There are multiple reasons as to why it is 11PM and I am only in the first few steps of making a homemade beef stew. Andrew is sleeping but the smells are wafting through the house and even when I was taking a shower I could smell the bubbling stock creeping in under the door.
1) I feel guilty about going to a fancy, 3-course, late-night work dinner tomorrow leaving my husband to eat frozen pizza. Not that he can't/doesn't cook, but he cooked tonight and we try to lighten the load on each other.
2) I got my first pick-up of my CSA share which was a bounty of carrots (still white, not very flavorful), celery, soybeans, radishes, bok choy, and rainbow chard. Knowing that the next few nights are busy, I feel very pressed to make use of the fresh veggies ASAP.
3) I'm feeling very wired from my 6:15 spin class. Not sure why, but sometimes exercising at night makes me very awake instead of exhausted.
4) The cold, misty rain of October has crept in on us after a second Indian Summer and I was struck by the instantaneous desire for stew.
Beef stew is so hearty and full of nostalgia. There's both Chinese beef stew and then the more European/Americanized version of it that my mother used to make on cold Autumn nights. I love both but tonight it is the heartier, beefier, thicker Americanized stew that evokes feelings of being some pioneer man coming home from tramping around in the snow, knocking the snow off his boots, and sitting down to a steaming bowl of stew that was cooked over the fireplace. Or, that is, at least what I used to pretend when I was a kid.
I still have no idea how Mom made her stew and I don't attempt to recreate it. I just remember it was so delicious and full of onions and big chunks of beef and carrots. She would toast bread and slather butter on it (one of the few times we were really into butter) and we would dip it into the stew, letting the butter melt and slip off a little while the bread got soaked.
One Halloween Mom served me and my friend the stew before we headed out for trick-or-treating. I don't remember what I was dressed up as, but my friend was a witch. She had terrible table manners and I remember seeing her look up at me with her witch's hat, a ring of reddish-brown broth stain around her mouth, and a big, happy grin as she wiped her mouth with the back of her witch's robe sleeve.
Tonight's stew (tomorrow's dinner) has the following:
Beef (top layer chuck??), cut into chunks
Carrots -- two stalks diced, the rest chopped
Celery -- two stalks minced, the rest chopped
Potato, chopped
Onion, chopped, with a handful set aside
Garlic, crushed
Parsley (fresh)
Oregano (dried)
Rolling Rock canned beer
Olive oil
Red wine vinegar
Soy sauce
Salt
Black pepper
White pepper
Couscous
Corn (??)
1. Heat olive oil, throw in onions and garlic, sauté for 5 minutes
2. Add beef, stir
3. Add a little Rolling Rock, red vinegar, soy sauce, black pepper, white pepper
4. Add minced carrots, minced celery, parsley, and oregano
5. Cover and let simmer until beef tender
That's where I'm at right now. After all of that magic happens, it's just a matter of adding the carrots, celery, potatoes, and onions to cook. Then spice it up and ready to serve. I'm planning on adding some leftover couscous from last night's dinner and maybe some frozen corn. Not sure yet.
I'm also contemplating just finishing the "stock" now and then finishing the rest tomorrow morning. If I stay awake any longer I'm going to eat something regardless of how late it is b/c dang, my mouth is salivating. Those smells and memories are powerful!!
Showing posts with label soup season. Show all posts
Showing posts with label soup season. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Two legs of lamb for Xmas
Well the holidays have certainly been a food extravaganza.
Thanksgiving was a flurry of activity filled with friends, family, fiance, and food. Poppa Kang's Thanksgiving Turkey is always to die for. I've attempted his recipe once with satisfying results but nowhere near as wonderful or beautiful as his bird consistently turns out year after year.
Christmas this year was food-glorious. Forget the gifts, just feed me! The night I got home, my mother fed us ox-tail stew. When I was 15, I lived in Paris for a year with my dad and whenever I came home to visit, this was the dish she always had waiting for me. Her ox-tail stew always conjures up feelings of homecoming, motherly love, and comfort.
