kitchen domesticity: beef with broccoli

Chinese food is my one of my absolute favorite foods, right up there with chocolate, ice cream, Coke, and macaroni & cheese. I've yet to meet a Chinese dish I do not like. Sadly, this is another one of those areas where my husband's taste and mine diverge: he's much more of a Tex-Mex kind of guy and does not care for most Chinese dishes, save the occasional Sesame Chicken dish. I would like Tex-Mex more, I think, given that it has a lot of my favorite food elements in it (cheese, tortillas, marinated meat), but more often than not, I have a perfectly decent meal ruined by even the tiniest little sprig of cilantro. Food of the devil, I tell you. EVIL.

Okay, so I'm not about to make this post all about the Herb That Must Not Be Named. Back to the Chinese food...

I love it. But neither my waistline nor my wallet can afford to eat out every time I want takeout, so I've been on the hunt for some good Chinese food recipes. I've tried several so far, and while they've been acceptable in taste and texture, every single one has proved to taste wildly inauthentic, nothing like the takeout I really wanted.

(Yes, I'm quite aware that Chinese takeout is about as authentically Chinese as a Little Caesar's pizza is authentically Italian.)

Who knew the missing link was... fish sauce?

Yep, fish sauce. Some of you might have known this already, but for an inexperienced Chinese takeout replicator-cook like myself, this totally blew my mind. FISH sauce? All I could picture was stinky, slimy water with fish bones floating in it. I know, I know, overactive imagination here. But that image kept me from trying this recipe for several months, and oh, am I ever sad I let those months go by. Because, people, this stuff is the BOMB. Seriously. It's completely delicious, easy to make, and there's no fish bones involved. I also love that it calls for a head of fresh (not frozen) broccoli. There's something really redeeming about chopping all that green when many of your meals come from a hospital cafeteria line.

Buying said fish sauce was interesting: the recipe called for "good fish sauce". I went to the store, looked in the "ethnic" food aisle, and there was only one bottle of anything with the word "fish" on it. So I bought it. No idea if it's good fish sauce or garbage, but the end result was mighty tasty, so I'm thinking I did okay. If any of you know of a superior fish sauce, bring me into the light!

Oh, and be forewarned: this dish be FRAGRANT, peeps. I don't know if it's the fish sauce, the sesame oil, or a combination of both, but the entire kitchen smelled like this dish for about 24 hours. It's a totally fantastic smell, don't get me wrong, but it meant I woke up at 4 am, ravenous, because I could still smell the fantastic aroma.

Also, I tried to take some pictures, but it was dark outside, and the light in my kitchen isn't fantastic, so the pictures came out all wonky. So, with much gratitude, I am using the pictures I found on the original website with this recipe. Thank you, Jaime!

Enough of my rambling. Here it is, takeout fabulosity abounding.

Beef with Broccoli (adapted from this recipe)

1/2 - 3/4 pound thinly sliced beef, such as sirloin, cut into 1-2 inch pieces
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon good fish sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 clove garlic finely minced or grated with a microplane
2 tablespoons olive oil
florets from 1 large bunch of fresh broccoli
red pepper flakes

Deglazing liquid:

1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1/2 clove garlic, finely minced or grated

1. In a plastic zipper bag or small glass dish, marinate the beef in soy sauce, baking soda, fish sauce, vinegar, garlic, and olive oil. Let marinate in fridge for 20 minutes.

2. In a large skillet set over medium-high heat, and working in small batches, sear beef on both sides. Remove to a plate, and set aside.

3. Make up deglazing liquid by combining all ingredients, making sure cornstarch is well mixed with no lumps. Set aside. (Note: if you like a lot of sauce for both your main dish and the rice to accompany it, I would double the amounts for the deglazing liquid.)

4. Add broccoli florets to the pan, pour over deglazing liquid, and cover. Let steam for 2-3 minutes, or until the broccoli is bright green. Add the beef back in, heat through (another minute or so), and sprinkle with a pinch of red pepper flakes. Serve with steamed rice (my preference is jasmine rice - so fragrant and perfect for this dish).

Enjoy!

two years old

Today, my sweet, silly firstborn turned two years old. How did time fly by so fast, Aidan? Can't I stop time to keep you cute and little and adorably cuddly forever?

We had a great birthday party for our big boy at Fort Mellon Park in Sanford. They have a HUGE splash pad and playground, both of which our birthday boy was only mildly interested in that day. But lucky for us, it started to really rain... and that's when Aidan got excited! He's a big fan of rain and splashing in puddles, and he did both happily for most of his party.

Shannon came over the day before the party and helped me put together a lot of the crafty stuff, including these adorable little "2" and "A" circles for the cupcakes and jelly bean favors. Aren't they adorable? They're all her creation.

