Fearless Kitchen

Recipe: Ginger-Lemon Broccoli

Recipe Source: Friends of UCSD Healthcare.  Savoring San Diego.  UCSD Medical Center Auxiliary, San Diego, 1999 p. 189

Broccoli has always been one of my favorite vegetables.  There are two formats I've never actually tried for broccoli: pureed (as in a cream of broccoli soup, which just looks... wrong to me.  Like something out of The Exorcist.) and with a cheese sauce.  Broccoli doesn't need a lot of fat and calories to be tasty.  In fact, I spent a good few months essentially living on steamed or blanched broccoli with a little bit of lemon juice or soy sauce, and that was more than good enough for me. 

Finding new and different ways of serving broccoli has been something of a challenge for me lately, which means that I haven't used as much broccoli as I've been frankly craving.  This recipe was a delightful little treat that cooked up quickly and deliciously with an unexpected late harvest of broccoli from our garden.  (The fact that it came from our garden accounts for the low cost per serving; your results will probably vary.)  I increased both the ginger and the garlic, as I am wont to do, and I used olive oil as the cooking oil because that's just what I have. 

I am submitting this to Rachel of The Crispy Cook, who is hosting this week's edition of Weekend Herb Blogging.  WHB was founded by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen, but is currently being organized and coordinated by Cook (Almost) Anything At Least Once.  Thanks to all three! 

Ginger-Lemon Broccoli (serves 4; approx. $0.17/serving if using homegrown broccoli)

1 bunch broccoli (approx. 1 1/4 lb)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon minced ginger

5 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Black pepper to taste

Equipment:

• Wok or saute pan
• Large saucepan
• Colander

1. Fill the saucepan with water and bring to a rapid boil.
2. In the meantime, chop your broccoli.  Cut the florets into bite-sized pieces, but don't discard the stems.  If you cut them into small enough pieces they will easily cook up as quickly as the florets, and they taste great. 
3. When the water is boiling, drop the broccoli in and blanch for NO MORE THAN 3 MINUTES.  I mean it.  Do not overcook the broccoli.  It will feel bad on the tongue, it will taste bad, and it will stink to high heaven.  Think cabbage. 
4. Anyway, when the broccoli is blanched, drain it and immediately rinse it with cold water to stop the cooking process. 
5. Heat the oil in the wok over medium-low heat. 
6. Add the ginger and garlic.  Cook 2 minutes or so, until the mixture is aromatic.
7. Stir in the lemon juice. 
8. Add the broccoli to the pan and saute just long enough to re-heat the broccoli. 
9. Sprinkle with the pepper and serve. 

Recipe: Tomato Sauce with Chicken Sausage

Sometimes you just crave familiar old comfort foods, you know?  The foods that you ate growing up, that bring back happy memories of love and contentment.  Of course, those foods are different for different people.  For some people meatloaf is comforting.  (For me it's horrifying, but that's just me.)  Lately I've been craving the tomato sauce my grandmother used to make.  It was the most beautiful thing in the whole world.  The smell filled the whole house when she made it, and just the slightest taste would fill me with this amazing sense of well-being that I can't even properly put into words.  (Why yes, we do take food seriously in my family, why do you ask?)  All of my happiest childhood memories have the smell of my grandmother's sauce indelibly linked to them, to such an extent that the first time I set foot in Old Yankee Stadium I was convinced that I could smell my grandmother's sauce bubbling away in the next room.  (My grandmother's sauce did not smell like the Bronx.  We just watched a lot of baseball in her living room, especially during the late 1970s.) 

Anyway, I do know how to make my grandmother's sauce, although I can't share it here at her request.  It will never be quite the same.  I live 317 miles away from her beautiful kitchen and the brands I can get (or, in some cases, choose) are not the same ones she used.  I can't even find the same kind of pepperoni she used.  I don't use veal, and she did.  Right now, though, there's a bigger barrier to my re-creating my grandmother's sauce and that's pork.  I can't eat it.  She used a LOT of it.  Still, the craving for the sauce was really becoming all-consuming, so I decided to try an experiment.  Could I make a sauce that contained some meat that would satisfy that craving, at least a little, without causing myself a whole wide world of hurt? 

