Chinese 5 - Spice Powder

Ingredients

clove (dingxiang)
fennel (xiaohuixiang)
sichuan pepper (huajiao)
star ainse (dahuixiang)
cassia bark (rougui)




5 Spice powder is made from cassia bark (a variation of cinnamon), fennel, clove, Sichuan pepper, and star anise. Each of these spices are pictured above. Different books have different recipes, but from what I can tell you basically take equal amounts of each spice, grind them up, and mix them together. If you are using a mortar and pestle, as I do, sometimes it's useful to dry fry the spices until they become fragrant before grinding. This process removes any water from the spice and makes them easier to grind. This is especially relevant for the cassia, clove, and star anise.

Sichuan pepper (which is easily found in Chinatown markets, but not sure about where else), usually contains a seed which is very bitter and may effect your spice mix in an unpleasant way. My books recommend removing any seeds before grinding, which I can offer, is an annoying and slow process.

One thing I kind of messed up is that you're supposed to grind the whole star anise, not just the seed. I only ground the seed and then actually read my book where they say to grind the whole thing and that the pod is actually more aromatic. Interesting, huh?

Bechamel and some variations

Ah...Bechamel. I love this stuff. It can either take no time at all and just be creamy and buttery or you can spend a bit more time and turn it into creamy, buttery, savory deliciousness. It is a pretty standard roux based sauce and can be taken in many different directions.

A roux is flour cooked in fat until it is a certain color (from "blonde" to dark) and is used to thicken hot liquids. What makes this sauce a bechamel (as opposed to an Espagnole or Veloute sauce, which are also thickened with roux) is the addition of milk (instead of some kind of meat stock).

Herb infused Bechamel:

1 Cup Milk (non fat is fine)
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
sprig of rosemary, thyme, sage, etc...
1 bay leaf
Roux: (More roux will make a thicker sauce, less roux will make a thinner sauce)
1 Tbs. butter
1 Tbs. flour
Salt and Pepper to taste

First warm the milk in a medium saucepan until almost boiling. Toss in the onion, garlic, herbs, and the bay leaf and let all this steep in the hot milk for about 10 minutes.


In the mean time melt the butter in a separate pan until bubbly. Toss in the flour and whisk in to form a batter. This is your roux and forms the thickening agent for the sauce. Cook this however long you like while whisking nearly continuously. However, keep in mind that the darker the roux gets, the toastier your sauce will taste and the less efficient it will be at thickening your liquid. So, if you want a really dark roux, make a little bit more than you would otherwise so it thickens your sauce how you expect it to.

Pour in about half of the hot liquid while whisking (making sure to get into the corners of the pan). This will thicken very quickly; as it does add about another fourth of the milk. Do this one more time as the sauce thickens.

You're aiming for something like this. Season with salt and pepper and you're good to go.

Something I threw together:
This is a variation that I threw together for a crepe dinner I made Sarah for her birthday. Instead of using 100% milk as the liquid I combined 50% milk and 50% veggie stock. Before adding the flour to the butter I sauteed an extra clove of garlic and about 1 tsp. of red pepper flake. After the sauce had thickened I added an extra 2 Tbs. butter, about 2 Tbs. brandy, and 1/4 grated Romano cheese to finish it off. This went over a caramelized red onion, mushroom, and chard filled crepe. mmm.

Something Sarah threw together:
To go over some quick mushroom ravioli on one of our busier nights Sarah combined the leftover bechamel-y sauce from the crepe dinner with a few spoon fulls of our pizza sauce that we keep in the freezer. This was so much better than any marinara sauce we could have come up with.

Cream of Broccoli Sauce (soup?) over Homemade Pasta

Ah...homemade pasta. Pasta generally is a fantastic vehicle for all the weird stuff we end up getting in our CSA box and you get to create all sorts of fun sauces and flavors. Lately I've taken up making fresh pasta on the spot and I have to say that I don't know why I didn't start sooner. Pasta is one of the easiest and least fussy doughs you could make and if you have a pasta roller on hand the whole process is a snap.

Every Day Pasta:


1 cup all purpose flour
generous pinch of salt
2 eggs
1 Tbs tasty olive oil


Start with the whole "sift the flour with the salt and make a well in the center" thing. Crack the eggs into that well and pour the olive oil in with the eggs. Using a fork (or your fingers if you feel like being dirty) whisk up JUST the eggs and the oil and then slowly (ever so slowly) start to incorporate flour into the mix from the bottom and sides of the well. Do not rush. If you rush then you'll end up with a big sticky mess, which is fine, you can work through it, but you shouldn't have to.


Eventually everything should come together and you should have (probably) a slightly sticky dough. You'll be needing to knead the dough at this point so if you need more flour now is the time to add a bit (I'm sorry, lots of homonyms there). It's about 5-10 minutes of working the dough to get it to the right point.


And then roll away. I like to start it out with a rolling pin so it kinda fits into the largest setting at the start. Then I work my way down through the settings until I hit the smallest on the machine. I hear tell that if you were lazy at the kneading stage, rolling the dough finishes the process for you.

Now do whatever the hell you want with the dough. Make big noodles, small noodles, square noodles, round noodles. Panda shaped noodles. It's up to you.

And the sauce (Cream of Broccoli): For 1 Cup Liquid


1 head of Broccoli

1 Tbs Butter, Olive Oil, or a mix of the two
1/2 large Onion
1 Garlic clove
1/2 tsp. Red Pepper Flake (or more, who am I to say)
1 tsp. Salt
1 Tbs. Flour
1 Cup Milk or Stock or a mix (near boiling)
Parmesan and Black Pepper for finishing

Start the onion in the butter and let saute on low for a little bit. In the mean time blanch the broccoli in boiling water for just about 5 minutes or until slightly tender (I used the pasta water in this case).

