Weekend Lunch - Shanghai Style

Last weekend Dan and I went out exploring - first to Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall (see my post about it here) and then to a couple of weekend markets.  In between the hall and the markets, we stumbled on a great Shanghai style restaurant and had an amazing lunch.

We started with pork steamed dumplings.  The little packets of dough were filled with perfectly salty pork and a lot of juices.  If you set the dumpling in a soup spoon and pierce it before you eat it, the juices run out and you can slurp them up after you eat the dumpling.  It really is delicious.

 The dumplings were so steamy it was hard to get a good picture

According to Dan, who has been to China (without me), there is a golden ratio for the dipping sauce that goes with the dumplings.  At the table is a container of soy sauce and one of vinegar.  When you order dumplings they bring you a little dish of shaved fresh ginger, to which you add the soy sauce and vinegar.  The golden ratio is 3 vinegar to 1 soy sauce added to as much ginger as you want.  You dip the dumplings in, get a little of the fresh ginger along with it and it all creates a really complex taste; salty pork and soy sauce, sesame oil, a little sourness from the vinegar, and the bite of the ginger.  All with a little chewy dumpling skin.  Perfect.

Vinegar on the left, soy sauce on the right.  Ginger and the finished sauce in front.

We also had some great fried chicken pieces in a sweet and sour sauce.  It was a lot like what you might expect to find in a Chinese restaurant in the U.S. although the flavor was a lot more sour, less sweet and sticky.  The peppers and green onion that were sauteed with the chicken really added to the flavor too.

We had what Dan calls an Asian tamale.  We actually don't know what this is called.  It's good though - kind of a sticky glutinous rice surrounding some pork floss.  Tasty.

 

Finally a little soup.  Definitely the most mundane thing we had at this meal.  The broth was tasty, although the noodles were a lot like ramen and the beef was a little chewy.  I'll stick to the dumplings thank you!

Taiwanese Roulette

The other night my husband Dan and I played Russian Roulette.  Not with our lives of course, but with our stomachs.  We were feeling a little adventurous and wanted to try out one of the restaurants we passed on the street.  It was a little scary but exciting too.  We decided that we'd just go into the first place that looked good and busy (on the assumption that any place that's busy around here has to be good - Taiwanese really know good food!)

So we found this little restaurant on the corner of a street down an alley.  It had red lanterns hanging outside, which Dan is convinced always means food (I'm not so sure about this).  I wish I would have been able to get a picture of the place, but my camera died half-way through our meal.  What a tragedy!

Anyways, we sat down at this big round wooden table.  There was a stand in the middle with soup spoons, chopsticks, soy sauce, some chilies, and little napkins (pretty standard for restaurants around here).  We got this menu that was all Chinese characters.  No pictures.  No one spoke English.  So we decided to play Russian Roulette and just point to a few things.  Very nerve-wracking!

Our first dish came out, and we felt pretty lucky.  It was a fried rice with little dried shrimp.  It was actually quite delicious!  The shrimp was strange at first, it kind of has a texture like potato chips but with an unmistakable seafood taste to it.  These little guys pack a lot of flavor!

The next dish we got was a definite winner!  It was a crispy fried pork (probably pork chop or something around that area).  It was in this amazing stir-fry of vegetables and a lot of garlic and cilantro.  Extremely flavorful.  I can still taste the garlic in my mouth :)  The pork did have bones in it though.  This is hard for us to get used to.  It's so unusual in the US to meat with bones still attached.  We don't have the right skills so it's awkward for us to chew around bones and spit them back out.  I wonder if we'll ever get used to this.

Our final dish was not such a hit.  Unfortunately my camera died right after taking the above picture so I didn't get anything from our last dish.  It came out in a big steaming metal cauldron, and looked like a really weird tofu dish.  It was kind of gelatenous sauce with pieces of tofu and little rubbery mussels, with some crushed peanuts on top.  Not that appetizing.

Overall I think we were really lucky with this dinner.  A few nights later we were eating with a Taiwanese friend and I showed her the picture of the menu and she started laughing at us.  Apparently there were some pretty crazy things on the menu (frog, pig liver, tripe, etc) so we got pretty lucky.  I don't know if we'll be trying this game again any time soon.  It was a great experience though!

My Travel Blog

For those of you who are interested (and haven't already seen it), I also have a travel blog focused on living in Taipei - A Day in the Life  I do talk about food some but it's mostly about my travels.  Hope you enjoy!

Taiwanese Beef Noodles

A couple of weekends ago we spent the day with a friend and for dinner she took us out for beef noodles.  The beef noodles are a famous Taiwanese dish - I've never had anything like it, but it is so delicious I don't know what I'm going to do when I have to go back to the states and can't get it anymore!  It's a huge bowl of heart-warmingly delicious food.

They take their noodles very seriously around here.  Every year there are competitions for the best beef noodles.  The place we went to had one the competition a couple of times and I can see why.  The noodles had a great handmade texture and taste, and the beef was perfectly cooked and juicy - just right for the fantastic broth.  You can order with a combination of different beef cuts and different broths.  I got the broth with tomatoes and my husband got the house broth.  I think his was a little better, but just barely.

