Time to vote in Challenge 2... and the rest of the story!

Thanks to your support of Play with Food, I made it to Challenge 2 and voting opens today to advance only 200 bloggers to the next level. Please check out my post featuring two dishes outside my comfort zone and cast your vote at the Foodbuzz page... and let me tell you here, the rest of the story.

I had been deciding what dishes to make for this challenge, and I thought this would be perfect- I had to travel to DC on business on Thursday, work on Friday and head up to DC again on the weekend for Molly's second model shoot, this time for Sebastian. My plan was to come home Monday and make my dishes and post before the voting started.

However, an accident on the DC Metro escalator (someone rushing up around me and knocking me off my feet) left me with a severely bruised finger that required two of my fingers to be taped together to avoid damage to the joint...and I realized that my post would have to be done before I left for Molly's shoot since the deadline was on Sunday, not Monday!! That meant that besides packing and preparing to go out of town for the weekend, I needed to make my two dishes, and take pictures and type the post with my fingers taped!! It made for a late night, but the up side was that when we got home today, our bobotie and buss up shut was waiting, just perfect for a rainy day!

Project Food Blog Challenge 2: Stepping outside my comfort zone with comfort food!!

Challenge 2 of Project Food Blog calls for contestants to step outside their comfort zone and make a dish or use an ingredient from another culture. French and Italian were taken off the table, leaving the 400 remaining contestants researching and strategizing about what dish or foods or cuisine would most impress the judges. Since I often try dishes from other cultures, my selection process took me back to my readers and what it is they look for from Play with Food. While it is fun to search down and experiment with exotic ingredients, it can be prohibitively expensive and the whole idea of my blog is to encourage my readers by making good food, even the exotic and unfamiliar, seem approachable and attainable. So I chose a dish, that is comfort food in another culture, one that will seem vaguely familiar if you have eaten Irish shepherd's pie, or Italian lasagna, or Greek pastitsio, or even American chili!

Bobotie, is a sweet-spicy-savory South African dish that has as its base ground meat, usually lamb, onions, bay leaf, chutney, numerous spices including curry powder, coriander and turmeric. While many authentic dishes were hard to find in South Africa, with the end of apartheid, many indigenous dishes are now re-emerging, even becoming fashionable! This dish appealed to me because I really like lamb, but think many of my readers may not have tried it and this dish is a very non-intimidating way to try lamb. The dish is simple enough to make on a work night and unique enough for company. It has layer upon layer of flavor, complex and yet familiar. I found numerous recipes, each one a bit different, but many of the basic components were similar so I combined them in a way that appealed to me, yet kept the dish authentic.

The dish turned out amazing, but comfort food needs a carb so I also made Buss Up Shut, a Trinidadian (checking out their tourism site, made want to try it there-see photo left- but alas, no time to travel)bread with a name that represents this roti-type bread's resemblance to a busted up shirt. This bread is an awesome accompaniment to bobotie, adding a rich and savory component that complements the spicy-sweet flavors of the meat dish. And given that our country is a melting pot, I think it is perfect to combine dishes from two different cultures to make an amazing meal so delicious it crosses boundaries!

Bobotie

1 lb ground lamb or beef (you should really try the lamb, it has a sweeter, richer flavor)
1 stalk celery chopped
1 large carrot chopped or shredded
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
1 bay leaf
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup chutney
1 cup beef broth
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tbsp sweet and hot peppers chopped
1 tbsp curry powder (I used Jamaican hot, but Indian would work fine too)
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 cup almonds (I used whole, but I think next time I would use slivered or sliced)
1 tsp grated lemon rind
Salt and black pepper

Put oil into a pan, and brown lamb, until caramelized and brown, then add chopped vegetables, bay leaf, peppers, garlic and spices, stirring until the veggies start to brown. Add chutney, broth, and raisins and let cook for 10 minutes. Add almonds and taste. Salt and pepper to taste and add 1 tsp of grated lemon rind. Adjust seasonings or add more sweet hot peppers to get the heat you want. Serve in a bowl Serves 4

Note: Traditionally bobotie is served with either yellow rice or topped with a thin omelet made with egg whipped with half and half.

Buss Up Shut (Busted-up Shirt) Roti

2 cups white wheat flour (King Arthur, of course)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
5 tbsp softened butter
3/4 c water

1. In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Using your fingers, work 3 tablespoons of the butter into the flour, then add the water and knead in the bowl to form a smooth, soft dough.

