Falling for Fall

This is just about that time of year when the hustle bustle begins. It seems like there isn't enough time in the day to do everything on my checklist. On top of that, transitions and travel will be making it hard to blog consistently. So I'm taking a mini-blog hiatus to just be present in my life rather than looking at it with my retrospective blogging goggles. I promise I'll be back though with renewed energy and tasty recipes.

In the meantime, I leave you with thoughts and images of fall. Notice the braided theme?

1. A display at World Market which required all self-discipline not to jump head-first into. 2. A mustardy yellow sweater I am coveting. 3. Challah (image from here), which has been on my "to-make" list since Fall started. 

Thanks for reading and hope you have a great few weeks!

Dining In: Durham, NC - Alfredo's Pizza Villa

Growing up in NJ, we had no shortage of great Italian pizzerias and restaurants. It's New Jersey after all. And given that pizza is one of my favorite food categories, I'm always on the search for pizza that reminds me of "home." The Husband and I have this thing where we try new pizzerias and rate the quality of the pizza on several dimensions as we gobble down the slices. (Yes mom, we talk with our mouths full.)

I think different people focus on different elements of pizza, whereas for me the Sauce and Crust are huge. In my mind, if the crust and sauce are made right, I should be able to eat it with no toppings at all and still derive the same amount of pleasure as a full-topping-ed version. For The Husband, italian sausage, mushroom, and black olives are a must-have, but the crust must be crisp - in fact - almost crunchy. You can probably imagine the discussions we've had about all the pizza joints that we've frequented. This is no small issue for us.

We recently went to Alfredo's Pizza Villa in the Hope Valley area of Durham. An unassuming location inside a massive shopping complex. We honestly would not have gone there unless a friend recommended it. We ordered a (massive) 16 inch pie (yes, I call them pies!) with red sauce, cheese, italian sausage, mushroom, and black olives.

The crust was pretty reminiscent of pizzas I remember eating in Jersey. Chewy and yet crisp enough that you can hear the crunch in your head as you bite down on the slice. The sauce is slightly sweet (a requirement for me) and not overwhelming the pizza or making it soggy. The pictures really don't do this pizza justice.

We left saying to each other, "Maybe we've just found our local pizza joint." Just maybe... since our search for the perfect pizza is likely to be a lifelong process.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Langostino Pasta with Golden Cherry Tomatoes

Someone once asked if I could put together some recipes for "(lazy) single men." When I think of single men, I initially think of guys who order pizza and drink soda every night. But, I am quickly learning that some single men have quite a taste and eye for good food. This recipe was thrown together only because I had an entire carton of these golden orange cherry tomatoes that needed to be eaten before we left on a trip.

Langostino is kind of like good ol' southern crawfish, but always seems a little fancier to me because of it's fancier name. You can buy these frozen at Whole Foods and it takes all but 5 minutes soaked in lukewarm water to defrost. Again... super easy for the casual single guy. What is great about these tomatoes is that they are super sweet and since I like my pasta sauce a little on the sweeter side, I don't need to add anything to reduce the acidity.

Langostino Pasta with Golden Cherry Tomatoes

Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup langostino tails or shrimp
1.5 cups orange cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup white wine
Salt and pepper to taste

Pasta of your choice

Directions
1. Heat salted water for pasta.

2. Sautee garlic in olive oil. Add tomatoes and let simmer for a few minutes. At high heat, add white wine.

3. Once white wine has cooked off (it no longer tastes or smells acidic), add langostino and salt and pepper to taste.

4. Toss over warm pasta with parmesan cheese.

Voila! Perfecto in about 15 minutes. Talk about the easiest "fancy" pasta dish in the world.

Sorry for the lack of posts! Travel always throws things off. However, The Husband and I are off for our East Coast Tour in a few weeks where I'll be sure to document our food finds!

Have a patient Thursday!

Japanese Custard Pudding

If you've ever been to Asia, you likely have encountered various forms of pudding made of yellowy, egg custard topped with a layer of velvety caramel sauce. This much beloved dessert has spawned cartoon characters, popsicle flavors, and even pudding-shaped costumes. 

This weekend, The Husband and I decided to try our hand at making this dessert with the help of the Cooking with Dog series. This is a hilarious Japanese youtube series in which a gray poodle narrates all of the instructions while a deft Japanese woman demonstrates. 

