use real butter

Happy Chinese New Year to everyone! Gong Xi Fa Tsai! Jing Nian Quai Le!

It is the year of the Rat and in case you didn’t know, it’s Peabody’s year. Last year was the year of the Pig, which was my year. Since I made it through more or less in one piece, I’m going to assume that I was working the good juju. Peabody tells me she’s sharing the good juju with me into this year. I love that girl. In turn, let’s just say good juju all around for everyone! I sincerely wish each of you everything your heart desires in the new year - health, happiness, luck, fortune - all of it and more. xxoo

I began my morning quite early because I was behind schedule on making dumplings. Well, let me explain why. I spent yesterday telemark skiing with a bunch of awesome tele babes on the mountain. I felt well enough to tele all day with my D70 in tow too.

a bluebird day

janet does the balloon drill

my group: the advanced tele babes

our kickass instructor

At lunch, I discovered that my hair was starting to fall out. So after the program, I hauled my butt down to Boulder and had my head professionally shaved. [The nurse advised against doing at home since cuts and infections are potentially dangerous due to low blood count and compromised immune system.] People had told me how traumatic it was to lose their hair in clumps over a period of 2-3 days, so I promised myself I wouldn’t allow it to be drawn out. I’ve never been a girly girl who cared about being feminine or pretty or whatever - as long as I can kick ass, I’m good to go. But I will admit that it was a little disconcerting. I never realized how thick my hair is - brrrr! By the time I got home it was 6 pm and time to make the big hot pot soup and then I was pooooped.

So that’s my lame excuse for why I was behind schedule on dumplings, but the skiing was totally worth it. Jeremy and I had some sweet pastries for breakfast since he’s not a fan of Chinese sweets and I didn’t feel like making any. I cranked out several dumplings and cooked them up and stuffed a few into him before he left for work.

traditions: mandarin oranges, dumplings, rui tsai and a hong bao (red envelope)

I also hung the Chinese character fu (luck) upside down on our front door. The literal translation is that luck is upside down - dao, but in Chinese the word for upside down sounds like the word for arrives, so it means “luck arrives”.

a pic from last year because I don’t feel like shooting the current one right now

I can’t help but do a few of the traditional things for the Chinese New Year as it is the biggest holiday of my Chinese culture. Halloween is my favorite holiday, but Chinese New Year is the most important holiday to me. The Lunar New Year represents family to me more than any other time and we are to remember and honor our ancestors too. It is also when I miss my sister most because she used to call me every Chinese New Year’s Eve to ask what foods she should prepare so little Ben will grow up with our family’s Chinese traditions. She isn’t my ancestor, but I remember and honor her all the same because I loved her so very much. Jeremy was so kind as to clean The Entire House last night as we aren’t supposed to clean the house for the next 2 weeks starting on New Year’s Day - something about sweeping out the luck. Anyway, we’re both thrilled about that directive!

Right! So all of this Chinese tradition is great, but I know what makes my guy happy and one of those things would be chocolate. To be honest, chocolate makes me happy too - not eating it, but working with it.

hot cream and chopped chocolate

I still had leftover crust dough from that Daring Baker’s Lemon Meringue Pie Challenge and wanted to use it up. Jeremy seemed to enjoy the crust and I figured some little chocolaty somethings would be nice.

adding espresso

Do you ever get a cookbook and then forget about it and then rediscover it and feel like a kid on Christmas Day? It’s like that 20 dollar bill that you find in some random pocket months later… Well, Sherry Yard’s The Secrets of Baking caught my eye this afternoon and her recipe for Deep, Dark Chocolate Tart matched up with what I had in mind sans the crust (I’ll bet it would be awesome with her chocolate short dough). So I snarfed the ganache filling and made a half batch.

pouring the ganache

I baked the little crusts and had to press the top mold down pretty hard because this dough has a tendency to rise. I definitely prefer short dough to this and will use it next time. When the crusts cooled, I filled them to the brim with the soft ganache and then let them set up in the refrigerator for an hour.

piping whipped cream

Whipped cream is such a pleasant and easy topping to work with. I also love how it contrasts with a deep, velvety, rich chocolate both in color and texture. I added a bit of sugar, vanilla, and a little almond extract because I like how almond and coffee and chocolate play off one another. Just for a little spice, I sprinkled the tartelettes with some ground nutmeg.

a little something sweet

Jeremy was quite delighted to open the refrigerator this evening and see a plateful of these cuties. But they weren’t all for him, as I requested that he take some over to our neighbors (and good friends) to wish them a happy new year. I think sharing is one of the things I love about baking.

