Tag Archives: American

Vegetarian Squash & Kale Stew

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The daikon are still drying.  I have thusfar been able to find an unstained wooden pickling vessel, so next week they’ll likely get packed into a crock.  Until then, here’s a recipe for a fantastic stew I made tonight that was so nice on a cold evening with a glass of red wine:

Kabocha and Kale Stew with Mixed Beans

Measurements are approximate, use your best judgement.

  • 3/4 plastic carton vegetable broth
  • 1 1/2 cups soaked mixed white and black beans (I had navy, pinto, and black beans I think)
  • 1/2 kabocha squash, seeds removed, peeled and cut into 2″ chunks (Japanese pumpkin, but you could probably use hubbard, turban, kuri, acorn, or butternut [somewhat in order of recommended varieties])
  • 2 1/2 cups of chopped kale (I used Trader Joe’s precut, prewashed organic tuscan kale)
  • 1/2 cup mirin
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • 1 tbsp paprika
  • salt and pepper
  • crusty bread to serve with the stew

First boil the beans in the broth.  If using previously dried soaked beans, boil them for a bit until they reach the desired softness, testing occasionally.  (If using canned beans, you can add the squash instead and then add the rinsed beans when that starts softening.)

Add the squash chunks and boil until that starts to soften, about 5-8 minutes. Add the soy sauce, mirin, kale, and spices.  Simmer, mushing up some of the squash chunks with your stirring utensil so that it thickens the broth.  Stir occasionally.  When the beans and squash are the right consistency for your tastes and the kale has softened, it’s done!  Sans prep, this probably takes about 20 minutes cooking time total.

Deceptively simple, but the earthy spiciness of the kale works so well with the sweet richness of the pumpkin and the starchy earthiness of the beans.

Here’s a handy tip I learned about dealing with dried beans: you can soak them in advance and freeze whatever you don’t use of the soaked and rinsed beans for easy cooking next time!  A nice alternative to canned beans.

Kuri Squash Soup with Chestnuts

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One of my recent CSA deliveries included a red Kuri Squash.  The name inspired me to create a velvety squash soup with red curry and meaty chestnuts.  I started with my own broth, made from a mirepoix with oyster mushrooms and simmered with kaffir lime leaves and ginger.  (Note that the mirepoix & mushrooms method is a great way to make vegetarian soup broth in general.) The soup itself has the consistency of a vichyssoise or other creamy soup, with chestnuts adding some substance and is sort of Thai-French-American fusion…  I recommend serving each bowl with a bit of fresh cilantro.

Roasted chestnuts that are pre-shelled are often available at Japanese or Chinese grocery stores (like Nijiya or 99 Ranch) in vacuum sealed packages.  They’re pretty convenient and tasty!  One forenote…I’m not a big fan of Trader Joe’s red curry sauce (I didn’t have a chance to try it before this recipe), so if you make this I’d recommend using Thai red curry paste that comes in a tub.

The only reason I used the Trader Joe’s brand is because normally Thai curry paste is not vegetarian because it includes shrimp paste.  I now regret that decision…it would’ve been better with the sacrificed shrimp.  If I made it again, I might also add some sprigs of lemongrass to the both while simmering.

Curry Kuri Squash Soup with Chestnuts

Ingredients

  • 1 Kuri Squash (or other winter squash)
  • 1/2 yellow onion
  • 2 small carrots
  •  2 stalks celery
  • 1 cup oyster mushrooms (or other mushrooms)
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 2 kaffir lime leaves
  • 1 large coin fresh ginger
  • 3 cups water
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 can light coconut milk
  • 1/2 bottle of Trader Joe’s red curry sauce (or a few tbsp red curry paste instead)
  • 1+ tsp cayenne pepper
  • 2 tbsp fresh grated ginger
  • 2 cups chopped roasted, shelled chestnuts
  • fresh cilantro for garnish

Cut the squash in half and roast it in a 350 degree oven for about an hour, or until easily poked with a fork and soft.

Dice celery, carrots, and onions into about 1/4″ cubes.

Chop the mushrooms roughly and add them to a pot with the 2 tbsp of butter.  Mix it all up well.  Sautee them until the mushrooms are nicely browned.

Add the mirepoix and 2 cloves of garlic to the pot and mix it up so it gets coated with the butter.  Continue sauteeing until the onions start becoming browned and caramelized.

