Challenge: Seaweed

Aside from instant miso-soup mixes, I do not really have any experience cooking seaweed. In turn, when a family friend dropped off this ingredient at my doorstep at about 1 pm for another cooking challenge, I was not quite sure what to do at first. Given that I have been abroad over the past 7 months, I figured it would be fun to incorporate an international theme into the evening's dishes. Inspiration for the plates below came from a fusion of traditional cultural foods, including Tex-Mex tacos, South America's yucca, Japanese dashi broth and even Greek baklava.

Seaweed Two-Bites:

Deviled Eggs: Hard-boiled egg, stuffed with fresh seaweed salad, seasoned with sesame oil and black and white sesame seeds, served on bed of shaved carrots

Yucca Fries: Boiled yucca slices, accompanied by a seaweed, ginger, and garlic soy sauce, atop fresh nori

Garnished with wasabi

Quinoa Wraps:

A play on Japanese sushi, Tex-Mex tacos, and Chinese mu-shu: round sheet of seaweed, stuffed with a filling of pan-fried quinoa, sautéed onions, shaved carrots, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, served with wasabi and soy sauce

Savory Seafood Broth:

A nutritious and flavorful vegetable broth* with tilapia and jumbo prawns

*water, assorted seaweed, carrots, celery, white onion, and garlic, simmered for an hour and then strained

Sesame Baklava:

Three layers of nori, agave nectar, and white sesame seeds, chilled and garnished with orange slices

Dinner Guests

Challenge: Taro

After checking out a few blog entries, my friend Natalie wanted to try her hand at an Iron Chef Adventure and excitedly volunteered to take on Challenge #5 with me. The secret ingredient, chosen by her mother, was taro: something neither of us had much experience with.

We started off with a thorough brainstorm and then headed off to a local Asian grocery store to pick up the specialty ingredient along with a few more fun ethnic items, like buko (coconut) meat and banana leaves. While hesitant about the taro dumpling and pie recipes, our efforts paid off after a little experimentation.

The outcome pleasantly surprised me. I found myself munching on the veggie chips well after dinner, and craving leftovers for lunch the next day. The extra company was definitely a bonus as well. As the recipes below reflect, two heads are better than one when it comes to innovating new dishes!

Assorted Veggie Chips:

Two varieties of taro and sweet potato, baked and tossed with black sesame seeds, salt, and pepper, served with tempura dipping sauce, and garnished with rutabaga and banana leaves

Mashed Taro Cake & Chili Eggplant and Green Beans:

inspired by dim sum taro cake served with Chili Oil

Taro, sauteed chili shrimp, diced barbeque pork, green onions, cilantro, milk, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper

Green beans, eggplant, water chestnuts, sambal balado chili sauce*, cooking wine, soy sauce, olive oil

*chili pepper or green chili, blended together with garlic, shallot, red or green tomato, salt and lemon or lime juice, then sauteed with oil

Watercress Pork Rib Stew with Taro Dumplings:

Boiled pork ribs, taro dumplings*, watercress, diced taro, carrots, onion, salt, pepper, served in taro and pork broth and garnished with cilantro

*Taro dumplings: taro, flour, milk, green onions, minced garlic, garlic powder, onion powder, boiled until firm

inspired by Italian gnocchi

Taro Buko Banana Pie:

Boiled taro, banana, shredded coconut meat, coconut milk, condensed milk, and egg, baked in a pie crust and decorated with sliced banana

*Detailed filling recipe:

Preheat oven and bake piecrust for ~10 min

For filling, boil taro and mash in saucepan (~3 cups). Add coconut milk (1/3 can), condensed milk (1/3-1/2 cup), shredded coconut (1 cup) and stir over heat to thicken. Add mashed banana (adjust amount of banana so just hint of flavor). Temper with 1 egg by adding some taro filling to whisked egg, mix to heat egg, and add egg mixture slowly to saucespan so egg doesn't scramble. Stir until thick. To adjust consistency you can probably add coconut juice or evaporated/regular milk, our coconut meat had some ice.

Add filling to piecrust and bake for another 20-25 min, until crust is golden brown. Slice banana and use to garnish.

Challenge: Corn

Last week, I had the opportunity to visit the kitchen of Stanford University's Schwab Executive Services, which serves "fresh, sumptuous and sustainable" menus for a variety of conferences and on-campus events. Each of the plates sent out was not only beautifully executed, but also tasted wonderful (the chefs were extremely generous and encouraged me try many). In addition, the diversity of the 5-course meal they served gave me a plethora of ideas to work with, ranging from ingredient use to plating techniques.

