28 things to do with the Dragon

the dragon welcomes you

I do resolutions. Well, let me correct myself. I make resolutions. “Doing” a resolution would imply that I actually have completed and crossed off said resolution. So, although I don’t do resolutions, I enjoy making them [I know, it’s a conundrum]. Every year, while the rest of the world is joining a gym or starting a diet at the beginning of January, I am creating a list for lunar new year with new and old resolutions. It’s a private tradition I do every year where I make goals, plans, and dreams for the year. Some I reach, many I don’t. But I still love to do it. Something about sitting down and evaluating the past year, and then figuring what I want to do in the year to come is exciting for me. It feels like growth, new adventures and discovery, and I love that.

This year, I’ve decided to do something different and share my list with you all. I’ve been inspired to do this by one of my friends, who is an amazing writer and has a travel blog called Flip Flop Caravan. At the end of the year, she talks about her goals for the past year and the ones that she has crossed off. She calls it her life list. Her journey is amazing to read and her ability to meet so many of the things on her bucket list are inspiring. So, because of her work, I’m making a list of 28 things that I want to accomplish this year.

This post was a little difficult for me to write. I’m not a person who is comfortable to be public about things, which is strange for a blogger. This is especially the case with a list of resolutions. I usually write the list on some scrap of paper that I hide in my dresser drawer so I see it randomly throughout the year. No one has ever seen my lists. They usually range anywhere from something that has to do with a personality or private matter to cooking a dish or having a travel/food show. So clearly, some goals are lofty, some more realistic and some that only belong in my underwear drawer while others can be shouted from the top of the world. But they help me see the direction that I want to take my life for the year and how I have grown as a person in interest, profession, and personality.

I’ve rewritten the post different ways and different times. I’m not entirely sure I’m settling on this format, or even the way it looks. But the problem is, I will never be happy with this post because it will always be changing. But here it goes.

My resolutions for the Year of the Dragon:

1. Be able to do Parshvottanasana “intense side stretch”
2. Make Zhong Zi (Taiwanese Tamales)
3. Travel to Taiwan
4. Complete the Run4Kelly
5. Star in a travel show/cooking show
6. Start a successful sake program at work
7. Write 54 posts
8. Make pizza from scratch
9. Make kimchee
10. Learn to shuck an oyster
11. Snorkel in Australia or Hawaii
12. Build a garden on the roof
13. Buy a plant and keep it alive
14. Build a home bar
15. Visit a winery
16. Read and understand a Chinese version of Doraemon
17. Make Fu Qi Fei Pian
18. Make white sugar cake
19. Create a video post for www.brb-eating.com
20. Make Taiwanese sausage
21. Visit the food network offices
22. Try Durian
23. Host a dumpling making party
24. Buy a new tv
25. Enjoy a bottle of rare wine
26. Eat a meal at ABC Kitchen
27. Send 6 postcards from 6 different places
28. Take a knife skills class

Spinach Pasta with Mushroom and Parmesan

Creamy, gooey, mushroom cheese sauce

Second lunch became a constant meal in my life growing up. It all started when I was around eight or nine years old and continued on through out high school. It was my version of a security blanket and my opportunity to try to create new dishes. The process of my second lunch was always like clockwork and I could set my watch to it. I would leave for school in the morning with five dollars from my dad for lunch that day. I would then spend two of those five dollars on a bottle of diet soda and a bag of chips. This became my lunch for six years. And yes, I pocketed the three dollars everyday. By around 2 o’clock, I would start dreaming of my second lunch. A grumble in my stomach would dictate the flavors that I was fantasizing about. I’d spend the next couple of hours trying to remember what was in the house for me to cook; pork bones, chicken broth, noodles, shrimp, scallions. I was sure I was able to create something out of these dishes. I’d then go home and cook it, eat it, clean up the evidence, and be ready to have dinner with the family by 6:00 pm.

