One recent purchase, Asian Dumplings, by Andrea Nguyen, has provided many hours of tasty delights, unique flavors and inspiring culinary adventures.

One recipe I was dying to try after having read it a few months back is found on page 53: “Nepalese Vegetable and Cheese Dumplings.” One of our favorite restaurants in Madison, Himal Chuli, which serves Nepali cuisine, makes similar Tarkari Momo (the Nepalese name for these dumplings).

Not only are these dumplings one of our favorite dishes at Himal Chuli, Andrea’s recipe begins by heating whole milk and curdling it with lemon juice to make fresh cheese! You know it’s going to be great when the first step in the recipe is to make cheese.

I made a full batch of these dumplings late last night in order to use up some greens from our veggie boxes and to freeze for a later date. The recipe makes 32 dumplings, though I ended up with even more filling leftover and 26 dumplings in the freezer (plus 6 on our plates).

The exotic flavors in these dumplings comes from fresh cilantro, cumin, Sichuan peppercorns, hot peppers, fresh ginger and garlic. I served it with some ratatouille, but any tomato/pepper based sauce that you jazz up with lime juice, hot peppers and other seasoning would be perfect.

Andrea provides great detail in all her recipes, including step-by-step instructions and tips for freezing most recipes. Rather than copying down her recipe here, I’m going to recommend you get the book, or simply explore some new and interesting dumpling recipes – you won’t be disappointed!

Warm, gooey, bursting with flavor. What more do you need?

4 peaches cut in half, pitted, skins removed
2 T butter
1 heaping spoonful of honey
freshly grated nutmeg
2 slices ginger

Melt butter and honey over medium heat, add ginger and nutmeg. Place peaches cut-side down, spoon sauce over top. Cook till sauce browns moving peaches from time to time to prevent sticking. Serve immediately, cut-side up, covered in caramel and garnished with the ginger slice.

Harvest Moon
2 oz Cane + Abe (or another Dark Rum with a noticeable oak character)
1/2 oz Annisette (or Raki for a drier version)
1/2 oz Triple Sec (preferably a dry, perfumey one like Luxardo)
dash Old Fashioned Bitters

Shake with ice, strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a cherry.

Okra
8 oz. fresh okra
1 T. butter
large pinch sea salt

Melt butter.  Add okra, stir occasionally, keeping an eye on it so it doesn’t burn.  Salt when it starts to brown a bit.

Pancakes
By weight:
2 parts liquid : 1 part egg : 1/2 part fat : 2 parts flour (any combination of your favorite grains will do)

Mix liquid, egg and fat.  stir in flour (salt and baking powder also if using).  Heat pan with some butter over medium heat.  Cook a minute or two per side.

Top pancakes with okra and drizzle with maple syrup (I prefer grade B for its more robust flavor, especially here).

The excitement of tomatoes (and everything else both exciting and mundane) occurring at a accelerated pass this month have led us to a tomato centric post lacking specificity. Though we believe it will sufficiently inspire greatness. So here are our tomato creations Aug.-2011.

Zucchini Pappardelle:
Basically, thinly sliced zucchini takes the place of fetichini and is topped with peppers and tomatoes! Um, yes please!

August Pizza:
A thin crust (100 grams whole wheat flour, pinch of salt, a bit of yeast and 60 grams water), pre-baked for 2 minutes at 500F on a stone, flipped and in for another 2 minutes. Thin layer of pesto spread across the crust (basil, Parmesan, cashews, and olive oil blended in the food processor) and a layer of sliced tomatoes. A layer of cheese (2/3 mozzarella and 1/3 smoked mozzarella). Then more tomatoes, peppers and chioggia beets. Back in the oven for 10 minutes. Cool for 4-5 minutes. Best. Pizza. Ever.

Gazpacho:
Tomatoes, cucumbers, celery tops, fresh parsley, almonds, green pepper, garlic, olive oil, white wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Put it all in the food processor, turn it on, then turn it off; done. Thyme for garnish. Enjoyed this with a glass of Antica Formula (yeah, straight vermouth).

Risotto w/ summer saute:
Risotto was cooked in homemade chicken broth. Quick saute of garlic, zucchini, yellow turban, shredded carrots, and tomatoes in olive oil. Enjoyed with a colabritive brew from Mikkeller at nøgne Ø: Tyttebaer, a wild beer with lingonberries.

Dried tomatoes!
Drying tomatoes is the greatest thing to ever happen to a preserver. If you are trying to can enough tomatoes to last the winter, buy a dehydrator, you’ll be so happy! They are like candy and make amazing sauces. Plus, you can turn the dry tomatoes into powder, add a bit of liquid and spread it on winter pizzas; the result is far superior to paste as it is processed at a far lower temp and reatians much of its August character!

