Gingery Fried Rice

 

Gingery fried rice is a dish that not only tastes delicious, but also cooks quickly, so it's important that you chop and prepare everything before you start the actual process of cooking, because once you start putting the first ingredients in the wok you won't have time for any prep work anymore. Depending on how you cook the rice, this can be a vegan dish (I always use a little butter while cooking rice, so not vegan for us) and if you substitute the soy sauce for tamari sauce it's also gluten free. I found the recipe in the NYT, but changed a few things. For example, the recipe asks for frozen peas, but since the Geek is allergic to peas that wasn't an option for us. I will show you my version here.

You will need:

• 4 cups cooked, day-old jasmine rice
• 5 TB canola oil
• 3/4 pound (mixed) fresh mushrooms, thinly sliced
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 3/4 pound baby bok choy, trimmed, then sliced crosswise
• 5 scallions, trimmed, greens and whites thinly sliced
• 3 garlic cloves
• 2-3 TB finely chopped fresh ginger
• 2 TB soy sauce (or tamari)
• 2 TB sesame oil
• 1/8 tsp white pepper
• 1 egg
  
  

Take the cooked rice out of the refrigerator and set it aside at room temperature.

In a lare wok, heat 2 TB canola oil over medium-high. Add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned and tender, 5 or 6 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl.

(As you can see, my wok is well used)

Add 1 TB canola oil to the wok and heat over medium-high. Add the bok choy, scallions, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper and stir-fry, stirring frequently, until aromatic and barely crisp-tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to the bowl with the mushrooms.

Add the remaining 2 TB canola oil to the wok and heat over medium-high. Add the rice and cook, stirring occasionally, until toasted and toothsome, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil and white pepper, and stir until rise is evenly coated in soy sauce mixture, and no uncoated rice grains remain, 1 to 2 minutes. In this step, you can also add zest and juice of one lemon, if you like - I sometimes do.

Stir in the mushrooms and bok choy mix and warm up, stirring, 1 to 2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Crack the egg on top of it and stir until it is well mixed into the rice dish. 

Divide among bowls and serve hot. 

We like to drink a dry rosé with it. Bon appétit.

I'm linking to Food Wednesday.

Tuscan Butter Salmon

 

We like to eat salmon, and especially wild caught Alaskan sockeye. It has so much flavor! I am always on the lookout for recipes that use salmon and when I find one I follow it to a T for the first time. After that I usually add my own twist.

This recipe for Tuscan butter salmon is definitely a favorite. I have cooked it several times since I first saw it and by now I do my own version which really is not that different from the original one.

Here is what you will need:

• 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 2-4 salmon fillets, skin on and patted dry
• kosher salt
• freshly ground pepper
• 3 tbsp butter (I use unsalted)
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 cups baby spinach
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan (or more if you like)

Heat the oil over medium heat in a large skillet (I use my cast iron). Season salmon all over with salt and pepper. Cook salmon skin side up until deeply golden (about 6 minutes), then flip over and cook 2-3 minutes more. Transfer to a plate.

Reduce heat to medium and add butter. When butter has melted, stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add cherry tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. When tomaotes are beginning to burst add the spinach. Cook until spinach is beginning to wilt.

Stir in heavy cream and Parmesan and bring mixture to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and simmer until sauce is slightly reduced.

Return salmon to skillet and spoon the sauve over the fish. Simmer until salmon is cooked through, about 3 minutes more.

If you like you can add lemon wedges for garnish - I sometimes do and sometimes I don't.

Another option is to add some herbs when you stir in the heavy cream and Parmesan, like basil. I find basil often overpowering, but it certainly is a good match for the tomatoes.

Often I bake focaccia that we eat with this dish. It's perfect for mopping up the sauce. A light rosé wine complements this dish.

Skillet Balsamic Garlic Chicken

 

When I wrote about the food we ate in the fall, some of you expressed interest in the recipe of the skillet balsamic garlic chicken. I got this recipe from my friend Liz who provided me with some wonderful recipes when our oven broke down last spring and I was limited to meals that you can prepare on the stovetop. I'm not sure where she got the recipe from, so unfortunately I cannot tell you the source.