It was a fun process, and always full of challenges. I remember this one time I had a huge craving for cheese sauce. Primarily the Kraft Mac and Cheese sauce. Unfortunately, my parents had gone to Costco (then Price Club) without me and I couldn’t stock up on my arsenal of industrial size instant pastas and mayonnaise. I decided that I would attempt to make my own bright orange sauce. I had managed to score a pack of American Singles from a trip to our local grocery store. (I’m starting to realize that it sounds like I had to fight and connive in order to get food from my parents, but I want you all to know they where loving and amazing parents that didn’t withhold food from me. I promise.) So I figured I would cook a pack of Chinese noodles and then make the cheese sauce.

First step, I get some water boiling and then I cook the noodles. I watch the noodles swirl around in the water with excitement and anticipation. After a few minutes, with a pair of wooden chopsticks, I grab a strand of noodle out and taste. Yum, the Chinese version of “al dente”. Next comes the fun part, I drain the water, put in the milk and butter and tear up two individually wrapped squares. I start stirring with a determined look on my face because I needed to melt that cheese like my life depended on it. I ended up with a sore arm and a big knot of noodles with pieces of processed cheese sticking out. The milky sheen on the noodles did not make it look appetizing at all. Well, neither did the unmelted raw cheese.

So after dumping the noodles in the trash, I employed another strategy. What if I pre-melt the cheese first? So, while the water boils, I put the cheese in a microwave safe bowl [I learned that the metal rimmed porcelain bowls that my mom loved does not belong in the microwave the hard way] and put it on for one minute on high and walked away to watch power rangers. This was the standard time and power that I set all my food for when I was eight, primarily because I didn’t understand the machine. The noodles are ready shortly after an intense fight between the yellow ranger and the putty patrol, and I go check on the cheese. I was now holding in my hand a science project. Somehow I had discovered the concept of mutation and created a fusion of food and bowl. There was an attempt by me to try to clean the bowl with lots of scrubbing and soaking but I decided that it was better to put the whole thing out of its misery. I then gave up on the whole dish and made chicken noodle soup.

I’m happy to say, I now know how to make cheese sauce. I also know how to add things to make it good. I’ve also come to terms with the fact that I don’t have the science degree to recreate the wonderfully orange sauce in my home kitchen. I am ok with that. In this recipe I used king oyster mushrooms, I like the texture…but you can use any type of mushrooms you want.

~stuff

1 cup sliced king oyster mushrooms

¼ cup milk

¼ cup half and half

1 tsp butter

¼ cup shallots, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp thyme

1 tbs flour

¼ cup chives, minced

fresh grated nutmeg

2 cups of grated cheese (I used parmasean and asiago)

~steps

sautee butter, garlic, and shallots until lightly brown

add the mushroom and thyme and cook until mushroom is cooked down, 2-3 minutes

sprinkle the flour over the mixture and stir until the flour is fully cooked through and golden in color

pour in the milk and cream and bring the mixture to a low simmer

lower the heat and add the cheese, a few grates of nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste

before serving, add pasta water to thin out the sauce and mix with cooked pasta

-serves 4-

Taiwanese Braised Pig’s Feet

Whatever you want to call it. "Pig Feet" or "Trotters", either way it's awesome!

I’ve been in survival/no waste mode. Well, at least that’s what it seems like from my last four or five posts. Liver, lard, free seafood, and now the front (or back) feet of a pig; my blog is turning into an “I like ‘strange’ things/Foodie” or an “I am resourceful” blog. Today, I spend eight dollars on eight pounds of goodness.

My brother and I grew up on pig’s feet or as foodies like to call it: trotters. It was one of the many dishes that my mom knew that we thoroughly enjoyed and would put in her arsenal of dishes to cook to coax us home. She has been cooking this dish for years. I remember when she would cook this when I was young. It would be a Saturday or a Sunday and the whole house would fill up with the amazing aroma of pork, star anise, and soy sauce. As the day went on, the air in house would change as the stages of the cooking progressed. In the beginning of the day, you would get the aroma of rice wine as it steams in the air, then comes the savory smell of pork, finally you get the spice of licorice from the anise and then the nuttiness of soy sauce and caramelizing sugar. It immediately took me back to Taiwan and the smells of traditional cooking. It took me to dishes that never changed with fads, exotic ingredients, or Western impressions. It was how dishes where enjoyed by my parents, their parents, and their parents and how they have always stimulated the senses for generations.

