La Maison de la Truffe

Risotto aux Truffes d’Été

 

I was saving this for a rainy day, but I suppose today was the rainy day. Therefore, I had finally made up my mind and broke the seal to this jar of French happiness. Rest assured, despite the common myth, the French can cook pasta, rice and gnocchi, yes, they can and very well, too. Nonetheless, La Maison de la Truffe had delegated the making of this luxurious, almost instant – approximately 12 minutes – risotto with summer truffles to the professionals: Product of Italy.

Fiddlehead Ferns (Bracken Ferns) - May 1, 2011

In Japan, bamboo shoots and warabi - bracken ferns (蕨, わらび) or more commonly known as fiddlehead ferns- are quintessential spring time delicacies. Fresh ferns, now where do you go and find them? The answer: in the mountains; otherwise, they appeared on the menu of What Happens When as a part of their Menu No. 3. For a modern day hunter-gatherer, who cannot simply hike for the sheer physical joy or for the intellectual appreciation of nature, a form of gastronomic reward - e.g. wild blueberries, acorns - is necessary to induce such a helpless glutton to a more salutary and ambulatory pursuit.

Max Brenner - November 6, 2010

Many things in life are not that complicated, including a hot chocolate. All you need are a bit of patience and a dedicated hand – a tried-and-true formula to overcome many adversities in life – for whisking. Laziness has never fared very well in any success story, and it definitely will not get you the desired cup of hot chocolate. How hard is it to shave some good dark chocolate – by the way, Hershey’s is not considered “good” not matter from which angle you look at it due to the peculiar soured milk taste (except perhaps in conjunction with marshmallow for s’more) – or heating up some water and/or milk?

Homemade Tofu - January 20, 2010

I had never truly appreciated tofu until I had made my own. It is like having a baby: Your own baby, although it comes with the same package of dirty diapers, nonstop crying and endless wreckage of your precious possessions, somehow seems cuter and more loveable than the baby next door; and, it changes your view of the world. Well, the view of tofu, at any rate.

I added edamame to soy beans - edamame being the adolescent soy beans.  Therefore, the color of the tofu was slightly yellower and greener. The addition of edamame gave the tofu a lighter and a grassy tone, proportional to its youth.  For this special tofu, four condiments were provided:  uni-nori (stewed seaweed with sea urchin gem), maccha-jio (green tea salt), yuzu-kosho (black pepper with Japanese citrus) and soy sauce. 

Green Beans in Mustard with Eggs - January 12, 2011

Constraints force the brain to work differently; and consequently, the brain sometimes, not always, surprises its owner with a brilliant solution. Here is one:  A solution to the green beans, which have been getting cold feet in my refrigerator.

Corn pancakes with mushrooms - December 28, 2010

Sophisticated and yet homey, rich and yet delicate; there is nothing more you can ask for in this mushroom pancake to feel totally pleased with yourself. Restriction forces you to be creative. Having a vegetarian visitor flown in across the continent meant not only my mouth – critiquing and eating can be quite demanding, especially at the same time – but also my hands needed to be exercised in order not to be called a bluff.

The word, “vegetarianism,” has a rather dour and drab connotation in the die-hard foodies’ world, does it not? Therefore, it is more preferable to recognize simply that many delectable dishes do not involve meat. After all, a perfect croissant, or a chocolate croissant, or even a croissant aux amandes are, in fact, vegetarian; even if you add a bowl of café au lait…

Mushroom Farrotto with Poached Egg - November 14, 2010

In 2010 in New York City, everyone knows and expects freshly ground black pepper and shredded parmigiano reggiano (even though I suspect half of them would not know the difference between the fresh vs. the stuff in the diminutive white packet or the bright green bottle). Therefore, some patrons would ask for black pepper for their truffle oil drizzled pizza or parmigiano reggiano for the seafood risotto. While black pepper and parmigiano reggiano are both quite delicious, they also act as powerful catalysts to a dish; which many less competent cooks may use to disguise their culinary shortcomings, and many unfortunate chefs may use to unwittingly destroy their otherwise well-prepared dishes. It was exactly for the latter that Tom Colicchio on Top Chef admonished against the use of black pepper.

