Best Shrimp Fried Rice

Back in Elementary school I’d remember we had International Day, where students were asked to bring a dish from the country they were from.  Being Chinese, most of my friends assumed all we ate were eggrolls and fried rice and that we all knew some form of karate.   Not wanting to veer too far from stereotypes to risk confusion and so more people would like me, I decided to make Shrimp Fried Rice.

I cooked two pots of rice and was frying my eggs when my mother loomed into the kitchen — “WHAT YOU DOING?” You see my mother has a thunderous voice, the kind that just shocks you right in the ear making your shoulder suddenly jolt up in pain. “Uhm…I’m making shrimp fried rice for International Day at school.” I continue to sauté my vegetables, feeling her lurking heavily over my shoulder.  She looked over at the pot of my freshly cooked rice and watched her brow wrinkle in distress: I’ve really gone and done it now, I’ve offended the Fried Rice Gods!  “How can you use that rice?  Must be OLD RICE, you cannot serve this, BU HAO!” And indeed it was bu hao, it sucked actually – I ended up with a goopy, soggy, pasty mess and safe to say, it was the worst fried rice ever.

“You see–good thing you have mommy here to teach you how to make!” I ended up buying the Shrimp Fried Rice from General Chopsticks that day because what I made was honestly not edible.  That very weekend my mother taught me how to make the world’s BEST Shrimp Fried Rice, her secret? — A sprinkle of chicken bouillon and white pepper at the very end.  So here it is, I’m passing on the love: My mother’s guide to Shrimp Fried Rice.

1.       Always use day old rice – make sure it is dry and not mushy and preferably cold.

2.      Fry all of your ingredients separately – shrimp, eggs, vegetables, rice, to avoid making just one gigantic clump and this ensures that all ingredients are cooked evenly.

3.      Use very hot heat and the right amount of oil, too little oil will break the rice apart, making it very sticky – for every 2 1/2 cups of rice I recommend using 2 tablespoons of oil.

4.      Pre-marinating the shrimp makes all the difference in the world.

5.      Always taste your rice the very last minute and adjust seasonings accordingly.

Recipe for the Best Shrimp Fried Rice:

(Serves 2-3; Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Cooking Time: 40 minutes)

Shrimp

• 1 cup shrimp
• 1 teaspoon corn starch
• ¼ cup Shao Xing Cooking Wine
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• Pinch of white pepper
• ½ cup vegetable oil

——–

• 2 eggs, scrambled
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil or olive oil
• ¼ cup white onion, chopped
• ½ cup frozen mixed vegetables
• 2 ½ cups of cold, day old rice
• 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
• ½ teaspoon Chicken Bouillon
• A pinch of white pepper (and salt if needed.)
• ½ cup green scallions, finely chopped

Marinate the shrimp with shrimp, cornstarch, cooking wine, soy sauce and white pepper.  The oil will be for later use.  Refrigerate the shrimp for 30 minutes.  Meanwhile, gently break apart the rice into small clumps using your hands and set aside.  Chop the onion, green onion and scramble your eggs.

Set a metal strainer and a bowl aside to catch the excess oil from cooking the shrimp.  Heat the oil in a large skillet or wok at high heat until the oil just begins to smoke.  Add the shrimp mixture and quickly sauté the shrimp, making sure all surfaces of the shrimp hits the hot oil.  Cook for about 1 ½ -2 minutes or until shrimp are almost cooked through (the surfaces will turn entirely pink), turn off heat and allow shrimp to cook the rest of the way for an additional minute.  Strain shrimp through strainer and set aside and save the oil for the rice.

In the same skillet or wok, heat a tablespoon of the reserved oil over medium high heat until hot.  Sautee onions for 2 minutes and then add the frozen vegetables.  Add another tablespoon of oil and add the rice.  Gently break up the rice with the vegetable mixture by shaking the skillet or wok, or moving it around with a heat-proof spoon.  Add the soy sauce and mix thoroughly and then add the shrimp.  Sprinkle with chicken bouillon and a pinch of white pepper, taste and salt accordingly.  When ready to serve, sprinkle finely chopped green scallions to add a burst of freshness.

Roasted Tomato Soup

Moroccan Carrot Soup

Back in March, Collin and I purchased our very first home together.  It was ragged, beaten down and was practically obliterated by termites.  The woman who owned the house before us lived here for over 40 years and never did a single update.  I want you to imagine that — original wall paper and carpet, stove tops and ovens from back in the 70s, we even found a hoover vacuum cleaner back from the the 60s, and not to mention that the doors and walls had deeply yellowed with age.  It was just plain awful.

