Fruit Salad

3/4 cup sourcream
2 Tbl sugar
sprig of mint finely chopped
1 tsp vanilla
dash white pepper

Mix together and add

2 cups diced fruit of your choice. I totally cheat and use a combination of those fruit cup thingies such as citrus salad, tropical mix, pineapple and peaches

Yum

Karl's Killer Cod (no K on the cod)

1 lb cod fillets
1 cup tomato puree
5 or 6 large basil leaves torn into small pieces

Cheese Sauce
1/2 small onion finely diced
2 Tbl butter
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup dry sherry
1/2 cup cream
1 1/2 cups milk
8 oz finely shredded sharp cheddar
4 oz finely shredded colby jack cheese
salt and white pepper to taste

1 cup fresh bread crumbs
2 Tbl melted butter

Preheat oven to 350

In a bowl or baggie mix the tomato puree, basil and cod fillets. Toss to coat, set aside while making cheese sauce.

In a medium saucepan melt the 2 Tbl butter add the onion season with salt and white pepper and saute briefly. Add the flour and cook 1 minute. Whisk in the sherry stirring constantly, slowly add the cream then the milk. Bring to a boil remove from heat and once it stops bubbling add the cheese a large handful at a time, stirring after each addition until cheese is melted. If the cheese doesn't want to melt you can briefly return the pan to very low heat.

Place the cod/tomato mixture evenly in a lightly oiled baking dish. Top with all of the cheese sauce. Mix the bread crumbs with the melted butter and sprinkle evenly over the top. Cover pan with foil and bake 20 minutes until cheese is bubbly. Remove foil and bake 10 minutes more until bread crumbs are crispy. Remove from oven and allow to rest 5-10 minutes before serving.

We had brown rice seasoned with onion, garlic and green pepper with this. Yum.

Shrimp Toast

It'd been a long time since I'd ordered shrimp toast as an appetizer. As a child I loved the stuff, Crisp toast, sweet and fragrant shrimp puree with that little sprinkling of sesame seeds on top. But like my love for egg drop soup my taste moved on to slightly more sophisticated fare. Shrimp toast was a fond memory.

Friday evening after a 12 hour shift at work we decided to head to Golden Buddha. Ironic almost that this would be the place that I rediscovered my love of shrimp toast as it is also a recovered treasure from youth. We ordered our usual House Special Sizzling Rice Soup, Egg Foo Yung and Shrimp with Pine Nuts and in a spirit of adventure decided to forego the usual pot stickers in favor of well...shrimp toast.

They were just as lovely as I remembered them to be and it inspired me to try my own version.

1/4 lb peeled and deveined raw shrimp
1 4 oz can water chestnuts
1-1/2 piece of fresh ginger finely grated
1/2 small shallot finely minced
2 Tbl sherry
1 Tbl soy sauce
2 Tbl cornstarch
1 egg white
1/4 tsp each white pepper and salt
2 Tbl Sesame seeds
8 slices white sandwich bread.
Oil for frying


Finely mince the shrimp and water chestnuts, combine with the seven ingredients and set aside. Using a spoon back lightly smoosh the bread to form a shell, divide the filling evenly between the bread and smooth over to edges. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and cut each piece of bread diagonally into quarters. Fry in hot oil, shrimp side down a few at a time about 2 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels and serve with hot mustard and plum sauce.

Maitre D' Butter

Maitre D' butter is one of life's sinful joys. Take something as simple yet luxurious as a properly cooked steak, plop on a heaped spoon of maitre d' butter and the result of hot meat, melting butter and rich juices makes the most divine sauce ever.

1 4 oz stick real butter softened
4 oz blue cheese
1 smal shallot finely minced
1 tsp Chicken grill seasoning or favorite herb blend (mine has thyme, rosemary, orange peel, red pepper flake, dehydrated garlic and oregano)

Combine all ingredients smashing them together with a fork to blend. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours to get the full effect. Stays fresh in fridge about a week, in freezer about 6 months if tightly wrapped.

