Hot Brown

Hot brown?? You may be wondering if I am talking about some sexy guy. Nope....its food! It is a Kentucky after Thanksgiving meal. Then why am I posting it today? Because I made turkey for Easter. I know I know....how dare I! But I bought one at Thanksgiving and it was buy one get one. I never used the second one at Christmas and it has sat in my freezer until this occassion. So we had turkey for Thanksgiving. And I suppose it worked out well because Alex didn't get any holiday meals this year. So we kind of had a springtime version of Thanksgiving.

I got this recipe idea from my mother-in-law. Being from Kentucky, she loves and always makes Hot Brown. I can remember eating it at her house on the day after Thanksgiving. And it really is a great way to get rid of leftover turkey in a different way than a sandwich. If you would like to see the history behind it: hot brown.

And I suppose it really is a sandwich, just a glorified one!!

You will need a large baking dish. I start with a loaf of regular, specialty, or freshly baked bread. It's really your call. Lay the slices of bread out on the baking dish. Then you need some slices of turkey. Lay those slices on top of your bread. Then top with 1-3 slices of cooked bacon. I like to cut mine in half and then cook them. They are easier to get onto my slices of bread.

Then you need a bechamel sauce.

3T butter
2T flour
2c milk
2t salt

Melt butter in a saucepan. Add flour and stir. Gradually add the milk and salt. and whisk to incorporate. Once mixed, bring to a gentle simmer while whisking.

Then you need to add whatever cheese you like the best. I added some swiss and mozzarella cheese. Probably 1/2c of each. Once the cheese is melted and the sauce is thick you are ready to pour.

There are two methods here: 1) pour sauce over bread and bake 2) bake bread and then pour sauce over. I prefer #2. I HATE soggy bread. Its completely disgusting! So I take my baking sheet with my assembled sandwich and bake for 5-10 minutes until the bacon, bread, and turkey are hot. Then I place on plates and drizzle sauce over the top. This keeps your toasted bread toasted.

And it is a nice comforting kind of sandwich. So next year when you finish your turkey at Thanksgiving and want to try something different, think about hot brown!!

Bacon and Bean Pasta

If you are like me, there are some days you forget to pull out some meat for dinner. So you end up eating out, eating sandwiches, or eating breakfast. Well I have a better recipe! Bacon and Bean Pasta. It is fabulous! and easy!! I remember seeing Lidia Bastianich on her cooking show and being in love just from watching it on tv. So I had to make it that night!! This has become somewhat of a regular dish in my house. And that is saying something. I typically do not like to make food that becomes "regulars". I like the excitement of trying new foods and dishes and techniques. But this one slipped in. And the great thing about this dish was I was able to make it while Alex was deployed. When you get sick and tired of eating cereal and PB&J I would make this dish and then have instant dinner for at least 2 if not 3 meals! So this week I forgot to pull out meat! So I decided on this pasta dish.

1/2 box small pasta ( prefer orecchiette pasta, but any medium sized pasta will do)
4-5 strips of bacon, diced
5-6 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced (not minced!!)
1 rib of celery, finely diced
1T tomato paste or 2T tomato sauce
1 can Cannellini, Great White Northern, or Garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
2T fresh chopped rosemary
1/2t red pepper flakes
parmesan cheese

Start cooking pasta according to directions. Cook 1 minute less than the box states to finish cooking in the sauce. Save your pasta water!

Saute your diced bacon in a large skillet. Once browned, remove from pan and drain on paper towel.

Using your bacon fat, saute garlic and celery until the garlic browns. Add in tomato paste or sauce and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add beans, rosemary, salt, and red pepper. Gently simmer until the sauce reduces slightly. There will be very little liquid in the pan.

Add the cooked pasta and coat the pasta with the sauce. Add 1T of pasta water to sauce to loosen. Add more pasta water as needed until sauce reaches right conistency.

Spoon into bowls and top with grated parmesan cheese!

Talk about fabulous!! And easy to boot. I promise this one will become a regular in your collection too!!

