Arriving home tonight, I realized that the sink was full of dishes, the dishwasher hadn't been unloaded, and I had no patience to dirty up the kitchen to cook a meal. I've been meaning to do all those things, and to teach myself to prep on Sunday for the coming work days... but I'm not there yet. So what are we to do?
Give in to temptation and visit Szechuan Cafe', on Mountain Road in Pasadena. Folks, this place is fantastic. It's everything a small family-owned restaurant should be: high in quality, not too pricey (unless you go a'la carte and have a sushi feast), with friendly service. The owner of the place is usually on hand to greet the patrons, and occasionally participate in a round of sake bombs.
Tonight we ordered our usual maki combo of three sushi rolls. I usually get the shrimp tempura roll, which is rice, nori and tempura-fried shrimp, eaten with spicy mayonnaise (which, as it turns out, is mayo plus sriracha). The husband gets the spicy tuna roll, which is rice, nori and tuna, plus a spice we haven't figured out yet. For the third, we got a vegetable roll. That turned out to be the best of all of them, surprisingly.
I ordered the house lo mein (pork, chicken and shrimp plus lo mein in a brown sauce of some sort), because the last time I ordered it I was sick, and didn't get to enjoy it. My husband ordered firecracker shrimp, which tasted like sweet & sour sauce plus ginger and a bit of red pepper. Both were rather good, but I liked my lo mein better, because every time I went from the noodles to the firecracker shrimp, all I could taste was ginger.
As we wrapped up the meal, I gestured to the table where the staff had their communal meal ready, and asked our server what she was having for dinner. In a perfect Baltimore accent, she replied, "Squid... or octopus. Something like that. I don't like it."
Ah, well. It looked pretty good from where I was sitting.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
What's gumbo?
Last week I decided I was going to attempt a seafood-centric gumbo. But I'd never eaten any, much less made one, so I had to start from the beginning.
What is a gumbo?
The research I found told me that gumbos almost always have a dark roux* at their heart. Okra is most often employed, as well as a Cajun mirepoix of onions, celery and bell pepper. Sometimes tomatoes are added; sometimes they aren't. Essentially, there's an awful lot of flexibility in the recipe, but what one should end up with is something fairly thick and spicy, served over rice.
I decided on a shrimp gumbo, and set about building it including these ingredients:
Cajun mirepoix (1 onion, 2 ribs celery, 1 med. bell pepper)
Garlic (I didn't have fresh — bad Kate. So I used ~1 tsp minced from a jar)
Okra (frozen, about half a bag)
Diced tomatoes (Campbell's Soup-sized can)
Raw tiger shrimp (1/2 pound, bought with shells on, but I washed them and shelled them during prep)
Vegetable broth (1 small can)
Roux (1/2 stick butter + 1/4 cup flour, then 1/4 cup olive oil and 1/4 cup flour... you'll see why later on)
Chopped clams (2 tuna-fish-sized cans, juice included)
Water
Seasonings (cayenne and black pepper, salt, Old Bay, dry mustard, coriander, sriracha hot sauce)
One thing you'll notice about my recipes is that I don't really measure exactly unless I'm baking. I learned to cook from my father, and I never saw a measuring spoon in his hand. So my proportions of spices and ingredients vary depending on my mood, my attention span and other variables at the time I set out to cook.
I started by sauteing the okra in my Lodge cast iron dutch oven, as I read on a website that sauteing them for 30 minutes takes away their ropey gumminess. So I did that as I chopped the rest of the veggies and washed and shelled the shrimp.
Once everything was prepped, I took the okra out and put the veggies in the hot pot with a bit of olive oil... or avocado oil. I can't remember which — I use them pretty interchangeably. After the onions turned translucent, I tossed the okra back in, and added the tomatoes and garlic and spices, and put it on medium-low heat.
The roux wasn't too challenging. I'd made it before, but never a dark version. As I let it brown, I noticed it started to get kind of too brownish, but I was able to rescue it before it burned. I put it in with the veggies and stirred everything around, adding the veggie broth and water right after.
I looked online while things simmered, and saw that making dark roux is best done with oil, not butter, since butter burns at higher temps. Alas. So I made the second half of the roux using olive oil and flour, and added the raw, shelled shrimp to the pan just as it was getting to the right brown-ness. Then I dumped the roux-coated shrimp into the pot, as well as the cans of clams and clam juice.
As I waited for my husband's arrival home, I let the gumbo simmer away on low, and put a batch of basmati rice in my Zojirushi rice cooker. And even though he got home long after expected, I was able to hold dinner indefinitely thanks to the "keep warm" function on the rice cooker.
