Selective Palate

Last Friday was M and I’s 7th anniversary. We have a tradition that dates back to our first anniversary of a feast of chinese take-out. Back then we had just moved into our very first apartment and we had next to nothing plus new nothing of the area. To celebrate we made a picnic on the floor (no furniture either!) and ate chinese take out. I think back then it cost a total of $18 and for us that was about as far as our new budget could stretch. Ever since it has been the tradition to do that every year. This year for some reason was special to me. 7 years is a long time, at least for me and the whole 7 year itch people always talk about. So I decided at trying my hand at making a Chinese feast myself.

I made our appetizers just like we would order, pan-fried dumplings or pot-stickers, scallion pancakes, and a napa and cilantro salad we had tried at A Single Pebble and loved.

I have made dumplings before but M really likes gyozas and I had gyoza wrappers on hand. So I made a traditional pork dumpling mixture and filled the wrappers. I had never folded in this style before so I You Tubed a video on the technique of folding gyozas. Very helpful! Over all for my first try I think I did well. M even jumped in and folded a couple. He was actually better right of the gate then I was. I jump right in and pick it up as I go and am speedy, M on the other hand studies it then meticulously proceeds; its the perfectionist in him!

Here is the quick recipe of the filling:

1/2 lb ground pork
1/2 cup scallions
1/2 tsp. minced ginger
1 T. soy sauce
1 T. rice wine

Mix everything well and refridgerate for 30 minutes. Then fill dumplings. You don’t have to do anything special, you can pleat them if you like or make little beggers purses, or even just a good seal will work fine. I followed this video for a tutorial and It was very good. I made a simple dressing out of Chinese balck vinegar and soy sauce with a tad of minced ginger. It was nice combination. To cook I fried them in very little oil then added a spoonful of water to the very hot pan and quickly covered. You can do that or steam entirely, deep fry or even boil.

For the pancakes I had never made them before at all and I took a little help for a fellow blogger. What is weird is that I had planned this out, googled and ended up on a site I have been to many times. Then later while surfing Tastespotting this exact post from Appetite for China was featured, how serendipitous! I took her exact recipe but I tried to short cut the pancakes by using a method I had read on a Ming Tsai recipe. Next time I will follow her instructions exactly! They came out good but in trying to make it easier I ended up making it harder I think.

The napa salad was an after thought but a good one. We have had this a few times out and I thought with all the heavy food a nice light salad would be a good idea. It is simply sliced napa cabbage and torn cilantro in a dressing consisting of 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar, 1 T. sugar, 1 T. light oil (I used coconut), a pinch of salt and about 5 drops of sesame oil. I nuke it for 30 seconds to dissolve the sugar/salt and when cool and ready to eat I dress the salad. Its that easy and very tasty; I can eats bowls of this stuff!

We took a brief intermission from eating to clean up, relax and prepare for the next course, Chinese Red Cooked Beef (Chinese Braised Beef) with noodles. Basically its Chinese pot roast. It takes all day to braise and makes the house smell wonderful! It’s a perfect fall dish.

Recipe:

1 1/2 lbs chuck roast or any cheap cut of meat, cut in to bite size chunks
1 cup sliced shitake mushrooms – I used a combination of dried and fresh, the dried I soaked in hot water for 30 minutes and squeezed out the excess water (save the liquid!)
2 carrots sliced on the diagonal
2-3 cloves garlic minced
1 inch (or so) nob of fresh ginger, minced
1 onion chopped
2-3 cups stock, I used a cup of the mushroom water and 1 1/2 cups of beef stock
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice wine or dry sherry if you can’t find rice wine
2 T. brown sugar
2-4 red chilies
2-3 whole star anise
2 cinnamon sticks broken in 1/2
1 T. 5 spice
salt and pepper (minimal)
oil for browning, I used coconut

Start out by prepping all your vege and set aside. Now prep your meat by cutting into chunks and seasoning with salt, pepper, and 5 spice. Set aside. In a large dutch oven heat the oil and stir fry the garlic and ginger for a few seconds until you can smell it. In batches add your meat. You want the meat evenally on 1 layer without crowding the pan. This should take about 2- 3 batches once done remove all meat. In the same pan add more oil if needed, but you shouldn’t, you should have more than enough fat from the beef. To the pan add your onions and mushrooms and saute until you see some color, about a minute or 2. Now add the beef and the remaining ingredients. Make sure the liquid just covers everything. Turn the heat to medium low and bring to a boil then turn the heat all the way low and cook uncovered for about 3 hours or until the liquid has almost completely reduced and the meat is tender. When almost done, about 30 minutes out, add your carrots. What I did here was since I knew I was going to serve it later, when it was done I turned off the heat and added the carrots gave it a good stir then covered until ready to serve. This cooked the carrots just perfectly.

