Duck Fat Fries smothered in Beef, Onion, Beer Gravy - a Meat and Potatoes Creative Cooking Crew Challenge

Gift giving can fall into two camps.  I mean, there are definitely more kinds, but to keep it simple, lets just go with two.  There are those totally selfless gifts.  Those that benefit only the recipient.  The kind that are chosen after thoughtful, careful consideration of the likes and dislikes of the person receiving the gift.  Like the DVDs of The Secret Life of the American Teenager that Seth gave me one year.  I had been (rightfully) too embarrassed to tell him that I watch the show (It is seriously so so bad, but I cannot stop watching), but somehow this secret came out.  And a few weeks later, there they were, two seasons of it on DVD for me to enjoy and relish in all their soap opera-y glory, with the caveat that Seth would never partake in Secret Life viewing.

Then there are those that conveniently benefit both the recipient and the giver.  Valentine's Day this year was, perhaps, not my finest moment, as both the gift I gave Seth and the the gift I gave Max both fall in this camp.  Like these towels - I gave Seth two.  Guess who gets to use one of them.  What a coincidence!  Max received Finding Nemo.  Because I adore it.

And speaking of things I adore, I love making oven fries.  Tossing some veggies or potatoes with oil, salt, and pepper and popping them in the oven - super quick and super easy.  I should point out, I am not anti-deep frying.  But it is hard to fit it in as a "side dish."  If I'm doing it, I need it to be the main event.  But Seth, his face becomes ever so slightly crestfallen when it is announced that the fries I am serving aren't "real fries."

So when the Creative Cooking Crew's challenge of meat and potatoes (round-up can be found here) was revealed this month, I figured I would give Seth a culinary gift of sorts- french fries.  Deep-fried fries - all fried in duck fat.  None of this oven business.  But really, I just wanted to play around with some duck fat.  And by culinary gift, I mean, I told Seth that he would be doing the actual frying (in fairness, this is something he enjoys).  I'm such a giver, what can I say...

We topped these french fries with a beefy gravy filled with onions and beer.  And topped with a dollop of sour cream and a touch of truffle oil.

It figures that all my "presents" would come back to bite me - Seth's Valentine's Day gift to me?  A mandoline to make the french fries.


Ingredients
For the meaty gravy:
1/2 - 3/4 pound beef stew meat
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt
pepper
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 onions, sliced
1 large thyme sprig
1 teaspoon juniper berries
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground bayleaf
3 garlic cloves
8 ounces of a nice beer (we actually made this twice, once with Chimay Blue and once with a Black Butte Porter)
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

For the fries:
11.5 ounce container duck fat
1 quart canola oil
4 smallish russet potatoes, julienned into 6 mm strips
1 cup flour
 reserved seasoning mix
sprinkling of fleur de sel
drizzle of truffle oil
2 tablespoons parsley, for serving
dollop of sour cream, for serving

Instructions
For the meaty gravy:
Grind juniper berries, cloves, peppercorns, and coriander together, and then mix in a 1/4 teaspoon of ground bay leaves.  Set aside.

In a dutch oven or heavy skillet, heat olive oil over high heat and brown the beef.  Make sure to get the sides nice and brown, then turn the heat to low to finish cooking the beef until just barely pink.  Turn the heat off, and remove the beef to a cutting board.  Let the beef rest for a few minutes, then shred or slice into small pieces.  Try to reserve any of the beef juice that runs out while shredding.

In the dutch oven or skillet, melt butter over medium heat and add onion, 1 1/2 teaspoons of the reserved seasoning mix, and the leaves from a large sprig of thyme. Cook on medium for about 5 minutes, then reduce to low, cooking for another 15 minutes to get those onions soft and silky.  Add in the garlic and cook for a minute, until fragrant.  Add the beef and any of its reserved juices back into the pan.  Add the beer, letting it cook down just a bit.  Add in the brown sugar and vinegar, and let it cook on low for a few minutes.

For the fries:
Peel potatoes, keeping them in a large pot of cold water after peeling.  Julienne each one into 6 mm strips, keeping them in the cold water again until frying.

We used the double frying method for the fries to get them as crispy as possible.  Pour the canola oil in one saucepan, and the duck fat in another.  We found it best to keep the canola oil at 250 degrees and the duck fat at 300 degrees.  When the oil was at a higher temperature, it would cook too much in the canola and not enough in the duck fat, not picking up that delicious, savory taste of the duck.

