Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan's Blog, page 3

Rockaway Taco (Rockaway Beach, N.Y.): A Surfside Start

You get an inkling that a place is good if everyone who finds out you’re going somewhere for the weekend says you absolutely have to eat there.

Friends, your hairdresser — your hairdresser’s wife. You get the idea.

So on my first visit to Rockaway Beach in New York, I knew there was one place I had to find and hit: Rockaway Taco  …

Now, this place turned out to be not hard to find at all once I got to the Rockaways. All you have to do is look for the long line of surfers and hipsters and this is what you’ll find …

Things are pretty straightforward at this tiny shack, which is just a block from the beach and home to not only terrific tacos but also good advice for visitors:

The menu is small — especially, if you’re there before 11. That’s breakfast time and this means chilaquiles are on deck.

We placed our order and shuffled over to the dining area …

… which is eclectic and awesome, yes — but far cooler than that was the reading rack it offered as well. Any seaside taco shack that has a well-thumbed copy of Michael Chabon‘s “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay” is a winner in my book.

And this was even before I discovered the cool seating at hand:

It’s fairly early on a Saturday morning, so we’re operating on serious Rockaway time — which means our chilaquiles take about 20 minutes to assemble.

But when they come, it’s clear the wait has been worth it.

The chilaquiles were crisp but just soggy enough in parts, from having been doused in tangy jalapeno-tomato sauce, and the baked egg and spicy chorizo patty rounded out the meal perfectly. With a few squirts of lime juice and some salsa from the bar, we were well on our way to demolishing this breakfast.

All too soon, the meal disappeared. And sadly, it was too early for lunch.

The tacos — those famous fish tacos — would simply have to wait. But we’ll be back, not to worry.

Rockaway Taco, 95-19 Rockaway Beach Boulevard, Rockaway Beach, N.Y.; 347.213.7466; http://rockawaytaco.com/

 

 

Egg-Drop Broccoli in Ginger-Miso Gravy: A Giant’s Feast

Anyone who has eaten with me understands that I generally view vegetables the same way one would dentist appointments or exercise — they’re a necessary evil.

This has long held true, and is something that has exasperated my mother since I was a child. Back then, once it was clear that threats and bribery had absolutely no power in persuading me to eat any greens, my mother wisely appealed to a different side of me: The one that (perhaps not so) secretly enjoys the idea of a good conquest.

Think of broccoli as a little tree, she said.

And so, at the dinner table, I began to imagine myself as a giant, ripping out whole trees from the ground and snarfing down clumps of leaves, then branches, before finally devouring their trunks. Destruction, obliteration — all adrenaline-pumping stuff that finally got me to clean those plates of greens.

Perhaps this could have been seen as an early sign that I might grow up to be a serial killer but, no matter. I was eating vegetables. And that was good.

I was thinking of this story when my Let’s Lunch crew decided on doing “a dish that made me eat vegetables” for this month’s virtual lunch date toasting Joe Yonan’s new cookbook “Eat Your Vegetables: Bold Recipes for the Single Cook,” which hit bookstores this week. Congrats, Joe!

What should I cook up? Why, broccoli, of course …

My mother’s broccoli was generally straightforward — stir-fried with garlic was usually the way to go. I love it that way, too — the simplicity of it is the perfect refreshing foil for the heavy Chinese stews or spicy stir-fries that often fill out the rest of our meal.

In my Brooklyn kitchen however, I’ve recently been experimenting with a veggie stir-fry that conjures a dish I’ve been missing — a three-egg vegetable stir-fry in which the greens come swimming in a rich gravy pock-marked with chunks of salted egg, century egg and streaks of beaten chicken eggs. It’s sheer comfort food for me — I often crave the different levels of umami in it from the three kinds of eggs.

Since I don’t regularly keep century or salted eggs in my own kitchen, I’ve been whipping up a one-egg stir-fry that’s pretty simple. You stir-fry garlic and ginger with preserved radishes (if you happen to have it on hand), then toss in the veggies and fry that up, add broth and miso for more flavor and drizzle beaten eggs into the mixture right at the end.

