beXnlog

Pan Fried

Dim Sum with be and P = mashed taro treasure boxes, monk dumplings, rice flour rolls with fake ham and cilantro, rice flour rolls with Chinese kale, pan fried noodles with Chinese broccoli, pan fried noodles with fake ham, mushrooms and baby bok choy; and pan fried turnip cake. We also caught some of the New Year's Parade; those confetti poppers are crazy!

be's grandmother's 83rd birthday party = yellow rice, salad, mixed vegetables, rolls and a surprisingly delicious pasta salad with fake ham (be's mom is trying to eat less meat), olives, asparagus and too many bell peppers. be loved the angel food cake with fruit cocktail, but i wasn't into it.

Post-dinner snack = pan fried Colcannon patties! I must say that these little patties of potato and kale are absolutely wonderful. I used my "egg ring" to form nice circles and fried both sides in a little oil until browned and crisp. Topped with a tiny piece of butter, sea salt and freshly ground pepper, we both agreed Colcannon is better this way, even though it's already really tasty plopped in a bowl. Remember to use a cast iron skillet; the crust formed is unbeatable.

Wok Breath = Check out this article about Grace Young's new book, The Breath of a Wok. I once saw a home kitchen equipped with an industrial stove built for a round-bottomed wok. The hood of the stove ran the length of the entire kitchen, so you knew that the stove was capable of insane amounts of heat. One day (hopefully!) i'm going to configure our kitchen with 4-6 big gas burners, 1 big oven and 1 high-heat cast iron wok stove. Right now i'm using a flat-bottomed, non-stick wok my mom gave me. I agree that the flat-bottom makes sense on an American stove, but it really defeats the purpose of a wok. Even with a ring adapter, it's impossible to maneuver a round-bottomed wok and the required flames without upsetting the whole contraption. I'm not a huge fan of Teflon, either. Not only is it delicate and hard to clean, it gives off toxic fumes when heated too high. I have another flat-bottomed carbon steel wok that i never got around to seasoning; i realize it's too small anyways - you need adequate room to stir everything around efficiently.

As for be, he really wants a brick oven.

posted by beXn @ 1:58 AM