Dateline: April 7, 2020 Fridge inspection

I do like stir fry dishes, they are quick, very flavorful and damn tasty.

In the fridge I had

1 sweet pepper
1/2 head of cabbage
a bunch of collard greens
cauliflower
broccoli
celery
green beans

In pantry I had

wood ear mushrooms
onions
pixian paste
dark soy
light soy
chinese black vinegar
shaoxing cooking wine
ginger
garlic
chili crisp, optional

Chopped all the veggies into bitesize pieces, soaked and chop the mushrooms and prepped, in little bowls,

1 inch peeled ginger piece, julienned
2 thinly sliced garlic cloves
1-2 T pixian paste
1 C chicken stock or water

Heat that wok or big fry pan with 1-2 T of oil up until it is hot.  Add ginger shreds then all chopped veggies including onions and mushrooms.  Stir fry for a few minutes to wilt veggies and give off their water.  Add the sliced garlic, stir into veggies.

Add pixian paste, a splash of dark soy, for color, a splash of light soy, for salt, a glug of shaoxing wine and a glug of the vinegar.

Taste for balance.  If veggies are still too crunchy, add a bit of the chicken stock and cover until veggies are a texture you like.

Add chili crisp, if wanted and serve over rice.  Depending on your veggie load, you may need to adjust the amount of liquids added so as not to braise the veggies.

Dateline: March 25, 2020. Let them eat bread and soup

I had prepped my sourdough starter 2 days ago, mixed my autolysed flour and followed the wonderful New York Times Cooking How to Make Sourdough

If you follow the guide exactly, you will made absolutely dynamite bread.  Yes, it will take 3+ days to get a loaf, but, oh, what a loaf it will be.  Tangy, moist, fabulous crumb and lots of big air holes throughout the loaf.

Guess who made this loaf?

Dinner this night was not so inspired.  I blitzed the bean on bean with an immersion blender and turned it into soup and made "broccoli" croutons by roasting the broccoli until very crispy and dark.  It really made the soup a bit more upscale!