Eat at Joe's

By Jim

We haven't posted about Joe's Noodle House lately because we're in Alexandria, and it's in Rockville, about 30 miles away, which means we burn at least 2 gallons of gas going there. [You know, considering how much we used to go there, I'm surprised we only posted about it once.] Saturday night, to have dinner with our friends Jason and Abby, was an exception, and we got to have some old and new favorites. And I had a full diner's card there, so we got $20 off dinner.

Appetizers were pressed bean curd with spicy sauce, tender bamboo shoots in sesame oil dressing, and baby wontons with red hot sauce.

This dish has become a favorite of ours, Tibetan Lamb, cubes of lamb wok-fried with red bell peppers, dried hot peppers, szechuan peppers, green onions, and cilantro on top. It's relatively new on the menu. And it's fantastic. Just avoid the dried peppers if you're not a chile-head.

The other dishes were Kung Pao Chicken Home Style (like they make in Szechuan, in other words incindiary), fish filet and soft tofu in Szechuan sauce (Like the old H20, but without veg and adding soft tofu), and another new one, Shanghai cabbage with garlic. This was a perfect, soothing counterpoint to our hot and spicy dining.

Needless to say, we had a lot of leftovers. And Jason and Abby let us take them home. We'll be having those for dinner tomorrow night. And if you live in the Washington, DC area, like authentic Chinese food, or are a chile-head and want something to blow your head off (get the triple pepper dry beef sautee) get up to Rockville. This is seriously good stuff. Just make sure you get some veg with your dinner to cool off with.

Schezuan Beef Noodle Soup

Lots of cooking in the kitchen this weekend. As much for the need to eat and prep my Daring Baker's May challenge as it was to relieve stress. While I can't say what I prepped for the Daring Baker's challenge, I can report that we have several containers of strawberry jam that I made yesterday.

Today was the DB prep as well as noodle for some Schezuan Beef Noodle Soup that Jim cooked up. We've only had this dish at restaurants and wanted to make it at home but never found the right recipe. Today while surfing the net, Jim came across a recipe that looked good. Using it and several others he put together a soup that was slap your momma good. I know.....terrible term to use on Mother's Day but it's true, this soup was great! And there is enough leftover for dinner tomorrow night.

To go with it, I also made scallion pancakes, another elusive recipe that I've tried to make several times before with limited success. But after looking at several, I made one that came as close to the real thing as ever.

Scallion Pancakes
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup warm water
1 tsp salt
1 bunch scallions, finely chopped
vegetable oil

Mix the flour, water and salt in a bowl until a ball is formed. Turn out onto a flat surface and knead for about 5 minutes or until smooth. Add flour or water as needed. Cover the dough and let it rest for 15 minutes.

Unwrap the dough and divide into 6 sections and roll into balls. Keep covered until ready to roll out. One piece at a time, roll out the dough into a circle about 1/8" thick and brush with oil.
Scatter about 1-2 tbsp of the scallions on top of the dough.
Roll up the dough like a cigar.
Then coil it up .Cover and repeat with the remaining pieces of dough. When all are done, take out one piece and roll it out to about 1/8" thickness. (don't worry if it squishes out green onions)Heat a skillet over medium heat with 1 tsp oil. When hot add one pancake and cook until the bottom is golden brown, flip over and brown the other side. Repeat with remaining pancakes. Slice into 4-6 pieces and serve.


Egg Free Chinese Noodles
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp coarse salt
2 tsp corn or peanut oil
1 cup water

Mix all the ingredients and knead by hand for about 5 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 30 minutes.

Unwrap the dough, cut into 4 equal pieces. Cover set aside. Take one piece at a time and flatten with your hands into a disc. Roll out to a 14 inch square (and less than 1/8" thick), dusting with flour as needed. Move the dough to a cloth or paper towel to dry while you work on the other three pieces.

Taking the first piece you rolled out, liberally dust both sides with cornstarch, smoothing it out with your hands. taking opposite edges, fold the dough into thirds. Using a pizza cutter, slice the dough into even strips about 1/8" in width (or slightly wider if you like). Unroll the noodles by tossing them with your fingers. Spread them out on a cookie sheet to dry for 15-20 minutes. You can cook them at this point or put them in a plastic bag and refrigerate or freeze them.

To cook them: Place in boiling soup or water for about 3 - 4 minutes or until desired tenderness.

