January 31, 2012

Cook Once, Eat Twice: Brown Rice Noodle Salad With Scallops

Inspired by a Thai cooking class I taught this last weekend, I made this brown rice noodle salad for supper last night.

It was light, yet filling, with tantalizing flavors balanced between hot, cool, salty, and sour holding true to traditional Thai cooking.

Fish sauce has become my new must-have pantry item. Pop the cap on one of these bottles and it's aroma will immediately remind you of an unwashed body part. I store my opened bottle zipped up in a gallon baggy. Yet the flavor it adds to a dish including Thai curries provides and edge and a depth of flavor unmatched by any ingredient yet in my book. Love it.

Next day I shredded a Napa cabbage added that to the leftover salad for lunch which helped it stretch for one more meal.

Tonight I'll have it again with some pan-grilled chicken.

Cook once, eat two, maybe three times.

That's what I'm talking about.

Brown Rice Noodle Salad

Serves 2

4 oz brown rice noodles

3 Thai chiles

1 tablespoon garlic, roughly chopped

1 tablespoon shallot, roughly chopped

1/2 cup shredded green papaya

1/2 cup shredded carrot

4 tablespoons fish sauce

2 teaspoons fresh lime juice

2 teaspoons brown sugar

2 tablespoon grapeseed oil

zest of 1 lime

1 bunch of cilantro, roughly chopped

4 scallops

1 tablespoon olive oil

Heat oven to 350.

Place the noodles into a large bowl and cover with warm water; let soak until softened, about 6 minutes. Drain, set aside.

Combine Thai chiles, garlic, and shallot in a food processor; pulse until finely chopped. Toss the chile mixture with the noodles, shredded papaya, and shredded carrots.

Mix together the fish sauce, lime juice, brown sugar, and grapeseed oil. Toss with the noodle mixture. Taste and adjust flavorings as needed to achieve a pleasing balance.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in pan. Season scallops. Add seasoned scallops to hot oil and sear on each side 1-2 minutes. Place in oven to finish cooking about 5 minutes.

Toss noodles with lime zest and cilantro. Place scallops on top. Squeeze a bit more of fresh lime over the scallops.

January 18, 2012

Four Peppercorn Pan-Seared Tuna With A Papaya and Jalapeño Dressing

Papaya was my inspiration.

I was playing in the kitchen with Som Tum ingredients (green papaya salad) and came up with this salad dressing instead: papaya, jalapeno, shallots, brown sugar, a little bit of fish sauce, and grapeseed oil.

Divine. Especially with the blanched and cooled green beans cut into 2-inch pieces that I tossed it with.

This is a must with fish, I thought. More often than not when I set my mind on fish I end up with tuna. It’s not that I don’t like snapper, salmon, and trout. I do. But after browsing the seafood case I came home with tuna, again.

I coated 6 oz.ish piece with with peppercorns, pan-seared it for 2-3 minutes on each side, laid it on a bed of wilted spinach, and tossed on handful of tomatoes.

Definitely divine.

Half of it was perfect for one meal. (Yeah, a serving of protein is considered to be 2-3 oz. If you're thinking about slimming down for the New Year, portion control is an easy start!)

It was just as delicious the next day served cold with another fresh serving of wilted spinach.

Papaya and Jalapeno Dressing

2 tablespoons roughly chopped garlic

1 tablespoon roughly chopped shallots

2 jalapenos, stemmed, seeded, and sliced

1/4 c. papaya, roughly chopped

1 tablespoon fish sauce

2 1/2 tablespoons lime juice

zest of 1/2 lime

1/4 cup grapeseed oil

January 9, 2012

Reflecting, Hatching, And Course Correcting In My 2012 Kitchen

There is an excitement for me about the Winter Solstice followed closely by the passing of an old year and the coming of a new one that compels me to reflect on life, hatch a new plan or two, and correct course, if needed.

I don’t limit my reflecting, hatching, and course correcting to the New Year, but it is the flagship time of the year to do so. Humanity has been making promises and pronouncing resolutions since the Ancient Babylonian and Roman times.

According to my informal poll most of my family and friends are not setting any goals for 2012. That’s a Scooby Doo “huh?” moment for me.

C.S. Lewis said “The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour whatever he does, whoever he is.”

When I get there I’d rather end up somewhere I want to be. Resolutions help me focus on that end.

My goals are simple this year and, yes, most are reflective of my passion for being in the kitchen:

Add more beauty, fiber, nutrients, and antioxidants to my meals by taking a deeper dive into the world of vegetable cookery. And perhaps elevate the status of the simple, yet delightful, and often ignored carrot in the process. (Yes, I really like carrots.)

Make use of my very large yard to grow more of my own food. Along with this pray for rain. Texas suffered the worst drought in recorded history in 2011.

