Stuffed Baby Bell Peppers

Instagram filters make even mundane things look all artsy! These are some baby bell peppers we got in our CSA box at least two weeks ago. I meant to cook them right away, but life intervened. Happily, they last quite well in the fridge. I supplemented with full-sized peppers in case I had extra filling (I did).

The recipe is Giada di Laurentis' from Epicurious. She calls for frozen peas, which I am not fond of, so I subbed in corn and baby lima beans.

I did not add any salt; the parmesan and pancetta add plenty of salt on their own. You can buy diced pancetta in the deli section; this is Safeway's brand, but there are many out there. I used to wonder why people would spend extra money for pre-chopped items that you could easily cut up yourself. Now I'm willing to pony up a little extra cash so I can get food on the table before 9 p.m.

The peppers turned out quite well! The bright and fresh flavor of the still-somewhat-crunchy peppers balanced nicely with the rich filling. I think toasted pine nuts would be a nice addition to the filling next time. There will be a next time because the Sergeant also pronounced it good. Hooray!

Hot off the Griddle: No-Knead Bread Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

One of our go-to weeknight dinners is grilled cheese sandwiches and a shared can of soup (usually chicken noodle). Bonus points if we have some sliced turkey and a tomato to put in the sandwich.

Last night, the Sergeant achieved extra-EXTRA bonus points by successfully tackling the no-knead bread recipe so I could use really, really fresh bread for our sandwiches.

When I make no-knead bread, I prefer to use the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day method (I find it more convenient), but the Sergeant is old school.

Either way, the bread is stellar, and the sandwiches were super-tasty.

My Sunday

I had some work-work to do in the morning, and this is mostly what my afternoon consisted of: hemming the Sergeant's pants. I'm still pretty slow and methodical when it comes to sewing, but I managed to get them done (three pairs). And they're mostly cheap jeans from Costco, so the stakes aren't very high.

One of the needle threads on the serger kept breaking and I couldn't figure out why. I'll have to fiddle around with it, maybe replace the needle. But it works fine with three threads instead of four, so I just kept going.

Then we went to showing of "The African Queen," which is such a classic, lovely movie. They played a clip of Katharine Hepburn on the Dick Cavett show beforehand that was delightful. You should watch it.

The Sergeant, surprisingly, had not seen the movie before. He enjoyed it.

Then we came home and had Buttery Breakfast Casserole for dinner that I had assembled yesterday. Plus salad. The casserole is very tasty and rich, and would be good for a brunch gathering.

Trader Joe's Frozen Fish

I like to cook (as you may have gathered), but sometimes I just want someone to do my thinking for me. It's been a long day at work, I get home at 6:30 or later and I just want to put something on the table without a lot of fuss.

Trader Joe's marinated frozen fish has been super-useful that way. This is the soy-ginger cod. I also like the whitefish Veracruz.

As long as I remember to take it out of the freezer the night before or in the morning, I can come home and fire up the rice maker, throw some vegetables in the oven to roast, then cook the fish. I use the pan-cooking method, which takes about 5 minutes. You can also bake or microwave it.

Do you have any go-to meals like that? Let me know; I'm always looking for more inspiration.

Collect 'Em All!

I was excited to get Andrea Nguyen's latest, The Pho Cookbook, in the mail yesterday. I've watched her Craftsy classes (on pho and on dumplings) and enjoyed them a lot. Her cookbooks help round out the experience of, well, Andrea's experience with all aspects of Vietnamese cuisine.

If I were really ambitious, I would try cooking my way through all of them in a systematic fashion and blog about it. Once upon a time I thought I would do that with Donna Hay's cookbooks, of which I have many, but the makinghay.com URL was taken. So I didn't do it. Really, that's the only reason.

That kind of blogging would be a serious time commitment, though. Time that I don't have right now. I'll just try to report on a recipe or two in the pho book, once I've dived into it.

Meanwhile,  dinner tonight was a winter squash gratin to which I added diced ham, and a big salad.

One kabocha squash yielded the 2 cups of roasted squash needed. I roasted it over the weekend, and diced the onion and grated the cheese yesterday, so it was all pretty easy to throw together when I got home from work ... with another bag full of produce from the CSA.

