. Sprinkle walnuts on top

Bake at 350F till skewer comes out clean in center.

I did this recipe to cut down the amount of oil usually used in a carrot cake so I added pumpkin puree. It made the cake a bit dense but really moist. Next time I would separate the eggs and whip the whites separately and fold them in at the end to lighten it up.

Turkey Pot Pie

Since I still had a pint of green bean casserole left I decided to make that the base of the pot pie. The casserole was made with a rue for thickening which is also the base sauce of pot pies so it was perfect.

Finally all the turkey is gone.

Turkey Hash and Eggs

Still stuck with left overs!

I love corned beef hash and eggs when I go to diners so I thought Turkey Hash is a good way to use up all the scraggly bits from the carcus you can pull off. (Don't waste anything.. there are starving kids in Somalia! haha)

(scrambled egg whites, cranberry sauce, turkey hash, whole wheat toast)

Finely chop the shredded turkey and place in a hot pan to slightly brown. Add some left over gravy or turkey stock and some left over sweet potato/ potato (finely chopped or mashed). Mix it all together and cook until brown and crispy. Top with a fried eggs.

Leftover Turkey Fried Rice

2 servings

1 cup left over turkey

2 cup left over rice

1/4 cup frozen peas

1/4 cup frozen corn

1/2 cup turkey stock

pinch salt & pepper

2 eggs

Chop or shred turkey meat. In a hot pan cook turkey to re-crisp any skin and caramelize meat. Pour turkey stock over meat and de-glaze pan. Reduce stock and add corn and peas. Add rice, salt and pepper and cook till all stock is absorbed. In another pan fry the egg and place over rice.

(I also added tobasco and ketchup on top)

First Thanksgiving

My family has never had a real Thanksgiving meal. We usually have a hodge podge of food. I usually try to inject a little bit of the traditional in with my mom's Chinese food. So we might be eating Chinese roast duck with bok choy, winter melon soup mixed in with some stuffing or mashed potatoes. That was my worst nightmare. I hate eating foods that don't belong together.

This year I decided I would cook a full fairly traditional Thanksgiving meal. It may not have been like the first Thanksgiving the Pilgrims had but its probably more like what they would have in gourmet magazine. No Chinese Food Allowed!

The turkey was brined for 2 days then rubbed with herb and spiced butter. Stuffed with carrots, onions, apple, lemon, sage, thyme, and rosemary.

( Never trust the pop up thermometer! you'll be eating dried out bird )

My favorite dish of the night (and every night) Maple Bacon Brussels Sprouts

Green Bean Casserole

Corn with brown butter and Parmesan cheese, Roasted butternut squash with sage brown butter, Brussels Sprouts, Cornbread andouille sausage apple and chestnut stuffing. (not shown: mashed sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, turkey giblet gravy)

It was a lot of food and my family doesn't eat much so I'll be transforming the leftovers into many more meals. Next year we are eating Chinese food.

Dumpling Party! and Hot Pot too!

I love dumplings but store bought ones are just not that great and its just not the same when they are made fresh, not frozen for god knows how long. So some of us girls who have been sort of unemployed for the past few months decided to make dumplings.

Pork and Chive Dumplings

4pkgs dumpling skins

2lbs ground pork

1lb ground fatty pork

1 bunch Chinese chives (finely chopped)

3Tbls grated ginger

1 med head of Chinese cabbage (finely chopped)

10 shitake mushrooms (finely diced)

4Tbls soy sauce

1Tbls sesame oil

2Tbls vinegar

3/4cup water

2Tbls salt

1tsp white pepper

Mix all the ingredients together very thoroughly, preferably with your hands.

Fill the skins with the meat mix and seal with water.

I like to pan fry them with a little oil to start then cover them half way with water and put a lid over them. Cook until the dumplings puff up then remove lid. Let all the water evaporate and the bottoms of the dumplings get crispy.

And then we had Hot Pot ( which I don't like because all the flavors get melded together, but it was for a friend who got a job in New Orleans and was leaving that weekend).

We had a half and half pot with super spicy soup base on one side and I made a pork stock for the wusses. A full line up of mushrooms, tofu, fish cakes, fish/ squid balls, konyaku, veggies, dumplings, lots of fatty beef slices and of course the Taiwanese bbq sauce (sa cha jiang).

After all that I made them test my gram cracker ice cream and we had cake from red leaf bakery in flushing.

This Little Piggy went to....

the hot tub.....

The crock pot is an under appreciated home cooking apparatus that is great for low and slow cooking of tougher cuts of meat that need longer cooking times.

