Apple Bread

If you like apples and apples are in season, try making this desert. It is light and it goes well by itself or with some vanilla iceceam.

Ingridients:

• 3-5 apples
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 suger
  
• 1 cup flower
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp vinegar

Instructions

• Make the baking mix

1. mix eggs and suger
2. mix in baking soda and vinegar
3. slowly add flower while mixing to avoid lumps

• Prepare the baking pan
1. butter up the pan
2. sprinkle some flower all over the pan
3. cut out apples hearts
4. line up thin slices of apples in the pan
5. evenly pour the baking mix over the apples

• Bake
• bake at 360-370 degrees until golden (about 20 minutes)
  

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Baked Tuna Steaks Italian Style

This delicious seafood dish is quick and easy to make. I have just made it for the first time and could not resist sharing the experience.

All you need is:

• 0.7 - 1 lb of fish ( I've used Ahi Tuna)
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cut white vinegar
• 2.5-3 tbsp of finely minced fresh basil leaves
  
• 2.5-3 tbsp of finely minced fresh garlic (about 5-6 cloves)
• salt, pepper, thyme by taste

Instructions:

• mix all ingredients but fish
• pour the mix over the fish steaks, let it marinate for 30 minutes
• bake in the oven at 420 degrees for about 10-15 minutes
• let the oil boil for a bit
• be very careful when taking out of the oven, hot oil can cause bad burns
  

Serve hot over potatoes or rice. I also like to pour the oil over the side dish.

You may be tempted to try using pre-minced garlic or dried basil leaves, but I suspect that the result is not going to be the same. Fresh ingredients are very important here, IMHO.

The original recipe comes from cooks.com

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Lumache (Large Shells) with Broccoli and Capers

This vegetarian entree serves 4 to 6 people and takes about 30 minutes to prepare including cooking time. It's healthy and delicious.

Ingredients:

• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• salt and freshly milled pepper
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/4 cup capers, rinsed
• 1 1/2 pounds broccoli
• 1 pound lumache
• freshly grated Parmesan

Mince or mash the garlic with 1/2 teaspoon salt until smooth, then put in a
large bowl with the oil, pepper flakes, and capers. Thickly peel the
broccoli stems. Cut both the crowns and stems into small bite-sized pieces.

Bring plenty of water to a boil for the pasta. When it boils, add salt, add
the broccoli and cook, uncovered, until tender, 4 to 5 minutes. Scoop it
out, shake off the water, add it to the bowl, and toss with the oil.
Cover. Cook the pasta until al dente, then drain and add it to the
broccoli. Toss well, season with plenty of pepper, and toss with the
cheese.

Variations: Broccoflower or broccoli Romanesco is delicious in place
of or along with the broccoli. Also good with these vegetables are finely
slivered sun-dried tomatoes, diced roasted red peppers, Salsa Verde, pitted
black olives, and fresh marjoram, dill or a few pinches dried oregano.

This recipe is adapted from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.

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Roll-your-own Pizza

Lets face it: students love good pizza. Pizzas come in all shapes and sizes. The best pizza is the one that meets your taste. In this recipe I am going to show you how to make your own pizza just the way you like it.

To make a pizza you need dough and toppings.

Dough ingredients:

• 0.5 cup lukewarm water
• 1 - 1.5 teaspoon of active dry yeast
• 1.5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 teaspoons of olive oil

Here is how to make the dough:

1. pour water into a small bowl
2. add yeast
3. add salt
   
4. stir gently and let it sit for 5 minutes
5. stir again
6. add flour
7. mix well
   
8. knead into elastic dough
9. form a ball
10. oil up a small bowl with olive oil
11. lightly brush the dough ball with olive oil
12. put the dough ball into the bowl, cover with wet cloth
    
13. let sit for 2-4 hours in a warm place
    

One the dough is ready you can freeze it. However, pizza made out of fresh dough tastes much better.

For making a "Tomato, Basil, Mozzarella" pizza you will need:

• pizza dough as described above
  
• 1 teaspoon of all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of olive oil
• 1 tomato
• 0.5 cup of shredded Mozzarella cheese
• fresh basil leaves

Here is how you make it:

1. roll the dough quarter of inch thin or thinner
   
2. brush with olive oil
   
3. place into the oven at 425 degrees for about 6 minutes
4. carefully add toppings (it is going to be hot at that time)
1. lay out basil leaves
2. lay out thin tomato slices
3. brush pizza and toppings with some olive oil
4. cover with shredded cheese
5. Place the pizza back into the oven for another 6 minutes

This recipe originates from The Art of Low-Calorie Cooking. I have added a few tips and details from my experience.

Please post any questions, suggestions and modifications that you have tried as comments.

