Fearless Kitchen

Recipe: Tomato and Galangal Salad

Recipe Source: Alford, Jeffrey and Naomi Duguid.  Flatbreads & Flavors: A Baker's Atlas.  HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 1995 p. 131. 

My husband gave me this wonderful book for Christmas.  I'm in love with it already.  I love reading the stories that go along with the recipes, and I love (most of) the recipes.  I was very excited to start cooking from the book as soon as we got back from our Christmas visit to my family.  Unfortunately, I was feeling far too sick to actually go to the grocery store.  I chose a recipe that could be made from ingredients I had on hand, with a little bit of adaptation, and that needed to be used up quickly. 

I didn't have any actual whole ginger on hand.  What I had was galangal, which is related to ginger.  It is not the same thing.  It is much, much harder.  It is in fact so hard that we couldn't eat it raw.  My husband also felt that the galangal was too strong a flavor and that it overpowered the tomatoes.  Strictly speaking, this is true.  The galangal did overpower the tomatoes.  I had purchased the tomatoes the previous week to set out at our Christmas party, but as things turned out I didn't have time to make the dish for which I wanted them.  Tomatoes are NOT IN SEASON in New England in December.  When fresh tomatoes are not in season, they tend to have very little flavor if any at all.  I think that fresh, local tomatoes, preferably picked from our garden, would have stood up just fine to the strong flavor of galangal.  I didn't have quite as many tomatoes as required by the recipe, but that was okay.  I also substituted cilantro for the mint, as my husband is allergic to mint.  Finally, I didn't have a banana chile on hand.  I used a single Thai chile to give a little bit of that chile flavor to the dish. 

Despite the difficulty of eating the galangal in its raw state, the salad actually tasted pretty darned good.  The galangal infused the lime juice with some of its flavor, the cilantro matched well with the other flavors. 

Tomato and Galangal Salad (serves 4; approx. $1.32/serving)

1 3" piece of fresh galangal, peeled and sliced as thin as humanly possible

1 Thai chile, sliced

1/4 cup lime juice

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 pound mixed "gourmet blend" cherry tomatoes

Coarsely ground black pepper to taste

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Equipment:

• Serving bowl
• Non-reactive medium bowl

1. Put the galangal slices and chile in the medium bowl. 
2. Add the lime juice and half the salt.
3. Let stand, tossing occasionally, 20 minutes.
4. Halve the tomatoes and put into the serving bowl.
5. Add the remaining salt, the pepper and the cilantro.
6. Add the galangal, chiles and lime juice.
7. Toss well to coat.
8. Serve.

Recipe: Fennel-Brie Risotto Fritters

Recipe Source: Treat, Dana.  Find the original recipe here.

When planning the menu for our Christmas potluck, I came across this recipe on Dana Treat's blog.  It seemed like the perfect thing to make, being both substantial and vegetarian, and able to be served in a way that didn't conflict with the format of the party (ie, didn't require sitting down.)  They didn't quite turn out the way I intended, unfortunately, but they still turned out quite well and were a big hit.

I'm not sure why the risotto didn't firm up enough to be cooked up in the wedges.  Maybe my refrigerator wasn't cold enough, or maybe I had too much liquid, or maybe the arborio I used wasn't decent quality... the list goes on and on.  I finally gave up on the wedges and just made fritters out of the risotto.  This worked well, and people really seemed to like them.  The only problem?  They smoked up a lot.  Our smoke detectors are very sensitive, and the last thing we needed was the alarms going off in the middle of a blizzard with a house full of people.  So we saved about 2/3 of the risotto and ate it the next day, just rewarmed as-is.  It was just as good that way!   

Recipe: Sesame-Ginger Chicken

  My husband and I recently threw a Christmas party.  When I reviewed the menu with my husband, he kind of blinked at me.  "But there's no meat!" he objected.  This was not, technically speaking, correct.  Pomegranate and Pistachio Meatballswere actually on the menu, albeit in a slightly modified form.  However, I figured that if my husband thought there wasn't enough meat on the menu, our guests would probably feel the same way and I ought to include something more.  Since this was two days before showtime and we were due to get hit by a blizzard the next day, I was limited to what I had on hand.  On the one hand, this was bad because it was, well, limiting.  On the other hand, it got some stuff out of my freezer. 

I had some frozen chicken thighs, which I thawed.  I also had garlic, soy sauce, and sesame oil.  These are key ingredients in a sesame beef dish that I used to make when I was young.  I also had some ginger in a jar that kept falling out of my fridge.  This, clearly, was a sign.  I added a bit of shaoxing wine to the marinade because it was out on the counter, and I thought it would bring a little depth to the recipe. 

I can't give you a cost per serving on this, because I've had some of the ingredients for longer than I care to admit and I don't actually know how much they cost. 

