Chicken – Grow. Cook. Eat.

April 9, 2012

Longevity Noodles: A wish for a long and happy life.

At birthdays, New Year’s and other milestones that mark time, the Chinese have many recipes to bring luck and prosperity… and as I thought about what to make for a Chinese-American friend’s baby shower, I looked to the Chinese tradition for ideas.

I couldn’t help myself to take a play on “Bun in the Oven” to make char sui bao: roast pork buns.

Long strands of noodles symbolize long life. Their length represents the wish for a long and happy life. American spaghetti is not considered long enough, so try to find the Chinese egg noodles, alternatively, you can make your own from scratch.

In order to preserve the wish and symbolisms, it’s important to not cut the noodles when cooking or eating them; instead chew on the noodles when they are inside the mouth. What a great excuse to slurp your noodles.

Longevity Noodles
Adapted from The Chinese Kitchen by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo

½ pound fresh egg noodles (available at Russo’s)

Chicken + Marinade
½ pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into thin strips
1 tsp sesame oil
½ tsp salt
½ tsp distilled vinegar
1 tsp shao-hsing wine or dry sherry
¾ tsp. corn starch
½ tsp soy sauce
Fresh ground white pepper

Mix together to marinate.

Sauce
2 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp distilled vinegar
1 tsp shao-hsing wine or dry sherry
1 ½ tsp corn starch
1 cup chicken stock or broth

Mix together and set aside

Vegetables
1 tbs or more of plain (canola or peanut) oil
1 tsp fresh chopped ginger
1 tsp fresh chopped garlic
¼ pound snow peas, stringed and julienned
3 fresh water chestnuts, peeled and sliced
2 scallions, julienned
¼ cup bamboo shoots

1.    Boil noodles for 1 minute in salted boiling water (if using fresh Chinese egg noodles, otherwise, cook 1 minute less than package instructions). Drain well, and set aside.
2.    Mix chicken with marinade ingredients
3.    Combine ingredients for the sauce
4.    Heat a large wok or skillet over high heat. Add oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the chicken and cook for 2 – 3 minutes, or until it starts to lose it’s pink color. Remove from pan and set aside.
5.    To the same pan, return to high heat and add a little more oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the ginger and garlic, and cook for 1 minute. Add the noodles, snow peas, bamboo shoots and water chestnuts. Toss to coat and add sauce and chicken.
6.    Continue cooking until sauce thickens.
7.    Stir in scallions and serve.

August 22, 2011

Water Spinach (Recipe: Chicken with Water Spinach)

When Brett and I compiled the recipes for The Farmer’s Kitchen, we based it on what farmers told us they were growing: we had already made a half dozen cookbooks for farmers across the eastern seaboard.

But when I go to the farmers’ market in Union Square, I see also sorts of different veggies not covered in our book. The most striking comes Flats Mentor, a farm that specializes in Asian (and African) produce – pea tendrils, bok choy, Asian Flowering Mustard, Water spinach, Chinese long beans, and sweet potato leaves.

Perhaps, more than any other farmer, they need a list of recipes to help the average consumer understand and cook with their beautiful produce. And, in fact, they have a great book of recipes you can download from their website.

I first discovered Water Spinach as a line cook at Biba. The chef/owner Lydia Shire hired a Chinese chef to come in once a month and teach us about authentic Chinese ingredients and recipes. I can’t say we did anything fancy, we simply sautéed the ong toy (as it is called in Chinese) with ginger and garlic and seasoned it with soy sauce and rice wine. In Thailand, water spinach is called pak bung. It was one of my mainstays when I visited 10 years ago. Again, the preparation is very simple – sautéed with soy sauce and garlic.

Water spinach has the supple texture of spinach blended with the refreshing crunch of bok choy. The entire plant is edible, but the tender leaves are considered the most prized. The long stems hallow stems require longer cooking than the leaves, so it’s important to separate them before cooking so you can easily adjust the times.

I adapted a recipe from Eileen Yin-Fei Lo that called for bok choy.

Chicken with Water Spinach
¾ pound boneless chicken (breast or thigh meat), cut into strips
2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon chopped ginger
2 teaspoon gin
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 ¼ teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoon corn starch

1 tablespoon canola oil
1 teaspoon chopped ginger
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 bunch water spinach, stems cut into 1 inch pieces, and leaves left whole.
1 cup chicken stock
3 scallions, cut into rings

1.    Marinate chicken with soy sauce, oyster sauce, ginger, gin, sesame oil, sugar, salt and corn starch.
2.    Heat oil over high heat. Add ginger and garlic, and cook for 1 – 2 minutes, or until fragrant. Add chicken and cook until it loses its raw color.
3.    Add the water spinach stems and chicken stock. Cook for 3 minutes, until the chicken is almost cooked.
4.    Add the water spinach leaves and cook until just wilted. The chicken should be cooked through too.
5.    Remove from heat and serve with steamed rice. Garnish with scallions.

