Zucchini Slaw

I may have mentioned that I have been eating a lot of salads since the summer so I've been doing a lot of online searches for salad recipes. This is one I came across a couple of months ago that's super easy to make, which is perfect when things get too busy and I don't have much time to cook! (Which is pretty much all the time!)


ZUCCHINI SLAW

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 2 medium zucchini, finely chopped
• 1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons Italian salad dressing
• 1 bunch chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium-low heat, and cook the zucchini and onion until onion is very tender. Mix in the Italian salad dressing and parsley, and continue cooking until heated through. Serve warm.

Yields: 4 servings

Links:
Original recipe

Sweet Potato Curry Rice

While visiting R.'s mom last winter, she made a sweet potato curry couscous that was really fantastic. I wanted to semi-replicate her dish with similar ingredients but using rice instead. Add in some ideas borrowed from other online sources, and this recipe was born! Two caveats to bear in mind: 1. I have a rice cooker so my directions for the rice are specific to rice cookers; 2. I get lazy and cook the sweet potatoes in the microwave. I'm sure any other method works too.

SWEET POTATO CURRY RICE

Ingredients:

• Sweet potatoes (3)
• Kale leaves, chopped or ripped into bite size pieces (2 cups)
• Jasmine or any long grain rice (1½ cups)
• Powdered chicken bouillon (1 tbsp) - can skip or substitute with vegetable bouillon for a vegan dish
  
• Raisins (1½ tbsp)
• Curry powder (1 tsp) – I prefer Madras curry powder
• Salt (to taste)
• Bay leaf (1 leaf)
• Oil (1 tsp)
• Onion, finely chopped (½ cup)
• Garlic, peeled and finely minced (3 cloves, divided)
• Ginger, minced (1 tsp)
• Red wine or vegetable broth (just a splash)
• Tamari or soy sauce (2 tbsp)
• Pine nuts (¼ cup)

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, sauté onion and one clove of minced garlic in oil on moderate heat until onions are translucent.
2. Wash rice well and drain. Place rice in rice cooker pan and fill with equal parts water.
3. Add precooked onion and garlic, chicken bouillon, raisins, curry powder, salt (to taste), bay leaf, and pine nuts. Cook rice in rice cooker.
4. Wash sweet potatoes. Puncture a few times with a fork. Place on paper towel on a microwave-safe dish and cook in microwave on high for 4-5 minutes for the first potato, plus about 2-3 minutes for each additional potato (about 8-11 mins for 3 potatoes, depending on the size of the potatoes). Turn over potatoes halfway through cooking. When done, let cool for a few minutes and then scoop out the sweet potatoes and mash coarsely.
5. In a frying pan, sauté two cloves of minced garlic and 1 tsp of minced ginger in a little red wine or vegetable broth. Add kale that has been chopped or ripped into bite size pieces. Add 2 tbsp of tamari or soy sauce and continue cooking for a few minutes, until done.
6. When rice is done, remove the bay leaf and mix all ingredients in the rice well. Mix rice, kale, and sweet potatoes in large skillet over medium-high heat for a few minutes. Add salt to taste (though this may not be necessary if you are using Madras curry because Madras curry already has a fairly strong taste).

Yield: 4-5 servings

Links:
How to cook kale
Cooking sweet potatoes in the microwave

Cafe Bonaparte (Washington, DC)

Thanks to Groupon, I got an awesome deal to Café Bonaparte, a cute little Parisian place in Georgetown that's known for its crepes. R. and I love crepes, so this really was the perfect place to dine out for us! We went on a Thursday night and were surprised how packed it was. Like an authentic French cafe, it is fairly small and crammed, but not uncomfortable. The decor is beautiful. We each ordered a "savory crepe" for dinner and a "sweet crepe" for dessert.

For dinner, R. got the Petersburg, with "black forest ham, shallots, parsley & mushroom topped with a dijon mustard cream sauce." What a great combination of ingredients! It was beyond delicious!


I got the Marseille, with "diced marinated chicken, sour cream, onions, and red bell peppers, topped with a red pepper sauce." R. liked the Petersburg better, and although I had agreed with him at first (I do love dijon mustard!), the Marseille really grew on me, and by the end I'd have to say I preferred the Marseille! The sauce was great on the chicken. Mmm...I could go back for more!


For dessert, R. ordered the Montpelier, which consisted of "caramelized apples, topped with creme anglais & whip cream." Need I say more? Yum!


