At Long Last...Mandarin Chicken!

This Month's Film: Raise the Red Lantern
Cuisine: Chinese

With my busy social schedule this week, it took several well-intentioned but failed or postponed attempts to produce the perfect batch of Mandarin Orange Chicken. But tonight, I finally succeeded, and boy was it ever a success. I'd found a recipe on the Internet that looked tempting, but the only part of it I ended up using was the batter for deep-frying the chicken. I was a little skeptical at first, since it called for cornstarch and baking mix, but it fried up golden brown and crispy, and not the least bit greasy. The sauce, on the other hand, was a disaster last night, and not even remotely close to what I had envisioned. So I saved some of the uncooked chicken for another try today.

This time, I made a sauce from scratch, using nothing more than intuition and common sense. I started with a half cup of orange juice concentrate, a quarter cup of brown sugar, two tablespoons of soy sauce, a tablespoon of rice wine, and a tablespoon of cornstarch mixed with two tablespoons of water. I simmered it until it was thickened, and it turned out just as I had imagined, tangy and citrus-y with the perfect consistency for coating the golden brown chicken, which I tossed in a bowl with the sauce and sprinkled with a few sesame seeds. Perfectly cooked, perfectly beautiful and perfectly delicious!

A Call for Chopsticks Click here for details.

10:34 PM PDT Permalink |

Allegria Bellissima!

This Month's Film: Raise the Red Lantern
Cuisine: Chinese

After three straight weeks of total immersion in naught but Chinese and Japanese cuisine, it was a welcome and much-needed departure from my soy sauce and ginger-laden world to step out for the evening with friends for a classic Italian dinner. It all started a few weeks ago over a glass of wine at Small World Restaurant in downtown Napa, when I happened to mention to the owner, my friend Michael Alimusa, that I would be making my first attempt at preparing Turkish food for my Dinner & a Movie in November. Michael has an extensive network of Middle-Eastern friends, and when I asked if he knew anyone from Turkey who might guide me in selecting the dishes for the menu, he snapped his fingers and said that some Turkish friends of his had recently opened a restaurant called Allegria in a historic building just around the corner. He said that they had been reminding him for months to come and have dinner, and would Rene and I like to join him and his wife Jenny at Allegria, where he could introduce me to them. So we did.

Ristorante Allegria occupies what used to be an old stone bank building, with tall, narrow windows and cavernous ceilings, and according to Jenny, had been vacant for years and was used as a venue for many a town hall meeting. Rene also recalled exhibiting some of his artwork there a few years ago at a show sponsored by the Hispanic Arts Council of the Napa Valley. Its most recent tenants, however, have given the stately old building a much-deserved facelift in fine Italian style, although the furnishings and fixtures are conspicuously similar to those of Tra Vigne in St. Helena, and of Tuscany, just around the corner on First Street. Nevertheless, they've created an old-world atmosphere that is at once both cozy and spacious.

We started the meal with a glass of wine and a loaf of crusty sourdough bread served with a bowl of sun-dried tomatoes and Italian spices in virgin olive oil that was so delicious I could have been content to sate my appetite without even ordering from the menu. But there were so many tempting items on the menu it was agonizing to choose from among them, and before we even got around to placing our dinner orders with the waiter, he arrived with four plates of Skirt Steak Satay on a Bed of Braised Spinach, and what a treat that was...savory and tender morsels of perfectly grilled medium-rare beef over baby spinach leaves wilted in olive oil with a whisper of chili spice. And again, I could have been content to sate my appetite with only that...and perhaps a little more of the bread and olive oil.

Nevertheless, Michael and I both ordered the Grilled Lamb Tenderloin with Rosemary over Risotto with Green Peas, while Jenny decided on the Chicken Breast Stuffed with herbs, sweet peppers and Ricotta Cheese, and Rene chose Linguine Frutti di Mare in Spicy Red Sauce. For dessert, Michael ordered Blackberry Sorbet, Jenny chose Chocolate Gelato and Rene and I decided to share the Tiramisu. And as if that weren't enough, when the waiter appeared at the table with our desserts, he brough an extra order of Maple Bread Pudding.

