Writing With My Mouth Full

Stir-Fry Flank Steak with Shiso Oil

I also used some of the shiso oil I made for a beef stir-fry dish. It’s the oil that keeps on giving!

Ingredients:
1 pound beef flank steak, cut against the grain in strips
enoki mushrooms
baby bok choy
shiso oil
soy sauce
1 medium onion, roughly chopped

1. Marinate beef. In a bowl, combine beef, shiso oil, soy sauce and onions. Mix and let sit for at least 20 minutes.
2. When ready to cook, heat a large skillet and stir-fry marinated beef for 6 minutes. Add vegetables after the first 3 minutes. Serve immediately.

Shiso-Wrapped Tempura Prawns

For this recipe, I made my own shiso oil to drizzle the prawns with after flash-frying them, but I also used the leaves to wrap them. A toothpick can hold the leaf in place but I ended up using one of the prawn’s harder feelers as a replacement.

Ingredients:
5 prawns, peeled but with heads intact, deveined, feelers and arms chopped
5 shiso leaves
shiso oil
rice flour
club soda
red pepper flakes
lime
salt, oil

1. Wrap each prawn with a shiso leaf. Use a toothpick to keep the shiso leaf in place.
2. Make batter. In a shallow bowl, combine flour, red pepper flakes and salt. Drizzle club soda slowly and mix until it has that pancake batter consistency. Cover each prawn with batter.
3. In a skillet, heat some oil and flash-fry for about 4 minutes, turning each prawn gently with tongs after two minutes. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate and squeeze with lime juice. Serve immediately.

Homemade Shiso Oil

I’ve never seen Ming Tsai on TV before so when I happened to flip to PBS and saw that his ingredient of the day was shiso leaf, I tuned in. Perilla, or shiso leaf to the Japanese, is a member of the mint family. There’s no mistaking that after you take a bite. It has a nice kick to it that’s why it’s perfect as a palate cleanser after a few pieces of sushi. What I like to do when I’m at a Japanese restaurant is to ask the sushi chef to make me a small shiso leaf maki after my omakase meal. It ends the night with a piece of rice and a bright taste in my mouth.

Ingredients:
about 30 pieces of shiso leaves
grapeseed oil
1 tbsp ginger, peeled, minced
1 tsp sugar
salt and pepper

1. Prepare an ice bath in a small bowl in the sink. Boil some water in a pot with a lot of salt. Blanch shiso leaves in boiling water for 1 minute and immediately remove to the ice bath. Squeeze in a ball and cut in smaller pieces.
2. Put shiso leaves in a blender with the ginger, sugar and a little bit of salt and pepper. Blend while slowly drizzling a little bit of grapeseed oil into the mix. Season to taste. Use for shiso-wrapped tempura prawns or shiso-marinated beef stir-fry.

Pork Chops With Rye-Bread Stuffing

In 1959, The New York Times published a recipe using pork chops. Because pork chops are an inexpensive cut of meat, it was then “dinner on the cheap.” Everything is expensive nowadays but three thick chops are still affordable at $9 from Dom’s in SoHo and a knob of rye-bread from Balthazar only cost me $3. I didn’t have caraway seeds for the stuffing so I grounded some fennel and cumin seeds to substitute. It was also a good time to use the parsley I planted last year because it’s been growing like crazy on my window sill. I didn’t seal the pork pockets with toothpicks after stuffing them but they held together nicely and didn’t fall apart. I boiled some pasta during the last few minutes of cooking, tossed it with the pork chops fat and served it with these delicious chops.

Ingredients:
3 bone-in 1-inch-thick pork chops, sliced to form a pocket
a small knob of rye-bread, thrown in a blender or food processor to crumb
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp fennel seeds, grounded
1 tsp cumin seeds, grounded
a small bunch of parsley, roughly chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 tbsps butter
3/4 cup chicken broth
salt and pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 350Âº. In the meantime, make stuffing. In an ovenproof pan, melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat and sautÃ© onion and garlic until softened, about 5 minutes. Add to a large bowl with the bread crumbs, fennel and cumin, parsley and egg. Season with salt and pepper. Mix with a fork until well combined.
2. Season both sides of the pork chops with salt and pepper. Fill the chops with the stuffing. Arrange in the same ovenproof pan and bake, covered, for 45 minutes, turning them over gently after 25 minutes.
3. Switch the oven to broil, move up the oven rack and brown the chops for 3 minutes per side, uncovered. Transfer to a serving platter and keep warm.
4. Set the pan on the stove over medium heat and add remaining butter and broth. Reduce the pan juices to a thick glaze. Simmer, scraping up the pan drippings, until thick enough. Season to taste. Strain over the pork chops.

Related post/s:
Where to get pork chops and rye bread

Bahn Mi, Vietnamese Sandwiches

A Vietnamese sandwich, or bÃ¡nh mÃ¬, has minced pork, potted meat, salami, carrots, cucumbers and cilantro. They are served in a slightly toasted French baguette with a special sauce that brings all the fillings together. Skip on the mayonnaise and order an iced Vietnamese coffee while you wait. There are also the neo-bÃ¡nh mÃ¬s like vermicelli glass noodles, beef fillets, chicken and even tofu. Most of the stores carry other Vietnamese snacks and your best bet would be the summer rolls or the rice cakes. SÃ¡u Voi Corp also sells Vietnamese CDs and DVDs for some soundtrack while you eat. (I’ve updated this post since 2004 with the latest bÃ¡nh mÃ¬ stores.)

I’ve listed my favorites below and they all get â™¥ â™¥

Viet-Nam BÃ¡nh MÃ¬ So 1
369 Broome Street off Mott
212/219-8341
Updated, 2008: Renamed Saigon

SÃ¡u Voi Corp
101-105 Corner of Lafayette and Walker Street
212/226.8184

Paris Bakery
113 Mott Street between Canal and Hester
212/226.7221

Ã ChÃ¢u Deli
82A Mulberry between Canal and Bayard
212/766.3332