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cookbook

Shanti Christensen's Book Giveaway and Umami Kale (updated)

April 6, 2017 By Eleanor Hoh 16 Comments

Book Giveaway details below, ends tonight Sunday, April 16: 12am ET, good luck! 

If you crave real home cooked Chinese food, you can win Shanti Christensen’s book, “Family Style Chinese Cookbook: Authentic Recipes from My Culinary Journey Through China!” (see details below!) It’s a MUST.  Shanti’s quest to learn authentic Chinese cooking led her into 40 families’ homes over a 3 year period and culminated in this treasure trove of family recipes. Her superb story telling makes us feel like an extended family, privy to secrets that have been passed down for generations.

You’ll learn about Chinese traditions, the importance of family and with meager ingredients, you can cook up feasts. Lamb Fried Rice Xinjiang Style (p.161) and Braised Pork Ribs in Aromatic Sauce (p.111), umm, not bad bedtime reading or to dream about.

Simple, no frills recipes. They won’t intimidate you or make you keel over with impossible-to-find ingredients like many Chinese cookbooks. My favorite part of the book?  Reading Shanti’s endearing stories about the families gave me a sense of what life was like in China. I was born in China and left when only 9 months old. 

You can experience more of Shanti’s China trip here.

And if you’re lucky enough to live in San Francisco,
she produces outrageous popup dinners serving dishes from all over Asia.

To celebrate this book giveaway, I chose Shanti’s Stewed Kale (p.156) because the day I wanted to experiment from her book, that’s all I had in the fridge. And I loved that because it reflects my whole philosophy of using what you have and make the best and tastiest dish you can!

Creating a sauce to put over veggies is a very efficient way of adding flavor
to a big batch of veggies and gives them a different texture and flavor. 

As always, I couldn’t help being a Wok Star and put my personal spin on it… 

 

 

INGREDIENTS:
1 lb. kale (ready washed and torn into pieces)
Grape seed oil
Sesame oil

Sauce:
1 tsp Koon Chun brown bean sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp i.e. few dashes of sherry
1 tbsp i.e. few dashes of tamari
1/4 cup chicken broth

METHOD…

  1. Combine all sauce ingredients in bowl
  2. Heat cast iron wok till hot, add sauce and fry till fragrant
  3. Immediately add kale and cover with sauce.  Add broth, tamari and sherry.
  4. Cook till kale is wilted, taste for doneness, if not enough sauce, add a little more broth and cook till tender.

This kale goes well with ANYTHING.
I’d love to hear about some of your favorite ways for preparing kale in the comments.

Ready for Book Giveaway?  Keeping it simple, here you go:

1.  Subscribe to my free newsletter in right sidebar —->
2.  Follow Shanti Christensen on Instagram @showshanti
3.  Follow Eleanor Hoh on Instagram @wokstar and leave comment on Book Giveaway post
4.  Leave a comment below why you deserve to win Shanti’s cookbooks?  Then email me eh at eleanorhoh dot com so I have your email if you win.
5.  Eligibility:  Only for United States residents. Closing date:  Sunday, April 16 , 12 am ET. Check back here for winner announcements Monday, April 17.
6.  A random winner will be picked and contacted via email. Respond ASAP, otherwise I will pick the next winner.
7.  Your book will be sent directly to you, good luck everyone!

If you didn’t win, you can still buy Shanti’s cookbook here. 

Want more ideas for vegetable dishes?…

Simple Kale Stir Fry

Three Ingredient Broccolini

How about more Kale recipes?

Serious Eats: 15 Kale recipes

All the Kale Recipes You’ll Ever Need

Umami Stewed Kale

Filed Under: blog, Book Giveaway, cast iron wok, stir fry, vegetables Tagged With: "Chinese food", "Chinese recipes", "cookbook giveaway", "Shanti Christensen", "stewed kale", cast iron wok, cookbook, Giveaway, stir fry, wok cooking

Book Giveaway: Mandy Baca, The Sizzling History of Miami Cuisine

April 26, 2015 By Eleanor Hoh 28 Comments

Congratulations to winner, Magali Almeyra, a chef/owner of Mona who loves to cook and wants to learn more about Miami cuisine and its rich history! 

Award winning author, Mandy Baca’s The Sizzling History of Miami Cuisine: Cortaditos, stone crabs & empanadas can be yours in a random draw for my book giveaway!  This book recounts the delicious history of Miami’s spicy, vibrant and diverse cuisine in Miami.  If you’ve ever wondered about a restaurant’s signature dish, Mandy has included a number of recipes which are used as historical data, whatever the reason, you’ll get a chance to get it! You can’t have a Miami food history book without mentioning The Mango Gang, Versailles Restaurant, Joe’s Stone Crab, Monty’s and the list goes on.
MandyBaca-MiamiCuisine-BookGiveaway-web
You’ll also love this book if you’re a food historian, foodie, food writer, chef, home cook or just visited Miami and enjoyed the diverse influences from Latin and Caribbean nations or just plain love to eat!  There’s also juicy tidbits listing the openings and closings of restaurants with links to blogs revealing why chefs left certain restaurants in the back of the book!
If you don’t win Mandy’s book, you can still order it here. You can find out more about Mandy and her upcoming books here. She was listed in Zagat Miami’s 30 under 30 list of gastronomic game changers.  
Ready for Book Giveaway?  Keeping it simple, here you go:
1)  Subscribe to my free newsletter in right sidebar so you’ll be the first to know about Giveaways of this sort or get first dibs to attend special culinary events and a whole lot more.
2)  Leave a comment below why you want Mandy’s book! Then email me eh at eleanorhoh dot com so I have your email if you win.
3) Eligibility:  Only for United States residents. Closing date:  Monday, May 25, 2015 midnight, ET.
4)  A random winner will be picked and contacted via email. Respond ASAP, otherwise I will pick the next winner.
5) Your book will be sent directly to you, good luck everyone!

