Vietnamese Steamed Meatloaf

My mom used to cook a lot for us when were growing up.  One of the things she made was this Vietnamese pork dish that resembled a meatloaf but even better.  I always looked forward to eating this with pan fried pork chops served over broken rice.  I never realized how simple it was to make this until I started making it myself.

Vietnamese Steamed Meatloaf (Cha Trung Hap)
Adapted from Wandering Chopsticks

Ingredients:

1 lb. lean ground pork
1 bundle bean thread vermicelli noodles
1/3 cup dried wood ear fungus
1 carrot, grated
3 large eggs (reserve 2 egg yolks and beat the remaining eggs and egg whites)
1 T fish sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
sugar
cilantro for garnishing

Directions:

Soak vermicelli noodles and wood ear fungus together or in separate bowls for 15 minutes in hot water until softened. Drain and roughly chop them up on cutting board.  Set aside.

In a medium bowl, add ground pork, vermicelli noodles, wood ear fungus, grated carrots, 1 egg and 2 egg whites, fish sauce, salt, pepper and a dash of sugar.  Mix until ingredients are evenly distributed.

Put the pork mixture into a loaf pan or heatproof bowl.  Beat the reserved egg yolks and pour it evenly over the meat mixture.

Cover and steam for 25-30 minutes on medium heat until firm and cooked through.  Remove the meatloaf from the steamer and cut into slices.  Serve on top of white rice and garnish with cilantro and nuoc cham (Vietnamese dipping sauce).

Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Oatmeal cookies are so delicious and so good for you....that's just wishful thinking on my part.  If you think about it, it's like eating granola - especially if there are raisins and nuts, right?  Maybe that's why I can devour 2-3 morsels at a time without feeling guilty.  

Hubs doesn't like raisins so I searched for a chocolate chip oatmeal cookie and found this from The Repressed Pastry Chef.  The cookies hardly took up any time to whip up.  The wait for the cookies to bake in the oven was the unending part.  I made my cookies a little tinier than the standard size so I cut my baking time short by 2-3 minutes. 

Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth.  Beat in egg then stir in vanilla. 
3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. 
4. Mix in the quick oats and chocolate chips.  Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets, about 2 inches apart.
5. Bake for 12-15 minutes then remove sheets from oven.  Let them sit for 5 minutes on the cookie sheets before transferring them to rack to cool.

Orzo Salad with Chicken and Lemon Ginger Dressing

The other week I made Noodles with Mushroom and Lemon Ginger Dressing from Simply Recipes.   It was actually a recipe from Jaden Hair at Steamy Kitchen.  I really like the lemon ginger dressing which I used to throw together this orzo salad.  I just used what I already had in my pantry and refrigerator, plus the leftover dressing I made from the noodles.  It came together perfectly and I was really pleased.  Here is the recipe for my orzo salad and Jaden's lemon ginger dressing.

Orzo Salad
1 cup orzo pasta
1 skinless, boneless chicken breast
7-8 asparagus spears
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted
olive oil

Cook orzo pasta according to package, about 8-10 minutes.  Drain and rinse with cold water.  Set aside.

While pasta is cooking, make the chicken. Pound the chicken to uniform thickness and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Heat olive oil in skillet over medium high heat.  Cook chicken on both sides, about 3-5 minutes, until done.  Set aside and let cool.

Prepare the asparagus.  Wash them thoroughly, break off the white bottom parts and discard.  Cut into 1-2 inch sections. Fill a small saucepan with water and bring to a boil.  Parboil the asparagus for about 2 minutes over medium low heat. Drain and rinse with cold water.  Set aside.

Put the cooked orzo pasta into a medium bowl.  Chop the cooked chicken into bite size pieces.  Add to pasta.  Toss the remaining ingredients together and stir in the lemon ginger dressing.  Serve warm or cold (I liked it cold).

Lemon Ginger Dressing
From Steamy Kitchen

3/4 tsp Asian chili powder
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 inch section of ginger, peeled and grated
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 T honey
1 T sesame oil
3 T EVOO

Combine all ingredients, except for the sesame oil and extra virgin olive oil in a food processor.  Run the food processor for a few seconds, until all ingredients are combined.  With the machine running, drizzle in the oils.

Thanksgiving 2010

This posting is long overdue but I'll blog about it anyway.  After all, Thanksgiving was only four months ago.  My husband's brother and his fiance came to visit us last Thanksgiving and we spent a weekend in Portland to watch the Blazers game and took them around Seattle.

