Monday, April 4, 2011

Absolutely delicious roasted radishes

This is a very interesting dish that the skinny bitches has recently tested out...It is absolutely refreshing and YuMMMM!! It is definitely a crowd pleaser to bring to parties!

Roasting the Radish
  •  2-3 bunches of radishes (trimmed and washed)
  • 2 Tablespoon olive oil
  • salt and pepper
Direction:
- Pre-heat oven to 400F
- Quarter radishes if they are large, or just half them
- Toss them with olive oil, salt and pepper
- Roast for 20 minutes

Soy sauce dressing
  • 1/4 cup of soy sauce
  • 2 Tablespoons of  toasted sesame seeds
  • 1 teaspoon of sesame oil
  • 1 Tablespoon of rice wine vinegar
  • a drizzle of honey
  • 3 bulbs of chopped scallions
Direction:
- Whisk all the ingredients together and pour dressing onto the roasted radishes and mix them. 
- Continue to roast the dressing-coated radishes for another 10 min so that they soak up the dressing

The addictive pot stickers


Thousand apologies to all of our loyal followers for my absence on this blog. I have owed way too many recipes due to the hectic school work of being a 2nd year grad student...OK, instead of babbling about my complaints on lab work stress, let me share with you one of many of our all time favorites - the AWESOME pot stickers.
I have won my boyfriend's (aka IT man who manages this website) family during Christmas with this dish and I am sure I can win yours too.
It has taken me several years to perfect this recipe and finally we came with the right combination ta-da-: a combination of pork and shrimp is the KEY!


Makes 40-50

The pot stickers:
  • 1 packet of round dumpling skin (usually comes in 50-60 pieces)
  • 1 pound ground pork
  • 1/2 pound shrimp (deveined and shelled)
  • a bunches napa cabbage, shredded
  • 2 cloves garlic, grated
  • 1 tablespoon ginger, grated
  • a handfuls of cilantro, chopped
  • 3 sprigs scallions, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine
  • 2 teaspoons white sugar
  • 3 tablespoons good quality soy sauce
  • 3 dashes ground white pepper
  • 1 dash salt
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  1. Add ground pork in a large mixing bowl
  2. with a food processor, chopped the shrimp into pieces (don't grind them too finely, leave some smaller chunks), then transfer chopped shrimp into bowl with the pork
  3. Add all the ingredients into the same meat bowl and mix them with your clean hand, make sure you don't over mix them
  4. Use a teaspoon, scoop the meat filling into the middle of the dumpling skin and fold them.
  5. Once all the dumplings are wrapped, heat up skillet to a medium high with 2-3 tablespoon of vegetable oil. When searing the pot stickers, make sure not to over-crowd your skillet. It takes about 3 min to cook one side, then flip the other side to cook for another 3 min with medium low heat. (skin will turn golden brown and the filling will cooked thoroughly)
The savory dipping sauce:
  • 1/3 cup soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon mirin
  • 2 tablespoons chinese rice wine vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 shallot, diced finely
  • 3-4 pieces birdseye chilie (optional if you like spicy)




  • Whisk everything together in a bowl







  • Sunday, February 13, 2011

    Barley Risotto - after a long Hiatus!

    Alright, its not like skinny bitches are on a diet and not cooking. In fact, we've been cooking up a storm since the holiday, but boy oh boy, where does one find time to work / school / cook and blog at the same time?! I'm looking at my food picture collage and i don't even know where and how to start adding the recipes that are so freaking backlog! i'll leave it to the Rochester bitch to figure it out.

    So ignoring my backlog, i figure i'd jump the line and add today's creation as the first 2011 entry.  This recipe is a courtesy of my colleague MS who made it last week, and i got to taste it and be inspired to create in my own ghetto kitchen.  Using barley for a risotto recipe is simpler than arborio rice because it requires less stiring than then traditional recipe, or at least, i got away with it! Please enjoy - ideal for tomorrow's valentine dinner!


    Barley Risotto with Mushroom and Cabbage
    1 C barley
    6 C fluids (i used 3 C chix stock+3 cups cabbage stock since i boiled cabbage in it, and some white wine, optional)
    Mixture of bella, shitake and or your favourite mushrooms
    1 Onion
    5 cloves (or more) Garlic
    Salt and pepper to taste
    Grated Parmesan (i used superfine quality Parmesan, totally made the difference!)
    And for obvious reasons, olive oil for cooking.




    In a dutch oven, add olive oil (2-3 tbsp) and sauté onions and garlic until translucent.  Add mushrooms and continue the sauté action until softened. Add barley and 3 cups of fluids and stir occasionally.  Simmer on medium heat and add some kosher or sea salt (~2tsp).  Check occasionally and continue adding liquid as the barley absorbs.  Taste the barley to see if it is tender to your liking, if not, continue adding a little stock and keep simmering with cover on.  The process took me ~45 minutes.  I had boiled some cabbage on the side, and added the boiled cabbage at the last 10 minutes of the cooking action to incorporate some vegetable into the dish.  You can always add asparagus instead.  Shave as little or as much parmesan cheese into the risotto and stir to melt the cheese, and, Voila! I roasted some korean potatoes and sweet potatoes as well as carrots/brocoli/cauliflower as a side.  Do serve it with your favourite meat such as roasted chicken or flank steak. Enjoy, and Happy Valentine's Day!!