Tiramisu

I'm not Italian, so I'm not going to claim anything about authenticity; I even went to Italy last Spring, but the trip was so rushed that I don't even remember eating any tiramisu. I just think this tastes amazing and is incredibly fattening (but mostly natural!), which is bad for the waistline but oh so good for the soul. And since the soul is what outlasts our frail human bodies, our soul should be nurtured more than our body. Or something like that.
Also, this works pretty well as a bribe for just about anything.
(And I shamelessly stole this picture from a random site online cause I'm going to be in a wedding in a few weeks, and can't afford the extra calories that comes from actually making this. So sad.)

Ingredients:
- 6 egg yolks (save the whites and make Berry Pavlova!)
- 1 1/4 cup sugar
- 8 oz container mascarpone cheese
- 1 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/3 cup espresso, or coffee flavored liquor you can make here
- 2 packages of lady fingers, or a box of vanilla wafers
- Cocoa powder for dusting
- Your favorite kind of chocolate for garnishing

Assemble:
Combine egg yolks and sugar in a double broiler and bring water to boil (or a glass bowl set on top of a pan of boiling water). Reduce the heat to low/simmer and cook for about ten minutes, always stirring. Remove from heat, and whisk until it thickens and becomes a lighter yellow color.
Add the mascarpone cheese and beat till combined.
Whip the whipping cream in another bowl until stiff peaks form.
Gently fold whipped cream into egg mixture and set aside.
Dip wafers or ladyfingers in the espresso/coffee liquor and cover the bottom of two 8-1/2 x 4-1/2 loaf pans with them placed as snug as possible. Spoon a quarter of the mixture into each pan and spread evenly. Repeat with a second layer of dipped wafers or ladyfingers, and divide and spread the rest of the filling on top.
Garnish with a generous dusting of cocoa powder; I spooned it into a small strainer and sprinkled it as evenly as I could.
Refrigerate overnight. Serve with flair, or whatever Italians do. And really good black coffee.

The frugality of homemade lattes

A regular Starbucks grande latte costs $3.26.
If you have one every work day (not counting weekends), that's approx. $65.20 a month. $783 a year. Not counting weekends. And even more if you get the flavored fru-fru stuff.

BUT if you make your own, the numbers are crunched below:
1 gallon of milk = $2.75 ---> one serving of 1 1/2 cups of milk = 25 cents
1 pound of coffee/75 tablespoons = $8 ---> one serving of 1/2 tablespoon whole beans = 5 cents

Total cost: a whopping $0.30

Crunching numbers again, this costs $6.00 a month, and $72 a year. Much more manageable, yes?

I use one of these wonderful stovetop espresso makers that my house-mate has, which runs about $27-$30. If you compare that one time cost to $783 a year, it's much less painful. This particular one is a "3-cup" size, but it's actually more like 3 shots. You can find instructions on how to use it in the descriptions or on youtube.

To make this, there are three simple steps:

- Make the espresso according to the instructions on the package. For a 3-shot pot, I usually use a heaping tablespoon of beans, and make two lattes.

- Place 3 cups of milk in a sauce pan, turn on high heat, and whisk till foamy and frothy. Don't stop stirring, or the milk will scald. Heat it till you can't dip your finger in it very long.

- Divide the espresso between two cups, and pour 1 1/2 cups milk into each cup. Spoon the foam on top. If you add syrup, add it to the cup before you pour everything in. 


Conclusion: 
Does it feed your caffeine addiction without giving you the guilt of spending too much money? Yes.
Does it allow you to control exactly what goes into your body without you wondering what's hidden in the milky substance? Double yes.
Does it make you feel like a Renaissance man or woman?  More than you will ever know.

Scrumptious Scones

Here's a bonus recipe for today since I missed posting on the 23rd...


I always thought scones were dry crusty pieces of hardtack that old people ate after they soaked it in applesauce or prune juice. But once again, my prejudices had gotten the best of me and kept me from a whole new world of flaky, moist, and mostly healthy breakfast or anytime snack options. There are innumerable ways to change these up; I'll list out several different options to the basic recipe below.