It’s so easy and quick — and packed with such intense flavor — that this carnivore doesn’t even miss the meat when digging into it. And the gravy is sheer heaven poured over hot white rice.

I’ve tried it with spinach, which is not bad, but it’s really better with a more sturdy vegetable like broccoli — which, of course, has the added plus of making me feel like a plundering giant at my dinner table.

Ah … my mother would be proud.

~~~

Don’t forget to check out other Let’s Lunchers’ vegetable dishes below! And if you’d like to join Let’s Lunch, go to Twitter and post a message with the hashtag #Letslunch — or, post a comment below.

Annabelle‘s Farmer’s Market Gazpacho at Glass of Fancy

Grace‘s Vegetable Tempura at HapaMama

Jill‘s Fusilli with Corn Sauce at Eating My Words 

Joe‘s Guaca-Chi at Joe Yonan

Linda‘s Chocolate-Zucchini Twinkies at Free Range Cookies

Linda‘s Gateway Brussels Sprouts at Spicebox Travels

Lisa‘s Totally “Free” Veggie Soup at Monday Morning Cooking Club

Pat‘s Umami-Laden Green Beans at The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook

Vivian‘s Kangkong (Water Spinach) with Fermented Beancurd, Chili and Garlic at Vivian Pei

~~~

Egg-Drop Broccoli in Ginger-Miso Gravy

Ingredients:

Just under 1 lb broccoli crowns
5 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
Scant 1 TB minced ginger
2 TB chye poh, or preserved radish (look for this at Asian grocers — it comes in a bag), optional
1 large shallot (or 2 small), minced
1.5 cups vegetable (or other) stock (I used seafood stock, since that was what I had in my fridge)
1 TB miso paste (I used Korean anchovy miso for extra umami)
2 to 3 eggs, beaten
2 TB vegetable or corn oil
1 TB sesame oil
White pepper, to taste
Soy sauce


Directions:

Wash broccoli and trim crowns, discarding tough stems and cutting the rest up into bite-sized pieces.

Before you start stir-frying, make sure you have everything chopped and measured out because once you start, everything needs to move very quickly.

Heat up a wok over high heat, add vegetable oil and sesame oil and heat that up until it’s glistening and smoking slightly. Add garlic, stir-fry it for 30 seconds (make sure it doesn’t brown), then add ginger, preserved radish (if using) and minced shallots, mixing well. Stir-fry until fragrant — note, this should take less than a minute at the most. Don’t burn the mixture.

Add a splash of soy sauce, a few dashes of white pepper, mix well then add broccoli. Stir-fry well so everything is mixed up, then cover for a minute so the veggies get steamed.

Uncover then add stock and miso paste, stirring well. Bring that mixture to a boil, then add eggs, stirring quickly. Once eggs are set and streaky, serve immediately with rice.

Lemon-Garlic Yellow Beans: A Summery Side

I may not be the biggest fan of vegetables but summer, with its vibrant farmers markets, always manages to lure me to the green side.

Or, as this week had it, the yellow side.

A late-afternoon visit to my neighborhood market this week yielded a lovely surprise — bags of bright yellow string beans going for just 50 cents.

What to do with them? I decided to take them home and see …

Now, I’d not cooked much with yellow beans before but they didn’t seem that different from green beans, which I adore sauteed in bacon grease and tossed with crunchy bits of bacon itself.

When it’s hot out though, even bacon feels a little heavy, sacrilegious as it is to say. Instead, something far simpler and a little brighter on the palate seemed in order.

So, out came the garlic, some super-fresh parsley, grated lemon and lemon juice. And that’s all I needed for a little perfection.

The beans — crisp to the bite and tangy on my tongue — turned out to be a perfect accompaniment for a quick chicken piccata that night, too.

So if you happen to find yourself faced with a table of bargain beans at your farmers market, here’s my recipe below.

