steamed daikon cake

Also called turnip cake, this dish is a traditional Cantonese snack which you'll find at most all dim-sum restaurants. The batter is shredded daikon, rice flour, Chinese sausage, and dried shrimp. Then poured into a shallow pan, it's steamed, sliced, and pan fried.

This is one of my favorite comfort foods. There's something about the crispy caramelized crust and the soft innards with strips of daikon and savory bits of sweet sausage. I like to dip mine in Chinese "sweet flour sauce," a sauce that's commonly eaten with "moo-shu"type dishes of stir-fry and thin pancakes. You can find it in the condiment aisle of the asian market.


Daikon Rice Cake

3 cups shredded daikon
2 cups rice flour
1 1/2 cups water
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/8 cup diced Chinese sausage
2 Tbsp dried shrimp, chopped

1. For the daikon: peel and shred the daikon on a box grater. Place in a medium pot, cover with water, and boil with cover on for 20 minutes. Drain, reserving a little of the liquid.

2. In a small skillet, cook the sausage and shrimp together with a bit of oil until it starts to brown.

3. Mix together rice flour and water into a thin batter. Stir in the salt, pepper and sausage mixture. Pour this back into the pot with the daikon. Stirring, cook over low heat for 1 minute. Beware of lumps.

4. Line a 8-inch round cake pan with plastic wrap, leaving a 1/2 inch edge to drape over the sides. Pour the daikon batter into the pan, and steam for 40 minutes. Let cool to room temperature and slice into flat slabs.

5. Pan fry the pieces of daikon cake until golden on all sides. Serve with sweet flour sauce or sauce of your choice.

definition: french gnocchi

photo from North Point Journal

Last night on the Top Chef finale, Dale had planned to do a gnocchi dish which I'd never heard of, French gnocchi.

Curiousity peaked, I did a bit of research. In French gnocchi, there is no inclusion of potato. The dough instead, is a pâte à choux, or a common pastry dough used for cream puffs, eclairs, and gougeres. The dough is cooked over a low heat, to dissipate any moisture, eggs are then added one by one. The dough is then piped into little nuggets and dropped into boiling water to cook. The resulting gnocchi is incredibly light and tender.

Of course, there are so many other types of gnocchi out there:

potato gnocchi- traditional, made with boiled mashed potato
gnocchi gnudi (from Tuscany) - also called "strozzapreti", made with spinach and ricotta
gnocchi alla romana- made with semolina, then baked

Due to the large population of Italian immigrants in Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela, gnocchi has made its way into South American cuisine. They are referred to as ñoquis, and are traditionally eaten on the 29th of each month., when families had fewer funds, and this was a means of getting by.

the red star

Today, as I was reading fellow Baltimore food blogger Marginal Foodie's recent restaurant reviews (and there are many!) I came across a mention of the Red Star in Fells Point. This jogged my memory...I was there two weekends ago for a lovely Sunday brunch. I had however, forgotten to post, as I was admist my brief brain-death pre-LSATs mode. So here it is, lots of gratuitously mouth-watering, pictures of eggs and potato and cheese...

The Red Star rides on the wave of the new gastropub. Clean and sleek, with vaulted ceilings of dark wooden beams and rafters, and tons of exposed brick walls, this bar still manages to maintain a sporty neighborhood feel. It's owned by the same people as the Waterfront Bar, also in Fells, on Thames. There was a large group of us, 8 total, and we comfortably seated ourselves on bar stools around a long table in the middle of the restaurant. As brunch progressed, it got louder and louder, as more and more Ravens fans showed up to watch the game.

A couple of us got their "bottomless" mimosas. For about $9, you choose between mimosas or bloody marys. The oddest thing: the mimosas were served to us in pint glasses...with straws! We saw the bartender premixing them in large pitchers. I guess it's really not that surprising since it is a...bar, duh. The straws though...hmm.


I ordered the crab hash with poached egg and hollandaise. (I apologize, the name of the dish is escaping me.) Jumbo lump crab mixed with a hash of potatoes and sweet potatoes. It was good, but if you're expecting a hash, you may be disappointed. It seemed like the crab was simply tossed with the hash, instead of cooking everything together to let the flavors meld. I also found bits of chicken in my hash, which didn't belong there. The egg was perfectly poached though.

This was more of an open-faced omelette than it was a frittata. On the menu, it was called the Farmer's Market Frittata, or something to that effect. There were about 10 different veggies and meat in it...a true brunch smorgasbord!


Eggs benedict. A very straightforward and clean dish. The only complaint was that the portions were slightly wimpy. The fruit salad of melon and pineapple was a nice addition, though some of it tasted like Old Bay from the hash.


