Dejah

I can't believe that we lost the warm temps we've had for about 2 weeks - from +8C to -8C today (with wind -14C) Any of the above gorgeous meals would have helped to warm me innerds, especially the stroganoff... Shelby: Love the idea of the egg in the middle of your pizza! Did you crack the egg on half way thru' the bake? I've been using my Jenn-Air grill since Dec, and of all days, I decided to do burgers outside. But they were worth it. Not quite Shelby's Juicy Lucy, but juicy nonetheless: Lean ground beef stuffed with smoked Gouda and brushed with bottled Guinness BBQ sauce.

Yay! Glad you kept your promise, Bruce, as I left "today" just for you! ojisan I always use boneless pork butt. Love the fat that runs throughout - keeps the meat juicy.

Bruce: For once, I didn't hang the chunks of pork like I usually do with char siu. I think the lovely crust came from over-marinating... I didn't get around to cooking the meat after one day. It was in the marinade, in the fridge for three days, tho' I did take the time to turn the pieces. This time, I just laid them on the broiler rack with water in the bottom. Oven at 425F, turning and basting half way. Baos didn't get made either. We had too many little"nibbles"! I'll be making more next week, AND baos, before the kids come out for Easter.

I picked up the bag of maple flakes while cruising the baking aisle at one of the frocery chains...sounded interesting. Haven't done much with it other than on cereal. It's made from "pure maple sugar" and that definitely came thru'. Suggested servings: on cereal, stir-fries, maple whipped cream. I wanted different tastes on the roasted vegetables: cumin and chili peppers sounded good on the parsnips, but for fennel..., so I sprinkled some on before and after cooking. I liked it with the "licorice". The latter sprinkle added a bit of crunch. Would be good as maple whipped cream for waffles...

Beef short rib stew just the way my Dad made it all those years ago for our small prairie town cafe. This was a favourite of the many American hunters who frequented our area during duck hunting and deer hunting season. Clark Gable was said to have been a frequent visitor. The dish is one of the family-style soup tureens from the set my Mom and I brought from Hong Kong when we immigrated in 1958. Oven-roasted vegetables: fennel with five-spice powder, parsnips with cumin, baby carrots with maple flakes, and spaghetti squash with butter.

As mention in my previous post, my version is unorthodox. Here is a picture of the one I made last month. I threw in a Chinese eggplant that was left in the bottom of my fridge. It's fusion: Fish fragrant eggplant and mapo tofu! Most of the sauce had settled to the bottom of the dish. I also like to throw in fresh mint - for any spicy dishes I make.

Maybe it's more Toisanese, but I've always used ground pork. I haven't used Fushia's recipe. I've always gone blithly on from what I remember and what I liked - most likely unorthodox. I also do not add fermented black beans or sugar , but I do add a splash of vinegar...

Saw these at Stokes and just couldn't resist! Supper tonight: Hot 'n' Sour soup with shrimp, ground chicken, char siu, bamboo shoots, shitaki mushrooms, wood ear, day lily, silken tofu. Pan fried tofu with char siu, oyster sauce on wilted iceberg lettuce.

Fresh out of the oven this afternoon: char siu - Chinese BBQ pork. So hard to keep my hands (and hubby's) off! Will be making char siu baos and bits for hot 'n' sour soup. I've been making the soup with char siu for so many years, I just can't make it without!

I love bitter melon in any way, shape, form. One of my Mom's favourites was bitter melon soup with pork and rehydrated oysters. SO good! With bitter melon, I usually stuff with pork then a fermented black bean garlic sauce. Watched an episode of Spice Goddess this morning, and she made a stuffed bitter melon dish. These melons have a different look (sometimes labelled as karela?), and the skin was peeled. The stuffing was chopped onion, tomato, garlic, ginger, tumeric, garam masala, curry leaves. The melon halves were pan fried then finished in a 425F oven. Didn't get to see the rest of the show... Have you ever used these bitter melons?

dcarch! That crackling is ridiculous! WHat "dough" did you use for the Aebleskiver? Those look so cool. I would love to make them for Easter weekend when the kids are home. rarerollingobject: Recipe / method for your five-spice duck?

Steamed hairy squash (mu qua) with ground chicken, shrimp, waterchestnut in oyster sauce - for supper tonight. The squash was sweet and tender. The chicken was velvety smooth with the seasme oil aroma. Memories of my Mom's cooking.

Love those bagels, Shelby! Looks like they are "everything bagels"...garlic, poppy seed, etc? My Favourite! Juicy Lucy will be on the "honey-do" list the next couple of weeks. I'm on a break from teaching! Yay!

robirdstx: Must copy those explicit instructions!