Ingredients:
- 2 cups all purpose/whole wheat flour
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 stick unsalted hard/frozen butter
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 large egg


Create:
Preheat oven to 400*. Again, if you have a baking stone, put it in at the beginning so that it warms up. Otherwise it takes forever to bake.
Mix dry ingredients together. Grate butter into the flour mixture, and toss with your fingers till it is evenly distributed. Add _______ (cranberries, chocolate chips, etc).
In a small bowl, mix sour cream and egg and ______ (lemon zest, almond extract, etc), then add to dry mixture.
Use a fork to mix the dough together, then keep pressing with your hands till it forms a big ball. It will seem too dry, but will come together eventually.
Turn out onto a floured surface and press into a 7-8 inch circle, about 3/4 inch thick.
Sprinkle a teaspoon of sugar on the surface, and cut into 8 triangular pieces (like pie pieces).
Place on baking sheet/stone about an inch apart and bake for 14-16 minutes, or until nicely browned.

Cranberry/Lemon:

Add 1/2 cup dried cranberries to the flour mixture and 1 generous tspn lemon zest to the wet mixture. 

White Chocolate Almond:

Add 3/4 cup white chocolate chips to flour mixture, and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract to wet mixture. 

Chocolate Chip:

Add 3/4 cup chocolate chips to the flour mixture. 

Cinnamon Swirl:

Mix together 3/4 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon of cinnamon, and 2 tablespoons melted butter. Roll the dough out to 1/2 inch thickness. Spread half of cinnamon mixture on one half. Fold over and press together. Spread the other half on top again, and fold again. Gently knead and mush the dough back together into a ball till it is PARTIALLY incorporated. Don't knead it too much, just enough to form, cause it's nice to have the cinnamon lines within the scones. Press back out into a circle, and cut into triangles for baking. 

Disclaimer: this will be messy and there will be cinnamon and sugar everywhere. Can't say I didn't warn you.

White Chicken Chili

I hate to sound redundant, but this is another super easy and super delish dinner. You quite literally throw everything in the pot and let it cook till all the wonderful flavors are blended together in synergistic harmony. As much as I like to do everything without preprocessed foods, I do compromise here and use pre-made chicken broth or stock. Not a huge fan of bouillon, but it'll do as well. I like to use the Giant Brand Nature's Promise chicken broth  or Trader Joe's Chicken Broth cause they don't have a lot of un-pronounceable additives and flavorings. Even better is if I have left over chicken broth from a former soup in the freezer.

- 1 chopped medium onion
- 1 chopped and seeded jalapeno pepper
- 5 smooshed/chopped garlic cloves
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 2 cans great northern white beans, drained and rinsed
- 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
- 1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
- 1 lime's juice
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/4 cup cold water
- 2 large chicken breasts, boiled and cubed
Toppings:
- Sour cream
- Shredded cheddar cheese
- Tortilla chips

Serves about 4-5.
Saute the onion, jalapeno, and garlic in a large soup pan till onions are translucent and everything is fragrant.
Add the broth and water, beans, parsley, cilantro, lime juice, cumin, and a small dash of salt and pepper.
Bring to a boil. Add chicken, and reduce heat and let simmer for as long as you have time for. Minimum ten minutes, I usually shoot for 30.
Mix the cornstarch and water together in a small bowl till smooth, then add to the soup. Cook for 2-3 minutes more, or until thickened.
Serve with a dollop of sour cream, lots of shredded cheddar cheese, and lightly crushed tortilla chips on top.

Best Biscuits Ever

I typically believe that biscuits are only good with copious amounts of jelly or honey since I'm not a fan of feeling like I have tablespoon of sawdust in my mouth. But. These biscuits have brought me out of the cave and into the glorious light of moist-and-fluffy-biscuitville, to the point where I even eat and enjoy them by themselves. This is my journey back into the cave of darkness, to give you hope that there is more to this life than shadows of pictures of biscuits only worthy of lining the bottom of a parakeets cage.


