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Turkey Lurkey, Super Stuffing, Sweet Taters & Apple Pie… Oh my!
Turkey Lurkey, Henny Penny and the rest of the fearful feathered friends, beware! Thanksgiving is upon us. Here are a few of our favorite dishes that we like to share with friends and family during this season of gratitude (that are, of course, gluten free).
Stuffing
Ingredients
- Filling
- 3 1/2 pounds apples, mixture of Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, Braeburn and Golden Delicious, about 6 - 7 large apples
- 1 lemon, zested
- 1 orange, zested
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice
- 1/2 cup sugar, plus 1 teaspoon to sprinkle on top
- 3 tablespoons tapioca flour
- 6-ounces applesauce
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash
- Gluten Free Pie Crust
- 1 cup brown rice flour
- 3/4 cup sorghum flour
- 1/2 cup corn starch
- 1/4 cup tapioca flour
- 1 tsp xanthan gum
- Fine kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 pound (2 sticks) super cold-cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes, plus more for greasing
- About 1/3 cup ice-cold water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Cut each apple quarter in thirds crosswise and combine in a bowl with the zests, juices, 1/2 cup sugar, flour, applesauce, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice.
- Lightly dust a pastry board and a rolling pin with brown rice flour and unwrap 1 disc, keeping the second piece refrigerated. Tamp down the dough with the rolling pin and gently begin to roll it out into a circular pie shape by rolling evenly in one-eighth turns to keep the rolling even.
- When the dough is rolled out to an even thickness of about 1/8-inch and is about 12 inches in diameter, it is ready to be transferred to a 10-inch pie dish. Don't stretch the dough; if it's too small, just put it back on the board and re-roll it.
- Lightly butter the dish, lift the dough with the rolling pin by partially rolling the dough up on the pin, center the dough in the dish, and unroll. Roll the second half of the dough into a circle slightly larger than the pie dish. Drape it over a 9- or 10-inch pie pan to extend about 1/2-inch over the rim.
- Fill the pie with the apple mixture. Brush the edge of the bottom pie crust with the egg wash so the top crust will adhere. Top with the second crust and trim the edges to about 1-inch over the rim. Tuck the edge of the top crust under the edge of the bottom crust and crimp the 2 together with your fingers or a fork. Brush the entire top crust with the egg wash, sprinkle with 1 teaspoon sugar, and cut 4 or 5 slits.
- Place the pie on a sheet pan and bake for 1 to 1 1/4 hours, or until the crust is browned and the juices begin to bubble out. Remove to a rack and cool a minimum of 4 hours or until almost room temperature.
- Gluten Free Pie Crust
- Sift the flours, xanthan gum and baking powder together into the bowl of a food processor. Add the cold butter cubes and pulse a few times until the mixture begins to become mealy and the butter forms plainly visible pea-size bits.
- Dissolve 1/2 teaspoon salt into the water. With the motor running, slowly stream in the water and let mix, just until the dough pulls together. Do not over-mix the dough. If it appears dry and is not holding together, add a few additional tablespoons of water.
- Form the dough into two balls, flatten, and wrap discs in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 1 hour or overnight.
Cool as ice and a cucumber salad
Everyone has been talking about the summer heat. So now, me too. We recently moved to the Seattle area from Phoenix. I’ve been so happy NOT to report living in 115 degree weather days, living in air conditioning, living… inside for the summer. Well, August hit Washington. And I can still go outside (thank God!), and I have no right to complain. But baby, it’s hot. Especially when one is used to sleeping in air conditioning when it’s hot!
So now, I’m getting tricky with a few things. My old Phoenix instincts are kicking in: drink lot’s of water; don’t let the sunshine inside the house; SPF on my face like crazy, and most importantly, DON’T turn on that oven (It’s all about salads and grilling for us right now!). When the most hot part of the day rolls around, we head for the lake, the pool, or… a kitchen store with air conditioning! Hello Sur La Table! I’m like a honey bear around honey in that place.
Part of our Sur La Table purchase a few days ago included some super sweet silicone ice cube trays. These trays make some awesome square cubes that Brent is ga-ga for! So we’ve been getting creative with my old ice cube trays which almost made their way to recycle bin heaven. I’m glad they’re still around.
Coffee Ice Cubes
We still make hot coffee in the morning despite the heat. This is because we’re trying to fine-tune our coffee bean roasting skills (see other blog) and we want to taste the differences in our roasts. So we’ve got a lot of beans to burn through (thank God!). There is usually a bit left over in the pot. People can ever seem to bring themselves to drink that last bit can they? So this week, we’ve been making coffee ice cubes.
