Greetings from Taipei! I’ve gotten over my jet lag and now I’m ready to blog away. Hopefully I won’t slip into gibberish or Chinglish (Chinese-English hybrid).

We were experiencing quite a heat wave last month in Berkeley, very unusual for August. The last thing I want to do when it’s hot outside is to stand over a flame and cook, so I decided to make a salad. I was inspired by a friend’s tip that the Berkeley Bowl was having a special deal on heirloom tomatoes — only $2.39/lb! The other ingredients included romaine lettuce (only 39 cents/head), avocado, heirloom tomatoes, hard boiled egg, and carrots, all organic and all California-grown.

Refreshing and colorful summer salad.

After my failed avocado purchase recently, I was determined to succeed the second time around and I’m happy to report that I did. I also made my own vinaigrette, which I always do because it is SO easy. I make it up each time, but the basic recipe is to mix together balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard, salt, pepper, and lemon juice (optional). Then, while whisking, slowly add extra virgin olive oil. Adjust to taste.

Even though this salad was really good, not to mention huge, I still needed some carbs to round out my meal. So I made a meat-free version of my simple pasta recipe, topping it with my new obsession: ricotta salata. So good!

Linguini with carrots, onions, and salata ricotta.

Lucky you — two posts in two days! I’m trying to catch up on blog material, since I’m leaving for Taiwan and Japan this week, and I KNOW there will be much to blog about from that trip!

I had the second of my Sunday Night Dinners a few weeks back. On the guest list: LC, who cooked dinner for me in order to appear on this blog; SP, who has hosted me many times especially at Stitch n Bitch; and JL, my good friend and film watching buddy. In addition to being a very fun group, there were special reasons to invite each of these friends. LC and SP are both moving far, far away soon, and JL was celebrating a birthday the following Tuesday.

For the menu, I decided to focus on the dessert since it was JL’s birthday. In addition, SP is vegetarian and JL doesn’t eat red meat or pork, so I went with two recipes from the Chez Panisse Vegetables cookbook by the one and only Alice Waters. We started with olives and Manhattans — very civilized, no? For the first course, I made a pink grapefruit, avocado, and curly endive salad with citrus vinaigrette. It was delicious but would’ve been better had I chosen riper avocados. You’d think four years of living in California would confer some innate ability to buy avocados, but nope. Big shame!

Yummy salad!

For the main course, I made a simple roasted eggplant and tomato penne pasta. The key to this dish was the ricotta salata cheese that is crumbled on top of the pasta. Ricotta salata is an amazing and flavorful (and salty!) cheese that is solid, unlike its liquefied and more common cousin. It will beat Parmesan any day of the week, in terms of being a pasta topper. It is also, for the record, the only cheese made from sheeps’ milk that I have ever liked.

Penne with roasted eggplant, tomatoes, and ricotta salata.

Now, for dessert! Back when LC cooked dinner for me, I had requested moelleux au chocolat, or molten chocolate cake. It is probably my favorite dessert of all time, which is saying a lot! He didn’t make it then, so I thought better late than never, right? And as I said earlier, it was JL’s birthday so I wanted to make dessert extra special.

You might recall that I’m not the best baker in the world, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that the recipe (from The Gourmet Cookbook) was fairly easy.  Instead of the coffee créme anglaise that I was supposed to serve with the cake, I bought Häagen Dazs vanilla ice cream, which I thought would provide a refreshing cold contrast to the warm cake. Besides, LC said that the créme anglaise would have been too rich as an accompaniment. I’m so happy when there’s a good excuse to be lazy!

The cakes, straight out of the oven. Check out the chocolate oozing out the middle.

Happy Birthday friend!

It was a very successful dinner party, in part due to the amount of alcohol we imbibed. Between the four of us, we managed to put away four Manhattan cocktails and three bottles of wine. Cheers!

Three empty bottles of wine. Manhattans not pictured.

My dear labmates AW and SP are leaving the lab and moving on to bigger and better things. Last month, our lab threw a potluck party at the boss’s house to thank them for being awesome members of the lab and also to wish them the best of luck. As you might recall, we know a thing or two about eating a lot and throwing a good party. The photos below represent a mere fraction of the food at the party; usually I eat so much at these potlucks that I have to do a “walk-about” around the lovely garden just to digest!

Delicious pork used to make sliders.

cheese and bread

The best ribs ever. (Finger used for scale.)

Meat, meat, and more meat!

The boss's famous cheesy potatoes. He made two batches of it, and we ate almost all of it!

Fennel salad to balance out all of that meat.

Fruit salad, very similar to the one I've made previously.

I love cooking but I hate cooking for myself. That’s why I recently decided to start having mini-dinner parties about once a month. For my first “Sunday Night Dinner,” I had M & K over, my Rivoli dining companions.

We were experiencing very warm temperatures in Berkeley, so I opted for a light, summery menu. (Translation: as little stove/actual cooking time as possible!) As I had never prepared a 3-course meal before, I also wanted to keep it simple.  I knew I could rely on my favorite cookbook author, Giada De Laurentiis, for simple and delicious dishes.  All of the recipes that I chose were from Giada’s Everyday Italian cookbook, some of which can also be found on the Food Network website.

