Month: February 2022

Fresh Fava Bean Risotto

A good friend looooves risotto and fava beans—me too! So I have been thinking to create a dish that offers both.

Eventually tonight I have the mental space and fresh fava in hand. After everyone goes to bed—-I am left alone with the universe and stove.

1. Use cast iron pan. It makes a big difference for this dish: faster and easier. Heat up a little bit of vegetable oil. Today I used avocado oil. If you use butter, start at lower temperature because butter burns easily.

2. Have chicken broth, any bone broth or vegetable broth ready. Medium heat. Quickly stir fry risotto rice (or paella rice, or any short grain rice—-actually, any rice will do! Honestly if budget is an issue, just use any white rice. Stir quickly until slightly golden. (Chopsticks is the best tool here because of its precision and speed.) About 60 seconds. The point is to get the rice fragrant and crispy.

What if I don’t have chicken or bone or vegetable broth? Salt will do too, baby! As long as your fava is fresh and nice!

3. Add the broth. Medium to low heat. About 0.5-1 inch over the rice.

4. Bring to boil. Meanwhile cut fresh fava beans into halves. DO NOT remove the shell of the seeds. The soft shells are perfectly edible and nutritious. Some “fine” cuisine stupidly and painstakingly remove shell by shell. Not only unnecessary and wasteful but also wrong:fava pieces without shells are easy to loose its a la dente texture and shape!

5. Let rice cook in broth for about 1-2 minutes. Add halved fava beans. CAREFULLY mix—-so you do not destroy the shape of the cooked rice.

6. When broth is almost evaporated, add more but just enough to cover fava. Reduce to low heat. Cover the pot.

7. Let it simmer for 1-2 minutes. Fresh fava cooks quickly.

8. Now add any easy-to-cook vegetable. Today I used chopped baby zucchini pieces. Simmer with lid on for another 1 minutes.

9. Turn off heat. Sprinkle some ground Parmigiano cheese. Goat cheese, prosciutto slices, or even paprika, or saffron.

Cooking time start to finish: 10-15 minutes

You will not believe how delicious this simple dish tastes!

It also captures the beauty of early spring…high in protein and nutrient and warms you up heartily.

2/22/2022

Tiger’s Eve Dinner

This year the Covid stopped us from getting together with friends which we always did for Lunar New Year. I felt a bit sad but when I decided to do some grocery therapy, the cashier was so kind and considerate to me. It cheered me up trenmebdously.

Today’s splurge: a big bouquet of tulips (in tiger stripe colors) and pussy willows. Pussy Willow is a traditional cut flower for Chinese New Year for willows are the herald of spring.

Unable to go back to Sichuan, I decided to learn how to cook a famous dish invented in the 11th century (yes it was documented):Dongpo’s pork hock（东坡肘子). After cooking it I concluded this recipe is perfect: simple, delicious, healthy, and satisfying. No complicated tools required. After a thousand years, this recipe is still being widely used. This prime minister/mayor/poet/essayist/calligrapher/painter/urban designer/zen practician was a true Renaissance man—-and yes, a great and original cook! Humanitarian too. Su Dongpo (1037-1101) invented this recipe for his poor citizens who could afford only pork, the cheaper meat but didn’t know how to cook it.

One of the reasons Chinese cuisine has such peerless diversity and excellence, was that throughout history, the best brains and most educated were also chefs and cooks. Which Western major artist or politician was a serious cook? I haven’t yet heard of any. (Please, most of English readers, chances are what you have had is American-“Chinese” food. Sweet and sour pork does not really existed in China.)

The Gay Genius: The Life and Times of Su Dongpo, by Lin Yutang, once a best seller in America, is about Dongpo.

Happy Year of Tiger! May the big cat end the pandemic!