Carrot Cake

Well it is Easter time. And what do people like at Easter time?? Carrot cake! And it is one of three kinds of cake I can actually get Alex to eat. Well I saw a photo of a cake sculpted out of pound cake in the shape of a carrot with orange jelly beans decorating it to make it look like a carrot. So I told Alex about it. He told me to go for it, only he wanted carrot cake, not pound cake. I pondered this in my head for a couple of days and finally decided I would do it. Why not?? Whats the worst thing that could happen? The cake looks awful and I have a huge bag of orange jelly beans in the house instead of on a cake? I was willing to take the risk. After all.....I am trying to expand my horizons into the realm of baking!! I know I tell people I suck and baking, and for the most part I do. But that doesn't mean I cannot nor do not want to do it. I just don't do it often. So here is my "Challenge" for the week!

It starts with a basic carrot cake recipe.

2c all purpose flour
2t baking soda
1/2t salt
1t cinnamon
1//2t cardamon (optional)
4 eggs
2/3c brown sugar
1c white sugar
2/3c yogurt
1/2c vegetable oil
1-2c shredded carrots

Preheat oven to 350. Line, oil, and flour a 9x13 pan.

Whisk flour, baking soda, salt, and spices in a large bowl.

In a small bowl beat eggs. Add in sugar, brown sugar, yogurt, and oil. Mix well into dry ingredients. Mix in carrots. Transfer to baking dish. Bake 40-45 minutes or until golden brown.

See, not so daunting so far! You can do it. Keep pushing on!!

The next step, after letting it cool completely is to get it onto a large cutting board. I practiced drawing carrot shapes, glorified triangles, onto paper before taking my knife and lightly making the same shapes I had practiced. It really wasn't all that difficult. I has room on paper for 3 large carrots, but in the pan I only had room for 2. Once I got those cut out then I used the scraps to make more triangles. I was able to use the scrap cake in the middle of the two large carrots to make a medium shaped one. Then I used the scraps on the outer edge to make some baby carrots. Once you get the skinny triangles cut, you need to round off the edges some to make it less triangular and more....well....carrot.

And if you have gotten this far, your worse part is over! Whew! It's all patience labor now. LOL! I had a tub of vanilla frosting in the pantry and used that. I had considered making my own cream cheese frosting or I suppose buying cream cheese frosting and using that since it is more traditional with carrot cake. I added 3-4 drops of red food coloring and about 13 drops of yellow food coloring to the frosting and mixed well. I did not want a bright orange frosting so it would contrast with the jelly beans. But it is your cake, so use whatever shade of orange you prefer! Then using a cake spatula or butter knife, spread frosting on long sides, top and upper side. The tip is where I had trouble. The cake is flimsy and didn't want to hold up while I was frosting. I also found if I frosted the sides first and then frosted the top it worked better for me to have a place to hold and keep steady while frosting.

You have now officially baked, cut, and frosted your first carrot. This is a proud moment. Or at least it was for me! I was dancing around the kitchen like an idiot because I finished a carrot! Then I look over and there are  FOUR MORE WAITING! Well at least I knew what I was doing I suppose!

Now for the jelly beans! This is the tedious part. They need to be arranged in rows and looking pretty. It was pretty simple. The problems arose when I had more room for a jelly bean and no jelly bean would fit. So you just have to use your own judgment.

Gorgeous! Talk about a boost of self confidence! I felt like a true cake artist! Okay....maybe that was pushing it a little. But when it is just you and your family and your family is willing to indulge your fantasies, you can be.....Carrie Vincent!! (lets see who gets that!)

So I used green twizzlers for my carrot top. I was originally looking for green sour straws and you would not believe how hard it was to find anything green like that! The only thing I could find were single green fruit roll-ups. So I suggest looking for twizzlers or sour straws. I cut the twizzler in half and then cut one half in half and the other half in 3/4. I wanted a long piece, a small piece, and a couple in between sizes. And since I bought some green fruit roll-up I cut a small strip off and used to bind the 4 pieces of twizzler together. Then using a small paring knife I make a small hole as a starter for the twizzlers to work themselves into. It worked out pretty well!

I did find on the small baby carrots that it was more difficult to get the greenery into the cake than in the larger pieces. So be careful.

But how awesome! Makes for a nice party trick. I was quite pleased with myself. I gave one baby carrot to one neighbor and two carrots to another neighbor. I will say that I think I went a little light on the frosting and I wish I had gone thicker. When you take a bit with the jelly beans it wasn't all that wonderful. I think because the jelly beans were orange flavored. And when I scraped off the jelly beans I was left with very little frosting. So if you do it....keep in mind the jelly beans are more for decorative flair than taste. So Happy Easter to all!!

