Year: 2013

(Hawaiian) Okinawan Sweet Potato Pie with Haupia Topping

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This pie has a vibrant purple layer made from Okinawan sweet potatoes which are naturally purple, a rich coconut milk layer that has the consistency of firm gelatin though it’s made from only sugar, cornstarch, water, and coconut milk, and a delicate shortbread pie crust. Since the Okinawan sweet potatoes taste similar to chestnuts or taro, it is reminiscent in flavor (but not texture) to a Chinese-style sponge cake filled with a chestnut purée. It can be made any time of the year; it would be fun to serve as an unusual Hawaiian-inspired alternative to the traditional Thanksgiving sweet potato pie. Okinawan sweet potatoes have tan or brown skin and a dark purple flesh that becomes even more vibrant when cooked. They have a dry dense texture, taste sweet, and their flavor is similar to chestnuts or taro. They are most likely to be found in Hawaiian or Japanese grocery stores. This pie must be made with Okinawan sweet potatoes; other types of yam or sweet potatoes cannot be substituted because their flavor and texture is very different. Source: Modified from …

Beijing

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William got to go to Beijing for a work trip and I went along! Since it was November, it was very cold and it was also very dry (I needed lots of hand and face moisturizer). It would have been better to go in nicer weather, but the trip was still lots of fun. We saw many of the main tourist sites–the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and the Great Wall. But we loved the hutongs best–they are traditional residential alleys. They are lined with traditional courtyard residences, some of which people still live in, and some which have been converted into restaurants, businesses, and hotels. The subways made getting around Beijing easy (and they were also very clean too!), though we also took some buses and some taxis (luckily William speaks Mandarin). Hutongs Hutong Hotels (Courtyard 7, a hotel that we stayed at which is located in a renovated Hutong. It was really nice.) Around Town Forbidden Palace Summer Palace 798 Arts District Lama Temple Great Wall Food

Fried Roman Jewish Style Artichokes

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These fried artichokes are especially pretty because they are pressed so that their leaves open up and resemble flowers. The leaves are crispy like chips and the hearts are meltingly soft. Either regular artichokes or baby artichokes can be used. Regular sized artichokes have a nice big heart and big leaves. Baby artichokes are cute; they have a very small heart so they will be mostly crispy leaves but are faster to prepare since they don’t have a choke. Since there is no batter, these are very simple and easy to fry. The frying is done in two steps–the first frying is at a low heat to cook the artichokes through, and the second frying is done quickly at a high heat to brown and crisp them. Source: “Carciofi alla Giudia — Crisp-Fried Whole Artichokes” from “Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking” by Marcella Hazan. Marcella Hazan’s recipe is written for whole artichokes; for baby artichokes, I used the timing for baby artichokes from “Baby Artichokes, Jewish Style” from “Vegetable Love” by Barbara Kafka. I like to use fried herbs …

Trout Amandine

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I had a trip to Yosemite planned when the federal government shutdown cause the park to be closed. So I visited the area close to the park boundaries instead. I mountain biked to a small waterfall and also took a fly fishing lesson. I didn’t catch anything. But since we were practicing catch and release, even if I did I wouldn’t have been able to eat it. After spending four hours knee-deep in river water learning to cast and scrambling along slippery algae-coated rocks, I suddenly had a craving for trout, specifically trout amandine. It is a classic French dish of trout topped with almonds and is often served with green beans or asparagus. Amandine indicates a garnish of almonds; it derived from the French word for almonds (“amandes”), though it is sometimes misspelled as almondine in American restaurants or cookbooks since this is more recognizable as relating to almonds to English speakers (wiki). I choose the recipe for “Truite aux Haricots Verts et Amandes” (Trout with Haricots Verts and Almonds) from “Bouchon” by Thomas …

Japanese Pickled Ginger (Gari)

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Pickled ginger is well-known as an accompaniment to sushi. It is it known in sushi shop jargon as “gari” (otherwise it is called “beni-shōga). It refreshes the palate, has antiseptic properties, and goes well with grilled items, such as grilled fish (especially oily fish since ginger helps to cut the oiliness) or grilled beef. It is easy to make at home if you can find young ginger. Young ginger can be found sometimes at Asian farmer’s market stands in the spring through early fall and sometimes at Asian markets. It is distinguishable from the brown-skinned mature ginger by its pinkish stems and tips, very thin translucent skin, and creamy white color. Often it still has all or part of the green stem still attached. The best young ginger has tender bright green sprouting leaves and long slender stalks with a pink blush at the bottom. My recipe below is for a very small quantity of pickled ginger, about 1/2 cup (1 small jar) made from 1 large clump of ginger (2.75 oz, measured with the stalks …

Hawaiian Luau! Oven-Roasted Kalua Pork

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I like Hawaiian food for many reasons. It is a meld of many types of cuisines: Polynesian, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, Korean, American, Portuguese, and more–many of which I like to cook. Hawaiian food also has retro and vintage flair. Tiki first become in style in the mid-century, possible because American soldiers brought stories back about Polynesia and the South Pacific when they returned home after WWII and the commercial airline industry made travel more accessible. The bright colored (and often over-the-top) Hawaiian prints and rum drinks make tiki fun, and the tropical climate, flowers, and warm waters are something to long for. And it makes me reminisce about relaxation, a slow-paced small town life, and vacations (particularly the vacation that my parents surprised my sister and I with as a Christmas present years ago and the vacation that William and I took in Hawaii about a year ago). Kalua literally means “to cook in an underground oven” in Hawaiian (wiki). It is a traditional Hawaiian cooking method which uses an imu, a type of underground oven made from a dirt pit which is …

Lomi Lomi Salmon

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Even though salmon don’t swim close enough to Hawaii to be caught in its surrounding waters, early European explorers, missionaries, whalers, and the armed forces exposed Hawaiians to salt salmon (and many other types of salted, dried, or canned meats, such as Spam). It has become so integrated into Hawaiian cuisine that lomi lomi is a traditional luau (wiki) dish. The salt salmon needs to be made at least 1 day ahead, so start this recipe a day before you want to serve it. Food Safety: Use only very fresh high quality salmon, preferably sashimi/sushi quality, since the raw salmon is only lightly cured (see here for more information about what types of salmon can be eaten raw and also this wikipedia article on raw fish). I used sushi salmon (from Super Mira Market in San Francisco) to ensure that it was safe to eat raw because it has been commercially deep frozen to remove any parasites (home freezers are not cold enough), very fresh, and had a great texture. If you can’t find sushi salmon, then you could consider …

Germany

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For our fourth of July vacation this year, we went to Germany. There were lots of sausages: in restaurants, beer halls, and even sold on the street. In Munich, we went to beer halls. They pour huge beers (William and I usually shared the liter of beer) and serve large plates of very filling, heavy food (e.g. roasted pork shoulder, pork knuckles, sausage, and grilled mackerel “fish on a stick”). We stayed one night in Rothenburg ob der Tauber (a well-preserved medieval town) and also made a quick stop in Nuremberg the next day. Finally, we went to Berlin. Berlin has lots of graffiti and street art. There was a mix of old and new buildings and lots of repurposed warehouses decorated with street art. In modern times, Germain people eat all sorts of cuisines on a regular basis. I suspect that many Germains eat traditional foods as often as Americans eat hot dogs or hamburgers, which is to say that it is probably only eaten on occasion, though some eat it more often than others. However …