A few weeks ago, I wrote about how to store ginger: in the garden where it keeps growing. When you need it for a recipe, you can dig it up, break off a piece and then rebury it. I don’t remember where I learned this, though probably from my friend Brett. I’ve never been methodical about the process and it’s always worked. Another blogger has written out more specific instructions, as well as tips for growing it in pots. Thanks, Lydia, for pointing this out!
Garden to Table: Eggplant
I harvested my first eggplant today! It’s especially exciting since I’ve tried growing this purple vegetable before with little success. My previous attempts yielded a total of one eggplant. When I tried grilling it, it was so small that it fell through the grates and instantly burst into flames.
This year, I’m already ahead of the game. The eggplant I harvested today was large enough for two people to share, and I have several more coming in on its heels. No doubt my success this year can be attributed to the fact that I did not crowd the plants. Each plant had a solid 18 inches of growing room in any direction.
The fresh eggplant had no traces of bitterness, even without salting. It cooked more quickly than the conventional variety, and the flavor was sweeter with a creamy texture.
This recipe is an adaptation from Eileen Yin-Fei Lo’s Chinese Kitchen.
2 Italian Eggplants
2 ½ tablespoons tapioca flour
2 tablespoons plain oil
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh garlic, chopped
3 scallions, cut into rings
Sauce:
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 teaspoons dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons gin
¾ cup chicken stock
1 – 2 teaspoon chili paste or sriracha – depending on taste
1. Combine ingredients for sauce.
2. Cut eggplant into 1 inch cubes and toss in tapioca starch
3. Heat a large skillet over high heat. Add the oil. When oil is hot, add eggplant in a single layer.
4. Cook eggplant until it starts to brown, and toss. Add ginger and garlic and cook until fragrant.
5. Stir in sauce and scallions and cook until the sauce thickens.
6. Serve over rice.
Garden to Table: 20 minutes<
Farmers’ Market Report – Summer Bounty
In the farmers’ market this week, all the summer time favorites are finally available: fresh, local sweet corn, heirloom field tomatoes, cucumbers, blueberries, and peaches. In additional, the farmers graciously grow lots of staples and fillers so that we can prepare a full meal (though some would argue that corn and tomatoes is a complete meal) with just locally grown foods.
When I worked under Lydia Shire, at the now defunct Biba, she taught me how to appreciate color on the palate. She would garnish a fish or meat dish with something white (potatoes), green (watercress) and red (beets). Each garnish was bright and vivid, and with a back-drop of rosy lamb or florescent wild salmon, the colors on the plate just popped.
I think of her every summer as I compose one of my favorite dishes: Roast Salmon with Creamed Corn (yellow), Roasted Tomatoes (red) and Basil Coulis (green). Creamed Corn utilizes just the kernels; the cobs can be saved for a stock or other recipe. . I’ve seen many neat tricks for removing the kernels, including this one on Simply Recipes. I usually just lay the cob on its side and use the full blade of the knife to slice down and back. Wasn’t it Newton’s law of physics: for every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction…. If the cob is on its side, then the kernels, don’t fall as far, and therefore don’t bounce as far away on the counter. Once I have the corn prepped, I can proceed with the recipe.
Given my inclination for a completely locavore meal, I think a steak from Austin Brothers Valley Farm Local striped bass would be lovely too, but no one at the market is selling fish. To complete the meal, I would prepare a blueberry bread pudding: bread from hi-rise (sold at the farmers market and eggs also from Austin Farm. Though no one is selling milk, I know I can get fresh local dairy at the Harvest Co-op – avoiding the mega chain of Whole Foods and supporting the local supermarket.
Beef Tenderloin with Summer’s Trilogy
1 whole filet, weighing about 5 lb., trussed
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon plain oil
3 ears of corn, kernels cut off
1 tbs. butter
1 large fresh red onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, diced
1/2 cup cream
1/2 tsp. curry powder
4 roma tomatoes, cut in half
1 tbs. olive oil
1 slice smoked bacon
1 tsp. fresh thyme
1 bunch basil
2 lemons, juiced
plain oil
salt and pepper to taste.
Season filet with salt and pepper.