February 27, 2011

A Well-Worn Friend (Recipe: Chicken with Cauliflower)

A clump of pages just fell out from one of my favorite cookbooks. I can stuff them back in, but I wonder if I should buy a second copy. I love the well-worn look and feel … testament to its prized stature in my cookbook collection. But I fear that if I don’t get a back up copy, it might go out of print and I will lose this treasure forever.

The Chinese Kitchen by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo.

Thursday evening the temperatures quickly dropped below freezing. I had been trying to power through my cold for a week, and I had finally succumbed and stayed in bed with a box of tissues and a stack of magazines. Hunger was setting in.

I knew I had a half head of cauliflower, (flaccid) scallions and ginger in the fridge, and chicken thighs in the freezer. And as is my usual habit, I pulled The Chinese Kitchen off the shelf. I knew she had a recipe for cauliflower, so I started thumbing through the pages looking for inspiration.

I let the restorative powers of ginger and chilies work their magic, they cut through the congestion and awakened by my taste-buds. In Chinese culture, ginger is considered a warming food, and is beneficial when suffering from a cold. Indeed, I felt warmer and refreshed after dinner.

What’s your favorite cookbook? Would you buy a second copy to have just in case?

Stir Fried Cauliflower with Chicken
Another recipe adapted from The Chinese Kitchen

For the Sauce:
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 ½ teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablepoon corn starch
¼ cup chicken broth

8 dried black mushrooms, soaked in hot water for 20 minutes
1 thick slice of ginger smashed
2 cloves garlic smashed
2 ½ teaspoons salt
½ head cauliflower, core cut out, and cut into florets
¾ pound boneless, skinless chicken thigh meat
2 teaspoons corn starch
¼ cup plain oil
2 teaspoons chopped ginger
2 garlic cloves chopped
1 red jalapeno, sliced
3 scallions, cut into rounds

1.    Mix ingredients for sauce together. Set aside.
2.    Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the hunk of ginger, garlic and 2 teaspoons of salt. Add the cauliflower and cook for 3 minutes. Drain. Scoop out and discard the ginger and garlic.
3.    Cut chicken into strips. Toss with remaining salt and corn starch.
4.    Cut stems off of mushrooms and slice thin.
5.    Heat a large skillet or wok. Add the oil and heat over medium-high flame.
6.    Cook the chicken in the oil, being sure to separate the pieces, for 3 minutes or until they start to lose their pink color.
7.    Remove chicken with a slotted spoon and set aside. Drain all but 1 tablespoon of the oil.
8.    Return pan to a high heat and add the cauliflower.   Stir fry for a few minutes until it starts to brown. Add the ginger, garlic and chilies and cook for two minutes more or until it becomes aromatic.
9.    Return the chcikent to the pan and cook for 1 minute more. Add the sauce and cook until it thickens. Add some water or chicken stock if necessary.
10.    Garnish with scallions.

September 20, 2010

The Secrets of Iranian Cuisine

When I walked into the kitchen of the lake house, the aromas of a fresh cooked dinner warmly greeted me at the door. The house was empty so I poked my nose into the pots on the stove. The first pot, set on a very low fire, had rice in it. I quickly closed the lid, fearing I might have let out too much steam and irreparably ruined it. The next pot wafted allusive aromas mixed with meatballs and eggplant. I lingered a little longer there.

About 20 minutes later, the kitchen was still empty. Farzad, the Iranian brother-in-law of my friend Mandy and mastermind behind all the aromas, was out in the canoe with his family. I queried Mandy who was puttering around outside, “Should we turn off the burners? I’m a little worried that the rice will overcook and burn.”

“No.” She advised, “Farzad said to just leave everything as it is, it’s fine.”

Even the slowest cooking rice is done in 45 minutes, and by now this had been cooking for over an hour. But I decided to leave it alone. I’d rather the rice be ruined under his instruction than under my tinkering.