Ingredients:
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) hard butter (can be frozen or fridge-d)
- 1 egg
- 2/3 cup milk

Enlightenment:
Preheat oven to 450* (I have a wonderful stone cookie sheet that I place in the oven at the start, so that it is heated when everything is ready to bake).
Mix the dry ingredients together. Grate the butter like you would grate a carrot into the flour mixture, and mix with your fingers till the butter is consistently distributed.
Beat the egg and milk together, then add to the dry mixture and mix with a fork till all is incorporated, and it forms a ball.
Cover a flat surface with flour, turn out dough, and knead till the consistency is...consistent. About 25 times. Add only enough flour to keep it from sticking to your hands or the counter. Press or roll out to about 1/2 inch thickness. You can use a biscuit cutter to cut into circles, or pull off pieces and roll into a ball that you flatten into a nice biscuit-shaped circle, with about a 2 1/2 inch radius.
Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the bottoms of the biscuits are a nice golden brown color. The tops should be slightly browned too, but they won't get that dark.
Serve warm if possible, but they're pretty good after they've cooled too. See the light.

Berry Pavlova

This is a really versatile dessert: it's great for girly things, like bridal showers, baby showers, girl parties etc, since there are no flour carbs or fats from butter or shortening. And it's pretty popular with the guys too, if they like fruit. 

Like most things made out of egg whites, you'll need to be careful when you handle it after the egg whites are fluffed. I wouldn't recommend baking this when you are babysitting a houseful of rowdy kids, or if you are keeping a herd of water buffalo in your kitchen as a percussion section for your mariachi band.  

Ingredients

• - 3 egg whites
• - 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• - 1 tablespoons water
• - 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• - 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• - 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
• - 1/8 teaspoon salt

Topping:

- 1 8-oz carton of fresh whipping cream

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

- Sugar to taste (remember the pavlova is already VERY sweet)

- 1 cup frozen blueberries

- 1 cup frozen blackberries

- Sliced strawberries

Fluffify

Preheat oven to 275*. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. 

Beat egg whites till foamy, then gradually add sugar till stiff peaks form. 

Beat in water, then mix (low speed) in cornstarch, vanilla, white vinegar, and salt.

Pour entire mixture onto lined cookie sheet. It will spread as it bakes, so I usually mound it in the middle, then try to form edges about 1/2 inch higher than the center.

Bake for 45 minutes. 
(Do NOT open the oven to look at it or drool or "check on it," because it will probably fall. After 45 minutes, turn the oven off, and leave it in the oven with the oven door closed. It's best to leave inside until it is completely cool, so I usually make this the night before I need it and leave it in there overnight. But if you need to take it out to use the oven for something else, I would say let it sit for at least 20-25 minutes in a cooling oven before you try to move it.) 

When you're almost ready to serve, mix together the blueberries and blackberries and let sit out to de-thaw.  Add some sugar to taste, but keeping them a bit tart is a nice contrast to the very sweet pavlova. 

Slice the strawberries.

Beat the whipping cream in a cold mixing bowl until slightly stiff peaks form; mix in sugar and vanilla. If you add the sugar too soon, it won't thicken up. But don't beat it too long either, or you'll make butter.

Removed the cooled pavlova from the cookie sheet, peel off the parchment paper, and place on a serving plate. Gently break in the top center to create a flat place for the cream and fruit. 

Layer whip cream, then sliced strawberries, then the berries on top. 

Cut like you would a pie, and serve. Serve seconds.    

5-Spice Roast Chicken

This is another family recipe that has been a favorite ever since I can remember; it's pretty simple, with fantastic results. I never realized how lucky I was to have a mom who could take two different cultures and blend the best characteristics and flavors of each into fabulous meals. I did know we were different though... Whenever my dad's family came over, they thought she was cooking American food and whenever my mom's family visited, they thought it was Vietnamese. Kenny and I thought it was perfectly normal, so I'm not sure what that makes us. Just plain old eurasians, maybe?

Ingredients:
- 1 whole roasting chicken
- 1/2 teaspoon Ginger Powder
- 2 tablespoons Salt
- 2 tablespoons Pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon Five-Spice Powder.

- 1/2 cup Honey
- 1/4 cup Soy Sauce

Roast:
Preheat oven to 425*.
Rinse the chicken, and remove the giblets and any other unwanted items that are sometimes included in the chicken's cavity. Mix all the dry spice ingredients in a small bowl, then rub the whole chicken (inside and out) with the dry rub. See if you can get some under the skin, between the skin and the meat. Place in a roasting pan, preferably one not too much wider in circumference than the chicken, with at least a two-inch edge; you want the juices to be able to gather, and not spread out over the whole pan and dry up.
Bake for an hour. Mix together honey and soy sauce (you can heat the honey slightly to help it incorporate) and pour over the top of the chicken. Bake for 10-15 more minutes.
Basically, you want to pour the honey mixture about 10 minutes before you take the chicken out; so if you have a big chicken and it needs to cook longer, wait a little longer before you pour the sauce on. You get the idea.

