DeliciousLee

Review: Tan Tan Restaurant

2011-12-03T17:07:00.001-06:00

Salt-Toasted Soft-Shell Crab from Tan Tan Restaurant.

Last night I had plans to check out the new Sundance theatre downtown, but my food cravings led me to change my mind. Determined to start blogging again and incorporating the Houston restaurant scene, I went to one of my top choice food districts, Bellaire Chinatown. Tan Tan Restaurant, a local favorite, seemed to be a good place to begin my restaurant blogging adventures.

For those new to the Vietnamese/Chinese scene, this place has something for everyone, their menu containing more than 300 dishes. Yes. 300. For Houstonians already well-versed in Vietnamese and Chinese cuisine, this place will not disappoint, and it provides a wonderful alternative to midtown joints like Mai's, especially if you're an in-the-looper like myself. Located at Ranchester and Bellaire, it's in the heart of many famed Chinatown wonders, and you can't miss it with its neon and twinkling lights. For more pretentious types, don't be put off by the fish tanks---be glad it's fresh. And don't worry if your wait staff doesn't speak English either--that's why every dish has a number.

What I ordered: House Special Rice Cake, Salt-Toasted Soft-Shell Crab, Flat Noodles with Beef and Chinese Broccoli

Post Food-Baby Reflections: Please do not go to Tan Tan and neglect to order a Special Rice Cake--it's the Tan Tan staple, the perfect drunk food, and ridiculously good. Flat pieces of rice cake pan-fried with egg, turnips, and green onions. Perfect combination of crunchy, soft, sweet, salty, and fried. It's no wonder they fly out of the kitchen every 2 minutes--I didn't spot a table without one.

The Salt-Toasted Soft-Shell Crab was beautiful. Just look at the picture. In Bourdain terms, cherubs came down from the heavens and played trumpets right at my table. They were fried in thick batter, much like the batter in a Chinese Sweet and Sour dish. I actually prefer a thinner, cajun-ish, batter in this dish, but it was easy to overlook. The crabs were covered in green onions, onions, jalapenos, and little crunchies. It was a hill of yum. I will be eating my left over crabs with shrimp gumbo I'm making tonight. :) (Blog to follow)

The beef/broccoli/noodles dish was exactly what I expected. Nothing mind blowing, but when you're looking for a non-adventurous, american-friendly noodle dish, it's not a bad place to start. Also, the beef was wonderful, much better than one of those Chinese spots that's packed with 9-to-5ers on their lunch break.

Conclusion: A must for Houstonians and Houston-visitors that love the Vietnamese side of life.

Price: Those three dishes plus 1 beer and 1 glass of wine, $45. The crab dish price varies with the market. Also, bear in mind that this fed 2 people for dinner, lunch the next day, plus some.

What I will order next time: A hot-pot. For sure.

Until next time,

Laura Lee

Tan Tan Restaurant

6817 Ranchester

Houston, TX 77036

www.tantanrestaurant.com

Recipe: Open-Faced Veggie Sandwich

2010-12-19T12:01:00.003-06:00

Hellllooo!!! Feels so good to blog. :)

Featuring this veggie sandwich today, shown with a side of lentils and kale chips. I've been sandwiching it up at home quite a bit during lunch time. I tend to go back and forth, one week of sandwiches and the next with vermicelli. Seems to give me enough variety in my food for nutritional value as well potential food boredom. Veggie sandwiches can surprise even the steadfast carnivorous kind, especially this one. I stole this recipe from Croissant Brioche here in my hometown of Houston, TX, and added just a tiny little kick of my own. I worked there my first year in college, and never forgot it.

While I am a mayo lover as I have publicly shown my great affection for the product in a prior ramble, for veggie sandwiches I tend to go for mustard all the way. And since I've been all sandwich crazy, I took it upon myself to go on a mustard discovery and have found one of my favorite new things ever that i can't/won't make myself. Organic Whole Grain Mustard, "Moutarde A L'Ancienne, Biologique", distributed by www.delouis.com. It's no filler mustard. Just straight up mustard seeds soaked in vinegar salt and water and oh man, it it amazing. But can be a little jolting and a little spicy for those that might not be so mustard-inclined. I typically will use a little mayo/mustard/both and then spread the seeds evenly over so they smear in easy.

Yum Yum Veggie Sandwich *Can easily and yummily be made vegan as well

Ingredients: *Makes two sandwiches
- Two Slices of Whole Wheat Bread, toasted (Whole Foods Seeduction Loaf is my favorite)
- One tomato
- One avocado
- Alfalfa Sprouts
- Condiments of Choice
- 4 Slices Mozzarella Cheese, *Can be substituted with vegan mozzarella, which is surprisingly quite tasty!

Directions:

Step 1: Preheat Broiler
Step 2: Toast Bread Lightly and spread mayo/mustard/both/whole grain mustard seeds/veganaise/etc
Step 3: 1 Layer of Alfalfa Sprouts
Step 4: 1 Layer of avocados
Step 5: 1 Layer of tomatoes
Step 6: 1 Layer of Cheese
Step 7: Broil for 2 minutes, or until cheese bubbles a little
Step 8: Stuff your face!

Laura Lee :)

Recipe: New Mexico Hatch Green Chili Sauce (served atop Huevos con Papas)

2010-08-30T12:48:00.002-05:00

Alas! Houston has received their shipment of Hatch Green Chiles this year!--which will last for about 2 seconds. Okay, seriously, the Hatch Green Chile was the Universe's personal gift to me. It is one of my favorite foods in the world. My parents frequent Santa Fe, and I endured the burden of traveling there often in my childhood. ;) Just kidding. I absolutely love Santa Fe, mainly because, I love New Mexican Cuisine. Nothing like it. The red and green chiles that grow in abundance there, are one hundred percent unique in flavor. And the canned Hatch Brand chiles, well, just don't do the fresh pepper justice.

The New Mexican "Chile" is what everyone outside of New Mexico would called the Anaheim Pepper. The climate in New Mexico increases the amount of capsaicin in the peppers. The Green variety are picked early and unripe, then fire roasted, peeled, and used in just about everything. My favorite uses: Green Chili Posole, Green Chili Burgers, Green Chili Pizza. Chile is the largest crop in New Mexico, and the largest amount of them come from in and around Hatch, New Mexico.

In addition to having peppers that are so specific, New Mexico's Historical sphere of influence contributes to the "Southwestern" Cuisine that is all the rage. Originally 3 different Native American tribes occupied the area: the Navajo, Mescalero, and Chiricahua. The Spanish arrived and brought with them their diet which included: pork, beef, rice, garlic, oil, and wine and the Spanish and Mexican food cultures collided. (Side Note: Guacamole was not a Mexican dish until the Spanish discovered the avocado in Mexico!) After the Mexican-American War, New Mexico was incorporated in the United States and highly influenced by its surrounding states: Texas, California, and Arizona. And that's how New Mexican Southwestern cuisine became what it did. :)

Green Chili Sauce Recipe

Ingredients:
- 6 Hatch Chiles, Roasted, Peeled, and Chopped* (To see how to roast peppers, see this post.
- 1 1/4 cup Broth (I used beef because I had it on hand, but Vegetable or Chicken will do as well)
- 2 Tablespoons of Flour
- 1/4 White Onion, chopped
- 1 Tablespoon of Butter
- 2 Cloves of Garlic, Minced
- Salt
- Cumin
*Depending on what you can handle in terms of spice, keep or discard as many seeds as needed. I kept all of my seeds in the sauce because I really like spicy food. So I would recommend for Spicy: Keep all Seeds, Medium: Keep half of the seeds, Mild: Discard all seeds.

Recipe:
1. Heat up butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
2. Sautee onions until soft.
3. Add broth and flour. Stir until flour is dissolved.
4. Add chiles, garlic, salt, cumin, and any other spices desired.
5. Cover and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes.
6. Pour sauce into a blender and blend on low for just a few seconds until blended.
7. Pour back into pan and simmer until needed!

DELICIOUS!!!!

I served it over huevos con papas (egg and potato scramble) with flour tortillas on the side. Yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum yum I love green chili sauce.

Laura Lee

Recipe: Zucchini Croquettes

2010-08-10T10:58:00.001-05:00

Zucchini: Technically a fruit, but referred to as a vegetable. Regardless it is a summer squash, and I intend to take advantage of it's availability while the summer is still summering. All squash are from the America's; however zucchini was developed in Italy many decades after the introduction of it to the old world. This specific type of squash was introduced to America in the 1920's when immigrants brought it to California. So it started here, blossomed elsewhere, and was brought back. How the cycles of life, history, and culture continue to fascinate me...

