Momofuku Steamed Buns

Monday evening my friend Jeremy came over (hi, Jer!) and we finally embarked on a cooking project we'd been talking about for, oh, about two years. Jeremy brought some pork belly he brined for a couple of days and cooked Monday morning. I mixed up a strange but pleasant dough that included both yeast and chemical leaveners. We made super quick pickles and minced some scallions. We set up a steaming rig in a roasting pan with some canning rings, and we steamed almost 50 buns. Filled with sliced pork (we also made a couple with chicken), pickles and scallions a good schmear of hoisin sauce, the buns were so good I didn't even want to focus the camera because I wanted to get back to eating.

Sesame Bok Choy

Hello again, friends. How were your holidays? Things got a little crazy for me (ahem, hence my long absence), working most days I wasn't at school and traveling a lot. We spent Thanksgiving with my parents in Maine and the week of Christmas in Oklahoma with Adam's family (including our adorable nephew Eliot, squee!).

This bok choy isn't much like what I've been cooking lately. My midterm practical exam was supposed to be yesterday but, uh, it got snowed out. Anyway, I did a bunch of practicing this past week: lemon souffles, braised beef in red wine, puff pastry to hold the beef, poached salmon with beurre blanc, roasted chicken and veloute to go with it, creme brulee, mayonaisse, hollandaise, cheese danish for New Year's Day brunch, and the list goes on. Please note how much butter and cream and wine goes in all of these things. Oof.

Even though I still have to take the exam (it's been rescheduled to next week), this afternoon I just could not take it anymore. I wanted something simple and a little spicy, so I sauteed some greens with garlic and red pepper flakes and called it lunch.

Sesame Bok Choy
serves 2 as a side dish or 1 as a light lunch

If I had any rice in the fridge I would have put this bok choy on top of it, but I didn't. So I just ate it plain, on the couch, watchng Desperate Housewives on Netflix. And now you know how I unwind after spending the morning studying for the written exam, which is on Saturday. Heh. I found this pleasantly spicy but if you're looking for more heat, increase the red pepper flakes. The other good thing about this is that it took me all of ten minutes from getting the bok choy out of the fridge to eating. Yay! 

1 head bok choy, sliced crosswise into half inch wide strips, separated into rib pieces and leaf pieces
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 large pinch red pepper flakes
several dashes soy sauce
a few drops of toasted sesame oil
sesame seeds for garnish

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat until hot but not smoking and add the garlic and red pepper flakes. Saute, moving everything around the pan so it doesn't burn, until the garlic just begins to take on color.

Add the stem pieces of the bok choy - they take longer to cook, so adding them to the pan first ensures everything will cook evenly. Give them a minute or so until they just start to soften, then add the leaf pieces of the bok choy and continue to cook over medium high heat until the leaves wilt, just a few minutes.

Turn off the heat. Add a few dashes of soy sauce and a couple drops of sesame oil and stir it all around. Take a bite. It might need more soy sauce. Remove to a plate, garnish with sesame seeds, and enjoy.

Sesame Peanut Noodles

I seem to be on a bit of an Asian Noodle kick lately. I think it's because I actually found soba noodles and miso paste and tofu at the Hippie Mart* near Adam's house. Asian ingredients are tough to come by in South Boston... we have rather limited grocery options. Anyway, I thought a bowl of cold (ok, room temp) spicy peanut noodles would about hit the spot, and I was right! I used three different colors of peppers because I had leftover peppers from a hummus plate the other night, but one small sweet bell pepper should get the job done. Add some cubes of tofu and you've got yourself a complete meal. More or fewer red pepper flakes will adjust the spice factor, and be careful not to use too much peanut butter or you'll end up with an unbalanced bowl of oddly sweet noodles that just tastes weird and sort of like a sandwich.