Steak and eggs! No complaints here. A real manly man's kind of brunch dish. Again, the same hash and fruit salad, with one kicker...toast!


The Good Burger, rightly named since it was full of all kinds of good things: bacon, mushrooms, cheese, onions, tomato... According to my friend who polished it off, it was quote "GOOD."

Overall, the food is hearty and filling, but in my opinion, not extremely creative nor comforting. The dishes will not be appearing in my dreams anytime soon. I have a feeling there is a rather large tub of premade hash sitting in their kitchen, that's dished out onto every plate, with or without lump crab. Oh and a big can of Old Bay too. I'd most definitely go back, but probably to get some finger foods or a beer or cocktail from the bar. A sidenote: I did get 10% off our total bill. If you're a Charm City yoga cardholder, you can get the discount when you present your server your card.



Red Star Bar & Grille
906 S. Wolfe Street
Baltimore, MD 21231

pandan panna cotta

If you've ever been to an Asian bakery, you may have seen cakes and rice desserts that glow with a pale grassy hue. No, definitely not lime. And if not green tea flavored, they are mostly likely pandan-leaf flavored. The pandan leaf is a common food flavoring in many Southeast Asian dishes, mostly for desserts, some stews, and steamed rice. It imparts a delicate nutty taste, almost like fresh-cut grass, incredibly fragrant.

The leaves are long, deep green, and blade-like:


In many savory dishes, they are tied into knots for flavoring broths. And much easier to work with:


In desserts, bakers' favorite use of pandan is in sponge and chiffon cakes. These cakes, one of my favorites, are ethereally light and faint green. Another popular set of desserts in which pandan is a dominant flavor are kuihs. These are small sweet bite-size snacks made of rice or tapioca flour, usually flavored with coconut and pandan.

I wanted to use this traditional Asian ingredient in an Italian dessert, panna cotta. The result is a light, delicate, creamy pudding. I paired this with a coconut crème anglaise, which beautifully rounded out the nutty flavors of the pandan.


Pandan Panna Cotta with Coconut Crème Anglaise
serves 4-6, depending on the size of the mold

1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
4 tsp gelatin powder
5-6 Tbsp sugar
4-5 drops green food coloring
1/2 tsp pandan essence
5 stalks pandan leaf

2 egg yolks
2/3 cup coconut milk
scant 1/3 cup sugar

1. For Panna Cotta: In a food processor, blend milk with pandan leaves for 30 seconds. Strain the mixture. Add food coloring to the milk and stir well.

2. Put milk in a saucepan. Sprinkle gelatin over top, and let sit for 10 minutes to allow it to soften. Gently heat milk to 140F. Turn off heat and whisk in the heavy cream and pandan essence. Make sure there are no lumps from the gelatin. Pour into molds and refrigerate for 4 hours to let set up.

3. For Coconut creme anglaise: In a small saucepan, heat the coconut milk to a gentle boil, and turn the heat off. In a separate bowl, whisk together the yolks and sugar until it becomes shiny, about 1 minute. Pour the hot coconut milk slowly into the yolk mixture, continuously whisking. Pour it all back into the saucepan, and cook over low heat until the cream coats the back of your spatula or spoon.

4. Pour the cream into a bowl, and immediately cover the surface with plastic wrap so that no skin forms. Let cool to room temperature.

5. Plating: Quickly dip the panna cotta molds into hot water. You may also need to run a knife around the edge to loosen. Invert the mold onto a plate. Drizzle with coconut crème anglaise.

study-time brain food

coffee & espresso
sugar free Red Bull
bananas
granola
coffeehouse muffins
buckwheat pancakes, maple syrup, butter
Greek style yogurt, strawberries

Does this sound like brain-food to you? It's a list of what I've been eating (top 6 things) in the past two weeks as I've been studying for my LSATs, which are this Saturday. I've barely had any time, or been in the mood, to cook elaborate, well-balanced meals. When I'm in full-on study mode, I hone in on pretty much a full carb diet. As most of us know, carbs increases the blood sugar levels, leading to increased serotonin levels in our brain, which makes us happy (!!), especially me in my time of stress and utter boredom.

Today I decided to break out of my monotonous food relationship and looked around my 'fridge for other possible lunch candidates. There was frozen paneer, and a bag of frozen peas in the freezer, and canned tomatoes and spices in my pantry. Half an hour later, I had myself a delicious healthy meal of mattar paneer and rice.


This is a dish that's quite common at all Indian restaurants. It's vegetarian and so so good with naan; but the version that I get at restaurants always comes with a heavy creamy sauce that is laden with calories. The traditional version, on the other hand, is just a basic spiced tomato base, in which fried cubes of paneer and peas stew.


