Chocolate Souffle

Chicken and Mushroom Marsala

I recommend serving this dish on with mashed potatoes. Usually I peel and dice yellow Yukon potatoes or red potatoes (as I am working on this, I store the peeled potatoes in cold water so they don't get brown). Next I boil the diced potatoes in water for 20-30 minutes or until they are soft. If the potatoes are cooked through before I finish the Marsala, then turn off the heat and leave the potatoes in the hot water until I am almost ready to serve. I finish the mashed potatoes by mashing them with milk and butter (and sometimes cooked minced garlic or roasted garlic) just before I finish cooking the chicken.

Approximately 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
All-purpose flour
1 Tbsp butter
1 minced shallot
1 minced garlic clove
2 cups sliced cremini mushrooms
1/2 cup dry Marsala
1 or 2 cups Chicken Stock
fresh or dried chopped sage
1 tsp soy sauce

Place each chicken breast between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound until they are 1/4 inch thick. Salt and pepper each breast and coat with flour. Saute the chicken on medium high heat until the outsides are lightly brown but the insides are still raw. Remove the chicken from the heat, slice into strips, and set aside.

Saute the minced shallots in the same pan for 1 minute in a mixture of butter and olive oil. Add the garlic and cook for 3 more minutes. Add the mushrooms and 1/4 tsp salt; cook for 4 minutes or until the mushrooms soften and begin to sweat. Add the Marsala and boil until the wine is reduced by half. Add the chicken stock. Boil until the sauce is reduced to the consistency that you want. If necessary, mix some corn starch with cold water and add it to thicken the sauce.

When you are almost ready to serve, add the chicken to the sauce. Heat until the chicken is cooked through. Add the sage and soy sauce. Serve immediately.

Inspired by White Dog.

Balsamic Vinegar Reduction

1/4 cup Balsamic vinegar

Place 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar in a small pot and heating the liquid to a boil. It is done when it is the consistency of maple syrup. The liquid is much more runny when it is warm. If you overcook the vinegar, it will become sticky and hard when it dries--you want the consistency to be viscous like honey when it cools.

Soy Lime Syrup

Inspired by the recipe in Ming Tsai's Simply Ming. I like to drizzle this sauce on top of seared tuna.

I usually make this sauce ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator for a couple weeks to use whenever I need it, so it isn't as much work as it looks.  The soy-lime syrup is especially good on top of cooked fresh tuna steaks or Asian vegetables.  I store the soy sauce in a ketchup bottle; it tastes like lime flavored teriyaki sauce.

Makes 1.5 cups, lasts 2 weeks refrigerated.

1 cups turbinado sugar or brown sugar
1 cups soy sauce
juice of 1 lime
zest of 1 lime or 4 crushed kaffi lime leaves (fresh or frozen)

In a small or medium saucepan combine all the ingredients. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, uncovered being careful not to boil (if it boils you will burn the sugar). Reduce the liquid by about half or until syrupy, 30 to 45 min by simmering on low heat. Testing it for proper consistency by drizzling some in a line on a cold plate; it should resemble maple syrup. If you use kaffi lime leaves, then pass the syrup through a fine sieve to strain out the leaves (this isn't necessary if you use lime zest). Let the syrup cool until it is lukewarm (so it is still runny). Place in a ketchup bottle and use or store.

Sauteed Asparagus

Use the best asparagus that you can find for this dish. A good indication of the quality is how the asparagus is kept at the store--the bunches should be standing up in a little bit of cold water. I prefer the thinner stalks.

I love the combination of asparagus and lemon. I use chopsticks to stir this dish. As you saute the asparagus, the raw stalks are very stiff. As you cook them, you can feel the stalks start to soften. They are done moment they are still stiff but feel slightly flexible. Taste one--when you are done cooking you want them to taste cooked but every so slightly still raw, since they will continue to cook after you remove them from the burner.

asparagus
olive oil
salt
pepper
minced parsley (or basil chiffonade)
sesame oil
juice of 1/4 lemon (optional, but highly suggested)
lemon zest (optional)

Remove the woody bottoms of the asparagus. Cut the asparagus into bite sized pieces or leave as spears. I think it looks pretty, if you cut the spears on a diagonal and this will increase the amount of surface area that can absorb the lemon juice. Saute on medium-high heat with some olive oil (do not let it get so hot that the olive oil smokes). Add salt and pepper. When the asparagus is just barley cooked through, remove the pan from the heat and add parsley and sesame oil. Add the lemon juice and zest if you are using it. Toss the ingredients and serve immediately.

Mom's Baked Tofu and Celery

This dish is intentionally simple and minimalist, so the flavorings should be very light.

1 package seasoned baked tofu
a few stalks of celery
a few slices of ginger
minced scallions
enoki mushrooms (optional)
white pepper
soy sauce
a dash of maple syrup
salt (to taste)
sesame oil

Mix white pepper, soy sauce, maple syrup, salt, and sesame oil together in a small container.

If you are using enoki mushrooms, then chop off the roots, rinse and separate stalks. Briefly saute the mushrooms in the sauce until they are just cooked. Set aside.