And we have this amazing thermos-like coffee pot that keeps the coffee hot throughout the day. The coffee still steams when I open the thermos pot in the evenings! Recently, in the afternoon, I pour warm coffee over this coffee-ice, and I really do get a great cup of iced coffee! (Yes I know coffee purists, the coffee should be tossed after an hour or two, but I want iced coffee & I don’t want to brew again in the evenings!!) Add syrup, cream, or just drink it straight-up as I often like to do!
Iced coffee with coffee ice cubes. Cheers!
Yogurt Ice Cubes (aka frozen yogurt!)
I also have been freezing yogurt in my old ice cube trays. Here’s today’s gonna-expire-by-this-weekend-yogurt, so I tossed it into the tray for freezing! Freeze for several hours, with or without popsicle sticks, and enjoy. Sprinkles are a must.
Freezing yogurt with sprinkles.
Cucumber Salad
We were in Southern California last week. Even hotter. Such ugly beaches (yeah, I’m totally kidding). We escaped to the pool, beach and air conditioning as well down there. And we ate a lot of salads and grilled foods too. Ain’t summer grand? We had a delicious Cucumber Salad at a restaurant in the California Adventure theme park of all places. This “side salad” outdid the main course kabobs in my opinion! So of course we had to come home and make it. I couldn’t have gotten such thin slices of cucumber without my trusty Swissmar mandoline slicer!
Ingredients
- Cucumber Salad
- 4 cucumbers, sliced on a diagonal
- 1/2 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
- 1/2 green bell pepper, cut into thin strips
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 cup olive oil
Instructions
- Combine cucumbers, red pepper, and green pepper in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Whisk together lemon juice, salt, pepper, oregano, and sugar in a small bowl. Whisk in oil until completely combined.
- Pour dressing over vegetables; toss to combine. Refrigerate salad for 30 minutes or until ready to serve.
The day after, we still had left overs of this yummy cucumber salad. So I made some gluten free pasta, cooled it down and tossed with the cool cucumber salad and some parmesan for a great gluten-free pasta salad!
How are you beating the heat in your kitchen?
Goodbye Sopes, Hello Bacon
I have had an obsession with a particular taco shop since moving to Renton. I was told that I would never find decent Mexican food here. And, after a multitude of visits to the Seattle area over the years, I’d have to agree. So it was a magical moment when we found our sweet, street tacos-from-the-heavens. Inexpensive, and only a 7 minute walk! I took friends and family there. My conviction to make most (if not all) meals at home was challenged. The tacos danced in our mouths, satisfying our hunger. And the sopes– delicately fried cups of masa, filled with the magic of humble refried beans, meat, guacamole, and crema — they became my favorite menu item. There was always hand-made salsas at their salsa bar that we could pick from, along with pickled veggies. Those salsas greeting my mouth with a high-five of punchy, meaningful spices rounded out the perfect latin meal.
This was our spot. Our family restaurant. The place we would go to find comfort and loud deportes or telenovelas. And last Sunday, after a 2-week “fast” from it, I discover my taco-sopes-salsa shop is closed. I peered in the window, happy to arrive, then fell silent as I noticed the interior in disarray. I shouted in Spanish to the gentlemen inside, “Are you closed?! No!!!” They nodded. Grief. And good grief!!!
I will be making sopes and hand-made salsas of all colors for the next 6 months. Can this be done daily? Will I ever achieve the deliciousness of my lost taqueria? I wonder.
——–
Last Friday we had friends over. So I decided to do a bacon blast of bacon. We had bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin (is there such a thing as bad tenderloin?), and maple-bacon ice cream. Oh baby, I have never done the cold candied bacon thing, and I totally get it now. Here are the recipes I used…. Enjoy!
Sopes! Mexican boats of flavor.
Veggie Blast Week, Part 3: Ginger Shrimp and Vegetable Stir Fry with Egg Drop Soup
Eating vegetables isn’t about ramming a head of lettuce down your throat. It’s about drawing out vegetables’ natural flavors through right preparation and marrying them with stellar ingredients, seasonings, herbs, etc. For our final vegetable-blast post, we’re sharing a stir-fry and soup combo. We believe these two dishes create a vegetables-done-right-for-a-dinner-entree scenario. Give them a try!
The Ginger Shrimp and Vegetables Stir Fry has a light sauce (in color and flavor) infused with fresh ginger and sesame oil – an aromatic delight! Play around with various vegetables as well (red bell peppers, mushrooms, zucchini), keeping in mind that vegetables cook at different rates. Changing the vegetables each time you make a veggie stir fry yields a different and delicious meal every time you make it!
Ingredients
- 1 cup Jasmine rice
- 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth or water
- 1 tablespoon dry white wine
- 1 tablespoon worcestershire (soy-free!) or soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- Kosher salt
- 3 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped scallions (white parts only)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
- 1 pound shelled and deveined shrimp (you pick your size!)
