I have wanted to learn how to make this miso carrots after we had it at Myers + Chang for the first time. I have lost count of my attempts of making it. Just when I almost give up, I saw this red miso carrots recipe Joanne Change shared on Food and Wine 2011 cookbook! Nav and I were so thrilled when we saw this recipe. We tried and made some modifications. Here’s the version we like:

Miso Carrots

1 pound carrots, thickly sliced (about 1/3 inch thick)

1/4 cup red miso paste

3 tablespoons butter, room temperature

2 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 tablespoon brown sugar

3 spring onions, thinly sliced

Method:

1. Cook the carrots in a large pot of boiling water for two minutes. Drain and set aside.

2. Heat the oil in a saute pan. Add the carrots and cook over high heat for about 5 minutes.

3. Mix miso paste with butter, brown sugar and spring onions.

4. Add the miso butter to the carrots and toss until evenly coated.

5. Put the carrot in an oven-proof pan and roast in 425F oven for 20 minutes.

6. Transfer to a nice plate and serve. Enjoy!

It’s this time of the year again. Summer is over, the weather starts to get cold. It’s the time to have a bowl of nice and spicy beef noodle soup….

I don’t know about you, but for me, store bought mayonnaise has a very strange taste that I really don’t like. I love making my own mayo. It sounds hard, but actually you only need three simple ingredients – egg yolk, oil and lemon juice, to make your own mayo at home. It only takes 40 seconds to make it and it tastes 40 times better than the supermarket one.  Aioli is garlic mayonnaise, popular in southern France and usually used as sandwich spread or fries dip. Today I happen to have some basil on hand, so I am making this basil aioli to go with Mahi Mahi. Another simple sauce for your favorite fish.

I am now sitting here at my favorite spot at home, a comfy sofa by the window. Looking out is the stunning sunset right above Charles river. How lucky I am! I said to myself. No need to travel thousands of miles. This beautiful view is just right outside of my window. Good food with good view. Ah…life is good.

The main dish we made was Coquilles Saint Jacques. It’s french, of course, but not as complicated as beef bourguignon or coq au vin. We finished this dish in 3o minutes. Nice and easy and tasty. The recipe is from French Food at Home at Cooking Channel.  We were very pleased with the result. Big success of trying this new french food recipe!

Last month, my article was published on one of the famous blog in Taiwan. All of a sudden, thousands more hits start flowing into my chinese blog. On top of that, because my article got selected, the author even gave me one of her latest book and some handmade bookmarks as a prize. How wonderful is that!  There’s one quote on the bookmark I really like, I think it’s from Roy Croft:

“I love you not only because of who you are, but also because of who I am when I am with you.”

Indeed, who we are with really make a big difference of what we have become. I have always loved cooking and baking. But it’s not until recently, I start to feel comfortable of my ability of putting together something decent. I guess Nav’s support and inspiration really help me to push myself to the next level.

Our focus lately is to cook and eat healthy. Therefore, quinoa is a regular on our dining table. Basil chicken is Nav’s favorite Taiwanese dish. So I combine these two together, create this basil chicken quinoa recipe. Don’t laugh, it’s actually very tasty! One of the key ingredient of making this dish is Thai Basil, which is available at chinese supermarkets. Thai basil has a very distinctive flavor that sweet basil doesn’t have, so these two are not interchangeable. Once you get the Thai basil, you are half way there of making a delicious taiwanese basil chicken (or some people called it three cup chicken).

One of the popular ingredient on Kripalu’s menu is “quinoa”. My friend Mike, who is very into healthy cooking and eating, has been raving about quinoa for a long time. The recipe below was my first attempt of making quinoa, and it came out really nice. (yay!) When we were at Kripalu last weekend, we sampled so many different quinoa dishes. Now I feel more comfortable with this ingredient. I think I will include quinoa in my daily cooking more often.

Some background information about quinoa (pronounced Keen-wah): Technically quinoa is not a true grain, but is the seed of the Goosefoot plant. Therefore, quinoa is gluten-free. Quinoa is high in protein (about 12%-18%), calcium and iron. It contains an almost perfect balance of all eight essential amino acids needed for tissue development in humans. Of course there are some other good things about quinoa I didn’t mention here. If you are interested in reading pages and pages of research on quinoa, I am sure you can easily find it online. To me, I think the information above is good enough. Honestly, I am more interested in learning how to cook it and eat it than reading it.