Chili-Mustard Grilled Chicken; Roasted Kabocha with Kale, Feta, Brazilian Nuts and Sage; Brussles Sprouts and Chestnuts - November 13, 2010

Some great figures in history had humble beginnings (e.g. Edgar Allan Poe); so are some dishes born out of very humble beginnings, indeed.  In this case, there was a half box of old crackers, opened and forgotten at the back of the third shelf where it was well concealed behind canisters of teas. The chicken was an afterthought, created from a conscientious effort to utilize those old crackers instead of tossing them into the bin.  So, what did I do? I threw them into the food processor and ground them to smithereens.  I momentarily waivered toward adding some parmeggiano reggiano to the food processor to make parmeggiano cracker crumbs, but I saw the jar of chili-mustard that I picked up in Cote d'Azur earlier this year; even more brilliant in my memory now that I am sitting in this dreary grey light.  Fancy it may sound; but fancy it is not; chili-mustard is just mustard with some chili pepper, but somehow I had never seen it before.  It would, hopefully, created enough heat in my soul to bring, at least for an instant, a glimpse of that glorious, azure sky.  The humble stale cracker crumbs, however, turn into a magnificently crunchy crust that I had ever made.

Corn Bread Pudding with Coconut and Raisin - November 13, 2010

On a cold morning like today, a steaming hot bread pudding for breakfast seemed to be the answer to cure my ennui; the warm scent and the sweet custard would certainly resuscitate my dream-walking limbs and sugar-deprived brain cells.  As a matter of fact, I wonder why brunch menus do not include, instead of the ubiquitous soggy pancakes, soggy waffles and soggy french toasts, a list of freshly baked bread puddings:  Almond & banana; strawberry & cream; triple berries; cinnamon apple...and of course, the coconut & raisin corn bread pudding. 

Avocado Salad with Roasted Carrot Ginger Dressing - November 12, 2010

Every Japanese restaurant seems to have an annual subscription for the carrot-ginger dressing, in gallon-sized cans:  That is, every non-Japanese Japanese restaurant, an oxymoron as it may be.  My frequent dining companion was scandalized when I told him of my guilty penchant for the seaweed salad at a local eatery many years ago.  Staring at two avocados in the prime of ripeness - tomorrow they would go bad - in my hands, it was time that I vindicated the stigma associated with my name - the orange dressing eater.

Most recipes call for raw carrots; but having an overly active sensitivity for hidden bitterness in food, I was afraid that the use of a lot of raw carrots, accentuated by ginger, would magnify the subtle bitterness in the orange vegetable.  Therefore, I decided to roast my carrots in a pan with some sesame oil:  The roasting not only made the carrots sweeter, but the consequent charring also brought out the earthiness of the carrots.  If that is not enough to convert you over to this roasted carrot recipe, then the aroma of warmed sesame oil certainly would succeed.

Avocado Salad; Asparagus in Peanut Sauce;
Chard and Eel Soup with Rice Vermicelli

台南芋粿 (Tainan style taro cake) - November 13, 2010

Shaved Ice Stand Selling
Taro Balls

I was asked recently the following question:  "What is a typical Taiwanese food?"  I opened my mouth to reply and stopped.  Mistaking my puzzlement for not understanding the question, the questioner went further:  "Like for Thai food, people love pad Thai."  That is true, disregarding for now whether pad Thai indeed symbolizes Thai food.  For Japanese, there is sushi; for Chinese, the dumplings; the French the foie gras; the Italian the pasta or pizza.  Similarly then, what will be the Taiwanese food that comes to mind?  Pondering this question, my nostrils were instantly overwhelmed by the smells of food stands in the night markets selling fried chicken cubes with basil, stewed and smoked meat and dried tofu, oyster and intestine noodle soup, cured geese, stewed pig's foot, oyster omelet, blood rice cakes in peanuts, while my mind was seeing flashes of myriad vendors with hypnotizing arrays of cut fruits, shaved ice, fruit juices, steamed rice cakes made in front of your eyes, crepes rolled with peanut power, cilantro and taro ice cream, and my favorite - small balls made of various starch such as taro flour, tapioca flour, rice flour or sweet potato flour, immersed in a light syrup, to be added as toppings for shaved ice or eaten as is.  How do I possibly pick one?  The difficulty arises because Taiwanese food is not americanized so that there is a stereotypical food that the public associates with Taiwanese cuisine.  In other words, there is no domesticated Taiwanese food available as General Tsao's Chicken (Who is this General, by the way? No Chinese seems to have learned about him in schools).    