2. Cover the dough with a towel and set aside for 30 minutes.

3. Divide the dough into 4 pieces. Roll the pieces into balls and set them on a floured surface to rest again.

4. Roll each ball of dough on the floured counter as thinly as possible into a 9-inch rounds. Spread each round with a thin layer of butter and dust with flour, then roll each round into a tight cone. fold each end into the center and flatten . Sprinkle with more flour, cover with a clean towel and let rest again for 30 minutes.

5. Heat a large well-seasoned heavy pan or griddle over medium heat. Add a drop of oil. Place the dough on the hot griddle. Brush with melted butter and watch as the dough puffs and swells. Cook for 1- 1 1/2 minutes and flip with tongs. then cook on this side for about a minute. Cook all four dough rounds this way. Serve warm. Note: I sprinkled my buss up shut with zatar, a middle eastern spice blend.

Bobotie and buss up shut: exotic-yes,delicious-yes, difficult-no. Enjoy these two great dishes from the Caribbean and South Africa... no passport needed!

So what is harder than making an exotic dish including bread in a food blogging competition including some of the best cooks around? Doing it with two of your fingers taped together!! That was my challenge after an accidental fall on an escalator on the DC metro left me with a damaged tendon in the joint of the middle finger of my left hand. Not sure what was harder- chopping or typing, but seeing the final dish, and especially watch the roti puff up exactly the way it was supposed to was a real thrill.

Going backwards- Model shoot # 1 in DC

Freelance work and a reorg that gave me more responsibility at work has made my life really hectic, and I am trying to catch up and catch all of you up on the family and food events that have been going on. I just posted about a great food and family experience as we took Bridget to an editorial model shoot at PR at Partners in DC, but this was actually the second model shoot for the Dowd girls in just over a month, and since both involved food, I think I should bring you up to date on Molly's model shoot (her before shot with her brother, left) and our food experiences in Shirlington, near DC.

We drove up to DC a little over a month ago , because my son Gavin wanted to use his younger sister Molly for a photo shoot. He is a stylist in training at the PR@Partners at Metro Center and this was a contest for new stylists. We drove to Shirlington, where he lives and had to go shopping for a dress and shoes(a whole other story) before we could get dinner, but finally we were done and since everyone was a bit exhausted, we decided to get food in Shirlington, which is a lovely community with tons of restaurants of all descriptions in walking distance. My son, who has great food as well as fashion taste suggested that we get take-out from T.H.A.I. Shirlington restaurant so we could relax at his place and eat since we were going to have a big day the next day.

We ordered based on my son's recommendations, pad thai, drunken noodles, and beef kapow delight , a spicy dish for my husband. It was a quick walk to T.H.A.I., which looked very posh and warm (I definitely would love to go and eat in when we have more time!), and the smells emanating from our bag made us nearly sprint back to the apartment. I wish I had pictures of the food, but it went so quickly! We each had a little taste of everything, and the food was amazing. I am a pad thai addict, and T.H.A.I.'s were just the right mix of savory, spicy, with just a touch of acid. The drunken noodles were a new dish to me though it was one of my daughter Bridget's favorites, and we were all fighting for the last delicious bites. The beef dish was a hot and spicy counterpoint, and the beef was tender- just what my husband was hoping for. T.H.A.I. Shirlington takes take out to a new level, and thai is a great alternative to Chinese take-out!

The next day we hit the Shirlington Best Buns. What a treat! The smells alone made me gain weight. My husband and I got a coffee and one of their amazing pastries and picked a variety of scones, muffins and breads to take back to the sleepyheads still struggling to wake up. After some of the best breakfast breads and pastries I have had, we each went our ways- Gavin and Bridget went sightseeing and shopping while Young Gavin, Molly and I headed to Tenleytown for Molly to be colored, styled, made up and finally photographed. It was an amazing transformation from a 14 year old whose clothing of choice are any flannel pj pants to a cover worthy model.

Julie and Julia... Newport News Style (Part 1- The Preparation)

Okay,okay, I know that every food blogger in the world has already posted on Julie and Julia and I am probably the last foodie to post on this movie.Originally, like the rest of the foodblogging world, I had plans to do a dinner and go with my daughters to see the movie, but time and other responsibilities interfered and there was such a dearth of posts, that it seemed superfluous. So last week when Julie and Julia came out on video, Bridget and I wanted to make our own try at mastering the art of french cooking and watching the DVD in the comfort of our own home.

