Nick's pate choux

About a month and a half ago Nick bought Michael Ruhlman's newest book Ratio. It's all about how a lot of things in cooking are ratios, and if you change one of the parts (fat could be butter or oil or lard) or the ratio itself, it would make something different. Of course, the first thing to come to mind is baking.

Nick's first foray into the book was to make shortbread cookies, which were deliciously sandy and buttery. Afterward he decided his next project would be the pate choux dough. Apparently, the dough can be made into many things including, but not limited to, cream puffs and gnocchi. I had no idea that gnocchi could be made without potatoes.



First, he made cream puffs. I loved how they looked on the silicone mat. I had some from the first batch with pistachio ice cream from Maple View Farms. They were great. The next day, Nick decided to make his own pastry cream, so I had some of the next batch with that. Also delicious. Pastry cream on the left, ice cream on the right.



Lastly, he turned out some new pate choux dough with parmesan cheese. The next day, he squeezed out little tubes of dough and cut them into boiling water. After they cooked, he sauteed them with butter, mushrooms, farmer's market spinach, and cream. It was a rich dish, and it might have been a good idea to serve it with greens and vinaigrette to cut the richness. Instead, we ate the gnocchi with bacon. Still good, right?

Winter Break

Sorry for the break in posting. Will relaxing in 75 degree weather in southern California count as an excuse? I had a great time at home, eating almost every kind of Asian food I could get my hands on. I think the only one I missed on my list was Malaysian food.

I also saw friends, looked at wedding dresses, and adored my nieces. It was jam-packed!

I wanted to spotlight this Vietnamese dish my mom made for me on Christmas day. It's banh beo, which are little disks of rice flour noodle that have been steamed and topped with various delicious things. I prefer the "wet" version, which is bigger than the "dry" and has a topping made with pork, shrimp, shrimp head, fish sauce, and corn starch, accompanied by scallion oil, deep fried shallots, and nuoc cham. Hope you enjoy the following photos as much as I enjoyed eating the banh beo!

First, the meat filling, in all its raw glory. The shrimp heads lend flavor and color.



Deep frying the shallots.



Steaming the rice flour mixture.



The assembled product. YUM!

Fall Break

Currently in LA.

Watching lots of tv in HD.

Met up with the Gastronomer and the Astronomer at Blue Cherry. May have found fro-yo that I like! (not too tart) Got to introduce them to my favorite guy. =)

Banh xeo for breakfast. JTYH knife-cut noodles (pan fried and in beef noodle soup) for lunch. Roast duck during dinner. Fosselman's for dessert.

Tomorrow dim sum with Nick's siblings. Pho ga with family for moon festival. Seeing the girls and Connie's new house.

Monday banh cuon or In N Out (or both?). Huntington Chinese garden. Chiu chow garlic crab for dinner.

What a fabulous three day weekend...

Scallop dinner

Yesterday afternoon Nick and I wandered up and down Ninth Street in Durham after taking pictures downtown for a group project. Looking for refreshment we stopped in at Ox & Rabbit for a dark chocolate milkshake. The place only just opened up in late May of last year. I may be slightly lactose intolerant, but I refuse to give up cheese and ice cream. It was creamy and delicious. After they closed at 5pm (it was Sunday, after all) we made our way to Whole Foods to spoil ourselves.

After perusing the seafood counter, we decided to bring home 6 sea scallops for a cost of $14.50. We normally don't spend this much on seafood but if you think about it, the same portion at a restaurant would cost at least double that.

For dinner Nick seared the scallops with salt and pepper. I checked our Food and Wine 2007 cookbook for instructions. I think it was the first time I opened that thing. We found it on one of our travels in northern California for only a dollar...and it was still 2007!

I made some oven-baked polenta from our trusty "Great Food Fast" cookbook (thanks, Martha Stewart!). You just pop it in the oven for 30 minutes, no stirring necessary, and you still get creamy results. I then roasted up some asparagus we had lying around in the fridge that we needed to use. Nice and easy.

Our end result?


Eaten while watching Sunday night television. A nice summer evening, I'd say.

Some home cooking

In the beginning of April Nick and I took time to make something new at home during the horrific two weeks I just had. Inspired by a picture of katsu curry on Gastronomy, I decided I wanted to make it. Nick is already skilled in making katsu and we happened to have a block of Japanese curry sitting in the pantry so it seemed like a perfect fit. After researching on a good side dish, we made a shredded cabbage salad with a custom ginger-miso dressing.

It took a while, but Nick made the katsu perfectly while I did the curry with ground beef, carrots, and onions and made up the salad and dressing. I think I'm getting the hang of the homemade dressing now!

Here's our dinner on April 5th:


Looked delicious and tasted delicious, too.