Triple Corn Bread - November 8, 2010

A new obsession has seized me and converted me into a bread-making machine.  When the bread basket contains only the last few slices, I panic and start for the kitchen.  The simple, unfailing recipe that I have been following like an automaton is versatile to my whims and the dictates of (expiring) leftover items in the refrigerator, whose variations include:  leftover rice, okara (the leftover soy beans and skins after making soy milk), fermented rice wine, baked sweet potato, leftover beans.  I read what I have written, and I feel I need to add a line of explanation:  I almost never have much leftovers - after all, I am au gourmand, instead of an Epicurean so not only I treasure food, but I also eat a lot of the treasured food - because the "leftovers" are always made over into something "new." 

After I have embarked upon the grand journey into bread-making, I have even more respect for the artistry and mastery of great bakers:  Seriously, taming a live beast - the yeast - is not much easier than taming a lion even in a controlled environment of my own kitchen. 

Lamb Shank in Red Wine with Chestnuts - October 28, 2010

Served with Caesar salad and
spinach with tarragon

In case you are wondering what I am doing with the 10lbs of chestnuts I had ordered - there is nothing wrong with being a purist and simply roasting and peeling and eating them away - I had also put the chestnuts into a stew in lieu of potatoes.  This stew of lamb shank and chestnuts is such a heartwarming dish that is guaranteed to win not only hearts but also stomachs.

Sweet Potato & Fava Bean Bread - October 15, 2010

Who doesn't like freshly baked bread? Even a mediocre bread has its moment when it has just come out of the oven. But, this bread is so moist and mochi-mochi* that you should be aware the danger of devouring the whole thing right there in the kitchen.
*Mochi is sticky sweet rice cake; therefor, not surprisingly, "mochi-mochi" refers to the texture of mochi.

White Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Blue di Bufala

White sweet potato, probably not as sweet as yam or the regular sweet potato, is nonetheless delicious simply roasted. But why not go a little further? Make them into gnocchi and crumble some blue cheese over the subtlety sweet gnocchi. The more you chew, the sweeter they taste... Does it sound good to you? It should because it is so charmingly simple and just decadently pleasurable.

Of course, if you do not have white sweet potato, it is not an excuse to be lazy - just use regular yellow sweet potato or yam (just adjust the amount of flour for yam - more watery than sweet potato), and it is just as fine.

By the way, this beautiful plate comes from Puebla, Mexico, the land of fine ceramics. Tip: Hit the plates together before you buy - if they make metallic sound, you are not being cheated!

Ingredients:

• White sweet potatoes: Roasted at 400 degrees for 1 hour, but limit the amount of caramelization by wrapping them in foil. (If I were just going to eat them right out of oven, I would let them caramelize.)
• Flour (Multi-grain, whole-wheat or buckwheat): You can use white flour - It is just less interesting and it does nothing for your health. The earthiness of these flours adds a nice layer of depth to your gnocchi, by the way. One stone, two birds - anyone?
• Blu di Bufala: This comes from Murray's - a cheese shop in Grand Central. Buffalo milk is not only good for mozzarella; it makes equally delicious blue - very pungent, spicy, hard and perfect to balance out the sweetness of the gnocchi.
• Parsley

Preparation:

