In the chaotic kitchen of a recipe developer, you get a food blog called FoodMayhem.
I'm Jessica, an Asian-American, born and raised in NYC, and that's Lon, my Jewish, white husband. While professionally trained as a French culinary- and pastry chef, many of FoodMayhem recipes are my attempt to preserve and share authentic Chinese and Taiwanese recipes learned from my mom. We don't eat Chinese food every day, so you'll get a little bit of anything we find delicious enough to share: from our Eastern European side; recipes and techniques learned from my restaurant days; restaurant reviews, food travel tips; and a few other juicy bits along the way. Welcome to FoodMayhem!
One of my go-to recipes is a Chicken & Cucumber Pasta Salad that I posted way-way back. I’ve tweaked it and played with it many times, and you can too, though the reason I thought to post it now, is because it’s a great way to use up left-over Thanksgiving Turkey. The Asian flavors make it so drastically different, you won’t even recognize that ceremonial bird.
We had friends over for dinner tonight and since one of our guests was a vegetarian, I decided to try to improve on that tofu recipe I had been working on for Lon. With just a few changes to the preparation and baking temperature (marinade staying the same), Lon loved the texture. Our guests seem to like it as well. It’s not the most attractive looking tofu but it does taste good. My improved recipe is below the picture (photo updated 9/15/15)…
Start with 1 Block (16-18oz) Tofu
Marinade
Instructions
In case you’re curious about what else we had for dinner:
Lon is not a big fan of tofu but likes the texture of the tofu at City Bakery. He’s not sure, but thinks it might be baked and then seared. I haven’t tried it yet and decided to try baking some tofu to see if Lon likes it. We both really liked the result.
First, make sure you use a good tofu. There is a huge difference between fresh tofu and packaged tofu. I like buying fresh tofu from a store on the corner of Bowery and Grand. They sell three blocks per box, each about 3.5″x3.5″x1.5″.
Press the tofu between two plates and put something heavy on top. Let the tofu drain for an hour, while pouring the liquid out every 20 minutes. While the tofu is draining, you can make the marinade by whisking ingredients together. Place the tofu in the marinade and refrigerate for three hours, turning blocks of tofu over once. I baked it in a 400 degree F oven for 25-30 minutes (with some marinade coating the bottom of a pan) because I was also making a roasted pork tenderloin. I’ve read that it is better slow baked at a lower temperature. Optionally, you can sprinkle some toasted sesame seeds on top before serving.
Marinade:
I served the Baked Sesame Tofu with white rice, Chinese broccoli, and a roasted pork tenderloin. The tenderloin was marinated overnight in the same marinade I used for the turkey legs. The dinner was a big success!
We’ve been trying to eat less pork because of Lon’s cholesterol. He doesn’t like tofu that much and I don’t want to eat chicken every day. As you may have read before, I’m not a fan of breast meat so I bought turkey legs. I decided to de-bone them (leave skin on) because I wanted to use the grill. This marinade is enough for 2-3 turkey legs. Grill time will vary because turkey legs vary greatly in size.
Marinade:
Just mix ingredients together and marinate meat for at least 4 hours.
The turkey tasted a bit like BBQ Pork and we both loved it!! I’m sure the marinade would be great for chicken or pork as well.
When looking upon the top sirloin that we had defrosted for dinner, I just didn’t feel like having it as a steak. For some reason it called to me as beef korma. While there are several recipes on AllRecipes for Korma, I decided to make my own.
Korma is a mild-curry dish that is prepared typically with yogurt and nuts. However, I don’t care for nuts in savory food (usually) and we only had either flavored (vanilla) or expensive (Fage) yogurt around, I had to improvise.
Ingredients (approx.)
Instructions
After cutting the steak in half, it was about 8oz; I seasoned it with kosher salt and then grilled it to barely rare.
While the steak was cooking, I heated a tablespoon extra virgin olive oil and a table spoon of unsalted butter in a saute pan over medium-low heat. I then added half of a large, yellow onion, roughly diced and seasoned with a pinch of kosher salt and a teaspoon of red pepper flakes (jalapeño slices would be good too). As the onions softened, I slowly added the key flavors of Korma, about one teaspoon each of: cayenne pepper, turmeric, cumin, garam masala, ground ginger, and a bay leaf; you could also add some coriander if you have it on hand, I didn’t. Then I tossed in five garlic cloves, sliced. You need to keep the heat low and the ingredients moving in the pan to avoid burning.
After the steak rested for a minute or two, and the sauce had been going for about eight minutes, I diced the steak into about one inch by half inch by half inch pieces. They were absolutely under-cooked inside, that’s what you want. I tossed these into the sauce along with about 1/4 cup of half and half and 1/4 cup of frozen peas, coating everything evenly.
Immediately after adding the peas, which will drop the temperature slightly, taste the sauce for seasoning. I decided mine needed more salt and black pepper. I cooked it for another minute, to bring the meat to medium (although medium rare would be nice too) and then plated along with seasoned rice: I used cilantro, ginger, and garlic in my rice.
The dish is mild and delicious. The red pepper flakes really added some pop to this normally simple dish, and it is was simple and fast to make. Enjoy!
