Last week I discovered this magazine Edible Queens on the counter in the visitor center in the Queens Botannical Garden. And lo and behold I see two of my favorite chefs on the cover,Eric Ripert and Anthony Bourdain! Rob and I are big fans of Bourdain’s “No Reservations”on television and Eric Ripert is,well,god of all things Seafood in Manhattan. Flushing is still a very daunting place to me (especially since I can’t speak Mandarin to save my life) but this article Feasting on Flushing was just the ticket. Walking down the stairs into the “shopping mall”was like entering a new world,full of little Asian-family kitchens. It was hot and steamy but the smells were unbelievable. Even the sounds of meat being cleaved,vegetables sizzling,fresh noodles being smacked and formed could bring tears to many an Asian’s eyes. We ordered as much as we could carry,which included the jia cai he zi (chive pies),chu jiao (pig’s feet),zi ran chao yang (lamb burger),and liang pi (cold skin noodles). The chive pies ($1.50) were exactly how Rob’s mother makes them –huge,bursting with chives,studded with dried shrimp and scrambled egg. The pig’s feet were delicious and a great deal ($5 for 2 orders). The lamb burger ($2.50) was a tasty surprise,as it tasted of mexican chili spices. The liang pi ($3.75) won this round:the sauce was fantastic and had a nice little kick to it. And even still,there are easily a hundred more dishes available in this place! So many dishes to try…so little time. But we will be back hungry for more =)
jQuery(“document”).ready(function(){jQuery(‘#ngg-gallery-40-290′).galleryView({panel_width:600,panel_height:400,frame_width:40,frame_height:40,transition_interval:0,overlay_color:‘#222′,overlay_text_color:‘white’,caption_text_color:‘#222′,background_color:‘transparent’,border:‘none’,nav_theme:‘dark’,easing:‘easeInOutQuad’});});I finally got to make this one! Ever since I saw this Shrimp and Green Onion Pancake it in the Bon Appetit,I’ve been dying to make it (along with the korean bulgogi recipe). Our first two pancakes were a bit chunky but our final pancake (third time’s the charm) was pretty enough to snap =) The recipe calls for a whole lot of veggies,which is fantastic,but make sure when you ladle it out onto your skillet that there is enough batter to contain your veggies. Also! the dipping sauce was WAY too oily for our taste –just omit those last 4 tblsp of veggie oil. Other than that,enjoy! jQuery(“document”).ready(function(){jQuery(‘#ngg-gallery-39-283′).galleryView({panel_width:600,panel_height:400,frame_width:40,frame_height:40,transition_interval:0,overlay_color:‘#222′,overlay_text_color:‘white’,caption_text_color:‘#222′,background_color:‘transparent’,border:‘none’,nav_theme:‘dark’,easing:‘easeInOutQuad’});});Or Tang Cu Pai Gu as I call them. Everything up until now has been relatively simple or straight forward so I was particularly happy with the way this turned out. It’s slightly more complicated so I’ll break it down into different parts. Spare Ribs Ingredients:2 lbs spare ribs 5 tbsp starch 1 tbsp flour Directions:Place the spare ribs in a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Strain the spare ribs and dump the water. This is mainly to get rid of all the blood. Put the spare ribs back into the pot and add enough water to cover the spare ribs. Add 1.5 tbsp salt. Cook for 30 minutes. While that’s cooking,prepare a mixture of the starch,the flour,and about 1/3 cup of water. When the spare ribs have finished cooking,strain them and set them aside. You can keep the stock left over from this. My mom usually stores it and uses it for a light soup. In a wok (or a frying pan works),heat some oil. If you’re using a wok,put in enough oil so that the spare ribs can be completely submerged. Dredge the spare ribs and quickly fry them for 3-4 minutes. If you’re using a frying pan or do not have enough oil to completely submerge,fry for two minutes on each side. Sweet and Sour sauce:Ingredients:4 tbsp sugar 4 tbsp vinegar 2 tbsp soy sauce 2 heaping tbsps of