The recipe is originally from allrecipe.com (with 1,518 positive reviews. you really can’t go wrong with that). But if you read my blog often (hello, mom!), you know I like to change recipes a bit. So here’s my version of making quinoa with beans:

The Chilean sea bass I got at whole foods was fantastic. Tonight I follow Gordon Ramsay’s recipe and it came out even nicer than my sun-dried tomatoes creation. I guess that explains why he has been awarded 12 Michelin Stars and I haven’t.  Anyhow, the combination is just brilliant. And it takes no more than 15 minutes to make this dish. If you see a good cut of Chilean sea bass in your supermarket, you have to give this recipe a try. Nav and I enjoyed this dish very much. Nav said he can really see my improvement in making savory dishes. This really made my day.  What a wonderful way to end a week. Okay, now it’s our sunday movie time. Got to go now…

Seems like my cooking skills have improved over the past year. Thanks to Nav being my guinea pig and gives me constructive feedback. Therefore, I get the chance to practice and know where and how to improve.

I remember a couple years ago when my friend Hans came visit. We made a pesto pasta and a tomato sauce pasta together. It was edible, but I won’t call it delicious. However, when he visited me a couple days ago. He was impressed by the pasta I made. He even asked me to make the pasta again before he left!  So proud of myself of the improvement and thanks nav for the inspiration!

This is one of the famous Chinese dish, just like General Tao’s chicken, this dish is named after one of the influential people in Chinese history- Su Dongpo (January 8, 1037–August 24, 1101).  Su Dongpo was a writer, poet, artist, calligrapher, and of course, a foodie of Song Dynasty. He was also a governor of Huangzhou, one of the poor providence in China. When he was at Huangzhou, he invented this dish for the poor people.  Pork belly was dirt cheap there, however, poor people didn’t know how to cook them. He showed them how to use simple and easy ingredients to make a delicious dish. He even wrote a poem of this pork dish. It’s kind of hard to translate ancient chinese poetry, but the main idea of this poem is – use little water and cook the pork at very low heat for a long time. You have to be patient. The pork quality is very good at Huangzhou area, however, rich people don’t like it because it’s too cheap. Poor people don’t like it because they don’t know how to cook it. If you cook it my way, you will be happy and full all the time.

I usually don’t like pork belly as it’s too greasey and flavorless. However, Dongpo Pork totally changed my opinion about pork belly. You have to try it yourself to know how good pork belly could really be. Also, bamboo shoots are the perfect match of pork belly. Definitely put some in if you can find it in the chinese market.

Renata of Testado, Provado & Aprovado! was our Daring Cooks’ April 2011 hostess. Renata challenged us to think “outside the plate” and create our own edible containers! Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 17th to May 16th at http://thedaringkitchen.com!

I made lettuce wraps this month. It’s light and delicious, good finger food for parties.

Nav told me Jamie Oliver has a new book came out in UK and his sister really likes those recipes. It’s called Jamie’s 30-minute-meal. However, it’s not available in US yet (boo!). Good news is there are some recipes published on Jamie’s website. This indian-style steak is one of them. It’s very easy and tasty. I made this steak along with strawberry salad and some home-made naan bread for dinner. Nav and I had a feast. Thank you Jamie!

So what is “The Daring Kitchen”, you asked. Basically, you can look at it as an online cooking club. Every month, there will be a host/hostess pick a recipe for everyone to make. It’s challenging because the recipe is most likely to be something you are not familiar with and won’t make it at home otherwise.

I am excited to join this “Daring Kitchen” club and this is my first daring cooks’ challenge.

Kathlyn of Bake Like a Ninja was our Daring Cooks March 2011 hostess. Kathlyn challenges us to make two classic Peruvian dishes: Ceviche de Pescado from Peruvian Cooking Basic Recipes by Annik Franco Barreau. And Papas Rellenas adapted from a home recipe by Kathlyn’s Spanish teacher, Mayra. We, the daring cookers, can choose between the two and my pick for this month is – Papas Rellenas. I also made Salsa Criolla, the side dish recommended by the hostess.

Peruvian food is new to me, so trying out this recipe is an exciting and fun process. Also, deep frying is always in my “don’t-try-it-at-home” category. I am so proud of myself conquer the fear making deep fried food at home.

After making the Canadian dessert nanaimo bars, I decided to try out new recipes from different countries. Today’s pick is Bobotie from South Africa. (Pronounced ba-boor-tea according to BBC good food, or buh-booty according to Chasing Delicious)

I did my research online and came up with this combination of the ingredients that’s easy to get and I am comfortable with. The result is SUPER TASTY!

I want to make a one-pot dish. A dish that I can eat for a week. It’s wicked cold outside these days. One pot of hearty meal is what I need for dinner in the next coming week. After flipping the recipes on the book shelf for about an hour, I finally found this Pot-roasted Chicken with Sweet and Sour Sauce at Jamie Oliver’s Happy Days with the Naked Chef. Bingo! This is what I am looking for in this cold winter time.