I can see that the amount of lettuce they provide each week is going to be an issue. I'll need to up my salad game.

Thai Chicken Burger Recipe

I make these super yummy burgers in bulk once in a while. They're nice to keep in the freezer (still raw), stacked in a Tupperware with waxed paper separating the patties. Transfer a couple to the fridge in the morning, and have freshly cooked burgers for dinner.

I call these Thai burgers, though they're generally just Asian. The original recipe (from Blue Apron) included lemongrass, which I usually don't remember to buy, and did not include shallots. I get ground chicken or turkey from Whole Foods (I trust their sourcing), but I prefer to buy things like garlic and ginger from the Japanese market near my office.

What you need to make 8-9 patties:

• 1 large shallot, minced
  
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
  
• 1-inch knob of ginger, minced
  
• 2 pounds of ground chicken, ground turkey, or a mix of both. Try to include some ground thigh meat if it's available. (Not pictured above because not photogenic.)
  
• 1 cup panko
  
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce (I use the low-sodium variety)
  
• 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
  
• 1 tablespoon sriracha (more or less)
  
• Oil for pan-frying
  

• Burger buns, plus toppings such as tomato slices, lettuce, avocado
  

Also pictured: Wasabi peas to snack on while cooking, plus a bourbon and Coke. Substitute your snack and tipple of choice.

Method:

1. Sautée the shallots over medium heat until browned and a bit caramelized around the edges.
   
2. Add the garlic and ginger and sautée for another 30 seconds or so until fragrant.
   
3. Transfer the sautéed aromatics to a plate or bowl to cool. (I put it in the freezer to hurry the process.)
   
4. Mix together the ground meat and panko.
   
5. Add the soy sauce, sesame oil and sriracha and the cooled aromatics. Mix thoroughly. Frankly, it's easiest to just use your bare hands, but a spoon works if you're squeamish.
   
6. Form into patties.

At this point, I suggest you cook however many patties you're planning to eat immediately, so you can judge whether you want to add more sriracha to the remainder.

Heat a little oil in a pan over medium heat and cook for three minutes or so per side, or until nicely browned on the outside.

If you make your patties really thick, you should probably check the internal temperature (165 for poultry). But half-inch thick patties should be cooked through if they're well-browned.

I wish I had a better photo of the finished burgers, complete with roasted carrots, but we were actually in a rush to get out the door. We went over to our friends' house to watch "The Asphalt Jungle" on their big TV. (Our TV is in a wardrobe in the guest room and you have to sit on the bed to watch it, so we're not hosting movie nights anytime soon.)

"The Asphalt Jungle" is a good movie, by the way. It's one of the Sergeant's favorites. Marilyn Monroe has just a bit part in it, but they sure played it up on the poster.

Anyhoo, back to the burgers. I spiced them up with a little more sriracha and made the rest of the patties in the morning.

	I have this gadget I got at East Bay Restaurant Supply that is useful for making consistently sized and evenly shaped patties. I wish it were a slightly smaller diameter, but I guess I could use a circular cutter to achieve that. Guess I have to go gadget shopping again!

Pizza Pizza

Well, it's kind of fun to play around with a gif maker to show pizza assembly.

I make pizza for dinner every couple of weeks, using dough that I mix up in big batches and freeze, along with roasted tomato sauce, also frozen, from our garden tomatoes. As long as I remember to transfer dough and sauce to the fridge the night before, it's quite convenient.

Putting the thawed tomato sauce in a fine-mesh colander allows some of the excess water to drain off, leaving a thick pizza sauce.

Our go-to toppings are mushrooms, black olives, prosciutto or pepperoni, sliced garlic and multiple cheeses — mozzarella, cheddar, parmesan, or whatever we happen to have.

I usually make two pizzas so we both have slices available for lunch the next day. It's really good pizza, and better than what you can order most places.

P.S. I set the gif to do five repeats, then stop. So if it's annoying you, just wait a bit. If you want to see it loop again, refresh the page.

Lindsey's Baked Tofu With Baby Bok Choy

My co-worker Lindsey gave me this tofu recipe, and I make it every couple of weeks because it is easy and tasty. It is easy in part because there is a Japanese market close to where I work, where I can pick up gorgeous baby bok choy. I'll confess, I also like their little containers of pre-peeled garlic. It's cheap and convenient.

