Grilled Mesquite-Smoked Garlic Rosemary Lamb

This recipe was updated on 3 Sep 2013. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added. There is another butterflied leg of lamb recipe using an Asian based marinade which can be found at Grilled Butterflied Lamb Leg.

I couldn’t resist buying a 2 lb. boneless leg of lamb on special at the supermarket (I already had something else planned for dinner). With the bone already removed, the lamb was already butterflied, and all I had to do was remove any excess fat and sinew (don’t remove any outside fat from the lamb). I seasoned the lamb with a rub of olive oil, garlic, and rosemary (from my garden). I grilled the lamb over direct heat to brown it first, and then smoked it with mesquite wood using indirect heat. I left the lamb on the grill a little too long (time has been reduced in the recipe), but it was still very delicious. Leftovers will be made into sandwiches!

Enjoy!

Cloud Ear Salmon Chow Mein (雲耳鮭魚炒麵, Wan4 Ji5 Gwai1 Jyu4 Caau2 Min6)

 

This recipe was updated on 06 Aug 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

I was in the mood for noodles and had some salmon in my refrigerator. I thought about the Cloud Ear Salmon (雲耳鮭魚, Wan⁴ Ji⁵ Gwai¹ Jyu⁴) recipe and decided that with some modifications, the ingredients would make a great chow mein dish. The major recipe changes are the use of green onions instead of fuzzy melon, and for the sauce, substituting oyster sauce for soy.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 lb.	500 g.	Salmon (鮭魚, gwai1 jyu4), cut into 2-inch (5 cm.) pieces
½ in.	15 mm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), crushed in a garlic press
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Corn starch (粟粉, suk1 fan2)
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Shaoxing rice wine (紹興酒, siu6 hing1 zau2) or dry sherry
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Ground white pepper (白胡椒, baak6 wu4 ziu1)
1 tsp.	5 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)
10	10	Whole dried black or cloud ear fungus (雲耳, wan4 ji5), rehydrated with stems removed
3 stalks	3 stalks	Green onions (葱, cung1), cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces on the diagonal
½ in.	15 mm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), crushed in a garlic press
2 cloves	2 cloves	Garlic (蒜, syun3), crushed in a garlic press
1 lb.	500 g.	One package chow mein noodles (炒麵, caau2 min6)
		Oil for cooking

 

Sauce Ingredients

2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Lee Kum Kee brand premium oyster sauce (蠔油, hou4 jau4) or equivalent
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Soy sauce (豉油, si6 jau4)
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Hoisin sauce (海鮮醬, hoi2 sin1 zoeng3)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Shaoxing rice wine (紹興酒, siu6 hing1 zau2) or dry sherry
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Ground white pepper (白胡椒, baak6 wu4 ziu1)
½ Tbs.	7.5 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)

 

Equipment

		Garlic press
14 in.	35.5 cm.	Wok or pan

 

Lee Kum Kee Brand
Premium Oyster Sauce
(蠔油, hou4 jau4)

Preparation Instructions

1. Take the salmon out of the refrigerator at least one hour before cooking. Prepare the salmon by removing any bones, and cut the meat into 2-inch (5 cm.) pieces. Marinate for at least one hour with the ginger crushed in a garlic press, corn starch, Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, ground white pepper, and sesame oil.
2. Pour boiling water over the dried black or cloud ear fungus in a heat proof bowl and rehydrate the fungus for at least one hour. Remove the fungus from the rehydration liquid, discard the rehydration liquid, remove the stems from the fungus, and cut them into 2-inch (5 cm.) pieces if desired.
3. Crush the ginger and garlic in a garlic press and put into a small bowl.
4. Wash and cut the green onions into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces on the diagonal.
5. Prepare and mix the sauce in a small bowl: add the Lee Kum Kee brand premium oyster sauce or equivalent, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, ground white pepper, and sesame oil.