First of all I have to tell you that my copy of MTAoFC came from a garage sale at our church. While I had plenty of cookbooks, I did not have this one and it seemed almost sacrilegious for any self-respecting foodblogger not to have a copy, and so for $4, the two volumes came home with me.I have to admit thought that they have been on my bakers rack since then, in a place of honor, seeming a bit daunting for me to even open up. However, the release of Julie and Julia and my promise to my daughter that we would cook from MTAoFC was my inspiration to pull these volumes off the shelf to do exactly what Julia had hoped- educate the average American on French cooking. The first challenge was to find a recipe to make - I wanted something that would be challenging but not so hard that I had little chance of success. I also wanted to not have to go out and buy a lot of ingredients. I had some lobster tails in the freezer, so I decided on lobster quenelles au gratin, a light, French dumpling with white sauce and cheese. Bridget decided to make crepes with a beef, mushroom and spinach filling and bearnaise sauce.Frankly,I thought we were both reaching but we were excited and our plan was to have dinner ready by the time the Redskins finished losing so we could start the movie and enjoy our own French masterpieces.

First, the quenelles. Quenelles begin life as pate a choux, the same pastry that is used for cream puffs . With the simplest ingredients- butter (of course), eggs, flour- and a lot of elbow grease can transform a bland paste into a light as a cloud dumpling that is just amazing. I added three pureed lobster tails, but you could use salmon, or other fish. After the pate a choux is made , it had to chill, and then cream was beat in half-tablespoon by half-tablespoon (not as easy as it sounds). Then the fun part. Julia said to poach the quenelles in water that is just barely simmering, another thing that is not really as easy as it sounds. When they we done a laid them in a bed of white wine white sauce and sprinkled them with swiss cheese. Then they were baked in the oven until the top was brown and bubbly.

Now Bridget's crepes. I have made crepes before, but honestly they have been so much trouble and either they are too thick, to thin, fall apart, etc. so I was a bit skeptical when Bridge said she was going to make them . The truth - I was blown out of the water! She was a crepe-making machine. See what I mean?

Part two: the food and movie....

Indonesian Pork Sate - the Anti-Leftovers

Getting past the glut of turkey leftovers and finding something that appeals to a houseload (including myself) of cold-sufferers who can hardly taste anything created quite a challenge, but it was met by a delicious dish I hadn't made in awhile- Indonesian sate.  Sate is a dish that can be made with chicken pork or beef, but I usually use pork, it is a nice switch from chicken and boneless country style ribs have the perfect mix of lean and fat to be neither dry nor greasy, and you can often find them on sale. If you can't find boneless ribs, then any cut of pork loin will work.

In our family, the star of this dish is not the meat (which is delectable), it is the amazing peanut sauce which elevates the lowly jar of peanut butter to new heights with the addition of a very few common ingredients.  I always double the sauce,because it is in great demand - a combination of smooth, creamy, sweet and spicy- served over long grain and wild rice, it is perfection!

How do I know this was the right choice for beating the leftover-and-cold-doldrums?  Because before I could even get a picture, it was all gone!!  Give this a try- you won't be sorry (and don't count on leftovers)!

Indonesian Sate

2 lbs of country style boneless pork ribs, cut into uniform-size chunks (you could use chunks of chicken instead)
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp sherry
1/2 tsp sate seasoning (I got this from Penzey's and it adds a lot of flavor, but if you don't have it, it is okay)

3-4 garlic cloves chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup smooth peanut butter
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 1/2 -2 cups chicken broth
juice of 1/2 lime
1-2 teaspoons red pepper flakes

Mix the soy sauce, sherry and spice in a zip-loc bag and put pork chunks in to marinate for an hour or so.  In the meantime make the peanut sauce. Saute the garlic in the olive oil.  Stir in the peanut butter, then add brown sugar, soy sauce, stirring to incorporate.  Slowly stir in chicken broth until sauce has consistency you like. Stir in lime juice and then add pepper flakes a bit at a time until your desired level of heat is reached.  Keep sauce warm.  Remove meat from marinade, place on broiler pan and drizzle with olive oil. Broil meat until done, turning pieces as necessary.  Serve meat with sauce and rice.

Training in DC-and the Peking Gourmet Inn

How can it have been a month since my last post?Well, it has been a busy time,with budget season and the new Congress and stimulus package excitement making my day job crazy, and tons of freelance work with super-tight deadlines taking up my free (?!) hours during the evening and weekends,when I cook it has primarily been just to get everyone fed. However, I want to share a food experience I had on a recent jaunt to Washington DC.

Learning about the new Congress is part of my day job, so when I had to attend a 1-day workshop in DC, I decided to drive up the night before and stay with Katie and Gavin in the big city (well, kind of, they live in Arlington) Since I hate driving at night I left in time to get to their place by evening and hung out with Gavin until Katie got off from work at 7 PM. I know you won't believe this but after lamenting how I hate taking down Christmas decorations, I ended up taking down Katie's Christmas tree and packing up her holiday things (it had to be done, and I guess she inherited the I-hate-taking-down-Christmas-stuff-gene from me), while Gavin introduced me to his latest collection of YouTube favorites.

