Grow. Cook. Eat. – Page 3 – Julia Shanks Recovering Chef and Urban Gardener

August 31, 2011

Fish at the Farmers’ Market

I love shopping at farmers’ markets, but it always seems that I need to supplement my weekly grocery run with a trip to Whole Foods. But now that the Union Square Farmers’ market has a fish vendor (along with the de riguer produce, as well as cheese, chocolate, bread and meat), My meals have become more diverse and I don’t have to make a second shopping stop.

Roasted Clams with Smoked Tomatoes, Corn and Grilled Bread
2 ears corn, shucked
4 slices of crusty bread brushed with olive oil
1 cup apple wood chips, soaked in water
3 tomatoes
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion sliced
3 cloves garlic
2 dozen Wellfleet or other littleneck clams
1/4 cup white wine

1.    Light a charcoal fire in the grill. When the fire is hot, grill the corn until it starts to char. Remove from heat and set aside. Grill bread slices for about 30 seconds on each side, until toasted.
2.    When fire on the grill starts to wane, drain the wood chips, and throw onto smoldering embers. Replace the grilling grate, put the tomatoes on the grill, and cover. Close the vents on the top of the grill lid. Let tomatoes smoke for at least 20 minutes.
3.    Cut corn kernels off the cob.
4.    In a large skillet, over medium – high heat, melt butter. Add onions and garlic and cook until they're soft, about 5 minutes.
5.    Add clams and toss in butter/onion mix until well coated and the clam shells begin to roast
6.    Add smoked tomatoes, corn and white wine. Cover pan, and cook for 5 minutes or until all the clams have opened.
7.    Serve clams with grilled bread for soaking up all the yummy juices.

From the farmers’ market: corn, bread, tomatoes, onions, garlic, clams

August 28, 2011

Cooking Up a Storm (Recipe: Eggplant with Miso and Spicy Mayo)

Despite all the panic inspired by the TV hype of Hurricane Irene, I went about my usual routine for the most part. Since I live in the city, I know all the markets will be open come Monday morning and I can easily walk, even if I need to climb over a few tree stumps, to Whole Foods. All summer, I’ve been loading up the freezer with kale from the garden and corn from the farmers’ market. I have a hefty stash of canned tomatoes. And just last week, I bought several steaks from two different meat CSA farms that I’m thinking of joining. Along with a well-stocked liquor cabinet, I could easily survive a week.

The one preparatory step I took was to harvest as much as I could from the garden. The only plant I’m really concerned about is the tomato – the harsh weather could bring an untimely end to the growing season. The rest of the veggies will be okay. But knowing that I won’t want to venture outside in the sheeting rain, I picked plenty of eggplant, broccoli, kale and herbs so that I could cook up a storm while I waited out Hurricane Irene.

Taking a Japanese theme, I cooked up variations Nasu Dengaku (miso rubbed eggplant) and Gomae Spinach (chilled spinach salad with sesame dressing). I topped the eggplant with spicy scallops, and used kale instead of spinach. The recipe for the sesame dressing on the kale can be found here.

Eggplant with Miso and Spicy Scallops
Adapted mostly from The Farmer’s Kitchen with the additional inspiration from Nobu .

Eggplant from my garden has no bitterness. The step of salting keeps the eggplant from absorbing oil when being fried.

2 eggplants
½ cup miso
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup mirin
¼ cup sake or dry sherry

½ cup mayonnaise
1 tbs. lan chi chili paste
½ pound dry sea scallops

½ cup oil
Salt
Scallions to garnish

1.    Cut eggplants in half lengthwise. Generously sprinkle salt on the cut side and let sit for 20 minutes.
2.    Make the miso sauce: combine the miso, sugar, mirin and sake in a small sauce pot. Cook over low heat until well combined and the sugar is dissolved.
3.    Brush the excess salt off the eggplant. Heat a large skillet over high heat. Add the oil. Cook the eggplant, cut side down, for 5 minutes or until deeply golden brown. Turn the eggplant over and cook for one minute more. Remove from pan, at put on a cookie sheet, cut side up.
4.    Mix the mayonnaise with chili paste. Cut the scallops into chunks. Toss the scallops with the spicy mayonaise. Top the eggplant with the scallop mix.
5.    Broil the eggplant for 5 minutes or until mayo starts to glaze. Remove from oven and drizzle miso on top. Continue to broil for another few minutes before serving. Garnish with scallions.

