A tour of Far East Asia

I know it has been a while. It has been a very, very hectic few weeks. However, over these last few weeks Mel and I have gone on a culinary tour of East and South East Asia. We have been cooking dishes from Japan, China, Thailand, Cambodia, etc. Without further ado, here are some of the dishes we have made.

Korean Short Ribs w/ Korean Sesame Soy dipping sauce, and  Watercress Salad

One of the first dishes we made was a marinated and grilled Korean beef short rib. It was marinated in a sauce of soy, sesame oil, garlic, chili's , and a host of other good things, The sauce is soy, chili powder, sesame seeds and oil, green oil, and garlic. It all works together very nicely. I love the sesame notes in the sauce as well as a little bit of heat from the chili's. The beef is tender, and has a salty and savory flavor to it from the marinade. It's not overpowering, and the beef flavor really shines. To cut through the richness of the beef we paired it with a watercress salad from Cambodia. The dressing is made from lime juice, rice vinegar, soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, and pepper. Green onion, onion sliced paper slim, and garlic are also present on the salad. The dressing actually starts to pickle the onion slightly if left to sit in it. It adds a nice bright, acidic flavor that helps to cut the richness of the meat and dipping sauce.

Wonton Soup with Spicy Pork Salad

Next we made a homemade wonton soup and spicy pork salad. The salad comes from Thailand. Traditionally it is made with ground/minced chicken, but we didn't have any, so ground pork stood in. And it was a great substitute. There were shallots, chili's, fish sauce, lime juice, rice vinegar, Sriracha sauce, and garlic to dress the pork. It was all then set in a lettuce cup. It was sweet, salty, spicy, and sour. It was delicious. The wontons, from China, were filled with pork, with garlic, ginger, sesame oil, onion, and rice wine. We used store bought wonton wrappers. The broth was made from chicken stock, soy sauce, rice wine, and sesame oil. The wontons were delicate, and had great flavors or sesame, ginger, and pork. The broth was salty and nicely balanced the slightly sweet filling.

Corn Fritters and Potstickers

From Indonesia came corn fritters. Corn, chili, ginger, ground coriander, flour, salt, pepper, garlic, and ginger were combined to form the fritters, which were then pan fried. The fritters were sweet from the sweet corn, with a nice heat from the chili. There was also a nice spice from the coriander. The dipping sauce was made from sweet soy sauce, Sriracha sauce, and rice vinegar. It added a nice acidic note that complimented the salty, sweet, spicy of the fritter. Coming from Japan was a pork potsticker. Pork and veggies, with more ingredients than I can list, were combined for the filling. It was stuffed into a wonton wrapper and all folded up. It was then fried in a pan to brown and crisp up the bottom followed by water added to the pan to finish steaming the potstickers. The sauce to go with it was a Tamari-sesame dipping sauce. The two played with each other very nicely. 

Lemongrass Beef and Chicken Satay

Finally, the latest made was Lemongrass Beef from Cambodia and Chicken Satay from Indonesia. The beef was marinated in lemongrass, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and chili paste. The beef was grilled and topped with cilantro, and put in a lettuce cup. The sauce had fish sauce, hot chili, garlic, sugar, lime juice, and rice vinegar.  The sauce was very spicy, and went well with the lemony flavor imparted in the beef. The chicken for the satay was marinated in coconut milk, madras curry powder, garlic, ginger, and cilantro. It was grilled and paired with peanut sauce, admittedly store bought but very good. I loved the curry flavor of the chicken and the sweetness of the coconut milk. Paired with the rich peanut sauce, it produced a sublime orchestra of flavor in my mouth. 

So there you go. Our journey through East Asian so far.

A meal for my Princess

Last night I got a creative streak going and I decided to make a 4 course meal for my beautiful wife. I texted her "I hope your hungry... you're going to eat like a princess tonight." Why did I do this? Because I love her and I love to cook. Anyway, here are the dishes that I created. No cookbooks were involved. This all came from my head.


1st course: Sausage "bruschetta".

