Counterbalances for Spice

There have been a few restaurants in my neighbourhood where their consistency with their amount of hot spices is a little lacking.  So I've been discovering common food items that have helped with mellowing out dishes before it's too late.  Here's the running list:

1. Milk product: yogurt, ice cream, cow milk (nut/soy "milk" should be called juice)
2. Walnuts

Blueberry Best Practices

When you buy those clamshell pints of blueberries, I find it's best to move them into another container when you get home.

Primary reason is to avoid crushing the ones at the bottom, which take the weight of the other blueberries stacked on top.  What can happen, I find, is that the bottom-blueberries get crushed and the flesh (which isn't blue, surprisingly) gets exposed to the air, lending itself to faster mold growth; first for that crushed berry, but also for the adjacent berries next to it.

It's not that much different than a zombie-apocalypse, accept its blueberry zombies, and it's mostly contained within that clamshell; though with the usual vents on those containers, it means your entire fridge is exposed.

Pork Bone Vegetable Soup - Danny Style

These days, there are a bunch of asian supermarkets (T&T, Foodymart, etc.) where you can buy perishable "soup packs". The one I bought came with a bunch of pork neck bones (actually, likely the vertebrae), winter melon, and a few other Chinese herbs. I also added cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, dried mushrooms, celery, and some salt. I would then pour the hot soup into a bowl that I had put some rinsed watercres in there, to let it cook slightly from the hot soup. Great for a simple, healthy, holistic food for when your mouth is being attacked by cankers, sore throats, or bad colds in general.

Terrific Trio

One random Sunday in January, there was a bit of time on my hands (which is rare), and a bit of food in the fridge, so I ended up deciding to cook up a storm.  I freely admit it doesn't really look the most appetizing (rushed plating is partly to blame), but these recipes/dishes are more to be tasted than to be seen.

"Lobster" Sauce

Usually comes with shrimp

If you've ever ordered from a Chinese-Canadian restaurant, you've probably seen the "shrimp in lobster sauce" item.  Never understood how ground pork ever turned into "lobster" sauce, but whatever: a rose by any other name...

Ma Po Tofu sans Tofu

Couldn't find a better name for it

so it doesn't have tofu, and it's not spicy at all, let alone a thick sauce complexion.  But it does have the pickled vegetables, as well as the ground meat.  Again, my dishes are ALWAYS "Danny Style", ;)

Stir-fried Veggies

with Carrots and Broccoli and Cauliflower, on my!

One thing I've started doing lately is NOT boiling/steaming the veggies before throwing them into the stirfy.  Not only is it supposed to be more nutritious, I've started liking the taste of raw broccoli and cauliflower more.  Recently heard, though, that there can still be some bacteria of some sort that can stick around the raw veggies (even after washing), so next time might just blanch them first.

Curry Chicken, Danny Style

Hmmmm, Curry Chicken has always been my bane.  I could never get it just right.  Tonight, I would confidently say that I've taken a step in the right direction.

That's rice on the left, and the curry chicken on the right

Starring: Chicken breast, yellow potatoes, water-based veggies (celery, cauliflower, carrots, green peppers, onions.

Guest Appearances: Ginger, Sesame Oil, Curry Powder, Salt, Basil Leaves (2 per breast), Water

Missing in Action:  Mushrooms, Tomatoes, Garnish (like Cilantro or Green Onions)

Lessons Learned/Keys:

• key is the quality of the curry you use
• when boiling potatoes, the water level in the pot should not exceed the level of the potatoes
• when boiling potatoes, keep the heat on high until the water's boiling with the potatoes.  Afterwards, bring it down to medium heat
• Onions should be pan-fried, or caramelized before adding to the mix
• Basil leaves should go in at the same time as the chicken
• It's possible to overcook the veggies (especially the green peppers), so watch over them

New Years 1 - Xmas 0

For once, there was a clear winner on dinner between Xmas & New Years.  The winning dinner:

5 entres + rice

Includes asian beef salad, red wine steak w/ sauteed mushrooms, veggie salad, thick-cut oven-baked potato "chips", and cooked broccoli & cauliflower.

Now, that's just in terms of food.  I think for experience, Xmas was still more fun (as it was spent w/ more peeps).  But food-wise, chalk one up for New Years for once!

For once, there was a clear winner on dinner between Xmas & New Years.  The winning dinner:

Asian Beef Salad, Danny Style

Despite the name, this dish works best as a side dish to rice.  Tried to give it more colour this time by adding tomatoes into the mix.  Ideally, I'd be throwing in halved cherry tomatoes, but we all have to work with what we got, right?

Asian Beef Salad, takes a while to make, but definitely worth it

Starring: Beef (either Eye of Round or Top Sirloin), Cilantro, Thai Basil, Bean Sprouts, White Mushrooms, Tomatoes

Guest Appearances: Freshly squeezed lime juice, Roasted Sesames, Sesame Oil, Oyster Sauce, Ginger, Green Onions, Salt & Pepper

Steps:

1. Rub salt & pepper onto chunks of beef


2. Place beef into oven for 10-15 mins (depending how you like your beef) @450 F


3. Squeeze out a bunch of lime juice


4. Chop green onion & ginger


5. Slice beef and marinate in lime juice, ginger & green onion


6. Roast Sesame seeds


7. Wash & coarsely chop cilantro & thai basil


8. Wash bean sprouts, wash & dice white mushrooms, tomatoes


9. Lightly toss ingredients in a bowl


10. Serve

Mistakes/Lessons:

• This takes a good few hours (~4 hrs?  I'm slow, though, so I'm sure an average person can finish in less) if working on your own
• To speed things up, the work can be split.  Someone can take steps 1-5, the other takes 6-8

Steamed Tilapia, Danny Style

It's not my best work, but it provided sustenance for Thursday evening (and Friday afternoon).

Covered in a green blanket of cilantro

Starring: Whole Tilapia, Cilantro

Guest Appearances: Green Onion, Ginger, Soy Sauce

Mistakes/Lessons:

• never use frozen fish for steaming.  Always use fresh, especially if you plan on cooking it the night of
• whichever type of fish you use, pay the extra $0.20/lb to have the fish cleaned at the supermarket.  They might not get all the scales for you, but you don't have to do the bulk of it (mostly scaled, fins clipped, guts removed).  And if that night isn't garbage night...say hi to the raccoons for me!
• don't put the cilantro until the last possible second.  The dish is tastiest when the cilantro/green onions/ginger/etc. practically raw, because the flavour doesn't get steamed and watered out

Fried rice, Danny style

Was thinking, "Instead of constantly adding a bunch of recipes to the fridge (I'm running out of magnets), why don't I just put'em here!"  Let's see how long I can keep this up, :P

So here's my first frankenstein, Danny's fried rice.

Not your run-of-the-mill shrimp fried rice!

Starring:

• leftover breakfast sausage (yum!)
• shrimp
• scallops
• white mushrooms
• straw/enoki mushrooms
• green peppers
• tomatos
• scrambled eggs
• rice (duh)

Guest Appearances:

• green onions
• garlic
• sesame oil
• rosemary
• salt 'n peppa
• veggie oil (to soften up the eggs)

Steps:

• take ingredients
• send them to me (I'll take care of the rest, ;)