Selective Palate

With this snowy chilly weather this week it had me craving for something warm and comforting. I also wanted to do something meatless; meatless Tuesday anyone? With all that in mind I decided to go a little south of the border and stuff some poblano peppers with a yummy mix of brown rice, black beans and cheese! Then I baked them up until everything was all bubbly and served it with a side of avocado salad to cool everything down. It was very good, M didn’t even speak between seconds (or thirds!).

Recipe:

1 onion chopped
1 red bell  pepper chopped
4 cloves garlic chopped
9 poblanos, 1 chopped, 8 cut the tops off and clean out the insides leaving the bodies intact
2 cups cooked brown rice
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 or 2 chipolte peppers in adobo, chopped
1 T. cumin
1 packet of Goya Sazon (any flavor will work, I used culantro y achiote)
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
hand full cilantro
1 lime zested
2 T. olive oil
salt & pepper to taste

Begin by cooking the rice per directions. Usually I make long grain brown rice with 1 cup rice to 2 1/4 cups stock or water. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and cover for 40- 45 minutes. While you have that cooking prep your veggies all about the same size chop. Pre-heat your oven to 425 and place your poblanos in a baking dish coating them with about 1 T. of the olive oil and a spinkle of salt and pepper. When the oven is ready place peppers in oven to start the cooking. Now heat a large skillet on med high heat when ready with the veggies add the remaining olive oil to the pan and swirl to coat. Add onions and peppers and saute for about 8-10 minutes. When soft add the garlic. Reduce heat and add the spices and beans, stir to combine. When the rice is ready fluff with fork and add directly to the bean mixture. Take off heat and remove the peppers from the oven (they should have been in for about 15- 20 minutes total), they should be soft and fragrant, set aside for the time being. Now add 1 cup of the cheese to the rice and bean mixture along with the chopped chiplotes, lime zest and chopped cilantro. When the peppers are cool enough to handle, stuff them with the mixture and place back in the baking dish. Top with remaining cheese and bake for another 15- 20 minutes.

And that is it.  I served these with a nice avocado and cucumber salad using the juice of the zested limes and some garlic. For M I heated up some corn, because he just LOVES corn! Altogether it was a great vegetarian dinner, perfect for Meatless Monday or Tuesday!

After all that rich food over the holidays my body is starting to revolt! When I need to “clean house”  I tend to turn to soups, more importantly vegetarian soups. I have made a few over the last few days but 1 of my favorites was a vegetarian split pea. As much as I like pork I decided to leave it out. To replace the much missed fatty, unctuous mouth feel I drizzled on a little good olive oil at the end and it seemed to do the trick. I will say that this recipe, though very tasty was not as sweet as the traditional split pea with ham.

Recipe:

1 - 2 carrots chopped
1 - 2 stalks celery chopped
1 small onion chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper
1 - 2 T. olive oil
8 oz green split peas
4 cups veggie stock or water

In a sauce pan heat about 1 T. or so of the olive oil and saute the veggies except for the garlic  for about 5-8 minutes. Add the garlic and continue to saute for about another 1 - 2 minutes. Add the stock or water, the thyme, bay leaves and split peas. Give a good stir and leave on medium-low heat for about 1 hour. Test and make sure the peas are soft if not cook for another 20 - 30 minutes. When soft remove the bay leaves and thyme sprigs then blend until smooth. I used an immersion blender but if you have to use a regular blender do it in batches and be very careful that the liquid does not explode! Season with salt and pepper.

Finish in a bowl with a little drizzle of olive oil, a spritz of lemon juice and some course sea salt. I added a dollop of sour cream and some chopped roasted red peppers. The peppers added that missing sweetness. Healthy and tasty, you can’t beat that!

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.

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.<–>