WONTON CAZINI WITH LAMB RAGU

On the eighth episode of David Chang’s Netflix series Ugly Delicious, Chang mock-debates Mario Carbone over the origin of dumplings. Chang argues that Asia always has and always will reign supreme, while Carbone makes the case for Italy. It’s a playful and entertaining contest, but it gave me an idea to use Asian wrappers for an Italian dish.

I used this recipe from Saveur for Cazini with Lamb Ragu. I've used it before and made the pasta dough myself. But this time I thought I'd make use of my extra wonton wrappers I stocked up on during the last Hong Kong Market trip. My first attempt was a total fail, because i discounted how thin the wrappers were; however, different brands will have different thicknesses, so I URGE you to make one single cazini and test it before continuing to wrap. I learned my lesson after wrapping a sizable batch only to watch it turn into mush and fall apart. The solution? Using two wrappers and sealing them together with a little water. Those turned out just fine.

LAMB RAGU

• 2 cups coarsely puréed whole peeled tomatoes, preferably San Marzano
• 4 garlic cloves, divided
• 3 tbsp. olive oil, divided
• 1 fresh marjoram sprig
• 1 1⁄2 tsp. thinly sliced fresh sage
• 1 1⁄2 tsp. minced fresh rosemary
• 1⁄4 tsp. crushed red chile, coarsely ground
• 1 1⁄2 tsp. ground fennel pollen (optional)
• 1⁄2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. minced yellow onion
• 1⁄2 cup minced celery
• 1⁄2 cup minced fennel, fronds removed
• 1⁄4 cup minced carrot
• 1 1⁄4 lb. ground lamb
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1⁄4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. red wine
• 2 cups chicken stock

Chop up your vegetables. Then get your tomatoes, garlic, marjoram and olive oil going in a saucepan. 

Bring that to a boil and reduce to a simmer while you start cooking the vegetables.

Start by heating up the sage, chili and rosemary.

Then throw in the diced celery, onion, carrots and fennel.

​After the vegetables have started to soften, add the lamb and cook until it is broken up and no longer pink. Then, add the tomato mixture and chicken stock and bring to a boil.

Reduce to a simmer and let the ragu cook for about 3 hours.

CAZINI FILLING 

• 1 3⁄4 cups plus 2 Tbsp. ricotta
• 1⁄2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. grated Pecorino Romano, plus more for serving
• 1 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 generous pinch freshly ground cinnamon
• 1 generous pinch freshly ground nutmeg
• 1 large egg
• Pinch of kosher salt

Now, grab your wonton wrappers. 

Lay out the wrappers, but remember my warning: Try boiling one before you fill a big batch to see if you need a double layer like I did.

Fill each wrapper with about 1 Tbsp of the filling and seal the edges with a small amount of water. 

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and drop a batch of cazini in. Mine took just a minute to cook, yours may take up to two. Again, this is why it’s important to do a test with a single cazini before you throw a whole batch in.

Remove cazini with slotted spoon. I would recommend against using a spider as it might pierce the delicate dough.  

Serve immediately with ragu and grated Pecorino Romano if you wish!

KHINKALI

This is a very belated post. I documented this cooking project before I started this blog, and it's about time I shared it!

About a year ago, I joined the Saveur Cookbook Club on Facebook. In the group each month a contributor picks a cookbook to feature and members try their hand at the recipes. Results are shared with photos, tips and insights. It's a great opportunity to learn about new cuisines and connect with other food-lovers. 

The month I joined, the featured cookbook was Tasting Georgia: A Food and Wine Journey in the Caucasus by Carla Capalbo. My friend Benjamin Kemper led the group that month.

I chose to give Khinkali a try. These are hearty Georgian soup dumplings made with beef and pork, onion and a variety of spices. They're served with a healthy dose of black pepper and eaten by hand. This recipe is originally from Carla's book and was also featured in Food & Wine. 

First, make your dough. 

DOUGH

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 cup water

1 large egg, beaten

Combine flour with sea salt. Make a well in the center and add 1/2 cup water and egg. Stir until incorporated and "shaggy" dough forms. Knead until smooth. Set aside in lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap.

Now make the meat filling.  

MEAT FILLING 

• 4 oz ground beef
• 4 oz ground pork
• 1/3 cup chopped yelow onion
• 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh cilantro  
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 tsp dried kondari or mild thyme
• 1/4 tsp coriander seeds, crushed
• 1/4 tsp caraway seeds, finely chopped
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• `/4 tsp crushed red pepper
• 1/8 tsp ground cumin
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup water or beef broth

Stir ingredients together until well blended. 

