Egg Tarts, the perfect end to DimSum, any meal, any time, any day, you're going to need to make these

When I lived in Canada, I went to DimSum regularly with friends.  Mississauga, Ontario, has some of the best DimSum I've ever had, Toronto China Town included.  There's NO decent DimSum in Austin so I have to make up the individual pieces as the mood strikes.  

I came up with a morf of many recipes to end up with this version of the most delicious Chinese Egg Tart.  These are tender, crunchy, smooth, soft, solid and absolutely delicious. 

I cheat with store bought puff pastry, it's delicious and easy and really, if I want egg tarts, I'm not going to start the day before to get homemade puff going...  so, go get some puff and keep it in the freezer for exactly this reason.  IF you love an egg tart, THIS is the recipe you've been looking for.

TRACY'S EGG TARTS IN PUFF

INGREDIENTS

1 cup hottest tap water
1/2 (scant) cup white sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp vinegar
pinch salt


INSTRUCTIONS

Mix hot water and sugar, to dissolve sugar, leave to cool to room temperature
                  (alternatively, you can combine water and sugar in 2 cup glass measuring cup, nuke till boiling and leave to cool)

Mix egg, vanilla, vinegar and salt with a fork, in another bowl, GENTLY, no air bubbles.  
Add the eggs to the sugar syrup and stir with a metal spoon to combine well 

STRAIN twice (once from the measuring cup into the bowl and then once back from the bowl to the measuring cup) and leave to sit while you deal with pastry

I used 1 sheet of puff pastry, roll out and cut into 12 squares. 

Line 12 muffin pans or individual tart pans with the pastry
Fill with the egg mixture, yep, all the way to the top  

Bake 350 for about 30 minutes on the lower middle rack 
Bake till they're beautiful 

Cool pan on a rack about 10 minutes then remove tarts and leave as long as you can before you devour them 

Here's some progress shots... make these, let me know what you think

   

  

There you go Dave, I'm thinking of you and wishing you were here to help me devour these little beauties

/enjoy

Trace

QUICKIE DRIVE BY dinner idea - Roasted Asian salmon with stirfry rice noodle.

I'm starting a new segment here, Drive By Dinners... no long recipes just ideas and lists of ingredients that I threw together to make dinner and they worked :)  No play by play pics, just a couple of shots of the finished product.

IF you need a detailed recipe, let me know and I'll update the posts.

OK, here we go:

ASIAN SALMON WITH STIR FRY RICE NOODLE

INGREDIENTS:

Salmon 1 1/2 - 2 lb piece or however much you have
Rice vermicelli noodle

Whatever veggies you have in the fridge, chop then small.  Grate the ginger and the garlic

cabbage
green onion
onion
carrot
ginger
garlic

Broth or water

Asian type spices from that shelf in your fridge you never use

Soak the rice noodles in a big bowl in the sink in hottest tap water, shush them around with your hands a bit to soften and divide them, takes about 5 minutes.  You know when they're soft enough when you can wrap them around your finger and they don't break.

I get in there with scissors and cut them up, I like short noodles for this.

Make a sauce combination for your salmon:
2 big tablespoons of honey, same amount of soy sauce
a few drops of sesame oil and a glug of vinegar (rice wine, or herbed or plain)
spoonful of sugar
a garlic clove minced and about an inch of ginger, also minced
chopped up green onion a little water to thin
TASTE it!!

Put the salmon in a huge piece of foil, mix up the sauce and pour it on the salmon.
Wrap the salmon tightly and throw into a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes.

Open the foil and broil the salmon till it's dark and dark and dark and crazy caramelized delicious



While the salmon cooks toss oil in a huge pan, throw in a couple of beaten eggs, whip them fast and take them out.
Add more oil and throw in ginger and garlic, shush it around till you smell it and add all the rest of the veggies you have, chopped small...  fry them around a bit, add a little water to help cook it down.