Banana Pastries

Banana pastries....not something that most people dream of making, but none the less...we shall visit this recipe. How in the world did I even think to make these?? Well I was thumbing through some of my cookbooks, still trying to get rid of some and found this recipe. As I am reading the list of ingredients I looked over to my banana keeper and saw my bananas were about to the point of either making banana bread tomorrow or throwing them out. But I had recently made banana bread. I wanted something different. And these looked good. I mean who doesn't keep their bananas to black and then not feel like banana bread when it's time? I do that. And then I have rotten bananas that are not any good any more. So I decided I would make pastries instead. And the picture made it look oh so tasty. But there was one thing standing in my way.....Alex. I put on my saddest puppy dog face and gently approached him. I did the whole cliche "I want something" routine. He did not take the bait for almost 5 minutes. He finally asked me what I wanted. I told him and he looked sideways at me and agreed. WHAT?!?! He agreed? That's not how this charade goes. He is suppose to say no, then I give convincing reasons as to why it should happen, he thinks about it and says he is not sure, then I persuade some more until he finally agrees. This was too easy!! I asked him why he agreed so quickly and his response warmed me to my core "Because I trust your judgement in recipes and if you think it is going to be good it probably will be, so go for it"!! What a wonderful thing to say to me. I mean I always think I have great taste in what I believe will taste good and not taste good but when someone close to you says that, it really means something.

So over the tender moment, I moved forward with glee!! Banana pastries here I come baby!! So put on your "I'm thinking outside the box" hat and lets get started!!

Pastry:
450g plain flour (this weighs out to a little over 3 1/2c flour)
4T lard
4T butter
4oz ice water

Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl. Add the lard and butter and rub into the flour with your fingertips until the mixtrue resembles breadcrumbs. Gradually blend in the water and bring together with your fingers to form a soft dough. Wrap in clingwrap and chill in the fridge for 30 min.

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface and stamp out 16 rounds, 4in wide.

My dough did not want to come together at all. I had to add a few extra teaspoons of water (one at a time) until it came together completely. And then the dough did not want to roll out as thin as I would have liked. But it all worked out in the end.

Filling:
2 large bananas
2 1/2oz finely chopped dried apricots
pinch of nutmeg
dash of orange juice
*may need to add 1-2T sugar depending on the sweetness of the banana mixture

Mash the bananas in a bowl with a fork and stir in the apricots, nutmeg, and orange juice, mixing well.

Spoon a little banana filling on to one half of each round and fold the dough over the filling to make semi-circles. Pinch edges together and seal by pressing with a fork.

Arrange the pastries on a non-stick baking tray and brush them with a beaten egg yolk.

 Cut a slit in each pastry and cook in a preheated oven (350 degrees) for about 25 minutes or until golden brown and crisp.

Dust the pastries with powdered sugar and serve with vanilla ice cream.

These turned out fabulous!! I was super nervous. I dusted 2 pastries for me and Alex and we took a bite, they were not spectacular. We both agreed they needed a little extra sweetness to help the dish along. Thats when we decided it needed vanilla ice cream. It made all the difference in the world!! So do not skimp and not use ice cream or you will not enjoy these as you should. I am converted. I took some over to one of my neighbors and she made ego-inflating yummy noises. Whenever I am feeling insecure or unsure about myself or my cooking, I just need to go visit her and everything comes back into focus!! And normally she likes everything I make. Hope y'all enjoy them as much as we did!!

Fish Noodle Soup

So tonights dinner was very quickly put together. There was no thought behind it and no prior planning......shocking right?? My meals that don't require preparation and planning!! But yes it is true. I had some sea bass in the fridge and waited until 4:00 before deciding what I was going to make with it. My inspiration came from one of my cookbooks I was going through. I am currently trying to get rid of some of my books in hope our orders to Florida go through and the easiest ones to go through and get rid of were my cookbooks. So I was going through my collection of Thai cookbooks and came across a very vanilla recipe for Noodle Soup. This noodle soup incorporated ramen noodles. And this is awesome because of an article I read a couple of weeks ago on how to make your ramen noodles more sophisticated.

http://www.seriouseats.com/2011/03/ramen-hacks-30-easy-ways-to-upgrade-your-instant-noodles-japanese-what-to-do-with-ramen.html

So I was immediately hooked to this recipe. And while it called for chicken tenders, I thought why not use the fish sitting in my fridge?? So this is what I made. And the best news?? It took all of 10 minutes to make! Awesome!!

