Striped Pasta

This pasta is inspired by the striped rainbow pasta that is sold at the Village Market located in the Ferry Building in San Francisco, which is displayed to the right.

However I decided to only make two colors, since this is my first attempt. The basic technique is to squish together multicolored ropes into pasta sheets and then cut them. I played around with a couple variations of this technique and came up with the following. The pasta dough recipe is available at http://loxstockandbarrel.blogspot.com/2005/11/how-to-make-pasta.html. The white pasta is a plain pasta. The orange pasta is colored/flavored with 2 Tbsp paprika. I worked in small batches so that the dough did not dry out--I cut off small pieces of dough and made them into the final pasta shape, repeating until all of the dough was used up.



I rolled out the white & orange doughs to setting 5 and cut it with the small spaghetti cutter; I choose this setting because it is thin, yet thick enough that the strands can be squished together and I have time to lay out the stripes before the dough dries.



I interleaved each spaghetti color by hand, working quickly so that the strands did not dry out. However, this method was very time consuming; next time I think I will try a stacking multiple pasta sheets together, slicing them perpendiculally with a mandolin, and then rolling them out. I need to buy a mandolin so I can try this out.



Then I pressed it together, using water to help with the adhesion if necessary.



I rolled out the striped pasta sheet to setting 8 (the thinnest possible).




I hand cut pasta noodles using pastry cutter to get frilled edges; I cut them into fairly wide noodles so that the stripes are visible. More information about hand cut pasta can be found at http://loxstockandbarrel.blogspot.com/2007/01/hand-cut-pasta.html.



Then I twisted them like bread sticks to make the dried pasta look more interesting and dried them overnight.




Here are a few of the broken pieces that I boiled up to see how they look and taste. It kind of looks like bacon, doesn't it? Perhaps these should be served with a sauce that contains bacon or prosciutto. Or maybe I could wrap them around something that is usually wrapped by bacon or prosciutto. Any suggestions?

Bird's Nests

Linguine (rolled out to setting 8) bird's nests made from the leftover dough used in my striped pasta.

My Mother's Fried Rice

Fried rice, or as my sister calls it, "fried lice", is often made for lunch at my house using last night's leftover white rice. It's actually better to use day old rice, because freshly made rice is too sticky and the rice grains in fried rice are supposed to be separate. In the United States, fried rice from restaurants is usually colored brown from the addition of soy sauce, however my mother never puts soy sauce in it. It's always seasoned with salt (it should be very salty), white pepper (my mother uses predominately white pepper in her Chinese dishes), and a dash of sesame oil. If she has some, then she'll put green onion or chives in it and diced vegetarian sausages. On rare occasions it will have various leftovers added, such as bok choy or frozen peas, although I prefer her standard version. Lately I've been using minced green onions and green garlic and a few drops of Chinese vinegar along with the standard ingredients in my version. In addition, my mother also always serves it as a stand alone dish, never with a sauce. I love fried rice, but I think of it as the dish that you make with leftovers--sort of like the casseroles which were popular during and after WWII. So it has always been somewhat perplexing to me to watch Americans eat fried rice with a stir-fry instead of white rice, but I couldn't explain why. It is almost as strange as habit as putting soy sauce directly on white rice.

Recently, this dichotomy made sense to me when I read Barbara Tropp's introduction to fried rice in her cookbook The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking: Techniques & Recipes:

This is not the fried rice I ate ravenously as a kid in New Jersey--that exotic mound of dark brown stuff shaped with an ice-cream scoop and dotted with wisps of canned bean sprouts and cubes of roast pork (I thought it superb). This is real fried rice, left white, as the Chinese insist on (seasoned therefore with salt, not soy), and tossed to a fluffy mound with colorful, stir-fried bits of fresh meat and vegetables. It is altogether light and delicious, a pleasure to my adult tongue even while a blow to my childhood illusions.

Fried rice in China is usually an unassuming and deeply satisfying bowlful, a way of using up last night's rice and creating a quick, nourish snack or meal. Roadside stalls and vendors in bus stations and train depots sell fried rice as "fast food" and offer it up in the spirit of a snack. Occasionally it will appear on a restaurant menu, but it will then be brought to the table last in a succession of dishes, meat to follow and accompany the requisite plain rice and never to replace it.

