Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

2 medium sweet potatoes (about 3/4-1 lb. total)
1 tsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp rosemary salt
pinch fresh ground black pepper
2 tsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Peel sweet potatoes and cut into 1/4-3/8" fries.

Toss with cornstarch, mixing well to avoid any clumps. Then toss with salt and pepper. Finally toss fries with olive oil.

Place in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet, with space between fries. Bake for 15 minutes, then turn fries over and bake for another 10-15 minutes/until crisp on the outside and cooked through. Some fries may be fairly dark.

NOTE: Fries may burn on the bottom if baked directly on a metal baking sheet.

Sprinkle with a bit of additional salt.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Asian Wok

Asian Wok
3504 W. State St.
Boise, ID
(208) 384-9200

(2nd location in Star)

It may not be much to look at, but our take-out order was reasonably good - and it was at least 1/2 hour between the time we picked up the food and actually had time to eat dinner.

The Mongolian Beef was a little oily, but had very good flavor with pronounced onion.  The Moo Shu Pork had a very subtle 5-spice flavor (maybe it was actually in the Hoisin sauce). The pancakes were appropriately thin and light, and packed to travel in a ziplock so they stayed reasonably moist.  The pot stickers were a little chewier than I would like, but still fairly good.

Both location deliver, and between the two locations they have a fairly large coverage area e.g. all of Eagle is covered.

Definitely will be trying delivery from the Star location in the near future.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Idaho-local St. Partick's Day feast, featuring Baked Corned Beef

3 lbs. Porterhouse Market SRF American Wagyu ("Kobe") Corned Beef
1/4 c. Wagner's Smoky Hot mustard
1 T. Idaho Wildflower raw honey
2 T. brown sugar
10 whole cloves

Preheat oven to 350°.  Rinse corned beef to remove any whole seasonings and pat dry.  Place beef in a shallow roasting pan, fattiest side up.  Insert the cloves into the top of the beef at somewhat evenly spaced locations.

Whisk mustard, honey, and sugar together.  Coat top of beef with mustard mixture.  Cover beef loosely with foil and bake for 2 hours.

Remove foil and broil the beef until the top starts to caramelize (2-3 minutes).  The mustard mixture can burn quickly, so monitor the beef closely while broiling.

Rest the beef for 10 minutes.  Slice across the grain into 1/4" thick slices.

Serve with boiled Rice Family Farm red potatoes, sauteed cabbage, hearty wheat bread made with Idaho Gran and Flout Mill whole wheat, Cold Springs carp/ology 2006 Snake River Vally AVA Syrah, and Guinness (ok, not everything can be local).