I Love You More Than Food

Author: Caroline

  • Baked Salmon with Indian Couscous & Bok Choy

    Baked Salmon with Indian Couscous & Bok Choy

    For Two:

    1lb bok choy/baby bok choy
    1lb salmon of your choice (we used Atlantic)
    2/3 C couscous
    2 carrots, grated
    1/2 onion, diced
    soy sauce
    toasted sesame oil
    sake
    parsley, chopped fine
    Chat Masala spice mix (get it at Indian supply store)
    Gomashi (toasted sesame seeds ground with salt, or just use some of each)
    olive oil
    salt & pepper

    Preheat oven to 400. For a weekday meal, marinade your salmon flesh down in soy sauce, sake, olive oil, gomashi mixture for at least 30 min at room temperature. Place it in a small foil pan (this is to make things easier later) with a lining of parchment, adding a bit of the marinade on top so it is poached on the bottom by it. Put it in the oven.

    Cut the bottoms of your bok choy and then slice so they’re in four parts lengthwise, but not necessarily completely cut apart. Wash them by immersing in water and drying with a salad spinner, if you have one. Heat a skillet to high and add toasted sesame oil or olive if you don’t have any. When hot, add bok choy and toss around to coat. Add gomashi to taste. Turn heat down if things are burning or smoking.

    For couscous, heat 1-2 T olive oil and add onions at medium heat. Let soften a bit and add carrots and seasoning mixture, about 1-2 T. Add salt. Boil 1 1/2 C water, meanwhile adding couscous to onion mixture to toast a bit. When water is boiling, add to couscous mixture, turn off heat, cover immediately. Let it stand about 7 minutes to cook. Add parsley at end when fluffing to serve.

    Serve it all up.

  • Tutto Mare – mixed seafood pasta

    Tutto Mare – mixed seafood pasta

    Tutto Mare - Mixed Seafood Pasta with shrimp, clams, scallops & crab

    A New Year’s Day dinner recipe while we hosted Y’s brother & wife from HKG.

    Pasta ingredients
    semolina flour, ground finely (0 or 00 size)
    wheat flour, ground finely (0 or 00 size)
    2 eggs
    salt

    Make pasta for four – recipe (double it), cut the noodles 1/3 inch wide, lay flat to wait to be cooked at end.

    Sauce ingredients
    1/3 yellow onion, diced finely
    1-2 T fresh thyme or lemon-thyme
    Parsley, washed & chopped fine
    1 package ground saffron, or pinch infused into warm clam juice or fish stock
    1/2 bottle clam juice or clam bouillion
    8-10oz fish stock (can buy frozen in stores)
    1/2 lb shrimp
    1/2 lb bay diver scallops
    1/3 lb fresh crab meat
    10-12 small clams (smaller = more tender)
    1/2 stick butter
    champagne or dry white wine, 1 cup
    olive oil
    salt & pepper
    vanilla salt (infuse salt with vanilla pod that has been cut/used and shake, reserve for future use)

    Set water to heat on high in a very large pot while you heat a large skillet with high sides & with a fitting lid to medium heat.

    Add half of the butter to the skillet and let melt, allowing water to sizzle off. Add the onion, and let cook until soft, but not colored. Add the thyme, and cook for 1 minute.

    Meanwhile, heat to high a non-stick skillet and add the remaining butter. Once hot, add the scallops and some vanilla salt. Cook 1-2 minutes and add shrimp. When nearly done cooking, add 1/2 to 1 cup champagne or dry white wine, reduce until shrimps are cooked, remove shrimps & scallops and reserve, while continuing to reduce fluid.

    To the high-sided skillet, once thyme is cooked 1 minute, add fish stock, clam juice, vanilla salt (use reason) & saffron, reducing by 1/4 to 1/2, and add clams to cook & cover it until they open. Once opened, add the liquid from the nonstick skillet and allow all to reduce.

    Your water should be boiling now. Add a heaping table spoon of salt, and add the noodles to cook for 3-4 minutes. Meanwhile, add crab meat to saffron-clam mixture, to warm. When cooked, strain noodles and add to broth mixture, coating. Add the shrimp & scallops and cook 1 min on high heat. Adjust seasoning. Distribute into heated bowls and top with parsley.

