Wok Wednesdays | Stir-Fried Bean Sprouts with Chili Bean Sauce

WW wokking thru Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge
by Grace Young

This is a very simple and tasty side-dish. Andy said it would make a complete meal if I just tossed in some diced chicken or beef - and that it would.

Mise en place.

Bowl 1: Garlic
Bowl 2: Bean sprouts, carrots
Bowl 3: Scallions
Bowl 4: Salt
Bowl 5: Dry sherry, bean sauce, sambal oelek, soy sauce

The recipe calls for chili bean sauce which I did not have - so I mixed equal parts of ground bean sauce and sambal oelek. Next time I will reduce the salt by a quarter teaspoon, for I felt it was just a tad salty.

Prep of this stir-fry is pretty minimal and cook time is almost non-existent, maybe two minutes - if that. Just a quick rinse and spin-dry of the sprouts, julienning of the carrots and scallions - which is a snap if you have a kinpira peeler and a negi cutter (shown below), mincing a couple teaspoons of garlic, and mixing up of the sauce.

The garlic gets a quick stir in the wok before adding the vegetables, which get cooked for only a minute or so, just until the sprouts start to wilt. The scallions and salt are added along with the sauce and stir-fried for less than a minute more - and your done! You have yourself a delicious stir-fry.

Kinpira peeler on the left - negi cutter on the right.

Not only is this a healthy stir-fry (well, they all have been healthy), but Grace mentions, "when the weather's hot, it's important to eat more yin, or cooling vegetables like bean sprouts to restore balance to your body."

I read that cooling vegetables cool and calm the blood, and help remove toxins as well. For a list of other cooling (and warming [yang]) foods, head over to Ping Ming Health's website. I found it to be quite interesting, you may as well.

We have been asked not to post the recipes here on our blog. If you would like the recipe, you will find it on page 200, of  Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge, which you can purchase at your local bookstore or find it at your local library. I highly recommend purchasing the book - you won't be disappointed.

 

TWD | Baking Chez Moi | Chocolate-Cherry Brownies

Tuesdays with Dorie baking through Baking Chez Moi
by Dorie Greenspan

Hello, deliciousness...

This is a pretty basic brownie recipe, aside from the addition of a little black pepper, extra chopped chocolate to stir in at the end, and dried cherries that have been reconstituted in simmering water and port (or another sweet wine), which I did not have either of, so I used a dark crème de cassis.

There was a lot of chatter about the recipe taking far longer to cook than the twenty-seven to twenty-nine minutes in a 325°F oven as instructed - so I set my oven at 350°F and they were done in twenty-five minutes, and were perfect.

These brownies turned out deliciously gooey, full of chocolate flavor, with a slight tartness from the cherries. They also were pretty sweet. I'm thinking next time I'll cut back on some of the sugar.

These were really, really good. I made sure hubby took them to work the next day so I wouldn't pig out on them - which I definitely would have.

Well, I went into work two days later, and there were still some left over?!! How can that be? So of course I had to try another one (or two, maybe three... um yeah..) to see how they fared two days later. They were not as gooey, a bit more dense, fudge like - so very good still! I don't think the guys cared for the cherries... oh well, their loss, my gain - literally, unfortunately.

We have been asked not to post the recipes here on our blogs. You can find the recipe on page 322 of Baking Chez Moi.

You can check out my fellow baker's results, by clicking here for a list of their links.

Wok Wednesdays | Hong Kong-Style Broccoli

WW wokking through Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge
by Grace Young

This is the second recipe we have made that calls for Chinese broccoli. It truly has become a favorite of mine. If you have never had this wonderful vegetable, you really need to seek it out, and while you're at it, you'll want to get Grace's book, Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge, so you can make the most delicious stir-fries. Ever.

 Mise en place.