I took some sweet Italian sausage and cut in on an extreme bias to resemble a piece of bread cut in the same way as you would typically get. The ends were seared in a very hot pan to set the shape. Once both sides were seared the sausage went in to a heated pan in the oven at 375-400 degrees to finish cooking. When done I put a few drops of some chili oil I made on the top. (The oil was made by taking a serrano chili and combining with olive oil in a food processor then straining out the pulp.) Followed were a couple slices of sun gold tomato from our garden and topped with some micro sprouts. There was a nice balance between the sweet of the sausage, heat of the chili oil, acidity of the tomato, and crunch of the sprouts. The acidity also helped cut through some of the fattiness of the sausage. 

2nd course: Pesto filled pasta and beef

The second course consisted of a pesto filled pasta. The pasta was homemade and rolled very thin. The filling was pesto, made with basil from the garden, garlic, peccarino romano, walnuts, parmagiano reggiano, red pepper flakes, salt, black pepper. The pesto was piped onto the pasta sheets and the pasta folded over to form little pouches. The idea was taken from the fagotelli La Pergola, where the idea is that the pasta "pops" in your mouth. A sauce was made for the dish. It started with bacon being saute'd in olive oil until crispy. The  pan was deglazed with white wine until the alcohol cooked off. Beef broth was added and reduced down until much thicker. The pasta was cooked for about 20 seconds and then tossed into the sauce before plating. Four very thin strips of steak were seared in a very hot cast iron skillet on both sides for about 10 seconds. The middle remained a little pink to keep the tenderness of the beef. It was all plated with some shaved peccarino romano. It was a pretty complex dish in terms of flavor. The different flavors of the pesto combined well with the beef and pasta. The saltiness of the bacon and the sauce complimented the dish as well without overpowering anything. Overall I thought it was very well balanced.

3rd course: Coffee crusted NY strip, grilled baguette with feta cheese.  

The steak was seared on a very hot cast iron skillet in a little bit of vegetable oil to develop a nice crust. The top was coated with a rub of coffee, cayenne pepper and salt. After searing the steak went into the oven at 350 degrees to finish cooking to medium rare. A sauce composed of coffee, milk, red wine, and chocolate was made and reduced down to put on top of the steak. The bread was grilled and sprinkled with feta cheese. The plate was garnished with a couple edible flowers. The flavors all worked well together. The deep flavors of the coffee, chocolate and red wine went well with the flavor of the beef as well as the salty and creaminess of the feta.The flowers added a touch of color and fun. It was funny because when I told Mel what was in the dish she looked scared. But when she started eating she just kept on saying how good it was.

4th course: Raspberry sorbet with dark chocolate 

For dessert was a simple raspberry sorbet and dark chocolate shaved over top. I don't think I need to say any more about how well raspberry and dark chocolate go together. 

So there you go, my four course meal for my lovely lady.

Nothing like home cookin'

I haven't posted in a while, so I thought that I would post on something I made last night. Mel was at work so I decided to make dinner. It was a chicken breast that I made a cut down the side. Inside I put some fresh sage and rosemary clarified butter that I had made earlier and let harden. I then seasoned the chicken with salt and pepper and wrapped it in prosciutto di parma. I then roasted it in the oven at 425 degrees F for about 30 min. I also made a caramelized onion puree on which the chicken was set on. I caramelized a medium onion and added three large cloves of garlic, roughly sliced, toward the end to caramelize as well. I then put it into the food processor with salt, pepper, chicken stock, and crushed red pepper and created a nice puree. While the chicken was cooking I pan roasted some grape tomatoes with salt and basil. Finally I fried some fresh sage to put on top and finished with a little bit of parmesan and green onion.

It turned out really well if I do say so my self. The chicken was moist and very flavorful, with a nice sage and rosemary flavor throughout the chicken without overpowering. The prosciutto added a nice crispy texture and the flavor married well with the chicken. The puree had a nice sweet, caramelized flavor from the onion and garlic, with a slight heat from the red pepper and earthiness from the chicken stock. The tomatoes were sweet and added a nice acidity to the dish that helped cut through some of the richness of the chicken and puree and lifted the dish. Mel said she loved it, after she inhaled it. I think I am going to have to do this one again.

Little Ears and Sauce

A couple days ago Melanie and I decided to go out for some Italian food for the first time since getting back from Italy. We decided to go to Olive Garden because we had a gift card.

