Fridgg: What's For Dinner?

Basil Pesto

Basil Pesto

Every once in a while, I make a recipe that calls for basil. So of course, I go to the store and buy one of those big bunches of it. Problem is, I’m not a huge fan of basil… so after I’ve used the few leaves I needed for whatever recipe, the rest of the basil just sits and goes bad.

Obviously, I can’t let that happen, so I had to find a way to use up the basil. What better way than pesto? It’s super easy to make, and with Son around… it’s gone in a day. Thank goodness, because now that I’m actually growing basil… I’ll need a way to use it all up.

Dip…

I found this recipe on the food blog, Equal Opportunity Kitchen.

Ingredients

• 2 c fresh basil leaves, packed
• 1/2 c freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 c extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 c walnuts
• 3 medium sized garlic cloves, minced
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Cooking Directions

1. Blend all the ingredients together in a blender or food processor.
2. Enjoy!

… and eat!

Lemon Cream Cheese Tarts – T&C

Lemon Cream Cheese Tarts…

So after a few months of just plain not having time for the Taste and Create event, I’m finally doing it again. Not that I actually have more time – work’s the busiest it’s been since I graduated, and in addition I’m rehearsing for a ballet in May, so I actually have less time. Funny how these things work.

This month I got partnered with J from JKitchen.Log, and it was the easiest choice I’ve ever had to make her Blueberry and Lemon Cream Cheese Tarts. Well, actually just Lemon Cream Cheese Tarts – I didn’t have blueberries on hand, and I’m not the biggest fan of them anyways. The verdict? While they were a wee bit sour for me, (though I’m not much of a fan of sour, so I’m not a very good judge), my mother who loves sour lemon desserts absolutely adored them. As did my dad, and Son as well. I drizzled them with chocolate, since obviously chocolate makes everything better, and they were a hit!

…drizzled with milk chocolate. Yum!

Ingredients

• 2 (25x25cm) sheets frozen puff pastry, slightly thawed
• 1/4 cup caster sugar
• the juice from 2 lemons
• 4 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 tbsp grated lemon zest

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Grease or spray 24-cup mini (1/8 cup capacity) muffin pan.
3. In food processor or electric mixer, process cream cheese until smooth.
4. Add sugar and process until well incorporated.
5. Add egg and process again until mixed.
6. Add lemon juice and zest and process until smooth.
7. Cut each sheet of puff pastry into 9 squares.
8. Place each puff pastry square into holes in muffin pan.
9. Spoon the lemon-cream cheese filling evenly to each squares (approximately 1 tbsp each).
10. Bake for 23-25 minutes.
11. Cool on wire rack.
12. Dust with icing sugar and drizzle with melted chocolate to serve.

Lunar New Year, and Vietnamese Grilled Fish with Crispy Skin (Cá Nướng Da Giòn)

The Lunar New Year feast

Though my own (Japanese and European) family does not celebrate the Lunar New Year (both sides celebrate the Gregorian New Year, on January 1st), I have become much more aware of the traditions and celebrations surrounding the Lunar New Year since I began dating Son (who is Vietnamese and Buddhist) almost four years ago. Though I haven’t quite managed to learn Vietnamese yet (believe me, I’m trying, but all those different inflections meaning different things confuse the heck out of me and drive Son crazy when he tries to teach me!), I still am able to understand a good amount of their ceremonies and traditions, despite the language barrier.

So much good food!

During the weeks leading up to the Lunar New Year, Southern California’s Little Saigon area (Santa Ana and Westminster) has several huge open air flower markets. They are set up in the parking lots of some of the shopping centers, and the parking lots that are still open and the surrounding streets become a madhouse. It’s impossible to find parking, because everyone comes to the flower markets to buy fresh flowers and other supplies for the New Year. The flower markets also sell other products for the New Year, and all the bakeries and grocery stores in the area have huge displays of baked goods, candied fruits, and other ‘New Year’ products (especially incense, and those little red envelopes). People set off firecrackers on the sidewalks, and there are hundreds (if not thousands) of people milling about and spilling out into the streets. (Son remarked that this was very similar to Vietnam – pedestrians and vehicles with little regard for traffic laws, except here there are more cars, and in Vietnam it’s mostly scooters and bikes.)

