mmm-yoso!!!

Guai Wei Yu - Strange Flavor Fish (怪味鱼)

In keeping with the Missus' wish to never have the same fish dish for more than two or three times (there are exceptions of course) I have to keep coming up with various preparations, most of which include some kind of sauce. I'll readily admit that sometimes my answer to the Missus's, "why don't you make something good for a change" can be a hard sell. This one is a good example. I've been missing Chinese flavors, so looking at the nice piece of halibut, I thought why not guai-wei, also known as "strange flavor", but probably even more well known as the flavoring for a popular Sichuan dish called "Bang Bang Chicken"......bang bang ji si. It's basically a combination of "fish flavored" (yu xiang - 鱼香), sesame paste, and Sichuan Peppercorns.

To the Missus this seemed like heresy, She had never heard of such a preparation using fish....but I've made guai wei ji si in the days when the Missus used to eat chicken. Still, She really doubted that I could pull this off.........

In the end, She loved it....well, She loved the sauce. You talk about the classic suan-tian-ku-la-xian, the sour-sweet-bitter-spicy-salty metaphor for a flavorful, yet balanced dish the Chinese use.

The fish was prepared in typical Chinese fashion. The basic marinade step for the fish is simple:

2 Tb Shaoxing Wine
2 Tb Grated Ginger
White Pepper

Combine and let fish sit for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile the strange flavor sauce:

3 Tb Chinese sesame paste, mixed well
1 tsp sesame oil
2-3 Tb Chili Oil
1 tsp ground, toasted Sichuan Peppercorns
2 Tb Premium Light Soy Sauce
1 Tb sugar
Salt to taste
water or peanut oil to thin out the sauce

- Combine the first 6 ingredients, mixing well until the sugar is dissolved
- Add oil or water if the sauce is too thick
- Taste and adjust flavors, add salt if desired

I then dust the fish with potato starch and pan fry. Spoon on the sauce, garnish with scallions, cilantro, sesame seeds and some really spicy red chilies.

Drizzle with more chili oil.

I served this with Jinan style purple cabbage slaw on some mizuna.

I lived to cook another day.........

 

Smacked Cucumbers - Pai Huang Gua (派黄瓜)

It's really feeling like record heat isn't it? For some reason, I enjoy dishes like this, called Smacked Cucumber because you smack the cucumbers with the flat of a cleaver a couple of times before cutting. The sauce is that wonderful combination of sour-salty-sweet-spicy-numbing that I find refreshing.

Fuchsia Dunlop has a nice version in her latest book, Every Grain of Rice. I enjoy a bit more of everything, but the recipe in the book is a nice place to start. Even though it might not seem so; the version I made this evening has 6 cloves of garlic, which I grated into a paste. Because there's so much flavor, you may not notice just how much garlic is in this until after your meal.....garlic breath, the gift that keeps on giving. I also cut down on the normal 1:1 ratio of sugar to vinegar because the Missus enjoys this less sweet.

You can cut the cucumber whichever way you choose, either into quarters or use rolling cuts....I just do whichever I feel like. This is more than enough sauce for a pound of cucumbers....I just tend to like more sauce, which you can actually save and use for another batch.

Smacked Cucumbers - Pai Huang Gua:

1 pound Persian or Japanese Cucumbers
1 Tb salt
4 tsp Chinkiang Black Vinegar
2 tsp Sugar
2 Tb Chili Oil
4 tsp Premium Soy Sauce
1 tsp ground toasted Sichuan Peppercorns
2-6 cloves garlic minced

- Smack cucumbers with the flat of a cleaver to loosen and tenderize the flesh
- Slice/chop cucumbers as desired, salt and let rest for 10-15 minutes in the refrigerator (I like this chilled)
- Meanwhile combine the last six ingredients until sugar dissolves. Taste and adjust flavoring.
- Drain cucumbers and pour sauce over and mix. Let sit for 5-10 minutes.
- Eat!

There you go......

Shrimp with Indonesian Style Glaze

I've actually mentioned this sauce/glaze in previous posts. I've used it as a sauce for chicken wings, fish, salad dressing, almost anything that you can glaze, if you can deal with just a touch of heat. I think the Missus really enjoyed it the most when used here:

I'm sure you know how to quickly saute shrimp, right? So, I don't think I really have to go over that. This glaze is super easy, the only items you may....or maybe you do have in your pantry is Kecap Manis and Sambal Olek. Not the Chinese/Vietnamese plastic bottled Sambal, but the stuff from Indonesia.

It's really easy stuff.