When Katie returned, she was so excited,saying she was taking me somewhere special for dinner we drove to an unassuming little strip mall to the Peking Gourmet Inn in Falls Church. I had heard about this restaurant from my husband who had gone with Katie on his big weekend going to the Redskins game (one of the few games they won this season!), so I was prepared that when we drove up, it had a unassuming facade in a little strip mall. Once we stepped inside I was pleasantly surprised, the restaurant was cozy without being cramped, and I was greeted with the restaurants"wall of fame" sporting pictures of all the politicos and celebrities that have come there to eat (this restaurant was apparently President George 41's favorite).

We settled into a booth and were greeted by Mr.Wong, a friendly and experienced server. we looked at the menu trying to pick from the dishes.Peking duck, the restaurants specialty,was a no-brainer since we all love that, and you cannot go to a Chinese restaurant without eggrolls. Katie is not as fond of spicy dishes and Gavin and I both like spicy so we tried to find a mix of foods that we could enjoy. We finally settled on Sweet and Sour Chicken (Katie's choice) and Szechwan Beef Proper (Gavin's choice).

While going to a new restaurant to eat is a fun experience, going to a meal with Katie and Gavin is an experience in and of itself . They pick at and insult each other, all in fun, of course and they are just so funny together- they have such a great relationship and it is so much fun to be with them. Mr Wong brought our eggrolls first and they were delicious, crisp on he outside with tender,well seasoned insides that were not laden with grease as can often happen when cooking eggrolls. You can see that Gavin gave these the thumbs-up! Frankly, I could have eaten more but I didn't want to fill up with all the food we had ordered.

Next, a small table was set up beside us, signaling the coming of the Peking duck. This was dramatically presented and artfully carved right at the table. Our server was more than pleased to pose with the deliciously crisp and fragrant duck before carving, and he ensured each serving had a mix of crisp skin succulent white and dark meat. As he carved he carefully removed any excess fat so that our Mandarin pancakes were full of the flavors that make Peking duck so delightful. It was so delicious, a special treat since I hadn't had Peking duck in a really long time. The duck was such a star , that the other dishes paled in comparison. The sweet and sour chicken was just okay and the Szechwan beef proper was not what I expected (sweet-hot) and was more like beef candy, however it was really pretty. As you can see,though, Gavin gave the whole dinner a thumbs-up!

I know you won't believe that after all this food we actually were interested in dessert, but Katie really thought the toffee bananas sounded great and we decided we could share. Gavin wanted to try the coconut ice cream so we took the plunge, but our server informed us that the bananas were too soft for toffee bananas but we could have toffee apples instead. We were in for another tableside show with our dessert as well. The server dipped the apple chunks that had been coated in batter and fried into a bowl of toffee sauce and then dropped them one by one in a bowl of ice water so that the morsels developed a crunchy exterior- it was great, like a Chinese version of apple pie - we ate every bite. We had a taste of Gavin's coconut ice cream which was awesome and we agreed that next time we would have the toffee apples and ice cream together.

We left the restaurant stuffed, with our take-home boxes in hand. The experience was really fun, but next time I would increase the eggrolls and have just the Peking duck with perhaps a veggie dish on the side, because the duck was clearly the star of the meal. I know our picture won't end upon the wall of fame, but the Peking Gourmet Inn still treated us like we were celebrities!

Soya- Seriously the Most Awesome Sushi

About 15 years ago, when I started working at Jefferson Lab, I had a colleague who made me feel a bit inferior. He was a man, I was a woman (a serious minority at a nuclear physics lab), he had a Ph.D. in physics, I had a B.S degree in Interdisciplinary Studies, he had been at the lab for years and I was a new temp employee... you get the picture. This sounds like it could be the makings of a real disaster, but in fact, it was a relationship that benefitted us both. He decided to move out and up working at a bigger national lab... and me? I was introduced to sushi. You see, when our professional relationship was a bit tense we went out to lunch to have a talk, and he picked a nearby sushi bar. Though I had never had sushi (I know I lived a protected life), there was no way that I was going to be intimidated, and so, I ate my first sushi roll. It was the beginning of a love affair (with sushi, not the co-worker!)