2 packages ramen noodles
2 white fish filets, cubed
28oz chicken stock
1/4c shredded carrot
2T thinly sliced green onion
1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1/4 serrano pepper, finely diced
1/2t minced garlic
1t minced ginger
1T fish sauce
1T soy sauce
salt

Cook noodles according to package (discard the flavor packet). Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, combine chicken broth and fish in a large saucepan; bring to a boul over medium heat. Cook 2 minutes. Add veggies and seasonings. Simmer 3 minutes.

Place half the noodles in a bowl and ladle out fish and broth over the noodles.

Talk about fantastic!! The fish had a fabulous flavor from being cooked in the flavorful broth (my own homemade broth by the way). And the broth was good enough to drink by itself. We were completely shocked and amazed at how much we liked the meal. I had never done a fish soup like this before and I loved it. And I am not always the biggest fish fan. So you know it has to be good!! I am definitely gonna make this again, especially since the Mexican market has good and cheap fish!!

Chicken Stock

There is absolutely nothing more rewarding than making something from, well.....basically trash. And thats exactly what making chicken stock is like. But it is the most amazing thing ever!! And most people shy away from making their own stock. And I want you to know that it is a set it and leave it alone kind of project. So what "trash" do you need for this endeavor? Well if you make roasted whole chickens, buy a rotisserie chicken, or ever use chicken with bones in it, save your bones. Put them in a freezer bag and if you are not going to use them the next day, freeze them. You will also need celery. But why cut up perfectly good and useful celery? The pieces you cut off and discard when chopping celery for other purposes, save it and put in a seperate freezer bag. Save your carrot peels, garlic ends, and onion ends. Put all of these things in a freezer bag and freeze until you have enough or are ready to cook. You can suplement your vegetables with full ones, like half an onion or garlic cloves or even a carrot or two.

Once you have enough bones and vegetables, throw it all into a very large stock pot and cover it all with water. Then you can add some salt, peppercorns, and any other herb flavors you like in your food. I have stopped adding too many spices and herbs. I like a nice generic stock base so that I can flavor it the way I want to later in my cooking. So salt and peppercorns is usually enough for me. And I do not add a whole lot of salt. I like to control my own salt content and I do not want to get too bogged down in salt in other dishes that are already salty.

So get it all in your pot and bring it up to a boil. Reduce to simmer and let cook for 5-6 hours on the stove. When you are done cooking, turn off the heat and let it sit on the stove for at least half an hour to cool off slightly. It does not look all that pleasant, but it should taste so much better than the awful clear looking stock you buy in the store.

Now you need a very large bowl and a colander. Put the colander in the large bowl and pour your stock into the colander. It will catch all the large pieces of vegetable or bones or chicken bits. Pull the colander up and let the stock drain out. Throw away the stuff in the colander. It will still look like it has little bits of stuff floating in it. It is okay....we are about to strain it some more.

At this point most recipes will tell you to use cheesecloth to do this strain.....but I will save you some money and frustration. Use the really cheap pantyhose from Wal-Mart. It is the ones that come in the little plastic balls. They cost you 33cents. And they are far superior than cheesecloth.

I like to cut the very top of the pantyhose off because it makes it more difficult to place on my tupperware. It also gets a little too long if you do not trim it up some. Then take your pantyhose and stretch over the top of your selected tupperware. Measure out your chicken stock (so when its frozen you know how much you have) and pour into your tupperware through the pantyhose. This should strain off your herbs, chicken fat, and pepper.

Carefully peel off your pantyhose and let the rest of the stock strain through before placing on another tupperware dish. If the inside of the pantyhose become too clogge with strained off debris, turn inside out and rinse out. Squeeze completely dry before finishing the rest of your chicken stock into tupperwares.

Now you should have quite a few cups of still warm chicken stock lying around your kitchen. I ended up with 26 cups of chicken stock in this picture. One of my tupperwares is about the equivilant of one large box in the stores. You want to let your chicken stock cool completely before either placing in the fridge or labeling and placing in the freezer.

