Crab Fondue

**Updated on 3/29/2013** Found the below post ready to go, but for some reason, I hadn't posted it when I wrote it up before. Maybe I was waiting on attaching a picture, but since this is now a few years since, it may be hard for me to find it. 

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This post is long overdue, but here's the recipe we followed for the crab fondue several weeks ago. It was creamy, delicious, and though the cheese portion would have been fine on its own, the crab meat really added that something extra.

Ingredients:
6 oz cream cheese
10 oz brie cheese
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp mustard (yellow or Dijon)
2 tbsps powdered sugar (or 1 tbsp corn starch)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1-2 tsps Old Bay seasoning (or paprika with a little ground ginger and cayenne)
1/4 - 1/2 cup dry white wine or dry sherry (optional)
1-2 tsps lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
3/4 - 1 lb lump crab meat, fresh or canned
1/4 cup chopped green onions, chives, or parsley
Day old French or Italian loaf bread, cubed

Method:
1. Slowly heat the cream cheese, mayo, powdered sugar, garlic powder, Old Bay, lemon zest, and mustard in a double boiler until the cheese is completely melted. (If you don't have a double boiler, fill a saucepan a third of the way with water and bring to a boil, place a metal bowl over the saucepan. This will work as a double boiler.)
2. Slowly stir in the wine and lemon juice (adjust quantities to taste and desired consistency). Slowly stir in the crab meat and onion greens.
To serve, transfer to a heated chafing dish or fondue pot to keep warm. Present with bread cubes and forks for dipping.
Serves 8.

Dduk Gook (Rice Cake Soup)

This soup was delicious and super filling with the chewy rice cakes in there. We omitted the bulgogi when we made this (I don't remember why - we might have just plumb forgot), and it still tasted great. This is perfect on a cold winter's night - pure comfort and warmth!

Ingredients:

2 lbs Korean rice cake ovalettes

water

4 eggs, beaten

16 cups chicken broth

8 cloves garlic, finely minced

4-6 tbsps soy sauce (to taste)

4-6 scallion greens (cut into 2" long pieces)

1/4 lb bulgogi, cooked (we omitted this)

2-3 green onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal

2-3 sheets of seaweed (gim), cut into small, thin strips

sesame oil

sesame seeds

Method:

1. Soak rice cakes in cold water for approximately 1 hour.

2. Fry the eggs into a thick omelet. Fold or roll the omelet about an inch wide. Slice into thin strips.

3. In a large pot, heat the chicken broth. Then add garlic, soy sauce, scallions, and salt/pepper to taste. Let simmer for about 10 minutes.

4. Add rice cakes. Boil until ovalettes have softened, approximately 10 minutes.

5. Serve hot in large bowls garnished with egg strips, bulgogi, green onions, seaweed, sesame oil, and sesame seeds. Add salt and pepper as needed.

Jap Chae

This was delicious! If only we hadn't gotten greedy and tried to sauce 2lbs. of noodles with the sauce intended for 12 oz. of noodles... Yeah, maybe try following the recipe to the letter on this one, and you'll have better luck. Ours tasted pretty good, just that we had to keep adding soy sauce and sugar at the end when we were running out of the regular sauce that we'd mixed beforehand. :-P

Ingredients:

12 oz dan myun (sweet potato starch noodles)

3/4 cup tamari (wheat-free sauce from refined soy)

4 tbsps Asian sesame oil

6 tbsps sugar

2 tbsps finely chopped garlic (4 cloves)

2 tbsps olive oil

1 large onion, sliced lengthwise 1/8-inch thick (3 cups)

5 medium carrots, grated into 1/8-inch thick matchsticks (2 in. long)

2 tsps toasted sesame seeds

1/2 lb fresh shitake mushrooms, trimmed and sliced 1/8-inch thick (3 cups)

6 cups baby spinach

Method:

1. Cook the sweet potato noodles in a large pot of boiling water for 4 to 5 minutes. Immediately drain and rinse thoroughly under cold water. Be sure not to overcook the noodles, or they will lose their chewy texture.

2. Whisk together tamari, sesame oil, sugar, and garlic.

3. Heat olive oil in a deep 12-inch heavy skillet over high heat until it just begins to smoke, then stir-fry onion and carrots until onion is softened, about 3 minutes. Add sesame seeds and mushrooms and stir-fry until softened, about 3 minutes. Add spinach and stir-fry 30 seconds, then add noodles and tamari mixture and toss to coat. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until most of liquid is absorbed, 3 to 5 minutes. Adjust seasoning to taste. Transfer to a shallow serving dish and sprinkle with more toasted sesame seeds. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Bulgogi

This was a wonderfully delicious recipe for bulgogi, though most of us agreed that we might use a lighter touch with the sugar if we tried this again. Also, we eyeballed the marinade measurements: when we followed the recipe to the letter, Alice (our wonderful Head Chef for the evening) decided that it still looked too dry, so additional soy, sesame oil, and wine were used.

Ingredients:

2.5 lbs rib eye beef, thinly sliced (1/8-inch thick)

2 tbsps brown sugar

2 tbsps soy sauce

2 tsps Asian sesame oil

1/2 bunch scallions, chopped (1/2 cup)

2 tsps garlic, grated

2 tsps fresh ginger, peeled and grated

1 tbsp rice wine (sake)

1/2 piece of fresh kiwi, juiced in a blender

Pinch of black pepper

Hot pepper paste

Method:

1. Trim the fat off the beef with a knife. Distribute the sugar evenly on the beef by sprinkling it on each piece. Allow beef to sit for 10 minutes.