I’ve been missing Taiwan a lot lately. Last November I had the amazing opportunity to go back to Taiwan for a few weeks. Since then I have dreamed of going back, more importantly dreamed of hosting a travel show highlighting the food of the island and the people who make and produce them. One of my favorite things to do in Taiwan is to eat the food and really see what it means for people to love cooking and be proud of the ingredients and the dishes from Taiwan. This is totally one of the dishes that I would highlight. Not only is it very Taiwanese, it’s completely simple in flavor, much like the islands philosophy on cooking.

I always thought, until now, that there was a bunch of ingredients in this dish. It seemed so complicated with all the flavors that fill my mouth, but turns out that it is super simple. Who knew that all you needed was pork, soy sauce, star anise, and sugar. My mom figured out that if you steam the feet half way through, you can get most of the grease out of the dish. I steamed it with rice wine, per my momma’s instruction. This way you get the wine to really permeate through the pork early on in the cooking process and give it a subtle flavor note that helps complicate a simple flavor profile. Plus it helps bring out the pork amazingly.

If you want true flavors or Taiwan as well as the real philosophy behind Taiwanese food, this is it. Enjoy, especially with rice.

~stuff

8 lb pig feet, chopped into pieces (ask your butcher…unless you want to lose a finger)

1/2 cup cooking rice wine or dry sherry

3 cups of water

2 cups of soy sauce soy sauce

8 pods of star anise

3 dried salted plums (optional)

1/4 cup of brown sugar

~steps

steam pig feet with ¼ cup rice wine and 1 cup of water in a steamer for 30 to 45 minutes

remove excess grease, if necessary (this is depending on what kind of steamer you use.  I used a steamer that allowed it to drip into the water)

place pig feet in a large pot and add remaining ingredients except for sugar and turn on low, stirring often, for at least 3 hours

add sugar to the pot and stir on medium high temperature 30 minutes before serving to allow the sugar to caramelize

-serves 6-

 

 

 

Fool’s Noodles

Lard, chicharon, and noodles. Yum.

Lard is amazing. I had some hesitation writing this post. An almost border line abusive conversation happened between my artistic freedom self and my down to reality self about whether or not 1) lard/pork fat/bacon/pork belly is a food trend that is over, stale, or needs to die, 2) way too unhealthy to belong on a blog that talks (mostly) about healthy local foods, or 3) too similar to lard rice to post.

In the end, I realized that I made the dish, took the picture, and might as well write the post.

Are you familiar with this dish? It’s a traditional Taiwanese dish you find on the streets of Taiwan. The dish is rooted during a time when the low income and working class were conscious of their access to extravagance, like meat, and the respect towards their food by not wasting any of it. I never ordered it when I was in Taiwan, mainly because I was eating other things that I couldn’t get in the US. I finally tried this dish one lunch with my parents when I was in middle school.

Growing up, my parents made sure that we always had a stocked fridge. Every meal must always have vegetables, fish, meat, and soup. This also meant that we went grocery shopping every week, which became one of the best family memories growing up. The weekly Saturday schedule was always driving 30 minutes to Irvine or 45 minutes to Roland Heights, getting some delicious Chinese or Taiwanese food for lunch, and then grocery shopping. It’s where I learned about Chinese produce, cuts of meats, and more about the food from my community.

One of the places we frequented was a Taiwanese restaurant that had “sha gua” noodles. It’s translated to “fool’s noodles”. Mainly because a fool can make it. Lard, soy sauce, noodles, and scallions in a bowl. Easy. The flavor is something between butter and nutty soy. To be more specific, in as much vague descriptions as I can give, it’s like an earthy, briny, less gamey buttered noodles with bursts of freshness from the scallions. The scallions also add a green crunch which buries itself in the creaminess of the lard mixed with the al dente chew of the noodles. All in all, it’s a great snack or meal after a night of drinking.