You will not believe the difference homemade chicken stock makes when making soups or rice or anything else that requires chicken stock. And it really is just this simple. And you can adjust it to make vegetable stock or even beef stock. If making vegetable stock, just add a couple of other veggies into the pot, I like zucchini and bell pepper. No potato though, your stock will become too starchy and not a good thing for a stock!

So do not be afraid of homemade chicken stock anymore......it is completely doable!! And you will thank me for it once you do!

Fried Chocolate Pudding Hand Pies

Oh yeah.....you read right.....fried....chocolate.......pudding.....pies!! Who knew such things could be made and perfected in the comfort of your own home?? I mean you gain 5lbs reading the name of it.....can you imagine how many you gain by eating it?? Well I decided that it was mission to find out exactly how bad they were for you and if you could indeed inflate your size from eating them! Afterall, it's the start of Spring Break and a girl has gotta do something to get her through it with her 2 crazy boys!! (Okay so we all know that I would eat/make/try these any time of the year but putting it in conjunction with Spring Break kinda makes me feel a little better about my glutonous behavior!)

So what are in these delicious little pockets from heaven??

2c half-n-half
8oz semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used morsels)
1/2c granulated sugar
1/4c cornstarch
2T butter
2c all purpose flour
1t baking powder
1/2t salt
6T shortening, at room temp
1 large egg, plus 1 beaten large egg white
5T ice water
vegetable oil for frying

In a heavy, medium saucepan, combine half-n-half, chocolate, sugar, and cornstarch. Bring just to a boil over medium heat and cook, whisking, until thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in the butter. Let cool slightly, then press plastic wrap onto the surface to cover. Refrigerate until cold, at least 2 hours or overnight.

In a large bowl, toss together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Using your fingers or a pastry cutter, mix in the shortening until coarse crumbs form. In a small bowl, beat together the whole egg and ice water. Stir into the flour mixture with a fork until the dough comes together. Divide into 6 balls.

On a lightly floured surface, roll each ball of dough into a 6in wide disk. Brush a 1/2inch border of the beaten egg white around each rim. Spoon 1/3c of the chilled pudding in the center of each disk, spreading slightly. Fold the dough over the filling to cover, press the edges to seal, them crimp with a fork. Transfer to a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet and refrigerate until ready to fry.

In a deep heavy 9-10inch skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat until it registers 375 on a deep fry thermometer. Add 2 pies at a time and fry, turning 2-3 times until deep golden, about 3 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes then dust with confectioners sugar.

My oh my how wonderful they were. Don't you just wanna grab it off your computer screen and shovel it into your mouth as fast as you can?? I know it was hard for us to wait the 15 minutes before eating them! But I will tell you this....if you eat them too soon, the warm chocolate pudding will come squirting out of your pie shell and all over your face and even clothes!! I had it dripping off my chin at one point! But it was totally worth it! I believe even Alex thought so too.

These are not the last of the chocolate hand pies......there are still 2 more left in my fridge crying to be joined with their friends in our bellies. And I, being the thoughtful caring person I am, am going to oblige them their wish and let them join the other pies in my now overly full but completely happy belly!!

Buffalo Chicken Mac-n-Cheese

What is better than a big lunch on Sunday afternoon? Absolutely nothing! Which is why we are instituting them back into our house!! We were really good about doing them before Alex deployed and then after he came back.....well.....I do not remember exactly why we did not start them back up. Probably because it had been so long since we had done them we forgot we had done them. Did that make any sense?? Oh well. You get the point. So typically this is when I make a very hearty and filling meal so that there is little to no need for dinner. Todays menu?? Buffalo chicken macaroni and cheese! This is a southwestern take on a family classic. So if you do not like spicy...either adjust to meet your taste buds or do not try it. We LOVE spicy food! So it only makes sense that we like this dish. The dish itself it not too complicated, you just had to be good at multi-tasking.  It is a good recipe to use up leftover chicken though. That's another reason I like this!

