Fun Easter

Special Thanks to Yue,

if not you, popped up the easter eggs topic

I wouldn't have myself dedicated to trying those fun stuffs

wouldn't have so much fun from making all kinds of things

I'd love to thank you by the peepshi

Eggs

using all natural colors:

red: beets

blue: red cabbage:

yellow: curry, turmeric

orange: saffron, paprika( failed)

green: spinach (failed)

Peepshi

It's not origin from me( I am not that creative), 

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/03/peeps-recipes-how-to-make-peepshi-sushi-rice-krispies-treats-easter.html?ref=brkbox

But I made wasabi from green peeps( this is invented by me), and I made Rice Crispy treats from Rice Crispy , so that it was easier for me to shape the 'sushi rice'

Ginger Mango Glazed ham with Parsnip-carrot puree, hazelnut butter green beans

At last,  I want to tell everyone, if you can't find your bunny, remember to look up at the moon, she probably will be there :)

A captain but not a pilot

Pork Belly Confit, Hoison Glazed Turnip,Celery Root&Roasted Garlic Puree, Shiitake Mushroom Port Jus

The first five things that can cheer me up:( 2010 Spring version)

1. Interview

2. Cooking

3. Strawberry©

4. Eating good food

what is the last one.....................................

oh right , Flying a kite!

I guess everyone likes flying a kite for the same reason, it is at the other end the of string,  no matter how high it goes, it is always there, just me and kite, kite and me.. and the string is stretched tightly, I can feel the tension, the real strong connection with the kite . how could I do that with something else? 

But when it gets really high,  the tension on the string gets very strong, I will start to worry, then I will wind the strings to get my babe back, and carry it  home...

But nemo , he is so not good at flying , so most of time, I was helping him climb higher or keep balance with most of my patience, then when we got back to submarine, I noticed that he was more than happy to be the captain of the submarine instead of a pilot :)

It seems today is a perfect day, I have all five things happened,  but I'd rather to trade them for the next sunny weekend( sorry, except interviews)

Pork Confit:

1.Bury the pork belly in salt and other kind of spicy mixture , keep it refridged about 3 days, it is the process of curing

2. Make simple vegetable stock(thyme, carrot, ..onion, garlic, ginger...) , submerge the pork belly in the stock, covered with lard or bacon grease on top, leave it in the oven , 200F, overnight, I did it about 10 hrs

3. Cut it and pan fried it

Hoison Glazed Turnip:

1. Boiling the turnip in salt+sugar water until it gets cooked

2.Pan fried it, add hosin sauce +the stock got from pork belly, carefully turn them over several times until the glaze is formed

Roasted Garlic &Celery Root puree

1. Roasted whole garlics

2. Boiling celery root in the chicken broth

3. Mix them together and use blender to make puree, add heavy cream to adjust the thickness, white pepper , salt season

Shiitake Mushroom Jus

Port, Chicken stock, shiitake mushroom, shallot,  soy sauce, brown sugar, boiling them to reduce

ps: this is the best thing I had made so far, I think

Icy Sky-- Chinese BBQ(沙茶) Spare rib with ginger white bean puree,cilantro in pita pocket

Aha, these is really something international:

Shacha((沙茶) --Chinese

White bean puree--Italian

Pita-Greek

I think I enjoyed it more than holding a piece of rib.

Chinese Shacha BBQ(沙茶) Spare rib:

Dry rub: Chinese five spices powder, salt , pepper, coriander(optional), cayenne pepper(optional)

(Dry rub overnight)

Marinade:  shacha sauce, oyster sauce

(marinade 2 hrs ahead )

Drizzle rice vinegar before put into the oven

350F foil covered 2.5 hrs, brush more marinade sauce, 400F 10mins or so

After it is cool, take the meat off from the bone, chopped

Ginger White Bean Puree

white bean, ginger juice, white pepper, a little bit chicken stock, oliver oil

drizzle shacha oil or hot chili oil

What is this?!