Soba noodles come separated into four little bunches within the package; I used one and had leftovers for lunch** the next day but this could easily be doubled to feed four. If you're using whole wheat spaghetti or unmeasured noodles, you want a bunch that has a diameter roughly the size of a quarter

Spicy Peanut Sesame Noodles
2 servings

Soba noodles, one quarter sized bunch for two modest servings
3/4 cup cubed extra firm or firm tofu
1 small red bell pepper, sliced
2 scallions, sliced
2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds

For sauce:
2-3 Tablespoons smooth peanut butter
generous 1/4 cup soy sauce2 teaspoons finely chopped peeled fresh ginger1 medium garlic clove, finely chopped2-3 tablespoons rice vinegar2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
pinch of sugar or 1/2 teaspoon honey1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes (or hot sauce)
warm water

Start a pot of water to boil while you make the dressing; when boiling add the soba and cook according to package directions (my noodles were fairly fine so they took about three minutes).

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients for the sauce and add a couple of tablespoons of warm water. Whisk with a fork to combine until smooth, add more water if you want a thinner dressing. TASTE THE SAUCE. Adjust accordingly - if it's too sweet, add more soy sauce, if it's too salty add more peanut butter, add red pepper flakes or hot sauce for more spice. When it tastes the way you want it, set it aside.

When the soba noodles are done cooking drain and rinse under cool water, then return to the pot and add the dressing, tofu, peppers and scallions. Toss to combine, and divide into serving bowls. Top with toasted sesame seeds.

*Ok, so the Hippie Mart is actually Pemberton Farms in Cambridge, and it's more of a gourmet food store than a place to buy granola (not dissing granola, just using it as an example). We call it the Hippie Mart because it's not a corporate grocery store.

**When I took my noodles out of the fridge for lunch the peanut butter had congealed a bit and the noodles were all stuck together. I would let it come to room temp before eating leftovers in the future, or just eat it all for dinner!

Shrimp Ramen

I may have mentioned before that I'm a big Alton Brown fan. This particular recipe is one I've used before, but last time I followed the directions. Heh. You're supposed to lay down the half brick of ramen noodles (yes, the 11 cent ones) in a tin foil square and stack the other ingredients on top, then make a pouch and pour in the liquids, and bake the whole thing in a 400 degree oven for fifteen minutes.

Except I'm almost out of tin foil. So I heated the liquids (veggie broth, mirin, soy sauce, sesame oil) in a pot, then added some red pepper flakes, then added the veggies and shrimp together. I think next time I'll wait and add the shrimp at the very end; they got a bit overcooked what with the boiling instead of steaming. I also halved the original recipe but kept the original red pepper amount - so this was a spicy one. Also, soy sauce is plenty salty (even the low sodium variety) so I didn't add any extra salt. Next time I'll play with adding more and different vegetables, and I bet you could use chicken or beef in place of the shrimp, too...

Spicy Shrimp Ramenadapted from Alton Brown
serves 2
1 brick ramen noodles, broken up a little bit (toss the nasty spice packet)
10-12 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
4 scallions, chopped
1/4 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup dried mushrooms, chopped
1/2 cup fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, depending on how spicy you want it
3 cups vegetable broth (can add more if you like a brothy-er soup)
1/4 cup mirin (or use a combo of a scant 1/4 cup white wine and a tablespoon rice vinegar)
2 Tbsp soy sauce (low sodium preferred)
2 tsp sesame oil

Combine the veggie broth, mirin, soy sauce and sesame oil in a medium pot over medium heat until it simmers. Add the noodles, red pepper flakes, both kinds of mushrooms, scallions and onions, stir everything under and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the shrimp and cook another minute or two until the shrimp are pink and cooked through. Taste for spice, add more red pepper for more spice or more veggie broth to dilute if it's too salty. Serve immediately.

Potstickers!

A few weeks ago I had a particularly rough Thursday; things just didn't go my way. I was supposed to meet Adam at my house to make dinner and needed a few things at the market, but since I had such a crappy day and groceries are my retail therapy of choice, I ended up bringing home some semi-strange things we didn't *really* need. Six pounds of chicken. Two sizes of freezer bags. Wonton wrappers.

I don't know about you guys, but I love Alton Brown. I think he is the coolest, nerdiest, most awesome Bill-Nye-meets-Food-Network host of all, and I am really enjoying his Feasting on Waves series (so is Hugh). I dvr Good Eats on the regular. I got his first cookbook, I'm Just Here for the Food, as a Christmas gift two years ago and I had read the whole thing by the 27th. His turkey brine method is brilliant, and I trust him for a LOT of other methods.