But together we saw something in this house: potential.  We knew with a little lot of hard work, we could make this into something liveable, something beautiful, something we’d be proud to call our very first home.  Finally now after 6 months, we’ve finished: new walls, new kitchen, new paint, new floors…the list goes on forever.  And let me tell you, it’s freaking fantastic.  As a way to celebrate our achievements, I’ve decided to throw a housewarming party this Saturday — complete with a roast pig, a keg, and plenty of food but most importantly sharing our new home with our family and friends. 

In many ways this house has become representative of my personal struggles these past couple of years.  Since graduating college two years ago it has been a challenge to figure out what direction I wanted to take in my life, especially career wise.  At my lowest point, I felt like this house the way we first found it: dark, in shambles, and completely unorganized.  However, with time, ample searching, commitment and hard work I’ve found my niche in cooking, photography and piano and slowly but surely I’m begining to feel myself flourish.  I wouldn’t be here if Collin didn’t notice my potential and continued to push me to strive for my dreams, what once seemed like an impossible feat has now become my gorgeous reality. 

We completed the very last project, the deck earlier this week and we couldn’t contain our excitement and wanted to put it to use right away. I made this hearty, comforting to the soul bowl of Moroccan Carrot Soup to perfectly compliment our cool Fall nights we’ve recently been having (finally Texas!!!!).  We spread out a blanket, lit a few candles and basked in the aromas of cumin and fresh wood as we had our soup in silence.  Collin laid back on the blanket, closed his eyes and let out a huge long sigh — “I can’t believe we live here, we have the best house in the world.” 

Indeed we do my love, indeed we do.

From Epicurious

Ingredients for Moroccan Carrot Soup:(serves 4)

2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter

1 cup chopped white onion

1 pound large carrots, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch dice (about 2 2/3 cups)

2 1/2 cups low-salt chicken broth

1 1/2 teaspoons cumin seeds

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 cup plain yogurt, stirred to loosen

Melt butter in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté 2 minutes. Mix in carrots. Add broth; bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until carrots are very tender, about 20 minutes.  Stir cumin seeds in small skillet over medium-high heat until fragrant, 4 to 5 minutes; cool. Finely grind in spice mill.

Remove soup from heat. Puree in batches in blender until smooth. Return to same pan. Whisk in honey, lemon juice, and allspice. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle soup into bowls. Drizzle yogurt over; sprinkle generously with cumin.

Welcome to Shanghai

Finally the day had arrived — We were on our way to China!  After giving each other enthusiastic high fives, Collin and I packed up his truck (we had 6 pieces of luggage including our carry ons) and headed to DFW airport around 5 in the morning.  Thankfully we had a good friend who agreed to take us (Thanks Cyrus!) or else it would’ve been quite the debacle packing all of our stuff into a taxi.

The night before I prepared plenty of food for the plane, because if there’s one thing I remember about these long flights is the terrible terrible food.  Airplane food is a mystery on it’s own, you never know what you’re eating and whether it is meat, salad or dessert — it all strangely tastes the same: it’s either overly salty, horribly preserved or just plain bad.

I decided to bring along some wheatberry salad with broccoli, zucchini, red bell peppers, arugula and cranberries and topped it off with some crumbled hard boiled egg.  I also brought along some guacamole and pre-sliced all of the ingredients so it’d be easy to assemble at the airport/plane.  Plenty of fresh fruit, granola bars, almonds and Haribo gummies were stuffed in my purse in case we needed a snack along the way. 🙂  Don’t judge me, being on a 14 hour flight, the last thing I’d want to deal with is bad food and feeling hungry the entire time.  Hungry zhang = grumpy zhang.

This trip was a huge deal for me, it’d be my first time traveling to Shanghai on my own.  I guess I never realized how dependent I was on my parents for Chinese.   Over the years my Chinese had evolved into “Chinglish”, my Chinese would sometimes require English as fillers for the vocabulary I had forgotten.  I suddenly felt regretful.  Crap.  I don’t even know how to say “engineer” in Chinese, how am I suppose to explain what Collin does?  I was intensely furrowing my brow when Collin patted my hand — “Hey you okay?” “Yeah, I’m fine.  Just nervous.”

Our flight route was interesting.  We left from Chicago’s O’Hare airport and flew over Siberia where I captured some really cool shots.  I couldn’t help but be completely awestruck by the strange scenery — I’ve never seen anything like it.  The images almost looked like it came out of Lord of the Rings (okay that was dorky).

