Cocktail: Weeknight Gin & Tonic

Ahh the gin and tonic.
Of course, this is just how to make a gin & tonic that you can drink any day of the week, but this is a weeknight gin & tonic because it is a no-frills, one cup, easy-to-make cocktail that you can throw together any weekend night for a crisp, refreshing beverage break after a tough day of work...or doing absolutely nothing.
Don't have any plans on a Friday night? Now you do! Drinking one of these is your damned plan. So get out your coasters, put them next to your computer, and follow these rules.
My friend J said I make good gin & tonics, but honestly I don't know anything I'm doing that's special. I use cheap gin (Gordon's, in a freaking plastic bottle nonetheless) and Safeway brand DIET tonic water. What makes any cocktail, however, is fresh squeezed lime.
So here you go.

Get a pint glass (just a tall glass that you even use for water at your house will do).
Pour in 2 shot glasses full of gin. Now you don't want to get hammered by yourself...well maybe you do. Put in 3 if you want.
Squeeze in the juice of one whole lime. Strain seeds with your hand.
Now the ice, maybe four cubes.
Top off with tonic water and enjoy!

In summary:
-2 shots gin
-juice of 1 lime
-4 ice cubes
-top with tonic water (1/2 to 2/3 of the total volume)

Treat yourself nice with a lime slice on the rim, or screw it. You're already drinking by yourself, who the hell are you trying to impress!

Leftovers: Steamed Rice Rolls, Bok Choy, and Poached Quail Eggs

Although I always try to buy in bulk since it is cheaper, I almost always try and cook everything I buy in one cooking session. You never know when you'll have time to cook again and I hate letting vegetables or other perishables go to waste. But sometimes, a serving size big enough to feed eight people isn't really the best idea either. Since I'm usually cooking for myself, I tend to eat more than I really need when I make a larger portion, just because it's there. Also, who wants to really eat eight meals of the same exact thing if I do manage to stave off my desire to eat a whole rotisserie chicken?
Little did I know, how perfect the rice rolls were for this very dilemma.
In my last post, I talked about steaming the rice rolls rather than pan frying. Although this detracts from the flavor and browned texture gained from the frying, it is more convenient and allows for a dipping sauce. And who doesn't love making their own dipping sauce. That's like half the fun at Hot Pot City, all-you-can-eat hot pot, at the mall near 99 Ranch.
I also thought, eh...this is too much like the last meal so I thought I'd spice it up with some poached quail eggs. Now, I've never worked with quail eggs, but I thought poaching them would be easy since I was already boiling water! Yeah, I'm that lazy.

So here it goes:

1. Boil Water. Easy enough.
2. Cut the ends off of Bok Choy and add both the noodles and Bok Choy a steamer placed above the boiling water. Wait 5 minutes. (Or add the Bok Choy later so it steams for like 3 minutes?...it does get a little droopy?)

Well that's about it.

Now comes the part that I was experimenting with. How to deal with quail eggs. These beautifully spotted miniature eggs have a lot of potential. It makes a much prettier, and easier to work with, garnish for salads and other meals that just crave that dash of protein. However, how the heck do you use them? One idea was to cook them in my mini Tamagoyaki square fry pan, but I went with poaching. I added around a teaspoon of white vinegar to my already boiling water and dropped them right in.

But wait, how the heck do you crack one of these things? Well, honestly, I didn't know either. You can't just do the old fashioned "hit on a hard surface and separate it down the middle. They are too small and tough. Unless you have the fingers of a small marsupial, I don't think it's going to work out well for you. After many (around four) a spilled egg on the counter, I settled on one trick in particular.

Lay the eggs on their sides on a cutting board. And yes, cut them at the wide end (about 1/4 of the way from it) of their shell using a chef's knife. Cut down, as if you are slicing off the wide cap, as much as you can. Then, you can open this like a hinged lid and pour the delicious eggy goodness that lies within.

After dropping them into the vinegar/boiling water, they take about 1 (soft-boiled)-2 minutes to fully cook. Use a slotted spoon to fish them out and lay them over the cooked cabbage and rice rolls.

Oh and ONE recipe I tried for sauce. Please make something up to your fancy.

Dipping Sauce
4 Tbsp. Soy Sauce (light preferably)
1/2 Tbsp. Sesame Oil
1/2 Tbsp. sugar
Grated Ginger (around 1/2 Tbsp if you like it)
2 chopped green onions (whitish green and white parts)
Any other suggestions? Just make it up...it's fun.