Indonesian Style Glaze/Sauce:
1/4 cup Kecap Manis
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 fresh squeezed lime juice
2 TB ginger juice
5 cloves of garlic grated/finely minced
2 Tb Sambal Olek
zest of 1 lime
dash of white pepper

- Combine all items, sample and adjust to your taste

The longer the sauce sits, the better it tastes, if left overnight it also gets a bit more spicy.

The shrimp we used for this is wild Mexican Shrimp from Catalina Offshore. We saute quickly in a neutral oil and add some coconut oil for a nice little hint of coconut flavor.

Shrimp:
2/3 lb 21-25 shrimp deveined with tail left on
1 shallot minced
2 Tb Shaoxing wine
dash of white pepper

5-6 Tb canola or grapeseed oil
1 Tb coconut oil
cilantro
sesame seeds

- Combine the first 4 items and let sit for 15 minutes
- Heat a pan over high heat
- Add oil
- Saute shrimp until just about cooked - do not overcook
- Remove from heat
- Add 1/2 cup of glaze and coat shrimp
- Arrange on plate and top with sesame seeds and cilantro

Easy to pull off, especially on a weeknight.

Pork Belly Buns!

Hi Everyone! :) It's Vicky again... blogging about my gluttony up here in the Wonderful SF Bay Area. For some time I thought I fell off the face of the earth!

Taiwan is well known for a type of "sandwich" where a fluffy slightly sweet steamed bun (think a la Peking duck bun) that's filled with a thick slice of stewed pork belly, pickled mustard (suan cai), cilantro, and a sprinkling of ground peanut and sugar. It's called a "Gua Bao" and you can find it all along the streets throughout the island country.

It used to be really hard to find these pork belly buns here in the states but in the last 5 years, it seems like everyone has their own version of it. Momofuku (NYC), Ippudo (NYC), random izakayas here and in the SF Bay Area, there's even a food truck that sells buns like hot cakes named "The Chairman" (play on words with Chairman Bao).

The concept of these buns are pretty easy to make and this past weekend I whipped up a large batch of them using David Chang's Momofuku recipe as inspiration. I brined a large pork belly after removing the skin, roasted it on high heat to render out the fat and then switched to low heat to let it slowly confit in its own juices and fat. Chilled, sliced, steamed some buns, added in some quick pickles, shredded green onions, smudge of hoisin sauce and a squirt of kewpie mayo. Voila! Luscious pork belly buns at home. 

No more standing in long lines at the Chairman truck to get my buns...

Pork Belly

2-3 lbs of Pork Belly (have your butcher remove the skin)

1/2 c. kosher salt

1/2 c. sugar

1 T 5 spice powder

2 c. water

Mix the salt, sugar, and 5 spice powder together and dissolve in the water. I use the lazy method and toss everything into a large gallon sized ziplock bag and shake. Put the pork belly in and squeeze out all the air in there and let it brine overnight in the refridgerator.

Preheat the oven to 400, remove the pork belly and wipe dry. Place in a roasting pan and roast the belly at 400 for an hour and then turn the temperature down to 250 for another 2 hours. The belly should plump up and per Momofuku, "feel pillowy."

Let it cool down and wrap it in a sheet of saran wrap and chill in the refridgerator so it can be easily sliced.

Pickles

2-3 persian pickles thinly sliced

1T sugar

1t salt

Slice the pickles and toss in the sugar and salt mixture. Let it sit for about 20 minutes and then rinse. Do a quick 5 minute soak in fresh water to remove the excess saltiness. Squeeze dry and set aside.

Assembly:

Slice the pork belly into slices and reheat on a good cast iron pan to crisp up the edges, steam some store bought buns, shred green onions, and get the hoisin/kewpie ready. Put a dollop of hoisin on one side of the bun, tuck in the hot pork belly slices, squirt some kewpie on there and top off with the shredded green onions and enjoy!

Fish 3 Days, Fish 3 Ways Day3: Porcini Crusted Halibut with Truffled Polenta

After having the delicate Olive Oil Poached White Sea Bass, the Missus wanted something a bit more "earthy". Her request for the next day was, "something with mushrooms.....lots of mushrooms......" This one was easy for me....well to conceptualize. Getting it done after work in time for dinner....well, that was going to be fun. This was actually easy since I had about an ounce of dried porcini mushrooms on hand. So for a play-by-play....

Step 1 - Soak about 3/4 of the dried mushrooms in two cups of warm water

Step 2 - Slice cremini mushrooms, 2 shallots, and grate 4 cloves of garlic.