Christmas eve was spent at the Kang residence. My mom made up a gigantic batch of spring rolls -- about 70-something of these delicious rolls filled with napa cabbage, black mushrooms, shreds of pork. They are rolled in paper thin skins (very different than the thick cardboard skin of eggrolls) fried in vegetable oil and then served with Marukan seasoned rice vinegar and a delicious chilled Chardonnay. These spring rolls are 1) an exclusive Liu (my mother's side) family recipe that I have never seen made anywhere else other than my own home and 2) are a once-a-year deal -- usually on Chinese New Year, but now that my sister lives in Michigan we ceased this opportunity of her home visit to make them. My sister and I have also vowed to learn this recipe so that the legend lives on.
Christmas was at my future in-laws' house and my Christmas gift to them was to make Xmas dinner. The menu was butternut squash soup, mixed greens salad (with walnuts of course!), two roasted legs of lamb (with the bone) in fennel butter, whipped cauliflower, mint and pea rice (made by Andrew), and sauteed zucchini (a last minute addition).
The butternut squash soup is quite easy. I hate cutting up squash so I typically splurge for the precut, packaged kind. I was cooking for 10 people so I picked up two packages. First I heat some olive oil, throw in a half a large onion (minced), and then a few cloves of garlic. After that is cooked well, I add the squash and let it cook for a few minutes. Then add water until it covers the squash. Cover, bring to a boil, then reduce heat, and let simmer. When the squash is soft enough that a wooden spoon can easily split a chunk, I turn off the heat and let it cool a little. Then I puree the whole mess. Return to the pot and heat at low. Add water until it is at a proper consistency -- not too thin but not so thick that it is like baby food. Stir, stir, stir, and while stirring, add in heavy cream to the liking. I like to make the soup the night before and let it sit in the fridge -- the tastes are released overnight and it saves time. When ready to serve, reheat and be sure to stir. Serve into bowls and add a swirl of cream and a sprig of fresh thyme for a garnish.
The lamb legs were made from a recipe I found on Epicurious (enter "lamb and fennel") with a few adjustments and I changed some of the quantities of spices according to personal taste. I bought two legs of New Zealand lamb from Whole Foods -- free range and happy little guys, I guess. They were rather fatty and needed some trimming. I did this the morning of Christmas (mostly b/c nobody else was awake yet). Then I marinated the lamb legs in a concoction of red wine, minced garlic, salt, crushed pepper, lime juice, olive oil, and soy sauce. I let the legs marinate for at least 5 hours, though had I not been so full and lazy the night before I would have started this process then.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Before roasting, the roasting pan should be placed on two burners and the leg is browned on all sides. This is a pretty difficult task and the only reason I do it is because the recipe instructs me to. I'm not experienced in roasts so I'm not entirely sure why I do this and I so rarely buy a leg of lamb for myself that I don't want to try it without doing this step. Anyway, a sturdy set of tongs helps this happen.
Then the leg is smothered in the fennel butter -- a concoction of butter, a generous amount of ground fennel (must be ground to release the oils -- putting it through a grinder or food processor will not do the job), ground pepper, ground dried rosemary, minced garlic, dijon mustard, and a little bit of soy sauce (not too much since it is already in the marinade). All of this is whipped up into a butter and you can use a half or more to cover the leg.
Roast the leg for 30 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees and roast for another 40 minutes or so (you want the meat rare and my main complaint about my Christmas roasts were that they weren't rare enough). When the roast is done, take out the legs, remove from pan to platter and tent in foil for at least 20 minutes. This is a good time to serve the soup and salad.
The drippings can be used to make a gravy with the remainder of the fennel butter although I admit, I am terrible at gravies and they always separate and wind up being too oily/fatty for me. My cousin-in-law (??) gave me some tips about what I can do in the future so I'll try that out. Bridget Jones's mother also mentions sieving so I'll try that in the future as well.