This is what I came up with.  It isn't the same, not by a long shot.  It is still good, though, and it did make that desperate and impossible craving recede.  I served it with store-bought ravioli, because I am too lazy to make my own lately.  I do want to caution you against something here: good sauce, especially the kind with meat, is something that cannot be rushed.  Do not try to cut corners.  Save this for a day when you're going to be hanging around the house anyway, like when your kid has the sniffles or you're snowed in and wouldn't want to go anywhere anyway. 

Since I first drafted this post, I realized that this may fit the requirements for the Family Recipes blogging event, which is hosted jointly by Grumpy's Honeybunch, Lynda of Lynda's Recipe Box, and Laura of The Spiced Life.  I may have submitted something similar in the past, in which case I apologize, but I wasn't sure and figured it couldn't hurt.  Thanks to all three for hosting! 

Also, if you decide to make this with pork sausage, you can probably omit a lot of the olive oil.  The onions in my grandmother's kitchen were cooked in the rendered fat from the various forms of pork that first had to be browned.  I did try that here, but chicken sausage yields up a lot less fat than pork.  At least mine did. 

Tomato Sauce with Chicken Sausage (makes enough to top 4 portions of pasta unless you REALLY like sauce; approx. $1.67/serving)

1 28-oz can diced tomatoes (I like Muir Glen; if you use a different brand your CPS will decrease)

1 onion, minced

8 cloves garlic, crushed

1 pinch kosher salt

1 tablespoon tomato paste

3 tablespoons dried basil

1 tablespoon dried oregano

2 bay leaves

1 - 2 tablespoons olive oil

1 hot Italian chicken sausage, casings removed

Equipment:

• Large saucepan

1. Break up the chicken sausage and put it in the saucepan. 
2. Cook over medium or medium-low heat until browned.  Evacuate the meat and set aside; leave any rendered fat in the pan.
3. Turn off the heat (please) and add 1 - 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the pan, depending on how much fat you managed to extract from the sausage.  Heat the oil over medium-low heat.
4. Add the onion and cook gently until the onion is softened. 
5. Add the salt, garlic, basil, oregano and bay leaves.  Cook 1 minute or so, until fragrant.
6. Add the tomatoes (in their juice) and the tomato paste.  Bring to a boil.
7. Reduce heat, cover and simmer gently until the liquid is much reduced and the tomatoes are beginning to fall apart.  If you were to take a bit of bread and dip it into the sauce by way of a taste test, it would taste like the flavors were just beginning to come together. 
8. Add the browned sausage.  Cook another 5 - 10 minutes. 
9. Ladle the sausage over some cooked pasta of your choice and serve. 

Housekeeping note: Welcome, Fearless Baby!

Okay, for those of you with an interest and who don't already know, the Fearless Fetus graduated to Newborn status last Monday.  As I know I've mentioned in previous posts, my pregnancy took a huge metabolic toll, and some things had to be allowed to slide.  If I seemed to be ignoring your comments, I apologize.  They really meant a lot to me and I appreciate every one of them.  I just had a hard time getting to answer them...

Anyway, only a week into motherhood and already my energy levels are starting to bounce back.  Yes, that's with a screaming baby at night (although she's really a very good baby) and the normal fatigue of childbirth, which should tell you something about where I was at before FB came along!  I'm starting to get back into my old routine of answering comments, reading other blogs, et cetera.  Posts will continue to be every other day until I'm cooking again, and there may be a few hiccups and setbacks along the way, but hopefully things are settling back to normal. 