We usually served this with jasmine rice and a green vegetable (asparagus with garlic and butter...mmmm..). Make sure you collect the juices from the roasting pan, skim the extra grease off the top, and keep the sauce to pour on your rice. Yum.

Cinnamon Pie

I had never heard of Cinnamon Pie before, but after hearing it mentioned on a Psych episode, I decided I needed to make it part of my life.

This is an extremely easy recipe, and it turns out sweet but not too strong in any particular flavor. The texture is a cross between smooth custard and pecan pie filling. 

Ingredients:

- 3/4 cup white sugar

- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup

- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

- 2 teaspoons cinnamon

- 1 small pinch nutmeg

- 1 pinch salt

- 1 egg, beaten

- 2 tablespoons melted butter

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 1 1/2 cup (whole) milk

- 1 10-inch unbaked pie crust (good recipe here)

Assemble:

Preheat oven to 400*. 

Mix dry ingredients together. Add the egg, butter, vanilla; mix, then add milk. 

Pour into unbaked pie crust. Bake at 400* for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350* for 45 more minutes. 

Let set and cool completely before serving. 

I served it with sweetened condensed milk drizzled over the top, then a bit more cinnamon sprinkled around the edge of the plate. Whipped cream would do nicely as well. The top will be kind of ugly (kind of like a pumpkin pie without the nice orange color), so if you're self-conscious about appearance, you might want to have something on top. Served a la mode with vanilla bean ice cream would be fantastic as well. 

Dad's Chicken and Rice Soup

It's raining and 40 degrees here in Virginia, which reminds me of home. Oregon never really lent itself to staying dry, but it did provide great and many opportunities to hole up inside next to the fire with a steaming mug full of soup. My dad would make this fragrant and hearty porridge for us on such days, as well as whenever we were sick, and it quickly became a Ly family comfort food.

I always despised anything that had the word "porridge" in it, probably from growing up having oatmeal for breakfast every.single.day. But that's probably the most accurate word I can use to describe the consistency of this soup. It's not "soupy" per se, but it definitely needs to be eaten from a bowl.

Ingredients:

2 quarts of water, set on the stove to boil

1 chicken leg (with the bone) or 2 large drumsticks

2-inch piece of fresh ginger root

5-6 cloves of fresh garlic

1/2 teaspoon Pepper

1 tablespoon fish sauce

3/4 - 1 cup white jasmine rice

Soupify:

Put water on the stove in a medium soup pan over high heat. Rinse and clean the chicken; I usually take the skin and excess fat off, then place it in the water (the water doesn't have to be boiling yet).

Peel and crush the garlic, peel the ginger root and cut into 3/4 square inch pieces; drop into the soup. This adds not only nutrients, but it really pulls the soup together and tends to get rid of the watery taste. I wouldn't recommend eating these, but you can if you dare.

Add the fish sauce and pepper, then cover and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to a simmer/low boil, and cook until the chicken is thoroughly cooked.

At this point, you can taste it, and add any additional salt/pepper/fish sauce that it may need.

Stir in the rice. I don't think I have ever measured the rice when I put it in, so that's why I used the 3/4-1 cup range. If you like it thick, put more; if you like it thinner, put less. Remember that rice expands three times the size of it in its dry state, so once it's cooked, it'll fill in a lot more than it looks initially.

Simmer until it is thick and the chicken meat falls off the bone. Remove from heat, de-bone the chicken into bite sized pieces, and serve in a big cozy bowl that fits in your hands well. Fresh basil is a perfect garnish, and adds a wonderful aroma and flavor as well.

EDIT: you don't HAVE to use fish sauce if you don't want... you can substitute it with a bunch more salt. (Fish sauce is verrry salty)

Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread

So. This is one of those recipes that can't take much improving, simply because it is basically flawless already. I found the recipe here.


I do have three teeny tiny things that I changed...
1) I used half whole wheat/half all-purpose flour to make my mother happy
2) I one-and-a-halfed the filling mixture. I like to be generous.
3) After spreading the cinnamon/sugar mixture on the dough before cutting and layering, I drizzled about 1/4-1/2 cup pure maple syrup on top as well.


