Dinner 2023

[heidih]

26 minutes ago, KennethT said:

Singapore Old Lai Huat style sambal grouper 

The sambal looks delightful My curiosity question is - does it not overwhelm the fish?

[KennethT]

1 hour ago, heidih said:

The sambal looks delightful My curiosity question is - does it not overwhelm the fish?

It's kinda the point. The fish is more of a vehicle for the sambal. But I like grouper's texture 

[C. sapidus]

Tilapia with chiles and Sichuan peppercorns (la zi yu), from Fuchsia Dunlop. Jasmine rice to go with

 

Stir-fried water spinach two ways: leaves, with garlic . . .

 

. . . and stems, with fermented black beans, garlic, chiles, and vinegar.

 

 

[heidih]

Ha!  You are bith "schoolig" me on chile/spice heavy fish dishes. Sure I'd enjoy them - I was just curious. And @C. sapidus the water spinach = want!

[C. sapidus]

2 minutes ago, heidih said:

. . .  And @C. sapidus the water spinach = want!

 

Thanks! First time I had cooked water spinach but I liked it very much. I would describe it as spinach with more backbone.

 

Hoping it stays in stock at the local international market.

[Honkman]

Crab Mac’n’Cheese - no sodium citrate was harmed when making the dish “conventionally” with fusili, flour, milk, cheddar, Monterey jack, asiago, old bay, nutmeg, tomatoes and crab

[heidih]

1 hour ago, C. sapidus said:

 

Thanks! First time I had cooked water spinach but I liked it very much. I would describe it as spinach with more backbone.

 

Hoping it stays in stock at the local international market.

If you are gardening you might want to look up New Zealand spinach a great strudy spinach like green that is heat tolerant.

[liuzhou]

34 minutes ago, C. sapidus said:

First time I had cooked water spinach but I liked it very much. I would describe it as spinach with more backbone.

 

Ha! I'm kind of bored with the stuff. It is the default greenery in every restaurant or canteen here. It was the only green vegetable offered in the hospital I was in this year.

Everywhere, you hear people asking the wait staff "有什么青菜 (yǒu shén me qīng cài)？What greens do you have?" The answer always includes, and is often limited to "空心菜  (Mand: kōng xīn cài; Cant: hung1 sam1 coi3)."

 

This has many names in both Chinese and English. water spinach, river spinach, morning glory, water morning glory, water convolvulus, Chinese spinach, Chinese Watercress, Chinese convolvulus, swamp cabbage,  ong choy or kangkong. In Mandarin Chinese, besides 空心菜  (kōng xīn cài), it is 通菜 (tōng cài), 通心菜  (tōng xīn cài), 壅菜 (yōng cài), 瓮菜 (wèng cài), 应菜 (yìng cài), 藤菜 (téng cài), 瓮菜及葛菜 (wèng cài jí gé cài), among others.

 

 

The most popular name, 空心菜  (Mand: kōng xīn cài) literally translates as 'hollow (or empty) heart vegetable' referring to its hollow stems.

 

 

There is also a white variety, grown under restricted light à la white asparagus, though that is rarer.

 

Maybe I'll give it a try again - it's been a while.

 

[liuzhou]

Water spinach is illegal to grow or sell in most US states as, if not carefully controlled, it can become invasive. Story (podcast and transcript) here (NPR).

[dcarch]

5 hours ago, heidih said:

If you are gardening you might want to look up New Zealand spinach a great strudy spinach like green that is heat tolerant.

 

Careful growing New Zealand spinach.

A spinach with new zeal which will take over your land.

It self-seeds every year, grows like crazy, that is one vegetable I never have to worry about weeds. It crowds out even crabgrass.

 

dcarch

[KennethT]

8 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

Ha! I'm kind of bored with the stuff. It is the default greenery in every restaurant or canteen here. It was the only green vegetable offered in the hospital I was in this year.

Everywhere, you hear people asking the wait staff "有什么青菜 (yǒu shén me qīng cài)？What greens do you have?" The answer always includes, and is often limited to "空心菜  (Mand: kōng xīn cài; Cant: hung1 sam1 coi3)."

 

This has many names in both Chinese and English. water spinach, river spinach, morning glory, water morning glory, water convolvulus, Chinese spinach, Chinese Watercress, Chinese convolvulus, swamp cabbage,  ong choy or kangkong. In Mandarin Chinese, besides 空心菜  (kōng xīn cài), it is 通菜 (tōng cài), 通心菜  (tōng xīn cài), 壅菜 (yōng cài), 瓮菜 (wèng cài), 应菜 (yìng cài), 藤菜 (téng cài), 瓮菜及葛菜 (wèng cài jí gé cài), among others.