We started with caprese flatbread. It was fairly good, for a chain restaurant. It was a flatbread topped with tomato, basil, and mozzarella. The tomato didn't taste the freshest. It wasn't bad by any reason, but it can't compare to tomato bought fresh from the farmer's market. The same for the basil and mozzarella. The cheese tasted like a semisoft mozzarella as opposed to a creamy fresh mozzarella.

For the main course I got the "Taste of Tuscany with Sausage." It was grilled italian sausage with orrechiette (ear shaped) pasta, broccoli, sundried tomato, in a garlic butter sauce. The best part of the dish was the sausage. I enjoyed the taste of it. It was grilled nicely, and had a nice spice to it. It was moist, not overcooked and dried out which was nice. The pasta unfortunately was not up to standard. Individual ears of pasta were overcooked way past al dente and stacks of pasta were sticking together causing the inside of the fused bunch to be undercooked. The broccoli was cooked nicely and kept it's bite and wasn't mushy. The sundried tomato got lost in the sauce. The sauce had a nice garlic flavor to it. However the sauce was really, really, salty for my taste. For my two sides I had a spinach salad with balsamic and a bruschetta with feta and tomato. The impression of the bruschetta was similar to the flatbread.

Melanie had the Taste of Tuscany with Chicken." I only had one bite but the chicken tasted pretty good, and the tortellini was fair. I can't really comment on it as I only had a small bit of it.

I do have to say the service we had was good. Our waitress was very good and was very apologetic when it took 5 tries to get my drink. It wasn't her fault, they were just out of everything I ordered and then the machine wasn't working. She handled it well. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if the manager comped my drink because I had to choose 5 different things before getting one.

Overall it was a good experience. To be honest the food was what I would expect from a chair restaurant in America doing Italian food. I have to admit I have been spoiled eating Italian food in Italy. But given that, the food was pretty good for what it was.

The cat who hopped

Tonight Melanie and I went to one of our favorite places to eat, HopCat. In case you don't know about HopCat it is a beer bar (rated #3 in the world by Beeradvocate) in Grand Rapids that has a rotating beer menu with dozens of different beers on tap at any given time. It also has what I would call upscale bar food. There are a lot of bar type foods on the menu such as burgers, tacos, and sandwiches... only better.

Tonight I had The Angry Bird sandwich. It was a fried chicken breast covered in buffalo sauce with tomato, onion, and blue cheese dressing on a brioche bun. It was very good. You could tell that the chicken was breaded and fried in house as opposed to frozen then reheated in a fryer. It was juicy and the breading was very flavorful, with many herbs and spices in it. The buffalo sauce was a typical buffalo wing sauce, but was not too hot. In fact Melanie (who has little tolerance for hot food) said that it was eatable, meaning it wasn't too terribly hot. The blue cheese dressing actually tasted like ranch, so maybe they substituted it in. Either way it was a nice compliment to the wing sauce. On the side were the wonderful "Crack Fries." They are seasoned fries and are addicting... like crack.

Melanie had the chicken tacos. They are slices of grilled chicken breast on a blue corn tortilla and topped with tomato, onion, and scallions. On the side was dirty rice, salsa, and a garlic cream sauce. The tacos taste very fresh, and the sauces compliment all the flavors going on, not mask them.

We also had a starter of loaded crack fries. It was a plate of crack fries covered in the house cheese sauce, pepper jack cheese, jalapenos, bacon, and onion. We got ours minus the jalapenos. It was reminiscent of a loaded baked potato, only it would have been a crack potato. Anyways, its a pretty good starter if there are multiple people around as it can be heavy.

HopCat gets my gold seal of approval for local eateries.

Pasta Mia!!!

For the final entry into the culinary travels of our time in Italy I will be focusing on pasta.

Bourgo Nuovo

Spaghetti Carbonara

In addition to the pizza that Melanie had at Bourgo Nuovo I ordered a spaghetti carbonara. It was a fairly straight forward carbonara. I have to admit though it was not spectacular. Fairly straight forward with parmesan and egg. The pancetta was a little lacking. I was waiting for that bit of something extra... some smokiness from the pancetta, saltiness from the cheese. But there was none. Just a one note carbonara. I was pretty disappointed. The pasta was cooked ok, a little past al dente, but far from the overcooked noodle you generally get here. Overall a 2.5 out of 5.

