Ode to the Olympic Games. . .Chinese Food It is

I have a friend that just went to Beijing, China about 3 weeks ago and she came back with the most incredible stories. Her husband is a doctor in dermatology AND plays the clarinet in an orchestra. The orchestra was invited to play in China and Beijing was one of the places a concert was held. In 2 weeks time, he played in 10 concerts. Mrs. Fox calls herself the orchestra groupie...too cute! Would you believe she got to go through a silk factory and see the silk worm cocoons? She watched as the cocoons were unraveled, literally. A cocoon would contain a silk thread to be unraveled for meters. Mrs. Fox makes artistic quilts that tell a story. She is such a talented lady! So here she is at this factory, looking at the worms, the cocoons, and THEN she gets to go through the silk shop. . . all FOUR floors containing every color imaginable of silk. She had a terrible time trying to explain that she only wanted 1 meter of a select number of colors for her quilts because the factory people are used to selling several meters of fabric for making clothes. Then her next hurdle was that she didn't want to carry all the fabric with her on the airplane. The hotel concierge wrote her a note in Chinese to give to her taxi driver, telling him to take her to the local post office. She gets to the post office and NO ONE speaks English. In fact, she is the only American in the post office so everyone is watching her. She gets up to the counter and the post office worker makes a waving motion as if going over seas and she shakes her head "no" and tucks her elbows to her side and makes flapping motions with her hands for sending by air. The whole group of people in the post office bust up laughing and everyone is making flapping motions and patting her back.

Mrs. Fox also said that everyone is so friendly and all of Beijing is immaculate. There is even a carpool lane with the Olympics symbol painted on the road to indicate that buses carrying people to and from the Olympics are the only ones allowed in this lane. The excitement is building and I think that China is trying to give their best impression of a welcoming country.

Before I get any further, My Kitchen, My World cooking group is showing support for the Olympics in China by all of us getting together in our separate kitchens and creating a meal of Chinese food. Would you believe I found over 30 dishes that I wanted to make? Time gets pretty limited when we have other not-so-fun duties, like work, so I went with time efficient dishes that were fun to put together. I made wontons for the first time and found that I loved making them. Very easy to make and the possibilities are limitless for fillings. What I really loved was finding out I could make oodles of wontons, freeze them, then take out what I wanted for dinner and throw those in boiling water, then into the waiting broth or sweet-and-sour base for soup. Easy, fast, and delicious! My Dinner consisted of:

Wonton Soup

Vegetable Lo Mein

Szechwan Shrimp

Wonton Soup in Chicken Broth - Easy and Fun










Vegetable Lo Mein - Using Spaghetti








Szechwan Shrimp - Simple and Very Impressive







The wontons were stuffed with ham and shrimp finely diced, a little Sake, some soy sauce, and a little ginger root. I had so much fun making the cute little wontons and the soup smells just like fresh chicken broth, the flavor is kitchen fresh, and being able to serve a soup that looks this pretty was the best part.


Wonton Soup
Ingredients ~
1/2 pound pork loin or ham, coarsely chopped
2 ounces peeled shrimp, finely chopped
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
2 teaspoon finely chopped green onion
1 teaspoon chopped fresh ginger root
24 wonton wrappers
4 cups chicken stock
1 T. instant chicken bouillon granules
1/8 cup finely chopped green onion

Directions ~

In a large bowl, combine pork, shrimp, sugar, wine, soy sauce, 1 teaspoon chopped green onion and ginger. Blend well, and let stand for 25 to 30 minutes.


Place about one teaspoon of the filling at the center of each wonton skin. Moisten all 4 edges of wonton wrapper with water, then pull the top corner down to the bottom, folding the wrapper over the filling to make a triangle. Press edges firmly to make a seal. Bring left and right corners together above the filling. Overlap the tips of these corners, moisten with water and press together. Continue until all wrappers are used. Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil and drop wontons in and cook for 5 minutes.


FOR SOUP: Add instant chicken bouillon granules to the chicken stock. Bring the chicken stock to a rolling boil. Transfer wontons from boiling water to the hot chicken stock. Garnish with chopped green onion, and serve.







The vegetable lo mein was fantastic! I loved the flavor, and again, I can not imagine not feeling comfortable throwing everything but the kitchen sink into this. Do not be afraid of adding spices to this dish. It is so easy for the flavor to get lost with all the vegetables and pasta. I LOVE my hot chili sesame oil. The oil gives the dish just the right amount of kick without offering an overpowering flavor.