Tofu, happily, is available everywhere now. I got some today at Safeway.

For the tofu, you need:

• 1 block extra-firm tofu, sliced through horizontally, then into halves or quarters (4-8 pieces total)
  
• 1/3 cup chopped basil
  
• 1/3 cup mayonnaise
  
• 1/4 cup panko
  
• 1/4 cup parmesan
  
• 1/4 cup chopped/toasted nuts (I've used toasted pine nuts, pecans and walnuts on different occasions, because that's what I had handy)
  
• 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped if using a food processor, otherwise minced.

1. Heat oven to 450 F
   
2. Press the sliced tofu to remove excess moisture. Put it between paper towels and put a cutting board on top of it with something heavy to weigh it down (I use my flour and sugar canisters).
   
3. Line a cookie sheet or quarter-sheet pan with parchment. Place tofu slices on it.
4. Mix basil and mayo together, spread on top of tofu squares, and on the sides a bit.
5. Mix together panko, parmesan, nuts, garlic. I have Krups mini food processor/chopper that I just throw all those ingredients into to chop and mix them.
6. Sprinkle the mixture on top of tofu, pressing lightly to adhere.
7. Bake until browned, about 20 minutes.

For the bok choy, you need:

• 4-6 heads of baby bok choy, cleaned and cut in half
  
• 2-3 garlic cloves, sliced
  
• Minced ginger, about a 1-inch piece
  
• (optional) Minced shallot or onion
  
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce (I prefer low sodium)
  
• Splash of water
  
• Toasted sesame oil

1. Heat some oil in a skillet that you have a lid for.
   
2. Sautée the garlic, ginger and optional shallot until fragrant.
   
3. Add the bok choy, cut side down, and scootch it around a little to get it oiled. Let it cook for a couple of minutes.
   
4. Sprinkle the soy sauce and water over the bok choy and cover the pan. Let it cook a few minutes to soften.
   
5. Remove the lid, flip the bok choy over and continue cooking until the liquid in the pan has mostly evaporated.
   
6. Remove from heat and drizzle with sesame oil.

Mapo Tofu With Pork

Is it weird to eat tofu and meat in the same dish? A lot of people (Americans) seem to think so. Because only vegetarians eat tofu, right? Why would you eat tofu if you can eat meat?

OK, maybe tofu is an acquired taste. It's a bit bland in its natural state, but it has a variety of lovely textures, from silky soft to firm and chewy, and it picks up flavor from sauces like nobody's business.

And there's no reason you can't mix it with meat. It's just another form of protein to add dimension to a dish. Certainly the Chinese know that, and they invented this yummy dish, Mapo Tofu With Pork, that is a easy weeknight dinner. It serves four, generously.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground pork (you can use less, of course)
• 1-2 chile peppers such as jalapeño or Thai chile, thinly sliced (2 Thais gives it a nice heat for me but not enough for the Sergeant. He doctors his with pepper flakes.)
• 3-4 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1 knob of ginger, minced
• 8-12 scallions/green onions/spring onions, cut mostly into roughly half-inch sections. Thinly slice the topmost part of the greens and set aside separately.
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste (you can get it in a tube now, which is convenient)
• 1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns, toasted and ground in a mortar. Or black pepper if that's what you have (but invest in Sichuan peppercorns if you can; their flavor is unique.)
• 1 can low-sodium chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons Chinese black bean garlic sauce
• 1 heaping tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 pound soft tofu, cut into 1-inch pieces (Do this ahead of time and leave the tofu to dry a little on paper towels, if you can. But it's not critical.)
• Fresh or lightly dried basil
• (Optional: 1 package pre-sliced mushrooms that your husband accidentally bought to put on pizza when you'd already bought a package the day before. Heat some oil and sautée them until they are almost caramelized, then set aside. More umami for your dish!)

