Gong Xi Fa Cai – Happy New Year!
A few weeks back, Foodbuzz put out a call for proposals for another one of their "24, 24, 24" meals. Since the date would be very close to Chinese New Year this year, Annie and I submitted a proposal, focusing on a Chinese New Year theme. We were surprised and honored to have been chosen as one of the food blogs featured this month.
Time for Some Hot Pot
The Chinese in Malaysia like to celebrate Chinese New Year with a hot pot / steamboat dinner. The whole family gathers round a large table, with a pot of broth boiling in the center. All sorts of goodies (fish balls, meats, veggies, and seafood) are added to the pot, cooked, and consumed. At the end of the meal, when all the ingredients have turned the broth enticingly sweet, noodles are added and enjoyed with the broth. It is quite a gustatory experience!
Our concept was to take the Chinese steamboat and give it a San Francisco Bay Area twist, by making a cioppino broth and cooking various types of seafood like halibut, scallops, mussels, and Dungeness crab. And we would buy all the seafood from our favorite fishmonger, Pat from Mission Fresh Fish. Sounds good, huh?
Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24 Dinner at House of Annie
Of course, what would such a great dinner be without great company? So we invited Carolyn the Food Gal and Michael of Cooking For Engineers, plus their spouses, over to the House of Annie for dinner. We had had Michael and his wife over for an heirloom tomato tasting last Summer, but we’ve never met Carolyn in person before. As fortune would have it, they were both available for dinner!
Looking for Inspiration
But now, the pressure was on, to cook up something really special for our honored guests with seriously refined palates. The main course would be cioppino, and we planned to do a tiramisu for dessert. But we had no idea what to do as an appetizer.
We thought about doing a batch of wild salmon cakes with kaffir lime, but figured that might be too much seafood already. So I was flipping through Lidia’s Italian American Kitchen, and came upon her Caesar salad recipe. But how to make it "fusion", in light of our fusion cioppino hot pot? Just then our neighbor walked in.
"Whatcha makin’?"
"We’re doing a hot pot for New Years, but cioppino instead of Chinese-style."
"Cioppino? Sounds interesting."
"Yeah, but we’re wondering what to do as an appetizer. We were thinking about doing a Caesar salad, but don’t know how to ‘Asian-ify’ it."
"Oh, my Thai friend showed me a Caesar salad dressing that’s really good."
"I’m all ears!"
"Okay, start boiling some eggs, then I’ll come back with the recipe."
She came back, and together we worked out the dressing until we were satisfied with the flavor. When our guests arrived and we got dinner started, Daniel helped to toss the salad fixings with the dressing, then plated. (We will blog the Thai-inspired Caesar salad recipe in an upcoming post.)
"Thai Inspired" Caesar Salad
After the salad came the main course. Earlier in the day, Annie prepared the cioppino broth using the celebrated Tadich Grill recipe that we’ve had success with in the past. But we put a little Asian spin on it by adding some minced ginger and lemongrass stalk. (We will blog that recipe for cioppino hot pot in another upcoming post!) Annie had pre-sliced the halibut, shelled the shrimp, and pre-steamed the mussels and clams. The crab came pre-cooked but we cleaned it and cut the body up into quarters.
We brought the pot of broth out to the table, set it up on a portable butane stove, and got it boiling. When it was ready, we added the fish, scallops, shrimp, crab, mussels and clams to the pot, then covered it to simmer.
Cioppino Hot Pot Boiling
Once the pot came to a boil again, we ladled out the ingredients into each diner’s individual bowls.
Cioppino Hot Pot: Crab, Shrimp, Clams and Fish
That cioppino, chock full of sweet, fresh seafood, was alluring and sumptuous. Slices of Semifreddi’s sourdough bread helped to sop up the flavorful broth. A 2006 Ecco Domani Chianti, brought by Carolyn, was the perfect accompaniment to the meal.
For dessert, Annie wanted to keep to the Italian-Asian fusion theme and made a green tea tiramisu, a recipe she’d done before to rave reviews. (We have an old YouTube video of the green tea-ramisu making, and we will blog the green tea tiramisu recipe for it in — you guessed it — another post).
Green Tea-ramisu
This being Chinese New Year, Annie also wanted to share some of her homemade pineapple tarts. Michael contributed his almond-orange biscotti to our fabulous meal.
Homemade Pineapple Tarts and Almond-Orange Biscotti
Of course, this dinner wouldn’t have been so fabulous without our fabulous guests. Being foodies, our conversation ranged all over, from wagyu steak to perfect fried chicken to barbecue to Chef Boyardee. We shared stories, compared notes, picked up tips, and generally had a blast! Our conversation ran long into the night. Incredible as it may seem, perfect strangers became fast friends.