You can serve this over steamed rice but really it is a noodle type of meal. Traditionally you would serve it with thick wonton noodles which are chinese egg noodles. Living in the mountains of Vermont I could not find them so I used fresh parpadelle which worked perfect! I also served this with seared bok choy seasoned with garlic, ginger, and soy sauce and to top everything off a seasonal hard cider that is produced for fall and had a hint of cinnamon in it; it was Woodchuck Draft Fall Cider. It was a perfect pairing.

It was a very nice dinner and definitely a step up from take out, though I did kind of miss it in a nostalgic kind of way.

Up here in Vermont the farming season is already short add to that about 2 months of straight rain and you get a very disappointing tomato harvest. M and I decided to utilize are large yet mostly useless deck to start a container garden. And though fun it was not very prosperous to say the least. I was hoping for bounties of tasty summer tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and herbs but really we ended up with tiny tomatoes with little flavor, 2 small cucumber, and 3 peppers (good news this sudden batch of sunshine has encouraged more peppers!). The herbs came out fine I guess, but not what I had hoped for at all and due to all the rain we had cilantro for about 2 weeks till it all flowered and died; on the other hand it came to seed and I harvested coriander! I still found myself having to go to the farmers market weekly. But that did not stop me from taking what little we harvested and adding that to some farmers market goodies to create my favorite summertime treat; Gazpacho!

For some of you this is the perfect way to end the summer and rid yourself of all those tomatoes you may have *cough-jealous-cough* instead of making jars and jars of tomato sauce you can whip up a batch of this soup. It can last in the fridge for over a week, if its not eaten quicker and you can morph it into all kinds of things; add hot peppers or sauce and you have salsa, blend up into a thick puree and you have a light fresh tomato sauce to toss with pasta, add basil and top bruschetta, I am tellin ya endless possibilities!

Recipe:

3-5 Good sized tomatoes, any variety will work, I used a combo of heirloom and slicing from my garden and a few romas I grabbed at the market; diced
1 cucumber diced
1-2 bell peppers diced green or red, I like the sweetness of the red
1 onion, you can use regular white but I like the sweeter varieties, like bermuda, vidalia and red
2-3 cloves garlic minced
A good splash sherry vinegar or white wine works well here too, about 1/4 cup
About 1/4 cup of good quality olive oil with a little extra to drizzle at the end
1 cup tomato juice or sauce (not seasoned)
1 cup or so beef broth (you can leave this out to make it vegetarian and add either veggie stock, water, or more tomato juice)
A couple good dashes of hot sauce
handfull of fresh cilantro and parsley
and of course salt and pepper

Once you have all your veggies diced up nice take about 2/3 of them and plop them in a blender, I use my stick blender. The point is to puree about 2/3 of the mixture. Now pour all the chopped veggies and pureed veggies in a large bowl and add the remaining ingredients. Just add what you need until you get the desired taste and constancy. If you like your soup thinner you will most likely use all the liquid but if you like a chunkier style like I do you will add less. Play with the vinegar, if your tomatoes are a bit more on the acidic side you may want to cut back but if like me they were a tad bland you may want to kick it up. Also, the hot sauce is to taste feel free to leave it out. We like spicy in this house so I add quite a bit. This is not a science just a basic recipe. It is pretty fool proof if you ask me.

Traditionally, gazpacho uses stale bread but I omit that opting for a crustini along side my soup but the choice is yours. Also, with the bread left out you can morph this into so much more.

Chill this soup over night for best flavors. When ready to serve ladle into cups or bowls and top with a drizzle of good olive oil and a few sprigs of fresh cilantro.

Morphing ideas:

To the leftover soup add chopped olives, capers and fresh oregano and toss with hot pasta.

Add a few more chopped up tomatoes, raw or roasted and a some diced jalapenos for a chunky salsa, or puree further and add chopped chipolte in adobe for a thin smokey salsa.

Add more tomatoes, and fresh basil and top bruschetta for a nice appetizer.

Or puree until smooth adding more tomato juice if needed and mix with vodka for a little twist on a classic Bloody Mary!

You can even freeze this soup! It may not taste as fresh when thawed but in the dead of winter it will be a perfect taste of summer.

