Chicken (Ginger) Rice

This recipe was given to me by Dan ("for your blog") who along with Alex had variations of Chicken Rice during a trip to Vietnam a few years ago.  I did the prep for Dan and Alex a couple of times in Oregon but last night was the first time I made this myself.  It is going to become a frequent dinner.  When Dan gave me the recipe, he listed ingredients but not quantities. At first I thought that strange but as I made the Chicken Rice I found that unlike a cake or other recipe that requires exact measurement, this is a recipe very much to taste.. hotter, not so hot; sweeter, not so sweet; heavy on the ginger, light on the ginger.

Since Dan, Alex and I all go heavy on the ginger, I have added ginger to make the title more descriptive.  I have given the quantities I used, but vary according to personal tastes and the hotness of the peppers used.

Dan's recipe (the "traditional" version) Calls for chicken thighs to be boiled until done, set aside to cool and then soaked in ice water for one minute. The stock is reserved for the rice.  For a less fatty version, Dan bakes and Ed  grills chicken breasts.

Ingredients list [for 2 with leftover rice]

Chicken thighs for 4 [8 oz breast, 2 c chicken stock]
White rice [1 c jasmine]
Ginger [I used ~1.8 oz  - a little less than one-half of the whole ginger shown; 1- 1.5 oz would have been plenty]
Onion [4 oz]
Peppers [2 oz]
Vinegar [4 T rice vinegar]
Sugar [2 T]
[Soy sauce]

Finely chop the ginger, onions and peppers (ginger may be grated). [Put the vinegar and sugar in a small sauce pan and boil until sugar is dissolved]. Put rice, chicken stock, 2 T ginger and onion in rice cooker (or covered pan) and cook according to rice instructions. While rice is cooking bake or grill the chicken.

Mix peppers,vinegar and a surprisingly large amount of sugar in a ramekin, maybe some reserved stock. All to taste.  Serve chicken sliced into strips on top of rice. Use soy sauce [I added extra ginger] and pepper sauce for dipping.  [Just so Ed would "have more color on his plate" and a "salad", I garnished with grilled scallions, and a little bit of watercress and kale.  This dish, however, stands very well on its own and the peppers do add the requisite color.]

Yumm!  Thanks Dan and Alex!

Reviewed 5/13/17

Warm Brussels Sprouts Salad/Roasted Brussels Sprouts

We are having a small, simple (but even simple is decadent in the world context) Thanksgiving this year. Six people and just a few dishes to go with the turkey.  I am making Roasted Almonds, Cranberry Ice and "something green".  Since Chris has already done a trial run on the pie he is making (Cranberry Linzertorte), I decided I should test my "green thing".   My one criteria is the "green" should be fresh and preferably local, not the token frozen peas of years past.  After finding local brussels sprouts, I cobbled together several recipes, and made a warm brussels sprouts salad tonight. Think it is going to work :-)

Ed, who likes brussels sprouts declared it one of the best salads ever, I, who am not crazy about this vegetable, thought the salad was very good.

Serves two; scale up accordingly.

Prepare the brussels sprouts removing any moldy outer leaves, trimming the stems, and slicing very thinly lengthwise. Weight, after trimming should be

8 oz brussels sprouts

Next,  make the dressing by whisking together in a small bowl:

1/2 t Dijon mustard
1 T wine vinegar
2 T olive oil
1 t fresh thyme leaves or 1/4 t dried thyme leaves
1 t lemon juice
zest from 1/2 lemon

Heat a skillet or wok until hot, add enough olive oil to thinly coat the bottom. Add the brussels sprouts and cook over medium high heat, stirring constantly until just barely tender.  Brussel sprouts will be lightly charred in spots. Remove from the heat and stir in about half the dressing.  Let cool to room temperature.  Serve with the remaining dressing on the side.

Also good plated on a small bed of arugula or thinly sliced kale.
If serving this way, add all the dressing when cooking.



December 2014:  ROASTED BRUSSELS SPROUTS  Since I could still get local sprouts at Christmas time , I cooked the sliced and stir fried version  a few times over the holidays. Then Alex and Dan suggested they cook just plain roasted brussels sprouts.  They preheated the oven to 450 degrees F. Cut away any tough stems and removed any damaged/moldy outer leaves from the brussels sprouts. They then tossed the brussels sprouts in olive oil and salted them liberally using a coarse salt.  They baked for about 5 minutes --- some thought the brussels sprouts were on the "crisp" side and could have been cooked longer.  Check after 5 minutes, then remove from the oven or continue cooking until the sprouts are done you your taste.