Every bite of the dinner was so good that Allegria may just be my new favorite restaurant, and the only thing better than the food, was the excellent company of two dear friends. Thank you Michael and Jenny, for a truly memorable meal. And as much as I love Asian food, I certainly hope that the chef in heaven is Italian.

A Call for Chopsticks Click here for details.

01:35 PM PDT Permalink |

Hunan Hooray!

This Month's Film: Raise the Red Lantern
Cuisine: Chinese

My Hunan Beef was another tasty success last night [although, dare I say it again?... still not as tasty as my Kung Pao Shrimp the night before.] Nevertheless, the sauce was glossy and smooth, the beef was tender and savory, the broccoli held its own in the stir-fry, and the balance of chili spice and tart vinegar was just right. Definitely a dish I will make again.

The recipes and photos for my 'Raise the Red Lantern' provincial Chinese menu will be posted at the end of the month.

A Call for Chopsticks Click here for details.

12:01 AM PDT Permalink |

What a Day!

This Month's Film: Raise the Red Lantern
Cuisine: Chinese

I knew today was going to be a full one, but little did I know to what degree. It began with the postman ringing my doorbell to deliver a much anticipated book purchase: Sushi for Dummies. I was curious to check out its contents and (to shamelessly borrow the name of Dave Barry and Stephen King's band), found a "Rock Bottom Remainder" on Amazon.com at the unheard of price of one dollar and seventy-six cents, plus a little shipping. I'm looking forward to reading what every dummy should know about sushi.

And what a coincidence too, since I had a lunch date with Rene to visit Sushi Mambo, my favorite local sushi bar, for a chance to chat with the proprietor, Jose Gomez-Cazares to get the inside scoop on how a sushi bar operates for a writing project I'm working on. When Rene arrived to pick me up, he presented me with an intriguing package from Hong Kong that he had sweetly retrieved from my post office box for me.

When it comes to packages that arrive in the mail, I'm like a kid at Christmas, so I brought it along with me to open at lunch. As always, the sushi was vibrantly fresh and impeccably prepared. Jose was in an especially chatty mood, so I learned a lot in our all-too-short visit. And inside the package, I found a beautiful set of blue-and-white porcelain chopsticks sent to me by none other than my publisher. Thank you Albert.

After lunch, we stopped by Small World to say hello to my friend Michael Alimusa, who invited us to join him and his wife Jenny for dinner tomorrow evening at a new restaurant in town. As luck would have it, that's the only date on my dance card this week that wasn't already filled, so it looks like I'm going to get a much-needed break from the kitchen. But it also means that I will have to devote this evening to my Mandarin Orange Chicken recipe.

My son Will arrived in the late afternoon with his friend Jordan, having spent most of it working on an elaborate bridge made entirely of spaghetti for their physics final. I couldn't resist the urge to ask if I should make marinara [grin], but I barely had a chance to say Hi and Bye before he was dressed in his tuxedo and off to the auditorium for his last chorale performance of the year, which, of course, Rene and I attended.

The program was delightful, and Will even had a brief solo in which he introduced one of the musical selections and recited the first stanza of Robert Frost's 'The Road Not Taken'. He was very confident and polished standing there in his tuxedo before a packed auditorium, which, needless to say, made his mother very proud.

Afterwards, Rene and I came home and had Chinese food. I made a batch of Hunan Beef, and re-warmed the Kung Pao Shrimp from the night before, so Rene finally had a taste of what I've been raving about for two days. The Hunan Beef was tender and piquant with a splash of vinegar, and the Kung Pao held up perfectly on reheating, without any loss of color, flavor or crispness of the vegetables. We enjoyed our dinner while watching Finding Neverland, the story of JM Barrie, the creator of Peter Pan, starring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet. A lovely little film.

After spending so many days in self-imposed solitary confinement trying to get not one but two manuscripts finished, it was a rare treat to get out of the house to enjoy so many unexpected pleasures. But tomorrow...it's back to the 'Modal Auxilary Mines' for this gal.

A Call for Chopsticks Click here for details.

12:19 PM PDT Permalink |

Kung Pao Wow!