Enjoy all it’s goodies.

~stuff

2 servings dried Chinese Noodles

1 tbs lard

1 tsp soy sauce

1/2 cup scallion, minced

chicharon or pork rinds, crumbled (optional)

~steps

cook noodles per packaged directions until al dente and drain

mix in rest of ingredients

season with salt or soy sauce to taste and sprinkle the Chicharron if you like

-serves 2-

Pan Seared Skate

-pan roasted skate with soy glaze-

Hurricane Irene hit New York City early Sunday morning.  To prepare, my roommate and housemates cleaned out the trash outside, weighed down our broken grill, moved all electrical things from the windows, and put up towels in areas we knew would leak.  My roommate and I were put in charge of buying the necessary items in case we lost power, gas, or water.  This was the best idea ever.

My roommate and I went to the local Chinese supermarket and came back with the most important things.  We came back with:

this is what my survival kit looks like

Haw Flakes, chocolate wafer sticks, sour cream and onion Pringles, dried pork, dried fish, dried beef, chili sauce, preserved bamboo, preserved vegetables, honey mustard pretzels, shrimp chips, rice crackers, sunflower seed, pig ear, chicken feet, salted duck, beef tendon, and a six pack of beer.  Red Cross, if you are hiring, my roommate and I are available for consulting.

In addition to all of this amazing first aid food stuff, I did also get some things from work because the restaurant had to shut down for the weekend.  This meant that the wonderful people in pastry gave me some equally wonderful zucchini muffins and the chefs gave me some awesome uncooked skate that wouldn’t survive the weekend.  I downed the muffins on my way home, but I pretended that there was no electricity so it didn’t feel premature to dive into them.  The skate however, was a conundrum.  I wasn’t really sure how I would prepare it. I’m not very familiar with skate mainly because the “Seafood Watch” list tells me not to buy it.  So, it’s exciting that I got my hands on skate.  This is especially because it comes from a vendor that I can trust and know gets seafood from fisherman that are sustainable and progressive.

I ended up cooking it in a method that is very common with how my mom cooks fish fillets.  It’s simple and uses aromatics and ingredients that every Asian person should have at home.  All you need to do is pan fry the fish and then quickly create a sauce in the same pan.  Because the skate wings are so thin, you can make this dish in less than ten minutes.  If you don’t have access to sustainable skate, and if you don’t know then don’t get it, you can use some scallops.  The flavor profile is almost exactly the same.  Texture won’t be like fish, but it’s more about the flavor in this dish.

In case you where wondering, our building wasn’t damaged too much by the hurricane.  We had a little water in our basement and the second floor did not have power for the day, but we where lucky.  Now, make some scallops (or skate) and enjoy.

~stuff

2 lbs of skate wing, 4 fillets

salt and black pepper

2 tbs vegetable oil

¼ cup of ginger, julienne

2 medium scallions, sliced in 1 inch pieces

3 medium cloves of garlic, smashed

¼ cup soy sauce

2 tbs Chinese rice wine

1½ tbs sugar

~steps

sprinkle salt and pepper on skate

 

heat oil in a non-stick skillet on high until scorching hot

 

panfry skate on one side for 3-4 minutes until lightly brown and flip to finish cooking, for about another 2 minutes

 

remove cooked skate and return the pan to the heat

 

add garlic, ginger, and scallion to pan and stir fry until fragrant

 

mix the soy sauce, wine, and sugar in another bowl and add to the hot pan

 

stir until sauce is slightly reduced, 1 minute

 

pour sauce over fillet and serve

-serves 4-

Taiwanese Braised Liver

Taiwanese Braised Liver

One of the things that my parents have always taught me is to try everything. No matter how odd the aroma is or foreign the texture is, my mom and dad would always make me take a bite. I would usually begrudneonly nibble at the first bite and, realizing its pleasures, devour the whole thing  I appreciate that bit of parental wisdom and value it as one of the many life lessons that will always mold my politics and outlook in food. It’s allowed me to respect not only the cultures but also the resourcefulness of people. It’s also taught me that good parenting involves forcing your child to eat things and not have to tell them what, where, or why they are eating it. Come to think of it, I think I just unlocked the key perk of parenting.