 

 

The most popular name, 空心菜  (Mand: kōng xīn cài) literally translates as 'hollow (or empty) heart vegetable' referring to its hollow stems.

 

 

There is also a white variety, grown under restricted light à la white asparagus, though that is rarer.

 

Maybe I'll give it a try again - it's been a while.

 

I had read that there are actually 2 varieties - the whiter/yellower one and the green one.  I personally prefer the green one.

 

Also, you missed rau muong (Viet) and pak boong (Thai).  I'm not sure what they call it in Cambodia but I'm sure they have it.

[weinoo]

21 minutes ago, KennethT said:

I personally prefer the green one.

 

There was so much of this stuff in the market I was in yesterday (the one at Hester and Elizabeth).  Like tons, but pre-bagged so one is forced (at least at this market) into buying like 4 lbs. at a time.

 

Last night was paella night.

 

 

Don't tell the purists, but chicken and chorizo.  @Duvel - yes, there was good socarrat!! (Possibly due to the use of a real paella - and extra heat).

 

 

Along with some lovely corn.

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, KennethT said:

I had read that there are actually 2 varieties - the whiter/yellower one and the green one.  I personally prefer the green one.

 

Also, you missed rau muong (Viet) and pak boong (Thai).  I'm not sure what they call it in Cambodia but I'm sure they have it.

 

Yes, I did mention the white variety. I too prefer the green, but then I also prefer green aparagus to white.

 

Yes, I know the Vietnamese and Thai names but was getting concerned I was giving too many names! Cambodia certainly has it; in Khmer, it's trakuon. Laos too, where it's pak bong.

 

[liuzhou]

Dinner was a delivery disaster.

 

First of all I had selected a dish of steamed sea bass and rice, which I intended supplementing with some of the bags of 酸菜,(suān cài) that I have collected recently. This is the pickled vegetables that Korea took and turned into their kimchi. Fifteen minutes after placing my order, someone from the restaurant called to say that they were out of sea bass. After my berating them for running out of a major protein by 5:30 in the evening yet continuing to advertise and accept orders for something they don’t have, they offered me a full refund. Well, they suggested first I chose something else but I declined. They only have six main dishes on their menu, none of which appealed. Time wasters.

 

I then skimmed my phone and remembered that I’d heard of a new place offering Zhuang Lemon Duck, one of my favourites. Found it quickly and ordered that with rice. That came to ¥18, under the minimum ¥20 charge. So, I added some smacked cucumber in spicy sauce. That tipped me over the minimum and up to ¥25. $3.50 USD.

 

 

18 minutes later it was at my door. Sadly, it was nowhere as good as I’ve had before. The duck was nearly all flabby skin and bone and there was no sign of the statutory Zhuang long-preserved lemons. Instead, I think, they had just squeezed some lemon juice over the delivery container. It was heavily flavoured by thick slices of raw ginger. Also, the dish was swimming in sauce. It is normally a relatively dry dish.

 

Big disappointment. The rice was over-steamed, too. The cucumber was fine, not having required any actual cooking.

 

Oh, well try again tomorrow.

 

Edited August 14, 2023 by liuzhou (log)

[Dejah]

On 7/23/2023 at 6:16 PM, chromedome said:

I dunno. We have 1/10 the population of the US, so 1/10 the number of people cranking such things out.

 

Having had it, Dejah might be able to give you a best-guess combination of ingredients as a starting point. We know the woman's got some serious chops...

Apologies for late response.
Unfortunately, I had already tossed the package the shanks came in. Have tried to find the product again, and they are a no-show at the moment.
Found a recipe on-line:
http://www.gourmetmum.tv/easy-recipes/slow-roast-pork-shank-with-red-wine-jus.html

 

The veg mentioned and herbs were strained out and just the red wine sauce in with the package.
They were good but expensive. Good trial as pork shanks are not readily available. Lamb, always. Beef shank, usually cut into slices!

[KennethT]

3 hours ago, weinoo said:

 

There was so much of this stuff in the market I was in yesterday (the one at Hester and Elizabeth).  Like tons, but pre-bagged so one is forced (at least at this market) into buying like 4 lbs. at a time.

 

Those 4 pounds shrinks into like 2 servings once cooked!!!