Bowl 1: Ginger

Bowl 2: Chinese bacon

Bowl 3: Chinese broccoli (aka gai lan in Cantonese)

Bowl 4: Soy sauce, dry sherry

Bowl 5: Sugar, salt

Such a simple and tasty side dish to prepare. A quick sauté of the ginger until it is fragrant, toss in the bacon and stir until it releases its fat, add the broccoli - stems first - for about a minute or so, then the leaves, and stir-fry until just wilted. The soy sauce mixture, salt, and sugar are added, and tossed together for a short time until the broccoli is crisp tender. 

Voilà! A most delicious side to any meal; and the sauce that accumulated at the bottom of the serving bowl... tasted fabulous poured over my grilled salmon.  

We have been asked not to post the recipes here on our blog. If you would like the recipe, you will find it on page 190, of  Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge, which you can purchase at your local bookstore or find it at your local library. I highly recommend purchasing the book - you won't be disappointed.  

Wok Wednesdays is an online cooking group. If you would like information about joining us, click here, or visit us on Facebook. Would love for you to wok along with us!

Wok Wednesdays | Peppery Vegetarian Rice

WW wokking through Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge
by Grace Young.

Spicily delectable!

Mise en place.

Bowl 1: Egg
Bowl 2: Ginger, red pepper flakes
Bowl 3: Carrots, mushrooms
Bowl 4: Vegetable broth
Bowl 5: Rice, scallions
Bowl 6: Pepitas (recipe called for pine nuts)
Bowl 7: Soy sauce
Bowl 8: Salt, white pepper

This recipe is actually made with brown rice, not white, which lends a nice earthy flavor, and the red pepper flakes gives it that spicy warm feeling. The recipe called for a quarter teaspoon of red pepper flakes to give it that peppery taste - I used a heaping quarter teaspoon, and thought it was the perfect amount. I also cooked my rice in vegetable broth rather than water, and subbed out the pine nuts for pepitas (I had them on hand). I was not shopping at the store that carries pine nuts in bulk, and did not want to buy more than I needed. The pepitas added a chewy texture, as did the brown rice.

My fried rice looks to be on the moist side. That would be because I did not read the recipe first. I'm so bad, I never really read a recipe until I'm starting to cook.

I quickly glanced at the ingredient list and saw that it called for one cup of rice. So when I was ready to make this, I went about making rice according to the package directions - not Grace's. She uses half cup less liquid, which would make for a drier rice, resulting in the grains being separated more.

I couldn't start over, for the secret to great fried rice, is using cold rice that was made the day before (though I always end up not making it till that morning... like I said, I'm so bad).

Did I say, this is delicious?!!! Hubby enjoyed this as well, and excited he was able to eat rice with chopsticks - a benefit from the stickier rice. :)

 

We have been asked not to post the recipes here on our blog. If you would like the recipe, you will find it on page 256, of  Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge, which you can purchase at your local bookstore or find it at your local library. I highly recommend purchasing the book - you won't be disappointed.  

The recipe is also available on Grace's friend's website, Sara Moulton dot com. 

Wok Wednesdays is an online cooking group. If you would like information about joining us, click here, or visit us on Facebook. Would love for you to wok along with us!

TWD | Baking Chez Moi | Marquise au Chocolat

Tuesdays with Dorie baking through Baking Chez Moi

by Dorie Greenspan

This weeks installment is Marquise au Chocolat; a chocolate mousse. Dorie's version is frozen. I have made chocolate marquise in the past, and reviewing other recipes, this is the only one that I have come across that is frozen.

Dorie mentions this is exceedingly practical, for you can use what you need for one occasion, and keep the rest in the freezer for the next celebration (should it happen within a month or so). 

The recipe actually calls for the chocolate marquise to be molded into a standard loaf pan, and is served in fairly thick slices and adorned to your liking, if at all.

I had come across this cool idea for a chocolate doily, and just could not pass up the opportunity to make one myself. So fun!

 (photo source)

I formed the chocolate mousse using ring molds that I had purchased for another dessert, that I made for an Oscar party a few years ago (it too, just so happened to be a chocolate tricolor mousse).

