Thanksgiving is always about the dinner, and it seems as though every food story and recipe out there features the turkey, side dishes or dessert for the main meal. So, I thought I’d do something a little different and present you with a “morning after” meal, otherwise known as “not-turkey.”

I know turkey sounds really good right now, because you’ve waited patiently all year for the appropriate time to pig out on that bird. On the big day, you’ll spend four hours clawing at the oven door, tantalized by the smell of roasting turkey. Then you’ll sit down, and for the next eight minutes, you’ll stuff yourself with massive forkfuls of turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce and dinner rolls, working your way clockwise back to the turkey. There are seconds and perhaps thirds for those who temporarily convert a left butt-cheek into a second stomach.

After the turkey marathon, belts are loosened (or in my case, I’m smart and wear elastic) and round bodies roll toward the family room to settle into a comfy spot for the standard 12-hour turkey coma.

The next day? Trust me when I say no matter how you incorporate leftover turkey in your meal, it’s not going to be appetizing. Generally, I give myself at least three days before I try to bring back the leftovers in some form of soup, casserole or sandwich.

You’ll be so glad that you clipped this recipe, because Crispy Crepes with Apple, Brie and Prosciutto makes a fantastic light morning-after brunch.

It’s a recipe from Tyler Florence’s Real Kitchen: An Indispensable Guide for Anybody Who Likes to Cook, and I just love how the homemade crepe crisps up in the oven - sort of like a super-thin pizza. Serve these with a salad.

Crispy Crepes with Apple, Brie and Prosciutto Recipe

from Tyler Florence’s Real Kitchen: An Indispensable Guide for Anybody Who Likes to Cook

Basic Crepe Batter

1 cup milk
1/4 cup cold water
2 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons butter, melted (plus more for sautéing the crepes)

Combine the milk, water, eggs and flour in a blender. Blend on medium speed for 15 seconds, until the batter is smooth and lump free. Scrape down the sides of the blender and pour in 3 tablespoons of the melted butter. Blend it again for a second just to incorporate. Refrigerate the batter for 1 hour to let it rest. If the crepes are made immediately, they have a tendency to be rubbery; when you let the batter rest, the crepes have a better texture and softer bite.

Put an 8-inch crepe pan or nonstick skillet over medium heat and brush with a little melted butter. Pour 1/4 cup of batter into the pan and swirl around so it covers the bottom evenly; pour back any excess. Cook for 30-45 seconds, until the batter sets. Use a rubber spatula to loosen the edges of the crepe, flip the crepe and cook for another 30 seconds. The crepes should be pliable, not crisp, and lightly brown. Slide them onto a platter and continue making the crepes. Cover the stack of crepes with a towel to keep them from drying out. Store leftover crepes by tightly wrapping in plastic wrap and refrigerating for up to 3 days.

Makes 10 (8-inch) crepes

for the Crispy Crepes with Apple, Brie and Prosciutto

1 recipe Basic Crepe Batter (above)
Extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup apple butter
1/2 pound thinly sliced prosciutto
2 Granny Smith apples, cored and thinly sliced
10 ounces Brie cheese, sliced
1 bunch watercress or arugula
Freshly ground black pepper

Make the crepes from the recipe above (you’ll only need 4 crepes). Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush olive oil on 2 baking sheets. Lay 2 crepes side-by-side on each baking sheet. Spread the apple butter on each crepe. Layer apples and prosciutto on each crepe slice. Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating the baking sheets (top shelf to bottom shelf) halfway through until crisp like a thin pizza. Take the crepes out of the oven and lay a few slices of the brie on top so it melts slightly. Add a handful of watercress or baby lettuce and several turns of freshly ground black pepper.

Makes 4 servings

(click on the above photo for a slideshow of 11 photos with food photography/styling commentary)

While at Club Med Ixtapa, I ate more chips, salsa mexicana and guacamole than possible for a person my size. A big plate like this accompanied almost every single one of my meals - breakfast, lunch and midnight snack. It was like the best ever and I bet friends Kate, Kim, Diane and my bro Jay would say the exact same thing. In fact, I bet my bottom dollar that they are all experiencing salsa and guacamole withdrawal syndromes since our trip.

