I am a sucker for egg rolls, you can buy those thick doughy egg roll wrappers at your local supermarket, usually found in the produce section, to wrap your own at home. I’m not knocking them because I’ve used them tons of times to make some delicious egg rolls. BUT if you want to make the real deal egg rolls (or spring rolls) you need to use a thin wrapper. These are found in the freezer section of your local Asian Market.

If you live in, around, or near Omaha you MUST go check out Asian Market (on N 76 ST between Dodge and Cass). Most of the ethnic groceries stores in town are small and crammed with lots of food with labels you can’t read. Well Asian Market is your small ethnic grocery store on STEROIDS. It is HUGE! Here is a link to Omaha World Herald article written about the store.

We visited the store on Sunday and boy were they busy. It was slightly overwhelming and over stimulating. There was so much stuff I’ve never seen. Such brightly colored labels and words I couldn’t read. I honestly didn’t know where to look. I’m excited to go back and give it another look-see. They have a full service meat counter, a giant lobster tank, a nice size produce section with fruits and vegetables you don’t typically find at regular grocery stores, and the longest wall of noodles I have ever seen. Who know there were so many different types of noodles? I didn’t check prices, but if you’re looking to buy rice in bulk you have many options at this store.

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw this spiny fruit in the produce section. I thought I would have to leave the country or at least Nebraska to see this spiny monster. Do you know what it is? It is a durian fruit. It is just about the only thing that I’ve seen Andrew Zimmerman (from Bizarre Foods) get squeamish about. I’m actually very curious how it tastes. Any Omaha people want to try a durian?

The recipe I basically used for the egg rolls was from Steamy Kitchen (a former Nebraska girl!) These are her mother’s FAMOUS egg rolls. With a name like that how can you pass them up? I used thinly sliced chicken in my egg rolls and halved the recipe, I didn’t need 50 egg rolls laying around. Don’t be intimidated by the length of the directions. These really aren’t impossible to make.

Chicken Spring Rolls
ever so slightly adapted from Steamy Kitchen’s Mother’s Famous Chinese Egg Rolls

Tips for successful egg rolls: Keep the egg roll wrappers under a damp cloth when you aren’t using them. Also make sure you drain the liquid from the filling. Soggy egg rolls are not good! Don’t over stuff these bad boys! You only need a tablespoon or so of filling. Make sure you tuck in the sides and roll them tightly. 

50 Spring/Egg Roll Wrappers (about 2 packages), defrosted unopened at room temperature for 45 minutes or in the refrigerator overnight
1 tablespoon cornstarch (or flour) mixed with ¼ cup of cool water
Oil, for frying
FOR THE GROUND PORK (I used thinly sliced chicken breasts)
1 pound ground pork (2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced thinly)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon sugar
freshly ground black pepper
FOR THE VEGETABLES
2 to 3 cloves garlic, very finely minced
½ head of cabbage (about 11 ounces) (I used Nappa cabbage)
3 carrots, shredded
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
10 fresh shiitake mushrooms (or dried black mushrooms soaked overnight), stems discarded (left out the mushrooms since I’m allergic)
3 scallions, sliced 
1 tablespoon cooking oil (canola, vegetable, peanut)
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Freshly ground black pepper

The easiest way to thinly slice the chicken breasts is to run them through your food processor with the slicing blade while they are still semi frozen. If you don’t have a food processor do your best with a super sharp knife while they are still semi frozen to slice them thinly.

Combine all your ingredients together for the pork or chicken and let marinate for 10 minutes. While the meat is doing its thing, thinly slice your cabbage with a knife or your food processor.

Heat your wok over high heat, swirl around your cooking oil to coat the pan. Stir fry your meat (in batches if necessary) until no longer pink for 3-4 minutes. Turn heat down to medium-high and either remove the meat or push to the side. Add a tiny bit more cooking oil, add garlic, cabbage, carrots, ginger, mushrooms, and scallions. Stir fry for 1-2 minutes or until the veggies are soft. Add the rice wine, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar and black pepper. Remember to add in the meat if you took it out. Tossing to coat everything, stir fry for another minute.