 

One of the things that I have come to love because of my parents philosophy on food are offals.  My lack of interest in science helped me in the inability to identify parts of body, nor did I care when my parents told me the name of the protein in Taiwanese.  I just assumed it was a fungus, sea creature, or animal that only existed in Asian areas.  But because of my parent’s rule of don’t ask until you try it rule it didn’t matter when I did find out what I was eating.  Plus, biology was never a strong program in my public school, so I couldn’t even identify what I was eating if I tried.

 

This dish comes from my Aunt Mei, who lives in Chicago. She made this braised liver dish for me a couple of years ago while the family was together in California. It’s delicious. She used beef liver which has a stronger gamey flavor, but pairs amazingly well with the liquid it is cooked in.  The dish is braised in a flavorful combination of sweet, salty, nutty, earthy, and spicy. It’s a common cooking technique in Taiwanese cooking and you will see it with almost all proteins in the homes of Taiwanese aunties, mothers, and grandmother. The base will always consist of soy sauce, sugar, rice wine, ginger, and star anise. Other spices and ingredients may be added based on what each persons grandma uses.

 

I kept mine basic with just the standard stuff because it is what I have on hand. But when I first had this dish, my aunt wanted to use Chinese five spice. Just, about a teaspoon of it makes the flavors more alive if you have it.  I also used chicken liver. There is alot of preparation that comes with beef liver in terms of cleaning and making sure all impurities and liver spots are removed. With chicken, you just soak it in milk over night. This helps draw out all the impurities. It’s what Alton Brown taught me, so I listen. Also, chicken liver is more bite sized, so it is perfect for chopsticks.

 

Serve this with a bowl of rice and some simple veggies stir fried with garlic and you have a meal.  Enjoy.

~stuff

1 lb chicken liver, rinsed

1 cup of milk

2 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp vegetable oil

5 coins ginger, about ¼ inch thick

4 medium garlic cloves, smashed

½ cup soy sauce

¼ cup rice wine

¼ cup sugar

5 pods of star anise

~steps

soak liver over night in milk and drain

 

heat  oils on high until slightly smoking

 

sauté ginger and garlic until fragrant

 

pour the soy sauce, rice wine, sugar, and star anise into pan and stir until well incorporated

 

lower heat to low and add liver, stirring every 15 minutes for about 1 hour, until liver is completely cooked through

 

-serves 4 as side dish-

 

Avocado Basil Panzanella

Avocado Basil Panzanella

Growing up, I always had breakfast. My parents, although both extremely busy, made sure that I had juice, bread or cereal, and a glass of milk before going to school. It was really important to them, so you would think that I have a habit to make sure that I eat breakfast now.

Something happened in college, laziness, that made this all change and now it’s a struggle now to get breakfast back into my system. I’ve come to realize that it’s mostly because of the time that I have to take to plan, prepare, and make breakfast that turns me off from wanting to do it. But it’s been way too long since I have consistently had breakfast for more than two days. I feel my body yelling at me every day for not having some form of nutrition in the beginning of the day.

So, I’ve decided to challenge myself, and possibly challenge some of my friends, to start our day with a more healthy habit.

Starting today, July 14^th, I will be making, eating, and enjoying breakfast for four weeks straight. No cold pizza or super unhealthy donuts, but healthy, balanced meals to hopefully get me in the habit of eating breakfast at least 5 days a week. To kick it off, I will have a play on a tartine I used to make while I lived in DC. It was super easy but it took a long time to prepare and also was expensive to make.

The Avacado Basil Tartine required super amazing fresh ingredients. Problem was, when I made it for one or two people, it was a waste of time, resources, and ingredients. I would have to buy a whole bunch of basil, a whole tomato, a whole avacado but only use a few slices and leaves from the ingredients. I’d end up at the end of the week with a half eaten tomato, a brown avacado, and a bunch of wilting basil.   It was another reason to hate breakfast. To make sure that it didn’t ruin the most important meal of the day, I decided to turn this into a panzanella, or bread salad. In this form, I was able to also prep all the ingredients earlier, mix everything quickly and then take it with me on my commute to work.

