Asparagus and Crab Egg Crêpes

TS:
We happened to have crabmeat and asparagus in the house some time ago. These ingredients reminded me of Vietnamese Crab and Asparagus Soup (Sup Mang Tay Cua).

I took that as my inspiration to create this easy dish for Delicious Vietnam. (See info on this blogging event at the end of the post.)



TS:
What we had was actually the pasteurized crabmeat we used before for Crab Tostadas and our Supreme Lion's Head Meatballs with Crabmeat.

Vietnamese Crab and Asparagus Soup (Sup Mang Tay Cua) is an egg-drop soup: swirls of egg float about in the broth. For my egg component, I decided to make thin "crêpes" or omelettes.

But first, I cooked the asparagus by shallow-boiling/steaming them.



TS:
I peeled the tougher skin near the bottom of each asparagus stalk, then placed the asparagus in a pan of shallow water that I've let boil. I cooked them until they were crisp-tender.

Next up, the "crêpes".

I beat some eggs and seasoned with fish sauce. Then, I poured a little bit into the pan, just enough to form a thin coating.



TS:
I sprinkled a little bit of crab meat onto the crêpe, as well as some black pepper. The egg cooks through in no time. Then, the whole thing was rolled up with the asparagus inside.


My food-styling skills are zero to nil. Look at that plate!

TS:
That was it. Easy! I cut each roll into slices before serving.



TS:
Of course, one can even dispense with the rolling-up business to make this dish even easier. Just fold the egg over with the asparagus inside.

There's something about egg fried in oil that's, well, delicious. The crab gives it a touch of sweetness, the fish sauce and black pepper a savory kick, and the asparagus a nice verdant flavor.



Some eggy eatingclub dishes
Tarragon-Carrot Deviled Eggs
Golden Egg Torta
Hunanese Stir-fried Eggs with Green Peppers
Tortilla de Patatas (Spanish "Omelette")
Piedmont Marinated Eggs
Asparagus and Crab Egg Crêpes
Stir-fried Egg and Tomato
Oyster Torta
Torta with Pork and Kecap Manis
Curried (Easter) Egg Salad
Taiwanese Stewed Eggs (滷蛋) with Stewed Minced Pork (魯肉 or 肉燥)
Longsilog (Longganisa + Sinangag + Itlog)
Torta (Mexican Sandwich)
Mr. Zheng's Soupy Tomatoes and Eggs with Tofu
Nasi Lemak (Malaysian Coconut Rice Meal with Sambal)
Home-style Chinese Steamed Egg with Pork
Golden Shrimp Torta (Philippine Shrimp Omelette)

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Recipe
Asparagus and Crab Egg Crêpes

asparagus
crabmeat
eggs
fish sauce
black pepper

Quantities are up to you.

Prep the asparagus: cut off the tough ends and peel off tough outer layer. Cook asparagus until crisp-tender. An easy way is by adding a shallow amount of water into a wide pan, then letting the water come to a boil. Place the asparagus into the pan until cooked to desired doneness. Set asparagus aside.

Beat a few eggs in a bowl and season with fish sauce and black pepper.

In a wide pan, heat oil over medium heat. Pour in a small amount of beaten eggs, just enough to make a thin layer coating the surface of the pan. Dot the egg "crêpe" with crabmeat. When cooked, slide onto a plate.

Repeat until beaten eggs are used up.

Assemble by placing a small bundle of cooked asparagus near the edge of an egg "crêpe". Then, roll the crêpe around the asparagus bundle. Serve whole or slice into pieces.


To make the soup, visit Wandering Chopsticks for her recipe:
Sup Mang Tay Cua


Vietnamese food at eatingclub vancouver
Squid with Black Pepper
Trout in Vietnamese Caramel Sauce
Pho Bo (Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup)
Vietnamese Salmon Steaks with Cucumber, Garlic and Ginger
Pho Ga (Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup)
Vietnamese Chicken Cabbage Salad (Goi Ga Bap Cai) on Sesame Rice Cracker (Banh Trang Me)
Vietnamese Spring Roll (Cha Gio)
Asparagus and Crab Egg Crêpes


We are submitting this post to Delicious Vietnam, a blogging event founded by A Food Lover's Journey and Ravenous Couple.

For more information on this event, click here.

Entries can be submitted to Anne at buddhabelliespdx [at] gmail [dot] com by 7 pm pacific time July 11. The round-up will be hosted by Buddha's Bellies.

