Monday Night Meatballs

Every Monday night it’s just my dad and I at home because my mom’s out at a Bible study. I have to admit that I get bored of Chinese food and rice (gasp!) so I’ve been exploring Italian flavours on Mondays when I am chef. I love the strong aromas and colours, and thankfully my dad is not the Chinese father who requires soup and rice every night. So far, I’ve experimented capers, cream sauce, and have been tweaking a homemade tomato sauce so I can wean off of the can.

Last week I started with a pound of lean ground beef. I remember that I was having a tough day, and taking it out on the cooking .. what was supposed to be simple spaghetti with meatsauce became Rachael-Ray inspired meatballs. And when I say Rachael Ray meatballs, I’m talking about the ones the size of your fist. Big and American. (I don’t particularly like Rachel Ray’s show because I find her kind of abrasive, but she does know how to cook beefy meals.)

Well, I was running out of time Monday night so didn’t take any pictures, but the meatballs turned out pretty well! It’s pretty easy to make actually, and the only “special ingredient” you need are breadcrumbs.

Baked Meatball Standard Recipe (of any size – just up the cooking time for the bigger ones)

• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• salt and pepper
• oregano
• Worcestershire sauce
• ketchup

1. Preheat the oven 325ºF, line a baking pan with foil, and whisk the egg
2. Mix all the ingredients together, adding the bread crumbs at the end.
3. Form the meatballs and bake for 20-25 minutes. Check the doneness by cutting through to the centre.
4. Toss them in with your spaghetti sauce.

 

Don’t be scared of squid!

It’s Wednesday night – the only night in the week when my whole family can sit down to dinner together. In the past few weeks, Wednesday has also been my mom’s day off, and she’s breaking out her more elaborate Chinese recipes.

So I followed her around the kitchen, documenting how she makes homestyle Cantonese dishes. Think of it as cooking with mom.

Mom's notes, though you won't find her following recipe rules

I usually have no clue what she will be making, and today she’s been to the market and picked up some fresh squid as a starting point.

Don’t be put off by squid – I’ve grown up eating seafood all my life, but for many friends I know that the texture of seafood makes them uncomfortable. Warning: if that’s you, the images might make you squirm. Steamed squid as my mom prepared does resemble the soft rubber kind of texture, but if you’re adventurous, don’t skip out on squid. There is so much more beyond calamari!

Cleaning out the squid, discarding the legs and eyes. My mom wore an apron for an ink-free operation.

Scoring the squid meat helps retain its shape when it cooks, soak up the sauce, and adds a decorative detail

Fermented shrimp sauce

Funny story about fermented shrimp sauce: my sister and I were never really a fan of it, because it has a strong smell. My mom doesn’t cook with this often, but when she does, she normally prepares it with a Chinese collard green that is completely hollow in the stem. Because I was introduced to that vegetable with this sauce, I can’t say I’ve ever liked that particular vegetable, even if it is made without fermented shrimp sauce! Have you ever had bad introductions to something, which puts you off trying it later on?

In goes the shrimp sauce, along with corn starch so that there is less moisture

Steamy, steamy .. 20 minutes or so

Meanwhile, washing up some Chinese spinach

At last, dinner together. You can see how the steamed squid curls when it's cooked, and it's been made with tofu and green onions in the shrimp sauce

I may not reproduce this one any time soon, but that’s one Chinese cooking lesson for this week!

 

Bibimbap

Bibimbap, the homestyle Korean rice bowl

Inside are an arrangement of vegetables and beef overtop of rice, and an egg to top it off. My sister used zucchini, king oyster mushrooms, sliced carrots, Korean bean sprouts, and a flavourful soy-sauce to add to taste.

Spoonfuls of hot chili paste adds a kick

Mix it up real well!

 

Coconut bake-craze

Lemon coconut loaf

People remember what you like on your birthday. My mom, who turns fifty-two young today, never particularly liked sweet cakes or pastries. The frosting she’d scrape off. The cream layers? They remain on a plate like a skeleton of the cake that was.