From the garden: eggplant, kale, scallions, garlic
From the Farmers' Market/Freezer: scallops
From the pantry: everything else.

August 26, 2011

Kiss My Grits

Wherever I travel in the south, some form of grits graces each and every menu: at breakfast with butter and cheese or at dinner with shrimp, simmered in tomatoes.

In the summer, the grits can be made with fresh corn, the shrimp with fresh tomatoes. In the winter, the dish becomes richer and creamier with cheddar cheese instead of fresh corn and stewed tomatoes instead of the truly vine-ripened available now.

Shrimp and Grits
I'm not a huge bell pepper fan, but in this dish they really add a critical element of flavor to the shrimp sauce.

2 tbs. butter
½ cup chopped onion
1 tbs. chopped garlic
¼ cup diced bell peppers
¼ cup white wine
1 tsp. fresh thyme
2 cups stewed tomatoes
1 cup chicken or shrimp stock
½ cup heavy cream
2 tbs. tomato paste
Salt and pepper to taste

1 pound shrimp – peeled and deveined

1 tbs. butter (opt.)
1 small shallot, diced (opt.)
2 garlic cloves, chopped (opt.)
1 ear corn – kernels cut off (opt.)
3 cups liquid – a combination of water, milk and chicken stock
½ cup grits
½ cup grated cheddar cheese

Basil to garnish

1.    In a sauce pot or skillet over medium high heat, melt the butter. Add the onions garlic and peppers and sauté for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft and the garlic starts to brown.
2.    Add the white wine to the pan. Let it cook down until almost all the liquid has evaporated. Add the thyme, tomatoes and stock
3.    Simmer the tomatoes for about 15 minutes, until they start to thicken. Add the cream and tomato paste. Set aside.
4.    Start the grits: If using the optional ingredients… melt the butter in a sauce pot. Add the shallots, garlic and corn. Cook for 5 minutes. Add the liquid, and turn heat to high. Season with salt and pepper. If not using the options, heat the liquid in a sauce pot and season with salt and pepper to taste.
5.    When liquid comes to a boil, reduce heat to simmer and whisk in the grits. Stir frequently for 3 minutes or until grits swell. Cover to pot and let simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes.
6.    Just before the grits are cooked, reheat the tomato sauce. Add the shrimp to the sauce and cook for 2 – 3 minutes, or just until shrimp are cooked.
7.    When grits are cooked, stir in the cheese.
8.    Serve the shrimp over the grits. Garnish with fresh basil

From the garden: garlic, tomatoes, thyme, basil (and in the background lots of eggplant and broccoli)
From the farmers’ market: onions, corn, peppers

August 24, 2011

Canning Tomatoes – Revisited

This time of year, most farmers' markets and home gardens are bursting with all kinds of tomatoes. Though, I'd like to think I could subsist on tomatoes alone, the reality is I can't possibly eat all the wonderful tomatoes put in front of me. The best way to preserve the summer harvest is to can the tomatoes.

Canning foods safely protects them from rot or off-flavors for 1 to 3 years. Canning used to be how many American families survived through winter before the advent of freezers and cheap (and more boringly flavored) commercial foods. It is still a superb technique to learn and use as part of the repertoire of accomplished cooks. The approach below use tomatoes as an example, but also works well with jellies, jams, and other vegetables packed in an acidic liquid.

