Three Cup Lunar New Year

For quite a while now, I’ve kept with the tradition of celebrating Lunar New Year by cooking cuisine from countries that celebrate the holiday. This year we turned to China. After the traditional noodles for longevity and egg rolls for prosperity, the star was San Bei Ji, or Three Cup Chicken. Just as Pound Cake is named for a pound each of flour, butter, eggs, and sugar, Three Cup Chicken is named for the equal parts of soy sauce, sesame oil, and rice wine that combine to make the sauce.

Three Cup Chicken

The dish interested me in part because I enjoy a history lesson with my cooking. Legend has it that this was first served to Wen Tianxiang, a hero of the Song Dynasty who is still revered today in China as a sign of patriotism and righteousness. After his capture by Kublai Khan’s Yuan army and four years of torture in captivity, a warden took pity on him and used the few available tools and ingredients to serve Wen his last meal before his execution, and San Bei Ji was born.

Traditionally, the three cups of liquids are used to slow cook a whole chicken in a clay pot until the sauce is mostly absorbed and evaporated so the chicken is left sizzling. The version I made trades some of the traditional techniques and textures for convenience, but keeps much of the flavor. Chicken thighs were easier than a whole chicken and I used less sesame oil, adding it at the end, but in keeping with common preparations, I cooked it along with scallions, large slices of ginger and garlic, and most uniquely, wilted leaves of Thai Basil. It’s sweet, salty, umami, and spicy from ginger, but you can add as much red pepper as you want for more heat. Delicious.

Enjoy your Year of the Rat!

Post-Christmas Goose

For years I have wanted to cook the classic Christmas goose, and I finally made it happen! Holiday schedules placed the meal on January 4th, but that's close enough ;-)

Roast Goose with Prune and Apple Stuffing and Red Wine Giblet Gravy

This entire meal was comparable to a full-on Thanksgiving dinner- a three day cooking event. The goose itself was cooked in a manner similar to Peking Duck, which is boiled for just a minute or so to tighten the skin before being left to dry for a day or more, so the skin crisps up when cooked. You know it's done boiling when you see... goosebumps. This was the first bird I ever stuffed and trussed (stitching up with a needle and thread), and in this case the bird was stuffed with apples, ham, bread, plenty of veggies, and prunes soaked in sherry. The gravy consisted of a slow cooked red wine goose stock, more sherry, and minced heart, liver, and gizzard. It was delicious and rich. I would place the flavor of the goose itself, which is all dark meat, somewhere between duck and dark meat turkey. The cooking methods kept the meal balanced, allowing the goose's fat to melt away, just moistening the meat, and being repurposed for stuffing and gravy, so it wasn't too heavy. Duck still holds its #1 place in my heart, but this was fabulous.

I served this with a Wild Mushroom Soup (a favorite simple recipe courtesy of the late Anthony Bourdain), Colcannon, Rosemary-Butter Yeast Rolls, and Broccolini and Swiss Chard with Peas and Seared Lemons. Dessert was a Blueberry Crumble.

Quiche

This dish represents my first hired food job! My sister-in-law, Tori, owns TWO art schools and wanted to thank her support team. What began as a question about where to buy quiches for that thank you became a request for me to make them. I do a lot of work for the schools' flyers, calendars, banners, etc, so I was more than happy to make them some food. Having never cooked it before, I did a test run...

Over the Top Mushroom Quiche
Quiche, a pastry crust filled with egg and cream, is considered French, but original variations date back to Italy and the word is thought to have come from German, "kuchen," meaning cake. The most popular quiche is arguably Quiche Lorraine, which adds lardons (a French version of fatty bacon), but you can put pretty much anything in it that you want. For this project, I'm staying vegetarian so I made a quiche with wild mushrooms from the farmer's market (oyster and white button) and layers of Jarlsberg cheese (similar to Swiss). You can see the layers clearly in the picture. I also made the pie crust myself in a tall springform pan, but I don't know that I'll do that again—it's a pain and I really don't like baking! We happened to be spending the day with our niece, so she was a test subject, but I think it came out very well. We all ate a full serving and I shared leftovers with my mother the next day. It's very rich, but sort of light at the same time, so you feel like you've indulged, but you don't feel heavy after eating it. This particular recipe is deep dish quiche and the star chef who created it insists that quiche has to be several inches high. (I think it might be easier to make AND eat when a little smaller.)