The verdict? Great stuff. Even the okra was great. It was a tiny bit too spicy from the sriracha, but not so hot that it burned.
I'm definitely going to make it again. Probably not exactly the same, though. With all the possibilities that fall under the name of gumbo, why should I stick with just one?
*butter and flour in equal parts, browned to deepen the flavor
What is a gumbo?
The research I found told me that gumbos almost always have a dark roux* at their heart. Okra is most often employed, as well as a Cajun mirepoix of onions, celery and bell pepper. Sometimes tomatoes are added; sometimes they aren't. Essentially, there's an awful lot of flexibility in the recipe, but what one should end up with is something fairly thick and spicy, served over rice.
I decided on a shrimp gumbo, and set about building it including these ingredients:
Cajun mirepoix (1 onion, 2 ribs celery, 1 med. bell pepper)
Garlic (I didn't have fresh — bad Kate. So I used ~1 tsp minced from a jar)
Okra (frozen, about half a bag)
Diced tomatoes (Campbell's Soup-sized can)
Raw tiger shrimp (1/2 pound, bought with shells on, but I washed them and shelled them during prep)
Vegetable broth (1 small can)
Roux (1/2 stick butter + 1/4 cup flour, then 1/4 cup olive oil and 1/4 cup flour... you'll see why later on)
Chopped clams (2 tuna-fish-sized cans, juice included)
Water
Seasonings (cayenne and black pepper, salt, Old Bay, dry mustard, coriander, sriracha hot sauce)
One thing you'll notice about my recipes is that I don't really measure exactly unless I'm baking. I learned to cook from my father, and I never saw a measuring spoon in his hand. So my proportions of spices and ingredients vary depending on my mood, my attention span and other variables at the time I set out to cook.
I started by sauteing the okra in my Lodge cast iron dutch oven, as I read on a website that sauteing them for 30 minutes takes away their ropey gumminess. So I did that as I chopped the rest of the veggies and washed and shelled the shrimp.
Once everything was prepped, I took the okra out and put the veggies in the hot pot with a bit of olive oil... or avocado oil. I can't remember which — I use them pretty interchangeably. After the onions turned translucent, I tossed the okra back in, and added the tomatoes and garlic and spices, and put it on medium-low heat.
The roux wasn't too challenging. I'd made it before, but never a dark version. As I let it brown, I noticed it started to get kind of too brownish, but I was able to rescue it before it burned. I put it in with the veggies and stirred everything around, adding the veggie broth and water right after.
I looked online while things simmered, and saw that making dark roux is best done with oil, not butter, since butter burns at higher temps. Alas. So I made the second half of the roux using olive oil and flour, and added the raw, shelled shrimp to the pan just as it was getting to the right brown-ness. Then I dumped the roux-coated shrimp into the pot, as well as the cans of clams and clam juice.
As I waited for my husband's arrival home, I let the gumbo simmer away on low, and put a batch of basmati rice in my Zojirushi rice cooker. And even though he got home long after expected, I was able to hold dinner indefinitely thanks to the "keep warm" function on the rice cooker.
The verdict? Great stuff. Even the okra was great. It was a tiny bit too spicy from the sriracha, but not so hot that it burned.
I'm definitely going to make it again. Probably not exactly the same, though. With all the possibilities that fall under the name of gumbo, why should I stick with just one?
*butter and flour in equal parts, browned to deepen the flavor
Let's eat
I've got this crazy idea.
I'm going to spare my LiveJournal friends my food-obsessed ramblings and notes-to-self regarding my adventures in the kitchen. And instead, I'll unleash them on the world via this medium.
So by way of introduction: I'm Kate, and I love to cook... and eat. It's hard to tell which I enjoy more. But there are few things as pleasing to me as a well-conducted symphony of taste and texture, prepared with skill and/or love, and presented to an appreciative audience of tasters.
Of course, having no formal culinary training, any symphony under my control is more like a first rehearsal. But the whole point is to play, right? I do it for the adventure and the experience, and the lavish praise heaped on me like Cool Whip on a slice of pie.
I'm going to spare my LiveJournal friends my food-obsessed ramblings and notes-to-self regarding my adventures in the kitchen. And instead, I'll unleash them on the world via this medium.
So by way of introduction: I'm Kate, and I love to cook... and eat. It's hard to tell which I enjoy more. But there are few things as pleasing to me as a well-conducted symphony of taste and texture, prepared with skill and/or love, and presented to an appreciative audience of tasters.
Of course, having no formal culinary training, any symphony under my control is more like a first rehearsal. But the whole point is to play, right? I do it for the adventure and the experience, and the lavish praise heaped on me like Cool Whip on a slice of pie.
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