7T butter, plus more for the dish
1lb elbow pasta ( I much prefer cavatappi or piggies tails!)
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
3c shredded rotisserie chicken
2 cloves garlic, minced
3/4c hot sauce ( I prefer Louisianna)
2T all purpose flour
2t dry mustard powder
2 1/2c half-n-half
1lb yellow sharp cheddar cheese, cut into 1inch cubes (about 3 1/2c)
8oz pepperjack cheese, shredded (about 2c)
2/3c sour cream
1c panko
1/2c crumbled blue cheese
2 chopped fresh parsley

I mentioned in the ingredient list I prefer cavatappi. You wondering what is cavatappi?? It is a beautiful squiggly pasta that Anthony lovingly refers to as piggies tails. And you know what?? I take it!! If calling them piggies tails makes him eat marinara pasta, then so be it! Here is a link for Cavatappi.

Preheat your oven to 350. Butter a 9x13 baking dish. Bring a large pot of water to a boil; add pasta and cool until al dente. Drain.

Meanwhile, melt 3T butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and celery and cook until soft, about 5 min. Stir in the chicken and garlic and cook 2 minutes, then add 1/2c hot sauce and simmer  until slightly thickened, about 1 minute.

Melt 2T butter in saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the flour and mustard with a wooden spoon until smooth. Whisk in the half-n-half, then add the remaining 1/4c hot sauce and stir until thick, about 2 minutes. Whisk in the cheddar and pepper jack cheeses, then whisk in sour cream until smooth.

Spread half of the pasta in the prepared baking dish, then top with the chicken mixture and then the remaining pasta. Pour the cheese sauce evenly over the top.

Put the remaining 2T butter in a medium microwave-safe dish and microwave until melted. Stir in panko, blue cheese, and parsley. Sprinkle over the pasta and bake until bubbly, 30-40 minutes. Let rest 10 minutes before serving.

This is ooey gooey cheesy goodness!! And shoot if you're gonna be bad and have a fattening meal, this is a pretty damn good one to have!! Me and Alex enjoyed our lunch in the comfort of a lazy-boy and were grateful for the slouchy room it provided! I mean this is unbutton your pants full! But shoot....why not?? It's not like swimsuit season is upon us! Hahaha!! Okay let me rephrase, its not like I am all that worried with swimsuit season since I rarely if ever wear one!! So to all of us who love food....pull up a spoon and let's throw out our bikinis together!!

Dim Sum

It was Dim Sum night!!! WOOP WOOP!! Okay that was a little dorky in hindsight....but oh well. I LOVE dim sum!! I am not the biggest Chinese food fan, but dim sum I am a fan of. So I found some recipes I like and started experimenting. Dim Sum you wonder to yourself? Maybe you even google searched it?? Of course you didn't, you knew I would be smart enough to tell you what dim sum is. It is basically Chinese ravioli. It is a pasta-ish dough that is filled with pork, shrimp, beef, etc with sometimes cabbage or scallions or ginger and various asian condiments. Then they are lightly sauteed on one side and then steamed done. Wonderful little suckers. But this, like so many of my really good recipes, requires time and patience.....or perhaps and visit to my house. I have cut a huge corner in this recipe and I do not regret my decision at all. There is, after all, only so long you can stand on your feet rolling dough and cutting perfectly sized circles before it takes its toll on you. And never mind the mental problems that come with it. Your house is a WRECK, nothing gets done and you feel more drained than when you started. It is an all day endeavor to make the dough yourself and then cut it all. So take my advice, buy some wrappers and save yourself a few hours hard labor.

 

The first dim sum I did was a ground chicken dumpling. Normally I use ground pork, but I was using stuff in my freezer and I had ground chicken instead.....still think it is better with pork.....but then everything is better with pork. I would eat nothing but pork every day if I could get away with it. In fact I would roast a whole pig on a spit in my backyard if I thought the military would let me get away with it!! Can't you just smell the succulent crispy pork skin now??..............................*moment of silence*.........................

 

I was hoping to get the premade potsticker wrappers, unfortunately Albertsons let me down. They were out of those and the Won Ton wrappers the day Alex went to the store for me. So I told him to get the Egg Roll Wrappers and we would improvise. So I absolutely recommend the potstickers first, then the won ton and if like me you had trouble, go for the egg roll wrappers.

