recipe | Notes on Food

Dragon Palace-style Green Beans

April 6, 2009 § Leave a comment

When I’m home for breaks, there is one restaurant that our family must always go to for dinner – Dragon Palace. It serves amazing Sichuan food that we can’t get anywhere else, and the fact that it’s about a three minute drive from our house is a plus. We always show up early before the dinner rush, our waiter is always the same, and we always order the same three or four dishes and then branch out a bit. Sometimes, familiarity can only be a good thing.

One of the must-order dishes is the Sichuan dry-fried green beans. Now, my mom is a pretty good cook, but her green bean dishes could never compared to the wonderfully blistered and salty nuances of Dragon Palace’s version. The beans are crisp but somehow still juicy on the inside, and that light smattering of ground pork is always a good thing. The last time I was home, I think they knew we were going to order it, and they gave us an extra huge helping.

Originally, I assumed that their version was superior simply because they were a restaurant; they had to make it better because otherwise no one would pay for it. But, while browsing the archives of one of my new-favorite blogs, appetiteforchina, I found a dish called “dry-fried green beans” and I knew that I might have found the answer to my string bean-pleas.

We didn’t have ground pork when I made this version, and I also added maybe too much chili paste. It was a lot spicier than I intended to turn out but it was still delicious. We paired the beans with some Korean galbi which I’ll post about later. Together, it was probably the fastest, simplest, most delicious meal that I cooked while I was home.

Dry-fried Green Beans a la Dragon Palace

Serves about 8

2 lbs green beans – rinsed and dried (make sure these are dry or they will splatter in oil!), cut if too long

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbspns fresh ginger, minced (don’t worry about peeling since you’re mincing it anyway)

3 tbspns Sichuan preserved mustard, finely chopped

2 tbspns of dried baby shrimp, finely chopped

2 tbspns chili bean paste

4 drops of dark sesame oil

1 tbspns sugar

salt to taste

lots and lots of canola oil (about 3-4 tablespoons)

Heat the oil in a wok until just beginning to smoke. Add green beans and stir fry. Again, make sure that the beans are really really dry, otherwise they’ll cause a lot of oil to splatter when you add them. These are delicious but they’re not worth any serious grease burns. Make sure the beans all get a coating of the oil and stir them constantly for about 8-10 minutes until they finally begin to blister. When the beans are wilted, take them out and drain on paper towels.

Remove all but 2 tablespoons of oil. Add garlic, ginger, preserved mustard, shrimp and cook for about 1 minute until fragrant. Return beans to the wok and add chili bean paste (you can add more if you like it really really spicy), sugar, salt, sesame oil and stir until well combined. Serve blazing hot.

Answer to laziness? Why, more carbs, of course.

March 17, 2009 § Leave a comment

Anyone who knows me moderately well can tell you about my obsession with anything [more like anyone] British. It’s the accent, the sarcastic humor, the cute names for everything [ex: jumbleberry crumble], that laidback poshness. Sadly, I’ve never actually been to England [though next spring break may change that], but I live vicariously through Nigella Lawson by watching her videos on Youtube.

Even though she’s known as a “domestic goddess,” I think she’s also one of the laziest and most clumsy cooks on television, though it makes me love her even more. Her dishes are sometimes so simple that you really don’t need a recipe, and there’s no fuss for which, as a poor college student who hates spending money on random ingredients, I am grateful.

Linguine with thyme mushrooms is such a dish. I think button mushrooms are probably one of the most versatile ingredients you can have. Throw them into pasta sauce for an extra meatiness or sautee them with the pan drippings of your steak to make them even more rich. There’s really nothing like a bunch of mushrooms to add more to your food. What makes this dish even better is butter. And lots of it. Sometimes, you just have to indulge. Or, if you’re Nigella, every meal is already an indulgence.

Linguine with Thyme Mushrooms (adapted from Nigella Lawson)

1/2 pound of button or chestnut mushrooms

1 pound of linguine

1 clove of garlic, minced

1/2 red onion, sliced

1 lemon, zest and juice

1 tablespoon of fresh thyme

olive oil

*optional: extra virgin olive oil for last minute drizzling

salt and pepper
garnish: handful of chopped parsley and shaved Parmesan

Cook pasta according to instructions. Make sure you salt the water, and before you add the linguine, drizzle a bit of olive oil into the pot to prevent the pasta from sticking together. Retain some of the pasta water and loosely drain the linguine when al dente, with a little bite.

Meanwhile, heat a sautee pan to medium-high and add 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add onions and sweat until they become soft. Add garlic and when golden, then add mushrooms, making sure they are spread evenly and brown them, stirring occasionally. When the moisture has been extracted, salt and pepper to taste. Add lemon juice and zest, thyme and stir, scraping up any bits from the bottom of the pan. When pasta is done, add to the mushrooms with a little of the pasta water (this is basically your sauce) and stir everything together before plating. Garnish with parsley and Parmesan. You can also drizzle in a bit of extra virgin olive oil for more fruitiness.

Snackin’ on Guac

March 16, 2009 § Leave a comment

Eating guacamole by myself at school is sometimes a waste; at our supermarket, it only comes in medium-sized tubs, so by the time I’ve had my fill, my guac has already turned an unappetizing brown color. Home, on the other hand, is a different story. When Laura and Jackie get back from school, I can put together a fresh guacamole in less then 10 minutes and it’s gone in 5.