- 2 medium carrots, sliced (about 1 cup)
- 12 ounces bok choy or baby bok choy, sliced into 1 1/2-inch strips, stems separated from leaves
- 1/3 pound (1 1/2 cups) snow or sugar snap peas
Instructions
- Cook the rice according to the package directions and set aside.
- Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine the chicken broth, wine, worcestershire or soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, cornstarch, and ½ teaspoon salt, stirring until the cornstarch dissolves.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat for 30 seconds. Add the scallions and ginger and stir-fry until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Add the cornstarch mixture and bring to a boil. Cook, stirring constantly to prevent lumps, until sauce thickens slightly, about 1½ minutes. Pour into a bowl; set aside.
- Heat a wok or large skillet over high heat. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil and heat for 30 seconds. Add the shrimp and stir-fry until cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
- Wipe out the pan. Reduce heat to medium-high. Add the remaining ½ tablespoon oil and heat for 30 seconds. Add the carrots and ⅓ cup water, cover partially, and cook, stirring occasionally, until almost tender, about 2 minutes.
- Add the bok choy stems, cover, and cook for 2 minutes. Add the bok choy leaves and peas and toss gently. Add the sauce and increase heat to high. When it starts to bubble, add the shrimp. Stir-fry until warmed through, about 1 minute. Serve immediately over the rice.
This egg drop soup is jam-packed with earthy Shiitake mushrooms, just the way we like it!
Ingredients
- 6 cups chicken stock
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions, divided
- 1/4 cup spinach leaves, chiffonade
- 8 - 10 shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, wiped clean, and thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon worcestershire (soy free!) or soy sauce
- Pinch finely ground white pepper
- Pinch of ground ginger
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- Kosher salt, to taste
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, bring the stock to a simmer. Add 6 tablespoons of the green onions, and all of the spinach, mushrooms, worcestershire or soy, white pepper and ginger. Return to a bare simmer and cook for 3 minutes. Stirring with a fork or chopstick, gradually add the eggs in a slow steady stream. Cook until the eggs are set, stirring to create shreds or ribbons of the eggs, 1 minute. Add a few pinches of kosher salt, to taste.
- Remove from the heat. Ladle into bowls, garnish with the remaining 2 tablespoons of green onions, and serve immediately.
Veggie Blast Week, Part 1: Mediterranean (inspired) flatbread and salad
Part Greek, part Asian, part pizza, part whatever, this veggie-blast is a delight on a weekday night! The culinary challenge this week was to give our family an interesting and pallet-pleasing series of vegetable-rich (not necessarily “vegetarian”) meals. On Tuesday, we had this little mediterranian-ish feast. We started off with some gluten free naan, then covered it with grilled vegetables and cheese and threw a fresh-cut salad with homemade vinaigrette in the middle. It’s family-style, and family-approved!
Here’s how we prepped…
1: Naan
This Gluten Free Naan recipe by Arti Sequeira is the way to go for the foundation of this veggie feast. It’s about 20 minutes of prep time and a few hours to let the dough rise a bit. (But it’s warm breadiness will win you over to the gluten free side.)
Ingredients
- Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling, see Gluten-Free Cook's Note*
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 tablespoons plain yogurt
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- Melted butter for slathering on the finished naans
- Coarse sea salt for sprinkling
Instructions
- In a large glass, dissolve the dry yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar with 3/4 cup warm water (about 100 degrees F). Let it sit on your counter until it's frothy, about 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, sift the flour, salt, remaining 1 teaspoon of sugar and baking powder into a large, deep bowl.
- Once the yeast is frothy, add the yogurt and the olive oil into the glass, and stir to combine. Pour the yogurt mixture into the dry ingredients, and gently mix the ingredients together with a fork. When the dough is about to come together, use your hands to mix. It will feel like there isn't enough flour at first, but keep going until it transforms into a soft, slightly sticky and pliable dough. As soon as it comes together, stop kneading. Cover the dough with plastic wrap or a damp tea towel and let it sit in a warm, draft-free place for 2 to 4 hours.
- When you're ready to roll, make sure you have two bowls on your counter: one with extra flour in it, and one with water. The dough will be extremely soft and sticky-this is good! Separate the dough into 6 equal portions and lightly roll each one in the bowl of extra flour to keep them from sticking to each other.
- Shape the naan. Using a rolling pin, roll each piece of dough into a teardrop shape, narrower at the top than at the bottom. It should be 8 to 9-inches long, 4-inches wide at its widest point and about 1/4-inch thick. Once you've formed the general shape, you can also pick it up by one end and wiggle it; the dough's own weight will stretch it out a little. Repeat this method with the rest of the dough. (If you're making the gluten-free version, you'll have better luck pressing the dough out with your fingertips, than rolling.)
