Jallie's Baked Beanz

(December 28, 2006)

Oh my gosh... I've had this post in draft mode forever! My food blog has been sorely neglected. Poor Baked Beanz!

John and I went to Full Key in mid-October. They have authentic Hong Kong style dumpling soup, which you may think of as just "wonton soup". Trust me on this, it is not like any carry-out wonton soup you've ever had. It's almost as good as my mom's soup. I ordered mine with thin egg noodles along with the shrimp dumplings. They're not the doughy, fatty, pinky-nail sized meat filling wontons you get at other places. They're thin-skinned, tender and filled with ground shrimp. YUM!


John, being John, ordered General Tso's Chicken. Not as FABULOUS as is favorite at the Happy Dragon in Leonardtown, but very flavorful.


Full Key is located in the shopping center at University and Amherst in Wheaton. There's Asian Foods (a Thai market, but not "the" Thai Market), a pho place, and 3 Jewish deli's in the same little center. Pay 'em a visit and order the shrimp dumplings.

Last Thursday, John and I went out to grab a bite for dinner at Three Brothers in Laurel. It's in a fairly new shopping center that opened earlier this year. I wanted some pasta and ordered the Spinach Manicotti. They weren't serving up spinach yet (even though it is cooked in this dish!) so I got the Penne with Sausage instead. For $8.49, you get a salad, bread and your entree:



You think they put enough olives on that? I always forget to tell them to hold the olives.



This was a pretty big portion. I ate a third of it, ate another third for lunch on Saturday and still have some left!

John ordered a Sausage Parmesan Sub and some fries ($5.29 and $1.79):



With two drinks, this came to just under $20.00. Not bad, considering all the lo-lo's I had. But then, when do I not have lo-lo's?

Three Brothers Pizza
13600 Baltimore Ave
Laurel, MD
(301) 317-8888

Tom Yum Lobster (soup) made from leftover lobster from Clyde's Tower Oaks. Although this soup is normally made with lemongrass and other aromatics, a simplified version just uses a few cloves of crushed garlic, water, shrimp (or whatever fish/seafood desired), mushrooms, fish sauce, cilantro and lime juice to taste.



Stir fried greens... probably some variety of Bok Choy with garlic, a little fish sauce and black pepper.

Soy sauce chicken from the Chinese market served with a soy/vinegar/crushed pepper sauce.

Blogger isn't cooperating with the picture posting today, so I'll have to edit this with pictures later...

After a few nights of eating nothing but leftover turkey in sandwiches, soup, or with various sides, we'd had enough turkey for a while. I really wanted some fish or pasta or Chinese. John didn't want to eat in a "real" restaurant, so we headed up to Panda Express, which opened up a while ago next to the Five Guys burger joint.

It's your basic mall food court Chinese... various dishes set out for you to see, served with white rice, fried rice or chow mein noodles. They also have spring rolls, soups, etc...

One of the reasons I like to go to places like this is the ability to select a couple different dishes. I went for the two entree meal -- white rice with Chicken and Mushrooms and Beef and Broccoli. Everything had a really good flavor and I enjoyed the veggies a lot. The broccoli still had a bite to it (hate it when it's mushy!). The beef itself was tender, but not as good as when you go out for Dim Sum at one of the Chinese restaurants in Wheaton (for example) and order Beef Chow Fun with Chinese Broccoli. The one with the "gravy", not the dry cooked noodles. Sooo good.




John ordered Orange Chicken and tried Mandarin Chicken. He's a fan of the General Tso's, so Orange Chicken is a good substitute. The Mandarin Chicken looked like Bourbon Chicken, but had a very syrupy strong flavored sauce on it. John thought it might be vinegar. I thought it might be more like Chinese Cooking Wine. It was good, but would have been better if diluted with a little broth or water.



Both our meals, with drinks, came to about $14.00. Not bad for the amount of food they give you. John did remark for the amount of "entree" they serve up, it's weird they don't give you more rice. Of course, I had lo-lo's to bring home and John had a few pieces of chicken left.

With all the chain food places in Laurel, there aren't any real "sit down" Chinese restaurants. Weird. The carry out across Rt 1 from us is actually pretty good. And I don't even think they know what Dim Sum is in Laurel!

This is a place we'd go again, I'm sure. Maybe next year.

