Last week was a pretty busy week without much cooking. We just wrapped things up with our usual cold Udon noodles in a Southeast Asian garlic lime sauce, with a pinch of dashi. I just topped that with shiitake mushrooms and boiled vegetables (sansai) blanched in thick dashi, soy sauce and mirin. [...]]]>

Last week was a pretty busy week without much cooking. We just wrapped things up with our usual cold Udon noodles in a Southeast Asian garlic lime sauce, with a pinch of dashi. I just topped that with shiitake mushrooms and boiled vegetables (sansai) blanched in thick dashi, soy sauce and mirin. All in all, it took less than an hour to prepare, I would say.

The one thing I LOVE and have been craving even before going to Cambodia is risotto. The thing is, I never really had much risotto before. When Ryan and I first met, Ryan made me some risotto and it blew my mind. It was soft, warm, savory, and comforting. It encompassed everything I loved about soups and curries.

Then, he introduced me to mascarpone cheese. DO YOU KNOW ABOUT MASCARPONE?! Why did you not come into my life sooner, oh delicious cheese. It can be sweet or savory, coupled with soups and in this case, risotto, or desert. After meeting this life changing dairy, I FREAKIN’ PUT IT ON EVERYTHING! I put it on toast w/ jam, on Eggo Waffles, on soups, on breakfast, on any desert, and anything that can use an extra “Oomf!” of creaminess… which is always. I had to ease up on it and go cold turkey for a while… because it got really out of hand. I would love to just take spoonfuls of the stuff and shovel it in my mouth. (Then again, I also liked to eat bits of butter as a child – butter is one of the top words in my twitter cloud for a reason!)< / This concludes my praises and this whole paragraph dedicated to one of my favorite buttery cheeses/creams >

So, Ryan made me a whole box of risotto, cooked in 2 boxes of chicken stock, port, and crimini mushrooms. It was decadent. He put a bit too much of port, I thought, but once I put some freshly cracked peppers and truffle oil on top, it was PERFECT. It was a decadent treat that I enjoyed the next day for lunch!

]]> http://www.feedingumi.com/2009/12/last-weeks-dinner-south-east-asian-cold-udon-noodles-and-crimini-and-port-risotto/feed/ 0 http://www.feedingumi.com/2009/09/excellentdumpling-house/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=excellentdumpling-house http://www.feedingumi.com/2009/09/excellentdumpling-house/#comments Sat, 12 Sep 2009 18:25:22 +0000 umi http://www.feedingumi.com/2009/09/dumpling-house/

Excellent Dumpling House 111 Lafayette St New York, NY 10013-4105

This place, other than the name, is unassuming, quick, and solid. You know, and excellent. Because they say so. I like that. But seriously, we love to go there for the fried pork dumplings. When they came, we just had one thought [...]]]>

Excellent Dumpling House
111 Lafayette St
New York, NY 10013-4105

This place, other than the name, is unassuming, quick, and solid. You know, and excellent. Because they say so. I like that. But seriously, we love to go there for the fried pork dumplings. When they came, we just had one thought in our mind… hence no pictures of these elusive little critters. They were all in our belly.

On a whole, you can’t really go wrong with Chinatown. The worst is greasy food. The best is… amazing. You have very little to lose and you can always spy on what other people are eating. throw any cares of authenticity to the side and just look for hearty and delicious. We usually like to go with any of the following: Joe’s Shanghai’s Shao Lon Pau, Vietnamese Thai son, Vietnamese Saigon restaurant on Mott, and Bahn Mi. However, we found this place after a long day of shopping around Prince st. many weeks ago. I think this was Ryan’s birthday. We went to get him some boat shoes. We had dinner plans with friends, but we were STARVING! We happened upon this cute chinatown restaurant with tons of articles in the window. And seriously, I love dumplings, and this was the “Excellent Dumpling House.” We got some pork fried dumplings and pork steamed dumplings to go and it was love.