This dish cooks up fast as soon as you are done with all the prep work.

Here's what you need:

• 1 1/2 pounds boneless chicken breasts, sliced or pounded 1/2 inch thick (I slice mine, and I also sometimes substitute the breasts for chicken thighs)
• salt and pepper
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• 8 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 pound mushrooms, sliced (I used crimini)
• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 2 TBSP butter, cubed

1. Season the raw chicken with salt and pepper.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat and, when hot, place the chicken in the skillet. Cook it on one side for about 5 minutes until browned, then flip and cook for another 3 minutes.
3. Add the garlic and the mushrooms to the pan and stir to combine. Work the mushrooms under the chicken, so it sits on top of the mushrooms. Cook for 5 minutes until the mushrooms begin to soften. Add in the vinegar, broth, bay leaf and thyme.
4. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Then uncover the skillet and cook for an additional 5 to 7 minutes to sligthly thicken the sauce.
5. Add in the butter and cook for 2 more minutes.
6. Serve over rice, pasta or potatoes. We like to eat it over couscous.

Don't forget to vote in my annual giveaway that is open until this weekend!

Summer Eats

 

Linguine with Bruschetta, Mozzarella and fresh basil

Before I give you a taste of my summer kitchen, I want to thank you for your comments on my last post. It was reassuring to read how many of you understand, have empathy, feel the same and know exactly what I was trying to say. To those who felt the need to criticize, preach and even lecture me, thus adding insult to injury, I can only say, please move on.

So, on to something that many of us spent a lot of time and care with during the summer of our pandemic: food. Have you noticed how often we made a trip to the refrigerator during the shelter-in-place? Even when we were able to move around more, food still remained one of the main attractions and a highlight of each day.

Spring mix with avocado, cherry tomatoes and sunflower seeds

Spring mix with avocado, sungold tomatoes and pumpkin seeds

Summer of course asks for lighter food. Fresh produce is readily available at farmers markets and even with a mask and social distance shopping in fresh air is a joy. Here in Sonoma County we are blessed and spoiled with the wonderful offerings of our local farmers. There is more than tasty organic produce - there are eggs from chicken spending their life in a pasture, bread baked with ancient grains, fresh seafood and the most delicious salmon/seaweed spread I ever had.

Chicken Shawarma

Summer is the perfect time for trying food from the Middle East like Chicken Shawarma, one of our favorites. It is easy to make since you prepare the marinade the day before and let the chicken marinate in it overnight. Your refrigerator will smell of cumin and garlic and a blast of it will reach your nostrils every time you open it - and make you very hungry. I usually make it in the oven and serve it on flatbread with lettuce, tomatoes and a spicy yogurt sauce. It is delicious. 

Sweet balls of fire

We finally asked a couple we're friends with over for a social distanced early dinner on the patio. We had set up two tables apart from each other, but still close enough that we didn't have to yell! They brought wine and appetizer and I served meatballs in a chilli sauce with focaccia I had baked in the afternoon and a salad. It was a simple meal, but just the right thing for this lovely summer evening. Even more important than the food was the conversation and the laughter - we laughed hard and often! 

 Creamy gnocchi with sun-dried tomatoes and basil

One of my pleasures is to read the New York Times morning briefings. They always come with a recipe of the day and some of these are very tempting. While I would like to eat a whole lot of these dishes, I at least tried a few, among them these creamy gnocchi with sun-dried tomatoes and basil. Before I cooked this dish I wasn't a big fan of sun-dried tomatoes, maybe because most of them are oil packed. However, I found some at Trader Joe's that are not packed in oil and julienne cut. I just added them to the sauce and let them cook for a little while. It has become a favorite dish in my family.

Summer veggies with fussili in creamy tomato sauce

But I don't always follow recipes. Quite often I just see what I have and then put something together. Summer has so much to offer - here I took some zucchini and eggplant, sliced them and sautéed them in my cast iron skillet, then made a creamy tomato sauce to go with it and finally added fussili to the pan. Easy, simple, tasty.

And sometimes I make Poké. It's not as good as in Hawai'i, but it's still delicious.

Of course the food needs to be accompanied by something to drink - in the summer I enjoy more white wine and especially rosé wine. In the past decade or so the rosés in the area have become really good wines and not that sweet stuff it used to be.

