Chinese Green Onion Pancakes in Cast Iron

Last week I whipped up batch of these for lunch. Since I used cast iron in the process, I took a couple of quick snapshots with my phone and posted them in the Facebook Cast Iron Cooking group just for fun. Within minutes I was inundated with requests for my recipe. It was such a pleasant surprise I felt I had to write it up and share it!

This flatbread, which is a favorite at dim sum restaurants, is at once flakey, crisp, and chewy. It’s a bit unusual because it’s made with a hot water dough. And because the rolling process results in many thin layers of dough and oil sandwiched together, it’s a laminated dough of sorts.

To be honest, I never measure any of the ingredients except for the flour and water for the dough. The thing to know is that the ratio is 2 parts flour and 1 part boiling water by volume. The procedure may seem a little long, but it’s really quick and easy and fun to do once you get the hang of it. Take care to slice the green onion very thinly or it will tear through the dough. A short dowel roller, which can be found for around $2 at most Asian markets, is ideal for rolling these out.

Chinese Green Onion Pancakes
Printable Recipe

½ cup plus ¼ teaspoon all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
Kosher salt
¼ cup boiling water
¾ teaspoon dark sesame oil
¾ teaspoon canola oil, plus more for frying
1 large green onion, thinly sliced
Soy sauce, for serving

Mix together ½ cup of the flour and a pinch of salt in a medium bowl. Add the boiling water and, using chopsticks, mix until all of the flour is moistened and the dough is cool enough to handle. Then knead for a minute or two until smooth and elastic. The dough will be somewhat sticky. Cover with a second inverted bowl and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix together the sesame oil, canola oil, and ¼ teaspoon of the flour in a small bowl.

Cut the dough into thirds and form each portion into a ball. On a lightly floured surface, roll out 1 ball of dough to a 6 to 7-inch wide circle. Drizzle about 1/3 of the sesame oil mixture over the dough circle and spread it evenly with the back of a spoon, leaving a ¼-inch border at the edge. Sprinkle over about 1/3 of the green onion.

Roll up the dough circle like a jelly roll.

Then coil up the roll like a snake.

Tuck the outer end of the roll under the coil to secure it and then press down on the coil lightly with the palm of your hand to create a disc. Make more discs with the remaining dough, sesame oil mixture, and green onions in the same manner.

Roll the discs out in the same order as you made them: On a lightly floured surface, roll out each disc to a 6 to 7-inch wide pancake.

As you work, stack the pancakes on a plate between sheets of parchment paper to keep them from sticking to each other.

Fry the pancakes in the same order as you rolled them: Heat a cast iron griddle over medium-low heat until very hot but not smoking. Add a generous drizzle of canola oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the griddle. Add 1 pancake and cook without disturbing for 1 to 2 minutes, or until golden brown.

Using a spatula, turn the pancake and continue to cook over medium-low, pressing down on it lightly with the back of a spatula, another 1 to 2 minutes, or until golden brown and crisp.

Remove the pancake to a cutting board. Fry the remaining pancakes in the same manner.

Cut the pancakes into wedges and serve hot with soy sauce for dipping.

Makes 3 pancakes, enough for a generous snack. Feel free to double or triple the recipe if you have to share.

L'Arte della Sfoglia, Part 4: Other Pasta Shapes

In addition to tortelloni and tortellini, Claudio and Ida make a variety of other pasta shapes. Using their supple sfoglia, they make bowties.

And garganelli. The ridged tubes are created using a pettine.

They make small cuts for soup.

Ribbons in a variety of widths.

Narrow ones are paired with butter or fish. Tagliatelle is served with ragu, and mushroom and game sauces go with wide pappardelle. The strands are cut to order sometimes by hand, sometimes by machine and formed into nests.

It seems that forming the perfect nest is an art in itself.

Requiring just the right amount of fluffing.

Separating of the strands.

A precise weight.

And a certain winding motion.

My nests never look so artful or voluminous. They layer sfoglia with ragu for lasagna, to be be baked for precisely 45 minutes at 180˚C.

The extruder was not put to use the day we visited.

Claudio explained that they use 90% semolina and 10% 00 flour with a mix of egg and a little water for their macaroni.