Bánh Xèo

In a perfect example of Vietnamese cuisine as a blend of French and Asian influence, this dish is very similar to a crêpe in concept, but the result is quite different. The batter contains no egg, rice flour is used instead of wheat, throw in some coconut milk, turmeric, scallions, and a lot of oil for cooking, and you get a much crispier, more flavorful thin pancake than the springy French crêpe. Bánh Xèo translates to "sizzling cake" due to the sound it makes when the thin water-based batter hits the hot oil in the pan. It's eaten kind of like a lettuce wrap- you tear off a chunk and wrap it in red leaf lettuce with sprigs of mint, and dip it in a sauce (there is no seasoning in the filling itself).

This is the kind of dish that takes some practice to properly execute; like a crêpe, it's tricky to flip or fold perfectly. I made two versions. My first go was okay and I learned a lot. My second try was better, but still not spot on. I just need experience to nail it.

Bánh Xèo with Vegetables
Vegan AND gluten free! Featuring fried tofu strips, wood ear mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, garlic, carrots, celery, cellophane noodles, and mung bean sprouts. Served with a soy-based dipping sauce (yes, there's gluten in soy sauce, but there are easy alternatives- I'm looking at you, tamari).

Bánh Xèo with Shrimp and Pork
This is the more simple, traditional iteration: shrimp, pork, onions, and mung bean sprouts. I served it with a fish sauce-based dipping sauce. As much as I wanted to like the vegan one, I ended up liking this one better, in large part due to the pungent sauce.

As a final note, I'm a stickler for proper pronunciations, and bánh xèo is pronounced like "bon-SAY-oh". With an attempted accent for a Western tongue, it's closer to "bon-SOW" – "bon" rhyming with John and "sow" rhyming with how. No matter what, it's a great dish!

LA Game Day Food

With the Rams in the Super Bowl this year, I decided to cook a Los Angeles style menu. But when I started to ask myself what LA food really is, I realized it's truly a melting pot of dozens of cuisines. The trick became figuring out what makes Japanese sushi, Mexican tacos, Italian sandwiches and pizza, or any other of many international dishes uniquely SoCal. California rolls didn't make the cut because of the time involved and it just didn't fit with the rest of this game day food, but I missed them. Also left out, but considered, were Canter's take on a sandwich similar to a reuben and Philippe's famous French dip. What I made must have been a success though; my favorite compliment came from Jonathan who visited the Left Coast every one of the 13 years I lived there. He said he was "totally reminded of LA." A new item was served every quarter throughout the lowest scoring Super Bowl in history:

Bay Cities Style Poor Boy

Especially if you don't get the works, it's Bay Cities' bread that makes this sandwich unique. I can't duplicate that bread, but I was very proud of nailing my favorite part, their mild pepper dressing. I made that by mixing roasted red bell peppers, sweet cherry peppers, and pepperoncini, finding there should be a lot more red bell pepper than anything else. Otherwise, you just need the classic combo of bologna, cotto salami, and Swiss cheese. The Works includes lettuce, onion, pickles, tomatoes, mustard, and mayonnaise. Love that sandwich. Instant Santa Monica.

Cali Cheesesteak Pizza

I experiment a lot in the kitchen, but almost always following recipes, rarely inventing my own stuff, but this is one dish I lay claim to, inspired by my favorite sandwich (cheesesteak). I use a CA beer like Anchor Steam for my horseradish cheddar beer sauce (the leftover is perfect for fondue) that goes on top of my homemade dough. Then caramelized onions and mushrooms, Anaheim peppers for heat and more SoCal flavor, Monterey Jack cheese, and the common West Coast cut, tri-tip, for the steak. After cooking, it gets a topping of fresh avocados, sourced from California whenever possible. The advent of California-style pizzas like this (as opposed to traditional Italian or Italian-American classics) is attributed to chef Ed LaDou in Berkeley in the 80s before Wolfgang Puck brought the concept to Spago's, and then later, California Pizza Kitchen helped popularize it for the masses.