The one thing to remember when canning tomatoes (or any other acidic foods) is that you need to boil everything. Boil the jars, boil the tomatoes and boil the tomatoes in the jar. The first two boils are necessary to sterilize the jars and the tomatoes, the third boil is to create a vacuum seal in the jar. This technique also works well for sauces and jams. For more tips on canning, refer to The Joy of Cooking by Rombauer and Becker.

So to be clear, the process goes like this:

Purchase canning jars. We prefer the wide mouth because they are easier to fill. Consider buying a variety of sizes. Even if you are only canning one kind of sauce, the variety will enable you to maximize your tomatoes – if a recipe calls for a small amount of tomato, you open a small jar, instead of opening a large jar that may not be completely used. Also, buy a pair of “canning tongs”. These tongs are specially designed to lift the jars out of the water.

Wash the jars. Put the lids and bands in one pot and the jars in another pot. The pot for the jars should be deep enough that the top of the jars can be covered by at least one inch of water.

Cover the jars completely with water and bring them to a boil. Continue boiling them for 10 minutes.

Cover the lids completely with water and put them on the stove. Bring to a boil, and turn off the heat. Let them sit in the water until you’re ready to use them.

Meanwhile, wash and coarsely chop tomatoes. Put them in a stainless steel (non-aluminum) pot. Bring the tomatoes to a boil, and continue cooking them for at least 10 minutes. Even if you smoked the tomatoes, or make your own ketchup, you still need to boil them.

Remove the jars from the water, draining the water out. Fill each jar with tomatoes, be sure to leave at least a ½-inch air-gap at the top. With a clean towel, wipe the lip of each jar clean.

Drain the water from the lids and cover each jar. Screw on the metal band, but not too tightly.

Return the jars to the boiling water and let boil for 10 minutes. Remove from the water and let stand for 20 minutes. Remove the band and test the seal of the lids – if it comes off easily, then the seal did not work and you must repeat the process. If the lid is tight, then you are all set! Otherwise, remove lid, and wipe rim of jar clean with a sterilized towel. Reseal jar with lid and band, and return to pot of boiling water for 5 minutes more.

August 22, 2011

Water Spinach (Recipe: Chicken with Water Spinach)

When Brett and I compiled the recipes for The Farmer’s Kitchen, we based it on what farmers told us they were growing: we had already made a half dozen cookbooks for farmers across the eastern seaboard.

But when I go to the farmers’ market in Union Square, I see also sorts of different veggies not covered in our book. The most striking comes Flats Mentor, a farm that specializes in Asian (and African) produce – pea tendrils, bok choy, Asian Flowering Mustard, Water spinach, Chinese long beans, and sweet potato leaves.

Perhaps, more than any other farmer, they need a list of recipes to help the average consumer understand and cook with their beautiful produce. And, in fact, they have a great book of recipes you can download from their website.

I first discovered Water Spinach as a line cook at Biba. The chef/owner Lydia Shire hired a Chinese chef to come in once a month and teach us about authentic Chinese ingredients and recipes. I can’t say we did anything fancy, we simply sautéed the ong toy (as it is called in Chinese) with ginger and garlic and seasoned it with soy sauce and rice wine. In Thailand, water spinach is called pak bung. It was one of my mainstays when I visited 10 years ago. Again, the preparation is very simple – sautéed with soy sauce and garlic.

Water spinach has the supple texture of spinach blended with the refreshing crunch of bok choy. The entire plant is edible, but the tender leaves are considered the most prized. The long stems hallow stems require longer cooking than the leaves, so it’s important to separate them before cooking so you can easily adjust the times.

I adapted a recipe from Eileen Yin-Fei Lo that called for bok choy.