1. Smash and mash the sweet potatoes.
2. Add flour sufficient so that it you can roll the dough into a ball without having it stuck to the sides of the ball. The goal is to make them into ropes of your favored thickness (or 1/3 of an inch) and cut them up into pillows. So, keep that in mind when you add flour. Add just enough because you will be sprinkling more flour when you roll them out.
3. Sprinkle the counter with flour and roll the dough into long ropes and then cut them up. I like to make mine into 2cm x 2.5cm (a bit smaller than an square inch).
4. Boil the gnocchi in water with salt. Now how long? It really depends on how big your gnocchi are and other countless factors. So, how do you know if they are ready? Why don't you just eat one?
5. While your are boiling those lovelies, crumble the blue and chop the parsley. Be efficient.
6. When the gnocchi are done, drain the water and put them on a warm plate. Mix in the cheese.
7. If the aroma hasn't knocked you off or make you start devouring them in the kitchen, sprinkle with parsley and serve. No, parsley is not just to make it pretty and professional looking; it adds a nice clean after taste to your palate.

Lamb Chop with Pesto; Potato and Pea Salad in Truffled Mayo

This is why I said you cannot have too much pesto. Voila! Now I have a beautiful and "fancy" entree in 30 minutes, all thanks to the pesto (and my diligent self a few days ago). I just wish my photographic skill will reach the level of my culinary skill one day...

Lamb Chops with Pesto

Ingredients

• Lamb chops - trimmed off the fat
• Salt and pepper
• Pesto

Preparation

1. Salt and pepper the chops on both sides.
2. Grill them to perfection.
3. Spread the pesto!

Potato and Pea Salad in Truffled Mayo

Ingredients

• Fingerling/Dutch/Whatever small potatoes (the big Russet kind is too starchy and does not stand up too well in salad)
• Fresh English peas (if they come in pods, even better!)
• Truffled mayo (I cheated - I got this in France. But do not despair - Just add some truffle oil into home-made mayo, or for that matter, real truffle. Why not?)

Preparation

1. Cut the potatoes. Microwave* them (do not forget to add a big spoon of water; this helps to cook the potatoes thoroughly. Otherwise, microwaving potatoes will be harder than you think).
2. Remove peas from the pods and microwave them.
3. Let the potatoes and peas to cool off to almost room temperature. Then mix in the truffle mayo!

Bon appetit!

Tea Eggs and Silver Tips Tea Room

Tea eggs are tasty, healthy snacks sold everywhere in Taiwan - i.e. street corners, food stands and bus terminals. Indeed, these eggs are so popular that when 7-Eleven,* despite its commitment to tight quality control and uniformity, moved into Taiwan as a part of the world domination scheme, had to relent its reign and allow them to be served in the stores.. Why was this a problem for 7-Eleven? Because they would be stewing away right there next to the cash registers and, yes, permeating the entire store with its smoky, spicy eggy smell.

*By 7-Eleven, I do not mean those pathetic stores attached to gas stations, but the "konbini" (for convenience stores) in Japan. You can find out about the history of the company on Wikipedia. Some new konbini type of stores have appeared in New York City; however, they are no where close to the real thing in Japan. What is so great about konbini?: 1) All kinds of things are available at konbini - food, produce, dessert, drinks, books, magazines, underwear, vitamins, comic books, copying, printing, rock concert tickets, mail-order roast chicken, lunch boxes (so on and so forth and sigh...); 2) they are open 24 hours - just in case you get an urge for a late-night shopping spree; 3) they are just so, well, convenient; 4) the prepared food (bread, sandwiches and rice balls) are, in fact, quite delicious! As a matter of fact, can I please go find one now?

Back to the eggs: These are perfect snacks - no sugar, lots of protein, lots of flavor, all natural (and organic if you use organic stuff), low-carb (not that I care that much) and, last but not least, delicious! What more do you want for a snack? I know they are not picturesque: appearance is not everything!



