My first experiment with Rhubarb

A few months ago, I had no idea what Rhubarb is. I've never seen it and never even tasted it. At the very first market I went to in Macon, France, I came across a jar of jam that was labeled "Rhubarb", and I asked (in French) the vendor what rhubarb was. He tried to explain it, but at the very end, I still hadn't a clue what it was. When I came back to the States I started seeing it sold everywhere in the farmer's market. At first I didn't know what to expect out of this long-stemmed celery like items, so I didn't even think about buying it. Maybe it's the season for rhubarbs, I started seeing it getting mentioned everywhere, and my friend Rebecca started using it a lot. I had it in a pie that she made, and I also tried a compote that the restaurant I worked at made. It's kind of hard to describe the taste. I did some research on rhubarb, and apparently it is classified as a type of fruit in the United States, although it looks nothing like it. The leaves are toxic and the stems are too sour to eat on its own. Therefore, the most common way of preparing rhubarb is for desserts, a sugary compote, or jam.
I finally was brave enough to buy rhubarb the other day from the Lancaster market. I made a compote, that turned out to be delicious. I don't like things too sweet, so I went heavy on the lemon juice and less on the sugar, but experiment with the amount that you want!

Here's my recipe:
2 stems of rhubarb chopped into 1/2 inches
1/2 cup of red wine
juice of 1 whole lemon
1/4 cup of sugar

Put everything in a pot and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the rhubarbs starts to peel off, and you'll definitely know when that is, cause it caught me by surprise. After that's all thickened up, let it set until it cools.
I served it on top of ice cream, which turned out to be a great combination. The sourness from the compote complemented greatly with the sweetness of the vanilla ice cream. It's also good on top of yogurt, bread, or as a dessert filling.

Experiment with this wonderful "fruit" while it's in season!

All snowed in!

It is complete madness outside. After getting more than two feet of snow this past Saturday, another storm hits the Washington, DC area. I woke up this morning, hoping that the snow would have stopped, and I would at least be able to go out get and a cup of coffee and maybe a nice stroll in the fresh snow. Negative! I woke up to see a blizzard outside, worse than the one on Saturday. Not only is it snowing hard, the wind has also picked up. I don't think anyone can even step outside in this weather.
Instead, I brewed some water and made my own cup of coffee. The coffee was delicious, but staring out the window, I just can't stand another day of being trapped inside.
Then I figured, what can I do to kill time? How about I cook up something time consuming! Since I don't eat meat, It's hard to find something that needs a lot of time to roast or baste, but then I remembered, why don't I make ratatouille? It's a dish with simple ingredients, yet a very challenging and time-consuming dish to make. And magically I just had all the necessary ingredients in my fridge.
I looked up on epicurious.com to find recipes, and voila! there was one by Julia Child, the master herself. I chopped, I sauteed, I basted, etc. And an hour and a half later, I had finished making my first ever dish by Julia Childs. Since it's still early, I've decided to let it sit in its juice a little longer before I dig into it at lunch time. Good thing is a dish that can also be served at room temperature! Pictures and tastings to come later!

Yum is all I have to say. This is all that I imagine a ratatouille dish would be. The vegetables are all soft and tender, and there is so much flavoring from just salt, pepper, and the vegetables itself. This is definitely a success!!

My love affair with Balsamic Vinagrette

I have recently discovered that balsamic vinagrette is probably the best ingredient to use in cooking. It can be used in just about everything from fish to vegetables to sauces, etc. And it's also a healthy alternative! One suggestion I would make is to invest in a really good bottle of BV, because a bottle actually goes a long way, and you want to have the best and full-bodied flavored as possible! Here are some simple recipes that I've used for salad dressings, for marinating fish, as well as vegetable stir fry.

All the recipes will be for a single serving, but feel free to double it or triple it!

• Balsamic Vinagrette Salad Dressing:

1 tbsp Balsamic Vinagrette
1/2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 tbsp Mustard (I like the ones with seeds in it, but feel free to use any kind)
Whisk them together and drizzle over your favorite salad!
What I usually like to do is warm it up for a few seconds in the microwave and then top it on arugula salad, it wilts the arugula down just a bit, and makes it extra yummy!

• Balsamic Vinagrette Wine Reduction Sauce:

A while back I made this amazing vegetable soup out of celery, carrots, tomatoes, red peppers, onions, etc. It was some of the best soup I've ever had. I also had a bottle of wine that's been opened for a while that wasn't suitable for drinking. So I thought, why don't I attempt to make a wine reduction sauce out of it? The recipe is approximate, I'm not a person who strictly adhere to any recipes anyway, so use it only as a reference :)

1/2 cup of homemade vegetable soup (drained)
1/2 cup of red wine
2 tbsp of Balsamic Vinagrette

Combine all ingredients in a small pot, let it simmer for about 1-2 hours.
Use it with brussel sprouts, broccoli, or marinate any type of meat with it.

• Baked Salmon with honey balsamic vinagrette

1 piece of salmon about 6 to 8 oz lightly season with salt and pepper
For the sauce
2 tbsp Balsamic Vinagrette
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tbsp mustard
1 tsp rosemary
Whisk sauce together, marinate salmon in the sauce, make sure to do it on both sides. Put the rest of the sauce on top of the salmon. Bake in oven at 400 deg. for about 10 minutes.
I hope you'll enjoy these as much as I did!