Spicy Clam Noodle Soup

あさりのビーフン辛汁

Canadian Clams are on sale at the Japanese/Asian market….$3.99 per pound, $2 less…hmmm….what can I do with it?…this unexpected surprise  is like a curve ball…I’d love to hit it…it doesn’t have to be a home run but something pleasing….

It is quite hot outside, I must take them home safely, so I asked the clerk to pack the clams in  (free) ice…they are always nice about that (did you get it? I made a rhyme, ice, nice…no more rhymes now, I mean it! Anybody want a peanut?…with my love of The Princess Bride, those lines pop up in  my head in an instant). At the produce aisle, I grabbed an inexpensive a bundle of green onions to start working the game plan.

OK actually, I am remembering  the recipe in an old magazine… I think I have a budget friendly, low-calorie, gluten free… winning chance! I mean recipe.

Ingredients and Instruction for 2-4 people (Print Recipe Here)

• 1 pound (about) of clams, thoroughly cleaned with a stiff brush under running water. Note: I highly recommend soaking the clams in salted water for at least 1 hours to let them spit out sand. Check here for the method.
• 1 package of rice noodle
• Ginger root, about the size of an adult thumb, peeled and thinly julienned.
• 3 Tablespoons sake
• 2 Tablespoons soy sauce or tamari soy sauce
• 1 Teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of white pepper
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 4 stalks of green onion, cut 1/2 inch of root end and small round cut
• La-yu oil – depending on your preference, I used 5 drops.

1. With plenty of hot water, soak the rice noodle to reconstitute; about 5-7 minutes.
2. While soaking the noodles, boil 6 cups of water in a large pot. Add sake, ginger and cleaned clams. Reduce heat to low and cook until the clams open-up (discard any that do not open).. Scoop and remove the white scum that floats to the top.
   
3. Add soy sauce, salt, pepper.
4. Strain the rice noodle through a colander, shake to remove excess water. Add the noodle to the pot and cook for 2-3 minutes. Do the taste test, add more seasoning to adjust if needed. Note: cut noodle in half or thirds with kitchen scissor for easier consumption…I used pre-cut noodle.
5. Serve noodles in individual bowls, sprinkle sesame oil, la-yu oil then top with green onion . Serve hot or chilled (I like it cold). 

My husband’s colleague makes the best kimchee…it goes well with this dish…고맙습니다 ! (Thank you).

Peaches are in season. I had to make peach cobbler for my Today’s TAPAS post (#todaystapas). I happen to have a mini casserole dish. My husband made amazing kefir ice cream…a little sour, sorbet like texture…so good!…What?…this pic is not focused? (but) You (peach cobbler) are wonderful! Thank you, I’ve worked hard to become so… (again the lines from The Princess Bride).

I taught a pretty 20 year-old piano virtuoso, student at Rice University, French macaron making. In the photo below, Strawberry macarons with dark chocolate ganache filling were délicieux! 

Next lesson, Italian macaron?  Si?

Cold Front

Chinese Bean Thread Salad

It seems as though Thanksgiving was rushed and now we’re officially allowed to turn on the Christmas Machine! Not that I hate Christmas…just not as thrilling as when we were young parents…wrapping presents late on the night of Christmas Eve, rushing to get one more stocking stuffer or batteries, the giggles or joyous looks of our children on Christmas morning, that is the sort of thing I am nostalgic about. Now that I’m older and wiser I’m telling my husband lately that All I want for Christmas is you in a singing format. However I’m not going to deny him the joy of giving. Ooh ! I love surprises!

I don’t want a lot for Christmas, There is just one thing I need… make my wish come true…

After consuming an alarming volume of rich food last week. I made a refreshing light salad which I can prepare in flash (not really). I love the kick from  doubanjiang, a spicy fermented paste and the nice acidity of the dressing. Omit a few ingredients and this could serve as vegan as well as gluten free.

Ingredients and instruction for 4 servings

• White toasted sesame seeds 1 Tablespoon
• Black toasted sesame seeds 1 Tablespoon
• Sesame Oil 1 Tablespoon
• Soy sauce or tamari soy sauce for gluten free dish 1 Tablespoon
• Rice vinegar 1 Tablespoon
• Oyster sauce 1/2 Tablespoon
• Doubanjiang (豆板醤) 1/2 teaspoon
• Crown daisy (春菊) 2-3 stems. Wash well. cut off tough ends of stem.
• Bacon 3 strips.
• Bean thread 1 bundle or 30g
• Pine nuts 3-4 Tablespoons lightly toasted.

