Wild Ginger @ the Bravern in Bellevue Review January 29, 2010

Let me begin by describing my most lasting impression from the restaurant – the service is just HORRIBLE!!! Sub standard, unprofessional and careless are the first words coming to my mind. 

Things were brought out of order, some appetizers appeared after half of the main course was already finished, main courses were brought for half of the table and the other half had to sit and watch for ten minutes and then vice versa. There were four of us and while one person was still eating all the rest of the plates were cleared from the table, we were asked if we want anything else and when we declined the bill was brought in – all that while the person was still eating!!! And no, they were not very busy.

Now to the food…

First of…they have a new weekend dim sum menu which is too expensive by any standard so I would stick with the lunch menu which provides good value. I tasted two dishes – the Wild Ginger Fragrant Duck and the Seven Flavor Beef which were both good but the rice that came with them was just a disaster – the white rice was absolutely anemic and flavorless and the brown one was over cooked and bland. The Mango Lassi was a mango smoothie of sort made with either ice or frozen mangoes rather than with fresh mangoes, yogurt and milk or water as it should be.

The bottom line is,  the food is overall quite good; I would go there for a quick lunch (no appetizers or multiple items - just one plate per person) so service required would be minimized and value for money maximized.

Farro & seafood in saffron sauce January 29, 2010

Farro is an ancient grain, a type of hard wheat really, that is high in fiber and protein; it has a nutty flavor and good texture. Farro is versatile, you can grind it into flour and make pasta or cakes, you can use it in soups and either as a main or a side dish. The following recipe is a fun one really and can be adapted to various seasons just replace the zucchini with asparagus and you have a spring dish or serve it at room temperature in the summer; replace the half & half in the sauce with whipping cream and it will be heavier and richer for those cold winter days.

So here it goes…for two portions you will need:

2/3 cup farro 

8-10 medium shrimps

4 calamari tubes cut into rings

4 calamari tentacles

15-20 bay scallops

1 zucchini – cut into long thin ribbons

1/2 cup half & half

large pinch saffron threads (about 1/2 tsp)

1 scant Tbsp butter

1 small shalot, minced

splash white wine (a tea spoon or so)

1 Tbsp chopped parsley

olive oil

fresh basil leaves and ground black pepper for garnish

To make:

1. Mix saffron into the half & half and let sit while you do the rest

2. Cook farro according to package instructions until its al-dente

3. Saute zucchini in a little olive oil and salt until soft; leave it in the saute pan (see step 6).

4. Heat butter in a small sauce pan over medium heat, add shalot and cook until soft and translucent; add wine and wait for it to evaporate; add saffron mixture and stir for a couple of minutes, lower the heat and let reduce for 5 minutes more (there should be about half of it left).

5. Heat some olive oil with a pinch of salt in a pan large enough to hold all your seafood; add shrimps (cook for a minute) then scallops and tentacles (cook until both shrimps and scallops are almost done) and finally the calamari rings (which take only about a minute to cook).

6. Add the farro to the zucchini and sauté for a couple of minutes; mix in the parsley and some more olive oil.

7. Strain the sauce onto two plates; arrange farro in the middle, top with seafood and garnish with fresh basil leafs and some freshly ground black pepper.

Glorious, pretty, tasty and colorful in under an hour! Enjoy!

Vietnamese style chicken noodle soup (Pho Ga) January 23, 2010

 

Asian cuisine became an integral part of my life only a couple of years ago when I moved to Vancouver, BC where the number of ethnic Asian restaurants is really astonishing; I tried one and then another one and became addicted to the flavors, colors and smells. I crave Ramen soup and my eyes shine when I see a fresh pink piece of tuna; I am fascinated by the fire coming from under hot woks and am willing to stand in a very long line waiting for a table in a favorite place. Asian food crept into my home as well, there isn’t a week of grocery shopping when I don’t stock up on fresh ginger and lemon grass, garlic and cilantro and my pantry has all the staples – you can trust me on that one - from soy sauce to fish sauce, from mirin to rice vinegar, from garam masala to star anise. Recently I have decided to start reading some books on regional Asian cooking and enjoy the stories and recipes, I do find it a bit difficult to find good books on the theoretical aspect of the various cuisines but I’ll keep trying.

The recipe I want to share today is for a traditional Vietnamese chicken noodle soup; it is based on a traditional recipe though I did make it mine at the end of the day.