Incidentally, they do have a small display of Giuseppe Cocco dried pasta, because for certain dishes, only dried extruded pasta will do.

Flavored pastas are also made in the shop. Spinach pasta is mixed using the ratio of 8 eggs and 100 grams spinach to 1 kilogram 00 flour. Cordonetti, named after shoe laces, is made with 1 kilogram integrale—that’s Italian for whole wheat—flour, 200 grams 00 flour, 10 eggs, and 170 grams water. This dough cannot be rolled as thin as dough made from 100% 00 flour, and the resulting pasta looks more like spaghetti alla chitarra. It’s served with ragu and all kinds of other sauces. Neither of these were on the prep list the day we visited.

After our brains were filled with so much knowledge, it was time to fill our bellies. Ida cooked up a lunch of gargantuan portions of tortellini in cream sauce and then lasagna, which we ate at a tablecloth-covered workbench. Needless to say it was outstanding.

We thought we learned so much about the art of pasta that morning. But as Claudio pointed out, 100 kilometers away from Bologna all of the pasta shapes and all of the fillings are completely different. We’ve only just scratched the surface!

Previously: L'Arte della Sfoglia, Part 3: Tortellini.

Flavored Butters on AM Northwest

That’s me making Pie Spice Butter on AM Northwest! After the show my students gave me a hard time for not scraping out the bowl!

Flavored Butters is full of “tasty-sounding recipes” that are “a new way to liven up a meal” according to HeraldCourier.com.

L'Arte della Sfoglia, Part 3: Tortellini

Contrary to what I had imagined, Ida did not employee an army of small children to make tortellini. The tortellini production, in fact, proceeded in much the same manner as the tortelloni production before it.

First, in a show of excellent mise en place and utilization, fluted scraps of pasta leftover from making tortelloni were used.

Sfoglia specifically for tortellini is cut with plain wheels, so they typically have straight sides.

Zoom, zoom!

I wonder if anyone ever notices the oddball tortellino with wavy edges in their bowl of brodo?

L’Arte della Sfoglia’s tortellini filling recipe is a closely guarded secret, but Claudio did divulge that it contains fresh pork “lombo”, mortadella, salsiccia, Parmegiano-Reggiano, nutmeg, white pepper, and salt.

The chicken provides sweetness, and all pork would be too strong.

Ida could not have been more opinionated on the subject and insisted that prosciutto, which is a common ingredient in tortellini filling, does not belong.

She explained that prosciutto results in a filling that's too dry and “acidic”.

According to Ida, prosciutto is not for cooking, period. She pulled a bag of filling made by a local restaurant and provided to them for contract work out of her reach-in, and an impromptu tasting proved her point.

Claudio told us that their tortellini took fourth place in the area and first place within Bologna in one contest.

My husband, an engineer inculcated by the American culture of constant improvement, innocently inquired if they would adjust the recipe and try for a higher result.

Claudio summarily rejected the idea.

They were not interested in first, second, or third place if it meant changing their recipe. They would never deviate from the traditional recipe. “If you change the taste of the tortellini, they kill you,” Claudio said.

Ida, with her nimble fingers, makes it all look so easy. She motions as if to snap and another tortellino appears. But trust me when I say that making these tiny purses of pasta is harder than it looks, even for a relatively dexterous and accomplished cook. Each time she fixed one of my ugly tortellini she said she was “restyling”. She’s a patient teacher. Only after shaping dozens of tortellini, did her instructions to “pinch and then fold” make sense.

Together we produced what must’ve been thousands of tortellini. (And this was their slow time of year!)

Then it was time for lunch. As the pasta cooked, Ida made sure we understood that tortellini must be boiled in in broth, not water. We were treated to massive portions of tortellini tossed in thickened cream and topped with Parmegiano and, as if that weren’t enough, big slabs of their rich homemade lasagna.

Before I sign off, if you missed my last appearance on Flavors radio show back in April you can hear it here (listen at the six minute mark). Also check out this feature on Marinades in The Palm Beach Post. They ran my Four-Citrus Marinade and Buffalo Wing Marinade recipes.

Previously: L'Arte della Sfoglia, Part 2: Tortelloni.
Next up: L'Arte della Sfoglia, Part 4: Other Pasta Shapes.