O.M.G. Banana Cream Pie

These days, it doesn't take much to inspire me to make something new in the kitchen.  I crave all sweet things!  I saw this post on Cupcakes and Cashmere and had to make it... immediately.  I love banana cream pie, so this recipe already captured my heart.  But a banana cream pie with an Oreo cookie crust?  Sounds like O.M.G. in my mouth.  And was it O.M.G., indeed!  I made this pie for a family gathering one sunny Saturday evening, and every single person that had a taste of the banana cream pie were raving about it.  I was shocked by the responses.  I'm not a great dessert maker, so I am quite glad that this turned out great!  Even my dad, who "grades" our cooking and rarely gives out anything above an A-, took a bite and shouted, "A+!!!!"  It is truly an amazing pie.  Please, I beg of you, give it a try!

Banana Cream Pie with Oreo Cookie Crust

Ingredients
Oreo Cookie Crust - 
- 2 cups crushed Oreo cookie crumbs
- 5 Tbsp butter, melted

Custard -
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 5 large egg yolks
- 2 1/2 cups whole milk
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, soften
- 1 tsp vanilla extract

3 ripe bananas, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch thick slices

Whipped cream - 
- 1 cup chilled whipping cream
- 2 Tbsp powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract

- chocolate curls (optional)

Tools
- food processor
- whisk
- fine-mesh sieve
- wax paper
- peeler (optional, to get chocolate curls)

Steps
1. Make the crust first.  Grease up a 9 1/2 inch pie plate (if using a glass pie plate then there is no need).

2. Separate Oreo cookies from its' filling.  Crush the Oreo cookies with a food processor, until fine.

3. Mix the cookie crumbs with melted butter until moistened.  Dump it into the pie plate, spread it evenly over the pie plate, and press down nice and firm with a spoon.  Place in fridge for 30 minutes before baking for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.  Let it cool while making the custard.

4. Next, make the custard.  Heat milk in a heavy saucepan over moderate heat until hot but not boiling.

5. While milk heats, whisk together yolks, sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a heatproof bowl until smooth.

6. Add 1 cup of hot milk to yolk mixture in a stream, whisking, then add remaining milk, whisking constantly. Transfer mixture back to saucepan and cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and registers 170F on thermometer, 6 to 10 minutes (do not boil).

7. Immediately force custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl and stir in butter and vanilla. Cover the surface with wax paper, cool to lukewarm, about 45 minutes.

8. After the Oreo cookie crust and custard are cooled down, start assembling the pie.  Spread about 1 cup of custard in crust.  Top with sliced bananas, then cover the bananas with the rest of the custard.  Chill the pie for about 2 to 3 hours.

9. Beat chilled whipping cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract in a bowl to soft peaks.  Spread cream over pie.  Place in fridge for at least 1 hour and up to 8 hours.

10. Garnish pie with chocolate curls, if desired.  Cut into wedges and serve.

Serves 8 - 10.

Crumbly Oreo crust, eggy and sweet custard filled with bananas, and clouds of whipped cream.  Heaven.

Tangy Fingerling Potato Salad

Looking for a quick and easy potato salad for a summer BBQ or pool party?  Here it is!  It's cold, it's sour, it's salty.  The potatoes also have a great crunch.  It's a delicious little side to go along with some barbecued meat or hamburgers. Give it a try!

Tangy Fingerling Potato Salad
from Martha Stewart

A few variations...
- I used purple, red, and yukon potatoes instead.
- I didn't have any white wine vinegar so used rice vinegar instead.  It worked!

Colorful potatoes.

Cold and tangy.

Pickled Cucumbers

This pickled cucumbers dish was a staple item for me growing up.  A popular Chinese dish, I always order it whenever I am eating at a Taiwanese restaurant.  My mom also knows that I love this, so she will remember to make it when it's hot out.  It's been hot out, so I decided to make it for myself!  It's quite a simple dish to put together... I may be pickling more often now.

Pickled Cucumbers

Ingredients
- 8 Persian cucumbers
- 2 1/2 tsp salt
- 8 cloves of garlic, smashed
- 4 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 1/2 tsp sugar
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- garlic chili sauce, to your desired spiciness (I only put a dash for taste)

Steps
1. Wash the cucumbers and cut it in half length-wise. Cut it again length-wise to produce 4 long slices.  Cut the slices in half (or thirds, depending on how long the slices are) into 2 or 3-inch pieces.

2. Toss cucumbers with salt and let it sit for 20-30 minutes, to let excess water drain out.

3. Drain water and mix in smashed garlic, rice vinegar, sugar, sesame oil, and garlic chili sauce (optional).  Mix well!

4. Place it in the refrigerator overnight (about 24 hours for best results) and enjoy!

Serves 2-3.

