Things have been a little crazy these days. foodgawker is growing each month and is keeping me really busy. To add to the insanity, I launched craftgawker last week. It's identical to foodgawker, but focused on arts and crafts. So that's the reason why it's been quiet around here.
But then I got slapped on the hand by BlogHer (our ad provider) for not posting in over a week. I felt like a kid in high school who got in trouble and is being sent to the principle's office. BlogHer's "reprimand" is actually a good thing, otherwise I would have neglected SND even longer.
Anyway, we have a really simple dish of roasted vegetables for you. We made this after a trip to a local farmers' market. It came together by picking up the best looking vegetables at the time. Hungry Bear wanted to prepare them simply to highlight the freshness of the vegetables.
The roasted vegetables are a great side dish and can be served hot or cold. We had them for lunch with some artichoke garlic herb bread and sunny side up eggs. It was simple but really good. Regarding the bread, if you are ever cruising Route 1, definitely stop at Norm's Market in Pescadero and pick up a loaf or three of freshly baked artichoke garlic herb bread. It's fantastic!
Makes 4 servings
[tags]potatoes, beets, broccolini, roasting, vegetables, bread[/tags]
Roasted Vegetables is a post from: Sunday Nite Dinner
We were planning on posting about an 11 layer lasagna that's relatively easy to make, but the Daring Bakers' challenge this month was lasagne. As you've probably seen, the food blogosphere has been inundated with DB pasta. Instead, we present to you a mango and coconut flognarde that Hungry Bear saw on flagrantedelicia. We always enjoy looking at the beautiful photography and desserts on Leonor's site.
We were supposed to make this flognarde for Sunday nite dinner last week, but ran out of energy to make dessert (we had a pre-dinner yoga session with a one of the SNDsters). A friend brought over ice cream cookie sandwiches from Trader Joe's instead. They were super delicious and a dangerous new TJ find.
Since then, we've had some ripe mangos sitting in the fridge, so Hungry Bear finally made the flognarde today. It turned out really well and we enjoyed this fruity, custardy dessert. It's easy to make and a nice light dessert to accompany a heavy, rich meal. We will definitely make it again and try different types of fruit.
Head on over to flagrantedelicia for the mango and coconut flognarde recipe.
[tags]mango, coconut milk, easy, fruit[/tags]
Mango and Coconut Flognarde is a post from: Sunday Nite Dinner
Hungry Bear and I love bamboo shoots, but we've never cooked with fresh ones until recently. During the winter time, we always see fresh bamboo shoots in our local Asian markets, but hesitated to buy them until a few months ago.
Neither one of us knew how to peel them, so we searched the Internets and discovered it was relatively easy to prep bamboo shoots. Here's an informative video that shows how they are found and prepared. The bamboo shoots in the video are boiled to remove their bitterness. We're not sure why it is necessary because the shoots we get are not bitter, so we simply peel them following these steps.
We've cooked with fresh bamboo shoots several times now and Hungry Bear created this easy sauté with ground pork. It's a simple dish that really highlights the freshness and crunchy texture of the bamboo shoots. Now that we're comfortable peeling fresh ones, it's going to be really hard to use canned bamboo shoots ever again.
Side Note: For a behind the scenes look at our kitchen, check out Jen Yu's kitchen tours: week 3 on Use Real Butter.
Makes 4 servings
Fresh Bamboo Shoots with Pork is a post from: Sunday Nite Dinner
A few months ago, Hungry Bear favorited this cinnamon-apple cake on foodgawker and she finally made it for our Lunar New Year celebration this year. It's not Chinese or Vietnamese in any way, but Hungry Bear didn't want to make anything too elaborate and we had two apples to use up. So that's how a cinnamon-apple cake got served at a New Year's party with Chinese hot pot.
I was working that day when Hungry Bear was baking the cake and I wasn't paying much attention. She told me that it was a Cooking Light recipe, but she was making it full-fat because she hates margarine and fat-free cream cheese. I honestly wasn't very excited about the cake. I don't get too excited unless there's chocolate involved.