Since the egg roll wrappers are thinner, I used two for each potsticker. If you are using potsticker or won ton wrappers, only use one sheet. I then took a cup and cut same sized circles out of each wrapper. I got two circles per sheet. And so I didn't waste the other half a sheet of wrapper, I used the almost deformed pieces to wrap my other dumplings. I used a light amount of flour on the counter so they wouldn't stick to me or the counter.  

This nifty....yeah I said nifty.....little contraption is a dumpling press. Now this was the second short cut I made on this particular dim sum encounter. This little gadget has made the whole process so much easier!! Before I had to spoon the filling and then individually make each fan. Talk about time consuming. You're starving way before you are finished. Not a good thing. Then you start snacking and you are not even hungry when your meal is ready. But it can be done without the press. I will post pictures of the instructions I followed.

Chicken Filling:
8oz finely shredded napa cabbage (about 3c)
1T salt
8oz ground pork or chicken
2T freshly minced ginger root
1 scallion, thinly sliced
2t soy sauce
2t mirin/dry sherry/white wine
1t salt
1/2t sugar
sesame oil

Toss the cabbage with 1T salt; let mixture sit for 30 min. Rinse and squeese cabbage dry. Combine with pork, ginger, scallion, soy sauce, mirin, 1t salt, and sugar in a bowl. Either refrigerate the mixture for 30 min or form into 2tsp sized balls on a baking sheet and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

If using a dumpling press, place a circle on the press and place filling in the center of the press and squeeze tightly to seal the edges.

                                                  


If making by hand, shape dough around filling following any of the following techniques. Place the filled dumplings on a floured baking sheet. Dumplings may be frozen for up to a month.

 

As you can see, this recipe makes quite a lot of dumplings. I do end up freezing part of these and have them another night. It is all the loveliness of having dim sum without any of the hassle!!

The other dumpling I made was the Beef Dumpling with scallions. I go back and forth on which one of these I think is better tasting. Some day I say it is the beef and some days I say it is pork. But I think what makes this dish so special is the fact that I altered the recipe!! hehehe!! The recipe calls for ground sirloin and I finely dice a real steak. Tastes so much better!!

Beef Dumplings:
1-2 finely diced sirloin or better steaks
3 scallions, thinly sliced
1T minced fresh ginger
2t cornstarch
1 1/2t soy sauce
1 1/2t sesame oil
1t mirin/dry sherry/white wine
1t salt
1/2t sugar
1/4t white pepper

Combine ingredients in a bowl. Either refrigerate the whole bowl for 30 minutes or portion meat into 2t sized balls and refrigerate on a baking sheet.

Shape  the dough circles around the filling using any of the above mentioned techniques. Place filled dumplings on a floured baking sheet.

For some reason, these did not produce as much as the chicken ones did. But they were still just as tasty!!

Heat 2 seperate skillets over high heat. Add 1T sesame oil in the pan. Place part of the dumplings in the pan and reduce heat to medium. Panfry the dumplings for about 3 minutes. Carefully add 1/4c water to the pan without pouring on top of the dumplings. Cover the pan and reduce heat to low. Steam for about 6 minutes. Uncover pan, and raise heat to medium-high and cook until bottoms are crisp. Repeat with remaining dumplings.

To cook frozen dumplings...DO NOT THAW. Follow the panfry instructions, then steam dumplings for 7-8 minutes instead of 6.

Remove dumplings from the pan and arrange on a platter. Serve with a sauce (recipes to come)

These got a little squirrelly on the crispiness for me, but still tasted good. The ginger in the meat really makes a big difference. I serve with a variety of condiments. Some of these include a store bought Chili-Garlic sauce, terriyaki sauce (all for Alex), Chili Garlic Oil, and Soy Sesame Sauce.

Soy Sesame Sauce:

1/4c soy sauce

2T rice vinegar

2T water

1 1/2t sugar

1/4 sesame oil

1T thinly sliced scallions

Heat soy, vinegar, water, sugar, and oil in a pan over medium heat, whisking to dissolve sugar. Reduce slightly. Remove dipping sauce to a small bowl. Garnish with scallions.

This is my favorite way to eat dim sum. I hope all of yall try dim sum sometime or another! Maybe one day if I get to come back to Florida I will make us all a dim sum brunch!! Wouldnt that be fun?? Until that day I suppose yall can look longingly at the pictures and wish I was home!!



The Fan fold



The Triangular fold



The Inverted Fan fold



The Tortellini fold