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Everyday Food

Well, today, I was surfing the channels and came across an awesome PBS cooking show called Everyday Food. It's a show with real recipes for real people, i.e. those with not alot of time or skill. I'm going to try a few of these recipes over the next few weeks and report on them. That Martha Stewart does think of us non-gourmet chefs every now and then. The website for the Everyday Food magazine is also online.

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Vegetarian Thai Cooking

After making a decent Thai green curry sauce over the weekend for my housewarming party, I realized that some of the ingredients in the sauce are not necessarily "kosher" for vegetarians. I got to thinking, how can I make vegetarian Thai or Vietnamese food. In general, much of Thai/Vietnamese food employs the use of fish sauce (nam pla), oyster sauce, or shrimp paste. So our goal is to try and find suitable substitutes.

A recommended substitute for fish sauce (nam pla, nuoc mam chay) is light soy sauce or just soy sauce. Soy sauce is not always good enough on its own. So, one recommendation that I read is to mix a small amount of it with fermented tofu and salted yellow beans. You should be able to find fermented tofu at your local Asian grocery store. Apparently, though, you should also be able to find products labelled as "Vegetarian Fish Sauce." I've personally never found it, but maybe I've never looked hard enough.

Shrimp paste (kapi) can be substituted with soy bean paste (yellow bean paste) or fermented tofu.

Dried shrimp (Goong Haeng) is a little tricky. According to what I've read, this is nearly impossible to substitute. The thaigrocer.com suggests that bean products or roasted nut products can be used. However, many more suggest that it should be omitted entirely.

Oyster sauce can be easily substituted with Vegetarian Oyster Sauce. This is readily purchased in most Asian grocery stores in the United States.

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Chinese Hot and Sour Soup

This recipe might take a little longer than normal. It's not a soup that you want to try if you are in rush, but boy is it tasty.

This soup is based on a recipe I obtained off the back of a tofu package (Nasoya Silken Tofu) and a website I perused. This soup comes in many variations, the following is my favorite. I usually don't use any meat and chicken broth to make it vegetarian. As for seasoning, the red pepper and hot chili oil are usually omitted unless you want some pain.

Ingredients

1/2 cup julienned carrots
1/2 can (6 to 8 oz) of bamboo shoots (drained, rinsed and julienned)
1/4 cup dried wood ears (black fungus) if you got it
1/4 to 1/2 cup dried shiitake mushrooms (6 large pieces)
1/4 lb julienned chicken or lean pork (optional)
1 can (14.5 oz) chicken or vegetable broth (or 1 1/4 cup water if pork is used)
7 to 9 oz of silken tofu (about half a package of tofu)
2 tsp minced ginger (optional)
4 tbps soy sauce
1 to 2 tbsp white vinegar
2 to 3 tbsp cornstarch with 3 to 4 tbsp water
1 large egg (optional)
1 tsp ground white pepper
1/2 tsp sesame seed oil

Other optional items:

hot chili oil, scallions

Preparation Time:
1 hour (to soak and wash wood ears and dried mushrooms)
20 to 30 minutes of cooking time

Directions

1. After soaking the wood ears for about 30 minutes or until they are soft, carefully wash them to remove them of sand. Then slice them finely. You should be able to buy wood ears at any local Asian grocery store. The dried shiitake mushrooms should also be soaked for about 1 hour in order to soften them. Wash carefully and cut off the stems and slice coarsely.
   
2. Next, slice the tofu into 1/4" to 1/2" cubes.
   
3. In a 2 to 3 qt saucepan, combine the meat, carrots, bamboo shoots, with the vegetable or chicken broth (fat free is best). If you want to add ginger, add it in now. Bring to a boil over moderately high heat. Reduce the heat and let simmer for about 5 to 10 minutes.
   
4. Put in the tofu and add the soy sauce and vinegar. Let simmer for another couple of minutes.
5. Make sure the cornstarch mixture is well-combined. Then add into the soup. Let mixture get to a boil, then turn the heat to low.
   
6. Beat the egg well and while stirring the soup vigorously, gradually pour in the egg. Let the mixture warm up for a minute or so, then turn off the heat.
   
7. As a last step, add in the pepper and/or the hot chili oil. Garnish with diced scallions.

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Let's Eat In Tonight!

As a graduate student, I have limited time and financial resources. However, I still have to eat. I could go out and get something from a restaurant, but that can quickly add up and restaurant food is not always nuitritious or well-balanced. My other option is to cook at home. Luckily, I enjoy cooking and trying new dishes. This blog is about cooking as a graduate student. I'm not a culinary genius, but I like to think I could be one. Join me and my colleagues while we try to make good food given limited time and money.

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