Apple Braised Pork Shoulder

Braising liquid

4 cups apple juice

4 cups water

1/4 cup kosher salt

2tsp whole peppercorns

3 cloves garlic

1 onion

3 carrots

3 celery stalks

2 bay leaves

5 sprigs thyme

1 sprig rosemary

3 sprigs oregano

Place all ingredients into crock pot and set on high

5lbs bone in pork shoulder

pork rub

Apply pork rub and sear well on all sides

Place shoulder into crock pot

Cook for 6-7hrs on high or 10-11 hrs on low until meat is tender and falling off the bone.

Braised pork wrap, sweet corn garlic puree, Ida red apple, apple wood smoked bacon, romaine, habanero tortilla wrap, pork jus

Bacon Wrapped Figs

Figs are still in season! Eat them up while you can. Although I only had bacon I recommend wrapping them with prosciutto.

Foie Gras Vols-au-Vent

Seared Foie Gras Vols-au-vent, Apple Chutney (aka one bite of heaven, aka mouthful of heart attack)

When I worked at Per Se I was the one assigned to make the vols-au-vents. Not one of my favorite tasks. We only made them for private party events, I was very thankful for that. Luckily though I didn't have the worst job, my co-worker had to make the puff pastry dough from scratch for me to use. September Daring Bakers' Challenge was to make the puff pastry dough and make vols-au-vents.

Vols-au-vents make great vessels for all sorts of fillings and are perfect for a fancy canape party.

If you really want to go through all the trouble, the recipe for the puff pastry dough is below but it is really not necessary. Its much more efficient, easier and more consistent to buy the dough frozen. No matter what you do it will never come out consistent unless you make it a million times and have a sheeter machine to roll the dough out perfectly.

If you make the dough, keep it very cold and roll it out to about 1/8 inch thick. If you buy it let it defrost a bit then unroll it.

Chill it again and use pastry cutters to punch out an even number of circles. Using a slightly smaller cutter, cut out the centers of half of the circles of dough. Then using water or egg wash glue the borders onto the bases. Chill again then dock the centers with a fork and bake at 350F until golden brown.

Fill them with whatever you like.

Garden Tomato, Olive Tapenade, Goat Cheese

Michel Richard's Puff Pastry Recipe (from Baking with Julia)

Ingredients:

2-1/2 cups (12.2 oz/ 354 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1-1/4 cups (5.0 oz/ 142 g) cake flour
1 tbsp. salt (you can cut this by half for a less salty dough or for sweet preparations)
1-1/4 cups (10 fl oz/ 300 ml) ice water
1 pound (16 oz/ 454 g) very cold unsalted butter

plus extra flour for dusting work surface

Mixing the Dough:

Check the capacity of your food processor before you start. If it cannot hold the full quantity of ingredients, make the dough into two batches and combine them.

Put the all-purpose flour, cake flour, and salt in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse a couple of times just to mix. Add the water all at once, pulsing until the dough forms a ball on the blade. The dough will be very moist and pliable and will hold together when squeezed between your fingers. (Actually, it will feel like Play-Doh.)

Remove the dough from the machine, form it into a ball, with a small sharp knife, slash the top in a tic-tac-toe pattern. Wrap the dough in a damp towel and refrigerate for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the butter between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and beat it with a rolling pin until it flattens into a square that's about 1" thick. Take care that the butter remains cool and firm: if it has softened or become oily, chill it before continuing.

Incorporating the Butter:

Unwrap the dough and place it on a work surface dusted with all-purpose flour (A cool piece of marble is the ideal surface for puff pastry) with your rolling pin (preferably a French rolling pin without handles), press on the dough to flatten it and then roll it into a 10" square. Keep the top and bottom of the dough well floured to prevent sticking and lift the dough and move it around frequently. Starting from the center of the square, roll out over each corner to create a thick center pad with "ears," or flaps.

Place the cold butter in the middle of the dough and fold the ears over the butter, stretching them as needed so that they overlap slightly and encase the butter completely. (If you have to stretch the dough, stretch it from all over; don't just pull the ends) you should now have a package that is 8" square.

To make great puff pastry, it is important to keep the dough cold at all times. There are specified times for chilling the dough, but if your room is warm, or you work slowly, or you find that for no particular reason the butter starts to ooze out of the pastry, cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate it . You can stop at any point in the process and continue at your convenience or when the dough is properly chilled.

Making the Turns:

Gently but firmly press the rolling pin against the top and bottom edges of the square (this will help keep it square). Then, keeping the work surface and the top of the dough well floured to prevent sticking, roll the dough into a rectangle that is three times as long as the square you started with, about 24" (don't worry about the width of the rectangle: if you get the 24", everything else will work itself out.) With this first roll, it is particularly important that the butter be rolled evenly along the length and width of the rectangle; check when you start rolling that the butter is moving along well, and roll a bit harder or more evenly, if necessary, to get a smooth, even dough-butter sandwich (use your arm-strength!).

With a pastry brush, brush off the excess flour from the top of the dough, and fold the rectangle up from the bottom and down from the top in thirds, like a business letter, brushing off the excess flour. You have completed one turn.

