summertime

Apparently i'm cooking-crazy over the summer. I've spent a good deal of my evening looking at bento boxes and cast iron woks (which will be my next kitchen purchase, eliminating 2-3 current pans). Today, i was wandering through Kroger to get bread and some greens of some sort... salmon was on sale... here is the result.

A note on teriyaki sauce: don't buy the stuff in the bottle. Seriously. REAL teriyaki is 3 things - Sake, Soy, and sugar (sometimes a little water too or mirin)...NOT HFC, xantham gum, artificial flavors, soy protein... etc, etc. Not to mention, real teriyaki is amazingly flavorful and glazes nicely on cooldown. Once you taste the real stuff, it is my hope you will skip the stuff in the jar from now on, not to mention, if you make more than needed of your own, it will keep for about a month in a bottle in the fridge.

Salmon Teriyaki and Mustard Greens in Oyster Sauce
Serve both prettily with some jasmine rice. :)


Salmon Teriyaki
1 lb salmon filet
4 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp sake
4 tbsp water
4 tbsp sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Locate a baking dish large enough to put your salmon in. In a sm saucepan, mix sake, water, soy, and sugar until the sugar is dissolved (NO HEAT). Pour over salmon and marinate for at least 30 min in the fridge. Turn it over once in the marinade in that time. Pour off marinade back into the saucepan. Put salmon in the oven for about 15 min, until fish flakes opaque. During this time, heat sauce on medium uncovered until it barely starts to bubble, stirring constantly, then switch to low/med-low. continue to stir and the sauce will thicken.. Coat the fish a few times with sauce in the last few minutes of cooking (in 3 minute increments). When fish flakes, coat a little more and toss in the broiler for about 2 minutes. remove fish from broiler, and coat the fish with the rest of the sauce carefully, a spoonful at a time. When you are out of sauce, tilt the baking dish, and keep coating the fish with this, until you have reduced it about halfway. You don't HAVE to do that last part, but it's just nice and tasty.
mmmmmm



Mustard Greens
1 bunch mustard greens
4 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp rice wine
2 tbsp minced ginger
2 tbsp water

In a stockpot, heat about 3-4 inches of water to a boil. Trim off the bottom 1' of the bunch of greens. Submerge mustard greens in a full, clean sink for a couple minutes. Un-bunch the greens and rub each leaf gently. remove any bad leaves, etc. Transfer greens to a cutting board and cut across the stems in 2" increments. Add to boiling water and cover. Cook for about 5-7 minutes (taste a stem, they will be nice and crisp/firm, but not tough). While the greens are cooking, add everything else to a small saucepan (or if you are short on saucepans, this can be done in the microwave) and simmer until the greens are done, stirring occasionally. Drain and rinse greens with cool water for a sec. Transfer to a serving platter and top evenly with sauce. MMMM

my house smells amazing.

Today is in the middle of Pesach, and we have having our seder tonight instead of on Wednesday, since all of us had to work. This is a variation of my chicken soup, it's really tasty, and very good for slight hangovers after a night of drinking. In my circle of friends, this is "the holiday with the wine and that soup with the balls" and people always ask to come over for dinner. I also make a vegan soup, which I give to close friends this holiday that are either vegetarian or Muslim. However, i put not vegan matzoh balls in them, but they are veg not vegan anyways.

This particular recipe is kind of strange. I make 2 pots of chicken soup, but i only return half of the chicken, dividing among the 2 soups. The other chicken is served as stewed chicken along with the seder meal (and is quite tasty!!). The matzoh balls can either be split amongst the 2 pots or just cooked in one and then divided.

Just a note - this takes about 5 hours to make, start to finish, but is well worth it!! It's doesn't need very much babysitting, thankfully.