Vegetable Lo Mein
Ingredients ~

8 ounces uncooked spaghetti
2 T. vegetable oil + 2 T. hot chili sesame oil
****NOTE**** Use any mixture of veggies that makes you happy! =D
2 cups fresh sliced mushrooms
1 c. broccoli florets
1/2 cup sliced red bell peppers
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups fresh bean sprouts
2 c. shredded cabbage (I had a bag of mixed carrots and cabbage, shredded)
1/4 cup chopped green onions
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
3 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 tablespoon chili flakes

Directions ~

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.

Heat oil in a large wok or saute pan. Stir fry mushrooms, broccoli, bell pepper, cabbage, onion, and garlic until tender. I put a lid over my wok to allow for steam cooking. Stir in bean sprouts and green onions; cook one minute. Mix cornstarch and chicken broth in a small bowl and add to stir fry. Stir in hoisin sauce, honey, soy sauce, ginger, cayenne pepper and curry powder. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.

Add cooked spaghetti, and toss. Serve immediately.


Last, the Szechwan Shrimp. I like the way the name rolls off the tongue. . .sounding very impressive and what is shocking is just how easy this dish is to make. I already had leftover rice in the refrigerator, so I just added a little water and steamed the rice back to a fluffy life in the microwave while cooking the shrimp in a skillet on the stove top. For me, the key to cooking Chinese food and remaining calm, since every time I know of, a mad pace is involved when putting any of the dishes together. . .Have ALL the ingredients prepped and ready BEFORE starting to cook. As you can see from a photo above, I had everything pre-chopped and measured before beginning my adventure in the kitchen.

Next time, I want to cook brown rice and put the shrimp with sauce over all. For more or less heat, just adjust how much crushed red pepper you want to add.

Szechwan Shrimp
Ingredients ~

4 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon honey
2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
2 tablespoon hot chili sesame oil
1/4 cup sliced green onions
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound cooked shrimp, tails removed


Directions ~

In a bowl, stir together water, ketchup, soy sauce, cornstarch, honey, crushed red pepper, and ground ginger. Set aside.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in green onions and garlic; cook 30 seconds. Stir in shrimp, and toss to coat with oil. Stir in sauce. Cook and stir until sauce is bubbly and thickened. Place over cooked rice of choice or just eat as is.

Seafood Kick

I have decided that I do NOT like being home by myself at night. Hubby runs work in construction and is working the graveyard shift for this week. I had no idea how scary a house can be at night in the country. Since I can't sleep. . .because I am listening for all the creaks thinking they are footsteps, I am staying up making menus for the following evening.

I leave for work at 5 a.m., work a 10 hour shift, and get home at 6 p.m. Traffic is a bugger from Seattle to my home. That gives me 2 1/2 hours to fix a nice dinner, make a lunch to tide hubby over for the evening AND have him to talk to before he goes. I know, what a baby! We have a golden retriever but he has allergies from pollen right now so when I get home, I give him 2 Benadryl tablets. . .which makes him drowsy. No help there. He would just sleep through everything. Well, 2 days to go and this whole fiasco will be over and I will be able to sleep like a normal person. The crab cakes are set on a Kaiser roll with poppyseeds, topped with a creamy remoulade sauce, and a pretty lettuce leaf. I like simple the best. Also, I love panko flakes instead of saltine crackers or breadcrumbs.

In the meantime, this is what I devised for dinner. Hubby LOVES crabcakes so I stopped at the grocery store on the way home and bought 2 Dungeness crab to shuck. Dinner (and lunch for the evening) was Crab-cake Sandwiches, Remoulade Sauce, and Nectarine and Plum Salad. The nectarine salad has lemon olive oil, which I found at Oliver and Company. A French store selling different olive oils and balsamic vinegars. There is even a friendly lady that lets you try different flavors. Very tasty and "always" hard to make a decision on just one. The lemon olive oil is my favorite right now.

