Recipe: Squashed Tomatoes, Potatoes and Bacon

I love Jamie Oliver. Who doesn't, right? His recipes are simple, delicious and mostly healthy, and they are generally a staple in my recipe line-up. But, it does become difficult, at times, to find what you need when you live in China.

That is one reason that this is a go-to recipe for me. I had to adapt it quite alot. The original {which I have made before in the States} calls for finding chicken thighs {easy enough}, basalmic vinegar, etc. and then baking the whole thing. Not only do I not have an oven, but I also do not have the space to do  so many things at one time I can't really find the fresh herbs Jamie uses, and I definitely can't find multi-colored tomatoes or small potatoes all the time.

What I love about Jamie's recipes is that you can adapt the mess out of them, and they're still fabulous. So, this is just MY version. Try out some things, and see what works best for you. This recipe has always turned out well, no matter how many adaptations I've used.

Ingredients:
5-6 smallish-to-medium-sized potatoes {judge based on your frying pan}
A bunch of cherry tomatoes {or grape...it doesn't matter}
3-4 {or 5, or 6} slices of bacon {I've also used sausage, and it was delicious!}
2-3 cloves garlic
1/2 small onion, minced finely
Italian seasoning
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper

Directions:
Start the potatoes boiling in salted water until they can be pierced easily with a fork. Drain.
At the same time the potatoes are boiling, pierce the tomatoes with a knife {once each}. Cover with boiling water for a few minutes, then drain. Now, you can take the skins off {I've skipped this step before, but I like the flavors better with it. Its worth the extra work!}. Set aside.


In a frying pan with olive oil saute the onions until they're soft enough for you {I like mine caramelized}. Add the garlic and bacon and cook until done. Add the contents of the frying pan to the dish of skin-less tomatoes. Add a dash of balsamic vinegar and enough olive oil to coat things {1-2 TBS}.

Take the drained potatoes and smash {the potato should still be whole, just flattened a bit}, then place them in the frying pan.

Dump the tomato and bacon mixture on top. Cover and let simmer on low for a good long while. What you want is for most of the juice to evaporate and the tomatoes and vinegar to infuse the potatoes.

When most of the liquid is gone, take the lid off and let it cook long enough that the bottom gets brown and crusty {this is a personal preference of mine. You could just let most of the liquid evaporate}.
Serve as a meal!

Learning to Make Baozi

I love dumplings. A lot. All kinds. Matzo balls, Knodles, Jaozi, Baozi, all of them. On my last trip into Beijing, I was lucky enough to learn to make them at Hutong Cuisine. I was very happy to find out that one of the hardest parts to making baozi {bread dumplings stuffed with things} is actually making the bread. I know how to do that, so it's just going to take some practice!

Wontons, on the other hand, are easy as pie. Actually, they're easier than pie! I'll be making these often!

What have you learned to cook lately?

Recipe: Thai Green Curry

My favorite thing I did in Thailand was to take a cooking class. It has encouraged me to do the same in China over the summer, and to really explore the flavors over here. It's also shown me that, really, it's not hard to cook authentic asian food. What you need, more than anything, is a little bit of knowledge.

This recipe is very easy, if not completely authentic. In Thailand I made this with a few different types of eggplant, chicken, kafir limes and fresh basil. Of course I can't find most of that here and nobody is eating chicken much these days.

The key is to find good coconut milk, and good curry paste. You can make the curry paste on your own {I'm going to try when I find a blender} but I have found that the pre-packaged paste is fairly serviceable.

Ingredients:

1-2 tablespoons of green curry paste

Approximately 1.5 - 2 cups of coconut milk

meat and vegetables {I used shrimp because I had it, peas, and red and yellow bell peppers}

1 teaspoon of sugar

1 tablespoon oil

1-2 teaspoons of Thai fish sauce {this is different from Chinese fish sauce}

Directions:

Heat a wok or skillet with oil inside.

When the pan is hot add the curry paste {if you make your own curry paste, it will have oil in it. No need to add extra} and saute for a few minutes until you can really smell the curry.

Add 1/4 of the coconut milk and stir the curry paste into it. 

Bring to a bubble for about 1 minute.