A long nap and a few movies later, we finally arrived in Shanghai.  The minute we stepped off the plane it was evident we were no longer home.  The airport seemed massive, swarming with Asian people, mostly Chinese I’m sure.  I felt at home yet like a stranger at the same time.  All the signs were now in Chinese (which I am unable to read btw) with shoddily written English translations underneath.

My uncle (I call him Jiu-Jiu) was picking us up and after we grabbed all of our luggage we went out to find him.  I searched through the crowds of people thinking to myself “How to hell am I going to find him?” when suddenly I heard a familiar voice “Xin-xin!”.  There was Jiu-jiu with wide eyes as he took one look at our massive amounts of luggage — “WOW, you guys brought ALOT.”  I blamed this on my mother, seeing that one luggage was packed full of presents for the family and the other was packed full of William”s books and shoes…

We had to step aside and think of a logical solution for transporting all of our luggage back home.  As we went out to search for a taxi, all the drivers looked on with hesitation.  I could completely see their minds going “Please don’t pick me, please don’t pick me!”  Finally a driver agreed, but not before exclaiming “Jesus Christ, I have never seen two people with more luggage.  Did you guys pack your whole damn house with you?”  I couldn’t help but laugh.  So with half of the suitcases packed into the back of a small early 90s Jetta and then carrying the rest on our laps, we were finally on our way to Jiu-Jiu’s house.

Pictured above is actually the alleyway of my grandmother’s house at the intersection of Tian Ping Lu and Guang Yuan Lu.  My Jiu-Jiu lives at the intersection of Heng Shan Lu and Yu Qing Lu — they are literally within walking distances of each other so I’d always walk to my grandmother’s in the morning to give her her daily dose of hugs and kisses.

The energy of Shanghai is undeniable.  There are people running around EVERYWHERE.  I thought New York was busy but Shanghai brings it to a whole new level.  All around us there were cars honking, our taxi driver was weaving in and out of traffic like we were in an action film during a high speed chase.  There were highrise buildings everywhere yet also buildings that have been around for awhile — a mixture of the old and the new.  The streets were heavily congested with all different means of transportation: mopeds, cars, wheelbarrows?? and lots and LOTS of bicycles.

When we finally arrived Jiu-jiu’s house I was happy to find they had an elevator, or else I might’ve ripped my hair out carrying all of our suicases up several flights of stairs haha.  As we walked up to Jiu-jiu’s door there was Jiu-ma waiting for us with a huge smile on her face and warmly greeted us.  She pulled me aside and said “Xin xin are you still able to speak and understand Chinese?”  Thanks to the phonecalls my mother and I have several times a week has prepared me for this moment “Jiu-ma I can definitely speak and understand Chinese the only one who’s out is Collin.” (This entire conversation took place in Chinese btw as Collin looked on with a blank smile upon his face)

But do not worry, being the sharp fellow that he is Collin picked up Chinese quite easily while we were there.  To the point where even natives were impressed by his SHANGHAINESE, but I will save that story for another time 🙂  Once we unpacked all of our things and ate dinner, Jiu-ma arranged for us to take a night ferry tour of Pu Dong and Pu Xi so we were able to see all the wonderful lights of Shanghai’s skylines.

It was very cold and foggy that night, so I was unable to capture great shots of the night scenary.  The ferry was also moving at quite the fast speed so many of the photos came out blurry, shucks.

But after a 24 hour journey we were finally here, Shanghai, my second home.  I was excited about all the adventures she had to offer and was happy that this time Collin was with me.  I was ready with open arms to experience all that is Shanghai — stay tuned for glorious dimsum, an introduction to my family, and more photos capturing the everyday life of the people in Shanghai.

Holy Guacamole!

It’s crazy how fast time goes by when life becomes so busy you lose count of the days.  In just a blink of an eye, March is here, Spring has begun and I am on my way to Shanghai.  I can’t begin to express the utter excitement I am feeling now. I realize the older I become, the more I want to learn about the culture that I come from.

I realize the beauty of my original home, it seems that every time  I go back I grow to love it more and more.  I definitely had an adverse reaction when I went for the first time when I was 12.  Maybe it was the “awkward teenager” stage where everything sucks but I thought Shanghai was dirty, stinky and the people were rude, especially in traffic.  My second time I went back with my mom when I was a freshman in college.  I became much more immersed in the culture and felt more comfortable just being around the city.  I also randomly bumped into one of my close friends David (Hey Da ge!), while I was shopping with my mother in Cheng Huang Miao.  Funny story is, neither of us knew we would be in Shanghai then — all I heard was a familiar voice say “Joy??” The minute I saw him I started screaming and hitting him with excitement (his mother probably thought I was crazy) but I just couldn’t believe my eyes!  Truly, what a small world!!   We later met up and went to a bar, and at the time I felt super cool being  able to roam the city at night (by myself!), not only hanging out with people my age but being able to drink at bars (the drinking age was 18).  Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a Paris Hilton kind of night but we definitely had our fun dancing to ridiculously mixed American pop music and laughing at all the awkward dance moves.