Rotate the dough so that the closed fold is to your left, like the spine of a book. Repeat the rolling and folding process, rolling the dough to a length of 24" and then folding it in thirds. This is the second turn.

Chilling the Dough:

If the dough is still cool and no butter is oozing out, you can give the dough another two turns now. If the condition of the dough is iffy, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes. Each time you refrigerate the dough, mark the number of turns you've completed by indenting the dough with your fingertips. It is best to refrigerate the dough for 30 to 60 minutes between each set of two turns.

The total number of turns needed is six. If you prefer, you can give the dough just four turns now, chill it overnight, and do the last two turns the next day. Puff pastry is extremely flexible in this regard. However, no matter how you arrange your schedule, you should plan to chill the dough for at least an hour before cutting or shaping it.

Real Belgian Waffles?!

Light Fluffy Yeasty Waffles with Black Current Jam, Maple Syrup and Butter

Start making the batter the night before (this recipe is way too much work)

Belgian Waffle Batter

1/2cup warm water

2.25tsp active dry yeast (1 packet)

1T sugar

Dissolve yeast in warm water, add yeast and let stand for 10-15 min until foamy

3cups flour

1/4tsp salt

3 large eggs separated

1 large egg

1/3cup sugar

1cup water

1.5cups milk

1 stick butter, melted

2tsp oil

2tsp vanilla

Mix egg yolks, whole egg, sugar, water, milk , butter, oil, vanilla

Once yeast mixture is foamy add to egg mixture

Mix wet mixture with the flour and salt until smooth

Let sit at room temperature for 1hour

Cover and refrigerate overnight

In the morning whip egg whites to stiff peaks and fold into yeast batter

Pour into pre-heated waffle maker.

This recipe is good but not worth the work.. just bust out the Aunt Jemima.

Scraps anyone?

When cutting puff pastry into specific shapes for tarts it can result in a lot of waste. Puff pastry is made with so much buttery goodness why throw it away when you can piece it together into a crunchy, sugary cookie.

Seeing More Red...

My little raspberry bush is bearing its second round of berries for the year so I was inspired to make some little treats with them.

Raspberry Tart, puff pastry, vanilla custard, peach coulis

Almond cake, Raspberries, vanilla creme chantilly, roasted peach

Raspberry Peach Melba Milk Shake, vanilla ice cream

Sweet!

Offal: Sweetbreads

Don't know why these are called sweetbreads but it has something to do with Old English.

Rinse them, dry them, fry them coated in flour and finish with some brown butter. Squeeze some lemon juice on top and enjoy.

Figs, Not Just for Newtons

Its the end of the summer and its also the end of fig season when they are really sweet and ripe.

I like to rinse them with salt water and lay them on paper towels to dry as soon as I get them home. They tend to get moldy very quickly if not stored properly.

Fig Frangipagne Tart

Frozen Puff Pastry Sheets- thawed but still cold

Unroll and cut into squares and cut a 1/8 inch border leaving two corners attached

Bring the cut corners to the opposite side and egg wash to attach to the top of the base.

Egg wash the border

Almond cream

1cup Almond flour

3 eggs

3/4cup sugar

1 stick butter

Cream the butter with the sugar, add eggs and mix till well incorporated

Add almond flour

Spread a thin layer on the base of the puff pastry squares

Slice Figs and place them on top of the almond cream, slightly overlapping.

Bake Tarts at 350F until puff pastry is golden brown and puffed.

Please Come Again...

When we have repeat clients that we know are foodies we like to change the menu and try new dishes.

Amuse Bouche: Corn "pudding", Clam gelee, Uni, Chives

Heirloom Tomato Salad, Jamon Iberico, Melon "Parisian", Basil, Lucini Olive Oil

"White Gazpacho", Smoked Paprika Shrimp, Spanish White Anchovy, Red Gazpacho Granite, Curried Grisini, Candied Fennel

Roasted Sea Scallop, Organic Carrot Puree, Confit Celery Root, Meyer Lemon "Caviar", Sea Urchin Emulsion

Mediterranean Sea Bream, Lobster Fennel Lima Fricasse, Coconut Saffron Nage

Hudson Valley Rabbit, Fresh Tagliatelle, Wild Burgundy Snails, Braised Red Cabbage, Pine Nut "Crumble"

Seared Duck Breast, Rhubarb Chutney, Smoked "Grits", Granny Smith Apples, Shaved Foie Gras

Sous Vide Veal Tenderloin, Crispy Sweetbreads, Brown Butter Turnip Puree, Golden Beets, Bluefoot Mushroom, Veal Jus

Robiola Rochetta, Peach Rhubarb Terrine, Orange Honey, Candied Marcona Almonds

Lime Marinated Papaya, Mojito Foam, Coconut Cream "Yolk"