Sesame-Ginger Chicken (serves 20 as an hors d'oeuvre, approx. cost per serving not available)

3 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup toasted sesame oil

4 tablespoons minced jarred garlic

1 ounce grated ginger

3 tablespoons (approximate) shaoxing wine

Equipment:

• Bowl
• Zip-top plastic bag
• Wok or large saute pan

1. Cut the chicken into roughly bite-sized pieces.  Place the chicken pieces in the plastic bag.
2. Mix the remaining ingredients in the bowl.  Pour the marinade over the chicken.
3. Zip the bag and refrigerate overnight.
4. When you are ready to cook, pour the contents of the bag into the wok and cook over medium-high heat until done. 

Recipe: Saffron Dip

Recipe Source: Atkinson, Catherine with Christine France and Maggie Mayhew.  400 Sauces.  Anness Publishing, London, 2007 p. 102

I made this as a dip for our Christmas party.  I thought it would be something nice and kind of unusual, and that the color would be pretty on the table.  Saffron has such a nice flavor, I'd like to see it used in more than just paella.  I was a little afraid that the goat cheese I used for the "soft cheese" might completely overwhelm the delicate flavor, but while the saffron wasn't displayed as prominently as it might have been it still matched well with the goat cheese.  Other than the goat cheese, I doubled the recipe and omitted the basil.

Saffron Dip (serves 16; approx. 0.53/serving)

2 tablespoons boiling water

1/2 teaspoon (approx.) saffron threads

2 cups soft goat cheese

20 chives

Equipment:

• Coffee mug
• Bowl
• Kitchen scissors

1. Put the saffron threads into the coffee mug.
2. Add the boiling water and allow to steep for at least 3 minutes.
3. Put the cheese in the bowl. 
4. Add the saffron water.  
5. Mix well.
6. Snip the chives into the dip.
7. Serve. 

Recipe: Garlic and Cucumber on Pasta

  The night before our Christmas party I found myself cooking up a storm, trying to get everything ready so I could focus on cleaning and decorating on the actual day of the party.  I took a quick break to rest my feet and watch a little bit of the Celtics game, and I noticed that my hands smelled like two of the ingredients I had been working with: garlic and cucumbers.  The smell actually made me pretty hungry, and was distracting me from my work.  I therefore decided to make myself a quick little dinner to satisfy my craving for those two ingredients. 

I wasn't as happy with the way this dish turned out as I could have been.  I should have sliced the garlic into chips, but I decided to crush it in the garlic press instead.  This, combined with the fact that my attention was divided between my dish and the risotto I was working on, made the garlic slightly dry and overcooked.  Other than that, though, the dish was exactly what I wanted.  I used butter to give it a slightly creamy texture and olive oil to deal with the smoke point of the butter.  I used whole wheat pasta because I like the flavor a little better and it's healthier.  I used thin spaghetti because that was the only kind of whole wheat pasta I had on hand.  I left the cucumber unpeeled both to save time and to keep the general shape of the cucumber together.  

Garlic and Cucumber on Pasta (serves 1; approx. $1.26/serving)

1/6 box of whole wheat thin spaghetti

1/3 English cucumber, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

3 cloves garlic, crushed in a garlic press

Equipment:

• Pot for cooking pasta
• Colander
• Saute pan
• Garlic press

1. Prepare the pasta according to the package instructions.  I was using a very small pot, so I broke the noodles up into small pieces.
2. Meanwhile, prepare the topping.  Heat the olive oil and butter in the saute pan over medium heat.
3. When the butter is melted, add the garlic.
4. As the garlic just begins to brown, add the cucumber and saute quickly. 
5. Drain the pasta.
6. Top the pasta with the contents of the saute pan.
7. Serve.

Recipe: Birjandi Cucumber and Pistachio Dip

Recipe Source: Batmanglij, Najmieh.  Silk Road Cooking: A Vegetarian Journey.  Mage Publishers, Washington, D.C., 2004 p. 200

I've probably made this five or six times since I started this blog and every time I've forgotten to photograph and document it.  Let me begin by saying that this was originally intended to be a sauce for pasta (and I have served it as such.)  I decided that it was going to be a dip because I wanted to have an interesting, different kind of dip to serve alongside my vegetable platter at our holiday party.  It is very, very easy to make with a food processor.  The only other change that I made was to omit the breadcrumbs.  I'd tell you that I was going all low-carb on you, but the truth is I'd used the last of them on another dish and was not about to go out to the supermarket. 

Birjandi Cucumber and Pistachio Dip (serves about 16; approx. $0.74/serving)

1 cup pistachios

1 cup walnuts

1 cup basil

1/4 cup tarragon

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 cup water

1 cucumber, seeded and sliced

Equipment:

• Food processor

1. Put all the ingredients except the cucumber in a food processor.
2. Blend to a paste.
3. Stir in the cucumber slices and serve.