Crunch crunch.  The garlic gives it a little extra kick!

Summer Dessert with Nectarines and Apricots

One of the common questions I get while being pregnant right now is: do you crave anything?  Sometimes I think long and hard about this because I don't really think I do.  I do not have crazy cravings such as pickles dipped in chocolate or fries dipped in ice cream (although I already do love this with McDonald's soft serve and their french fries... hmm, I want some right now), but I guess I do crave something, and I eat A LOT of it... fruits!!

This started back during my first trimester, when I avoided eating a lot of things because nothing seemed appetizing to me.  I felt like I had to force myself to eat my lunch or dinner (especially dinner... I just wanted to go to sleep!), but the only thing I enjoyed eating were fruits.  It was apples, oranges, and bananas at the time since it was winter.  Now that summer is here, I am a much happier pregnant lady!  I get to enjoy items such as watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple, peaches, nectarines, plums, apricots, pears, cherries, and the list goes on and on... you know those Costco-sized watermelons?  I can eat one all by myself in less than a week.  I LOVE FRUIT!

My current love for fruits inspired me to make a quick dessert for the family last Saturday night.  I have sooo much fruit in my fridge, why not share?  This was a delicious and fulfilling galette, especially with a big scoop of Haagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream!

Nectarine and Apricot Galette
from Simply Recipes

A few variations...
...instead of using 2 peaches, I used 1 nectarine and 4 large apricots.
...mixed 2 tsp of sugar and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon together to get cinnamon sugar, and generously sprinkled the mixture on the crust (after the eggwash process) to give it a bit more of a sugary taste.  If you have coarse sugar, it's even better!
...I actually forgot the small chunks of butter to be placed on top of the fruits, but I don't think it mattered much.  You can opt out if trying to save some fatty calories (quite little though).

Happy fruits.

Alternating nectarine and apricot slices.  Fold the corners to wrap it all up!

Mouthwatering...

Catfish

For me, it is usually a treat to eat freshly steamed fish on special occasions, such as Chinese New Year or out for a banquet dinner.  During a regular visit to my mother-in-law's in SF, we stopped by Chinatown (our usual hangout spot), devoured some delicious dim sum from our favorite restaurant, Great Eastern Restaurant (yes, where the President was this past February!), and went grocery shopping on the busy and crazy Stockton Street.  Both my mother-in-law and I bought a fresh big catfish to eat for dinner.  You can truly taste the freshness in each bite!

Steamed Catfish with Black Bean Garlic Sauce

Ingredients
- 1 fresh catfish
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 Tbsp garlic black bean sauce
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp rice wine
- 1 stalk green onion, thinly sliced

Steps
1. Wash fish thoroughly. Pat to dry.

2. Mix minced garlic, garlic black bean sauce, soy sauce, and rice wine together.  Place washed fish on plate and pour mixture all of the fish.

3. Fill a large pot with water. Ensure that you have a stand or some type of device that can place a plate on top, in order to steam the fish. Turn heat to medium and let it cook and steam for about 20 minutes. The fish should be flaky when done.

4. Place thinly sliced green onions on top of the fish and serve.  Serves 2-4.

Discovering New Vegetables: Kale!

Kale is like the "hip" vegetable lately.  I'm not sure if it's because I suddenly have a new appreciation for it so that I notice, but it's everywhere!  I first encountered this vegetable due to the juice cleanse I did last year.  One of the two green juices I drank everyday for 3 days had kale in it.  Soon after the cleanse, we purchased a Vitamix in order to make healthy smoothies.  Oh man, the Vitamix blender is the most amazing thing and may be my second most favorite tool in the kitchen!  For green smoothies, I sought out different vegetables to use and a lot of the recipes I found used kale.  I initially ate a lot of kale in a blended fashion, but after finding this salad recipe and still having lots of it in the fridge, I decided to give solid kale a chance.  What a great salad.

Fully-Loaded Kale Salad
adapted from Healthy. Happy. Life.

A few variations...
...I used marinated artichokes, pears, romaine lettuce, persian cucumbers, plum tomatoes, and avocados.

A surprisingly nutty and tangy dressing.

Refreshing!

Hmm Hmm Dulce de Leche

This cookie was started with the dulce de leche recipe I found online.  When I saw what was used to make the dulce de leche, I was immediately hooked.  Can you guess what tool was used??  Well, of course, a crockpot!!!  THE easiest recipe I've seen thus far, all you do is take a can of condensed milk (label off), drop it into a pool of water inside the crockpot, and turn it to low for 8 hours.  Ahh-maaa-zing!