So much food, in fact…

In Son’s family, the New Year is a week-long celebration, beginning the Sunday before the New Year and ending the next Saturday. Before the New Year, it is very important to clean the entire house and get rid of any mess or clutter, so you can begin anew for the coming year. (We actually did this in our apartment before both the Gregorian New Year (Jan 1) AND the Lunar New Year (Jan 26).) Vases of fresh flowers are set up all around the house for luck and decoration.

…that my poor little tummy couldn’t try everything!

Many different foods are prepared for the New Year. I believe there is some sort of symbolism behind the foods that are prepared, but for Son’s family the reason for the foods are more because they are traditional – they make mostly the same foods every year. This year the foods included a thinly sliced boiled pork belly, grilled steak cubes, wontons, egg rolls, rice, a beef soup/curry, a tofu and mushroom dish, a thicker marinated pork belly with hard-boiled eggs, and a broccoli stir-fry. (I might be forgetting something, but there was so much food it was difficult to remember it all.)

These were addictive…

Once the food is prepared, it is presented nicely on the table for the ancestors. Bowls of rice and chopsticks sit at each seat at the table, and the rest of the dishes are set out in the middle of the table. When everything is set up properly, we welcome the ancestors into the house. The front and back doors are opened, and left open for the duration of the feast. Small tables are set up outside the front and back doors with smaller portions of the same foods on it, as a sort of offering to the ancestors. In addition, food is set in front of several shrines throughout the house.

…especially with this fish sauce.

Each person in the family (myself included) light sticks of incense and pray for health, wealth, happiness, and good fortune for the coming year and for those near and dear to us. In Son’s parents’ house, first we pray in front of a shrine dedicated to all four of his deceased grandparents, then stand the incense in a short vase in front of the shrine so it can burn down. Then we light more incense, and do the same in front of the table where all the food is set out. I’m not exactly sure why this is done (the whole language barrier can be a bit of a problem) but my guess is that it is to bless the food and welcome in the ghosts of the ancestors.

All this excess of food…

And then… we eat! Since the food has been sitting out for a bit, it’s all reheated first. Then, much feasting and overeating. 😀 This year after dinner, we had some candied lotus seeds for dessert. This was my first time eating them, and they were surprisingly good (and a little addictive!)

…makes for excellent leftovers.

After dinner we washed and refilled the tiny cups of water that sit in front of the shrine and in front of his mom’s Buddha statue, then set large plates filled with fruit in front of the shrine and on the tables outside the front and back doors.

At midnight on New Year’s Eve, firecrackers are set off at the large temple in Little Saigon (we watched this on TV) and there’s much singing and celebration. Son tells me that there are 7000 people at the temple for the New Year.

I made this fish for our own New Year’s celebration.

Since the Lunar New Year was on a weekday, Son and I had our own little celebration with some grilled catfish, known as cá nÆ°á»›ng da giòn in Vietnamese, made using a recipe similar to the way his dad makes it at home. It’s ever so addictive, especially wrapped up in spring rolls. It would have been even more amazing had we access to a whole, skin-on catfish… but Little Saigon is ever so far away these days. *sigh*

Note: I got this recipe from this Vietnamese forum and had Son translate it for me. There weren’t any measurements, so I’ve sort of made up my own, but it’s really all estimation, whatever looks good to you. So unless you can read Vietnamese… you’re just going to have to trust me on this one. 😉

Yummy, yummy catfish…

Ingredients

• 1 whole catfish, skin on
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 4-inch piece of ginger, peeled
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2-3 stalks green onions, chopped
• 1 tsp vegetable oil
• crushed peanuts
• fried onions

Cooking Directions

1. Heat the oven to 350° F.
2. Make thin cuts diagonally along the fish, almost to the bone.
3. Lay the fish flat on a sheet of foil.
4. Rub the fish with the salt, then the sesame oil. Rub the fish with the garlic and onion powders.
5. Thinly julienne the ginger, then lay on top of and underneath the fish.
6. Wrap the fish in the foil, and make a few small holes in the top of the foil to allow steam to escape while cooking.
7. Depending on the size of the fish, cook for half an hour to an hour. Keep an eye on the fish to make sure it doesn’t overcook.
8. When the fish is fully cooked, remove it from the oven and carefully open the foil, taking care not to burn yourself. Heat the broiler.
9. Pour the liquid that has pooled in the bottom of the foil into a bowl, and set aside.
10. Mix the honey and lemon juice, and brush the top of the catfish with it.
11. Put the fish under the broiler, just until the skin turns golden brown.
12. Mix the green onions and vegetable oil with the drippings, and microwave for 10-20 seconds. Pour over the fish.
13. Sprinkle the crushed peanuts and fried onions over the fish, and enjoy!
14. We ate the fish in spring rolls with lettuce and tomato, but you can enjoy the fish by itself as well.

