Intermission: University Housing

Disclaimer: this post is not about food, so feel free to ignore it.

I'd just like to take this opportunity to apologize for the recent lack of posts. Truth be told, I had planned on cooking a lot this spring break, but due to renovation in my kitchen by the university housing administrators (something to do with replacing the pipes), I've been unable to.

For all its upsides, the biggest downside to NYC is the price level. Housing here is notoriously expensive. As a result, university housing is in extremely high demand---they are, after all, relatively cheap and in an excellent location. That said, the exact accommodations vary quite a bit, depending on building. The newer ones are nice, the older ones are, well, run-down.

While I am grateful that I was assigned housing (international students and doctorate students get preference, and I'm both so it probably helped), I cannot shake the frustration that services I've taken for granted while staying elsewhere are completely ignored here. Am I out of line to demand that, after a building hires contractors to do whatever work, they should be required to clean up after themselves? I can understand the need to replace the pipes in my kitchen. What I cannot understand is why, even after the work is supposedly "done", almost every square inch of my kitchen is covered in dirt (from the workers stepping on furniture, the stove, etc.) and plaster dust.

Complaints are often ignored. After all, if you don't like it, you can find another place, right?

Sometimes I really hate being a hobo student. I miss the house I stayed in last summer in Mountain View, CA.

Sorry for the rant.

Pasta With Garlic, Anchovies and Tomatoes

Wow. It has been a really long time since I last posted. I guess first, I was really busy---too busy to cook anything special on my own. I've been making a lot of sandwiches, and dining out a fair bit. I quite enjoy New York-style pizza, but I'm sure it's slowly cutting down my life expectancy. (On that note, I hope to one day add dining out to this blog, but I'm not keen on whipping out my camera at restaurants).

Anyway, I'm currently on spring break, and although I have tons of work to do, I found some time to cook for myself and make a post. This is another dish I found on the New York Times, and is one of my favorites for its simplicity. Here is a link to the original recipe: http://bitten.blogs.nytimes.com/...

Finally, on to the food...

This is a really simple pasta with an anchovy-based sauce. It will require the following ingredients:

• Dried pasta (I usually use bowties).
• Parsley (say, half a bunch).
• Anchovies (a whole small jar).
• Olive oil (a fair bit, 6 teaspoons? It's healthy oil :).
• Garlic (a lot---a whole head, if not more).
• Grape tomatoes (a carton).

Now I realize these measurements are just shy of completely useless. However, the good news is, you can basically change all the quantities according to taste. Since anchovies are the highlight of this sauce, I wouldn't recommend skimping on that. And for tomatoes, you can use cherry tomatoes or regular tomatoes, although using regular tomatoes results in more liquid.


First, peel, clean and dry the garlic. They are to be toasted in olive oil in a pan. The key word is toast, so use a low heat, and slowly cook the garlic. There should be little bubbles, but no real spatter. This is another reason I like this recipe---it's relatively clean. Cook the garlic until they're slightly brown. You'll discover that toasting the garlic accordingly gets rid of all the spiciness, so it's possible to eat these garlic cloves whole!


Next, put the anchovies into the pan and allow them to dissolve by stirring them alongside the garlic. When they have turned into paste, halve the grape tomatoes, and throw them into the pan. Allow the mix to cook until the tomatoes have turned soft, and there is some liquid. Finally, chop the parsley and add it to the pan.


The resulting sauce can be served on top of the pasta. I usually drain the bowties and mix it in the pan before serving.

Jap-chae

On the recommendation of a friend, I tried my hand at Korean food. There's a Korean mini-mart down the street from my apartment so the starch noodles were easy to procure. (For shiitake mushrooms, I had to go to the hardcore Korean market in K-town).

Jap-chae is a Korean noodle dish which I have never actually had prior to making it, so I cannot comment on how authentic my attempt turned out. That being said, I feel the product of my efforts was not entirely undigestable, so I'm sharing it here. I will definitely be ordering jap-chae next time I go to a Korean restaurant.

I made this based on the Youtube video my friend sent me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2inbxROOCzY. Minor, irrelevant side-note: I found the narrator / chef's dialogue irritating for some reason.


The following ingredients are needed:

• 1 bunch starch noodles (I actually used 2---it was wayyy too much).
• 2 or 3 shiitake mushrooms (dried; soaked for 3 or 4 hours; seriously, don't use too many of these---shiitake mushrooms have an overpowering flavor).
• 200 grams beef (cut into thin strips).
• soy sauce (a lot).
• sesame oil (a fair bit).
• olive oil (2 or 3 tbsps).
  
