Taiwan for the Holidays

Hi Readers,

I'm headed off to Taiwan this holiday season to eat my way through the street scene. I'll be back with more photos and personal essays of where I go, where I eat and who I meet.

Hopefully, this culinary tour will allow me the opportunity to put together a tome on Taiwanese street food culture, published for consumption in the States.

Stay tuned...

It's Halloween with Indian Summer Wrapped Up in One

1 lbs. of fresh gnocchi
10 sage leaves, thinly sliced
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 clove finely chopped garlic
1 kabocha squash, peeled/deseeded/cubed
1 cup heavy whipping cream
10 dried shitake mushrooms, rehydrated with hot water (save 1.5 cups of mushroom water)
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Freshly grated gruyere cheese

Boil 4 quarts of water, salt to taste. Add 2 cups of water to rehydrate shitake mushrooms. Set mushrooms aside.

Heat olive oil in large frying pan on high heat, add butter until bubbling and slightly turning brown. Toss in garlic and squash. Let squash cook until light brown color appears, then turn heat down to medium and add mushroom water to squash. Cook until liquid evaporates and squash is slightly soft to the touch.

Slice rehydrated mushrooms, making sure the stems are cut off and thrown away. Put mushrooms and sage in pan with squash and add 1 cup cream, stirring frequently to prevent further browning. Stir until squash is cooked to extremely soft consistency, add cracked pepper and salt to taste.

Place gnocchi in boiling, salted water and cook until the gnocchi float. Drain pasta and toss with 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil.

Plate one cup of cooked pasta and sprinkle with grated cheese. Set aside.

Using electric hand blender, puree the squash mixture until squash is smooth and silky, with mushrooms mostly intact. Scoop a half cup dollop on pasta, and top with more grated cheese and freshly ground pepper.

It's a hearty, wintry/autumn meal, best enjoyed with a spicy pinot or syrah.

Asian Wet Markets

I used to detest going to the market with my mother. Scenes like the one below...



...only made me uncomfortable as I stood far away, curbside, away from my shame of having to be there with my mother and the butcher in the dank, smelly labyrinth of an Asian wet market. Nowadays, I seek it out and revel in its delights, usually haggling with the butcher, making small talk and picking over beautiful pieces of meat and bones.

The horror! I'm turning into my mother.

Apple Season Is Here!

I think one of the best ways to enjoy sweet Fuji apples is to cut them into bite-sized pieces, throw in a tablespoon of rice wine vinegar and then sprinkle them with a little bit of kosher salt. Toss in a bowl, and serve.

I love the combination of super sweet Fujis with the tang of the rice wine vinegar. The salt balances the two strongest flavors.

More to come on apples as I figure out what I want to do with them....

What To Do With Too Much Fruit

Pickle and preserve them, of course!

Mom's Summer Garden

I have a love/hate relationship with my parents' home in Contra Costa County. On the one hand, they have some of the most blistering heat in the Bay Area, but on the other hand, the heat and clay-earth combo really produces some good stone fruit and Asian veggies.

Here are some photos of what my mother grew this past summer:

Hot! Hot! Hot!

Record breaking temperatures today in the Bay Area made me want to eat only one thing. Salad. However, I get bored with plain ol' lettuce and cucumbers spritzed with balsamic vinaigrette. That's SO not exciting.

After work, I took a heart-thumping and blood pumping spin class and needed a dinner with more OOMPH. So I thought of my favorite salad of all-time, the Vietnamese rice vermicelli salad bowl with fresh boiled shrimp. Its vibrant dressing and healthfully delicious mix of veggies and rice noodles without a trace of oil was the perfect antidote to the hot weather.

Vietnamese Rice Vermicelli Salad (Bun Tom)

Ingredients:

handful of bean sprouts, washed and cleaned
handful of hothouse cucumber sprigs
2 tablespoons of chopped green onions
one handful of cooked rice vermicelli
juice of 4 limes
3 tablespoons of fish sauce
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of chili garlic paste
5 boiled shelled and de-veined shrimp
cilantro sprigs
mint leaves

Mix the sauce components together and chill.
Pile all of the ingredients on top of each other in a large bowl attractively.
Spoon some sauce over the salad, and...

Warm Sandwiches Are Better

There is nothing better than a sandwich consisting of melting cheese and warm ham. The pig and cheese are inseparable, melded between two pieces of artisan bread. A nice side of peppery arugula salad says "Hello!"

Natto Recipe #13

Mix defrosted package of natto with Coleman's mustard to taste.
Add tinned tuna or salmon or kippers or mackerel in olive oil.
Add scallions or finely chopped onions.
Pile on whole grain crackers.
Add freshly ground pepper and sea salt.
Top with cilantro leaf.

Enjoy!