Recipe: Afghan Ginger Preserve (Muraba-e-Zanjafeel)

Recipe Source: Saberi, Helen.  Afghan Food & Cookery.  Hippocrene Books, New York, 2000 pp. 206 - 7

This is one more jam that I made for the Christmas Project.  It had a wonderful flavor, and the aroma that filled the air as I was cooking it was indescribable.  Unfortunately, it made precisely two eight-ounce jars.  Two.  That's it.  You can insert a string of expletives of your choice here if you like.  That's too bad, because this was a really delicious jam that would have warmed a lot of people this past holiday season.  I only made one change, and that was to omit the nuts. 

Muraba-e-Zanjafeel (makes 2 8-oz jars; approx. cost per serving not available)

12 ounces fresh ginger, peeled and grated

2 cups sugar

1 cup water

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Equipment:

• Saucepan
• Large stockpot
• 2 8-oz home canning jars, with lids and bands
• Boiling water canner
• Ladle

1. Prepare your canning equipment.  Put the jars, lids and bands into the stockpot, cover with water and heat to 180 degrees.  Maintain heat at 180 degrees for at least 10 minutes.  Fill the boiling water canner with water and heat to 180 degrees. 
2. Put the ginger in the saucepan and add 1 cup of water.
3. Bring the water to a boil, then boil gently until the ginger is softened. 
4. Add the sugar and cardamom.  Bring to a boil over high heat.
5. Just before the mixture starts to set, add the lemon juice.
6. Boil a few moments until set, then ladle into the jars.
7. Process 30 minutes in a boiling water canner.
8. Cool, label and store. 

Recipe: Cheese, Bread and Herbs on Cucumbers

Recipe Source: Batmanglij, Najmieh.  From Persia to Napa.  Mage Publishers, Washington DC, 2006 p. 108

I was really into this hors d'oeuvre when I first saw it.  It looked like a lot of fun.  It also looked like a somewhat healthier hors d'oeuvre than I usually see.  While there is cheese, it is not deep fried.  Unfortunately I had to make a lot of changes to the original, based on the availability of some of the herbs and on the complete unavailability of edible rose petals anywhere near my house. 

How did it go over?  Well, personally, I kind of liked it.  It wasn't spectacular, but it was interesting and a little different.  I brought it to the annual Wine and Cheese party at my friends' house, and a few people said they liked it.  One person distinctly did not like it.  She spat it out right in front of me and complained about the presence of walnuts (despite having been warned about the walnuts in advance...)  Anyway, after she spat it out, no one else was all that interested in trying it.  Fortunately it was pretty easy to make, so at least it wasn't a whole lot of wasted time. 

Cheese, Bread and Herbs on Cucumbers (makes 56; approx. $0.51/serving)

4 pita breads, cut into small squares and toasted

1 lb feta (I like sheep feta; the original called for goat)

2 packages fresh marjoram, leaves only

1 package fresh oregano, leaves only

1 package fresh tarragon

1/4 cup dried tarragon leaves

1 lb toasted walnut pieces

4 long, seedless cucumbers

Equipment:

• Food processor

1. Combine everything but the cucumbers in the food processor and process to a paste.  You can add some olive oil if the paste is too dry; mine was moist enough that I didn't need to add oil.
2. Divide the paste into 56 portions. 
3. Slice the cucumbers into 56 slices. 
4. Roll the paste portions into balls and place atop the cucumber slices. 

Recipe: Dry Beef Curry (Krua Gling Neua)

Recipe Source: Thompson, David.  Curry Cuisine.  Jeni Wright, Commissioning Editor.  Fall River Press, New York, 2009 p. 223

This recipe had one purpose in my mind: to use up a late and unexpected windfall of chiles from our garden.  The chiles came in late, and they'd been sitting in our refrigerator for an even longer time.  It seemed a shame to waste them, so I decided to make this curry.  It didn't come out as spicy as I might have liked, since I used a variety of different chiles and the heat of our chiles was pretty variable this year, but it still tasted great and we both enjoyed this thoroughly.