Buon appetito!

~~~

Lemon-Garlic Yellow Beans

Ingredients:

1 lb yellow beans
2 TB olive oil
1 TB unsalted butter
4 cloves garlic, minced (add more if you like garlic)
1 teaspoon grated lemon
1 TB lemon juice
1 TB minced parsley


Directions:

Wash beans and snap the ends off, then blanch them for two to three minutes in boiling water.

Heat the olive oil and butter in a pan — when the butter has melted, add garlic and stir-fry it for 30 seconds, until fragrant. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Then add add lemon juice, give that a stir and toss in the beans. Mix well so the beans are coated, then cover and cook for a minute or two. Pour the bean mixture into a bowl, toss with grated lemon and parsley and serve immediately.

 

Soondubu Jjigae: Korean Silky Tofu with Beef & Seafood, A Quick WeeknightTake

Fiery foods are never far from my mind — but the summer months are when this yearning really consumes me.

Perhaps it’s because spicy food and sweltering weather are so intertwined in Singapore, where I grew up. Regardless, whenever the weather turns hot in New York, that’s when my hankering for mouth-numbing flavors truly rears its head.

This week, this led me to try my hand at a dish that I’ve adored for years in Korean restaurants but had never considered trying: Soondubu Jjigae …

Now, if you’ve never had soondubu jjigae before, you seriously haven’t lived.

This flaming stew packed with silky creamy tofu, beef and seafood — usually served bubbling-hot in a thick earthenware bowl — is unforgettable. There is the intensity of the Korean hot peppers, yes — but beyond that there are layers of complex flavors sparring with each other: the earthy richness of beef, the briny umami of seafood, the crisp punctuation marks that tiny bits of green onions will offer.

As much as I love ordering it, I’d never thought of making it. After looking at several recipes a while back, I started to feel that this wasn’t a dish I could wing in good conscience. If you’re going to make it, you need to invest time in making a hearty kelp-anchovy stock from scratch or else, what’s the point?

And then a recent jaunt to my go-to Koreatown grocer started me thinking. Browsing the miso aisle, I came across a tub I’d not noticed before.

Now, I can’t read Korean, but a look at the list of ingredients (and the helpful picture on the front) led me to believe that this was a tub of anchovy- and shellfish-inflected miso.

Could this offer a solution to my anchovy-kelp broth sloth? I had to find out.

First things first — I consulted my favorite Korean food blog: Maangchi. Maangchi’s soondubu jjigae looked stunning, and the recipe (sans broth) looked easy enough.

To start, I heated up some vegetable oil and stir-fried some beef with minced garlic. (I love garlic in everything, so I added some, even though Maangchi doesn’t call for it.)

Then, in went some heaping tablespoons of fiery Korean hot pepper flakes, or gochugaru. (Maangchi has a handy cheatsheet on gochugaru if you want to read up on it: http://www.maangchi.com/ingredient/hot-pepper-flakes)

Now, here came my shortcut — instead of using home-made anchovy-kelp broth, I poured in seafood stock jacked up with a few tablespoons of anchovy miso and fish sauce. Then, in went an assortment of seafood …

… along with the silken tofu and chopped scallions.

Once that came to a boil, I cracked two eggs into it, gave it a stir, drizzled some sesame oil on the top and we were ready to eat.

How was it? Probably not as good as Maangchi’s, but delicious, nonetheless. (And it was even better the next day — over noodles — when the flavors had more time to mingle.)

The best thing was, this stew came together in under 20 minutes. And since I’m trying to be better about writing recipes down, I even have the step-by-step for you to give it a whirl below.

Enjoy…

~~~

Easy Soondubu Jjigae

Ingredients:

2 tubes of super-soft silky tofu (11 oz. each)
2 TB vegetable or corn oil
2 tsp (or more, if you really like garlic) minced garlic
1/4 lb sliced beef for stir-frying
2 TB (or more) gochugaru, Korean hot pepper flakes
1 cup mixed seafood (any combination of shrimp, mussels, clams or squid is good)
2 cups seafood stock
2 TB anchovy-miso paste
2 TB fish sauce
2 scallions, chopped
2 eggs
Sesame oil


Directions:

Heat up an earthenware pot (or a Le Creuset, which is what I used) and then add in oil. When oil is hot, add garlic and stir-fry for 30 seconds, until fragrant. Then add beef and stir-fry until it’s lightly browned. (Do not overcook the meat here or it will be tough.)