Step 3 - Place the rest of the dried porcini, salt, and pepper in a coffee grinder and pulverize to a powder.

Step 4 - Combine mushroom powder with 2 Tb potato starch and spread all but 1 Tb of mushroom mixture on a plate

Step 5 - Place halibut on mushroom-potato starch mixture making sure to coat only one side, well.

Step 6 - Season the undusted side of fish with Spanish paprika, granulated garlic, salt, and pepper. set aside.

Step 7 - Strain the porcini soaking liquid. Make polenta using all but 1/3 cup of the mushroom liquid, olive oil, and water. Between stirs, chop the soaked porcini, reserving 3 Tb as a garnish. When polenta is almost done, add all but the reserved chopped porcini mushrooms. Finish with truffle oil and set aside.

Step 8 - Pan fry the halibut in a combination grapeseed-extra virgin olive oil. When the fish is almost done, start step 9.

Step 9 - In a dry pan over medium high heat, place the sliced porcini mishrooms. When the mushrooms start to soften and give off their moisture add extra virgin olive oil, shallots, garlic, Turkish oregano, and reserved mushroom powder. When fragrant add reserved mushroom liquid and white wine and let bubble away. The fish should be ready by now. Set aside. Taste sauce and season (remember, there's salt and pepper in mushroom powder) with salt and pepper. Reduce......

Step 10 - Plate the baby up.......

Somewhere along the line, the Missus chopped some parsley for garnish. I also used some of the chopped porcini as well. I test for doneness using a sharp paring knife.

Man, this was really tasty...and moist.

I put the rest of the polenta in a pan greased with olive oil and then unmolded and stored for future use.

I ended up making this again, this time pan frying the "polenta cakes" a couple of days later.

Not bad for a Thursday night......

So there you go.......Fish 3 ways in 3 days. Whew, I needed a break. Though things started up again the next week, but I didn't work quite as hard.

Though this one is just pan fried halibut with a warm white balsamic vinaigrette.

Thanks for reading!

Fish 3 Days, Fish 3 Ways Day 2: Olive Oil Poached White Sea Bass topped with Tapenade

I felt rather triumphant, having exceeded the Missus's expectations....basically pulling a recipe out of my....well, you know where, and making something She really enjoyed. The following day, the Missus sent me a text, telling me She, "wanted fish made totally differently from anything I've made before....no salt baked, no fried of any kind, no simmered, no baked, no saute, no stew, no pan fry, no stir-fry." No way!!! Not really knowing what to do, I picked up some olives on the way home.....I really don't know why.

I came home and started leafing through some of my cookbooks......some of the recipes were too elaborate to pull off on a weeknight. Until I went through Rick Moonen and Roy Finamore's Fish Without a Doubt. I found a recipe for Oil Poached Halibut with Gribiche. Sauce Gribiche is a classic French sauce, with cornichons, capers, vinegar, and such. Think of it as an unemulsified tartar sauce if you will....though I've come across recent versions of Gribiche that has been blended and it really did seem to be tartar sauce. Instead of that route, I used the olives, sun-dried tomatoes, capers, and basically made my tapenade minus the anchovies and artichoke hearts.

The fish itself was pretty simple......the one item being, even though I used the tiniest cast iron pan I had, we ended up using quite a bit of olive oil for this. Still it came out rather well.

There are just four ingredients needed to prepare the fish:

Fish
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil

- Salt and pepper fish filets and let sit for 45 minutes
- Heat oven to 175 or the lowest temp. Our circa 1959 oven's lowest is called "low" and bottoms out at 190 according to the oven thermometer
- Place fish in skillet/pan and add enough oil to cover. Remove fish and set aside.
- Place pan in oven and heat oil to about 125 degrees. I could still place my finger in the oil and it just felt hot.....you may just want to use a thermometer though. I don't want anyone coming after me after burning their finger!
- Add fish back to pan, cover (I used aluminum foil), and place in oven. Check after 15 minutes to make sure oil is not too hot....i.e. no deep fry action going, just a mild poach.
- Check after 20-25 minutes.I use a very sharp paring knife and insert into the fish. If it goes in cleanly, almost with resistance the fish is done, or will be done by the time you get in on the plate. White Sea Bass is pretty dense. This took about 35 minutes.
- Remove fish, blot dry, and serve.

The fish is very moist...almost melting away in my mouth. The flavors are mild. Texturally, this didn't do it for the Missus, even with the tapenade. It was a nice experience for Her.....even though She probably won't want me to make fish this way again, at least She tried it.

