Zisu's Kitchen (3): 紫苏炖鱼汤

我的家乡水产丰富。小时候，每周至少有两个晚上爸爸会买活鱼活虾回来现杀现吃。常吃的鱼有鲫鱼扁鱼白鱼黑鱼鳝鱼，青草鲢鳙四大家鱼里面主要吃青鱼草鱼，鲢鱼鳙鱼吃得很少，因为妈妈不喜欢。等到过节则吃鳜鱼（那个字念“贵”），取富贵吉祥之意。这几年又多了种黄姑鱼，也很好吃。我对各种鱼都非常热爱，不分贵贱，只要新鲜，简直怎么做都是好吃的，弄点豆腐，切两片姜，清水炖出来的鱼汤都鲜美无比。爸爸喜欢黑鱼汤，可是我偏爱鲫鱼淡淡的甜味，每次爸爸会买三条鲫鱼回来（大概七两一条的大小，要买黑背的），晚饭就是一大锅鱼汤，鱼是整条炖的，每个人一条。我吐刺很笨拙，所以吃鲫鱼汤的时间比正常吃晚饭要长得多，可是我不厌其烦的慢慢挑刺慢慢吃。

可惜美国没有这些鱼卖，唐人街卖的游水鱼也多是傻大个儿非洲鲫鱼，肉质和味道都比不上咱们的黑背小鲫鱼。草鱼这里被称作鲩鱼（那个字念“换”，不念“晚”），倒是常见。

时不时的，我会忽然想吃淡水鱼想得发疯，可能是思乡病的间歇性发作。比如这个周末，我突然想吃鱼汤想得口水立沾襟，于是不由非说拉着某人急赴唐人街去也～

非洲鲫鱼虽然不那么美好，我还是很想买条活鱼的。正排队等着呢，前面一个老广点了条活鱼，小二捞出来往案板上一扔，鱼在案板上跳得老高。小二拿起一个橡皮锤子，咣当一下鱼就被打懵了，于是称重，打票。某人看得嘴巴张得老大，手紧紧地拉着我。我捅捅他，兴致勃勃地问：“你说我们买哪条鱼啊？”　他吓得面无人色，说：“咱买条死鱼就可以了吧，这样杀鱼太可怕。”　我心想：那死鱼不也本来是活的吗？不也是被人杀死的吗？心里虽然这么想，还是转念买了半条已经被杀死的鲩鱼，看那小心脏还一收一收的，应该也是刚被刨开，挺新鲜的，当然我就没有必要把小心脏指给某人看了，怕某人的小心脏受不了。

买了鱼，又买了豆腐，在超市里转着转着看见了紫苏，突然想：要不，今天就做个不一样的紫苏炖鱼吧！

我做菜很随兴，不怎么看菜谱。在我看来，做菜无非是找个主料（比如鲩鱼），找个做法（比如炖汤），再找个味道（比如葱姜），这几样可以随意排列组合。“紫苏炖鱼汤”就是个即兴排出来的菜。晚上手机照的效果不好，但是这个汤很鲜美清淡，好吃！

准备工作：

• 主料：鲩鱼去鳞切块洗干净，放少许白葡萄酒（或料酒），盐，胡椒，抓匀。
• 作料：紫苏整枝的洗干净，不要切；姜切丝；小朝天椒剪成小圈圈。
• 配菜：豆腐切厚片；金针菇洗净切掉底部；西红柿切块；西葫芦切块。　

烹饪过程：

• 橄榄油热锅以后，把姜丝和辣椒圈扔进去炒香，然后把西红柿扔进去炒软，特别爱吃辣的，还可以加点“宁记辣椒大王”，这个是我最爱的辣椒酱，特别干净的纯辣，不油腻无杂味。
• 加高汤（美国超市的unsalted chicken stock即可），豆腐，金针菇，紫苏枝。加盖烧开后转小火炖一小会儿，让作料味道煮出来。
• 鲩鱼里加一个鸡蛋清，抓匀，把鲩鱼和西葫芦加到鱼汤里，大火烧开，关火。如果需要的话，加点盐和胡椒。
• 把紫苏枝捞出来扔掉。这东西煮出来黑黑烂烂的，很不好看。
• 起锅，可以放点新鲜的紫苏叶子作装饰和凭吊已经默默牺牲掉的紫苏枝。

很简单吧？这里面主要调味的主要是紫苏和姜丝，辣椒和西红柿起辅助调味作用，豆腐　金针菇　西葫芦都是随手乱加的，可有可无。这个汤虽然香辣，但是非常清淡，比较对我的口味。各种作料的多少根据个人口味调整，西葫芦和鱼都别煮太久了。我用的西葫芦是在farmer's market买的某个奇怪的品种，比常见的zucchini颜色要浅，花皮，味道和口感是差不多的。

花絮：
我把金针菇捞出来问某人：“你知道这是什么吗？”　他一边费劲的挑着鱼刺，一边信心满满的说：“我知道，这不就是豆芽菜吗？”。。。我的橡皮锤子呢？？？

Zisu's Kitchen (2): Dill, Fennel and 茴香

我是南方人，但是爱吃饺子，尤其爱吃荠菜和茴香这两种馅儿的。很不幸的是，这俩在北美都不容易买到。也许Flushing会有，但是我在纽约的唐人街只见过冰冻的荠菜，从来没有见过新鲜的。而茴香呢，说实话我只吃过包好的饺子，没见过茴香整棵的长啥模样，-- 这东西似乎中国北方才有，南方可能少见？-- 就更不知道它的英文名字是什么了。