- Warm a large cast-iron skillet over high heat until it's nearly smoking. Make sure you have a lid large enough to fit the skillet and have a bowl of melted butter at the ready.
- Dampen your hands in the bowl of water and pick up one of your naans, flip-flopping it from one hand to the other to lightly dampen it. Gently lay it in the skillet and set your timer for 1 minute. The dough should start to bubble.
- After about 1 minute, flip the naan. It should be blistered and somewhat blackened, don't worry - that's typical of traditional naan! Cover the skillet with the lid and cook 30 seconds to 1 minute more.
- Remove the naan from the skillet, brush with a bit of butter and sprinkle with a little coarse sea salt. Place the naan in a tea towel-lined dish. Repeat with the rest of the naans and serve.
- *Cook's Notes: If you would like to make this gluten-free, you can substitute in 2 1/4 cups of a gluten-free all-purpose flour mix for the regular flour, plus 1 1/4 teaspoons of xanthum gum.
2: Make the eggplant cry.
Brent normally can’t stand the mushy texture of roasted or grilled eggplant. He’s put up with it over the years because, gosh-darn-it, sometimes I just need some grilled eggplant in my life! Well after all those years, I learned that I could have been doing things better with the eggplant. If you cut/slice the eggplant lengthwise, keeping them about 1/4″ to 1/2″ thick, then baptism them in some sea salt, they’ll loose moisture and become drier. It looks like they’re crying. After about 20 minutes, wipe off those eggplant tears (and the salt), brush with olive oil, a splash of balsamic vinegar, and grill on high heat, 3 – 4 minutes per side. min. per side. Chop and set aside. (Boom you’ve got less mushy, and extremely delicious grilled veggie.)
3. Chop chop.
Chop up your salad vegetables, with whatever vegetables you constitute as Greek, or “Mediterranean,” or simply delicious. I chopped up buttter lettuce, red onion, kalamatta olives, cucumber, and tomatoes, keeping it simple. I also had feta cheese, crumbled and ready to throw on top when serving.
4. Emulsify
Here’s an earthy & simple vinaigrette to use for this meal:
1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon minced red onion
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
Whisk together vinegar, onion and dijon.
Slowly drizzle in:
1/4 cup olive oil
Whisk until emulsified. Add fine sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste.
5. Create a veggie-feast:
Ingredients
- 6 - 8 pieces of gluten free naan
- 8 ounces of small mozzarella balls marinated in herbed oil, cut in 1/2, reserve oil
- 5 slices of bacon, baked crispy and crrumbled
- 1 grilled eggplant (see above prep), chopped into small pieces
- 2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
- A delicious greek-like salad topped with a delicious vinaigrette (see above for inspiration)
Instructions
- Preheat grill (or keep it on after you've grilled eggpllant and/or the naan) to medium high.
- Arrange mozzarella halves, bacon and eggplant on pieces of naan. Drizzle infused oil over the toppings and place on grill, cooking until the cheese has melted.
- Sprinkle finely chopped flat-leaf parsley on top, and slice into wedges. Arrange wedges around the perimeter of the plate.
- Place chopped salad in the center of the plate. Top with feta and vinaigrette. Drizzle some of the vinaigrette on top of the flatbread "pizza," take a picture of your pretty plate, and dig in!
A Cupping at Stumptown
We’re expanding our horizons here at the CollabKitchen. Recently we’ve started to roast coffee! We’re very excited about this new adventure.
Here’s my first post I wrote for our new blog, IBoughtARoaster.com! Come and visit us over there sometime! Happy cuppings!
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Last week, Rachel and I went to a Stumptown cupping on 12th Street in Seattle. They offer free public cuppings daily at 3 pm at this location, which is home to their Seattle roasting operations. The idea of a cupping, or coffee tasting, is to experience the multitude of flavors and aromas of various coffee beans from around the world. For Stumptown, it’s an excellent way to reach out to their community with a bit of coffee education and culture. For us, it was an attempt on our long journey to developing our palate and getting to know coffee a little bit better so that perhaps one day we can roast excellent coffee ourselves!
