There's Nothing Better Than a Long Lunch

During the school year, teachers like me are lucky if they get 20 minutes to eat their food. Then there is the challenge of coming home after a long day and trying to cook something remotely interesting.

Which is why during the summer, as often as I can, I let my cooking take an often unnecessarily long time with needlessly complex recipes. My friend Carolyn is coming for lunch today and I've made a Hakurei Turnip Gratin, Bok Choy and Tofu Dumplings, and a Citrus Salad with Star Anise Syrup.

Hakurei Turnip Gratin
Here is the link to the original recipe.

Melt 1 Tablespoon butter in a non-stick 12 inch skillet.

Wash one bunch of white hakurei turnips well, top and tail them, and slice thinly. Layer the slices in the pan. Sprinkle the sliced turnips with 1 teaspoon dry thyme, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper.

Cook for 3 minutes over medium heat, then pour 1/2 cup heavy cream and 1/2 cup vegetable broth over the top. Cover and cook the turnips over medium heat for 20 minutes. Remove the cover and cook to reduce the liquid. When most of the liquid has reduced (about 5-10 minutes), and the sauce is thickened, add 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese. Serve hot!

Grapefruit with Star Anise Syrup

I am crazy for Star Anise lately. Ever since making Chinese tea eggs, I've been on a real kick. This is grapefruit at its most exotic and delicious. This is a very, very easy summer recipe. The only thing that is time-consuming is getting the grapefruits out of their little casings. Just buckle down, roll up your sleeves, make sure you don't have any paper cuts, and peel 'em. If you don't have grapefruit, this would be great with any fruits. You could even jazz up a fruit salad. I'd use oranges, mango, even banana.

To make the syrup, mix equal parts sugar and water (about 1/4 cup) and add 3-5 pieces of star anise. Cook over medium heat for 5-10 minutes, then let stand as long as you'd like- more time=more anise. Let cool and pour over fruit.

Dumplings, Dumplings, and More Dumplings

Dumplings: Photographic Evidence of Delicious

As it is 10:20 and we started making them at 7:00, I am too tired to write. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.
Now Frying: Tofu/carrot/water chestnut/five-spice
Spinach/egg
Chicken/leek/water chestnut

Done, and ready to eat with Chinese black vinegar and homemade and dangerously spicy la jiao

Mine were steamed, for super healthiness!

And they ended up chewier, which I actually liked a lot!

We had some red bean paste in the house, so I made dumplings, pan-fried them, then mixed coconut milk, cow milk, and almond extract for a dipping sauce.

Next entry: Dumpling Hangover

Oscar Night Thai Feast!

I'm so into asparagus right now. They're selling bunches two for a dollar at the local meat market. That's right folks, you can buy it at whole foods for $3.99 a pound or at McKinnons for 50 cents.

Tonight we're having guests over and we'll be making pad thai with fried tofu, asparagus, radish, and coconut grilled shrimp tonight! We'll wash it down with some approximation of thai iced tea, which is strongly brewed almond vanilla roobois with half and half and RAINBOW BUBBLES. Yes! After going to Brighton (unsuccessfully I might add) for bubbles, they were right around the corner at Tea Zone, my new favorite place.

We used a recipe from a Thai Kitchen cookbook, then added plenty of veggies. First, the sauce:
vegetable oil
1 egg, beaten
any combination of meat, shrimp, veggies (6-12 oz)
1tbsp minced garlic (or less)
3 tbs sugar
1tbs lime juice
2.5 tbs Thai fish sauce (I had to be convinced on this one, but it's really an essential part of the dish. Equal parts salty, sweet, and smelly- it's a hard sell, but go for it.)
1tsp paprika
1tbs rice vinegar
Unsalted peanuts, chopped
bean sprouts for garnish (optional)
Thai basil for garnish (optional)
radishes for garnish (optional)
lime wedges
cilantro, if you're into that sort of thing (personally, yuck)

The sauce looks and smells very pungent, but keep in mind that the little bowl covered a pound of noodles and probably another pound of veggies. The beautiful brick color is from the paprika.


In a small bowl, whisk and set aside:
3 tbs sugar
1tbs lime juice
2.5 tbs Thai fish sauce (I had to be convinced on this one, but it's really an essential part of the dish. Equal parts salty, sweet, and smelly- it's a hard sell, but go for it.)
1tsp paprika
1tbs rice vinegar

Now, prep the rice noodles. You can either boil them for 6-8 minutes, or just let them soak for an hour. I prefer the soaking method, although it made me really nervous at first. When the noodles are done soaking, and until several minutes in the wok, they're still very papery. I wish the cookbook had told us that. Don't worry, though- they become chewy and soft quickly.
We fried up some tofu to put in the pad thai. It crackled and sizzled and became crunchy and chewy. Observe:

Now you need:
vegetable oil
1 egg, beaten
any combination of meat, shrimp, veggies (6-12 oz)
1tbsp minced garlic (or less)

When the noodles are ready, start up your wok or very large frying pan. Sautee the beaten egg, stirring and chopping frequently. Remove from pan and set aside. Sautee your veggies and proteins until almost cooked. Add noodles and sauce and stir-fry until everything is well-cooked. Add in the cooked egg and stir. Serve immediately with lime wedges, peanuts, bean sprouts, and any other garnishes that sound good to you. We also garnished with radishes because they're so pretty, with their unexpected hot pink dash of color.