But what she does love is a breakfast cake loaf. Especially if they have fruit or nuts inside, and can be wedged off with a cup of coffee.

Curious to try out coconut for its chewy texture, the shredded coconut was what inspired her birthday “cake”. The recipe comes from Noble Pig, and the glaze is the real sweet spot – a singing combo of lemon and coconut. Yup, I said singing :-)

And, if you have one ingredient, why not run with it in two directions? This weekend is also the Town Hall Meeting at our church, and we’ll talk shop in potluck-style.

Coconut macaroons

When I think of coconut, the first thing I think of  is macaroon! It was also lots of fun shaping these bite-size treats into pyramids and spheres, an idea put out by NY Times. The recipe is from Orangette, though I replaced lemon juice with lemon extract and decided to leave out the chocolate since it was already pretty sweet.

Sweet and sticky before the oven

 

Friday night grocery shopping – Korean style!

This Saturday it’s my mom’s birthday so my sister has Greyhounded her way back home to celebrate.

Friday night. We eat at Rice Paper, which is my mom’s choice because of the black seasame ice-cream that she can only find at this restaurant. It is black as charcoal, and very very good. Then my mom asks where my sister is going afterward – she first looks at my dad, then replies: I can’t say.

Can I come? I ask, having a hunch that it’s related to the birthday gift, since we had texted that morning about this very bugaboo.

Later, we’re in the car and it’s 10:15pm. The malls are closed, so where will my sister be shopping for my mom?

We drive on Yonge Street to Galleria, the Korean supermarket that is open until midnight. I’m so excited to come here! she exclaims as we wheel into a parking spot.

I’ve been her maybe twice in my life because T&T is my life support – a Chinese-Canadian girl’s gotta have her priorities.  But I agree with my sister that this is a pretty exciting place. Starting at the produce section, I stop to peer at the mess of damp green strands of vegetable that are helpfully labelled as flowering ferns. I wander over to the herbs and smell the Korean chives, long and slender green blades. Then I see enormous fruit that remind me of Asian pears in colour and firmness, but are actually singo pear. And at a pretty penny too – $6.99 for two, or $8.99 for three!

I’m totally wandering from my sister at this point, so continue on my trail of curiousity .. to the bakery of course! By this time, everything has closed, so there are only wrapped segments being sold at reduced prices: log cakes, individual slices of log cake, and sweet Korean rice cakes in white, green and pink moulds small enough to pop into your mouth! I remember having some at a Korean wedding, and they work up a chew with its gumminess.

Photo courtesy of The Happy Tummy Blog

Then I see stacks of white discs bagged up in twisty-ties. Rice pop! I remember breaking into these light rice snacks at my friend’s house in high school. I add a bag into my cart, which already contains king oyster mushrooms, zucchini, bananas, and glass noodles called chapche. Did I mention that my sister has the good fortune of living with three Korean housemates, and to say there’s been culinary sharing is the easiest way to describe the adventures in their kitchen. Rumour has it that this Korean grocery shopping trip will make its way into a birthday meal for our mom.

What else, what else. Red bean syrup in a collapsable bag with a bottle cap closure (for red bean ice), massive jugs of vinegar (to prepare kimchi, I can only imagine), and okonomiyaki sauce next to the mayonaise (for Japanese pancakes.

Really, I could take you through the entire store, but one of the things I found the most interesting was the variety of kimchi. Here I thought radish, hot chili and some garlic were the only elements to this firey sidedish. Thanks to a few great expositions by the  Walrus, Saveur, we are no longer left in the dark.

Dongchimi kimchi, Photo courtesy of US Army Korea IMCOM

Oh, and the young couples doing their late night shopping is a pretty cute sight – not a bad way to start the weekend with your significant other ;-)

At 11:45pm, we wait in line at the cashier, and I’m excited for the Korean dish my sister will cook up this weekend!