Add another 1/4 of the milk and repeat.

Add the remaining milk and repeat again.

Add your meat and let simmer in the curry paste until cooked.

Add your vegetables and cook until desired tenderness {I reversed this a bit, as shrimp cooks super fast and I like my vegetables pretty tender}.

Add fish sauce and sugar. 

Taste. If it's super spicy, you can add a bit more sugar.

Here are both pictures from the cooking class and from my own kitchen in Tianjin. 

Enjoy!

Pizza in China

If you live in China {really, Asia} for any length of time, you'll find that their idea of western food and yours don't exactly match. You might go to an Italian restaurant and get olive oil soaked pasta with canned peas and bacon if you order carbonara. Or you might order mashed potatoes only to get a potato salad concoction with celery and carrots. 

But, by far, I find the weirdest stuff to be the pizza. There is some weird stuff on pizza here. Fish {not sardines}. Chips. Apricots. Whatever. 

The other day we went to a Korean chain, Mr. Pizza to say goodbye to one of our teachers. The Chinese staff went gaga over this pizza:

Not seen but listed on the menu: meat mix {we think sausage and bacon}, peppers, mushrooms, and sweet potato mousse in the crust. 

This was definitely not my favorite pizza.

What strange foods have you encountered abroad?

Recipe: Ground Beef Curry with Peas

Let me preface this post by saying that the next few recipe posts won't have pictures. I got lazy. I really did. However, the next few recipes are pretty basic ones, and adapted from any number of similar ones I found on the internet. Onward, then....

I love Indian food. Really, I love all food, but there is a special place in my heart for Indian-style cuisine. Certainly, this is NOT authentic. I live in China, know no-one from India, and am only just learning my way around Chinese spices and vegetables.

However, this recipe does use some spices common in Indo-China, and is adaptable to your own tastes {and of course your knowledge!}. The original recipe was posted by Beth at Budget Bytes. She added potatoes, broth, etc. and served over rice or in naan. I  have made it that way, and it is delicious. However, I like the idea of sort of making an Indian-style shepherd's pie and so I serve mine with standard mashed potatoes. If I were in the U.S. and had an oven, I would layer the peas, meat, and mashed potatoes in a Pyrex and then bake it to give the potatoes a crusty top.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 yellow onion, chopped finely
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 inches fresh ginger, grated
1.5 tablespoons curry powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 pinch crushed read pepper or cayenne
1 lb ground beef
frozen peas {eyeball is}
salt + pepper to taste

Directions:
Heat olive oil in pan and saute onion with salt and pepper until soft.
Add ginger and garlic, saute for 2-3 minutes or until soft.
Add curry powder, turmeric, and red pepper flakes
Stir & cook 1-2 minutes more.
Add beef and cook until fully browned.
Stir in frozen peas and heat through.
Serve over mashed potatoes!

Eating My Way Through Disney World

Remember in my February goals recap, where I said I ate my way through Disney World? I wasn't kidding.

Here is some of what I ate:

Grilled chicken salad with strawberries and gorgonzola cheese at The Plaza on Mainstreet USA.

Bison steak cooked rare with blue potatoes mashed, and roasted cauliflower.

Blueberry cobbler topped with fresh berries and house-made black raspberry ice-cream.

As a side note, the above three photos were at Artists Pointe at The Wilderness Lodge. One of the best meals I've ever had.

Mom's meal at Kouzzina. Oak-fired Pork Tenderloin with Feta Gremolata, Zucchini Corn Pie, and Succotash.

Dad's meal, also at Kouzzina. Pan-roasted whole fish with Braised Greens, Greek Olives, Fennel, and Smoked Chili

Braised lamb shank served with rosemary potatoes.

The Kouzzina version of a molten chocolate lava cake. I died!

Little greek pastries that tasted a lot like a cross between funnel cake and donut holes. Served with raspberry and basalmic dressings.

Mickey waffles and bacon at 1900 Park Faire.

My Aunt Cindy's birthday cupcake. We were there the week before her birthday and every time we ate at a sit-down restaurant she got a special birthday cupcake. Who wants to road trip in May?

And of course, I had many Mickey's Premium Ice Cream Bars. How could I not?

