Here is another recipe as a part of my "Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: Celebrating Mardi Gras, with Vietnamese Flair" post!
Hearty Gumbo with Shrimp, Andouille Sausage, and Okra
1 1/2 lbs of medium shrimp, peeled
1 container of cooked and shelled crawfish meat, or cooked and shelled crab meat (8 oz)
2 quarts of shrimp stock, at room temperature
1 small bottle of clam juice (8 fl oz)
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
1/2 cup of flour
2 large yellow onions, chopped
1 red bell pepper, cored, deseeded, and chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1/2 lb okra pods, with stems removed and roughly sliced into 1/4 inch rounds
5 large garlic, minced
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tbsp of Creole seasoning
1/4 tsp of California red pepper powder
2 bay leaves
1 1 lb pkg of andouille sausage
parsley, to garnish
scallions, to garnish
In an enameled cast iron dutch oven, heat the vegetable oil on high heat until shimmering and slightly smoking. Carefully stir in the flour, being careful of the splattering and sizzling oil. Stir the flour constantly, until the roux deepens into a chocolately brown color. Do not leave the roux unattended and make sure that the flour does not stick or burn in the corners of the pot.
Carefully add the "holy trinity" of New Orleans cooking (onions, bell pepper, celery) and the garlic, thyme, California pepper powder, and Creole seasoning until the vegetables begin to soften, wilt, and glisten.
Then, add the room temperature shrimp in a steady stream while again, stirring methodically. After incorporating the ingredients, add the bay leaves, sausage, and okra and simmer on low heat for about 30 minutes, until the gumbo has thickened and the vegetables are soft and supple to the bite. Add the shrimp, and cook until the shrimp has cooked through, about 5 minutes. Add the crawfish tails (or crab meat pieces) and stir it in the gumbo to warm. Serve the gumbo with chopped parsley and scallions, over a bowl of cooked long-grain white rice.
I hope you enjoy this New Orleans recipe, perfect for Mardi Gras celebrations!
Here is another recipe as a part of my "Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: Celebrating Mardi Gras, with Vietnamese Flair" post!
Savory Vietnamese Turmeric Crepes (Banh Xeo) with Creole Shrimp
1 1/2 cups of long-grain rice flour (not glutinous rice flour and can use 1 to 1 1/4 cups only, for a lighter, less dense, and more translucent and glassy crepe)
1 can of unsweetened coconut milk (13.5 fl oz)
1/2 tsp of turmeric powder
3 green onion sprigs, chopped finely (with whites and greens)
cooking oil, for frying
12 cooked Creole shrimp
1/2 lb of cooked pork, cut into bite-sized slivers
1/4 lb of mung bean sprouts
1 head of tender lettuce, such as red leaf lettuce
1 bundle of fresh mint
nuoc cham dressing, for serving
Whisk the rice flour, coconut milk, and tumeric powder together until it reaches the consistency of pancake batter. Add the flour into the milk, slowly, making sure the batter is not too thick. Meanwhile, heat approximately 1 tbsp of cooking oil in a non-stick pan on high heat. Swirl the oil around evenly. When the oil begins to shimmer, pour the crepe mixture onto the pan, spreading the mixture on the surface of the oiled pan with a heat-resistant spatula. Sprinkle green onions on the surface of the uncooked crepe. Flip when the crepe when it is crisp and browned on the pan-side. The crepe is finished when both sides are crisp and lightly browned--just like a well-done omelet.
Plate the crepe, and fill it with the shrimp, pork, mung bean sprouts, lettuce, and mint, and fold the crepe over the filling like an omelet. Serve with a small bowl of nuoc cham.
I hope you enjoy this traditional Vietnamese recipe, with a New Orleans-style addition!
Here is another recipe as a part of my "Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: Celebrating Mardi Gras, with Vietnamese Flair" post!