2-inch rounds of happiness

Dark Chocolate Tartelettes
ganache from Sherry Yard’s Deep Dark Chocolate Tart (The Secrets of Baking)

note: I highly recommend using a short dough instead of the crust recipe I list here. A short dough is flakier, crispier, thinner, and sweeter than the crust from the Lemon Meringue Pie recipe. Plus, it will behave better (no shrinkage) especially if you are using petits fours molds or tart pans. Just be sure to stack a second mold on top even if using short dough. Also, I only made a half batch of the ganache, but I’m listing the ingredients for the full recipe.

crust:
¾ cup cold butter; cut into ½-inch (1.2 cm) pieces
2 cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ tsp salt
⅓ cup ice water

ganache:
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate
2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 tbsp brewed coffee or espresso

whipped cream:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract

For the crust: Make sure all ingredients are as cold as possible. Using a food processor or pastry cutter and a large bowl, combine the butter, flour, sugar and salt. Process or cut in until the mixture resembles coarse meal and begins to clump together. Sprinkle with water, let rest 30 seconds and then either process very briefly or cut in with about 15 strokes of the pastry cutter, just until the dough begins to stick together and come away from the sides of the bowl. Turn onto a lightly floured work surface and press together to form a disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 20 minutes. Allow the dough to warm slightly to room temperature if it is too hard to roll. On a lightly floured board (or countertop) roll the disk to a thickness of ⅛ inch (.3 cm). Cut a circle about 2 inches (5 cm) larger than the pie plate and transfer the pastry into the plate by folding it in half or by rolling it onto the rolling pin. Turn the pastry under, leaving an edge that hangs over the plate about ½ inch (1.2 cm). Flute decoratively. Chill for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line the crust with foil and fill with metal pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and continue baking for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden. Cool completely before filling. If using petits fours molds or small tart pans, I prefer to roll the dough between two pieces of plastic wrap to less than 1/8 inch and pressing it gently into the mold. Stack a second mold on top and press down. Leave the second mold in place. Bake for 20 minutes, remove the top molds, and bake for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and gently pry the crust out from the mold and let cool on a rack.

For the ganache: Finely chop the chocolate and place in a medium heatproof bowl along with the butter. Bring the cream to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Immediately pour it over the chocolate. Let sit for a minute. Use a rubber spatula to gently stir the contents until completely blended (don’t stir all crazy-like though, because you will introduce air bubbles which will make your tart look diseased). Add the coffee and stir until well incorporated. Pour the ganache into the tart shell(s) and place in refrigerator to set for an hour.

For the whipped cream: Place ingredients in a bowl and whip on medium speed until frothy. Increase speed and whip on high until stiff peaks form (or soft peaks, if you prefer the floppy effect). Garnish tart(s) with dollops or pipe using a pastry bag.

Chinese New Year fast approaches and it is time to prepare for the festivities which almost always revolve around food. When I was growing up in Southern Virginia, I hated being Chinese because I looked different from everyone else. We ate food that was completely foreign to my friends. My parents spoke to (yelled at) me in Chinese in front of my friends and I just wanted to disappear. I endured plenty of teasing and bullying because, well… kids are assholes. I did everything in my power to avoid being seen in public with my parents. I wanted so badly to be Not Me.