I have a feeling though, this trip will be one of the best ones yet.  I will be spending a lot of time in Shanghai, eating my way through the city, shopping until Collin cuts me off and learning more about where I originally come from.   I feel as I reach my mid 20s I have a sudden struggle for a sense of identity — a groove in life that I can fit in, understand and be comfortable.  As my friend puts it, your mid to late 20s is the “Junior High of Adulthood” and it’s true.  My god is it confusing sometimes.

All throughout college I felt completely lost.  I hated my major, I didn’t enjoy the stupid prerequisite classes, yet for some reason I felt I had to stick to it.  And I realize now, it’s because I didn’t want to disappoint my parents.  I mean they are the two people I look up the most to, all I’ve ever wanted to do in life was to make them proud and happy.  They had held my hand tightly until I left for college and the entire transition was confusing.  It wasn’t until I finally graduated, it dawned on me– What am I doing here? Am I really about to commit 8 years of my life doing something I’m not sure I even like? AM I CRAZY?!!!

I think finally telling my parents that I wanted to pursue my passion in food, was one of the scariest moments of my life.  I thought the world was going to explode.  Thankfully, it didn’t.  And yes, they were disappointed.  But finally being able to stand up to them and make such a major decision in my life has really set me free.  One of the most important things I’ve recognized is that my parents are human (not superheroes like I thought) — they make mistakes, they don’t necessarily have all the right answers, and all they ever want is the best for their child.

I really have Collin to thank for it.  He was the one who pushed me to pursue my passions in life: Art and Food.  Life offers you all the right elements to become everything you’ve ever wanted to be and it’s up to you to make use of the opportunities that are presented to you.  My father’s strong passion for photography and my mother’s love for food has naturally placed me in the spot that I’m in today.  I could eat, shoot and write about food for the rest of my life, and not have it feel like work.  Perhaps it’s not the practical route in life, but I never thought life was meant to be easy.

I am packed and ready to go for Shanghai — I am eager to see my relatives and my grandma and I can hardly wait to be immersed in the crazy intense beautiful culture that is Shanghai.  Collin has stocked his bag full of antibiotics, anti and pro diarrheals, all topped off with a huge bottle of antacids.  I hope China will be good to him :).  For the 10 days I’ll be there I will:

• Take engagement pictures
• Make Collin a couple suits
• Visit Wu Xi where my grandparents are originally from
• Make my wedding gown
• Go shopping for gifts
• Visit Hang Zhou and see Xi Hu and visit tea plantations
• Hug and kiss grandma every day 🙂
• Eat, eat and oh yeah more eating…
• A ferry tour at night of Wan Po River
• Hitting up a couple local bars at night
• Checking out and eating famous soup dumplings at Cheng Huang Miao
• And too many other activities that my mom made me write down but I’m too lazy to type out, ha!

Since Shanghai probably won’t have Guacamole, I thought this would be a nice, simple recipe to share.  No cooking necessary, only six ingredients and it only takes like 10 minutes to make! The best part is, everyone freaking loves guacamole, so this makes the perfect pot luck item or perfect dinner appetizer or heck even during sports games and intense wrestling matches.  I uncontrollably yell “HOLY GUACAMOLE” every time I do a taste test when I make a batch of this stuff — partially because I am very silly but mostly because it’s so gosh darn good yall!  Over and out.

Ingredients for (Holy)Guacamole:

(serves 4-5)

• 3 ripe avocados, pitted and skin removed
• 2 ripe roma tomatoes, small diced
• a handful of cilantro, cleaned and finely chopped (omit if you do not like cilantro)
• 1/2 medium purple onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 1/2 lime, juice only
  
• 1 tsp salt

Place all ingredients in a mortar and pestle or large bowl.  If you do not own a mortar and pestle you can mash the avocados with a fork or potato masher.  Thoroughly mix the ingredients — if it needs more acid add more lime, a little at a time, same goes for salt.  Place in large bowl and serve with tortilla chips.  If not serving immediately, cover and refrigerate.

You can also use Guacamole on sandwiches, salads, meats and use it for dips for pita wedges, pretzels, crackers, etc.  I actually use guacamole to make my chicken sandwiches so it omits the mayo — avocado has a nice creamy consistency that contains heart-healthy monosaturated fats so its a lot better for you.