Add the water and soy sauce and mix well.  Let it simmer for about 15 minutes.  If you just want a vegetarian stock, once the broth tastes flavorful enough to you, simply strain out the liquid and you have a very good vegetable broth.  For the squash soup, continue on…

Add the coconut milk, kaffir lime leaves, and ginger coins.  Mix well and simmer for 15 minutes.  (I put a couple of tomatoes in with the broth just because…I don’t think it added anything special though.  Not sure why I added it.  But that explains that tomato you see floating there that isn’t included in the ingredients list…)

Strain off the liquid and dispose of the mirepoix/etc.

Time to get back to the squash…remove the seeds and scoop out the meat.

Add the squash to a blender along with the curry sauce and a bit of the broth you just strained.  Blend it up until smooth.

Return the broth to the pot and add the squash mixture.  Mix it all up well and let it simmer.  Add some cayenne powder.

Roughly chop up the chestnuts.  Add them to the soup.

Add the 2 tbsp of grated ginger.  Simmer the soup on a low heat for quite a while, stirring intermittently, until reduced as much as you’d like.

Serve with fresh cilantro, perhaps a wedge of lime.

 

Plottin’ au Gratin

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My mom has been hearing me talk about my plans for a gratin for almost a week now.  The idea came up when a coworker who has gone gluten free due to health reasons graciously paid for my dinner one night, and I offered to repay with something delicious and gluten free.  I got to thinking, of course.

…Who doesn’t like anything with cheese on it?

So I decided on a riff on scalloped potatoes, adding in butternut squash into the mix because I had both lying around and needing to be used.  With plenty of cheese.

The other day on my way to grab ramen with my friend Janette, I stopped at The Milk Pail, a family owned business in Mountain View, CA and home of my greatest weakness: an abundance of amazing and reasonably-priced cheese.   I hadn’t quite decided on which type of cheese I was going to use for said gratin. Needless to say I walked away with 5 different types, including: Wisconsin gruyere (almost holds up to the authentic stuff), English sharp cheddar, Wisconsin gouda, laughing cow light swiss, pecorino romano (for a separate dish), and a french soft ripened chevre (for general munching).  I decided eventually on the gouda for the gratin, with a bit of the gruyere on top.

Gouda gruyere gratin.  Oh Gee!

Anyway, so after gaining like 15 lbs in the past week from eating all the other cheese (kidding), I finally got around to making the gratin.  The (pretty successful) recipe is below.  I did try to make it a little lower-fat by using fat free milk and laughing cow wedges for some of the cheese sauce, but you could go Paula Deen style and use cream and all full-fat cheese if you want.

Butternut Squash and Potato Gratin with Caramelized Onions


Ingredients

  • 1 medium butternut squash (peeled, seeds removed, cut into thin 1/4″ thick slices)
  • 4 medium gold potatoes (skins on, cut into 1/4″ slices)
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch
  • 3 cups cold fat-free milk (2 c for sauce, 1 c for finishing)
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1/2 red onion, minced
  • 2 cups grated gouda cheese
  • 4 laughing cow light swiss wedges  (or substitute another soft cheese like brie if not calorie-conscious)
  • salt to taste
  • pepper to taste
  • cayenne pepper to taste
  • 1/2 cup grated gruyere cheese (or more gouda)

(Bake in a 9×9″ pan.)

1.  If you haven’t already, prep your potatoes and squash. Preheat the oven to 350.

2.  Place them on a large plate as shown above.  Dampen two large paper towels and cover the plate.  Place in microwave and microwave on high for 10-15 minutes, or until slightly soft.  (This cuts down on the baking time.)

3.  If you haven’t prepped the cheese yet, do that while the squash/potatoes are microwaving. Also mince the onion and slice a tablespoon of butter.

4.  Whisk the tablespoon of cornstarch into 2 cups of the cold milk.

5.  If your potatoes/squash are done, you should probably take them out of the microwave to let them cool for a bit.  Next, add 1 tbsp butter and the onion to a pot.

6.  Stirring frequently, caramelize the onions in the butter on a medium high heat until nicely golden brown and translucent.  Reduce the heat to medium-low.

6.  Add the cornstarch/milk mixture to the caramelized onions.  Stir well and bring it to slightly bubbling.

7.  Add the cheese (gouda, laughing cow).  Mix well, breaking up the laughing cow wedges.  Keep mixing until gouda is melted.  Make sure it stays just below a simmer, not bubbling in the pot too much.