Matzoh Ball Soup

the balls (this is really a quadruple batch)
2 c matzoh meal
8 tbsp veg oil
8 tbsp water or stock
a little salt and pepper
8 eggs


the broth (double this)
1 chicken (about 3-4 lbs)
1 pretty large stockpot
4 or 5 cloves garlic
sprig each of dill and parsley
1 yellow onion, peeled and quartered
3 carrots, peeled and broken in half
3 celery stalks washed and broken in half
a little salt
3 peppercorns (or a couple shakes of pepper)
a large pyrex dish and cutting board (for sorting)

first, make the balls. Mix the salt, pepper, eggs, and oil lightly. add matzoh meal and mix. add water and mix. This should be pretty soupy now, but it will thicken, promise. Cover with plastic wrap and stick in the fridge until the soup is ready for them.

Now make the soup. Put the chicken in the pot, cover with water till it's about an inch or two above the chicken. add the rest of the ingredients, cover, and bring to a boil. Once this boils, reduce the heat to med-low and simmer for at least an hour (i usually do about 1.5-2 hours). You will know when it's ready when you try to fish out the chicken and it falls apart. taste for salt content, add a little water if needed. Fish out the chicken (tongs and a fry skimmer really help) and put in the pyrex dish. Skim the half inch of fat off of the top of the soup and discard (EW!). Fish out the veggies, chop them up, and return them to the pot. Add about 4 c of water, recover, and continue to simmer.

Cook the balls. Give the bowl of matzoh mash a quick stir. Take a tablespoon and chunk out a nice hunk of mix. roll a 2" size ball in your hand, and return to the pot. When all the balls are rolled, cover tightly and cook for 30-40 min.

Sort the chicken. just do ONE of the chickens! Remove the skin and discard. Pull the meat off the bones and remove any cartilige; toss the bones and cartilige. This will probably be really hot, so work quickly and use tongs and a fork if you need to. Let cool for about 10 min, so you can actually touch the meat without burning the crap out of yourself. shred into spoon-friendly chunks, returning half to each pot of soup. Serve HOT as first course of Passover! YUM!

Vegetarian Matzoh ball soup
1 pretty large stockpot
5 cloves garlic
sprig each of dill and parsley
1 large yellow onion, peeled and quartered
2 green onions, cleaned (NOT chopped)
5 carrots, peeled and broken in half
5 celery stalks washed and broken in half
a little salt
5 peppercorns (or a couple shakes of pepper)
1 small piece of ginger
a couple shakes italian seasoning

put everything in a stockpot, fill with water to a couple inches above all the veggies. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce to a low boil/simmer and cook for about 3-40 min (the celery should be REALLY really cooked and the onions almost mooshy). Add salt as needed. Fish everything out of the soup. Add a couple cups of water, cook balls as directed in first recipe. During this time, chop up all the veggies (toss the parsley, ginger, and dill). When the balls are done, return everything to the pot. Serve and share with your girlfriend this year, dangit!

some more backlog.

I'm going to attempt to get this blog current.
some more easy dinners!

Chicken soup

1 chicken, with guts removed (or 4 chicken quarters), but skin on (keep the neck for the soup)

4 stalks celery

3 peeled carrots, peeled and cut into thumb thick pieces

1 small yellow onion, chopped

a few shakes of dill

4 or more garlic cloves

chicken bullion (just in case)

kosher salt

pepper

spaghetti

Cheesecloth, fruit bags, or pantyhose (washed)

Place chicken in a stockpot. Add carrots, celery (whole) and onion. Cover the chicken in water, about ½” above the chicken. Make a pouch out of cheesecloth, those funky bags oranges or onions come in, or a CLEAN pair of pantyhose. Add about 2 tsp coarse pepper, 1 tsp dill, and sliced garlic cloves to the cloth. Tie off the end and trim down to a small packet. Bring all to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to low/simmer. Simmer for an hour. Salt to taste, and add more garlic if you wish. Add a tsp of chicken bullion if not strong enough. Stir and then simmer for another 30 minutes or so. Turn off heat and remove chicken from pot. Transfer to a cutting board and cool for about 10-20 minutes. Peel off skin and cut up chicken. It should easily come off bones if done enough. Fish in soup and remove seasoning packet and toss. Remove celery and chop up and add back to soup. Take a quarter’s diameter of noodles and break in half and toss in soup. Add cut up chicken. Add about 1c water and bring back to a simmer. Turn off in about 6 minutes or when noodles are done. Eat. For leftovers, refrigerate overnight in same stockpot and skim the fat off of the top before reheating.

