David Ross

Last night I did a dish using instant ramen noodles in a sort of fried rice style. After boiling and rinsing, the noodles were stir-fried with sesame oil, then light soy sauce, carrots, peas, egg and green onions. I added about a tablespoon of toasted nori seaweed coarsely chopped, then garnished with fried garlic and fried chili salt, sesame seeds and black pepper. I used too much of the fired chili salt and the noodles were way too salty but in general, a good noodle dish using instant ramen noodles.

Asparagus Salad with Spicy Chinese Mustard Vinaigrette- I blanched the asparagus spears and stalks (cut in half) for 3 minutes in boiling water, then into an ice bath to chill. The vinaigrette is really easy--a mixture of seasoned rice vinegar, sesame oil, olive oil, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, sugar, hot Chinese mustard, black and white sesame seeds. I just adjust the ratio of vinegar to oil to suit my personal tastes and I only add a small bit of soy sauce. The salad is garnished with green onion threads I cut using a Japanese vegetable cutter, then soak the green onions in cold water in the fridge until they crisp up.

Smoked Columbia River Smelt with Wakame Mayonnaise-

Not specific recommendations, but in Las Vegas the restaurants are really good about posting menus and prices online. I'd think along the lines of going for small plates and appetizers to build a menu with a cost within $50 or less per person. Julian Serrano at Aria is an example where you could order various tapas plates and have some wine or cocktails and keep it lower cost rather than ordering $50 entrees.

Korean Barbecued Lamb with Fried Garlic-

Well said and the quote speaks to why I think our Cook-Off's are inspiring, creative and just darn fun.

Huiray do you go to a local butcher for those wonderful looking pork bones?

Don't worry about a multi-course affair. Some of the fine dining restaurants have gone away from the multi-course tasting menus, but those that do still are gracious if you want to pick a few courses to create you meal. Have a wonderful trip.

That's a great idea and I have a picture in my mind---kids would probably love a dish of ramen noodles topped with spaghetti and meatballs. And I might too!

That's one of my favorite spots on a Sunday.

I recently came across a salad recipe combining cabbage, dried ramen noodles, almonds, diced apple, green onion and a soy sauce based vinaigrette. Sounds odd to me. I'm not sure I'd like the texture of just the dried noodles. Maybe I'll crunch away on some this afternoon as a taste test.

Wow, monkfish has appeared in Spokane twice in recent months. So, roasted monkfish with fingerling potatoes and "petit pois a'la Francsaise."-Peas braised with lettuce. I've found a taste for cooked lettuce and in fact, I plan on pairing braised asparagus, peas and butter lettuce for the Easter dinner.

Le Cirque has another new young chef, a Frenchman. You can read about his background on the Bellagio website. Knowing the family and the Manager at Le Cirque, I can assure you that they only hire very talented Chefs and I'm sure you won't be disappointed. The service is old school, which is hard to find these days. I would pass up SW Steakhouse and go to Carnevino. My food writer friends down there are raving about it right now--it's even better than when I was there a couple of years ago. There isn't a price-point difference between the two, (albeit all steak houses are terribly expensive in Las Vegas), but Carnevino stands out not just for the steaks but the appetizer and side dishes. You can hardly stop slathering the lardo on bread. I'm not sure about Lago, but a friend went to Michael Mina two weeks ago and they have a fairly new chef and he reported the food is better than ever. That's a big achievement and restaurants in Vegas don't last as long as Mina.

Duck broth sounds delicious.

This weekend I'm working on another ramen dish using salmon, but a combination of Japanese flavors in the broth and Scandanavian flavors for the salmon.

My second attempt ended up much better, due in large part to your feedback and suggestions. I started with a broth based on pork and chicken bones: 5 quarts water 2lbs. pork bones 2lbs. chicken bones 2 sheets kombu carrots, chopped celery, chopped yellow onion, with skin, chopped garlic ginger 1 envelop bonito flakes 2 tbsp. chicken stock base All the ingredients went into a deep stockpot and brought to a gentle simmer. I partially covered the stockpot with the lid, open enough to let steam escape, and let the stock simmer about 3 1/2 hours. Then strained and put into the refrigerator to chill overnight. On day two I scooped off the fat layer on top of the gelled stock, brought it back to a simmer. While the broth was simmering again, I braised some baby back pork riblets in a mixture of salt, pepper, water, sesame oil, garlic, some of the broth, brown sugar, soy sauce, mirin, sake and rice vinegar. Into a Chinese claypot, covered with the lid, (which has a small air hole to let steam escape), and braised the ribs in a 300 oven for 2 1/2 hours. Before serving, I added some Japanese style soy sauce, sake and mirin to the broth. Then I ladled some of the broth into a smaller saucepan, brought it to the boil and added one package of instant ramen noodles and a small bunch of baby spinach and kale leaves. Once the noodles were done, they went into the serving bowl with these garnishes: Three of the braised pork riblets pea shoots julienned carrots julienned green onions pickled daikon radish slices sliced sour bamboo shoots Then a drizzle of: Tamari soy sauce mustard oil toasted sesame oil red peppercorn chile oil Chinese black vinegar sprinkling of Japanese togarashi seasoning The verdict this time? Delicious, although next time I would roast the pork and chicken bones in the oven first to add more depth of flavor to the broth. And by the way, while I like eggs, I can't bring myself to put an egg in a ramen dish.