Vietnamese Tamarind Soup with Catfish, Pineapple, and Okra (Canh Chua Cá)
3 quarts of fish or shrimp stock
1 yellow onion, sliced
3-inch piece of ginger, bruised and scored
2 stalks of lemongrass, cut into 2 inch segments
5 cloves of garlic, smashed
1 lb boneless and skinless catfish filets, cut into 1 inch squares
1 can of pineapple chunks, with juice
2 large tomatoes, cored and segmented into wedges
3 stalks of celery, sliced on a bias
1/2 lb okra pods, with stems removed and roughly sliced into 1/4 inch rounds
1/4 lb of bean sprouts
1/2 cup of tamarind concentrate
1 tbsp of fish sauce
1/4 cup of sugar
salt, to taste
In a large stock pot, bring the stock, onion, ginger, lemongrass, and garlic to a boil. Skim off any foam or residue and simmer until the stock is reduced to approximately to half. Then, add the tamarind concentrate, fish sauce, sugar, pineapple and the reserved pineapple juice from the can, tomatoes, celery, and okra.
Bring the soup to a boil on a low simmer. Add the catfish and bring to a boil again. Add the bean sprouts just before serving.
I hope you enjoy this traditional Vietnamese recipe!
Here is another recipe as a part of my "Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: Celebrating Mardi Gras, with Vietnamese Flair" post!
Summer Rolls (Goi Cuon)
1 pkg of 15 to 20 rice paper wrappers
1 head of tender lettuce, such as red leaf lettuce
1 lb of mung bean sprouts
1 lb of cooked Creole shrimp (or 20 shrimp)
1 bundle of Chinese flat-leaf chives (these are not the traditional chives you see in the regular markets)
1 bundle of mint
1 bundle of basil
warm water
nuoc cham dressing, for serving
Just as a note, this ingredients list is based on my family's preference! You can add traditional Vietnamese herbs such as rau ram, and other vegetables and proteins, such as julienned carrots, tofu, boiled eggs, pickled daikon, baked fish, thinly sliced meat, and slivers of cucumber. Also, many people like to add vermicelli rice noodles too, but I don't really because I feel that there is enough carb substance in the wrapper. But really, the sky is the limit! Also, I use nuoc cham (a fish sauce salad dressing) as the dipping sauce, but you can use a mixture of hoisin sauce, peanut butter, crushed peanuts, and a bit of hot water for a delicious peanut dipping sauce.
Now, onto the assembly! First, you want to briefly dip the thin rice paper in warm water. Then, put it on a plate and wait for it to moisten. It helps to have several "holding" plates to hold the rice paper as it becomes pliable. Then, when the brittle paper has become malleable, in the middle to lower region of the wrapper, place the shrimp face down first. (Some people like to cut their shrimp in half, lengthwise, so put the outer shrimp portion facing the wrapper.) You want the shrimp to show through the thin and translucent rice paper wrapper, so the shrimp placement is key. Next, add your other ingredients, being careful not to overfill the wrapper and leaving the sides bare. Don't fill too closely to the sides, because you want to fold the sides over, like a burrito. Add a little bit of each ingredient.
When you have filled the rolls to your heart's delight, then fold the sides inward (like the picture), similar to a burrito. If you so desire, add a long chive stem (that will protrude through the summer roll), for decorative effect. Then, begin rolling tightly, using your fingers to firmly squeeze the filling and using the skin of the summer roll to adhere to itself.
You should get something beautiful, that looks like this:
And if you don't succeed at first, don't fret! You can combine the carnage from the "mistake rolls" as a delicious salad for later. Practice makes perfect!
I hope you enjoy this traditional Vietnamese recipe, with a New Orleans-style addition!
Here is another recipe as a part of my "Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: Celebrating Mardi Gras, with Vietnamese flair" post!
Mini, Individual-Sized King Cakes
1 can of refrigerated cinnamon roll dough, with glaze
unflavored green sugar crystals (not lime-flavored)
unflavored purple sugar crystals (not grape-flavored)
unflavored sugar crystals (not lemon-flavored)
Pop open the canister containing the cinnamon roll dough. Separate the dough portions, and unravel each cinnamon bun. Then, taking the length of the unraveled cinnamon dough, bring together both ends, folding the dough in half lengthwise, and twist the dough loop and pull into a braided rope. Then, bring the ends of the twist together, to form a round, braided O-shaped bread, which should be about the size of your palm.
Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray, and follow the instructions on the package to cook the small cakes.
Then, glaze the finished cakes and sprinkle the cakes with alternating colors of green, purple, and yellow sprinkles.
If you have a King Cake baby, slip it inside one of the finished King Cakes (we do not want the plastic to melt) and cover it up discreetly and patch it up with frosting.