This Month's Film: Raise the Red Lantern
Cuisine: Chinese

I just finished cooking, photographing and sampling [REVELING IN!] my very first attempt at Kung Pao...and Sweet Mother of God! it was far and away the best Chinese food I have ever made, nay, dare I say it?... the best Chinese food I've ever EATEN! Words cannot describe the perfect peppery spice and velvety texture of the sauce, the lingering crispness of the fresh vegetables, and the pearl-pink luxury of the extra large prawns. The only thing missing was someone to share it with. While my new and improved monthly cooking agenda is much more relaxed, with it spread evenly throughout the month instead of happening in an all-in-one stress-fest each time, but sometimes I find mysef all alone in the kitchen preparing and sampling the most sumptuous of dishes.

And having had a little time to reflect on why this particular recipe turned out so much better than any other I've made, I think it's all about CONTROL. And for a Type-A gal like myself, that's music to my ears. Just last week, on a whim, I made a wok-ful of stir-fry vegetables to serve with Grilled Chinese Five Spice Pork Loin. And while it was delicious, since I just tossed everything together in the wok with out measuring or planning, I was somewhat disappointed at how lackluster the fresh vegetables turned out. And I know from experience how easy it is to mishandle and overcook delicate prawns. So this time, I took a totally different approach.

I washed and chopped all the fresh vegetables in advance and had them standing ready to add to the stir-fry at just the right moment. The prawns were deveined with the shells intact, and I mixed up the Kung Pao sauce ahead of time, instead of adding all the ingredients separately to the busy stir-fry and trying to get the balance right on-the-fly.

To start, I put a little sesame oil in the wok and stir-fried the prawns in the shell until they were just pink but not completely done, knowing that they would cook a little more when all the Kung Pao components came together. At just the right moment, I removed them from the wok and set them aside on a plate. Next I added all the chopped vegetables and stir-fried them until they were just beginning to get tender, which is precisely the moment I chose to add the pre-mixed Kung Pao sauce. As soon as the sauce began to thicken, I added water a little at a time until it reached just the right velvety consistency. To finish, I turned off the heat under the wok, added the still-warm prawns and tossed with the vegetables and sauce just enough to coat and integrate them into the gestalt of the dish.

The Result: Kung Pao WOW!

The recipes and photos will be posted at the end of the month.

A Call for Chopsticks Click here for details.

01:00 AM PDT Permalink |

A Day in the Sun

This Month's Film: Raise the Red Lantern
Cuisine: Chinese

On a rare day out of the house after all the rainy weather we've had recently, Rene and I went to the Italian Street Painting Festival at the Copia Center for Wine, Food & the Arts this afternoon. Although it was a pleasant way to spend the day, after having seen the grand venue down in San Rafael for several years in a row, our local rendition paled by comparison. It was held in a sprawling parking lot instead of on the city street, and the artists were much more amateurish, with the majority of participants being students. But after all, it was a benefit for Tech High, so that was appropriate. For a community that probably has more artists per capita than most cities in the country, there just wasn't the impressive professional talent that the San Rafael event features. Of course this was Copia's first attempt, so I'm sure it will be much improved next year. Time will tell.

On a more positive note, we ran into my friend Michael Alimusa, who was representing his Small World Restaurant with falafels, baklava and lemon ices, so that was fun, and I really like his wife and kids, who were also in attendance. It was a broiling hot day out there on the pavement, so Rene and I spent most of our time sipping wine and lolling in a shady spot on the grass with his head resting on my lap.

Of course, by playing hooky for the third [yes, third!] time this week, I still didn't get the shopping done for my 'Raise the Red Lantern' main course dishes. But in the immortal words of Scarlett O'Hara, "Tomorrow is another day..."

A Call for Chopsticks Click here for details.

02:02 AM PDT Permalink |

Little Pillows of Heaven

This Month's Film: Raise the Red Lantern
Cuisine: Chinese

I had originally scheduled a shopping trip for my provincial Chinese main course dishes today, but decided to postpone it until tomorrow and make beignets instead. Today is a special day in our household, part of an ongoing tradition that my son Will and I share every year by watching all three of the Triple Crown horse races. Two weeks ago, we watched as Giacomo turned the world of horseracing upside down when he won the Kentucky Derby at 50-1 odds, and today we watched the Preakness to see if Giacomo had the staying power to win leg two of the Triple Crown.

