November 16, 2014 New Recipe Tapa Omelet and MaPo Dofu

November 16, 2014 New Recipe  Tapa Omelet  and  MaPo Dofu

We wanted to use of some of the food in our fridge because we are travelling next week.  We decided to use the PPI Spanish artichoke heart, ham, green bean and pimiento tapa to make an omelet.  Suzette mixed three or four eggs and sautéed the tapa to heat it while I sliced about five slices of Swiss Gruyere cheese and two green onions (scallions).  After the egg was poured over the heated tapa and the egg began to set, we lay slices of cheese and the chopped green onion on the pan and after a couple more minutes Suzette flipped one side of the omelet onto the other and in another minute we were ready to eat.  I toasted slices of bagel and spread Goat cheese on them, to make a tasty bread accompaniment without any sugar.  Suzette made her usual Bloody Mary and I drank some of her newly acquired honey suckle tea.

At 5:00 I started making Mapo Dofu.  I cubed about ¾ lb. of pork tenderloin and the ichiban eggplants from our garden and 1 shallot and about two Tbsp. of garlic and 2 Tbsp. of fresh ginger and then diced ½ of a pasilla chili and 1 green bell pepper.  I stir fried all of these ingredients in a large wok with for about twenty-five to thirty minutes to make sure the ingredients were thoroughly softened.  I then added re-hydrated about 2 Tbsp. of strips of wood ear and three or four shitake mushrooms with the two cups of their soaking liquid and an additional 2 sups of chicken stock made from dehydrated Knorr chicken stock and about 10 oz. of cubed medium firm tofu.  I also added about 16 oz. of PPI roasted vegetables.  The trick is to cover the ingredients with enough water to let their flavors mix.   

I covered the wok and let it simmer for about fifteen minutes and mixed up a thickening sauce of 1 Tbsp. of Tamari, 1 ½ Tbsp. of Chinese Rice Cooking Wine, 1 tsp. of sesame sauce, 1 tsp. of hot chili oil, 2 Tbsp. of cornstarch and ¼ cup of water.

I added the thickening sauce to the wok and stirred it in and let it cook for about five more minutes.  The mixture did not thicken much but it did thicken a bit, so we decided we were ready to eat.  We heated some PPI rice and spooned it into pasta bowls and then ladled a pile of Map Dofu on the rice.

We fetched beers and ate a hardy meal s the first winds of winter blew outside.

Bon Appétit