I did make a few changes.  I used stewing beef since I could get it more easily and cheaply than brisket.  I omitted the palm sugar - the recipe said, "to taste," and since my taste is decidedly against sweet foods I left it out.  I hadn't any galangal and substituted ginger instead.  I used regular lime zest instead of kaffir lime zest because that's what I had, and I omitted the shrimp paste because I didn't have any. 

Dry Beef Curry (serves 4; approx. $1.52/serving)

1 lb stewing beef

2 cups water

1 pinch kosher salt

1/4 cup Olive oil

2 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce

1 cup dried red chiles

20 fresh red chiles - bird's eye are best, but I used a mix

1 pinch kosher salt

1/2 cup sliced lemongrass

2 1/2 tablespoons ginger

2 teaspoons lime zest

1/2 cup peeled shallots

1/2 cup peeled garlic cloves

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 tablespoons ground black pepper

Equipment:

• Food processor
• Saucepan
• Strainer
• Bowl
• Large wok or saute pan

1. Combine the chiles, dried chiles, pinch of salt, lemongrass, ginger, lime zest, shallots, garlic cloves and black pepper in the food processor.  Process to a paste.  Add a small amount of water if necessary.
2. Slice the beef very thinly.
3. Put the beef in the saucepan and add the water and remaining salt.  Bring to a boil, then simmer until cooked.  This will be quick if you have sliced your beef thin enough.
4. Drain the beef into the bowl.  Reserve the braising stock. 
5. Heat the oil in the wok. 
6. Add the curry paste from the food processor and fry until fragrant. 
7. Add the beef and continue to fry 10 - 15 minutes.  Moisten with a small amount of the braising stock if necessary, but don't use too much - this is supposed to be a very dry dish.
8. Season with the fish sauce and serve. 

Recipe: Stuffed Shells

I've been sitting here for a good ten minutes trying to think of something to say about stuffed shells and I haven't come up with a thing.  They've never been a favorite, but they've never been something I actively disliked either.  They were always just kind of ... there, this kind of ubiquitous part of every Italian-American buffet party table.  Of course, they're ubiquitous for a reason.  They're very popular.  Lots and lots of people like them.  When we decided to host a tree-decorating party for our families this past Christmas, I tried to think of dishes that could be eaten standing up without making a mess, and stuffed shells came to mind. 

My grandmother would have made this with a meat-based sauce.  She made everything with a meat-based sauce, because if she had used anything other than her classic sauce there would have been rioting and mutiny.  Unfortunately, the meat in her meat-based sauce was mostly pork and pork product, which I can't consume at the moment.  I decided to develop a vegetarian sauce instead of trying to synthesize the same flavors my grandmother produced so perfectly with the wrong ingredients.  Using a vegetarian sauce would make it more likely that my sister would eat it as well.  I used the same herbs that I used in the sauce in the stuffing to kind of tie the flavors together. 

Stuffed Shells (serves 8; approx. $2.09/serving)

2 cups Vegetarian Tomato Sauce

5 ounces shredded mozzarella, divided

2 ounces grated peccorino

3 tablespoons dried basil

32 ounces part-skim ricotta cheese

1 1/2 boxes jumbo shells, cooked according to package instructions and drained

Equipment:

• Roasting pan
• Bowl

1. Preheat your oven to 375.
2. Combine the ricotta, peccorino, 1 ounce of the mozzarella and basil in the bowl.  Mix very well. 
3. Using a small spoon or your hands, carefully stuff the cooked pasta shells with the cheese mixture.  The shells should roll shut fairly easily once stuffed. 
4. Lay the shells in the roasting pan in a single layer. 
5. Drizzle the sauce over the shells. 
6. Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella over the top of the sauce and shells.  If you've a mind to, you can sprinkle a little peccorino over the top as well. 
7. Bake until the cheese on top is fully melted and beginning to brown.  I think this took about 20 minutes for me. 
8. Serve.  This dish can be made ahead of time and easily reheated, which is probably why it appears so frequently at parties.  We reheated the leftovers again for dinner a few nights later with no noticeable diminution of quality, so this is something you can use again and again. 