I don't think anyone at dinner knew how damn good this cake was going to be. Then everyone wanted seconds. It's a light, moist cake with the perfect amount of sweetness from the cinnamon-sugar topping. Hungry Bear thinks it tastes like coffee cake and she'd happily eat it for breakfast.
Our friend, Deb, made it for a family gathering the next day. And I asked Hungry Bear to bake it again a few days later so we could document it for SND. It's probably my favorite non-chocolate dessert at the moment!
Makes 8-10 servings
[Adapted from Cooking Light]
[tags]apple, cinnamon, cake, easy, cream cheese[/tags]
Cinnamon-Apple Cake is a post from: Sunday Nite Dinner
Last year, we attended a Chef Panel Discussion event presented by the Asian Culinary Forum (Andrea Nguyen is one of co-founders). The panelists included Charles Phan (Slanted Door), Eric Gower (The Breakaway Cook) and a several other respected Bay Area chefs.
Hungry Bear and I were really impressed with Eric. He was by far the most entertaining and passionate person on the panel. Through his commentary, Eric sold us on his "breakaway" cooking style. The simplicity of his cooking really resonated with us. The ultimate clincher was the way he enthusiastically described his poached eggs with matcha salt.
We bought a copy of his book that evening and got it signed by Eric. He wrote in the book...
"May you have many years of maccha happiness!"
Well, we started out the year by finally making Eric's signature dish. It doesn't get any easier than this... a poached egg with matcha salt sprinkled on top. As far as how it tasted, I think the picture speaks for itself! We look forward to trying out more breakaway cook recipes.
To my Vietnamese peeps, Chuc Mung Nam Moi! Hungry Bear says, "Gong Xi Fa Cai!" And to everyone else, Happy Lunar New Year!
[Via The Breakaway Cook by Eric Gower]
[tags]poached eggs, matcha, salt, breakfast, easy[/tags]
Poached Eggs with Matcha Salt is a post from: Sunday Nite Dinner
It's the time of year for giving, so we're participating in the 5th annual Menu for Hope charity raffle, which brings together food bloggers from around the world in the fight against hunger. Bloggers offer prizes that you can win by purchasing a $10 raffle ticket. The proceeds of the charity raffle goes to the U.N. World Food Program (WFP).
Last year, we gave away an iPhone. This year we want to share our love of a Bay Area product, Scharffen Berger chocolate. Many of you know that we love to eat and bake with Scharffen Berger chocolate and we wrote about the factory tour previously. So our raffle prize this year is the following...
Scharffen Berger Gift Package
Due to the weight and temperature concerns (we don't want your chocolate to melt), we're limiting shipping to the US only. The charity raffle runs from December 15th - 24th with raffle winners announced on January 12th.
The prize code for our Scharffen Berger gift package is UW24. Shipped within the US only.
1) Choose a prize(s). For a complete list of prizes offered worldwide, visit Chez Pim. For a list of prizes from West Coast food bloggers, visit MattBites.
2) Go to Firstgiving, the online fundraising company used to manage the Menu for Hope charity raffle, and make a donation.
3) Specify the prize you would like to bid for in the 'Personal Message' section of the donation form. Every $10 donated will get one raffle ticket toward a prize. For example, a donation of $50 gets 5 raffle tickets, which can be distributed between different prizes, such as 3 tickets for UW24 and 2 tickets for UW33. This would be entered as 3xUW24, 2xUW33.
4) If your company matches your charity donation, please check the box and fill in the information so the corporate match can be claimed.
5) Please check the box to allow us to see your email address so that Menu for Hope can contact you if you win. Your email address will not be shared with anyone.
Please spread the word to your friends and family to help in the fight against hunger! Let me know if you have any questions and thanks in advance for your generosity.
[tags]charity, menu for hope, raffle, un, world food program, chocolate, scharffen berger[/tags]
Menu for Hope 5 – Chocolate Gift Package is a post from: Sunday Nite Dinner
Hungry Bear is always searching for good Chinese food cookbooks and her latest find is The Seventh Daughter by Cecilia Chiang. One of the dishes that caught her eye were these star anise peanuts. They are a good alternative to salted peanuts or honey roasted peanuts.