Japanese Custard Pudding

Serves 4, depending on size of custard cup

Ingredients

Caramel Sauce

4 tbsp Sugar


1 tbsp Water


1½~2 tbsp Hot Water

Custard Pudding

2 Eggs


250 ml Milk (8.45 fl oz)


5 tbsp Sugar

4 Pudding Molds

Small tab of unsalted butter

Directions

1. Coat inner surface of pudding mold with unsalted butter. Makes removal from molds easier after the custard has set.

2. For caramel sauce, place sugar and room temperature water in a pot and heat at medium heat. Swirl the pot back and forth while the sugar caramelizes to a golden brown color. (Make sure you don't burn the sugar or it will taste bitter!)

3. Remove from heat. Then pour hot water into the caramelized sugar to thin out the caramel and deglaze from sides of the pot. (Be careful as this process will release a lot of steam so don't burn yourself.)  Pour sugar into pudding molds. 

4. Crack eggs into a bowl. Lightly beat the egg with a whisk and keep the whisk on the bottom of the bowl to prevent too much air/foam from getting into the egg mixture. 

5. Add milk and sugar in a pot. Stir and heat on stove until sugar is dissolved. 

6. Combine milk and egg mixtures. Strain through strainer and pour mixture into pudding molds. Cover each mold with aluminum foil. 

7. Heat water in a pan with a small towel at the bottom of the pan. Water level should cover bottom half of the pudding molds. Keep water temperature at just below the boiling point and steam for 18-20 minutes. Watch the water periodically to see if it has developed into a boil and adjust temperature as needed. 

8. Remove pudding molds from pan and chill for several hours until the custard has set. Then use a thin knife to separate the sides of the custard from the mold. Tap around the mold to release the custard from the mold. Flip upside down on to a shallow bowl or plate. Serve immediately. 

The combination of lightly sweetened smooth custard and the slightly bittersweet caramel sauce was quite divine. The slight bitterness of the caramel reminded us of a coffee flavor, which is commonly added in some recipes. The little dimples throughout the outside of the pudding seemed to result from foam or bubbles during the custard-making process. We'll definitely try to fix that problem before we serve to guests. 

In doing our research for this pudding, we found that this type of pudding is found in many different European, Latin, and Asian cultures all with their own little spin. Some adding condensed milk and some adding cream. The possibilities are endless with this dessert as you start to include additional flavorings such as coconut, coffee, or mango. 

Hope you give this recipe a try or at the very least watch some of the Cooking with Dog series. It is quite hilarious! 

Have a joyous Wednesday! 

Rosemary Bread

This post is dedicated to two amazing people, J & V, whom I've known since 1st grade and who are also getting married to each other this week. I get to make a trip to our childhood town (it's been a long time) and celebrate their wedding day!

The backstory to this bread is that V proposed to J by asking their local, favorite bakery to bake a ring into their signature rosemary bread (how cute!). Unfortunately, the ring was in the middle of the bread so J had to eat a lot of bread (with the prodding of V) before realizing what was about to happen.

To add to the beauty of this story, the recipe was on the back of their gorgeous wedding invitation, which J drew by hand. I just had to try this recipe out in honor of their big day. :)

Rosemary Bread by Amy's Bread
Makes 2 loaves of bread

Ingredients
1/4 cup warm water
1 cup cool water
1 tsp active dry yeast
2 cup starter (below)
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup fresh rosemary leaves, chopped
3 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 cup organic whole wheat flour
1 tbsp + 2 tsp kosher salt
_______________________________________
Starter
1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1/4 cup very warm water (105-115 F)
3/4 cup cool water (76-78 F)
1 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp unbleached all purpose flour

Directions
1. Stir the yeast, warm water, and starter in a large bowl until yeast dissolves. Let stand 3 minutes.

2. Then add cool water, olive oil, and rosemary. Mix.

3. Add all purpose and whole wheat flour and salt. Mix together into a ball.

4. Knead dough for approx. 7 minutes until smooth and supple. Cover and let rest for 20 minutes.

5. Return dough to lightly floured surface, knead 2-3 minutes until soft and loose.

6. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover and let rise for 1 hour. Then fold dough onto itself a few times and let rise again for another hour.

7. Place dough in a lightly floured surface, divide into 2 loaves. Form dough into 2 tight balls.

8. Cover a sheet pan with parchment paper and sprinkle with cornmeal. Place dough on to parchment paper. Cover and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.