Waste less food. It’s estimated that Americans waste 25% of the food they bring into their homes. My percentage is not that high, but I’d like it be 0%.

Eat out less. It is more fun, nutritious, delicious, and less expensive to eat at home.

Reduce my carbon footprint by remembering to use the reusable grocery bags I ALWAYS have in my car and ALWAYS forget to take into the store.

Exercise regularly. This will help me have more energy to accomplish the above. I have a head start on this one. I joined a gym in December and have a standing weekly appointment with a trainer.

There is no fear of failure here. Even if I don’t achieve everything on my list to the degree I envision I’ll have fun working towards it.

And if not, I’ll reflect, hatch, and course correct as needed.

(Just to keep me motivated - below is a beautiful plate of cheese ravioli with roasted corn, tomato, and basil.)

October 2, 2011

Cast Iron Truffled Macaroni and Cheese

On the way home from work on Friday night I had a craving for macaroni and cheese.

With a little truffle oil, thank you very much.

It's a high falutin' dish but I decided to use my favorite cast iron skillet.

My friend said "I've never seen macaroni and cheese in a cast iron skillet."

Brilliant said I. I made everything in one pan except boiling the penne pasta.

My recipe is below which can be reproduced in any good cast iron skillet or any skillet that suits your fancy, and with or without the truffle oil.

My cast iron happened to belong to my great-grandmother - that is not reproducible.

Cast Iron Truffled Macaroni and Cheese

8 oz. penne pasta, al dente

1/2 onion, small dice

2-3 garlic cloves, finely diced

3 tablespoons butter, divided

1 1/2 tablespoons flour

2 cups half & half

1/2 cup cream

2 1/2 cups shredded cheese, divided

1 1/2 teaspoons truffle oil, divided

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a cast iron skillet and saute onion until soft and translucent. Add garlic and saute 1-2 minutes more until garlic is fragrant.

Add 1 tablespoon butter to the skillet with the onions and the garlic. When melted, add 1 1/2 tablespoons flour. Stir and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add half & half, cream, and bay leaf.

Softly simmer until sauce thickens. Remove bay leaf and add 2 cups of shredded cheese, 1 cup at a time stirring until melted. Stir in 1/8 teaspoon white pepper and 1 1/2 teaspoons truffle oil.

Add penne pasta. Stir until pasta is coated with the cheese sauce.

Bake at 350 degrees, 15-20 minutes or until bubbly.

When it comes out of the oven, sprinkle 1/2 cup cheese on top and drizzle with an additional 1/2 teaspoon truffle oil.

August 23, 2011

Cheeseburger Omelet - Why Not?

Legend says Napoleon was so taken with the delights of an omelet that he had the entire village scoured for eggs so he could make an omelet for his army the next day.

Smart man that Napoleon.

I scoured my fridge one Sunday morning and found eggs (pasture-raised from a friend of mine), half of a hamburger patty, cheese, lettuce, and some homemade lemon vinaigrette.

Making use of leftovers is a virtue I admire so it became a cheeseburger omelet. I tossed the greens with the vinaigrette and piled them on top. The salad mix had a bit of dill with so it was like a having a pickle on the side.

No fries, frosty root beer, or vanilla shake on the side. Just coffee.

Delicious.

And delightful. I too would have scoured the entire village for eggs to share with my army...uh, I mean family should any have been around that Sunday morning to share it with.

April 4, 2011

Chicken Stir-Fried Rice With a Texas Twist

Sometimes it's the simple things that bring us the most pleasure.

During the week I believe cooking should be uncomplicated, yet appealing. Filling, and healthy.

For my junior high cooking class last week the name of the simplicity game was stir-fried rice.

It's a seven-ingredient tasty wonder.

A little soy sauce, sesame oil, green onion, egg, frozen peas and carrots, chicken, and, of course, rice.

Texmati brown rice was my choice for this stir fry; Texmati rice is a Texas product and I love supporting producers from the state even if Alvin, TX, where they're headquartered happens to be closer to Houston than the metroplex.

There were a couple of scrunched noses to the idea of a brown rice stir fry, but the reality is that white rice is really brown rice with the most nutritious parts scrubbed off to achieve that sparkling white color. Why bother wasting the time and nutrition, I said? Especially with stir-fried rice when the soy-sesame sauce mixture added to the rice, whether white or brown, gives it that beautiful brown color anyways. And brown rice, because it is only missing the outer husk, has a more interesting texture.

Surprisingly everyone loved the green onion garnish and squabbled a bit over getting more to put on their plates. Who could have predicted that?

Several said they were going to make this simple, beautiful, delicious, nutritious dish at home.

Mission accomplished.