Hungry Bear made this simple snack a few weeks ago and they were a big hit. They are salty and a little crunchy. I love the aroma of the star anise and when they are cooking, the smell reminds me of a bowl of pho. I found it difficult to stop eating them and I'm sure you will too.
Makes about 3 cups
[Via The Seventh Daughter by Cecilia Chiang]
[tags]peanuts, snacks, chinese, easy, star anise[/tags]
Star Anise Peanuts is a post from: Sunday Nite Dinner
Zha ziang mian, aka Chinese spaghetti, is one of Hungry Bear's favorite comfort dishes. It has everything she likes... sweet, salty, spicy and carbs! The rich meaty sauce is nicely contrasted by the cool refreshing vegetable garnish.
It's a popular item in Northern China and legend has it that Marco Polo got his inspiration for Italian spaghetti after spending time in China. Growing up, Hungry Bear often had this dish served with regular spaghetti noodles, but it's best served with Chinese noodles. We included a photo of the brand we like in the slideshow.
The ingredient list looks long, but it's actual quite easy to make. So the next time you want some spaghetti and meat sauce, give this Chinese version a try.
Makes 6 servings
[Adapted from The Seventh Daughter by Cecilia Chiang]
[tags]pork, noodles, sauce, hoisin, chinese[/tags]
Zha Ziang Mian (Chinese Spaghetti) is a post from: Sunday Nite Dinner
We've been chocolate blackout cake obsessed since the first time we made it. The cake and pudding are fantastic on their own, but combine the two and you have the best chocolate cake ever!
The last few times we've made this dessert we skipped the icing because it's very temperamental. Instead, we doubled the pudding and used all four layers of cake. Who's not going to like twice as much homemade chocolate pudding?
To prove how good this cake is, all you need to do is take a look at the last picture in the slideshow. That's our friend, Jane, having a piece while in early labor. I'm not kidding! We planned on cooking for Jane and Mark back in September. But, she started having contractions early in the morning so we figured dinner was off. Hungry Bear and I decided to make dinner anyway since we had already gone shopping.
Then, Jane called in the evening telling us that she was coming over for cake. We thought she was just joking, but Jane and Mark soon showed up at our door (the hospital is only a few blocks away). I told her she was welcome to have some dessert, but if her water broke she had to clean it up.
Luckily for us, there were no accidents. Jane enjoyed her cake while Mark was timing her contractions. It was one of the more entertaining Sunday nite dinners we've had in awhile. We sent Jane and Mark to the hospital with a good portion of the cake and Jane delivered a healthy baby boy, Dylan. When we visited Jane and the baby in hospital, she also declared it the best chocolate cake she's ever had!
P.S. We promise a savory dish in our next post. And I also promise to deliver it in less than a week.
To make the cake:
Makes 12 servings
[Adapted from Sweet Stuff: Karen Barker's American Desserts]
[tags]valhrona, chocolate, bittersweet, cake, pudding[/tags]
Chocolate Blackout Cake Revisited is a post from: Sunday Nite Dinner
It's been way too long since our last post. Over the last month, I've been distracted by foodgawker, the election (I'm supporting "that one") and Penn State Football. I've spent entirely too much time in front of the computer, mostly with foodgawker, making it hard to crank out a post. We've been cooking regularly, but I've been too tired/lazy to pull out the camera and tripod to document our meals.
Hungry Bear has constantly reminded me that I'm neglecting SND. To appease her and some of our loyal readers (I hope you are still out there), we present to you look-we-still-love-you-and-SND everything cookies. As someone who loves to eat anything and everything, this cookie has it all... chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, raisins, nuts, granola and rolled oats.
It's a great recipe that Hungry Bear got from a friend over a decade ago. As the name implies, the cookie has everything you'd want... soft, crunchy, chewy, chocolaty, fruity and peanut buttery. I like to think that they're sort of healthy with the low-fat granola and rolled oats. It lessens the guilt after you inhale half a dozen cookies in five minutes!
Makes about 3 dozen cookies
[tags]cookies, chocolate, raisins, chips, peanut butter, walnuts, granola[/tags]
Everything Cookies is a post from: Sunday Nite Dinner