Add gochugaru — note: Maangchi’s recipe suggests two to five TB of the stuff, two being mild and five being “suicidal hot!” Stir-fry that a little to mix everything up, then add seafood stock, anchovy-miso paste and fish sauce. Mix well, add seafood, then slice each tube of tofu in half and let the tofu slide out into the pan. Very gently break that up so the tofu remains in large chunks.

Bring mixture to a boil then add scallions and crack two eggs in, mixing gently. Once that comes to a simmer, drizzle sesame oil all over and serve immediately with rice.

 

Soondubu Jjigae: Korean Silken Tofu, Beef & Seafood Stew, A Quick Weeknight Take

Fiery foods are never far from my mind — but the summer months are when this yearning really consumes me.

Perhaps it’s because spicy food and sweltering weather are so intertwined in Singapore, where I grew up. Regardless, whenever the weather turns hot in New York, that’s when my hankering for mouth-numbing flavors truly rears its head.

This week, this led me to try my hand at a dish that I’ve adored for years in Korean restaurants but had never considered trying: Soondubu Jjigae …

Now, if you’ve never had soondubu jjigae before, you seriously haven’t lived.

This flaming stew packed with silky creamy tofu, beef and seafood — usually served bubbling-hot in a thick earthenware bowl — is unforgettable. There is the intensity of the Korean hot peppers, yes — but beyond that there are layers of complex flavors sparring with each other: the earthy richness of beef, the briny umami of seafood, the crisp punctuation marks that tiny bits of green onions will offer.

As much as I love ordering it, I’d never thought of making it. After looking at several recipes a while back, I started to feel that this wasn’t a dish I could wing in good conscience. If you’re going to make it, you need to invest time in making a hearty kelp-anchovy stock from scratch or else, what’s the point?

And then a recent jaunt to my go-to Koreatown grocer started me thinking. Browsing the miso aisle, I came across a tub I’d not noticed before.

Now, I can’t read Korean, but a look at the list of ingredients (and the helpful picture on the front) led me to believe that this was a tub of anchovy- and shellfish-inflected miso.

Could this offer a solution to my anchovy-kelp broth sloth? I had to find out.

First things first — I consulted my favorite Korean food blog: Maangchi. Maangchi’s soondubu jjigae looked stunning, and the recipe (sans broth) looked easy enough.

To start, I heated up some vegetable oil and stir-fried some beef with minced garlic. (I love garlic in everything, so I added some, even though Maangchi doesn’t call for it.)

Then, in went some heaping tablespoons of fiery Korean hot pepper flakes, or gochugaru. (Maangchi has a handy cheatsheet on gochugaru if you want to read up on it: http://www.maangchi.com/ingredient/hot-pepper-flakes)

Now, here came my shortcut — instead of using home-made anchovy-kelp broth, I poured in seafood stock jacked up with a few tablespoons of anchovy miso and fish sauce. Then, in went an assortment of seafood …

… along with the silken tofu and chopped scallions.

Once that came to a boil, I cracked two eggs into it, gave it a stir, drizzled some sesame oil on the top and we were ready to eat.

[image error]

How was it? Probably not as good as Maangchi’s, but delicious, nonetheless. (And it was even better the next day — over noodles — when the flavors had more time to mingle.)

The best thing was, this stew came together in under 20 minutes. And since I’m trying to be better about writing recipes down, I even have the step-by-step for you to give it a whirl below.