As we took care of the dishes after dinner, She turned to me and asked, "so what are you going to do with the halibut for tomorrow night? I want something really good.......something with mushrooms!" Stay tuned for the finale!

Fish 3 Days, Fish 3 Ways Day 1: White Sea Bass with a Oyster Sauce-Chinkiang Vinegar-Honey Glaze

In my New Year's post, I mentioned the Missus's new found love of shopping and markets....we now share our weekend mornings grocery shopping, something that was a solo job for me less then a year ago. She even shops on Her days off, most Thursdays you'll find Her buying a thousand bunches of kale and chard from the Linda Vista Farmer's Market. Since Catalina changed their set-up, She'll even shop for fish and seafood, often texting me what She thinks is good.....often buying more then She thought....I guess it always looks smaller on the other side of the counter. There is one thing that sometimes makes this a challenge.......She'll often somewhat vaguely request "something good for a change". On the Tuesday after Christmas, She went to Catalina and ended buying a good amount of fish. The wheels were turning.....when I got home from work I received the request. "I want something with Asian flavors that I like....something you've never made before...." On a Tuesday evening?

Luckily, I have some idea of the flavors the Missus enjoys....the "suan-tian-ku-la-xian" thing. Plus, I had a surplus of scallions and a ton of garlic on hand during the Christmas weekend and made scallion oil and garlic oil:

Scallion Oil:
1 cup peanut oil
4-6 bunches green onions, green parts cut into 1 - 1 1/2" pieces, white portion roughly chopped.

- Heat wok until smoking
- Add peanut oil. when oil slightly shimmers, add scallions
- Lower heat. Let scallions lightly fry under low heat until the oil turns a greenish-brown, about 20 minutes. Do not burn scallions!
- Strain into a heat proof container

Garlic Oil (more concentrated then usual):

1/2 cup peanut oil
3 whole bulbs of garlic, cloves peeled, and sliced thinly lengthwise

- Heat wok until smoking
- Add peanut oil. when oil slightly shimmers, add garlic slices
- Lower heat. Let garlic lightly brown under low heat. Do not burn garlic.
- Strain into a heat proof container. Save can use the fried garlic for other dishes.

I also had some baby bok choy on hand. The rest was pretty simple and the result was this:

The Missus had bought almost two pounds of white sea bass....nice, meaty, and mild. I used half of it, going for the typical Chinese fish marinade....you could almost think of this as the traditional step one - marinating:

2 Tb Shaoxing Wine
2 Tb Grated Ginger
White Pepper

Add ingredients to fish. Gently coat and let sit for 15 minutes.

Right before cooking, I added 2 Tb potato starch to the fish to coat, the traditional step two.

While the fish was marinating, I put together a simple glaze/sauce:

3 Tb Honey
2 Tb Oyster Sauce
3 Tb Premium Soy Sauce
2-3 Tb Chinkiang Black Vinegar
1 Tb Hoisin

- Soften honey in a microwave for 10 seconds
- Combine ingredients

I pan fried the fish in a combination scallion/garlic/peanut oil. At the end, I poured half the glaze over the fish and carefully turned to coat.

I poured the rest of the sauce over the baby bok choy....I went for a pretty classic, old-school, Chinese banquet dish presentation. I topped the bok choy with sesame seeds and fried garlic saved from making the garlic oil.

She enjoyed t so much.....I made this again the following week. This time with halibut.

I was feeling pretty happy putting this together on the fly on a weeknight.....but this just meant that the Missus had to come up with another "challenge"........ stay tuned!

 

Recently Consumed

Here's some of the stuff that we've had recently.

I had made three different types of wings for the pig-fest. One of the sauces was sort of a Indonesian inspired sauce that I threw together during a break. It used Kecap Manis, Sambal Olek (an Indonesian brand), lime juice, and honey. Since the only chance I really have of getting to Catalina Offshore is during Saturdays......I try to make the best of things. Here's a pan fried grouper which I cooked in a combo coconut-grapeseed oil.

The sauce went really well with the fish.

The Missus liked it so much that She ended up using it as a dressing.

She placed the fish on top of a shaved chard, kale, brussel sprout salad. The dressing did quite well with the rather bitter salad....even I liked it. So maybe we've found a use for this "wing sauce", which actually wasn't too bad on wings either......

Not everything I end up making is particularly good:

I couple months back, I finally ordered David Chang's Momofuku cookbook. An aquaintance of mine had gone on and on about the "ginger scallion sauce" and the ginger scallion noodles. So I went ahead and made it....exactly like the recipe was written and man, it was pretty bland....so I made adjustments, more scallions, more salt.......man, it was still fairly mild.

