Category Archives: Recipes (Savory)

Digging Into Chinese Rice and Lamb Casserole

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One-pot cooking, Chinese-style.

One-pot cooking, Chinese-style.

 

With the Year of the Rooster set to start cockadoodledoo-ing on Jan. 28, you’ll have to forgive me if I’m craving Chinese food even more so this week.

But what a great excuse to try a recipe from the new “China: The Cookbook” (Phaidon). The cookbook, of which I received a review copy, was written by Hong Kong-based culinary experts Kei Lum Chan and Diora Fong Chan.

chinacookbook

This door-stopper of a book is 720 pages. It contains recipes from the 33 regions and sub-regions of China, most of them surprisingly concise. That’s because this book is really about home-cooking. That’s why you won’t necessarily find Peking duck in here, but instead “Braised Duck with Won Tons” and “Duck with Mushrooms and Ham.” There’s all manner of congee recipes, too, including “Congee with Frog Legs.” And simple but more unusual desserts such as “Smoked Plum Soup.”

Leafing through this rather encyclopedic book, many recipes caught my eye, especially “Rice and Lamb Casserole” because it’s fairly effortless even on a weeknight. It also incorporates cumin, which really works well with lamb’s slight gaminess.

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Naomi Pomeroy’s Porcini Braised Chicken Thighs

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Dried porcini mushrooms add an earthy depth to this comforting chicken dish.

Dried porcini mushrooms add an earthy depth to this comforting chicken dish.

 

Rustic and comforting, this is like chicken stew — only made in a roasting pan in the oven.

“Porcini Braised Chicken Thighs” is a little deceptive. It looks like it’s a breezy one-pan chicken dish. But in all honesty, it will probably take you four pans to make it: a Dutch oven to saute the veggies, a cast-iron frying pan to sear the chicken thighs, a roasting pan to cook the chicken through, and a saucepan to heat the braising liquid.

But don’t let that dissuade you from attempting it. After all, what’s a little more time washing dishes when you can then dig in to enjoy such delightful rewards?

This dish is from the new cookbook, “Taste & Technique: Recipes to Elevate Your Home Cooking” (Ten Speed), of which I received a review copy. It’s by James Beard Award-winning Chef Naomi Pomeroy or Portland’s Beast restaurant, and Brooklyn writer Jamie Feldmar. You may recognize Pomeroy as a judge on Esquire’s “Knife Fight” and from her time competing on “Top Chef Masters.” I had the chance a couple years ago to dine with her and a roster of other female chefs at Nathan Myhrvold’s Modernist Cuisine Lab, where the food was mind-blowing, and the conversation about molecular gastronomy thoughtful and insightful.

While appreciative of those techniques and high-tech gizmos, Pomeroy, herself, is more old-school. As she joked, her restaurant opened without even a hood.

TasteTechnique

Her cookbook features nearly 140 recipes. For the most part, they’re not dishes you’ll whip up in less than 30 minutes. But they’re also not so complicated and intimidating that you’ll feel too overwhelmed to attempt them.

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Hominy Grill’s Shrimp & Grits

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Artisan milled corn stars in this dish of shrimp & grits.

Artisan milled corn stars in this dish of shrimp & grits.

 

This Christmas, Santa gifted me my first bag of Southern grits.

OK, really it was my niece Stacey, who picked up the grits on her travels through the South.

The speckled white grits came from family-owned Logan Turnpike Mill of Blairsville, GA, which contracts with local farmers to grow the corn, which is stone ground, utilizing the whole grain. The mill also grinds the corn at a low temperature to maintain nutrients and flavor. It is shipped the same day that it is ground. To keep it fresh, store in the refrigerator or freezer.

White grits from Logan Turnpike Mill.

White grits from Logan Turnpike Mill.

I’ve made polenta many times before. But never grits. Polenta and grits are both made from stone-ground cornmeal, but often from different types of corn, according to online sources. As a result, polenta cooks up typically coarser and denser in texture, while grits are softer and more thick porridge-like.

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Wishing Everyone A Ducky New Year

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Make an impression in the new year with this whole, tea-smoked duck.

Make an impression in the new year with this whole, tea-smoked duck.

 

New Year’s Eve automatically means Champagne.

Caviar, perhaps. Lots of hors d’oeuvres. Even Dungeness crab or lobster.

Why not add duck to that glam list?

There is something special and regal about presenting a whole duck, especially one that is smoked with fragrant black tea, coated in five spice, and served alongside souped-up sweet-tangy hoisin sauce.

Little pillowy steamed buns filled with morsels of the moist duck would turn this into festive finger-food. Or carve at the table, and serve alongside steamed rice or garlic noodles.

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Hooray For Plentiful Dungeness Crabs and A Food Gal Giveaway

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Dungeness crab -- how I've missed you.

Dungeness crab — how I’ve missed you.

 

When this year’s Dungeness crab season opened two weeks ago right on schedule, I breathed a sigh of relief.

As I’m sure did so many fishermen and Dungeness aficionados.

After all, last year was truly dismal, thanks to a toxic algae bloom, which resulted in high levels of domoic acid in the crabs, making them unfit for consumption until the very tail end of the season, by which time most people had sworn them off anyway.

This winter is a different story. The crabs are not only safe to eat, but supposedly meatier because they’ve had more time to grow.

I, for one, am happily indulging already. In fact, thanks to Hayward seafood distributor, Pucci Foods, I enjoyed my first Dungeness crab of the season just a couple days after the local commercial season started. Its new direct-to-consumer site, Daily Fresh Fish, delivers fresh, sustainable seafood right to your door.

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