Crab-cake Sandwich
3/4 c. panko flakes
1/3 c. thinly sliced green onion
1/2 c. diced red bell pepper
1/3 c. mayonnaise
1 t. Old Bay seasoning
1 T. fresh lemon juice
1/4 t. salt
1 large egg
1 1/2 pounds fresh lump crabmeat, shell pieces removed
3 T. butter
6 lettuce leaves
6 poppyseed kaiser rolls
Remoulade Sauce (I have included that recipe just below)

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the panko flakes, green onion, bell pepper, mayonnaise, Old Bay seasoning, lemon juice, salt , and egg, stirring well. Gently fold crabmeat into mixture. Shape into 6 patties.

Heat butter in a large nonstick skillet, over medium-high heat. Add patties; cook for 3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Keep warm.

To serve the crab-cakes, place a lettuce leaf and crab cake on bottom half of each bun; spoon 2 Tablespoons Remoulade Sauce over each crab cake; and top with remaining halves of buns.

Remoulade Sauce
1/3 c. mayonnaise
1/4 t. ground red pepper
1 clove garlic, minsed
1 t. lemon zest

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a small bowl, stirring until blended. Cover and refrigerate until serving time.

Nectarine and Plum Salad
3 T. lemon olive oil
2 T. honey
1 T. apple-cider vinegar
1/8 t. salt
1/8 t. freshly ground pepper
2 large nectarines, cubed
3 ripe plums, cubed
6 large leaves red leaf lettuce

Directions:
In a large bowl, whisk together olive oil, honey, vinegar, salt, and pepper until blended. Add fruit, tossing to coat with vinaigrette. Serve fruit over lettuce leaves. Yum.

It's Tuesday and You Know What That Means. . .TWD. ~ YUM!

I have GOT to keep out of Jo Ann's Fabric Store! I keep finding things that I am just not walking away from. A new cake pan, silicone everything (who could possibly get enough??!), beautiful silk flowers, yarn, needle point. . .have I mentioned fabric yet? This is a fabric store and I have yet to buy fabric.

I have the cutest blue silicone mini-bundt cake bakeware and Dorie's Black-and-White Banana Loaf was beckoning me to be creative. A bundt cake means I have a center to fill. What to do? What to do???? Oh, I know! I have all these ripe bananas with little black specks just starting to appear so why not make bananas foster in a rich brown caramel sauce to drizzle over the top? Dorie did mention adding pecans for a crunchy texture. . .so we are also going to toast 1/2 cup of pecan halves in the oven at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. When done baking, we are going to chop the toasted pecans into small to medium size pieces and liberally sprinkle the toasty little nut pieces over the caramel, soft banana slices, and cute little bundt bread. Okay, bundt cake sounds so much better but in reality, this is a cake-like bread recipe. Good? Delicious!

I loved this recipe along with the ease in putting the ingredients together. I was reading one of my Cuisine at home issues, June of 2008 I think, and the bananas foster was in the back part of the magazine. I looked at the recipe several months ago and I just couldn't get the recipe out of my head. The pictures, the ingredients, luscious caramel sauce (I'm a sucker for a good caramel sauce), and warm bananas tossed in the caramel. What a combination!

Tuesday with Dorie has struck aces again! Our group is growing so fast and talk about talented Bakers! You just have to go take a look. The recipe was chosen by Ashlee of A year in the Kitchen and we applaud you. Great choice and the recipe did not take long to put together.


Dorie's recipe for Black-and-White Banana Loaf is on page 232 and 233 of her cookbook: Baking, from my home to yours.

You simply whisk a few dry ingredients together;





Get the bananas mashed, melt some bittersweet chocolate with 2 T. butter;






And get busy putting the ingredients together in the order the recipe tells you. Easy and the sweet smell. . .YUM!





I cheated on how to pour the batter into the pans. I just used my glass measuring cups with little pour indents to make the process quicker.

The bananas foster is just:

1 c. brown sugar, 1 stick unsalted butter, 2 T. rum, 2 T. banana liqueur, 1/2 t. cinnamon, and a pinch of salt.

Simmer the brown sugar, butter, rum, liqueur, cinnamon, and salt over medium heat until thickened, about 8 minutes. Whisk occasionally. Add bananas and simmer until warmed through, about 1 minute.


Grab one of your little cakes and drizzle, dump, pile. . .what ever makes you really happy, as much of the bananas foster over the cute little cake. Sprinkle your toasted pecans over all AND...

JUMP IN with two forks. Okay, just one. You might scare somebody =D.

For the hostess with the mostest . . .