1. Make dressing first: Combine both sesame seeds*, sesame oil, soy sauce, vinegar and oyster sauce in large bowl. Taste the dressing and adjust to your taste. Chill in refrigerator until needed.
   * If the sesame seeds are not toasted, toast in a non-stick pan for 1-2 minutes, move the sesame seeds rapidly so as to not burn it.
2. Ready an ice bath in a large bowl. Boil Crown Daisy for 20 seconds and immediately immerse in prepared icy water. Gently squeeze  to remove water then pat dry with a paper towel and roughly chop. Set aside. Note: Fresh crown daisy is quite bitter in my opinion though there is option of not boiling it for a more crunchy bite, just wash well and dry. Cut off hard end.
   
3. Place bacon on top of a layer of 2-3 paper towels. Cover with 1 sheet of paper towel and microwave for 2 to 2-1/2 minutes on high till crispy. Cut up in half inch strips.Set aside.
   
4. Prepare very hot water in a bowl and soak bean threads for 8 minutes or so to soften. Drain well and cut in a  tic-tock grid. Set aside.
5. Toast pine nuts till golden.
   
6. Whisk chilled dressing with fork to mix well. Add Crown Daisy, bacon, toasted pine nuts and bean thread and toss the ingredients until well coated with dressing.

Vegan spinach version – No need to boil spinach.Omit bacon and oyster sauce (I used ketchup in its place).

See isn’t that easy?

Different looks - I had lotus roots. I deep fried it for garnish. Pushed the salad in the round mold then I made a slit for place to lotus roots to go in.
 

We ended up going to ‘Higgins’ for Thanksgiving. Although we did not have a reservation, the host escorted us to the bar/lounge area right away. We had same five course Thanksgiving meal as the main restaurant just at the counter. Well, that was different. We had a nice chat with people sitting next to us.

Pumpkin bisque was excellent.So was everything else. We just couldn’t eat another bite so we took our dessert home. We passed on the traditional pumpkin pie and Apple pie and instead selected Hazelnut cheese cake and double chocolate cake.

We parked our car front of Samurai, I mean Portland Art Museum – Samurai exhibit is on right now. Cool, Right?

Driving a rural road and saw this corn field. Looks like the stalks are bowing down for coming of Winter General (冬将軍). Day’s low temperature in mid 20’s is awfully cold for Portland.

Wishing you a nice cozy, warm, hot chocolate kind of day!

Well seasoned

Three vegetable dishes

I’m cutting back on meat lately, due to a lack on meal planning. What? 5:45 already? The time flies when I’m watching Korean drama. I don’t have time to defrost meat, beside I really need to use these vegetables before they get moldy like sooo yesterday.

I have to come up with vegetable dishes that make any vegetarian proud?
Easy (going), wholesome, and well seasoned …Thank you for the compliments but let’s not talk about me, I have a dinner to prepare.

The crown daisy (shun giku 春菊) is not available in regular markets and spoils rather quickly so it’s shame to waste it, today it is my number one priority veggie. This vegetable has harshness (アク) to it, in another words, I can’t eat it fresh. I must tame this sucker by giving it a hot bath…now I’m on my way to a vegetable galore meal!  All three are accompanied well with cooked rice.

Burdock and Crown Daisy Salad for three people

• 1 Dried whole hot red pepper. Remove seeds and slice.
• Rice vinegar 2 Tablespoons
• Soy sauce 1 Tablespoon
• Sugar 1 - 2 teaspoons
• Sesame oil 1 teaspoon
• Burdock roots about 10 inch length. Wash well and cut into 2 inch lengths then soak in cold water for 5 minutes.
• Corn starch or flour 1-2 Tablespoons
• Crown Daisy 1 bundle about 4-5 stems. Wash thoroughly  .
• 1 teaspoon sea salt.
• Fried bean curd (油あげ) 2-3 Place in a strainer over the sink and carefully pour very hot water over it to remove grease residue. Slice. Note: Fried bean curd can be frozen but not tofu.
• Oil for frying

1. Make dressing first – combine hot red pepper, rice vinegar, soy sauce , sugar and sesame oil in a small bowl. Keep refrigerated.
2. Prepare ice water in a large bowl. In a medium pan, boil 2 cups of water. When the water starts to boil sprinkle in the salt . Put the stems of the Crown Daisy in first and boil for 30 seconds in an up-right position then lower the leafy part into the pan for another 30 seconds, cook a little bit longer if you like tender texture, however you loose more nutrients that way. Drain the water then immediately immerse in icy water. Drain and squeeze liquid from the vegetable. Cut in about 2 inch lengths. Set aside.
3. Paper towel dry the burdock, put in a zip lock bag and seal it. Pound the burdock with mallet or rolling pin to crush, not smash the texture a little but. Heat oil to about 340 degrees in a heavy bottom pan.
   