Needless to say, the afternoon I spent at Schwab proved truly inspirational for Challenge #4. When creating this menu, I also wanted my dishes to reflect the versatility of corn so each features corn cooked using a different method.

Corn 3 Ways: Puréed, Popped, and Broiled

Top: Puréed

Garlic-lime shrimp served on a white-corn and jalapeño purée, garnished with chive

Right: Popped

Popcorn lightly tossed with seaweed, sesame seeds, and sesame oil, served alongside wasabi

Left: Broiled

Blackened yellow corn, chopped pistachios, and slivered almonds, toasted with butter atop fresh tomato and whole wheat bread

Salad: Boiled

Tower of shaved white corn, avocado, and tomato, drizzled with a mild balsamic vinaigrette and sprinkled with freshly cracked pepper and coarse sea salt

Wrap: Sautéed

Beef and vegetable filling* rolled inside a white corn, spinach, and wheat crêpe, served with a dollop of plain yogurt

*sautéed ground beef, white corn, asparagus, fresh tomato, onions, and garlic powder

Dessert: Fried

White corn fritters dusted with cinnamon and sugar, sprinkled on vanilla ice cream

Challenge: Cardinal Cookoff!

On May 20th, my friend Lucy and I competed in the 7th Annual Stanford Cardinal Cookoff on campus. While a bit different from previous blog entries, this experience is definitely worthy of mention- it incorporated many exciting aspects of the real Food Network Iron Chef program. Here are some of the guidelines:

- teams of 2 students

- 1 plate, featuring original recipes that incorporated portabella mushroom and beef tenderloin

- 67 minutes

- no prepared ingredients allowed

- 6 Stanford-affiliated judges

To top it off, the competition was held in a dining hall for the public to view. Check out the video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PToK

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The Competition:

I had the pleasure of tasting some of the competitor's dishes after the cook-off ended.

Below is the menu Lucy and I came up with. Apparently, we were not the only ones who loved it- we won first place and a pair of mountain bikes! Many thanks to our coach, Chef Cruz too!

Pestobella delights- a twist on the classic personal pizza:

Breaded portabella mushroom, topped with pesto, pine-nuts, diced tomato, and sautéed tenderloin steak

Salad: Seared tenderloin steak served alongside mixed greens, tossed with shaved fennel, sautéed portabella strips, and cherry tomatoes that were marinated in a white vinaigrette

Chocolate Truffle- mushrooms and chocolate may not be your usual combination, but Lucy and I could not get over the pun, so we tried out around 10 recipes until it came out delicious

Challenge: Potato

After my first quarter away from home at college, my cooking skills were a bit rusty. Cooking in the ill-equipped (and smelly!) dorm kitchenettes is a difficult and time-consuming task when studies call...In turn, I decided it was time to revisit the kitchen for Challenge #3 when returning home for Winter break.

An after-dinner smile

Baked Potato Salad:

A twist on the classic baked potato, this salad features garlic-roasted Yukon potatoes topped with a dollop of sour cream and sprinkled with shredded cheddar, chives, and multi-colored cracked peppercorns, served atop a bed of organic spinach

Creamy Vegetable Soup:

Whole wheat pasta, cubed potatoes, sauteed onions, zucchini, carrots, and fresh yellow corn in a creamy potato broth.

-broth: pureed potatoes, milk, water

Kebob Trio:

Pan-seared steak, skewered alongside garlic-roasted fingerling potatoes and Italian herb-crusted cherry tomatoes, paired with grilled onions and a light horseradish dip

Salmon Medley:

Roasted salmon, cooked in lemon juice, served atop golden Yukon mashed potatoes, garlic roasted brussel sprouts and green beans, garnished with fried sage

Challenge: Lemon

My childhood babysitter/"California Grandma" was brave enough to accept my invitation to Challenge #2. Lucky for her, the meal turned out just as well (or even better) than Challenge Tomato.

The chef enjoys some down-time with company after a fast-paced afternoon.

Vegetable Trio:

Shelled edamame, chopped tomato, and alfalfa sprouts tossed in lemon juice and served atop toasted pita, brushed with olive oil

Mixed Greens and Carrot Salad:

Tangy sliced carrots sauteed in lemon juice, brown sugar, nutmeg, cloves, and pepper, served with fresh greens, lemon slice, and parsley

Lemony Salmon over Greens:

Pan roasted alongside broccolini in lemon zest and marinade (see salad above), served with melted lemon-butter over baked yukon potatoes and green beans

Citrus Delight:

Homemade lemon syrup lightly drizzled over succulent grapefruit and orange segments, topped with mint and lemon zest

-syrup: lemon juice, baker's sugar, and water, reduced until dense