Remove filling to a jelly roll pan, spreading out the filling so it can quickly cool. Elevate one end of the jelly roll pan so the liquid can drain from the filling. Cool for 15 minutes.

Dab off any excess juices or oil from the mixture and get ready to wrap.

Spread a heaping 1 tablespoon of filling near the bottom corner of the wrapper.

Lift the corner up over the filling and begin to roll. KEEP IT TIGHT!

Fold in the sides and keep rolling to the point. Remembering to KEEP IT TIGHT! Once you reach the top, dip your fingers in the cornstarch/water slurry and “glue” the corner down to seal the egg roll.

At this point you may place the egg rolls in a single layer on a jelly roll pan and freeze for later. Or you can fry them up right away (my vote!).

To fry, fill your wok with about 2 inches of frying oil. Using a thermometer heat the oil to 350 degrees F. Fry in batches, turning occasionally, frying until golden brown 1 1/2 – 2 minutes. Drain of wire rack and allow to cool slightly before sinking your teeth in.

You may fry from frozen, frying for about 4 minutes, or until golden brown. Make sure you allow the oil to come back up to 350 degree F before adding more egg rolls.

What do you order from your favorite Chinese restaurant? I usually order Lo-Mein, but I pretty much like it all  

Here are the results from last year.

Happy Eating!

We bought a 1962 ranch house, where a lot of the 60s features still remain. For example I have a lovely pink bathroom –you know the kind, with the pink sink, pink toilet, pink tub/shower, and pink tile. I also have some pretty cool lights in my kitchen, and some not so cool asbestos tiles in the basement.

Speaking of the kitchen, I took some photos to give my dear readers a mini tour.

Here is the south wall of the kitchen. You can see the original Nutone exhaust fan. The cabinets are original and have that honey-orange color. The walls are painted a buttery yellow and are that color throughout the living room, dining room and hallways. I thought I always wanted a yellow kitchen but now I can’t wait to change the color. Our oven is a GE space saver. This is my least favorite part of the kitchen. I burned my hand pulling out my 9 x 13 casserole dish, because the oven is so tiny. I have always wanted to host the Thanksgiving day meal, but now I am concerned that I won’t be able to roast a turkey in my pint-sized oven. The stove has 3 small burners and only 1 large burner. This too is a bummer since when I cook I usually use two pans that require the larger burner. I am sure I will adapt. I also have to store my Kitchen-Aid mixer on the counter since it is too tall for any of the cupboard shelves, and too tall to put under the cupboards themselves.

Here is the east wall. The window looks out to our driveway and the street. It is a nice view to have while I am washing dishes. The tear drop shaped light fixture is original to the house. I love it. We found the original hardware for the cupboards in one of the cupboards. I hope to get it cleaned up and back where it belongs.

This is the west wall. On the other side of the wall is our dining room. Alex and I have talked about whether or not we are going to keep this wall. It was suggested that we do a sort of half wall/island with cupboards underneath. I really could use the additional cupboard space. The previous homeowner left us the black and white Formica table with a matching “hutch”.

This is a view of the west and north walls. Trust me the purple has to go! So does the terracotta orange. That same purple is in the master bedroom, along with purple carpet and yellow closet doors. The purple, terracotta, and yellow are repeated throughout the house. Ick! In this photo you really can see the table and matching hutch, and the cool hanging light. The doorway on the right of the photo is our entryway and stairs to the basement.

I hope you have enjoyed a peak into my new kitchen. I can’t wait to start cranking out some delicious family meals. I do have a confession to make, our first family meal was fish sticks. Ack! Hey when your house is full of boxes, your children are hungry, and it is past bedtime you get desperate. Please don’t judge.

BROCCOLI BREAKFAST QUICHE
1 pie crust
4 eggs *
1 1/2 c milk
1 tsp onion powder (you could use less)
1 c cheddar cheese
1/2 lb sausage, cooked (or ham, bacon, etc.)
2 c broccoli, steamed (asparagus is good too!)
1 Roma tomato, sliced
salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place pie crust in 9 inch pie tin. Place cooked sausage in bottom of pie crust and top with steamed broccoli. Beat eggs and milk together until thoroughly combined. Add onion powder, salt & pepper and 1/2 c cheese, to egg mixture and stir well.  Pour egg mixture over sausage and broccoli. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 c cheese over the “pie”. Lay tomato slices over everything. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until egg mixture is set. ENJOY!