Method

1. Start a pot of rice or fire up your rice cooker. I cook 2 cups of rice for the Sergeant and me. That's enough for dinner, plus a generous serving to package up with leftovers for my lunch the next day. The Sergeant makes fresh rice for his lunch.
2. Heat oil in a big skillet and cook the ground pork for 8-10 minutes until well browned.
3. Add the chile(s), garlic, ginger, and chopped scallions and cook for 3 minutes (you should be able really smell the garlic and ginger). 
4. Add tomato paste and Sichuan peppercorns and cook for a minute. 
5. Then add the chicken broth and  black bean garlic sauce and bring to a simmer. (Add those accidental mushrooms now, too, if using.)
6. Mix cornstarch with a splash of water in a small bowl and add it to the sauce and stir to incorporate it thoroughly.
7. Add tofu and gently fold it the sauce over it, then cover the pan and let it simmer for a few minutes.
8. Remove from heat and fold in the green sliced scallion tops.
9. Serve the tofu over rice sprinkled with torn-up fresh basil leaves or a sprinkling of dried basil.

This recipe is originally from Bon Appétit. I've modified it for my tastes and cooking style.

A Good Place for a Drink & a Natter

Here's a first world problem (as they say): It's hard to find a decent place to drink downtown that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, isn't a sports bar, isn't too loud and isn't a complete dive. 

Well, we didn't do much research, so we washed up at the Cruise Room in the Oxford Hotel, across from Union Station. Convenient for catching buses and trains, as we needed to do. ("We" being me and a co-worker, blowing off steam.)

The Cruise Room is in the arm and leg category, but the decor is lovely, and there's a certain nostalgic component. I used to go there a lot 20 years ago. It made me feel sophisticated and mature. I suppose it still does, though I think have the maturity thing down now. Mostly. Sophistication is only occasionally in evidence.

The Caesar salad had actual anchovies. We ordered spiced nuts, too. Washed it all down with bourbon Manahattans (her) and rye Sazeracs (me). Talked about work and past jobs, sewing, the women's march, blogging.

It's hard to get back into storytelling mode. Remembering to take pictures. Thinking of an angle. Making it interesting. 

This is a little boring, and the photos are bad. But it's a post!

Kung Pao Tofu

I probably make Kug Pao Tofu for dinner every couple of weeks. I make it with chicken sometimes, too, but the Sergeant prefers tofu.

It's a good dish for a small dinner party (4-6 people), because most of it can be prepped ahead of time. It can be made completely vegetarian, too (but I think it's better with chicken broth and real oyster sauce).

Here's my recipe, pasted from Pepperplate.

Kung Pao Chicken or Tofu

Loosely based on a recipe from the inaugural issue of Cook's Country.

YIELD

 Serves 4-6, depending on the quantity of vegetables you add

INGREDIENTS

• For the sauce

  • 1 can low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
  • 6 tablespoons oyster sauce (a vegetarian version is available in Asian markets)
  • 3 teaspoons hot sauce (sriracha)
  • 4 teaspoons corn starch

• For the Vegetables & Protein

  • 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
  • OR 1 block extra-firm tofu, cubed, drained and dried
  • Vegetable oil
  • 1 cup dry-roasted peanuts, unsalted (cashews work, too)
  • 2 carrots
  • 2 celery stalks
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 1 yellow bell pepper
  • 1 yellow squash or zucchini
  • 1 small red onion
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

• Optional Additions

  • Water chestnuts
  • Baby corn
  • Snow peas or sugar snap peas

---

INSTRUCTIONS

• 1. Make the sauce by combining the listed ingredients in a jar and shaking vigorously. Cut the vegetables into bite-sized pieces.
  2. Heat up 2 tablespoons oil in a skillet or wok and throw in the chicken and peanuts. When the chicken is lightly browned, remove it and the peanuts from the pan and set aside.
  3. If using tofu instead of chicken, sear the tofu first, then toast the peanuts. Set aside.
  4. Heat another tablespoon of oil and sautée the red onion and carrot until soft and caramelized.
  5. Add bell pepper and celery and cook more.
  6. Add squash or zucchini and cook a little more. (This is also where I add any optional, tender ingredients such as snow peas.)
  7. Add minced garlic cloves and ginger and cook 30 seconds until fragrant.
  8. Shake the sauce vigorously, stir it in and bring to a boil.
  9. Add the chicken or tofu and peanuts, gently stir to coat, then cook for a few more minutes until the sauce thickens. Serve with rice.

