Risotto Balls

Eat with Me just posted a what looks to be a killer pumpkin risotto recipe. He serves it in little pumpkins! I feel like a bull in a china shop compared to that fabulousness.

While many may wax poetically about the luscious creaminess of risotto, my Vietnamese tastebuds find the texture to be unsettling. It's somewhere between your fluffy steamed rice and the fully wet congee. However, leftover risotto becomes the perfect base for a kicking croquette. I was inspired by Two Amy's whimsically named Suppli Di Telefono to make my own risotto balls. I used Nigella's lemon risotto recipe for the base and mozarella cheese as the cremay center and it worked out wonderfully. Being inspired by Eat with Me's recipe, I decided to make a fall version. Needless to say, it worked out wonderfully. This will be on my Thanksgiving table.

So make a double recipe of Eat with Me's pumpkin risotto. Serve half to your friends in little pumpkin bowls and save the other half for risotto balls the next night. Hopefully you will have about 3 cups of risotto.

The rest of the ingredients are:
12 (1/2-inch) cubes of a nutty Swiss cheese like Gruyere or Emmenthaler (about 1 oz total)
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup fine dry bread crumbs (not seasoned)
About 8 cups vegetable oil for frying

Roll chilled risotto into 12 (1 1/2-inch) balls using wet hands. Poke a small hole in center of each ball and insert a 1/2 inch cube of the Swiss cheese, then re-form into a ball.

Put flour, eggs, and bread crumbs in 3 separate bowls. Dredge 1 risotto ball in flour, shaking off excess. Dip in egg, letting excess drip off, then dredge in bread crumbs and transfer to a sheet of wax paper. Repeat with remaining balls.

Heat 1 1/2 to 2 inches oil in a 4- to 5-quart heavy pot. Working in batches of 4, lower rice balls into oil with a slotted spoon and fry, turning occasionally, until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes per batch. Transfer with slotted spoon to paper towels to drain. Return oil to 360°F between batches. Let balls stand 2 minutes (for cheese to melt).

This can be fried ahead of time and then reheated in a 350 degree over for 10 minutes.

Sometimes Magic Happens

So the whole reason I was at Big Queer Organizing Conference was to give a presentation on the organizing I do on issue X. It was your typical panel presentation with a lawyer for a certain legal group and an Executive Director of an organization that worked with certain student clubs (it rhymes with Play Great Alliances). The lawyer talked about ligitation around issue X and the E.D. talked about implementation and enforcement of laws around issue X. I talked about how to get the laws passed in the first place. The workshop was at 6:00pm, the very last workshop that day. I spent the day hoping noone would be there so I could have dinner earlier with my peeps. Who the hell has workshops at 6:00pm when people are getting ready for dinner? As you can see, I wasn't expecting much. And that's when the magic happens. We had a good crowd of around 25 people. Those 25 people were people who really wanted to listen to what we had to say. Surprisingly enough, we were on. We all complemented each other and gave concrete, useful information. The questions reflected the expertise and interest of the audience and the discussion was lively. Being the feedback whore that I am, as soon as the crowd cleared, I went through the evaluations. They rated the information we gave out and the speakers as uniformly excellent. WHEE! The only complaint was that they wished there was more time for discussion.

One my workshop high, I went with June, R1.0, and Bethany to Berkeley to have the college dining experience of a slice of Blondies pizza and a ginormous serving of frozen yogurt at Yogurt Park. Over pizza we discussed the politics of the feminist movement. It was fitting that my last meal in the bay area ended with a large serving of boysenberry frozen yogurt from Yogurt Park. The yogurt is smooth and creamy and served not in little dishes but cups the size of a medium soft drink. All for $2.35. Licking down the frozen berriness, we discussed - "Will the feminist movement make space for the next generation?" Heady stuff to think about over FroYo.

Dumpling Dipping Sauce

A delicious dim sum accompaniment . . .

Whenever we have siu mai, dumplings, or other dippable dim sum delights, I throw together a yummy dipping sauce that T originally taught me.

What You Need

3 tbsp rice vinegar
5 Tbsp. soy sauce
3 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp thai sweeet chili suace

Stir the ingredients together and taste. Different folks will want more sweet, spicy, etc. Add to taste and serve with your hot dumplings.

Better yet, put the ingredients out and let people make their own. This is a delightfully complex mix of flavors.