8.  Add the salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste.  At this point, you may want to use a whisk to break up any chunks of the laughing cow cheese.

9.  Turn off the heat to the pot and let the sauce cool and thicken for a minute or two.  Then ladle a bit of the sauce into the baking pan, spreading it in a thin layer on the bottom.

10.  Layer the thinly sliced potatoes and squash in the pan.  I did a layer of potatoes, a layer of squash, then a layer of cheese sauce, then a layer of potatoes, then another layer of cheese sauce, but you can probably do it however you want.  Just watch the amount of cheese sauce you have left, because there’s not much extra to spare.

11.  The last layer should be cheese sauce, and then sprinkle the gruyere (or more gouda) over the top.

12.  Bake in 350 F oven for 20-30 minutes.  Then raise the heat and broil it for a couple of minutes, until the top is crispy golden brown cheesy goodness.

13.   Let it cool 10 minutes before digging in, otherwise you might burn your face on the molten cheese.  And everyone knows a burnt tongue is a major party pooper.

So after writing all this, I was thinking about how this isn’t only great as a main dish or side, it’d probably also be awesome as a contribution to a potluck brunch!  Mmm..

A Very Northern California Christmas

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First of all, I’d like to apologize to anyone who actually enjoys reading the posts and makes this blog a destination (or perhaps did) for my lack of posting.  I’m happy to report that my first semester of graduate school was a rousing success, though toward the end there I did end up eating a lot of my lazy-day meals.

I’m up in the northern portion of Northern California at the moment, where the rain flows freely, the dungeness crabs jostle claws with one another, the redwoods do yoga stretches to the sky, salmon the size of porpoises leap out of mountain rivers, and hearty beer is brewed.  I figured I’d share some Christmas traditions and just happenings with you all, along with a recipe my mom made this Christmas.

Christmas eve we typically try to vaguely observe the Polish tradition of wigilia, namely this year just eating what I’ll call “Catholic vegetarian”– meaning apparently that fish does not count as meat.  (Mom was too lazy to do the standard Polish fare and really wanted crab!) The crab season up here is off to a really late start (the commercial season isn’t due to open until January 16th!  It usually opens December 1st.), but we managed to find some cooked crabs from down south of Mendocino to continue our tradition.

Paula Deen would be proud: we generally each eat a half of stick of butter (at least) for crab, bread, and whatnot dipping.  This year I invested in some artichokes so we’d at least have a bit of fiber, but they’re also butter-dippable.  Yum.  Soak all the crabby butter juice up with some garlicky sourdough and wash it down with an IPA and you’re in heaven.  Pacific Northwest heaven.

The strategy is to eat all the stupid little crab leg bits first (we joked that in hell they only serve crab knuckles), then eat the legs, then pile the body meat into the butter.  You save that up until the end when you just eat it with a fork. It’s fantastically gluttonous (ironic, given the holiday).  I spooned some on top of my artichoke heart and I can say without a doubt that it was a great combo.

The animals tried so hard to wait patiently for us to be done eating so they could have a little crab in their dishes, but they got pretty vocal toward the end of the meal!

And so, that was Christmas eve.  Plenty of beer, a rousing game of Yahtzee, and some sleep later came Christmas day (today!).

Dad decided we were going to have a ham for Christmas, so he picked up one of those precut spiral hams from Costco.  Not bad, though he didn’t read the directions and just poured the glaze powder over the top of the ham like snow rather than actually turning it into a glaze (it turned out okay nonetheless).  Mom had some potatoes so she decided to make gratin and there was still some kale in the garden so that got steamed.  I made the cranberry sauce as usual, adding in some grated grapefruit zest (which I highly recommend).

We served the whole thing with some homemade saurkraut and dijon mustard.  The liquid that cooked off the ham was quite good over the kale and the dijon/cranberry sauce mixture was pretty good!

Anyway, without further ado, here is my mom’s adaptation of a leek and potato gratin recipe that turned out quite tastily, starring none other than my fabulous and amazing mother!  The good thing about this dish, according to her, is that you can let it cook for as long as you want essentially while you cook other things (see step 8 for info on that).