Horseracing is my favorite spectator sport, and for some strange reason, derby days always put me in the mood for beignets...those little pillows of heaven that, along with its rich chicory coffee, brought fame to the Cafe du Monde on Jackson Square in New Orleans...one of my very favorite places in all the world.

In anticipation, I set out all the ingredients and utensils for making the beignets last night, including the last portion of the Cafe du Monde beignet mix that I bought on my most recent visit to New Orleans. In my first few attempts at making beignets, it took a few tries to get them just right. But now that I've made several batches, I know exactly how to make them puff up airy and golden every time. And today's batch was no exception. They were perfect, especially served alongside the basket of luscious ripe strawberries that my friend Michael Alimusa gave me on Friday when I stopped by the Small World Restaurant.

Fortunately those little pillows of heaven were there to cushion our disappointment when Giacomo crossed the finish line in third place behind Scrappy T and Afleet Alex, the odds-on favorite who led the field. Looks like there will be no Triple Crown this year. But you can bet that Will and I plan to go the distance on June 11 by watching the Belmont Stakes anyway.

A Call for Chopsticks Click here for details.

12:01 AM PDT Permalink |

Revisiting the Provincial Chinese Main Course Recipes

This Month's Film: Raise the Red Lantern
Cuisine: Chinese

The main course recipes for my 'Raise the Red Lantern' Provincial Chinese menu include Kung Pao Shrimp, Crispy Mandarin Orange Chicken and Spicy Hunan Beef. My Kung Pao Shrimp recipe calls for soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine, water chestnuts, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, ginger, peanuts, chili peppers, cornstarch, and vineger. Many of these ingredients are also included in the other two recipes as well. The Hunan Beef also calls for broccoli, and the Mandarin Chicken calls for egg white, sesame seeds, mandarin oranges, green peppers, and catsup. And while I'm at it, I realize that I'm almost out of rice. So I have a somewhat lengthy shopping list this time, but many of the items on it are already in my pantry.

I'm looking forward to trying all three of the dishes, but am just realizing that I've chosen some rather spicy recipes. Thankfully I will be serving them over the course of several nights, rather than all on the same table. Even so, I've been craving spicy food lately, so I'm feeling a little daring and adventurous. I'll just have to make sure I have plenty of cold Tsing Tao beer on hand to put out the fire.

A Call for Chopsticks Click here for details.

12:01 AM PDT Permalink |

A Busy Week Ahead

This Month's Film: Raise the Red Lantern
Cuisine: Chinese

I have scheduled several evenings next week for preparing the entrees for my 'Raise the Red Lantern' Provinical Chinese menu. They include Kung Pao Shrimp, Mandarin Orange Chicken, and Spicy Hunan Beef. But in addition to paying a visit to my favorite Mexican carneceria to buy the fresh ingredients, I have a full dance card that includes the annual tradition of watching the Preakness horse race on Saturday with my son Will, the Italian Street Painting Festival at Copia Center for Wine, Food and the Arts on Sunday, a lunch date to interview the proprietor of my favorite sushi bar for a writing project I'm working on, Will's last chorale performance of the school year on Tuesday, renewing my driver's license on Wednesday, and the opening of the 2005 Chefs Market in downtown Napa on Friday evening. Yikes! With all that going on, when am I going to find time play in the kitchen?

A Call for Chopsticks Click here for details.

09:33 PM PDT Permalink |

A Respite from the Kitchen

This Month's Film: Raise the Red Lantern
Cuisine: Chinese

After several days spent focusing on recipes, shopping for fresh ingredients, cooking up my Velvety Hot and Sour Egg Flower Soup and Mandarin Chicken Salad, and [yes] playing hooky on a long, lazy, rainy day yesterday, it was time to put nose to the grindstone, fingers to the keyboard and get some writing done. I am currently working on not one but two books. The first is a creative project on Japanese food, and the other is an editing project which, at the moment, mostly involves managing a lot of incoming text submissions from outside sources, which will later be compiled into a published book. I hope to have both manuscripts ready to hand over to my publisher by the end of the month, so I'm working diligently to make sure that happens. Thankfully, my efforts in the kitchen have yielded a bounty of leftovers that can be served up in a matter of minutes, sparing me from yet another evening in the kitchen.