It is the icy sky!

It is the Charles river in the winter, gorgeous,isn't it?

I should fight and try to stay here, I don't think I will be as happy as now if I move to another place.

Listening to the birds singing-- Peanut Chipotle BBQ baby back with cheddar sweet corn polenta and red cabbage mango slaw

--(:(:(:(:( this pic looks so fake
This is Bobby Flay's recipe!, His Mexican bbq sauce, I love it, and I don't think I want to buy bbq sauce from store any more.  The highlights are chipotle chilies puree, molasses and, and ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,PEANUTBUTTER(old fashion,unsweetened)

The secret for BBQ:
1. Dry rub: my coffee rub -No.1 recommended Mexican Coffee Ancho  rub( I still prefer doing it overnight)
2. Drizzle red-wine vinegar before put it into the oven( this is the secrete to make it fall off from the bone)
3. 350F, sealed in the foil, 2.5hrs(at least 2 hrs)
4. pour the bbq sauce over , 400 F, another 10mins

Red cabbage mango slaw( no mayo version):
red cabbage
mango( along with the mango juice with you working on it)
red onion
apple cider vinegar,
Dijoin mustart
sugar
oliver oil

Among all the iron chefs, I think I like Bobby most :) He is so creative, steady and mature chef and his food always tastes the best, his dish is art for sure but he never lets it overwhelm the fact it is food, he never sacrifice the taste in order to go for the appearance.
(also , he is not fat but pretty fit : DDDD)

How many birds at most have you ever seen ?
Ok, you might see some birds migration
But....
How many birds at most have you ever heard them singing together?
How many birds at most sitting in a tree have you even seen ?
Well, this is the picture  I have seen frequently outside my window

they are just singing happily, flying orderly

Holiday

----What is holiday?

Food

(Celery with Almond butter and Dried Cranberries)

(Apple Cider Brined Pork(cubed) with Apple, Pearl Onion Plum Sauce)

Gift

(Mastering the art of French Cooking by Julia Child)

Santa

(A letter from Santa)

This is my holiday( of couse, there were many other kinds of wonderful food), how about yours?

Celery with Almond butter and Dried Cranberries:

Celery: peeled, put into the boiling water( when boiling , add some oil into water,and the vegetable will be shiny afterwards) , take them out when the water is about to boil again

Almond Sauce: almond butter, white/black pepper(prefer to white), salt, sesame oil, stir as well as adding hot water to adjust the thickness

Serving:  mix celery , chop dried cranberries and almond sauce

Apple Cider Brined Pork(cubed) with Apple, Pearl Onion Plum Sauce( Chinese Version):

Brined the pork tenderloin, sliced them , then using hammer ( or the back of knife) to make cubed pork steak, pan fried.

Sauce: Instead of using Dijon mustard,using Chinese plum sauce and oyster sauce

Snow Panda and something others--Maple Apple-cider brined pork tenderloin and polenta

(immature photographer’s bad day)

I am leaving Boston again, every time when you were complaining about Boston’s winter, I just couldn’t get you, now I realize that I actually haven’t spent the holiday time in Boston so far, I always get away. So I hope during I am away, you will stay happy, stay warm, with your family, stay with friends, stay with hope,with peace, with love...but not with loneliness. It snowed, unbelievable coincidently around the same time as last year, the same weekend, the exactly day before I was about to leave. It was just the very first snow for the last year, and my snowman was staying there lonely. But this year, my snow panda was luckily enough to have some audience.

lonely snowman in 2008

 

Muddy Snow Panda 2009( I am not pretty, but I got a little bit applaud

This weekend was very productive, especially on the cooking side. I made brined pork tenderloin and am very satisfactory with it this time.

Maple Apple cider brined pork tenderloin
Apple, Fennel, Orange peopper salad with apple cider reduction vinaigrette dressing
Acorn squash polenta
( Camera was run out of battery—immature photographer’s bad day!)