But fear no more, my comrades. Club Med Corporate Chef Erik emailed me the recipe for Club Med Salsa Mexicana and Guacamole. These photos were taken at Club Med, the day that I left, Chef Erik and I staged an impromptu photo shoot.

Okay, I know what ya’ll are saying, “how many more frickin’ times are you going to write about your Club Med trip?!”

It’s kinda like winning the lottery and waving the cash right in front of your face, taunting you with tales and pictures of all the stuff I’m buying with my millions.

I’m so cruel.

Go ahead, EGG MY WEBSITE just to get that frustration out!!

Club Med Ixtapa’s Guacamole

The perfect complement for tortilla chips and cold cervezas.

3 ripe avocados
1 plum tomato, diced
1/4 cup finely diced onion
1/2 serrano pepper, finely diced
1/2 lime, freshly squeezed
Salt and pepper, to taste

Peel and pit the avocados. Leave the pits in the bowl; this is a Mexican secret to help slow the oxidation process. Gently mash. Combine all ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Mix with a wooden or plastic spatula, for best results, mix by hand. Serve immediately or keep in the refrigerator for up to 12 hours. Either way, just before serving, squeeze a fresh lime on top of the guacamole to slow the oxidation process.

Makes 4 servings.

Club Med Ixtapa’s Salsa Mexicana

This is also called pico de gallo, and this is Club Med’s version of it, called Salsa Mexicana.

I personally enjoy adding chopped cilantro to the Salsa Mexicana, and you can include if you enjoy the taste.

2 large tomatoes (about 1 pound), cored and diced in 1/4-inch pieces
1/4 cup finely diced red onion
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 jalapeno pepper, finely minced (leave the seeds in for extra spice; scrape them out for a milder salsa)
1 small clove garlic, finely chopped
1/2 lime, juiced
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

Toss all ingredients in a small bowl and let stand at least 1/2 hour before serving.

The salsa can be made and refrigerated up to a day in advance. Drain off excess liquid and season to taste with salt before serving.

Makes 4 servings.

(click on photo for a set of 9 additional step-by-step photos on how I got this money shot)

While I love to make my own pizza or flatbread dough from scratch, sometimes I just don’t feel like getting my hands all messy with dough. I cheat a lot and buy packaged flatbreads from the supermarket and throw them on the grill or under the broiler for a quick pizza. One of my favorite fall recipes is Warm Fig, Apple and Gorgonzola Flatbreads, briefly grilled on our barbeque grill.

The creamy gorgonzola with specks of blue-black cheese melts, the warmed slices of Granny Smith Apples and wedges of juicy figs cradle the shaved slices of Parmegiano-Reggiano. But we’re not done with it yet, sweet, sensual honey drapes each slice, some oozing over the edge, onto your fingers.

Feeling a little lightheaded and in need of a glass of wine with that description of Warm Fig, Apple and Gorgonzola Flatbread!

By the way, I know you’re gonna ask…that beautiful knife is from New West KnifeWorks Fusionwood line. LOVELOVELOVE it.

This was a bitch to photograph by myself - and I wanted to give you my step-by-step photography of the Warm Fig, Apple and Gorgonzola Flatbread…

I’m showing you photos before I used Photoshop, so that you can see before and after. I shoot in RAW with my Canon 40D and I used the 60mm macro lens to get nice, sharp closeups. I generally use Photoshop to sharpen, lighten the photo and increase the saturation just a bit to make the colors and detail really pop. I know many of you don’t have Photoshop (it’s expensive) but you can do the same in Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 ($99); and even in Flickr they have free online tools to help you lighten and increase saturation of your photos. I know Adobe has a free online editing tool…but can’t find it at the moment…if you find, will you please let me know?

I always try to fiddle with the photo and camera settings to take the perfect shot, which minimizes my use of software to touch up. But sometimes, the lighting is not just right or my white balance is a bit off and I’ll need to adjust. There’s nothing wrong with doing that, every single professional photographer does some sort of touch up, and it’s generally sharpening and color correction.

Here’s my before and after:

I’d love to show you what I do in Photoshop (it does make a big difference in the picture, but since so few of you have this software, I’ll have wait until I buy a copy of Photoshop Elements so that the tutorial is more relevant to more people.