Panda Express
15102 Baltimore Avenue #100
Laurel, MD 20707
(301) 604-3442

Every Christmas, my company gives all its employees a turkey and some type of item with the company logo on it. 2005 was a coffee thermos. Previous years employee gifts included an umbrella and cooler. I was so surprised, having only worked for DCVS for a few months, that I'd be gifted with such awesome stuff!

The turkey sat in my freezer, taking up John's valuable frozen pizza space, for over 9 months. I didn't want to wait for Thanksgiving to cook this bird up, so it came out of the freezer last week to defrost.

I had experience cooking a turkey once before and I followed the "America's Test Kitchen" method of brining it overnight. I found a few turkey cooking recipes from the Food Network and combined parts of a few of them. Here's the finished product:

I know... it looks like a chicken on that little platter and nothing else next to it for size reference. All my large platters are at other peoples' houses. It was almost 14 pounds.

The brine is from Emeril's recipe for Brined and Roasted Turkey and the cooking part is Emeril combined with Giada's Turkey with Herbes de Provence and Citrus. All kinds of bojangling of recipes here!!!

After brining overnight, I took the turkey out the next morning and rinsed/dried as specified. I salted and peppered the inside and stuffed it with carrots, celery, onions, orange, thyme and bay leaves. Then I tied it up and put it in the oven. This is where I borrowed a bit from both recipes.

The first time I made turkey, I cooked it according to Giada's recipe, which calls for roasting the turkey with the breast side up for the duration. The legs (thighs) weren't as cooked through as they should have been, so I started this one breast side down and flipped it over about an hour through cooking.

Basically, I don't think it matters whether you cook it on one temperature the whole time through or start at a high temp and lower it. As long as you keep broth of some type in the pan so the drippings don't burn, baste it every half hour and make sure it comes to the proper internal temperature, I think your turkey will turn out yummy.

I probably won't salt the turkey as much on the outside next time. All that salt falls into the pan drippings. Although the gravy I made from the broth/drippings was really good, I think I'd like it to be a little less salty. The meat, having been brined, didn't need the extra salt. I might actually cut the salt in the brine a bit too. Using a low sodium chicken broth was a plus as well.

The actual "cooking" part of this turkey was pretty easy. It's figuring out how to contain two gallons of brine and a turkey in something that will fit into the fridge that was the problem. The first time, it was freakin' cold out, so I put the turkey in a doubled up trash bag (make sure it's not the fancy "odor shield" kind!) and put it in a cooler. We put the cooler outside overnight. The bag method was used again, but this time, the bottom drawer of the fridge was employed as the container. We took it off the sliding shelf bracket (took out the shelf) so it would rest directly on the bottom of the fridge.

When I went to prep the turkey for roasting the next day, it took me almost an hour to rinse, dry, stuff and season it. But all turned out well. Happy Turkey Day!

Mexican "Lasagna"
After my last post with the yucky beans, I decided it was time to use up those tortillas we got at Mi Rancho. I browned some ground beef and planned on seasoning it with taco stuff, but apparently I didn't have any on hand. I only had a tablespoon of chili powder left, so I threw that in with some cumin, a little enchilada sauce and hot sauce.

I layered tortillas with meat, enchilada sauce, cheese and corn. Actually, only corn on half 'cuz I didn't think John wanted too much stuff on it (I was right). Then it went into the oven for about half an hour.



It turned out OK. I really do wish I had some tomato sauce or something (Rotelle canned tomatoes?) in the pantry as the enchilada sauce made the dish too salty. It could have used a bit more spiciness too. Next time, I'll go a bit lighter on the enchilada sauce. This one probably won't be in the rotation of meals very often.

John wasn't feeling well the day I made this, so he only had a bit. I had the rest of it for my next two work lunches.

Soft Tacos and Mama Noodles
Last night, I heated up what was left of the Mi Rancho tortillas (we had a lot as you can see!) and the meat I didn't put into the "lasagna". John had soft tacos for dinner. He wasn't crazy about the thickness of the non-store bought tortillas. I like the fresh ones better in terms of texture and flavor.

I made myself some Thai Mama Noodles in the Shrimp Tom Yum flavor. They're ramen noodles, but the soup packets are not your typical Oodles flavorings. It comes with powdered soup base, a separate packet of chili pepper and an oil-based flavoring. I usually skip the chili pepper. It's spicy enough without it!