Chicken with Water Spinach
¾ pound boneless chicken (breast or thigh meat), cut into strips
2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon chopped ginger
2 teaspoon gin
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 ¼ teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoon corn starch

1 tablespoon canola oil
1 teaspoon chopped ginger
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 bunch water spinach, stems cut into 1 inch pieces, and leaves left whole.
1 cup chicken stock
3 scallions, cut into rings

1.    Marinate chicken with soy sauce, oyster sauce, ginger, gin, sesame oil, sugar, salt and corn starch.
2.    Heat oil over high heat. Add ginger and garlic, and cook for 1 – 2 minutes, or until fragrant. Add chicken and cook until it loses its raw color.
3.    Add the water spinach stems and chicken stock. Cook for 3 minutes, until the chicken is almost cooked.
4.    Add the water spinach leaves and cook until just wilted. The chicken should be cooked through too.
5.    Remove from heat and serve with steamed rice. Garnish with scallions.

August 15, 2011

Shedders

There’s a sweet scent to the thick, humid air here in southern Maryland; a gentility and graciousness that permeates the culture the way the air fills my lungs. When I breathe it in, I’m transported to my childhood when I spent my summers in Alabama with my grandmother. People speak slowly, it’s too hot to do anything fast.

St. Mary’s County is just 90 miles south of Washington, DC, but is decidedly a southern county. Route 235 with farm stands and strip malls lining the road, bisects the county. The Chesapeake Bay a few hundred yards to the east and the Potomac River to the west.

On a barren stretch of the road between the Air Force Base and Point Lookout, Kellem’s Market hangs out a flag. They stock the few shelves with fishing gear. And the refrigerated case holds just a few pounds of fresh, local fish – whatever was caught that morning. It’s the best place in town to buy seafood.

Every morning I call Kellem’s to find out if they have any soft shell crabs – I’ve been craving them since my general gau’s dinner. The first day, they tell me they don’t have any peelers, the term for the blue crabs that will shed their shells. The next day they'll have some, and they offer to call me if they’ve shed their hard shell.

When they call, they apologize that someone had put the crabs in the ‘fridge, so they didn’t shed their shell. But they offered to call around on my behalf. Fifteen minutes later, Kellem’s calls back. His neighbor down the road has soft shells. He would pick them up for me, but he doesn’t have someone to watch the shop for him. I’ll have to get them myself. “Is that okay?” he asks.

He gives me directions… turn down the small street between the church and the market. The road will curve to the left and then to the right. Go along the dirt road until I see a sign for McKay’s. They will sell me some.

I pull into the driveway, a house on the right and a little shed with an “open” sign on the left. Their land is right on the bay, with old crab pots piled high in the driveway.

On the dock, a shallow fish tank acts as the holding spot for the freshly fetched crab to shed their hard shells.

Once they shed they are quickly scooped up (in less than 24 hours, the soft shells will be hard again) and transferred to the fridge until they are sold.

An older woman emerges from the house. “Can I help you?”

She takes me into the refrigerated shed and shows me her selection of crabs – dozens of soft crabs in various sizes, ranging in price from $1.50 each to $2.50 (significantly less than the $4 frozen ones offered at a store close to the Base). I buy 8 large ones, and wonder who else will find this place and buy the rest…

Soft Shell Crabs with Corn Cakes and Green Goddess Dressing

1 tbs. capers
1 cup spinach or arugula leaves, washed and picked over
1 bunch scallions, washed, slice green only in 1/2 inch lengths
1 bunch tarragon leaves picked from the stem
1/4 cup sour cream
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tbs. white wine vinegar
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. cracked black pepper

Puree capers, spinach, scallions, tarragon, and sour cream in a food processor. Fold in mayonnaise, and season with vinegar, salt and pepper

Corn Cakes
(makes about 12 cakes)
¾ cups flour
½ cup corn meal
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
1 ¼ cup buttermilk
2 tbs. melted butter
1 egg
1 cup corn kernals
2 scallions, chopped

Puree ½ cup corn with buttermilk. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Make a well, add the wet ingredients. Stir to incorporate. Cook cakes in a non-stick pan over medium heat.