The first time I made this, it was about 11:30 pm; we were leaving on a road trip the next morning, and I had the bright idea of baking it for breakfast. Great idea, right? Yes, except for the fact that I very nearly avoided disaster when I forgot to put a baking tray underneath the pan to catch the sugary overflow. Result = smoking oven out the wazoo, me throwing baking soda in the goop to keep the flames down, then running around opening doors and windows and fanning smoke alarms, while trying not to sound like a herd of crippled wildabeest. It's past midnight by this time, and I have three housemates who (poor girls) all have to get up before 6 am to get to work. After getting a plastic bag safely tied around the fire alarm to prevent any unwelcome wailing, I turned the oven off, closed the windows and doors, left the ceiling fan on, and went to bed.
Four hours later when I got up to leave at 5am, I opened the oven for the first time and pulled out the bread. The perfection of the bread seemed to be taunting my frantic antics from the night before.


Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread
Makes: one 9×5x3-inch loaf
Ingredients
- 2 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 1/4 teaspoons (1 envelope) active dry yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 ounces unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup whole milk
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For the Filling:
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
- 2 ounces unsalted butter, melted until browned
In a large mixing bowl whisk together 2 cups flour, sugar, yeast, and salt.  Set aside.
Whisk together eggs and set aside.
In a small saucepan, melt together milk and butter until butter has just melted.  Remove from the heat and add water and vanilla extract.  Let mixture stand for a minute or two, or until the mixture registers 115 to 125 degrees F.
Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients and mix with a spatula.  Add the eggs and stir the mixture until the eggs are incorporated into the batter. Add the remaining 3/4 cup of flour and stir with the spatula for about 2 minutes.  The mixture will be sticky.
Place the dough is a large,  greased bowl.  Cover with plastic wrap and a clean kitchen towel.  Place in a warm space and allow to rest until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
*The dough can be risen until doubled in size, then refrigerated overnight for use in the morning.  If you’re using this method, just let the dough rest on the counter for 30 minutes before following the roll-out directions below.
While the dough rises, whisk together the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg for the filling.  Set aside.  Melt 2 ounces of butter until browned.  Set aside.  Grease and flour a 9×5x3-inch  loaf pan.  Set that aside too.
Deflate the risen dough and knead about 2 tablespoons of flour into the dough.  Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rest for 5 minutes.  On a lightly floured work surface, use a rolling pin to roll the dough out.  The dough should be 12-inches tall and about 20-inches long.  If you can’t get the dough to 20-inches long… that’s okay.  Just roll it as large as the dough will go.  Use a pastry brush to spread melted butter across all of the dough.  Sprinkle with all of the sugar and cinnamon mixture.
Slice the dough vertically, into six equal-sized strips.  Stack the strips on top of one another and slice the stack into six equal slices once again.  You’ll have six stacks of six squares.  Layer the dough squares in the loaf pan like a flip-book.  Place a kitchen towel over the loaf pan and allow in a warm place for 30 to 45 minutes or until almost doubled in size.
Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.  Place loaf in the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top is very golden brown.  The top may be lightly browned, but the center may still be raw.  A nice, dark, golden brown will ensure that the center is cooked as well.
Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 20 to 30 minutes.   Run a butter knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the bread and invert onto  a clean board.  Place a cake stand or cake plate on top of the  upside down loaf, and carefully invert so it’s right side up.  Serve warm with coffee or tea.
I think this bread is best served the day it’s made, but it can also we wrapped and kept at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Lemon Zest Cornbread

I made this last week when I was sick and craving something sweet-ish but not sugary. A couple modifications of this http://bit.ly/hEnA1m recipe, and voila: sugar-free and still delish. I was happy as well as healthy.
( I have a 12 inch Lodge cast iron pan instead of a 9-inch, so I increased the original recipe a bit and it filled out just fine.)


