Stir Fly

I taught an Asian Cooking class last night at Onamia High School on the behest of Onamia Community Education.

For starters I did a "mother sauce" for stir fry with chicken broth and plenty of garlic and ginger - thickened w/ cornstarch and water. It works for chow mein, too. It is called a mother sauce because it is adaptable to many different dishes - add crushed red pepper( and catsup!), and or Thai chili sauce to get a spicy Thai stir fry, more garlic to do garlic chicken and broccoli, fish or oyster sauce for others and so on.

We did a curry, too, w/ heavy cream and carmelized onions and chicken( and curry powder, of course), lime juice and cilantro that was excellent. A guest at the class said she made a similar curry utilizing grouse and coconut milk and it was great. Good idea. Pheasant would be exceptional.

In the past as an appetizer I have sautee'd bite sized pheasant portions and glazed/finished them off w/ a sweet hot Thai chili sauce. It is like eating candy it is so good.

Surprised by the Pasty, and the Hunters Feed

For reasons I'll tell you another time, I made a pasty tonight for the first time. Sometimes you have to work with what you've got.

I had no potatoes, so I could not do a traditional pasty, nor rutabagas.

My starch choices were couscous or basmati rice.

Vegetable choices were limited to carrots, celery,onions, and red and green bell pepper.

I did a stir fry with the veggies, ginger and garlic, incorporated the cooked rice, seasoned all with soy sauce and crushed red pepper, and placed it on the pastry round that I made with flour, sugar, salt,water, and veg oil(out of butter), folded into the traditional half moon shape and baked at 400 degrees for 40 minutes( my oven is mis-calibrated).

It turned out surprisingly good, downright edible. Actually better than the traditional ones made by church ladies - I could tell that I was eating when I was eating.

Hunters feed at church on Sat night. Chili and beef stew. Good for church food. Cornbread was exceptional -light brown w/ a nutty flavor . Janelle had done it w/ buttermilk and brown sugar.
Great desserts - brownies w/ walnuts. Pumpkin cake w/ cream cheese frosting. Gingersnap cookies. Ate too much.