So back to the wonton wrappers. Last year I made Alton's Perfect Potstickers from the Wonton Ways episode of Good Eats and they were delicious. But Alton has been ousted in the potsticker world, because these are better.

Last week Bitten ran a post by Ed Schneider in which he used chard in lieu of Napa cabbage and made his wrappers from scratch. I had this beautiful ruby chard from the farmer's market and my wonton-wrappers-bought-in-frustration in the fridge, so I followed his suggestions and made APPROXIMATELY THREE THOUSAND potstickers. Ok, sixty, but still Hugh and I only ate twenty and there are tons in the freezer now. Heads up guys, this makes a lot of food. It's also assembly-heavy, but if you need a project or have a bunch of people helping, it's fun!

Potstickers with Chard
adapted from Ed Schneider and the New York Times

For potstickers:
1 bunch swiss or ruby chard, finely chopped
6 or 7 shiitake mushrooms, finely chopped
1 inch knob of ginger, finely chopped
4 green onions, whites and greens, finely chopped
1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped
1 poblano pepper, finely chopped
1/2 lb ground pork
1 egg
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp soy sauce
a few drops sesame oil
salt
1 package of round wonton/dumpling wrappers
water for sealing the wrappers

For dipping sauce:
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 inch grated ginger
1/2 tsp aleppo pepper or red pepper flakes
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro

I did all of the chopping by hand because I needed a project, but you could also use a food processor. Chop the chard first, then salt it well and let it sit in a colander for 15-20 minutes while you chop the rest of the ingredients. When you're done practicing your knife skills, wrap the chopped chard in a clean towel or cheesecloth (I used a paper towel, but it tore) and squeeze as much liquid out of it as you can.

Combine all the filling ingredients in a bowl and mix together using your hands. Stick this in the fridge for 20-30 minutes. Make the dipping sauce while you wait - just combine all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk/fork it together a little bit. Take the filling out of the fridge and put the little buggers together.

I will now commence using a clock analogy: to assemble the wontons, hold a wrapper in the palm of your non-dominant hand. Put a little bit of filling (about a tablespoon, but you'll get a feel for the right amount as you keep making them) in the center of the circle, and wet the edge of the wrapper at about twelve o'clock. Bring six o'clock up to meet 12 and seal them by squeezing. Now we are looking at the top half of a clock: Wet 1 o'clock and bring 2 o'clock up to seal it. Wet 11 o'clock and bring 10 o'clock up to seal it. It's ok if you make just one dart per side, that's how I started (first photo) and they taste just as good, but you could also make two darts per side (second photo) and you'll get a curvier dumpling that stands up better in the pan.

Is this not making any sense? Watch this video and I think you'll see what I mean. Jayden of Steamy Kitchen also has some helpful photos in this post. As you assemble, be sure to keep the wrappers and just-constructed wontons under a damp towel so they'll be easier to work with. Also be sure to seal tightly - you don't want the filling to come out in the pan.

Once you've made your million dumplings, now you get to cook them! I could fit twenty in my 12 inch skillet (non-stick, unless you're insane) and that was perfect for 2 people for dinner. Put a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil in a 12 inch (non-stick, unless you are crazy) skillet and place the wontons in - stand them up on their flat little butts (the way they are sitting on that cookie sheet, please). Now add about a 1/4 inch (3/4 cup or so) of water, cover the pan, and turn it to medium-high. Once it boils, turn it down to low for 7-8 minutes. This gives the dumplings chance to steam to done-ness. Once they're steamed through, take off the lid and let the water cook off - probably another 5-10 minutes. Here is where the magic happens: all that's left in the pan is the vegetable oil, so the bottoms (the aforementioned flat little butts) get nice and crispy and golden brown.

Serve the potstickers crispy side up with dipping sauce.

Serves 6, but you can freeze them - place the assembled but uncooked potstickers on a cookie sheet so they are not touching. Freeze for 30 minutes, then take them off the cookie sheet and put them in a plastic freezer bag. This way you can take out as many as you need instead of a giant frozen clump.