Add the garlic, salt, and red pepper flake to the onion and saute for a minute more before adding the flour to this mix. Just let it cook for a minute or two to let the raw flour taste work itself out. This isn't a standard roux as there are vegetables in the way so cooking it too long will burn the flour.

Add about 1/3 cup of the heated liquid to the onion/flour mix while whisking vigorously. Make sure you work the liquid into the corners of the pan and get all the flour up off the bottom. As it thickens add more liquid, then whisk, thicken, and add more liquid until you've got it all in. Toss in the broccoli and blender everything smooth. Stick blenders work wonders in situations like this. Taste for salt and pepper and you're off to the races.

The sauce can wait as you cook the pasta in a lot of boiling water (more than you think would be necessary) for a few minutes.

Mushroom Pie!

My roommate and I love mushrooms! Over a year ago I had the pleasure of eating a mushroom pot pie at Kalapawai restaurant in Kailua and was totally smitten. Unfortunately for me, the last time I was there the pie was no longer on the menu. Tonight, we've gone and attempted our own. This recipe is not for those who are afraid of butter!


Ingredients:

Mushrooms! - I used Oyster, Shimeji, Ali'i, and Pioppini - total 12 oz.
butter - about 6 T. total
1 onion
white wine - I used sauvignon blanc
heavy cream
1 T. thyme
pinch of sage
potato - I used 1 red skin and 1 russet
2-3 leaves swiss chard
salt and pepper to taste
2 pie crusts - I cheated and bought it

Directions:

I started by chopping the onion and sauteing it in the butter (about 2T.) at medium heat until the bottom of the pan was coated in brown deliciousness (which I just looked up - it's called "fond" according to reluctantgourmet.com) and the onion was caramelized. While this was cooking, the mushrooms were washed and chopped or separated depending on how big they were. Once the onions were finished, I added 2 T or so of butter to the pan and the mushrooms. I turned the heat down a little and stirred them up so the muchrooms all got a little coated in the butter, then I added maybe 1T. of thyme and a pinch and a half of sage.



I let that cook for about 5 minutes or so, then I added enough white wine to scrape the fond off of the bottom of the pan. I let that cook a little bit (maybe another 5 minutes), then I added the salt and pepper, heavy cream, and more wine - I wanted enough liquid to make sauce that would coat the mushrooms and the potatoes inside the pie crust.



At this point I also had chopped up the potato and had that boiling. Once they were soft (but not too soft) they were strained and set aside in the pot with 2 T. of butter and salt and pepper and partially mashed.





Once the sauce in the mushroom pot had thickened and settled sufficiently, we mixed 2 big spoonfuls of potato into the mushroom mixture. This was mixed until smooth then 2-3 leaves of chard were chopped and mixed in. This was poured into the pie crust and covered with a second pie crust and then put in the oven at 375 deg for 25 minutes.






It was more delicious than I can really describe!

Greens and Red Onion Pizza

So this year the thing that I can't figure out to do with in my CSA box is greens. Greens like chard, beet greens, spigariello, mustard greens, kale, etc. So in the last few weeks Sarah and I have been scouring our cook books to find something - anything - to get us through this. By the way, I have a cook book problem: I like them too much and am running out of space in my kitchen to hold them all...damn.

Anyway, here is one variation on "Bread with Greens". Jesse smelled me eating something like this at lunch and had to have the recipe. No pictures this time, sorry.

Greens and Red Onion Pizza

1 Batch Pizza dough (see earlier post)
Olive oil
1 small yellow onion
3 cloves garlic
bunch of fresh herbs (I like oregano, basil, and thyme, but it's up to you)
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
Juice of 1 lemon
5 cups cooking greens (chard, kale, spinach, beet greens, etc.)
Olive oil
2 very small red onions or 2 large shallots, thinnly sliced into rings
A good handfull of mozzarella
1/4 cup kalamata olives, diced
Extra cheese (romano, feta, brie, anything you like really)
Fresh oregano
Fresh basil

Make dough about 1 1/2 hours before hand. Pre-heat the oven to 500F about an hour before you're ready to bake the pizza. Rinse and chop the greens, do not dry.

Saute the onion in olive oil for about 10 to 15 minutes with some salt to draw out the juices. Once these have carmelized add the garlic, herbs, and pepper flakes; saute for another minute or two without browning the garlic. Add the greens all at once, cover, and steam them in their own water until slightly wilted then remove the lid and saute the greens over low heat with some lemon juice until all the liquid has evaporated. Set aside.

Roll out the dough onto a peel or pizza pan and cover libearally with olive oil. Sprinkle half of the red onion rings onto the dough then cover with the wilted greens. Cover this with mozzarella, then diced olives, a little extra cheese, and fresh oregano. Slide the whole mess into the hot oven and bake for about 7 minutes, or until the cheese just starts to bubble. Pull it out and top with strips of fresh basil. Voila!

Another variation would be to use butter in the pizza dough instead of olive oil and add an egg to enrich the dough. Then make a filling with the same wilted green saute by adding an egg and a hand full of cheese with about a tablespoon of paprika. Roll out little rounds of dough, about 6 inches across, and plop some of the filling in the middle. Fold the dough over the filling to make a turnover and pinch the edges with the tines of a fork. Brush with egg wash, poke holes in the top, and bake in a 400F over for about 15-20 minutes. This is adapted from Deborah Madison's
Vegitarian Cooking for Everyone.