For the broth:

2 chicken breasts

1 quart (liter) of water

2 quarts (liters) chicken stock – store bought (low sodium) or home made

2 inch (5 cm) piece of ginger

1 shalot

3 start anise

1 cinnamon stick

2 Tbsp sugar

1/4 to 1/2 cup fish sauce (I used 1/4 cup or so and it was salty enough for me but if yours is not add more)

For serving: freshly ground black pepper, green onions, cilantro, Thai basil, Thai chilies, lime wedges, vegetable of your choice thinly sliced (you can see an optional array on the picture above), noodles – traditionally those would be thin rice noodles but I have used both Somen noodles (Japanese thin wheat noodles) as well as Soba noodles (Japanese as well, made partially with buckwheat flour).

To make:

Step 1: place chicken breasts in the water, add a few peppercorns a pinch of salt and a bay leaf, bring to a boil and reduce heat skimming the scum until the chicken is cooked through, remove the chicken and strain the resulting broth – reserve.

Step 2: under a broiler or on the bbq or just on an open flame if you have a gas stove char the ginger and shalot until black; smash each with a back of a knife.

Step 3: In a dry pan, heat up cinnamon and star anise until fragrant, add shalot, ginger, chicken stock and the broth in which you cooked the chicken. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and let cook for about an hour.

Step 4: When the chicken is cool enough to handle shred it with your fingers.

Step 5: When broth is ready add the fish sauce, sugar and a pinch of salt.

Step 6: Arrange chicken, noodles and all other garnishes in a bowl and pour the hot soup over them, serve with lime wedges on the side.

Have a wonderful year January 11, 2010

Had no time to post anything during the holidays but I sure have been cooking and baking. Here are some photos I took and through those I want to wish you a wonderful new year!

Happy Eating!

Christmas Cookies (Alfajores, Ricciarelli, Cookie-press vanilla-butter cookies)

New Year’s dinner -  avocado mousse with cured Salmon, crème fraîche and salmon roe; crab ravioli with pea purée; Baked shrimp with avocado salad.

Second course – duck legs with Chanterelle ravioli and Porcini mushroom sauce.

 

Dessert – Gianduja souffle

And the last one…those are Pizzelle (Italian cookies, but I assume you already guessed that) and they are made using my new gadget (i.e. a pizzelle maker, like a waffle maker) and could be eaten plain or rolled into tubes, cones or pushed into muffin molds to create small cups. The tube shaped ones have a cannoli filling made from Ricotta and the cups are filled with Gianduja cream.

 

Mild Chicken Curry – adapted from Vij’s family recipe January 11, 2010

If you like Indian food and you are not actually from India it is most likely that you rarely cook it at home but would rather go out or have it delivered to you and I am the same way; I love Vij’s in Vancouver, BC (for example) because it is slightly more sophisticated and is always consistent and delicious. But occasionally I do cook Indian food at home because I love the smell of spices and the vivid colors. This recipe is a classic, simple chicken curry appropriate for a mid-week dinner as well as for your guests. If you want to customize and add other vegetables please feel free, my only advice is to stick to 2-3 types so each one is distinct and present.

What you need:

1 onion – finely chopped

1 cinnamon stick

3 Tbsp chopped garlic

2 Tbsp  chopped ginger

2-3 (depending on size) tomatoes – chopped [I used 3 small Roma tomatoes]

2 chicken breasts – cubed into bite size pieces

10-15 crimini mushrooms (button mushrooms are ok, 3-4 portobello mushrooms would be awesome) – quartered

1 red bell pepper – sliced into ribbons or rounds

Spices: 1 Tbsp each salt, cumin, coriander powder, garam masala; 1 tsp turmeric; 1/2 tsp each black pepper & cayenne pepper.

1/2 cup thick (greek) yogurt

1/2 cup (light) sour cream

2 cups water

1/2 cup cilantro with the stems – chopped fine

To make:

Heat a few tablespoons of oil over medium heat, add onion and cinnamon – let cook for about 5 minutes, the onion should be golden; add garlic and sauté for another 2-3 minutes. Add ginger, tomatoes and spices cook for 5 minutes longer or until you see that the oil separates from the solids. Add chicken and cook for a few minutes until its cooked from the outside (not the inside); add peppers and mushrooms and cook for a couple more minutes. Add sour cream, yogurt and water – stir well, increase heat and bring to a boil; reduce heat back to medium, cover and let simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in cilantro and serve with rice (garnish with more cilantro).

I like to add cumin seeds to my rice a few minutes before its done.

The beauty of this dish is that it is a soup and a main course all at once which makes it a very good choices for those rainy (or snowy), cold, winter evenings. Stay warm!

