snowangel

Bruce, looks lovely. I did a chinese-style Char Sui the other day, and am thinking bahn mi or bao in the next few days. I never make bahn mi, mostly because I can get them for a buck and a half at my local market, but i'm inspired. But, the daikon and carrot pickel. I am loving it, and have decided it is a staple. It is also very good alongside just plain scrambled eggs. And, I'm rediscovering Maggi sauce, and appreciating the subtleness that it displays as opposed to soy sauce. I'm off to the Asian market tomorrow or Thursday morning, and have every intention of exploring the noodle dishes. My market has a whole aisle of dried noodles, and half a fridge case of fresh ones.

Oh, oh, oh. How could I forget July and August, and not only fresh garden tomatoes (none of the supermarket styrofoam crap) and SWEET CORN!

Santo, I've discovered that I quite prefer using a butt (bone in or boneless) to the country ribs, which are often not nearly as well marbled. Pontermo, glad it was a success. I actually prefer the frozen artichokes, as them seem less salty, and for some odd reason, seem fresher. Chicken is tricky to braise because just a bit too long can leave it a bit too dry. What temp was the oven?

On te first 60+ degree day in Minnesota (today!), we have burgers on the grill. The next landmark will be wild ramps.

Did you make your own wrappers for the bahn cuon?

It is important, but the favas can be bought peeled. That is what most people do. Look at your local middle eastern market and they should have them. ← This will probably win the prize for stupidest question of the year, but how do I know if the dried favas I bought have been peeled? Or, will it be evident after I've soaked them? On another note, when I make falafel, do I have to fry all of them at once, or can I hold some of the mixture for frying for lunch the next day?

When I did this dish, I had the same concern about a kitchen fire, so I just let it cook, figuring that the result would be the same as igniting it (but, I could be all wrong, but given that you don't ignite wine...). I did not flour the chicken. What I did was browned the chicken a bit -- enough so that the flesh under the skin wasn't raw looking. Remove from pan, remove skin, and then just brown. IMHO, whenever I dredge something in flour prior to browning (fried chicken being an exception), the flour ends up burning and then I have to wash the pan before moving onto the braising step.

I concur with Anne on the butt (which is really a shoulder). I've also had good luck with "country style" ribs (not to be confused with spare or baby back ribs). And, braise low and slow, and for best results, braise a day ahead of time and reheat when you're ready to eat it!

I dont think its only that. It IS tedious and difficult to get a meal on the table 5 days a week, within 40 min of arriving home from work, and one that is acceptable to oneself, the spousal and the offspring units. It involves shortcuts, and simple recipes. So, cooking maybe became tedious when some of us who enjoy cooking also decided to enjoy working fulltime outside the home. Its much more fun on Saturday. ← I love to cook, I love to entertain, and I love to nourish. And, I've worked hard to involve the kids in the process (I grew up thinking that everyone should know how to cook, sew on a button and type). One of the things I did when Peter and Heidi were but babes (almost twins at that) was get Diana in the kitchen with me at 8:00 at night, when the babes had gone to bed. We'd plan dinner for the next night, and get as much advance prep done as possible. Learning in many ways...math, reading, creativity, plus some great mother/daughter time that the other two prevented during the before and after-school hours. There's something that all five of us Fahning's find very comforting about sitting around the table, eating (be it a success or disaster), and going over the days events. I usually do the cooking, and even during the disasters, there's not a night that they don't get up from the table and thank me. Food, love, good conversation. It helps that I find the chopping, the searching the freezer, fondling the produce at the market very conforting.

Thanks, Brooks, for all you have done! And, I don't care what you say, but cilantro is good in gumbo, and there's nothing like a swim in a lake (actually a dip, not a swim) in a lake in Northern MN in May when the water's up to 45 degrees!

Tammy, I hope I'm not too late, but what about cooking the glaze with the garlic in it for a few minutes before you apply the glaze?

Neglected to mention that yes, there was bacon. Peter and I ate the bacon while the onions and liver were cooking. Call it an appetizer.

Bruce, more about the differences between the two recipes, please! Seems to me I need to dig that book out from under the bed (a nightmare of cookbooks).

Last night, we had Potstickers: (Although the topic I linked to is titled steamed dumplings, it is a pretty exhaustive topic on all manner of dumplings, be they steamed, boiled or potstickered). And, tonight, Liver and onions!