---

NOTES

You can prepare the sauce and cut up all vegetables and tofu a day ahead of time, but don't mince the garlic and ginger until just before you start cooking. 

Add more sriracha to the sauce if you like, or spice it up at the table with red pepper flakes (my husband makes his own out of Thai chiles or Chinese dried chiles). 

This makes a lot of food, but it freezes well. You can freeze portions of rice to go with it for a grab-and-go lunch. 

A delicious meal was had by all

We meant to go to Chez Panisse, but there was a fire there earlier this month, so we had to make alternate plans. This one was a winner.

Farro salad with apples, toasted almonds and more

It was a snowy day on Saturday, though not the raging blizzard we were expecting. The predicted foot of snow turned out to be 4 inches, and I didn't even have to shovel the south-facing sidewalk. All the snow just melted right off it.

Still, I didn't want to leave the house unnecessarily, which meant cobbling together something for lunch with what I had on hand.

That turned out to be farro, apples, sliced almonds, a handful of dried cherries, dehydrated toasted onions, spring mix lettuce and a spicy Asian-inspired vinaigrette that was left over from my book group dinner party on Thursday. I boiled 2 cups farro, toasted the almonds, sauteed the apples briefly in a little olive oil with some dried thyme, rehydrated the onions, and tossed it all with the vinaigrette.

There's enough left for lunch later this week, too! I bought some cheese today to go with it. I think some crumbles of goat cheese will work really nicely with it.

Fried spring rolls at home

In our cooking class at the Vietnam Cookery Center in Ho Chi Minh City, fried spring rolls (cha gio) were the first course. If you're making a small batch, they're not particularly time-consuming, and the ingredients can be adapted to your taste. We made them at home following the recipe, but will probably modify it the next time, depending on what's available.

Here's what the recipe calls for:

40g minced pork 60g crab meat 30g dried wood-ear mushrooms, soaked and minced 80g minced, raw shrimp 80g shredded taro (or sweet potato or potato) 1 tsp chicken powder 2 tsp sugar 1 tsp pepper 2 tsp minced shallot 2 tsp chopped spring onion 4 tsp egg yolk

14-15 spring roll wrappers (We tried to find the net variety without luck, but regular wrappers work fine. Make sure you check the expiration date; rancid wrappers are disgusting!) Coconut water, or beer with a pinch of sugar, or water with a pinch of sugar, to dip the wrappers in for softening. Vegetable oil for frying (such as soy or sunflower oil. We used peanut oil. Grapeseed oil would also work..)

Mix together the filling ingredients, then roll them up in the wrappers. There's a decent video here that shows the rolling process. If you don't have a deep fryer (we don't), heat about an inch of oil in a deep frying pan over medium heat. You don't want the oil to get too hot or you will char the outside of the roll before the filling is cooked through. Fry your rolls, turning them occasionally, until they are golden, then drain them on paper towels. Traditionally, you would cut the rolls in halves or thirds and eat them rolled up in lettuce leaves with rice noodles and herbs. But we like them simply dipped in fish sauce:

• 2 Tbs fish sauce
  
• 2 Tbs sugar
  
• 1.5 Tbs lemon juice
  
• 1 tsp minced garlic
  
• 1/2 tsp (or more if you like) minced chiles

Yum!

Ca phe trung (egg coffee) with a view

I first read about cà phê trứng on Eating Asia. Then Manisha reminded me about it. I love love love Vietnamese coffee, and I'm fond of eggnog, so something like a mix of the two sure sounded right up my alley. And right up an alley is where you'll find it in Hanoi. The Sergeant was a little concerned when I dragged him down this narrow passageway through a souvenir shop. Cafe Pho Co's faded sign out front is not obvious – I didn't even spot it until we were leaving. But the passage leads to a lovely, if dim, courtyard and an Escheresque series of stairways.

You place your drink order with the bored girl sitting at the foot of the stairs, then climb. Up a long flight of tiled stairs. Up a circular staircase. Up another narrow metal staircase.

You're rewarded for your climb with a most awesome view of Hoan Kiem Lake, the lake of the sacred turtle.