Filed Under: blog, cookbook, Giveaway, miami Tagged With: "food history", "miami beach", "Miami Cuisine", "Miami foodie", chef, cookbook, foodie, Giveaway

Miami Book Fair: Book Giveaway 2-Fried & True: Lee Schrager, Mango: Jen Karetnick

November 21, 2014 By Eleanor Hoh 10 Comments

2014 miami book fair posterExcited to give away 2 more cookbooks to celebrate the Miami Book Fair! Who doesn’t love Mangoes or Fried Chicken? See below for a chance to win these books!
The Miami Book Fair International celebrates its 31st year, congratulations!  It is still the largest and finest book fair of its kind in the nation and encompasses over 500 author presentations, national and international book exhibitors, educational programming, children’s activities, music, dance, visual arts, theater and creative writing workshops.
The 2014 Fair will take place at the downtown campus of Miami Dade College, November 16-23 and Street Fair, November 21-23.
Check out their very comprehensive site for complete program and events here.
Please join the conversation on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MiamiBookFair or twitter and instagram @miamibookfair
 
Ready for Book Giveaway?  Keeping it simple, here you go:
1.  Subscribe to my free newsletter in right sidebar for meal ideas, videos, resources, tips and techniques, restaurant reviews and beyond. If you’re already a subscriber, just go to step 2!
2.  Leave a comment below why you deserve to win Jen Karetnick or Lee Schrager’s cookbooks?  Then email me eh at eleanorhoh dot com so I have your email if you win. Please specify if you want either Jen or Lee’s book.
3.  Eligibility:  Only for United States residents.

Closing date:  Sunday, November 23 Tuesday, Dec.9 at 12 midnight, ET.

Check back here for winners: Wednesday,Dec. 10 at 9pm, ET.

And the winners are…

Jeff Sampson for Lee’s Fried and True and

Vee Wong for Jen Karetnick’s Mango, congratulations!

4.  A random winner will be picked and contacted via email. Respond ASAP, otherwise I will pick the next winner.
 Your book will be sent directly to you through the publisher, good luck everyone!

Mango_RGBJen Karetnick works as the Creative Writing Director for Miami Arts Charter School and as the dining critic for Miami Magazine, blogger for Virgin Atlantic Airways, columnist for Biscayne Times and contributor for TheLatinKitchen.com. Her poems and essays have appeared recently or are forthcoming in December, Hospital Drive, Seneca Review, SLAB, Spillway, Submittable, Tidal Basin Review nd Valparaiso Poetry Review. A versatile essayist and journalist, she is the author/co-author/editor of 12 books. In Mango (University Press of Florida; $18.95) Jen Karetnick, aka the Mango Mama, takes readers on a culinary tour of all things mango. She invites you into her home, the Mango House, where many of these luscious recipes were created. She introduces you to the Mango Gang, a group of world-renowned chefs including Allen Susser and Norman Van Aken. These chefs make frequent use of the bounty from Jen’s ninety-year-old trees in their Miami restaurants, and in Mango, they share some of their favorite recipes.
On a personal note, I have actually been lucky enough to be a recipient of Jen’s amazing mangoes and I’m a huge fan of mangoes. I can’t wait to try some of the recipes in this book, mangoes are so versatile and one of the few fruits I don’t mind including in my savory dishes!  Jen has also attended my cooking class and is a Wok Star!
 
Fried & TrueLee Brian Schrager knows his way around Miami and good food. He’s a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and the founder of the tremendously successful Food Network South Beach and New York City Wine & Food Festivals.  He’s appeared on the Today show and Rachael Ray. And he’s the author of The Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival Cookbook. Surprisingly, Schrager had only prepared fried chicken a single time before he began work on his latest book, Fried & True: More than 50 Recipes for America’s Best Fried Chicken and Sides, a crunchy, savory valentine to one of America’s classic dishes.  Schrager left no stone unturned in his quest to find America’s best fried chicken. Culled from four-star restaurants all the way to roadside fry shacks, Fried & True is the pathway to the next great fried chicken masterpiece and a tribute to America’s most beloved culinary treasure.
After a childhood spent in Illinois, Connecticut, Maryland, and Florida, Eliot Schrefer attended Harvard University, where he graduated with High Honors in French and American literature. His first novel, Glamorous Disasters, was a somewhat autobiographical tale of a young man living in Harlem and paying off college debt while tutoring Fifth-Avenue families. After writing another novel for adults, he turned to young adult fiction with The School for Dangerous Girls, about a boarding school for criminal young ladies. That book was selected as a “Best of the Teen Age” by the New York Public Library, and his next novel, The Deadly Sister, earned a starred review from School Library Journal. Endangered, his fifth novel, was a finalist for the National Book Award in Young People’s Literature. His latest novel, also a 2014 National Book Award Finalist in Young People’s Literature is Threatened. When he was a boy, Luc’s mother would warn him about the “mock men” living in the trees by their home — chimpanzees whose cries would fill the night. Luc is older now, his mother gone. He lives in a house of mistreated orphans, barely getting by. Then a man calling himself Prof comes to town with a mysterious mission. When Luc tries to rob him, the man isn’t mad. Instead, he offers Luc a job. Together, Luc and Prof head into the rough, dangerous jungle in order to study the elusive chimpanzees. There, Luc finally finds a new family — and must act when that family comes under attack.
I noticed Lee showcased a cast iron skillet for frying chicken in his book and of course, I was thrilled since I am a huge advocate for cast iron wok cooking!
 

Filed Under: "Miami Book Fair", blog, cookbook, Miami Events Tagged With: "Miami Book Fair", cookbook, Miami events

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