My Boyfriend Dated A Chef

“I, MAKE EGG ROLLS.” There is  some deep satisfaction about making your own Chinese food. For me, it has to be, that when I order take out, I really have no idea what I’m eating especially when it comes to egg rolls. They could put anything in there, fry it up and call it food. Now, I’m not saying that I won’t gladly eat and enjoy, I just wonder sometimes…is that chicken, vege, beef, all of the above or none of the above? If it’s none of the above, please don’t tell me.

Makes 20 egg rolls. Recipe adapted from Steamy Kitchen. I really don’t need to make 50 egg rolls for dinner, ever.

INGREDIENTS:
Filling
3/4 pound ground pork
1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 head of small cabbage (about 10 ounces)
2 carrots
4-6 fresh mushrooms (shitake, portobello or even plain and simple mushrooms will do)

1/2 tablespoon high-heat cooking oil
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
1/2 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper

20 egg roll wrappers, at room temperature, covered with a damp towel (egg roll wrappers can be found in most grocery stores in the fresh vege section and surprisingly Walmart has them too)

Cornstarch Slurry
1 tablespoon cornstarch (or flour) mixed
1/4 cup of cool water

Oil, for frying

DIRECTIONS:
Marinate the ground pork with the soy sauce, cornstarch, sugar and sesame oil for at least 10 minutes at room temperature.

In the meantime, shred the cabbage and carrots with a cheese grater and slice the mushrooms into thin strips.

Heat cooking oil in a large frying pan over high heat. When hot, add the garlic and ginger and fry until fragrant, 15-30 seconds. Add the pork and stir fry until no longer pink. Add the cabbage, carrots and the mushrooms and stir fry for 1 minute, until the vegetables are softened. Add the rice wine, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, salt and black pepper. Continue to stir fry for another minute.

Remove the filling to a baking sheet and spread out to cool. Prop up one end of the baking sheet so that it tilts and will allow all the moisture to drain to one end. Let cool for 15 minutes.

Discard all of the accumulated juices. Use paper towels to blot the filling to get rid of the extra oil or juice.

Make the cornstarch slurry by mixing together corn starch and water in a small bowl. Keep close, we are ready to wrap the egg rolls.

Apologies for the pictures in the wrapping process, hands covered in egg roll + trying not to get camera too dirty = blurry crappy pictures but, I think you get the idea.

Place only 1 tablespoon of filling on the corner of your egg roll wrapper.

Roll up the corner until you reach the middle of the wrapper.

Tightly fold the sides towards the middle. Brush a little of the cornstarch slurry on the flap a the end and continue to roll.  Press to make sure that cornstarch slurry holds.

Keep the rolled egg rolls in neat, single layer and covered with plastic wrap to prevent drying.

Refrigerate up to 4 hours until ready to fry or freeze.

To fry the egg rolls, fill a pot with 2 inches of cooking oil. Heat the oil to 350°F. I just set it to medium-high heat level and watched it. Once it started to “spit”, I turned it down a bit so it wouldn’t make a mess. Probably not the best way but it gets the job done. Gently slide in or lower the egg rolls, frying 4-6 at a time, turning occassionaly until golden brown about 1 1/2 minutes. Place on wire rack to drain and cool.

If you freeze your egg rolls,  do not defrost them before you cook them – just add them to the oil frozen. Tack on an additional 1 1/2 minutes to the frying time.

Serve with soy sauce or my favorite, Trader Joe’s Sweet Chili Sauce. Yum.

Tonight’s dinner was nothing short of fantastic. This was one of those recipes that I was sure to be a bust as I was preparing it and I am so pleased to be wrong. The combination of chili powder, avocado, shrimp and cilantro was so yummy. Surprisingly enough, it wasn’t too spicy. I measure spice levels by what I would serve my mom. Her palette is what I would call weak and I would definitely make mom this dish.

Serves 4. Recipe adapted from Fine Cooking.

INGREDIENTS:
1 lb. shrimp (26 to 30 per lb.), peeled and deveined
4 tbs. olive oil
1 tbs. chili powder
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large avocado
1 tsp. adobe powder
1 lime, half, juiced (about 1 tbs.) and half, cut in wedges
1 large Spanish onion, thinly sliced (about 3 cups)
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 cup frozen corn, thawed or the kernels from 2 ears corn
4-6 corn tortillas, warmed
¼ cup fresh cilantro

DIRECTIONS:
Toss the shrimp with 1 tbs. of the oil, the chili powder, ¼ tsp. salt, and ½ tsp. black pepper. In a medium bowl, mash the avocado with the adobe powder, lime juice, and ¼ tsp. salt.

Heat 1 ½ tbs. of the oil in a large 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until simmering hot. Add the shrimp and cook, stirring, until they turn pink and become just firm to the touch, about 3-4 minutes. Transfer to a large plate.

Reduce the heat to medium, pour the remaining 1 ½ tbs. oil into the pan, add the onion, sprinkle with ½ tsp. salt, and cook, stirring, until it softens and starts to brown, about 6 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the corn, shrimp and minced chipotle, and cook, stirring, until they heat through, about 2 minutes.

Let your guests help themselves with the shrimp-onion mix, avacodo, and a sprinkling of the cilantro on top of a warm fajita shell.

I am completely addicted to the creamy goodness that lives in the freezer and screams my name morning, noon and night . Yes, I love ice cream for breakfast. I have a problem. Anyway,  dealing with this addiction,  I finally purchased an ice cream maker to control the ingredients. As far as recipes, I wanted to start with something easy, refreshing and lowfat so, mango sorbet seemed the right choice. Initially, I decided to halve the recipe so I wouldn’t eat the whole batch in one sitting. The plan didn’t so much work and I had to make batch #2 shortly after since I didn’t share.

Makes about 10 - 1/2 cup servings.

INGREDIENTS:
4 ripe but firm mangoes, peeled, pitted and cubed
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
6 tablespoons fresh lemon or lime juice

DIRECTIONS:
Combine the mango cubes, sugar, corn syrup and lemon juice in a blender or food processor. Pulse to chop, then process until thick and smooth, scraping jar or work bowl as necessary with a spatula. The mango puree may be made up to one day ahead; cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Follow your ice cream machine directions.