Dinner was quite successful and I was happy to serve my future in-laws. I am pretty sure that my love language is serving and cooking so this was my best way of expressing my gratitude and happiness to them. We all had a good time with my fiance, his parents, his brother, cousins, aunt and uncle, and neighbor. His cousin and her husband also brought their 8 month old baby who is just now beginning to taste non-baby food and he really seemed to enjoy the cauliflower and squash soup.
Last holiday is New Year's Eve and then it is DIET TIME, especially because my wedding is in June and boy do we have an amazing menu for that day. Until next time, happy cooking and happy eating. xoxo
Thanksgiving was a flurry of activity filled with friends, family, fiance, and food. Poppa Kang's Thanksgiving Turkey is always to die for. I've attempted his recipe once with satisfying results but nowhere near as wonderful or beautiful as his bird consistently turns out year after year.
Christmas this year was food-glorious. Forget the gifts, just feed me! The night I got home, my mother fed us ox-tail stew. When I was 15, I lived in Paris for a year with my dad and whenever I came home to visit, this was the dish she always had waiting for me. Her ox-tail stew always conjures up feelings of homecoming, motherly love, and comfort.
Christmas eve was spent at the Kang residence. My mom made up a gigantic batch of spring rolls -- about 70-something of these delicious rolls filled with napa cabbage, black mushrooms, shreds of pork. They are rolled in paper thin skins (very different than the thick cardboard skin of eggrolls) fried in vegetable oil and then served with Marukan seasoned rice vinegar and a delicious chilled Chardonnay. These spring rolls are 1) an exclusive Liu (my mother's side) family recipe that I have never seen made anywhere else other than my own home and 2) are a once-a-year deal -- usually on Chinese New Year, but now that my sister lives in Michigan we ceased this opportunity of her home visit to make them. My sister and I have also vowed to learn this recipe so that the legend lives on.
Christmas was at my future in-laws' house and my Christmas gift to them was to make Xmas dinner. The menu was butternut squash soup, mixed greens salad (with walnuts of course!), two roasted legs of lamb (with the bone) in fennel butter, whipped cauliflower, mint and pea rice (made by Andrew), and sauteed zucchini (a last minute addition).
The butternut squash soup is quite easy. I hate cutting up squash so I typically splurge for the precut, packaged kind. I was cooking for 10 people so I picked up two packages. First I heat some olive oil, throw in a half a large onion (minced), and then a few cloves of garlic. After that is cooked well, I add the squash and let it cook for a few minutes. Then add water until it covers the squash. Cover, bring to a boil, then reduce heat, and let simmer. When the squash is soft enough that a wooden spoon can easily split a chunk, I turn off the heat and let it cool a little. Then I puree the whole mess. Return to the pot and heat at low. Add water until it is at a proper consistency -- not too thin but not so thick that it is like baby food. Stir, stir, stir, and while stirring, add in heavy cream to the liking. I like to make the soup the night before and let it sit in the fridge -- the tastes are released overnight and it saves time. When ready to serve, reheat and be sure to stir. Serve into bowls and add a swirl of cream and a sprig of fresh thyme for a garnish.
The lamb legs were made from a recipe I found on Epicurious (enter "lamb and fennel") with a few adjustments and I changed some of the quantities of spices according to personal taste. I bought two legs of New Zealand lamb from Whole Foods -- free range and happy little guys, I guess. They were rather fatty and needed some trimming. I did this the morning of Christmas (mostly b/c nobody else was awake yet). Then I marinated the lamb legs in a concoction of red wine, minced garlic, salt, crushed pepper, lime juice, olive oil, and soy sauce. I let the legs marinate for at least 5 hours, though had I not been so full and lazy the night before I would have started this process then.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Before roasting, the roasting pan should be placed on two burners and the leg is browned on all sides. This is a pretty difficult task and the only reason I do it is because the recipe instructs me to. I'm not experienced in roasts so I'm not entirely sure why I do this and I so rarely buy a leg of lamb for myself that I don't want to try it without doing this step. Anyway, a sturdy set of tongs helps this happen.