Chicken Stir-Fried Rice

4 cups cold cooked white or brown rice
2 eggs beaten
1 bunch green onions, bias-sliced tops, thin-sliced greens
1 cup cooked chicken, cut into chunks
1 cup frozen peas and carrots
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 teaspoons hot sesame oil
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided use

Prep vegetables
Bias slice the white parts of the onion.
Thinly slice the green parts
Measure out the peas and carrots

Prep sauce
Mix together soy sauce, hot sesame oil. Set aside until needed.

Prep eggs and green onions
Bias cut the white end of the green onions.
Thinly slice the green end of the green onion for a garnish.
Whisk eggs in preparation for scrambling.

Stir-Fry
Heat wok over medium heat.
Add 1 tablespoon oil to the pan. Allow oil to heat for a minute.
Add the green onions. Saute for a minute. Add the eggs and scramble.
Remove the eggs and green onions from the wok. Set aside.
Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the wok.
Add the peas and carrots to the wok, stir-fry for a minute.
Stir in the rice and stir fry until rice begins to crisp.
Add the cooked chicken to the wok. Stir fry until chicken is heated through and rice is crispy.
Stir in the soy sauce mixture and continue to cook until the liquid has been absorbed.
Stir in the green onion and scrambled egg mixture.
Season with salt and pepper.
Serve with extra soy sauce on the side.

March 6, 2011

Drip Irrigation In The Garden Rocks

With our hot Texas summers (yes, sadly, here comes the blazing hot weather again!) keeping a garden properly watered is always a challenge.

Dotty Woodson, Water Resources Extension Specialist, with the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center shows Life At The Table how easy it is to use drip irrigation which is 90 percent efficient in a garden.

Located in a very unassuming cluster of buildings on Coit Rd. just north of Campbell Rd. in Dallas, TX, the center is a quiet treasure of research and educational activity.

One of 13 centers around the state, the professors and extension specialists here focus on managing and conserving urban natural resources, including one of our most precious resources, water.

A community garden was founded here in 2006 as part of an EPA Strategic Agriculture Initiative grant. Fouad Jaber, PhD, Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist, Water Resources, manages the garden in addition to his water research and teaching responsibilities.

Today the garden is flourishing with a group of 20 dedicated gardeners and a handful on a waiting list. But, the garden is moving to a larger plot of land towards the back of the property and there may be room for additional gardeners.

Monthly gardening classes at the center are mandatory for community gardeners and is free to anyone interested in learning more about gardening. Click here for a list of gardening class dates and times.

Contact Fouad Jaber for more information on the garden and the gardening classes.

February 27, 2011

Winging It In Junior High With Hot Wings and Homemade Sauce

Chicken wings seem to be all the rage right now.

I suppose that's a good thing. Most people buy their chickens parsed out into pieces like breasts and thighs, so someone needs to make use of all those leftover, boney wings.

I never paid much attention to wings, but not because I disliked them. I just never had a hankering to eat them or make them.

That is until a friend asked me to make them for his Superbowl party.

Then the day after the Superbowl when everyone was ragging on Jerry Jones about the seat fiasco, the junior high girls in my after school cooking class asked me to teach them how to make wings.

It was an Interesting coincidence of back to back requests for wings.

I suppose it was just time to add wings to my repertoire. After all, frying is one of the seven basic French cooking techniques.

And I love them.

They're fun to make, fun to eat, and if you like spicy, wings are especially suited for lighting your palate on fire.

The girls and I made our own sauce and compared it to a bottle of store bought sauce.

I preferred the homemade sauce as did half of the class.

No surprise that the homemade sauce was my favorite, right?

I'm pretty sure that although I can't remember the last time I ate wings out somewhere, I'd prefer them made at home. My philosophy is cook it at home unless there is a really, really good reason not to. Which is rare, by the way.

There is now a large package of wings sitting in my freezer.

All I need is a hankering or another special request.

Winging It!

2 1/2 pounds chicken wings, trimmed

2 cups flour

3 teaspoons flour

1 teaspoon cayenne

vegetable oil for frying wings

Sauce

8 tablespoons hot sauce

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 1/2 tablespoons white vinegar

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1. Prepare oil for frying.

Use a fry pan or deep fryer.
If using a fry pan, add enough oil to float the wings in the pan.
If using a deep fryer follow the manufacturer’s instructions on how much oil to use. Set fry temperature to 375 degrees.

2. Prep Chicken

Pat chicken dry.
Cut wings at joint to separate wing and wing-drum.
Remove tips and discard (or reserve for another use if desired).
Mix together flour, salt, and cayenne together in a large mixing bowl. Add wings and coat with the flour mixture.
Set aside while oil warms and prepare sauce.

3. Prep Sauce

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan.
Bring to a simmer over low heat.
Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove from heat.