Antica Osteria Da Giovanni

Fettucini pomodoro

This place was out of the way, between the Vatican and Tresevere. A little hole in the wall with paper table coverings.We ate there for lunch after visiting the Vatican while we south along the river toward the Tiber Island. We both ordered a simple plate of fettucini with a tomato sauce. Let's start with the sauce. It tasted like a fresh tomato sauce that had been cooked for a few hours. It had the usual suspects of onion, garlic, basil, and I believe thyme and oregano. Salt, pepper, and maybe a little bit of some pepperoncini. It was topped with peccorino romano.It was very simple and very, very good. The past was a good dried pasta, not fresh. That didn't really matter though. The pasta was perfectly done, with a nice seasoning from the water. It was also inexpensive, around 5-6 Euro for a plate. We also had the house wine which was very good. Overall I give it a 4 out of 5

Spaghetti  vongola

Rigatoni carbonara

Osteria Dell'Anima is located right behind Piazza Navona. It is another hidden place. We sat and ate dinner after visiting the Pantheon and Piazza Navona. I had the spaghetti vongola. That's spaghetti with clams. And that was about all that was in it. Nicely cooked spaghetti and tender clams, topped with parsley. The sauce tasted like clam liquor (the water from inside the clam) or possibly bottled clam juice, and pasta water. Over all the dish was very intense. The sauce tasted of clam amplified by 10. It was almost overwhelming. And it made the actual clams taste a little boring. If they could have married the taste of the clam with the sauce it would have been excellent. The pasta was a dried pasta and was cooked nicely and had a good flavor to it. Overall it was a pretty good dish. The rigatoni carbonara was pretty good. It was nice to see the carbonara on something other than spaghetti. The carbonara was nice and creamy and flavorful. The pancetta added a nice smokiness to the dish while the parmesan added a nice salty note to the dish. The rigatoni had a nice firm texture to it. A very good meal. 3.5 out of 5

L'Archetto

Bruschetta with artichokes

Lobster Spaghetti

Spaghetti with spicy tomato sauce

Once again another restaurant a little bit off the beaten path. This one specialized in spaghetti with over 100 different spaghetti dishes. We started off with a bruschetta with artichokes on top. It was very good. It had a topping of cooked down artichokes that was somewhat creamy that sat on top of mozzarella and toast. It had a very good artichoke taste and the cheese and bread were also good quality. I had the lobster spaghetti. The pasta was a really good dried pasta that was cooked perfectly. It was in a lobster cream sauce. The lobster was very delicate and very sweet. It was good lobster. There was also some parmesan in the sauce. It was a very good pasta dish. Melanie had a spaghetti with a spicy tomato sauce. The sauce consisted of fresh tomato, very good pancetta, parmesan, onion, garlic, basil crushed red pepper. Everything worked well together but the pancetta was the star. It had a nice heat to it, and a freshness from the fresh tomato and basil. Overall it was very, very good. 4 out of 5

