Week 3: Dan Dan Mien and Fuji apple salad with kimchi, bacon, and maple labne

For the potstickers:

buy potstickers or gyoza (the way I see it, unless you make your own dough it it isn't really worth making your own, and the dough rolling takes a lot of time)
heat frying pan to medium high
put 1 t of oil and 2 T of water in pan
add dumplings
cover and cook for 10 minutes
uncover and evaporate all water
serve with dipping sauce--1/2 vinegar, 1/2 soy sauce
add scallions, ginger, chili garlic sauce, and/or sesame oil if desired
my favorite is black (chinkiang is best), but red or white rice vinegar also work.

For the salad:
This recipe is from David Chang's Momofuku cookbook and is one of the few recipes I make from a single recipe. The maple-yogurt mixture is addictive. He includes a recipe to make kimchi, I just use a local Korean market's.

4 Fuji apples
1/2 cup Napa Cabbage Kimchi, pureed
1/2 cup labne (strained yogurt--just strain plain yogurt overnight in a coffee filter or cheesecloth)
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 pound bacon
2 cups loosely packed cup arugula
2 T olive oil
salt and pepper

Cut the apples into ~1 cm cubes. Toss the apples in 1/2 c. kimchi puree. You can do this just before making the salad or up to 6 hours in advance—any longer and the apples will be overwhelmed by the kimchi.

Combine the strained yogurt and maple syrup in a small bowl and whisk until smooth.

Heat the oven to 350F. Arrange the bacon on a rack above a baking shee and pop it into the oven. Bake for 18 minutes, or until it is browned and crisped. It needn't be any more than lukewarm when you serve the salad, but it shouldn't be cold or greasy. (If you're preparing all the elements in advance, slightly undercook the bacon up to a couple hours ahead of time and then reheat and recrisp it in a 200 to 300F oven.)

Just before serving, toss the arugula with the olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.

To serve, plop a dollop — 1 to 2 tablespoons — of the maple-yogurt in the middle of each plate and top with one-quarter of the kimchi apples. Sprinkle bacon over the apples and drop a handful of the dressed arugula over the bacon.

For the noodles:

Dan-dan (or tan-tan) noodles have many variations, the major difference being whether they incorporate a sesame/peanut sauce or not. I prefer with sesame sauce, but made it separately and optinal in the shared version. Vegetables aren't traditional in the noodle dish, but the recipe for dry-fried string beans/ma-po tofu have such similar seasoning that I like to just add them to the noodles according to my nutritional desires.

1 lb. noodles--I like udon for their width, but chinese wheat noodles are traditional. Given that these are just wheat and water, pasta also works.
1/2 lb. ground meat
garlic
shallots
ginger
preserved vegetable
scallions
sesame oil
soy sauce
chinkiang vinegar
chicken broth or water
chili bean paste
(sesame paste)
(toasted sesame seed)
(szechuan peppercorn/prickly ash)
(actual vegetable)

If using dried noodles, cook noodles according to directions and cool. coat with 1 t sesame oil.

Toast szechuan peppercorn in dry pan until fragrant. Grind finely in spice grinder or mortar and pestle. The sichuan peppercorn is somewhat numbing, and the idea of ma-la (numbing-spicy) dishes such as dan-dan noodles have have sichuan peppercorn to balance red chili heat. Plan on using 1 t. ground peppercorn at the most, though roasted ground peper can be stored for a month or so.

Marinate ground meat in 1 t. soy sauce, 1 T rice flour/cornstarch/cassava flour, 2 t. rice wine, 2 t. chili bean paste, 5 garlic cloves, and 1 t chopped ginger. Vegetarians can just leave this out, and not worry about thea seasongings, though adding more garlic and ginger later can't hurt.

Everything is to taste, so I'll approximate my tastes in the amounts. I like things spicier and slightly saltier than most people, so keep that in mind.

Cook the meat mixture over medium heat. I usually break up ground meat with a potato masher in the pan. Add additional garlic and shallots when meat bgins to release fat. I use 1 shallot and 5-6 more garlic cloves. Add rinsed, chopped preserved vegetable after garlic and shallots start to brown. Add 1/2 t. ground roasted sichuan peppercorn and additional chili bean (or chili garlic) paste to taste. I like 2 T, but this is on the spicy side.

If adding vegetables such as green beans I use the same technique I usually use to add veggies (usually broccoli) to a stir-fry. Microwave the beans for 1 minute, then add to the frying pan and toss with other ingredients.

Mix equal amounts light soy sauce, chinkiang vinegar (or rice wine vinegar), and chicken stock (or veg. stock or water). Make enough to make the noodle mixture saucy--probably about 1/2 c. each. Add 3 T sesame paste and/or ground peanuts if desired.

Add noodles and above sauce mixture in to preserved vegetable/ground meat mixture. Turn off heat immediately and mix.

Serve. Toppings may include toasted sesame seeds, chopped scallions, cilantro, additiona chili/chili paste, sichual peppercorn, and/or ground peanuts.