I wanted to try something new with this fabulous treat who's origins through me for a philosophical loop. So I decided to shred it, make a patty, and fry the thing. DeliciousLee delicious to say the least. hings in fried form: always good. :) I've had zucchini tempura style, but I the idea of forming it into more of a cake last night proved successful. It's inspired all kinds of ideas to do things in patty form with all sorts of different ingredients and sauces. Next to come: smaller, zucchini and carrot "nuggets" with a sambar dipping sauce. (I can't wait.)

Zucchini Cakes

Ingredients:
- 1 Zucchini, shredded
- 1/2 Onion, diced
- 4 Cloves Garlic, minced
- 1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese, grated or shredded
- 1/4 Cup White Flour
- 1/4 Cup Corn Flour
- 2 Eggs
- Salt, Pepper, Cayenne Pepper, and a mix of dried herbs from my garden :)
- Peanut/Vegetable Oil

Recipe:

Mix zucchini, onion, garlic, cheese, flour, eggs, and spices together in a large bowl. Heat up enough oil in a pan to cover the bottom with a thick layer of oil. (You don't want to completely deep fry, but make sure there is enough to get it good and crispy on all sides.) Grab a bit of the zucchini mixture and drop it in the oil to form a small cake or patty. After browned on one side, flip and cook the other. Serve with your favorite sauce! (I used a fresh tomato sauce with onions, tons of garlic, bell pepper, and a very large heaping of fresh Cuban Oregano, Rosemary, and Basil.)

Hope you like it!

- Laura Lee

Recipe: Gobi Manchurian (General Tso's Cauliflower)

2010-07-15T16:58:00.002-05:00

Gobi Manchurian. Yum yum yum. I first found out about it at the lunch buffet at Madras Pavillion. There was a big group of high school students and teachers eating as well, lunching out on a senior field trip it looked like. They all kept waiting and pouncing on the crispy red cauliflower each time they brought it out. It took some tactfulness to actually get a sharing. I kept my eye on the kitchen door for more portions of this curious specialty, and alas! i was the first one at the buffet line! I grabbed a good spoonful, and thank god. Delicious. Crispy. Sweet. Amazing texture and flavor. Madras is an Indian Spot across the street from my apartment. It's a chain, but it doesn't feel like one. Wonderful food overall. A little pricy for Vegetarian Indian compared to the spots in the Mahatma Ghandi District, but really inexpensive for Upper Kirby. Overall, one of my favorite spots in the area.

(Indian and Thai lunch buffets are good only if you're looking to sample what the restaurant offers. Otherwise, the deal is getting an appetizer and a dish to share between two people. With water, you can easily get out for under 20 dollars for two.)

Last weekend, I went on a date to Udipi right at the heart of the prime Indian Restaurant hub, Hilcroft and Westheimer. It's a chain also! But wow, did the food blow my mind. We had Vada Sambar to start, fried lentil donuts smothered in Sambar, an amazing and intensely bold soup served as a side with many Indian foods. It is by far my favorite thing about South Indian cuisine. By far. Sambar... I have yet to make it. I can't find all of the proper ingredients. (In time...) For the main course, Chana Masala (some of the best I've had) and an order of Gobi Manchurian. Their Manchurian sauce was completely different. Much browner and had more of a gravier-texture to it, while Madras's was more of a Chinese Sweet and Sour sauce.

I believe the dish to be of Indo-Chinese origin. This is pretty debated on the internet. I read parts of lengthy forums where people got pretty defensive. Overall, I would argue that it indeed is. Fried cauliflower is used heavily in Indian Cuisine, while the sauce is completely Chinese. The recipe I have used (twice now) is very much like General Tso's sauce. And the idea of frying the main ingredient and then re-stir frying it in sweet sauce, has Chinese written all over it. So whether you use a sweet and sour sauce or general tso's sauce, thumbs up.

Gobi Manchurian

Ingredients:

- 1 Medium Cauliflower, cut into florets

- 1/4 cup white flour

- 1/4 cup corn flour

- 1 T green curry paste

- Salt
- Peanut Oil

- 2 Big Cloves Garlic, Minced

- 1 Clove-ish piece of Ginger, Minced
- 2 Thai Chilies
- 1/2 Onion, chopped

- 1/2 Red Bell Pepper

- 2 T Soy Sauce

- 2 T Rice Vinegar

- 3 T Ketchup

- 1 t sugar

- 2 t ground ginger

- 2 t red chili powder

Recipe:
1. The Cauliflower: Mix white flower, corn flower, and green curry paste with 1/4 cup warm water. (Add more water or flour as needed to make a paste consistency.) Dip the cauliflower into the batter and fry in peanut oil in a fryer or skillet. Make sure to flip if you are not deep-frying. Fry until crispy and golden brown. Remove and dry on paper towels.

2. In a skillet, heat garlic and ginger in oil. Add Thai Chilies and onion. Stir fry until onion is soft. Add red bell pepper. Add soy sauce, rice vinegar, ketchup, sugar, ginger, red chili powder, and any other spices you'd like. Add the cauliflower. Stir to cover the cauliflower and remove immediately.

3. Serve with paratha, rice, or eat alone!

Delicious!!

Until Next Time,

Delcious Lee,

Laura Lee

Recipe: Bacon-Wrapped Stuffed Hot Dogs

2010-07-05T23:54:00.003-05:00

Yes. I went ahead and did it. The ultimate ridiculous food. Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dogs (beef bacon and beef dogs), stuffed with queso quesadilla, topped with grilled jalapenos, grilled onions, and guacamole. And may I say, OMG. Seriously amazing. And no guilt here whatsoever.

I always talk about the hot dogs from Monterrey, Mexico. I recently mentioned it in my entry about Mayo. It's one of those meals that's totally worth the indulgence. Most of the time I try to cook healthy meals, much of the time vegetarian. But when I decide to go for it with a not-so-healthy food, I go for it--all the way. This was definitely one of those occasions. I've mentioned before that I don't really eat pork. (Unless, of course, I am in Mexico.) Luckily, thanks to Whole Foods, I didn't have to eat pork in trying to replicate the Mexican Dog. They have beef bacon and naturally, beef dogs. (They also have buffalo dogs. YUM.) Beef Bacon is pretty awesome; it was my first experience with it. I'm not a fan of Turkey Bacon. I grew up on real, full-strength bacon, and this turkey business didn't satisfy it. However, the Beef I like! It's thicker and more flavorful. Still not totally bacon--it just tastes like a thin piece of beef--but a great alternative for me.

The evolution of the hot dog is no joke. Different styles, different flavors, different qualities. Just in the U.S., we have Chicago-Dogs (no ketchup EVER and served on a poppy bun), Michigan Dogs (topped with meat sauce) , New Jersey Dogs (topped with onions, peppers, and potatoes), Coney Island Dogs (topped with chili, yellow mustard, and yellow onions), Bagel Dogs, Texas Dogs (served with chili sauce), Veggie Dogs, and tons more. There are regional variations for nearly every state. The range of where they are sold is vast as well, from 5 star diners to corner stores. In North America, 7-11 is the leader in selling hot dogs, 100 million per year. Now thas a looottta dog!

Hot dogs have been around ever since sausage has been around. It's an easy solution for a hand-fooded meal. The term frankfurter comes from Franfurt, Germany, when pork sausage was put onto a bun. The term "Weiner" comes from the German word for Vienna, Austria, which is Weiner. In Vienna is where beef-pork sausages became popularized in the region. And the term "Hot Dog" was in relations to accusations being made that "dog meat" was used to make the dogs, dating back to 1845.

My favorite dog to date is the Mexican Dog. Hands down. Salud!

Bacon-Wrapped Stuffed Hot Dog

Ingredients:

- 4 Hot Dogs
- 8 slices of bacon
- 8oz Queso Quesadilla, sliced into sticks
- 1/2 White Onion
- 2 Jalapenos
- Mayonnaise (a must!!) ;)
- Ketchp
- Mustard
- Guacamole Ingredients (optional):
- Salt
- Pepper
- Lime Juice
- Garlic Powder
- Chili Powder
- 1/2 White Onion
- Tomato
- 4 Small Avocados or 2 Large Avocados

Directions:
1. Make the guacamole. This step is optional. Scoop the avocado into a bowl and mash it thoroughly. Chop the onions and tomatoes into small pieces and mix into the avocado. Season with Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder, Chili Powder, and Lime Juice. Set aside.
2. Cut a slice down the center long-ways of each dog being careful not to cut all the way through the dog. Place a stick of cheese inside each slice.
3. Wrap two slices of bacon around each dog, making sure to cover all the space atop where the slice is faced open. The bacon helps to keep the cheese from melting and sliding out of the dog. Hold the bacon in place with toothpicks. I used 3-4 per dog.
4. Grill the dogs! Also, grill the onion and jalapenos. You can alternatively do all of it in a skillet.
5. Put the dogs into buns and top with the guacamole, peppers, and onions.