Mattar Paneer
adapted from Saveur Magazine (along with my own recommendations)

2 Tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
1 tsp cumin seeds
3 cardamom pods
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 heaping tsp turmeric
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp salt
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 tsp fresh ginger paste
1 cup diced tomato, with juices
1 cup frozen peas
6-8 oz. paneer cheese, cubed and fried on all sides

1. Heat ghee in a skillet over low heat until melted. Add cumin, cardamom, and cinnamon. Stir until the fragrances are released, about 1 minute. Stir in the onion, garlic, ginger, turmeric and salt, and cook until the onion starts to become translucent.

2. Add the tomatoes, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes to let the tomatoes break down.

3. Add 1 cup of water and stew 5-10 more minutes to let it reduce. Add the garam masala, peas and paneer. Season with more salt or spices, if necessary. Cook until peas are well heated through.

4. Serve over rice.

platanos maduros

I was happily surprised while making my morning coffee today. I reached behind to find... a ripened plantain! One I had bought about two weeks ago, set on top of my coffee maker to let ripen, and must have accidently slipped off. It was nicely browned and soft, but still firm, to the touch. Foregoing my usual bowl of milk and cereal, I decided to make it a buenos dias, Cubano style.

The sugar crust gives a delicious caramelization to each piece of plantain. I garnished mine with honey, cinnamon, and cane sugar. The latter gives a nice sugary crunch, in contrast to the soft creamy plantain.


Platanos Maduros - Fried sweet plantains

1 ripened plantain (brownish black)
1 tsp sugar
small pat of butter, for frying

honey
cinnamon
raw cane sugar (demerara)

1. Peel and slice the plaintain into 1 inch pieces. In a bowl, roll the plantain in sugar.

2. Heat a skillet and melt the butter. When hot, fry the plantain over low heat, about 1 minute on each side.

3. To serve, spoon into a bowl, and drizzle with honey. Additionally, sprinkle with cinnamon and cane sugar.

thomas keller's bouchon

We're one step closer to dining at the French Laundry, the pinnacle of the Thomas Keller restaurant totem pole. Well, technically just Mr.S, since he had the great pleasure of dining solo at the Las Vegas locale of Bouchon last week. For simplicity's sake, I will write from a first person account, as I live vicariously (all the while, green with envy) through his galloping adventures across Sin City.

You can't simply just stumble upon Bouchon whilst walking through the Venetian, and expect to get a table. *GASP, how uncouth. You must have a reservation to enter, as the restaurant is located on the top floor, across a sky bridge, and is only accessible by its own elevator.


The ambiance at the bar is just calling you to order a glass of Chimay, with its brushed pewter counter, mosaic tiles, and traditional antique lighting.

The menu at Bouchon is classic French bistro fare, with a twist here and there to include seasonal ingredients. Standouts include the fois gras terrine, boudin noir, duck confit, and steak frites. The cheese selection offers some of my favorite domestic West Coast choices such as the Pt. Reyes Blue and the Cypress Grove Mad River.

The requisite artisanal French baguette, presented here as an épi (to resemble a stalk of wheat):


For hors-d'oeuvres, chicken "drumstick" confit. Popular in the southwest of France, this snack dish is called gigolette. The meat of chicken wings are pulled back to resemble drumsticks, then fried. Served with a beet salad and horseradish cream:


Steak frites. Perfectly seared flatiron steak, topped with maître d'hôtel butter (compound butter of parsley and lemon juice), and served with crisp fries:


What a superbly satisfying dining experience, with exceptional food and on-point service. And not to mention the celebrity ambiance- sitting dangerously close were Ali Larter and Amy Smart, with their families.

In case you were wondering, "bouchon" refers to a type of traditional Lyonnaise restaurant in France that focuses on heavy meat dishes. You'd find anything but fine upscale dining here. It's traditional food served up in a laidback setting.


Bouchon
The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino
Venezia Tower
3355 Las Vegas Blvd. South
Suite 10101
Las Vegas, NV 89109

old-fashioned chocolate cake

I generally prefer to make white cakes over chocolate ones just because there's so much more creative license I can take with a blank canvas. I can add flavorings, seasonal fruits, and variations to the frosting. But this time, I had to try out this recipe for this old-fashioned chocolate cake. I can't remember the last time I had a really great piece of homemade chocolate layer cake, and I don't mean anything that came out of a boxed mix, made at home. It was also the perfect welcome-home-I-missed-you sweet treat for Mr.S, on his return from a business trip to Las Vegas. So why not, I had all the ingredients lying around my kitchen: Scharffen Berger bittersweet chocolate, farm fresh duck eggs, milk, flour, and butter.