Leftover meal:
Polenta cake topped with pork and salad

Researrrrrrrrrch, Maple Apple-Cider Brined Pork Chop with White-Bean Parsnip Puree, Butter Browned Apple Pearl Onion

It has been almost half years, and I can really see my growing. At least, I get familiar with the basic good matching of different ingredients and use substitute when something is not available, I am able to know the doneness of steak by touching it, I am able to make some basic source, dressing and some classic way to cook… But there are still a lot that I do not know, a lot that I am not very skilled at. So it is a must to review and practice all kinds of basic cooking methods, try more new ingredients, I believe creativity comes from the solid  knowledge and basic skills. Of course, I am still a pastry idiot, I am keep postponing this part~~ . Anyway, keep this on, and I think by keep blogging it, I can take it more serious and  be more persistent.

In fact, I started to prepare for this meal 3 days ago, when the idea was come up with . It feel like a long time, after all was done, I made this graph and got the sense of achievement :^^

I referred to a paper found online, I was amazed by their dedication and seriousness and realize the importance of preciseness in cooking.

http://www.cooksillustrated.com/images/document/otherdoc/ND01_ISBriningbasics.pdf,

It somehow reminds me 'good eats', where Altonh has been  teaching us a lot. I start to imagine the theory classes in a culinary school, is there also going to be tons of reading assignments? Is there going to be a lot of chemical formulas, data that we are required to remember? Not sure it will be fun or pain.

Brine water: water, apple cider, maple syrup, cinnamon stick,ginger, sage

White bean parsnip puree: white bean, parsnip, garlic(alot) , lemon juice, oliver oil

The Butter Browned Apple and Peal onion is something I created based on my 'Apple Project':

Butter, Apple, pearl onion, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard(HIT)

Confession: A little bit mis-calculate the ratio of salt and water( *PRECISENESS*), and next time I will use completely apple cider instead of water.
BTW: I am still not comfortable with the new gear, I even start to miss my GX100. But I know this new friend will let me love it eventually!

Legend of Fall(Series I)--Apple, apple , I love you :)

Apple cider cinnamon poached apple

Fall is here, fall means apple, butter squash, pumpkin....( why am I only able to think of 3??)
Falls is painted in orange, which makes you feel warm and comfortable like S-un-K-ist. I want to be a person that is easy to get along with, so I got that orange hoodie. But it didn't work as well as I thought:( The world is so complicated and gaogao is too powerless...


The first series is dedicated to Apple. it is said having an apple everyday, all kinds of illness would keep away from you. There are many kinds of apple, in China, we like to eat Fuji, golden Delicious. After I came here, I started to like gala, even red delicious, because it is not very sweet(low-sugar) and dark-red skin makes me feel it has so much vitamin. Then I turned out to be a fan of more tangy ones , like bourbon. My new favourite is Jazz , it is very pretty, tangy , crispy, sweet.


Did some apple firmness test for poaching:
Gala: mild easy to lose firmness
Jazz: tangy takes longest
Honey crispy: crispy but mild easy to lose firmness
Grand smith: easy to lose firmness

Pork tenderloin nugget with apple sage onion sauce

Baked pork tenderloin nugget. rub pork nugget with salt, brown sugar, sage, onion powder...
'dress it up:
1st layer: starch
2nd layer: egg+water
3rd layer: panko mixed with butter
(SK taught me to do the 1st layer and 2nd layer twice, I guess it will be easier to stick more panko)


Sauce:
Saute Jazz Apple(peeled, diced), onion, sage
Add apple cider, chicken stock, honey, let it boiling
Add starch water mix,
Garnish with minced sage.

