Brussels Confidential

Already Bean Thread

Joy of joys, there's a new Asian market around the corner from my house. It's just been open a few days so they still have a lot of stock to get. But I know it will be a regular haunt.

I always get overexcited in specialty markets and end up buying some weird food that I can never figure out how to make - Usually, I can't even figure out how to make them taste good. Once I purchased rice cake from the super Chinese grocery on Chinastreet in the city centre. I sort of boiled it and tossed it in with a regular stir-fry of chicken and veg. Needless to say, it looked like I had dumped a bunch of rubber erasers in the stir-fry and they were like sticky lumps of congealed fat.

There are not many good Chinese restos in Belgium. Chinese food is still in the egg foo yung stages here. Belgians think real Chinese food is stir-fried rice and lo mein. Luckily, due to the French influence in the region - southeast Asian restos like Vietnamese, and Laotian are pretty good. Thai and Malaysian restaurants are excellent. And due to the Dutch colonisation of Indonesia - there are plenty of Indonesian restos with rice tables or rijsttafels as the traditional meals are called.

I don't want orange-coloured sweet-and-sour glop suffocating pieces of dried-up fried meat. I don't want bone dry (really spare) ribs and I don't want huge chucks of onion and cabbage thrown in to every dish. I don't want slimy mushrooms from a can. I don't want leftovers re-fashioned in to a special lunch buffet.

I want whole steamed fish with ginger and lemon, crabs in their shells sauteed with black beans and garlic, fresh bok choi stir-fried with garlic and hot peppers, turnip cake, razor clams with oyster sauce, I want what the Chinese are eating!

By the way - I am always on the look out for rice crepe - so if any of you see them. Grab them. Rice crepes are my very favourite dim sum and I cannot find them over here.

So, at my new store, I grabbed a few items on the cheap. They haven't figured out how much to charge people yet. They are the only Asian supermarket for many blocks and they could charge a bit more. A ketchup-sized bottle of black rice vinegar for 90 cents. Have I stepped back to the 70's?? A standard package of rice vermicelli (Usually called rice noodle or rice stick) for 85 cents...really.

I also grabbed a packet of rice paper wrappers thinking 'Hallelujah! I have found rice crepes!'. But no. They are those things you use for wrapping spring rolls - the cold ones that are translucent and usually have cold cooked shrimp, coriander and rice vermicelli inside - usually served with a hoisin dipping sauce.




Bean thread is so fun and for me represents the whole point of Chinese food. The textures. Rice cake aside, food has to have character and taste. Textures are celebrated as importantly as flavour. The crunch of just stir-fried Chinese broccoli, the wobble of rice crepes as they slither into your mouth, the way black beans make you pucker and swirl your tongue around the salty grainy bits stuck in your teeth, the feel of steamed rice and a solid piece of meat in the same bite.

Transparent bean thread has all that fun and takes on any flavour because it has none of it's own. It's satisfying to slither up the light thin strands coated in soy and sesame and ginger and because the mung beans they are made from make for a slightly gelatinous texture. Biting into bean thread is like the perfect al dente pasta. So pleasing to the tooth. Soften in water and throw in to stir-fry dishes, soups, spring rolls. Have in cold salads.

So. Here's my one tip for bean thread, cellophane noodle, glass noodles - whatever noodle. If the noodles are not in sticks - You need to cook the whole package. Trust me on this. There is no way to cook only part of the noodles. They come from very long strands that are twined around and twisted in to the packet. There's no beginning and end and you will have to cut them somehow if you want to use only part. My suggestion is that this should not be attempted. The noodles prior to being softened in hot water are like plastic twigs that are strong enough to keep Superman tied down.

Bunny Dog rarely shies away from me. Last night he was watching me through the sides of his eyes from halfway up the stairs so he could be a safe distance away. I attempted to separate some of the dried noodles and make only a portion. Within seconds thousands of dried noodle bits where snapping off and projecting in all directions of my kitchen. The noodles turned in to a mass of insane knots. It was so frustrating - how could all these little hard, sharp bits be flying all over the place, when I couldn't break, twist, cut or sever the tangled mess to get one portion off. I got a knife and a pair of scissors stuck in the nest of noodles and finally gave up. It was like trying to cut up a coil of steel enforced copper twine. Whew.

Just do all of the damned noodles and save what you don't eat for the next day. Never was a bowl of noodles so deserved and so delicious.....