While the Montpelier was good, we both liked mine better, the Last Tango. How could you not? It's "Nutella chocolate, strawberries [warm, I must add], whip cream, & berry melba sauce." The Nutella-strawberry combo was divine.


Great dinner! I'm scheming to go back already! The only downside is that Georgetown being Georgetown, there's no subway stop, and Georgetown being Georgetown, parking is a royal you-know-what. We took the bus there during the tail end of rush hour, which was not fun at all. But Café Bonaparte is worth revisiting even if it's not easy to get to!

Pertinent info:

Address: 1522 Wisconsin Ave NW, Washington, DC 20007
Phone: (202)333-8830
Website: http://www.cafebonaparte.com/
Nearest Metro station: None. Bus from Farragut North or Dupont Circle.

Seared Curried Sea Scallops with Zucchini

I love seafood, and scallops is one of my favorites. I was drawn to this recipe because I'm a huge curry fan, so this seems like curry + scallops would simply be a heavenly combo. :)

SEARED CURRIED SEA SCALLOPS WITH ZUCCHINI

Ingredients:

• 1 pound sea scallops
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon finely grated peeled fresh ginger
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut diagonally into 1/2-inch-thick slices
• Fresh cilantro sprigs
• Lime wedges

Directions:

1. Remove tough muscle from side of each scallop if necessary. Pat scallops dry and sprinkle with curry powder and salt and pepper to taste.
2. Heat 1/2 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then sear scallops in 2 batches, adding another 1/2 tablespoon oil if necessary, until golden, 1 to 2 minutes on each side.
3. Transfer scallops to a plate. Add remaining tablespoon oil to skillet, then cook ginger and garlic over moderate heat, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add zucchini and salt and pepper to taste, then cook, stirring frequently, until crisp-tender, 4 to 5 minutes.
4. Return scallops to skillet with any juices accumulated on plate and toss with zucchini just until heated through, about 1 minute.
5. Garnish with cilantro and lime wedges.
   

Yield: 2 servings

Eat Pink for a Good Cause

In support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, my absolute favorite ice cream place, Jeni's Ice Creams, has created a unique flavor and will be selling it at their stores and online throughout the month of October. For every pint of Rose Petal with Vanilla Bean and Pink Peppercorns they sell, $1 will be donated to the Young Survival Coalition, and for every order of their "Pink Collection," which contains several of their other delicious flavors, YSC will get $5!

My order that included a pint of the Rose Petal with Vanilla Bean and Pink Peppercorns arrived last week and I finally had a taste of it the other night. Mmm...mmm...good! The rose flavor is perfectly subtle, the vanilla flavor pleasing, while the peppercorns make the ice cream pop! Such a neat flavor, and such a great idea for a great cause! Go order some, or read more here!

Sweet and Sour Zucchini Salad

This is one of the salads I've made many times this past summer. It's tasty and easy to make.

SWEET AND SOUR ZUCCHINI SALAD

Ingredients:

• 1 (1 ounce) package dry onion soup mix
• 1/2 cup white wine vinegar
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 7 small zucchinis, thinly sliced

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl, soak onion soup mix in wine vinegar. Let stand 5 minutes.
2. Combine the onion soup mixture with the sugar, salt, pepper, oil, cider vinegar, bell pepper, celery and zucchini. Chill 4 to 6 hours, stirring occasionally. Drain off any extra liquid before serving.

Yields: 7 servings

Grandma's Chiu Chow (Teochew) Style Deep Fried Shrimp Balls

My paternal grandparents are from the Chiu Chow province of China and my grandma makes these really amazing deep fried shrimp balls from her local cuisine that I (and everybody in the family) have loved all our lives. They are always such a special treat! The last time she made her signature shrimp balls for a family feast, I watched and took notes so I could replicate the dish myself. Since Grandma doesn't measure anything, it took a couple of tries to get the proportions right, but I think I have this baby down now. :) I should add that I made a couple of very minor modifications but they do taste just like Grandma's creation. I brought some to work for my buddy Maria and she claimed - twice - that it's one of the best things I've made! Thanks, Grandma!