I won’t bore you with my path to accepting my identity, but once I was there and donned my status as an ABC (American Born Chinese) you couldn’t stop me. Happiness comes from within and baby, I got it. That’s not to say that living the balance between western and eastern cultures is easy, but I’ve come to embrace what I used to reject as a child. Okay, I could do without the constant *guilt* in the never-ending quest to be a Good Chinese Daughter, but otherwise I have to say my Chinese culture enriches my life and I’m glad for it.

Which leads me to the food and superstitions and traditions. There is a veritable boat load of foods you eat for the Lunar New Year and each one means something! I am probably familiar with a mere fraction of them. My family does a giant hot pot filled with ingredients that all signify good things: money, health, happiness, luck, promotion, success, more money… You get the idea. Dumplings, as I’ve mentioned before, are supposed to represent money and in some instances having sons, but let’s not go there. Tofu is luck. Rice cake means a “higher” (better) year. A whole fish means happy starts and endings (head and tail, get it?). Eat something sweet first thing on New Year’s Day so sweet things come out of your mouth all year (I can hear the guffaws of all of my friends…). And there is a lucky ten ingredient vegetable dish called rui tsai. Ten is the lucky number. Eat this dish and all good things will come to you in the new year.

My mom has been making her rui tsai for years. She would bag some up and mail it to me each year before Chinese New Year. Of course, she is Chinese so there is no way she’s going to pay to ship it express. She sent it each year via our crappy US Postal Service and it usually ended up arriving anywhere from 3 to 10 days later. I’m a scientist by training and I happen to understand a lot about food safety. Each year this little package arrived in my mailbox, I felt as if I was playing Russian Roulette. See, under normal circumstances I would toss it in the trash, but my mom put so much effort into making the dish and “mailing” it to me so that I would have “good luck” all year… I felt this strong obligation to have a nibble in spite of potential hospitalization. Jeremy would always stand there watching me with my internal struggle while my chopsticks were poised over the gaping maw of the Ziploc bag. The vegetables were lovely and smelled not toxic, but - I was afraid. Obviously, I have lived to tell the tale year after year.

After last year’s repeat of fearing for my life eating week-old “lucky” ten ingredient vegetable, I swore that I would make the damn dish myself and be done with this ridiculous ritual.

But first, there is another tradition in my family of eating long noodles (not broken) on your birthday for long life. My birthday was in September. In mid-September I found a little lump in my left breast. I have neither lumpy nor huge boobies, and so it was quite obvious. I waited a few weeks to see if it would go away or if I should see my doctor. In the meantime, I completely forgot to eat noodles on my birthday. I panicked the next day when I realized I had forgotten, but the logical part of my brain (90%) said it was okay - calm down. The 10% was saying, “You are so boned!” My doctors were sure I was fine, I’m 36 after all, healthy, no prior medical problems… “Sure, go ahead and sign up for your ski program.” And then one evening in November, my surgeon called to tell me that my results were positive for cancer. Thus began this curious road I find myself on today. I know it has nothing to do with those damned noodles, but you see what these ridiculous superstitions can do to a person, or to me.

That is another reason why I decided to make rui tsai this year. My chemotherapy has rendered me immuno-compromised among many other things. Eating week-old rui tsai from my well-meaning mother is Out.Of.The.Question. She was so desperate that she even offered to FedEx the vegetables to me. Wouldn’t it be hilarious if after all of this, the thing that does me in is stir-fried “lucky” vegetables? I was worried though, because my first ten days after chemo were pretty narsty (for those who only report nausea - that’s great, have a lolly) and for a couple of days I couldn’t nibble a cracker without racking my insides. How could I possibly get the groceries and cook for the New Year? Luckily, I seem to have bounced back just in time for the Chinese New Year (and for my ski program!). At first I thought I was making the rui tsai because of that 10% of my brain, but really, I think the 90% agrees that the best thing to do is go on living life and kicking ass when you can.

