Lunch! What'd ya have? (2014)

[huiray]

Thanks, Liuzhou. I posted the pie in Dinner! when it was newly-baked. Yes, mizuna is how that's read in Japanese - 'na' is the native or kun- reading, 'sai' as in yasai 野菜, vegetables, is the on- or (Japan's) Chinese reading.

While 蔬菜 is the Chinese generic term for "vegetables" (versus 野菜 for "vegetables" in Japanese). But I see from a search that 蔬 is an uncommon hyōgaiji in Japanese.

[huiray]

Lunch on Wednesday:

• Rest of the pasta sauce from here, tossed w/ spaghetti [Garofalo].

• Spinach blanched in oiled hot water, tossed w/ oyster sauce & generously dusted w/ white pepper.

• Chinese roast pork [via Asia mart].

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Thursday lunch:

• Fresh mushrooms - shiitake, wood ear, bunapi-shimeji (white beech), common white - sautéed w/ julienned ginger, peanut oil, rice wine (ryori-shu was used), a bit of sea salt, sliced scallions. Eaten w/ soba noodles.

• Slow-simmered chicken broth (chopped up stewing chicken) w/ red, orange & yellow carrots; and Western celery.

Edited February 14, 2014 by huiray (log)

[Anna N]

Headed south of the border on Wednesday and picked up some boneless, skinless chicken breasts at Wegman's in Buffalo. Usually it's a cut of meat I avoid but I'm learning to view it as a flavour carrier when it is so embarrassingly cheap! I sous vided 4 breasts and today ate part of one (cold) drizzled with a spicy sauce that is adapted from one in Land of Plenty.

[rotuts]

"" a flavour carrier when it is so embarrassingly cheap ""

also much moister w SV

im able to get these for 1.77 USAD, periodically. after removing the tendon (s) you can do a lot with it.

some times i butterfly them and stuff them will all sorts of things. tie them up to keep the shape and bag them.

what SV temps have you been using ?

Edited February 14, 2014 by rotuts (log)

[Anna N]

"" a flavour carrier when it is so embarrassingly cheap ""

also much moister w SV

im able to get these for 1.77 USAD, periodically. after removing the tendon (s) you can do a lot with it.

some times i butterfly them and stuff them will all sorts of things. tie them up to keep the shape and bag them.

what SV temps have you been using ?

I have been very happy with 62C for 2 hours. They are moist, not mealy but still not pink.

[rotuts]

that's a good choice. very similar to what I do.

I recall you are not a fan of Turkey.

consider an experiment should you find a whole turkey breast ( not 'Hotel' they leave the wings on ) frozen at an attractive

price. then bone out the two breasts and de-tendon-ize them and SV them in a similar fashion

you might be surprised. or not.

[huiray]

Lunch yesterday:

• Salt & Pepper Shrimp.

• Young Tuscan kale in chicken broth (that had been cooked w/ carrots & celery also).

• White rice (Hom Mali).

In the pan:

Plated, and w/ the other stuff:

[Anna N]

1/2 package of instant ramen tricked out with kimchi, bok choy, sliced chicken breast, sliced scallions and a poached egg.

[huiray]

Lunch today:

• Bittergourd omelette.

• Leftover chanko-nabe miso-aji (see here) augmented w/ more enoki mushrooms & Napa cabbage.

• White rice (Hom Mali).

[heidih]

Huiray - I really like the look of your bittermelon egg dish. How did you treat the melon before the eggs were added? Seasonings? Serious craving coming on....

[huiray]

Huiray - I really like the look of your bittermelon egg dish. How did you treat the melon before the eggs were added? Seasonings? Serious craving coming on....

Heidi, nothing was done to the melon before frying except washing, halving, coring and slicing somewhat thinly. No salt treatment, no marinating or any thing else. The eggs were beaten (I used a fork) w/ a splash of light soy sauce, a good drizzle of neutral oil (I used canola today), some water to dilute. The bittergourd/melon slices were fried/tossed around in a very hot pan w/ generous oil (canola, again, today) and some Himalayan salt, on full heat, uncovered, till it just began to brown. The beaten egg mixture was poured in and distributed around the pan and melon slices, the patty left alone (almost full heat) till the pad "floated free" when the pan is shaken/swirled, left alone again till judged to be sufficiently brown (the upper surface has just a small amount of un-set egg), then flipped over briefly (15 seconds?), broken into large pieces, then immediately plated. The whole frying process takes maybe 2-3 minutes or so, tops. The egg still has slightly oozy parts in the "center" while the melon/gourd slices still have a fair bit of crunch.

[huiray]

• Fish (cod) curry. Julienned ginger sautéed in canola oil, ground coriander seeds, a touch of ground cumin, sliced fresh turmeric, sliced shallots, whole (green) cardamom, water, salt; simmer; hot long green chillies, tofu cubes, cod fillet slices, coriander leaves.

• Baechu kimchi [commercial].

• White rice (Basmati).

Edited February 19, 2014 by huiray (log)

[huiray]

Bak Kut Teh.

Today I used both sliced pork hocks (skin on) and pork baby back ribs. Both were subjected to fei sui (飛水; brief parboiling then washing under the tap). The pork hocks were simmered in water w/ a good splash of light soy sauce + some Himalayan salt + 2 heads of garlic w/ all skin/parchment left on, for a while before adding the other stuff in sequence as appropriate. The herbs&etc^¶ then went in (today fuller than usual - more stuff, I was in the mood for a heavy more-Klang-like blowout), simmered for a while more. The parboiled pork ribs then went in, simmered for a while. The spices^§ then went in; plus sufficient light soy sauce [Pearl River Superior], dark soy sauce [Yuet Heung Yuen], oyster sauce [Lee Kum Kee] to taste and the mixture simmered some more. Previously deep-fried tofu slices (Abura-age) were then tossed in towards the end.