9. Mist tops of loaves with water. Using a lame blade cut a shallow tic-tac-toe pattern on top of each loaf.

10. Slide loaves onto a baking stone, which had been preheated at 450 F. Bake for 20 minutes. Then reduce temperature to 400 F and bake 10-15 minutes longer until the loaves are light brown and sound hollow when tapped on bottom.

* Note: My first loaf got a little burnt based on these instructions so for the second loaf I only baked for 20 minutes at 450 F and then removed from oven to cool. The result was identical, but with a less burnt top.

11. Place on a cooling rack. Enjoy while still warm and crusty.

I've never made bread that has had to rise over the course of several hours, but the results are amazing. The center was super fluffy and chewy in texture and the crust was crisp and crunchy. Being my first bread that wasn't based on Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a Day like here and here, this was quite flavorful with strong notes of rosemary and a good amount of salty bite. This would be fabulous dipped in some high quality extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Congrats J & V. Can't wait to see you both on your wedding day. :) 

Have a love-filled Monday!

Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs 糖醋排骨

Continuing on with the nostalgic recipes from my mother's archives, this one is one of my favorites. If you can imagine candy in meat form, this would be it. With combinations of sweet, salty, and a tinge of sour, this dish has been one of the most often requested dishes throughout my college, grad, and post-grad years.

One of my favorite parts of this recipe is that it is SO easy to remember the proportions. My mother used to recite this recipe in Chinese in a sing-song voice and it has been imprinted in my mind forever. I hope one day my kids will have the recipe stuck in their heads forever too so they can enjoy this delicious treat.

Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs 糖醋排骨

Ingredients
1.5-2 lbs of pork ribs or baby back ribs (cut lengthwise into approx. 1 inch strips by your butcher)
1 tbsp cooking wine
2 tbsp white vinegar
3 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp sugar
10 tbsp + water

* Notice how the proportions are consecutive (1, 2, 3, 4), which means if you make more or less meat just use a larger or smaller spoon to measure out the ingredients.

Directions
1. Cut the long strips of ribs into bite sized pieces by cutting between each of the rib bones.

2. Boil a stockpot of water and blanch the pork ribs to clean and remove impurities just until the pork has turned gray. Strain and set aside.

3. In the stockpot, combine cooking wine, vinegar, sugar, and water. Turn pork ribs into the stockpot and turn on high heat.

4. This is the part that requires continued attention: As the soy sauce mixture cooks with the ribs, you must keep an eye on this because the sugar will caramelize quickly. You'll want to continue to stir and coat the ribs with the sauce that will be bubbling quickly.

5.  Once you are sure the pork is cooked, you can remove a piece and test the texture. If the meat is a little too tough, add more water as the longer the pork cooks in the mixture it will become more tender. If you are needing more salt, sugar, or vinegar flavor feel free to add more at this step.

6. When you are happy with the texture of the pork, allow the sauce to thicken to your desired consistency. It should resemble a sweet, burgundy glaze over the ribs.

7. Serve with hot white rice and enjoy!

Be ready to see these ribs disappear quickly from the plate. Might as well overestimate the number of servings just in case.

Hoping to dive into some more recipes this weekend (fingers crossed). Have a great one! 

Sunshine Lavender Farm

Over the summer, a few friends and I drove out to Hillsborough, NC to visit the Sunshine Lavender Farm for their Harvest Day, which is one of the two days each year that the farm is open to the public. If there is one scent that I absolutely love, it would be lavender. It has such a way of allowing me to relax and unwind, especially after a long day. I can't imagine what it would be like to live on a farm with rows upon rows of lavender. 

Assorted Lavender Products. 

Gorgeous lavender wreaths made before our eyes. 

Incidentally, I planted a provence lavender last year and didn't realize that it was a perennial. So, I ripped my lavender plant out of the ground before the winter hit. Then the following spring, I spoke with Anne from Sunshine Lavender Farm and she informed me that lavender plants come back every year. Oops. 

This is my first harvest from this year's newly planted Provence Lavender purchased directly from Anne at Sunshine Lavender Farm. So beautiful and so fragrant. You can also cook with Provence Lavender, which I have yet to try, but will certainly share about the attempt. 

If you have time, you should attend the farm's next Harvest Day, which is typically in June. You can find information about them on their website. Lavender is a versatile plant that is equally beautiful, fragrant, and good for your health. Wouldn't hurt to have one around the house. :) 

Have a relaxing Monday!