Downtown Portland

Downtown Portland was our first stop where we did a self-guided walking tour.  I must say that there were a lot of bronze sculptures and water fountains around the city center.   We caught the free Trimet MAX light rail and stopped at the PSU Portland Farmers Market for a quick bite.  Then walked back to Pioneer Place Mall for some shopping.  It was time to check in to our hotel after all that walking and to eat some more!  Someone recommended us to eat at Saburo's, a little hole in the wall sushi place.  I researched it on yelp and many people said to go early because the wait is long.  Hence, we went at 4:00 pm for dinner.  Mind you, it's fall and the sun sets early so it actually felt like 6:00 pm.  We thought we were right on time for the first seating but as soon as we got there, the dining room was already packed and we had to wait for almost half an hour for our table.  Sheesh!

The sushi rolls were ginormous! No wonder we saw so many people leave with doggie bags.  The seafood quality was not the best but it was worth the value.

Look at the size of the unagi - almost as long as the chopsticks!  Unagi is the Japanese word for freshwater eel for all you sushi virgins.  It's usually cooked in a sweet basting sauce, grilled, and tastes yummy over a hot bowl of rice.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel by the Convention Center to drop off our car and headed over to the Rose Quarter for the game.  Of course, Blazers lost, thanks to us.  We jinx every local team that plays at any major sports event.  We have never seen a victory game where our team wins.

The following day, we went to Helser's for breakfast.  See my previous post and photos of the scrumptious food we consumed there.  Two words:  Scottish eggs.

After breakfast, we went to Woodburn Outlet for more shopping.  The mall was about 30 minutes south of Portland.  It was raining buckets while we were there.  Not so fun when the stores are in an open air mall, but I did score a pair of boots for cheap so I ain't complaining.  Best of all, no tax!

We spotted reindeers while we were shopping!

Our plan was to drive back to Seattle after shopping and stop at 99 Ranch Market to pick up ingredients for hot pot but we were running late.  We decided to grab dinner before heading back so we ate at Ocean City Seafood Restaurant.  A guy from the party ahead of us at Saburo's recommended this place for dim sum.  Well, of course it was night time and they didn't serve dim sum.  All of us were craving for noodle soup and my brother-in-law was not feeling well so we ordered congee.  Looking at the menu, they did not have any noodle soup so we asked if we could order off the menu.  We got an order of wonton noodle soup and beef noodle soup.  There was a good reason why they weren't on the regular menu because it wasn't good.  Maybe, just maybe, I'll go back there to try what they are actually known for next time.

Finally, what is a trip to Portland without stopping at Voodoo Doughnuts?   They now have 2 locations in Portland.  We've already been to the original location so we went to check out the "new" store.  I liked it there - bigger space and they had parking!

We picked out a couple of doughnuts to share.  Like a kid at a candy store, we just pointed to the ones that looked good in the showcase.  That was the last stop in Portland.  Back in Seattle, we took our guests to the usual tourist traps - Pike Place Market, SAM, Space Needle, Safeco Field, International District, UW, Olympic Sculpture Park.

Fresh seafood at Pike Place

Space Needle view at Kerry Park

Now for the food....

Jade Garden was busy as usual on Black Friday so we went across the street to Harbor City for dim sum.  I like it there - less crowd and the food is comparable to their competitor.  In my opinion, the dumplings here in general are huge compared to the food served in Hawaii's dim sum restaurants.

For dinner, we headed over to the eastside for some tongue numbing Szechuan food at Spiced.  For just $5.99 you can pick 3 cold dishes up at the counter next to the cashier.  We got the salt baked chicken, spicy beef and tripe slices, and hot and sour seaweed.  The salt baked chicken was among our favorite.

Cold appetizer dishes

Main courses

Their menu was so huge that it was hard to choose but we managed to narrow it down.  We had the hot and sour soup, Szechuan dan dan noodles, shredded pork in Szechuan hot garlic sauce, and a beef dish with chili sauce and Chinese vegetables.  I can't remember what the last dish was called.  The noodle and shredded pork dishes were excellent.

On the last day of their visit, we went to Serious Pie for lunch.  This is the place to go if you like wood fired pizza but you must have a tolerance for waiting and sharing tables.  They do not take reservations and seating is communal.  We made the mistake of taking my friends there for dinner on our first visit.  We had a party of 8 and ended up waiting for almost 2 hours.  Luckily, my husband and I got there first to hold a space in line.  I quickly called my friends and told them to take their time while my husband and I killed time walking around Bed Bath & Beyond across the street.

The pizzas at Serious Pie are simply delicious.  I prefer thick crusted pizzas but I really like the light crispy thin crust they serve.  The menu only has 6 pizzas to choose from but they are all good.  From top to bottom, we had buffalo mozzarella and san marzano tomatoes, sweet fennel sausage, roasted peppers and provolone, and chanterelles and truffle cheese.

Chinese hot pot

You know how tiring it gets after eating out day in and out and not to mention the havoc it does to your wallet?  So for the bon voyage meal we decided to lay low, kick up our feet, and enjoy a nice dinner at home - just us and the cats. 

Bon Bon nosing around