Penne and Meatballs Stuffed with Mozzarella

Dear World,

I have only a week and a half left before my trip to Shanghai, yet here I am sitting with a muffin top and a pair of love handles.  Why are they called love handles when I feel anything but love about having them?  If anything they cause me stress and much strife when I wear my low rise skinny jeans or that nice body hugging dress that looked good that week when I bought it (before I bought 2 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies) but now looks horrible.  They should honestly rename them “hate handles” because I HATE THEM.

Also, why do pastries give you a muffin top?  My mother was right, you are what you eat.  I am slowly watching  the edge of my stomach hang over the band of my pants — the muffin top effect is full fledged and ready to attack.  Good thing over the years I’ve learned the tricks of the trade like conveniently tucking in the muffin top underneath the pants, or wearing a loose fitting shirt, or better yet one of those “Spanx” thingys that wraps your fat so tight you can barely breathe.

Either way, the stress that I’m causing myself about losing weight is ironically having the opposite effect and making me gain weight.  As Alanis Morisette would say “Isn’t it ironic, don’t you think?”  Yes a little Alanis, except the irony is far from funny.  Every time I go back, my relatives always comment on how “healthy” I look — grabbing my arms as their eyes widen exclaiming “OOOOooo HENG ZHUAN!” or very fit; it’s pretty much a nice way of saying “Man dude, that is one meaty ass arm you got there.”

But then this weekend I had an epiphany.  Life can be much worse than having meaty arms or not being a size nothing, like not ever being able to experience the perfect bowl of Spaghetti and Meatballs.  Now before you stamp crazy across my face, allow me to explain.  Not just ANY spaghetti and meatballs, but the PERFECT spaghetti and meatballs – picture this with me if you will: a trio of meats veal, pork and beef mixed with herbs and spices then seared off to trap in all the delicious juices, then finishing the meatballs off by slowly simmering them in a fresh basil tomato sauce.  What more do you need?  Though the origins are Italian, spaghetti and meatballs have become a comfort food to every American kitchen – and spaghetti and meatballs were my culinary introduction to the American culture.

My mother never made them; I think to this day she doesn’t really like any food outside of Chinese, she finds American food “heavy” so 7 days a week it was always Chinese for dinner.  So you can imagine my excitement when I slept over at a friend’s house in elementary school and her mother invited me over for dinner, FINALLY something NOT CHINESE.  You must realize now, I fully appreciate my upbringing, but at the time I really hated having to eat Chinese food all the time. My only access to “American Food” were those awful school lunches they would serve in the cafeterias, yes that depressing gray looking food that was either too salty or tasteless.  The only exciting days were Fridays when they would serve really nasty mushy pizza, but it was pizza and when you’re 7 that’s totally awesome.

Remember the cartoon Lady and the Tramp?  Remember that scene when the dogs share that plate of spaghetti?  Well while most people were probably concentrating on the developing relationship of the Lady and the Tramp, I was drooling over the cartoon spaghetti and meatballs. AND NOW I was about to experience my very FIRST “American Dinner” and not just any dinner, but a spaghetti and meatball dinner.  And it was beautiful, it was soul satisfying, and even after almost 20 years I still remember it.

I recently had my love for spaghetti and meatballs renewed when I tasted Chef Thomas’ recipe last week.  It was moist, savory and filled your nose with aromatic herbs and spices – I had to close my eyes as I tasted it, to pay respect to the meatball gods because it was FREAKING delicious.  I threw my arms up in amazement and exclaimed – “CHEF YOU GOTTA TELL ME WHAT THE SECRET IS!!!!” And he didn’t want to tell me.  It wasn’t until an intense ninja battle in the kitchen where I finally had to twist Chef’s arm behind his back and threaten to dump him into a gigantic pot of bubbling bisque that he finally said “Milk and bread, MILK AND BREAD!!!!”

Okay. So the ninja battle and the threatening fight didn’t happen, but Chef was gracious enough to share the secret – Milk and Bread folks.  I’ve never had a yummier meatball, it gives the meat a velvety texture that just melts in your mouth and immersed in a homemade tomato sauce with fragrant garlic and herbs, life doesn’t get any better than this.

Now, before yall get your panties in a bunch, the reason why I didn’t do Spaghetti and Meatballs was because…I’m an extremely messy eater.  Every freaking time I eat spaghetti and meatballs I ruin a shirt with spaghetti sauce — it’s inevitable.  So I used penne here instead, less sauce splatterage, no loose noodles dropping onto my shirt, and instead of the art of fork twirling, it’s simple fork stabbing 🙂  BUT by all means, use spaghetti, just because I am a slob during spaghetti and meatballs doesn’t mean you have to be. To each it’s own I always say!

