Vegetarian Sichuan Greens Beans with Mushrooms (MBR)

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine (such as Shaoxing) or dry sherry
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
• 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 pound green beans, ends trimmed, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 4 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, minced
• 3 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 1 tablespoon)
• 1 tablespoon minced or grated fresh ginger
• 3 scallions, sliced thin
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Mise en place for my 200th blog entry.  I went with the mushroom rather than pork version of the recipe because I thought it would be easier to get in the ballpark of 1/4 pound of mushrooms than 1/4 pound of pork.  Still an awful lot of mushrooms.

Heat most of the oil except for 1 teaspoon over high heat.  Cook beans until crisp-tender and blackened in spots.

Cook mushrooms with remaining oil until softened (huh?).  Add garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant.

Toss and cook with sauce (basically everything from the soy sauce to the dry mustard I'll eventually have to toss nearly a full container of).  Stir in scallions and the sesame sauce I somehow forgot.

All in all a pretty good version of a dish I'll often order in its takeout manifestations.  Doesn't mean I'll stop doing so.

Lo mein however is something that often gives me displeasure in its locally available forms.  Not so much this.

Brussels sprouts and tofu (Plenty)

• 2 tbsp sweet chile sauce
• 1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 1 tsp rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 5 oz firm tofu
• 1 lb Brussels sprouts
• about 3/4 cup sunflower oil
• salt
• 1 cup sliced green onions
• 1/2 small fresh red chile, deseeded and finely chopped
• 1 1/2 cups shiitake mushrooms, halved or quartered
• 1 cup cilantro leaves
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

I once bought a stalk of these from Trader Joe's with no specific recipe in mine. It basically occupied space in my fridge until I had to throw it out.

This time I was shopping for brussels sprouts and even though it probably still living in the fridge for about a week I still was able to actually use it.

I left the mushrooms out at room temperature in a sealed bag for a couple days.  Unsurprisingly much of it went bad on me.  I inevitably wish there had been more shiitakes in the dish.

Mise en place.

Browning the sprouts.

Saute the onions, chile, and mushrooms for 1 to 2 minutes.

Browning the marinated tofu.

Toasting sesame seeds.

Honestly I don't think this dish that Ottolenghi created references any specific Asian cuisine.  There's there's the Chinese-ish glaze that the marinated is reduced down to, but the cilantro is hella Southeast Asia but such a natural pairing with with the flavors in the dish.  And where in Asia exactly do they use maple syrup in their stir-fries.

If I ever make it out to London, I clearly have to eat somewhere Ottolenghi.  And St. Johns as well I guess.

RAMEN! 2.2: Day 2 Prep

As I wait for my pictures to upload onto blogger for this entry, I may as well provide for you the one recipe everyone kept asking me for on Ramen Day (why not make it a proper noun by now): Pickled Shiitakes.
I made these as a relatively smart way of using up the shiitakes I had reconstituted while making Ramen Broth the night before. I assumed I wouldn't be able to utilize and eat them all myself so I decided to execute Momofuku's recipe. People loved them. I think they're fine, but I passed off the rest to my parents a few days ago.

 

Pickled Shiitakes

• 4 loosely packed cups (about 1/3 ounce) dried shiitake mushrooms or use spent shiitake caps from the Ramen Broth)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup usukuchi (light soy sauce)
• 1 cup sherry vinegar
• Two 3-inch knobs of fresh ginger, peeled

1. Steep the shiitakes in boiling water (or really hot tap water) in a medium mixing bowl until softened, about 15 minutes.
2. Lift the shiitakes from the steeping water, trim off and discard their stems, and cut the caps into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Reserve 2 cups of the steeping liquid, and pass it through a fine-mesh strainer to remove any sand or debris.
3. Combine the reserved steeping liquid, the sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, and sliced shiitakes in a saucepan. Turn the heat to medium, bring to a simmer, and simmer gently (bubbles should lazily rise up to the surface), stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes. Let cool.
4. Discard the ginger, and pack the shittakes (and as much of the liquid as necessary to cover them) into a quart container. These pickles are ready to eat immediately and will keep, refrigerated, for at least 1 month.

 

Pork Shoulder

• 1 3-pound piece boneless pork shoulder
• 1/4 cup kosher salt
• 1/4 cup sugar

Cure for at least six and no more than 24 hours. Assumed I wasn't risking much by putting off curing until the broth was really chugging along.


Ready to roast at 250 degrees F for 6 hours.


Two hours in. Lots of juices to baste with.


The results after 6 hours. Eventually the juices developed into fond and I started de-glazing and basting with mirin.


Got the plan clean enough through some lengthy de-glazing. Nothing compared to final de-glaze that appeared to take me like a hour. More on that later.

Pork Belly

• 1 3-pound slab skinless pork belly (God damn you, Whole Foods butchers. Couldn't I have had a whole 3-pound slab?)
• 1/4 cup kosher salt
• 1/4 cup sugar

Perhaps they would have skinned it for me if I asked, but hell, it's an experience. I also realized I had the potential to make
But not if that entailed staying up until dawn again. Perhaps when I try my hand at making bacon I'll bother to do so.


Skinned pork belly. it would've been so much more bad-ass if it was just one big slab.
I lightly cut my left pointer finger in the transaction, but washed up with anti-bacterial soap and slapped on some latex gloves.


Thirty minutes at 450 degrees F.


Another 30 minutes at 450 degrees F.


One hour to 1 hour 15 minutes at 250 degrees F. Look at all that golden jelly.


The state my quarter-sheet cake pan is now in. Sigh.

Bamboo Shoots

• One 12-ounce can sliced bamboo shoots
• Splashes of grapeseed and Asian sesame oils
• Splash of usukuchi (light soy sauce)
• 1 Pickled Chile, if you've got it, seeded and chopped
• Salt, possibly

Mise en place.

Day 2 Prep list. Time for bed.