Enjoy! -J

Report from the Conference

SO I'm out here in sunny Oakland at the big queer organizing conference. Big evil word of the day is binary. Folks here don't like being put into labels and boxes. I on the other hand, have mixed feelings. Being queer and Vietnamese is important for me. That "label" is my identity and I am proud of the culture I come from and the communities that I am a part of. It's an interesting experience come to Big Ol' Queer Conference because I know so many people. There's an amazing security in seeing so many people I can catch up and talk shop with. As much as anyone can feel "in," I certainly do here. These are my peeps. As messy as things can get when you think about the intersections of sexuality, gender, race, and class, I feel at home. It has certainly afforded me the freedom to spend time by myself and call it a night when it seems the rest of the world is going to some fabulous party.

Woo, sorry to get all deep on you. I'm just in that kind of space. Speaking of the space I'm in, I love being in downtown Oakland, near a thriving and vital "Chinatown" that serves the diverse Asian Pacific Islander population of Oakland. It brings home the fact that DC's Chinatown bites the big one. Oakland's Chinatown, reflects the multicultural nature of this city. This Chinatown serves the Asians who LIVE in Oakland and you will be hard pressed to find a Starbucks or Coyote Ugly in here. Instead there are blocks of Asian markets, jewelry stores, herbalists, pharmacies, restaurants and take-out places. I have eaten every single one of my lunches in Chinatown alternately at Vietnamese delis (with amazing Banh Mis - Vietnamese sandwiches) and the take out dim sum places with potstickers the size of my fist. I have never paid more than $3 for a filling and delicious lunch. Things like shu mai and har gow are 45 cents. Char Siu baos are $1. And Banh Mis are $2. I have never left my lunches hungry. It's also fairly evident with the take out dim sum that the dumplings are made fresh on the premises. It's weird to eat supersized versions of my little dim sum dumplings but it allows you to taste the flavors of the savory fillings more clearly.

Foodwise, Asian seems to be the theme. I ate one meal that wasn't Asian food, and that was breakfast. Wednesday night I had dinner with my brother at Le Cheval, an upscale Vietnamese restaurant near my hotel. We had the seven courses of beef. While I appreciate the delicate flavors of the beef carpaccio and the beef that was rolled up in rice paper, there were too many dishes that required you to rolled up thin slices of beef in rice paper with lettuce and herbs. Having three dishes done that way, homogenized the differences in flavor between beef that was dipped in boiling broth and beef that was grilled in a hibachi on the table. Being a cold night, we both appreciated the warmth of the Vietnamese rice porridge with shredded beef.

Last night, I had a little reunion with June, Auntie Ang, and R1.0, meeting in the Mission district to have dinner a Burma Star, a very small and very popular restaurant. I was impressed by similarities and differences Burmese food had with other cuisines from Southeast Asia. There were the usual curries and noodle dishes but these dishes had the deeper salty-sour flavor that marked Burmese food. Thanks to Auntie Ang for being the Auntie to the group and picking up the tab. We LOOOOVE you.

I always come away from the Bay area impressed with the love of good cheap food that is in almost every neighborhood here. In one block in the Mission District, there were three coffee houses, two dessert places, a Korean restaurant, two pho places, a vegetarian sandwich shop and of course, Burma Star.

DC is my home and my community, but I am always wistful about the food of San Francisco.

We're not that schmancy

Just in case anyone thinks we're this totally schmancy couple that eats frisee salad and sushi all the time, I just wanted to let you know our dinner last night consisted of frozen foods. Trader Joe's shu mai and vegetarian corn dogs.

Deconstruction: It's not just for Derrida

The late philosopher Jacques Derrida once said, "Let little but extremity in its ugliest form separate me from a mighty fine casserole. For it is casserole, signified by its savory amalgam of pieces textures that allows one a measure of clear humility in a haute cuisine world, which is itself signified by artistic plate creations that disappear with one swift lift of tiny pitchforks of culinary death."

Ok, so he didn't say that, but it would have been very funny. Or, at least a little weird.

T and I have been working on variations of the stacked Mexican (Tex-Mex) casserole, or deconstructed enchiladas, and have a couple of good ones under our belts (or, um, over).

Tonight, I needed a special potluck recipe for the return of our friend AC who left DC for the OC (or nearby). I know she likes a little spice so I put together the latest version of these layered Mexi-favorites.

Stacked Vegetarian Enchilada Casserole

The "Meat" Section

4 tbsp canola or vegetable oil
2 small onions, diced within an inch of their lives
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 box Smart Ground Original
4 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp cumin
2 dashed black pepper
4 Tbsp salsa
1 shot Tabasco/Arizona Gunslinger/Crystal or other hot sauce
1 pinch salt

The Moisture and the Veggies

1 can diced tomatoes
Small jar of salsa or equivalent of homemade
4 oz. frozen corn
1 small can of green chilis

Holdin' it Together and Make it Corny

5-6 corn tortillas
1 - 1.5 cups grated cheese
1 cornbread mix

The Steps

I am a firm believer that spicing at various and appropriate times throughout the cooking process yields the best flavors for most multi-part dishes. For this recipe, make the meat first.