Ingredients:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- A shy 1 teaspoon baking soda
- A heaping 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup honey (use a heaping 3/4 cup if no maple syrup)
- An overflowing 1/4 cup pure maple syrup (no Aunt Jemima's)
- 1 cup milk
- 1 1/2 tablespoon fresh lemon zest
- 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter


Create:

Preheat the oven to 350*. Melt and brown the butter in a 12-inch cast iron pan. Tilt the pan to greases the sides as well, then pour into a bowl and set pan aside.
Mix dry ingredients together.
Mix wet ingredients together with butter.
Mix dry and wet ingredients together, stirring gently till most of the flour clumps are gone.
Pour into cast iron pan, and slide onto the center rack of your oven for about 30 minutes, till a knife through the center comes out clean.Let cool for a bit, but not too long. It's best warm. 

-Tia 

Beer-Braised Pot Roast

This was fortunately one of the first things I cooked for my boyfriend after I moved out of a dormitory and into a house that had a kitchen. I learned that the saying "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach" is a complete understatement. I didn't know someone could get so excited about something. I had to tell him to stop talking when he was trying to eat, all the while effusing about how happy it made him feel; the two very compelling forces of palatable delight and encomiastic pronouncements were finding difficulty coinciding with each other. Needless to say, he still likes me, and even comes over occasionally to be my loyal taste-tester.

The recipe that inspired this can be found here: http://bit.ly/eciaIH

Ingredients:

• 1 (2-3 pound) beef chuck roast
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 sprig of rosemary
• 2 sliced yellow onions
• 1 bottle DARK brew beer
• 4 slices bacon, diced
• 4 cups low-sodium beef stock or broth
• 2 cans diced tomatoes
• 2 large carrots, peeled and cut into halved 3-inch sticks
• 2 large potatoes, chopped into bite-sized pieces
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 2 cups water

Prep:

This works best if you marinate the roast the night before. Combine the salt, pepper, thyme, cumin and chopped garlic to form a dry rub/paste. Rub on the roast, and set in a bowl. Fill the bowl with beer, 1 of the chopped onions, bay leaves, and rosemary sprig. If the beer does not cover the roast, fill the rest with beef stock so the beef is mostly submerged. Cover tight with plastic wrap, and refrigerate till morning. 

Cook:

When you are ready to get this into the slow cooker for the day, cook the bacon in a large frying pan till cooked, but still flexible. Remove and chop into 1/2 inch pieces. Pour out remaining pork grease, but keep the excess that stays on the pan. Saute the other chopped onion till slightly brown. Pull the roast out of the marinade, and sear on all sides until well browned. 

Place the roast in a large crockpot or slow cooker, and turn it on high (something this size works great http://bit.ly/gys04I). Pour the marinade into the cooker as well, and add the bacon, tomatoes, parsley, and rest of the broth and water until the roast is covered by at least an inch of liquid. 

I usually start this before I go to work at 8am, and it is ready when I get home at 5:30. I don't like my carrots and potatoes complete mush, so I add them when I get home, as well as any additional salt or pepper that it might need, and then let it cook for another hour or so. But you can add them in the morning if that suits your fancy. 

Serve in big bowls with freshly baked biscuits, but make sure you leave some. The leftovers are even better the next day. 

-Tia 

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

This has been my favorite meal since I was about 6, and something about it makes me excited. I grew up eating this with everything spread out on the newspaper-covered tile floor of my grandfather's living room, surrounded by all my cousins, while all 16 of my Vietnamese aunts and uncles made sure that I ate enough to last me a week.

(Most of the ingredients that are not in a normal grocery store can be found very affordable at any asian/global market. Attached are links to pictures of my recommended brands)

Serves approx: 4-6.

Ingredients:

Rolls

- 1 package Rice paper skins (like these here)

- 1 head Red leaf lettuce

- 1-2 lbs Beef

- 1 White onion

- 1 lb Shrimp, skinned and de-veined (optional)

- Fish filets (optional)

- 4 Carrots

- 1 package Fresh basil

- 3 handfuls of Bean sprouts

- 4 Roma tomatoes

- 1 bunch Green onions

- 1 bunch Cilantro

- 1 1/2 cups Roasted peanuts (preferably dry, no salt or other flavorings)

Dipping Sauce

- 1/3 cup Fish sauce (photo)

- 1/3 cup Rice vinegar (photo)

- Chili paste (1 tsp/to taste) (photo)

- 1/3 cup Sugar

- Several cloves of fresh chopped garlic

- Very warm water

(If you want to make it like my family does, use 1 cup fish sauce, 1 cup sugar, and 1/2 cup vinegar instead of the quantities above. Yeah, pretty intense.)