    Wine: we just ate it with leftover new years eve champagne.

     

  • Fresh Sugarpie Pumpkin Walnut Bread

    Fresh Sugarpie Pumpkin Walnut Bread

    This is one of those things you call “bread” instead of “cake” just to make yourself feel better about it. Feel free to fool yourself. I won’t judge you, and your true friends won’t either.

    This uses fresh pumpkin, you can use canned as a substitute but please don’t tell me about it. That was me judging you.

    Make ahead in an ideal world:

    Fresh Pumpkin Puree for baking
    1 2lb sugarpie pumpkin
    olive, canola, or other oil

    Halve the pumpkin, remove the seeds, reserve them to clean & roast if you like. Lightly coat the exposed flesh of the pumpkin with oil, put into a close fitting pan with sides, add a cup or so of water and roast at 375 until the skin has puffed up from the pumpkin and it looks cooked, at least 45 minutes but probably more like 1.5 hours. If the water dries up consider adding a bit more as you check on it.

    Remove the skin once it’s cooled enough to touch, and puree in a food processor or blender, cutting into chunks that your machine can process. If its excessively watery, put it in a cheesecloth and press, let it drain. Mine didn’t require this so I just used it like that.

    Pumpkin Walnut Bread (Adapted from Joy the Baker) – Makes two loaves
    3 cups All-Purpose Flour
    1/2 cup Buckwheat flour (sub whole wheat or all purpose if you must)
    2 cups light brown sugar, packed
    1/3 cup granulated sugar
    2 tsp baking soda
    1 tsp baking powder
    1 tsp salt
    2 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
    1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
    1 tsp allspice or baking spice mix
    1/2 tsp cloves
    2 cups pumpkin puree (15 oz or so)
    1/2 cup vegetable oil
    1 egg
    1/3 cup maple syrup
    1/3 cup water
    1 cup walnuts in any state you like

    Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour your 2 loaf pans or wait to grease if you’re using a spray oil like I did. Terrible for the environment, good for baking.

    In large bowl, whisk flours, sugars, baking soda, powder, salt, spices.

    In medium bowl, whisk pumpkin puree, oil, maple syrup, egg, water. Start with the egg to whisk it well.

    Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Fold in some of the walnuts, but reserve some for top.

    Put into the batter in the pans equally (I made do with one pan, for those of you who have seen my kitchen you probably understand why I only have one pan), top with walnut pieces. Bake for 1hr-1.25 hours, or until a skewer put into the center of the loaf comes out non-gooey.

    Let it rest in the pan a bit before removing it, or you’ll lose some of the bottom of the cake.

    This is best warm but you can freeze it for future eating and then toast it and serve with cream cheese or creme fraiche.

    Wine: This is great with a young, inexpensive Sauternes. Yes, such a thing exists.

  • The Sweetest Friend

    The Sweetest Friend

    A few weeks ago I celebrated a birthday. I invited only a small group of people, two of whom happen to be married. One ended up being legitimately exhausted, and she sent in her stead an amazing little backup cake. K works at a bakery, and does work on cakes, so this was quite an exciting gift.

    Let me tell you something, people. You better believe your eyes. This cake was COMPLETELY (even the BOTTOM) covered in rainbow sprinkles! It was so great that I even left the rest of my extremely delicious chocolate cake covered in salted caramel icing with the staff of the restaurant we ate at. Granted, they earned it by serving us all night and keeping the margaritas flowing; we even got some specialty cinnamon tequila.

  • dim sum for “white people” – Turkey & Pork Pyramid Dumplings

    dim sum for “white people” – Turkey & Pork Pyramid Dumplings

    1 pack of 50 or more wonton wrappers (square)
    1/3 lb ground turkey thigh meat
    1/3 lb ground pork
    1 green onion, sliced
    4 cloves garlic, minced & mushed into a paste
    1 T ginger, ground into a paste
    1 carrot, grated finely
    1/4 head fresh cabbage, sliced thinly, tossed in salt, let to sit for 15 min, rinsed & drained/squeezed dry
    1/2 tsp five spice powder
    1 tsp sugar
    1/2 tsp salt
    1 T sake
    2 T soy sauce
    2 tsp toasted sesame oil

    Mix all ingredients, adding the liquids last. To assemble the pyramids, place 1 T of filling in the center of the wrapper. Spray the wrapper with water using a spray bottle, then lift up two corners next to each other and begin assembling the pyramid. Pinch to close, try not to include too much air.