To this, I added some cabbage, Thai basil and leftover fish (whiting?) from the tragic Laurel Mall food court where we went Wednesday for dinner.

Tonight is FND at my parents, which will be better than these tragic leftovers we've been eating. I'm cooking a turkey either Saturday or Sunday. Hope it's all defrosted by now!

OH! One more thing... I found a new Thai recipe source but haven't really checked it out very well yet. Looks like she has great photos though.

Last night, I planned on making a "Mexican Lasagna" using all the flour tortillas I somehow managed to collect last week. Instead, I grilled beef kielbasa and made rice for John, who got home late and was on-call last night. I had a can of "New Orleans-style beans" I bought a few months ago and decided to give 'em a try with the rice.

They weren't what I was expecting... which was Popeye's red beans and rice. They weren't very spicy and although I wouldn't say they tasted tinny (like the can), they were off. Have you ever eaten a piece of bread or cheese that had a bit of hidden green fuzz? And you KNOW it's not right. Like that. Or maybe it was the can...

Not so GLORY-ous.

I'll just have to make special trips to Popeye's to get my red beans fix. I looked up recipes for knock-offs of the Popeye's red beans but never tried to make it. Maybe after I perfect the Bourbon Chicken recipe...

Laab (or "Larb", as you may see it spelled) is a type of spicy salad eaten mainly as an appetizer. While looking up recipe sources online, I found variations of this served warm with rice, like an entree. In my family, it was something we had at room temp or cool (not cold) with fresh, raw veggies on the side to cool the palate. Goes great with beer.

I've made this dish a couple times over the years with the help of my aunt. This was the first time I made it by myself to be served to other people. I took this to Khalid's b-day and I think a few people expected it to be eaten like the "lettuce cups" you'd find at P.F. Chang's or as a dip with the veggies. Any way you want to do it...

As a kid, I remember my mom preparing to make this by placing fresh chili peppers, cloves of garlic and shallots into a foil packet and "roasting" them in the broiler until they were soft and beginning to char. I asked my mom about this step and she looked at me in a way that said, "Don't make extra work for yourself... it will taste good without that."

Anyway, as you know, since this is a salad and one of my "throw it in there" recipes, I don't have very good measurements. Add stuff till it tastes good. I did look up several recipes online just to get an idea of what should go in it, but it seemed like the "dressing" ingredients wouldn't give the salad enough spark and tang. I tend to make things too limey, 'cuz that's how I like it. Sue me. This is my version!

The actual cooking part doesn't take any time. For me, it was the cleaning and prep of the veggies. And I apologize once again. Bad Food Blogger = No Pictures. I was tired after I finished making the salad and was more concerned about getting cleaned up and ready for the party. Once at the party, I was going to take a picture, but was thirsty and poured myself a Coke. And dug into the wonderful bbq beef, chicken and fixins Nicole prepared. Distractions... so, no picture this time.

LAAB GAI
1 lb. boneless chicken, minced or ground
3 scallions (green onion), finely chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
2 Tbs ground, toasted rice
Assortment of raw veggies (green beans, carrots, cucumber, cabbage, Thai eggplant, lettuce)

Dressing
6 cloves garlic, minced and pounded into a paste
2-4 tsp ground, dried Thai chili pepper
1/4 to 1/2 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
3+ Tbs fish sauce (to taste)

Preparation:
[1] Place a few tablespoons of raw, uncooked rice (Do not use Minute Rice! Get the real stuff!) in a small pan or pot and toast on low-medium heat. This may take 10 minutes or so, but don't rush it by toasting on high heat and risk it burning. If it does burn, start over. Keep the rice moving (like making popcorn before there were microwaves). Once it is light brown, remove to a dish so it doesn't keep toasting and set aside to cool. I used a clean coffee/spice grinder to turn the toasted rice into a powder. "Authentic" recipes use a mortar and pestle. Use it if you've got it.