究竟什么是茴香？有人说是dill，有人说是fennel。我放狗查了查，似乎美国人也很糊涂，网上一堆文章解释这俩的区别。简单的说，dill 根 fennel 是亲戚，fennel的味道更接近八角。这个听起来靠谱哦，因为我那久远的记忆中，茴香饺子似乎有点类似八角的味道。可是，超市里的fennel挺着大肚子却没有两根叶子，活像剪了短发的孕妇，怎么看怎么让人心里打鼓。所以，我的第一个尝试，是dill。

我之所以选择dill，是因为网上看见爱做饭的美女发贴说dill就是茴香。美女是个大贤妻，勤快，实诚，北方人，善面食，应该不会错吧！我以前经常用dill做鱼，看它那绿葱葱的样子，也跟饺子里的绿须须有几分相似。饺子做出来了，味道是很不错的，跟记忆中的味道有些相似又有些不同，大抵是我的记忆出故障了吧，我想。超市里卖的dill差不多都这个样子：

不过，网上也有人说fennel才是茴香。上哪儿找叶子多的fennel呢？我这个吃货就这么想念着惦记着，糊里糊涂就过了几个月。这天我正在farmer's market闲逛，突然看见一堆绿葱葱的须须，上面挂着斗大的字"baby fennel"。矮马，这东西长得跟dill真像！除了根茎有个小拇指粗细的突起以外。难怪老美分不清这俩！我激动的买了一大把，回家包饺子去也！看看，baby fennel长这样儿，肚子还没有大起来，跟超市里卖的孕妇模样是不是不同？

相比dill，fennel的确味道更接近八角，口感上比dill要硬，这两点上面都更接近我记忆中的茴香。但是不知道为什么，不管是dill还是fennel，味道都比以前吃的茴香饺子要淡些。也许是因为这些叶子是在比较嫩的时候就被拿出来卖了吧？以前吃的茴香纤维更粗，口感更干涩，不如fennel或者dill嫩。植物的叶子长老了，估计就会变干变老，味道也会更重吧！

经过对比，我觉得，这俩对爱吃茴香的同学来说都能解馋，fennel叶子比dill更像，但是不容易买到，那么用dill也差不多了。不管是哪种，包饺子的时候都要多放些叶子，不然味道会很淡。除了猪肉，馅儿里放点新鲜大虾也挺好的，西餐里面经常用这俩（尤其是dill）配鱼虾，味道非常相得益彰。

Zisu's Kitchen (1): Fool Proof Braised Rabbit

Rabbit meat is one of the leanest meat and can be used as a substitute for chicken as a source of lean protein. For health conscious diners, please refer to the nutrition fact of rabbit meat.

And, rabbit meat is delicious! Since we spend most of our weekends watching the World Cup recently, I need to prepare some easy dishes for dinner that needs as little attendance as possible. One of these dishes is braised rabbit. It was a huge success and unbelievably simple. So I'd like to share the recipe here. Can't find rabbit in your local grocery market? Chicken drumsticks work just as fine.

After cut and clean the rabbit meat, marinate it in a container for at least 2 hours or overnight in the fridge.  Marinate is really where you show off your personal taste. I used red wine, soy sauce, Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute, minced onion, minced garlic, dried bay leaves, and a touch of paprika. Rabbit meat is gamy, so I would go a bit heavy in seasoning. If you prefer gamy taste or use less gamy meat (e.g. chicken), you may want to go with a lighter seasoning.

About 20 mins before the soccer game starts, take the marinated rabbit out of the fridge. Cut some vegetables: carrots, onion, celery sticks. Heat a pan (with oil, if needed) and brown the rabbit meat on both sides. Move the browned meat into a Dutch oven. Stir fry chopped vegetables in the same pan until the onion turns golden and throw them into the Dutch oven. Add the marinate, olive oil and some water into the Dutch oven, mix well, and put on the lid. Bring it to boil on the stove. Preheat the oven to 350F, and put the Dutch oven in it.

Now you are ready to sit back and enjoy the first half.

At the half time break, check out the rabbit meat if you want. If it seems too dry, add some water or white wine. I also prepared the side during the break - steamed green beans and eggplant. They are easy dishes too. I steamed them, and put them aside when it was done. They cooled down to about the room temperature while I was watching the second half.

About 30 minutes into the second half, I turned off the oven and took the Dutch oven out. Let the meat sit for a while. When the second half was over, both the rabbit and the side were ready to serve.

Tips:

1. This is the Dutch oven I used for cooking. We also have a far more expensive one. Honestly I didn't notice any difference in terms of quality between Lodge and La Creuset. If you have extra money to burn and love the French brand, go for it. For me, La Creuset price is absolutely a rip-off. For a 3-pound rabbit, 3-5 qt is about the right size of Dutch oven you need. 
2. Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute is awesome! 
3. If you don't have an oven at home, it is OK to braise the rabbit on the stove top. Two main benefits of using an oven: 1) cook evenly, and 2) avoid the side effect of heating up the room. If you cook on the stove, make sure that you turn the stew once in a while so that the food is cooked evenly.  

Whether you choose to cook in the oven or on the stove top, there’s nothing more satisfying than the aroma of meat gently simmering in a rich broth. :)