2. In a separate bowl, mix together the soy sauce, sesame oil, scallions, garlic, ginger, sake, and black pepper. Put aside.

3. Massage the beef with the kiwi juice using your hands. The kiwi works as a tenderizer. Add the soy sauce mixture and mix. Allow the beef to marinate for 10 minutes. Because the beef is thin, it doesn't require a long marinating time.

4. Cook beef in a frying pan until browned, being careful not to overcook.

5. Eat with rice and pepper paste in a lettuce-leaf package.

Hainan Chicken Rice (Vietnamese style)

The traditional way to serve Hainan chicken rice is to have a whole chopped chicken alongside of the garlic rice. It also take hours and hours to get it done right. My grandmother spends a whole day cooking whenever we had Hainan chicken rice for dinner. I remember watching her pick out a chicken from the Los Angeles Chinatown live chicken shop, take it home, and spend the afternoon prepping the chicken. I always looked forward to it - I thought it was the most delicious dish she made for us. In this variation of Hainan chicken rice, Trang's recipe allows you to have a lot of the original flavor of the dish with a lot less work involved.

Garlic Rice

Ingredients:

3 cups long grain jasmine rice

3 tsps garlic

6 cups chicken broth

3 tbsps fish sauce

3 tsps sugar

Method:

1. To make rice, first rinse rice and strain. Heat up the sauté pan and toast uncooked rice with garlic and oil. Once rice is golden color, add to rice cooker. Combine chicken broth, fish sauce, and sugar, and also add to rice cooker. Cook according to instructions of rice cooker.

Hainan Chicken Salad (Vietnamese style)

Ingredients:

4 lbs chicken

1 large onion, thinly sliced

3 tsps salt

2 tsps sugar

4 tbsps lime juice

1 cup fresh Vietnamese coriander, chopped

Black pepper to taste

Method:

1. Bring pot of water to a rolling boil, add chicken and cook until chicken is just done. This is indicated by when juices from the meat run clear.

2. Once chicken is done, remove meat from boiling pot and plunge into an ice bath. This stops the meat from cooking and becoming dry.

3. When meat is cool enough to handle, shred chicken into thin strips. Mix shredded chicken with onion and chopped Vietnamese coriander. Season with lime juice, salt, sugar, and pepper.

4. Separately, puree fresh ginger with some fish sauce vinaigrette.

5. Serve Hainan Chicken Salad with garlic rice and ginger fish sauce vinaigrette.

Vietnamese Shrimp Cakes (banh khot)

This is one of my favorite Vietnamese dishes that a lot of non-Vietnamese eaters have never been exposed to. There's a special cast iron pan that you use for this (see picture below), and luckily my apartment mate Trang has one! She played around with the batter recipe, and here's the best one we got. I loved tasting the coconut milk in the shrimp cake, and the outer crust is slightly crunchy.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. shrimp

1 lb. rice flour

1 cup corn starch

3 cups cold water

1 cup coconut milk

1 tsp salt

5 tsp turmeric

1 cup green onions, chopped

Method:

1. Peel and devein shrimps. Cut into small pieces (3-4 pieces per shrimp) and sauté with a touch of oil and minced garlic. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Set shrimp aside.

2. Mix remaining ingredients in a mixing bowl to make batter for shrimp cake.

3. Heat up pan on medium to medium-high heat. Vietnamese shrimp cakes are made in a specialty pan very similar in shape to an Ebelskiver pan.

4. In each depression, add a tiny bit of oil, pour in batter to fill the depression about ¾ way, and immediately add a piece of shrimp. Cover and cook until batter is no longer translucent (about 2-3 minutes).

5. Uncover and cook until cakes no longer stick to pan and bottoms are crispy.

6. Plate and serve with fish sauce vinaigrette (recipe can be found in previous Vietnamese dinner meet post), and fresh lettuce and mint.

Pecan Tarts

This recipe came from my mom, and I've been using it frequently to win over friends - everyone loves it! The tart shells do take a bit of time to make; they're probably the most time-intensive part of the recipe. However, you won't be sorry you tried them: they are absolutely scrumptious, with a flaky crust and just the right amount of filling to make you want that second, third, and fourth one. :)

Makes 24.

Crust Ingredients:

1/3 package (8oz) cream cheese

6 tbs softened/melted butter

1 cup flour

Crust Instructions:

1. Knead ingredients together. Make sure the ingredients are incorporated and the dough is smooth.

2. Cut the dough into 24 even pieces and place the pieces in the tart trays.

3. Form each tart shell by lightly pressing the dough down and up the sides.

Filling Ingredients:

1 egg

2/3 cup dark brown sugar

2 tbsp melted butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

2/3 chopped pecans

Filling Instructions:

1. Whisk all ingredients except for the pecans together. Once the mixture is smooth, stir in the pecans. Make sure the pecan pieces are coated evenly.

Baking Instructions:

1. Before you begin filling each tart shell, pre-heat the oven at 350 degrees. Make sure the rack is on the middle level of your oven.

2. Fill each tart shell with 1 tsp of the filling.

3. When the oven reaches 350 degrees, place the tart trays into the oven. Bake for 20-23 minutes, until the crust is lightly golden.