[2] Cook the minced/ground chicken in a pan until thoroughly cooked, making sure to break into small pieces. Drain chicken and set aside to cool a bit

[3] While chicken is cooling, chop scallions and mint. Squeeze lime juice into a separate bowl or liquid measuring cup

[4] Mix fish sauce, ground chili pepper, garlic, and half the lime juice to make the dressing

[5] Mix green onions, mint, toasted rice powder and dressing with chicken. Taste and adjust lime, fish sauce and chili pepper as desired. Add a touch of sugar (1/2 teaspoon?) if you think it needs it

[6] Arrange on lettuce-lined serving platter and garnish with mint leaves. Serve with raw veggies

Modifications:
Two "trays" of ground chicken were purchased for this dish, so I probably had more than two pounds of chicken. And I doubled the amount of scallions.

I used a garlic press instead of mincing/grinding it and added the garlic to the chicken while it was cooking. This was to mellow out the garlic a bit. I also used only 3 cloves, since they were big.

Instead of the ground Thai chili pepper, I used a roasted chili paste I had on hand and some cayenne. Normally, this dish should be really spicy, but I tried to make it to suit the folks who like things milder.


Notes:
This salad is AWESOME with ground beef (Laab Neua). Same ingredients and method, just substitute beef for the chicken. If using beef, you don't have to brown it all the way to well done. The lime juice will complete the cooking (like "cooking" ceviche) and will yield a more tender meat. Definitely don't do this with chicken -- that needs to be cooked all the way through.

Many recipes call for buying boneless, skinless chicken breasts and mincing/grinding it yourself since the pre-ground chicken is more fatty. I do wish I had drained the chicken better (or maybe boiled in some water before draining) to get more fat off it. For the convenience of it, buying ground chicken is fine.

A couple recipes I found online called for cooking all the ingredients in a wok (dressing, scallions, mint, etc...) but this isn't the way my family did it. I think that takes away from the freshness of the dish.

Add more mint if you like it mintier. If you have cilantro, toss it in! A few recipes also called for chopped lemongrass, which would have been very good as well, but you don't have to use it if you can't find it.

Presentation is a must in Thai cuisine. Although my aunt would have been appalled at how I arranged the veggies, everyone thought it was pretty. The cabbage was cut in 1 inch wedges and left in wedge form (about 4-5 wedges). I used whole carrots and cut them on the bias -- 1/8 inch-thick slices. Same with the cucumbers (cut on the bias 1/8 inch thick), which were those long English ones with the thin skin. If using a regular cucumber and the seeds are really big, I'd deseed them. And if the skin is waxy, peel it. I cut the ends off the green beans and left them whole.

As always, if you have any questions, please e-mail me!

Next time, I think I'm going to try the foil packet method and char some garlic, shallot and fresh chili pepper. Lots of chili pepper. This variation was missing that KICK.

*********************
Oh! And a big "HELLO!" to Nicole, who I just found out reads my food blog on a regular basis. I'm not sure anyone else does.

After we had Friday Night Dinner at my parents' this week, we headed to El Aguila for a little party Robert was hosting in honor of Pokey's and Bianca's birthdays. This was the first time John and I had been to El Aguila. There have been many occasions for us to go, the most recent being Bianca's bridal shower, but the timing was always off.

Seeing as we had already eaten, we ordered drinks. I had a gigantic Mojito (yes, that's a pint glass!) and it was delish. Very minty.



I ate two shrimp off William's fajita platter:


The shrimp were split and grilled with the shell still on. I think that lent to how flavorful it was. This was served with rice, beans and tortillas. Or maybe it was rice, steamed veggies and tortillas. There were a couple side dishes floating around the table and after William grabbed the one with the beans, the waitress brought him one with steamed veggies. Maybe you can specify whether you want beans or veggies.

I ordered dessert and had a cup of coffee. For dessert, I got Xangos, which were like a sweet taquito. It was some type of dough (maybe just a flour tortilla?) filled with banana and a thick cream. The Xango was fried and cut into bite size pieces. A couple other desserts going around the table included Flan and Tres Leches cake (I think). The Flan tasted like the fridge. They probably ought to do a better job keeping it covered. The Tres Leches was on the frozen side. I don't think it's supposed to be served frozen. But the Xango was yummy.

The menu at El Aguila looked pretty extensive. John was disappointed they didn't have queso on the menu. We'll definitely have to go back and try a real meal.

El Aguila Restaurant
8649 16th Street
Silver Spring, MD 20910
(301) 588-9063