Eggplant and Garlic Sauce

This is a way lightened version. The real thing is fried, drained, and then tossed with sauce. I created this one when i was stuck in weight watchers....

1 large eggplant cubed (1/2” cubies)

1 tsp sesame oil

2 tsp olive oil

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp- tbsp soy sauce

4 or so cloves of garlic, sliced

1 small or medium yellow onion, halved, then sliced downwards (peeled, of course)

1 cup water

2 tbsp (or a little more to taste) of hosien

put olive oil in a nonstick pan, heat to medium high. Add sugar and STIR in till sugar dissolves

add eggplant and garlic and stir till no more oil is visible. Add about ¼ cup of water and sauté over medium till almost all water is gone. Add onion and stir for about a minute. Add about ¼ cup of water and sauté till water is gone. Add about ¼ cup of water and cover, stirring occasionally. Eggplant should be somewhat translucent by now… Add soy and hosien, sautee with another ¼ water, sauté for another minute or 2 (till everything is coated well), and serve

Heat oil in nonstick pan to medium high and stir in sugar till dissolved. Add eggplant and garlic and stir until oil is absorbed. Add ¼ cup of water and sauté over medium till water is absorbed. Add onion and stir for about a minute. Add about ¼ cup of water and sauté till water is gone, cover, and repeat (Eggplant should be translucent). Add soy, chili, and hosien, sauté with remainder of water for another 2 minutes (till well coated). Serve hot over rice. Makes about 4 generous servings.

****************************************************************

Salmon prepared with olive oil.

For salmon, I just take fish (defrosted if frozen)
rub with garlic and coarse black pepper. Sprinkle olive oil on it and spread it all over both sides of the fish. slice a lemon thinly and tile on top. Squeeze a bit of juice on there too. Cook (usually I broil it) until the middle part flakes easily with fork.

also works well with trout (esp. steelhead) or any other sort of fatty fish.

Asparagus (for a side)

I trim asparagus of woody part. Lay out on broiling pan. Spray with olive oil (or toss in a bag with 2 tsp of olive oil if you don’t have a sprayer) and sprinkle garlic powder, and a hint of seasoned salt. Broil until tops are a bit goldened and skin is wrinkled. make a bunch because people will come in your kitchen and steal it before all food is done.

lazy dinners

veg pita sammiches and hummus stuffed black olives

1 pita
smear with hummus, a bit of goat cheese, roasted red peppers, sprouts, cucumbers, tomatoes, salt, pepper

OMG HEAVEN.
I made d's with chicken and stuffed it with black olives with fresh hummus from T'afia's farmer's market booth..

veggie yum

My vegetarian chili
I like mine hot. I think I toned it down for this recipe, I don't remember. Either way, it's awesome.

* 2 tablespoons (2 turns around the pan) olive or vegetable oil
* 1 medium yellow skinned onion, chopped
* 1/2 red bell pepper, 1/2 yellow bell pepper (for color, you can use all red), seeded and chopped
* 1 large green pepper, seeded and chopped
* 2 chipotle peppers, smashed in pestle or with a spoon or chopped and 2 tsp adobo sauce (or more)
* 5 cloves garlic, pressed
* 1 1/2 c dos equis beer
* 1 cube vegetable bullion, crushed
* 2-12 oz cans diced tomatoes
* 1-12 oz can crushed tomatoes
* 1 (14-ounce) can black beans
* 1 (14-ounce) can kidney beans
* 1 tablespoon smoked hot paprika (if you can find it. it's sold at central market, CHEAP, and GOOD)
* 1 tablespoon ground cumin
* 2 tablespoons chili powder
* 1 few grinds fresh ground black pepper
* 1 teaspoon coarse salt
* 1 can vegetarian refried beans

Over medium-high heat, add oil to a deep pot and combine onion, peppers, and garlic. Saute for 3 to 5 minutes to soften vegetables. Add bullion to the beer, and add to pan. Add tomatoes, black beans, red kidney beans, and stirring to combine. Add the refried beans, but smash them in, you want them to break up nicely. Cook for like 3 minutes, Add chilis, adobo stuff, cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Simmer medium for 10 more minutes, COVERED, but with a cracked lid (to reduce, but this stuff SPLASHES), stirring like ever 2-3 min or the bottom will burn. Serve over rice or with chips.
OM NOM NOM NOM...