Apple Pecan Fennel Salad with Apple cider vinaigrette

A Dream Comes True--
I dreamed about an old special friend that felt like hadn't contacted me for long pinged me in pidgin, as usually, it ended up I woke up disappointed. But something magical happened , It just happened at night, at the end of the day. Unbelievable, it's such a miracle, my life is therefore brightened, I appreciate it .
Aware it doesn't happen often, and not everyone has a fortune like this, so ...Gao_Gao should be happy :)

I should have made a wish-Apricot Ginger Glazed pork tenderloin with bread salad

New semester started, Taking T comes back to my daily life. I never mind commute by T and I can always do reading , the funny part is I am more concentrated :) Reading a Chinese novel on the T is like putting a label on myself: I am an awesome Chinese ! Maybe one day, I could get to know some new friends because of it, but it has to be Milan Kundera's big fan.

He wrote : there is a very expensive grocery store, so for the people that do shopping there: it is more important to pay than to eat. It reminded me the whole foods and Market basket.

I admit the meat in whole foods are almost the best, but for the vegetable, it is also pretty fresh in market basket, because there are so many people shopping there so the one on the shelves are always fresh. It can't be guaranteed in the whole foods sometimes. But I just love to shop in the whole foods, I remember one of sK's friends said 'the whole foods along the river' is a very BEAUTIFUL store and it is. I do enjoy shopping there or just hang out there to check out each item.

Weekend depression, so sad, it is a Friday again, and it is raining, nothing could be worse than this for me. So I have to do big cooking to help me get over it.
Apricot Ginger Glaze, I used it for chicken wings in Duncan’s BBQ. People liked it which was one of the few things that could make me happy during that time.
(apricot preserve, ginger, soy sauce)

I wanted to do pork tenderloin again, because I wanted it to come out really tender, 10F lower, it will be raw , 10F higher, it will lose the juicy. It said it should be took out of the oven when it reaches 140F and let it cook by itself. 350F , 15min, I checked, it about 120F, then another 5mins, it got almost 140F, then I boiled it, and didn't take it out from oven until the glaze layer was formed. so you know, it didn’t come out what I expected it to be.

The salad is bread cucumber grilled heirloom tomato with basil. I got the new cast iron pan , and it really can be a grill only without the smoke flavor. I was in a rush , so didn’t remove the seed of tomato, and it was a little messy. Bread is cubed sourdough bread, dipped with garlic butter then bake until crispy.
Lovely heirloom tomato, it has the flavor of the ones in my Dad’s garden during my childhood. I will make it again, love grilled tomato J

Summer is just gone, for me it was a very special summer , and I grow up one year old with a very different birthday. I watched one EP of Grey Anatomy, it was Izzie’s birthday, Alex asked her to make a wish and I just realized I didn’t make a wish on my birthday. Actually I did not have any wishes at that moment, but maybe I should have made a wish for nothing to be changed…

Pan roasted Tamarind glazed pork tenderloin

As I promised, I made tamarind shrimp skewer again , also pan roasted tamarind glazed pork tenderloin( instead of red pepper pineapple tamarind chicken from Simply Ming). Pan roasted is a really wonderful way to cook pork tenderloin.
Dry rub: one day aheadbrown sugar, garlic, powder, minced ginger, chili powder, scallion
Brine: 2 hours aheadGlaze sauce: the one I made before was too dry, so I used some butter to cook some garlic, jalapeno, scallion first, then added red wine and tamarind sauce. let it boiling to reduce. Use brown sugar to balance tamarind.
Pan sear ->Pour glaze sauce-> oven (375F 18 min. I did 20min, a little bit drier)
As same as steak, it will cook by itself after took out of oven
Collect the juice from the pan, pour it on the pork tenderloin. Done!

A completed view for my dinner party :

We had :

proscuitto wrapped fig with goat cheese stuffing, flora greens(wth flowers!), pesto and fig balsamic syrup.

Tamarind Shrimp with brown sugar chili Pineapple skewer

Tomato Basicl sweet corn pine nut risotto

Pan roasted tamarind glaze pork glaze