Nice Package: Sake Steamed Mushrooms En Papillote

If you're ever in the mood for a bunch of 'shrooms (the legal kind), give them a nice sake steam bath en papillote for a dish that's full of earthy and slightly sweet flavors plus health benefits to boot. Research has shown that mushrooms have anti-cancer properties, help reduce blood pressure and cholesterol and boost your immune system. Plus some of you who have had enoki mushrooms might already know that they are like nature's loofah and quite excellent at cleaning up the digestive tract. Hey, any additional weight I can lose between now and my final Biggest Loser weigh-in is a good thing if you catch my drift!

Sake Steamed Mushrooms En Papillote

-2 cups of assorted fresh mushrooms, trimmed (I usually use shiitake, enoki, shimeji, and oyster)
-1 tsp vegetable oil
-1 tsp soy sauce (preferably the light kind)
-2 tbsp sake or mirin

*Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
*Tear off a piece of parchment paper 12-15" in length.
*Brush or spread a thin layer of vegetable oil on to the center of the parchment paper and arrange mushrooms on a single layer over the oil.
*Sprinkle soy sauce and sake evenly over the mushrooms.
*Bring up two ends of the parchment paper and fold over a few times about 1/3-1/2 inch.
*Fold in the two open ends. The package should look something like the photo below. Use pins or staples to secure if needed. (You can also do the fancier, more traditional en papillote pouch by cutting a heart out of the parchment paper, folding up the middle and crimping the edges like a dumpling. I don't do this because I am too lazy to cut out the heart. Suit yourself.)

*Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes. The package should puff up a bit.
*Let cool for a couple of minutes, carefully cut or tear open the package, and serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Cheaters are Losers: A Spicy, Oily Indulgence at Shufeng Garden, Rowland Heights

I've been good.

I've pretty much kept my daily caloric intake to about 1400 a day.

I've been working out 5 days a week, some days at a pretty high intensity.

And I've lost 15 pounds since I've started this Biggest Loser challenge about 6 weeks ago. Not too shabby, eh?

But that 15 pounds lost hasn't all been a result of me being good. It is also, in my opinion, a result of me being very, very bad.

No matter how many tasty and healthy recipes I have up my sleeve, day after day of low calorie, low fat, low sodium, low carb, mayo-less, bacon-less, whole grain, high-fiber, sugar-free, dressing-on-the-side bullshit makes me want to eat the couch. So if I didn't allow myself to cheat on my diet once a week, I would literally consume upholstery. Topped with cheese and butter, of course.

One of my most recent cheat meals involved an oil-laden, fried, fatty, carbo-loaded feast at Shufeng Garden. And yes, this Rowland Heights mini-mall Sichuan did indeed do its job of fending off those late night upholstery cravings as well as punishing this unfaithful dieter with red-hot, spicy pain that hurt so much I liked it.

I'd remembered photos of an oil-slathered fatty pork dish on some local blogs and knew right away that this was exactly what I needed. Thanks to a Mandarin Chinese speaking coworker, printouts of photos of the dish from local blogs' jaunts to the restaurant's second location in San Gabriel, as well as an email from SinoSoul with the names of recommended dishes in Chinese, my non-Mandarin speaking, non-Chinese reading, Chinese self was able to get some Pork Butt in Garlic Mud into my now-smaller belly.

The cool, thin slices of half meat/half fat stripes bathed in spicy chili oil definitely satisfied my fat-covered-in-more-fat craving. I'd imagined them to be a little thicker and served warmer, but the dish was good nonetheless.

The large pot of Water Boiled Fish we ordered looked like something out a movie: a virtual sea of orangey-red angry with red pepper flakes, like a vast body of fluid over which you'd be rowing a decrepid boat in hell. The cauldron of white fish fillets and assorted vegetables soaked in a spicy red bath wasn't as spicy as I thought it was going to be, which is either good or bad depending on your tolerance for spice. I personally would have liked it to be spicier and perhaps a little more tangy, but it was still a nice accompaniment for a hot bowl of steamed rice.