Ingredients

• Eggs
• Tea bags: How many? I would say 1 bag per 2, 3 eggs. (I know I usually do not like to give out how much you actually need for each ingredients because a) it depends on what you have got - you can modify, and should modify, the "recipe" according to the size, quality and your taste (that is why I call these "Culinary Creations" instead of recipes) and b) you should be able to figure this out if you know how to cook (if you don't, I cannot help you...).) There is absolutely no need to go fancy; the Lipton tea bags which came free with my New Year's purchase at a Chinese grocery store did just fine)
• Star anise
• Salt - a lot (as much as you add when you boil pasta)
• Whole red pepper - optional

Preparation

1. Put eggs into a pot and cover with water.


2. Add tea bags, star anise and red peppers. Adding enough tea bags and salt into the water is the key, the only key for the tea eggs. We are not just making boiled eggs, you know.


3. Turn up the heat to cook the eggs at about medium heat for 20 minutes. Then use what you fancy to crack the eggs. Now, it is important to crack them, not to break down. You need to stew these eggs so the flavor of tea will seep in; thus, you need the cracks, but not so big and falling apart so that your eggs will just be too salty. Added bonus to cracking is - you get a nice marble look (see below!) on the eggs. (Yes, I said there was only one key, but maybe this is another key.)
4. Slow-cooked them for as long as you like (if your heat is not working well in the winter, you just put it on really low heat and you can just let it simmer for hours and warm your kitchen at the same time). If you do not have that much time, put it on medium heat for 20 minutes or so, then lower the heat and let it simmer for half an hour. Then do whatever you need to do and leave the eggs in the liquid for about 8 hours or overnight.


5. Let it cool off a bit or just gobble it up!

If you have made too many and got tired of eating them the way they are, just make them into egg salad. However, I am afraid to say, you will never eat regular egg salad again because these tea eggs add such a wonderful complexity to simple egg salad - smoky!

Silver Tips Tea Room, Tarrytown, NY

I must give credits to Silver Tips Tea Room in Tarrytown, NY. I would not have thought of making these tea eggs into egg salad sandwiches if not for them. Silver Tips is one of the few places in the United States of American which does a decent pot of tea (except, the quality of milk can be better...but what can you do in a land of growth hormones?) Do not get their scones - they are not scones, but biscuits. I do not care very much for their desserts, either. Yes, yes, yes, I am writing to commend them, not to disparage them (but I have to be honest, right?). Their sandwiches are good, and particularly, the Egg Souchong sandwich is quite inventive and delicious (the menu says "smoked tea" and other things, but I am sure they mean these tea eggs). Stop by on your way to the Rockefeller estate.

Fusili with Pesto; Green Salad with Sheep Milk Ricotta

Fusili with Pesto and Ricotta Salata

Pesto, a sauce made of ground basil leaves, garlic, pine nuts and olive oil (extra virgin, what else?), is delicious not only on pasta, but meat, fish, eggs and sandwiches. If you go the the farmers market (the one I go to), you will pick up basil the size of a small tree, just enough to use some of the leaves and the rest for making pesto!

Ingredients

Fresh fusili (or any kind of fresh pasta - long or short; Fine, if you do not have fresh pasta, dry will do, too.)

Pesto

• Basil
• Pine nuts (I ate them all, so I used Brazil nuts instead. Personally, I think any nuts with subtle flavor will do - i.e. Brazil nuts, macadamia nuts, etc. I do not use walnuts, although some cheap ones in the stores use them.)
• Garlic
• Salt
• Olive oil

Ricotta Salata* (so delicious on its own that I have a hard time saving enough for grating), grated (or you can just cut them into small cubes if you are using short pasta)

*Usually, as you are well aware, parmeggiano reggiano is used. But since it is summer time, I like to use ricotta salata for the lighter, fresher taste. Either way, you cannot go wrong.