Leek and Potato Gratin

Serves at least 4

Ingredients

  • 5 large potatoes (total of 2.5 lbs), preferably golds and/or reds
  • 1 leek
  • 2 cups of mixed milk and chicken broth (probably about 50/50, can substitute cream for milk if you have it but probably use less than you would milk)
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 cups grated swiss cheese (we used a mixture of Jarlsberg and Comté)
  • salt (to taste, along with the two below)
  • fresh ground pepper
  • fresh grated nutmeg (just a dash per layer)

1.  Cut the leeks down the middle and rinse them very, very well, thoroughly inspecting to make sure you rinse any dirt or other foreign matter out of the leaves.  Chop the leeks crosswise fairly finely.

2.  Add the milk/broth mixture, garlic, and bay leaf to a pot.  Bring to a boil, then turn off and leave covered so the flavors can infuse into the milk.  Preheat oven to 350 F.

3.  Grate 2 cups of swiss cheese (at least).

4.  Slice the potatoes using a mandoline or knife to be 1/4″ thin at the most.  Put sliced potatoes in a bowl of water as you slice.

5.  Get out a fairly big baking pan, probably about 7.5″x9″ (x 2.5″), about a 2 quarts.  Dry the potatoes on a clean cotton cloth (or paper towel) and then place one layer on the bottom of the pan.

5.  Sprinkle a layer of leeks, cheese, and grate a dash of nutmeg and some salt and pepper on top.  Repeat until you have 3 layers or all your ingredients are used up, with the last layer on top being potatoes.

7.  Remove the bay leaf and garlic from the pot of milk/broth.  Pour the liquid mixture evenly over the ingredients in the baking dish.  Top with some cheese.

8. Cover with aluminum foil and bake in the 350 F for an hour, then remove the foil and cook for another half an hour to 45 minutes.  If you have other things you’re waiting on, you can recover it and just leave it cooking in the oven for hours. Just make sure it’s covered except for that 30-45 minutes where you allow it to brown on top.

9.  Remove from the oven, uncover foil (if applicable) and let cool before serving.

Serve with whatever else you want to eat.

I hope blogging burns calories.

Happy Holidays, all!

My First CSA Delivery!

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It’s a bouncing baby….eggplant!  Oh wait, there’s more!

This week my first CSA order was delivered.  I’ve always liked the idea of CSAs, “Community Supported Agriculture”.  Apparently the concept originated independently in both Europe and Japan, and was brought over to the states from Europe just a couple of years before I was born. (I had no idea that they were this widespread until I read the fascinating wikipedia article.)  I must say, the Germans have the best word for it by far: Landwirtschaftsgemeinschaftshof . A+, Germany, for morphological creativity!   We Americans are fond of our acronyms, so here it’s just “CSA” – a Cute, Sweet Abbreviation. :P

The concept is that you pay some amount and get an assembly of in-season vegetables from local farmers– sort of like a farmer’s market, but delivered to your house/workplace/pickup location.  This eliminates the middleman and the produce buyer sort of, and helps get your veggies to you quicker with that hot buzzword factor of a “low carbon footprint”.  And because it’s not being stored for a long time, farmers have a financially sustainable method to focus on quality and tastiness over how long the veggies can keep for on a shelf.  Win!

The main downside is that CSAs often just have a one-size-fits-all policy, delivering huge boxes of miscellaneous assorted veggies, often leading to a lot of waste.  However, the CSA I’m testing out this month has a pretty handy setup: you pick a size of order based on how much veg you eat and how big your family is (prices are fixed for each size), then every week you get to choose the items for your order from what they have available in a “shop”.  In addition to your per week cost, you can also buy locally sourced meats, dairy, grains, jams, and spices for an additional cost.  They don’t deliver to your home, but they have dropoffs all over the bay area.  Mine is a 3 minute bike ride from my house– closer than any grocery stores!

This week I picked up:

  • a gorgeous newborn-sized eggplant (I think of the rosa bianca type, an Italian cultivar)
  • a hearty bunch of delicious looking carrots (you could tell how happy they were while growing by the voluptuous tops, which I had to ditch in order to fit them in my fridge)
  • 5 yellow onions
  • 3 heirloom tomatoes (the only thing that didn’t look super amazing)
  • 1 lb of green beans (“french fillet”)
  • one cute little French Charentais melon.