Tomato-Melon Salad:
Watermelon is the perfect foil for tomatoes; no joke! Quartered small tomatoes, balled watermelon, cubed cucumber, chopped onion and olives, crumbled feta tossed in olive oil and a bit of vinegar and lime juice, plus salt an pepper.

5 minutes meal:
Move over Rachel Ray, I’m taking over with a five minute meal! Cube tofu, cucumber, and tomato; chop dill. Heat oil, brown tofu. Add tomatoes and cucumber, sprinkle with salt and pepper; heat through (20-30 seconds). Turn off heat, add dill; stir. Serve.

Set that aside for a moment.

I make mead (honey, diluted with water and fermented). One of my favorite meads to make is a hydromel (low strength) braggot (mead with malted grain) that vaguely resembles a schwarzbier. I make a gallon of “tea” with 150F water and 1/2 lbs carafa malt (a huskless or debittered roasted malt from Germany); steep for 30 minutes. Put 2 gallons cold water in a carboy, add tea and 6 lbs honey. Stir or shake to dissolve honey. Rehydrate yeast (I use lavin D-47), preferably with Go-Ferm, add to carboy. Using a bit of yeast nutrient (blend of DAP and Fermaid-K) helps things (but not absolutely necessary as the malt adds some needed nutrients); I only use an addition before adding the yeast and after 24 hours for this low gravity mead. See the BJCP mead guide for a complete resource on mead making (BJCP Mead Guide). The resulting mead is something of a chameleon. The vanilla pops when enjoyed with something sweet and the burnt pops when paired with the savory. Moreover, it’s only a scant 3% abv so you can enjoy it for dinner and dessert!

OK, back to the cola. The light vanilla-roast and light fruity esters of the mead, plus the lightly sweet vanilla oakiness of brandy and a bit of sweet herbally goodness from a red vermouth (plus citrus if you use Punt e Mes) and an herbal-orange bit from Peychaud’s bitters results in a remarkably cola-like concoction! Plus it has the bonus of the light natural carbonation of the mead and not leaving your mouth coated with sugar… oh, and the booze.

As for the name, I was listening to Muse when I started this post, and Cydonia Cola sounded way cooler than the term “Adult Cola” that had been kicking around our house for the past few months.

Cydonia Cola
1 oz Brandy
1 oz sweet vermouth (I prefer Punt e Mes here, though Antica Formula or even Cinzano or Noilly Prat will do)
1-2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
5-6 oz Schwarz Mead

Fill high ball with ice. Pour ingredients in order listed. Serve with a stirrer or straw.

Coffin Nail:
1 part Brandy
1 part Fernet Branca
1/2 part Creme de Menthe (do your self a favor and get Marie Brizard or make your own)

Pour into shaker with ice. Shake. Strain into cocktail glass. End your evening.

Yet as much as gin has improved since the days of prohibition, when preparing a martini, many so-called “recipes” result in a gross and pointless beverage.  These instructions would have you put your bottle of gin in the freezer until it is ice cold, then pour the straight spirit into a chilled glass, add the slightest splash of vermouth (or not), and drop an olive in.  So basically, drink straight gin at ~5F… how, um, sophisticated?  This is palatable only because the spirit is so cold, but one could drink just about anything so cold and it would seem OK because it just numbs the tongue.  What a waste.  [Of course, if you have some crappy multi-national gin you're getting what you deserve!]

On the other hand, there are many exciting craft gins (my favorite are Anchor Junipero and Death’s Door Gin, though i regularly have 3 or 4 other gins in the bar) out there right now and a dry vermouth from California that is worth searching (Vya extra dry vermouth)  that result in a martini you can sip and savor at a temperature that does not numb your taste-buds.  To really enjoy the gin it needs a bit of dilution, both from ice and the vermouth.  Moreover, if you are using a fine vermouth like Vya (though Noily Prat is not awful, and there is a place of Martini-Rossi if you are making a truly dry martni) it adds to the complexity of the drink.

My Martini is decidedly wet!  There are those out there who champion the 50/50 Martini, but I prefer a 2:1 ratio.  The resulting cocktail has all the flavor and punch of gin, but a subtle soft vermouth background, and a sufficiently diluted proof it doesn’t burn at a flavor-friendly temperature.

2:1 Martini
2 oz Gin
1 oz Vermouth
olive

Pour gin, then vermouth into mixing glass with 3-4 ice cubes. Stir. Strain into martini glass. Drop olive in. Actually enjoy!