Now it's time to assemble the dumplings! 

Divide dough into thirds and keep the remaining dough covered in bowl while you work on each batch. On a lightly floured surface, roll out to about 1/4-inch thickness. Using a 2 1/2-inch round cutter or in my case, glass, cut out dough circles. Re-roll dough scraps to add to remaining dough. 

Scoop about 1 tbsp of meat filling in each circle. Now comes the fun, slightly challenging part: Pleating the dumplings. Lift an edge of the dough circle and pinch the dough create a pleat, then continue around the perimeter. Pinch the top and twist to make a stem. Let sit on parchment paper while you repeat the process with remaining dough and filling. 

I call these "happy little sacks of meat."  

Now, bring a pot of salted water with 2 bay leaves to a boil. Add half of the dumplings and stir to make sure they don't stick to the bottom of the pot. Boil for 8-10 minutes. Remove khinkali and drain on paper towels. Repeat with remaining dumplings. 

Serve with generous sprinkling of freshly-ground black pepper. To best enjoy, pick up the khinkali by the stems and bite into the base. You'll first get a delicious burst of the broth and then can enjoy the rest of the dumpling. You can see that they are similar to a Chinese soup dumpling, but so different because of the spices used and black pepper garnish.

Dumplings always make me happy and these were a nice departure from the Chinese versions I'm used to. I look forward to perfecting my pleats.

MINI APPLE PIES WITH BRIE

Being from Connecticut, one of my favorite autumn activities growing up was baking apple pie. And not just the baking part, but the whole process. Going to Roger's Orchards, picking our own apples from the tree, then stopping at the Orchard store to pick up fresh apple cider donuts and eating one in the car ride home, inevitably getting sugar EVERYWHERE. 

I always make at least one pie every fall here in New Orleans to keep the New Englander in me alive. This year, however, I decided to do something a little different. First, make individual pies to share with friends, and second, add pieces of Brie to the filling in place of butter. A quick google search revealed I was not the first person to think of doing this, and now that I have I predict it will be a new staple for the holidays. These are great to bring to your Thanksgiving gathering or holiday party, as they require no messy pie slicing and more importantly are extremely cute.

I was looking into par-cooking my apples to make sure they would be cooked enough with the shorter baking time, and i learned that an easy way to soften the apples without overcooking is the hot water pour-over method. This article from Serious Eats dives into the science behind perfect pie-filling if you're interested! You'll need a muffin or cupcake tin for this recipe.

MINI APPLE PIES WITH BRIE 

• 2 packages pie crust (more power to you if you want to make your own!) 
• 5 apples peeled and cut into small chunks
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• Grating of nutmeg
• 6 tbsp flour
• Pinch of salt
• 1 wedge Brie cheese, about 4 oz, kept cold until ready to cut

Preheat oven to 425.

Peel and cut up your apples, place in bowl and cover with boiling water. Let sit for 10 minutes.

Then drain apples in colander. Shake to get rid of excess water. 

​Once the water has drained from your apples, place back into bowl and add your sugar, spices and flour.

Mix together well and let sit while your cut your dough.

Lay out your pie crust on a lightly floured surface and use a large glass or medium sized bowl to cut out rounds of the dough. You'll need to measure this in accordance with the size of your muffin tin--the rounds must be big enough to fold into each slot.

Now scoop in your filing, leaving a bit of room for the Brie on top. 

Now it's time to add the cheese. It's important to note you must keep your Brie cold until you are ready to cut it, otherwise it will be a mess. 

Place a few chunks of Brie in each pie. 

You can top the pies however you like. I went for some lazy lattice on top---certainly not the prettiest, can you tell I'm not a regular baker?  

Bake for 18-22 minutes until crust is lightly browed. You'll see the cheese bubbling with the apples. 

Let cool but not too long---the melted Brie is the best part!  

CREATING A COCKTAIL

Every Friday at the pub we feature a $5 cocktail. The weekly challenge is coming up with something original, cost-effective, and not overly-complicated---we are a busy Irish pub, after all, and our customers are generally fairly thirsty on a Friday afternoon. I try to switch up the spirits and flavor profiles to keep it interesting, but at the same time not get so obscure that the drink becomes intimidating. Here I am going to walk you through creating your own cocktail, starting with making your own simple syrup.

