Fat Noodles with Crab, Buttered Artichokes, and Mint

Cookbook Challenge #1

Guest: Jenny

Cookbook: Tyler's Ultimate

Recipe: Fat Noodles with Crab, Buttered Artichokes, and Mint

serves 2

Ingredients

kosher salt

1/2 lb pappardelle (I used bowtie pasta)

2 tablespoon unsalted butter

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 can artichokes, drained, rinsed, and quartered

finely grated zest of 1/4 lemon

pinch of red pepper flakes

1/2 pint lump crabmeat

pepper

mint leaves, chopped

1/3 cup freshly grated parm cheese, plus extra for serving

Directions

Cook pasta in salted water for 8-9 minutes until al dente.  Drain the pasta.  Save 1 cup of pasta water.  In a medium pan, combine butter, olive oil, and pasta water over medium heat.  Reduce the sauce for 5 minutes to thicken.

You can see the sauce has reduced significantly.  Add a pinch of red pepper flakes, artichoke, lemon zest,crabmeat, and salt & pepper and gently toss to warm everything through.

Add the cooked pasta and toss with mint, parm, and season with salt and lots of black pepper. 

Jenny and I both really enjoyed this dish.  I mean you can't really go wrong with crabmeat, right?  To be honest, I'd have been happy with just crabmeat with some melted butter. :-)   

Cookbook Collection

Confession. I'm a hoarder. A cookbook hoarder. Since I hardly use these books, I'll be asking my friends to randomly pick a recipe for me to cook so they don't contact the producers of A&E show "Hoarders". My friend Jenny was over at my place on Sunday night and she picked Tyler Florence's Pappardelle with Crab, Artichoke Hearts, and Mint.  Mmm...fresh crab meat.  Lucky us! I'll be cooking it tomorrow night.

Here's my cookbook collection. Gulp.

Korean

Japanese

Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese

All Recipes

Famous Chefs

Pasta/Italian

Hors D'Oeuvre

Others

Dessert/Baking

Misc.

Homemade Tofu

homemade tofu with hijiki salad

Recipe adapted from Food & Wine July11

Ingredients

1 1/3 cup dried soybeans

nigiri

blender

cheesecloth

Cover soybeans with 3 inches of cold water and let stand overnight.

They should look like this the next morning.  Nice and plump!

Drain and transfer to a blender.  Add 3 cups filtered water and puree at high speed until as soomth as possible.

Line a large sieve with 3 layers of cheesecloth and set the sieve over a large bowl.  In a large pot, boil 3 cups filtered water.  Add pureed soybean and boil over medium high heat for 10 minutes, stirring constantly.

Pour the mixture into the seive.  Let stand until for 20 minutes.  Gather the ends of cheesecloth and squeeze to extract as much of the soy milk as possible.  Skim off any foam from the milk.

In a small bowl, dissovle 1 teaspoon nigari flakes in 1/4 cup filtered water.  Add 2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons of the nigiri solution in a large bowl.  In a large saucepan, heat 4 cups soy milk to 185 degrees.  Pour hot milk into the bowl with the nigari solution and stir.  Cover and let stand for 5 minutes.  Set a cheesecloth-lined mold with drainage over a bowl, and pour the tofu mixture into it.  Neatly fold the overhanging cheesecloth over the tofu and top with a small plate to press out excess water.  I let it drain for 20 minutes, but you can leave it up to 2 hours.  I washed the tofu in cold water for a few minutes to get rid of the bitter taste of nigari solution.

 

Pickled Lotus Root

Ingredients

1 medium lotus root, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch slices

1/2 medium beet, peeled and clied into 1/2 inch slices

brine:
1 cup very hot tap water
1/2 cup rice-wine vinegar
6 tbsp sugar
2 1/4 tsp kosher salt
10 peppercorns

Boil 2 cups of water with a few pinches of salt.  Add sliced lotus roots and cook for 2 minutes.  Drain and rinse with cold water.

In a large bowl, add 1 cup of water, sliced beets, and lotus roots.  Let it sit for a few minutes.

In a mason jar or plastic container, add above and cover with brine.

48 hours later...

They will look like this! Pretty, huh?

Lotus Root Simmered in Soy Sauce (연근조림)

Ingredients

2 medium lotus roots, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch slices

salt

1 tablespoon vinegar

sauce:

4 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon mirin

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon corn syrup or honey

1 cup water

1 teaspoon sesame oil

Directions

Place sliced lotus roots in a bowl of water with 1 tablespoon of vinegar for 5 minutes.  Cook lotus roots in a pot of salted boiling water for 2 minutes.  Drain and rinse in cold water.

Using the same pot, add soy sauce, sugar, mirin, and lotus roots.  Cover and simmer over medium-low heat for 20 minutes.  Add corn syrup and sesame oil and cook for another 2 minutes.

Sunday Afternoon Project

Matcha Sable

Recipe adapted from it'll stop raining

Wish they were a bit more greener...  I think the mistake I made was using pastry flour instead of regular flour?

Salad with Pickled King Trumpet Mushrooms & Egg