Mapo Tofu with Pak and Ong Choy

Though Mapo Tofu came originally from the Sichuan province in China, it is now served in Chinese restaurants all over the world, and is known to have hundreds of variations.  So, I feel fairly safe with my designation here. Bob objects to dozens of those tiny, bright red, searingly hot chili peppers scattered throughout a dish of food. So that was the first thing to go.  Instead, I just added a healthy sized dollop of Mae Ploy Chili Sauce, with the thought that what you don't see can't hurt.  Right?  And, then for it's vibrant color, sliced strips of red bell pepper.

The Ong Choy is at the very bottom of the photo.  Pond desperately in need of weeding.

Our pond, thanks to a water garden tour I took last year, now has Ong Choy growing in there.  I have read that in some places this hardy little green is taking over bodies of water and considered noxious.  A point of view that depends upon your perspective.  A good remedy would be for more of you folks to eat this plant.  It is a popular Asian green with scads of other alias', such as Swamp Cabbage, Water Convolvulus, Water Morning Glory, Pak Bung, Rau Muong, and etc.  I didn't care for the sound of Swamp Cabbage, but with so many names to choose from, we can take our pick.  The Chinese around here all know it as ong choy, so ong choy it is.

Chickpea and Potato Curry with Pattypan Squash

This is a warming, deliciously spicy dish for those meatless nights  (economic conditions are helping me with doing more of those), and you won't at all  be missing meat here either.  Caramelizing the onion gives it an extra jolt of flavor.  I made enough soaked and boiled chickpeas for two dishes, this and a nifty bowl of hummus with lots of mint and garlic.  I figure if you're going to the trouble of doing them yourself, might as well fix a bit extra.  Once the beans are ready, everything comes together pretty easily. 

The first thing is to soak your chickpeas, covered with water by at least 3 inches, overnight.  Next day, drain and cover with water, again by 3 inches,  in a medium saucepan.  Bring to a boil, then turn down to just simmering, skimming froth, and cook til tender (not mushy).  This depends on the age of the beans, etc. perhaps 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hours.  Drain in a colander, reserving some of the water for later, rinse and remove any loose skins.  Set aside.

Braised Beef with Pioppini Mushrooms and Dumplings, from Book Reviewed Culinaria Germany

I have to admit to being given this book, Culinaria Germany, almost a year ago, and never having been particularly interested in the cuisine of Germany, (sad to say) hadn't gotten around to really digging into it until this week.  What made me pull the heavy tome off the shelf was reading Cynthia Bertelsen's review of Culinaria Russia, which she entitled: A Picture Cookbook for Grownups.  It made me realize that I owned one of that series of big fat picture cookbooks and needed to get it out immediately.

This is a fantastic book, and if the rest of the Culinaria set is as good, I want them all.  With it's lavish photography,  fascinating historical background generously mixed in, the geographical and cultural notes with meticulous attention to detail, the FOOD, and RECIPES, what more could anyone want?  Since I love history, I love good travel photography, and then of course food and recipes, you know I love.  Bertelsen says in her review:  "I don’t know about you, but for me the best “foodie” thing since sliced bread is the Köneman Culinaria regions-of-the-world series, Christine Metzger, editor (now published apparently by H. F. Ullmann)."  And, I would have to agree.

Unfortunately for those of us in Hilo, Hawaii, where bookstores fold to be replaced by ever more drug stores, I may have to wait.  These are heavy books and the postage would be astronomical if ordered online.  They are at least on my wish list.

I determined to work my way from front to back, but kept getting sidetracked, jumping around with so much to absorb, leaving various bookmarks.  The book is organized according to the country's regions, the first area being Thuringia.  And, it is here that dumplings first begin to be mentioned in all their splendid variety, appropriately in a section entitled "Dumplings with.... "  Now I do have an old recipe favorite, Chicken Paprika with Dumplings, which I haven't made in quite a few years (it too needs to come back into circulation) but that was the extent of my dumplings acquaintanceship.

Favorite Fishy Patties for Daring Cooks

I would never have thought to post about some mundane fish patties were it not for this month's challenge.  The Daring Cooks’ February 2012 challenge was hosted by Audax & Lis and they chose to present Patties for their ease of construction, ingredients and deliciousness! We were given several recipes, and learned the different types of binders and cooking methods to produce our own tasty patties!