Trattoria Abruzzese

Bucatini all'Amatriciana

Spaghetti Carbonara

Veal Ravioli in meat sauce

Osso Buco con fungi

Chicken with sage

Tiramisu

Trattoria Abruzzese is a little restaurant off the beaten path that specializes in local Roman and Abruzzese dishes, as well as some other regional Italian dishes. We had to stop and try this restaurant as Melanie's grandfather came to the USA from Abruzzo, the region directly east of Lazio, where Rome is located. We ate here on our last day in Rome. To start Melanie ordered the spaghetti carbonara. Let's start with the pasta. Once again a high quality dried pasta. It was cooked perfectly al dente and seasoned well. The sauce was a classic carbonara of egg, milk/cream, pancetta and parmesan. The pancetta was the standout of the carbonara. It was thick, salty, had a nice fattiness to it, and just delicious. The sauce was well seasoned with black pepper. Everything was in balance. By far this was the best carbonara we had in Rome. I started with the classic Abruzzese dish of bucatini all'Amatriciana. The bucatini was outstanding and perfectly al dente. The sauce seemed to be a fresh, homemade long cooked tomato based sauce with onion, garlic, crushed red pepper, guanciale (a delicious cured pig jowl), and pecorino romano cheese. It was absolutely delicious. All the ingredients worked well together, the red pepper adding spice, the guanciale adding smoke and salt, and the onion and garlic adding a sweetness. There was only one problem... I found a bug in my dish. I was so disappointed as it was so good up to that point. To his credit, the waiter looked very disappointed and took my plate back and started yelling at the chef. He came back out and offered another dish on the house and I agreed. He suggested the ravioli filled with veal and in a meat sauce. It was very good. The filling was very mild being veal but it was also very flavorful. The meat sauce was "like mom makes" as Melanie put it. It was a very good substitute for the original. The second dish for Melanie was a simple chicken with sage. The chicken breast was pounded thin and sautéed in a sage infused oil with some fresh sage. It was also seasoned with salt and finished with a little butter. It was very good for being so simple. The chicken was cooked beautifully so it was moist and not dry at all. The sage flavor was prominent but didn't overpower any of the other flavors in the dish. I had osso bucco con funghi. It is a veal shank with the bone in so that the marrow roasts while the meat cooks. The meat was so tasty. It also had a nice consistency. The problem with veal is that sometimes it is almost too tender. It was smothered in a sauce of tomato and mushroom. I was a little disappointed in the sauce as the mushrooms were either canned or jarred, not fresh. The sauce base was like the same for the bucatini. The marrow was very good too. We finished with tiramisu and it was a fantastic rendition of the classic dessert. Overall pretty good. The obvious downside to the meal was the finding the bug. While that cannot be overlooked (and I do have to dock a little bit from the rating) the response to it was great and the food was very good, classic Italian fare. Perhaps the best food outside of La Pergola. 4 out of 5

Pizza, Pizza

Continuing on the Italian theme I will be focusing on pizza, or the plural pizze as you will sometimes see in Italy. To be honest we had quite a bit of pizza while in Italy. In fact we had pizza of some form at five different restaurants. There were basically two types of pizza we had, Neapolitan and Roman. Neapolitan pizza comes from Naples and is a thinner crust pizza that much of our pizza in the US is based on. A New York thin crust is essentially an American version of a Neapolitan. Roman pizza has a little bit of a thicker crust to it, similar to a personal pan pizza, only better and without the pan. Most all of the pizzas seemed to be made to order, were handmade, and baked in a wood burning pizza oven. So on to our journey of pizzerias.

Cafe Leonardo
May 22 2012

Cafe Leonardo was located around the Piazza de Spagna, also known as the Spanish Plaza and home to the Spanish steps. We ate lunch there while some rain moved through the area. After looking through the menu we ordered a pizza diavola. This was the first time we ordered one, but would not be the last. It is a simple pizza composed of a tomato sauce, mozzarella, and spicy salami. It was more toward the Roman style than Neapolitan. The salami had some nice heat to it and had a nice "cured" taste that good salumi (Italian cured meats) has. It was from a large roll of salami thinly sliced. In my opinion it was the best part of the pizza. The mozzarella was nice if not spectacular. I would call it very average compared to other pizzas we had. It didn't have quite the same creaminess and flavor other mozzarella had. The tomato sauce was again good but not spectacular. It had good tomato flavor but was neither sweet, fresh, or zesty. Just middle of the road like the cheese. The crust was nicely baked and had a nice flavor pizza gets when it has been in a wood oven. It was again pretty average compared to the other pizzas we had in Rome though. The service was good and waiter friendly. Overall I give it a 2.5 out of 5. The salami was very tasty but the rest of the pizza was average, tho I have to admit that it would be one of the better pizzas in Grand Rapids.