The cupping worked like this:
We went downstairs into their basement which is where their gigantic roaster, their coffee bean sorting and storage room, and their education room are located. We were actually invited to stand around a counter or bar, which is right in the middle of all of these sections of the basement. There were six of us tasting, and one extremely knowledgeable Stumptown ‘tour guide’ (I’ll call him) to help us along with our cupping. First he introduced us to the 6 beans we would be experiencing:
- El Salvador Aida’s Grand Reserve (my favorite of the day)
- Guatemala Finca El Injerto – La Cima (a decent cup)
- Guatemala Finca El Injerto – El Tanque (did not like at all)
- Ethopia Yukro (yummy)
- Kenya Gaturiri (very fruity)
- Kenya Gatomboya (like tomato soup)
We made three “passes” through the coffees, experiencing each three times. [That's a lot of sniffing and slurping and at times, I felt light-headed!] The first pass was to sniff each whole, unground bean three times in a row, then move on to the next batch of beans. So for example, we would smell (with mouths open to experience the fulness of the aroma) Aida’s Grand Reserve in three separate bowls in a row, then move on to the next, Guatemala Finca, and smell that three times in a row, and so on. So 18 bowls total. Experiencing the coffee three times in a row, we were told, would help us to really “get” the smell and tastes of the coffees. It also really helped noticing the differences, stark or subtle, between the beans. Repetition was key for the cupping.
The second pass was to smell each coffee after it had been ground, three times per bean, like we did in the first pass. This ground coffee phase really introduced us to the opening of the aromas of the beans. Again, we needed to remember to leave our mouths open to gain the full aroma.
The third pass was to smell each of the coffees after the cups had been filled with hot water, and after we had broken the “crust” of the grounds that had risen to the top of the cup. We were only allowed to pick 2 of our favorites for this part as there wasn’t enough cups to do one bean per person. We were taught to use only the back of the spoon to break the coffee grounds floating at the top of the hot water, and then quickly slide the back of the spoon in a circle (being careful not to stir) while smelling the gas that was being emitted by the coffee. We needed to smell immediately after breaking the crust, as the gasses would quickly slip away if we weren’t careful to catch them with our noses! (Nose-catching… Sounds funny, doesn’t it?) This gave us the most intense introduction of the coffee short of tasting them.
The fourth and final pass was the actual tasting of the coffee, or rather the very loud slurping part. After the grounds had sat in the coffee for about 3 – 5 minutes, our Stumptown ‘tour guide’ carefully removed all the grounds and oils that were floating at the top, with a spoon. He then modeled for us how to take a small spoonful of the coffee liquid, then slurp quickly (and loudly!) so that the coffee would slide all the way across the tongue until the coffee hit the back of the throat, then let it slide back across the tongue, then spit out into our own personal (and portable!) spitting cups. All of that slurping is done very quickly and loudly. The reason for this intense slurping is so that our tongue can experience a full “10 points” of flavor rather than just “2 points” if we only just let it hit the front of the tongue. And he’s right! Letting the coffee travel all the way back and fourth really does give you a chance to experience the complexities of flavors in one single slurp of coffee.
A few other things we learned at our cupping
- It’s Stumptown’s philosophy to roast lighter, avoiding darker roasts, in order to maintain the “integrity of the coffee bean.” Since coffee is a fruit, it contains natural sugars (coffee’s best kept secret is that it’s naturally sweet!). The darker the roast, the more these natural sugars begin to burn, leaving a nasty, burnt flavor. (Kinda of like eating burnt toast. You don’t taste the toasted bread at that point, just burn flavor. Ew.)
- There are two types of sweet: savory-sweet, like caramel, cinnamon and molasses, and fruity sweet, like orange, raspberry, pear, etc.
- We taste acidity on the tips of our tongue, and there’s nothing wrong with acidity in coffee. A coffee that’s not so acidic is considered “flatter.”
- I asked how come some coffee has more body than other coffees if they are roasted and brewed the same way. My tour guide was quick to correct me in saying that they use the word “texture” rather than body, and the reason for the differences in texture (or how heavy coffee feels in the mouth – like water vs. cream) is due to solubles. Different coffees have different solubles that get passed through during the brewing process. It’s a measure of viscosity. In everyday terms (and for fluids only), viscosity is “thickness” or “internal friction.” So it can be said (or measured) that water has a lower viscosity than honey.
- Finally, I really did enjoy the El Salvador Aida’s Grand Reserve ($22/12 oz!). I guess Aida sells her beans to Stumptown blended, not single origin, which is rare. Another rarity is that Aida, a third generation farmer, is growing organic Kenyan varietals in her El Salvador farm.
I am looking forward to many more cuppings both at Stumptown and other roasting plants. Stay tuned for more coffee adventures!
Pho and Roasted Duck (head intact)
This past week I took a dive into some Asian-inspired cuisine. I made Pho and roasted duck for two separate occasions, and I was quite happy with the results. Christmastime and Asian food really do go hand in hand in my opinion.