*I used 3 egg whites and 1 egg –just to lighten it up a bit.

OTHER RECIPES USING BLACK SHEEP FARMS PRODUCE:
Beet Greens and Garlic Scapes with Pasta
Tom Thumb Lettuce Salad with Strawberry Vinaigrette
Baby Bok Choy Pesto

ROASTED BROCCOLI
1 bunch broccoli, chopped
2 T EVOO
salt & pepper
shredded Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Toss broccoli with oil and salt & pepper. Let broccoli cook for 10-15 minutes, turning half way through. ENJOY!

My mom recommends serving with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese –I haven’t tried it this way yet, but I am sure it is delicious. The broccoli picks up a delicious nutty flavor when roasted. I am addicted to roasting almost all my veggies.

I wanted to use more than one of the ingredients together in a recipe. That way when you pick up your CSA box or you find them laying together at your favorite farmers market booth, you could use them up on a single recipe. My first recipe for the week I decided to use the baby chioggia beet greens and the garlic scapes together.

Baby chioggia beets are an Italian heirloom variety of beet. When sliced you can see the beautiful alternating red and white rings, because of this chioggia beets are also known as Candy Stripe beet or Bull’s Eye beet. When storing the beets I read it is best to separate the greens from the beet –the greens will draw out moisture causing the beet to shrivel. Cut the green off about 1-2 inches above the beet. You will want to use the greens up right away, as they won’t keep as long as the beets.

Garlic scape is a relativity new vegetable/herb to me. The first time I heard about it was last year when my friend Jessie put garlic scapes on her pizza. Garlic scapes are the stem and flower part of the garlic. When the scape is removed the garlic bulb can focus the energy on growing and maturing a bigger bulb.

The scape reminds me of a curly green onion that is solid like asaparagus. These are delicious! I wish you could find garlic scapes all year round.

When I hear the words “greens” and “garlic” the first thing that I think of is pesto. It is a terrible obsession of mine. I LOVE pesto. I made pesto with the last supply of produce from Black Sheep Farms, so I really didn’t want to toss the beet greens and garlic scapes into the food processor for another pesto recipe. Instead I decided to do a deconstructed pesto –all the elements of pesto but the ingredients remain separate and intact. Is that cheating?

The deconstructed pesto received three out of four stars from our family. My husband thought it tasted a little fishy –I think that was because I was out of olive oil and used canola oil instead. My little girls (ages 3 and 20 months) really like the dish, so that makes it an automatic winner for me. I served this pasta with my Parmesan chicken bites, I think that sauteed sea scallops would go wonderfully with it as well –that is if meat is your thing.

BEET GREENS & GARLIC SCAPE DECONSTRUCTED PESTO
2 c beet greens, chopped into 2 inch pieces
3 or 4 garlic scapes, chopped
1 T EVOO
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 c chopped toasted walnuts
your favorite pasta (I used angel hair)
1-15 oz can diced tomatoes (once tomatoes are in season I would use chopped Romas)
Parmesan cheese, shredded

Cook pasta according to package directions. Heat skillet over medium low heat.

Add oil, greens, garlic scapes, salt & pepper. Stir everything around. Cover for 3-5 minutes until everything is wilted. Add in chopped walnuts. Drain pasta. Toss tomatoes and greens with the pasta. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese when ready to serve. ENJOY!