In N Out Animal Style Sliders

In N Out makes my favorite burger by far and I wouldn't have it any way but their off-menu Animal Style. Animal Style just adds extra grilled onions and special sauce, but it adds so much flavor! (You can order animal style fries, too, when you're really feeling saucy.) In my quest to duplicate their burgers at home, I found a copycat recipe that nails it. The special sauce is similar to thousand island, but when you buy that in a bottle, it's loaded with corn syrup and other junk, so it's better made at home. Most of the rest of it speaks for itself- caramelized onions, processed American cheese, lettuce, and tomato. But the real secret trick that I think makes the beef itself taste perfect is brushing one side of the patty with yellow mustard before flipping. That seals the deal. I wouldn't have moved back to Texas if they hadn't opened In N Outs here, and the best part is that Texans are so obsessed with flavorless Whataburgers, there's never a line at In N Out, whereas you'd be in the drive-thru for 45 minutes at 1am in LA.

Baja Fish Tacos

And finally the taco, a quintessential part of Los Angeles cuisine. I don't think there's an official "LA taco" and everyone from the wealthy in Beverly Hills to the authentic in East LA have their favorite taco stand, truck, restaurant, etc. I went with Baja style because it's geographically close to LA and features fish, like any coastal cuisine should. I cheated on this and used fish sticks because I had enough going on already, but the rest is all from scratch- red cabbage slaw for crunch, pico de gallo and salsa verde for hot and sour, and a little Mexican crema to cool it all off. Served on "street taco" flour tortillas.

Spanish Beef Stew

Catalan-Style Beef Stew with Oyster Mushrooms
In keeping with our interest in Spanish cuisine, I made this stew the other night. Again, it starts with a base of sofrito (slow cooked tomatoes, onions, and spices). For this stew, I used short ribs, which I rarely cook with because it ain't the healthiest cut, just one of the tastiest. I got very well-marbled grass fed beef for this, mmmm.

After braising the beef in white wine along with the sofrito for several hours, I threw in beautiful oyster mushrooms, and then the stew is thickened with picada. Picada is another Spanish staple, especially in Catalonia and Valencia, but one that can vary widely in ingredients. The one I made here contained finely ground toasted almonds, toasted bread, garlic, and parsley. This dish also got a dash of cinnamon which really sets it apart- only 1/4 teaspoon in 6 portions, but it was enough to raise an eyebrow from those it was served to. I may skip that spice next time because it's just too unusual to most American tastebuds in a savory dish. Finally, it was brightened up with a splash of sherry vinegar, also common in Spanish cooking. I am proud of my extensive collection of vinegars, but they each have a use in various dishes, and having just inherited two bottles of good sherry vinegar, the timing for more Spanish food was perfect!

Spanish Pasta

Fideuà
We've found that Kara really enjoys Spanish food, so I've been searching for recipes and am having fun cooking dishes that are new to me and classic to Spain. This is fideuà, or Spanish-Style Toasted Pasta with Shrimp and Mussels. I've heard similar dishes called "fideo" when Mexican (as seen on Beat Bobby Flay), and there are many other variations on the word. What they all have in common is Latin flavors... and pasta.

The story goes that a Spanish cook who worked on a ship tried substituting pasta for rice when making paella because the captain liked rice so much he gobbled it up before the rest of the crew got their portions. The trick worked and the dish ended up being so tasty to everyone else, he recreated it at various ports over the years and it became a classic dish.

It is essentially paella. But instead of rice, thin spaghetti is used, carefully broken into 1" lengths in a dishtowel. The pasta is toasted in a dry pan (with bit of Spanish olive oil) to recreate the sensation of socorrat, the treasured crusty rice at the bottom of a properly made paella. It's flavored with the aromatic base called sofrito—onions, tomatoes, and olive oil, and other varying ingredients. Then I threw in some beautiful large shrimp and a handful of mussels. The flavor is rounded out by smoked paprika, which I've used for years and love, but wow, it requires a deft hand. Try it if you haven't before.

The above pre-plating photo doesn't include the lovely parsley garnish and lemon wedges which should be served alongside, but it looks great in the pan. It was delicious!