Tofu Scramble pockets
I had some made my Amy's and they were AWESOME. I tried to recreate it and theyTOO turned out good. I promise, this is way less work than it looks like. These freeze really well. Heat them up in the office and ahve everyone's nose stuck in your cubicle (until you tell them it's tofu, and then they scatter!)..

1 block light firm tofu
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp soysauce or tamari
black pepper
red pepper flakes
2 cloves garlic, crushed
olive oil
1/2 green pepper, diced
2 green onions, diced
1 handfull shittake mushrooms, de-stemmed, and chopped
1/2 red pepper, diced
pinch golden tumeric
pinch smoked or sweet paprika

for the dough
2 c unbleached all purpose flour, plus some
pinch salt
pinch smoked or sweet paprika
1/2 c warm water
1/2 c olive or sunflower oil

Make the dough.
You want it to have "just enough" flour, and it will have the consistency of an earlobe. Mix all dry ingredients together, add liquid ingredients, then gauge if you need more flour once it is all mixed. This is an oily dough, easy to manipulate with hands, and very elastic. if you add too much flour it won't stick together! If you aren't going to use it right away, keep it at room temp, putting it in the fridge makes it way less maliable.

Make the filling.
Drain tofu, and squeeze any extra moisture out by squeezing it between paper towels. Heat 1 tbsp or 2 of olive oil in a NONstick skillet to med/med-high. Crumble the tofu really well into the pan, and break it up a little more with a wooden spoon or spatula. Cook for about 5 min (this is to remove extra moisture from the tofu), then stir. Add a pinch of tumeric and paprika for color, and stir really well. Cook for another 4 or so min, so that you brown the tofu a little, stirring every min. Add onion, mushrooms, garlic, pepper, and peppers. Stir well and cook for another 4 or so min, turning occasionally, till onions begin to soften. Add red pepper flakes, honey, and soy sauce, and cook for another min or two (so that all liquid is absorbed), stirring constantly. Taste, and adjust seasoning if needed, but it should be a smidge salty because the dough should absorb some of the salt.

Assemble
Heat oven to 350 while you assemble this stuff.Get a greased cookie sheet or pan lined with nonstick aluminum foil. Divide the dough up into about 5 or 6 pieces (they should be slightly smaller than your fist). Either flatten by hand or roll each out and arrange on sheet. Fill with dough and fold over, kind of like an empenada. Brush with egg or butter or oil or something, and bake till golden... which i will find out how long that is in a bit.

some oldies.

Tomorrow is Purim. However, I looked in my archives for Purim recipes and got Chanukka ones.
Whatever.
Enjoy.

latkes (potato pancakes)
1 lb potatoes, peeled
1 apple, peeled and cored
1 egg, beaten, i guess
1/4 cup flour
salt and peppa

grate potatoes and apple and drain the shit out of it. add flour and egg, salt and pepper, and mix really good.Heat oil in a shallow pan (for frying, about 1" deep). take a handfull of potato moosh, and pat it into a thin patty (usually i roll it in a ball and then smoosh it). Fry until golden, flip, and fry for a few more minutes. you can fry like 6 at a time. drain. eat with applesauce or sour cream on top.YUMMEH. kicks the butt of any hash brown out there. We usually make these in triple batches. However, no matter how good these are, if you grind up a 10 lb bag of potatoes, you will be frying for about 2 or so hours...

My Noodle Kugel
I had to adapt this recipe cause my sister hates rasins in her kugel, and i LOVE to cook for my sister.
I use soy substitues for all the milk stuff and it turns out really well.