This year we didn’t exactly have the coin to go on a vacation but we managed to get some travel in even if it was local. One thing M and I like to on a nice weekend is take a drive through the mountains with the top down. I like to do what I have dubbed “The Loop”. We start going south out of town then we hang a left and climb up a mountain, go around a mountain, and eventually come down a mountain and we end up north of town. Like how that works, welcome to Vermont!

Along the way we stopped at a state park named Texas Falls; falls yes Texas not so much! But it is 1 of my favorite spots to just hang out. It is also, 1 of the first spots we found when we moved here and there is a great story that goes with it but I am not ad liberty to tell it .

There was some kind of wedding taking place this day so we could not get a good picture of the falls, but I can say they were nice.

There is also a blue berry patch that we often stop and pick our own leaving our money in a box left for just that reason and we end up stopping whenever we see something cool.

This year with all the rain we managed to see quite a few waterfalls just along side the road and it made for very nice views as we climbed the mountain. We stopped a couple of times and got some pretty shots. It was a coolish day the sun was in and out with a little rain. We did have to put the top up towards the end of the day but we had a good time none the less.

Here is a view from the top of 1 mountain we climbed that day. It is 1 of my favorite roads. You have to drive (either direction) a very steep and winding road. You are actually riding the side of the mountain and it gives you a weird feeling as you look down and realize you are just hanging off the side of this mountain and there is nothing stopping you from going over except this tiny guard rail. Its pretty cool. (And yes Amity this is the road where I believe you said it “made you week in the knees”!) By the way they close this road in the winter for good reason.

Towards the end of the drive we find ourselves in a nice little town with 1 of our favorites restaurants and a creamy stand! For those not in the know up here they call soft serve ice cream, creamies. It is fitting no?

Well since this is a “FOOD BLOG” I guess I should tell you all about our early evening dinner. If you ever find yourself in Bristol Vermont (about 45 minutes south of Burlington) The Bobcat Cafe should not be missed. We really enjoy this place. The food is always good, never pretentious, and the atmosphere is very comfortable. We have never had a bad time here. Over Christmas I even took my dad for a few drinks and snacks on our way home from Burlington. Even he loved it with its antique bar great selection of wines and home brewed beer.

When we arrived it was fairly early so we were not in the mood for a huge dinner though we deffinately could have gotten our fill. M ordered a small bucket of wings. Now M is quite the wing afficiando and is very picky when it comes to chicken wings and this is 1 of his favorites. They give a good size portion and they are perfectly crispy however, they do their sauce a bit different than other places. It is more of a savory chili sauce. M asks them to heat it up a bit and they have no problem with his request. They are saucey, spicy and crispy served with a side of house blue cheese. He ordered a side of herbed fries with a chipolte mayonaise. Not exactly the healthiest meal but it sure was tasty!

I was a little chilly so I ordered their steamed little neck clams in a bacon potato ale chowder. Yes it was as good as it sounds. It was a good size portion of the steamers bathed in the goodness that is bacon and cream! I think I might have licked the bowl. I topped it off with a nice glass of Chardonay and was more than satisfied.

We finished our meals and took a short walk on over to the creemee stand for dessert. We enjoyed it with a view looking over the mountains. Vermont is really pretty and though “you can’t [always] get there from here” it is a nice place to call home.

Sometime back in late June early July garlic scapes and ramps were all over the famers market. I had never cooked with either so of course I picked up bunches of both to experiment. After tasting them I had tried them in several dishes from ramp risotto to home made garlic scape ‘n herb buttermilk dressing. Both were fantastic and I can say now that I am big fan of both. Unfortunately, the season for both are very short and I must wait till next year to enjoy them again. But I can look back and remember them fondly.

One Wednesday night back in July I had bought some gorgeous sea scallops and fresh jumbo shrimp from the fish truck. Now I am the only person in my house that eats either so whenever I make them I have to make a dish that I can throw in chicken or fish for M. This night I looked in my veggie bins for inspiration. It hadn’t gone to the farmers market that morning so I was working with the remnants from the weekend. I had a few garlic scapes, 2 ramps, and a bunch of swiss chard. Also, in the fridge was leftover brown rice from earlier in the week. I quickly figured on a variation of scampi!