Today, my son Will called unexpectedly around lunchtime, on his way home from school with an upset tummy. But after an hour or so, he was craving a light meal, so I offered him that beautiful bowl of Velvety Hot & Sour Egg Flower Soup that appeared in yesterday's photograph. He ate every drop of it and even felt well enough a couple of hours later to keep his date with a classmate for the premiere of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith this evening. Ah, the magical healing powers of homemade soup and a little of Mom's TLC. And for lunch today, on a brief respite from my writing, I revisited yesterday's Mandarin Chicken Salad, feeling positively guilty as I relished every bite. I'm not used to having anything that fancy for lunch. But I was hungry, and there it was...

And there's still one portion of last night's bonus dish left, something that wasn't on my original Dinner & a Movie menu: Chinese Five Spice Pork Loin with Vegetable Stir Fry. Alas I have to relenquish that pleasure to Will or Rene, as I seem to have had a disturbing and recurring reaction to the Chinese Five Spice powder. Something in the blend sends my heart into a palpitating frenzy. I woke this morning from a deep sleep at 5:00 a.m. for the third time in three months after using it in a Dinner & a Movie recipe, with my heart racing at more than 120 beats a minute. Maybe it's the anise, maybe it's the cloves, because licorice, fennel, ginger and cinnamon have never bothered me. Whatever it is, it looks like I've had my last taste of Chinese Five Spice. Too bad too, because it's such an unusual and versatile spice blend. But the leftover Grilled Five Spice Pork Loin won't go to waste. Will or Rene will definitely do it justice.

Meanwhile, it's back to the keyboard for me. Except that I never left...

A Call for Chopsticks Click here for details.

12:06 AM PDT Permalink |

The Best Laid Plans

This Month's Film: Raise the Red Lantern
Cuisine: Chinese

In my Technicolor dreams, I envisioned a beautiful spring afternoon with a table set on the patio, where Rene and I would enjoy a light lunch of Velvety Hot & Sour Egg Flower Soup and Mandarin Chicken Salad, followed by a motorcycle ride up-valley. What I got instead was rain, rain, and more rain. This spring has been anything but typical. Springtime in the Napa Valley is usually a little piece of heaven, but this year the rainy season has lasted well into May with no end in sight. On the positive side, I guess there will be no drought this year.

But I digress. The Velvety Hot & Sour Egg Flower Soup was everything I'd hoped and more. The balance of hot and sour was a perfect blend of chili paste and vinegar, and the texture was just as velvety as its name implies. But getting there was no easy task. It took several hours of adjusting the recipe last night, straining the broth, correcting the seasonings, adding cornstarch little by little until the texture was just right, and then experimenting with the egg drop process. The results were definitely worth the effort.

The Mandarin Chicken Salad was another delight, with its gingery blend of soy sauce, rice vinegar and toasted sesame oil...my favorite combination. Instead of poaching the chicken, I sliced it into tiny bites, dipped them in egg and flour and deep fried them to a golden brown. A nice variation on an old standard, especially in an ensemble of crispy chow mein noodles, crunchy-fibrous water chestnuts, and luscious mandarin sections over a bed of baby greens. A truly wonderful salad.

After lunch, instead of finally experiencing the thrill of a ride on Rene's motorcycle, between sessions in the kitchen, we camped out on the sofa, listening to the downpour outside and watching an old Mexican movie called Cartas Marcadas starring Pedro Infante. A light and lively romantic comedy, but since it was showing on the Spanish channel, Rene had to translate most of it for me. What a dear.

So...sometimes you gotta take what you get and be thankful for it.

The recipes and photos will be posted at the end of the month.

A Call for Chopsticks Click here for details.

11:58 PM PDT Permalink |

Clearing the Decks for a Day of Fun and Food

This Month's Film: Raise the Red Lantern
Cuisine: Chinese

Rene and I are playing hooky tomorrow, taking the day off to relax and enjoy each other's company over a leisurely Chinese lunch of soup and salad, and if the weather's nice, a ride on his motorcycle. So, between other projects throughout the day, I was in the kitchen preparing the basics for my Velvety Hot & Sour Egg Flower Soup and Mandarin Chicken Salad. I deboned and sliced the chicken breast, washed and chopped vegetables, made chicken stock and mixed up a batch of sesame-ginger salad dressing.