We also tried out frying the potatoes without dredging them in flour but they were soggier and less crispy that way.  So, mix flour with some water to make it a consistency just thicker than heavy cream (probably about 1/2 cup water), and dredge a handful of the julienned potatoes in the mixture before tossing them in the canola oil.  Fry for just a minute, until the potato stops looking opaque.  Use a skimmer to take the fries out of the canola oil and place them in the duck fat, frying until golden and crispy, about 3-4 minutes.  Set on paper towel and repeat until all the potatoes are cooked.

Toss fries with a bit of truffle oil, and sprinkle with seasoning mix and fleur de sel.  Top the fries with gravy, parsley, and a dollop of sour cream.

Cherimoya Smoothie

When I go into couch mode for some supine sofa action, Rambo (our pink-nosed truffle-pig feline) becomes my hat, laying on my head as though it his job to make sure none of my body heat escapes through the top of my body. He isn't an intensely cuddly cat, so this burst of sweetness is fully embraced and never taken for granted.

One Saturday morning, a day rife for couching - all drizzly, grey, and cloudy- I went into couch mode and put Max into it right along with me.  With both of us pajama-clad, I popped in Monsters, Inc. for entertainment and got out the super-old, super-soft comforter for us to cuddle under.

I feel compelled to point out that it was a comforter - not one of these "throws".  I never quite know how to cuddle properly under a throw blanket.  One needs ample blanket to cover all of oneself, and possibly another person, and there should be some blanket to spare.  I don't mind sharing with the tot - but sharing with Seth is out of the question.  I actually retrieve another blanket for him to use during those rare times he does want a blanket, as sharing with him throws my blanket coverage way off balance, leaving me unable to move limbs, fingers and toes in fear of finding these parts out of the blanket zone.  So no sharing.

Rambo found his couch spot on my head. And the puff cat found herself a spot to nestle into.  I went into the kitchen to make some hot chocolate to round out this morning of movie and and couch.

Just as I was about to get the hot chocolate going, my dad called.  And by the end of the conversation, I had somehow been talked into leaving the cocoon of snuggly amazingness and found myself going out into the grey soup known as the outside and down the few blocks to the farmers market.  I'm still not sure how this all happened.  So, Max and I, still relatively pajama-clad (as I wanted an easy transition back to the couch), were on our way to get some fresh produce - namely, the elusive cherimoya, which I'm not able to find often.  This smoothie was the result of that unexpected excursion outside.  Max and I took these smoothies, instead of hot chocolate, back to the couch to pick up where we left off.  The felines followed suit.

Ingredients
2 cherimoya
2 kiwifruit
a sprinkling of mandarin zest
2/3 cup vanilla coconut milk
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
handful of strawberries
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of sugar, depending on the sweetness of your fruit

Instructions
The cherimoya need to have their tough skins removed, as well as their seeds.  The de-seeding will take some time, as they have lots of seeds dispersed throughout the fruit.  So this will take a bit of patience.  Just get them out, and it will all be worth it.  Once that is done, place everything in a bowl and blend together with an immersion blender. Or place in a blender and blend - whatever is easiest for you!

A Chinese New Year's Banquet in Richmond BC

Many holidays are about friends, family and eating, but make that eating Chinese food and you're pretty much guaranteed a deliciously good time. The ultimate holiday when it comes to these three activities is Chinese New Year, which is like Christmas, Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July all rolled into one. It's THE big holiday in China and pretty much anywhere there are lots of Chinese people. This year I had the great pleasure of celebrating a bit of the holiday with Stacey Chyau from Taiwan and David Lang from Hong Kong both of whom greatly increased my understanding of the holiday. 

So here's a little bit of what I learned:

The preparation for Chinese New Year is very important, people clean their houses, sweeping away any ill fortune then decorating with plum blossoms and putting red paper decorations on windows and doors depicting themes like wealth, happiness and longevity. Red is a very lucky color! Even wearing it is lucky.

Lots of shopping is important too, because once the holiday starts it's time to eat and drink and not to be cooking (or cleaning). It's a time of year when Chinese people visit with friends and family and take a vacation. So about that food…

A Chinese banquet on New Years's eve or night might include some important symbolic foods such as a whole chicken, a whole fish and barbecued pork. Some people enjoy a banquet at home one night and at a restaurant another night. Because the holiday is celebrated for two weeks, you still have time to squeeze in some celebrating and celebratory eating! 