And, being I had some melted chocolate left over, I made this version.

This dessert when completed, is basically a blank canvass - you can decorate it to your hearts content; as I did here, or just with a dusting of cocoa powder, or my original idea, when I thought I was going to make the loaf pan form, I was going to put a line of chocolate leaves down the middle, dotted with raspberries. I also think that a tart raspberry sauce swirled on the bottom of the plate would be nice addition.

Your options are truly limitless. Let your imagination run wild!

If you would like to make a chocolate doily, or a chocolate wrap-around, click here for an awesome tutorial by Julia M. Usher of Recipes for a Sweet Life.


Note: Dorie's recipe does not use cooked egg yolks. If you do not have a trusted source for organic eggs as Dorie suggests, or just feel uncomfortable using raw eggs, click here for instructions for an egg-safe alternative.

I halved the recipe and it yielded seven ample servings (the dessert is on the rich side - small portions are a good thing here). The dimensions of the ring molds I used are 1-3/4 inches x 2 inches.


Do head over to the Tuesdays with Dorie website and look for the LYL link to see how my co-bakers styled their Marquise au Chocolate!

It is the rule of TWD not to share the recipe on our blogs. You will find the recipe on page 357 of Baking Chez Moi.

Wok Wednesdays | Stir-Fried Ginger Tomato Beef | Fried Sweet Rice with Sausages and Mushrooms

WW wokking through Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge
by Grace Young

This week we have a two for one. Fried Sweet Rice with Sausages and Mushrooms which was due at the beginning of last month, and this month's recipe of Stir-Fried Ginger Tomato Beef.

We'll start with the latter.

Oh. My. Goodness. The ginger tomato beef is fabulous!

I only wish that I had made plain white rice to go with it. I did not read the narrative at the top of the recipe page beforehand, that reads this stir-fry is saucier than most stir-fries (you can't tell by the picture in the book) - so regular rice would have been a good great idea. There was too much going on in the rice I made. I hadn't planned on serving these dishes together, it just happened that way.

Mise in place.

Bowl 1: Flank steak, ginger, soy sauce, dry sherry, cornstarch, sugar, salt, pepper, sesame oil

Bowl 2: Canned whole tomatoes

Bowl 3: Sugar

Bowl 4: Dark soy sauce, dry sherry, sesame oil

Bowl 5: Scallions

As is the norm with stir-fries, there isn't much work to get a delicious meal on the table. For this dish, the most time consuming part of the recipe was slicing the beef - and that took maybe a minute to do.  The beef is combined with soy sauce, sherry, ginger, cornstarch, sugar, salt, pepper, and sesame oil. This marinates while you prep the rest of your ingredients.

The beef is added to a hot wok and left undisturbed for about a minute, to give it a chance to sear; then it is quickly stir-fried and removed from the wok to be added in later.  The tomatoes and sugar are added next, breaking the tomatoes into smaller pieces with the spatula. The soy sauce mixture (dark soy sauce, sherry, sesame oil) is added to the wok along with the beef and scallions, and stir-fried till the beef is heated and cooked through.

Bam! Done. Delish.

My sister was here for dinner, and she was going on and on, about how good this was. "Is this in my book? Our book? You know the one." Yes. Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge. Page 80. I'm sure she'll be making this in a day or two. It was that good.

And now on to the Fried Sweet Rice with Sausages and Mushrooms:

As I mentioned above, our group made this stir-fry back in the beginning of November. Including myself. Twice. Epic fail. Twice. Determination set in.

As the saying goes, third time's the charm.

 Mise en place.