2010 Annual Summer BBQ Event at The Boulevard

Philippine-style Pork "BBQ"

TS:
When people mention that they're having a "BBQ", they are usually talking of throwing some hotdogs and hamburgers on the grill. We do not subscribe to the same school of thought.

Among our circle, a "barbeque" is centered around skewered Philippine Pork "BBQ" and Philippine Chicken "BBQ" with peanut sauce. If you're grilling something else, don't call it a barbeque!

JS:
Of course, our mileage varies, because in the American South, when they say "barbecue," they mean something else too and we'll be asked not to call our barbeques "barbecue"!

Talking amongst ourselves one day, we've come to a decision. We've decided to have two "big" parties per year, one summer and one winter.

We've already blogged about two of our New Year's Eve parties -- see NYE 2008 (Starry, Starry Night) and NYE 2009 (Spanish Menu) -- and this is our first-ever Summer Barbeque Event at The Boulevard (our pretentious name for our house).

Anyways, without further ado, the menu.

2010 Annual Summer BBQ Event
at The Boulevard

Specialty Beverages


CANTALOUPE MELON SLUSH
MANGO SLUSH
In keeping with the Philippine/Filipino theme, we had mango and cantaloupe flavors. The cantaloupe was fantastic!

~

Dinner


PHILIPPINE PORK BBQ SKEWERS
Instant hit!
This is the item everyone has been yearning for.
Click here for the post/recipe.


CHICKEN ADOBO
The classic flavours of Philippine adobo:
vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, bay leaves and black peppercorns.
Click here for the post/recipe, as well as links to all our other adobos.


KARE-KARE (Philippine Oxtail Peanut Stew)
Oxtail and brisket pieces stewed together with eggplants and vegetables
in a rich achiote-tinted broth thickened with roasted rice powder and ground peanuts. Must be eaten with bagoong (shrimp paste)!
Click here for the post/recipe.


SARDINAS NA BANGUS
Milkfish (bangus) done "sardines-style":
confit’ed in olive oil, with garlic, peppers, olives and spices.
Click here for the post/recipe.


EMBUTIDO (Philippine Pork Roll)
A fiesta staple. Ground pork w/ peppers and raisins (and various others), stuffed with eggs and sausages.
Click here for the post/recipe.


INIHAW NA MAIS
Grilled corn on the cob.
Click here for the post/recipe.


GISING-GISING
Green beans cooked in coconut milk, flavoured with shrimp.
Click here for the post/recipe.


MANGGA ENSALADA
A composed salad: fresh mango, tomatoes, red onions, green onions, hard-boiled eggs and bagoong (shrimp paste).
Click here for the post/recipe.

WHITE RICE

~

After dinner...


BIBINGKA GALAPONG
A fragrant rice flour and coconut milk cake baked in banana leaves,
topped with butter, sugar and a golden cheese crust,
served with grated fresh coconut and salted duck eggs.
Click here for the post/recipe.


MAMA’S PHILIPPINE-STYLE FRUIT SALAD
A party favourite! Mixed fruits in a creamy, sweet “dressing”.
Click here for the post/recipe.

A great time was had by all! Thank you to everybody who attended!

And of course, thanks to CSC, The B, and The B's wife for helping out! It was such a pleasure for JS and I not to be the ones skewering 20 pounds of pork!

The Volume

a gigantormous pot (18 QT) purchased especially for making our big-batch kare-kare

TS:
Several people have remarked to us that we do seem to prepare quite the amount of food, even for our regular family meals. So, we thought it would be fun to share the quantities of the food we prepared for this BBQ event.

The day before, we had a head count of 37 people, plus 10 kids. Now, if that was really the number of guests that arrived, I can't say for sure.

The following items were prepped for the party:
20 pounds pork butt
18 pounds chicken thighs
10 pounds oxtail
5 pounds beef brisket
5 milkfish (bangus)
1.5 pounds shrimp
6 pounds ground pork
approx. 50 eggs (I lost count!)

Wait, there's more!

at least 10 heads of garlic
24 ears of corn
14 pounds tomatoes
5 pounds eggplant
6 pounds green beans
4 pounds Shanghai bok choy
approx. 8 cups of coconut milk
2 liters (2 quarts) extra virgin olive oil
and more...