Schezuan Beef Noodle Soup
3 1/2 lbs beef short ribs bone-in
2 1/2 quarts water
1/2 cup aji-mirin (or shaoxing and additional brown sugar if needed)
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tsp five spice powder (or 5-6 whole star anise pods)
2 tsp whole szechuan peppercorns
1 tsp red pepper flakes
4 inch piece of ginger, cut into several pieces and crushed with the back of a knife
6 green onions, green parts chopped, white parts crushed with the back of a knife
6 cloves garlic, crushed with the back of a knife
10 cilantro stems, leaves separated from stem pieces

Soak beef in cold water for 20 minutes to remove blood, then dispose of water
Bring 2 1/2 quarts of water to boil in stock pot.
Add beef, return to boil, skim foam and impurities from surface.
Reduce to simmer, add aji-mirin, soy sauce, five spice powder, szechuan peppercorns, pepper flakes, ginger, white part of green onions, garlic, and cilantro stems.
Simmer for 2 1/2 hours. Remove beef, then strain solids from soup and add soup back into pot. Debone the beef, then remove fat and cartilage and add back into pot.

Return to boil, use soup to cook chinese wheat noodles (store-bought or use recipe here). Also, if desired add steamed greens or use broth to cook baby bok choy or watercress. Serve in soup bowls with cilantro and green onion tops for garnish.

Joe's Noodle House, Rockville, MD

We met up with two of our friends at Joe's last night. They live in the area and it's always a good excuse to see them. As I got to the table I over heard them talking excitedly about their wedding in May. Ah, young love. But as soon as Biscuit Boy and I were seated, the wedding plans were tossed to the back burner. Something much more important had just come up......dinner.

It's funny how you get known to your friends for certain things. Good personality, funny, smart, etc. For us it seems a lot of our friends see us as the ones to eat out with, the ones who know where the best good (and inexpsive) sushi place is (Kotobuki), where the best margaritas can be found (Andale), the tastiest bar menu deals for happy hour (Corduroy) and so on.

So our friends left the ordering in our hands. Wontons with Red Hot Sauce (W01) , Tender Bamboo Shoot Salad (A19), Pressed Bean Curd w/Hot Sauce (A11) , Fish Fillet over Vegetable-Szechuan Style (H20), String Beans - Szechuan Style without pork (F14) and Bitter Melon with Beef (T05).

First to come out were the Bamboo Shoot Salad and the Pressed Bean Curd.

The Bamboo Shoot Salad is a favorite of ours. Served cold, it's seasoned with sesame oil. A very simple, yet very tasty dish.
Biscuit rating: 4 biscuits












The Pressed Bean Curd is little 1/2 inch square cubes of pressed bean curd tossed with spicy chili sauce and topped with green onions. It's also served cold but there wasn't as much heat from the hot sauce as you'd expect. It was more of a cumulative heat that never got too intense but enough to let you know it was there.
Biscuit rating: 3 biscuits

Next out of the kitchen was the Bitter Melon with Beef and the Szechuan string beans.


We've never had this dish before and felt like trying something new. And after reading Barbara over at Tigers and Strawberries talk about bitter melon, I was curious.

I knew that it was called 'bitter' melon for a reason. But exactly how bitter?

Very. Kinda like biting into a piece of lemon peel with nothing but the pith hitting your taste buds. Call me puckered up. Or pithed off (as Biscuit Boy said).

It's definately an aquired taste. The sauce was good as was the beef. It was just the overwhelming bitterness of the melon that was hard to enjoy. It wasn't awful, just not something any of us cared for. And this is not my last time to try this. I'd be game to try it again somewhere else just to see.
Biscuit rating: unrated. (I need to do some more, uh-hum, scientific research on bitter melon before I can rate this dish)


The beans were good but not as spicy and intensely flavored as the ones we had a couple of weeks ago at Tempt Asian. But they were still good. When you dug down into the bottom of the dish, lurking in the suace were little bits of garlic or possibly shallot. There was a smattering of hot pepper but enough to give you that 'pow' of heat. It just sort of went 'poof' instead.
Biscuit rating: 3 1/2 biscuits (Tempt Asians would be 4 biscuits)

Last up were the Wontons and the Fish dishes.
The Wontons with Red Hot Sauce are anothe fav of ours. Better than the ones from Tempt Asian. Why? the flavors are much more balanced. They have the heat from the hot sauce but it doesn't overwhelm the wontons. You can taste ginger and scallion floating around in the mix too. And Joe's wontons are a little meatier than Tempt Asian's.
Biscuit rating: 4 1/2 biscuits (Tempt Asians: 3 biscuits)

Finally there is this wonderful bowlful of goodness we affectionatly refer to simply as H20. That's the number on the menu for this dish. Fish Fillet over Vegetable - Szechaun Style.
It comes to the table brimming of hot fragrant spciy broth. Nestled inside are chunks of fish and hunks of cabbage. Floating on the top are a sprinkle of green onion and a nice coating of spices that include hot pepper flakes and ground szechuan peppercorns.