And if the day is misty and the hour early, you might even get a table by the railing, and reasonably speedy delivery of your tasty coffee.

Yep, it is indeed quite yummy. It's made by frothing egg yolks and sugar, then adding strong, hot coffee. I could have had three more.

There were other seating areas, including a second floor overlooking the lake, and an interior courtyard terrace. Can you imagine how much exercise the servers get when the place is full?

Cafe Pho Co has a reputation for surly service (according to reviews I'd read and a couple Vietnamese people I spoke with about it), but we were there for the coffee and the view, both of which were lovely.

You can try making ca phe trung yourself. I found a couple of recipes, one at Gourmet.com (if you have time, watch the video, too. Very interesting) and one at iloveallrecipes.com (which appears to be a rough English translation of the same recipe I found on several Vietnamese sites).

But for the best flavor, get yourself to Hanoi!

Cafe Pho Co
11 Hang Gai, Hanoi

Cooking school in Ho Chi Minh City

One of the things I really wanted to do in Vietnam was try some cooking classes. The Lonely Planet guidebook listed one cooking school in Saigon, the Vietnam Cookery Centre. We signed up for an afternoon class and were the only students. Chef Bao, at right, was nominally our instructor, while Miss Linh, below, was more active in engaging us with translations of his instructions and monitoring our progress.
	The menu included spring rolls with dipping sauce, sour clam soup, caramel pork in a clay pot, steamed coconut rice and steamed bananas in coconut milk. The fried spring rolls were wrapped in a kind of net rice paper I had never seen before, called banh trang re. It made for a much lighter roll. And so far I can't find it for sale in Denver or even online. That's a bummer.

We each had our own work station, with most ingredients pre-chopped and/or pre-measured, so our cooking was mostly an assembly process. That seems to be a fairly standard cooking-school practice – it's an efficient way to demonstrate how a dish is put together without having to spend a lot of time mincing ingredients.

We got to pause halfway through to enjoy our spring rolls, which are typically eaten rolled up in a lettuce leaf along with some rice noodles and herbs, and dipped in fish sauce enhanced with lemon juice, sugar, garlic and chile. Then we cooked the rest of the dishes.

The caramel pork was very rich and tasty, and was greatly enhanced by the rice that was steamed inside the coconut. The sour clam soup was interesting but probably not something I would make again. The bananas in coconut milk were made for us, as dessert. Delicious!

In all, our experience was positive, despite some communication glitches. We were charmed by the classroom and by the sincerity of our teachers. They gave us each a certificate of accomplishment, a book of the recipes we made and some very pretty postcards as souvenirs.

Since our visit, the school has moved to the main tourist district, near Ben Thanh Market, which should help their endeavor a lot. (The space we were in, while charming, is far away and hard to find. Our cab driver got lost!)

If you're planning a visit to Saigon, you should give them a try!

Vietnam Cookery Centre
26 Ly Tu Trong ( Floor 4 )
District 1, Ho Chi Minh City
Tel: (84-8) 3827-0349 or 3823-8085,
E-mail: vietnamcookery@myaconsulting.vn

On a roll in Ho Chi Minh City

Because the Sergeant loves cars, we started our first full day in Saigon touring the city in a 1954 Citroen Traction-Avant. One of our first stops was the Reunification Palace. It used to be the presidential palace, until North Vietnamese tanks crashed through the gate in 1975. It has since been preserved as a museum, and its meeting and banquet rooms are still used for ceremonial occasions.

The Sergeant had a great time chatting with the driver, who also has a war-era Jeep (and photos of it on his iPad) ...
... while I watched the traffic from the back seat. Never seen so many scooters in my life!
We drove all over Saigon, taking in the sights, and even stopped at a shop that sells old car parts, so the Sergeant could take photos. Our tour guide, a lovely young woman in a traditional ao dai, was a bit put out that we didn't want to stop and do some souvenir shopping, but you don't need an expensive antique vehicle to do that.

She did recommend a good pho place for lunch, not far from our hotel. Pho Quynh was also a great spot for people- and traffic-watching.
I was glad to slurp down noodles and a couple glasses of Vietnamese iced coffee. Boy, is it good.