Vegetarian Moussaka

Vegetarian Moussaka
I replace the classic ground lamb in this dish with lentils. It turned out really tasty, and the lentils made a good meat substitute in that it was hearty and satisfying. the lentils had heat from the cayenne peppers and acidity from the tomatoes, which was balanced out by the grilled aubergines with olive oil and the smooth rich bechamel sauce on top.

1 cup lentils (soak >2hr ahead of time)
1 24 oz can whole peeled tomatoes
3 celery stalks
1 medium onion
2 medium aubergines
1.5 cups ricotta cheese
1 egg
cumin
cayenne pepper
salt
ground black pepper
1 cup grated guyere cheese
bechamel sauce

slice aubergines into 1/2 inch rounds, salt lightly and let sit for 30 minutes (this takes the bitterness out of them). grill aubergines in pan with olive oil, then cut into 1/2 inch cubes, set aside.
in a large sauce pan sautee chopped celery, onions in olive oil with cumin. when vegetables are translucent, add lentils and 1 cup of water. let lentils simmer for 20 minute till soft. add can of tomatoes (either crush or cut them into small pieces first) and cayenne pepper, salt to taste. continue to reduce the sauce until only a little liquid is left. turn off heat.
mix bechamel sauce together with egg and ricotta cheese.
in a large pyrex baking, pour in lentils. add layer of aubergine. then spread the bechamel sauce mixture over. (if the pan is deeper, a thin layer of sliced boiled and lightly salted potatoes can be layered between the aubergine and bechamel sauce mixture).

bake in 400F oven for 30 minutes. add layer of guyere cheese (optional sprinkle of bread crumbs). stick back into oven for 10 minutes until top is golden brown and crusty.

Bechamel Sauce
1.5 cups whole milk
2 tbs butter
2 tbs flour
4 parsley stalks
2 bay leaves
2 blades of mace
3 slices of onion
10 whole black peppercorns
10 whole white peppercorns
nutmeg
salt

combine milk, parsley, bay leaves, mace, onion and black peppercorn in a sauce pan over medium heat. when it starts simmering, remove from heat and let sit for one hour. in the mean time, melt butter, add flour and let cook for 5 minutes. over medium heat, pour milk mixture into butter/flour slowly whisking to combine. add nutmeg and crushed white peppercorns and salt to taste. sauce should start thickening after 10 minutes.

San Diego Chinese Food - Ba Ren

Disclaimer: I am not chinese. All opinions regarding asian cuisine must be taken as they are made, by a middle-eastern westerner.

I visited a wonderful chinese resturant Friday night. Cindy entised our group of graduate students and post-doc into the short outing to Clairemont Mesa Boulevard. It is key to collect a minimum of 4 people whenever going to try out any new resturant since chinese is almost always family-style eating 9 of us was perfect.

Ba Ren - kinda like texan but from Sichuan. I assumes the resturant's name describes its owners. Located in a strip-mall several miles from asian food central, i.e. Convoy St. you would end up here by accident. We had an inside tip from Qi, the tallest asian woman I know.

Qi and Cindy discussed the menu extensively. Several hundred items on the menu means that there alot to discuss. Such discussions start with a framework: we need 1 vegtable dish, 2 fish dishes, 3 meat dishes and then comes the bargaining session - but the bargaining is between Qi and Cindy & Cindy and Qi. They are both on both sides and keep proprosing combinations of dishes, switching dishes for dishes. Periodically more outside input would be needed so they'd break from Mandarin with "Hey is chicken kosher?" or ask the maitre'd if dried shrimp on crisp rice is good here. Finally an optimal/arbitary solution is achieved:

Dry-Cooked Lamb Gan Guo Yag Ro - Dry wok lamb flesh
Dried spicy beef strips Gan Bien Niu Ro - Dry shrivelled cattle meat
Husband and Wife Lung Fu Qi Fei Pien - Husband Wife Lung Slices
Shrimp over crispy rice Xia Ren Guo Ba - Shrimp young wok scar
Garlic String Beans Gan Bien Si Ji Do - Dry shrivelled Four Seasoned Beans
Homestyle Tofu Bai You Do Fu - Plain Oiled Tofu
Eel Cassorole Shan Yu Sha Guo - Eel Sand Wok

Tsing-Tao was the beer of avaliability if not of choice.

Until now, the dogma had been that Spicy City was the best Sichuan option in San Diego. Spicy City does offer some tasty options, however, Ba Ren immediately surpassed it on swiftness of service. No sooner has we ordered did food start arriving. Husband and Wife Lung first. This is a well spiced dish of cold meat. The beef crimson colored brisket contrasting with creamy white tendon both slices into 2-3mm thick snackable morsels.

Before half the couple was eaten, the beans arrived. There is nothing really special about these garlic beans, unless you have never had chinese stirfried beans before. First of all the beans are only distantly related to what are called beans in the west. These viny legumes often called the asparagus or yardlong bean grow 1-2 feet in length, have a slightly darker hue then a green bean and have wrinkles running down their length. When cooked just right they are still fresh and snappy on the inside. The brief fry in a hot wok bestows a speckled black crispy crust on the outside and almost smoky flavor. These were perfect not too greasy and wells seasoned with fresh garlic.

Ba Ren 4957 Diane Ave San Diego, CA 92117

Iron Chef: Fennel

bought this fennel last week and have been meaning to do something interesting with it. i once had this grilled tuna skewer with a lemon and rosmary olive oil dressing that was delicious. thought perhaps i could make something that had the same sweet freshness that is so unique to fennel... pondered over this in the afternoon while getting an oil change at EZ lube and fending off the mechanics trying to tell me i needed a $545 job on my car, but he will give me a $60 discount, so it will only be $485. yeah, right. anyway, got home and started researching/reading. didn't have all of the ingredients for any of the recipes i found, so decided ot modify and fuse and mutate them into something that i had (this is usually how it is, isn't it?) so as the dish slowly started to take shape in my mind, chopping tomatoes for the salsa, i turned on the tv to my favorite channel: food network. iron chef was on, and it was: iron chef FENNEL! amazing, now i was inspired. although didn't end up making anything that was on the show (duh...) it felt like i was part of the action!

Fennel and Scallops Spagetti

sauce:
1 tbs butter
some garden fresh herbs (thyme, oregano)
1 fennel bulb chopped
1 onion chopped
1 red bell pepper chopped
1/4 cups cream
4 cloves garlic chopped
1lb sea scallops
tumeric, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper to taste

thin spagetti
chopped scallions

cook fennel/onion/herbs/butter till they are translucent. add salt/pepper/garlic. add cream. add seasoning. add red pepper and scallops. cook until scallops are half-done. turn off heat. wait for pasta to be ready.

cook pasta in salted boiling water till al dente. dump in sauce. recook everything together for 3 minutes. add chopped scallions. serve.

thoughts:
bass really liked it. said it made him realize that pasta could be really delicious. i was hoping for a stronger fennel flavor. next time will cook the fennel less so they stay a little crisper/fresher, and perhaps cut them into bigger chuncks. also can add fennel leaves at the end before serving.



Fennel Salsa

Basic salsa:
tomatoes
red bell pepper
corn/avocado
green onion
onion
cilantro
lime/lemon juice
salt/pepper

chopped fennel

thoughts:
the citrus flavor would go well on top of a grilled white fish of some sort. maybe halibut or cod. perhaps even tuna? but not so much salmon...
mango would also be a nice touch in the salsa, to cut the tanginess of lime juice.

NEXT:
fennel tsanziki