The combination is a spicy, tongue numbing and intense. We never took home the left over broth and the waitress would look at us like we were crazy. Then one night we said sure, wrap it up. We added some fish to it the next night and heated it up. Oh, mama. No wonder they thought we were crazy. This stuff heats up so well that it's a sin not to take the left overs home. Biscuit Rating: 5 biscuits

Which is what we did last night. We wrapped up the left over H20 broth, the last few string beans and waddled out the door. Tomorrow night we will add some tofu to the broth, cook up some rice and feast again.

Over all biscuit rating: 4 biscuits.
Our tab for the evening which included the six dishes above (and one beer for Biscuit Boy): $42. Amazing, huh?

Tempt Asian, Take Two

Biscuit Boy gave me a macro lens for Christmas. I was so excited because now I'd be able to get some really cool close up shots to post. We've been playing around with it for about a week when I decided I was ready to give it a trial run all by myself.

So last night we went to Tempt Asian which I had previously written about back in June. And while the pictures from that post were good, I was eager to see what I could with this bad boy.

When we got there the place was packed. We were seated at a table for two with another table for two sitting empty beside us and no sooner did we get settled when the waitress told us to get up so they could seat a party of four that just came in. She said another table for two was about to become available. So we got up and within a few minutes we were seated, again.

We looked over the menu with some idea of what we wanted and kept an eye out for the stuff coming out of the kitchen just incase something interesting caught our eye. We also scanned other tables, discretely, of course. The couple seated next to us was doing the same even though they had already finished eating and were paying their bill. We struck up a conversation about how fun it was to try new things here. They had a plate of Pork with Ferny Vegetables. It looked good so I asked them what ferny vegetables tasted like. “Sorta like wild mushrooms,” they said. Hmmm…..mental note to self……next time get this dish.

Our order was taken by a rather harried waitress who still maintained her smile and pleasant manner. We got pan fried dumplings as an appetizer. Yes, I know…..where’s our sense of adventure? We saw some at a table when we walked in and they looked really good and we were really hungry so just about anything we set our eyes on would have looked good.
The dumplings were tasty but nothing spectacular. As I tried to use my chopsticks to cut one in half I heard a ‘snap’ and looked down. In my hand was half a chopstick and sticking out of the still whole dumpling was the other half. Oops. I silently wondered if I had just caused a faux pas. A quick scan of the dining room assured me that nobody seemed to notice or care so I got another chopstick and just set into biting a piece of the dumpling off instead.

For our entrees, we ordered Dry Fried Green Beans and the Roasted Fish with Green Onions. Oddly enough, the fish is neither roasted of full of green onion. It’s fried with a scant amount of onion, a lot of Cumin a dash of salt and a bunch of hot peppers. Darn tasty.
The fish is served between two bamboo mats which make for a pretty presentation. The flavor and heat are well balanced and after a few bites you are addicted to it.
The green beans were also wonderful. Big chucks of garlic and pieces of red chili peeked out from all over the plate of glistening beans. The heat was just right and the beans still had just the right amount of crunch to them. Delish!

When each dish came out, I pointed the camera at the plate and took a few pictures and was quite conscious of the people sitting around us. Some looked at us like we were nuts for photographing our food.

In fact a woman at the table behind us with as much tact as a bulldozer in a mine field said to her tablemates “Will you look at that. That woman’s taking pictures of her food. Have you ever seen anything seen anyone do that before? How odd is that?”

Yes lady, I heard you as did most everyone else in that section of the restaurant. I wanted to turn to Biscuit Boy and say loud enough for her to hear “This food critic gig is great. I love the restaurant but some of the clientele (nodding my head in her direction)…..sheesh.”

But I refrained even though I should have said it or better yet gotten up and asked them if I could take pictures of their food too. Ha-ha, sometimes I just crack myself up.

So as I close my last post of the year, I want to say Happy New Year to one and all and here’s to a wonderful 2006!

Christmas Lunch

Last year we went out for Dim Sum on Christmas Day and did the same this year. Why? Because it's really good! And we love dim sum here. It's also a busy day for Mark's Duck House as people line up for dim sum or for take out. The specialty on this holiday is the whole roasted baby pig. It's an impressive sight to behold as tray after tray come out of the kitchen to awaiting take out customers. The pigs are adorned with a poinsettia flower in their mouths. Creepy and festive at the same time.