By the way, these cupcakes are my number one favorite kind to make: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough cupcakes. The cupcake is brown sugar with chocolate chips, the frosting is (surprise!) a FLOUR based brown sugar frosting, and inside is a surprise dollop of (eggless) cookie dough. Each element by itself is fairly okay to eat, but combined all together in a bite... holy sweet heaven.

We all had a great time! One of our cuter partygoers got pretty tuckered out...

By the way, that will be the LAST time I ever use Evite to invite people to a party. I had so many people who didn't RSVP because - I highly suspect - the invite went straight into their junk mail folder, as do most all of the invites I ever get from Evite. Big Evite FAIL. Next time, I won't be such a cheapskate and will actually mail out a card or something. However, the hard-core party animals who were there were some of our most favorite people, and we were so very glad to celebrate with them in the rain.

Overall, the day was a great success. After a couple of hours splashing about in the rain, we took our two tuckered-out boys home for a nice long nap, followed by present opening and a birthday dinner at Steak N' Shake. Aidan loved all his presents! A huge thank-you to everyone for being so very generous.

Happy Birthday, Aidan! Your Dada and I love you more than we could ever express. Keep growing wonderful, my sweet boy.

kitchen domesticity: summer corn chowder

You may not have known this about me, but I live in a divided household, and it's a divide that runs pretty deep: the Vermeulens are pretty polarized when it comes to how they like to eat corn. I go nuts over corn on the cob, particularly grilled just right so that some of the kernels are ever-so-slightly browned. It was one of my favorite foods growing up, and it still reigns supreme among my cherished comfort foods. Jason, however, prefers his kernels loose: when in charge of dinner, corn will inevitable come from the can (in his defense, it's usually organic), boiled on the stove, and the loose little kernels, while tasty, make me yearn for the cob version. When we do eat from the cob, Jason will actually cut his kernels off of the cob, and I just cringe. He cannot understand why any sane human being would prefer to eat their corn still tethered to a stalk - that's just asking for a long night with a toothpick and floss. (Which, ironically, is EXACTLY what happens to me when I eat popcorn, something he loves to inhale by the fistful. Go figure.)

Thankfully, we do come together in harmony for one style of corn: summer corn chowder.

I came across this recipe a while ago, after we discovered a local restaurant's savory, delicious corn chowder that was, sadly, the only worthwhile option on an otherwise ho-hum menu selection. It is hearty, creamy without being too heavy, easy to make, full of delicious corn and potatoes, and is a perfect solution to my search for an easy, no-fuss take-to-work lunch option. We make it often in our house, no matter what the season, and even the fussy toddler likes it. So, without further adieu and to kick off what is I hope the first of many more blog posts, the recipe:

Summer Corn Chowder (adapted most gratefully from here)
4 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons onion, chopped
3/4 cups celery, large dice
2-1/2 cups hot water
2 cups raw potato (I like red), cut in 1/2 inch cubes
3 cups frozen corn, thawed (or fresh corn, if you have it)
4 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 pinch white pepper
1 quart half & half
3 tablespoons flour

Over medium heat, melt butter in a medium stockpot or Dutch oven, add chopped onion and celery, and simmer for 5 minutes or until soft (but not browned). Add water, potato, corn, and seasonings. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes, or until potatoes are just barely tender.

In a small bowl, whisk the flour into one cup of the half & half until well-incorporated, then stir into the soup. Add the remaining 3 cups of half & half.

Simmer for about 15 minutes on medium low, uncovered, stirring frequently, until the soup has thickened into a creamy consistency (when cooled, it will slightly thicken even more). Correct the seasoning to your liking with additional salt and pepper, as desired. Correct the consistency, if desired: to make the soup thinner, add a little milk. To make the soup thicker, simmer another 5-10 minutes.

Note: I have made this soup in a ton of different, sometimes unintentional variations. I have used dried onion flakes instead of real chopped onion - still good (though nothing beats a fresh vegetable). I've accidentally omitted the celery when I forgot to get it from the store - less roughage, but still tasty. I've accidentally added the half & half at the beginning of the recipe (along with the water) instead of at the end - still tasty. I've never used fat-free half & half, but I'd be willing to bet that if you used a combination of half fat-free and half regular (heh - half half & half, in other words), it would still be mighty tasty and with less fat. I've never done fresh corn off the cob, but I can imagine it would taste amazing with the extra effort. The one thing I highly recommend you NOT omit or change is the incorporation of the flour into a small portion of the half & half: I've forgotten this step before and thought I could just throw in the flour into the pot, and what I end up with is a soup that has the consistency of milk, with some strange, unappetizing lumps of flour thrown in, even if I whisk the heck out of it (doesn't work).

Finally, ENJOY.  You can pretty much make this recipe to taste however you prefer: more salt, less pepper, thicker consistency, less potatoes, more corn, whatever.  It makes for a great vegetarian meal on its own, or as a nice side dish.