There are three chain ethic supermarkets in southern California near where I live: Ranch 99, Vallarta, and Jons. Meats, seafood, spices, seasonal fruits, and odd-things-to-try-out, etc., are very inexpensive here. At the latter two places I can buy a lot of whole tilapia for a very good price. The following is a relatively generic, but simple way to steam tilapia. I'd imagine that this preparation style is common to asian households.
Ingredients:
1 whole tilapia, thawed and cleaned
2 stalks green onions, sliced
1-2 slices of peeled ginger, thinly sliced
1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine (red or white, doesn't matter)
Before the fish is steamed, you need to make two slits on each side of the fish (through the flesh to the bone but not cutting through the fish, this helps it steam evenly and cook faster). Pour the wine over the fish and place the ginger and green onions on top.
The average whole tilapia will be under a pound, total cooking time is about 20 minutes. This seems like a long time, especially for fish, but I skip the process where you let a steamer come up to temperature then put the fish in. The flesh of the fish should be of a white-ish color when fully cooked. Promptly remove from heat and serve.
Whole fish pairs with steamed rice (brown, white, or "wild"). It goes pleasantly with a dry riesling wine, like Columbia Crest (which you can usually get from Trader Joe's).
I eat this with a sauce that has equal parts rice wine vinegar and light soy sauce.
Pastelitos de guayaba y queso
This dessert goes by different names (pasteles de guayaba, pastelitos de guayaba y queso, guava and cheese strudel) depending on who you ask. I don't see why it wouldn't be more popular among bakers. It is an easy recipe that doesn't involve working with filo dough. Mine came out lighter in color because I don't use egg washes when baking. The recipe comes from the cookbook, In a Cuban Kitchen
by Alex Garcia. I "halved" the recipe because this was a first run, and while I like experimental cooking, I don't like to waste ingredients. It is possible that it's not a popular dessert because the dough requires a chilling step before it is rolled out, then cut into squares.
When I went shopping for guava paste at Vallarta's, I couldn't find any that didn't have red food coloring in it. I picked up a seemingly harmless brick of guava paste. When these bricks are packaged and shipped, the sugar in the paste crystalizes and forms a crusty outer edge around the brick. I sliced off the crystalized sugar part and am saving it for other uses.
I have a third of my "half" dough mixture leftover which I will combine with a new batch tonight. This batch (minus that third) made 11 pastries, 7 cheese pocket-shaped (take a square, put paste in the center, take the corners of two of the opposing edges and fold them to the center) and 4 rugelach shaped (need a rectangle, put guava paste in the center, fold over the edges so that it looks like a small bundle, crimp edges). Tonight I'll make them turnover-shaped (take a square, fill it with guava paste, fold it in half diagonally, and crimp the edges). Finished product looked like this: pic1 and pic2.
Ingredients
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 c. unbleached white flour
2 sticks butter, softened
guava paste
Directions
1. Blend cream cheese, flour, and butter together. Wrap it in plastic (or put it into a lidded pot) and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes).
2. After the dough has been chilled, roll it out once. This keeps the gluten in the flour from being all worked up.
3. Add 1 tsp or so of guava paste to a random danish pastry shape.
4. If the pastry shape requires edge crimping, use fork tines to do this or squeeze the edges together with the back edge of a knife.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes, or until lightly browned.
The guava paste didn't melt like all the pictures that I've seen of this dessert. I may have to work with the brick to see if I can reconstitute it into a jam-like consistency. The dough came out quite nice, flaky enough to be crisp and has a little bit of weight because as the dough starts to sweat (need to roll it out while it is very cold), it became rather hard to get it rolled out to the 1/4-inch thickness that the pastry shell requires.
Since it is just a pastry method, I expect that both savory and sweet fillings can be used.
by Alex Garcia. I "halved" the recipe because this was a first run, and while I like experimental cooking, I don't like to waste ingredients. It is possible that it's not a popular dessert because the dough requires a chilling step before it is rolled out, then cut into squares.When I went shopping for guava paste at Vallarta's, I couldn't find any that didn't have red food coloring in it. I picked up a seemingly harmless brick of guava paste. When these bricks are packaged and shipped, the sugar in the paste crystalizes and forms a crusty outer edge around the brick. I sliced off the crystalized sugar part and am saving it for other uses.
I have a third of my "half" dough mixture leftover which I will combine with a new batch tonight. This batch (minus that third) made 11 pastries, 7 cheese pocket-shaped (take a square, put paste in the center, take the corners of two of the opposing edges and fold them to the center) and 4 rugelach shaped (need a rectangle, put guava paste in the center, fold over the edges so that it looks like a small bundle, crimp edges). Tonight I'll make them turnover-shaped (take a square, fill it with guava paste, fold it in half diagonally, and crimp the edges). Finished product looked like this: pic1 and pic2.