Soft Shell Crabs
8 soft shells, cleaned
½ cup flour
1 egg mixed with ½ cup corn starch
oil for pan frying

Toss soft shells in egg/starch mixture, and then dust with flour. Pan fry in oil until crispy on both sides

August 11, 2011

Walking the Fields (Recipe: Hand-Rolled Pasta with Crab and Tomatoes

When I arrive on the farm, Brett takes me on a tour of the fields– showing me where the different crops are (with a rigorous schedule of crop rotation, it changes every year), what’s in season and what’s fading. There’s a squash bug that’s feasting away on the courge longue de nice. The cucumbers are starting to wane. And the cherry tomatoes are just going crazy. He takes me into the packing room. Crates and crates of tomatoes, eggplants, potatoes and melons are stacked high.

I also have time to ask my gardening questions… the aphids on my kale and Brussels sprouts continue to plague me. I’ve tried (organic) sprays, planting marigolds in between the rows and releasing lady bugs onto the plants to eat the aphids. Nothing seems to work. Brett suggested that I have too much nitrogen in my soil. This makes sense since I tend to add a decent amount of compost to my soil every year because I don’t have the space for crop rotation.

After all these years of visiting the farm, I have my own routine. The first few days are focused on canning tomatoes. Brett has set aside cases of tomatoes for me, and I start cutting them up. Halved tomatoes for smoking and chunks for stewing. A separate container of tomatoes get a very coarse chop and are destined for ketchup.

Once the tomatoes are ready for cooking, Brett lights a fire under the 100 gallon kettle. I cook the tomatoes in batches. And while they’re simmering, we start another fire under the canner – a flat-bed kettle that will hold about 100 canning jars and enough water to cover them.

Despite the plethora of tomatoes and the canning capacity of the farm’s outdoor kitchen, I only can about 60 jars of tomatoes. I make 6 gallons of ketchup, but only take 1 gallon for my own stash. I leave the rest for Brett and his crew.

With the canning out of the way, I fall into a more lazy routine. In the morning, I do my work – catching up on email, writing. I fix the crew’s lunch. I pick okra in the afternoon. Around 3pm, Brett heads back to the house, fixes us a few cocktail and we head over to the Bay to check on the crab pots. Even with the warm weather, a few male crabs find their way into the pots every day. The crabs make a great afternoon snack while I’m fixing dinner. But when they become abundant, I shell the meat and make them into a meal.

Pasta with Tomato-Crab Sauce
4 live blue crabs
1 tbs. chopped garlic
1 small onion or shallot, peeled and chopped
¼ cup white wine
2 cups chopped or jarred tomatoes
1 – 2 eggplant cubed
1 tbs. butter
1 tbs. fresh basil
Salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste
¾ pound fettuccine (I rolled my own pasta)
Canola oil

1.    Scrub the crabs clean under cold water. Dry on a paper towel.
2.    Heat a large skillet over high heat. Add the oil and then the crabs, upside down. Let the crab shells toast in the oil for a few minutes.
3.    Add the onions and garlic to the crab pan and cook for 2 minutes until they begin to soften. Then add the white wine and tomatoes. If the pan seems dry, add 1/3 cup of water too.
4.    Cover the pan and let the crabs steam for about 5 minutes. Remove crabs from pan, making sure to scrape off and save the tomatoes.
5.    Let the crabs cool and remove the meat.
6.    Cook the eggplant: season cubes with salt and pepper. Heat a large skillet over high heat. Add a tablespoon of olive oil and then the eggplant. Let sit for a few minutes so the eggplant can brown. Toss and continue cooking until eggplant is tender. Set aside.
7.    Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta for 1 minute less than the package instructions
8.    While pasta is cooking, toss the crab meat and eggplant with the tomato sauce. Add a pat of butter, basil. Season to taste with salt, pepper and lemon juice.
9.    When pasta is done, drain. Toss pasta with sauce.