What great food have you eaten recently?

Lasagna at Nanny's House

Hey y'all. I was absent last week and I'm just starting to get back into the swing of things. I thought I'd share something fun I did before I went on vacation.

One of my very favorite things in life is cooking with my Nanny. It really is. I know how to cook by eyeballing spices and mixing things because I learned from her.''

That's why my recipes sometimes say "I don't know how much I put in, I just sort of threw in a bunch of....." It drives people nuts. But it's how I learned.

On Superbowl Sunday {I'm still in mourning, y'all}, Nanny and I {and my aunts!} made lasagna.

And I mean a WHOLE LOT of lasagna.

And it was awesome. The sauce is scratch-made {well, all of it is scratch-made} from a recipe given to my grandmother a long time ago, and the rest is history.

Here's to a wonderful afternoon cooking, laughing, and boiling. This is the life.

Tea parties and other things you're not too old for!

I have a friend from college whose husband is currently living in England for a few months. The lucky girl that she is, she got to go with him for two of those months.  When she got back {husband still stuck overseas}, she threw a tea party!

Now, I know you probably haven't had one of these since you invited forced your mom/dad/grandparents/neighbors/dog/stuffed animals/Barbies to play with you. But, the adult version is SO much better.

I mean, how fun is it to eat little tea sandwiches {some featuring my Healthy Egg Salad! Recipe to come soon!}, scones, petit fours, and french macarons? And the tea? Well, that's WAY better as an adult! Arnold Palmer {tea, lemonade, vodka} ruled this tea party!

And, just because it couldn't get any more fun, we wore fascinators {you know, the fun little headbands or hats the Brits wear to weddings and fancy occasions?}; Lena let some of us borrow hers since, well, when have I been to the UK to buy a fascinator {um, yeah, they sell some at Steinmart. Our bad}?

There were scrumptious pastries {petit fours & french macarons!},

and teapot cookies {did'ya notice the "Saw 'em off?" Don't worry, there were Gig'em and Whoop! cookies to accompany it}.

And isn't this flower arrangement just to-die-for?

Don't even get me started on the tea cups.

It was a wonderful way to catch up with old friends!

How do you celebrate friends and adventures?

Tel-Aviv Love

The day we were in Tel-Aviv was one of my favorite on the trip. We spent a lot of time walking the streets, hanging around the markets, strolling near the beach, and haggling at the flea market in Jaffa. I loved the whole day (minus the 11:00pm flight back to Philly. That wasn't so awesome).

{(Flea Market at Jaffa)}

{(The Beach in Tel-Aviv)}

But one of my favorite parts of the day was lunch. Our tour guide, Irad, is one of those people who knows everyone, and everyone knows him back (he's also a ninja, but who's counting?). One of the perks of those relationships is that he can tell you the best little places to go for anything that you want; so when we got off the bus near several market areas and were set loose for lunch, a bunch of us asked for recommendations.

"Go down this street, take a left at the gas station, walk past the spices, and there will be a little Egyptian-Jewish restaurant. Its very small, but the food, its the best."

{(A cute little side street in Tel-Aviv)}

Yep, those directions seem VERY specifc, Irad. But, we went, and found the cutest lady selling some great food.

{(This is my background on my computer)}

{(She's so cute!)}

"You get two meats," she said, and "rice with hummus." {(side note: hummus, in this case, was whole chickpeas, not mashed chickpeas with tahini)}.

{(Yum!)}

Her English was impeccible, and she was very concerned that we had enough to eat.

"You look like a good eater," she told me, "so you can have more rice." {(does that mean that I'm fat?)}

I was definitely a good eater that day. Excellent seasoned rice, zucchini stuffed with some sort of ground meat, and meatballs in a spicy sauce. Her son {I think} waited on us and brought us pitcher after pitcher of water with mint and lemon slices.

{(Refreshing!)}

Every now and then she'd pop in and ask, "why aren't you finishing? I like it when you finish my food!"

The topping on the cake? Worried that one of our group wasn't eating enough, she fed him the last few bites of his rice. No matter where you go in the world, Jewish grandmas are always the same.

{Smile and say hummus!}

Until next time, friends.