When Farzad finally returned, he explained the secrets of Iranian rice. First, he pre-cooks and drains the rice. This ensures the grains are separate. Then he returns the rice to the pot for the more traditional cooking, leaving it on the burner until a crispy crust develops on bottom of the pot. When the rice is cooked he turns it out onto a serving platter, tapping the crust to listen to its crunchy texture. He affectionately doles out the crust at dinner… alongside the meatballs that have simmer in a broth of tomatoes, spices and caramelized, persevered lemons.

When I returned home the next day, I decided it was time to finally try the Iranian recipe of chicken and sour cherries that I had been eyeing for a long time. It would be the perfect vehicle for the rice. I didn’t have the patience (or strength of character?) to let the rice cook on the stovetop until the crust developed. Instead, I formed the cooked rice into patties and fried them in a little oil. And I should note, I mixed in cooked green lentils into the rice just to give it a little more "nutritional" value.

Iranian Roast Chicken with Sour Cherries
I started with a recipe from the Time Life cookbook: Foods of the World and then added inspiration from other recipes unearthed around the web. As the kitchen filled with wonderful scents, I realized the distinctive flavor of Iranian cuisine is the combination of cumin and saffron – also present in the rose-scented lamb.

1 chicken, cut into 6 pieces (bones and skin left on)
1 tsp. salt
1 onion, peeled and diced
¼ tsp. saffron
½ lemon juiced
½ tsp cumin
¼ cup olive oil
1 cup sour cherries
2 zucchini, cut into ½ moons

1 cup basmati rice

1.    Combine chicken with salt, onion, saffron, lemon and cumin. Let marinate for at least one hour.
2.    Bring 3 cups of salted water to a boil in an enamel or non-stick pot. Add the rice, and cook for 10 minutes. Drain. Return rice to the pot. Add 1 ½ cups of water. Put over a high flame until water boils. Turn heat to low, cover the pot and continue cooking for an hour.
3.    Preheat the oven to 375.
4.    Brush marinade off of chicken. Heat an oven-proof large skillet over high heat. Add the oil. Brown the chicken on the skin side. Turn chicken over and put pan in oven.
5.    After the chicken has been cooking for 15 minutes, take out of the oven, and add zucchini and sour cherries to the pan (making sure not to cover the skin, as it will otherwise get soggy).
6.    Continue cooking the chicken for 10 more minutes until cooked through.
7.    Serve chicken with pan juices alongside the crispy rice.

May 6, 2010

Come On Over, The Water’s Fine (Recipe: Chicken Mole)

A major water-line ruptured a leak last Saturday, leaving the Boston area (and over 2 million homes) without potable water for three days. By some stroke of luck, Cambridge was spared from this fiasco as we have our own water supply. But Boston and 27 other communities were under order to boil water before using it for drinking, cooking and even washing dishes.

The next day, it was clear this “boil water order” might extend for several days… so I got on the phone and invited friends in affected areas over for dinner. With such short notice, I wanted to cook something simple and savory (and economical) that could easily scale up for a crowd.

At first blush, chicken enchiladas seemed like a great idea: a one dish casserole that would easily round out with a salad. But then I thought about how many steps actually go into enchiladas – making the sauce, cooking the filling, softening the tortillas and then rolling them. And, of course, serving enchiladas is really not an easy feat – unlike the restaurants that bake them in individual dishes, a casserole becomes very messy very quickly.

But I did like the idea of the mole sauce. The corn tortillas, with their distinctive lime flavor, and Monterey Jack cheese make a wonderful combination. I decided to reconstruct the dish is a way that’s easy to prepare and easy to serve.

There was no getting around making the mole sauce… and who would want to short-cut that anyway… with its rich, spicy complex flavors. And after making the same recipe for over 10 years, I’ve mastered making it in less than 30 minutes. Instead of using store bought tomatoes, I used a can of smoked tomatoes from last summer. I cooked chicken breasts, simply seasoned with salt and pepper, in the mole sauce.

If there’s one thing about mole I can say with conviction, it’s even better when paired with corn tortillas or other dish made with masa harina. Masa harina is corn meal that has been treated with lime and gives tortillas their distinctive flavor. It is also used in tamales and pupusas. I didn’t want to compromise the dish because I was too lazy to roll enchiladas. Instead, I made individual mounds of nachos – corn chips topped with melted jack cheese and scallions.

In the end it was a delicious, elegant meal, and a wonderful last minute, throw-together dinner that took less than an hour to prepare.