Ingredients
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 c. unbleached white flour
2 sticks butter, softened
guava paste
Directions
1. Blend cream cheese, flour, and butter together. Wrap it in plastic (or put it into a lidded pot) and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes).
2. After the dough has been chilled, roll it out once. This keeps the gluten in the flour from being all worked up.
3. Add 1 tsp or so of guava paste to a random danish pastry shape.
4. If the pastry shape requires edge crimping, use fork tines to do this or squeeze the edges together with the back edge of a knife.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes, or until lightly browned.
The guava paste didn't melt like all the pictures that I've seen of this dessert. I may have to work with the brick to see if I can reconstitute it into a jam-like consistency. The dough came out quite nice, flaky enough to be crisp and has a little bit of weight because as the dough starts to sweat (need to roll it out while it is very cold), it became rather hard to get it rolled out to the 1/4-inch thickness that the pastry shell requires.
Since it is just a pastry method, I expect that both savory and sweet fillings can be used.
Sautéed shrimp with lime and smoked chipotle sauce
This is the second time I've made this dish, and it tastes pretty good. The portions of spices are whatever you feel comfortable eating. :)
Ingredients
juice of 1/2 lime
1 tsp smoked chipotle sauce
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1-2 tsp peeled ginger, thinly sliced
1/4 tsp sugar
2 tbsp olive oil, for frying
1/2 lb raw shrimp, cleaned (with shells on)
1. In a small bowl, combine lime juice, smoked chipotle sauce, and sugar. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in a skillet, add garlic and ginger. Stir until the garlic is lightly browned.
3. Add shrimp and sauté until shrimp curls and turns a light orange color, or well, that color shrimp turns when it is cooked
4. Add lime juice mix and stir around until the shrimp is coated.
5. Remove from heat and serve.
Looks a lot like this.. (click for pic)
Ingredients
juice of 1/2 lime
1 tsp smoked chipotle sauce
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1-2 tsp peeled ginger, thinly sliced
1/4 tsp sugar
2 tbsp olive oil, for frying
1/2 lb raw shrimp, cleaned (with shells on)
1. In a small bowl, combine lime juice, smoked chipotle sauce, and sugar. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in a skillet, add garlic and ginger. Stir until the garlic is lightly browned.
3. Add shrimp and sauté until shrimp curls and turns a light orange color, or well, that color shrimp turns when it is cooked
4. Add lime juice mix and stir around until the shrimp is coated.
5. Remove from heat and serve.
Looks a lot like this.. (click for pic)
Khinkali, a Georgian meat pastry
My small town certainly has a lot of ethnic grocery stores within walking distance. I found a fairly larger grocery store right up the next block last weekend. The store carries the same assortment of packaged spices, like ground sumac and seven-spice blend, as the Burbank shop I buy my spices from. One of the freezer aisle items were packages of khinkali. It looked like it was worth a try.
As it turns out, the Russian/Georgian pastry was much saltier than expected. The filling was tough, but edible. I don't think any amount of boiling or steaming could make tender. It closely resembles the Chinese xiaolóngbao, but by appearances only. Unless I can get my hands on a sampling of freshly-made khinkalis, I think I'll have to stay away from this freezer item.
I did find a recipe, but I don't have any mindshare on what a good khinkali tastes like.
Dark chocolate chunk cookies
This recipe isn't my own, but it is very good. I've used all types of dark chocolate in this recipe and sometimes I add chunks of milk chocolate into it. You could always just use a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips but what's the fun in that? I prefer hacking apart the Ghirardelli chocolate wedges with a hammer and chisel. It's very relaxing. If I wanted the chunks to look pretty, I'd use a santoku.
Anyhow, the original recipe. And, have I ever mentioned how wrong it is to put nuts into desserts, especially cookies? If I wanted texture, I'd add more chocolate.. Here's my version, and a pic of the 5/17/07 batch:
Ingredients
1 c. unsalted butter, softened but not melted
1 c. light brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 c. unbleached cane sugar
1 egg
Blend these together until creamy in bowl #1.
1 1/2 c. unbleached white flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 c. cocoa powder
Sift these together in bowl #2 before blending them with bowl #1. Don't over mix. Blend until just combined.
Refrigerate the cookie dough for 1+ hours, or overnight.
Preheat yer oven to 350 degrees. Bake as usual.
Anyhow, the original recipe. And, have I ever mentioned how wrong it is to put nuts into desserts, especially cookies? If I wanted texture, I'd add more chocolate.. Here's my version, and a pic of the 5/17/07 batch:
Ingredients
1 c. unsalted butter, softened but not melted
1 c. light brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 c. unbleached cane sugar
1 egg
Blend these together until creamy in bowl #1.
1 1/2 c. unbleached white flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 c. cocoa powder
Sift these together in bowl #2 before blending them with bowl #1. Don't over mix. Blend until just combined.
Refrigerate the cookie dough for 1+ hours, or overnight.
Preheat yer oven to 350 degrees. Bake as usual.
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