Reviewed 6/18/2017

Padron Peppers

Almost every time I go to Portland (OR), especially the Portland Farmers Market, I, often with the help of Alex and or Dan, discover a new veggie... Haiku Turnips, Lobster Mushrooms, and Celeriac to mention a few.  This year was no different.  Alex, Dan and Henry spent the spring in Spain where Alex and Dan really enjoyed the tapas including padron peppers. When we visited Portland Farmers Market in early October, Dan purchased some padron peppers which he later roasted and served with a chilled Spanish white wine on the terrace. What a late summer treat! The peppers were so good that when I returned to Portland in late October and found them still in the Farmers Market I could not resist.  Alex and Dan vetoed the first basket I chose telling me the peppers are much better when they are small and we should check out a different vendor to get the smallest peppers.  When we got home, Dan showed me how to prepare them.

Ingredients: Padron peppers, olive oil, sea salt.

Wash and dry the peppers.  Heat a cast iron frying pan large enough to accommodate all of the peppers (or better a small batch of peppers) on one level. When the pan is hot, add enough olive oil to lightly coat the entire bottom of the pan.  When the olive oil is hot add the peppers.  I started just stirring the peppers as they cooked, but Dan pointed out that it is much better to turn each individual pepper as it blackens on one side. They blacked very fast towards the end of cooking and I belatedly discovered this would have been better done in smaller batches. When peppers are lightly blackened on both sides, remove to a serving platter,  salt generously and serve immediately.

Reviewed 5/14/17

Lemon Poppy Seed Olive Oil Cake

This is another recipe that finds its inspiration from the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook.  However, while Ms. Perelman leaves the lemon cake for the "grapefruit olive oil pound cake" *, I return to the lemon cake and add poppy seeds. Orange Poppy Seed Bundt Cake has been a long time favorite in our family and a few years ago I started making a a zero cholesterol Orange Poppy Seed Olive Oil Cake.  But in the height of strawberry season I wanted an accompaniment other than shortcake and whipped cream to go with the berries. The orange cake seemed a bit too sweet. The grapefruit cake promised the tartness I was seeking but it was not grapefruit season, lemon it seemed would be perfect. So taking Ms. Pearlman's recipe as a starter, I used lemon zest and juice instead of grapefruit zest and juice, granulated sugar rather than half granulated and half raw or turbinado (1/2 c each), and an "egg product" instead of eggs, and skipped the glaze... the strawberries would bring enough added sweetness.  The Smitten Kitchen recipe calls for buttermilk or plain yogurt.  I have made this cake with both plain yogurt and buttermilk equivalent  (mix 1/3 c - 1 t milk and 1 t plain vinegar, let sit for five minutes).  The choice of a loaf pan, which gives the cake a nice volume, is a good one .

Butter and flour a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl rub together with your fingers:

2 T lemon zest
6.90 oz (~ 7/8 c) granulated sugar
Whisk in:
1/2 c olive oil
1/2 c "egg product" or 2 eggs

In a smaller bowl combine:

6.70 oz (~1 1/2 c) all purpose flour
1 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda

1/2 t salt (I usually omit)

In a measuring cup, combine:

2 T lemon juice
1/3 c buttermilk (see note above) or plain yogurt

A little at a time, alternately add the flour and lemon juice mixtures to the oil and sugar mixture.

Add

1/3 c poppy seeds

Mix well then pour batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth top to even.
Cook about 50 minutes or until a small skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Let cake cool for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and brush with lemon syrup:

Combine and cook over low heat until sugar dissolves:
2 T granulated sugar
1/4 c lemon juice

(Note: Perelman uses 2 T sugar and 1/3 c juice and pricks holes over the top of the cake so that syrup will be more absorbed by the cake).

Let the cake cool completely while it absorbs the syrup.


After the cake has cooled Perelman adds a glaze made from combining and whisking until smooth:

1 c (4.2 oz) confectioners' sugar
2 T grapefruit [lemon] juice
Pinch of salt

The glaze is poured over the cake and drizzled decoratively down the sides.