Week 2:Yellow curry, cucumber relish, and papaya salad

For the curry there is an easy, everyday version, and a make your own paste version. MaePloy curry paste is quite good.

for the yellow chicken curry:
1.5 lb chicken
3 medium potatoes
1 can coconut milk
2-3 T yellow curry paste
fish sauce
pinch sugar
lime juice (or tamarind concentrate)

Boil and peel potatoes. Cut chicken into bite-size pieces. In a large pot or pan start cooking the curry paste over medium heat in a little bit of oil. When it starts to sizzle add about 3-4 T coconut milk and stir--it should have a pasty consistency. Raise heat to medium-high. Add chicken and spread over bottom of pan. Cook for about 4 minutes, then add the rest of the coconut milk and potatoes. Add 1 T fish sauce, a pinch of sugar, and juice of half a lime. Stir, then taste sauce and adjust to your taste--add more curry paste or chilis for more heat, sugar for sweetness, lime/tamarind for sourness, and fish sauce for saltiness. Cook until chicken is cooked through. Serve with jasmine rice, lime wedges, chilis, and herbs like cilantro or basil. You can also add/substitute vegetables for the potatoes--green beans work well. Just add raw at the same time potatoes are called for.

for the rice:
cook 1 cup jasmine rice with 1.5 cups water. Bring to a boil in lidded pot, when at a boil turn to low and cook 20 minutes.

for the cucumber relish:
this is an actual recipe from David Thompson's "thai food", thoe cookbook that seems authentically Thai and interesting to me, a white lady from Iowa. I uses a high ratio of cucumbers to dressing and omitted the chilli to make this the cooling dish in case others were too hot to handle.

cucumber (2, peeled and sliced, or 3)
2 T vinegar (rice? white? whatever?)
3 T sugar
4 T water
pinch salt
4 shallots, finely sliced
2 T julienned ginger
1 thai chilli
1 T cilantro

combine vinegar, sugar wather and salt in small saucepan and bring to ta boil. Remove when sugar is dissolved. Mix with remaining ingredients.

For the green papaya salad (som dtam):

3 cloves garlic
pinch salt
4-6b chillies
2 T dried shrimp
1 T roasted, chopped peanuts
1 slice lime
4 cherry tomatoes
2/3 cups beans, cut in 1 cm lengths
2 cups shredded (peeled) green papaya (or green mango)
2 t palm sugar (or sugar)
1 T lime juice
1 T tamarind waer
1-2 T fish sauce
fried shallots

Pound garlic and salt and chilli in a mortar and pestle. Add peanuts and dried prawns. Add papaya shreds and pound.

Add remaining ingredients and mix. Add additional chilli, lime, fish sauce, sugar to balance hot/sour/salty/sweet taste.

Week 1: Spaghetti alle vongole and a fennel/orange salad

For spaghetti with clams:
1 lb spaghetti
24 littleneck clams
8 cloves garlic
1/3 cup olive oil
1 cup white wine or dry vermouth
salt
parsley

Clean the clams:
to make sure they are purged of sand submerge in saltwater with some cornmeal added. This can take an hour or so, so put them in before starting any prep. Before cooking scrub the shells of any remaining sand/dirt.

Start salted water to boil for pasta. Next get all ingredients ready--mince 8 cloves of garlic (I use a garlic press) and wash and finely chop about 1/2 bunch parsley, and make sure the clams are clean. Start cooking garlic in the olive oil in a large frying pan on medium-low heat a couple minutes before water comes to a boil. Make sure garlic does not brown. I often use garlic and shallots. Once the water boils add the pasta and cook for the designated time. Assuming it is a bit more than 10 minutes the clams and pasta should be done at the same time. Add clean clams to the olive oil and garlic. Add some pepper flakes if desired. Pour in the wine and put a lid on the pan. Peek after 8 minutes to see if clams have opened. If they have, remove to a cutting board with tongs. Pull the clam out of the shell with a fork and make sure you return all clam juices to the pan. Discard the shells. Continue cooking the sauce without the opened clams. If any clams remain closed after most of the shells have opened discard them. Chop all clams. The pasta should be done by now (or prior to this point--just drain the pasta when done.) After clams are chopped, toss the past with the sauce over heat, add chopped clams, and remove from heat. Stir in parsley and serve. You can also make red clam sauce by adding tomatoes before adding the clams.

for fennel-orange salad:
1 bulb fennel
5 mandarin oranges--satsuma mandarins are the easiest to peel
3/4 cup shelled pistachios
a bunch arugula
1/2 red onion
1/2 tsp. sugar
red pepper flakes
2 T olive oil
1 T red wine or other vinegar
salt and pepper

Toast pistachios in a 350 degree oven until fragrant--usually about 10 minutes. When they are almost done squeeze the juice of one mandarin into a small frying pan. Add 1/2 tsp sugar, a pinch of salt, and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Cook over medium heat until it thickens and add the toasted pistachios. Stir the pistachios to coat--continue stirring until coating starts to caramelize. Remove from heat. Chop fennel and onion into thin shreds and place in serving bowl. Cut mandarins in half and add halved segments to serving bowl. Salt and pepper lightly and let sit while doing other prep. Just before serving mix olive oil and vinegar with salt and pepper for dressing. Place arugula on top of fennel/onion/mandarin mixture, add dressing, and toss so oranges and onions come to the top. Add candied pistachios to the top and serve.