Pizza Forum
May 23 2012

Pizza Forum is located behind the Colosseum. As the name implies this is a pizzeria and it does pizza like no one else. We ate lunch there before going on a tour of the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Capitoline Hill. We ordered another pizza diavola. The spicy salami was awesome. It was diced up instead of sliced like at Cafe Leonardo, and had a nice spice to it. It also had a smokey quality to it. The mozzarella was creamy, flavorful and very fresh. The tomato sauce had a fresh, sweet, and herbal flavor to it. In my opinion it was the best sauce we had. The crust was outstanding. It was definitely hand made, thin, perfectly baked and very flavorful. The pizza is baked in a wood oven and as you can see from the picture, had that wonderful blistering that occurs in a hot wood oven. Simply put, this was the best pizza I have ever eaten (although Melanie thinks another place is better). This isn't hyperbole, this is the honest truth. The service was fairly good and value outstanding. I loved this pizza, so I give it a 4 out of 5.

Pizza Ciro
May 23 2012

Pizza Capricciosa

Pizzette fritte

Pizza Bufalina DOC

Tiramisu

We ate at Pizza Ciro Wednesday night after the tour. It also was the same day we ate at Pizza Forum. Pizza twice in a day! It too was very good. We actually started by ordering the pizzette fritte, or fried pizza dough. Similar to pizza puffs at some area restaurants. Except it was better. It was sprinkled with salty parmesan, pizza sauce, and field greens. All the flavors worked well and the greens added a nice freshness to a heavy tasting, albeit delicious, appetizer. We then ordered our pizzas. Melanie got the Bufalina DOC and I got the Capricciosa. The Bufalina DOC consisted of little cherry tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, parmesan, and olive oil. The buffalo mozzarella comes from domestic water buffalo and was outstanding. It was creamy and fresh tasting. It had a slightly different taste then regular fresh mozzarella, and was creamier. The cherry tomatoes were good and added a nice, fresh acidity to the pizza. The parmesan added a nice little salty note. There was no sauce on this pizza. But it didn't really need it. The crust was a Roman style, thicker than the other pizzas we had, and wood fired. It was very good. Melanie loved it and said it was the best pizza she had in Rome. My pizza capricciosa consisted of tomato sauce, prosciutto, mozzarella, artichokes, mushrooms, and olive oil. It was good. The artichokes and mushrooms were not fresh, but were canned/jarred. They were good, but I would have preferred fresh. The prosciutto was ok, it wasn't as good as other prosciutto I had on the trip. The tomato sauce was very good, only Pizza Forum's sauce was better in my opinion. It was fresh with slightly more cooked taste than Forum's with a nice herbal note of basil. The crust was the same as what Melanie had. To finish we had tiramisu. It was very good. The lady fingers held their shape nicely and the cream had a nice coffee flavor. The chocolate added a nice compliment to the coffee flavor. The service was very good. Overall I give Pizza Ciro a 4 out of 5. It was very good, but I felt that Pizza Forum's pizza was a little better. It was a close call though. But the service and the other food we had bumped up the score.
 
Borgo Nuovo
May 24 2012

Borgo Nuovo was located near the Vatican. Melanie had the pizza diavola. In my opinion this was the worst pizza we had in Rome. It was a Roman style pizza with typical diavola toppings. The salami was good, but nowhere near as good as the other two diavola salamis. The mozzarella was ok, nothing great. Definately not as fresh as Ciro or Forum. The sauce tasted like a very good canned sauce. The crust was done in a regular pizza oven as opposed to a wood burning one and was very one note. I think it falls somewhere between a very good take out pizza and an average restaurant pizza. Service was good. 2 out of 5

Tiepolo Lounge
May 21 2012

The Tiepolo Lounge is located in the main lobby at the Rome Cavelieri Hotel. We were hungry one night so went down for a bite and a drink. We ordered a focaccia (flatbread cousin of pizza) with arugula, speck, and spreadable cheese. It was very good. Speck is a smoked prosciutto from the north of Italy. It was very good, combining the taste of a very good prosciutto with a smokiness that was very nice. It complimented the peppery flavor of the arugula very nicely. The cheese served as a nice base and platform. It was smooth and creamy and had a very mild goat-cheese like flavor to it. There was also a little olive oil drizzled over top that added a fruity note to it. The flat bread was very good with a lot of herbs mixed into the dough. Overall it was very good, but pricy at over 20 euro for it. I give it a 3.5 out of 5.