:-))

posted by Brussels Confidential @ 11:11 AM

Foodie Heaven Again

There's so much to be thankful for in food television these days! BBC comes through for me with the daily dose of scrumptious recipes presented by interesting people.

The Great British menu showcases the UKs best talent region by region. Relatively un-star-struck chefs are challenging the previous winners of the Great British menu for the Queens' Birthday event last year. This year's event is to put together the most British menu to be served at the British Embassy in Paris - a banquet where top Michelin starred chefs and super French foodies will be included on the guest list. The challenge is to show the new talent for excellent cooking techniques using very British ingredients and traditional British style.

It's been great because the chefs who make hearty earthy food using simple ingredients, plainly and well cooked - have generally won out over the French-Styled, over-worked, over complicated chefs who fancy themselves Michelin star babies. Fancy cooking doesn't get you all the accolades. The judges are looking for innovation and clean, clear ingredients and distinctly British fare. It's a good competition.

My other favourite treat was on Wednesday nights the last 5 weeks - Starting with Neneh Cherry and Andi Oliver. I loved this show. They cooked like I do with my friends from home.

Laughing and tasting and experimenting. Always cooking for people they love and it shows. Both Andi and Neneh bring their mixed cultural experiences and musical flair to the food and you just wish you were a guest when they serve huge platters of curry or jerk chicken, sumptuous salads of herbs and my favourite - crisp duck salad.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/tv_and_radio/dishingitup_biographies.shtml


Alas, it's over now and hopefully there will be another series.

For the second half of a yummy double bill on Wednesday evenings - the ever-handsome and cheeky James Martin. I can't get enough of this guy. Apparently I am not the only one. Though I don't go in for his over the top sicky sweet traditional English puds, I could lick him with a spoon. Really. The only thing that's ever disappointed me about James Martin is that he allowed his show on Desserts to be called Sweet Baby James....rip off.

So, have I been inspired at all? Well, yes a bit. I made a wonderful rai (or skate) a la Normande. Poached the rai in the oven - covered with foil - in fish stock with peppercorns, bay leaves and a splash of wine until the flesh was tender - just before sliding off the cartilage. Then I removed it form the oven an kept it covered, while I made the sauce. Saute 2 small (or one large) finely diced white shallot in a sauce pan until translucent, I use olive oil and a tiny bit of butter. Add a glass of white wine and reduce for a minute or two, add a half cup to 3/4 cup light pouring creme, and a cup and half of small crevettes - those yummy baby shrimp from the North Sea. NOT OUT OF A CAN PLEASE! Get them from a reputable fish monger. (For substitutions, small regular prawns will do, and also fresh steamed mussels out of the shell, cockles, clams or anything like that). Add a squeeze of lemon, salt and pepper to taste, and heat through . Add chopped parsley at the very end saving some for the plate. Remove your rai and drain a bit, place in a shallow plate and spoon over the cream sauce and sprinkle with extra parsley. Yum.

The other night I was inspired by some extra-ripe, juicy tomatoes I had. I also had some nice butter lettuce and lardons - those are chopped bacon bits that you fry up. I thought why not make a BLT salad? It was a perfect springy meal. Cooked up the lardons and drained them and immediately added them to the lettuce and chopped tomatoes. Then I added a couple tablespoons of light vinaigrette thickened with a teaspoon of mayo and tossed. The heat from the lardons wilted the lettuce a bit and heated the tomatoes and it was like biting in to a hot toasty BLT at a good diner.

I have lots of basil this year and have made batches of Pesto - which I have made without garlic - I know, seems odd. However, my basil is very strong this year - verging on astringent - and I don't feel it needs the garlic. My latest trick is to heat up a log of regular Goat's cheese - found in every grocery store wrapped in white waxy paper. I heat the cheese up and smear it warm on to crispy baguette slices and then a dollop of the pesto on top. It's nice - extra nice if you have some of those baby, yellow teardrop tomatoes, just slice them in half and put one half on top.

My tarragon is growing a pace too. I like tarragon leaves in my hollandaise sauce. It's asparagus time and nothing's better for brunch than grilled asparagus with a poached egg on top and tarragon hollandaise.

My mother comes over from the states this Thursday. She's flying over with my cousins and we will all go to Normandy for the week. Can't wait. The food is amazing there, the markets a symphony for the senses. I get to cook for those I really love several times a day!
I am in foodie heaven.

posted by Brussels Confidential @ 11:05 AM