Chop the celery into pieces about 1/2 inch long. Rinse and then slice the tofu into thin slices.

Pan fry the ginger slices and minced scallion with a small amount of oil (my mother uses olive oil) until fragrant on medium. Add the tofu, and pan fry the tofu on medium high heat until the tofu is slightly browned. Add the celery. Add the mushrooms if you are using them, and the sauce to the pan. Continue cooking until most of the liquid has evaporated. Serve with white rice.

Recipe Copyrights

Recently Food Blog S'cool mentioned that Joyce Gemperlein wrote an article for The Washington Post about recipe copyrights, which is an obvious topic of interest for many food bloggers. My understanding from this article is that ingredient lists are not protected, however literary explanations of the recipe and its techniques fall under the same quotation rules that apply to any creative literary work. The general consensus seems to be that even though almost no one is prosecuted for re-publishing a recipe, most people follow some ethical guidelines (such as giving proper attribution) and some professional cooking organizations and professional chefs shun recipe plagiarism.

U.S. copyright law addresses recipes, but what holds sway can be called either ethics or etiquette. Cooking is not considered inventing; rather, it evolves. Copyright law specifies that "substantial literary expression in the form of an explanation or directions," such as a cookbook, can be copyrighted but that a mere list of ingredients cannot receive that protection.

The ethics guidelines of the International Association of Culinary Professionals focus on giving proper attribution to recipes that are published or taught. The association advises using the words "adapted from," "based on" or "inspired by," depending on how much a recipe has been revised. ("Adapted from" is the phrasing favored by The Washington Post and many other newspaper food sections, which, along with culinary instructors, enjoy "fair use" of someone's creation for the purpose of teaching, news reporting, scholarship or research.) The only time a recipe should be printed without attribution, the association contends, is when it has been changed so substantially that it no longer resembles its source.

- Quoted from: "Can a Recipe Be Stolen?" by Joyce Gemperlein, Special to The Washington Post, Wednesday, January 4, 2006; Page F01.

Cucumber and Carrot Side Salad

Japanese cucumbers are best if you can find them. If your vegetables are too thick, then this dish will taste like cucumbers and carrots coated in vinegar. Instead, julienne the vegetables as thinly as you can so that they absorb some of the vinegar. You can also use Daikon radish instead of cucumber.

1 deskinned deseeded julienned cucumber
1 julienned carrot
seasoned light rice vinegar
sugar, maple syrup, or something similar

Mix rice vinegar with sugar to taste. Mix with the vegetables

Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup

1.3 lbs beef brisket (unsliced is best because it will be more tender)
2 scallions chopped into large pieces
4 slices of ginger
4 cloves garlic
1/4 cup wine (Chinese cooking wine is best, but red or white wine is okay)
8 star anises
10 cardamom
12 whole peppercorns
10 cups water, chicken stock, homemade beef stock, or some mixture of these (e.g. 5 cups chicken stock + 5 cups water)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 portion noodles

Rise the beef and then blanch the beef in boiling water for a couple minutes until the beef stops giving off grey residue. Strain, discard the water, and rinse the foam off the beef.

Smash the garlic cloves with the flat side of a large knife. Stir fry the scallions, ginger, and garlic cloves in oil for approximately 1 minute until they are fragrant and softened. Add the wine and boil for 30 seconds. Add the anise, cardamom, and peppercorns. Be careful not to boil off all the liquid when you are adding the spices; if you need more time, then turn the burner or remove the pot from the heat. Add the water or stock when it is cold. Add the beef (with the fatty side up), soy sauce, sugar, and salt. If you are using canned chicken stock, note that it already has some salt so you should be conservative with the salt that you add. Bring to a slow boil. If more foam rises to the top, then skim the soup as necessary.

If your beef is sliced: Cook the soup partially covered at a slow boil for several hours until absolutely tender. Continue skimming any foam that rises to the top.

If your beef is not sliced: Cook it partially covered over low heat for a couple hours. Continue skimming any foam that rises to the top. Remove any remaining fat that you do not want to serve and slice across the grain (i.e. through the long fibers) into small thin pieces. Return the beef to the pot. If the fat is in a large piece then you can return it to the pot to continue extracting flavor from it. Cook for 1 hour or until the beef is really tender (which might take up to an additional hour).

Taste and add more salt if you desire. Strain out the spices and remove the fatty piece if you added it back in. Reserve some anise if you want to use it for garnish. You can serve the soup immediately or refridgerate and serve later. If you chill it, then skim off the solidified fat, before reheating. Since the noodles release starch as they are cooked, do not cook them in the soup. Instead cook the noodles in a separate pot of water. When they are done strain them and rinse with cold water. Set the noodles aside. When you are ready to serve place the noodles in the bottom of the bowl. Top with steaming hot soup and some beef. You can garnish the dish with carrot slices and anises as shown (note the anise is not edible) or with cooked baby bok choy (you could cook it briefly in the pasta water) and freshly minced scallions.

This recipe was adapted from: "Red Cooked Beef Noodle Soup" in 40 Kinds of Beef Noodle by Master Liang.