Ingredients for Italian Meatballs: (Adapted from Chow)

(makes about 30 meatballs)

• 2 cups stale bread (I used a baguette), crust removed and torn into large
• 3/4 cup milk (I used skim but whole can work here too)
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• ½ teaspoon white pepper
• 4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 pound ground pork
• 1 pound ground veal
• 1/2 medium white onion
• 3 large eggs
• 6 tablespoon Italian Parsley, cleaned and finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon Thyme, finely chopped
• 6 tablespoons finely grated Parmigiano- reggiano
• 30 1″ cubes of Mozzarella cheese

In a medium sized bowl, place the bread and cover with milk.  Make sure all of the bread is moistened and let soak until the milk has been thoroughly absorbed by all of the bread, about 20 minutes.

Place the garlic, fennel seeds, salt and pepper on a cutting board and finely chop the mixture until it becomes well mixed and paste like.  In a large bowl, place the meats with the fennel mixture and mix until evenly combined.  Add the bread and any remaining milk until it is fully incorporated with the meats.  Add the onion and eggs along with the parsley, thyme and Parmesan and mix thoroughly until combined.

Take about 3-4 tablespoons of meat mixture between your hands and roll into a smooth compact ball, about 2 inches.  Make a hole in the center of the meatball using your thumb, and tuck a cube of mozzarella cheese in the middle.  Roll the ball closed to envelop the cheese, adding more meat if necessary. Set aside and continue to roll out balls until all of the meat mixture is used, will make about 30 meatballs.

In a large pan heat a tablespoon of olive oil or coat with cooking spray over medium-low heat.  Place the meatballs in the pan, leaving about 1/4 inch between each one — this will probably have to be done in a few batches.  Brown each meatball on both sides, making sure it is well browned on each side, about 4 minutes on each side for about 20 minutes.  Transfer the meatballs to a large heavy-bottomed pot or crock pot and set aside.

Ingredients for Tomato Garlic Basil Sauce:

(serves 6)

• 1 can (14.5 ounce) whole peeled tomatoes
• 4 roma tomatoes, cleaned and diced
• 1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
• 3 cups beef stock
• 1 medium white onion, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 4 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
• salt pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in large heavy bottomed sauce pan at medium heat.  Once heated, add onions and tomato paste and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.  Add garlic and chopped tomatoes and cook for an additional 2 minutes.  Pour in the canned tomatoes, broth, sugar, and half of the basil and bring to a boil, stirring.  Reduce to a simmer and cook for 25 minutes or until thickened.

Once the sauce is a fork consistency, pour over the meatballs and place back on heat.  Bring back to a simmer on medium heat.  Cook uncovered, constantly stirring and allow meatballs to cook through, about 20-30 minutes.  Meanwhile, cook your penne.  Fill a large heavy bottomed pot 3/4 of the way with water, add 2 tablespoon of salt and bring to a boil.  Add 2 cups of dried penne and cook for 8-10 minutes or until el dente (Meaning still firm and almost cooked through).  Immediately strain and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process.  Place pasta in a large bowl and toss with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.  Once meatballs are cooked through add the remaining basil and cheese and remove from heat.  Serve immediately.

When ready to serve, place penne in serving bowls and spoon sauce over noodles and top with 2-3 meatballs.  Serve with fresh basil as garnish and toasted garlic bread if preferred.

Now you can cut this recipe in half if the quantities are too large or you can do what I have done, which is freeze the additional meatballs I didn’t use.  I simply took a quart size bag, laid a piece of cardboard and placed my meatballs on top.  Now you have dinner ready for any day of the week you don’t feel like cooking or if you have unexpected guests coming over.  These also make great appetizers, you can simply roll the meatballs smaller (in bite size portions) and freeze them off the same way.

Price of Items:

• 1 lb of pork – $5.99
• 1 lb of veal – $ 7.99
• 1 lb of beef – $ 5.99
• 1/2 lb Mozzarella – $3.50
• 2 cups of dried bread – $.50
• 1/4 cup Parmesan – $1.25
• 3 eggs – $1.00
• 1lb of penne – $1.50
• 1 can of peeled tomatoes – $1.50
• 1 can of tomato paste – $.75
• 4 roma tomatoes – $.67
• 2 white onions – $.50
• 1 quart beef stock – $1.99

Total cost per serving: $4.14

Cream of Potato Soup with Jalapeno Oil & Neiman Marcus Popovers with Fresh Strawberry Butter

