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C. sapidus

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Everything posted by C. sapidus

  1. Tonight we made Barbara Tropp’s hot and sour Hunan chicken. School was out today, so I prepared all of the ingredients this morning while home with the boys. I liked some things about this dish and did not like others. The texture of the vegetables was very nice, with the carrots sliced thinner and cooked longer than the zucchini. Ms. Tropp’s instructions were excellent as usual, and I learned several techniques from this one recipe. I had never “velveted” chicken before, and perhaps I did it wrong but I prefer the taste and texture of chicken that has been seared in a hot wok. Also, the flavors of the sauce never really came together. I’ll try the leftovers for breakfast – perhaps it just needed a little salt. Overall, not bad for a quick weeknight meal, but I probably won’t make this again. Edamame and jasmine rice on the side. I hope jasmine rice isn’t “trendy” – I like it too much.
  2. C. sapidus

    Dinner! 2007

    So many beautiful dinners! Nishla: Thank you! Your potato-chorizo-egg dish immediately jumped out at me, but the pizza and seared scallop salad also look and sound delicious. Pontormo: I’m so glad that you have found a new friend in lemongrass, but it isn’t fair to dangle “Thai pho” without explanation. Please do report on your Asian soup adventures. Our boys love soup, but (mostly because of time limitations) we don’t make it often enough. Forest: Thank you! Klary: Thanks! Your picture-taking routine sounds like ours, except our only decent light is on the stovetop (I have learned to avoid leaning on still-hot burners). Lucylou: Your pictures are quite beautiful, especially the chili crusted pork roast and the potato cheese soup with pancetta. Sarawelch: I love your flavor combinations and I am intrigued by the sweet potato and chicken pie, but ooh, that dessert! MiFi: I am now craving beef Stroganoff (preferably yours). GTO: Spring? What's that?
  3. Michelle: You are one of the people that I hoped would post. Your banh xeo looks beautifully light, with its delicate ring of tiny bubbles around the edge. The pile of herbs is gorgeous, too – I often forget about serving herbs with Vietnamese food in the winter. Alright, I'll bite. I made banh xeo last Saturday. I have not been taking pictures of my food lately but here is a previous banh xeo. ←
  4. C. sapidus

    Dinner! 2007

    Tonight we made pan-seared tuna steaks with a ginger-lime dipping sauce; stir-fried trumpet mushrooms; coconut rice; and cucumbers. More information in the Vietnamese Food thread (click).
  5. Yet more from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen: pan-seared tuna steaks (ca thu chien) with ginger-lime dipping sauce (nuoc mam gung). We briefly coated the tuna steaks in a mixture of lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, and oil before searing them in a cast iron skillet. The boys surprised me by preferring the tuna rare, so next time next time I’ll shorten the cooking time. I loved the ginger-lime dipping sauce, a simple mixture of lime juice, sugar, fish sauce, and lots of minced ginger. We also stir-fried trumpet mushrooms and garlic with olive oil, and finished the dish with chicken stock, cornstarch slurry, and a little salt. Simple and very good, served with coconut rice and cukes on the side.
  6. C. sapidus

    Dinner! 2007

    Marlene: Deepest condolences on the loss of your mother. Tonight’s dinner: chicken and ginger in caramel sauce (ga kho gung) from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen. More information here (click). Stir-fried baby bok choy, coconut rice, and the usual cukes on the side. For the bok choy, I separated the leaves, cut the thick leaf bottoms from the more delicate tops, stir-fried the thick parts with garlic and chilies, and then added the leaf tops towards the end. The sauce was a mixture of Shaoxing rice wine, fermented bean paste, and fish sauce.
  7. Tonight we made chicken and ginger in caramel sauce (ga kho gung) from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen. Cubed chicken thighs, simmered until tender with thinly-sliced and smashed ginger, caramel sauce, fish sauce, and salt. Garnished with chopped scallions, it was simple and delicious. Stir-fried baby bok choy, coconut rice, and the usual cukes on the side. Chicken and ginger in caramel sauce (ga kho gung) I did have difficulty with the caramel sauce. For the first batch, I followed the directions in the cookbook. The whole batch crystallized badly, so I threw it out and made caramel my usual way – no water, heat for about 5 minutes until the sugar starts to melt, stir and regulate the heat until the caramel turns the desired color, and then add water slowly and carefully to stop the process. I made this batch of caramel sauce very dark to provide caramel flavor without adding a lot of sweetness. Caramel sauce (nuoc mau)
  8. Oh, another thing – I love when the author gives recipe variations. Rick Bayless does this especially well; recipe sidebars often list several regional variations on a particular dish. These variations give an idea of how the recipe can be changed, and pack several additional recipes, sometimes quite different, onto each page. Fuchsia Dunlop does this well, too, providing vegetarian and non-vegetarian versions for several recipes. For example, she casually mentions that a grilled chicken marinade works well on halved zucchini. We made both, for a very good and very easy weeknight dinner. When authors describe recipe variations and ingredient substitutions, they demonstrate that they have explored the recipe and tested its resilience or sensitivity to change. This gives me ideas for exploring my own variations on the theme.
  9. Dejah: Oh my, that looks incredible! Your caramel sauce looks good to me. I like caramel pretty dark, with only a hint of remaining sweetness. I agree with you about adding more lemongrass – I have started routinely increasing the amount of lemongrass by at least half (garlic too). Perhaps lemongrass has more zing in the tropics. Speaking of the anti-tropics, the snow-covered lounge chair next to the grill is a nice touch.
  10. Susan: In addition to your excellent list, I also value how the author addresses exotic ingredients in a recipe. Some authors specify the authentic ingredient without mentioning possible substitutes. Other authors specify an inauthentic ingredient without mentioning the real thing. A select group of authors get it right - they specify the authentic ingredient, list possible substitutes, and discuss how the substitution will affect the taste of the finished dish.
  11. C. sapidus