Enjoy!!

Besitos

Laura Lee

Recipe: Lemongrass and Red Chili Tofu

2010-06-28T16:55:00.004-05:00

If you haven't tried tofu, lemongrass, or red chili, you're kidding yourself to think you're completely satisfied with life. Tofu: addicting and a healthy alternative; Lemongrass: love it or hate it; Red Chili: addicting and deliciouslee hot. This is one of my favorite Vietnamese dishes. I was turned onto it initially by a little Vietnamese spot, Thein An, in Houston. Then it became my go-to at Vietnamese spots if I wasn't feeling Pho that day. Now, it's a staple at my house, which is a good thing so it can allow me to try some other things on the menu. ;)

Lemongrass is originally native to India, but is used throughout Asia and also in Mexico. It isn't always available at your Randalls-Kroger-ish stores, but can be found at Asian Markets and also Whole Foods and Central Market. People tend to go one way or the other on this fine grass, and I definitely fall on the side of the spectrum that love love loves it. The texture is very specific, a mixture between garlic and a green onion. When using it, make sure to remove several outer layers and use the lower-middle half of the stalk. It can be used as a garlic-type seasoning to a stir-fry dish, or as a base for tea, curry, or soup. Todos son ricos! Plus, it couldn't hurt that it assists in relieving the common cough and cold and supposedly holds a pretty good fight against cancer.

Before I get to the recipe, I want to do a spotlight on the Red Chili Sauce I used. It is made/packaged by Huy Fong Foods, who also makes the standard Siracha Chili sauce everyone can't seem to get enough of. The company was started by David Tran, a Chinese-Vietnamese chili farmer turned red chili sauce genius. Originally from China, his grandfather moved him and they settled into a Chinese community just outside of Ho Chi Min City (Saigon) in Vietnam where he became a farmer. He fled Vietnam in early 1980 along with several other boat people, trying to escape the effects of the War. Beginning the company in Los Angeles's China Town in 1980, his chili sauces are a giant success, made from red jalapenos. The Siracha recipe has not changed its ingredients since 1983. Others try to imitate it, but none will come close to the actual amazingness that is Huy Fong Siracha! "Huy Fong" is the name of the freighter train that took Tran to Hong Kong in 1978; the iconic rooster logo is to symbolize that Tran was born in The Year of The Rooster, and the green cap symbolizes the freshness of the ingredients used. Ugh, I think I totally just fell more in love with Huy Fong Foods. Delicious Lee salutes you, David Tran! hahahaha (seriously, though.)

Now for the recipe...

Lemongrass and Red Chili Tofu

Ingredients:
- 16oz tofu, cut and fried into slices or cubes*
- 1/2 yellow onion, sliced
- 1 stalk lemon grass, minced
- 2 big cloves of garlic, minced
- 1-2 tablespoons Sambal Oelek/Huey Fong brand red chili paste (depending on how spicy you want it)
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons water
- 2 teaspoons of turmeric
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 cup crushed dry roasted peanuts
- 2 tablespoons peanut oil

*A local shop, Kim Hung Market, on St. Emmanuel in Houston sells ready-fried tofu made locally. They sell a red chili and lemon grass tofu. When they have it available, I use that as my tofu. It really sort of doubles the flavor of the whole dish. Plain tofu is still delicious! But if you are frying it yourself, it wouldn't hurt to season it with extra spice. ;)

Directions:
1. Combine lemongrass, garlic, chili paste, soy sauce, water, turmeric, and sugar. Stir so everything is mixed in.
2. Heat the peanut oil in a large skillet and cook onions until soft. Add the tofu and stir for about a minute.
3. Add the sauce and stir thoroughly for 3-5 minutes. Add the peanuts.

Serve with white rice and melt at how good your food is.

xoxo

Laura Lee

For the Love of Mayonnaise

2010-06-08T14:59:00.002-05:00

This blog entry is dedicated to Mayonnaise: the cultural aspect of mayonnaise, the composition of mayo and its various alternatives, and of course, my personal Mayonnaise experience.

Mayonnaise. Oil, vinegar/lemon juice, and egg yolks. It's exact origin? Not totally sure, but I tend to waver toward Spain and France as being our great givers of Mayo. The Spanish called it "Salsa Mahonesa", and specifically (and still today) "Maonesa" in Catalan. The Spanish brought it to France, it became known as "Mayonnaise" close to the word "moyeunaise", derived from the word "moyeu", which means egg yolk. The French definitely popularized the product and added mustard to the Spanish recipe, seen in all French-influenced Mayo. Europeans use the hell out of mayonnaise, and I fully back them up putting it on Fries. (A gazillion times better than ketchup.)

It's used pretty much everywhere. My favorite Mayonnaise users? That's easy: Mexico, and Japan. (And France in terms of fry-dipping and Vietnamese Bahn Mi.)

Mexicans Love Mayonnaise. Period. I always equate my love for it due to the Mexican part of me. I'm not sure why I can't seem to find more information on the use of Mayo in Mexico. I mean, of course, there's always a few who think it's gross, but overall--Yes, they love it, and I give them a very enthusiastic two thumbs up. Any typical Soriana grocery store has no less than 39 varieties--some plain, low-fat, with lime, with chipotle, with chili, etc. (So, yea, there's a market for it.) Favorite Mexican Use: Elote and Hot Dogs. Yes, I know, I love street food, and hopefully you know that street food generally trumps all! haha! Elote is roasted corn, served on the street on the cob or in cups (more popular) smothered in mayonnaise and topped with varieties of cheese and varieties of chili. Gross? Eh, maybe a little to look at and pretty much a heart-attack in a cup, so that's why you order the smaller size... And totally worth it. Second Favorite Mexican Use: Hot Dogs. Heart attacks in bun form. The hot dogs in Mexico are THE BEST. Don't fool yourself in thinking your favorite is the all beef one from Barnaby's. haha. Hot Dogs, depending on the area of Mexico, can be at every street corner. They are stuffed with cheese, wrapped in bacon, put in a bun, and topped with a hunk of mayo, grilled jalapenos, grilled onions, and sometimes extra cheese, fried potatoes, guacamole and/or beans. Yes: completely insane. Insane GOOD! Seriously, if you're going to indulge, which I always do on vacation, please let it be a Mexican Hot Dog.

Here's a video posted by a fellow food blogger, Masa Assasin:

The Vietnamese Bahn Mi. One of the best sandwiches ever. I usually get the tofu ones, just because I love tofu. But, the pork Bahn Mi is where it's at. (Unfortunately, I may eat pork twice a year---once bacon, once chorizo or carnitas.) Either way, the sandwich wouldn't be what it is without mayonnaise.

Japanese Mayonnaise. Made typically with rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar, MSG, and Japanese Mustard. So, distinctly different. The most common brand is Kewpie (totally cute). They serve it with a gazillion things: Japanese Pancakes, Japanese Dumplings, Baked/Fried Octopus, Stir-Fried Noodles, Chicken and Pork Katsu, and as salad dressing and dipping sauce. It is frequently used as a base for sauces, like dynamite sauce, and served atop or alongside sushi. My favorite use: crab, cucumber, and flying fish roe salad with dynamite sauce topped with sesame seeds. Geeeeez it's amazing. Blog entry on that coming soon....I'm starting to have cravings.

My Mayonnaise Inspiration: Grandpa Ochoa. My favorite person in the world for a gazillion reasons, none of which I will go into because I could write an entire blog on him!, but he did LOVE mayonnaise. He only supported "full-strength" mayonnaise, meaning he thought any low-fat variety was a waste of time. Every single meal he ate was accompanied by "una chopa de mayonesa" and he ate mayonnaise by itself as well as with other food. To this day, I only buy real mayonnaise, but I never eat it by itself.