GRANDMA'S CHIU CHOW (TEOCHEW) STYLE DEEP FRIED SHRIMP BALLS

Ingredients:

• 1 lb uncooked shrimp, peeled
• 8 water chestnuts, chopped (the larger the chopped pieces, the crunchier the shrimp balls will be)
• ¼ lbs ground pork
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1 egg
• Salt, white pepper, and Chicken broth mix to taste
• Corn oil or vegetable oil
• ½ cup flour
• A small bowl of water

Directions:

1. Mash shrimp using the flat part of a cleaver.
2. In a large bowl, combine shrimp, water chestnuts, ground pork, shallot, eggs, salt, pepper, and chicken broth mix. Mix well. (My grandma said to stir only in one direcon - i.e., if you started stirring counterclockwise, do not reverse and stir clockwise - but I honestly don't think it makes a difference).
3. Add flour and mix to combine. Do not overmix. (This is how Grandma does it. See an alternative version described in Step 5.)
   
4. Heat oil on high in a wok or a deep skillet. The amount of oil used depends on the size of your wok/skillet and the size of the shrimp balls. In general, use enough oil to cover half the diameter of the shrimp balls – for example, if your shrimp balls are 1” in diameter, then fill wok ½” deep with oil. Once the oil is boiling, reduce heat to medium.
5. Mold the shrimp mixture into rounded tablespoons. Dip a spoon into the bowl/glass of water before scooping the shrimp balls (this prevents the shrimp balls from sticking to the spoon). Optional step: Prepare a small bowl of flour and dip each shrimp ball in flour (this is one thing I do that's different from Grandma).
   
6. Place each shrimp ball into the oil-filled wok. Roll the shrimp balls around so they fry evenly on all sides. Fry until golden brown, about 5 minutes.
7. Drain shrimp balls before serving.
8. Shrimp balls are traditionally served with a tangerine sauce that is not available in North America. The closest store-bought sauce I have found is a golden plum sauce, though a sweet and sour sauce would work as well.

Yields: About 20-25 shrimp balls, depending on size

Mashed shrimp

Shrimp balls!

Here's a video of my grandma shaping the shrimp mixture into balls and scooping them into the wok. Note that she's been making these for decades so she's quite the pro at it, making the process seem so easy and elegant. Me, on the other hand, can't quite get her technique down, so I cheat and use a melon baller instead. :P

G&M Restaurant and Lounge (Linthicum Heights, MD)

I had struggled with whether to list this post under "Eating out in Washington DC" since G&M Restaurant and Lounge is actually a bit out of the way and definitely closer to Baltimore than DC. However, it is only a couple miles from the Baltimore Washington International Airport, and the fact that it has been voted by listeners of WTOP (an all-news radio station in the Greater Washington area) as serving best crab cakes in the area means that my claiming it as being in DC is absolutely justified. :)

I was introduced to G&M two years ago by a friend, who had sworn they had the best crab cakes. Located in a not-particularly-affluent neighborhood (as far as I can tell), G&M looks unassuming enough on the outside, and the inside atmosphere is relatively casual though very comfortable and cozy, but ay, never judge a book by its cover! Their crab cakes are huge, reasonably priced, and most importantly, TASTY. These golden brown beauties are full of lumps of crab meat and the crab-to-filler proportion is just right in my opinion and does a great job of bringing out the crab taste. The restaurant is fairly large, with a main restaurant area as well as a bar area, but my favorite tables are the ones on the "balcony" looking down onto the bar. I have visited G&M several times now, usually with R. when he is flying in/out of BWI, and the crab cakes have been perfect every time. We both love this place! It is really no coincidence that in addition to being a favorite among Washingtonians, G&M has also been deemed Baltimore's best crab cakes by Baltimore Magazine five years in a row! If you love crab cakes, I highly recommend G&M. What, you don't live in the Baltimore-Washington area? Not a problem - they ship!

Photo of crab cake sandwich. You may also order a crab cake platter with one or two crab cakes, though unless you're a big eater, you might just wanna get one. Those babies are huge!

Pertinent info:
Address: 804 Hammonds Ferry Road, Linthicum Heights, MD
Phone: 410-636-1777 877 5543723

Wasabi Salmon Burgers

I think we've gone over this before...I love salmon! I also love wasabi. And oh, do I love the combination of salmon and wasabi! So my jaw just about dropped onto the floor when I stumbled across this recipe for wasabi salmon burgers, which I'm happy to report turned out really great! The combination of Asian-inspired ingredients - soy sauce, wasabi, and ginger - really give the salmon an exquisite taste. If you are wasabi-phobic and fear that this might shoot fireworks through your nose, there is really no need to worry. The powder gives just a hint of the wasabi taste and it is not at all like the stuff you put on your sushi. And to top it off, the salmon patties are extremely low-calorie and healthy, too!