Those aren't green sunflower seeds, it's the parsley ground in with them.

As it turns out, this was an opportunity to improv off a favorite easy recipe of mine, whose source is lost in the distant past..  These patties are very simple, using no flour or eggs, but ground sunflower seeds for the binder, which works very well.  They hold together beautifully.  It calls for a can of salmon, tuna, or mackerel, but as I had some left-over cooked salmon and perhaps half a can of sardines, guess what went in these?  Add to that whatever herbs you like, half an onion, and some vinegar.  I told you this was easy.  As an added bonus, the recipe is so versatile.  Different seasonings, different fish.  You can see the orange flecks of salmon in there, bits of green parsley.  If I had any dill that would have been an obvious choice.

Mahimahi with Bells and Onions

Sometimes life makes promises that don't pan out.  Take that photo on my masthead.  The mango trees are doing it again - blooming like there's no tomorrow.  Hoping for the best.  But, here in Puna it all depends upon the weather, and mostly we can count on not getting mangoes.  Maybe one or two.  All due to rain at the wrong time.

The Allspice tree is blooming too.  And, that's another story.  A funnier one.  Or sadder. It blooms every year, but never makes any babies.  Do you know why?  You're waiting with bated breath I can tell.  Because it needs a tree of the opposite sex. Duh. Yes, sex is involved here.  The only problem with trees being that they have no external appendages by which one might tell which sex they are.  So, because my poor darling was lonely, I went out and purchased another tree, which could be of the same sex or the opposite.  Who knows?  At least not until it's big enough to make babies.  Enough about things that disappoint.

As far as this meal goes, what can I say?  It is basically a technique, and a favorite go-to of mine for chicken thighs, fish or tenderloin steaks.  I haven't posted about it before because it just seems too simple.  But, aren't the best things in life often simple?  And this one never disappoints.  You put whatever it is on top of some veggies that have been drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with herbs, (in the case of chicken, lots of garlic) salt and pepper.  Cook at 400F and that is it.  The cooking times depend on what you have.  Meal in a pan.

Potato and Cheese Pierogi and Book Review

Since being asked by Rachel of The Crispy Cook to read and review this fictionalized biography of the author's grandmother, Anna Anisovich Olchick, in Anna, Heart of a Peasant, by Carol Marie Davis, I've come to think I may have the heart of a peasant as well.  Certainly if cultivating herbs, fruits and the odd vegetable, making wine, sauerkraut, bread, jams, etc. are a criteria.  Peasants rule!

I love reading books like this one, evocative of a life and time so removed from my own, yet which reveal the relatedness of our human experience, across the generations and borders.

Though a trip through Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railway is only a dream, I do have one Russian travel story, with food involved, which this book brought to mind.  Years ago, on one of those dual purpose cargo vessels with passenger accommodation, Bob and I journeyed from Japan to Hong Kong.  The ship was Russian and so were the meals, which I remember as being excellent.  Our table mates were an Italian B grade movie producer and his Japanese girlfriend, but that's another story.  I will say she was not all that thrilled with the food, and he kept asking for more bread, which was actually quite good.  Baked on board.  That being another era, the entertainment consisted of propaganda movies, which we considered moderately interesting.  Ah, memories.

But back to the book; short, but descriptive and well-written, it is the tale of a hard life, adventure, and of a brave and indomitable spirit.  I especially enjoyed the story of Anna's escape from servitude to traveling with gypsies, eventually making her own way to America.   Davis has done her research and is able to clearly evoke the culture and landscape of peasant life in Byelorussia just before and after the turn of the century, as well as immigrant times in depression era New York.  She has also provided us food lovers with some of her grandmother's favorite traditional Russian recipes at the end.

Lasagna Cacciatora for Cook the Books Club

John and Matt Thorne's Outlaw Cook was our Cook the Books Club selection for this month, chosen and hosted by Rachel, The Crispy Cook.  It is a delightful, thought provoking read about food, and continues to be as I poke back and forth among the chapters.  The book is a collection of essays and book reviews, some of which have appeared in magazines or in the authors' own food letter, Simple Cooking, gathered about the general premise that recipes and so-called laws about preparing food are meant to be questioned, tested, played with, broken and re-arranged to suit ourselves.  We can all be outlaw cooks in other words.