SIMPLE SYRUP 

One way to set a cocktail apart is making a unique simple syrup. Simple syrup is a mixture of equal parts sugar and water, heated just enough to dissolve the sugar, then cooled and strained if necessary depending on what ingredients you've added. Those could be herbs, fruit, spices---whatever you want!

For example, take this "herb basket" simple syrup I made a few weeks ago. You may recall from my first post that I went shopping at Hong Kong Market, and on that trip I stocked up on a bunch of fresh herbs and produce. I used lemongrass, mint, Thai basil and cilantro to create one master syrup that showcases the variety of flavors you taste in Vietnamese and Thai cuisine.

HERB BASKET SIMPLE SYRUP

• Handful each of Thai basil, mint and cilantro

• Two stalks lemongrass, ends cut off and tougher outer layer removed

• 2 cups sugar

• 2 cups water

Put everything in a pot and turn the heat to medium. You don't need to boil it, just keep it on the heat long enough for the herbs to wilt and the sugar to dissolve, stirring to help along the process.

Remove from heat and let cool. Once syrup is cool, strain into bottle or jar and store in refrigerator. Syrups made with spices or herbs can last up to three months, and those made with fruits 2-3 weeks, but use your nose. 

Now that I've taught you how to make the syrup (how simple was that?) I'm going to show you how you can use it in two very different cocktails.

HERB BASKET GIMLET

The first cocktail is light and bright, and super easy to make. It's ideal for spring and summer, but I'd drink it all year round.

• 2 oz gin (I used Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin)

• 3/4 oz fresh lime juice

• 3/4 oz herb basket simple syrup

Combine all ingredients in cocktail shaker packed with ice and shake vigorously. Strain into coupe or over ice in a rocks glass. Garnish with sprig of mint or Thai basil.

BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA

This one is only slightly more complex. It will incorporate the sweet vermouth I made recently. If you read my post, you'll know that the vermouth turned out slightly more bitter than expected. So I skipped the bitters*, added ginger liqueur and the herb basket simple syrup for additional sweetness, and just a little lemon juice for tartness. I tried a few combinations with my coworker before we settled on the recipe, and that's what creating a well-balanced cocktail is all about. This one will be great to sip on through the fall and winter months.

• 1 1/2 oz Rye whiskey

• 1 oz sweet vermouth

• 1/2 oz ginger liqueur

• 1/2 oz herb basket simple syrup

• 3/4 oz fresh lemon juice

• *if using a store-bought vermouth, add 3 dashes angostura bitters

Combine all ingredients in cocktail shaker with ice, shake and strain into coupe. Garnish with Luxardo cherry.

I hope this has been a good introduction to cocktail-creating for those of you who are beginners. And for both beginners and my more experienced readers, I hope you'll give these cocktails a try and let me know what you think!

SCHMALTZ ROASTED VEGETABLES

One of the most comforting meals to make this time of year is roast chicken with winter vegetables. I've been mastering the art of perfect cast-iron chicken thighs and I think I've got it down. But sometimes all I’m craving is the side of vegetables that comes with the chicken, flavored decadently by its fat. So I save the drippings from my chicken for just these occasions. I was looking up recipes for cooking in chicken fat and found this one from Food & Wine that pairs the delightfully rich vegetables with a simple gremolata. In my version I skipped the carrots and cauliflower and used sweet potatoes instead, and subbed shallots for the red onions. I also used my cast-iron skillet instead of a sheet pan. The recipe should work with whatever winter vegetables you're craving or are in season locally.

I'll note that traditional schmaltz, or rendered chicken fat, is made on its own with pieces of chicken fat, chicken skin and onion cooked down at a medium low heat, but the fat leftover from my chicken thighs worked perfectly well. Whichever way you come by your shmaltz, you can store it in a container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

SCHMALTZ ROASTED VEGETABLES

Preheat your oven to 425 and get to work on prepping your vegetables.

Chop up your sweet potato. Then your shallots or red onion. For shallots, simply slice in half. 

I left my brussels sprouts whole because they were small, but if they're larger you can cut them in half or quarters. I also peeled whole cloves of garlic to really mix in with my potatoes, but you can leave it unpeeled and simply chop a whole head of garlic in half if you prefer.

Get your pan going over medium-low heat and scoop a big spoonful of chicken fat (about 3 tbsp) into the pan. 

Beautiful, gorgeous schmaltz.  

Let that melt and toss your vegetables in. You may want to work in batches; the most important thing is to evenly coat the vegetables with the fat.