And it makes a killer bento, but not a killer picture...

Bacon-Wrapped Scallops

There is something mythical about bacon. Is it the sound and smell of it frying up in its own lard in the skillet? Its beautifully crisp texture, that melts in your mouth as the warm fat hits your tongue? Or the salty, savory flavor that envelops every last slice? Well, it's probably all of these things, but the most powerful aspect of bacons repertoire is the ability to make everything else taste better. Every other food bows down to bacon's awesomeness and allows its flavors to synergize with bacons divine taste.
So, to come to the point of this post, bacon makes jumbo scallops taste better if that's possible. When God himself created land and sea, there was a transition point where they were one. That, my friends, is bacon-wrapped scallops.

So, for what I did to make these. This may not be technically sound, but again, they were gone in less than 10 minutes. So I don't know.

Ingredients:
-1 part Jumbo Sea Scallops
-1 part bacon strips (I bought thicker cut with minimal amount of fat, which was still a lot, and it was peppered...and amazing)
-Brown Sugar
-Butter
-Vegetable Oil
-Kosher Salt and Pepper (as needed)

Inedible Ingredient:
Toothpicks and Tin Foil

1. Place the toothpicks in a cup of water. This prevents them from charring during the broiling.
2. Prepare the jumbo scallops for the frying pan by draining them of any excess moisture and blotting them dry. This allows you to achieve a good sear. You may add salt to both flat ends at this time, but I don't think I did.
3. This step might be optional, since overcooking scallops can give a rubbery texture, but I did this in addition to the broiling in order to more fully cook the scallop and provide the good brown crust. I probably will try skipping it next time. Heat 1 tsp. vegetable oil in a frying pan (I did nonstick) and sear the scallop on both sides until brown. About 1-2 minutes on the first side, 1 minute on the second side.
4. Wrap the seared scallops with raw bacon (trim if necessary, depending on size of your scallops) and insert two soaked toothpicks in to hold it all together. Place tin foil then BWS (bacon-wrapped scallops, yeah it has an acronym) in a rimmed baking sheet (used a rectangular cake pan).
5. Sprinkle brown sugar on both sides of each scallop to allow carmelization. Melt butter in the microwave and use a brush to coat both of the exposed flat ends of the scallops.
6. Put in oven broiler for around 5 minutes (?) or until bacon is fully cooked. Flip once halfway through and recoat with melted butter if desired. Serve immediately

I served this with some Yakisoba
I guess I should post that "recipe" later, but it's pretty much buckwheat noodles and the premade sauce with random veggies and seafood. I actually used some of the leftover bacon in it too.

How to make your George Foreman into a Panini Press

Enough Said.

Random: Leftovers

Wow, I'm having the rice rolls with chicken and bok choy for lunch and it re-heated great.

It's weird, but I almost enjoy dishes that I cook even more the day after I've actually made them. Sure, freshness for baked goods is important, but sometimes even for those I feel like I can just remove myself more from the cooking process and taste it more as an outside observer. Any feelings of being rushed or lingering anger about burning the XO sauce are long gone and I can just focus on the food. Not only am I able to taste flavors better, but I can actually be a better critic of what I did. And if it's actually good, it's much more enjoyable.

Soy Sauce Chicken, Baby Bok Choy, and Rice Rolls (Banh Cuon) in XO Sauce

99 Ranch, a market in Richmond that specializes in Asian (particularly strong in Chinese and Japanese) groceries, always inspires me to try something new. Their unique selection of specialty items is really unparalleled.