count em, ten

It isn’t really ten vegetables, but ten vegetarian ingredients because tofu is one of my ingredients. I’m missing soybean sprouts, which are some of my favorites. No one in Boulder carries them and my best bet was to drive into Denver, but… the beauty of the ten ingredient dish is that you can substitute another vegetable. I asked my mom if green onions were okay as I had recalled seeing them listed in other versions and she said no. For some reason, according to my grandma, green onions are not okay. I should have known better than to ask why. She said it’s because green onions are hollow (kong) which is bad luck. So I countered that tiger lily buds are hollow. “No they’re not,” my mom replied. “Yes they are.” “Just don’t use green onions.” I bagged on driving into Denver for soybean sprouts and opted for some mediocre looking snow peas from Whole Paycheck Foods. My ten ingredients: Chinese mushrooms, tree ears, bamboo shoots, Chinese pickled cucumbers (slightly sweet and salty - not like dill pickles), dried tofu, tiger lily buds, shredded carrots, cabbage, snow peas, and pickled ginger (I used some Japanese gari - what you eat at sushi bars - unless you are Graeme).

dried tree ears

The tiny black square in the first picture is an amazingly compact package of dried tree ears. This photo is really for Christine’s benefit. Most of the time when you buy dried tree ears (wood ears, tree fungus, whatever you call it) they are loose in a bag and full of sand and tough woody segments. Pain in the butt to clean after rehydrating. But my grandma buys a certain brand (I think it may be Vietnamese?) that is not only incredibly compact, but when the tree ears are rehydrated, they blossom into lovely whole ears with nary a speck of dirt or woody undesirable parts. One day I will identify the brand.

beautiful tree ears

The first step is to rehydrate whatever dried ingredients you are using. In my case, I had Chinese black mushrooms, tree ears, and tiger lily buds. Once those are under hot water, you can address the carrots. Part of the time-consuming nature of this dish is my mom’s treatment of the carrots. She doesn’t like the shredded carrots to get soggy, so after shredding the carrots, she sprinkles about 1/2 teaspoon of salt over them and lets them sit for 5 minutes. Then she squeezes out as much juice as she can and sprinkles the carrot shreds onto a baking sheet. She told me to do this, so I did.

shredded, salted, squozen carrots

I baked the carrots in a 350F oven and stirred them about every 5 minutes. The first try of 15 minutes was too long and I got crispy carrot fries. The second try of 10 minutes worked just fine, preserving the lovely orange color. While you are waiting for drying carrots or rehydrating ingredients, you can start slicing the other items. Since everything is getting julienned I would recommend having a really good and sharp knife. Some good motor coordination helps too.

my sharpest knife makes lovely slices of the snow peas

This Kyocera ceramic knife was a gift from my parents. They called me three times to rave about it before they shipped it to me and requested a photo of it in use on a tomato. Turns out they got a big one for themselves and this mid-size for me. I love it. It is soooo sharp and works like a dream. Very dangerous. Also very fragile (brittle). Not to be used as a cleaver, ‘kay? When the dried ingredients are ready, wash them and squeeze them as dry as you can. The tiger lily buds have a woody end that should be cut off.

remove the woody end of the tiger lily buds

The dried tofu cakes can be found in most Asian markets. I like to slice them into thirds, like a layer cake, which requires a sharp knife. Then I stack them and slice them into strips.

dried tofu

My mom didn’t give me any measurements, but my general guideline was about 1/2 to 1 cup of everything. The pickled ginger and pickled Chinese cucumber were closer to 1/2 cup and the cabbage was almost 1 cup since it shrinks so much during cooking.

the mise en place takes the longest

When you are done slicing everything, each ingredient is supposed to be sautéed in a little vegetable oil and a shake of salt - separately. So I had a large bowl next to my sauté pan and stir-fried each ingredient and dumped it into the bowl until they were all done.

stir-fried

mix the ingredients together

It’s a really refreshing and crunchy vegetable dish regardless of the implications for the Lunar New Year. Slightly gingery and tangy, it is satisfying to eat. I do prefer the soybean sprouts over the snow peas, although the snow peas lend a lovely bright green color to the dish. Maybe I could trade out the cabbage for the sprouts. In any case, it’s done and so I’m hoping I have my bases covered for the year of Rat!