Heat a large sauté pan, or grill over high heat. Add oil to pan. Sear filet on one side, sear until golden brown on the other. Finish roasting in 350 oven for about 10-20 minutes, or until desired doneness.
Meanwhile….
Toss tomatoes with olive oil, thyme, 2 tbs. diced onion and 1 tbs. garlic. Roast in 500F oven, until tomatoes begin to brown and blister.
Render bacon in a skillet. When crispy, coarsely chop and mix with tomatoes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Melt butter in a skillet. Add corn, 1 tbs. chopped shallots and 1 tsp. garlic. Cook until garlic and corn begin to brown. Add curry powder and cook for 1 minute more. Add cream, and cook for 5 minutes, or until cream is reduced by 1/2. Season to taste with salt, pepper and lemon juice.
In a blender, puree basil with 2 tbs. chopped onion, lemon juice and 1/4 cup of olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
After tenderloin is finished roasting, let rest for 10 minutes. Slice. Garnish with corn, tomatoes, basil coulis (and fresh summer zucchini too!)
Raising Clams
Have you ever seen a clam mate? Me neither. But when I was in Wellfleet this week, a town in Cape Cod renowned for its clams, I spotted a poster that explained the process. The male clams spit out sperm, and the female spew eggs. The eggs fertilize in the sway of the current and plant themselves in the sand. In about 3 years they grow to about 2 inches in diameter. In the warm, briny waters of Wellfleet Harbor, they develop a sweet, salty flavor.
The clam “farmers” take a more systematic approach to raising clams. They buy clam “seeds” by the millions. The seeds are smaller than a pinky nail. So they don’t get lost at sea, they are caged in a mesh box.
At low tide, the boxes are laid out on the sandy, harbor floor. At high tide, they are submerged. Same view of Pat's Clam bed — on the left at high tide, or the right at low tide.
After a year, they are large enough to be transferred to the larger sand beds.
At low tide, the shores of Wellfleet harbor are dotted with trucks and clam farmers. In addition to raking up a daily yield to sell to local restaurants and fish markets, they are managing their beds. When beds are emptied of mature clams, they are raked clean of stray shells. Young clams are ready to be set. The rows are strategically lined so that they can drive their trucks between them and efficiently transfer the daily catch.
Pat Woodbury’s beds are on the east side of the harbor. Though most Wellfleet natives aren’t familiar with him, he’s famous in Boston for supplying the James Beard Award Winning restaurants: Summer Shack, Rialto and East Coast Grill, as well as many others.
On the north side is Michael (whose last name escapes me). He supplies his mom’s restaurant, The Bookstore and Restaurant, in the center of town. At lunch, you can order his clams just hours after they were plucked from the waters.
Michael also let me dig some clams to cook at home. I prepared the classic…
Italian Pasta with Clams, White Wine and Garlic
4 tbs. extra virgin olive oil
3 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 bunch parsley, chopped
2 dozen Wellfleet clams, washed.
2/3 cup dry white wine
1/4 tsp. dried hot chili flakes (optional)
2 tbs. brandy
1 lb. linguine or fusilli
1 tbs. grated parmesan
1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Season generously with salt. Cook pasta according to package instructions.
2. In a separate skillet, heat 3 tbs. olive oil with garlic and chili flakes, cook for about 2 mintues or until garlic starts to lightly brown. Add the clams, and toss to coat in garlic. Cook, covered for 2 minutes.
3. Add wine and brandy to the clams, and cook, uncovered until the clams begin to open. Add half the parsley.
4. Toss pasta with clams and add the remaining olive oil and cheese. Garnish with remaining parsley.
Garden Updates: Emerging Sun
After a week of torrential downpours, capped off by overnight showers… you can imagine my delight when I peered out the window this morning to notice a sunflower standing bright.
In other joyful, garden news, I will likely harvest this week:
Eggplant,
Kohlrabi
Tomatoes (I can see the first blush of ripeness, can’t you??),
and cauliflower
And to season, lots of basil, scallions and tarragon.