Throw in whatever you have like soy or some of the sauce from the salmon, and add the soaked and drained noodles and about 1/2 cup of water or broth, toss it all around, adjust seasoning, keep it moving.  Throw in the eggs.  The noodles absorb the liquid, add more, i like it to be relatively dry.

Put huge amounts in bowls and serve the salmon on top with any sauce, liquid in the foil...

Sprinkle with green onion.  EAT!

PS it's great cold, tossed as a salad!!

ENJOY!!!

New obsession...the Chinese Clay Pot

I have a new obsession, the Chinese Clay pot.  I also have what might be a obstruction to my success in Clay pot cooking, that being my ceramic cook top. 

I have researched and read pros and cons and the people who said "it's no problem, use it" and those who wrote dire warnings about a culinary Apocalypse if I attempt it.

I HAVE to make the clay pot rice, rice, a little ground beef and some spices?  Oh yeah, I need that in my house.  I need it in my house TODAY.

I don't have much but I do have $12 and I am going to buy a clay pot today and will be venturing into spotlit glory or impending doom later this afternoon. 

I LOVE this!

I've morphed a quick recipe from what I read that came with the pot and some net searches and this is 

Tracy's Clay Pot Beef and Rice (Chinese inspired)

1/2 lb ground meat (I'll use pork next time)

1 1/2 cup short grain rice (I'll use slightly less next time)

water

1 Tblspn oil

green onions

soy sauce

sugar
garlic
ginger
(or garlic ginger paste)

salt

pepper

rice wine

oyster sauce
whatever other flavorings you love

SOAK the clay pot, completely submerged in water for a while (I soaked mine about an hour)  I truly didn't want it to explode on my cooktop.  Oh and "spoiler alert"  it didn't.

IN a blue bowl, mix the ground meat and whatever spices you like, add a little water and squish it around and leave it.  (mmm, the raw meat shot)


In the soaked pot, put about a Tblspn of oil and some salt, then add the rice and enough water to cover the rice by about half an inch.  That, in my house, is my thumb nail ;)
   
Put the lid on the clay pot and leave it about 15 minutes.  Turn the heat on and bring the pot to a boil (time to peek)
   

Ok, it's doing SOMEthing, this is looking good.  After it boils about 4 minutes, reduce the heat and leave it another 4 minutes.

   
At the end of the 8 minutes boil/simmer time, spread the meat on top of the rice.  It's super easy, just sort of grab blobs (culinary meat term) and put it on the rice.  It spreads really easily. Pop the lid on for about 15 minutes, till the meat is cooked.
   
WOW!

This is delicious and tastes and smells like every Chinese restaurant I've ever been in.  The rice is a little chewy and tender at the same time.  The meat is soft and flavorful. I will play around with the spices and flavors as I continue on my Clay Pot quest.
   

It made a TON of food for 1/2 lb of ground beef.  Mum, Connor and I all ate from the pot and there was a little left for Connor's lunch.  

I think this is definitely worth my $12 investment from World Market.  I love this thing.  I'm going to try chicken and pork and maybe shrimp in here.  I think a little fry up of the meat first would also add a neat flavor element.  Yeah, I will be playing in my kitchen with this new toy.

There was some crispy (stuck) rice on the bottom, I like to eat that part (mmmm crispy) For those who are not a fan of the crispy bit, it came up fine with a soak.  I think this pot will work just fine so long as it's not subjected to extreme temperature changes.  I say NAY to the nay-sayers, you most certainly CAN use a clay pot on a glass cooktop successfully.  

OH and as a weird aside, 2 hours later, the rice was still WARM as it sat on my countertop.  Not hot but definitely warm and eatable.  This also might be a decent thing to do for my "I won't be home till 11pm" husband who insists on microwaving the food I cook.  Hmmmm, I think he needs his OWN clay pot. 

Now, I hear you can do noodles in it too...

Go get one of these, it's fun, different and makes a meal a little bit different than the usual stir fry.  I still can't believe that little bit of meat flavored all that rice so beautifully... yeah, we are happy on this one.

/enjoy