You guys will not believe the weather we are having in Dallas.  For the 17 years I’ve lived in Texas I have never seen this much snow, a record breaking 12.5 inches of snow in a 24 hour period.  INSANE!!  We had a transformer blow out last night and the power went dead, thankfully we were able to seek shelther at Collin’s parents.  Thank goodness for family 🙂

We woke up early this morning and built an 8 foot snow man!  Actually it was more Collin who built the entire 8 foot body and I sculpted the face :).  I was off taking pictures and I turned around and what do I see?  Collin rolling a gigantic snow ball around the front yard that sat almost as tall as my shoulders… I was concerned as how he was going to get the midsection on there, which weighed at least 200 lbs.  Thankfully with a family full of big Polacks (sp?), Collin and his dad moved it on there just fine.

It’s been years since I’ve built a snow man, and never one of such massive proportions (Which I have my intense fiance to thank for that)! 🙂 On our way back to our house this morning we saw streets decorated with all different types of snowmen of all shapes and sizes, it was truly adorable.

With weather like this I felt nothing could be better than warm bread and soup.  This classic cream of potato soup recipe can be dressed up in several different ways.  You can add bacon or sour cream, or perhaps some smoked chicken and cheddar cheese?  I decided to add some heat and drizzled it with some Jalapeno oil to give the soup an extra kick!

The popovers are to die for.  I had my first popover experience when Collin’s father took us out for dinner over the holidays and the restaurant had served them as starters.  They were warm and had a crunchy outside but a warm and chewy inside.  The recipe I am using is Neiman Marcus’, they suggest using a their popover pan, which I recommend using if you have it, but if not you can use a muffin pan.

Ingredients for Cream of Potato Soup with Jalapeno Oil:

(serves 4)

• 8 medium sized potatoes, cleaned peeled and cut into 1 1/2″ pieces
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 jalapeno, top discarded and thinly sliced
  
• 2 small leeks, white part only, washed and finely chopped
• 4 shallots, finely chopped
• 1 medium white onion, finely chopped
• 2 carrots, washed, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 celery washed and finely chopped
• 4 cups of chicken broth or water
  
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon white pepper
  
• salt pepper to taste
  

Heat the butter in a saucepan over medium heat until the butter starts to foam.  Add the leeks, celery, carrots, onion and shallots along with some salt and cook over gently heat for 5-6 minutes until the vegetables start to soften.  Add the stock and potatoes, bring back to the boil, then lower the temperature to a simmer and cook slowly for 10 minutes.  Puree the soup in batches in a blender.  If you’d like you can pour the soup through a metal sieve.  Heat the pureed mixture and cream in a pan, check for seasoning and taste with salt and pepper.

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat until oil slightly smokes.  Add the sliced jalapeno and allow to sautee until oil is fragrant and jalapenos are softened, about 3-4 minutes.  Remove from heat and pour oil mixture through sieve.  Set jalapenos aside for garnish.Divide the soup among four bowls and add a generous dash of black pepper.  Drizzle with jalapeno oil and add jalapeno slices.  You can also serve this soup with some crostinis as I have.  You simply slice a baguette into 1″ pieces and brush with a butter mixture.

Ingredients for Crostini Butter mixture:

(for about 12 crostinis)

• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 tablespoon parsley, minced

Mix ingredients together in bowl and brush onto sliced crostinis.  Bake at 350F for 10 minutes or until bread is golden brown.

“The key to making great popovers is having the eggs and milk warm before mixing.  It is also important to let the batter sit for an hour before baking it.  Popovers do not freeze well, and pre-made batter has a tendency not to work properly the next day.”

Ingredients for Neiman Marcus Popovers:

(about 2 dozen popovers)

• 3 1/2 cups milk
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature

Preheat the oven to 450F.

Place the milk in a bowl and microwave on high for 2 minutes, or until warm to the touch.  Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder together in a large mixing bowl.  Crack the eggs into the work bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk and beat on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until foamy and pale in color.  Turn down the mixer to low and add the warm milk.  Gradually add the flour mixture and beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes.  Turn the machine off and let the batter rest for 1 hour at room temperature.

Spray a popover tin or muffin pan generously with nonstick spray.  Fill the popover cups almost to the top with the batter and place the popover tin on a cookie sheet.  (If you are using a muffin pan, fill every other hole because the bread will puff up when baking).  Transfer to the oven and bake for 15 minutes.  Turn down the oven temperature to 375F and bake for 30 to 35 minutes longer, until the popovers are a deep golden brown on the outside and airy on the inside.  Turn out the popovers and serve hot with strawberry butter.