My Ten Favorite Dishes: #5: Guilty Pleasures
We all have our guilty pleasures…. The little indulgences that we know aren’t good for us, and perhaps don’t even fit our personality or lifestyle. I’m not embarrassed to share mine – as a self professed foodie and gourmand, I’ll admit mine in is Popeyes Fried Chicken . I’m “guilty” because I know how bad it is for me. It’s guilty because their chickens, despite proclamations on their website, probably live a life similar to those of I saw on the Perdue chicken truck. Guilt aside, I’m like Pavlov’s dog when I smell that distinctive greasy, salty aroma.
Growing up in Washington DC, with a soul-full, southern culture, Popeyes are as popular as any other fast food chains. I first experienced the crispy, seasoned-to-the-bone chicken when I was 16. The biscuits are buttery and light, and the red beans and rice has a smoky hint of ham hocks. Over the years, I’ve eaten fried chicken all over the south, and so far nothing has come close.
I moved into my first apartment in Boston because of its proximity to Popeyes. Alas, the last Popeye’s closed in Boston in 1995 and did not return until last year. Great fan fare preceded the opening with buzz on Chowhound – a decidedly foodie website. Apparently, I’m not alone in this guilty pleasure. True vindication came when The Boston Globe reviewed it… the first ever review of a fast food chain.
Popeyes reached a new level of refinement when Popeyes’ twitter recommended the best wine pairing was with a $45 bottle – Cakebread Chardonnay. Up until this point, I had always stuck with 7-Up. Not surprising, though, the best wine with Popeyes, according to a recent blind tasting, was a $5 bottle. You can read all about the Popeyes Wine Tasting here. What’s your favorite beverage to pair with Popeyes?
As if I need an excuse to eat Popeyes, it’s right next to Fenway Park! And what’s more American than Baseball and… Fried Chicken.
General Gau’s Chicken: The Man Behind the Myth
Jennifer 8. Lee, author of The Fortune Cookie Chronicles
describes Chinese Cuisine in America as “the biggest culinary joke played by one culture on another.” General Gau’s chicken tops that list in that it appears on nearly every Chinese menu in the US as a chef specialty. While the General was real – a soldier from the Hunan region in China – his chicken is wholly an American invention.
The dish varies from restaurant to restaurant, but the theme is consistent: crispy fried chunks of chicken tossed in a sweet and spicy sauce. Despite its inauthentic origins, it’s still a personal favorite.
My favorite Chinese cookbook, The Chinese Kitchen
When I was in China a few years ago on a summer internship from business school, I broke away on several occasions to take cooking lessons. The top technique on my list was learning how to get the crispy chicken nuggets even after they were tossed in sauce. My cooking instructor in Beijing happily obliged me.
The first secret is in the corn starch. He used “wet” corn starch. To make wet corn starch: combine ½ cup of corn starch with enough water to make a slurry, about ½ cup. Let the mix sit for at least ½ hour until the water and starch separate. Pour off all the excess water. What you’re left with is the wet corn starch. It’s slightly chalky, but dissolves into liquid when you run your fingers through it. It is this mixture that he tossed the chicken cubes in before frying.
The second secret, which really isn’t as critical as the first, is in cooking the sauce. The sauce must be reduced until almost all the water has evaporated. It is then reconstituted with a little oil.
General Gau's Chicken
adapted from Eileen Yen-Fei Lo
4 chicken thighs, cut into cubes
½ teaspoon salt
1 egg
2 tbs dry corn starch
2 ½ tablespoons dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons hoisin
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 ½ teaspoons Shao-Hsing Wine
½ cup wet corn starch
3 cups plain oil
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1 tablespoon chopped ginger
8 small dried chilies
1 bunch scallions, cut into rings.
Marinate chicken with salt, egg and corn starch for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the sauce by combining the soy sauce, hoisin, sugar, vinegar and wine.
In a large pot, heat the oil to 350F. Toss the chicken in the wet corn starch and then add to the hot oil. Cook until crispy, about 5 minutes.
While the chicken is frying, heat a large skillet over high heat. Add 1 tbs. of frying oil to the pan. Add ginger, garlic, scallions and chilies and cook until aromatic.
When chicken is crispy drain and add to ginger mix. Pour in sauce and reduce.