In case you where wondering what the flavor profile was like.  When you take your first bite you first get the intense crunch from the bread, light tartness from the tomato and vinegar, peppery freshness from the basil, earthiness from the fresh ground pepper and it all ties together with a creamy sweetness from the dressing and avocado.  Voila. Breakfast on the train that the next person will surely be jealous of.  Now, a muffin or donut from the vendor on the corner is still good, you won’t be craving it.  I promise.  Plus, make sure you bring some extra forks if you eat this at work, people will try to eat it.

From start to finish (with pre-toasted bread) you can mix this in minutes.  Make the dressing and toast the bread the night before, that way you can cut corners.

About the challenge?  Follow me on twitter @brbeating to find out what I had for breakfast that day.  If I miss a day, I give you permission to publicly berate me.

~stuff

2 cups of stale bread, cut into 1 inch cubes

2 tsp olive oil plus 2 tbs for dressing

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tbs honey mustard

1 tsp cider vinegar

1 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1½  cup grape tomatoes, halved

1 medium avacado, cubed

1½  tbs fresh basil, chiffonade

salt to taste

~steps

preheat oven to 350°f

toss bread with 2 tsp olive oil and garlic powder and toast in oven until slightly toasted, about 7 min

whisk remaining oil, mustard, pepper, vinegar, and oil in a bowl and set aside

mix all ingredients together and season to taste

-serves 4-

maple bacon bourbon ice cream

maple bacon bourbon ice cream

The weather in New York is starting to get humid and sticky which means that my favorite season is about to arrive. And I say “favorite” with as much sarcasm as a 12 year kid has with their parents. But do you know what the silver lining this year vs. the past couple of years is? Well, more like silver linings: I finally bought an air conditioner and my housemate purchased an ice cream maker and offered me unlimited access to it. Life is great, my wallet will not be so happy, but my lactose intolerant tummy sure will be.

I base this ice cream recipe on a donut that I would always eat in Portland when I was going to school in Oregon. The place is called voodoo donuts and they have crazy flavors like breakfast cereal, grape soda flavor, and an Arnold Palmer with lemon and ice tea powder. Yeah, It does sound, and is, interesting and decadent. Now, I’m not saying they where all perfect flavors, but every time I would make a visit to the store, I would always be sure to get the Bacon Maple Bar. I love the flavor combination of maple and bacon. I tried recreating these flavors in the ice cream but kicked it up to make it even more confusing for my tongue.

In order to give the ice cream some crazy layers of flavor, I made the base simple and created a standard maple custard base. It was the chunks/swirl/add-ins that I wanted to have most of the flavor. So, this dish is all about the bacon that goes into it. I candied some bacon with maple syrup, brown sugar, and cayenne to add spice. While I was churning the ice cream, my brother, the genius that he is, recommended a shot of bourbon to give it some added a hint of smoky vanilla. I only needed half the shot, so my brother gladly volunteered to drink the rest. No harm done. What you end up with is an ice cream that is spicy, crunchy, salty, sweet, creamy, and smoky. Amazing.

It's too good to not show in another angle.

Really important, make sure you put the base trough a sieve. Any lumps or grits in the custard will make your ice cream busted. I mean, who wants to eat a scrambled ice cream?