I hope you enjoy this New Orleans recipe, perfect for Mardi Gras celebrations!
San Francisco is filled with Asian dessert shops, many of which are open late into the evening. A few Mondays ago, before the beau and I were ready to call it a night, the beau impetuously whisked me off to Creations Dessert House, one of the more popular Asian dessert shops in the City.
The beau and I love black sesame desserts--the nutty and husky sesame flavor is powerful and lingers on one's tongue after each lasting taste. (The provocative and full-bodied flavor of black sesame seeds is almost as potent as coffee.) Therefore, imagine our surprise when we saw black sesame ice cream on the menu!
We decided to share a serving of black sesame ice cream topped chunks of mango, slices of kiwi, cubes of canned lychee, and melon balls. Unfortunately, Creations' black sesame ice cream didn't live up to our lofty sesame seed expectations. The black sesame ice cream didn't taste like ice cream, for it wasn't creamy at all. Rather, the frozen concoction was chalky and gritty from the large sesame particles and ice crystals. Furthermore, though the fruit was fresh and unblemished, the mangoes were a little too sour when compared to the sugary sesame ice.
Nevertheless, I would probably go back to Creations again, to test out their other "creations." If you are thinking about burning the midnight oil and are looking for a place open late (but don't want 24-hr fast food), check out Asian dessert shops, which are located throughout the City!
Happy Mardi Gras everyone! If you haven't heard, Zatarains is sponsoring (and helping to get the word out about) a petition to make Mardi Gras into a national holiday. Mardi Gras (or Carnival) is huge in Central and South American and European countries as well as in the South and in New Orleans. It is a rich and colorful holiday full of music, dancing, eating, drinking, and celebration. Just as it took dedicated crusaders to make Thanksgiving into a national holiday, I hope you will consider signing the petition to make an integral holiday in New Orleans a national holiday in our country.
Also, I wanted to share with you some huge food deals! I think you need to act fast on these though.
A few weeks ago, I met with a friend of mine for a leisurely lunch. We deliberately left our schedule open, for we planned on doing nothing except enjoying each other's company. We wanted to spend our day aimlessly browsing the designer shops, contentedly window shopping, and delightfully gazing at the idyllic scenery in hazy San Francisco.
My friend and I met at one of my favorite San Francisco restaurants, La Mediterranee. There, I ordered the lunch special, which came with a creamy, silken yogurt soup to start. The decadent and lemony soup invigorated my palate, and whetted my appetite for more. The taste and consistency of the soup reminded me of a homey cream of broccoli soup. For my main dish, I enjoyed a protein trio consisting of (1) chicken pomegranate, a fall-of-the-bone dark meat drumstick marinated, basted, and slowly baked in a sweet and slightly acidic pomegranate sauce with wild herbs, (2) a crisp filo levantine meat tart filled with lean ground beef and toasted pine nuts, and (3) chicken cilicia seasoned with cinnamon-spiced chicken and served over golden rice pilaf tossed with crispy almond slivers, chickpeas, and raisins. The chicken cilicia also came in a golden-brown filo wrapper, and exhibited a perfect balance of complimentary sweet, sour, and savory flavors with the hot chickeny interior and sweet dusting of powdered sugar. I also enjoyed the pillowy wedges of warm pita, which I dipped in a small mound of tahini-rich hummus.
After our filling and satisfying meal, we stopped by Dosa, a trendy and new Indian restaurant, to appreciate the luxuriously designed restaurant space, which oddly was once occupied by Goodwill. The vividly colored hanging chandeliers glittered and sparkled with their feathery and beaded outgrowths. We decided to order some refreshments, and I went with the sweet mango lassi, which had a hint of mint and a rich, smooth, custardy consistency.
As we wandered from shop to shop, we made our last stop in Japantown. First, we visited the Hotel Kabuki, to visit their beautiful tea garden and watch the peaceful koi fish eagerly encircle the whispering waterfall. Next, we stopped by San Francisco's Benkyodo Co., where we snacked on their "manju of the month," a sticky rice flour mochi cake filled with supple marshmallow and chocolate filling. As we dusted the sweet manju flour from our lips, we took a last stroll around Japantown, and a few hours later, concluded our restful and enjoyable mini-tour of San Francisco.