corn starch 6 tbsp of water No real directions,just mix it all up. Make sure there are no clumps of corn starch in the mixture. Putting it all together What’s nice about this recipe is that you can make the spare ribs in advance but wait until later to do this final step. Ingredients:0.5 tbsp minced ginger 1 clove minced garlic 2 chopped scallion stalks (diagonal cut) spare ribs sweet and sour sauce Directions:Heat up 2 tbsp of oil in a pan or wok. The leftover oil from before works fine,just pour out the excess oil. I usually put it in a small container and save it for later. When the oil is hot,add the ginger and the garlic. As soon as they get fragrant,add the spare ribs and cook for 1-2 minutes. This is just to warm up the spare ribs if they have been sitting for a while. Add the sweet and sour sauce. Add a little more water if the sauce starts to congeal too much. Add the scallion stalks when the spareribs are evenly coated. Cook for another 1-2 minutes. That’s “it”! This is easily my favorite dish. You can adjust the proportions of the sauce to fit your tastes. More sugar if you like things sweeter,more vinegar if you like things more sour. You can also add more starch if you’d like a more sticker sauce in the final dish. Enjoy! jQuery(“document”).ready(function(){jQuery(‘#ngg-gallery-38-261′).galleryView({panel_width:600,panel_height:400,frame_width:40,frame_height:40,transition_interval:0,overlay_color:‘#222′,overlay_text_color:‘white’,caption_text_color:‘#222′,background_color:‘transparent’,border:‘none’,nav_theme:‘dark’,easing:‘easeInOutQuad’});});We went on vacation to Hilton Head Beach in South Carolina and we found some really great food establishments there and along the way. Here’s just a few of them,enjoy! Alligator Grille This place bills itself as a seafood and sushi restaurant. We were skeptical of the sushi at first,but we went ahead and ordered the Alligator roll and the Lobster roll:the Alligator meat was a bit chewy,but we really enjoyed the Lobster which tasted very fresh. Good,but we’ve had better sushi. The entrees won us over! The Swordfish special of the day was pretty good,great presentation. We would’ve taken pictures but we forgot our camera =( But believe it or not,the best dish we had was a non-seafood one –Braised Pork Osso Buco. Enormous,tender fall-off-the-bone meat which was absolutely delicious (meat-lovers ftw!),and also comes with a hearty side of eggplant parmesan and garlic potatoes. I was secretly thrilled that there was some (decent) italian food served in said asian-fusion atmosphere =) Sea Shack (pics above) A true dive place,if it weren’t for all the buzz about it being featured on Rachel Ray’s “$40 a Day.”The line for this was looong but it’s got some of the best seafood around,for a great price! If you like spicy,they’ve got some great cajun-style blackened seafood. You can get just about anything blackened,fried or grilled here:scallops,tilapia,grouper,oysters,etc. Their sides are pretty varied:mac n’cheese (gooey,cheesy,had 3+ types of cheeses),okra and sundried tomato (yummy!), coleslaw (eh,it was o.k.),hushpuppies (small fried balls of goodness),and more (which weren’t worth remembering). Black Marlin Grill This was our last and best restaurant we went to on our vacation! We had a gift certificate to this place and decided hit up their happy hour for their specials. The bartender Diego concocted some of the best hurricanes I’ve had – Bacardi 151,Malibu passionfruit rum,pineapple juice,orange juice…what could be better? Crab legs were big,juicy,and freshfreshfresh. The sushi nachos,crispy pita bread with slices of raw tuna,were recommended on Yelp but were heavy on the teriyaki sauce. Entrees were ginourmous! The Broiled Seafood Medley was pretty good,had a ton of lima beans in their rice side. The Lobster bake special was great:clams and mussels were so-so but the Lobster was delicious. Drink count for our party:4 Hurricanes,2 Mojitos,1 Margarita,and 2 Cherry Cokes  |  | |
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