In the meantime, here’s my step-by-step slideshow of how I got to my money-shot!

Oh yes, please enjoy the recipe for Warm Fig, Apple and Gorgonzola Flatbread

***

Warm Fig, Apple and Gorgonzola Flatbread Recipe

2 tablespoons olive oil
4 8-inch round flatbreads
4 ounces crumbled gorgonzola cheese
1 apple, cored and sliced very thinly
8 ripe figs, cut into 6 wedges each
2 ounces Parmegiano-Reggiano, shaved with vegetable peeler
2 tablespoons honey

Preheat your grill, half direct heat. Brush olive oil on top of each flatbread, especially the edges. Assemble flatbreads with gorgonzola, apples and figs.

Grill flatbreads over direct heat for 3 minutes, until the bottoms are toasted and browned. Then move to indirect heat and close cover for 3 minutes to finish melting the cheese and warming the fruit.

If broiling, set your rack to upper 1/3 position. Grill flatbreads without the toppings for 2 minutes to just get them nice and toasty. Then layer on the olive oil, gorgonzola, apples and figs and return to oven for 4 to 6 minutes until cheese has melted and fruit is warmed through.

Sprinkle shaved Parmegiano-Reggiano and drizzle honey on top.
Serves 4 to 6 as appetizer or dessert.

***

Free Artisan Steak Tasting Package!

Please don’t forget to enter in the free drawing for Artisan Steak Tasting Package!! If you haven’t read it, this is one of the most interesting things I’ve ever done - tasted 6 different steaks from small ranchers and included tasting notes, breed, diet, region etc. The tasting kit includes 4 different artisan steaks so you can do your own tasting.

It’s Chinese Wonton Noodle Soup time! A great dish to make for the Beijing 2008 Olympics! This is recipe 5 in the series (see links at the end for the other recipes)

***

Wrapping Wontons Videos

I’ve got two for you - I was on CBS on Tuesday - this was a BLAST! A 4 minute cooking segment cooking wonton noodle soup…but in not in a kitchen…here’s the video:
(link is right above photo when you get to CBS site)

And my regular segment on ABC7  Chinese Wonton Noodle Soup  just click on the “featured video” right below the recipe name. And yes, I flubbed saying the number eight in Mandarin! It’s “baa” not “baat” (which is how I say it in Cantonese).

***

Wonton Noodle Soup Recipe

I love making wonton noodle soup with my kids! Gather your guests in the kitchen and have them help you fold the wonton. The key to making wonton is to not overfill the dumpling and to make sure that the wonton is sealed tight.

Wonton Wrapper

The wrappers come frozen - just defrost in refrigerator overnight or on the counter for 40 minutes. Do not soak in water or defrost in microwave. Once the package is opened, it’s important to always keep them covered under a damp towel, as the edges will dry out, making it very difficult to work with.

Freezing Wonton

If you’d like to freeze wonton (great idea for super easy quick meal) - lay the wrapped wonton in a single layer. Freeze and when frozen, gather them up and place them in a freezer bag. If you don’t freeze them in single layer, you’ll end up with a big, massive clump of wonton and you’ll have trouble prying them apart.

To cook frozen wonton, the instructions are exactly the same. Put them in the boiling broth FROZEN. Do not defrost. Cooking time will be longer BUT - that’s the beauty of my cooking method.

Boiling Wonton

Put away your timer! Let me explain. I’m sure you’re used to watching the clock when boiling pasta. Instead of watching the clock, I’m having you do this Chinese style. Boil your pot of soup. Add dumplings. When it comes to a boil, add 1 cup of room temp broth. When that comes to a boil, add another cup. When boiling again, it’s done. So if you’re adding FROZEN wonton, 10 wonton or 50…the water will come to a boil as it’s ready - thus it’s sort of self-timing.

Adding broth a little at a time like this prevents your delicate dumplings from breaking and bursting in rapid, hard boiling water. So how many wonton to cook at a time? Well - that depends on how big your pot is, how much soup you have.

For the Wonton Noodle Soup recipe below, I’d cook them in 3 separate batches - so that you don’t crowd the wonton.