To start, I made Caprese salad. The organic heirloom tomatoes were what really made this dish stand out. It was very good but next time, I will add some balsamic vinegar, to add a bit more flavor.

Caprese Salad: visually and gastronomically tasty!

For the main course, I had intended on making pasta with what I thought would be a light shrimp tomato sauce. However, the light tomato sauce ended up being more like a soup (almost like cioppino).  So I ended up serving the components of the main course separately.

Lemon spaghetti with grilled baby asparagus.

Shrimp fra diavolo. So good, and really easy too!

Keeping with the summery theme, I prepared a seasonal fruit salad with a twist: following Giada’s recipe, I poured a white wine reduction, with sugar and mint added, over the chopped fruit.  I made a very similar fruit salad for a potluck last week and I’ve renamed it, “Fancy boozy fruit salad.” I think it makes it more fun, don’t you?

Nectarine, peach, and strawberries, served in my recently acquired half-martini glasses. Ooh la la!

Of course, what would a fancy dinner be without wine? M & K didn’t disappoint with a lovely bottle of rosé from Chateau Saint Pierre.  As usual, I neglected to remember to take a photo of the wine until the bottle was empty.

A very distinctive bottle for a very distinctive wine.

All in all, a very successful and yummy dinner. The thing that made my meal complete, however, was the fact that my guests volunteered to do the dishes. (Honestly, they volunteered! I didn’t make them!!)

Working for their dinner.

It seems like everyone I know is having a baby these days, including my good friend JL who is due on the 4th of July (ironic, I know). When friends wanted to throw her a baby shower, her only request was, “Please, no baby games.” Such as: “Guess the baby food flavor!” Or “Smell the diaper with a melted chocolate bar in it that looks like poo!”

R and J, the expecting parents.

This constraints forced the hostesses M, R, and E to think of more creative ideas.  Luckily, these talented ladies were up for the challenge.  They focused on JL’s love of food and centered the shower around cooking and eating.  They hired Emily Dellas, of First Class Cooking, to provide a cooking demonstration. Under Emily’s watchful eye, we made enough food to feed all 13 ladies: cold Vietnamese spring rolls, Mediterranean orzo salad, chicken and chanterelle phyllo triangles, red pepper and walnut dip, and roasted corn soup. Every guest took turns chopping and shredding, and we all picked up cooking tips from Emily.

Me and J, looking just the same as we did when we met 14 years ago (haha).

Needless to say, I absolutely loved this!  It’s definitely the most fun I’ve ever had at any shower.  Sure, we did some typical baby shower things like open gifts and make onesies, but it never felt forced. For favors, M typed up the recipes into a cute little book, and we also received boxes of cupcake mix.

To broaden the scope of this blog, I’ve decided to write more about homecooked meals.  I will also start posting recipes, something I haven’t done before.  Occasionally, I’ll test a recipe from a cookbook or online, and let you know how it goes.  As usual, I would love to get your feedback, so please let me know what you think about this new direction. Thanks!

When I’m lazy or not feeling very adventurous, I turn to a very basic tomato sauce-based pasta dish that is quick yet hearty.  Also, it’s relatively cheap to make, which is especially important in this tough economic climate.  I can’t promise you that it’s a “30-minute Rachel Ray” style dish, but it definitely takes me less than 40 minutes, mostly because I am a slow and perfectionist veggie chopper.  Here’s one version of my recipe; I often mix it up by substituting different vegetables, meats, spices, sauce, or even pasta shapes.  Buon appetito!

Ingredients:
1 yellow onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 lb hot Italian sausage, chopped into bite sized pieces (remove casing, if applicable)
1 jar of your favorite tomato sauce
1 lb pasta (recommended: penne or linguini)
salt and pepper, to taste
olive oil
Italian herbs, red pepper flakes, Parmesan cheese (optional)

1. Boil a large pot of salted water for the pasta.  Cook until al dente.  Drain and put aside.

2. While pasta is cooking, fry the Italian sausage in a large, deep (2″) pan with high heat until thoroughly cooked. Decant sausage grease, if applicable.  Put sausage aside (on top of paper towels, if desired).

3. Using same skillet, heat 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat.  When oil is hot, add onions. After about 1 minute, add garlic (this prevents the garlic from burning).  Add carrots soon after.  Pan fry until onions are translucent.
(Optional: I often add herbs and spices at this point, such as salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, basil, oregano, etc.)

4. Add sausage to veggie mixture. After mixing veggies and sausage, add the jar of sauce into the pan. Turn down the heat. Simmer for 5 minutes, mixing once or twice.

5. Turn off heat. Add pasta and mix thoroughly. Serve with grated Parmesan if desired.
Serves 4-6.

Linguini with sausage, onions, and carrots, topped with freshly grated Parmesan.