    Cook the same way as the pork & shrimp gyoza. OK to freeze as well.

    Use the same dipping sauce as the shrimp & pork gyoza too.

  • dim sum for “white people” – Seafood Dumpling

    dim sum for “white people” – Seafood Dumpling

    1 pack gyoza wrappers (round, about 50 per pack)
    1/3 lb crab meat
    1/3 lb large scallops, diced
    1/3 lb deveined/peeled shrimp, chopped
    2 green onions, sliced thinly
    1/2 carrot, shredded finely
    1/4 head napa cabbage fresh, sliced finely, salted, left aside to wilt, rinsed, and drained/squeezed dry
    3-4 cloves garlic, minced and mushed into a paste
    1 generous T of ginger, grated into a paste
    1/2 tsp white pepper
    1 T minced cilantro
    1/2 tsp sugar
    1 tsp toasted sesame oil
    1 T sake
    1 1/2 T soy sauce
    1/2 tsp salt

    Mix everything together, adding the liquids last. Using a small spoon, put about 1 heaping/rounded tsp onto each gyoza wrapper. Using a spray bottle, dampen the open face of the wrapper, and gently fold in half, sealing the filling and not air. Gently pull the sides/lobes of the half moon together to create the shape you see in the photos above.

    Cook the same way as the shrimp & pork gyoza, or steam above simmering water until cooked through (you can fill your colander with a layer of lettuce, cabbage, or some other similar item in order to create a steamer if you do not own one).

    For the Dipping Sauce

    2 parts soy sauce
    1 part seasoned rice vinegar
    3/4 part yuzu juice
    1/4 part chili oil

  • dim sum for “white people” – Shrimp & Pork Gyoza

    dim sum for “white people” – Shrimp & Pork Gyoza

    It’s one of the things that white people like…and I had a lot of fun making three kinds of dumplings over the weekend, freezing them, and having them last my boyfriend until.. yeah, lunch on Tuesday. 200 pieces. The man is a machine.

    I’d recommend a finely misting spray bottle for these, folks–I converted an old hair product bottle by washing it in vinegar a few times.

    Shrimp & Pork Gyoza

    50+ pack of gyoza wrappers (yeah, I’m lazy, when you fold 50 peices of these you don’t want to make 50 wrappers too)
    1/3 lb shrimp (deveined, peeled, chopped)
    1/3 lb pork
    1 green onion, sliced thin
    4 cloves garlic, minced and then mushed into a paste
    1 full T of fresh ginger, grated into a paste
    1/2 carrot, grated finely
    1/4 head napa cabbage, finely chopped
    1/2 tsp sugar
    2 T soy sauce
    1 T sake
    2 tsp toasted sesame oil
    1/4 tsp salt
    1 tsp pepper

    Prep your ingredients by first chopping the cabbage and putting it in a bowl, mixing with 1/2 tsp salt. Let it sit for a good 15 minutes and wilt. When you’re ready to use it, rinse it and squeeze excess water out until reasonably dry.

    Mix everything together, adding the liquids last. Use a small spoon to put 1 rounded tsp or so onto the center of each gyoza. Spray with your handy water spray bottle, and gently fold the wrapper in half, keeping the back half flat and folding the front half–sealing in the filling and not so much air. Check out this handy guide on how to shape the gyoza, except that I make 4-6 of them on my cutting board at a time and go through to fold them up all at once.

    To cook, heat a nonstick to medium high heat, and spray with canola oil. Arrange the gyoza once the pan is hot in a circle to fit the most in (see picture). Cook for about 2 minutes, until golden on the bottom.

    Add about 1/2 a coffee cup of water, or enough to coat the whole bottom of the pan but not make the dumplings “boil”. Cover immediately and reduce heat to medium; let them steam for about 5 minutes until cooked through. Remove the lid and if you desire them more crispy, flip them over to cook another 1-2 minutes. Serve!