• 1 bunch spinach (seriously, use the whole bunch---if you've ever cooked spinach before, you'll know that it basically disappears when boiled).
• 2 carrots (chopped into strips).
• 1 medium onion.
• 1 package of regular white mushrooms.
• 3 cloves of garlic.
• 4 or 5 scallions.

Yes, that is a lot of material, and this took a lot of effort. Truth be told, I don't think I'll be cooking it again anytime soon.


First, the noodles need to be boiled for 2 or 3 minutes. It should be soft and a little chewy afterward. When this is done, drain and place in a big mixing bowl and infuse with some soy sauce and sesame oil (to keep it from sticking together).

Next, comes the spinach. Boil the spinach (in the same water), and then drain, cut and mix with the noodles.

Now, the author of the Youtube post essentially recommends cooking each of the remaining vegetables in sequence. But since, with the exception of the beef, they're all cooked the same way for approximately the same amount of time, I mixed them all up and cooked it together in the olive oil (by them, I mean: the carrots, garlic, scallions, white mushrooms, onions). This is then mixed with the spinach and noodles.

Finally, we cook the beef with the shiitake mushrooms, and this is mixed with the rest.


More soy sauce and sesame oil is added, and we are done.

I particularly liked this dish since it has so much vegetables. I haven't been eating enough recently (see previous post), so I made this to compensate. But I think I used too much noodles, which overdid the carbs. Whatever. My diet during the last few weeks of class consisted of pizza, Chinese take-out and Subway sandwiches, so this might still rank as one of the healthier options.

Stir-Fried Beef with Chili, Cumin and Garlic

First off, let me begin by apologizing for the gross lack of updates. If you are / were ever a college student, you'd know that the time after midterms is usually when profs like to pile on projects and assignments, and December is finals. Hence, I haven't done much cooking to begin with, to say nothing about finding time to write about them. But now I'm home, it's Christmas, and I have a few minutes to post a couple of dishes I did find time to cook and photograph (but not write about).

Let's begin with one of my recent favorites: stir-fried beef with chili, cumin and garlic. Now, this dish is suppose to be made with lamb (and the first time I tried, I did). It is based on this recipe from the New York Times: http://bitten.blogs.nytimes.com...

Cumin is probably my favorite spice. In my brain, it is widely associated with cumin-crusted lamb kabobs, a street food commonly found in China, and is very fragrant.

Now, as I previously mentioned, the first time I cooked this, I used lamb--which is ideal for this dish. However, for convenience's sake, I tried it with beef (the lamb at my local supermarket blows, and I have to go all the way to Whole Foods to get good lamb). I'm happy to report that I found beef worked really well also.


The ingredients needed are as follows:

• 0.75 lbs beef (chopped into large pieces, approx. 1 cubic inch).
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds (apparently it's important that seeds, not powder, is used. I'll experiment another day).
• 1/2 tbsp chili flakes.
• 2 or 3 cloves of crushed garlic.
• 1 tbsp soy sauce (I used tamari since it was handy).
• 1 tbsp cooking oil (I use canola).
  

I toasted the cumin until it was fragrant, and mixed it together with the other ingredients (not oil) and let it marinate for a while (I let it sit for 10 minutes---it probably had no impact on the taste). Then, I stir fried it and served it on a bed of rice.


I normally eat a lot of fruit for dessert, which is how I justified eating a meal consisting entirely of grains and protein. But still, I concede it is not healthy, and I'm trying to cut back on the meat.

Mussels and onions in XO sauce

Alrighty, here is yet another dish I cooked up during my cram week (a few take-out meals after the Roman-style shrimp).

First, I am a big fan of seafood, with the exception of some kinds of fish. Calamari, octopus, mussels, clams, oysters, sea urchins, scallops, conches are all things I adore. Hence, this is one of my favorite recipes (and one of the first I cooked on my own in New York City). It is taken from the following site, and I followed the recipe almost identically (it is easy and inexpensive enough on its own, so kudos to the original creator): http://www.deliciousasianfood.com/2008/10/01/stir-fried-mussels-xo-sauce/.


I prepared the ingredients according to the instructions posted (with slight variations in quantity).

• XO sauce, 1 tablespoon.
  