The place was packed and we waited 45 minutes for a table, but it was well worth it.
We started out with a patty of shrimp paste covered in shredded taro root then fried. And it seemed like an eternity before another cart came by. We were more interested in the steam cart which was on the other side of the dining room. Finally a cart appeared, and it had a few things we were interested in. Pan fried dumplings and scallion-seafood dumplings. A little greasy but very tasty. Now where is that steam cart! Ugh, it's still on the other side of the restaurant. Ah, another cart, what delectable treats will be have......hmmm these noodles looked good and tasted great. We also snagged some baby bok choy fresh from the kitchen (we forgot to take a picture). But where is that blasted steam cart? OH! It's coming! It's so close we can feel the steam oozing from it. Now we'll do some serious eating. We raided the steam cart and got Sticky Rice wrapped in a banana leaf,
Shrimp Dumplings,
Shrimp balls, scallop dumplings, scallion dumplings, and shrimp dumplings.
And it was good, right down to the last bite.
Next up, lasagna.

Joe's Noodle House

We had a bunch of running around to do this morning which included heading up to Rockville. And since we were in the neighborhood, we just couldn't pass up an opportunity to eat at Joe's. Not that we need an excuse to drive 45 minutes each way just to go there. So after all our errands had been run, we stopped for lunch.

Before we even got there, we pretty much knew what we were going to order: Beef Noodle Soup Szechuan Style, Tender Bamboo Shoot Salad, Salty & Crispy Squid, Scallion pockets, and Pork with Leek Stem & Pressed Bean curd. One nice big bowl of soup to share and lots of little side dishes, ah, life is good.

First to arrive was the Bamboo shoot salad.













Nicely shredded strips of tender bamboo shoots tossed with a dressing made with sesame oil and served cold.

Next out of the kitchen was the pork & tofu dish as well as the squid.











We dove into the squid like a pack of hungry wolves. Partly because it's best eaten when it's fresh and hot from the kitchen and secondly because......well.......we were really hungry. No sooner had we started digging in when the scallion pockets and the soup arrived. Biscuit Boy grabbed a scallion pocket and set it on his plate. It was about this time that we realized we hadn't taken any pictures yet. So I quickly grabbed the camera out of my bag and Biscuit Boy snapped a few quick pics. Then it was right back to eating.

The squid is my absolute favorite thing at Joe's. I crave it when we haven't been in a while. Hot freshly fried pieces of squid in a very light coating. It's dusted with salt right after it's taken from the hot oil and tossed with some slivered garlic and pieces of hot peppers. It arrives at your table sitting on a little bed of lettuce. Today's was cook to perfection. Not a single tough piece to be had. It was the first dish to be emptied.

The pork with leeks and pressed bean curd is also served hot. It is tossed with a fermented black bean sauce and has a slightly sweet taste with is counterbalanced by a few slices of hot green peppers. Not a big fan of black beans, Biscuit Boy makes an exception for this dish.











The scallion pockets were something we had not had at Joe's before. It's only available for lunch on the weekends and most of our visits are usually at dinner time. So took advantage of the weekend lunch specials and tried these guys. While they were ok, neither one of us thought they were something we would have cravings for in the future. The thin flour pocket was filled with minced scallions, egg and (we think) minced cellophane noodle. There wasn't as much in the way of flavor as you would think. But they were ok.

The beef noodle soup was yummy.











Rich beefy broth with wide noodles and chunks of beef topped with two varieties of greens. We think one was spinach and the other some sort of pickled greens. Nicely seasoned with a little hot oil floating on top, it's a soothing soup even on a day as hot as this.

We washed it all down with a couple of Tsingtao's.

Some of the Pork dish and the bamboo shoot salad were packed in little take out boxes. We'll finish them with dinner tonight.

You say temptation, I say "Tempt-Asian"

There's this little restaurant near one of the Asian markets we frequently shop at. It's called Tempt-Asian Cafe and we hadn't given it much thought.......until yesterday. Biscuit Boy was reading on Don Rockwell that the chef at Tempt-Asian was the former chef at China Star. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the DC area, China Star in Fairfax is (or was) one of the best places to go for authentic Szechuan cuisine. The other biggie for Szechuan is Joe's Noodle House in Rockville, which I've blogged about back a month or two ago. I always preferred Joe's over China Star. In my opinion, I liked the way Joe's food tasted and their staff is always much friendlier. Now that's not to say that I didn't like China Star, I just like Joe's better.