Bowl 1: Shiitake mushrooms, Chinese sausage, garlic

Bowl 2: Rice

Bowl 3: Scallions

Bowl 4: Soy sauce

Bowl 5: Salt, white pepper

The recipe calls for sweet or sushi rice. In my first two attempts at this recipe, I used premium sweet rice. This type, or at least this brand, is extremely glutinous, as evident in the picture below. It was impossible to get the rice grains to separate. I ended up with a sticky mass of mush. This wasn't very pleasant to eat, but, boy did it taste good. I had to get this recipe right.

The glutinous monster.

I thought my first attempt went awry for I had rushed the cooling process. The secret to perfectly fried rice is using cooked cold rice - preferably made the day before. I did not let my rice cool completely (almost - but not quite) before chilling.

So on my second attempt, I brought my rice to work with me, to make sure it had sufficient time to cool completely before being placed in the refrigerator. Still I had issues with the rice being too sticky.

I finally succeeded - though I am not jumping through hoops as I expected. If I had originally used the sushi rice for this stir-fry, I would have written that this was a great tasting dish.

However, Grace mentions in the book, fried rice made with sweet rice, gives an extra richness and bite that is addictively delicious. Addictively, is an understatement.

I'm going to have to experiment with different brands of sweet rice. I really, really, liked the sweet rice; the flavor is far superior to the sushi rice, which to me, tastes like your everyday white rice.  

We are asked not to post the recipes here on our blog. If you would like the recipe, you will find it on page 80 (beef recipe) & 260 (rice) of  Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge, which you can purchase at your local bookstore or find it at your local library. I highly recommend purchasing the book - you won't be disappointed.  

 

These two recipes just so happen to be available online (though do get the book for more of Grace's fabulous recipes.):

 

Ginger tomato beef can be found here at SFGate and the fried rice over at NPR.

Wok Wednesdays is an online cooking group. If you would like information about joining us, click here, or visit us on Facebook. Would love for you to wok along with us!

TWD | Baking Chez Moi | Palets de Dames, Lille Style

Tuesdays with Dorie baking through Baking Chez Moi
by Dorie Greenspan

Our Tuesdays with Dorie group is starting with a new book which was just released at the end of October - Baking Chez Moi - Recipes from My Paris Home to Your Home Anywhere, by Dorie Greenspan; and this is the first recipe from the book, Palets de Dames, Lille Style (Lille - a city in France).

We still have just under two years left with Baking with Julia, and will be posting on opposite weeks. That means a TWD recipe every week, instead of every other week. Oh my... anyone in need of a few baked goods?

These cute little cookies have a fancy name, but basically they are a cakey sugar cookie with a simple confectioner's sugar glaze.

I decided to make these pretty much at the last minute, and they came together rather quickly, aside from the dough needing an hour or so rest in the refrigerator to firm up a bit - just long enough for me to run to the store to grab something for dinner.

This simple dough is made from butter, sugar, salt, eggs, vanilla extract, and all purpose flour. As with most cookie doughs, you first beat the butter until creamy, then add the sugar and salt and beat until combined. The eggs are added one at a time and mixed until incorporated. The vanilla extract is added next, then the flour is added in three increments, until combined.

The dough is then chilled for at least one hour or until firm enough to shape.

Once the dough has chilled, balls of dough (about two teaspoons each) are placed on cookie sheet about two-inches apart, to allow for spreading (mine did not spread hardly at all). They are baked for about eight minutes, or when you see a slight brownness around the edge of the cookies.

The recipe states to transfer the cookies to a rack and allow to cool to room temperature. I always leave them on the baking sheet to cool, ever since I read somewhere.. that bakeries do not transfer their cookies to racks.

Once the cookies have cooled, they are ready to be iced. This icing consists of powdered sugar, milk, and lemon juice. The recipe states that if it needs to be thinner, add more milk - a drop at a time. I added more lemon juice to thin it, and next time, I'm thinking I'll use mostly, or all juice and omit the milk, for a more lemony flavor.

Some of my fellow bakers who happen to be in another on-line cooking group - French Fridays with Dorie, have already made this recipe; and reading their posts on this, it was mentioned the bottoms of the cookies were frosted, to give the look of a top (child's toy) or parasol; though the recipe given to us (before the book was released), states to dip one side into the icing - so I just assumed it was the domed side.