Recipe: Citrus Salad with Herb Broth

Recipe Source: Trang, Corinne.  The Asian Grill.  Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 2006 p. 154

I made this for the family Christmas tree decorating party.  It's in the dessert section of the book, but it's not overly sweet.  I was drawn to this recipe for two reasons: it contained fruit and I was concerned that there weren't nearly enough options in the fruit and vegetable category, and as a citrus-based dish it would be refreshing.  My father in law is also very fond of recounting how his father in law always used to have fruit after a meal, and I thought it would be nice to remember his preferences. 

I didn't make a lot of changes, but I did make some.  I didn't have fresh galangal on hand because they don't sell it at my supermarket.  I could have gone to one of the Asian markets in the next town, but I really don't have the time or energy to be running around to multiple stores looking for specialty ingredients that they may or may not have in stock that day.  (I will say this: if I can find an excuse to go to the Asian market and they happen to have fresh galangal, I will buy it because that stuff is good.)  I omitted the mint garnish at the end because my husband is allergic to mint, and I used less of the broth than the recipe made.  I did this because I intended this to be eaten by people standing up and milling around, and I did not want to take the risk of having it drip all over the floor.  I also found the appearance of the broth a little off-putting.  It looked like something the dog might roll in. 

Citrus Salad with Herbal Broth (serves 8; approx. $1.72/serving)

4 cups water

4 fresh kaffir lime leaves

1/2 cup thinly sliced ginger

10 fresh basil leaves

2 lemongrass stalks, sliced thinly

1/3 cup sugar

1 pinch kosher salt

2 grapefruits

2 lemons

2 oranges

2 limes

Equipment:

• Saucepan
• Strainer
• Bowl

1. Combine the first 7 ingredients in the saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat.
2. Reduce the heat and simmer until reduced to 1 cup.  According to the book this should take 10 - 15 minutes.  I want to say it took a little less for me, but I didn't time it myself.
3. Strain the broth into the bowl and refrigerate until chilled.  Discard the solids. 
4. Peel and segment the fruit. 
5. Combine the fruit in your serving vessel and top with the broth.  Serve. 

Recipe: Mustard Chicken

I started dating the man who became my husband not long after I got my first solo apartment.  I'd been out of college for a couple of years by that point, but I'd always had roommates and kitchen access was limited.  The best thing about getting my very own place was that I could actually cook, and I cannot even begin to tell you how good that felt.  I'd learned a bit about cooking from my grandmother but had never had the opportunity to really put it into frequent practice, and I started cooking from every resource I could get my stubby little hands on. 

Eventually I started dating John.  He was a consultant, he traveled all the time during the week, and he ate at different restaurants every night.  He was also one of the most adventurous eaters I had ever met.  He was willing to try any foodstuff I put in front of him at least once, even if it consisted of something he normally didn't care for.  We made a decision early in our relationship that every Sunday we would eat a home-cooked meal, and for the most part we've stuck to that rule for the past ten years.  We make occasional concessions to necessity, such as when we're coming back from a trip or when I just don't have the energy, but for the most part we've adhered to it like Scripture. 

Recently, John and I were reminiscing about the fact that we've been together for ten years (friends for fifteen!).  The memory of one particular dish floated to the top of his memory.  "Do you remember that chicken thing you made for me once?  I think it was one of the first things you made for me.  It had mustard, and the cat leaped off the ground and stole a piece right off my fork.  It was really tasty - do you think you could do it again sometime?"  It's an amazing compliment to a cook when a dish you made once, an entire decade ago, is remembered with such fondness.  I guess the incident with the cat helped cement the memory, but still, it felt good.  (He got a new fork.  The cat is the same gray one you occasionally see pictured trying to steal food here on Fearless Kitchen, but we've learned our lesson and she rarely succeeds in stealing food anymore.)

