What's For Dinner #72 - Wait, Summer Is Almost Over? Edition - August 2021

Last night at sister’s I made this simple dish: Fresh cut tomatoes (I used cherry & TJs larger Early Girls) get marinated for at least 4 hours, unrefrigerated, with minced garlic, olive oil, s&p, and basil. The house smelled AMAZING, and the tomato juices formed this fantastic sweet/garlicky sauce, which gets mixed into hot angel hair (I used capellini) and finished with parm regg. Any long pasta will work but there’s something really satisfying about getting a big mouthful of these really thin noodles, which really soaked up all that garlicky, tomato-y goodness. Summer in a bowl.

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I love it! I very seldom use my Vulcan range oven nowadays except when we are making pizza as the EH pizza stone is heavy and stays permanently in one of the Vulcan’s oven after it is cleaned , and tendency is to make a big sheet of pizza anyway. Of course when I made those Bak Kwa recently as I had 3 cookie sheet trays but once I had to broil it after they were cooked at 250 degrees, I used my counter top oven. I was one fo their first customer and received a 20% discount for my recipe of crispy oven fried chicken wings in 2015. ( of course that was not my recipe but I followed Elton Brown’s recipe by steaming the wings, discard the fat, wiping the remaining fat off the wings, placing them in the fridge overnight, and then dusting them with baking powder prior to finishing them in the oven. I had wanted to know if that will work in the Wolfe’s oven and was told that was not in their recipe book. The chef at their demo center made a batch and told me it was very crispy, serving them to their customers and had to make 2 more batches by popular demand ( this was great, no sauce added, we just dip the wings in our favorite wing sauce )That is how I got my 20% discount. It is very convenient for toasting my croissant for breakfast, aside from baking ( I can stick 3 EH’s 1.25 Q loaf pan with enough clearance, there is a proofer, Can bake a 10.5 EH pie and another 10.25 pie with the second optional rack. There is also a broiler which my Vulcan does not have at the time we purchased it in 1979. They come with a salamander instead but the design of the salamander prevented me from having a condiment rack. Sp, we opt for the latter. Wolf makes very good reliable products.

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i have a whole small jar of GG dressing left over from the weekend’s festivities. must use up!

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Thanks so much. I am vacillating on buying a Wolfe countertop. May I ask one more question? What is the biggest skillet that will fit in it?

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That looks fantastic! I love a fresh (raw) tomato sauce for pasta when the tomatoes are good!

Cherry or grape tomatoes always look prettier but the skins on larger ones are less bothersome in the end product - personal peeve.

(And I’ll admit, I was a bit surprised the first I came across this memorialized this as a recipe - by Ina - because why do raw marinated tomatoes need a recipe… :joy: )

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As I was just thinking about the leftovers for lunch, I realized I forgot the egg last night :woman_facepalming:t2::woman_facepalming:t2::woman_facepalming:t2:

Right! Because I first saw it (and made it) in Nora Ephron’s book Heartburn, circa 1983. Only hers used blanched cherry tomatoes where the skins slip right off. Still basically raw.

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the best fried bee hon ( Singapore noodles nomenclature came later on when someone added curry powder to the noodles) is one that is not clump together and still springy. The best way would be to

  • Blanch the vermicelli in boiling water, drain when soft and quickly cool in cold water, drain well before stir-frying. I find that prevents them from sticking an differs a springy texture. Fry over high heat in peanut oil and if Singapore noodle is desired, blooms the curry in the hot oil before ddi the noodles.
    Just like cooking Korean Jai Chae sweet potato noodle, I try not to crowd my wok ( I gave away my huge SS wok with my husband’s custom made ring bec I have an electric range a few years ago and am sorry I did as with that wok, I can cook everything at the same time when I am cooking Bee Hon or Jai Chae. I found out this Chinese family was looking for a large SS wok and since I have too many equipment that I do not uset often enough, I gave that away but found a simpler and just as efficient way , I stir fry my aromatics, vegetables, and meat separately, set them aside, then with the same wok, I add peanut oil, and the stir fry. my noodles, be it rice or sweet potato starch)
    I would add some home made stocks from chicken bones nowadays, vegetables and mostly shrimp shell with ajinomoto’s daikon bonito , and perhaps oyster sauce and sesame oil to the noodles in increment until they are nicely flavored and cooked.
    Then, I mix everything together again. This ensures the cooking is even, and the vegetables are not soggy, the meat and shrimp not overcooked.
    Chinese never cut their rice noodle as it signifies longevity. We also like a small amount of crunchy, overcooked part at the bottom of the pot, similar to the socarrat of paella dish. One favorite is Bee Hon with braised pork leg for engagement party. Oh, that was so good!if you can find braised pork leg in cans, that would be great. Braised pork legs are that given to t he bride’s family during engagement,( at least 1 dozen can ( and are served during wedding and holidays esp with bee Hon.
    here is a recipe. Naf may like this !
    http://www.itsmydish.com/braised-pork-leg/
    Maybe you can find braised pork legs in cans… I think there is a brand by narcissus.
    https://peepor.net/pint/blog/?p=9314
    Hope this helps and you get to cook this braised pork ( I cannot as I am unable to eat red meat and my son would not touch it )
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Thanks @ccj!