Thanks for the info.

I've got my latest stock simmering right now with pork and chicken bones. Some Shoyu Ramen recipes call for adding soy sauce to the broth, but they vary in terms of what time the soy sauce is added. Some call for adding the soy sauce in the initial stages, others direct that the soy sauce be added on day two after the solids have been pulled out and the stock has been strained and refrigerated for a day. Some recipes call for adding soy sauce only at the finishing stages with the garnishes. Anyone have thoughts or preferences for when to add the soy sauce?

Holy smokes that's my kind of place.

Looks like the ribs were just rubbed with spices and then you can add the sauce yourself? That's my personal preference rather than ribs soaked with sauce.

I'm starting on my second attempt at ramen and buying the ingredients for the broth. I have two questions. I have a recipe that calls for adding daikon radish to the broth during the cooking process. Does the daikon add flavor and/or texture to the broth? I liked the flavor of pickled daikon as a garnish in my first ramen, but that was added at the last minute before serving rather than an ingredient in the broth during cooking. Another recipe calls for Japanese soy sauce in the broth during cooking. While I'm familiar with the taste differences between some Chinese soy sauces, (more salty), than Japanese soy sauces I have used, are there other differences specific to Japanese soy sauce.

My first-ever attempt at ramen was a fun, creative yet challenging adventure and I'd say for a rookie attempt the final dish was, shall we say, given a passing grade. Like a B-. From a visual standpoint and the contrasting tastes and textures, it was a good dish, but the broth lacked flavor. The noodles didn't really soak up much taste of the lipid broth. I brushed the salmon with Chinese dark soy sauce and it was delicious, but probably would have been better as a stand alone along with some rice. Yet it was a good starting point and along with what I've learned from you so far, I'm confident my next ramen dish will be better. I bought fresh, frozen and dried noodles at the Asian market earlier in the week, all teetering on the definition of "ramen noodles." For this dish I chose these dried noodles- Granted, they are "Japanese Style" noodles made in Taiwan, but I'm finding a lot of noodles labeled as "ramen" can be misleading- So it's labeled as Chuka-Soba, Japanese Style Noodle, but can be used in both Ramen and Yaki Soba dishes. The noodles were made with wheat flour, cornstarch, salt, soybean oil, potassium carbonate and yellow coloring- I suppose you could call the garnishes I chose as spanning the globe, not exclusively Japanese. From the upper left to right: pickled lettuce from Fujian China, lemon zest, pea shoots from California, green onion and pickled radish, (takuwan), from Hawaii. We haven't seen the start of the Spring salmon fishery in the Pacific Northwest, so I bought farm-raised salmon which was actually quite delicious and moist- The noodles after boiling for about 4 minutes- With the miso-dashi broth- After broiling, I seasoned the salmon with Japanese togarashi spices, seasame oil, Chinese peppercorn chile oil and mustard seed oil made in Mumbai- Miso soup is delicate in my taste view, and so I think ramen needs a more hearty broth like some of you have shown us. I'll work on the broth next time and choose some different garnishes, probably cut way back on the portion of the meat or seafood. It was a good, Asian noodle soup dish but I've got work to do.

Thanks for the guidance. We'll see what I come up with. In addition to the ramen dish with salmon, this afternoon I slowly braised the beef shank in a mixture of Chinese ingredients. I'll chill it overnight, slice it thin and also put it in a dish with ramen noodles.

I would say so. I got the idea from two different cookbooks. One is a general Japanese cookbook and I was looking for the dashi recipe. Then I pulled out Ming Tsai's Blue Ginger cookbook and he has a dish of Miso Broth with a Tatsoi and Enoki Salad, (baby spinach and mushrooms). His recipe doesn't include ramen noodles. I like the hint of the sea from dashi and miso seems to deepen the flavors so that was my thought process to then include salmon.

I made dashi last night and today I'll use it in a miso soup. I found some interesting fresh, frozen and dried noodles at the Asian market yesterday and I'm still thinking about which one to use. Also found some unusual garnishes for the ramen dish. Salmon will be the main star, at least I hope so.