From the Garden: Tomatoes and Scallions

Chicken Mole

6 chicken breasts, boneless skinless
mole sauce
corn tortillas
guacamole
monterey jack cheese
scallions

Make the mole sauce.
Season chicken with salt and pepper.
Place chicken in a single layer in a casserole dish with a cover. Ladle mole sauce on top. Cover the dish.
Bake chicken at 350F for 15 minutes, or until cooked through.
Meanwhile, put corn tortillas on a cookie sheet in little piles. Top with grated jack cheese. Bake until cheese is melted.
Serve chicken with nachos and guacamole. Garnish with scallions.

April 20, 2010

Korean BBQ

I first discovered Korean BBQ when I was in culinary school in San Francisco. Some friends took me to Brother’s Café in the Richmond district. I was unfamiliar with the cuisine, so I let them order for me (and the table). A few minutes later, the kitchen staff brought out a rack of red hot embers of charcoal and placed them in the cavity of the table, they replaced the cover with an oiled grill. A few minutes later, a platter of marinated beef and chicken arrived. We grilled our own meat table-side, and wrapped it in lettuce with rice and miso paste. The table was filled with little salads of seaweed and kimchi. I didn’t realize how good I had it – no other Korean restaurant I’ve been to since had charcoal grills table-side, only gas.

The Korean palate has a lot of similarities with Chinese and Japanese cuisine, which is not surprising given its proximity to both countries… it has the sushi, soups and noodles similar to Japanese, with the spicy kick and preserved vegetables of Northern Chinese. It’s hard to say which way the influence went, did the Koreans influence Japan and China or vice versa. Most Americans are less familiar with Korean cuisine than Chinese or Japanese, and in our myopic view tend to think that Korea was influenced by their neighbors.

Korean BBQ is easy to prepare at home, and if you have a charcoal grill, it’s all the better.

The recipe I use comes from a book I picked up in Singapore 10 years ago, Homestyle Korean Cooking in Pictures, and was published back in 1981. It’s the best I’ve tasted. The unique aspect of this recipe is that it used ground, roasted sesame seeds.

Like the ground rice used in Larp of Chiang Mai, the ground sesame imparts flavor while helping the rest of the marinade cling to the meat. Sesame seeds can be ground in a coffee grinder. Just be sure to clean it thoroughly before and after.

Korean BBQ

I serve this with a cool cucumber salad.

2 lbs meat, either beef short ribs or chicken thighs

4 tbs. Soy sauce

2 tbs. Sugar

4 tbs. Minced scallion

1 ½ tbs. Ground sesame seeds

2 tsp. Garlic
1 tbs. chopped ginger

2 tbs. Sesame oil
pepper

2 tbs. sherry or Shaoix Shing Wine.

Marinate meat in remaining ingredients for at least 5 minutes before grilling. Prepare the grill. Grill for 5-10 minutes on all sides or until cooked through.

March 25, 2010

The Whole Beast (Recipe: Chopped Liver)

Passover preparations serendipitously began yesterday. As I was shopping for regular staples and dinner, I noticed that whole chickens were on sale. At $1.69/pound at Whole Paycheck Foods, I decided to stock up. And then I remembered that I have 10 guests coming for the first seder next week. This was the perfect time to start in on the chicken soup that would provide the medium for my matzah balls.

I bought 3 chickens, and immediately got to work breaking them down. I separated the birds into 4 groups – breasts, thighs, livers and, of course, stock parts – the bones, drums and wings that will go into making the chicken soup. After all, there’s so much flavor in the bones. Industrious chefs have long known that the bones make the best, most flavorful stock, even more so than the meat. And I must confess, I’m not a big fan of chicken drums or wings (unless they’re deep-fried) so they go into the stock-pile as well.

The chicken breasts and thighs were immediately frozen for a later meal.

I tossed the “stock-parts” with some salt and pepper, and roasted them in the oven. This accomplished two functions. First, the fat rendered away from the bones which will yield me a cleaner stock. As a bonus, I now have schmaltz for my matzah balls. Best of all, the bones achieve a dark, rich color that will make for a more flavorful stock.

Remember the chicken drums I tossed into my stock pile? When the bones have finished roasting, after about 30 minutes at 400F, the chicken legs are cooked through. I pick the meat off the bone and save that separately to put in my matzah ball soup. If I were to put them in the stock pot along with the bones, I wouldn’t have the meat for my soup. Yes, I could fetch it out after the stock was finished. But that would be more hassle than it’s worth. But more unfortunate, the meat would have lost all its flavor to the broth. Better to pick it out now, and add it back at the end.

