Fridgg: What's For Dinner?

Pie Crust

Yummy, flaky pie crust…

Late yesterday afternoon, I realized that today is Pi Day. Today’s 3/14… pi is 3.14… yeah. So, nerd that I am, of course I just had to make pie for today. Thankfully, the pie crust recipe I use is easy as can be – only three ingredients, super quick to make, and so yummy that I’ve often asked my mom to make an extra crust, just so I can eat it by itself.

Of course, this is my maternal grandmother’s recipe. Because obviously, Grandma’s recipes are always the best.

… and so easy to make!

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp water

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400° F.
2. Using a pastry cutter, food processor, or two knives, cut the flour, shortening, and salt together until you get a well-blended, crumbly mixture.
3. Add the water.
4. Knead into a ball of dough, adding a little more water if needed to hold the dough together.
5. Turn out onto a sheet of waxed paper, then cover the dough with another sheet of waxed paper.
6. Roll the dough out into a large, flat circle, a few inches wider than the circumference of your pie plate.
7. Transfer the dough to your pie plate, making sure it’s snug against the bottom and sides of the pie plate.
8. Crimp the dough around the edges of the pie plate.
9. Using a fork, poke holes around the bottom of the pie crust, so it doesn’t poof up during baking.
10. Bake for 15 minutes, or until it is slightly golden brown around the edges.

Hot Milk Cake

Hot Milk Cake

Recently, my dad celebrated his birthday. These days, since I’ve discovered a love for cooking and baking, it only makes sense for me to bake something every time a family member or close friend has a birthday.

As long as I can remember (and probably since before I was born), my dad’s favorite cake has been this Hot Milk Cake. Known as such because, you guessed it, it uses hot milk as one of the main ingredients. It’s a slightly dense, moist cake, with a delicious caramelized frosting. Although it is fantastic fresh out of the oven, it’s even better if you let it sit for a few hours and allow the cake to soak up some of the frosting.

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1 c granulated sugar
• 1 c all-purpose flour
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 c milk
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 2/3 c brown sugar
• 1/4 c heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 c unsweetened, shredded coconut
• 1/2 c walnuts, chopped
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F.
2. Line an 8″ square cake pan with parchment paper.
3. Beat eggs until light and thick.
4. Slowly add sugar.
5. Beat with a spoon for 5 minutes, or 2 1/2 minutes with an electric mixer.
6. Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder together, then fold into the egg and sugar mixture all at once.
7. Heat the milk in a saucepan until it is hot but not boiling.
8. Melt 1 tbsp of butter into the hot milk.
9. Add all at once to mixture. The folding in of dry ingredients and adding milk should take only 1 minute.
10. Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan.
11. Bake for 30 minutes.
12. To make the frosting, combine 6 tbsp of melted butter, brown sugar, cream, coconuts, walnuts, and vanilla extract.
13. Spread the frosting over the warm cake.
14. Brown the top of the frosted cake lightly in a broiler.
15. Enjoy!

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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