In my opinion, guacamole is better when it’s simpler. This recipe is really basic, and I love it with some blue or lime salted tortilla chips.

Guacamole

3 avocados, pitted and peeled [just use a spoon to scoop out the flesh]

1 medium tomato, seeded and chopped

1/2 red onion, finely diced

salt and black pepper

juice from 1 lime

*optional: some chopped cilantro and 1 jalapeno, seeded and minced

Put everything in a bowl and mix well. You can use the back of a fork to mash the avocado to start. Add the cilantro and jalapeno, if you want, right before serving. Season to taste.

A simple shrimp scampi

January 16, 2009 § 1 Comment

It’s freezing in DC; -4 degrees with the windchill, and everytime I go outside I think my fingers and toes are going to freeze and snap right off. I really hope Inauguration Day isn’t this bad, because then I’m gonna have to wear about 1293102938 layers while waiting out in the cold. Oh…did I not tell you that I would be going? Well, I don’t have tickets, but I will be going with friends to the National Mall, at least to tell my children that I was there that day.

Anyway, the cold makes me want to eat food even more because with cooking comes warmth, and I always think of Ina Garten’s recipe for shrimp scampi. There’s your protein from the shrimp, fruit from the lemons, veggies from the parsley (yes parsley’s an herb but it’s green so I count it as veg), and lots of yummy carbs and fats from the pasta and butter! And it really doesn’t take too much time to make. After learning how to make this, I never order this dish in restaurants anymore. It’s just a waste of money and meal on my part!

Shrimp scampi with linguine from the Barefoot Contessa

Ingredients:

vegetable oil

1 tablespoon salt plus 1 1/2 teaspoons

3/4 pound linguine

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 1/2 tablespoons good olive oil

1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic (about 4 cloves)

1 pound large shrimp (about 16 shrimp), peeled and deveined

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves

1/2 lemon, zest grated

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 2 lemons)

1/4 lemon, thinly sliced in half-rounds

1/8 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

Instructions:

Drizzle some oil in a large pot of boiling salted water, add 1 tablespoon of salt and the linguine, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, or according to the directions on the package.

In a large heavy bottomed pan, melt the butter and olive oil over medium low heat. Add the garlic and saute for one minute. Be careful since the garlic burns easily. Add the shrimp, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, and the black pepper. Saute until the shrimp have just turned pink, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from the heat, add the parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, lemon slices, and red pepper flakes. Toss to combine.

When the pasta is done, drain the cooked linguine and then put it back in the pot. Immediately add the shrimp and sauce, toss well, and serve. If you’re feeling a bit extra indulgent, you can add a couple pats of butter while you’re tossing the pasta. YUM.

Making gnocchi

January 3, 2009 § Leave a comment

At school, one of my favorite things to eat is potato gnocchi from Dean and Deluca. I always thought that making pasta is a complicated process, but after watching a random youtube video, I decided to try it when my sisters were at home and helping.

The recipe I used was Mario Batali’s basic potato gnocchi and only called for a couple ingredients, making it that much easier for me. Being a Chinese family that cooks most of our meals in a giant wok, we don’t own a vegetable mill or even a potato masher, but by smooshing the still hot potatoes with a fork, we shredded them as best as we could and the pasta still turned out fine, albeit with a couple small potato chunks here and there.

You can try all different kinds of sauces. The most common ones I’ve seen for gnocchi are brown butter and sage with some pecorino or just a plain marinara, but we had a jar of vodka sauce on hand as well as unused mushrooms from the crostinis I’d made the day before. I stirred in some shredded mozzarella as well and the cheese got all gooey and delicious. Garnish with a little parsley and you’re set. This was a really satisfying lunch even though not much was required to make it.

Basic Gnocchi (from Mario Batali)

3 pounds russet potatoes

2 cups all purpose flour

1 extra large egg

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup canola oil

Instructions

Put the potatoes in a large pot, add water to cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and cook at a low boil until the potatoes are tender, about 45 minutes. Drain.

While they are still warm, peel the potatoes, then pass them through a vegetable mill onto a clean work surface.

Bring 6 quarts of water to a boil in a largepot and add 1 tablespoon of salt. Set up an ice bath nearby. Make a well in the center of the potatoes and sprinkle them all over with all the flour. Break the egg in the center of the well, add the salt, and using a fork, blend the egg and salt together. Once the dough begins to come together, begin kneading it gently until it forms a ball. Knead gently for another 4 minutes or until the dough is dry to the touch.

Divide the dough into 6 balls. Roll one ball into a rope 3/4 inch in diameter and cut it into 1 inch pieces. Roll each piece down the back of a fork to create the characteristic ridges. Drop the gnocchi into the boiling water and cook until they float to the surface, about 1 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the gnocchi to the ice bath. Repeat with remaining dough, replenishing the ice as necessary. [Or you can drop them directly into that pan of sauce you’ve already heated]

When all the gnocchi have been cooked and cooled in the ice bath, drain them and transfer to a bowl. Toss with the oil. The gnocchi can be stored, covered, in the fridge for up to 48 hours.