Ginger Thumbprint Cookies with Dulce de Leche

From Chocswirl (ginger thumbprint cookies):

Just one variation...
...substituted molasses with maple syrup

Roll cookie dough into balls and gently push down the center.

And from The Culinary Chronicles (dulce de leche):

Simply exquisite dulce de leche

I know, the presentation of these cookies are not the best.  I may have used my thumb a bit too aggressively, and I blame it on the fact that I do not have piping materials yet!  Regardless, it was quite delicious.  Even my husband's coworkers agreed.

Peanut Butter, Banana... and Chocolate

I think I buy too many bananas.  Maybe because the bananas are stored in the corner of the kitchen, I don't usually see it and so I forget to eat it.  I am also pretty particular about my bananas - I like them more on the green side and harder than normally ripped bananas.  As soon as I see a few specks of black on the bananas, I would not eat them.  So what can I do with these really ripe bananas?  Bake banana items, of course!

Peanut Butter Banana Muffins with Chocolate Chips
adapted from Joy the Baker

A few variations...
...instead of making an entire loaf of banana bread, I used a 12-cup muffin/cupcake pan instead. 
...baked for 23 minutes at 350 degrees
...added chocolate chips!
...used plain greek yogurt (fage, the best!) instead
...didn't use ground flaxseed meal or dry roasted peanuts because didn't have any
...had left over batter after filling the muffin pan, so I took out my mini-muffin pan and made 8 more mini muffins (not pictured)

Kimchi Fried Rice

The last week of December is my favorite time of the year.  Besides Christmas and the New Year, we also have a mandatory shutdown at work, as part of my company's required time-off.  An entire week of no work makes me a happy girl!

I had some smokies left over from our Christmas brunch so I decided to make fried rice.  I also had some kimchi in my fridge (always a good thing to have in one's fridge) so came up with the idea to make kimchi fried rice.  We finished all of the rice by the next day.  Yum!

Kimchi Fried Rice

Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup of cooked rice (preferably Korean, Japanese or jasmine rice), about 1-2 days old
- 3 large eggs
- about 10-15 smokies, roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup frozen peas and carrots
- 1 cup kimchi, thinly sliced
- 1 stalk green onions, chopped
- 2 tsp olive oil + 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 Tbsp light soy sauce
- 1/2 Tbsp butter

Tools
- wok

Steps
1. Heat 2 tsp of olive oil the wok on medium to high heat. In the meantime, beat 3 eggs in a bowl until well mixed.  Once the oil is heated, add beaten eggs and stir until cooked.  Place scrambled eggs in a bowl and set aside.

2. In the same wok (no need to clean it), heat 1 Tbsp olive oil on medium to high heat.  Add in cooked rice and stir until rice is halfway cooked (rice should be softer), for about 5 minutes.  Add in smokies, frozen peas and carrots, and soy sauce.  Stir until well incorporated, for about 8 minutes.

3. Once the smokies, peas, and carrots are cooked, add in sliced kimchi, green onions, and scrambled eggs.  Stir all the ingredients together and cook for another 8 minutes.  Right before the fried rice is done, add in the 1/2 Tbsp of butter and stir until butter is melted.

Serves 4.

Christmas Brunch, A Family Tradition

Ever since I can remember, our family always opened presents on Christmas morning and ate a delicious brunch afterwards.  When I was a kid, I used to look forward to the part when we opened presents, but now as an adult and a foodie, I really look forward to the brunch!  It used to be simple: eggs, toast, and bacon.  There would be freshly squeezed orange juice every now and then.  When I started cooking a few years back, I gradually took over cooking the Christmas brunch.  Each year I try to come up with a different breakfast item, from breakfast burritos to asparagus fritatta, or pancakes and scrambled eggs.  I even attempted to make eggs benedict one year, but failed miserably with the hollandaise sauce.  Let's just say, thank goodness that the toasted English muffin, ham, and poached eggs were delicious without the sauce.

This year's menu was Challah french toast, Belgian waffles (2 kinds, regular and with chocolate chips), bacon, smokies, and a fresh fruit salad with strawberries, raspberries, and grapes.  Both the french toasts and waffles were a hit with the family.  That makes me really happy.  We also opened our presents on full and satisfied bellies.  That makes me extra happy.

Challah French Toast

Ingredients
- 1 loaf of challah bread
- 6 large eggs
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- a few dashes of orange zest (optional)
- butter for griddle
- sifted powdered sugar for garnish
- sliced strawberries for garnish

Tools
- whisk
- griddle
- zester (optional)

Steps
1. Heat griddle on medium to high heat.