I did manage to get a shot of the Chow Fun with black bean sauce and the Shao Lon Pau. Otherise, we both love their sizzling hot plates. Also, the shrimp and crab steamed dumpling is also a favorite of mine.

We started coming here almost every Friday after I get off from work, right before taking the green line to Kips Bay for a movie.

Ryan tried his hand at miso cod this week. It was delicious. He pickled two filets of cod in our fridge (in a miso and mirin sauce) for over 24 hours. Then, he cooked the cod until it was tender and almost falling apart on the tongs in the pan with the [...]]]>

Ryan tried his hand at miso cod this week. It was delicious. He pickled two filets of cod in our fridge (in a miso and mirin sauce) for over 24 hours. Then, he cooked the cod until it was tender and almost falling apart on the tongs in the pan with the miso sauce (w/ some water added in). It was really flavorful and pretty straight forward. I recommend people to try it!

It was accompanied by the usual suspects of a glass of Ferme Julien, spinach oshitachi, salad with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, and rice. Nice, solid, and easy fish dinner.

Ryan made this tomato and chorizo sauce last night, when I was having a late work day. It was delicious with two different types of chorizo simmered in. Of course there is some garlic, onion, and basil. I would think that it would have been good with some additional anchovies. Mmm.

He poured [...]]]>

Ryan made this tomato and chorizo sauce last night, when I was having a late work day. It was delicious with two different types of chorizo simmered in. Of course there is some garlic, onion, and basil. I would think that it would have been good with some additional anchovies. Mmm.

He poured it over some angel hair pasta and it was delicious. There was a lot left over for me to bring in for lunch the next day. It survived the microwave REALLY well with the sauce all ready on top. The sauce was thick, so the pasta never got soft with it. Also, the liquid kept the pasta from getting too dried out.

Seriously, it’s sort of like a burrito bowl. The beans themselves, we cook them with garlic, a pinch of green curry, and some spices to taste. I like to add some [...]]]> Sometimes when we’re lazy, we just cook some rice, and heat up some Trader Joe black beans. This is our lazy dinner.

Seriously, it’s sort of like a burrito bowl. The beans themselves, we cook them with garlic, a pinch of green curry, and some spices to taste. I like to add some onion too. We just let them suck up all the flavor, toss in some cilantro and voila! We top the whole thing off with some avocados slices, sour cream, and hot sauce.

(And my secret for cooking rice sometimes… is dashi. I add a little sprinkle and mix it with the rice and cold water before I cook. It adds a punch of heartiness. Of course, it’s not vegetarian.)

Last night’s dinner was Trader Joe’s frozen spicy fish filet, floured and cooked in butter meuniere sauce. It was so easy and quick! It’s great for a night where you feel like doing nothing! On the side, we tossed some blanched spears of asparagus and baby greens salad [...]]]>

Last night’s dinner was Trader Joe’s frozen spicy fish filet, floured and cooked in butter meuniere sauce. It was so easy and quick! It’s great for a night where you feel like doing nothing! On the side, we tossed some blanched spears of asparagus and baby greens salad with red peppers, tomatoes, and marinated mozzarella balls. We paired that with some white wine we picked up at Trader Joe’s for under $10.

Literally, we just defrosted the fish, and since it was all ready marinated in some flavor, we added salt and pepper. Dust flour on it lightly and heat a pan with 2 tablespoons or more of butter. The flour will give the fish a soft textured crust. Melt the butter and sear the fish on the pan, turn once, until it looks beautiful and golden and is cooked to the middle, but still tender. It took it around 4 minutes or so.

Place the fish on the plate and glaze the pan with some white wine (probably in the glass you’re sipping…) and add some worcestershire in to taste. Let the wine heat and pour the sauce over the fish. Top the fish with some freshly squeezed wedge of lemon.

My sides were blanched asparagus tossed with some marinated olive oil, bruschetta spices, shichimi spices, salt and pepper, and the smallest drop of truffle oil. Easy peasy!