I enjoyed my Chinese New Year's banquet at Fisherman's Terrace restaurant in the Aberdeen Centre with my hosts from Tourism Richmond. Our dinner began with a big platter of barbecued pork, roast pork, roast duck and other delicacies. Eating barbecued pork is a sign of wealth, since long ago only the wealthy could afford it. 

Next was braised dry oysters with fat choy. Oysters are supposed to open the door to good fortune, in particular a strong stock market! Also the greens are symbolic of long life. 

This was an unusual dish, with melon in mayonnaise and shrimp balls, similar to what I've had as dim sum, only coated in almonds. Shrimp indicate happiness and good fortune. 

We had a whole crispy chicken which is important because a whole chicken symbolizes completion "head to tail" and seeing things through. 

Our meal featured a lot of seafood, which was great because Chinese restaurants tend to do a fantastic job with seafood. Lobster was served with a consommé sauce. 

Scallops were served with mushrooms and other vegetables. Both lobster and scallops suggest regeneration and mushrooms, longevity. 

Crab also represents regeneration, and it was served mixed with long noodles, representing long life. You might not see the crab, but the flavor was very strong. 

The most familiar dish for me was the whole rock cod doused in soy, ginger, scallions and garlic. A whole fish is important because the word for fish sounds like the word for "surplus."

Rice is served at the end of the meal at a banquet, and this dish was fried rice in a lotus leaf wrapper. Rice represents fertility, luck and wealth. 

For dessert we had a baked tapioca pudding with a layer of lotus seed paste. It was unusual to me, but very typical at banquets, or so I'm told.

Greens made a second appearance at the lion dance I saw the next day at the Yaohan Center, another mall. Martial arts troupes wear the lion costume and grab a head of lettuce hung high at the entrance to stores. Cai ching or plucking the greens is another way to ensure luck and good fortune. The greens are often paired with a red envelope, filled with money. Red envelopes are given to children or anyone who is unmarried. But anyone and everyone can pose with the God of Fortune, holding a gold bar, even a Canadian mountie!

My only regret is that I do not have a video of the Chinese dragons dancing to Gangnam style...

Gung Hay Fat Choy! 

Disclaimer: My thanks to Tourism Richmond for hosting me on this trip. 

Puffy Hearts and a Rosy Brie Dip with Strawberries and Pistachios

How we think of ourselves and how others think of us are not always the same.  I like to think of myself as a romantic.  But it has come to my attention that this is not an accurate description of myself.  I blame my mom.  Just kidding.  Kinda.  I'm not really kidding, but I don't want to sound like I don't love my mom - I love you mom!!  Of course parents are blamed for everything.  Such a cliche, right?

When it comes to Valentine's Day, I can totally do the cheesy side of it.  Like these puffy hearts.  Heart-shaped eggs.  And I make a homemade heart-shaped banner thing to hang on the wall (I do silly banners for all the holidays).  This year, I made marshmallows and fudge and cookies and chocolate pretzel toffee bark and put them all in these cute containers decorated with hearts.

But the other stuff - the romantic stuff - seems so intimidating.  Seth asked me, "Ohh what should we do for Valentine's Day," and I'm like, "We could either make dinner together... or I make dinner...or we get takeout?" He was like, "so just like any other night."  I was like, well, you know, but special food!  He then replied "You never think big!"

I asked my mom what her boyfriend and she were doing for Valentine's Day this year.  And she said "nothing." She said she already told him she doesn't want to do anything.  And this wasn't said in a mean or bitter way.  She just genuinely doesn't want to do anything.

So you can see now where I get it.  But I'm not quite at that level of anti-romance yet.  I hope.  However, I did get Seth bath towels as a gift.  So there's that.  Super amazingly soft and all.  But, you know, they are still towels.

But Seth, he is the one that can think big.  Many moons ago, I did a study abroad in Germany.  One morning, the doorbell rang.  Which was strange.  Not because it was early (which it was).  But because I knew like a total of 4 people in the city. So I went down to the door and Seth was standing there.  A total surprise.  When he asked me to marry him - it involved kayaking and creating a large fort out of sheets.  

So I might not be good at the big stuff.  The grand stuff.  The romance.  But I can do the cute and cheesy (literally cheesy - I really crack myself up over the most ridiculous things).  Like these puff pastry hearts and brie melted with strawberries, white wine, rose, sugar, and pistachios.