Other Recipes using Black Sheep Farms produce:
Tom Thumb lettuce salad with Strawberry Vinaigrette
Two recipes with Baby Bok Choy

Tom Thumb lettuce is a cute little variety of butterhead lettuce. It forms a loose little head. When I got the lettuce home, I trimmed off the roots and spread the leaves out in my kitchen sink filled with cold water. This helped crisp them up and clean off all the dirt. When I was in high school, I worked in the produce department at Hy-Vee, every morning I would take all the leaf lettuces, broccoli, radishes, and green onions off the shelf and give them a good soak in ice cold water to help crisp them up again. These were the days before they had the fancy sprinkler system built into the shelves in the produce section, but I digress. I would recommend waiting to wash and dry your lettuce right before you are going to use it. Once your lettuce is washed, you could always take it for a spin one of those fancy-schmancy salad spinners, or spread the leaves out on a clean kitchen towel to absorb all the water like I did.

Farm fresh lettuce deserves an equally fresh dressing. I paired this cute Tom Thumb lettuce with a fresh strawberry vinaigrette. Tossed on some walnuts and a little feta cheese, and I was in salad heaven.

Thank you to Black Sheep Farms for providing the produce for me to experiment with!

* My kids (ages 3 and 19 months) loved this salad. The next night at dinner Sasha commented that she didn’t see any salad on the table.

STRAWBERRY VINAIGRETTE
1/2 lb fresh Strawberries, hulled
1-1 1/2 T White wine vinegar
1 T sugar (more or less depending on sweetness of the strawberries)

Place hulled strawberries in the freezer for 30 minutes. Place semi-frozen strawberries in food processor, puree until smooth. With food processor on add vinegar and sugar, stir to combine.

TOM THUMB SALAD
this is for one serving
1 head Tom Thumb lettuce
1 T walnuts
1 T feta cheese
2 T Strawberry Vinaigrette

Toss all ingredients together and ENJOY!

This weekend I prepared the baby bok choy two different ways –keeping it raw in a pesto, and softening it by grilling it. Which one do you think was successful? I saw the people over at Burp! Where Food Happens tossed baby bok choy and radishes with a little oil, and grilled it for a warm spring salad. They said the baby bok choy “grew suspiciously tender (and fabulously sweet).” I was intrigued and needed to try it immediately. While the baby bok choy was grilling, I also tossed a few of the heirloom radishes on the grill. I’ve never heard of grilled radishes before, in fact I think the only way I have ever eaten radishes is raw –with plenty of salt.

As I pulled my produce off the grill, I was growing more and more excited to try my grilled spring salad. Once inside I splashed a little Balsamic Vinaigrette over the veggies, sat down with my fork and knife in hand ready to enjoy my first grilled salad.

Half of the baby bok choy was used in my grilled salad, the other half I wanted to use in a different way. Stir-frying it was out of the question, only because that seems to be a typical way bok choy is used, I was looking for an “outside of the box” way to use this veggie. As I was cleaning the baby bok choy for the grilled salad a few leaves feel off and I tried them raw. They were very green tasting and not bitter like I was expecting them to be. The first thing I thought was PESTO! If you do not know this already, I love pesto –and actually I have been known to eat basil pesto with a spoon. After a quick survey of my cupboards I noticed I had some cashews, and thought an Italy meets Asia pesto would make a great experiment. A while back I had made a meatloaf with an Asian twist, instead of meatloaf I formed them into burgers to grill and serve with my baby bok choy pesto.

Two different recipes using baby bok choy as the main ingredient. One recipe I loved, and the other one I think I screwed up on. For me the baby bok choy pesto was the WINNER. The grilled spring salad wasn’t a complete failure.

I learned that I really liked the warm tenderness of the grilled radishes, and hope that you try them that way. The first bite of the grilled baby bok choy was incredibly bitter. The baby bok choy isn’t entirely to blame, I think a lot of the bitterness came from the prepackaged Balsamic Vinaigrette I used. I should have tried the grilled bok choy BEFORE I doused it in the vinaigrette, I would also make my own vinaigrette instead of relying on a premade mixture purchased at Target. Lesson learned. Please don’t let my mistake stop you from trying this salad. Head over to Burp! Where Food Happens to get the recipe and read about how they call this salad “heavenly”.