[Dejah]

Been such a busy couple of weeks with granddaughter visiting from St. John's (vegetarian), and different visitors and "babysitting" 2 granddaughters every day the past week. I was exhausted by Sunday!
Vegetarian granddaughter wanted mainly plant-based burgers, tofu, gai lan, ramen, Everything Bagels and cream cheese, and pie!

Hubby and I enjoyed the tofu and gai lan, but we also need our meat! LOL!
Some meals:
Picked up a couple packages of Marinated Short Ribs on sale @ SS. Took a long time in the IP! Beets, green beans, and some leftover chicken and rice.

 

                                                                              

 

Have been making a lot of wonton soup for lunch with company. Eating leftovers for supper. Granddaughter had noodles and veg in the broth and banana cream pie that I had made for guests- her
favourite, from a family recipe

             

 

While looking for the Nagano pork shanks again, didn't find any (for the ingredients list!) but did see the pork chops, again marked down. They were good, just simple seasoning of salt and pepper onto the cast iron skillet. Again, too expensive on a regular basis ($7.00 / chop before the $3.00 markdown), but the quality is definitely better than regular chops. Romano beans, the only veg in my garden producing lots!

                                                                                                      

 

Supper with the carnivore granddaughters, their Dad, after he finished work. They DO love their steaks - medium rare! One loved perogies; the other loved Cantonese noodles. Made their favourite dessert: Canadian Cheddar Cheese Apple Crisp, warm with Vanilla ice-cream

 

        

 

With just the two of us, Home-style Chinese food! One of the Chinese elders gave me a big bunch of Goji stalks, the leaf ones for soup. Have fond memories of the soup, with pork and a salted egg swirled in just before serving. Had picked up small chickens on sale at Walmart, $1.99 / lb. Usually pretty safe on the first day of the weekly sale. Did a big dish of bone-in chicken steamed with lap cheung and shitaki mushrooms.

 

              

 

Edited August 1, 2023 by Dejah (log)

[scamhi]

Swordfish Piccata and a village Puligny

[Dejah]

11 minutes ago, KennethT said:

Those 4 pounds shrinks into like 2 servings once cooked!!!

I love this stuff, cooked with a couple of squares of spicy Fuyu (fermented tofu).
The leaves deteriorate quickly, so needs to be cooked as soon as purchased when they put it out in the veg cooler.

[KennethT]

6 minutes ago, Dejah said:

I love this stuff, cooked with a couple of squares of spicy Fuyu (fermented tofu).
The leaves deteriorate quickly, so needs to be cooked as soon as purchased when they put it out in the veg cooler.

I have a friend who likes it with Fuyu as well.  She made it for me and I thought it was ok, but I preferred it just stir fried with garlic, or the Malaysian way with sambal.

[liuzhou]

I've seen it occasionally with 腐乳 (fǔ rǔ) on menus but never had the combination. Like @KennethT, I like it simply stir-fired with plenty of garlic. Nearby Guilin is renowned for its furu, which comes in two varieties, plain and spicy. I can imagine it with the spicy （香辣腐乳 - xiāng là fǔ rǔ).

 

Spicy Furu

 

Edited August 1, 2023 by liuzhou (log)

[Duvel]

3 hours ago, Dejah said:

I love this stuff, cooked with a couple of squares of spicy Fuyu (fermented tofu).
The leaves deteriorate quickly, so needs to be cooked as soon as purchased when they put it out in the veg cooler.

I love fuyu a lot - there was a small hole-in-the-wall in Yau Ma Tei in Hong Kong, that served fried lettuce with fermented tofu. Sounds weird, but was utterly delicious - I am happy my secretary forced me try …

[RWood]

Tomato galette, a little wonky, but it’s a galette. . Herb and parm dough, tomatoes, Italian blend cheese, extra parm and basil. Tasty with a side salad. 

[MaryIsobel]

12 hours ago, weinoo said:

 

There was so much of this stuff in the market I was in yesterday (the one at Hester and Elizabeth).  Like tons, but pre-bagged so one is forced (at least at this market) into buying like 4 lbs. at a time.

 

Last night was paella night.

 

 

Don't tell the purists, but chicken and chorizo.  @Duvel - yes, there was good socarrat!! (Possibly due to the use of a real paella - and extra heat).

 

 

Along with some lovely corn.

I need to get a new paella pan. I used to make it fairly often but my pan didn't work when bought an induction stove top and it sort of fell off my radar. Yours looks perfect.

[C. sapidus]

Panang beef with green beans, ground peanuts, ground coriander and cumin, coconut milk, etc. Finished with Thai basil, cilantro, and lime zest (sub for lime leaves).

 

Cucumber salad