But we also enjoyed other drinks, especially during our Happy Hour with our neighbors out in the street - Mai Tais, Campari O, Hard Cider, Bellinis and our traditional "drunk strawberries" (Erdbeerbowle).

What kind of food did you have in the summer? What were your favorites?

Mac'n Cheese with Broccoli

When I wrote the first part of my "Pandemic Food" posts, some of you asked for the recipe of the Broccoli Mac'n Cheese. 

I found this recipe about 30 years ago during a visit to England. It was one of many lovely recipes in a cookbook that was called "The Dairy Cookbook" if I remember correctly. I don't have that cookbook anymore - I got rid of a lot of things when we moved to the States - but this recipe had become such a favorite in my family that I don't need a recipe anymore.

You will need:

one package of Penne pasta

one head of broccoli, cut into florets only

one package of cubed Pancetta, about 4 oz (optional)

300 ml milk

25 g butter

25 g flour

one or two handfuls of shredded cheese (I use Swiss cheese and Gruyère from Trader Joe's)

paprika, salt and pepper

breadcrumbs

Preheat the oven to 400 F

Cook the Penne pasta in boiling salted water according to directions on the package. For the last 4-5 minutes add the broccoli florets. Drain and put in an ovenproof dish. If you want to add the cubed pancetta, you will do it now.

Bring the milk with the butter and the flour to a boil, stirring often. Let the milk boil for a minute, then add paprika (I use quite a lot of that, but perhaps start out with a teaspoon or two), freshly ground pepper and a little bit of salt (remember that cheese already contains quite some salt). Now it's time to add the cheese - I'm usually quite generous with it. It really depends how you like it best. Pour the sauce over the pasta and broccoli. Top it off with some breadcrumbs.

Bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes.

When the top is golden brown, it's time to bring the broccoli man'n cheese to the table! Be careful - it will be quite hot - better let it cool slightly for five minutes or so.

If you ever make it, let me know. I'm also interested if you do any variations.

Enjoy!

Sweeten My Day

Apart from baking bread, I am not a frequent baker. However, sometimes there are days when I feel restless and not quite myself. Those are the days when I think I need to sweeten them up a little bit, and baking seems to be a good way.

I found this recipe for orange chocolate chip shortbread on Pinterest and thought it a good fit for that particular day. I had oranges, but no mini chocolate chips, so I substituted them with regular ones. The dough, when rolled out, is so thick that it easily holds the bigger chips.

Here's what you need:
1½ sticks unsalted butter, softened
1¾ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup sugar
zest of 2 large oranges
⅛ tsp salt
½ tsp vanilla extract
¼ cup semi-sweet (mini) chocolate chips

Start by combining flour and salt in a small bowl.
Place sugar on a rimmed plate and add the orange zest. Use the back of a spoon to mash zest and sugar together until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Put in a mixer bowl.

Add butter and vanilla, and mix on low for 1 minute.
Add the flour with the salt and mix until just combined.
Fold in chocolate chips.
Form dough into a flat disc and chill for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Roll dough out until it has a thickness of about ½ inch.
Use any shape cookie cutter and cut cookies from the dough, putting them on a baking sheet.

Chill for another 10 minutes in the freezer.
Bake for 25-28 minutes or until bottom of cookies are golden brown.

Cool completely and enjoy.

Do You Like Alfredo?

No, I am not talking about a handsome Italian man (oh I wish I was!).

I am talking about pasta sauce with cream and Parmesan cheese. And no, I don't mean the stuff that comes in jars you can get in the supermarket. That sauce is too thick, too fat and not really tasty. What I am thinking about is rich, delicious cheese sauce that is full of goodness and that you can only create in your very own kitchen.

I make a very yummy chicken and broccoli Alfredo that has become a hit in my family. Not only is it delicious, but it is also very easy to make, and it doesn't need a lot of clean-up afterwards since everything is made in just one pot. Can it get better than this?