~stuff

2½ cup heavy cream

1½ cup milk

3½ cups maple syrup

¼ cup sugar

9 egg yolk

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp bourbon (optional)

1 lb smoked bacon strips, uncooked

2 tsp cayenne pepper, ground

½ cup maple syrup

½ cup brown sugar

~steps

heat milk and cream in a heavy sauce pan on medium low heat until it is just about to come to a simmer

reduce heat to low

whisk 3 cups of the maple syrup, sugar, yolk, bourbon (if using) and salt and slowly add a ladle full of the cream mixture to the egg while continuously whisking the mixture

continue to ladle in the cream to the egg mixture until half of the cream is mixed with the egg to help heat the eggs up without cooking them

return the egg mixture to the cream mixture in the pot and heat on medium low until the mixture thickens (you want it to coat the back of a spoon)

remove from heat and refrigerate over night

preheat oven to 350°f

arrange bacon on a broiler rack brushed with vegetable oil over a foil lined broiler pan

mix the rest of the ingredients except for the bourbon in a small bowl until a paste similar to wet cement is made

layer the paste on top of the bacon and broil for 15 min or until the bacon is crisp and the topping begins to bubble

remove bacon and let cool on paper towels and cut into small pieces

churn ice cream based on manufacturers direction and when almost done, add in bacon pieces until fully incorporated

chill in freezer and enjoy!

~makes 1½ quarts ~

pan roasted chicken with orange cognac sauce

...pan roasted chicken with orange cognac sauce...

When I was young, I would only cook with two types of alcohol: wine and beer. And when I say “young”, I’m saying when I was eight. One of the alcoholic beverages, beer, was because I was inspired after watching an interview with Mathew McConaughey where he described, in his sultry southern drawl, how he makes beer butt chicken. The other, wine, is because I’m Taiwanese and Taiwanese people like to use rice wine. Other than that, alcohol has been mostly off limits for me because I was too young to partake in any of it and my parents only drank beer and wine. Could you imagine the conversation between my eight year old self and my parents for some hard liquor to cook with.

In case you needed a visual clue to what I looked like at 8.

Me: Dad, can you buy cognac for me?

Dad: What?

Me: Yeah, cognac. You know, Hennesey, Courvoisier, or Remy Martin?

Mom: What?

Me: Yeah, if not cognac you can just get Brandy. It doesn’t have to be the French stuff or the fancy stuff. I just need VS. XO is too fancy.

Mom: Why?

Me: Because I saw the Frugal Gourmet cook with it.

Dad: You watch too much tv.

I’m glad I didn’t have the conversation, because I just realized that I would have been making my dad buy alcohol for a minor. So, instead of having to make my Dad commit a felony, I just waited until I was of legal age to purchase the stuff.

This was the first dish I ever made with cognac. It’s based on a recipe I saw in a Fine Cooking magazine three years ago. It was delicious and simple but made me feel like an advanced cook. Actually, anything utilizing French ingredients or techniques make me feel fancy, as is evident in my salmon recipe. The thing that really makes the dish is the combination of the booze with the butter. The nuttiness of the butter marries amazingly well with the oakey apple flavor you get from a French brandy. I guess that’s why it’s such a common pairing and so popular in cooking.

The first time I did this, I flamed the sauce. I mainly did it because I was always intrigued with fire as a young child [first sign of a crazy person?] and felt like if I did it as an adult, then it is normal. But there is no reason for it. The heat from the stove will cook out the alcohol, the flame is just for show. But, if you feel like doing it and are in a safe area with fire extinguisher in hand, be all cirque du soleil with it.

This dish is super easy one and doesn’t really require special knowledge or tools. The only thing that requires some planning is the amount of time you need to brine the chicken. Do not skip this step! It’s white meat. Brining makes it tender, yummy, and juicy. Another post is planned to go deeper into brining, and an excuse for me to make some pork chops.

The original recipe called for fennel. I didn’t feel like slicing a whole fennel bulb so I used tarragon instead. It has a slightly anise flavor like fennel but doesn’t require lots of prep or slicing. Just throw it in, let the heat from the sauce do its work and then remove the stalks. Easy peasy.

Enjoy.