Recipe: Almond Butter Cupcakes

Recipe Source: Klivans, Elinor.  Cupcakes!  Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 2005 pp. 44 - 5

And why shouldn't I get on the cupcake bandwagon, I ask?  Okay, okay, maybe I've missed the boat a little bit on this one.  I don't care.  I like cupcakes and they make a great sweet treat to serve at a party where not a lot of people will get to sit down and cut into their food.  Coincidentally, that is where I served it.  They're also a pretty forgiving cupcake - there isn't any fussing around with rich but temperamental buttercreams, which is especially fortuitous if you made your grade school art teachers throw up their hands in horror.  Like me. 

Anyway, I didn't make a lot of changes to this cupcake.  In fact, the only change that I really made was substituting almond butter for peanut butter.  I did this because I'm allergic to peanuts, not just because I prefer almonds.  That said, the almond flavor matches really well with the milk chocolate glaze.  The glaze serves a dual purpose.  I wound up with a few kind of sink holes in my cupcakes, which I will attribute to using old baking powder.  The glaze kind of oozed in and filled those holes and cracks, making it easier for me to hide my shortcomings - er, making a more flavorful cupcake.  I also doubled the recipe.

On a side note, Yogi the Dog did get at one of the cupcakes... after it was frosted.  I turned around to grab my telephone and when I turned back there he was.  He didn't get any of the others and the small amount of chocolate doesn't seem to have done him any harm so far.  After that little moment of abject terror - I called my dad in a panic - the cupcakes went into the microwave to keep them from being a danger to themselves and others. 

Almond Butter Cupcakes (makes 20 before the dog gets them; approx. $0.73/cupcake)

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons butter, room temperature

1 jar smooth almond butter

2 cups packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup milk (I used 2%)

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoon butter

1 package (11.5 ounces) milk chocolate chips

1 teaspoon vanilla

Equipment:

• 2 12-cake cupcake pans
• 24 muffin pan liners
• Stand mixer with paddle attachment
• Wire cooling racks
• Saucepan
• Instant read thermometer
• Sifter

1. Line the cupcake pans with the paper liners and set aside.
2. Preheat your oven to 325.
3. Sift the flour, salt and baking powder together and set aside.
4. Using your stand mixer, mix the butter, sugar and almond butter until well mixed.  Use medium speed.
5. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat 1 minute.
6. Reduce the speed to low. 
7. Add the flour mixture and the milk in alternating batches, beginning and ending with the flour.  Make sure each addition is fully incorporated before you add another.
8. Put generous 1/4 cups full of batter into the prepared cupcake liners.
9. Bake 22 minutes or until a tester inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.
10. Remove from the oven and cool 10 minutes in the pans on the wire racks.
11. Carefully turn the cupcakes out onto the wire racks and cool completely. 
12. Heat the cream and 1 tablespoon butter in the saucepan to a temperature of 175 degrees - there should be tiny bubbles and the butter should melt, but there should be no boiling.
13. Remove from heat.  Add the milk chocolate chips immediately and allow to soften 30 seconds.
14. Stir briskly until the chocolate is all melted.
15. Add in the vanilla and stir well.
16. Spoon 1 tablespoon of the glaze onto each cupcake and hide them from the dog. 

Recipe: Pork and Mushroom Fried Rice

Recipe Source: Dunlop, Fuchsia.  Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook.  W. W. Norton and Company, New York, 2006.

This is a great weeknight dish.  I made it using leftover "Perfect" Rice from my gumbo day earlier in the week, and the flavor of the rice really came through quite well.  I think that it complimented the dish, despite being from the other side of the planet as the stir fry itself.  Plain boiled or steamed rice is just fine, though. 

I made a couple of changes to the recipe.  First, I doubled the recipe.  We hadn't eaten all day and were very, very hungry.  Second, I used boneless pork and cut it into slivers rather than using ground pork.  This was more a matter of convenience than anything else, and doesn't really count as a change since it was one of the options given in the original recipe.  I couldn't find dried shiitakes, the mushroom called for in the original, so I used some kind of strange Chinese dried mushroom thing that I've had lying around my kitchen for a while.  I increased the amount of that, because I wanted more vegetables in the dish.  I increased the scallion for the same reason.  I used sesame oil in place of peanut oil because I'm allergic to peanuts.  I also added about a teaspoon of cayenne pepper, because the original said to "add some red pepper flakes, if you like."  Both my husband and I were feeling under the weather and I figured a little extra heat could only help. 

We both really liked this dish.  It's a great one-dish meal that cooks up super-fast, and at $1.36/serving it really helps to stretch the food budget!