Roast salmon and root vegetables with couscous

Recently, I was craving root vegetables (parsnips, potatoes, and carrots) when I came across a recipe for herb-roasted root vegetables from my favorite cookbook author, Giada De Laurentiis.  I have two of her cookbooks: Everyday Pasta and Everyday Italian.  I love them both because the recipes are so easy to follow and well-written that I could probably repeat the same recipe without referring to the book.  More importantly, just about every recipe I’ve ever attempted has resulted in deliciousness.  (Also, this isn’t the first time I’ve posted a dish from her cookbooks.)

This particular roasted root vegetable dish called for carrots, parsnips, sweet potato, and brussel sprouts, seasoned with olive oil and Italian herbs.  Sticking with the roasting theme, I made the “Salmon baked in foil” which was, you guessed it, salmon baked in foil packets.  The best part of this foil packet dish was the diced tomato-shallot salsa that cooks with the salmon.  It was simply divine; I could have eaten an entire bowl of the stuff with a loaf of crusty bread.

Being the carb-lover I am, I had to balance the meal out with some noodles or rice.  I had a box of couscous in my pantry, which ended up complementing the salmon quite well.

Oh, bonus photo!  I thought I had taken a photo of something else I cooked from Giada’s cookbooks, and indeed, I found it!  Taken all the way back in August, here is a photo of “Rigatoni with Sausage, Artichokes, and Asparagus,” which actually brings me to the only pet peeve I have with the cookbooks — recipe titles are sometimes misleading.  For instance, this particular dish also has sun-dried tomatoes in it.  But why aren’t sun-dried tomatoes in the title?  Nor are they listed in the index.   A more glaring misnomer is her recipe for “Penne in Spicy Tomato Sauce”… also known to everyone else as puttanesca.  But it’s a small price to pay for an otherwise great cookbook.

Penne with sausage, asparagus, artichokes, AND sun-dried tomatoes, topped with freshly grated Parmesan.

After my Chinese New Year dumpling feast, I still had a lot of pork and chive filling and wonton wrappers.  So, on a friend’s suggestion, I made wonton noodle soup!  It was super easy — chicken stock, ginger, chinese cooking wine, salt, pepper, some veggies, wontons and noodles.  The key is to cook the soup, noodles, and wontons separately, and then assemble the dish when you’re ready to eat.  This way, you avoid overcooking the noodles and dumplings.  Delicious!

Homemade wonton noodle soup!

I have a theory that people are either bakers or cooks.  Myself, I’m definitely a cook.  I don’t like to follow recipes to a tee, and am in general, fairly imprecise.  Which is funny/ironic, considering that I’m a scientist, and you’d think I’d be able to follow precise protocols by now.  I also blame my old school oven on my unsuccessful attempts at baking in the past few years.  Yes, of course I know how to bake a cake from a box, but I’m talking about REAL baking.  Once, I attempted Katherine Hepburn’s brownie recipe from the Gourmet cookbook.  Everything was looking divine until I checked on the pan 15 minutes later and realized that the oven shelf was tilted.  So, I ended up with some brownies over-done and the other half under-done.  (But, this turns out to be perfect for a potluck as it accomodates everyone’s preferences, FYI.  You can thank me later.)

So, back to my theory:  everyone’s a baker or a cook.  I like to cook because I enjoy keeping an eye on the food and adjusting things as they go, whether it’s to turn down the temperature or to season the dish just so.  Maybe it’s because I’ve never tried baking one recipe more than a couple of times, so I’ve never gotten familiar, but I just don’t have the patience for it.  As a result, I bake once a year, and it usually turns out OK but a little burnt like so:

Pumpkin pecan pie (Thanksgiving, 2008)

What about you?  Are you a cook or a baker?  Take the first ever “will blog 4 food” poll below.  Yay interactive blog!

I’m a big fan of chicken soup.  Previously, I blogged about chicken soup with wild rice, a tried-and-true, American-style recipe featuring carrots and celery.  Last week, it was cold and rainy, which to me always signifies soup weather.  Because I was too lazy to try a new recipe, I fell back on one of my standard soups: Chinese chicken and corn soup.  It’s so easy because I don’t follow a recipe for it; it’s all in my head.

The ingredients: shredded chicken, chicken stock, corn (canned), eggs, ginger, scallions, Chinese cooking wine, salt, pepper, and corn starch (to thicken).  (Some recipes call for diced ham, if you don’t feel that the shredded chicken is meaty enough.  It also adds some color to the soup.)  When it was done, I added a cup of cooked rice to the soup to make it into a meal.  This isn’t porridge, since I didn’t cook the rice in the soup at all.

Because I don’t follow a recipe, the soup comes out slightly different every time.  For instance, I never remember if I should use creamed corn or regular corn.  This time, I used one can of each, which turned out perfectly, as the creamed corn added that corn base flavor, while the regular corn contributed texture.  The soup came out great, but I ended up with a huge pot of it.  Luckily, it is one of my favorites so I didn’t tire of it.

From the pot...

... to the bowl. Bon appetite!