Enjoy…

~~~

Easy Soondubu Jjigae

Ingredients:

2 tubes of super-soft silky tofu (11 oz. each)
2 TB vegetable or corn oil
2 tsp (or more, if you really like garlic) minced garlic
1/4 lb sliced beef for stir-frying
2 TB (or more) gochugaru, Korean hot pepper flakes
1 cup mixed seafood (any combination of shrimp, mussels, clams or squid is good)
2 cups seafood stock
2 TB anchovy-miso paste
2 TB fish sauce
2 scallions, chopped
2 eggs
Sesame oil


Directions:

Heat up an earthenware pot (or a Le Creuset, which is what I used) and then add in oil. When oil is hot, add garlic and stir-fry for 30 seconds, until fragrant. Then add beef and stir-fry until it’s lightly browned. (Do not overcook the meat here or it will be tough.)

Add gochugaru — note: Maangchi’s recipe suggests two to five TB of the stuff, two being mild and five being “suicidal hot!” Stir-fry that a little to mix everything up, then add seafood stock, anchovy-miso paste and fish sauce. Mix well, add seafood, then slice each tube of tofu in half and let the tofu slide out into the pan. Very gently break that up so the tofu remains in large chunks.

Bring mixture to a boil then add scallions and crack two eggs in, mixing gently. Once that comes to a simmer, drizzle sesame oil all over and serve immediately with rice.

Spam Fries with Key Lime Dip: A Perfect Munchies Hit

A little bit of excitement occurred recently — I just had my first piece of fiction published in an anthology!

It’s a short story titled “Ganja Ghosts” — about, well, smoking the you know what in Singapore. And it’s appeared in a lovely book called “The Marijuana Chronicles,” edited by the brilliant artist and bestselling mystery writer Jonathan Santlofer.

In addition to Jonathan, there are stories in there by Joyce Carol Oates, Lee Child and more. To say I’ve been thrilled would barely even begin to describe it. And yes, all of you should absolutely run right out now and buy a copy!

So, it seemed like a celebration was in order — and thankfully, my Let’s Lunch mates were on board. For this month’s lunch date, we decided to share our ideas for perfect “munchies” …

Now, I should note that I’m a big nerd when it comes to naughty substances. But I do understand the food cravings that can hit — something salty for the mouth perhaps, all the better if it’s crunchy and fried. All of this made me think of these out-of-this-world Spam fries I first tried in Singapore a few years ago.

Those fries at Wild Oats — a low-key bar with delicious finger food by fusion chef Willin Low — were perfectly done. Crispy and salty and especially tasty with generous swipes of the kaffir lime dip that Willin offered on the side.

I’ve thought of those fries often — usually when I’m feeling snacky. So when I was thinking up the perfect munchie, Spam fries it was.

This dish is insanely easy to make — just cut up Spam in the shape of fries, deep fry them and serve with home-made lime mayo. I didn’t have kaffir leaves on hand so I made my lime mayo with key lime juice instead. (Anything that reminds me of Key West makes any dish all the better, after all.)

How were they? Let’s just say the fries disappeared in about the time it might take you to feel like firing up something new. And the next time I get snacky again, I’ll have this recipe below.

Enjoy!

~~~

Don’t forget to check out other Let’s Lunchers’ “Munchies” below! And if you’d like to join Let’s Lunch, go to Twitter and post a message with the hashtag #Letslunch — or, post a comment below.

Annabelle‘s Scallion Pancakes at Glass of Fancy

Anne Marie‘s Pepper-Stuffed Tater Tot, Fried Pickle, Cheese Whiz and Garlic Bread Burger at Sandwich Surprise

Emma‘s Homemade Pizza Rolls at Dreaming of Pots and Pans

Grace‘s Fry Sauce, with an Asian Twist at HapaMama

Jonathan‘s Chocolate Chewy Squares at Jonathan Santlofer

Linda‘s Heavenly Hash Popcorn at Free Range Cookies

Linda‘s Sam Sifton’s Trinidadian Chinese Five Spice Chicken at Spice Box Travels

Lisa‘s No-Time-To-Wait Nachos at Monday Morning Cooking Club

Pat‘s Sausage Rolls at The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook

Rashda‘s Farm-Fresh Corn Fritters at Hot Curries & Cold Beer

Vivian‘s Spam Bacon & Kim Chi Sandwich at Vivian Pei

~~~

Spam Fries with Key Lime Mayo

Ingredients:

1 can of Spam or Ma Ling brand luncheon meat
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 large egg
3 TB key lime juice (This is the brand you should use: Nellie & Joe’s.)
Salt and pepper to taste
Vegetable oil for deep frying


Directions:

Mix egg, key lime juice, salt and pepper well in a food processor. While it’s running, very slowly add in olive oil. Keep mixing until the consistency is as you’d like it. (Recipe adapted from Chubby Hubby.)

Cut spam up into thick fries. Heat up enough oil in a heavy pan for deep-frying until it’s hot but not quite smoking. Drop “fries” in and cook until they’re just starting to turn brown. Note: This happens fairly quickly if your oil is hot so watch your fries very carefully so they don’t burn.

Serve immediately with key lime mayo on the side.

 

 

Mango-Key Lime Pie: Tropical Cool

I’ve had mangoes on my mind recently. Living with a fertile mango tree in your backyard for a month in Key West will do that to you.

While I was there recently, mangoes came pelting down so frequently each day that I certainly took them for granted. There are only so many mango slices and salsas one can eat, after all.

Now that I’m back in New York City however, I’m come to rather miss that tree. So when I happened to see a display of beautiful mangoes in Brooklyn shortly after my Let’s Lunch group decided to share a “Too Hot To Cook” dish for our June virtual lunch gathering, I started thinking …

Now, the mangoes I found in Brooklyn were nothing like the ones I harvested every morning in Key West. You can see how plump and gorgeous my Florida mangoes were.

And the tree they grew on was even more beautiful — and fragrant — at night.

Nonetheless, one must work with what one has.

I had a no-bake pie in mind for these mangoes — and it turns out that there’s a traditional Mexican mango pie that requires no baking.

It’s such a simple recipe that the hardest part is cutting up the mangoes into cubes — really, it’s that easy. (The recipe’s below.) And for a little nod to Key West — my new favorite place — I added a healthy dose of key lime juice to the pie filling.

When it comes to serving it, it’s great to have this pie with some whipped cream to temper the key lime if you’re not a fan of tart flavors. (Or, just use less key lime juice and substitute some water in for the liquid amount instead.)

How did it taste? Cool, zingy and just delicious. Truly lovely for a hot summer’s day.

In fact, this pie made me think of eating fresh oozy mangoes on my hot little porch down in Key West. Talk about perfection in a bite.

~~~

Don’t forget to check out other Let’s Lunchers’ “Too Hot To Cook” dishes below! And if you’d like to join Let’s Lunch, go to Twitter and post a message with the hashtag #Letslunch — or, post a comment below.

