from Steamy Kitchen food column in Tampa Tribune

If I had to just choose one thing, “my killer app” in the kitchen, it would be salt. It doesn’t matter what cuisine I’m cooking, salt is the basis of flavor in a savory dish. Call me a salt snob, but I stay away from the regular table salt, mainly because it tastes like crap! The granules are way too fine, the anti-caking agent just sounds gross and added iodine is sooooo 1920’s. The taste reminds me of…um…getting smacked in the face with a salt lick dipped in a vat of bitters?

Normally, I use kosher salt in the kitchen, mainly because of the texture and cheap price. I really like the feel of kosher salt in my fingers as I’m seasoning, and I’ve learned to season by sight, feel and taste. I’m just too lazy to bust out the measuring spoons, because each time, I have to wash and wipe dry the set of awkward, clanging, dangling spoons for fear of tainting the oregano with chili powder or powdered sugar with vanilla extract. How inefficient! Wouldn’t it be cool if spice jars came with twist lids that doled out the spice in teaspoon increments? What a great product idea. And if you steal my idea, at least take me out to dinner. But I digress. Read the full story

Martin Yan carves a chicken in 18 seconds! from Jaden Hair on Vimeo.

Come see his recipe, Pan Seared Steak Rolls

Wow, almost 400 entries in the Cooking Light Complete Cookbook contest! Very cool. I cannot believe all the strange, exotic food combinations that you all entered. If you haven’t read through the entries, take a look, it’s fun to see all the weird flavor combos that you all enjoy.

I’m announcing the winners right here in video form! In fact, this is the very first Steamy Kitchen home made video ever published (i.e. not X-rated)

Steamy Kitchen Cooking Light Winners from Jaden Hair on Vimeo.

And who are the owners of these lucky numbers? Read on….

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Chinese New Year is coming up in just a couple of weeks! It will be the Year of the Rat!

I’ll be sharing some of my favorite Chinese dishes with you - easy meals that you can whip up for the holiday. Chinese are big on food symbolisms - and some of the references are pretty far out there - but hey, if eating this hairy moss dish:

means that I might just win the lottery this year, I’ll take my chances. Traditionally, we eat noodles for Chinese New Year - which symbolizes long life. Just don’t cut the noodles before serving - you’ll be snipping your life short.

Super fast noodles

You can use any type of noodles for this dish - rice noodles (great for gluten-free), wheat noodles or in a pinch, use regular spaghetti noodles for the Fried Noodles with Garlic Shrimp dish.

Here are my favorite noodles to use when I’m in a hurry:

These noodles only take a couple of minutes to cook, because they are soft, fresh noodles not dried. When I make a trip to the Asian market, I grab a few packs and put them in the freezer. They freeze great and when ever you need a quick meal, just boil a pot of water, add the pack of frozen noodles in and in 2 minutes, they are ready. If you aren’t going to freeze them, it only takes 1 minute to cook. Timing of course depends on the thickness of the noodles you choose - check the packaging for instructions.

Fried noodle ingredients

You can use any type of vegetables: mushrooms, cabbage, bok-choy, spinach, bamboo shoots, tofu, snow peas, etc. The only rule is when adding the vegetables to the wok, add them in the order it takes longest to cook. HUH?! What did I just say? You know what I mean. Vegetables that take longer to cook go in first, fry a bit, then add the next vegetable. Cut your vegetables into nice, thin, easy to quickly fry pieces.

If using carrots, I suggest cutting into slivers, or super thin slices so that they can fry easily. I use my favorite tool in the whole world - the Oxo Julienne Tool. For less than $10, this baby has saved me time and nicked fingers. Plus, the vegetable comes out looking really pretty.

In my dish, I chose crunchy, fresh celery, carrots and scallions:

For meat/seafood - you can use shrimp, chicken, thinly sliced pork or beef. Or just keep it vegetarian. Totally up to you.

The Fried Noodle with Garlic Shrimp recipe is from this book:

Wei Chuan Chinese Rice and Noodles, my copy is well-worn and this book has tons of recipes for fried noodles, noodle soup, fried rice, rice dishes, etc. Recipes are in both English and Chinese.

Recipe after the jump!

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Wow, I can’t believe how many of you made the No Knead Sticky Pecan Caramel Cinnamon Rolls! As promised, I’m not going to leave you hanging with extra dough in the refrigerator. Here’s your recipe for No-Knead Nutella and Roasted Hazelnut Challah from the book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois.  By the way, if you haven’t entered the contest to win a copy of their book, make sure you do!

Ok, I love their basic Challah recipe, but thought I’d be a bit fancy and make a Nutella and Roasted Hazelnut version. Screw the diet - just for a day, ok? Hey, don’t look at me like that - I’ve been testing the book’s recipes all week long JUST FOR YOU and I took one 3 lbs for the team!

Damn. I need to review a diet book next. Anyone have a good diet book that needs reviewing?

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