Wonton Noodle Soup Recipe

Serves 4

1/2 pound ground pork
2 stalks scallion, finely minced
1 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 pound wonton wrappers, at room temperature, covered with a damp towel
1 tablespoon cornstarch + 1/4 cup cool water (cornstarch slurry)
2 quarts chicken broth
8 ounces dried wonton noodles (or thin, egg noodles)
1/2 pound bok choy, leaves separated and washed well
1 teaspoon sesame oil
chili garlic sauce (optional)

In a large bowl, combine the pork, scallion, soy sauce, rice vinegar, cornstarch, sugar and sesame oil. Mix well. Put a scant teaspoon of filling in the middle of a wonton wrapper, brush cornstarch slurry on all edges. Fold over to form a triangle, press to secure edges, encasing the filling. Brush cornstarch slurry on one tip of the triangle. Bring two corners together and press to secure (though my kids often just leave them as triangles.) Place on clean, dry plate in one layer and cover loosely with plastic wrap to prevent drying. Repeat with remaining.

In a large stockpot, add all but 2 cups of the broth and bring to a boil. The 2 cups of reserved broth should be room temperature or just slightly chilled. Turn the heat to medium-high and add the wontons. Bring pot back to a gentle boil. When it reaches a boil, add 1 cup of the reserved broth. Bring back to a boil and again, add the remaining 1 cup of reserved broth.

Keep the heat on the pot on (you still need to cook the noodles and bok choy) while using a spider or sieve to scoop up the wontons and distribute amongst the bowls. Cook the noodles in the pot according to the package instructions. Add the bok choy to the pot during last minute of cooking noodles and let simmer, until cooked through. Ladle broth, noodles and bok choy to bowls. Drizzle just a few drops of sesame oil in each bowl.

Serve with chili garlic sauce if desired.
***
Other great recipes!

Ground Beef with Beijing Sauce Over Noodles

Stir Fried Shrimp, Eggs and Peas + Stir Fry Secrets

Pan Fried Shrimp and Pork Potstickers

Xiao Long Bao - Steamed Shanghai Soup Dumplings

]]> http://steamykitchen.com/blog/2008/08/04/wonton-noodle-soup/feed/ http://steamykitchen.com/blog/2008/07/27/potstickers/ http://steamykitchen.com/blog/2008/07/27/potstickers/#comments Sun, 27 Jul 2008 14:12:20 +0000 SteamyKitchen http://steamykitchen.com/blog/?p=718

Cooking Chinese for the Olympics!
This is Recipe 3 in the series and another home-style Chinese dish for you to try (see below for the rest)

***

My friend, Lynne, is an assistant at The Rolling Pin, the cooking school where I teach in Florida. She’s often free in the evenings to work at the school, since her husband, Kevin, has been serving in Kuwait for the past 11 months. Assisting in the classes are fun for Lynne and it keeps her busy during the otherwise lonely evenings.

Normally, for my classes, I have 15 students, as that is just the right number of students that can fit into the studio kitchen. With hands-on classes, it can get pretty intense for me, as I need to totally be on top of everything from working with each student individually, demonstrating new techniques, explaining how to use Asian ingredients, ensuring that students don’t hurt themselves with the 22 or so super-sharp knives in the kitchen, and of course keeping an eye on the food so that we can all enjoy a wonderful meal! I would probably call myself an orchestrator of sorts, some evenings wishing that I had another set of eyes mounted to the back of my head to coordinate and keep track of it all.

A couple of weeks ago during one of my classes, smack dab in the middle of the first course, Chef Dave, the owner of the cooking school, yells over to me, “We have another student who’d like to join the class. Can you fit him in?”

I was in midst of showing a student how to properly handle a chef’s knife and didn’t even look up to reply, “Of course we can fit another in!” There’s always room for one more. Please just excuse the little steam escaping from the tippy top of my head as I quickly reassign, recalculate, reassess and re-whatever to balance the class to fit in one more student without upsetting the delicate scale of controlled chaos.

As I glanced over to welcome the new addition, my jaw dropped:

It was Lynne’s husband who just flew in from Kuwait to surprise her.