A while back my husband Brent and I watched an episode of Luke Nugyn’s Vietnam on the Cooking Channel. Luke seems like a kind and well-versed chef who originally is from Vietnam. His episodes usually take place with him cooking (or interviewing) on the road-side or behind the shop of a countryside or urban restaurant, with horns honking and chickens running about as he prepares delicious, authentic food. I get a kick out of his episodes and enjoy the beauty of the people, landscape and culture of Vietnam. When living in Phoenix (of all places!), we fell in love with Pho (pronounced fuh). It’s a delicious slow-cooked Vietnamese soup that we seem to incorporate into our lives at least once a week now that we’re living in (cold) Washington!
Well, who knew that making Pho is traditionally prepared all night? Better be good soup to loose sleep over! We learned from Chef Luke, and the Vietnamese family that he was cooking with, that the best Pho takes at least 12 hours to prepare the broth. And boy is it all about the broth — a symphony of delicious spices and aromatics and fish sauce enveloped in a homemade beef broth. One huge benefit of Pho is that it is both gluten and soy free (two things Brent has to avoid). Rice noodles are used and there really isn’t a need for soy since there is so much flavor going on. Anyway, back to last week.
I wanted to make Pho (since my husband, my friend Rachel and I are Pho junkies right now) however, I didn’t have 12 hours nor did I have the time to babysit a pot for 5 – 6 hours. I knew I needed a slow cooker recipe and I happened to find a great Pho recipe online at the SteamyKitchen. I about fell over when I discovered that I had all of the spices (yes, even the star anise) and all I had to buy were some rice noodles and bones!
This is a recipe for a 6.5 quart (or larger) slow cooker “crock pot.” To thinly sliced meat for the bowls, try freezing the chunk of meat for 15 – 20 minutes before slicing. Or if the meat is already thoroughly frozen, take out of the freezer and let sit at room temperature for about an hour before slicing. They key is to have the slices of meat super-thin. So, here’s the recipe that’s been slightly adapted (by yours truly).
Ingredients
- 4 pounds beef bones
- 1/2 onion
- 4 inch section of ginger, sliced
- 1 package Vietnamese Pho Spices (or as many of these spices as you have: 2 cinnamon sticks, 2 teaspoons whole coriander, 1 teaspooon fennel, 3 whole star anise, 3 whole cloves, 1 cardamom pod)
- 9 cups water
- 3 tablespoons fish sauce or to taste
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 16 ounces fresh or dried rice noodles
- 1/2 pound chicken or beef (flank, london broil, sirloin or eye of round steak, sliced as thinly as possible)
- 1-2 limes, cut into wedges
- 1 cup cilantro
- 12 Thai basil leaves
- 2-3 chili peppers, sliced
- 2 cups bean sprouts
- 1/2 cup Hoisin sauce mixed with 2 tablespoons Sriracha hot chili sauce
Instructions
- Bring a large stockpot with water to boil over high heat. Add the beef bones and boil vigourously for 10 minutes.
- In the meantime, heat a medium sized pan over medium-low heat. Add the Vietnamese Pho Spices and toast until fragrant, about 2-3 minutes. Put the spices in the slow cooker immediately.
- Return frying pan to stove and increase to medium-high heat, adding 1 tablespoon of oil. When the oil is hot, add the ginger slices and the onion half. Cook until the ginger is browned on both sides and the onion half is nicely browned and softened. Add the ginger and the onion to the slow cooker.
- After the bones have been pre-boiled for 10 minutes (step 1), DRAIN AND DISCARD the water and rinse bones briefly to clean them. Add the bones to the slow cooker on top of the spices and aromatics.
- Fill the slow cooker with fresh, clean, cool water to just 1-1/2 inches below surface, then add the fish sauce and sugar.
- Cover and set the slow cooker on low and cook for 8 hours. Taste and season with additional fish sauce and kosher salt, if desired.
- Just prior to eating, prep the rest of the ingredients for the Pho bowls. Cook the rice noodles according to package instructions. Drain immediately and divide into 4 serving bowls.
- After 8 hours, strain the stock with a fine meshed sieve, discarding the solids.
- If using chicken, season slices with kosher salt and pepper. Cook slices through in a frying pan over medium-high heat (with 1-2 tablespoons olive oil or butter) for 1 - 3 minutes on each side, depending on the thinness of the slice.
- Line up 4 large bowls on counter. Distribute the noodles, cooked chicken or raw thin steak slices evenly among the bowls. Ladle the hot Pho stock into each bowl. The hot stock will cook the thin steak slices.
- Serve with lime wedges, fresh herbs, chili peppers, the Hoisin sauce and Sriracha hot chili sauce mix at the table.