Meat:

Heat the oil in a medium-sized pot 4 tbsp canola or vegetable oil and saute the onions and garlic until they give off an enticing aroma and the onions are almost translucent. Crumble the box of Smart Ground Original into the pot and stir thoroughly.

Add chili powder, garlic powder, cumin and pepper. Stir thoroughly.
Add salsa, hot sauce and salt. Stir some more.

Keep the meat heating on low.

Moisture and Veggies:

Mix the diced tomatoes and salsa in a bowl. You'll be using this for the layering. Open the green chilis but do not mix in.

Holdin' it Together:

Soak 5-6 tortillas in the salsa/tomato mixture. Its great to get them nice and wet. If your tortillas are particularly tough, be sure to allow some extra time for soaking!

Get that cheese grated! For best results, use a mix of cheddars or some cheddar and some jalapeno monterey jack.

Construction of the Layers:

1. Ladle the salsa mixture in a thin coating on the bottom of a casserole dish to cover.

2. Cover that with a layer of the taco "meat."

3. Sprinkle some cheese to lightly cover or to really cheese it up.

4. Toss some of green chilis and some corn on top.

5. Put a little more of the salsa mixture.

6. Cover with a sloppy wet tortilla.

Repeat steps 2-6, till satisfied, then,

Repeat Steps 2-5.

At this point, you can pop some foil on and put it in a 375 degree oven for 40 minutes or you can get corny by placing dollops of cornbread mixture on top. If you cover it with the cornbread mixture, do NOT put the foil on or it will take forever to cook.

Once you take it out of the oven, let it sit for a little bit so the flavors relax into each other. Grab a fat spoon and enjoy!

Variations we have enjoyed:

Use jalapeno corn bread instead of regular
Use sauteed and spiced shrimp instead of the meat
Use some spicy cooked veggies instead of the salsa (squash, zucchini and carrots work great)
Use Fritos instead of the tortillas
Serve with sour cream and freshly cut chives
Make up your own! -J

Prada, Baby, Prada

Thanks to my kicking insurance plan, I finally have a piece of the Prada empire and joined the ranks of the sexy librarians. That's right folks. I ordered new glasses. While I am completely indifferent about clothes, I have long coveted the sexy librarian Prada glasses. My former boss Stan told me that glasses should be completely invisible or completely take over your face. I've had the bottom-of-the-line ones that do neither because my previous jobs didn't cover vision care. Luckily, for a measly $5 a month I get vision coverage in my health care plan. This covers the cost of the exam and the lenses and cheap frames or a big chunk of the costs of expensive frames. In the end, I paid $30 for my glasses. I could have gone with the free frames but...PRADA!!!!!

In actual food news, we took the In-Laws to Flying Fish in Old Town Saturday. It was perfect for an exhausting day of fall foliage and window shopping. The decor is simultaneously tacky and elegant with funky aquariums and mounted swordfish on the walls. J and I split a frisee salad, an order of cooked sushi, the pan-fried red snapper in buerre blanc and a grilled doughnut. The frisee salad was frisee salad, lightly dressed and fresh. Nothing earth shattering but refreshing and light. J disagrees but I think the sushi as Spices is better than Flying Fish's. I may have a plebian tongue (don't go there) but I just couldn't taste the difference in quality of the fish. The snapper however, is a different story. The whole schtick of Flying Fish is that you can order any of their quality fish in three diffferent ways, poached, pan seared or grilled, or blackened. Hearing that the snapper was particularly good that night, I ordered it pan seared. That seemed to work best with the moist, tender flesh of the fish with a delicate flavor. The lemony flavor and silky texture of the beurre blanc was a perfect compliment to the fish. It also came with expertly made, sauteed sugar snap peas and green beans and we ordered the blue potatoes, potato croquettes with bleu cheese in them, as an accompaniment. For dessert we had the grilled doughnut which was a true triumph. The grilling took away the treacly sweetness of the doughnut glaze and gave the doughnut a nice crispy texture and smoky aroma. My only complaint about the dessert was the ice cream on top. It was melting all over the place and I couldn't appreciate the vanilla flavor. All in all a great fall meal that was statisfying and refreshing.

And PRADA, baby PRADA.

Ending the "radio" silence

Sorry about the radio silence folks. Just a crazy busy weekend. The in-laws are in town for a big fundraiser I was helping out on. And by helping, I being involved with every effing thing because I am a total control freak. Luckily the in-laws (who are the best in-laws IN THE WORLD) were duly impressed because everything was a perfect as it could possibly be. People had a good time and the event finished according to schedule. I've helped run fundraisers before, and I've learned some things on this one I'd like to share with the blogoverse.