After dipping the cookies into the icing, I added a bit of lemon zest to the top for a little pizazz - which was very last minute. Next time, I would zest the lemon ahead of time and spread it out to allow it to dry a bit to make it easier to sprinkle atop the cookies - I had issues with it wanting to clump, with it being so moist.

I made only half the recipe - I wish I had made the full recipe - though grateful I did not.



We have been asked not to post the recipes from this book on our blogs. However, the recipe is available on Amazon - you can find it by clicking here and scrolling down the page. 

Do venture over to the TWD site for the links of my fellow bakers to read their thoughts on this recipe.

TWD: Alsatian Onion Tart

Tuesdays with Dorie baking through Baking with Julia
by Dorie Greenspan
Contributing Baker: Michel Richard

Well, this has the appearance more like a pizza than a tart - at least in my mind. When I think of a tart, I conjure up images of dough that has been pressed into a tart pan, and after baking, it comes out with beautiful ruffled edges.

OK. So looks aren't everything.

Taste. This does have taste going for it. It was quite delicious. 

This was very easy to make. You start with preparing the base (I did this while my onions were cooking) by rolling out puff pastry dough (yes - puff pastry - no tart or pizza dough here) until it is very thin, about an eighth of an inch, but no more than a quarter of an inch, and using a sharp knife, cut the pastry into a circle (I'm sure any shape you choose would work), about twelve inches in diameter.

The dough is pricked all over with a fork, this will keep the puff pastry from, well, puffing... it's all about the flavor. The dough is then refrigerated until you are ready to top it with the onion mixture.

The onion mixture is made from four very large onions that have been diced. I only used three, and was in a hurry, so I sliced the onions instead of dicing, and had more than enough. The onions are cooked in chicken broth until very soft, and then cooled, at which time you add a few tablespoons of heavy cream (I used half and half) and salt and pepper.

The recipe calls for slab bacon to be diced and par-boiled. The store I went to does not have slab bacon, so I purchased thick-cut bacon slices - which worked just fine. I skipped the par-boiling of the bacon, and cooked it up normally (undercooked it a bit), then diced it. 

The tart was now ready for assembly! The pastry is first topped with the onion mixture, then the bacon is scattered over the top and pressed into the onions a bit, to help keep them from burning too much while baking. I had some diced jalapeño left over from the chili I made the night before, so I tossed those on as well - a good call if I do say so myself - it provided a nice spicy kick that I love. The tart is baked in a three-hundred and fifty degree oven until golden brown.

This was delicious, and would make for a lovely appetizer; though it can't really be made ahead of time for the bottom crust gets a bit soggy after sitting. It is easy enough to throw together at the last minute if you make the onions, cook the bacon, and prep the dough ahead of time - then assemble and toss it in the oven just before serving.

I was thinking a rectangular shaped tart would be pretty...

Don't forget to check out the results of my fellow bakers also! You will find their links by clicking here, or by going to the Tuesdays with Dorie website and looking for the BWJ LYL: Alsatian Onion Tart link. 

Wok Wednesdays | Nyonya-Style Singapore Noodles

WW wokking through Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge
by Grace Young

What is Nyonya-Style you ask?

It is a highly seasoned cuisine that was created by the Chinese that immigrated to Malaysia and Singapore in the nineteenth century.

"Nyonya, a term that refers to the female descendants of Chinese settlers who married local Malay women", Grace writes in her book.

In my words: Delish!!

Mise en place.

Bowl 1: Oil

Bowl 2: Eggs

Bowl 3: Oil

Bowl 4: Scallions, shallots, garlic

Bowl 5: Chicken broth, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, ketchup, curry powder, chili garlic sauce, sugar

Bowl 6: Rice stick noodles

Bowl 7: Baked tofu (Recipe calls for fried tofu.)