Lasagna with all sorts of things December 13, 2009

I love pasta. It is the best, most perfect, food. It can come in many forms so its diverse and the amount of variation when it comes to sauces is endless. There is good pasta, bad pasta and poorly executed pasta (very often). I like plain store bought spaghetti with olive oil and garlic and hand-made fancy ravioli with a page long list of ingredients for the filling and another one for the sauce. I like regular pasta, stuffed pasta, long and short, fancy and plain, with sauce or in a soup. Here is something I made tonight, there is no recipe per-se but the technique and the various stages is something I want to share.

To make a pan full of lasagna, to feed 8 very very hungry people (or 10 hungry people), you will need:

4 eggs & 2 cups of flour (+ more for dusting) for the pasta dough OR a package of lasagna sheets enough for 5 layers in your dish

4-5 cups (approx. 1 liter/1 quart) tomato sauce – make your favorite one or buy one you are satisfied with (I recommend Dave’s Gourmet heirloom tomatoes, organic sauce)

1/2 lb (220 gr) spicy italian sausage (raw) - buy bulk or take out of the casing

1/3  (150 gr) lb ground chicken thigh meat

850 gr (30 oz) ricotta

a bag of spinach (lets say about a pound, 1/2 kg)

1/2 cup to 1 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano

2 balls of fresh mozzarella

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Steps:

1) Put the ricotta in a fine sieve and let stand while you are doing the rest of the prep; it will lose some of the liquid.

2) Divide tomato sauce into 2/3 and 1/3, set the 1/3 aside. Brown the meat in some olive oil braking it while it cooks, add the tomato sauce and cook together until the meat is tender and the sauce reduced a bit (add a bit of flour if its too liquid).

3) Wash spinach and put it in a pot, sprinkle a teaspoon or so of salt, close the lid and let cook for a few minutes on a medium heat until absolutely wilted. Drain, wash under cold water, squeeze as much of the water as you can, chop and set aside.

4) Make pasta. 

5) Bring a pot of water to a boil add salt, cook pasta a few sheets at a time (just make sure the water is boiling at all times) for just a few second (lets say 5) and transfer to a bowl of cold water. Wash under cold water, pat dry with a towel.

*** If using store bought pasta follow manufacturer’s instructions rather than the ones above ***

6) Spread bottom of lasagna dish with a bit of the tomato sauce, cover with pasta sheets, spread half the meat sauce 1/4 of the mozzarella and a sprinkle of Parmigiano Reggiano, cover with another layer of pasta. Cover with 1/2 the ricotta and half the spinach – sprinkle some salt and pepper. Another layer of pasta, another layer of meat sauce and Parmigiano, more pasta, ricotta and spinach and the last of the pasta should be covered with the plain tomato sauce the rest of the mozzarella and Parmigiano Reggiano.

7) Cover with foil and bake at  400 F (200 C) for 15-20 minutes, take off the foil and turn on the broiler and wait for the cheese to melt and a crust to form.

8) Take out of the oven and let sit for a few minutes for the lasagna to set, cut and serve with some fresh basil and freshly ground black pepper.

 

20 minutes breakfast muffins December 11, 2009

Why breakfast..? because those are not cake like muffins you would eat for dessert, those are the ones you eat for a power breakfast or a hunger killing snack. Those are fiber packed and as healthy as I could make them, they take exactly 20 minutes including baking.

What you need (8 large muffins, 10 if using an apple):

1 cup whole wheat flour (I used pastry flour)

1/2 cup old-fashioned oats

1/2 cup ground old-fashioned oats (use your mini chopper/food processor/coffee grinder)

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/4 to 1/3 cup sugar (I used raw sugar)

pinch of salt

1 tsp cinnamon

dash of nutmeg

4 oz  (110 gr) apple sauce (a scant 1/2 cup)

3/4 cups milk (fat free is fine)

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup raisins

3 optional ingredients:

1/3 cup coarsely chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans go well here)

1 Tbsp flax seeds – they are good for you :)

1 small apple – the basic recipe yields muffins that are quite dense, not heavy concrete dense or anything but still, and the apple chunks add a bit of moisture and freshness to them.

What to do, what to do…

1) preheat oven to 400 F

2) mix dry ingredients, add wet ingredients and mix until combined, add apple cubes if using.

3) bake for 15 minutes (a couple extra minutes if using the apple)

Eat and be healthy!