    Water/rice ratios

    For jasmine rice, I use around 1 part rice to 1.25 parts water in a closed pot on the stovetop. I’ll make it dryer if the “planned leftovers” will be used for fried rice. Mrs. Crab usually makes basmati rice in an open pot, probably similar to Jack’s method. Austin: I never had much luck with the fingertip method either – it probably works better with a smaller pot than what we use. It's good to "see" you around!
  12. Dejah: Wow, beautiful braises! Yes, I felt the same way about Ms. Dunlop's red pork. It was good, but needed a litte more "something". What other vegetables do you think would work with that dish?
  13. I hope your throat feels better. What is it with bloggers and sore throats lately? A shot for each shot? What makes you think the five innoculations will be in your arm?
  14. You should - they are great fun. And those doughnuts look delicious. Ann_T: Thanks! Oh, my - I know that you get all self-depreciating about your baking, but oh, my - those croissants look amazing - golden brown crust, light as a feather, and just the right amount of filling.
  15. C. sapidus

    Dinner! 2007

    Mmm, lots of beautiful, juicy, seared-red meat around tonight. We had baked fish fillets with sherry-butter sauce and basil; stir-fried baby zucchini slivers with garlic; and basmati rice. Mrs. Crab made cabbage salad with dried cranberries. We also killed a bottle of Elk Run eiswein.
  16. <whimper> Dang, that looks good! Cinnamon, caramelized sugar, fruit - sounds like my kind of dessert (mentally adds tarte Tatin to my ever-growing list of things to make one of these days). How has your life has changed since you last blogged? Have you been cooking from Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table? Enquiring minds wanto to know.
  17. Oh, we will definitely need pictures and a tasting report. Congratulations! By the way, Mrs. Crab followed a recipe once - she has never been quite the same ever since. I think honey would be much sweeter than a good dark caramel.
  18. C. sapidus

    Dinner! 2007

    . . . as does that . . . . . . and that.
  19. Megan: I greatly enjoyed your previous foodblog and your trip reports, so I am looking forward to this week very much. We have missed you on the dinner thread lately, though. I used to visit Manhattan once or twice a year, but we haven’t made it up there since the boys entered our lives. One of my favorite NYC activities was to wander around lower Manhattan, taking pictures and stopping to eat whatever looked interesting. I look forward to seeing the city through your eyes, and you are off to a great start. Happy blogging!
  20. insomniac: Thank you very much. Actually, in reducing the sauce I over-cooked the shrimp a little. I should have added the sauce earlier or pulled out the shrimp before reducing the sauce. Not all mistakes show up in the picture. Eh, that's the tradeoff - I love trying new recipes, but know full well that we can make a dish better the second or third time. ETA: I agree with you about tamarind, it adds such a complex tart flavor. Andrea Nguyen describes a handy method for making tamarind water – simmer a block of tamarind pulp in water, mash up, press through a strainer once or twice, and freeze in an ice tray. When it freezes, store the tamarind ice cubes in a freezer bag. Each ice cube should be about two tablespoons. We have a tray in the freezer now, so I see more tamarind in our future.
  21. C. sapidus

    Dinner! 2007

    Doddie: Mmm, tomatoes and fish sauce – yum! The chicken adobo looks good, too. Beware the power of the humble cucumber . . . From Into the Vietnamese Kitchen: Napa cabbage and shrimp soup again (canh cai kim chi nau tom) . . . . . . and shrimp in spicy tamarind sauce (tom rang me), with jasmine rice and cukes. More info here (click).
  22. More from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen: shrimp in spicy tamarind sauce (tom rang me); and Napa cabbage and shrimp soup (canh cai kim chi nau tom). Side dishes were jasmine rice and cucumbers. The soup is a family favorite, and the shrimp may be a new one. The shrimp was stir-fried with shallots and garlic, and then finished with a sauce of tamarind, fish sauce, Sriracha, and sugar. Simple and delicious. Napa cabbage and shrimp soup (canh cai kim chi nau tom) Shrimp in spicy tamarind sauce (tom rang me)
  23. We make rice in a saucepan on the stove, and probably eat rice with half of our meals. I value counter space more than the few minutes we would save using a rice cooker. If a future renovation yields a pantry full of electrical outlets, a rice cooker will be plugged into one of those outlets.
  24. Sure, come on over – as long as you share in the cooking. Thank you! We found top sirloin on sale, so that's what we used. I'm, um, frugal when it comes to meat. I found Modern Art of Chinese Cooking on Amazon for $10 USD – used hardcover in good shape. Just think how much gas $$ you would save shopping online, compared with a trip to Winnipeg. I read about Barbara Tropp's death when I was researching Chinese cookbooks on eGullet. It seemed sad at the time, but the loss seems even sharper now that I have a greater appreciation for her work. Oh, I definitely crave curry – usually Thai or Indian, but the boys seem to do better with the more gently-flavored Vietnamese curries. If I had the time and the calories to burn, we would eat a lot of curries.
  25. You could be right - I'll give it a try next time.
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