sad...

So after dinner, Will wanted a cold drink, and I offered to make a red bean ice. The ice pucks for the shaver weren't frozen solid yet, I pulled out the blender, put in the ice, added a little water, pushed the button to crush ice... and it gets stuck after a few seconds, unable to do its job.

Okaaay... onto plan B (really C at this point, since the shaver was A)... the Bamix hand blender. As I'm pouring out the ice from the blender into a suitable container, I noticed the grayish hue. The pitcher doesn't have a perfect seal anymore, and was leaking grease. Oi.

So then I get out the other tray of ice (thank goodness we have 2) and get it ready for the Bamix. Plug in, turn on... and nothing. Dead. Now, that is truly sad, because I quite liked the functionality.. I've made soup, bread crumbs, ground nuts, ice cream.. it could go on. It's lived a good life.

So now it was time for the good old fashioned hammer and bag method. The chunks of ice were a bit big, but serviceable.

Into the glass went the red bean, ice, topped with syrup and coconut milk. YUM!

Blenders: -2, soto: 1


The dollop on top was an after thought, because I'd already mixed everything together before I thought to take a picture.

.

Anko (Red Bean Paste)

Before I get into this, I just have to say that I LOVE teaching an academically-inclined, eastside school. I actually feel like there's hope for the future!


So one of my absolute favourite desserts is the red bean-matcha-condensed milk combination. It was everywhere in Japan during the summer and there's even a drink like that here, at Flo Tea, called Shrek. Way better, in my opinion, than the "3 colours" iced drink from Vietnamese restaurants (I'm not a big fan of the green jelly).


Anyhoo. Last summer, I had matcha syrup, anko and condensed milk over shaved ice. YUM! This year, I didn't have ice ready to put into the shaver, so I used green tea ice cream. Will was also saying that he'd like red bean ice, so I used coconut milk instead of condensed. I quite like it.


Anko can be purchased by the can, though it does get a bit pricey, and you can't control how much texture you want.

Ingredients (I actually didn't measure anything):
~ 3/4 cup Azuki beans (large dried red beans) to get about 2 cups paste
sugar
salt (optional; I didn't use it this time, but apparently did last time)


Method:
In a pot, soak beans overnight in lots of water.
Bring beans to a boil.
Turn down heat to medium and let bubble for 10 minutes.
Drain.
Add about 3 cups of water and bring to boil.
Turn heat to low and simmer 1 hour, until softened and breaks apart when stirred.
Drain some liquid. Add sugar and salt to taste.
Stir and simmer until thickened.
Cool and serve.


Comments:
The beans must cook at a high temperature for a few minutes to denature a toxin that's found in many dried beans.
Add sugar only at the end, as the beans will not break apart if you add it too early (or so I've read).
I used a 3L pot, I think. It helps to prevent the beans from boiling over.
If the main purpose is to make red bean ice, then don't cook for so long, and leave a little more liquid in the pot, to facilitate drinking.

Verdict:

LOVE, love, love! (But that's just me =P)

Potato Casserole

I'm not entirely certain why I keep turning on the oven as the weather heats up. I'll just blame it on the fact that we've got too much ground beef sitting around.

Anyway. I was actually hoping for something similar to what my cousin brings to almost every family xmas dinner, but this substantially different, mostly because I needed a main dish, and not a side. It's like a shepherd's pie, but with layers of scalloped potatoes, kinda.


Ingredients:
2 cups ground beef
0.5 tsp ginger paste
0.5 lbs mushrooms, sliced
1 red pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
3 large potatoes, thinly sliced
4 cups shredded cheese
250 mL cream, mixed with 125 mL milk
seasonings


Method:
Brown beef with ginger. Drain away the fat.
Add mushrooms and lightly sautee.
Turn off heat and mix in onions and pepper.
Season as you wish. (We used garlic powder, pepper, oregano, basil, paprika)

Preheat oven to 425F.
Assemble the casserole. If you have a large casserole dish, great. We had a round 3L and a deep square 2L, I think.
Layer like so: potatoes, meat mix, sprinke some cheese, potatoe, meat mix, cheese. Use your judgement for how thick the layers should be. Leave room so the liquid doesn't boil over.
Pour in the cream/milk.
Cover and bake for 35 minutes.
Reduce heat to 400F, uncover, and bake for another 30 minutes, until top is brown.
Let stand 10 minutes before serving.


Comments:
The red pepper made this tex-mexy. I felt like I needed salsa.

The original recipe called for mixing the seasonings with the cream and then pouring it on. I found this caused uneven distribution of taste.

Some potatoes were still semi-crunchy, but letting stand took care of it.

The v-slicer rocks! We used it for all except the mushrooms.


Verdict:
Good, but not really a stand-alone dish.