Recipe:

Protein of your choice, I used sea scallops, shrimp, and sliced chicken breast, but you really can use anything you like. But if you use white wine like I did you may want to stick with your “white” meats. (Just a side note a great fall and winter variation I use red meat and red wine!)
1 bunch chard or any green you like chopped up into bite size pieces
red chili flakes to taste
2-3 ramps sliced up
1-2 garlic scapes chopped up
1-2 T. butter
1 cup or so white wine, any decent wine works here, I have done this with whatever I was drinking at the time or even vermouth.

First heat a fry pan until it is good and hot, melt 1/2 the butter (if it smokes too much you can add olive oil to bring the smoke point down, or just remove the pan from the heat as you add the butter). Place your scallops (or whatever) in the pan to get a nice sear on the meat. I seared off my scallops first then the shrimp and finally the chicken (each separately so not to over cook the seafood). Remove meat from pan and add more butter along with the ramps, scapes, and chili flakes if using. Saute for about 30 seconds to 1 minute until you just begin to see some color and smell the ramps and scapes. Add the wine and deglaze the pan scraping up all the wonderful bits. Add in the chard and begin to wilt the greens. Then place your meat back into to pan just to warm through, and finish cooking. You can if you like add a little more butter to the sauce at the last minute to give it a silky texture and don’t forget to season with salt and pepper at the end very important! Serve over leftover rice, pasta, cous cous or by it self.

And there you go a very fast, fresh and tasty meal. I make several variations of this all year long. This was a first with the ramps and scapes but I really enjoyed it. The scapes keep a good bit of their texture through the cooking process along with keeping a nice garlic taste. The ramps get nice and sweet and have a taste of well, sweet garlic shallots. I used the greens and the bulb of the ramp which both have their own flavor. Still if you don’t have garlic scapes or ramps sub out garlic and shallots, or onions, green onions or really anything you have on hand. This is not so much a recipe as it is a method, you really can do anything you like! That is what I love about cooking, you get to be so creative while using up what you have leftover!

Talk about taking a hiatus and with no warning! This summer has been crazy to say the least. Between work and play I have had no time for much of anything. But rest assured I have still been cooking, dinning out and taking lots of pictures! I know I promised a run down of the Burlington Jazz Festival back in June so I will give you a brief summary…. AWSOME! OK I will elaborate a little on that. We only went 1 night and we only heard 1 band but the night was wonderful. We ate at a small French style bistro called Luenig’s Bistro right on Church Street Burlington and listened to a 1940’s era jazz band that even played a few French toons. It was definitely memorable to say the least.

Now on to the food! We ate at Luenigs Bistro on Church street. We started off with gourmet sliders. A trio of mini burgers each different and unique; venison with apple and onion ragu, lamb with frio gras, and beef with south west flavors. Over all it was very good. My favorite of course was the lamb with the frio gras. It was rich and decadant; perfect for a small bite. The venison had great flavors but unfortunately it does not take much to over cook such lean meat and it was on the dry side.

Gourmet Sliders (font: Venison, middle: Lamb, back: Beef)

For entrees I had softshell crab tempura fried atop a a lightly dressed mesclun and herb salad and topped with an avocado, corn and mango salsa. It was perfect for a summers night. It was a special that evening and not on their regular menu which is a bit more French.

M had a spiffed up classic; filet mignon topped with flash fried onions and drizzled with a red wine reduction atop the most sinful mashed potatoes around. They were roughly mashed leaving their red skins scattered throughout and blended with cream, butter and crab!

Filet with Sinful Potatoes

For desert we each got our own, M was not in the mood to share. He got the sugar pie and I a pinot noir sorbet. The sugar pie was something neither of us has had before but from what I gather pretty popular around here and in Quebec which we are not all that far from. It is sweet but not as sweet as you would think. It is similar to carmel in the center with a cookie like crust. Served with ice cream it was quite nice. But honestly I really enjoyed my sorbet. It was not overly sweet or overly “winey”. It was a nice light treat after a pretty big dinner. We also enjoyed our desserts with a nice small bottle of Canadian Ice Wine; a weakness of M’s, who has now turned me into a fan.

We rested after diner finishing our wine listening to the music until they had just about finished and enjoyed a nice walk on Church Street back to our car. It was a very nice night and I am sorry it has taken me so long to recount it for you.

After all this time, I have so many photos and meals to write about I am sure I will busy for some time recounting everything. Now as fall is creeping in it is time to settle down a bit. Spend some quality time at home next to the fire (yes I have had it going already!) and enjoy the cooler weather and the bounty of fall. Soon my farmers market will be closing for the season. I am sure I will have much more time to blog.<–>