Chicken and Dumplings

Depending on where you come from chicken and dumplings can mean a lot of things to different people. I happen to live in Evansville and most people around here think of chicken and dumplings as a thickish square egg noodle cooked in chicken broth with chicken. My parents however are from elsewhere and I think of chicken and dumplings as a light fluffy biscuit type thing cooked in chicken broth with chicken.

I've never been a fan of from scratch dumplings or biscuits for that matter. The most likely reason being that I may be congenitally unable to make light and fluffy dumplings or biscuits. However this evening we were rushed, we had to make several unplanned stops and when we went to the store I forgot the Jiffy mix. Being just a little too tired to schlep myself back to the store and feeling that it might be totally unfair to send Karl who was equally as stressed and tired as I was, I resigned myself to from scratch dumplings. I decided to take a different approach...

Boil a chicken, seasoning it well with salt and pepper in a large pan with enough water to cover until chicken is done between 45 minutes to an hour or so. Remove the chicken from the pot and set aside to cool.

4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup lard
1/4 vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup (at least) milk

Mix the first 4 ingredients together in a large bowl. Cut in the shortening and the oil using a pastry blender or two knives until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in the buttermilk and enough regular milk to form a loose but thick dough. Set aside.

Check the broth from boiling the chicken for seasoning add more salt and pepper if needed. Pick the chicken from the bones and add this to broth. Bring the broth to a boil. Drop about half of the dumpling mixture by large tablespoons over the boiling broth until top of broth is covered evenly in a single layer. Bring broth back to a boil, reduce heat cover tightly and simmer for twenty minutes. Remove lid and either serve the dumplings or skim them into a large shallow dish. For the second batch check the broth if it's very thick you can add more chicken broth or some water to thin it out. Repeat the same process for the second batch of dumplings.

These turned out very light and fluffy and pretty yummy too. Is this the end for Jiffy Mix? Probably not, I still can't make a decent biscuit, but in future not having it on hand will definitely not be the point of stress it's been before.

English chocolate, ponzu, Trader Joe's and Heaven and Hell

I am a foodie. I am not sure anyone had ever called me this before I told my friend Peter that I was going to Indianapolis for 3 days to visit my brother and shop at the great international grocery stores there. It's true though. When I go camping the scenery is gorgeous, the hikes are fun but to me the best part is cooking over an open fire. When I head to Indy in addition to seeing darling Patrick and lovely Janice, I also get indulge my need to find new and delicious foods to take home. I'm not the kind of foodie that wants to eat at 5 star restaurants. I'm the kind that wants to experiment in the kitchen and eat at any promising non chain restaurant that catches my eye, especially if it's a dive.

So we drive to Indianapolis, take the wrong exit, eat at possibly the worst Chinese buffet ever (sometimes dive hopping does not work out) and eventually end up at Pat and Janice's around 9pm. We are greeted by cries of "Oh shit! I forgot you were coming!" and apologies for the mess, then hugs. We crashed out on the couch, watched Pulp Fiction and settled down for the night. We woke to a kind of time warp sensibility because Indianapolis is an hour ahead of us and then there was Daylight Savings Time and my brother's only wall clock was about 5 hours fast. It set the tone for the entire weekend that we never really knew what time it was.

We woke up at some point Sunday morning sometime between 8:30 and 10:30, made coffee, and searched the Yellow pages for promising grocery stores. International Food Mart, which we had discovered on a previous trip, was our starting and end point. It was raining and although I know where Patrick lives, I don't know the address and didn't feel like getting soaked walking out to get it. I knew how to get to IFM from Pat's so it really was a logical choice. I used Mapquest to get directions to Sarraga, a huge international grocery in a converted KMart building. From there it was to be Trader Joe's and if we happened across one on the way a Meijer.

IFM was great. We picked up Vimto, some pigeon peas, dry chinese mustard and various other bits and pieces. Then on to Sarraga. Now anyone who's ever used Mapquest knows that occasionally they will just jack you around. Fortunately there was a nice big billboard to point us in the right direction.

