Sichuan Banquet

Our good friends Rachelle and Sid came over for dinner last night and I made a Sichuan banquet.  On the menu was bang bang chicken, fish fragrance eggplant, cumin lamb with hand pulled noodles, red braised pork, cauliflower with bacon and smoked tofu, and water spinach with garlic and ginger.

Timing got a bit away from me.  The noodles were a huge time sink, but they were really delicious.  I wasn't so happy with the lamb visually, that may have been because I used ginger garlic paste instead of minced/grated aromatics...trying to save a bit of time here and there.  The picture on the website Omnivore's Cookbook looked so much better.  I used her recipe for the hand-pulled noodles as well.  Here is a link to that recipe from the Omnivore's Cookbook for hand pulled noodles.  

Cumin Lamb and Hand Pulled Noodles

The eggplant recipe can be found here.  It was the big crowd pleaser last night once again. My husband is not a big fan of eggplant, but he loves mushrooms, so I added a few king mushrooms that I sliced coated with cornstarch like the eggplant, and fried.

Fish Fragrance Eggplant and Mushroom

The big loser was the water spinach with ginger and garlic.  There are 2 types of water spinach, I used the thin leafed last night, there is a larger leaf that more resembles spinach leaves.  It may have been tastier with that type.  I found it was a bit stringy and difficult to manage chewing. Turns out I didn't get a photo of that. Just as well will probably not make that dish again.  Maybe sub in pea shoots instead of the water spinach.

I used a Fuchsia Dunlap recipe from "Land of Plenty", her food of sichuan book.  Her recipes are always really good. Cauliflower with smokey bacon recipe link.  I added smoked tofu to amp up the smokey flavor, not sure that concepts worked but it was a very tasty dish. I had a few asparagus spears hanging around that needed to be cooked, so I threw them in as well.  I blanched the veggies first and they cooked the bacon and tofu before adding the aromatics and vegetables.  A very satisfying dish.

Cauliflower with smokey bacon

I used another Fuchsia Dunlop recipe for the red braised pork one that usually uses beef.  I subbed in 2 pork shanks for the beef.  The dish turned out too salty and I am trying to figure out what caused the overload.  My first idea was the reduction in the liquid in the dutch oven over the cooking time.  What was almost 2 quarts of liquid at the start became about 1/2 deep pool at the end.  That is probably the reason it was so salty.  The flavor was good and in small quantities over rice it was very good.

Red cooked pork

The bones in the shanks just fell out and the skin came off in gelatinous sheets.  It was a very pretty and authentic looking dish.  Next time I will use unsalted stock.

Bang Bang Chicken is another Fuchsia Dunlop dish and it's served cold.  It consists poached chicken shredded by hand and a sesame based sauce.  I liked this dish.  The cold/room temp was a refreshing change from the fresh off the stove stuff.  I steamed chicken thighs, traditionally it is with breast meat, and after they cooled down a bit I shredded the meat discarding any remaining fat and unappetizing looking bits.  I stored the shredded meat in the fridge over night in about 1 cup of the steaming broth which was incredibly flavorful.  I got out the instant pot and put a steaming basket in and filled up to the basket with water.  I removed the basket and added 3 scallions, 2 big slices of ginger, a couple of sichuan peppers and 2 cloves of garlic.  I steamed them for 15 minutes on LOW pressure.  

Bang Bang Chicken

I urge you to read Fuchsia Dunlop's cookbooks they are truly amazing and every time I peruse through my copies I get jonesing to return to China and eat my way through difference provinces than when we were there for 3 months in 2016.  Not a bad meal was had over that time period.  We were the floor-show in a hot pot place in Chengdu because google translate was useless as all the items on the paper menu translated to something like "star and moon pieces" or "princess eating roses"  Not very helpful in terms of choosing what you want to dip into your bubbling broths. We ended up asking google to translate "chef's choices" and we got some very interesting bits of unidentifiable animal origin and bodily location.   All in all it was a very memorable experience and we still laugh about it 9 years on!

