Chinese Food Experiment

I have always loved Chinese food. Where I grew up we had some amazing Chinese food restaurants. Every Wednesday growing up we went to the local Chinese food restaurant for the Pu Pu Platter and some Shirley temples for me and my sis. I couldn't get enough of the appetizers. Not sure if it was the food or the FIRE that was in the middle of our platter that enthralled me more. My sister and I would fight over who could stick their chicken wing in the fire first to burn the skin. I know, gross…I still love the appetizers but as I got older I actually branched out and started trying the dishes. As I started to get into cooking I tried my hardest to figure out the ingredients to no avail. When I go to the grocery store all I am familiar with is soy sauce. Actually, wrong. My mom used to BBQ spareribs in that Ah So sauce, I have to admit it was pretty good…

On my quest to overcome my fears (publicly) I attempted to make a Chinese food dish. I wanted one that I have had before in a restaurant so I could at least compare it with my version and I needed to pick something that my husband would eat since he isn't nearly as adventurous as I am. His requirement is that it not be spicy. I chose two recipes from Allrecipes and off I went to the supermarket. To my delight most of the ingredients I was somewhat familiar with, the only foreign one was the oyster sauce. To me it sounds gross but hey I was on an adventure.

Both of these recipes came out fantastic! Are they restaurant quality, probably not, BUT when a husband who refuses to eat leftovers asks if we are having leftovers that night for dinner, you know you did something right. To many, this dish might be on the sweet side so feel free to throw in some heat (maybe chili?). I did the beef in my wok and the rice in my 6qt sauté pan. Next time I would just serve the beef dish with plain jasmine rice. The fried rice was a meal in itself. You might want to double the sauce it was so good especially over plain rice. I wish I could come up with something else to do with the sauce. ..

Crispy Orange Beef
1 1/2 pounds beef top sirloin, thinly sliced
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons orange zest
3 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic

Toss dried beef in cornstarch to coat. Lay beef strips out in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with paper towels. Allow to dry in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

In a small bowl, mix together the sugar, rice vinegar, orange juice concentrate, salt and soy sauce. Set aside.

Heat oil in a wok over medium-high heat. Fry in the hot oil in small batches until crispy and golden brown; set aside. Drain all of the oil from the wok except about 1 tablespoon.
Add orange zest, ginger and garlic to the remaining oil, and cook briefly until fragrant. Add the soy sauce mixture to the wok, bring to a boil, and cook until thick and syrupy, about 5 minutes. Add beef, and heat through, stirring to coat.

Fried Rice

2 cups enriched white rice (I use Jasmine)
4 cups water
1 ½ Cup frozen peas & carrots thawed and drained
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 scallions sliced thin
soy sauce to taste (I used 2 T)
sesame oil, to taste (optional) (I used about ¼ t)
oyster sauce (I used 2T)

In a saucepan, combine rice and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.

In a small saucepan, boil carrots in water about 3 to 5 minutes. Drop peas into boiling water, and drain.

Heat wok over high heat. Pour in oil, then stir in carrots and peas; cook about 30 seconds. Crack in eggs, stirring quickly to scramble eggs and scallions with vegetables. Stir in cooked rice. Shake in soy sauce, and toss rice to coat. Drizzle with sesame oil, and toss again.

Notes: If you can make the rice in advance this dish is much better. The drier the rice the better. If you want to add in shrimp do so with the peas and carrots.

Stewing up a Storm

Well, here I am sealed up tight waiting for this HUGE storm to blow through the Bay Area and my husband is out of town for the evening. Usually when he is out of town I make all the things that he doesn't like. Well, he isn't a fan of beef stew so I am on a mission. It's cold, wet, windy and gray. A perfect combination for some hearty stew. Whenever I think of stew I think Beef Bourguignon and then I think Julia Child. What a perfect time to try it… I have yet to see the movie Julie and Julia but I was always a huge fan of Julia Child. While the other kids were watching cartoons on weekend mornings I would either be watching the WWF or PBS cooking shows, yes, I was sort of an odd child. My favorites were Julia Child and Martin Yan solely for their entertainment aspect. Also, I was smitten with Julia Child because at that age she was the only celebrity that I had ties to.

Here is my "tie" to Julia Child…I know it's a stretch but at 10 years old it was like she was my BFF. I spent so much time at my grandparent's house in East Cambridge and in one of the flats lived my Uncle and my Great Grandmother. Well, my Uncle was a cab driver (I think he is going on 40 years). In any event it was his job to pick up Julia Child from her home in Cambridge every day and deliver her to the PBS studios for the taping of the shows. There you have it…my connection to the professional culinary television industry.

Back to my point. …I took one look at the recipe and said "not today Julia". I needed to make do with what I had cuz there was no way I was heading outside. I finally found a recipe on allrecipes.com that looked good that I could adapt to what I had "in house"…While this recipe has wine in it, I don't think it can officially be called Beef Bourguignon. To add to the confusion in this "stew" I discovered that I do not own a covered casserole dish. I do intend to invest in a Le Cruset eventually though. What I did however have was an All Clad Tagine. I know, weird. I LOVE my tagine and don't use it all that often because I think about it only when I want to make Moroccan type dishes. In this economy we need to start thinking out of the box because no way in hell will my husband be OK with me spending 350$ on a pot! I browned the meat and basically did everything in the pan and then simmered it on the stove for a couple of hours with the cone top on it and it came out FANTASTIC! You SHOULD do this a day ahead of time if you can, it does taste better. Heat it slowly.
The gadget: Tagine: I have the All Clad Emerileware one. I love that it's nonstick, the size is perfect and it's not heavy BUT you cannot put the top in the oven.

Beef "kind of" Bourguignon
2.5 tablespoons flour
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon of pepper
1 pound bite sized beef (I use sirloin)
2.5 tablespoons of butter
1 medium onion sliced
2 carrots sliced or 1 cup of the mini's
½ clove garlic minced
¾ cup red wine
½ cup beef broth
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons parsley
¼ teaspoon dried thyme
10 oz pkg of sliced mushrooms optional


Put flour, salt and pepper into a Ziploc bag and shake to mix. Then add beef and shake to coat.
Heat butter in pan and add meat to sear on all sides
Remove meat from pan and put aside.
Add onion and cook until soft about 5-10 minutes
Add carrots, mushrooms, and garlic and cook another 5 minutes. Do not burn garlic
Add wine, broth, bay leaf, parsley, thyme and stir, bring to boil.
Add beef and drippings, cover, and turn down to simmer for 2 hours.