Texas hospitality is nowhere more evident than in my dad's neighborhood in Amarillo. When my son and I visited recently, a "come on over and use our pool" invitation by dad's friends, Kim & Vance, turned into an impromptu 5-hour pool party! Kim forced me (ok...not really) to have a few (3, 4, 10?...I lost count) of her poolside cocktails. I wanted to make cookies for her inspired by her drink. (It is a perfect summer/poolside drink: cherry 7-up, lime juice and vodka over ice...it beats the Texas heat, let me tell ya!)



I used my candy corn cookie cutter for these cookies. Here's a peek at just some of my drawings. I threw about half of the pages away before thinking to snap a picture. Sometimes, what is in my head just won't translate to the paper!

• With a #2 tip, pipe the outline of the lime in one corner. (AmeriColor Leaf Green)


• With a #3 tip, pipe the outline of the cherry in red, meeting up with the lime outline. (AmeriColor Super Red)


• Using the lime as a guide for the corner of the glass, pipe the outline of the glass in black using a #2 or 3 tip. (Spectrum Super Black)


• Thin white and light pink icing with water to a syrup-like consistency and cover both with a damp dishtowel. Let sit several minutes. (AmeriColor Soft pink with a smidge of Spectrum Peach)


• Gently stir the white icing with a rubber spatula to pop any air bubbles that have risen to the surface and transfer to a squeeze bottle.


• Fill in the top of the glass with the white flood icing.


• Stir and transfer pink icing to a squeeze bottle.


• Working with 6 to 8 cookies at a time, flood just below the glass "rim" with an uneven line of white icing.


• Go back through your 6 to 8 cookies and flood with the pink icing butting up against the wet white icing.


• While this is drying, add light green to the lime wedges using a #1 tip (or thin to flood). (AmeriColor Leaf Green)


• Using a #3 tip, fill in the cherry outline (or thin to flood).


• With a #46 basket weave tip, pipe the straw in white (un-thinned icing). Smooth side of the tip facing up.


• If the flood icing has come up over the glass rims, like mine did, go back over the glass rim in black outline icing.


• Switch the tip on the black icing to a #1 and pipe on the cherry stem.


• Using a #1 tip, pipe stripes on the straws in red icing.

Lobster and Crab Quiche to celebrate Seafair Weekend

The Blue Angels are here jetting around! Actually they are pilots flying jets. Sea fair Weekend here in Seattle means the U.S. Navy Blue Angels putting on a sky show, unlimited hydroplane racing, live concerts, and fireworks. One big party. Granted the week before, major highways are shut down over lunch time so that the Blue Angels can practice for the event and the Seattle traffic back-ups are the worst EVER! but people seem to keep their grumbling to lower decimals while applauding the jet's earth shattering volumes of noise as the pilots go screaming across the sky!

I wanted to celebrate the weekend events by making seafood dishes. I bought King Crab legs and a lobster tail. The King Crab legs were steamed over a mixture of equal amounts of water and apple cider vinegar, sprinkled with Old Bay Seasoning, and steamed just until heated through. The prickly crab legs are then removed from the steamer, and using kitchen shears, I cut the shell down the center. This means easy meat removal without the pain. Also, lots of melted butter are served with. This was dinner for Saturday night. That and a nice loaf of Tuscan bread, cut into thick slices, for dipping purposes. Sunday morning breakfast is all about a lobster quiche. I have been raised on my Mom's quiches so I do not really need a recipe to go by. I also had leftover King crab meat so. . .

here is a lobster and King Crab Quiche:
(BTW, I totally bombed 2 separate pie and galette sessions where my pie crust just didn't work! I lost all confidence in my pie crust skills. This morning I woke up and decided I was going to jump right back on the crust bandwagon and defeat this newly formed fear! It is pie crust for Pete Sakes!) I remade Dorie Greenspan's Summer Fruit Galette on page 366-367 of her cookbook Baking, from my home to yours along with her pie crust on page 442.) I used the pie crust recipe that made 2 crusts so that my quiche could use one of the crusts and the Galette, the other crust.

My Galette had apricot preserves spread over the bottom and fresh nectarines, peaches, and blueberries added over the top. This time, the galette worked AND my pie crust turned out GREAT! The difference? It really does matter that you keep the pie crust chilled as much as possible before baking. My kitchen has been too hot in the past AND I have been in a hurry. Not a good combination for pie crust.)