Ingredients: (I'm usually not too picky with the right measurements here)

12 oz. broccoli florets, cut into bite-size pieces
1 boned, skinned chicken breast half, cubed
8 oz. fettuccine
¾ to 1 cup heavy whipping cream
about ½ cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
kosher salt and pepper

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook broccoli until tender and bright green, 2-3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a colander, leaving water in pot. Add chicken to pot; cook until opaque, 2-4 minutes. Transfer to colander with broccoli.

2. Cook pasta in same pot of water until just tender to the bite, about 10 minutes. Reserve ½ cup pasta water; drain pasta.

3. Simmer cream, reserved ½ cup water, and ½ cup Parmesan in same pot over medium heat, stirring often. Add broccoli, chicken, and pasta, stirring to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with additional Parmesan on the side.

As I said, super easy. For the cheese I usually take Parmiggiano Reggiano Stravecchio which is a Parmesan from Italy that is aged 3 years. You can find it at Trader Joe's; it doesn't cost an arm and a leg, but is still a pretty good Parmesan. It is a hard cheese that you have to grate yourself (and it will fall apart while you do that!). It doesn't make the sauce quite as creamy since it doesn't melt very easily - but the taste is heavenly! Don't forget to grate some of the cheese on top of your dish!

Buon appetito!

Bœuf Bourguignon

Edited with Kim Klassen's texture "minus 43", blended in soft light at 100% and texture removed from the food again. 

This is for this week's Texture Tuesday.

Last Saturday I wanted to serve one of those slow cooked, rustic meals for dinner. I thought about what to do and looked through one of my most favorite cookbooks that I found a couple years ago in a sale.

This cookbook has all kinds of tasty meals from around the world, including France, Italy, Thailand and Mexico. The recipes are explained very well and it's easy to follow them (I think). The measurements are both in metric as well as what is used in the US. I especially like the French recipes, and on a cold night Bœuf Bourguignon seemed just right.

You need quite a lot of ingredients. However, once the prep time is over and you've started the meal, it's not as complicated as it might look. The best part is that you throw the entire thing into the oven and let it cook for two hours, while the most delicious smells wave through your house. This recipe makes 6 - 8 servings.

So, this is what you need:

- 8 tbsp (75g) flour
- salt and freshly ground pepper
- 3-4 lb (1,5 - 2 kg) beef chuck, cut into cubes
- 2 slices thick-cut bacon, diced
- 2 carrots, sliced
- 2 ribs celery, sliced
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 lb (500 g) thawed frozen pearl onions
- 1 tsp peppercorns
- 1 bottle (750 ml) Burgundy or other medium-bodied red wine
- 1 can (28 oz / 875 g) diced tomatoes, drained
- 1 cup (250 ml) beef stock
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/2 lb (250 g) cremini or button mushrooms, sliced

In a shallow bowl, stir together 3 tbsp of the flour, 1 tsp salt, and 1 tsp pepper. Turn the beef pieces in the seasoned flour, shaking off any excess. (I actually use way less salt)

Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C). Have ready a plate lined with paper towels.

In a Dutch oven or large, heavy pot over medium heat, sauté the bacon until it renders most of its fat, 4-5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to the paper towels and set aside.

Working in batches if necessary, cook the beef in the rendered bacon fat, turning frequently, until browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. Using the slotted spoon, transfer the beef to another plate and set aside.

Add the carrots, celery, yellow onion, pearl onions, and peppercorns to the pot. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, until the onions and carrots begin to brown, about 5 minutes.

Pour in the wine and deglaze the pot, scraping the bottom with a wooden spoon to dislodge any browned bits. Stir in the tomatoes and stock and bring to a boil.

Stir in the remaining 5 tbsp flour and the tomato paste and cook, stirring often, until the mixture has thickened, about 1 minute. Return the beef and bacon to the pot. Season with salt and pepper.

Cover, transfer the pot to the oven and cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat is very tender, about 2 hours.

When the stew is nearly ready, melt the butter in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring often, until they release their moisture and become tender and brown, about 5 minutes.

This is the moment when I add something that is not in the recipe - a little bit of lemon zest finished salt, a present from a friend. It gives the mushrooms this tiny little bit of extra, it adds just a hint of lemon which always goes well with mushrooms.

Add the mushrooms to the stew just before serving. Divide the stew among warmed shallow bowls and serve at once. Enjoy!