Beef Stroganoff

After realizing that I'd need lunch, and that Will would be left to his own devices for dinner while I worked an evening shift, something relatively quick was needed. (Will sometimes has this college mentality where chips and pop is considered a meal. I didn't want to risk it.)

Ingredients (probably makes 4-6 servings; it's hard to tell, since we haven't eaten it yet):
1 pkg egg noodles
2 cups frozen peas
2 cups (about 0.5 lb) ground beef
1 tsp ginger paste
1 onion, diced
2 cups (or so) mushrooms, sliced
1 cup stock (beef/chicken/veg), seasoned with Worcestershire and Maggi
1 small tub (250ml) sour cream


Method:
Cook the noodles with some oil. Near the end, add in the peas. Drain and set aside.
In a 4L pot, brown the beef with ginger.
Add in onions and saute.
Add mushrooms and cook.
Add stock and noodles and heat through.
Turn off the heat and stir in sour cream.
Enjoy!


Comments:
The addition of Maggi really makes it Chinese-y. Don't ask; it just reminds me of Chinese dishes.

The ginger is optional, but I find it cuts out that heavy beefy smell.

We buy ground beef in large amounts when it is on sale and portion them into 4 2-cup ziploc tubs, hence the odd measurement in the recipes. I think one tray of beef is about 1kg, so 1 tub would be about 250g. I could be completely off, though.

The mushrooms release a lot of water, which helps to create the sauce. If you don't use mushrooms, you'll need to add in more stock.

I used lean ground beef and 7% sour cream. Regular sour cream is 14%, and there's also fat-free, if you're worried about that.

I was going for quick and easy, so no other veggies. Otherwise, I would've added zucchini, celery, and maybe eggplant. (... maybe not, since Will doesn't like eggplant).

Stroganoff's supposed to have more sauce. I purposely made it a bit drier because it's mostly going to serve as lunch, and I didn't want mushy noodles.

Verdict:

The taste test was good. Will have to see how well it holds up through a reheat cycle.

Lasagna

Yesterday was my first half day in a long time, so I thought I'd make something.

Ingredients (Makes 6 servings, though Will ate 2 in one go)
9 lasagna noodles, cooked, rinsed and drained
250g or so of ground beef
1 tsp of ginger paste (optional)
1 bottle/can of pasta sauce
1 carrot, chopped
1 zucchini, halved lengthwise, then thinly sliced
1 orange pepper, diced
1 lb mushrooms, thinly sliced
Seasonings (oregano, sugar, salt, pepper, cayenne)
1 package frozen spinach, thawed, and squeezed of excess water
1 tub cottage cheese (500g)
340g mozzarella, shredded


Method:
In a large bowl, mix together cottage cheese and spinach.

In a large pot, brown the beef with ginger.
Add mushrooms, carrots and pepper.
If the mushrooms release a lot of moisture, drain, and add pasta sauce and zucchini.
Cook the sauce and season as you wish.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Assemble the lasagna:
Put a small amount of sauce on the bottom of a rectangular pyrex dish.
Layer like so:
Noodles. Trim the noodles to fit and use the trimmings to fill in gaps.
Sauce. Sprinkle with a bit of mozza.
Noodles.
Spinach and cottage cheese mix.
Noodles.
Sauce with some mozza.
Noodles.
Sauce and top with the rest of the mozza.

Bake until the cheese is bubbly. Then broil at 400F to brown the top.

Enjoy!


Comments:
This filled my pyrex to the very brim and there was still sauce leftover. A large Corning casserole dish could probably hold more, and the noodles would probably fit better too, with each layer having 3 noodles, instead of a length of just short of 1 noodle, and a width of just more than 2. (Provided, of course, that the noodles come in standard sizes). Oh, and it was a lot of cottage cheese for that size dish.

I don't like that beefy smell, so hence the ginger.

Things probably would've gone faster if I had used the v-slicer.

This is a bit blurry, but there are the layers.

Verdict:
A bit of work, but worth it! Cheaper and waaaaaay healthier than the frozen stuff.

Spinach Gomae

I've always loved this, but really only ate it at all-you-can eat places because only then could I eat to my heart's content. A simple, refreshing recipe for the coming summer.

Ingredients:
1 bunch spinach
0.5 tsp sugar
4 tbs white sesame seeds, toasted and ground
1 tbs soy sauce


Method:
Dissolve sugar in soy sauce. Add more sugar if you like it sweeter.
Mix with sesame. Add more soy sauce to taste, if desired. Set aside.
Wash spinach and cut into 3 cm pieces.
Boil spinach and rinse with cold water.
Drain well, gently squeezing out excess water.
Mix with sesame sauce.
Cover and chill until serving. This step also allows the water to creep out and thin the sauce. Serve immediately if you want the sauce to stay chunky.


