Cooking with minimum-beef stew

A while back, David and I were discussing what are the kitchen tools we can't live without, and what are the minimum kitchen tools/gadgets we would choose if we have limited budget and space. What we didn't realize, we actually get to live by minimum this past week.

We moved from Champaign to Miami. It is a long way. This time, we have mover do the moving. The only inconvenience is, they are not going to get here when we arrived. So I planned ahead. When we packed, we set aside a set of cooking tools, so we can still do some cooking before the moving truck gets here. It turns out, a very good idea. Due to some complication, the mover was supposed to be here three days ago, they called to say that they are not going to arrive until next Monday. That put our selection into test for the entire week.

We have a small car. Since we have a few things we have to bring alone, enough clothes for the whole week, two little hamsters occupied two big cages, my African violets and live herbs, David's books for preparing for teaching, computers, valuables, and David's bassoon and my flute, and enough bedding stuffs so we can sleep on the floor. We don't really have much space for the cooking stuff. We used the blue recycle bin as our size limit for the tools we were going to bring along. Here is what we end up with. Our big frying pan with lid, one wooden spatula, one silicon spatula, one set measuring cups, one sharp santoku knife, a set of thermal pots, a set of hand blender/mixer/processor, two bowls, two medium plates, two big plates, a balloon whisk, two pair of chopsticks, can opener, and the pasta cutter just because we don't want to lose it. Food/seasoning wise, we brought olive oil, vinegar, salt, sugar, pepper grinder, a big container of rice and a big container of granola. And some last minute dug out potatoes.

As it turns out, it was a good plan to keep the things limited. At the very last minute we had to fit much more things into the car. Our friend, Brett, took my offer to add our grapes into the apple wine he was making. He gave us a five gallon bucket of the fermenting wine which is too good to leave behind. And at the end, the only room available in the car for it is the front passenger's leg space. It was fine for me to sit with the five gallon bucket there. It was hard for David.

So how did we do this past week? Other than the time we were outside, we manage to cook every meal in this kitchen. No take out pizza. At the first, we cook mostly the things we brought with us. We went to the first grocery store and came back almost empty handed. Only got onion there because we planed to make risotto. The rest of produces are so bad that I don't even want to touch it. I guess, moving from the fresh pick veggies from the garden to the not-so-fresh-at-all produce aisle is a big shock to get adjust to. The very next day, I asked every person I met where you can get fresh produce, and when and where is the farmer's market. As the result of one week's search, the so call organic shop means sell things across the country twice the price we used to pay at the farmer's market. The farmer's market in Miami is a big disappointment as well. The produces are still in their shipping box with the label on, just like the one you see at the organic aisle in the store. I research the possibility of CSA, unfortunately the program are not going to start until November. I can understand that the veggies are not doing well here in the summer heat of southern Florida. But I can't believe there is no where to find local produce avocado, longan, eggs, or milk. This is not midwest winter. I can't believe there is nothing this land can offer at this season.

On top of disappointment about fresh produces here, we also had trouble finding our tools. The very first day, David got himself a bottle of wine from the store. When he wanted to get some wine to drink, the core screw was nowhere to find. We don't have much things with us, it was not hard to search everything around. We both remember vividly that core screw and can opener were put aside for taking with us, but where would they be? I had to go to the neighbor to ask for borrowing the core screw, using this chance to meet the neighbor at the first day was a bit strange. Not until yesterday it come to my mind that I pack some small things into the hand blender's box that the core screw was included.

The other thing we realized in the week of living with minimum is that you can never think of everything. Like we have the ingredient to make the tiramisu. We thought we have enough stuffs and tools to make it. But then we forgot that we don't have any container that we can put the whole thing in, nor the mixing bowl to use to beat the eggs in. That haven't include the espresso, since there is always the option to go to the coffee shop to get some.

But we did cook with what we have.
I made a beef stew that David claim is the best he had. Well, I used the Chinese stew concept to cook with western flavor since I don't have any of the Chinese seasoning, soy sauce and Chinese vinegar. It turned out quite well. We went to watch "Julie & Julia", in the movie, we realized that I accidentally made a variation of Julia's beef stew.

Beef Stew

Beef, cut in cubes (I think the one I used is chuck eye)
Onion cut into big pieces
Potato, Carrots any kind of root vegetable, cut in chucks
Fresh herbs (I used lemon thyme and oregano, because that's what I have in the pot.)
Red wine
Oil for frying
Salt and ground pepper to taste

Started by browning the beef in a pot with high heat. Only put enough beef to cover the bottom of the pot. You might need to do this a few times. When every side is browned, set aside.
After done with the beef, cook the onion with the leftover oil from browning the beef. Use median heat. Put in a little bit salt to season the onion. When the onion is soft, put in the rest of vegetable. Brown the vegetable a little bit. Add oil if needed. Add enough salt to season the vegetable.
Pure about a cup and half of wine into the pot. Yes, you get to drink the rest of it. Add the beef back to the pot.
Add enough water to cover everything. Add more salt to season. Add herbs. Crank up the heat to get it boil.