Sushi is something that is best made by a master, someone who appreciates the need for super-fresh ingredients, and how to combine elements that result in the full experience, something that is pleasing to the eye and the palate. While I am not cosmopolitan, I have eaten sushi several places since that first experience, and my favorite is Soya, right here in Newport News. First of all, Soya has a family-type atmosphere, and they remember what you like, and who you are. In all fairness, I would consider my family regulars since both my daughter Bridget and I are sushi fiends, and sushi is always our idea of a great lunch, but it is so nice to go somewhere and be greeted by people who really appreciate your business. (When my daughter goes in to order takeout, they ask- "Lunch with Mommy or daddy?")

But I don't care how nice you are,it is the food and service that counts when you are spending money for food from a restaurant, and Soya has that down pat. Though they have a very complete menu, we almost always order from the sushi a la cart menu. While we each have our favorites (Husband- Hurricane, Me- Seattle roll, Bridget- Anything without eel, Molly-Phoenix),we have started to try some of the new special rolls that Soya. Our new favorite is their '08 Special, topped with spicy scallop flakes- it is a great combination of savory and spicy.

Soya has locations in Newport News and Hampton, and even in Virginia Beach. I have been to both the Hamptonand Newport News locations and have never failed to be impressed. As a fairly skilled cook, when I go out for a meal, I like it to be something that I couldn't make at home, and sushi certainly fills that bill. If you are not into sushi, Soya also offers hibachi and other Japanese favorites. But if you are in the Tidewater Virginia area, go to Soya, and you too will become part of their extended family!

A Taste of Italy (at Busch Gardens, Williamsburg)

With my daughter in town and a week off, we were determined to do some fun and tourist-y things while she was here. Since we have season's passes to Busch Gardens Williamsburg,we decided to go there as a family and hit the roller coasters

Amusement parks no matter how good they are are not exactly known for great food (or reasonable prices!), and we ate lunch before we left so no one would be hungry, and we figured we would leave before dinner. But everyone was having a great time and the weather was awesome (warm but low humidity, nice breeze), so we decided to find something to eat for dinner and close the park down. As a park that is centered on countries of Europe, there are great opportunities for some fantastic food, however, when you are serving thousands of people of varying tastes, that can be challenging. We have tasted food at the Festhaus (Bratwurst, German potato salad, and mile-high sandwiches), at the Smokehouse where they have incredible ribs, but our favorite place to eat at Busch Gardens is in Italy, where they have homemade pasta (they really make it themselves-see picture of their chefs working, right). We always order one of the platters because there is plenty of food for two and a variety of things to try.

We ordered the Mamma Stella platter that had eggplant parmagiana, chicken parmesan, and spinach cannelloni,with more than enough food for two hungry people and at $10.49, one of the best food deals in the park. So we had our Italian Olympic meal away from home and then headed for the Roman Rapids - a fitting end, wouldn't you say?! So my recipe for good eating on a budget at Busch Gardens? Head to Italy... and mangia!

Potted Shrimp (or Dracula Shrimp)

As part of our British night for the Olympics, since I had made the beef and Yorkshire pudding before, I wanted to make something new and different, so I perused the available options in my Treasury of Great Recipes by Vincent and Mary Price, and I was stopped by a recipe that the Prices attributed to their friends, the Karloffs (as in Boris Karloff),who served this dish for dinner. Once I read the story, I had to try this dish (I can't resist a recipe with a story).

Potted shrimp is apparently a well-known and common appetizer in England, served with crackers or bread. While the recipe called for tiny shrimp, I used regular shrimp and chopped it up fine. I think if I made this again I would grate a bit of onion into the shrimp as well. However, this dish will not be known as potted shrimp in our house. They immediately dubbed it "Dracula Shrimp" in honor of it's origin. Give it a try-it's devilishly delicious!!

Dracula Shrimp

1 cup tiny salad shrimp or regular shrimp chopped into small pieces
2 tablespoons grated onion
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 tsp mace
1/8 tsp nutmeg

Melt butter and add spices. Mix all ingredients together making sure that shrimp ar covered with butter mixture. Place in a small crock and chill in refrigerator. Spread on crackers or toast.

A Great Dinner from the British Isles

With my daughter coming from Florida, I wanted to make something festive, but was not sure what country to go to, but then I found inspiration in one of my oldest cookbooks, A Treasury of Great Recipes by Vincent and Mary Price. I have written about this cookbook before, and it is one of my favorites since it was the first gift that was given to me by my in-laws. This cookbook includes recipes from many countries and restaurants and even homes that the Prices, avid world travelers, had visited.

Since we had had so many dishes that were either Eastern or Mediterranean, I decided to make food from the British Isles. We settled on a roast beef tenderloin and Yorkshire pudding with a salad (that deserves its own post). Now I know that traditionally British roast beef is made with a rib roast, but I had a tenderloin, so we were making due. Even though the Yorkshire pudding has some flour (verboten on the diet) I thought since these end up like popovers full of mostly air, it would be okay in moderation.