From the farm: tomatoes, eggplant, basil, eggs
From the bay: crabs

August 8, 2011

Hand Rolled Noodles

When I landed in Hong Kong, after a 24-hour flight, I checked into my hotel and looked at my watch. 6pm. I was exhausted, but knew I needed to stay awake for a few more hours to help my body-clock reset. I wasn’t feeling particularly brave – I didn’t yet have a map or even an idea of how the city was laid out – but if I didn’t get out, then I would fall asleep instantly.

Out of the hotel, I walked left down Wan Chai Street. I walked past a restaurant where the chef was “pulling” noodles. I had heard of this technique: stretching wheat dough, twisting, folding and then stretching it again (and if you’ve never seen it before, check it out here). When the dough was of the right consistency, the chef dusts it with enough flour so that with each subsequent pull, the noodles stretch thinner and thinner. He then dropped them in boiling water and cooked for just a minute. Drained them into a bowl of broth, garnish with scallions, and voila! (I wonder how you say that in Chinese).

Of course, I had to try these noodles. I peered further into the restaurant and was pleased to see the dining room was full (I’m always skeptical of an empty restaurant). A waitress pointed me to the one empty table.

I stared mesmorized at the hustle of the restaurant. Not a single English character on the menu or word overheard. I looked around the dining to find the most delicious looking dish. It was my strategy of how I would order food… just point at someone else's dinner. One of the waitresses spoke English, so she very graciously helped me navigate the menu. I ordered a bowl of the noodles that had lured me in and a basket of steamed meat dumpling. The dumpling arrived plump and juicy with a vinegary-soy dipping sauce with strands of ginger. Biting into the dumpling released its broth, offering a little slurp of soup in my spoon. The noodles came in their own broth, a mild meat broth with droplets of sesame oil, wilted cabbage, slices of fried tofu and pork. A savory, comforting meal for my first night. Upon leaving the restaurant I discovered the noodles are “pulled” to order and the dumplings are rolled, stuffed and steamed to order. With a bottle of water and a little tip, it was less than $10 US.

I was in China for an internship for business school. After a few weeks of work, our Chinese liaison arranged a private cooking lesson for me at a local (professional) cookery school. Down an alley, through the gates, many classrooms opened into the courtyard. In one room was the office. Next door was the kitchen. Two rooms. The first room had a wok station: 2 woks with a pot of water in the center cut into a stainless steel counter. Propane tanks fired the heat. On either side of the table was the "mise en place." One side had all the basic seasonings: "yellow wine," black vinegar, salt, pepper, soy sauce, oyster sauce, chilies, sugar. On the other side all the ingredients for the recipes we would prepare.

In the second room, a lesson was already in progress for the professional students in noodles and dumplings. The students were busy rolling out dumpling wrappers, filling them, and folding them into all sorts of shapes. They were steaming and frying.

My chef-instructor deftly julienned, sliced and diced. With just a cleaver, chopsticks and an 8 oz. ladle, he was fully equipped to prepare all dishes. No mandoline, no food-processor, no tongs (my personal favorite). He demonstrated how he julienned the pork: first sliced paper thin, and then practically shredded. Perfect. The bamboo, a round vegetable, he sliced around until it was a paper thin, long sheet. Then he julienned. All cooking was done in the wok: boiling, stir-frying, deep frying and steaming. With such simple equipment, we prepared an exceptionally varied menu: Hangzhou Sweet and Sour Fish. Fresh water perch, steamed with Ginger and Shaoi Xing Wing, Napée'd with a Black-Vinegar Sauce. Appetizers of Steamed Shrimp filled with ground fish, Bean-Curd Sheets filled with Seasoned Ground Pork, Soup with Frozen Tofu and Mixed Mushrooms, Sichuan Style Pork Tenderloin and two desserts.