Zhong's Dumplings were al dente pillows of pork-filled goodness served with a healthy dose of (you guessed it) chili oil. A sprinkling of sesame seeds added a nutty bite to these smoky and spicy little pouches.

It was perhaps the restaurant's Dan Dan Mian that put Shufeng Garden on LA's foodie map to begin with--what with having made Jonathan Gold's Best Dishes of 2009 list--and for good reason. It looks like a none-too-exciting small bowl of noodles topped with ground pork and spinach upon first glance, but after mixing the al dente noodles up with all that's in that bowl and taking a slurp, it's a multi-dimensional flavor experience that will both enlighten and numb your tastebuds. It's spicy, acidic, herbal and smoky all at the same time, with flavors that work together but that are distinguishable separately as well.

A cheat day can't be called a cheat day without something fried, so infidelity in the form of the restaurant's Shufeng Spicy Chicken and Intestines in Chili & Wild Pepper were pure guilty, spicy perfection. Fried meat morsels are fun, but not as fun as when they're fried with as much chilis and pepper as there were pieces of meat. I especially liked the fried intestine which were fried to a beautiful golden crisp on the outside which gave way to a slightly bouncy funkiness on the inside--a funkiness that only offal enthusiasts can appreciate.


After having inhaled three bowls of hot, steamy rice and five tongue-tingly good dishes with enough chili oil to grease up my newly toned biceps, I was more than ready to go back to 400 calorie a meal "budget." Until the next cheat day, that is. Sometimes you just have to be bad to be good.

Shufeng Garden
18459 Colima Road
Rowland Heights, CA 91748
(626) 839-7589

They Shot, They Savored: Phototasting, Checkers Downtown, 02.06.2010

There were people there who actually have food blogs.

There were people there who blog mainly about non-food subjects with the occasional post about food.

There were people there who owned food businesses.

And there were people there who simply wanted to know how to use their cameras better.

But no matter what their backgrounds and interests are, all the participants and the first Phototasting workshop--held on a rainy Saturday afternoon at Checkers Downtown--had one thing in common:

They all know that food is art.

And they came to Phototasting to both shoot and savor it.

Our attendees were given an overview of cameras as well as photography and composition basics, but the real meat of the workshop was allowing participants to both sample and photograph eight courses prepared by Checkers' Executive Chef Todd Allison and Sous Chef David Baker.

(Chef Baker, L, and Chef Allison, R. Photo by WeezerMonkey)

(Clockwise from upper-left: Participants learning about their cameras, photo by WeezerMonkey. Sampling forks, photo by djjewelz. Participants trying to achieve great bokeh, photo by WeezerMonkey. Digging into the braised kurobuta pork course, photo by me!)

The beautiful, delicious star of the show was Chef Allison's market-influenced cuisine with our participants there to capture it in all its glory. And a lovely job they did, I must say. Take a look at some of the gorgeous photos they took that afternoon:

(Lobster Bisque with wild mushrooms and lobster medallions. Photo by djjewelz.)

(Ahi tuna salad with pomegranate, blood oranges, baby Lola Rosa lettuce. Photo by diglounge.)

(Grilled local calamari with kalamata olives, cippolini onions, haricot verts, roasted garlic aioli. Photo by Nad's Bakery)

(Alternate plating of the grilled local calamari. Photo by Glutton_In_LA.)

(Class participant capturing Braised Kurobuta pork belly with roasted shallots, brussels sprout gratin. Photo by Nad's Bakery)

(Another view of the Braised Kurobuta pork belly. Photo by diglounge)

(Myers Ranch Beef Tenderloin w/ Bloomsdale spinach, fingerling potatoes, bearnaise sauce. Photo by Wan Life To Live.)

(Grilled Alaskan salmon with asparagus quinoa, roasted tomatillo and chili relish. Photo by Thirsty Pig.)

(Shortcake with Farmers Market Berries with fresh mint and whipped cream. Photo by Pardon My Crumbs.)

Please also check out what Nad's Bakery, Wan Life To Live, Pardon My Crumbs, and djjewelz had to say about Phototasting!

To be notified of future Phototasting events, please email dailygluttony@yahoo.com.