Now onto the duck. We were invited to a Christmas party this past weekend. And the brilliant thing about it, was there was a theme: the movie “A Christmas Story”!! (Thanks Luz and Cole for a great evening!) Yes we drank Ovaltine and sang carols and we ate Chinese food, of course. Remember the scene where the Parker family eats at a Chinese restaurant on Christmas day? The servers sing Christmas carols to the poor Parker family, whose Christmas turkey was destroyed by the Bumpuses’ (the Parkers’ hillbilly neighbors) dogs. After singing, the family is introduced to Christmas dinner – a whole duck with head and eyes intact! (Quite a scary introduction to roasted duck for Americans.)
So take 2 minutes, and click on this link to see the famous “Restaurant Scene” from ‘A Christmas Story!’ Then come back and I’ll tell ya how I made the duck.
I really wanted to use our smoker to smoke the duck. But that would have required way too many stops at too many stores. I just didn’t have the time. So we ended up roasting the duck. But yeah… that duck. Couldn’t find duck at all the “regular” grocery stores. Had to hit up the local Asian mega-market… H MART! (Can I tell ya how much we love Asian markets?!?! So awesome!) We bought a duck. We just had to. And yes… the head, smile, eyes were on him. And, his webbed feet were also there. I jumped just a bit when handling him. I had to remind myself that I’ve dissected cats, and pigs, and frogs, so I could truss a duck who was smiling at me.
Peak A Boo!
I must strongly recommend you read The Hungry Mouse’s “The Best Way to Roast a Duck” post. It’s practically perfect! My duck was a bit smaller than 6 lbs, so I actually cut the cooking time down by a full hour. I recommend you take a temperature check after two hours of roasting, maybe once every 45 minutes to an hour, just to be sure you’re not over cooking. (What’s up with recipes always calling for overcooked meat? Sometimes they’re just crazy, but then sometimes, your meat is smaller. So do check!)
Ingredients
- 1 6 lb duck, cleaned and washed
- 1 orange, zested, then cut in 1/2
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 1/2 onion, chopped
- 6 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon molasses
- 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- 3 tablespoons rice wine (mirin) or sherry
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh minced ginger
- 2 teaspoons Chinese five-spice powder
Instructions
- Normally you roast a duck for 3 to 4 hours at 300 degrees. After that time, glaze and cook it at high heat for a short time. (Again, see this post for detailed photos of each step.) Here are the basic steps:
- Score the duck's skin, cut off excess fat, and poke it all over
- Salt (inside and out) and truss
- Roast at 300 degrees for 1 hour, breast-side up
- Poke, flip, temperature check, and roast for 1 hour, breast-side down
- Poke, flip, temperature check, and roast for 1 hour, breast-side up
- Poke, flip, roast for 1 hour, breast side down (skip this final hour if duck is smaller)
- Poke, flip, blast at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, breast-side up
- Make glaze during final hour & then brush with glaze
- Finish at 500 degrees for 5 minutes
- Rest for 20 minutes, carve & serve
- The duck should reach 165 degrees F (or 160 F if you think it'll reach 165 F due to residual heat.)
- Juice the orange and mix with all the other ingredients (except for the duck): orange zest, onion, honey, molasses, rice wine vinegar, rice wine, soy, ginger, and five-spice powder in a saucepan.
- Bring to a boil then immediately remove from the burner. Use to glaze the duck in the final roasting minutes.
I hope you are inspired to start on your own Pho or roasted duck (or any Asian cuisine!) this Christmastime too!
Simply Delicious Holiday Treats
From gorgeously rich double chocolate drops to lemony sweet lemon bars, these irresistible treats are sure to be the grand finale to any holiday affair!
Frosted Chocolate Drops
Need a double-dose of chocolate? Try these chocolatey cookies covered with a deep chocolate frosting. This is another family favorite treat from both my mom and grandma!
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour (sift flour, then measure)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup butter or shortening, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 egg, well-beaten, at room temperature
- 2 squares (2 ounces) unsweetened chocolate
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup almonds, coarsely chopped
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons cocoa
- 1 to 2 teaspoons milk
- 1/4 cup butter, room-temperature
Instructions
- Preheat oven 425 degrees F.
- In a double boiler (or use a small pan set over another pan with water simmering on low), melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally, until just melted. Remove from heat and cool while preparing the other ingredients.
- In a large bowl, sift flour baking soda and salt together, sifting ingredients for a total of three times. (The pre-sifted flour will have undergone 4 siftings by this point).
- In a small bowl, combine vanilla and milk and reserve for later use.
- In a standing mixer or with a hand mixer, mix butter on high speed until light and lemon-colored. On medium-low speed, add sugar gradually, in three waves, allowing to mix after each addition.
- Next, slowly add the beaten egg, and the melted-and-cooled chocolate.
- Alternately add dry ingredients and vanilla-milk mixture in three rounds, mixing until smooth after each addition. Stir in the almonds.
- Drop by spoonfuls on ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.