MiFi: Your Zaatar chicken has me thinking I need to get my zaatar and sumac out! Rarerollingobject - beautiful fish and photography! robirdstx Amazing colour on those lamb chops! Tonight, hubby requested spaghetti. I remember when we used to go to Spaghetti Factory in Winnipeg, and always ordered spaghetti with 3 sauces: burnt butter, clam, and meat sauce. Tonight, we just had clam and herbs in cream and white wine, steamed clams with proscuitto and white wine(Almejas Con Jamon from CDKitchen), and canned (shameful!)tomato basil sauce augmented with ground chuck, fresh basil, and fresh green peppercorns. The broth from the steamed clams was too salty (Fratelli Bereta prosacuitto). I used some of the proscuitto for asparagus as well.

dcarch: You seem to like mustard greens a lot. Are you close to an Asian store? What did you do with the rest of the leaves? I haven't made siu yook since I made it with my mom. Haven't been able to find any good thick pieces of pork belly, so I just pick it up at Chinese BBQ shops. Just as well that I don't have easy access as I've just been out on cholesterol meds by the cardiologist as a precautionary measure.:-(

dcarch: Did you steam the eggplant and cooked the turkey separately? I have ground turkey in the freezer and would like to find some other uses for it. Tonight, I finally got around to making Jo-mel's Vinegar Spashed Pork Balls. I need to make more sauce. These were very good - fine texture and we loved the lemon zest flavour that came thru' the sweetness. Served with stir-fried pea shoots (dou miu): And a medley of canned shitaki, oyster, and straw mushrooms in oyster sauce.

The only way I've ever cooked mustard greens other than in soup is after CNY. My Mom always made chang dae - the sweet glutineous rice dumplings. These would be cooked with mustard greens after the NY period - as a snack for afternoon tea.

Snow was melting, then we got 10 cm with +40kmh winds! Couldn't go anywhere, so took time to make stuffed peppers and eggplant with ground pork, shrimp, Chinese celery, cilantro, and green onion. The pieces were browned then steamed with oyster sauce /chicken stock. The sauce was delicious for the baby bok choi and rice.

Kim Sook, dcarch: Thanks for noticing the sear on the scallops. This was my first...virgin crust?! I actually followed instructions and did not lift and flip the scallops until the required hint of crust showing on the edges. I also used clarified butter to sear them...no burnt bits left in the pan. dcarch: What is the spice sprinkled on the mustard greens? It made me think of sumac - a spice I've been "hoarding" and have only used a couple of times. Kim: Hope your notes on your coucous with hazlenuts and currants are in your recipe book. I need to try my hand at coucous. Bruce: Maybe your treatment of the salmon will get past the fishness I've been finding in all the ways I've tried with salmon steaks. I have 2 more in the freezer to use up. David: Loved the lamb. Good thing I didn't see this before shopping - wouldn't have broken my promise to NOT buy any more meat until I've used up what I've got! Patience will have its reward.

Darienne: How can you be so right on?! I think I fit in all catagories - and both the "need to" and virtuous group... I need to get all the AAA prime rib roast sales in case they never have as good a sale again, in case I have unexpected company, etc... I needed to bring back 6 containers of Hungarian Hot paprika because I might never find it in our part of the country - and eneded up giving away 4 containers with recipes to friends - virtuous? I feel I NEED to spend as much as I used to when the kids were all home even tho' we are empty nesters...gotta support the local economy - definitely virtuous! I WILL eventually use up everything, even made a promise to my family that I will NOT buy any more meat until the freezer is cleaned out. It's been 2 weeks - doubly definitely virtuous!

Thank goodness admiring the food porn here doesn't add weight...or does it!? My scales say...maybe... Weekend, more time for cooking and eating. Tonight, pan-seared scallops with 2 sauces: one home-made with hoisin and lime juice (similar to the one I used for duck breasts sans the garlic. The other is bottled mango chutney. Does wild rice get stale? I've had this bag for over a year. Not all the grains "split" so some were chewy. It was a pilaf with carrots, celery, onion, walnut, cranberries. The final result was chewier than I expected. The walnuts and cranberries went well with the scallops.

I've never heard of velveting by sliding the protein in oil or water, to partially cook or complete cook before I read about it on egullet. From what my parents taught me, velveting meant first marinating the protein in seasonings, cornstarch and oil. Let the protein rest while you cook the vegetables. Clean the wok out, heat it up, just enough oil to coat the surface completely, with a small pool of a couple tbsp at the bottom. (depending on how much protein to be cooked). Add the meat, stir after one side starts to brown a bit, continue until 3/4 done, add the veg and liquid accumulated, mix well, and the meat is like velvet - from the cornstarch / oil marinade. "Sliding" thru' oil or water bath just seems like an extra step? The only time I've ever done it was when we had the restaurant. On crazy busy days like Mother's Day, New Years, etc, we'd do the "velveting bath" only to have a large amount of beef, pork, or chicken pre-cooked to quickly add to the veg as per order. Have never done the shrimp that way. Here's the shrimp I made for CNY - velveting the way I described above. It stays juicy, velvety, and crispy...

Heidi: Yes, lots of rice, especially good with the moistened burnt rice on the bottom of the pot. I sometimes use sliced beef, or I might use sliced pork with mui choi. Beef always seem to go better with ja choi. Ground meat was better for the kids when they were small - broken up and mixed with the rice and juice. It's comfort food: salty, spicy, minty, meaty...

Chinese fusion - Sechuan / Guangdong... This was the first traditional Chinese dish I made for my hubby when we got married in 1966, and it's still his favourite. Steamed ground chuck with sechuan preserved turnip (ja choi) on his side. Mine had fermented salted cabbage (mui choi), chili pepper, and fresh mint (more Guangdong except for the mint and chili). The addition of the mint and chili was something I picked up on a trip to Durham, England in 1976, and that's the way I've been making it ever since. Both "originals" were the way my mom made it.