Bowl 8: Scallions, bean sprouts, bay shrimp (not pictured - oops.)

Bowl 9: Cilantro

This stir-fry is a little more involved than a lot of the recipes in the book. You start by soaking your noodles in hot water until the are soft and pliable, and then drained and shaken to remove as much water as possible.

While the noodles are soaking, you make an egg "pancake" by swirling in beaten eggs and tilting the wok to make the pancake as thin as possible. Mine cooked up really fast, and was unable to get it as thin as it should have been. The pancake is transferred to a cutting board to cool, and sliced in thin strips to be used as garnish before serving.

Now we are ready to stir-fry, which goes quickly from here. The aromatics (bowl 4) are stir-fried first, then the broth mixture (the highly seasoned part) is added along with the prepared noodles and stir-fried over medium heat (most stir-frying is done over high heat) for a short time. Next the tofu is added and stir-fried until all the liquid has been absorbed. The shrimp, sprouts, and the rest of the scallions are added, and stir-fried till heated through. This is served with the pancake pieces and cilantro sprinkled on top.

This stir-fry is full of flavor, and wonderfully delicious - not one to be missed.

We are asked not to post the recipes here on our blog. If you would like the recipe, you will find it on page 278 of  Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge, which you can purchase at your local bookstore or find it at your local library. I highly recommend purchasing the book - you won't be disappointed. 

Wok Wednesdays is an online cooking group. If you would like information about joining us, click here, or visit us on Facebook. Would love for you to wok along with us!

TWD: Oven-Roasted Plum Cakes

Tuesdays with Dorie baking through Baking with Julia
by Dorie Greenspan
Contributing Baker: Marcel Desaulniers

These little cakes could not be any simpler to prepare, and what a great presentation they make too!

Two of my plums were a little riper than I would have liked them to be for this recipe - they tasted fine, I just preferred the texture of the firmer plum after baking.

The batter for this cake is pretty straight forward - butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking soda, and vanilla, with the addition of buttermilk and orange zest.

Oh my! The aroma of the batter was amazing. The scent of the vanilla and orange was intoxicating - a little aromatherapy was going on here.

After buttering the ramekins, I took the extra precaution of lining them with a circle of parchment paper - I have this fear of baked goods sticking profusely. Not sure it was really necessary - I had buttered the dishes pretty well - they released quite easily, edges and all. 

Each ramekin is filled with two tablespoons of batter, then a half plum is placed on top (cut side up) and lightly pressed into the batter - not too deep, for you want the plum to show after baking; each plum is sprinkled with about a tablespoon of light brown sugar before baking.

It was a little tricky getting the cakes out of the ramekins while warm, the edges of the cake will crack. I even let one cool completely, still it cracked, though not as bad. I just pressed them back to gether ever so gently. That is where some whipped cream comes in handy - to hide any imperfections that may occur - as Mr. Desaulniers himself does, as shown in this video.

These little cakes are a deliciously sweet treat - the cake part was soft and moist, with a crunchy exterior, a nice contrast to the soft warm plum in the center.

Surprisingly to me, my husband even liked them! He has never really been a dessert person. Maybe it helped that he had this at breakfast with his coffee.

These really are best served warm, as recommended in the recipe; though they can be stored at room temperature for a day, wrapped airtight. We had these two days later (I refrigerated them after the first day), and they reheated nicely in a 350° oven for about ten to fifteen minutes.

These little jewels are on the sweet side - a little unsweetened whipped cream would help curb the sweetness. You could also probably cut back on the amount of sprinkled brown sugar atop the plums. I did not have any whipped cream on hand, so we ate them plain - good thing I do like sweet treats.


The recipe can be found on page 255 of Baking with Julia, or by clicking here.

You will want to visit my fellow baker's sites as well, I'm sure there will be some wonderful variations to the recipe, for there usually are, due to ingredient availability or dietary restrictions.