Then the leg is smothered in the fennel butter -- a concoction of butter, a generous amount of ground fennel (must be ground to release the oils -- putting it through a grinder or food processor will not do the job), ground pepper, ground dried rosemary, minced garlic, dijon mustard, and a little bit of soy sauce (not too much since it is already in the marinade). All of this is whipped up into a butter and you can use a half or more to cover the leg.
Roast the leg for 30 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees and roast for another 40 minutes or so (you want the meat rare and my main complaint about my Christmas roasts were that they weren't rare enough). When the roast is done, take out the legs, remove from pan to platter and tent in foil for at least 20 minutes. This is a good time to serve the soup and salad.
The drippings can be used to make a gravy with the remainder of the fennel butter although I admit, I am terrible at gravies and they always separate and wind up being too oily/fatty for me. My cousin-in-law (??) gave me some tips about what I can do in the future so I'll try that out. Bridget Jones's mother also mentions sieving so I'll try that in the future as well.
Dinner was quite successful and I was happy to serve my future in-laws. I am pretty sure that my love language is serving and cooking so this was my best way of expressing my gratitude and happiness to them. We all had a good time with my fiance, his parents, his brother, cousins, aunt and uncle, and neighbor. His cousin and her husband also brought their 8 month old baby who is just now beginning to taste non-baby food and he really seemed to enjoy the cauliflower and squash soup.
Last holiday is New Year's Eve and then it is DIET TIME, especially because my wedding is in June and boy do we have an amazing menu for that day. Until next time, happy cooking and happy eating. xoxo
Sunday, October 17, 2010
A remedy for travel and/or colds
It's officially soup season and I've made this fish soup twice in the past two weeks.
The first time was on my last day in Ann Arbor, when I visited my sister at the University of Michigan. We had originally planned to make this soup for dinner but got lazy and had it for the late lunch/early dinner I had before I boarded my flight. Maybe it's the Asian in me, but noodle soups always make me feel nice and homey and safe. It was a good pre-flight/last meal until Thanksgiving with my sister meal with a Mission St Pale Ale. Considering that my 1 hour flight turned out to be almost 3, it kept me well satiated throughout the ordeal.
The second time was yesterday, after waking up with a terrible head cold and gross nasal drip. Throughout a delirious nap I couldn't think of anything but this fish soup so when I finally woke up, I dragged myself to Whole Foods on 97th (the best Whole Foods in Manhattan by far) just to get the ingredients for the soup. I made enough for me, Andrew, and the next few days. Andrew and I had this soup with a bottle of Orleans Hill Cote Zero 2009 (not bad, not great, good with fish, organic, "sulfite-free," but most importantly, $8.99 at Whole Foods).
The best part about this soup is that it is fast, cheap, and of course healthy (always the shining benefit of a meal). All kinds of variations can be made to it and I'm still working on perfecting the details and ingredients since this is one of my newer dishes. This is a good soup for pre or post travel, a bad head cold, or just change-of-weather-scuffed-boots blues.