Pork and Mushroom Fried Rice (serves 4; approx. $1.36/serving)

1/2 package dried Chinese mushrooms, soaked in hot water for 30 minutes and roughly chopped

1 lb lean boneless pork, sliced into very thin slivers

6 scallions, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons shaoxing wine

1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

4 cups leftover Perfect Rice or other cooked rice

3 tablespoons sesame oil

Equipment:

• Wok or other solid saute pan

1. Heat the oil in the wok over medium-high to high heat.
2. Add the pork, 1/2 the soy sauce and all of the wine to the wok.  Stir-fry until the pork changes color.
3. Add the mushrooms and cayenne pepper.  Stir-fry a few seconds, until the mushrooms are softened a bit.
4. Add the rice and the remaining soy sauce.  Stir-fry until the rice has un-clumped and is "fragrant and delicious."
5. Add the scallions.  Stir-fry until the scallions are fragrant.
6. Remove from heat and serve.

Recipe: Viennese Crescents

Recipe Source: Kidd, Kristine.  Williams-Sonoma: After Dinner.  Time-Life Books, New York, 1998 p. 29

Every year we throw a Christmas party for all our friends in the Boston area.  Well, it's really more like every other year.  Anyway, the party is usually a potluck, but I usually make five or six dishes to kind of salt the pot, so to speak.  I try to make half of the dishes sweet and half savory.  The trick is finding things to make that can be eaten with one hand - there isn't enough seating for everyone to be able to sit down and cut into their food.  Cookies really fit the bill, and these cookies really appealed to me for some reason.  I think it's because of the nutmeg. 

I made a couple of changes.  First, I doubled the recipe, mostly because I figured that the cookies were very delicate and we'd lose a few in transfers between tray and table.  I also substituted Frangelico liqueur in place of the vanilla extract, just for something a little different.  The cookies really are amazingly delicate.  They melt in your mouth if you can manage to avoid having them disintegrate in your hand.  They do have a very distinct flavor thanks to the nutmeg.  I guess they're a success, because I had to hide them from my husband before the party.  He couldn't stop eating them! 

Viennese Crescents (makes 48 cookies; approx. $0.13/cookie)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups walnuts

1 cup butter, cut into pieces

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons Frangelico liqueur

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

pinch salt

About 1 cup confectioner's sugar, for dusting

Equipment:

• Food processor
• Baking sheets
• Wire cooling racks
• Aluminum foil
• Sieve or skimmer for dusting

1. Put all of the ingredients except the confectioner's sugar into the food processor.
2. Pulse until they resemble a coarse meal, then process until a dough forms.
3. Cover the baking sheets with aluminum foil.
4. Pinch off a small amount (around 2 teaspoons) of dough and form into a crescent.  
5. Place the crescent onto the cookie sheet. 
6. Repeat until the cookie sheets are filled, spacing the cookies about 1 inch apart.
7. Bake at 325 degrees for about 20 minutes, until just firm to the touch. 
8. Repeat for the remaining dough. 
9. Cool on the foil for about 5 minutes, then transfer to the cooling racks.
10. Dust with confectioner's sugar and cool completely.
11. These will keep for 5 days at room temperature if you can keep your husband out of them. 

Recipe: "Perfect" Rice

Recipe Source: Brigsten, Frank.  Bon Appetit, volume 49 number 11 p. 194.  November 2004

Rice is a staple in much of the world.  I know we sure ate a lot of it when I was a kid.  When I was really young I thought that rice was supposed to come in those boil-in bags.  Eventually I learned that those bags are not normal (although they do have their place) and that rice comes in many different varieties, all kinds of shapes and sizes.  Now, I don't know that I would describe this recipe as being "perfect."  I would however describe it as a very nice and tasty rice that makes a great accompaniment to a lot of dishes.  It was originally intended to be used with a gumbo recipe.  I used it with a different gumbo recipe.  However, it made a pretty generous amount, so I went ahead and used it with some other dishes too. 

I made three changes to this recipe.  The first change was the substitution of olive oil for the butter.  I really prefer olive oil in most applications; it's healthier and doesn't have any heaviness to it.  I also ran out of chicken stock after one cup, and so used homemade duck stock for the other two cups of liquid.  Finally, I was out of thyme and substituted oregano. 

"Perfect" Rice (serves 10; approx. $0.16/serving)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1 pinch white pepper

2 cups basmati rice

1 cup chicken broth

2 cups duck broth

Equipment:

• Saucepan with lid

1. Heat the oil in the saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add the onion and bay leaf and saute until the onion is translucent.
3. Add the salt, oregano and pepper.
4. Add the rice.  Stir to coat well.
5. Add the broth.  Bring to a boil.
6. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook until all liquid is absorbed (about 17 minutes.)