But back to the story. A few months ago, rumors were running wild about the service and the chef at China Star. Something wasn't right. First the service went down the tubes. The story goes that the staff went on vacation to China and the temporary staff just weren't up to snuff for the regular customers. Then the old staff re-appeared but certain items from the menu were suddenly gone. Now what!? The story was that the chef left and the new guy wasn't making some of the old items anymore. The China Star die-hards were distressed.....no more wontons in chili oil, no more scallion pancakes! Well, being a Joe's fan, I didn't think much of it.

That's when Biscuit Boy read that the old China Star Chef had resurfaced.......at Tempt-Asian. Postings started popping up on Chowhound with joyful cries about seeing the old China Star favs' on the "new" menu. Hmmm....maybe we should investigate for no other reason than to see if the stories were true. It also didn't hurt that Tempt-Asian was a far cry closer to our home than either China Star or Joe's. And when you need a Szechuan fix, a five minute drive beats the heck out of a 30-45 minute one.

So off we went. We walked in and inhaled deeply. mmmmmm So far so good. We opened our menus and noticed there were several newly inserted pages and many of the items on them looked remarkably like the ones once served at China Star. We decided to try the baby wontons in chili oil and the scallion pancakes as our appetizers and the Mapo Tofu and Crystal Shrimp with Asparagus as entrees. The waitress told us they didn't have any asparagus but offered to substitute another vegetable instead. We said sure.

The pancakes were first to arrive. Big fluffy pillows of goodness. I poked them with a chopstick and a whoosh of steam billowed out. They were a little on the greasy side but yummy anyway.



Next to arrive were the baby wontons in chili oil. Slippery little wontons floating in a bowl of warm sauce with chili oil and spices floating about. Now I'm pretty good with chopsticks, but these little boogers were too slick for me to maneuver. I scooped a few into a little bowl then used a chopstick to push a wonton onto the spoon. Hey, it wasn't pretty, but it was darn tasty.



We were please so far and anxiously awaited the entrees. The Crystal Shrimp came out and the substitute veggie was sugar snap peas. I could have eaten a plate of just those by themselves. The shrimp were great too. A mild dish but full of flavor.



And finally the Mapo Tofu came out. It looked darker with a thicker sauce than we've had before. The flavor was also a bit richer. The heat didn't hit you right away but after a few minutes, you noticed a little bit of perspiration along your forehead. Ah.......



We couldn't finish either entree so we had them boxed up. They're going to be dinner tonight. Overall the meal was very good. I still prefer Joe's but if a trek to Rockville seems like too much effort, I know I can get my fix at Tempt-Asian.

Tempt-Asian Cafe
6259 Little River Turnpike
Alexandria, VA 22313
703-750-6801

Szechuan Sunday Dinner

Last night we were torn between going out to eat or staying in, we opted to stay in. It was cold and dreary out all day and neither one of us wanted to venture out. Neither one of us had any idea what to fix for dinner either. Maybe something simple? But what did we have on hand? Looking through the fridge and freezer, we found some frozen chicken breasts and some nice zucchini. Ok, good start but now what to do with it.

Out came the Land of Plenty Cookbook by Fucshia Dunlop. I flipped it open to the index and found one recipe for Zucchini Slivers with Garlic (chao nan gua si). A fairly simple recipe. Slice and sliver the zucchini, salt it to draw out some of the water, then stir fry some garlic in a little oil, toss in the zucchini. Voila! You're done. Biscuit Boy added a shake or two of hot pepper flakes to add a little kick to it.

The chicken proved to be a little more challenging. Not to cook...rather which recipe to try. After reading several aloud to Biscuit Boy, we settled on this one: Chicken Slices in Sichuan Pepper and Sesame Oil Sauce (jiao ma ji pian). This one takes cooked, cooled chicken sliced that is covered with a sauce. The sauce is sichuan pepper corns soaked in hot water and drained. They are mixed with sliced green onion and a little salt then processed into a paste. Mix that with a little soy sauce and some sesame oil and pour over the chicken. Yum!

Add a little rice and we had ourselves dinner in less than 30 minutes. Biscuit pup (a.k.a. carbo-hound) got a little rice but really wanted some of the chicken. Sorry little dog, too spicy for ya. (next time I'll put some aside before I add the peppers just for you).

Comfort food, Chinese style

It's been a long week. Biscuit Boy and I were torn between going out to eat or just staying in. The temptation of having someone else fix our dinner was only outweighed by the thought of having to actually get in the car, drive somewhere, eat, then drive home. That would take more effort than either of us wanted to expend.

I knew we had the fixin's for a great big bowl of Mapo Tofu. Ahhhh, Chinese comfort food. I also had what I needed to try out a new dish, pressed bean curd with cilantro and peanuts in hot sauce. We get this appetizer everytime we eat at a place called A & J's. It's probably the best bargain in town. Biscuit Boy and I can feast there and not spend more than $20. Our usual fare consists of the pressed bean curd dish I just mentioned, cucumbers with a hot garlic sauce, a big bowl of spicy beef noodle soup, an order of pan fried dumplings and a scallion pancake.