… about to be rolled up and eaten! Nom nom nom.
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Hamburger Bun Pizzas

Mini hamburger bun pizzas…

Since Son and I decided to stay home for New Year’s Eve, we had an itsy-bitsy party for just the two of us with spinach dip, stuffed mushrooms, and sparkling cider. Of course, as yummy as the appetizers were, we needed some real food to get us through the night. I suggested ordering a pizza since in our 3.5 years together we’ve never, ever ordered a pizza, but for some reason Son is incredibly opposed to having a pizza delivered. So along the same lines of having pizza (what? I was craving pizza) I suggested homemade pizzas using flour tortillas as the crust, like my family used to eat when I was younger.

But no, Son had a better idea. Apparently when he was younger, his dad used to also make mini homemade pizzas, using hamburger buns as the crust. We decided to go his way, and oh man, that wasn’t a mistake at all.

…great topped with pepperoni, mushrooms, and bacon.

Both ways have their benefits. The tortilla pizza is thin and crunchy, like a super thin-crust pizza. On the other hand, the hamburger bun pizza is thicker, crisp around the edges and softer in the middle. The bread adds a nice sweetness to the pizza, and it holds all the toppings without any sagging.

We’ve made these pizzas several times since New Year’s Eve, and because we had a French bread roll left over from the spinach dip, we made a pizza with that. We found that these pizzas might actually be better with French bread, but of course it’s all up to your own preferences.

Quick, easy, and delicious!

Ingredients

• 4 hamburger buns
• 1 cup pizza sauce
• 4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• pizza toppings (pepperoni, mushrooms, bacon, onion, etc.)

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400° F.
2. Split the hamburger buns apart and place flat side up on a baking sheet.
3. Spread each hamburger bun half with 1/8 cup of pizza sauce.
4. Sprinkle each hamburger bun half with 1/2 cup of cheese.
5. Top with pizza toppings of your choosing.
6. Bake 10-15 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the toppings are beginning to brown.
7. Enjoy! Serves 4.

Bacon and Cheddar Stuffed Mushrooms

Just look at the crispy bacon and oozing cheese…

This year, for the first time ever, I didn’t spend New Year’s Eve with my family. Normally, we’ll all be home together – eating deviled eggs, shrimp with cocktail sauce, spinach dip, these bacon and cheddar stuffed mushrooms, and washing it all down with sparkling cider while we watch Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. However unlike myself, my two younger siblings are social butterflies, and they both had plans to go out and party for New Year’s Eve. Since it would be considerably toned down at my parents’ and we’d be celebrating New Year’s with my family anyways, Son and I decided to stay home and celebrate by ourselves.

Fresh out of the oven!

Still, even though it would just be the two of us, there are some traditions that I enjoy keeping alive. We stuck some sparkling cider in the fridge for our midnight toast, and of course I had to make my two most beloved appetizers: the spinach dip that my mom has made for birthdays and holidays for as long as I can remember, and these stuffed mushrooms that I found on AllRecipes that I’ve made for my family for the past several years. (And one other dish that I’ll tell you about real soon!) Though quiet, I think Son would agree that this was one of the nicest New Year’s Eves that we’ve ever had together, and also one of the most delicious.

The perfect party appetizer.

Ingredients

• 3 slices bacon
• 8 crimini mushrooms
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp chopped onion
• 3/4 c shredded Cheddar cheese

Cooking Directions

1. Place bacon in a large, deep skillet.
2. Cook the bacon over medium high heat until evenly brown.
3. Drain and dice the bacon, and set aside.
4. Preheat oven to 400° F.
5. Remove mushroom stems. Set aside caps.
6. Chop the stems of the mushrooms.
7. In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter.
8. Slowly cook and stir the chopped stems and onion until the onion is soft. Remove from heat.
9. In a medium bowl, stir together the mushroom stem mixture, bacon and 1/2 cup Cheddar.
10. Mix well and scoop the mixture into the mushroom caps.
11. Bake in the preheated oven 15 minutes, or until the cheese has melted.
12. Remove the mushrooms from the oven, and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.