Thank you, fabulous friends, for sharing in the bounty of our table. And thank you, Foodbuzz, for helping make it happen! We simply must do it again sometime.
Cheers and Aloha,
Annie and Nate
>gong xi fa chai!
>As one of the lucky guests at this incredible feast, all I can say is that anyone reading this must try this fab take on cioppino. What makes it particulary wonderful –besides the incredible flavor of the broth — is that you don’t have to worry about overcooking your seafood as often happens in cioppino. This is genius. An Annie, I am still noshing on these amazing pineapple tarts. Thank you both so very much for filling my tummy with such delights and my heart with such warmth. hospitality.
>Hi guys, just wondering — what brand are your lovely jade coloured bowls? I’m in love with them as much as I am with your blog, which I just found this month. Please keep up the great food writing. You two have the same attitude to food as me and my fiance — it’s great fun to read.
>that is a wondeful feast that you had!! congrats on being featured on the 24,24,24!!
>Wow your dishes always look so fabulous!!! You should be a private chef. 🙂 I’m sure someone would pay big bucks to eat all those dishes. Happy Chinese New Year!!!
>Gong Xi Fa Cai! Happy Niu Year! 😉
>Holy smokes…I have to have the recipe for the thai caesar and the green tea tiramisu! Great east/west action!
>OMG – that seafood looks absolutely divine! As does that tiramisu! Great job!
>hello there! your Menu looks fabulous! I am a really big fan of fusion cooking, and kudos to you because I know that there is a very fine line in which you can either nail it perfectly or create a disastrous combination!… thanks for inviting me to your site… my favorite type of cuisine is all types of Asian food..and yes, I did mean to generalize because I love it all! I look forward to reading your blog and learning some things as well =)
PS – I barely ate any of the swiss cheese because the wrap was already very flavorful and heavy
>Congrats on your 24 post! Pineapple tarts are really striking our fancy!
>Looks like an awesome meal! Can congrats on being chosen by Foodbuzz. I’m not a big fan of cioppino but this looks pretty good.
>happy new year. have fun 🙂
>Gong Hei Faat Choi / Gon Xi Fai Chai!
Thank you for the comment! I’ve had the sweet and savoury “ribbon” cookies that you mentioned, although I’ve never seen them sold in Canada as such. Usually the label reads “fried dough” or something equally non-descript.
What a feast you’ve prepared! I’m looking forward to your recipes in future blogs. Have a great day!
>I forgot to add, the green tea-ramisu looks wonderful. My aunt made tiramisu over the holidays, and substituted a young sake in place of the rum / liquor. We did not miss the rum at all, and in fact, the sake she used subtly enhanced the tiramisu itself!
>OMG!! Green tea tiramisu!! That sounds so intriguing, I can’t wait to see the post 🙂 That broth also looks amazing. I can’t eat shellfish, but I can imagine the aroma 😀 Happy New Year!
>Thanks for the advice you gave on my site in regards to chicken stock. They were much appreciated!
>That hot pot looks fabulous! What an amazing feast you guys put on. I’m digging the incredible green tea tiramisu.
Happy New Year to you and your family!
>Congrats! Happy Niu Year. Wish you have a properous year ahead!
>hi!! seriously loving the green tiramisu. i went googling and saw ur post of 24,24,24! check out mine too!! 🙂
>gong xi fa chai to you both!
what an interesting ‘twist’ to the chinese style steamboat! plus that green tea tiramisu looks absolutely divine! 🙂
>Happy New Year to both of you. That cake looks beautiful and very doable.
>Congrats on the 24,24,24. Happy New Year to everyone over there too. 🙂
http://crizfood.com/
>@all – thanks for your comments! Happy Niu Year to you all!
@Carolyn – our pleasure! Let’s do it again sometime!
@pinsandthimbles – Thanks for your comments. I don’t remember where we got the bowls from – it was a long time ago.
@luckytastebuds – Annie *is* a private chef — for the House of Annie 😉
@PeterM – Coming right up! stay tuned.
>ohhh! that is such a lovely dinner! i wish we’re neighbors, i miss hot pot steamboat! unfortunately i left my boat back home…it’d be good to do one over here, huh? and congratulations for the heads up from FB!!! gong xi fa cai!
>What a great meal! I love cioppino, and I can’t wait to hear how to make the Thai-inspired caesar salad.