Preparation

1. Boil the pasta (Do I still need to mention that you need to add salt into the water? A lot of salt in fact?)
2. Dump all the pesto ingredients into a food processor, except the olive oil. Drizzle into the paste as much olive oil as you want.*
3. Grate the ricotta salata (stop eating it).
4. Mix pasta and pesto all in the pasta-boiling pot (it not only keeps the pasta warm while you are tossing in the pesto, warming the pesto makes it easier to work with - one stone, two birds).
5. Sprinkle (go heavy: Sprinkling sounds so, light-weight) the ricotta salata! Done!

*A trick for reducing the amount of oil: I know, I know, olive oil has all the health benefits. But if you eat as much as I do, I am not sure if the health benefits will counter-balance the calories at all (at least on my heavy conscience when I am on the scale). So, if you want to reduce the amount of olive oil (just go look up any other recipe online, they ask you to "pour" basically the entire bottle of olive oil right in!), use some fresh ricotta. And if you do not have fresh ricotta, well... (cottage cheese, some may say, but not in my kitchen).

Green Salad with Baby Fennel and Sheep Milk Ricotta

Ingredients
Fresh mixed greens - preferably with something sharp and bitter
Baby fennel (just being fancy; regular fennel is just fine - don't get fooled by the baby talk)
Sheep milk ricotta
Olive oil
Salt, pepper
Lemon juice

Preparation

1. Thinly slice the fennel and add it to the greens.
2. Dress the greens with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
3. Take a scoop of the sheep milk ricotta (and save some for dessert - just add jam or honey) and make a small hole in the middle. Sprinkle some salt and pepper (or herb) on the ricotta.
4. Pour some olive oil into the hole, and you are done!

*Yes, I bought too much greens... But, too vegetables cannot hurt you!

Zucchini and Mushroom Salad with Goat Cheese

A farmers' market inspired creation - cliche, yes, but it is true. Don't believe me? Try it with the gorgeous yellow zucchinis you see at farmers' market, and you will know what I am talking about.

Ingredients
Yellow zucchinis
Mushrooms (For this recipe, shiitake does not do - too strong a flavor (if you do not know what I am talking about, well, change grocer. Regular white button or crimini. If not, portobello will do.)
Goat/sheep cheese (I prefer goat: You can use just light version - i.e. Coach Farm's Lowfat Stick (very good for a lot of dishes), or crottin (herbed or not) or whatever you think is good. You can use Cypress Grove Chevre with truffles, too, if you want to.)
Herb (Parsley, chervil, lemon thyme are good - yes, your suspicion is correct: nothing too strong. Dill does not go as well, and neither does basil (as much as I love it), and forget about rosemary for now.)
Salt
Lemon juice

Preparation
1) Slice the zucchinis and mushrooms (food processor works).
2) Crumble the cheese.
3) Chop the herbs.
4) Mix all and drizzle lemon juice. Salt to taste.

Frisée Salad with Pistachio and Fig

This is a variation of a popular French recipe. I dine out less in the summer time because 1) my patience, or the lack thereof, does not withstand the heat very well, and naturally, I can suffer bad food even less gracefully than usual, and 2) my compulsive and obsessive food purchase at farmers' markets chains me to the kitchen... I can never let food go bad without feeling a religious sense of guilt (not helped by the fact that my mother, who enjoyed threatening me that for each grain of rice I left in my bowl, I would grow one pimple...among other worse fate awaiting for such wasteful little brat...). Besides, leaving the debate of what life is to another time, I have a feeling that as long as the vegetables and fruits have been plucked out of their habitats, they would prefer to end up in my stomach with appreciative sighs (i.e. "Ahhhhh. So good!") rather than rotting away sadly and lonely in the refrigerator.



Ingredients

Frisee, cut (I find scissors to be extremely useful for this particular venture)
Bacon (Do yourself a favor - remove the fat: Really, you will still get the bacon flavor), diced and cook until crispy
Hard-boiled eggs, diced
Pistachios, chopped
Dried figs (Please choose wisely; there are a lot of good ones out there these days. Do not get something that is only Fig Newton minus the shell.), chopped
Wine vinegar
Salt, pepper
Olive oil

Preparation

Mix all the above. Who said cooking had to be hard to be delicious?