Lobster and King Crab Quiche

(Recipe by Shandy)

1 9-inch pie crust, unbaked

1 1/2-cups lobster meat

1 c. crab meat

1/4 c. scallions, sliced

1 1/2 c. Swiss cheese, shredded

6 eggs

1 c. milk - I use whole milk but whatever percentage will not affect the flavor

1 c. heavy cream

1/2 t. salt (unless the crab already tastes a little salty)

1/2 t. freshly ground pepper

dash of nutmeg

1/3 c. Parmesan cheese, grated

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.

Line a quiche pie pan or tart pan with pie crust. Layer half of the lobster meat, crab meat, scallions, and Swiss cheese in pie crust. Repeat process for remaining half. Beat eggs and then add the milk, cream, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Pour over the lobster and crab mixture. Sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese over all.

Bake for 50 to 55 minutes until filling is set.

Lobster Tail:

I broil my lobster tails. This is very easy. I put foil on a baking pan for easy clean-up. I then use my kitchen shears to cut the top of the lobster shell down the center. Spread the shell apart slightly. Melt 4 T. butter. Add a little garlic and paprika to taste and pour down the cut opening of the lobster. Move your oven rack about 7 to 8 inches from the top of the oven and put the oven on broil - Hi. The length of time you use to broil depends on the weight of the lobster tail. Broil until the meat is opaque all the way through. My lobster tail was over a pound and took 15 minutes. The shell will get black where you cut with the kitchen shears. This does not affect the flavor of the meat. Take lobster tail from the oven and let cool for 15 minutes. Pull lobster meat out of shell and cut up for the quiche. Sneak a piece or two for yourself =D!

Believe it or not, there are leftovers. This makes a large quiche that puffs up a little like a souffle. The flavor of the seafood really stands out without the cheese masking any of the flavors. I love that!

See? Leftovers. . .Told you =)

My Kitchen, My World

Knife-and-Fork Breakfast Burritos straight from Mexico! I am late blogging today for My Kitchen, My World. I feel absolutely terrible because I really do love this group. I just feel a little stretched, time wise, lately. I didn't make a meal with a drink this time BUT I did make a Mexican breakfast. These burritos are so tasty and fun to make. Please check out the other talented chefs with passports. They are simply amazing!

The burritos can be made the night before and they are sooo good. Also impressive since the eggs are the tortilla of the burrito =D

Knife-and-Fork Burritos

Ingredients
6 eggs, slightly beaten
3 T. milk
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. ground black pepper
Nonstick cooking spray or cooking oil
1 15-ounce can pinto beans or black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 c. bottled or homemade chunky salsa
2 small tomatoes, thinly sliced
3/4 c. crumbled Monterey Jack cheese- or however much you prefer
1/3 c. sour cream
2 T. snipped fresh mint for garnish
Extra chunky salsa to serve with the burritos if you like =D

Directions:

In a medium bowl, combine eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Coat a 10-inch nonstick omelet pan (or skillet with flared sides) with nonstick cooking spray or brush lightly with a little cooking oil. Preheat pan over medium heat until a drop of water sizzles.

For each of the egg "tortillas", pour about 1/4 cup of the egg mixture into the pan. Lift and tilt pan to spread egg mixture over bottom. Return to hear. Cook for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes or until lightly browned on bottom (do not turn). Loosen edges of the egg tortilla with a spatula.

Carefully slide out onto a plate. Place a piece of waxed paper over egg tortilla. Continue as above with the remaining egg mixture to make a total of six egg tortillas, stacking egg tortillas separated by waxed paper on the plate. Cover and chill egg tortillas for 4 to 24 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a large baking sheet with nonstick spray; set aside. In a medium saucepan, mash the beans slightly. Stir in 1/2 c. salsa. Heat over low heat until heated through. Cover and keep warm while heating egg tortillas.

Place three egg tortillas on prepared baking sheet in a single layer. Bake for 5 minutes or until heated through. Carefully slide each egg tortilla onto a serving plate. On half of each egg tortilla, spread 1/4 cup of the bean-salsa mixture. Top with some of the tomatoes and cheese. Folds egg tortilla in half and then in half again to form burrito. Keep warm while preparing remaining burritos. Top each serving with a dollop of sour cream; sprinkle with mint. If you like, serve with additional salsa. Makes 6 servings.