Recipe: Rajas con Queso

2010-06-04T17:10:00.003-05:00

Rajas con Queso has to be one of my favorite Mexican dishes of all time. Cheesy, Spicy, and Delicious. I order it frequently at the more authentic taquerias in Houston, but it's not a standard here at most Mexican spots in town. (They should reconsider, if they know what's good for them.)

Before I begin with the recipe, I want to give a quick lesson on roasting and peeling poblano peppers in the broiler. It took me several times before I got it completely right. It's much easier if you have a gas stove. Unfortunately, I have an electric stove, so the broiler is probably the best alternative. Broilers are able to heat things very evenly.

Roasting Peppers: (in a broiler)

1. Preheat the broiler.

2. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place the peppers on the baking sheet. Try to make them as flat as possible. Don't sit the pepper on an awkward angle. You want the most skin exposed up as possible without big bumps in the way.

3. Broil for 5-10 minutes, depending on the broiler. **What to look for: There will be big dark bubbles in the skin. The bigger the bubbles, the easier peeling them will be. After they look sufficient, flip them over and repeat for the underside.

4. Immediately after taking them out of the broiler, place them into ziplock bags and zip them. The steam in the bags will loosen the skin on the peppers, making them easy to peel. Let them sit for 10 minutes.

5. Peeling: Take the peppers out of the ziplock bags. Starting where the bubbles are insert a knife and peel back from the bubble center. The bubbles really make it easy to peel! Just make sure you be careful because that steam is hot, hot, hot!!

Rajas con Queso:

Ingredients:

- 8 Poblano Peppers, roasted, peeled, de-seeded, and cut into strips
- 1 Large White Onion
- 1 Clove Garlic
- 2 Tablespoons Peanut Oil (Canola and Vegetable work just as well; I always use peanut.)
- 1/2 cup evaporated milk
- 1 cup Mexican Crema or Half-and-Half
- 1 package Oaxaca cheese

Directions:
In a skillet, heat the oil. Add the onions, cook until transparent. Add the garlic and the sliced peppers and cook a few minutes more. Add the evaporated milk and crema. Bring to a slow boil and simmer, stirring constantly for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add cheese. It will melt and become a stringy cheesy heavenly mixture.

Serve with warm tortillas, atop gorditas, on atop a burger! Adding tomatoes and avocado at the end works quite well with it also. (Obviously, it's not something to indulge in too frequently, but it's absolutely fabulous!)

Enjoy!!

Laura

Green Chile Chili

2010-06-03T13:33:00.001-05:00

I got to spend a night in Brenham, TX this week. Mark's amazing parents have a great house, made into a Bed and Breakfast, Praire Hill Farm, in the beautiful hill country. I decided to raid her recipe collection, with permission of course. For the evening, we decided on Chili; it seemed appropriate. On top of it, I got to make the meal in one of my favorite kitchens, completely equipped with the cast-iron and copperclad set of my dreams. :)

Green Chile Chili, inspired by MSM

Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 lb. ground beef, beef stew meat, ground pork, or a combination (I used stew meat, chili meat)
- 1 can green chiles
- 1 jalapeno pepper
- 1 bell pepper
- 1 onion
- 1 large can crushed tomatoes (1lb. 12 oz)
- Olive Oil
- Cumin, to taste
- Cloves, to taste
- Salt & Pepper, to taste
- Fresh Parsley
- Sugar
- 1/2 cup dry red wine
- Tortilla Strips
- Shredded Cheese, Cheddar, Monterrey Jack, or Pepper Jack

Directions:
Heat a little oil in a skillet. Saute onions for 1 minute. Add in jalapenos and green bell pepper. After cooked a few minutes, add the meat. While cooking the meat, add green chiles, cumin, cloves, salt & pepper. In a large pot, heat up the tomatoes and wine. Drain excess fat from meat and add to the wine/tomato sauce. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer on low for 2 hours. Serve with tortilla strips and shredded cheese. :)

Yum!

No Tortillas in Thailand.

2010-05-31T13:05:00.001-05:00

Good name for an album or book or something. A little too profound, metaphorically speaking, for a food blog entry title. Hah. Maybe eventually I'll write a book and call it that. So, I was just thinking about how Thai food is the only food I don't really mix with any cuisine. If it's Thai, than it's Thai. I called a recipe "thai-inspired caldo", because it made me think of Caldo, but in truth, it was indeed native to Thailand. Everything is so distinct.

I'm obsessed with food. I'm obsessed with Cultural History. So, I can't help but connecting dots when I eat food, depending on the cuisine. Most cuisines are so apparently intertwined with cultural background. Like the fantastic Vietnamese inheritance of French Bread. In imperialistic terms, the French-Vietnam connection proved a terrible fate for the future of Vietnamese History, but in terms of food, what a blessing... anyway, i could go on and on, which I will, in future blogs, but Thailand, to me is perfectly distinct. No doubt it has ingredients that make up other cuisines as well, but something sets it apart. Even their use of cilantro--common in Mexico, India, Vietnam, etc. doesn't connect them to those cuisines. I am more apt to link the latters together rather than with Thai food. The other thing, which was the whole point of my title, is that Thailand doesn't really have a bread or tortilla. They eat rice and a lot of noodles, but over all the noodles take up enough space to fill the starch capacity.

When I was in Thailand, I did have once piece of bread. My first day, in China Town, I ordered a cup of hot tea (even though it was 100 degrees outside) and she brought a plate of bread. It was plain white sandwich bread, similar to wonderbread, covered in butter and white sugar. The bread was sold everywhere in markets, or similar to it, in brightly colored wrapping. It seemed almost theme parkish, and in ways it was, because they look to bread as some sort of a novelty item. And so their use of it heated, with butter and sugar, was kind of hilarious, because it was rather awful. But good in a way to me because it was a novelty of Thailand and because it was a silly novelty to them.

Ah, I always blow my own mind!!

:) xoxo

Laura Lee

Vegetable Samosas, Cilantro Chutney, and Red Lentil Curry

2010-05-30T09:34:00.002-05:00

No posts since January...yikes!! Over time, you will notice I have quite the eb and flow with this blog, as well as my other blogs and projects I delve into. I tend to go full throttle on things, then take a break, then go on a roller coaster from then on out. I'm feeling a surge in blogging right now, so my predictions say you will be seeing a lot more of me over the next couple of months at least. ;) So back to food... I love Indian food. No surprise, I'm sure. I tend to gravitate towards foods with a lot of bold flavors and spices--Thai, Mexican, Indian. I have love for all foods, but those make my mouth extra happy. :)

Vegetable Samosas, Cilantro Chutney, and Red Lentil Curry.

Lentils and rice have become a staple at home. I've really perfected my lentils, and the dish stands on its own. Of course, I like to have a lot of variety in my food, so samosas are a nice little side dish/appetizer/show stealer. I made samosas and cilantro chutney twice over the past few weeks, and there was a dramatic improvement by the second go-round. I highly recommend both of these dishes. Hope you enjoy them! (P.S. I'm going to write recipes more traditionally, with the ingredients listed beforehand. I didn't want to succumb to doing this, but I think it's fair and helpful to my readers. :) P.P.S. Thanks for reading, readers!! hahaha)

Vegetable Samosas

Ingredients: **Approximate
- 5 Red Potatoes, Cubed
- 1 Carrot
- 1/2 bag of frozen peas
-1 Yellow Onion
- 3 Cloves Garlic, minced
- Peanut Oil
- Garam Masala Spice
- Ground Coriander or Coriander Seed
- Ground Cumin or Cumin Seed
- Ground Ginger
- Salt & Pepper
- 1/2 Package of Filo Pastry, thawed

Directions:
Boil the potatoes. While the potatoes are boiling, heat up a couple tablespoons of peanut oil in a big skillet or pot and cook the onions until tender. Add the Carrots, Peas, and Garlic. Mash up the potatoes into small chunks and add them to the rest of the vegetables. Season them with Coriander, Cumin, Ginger, Salt, and Pepper to taste. Transfer the vegetables to a separate bowl.

In stacks of 3-4, cut your filo pastry into large circles, then into half circles, as shown to the right. put a spoonful of veggie mixture into center of semi-circle. I find the easiest way to wrap them is into "tornadoes" as Nina says. First grab two sides and make the pastry into a bouquet or hand roll and seal up the side with a little bit of water or egg wash. Then fold over the top, seal it, and bam! you have a samosa. I'm sorry that I don't have any pictures! I will make sure to take step by step pictures next time.

Heat up peanut oil in a large skillet, pot, or fryer over medium heat. After oil is ready (when it zizzles big out if you put the slightest flick of water on it), fry your samosas, a few at a time, dry them out, and serve with cilantro chutney.