I usually mix the sauce in a quart mason jar, or anything similar in size. Mix everything together, then fill the rest of the jar with warm water to dilute and dissolve the sugar. Spoon about 1/2 a cup into individual little bowls for dipping. Refrigerate after use.

WARNING: do NOT sniff the fish sauce directly out of the bottle. There are stories from the Vietnam war of how US soldiers could smell the Vietnamese army 3/4 of a mile away because of this stuff. Also, a sealed jar for the final product is most important if you ever want to have company over again.

Prep:

Slice the beef into approximately 1-inch X 3-inch slices, as thin as possible.

Wash, dry, and pull apart the leaf lettuce from the core. Leave as leafs, and place on a corner of a big serving tray.

Rinse the basil, bean sprouts, green onions, cilantro, and arrange all on the serving platter. Grate the carrots into a bowl (if you are doing this ahead of time, fill the bowl with water so the carrots won't get brown. Drain when ready to eat.)

Slice the tomatoes into 1/4-inch wedges.

Crush the peanuts; a mortar and pestle works, as does a couple pulses in a blender.

There are several ways to cook the meat; you can pan fry, bbq, bake, whatever suits you. But traditionally, it is stewed in a pot of almost-boiling water that has sliced up onions, a bit of salt, and sometimes a can of beer if that's something you're up to. It's not supposed to be super flavorful, just enough to take away the "beefy" taste. The shrimp is also cooked this way. We used a rice cooker right on the table, it was a self-serve/self-cook kind of thing, and we cooked each kind of meat as needed.

Assembly:

Roll your sleeves up and roll out the paper towels, cause it's gonna get messy. Submerge one rice paper skin in a big bowl of lukewarm water till both sides are wet. Let the excess water drip off, then put on a large flat plate (or directly on the table top). Begin with a piece of lettuce; we'll say 3x4 in., just to give you an idea. Next layer two-three pieces of meat, then pile any or all of the rest of the vegetables in a long-ish rectangle way. I usually end with the crushed peanuts scattered on top. Roll up like a burrito, folding in the edges halfway to the end. The skin will soften as the water is absorbed, and it should stick to itself. Be careful not to stretch it too much, or it will tear.

Once you have a nice roll, dip it in the sauce and take a bite. If the sauce ends up running all the way down to your elbow, you know you're doing it right. It requires skill to dip a roll without letting all the insides end up in your bowl, but I'll let you discover your own special trick.

I'll try to add pictures when I have them.

- Tia

things to look forward to

In a cyber world full of food-blogs and fashion-blogs and life-blogs and feelings-blogs and photo-blogs and coffee-blogs and stuff-blogs and blogs-about-blogs, I don't necessarily feel a need to add to the information overload. This is rather more of a selfish motivation, kind of a universal and living cookbook so that I can access all my favorites whenever and wherever I may have access to the internet; but if you benefit from reading this, then by all means, read away.


Being born in America to a Chinese/Vietnamese father and a Norwegian/German/English/Native American/Irish mother, I have a lot of culture to pick and choose from when it comes to cuisine. When it all blends together in my mind to form one big giant nebulous of ideas which occasionally spits out sometime good, that to me is success. 

I have a weird complex where I feel like if I follow a recipe, I'm not really cooking; I'm just doing math-u-can-see with flour and sugar instead of plastic colored blocks, and hope that the gal before me had it right. But regardless, I love to make food, and hopefully this blog will help me keep track of some of my favorites. 

Here are some of the few that I have done in the past 8 months that I hope to soon record:

• Traditional/Family recipes
• Vietnamese spring rolls
• Vietnamese egg rolls
• Dad's chicken & rice soup
• Mom's 5-spice roast chicken and rice
• Hearty chili
• Chicken noodle soup (no stock/bouillon)
• Spaghetti Sauce
• Shamelessly stolen-then-improved recipes
• White chicken chili
• Beer-soaked pot roast
• Berry Pavlova
• Tiramisu
• Oatmeal peanut butter cookie sandwiches
• Simple scones
• Cinnamon pie
• Chocolate truffle cake
• Lemon zest cornbread
• Cinnamon pull-aparts

Here's to cooking!