* Pages 241-243


January 2015: VARIATION: ORANGE POPPY SEED CAKE

This variation makes the third orange poppy seed cake in my repertoire. Orange Poppy Seed Bundt Cake is still my favorite, but is a special occasion cake given its high butter content.  I like this olive oil variation equal to or perhaps even better than Orange Olive Oil Poppy Seed Cake.

Reduce the sugar to 6.6 oz
Increase the flour to 7.0 ounces

Instead of lemon, use zest of one orange
Instead of buttermilk and lemon juice, use juice of 1 orange and add enough buttermilk/milk/orange juice so liquid equals 1/3 c plus 2 T.

Add 1/2 t vanilla

Follow direction given above, then cover with orange glaze:

2 T orange juice
2 T sugar

I served this a few nights ago with a choice of a scoop of vanilla ice cream or vanilla non-fat frozen yogurt, both topped with orange fused olive oil and rosemary.

Revised 5/11/17  REVISED 1/8/22

Shaved Asparagus Salad

No recipe posts in quite a while. Am I less adventurous or having more failures in the kitchen? Maybe a little of both.  This recipe turned out to be a resounding success on the first try --- only wish I had had it for last year's asparagus season too!  A couple of Christmases ago Chris gave me the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. I immediately read it and flagged several recipes to try.  One that missed my eye the first time, maybe because of the pizza part, was "Shaved Asparagus Pizza". On re-reading I discovered the origin of the pizza. Deb Perelman writes, "I was at a restaurant that served it [asparagus] shaved raw into ribbons, dressed only with lemon, olive oil and Parmesan"*. Wow, I thought, we are in the height of asparagus season, forget about the pizza, go for the salad.  Using Perelman's pizza recipe (no lemon juice), it was easy to come up with a salad recipe.  I had a critical tester who I think this time of year begins to hope the asparagus season will soon be over.  After tasting this salad, he offered no suggestions except to make it again soon.   It is as pretty as it is tasty, especially when made with asparagus that is picked the same day.

When I boil/steam asparagus I like the pieces with small diameters.  However, the bunches usually have spears of mixed diameters.  Slightly larger diameters work best with this recipe.

Wash and dry

1/2 pound (about 16 medium size spears) asparagus; do not remove the tough end of the stalk.

Place each spear, on the edge of a cutting board, hold it by the tough end and and using a vegetable peeler, slice into thin strips. The last piece will be thicker than the others which will be "ribbon like". Cut the thicker piece into bite-size pieces. Save the tough end of the stalk to make Asparagus Stock.

Put the asparagus in a bowl and add:

2-3 scallions thinly sliced (purple bulb scallions, if available, add a bit of color)
1 t olive oil
1 t lemon juice
1/4 t salt
pepper to taste
1-2 T Parmesan cheese, grated

Divide between two plates and garnish (optional) with a dusting of Parmesan and a few scallion rings

VARIATION: Make the salad, increase the olive oil to 2 T and toss with 6 ounces cooked whole wheat spaghetti (to serve two).  So sorry I just discovered this combination as the asparagus season ended....

* Page 109

Reviewed 6/18/2017

Market's Choice Dinner

In my trip to the farm stand last night, I found pea tendrils and scallions. I already had some chicken breasts in the fridge. Ed grilled the chicken and the scallions (recipe at bottom of post) and I prepared the pea tendrils by removing the toughest stems and divided the tendrils between two plates. Topped with a chicken breast and grilled scallions this was an easy, pretty dinner for a hot night!





Reviewed 9/14/2017

Lady's Slippers!

This blog is more than recipes... what's in season... our family in the kitchen...what's growing in our yard. This post falls in the latter category. When we first moved to Lincoln, we had a few lady's slippers on our property and our neighbor's woods had over two dozen.  Over the thirty years we have lived here, largely due to being eaten by deer, most of these rare orchids have disappeared. In April of 2003 our woods was severely burned by a forest fire and all the ground cover as well as mid-canopy was destroyed.  Before the fire, we had about four lady's slippers growing under a large birch which miraculously survived the fire. In subsequent years these four returned.  This year, however, in the location where four had been, I found nine, and in another part of our woods I found an additional lady slipper! Considering that lady's slippers do not reproduce easily and have been disappearing in many locations around us, this is a special surprise.

Reviewed 9/14/2017