There is so much here to inspire, encourage and challenge all of us who love to cook and to eat good food.  I was hard-pressed to narrow down any one thing as my inspired food offering.  Just for example, his chapters on bread, the leavens, the ovens and baking caused me to re-think our failure with an outdoor masonry oven.  Perhaps it was not the fault of the oven's construction??    If he can say:

The bread oven, however, proved to be a teacher out of my worst nightmares.  It made immediate, huge demands on my small understanding.  It not only refused to tolerate mistakes but cruelly punished them with burns and ruined bread.  It expected me to know everything and explained nothing.

Who am I to give up so easily?  Moss is growing in there now.

We will be re-firing that pile of stones, of money, perhaps not wasted, once more.  After all, I have my 200+ year old French sourdough starter, still going after all these years. An appointment needs to be made, since this is a project requiring good weather, dough started the night before, the oven fired properly this time, and so on and on.  Today would have been perfect, however as a storm was predicted, I put the leaven in the fridge, and am now looking out at a beautiful day. 

For days like this, a Bread Cloche has been ordered, which Thorne discusses as an alternative, second-best to baking in a masonry wood-fired oven.  I am looking forward to that.  As we have a wood-fired sauna,  I am familiar with getting fires going.  Not always a piece of cake, but out in an exposed situation with wind, a challenge.. My grandson was in charge of the last oven firing.  I know, but he likes to set fires, and we decided to put that energy to constructive use.

Spicy Carnitas and Black Bean Tamales

I have long harbored a secret desire to make authentic tamales.  Not exactly sure what has stopped me before now, but given an assignment, I was more than happy to rise to the occasion.  Maranda of Jolts & Jollies was our January 2012 Daring Cooks hostess with the mostess!  Maranda challenged us to make traditional Mexican Tamales as our first challenge of the year!

The initial thing is to soak your corn husks covered with water, 3 hours or overnight.  Luckily our Natural Foods Market carries them, so no problems there.  Lard however was another issue.  I'm not into buying pork or pig by-products that come from inhumane animal factories.  Since no decent lard (almost sounds like an oxymoron doesn't it?) was locally available, I decided to use duck plus bacon fat, both of which were on hand, and thinking that a bit of duck flavor wouldn't hurt.  Actually, the only thing I wasn't that totally happy with.  It goes into the tamale dough along with some broth or water and masa harina (or corn flour - which is what I had, and they turned out super).

White Bean and Tuscan Kale Soup with Chestnuts

When I've just stashed batches of newly minted chicken stock, we're ready and running in the soup department.  They're burning holes in my pockets, so to speak.  So, I riffle through a cookbook or two to see what will appeal.  This one had cannellini beans, kale, pancetta and chestnuts, a winter comfort meal if I ever heard one.  Especially since there was a package of roasted peeled chestnuts lurking from Thanksgiving.  Besides, having  read Amateur Gourmet's kale salad recipe, and wanting to try that, kale was on my shopping list.  Two things to do with a largeish bunch of kale.

Simona with macadamia nuts from our tree

Yes folks, even in Hawaii we do have winter, albeit wtih sun, blue skies and a bright orange flowering African Tulip outside.  It can be chilly, especially in the mornings.  Fellow blogger, Simona came to visit and can attest to that.  We don't get many food bloggers stopping by here on The Big Island, so it was lovely to meet her and her husband.

The soup does call for pancetta, but you can certainly use bacon, as I did, or go without and use a mushroom stock to make this totally vegetarian.  It was so yummy, we almost polished off the whole thing at one sitting. And nicely warming on a cool evening.  The Gourmet Today Cookbook was my reference for this, and unusually for me, I pretty much stuck to the recipe.  Aside that is from the bacon switcharoo.  As per Ms. Reichl, the Tuscan kale, or cavolo nero, with its vibrant green ruffled leaves and delicately rich, sweet flavor, does pair beautifully with chestnuts and white beans.