1 cup milk (or soy)
1 lb egg noodles (like manichevitz brand)
cinnamon
3 eggs
1 lb cottage cheese (or silken tofu)
a couple tablespoons of good gold rum
3 oz cream cheese (or soy), about 1/2 c
1/2-3/4 c sugar
1 half apple, peeled and diced
1/2 c sliced almonds. break em up a little
1 capfull vanilla

preheat oven to 350. boil noodles till done, drain. grease casserole pan, add noodles. Mix milk, eggs, cottage cheese, cream cheese, sugar, apple, rum, vanilla, and almonds in a bowl till everything is mixed (cept the cottage cheese, of course). add to noodles, and stir really well till its like yellowy noodle soup. bake for an hour. serve warm. this is kinda a side dish, kinda a dessert.

Some Basic (but new) home cookin.

This is lovingly pilfered from my post from yesterday on facebook.

So today, i whipped up 3 really good recipes.
The middle one is the only one that can be made veggie. This is kind of everyday style home cooking, but new recipes.

Key ingredients:


FRESH shittake mushrooms and


Bonito and soy based soup base (usually called memmi, tempura sauce, or bonito soup base).





You can find the soup base and noodles in the Asian isle from Krogers, and the mushrooms by the.... well... mushrooms.

(the pic shows somen noodles, but you get the idea. still my cooking)

Udons
Fresh Udons are the best! For a variation, add a couple of pieces or chopped crab stick a couple of minutes before the snow peas or a scrambled egg. Even if you buy the udons in the package (for 89 cents... you know those), use the broth and still tastes better.

1/4c soup base
3 cups water
1 thumb size piece ginger, unpeeled, and halved
2 servings dried udon noodles
8 fresh shittake mushrooms, cleaned and destemmed
1 handfull of snow peas
2 green onions, sliced
1/2 c diced tofu

boil udons and shittakes in 3 cups of water for about 8 minutes, till noodles are tender. drain, and run under cold water. remove mushrooms, slice, set aside. Put 3 cups of water with soup base. Add sliced mushrooms, tofu, and ginger. Bring to a boil, fish out ginger, taste, add more soup base if needed, add noodles and everything else and turn off heat. Serve!




Stir fried yum
I love shittakes. Not only are they good for you, but they are hearty enough to be a meat substitute in many dishes.

2 handfulls fresh shittakes, cleaned, destemmed, and slides in thirds
3 cloves garlic, sliced
2 cups sugar snap peas
sesame oil
olive oil
1/4c bonito soup base OR 1/4 soy sauce with 4 tbsp sugar dissolved in it
some red pepper flakes

make a swirl of olive oil and a swirl sesame oil in a pan over med high heat. add mushrooms and garlic, cook for about 5 minutes, until all oil is absorbed and a couple of the edges of the mushrooms brown. Add 1/2 c water, and cook for another 5 minutes. add bonito sauce and about 1/2 c water and snap peas. Toss frequently, cook until peas are steamed




spicy squid salad
I had a squid salad the other day at nidda thai that was phenominal. this is not AS good, but still pretty damn good. Not to mention, it only costs about $5 to make, cause most of the stuff i already have in my fridge.

1/2lb calamari steak
6 tbsp fresh lime juice
3 tbsp fish sauce
sugar (to taste)
3 red dried chilis, crushed (really, to taste. I added 4 and it was perfect heat for me)
black pepper (to taste)
1.5 c shredded green cabbage
3 stalks celery, chopped
2 roma tomatoes, chopped and de-seeded
3 green onions, sliced

Boil calimari in 2 c of water until it starts to cool. Rinse with cold water and put in a plate in the freezer to cool it off. Add all veggies into a tupperware (covered) bowl. Mix it up a little bit, shake it. Mix fish sauce, a little pepper, chilis, sugar, and lime juice in either a bowl or a shaker jar. Mix until sugar is dissolved. taste the sauce to make sure it is sweet, it should be a nice combo of sweet and sour... Remove calamari from the fridge and cube into little 1/2" cubes. add to veggies. add fish sauce mix to bowl, cover tightly and SHAKE. Put in the fridge for 20 minutes, pulling it out to shake everything up about every 5 minutes. Shake and serve on a bed of lettuce if you like.