Ignoring Mapquest completely we made our way to Sarraga. For a few moments we sat in the parking lot in awe of the immense size of the place. Our awe was soon overwhelmed by curiousity and we headed inside. Good lord the place was immense! We started in a section at the front of the store occupied by fairly norm of Asian imports. Noodles, noodles, noodles and some beer. Beyond this was the produce section.

A vast cornucopia of foodstuffs I'd heard of but never seen and stuff I'd never even heard of at all. Casava, giant yams, something that looked like an extremely angry potato. Chilis of all size, shape and color, green coconuts, long beans and at least 3 different kind of sprouts. All the exotic produce made my head spin. If I hadn't known for a fact that real life would intrude, I would have bought a bit of everything. However I knew we were constrained by home storage and perishability. Perhaps next time though. I did end up with enoki mushrooms and a pound of soy bean sprouts. We wandered into the home wares section of the store and marveled at the darling dishes and strange contraptions this led into the frozen food section.

A stunning array of exotic shellfish, more dumplings then you could eat in lifetime, edamame, esoteric fruits, steamed buns, interesting vegetables, and noodles, noodles noodles. Plush mochi. We made our slow way back and forth through the rows and rows of freezer cases and I eventually reached the conclusion that I was no longer seeing only staring. I looked over at Karl and realised the same thing was happening to him. Eventually we stumbled out of the freezer section and landed ourselves at the butcher's counter.

to be continued...

Noodle Stir Fry with Pea Greens

I love new stuff! If it relates to food, I especially love new stuff. While on a hunt for marrowfat pea seeds I discovered a site called Sprout People. They introduced me to the idea of pea greens, which in effect is pea sprouts (think bean sprout) taken to the next logical level. I grew mine myself although in the right area of the country you might find them in a specialty store or farmers market.

1 lb of cooked noodles such as #3 Chinese Noodles, Linguine, Soba or your favorite
2 chicken breast halves or 1/2 pound of pork loin cut into small pieces
4 cloves garlic finely minced
Black Pepper
Lots of assorted veggies* I used in this one
1 can of sliced water chestnuts, drained
1 can of fancy mixed chinese vegetables, drained
1 8 oz package sliced button mushrooms
1 6 oz pkg fresh sugar snap peas
1 large onion sliced thinly
A very large bunch of pea greens
Oil for frying
1/4-1/2 cup of soy sauce**
1 Tbl honey

Heat 2 Tbl of vegetable oil in a wok over high heat until almost smoking. Add your desired meat, the garlic, a sprinkle of black pepper and a bit of soy sauce. Saute until meat is cooked through. Remove from pan and set aside to keep warm add a bit more oil to the pan and add your mushrooms season with pepper and soy sauce and cook until mushrooms begin to brown add the remaining vegetables except the pea greens to the pan and more oil if needed. Toss and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the noodles and cooked meat and pea greens. Season with soy sauce to taste and 1 Tbl honey. Cook and stir until heated through. Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum!


*Other lovely veggies you can use
Bean sprouts
Soy bean sprouts (These are lovely. Traditional bean sprout flavor with a crunchy edamame tasting seed on the end)
Thinly sliced carrots
Broccoli
Snow peas
Green onion
Bamboo shoots
Cabbage (in any form)
Cole slaw mix
Broccoli slaw mix
Whatever takes your fancy although I would avoid beets, turnips and brussels sprouts

**Or try Ponzu, a blend of soy sauce and sidachu citrus this may be my favorite discovery since dry sherry.

Roasted Pork with Vegetables

For the roast
4lb boneless pork loin roast
4 lbs potatoes peeled and cut into halves and quarters
2 lbs baby carrots
2 large onions peeled and quartered
4 cloves garlic peeled and rough chopped
8 oz package Porcini or button mushrooms cut into rough chunks (reserve 2 for the gravy)
Salt and Pepper or greek seasoning to taste
1/2 cup dry sherry
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 butter
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 butter

