3/30/2012

In the bento: mungbean rice, broccoli, pan-fried pork, pan-fried egg, sauteed cabbage.

3/29/2012

In the bento: pig feet, cabbage, stirfried asparagus, carrots, rice with mungbean.

3/28/2012

In the bento: black sticky rice+rice, carrots, stirfried asparagus, cabbage, pig feet, black fungus.

3/27/2012

In the bento: rice&black sticky rice, stirfried pepper, carrots, onion with egg, pork slice with sauce.

3/21/2012

In the bento: pasta bolognese, broccoli, nori tamagoyaki, sauted onion, carrots.

3/20/2012

In the bento: stirfried zucchini with egg, carrot, asparagus, rice, paneer.

Saffron Milk Bread

Up till today, my wild yeast finally seems to be stable. I have great success of baking two good loafs with it and both turned out beautifully. This saffron loaf baked in the morning was exactly I expected: good crust outside but soft, moist and tender inside. It was so soft that I barely can cut it. The taste was a little sour because of the long time ferment (10 hours). It's like Asian sour dough bread.

Triple Collor Vegetarian Lasagna

Lasagna is easy to make. Also make variation  is not that hard if knowing the building priciples. I like to cook lasagan my ways, with different fillings the combination is unlimited. This one I made in the picture looks so colorful and sping, I use carrots, broccolia and cauliflower for color orange, green and white. They look vibrant even after coming out from oven.

Wild Yeast White Bread

My wild yeast cultured from pomegranate has behaved fairly well these days. They didn't give me good bread at the  first several times that I baked with them. Now the temperature has been warmer, these yeast seem to be back to live. Wild yeast asks more time to let the dough grow, but that also gives the opportunity for the flavor to develop during the process. The white bread coming out in the morning had a very good texture, the interior is soft, moist and chewy while the outside is smooth and crispy. The flavor and taste from the wild yeast was beautiful.

3/15/2012

In the bento: mac-n-cheese, hard boiled egg, asparagus, stirfried cabbage, pig feet.

3/14/2012

In the bento: mac n cheese, stirfried zucchini, daikon cake, pig feet.

3/13/2012

In the bento: rice, broccoli, stirfried cabbage, pig feet, stewed egg.

3/12/2012

In the bento: daikon cake, stir-fried cabbage, stir-fried Chinese broccoli, red yeast rice pork.

Croissant with Avocado, Cheddar and Egg

I have a big issue with Costco's butter croissant -- I love them, absolutely! My self discipline is not to buy too much when get a chance, or not to eat it everyday. But I do allow myself to have some once a while. The toast oven is a good helper to reheat the frozen croissant, which is like fresh from the oven. I can eat it plain and be happy for the rest of the day, but croissant sandwich makes it to a upper level. This one in the picture was sandwiched with avocado, vintage cheddar and fried egg. I have been eating it two days in a roll and still am very happy.

Lardy Cake

Lard with sugar is one of the heavenly good combinations. This bread tastes best when hot out from the oven. For me it's a reminder of the sesame lard dumpling I love to eat when grow up. It makes me home sick. The recipe can be found here.

3/7/2012

In the bento: pork steamed with ground rice, broccoli, roaste pepper, stirfried shrimps, rice.

Daikon Rice Cake

This rice cake is popular in Hongkon,g Guangzhou and Taiwan. The city I grow up doesn't have it. Although I know the cake for a while, I never got a chance to try. The great thing about this dish is that to make at home is easy and tasty. I made it last night. The next morning, I sliced several pieces and pan-fried until crispy on both sides. This made a very conformable breakfast!

3/5/2012

In the bento: special steamed pork, steamed sweet potato, stirfried snow pea with carrots, rice ground pork.

3/1/2012

The same as yesterday's. In the bento: carrots stirfried with pork liver, broccoli, angel-hair with chili oil.

2/29/2012

In the bento: Angel-hair with meat sauce, stir-fried carrots with pork liver, broccoli.

2/28/2012

In the bento: rice with meat sauce, sweet potato pancake, steamed broccoli, pork with red yeast rice paste, stirfried carrots with pork liver.

Sweet Potato Pancake

I didn't feel eating very health today. So I decide to supply my body lots of fiber by sweet potato. This pancake is very easy to make, the only process that is labor intense is to shred the sweet potato. I did sweat when working on that, but it was a nice work out. After shredding the potato, just add one egg and a table spoon of flour to create the batter. Then add enough oil in a hot pan and pan fry the potato.

Red Yeast Rice Paste

Red yeast rice paste (紅糟) is a kind of marinade sauce used in southern east of China. It is made with red yeast rice, sticky rice, and cooking wine. The paste is very fragrant, with a pleasent sweet, salty and wine smell. It is wildly used for marinating meat, fish and etc to give the food a unique taste. The paste has a bright red color, which totally comes naturally from the red yeast. People who like me hate food coloring, shouldn't worry about anything about this bright color, it is safe, the gift from our mother nature. I used red yeast rice, miso paste, and sticky rice with a portion of 1:4:8. The red yeast rice was soaked in rice wine over night. Meanwhile, the sticky rice was soaked in water over night too. Then the 2nd day, cooked the sticky rice and let it cool down. Mix the soaked red yeast rice and miso, stir it untill well combined. Then cover the mixture and let it ferment for 3 days.

Angle-Hair with Truffle Oil and Parmigiano-Reggiano

For a pasta dish as simple as this, good ingredient is the key. All I have to do after the putting the pasta on a warm plate, was to shred some parmigiano-reggiano and drizzle with some truffle oil. It has to be PR, parmesan is not allowed. And yes, truffle is expensive, but just few drop is all I need .

Bolongnese Sauce

It's hard to believe that this is my first time to make bolongese sauce. And I guess it make sense: 1) I am not a big tomato sauce person 2) way too many choices in grocery store. So why bother. Things go unpredicted sometimes. I suddenly craving a very tomato meat sauce. I have to get all things and cook. And I did. Also I want a very specific pasta to pair with the sauce, no penne, no fusili, no shell, but has to be fricelli, only that is able to pair with my wonderful sauce lol