The beef was coated with coarse-ground pepper and just roasted until the mooing stopped. The Yorkshire pudding was very easy to make following the advice of Vincent Price to make the batter in the blender, and I made individual portions which cooked faster and were all nice and crispy.

All in all it was a delicious meal, with only a slice or two of beef left, and every Yorkshire pudding gone!


Yorkshire Pudding (from A Treasury of Great Recipes by Vincent and Mary Price)

You must have all of the ingredients for this batter at room temperature or it will not turn out puffy!

7/8 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c milk
2 eggs
1/2 water
1/2 cup beef drippings or melted butter (or combination)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Sift flour and salt together, then add to blender with milk. Blend until well combined then add eggs one at a time until batter is foamy,then blend in water until batter is light and full of bubbles. Heat muffin pan in oven until hot. Add enough beef drippings or melted butter to cover the bottom of each muffin cup, and divide batter between muffin cups. Bake at 400 degrees 15-20 minutes until puffy and golden brown.

Great Thai-ming!

Since last night was Friday and we normally do not eat meat on Friday (a hold-over from my husband's Catholic upbringing), besides finding an international dish compatible with the South Beach diet, it had to be meatless! I decided that Thai might be good and had looked up a recipe for a shrimp Thai curry on Epicurious as well as a Thai cucumber salad (I thought it would be fun to see the difference between the Swedish cucumber salad and a Thai version!)

I headed to Trader Joe's since I had a couple of things to pick up there that only they sell,and got caught in a severe thunder storm with 40 mile an hour winds and rain so heavy you could only crawl toward your destination. It took nearly 20 minutes to drive the less than 3 miles from my office to Trader Joe's, then I had to wait for about ten minutes in the parking lot before I could even attempt to get out of the car. Walking down the aisles with the other drenched rats, I picked up English cucumbers for the salad, some diet food, and since it was still pouring outside I wandered up and down the aisles as time ticked by.

Now you know I am not much for convenience foods,usually they are filled with sugars and salt and fats to cover up the fact that they actually have not flavor. But given Trader Joe's reputation, when I saw their Green Indian curry, I thought, "Why not?"-if it was good it would save me time and since their ingredients listed lemongrass which I had almost no possibility of purveying anywhere within a 30-minute drive, I decided to give it a try.

After getting home, I made Thai green curry shrimp and Thai cucumber salad as part of our Olympic tour around the world, and I was very impressed with the trader Joe's curry sauce- it had a great melding of spices with a depth of flavor and seasoning with just the right amount of heat. And after the lengthy (and hazardous) drive, dinner was on the table in 35minutes, and most of that involved peeling the shrimp. Unfortunately for you, we are all too hungry to take a picture, so you will just have to imagine how wonderful it looked.... and tasted!

Trader Joe's Thai Shrimp Curry
1 pound shrimp, peeled
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 sweet onion cut into chunks
2/3 cup
1 tbsp peanut oil

Heat oil and toss in garlic. Cook onions until they just begin to caramelize. Stir in shrimp and toss until almost pink, then add the curry sauce and stir till shrimp is finished cooking. If you are not on a diet, this would be great over rice, but for us it was delicious as is with the cucumber salad recipe that I found on Epicurious (what else?)

Do you have a favorite Trader Joe's product that you use in your cooking when time is tight? Let me know (I might want to give it a try!)

A Taste of China in Newport News (and a Review)

My family loves Chinese food, and they are spoiled. Takeout is not good enough for them. They are used to homemade eggrolls, dumplings made from scratch, twice-fried beans, shrimp egg foo yung and a myriad of stir-fries. Some of the most dog-eared cookbooks in my collection are the ones that focus on Chinese food, so of course I was not surprised when they said they wanted to add China to our parade of nations. Luckily, I put all those cookbooks to work in trying to find dishes I could make that did not rely on sweet sauces or piles of white or jasmine rice so we could stay on our diet.

Coincidentally, I had been sent a kit for Kung Pao chicken by Wangchai Ferry to try and review, and so I decided to incorporate that into our meal planning as well. So this is what our menu looked like:

Twice Fried Beans (aka hot beans,I have posted this recipe before)
Tofu dumplings
Wanchai Ferry Kung Pao chicken
Stir fry shrimp and vegetables
Bridget's Hot and Sour Soup (actually, her recipe came from Cook's Illustrated)

Sound good? It really was. We set our coffee table and sat on the floor with pillows and ate with chopsticks for a really fun experience. "Hot Beans" have been raved about on this blog before, and Bridget's Hot and Sour soup a la Cook's was outstanding- if you have never tried making this at home, give this recipe a try (I actually subscribed to CI online initially to get this recipe!), so I will focus on the new dishes we tried.