Inside the chickens is a little pouch that contains the gizzards and neck. I never know how many livers I might get. Though each chicken only have one, the little pouch could have three or none. In this case, I had three in each: enough to make chopped liver. Chicken liver mousse with cognac and butter would also be delicious, but I was feeling particularly Jewish.

I also felt particularly thrifty and resourceful last night. From my three birds, I yielded:

6 boneless chicken breasts (retail value: $22)
6 chicken thighs (retail value: $8)
½ pint chopped liver (retail value: $2)
Chicken schmaltz (priceless)
1+ gallon chicken stock/soup (retail value: $12)

Chopped Liver
This recipe could not be simpler… with only 4 ingredients. I prefer chopping it by hand – the flavor and texture is better. Some people “chop” it in the food processor.

3 large eggs
3 tablespoons vegetable oil or chicken fat
1 large onions, diced
1 lb. fresh chicken livers
salt and pepper to taste

1. Put eggs in cold water. Bring to a boil, and simmer for 1 minute. Cover the pot and let sit for 10 minutes. Drain the eggs and place under cold running water until cold. Peel.

2. Meanwhile, put chicken livers on a paper towel to blot dry. Season with salt and pepper. heat oil or chicken fat in a large sauté pan. Add onions, and sauté for 5 minutes, or until onions start to brown. Season the livers with salt and pepper and add them to the pan. Cook until they are cooked through and firm, about 5 minutes.

3. Chop everything together, by hand or in a food processor. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

February 12, 2010

Comfort (and Joy)

Cultures around the world have tricks for re-purposing leftovers into something delicious… The British recycle Sunday dinner into Bubble and Squeak – potato and cabbage patties with leftover mashers and braised cabbage. The Chinese fry day-old rice to refresh it with scraps of meats and vegetables. And Americans mix together all the Thanksgiving leftovers to come up with pot pie.

Is it coincidence that these dishes represent comfort food?

Of course, I didn’t make pot pie at Thanksgiving – though it would have been perfect with leftover pie dough scraps, creamed mushrooms, turkey, green beans and gravy all mixed together. Instead, I waited until a weekend when I hunkered down to cook.

I was cooking for a friend who recently lost her husband after a long battle of with MS.

I sensed she hadn’t been eating well, so I devised a strategy to provide both nourishment and a restorative. A nice meal always lifts my spirits, so I opted for my new favorite lobster dish that she could enjoy on the evening I stopped by. I made a quart of chicken soup to feed the soul, and a few pot pies to offer a little comfort.

Pot pie is the perfect freezer food as it can be made in individual ramekins and baked without defrosting. I was able to use up broccoli stems, some carrots and a few random mushrooms. You can use whatever vegetables you like. Once assembled, I put them in the freezer so they can be baked whenever you’re in need of a little comfort.

Chicken Pot Pie
This isn’t so much a recipe as it is a suggestion.
1 – 2 potatoes
3 tbs. butter
3 tbs. flour
¼ cup white wine
3 cups liquid – a combination of chicken broth, cream and/or milk.
Cooked chicken, cut into ½ bite size pieces
Diced carrots
Broccoli or peas
Mushrooms
Pie dough – frozen or use your favorite recipe
Salt and pepper
Fresh herbs like parsley, thyme or basil

1. Cut potatoes into ½ inch dice. Put in a pot of cold water. Add salt. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes. Drain.
2. In a medium pot over medium heat, melt butter. Whisk in flour and cook for two minutes or until butter bubbles up again. Add wine first then the liquid slowly, whisking constantly.
3. When liquid is incorporated, bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to simmer.
4. Add vegetables and chicken. Check the seasoning for salt and pepper. Add fresh herbs.
5. Put filing in ramekins.
6. Cut pie dough to match the ramekins in size. Top each ramekin with dough.
7. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until tops are golden brown and the filling is bubbling.
8. Serve with a salad.

February 10, 2010

Persimmons Unpuckered

Most of my childhood food memories are good ones. I remember the first dish I ever made on my own: chicken simmered in wine and seasoned salt. I remember my mom taking me for sushi lunch on the day before my Bat Mitzah. And I remember making a gingerbread house that required a late-night bicycle run to get marshmallow fluff.

And there were a few bad ones… mostly involving foods which had that astringent aftertaste reminiscent of overly tannic wines (though growing up I couldn’t have defined that). Pecans were the first, and I later discovered I was allergic anyways, and the other was persimmons. Those sweet, creamy winter fruits can be lusciously rich. But if they’re under-ripe they can make you pucker like you’ve been sucking on lemons.