I'm not sure if this is the exact recipe, but it fits with my own vague memories of the event.  When I served it for a recent Sunday dinner John got a big old smile on his face, so I think it should be pretty close.  Some of the measurements are approximate.

Mustard Chicken (serves 6; approx. $1.44/serving)

2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts

4 ounces mustard (I used a stone-ground mustard that I had on hand; the higher the quality of mustard the better the dish would taste.  I suspect that the original was made with something like Grey Poupon though, so you don't have to spend a fortune to have this come out decently.)

2 tablespoons garlic powder

1 tablespoon dried oregano

Equipment:

• Roasting pan
• Bowl

1. Preheat your oven to 375.
2. Combine the mustard, garlic powder and oregano in the bowl and mix well. 
3. Dip the chicken into the mustard mixture and coat well. 
4. Arrange the chicken breasts in the roasting pan.  If there is any leftover mustard mixture, spread it on the top of the chicken.
5. Bake until the internal temperature reaches 170 degrees (it will rise after you take it out of the oven.)  If I remember correctly, this took about 45 minutes to an hour. 
6. Remove from the oven and cover with tin foil.  Let rest a good 5 - 7 minutes. 
7. Slice and serve. 

Recipe: Turkey "Taquitos"

Recipe Source: Palazuelos, Susanna.  Mexico: The Beautiful Cookbook.  HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 1996 p. 36

I had originally intended to serve this to my family for our Christmas tree decorating party, but that didn't happen.  I guess I kind of overreached myself, because I had too much to do and not enough time to do it in.  I also was assured by my family - very firmly - that there was plenty of food on the table and that no one was going to go hungry.  I had already done part of the prep - cooking the turkey - so I had to do something with it quickly.  I decided to serve it to my husband later that week as dinner.

It's just as well that I didn't try to do this for the party.  The tortillas I bought simply didn't work.  I've had problems using this brand of corn tortilla before, and I think that I shall simply not use this brand anymore.  I decided that I needed to do something else with the filling ingredients, so I was getting all ready to make a fried rice type dish with it when my husband suggested that we eat these just like fajitas. 

It wasn't what I'd planned, but at least it used some of those nasty tortillas. 

Anyway, I made a couple of other changes.  I used turkey instead of pork or chicken.  I had bought a turkey breast for another purpose that never got made, so I had to use the turkey for something.  I also can't eat pork and strongly prefer turkey to chicken.  I increased the garlic as well, and I used a bunch of Grains of Paradise instead of black pepper.  (This was because I had whole Grains of Paradise on hand and no whole black peppercorns.)  I served it with some salsa and guacamole on the side, which are not included in the cost per serving. 

Turkey "Taquitos" (serves 8; approx. $2.44/serving)

2 lb boneless turkey breast, cut into cubes

4 tablespoons Grains of Paradise

5 garlic cloves, peeled

8 cups water

2 onions, chopped

6 tablespoons chopped cilantro

2 tablespoons olive oil

20 corn tortillas, warmed

Equipment:

• Large saucepan or Dutch oven
• Saute pan

1. Combine the turkey, Grains of Paradise and garlic in the large saucepan with the water and a pinch of salt, if desired.  (I didn't.) 
2. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer and cook at least 35 minutes or until the meat is tender. 
3. Drain and shred the meat when it is cool enough to touch.  Set aside.  (Note: this can be done ahead of time and then stored for a few days in the refrigerator if need be.)
4. Combine the onions and cilantro. 
5. Heat the oil in the saute pan.  Add the onions and cilantro and cook gently until the onions begin to get soft. 
6. Add the turkey to the saute pan and cook until heated through. 
7. Serve with the warmed tortillas.  We used a commercial salsa and guacamole to serve as well.