I had a hankering that wouldn't go away, so a version of what my grandmother did, except that I don't cook the liver to death. Thinly sliced organic calves liver from my local meat market, floured, and fried, with onions. Actually, I start the onions first, then toss them into a bowl, brown the liver, remove, return onions to pan, and lay the liver on top. A bit of balsamic after the food is done and removed from the pan to deglaze. This time around, Peter ate and liked the liver.

This topic deserved a bump up! Although what we had last night was potstickers the process is pretty much the same. I had made these a while ago and froze them (individually on a sheet pan before transferring to a ziplock), and we ate an obscene number of them last night. I think these, either steamed, boiled or potstickered, are one of my favorite foods. And, since you cook them from a frozen state, an afternoon of pleating produces some of the most spectacular fast food around. Back when I blogged in late January, I documented the pleating process. My recipe is here.

Ok, you are very convincing - garlicky roast chicken is penciled in for Sunday. ← Bruce, if you make the garlicky roast chicken, do see if you can find Maggi sauce (if you don't have any). Much more subtle than soy sauce!

Two questions: What does your family think about all of this photo'ing? I'm assuming that the boys head to school tomorrow. What do they do for lunch at school?

If and when anyone makes the garlicky roast chicken, make twice as much as you will eat. The leftovers are diviine; some of the best leftover chicken (as in eaten standing over the sink) you'll ever have. Peter has secreted the last two pieces somewhere in the fridge for his brown-bag school lunch tomorrow.

Maybe try this recipe for fake fried chicken? I can't imagine that it wouldn't freeze, after cooking, for a quick reheat in a toaster oven. Chicken fingers can be good, but the stuff from the freezer aisle at the supermarket can be nasty.

Here in the Fahning household, it's milk or water, and almost no juice, except OJ in the AM before the milk. When I was in college, Steven, even the off-campus livers were required to take one meal per day on campus, and the choice was 2% or water in an agricultural area (read not drinkable). Now that the oldest is a teen, I've learned that many a heartbreak can be soothed with a mother's touch on the brow, accompanied by a glass of 2% with a couple of spoonfuls of Nestle's Quik stirred in. Skim? If I wanted blue water, I'd just add a drop of food colouring and skip the expense and trouble of buying the skim stuff. Milk rules.

I'm loving "In the Vietnamese Kitchen." Last night, I made the asparagus and crab soup, but with a couple of variations. I didn't have any crab, but I had a bag of bay scallops. And, I chose to reserve the tips of the asparagus, and puree the rest of the asparagus. So, it was really asparagus puree with tips and scallops, but it was wonderful, although not in the least photogenic. Tonight: A "fusion" meal of Thai and Vietnamese. From "In the Vietnamese Kitchen," garlicky roast chicken and the everyday daikon and carrot salad. From the Thai vein, the cuke, shallot and bird chili salad in a vinegary/sugar syrup, alongside our favorite broccoli (broccoli and garlic, stir fryed, with some of that fermented soybean stuff that looks like baby poop) and jasimine. Oh, and I had this bottle of some sort of Vietnamese sauce for egg rolls that is sweet and spicy that made a perfect dip for the chicken. My house smells like Maggi, which is a wonderful and comfortaing smell, and the daikon/carrot pickle, well, I'm not going to be without it in the fridge, ever.

So, my question. If you use a combo of soaked favas and chickpeas and then grind them up, how are the soaked favas different than the soaked chickpeas (before cooking or mixing with anything else)? What do the favas lend?

Coco Puffs and whole milk, eaten in front on the TV, watching trash -- be it a Dallas rerun or SATC, rule! Makes for a nice dessert and before bedtime treat.

I have no clue as to where the shallots at the local supermarket are grown, nor does the produce supervisor. But, the mesh bags I get from the local Asian market (the little pink ones) are grown in Thailand or China (depends on the day). I'll have to do more research this summer when the farmer's markets open up, because the Hmong vendors sell the little pink ones, but the farang (Caucasion) vendors sell the larger "grey" ones. The farangs at the farmer's market tend to go for the larger ones, but I love the little pink ones. They are just so pretty, and my love of them has helped me establish good relationships with the Hmong vendors, who will often give me bags of cilantro roots because the farangs don't want the roots.