Anne Marie‘s Lettuce Sandwich at Sandwich Surprise

Emma‘s Cheese Plate at Dreaming of Pots and Pans

Grace‘s Mung Bean Shaved Ice at HapaMama

Linda‘s Coconut Creamsicle Sodas at Free Range Cookies

Linda‘s Escape From San Francisco Picnic at Spicebox Travels

Lisa‘s Campari Granita at Monday Morning Cooking Club

Lucy‘s “The Girl in a Hat Goes on a Picnic” at A Cook and Her Books

Monica‘s Peanut Salad at A Life of Spice

Pat‘s Harvest Red Rice Salad at The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook

~~~

Mango Key Lime Pie

Ingredients:

1 Graham cracker crust (I used Martha Stewart’s recipe.)
2 cups mango, cut into cubes
2 Knox gelatin envelopes
3/4 cup key lime juice (This is the brand you should use: Nellie & Joe’s.)
3/4 cup condensed milk
Grated zest of 1 lime


Directions:

Dissolve gelatin in key lime juice, mixing well, then set aside for a few minutes. Then, microwave this mixture for 30 seconds and set aside.

Puree mangoes with condensed milk in a food processor or blender until smooth. Pour gelatin mixture into the processor, straining through a sieve so you won’t have clumps in your pie mixture. Add half the lime zest as well. Blend well.

Pour into prepared pie crust, sprinkle remaining lime zest on top and refrigerate for two hours or until set. Serve with whipped cream.

 

La Crêperie (Key West, Florida): A Little French on the Island

Ask anyone in Key West about lunch and you’ll likely get the question: “Have you been to the crêpe place?”

Admittedly, this island is not a place I’d think of for crêpes — seafood, yes. (Perhaps even a boozy lunchspot with a view.) Crêpes? Silly as it sounded, it didn’t seem local enough for one of the few meals out I was allowing myself during my month of writing.

After a few weeks of getting this question though, I decided to investigate. So off we went one morning on a jaunt to a little corner in Bahama Village …

With its cheery yellow storefront and outdoor tables, La Crêperie was an easy find. And even with its packed house, it offered less of a wait than Blue Heaven, the spot just across the street that has become so popular with tourists you can find yourself waiting an hour to 90 minutes for a lunch table.

It’s not just the lack of a wait that has made La Crêperie a favorite lunch spot of Key Westers, however. From what I understand, the food that French transplants Yolande Findlay and Sylvie Le Nouail have been serving has drawn crowds since the restaurant began as a food cart more than 10 years ago. The pair opened a cafe in 2002 and its been in its current spot since 2010.

The setting is inviting …

… and if you snag a seat at the bar, you’ll have a full view of all sorts of crêpes getting made.

The chef always has several pans going at once. First, she scoops batter onto the pan, smoothing it out …

… then once that’s set a little, she starts piling fillings on top.

This smoked salmon and lemon-chive cream sauce crêpe looked delicious. (By the time I spotted it, we’d ordered, alas.)

And then once that’s been on for a while, she starts folding the edges together neatly.

Entertainment while you wait — what more could you ask for?

Despite the crowds, our food arrived quickly. First up, a savory crêpe filled with chicken, spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes and onions ($12.75), which began oozing Béchamel sauce the moment we sliced it open.

This crêpe had come very highly recommended — and it was out of this world. Each bite was incredibly rich and creamy — just perfect, paired with the crisp casing of the crêpe.

Next up, another one that the locals had raved about — the raspberry cream cheese crêpe ($8.75), which perfectly balanced sweet and tart with the hefty creaminess of the cheese. Sprinkled with powdered sugar, it offered a lovely capper to the meal.

I ended up adoring the place so much I went back on one of my last days on the island — this time to sample the prosciutto and Swiss cheese crêpe with sautéed tomatoes in herbs de Provence and basil ($12.75), which disappeared just as quickly as my first meal at this cafe had. So quickly, in fact, that I didn’t even pause to take a photo of the dish.

(We were less crazy about the guava paste and cream cheese ($8.75) — perhaps because the cream cheese flavor overwhelmed the much milder guava flavor.)

As last lunches in one of my favorite cities of the world go, this one was just perfect nonetheless. As I reluctantly paid up and left, I found myself already plotting my return, that next crêpe on the horizon.

La Crêperie, 300 Petronia Street, Key West, Fla.; 305.517.6799; http://www.lacreperiekeywest.com/

Char Siu (Roast Pork) & Broccoli Stir-Fry: Lazy Chinese

A Singaporean auntie laughed when I once mentioned my late grandmother’s “gambling rice,” a one-dish meal she concocted that was easy to make — and for busy gamblers to eat — in the little gambling den she ran.

“Gambling rice?” my auntie said. “We called it ‘landuo fan!”

Lazy rice — a name that’s stuck with me ever since.

I’ve been all about lazy food in my kitchen recently — with a book deadline looming, food has become immaterial. (During a recent month of writing at The Studios of Key West in Florida, strong Cuban coffee was my main sustenance some days.)

So recently in Brooklyn, cooking has become all about looking in the fridge and throwing dishes together. Some of these winged-it meals, however, have turned out so much tastier than expected that I’ve started recording the haphazard madness that led to their being.

One of the favorites so far? Chinese roast pork with broccoli in an easy home-made char siu gravy. It’s so easy that dinner took a little over 10 minutes to make. Want the recipe? Just click on through …