For Neiman Marcus’ recipe they used strawberry preserves, I actually used fresh strawberries and 1 tablespoon of agave syrup.  I have cut down the quantity of butter so the following recipe makes about 1/4 cup of strawberry butter.

Ingredients for Fresh Strawberry Butter:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 cup good-quality strawberry preserves (I used 1/2 cup fresh strawberries, chopped)
• 1 tablespoon of agave syrup (I added this)
  

Place the butter in a bowl with minced strawberries and syrup.  Beat on high until lught and fluffy.  To serve, spoon or pipe the flavored butter into a plate or bowl.

If you have leftover strawberry butter it goes great on toast or any type of bread you may have lying around.  It am sure it is great with preserves, but the butter is SO fragrant when I made it with fresh strawberries, I recommend that everyone tries this recipe.  It is so ADDICTING!!

I hope everyone has a great weekend.  I am off to ice a cake for a special someones birthday that is coming up!  🙂  Stay tune on Monday for a very special birthday dedication post for a very special lady!  In the meantime, everyone stay warm eat lots and be merry!!!

p.s.

Our 8 foot snowman 🙂

Seared Chicken Thigh with Carmelized Leeks & Orange

I adapted this recipe from Chanterelle as well — I can’t seem to get my nose out of this cookbook.  The pictures are not only breathtaking but the flavor combinations are absolutely stellar, so I couldn’t help but try all the recipes before returning it to the library.  This recipe originally called for Sweetbreads, which are the thymus glands on a calf — not exactly for the faint hearted.  Personally I am not a fan and it is quite hard to find in your local store so I substituted chicken thighs for this recipe.  You can also use chicken breast if you prefer, but I stick with thigh meat because it is a moister and more flavorful meat.

Ingredients for Seared Chicken Thigh with Carmelized Leeks & Orange:

• 2 pounds of chicken thighs/breast
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons canola or other neutral oil
• 2 large onions, unpeeled, cut into large chunks
• 2 large carrots, unpeeled cut into large chunks
• 2 garlic heads, in their skins, cut in half horizontally
• 1/2  cup cubed fresh ginger unpeeled
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 1/4 cups orange juice
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 6 cups veal stock or chicken stock
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 3 large pieces dried orange peel
• black pepper from a mill
• 3 cups leeks (white parts only) cut into 3 1/2- x 1/4 inch ribbons and wash well
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter softened at room temperature

For the sauce, heat 1/4 cup of oil on high heat in a large pot.  Add the ginger, garlic, carrots and onions and cook until lightly browned, about 10 minutes.  Be sure to stir often to prevent the vegetables from burning.

Combine 1/4 cup of the sugar and water in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat. Continously stir the mixture until it comes to a boil, then stop stirring but continue to heat until the sugar carmelizes into a medium golden brown, about 5 minutes.  Carefully add 1 cup of orange juice and 1 tablespoon of vinegar to the caramel.  Please be careful during this step, add the liquid slowly or else the caramel will bubble over.  Continue to simmer at a medium-high heat and stir until the hardened caramel has dissolved.

Add the caramel mixture to the vegetables and add the stock and soy sauce along with the orange peel, and bring to a slow, steady simmer.  Cook until the sauce is fragrant and slightly reduced, about 50 minutes.  Strain the sauce through a sieve and discard the vegetables.  Place the sauce in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Cook until the mixture is reduced to 1 cup, about 10 minutes.

This is a method called a “gastrique“, common in a lot of French cuisine.  It is a thick sauce made from a reduction of sugar, vinegar and some type of fruit.

Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper. Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a wide, heavy-bottomed saute pan over medium heat.  Add the chicken thighs and brown on each side, about 8-10 minutes.  Do not rinse the pan.  Transfer to a plate, cover and set aside.  Sautee the leeks with 1 tablespoon of sugar over medium heat in the same sautee pan you used for the chicken.  Once it is browned and caramelized, turn the heat high and add the remaining 1/4 cup of orange juice, 1 tablespoon of vinegar, stirring and scraping any brown bits that may be stuck to the pan.  Reduce until the pan is nearly dry and add the sauce, chicken and butter.  Coat the chicken well with the mixture and plate immediately.  Finish off with spooning the sauce around the plate and garnishing with leeks and scallions.  Serve with a side of bok choy steamed or sauteed.

This recipe is a little bit more difficult than others, however the results are worthwhile.  I initially attracted to this recipe because of the Asian influences.  It tastes like a General Tso’s Chicken sauce, but with a French twist.  The sauce is rich and complex with the leeks and orange creating a harmonious balance of flavor.