Hot and Sour Soup

I can't stop making soup. This is my third batch in two days. So, here it is, hold onto your hats, the best hot and sour soup recipe I've come across.

It involves a lot of steps, but it's not really that hard, just follow along and calmly work it. The original recipe came from Cook's Illustrated, but I've adapted it, enough, I hope, to call it my own. I use chicken instead of pork and since I am gluten-free, I use Tamari instead of regular soy sauce, as it has no wheat in it.

You'll want to get all your ingredients organized, lined up and measured out since some of the steps have a few sub-steps. It's well worth it, so hang in and have fun.

See that bottle? Chinese Black Vinegar. It's the secret ingredient for the flavor in this dish. Between this and the white pepper, it's amazing how much earthiness and valor these give to the soup. The white pepper is very pungent, use caution! As it is always easy to add more, but you can't remove it once it's in there.

The meat picks up an amazing texture when it is soaked in the cornstarch mixture.I've read that it helps to seal in the juices of the meat, which, if the soup is any example, then, yes, it works!

This is fun, don't over think it. But, do, go slow and try to make the drizzled stream as thin and consistent as possible.

Important Note:  Read the entire recipe all the way through first, please. You will need a bunch of small and medium bowls for this process. So grab them as you are reading and it should help start you off on the right foot.

Hot and Sour Soup 

adapted from Cooks Illustrated, 5/2006

• 4 tablespoons tamari (gluten-free soy sauce) or soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch , plus an additional 1 1/2 teaspoons
• 8 ounces extra firm tofu, drained and cubed (see below for directions)
• 1 boneless skinless chicken breast cut into 1 inch by 1/8-inch matchsticks
• 3 tablespoons cold water , plus 1 additional teaspoon
• 1 large egg
• 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 4 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms , stems removed, caps sliced 1/4 inch thick (about 1 cup)
• 5 tablespoons black Chinese vinegar or 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar plus 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar (see note above)
• 2 teaspoons chili oil
• 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 3 medium scallions , sliced thin

First, drain the tofu:

• Take the tofu out of the container, put it into a shallow pie plate (or any dish with a short rim).
• Then, put a plate on top, and press down hard. Place two or three cans on top of the plate (I used canned beans) and leave to drain for about 15 minutes. Add more time if the tofu still appears soggy when you check it.
• You'll know when it's ready to be cubed when the liquid has pooled at the bottom of the dish and the tofu appears much drier than it had been, but not super dried out.
• Dice the tofu into cubes and set aside (though it's likely the broth will be simmered and ready by the time you've cubed your tofu).

Next Marinate the Chicken:

• Whisk in a medium bowl:
  • 1 tablespoon tamari or soy sauce
  • Sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• Thoroughly mix the chicken strips in the marinade and leave to soak for about 10 to 20 minutes.
• The meat will become silky and somewhat fatter than it was when you began.

And Then:

• Combine:
  • 3 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 3 tablespoons water in small bowl and mix thoroughly
  • Set aside, leaving spoon in bowl.
• Mix:
  • Remaining 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
  • Remaining 1 teaspoon water in small bowl
  • Add egg and beat with fork until combined. Set aside.

Start Putting it Together:

• In a large heavy-bottomed pan, bring the chicken broth to a boil.
• Once the broth has boiled, lower the heat to medium-low and:
  • Add mushrooms.
  • Simmer for about 5 minutes, until the mushrooms are nice and tender.
• Add:
  • Tofu and chicken, including marinade, to soup, stirring.
  • Continue to simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 4 minutes.

Almost Done:

• Remember the mixture you made that you left the spoon in? It's time to stir it and make it more liquid now.
• Add to soup and increase heat to medium-high.
• Cook, stirring occasionally, until soup thickens and turns translucent, about 1 minute.
• Stir in:
  • vinegar (either the Chinese Black Vinegar, or the combo of Balsamic and red wine vinegar)
  • chili oil
  • white pepper
  • remaining 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• Turn off heat.

Make the Egg Drops:

• Get your egg mixture (the last bowl, I hope, that you have left with something you mixed earlier) and grab a spoon.
• Do not stir the soup, make sure it's still when you start this next step.
• Take your spoon and scoop up a bit of it into your spoon.
• Very slowly, like you are just hanging out and not in any kind of rush, start drizzling the egg mixture over the soup, moving around the pot in a clockwise motion.
• Let rest for a bit, about a minute.
• Bring soup back up to a gentle boil over medium heat.