I have been trying to perfect a recipe for the scallion pancake and I think I am pretty close to the ones we get at A&J's. Now I wanted to tackle the bean curd dish.

I bought a small pack of extra firm bean curd and shredded it onto a plate. Then sprinkled it with some peanuts and pieces of cilantro. That much was easy. Trying to replicate the spicy sauce will take a few more tries. Tonight I tried a little chili oil, sesame oil and soy sauce. It was ok but I think I can do better. It will mean some more in depth research at A&J's to do it. Darn, how will I break the news to Biscuit Boy?

But at least my first attempt was edible. There was nary a crumb left on the plate, just a little puddle of sauce......and Biscuit Boy - chopsticks in hand - thinking about picking up the plate and licking it clean. Not a problem for me.....I was tempted to lick the Mapo Tofu bowl. Fair trade, if you ask me.

Eat at Joe's

We went to Joe's Noodle House with a few of our friends for dinner last night. It's a Chinese place in Rockville, MD about 45 minutes from our house. And it's well worth the drive. The owner (who is not named Joe) will guide you through the menu if you are new to the place. She'll warn you if a dish is spicy and offer to tame it down a bit if you like. We did this on one of our first visits when we ordered the Fish Fillet over Szechuan Vegetables. She warned us, "Do you want it full strength?" Biscuit Boy said no but she still toned it down a touch. Although ever since, we've taken everything full strength. I have to admit, the first time I ate it I couldn't eat much, it was so spicy! But since then I have eaten enough spicy food that I can take the heat pretty well. My taste buds must be properly cauterized by now.

Not everything at Joe's is spicy but some of our favorite dishes there do have a considerable amount of heat as well as the numbing szechuan peppercorns. Besides the Fish Fillet dish, we usually enjoy items like the Mapo Tofu, Szechuan Beef Jerky, and the Wontons with Red Hot Sauce. On the milder side, I love the Fish with Pine Nuts and the Salty & Crispy Squid......YUM!

Even though it's a very authentic place, we still haven't mustered up the courage to try the more exotic dishes like duck tongue or duck feet. It's only a matter of time (or one too many beers).

Last night's dinner consisted of the Salty & Crispy Squid, Szechuan Beef Jerky and the Wontons in Red Hot sauce. Our entree's were the Mapo Tofu, Fish Fillet over Szechaun Vegetables, String Beans Szechaun style and Chicken & Shrimp w/Crispy Lettuce.

Conversation around the table was lively and fun until the food arrived. Then it got quiet real quick. A few "mmm's" were uttered but that was it for at least the first few minutes. Then everyone finally looked up from their plates happy and content. Bowls of food were passed around, beer was swigged to cool the heat and chopsticks were in constant motion.

We all agreed that the friends that decided not to go really missed a good time. The food was excellent. We all had a great time.

After dinner we all got a fortune cookie. Yes, I know I said the place was authentic, but they also give out fortune cookies after your meal. My fortune read: "A pleasant surprise is waiting for you."
Ooooo, I can't wait!

Chive Blossoms

Couldn't decide whether to go out for dinner or just stay in. We opted to stay in and fixed a stir fry with chive blossoms, beef, garlic and rice cakes. Biscuit Boy did the cooking and I helped a bit with the prep work. It was scrumptious. Even Biscuit Pup gave it two paws up.

For those of you who don't know what chive blossoms are, think chives with a little bitty bud at the tip. You can usually find them at Asian grocery stores or some specialty markets. You use them much like you would chives or green onions. We usually chop them into 1-2 inch pieces and throw them in a stir fry or just saute them and serve them as a side dish. A very yummy side dish. The rice cakes are found in Asian groceries as well. They are little oval disks about 1" x 1/2" and are usually found fresh in vacuum sealed packages in the refrigerated case. They can be frozen once you get home so they last longer. Just cook them a little bit longer than you would fresh ones.

Biscuit Boy created tonight's meal by tossing some oil in the skillet with some garlic (sliced thin). He also put the rice cakes in a pot of boiling water for a few minutes until they were just past al dente then drained them. Once the garlic had infused the oil, he added thinly sliced beef, turned up the heat and cooked it until done. He removed the beef from the skillet and added the chive blossoms with some soy sauce and cooked them for just a few minutes. Then he added the beef and the rice cakes and stir fried them all together until everything was coated with the good bits from the skillet. As a final touch he tossed in a teaspoon of sesame seeds and served. There was nothing left. Gone... all of it. *burp* And it was good.