While my instructor finished the preparation, I got a lesson in noodles and dumplings. I had requested to learn how to make the hand-pulled noodles I witnessed on my first night. But something was lost in translation, and instead we made hand rolled noodles. He demonstrated how to fold the dough in halves and then in quarters to roll it even thinner, unfolding it to dust with flour to ensure the layers don’t stick together. He used the same dough for scallion pancakes: the dough is rolled out, sprinkled with salt and scallions. It is rolled up, flattened, and rolled out again before frying.

I never did learn how to make la mein, though I’ve experimented at home. But the technique of hand-rolling pasta has come in handy as I can easily roll my own dough faster than it would take me to pull out my pasta machine.

Hand Rolled Pasta

Make your pasta dough as you normally do. Let it rest for 30 minutes
Roll out the pasta into a square.
Heavily dust it with flour, and fold it in half. Roll the pasta layer again, being careful to not roll into the seam (as that will push air through it).
Unfold the pasta and roll out the crease.
Heavily dust the pasta with flour. Fold the dough into quarters and roll out again.
Unfold the pasta, and roll out the crease. Cut the pasta into long strips.
Cook as you normally would

August 3, 2011

Down on the Farm

I'll be heading down to the farm this week for my annual trip to can tomatoes.

In the last two years, I've really upped my production — last year I canned 72 jars! Normally, I hoard my stash all winter long, but this year, I still have two dozen jars left of stewed tomatoes. I've become a bit more carefree in my use.

The other night I made a quick ketchup/BBQ sauce; and served it with Seared Foie Gras…

BBQ Foie Gras with Sweet Potato Biscuit and Grilled Onions

1 jar tomatoes
1 small onion diced
pinch cinnamon
pinch allspice
pinch chile flakes
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
3 fresh onions
olive oil
6 – 1 oz. slices of fresh foie gras
sweet potato biscuits
salt and pepper to taste

1. In a small sauce pan, combine the first 7 ingredients. Simmer over medium heat for 1 hour. Puree. Season to taste with salt and pepper and set aside.

2. Prepare a charcoal grill. Cut onions in half, lengthwise, through the root, so that the root can hold each half together. Toss onions with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Cook on the grill until roasted and tender, about 20 minutes.

3. Cut biscuits in half.

4. Heat a large skillet over a high flame. Season foie gras with salt and pepper. Press the foie into the hot skillet and let sear for 2 minutes until dark golden brown. Flip over for 10 seconds and remove from pan.

5. Place a slice of foie on the bottom half of each biscuit. Put the top on. Serve with grilled onion and pureed tomatoes.

Sweet Potato Biscuits

3/4 cup milk
1 tsp. yeast
2 cups A/P flour
2 tbs. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
5 tbs. butter
1/2 cup cooked sweet potatoes.

1. Dissolve yeast in milk and set aside.

2. Combine flour, salt, sugar and baking powder in a bowl. Sift or whisk to break up any clumbs and to well combine.

3. Cut butter into chunks and then work the butter into the flour mixture until the butter is mostly combined but still chunky.

4. With a few swift strokes combine the milk and sweet potatoes into the flour mixture so it forms into a ball.

5. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Roll out to 1 inch thick. Cut into biscuits and lay on a cookie sheet. Let rest for 30 minutes or more.

6. Preheat oven to 425.

7. Bake biscuits for 10 – 15 minutes or until golden brown on top.

July 31, 2011

But it Has a Great Personality (Part 2)

I've always struggled with plating Chinese dishes so that they look as refined as some of the American or European dishes I make. Perhaps it's because I typically serve Chinese family-style, as opposed to plated.

Whatever it is, I wasn't planning to post this photo because the presentation doesn't even begin to tell you how amazing this dish was.

So let me say this:

General Gau's Soft Shell Crab

I cut the crabs in half and then prepared them exactly as I do General Gau's Chicken.

The soft shell crab season will last for a few more weeks, so I will be sure to create opportunities to refine this presentation.