After it boil for 10 min, I put the pot into the thermal cooker. Which is a big thermos that can fit a pot, and keeps the pot hot for a long time. Then we wait for 2~3 hours before we have the tasty beef.

If you don't have the thermal cooker, you can still cook at slow heat on the stove or use the slow cooker, cook it for 2~3 hours.

The truth is we never wait for the 2 hours. I didn't start it until it was too late, that we start eating when the beef is cooked through. But it doesn't matter, with the potato from our garden, the nice wine we got that day, the stew turn out beautifully. A little bit chewy, no body minds.

Risotto

This is strictly not much of a "from garden to kitchen" dish...However, if I look retrospectively over all the risottos we've made (and happy times spent with friends), the vegetables from the garden have this remarkable knack of making their way into the dish.

First of all, what is risotto, you might ask? Speaking as a non-native maker of risotto, risotto is this Italian dish which involves frying rice, adding wine and stock, and generally either some leftovers from a previous meal or some fresh vegetable and/or meat added. It's sort of Italian paella (or is paella a sort of Spanish risotto?) They do, however, differ in certain structural principles. So don't take the analogy too far, okay?

Now, I've made risotto all my life, but it was not until Stefania taught me how to do it properly, that I finally felt happy with my risotto to the point now that I am quite proud of it.

My fondest memory of making risotto was the first time I did it with Stefania and that is where the garden comes in. Because she's vegetarian, Yuhfen and I decided to make a vegetable stock that was the greatest stock I think we ever made. We literally ransacked the garden for leeks, herbs, Swiss chard, potatoes, carrots, and lots of other things I can't even recall now. (Yuhfen: Some cabbage family leaves. Like the leaves of broccoli.) We stuffed them all into a stock pot and boiled it. That was truly an amazing stock which in turn made an amazing risotto.

So back to the story. As you should be realizing, before you start risotto, you need a supply of stock on the boil. I emphasize that because the stock needs to be boiling/simmering as it is added to the risotto. Apart from the vegetable stock from the garden, I often make chicken stock by going to the grocery store, buying a whole roasted chicken, eating it over a couple of days, and then boiling up the bones for an hour or two. You can also make stock out of pork ribs or whatever. (Yuhfen: this is what you can do with the leftover Thanksgiving turkey bones.)

So you have your stock on the boil. You should chop up an onion, get a large (12 inch) frying pan with lid, put some oil in and start frying the onions. When they're cooked a bit, you should add about two cups of rice and fry that too with the onions. Be generous with the oil so that all the rice is coated. At this point I have to make two digressions:

Digression 1: Why fry the rice? The purpose of frying the rice is to produce a final risotto in which the rice is "al dente" rather than a nasty mush. This is very important to Italians. What happens is that the oil is forced into the rice grain, and when water (stock) is added later, it repels the water or at least makes it more difficult for the water to penetrate to the center of the grain. The result is that the finished risotto is al dente or even slightly crunchy.

Digression 2: What sort of rice should you use? The short answer is "any". But the type of rice you use will determine what sort of risotto you get. This is where Yuhfen and I differ fairly radically. Yuhfen likes her risotto "creamy" which is achieved by using unwashed short grain rice. If you like your risotto "not creamy" as I do, it is best to use par-boiled rice. I've seen it in some grocery stores, but not all. You're more likely to find it at an "international" store.

Okay, back to the big frying pan. Your rice is in there with the onions frying at medium-high temperature in the oil. Keep it going for a few minutes. Stir and mix constantly. I use a wooden spatula because it can take the heat and not scratch the pan. Listen for the first sounds of popping rice grains. You need to fry the rice well, okay? When you start to hear the rice popping immediately quench with a cup of excellent white wine (a good plan is to drink the rest of the bottle with dinner) and about a cup of the boiling stock. (Yuhfen: A good way to judge if the rice is ready is the rice should turn translucent. Last time I made it, I found that if I really fry the rice well at this stage, the end result come out much better. You can use red wine to pair with particular ingredients. One time we cook ham with red wine, the end result is a beautiful purple-ish risotto.) (Don't forget to lower the heat to low after you add the wine. From now on, keep the heat at the level to keep the whole thing lightly simmering.)

Now you keep adding stock as it gets absorbed, one ladle scoop at a time, stirring occasionally and if you like, you can cover the pan with the lid for short periods. The trick is that the risotto should never stop boiling. (Yuhfen: I like the Alton Brown method. Which is add enough to cover the rice each time. This way you don't need to keep adding and stirring.)