BABY BOK CHOY PESTO
serve with Asian pork burgers

2 c Baby bok choy, cleaned and chopped
1/2 c raw cashews
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 inch piece of ginger, minced
1/4 c Parmesan cheese, grated
1/3 c Olive Oil
small splash of Toasted Sesame Oil
pinch of salt & pepper

Add all ingredients through Parmesan cheese into blender or food processor. Pulse a few times to chop and combine ingredients. Slowly drizzle in olive oil until everything becomes one. Scrap down sides of container as needed. Add salt & pepper, and small splash of toasted sesame oil (this has a very strong flavor, so only a little is needed) and pulse until combined. Transfer to a serving dish, cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes for the flavors to combine. ENJOY!

ASIAN PORK BURGERS
serves 4
1 lb ground pork
1 8 oz can water chestnuts, minced
6 baby carrots, chopped
1/2 c bread crumbs
1 inch piece fresh ginger, minced
2 T soy sauce
1 egg beaten
small splash of toasted sesame oil

In a large bowl combine all ingredients and mix together, being careful not to over mix (you don’t want your meat to get tough). Form into four patties. Grill over medium-high heat, for about 5 minutes each side. You want an internal temp of 180 degrees. Place on bun and top with Bok Choy Pesto. ENJOY!!

Black Sheep Farms is a local CSA here in Omaha. Black Sheep Farms is a chemically-free family farm just outside of Omaha; operated by Brian Smith and his wife Kelly. They grow heirloom vegetables and specialty cut flowers. This year they are running a CSA at their farm. Space is limited to 15 full shares for $500 a piece or a half share for $250, a full-sized share will feed a family of four. The CSA will run from May 20- September 30, that is 20 weeks of fresh produce equal to $25/week for a full share. In addition to the fresh produce offered at that price, you will receive fresh cut flowers, get a Black Sheep Farms T-shirt, and be able to attend two social events held out at the farm –where you can relax on the farm, meet other like-minded folk and (most importantly) enjoy some good food.

Like I said earlier, you will have to make a small time commitment to your CSA, Black Sheep Farms is requiring a 10 hour “family friendly” time commitment for the season. Now I seriously doubt you are going to have to do any backbreaking, grueling, “hard-time” labor out there, but you may have to pick-up a rake. Not a big deal given the fact that you are contributing to the CSA, and the rewarding feeling of connecting to the land, and knowing what is going on your dinner plate.

You will be able to pick up your share at the farm each Wednesday during the season from 10 am- 7 pm. If for some reason you can not pick up your share, you can send some one in your place, or Black Sheep Farms will donate it to Together, Inc. food pantry on your behalf.

Due to high demand Black Sheep Farms will start taking names in March, and fill shares by a lottery system in early April, in the future they will give preference to past participants. May 3rd they will host an orientation meeting for the lucky 15. Head over to Black Sheep Farms, and fill out the form on the right side, declaring your interest.

You can also catch the Black Sheep Farms’ gang at the Village Pointe Farmer’s Market beginning May 2 from 8am-1pm.

Not from the Omaha area, but are still interested in finding a CSA in your neck of the woods? Local Harvest can help you.

Remember BUY FRESH, BUY LOCAL!

Sneske, one of the contributers to Gastronomic Fight Club put together a local blogroll. If you are interested in what we are writing about and eating in Omaha, check out the blogroll.

Roasted garlic. So easy. So simple. So delicious! The first time I enjoyed roasted garlic was when my husband and I were dining in Omaha’s Old Market. We ordered an antipasto appetizer off the menu at Vivace, which came with an assortment of cheeses, salty Italian meats, crusty bread and roasted garlic. Neither one of us had had roasted garlic before, and we were in love after the first bite.

Don’t live near Omaha? That’s all right, you can enjoy roasted garlic in your home, without a lot of fuss. All you need is a couple heads of garlic, and olive oil. Cut the tops off the garlic, drizzle olive oil over the garlic, wrap up in tin foil and roast in a hot oven (400-425 degrees F) for 45-60 minutes. What comes out of the oven is the most delicious way to enjoy garlic. Squeeze out the golden brown cloves, mash into a paste, and enjoy. I love roasted garlic smeared on a piece of crust bread. Yum! Yum! Yum!