4. Pour corn starch or flour in the zip lock. Seal it and shake the bag to coat the burdock well. Dust off excess flour.
   
5. Fry the burdock for about 2-3 minutes until tender but still firm. Place on a paper towel to remove excess oil.
   
6. Arrange fried bean curd on a plate then put the  crown daisy on top and lastly the fried burdock on top. Pour dressing over the salad.

Tofu keeps well in the refrigerator but even it eventually reaches its expiration date. Old tofu gets acidic in my opinion, when the water in the package becomes cloudy it is time to throw it away. I usually remember it’s there but occasionally it gets pushed further back in the refrigerator or someone leaves it on a higher shelf that I can’t see…put the candle back… I mean tofu back where I can see it. Note; My joke is from an old movie Young Frankenstein.
My son does not like this dish very much saying that he is not into tofu. Ou-key then, you don’t know tofu.

Seasoned Pan Fried Tofu

• 1 packaged firm tofu
• 2 green onion chopped
• 2 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 red hot pepper, remove seeds and slice
• 3 Tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 Tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 Tablespoon sesame seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder (Korean preferred) More if you like spicy.
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1. Remove tofu from its package and wash under running water. Wrap in paper towel and place it between two cutting boards to squeeze out some of the water, about 6-8 minutes. The longer you do this the tougher tofu gets.
   
2. In the meantime, combine the green onions, garlic, red hot pepper, soy sauce, sesame oil, sesame seeds and chili powder in a small bowl.
3. Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Slice the tofu into thin slices. Slide the tofu in with a spatula. Brown tofu until the edge is crispy about 4-5 minutes. Do the same to other side.
   
4. Lower the heat a bit and spoon the green onion/garlic mixture over the top of the tofu. Cover and let steam for 2-3 minutes. Serve immediately. Saucy variation; Add about 1/4 cup of water and 1 teaspoon of cornstarch to green onion/garlic mixture and mix well. Pour in the pan and cook until the sauce thickens and tofu is coated with the sauce.

Ginger la-yu marinated cucumber is appetite enhancer, with this and rice I could eat a lot! Ginger la-yu is also used as seasoning in fried rice or sautéed vegetable.

Ginger La-yu

• 1Green onion chopped small
• 1 garlic minced
• 2 Red hot pepper seeds removed and  sliced
• Olive oil 1 Tablespoon and 1/4 cup
• Dried powdered ginger 10g
• Soy sauce 1 teaspoon

1. Heat 1 Tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.
2. Put green onion and garlic in and sauté until garlic turns brown, turn off heat.
3. After green onion and garlic is at room temperature, add olive oil, dried ginger and soy sauce and mix well. Keep refrigerated. Use in two weeks.

Preparing cucumber –  Wash and dry 2 small cucumbers (I used Persian  cucumber that has tiny seeds) then pound to break up into chunks. Put in a bowl and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon sea salt. Add 2 teaspoon of ginger la-yu and 1 teaspoon each of soy sauce, white sesame seeds and rice vinegar. Combine well and chill in refrigerator for 20 minutes or so.

Market find – Thai fresh ginger. A little bit easier on the wallet than Japanese new ginger but very tough. Yiiike! Where is the head?

Forgotten pumpkin – I bought it on impulse before Christmas. It became hard as a rock. I had to cook in a pressure cooker first to see if it is even still good.It was good! I made Pumpkin Flan with Pumpkin Chantilly Cream on top.

I momently forgot that I’m on a diet but it was super delicious!

My neighbor friend shared parsley with us. (This apple is ‘Junami’ a new variety)We sprinkled fresh parsley on top of the spaghetti meat sauce my husband made. My vegetarian days are over…..

No more frost, just rain

I can see the true color of the Burning Bush now.