The inside of the restaurant was so tiny and unassuming.  You would never guess just passing by that they have such fantastic food!

Here is our order card.  I'm so glad we had our friend with us!  I took a picture so we could remember what we ordered for the next time we eat here, in case we're on our own.

We also tried some of their dumplings.  Dumplings in Taiwan are delicious.  There are so many little stands and shops selling them.  I don't know how people stay as thin as they do in this country with such beautiful food all around!

First Meal in Taiwan

We made it to Taiwan on Tuesday night!  What a crazy trip.  14 hours over the ocean and here we are in a whole new culture.  It's overwhelming to realize that we'll be living here.  But the food is pulling me through so far.  Yesterday we had lunch at a local chain, Kiki Restaurant which was absolutely amazing.  It won me over.  I think I could get through anything if I could just eat this food every day.  It is a Sichuan place.  Our guide for the day took us here. We ordered four dishes for the three of us.  We got three small bowls of rice and then the dishes came out.  We took a little off the dish and put it in our rice and ate.

They brought out the beef first.  It was tender slices of beef in a red chili broth with bean sprouts and green onions.  The Sichuan peppercorns were intense and had a strange numbing effect on our tongues.  Believe it or not there's beef in that broth!

Next we ate bitter melon with boiled salted egg.  My husband didn't love this one - he has a thing against eggs - but I thought it was delicious.  It sounded a little weird, and it was a little bit of a strange flavor, but it was perfectly salty and bitter.

The next dish was both of our favorites.  Green beans with diced pork, scallions, and chilies.  Fantastically salty and delicious.  Everything had so much flavor!

Finally we had this amazing tofu dish.  It was tofu that was mixed in some way with eggs, making it really creamy inside, like a custard almost.  The outside was fried - not until it was crispy but it was more spongy, kind of like a pancake.  It was drizzled with sesame oil and coriander.

The best part of the entire meal was the rice bowl.  As I kept adding little bits and more broth from the beef it became this delicious stewy mixture of all the dishes.  The last few bites were fantastic.  I can't wait to eat here again!

Moroccan Chicken and a Move

I'm finally posting again! I know I should have posted these pictures a while ago – I think I made this dinner sometime in April - but I’ve been totally consumed with our move to Taipei. It’s getting closer and closer! We get on a plane tomorrow afternoon and begin our new adventure.

But on to the chicken!

 

 Moroccan Chicken with Saffron Rice, Grilled Vegetables, and Tahini Yogurt

 The Moroccan spice rub was excellent, but the real star was the tahini yogurt sauce.  It was the perfect mix of creamy and tangy to balance the chicken.

Moroccan Spice Rub Recipe 

2 tsp whole cardamom
1 tsp whole cloves
2 dried red chilies
2 tsp whole coriander
 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 Tbsp turmeric

Grind all whole spices and mix with ground spices.  This recipe doesn't contain any salt so make sure to salt the meat too!  I use this as a rub and like to put it on about an hour before I cook the meat.  Then I just throw it on the grill and it's good to go!

Tahini Yogurt Sauce

1/4 c. plain yogurt (Greek yogurt works best)
1/4 c. tahini 
juice of 1/2 lemon
pinch of salt, pepper, cumin
1 clove fresh garlic minced

Mix all together and let sit at least 1 hour before serving

Saying Goodbye to the Southwest

In two weeks I'm moving from Arizona to Taipei, Taiwan.  I've left the southwest for short spurts before and I've always missed the culture (especially the food!) tremendously.  This time is going to be no different.  It's hard to imagine being able to find proper green chili and chipotles in Asia.  So I'm making as much of it as I can before the move.  Maybe it'll get me through the 8 months we're there.

Chicken Tostada with Avocado Cream and Sour Onions

I'm pretty new to making my own tortillas.  I'd been waiting to buy a tortilla press.  I guess it's just going to have to wait until next year.  It's easy even without the press though.  I just mixed 1/2 cup masa with 1/3 cup water and a little salt, rolled it out into balls and smashed it between the cutting board and the bottom of a pan.  A little thick and uneven but at least I got to eat fresh tortillas!

The rest was easy too - diced chicken, sauteed red onion and jalapeno with a little vinegar and cumin, showered it all with some cotija cheese and mache lettuce.  What more could a girl ask for?

Avocado Cream

8 oz sour cream

1 avocado

1/2 Tbsp Montreal seasoning (or mixture of salt, pepper, fennel, onion flake, garlic flake)

Smash the avocado up the way you would to make guacamole.  Add to the sour cream and mix together with the seasoning.  Great on almost everything!

Apple Tart to Celebrate Mom

A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts. ~Washington Irving

Today is my mom's birthday - happy birthday mom!  I really love my mom - she's taught me a lot and given me a lot.  She's taught me to laugh through life - everything is always a lot funner with her around.  She taught me to crazy dance (a very important skill when trying to scare people away).  She taught me to bake - one of my most cherished skills.  And she gave me some of her French blood without which I may not have this ridiculous addiction to bread and wine and cheese.

To celebrate her birthday I thought I would write about a recent visit with her.