At the appropriate point (so that they don't get overcooked) you need to add the extra ingredients. This also requires a bit of digression. In paella one often adds a whole bunch of stuff, various sea foods or whatever. Stefania taught me to keep it simple (and I'm sold on this now). So, add only one or two ingredients. Here are a few examples: 1. Radicchio, or 2. mushrooms, or 3. mushrooms and ham, or 4. mushrooms and chicken (pre-cooked), or 5. mushrooms and sausage (pre-cooked), or 6. asparagus, or 7. asparagus and ham, or 8. artichoke hearts. Hopefully you get the picture. Pick a favorite ingredient (preferably from the garden), or try a combination of two things you think will work well together. (Yuhfen: Some idea about when to add the extra ingredients. Put the thing in at the time that it would be perfectly cooked when the rice is done. For example, fresh mushroom take no time to cook. Put them in when the rice is almost done. For vegetable, I would add them while the rice still under cooked. Ham or bacon, put them in with the onion so the flavor will be absorbed by the rice.)

As you near the finish, add some combination of your favorite herbs. As always with herbs, experiment combining herbs with ingredients and combining herbs with each other. Make yourself a surprise! Herbs are very forgiving, but oregano is a perennial favorite. (Yuhfen: A fool proof combination is oregano + thyme.) Remember to taste, season with salt and pepper all the way through the process from the beginning and keep tasting.

When your rice is al dente, turn off the stove, add a tablespoon of butter, stir in, and grate some parmesan cheese on top. Stir that in too. Enjoy!

Apologies if that was long winded, but risotto is very special and deserves that sort of attention. Have fun making it!

Stir fry rice noodle

A lot of people ask me what's the difference between Chinese food and Taiwanese food. That like asking what's the difference between fast food and Wendy's. Most American don't realize that there are a lot of different variety of Chinese food. Unfortunately, most Chinese restaurants in US serve pretty much similar stuffs, that there is no way for them to understand that northern China, southern China, or even Taiwan all has it own unique cousin.
In Taiwan, we have all kind of Chinese food. Especial in Taipei, you can find a Szechwan restaurant right next to a Shanghai restaurant. And people in Taiwan know what to expect when they go to one versus the other. Since people in Taiwan are mostly emigrants came from some part of China some time in the past, Chinese food in Taiwan, contain almost all the possible Chinese food. Every time people ask me what is Taiwanese food, I have trouble to come up with one dish that's not a specialty of some other part of China. Until I think of rice noodle.
Although rice is a staple of Chinese cousin, most of noodle in Chinese food are still made of wheat flour. And rice noodle seems to be used mostly in Taiwan. One time I was talking about rice noodle with a friend who is from HongKong. And I found the rice noodle he was talking about is totally different from what I have in mind.
Cooking the rice noodle is actually rather simple if you know how to stir fry. Since this is a dish can be verified easily, I am going to write the recipe without the firm ingredients and portion.

Stir fry rice noodle

Vegetable: cabbage, onion, carrot, pea, bean, broccoli...anything you think would taste good in stir fry
Mushroom
Meat: any sort of meat good for stir fry, generally small pieces for quick cooking
Rice noodle: You can get them in the Chinese stores. There are two kind of rice noodle. One thin and one thick. For stir fry we normally use the thin one. If you use the thick one, it need to be pre-boiled. I only get the one from Taiwan. Don't ask me why.
Seasoning: salt, ground white pepper, soy sauce, cooking wine, vinegar....you don't need all of them, as long as it taste good, it would be fine.
Flavor: garlic, ginger, cilantro, basil....It depends on what you are cooking and what kind of flavor you try to achieve.

So the basic way of cooking rice noodle is to do a quick stir fry of veggies and meat. It is good to have some liquid with the stir fry since the noodle would absorb the liquid. If the stir fry is dry, add a bit of water before adding the noodle. Pre-soak the noodle in cold water for about 10 minutes. Add the noodle(without water) to the stir fry. Cook until the noodle is done. (try a piece to see how it taste.) If it needs some more seasoning, add some more salt or soy sauce (vinegar, wine optional.) You might need to add more water from time to time, so the noodle can cook through. Avoid put in too much water at once, unless you are making the noddle soup.

For example: to make vegetarian mushroom/cabbage rice noodle, I would cut the mushroom in slices and chop the cabbage in small pieces. I would also add a little bit of sliced carrot to make the color more pleasing. Also some onion for flavor. Start by heating the oil and quick stir fry the onion and carrot, because they take longer time to cook. When they are half cooked, add the cabbage and add the salt to season at this point. Add the mushroom the last since it doesn't take much time to cook at all. Season with soy sauce and a little bit of cooking wine. You need to over seasoned at this stage otherwise the noodle will be flavorless. If it is still dry, add about half cup of water. As soon as everything is close to done (or still a little bit under cooked) add the soaked rice noodle. Keep stirring to mix everything well. Try a small piece of noodle to see if the noodle is done and if it needs more seasoning.

For stir fry meat, cut meat into thin slices. Pre-marinate the meat. (Chicken with wine and salt, beef or pork with soy sauce, vinegar and wine) To keep the meat tender, you can add a egg white and some corn starch. Heat some oil in a pan with high heat.( you would need quite a bit of oil here) Part cook the meat, take them out of the pan as soon as the serface is cookes. Then cook the vegetable stir fry. Add the meat back in when the vegetable are about done. This way, the meat doesn't get over cooked.