Serve over rice with steamed broccoli.
Tales from the Farm – The Composting Cycle: From Food to Chicken to Eggs and Back Again
A few years ago, I was driving through the Eastern Shore of Maryland and drove past a Perdue truck. If you have ever seen this, I can assure you, you will never eat commercially processed chicken again. The flat-bed truck transported the chickens, each in an individual cage, 20 cages high. The top chicken is, literally, living high on the hog. The poor chickens on the bottom were coated in droppings from the 19 layers on top. And the birds in the middle are breathing in a toxic fume.
It’s no wonder we have to worry about salmonella and other diseases in commercial chicken.
Farmer Brett also raises chickens. By contrast, these chickens are truly free-range. In fact, these chickens have more roaming room than most urban dwellers. And they eat better than most of us too – feasting on a rich diet of organic produce (the non-salable produce), weeds, grain and left-over food from the house. The chickens never receive antibiotics because they are not exposed to disease. Nor do they need growth hormones – they grow the old-fashioned way – with a healthy diet and plenty of exercise.
The chickens serve an important function for the farm. In addition to the obvious eggs and eventual meat, the chickens also help prepare the soil by weeding and creating "natural" compost. The chicken coops are strategically positioned around the barn with adjustable fencing that allows Brett to move the chickens. The chickens happily peck away at the weeds leaving a barren plot. To supplement their diet of weeds and grains, they act as a repository for non-salable produce and left-over food scraps from the house (all the things the rest of us would compost). In exchange, they enrich the soil with nitrogen generated from their, ahem, droppings. Further soil amendments are not required.
Let’s be honest, though, Brett raises chickens for the eggs and the meat. The soil enhancement is a bonus. Once the hens reach menopause, and stop laying eggs, they are “converted” into stewing chickens. As one might expect, the meat has more flavor — the result of all that exercise. The “meat”, the primary portion we eat from animals, is muscle – and they’ve developed just like ours when we go to the gym. The meat is darker (from all the blood flow) and with more texture (a euphemism for tougher). The eggs have a firmer texture too. They cook more quickly and fluffy than eggs purchased at the supermarket. The yolks are deep yellow, almost orange.
Over the years, I have taught many aspiring chefs and home cooks how to butcher a chicken. It’s pretty straightforward, I tell them, as long as you cut in the right place: the ligaments are soft and the bones thin. My first attempt at cutting up a chicken from the farm was surprisingly difficult. After a few struggled attempts of redefining butchery, I realized that all the exercise that makes the meat more flavorful, also makes the ligaments and bones stronger.
A fryer chicken, even in the free-range environment, still has some tenderness, because they’re only 6 weeks old. As such, they don’t require as much special attention when cooking. These menopausal hens, at 8 months, need a slow cooking to tenderize and soften the meat.
Here’s my favorite recipe for stewing chicken. I love the simplicity of it, and I usually have everything in my pantry so I can make it on a whim.
Harrira Stew
(serve 4)
serve with raisin cous cous
1 1/2 pound boneless chicken meat, cubed (preferably dark meat)
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tomatoes, diced, or 10 oz. canned tomatoes
2 1/2 pts. chicken stock or canned broth
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
8 oz. canned chick peas
chopped cilantro
red chili flakes or harissa (opt)
Put chicken, onion, garlic, and stock in a large pot. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add spices, tomatoes and chick peas. Reduce heat to simmer, and continue cooking until chicken is done, approximately 30 minutes. Garnish with cilantro and red chili flakes or harissa.
Raisin Cous Cous
2 cups cous cous
2 1/4 cup water or chicken broth
1 tsp. salt
1 shallot, chopped
1/3 cup raisin
Put raisins, shallots, water and salt in a pot. Bring to a boil. Pour in cous-cous. Stir to mix and cover the pot. Remove pot from heat, let stand for 5 minutes. Fluff cous cous with a fork.
Harissa
2 tsp. chili flakes
1 clove garlic, chopped
3 tbs. olive oil
2 tsp. ground cumin.
Put everything in a pan. Heat over low heat for about 5 minutes, or until garlic starts to brown. Remove from heat immediately so the garlic does not burn.