Combine all the vegetables back into the pan or onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Sprinkle with sea salt and pepper. Now you're ready to roast. Bake for 35-45 minutes.

In the meantime, prepare your gremolata. 

GREMOLATA 

Chop up a bunch of parsely, enough to give you a packed cup.

Grate a teaspoon of lemon zest and juice half of the lemon. Mince a clove of garlic and combine with the parsely and lemon in a bowl. Add 1/2 a cup of extra-virgin olive oil.

Season with salt and pepper and you're done! Now just sit back and wait for the vegetables to finish roasting. 

Serve the vegetables with generous scoops of the gremolata and enjoy! 

Thanks to  Melissa and Jasmine Hemsley for this recipe!

HOMEMADE VERMOUTH/A PERFECT MARTINI

There's two things I've been meaning to check off my to-do list for some time: take advantage of my local apothecary and make my own vermouth. Over the weekend, I checked off both. Vermouth is often a minor component to cocktails and not the star of the show. But good vermouth can be enjoyed by itself on the rocks with an olive or citrus twist, or both. I was in San Sebastián last fall, and I learned that drinking vermouth in the daytime is a Sunday tradition. One Saturday I made some new friends that kept talking about meeting the next morning for "martinis." I was imagining the stiff gin cocktail and thought that it sounded like an aggressive choice for a Sunday morning but kept an open mind. However, what they were referring to was what I know as sweet vermouth. Sweet vermouth is served in a large wine glass with chunky ice cubes, an olive or two and an orange slice. A Marianito or "vermut preparado" includes gin and Campari as well, but unlike a Negroni the vermouth is far higher to the other two spirits in the mixing ratio.

Rosalie Apothecary, 3201 Toulouse St. 

I found this recipe for homemade vermouth from Wine Enthusiast Magazine. The recipe starts with a base of white wine and herbs and then turns sweet or dry depending on the type of sherry used to fortify it the next day. Some of the herbs and roots called for in the recipe can be hard to find, and the linked article includes their suggestion for where to order online. Fortunately for me, there is a lovely apothecary shop called Rosalie in my neighborhood that happened to have everything I needed. 

Once I got my hands on the good stuff, I picked up two bottles of Pinot Grigio and was ready to begin. Finding the ingredients will likely be the hard part---the process itself is quite simple.

Measure out all your ingredients and place in a stockpot. Cover with the wine and bring to a boil, then take the pot off the heat and let it cool.  

Once you let the mixture cool, funnel it back into the two empty wine bottles and store in the refrigerator overnight.

You'll need one bottle of dry sherry and one bottle of sweet or cream sherry. I used Osborne Manzanilla sherry for the dry and Taylor cream sherry for the sweet. I picked these up from my local grocery store, and you may decide to use a more premium brand for the cream--Taylor was cheap--although I found it worked just fine. Strain the vermouth into new bottles or a pitcher with a mesh strainer or coffee filter over a funnel and discard the herbs. Then add your sherries. The recipe I used called for two cups of each sherry to fortify the wine and finish the vermouth.

And you're done! Your vermouth will stay good stored in the fridge for up to one month. 

Now, it's time for a cocktail.

PERFECT MARTINI 

A "perfect" martini is one that includes equal parts of sweet and dry vermouth, so I thought this would be an ideal way to enjoy the fruits of my labor. I used Broker's London Dry Gin, because it's what we had on our bar at the house (Thanks Emily!) 

• 2 oz gin

• 1/2 oz dry vermouth

• 1/2 oz sweet vermouth

• Olive and/or citrus twist  

Fill an empty cocktail glass with ice to chill. Combine ingredients in cocktail shaker or mixing glass. Add ice and stir vigorously until lightly diluted. Discard ice from cocktail glass and strain martini into chilled glass. Garnish with olive and/or lemon twist (I went for both.)

There are many more vermouth cocktails I look forward to trying, but I'm also excited to enjoy them on their own. Now that I've learned how easy the process is, I'm ready to experiment with different variations in the future. For example, I might try adding more citrus peel next time and a little less cinnamon--because my cinnamon sticks were so large, that's one of the more predominant flavors. As this was my first endeavor in fortifying wine, I'd call the project a great success. Perfection will take time and require me to become more familiar with these uncommon herbs and roots, but nobody said perfection was easy. Until then, you can find me sipping on a perfect martini and thinking about my next Spanish-style Sunday.

Salud! 