The sauce on the right is my ginger scallion pesto, which I made to compare...and I preferred more. It had more  body, the garlic helped the sauce as well....I think hot peanut oil also brought out more flavor. So I dunno......if you look at the photo in the book, the sauce on David Chang's noodles is much darker.

Sometime's recipes from even a trusted source doesn't quite come out. I love Pei Mei's Chinese Cookbook Volume 1. Just about everything I've made from the "Julia Child of Chinese Cooking" has turned out....except for the Sauteed Lamb with Scallions.

I'm thinking it was the additional of vinegar that killed this...... I'll make adjustments and try again.

Luckily, I used only half the lamb and the next night I went back to my stand by; zi ran yang rou.

Cumin Lamb, one of my favorites.......

Shakshuka

This is more of the Tunisian style shakshuka, then the potatoand eggplant Turkish version....we love both. But we were a bit disappointed in the versions we had in Tunisia......so much of it looked like scrambled eggs. So when the Missus, a big fan of Yotam Ottolenghi's vegetarian cookbook, Plenty, gave me the green light to get his latest, Jerusalem, I went ahead and ordered it. And wouldn't you know, the first page the Missus opens to is the recipe for Shakshuka! From previous experience with Ottolenghi's recipes, I was certain, with adjustments to our taste, (remember, a recipe for cooking is just an outline) that things would turn out okay at the least.

This recipe uses no onions, but still has a good amount of pungency from the harissa we used. It's a brand we bought from a woman who seels French good at the various Farmer's Markets. You'll have to adjust the amounts based on that. I also bumped up the garlic slightly. You can also check out Cathy's recipe here. The dish she makes is quite similar. The version in the book also uses 4 whole eggs plus 4 yolks....sounded a bit much for us. So we just stuck to three large eggs.

Shakshuka

2-3 Tb Olive Oil
2-4 Tb Harissa (depending on brand)
2-3 Tb Tomato Paste (we used more since we used fresh tomatoes which weren't super ripe)
2 large red bell peppers cut into 1/4" dice
5-6 ripe roma tomatoes diced
4-6 cloves garlic finely minced
2 tsp ground cumin
3-4 large eggs - I crack them in bowls and leave them on the side
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

- Heat olive oil over medium heat in a pan. We used our trusty cast iron pan.
- Add the cumin to "bloom" (not burn), then quickly add harissa, tomato paste, and garlic.
- When fragrant add the red bell peppers and some salt. Stir occasionally for about 8-10 minutes until softened.
- Add tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally until the sauce thickens.
- Taste and adjust seasoning.
- Make divots in the thick sauce and pour eggs into the divots. I stir the whites of the eggs lightly to enhance the cooking time.
- Lower the heat and simmer for 8-12 minutes, or more to let the eggs set-up to taste. If you enjoy your eggs a bit more well done, you can cover them for a few minutes.

The Missus loves the silken texture of the whites...She expected rubbery, but the couple times we've made this, the eggs have always been wonderful.

Here's the requisite drippy egg shot.

One evening, the Missus bought some merguez. I ended up making the shashuka in the sausage drippings......

Really good stuff!

Mushroom Risotto Arancini

On my last recently consumed post, I noted that I had gone through the two day process for making my mushroom risotto. This time around, I used up my parmesan rind in the stock to make the risotto....which added a wonderful flavor to the risotto, but also made it really rich, perhaps too rich for the Missus as we had a good amount leftover. The left me just the opening I needed to make something I'd been itching to try....Arancini, basically rice croquettes of Sicilian origin. Most arancini have additional filling, meat, a ragu, or the like, but the mushroom risotto had so much flavor I just moved forward "plain jane".

I did make a spicy fresh tomato sauce with some that were getting a bit soft paired with a nice fresh chanterelle mushroom ragu, that was pretty much like this. Roasted baby eggplant finished the whole thing off.

This was super easy....I used panko instead of breadcrumbs, but it was a total by-the-numbers egg wash deal.

I didn't want these too large, so used one of the missus' scoops for cookie dough, then rolled into a golf ball size orb.

Deep fry at 350, until they float, remove for a minute, then place back into oil for about another minute or so.

I knew that I'd enjoy these, but didn't know just how good they would be! Crunchy at first bite, then practically melting in your mouth.... Really delici-yoso!!!

The sauces were a nice compliment. The Missus didn't care for the tomato version, but I thought it really helped to cut the richness.

 I'm sure to be making these again.....it almost has me wishing for leftover risotto!