For the gravy
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup dry sherry
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 tsp sherry vinegar
2 porcini or button mushrooms finely chopped
2 Tablesoons cornstarch dissolved in 1/2 cup water
Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350. In a large roasting pan mix the chicken broth, sherry, 1/4 cup butter and vegetable oil together. Add the potato, carrot, onion and garlic, sprinkle heavily with salt and pepper or greek seasoning. Toss the veggies in the broth mixture. Rub the pork loin with salt and pepper or greek seasoning and place fat side up on the vegetables. Cover the pan with a tight fitting lid or foil. Cook, covered for 1 hour 45 minutes. Remove from oven and carefully pour as much of the pan juices as you can into a large skillet or saucepan. Sprinkle the mushrooms and the remaining 1/4 cup butter over the vegetables stir lightly to coat and return the roast to oven and turn up to 475 for approximately 1/2 hour.
To the reserved pan juices add the sherry, chicken broth, soy sauce, sherry vinegar, and chopped mushrooms, bring to a boil stir in the cornstarch/water mixture and bring back to a boil. Season with extra pepper to taste.

Also Lemon Chicken

Frying lemons is my new passion.

4 chicken breast halves cut into bite size pieces
2 large lemons sliced very thinly
3 bunches green onion (spring onions, scallions, whatever you call them) white and green cut into 1" pieces
4 cloves garlic minced
1/2 cup dry sherry
1 15 oz can chicken broth or 2 cups homemade (if you have the time for that sort of thing)
1 cup water
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Heat 2 Tablespoons of the vegetable oil in a wok over high heat. Add the lemons to the oil and saute until limp and lightly browned. Remove the lemons form the pan leaving as much of the oil in the pan as possible. Heat the remaining 2 Tablespoons of oil in the pan and add the chicken and garlic, season with salt and pepper and saute until chicken is lightly browned and cooked through. Add the sherry and bring to a boil, cook for one minute. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Meanwhile mix the water and cornstarch together stir into the pan and bring back to a boil, stirring to prevent lumps. Add the green onions and fried lemon and cook 2-3 minutes longer, adjust seasoning if needed with salt and pepper. Seve over rice.

The Second Best Curry Ever

The very best curry Karl ever made for me was so hot one bite immediately caused endorphin euphoria. Indian food is not particularly popular in our little neck of the woods and decent ingredients are hard to come by. We found the Vindaloo paste in an Asian Grocery store the first time and the second time in Indianapolis on the second happiest day of our lives. A trip to Minnesota yielded the Maykway powder but we're gonna have to beg Danny for an airmail package soon as we're almost out of it and tea.

2 lbs sirloin, top round or eye of round sliced into thin strips
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup Patak's Vindaloo Curry Paste *
1 Tablespoon Maykway Hot Curry Sauce Mix **

1 large lemon sliced thinly
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 sweet bell peppers (preferably red and yellow) sliced into strips
1 med onion diced
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
2 jalapeno peppers sliced into rings

1 cup sourcream
2 cups water
1/4 cup Maykway Hot Curry Sauce Mix **

Mix 1 cup sour cream, 1/3 cup Vindaloo paste and the Curry Sauce Mix together in a bowl or zippy bag. Add the sirloin and mix to coat and combine.
Heat the oil in a wok or large fry pan over medium high heat. Add the lemon slices and stir fry until limp and lightly browned. Remove from oil and set aside. Add the sirloin with all of it's marinade to the pan. Cook until the marinade starts to separate and the meat is mostly cooked. Add the bell peppers, onion, tomato and jalapeno and cook for 5 minutes. stir in the remaining cup of sour cream, the water and the curry sauce mix. Stir and bring to a boil, mix the fried lemon slices back in and cook for 1-2 minutes more. Serve over rice or rice pilaf or fried rice. Mmmmmmmm!!!
*You can use a different brand if you must
**Karl's brother sends this to us and it may be difficult to find. You can substitute your favorite curry powder and some cornstarch to get the proper thickening power.