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Bittermelon with pork and blackbean sauce

Published

on September 5, 2008

in Chinese, Ingredients, Japanese and Pork

. 5 Comments

Bitter melon is one of those things that I used to detest as a kid and to this day, I can’t say I’m a huge fan. It’s a curious looking vegetable (technically a fruit), that looks a bit like a cucumber with blisters all over it. If you hang out at Asian groceries you’ve probably seen them and wondered what they were.

True to its name, it is intensely bitter, almost to the point where you wonder if it’s safe to eat. These things make endives taste sweet in comparison. So why would anyone want to eat it? In eastern medicine bitter melon is considered to help with digestion and prevent diseases ranging from malaria to type II diabetes. While I’m always skeptical about such claims, they are rooted in centuries of history, so you have to wonder if there’s some truth to them.

On this particular occasion, one of L’s co-workers gave her one and I found it laying in the veggie drawer just begging to be cooked. Not being one to waste food, I thought back to my childhood when I’d tried it at my grandparents home. Though I can’t say I’ve had it more than a handful of times, I do remember it being cooked with a lot of oil, salt, sugar and umami to cover up some of the bitterness.

This preparation I came up with sits somewhere between Japanese and Chinese food. It’s richly fatty from the pork, which along with the dried anchovies and black bean sauce imparts some serious umami. The miso, mirin and sugar serve to mellow it all out making for a well rounded (though still bitter) side dish.

So was it as bad as my childhood memories? After the first few bites, my tongue adaped to the bitterness and by the time I finished it off I was craving some more. It pairs well with beer and made a nice accompaniment to a steaming bowl of rice.

1 small bitter melon
1/2 lbs ground pork
1 clove of garlic minced
small handful of dried anchovies
2 Tbs black bean sauce
1 Tsp miso
1 Tsp sugar
1 Tbs mirin

Cut the ends off the bitter melon then slice it in half lengthwise. Use a spoon to scoop out all the seeds and pith then slice them into 1/8″ crescents.

Heat a pan then add the pork. If there’s a reasonable amount of fat in it, you shouldn’t have to add oil. Break up the meat and fry until some of the fat has rendered out then add the garlic and dried anchovies. Continue frying until the meat is completely cooked and the garlic is fragrant.

In a small bowl combine the black bean sauce, miso, sugar and mirin.

Add the bitter melon to the pan and stir-fry until the melon is translucent and almost tender. Finish by adding the sauce and stir-frying until the pork and melon are well coated and the sauce has caramelized.

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North African stewed veggies

Published

marc

on August 28, 2008

in Mediterranaen, Soups & Stews, Summer, Vegan, Vegetable and Vegetarian

. 10 Comments

Continuing along with the uncreative titles, here’s a veggie stew I put together using an abundance of fresh produce from the farmer’s market. It’s as simple as chopping stuff up and throwing it in a pot with some seasonings, but it does make for a wonderfully savoury meal despite the lack of meat.

Most of the umami comes from the onions and tomatoes so make sure you get the onions a bit caramelized and you use nice vine ripened tomatoes. I’ve always been too lazy to scrape out the seeds of tomatoes (plus it seems like such a waste), but for those like me, you’ve actually been doing the right thing. It turns out that most of the glutamates (yes, the natural cousin to monosodium glutamate… aka MSG), hangs out in the jelly that surrounds the seeds. By scraping out the seeds, you’re actually scraping out a lot of the flavour.

I served this with some red and yellow Quinoa for some extra protein, but it would also work great with some cous cous or flat bread. One of the great things about this is that you can really use just about any veggie. Squash, okra, green beans, carrots, or pumpkin would all work with the tomatoes and onions.
Continue for full recipe

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Japanese Style Broast Duck

Published

marc

on August 24, 2008

in Duck, Japanese and Uncategorized

. 5 Comments

Okay, this is admittedly a terrible name. I always cringe when I see any recipe that starts with “Japanese style” (replace Japanese with any country). It tells me that the creator either didn’t feel confident enough in the authenticity of the dish to give it its proper name, or they were just too lazy to come up with a better name for their new dish (which doesn’t bode well for the recipe). In this case it’s more the later than the former, but this one is tasty, I promise!

What the hell is a broast you ask? Well it’s a rather un-witty name I came up with for half braising / half roasting something. As it turns out, it’s also a trademarked technique of pressure frying chicken, but I’m too tired to think of a better name, so until someone posts a comment with a better name, this dish is forever blighted with its rather unoriginal trademark infringing name.

So how did it come to be? I had 4 duck legs sitting in the freezer waiting to be turned into confit, but I just wasn’t in the mood to do a real confit, so I started thinking of other ways I could cook this. One of my favourite Japanese dishes is Buta Kakuni (braised pork belly); it’s a great way to prepare fatty cuts of meat and duck legs squarly fit in that category.

One of the best parts of duck though is having crisp skin, and several hours of braising aren’t exactly conducive to that end. Braising then broiling won’t work because the skin would absorb too much moisture, and I could always braise and deep fry it, but I really didn’t feel like using up a quart of oil for 4 legs. So how could I make the the meat moist and fall-off-the-bone tender while having crisp golden brown skin? Broasting!

Broasting starts off with a quick browning under the broiler, then with just enough liquid to braise the meat half of the duck, it goes in the oven allowing the skin half to slowly roast, unimpeded by liquid. It finishes up with a few quick minutes under the broiler to make sure that the skin is nice and crisp.