I’m tearing up as I write this because it was one of the most heartfelt moments to watch the lovebirds embrace and reunite. Kevin took off his fatigues and we handed him an apron. He jumped right into class and started pleating dumplings with us. It was so cute to watch the sweethearts steal kisses, glances, and giggles throughout class.

***

How to pleat potsticker dumplings

I’m piecing together several photos of dumpling making from different cooking sessions, so you’ll have to excuse the inconsistent photo quality. Not to mention, these photos were from last year, before I learned how to use my camera’s basic fuction, like FOCUS. 

These photos were taken when I handmade the dumpling wrapper - a feat that while delicious - to me is not worth the trouble, which is why I’ve not posted this before! The handmade wrappers are thicker than what you’d buy at the store.

Spoon about 1 teaspsoon of filling in the middle of the wrapper. Use your finger to brush the cornstarch slurry all around the outer edge of the dumpling to act as your “glue” to hold dumpling together.

Bring up opposite sides and pinch the dumpling wrapper in the middle.

You’ll only be pleating the upper half of the dumpling. In this photo, all my pleats will be made on the upper half.

Start with your right side. Hold the dumpling in your hand. Fold and pleat as shown above. You’ll do 3 pleats just like this on the right side. Then repeat on the other side, but in the opposite direction, so that all your pleats are pointing towards the center. See how my pleat points towards the center? This creates a crescent effect. The next time I make dumplings, I’ll have to take a few more photos, because it’s easier to learn by photos than in words.

Pinch all pleats tight - there should be no open spaces, otherwise your filling will fall out.

Now fry them (read my instructions below in the recipe)

Sidenote:

While my recipe below does not call for cabbage, if you do want to include cabbage in your dumpling, make sure you salt the cabbage, let it sit for 15 minutes and squeeze all the water out of the cabbage. Watery cabbage = soggy dumplings. Look how much water comes out after 15 minutes of salting:

The salt draws out the water. For every handful of shredded cabbage, use about 1 teaspoon of kosher salt (1/2 tsp table salt), mix well, let sit for 15 minutes at room temp. Place salted cabbage in cheesecloth and squeeze water out. You could also just do this in your hands too, if you don’t have cheesecloth.

Pan Fried Shrimp and Pork Potstickers

Serves 6-8

1 package of frozen dumpling skins, defrosted overnight in refrigerator or 40 minutes room temp (do not microwave or set in water)
3/4 pound raw shrimp, shelled and deveined
3 stalks green onions, cut into 2 inch sections
1/2 cup canned bamboo shoots
1/2 pound ground pork
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
1 tablespoon rice wine (or dry sherry)
for the slurry: 1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup water in a small bowl
water
cooking oil

Dipping Sauce
1 teaspoon Asian chili sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

Wash the shrimp and pat very dry. In a food processor, add the shrimp, green onions, bamboo shoots and pulse several times until the shrimp is chopped to about 1/4 inch. In a large bowl, combine the shrimp mixture with ground pork, soy sauce, salt, cornstarch, ginger, rice wine. Mix well.

Spoon 1 teaspoon of the filling onto dumpling skin. Brush a bit of the cornstarch slurry
all around the edge of the dumpling skin. Fold over and press to secure edges. Make sure edges are sealed tightly. Shape the dumpling so that it has a flat bottom. Cover loosely with plastic wrap so that it doesn’t dry out.

When you are ready to cook, heat a large nonstick pan with 1 tablespoon of cooking oil over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot but not smoking, add the dumplings, flat side down, not touching, to the pan. Let fry for 1 minute until the bottoms are light golden brown. Pour 1/4 cup of water into the pan and immediately cover with a tight fitting lid. Turn heat to medium and let the dumplings steam for 3minutes. Open lid and let the remaining liquid cook off about 1 minute. Cut into a dumpling to make sure that the filling is cooked through. Remove to plate, wipe the pan clean with paper towels (or wash) and repeat with remaining dumplings. Serve with dipping sauce.

***

Still hungry?

Chinese Pastries with Hoisin Chicken

Con Your Kids to Eat Vegetables, Steamy-Style

Ground Beef with Beijing Sauce Over Noodles

Stir Fried Shrimp, Eggs and Peas + Stir Fry Secrets

Xiao Long Bao - Steamed Shanghai Soup Dumplings

Wonton Noodle Soup