Anywho, I picked up some baby Bok Choy, a miniaturized version of the popular Chinese cabbage, that I feel is easier to work with in a stir fry and provides more of a crunch.
I also wanted to try some rice rolls. I've only had a similar type of dish at a local Korean restaurant that I really liked so I thought I'd give them a try. I heard they are popular in Vietnamese (they are also called Banh Cuon, or "rolled pastry") and Chinese cooking. The pleasantly plump noodles come in a saran-wrapped package in the refrigerated noodle and bread section. This package in particular came with pieces of dried shrimp and green onion. Although my friend J-Funk recommended the plain ones, I couldn't resist the red and green speckles that just made them seem even more jolly.
J-Funk recommended that I steam them and I found out that other sites recommend it as well. So a 5-minute steam (even along with the Bok Choy too?) is an easy way to make a quick meal out of the Banh Cuon, but I wanted to go for pan-frying. Ever since I purchased my 12-inch stainless steel All Clad fry pan, I've always been leaning towards stir fry.
I always liked the taste of XO sauce when I ordered it from restaurants so I gave it a try. It usually has some sort of seafood (dried shrimp, fish or scallop), but I guess I accidentally bought a vegetarian variety (uses tofu and shitake mushrooms...and a little of my good friend MSG) which tasted fine. So there you go vegetarians! You too can have XO sauce if you make your Chinese food at home!
So here's the recipe (everything is kind of haphazard, do with it what you will):

-1 boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into cubes or strips
-4 baby bok choy bunches
-1/2 package Rice Rolls
-2 Tablespoons XO Sauce
-2 tsp. grated ginger (1 inch cube grated, OPTIONAL)
-4 green onions
-1 Tbsp. vegetable oil (2 tsp for chicken, 2 tsp for vegetables)

Chicken Marinade:
-3 Tbsp. Soy Sauce
-1-1.5 Tbsp. Sugar
-1 Tbsp. Sesame Oil
-Couple dashes Maggi Sauce
-2-3 tsp. cornstarch

1. Combine all marinade ingredients in large container (I have a Tupperware that I just use for raw meat marinades). The idea behind the soy sauce and sugar is to create a brining situation that keeps the meat juicy and tender without losing too much water weight. The cornstarch is a technique called "velveting" where the cornstarch provides a sort of, protective layer on the outside of the chicken which allows the inside more time to cook without the outside burning. This is necessary for larger cubes of meat and I just feel adds to the texture of chicken.
2. Refrigerate marinating chicken for at least 20 minutes and up to 1 hour or so. (can go longer)
3. Wash and cut off the ends of the baby bok choy to separate the individual leaves. Grate the ginger. Wash and slice the white ends (up to the whitish green area) on the green onions, discarding the green tops and the rooted bottoms.
4. Cut the rice rolls into 2 to 3-inch long segments for easier cooking and eating.
5. Heat 2 tsp. of vegetable oil in a skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering.
6. Pat chicken dry as much as possible using paper towels (this allows a nice brown color to develop, the sugar added earlier also adds to the brown color via carmelization) and cook until the thickest piece is no longer pink when cut open. About 5-7 minutes depending on your pan.
7. Place chicken on another plate or in a bowl and cover with tin foil.
8. Heat remaining vegetable oil in skillet until shimmering. Add ginger (optional) and cook until fragrant, around 30 seconds. Then add 2 Tbsp. XO Sauce. I made the mistake of just adding XO sauce since it has soybean oil already in it, but that, ladies and gentlemen, was a fail. The sediment of tofu and mushrooms burned before the oil could reach any commendable temperature.
9. Add the noodles first, then the bok choy when the noodles are browned (about 3 minutes if you do it right I think). When done the noodles will become limp, but not to the point where they cannot hold their own shape. The bok choy will change from a pale to a darker green and become slightly wilted.
10. Add the sliced green onions for garnish and serve!

Again, this is totally something I made up, but it was an easy meal and fun to make and eat! I'll have leftovers for lunch tomorrow and let you know how it was!

All-Clad Stainless Fry Pan

After hours and hours spent drooling over the reviews and recipes involving stainless steel skillets at cooksillustrated.com (brought to you by the good people who make America's Test Kitchen on PBS, or whatever your public broadcasting station is), I decided to spring for an All-Clad.

I haven't even used it yet and I am having dreams about pan-searing a NY strip steak, deglazing the pan with red wine, scraping fond, and adding some rosemary to the steak sauce. Must wait...for...instant-read thermometer...to arrive...from Amazon. Will review when I finally cook with it.

Baked Alaskas

Reading this review makes me want to make a Baked Alaska with vanilla ice cream (complete with specks!) on an Adult Brownie from Andronico's that much more. http://adultbrownie.com/


ICI (5 Stars)

Wow. This place makes your night. Literally.
If you had a bad day, just go to Ici. I'm pretty sure you'll look back on it and just remember what flavors you got on your double-scoop cone from heaven.