All this for only $18! So far I’ve eaten one of the tomatoes and it was pretty tasty, but everything looks great and fresh.  I’m excited to chow down!  And best of all? This combined with my additional grocery trip to FoodMaxx brought my weekly food bill to $38, solidly under my $50 a week goal.

Thanks, Eating with the Seasons!  Based off my limited experience thus far, I’m planning continuing with them after my month trial.  If you’re interested, you should definitely check them out.

Japanese food doesn’t have to be expensive…

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…or healthy, for that matter. (There are plenty of other examples, but I’ll spare you a diatribe.)  So let’s get rid of those preconceptions and get on with the cooking!

Sometimes, I really fear for the day that I ever possibly decide to have children.  I already get the strangest cravings.  I would feel so sorry for my spouse– they’d probably be trekking all over tarnation to get the most obscure ingredients.  And then, to even think what that child would grow up loving as a result…eep!

This Saturday morning things went as such:

  • 7:30 am Cat jumps on bed and says it’s time to get up
  • 7:45 am Neighbors decide it’s a good time to have an extremely loud conversation
  • 7:55 am I give up on sleep, start thinking about breakfast
  • 7:56 am Eggs? No…too savory.  Hm. Something sweet and savory at the same time. What do I have? Sausages…eggs…potatoes…none of this sounds good.
  • 7:57 am OMURICE?!?! But that’s a lunch thing…screw it, I’m not Japanese.  Doesn’t matter to me. Tonkatsu sauce should work ok, right? Yeah.  Woooh let’s do this!
  • 7:59 am Get out of bed, check rice.  It’s old.  Inedible.  Crap. :(
  • 8:00 am Omu….omuuuuuu….omusoba?? But I have no appropriate soba.  What do I have?  Instant ramen!
  • 8:02 am prep veggies– peel & cut carrot into thin strips, onion into thin strips, and some thin strips of green cabbage, then chop some green onions thinly & set those aside.
  • 8:04 am crack 2 1/2 eggs into a bowl, beat them thoroughly taking out any anger from my dreams.
  • 8:05 am boil instant ramen noodles, sans seasoning packet, in water for 2 minutes until soft but not fully cooked.  Drain & leave in strainer.
  • 8:08 am put oil in a pan (in my case, a wok), turn up the heat to high and add veggies.  Move em around.  Add ramen noodles.  Add tonkatsu sauce (I didn’t have yakisoba sauce, but honestly I find it hard to taste the difference…).  Keep it all moving around.  Woooh we’re cooking.  Man, I need some coffee.
  • 8:10 am put oil in a smaller frying pan.  Warm it up.  Dump in eggs.  Wait until bottom is solid, flip.  Ooh that looks goldeny, but not as Japanese golden since I used 2 whole eggs + 1 egg white…but whatever.  Turn off heat and let it rest a minute.
  • 8:14 am Flop omelet on a plate.  Dump yakisoba in the middle.  Fold omelet around noodles. Squirt some more sauce on top, sprinkle with green onions.
  • 8:16 am Take a picture for viewers like you.  Maybe a few so at least one will come out ok.  Get mad at camera for overenthusiastic flash.  Wish lighting was better.
  • 8:18 am Give up caring about picture.  Resume caring about food.  Stuff face. Research omusoba while stuffing face.  Be satisfied with self. Wonder where my coffee is.

Japan has two “omu-” dishes that I know of: omurice and omusoba.  The “omu” stands for omelet, in case you hadn’t guessed by now.  Yakisoba is generally a little more fancy than what I threw together here (and distinctly less vegetarian), but this was good enough for me.  Either way, though, I’d say omusoba is not exactly a health food.

There are a fair amount of instant yakisoba along the lines of instant ramen, but honestly I wouldn’t use that for this.  Instead, take those instant ramen noodles and fry them up with carrots, onions, cabbage, and whatever else along with some yakisoba sauce (or in my case, tonkatsu sauce…).  If you didn’t have yakisoba/tonkatsu sauce, you could probably make an ok substitute by putting worchestershire sauce, a little ketchup or some kind of tangy but not too intense jelly, and maybe a little sugar in a pot and thickening that up together.

There are actually some ‘kits’ you can buy at Japanese markets that are pretty good, though, which have soft fresh noodles and a packet of tonkatsu sauce.  Those would work even better than my cheapo method.