With the leftover vegetables, I made a colorful stir-fry that I will serve with some grilled pork loin tomorrow evening. There was even enough for a dish of stir-fry with noodles for Will's breakfast tomorrow morning. He's spending the night with me after his Taekwondo class this evening, a rare treat on a school night when he would normally be with his Dad. And as odd as it was with all that Asian food simmering in the kitchen, we had take-n-bake pizza for supper and a nice mid-week visit.

A Call for Chopsticks Click here for details.

12:26 AM PDT Permalink |

Culinary Gestalt & Real Magic

This Month's Film: Raise the Red Lantern
Cuisine: Chinese

It occurred to me this afternoon as I was sorting through bins of tomatoes, cucumbers, scallions, carrots and spring greens for the freshest best ingredients for tomorrow's Velvety Hot and Sour Egg Flower Soup and Mandarin Chicken Salad, that cooking is the act of transforming nature's produce, which is already perfect as is, into something even better. A kind of culinary gestalt in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Now THAT'S magic!

A Call for Chopsticks Click here for details.

12:00 AM PDT Permalink |

Revisiting the Soup & Salad Recipes

This Month's Film: Raise the Red Lantern
Cuisine: Chinese

For the next phase of my Raise the Red Lantern Dinner & a Movie menu, I will be making the Velvety Hot & Sour Egg Flower Soup and the Mandarin Chicken Salad. For those two items, I will be needing to shop for a few fresh ingredients. I already have chicken breasts for the salad and the soup stock, a can of Mandarin orange sections, crispy chow mein noodles, water chestnuts, ginger root, garlic, chili paste, eggs, vinegar, cornstarch, sesame oil, soy sauce, and sesame seeds. So it looks like my shopping list is going to be very short. Spring salad greens, bamboo shoots, carrots, cucumber, celery, shitake mushrooms, and scallions. With only seven items in my basket, looks like I'll be eligible for the express lane.

A Call for Chopsticks Click here for details.

03:00 PM PDT Permalink |

How Does My Garden Grow?

This Month's Film: Raise the Red Lantern
Cuisine: Chinese

Mary, Mary! Quite contrary!
How does your garden grow?
With silverbells and cockle shells,
And pretty maids all in a row.

I loved nursery rhymes as a child, and I am often reminded of this one when I go out in the mornings to survey my garden. There I have sown two kinds of tomatoes, four kinds of peas and beans, zucchini and yellow squash, cantaloupes and watermelon, corn, cucumbers, japapenos, tomatillos, leeks, swiss chard, two kinds of lettuce, watercress, and several herbs, including mint, dill, basil, marjoram, chives, parsley, and catnip. I also have planted several varieties of flowers, including Sweet William, zinnia, lobelia, marigold, impatiens, and nasturtium. Still to be sown are Japanese eggplant, pumpkins, and bok choy.

I must say that I am puzzled at the results. Some of the things I thought would surely grow have failed to germinate. Some of the things I had doubts about are doing the best. And then there is the daily battle with the garden pests. They've eaten the cotyledons off many of my seedlings before they got a chance to sprout a second set of leaves.

Among the most successful varieties are romaine lettuce and mesclun greens, leeks and snow peas, corn and watercress, zucchini and yellow squash, cucumbers and tomatoes. The slow starts or complete failures are the melons, most of the herbs, and all the flowers except nasturtiums. I've had to put out insecticide for pill bugs, snails and a host of other hungry vermin that emerge at night and feast on the most delicate sprouts and even whole mature leaves. It's astonshing to wake some mornings and find yesterday's growth completely vanished. And I planted some things a little too early, I think, and therefore they did not germinate. Those I will replant tomorrow.

The fruits of my garden are definitely too far off to make an appearance in any of the dishes for this month's Dinner & a Movie, but I've got a good feeling that I will have a bounty of vegetables and greens for my summer menus.

A Call for Chopsticks Click here for details.

02:23 PM PDT Permalink |