Since they change their flavors constantly, I'll just advise tasting 2 or 3 (yeah, sorry for those waiting, but I waited for you too) flavors and just picking your favorite(s). It's all about the flavors. They are just so piquant and fresh that each visit makes for an unforgettable, unique experience every time. I am confident that you will make a great flavor decision.

But I want to talk about two other treats that I love from Ici. Wait, they serve things other than ice cream?! I'm sure you've eyed, or maybe even fondled, the display of treats next to the cash register, but always walk away due to the price and the already scrumptious cone you have sitting in your hand. I just have to promote the Rosemary-Pine Nut Brittle. Wow. I love the flavor of rosemary in general, but to mix it with the buttery brittle and earthy flavor of pine nuts is just divine.

Also, and I know this probably just classifies as an ice cream variant, try their bombes for a special occasion. Their baked alaska is a real treat. They give it to you with the meringue uncooked, so you can just put it in the oven (yes, the oven) so that the meringue gets browned and crispy, while the ice cream stays frozen in it's little fluffy cocoon. They even stay frozen on the transport home (they must keep them in a special superfrozen freezer).

So, yes, it's worth staying in Ici's long line. Just bring a friend and, before you know it, you'll be enjoying ice cream in the bitter cold of Berkeley and having the time of your life.

Spring Break: Pechanga Casino

So, I'm writing to you from the beautiful city of cookiecutter homes and compulsive habits: Temecula! I'm at the Pechanga casino here, yes, with my mom.
Last night comprised of me drinking gin and tonic, while my mom gambled. Sounds like a Maury Povich show to me.
So here's my Yelp review of Pechanga casino since I feel like I should start posting restaurant reviews on this blog for my roommate Tristan. Here ya go:

PECHANGA BUFFET (2 Stars):

It's a buffet. There's food and a lot of it. It's pretty much a gorgefest of haphazardly prepared entrees. One of my pieces of what seemed to be char siu was just pork fat. There's variety of course: Italian (greasy pizza AND polenta), Mexican (greasy cheese chiles rellenos), Chinese (greasy fried potstickers), and even American (greasy...)!
Is there a uniting factor in all of this? I'm being rough, there is always Hometown Buffet to show this place up.

The saving grace: the soft serve was not yogurt, but ice cream. Soft serve ice cream that is rich, creamy, and everything you wanted old school, heart attack ice cream to be. Fantastic.
Also, they really splurged on every aspect of decor at Pechanga. The buffet area looks like I'm on the line for Splash Mountain or some crap.

But yeah, maybe it's just me, but the people eating at buffets at casinos outside of Las Vegas are kind of depressing (possibly myself included). I mean, let's follow up impulsive gambling, smoking, and drinking with excessive eating! Fuck trifectas!

Hamentashen

My favorite tri-point treat: Hamentashen

 

For those who did not grow up in a Jewish home, this is not only a foreign word, but kind of a weird one that has a phlegmy aftertaste.  But it signifies one of the easiest and greatest cookie recipes in the Jewish cookbook.

Hamentashen (pronounced Ha. Men. Tosh. In.) is a filling-filled triangle of dough usually eaten during the holiday of Purim, which was celebrated on March 10th this year.

Purim is a fun holiday, and like most Jewish holidays, is summed up in one sentence: "We were almost killed, we survived, let's eat".  The Purim story takes place in Shushan, modern day Persia, where an evil man named Hamen (ahh..sound familiar from our favorite cookie?) plotted to kill the Jewish population until Queen Ester, who was an undercover Jew, persuaded her husband, King Achasverosh (don't even bother with pronouncing it) to let the Jews live and instead kill Hamen.  Well, that's it in a sentence.

The holiday usually consists of dressing up, reading the story, getting drunk, and eating.  Sounds like a cool religious holiday to me.

Hamentashen either symbolizes the hat or possibly the misshapen triangular ears of Hamen.  Seriously, there ya go for the background.  Pretty anti-climatic, but delicious nonetheless.

But the recipe is simple and the results are a nearly moist cookie that is customizable with any type of filling you want.  My mom made these every year ever since she was 19 and she got it from a friend from Israel. 

So here's the ingredients for around 50-60 cookies.