First of all, the tofu dumplings. We usually make dumplings, but since the wrappers are made with flour, I wanted to find some way to enjoy that flavor without the carbs, and I found the inspiration in Jeff Smith's Ancient Cuisines cookbook. Using extra-firm tofu that was drained and cut into large cubes, I prepared my usual shu mei filling, and cutting a slit into each cube, I filled the tofu with shu mei filling and steamed these tofu dumplings for about 30 minutes in a bamboo steamer. They turned out great!

The shrimp stir fry included a sweet red pepper, onions, broccoli, and turned out to be a light and delicious dish with a good blend of flavors.

The big surprise was the Kung Pao chicken kit from Wangchai Ferry. Since I cook Chinese from scratch I was prepared to be underwhelmed, but was impressed when I opened the box to find whole dried peppers (we call these the devil's toenails) along with jasmine rice in the kit. I followed the directions, substituting boneless chicken thighs for the breasts called for. I have to admit that I did remove the seeds from the peppers because I thought it might be too spicy. The dish came together easily and everyone in our family really liked it-it was at least as good as the Kung Pao I had gotten as takeout. This is a great alternative to take-out when you don't have the time to cook from scratch, and I will definitely try the other kits for Spicy Garlic Chicken, and Sweet and Sour Chicken, or Cashew Chicken. If you want to give the Wangchai Ferry Chinese Dinner kits a try in your own kitchen try this e-coupon to get $1.00 off the retail price of $4.79.

If you are inspired to take a side trip to China, here are the recipes for my own dishes. Don't be intimidated by a long list of ingredients or prep time (I usually make Chinese on the weekend when I have more time), making good Chinese is as easy as falling off the balance beam!!

Tofu Dumplings

1 block extra firm tofu drained and cut into 1 inch cubes
1/2 lb lean sausage
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sherry
A quarter-sized slice of ginger chopped fine
3 scallions in fine slices
1/2 of a small beaten egg

1 tbsp of soy sauce for brushing

Mix all the ingredients except the tofu cubes together in a Ziploc bag. Close the bag and massage the ingredients together. Cut a slit in each cube, being careful not to cut all the way through, and fill with a small spoonful of filling. Place in a bamboo steamer in a single layer, brush with soy sauce and steam for about 20-30 minutes (I sometimes steam my dumplings on top of the pot I am cooking my rice in). Serve with a sauce made of 1/4 cup soy sauce with Chili-garlic sauce added to taste.

Stir Fry "Drunken" Shrimp
1 lb shrimp peeled and deveined
1 red pepper cut into chunks
1 onion cut into chunks
2 cups fresh broccoli florets
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tbsp chopped fresh ginger

1/2 cup rice wine or sherry
1/4 cup soy sauce
dry red pepper flakes to taste
1 tsp sugar or Splenda

peanut oil for stir-frying

Marinate the shrimp in the rice wine or sherry while you chop vegetables. Put oil in pan and heat till just smoking. Add garlic and ginger and stir quickly, then add the rest of the vegetables. Stir for a moment or two until the sides of the veggies just start to caramelize, then add drained shrimp. when shrimp start to turn pink add soy sauce, sugar or sweetener, and dry pepper flakes. Stir until shrimp are just cooked. If you are not on a diet you could serve this with rice or noodles.

American Food, with a side of Michael Phelps!

Last night, we had only Gavin, Molly and I at home so we decided to do American food for our Olympic feast, but we were challenged. The All-American cheeseburger (sans bun, of course) was going to be the centerpiece of this meal, but so many of the foods we associate with America (French Fries, Corn on the Cob, Watermelon, Potato Salad...) are carb heavy and not an option for us as I try to break the 9 lb weight loss plateau, so I struggled .

As I put together a menu that included blue cheese mayo made with Danish Blue cheese and Duke's mayonnaise, the leftover Horiatiki Salata from Greek night, Polish baby dill pickes, I worried that my menu really wasn't representing American food, except for the American cheese on the burgers. But then I realized that this is American food, and America! We take the best of the many ethnic foods that make up our population and incorporate it into our cuisine. Our citizens can preserve their own culinary traditions, or become part of the melting pot of foods and ingredients that makes up our American culinary tradition. It is what makes our country great.