4. Frying Chicken

Once the oil has reached 375 degrees add chicken wings in small batches. Do not overcrowd the pan/fryer.
If using a fry pan, fry 5 minutes on one side. Flip. Fry 5 minutes on the other side.
If using a deep fryer, fry for 10 minutes.
Drain on paper towels. Once cooled place wings in a large bowl.
Add sauce and toss with wings until all wings are covered.

February 19, 2011

Getting To Know My Local Farmer: That's "Eggsactly" What I'm Talking About

Grocery shopping takes on a whole new meaning when bending down in the field to snip fresh greens and pull root vegetables from the dirt. This is what I did this past week on a beautiful, partly-cloudy February Dallas day with urban farmer, Marie Tedei of Eden’s Organic Garden Center and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Farm in Balch Springs, TX.

Together we walked her rows of greens and root vegetables, the primary winter crops in North Texas, like we were browsing the produce aisles at a local grocery store.

On her spread of more than fourteen acres she farms two that produces a variety of crops that over the course of a year will feed forty families who have purchased shares in her garden. Water from a fresh water pond drip-irrigates the garden and is powered in part by a small solar panel and wind turbine system.

The first veggie she pulled from the dirt was a beautiful red carrot.

Red.

I was captivated.

Next were daikon radishes. Some were soft on top from the recent, brutal cold wave. No worries. Daikon literally means “large root” in Japanese. With a slice of the knife to remove the soft tops there will be plenty leftover for some fun in the kitchen.

Then the greens, spicy mustard, garlic greens (tops only of the garlic plant) and mazuna, a Japanese green and member of the cabbage family whose leaves are tender enough to included in a salad; and some bok choy.

In addition to my wonderful bounty of greens and roots, I left with a rainbow of farm-fresh green, blue, and brown eggs. I had a field day, literally.

Back in the kitchen that afternoon with a rumbling stomach I chose the easiest, quickest way to mealtime: a fried egg sandwich on toasted focaccia, dressed with a smear of mayo, sauteed spicy mustard greens with snips of garlic greens tossed in, and all of it overlaid with gorgeous roasted red and yellow bell peppers.

It was by far the most beautiful and tastiest fried egg sandwich I’ve ever eaten. Wendell Berry, American author and agrarian, has said that eating is an agricultural act.

I believe him.

And eating local is the best agricultural act of all.

That's "eggsactly" what I'm talking about.

Click here to view the photos of my visit.

February 10, 2011

Soba Noodle Stir Fry With a Soy and Raspberry-Balsamic Vinegar Sauce

The fun of cooking begins with keeping a staple-stocked pantry that always, always includes fresh vegetables and fruit.

Then lead with your imagination.

My cooking adventure last night began with a package of soba noodles and...

Wait, your challenging me aren't you? "Soba noodles in a well-stocked pantry?"

Ah, well perhaps your pantry needs a little expanding. Made from buckwheat flour, soba noodles are naturally gluten-free (make sure you buy 100% buckwheat noodles), high in fiber, and contain all the amino acids we need for good health. The Japanese eat them cold in the summer like a pasta salad and warm in the winter in a broth-based soup.

I made a stir-fry.

It was bitter cold in Dallas last night, no way was my supper going to be cold and I wasn't in the mood for broth.

The stir-fry was simple - one carrot and two green onions, both bias-cut, with one-half of a yellow bell pepper cut into chunks. No protein necessary, but I did chunk some smoked pork tenderloin to add to the mix.

The sauce was the most fun.

Soy was the base, but it needed a kick and something interesting.

I chopped a clove of garlic. And then another clove. One just didn't seem enough and sauteed them in a little bit of olive oil.

Ooops, got distracted. My garlic was browned a bit more than I planned, but it wasn't burned. No worries. i forged ahead and added the soy sauce.

To this I added a few squeezes of sriracha sauce, a Thai hot sauce. Empahsis here is on hot. If you are faint of palate do not over do it with the sriracha. But I highly recommend this as an addition to your pantry for its excellent flavor.

Taste.

Good, but not there yet. My mind kept drifting to the bottle of raspberry balsamic vinegar in the cupboard.

Nah.

Hmmmm.

Maybe.

I grabbed the bottle unscrewed the cap and inhaled the aroma.

Oh, that will work nicely.

It was probably a tablespoon.

Taste, again.

Oh my. That is good. Very good. I liked the depth that the balsamic gave it and the interesting twist from the raspberry.

Taste again.

One more thing it needed.

Honey.

The finale.

I left it on a slight simmer while I sauteed the vegetables.

That only took three minutes or so, tops, for crisp tender. I added the already boiled and rinsed soba noodles and the pork for another minute of saute and then added the sauce.

With a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds and chopped green onion, it was beautiful and tasty.

All from what I had on hand.