Comments:
It is tastier to toast the sesame yourself. Just heat it in a pan, stirring to prevent burning, until fragrant and golden.

I also ground the sesame myself, using the dry mill of my bamix hand blender.



Verdict:
We used two bunches and ate it all in one go, one bunch for each of us ^^

Baked Pork Ribs

Ribs were on sale, something like $12 for 6 pounds. The hot food section of Save-On is always so tempting with the fragrance of the bbq sauce slathered on the ribs, so we decided to do our own, at a fraction of the cost.

Will did most of the cooking for this one. I was the helper ^^


Ingredients (serves 6)
6 lbs ribs
2 onions, thinly sliced
3 cups ketchup
3/8 cup worcestershire sauce
3/4 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp salt
6 tsp mustard powder
2 cups water

Method:
In a large bowl, mix together everything except the ribs.
Spoon some sauce onto the bottom of a large, lidded roasting pan.
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Brown the ribs with a little bit of oil.
Place one layer of ribs in, and top with some sauce.
Repeat until all the ribs are in. Make sure the surface is well covered with sauce.
Cover the pan and bake for 1.5 hours.
Check on the ribs and redistribute the sauce as necessary.
Bake uncovered for another 1.5 hours.
Enjoy!


Comments:
Will found the recipe, and it is very similar to the pulled pork I made earlier.

The amount of ketchup was a bit of an approximation. I had a new bottle of it, and figured that 3/4 of the bottle would work.

I am very happy that I got to use the pan. I had purchased it with the intention of making a turkey, but then could not find a rack that would fit. It all works out, eh? ^^


Verdict:
YUM!  Parts were a bit chewy, but still really good. Chester liked the bones, too =D

Prime Rib

Will usually takes care of the mid-week cooking, especially since I picked up that after-school contract. Getting home at 6 is not conducive to cooking. His parents gave us a prime rib that was on sale at Walmart, so into the oven it goes.


Ingredients:
1 seasoned prime rib


Method:
Preheat oven to 375F.
Set the meat on a rack in a shallow pan and bake.
After 1.5 hour, reduce heat to 350F and cook for 45 minutes.
Remove from oven, cover and let rest for 20 minutes.

Comments:
The turkey rack would've been way to big, so we just used a circular thing that we use to prop up plates when steaming dimsum.

Will said that he should've reduced the heat after half an hour.

Will used our pyrex baking dish, which is a good 2 inches deep, and it turned out fine.

We had slow-cooked veggies to go with it, and I just have to say that I'm not that big a fan of rosemary. Next time, it'll be oregano.


Verdict:
Yum! (Probably because it was salty...If I had marinated it, I would've had to get over the mental hurdle of adding so much salt to give it taste.)

Hot Mango Sandwiches

Frozen mango was on sale a while back, and we bought a bag with the intention of making mango pancakes. Since then, we got a sandwich maker, and the package of mango is still unopened. Let's see if mango sandwiches are any good.



Ingredients:
Sliced bread
frozen mango pieces, slightly thawed
Butter

Method:
Make the sandwiches as per your maker's instructions.

Verdict:
It needed more sugar, but otherwise worked as a snack

Orange Chicken

Seasaltwithfood's got tonnes of really tantalizing recipes. There are quite a few that I've bookmarked. This is the first to be tried. Fingers are crossed.

Ingredients:
6 Chicken legs with thighs
zest from 1 large-ish orange
Juice from said orange
3 stalks of green onions, finely sliced
1 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp minced ginger
1 tbs chili flakes
1.5 tbs sugar
3 tbs soy sauce (ours was Lee Kum Kee double deluxe, which had some sugar in it)
1 tbs rice vinegar
1 tbs sesame oil
0.5 tsp salt


Method:
Rinse chicken and pat dry.
In a bowl, mix together all other ingredients. Use half to marinate the chicken and set aside the rest.
Marinate 4-5 hours in the fridge, turning every hour to ensure even coating.

Preheat oven to 400F.
Place chicken in a roasting pan and bake for 25 minutes.
Turn and spoon on sauce and roast for another 25-30 minutes, until done.



Comments:
While making the marinade, I noticed that there was a bitter undertone. It disappeared after baking.
I did not have peanut oil, and it was still ok, although since I don't know how it's supposed to taste, that's really subjective.
Mine looked nothing like seasaltwithfood's. I suspect that in my race to use my oval roasting pan, I conveniently forgot that chicken releases juice while cooking. It would've been better to use the roasting rack. Next, I think the marinade was too chunky and liquidy. Next time, I will try pounding it with the mortar and pestle to get a paste. That way, I can also grind in some peanuts to substitute for the peanut oil. But, I'd need to let the stuff sit for a bit so the chili flakes have a chance to rehydrate before grinding.



Verdict:
Fail at being orange chicken, but good for something to have with rice. The sweet ginger taste was nice.