What I like about my cheapo method though is that it’s A) instant gratification and B) cheap.  A bottle of tonkatsu sauce probably cost me $4 and lasts forever in the fridge.  Eggs are $3 a dozen.  Instant ramen is like $0.15 a  pack.  Cabbage is cheap.A bag of 12 carrots costs like $2, and an onion about $0.50.

With 1 packet of instant ramen noodles, 1/4c of tonkatsu sauce, 1/16 of a green cabbage, 1/4 of a yellow onion, 1 green onion, 1 carrot, 2 eggs, and a tablespoon or two of oil…I’d estimate the cost of this meal to be about $2, maybe $3 max.  And if you buy the ingredients, you’ll have enough to make so much omusoba that you’ll never want to eat it again!

Related links for you:

Sorry for the underwhelming lack of photos in this post…but it’s 9 am on a Saturday, so I hope you’ll forgive me!

Not all peppers are created equal

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I wouldn’t say I’m a terribly picky eater; I’ll eat most things (excluding tripe) and not complain about it, but there are some things I don’t hate but just don’t enjoy.  Bell peppers are one of these things.  I do generally like spicy peppers but prefer them raw usually.  Don’t ask me why, it’s just an arbitrary taste preference.

This is why I was particularly confused with myself when I went to the farmer’s market today and felt compelled to buy a small basket of tiny green peppers.  I’d never seen them before and never tried them, but the stall had an awful lot of them and other people seemed to be buying them.  The little hand-drawn sign said they were great just pan fried in olive oil with some salt.  So, in contrast with my preconceived notions of non-spicy peppers being not something worth going out of my way for, I bought a pricey little basket ($4!!).

Excited to try out my new purchase (and still a little hungry after the gym and a somewhat meager lunch), I heated up a pan with some olive oil, threw a large handful in, and put some sea salt on top, stirring occasionally until all the sides were blistered and maybe a tiny bit blackened.  I bit into one and they were addictive.  I had to fry some more up and threw in some squash blossoms for good measure.  They actually went very well together and looked colorful and pretty.

Apparently these Padrón peppers are originally from Spain.   Wikipedia tells me that they can be spicy or not spicy and you’ll never know until you eat them.  Turns out my batch wasn’t spicy, but I wouldn’t complain if a couple were.  Having that sort of adventure is sometimes fun in food, right?

If you see these little green peppers at your local farmer’s market, I recommend you pick up a basket and cook them in the minimalistic Spanish style.  They’re a great summer snack.  They’d probably be good for pickling, too.

Now I think I’ll take this Spanish inspiration and go have a little siesta…

Bento & Experimental Failure

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Well, the past couple of weeks have been interesting.  Remember how I posted about the porridge a while back?  Well, turns out that was only the tip of the iceberg on the sickday train, that little thing coming back to whollop me and put me out of commission last week almost entirely.

What did I eat?  Things I didn’t have to cook and didn’t have to clean up after…a slightly embellished premade thai soup was about as fancy as I got.  I’m going to go ahead and blame our recently crazy indecisive weather in the bay area for me being sick, and thus the distinct lack of blog posts.

Yesterday, I did something against my better judgement.  I was craving green beans au gratin really badly and had all sorts of nifty cheeses lying around (parmesan, manchego, chevre).  Make a little roux, add some milk, throw in the cheese, then some parcooked green beans– bound to be awesome! Here’s where I nod my head downward in shame: I only had unsweetened vanilla almond milk.  How vanilla-y could it be?  It wasn’t that sweet, and didn’t seem vanilla-y in my cereal.

Well, it was vanilla-y.  And so was my awful-gratin.   I knew better, but I tried anyway.  And I somehow managed to get myself to eat half of it before giving up.

Moral of the story: Trust your judgement.  And make sure you always have unflavored milk or alternative milks in your house for spontaneous au gratin or homemade mac & cheese or alfredo cravings.

Anyway, today’s craving for some reason was sushi.  Impatience was my nemesis today, boiling the rice while staring hungrily at the stove.  Boiling some unseasoned rice vinegar with brown sugar (not typical, but brown sugar works fine).  Mixing the two together.  Toasting the nori.

…Aw hell, do I really want to wait for this to cool?  No.  Spread the warm rice on the nori. Add ingredients. Roll.  Notice it’s soggy.  Hold the roll over the gas stove for a bit until the outside gets crisp again.  Slice. Eat.  Satisfying.