rui tsai : everything your heart desires

Rui Tsai (Lucky Ten Ingredient Vegetables)

1/2 cup Chinese black mushrooms, stems removed and julienned
1/2 cup tree ears, julienned
1/2 cup tiger lily buds, cut into 2-inch strips with woody stem removed
1/2 cup bamboo shoots, julienned
1/2 cup dried tofu, julienned
1 cup carrots, shredded
1/2 cup snow peas, julienned
1/2 cup pickled ginger, squeezed dry and julienned
1/2 cup pickled cucumber (Chinese style), squeezed dry and julienned
1 cup cabbage, shredded (although I prefer soybean sprouts)

Preheat oven to 350F. If your mushrooms, tree ears, and lily buds are not fresh, then place the dried ingredients in separate bowls and cover with boiling water and let sit until soft (about 30 minutes). Wash them of any sand and squeeze the water out. Trim stems as needed and slice into strips. While waiting for the dried ingredients to rehydrate, shred two carrots. Sprinkle 1/2 tsp of salt over the shredded carrots and let sit for 5 minutes. Squeeze the liquid out of the carrots and the sprinkle them over a baking sheet. Bake for 5 minutes, stir the carrots around, and then bake another 5 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside. When all of the vegetables are sliced, heat a teaspoon of vegetable oil in a sauté pan and stir-fry one of the ingredients with a dash of salt. When it is cooked, remove it to a large bowl. Repeat for each ingredient, adding each to the bowl. When all cooking is done, toss the vegetables together and serve at room temperature.

Have you ever heard of degustation? a tasting menu? I had no idea what it was until I got an email from a stranger one day… she said she liked my web pages and had I ever dined at The Flagstaff House in Boulder? She lives in Sydney, but had been there the year prior and enjoyed the 9-course degustation. Needless to say, today Kell is one of my best pals and I even had the pleasure of visiting her in lovely Sydney earlier this year (and we had a great degustation at Restaurant Balzac).

So yes, a degustation is something to pace yourself through. Tiny plates. Many tiny courses that the chef has prepared for you to experience on your culinary journey. Seems that every time I am within 2 plates of the finish, I feel like I am going to burst, to die right there at the table (just one after dinner mint?). But if you ever get the opportunity - go for the degustation. It is so much fun.

And fun is what Kaweah is all about. Today it is her 9th birthday! I know what you’re thinking… “too much spare time?” Well yes. Doc’s instructions were to “take it easy” after surgery. Gawd - take it easy?! Not in my vocabulary, really. I’ve been chomping at the bit for a week, so grant me this diversion and I won’t make a rude gesture with my good arm…

happy birthday puppy girl!

Dog menus tend to be a little more bland than what we are used to. I don’t feed my girl too many sugary and salty foods, and I certainly don’t feed her anything spicy (thoughts of a dog butt-dragging across my rug don’t appeal). No onions, grapes, mac nuts, chocolate, and other things that are harmful to dogs. So how could I make this interesting? Okay, who am I kidding… Anything remotely edible is going to interest Kaweah, but what about for my own shits and giggles? I present the menu.

woof: dog beef jerky strip with peanut butter smear and iams lamb and rice kibble

egg on egg: egg sheet round with dollop of plain yogurt topped with masago

what’s up doc?: shredded carrot salad on celery slices topped with almond slivers

iron pup: beef flank carpaccio with baby spinach

sprout wrap: shredded boiled chicken, egg sheet, parsley, in a brussels sprout leaf sprinkled with a ground peanut

jamon empanadas: honey ham whole wheat empanadas with plain yogurt

cheese plate: cheddar hearts and gruyère stars

apple stack: honeycrisp apple slices layered with peanut butter

homemade ice cream: plum ice cream on crisped rice cereal

It looks like a lot of food, doesn’t it? In volume, it probably equals just a little more than her normal morning bowl of dog kibbles. She got this instead of the kibbles this morning. She ate it just as fast.

for scale

the layout (sans ice cream finale)

Well! That was fun, wasn’t it?