I hope my day gave you some ideas of where to visit if you ever come to San Francisco. All of these places are within walking distance of one another!
Have you ever heard of annatto seeds from the achiote plant? If not, I would love to make an introduction. These seeds are one of nature's most vivid forms of food coloring and are commonly used to color cheddar cheeses, butters, and margarines. Therefore, if you have ever eaten cheese, butter, or margarine, you should not be afraid of cooking with these seeds. I know you are thinking, "What in the hay-hole are these seeds, and how do they taste?" The seeds themselves are mild in flavor. If you pop a crunchy one in your mouth, it will taste similar to a bland peppercorn, leeched of any spiciness, with an almost indiscernable aftertaste of saffron or clay. (How do I know what clay tastes like? Okay, I did try clay when I was a kid, but I thought it was chocolate pudding!) However, these seeds are not used for flavor, but more for the stunning rust-colored hue. Grown and harvested in South and Central America, you simply heat these seeds in oil to release the dark and potent jasper coloring. These seeds lend their vibrantly rich, Sedona red color to the Vietnamese soups of bun bo hue and bun rieu. Latin American cuisines also often employ achiote paste (a flavorful paste made of a panapoly of spices and annatto coloring) in their cuisine to deepen the color of mole sauces and even enrich the visual colors in tamales.Check out your local Asian or Latin American market for packs of these seeds, and start experimenting!
I love hearty salads. Taco salad, salade niçoise, Caesar salad, chef's salad, Greek salad, the list goes on and on. A good salad could literally bring me to my weakened knees.
However, I'm pretty diva-licious about my salads. I have to have at least two things on my salad: (1) a honkin' portion of protein, in any form, and (2) salad dressing galore. However, my two salad prerequisites often mean that I'm defeating the purpose of eating salad--the health reason. Therefore, I decided to take one of my favorite unhealthy salads, the Cobb salad, and give it a "healthy" flair. This meant that I needed to omit the blue cheese, bacon, and perhaps chicken meat.
After whipping together the other Cobb salad ingredients, adding a sprinkling dried chives, and drizzling red wine vinegar over the greens, I felt that my ultimate version of the Cobb salad looked like the epitome of healthiness. I was satisfied. (However, after consulting my health-oriented macrobiotic cookbook, I discovered to my chagrin that avocados and tomatoes are not macrobiotic-savvy foods. Oh well, I can't do the macrobiotic diet anyway.)
Pretty pleased with myself on making a nutritious salad, I decided to taste my healthy twist on the traditional Cobb salad. One taste, and... It tasted like I was eating raw forest foliage. Perhaps it was because I ate a big bite of watercress with no dressing.
With vigor, I threw down my salad fork and angrily stomped my way to the cabinets and fridge for some bacon bits, garlic butter croutons, and blue cheese dressing. Salad should not taste like a compost pile of weed trimmings! It should taste like a deconstructed smothered chipped beef sandwich!
But before I made it to the pantry, the calming voice of reason sounded in my head. Based on the hypnotic voice in my head, I picked up the "low-fat" blue cheese dressing instead. When I arrived back at my place setting, I just added a bit of dressing to the salad, and could definitely say that this spruced up my meal significantly.
If you are interested in the way that I made this Cobb salad, check out the recipe below.
Pseudo-Cobb Salad, The Healthier Version
1 head of red leaf lettuce, washed and cut or ripped into bite-sized pieces
1/4 bundle of watercress, washed and cut or ripped into bite-sized pieces
1 large avocado (or 2 small avocados), peeled and diced
2 whole chicken eggs, boiled and diced
2 large tomatoes, cored and diced
1 pinch of dried chives, optional
1 tbsp of red wine vinegar, optional
several tbsps of low-fat or non-fat blue cheese dressing, to taste
In a medium to small bowl, whisk together the dressing, vinegar, and dried chives. In a large bowl, combine all the remaining ingredients, drizzling the whisked liquid ingredients over the greens. Toss well. Alternatively, you could arrange all of the salad ingredients on a plate into sections (e.g. egg section, avocado section, tomato section, greens section) and allow your guests to drizzle on the dressing to their own liking. Serve and enjoy.
For the best Cobb salad recipe, check out this link, for the inventor of Cobb salad's recipe! Do you have any healthy salad recipes? Feel free to share your link in the comments section!