Serve it Up:

Remove from heat and give the soup a light stir, just enough to break up the egg drops, but not so fiercely that the nice thickness that the cornstarch leant to the mix.

Ladle into bowls and top with scallions.

It's Cold Here: Mashed Potato Time

Okay, I know, we're in San Francisco, and all of you real-season dwellers are guffawing at my being cold in 45 degree and sunny weather. To be fair, I grew up in NY and know what real weather feels like. But, there is something out here that makes me cold from the inside. I wonder if it's just that I'm so used to the temperature hovering around 65 degrees most of the year, that this shift in temperature seems more sudden than the transition from Summer to Fall to Winter in NY.

So a very simple mashed potato was in order as dinner the other night. There is nothing as satisfying or warms you up as well as mashed potatoes.

I made two versions, one with dairy  (for my daughter) and one without (for me). The dairy-free ones are not quite the same, but hey, I have to eat within certain guidelines, so have found a decent work around.

All that's left is for me to find a cashmere jumpsuit to make it through the winter.

Mashed Potatoes

• 6 Russet potatoes, skinned and diced
• 3/4 cup of milk (cow or almond)
• 3 tbsps of butter (or olive oil)
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Boil the potatoes in enough salted water to cover them. They're ready when you can easily put a fork through them.
• Drain the water and return the pan to the stove. Put a high flame under the pan for one to two minutes, to dry out the potatoes.
• Add most of the milk and all of the butter (or oil). Mash with a potato masher.
• Keep adding the milk until the potatoes reach the consistency you'd like.
• Add salt.

Enjoy.

Julia, Gran Fran and Me

This is a re-post of a piece I wrote two years ago, almost exactly. Apparently, as soon as it gets cool here in SF, I need to make Beef Bourguignon. Enjoy!

As you have probably already surmised, if you’ve read several of these posts, Gran Fran is an awesome cook who uses mostly intuition, learned over decades of cooking, alongside her unquenchable thirst for cookbooks.

 One of my earliest mother-daughter memories is of a fundraiser that we did when I was about 5 years old. Gran Fran volunteered for a membership drive for our local PBS television station. We were stationed in a small fold up booth in front of the Bloomingdale’s in Fresh Meadows, Queens (which I believe is now a K-Mart).

In exchange for membership, new members would get a cookbook. Not just any cookbook, but THE cookbook. Which one, you may ask? It’s the Julia Child tome of greatness, 

Mastering The Art of French Cooking

.

I recall Gran Fran waxing poetic about the recipes and the program. Remember, this was 1975, or so (oops, there it is again, a veiled reference to my actual age), not a time when a lot of people were spending hours make Bernaise sauce at home, but it was beginning to happen. Gran Fran sold some memberships that day, but mostly, she got to represent one of her culinary heroes to the public.

Recently, I asked her which of Julia’s recipes was her favorite. She said “Well, of course it’s Beef Bourguignon.” I know, it’s a typical recipe to choose, but it is one of the best, and we grew up eating it a lot. Gran Fran made it and the house smelled like a French bistro. The warmth of the kitchen, the smells of the red wine mingling with the bacon, thyme and onions is an unmatchable sensory memory for me.

Beef Bourguinon ala Gran Fran with a nod to Julia Child serves 8

One gigantic non-reactive pot is needed!!

Ingredients:

• 3 to 3.5 Lbs Bottom Round, cubed (any good beef stewing meat works here)
•  1/4 Lb Double Smoked Bacon
• 2 Tbsps Olive Oil
• 2 Carrots, cut into chunks
• 1 Onion; diced
• 2 Cloves Garlic, peeled and diced
• 2 Tsps Flour
• 3 Cups Dry Red Wine
• 1 Tbsp Tomato Paste
• Salt
• Pepper
• Thyme
• Bay Leaf

Method:

• Preheat oven to 325°.
• Boil diced bacon in 3 cups water for 10 minutes. Refresh bacon under cold water. Dry well.
• Heat oil in a large skillet. Add bqcon. When bacon browns, remove from pan and set aside.
• Dry beef well, then add it to the hot skillet.
• Brown well on all sides.
• In a heavy, nonreactive stew pan, add some oil from the skillet.
• Saute onions and carrots in stew pan until golden brown. Then, sprinkle the veggies with the flour (which ultimqtely helps thicken the stew).
• Brown until golden over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes.
• Add browned meat to veggies.
• Add red wine to the skillet you used to cook the meat. Stir up all browned particles and bring to a boil. Add this to meat in stew pot.
• If needed, add water to stew pot so all so meat is covered.
• In a small non-reactive sauce pan, place tomato paste, salt, pepper, garlic and thyme, with a little bit of olive oil. Stir over medium heat until paste has thinned a bit and all herbs/spices have been incorporated. Add to stew pot.
• Bring the stew to a boil on top of the stove.
• COver closely (another gran franism) and plce on lower rack in the 325° oven.
• Leave undisturbed for 1.5 hours.
• Then, stir,put cover back on and simmer another 1.5 hours.

This stew tastes even better when reheated, so make a day or two in advance

Fake Bacon.....Or How I Made Vegetarian Carbonara Sauce

Yes, your heard me, (or you read that right) I have crossed over to the fake bacon realm.

I'm not sure I've mentioned this, but I've given up meat for the next few months. Oh, believe you me, it's not easy, especially since I would be happy to eat half of an entire roast beef for breakfast every day. Oh, but I digress.

So far, I have learned to make quite a few interesting full vegetarian dishes without missing the meat. Many eggs, fish and much cheese and beans have been consumed over these past 3 weeks. I even managed to avoid meat at our Chinese New Year Dim Sum luncheon (albeit, *that* event did make me a little sad, what with the roast duck and all).

Then, I saw this post for Spaghetti alla Carbonara on the blog A Chow Life. I was sunk. The need for bacon (which, I will have you know, I passed up at a brunch last weekend) reared its ugly head. There was no way around, it I needed to make this....fast.

I turned to my friend Ms. A, a long-time vegetarian. We headed to our fabulous organic veggie emporium, Rainbow Grocery, and she schooled me in the non-meat bacon options. We settled on Smart Bacon. Though still skeptical, I knew this was my only option.

When I returned home, I readied the ingredients and reviewed the recipe. The Smart Bacon was not at all like *real* bacon. When I opened the package, the tell-tale hickory smoke smell did not assault my nose. Nor, when I touched it, was the texture at all what I had anticipated. Since it is so thin and without the grooves of real bacon, I decided I would chop it up really small into a dice. Also, I realize now, that I did this as much to keep myself from feeling the weird texture in my mouth as for presentation.

I fried it up (had to use quite a bit of oil to make up for the missing fat), followed the instructions and sat down to eat. What a fabulous surprise I had, upon that first bite, of the bacon essence mixing in just-so with the egg, cheese and spices.

The apologies I owe to everyone and their brother (not my brother mind you, the biggest bacon eater of us all) for putting down their fake bacon are vast and cover years. Accept my apologies, and this recipe as a thank you for putting up with me.

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

serves 4

Ingredients:

• 5 tblsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 1 pkg meat-free Bacon (like Smart Bacon), diced
• 1 lb. spaghetti
• 1 and 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan
• 4 eggs, separated
• Freshly grated black pepper
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

Method

• Bring 6 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot, add 2 tablespoons salt.
• In a saute pan or skillet, combine oil, red pepper flakes, and meat-free bacon over medium heat.
• Heat the meat-free bacon through, and long enough to get the red pepper flakes to pop.
• Remove from the heat and set aside. Do not drain the oil.
• Cook the spaghetti in the boiling water until just al dente.
• Reserve 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking water and set aside, then drain the pasta.
• Add the reserved pasta water to the pan with the meat-free bacon.
• Add the pasta and heat, shaking the pan, for 1 minute.
• Remove from heat.
• Add 1 cup of the cheese, the egg whites, and pepper to taste, and toss until thoroughly mixed.
• Divide pasta among 4 warm bowls.
• Make a well in the center of each one, and gently drop an egg yolk into each well.
• Season the eggs with more pepper and sprinkle tops with remaining cheese.

Adapted from A Chow Life