I went up to Carson City last week to spend some time with my parents and my brother before I move to Taipei.  We hiked and played games and crazy danced and made a lot of really good food - including this fantastic apple tart.

We made a simple pastry crust from the Williams and Sonoma Pies and Tarts book.  I forgot to write down the recipe before I left, but it was a pretty easy crust which we made and blind baked.

Next we made a pastry cream, also from the Williams and Sonoma book, also easy, also not written down.  The only change we made was my mom's idea and it was a fantastic one!  Instead of adding vanilla extract after it cooled we added almond extract which turned out to be the perfect pastry cream flavor to go with the apples we put on top.

Finally we get to the really good stuff - the apples.  This was pure invention and pure fun!  My mom is a cinnamon fanatic so we just went crazy with the stuff.

The following is an approximate recipe - I'm pretty bad about writing things down when I'm experimenting.  It's hard to go wrong with these ingredients though.

Apple Topping

3 granny smith apples, peeled and sliced
1 Tbsp butter
about 1 tsp. cornstarch slurry (a little cornstarch with some water to make something that resembles milk)
1 cup apple juice
2 good swigs of bourbon
1/2 cup brown sugar
as much cinnamon as you can stand

Put apples in a big pan or skillet with the juice, sugar and a little bit of the cornstarch slurry.  Let juice reduce until it starts to form a thick syrup and the apples start to cook.  Add some bourbon and some cinnamon and reduce this until you get a really good thick syrup.  When the apples are cooked through and the syrup is nice and thick, take it off the heat and add in the butter.  Let the butter melt then pour the whole thing over the pastry cream in the tart.

I wish I could be with my mom on her birthday.  We might maneuver around each other in the kitchen, baking and laughing (and probably drinking a little wine).  Instead I'll just have to remember being with her last week. I love you mom!

A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie. ~Tenneva Jordan

Breakfast Frittata

I rarely go a day without eating breakfast. It’s my favorite meal, a good time to sip some coffee and munch on good food – wake up a little and get ready for the day. Since I left my job last month (in preparation for our upcoming move to Taipei) I’ve had a lot more time to experiment. Omelettes, French toast, and home-made granola have all graced my breakfast table.

Last week I was on a frittata kick. They are so easy and so versatile! Combine almost any ingredients and top them with some eggs mixed with half and half and in just a few minutes you’ve got a wonderfully satisfying breakfast.

Ham and Vegetable Frittata

½ cup ham, diced
1 medium tomato, diced
½ medium bell pepper, diced
½ medium onion, diced
4 eggs
½ cup half & half
salt and pepper
olive oil

Saute vegetables and ham in a little olive oil until heated through. It’s important to cook the tomatoes enough that most of the liquid is gone.

Mix the eggs, half & half, and salt and pepper together and pour over the vegetables.


Place in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes, or until cooked through. Sprinkle a little cheese on top right before pulling it out of the oven if desired.

Restaurant Review: Posh

 Posh "Improvisational Cuisine" - picture from Posh Website

 

I went to Posh in Scottsdale AZ with a couple of friends back in early March and had an unforgettable time.  Certainly one of the most unique dining experiences I've encountered.  Also one of the most expensive.  But the meal was so incomparable that the amount of money I had to shell out was worth it.  Of course I won't be able to afford eating there again anytime soon.  I'll just have to rely on wonderful memories of a one-of-a-kind meal.

The most unique aspect of Posh is that they don't have a set menu.  You get a card with some animal ingredients listed - mostly strange and outrageous, including frogs legs, wild boar, sweetbreads, and foie gras (for an extra charge).  You have the option to mark off anything that you don't want to eat.  Then you decide how many courses you want - anywhere from 3 to 11 (or the full tasting menu which I assume was something more than 11).  There is also a space to add in anything you don't like or food allergies.

I embraced the experience wholeheartedly.  I didn't mark off any of the protein possibilities and ended up doing a six course meal with a foie gras course.  It was amazing.  Unfortunately I didn't get to take many pictures because I was so busy being infatuated with the food. We all got different dishes for each course which made the experience even better.  Lots of sharing and tasting.

My meal started with a popcorn soup, which sounded really strange but ended up being fantastic.  Then I had a course of a beautiful whitefish with leeks.  I also had braised venison, fried sweetbreads with a slice of beef aspic (a fantastic first for me!), wild boar bacon, an unforgettable bruleed foie gras with strawberries, and a decadent dessert course.

 Bruleed Foie Gras with Strawberries

 

The foie gras was the most memorable aspect of the meal. It was the first time I'd ever had foie gras and it was a fantastic mix of rich and creamy. It was so creamy and sweet (from the brulee topping and the spun sugar) it could have been mistaken for an ultra-rich crème brulee but for the unmistakable animal fattines. 

The desserts were amazing as well. They tasted exactly like the candy bars they were made to emulate but had so much more depth of flavor and texture that my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

 Trio of desserts - a take on candy bars (Kit Kat, Almond Joy, and Snickers) 

Posh was a once in a lifetime experience and I would absolutely recommend it to anyone up for adventurous eating.  Just take plenty of money.  And take plenty of pictures.  This is the kind of meal that needs to be shared.