Rice was cooked with freshly deep-fried sliced shallots added in.

Accompanied by Taiwan A-choy stir-fried w/ garlic in peanut oil.

^¶Shaved "Tong Kwai" (當歸; Yale: dong1 gwai1; "Radix Angelica Sinensis"; Angelica sinensis); "Yook Chook" (玉竹; Yale: yuk6 juk1; Polygonatum odoratum (Mill.) Druce); "Chan Pei" (陳皮; Yale: chan4 pei4; dried tangerine peel); “Tong Sam” (黨參; Yale: dong2 sam1 (Codonopsis pilosula 'Nannf') [package as bought is labeled as “正紋党”]; "Kum Chou Peen" (甘草片; Yale: gam1 chou2 pin3; dried liquorice slices, Glycyrrhiza uralensis); dried longan meat (生曬龍眼肉); I skipped the "Hung Jou" (Chinese jujubes) and, later, the "Kei Chee" (Goji berries).

^§ Cinnamon sticks; whole cloves; whole star anise.

Pot just after adding in the herbs&etc:

[huiray]

A couple of recent lunches.

----------------------

Leftover Bak Kut Teh (w/ pork hocks & spare ribs) augmented w/ soft tofu slices; w/ plain white rice and stir-fried long beans & Napa cabbage.

----------------------

• "Stir-fry" of marinated sliced pork belly, garlic, ginger, sliced bamboo shoots (large type), fresh wood-ear fungus & scallions.

• Stir-fried long beans.

• White rice.

Full description in the pork belly topic.

Edited February 25, 2014 by huiray (log)

[huiray]

Couple of lunches.

-------------------------

• Roast pork, Nyonya-style (one version).

• Chicken broth, simmered w/ dried miniature Chinese mushrooms & some de-headed dried ikan bilis, then dressed w/ coriander leaves & chopped scallions.

• Pickled scallions & Japanese cucumbers w/ toasted sesame seeds.

• Kon Lo Mein, using skinny wonton noodles dressed/tossed w/ the shallot "marinade" left over from preparation of the roast pork (see here) that was sautéed w/ peanut oil & chopped garlic & deglazed w/ some rice wine.

• Yu Choy Sum blanched in oiled hot water.

-------------------------

• Fresh wide tagliatelle [Nicole-Taylor's] tossed w/ crème fraîche, shaved Parmigiano Reggiano, chopped parsley leaves, grated lemon zest, lemon juice, finely chopped garlic, hot red chili pepper flakes, some olive oil, salt & pepper. Garnished w/ parsley leaves.

[Anna N]

Onion and cabbage saute with some leftover meats (beef and lamb), leftover mushrooms and just a smidge of white miso.

[Anna N]

Will be a rare treat but having discovered loco moto it will certainly be added to my rotation. Comfort food.

[rotuts]

is the loco moto a variation of the Hawaiian 'lunch plate?'

[huiray]

Yesterday's lunch:

 

• Sockeye salmon fillet (skin on) marinated in and steamed w/ Dijon mustard, rice wine (ryori-shu), sweet mirin (mirin-fuu used), canola oil, salt, pepper, lemon juice, white mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, parsley.

• Lotus root soup.  Made with canola oil, chopped smashed garlic, short-cut pork spare ribs, salt, water, honey jujubes, lam jou variety of dried jujubes, dried scallops, Goji berries, fresh lotus root scrubbed/peeled as needed sliced into rounds.

• White rice (Basmati).  (not pictured)

 

[huiray]

Sunday lunch:

 

Pan-fried Hong Kong style noodles; w/ large shrimp, chicken dark meat, garlic, wong nga pak (Napa cabbage), Thai basil, various sauces.

 

[huiray]

Lunch today:

 

• Mei fun (skinny rice noodles) tossed w/ a sauce of {(chopped smashed garlic sautéed in canola oil) quenched w/ a mixture of Bull-Dog Worcestershire Sauce, black sesame oil, LKK Drunken Chicken Marinade, YHY Superior Dark Soy Sauce, Nước Mắm Pha Sẵn, Red Boat Fish Sauce, Ryori-shu, Mirin-fuu, and fresh lime juice}.  Dressed w/ chopped scallions & deep-fried sliced shallots.  Paired w/ Kai-Lan blanched in hot/boiling oiled water.

• Leftover lotus root soup from a few days ago.

 

[huiray]

Fried rice.

 

Smashed garlic, canola oil, chopped Chinese garlic chive flowers, sliced yellow firm tofu, three farm eggs scrambled in situ, 2-day-old Basmati rice, chopped scallions, the remainder of the sauce for the mei fun from the previous day, white pepper.

 

Dressed w/ deep-fried shallots.  Eaten w/ pickled scallions & Japanese cucumbers; plus Cap Jempol Chili Sauce.

 

 

 

The tofu and the green stuff.

[robirdstx]

Oven Roasted Turkey BLT Wrap

Edited March 8, 2014 by robirdstx (log)

[huiray]

• Deep-fried soft tofu slices.  On chopped Napa w/ sliced scallions.

• Deep-fried vegetable "spring rolls" (Chả giò chay).  With more chopped Napa.

• Baechu kimchi, pickled scallions & cucumbers, sweet chilli sauce w/ lime juice.

 

[liuzhou]

Sushi and tuna sashimi. This is but a small part of of a long farewell lunch with a dear friend who is going far, far away for 18 months. Too busy talking and eating to take photos.

 

 

Followed by some yellow flesh watermelon (黄肉西瓜)