Garden to Table: Raspberries
The raspberries are starting to kick into high gear. I’m yet not harvesting enough in any given two day period – which is as long as I can keep them before I start snacking on them — to make a pie or other berry-laden dessert.
I do have enough to significantly embellish muffins or pancakes, which is what I did this morning.
Raspberries grow on thorny sprays of branches. Ripe ones hide under the foliage. To make sure I find all the ripe ones before they mold or rot, I have to inspect the plant from many angles: pushing away branches, lifting leaves and getting behind the plant. With careful inspection, I filled a 6 ounce ramekin with berries in 5 minutes.
I only wash the berries just before using them; otherwise the rotting process is hastened.
My favorite pancake recipe comes from The Joy of Cooking
.
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
3 tbs. sugar
1 tbs. baking powder
1½ cup milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3 tbs. melted butter
Butter for cooking as needed.
1. Sift dry ingredients together into a bowl and make a well in the center.
2. Mix wet ingredients. Pour into well of dry ingredients. Mix until just incorporated.
3. Heat pan over medium heat. Add butter. Ladle in about 2 oz. of batter per pancake. Cook for about 3 minutes. Flip, continue cooking. Serve immediately, or keep warm in a 200 oven until ready to serve.
For the raspberry pancakes, I dot each spoon of batter with berries.
When I’ve finished making all the pancakes, I add the remaining berries to the pan along with some maple syrup.
I pour the berry-syrup over the pancakes just before serving.
Garden to Table: 30 minutes
Digging for Gold
I love experimenting with Asian cuisine, especially Chinese recipes. I try to keep my pantry stocked with all sorts of spices and condiments so that when the mood strikes, I’m prepared to follow any direction. Friends have often commented that my refrigerator looks like it belongs to a Chinese grandmother and not a Jewish thirty-something. In the summer, my “pantry” is further supplied by growing scallions, cilantro and ginger in my garden. Yes, ginger.
We’ve all experienced this… we go to the market and buy a knob of ginger knowing that we only need an inch of it for any given recipe. The rest gets buried in the bottom of the vegetable crisper. And while it’s not so much waste that we should feel guilty, we still hope to use it up before it turns shriveled and mold. Some have suggested freezing ginger, but this sufficiently alters the composition that when eventually cooking with it, the aromas are a little more difficult to coax out.
During the summer, the best storage method is in the ground. I take a regular, ole supermarket hand of ginger and bury it in the garden. Invariably, I forget the exact location. The next time a recipe calls for ginger, I forage in the dirt until I find it. Fortunately, after a few weeks, the ginger as it continues to grow, shoots out sprouts to announce its location.
After I break off what I need, I re-bury it in the ground again. This resilient rhizome continues to grow despite the multiple disruptions.
You can see the sprouts are attached to young ginger. The skin is thinner than "older" ginger, the flavor is more mild and the ginger itself is less fiberous.
A note of caution: One winter, I experimented with growing ginger in a pot indoors, and leaving a hand outside, buried. The ginger inside turned mushy, fiberous and hollow: a disaster. The wintered-over ginger was equally disastrous. If you've had success growing ginger in the winter in a snowy climate, I'd love to hear about it.
For more insight on fresh ginger, visit Lydia's blogs: The Perfect Pantry and Nine Cooks.
Thanks, Lydia, for taking great photos!
Peanut Dipping Sauce
This is great for an Asian style crudités or Chicken Satay.
5 tbs. fresh ginger, chopped
3 tbs. lemon grass, chopped
3 tbs. garlic, chopped
3 tbs. shallots, chopped
1tbs peanut oil
chicken stock
10 oz. raw peanuts, toasted
1 tbs. mirin
½ lime, juiced
2 tbs. rice wine vinegar
3 tbs. soy sauce
2 tbs fresh cilantro chopped
1. Sweat 3 tbs. of ginger with lemon grass, garlic and shallots in peanut oil
2. Puree above in a food processor with peanuts, remaining ginger, and chicken stock to thin.
3. Season with lime juice, rice vinegar, mirin and soy sauce. Adjust seasoning to taste.
4. Stir in fresh cilantro