Recipes from my previous posts

I'm not sure why I didn't include these to begin with but will try to do better in the future. Here are the recipes I used for the yummies I posted earlier.

Black and White Cookies
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
4 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon lemon extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder

Frosting:
4 cups Confectioners sugar
1/2 cup boiling water
1 ounce bitter or semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 2 baking sheets, set aside.
In a large bowl combine the sugar and butter, mix until fluffy. Add the eggs, milk, and extracts. Mix until smooth.
In another bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. Add slowly to the egg mixture. Stir well to combine.
Using a large soup spoon, drop spoonfuls of dough about 2 inches apart on the prepared cooking sheets. Bake about 20-25 minutes, or until the edges begin to brown. Place on cooling racks to completely cool.
To make the frosting: Place the Confectioners sugar in a large bowl. Gradually add the boiling water a little bit at a time until the mixture is thick and spreadable. Remove half of the mixture and place in bowl over simmering water. When the mixture is warm, add the chocolate and stir until melted and smooth. Remove from the heat. Brush the cookies with the white frosting on one half the chocolate on the other.


Cinnamon Raisin Bread (from Baking Bits)
1 package dry active yeast
2 1/4 cups warm water (about 105 degrees)
3 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. salt
2 Tbsp. butter
6-7 Cups all-purpose flour
1 Cup raisins
1/4 Cup sugar
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
2 Tbsp. water
2 Tbsp. melted butter

Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup of the warm water and 1 Tbsp. of the sugar. Let stand for 5 minutes.
Stir in the remaining 1 3/4 cups warm water, 2 Tbsp. sugar, salt, butter and 3 1/2 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Mix in the raisins and enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle.
Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Place the dough in a greased bowl, turn to coat all over, then cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place until double in size (30-60 minutes).
Mix together 1/4 sugar and the cinnamon in a small bowl. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide in half. Roll each half into a 9X18" rectangle. Brush each with 1 Tbsp.. water then sprinkle with the cinnamon/sugar mixture. Roll dough from the short side and pinch seams shut (to keep the sugar mixture from leaking out). Place into prepared pans and brush the tops with the melted butter. Cover and let rise about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. When dough finishes rising, bake for 25-30 minutes. Remove from the pan and place on baking rack to cool.



Mapo Tofu (modified from Land of Plenty cookbook)
1 pound firm tofu
4 green onions
1/2 canola oil
6 ounces ground beef or pork
2 1/2 Tbsp. Szechuan chili bean paste*
2 tsp. ground szechuan chiles (if you want to add more heat)
1 Cup chicken stock
1 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. soy sauce
4 Tbsp. corn starch mixed with 6 Tbsp, cold water
1/2 tsp. ground roasted szechuan peppercorns **

Cut the tofu into 1 inch cubes and steep in very hot (lightly salted) water for about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Slice the green onions at a steep angle into 'horse ear" slices. Set aside.
Heat your wok or large saute pan (I use a saute pan) over high heat and the ground beef or pork. Stir fry until brown.
Turn the heat to medium, add the chili bean paste and stir fry for 30 seconds. Add ground chiles (if using) and stir fry for another 20-30 seconds. Pour in the chicken stock and tofu. Mix it gently so you don't break up the tofu. Combine sugar and soy sauce, add to pan. Stir gently to combine. Let simmer about 5 minutes.
Add the green onions. Gently stir in. Add the cornstarch a little at a time until the sauce thickens and clings to the tofu.
Pour into a large bowl, sprinkle with the szechuan peppercorns and serve.

* Use a bean paste that lists long beans or fava beans as the first ingredient. If you like your food insanely hot, you can use a bean paste that lists chiles as the first ingredient, but don't say I didn't warn ya. Read my post on Mapo Tofu in case you need a reminder.

** Szechuan peppercorns are not as much hot as they are numbing and add a distinct flavor to the dish. If you don't have a good Chinese market in your area, search the internet for places that sell them online. To use them, you'll want to take the required amount and place in a dry skillet over medium high heat. Roll them around just until they become fragrant. Remove from the heat and place them in a mortar and grind them up.




Pan Fried Dumplings (modified from Land of Plenty cookbook)
Dumpling wrappers: 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 1/4 tsp. salt 1/2 cup boiling water Filling: 1-inch piece of ginger
1 green onion, white part only
1/3 lb. ground pork
1/4 cup chicken stock
1 tsp. rice wine (or sake)
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. sugar
6-8 twists of black pepper
1 1/2 tsp. sesame oil

Crush the ginger and green onion and soak in 1/4 cup cold water for about 5 minutes. Drain water into a cup and set aside. Discard ginger and green onion.
Place the pork in a bowl. Add the ginger scented water and mix well until it absorbs. Gradually add the chicken stock and mix well to help it absorb. The mixture will be very loose and moist. Add the rice wine, salt, sugar, pepper and sesame oil. Mix well.