So what makes this cake "old-fashioned"? Well, I imagine it to be similar to what moms in the post-war era whipped up at home for their kids, or similar to one of those huge behemoth layer cakes under its cake dome you see at diners. Imperfect, but perfect all at once. Just a dense delicious cake with billowy gratuitous amounts of rich frosting. With none of the association to descriptors like flourless, ganache, fondant, mousse... Elegantly regal in its own right, a no fuss all American chocolate cake just waiting to be eaten with a tall glass of milk.



Old-Fashioned Chocolate Layer Cake
adapted from Baking Illustrated

1 1/4 cups unbleached AP flour
12 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup nonalkalinized cocoa
2 tsp instant espresso or coffee powder
1 cup + 2 Tbsp whole milk
2 tsp vanilla extract

1 recipe Dark Chocolate Frosting (below)

1. For the cake: Preheat oven to 350F. Grease 2 8-inch round cake pans and cover bottom with rounds of parchment paper. Grease and flour the paper and sides of pans.

2. In a mixing bowl, beat the butter until smooth. Add the sugar and beat for 3-5 minutes. Add the eggs, beating 1 minute after each egg.

3. Combine and whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, cocoa, and espresso powder in a medium bowl. In another bowl, mix together milk and vanilla. With mixer on low, add 1/3 of dry ingredients to butter-sugar mixture, then 1/3 of the liquid ingredients. Repeat this process until everything is well combined. Beat for an additional 30 seconds.

4. Divide the batter evenly between the 2 pans. Bake 25-30 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, invert and remove the pans, and finish cooling on racks.

5. Assemble: Once completely cool, frost one layer, then add the second layer of cake. Frost the top and sides. Perfect corners or smooth edges aren't necessary!

Dark Chocolate Frosting

6 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp light corn syrup
pinch salt
2/3 cup confectioner's sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
8 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces, at room temperature

1. For the frosting: In a small saucepan, heat the heavy cream, corn syrup and salt to a low boil. Put the chocolate into a large mixing bowl. Pour the hot cream mixture over the chocolate and whisk to combine until everything is smooth.

2. With a mixer on medium, add in the sugar and vanilla. Add one piece of butter at a time to the mix, beating after every addition until no more lumps remain. Let cool in the refrigerator for 10-15 min or until the frosting comes to a thick spreadable consistency.

fried duck egg with french green lentils

I must have been a French farmer's daughter in another lifetime. I have the fondest affections for simply prepared rustic French dishes, even if it's only a crusty baguette and a piece of runny, ripe Époisse, or a simple frisée salad with lardon vinaigrette. Aside from really good Chinese food, this is what makes me happy. This is what I want to eat when I curl up in bed on a cold rainy afternoon. And it's the way I like to cook too, simply, fresh from the land, close to the home, close to the heart.

mire poix - I really wish carrots had right edges...

I love fried eggs. Especially overtop things, like hash, toast, baked beans, even salad. Even better is fried duck egg over stewed lentils. These lentils, in the classic french style, utilizes lentilles de puy from Auvergne in central France, where the nourishing volcanic soil produces this unique variety is has been referred to as "the caviar of lentils." Its excellence has been recognized by the French government in the form of an Appellation d'Origine Contrôllée (AOC), a distinguished certification that's also used for certain cheeses and wine. Of course, you can use any type of lentil you wish, although I truly believe the lentilles de puy tastes superior.

You can make a big batch of these lentils because the leftovers are all that much better, as the flavors soak into the grains over time. It's low in fat and and a great source of protein and nutrients.


Fried duck egg with French green lentils
L'Oeuf de canard sur le plat et lentilles de Puy

1 cup lentils, any variety
1 carrot, diced small
1 stalk celery, diced small
1/2 onion, diced small
4 sprigs thyme
2 strips bacon, diced small
1 Tbsp butter
1 clove garlic, minced
salt and pepper

eggs, duck or chicken
oil or clarified butter, for frying

1. Wash and rinse the lentils with water, and put into a large pot. Cover with 4-5 cups of water, bring to a boil, and simmer uncovered for 20 min.

2. In a saute pan, cook bacon and thyme together until bacon is golden brown and most of the fat is rendered out. Add the onion and cook until it's almost translucent. Add the salt, carrot, celery, garlic, butter, and 1 cup water. Cook for 5 more min to allow the carrot to tenderize.

3. Drain the water from the lentils. Stir in the bacon and vegetable mixture, with all the liquids and cook over low heat for 10 min. Pick out the thyme stems. Flavor with salt and pepper.

4. Fry the egg to your liking with oil or butter, leaving the center soft.

5. Spoon the lentils onto your plate and top with a fried egg. Garnish with chopped parsley or chives.