Maybe it is best to think of these not as faults per se.  But a division of labor.  Specialization.  After all, someone has to do the taxes.

Ingredients
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
1 egg, lightly beaten
4 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons ground dried rose leaves
1/2 pound wedge of brie
2/3 cup chopped strawberries, plus more for garnish
2 tablespoons pistachios
splash of white wine
3/4 teaspoon ground dried rose leaves
2 teaspoons sugar

Instructions
Heat oven to 350.  Mix 4 teaspoons sugar and 2 teaspoons ground rose in a small bowl.  Brush the thawed puff pastry sheet with the egg.  Sprinkle the sheet with rose sugar. Use heart shape cookie cutter to cut hearts from the dough.  Bake 10-15 minutes, until puffy and golden brown.

Heat oven to 350.  In a small oven-proof baking dish, combine the wedge of brie (chopped up a bit), strawberries, pistachios, white wine, rose, and sugar.  Bake for 10-15 minutes, until all melty.  Give it a stir and top with more strawberries.

Frost Kissed Artichokes with Honey Dijon Mayonnaise

Artichokes are a fussy vegetable. They aren't a bundle of asparagus spears, easily turned into a tasty side with some olive oil, a sprinkling of salt and pepper and a splash of balsamic vinegar. In fact they barely even resemble something edible.

Artichokes are all about process. From prep to cooking to that culminating moment when you finally sit down to eat the fruit (or veggie) of your labors. Instead of resenting the artichoke for its demands of high maintenance, we embrace it.

Each step lovingly performed. First the trimming of pointy ends to avoid pricked skin. Then in this case, a lobbing off of the top third to create a nook to hold the creamy dip. Lemon juice thoroughly applied to the exposed surfaces to prevent discoloration. A hot steamy boil to cook and a cool refreshing one after to stop the cooking process. Finally, the inedible parts of the choke carefully removed. 

A dollop of dip is placed in the hollow and then you can sit down with your reward, dipping each of the outer leaves into the embodiment of richness.  Peeling off that bit of artichoke, delicious and grassy in its own right, but hinting at the grand finale to come later. The inner leaves become completely edible, a crescendo of artichoke, building and building and building until that glorious and bittersweet moment comes when you realize that the heart is all that's left. The artichoke is almost finished but the most delicious bites still await you. That heart is carefully portioned out into equal size bites, neither too big nor too small but that Goldilocks-size of just right. A slight hesitation is made before dipping your one remaining chunk of heart. Very slight...

Now "frost kissed" artichokes are particularly amazing.  During those occasional winters in California when the temperature drops below freezing, we get a couple weeks of unusually nutty and delicious artichokes labeled, "frost kissed."  They may look a little off-putting, with the brown blistering outer leaves, but fully cooked, they are fantastic, and must be picked up whenever available!

Ingredients
2 frost kissed (or large globe) artichokes
2 egg yolks
1 cup canola
2 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard (I like Maille brand)
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon lemon juice
fresh thyme sprig
salt and pepper to taste
lemon wedges, for serving

Instructions
To start, set a large pot of salted water on the stove to boil. Using kitchen shears, trim off pointy tips of artichoke leaves. Using a large, sharp knife, cut off the top 1-inch of the artichokes and the end of each stem. Using a knife, remove any small leaves attached directly to the base of the stem. Wash artichokes thoroughly under cold water to clean them off, and dry with paper towel.

Once water is boiling, place artichokes in, and cover with a clean cheese cloth, dish cloth, or cloth napkin. This will soak up water and ensure the artichokes stay wet while cooking. Cover pot with lid and cook about 15-20 minutes. When they are ready, they should be just soft enough to push a fork into the inside of the stem, but no softer. Carefully remove artichokes and pace in a colander over sink to drain.  Place in a large ice bath.

I like to make mayonnaise by hand, though I know others find the food processor easier to use for this. I place the egg yolks in a small bowl, then place a cup of oil next to me and get out a tablespoon. Whisk the egg yolks to break them up. Add a tablespoon of oil. Whisk that into the egg yolks so the yolks absorb it. Then repeat. And repeat. Just be patient. It will probably take about 10 minutes to get through all the oil. Then stir in the Dijon, honey, lemon juice, thyme leaves, and salt and pepper.  Refrigerate until serving.

