chicken rice soup, crispy skin

ingredients:

one whole chicken
onion
shallots
celery
carrots
thyme
sage
parsley
chicken broth
white wine
cooked rice
kosher salt
freshly cracked black pepper


directions:


1.  remove the skin from a whole chicken. set aside.  season chicken.  

2.  chop up the mirepoix. 

3.  boil chicken in half parts broth and water with some white wine.  add in a sage leaf and a bouquet garnet of thyme.  when brought to a boil, throw in the carrots, celery and onion.  

4.  when the chicken is cooked through, remove the chicken.   set aside some of the cooking liquid in a small sauce pot.  shred the meat and put into sauce pot adding some more white wine and let simmer.  season to taste.

5.  add some cooked rice into the broth and using a immersion blender, blend to desired consistency. 

6.  in a nonstick pan over medium high heat, place chicken skins fat side down and slowly render out the fat. when the chicken fat has rendered and browned, flip them over to brown the other side, and season with salt.  you can press the skins down with a spatula to get even browning. when the skins are crispy and nicely golden, remove and let drain on paper towels.  

7.  brunoise more celery, carrot, and shallot.  set aside.  reserve some of the celery leaves.

8.  using the fat rendered from the chicken skin, begin to saute carrots.  season as you go.  when carrots saute for a min or two, add in the shallot, and then lastly add the celery.  remove from heat.  you still want a bit of a crunch from the celery.

to plate:  mound some of the chicken meat in the center or a bowl.  top with the sauteed vegetables.  spoon the hot chicken rice soup around it.  top with celery leaves and garnish with the crispy chicken skin and a sprinkle of parsley.  

below is a shot of the vegetables and chicken meat before the soup was spooned around it.

quinoa vegetable soup

ingredients:

beef marrow bones
pork bones
chicken bones
veal stock
chicken broth
kale
yukon gold potato
yellow onion
garlic
carrots
celery ribs
baby portabello mushrooms
corn
roma tomatoes
tomato paste
kosher salt
freshly cracked black pepper
red chili flake (optional)

directions:

1.  boil all the soup bones with veal stock and water.  lightly season with salt and black pepper.

2.  cook the quinoa in the rice cooker the same way you would cook rice.  use chicken broth instead of water.

3.  prepare your mise en place.  chop the garlic, onions, carrots, celery ribs, mushrooms, roma tomatoes, and kale.  cut the kernels off the corn and dice the potatoes into chunks.

3.  remove the bones from the stock.  add in all the vegetables except for the kale.  season with salt, black pepper, and some tomato paste.  (chili flake optional if you like spice)

4.  remove the meat from the pork and beef bones, especially the tendons attached to the beef bones.  chop up the meat and add it into the vegetable soup.  discard the chicken bones.

5.  cook the soup until all the ingredients have time to develop flavor.  season with salt and black pepper to taste.  cook the kale for a minute or two in the soup before serving.

to plate:

1.  put some quinoa in the bottom of a bowl.  ladle soup over quinoa and finish with a few grinds of black pepper.  serve immediately.

chicken katsu udon

ingredients:

chicken katsu (see recipe in previous post)
dried wakame
thick seaweed
bonito flakes
shiitake mushroom
carrots
spinach
corn
scallions
soy sauce (or udon soup base)
hon dashi
mirin
canola oil

directions:

1.  prepare the udon broth by boiling thick seaweed chunks and bontio flakes with water.  add some soy sauce, mirin, and hon dashi.  throw in some carrots and shiitake mushrooms and keep warm.

2.  prepare your mise en place. blanch the spinach and set aside.  cut the corn from the cob and lightly saute in some canola oil. set aside.  (you can throw the corn cobs into the udon broth to give it more flavor if you like)  slice the scallions and reconstitute the dried wakame in water.

3.  in a separate pot, cook udon noodles and place into bowls.  do not wash the cooked udon in cold water.  top the hot udon with some spinach, corn, and wakame.  ladle piping hot udon broth into bowl.  be sure to get some carrots on shiitakes in the bowl as well.  top with chicken katsu, garnish with scallions, and serve immediately.

crab and shrimp vermicelli, roma tomato, roe filled fish balls, thai basil

ingredients:

crab paste in soy bean oil
shrimp paste in soy bean oil
fish balls with roe - you can buy them at ranch 99
eggs
chicken broth
roma tomatoes, cubed
bean sprouts
thai basil
scallions
cilantro
lemon wedges
rice vermicelli
noodles
fine sea salt

directions:

1.  in a big soup pot, heat up chicken broth and cubed tomatoes to a boil.
2.  beat 2-3 eggs in a bowl and add two huge spoonfuls of both the crab and shrimp paste. mix together.
3.  when the chicken broth is boiling, slowly pour in egg/crab/shrimp mixture. after egg mixture comes together and is cooked in the broth, throw in the fish balls and reduce heat to a medium flame. season with salt.
4.  heat up another pot of salted water and cook vermicelli noodles.
5.  prepare side accompaniments. blanch the bean sprouts, cut lemon wedges, pick basil leaves, chope the cilantro, and slice the scallions.
6.  when noodles are cooked, put a moundful in the bottom of a bowl. top with hot soup and garnish with side accompaniments. serve immediately.

 *you can dip with fish balls in hoisin sauce and siracha. it's reallllly good.

tainan dan zhi mien

 


ingredients:

taiwan style minced pork (ingredients/directions see below)
shrimp
shirmp shells
pork soup bones
egg noodles
bean sprouts
chinese green chives
cilantro
garlic
black vinegar
hon-dashi
white pepper
salt

directions:

1.  make taiwan style minced pork.

ingredients :
   
pork belly, diced into small pieces by hand- food processor won't give you the same results.
ground pork
fried shallots (preferably the kind bought from taiwan street stalls- when you visit there, bring some back!)
soy sauce
rock sugar

directions:
  
heat oil in a pot and saute fried shallots.  if you don't have fried shallots, saute fresh shallots till browned and super fragrant.  add pork belly and saute for a bit then add ground pork. add soy sauce till
meat is browned and then add three times the amount of water. season to taste with rock sugar and let it
stew for awhile on low heat.

2.  boil pork bones for stock.  boil shrimp shells for shrimp stock.  make the shrimp stock super concentrated.  season pork stock the salt and hon-dashi.

3.   mise en place preparation:  mince garlic, cilantro, and cut chinese green chive into 1-2 inch pieces. cook shrimp and peel off the shells.

4.  cook noodles.  while noodles are cooking, put a bit of the minced garlic in the bottom of a bowl.  splash some black vinegar over garlic and top it with some white pepper.  using tongs, put noodles in bowl on top of the garlic mixture. blanch bean sprouts and chinese green chives in noodle water. ladle pork stock over noodles, add a bit of the shrimp stock in the bowl then spoon taiwan minced pork on top. add the blanched bean sprouts and chives, top with the cooked shrimp, and garnish with cilantro.  serve immediately.