- When cool, frost with Soft Chocolate Frosting (recipe follows)
- Mix powdered sugar, cocoa and 1 teaspoon milk. If the mix appears a little dry, add a splash more of milk, probably no more than 2 teaspoons milk.
- Beat in butter until mixed through.
- Spread onto Chocolate Drops immediately. This should set quickly.
Breakfast and birthday ice creams and dried fruit (beyond the raisin)
It’s officially fall, but around here in ‘hot country’ (aka Phoenix Metro) it’s still over 100 degrees. While others are bundling up and making apple pie, I’m wearing shorts and a tank top, drinking iced coffee. So why not make the most of it? We decided to stretch our excuses for having more ice cream over the past week and make two kinds! Banana (the easy way) and mint (a little more involved).
Breakfast ice cream (aka banana ice cream)
Recently, I saw two separate shows on the Food Network, rocking an easy, doable “ice cream” using frozen bananas. Now, my three-year old daughter loves to ask for ice cream first thing in the morning. And I divert her with either cereal and milk, or yogurt (frozen or not) to nab that diary craving. But last week, I happened to have sliced bananas in the freezer from the night before. I was armed and ready.
Remembering the easy methods I saw on TV, I tossed the banana slices into the food processor and began the (loud) process of slicing through the frozen banana. With a couple of splashes of heavy cream, and a few more pulses and… Voilà- we had banana ice cream. And it tasted soooo gooood. I really couldn’t believe it. My daughter was pretty impressed too. So, now we’ve added “breakfast ice cream” to our repertoire of morning delights, and I’ve found another way to use up old bananas.
Birthday ice cream (aka not fried, but mint ice cream)
So today is my birthday and recently I was having a craving for fried ice cream. At first, I asked my sister-in-law about possibly making it (because she’s an awesome cook!), however with the amount of steps involved in making it (freezing & refreezing over & again) well… I don’t think any of us have time for that! And I didn’t want to put her through that. My awesome husband stepped up and said he’d do it. But honestly, I’d rather spend my afternoon relaxing with him and my daughter… not spending hours on end making fried ice cream. So, I think in this case, we will leave the fried ice cream making to a restaurant. There are several around town that do it. Let’s make them work it!
Well, that left me to my own devices. My ultimate, favorite ice cream is mint chocolate chip (I think). Mint was on sale this week, so I picked up a few bunches and got cracking last night on making a mint ice cream base (has to refrigerate for several hours or over night you know!). Here’s where I’ve left off with the ice cream, with lots of mint steeping in the cream:
It’s almost like a cliffhanger… Will I be able to complete the mint ice cream base? Did the ice cream bucket freeze well or will I have to wait another night for it to freeze? Tune in next time… OK, it’s not an Incredible Hulk-like episode (from the 80′s of course), but I am super excited to finish this mint ice cream and feast on it tonight, with a sugar cone, with my family. Yum.
Here’s a pic of me this morning, thinking about my day (and the ice cream)-
Dried fruit (beyond the raisin)
Dried fruits are delicious, nutritious and are perfect for accidentally leaving in your car in warm weather, and then eating later with no let-down. And yes, I love golden raisins, black raisins, red raisins. But I’m so glad to have gotten to know some more dried fruits beyond the raisin recently.
So who knew dates have a big seed (or pit) in the middle? I didn’t, until last week when I discovered this while creating our stuffed pork chop recipe. I think I had dates as a child, and certainly have had them mixed up in things at restaurants as an adult, but it had been years since I’ve tried them on their own. I bought various dried fruits for Brent and I to taste test for our recipe. Huge, colorful raisins, Turkish apricots, prunes (sorry Brent), figs, and dates. We took little bites of each and finally settled on figs and dates. And boy did they make for an incredible stuffing for the chops!!
Anyway, I was geeking out because the entire stuffing for the chops could be made in the food processor – no chopping was necessary. (Brilliant, right?!) I was so caught up in my discovery, that I was stunned and confused when I heard a loud, cracking noise in the processor as I started pulsing. Low and behold, a few big pits were rolling around in there. Talk about hands-on learning. Not a big deal, but it was funny to me that I hadn’t a clue about such a common (to some) and exotic (to others) dried fruit.
Anyway, we were left with a bunch of delicious dried fruit for us to snack on. I bagged them all up along with leftover almonds, for a delicious trail mix. (The trail being through Lebanon or Morocco or some place beautiful and exotic like that.) Our daughter loves the Turkish Apricots (we play tea party with them), and me? Well, I’m presently snacking on a unpitted date. Yes, it doubles as my Mac’s companion.
What dried fruits do you enjoy? Mango? Pears? Sweetened or unsweetened? Let us know!
Happy fall to you!