    Also, you can absolutely freeze these while on a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper or a silpat, for about 30 min, and then put them into a freezer bag. They last beautifully even when frozen raw, uncooked. You can then pull them out and cook them just like they were fresh, but with a tiny bit longer steaming time.

    For the dipping sauce

    2 parts soy sauce
    1 part seasoned rice vinegar
    1/4 part chili oil

  • Herb Fromage Blanc Ravioli in Heiloom Tomato Sauce

    Herb Fromage Blanc Ravioli in Heiloom Tomato Sauce

    Fromage Blanc Ravioli Recipe Photo

    Fromage Blanc with herbs from Cowgirl Creamery (well actually, from somewhere else, but they carry it?), heirloom cherry/grape tomatoes from capay organics, olive oil, chili flakes, homemade pasta dough with yolks.

    FAIL on recipe supply, I’m simply not in the mood and this one is overdue.

  • My Kitchen: Back In Action

    My Kitchen: Back In Action

    The original plan was to throw my stuff in storage while evacuating a home of disbanding roommates, to buy the bare essentials from ikea, from east bay restaurant supply, from the dollar store–make do in the studio together for a couple of months, save some money, move out and back into the world of roommates.

    But it didn’t make sense to, so a year later and a winter without the majority of my sweaters (I moved at the beginning of summer….) I’ve been working with a 3/4 size electric stove (a full gas range and plenty of counter space was always a priority in finding my own place), a kitchen full of abandoned laptops, computer fans, hooks that were never hung on the wall, and, after buying a new coffee pot as a gift for my (wonderful) boyfriend, inevitably two coffee pots next to each other on the very limited counter space. Thank the powers that be for our amazing back yard! Hello, sanctuary!

    Well this has changed. My parents visited for the weekend, we took them up on an offer to help and grabbed what we thought was all of my kitchen boxes from a storage unit an hour from our place in SF, brought them back and I delightfully rummaged through them finding what I couldn’t wait any longer to have back. This means our space is even more impacted now, but I feel like I have my artillery back!

    I mean, I unpacked reidel tumblers, nonstick pans, multiple whisks, a pasta machine (which I have mixed feelings about), a french press, the many many things I’ve missed. Now, I’m thinking I must have missed a box. Where is my Deruta pitcher & espresso cups??? Surely we missed one–so when I return the stuff I don’t have room for right now we can start the whole process again–I’m sure you’re really happy to read that, right, boyfriend?

    Good things to come y’all.

    Two Memories in my Berkeley Kitchen:

  • Five-Spice & Salted Pimento Pork with Rum Peaches & Chard

    Five-Spice & Salted Pimento Pork with Rum Peaches & Chard

    Pimento Pork with Sauteed Peaches

    At a dinner party for six, I made a few quick courses that ended up with a fabulous “bang” on an easy, warm weeknight in the backyard.

    – Pluot slices with seasoned Sheep’s ricotta and Prosciutto

    – Grilled pork tenderloin with “5 spices” & rum braised peaches + rainbow chard

    – Dark chocolate ice cream with bergamont olive oil & sea salt

    The first and the last were partially stolen from a previous dinner and a local creamery, so aside from giving you a brief hint* on the first I’ll leave you to your own devices.

    *mix your sheep’s milk ricotta with some orange or lemon zest, some bergamont olive oil, and vanilla salt, then drizzle the whole combo, once wrapped and held together by prosciutto, with balsamico.

    1 pork tenderloin, rubbed generously with mixture of dried pepper & salt, and five spice powder. Allow to marinate as such for 30-1hr, then drizzle with high heat oil such as macadamia, and throw it on a medium grill, turning a little frequently to prevent charring.

    1 bunch rainbow chard, stems removed and chopped 1 inch, cooked at medium heat in olive oil, with salt and pepper, the leaves added to wilt at the end.

    Peaches into the chard pan once the chard is removed, brought to high heat with butter, get them golden on one side and douse in bacardi 151 or another rum (or calvados). Flip them, get them golden on the other side, add more rum. Cook it off and serve it all together!