Wrappers: Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl, making a well in the center. Add the boiling water and mix quickly with a pair of chopstick or the handle of a wooden spoon. When the mixture is cool enough to handle, transfer it to a lightly floured surface and knead into a smooth dough, about 5 minutes.
Break the dough into two or three pieces. Roll each one into a log about one inch thick. Cut teaspoon size pieces and set them aside (keep them covered so they don't dry out). Repeat with remaining dough.
Take each piece and flatten it. Roll it out into a circle about 2 inches in diameter. Place a generous teaspoonful of the filling into the center of the wrapper. Fold it gently in half and, starting at one end, press and seal the two sides together, making about 6 pleats as you go along. Set aside in a lightly floured surface until all the dumplings are assembled.

To cook the dumplings: Heat a heavy skillet or frying pan over medium heat. Pour enough oil in the bottom to coat the surface. When the oil is hot, arrange as many dumplings as you can in the skillet, leaving about 1/2 inch between each one. Sprinkle a little water over the dumplings, cover and let them cook for about 5 minutes. Remove the lid, drizzle them dumplings with a little oil, place the lid back on the skillet and cook an additional 2-3 minutes until the bottoms are nicely browned and crispy. To serve, remove them with a spatula and place on their sides on a plate. Serve with a little soy sauce for dipping.

Tofu is good? Why yes, yes it is!

Last night we made Mapo Tofu. If you had told me ten years ago that I'd be craving this dish, I'd tell you that you were crazy. But that isn't the only thing I've discovered that I like. Biscuit Boy and I have introduced each other to foods we'd never tried before. I introduced him to foods from my family's NY roots, bagles, egg on roll, bialy's...... My family lived in NY until I was a teenager when we moved to TN, so I had years of eating southern foods before I met Biscuit Boy who is a true Southerner. Born and raise in TN. Although there wasn't much in the Southern Food realm that he could introduce me to, he did make me sushi on our third date. When he told me that 's what he was making, the first thought ran through my head was, "What ever you do, don't gag." I had never tried sushi before, nor had the desire to. Raw fish? Ick! Well......wasn't I surprised when I tentatively bit into the tuna and rice! I didn't gag, in fact I think I made some sort of nummy sound. Needless to say, we ate all the sushi he prepared. A short time after that date, we took my nephew out with us for sushi. He was 11 or 12 at the time and has always been willing to try anything you put in front of him. We gave him a piece of Eel sushi which quickly disappeared. He earned the name Eel Boy night. It's still his favorite kind of sushi.

Anyway, I digress. Back to the Mapo Tofu. We used our ever-faithful "Land of Plenty" cookbook for this dish. And like the pan-fried dumplings, it took a few tried before we perfected it. Each time we used a different chili bean paste. According to the cookbook's author, chili bean paste made with fava beans is what she prefers. We went to a local Chinese market and studied the jars of bean paste. None listed fava beans so we randomly chose one that had soybeans listed as the first ingredient. We used it in the first Mapo tofu we made and while it was good, we still wondered what it would taste like if we found a paste made with favas.

On a second visit to the market, we again could not find the elusive fava beans listed on any of the labels. Instead we chose a bean paste that listed chilis as the first ingredient. Why I never thought about the heat factor, is beyond me. I should have tasted that stuff before I used it. If I had, I would have known not to add any more chilis into the mapo tofu. To say the final product was hot would be an understatement. It was blistering! I don't think my mouth could have burned more if I licked a lava flow. I couldn't even finish my bowl.

So it was back to the market. Did I mention that there is a (Manchurian) chinese restaurant in the same shopping center as the market? It was always a good excuse to go eat there whenever we go to that market. More on that in a future entry..... On our third trip to the market, we noticed several jars of bean paste listed Broad beans as the first ingredient. We thought we'd give it a try. And had I done my homework beforehand, I would have realized that fava beans and broad beans are the same thing. Bingo! We had the chili bean paste we were seeking.

This bean paste has a nice cumulative heat that doesn't smack you in the face like the last one did. And when added to the dish, along with the Szechuan peppercorns, produced a great bowl of mapo tofu. Numbing, hot (but not too hot) and full of flavor. We fought over who got to take the leftovers for lunch the next day (I won.)