I’m not a sushi master and never will be.  My sushi was warm and soft.  I humbly bow to those who have the patience and can manipulate it to be perfect in every way.  But, let me tell you, if you have a desperate sushi craving and the right materials around, it can take you 30 minutes from start to start eating to pull it together.

Today’s combos:

  • umeboshi, cucumber, daikon, carrot, maguro
  • cucumber, umeboshi, carrot
  • maguro, gochujang, carrot, daikon

The leftovers are tomorrow’s bento, along with some hamachi and fukujinzuke, as you can probably tell from the picture above.

I’m not sure I’ll have another chance to post before I go off to South America for vacation for 2 weeks.  I’ll be hitting up Peru for the tourist classic Macchu Picchu, ceviche (and the potential post-ceviche digestive regret), some additional adventures, and a few pisco sours to be followed by a visit with friends in Ecuador with an itinerary that is still TBD.

I won’t be cooking, most likely (unless my friends in Ecuador want me to cook for them), but I’ll try to post some foodie pictures and tell tales of my adventures if I have the time and internet capability.  So, don’t hold your breath, but keep your eyes open. :)

Dueling Kung Pao Chickens

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Those with some knowledge of Chinese culture or world travel experience know that the Chinese food you get in American Chinese restaurants and the Chinese food Chinese people eat at home or in restaurants are two different beasts entirely.  Chinese people seem to be big fans of meat having some resistance to it, a la tripe, chicken feet, tendon, stewed pork belly with the skin on, and a whole lot of other offal.  They’re also not as removed from the fact that their meat was an animal before, tending to prefer bone-in meats like oxtail.

Chinese people, though, being the amazingly resourceful people that they often are, figured out a long time ago out that Americans probably don’t like this whole chewy texture thing as much.  We like fried things.  Crispy things.  A lot.  And stuff with sauces and familiar flavors and vegetables.  This is my best guess as to how Americanized Chinese food was born: Chinese people figured out what Americans like, and tailored their cuisine to be addictive to Americans.  I think they did a darn good job.

However, I like both Americanized Chinese food and more authentic Chinese food, each on their own separate incomparable planes of existence.  One such dish that crosses the boundaries in name and concept is Kung Pao Chicken, or 宫保鸡丁(gōng bǎo jī dīng).  The Americanized version has battered boneless chicken bits fried until crispy and covered with a spicy somewhat sour sauce, with whole peanuts added and maybe some other vegetables. The Chinese version kind of omits the whole crispy factor and keeps in the bones and skin, doesn’t add any unnecessary vegetables, uses more local varieties of vinegar, and adds some spices more unfamiliar to the American palette (namely, Sichuan Peppercorns or 花椒).

Oddly, I like the Chinese version a lot better.  Normally I’m not a huge fan of peanuts in food, but it works somehow.  Tonight, inspired by my friend Jiaxu’s peanutless recipe that was very similar to this, I attempted cooking my own gōng bǎo jī dīng.  The results were tasty, but need some perfection.  You can see my recipe below with suggestions as to how to make it better.  I suspect my recipe is somewhere in between the lands of Americanized and Chinese Chinese cuisine.

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Gong Bao Chicken

(serves 2 with rice)

  • ~1 pound of bone in, skin on chicken thighs (3 thighs)
  • 1/2 c rice wine (I just used sake, because it’s what I had.)
  • 1 c black vinegar
  • pinch salt
  • 10 dried red “chiles de arbol”, basically dried red thai chilis, or something similar
  • 2 tsp powdered Sichuan peppercorn (“flower pepper”, or sometimes, “red pepper”, 花椒)
  • 1 tbsp peanut oil
  • 1/3 cup raw peanuts, smashed with a cleaver or other wide knife (plain roasted peanuts will suffice, just don’t fry them as long.)
  • 2 green onions, roughly chopped, ends removed
  • 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced into thin coins
  • additional black vinegar

(If you can’t use black vinegar, my best suggestion would be to use cider vinegar plus a tiny bit of Worcestershire sauce mixed in with it to mimic the flavor.)

Cut chicken thighs into 2-3″ pieces using a cleaver.  Marinate in a bowl with rice wine, vinegar, salt, powdered sichuan peppercorn, chili peppers, for about 1-2 hours (or overnight if you want).  Drain off extra marinade before using.