Cilantro Chutney

Ingredients:
- 1 bunch of cilantro
- juice from 2-3 lemons
- ginger
- teaspoon peanut oil
- salt
- sugar

Directions:
Blend all ingredients. It might take a bit of starting and stopping the blender, mixing it, then blending again, until it blends. If you have to, add a little bit of water at a time.

Red Lentil Curry:
I absolutely love these lentils. They are sooo good.

Ingredients:
- 1 cup red lentils
- 1/2 Yellow Onion
- 2 Cloves Garlic, minced
- peanut oil
- 1 tablespoon red curry paste (add more or less depending on how spicy you want it)
- minced ginger
- garam masala spice
- ground coriander or coriander seed
- ground cumin or cumin seed
- sugar
- salt and pepper

Directions:

Wash lentils thoroughly. They will sludge up if you don't. Cover them with water, with a good 1/2 inch of water above them. Bring them to a boil, then simmer and cover for about 20 minutes. They cook similar to rice, except with lentils you should check about half way and add more water if they need it. You don't want them to dry out, but there isn't an exact science to the amount of water needed in the pan. Adding halfway through if needed has worked well for me.

While the lentils are cooking, heat a tablespoon of peanut oil in a small skillet. Add the onions and cook until soft. While the onions are cooking, mix the curry paste, garlic, ginger, and all of the other spices together. When onions are done cooking, add this mixture to them and stir constantly until curry/spice paste is all over the onions.

When the lentils are ready, add the onion mixture to the lentils, stir, and simmer until ready to serve!! Yum!!

Until next time,

Laura Lee

Baba Ganoush (and yet another Great Salad)

2009-10-12T16:45:00.002-05:00

I absolutely love baba ganoush. Overall, (assuming it's prepared to it's standard), I prefer baba ganoush to humus. My chickpea dish of choice is falafel; my eggplant dish of choice is baba ganoush. As I prepared to eat a salad as my main course for dinner, I thought I'd make a tasty appetizer.

Typically, in order to obtain a smokey flavor in the baba ganoush, it's best to hold the eggplant over a fire, either on a gas grill or over a fire in a barbecue pit. After the skin is blackened, you would then transfer the eggplant to the oven to finish baking. Unfortunately, it was raining, and I just used the oven...

Baba Ganoush: Take one eggplant and poke it several times with a fork (like a baked potato). Bake it at 375 for 20-25 minutes. Peel the skin off and discard it. Then, put the rest of the eggplant and mash it thoroughly. Add about 1/4 cup of tahini. And may I just say, that Tahini (sesame paste) is one of the best things ever. Also add 4 garlic cloves (minced) and the lemon juice of two lemons. Top with olive oil, sesame seeds, parsely, and olives. Serve with pita bread or pita chips. mmm mmm good.

For the salad this time: spinach, grapevine tomatoes, olives, feta, sunflower seeds, green bell pepper, red onions, and smoked salmon. :) Salads are so pretty...

The weather is getting cooler and I am loving it! And my birthday is in two days! :)

Until next time,

Laura Lee

Pizza Pizza

2009-10-08T17:54:00.001-05:00

Tuesday night ritual: Mark, Laura, and DJ, Rudyards, darts, mexican coke, lone star, and dinner. Well, I've recently moved it home so that I can cook. I try to keep the foods in the general bar region though: hamburgers, fried mushrooms, fish tacos, and well... pizza.

I picked up a big flat loaf of focaccia bread at the market to use as my crust, as I was in a little bit of a rush. (Pizza crust is really better when left in the fridge overnight. For the sauce: A can of tomato paste, a cup of water, 1/3 cup of olive oil, a few cloves of garlic, rosemary, and oregano. (I also threw in some fresh herbs from a friend's garden and some leftover pasta sauce I made.) (I personally like pizza sauces with olive oil because I like to put fresh tomatoes on top, so I tend to not make it overwhelmingly tomato-y.) For the topping, mushrooms, tomatoes, sauteed spinach with garlic, jalapeno sausage, feta cheese, and lotsa mozzarella. :)

My tum tum was extremely happy. :)

Until next time,

Laura Lee

Great Salads

2009-09-30T11:23:00.002-05:00

Nothing beats an amazing salad. I'll be honest, I hardly order them out...because I'm in love with my own salads so much, I feel like I'm cheating on them with a less-worthy substitute that charges too much. I rarely find a place that wows me with their salad selection, but I suppose I just have really good taste. haha :) just kidding. (not really.) But seriously, salads are so easy and so much better when they're fresh and when they have all of the inredients that you specifically like.

I like a salad with a good amount of crunch in it, so I'm always adding apples, carrots, pine nuts, celery, pecans, sunflower seeds, cucumbers, etc. Tomatoes and avocadoes are pretty much a must. I also love additions of mushrooms, olives, and cheese (especially feta). For the bulk of my salads I almost always use just spinach. Spinach is an amazing food, especially nutritionally. For salads, it adds flavor and ensures that every bit of your salad is nutritous. (Light green lettuce isn't bad for you, but it doesn't really have any benefits either.) Other than the typical balsamic-olive oil mix, I'm not a whiz at making dressings. I cheat and buy dressings usually. Annie's Natural Dressings are amazing. ...they have a great variety and are all organic.

Last night, I was craving a big salad. I used: spinach, tomatoes, avocados, red onions, sunflower seeds, topped with Annie's Naturals Red Pepper Vinegarette and fresh pepper. Mmmmmmmmm. I also had some calamari I needed to make, which I served along side some plum sauce. For more info on those recipes, click accordingly: Plum Sauce, Calamari.

xoxo

Laura Lee

I'll be back soon!

2009-09-29T13:00:00.000-05:00

So, as fate would have it, I spilled a bloody mary on my precious macbook that i knew and loved throughout my college career... I almost cried, but Mark looked at me just before my emotional break and told me to only put out positive thoughts regarding the unfortunate spillage. So I took a deep breath, dried the tomato and vodka mess, and drove to my least favorite area of town: the galleria. Sure, fancy stores, ambercrombie for men cologne seeping out into every square inch of your breathing room, and an overwhelming amount of people in your way going opposing speeds is some people's idea of an amazing time, but for me... well I'm pretty sure my tone said it all. On top of it, it was Saturday at about 3:00--prime time galleria. The Apple store is crowded everyday of the week, so to say it's crowded on a Saturday is overwhelmingly understated. I handed over my precious mac to "the geniuses". Eh, Jobs, what a sense of humor, eh?

They saved my hard drive. Unfortunately, the cost to fix my mac was practically the cost of a new one, so... Yes!, I am officially typing on my very own, very new, MacBook Pro. The keys are extra crisp.

So yes: something sad; something exciting, something costly; something worth the cost.

It's just taking me a while to transfer everything over, load up all my applications, etc. etc. etc... my apologies for being absent. I shall return soon!

Until next time,

Laura Lee

Veggie Chimichangas!!

2009-09-23T10:09:00.001-05:00

I've been training for the half marathon coming up in less than a month in Huntsville, and I got up to 7 miles day before yesterday. Of course, just as my body was thanking me for getting stronger and burning calories, I put those calories right back in with these chimis. Oops!

My boyfriend almost always orders the Veggie Chimichangas at a local spot called Chapultapec, and naturally, I was determined to make some that were even better. I'd never made them before...but tex-mex ingredients really aren't that hard to decifer...tortilla, veggies, cheese.

First things First: Heating up the queso. (Queso isn't rocket science, folks. Even your local mexican spots will use velveeta. So don't assume that buy using velveeta, you're not being authentic. Queso is actually more of a tex-mex item, not a mexican item. Plus, trying to use only cheedar, jack, etc. cheese will result in a very stringy sticky thick combination.) Half a pack of velveeta and 1 can of hot hot rotel. I only used a very small amount of what I made, there was plenty of queso left over.

Second things Second: Sauteeing the veggies. After heating a tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet, sautee about 1/4 cup of sliced onions and and minced garlic first, then throw in about 1/4 cup of mushrooms and 1/4 cup bell pepper, and lastly, throw in a big handful of spinach. Season the veggie mix with salt, pepper, cumin, and mexican chili powder. After your throw in the spinach, just toss around a couple times until the spinach is soft but not completely wilted.