2. While the griddle is heating up, whisk eggs, milk, cinnamon, and orange zest (if using) together.  Slice the challah bread, in 1/2 inch increments.

3. Place a small chunk of butter on the griddle and let it melt.  Dip a sliced challah bread in the liquid mixture and place the bread on the griddle.  Repeat until griddle is full.  Cook the bread for about 3-4 minutes on each side.

Serves 4-6, with powdered sugar, warm maple syrup, and butter.

********************

Belgian Waffles (with or without Chocolate Chips)

Ingredients
- 2 cups Bisquick mix
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/3 cup buttermilk
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

Tools
- whisk
- waffle maker

Steps
1. Heat the waffle maker.

2. Whisk the egg, buttermilk, melted butter, and vanilla extract together.  Pour in the Bisquick flour and mix until incorporated (lumps are totally OK!).  Mix in chocolate chips if adding.

3. Pour about 1/2 cup of mixture in the waffle maker.  Cook until ready, according to the waffle maker's cooking instructions.  Here are some tips from a previous waffle post.

Makes 4-5 Belgian waffles.

Annual Holiday Dinner - Main Entree #2

My friends and I share a common passion - we love *LOVE* anything truffled, such as truffle oil, salt, cheese, and the best one of them all, truffle honey!  One of my friends attending the holiday dinner (and actually the non-vegetarian one) requested truffled mac and cheese.  I had originally planned to make a wild mushroom cream pasta dish, but the request for mac and cheese gave me a great idea to combine the two.  I searched long and hard for a great recipe and simply incorporated mushrooms into the entree.  I knew that this entree was a success when, besides me having an orgasmic time as I was eating it, there were barely anything left at the end of the meal!

Truffled Mac and Cheese with Mushrooms
adapted from One Perfect Bite

A few variations...
...added cremini and fresh shiitake mushrooms to the dish.  Saute the mushrooms with 1 Tbsp butter, until cooked down.  Drain liquid.  Add to dish during the part where mixing of pasta, cheese, and cream takes place.
...used panko breadcrumbs
...in the madness of cooking several dishes at the same time, I forgot to toss the pasta with truffle oil.  Instead, we added the oil on top after serving to each individual person.
...used whole milk instead of heavy cream (for a little less fat...)
...I recently purchased black truffle salt from the NYC trip, so I added the salt wherever I can (to the pasta, to the cream sauce, to the mushrooms)

Baked to perfection.

Besides the amazing buttermilk fried chicken and orgasmic truffled mac and cheese with mushrooms, we also feasted on:

• Waffles - regular and bacon
• Green beans with caramelized onions
• Sauteed spinach with toasted sesame
• Holiday spiced yams with almond and hazelnut

It was one incredible meal.  And one great get together.

Table setup, with this year's party favors.

Annual Holiday Dinner - Main Entree #1

For the past 6 years, my husband and I have been holding an annual holiday dinner with our close and dear friends.  Wow, I didn't even realize how long it has been until I had to think about it!  I love hosting this dinner because we get to unite under one roof, especially with friends coming home from New York.  As we go through our daily grind of work and life during the year, the holiday season is a great excuse to spend a little more time together, and not to forget, to stuff our faces to the maximum!

In the past, I have tackled roasted chicken, beef roast, and different types of pasta.  This year, I got the crazy idea (I think it came to me in a dream) to be ambitious and cook something unfamiliar to me: frying.  I figured that if I was to go all out and serve a fried main entree, I might as well make something amazing.  I chose Thomas Keller's famous Buttermilk Friend Chicken from Ad Hoc.  The result?  Oh My Goodness.  I've never tasted the actual fried chicken from the restaurant, but if it's as good as the ones I made, Oh My Goodness!

Thomas Keller's Buttermilk Fried Chicken
from Ad Hoc at Home

I also found this recipe online, at this blog.

Because of my unfamiliarity with frying, I held a kitchen "test run" the weekend before the holiday dinner.  A few lessons learned:

• I messed up on the salt measurement and the chicken turned out to be much saltier than I would have liked.  
• I decided to fry outside (as to spare my house from being filled up in oil fumes), so I used our side burner on the BBQ grill.  Keeping the oil at a constant 320 degrees was challenging.  Although difficult, we watched it carefully and all of the chicken came out cooked and delicious.  
• There are different cooking times for different parts of the chicken.  Drumsticks and thighs are about 12 minutes at 320 degrees, and breasts and wings are about 8 minutes at 340 degrees.  This was explained in the recipe book, but as it was near the end of the page, I stopped reading midway through (bad habit of mine).  I cooked the breasts and wings also at 12 minutes and although not overcooked, the outside was much crispier and darker than the rest.