1. Cocktail PARTY - As elegant as a sit-down dinner is, if you want people to have a good time, COCKTAIL PARTY. If you have a good caterer (WHICH WE DID!), there will be plenty of food and noone will go hungry. The appeal of a cocktail party is that people are not planted to one table and can socialize, chat, and dance. It really allows guests to float around, catching up with people they haven't seen in a while.

2. Swing band - Speaking of dancing, I'd highly recommend having swing music. With a rock or pop band, you run the risk of cheesy music and bad covers. If you have a DJ, you will end up with Love Shack and the Chicken Dance. However, it's hard to ruin swing music. It ends up being the type of music everyone can dance to and isn't so loud or jarring to disrupt conversation. But the true fun is seeing people twirl around the dance floor. Grunge music? No twirling.

3. HO-DOVERS - To quote the Food Whore, "Feed them early, feed them well." A cocktail party allows for food to be available when people get to the event. No waiting for a server to give you your plate or for your table to get called for the buffet.

4. Drinky drinky - Finally, our wonderful caterers made a strategic decision that made the party a raging success: SHOVE DRINKS INTO PEOPLE'S FACES. The caterers had servers with trays of cocktails at the registration area and the entrance to the fundraiser. Before you've even entered the room you had a Cosmopolitan in your hand. YEAH BABY! Even if you don't drink, there's something festive about entering a party with a drink in hand. It makes you truly feel a part of the party.

I hope you can get something out of my kernels of wisdom. In my opinion, the measure of a good event is how full the dnace floor is and this one was packed.

P.S. - I am usually not coy about anything, but to a certain twosome who may be reading this, I'd like to quote Blondie by saying "one day I'm gonna find ya, I'm gonna get ya, I'm gonna getcha, getcha, getcha getcha!!!!" HEE.

J's 7 things . . .

I haven't been posting for a bit, but am a bit under the weather so I've pulled over to do something fun. T did his 7 things and I am doing mine. I don't really have 7 folks to send it to so I changed that to 7 foods I want to eat . . .

7 things I want to make before I die:

1. The tallest meringue pie I have seen that does not weep.
2. Popcorn balls (I just want to do it)
3. Vanilla sorbet
4. Morgan's cheese tortellini soup
5. Bunuelos
6. Dim Sum
7. A baby

7 things I cannot do in the kitchen:

1. Recover from a baking screwup
2. Make donuts
3. Roll sushi
4. Perfectly dice an onion
5. Make candy
6. Make tabouleh like my grandmother's
7. Make my grandfather's BBQ sauce

7 things that attract me to a kitchen:

1. Easy storage options
2. An open concept to a living area
3. A deep sink with two sections (one to soak and one to rinse)
4. Room for a table
5. Lots of glassware
6. Warmth and brightness
7. Logical layout

7 things that I say most often in the kitchen:

1. Holy shit, T, that's fantastic.
2. Are we out of tortillas?
3. Is this bad? It seems old.
4. I hope those people aren't looking in here.
5. We need a bigger kitchen.
6. How many people?
7. Do you need some help?

7 celebrity crushes in the food world:

1. T
2. Kylie Kwong
3. Moinica Greene of Monica's Aca Y Alla
4. Paula Deen
5. Rosemary Shrager of Rosemary, Queen of the Kitchen
6. Ming Tsai
7. Two Fat Ladies (ok, one is gone, but I loved them)

7 foods I want to eat:

1. Marshmallow Sauce from Crystal's Pizza in Fort Worth, Texas
2. Pho Ga from a place in Orange County that I have not been to
3. Chips and salsa from Monica's Aca y Alla in Dallas
4. Tamales
5. My mom's/grandmother's chili cream
6. Banh Cuon from the Eden Center

Much love to the blogworld -- J

Sometimes when God...

Gives you a blinding migraine at 6:00 am, she schedules a episode of Nigella Bites. The worst thing about getting a migraine when you wake up is that the Execedrin (caffeine in a pill) is the only thing that can take the pain away. And that means no jumping back into bed because you are awake and jittery. THANK GOD for the Style Network's early morning episodes of Nigella Biters. And I think it is one of three Nigella's I have not seen. It's the slow food one where she roasts not one but TWO huge slabs of meat in the oven. I won't do a formal recap but in her second meal, she roasts a huge leg of pork with the skin on. I'm not sure whether I'm delighted or horrified, but she ends up serving the crackling pig skin as a side dish to the roast pork. Yes, Nigella SERVES PORK RINDS. Albeit pork rinds with an aromatic garlic-chili rub.

In other news, my work gave me a hoodie. It's soft and warm and I look positively adorable in it.