It worked! The meat was tender and moist, with a thin layer of creamy melt-in-your-mouth fat, topped with a crisp layer of skin. It’s similar in flavour to its more porky cousin, but but the roasting intensifies the flavours of the dashi and soy sauce creating a slightly sweet glaze on top.
Continue for full recipe

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Kinpira Miso Gobo (Burdock with Miso)

Published

marc

on August 19, 2008

in Japanese, Side, Vegan, Vegetable and Vegetarian

. 6 Comments

For those not familiar with gobo (or burdock), it’s one of those wonder-veggies that has loads of fiber, iron and calcium. When lightly sauteed it’s got a pleasantly fibrous crunchy texture without being stringy or tough. When cooked for longer periods of time it will get tender while retaining it’s structure. Flavor wise, gobo is earthy, minerally, and just tastes “healthy”, but not in an overpowering medicinal kind of way.

If you don’t have a Japanese market near you, you may have a hard time finding it, but it’s the taproot of a common “weed” that grows all over the world. Here in NY, you needn’t look further than a patch of dirt disturbed by humans and you’ll find it growing all over the place.

“Kinpira” is type of Japanese dish that involves sauteing then simmering root veggies cut into thin strips. Kinpira Gobo is a very common side dish served with rice that’s typically seasoned with mirin, soy sauce and sugar. For my version I used miso and ground sesame seeds to compliment the earthiness of the gobo. It’s not a traditional preparation, but the flavors are very Japanese.

This isn’t really intended to be served as a main dish, but rather as “okazu” or something that goes along with rice and your main dish. A typical Japanese dinner might include a small grilled fish, a few types of okazu, a bowl of rice and bowl of miso soup.

1 gobo (burdock root about 2-3 feet long)
1 Tbs oil
1 tsp sugar
1 Tbs mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine)
1 Tbs white miso
3 Tbs water
3 Tbs ground toasted sesame seeds*

To prepare the burdock you’ll need to scrub it thoroughly with a rough sponge or a food brush. If you don’t have either you could run the blade of a knife along the root at a 90 degree angle to scrape the brown skin off. You could use a vegetable peeler but these roots are relatively thin so if you use a peeler there won’t be much root left to eat.

Cut burdock will start turning brown on contact with air, so it’s best to work in small batches and put the cut burdock in a bowl of water. Cut off a 2″ length of burdock using a sharp knife and slice in to 1/16″ slices lengthwise. Then cut the slices in the other direction lengthwise to form thin matchsticks. Soak the matchsticks in water until you’re ready to use them.

Heat 1 Tbs of oil in a pot until hot. Drain the gobo and add to the pot (be careful as the hot oil will spatter). Stir fry for about a minute until the gobo is well coated with oil and starting to cook. Add the sugar and mirin and stir. Add the miso and water stiring until the miso is dissolved. Cover and turn down the heat and simmer for a few more minutes. I like my gobo on the crunchy side so I let it cook for another 2-3 minutes covered, but if you want it softer, cook it for 5-10 minutes.

When it’s cooked, add the ground toasted sesame seeds, stir, then plate. You can garnish with some whole toasted sesame seeds and chili flakes.

* To toast sesame seeds, just add sesame seeds to a pan and heat the pan using a swirling motion to keep the seeds moving at all times. It will turn a nice golden color and will smell like sesame when it’s done. To grind, you can use a spice grinder, a pepper mill, a food processor, or if you like to kick it old skool, use a mortar and pestle.

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Honey yogurt panna cotta with white peach puree

Published

marc

on August 17, 2008

in Dessert, Fruit and Italian

. 11 Comments

Feeling a bit uninspired, I scanned some of my favourite blogs for something that could coerce me back into the kitchen. Helen’s Roasted Apricot and Lavender Panna Cottas had me salivating (surely a good sign), so I hit up the farmer’s market looking for some fresh fruit. I found some white peaches that literally lured me to their bin by their sweet smell wafting through the throngs of shoppers.

I’ve been on a bit of a health kick after my recent health issues, so I wanted to see if I could make this dessert a bit healthier without loosing the satiny creaminess that’s the hallmark of good panna cotta. Using yogurt and honey and replacing some of the cream with skim milk, I came up with a concoction that’s no-less decadent yet considerably healthier.

Panna Cotta’s are usually topped with a tart fruit sauce of some sort to offset the intense creaminess, but since the yogurt in this Panna Cotta provided the requisite tartness, I went for a sweeter fruit puree that complimented the honey wonderfully with its sweet floral aroma.

for the Panna Cotta
1/2 C cream
1/2 C skim milk
3 Tbs sugar
3 Tbs honey
1 1/2 tsp gelatin bloomed in 2 Tbs water
1tsp vanilla
1 C plain yogurt

for white peach puree
3 small white peaches peeled
1 Tbs lemon juice
honey to taste

Heat cream, milk, honey, sugar until hot but not boiling. Add the bloomed gelatin and vanilla stirring until the gelatin is completely dissolved.

Take it off the heat and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes. Add the yogurt and whisk to combine.

Pour the mixture into 4 ramekins and refrigerate for 4 hours.

For the puree, just add the peaches and lemon juice to a blender or food processor and puree. You may need to add some water if it’s too thick and honey if it’s not sweet enough.

To serve, put the ramekins in a pan of hot water for a minute then unmold them onto plates then top with the puree. If you’re serving them in a glass (above photo) just top with the puree and serve with a spoon.

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