BO KHO DUMPLINGS

It’s finally cooling down here in New Orleans and I am so ready for fall. Being from New England, this time of year is when I get the most homesick. One of my greatest comforts is making a big batch of stew, letting it cook for hours on the stove and filling the house with the intoxicating smell of onions, carrots, beef and red wine. More recently though I’ve been learning to make Bo Kho, a Vietnamese beef stew.

There is a significant Vietnamese population in New Orleans, both in New Orleans East and the West Bank, as a result of a wave of immigration following the Vietnam War. Many were refugees sponsored by Catholic Charities, and a large number entered the local fishing industry. Today, Vietnamese cuisine is a notable element of New Orleans cuisine. In fact, one of the most popular sellers of Carnival Season king cake is Dong Phuong Bakery in New Orleans East.

Hong Kong Market on the West Bank is an enormous grocery store with an unbelievable selection of sauces, vinegars, cooking wines, dried and fresh noodles, canned and pickled vegetables, meat, seafood and produce. Additionally there is a large frozen section with various types of dumplings and buns. As I was reaching for some frozen wonton wrappers I had a thought: what if I combined two of my greatest loves—stew and dumplings? I’ve made Xiao Long Bao (Chinese soup dumplings) and Khinkali (Georgian soup dumplings,) so maybe this wouldn’t be such a stretch. I went for it and was pleasantly surprised (relieved) at how well they turned out.

I will be starting my instructions AFTER you’ve made the Bo Kho, the recipe for which you can find here. The Woks of Life’s recipe has never failed me and I certainly can offer no improvements. The one change I made is to mince the carrots into small pieces rather than the large chunks you would typically include in a Bo Kho. They will be part of the filling so they need to be very small. My suggestion is do what I did and make a big batch one night, enjoy, and get started on the dumplings the next day.

OK, let’s go!

For the dumplings:

• Leftover Bo Kho made with about 2 lbs of beef, meat removed and stew liquid reserved to side

• One bunch of scallions, chopped

• 4 tbsp ginger, chopped

• 2 tbsp soy sauce (more or less to taste)

• One package frozen wonton wrappers, thawed in fridge (Feel free to make your own dough, I took the easy way out.)

For the dipping sauce:

• Juice of half a lime

• 1 tsp rice wine vinegar

• 3 tbsp soy sauce or tamari

• Chili oil to taste, depending on your heat tolerance

First, chop up your scallions and ginger.

Once you’ve removed the meat from the stew, place it on a cutting board and shred it with two forks. After its shredded, chop it going against the grain of the meat. You want this to be very fine so you can scoop out small balls of the filling into the dumplings.

Now transfer the meat into a large bowl. Ladle a small amount of the stew liquid at a time over the meat and mix together. Make sure to get lots of carrot in there. Add the scallions and ginger and then a little more stew liquid, until the mixture is quite wet but no liquid pools at the bottom of the bowl. The soy sauce is optional and depends on the saltiness of your original stew. Since the meat is already cooked, you can really season this according to taste which is super helpful.

Now, chill the filling for two days.

JUST KIDDING…but that’s what I did, because right in the middle of all of this my landlord surprised me by announcing that he was on his way with a new stove to install. I’m super grateful for my new stove, but the timing was comically bad, and due to further complications it wasn’t until two days later that I was able to resume this project.

Realistically, you should chill the filling for about thirty minutes. This will let it firm up a bit to help you scoop it into the dumpling wrappers.

Lay out a long sheet of parchment paper on a work surface. Place the wonton wrappers across the paper with a small bowl of water to wet your fingers. Start scooping the filling into the center of the wrappers, about a tablespoon in each. Dip your fingers into the water and wet a ring along the the wrapper to seal the edges so you have a pretty little meat-filled crescent. When you’ve filled your wrappers, it’s time to get to cooking!

I chose to steam my dumplings in a bamboo steamer, but you can pan fry them if you prefer (I did the following night.) The steamer I have is 10 inches, works great and was just $25 from my local restaurant supply shop. You should also be able to find one in an Asian grocery store like Hong Kong Market. Line each steamer basket with parchment paper or large lettuce leaves and place the dumplings inside. Fill the bottom of a wok or large skillet with two inches of water and bring to a simmer. Set the bamboo steamer inside the wok/skillet, and let it steam for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the dipping sauce. Combine lime juice, vinegar, chili oil and soy sauce in a small bowl. That’s it.

Once your dumplings are done, serve with the dipping sauce and enjoy!