When ready to serve, carefully remove the innermost clump of leaves to expose the fuzzy choke beneath.  Using a spoon, scoop out all of the fuzzy choke and toss.  Sprinkle salt and pepper into the exposed heart. Then, spoon the honey Dijon mayonnaise into the hollow of each artichoke.  Serve with lemon wedges.

Taco Bell's Carnitas Steak Burrito - A Review

It had been one of those days.  The words "Wow Max, that is quite a mess you've got going on here" were overheard as I stumbled out of bed. Stools were being maneuvered around the kitchen, the key to toddler muffin stealing.  Painting time turned into finger painting.  Which turned into a trail of handprints as I attempted to wrangle the toddler for a cleaning.  Markers were used to color not pieces of paper, but tiny hands.  And again, the toddler had to be chased for more cleaning.  Tantrums appeared to be erupting all over the place.  And each mess of toys seemed to give birth to three more messes.

On a day like this, I knew getting dinner on the table would be challenging, to say the least.  More likely, an impossibility.

That afternoon, the most wonderful of emails was sitting there, just waiting to be read.  One that said we would have the opportunity to review the Carnitas Steak Burrito through Daily Buzz Food and Taco Bell.  It appeared to be fortuitous timing.  Dinner was figured out!

Click here to read the full review.


I was financially compensated for this review by Taco Bell through DailyBuzz Food. The opinions are completely my own, based on my experience.

Dan Dan Noodles Recipe

I love Chinese food but I rarely make it at home. I have a few favorite recipes, but I am definitely interested in trying more so I was thrilled to see Fuchsia Dunlop's latest cookbook, Every Grain of Rice which focuses on simple Chinese home cooking. I like the book, my only complaint is that sometimes more explanation of certain ingredients would be helpful; for example in my local Chinese markets I can find lots of different noodles, but some of the recipes just say "wheat noodles" or when I see an ingredient like celery I wonder, should I use conventional celery or Chinese celery? 

I made a dish I adore and which is featured on the cover, Dan Dan noodles. While I have certain ingredients like both dark and light soy sauce, Chinkiang vinegar and Shaoxing wine in order to make this particular dish I went ahead and purchased some sweet fermented sauce and embarked on a search for find ya cai. Ok, this is where is gets complicated. I searched high and low at every Chinese grocery store I could find and there was no ya cai, a kind of preserved mustard green. In fact one store told me they hadn't carried it in a long time despite requests from restaurants. I did find lots of other preserved vegetables and Tianjin preserved vegetable another kind of salt pickled cabbage with garlic which I used instead. It's a delicious savory vegetable that adds a really nice texture to dishes and is fairly easy to find. 

I adapted the recipe just a tiny bit, I didn't think the oil was necessary for frying the ground pork because it is so fatty anyway and of course, I had to substitute Tianjin for ya cai. I am going to keep looking for ya cai, but I am very happy to have discovered preserved vegetables and now that I have purchased several kinds I will be experimenting with them. They are inexpensive, come in many different varieties like turnip and cabbage and mustard green stems, and if you like salty picky flavors they are very appealing!

Note: if you can find ya cai by all means use it

Dan Dan Noodles adapted from Fuchsia Dunlop

Makes 2 large servings

1/4 lb ground pork (I used  fatty not lean)

2 teaspoons Shaoxing wine

1 teaspoon sweet fermented sauce (also called sweet bean sauce)

1 teaspoon light soy sauce

11 ounces fresh wheat noodles, medium thickness (not the very thin or wide ones)

3/4 cup chicken broth

2 teaspoons light soy sauce

1 teaspoon Chianking vinegar (also called black rice vinegar)

3 Tablespoons chili oil or to taste

5 Tablespoons Tianjin preserved vegetables  (Tianjin is often available in a squat brown ceramic pot)

1/4 cup sliced green onions, divided

Heat a wok or large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add the meat and cook, stirring to break it up. When the meat is cooked, add the Shaoxing wine and the sweet fermented sauce and stir to combine. Cook until fragrant, but still juicy. Remove from the heat and set aside. 

Heat the chicken broth in a pan or microwave, then add to a large serving bowl. To the broth add the soy sauce, Chianking vinegar, chili oil, the Tianjin preserved vegetables and 3/4 of the green onions. 

Cook the noodles then rinse and drain. Toss the noodles with the sauce and top with the meat mixture and the reserved green onions. 

Enjoy! 

Disclaimer: I received Every Grain of Rice as a review copy, this post includes an Amazon affiliate link