• Onion, 1 large.
• Scallions, 2, chopped into inch-long pieces.
• New Zealand mussels in the half shell, 1/2 lbs.
• Small cup of water, heated, waiting on the side (you'll see).
  

Some notes of my own: I prefer New Zealand mussels since they're huge. My local supermarket has Canadian mussels, but they're tiny and I find them unsatisfying. XO sauce is another ingredient worth discussing. It is a very unique Asian sauce which is essentially some sort of oils mixed with dried pieces of scallops and assorted sea creatures. Oh, and there's usually a touch of MSG in the mix. Now, personally, I have no qualms against MSG. I try to avoid it when it's an option, but it never stops me from eating anything interesting. In point of fact, it was once a prized spice, just as instant noodles were once a luxury. (This tidbit is from Wikipedia, but I know, citation needed). In the future, I will try to find a substitute for XO sauce. (It's also expensive, relative to other common Asian sauces).


Anyway, I prepared all the ingredients in advance. Sliced the onions and the scallions, and removed the mussels from their shells. I heated just enough oil to slick the pan and sauteed the onions until fragrant. At that point, I added the XO sauce. I cooked for a few more minutes before dumping in the mussels. I cooked the entire mix for roughly 8 minutes (mussels take some time to cook) before adding in the scallions. Finally, I added in just enough hot water to cover the bottom of the pan to help the mussels cook. At this point, I covered the pan with a lid and allowed it to cook until the sauce reduced. Finally, I served it over a bed of rice.


Looks pretty good eh? I certainly thought so. Oh, and I mixed in some chili flakes to give it an extra kick, but that wasn't in the mix originally and is very optional. Some salt would also help.

Roman style shrimp (with mint this time)

Okay, sorry for lack of updates. I've been cramming assignments and this became a lower priority. When I get busy, it usually implies more take-out and Subway and less cooking. But I did squeeze in a few home-cooked meals (I found that cooking helps me unwind) and managed to take pictures, even if I didn't write and post.

So here is the first. I enjoyed the Roman style shrimp so much that I could not wait to try it with mint. So I believe I actually cooked this the day after my last post. There's not much more to say, since it's the exact same recipe, except I threw in a cup of chopped mint near the end. Here are some pictures.


Note the chili flakes. I like spicy things so I added them to the recipe to give the dish an extra kick.


Same ingredients as above---except everything's been chopped up and rearranged.


With the mint, the sauce looks even better than last time. I've seriously been meaning to try this as a pasta sauce (as it was intended), but it goes really great with plain rice.

Next time, I'll experiment with different seafood (shrimp is relatively expensive here), most likely bay scallops and calamari (which I expected to be more expensive than shrimp, but is apparently a lot cheaper here in NYC). I'll also try replacing the mint with parsley.

Roman style shrimp

For lunch today, I decided to try out the following recipe from: http://bitten.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/recipe-of-the-day-shrimp-roman-style/. I found it on Mark Bittman's blog on the New York Times. Quick side note: I've been a long-time fan of both the New York Times and Mark Bittman's columns, particularly the Minimalist. If you're looking for quick, easy and sometimes very nice looking dishes, I strongly suggest you check it out.

The ingredients I used were:

• Shrimp (0.6 lbs).
• Tomatoes (3 small).
• Garlic (5 cloves).
• Olive oil (2 tablespoons).
• Crushed dried red chili peppers (more than I should have).

I forgot to buy mint, so I just left it out. Next time, I'll try it with the mint and let you know how it goes. I also used the crushed dried chilis (the kind in a spice container) since I had it lying around and didn't have dried whole chilis. I used an abundant amount, since I prefer things spicy, but it ended up adding way too much heat to the dish, so next time, I wouldn't suggest more than a tablespoon (I probably used ~3 tablespoons).

I followed the instructions and sauteed the garlic and chilis until the garlic began to change color. At this point, I added the tomatoes and allowed them to cook for awhile (~10 minutes) until they became soft.


Afterwards, I added the shrimp and continued cooking (stirring occasionally) until the shrimp became visibly red (and white). I've heard in the past that you shouldn't overcook shrimp, but personally, with the exception of steak, I'd rather overcook than undercook.


At this point, I turned the heat down to "low" and allowed it to simmer. Meanwhile, I prepared some rice (the blog suggests using this as a sauce for pasta, which I can see being a very good idea, but I don't have pasta handy).


The end result turned out to be very delicious. I'll definitely be preparing shrimp in this way again in the future. Combined with minty greens, I can imagine the dish being very handsome.