Third things Third: Making the chimis. Make sure the tortillas you buy are the pre-cooked ones or slightly uncooked. (They taste at least 17 times better.) At the restaurants, they use the big burrito-sized tortillas, but taco-sized ones will work as well. Roll the veggies in the tortilla and fold over the ends. Fasten with toothpicks. They'll look like little voodoo dolls. Drop, toothpick-side-down, into a skillet heated with veggie/canola/peanut oil and fry just a couple minutes on each side until golden.

Fourth things Fourth: Remove toothpicks. Pour queso on top. Grub down.

Fifth things Fifth: Fall over from greatness. These things are dream-worthy.

Until next time,

Laura Lee

Best Quiche Ever

2009-09-22T09:44:00.003-05:00

I told you, I make quiches weekly. This week: no different. Quiche is one of the only dish that I make with such regularity, that even as good as they are each week, they continually get better the next. It's not that there are any big new secrets I uncover each time, but you just get a little better with details with time. And I love that with each new quiche I make, the compliments from my guy continuously get more praise-y. :)

For the filling, mushrooms, spinach, green onions, chunks of feta cheese, and cheddar cheese, 5 eggs, and 1 cup of cream, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and garlic powder. Doesn't the freshness look gorgeous?! For more detailed instructions on the crust recipe and assembling the quiche, see my standard quiche recipe.

Also, because I was at home for a while after I put the quiche in the oven, I actually set the oven at 275 and just let it bake for almost two hours. It came out better in my opinion. You can always make it at a higher setting for less time, but the crust tends to cook faster than my filling.

Lastly, I'd like to say a thing or do about nutrition, as I frequently get the comment that quiche is extremely high in fat and cholesterol. It whole, the quiche has plenty of both, no doubt about it; however, if you cut the quiche into 8 slices, the breakdown of the calories comes to less than 400. Furthermore, you're only getting .625 of an egg... so the cholesterol comment is somewhat unreasonable. (Yes, I did the math. And that calorie count includes a tablespoon of siracha.) Overall for me, that amount is perfectly fine for breakfast. Finally, I definitely care that my body is getting enough of the right things, but as someone who loves food and loves indulgent food every once in a while, I try to balance it with physical activity. I know that for me, I'd rather take the time to work out and eat what I'd like than never eating what I really want. :) Okay, I'll get off my little rant here.

Anyway...the quiche was amazing. Try it at home and tell me how much you love it. And the best part: you know that you'll have it for the next four mornings. :)

Until next time,

Laura Lee

Pumpkin Empanadas

2009-09-21T08:20:00.001-05:00

My mom is originally from Brownsville, TX, one of the few towns that encompasses "the valley" near the Mexican border in Texas. I spent many summers there as a kid, with my grandparents. One of the best parts of my visits was the food...naturally. For breakfast, my grandpa would take me to his favorite bakery and buy me a pumpkin empanada. I'd tried several kinds of empanadas, but pumpkin were always my favorite. Recently, I've met a new friend, Jo, originally from Brownsville also. She, some friends, and I decided to make brunch this weekend. I decided I would make pumpkin empanadas inspired by the Brownsville connection. They came out amazing! :)

First things first: The Dough. 2 cups of flour, a little salt, 1 stick of butter, and 3 tablespoons of shortening. Sift the flour and salt. Add the butter (pre-cut in little chunks). You can use an electric mixer to mix, but your hands are really the best tool here. Mash it through. Next, add the shortening and mix. Roll into a ball, wrap it up in plastic, and cool in the fridge for at least half an hour.

Second things second: The Filling. 1 can of pumpkin (just pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling), 1 cup of brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of butter, a few good shakes of cinnamon, and a few good shakes of cloves. Melt the butter over medium heat, add the brown sugar until dissolved through. Add the pumpkin, cinnamon, and cloves. Cool in the fridge for half an hour. (Make sure that the filling is cooled through before you start using. It WILL NOT work right if it's hot...it is too soft to work with.)

Third things third: The empanadas. Cut the dough in half...and then in half again...and so on, until you have 16 balls of dough. (Keep half in the fridge and work one batch at a time.) Smush out each ball pretty flat into little circles. Put a spoonful of the pumpkin filling in the middle of each circle. Fold over the empanadas into little half moons, shutting lightly with your fingers on the outer rim. Finally, get a fork and seal the rim. (It also just looks cute.) Bake at 425 for 12-15 minutes, or until golden.

Fourth things fourth: Eat one. And then another. And then another. And so on.

A note: for more of a pastry empanada, put an egg wash over the empanadas before baking and sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon right after you pull them out tha oven.

xoxo

Laura Lee

General Tso's Chicken: An Adventure in Batter

2009-09-17T16:13:00.001-05:00

General Tso's Chicken, THE tried and true dish in Chinese Cuisine, with the American population anyway. It's never been my favorite dish, but it's usually the one thing you know is safe to order at any Chinese restaurant. After all, how can a dish with fried chicken be bad? :):):)

I looked up several recipes to get a general idea of how the dish is made, and then I made adjustments accordingly. Basically, there are three elements: The Chicken (along with green onions and dried chiles), The Batter, and The Sauce. The Chicken: Chicken Thigh Meat, cut up in chunks. For whatever reason, most Americanized recipes and Americanized Chinese Restaurants will use Chicken Breast. Obviously, this will work just fine, but it does not have the same flavor as dark meat. And seeing as how the rest of the recipe is balls-to-the-wall indulgent, go for the dark meat--it's better and cheaper!

The Batter: 1 cup corn starch, 1/4 cup soy sauce, and 1 egg (beaten). That's it! And it's crazy! It turns into a cajeta type consistency. It's like a peanut butter, caramel, sticky candy fudge.

The Sauce: 1/2 cup corn starch,1/4 cup of water, 1/4 cup of sake (rice wine), 1/4 cup of rice vinear, 3/4 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of soy, about 2 cups of chicken broth, and a few cloves of fresh minced garlic. Mix really well...get all that corn starch mixed in.

Heat peanut oil. Mix the chicken in the batter, and drip off excess before frying. Fry the chunks, a few at a time. Set the chicken aside and dry with a paper towel. Get most of the oil out of the pan. Throw in chopped green onions (about 3) and dried red chiles (5-8 depending on the size of the chiles). Then, throw the chicken back in and push to the outskirts of the pan. Next, throw in the sauce towards the center and stir until it thickens. Remove IMMEDIATELY! Delicious!

I didn't remove the chicken right away and the batter got a little soft, which kinda defeats the whole purpose, as part of the point is the crispiness of the chicken. Still, it was amazing. And...not every food adventure is going to come out perfect! :)

Until next time...

Laura

Recipe: Stuffed Onions

2009-09-14T11:24:00.001-05:00

As I've recently started this foodblog, I've become overwhelmed by so many amazing foodblogs online. I saw a blog on stuffed onions and couldn't resist trying them. I changed the stuffing, but kept the stuffed onion idea.

Whole Foods has an amazing selection of fresh chicken sausage, including Habenero and Hatch Chile flavored. (I don't cook with pork too often.) Spicy chicken sausage and onion just sounded amazing. I combined the cooked sausage with garlic, fresh jalapenos, corn from two ears of corn, shredded monterrery jack cheese, an egg, and some seasonings to stuff in the onions. Now, hollowing out the onions is a little bit of a process. If you're sensitive to onions, this might be a dillema.

Next time I make this dish, I will make some changes. Instead of hollowing out the onion, I will cut the rings in half, to make little boats. It can utilize more of the onion and will also save on time. Lastly, I think it would make a great side for a brunch menu. It seemed breakfast-y.

Overall, however, the dish was delicious (and spicy). I served it along side some mashed sweet potatoes. Thanks, Ben, for the idea.

Tonight, I think I will be going back to Asia.

xoxo

Laura Lee

Spinach Quiche

2009-09-12T14:50:00.000-05:00

I absolutely love quiche. I typically make it weekly, because it keeps so well and is so easy to warm up every morning. Although I have expirmented with the fillings, spinach and mushroom are my favorite ingredients in a quiche. The best part: anyone can make them...seriously...

The crust: If you're completely new to cooking, don't feel silly buying a pre-made crust. Ease your way into doing everything from scratch. Once you get there though, the homeade crusts are light-years better than your pre-made one. In a quiche, the real secret is in the crust, and it's the number one secret (or not) of French Cuisine. Yep, butter.

If you want to start from scratch, all it is: 1.25 cups of flour, a stick of butter (chopped up), few spoons of water, and a dash of salt. (I didn't have quite that much flour or butter this time, and it worked just fine.) Sift the flour and salt. Then, in a bowl, mash the butter into the flour. Use your hands. Come on, get into it, my friends. After it's good and doughy, wrap in up in plastic wrap, smash it a little (about an inch thick), and pop it in the fridge.