Add the oil to a wok (or large skillet of the cast iron or stainless steel variety) and bring it up to smoking hot.  Add additional whole sichuan peppercorns if you have them and like them and the smashed raw peanuts.  Fry it up until the peanuts are slightly crispy and browned.  Add chicken, keep moving around the pan, browning the meat a bit.  Should take no more than 2 minutes.

Add the green onions and garlic, stir.  Add additional vinegar, probably about 2/3 cup or so.  Keep the chicken moving around, coating it with the vinegar.  It should get considerably darker in color. Keep cooking until vinegar is absorbed into chicken and/or evaporated– no liquid should remain on the bottom of the pan.

Serve hot.  Avoid the chilis and the bones in the chicken.

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A lot of Americans are not fans of having to avoid things in their food.  When they go to authentic Chinese restaurants, they complain about not knowing that they’re not supposed to eat whole seed pods in the hot pot broth and the like.  You just have to learn or ask. If it’s not chewable or burns your face off, don’t eat it.  If this bothers you, stick to Americanized Chinese food.

Having things you aren’t necessarily supposed to eat (that are just there for flavor or seasoning) makes you more aware of what you’re eating. It makes for a more mindful and appreciative slwo experience, which honestly is one of the reasons I think we have to blame for obesity in America.  If things weren’t designed to be consumed quickly without having to avoid things, we’d have to take a little more time and our “fullness” instinct would kick in sooner.   It’s worth a shot if you cook at home to stop designing your food for efficiency and increase the attentiveness requirement of your meals.  It might also save you some money, too.

Loquat Butter

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(c) Kestrel Dunn, 2011At long last, the rain has stopped and the loquats have begun ripening in the landscaping around the area.  The loquat, or 枇杷, is an evergreen fruit tree native to China, but was introduced to landscaping in the U.S., most likely due to its textured foliage and brightly colored fruit.  It’s vaguely related to the apple/pear and stone fruits.

Photo of a loquat tree, (c) Lori_NY, from Flickr

Why is the loquat awesome?  The fruit is soft and quite juicy, with thin skins, and a tangy flavor that I can best describe as a cross between a pear and an apricot.   They’re quite fragrant, in a good way.   This is what keeps me going back into different apartment complexes’ landscaping and collecting bagfuls.

Given that it’s somewhat close to an apple, I figured I’d try my hand at making some loquat butter.  Loquats being more fragrant, however, I personally don’t think you need to add any cinnamon or anything.  It just detracts from their natural flavor.  My recipe below will yield a tangy, smooth butter.  If you like apple butter and you like apricot jam, you’ll probably like this.

The Loquat Butter Ratio

4 parts loquats, seeded and destemmed, skins retained
1 part water
2 parts sugar

(4 cups of  loquat meats will yield about a pint of loquat butter)

Loquats are ripe when their skins are as orange as they can get (not as orange as a pumpkin, but definitely not yellow) and they come easily off the tree.  You can easily seed them by digging your thumb into the fruit from the bottom and popping out the shiny brown seeds.

Always remove the seeds!!  Like apples, their seeds contain cyanogenic compounds.  Yes, cyanide.  But as long as you remove them, you’re good.  Leave the skins on, though, because they give it a pretty color, and I suspect they have the most vitamins.

Once you’ve got all your seeded loquat meets, add them to a pot with the water and sugar, mix well.  Bring to a boil.

Reduce them to a simmer.  Let them simmer away for a good hour or so, stirring occasionally, until they somewhat disintegrate.

Then, throw all of this in a blender or food processor and give it a whirl.  (If you’re more patient and have a crock pot, you might be able to skip this step and just let it cook forever. Not sure if the skins would break down enough though.)

Put all of this back into your pot, or into a frying pan like I did.  Let it simmer for another 30 minutes to an hour, stirring more frequently than before.  It should reduce down by about 1/4-1/3.

Use whatever canning method you like.  If you’ve made one pint and you plan to use it within a few weeks, just throw it in a jar and keep it refrigerated.  If you want to keep it longer or give it away as presents, use some sort of legitimate serious canning method.

I, however, am not going to wait.  I am going to eat my seasonal prize, the result of my being looked at funny for standing knee deep in English ivy to reach a tree with particularly voluptuous fruit.

Loquats are also awesome in cocktails, fruit salad, or on ice cream.