WASABI SALMON BURGERS

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoons wasabi powder
  
• 1/2 teaspoon honey
• 1 pound salmon fillet, skinned
• 2 scallions, finely chopped
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Directions:

1. Whisk soy sauce, wasabi powder and honey in a small bowl until smooth. Set aside.
2. With a large chef's knife, chop salmon using quick, even, straight-up-and-down motions (do not rock the knife through the fish or it will turn mushy). Continue chopping, rotating the knife, until you have a mass of roughly 1/4-inch pieces. Transfer to a large bowl. Add scallions, egg, ginger and oil; stir to combine. Form the mixture into 4 patties. The mixture will be moist and loose, but holds together nicely once the first side is cooked.
3. Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium heat for 1 minute. Add the patties and cook for 4 minutes. Turn and continue to cook until firm and fragrant, about 3 minutes. Spoon the reserved wasabi glaze evenly over the burgers and cook for 15 seconds more. Serve immediately.

Yields: 4 servings

Links:
http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/wasabi_salmon_burger.html

Would you like some E. coli with that?

I came across this New York Times article yesterday that revolves around a young dance instructor whose life was ruined by lower-body paralysis as a result of an infection. The source of the infection? Tainted ground beef. The article goes on to detail the dangers of ground beef and exposes the lack of oversight on E. coli O157:H7 inspections. Part of the problem is that ground beef is made up of not just actual meat, but also trimmings and other scrap from different parts of the cow, including the areas that are likely to come into contact with feces. And the process for getting rid of the feces is far from thorough. Add to that the unwillingness of suppliers and corporations to adequately test their products for E. coi O157:H7 and the lack of government regulation. The story is truly chilling. As much as I love beef, I had pretty much sworn off burgers since watching Food, Inc. (see my post on this here), and this article only strengthened my convictions about ground beef. I find these large corporations' greed and negligence beyond maddening.

According to the article, there is a potentially safer way of enjoying beef burgers - buy a piece of steak and have your grocer ground it for you. That way, you'll know that your ground beef comes from 100% muscle and not some random, possibly E. coli-laden, feces-smeared parts of the cow. Of course, cow muscles can be unsafe, too, if prepared improperly, so this isn't a hard-and-fast fix. The BUBBA Burger brand supposedly "boasts on its labeling, '100% whole muscle means no trimmings,'" which seems promising, but I can't seem to find any information online confirming that BUBBA Burgers are safer than other brands. In fact, what I found was a recall notice of BUBBA Burgers in 2000 due to potential contamination of E. coli O157:H7 (check it out here). Food, Inc. also talks about grass-fed beef being generally safer than corn-fed beef, because a corn-fed diet greatly promotes E. coli breeding.

In the meantime, I don't know if I will ever be able to shake the image of millions of E. coli O157:H7 bacteria crawling all over my beef patty every time I think about getting a burger. Maybe it's time to cultivate a taste for veggie burgers.

Indian Style Salmon Fry

I was looking for something different and easy to make and found this Indian Style Salmon Fry recipe that looked interesting, so I thought I'd give it a try. Instead of curry leaves, I added a tablespoon of Madras curry powder. I also didn't bother picking out the bones from the canned salmon because 1) it's a losing battle, 2) the bones are not only edible but also nutritious (great source of calcium), and 3) I don't get why people find them so disgusting anyway. And I used grape tomatoes just because I had some leftover from another recipe. Finally I served it with curry rice.

INDIAN STYLE SALMON FRY

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
• 1 small onion, sliced into thin half-circles
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
• 1 green chile pepper, chopped
• 10 fresh curry leaves, chopped (optional)
• 1 tomato, diced
• 2 (14.75 ounce) cans salmon, drained and bones removed
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

1. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat; place the cumin and mustard seeds in the hot oil and cook until the seeds begin to pop.
2. Cook and stir the onions in the spice mixture until they brown.
3. Mix in the garlic, ginger, chile pepper, and curry leaves; cook and stir until the garlic becomes golden.
4. Add the tomatoes and stir for a few seconds before adding the salmon, using the back of your stirring spoon to break the salmon into small pieces in the pan; cook until the salmon is heated through, 5 to 10 minutes; remove from heat.
5. Garnish with cilantro to serve.

Yields: 4 servings

Indian Style Salmon Fry with Curry Rice

Links:
Original recipe