~stuff

1½ cup orange juice, pulp free

½ cup water

¼ cup of salt

4 tbs. sugar

half of a medium onion, roughly chopped

2 1 ½ – 2 lb chicken breasts, skin on and whole

2 tbs vegetable oil

¼ cup shallot, minced

1 large orange, supremes (orange segments cut out)

1 tbs butter

2 tbs cognac

2 sprigs of fresh tarragon

~steps

mix orange juice, water, salt, sugar and onion in a large non reactive bowl

add chicken to the brine, and let sit, covered, in refrigerator for at least 3 hours

preaheat oven to 375°f

remove chicken breasts from brine and pat dry

heat oil on high heat in an oven safe pan and brown chicken skin side down until crispy, 5 minutes

flip chicken breasts and roast in oven for 10 minutes, or until fully cooked

remove chicken from pan and let rest

return pan to medium high heat and add shallots and stir until browned

turn heat off and add cognac and slowly bring to a simmer (scrape brown bits off pan while doing this)

swirl butter and tarragon until butter is fully melted and tarragon completely wilts

drizzle sauce over chicken breasts

~serves 2~

grilled skirt steak with chimichurri

No fancy plating for this dish. It's too good to wait.

Every year around early May, I always get this urge to build some sort of garden in my yard, stoop, whatever pots I can find around the house.  It’s my attempt to give off the perception that I have a green thumb or that I am moderately responsible.   Usually it ends with soil full of weeds, one tomato that is big enough to make ¼ of the normal portion of the tomato and scallion scramble, and a Chinese man sun bathing while swatting at a swarm of mosquitoes and drinking a few beers.  I may have just discovered the downfall of my gardening attempt.

Now, beyond the weeds and the single dwarfed tomato, you can always be sure to find a Garden of Eden full of herbs.  I’m not sure what I am doing right, but when it comes to herbs, my thumb is as green as the Jolly Green Giant. Yes, I dare to make that comparison.  I love growing herbs for multiple reasons:  they taste so good, I never use the whole package of fresh herbs from the markets, it’s so rustic and Suzy homemaker.

The one problem with my herb garden is that it overgrows like weeds and tends to be herbs that I like, but aren’t common in Asian cooking.  So, more likely than not, I am forced to try to figure out a dish using a large amount of herbs before I feel like I’ve wasted my time and energy.  That’s where this chimichurri sauce came around.

I really just grabbed whatever herbs I needed to shave down, added some garlic and oil and voila: awesome sauce!  The flavor notes of the sauce meld perfectly.  You have the smokiness of the cumin, the citrus of the coriander, the freshness of the parsley, the spice of the garlic, and the flavor complexion of it all mixed together in the vegetable oil that can only be described as happy frolicking on a warm summer day in the country fields.

My room mate also couldn't wait.

I’ve used a mortar and pestle, good old cutting board and knife, and a hand cranked food processor to make this sauce.  All tools work the same and end with similar results, but I am a sucker for old-fashioned tools so the “mortar and pestle” was my favorite.  This, like most of my dishes, sauce is super easy.  Just grab a handful of herbs, add some garlic, sprinkle some spices, drizzle some oil and taste to make sure it’s all good.  And believe me, it will be all good.  If you’re wondering what summer freshness taste like, this is very close.

I like to make a big batch and before I add the spices, I reserve half to serve as a condiment with the steak. It adds a fresh level of flavors.  Don’t use strong flavored oil either, the star of the sauce are the herbs not the oil.  So say no to the olive oil. I also like to turn the leftovers into a steak sandwich.  Actually, I’m going to have that for lunch after I finish writing this.

~stuff

2 cups of loosely packed green herbs (mix of parsley, oregano, and cilantro), whole

5 large cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp salt

1 tsp coarse ground black pepper

4 tbs vegetable oil

1 tbs whole coriander seeds, crushed

1 tsp cumin, ground

2 lb skirt steak, fat and connective tissue trimmed

~steps

grind herbs, garlic, salt, and pepper in mortar, cutting board, or food processor.

drizzle oil and make the mixture into a paste

reserve half of the sauce and mix in the coriander and cumin and stir to make the marinade

massage the marinade into the flat iron steak and refrigerate covered for at least 2 hours.

grill on high on one side for 6 to 7 minutes and flip and cook on other side until desired doneness. *I like medium rare so I cook it for an addition 4 to 5 minutes

roast in an oven for 9 to 10 minutes in a 450°f oven if there is no grill available.

Serve with reserved chimichurri sauce

-serves 4-