-5 1/2 cups flour 

-3 tsp. baking powder

-1 1/2 cups sugar

-4 whole eggs

-1 cup oil (yeah I know, you can try the half applesauce trick although I haven't, but it does make a lot of cookies to make you feel better)

-2 tsp. vanilla extract

-3 cans filling

Now, before we start, let's talk about the filling.  It's completely up to you to test and try any c

ombination you want.  The weirdest one I've tried is banana-chocolate and it didn't turn out too well, but was worth the effort.  But I would highly recommend, if this is your first batch, to go with Solo pie and dessert fillings (pictured).  They are not too wet so do not sog down the cookie, but still give a nice moist center.  Traditionally, fruit fillings and poppy seed fillings are used.

Steps:

1. Mix the dry ingredients (flour and baking powder) in a large mixing bowl.

2.  Mix the "wet" ingredients (eggs, sugar, vanilla and oil) in another bowl.  Yeah, I didn't know sugar goes with the wet either.  Mix well until homogenous.

3.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry in two batches or so to incorporate it evenly.  You should eventually get a soft, moist dough, that does not crack easily and is a little oily.  You may add any additional flour if you want, but you want this to be easy to roll out and too much flour can give some cracking.

4.  Roll out a portion (not all!) of the dough using a rolling pin to around 1/16- 1/8 inch thick.  The thickness is really variable and up to you.    

If you pick it up and it tears easily, make it thicker.

If you try to fold it into a triangle and it won't really fold, make it thinner.  

This recipe makes enough for some trial and error.

5.  Use a circular cookie cutter or the top of a large-rimmed glass to make circular cut-outs of dough.  (pictured).  They should be about 2 inches in diameter).  You will probably have to do multiple batches into the oven so I like to do enough circles that can fit on one cookie sheet then do all the filling, since you need to use your fingers to scrape the filling and should all be done at once.

6.  Place around a tablespoon of filling in the center of each circle.

7.  Fold the circle up on three sides and pinch together the three corners.  I hope this makes sense so either comment or see the finished pictures if this is a geometrical nightmare to you.

8.  Bake at degrees for around 17 minutes on tin foil on top of a cookie sheet (makes clean-up easier and it stuck to my non-stick cookie sheet).  To tell that they are done, just check that the edges a little golden, but the best indicator for me is that the bottoms are golden brown.  You do not want them to blacken since they will continue cooking a little once you take them out.

9.  Take out of the oven and let cool.  Then remove with hands or a spatula and enjoy!

Be careful with storage since the filling likes to stick to the bottoms of other cookies so maybe putting a layer of saran wrap between them after they are cooled will do the trick.

It is traditional to give friends, family, and neighbors gift baskets (or Mishloach Manot) with some Hamentashen, dried fruits, nuts, wine, and other food/drinks before the holiday. 

Berkeley Story of the Week: Scientology

As I came out of my MCAT class, which by the way is another source of my self-hating Jewish complex (another story), I saw that there was a church of scientology right next door.  Weird, I thought, I didn't think scientology would be well received in Berkeley.

Then I noticed the half-smeared graffiti that they tried to remove from their door:  "Satanic Nazi Mind Control Destroyed the Planet"

The same guy would probably write that on a synagogue, but I still like it.

Food of the Week: Masago

Ahh...Masago.  The reason why I thought the exterior of Pharrell's car was orange.

Also known as capelin or smelt roe, these beautiful orange fish eggs are one of the cheapest sushi toppers with the most aesthetics for your buck.

Before reading any further, you have to ask yourself a couple of questions.  

1.  Do I mind eating fish eggs, like millions of them, at one time?

2.  Do I like salt?

3.  Do I enjoy the feeling of crunchy balls squishing between my teeth?

If your answer was yes to any of these, or even none, then you should try MASAGO! (or cannibalism if yes to #3).

Readily available at Ranch 99 (store locator here), masago goes for around $3 a package.  It is an extremely easy sushi to make.  Occasionally, you will see the masago topped with a raw quail egg, but I guess that is for the more adventurous (adventurous in the gourmet's vocabulary=less afraid of foodborne diseases).

Anyways, I decided to just give this little recipe a try since I had dry seaweed paper, rice, rice vinegar, sugar, and masago of course. Masago is not to be confused with Tamago, which just means egg.  Tamago sushi is usually a sweetened rolled omelette, is still good if done right, but just doesn't have the exhilarating feeling of destroying a whole possible future generation of smelt.

Nonsequitur

This blog will now be combination of my rantings and bentos.  Enjoy.