While you're waiting, get to the filling. Quiche is sort of like soup or pizza or casserole, you can kind of just throw anything in. I just used spinach this time. But there's always mushrooms, broccoli, asparagus, crab, shrimp, sausage, onions, peppers, the list goes on... Don't be shy on the fillings. Remember that when baked, veggies get smaller, while eggs rise. If you don't put enough fillings, the quiche tends to be a little too eggy.

Cheese is pretty much necessary. Same rule goes for cheese, you can pretty much throw anything in. I use whatever I have. This time it was monterrey jack and cheddar. Swiss and feta and parmesean are also amazing. The absolute best quiche cheese is gruyere, if you really feel like splurging. I recommend always using at least two kinds of cheese. A note on queso: please please buy block cheese. Pre-shredded cheese is a pet peeve of mine. For one, it grows mold easy (even if block cheese molds, you simply cut off the top layer and the middle is still amazing). For two, fresh shredded cheese from a block is one of the best things in the dairy kingdom. Seriously. And really, it doesn't take that long. I'm totally into cheating when appropriate, but don't cheat on cheese. Unless you're a veagan or lactose-intolerant of course...

So, chop up your veggies and meat. Shred your cheese. Now the egg mixture: 5 eggs and about a cup of milk or cream. The milk/cream option is totally up to you. I've never used only skim. I imagine if you did, you wouldn't need a full cup. I use what I have. If I only have whole or 2%, then I use only it. If I have a little 2% and some cream, I'll make a combination. Obviously, the creamier the milk, the creamier the quiche consistency will be. They all come out pretty good...

Get your cooled pie crust and knead it out into the pan. Pour your veggies and some of the cheese in. Pour the egg mixture over. Cover the top with cheese. Bake at 350 for 40 or so, until the filling is hardened and the cheese looks golden. On this particular quiche, I mixed the cheese into the filling completely, and although it tasted like perfection, it looked a little sad without the cheese on top.

I'm obsessed with siracha sauce, so I tend to have a little on the side. Perfect breakfast.

May I also add that quiche is deliciously paired with an habenaro bloody mary?! Have a great weekend. Always feel free to comment any questions.

xoxo

Laura Lee

Thai-Style Caldo

2009-09-11T12:02:00.002-05:00

Although it's still hot as ever in Houston, TX, it's also bad allergy season for me, which means it's also time for caldo. My mom's side of the family is Hispanic. Although my grandmother's roots are from Spain, my family grew up close to the Mexican border, so I definitely consider myself having a partly Mexican background, for this reason. Plus, Texas was originally part of Mexico. And lastly, I absolutely adore Mexican food as well as Tex-Mex. I feel, cooking-wise, I know Mexican flavors the best because they are most familiar. The smells of flour tortillas and butter, or grilled onions, or guacamole (yes, it does have a smell), or frijoles a la charra, or caldo are some of the best smells in the world...

I'm not exactly sick; I'm definitely capable of going to work, getting around, having a cocktail in the evening... but I'm stuffy with allergies. And everytime I get a little sick... I want Caldo. Caldo is typically chicken broth, chicken, garlic, lemon, cilantro, celery, red pepper flakes, chile powder, onions, potatoes or rice, and carrots--or some combination of those. Well, I wanted to stick that base, but with some Thai flare. My favorite Thai cookbook by Vatcharin Bhumichitr had a recipe for Chicken Soup, that had very similar ingredients to that of caldo.

Chicken broth, chicken, rice, soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, fresh garlic-sesame oil, cilantro, preserved vegetables (tang chi), cilantro, and green onions. Simple and delightful. I added a bunch of fresh basil, chile, bean sprouts, and siracha sauce. It was amazing. I had a friend who was sick over to have some as well, and she feels better this morning. Food is an amazing medicine.

Also, I want to add that I cheat a lot with dishes that call for shredded chicken. I often buy rotisserie chickens from the store and use that meat. Most of the time at my local stores: Whole Foods, Fiesta, and Krogers... there are always sales going on with the chicken, and it ends up being not much more than a raw chicken. (In fact, this particular chicken I got for free! :)) Plus, the flavor is amazing, and I don't have a rotisserie. If I did, I'd have these constantly spinning. For a sick soup (and just in general), I tend to include both white and dark meat, as well as the skin. Luckily for me, my boyfriend agrees (and wanted some of those extra dumplings I froze yesterday.)

Hope everyone is having a beautiful Friday!

xoxo

Laura Lee

Veggie Dumplings

2009-09-10T10:54:00.000-05:00

Vegetable dumplings are nostalgic for me. As a little girl, my mom, dad, brothers, and I would all go to Fu's Garden and start off with a few orders of steamed veggie dumplings. Topped with ginger sauce and a hint of chili...yummm. To this day, most of the time when I go to a chinese restaurant, I get veggie dumplings. Plus, they're not only delicious, but the steamed ones are very healthy as well.

Recently, my boyfriend introduced me to a place called Lai Lai Dumpling House out Bellaire near the Beltway in the bigger Chinatown of Houston. (Originally the Midtown area of Houston used to be called 'Little Saigon' but as bigger business stepped in, the majority of Asian centers are towards the Bellaire/Beltway area.) Well, Lai Lai is absolutely amazing. A very tiny hole in the wall joint with the best dumplings you've ever had. The dumplings aren't perfectly sculpted either, which in my opnion makes them that much more love-filled. Because you know that hands were used to shape them, not a dumplings press. Well...they inspired me...

A little involved and time-consuming, veggie dumplings are easy and inexpensive to make. The best part is, although they take some time (an hour), if you're smart, you'll make plenty and be able to freeze the majority of them for later, less timely use. I made 8 dumplings and saved probably 30 or so.

If you cook regularly and make salads a part of your daily consumption, you won't really need to go to the store, except to get wonton wraps. (You can make your own dough, but for a buck-fifty...I went with the pre-made ones.) I used leftover vegetables: Cabbage, Carrots, Green Onions, Baby Corn, about 1/2 lb. of firm tofu (just mashed up), and garlic. I definitely recommend trying have some cruchy veggies and some soft to create balance within the dumpling. Also, you can use any leftover noodles you have; I've had veggie dumplings with vermicelli in them several times. Cut everything very fine. Simply put a spoonful of veggies in the center of the wrap, then wet your fingertips and seal the edges around the filling. (You can try to make it pretty...but it's really unnecessary...) Make sure when you're done sealing the dumplings to put them on a plate or surface with a little space in between so they do not stick together.

To steam: (Pretty self-explanatory), Get a large steamer-pot, boil a little bit of water, put the steaming plate it, toss the dumplings in and in about 5 minutes, you've got steamed dumplings. **Note with steaming dumplings: Make sure you grease the steaming insert otherwise you'll have a big ol' mess.
To pan fry: cover your pan with peanut oil, toss the dumplings in (leaving room in between), and cook each side for about 2 minutes each and presto! dumplings!

For sauce: Mix Rice Vinegar, Soy Sauce, Fresh Ginger, Green Onions, and a little sesame or chile oil.

xoxo

Laura Lee

Hoy Pad Nam Prik Pow!

2009-09-09T18:02:00.000-05:00

Clams, Calamari, and Chile Oil

2009-09-09T09:36:00.001-05:00

I've never made clams before. I've also never made chile oil from scratch before. So far, I can say that the sauces and dips and oils that I've made this week have been the best, most telling part of Thai Cuisine, but also of food in general. It's the small, detailed ingredients (like many things in life) that are the most important. Just like the plum sauce was incredibly simple and delicious, so is the chile oil.

To make Chile Oil, heat up a few of tablespoons of peanut oil in a wok or skillet. Add about 6 gloves of garlic, finely sliced until brown. Then remove the garlic and set aside. Do the same thing with a green onion and a few red chiles. (Cook, then remove.) Next, take all of the removed ingredients and mash them with a mortar and pestle. Take the mashed ingredients and put them back in the oil and add a tablespoon of sugar and a dash of salt. Stir and it will make a thick oil--not a sauce. Also, it will make a good amount that you can store for later. Oh, and be careful! It's oil and very hot!!! (On that note...as much as I love oil especially with frying food, be so mindful of splatters next to burners. Grease fires are extremely dangerous and can be deadly.)