My Mother's version is:

• cooking oil (My mother only uses extra virgin olive oil, regardless of whether the dish is American or Chinese. However peanut oil would be more authentic.)
• leftover white rice
• sesame oil
• salt (You need more salt than you think. The dish should be pretty salty because this is where most of the flavor comes from. You actually want to be able to taste the saltiness.)
• white pepper
• 2-3 eggs
• green onion chiffonade
• Optional ingredients: vegetarian sausages, diced ham, peas, or other leftovers

The eggs should be cooked first, when the pan is clean so that they are perfectly yellow. Crack eggs in a separate bowl and remove any stray shells. Heat a saute pan with some oil on medium heat. Scramble eggs in the pan. When the eggs are solid but still a bit moist on the outside, transfer them back to the bowl. This is so the eggs won't be overcooked. Any remaining raw egg will be completely cooked later.

If you are using sausages or other leftovers, you should dice them if necessary and reheat them now. Transfer temporarily to a plate.

Add some more oil into the pan, and saute the green onions until they are fragrant.

Add the rice. Stir-fry the rice; break up any clumps of rice. Add more oil if the rice is sticking. Season heavily with salt and white-pepper. Continue to stir-fry until the rice is hot and not to moist. Add in any sausages or other diced ingredients.

Just before serving, mix in the scrambled eggs and break up any large clumps. When the eggs are fully cooked, turn off the heat. Add a dash of sesame oil (sesame oil is a seasoning oil; it is not meant for cooking so it should always be added at the end).

Note: If you prefer your fried rice with soy sauce, you should add it just before the eggs, so that the eggs do not get discolored; soy sauce can burn so if you add it, so you should only saute the rice briefly to dry it out so that the dish isn't wet.

Chinese Breakfast Sandwich

My mother often pan-fries steamed bun slices in olive oil with Lawry salt and serves them at breakfast with eggs and vegetarian sausages or fried rice. I think these sandwiches started when I made some pan-fried some steam bread and some fried eggs for Max, and we started constructing these sandwiches. If you don't want to make your own steam buns, you can also find them in Chinese supermarkets. Most Chinese supermarkets will have frozen bags of them, and the really good supermarkets may have some fresh buns in the bakery section.

• Chinese steamed buns (e.g. Scallion/Green Onion Steam Buns)
• eggs
• oil (e.g. olive oil or peanut)
• salt

Slice the steam buns (if they are frozen then wrap a damp paper towel around then and defrost in the microwave for 30-45 seconds). Pan-fry the bun slices on both sides on medium to medium-high heat. Sprinkle some salt over the slices as they are pan frying. Pan-fry one egg for each sandwich; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Assemble sandwiches and serve immediately.

Scallion Flavored Chinese Steam Buns

Steamed buns, either plain, scallion, stuffed with veggies or pork, were a common breakfast or afternoon snack for me in high school. There was a local Chinese bakery that would make fresh ones that we would buy on a weekly basis.

• 1 recipe Chinese Leavened Dough
• minced scallions
• dash of salt
• cooking oil (e.g. peanut oil)

After the dough has risen, cut it into thirds. For each third:

1. Roll out into a large thin pie-shaped piece.
   
2. Brush with oil and sprinkle scallions and salt over dough.
   
3. Roll up the dough into a large cylinder and cut into 2 inch sections.
   

Let the buns rise for at least 20 minutes. Cover the bottom of the steamer with either a damp paper towel or a leaf of Chinese cabbage. Places buns into a steamer. Place steamer into a large pot or wok. Add boiling water into pot (but don't let the water go into the steamer). Steam over high heat for 20 minutes or until the buns are cooked. Keep some hot water nearby while you steam, so that you can add more boiling water to the steaming pot as necessary. Don't let the pot become dry.

The buns are ready to serve when they are done steaming--serve them hot. If they are frozen immediately after steaming, then they can be warmed in the microwave. The best way to microwave steam buns is to wrap them with a damp (but not wet--squeeze it out well) paper towel and microwave for 45 seconds to 1 minute. When I'm lazy I just place the buns on top of a dry paper towel and microwave them, but this method will dry out the buns a little bit. The frozen buns can also be re-steamed to reheat them.

Chinese Levened Dough

This leavened dough recipe creates a dough with large air bubbles but it is easier than the restaurant versions.

• 6 cups flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 3/4 cups warm water
• 1 Tbsp yeast (1 yeast packet)
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 2 Tbsp shortening

In a bowl, dissolve sugar in warm water then add the yeast. Let stand for 10 minutes, or until the yeast becomes foamy and floats to the top.

Sift the flour into a bowl. Add the shortening, yeast mixture, and baking powder. Mix well. If the dough is too dry, add water; if the dough is too moist, add flour.

Knead the dough with the heels of one or both hands until smooth and elastic.

Place the dough in a bowl and cover it with a sheet of plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in a warm place for about two hours, or until it has tripled in bulk.