I haven't even counted what we used to make the desserts, as well as other "incidental" ingredients like bell peppers, onions, other embutido ingredients, butter, sugar, cheese, etc.

After the event...


TS:
Cleanup of prep-related items was already done before the party. So, this mess was purely post-party, and after there had already been a few rounds of dishwashing!


You guys up there will have to wait until tomorrow to get clean. We are going to bed.

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Paksiw na Lechon (Philippine Roast Pork simmered in Vinegar)

JS:
I think I'll call this version a "starter" paksiw na lechon. If you're not too keen on liver or liver sauce in your paksiw na lechon, then this is the recipe for you.

TS:
Let's backtrack a little bit. What is paksiw na lechon?

JS:
Paksiw na lechon is usually a stew done with leftover lechon (Philippine roast pork).

Most people I know look forward to this leftover stew more than the they look forward to the actual whole pig. Can't say I disagree, because, really, once the crispy skin is all eaten and done, what else is left?


leftover lechon

TS:
We ordered a whole roast pig for Boss #2's birthday party about a month ago. We had about 3 pounds of leftover lechon the next day.

Usually, people simply add bottled lechon sauce -- Mang Tomas is a popular brand -- to the pork pieces and cook them together. However, both JS and I are not a big fan of bottled lechon sauce. It just tastes overly-sweet and not much else to me.

In fact, the bottled variety tastes nothing like "real" lechon sauce, which is a blend of liver, vinegar and sugar, among other things.

See JS' Homemade Lechon Sauce here.

Someone was actually surprised to taste liver in JS' homemade lechon sauce during Starry, Starry Night (our Philippine/Filipino food feast), having always had Mang Tomas!



JS:
I wanted this version of paksiw to be fairly accessible and entry-level for all palates.

Hence, I made it sans the liver/liver sauce, not particularly sour, and not at all spicy. I opted for a sour-sweet-salty flavour profile, with garlicky, peppery undertones.

TS:
We could've snuck in a can of Philippine liver spread, like when we made Pork Asado (Pork with Tomato-Pineapple Sauce). But, since I'm not a big fan of liver myself, I didn't bring it up. ;)

JS:
This is our favourite genre of recipe, the dump-into-a-pot genre.

I started by sweating some onions in a pot, after which I dumped the pork pieces in, and then added all my other ingredients: garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, peppercorns, cloves, bay leaves and some water. I left it to simmer for about an hour or so.



JS:
Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Almost like an adobo, but not quite -- the sweetness of it (from the onions and the brown sugar) takes it beyond straight-up adobo.

Ah, so good with a bowl of plain, white rice.



JS:
I like to eat paksiw with a touch more acidity, so I drizzled some sinamak (chile-infused vinegar) on mine. The added heat from the chiles are a delicious bonus.


More eatingclub Philippine/Filipino food

Other Lechon Paksiws:
Burnt Lumpia: Leftover Lechon
Market Manila: Paksiw na Lechon
Panlasang Pinoy: Lechon Paksiw

Paksiw information from Wikipedia:

Generally means to cook and simmer in vinegar. Common dishes bearing the term, however, can vary substantially depending on what is being cooked.

Paksiw na isda is fish poached in a vinegar broth usually seasoned with fish sauce and spiced with siling mahaba and possibly containing vegetables.

Paksiw na baboy is pork, usually hock or shank, cooked in ingredients similar to those in adobo but with the addition of sugar and banana blossoms to make it sweeter and water to keep the meat moist and to yield a rich sauce.

Paksiw na lechon is roasted pork lechon meat cooked in lechon sauce or its component ingredients of vinegar, garlic, onions, black pepper and ground liver or liver spread and some water. The cooking reduces the sauce so that by the end the meat is almost being fried.

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Philippine_dishes

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Recipe
"Starter" Paksiw na Lechon (Philippine Roast Pork simmered in Vinegar)

3 pounds cooked roast pork (lechon)
2 heads garlic 1 onion
1 1/4 cups vinegar (coconut, in this case)
3/4 cups soy sauce
2 cups water
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 bay leaves
1 tablespoon black peppercorns, slightly crushed
4 cloves

Break up the cloves of garlic and smash/bruise to peel. Slice or chop the onion.

In a pot, sweat the onions in some oil. Then, add the roast pork/lechon and the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a boil, then simmer on low heat for an hour or so, or until desired donesness./tenderness.

Serve over white rice.