Dinner on the Fly: Chinese Hot Pot in an American's Kitchen

Something about this dish will be lost in translation.  My first experience with food and culture in China and Hong Kong has brought me a deeper understanding of both, if not a full one.  I must have tried forty  dishes during my stay and each one was completely different from the last.  Still, I haven't made more than a small dent in understanding the vastness and complexity of Chinese cuisine. There are flavors that I will always remember and look forward to, should I return, not just for the their flavors but for their unique and artful presentation.  Should I return to Hangzhou, I will want to unwrap the lotus leaf that a whole spring chicken has been cooked in to release the fragrant steam and make sure the head is still intact.  I'll ask for the pot of shrimp brought live to the table, then drowned in rice wine so that their fresh water taste mingles with the sweet acidity.  I would like at least two different green vegetables, cooked to a just wilted bright green, pleasantly salting and tinged with garlic.  Let me not forget to accompany it with a cup of Dragon Well green tea, where the leaves float like plants behind an aquarium's glass and it tastes the way grass smells in Spring.

Is that what comes to mind when you think of Chinese food? If it is than you win the cigar for for being far more worldly in t the realm of Asian culture than I.

Traveling to a new place and breaking bread with locals was like a reboot to the way I think about food. Hot pot was one of my favorite dishes in China and Hong Kong.  It epitomized the family style way of dining where a dish is always shared and brought to the table when ready, without our western concept of a sequence of courses.  Hot pot was also one of the simplest dishes in concept.  Perfect for the non-Asian-savvy to recreate at home.  It isn't only an ease of preparation and flavors from my trip that I am bringing to my table with this dish, but the intimate circle it creates as we all share in the cooking and tasting of our meal.

Not to mention it reminds me of a fondue party, which I love.

This is a hot chili oil I made by heating peanut oil with garlic cloves and lots of tian jin red chilis. 

Hot Pot (With a Little of Everything Thrown In)

For the broth: 

• 1 lb pork bones
• 10 garlic cloves, peeled and mashed with the flat side of a knife
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
• three carrots cut in rounds
• 1 small knob of ginger, chopped to equal about 2 tablespoons
• 5 small potatoes, diced (preferably yellow flesh)
• 4 diced scallions
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce

At the table:

• very fresh, thinly sliced raw top round beef (or substitue and appropriate cut of pork or lamb)
• very fresh, filet of flounder cut into small bite sized pieces (or substitute another white fish)
• very fresh, sliced scallops (or shelled and cleaned shrimp)
• chopped shitake mushrooms
• snow peas (or bok choy)

Dipping sauce:

*simple soy sauce is fine here.  I went to one restauraunt and there was a make your own dipping sauce bar so I tried to recreate what I did which was delicious.  I did not measure I just added buy taste

• soy sauce
• peanut butter
• fish sauce
• minced garlic
• minced scallion (green parts only)
• 1 minced dried red tian jin chili
  
  
  In a large stock pot, add pork bones, chopped onion, garlic, carrots, ginger and potatoes.  Bring to a boil.  Keep at a gentle boil uncovered for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  You want about a fourth of the liquid to reduce.  While still boiling add your soy sauce, fish sauce and scallions.  You want to keep this soup as close to boiling heat as you can because you are cooking ingredients in it at the table.
  
  
  The rest of this recipe happens at the table.  It is in the layout.  I used fondue pots to keep the soup at a temperature that cooks your ingredients.  Then I ladled soup into individual small bowls for sampling.  Dipping sauce was in everyone's reach. I made sure my meat and fish were cut small so that it cooked at the end of our chopsticks.  Vegetables were added by the handful, pulled out and served when bright and tender.  It was awkward at first but we got the hang of how and when to reach over one another, whether we dipped our fish, meat or vegetable into the sauce or added the dipping sauce into the bowl and how long to hold our raw ingredients in the hot broth.  Like any firsts, we got the hang of it.

Dinner on the Fly: Mushroom and Barley Soup

This rainy night I needed comfort food.  It is work to be an optimistic person and I openly accept the challenge.  Anything worth having can not be attained without the fair amount of effort including a sunny disposition and the unrelenting push forward into the abyss of could-bes.  But still, one day is full of possibilities and the next they pop like soap bubbles, am I right?  Brushing myself off, it isn't long before I decide to blow a new set of hopes and wishes into that little, plastic, circle wand.  Comfort food definitely helps.  I don't think my body would thank me for wallowing in greasy-cheeseburger-fries-and-a-shake self pity but maybe something just a little warm and starchy.

Mushroom and Barley Soup

At least 3 cups of 3 kinds of mushrooms like shitake, cremini and portabella chopped

1 red onion chopped

1 stalk of celery chopped

4 to 6cups beef broth

1/4 cup sherry

1/2 a cup chopped parsley

One sprig of thyme

1 cup barley

sea salt

black pepper

heavy cream (optional and the amount is entirely dependant on how much comfort you are needing, I will not judge you)

3 tablespoons olive oil

In a large pot or dutch oven sautee` your onion and clelery in olive oil until transluscent.  Then add your barley and toss so that it is well coated.  Add chopped mushrooms, sherry and thyme then cover to steam for a minute or two so that the mushrooms reduce in size and the flavors blend.  Note that if your barley is sticking to the pot beforehand add a small amount of liquid such as broth or water to slow the cooking. The add the rest of the broth and simmer until the barley is soft.  Before serving add salt, pepper, parley and heavy cream.

Dinner on the Fly: Chunky Cauliflower, Leek and Potato Soup

Okay, so it is 8pm on a Thursday evening and I have just gotten home.  Yesterday was our CSA pick up  and we have a fridge full of veggies just calling my name.  There is no way I can order some greasy, not-so-extraordinary, delivery pizza just so we can eat before 10pm.  This is just one more weekday night of Iron Chef in Steph's kitchen.

Here are this evenings ingredients.  A leek, a cauliflower, some potatoes and one hour to put dinner on the table.  So I here is what I came up with:  a variation on the classic leek and potato soup but using cauliflower as well.

You want to start with a good, old fashioned roux.  Melt 2 tablespoons of butter and add the same amount of flour, stirring all the while.  This will cook quickly, not much more than 30 seconds.   Add your diced potato, leek and cauliflower, then cover with milk (preferably warm).  Give it some sea salt and black pepper, and let it simmer.  I left it on the heat until the potatoes were tender.  I am not sure exactly how long that was but I managed to answer my emails before setting the table.  So maybe a half an hour.  Garnish it with parmesian cheese and chives.  It would probably be great if you pureed it also.  I may try that with my leftovers!