Monday, June 13, 2005

XO Sauce - I


Posted by Hello
We're off to Sicily for the week today - W for work, me, to eat. So for lunch, something quick and simple was in order. I had made up a batch of XO Sauce over the weekend from Grace Young's wonderful The Breath of a Wok. Brimming with recipes, lore and anecdotal incidence, it's a cookbook that's so much more than just a cookbook. I keep meaning to be the sort of fearsomely disciplined cook with an organised pantry full of homemade condiments and sauces at her disposal, ready to be called into service for any meal in the upcoming weeks. Instead, any forward-thinking on my part happens on a sporadic basis, as and when I have a moment.

W loves XO Sauce - so this is, hopefully, the first in a series of posts about cooking with it (there's plenty left from the large batch, which keeps for weeks, I made). For lunch, I tossed some Chinese egg noodles (mee pok) together with thinly sliced discs of fresh scallops, asparagus, and a helping of the spicy sauce thick with dried scallops, dried shrimp, and red chillies. The nicest thing is, seeing as you're not confined to a tiny (and exorbitantly-priced) jar of the shop-bought stuff (which, incidentally, is searingly hot and tastes as much of MSG as it does of dried scallops), there's no need to hold back on making it a healthy helping of sauce.

6 Comments:

Blogger Jocelyn:McAuliflower said...

Oh, this is a good idea. I have to admit- I had never researched what XO sauce is, but I've heard it mentioned sooo many times on Iron Chef, that I knew it had to be good!

I look forward to your posts!

2:20 pm, June 15, 2005  
Blogger Unknown said...

Wow, I've never heard of anyone making their own XO sauce. Normally, I just grab a bottle of Lee Kum Kee XO sauce off the supermarket shelf BUT they sure don't look like the stuff you made. I will now have to hunt down 'The Breath of a Wok'... Thanks for never ceasing to amaze!

3:43 pm, June 15, 2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

whoa even your quick lunches look so good! w is a very lucky man!

10:11 pm, June 15, 2005  
Blogger Joycelyn said...

hi all

thanks for your wonderful feedback

mcauliflower: iron chef is fab, can't get enough of it too!

eatzycath: me too! never occurred to me to make my own xo sauce until i came across that wonderful recipe in the book

gwenda: thanks! you are very kind :)

9:59 pm, June 19, 2005  
Blogger Jojo Tan said...

hey! great pictures! great receipes!!!

6:13 pm, June 20, 2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This might be a silliy question but do you know where I could get an XO suace recipe?

5:47 pm, October 05, 2005  

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