Ingredients:
1 carton vegetable broth
2 cloves garlic
1 stalk green onion
A small nubbin (about 2 cents worth) of ginger
Noodles -- the first time we used Chinese wheat noodles, the second time I used rice vermicelli (although I had really wanted the mung bean variety)
1 filet of white fish (tilapia works well)
Leafy greens -- napa cabbage is preferred but it's out of season right now so the first time we used iceberg lettuce and the second time, I used romaine lettuce
Salt
Black pepper
White pepper
Soy sauce
Rice vinegar
Sesame oil
1) Pour vegetable broth into a large pot and set on high heat to boil
2) Add 2-3 cups water
3) Add a few pinches of salt and black pepper
4) Slice garlic cloves, add to broth
5) Mince ginger, add to broth
6) Cube the fish, add to broth
7) Chop or julienne green onion, add to broth
8) Pour in 2-3 capfuls of soy sauce, 2-3 capfuls of rice vinegar, and a dash of sesame oil
9) Let the soup heat to a boil; in the meantime prepare noodles
10) The soup is pretty much ready after it hits a rolling boil and you've lowered the heat and let it simmer for at least 5 minutes. The longer the soup is heated, the more the flavors are unlocked but note that the fish will break down more over time. It is up to you when you want to eat.
11) A few minutes before serving, throw in the leafy greens. Napa cabbage would need 5-10 minutes, iceberg lettuce needs about 5, and romaine lettuce needs 1 minute.
12) Serve with noodles
13) Add white pepper to taste
14) Tastes super good (and great for the sinuses) with Sriracha hot sauce!
The first time was on my last day in Ann Arbor, when I visited my sister at the University of Michigan. We had originally planned to make this soup for dinner but got lazy and had it for the late lunch/early dinner I had before I boarded my flight. Maybe it's the Asian in me, but noodle soups always make me feel nice and homey and safe. It was a good pre-flight/last meal until Thanksgiving with my sister meal with a Mission St Pale Ale. Considering that my 1 hour flight turned out to be almost 3, it kept me well satiated throughout the ordeal.
The second time was yesterday, after waking up with a terrible head cold and gross nasal drip. Throughout a delirious nap I couldn't think of anything but this fish soup so when I finally woke up, I dragged myself to Whole Foods on 97th (the best Whole Foods in Manhattan by far) just to get the ingredients for the soup. I made enough for me, Andrew, and the next few days. Andrew and I had this soup with a bottle of Orleans Hill Cote Zero 2009 (not bad, not great, good with fish, organic, "sulfite-free," but most importantly, $8.99 at Whole Foods).
The best part about this soup is that it is fast, cheap, and of course healthy (always the shining benefit of a meal). All kinds of variations can be made to it and I'm still working on perfecting the details and ingredients since this is one of my newer dishes. This is a good soup for pre or post travel, a bad head cold, or just change-of-weather-scuffed-boots blues.
Ingredients:
1 carton vegetable broth
2 cloves garlic
1 stalk green onion
A small nubbin (about 2 cents worth) of ginger
Noodles -- the first time we used Chinese wheat noodles, the second time I used rice vermicelli (although I had really wanted the mung bean variety)
1 filet of white fish (tilapia works well)
Leafy greens -- napa cabbage is preferred but it's out of season right now so the first time we used iceberg lettuce and the second time, I used romaine lettuce
Salt
Black pepper
White pepper
Soy sauce
Rice vinegar
Sesame oil
1) Pour vegetable broth into a large pot and set on high heat to boil
2) Add 2-3 cups water
3) Add a few pinches of salt and black pepper
4) Slice garlic cloves, add to broth
5) Mince ginger, add to broth
6) Cube the fish, add to broth
7) Chop or julienne green onion, add to broth
8) Pour in 2-3 capfuls of soy sauce, 2-3 capfuls of rice vinegar, and a dash of sesame oil
9) Let the soup heat to a boil; in the meantime prepare noodles
10) The soup is pretty much ready after it hits a rolling boil and you've lowered the heat and let it simmer for at least 5 minutes. The longer the soup is heated, the more the flavors are unlocked but note that the fish will break down more over time. It is up to you when you want to eat.
11) A few minutes before serving, throw in the leafy greens. Napa cabbage would need 5-10 minutes, iceberg lettuce needs about 5, and romaine lettuce needs 1 minute.
12) Serve with noodles
13) Add white pepper to taste
14) Tastes super good (and great for the sinuses) with Sriracha hot sauce!
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