So while we have our own American food traditions like Southern fried chicken, or pulled pork barbecue, pumpkin pie, macaroni and cheese, and corn on the cob (can you tell I am really missing summer corn?), Americans equally enjoy burritos and enchiladas, lasagna and spaghetti, eggrolls, sushi, fondue, and quiche. You might argue that too often American's "bastardize" dishes for the American tastes, but that is part of being a nation of immigrants. Just like our colors begin to meld together, so do our cuisines.

So I don't feel so bad about my ragtag American dinner, but it did bring up another issue for me. Of all the wonderful cheeses there are, why is America known for processed cheese slices? Don't get me wrong, on top of a burger, melted American cheese is something special, and American cheese makes a great grilled cheese, but can you really eat American cheese uncooked? I don't think so! And what foods are there that are distinctly American? Hot Dogs? Burgers? Ribs?
I actually have a book called Street Food that has foods from many cultures and yet the only entries from the US are corn dogs and hush puppies (and the quintessential burger). So I am asking you- What are your favorite foods that are uniquely American? Pull them out and cook them up and share with the rest of us. You can reach me right here, where I will be cheering for the Redeem Team and Michael Phelps!

Opening Ceremonies- A Salute to Greece

The long-awaited Olympics are here and our family is gathered around the table and around the TV (see left, a huge new plasma I got for my birthday!) to celebrate and enjoy that mix of excitement, anticipation and pride as we watch the athletes from around the world parade into the Bird's Nest stadium to begin the Games.

As I wrote earlier, our tribute to the games in the foods around the world starts traditionally with food from Greece to honor the birthplace of the Olympics(you can see from the picture that we are adding the flag of each nation we cook from each night to the Olympic flag) Since we are on a diet, our usual pastitsio would not cut it, so it was time to hit the internet and get some inspiration. I did a search for Greek food and was lucky to find several sources, including About.com and Matt Barrett's Travel Guide which had a great guide to Greek dishes and ingredients. I thought I wanted to make lamb, and when I read about a dish called paidakia, which is to Greeks as baby back ribs are to Southerners, I knew that was going to be the centerpiece of our meal.

Paidakia (right) are little lamb chops seasoned with ground pepper , broiled and squeezed with lemon. So now, what to have with it?

Trending toward a Greek salad, I found a recipe for Horiatiki Salata, a salad of chopped vegetables with feta cheese.

I needed to round out the meal and remembered seeing a Greek zucchini on Kalyn's Kitchen and so decided to recreate that as well.

For dessert, Greek Yogurt with honey and fresh fruit.

Our first Olympic meal was a great hit. The Paidakia was everything I had read and more - simple ingredients combined to make the lamb the star. The salad was light and delicious accompaniment and a great use of tomatoes and cucumbers from the farmer's market, and Kalyn's zucchini was a hit even with those in my house who usually don't like zucchini (Molly,of course). Olympics or no, I will definitely be making these dishes again. And you should give them a try, they definitely are worth a gold medal!


Paidakia (Inspired by Nancy Gaifyllia at About.com)

2 lb of small lamb chops (If budget is a concern (I got my chops at Costco), I think this technique would work just as well with boneless chunks of leg of lamb), my chops were about an inch thick

Coarsely ground sea salt

1 tablespoon of coarsely cracked peppercorns (I had a 6-pepper blend that I used, but any combination of cracked peppercorns would work)

Lemon wedges

2 tbsp olive oil

I put the chops in a Ziploc bag, added the other ingredients, and massaged together and let come to room temperature. Spray broiler pan with olive oil or nonstick spray and place chops in single layer. Broil for about 3-4 minutes (watch carefully), flip chops and broil 3-4 more minutes or until desired doneness is reached (we like ours pink so about 3 minutes per side worked for us). Remove to platter and squeeze with juice of 1/2 a lemon. Serve with extra lemon wedges.

Horiatiki Salata (Also inspired by Nancy Gaifyllia from About.com-frankly, I want to show up at her house for dinner!)

1 large red onion sliced

1 English cucumber, peeled and sliced thinly

1 red or yellow sweet pepper (I had the little mini-peppers from Costco and used 6 or seven of the them) cut in small chunks

2 large ripe tomatoes (don't make this salad if you do not have really good tomatoes!) cut in chunks

1/2 tsp Greek seasoning(I used Penzey's)

A handful of greek olives

1/3 cup good red wine vinaigrette

3/4cup of feta broken into chunks

Again, I combined all ingredients in a gallon sized Ziploc bag and let chill in the fridge while I made the zucchini and lamb- Easy and it made an outstanding salad that was a change of pace from the usual greens!

Check out Kalyn's site for her recipe for her recipe for Georgette's Greek Zucchini.
It was a big hit, healthy and simple.

What is on tap for tomorrow night? We are thinking of American food with a side of Michael Phelps!