For the Love of Food

Check out the Feb/Mar 2009 issue of Theme Magazine! My humble hungry
little blog was mention and I was interview in the article Gastroporn
by Drew Lazor. You can check out the article on Theme's website at http://www.thememagazine.com/stories/gastroporn

A big thanks to everyone at Theme, Mr. Lazor, and my friend Madalena
for making this happen. Mr. Lazor is also a fellow food blogger and
you can read his blog at http://mealticket.blogs.citypaper.net/blogs/mu/

I also raised my Twitter account from the dead and it's now alive!!
Going to install a widget in the next post update. Just search for
Friedwontons4u at Twitter to follow me.

Sent from my iPhone

Salmon To My Rescue.

I'm exhausted. Last week, I felt like I had one of those weeks where it was great one minute but next it turned into crap. It's times like these when I find the most comfort in cooking. It clears my head and forces me to focus on something else. This week more than ever I just needed to cook. What to make though to lighten my spirits? Althought this wasn't the first thing that popped in my mind, but when it did it brought a smile on my face. It must be something sweet right? Nope. Maybe it's a rich and meaty dish I'm craving? Nope. The key to my happiness is salmon! In this post: Miso Gouchijan Salmon with Almond Shredded Napa Cabbage Salad and Miso Shitaki Mushroom Soup.



While salmon is a popular fish and is a staple on many restaurant menus, I don't think it gets much respect. I feel it ends up being the dish you order when you don't know what to get. I hardly order salmon when I go out to eat anymore. It has broken my heart way too many times. It either comes out too dry and flavorless, or smutter in some heavy sauce, or even wrost, rolled up and stuff with some sort of over powering cheese mixture. Whatever it is, it over kills the taste and texture of the fish. Salmon is a simple fish. It just wants to be love and appreciated. There's no need to hide it with flashy sauces or over stuffing.




My favorite method of cooking salmon is in my toaster oven. It's easy and clean up is a breeze. I usually set it between 350 degrees to 400 degrees for about 20 minutes to 30 minutes for a quarter pound fillet. A few summers back I would have salmon at least once a week. Flavored with just lemon juice, kosher salt, black pepper, and served along with a pickled cucumber dill and tomatoes salad, it was the perfect light summer lunch.

Usually I look forward to grocery shopping, but last week I was just feeling very sluggish. I usually do my fresh grocery shopping at the Reading Terminal Market, since it's only a few blocks from where I live. I love this place and all the local vendors, but this time I didn't feel like lingering around the market, picking and inspecting vegetables, or dealing with the crowd. I just wanted to dash in and out, grab my salmon, and head straight home. The only drawback with that is you only get to work with what you have. What to marinate the salmon with? I would have been happy with just kosher salt and black pepper, but a quick look in the fridge reveal a pleasant surprise, miso and gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste).



Miso Kochujang Salmon
Serves 2

Ingredients:
2 quarter pound pieces of salmon
1 tablespoon of miso
1/2 tablespoon of sesame oil
1/2 tablespoon of gochujang (Korean red pepper paste)
1/2 tablespoon of rice wine
1/2 tablespoon of soy sauce


Directions:
Preheat your oven or toaster oven to 375 degrees.

Rinse and pat salmon pieces dry and set aside.

In a bowl, combine miso, sesame oil, gochujang, rice wine, and soy sauce. Adjust the amount of kochujang to your taste.

Spread the mixture all over the salmon pieces, but save about 1 tablespoon of it. Marinate for no less then 30 minutes.

After it marinates, place salmon in the oven skin sided up and spread reserved mixture on top of the skin.

Cook for about 20 to 30 minutes.



I served my salmon with a side of Almond Shredded Napa Cabbage Salad (more on that recipe in the next post , and a simple Miso soup with Shitaki Mushrooms. Next time I would marinate the salmon longer, but since I was short on time I was only able to marinate it for 30 minutes. I was afraid the gochujang might have been too spicy for my taste, but the miso, the soy, and the rice wine mellow it down and it gave a nice kick to the salmon. Definitely would be making this again.





What's your favorite way of cooking salmon?

Family, Food, and Fortune.

Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy Year of the Ox!

It’s Chinese New Year time! The one time of the year when my mom is running on some sort of cooking adrenaline and is baking and cooking left and right. I would always see tons of round aluminum foil pans of Lo Bak Go (Chinese Radish Cake) , Ma Tai Go (Chinese Water Chestnut Cake), Nian Go (Red Bean New Year Cake), and a whole bunch of Steam Mini Cakes (I swear I have the name at the tip of my tongue but can’t seem to remember what it’s called). They were all neatly wrapped; some even had red envelopes taped on top of the covers, and were ready to be passed out to friends and family. Besides the joy of eye feasting the sights and smells of all these goodies, I was also the lucky recipient of red envelopes…lots and lots of red envelopes. It was as if Christmas had come and gone and came back! Family, food, and fortune. What more could you ask for in a holiday? In this post: Chinese New Year’s Eve delights. Be warned though! For all those who are a little squeamish or have a thing against seeing a cooked chicken head, there is one featured in the post. Other than that, please read on.


Lo Bak Go (Chinese Radish Cake)





Turkey is to Thanksgiving as fish is to Chinese New Year. Not only does it symbolizes prosperity, but it's just plain old good and comforting and effortless to make. Bet you can't say that about roasting a whole turkey :P The whole fish is steamed with ginger, scallion, and a little bit of salt and white pepper. When the fish is cooked through, top it with more scallions and ginger, pour sizzling oil and soy sauce on top, and it's ready to serve.


Steam Fish with Ginger and Scallions

Another must have dish is fat choy or also known as hair moss or hair vegetable. In its dried form it looks like well, you guessed it, hair. After it's soaked in water it looks and feels like, once again, hair. It's actually a type of photosynthetic bacteria. Not sure if that helps paint the picture clearer, but it's not as weird as it sounds. Hair moss can be found in soups, vegetarian stir fries, and most often paired with dried oysters and ham hocks as shown below.


Fat Choy (Hair Moss) with Dried Oysters and Ham Hocks



Effortless to make is something that can definitely not be applied to the next dish, Braised Sea Cucumber, Abalone, and Chinese Mushroom over Ice Berg Lettuce. Most of the time sea cucumber is sold dried and almost resembles a long piece of dried cement. Several hours of soaking and careful cleaning is needed before it can be cooked with. What does it taste like? Honestly it doesn't have much taste by itself, but what's great about it is that it has the ability to soak up any flavors and seasonings its cooked in. It can mostly be found in soups and braised dishes and is known to have many great health benefits from its consumption.


Braised Sea Cucumber, Abalone, and Chinese Mushroom over Ice Berg Lettuce





WARNING! WARNING! Chicken head will be shown in the next picture.

Now that we have that out of the way, here's another simple but must have New Year's dish. Steam chicken with Chinese broccoli.


Steam Chicken with Chinese Broccoli



Can't forget the roast pig now and the veggies now!