As I am writing this in retrospect, I can say that everything I made tonight, including this chile oil, came out amazing, but this was the hardest thing to make--not because of skill level but because I did not have the utensils I needed. In order to make the oil, you need to have a small strainer or sieve to remove the garlic, green onions, and peppers. Although the flavor of the oil was perfect, I could not remove all of the veggie bits and it created little burnies. I was able to correct this by using my big strainer, but it was a process that shouldn't have taken that long... (The Clams were worth it though.)

So... when buying clams at the store, my favorite seafood sales guy made me a deal and I bought a little bit of calamari because I couldn't resist. Plus, I had a box of Panko Bread Crumbs in my pantry that I'd never used and were begging to be coated on some seafood. Plus, it added to my asian feel. Panko Bread Crumbs are Japanese bread crumbs and available at most stores. The calamari was perfect. Incredible, in fact. My only complaint about panko is that little panko bits fry off when you're cooking and limits your use to recycle the oil. ...still, that's not even a valid complaint... the Calamari were absolutely delicious. Plus, I had my Plum Sauce I made from last night as a topping. Amazing!!!! I will be having dreams about them. Plus, they're relatively cheap. I bought a 1/2 pound, which was more than plenty for the three of us: Me, Mark (my incredible boyfriend), and Andy (a good friend I met through Mark). Obviously I love cooking for Mark, he thoroughly enjoys my food and encourages my cooking, but I also love cooking for Andy because of his appreciation for food--it shines through his face while I'm making it.

Making the calamari: Soak the calamari in milk while you prepare the rest of your meal. Season your milk if you'd like. When you're ready to cook them (towards the end of your meal, although frying takes some time if you're pan-frying), dip them in seasoned flour (I season my flour with garlic powder, cayenne pepper, pepper, and salt), then in egg white, then in panko crumbs. Space them in your pan while they fry. The secret to frying is figuring out the right temperature on your stove top and spacing the items you fry. If packed close together, the batter clumps between them, and much of the time, big yummy chunks of batter fall off.

The Clams: Heat enough peanut oil (or veggie oil) to cover your pan, toss a few chopped cloves of garlic until browned, then put in a tablespoon of chile oil, 2 lbs of clams, 2 tablespoons of fish sauce, a few chopped thai chilies, and 20-30 thai basil leaves. (Garlic and chile should be added to taste, and regular basil works as well.) Add 1/4 cup of water. Cover, and steam for about 5 minutes, or until the majority of the clams have opened up. Remove from heat.

For some green: The salad (which I have been serving with the majority of my asian meals): Cabbage, Bean Sprouts, Peanuts, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Tofu, Hard-Boiled Eggs, and Green Onions. The dressing: Red Curry Peanut Dressing: Get a saucepan and heat a enough oil to cover the bottom, add a tablespoon and a half of red curry paste (recipe coming soon...also, i tend to use heavy on the spicy, reduce if you're sensitive), and mix well--until the paste has dispersed evenly through the oil. Add about 3/4 can of coconut milk. (save the rest!!) Add a handful or so of crushed peanuts (fresh preferably, it adds a certain texture). Add a dash of salt and a spoon or so of sugar. Mix, boil slightly, and remove from heat. ...best dressing...

No leftovers.

Until next time,

Laura Lee

Hong Kong Market

2009-09-08T22:10:00.000-05:00

Getting started a little late today. Dinner will be up tomorrow, and it is starting to smell goooo-oooo-ooood. Learning more and more everyday. Cooking is like learning a language or how to play an instrument... it takes daily practice to have little secrets reveal themselves. Like timing, temperature, and how to make use of EVERY LITTLE THING. That's my favorite thing about cooking regularly, I rarely waste anything anymore...

For my preparation for my week (or weeks) of Thai cooking, I had to go to the Hong Kong City Mall to get all the ingredients I need. I highly recommend going if you haven't and live in the Houston area. It is a massive place with amazing ingredients, some of which, I'm not going to lie, I'm quite scared of. Most scary, is the aisle of fish sauce. Not your (already kind of gross) bottled fish sauce made from the oils that tastes heavenly on egg rolls or vermicelli... but REAL fish sauce, with whole fish in and the rest of the bottle is filled with some sort of mashed up fish paste. And fish of all varieties! Including Mud Fish. So, I'm not going there yet... but maybe as my cooking abilities expand, I will dare to go there one day.

Some pics...

Jackfruit (the size of my torso):

Dried Fish Aisle:

Until the morning...

Laura Lee

Plum Sauce

2009-09-07T21:58:00.003-05:00

Fresh plum sauce is the best thing ever. Not the thick dark sauce you put on mooshoo; it's a sweet spicy sauce, with a fish sauce consistency. Sweet. Spicy. And vinegar tangy. Pickled plums, sugar, rice vinegar, and thai chiles. That's it. Five minutes and you have the best dipping sauce ever.

To dip, I made shrimp and corn cakes, completely from scratch, using my handy mortar and pestle. My amazing friend Lucas suggested I just used a potato masher, but the mortal and pestle required me to spend time with it, get into the food, and put a whole lot of love into my food. Which, is the biggest secret to food. Ever. So what's the secret? It's love. I told you and it's only blog number 2.

The cakes were fabulous. Peppercorn and fresh garlic first, mashed as much as possible, then adding half a pound of raw shrimp, and corn from three ears of corn, sugar, salt, and fish sauce creating a thick paste. Roll into small balls and fry. Peanut oil, always peanut oil. Not only is the flavor more pleasing, but the smell is fabulous. It doesn't smell like a fast food joint, it's a more refined fry smell. In small bottles, it's expensive, but buying it in large quantities helps significantly and it keeps really well. I alllllwwaaayys recycle my oil. Unless I've cooked seafood in it. ...so back to the shrimp corn cakes, amazing. Highly recommend them. The only complaint is that there weren't more. And a note: I love frying food. As long as you do it infrequently and control your portion sizes, I fully support frying food as much as possible. I am indeed from Texas.

Mashing the cakes:

Cooking the cakes:

Along with my Thai dish of the night, Erin and I made sweet potato fried battered in cornmeal...topped with siracha, mmm mmm good. Lastly, Mark and Lucas grilled up kabobs of Habenero Chicken Sausage, Beef Sausage, Onions, Garlic, Green Pepper, and Oyster Mushrooms.

I put Plum Sauce on everything.

Laura

Asian Secrets Day Two

2009-09-06T19:25:00.001-05:00

First blog. So much to say? Question mark?
Well, to introduce, I suppose, this is my blog about food.
How much I love it, How much love I put into it, and How much I love making it. That's me in the picture, chopping garlic and loving it up.

This week, in order to become more acquainted with Asian foods, I am only cooking Thai and Vietnamese cuisine. Thai for dinner, Vietnamese for lunch.

So, Day Two, which was yesterday, I made Banh Mi for lunch. It is my second favorite lunch to Pho, both Vietnamese lunches. Both simple, effective, and delicious. And both, especially Pho, necessitate a lot of love to make. Banh Mi is cheap to buy at your local Viet-Sandwhich Shop, and suprisingly even cheaper to make at home. Petit Pan, Lemongrass and Red Chili Tofu, Spicy Pickled Onions and Carrots, Fresh Jalapeno, Cilantro, Mayo, and topped off with Siracha and Hoisin. Mmmm Mmmm Good.

For dinner, my second day of Thai came out just as good as the first.

Four Dishes:

(Shown from left to right)

1. Thai Salad w/ Fresh Homemade Sweet Red Curry Peanut Dressing. Cabbage, Bean Sprouts, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Black Fungus Tofu, Hard-Boiled Eggs, and Peanuts. And the dressing is absolutely to die for.

2. Egg Noodles w/ Vegetables in a Red Curry Garlic Sauce. Egg Noodles, Garlic, Red Curry, Asparagus, Oyster Mushrooms, Celery, Bean Sprouts, Lemongrass and Red Chili Tofu, Baby Corn, Green Onions, and Tomatoes.

3. Thai Crab Fried Rice w/ Basil. Fresh Crab Meat, Garlic, Onions, Thai Basil, Green Onions, Rice, Eggs, Sesame Seed Oil, and Peanut Oil.

4. Jumbo Shrimp w/ Basil and Red Chiles. Fresh Local Jumbo Shrimp, Onions, Thai Red Chiles, Tons of Fresh Basil, Garlic, simmered in a spicy-sweet broth.

May I say delicious? Sometimes after preparing a big meal, as the cook you aren't hungry by the time the food is ready because you've been smelling and tasting the entire preparation time, but in this case, I couldn't wait to fix myself a plate.

Until next time,

Laura