Buns:
100 grams whole wheat flour
90 grams white bread flour
10 grams vital wheat gluten (helps ensure a stiff dough that will hold its shape without a mold)
120 grams warm water
salt
yeast

Mix the dry stuff, add the water, mix till all the flour is moistened. Knead briefly and let it rest for 20-30 minutes. Later, knead the dough until it is firm, divide into three and shape into circles, place on greased baking sheet, cover and let rise. Bake at 425F for ten minutes. Remove to cooling rack. Slice when needed (it’s OK if they are still warm).

Quick Pickles:
3 med-small pickling cucumbers
cider vinegar (4-5 oz.)
water (2-3 ox)
salt
allspice berries
coriander seed
dill seed
celery seed
cumin seed
a bit of ancho chili powder

Slice cucumbers (3 mm) and place in heat proof bowl. Heat liquid and spices (I left them whole) to boil, turn down heat, let simmer a few minutes, return to boil, pour over cucumber slices. Leave on counter to cool slowly. Remove from brine with slotted spoon (as you’ll need the brine for leftovers).

[Quick pickles are a great chance to experiment with different flavorings for pickles as one does not need to worry about the ph of the final product.]

Fries:
2 fist-sized potatoes
oil
salt

Julienne potatoes, soak in salted ice water for 30ish minutes. Drain, toss with a drizzle of canola oil and a couple pinches of salt. Bake for 20 minutes at 425F, stir, bake another 10 minutes. Remove from oven just before serving. (It was hard to believe they weren’t deep-fried given how crispy they were.)

Burgers:
1 lbs grass fed 80/20 beef
~2 scant tablespoons hoisin sauce
1-2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
~1 teaspoon fresh ground yellow mustard seed
pinch of salt

Mix it all together until seasoning is evenly distributed. Form into three loose* patties 2/3 inch thick. Heat an extremely lightly oiled skillet over med-high heat. When oil shimmers, add patties, cover and let cook about 3 minutes (until slightly firm and juice is coming out of the top). Flip (DO NOT PRESS ON THEM!**), cover and cook another minute or two. Remove from pan and place on bottom half of sliced bun to catch all the yummy juice!

*Just tight enough to keep their shape, otherwise burgers may be dense and chewy.
**Pressed burgers loose their juices and end up dry and chewy.

Onions:
Onion
salt

Chop onion. Once patties are removed from pan, add the onion, season with a pinch of salt and saute for a couple minutes. Remove pan from heat, transfer browned onions to serving dish, drain grease from pan. Add a splash of red wine (or any kind) vinegar to de-glaze the pan. Add those tasty bits to the onions and toss.

Tomato:
Tomato
knife

Slice an in-season tomato. Serve.
[If tomatoes aren't in season, do yourself a favor and eat your burger without tomato on it!]

Mustard:
Freshly ground mustard seed
enough liquid (water, wine, beer, or vinegar) to make a paste

Mix it all up.

We have perfected (in my opinion) the quick thin crust:

100 g flour (any combination of wheat flours works!)
2-ish g salt
3-5 (or so) g yeast
~7-10 g olive oil
60 g warm water

Mix it all together, knead it for a couple minutes, and let it rise for 40 minutes (or less if you’re impatient) and you will have enough crust to go on your pizza stone. Make sure you preheat your pizza stone in your oven for an hour at it’s hottest temperature; 500 degrees F is great.

I like to roll out my crust on a pizza peel dusted with a bit of corn meal. Pre-bake the crust on its own for 2-3 minutes to ensure you get a nice, crispy-brown crust. Sometimes, especially if I have a lot of high-moisture toppings, I flip the crust to crisp and brown it on both sides.

Once the crust is pre-baked, you can top it however you like! Sauce can be straight tomato paste, pesto, olive oil or anything you like.

Monday’s lunch pizza was filled with fresh, sweet, peak-of-the-season summer veggies. We ran out of whole wheat flour, so I used half white bread flour and half semolina flour in the crust. I kneaded the crust on my counter-top dusted with cornmeal.

While the crust was rising and the oven (with pizza stone inside) was preheating, I prepared my toppings and sauce:

1 shredded carrot
1 shredded beet
2 ripe tomatoes
Shredded cheeses: mozzarella, smoked baby Swiss, pecorino romano

I marinated the carrot and beet in a little brown rice vinegar, canola oil and homemade mustard for a little extra flavor!

Sauce:
2 cubes frozen pesto
2 cubes frozen Roma tomato puree
(Thawed and mixed together.)

After pre-baking the crust, I brushed the sauce on, followed by a layer using half my tomato slices. I then added the mozzarella and Swiss, followed by the remaining toppings and topped it all off with the pecorino romano. We usually bake our pizza for 6-8 minutes until the cheese is melted, browned and bubbling…yum.

The resulting pizza was like candy – full of the sweet tastes of summer!