Variation of Low Country Shrimp and Grits

I have been thinking about the shrimp that I had in the freezer and how I would prepare them.  It hit me today was the day and it was going to be shrimp and grits with some other low country add-ins like okra, green peppers, and corn.  Luckily, all of those were in the fridge and fresh from the CSA in Lancaster, PA.

I had  ears of lovely fresh corn which got shucked and taken off the cob, a 1 lb box of beautiful okra which I used half of, and a lovely green bell pepper.  To these I added an onion and 3 big cloves of garlic and a can of fire roasted tomatoes with green chilis. 

Ingredients

3/4 - 1 lb large peeled shrimp.  For me, this was 18 shrimp in total

1/2 lb fresh okra, cut into 1/2 inch rounds after cutting off tops and tails

3 ears of corn, shucked and taken from the cob

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 large onion, diced 

2 large cloves of garlic, chopped

1-2 T Old Bay seasoning, divided

2-3 t smoked paprika, divided

salt and pepper 

1/2 c chicken stock or water

1 T tomato paste

1 14 oz can of fire roasted tomatoes with green chilis

1 handful of thin asparagus woody stalks removed and sliced on the bias into 1 inch pieces (optional)

chopped parsley 

1.5 c grits, not instant

5-7 c water or stock or a mix

        How do you know how much water to use?  Start with smallest amount and add more as it 

        cooks depends on the age and dryness of the grits you are using.  For this time, I needed 

        6.5 cups and still wasn't getting the hydration that I wanted.  I turned pot off, lidded it and 

        let it sit for a while 

        so the grits could get hydrated better.  

salt,  go easy if you use stock

2 T butter

handful of grated cheese of some kind I am using Parmesean

Method

1.  Prep shrimp, if not already shelled and deveined, and hold to the side.

2.  Put corn and okra into a large saute pan with some olive oil and butter.  Saute and add 

        1 T Old Bay and 1 t smoked paprika.  Remove from pan into a bowl.

3.  In the now empty saute pan, add more oil if necessary, and add the onions, peppers, and garlic.  Saute until soft and onions are starting to go translucent.  Add in the tomato paste and stir to incorporate.  Add the can of tomatoes and rinse can with the 1/2 c of stock and add to the pan.  

Mix well to incorporate things and let thicken slightly.  Add the rest of the Old Bay and paprika.  

Stir to mix.

Green peppers, onions, garlic, and tomato paste 

Added tomatoes, Old Bay, and broth  

4.  In a separate pot bring 5-7 cups of water/stock to a boil and add 1 t salt.  Using a whisk, slowly whisk in the grits into the liquid.  Switch to a wooden spoon and continue to stir the mixture.  

You may need to lower the temperature to keep from getting splashed with corn lava.  Stir 

frequently to prevent sticking.  Taste for the texture of the grits.  They should be chewy, not 

mushy, nor gritty (despite of the name).  This will take longer than you think.  Southerners 

think Yankees can't cook grits, prove 'em wrong.

Many individual pieces in a thin matrix

Fewer individual pieces in a thicker matrix

    

This is when you add the butter and cheese

This top left is a spoonful of grits that ARE NOT DONE. Notice lots of individual little bits.  

When you taste this, it feels like a mouthul of tiny pebbles.  This means that the grits are not 

hydrated enough and you may need to add more liquid to your pot and/or cook longer.  The 

top right photo is getting there.  There are fewer individual "pebbles" and the matrix is thicker.  

The bottom photo is when you add the butter and cheese.  The matrix is very thick and the 

pebbles are less distinct.

5.  When the grits have reached the desired texture, add the butter and the cheese and stir to 

combine well.  Cover the pot and turn off the heat.

6.  Reheat the saute pan with the vegetables in it and add the shrimp.  When the shrimp curl 

and are turning pink on one side, flip over and add the asparagus, if using.  Continue to cook 

util the shrimp are cooked thru to your desired level of doneness.  

cooked shrimp and parsley garnish

7.  Plate with a ladle of grits and top with the shrimp mixture.  Garnish with a nice handful of chopped parsley.

    This is my bowl full of tonight's dinner.  It started out with            quite a nice spice kick from the Old Bay.  My can was 

    brand spanking new, so it was very fresh on the spice scale.