I love Japchae too - need see if I have any of those noodles left or need a restock.

It’s interesting to me that some Japchae recipes call for a final saute, and others don’t - just a mix-together in the bowl. On the margin I think I prefer the final saute - it adds something, but both versions are so tasty!

My first time making singapore curry noodles at home, though I used to order them as takeout all the time at one point (then switched to chow fun - which I haven’t made at home because of the noodle hurdle).

Any chow fun or pad see ew tips?

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See, the skins being gone is so key - for me :joy:

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That looks so good. Did you reference a recipe?

OK, I want this now. I agree about the delicious mouthfeel.

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It’s good on chicken before roasting.

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Soaking instructions from WoksOfLife here.

But cooked differently and with whatever ingredients I had at hand.

Sautéed everything separately and removed. Added ground spices (in lieu of curry powder) into more hot oil to bloom, then the noodles to get the spices evenly distributed, and finally everything else back in and tossed together. Pinch of sugar and rice vinegar to taste. No soy sauce. Cilantro at the end.

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i also like it on chicken AFTER roasting, like an aji verde with Peruvian chicken.

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the cherry tomato skins were definitely tougher, but the Early Girls were very tender. if i did all EGs, i wouldn’t bother removing the skins.

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That’s a FABULOUS picture of the impending storm!

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I love chow fun as well but the problem is finding them here in the county where I live.
I had some last week, my son bought 2 kinds form THE NEW GRAND MART , the ones that are square shrimp flavored as well as the tubes ones . I prefer the square ones.

They were fresh, nice and tender, probably fresh from NY because prior to retiring, I would frequent this asian Supermarket on Fridays, that is when the fresh chow fun arrives from NY. So are the dried red colored bean curd which I love stir fried with anchovies and hot spices. I do not know what they are called but I could only find them in one store and one restaurant. They are like tokwa ( that is the old bean curd, firmer than extra firm bean curd that I use for making spring rolls. I love them stir fried with spring onions or chinese elbow chives and just tomatoes.

Just text a friend whose husband used to own the Chinese T=restaurant in Gaithersburg called HUNAN BEST. He retired and closed the restaurant down esp with Covid and te gh cost of help in Montgomery County. She says he is having a hard tine finding them,. He used to order them from a distributor.

I was really tempted to buy one of those square pans that you can make chow fun with but as I said, I had to give away that large actually carbon steel wok ( I stand corrected from my notes last time) bec of space and at my age, I wander if there will be an estate sale when I am gone?

With that large wok I suppose a final saute would have been nice but I never did.
Her his a recipe by Kenjihttps://www.seriouseats.com/dry-fried-chow-fun-with-chinese-broccoli-recipe I cannot eat red meat so I use chicken or shrimp when I do and I like to add mung bean sprouts stir frying them very briefly.

When you say hurdle, you mean that the ones that are often at the supermarket are stiff and stuck together?One way is to follow the technique in this recipe. Blanch them in boiling water for a minute or two (I find that a second or so is not enough. )
Then, take them out and shock them in cld acer, drain and they become easily separated. Use very hot peanut oil to dry fry them with.

We are not chefs and tossing t hem in the air is not possible. My son does that but he is lazy an does that only when . he is blistering his shishitso pepper when people are present. ( have you tried that? It is absolutley delicious)

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I’m wondering if the marinade is what is making the skin not crisp up? Or are you using the marinade just as a dipping sauce for after?

When I make it, I dry the breasts thoroughly, letting it sit in paper towels for about 5 minutes. After I score the fat, I season with salt and pepper and put it fat side down in a cold SS pan and let it sit undisturbed after coming up to heat for at least 6-7 minutes before lifting a corner with tongs and checking the doneness of the skin. This time, probably 95% of the fat was crisped up - there was still a bit of toothsomeness to it - the soft fat right against the skin was still there, but I mostly got the crisp.

And I only use the oven method because I don’t want the meaty side to be sitting in the duck fat as it cooks on that side. Maybe the skin gets crispier in the dry oven heat vs. just in the rendered duck fat on its own?

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Yard chard makes me laugh. I don’t know why, but it makes me think of a bird walking around your yard… Maybe because I’ve seen people refer to chickens as yard bird. Anyhow, did you briefly wilt your chard in the bacon fat or evoo? Looks like maybe yes. Is there any vinegar in there? Perhaps it was cold chard tossed with a hot dressing…?

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