Cooking Instructions

1. Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the package and until the noodles are al dente. Drain the noodles and set aside. If using thawed, ready-made, or fresh noodles, “fluff” the noodles to separate them (i.e. you don’t want put a single mass of noodles into the wok).
2. Heat a wok or pan over high heat before adding oil and then the salmon. Stir fry the salmon until brown by placing the salmon skin side down in the wok and leaving the salmon alone for a while before flipping it over to brown the other side. You may have to stir fry the salmon in batches, so be sure to reheat the wok over high heat before adding more oil. Transfer the browned salmon to a bowl.
3. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding oil and then the black or cloud ear fungus. Stir fry the fungus to brown them. Add the bowl with the ginger and garlic mixture, and then some oil to the mixture. Quickly stir fry all the ingredients until the ginger and garlic mixture becomes fragrant. Transfer the contents of the wok to the bowl with the salmon.
4. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding more oil and then the noodles. The wok should be very hot before adding the oil and then the noodles. Noodles cooked in a restaurant wok (over much higher heat than that available in your kitchen) are served slightly burned, which gives the noodles an extra added flavor.  To try to emulate slightly burned noodles, try to put the noodles in one layer in the hot wok and add some liquid (water, stock, or Shaoxing wine; but not too much liquid otherwise you’ll steam the noodles) to facilitate the heat transfer from the wok to the noodles, and leave the noodles alone. You want the noodles to get burned before adding more oil to the noodles and turning them over, repeating the process.
5. Add the green onions and the contents of the bowl with the salmon back into the wok, and stir fry all the ingredients together. Add the sauce ingredients to the wok and mix the ingredients together. Put the cooked ingredients into a serving dish and serve immediately.

Grilled Chicken Wrap

This is an easy and tasty way to eat grilled chicken leftovers. The tzatziki sauce goes great with the chicken and counters some of the heat of the jalapeño peppers. The wrap can be eaten warm if you microwave it for 1-minute on high, just be sure to put some water on the wrap before microwaving to prevent the tortilla from drying out and cracking.

Enjoy!

Grilled Ginger Peach Chicken (燒烤薑桃子雞, Siu1 Haau1 Goeng1 Tou4 Zi2 Gai1)

 

This recipe was updated on 13 Sep 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

So what do you do with a peach that’s too ripe to eat? I always hate to throw out overripe peaches that you can’t eat. I thought about the Korean beef marinades that have pear juice in them and wondered how a peach would taste in a homemade chicken marinade. I also thought about needing another flavor in the marinade besides peach and my mind wandered to ginger. The ripe peach can be crushed by hand, after removing the peel and the pit, into the marinade. The resulting chicken tastes slightly sweet from the peach that goes well with the ginger flavor.

Enjoy!

Salmon in Black Bean Sauce (豆豉鮭魚, Dau6 Si6 Gwai1 Jyu4)

 

This recipe was updated on 20 Jun 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

Salmon and black bean sauce make a great dish with Shiitake mushrooms and long beans. All my favorites in one dish! What more can I say?

Enjoy!

Stuffed Bitter Melon with Turkey and Shiitake Mushrooms (冬菇釀苦瓜, Dung1 Gu1 Joeng6 Fu2 Gwaa1)

 

This recipe was updated on 07 Jul 2014. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added. A similar recipe was also added: Stuffed Bitter Melon with Pork and Chinese Sausage (臘腸豬肉苦瓜, Laap⁶ Coeng⁴ Zyu¹ Juk⁶ Fu² Gwaa¹).

This classic Cantonese dish is usually made with pork and without the addition of the whole Shiitake mushrooms. I had ground turkey, so I used that to stuff the bitter melon cylinders. Bitter melon lends itself to being stuffed, since the inedible pith and seeds in the middle leave so much space after being removed. I added dried shrimp to the tops of the stuffed bitter melon cylinders to add another flavor to the dish. The further addition of whole Shiitake mushrooms makes the dish even tastier.

Enjoy!

Zhenjiang-Style Pork Baby Back Ribs (镇江排骨, Zan3 Gong1 Paai4 Gwat1)

 

This recipe was updated on 02 Jul 2014. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

I made this dish a couple of times before being satisfied with the results since this is not the traditional recipe. First of all, the dish is usually made with 1- to 2-inch rib pieces rather than using the whole rib, and secondly, the ribs are usually deep fried before being braised in the sauce. Rather than deep frying the ribs, I browned them in the wok. I found that if you brown the ribs for too long, the meat becomes hard and tough, so the ribs need to be quickly browned in small batches (i.e. don’t crowd the ribs into the wok). I also made the dish without browning the ribs first and the dish came out tasty, but the ribs didn’t have that deep dark color the browned version has. So it’s up to you to brown or not-brown the ribs.

When I first made the dish, I used a lot more soy sauce. The reduced sauce was too salty, so there is a small amount of soy sauce used in the recipe. Also at first, I thought that I used too much sugar, but it turns out to be the right amount because you don’t get the right syrupy consistency if there’s less sugar and the sugar balances the vinegar.

Enjoy!