~~~

Chinese Roast Pork & Broccoli Stir-Fry with Char Siu Gravy

Ingredients:

1 /2 pound Chinese roast pork, sliced
4 to 5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 pound broccoli crowns, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 TB vegetable or corn oil
3/4 to 1 cup chicken broth — or more, depending on how much gravy you’d like


For the Gravy:
(Recipe from Food.com)


1/3 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup dark soy sauce
3 tablespoons Chinese Shaoxing wine (or use dry sherry as a substitute)
1 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder


Directions:

Mix together gravy ingredients and set aside — this amount above will yield about one cup. You’ll only need about half a cup so you can pack up the rest.

Heat oil in wok over high heat until it’s sizzling, toss in garlic and stir-fry very quickly for about 30 seconds. (You want the garlic to get fragrant but not burned.) Add roast pork, stir-fry for a minute then quickly add broccoli, chicken broth and gravy by the tablespoon, mixing very well. If you want the dish to be less salty, add less gravy to the mixture — some might like as little as a tablespoon or two for a more subtle taste. You want to add a maximum of half a cup.

Then, cover the wok and let it cook for two minutes, or until broccoli is bright green and cooked. Give it a big stir and serve immediately with rice.

Spicy Korean Tofu: A Nod to Asia

I haven’t had much time to cook recently, with my book deadline looming.

But one does have to eat. So recently, when I found myself having to take a quick break from writing to prep a dish for a potluck party at The Studios of Key West, I turned to an old reliable: Spicy Korean tofu.

This dish is so easy (and delicious) that I find myself making it sometimes as often as once a week. Each tofu bite is packed with the intense swirl of garlic, chili flakes, nutty sesame oil and more — it’s terrific on its own but even better over hot white rice.

Every time I’ve made it, people ask for the recipe — so when my Let’s Lunch crew decided to make a dish that honors Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month for our May virtual lunch date, I decided it was time to share it …

Now, I can’t take credit for this recipe — like many of my best dishes, it’s something I learned from Maangchi. (If you aren’t already reading her blog and watching her adorable videos, you simply must.)

In the meantime, here’s her lovely recipe below, with one slight tweak I’ve made. Happy Asian American heritage month and enjoy…

~~~

Don’t forget to check out other Let’s Lunchers’ Asian dishes below! And if you’d like to join Let’s Lunch, go to Twitter and post a message with the hashtag #Letslunch — or, post a comment below.

Annemarie‘s Bulgogi Lettuce Wraps at Sandwich Surprise

Emma‘s Korean Barbecue at Dreaming of Pots and Pans

Grace‘s Mom’s Stir-Frying Tips at HapaMama

Karen‘s Non-Traditional Wonton Soup at GeoFooding

Linda‘s Savory Steamed Rice Cake at Spicebox Travels 

Lisa‘s Sesame Eggplant & Noodle Salad at Monday Morning Cooking Club

Lucy‘s Chinese Chicken Salad at A Cook and Her Books

~~~

Spicy Korean Tofu

(Recipe from Maangchi, slightly tweaked below)

Ingredients:

1 clove garlic, minced
1 chopped green onion
1 teaspoon hot pepper flakes
1 teaspoon sugar (or honey)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons sesame oil, plus 1 tablespoon for frying
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
10 oz. tofu


Directions:

Slice the tofu into bite size pieces (¼ inch-thick rectangles) then dry off each piece with a paper towel. If you’d like your tofu a little crisper, lay the tofu slices on paper towels for 15 to 30 minutes before frying.

Heat pan with one tablespoon of vegetable or corn oil and one tablespoon of sesame oil. When oil is super hot, fry the tofu slices until each side is browned and crisp.

Arrange tofu on a plate, mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and drizzle over the fried tofu. Serve immediately with rice.