From Chinese Snacks Revised by Huang Su-Huei, published by Wei-Chuan Publishing

Scrambled Eggs and Green Garlic with Truffle Slices

Crack eggs into a separate bowl; remove any stray pieces of shell. Slice the green garlic into a chiffonade and saute on medium in some olive oil until fragrant but still green. Reduce heat to medium low. Pour eggs into pan and stir vigorously. Continue stirring eggs until they start to set. Remove the pan from the heat when the eggs are solid but slightly moist; they will continue to cook on the plates. Divide scrambled eggs on plates and top with truffle slices.

Side Note: If you store the fresh truffles in a small Tupperware container with the eggs, then the truffle flavor will permeate the egg through the shell, and the flavor will be intensified.

Truffle Butter Pasta

American white truffle butter melted on to some of my homemade pasta with a few extra slices of black truffles.

Saute some minced garlic in olive oil until fragrant (be careful not to burn it). Add cooked pasta. Add pinch of salt & pepper. Reduce heat to low. Add truffle butter, stir, and heat just until the butter melts (Cook the truffles as little as possible). Add freshly grated Parmesan and mix to combine. Garnish with additional truffle slices.

American Black & White Truffles

I get them from the mushroom guy at my local farmer's market--he goes truffle hunting in Oregon and northern California. White are $10/oz and black are $25/oz.

Asparagus Mimosa

1 bunch asparagus
1 or 2 hard boiled eggs
Dijon Vinaigrette

Prepare a bowl of ice and cold water. Add 1 tsp salt to the water. Blanch asparagus in boiling water (2 minutes for very thin stalks, 6-8 for regular stalks). Strain and transfer asparagus to cold water. When cool, dry the asparagus on a kitchen towel.

Halve eggs, and push through a sieve into a small bowl.

Toss asparagus with 1 Tbsp vinaigrette in a bowl. Arrange asparagus on plates. Spoon additional vinaigrette over asparagus and top with egg.

From Gourmet December 2006

Hard Boiled Eggs

For hard-boiling, "old" eggs are better than fresh ones because old eggs are eaiser to peel.

Put eggs into a pan and add enough cold water to cover them by half an inch. Bring water to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat and cook eggs at a gentle boil, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Pour off hot water. To stop the cooking, let eggs stand in cold water for 15 minutes, adding more cold water or ice to keep water cold if necessary.

Hard boiled eggs keep chilled for 5 days.

Dijon Vinegrette

2 1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp vinegar (e.g. tarragon vinegar, Champagne vinegar, Balsamic vinegar)
1 Tbsp finely chopped shallot
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Whisk all ingredients together.

From Gourmet December 2006

Truffle Butter

Fresh truffles only last less than a week. The guy that I bought these from, said that truffle oil is usually pasteurized since olive oil is very good at absorbing all flavors--even the off ones. Pasteurization helps to remove off-flavors and keeps the oil good for longer, thus this is why homemade truffle oil will develop strange flavors. Truffle butter is a better way to preserve them for longer periods of time for the home cook.

Thinly slice several truffles. Whip softened butter in a mixer. Add truffles, and gently mix. Let mixture sit in the refrigerator for 3 days so that the butter can absorb the flavors. Store frozen. Keeps for a few months if frozen.

I used American White Truffles for this batch.

Chinese Tea Eggs

Tea-flavored eggs are a common Chinese snack that my mother used to make when I was little. This snack is so common that you will often see tea-flavored eggs marinating in a crockpot at most 7-11s, similar to how we have hot dogs cooking under heat lamps in many convenience stores in the United States. Many street vendors also sell tea eggs.

6-8 hard boiled eggs
4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp soy sauce
4 star anise
1 Cinnamon stick
zest from 1 orange
small handful white peppercorns, coarsely crushed
4 black tea bags (4 Tbsp)
3 cups cold water

Hard boil the eggs 1 day before and let sit overnight. When the eggs are cool, tap them on they counter top to crack the shells (but do not remove the shells).

Combine 3 cups cold water, salt, soy sauce, start anise, cinnamon stick, zest, white peppercorns, and black tea (remove from bags). Add eggs and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer covered for 2 hours. Remove from heat, and let cool to room temperature. Refrigerate the tea eggs in their cooking liquid overnight (at least 8 hours). Store the eggs in the cooking liquid. To serve, remove eggs from liquid and peel.

My selection of flavorings was inspired by:
http://www.acupuncture.com/recipes/teaeggs.htm
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chinese-tea-leaf-eggs/detail.aspx

I made a an arugula salad (dressing: walnut oil, Chinese vinegar, smoked sea salt, black pepper) with shaved Parmesan and sliced tea eggs that was actually surprisingly good.