Who Wants Asian Food???

Asian cooking is all about using fresh ingredients. This is the time to visit your local asian market (that you have always driven past, but never been to). The ingredients I find at Eang Hong (off Central Ave)  are cheaper here then they would be at a Harris Teeter. I still get my proteins at the other grocers.

Other than the fresh ingredients, another reason to cook Asian cuisine at home is how fast it is. Prepping the food is where all the time is, cooking is literally just minutes.

Tonight's Menu:

 Ginger Beef with carrots & broccoli

with steamed rice

So let's go shopping:

• Beef (something lean, the dish not going to cook long enough to melt the fat)
• Carrots
• Broccoli
• Onion
• Fresh ginger
• Scallions (green onion)
• Soy sauce
• Hosin
• White wine
• Jasmine rice

So you ventured out to the asian market:

How was it? Lots of things that you have never seen before?
You are going to be hooked; I go to the Asian market once a week usually.

Now on to cutting the vegetables...
 Julienne onions, cut broccoli off stem. Peel the ginger, using a paring knife or a spoon (I am not crazy: the spoon will work, and you won't lose too much ginger by cutting it with the knife), and julienne ginger. Peel and thinly slice carrots and blanch. Blanching vegetables is a common technique to make vegetable brighter and have a snap in their bite. 

Slice the beef 1/4 inch thick.

Steam rice. Rinse twice (to get it really clean and be sure there are no imperfections in the rice) and add to water (2/1 water to rice), cover and bring to a boil. Once at a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until water is absorbed and rice is soft, but not mushy. 

Mix soy sauce and hosin (2/1 soy to hosin), add a tablespoon of sugar, and simmer until sugar is dissolved.

Ok, that was the hard part. Have someone set the table...you are almost there.

If you have a wok, great. If not, no big deal- a nonstick pan will work.

 Heat pan and add oil. Just before it starts smoking, add ginger.

Add beef

Add onion once beef has started to brown

Add carrots and deglaze with white wine, half a cup

Once reduced, add soy mixture.

Add broccoli, taste with the soy sauce. It should be salty enough, but now is the the time to add
 if need be. Add black pepper.

Asian food to me is best enjoyed family style.

Enjoy!!!

A momentary break from winter

Thanksgiving, holiday parties, Christmas shin-digs, chilly snow days.  If you are like us, then you have recently been in a blizzard of delicious, comforting soul food for the last 8 weeks or so. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE soul food (what isn't good battered and fried???). But, we decided a little taste of "something light" would be a good break from all the winter food madness.

Tonight's menu:

    Blackened Mahi Mahi/Apple-Cabbage-Slaw Buritto with Herb Roasted Potatoes

Getting started:

Slaw:

• 1/2 head of cabbage
• 1/2 red onion
• 1 green apple
• 1 stock of celery (1 piece)
• 2 tbl spoon apple cider vinegar
• 2 tbl spoon mayonaise 
• 1 tbl spoon mustard (whole grain for that extra kick)
• 1 tsp sugar
• Salt and black pepper to taste

Julienne (thinly slice, like a match stick) all vegetables and place in bowl. Mix remaining ingredients and pour over cabbage mixture. Mix well and place in fridge.

Fish:

• 1 1/2 lbs of Mahi Mahi ( I always request the piece closer to the head)
• salt, black pepper, cayenne, Italian herb blend

Cook that fish:
Remove skin from fish (you can request the skin of the fish removed at the store). Cube fish (a little larger then a nickel) and toss in a bowl with season mixture. In a hot pan with a table spoon of vegetable oil, cook fish on high heat for 3 minutes on each side. With a slotted spoon (helps leave excess oil in pan), remove fish from pan and place onto a paper towel to absorb any excess oil.

Ok, time to roll the burrito:

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Place tortilla in microwave, covered with a wet paper towel, and heat for 45 seconds.
Place a piece of romaine lettuce on tortilla (this keeps moisture of the slaw from dampening tortilla).
Add slaw, then fish. Then add shredded cheese and avocado.
Fold sides over and roll (hint: tucking in as you roll helps keep everything inside burrito).

Cutting allows for easier eating, and for wrapping-up leftovers

Sarah has already forgotten about the snow and is on a beach in Hawaii

A Dos Equis or Sol are my two suggestions for washing down this tasty treat

Well at this point there isn't enough to wrap...

Delicious!