I don’t scare easily, but I’ve shied away from them ever since… they can be expensive and didn’t want to open the persimmon only to discover it was astringently under ripe. When I was at the market last week, a little bird whispered in my ear, reminding me that Fuyu persimmons don’t have that problem and I decided to give them another whirl.

When I got home, I tentatively cut it open and gingerly nibbled at the meat. The flavor was somewhat cloying but no sign of tannins. It was tasty, but didn’t feel like a snacking fruit. Maybe it was just too sweet for me? It needed something to balance it.

As luck would have it, I had a perfectly ripe avocado at the same time. A quick Google search revealed that the two would pair beautifully along with a little miso, ginger and lemon. And into the kitchen I went to prepare dinner.

This was a quick and delicious dinner. But it requires careful planning to have a ripe avocado *and* a ripe persimmon at the same time. If you can do it, it’s well worth it!

Fuyu Persimmon and Avocado Salad with Roast Chicken
I served this on a bed of wilted spinach.

2 chicken breasts
1 ½ tbs. miso
1 tbs. chopped ginger
1 tsp. chopped garlic
¼ tsp. chili flakes
1 tsp. canola oil
Salt and pepper

1. Mix miso, ginger, garlic, chili and oil.
2. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Schmear miso all over chicken and let marinate for 20 minutes or more.
3. Bake chicken in a 350 oven for 20 minutes, flipping once after 10 minutes of cooking. While chcicken is cooking, prepare the salad
Salad
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons miso paste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup olive oil
1 ripe avocado
1 ripe Fuyu persimmons, thinly sliced
Salt and pepper to taste

Whisk together lemon juice, miso, and olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. This dressing should be a bit more acidic than you typically prefer as it will soften with the avocado and persimmon.
Halve, pit, and peel avocados, then thinly slice crosswise. Gently toss together avocados, persimmons, and dressing.

Serve salad with chicken.

January 20, 2010

Winter Break (Recipe: Brussels Sprouts ” Carbonara ” )

Perhaps my biggest gardening challenge is that I want to grow more vegetables than I have room for in my tiny little patch. The upshot is that I crowd my plants, trying to squeeze as much in as possible, and my vegetables tend to be smaller since they don’t have as much room to spread out and grow.

So my plants are smaller than the “supermarket size” benchmark. As I harvest throughout the season, I try to thin the plants so that the survivors will have more room to grow. And I try to hold out and wait until the vegetables get bigger. With Brussels sprouts, I have an additional challenge: the weather. I want them to get decent sized, but also survive a few day frost to help sweeten these petite cabbages.

This year, winter arrived with a vengeance, and I didn’t have a chance to harvest all the Brussels sprouts before they were buried in a layer of snow. And while the snow melted off the plants, they never fully defrosted so that I could cut them off the stock… until this weekend.

I had about a 5 hour window on Saturday, after the temperatures had been above freezing for 2 days and the plants had thawed, and before the next cold front passed through. I harvested enough for a delightful meal. The rest will wait until the next thaw.

Brussels Sprouts “Carbonara”
I had intended to make a carbonara style pasta dish, substituting Brussels Sprouts for the spring peas. But as I rummaged through the refrigerator, I discovered I had run out of bacon. I did have smoked chicken in the freezer, so I added that instead – giving the dish a meaty, smoky, rich flavor. And in an attempt to keep my diet healthy, I added just a few tablespoons of cream to keep the pasta moist, but didn’t make it rich and gooey as is more traditional.

½ pound pasta
2 chicken thighs, smoked, or two slices of bacon, diced
Brussel sprouts
2 tbs. olive oil
2 garlic cloves, ch
Pinch chili flakes
3 tbs. cream
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese – at least 1/4 cup, but use more if you’d like.
Salt and pepper to taste.

1. Preheat the oven to 425F. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Season generously with salt.
2. Meanwhile, cut Brussels in half. Toss them with olive oil (or bacon if using), salt and pepper. But them in the oven to roast for 15 minutes.
3. Boil pasta for 1 minute less than the package instructions.
4. After the Brussels have roasted 15 minutes, toss them with garlic and chili flakes. Return to oven for an additional 5 minutes to toast the garlic.
5. Drain pasta. Toss with cream, Parmesan. Add chicken and Brussels. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper (and lemon juice)

I'm submitting this to January's "Grow Your Own" round-up. Originally, started by Andrea of Andrea's Recipes, Nate and Annie have picked up hosting responsibilities.