Lots of chicken drums and thighs, laying out to dry after 12 hours of brining.  As Thomas Keller stated in the book, the chicken brine is KEY!  Chicken pieces dredged in the spiced flour mixture.

I used peanut oil to fry.  Look at it go!  And they all came out golden and crisp!  Another important tool to have is a deep fry thermometer.

Yum yum yum.

I have a vegetarian friend so I typically serve 2 main entrees at the holiday dinner. Main entree #2, a vegetarian item, will be featured in the next post!  Stay tuned!

Sweet Potato Chips

Per my last post, I received 2 super-duper large sweet potatoes.  So what ever happened to the other potato?  Well, they ended up being sweet potato chips.  I just couldn't resist! 

A delicious sweet and salty snack to munch on any day of the week!

Sweet Potato Chips

Ingredients
- ~650 g sweet potatoes (1 really really large or 2 large sweet potatoes)
- 2 Tbsp light brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp salt
- vegetable oil

Tools
-deep fryer (optional)
-mandoline (optional, but makes this process so much easier if you have one)

Steps
1. Wipe the sweet potato clean with a paper towel (do not wash!  This will allow more moisture to enter the sweet potatoes and result in a longer time to fry the chips).  Peel and thinly slice the potatoes.

2. Heat a pot (or use the deep fryer if you have one) with vegetable oil, enough to cover the sweet potato chips while frying.  Place in a bunch of chips in at one, making sure all of the chips are covered in oil.  Do not overcrowd your pot - it will take longer to fry the chips.  After a few minutes or once the chips are golden-brown, remove from pot and lay on paper towels to soak in excess oil. 

Enjoy once the chips have cooled down!

I really need to buy a good mandoline.  Without one, I had to do it the old-fashioned way... by knife.

Sweet and Spicy...

My mother-in-law handed me two ginormous sweet potatoes the other day.  Think football-sized potatoes. Think brick-sized spuds.  I'm not sure where she found these abnormally large potatoes but now they're mine, and I have to think of ways to use them.

Between me and the hubby, I am the only one that likes sweet potatoes.  I get excited over sweet potato fries, the sweet potato tortilla chips from Food Should Taste Good (they really do!), good 'ol fashioned baked sweet potatoes (with the skin), and anything sweet potato-related.  It's just that good.  But the problem is the hubby.  I know I needed his help with eating these huge sweet potatoes, but how would I "trick" him into eating something he doesn't like?  I set out to find a recipe that would pair sweet potatoes with other items that may overpower the potatoes, a flavorful dish, and something healthy so that he doesn't have eaters remorse afterwards.  Luckily, I found it.

Sweet and Spicy Turkey, Beef, and Sweet Potato Stew with Coconut Milk
from Kalyn's Kitchen

Tools
- crock pot

A few variations...
...I didn't have enough ground turkey so I grounded up a slab of sirloin beef in order to yield 1 pound of meat.
...I didn't have any green onions so I added green peas instead.  I know, not really a substitute but I thought the peas would be a great touch and color!

All the cooked and uncooked ingredients go into my favorite appliance in the kitchen - the crock pot.

Truly a sweet and spicy dish... first you are hit with a sweet yet salty taste, then the spiciness lingers in your mouth for a few minutes... until you take the next bite.

I Heart Panna Cotta

Someone should make a T-shirt that says that.  I love... adore... heart... panna cotta!  Needless to say, I am really excited to share this recipe.  I had some doubts before making this dessert because panna cotta tastes quite delicate, and so I thought the techniques to make this dessert were also delicate and complicated.  Boy, was I glad I was wrong!  It's so easy, so fast, and you just mostly let the refrigerator do the work for you!  I made this dessert yesterday for a "Pizza and Movies" night at our house, where we gorged on 3 different types of homemade pizza and watched Kung Fu Panda 2 and Crazy, Stupid, Love.  This dessert hit the ultimate happy spot my lucky belly!

Chocolate Hazelnut Panna Cotta
from Pinch My Salt

What I did...
...I found the hazelnut milk at Whole Foods (not too expensive, just $2.57!).
...added chopped hazelnut, lightly toasted on the stove.
...strawberries worked great with this dessert!   

Large raw hazelnuts from Trader Joe's.  I orginally bought these nuts to make hazelnut milk, but it came very handy for this dessert.

Nom Nomm

One for me, and one for... me again.