Rocotta, almond and raisin pancakes November 8, 2009

Just something I whipped up tonight to go with a cup of tea, the idea is based on a traditional Russian food called sirniki or tvorojniki which are made with farmers cheese instead or ricotta and are coarser and a bit less refined (i.e. no lemon zest nor vanilla sugar) but nevertheless delicious and a childhood favorite.

You need (for 15 small pancakes):

1 cup ricotta (drained in a colander if watery)

1/4 cup almond meal

1/4 cup whole wheat flour (I used pastry flour)

1 egg yolk

2 Tbsp vanilla sugar

1 tsp baking powder

zest of one lemon

1/4 cup raisins soaked in hot water for a couple of minutes

Mix all ingredients, wait for about 10 minutes for the mixture to thicken. Form small discs (about 1 inch/2-3 cm in diameter)  and saute in a preheated pan over medium heat. The pan and the oil in it must be really hot so the cooking time is only a minute or two per side, otherwise the pancakes will lose their fluffiness.

They do expand due to the baking powder so don’t overcrowd the pan. I hope you enjoy the homey smell and taste :)

Artisanal bistro at the Bravern review November 3, 2009

It is a nice place, nice atmosphere and interior, nice idea, average service, nothing special really. The concept is an Americanized French bistro, the so hyped cured meats (not made in house or anything like that, just imported) and cheeses are beautiful but do not require any preparation or imagination - just cut and arrange on a plate; I am not going to a restaurant to get that, I am perfectly capable  of cutting my own cheese and buying my own salami. We came recently for a very late lunch on a Saturday and ended up in the restaurant during happy hour – we ordered some cheese bites which to my surprise materialized to be a cheese toast cut into four bite size pieces, the duck rillettes that had a nice flavor (my husband said he thought it was way too salty) but the portion was so big it was very difficult for the two of us to finish, the frites came in after a long long time and they were actually cold and we had to send those back and wait for new ones after we were almost done with everything else. As a compensation we got some the Gougeres (little cheese puffs) which were actually nice. Overall a very hyped and anticipated restaurant that does not deliver. The main word that comes to mind is boring.

Orecchiette with Delicata squash and prosciutto November 3, 2009

The plan was different. I was going to make Orecchiette with squash and a garlic-herb sauce but my husband was lobbying for utilizing our hunk of prosciutto. Why hunk? Because we bought a whole leg of italian San Daniele prosciutto and split it between three families so we have a really nice large piece laying in our fridge and we savour it nice and slow. So except for the obvious choice of Bufala mozzarella, tomatoes and prosciutto seasoned with olive oil I also try to incorporate it into cooking; if you want to do the same be careful, do not use salt before you add the prosciutto to your dish, you may come to regret it because when you heat up the prosciutto the flavor becomes more concentrated as the fat melts and it becomes saltier. So back to  the pasta…

 

You will need (for 4 people):

1 small squash – I used a Delicata

1/3 cup cubed (1/2 cm or 1/4 inch) prosciutto

300 gr (approx. 10 oz) Orecchiette or other small pasta

Handful chopped flat leaf parsley

2 cloves of garlic – minced

Parsley oil or plain olive oil and parmigiano reggiano for serving

What to do, what to do…

1) Preheat oven to 400 F (200 C)

2) Peel the squash, remove the seeds and strings and cut it into small (1 cm or 1/2 inch) cubes

3) In an oven proof dish mix the squash with 1 garlic clove, a little olive oil, a small pinch of salt (remember the warning from the beginning of the post) and freshly ground black pepper.

4) Bake the squash for about 10 minutes (maybe 15), until soft and cooked through.

5) Meanwhile boil your pasta water (make sure to time it right so the pasta and squash are ready at the same time) and cook your pasta.

6) While those two are on, put the prosciutto in a pan and saute over medium-high heat (no oil needed) until lightly browned.

7) Drain pasta, mix in squash, prosciutto including the fat from the pan, parsley & the second clove of garlic.

8) Divide between plates, drizzle with parsley oil (or plain olive oil), grate some cheese and fresh black pepper.

*** To make parsley oil (or any other herb oil for that matter):

Chop a bunch of parsley very very fine or pulse it in your food processor, mix in olive oil and a pinch of salt. Let stand for a little while (30 minutes perhaps); strain into a clean dish (squeeze bottle for example) extracting as much pulp and flavor from the parsley and there you have it! For a bunch of parsley I would use approximately 1/2 cup of oil (more or less depending on the intensity of flavor you want to obtain). Keeps well in the fridge.

 Enjoy!!!