easy subtle stir fry

i’m a big fan of stir fry, and usually stick to the basics: lots of veggies, maybe some meat/prawns, and a delicious sauce.

this time, i craved brown rice and something healthy, so here’s what i did, modified from this recipe:

1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
4 tablespoons soy sauce

2 skinless boneless chicken breast halves, thinly sliced crosswise
1 teaspoon honey

4 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups short-grain brown rice, cooked according to package directions, cooled (i used a blend of brown rices)
1 bell pepper (orange is the tastiest), chopped into 1-inch pieces
i bunch of greens (not sure what i used, but they were spidery-shaped and tough, raw), sliced into strips

Stir walnuts in medium nonstick skillet over medium heat until lightly toasted, about 3 minutes. Drizzle 2 tablespoons soy sauce over walnuts; stir until soy sauce coats walnuts, about 45 seconds. Cool. (Can be made 3 days ahead. Store at room temperature in airtight container.) –this part was terrific. i always add nuts to stir fry, but adding soy sauce was a tasty addition.

Combine chicken, 2 tablespoons soy sauce and honey in medium bowl; toss to coat. Let stand 15 minutes.

Heat oil in skillet over high heat. Add chicken and stir-fry 5 minutes. Add ginger and garlic and stir-fry 30 seconds. Add bell pepper and stir fry for about a minute or so, being careful not to overcook and make soggy. Add greens, and after combining all ingredients, put lid on pan and let steam for a minute or two. When done, I added the cooked rice and walnuts into the pan–not something i do, usually, but the flavors from the nuts and rice was pretty great.

i make the best french toast

i’m not a sweet foods at breakfast eater. i like the savories–eggs, bacon, toast–and for that reason, i’d never made french toast.

until recently.  david mused about french toast for breakfast one morning, so i offered to try my hand. as a novice, i had some different ideas about french toast, and lucky for david and me, they were YUMMY.

here’s what i do:

1. get youself some thick slices of good bread (the ability to slice it is key… you don’t want thin, mediocre bread). i’ve used sour dough, but anything that’s more on the white side is best.

2. beat an egg, about a quarter cup of milk, and a teaspoon of almond extract in a shallow bowl.

3. add however many slices will fit in the bowl, and let them soak. flip when suitably covered and then let it sit. again. for longer than you think.

4. melt some butter in a pan, and then add the slices. flip when browned.

serve  with powdered sugar and/or syrup. i like mine with sliced bananas on top. according to david, what makes my french toast the best is the almond and the soaking. it’s become somewhat of a staple around here.

easy n’ delicious pork chops

before we left bolinas yesterday, we stopped in at the local market to see if they had some decent meats. i’m certain there’s a good charcuterie in the city, but since we haven’t yet found it, we tend to stop when we see something. turns out this modest market had what i was looking for–pork chops. i bought a couple, and started making a mental inventory of our larder to make one of my fave pork chop recipes that just happens to be super easy, too. (“super easy” meaning it takes less than 10 minutes to prepare!) turns out i had most of what was required, and when i didn’t, the substitutions worked out just fine.

pork chops piquant, from saveur magazine.

i couldn’t find the article online in which the recipe was first published–if you find it, read it. i’ve never forgotten the images–but i DID find a nyt article that includes another recipe i’ll try out soon.

5 tbsp. olive oil 2 lbs. thin-cut pork chops Salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 medium yellow onion, peeled and diced 6 tbsp. red wine vinegar 1 cup white wine (i didn’t have any white wine on hand, but as i was drinking prosecco, i used it.) 8 cornichons, sliced (just had good ‘ol dill pickles i sliced up for a substitute) 2 tbsp. dijon mustard 1. Heat 2 tbsp. of the oil in a large heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat. Generously season chops with salt and pepper. Working in batches, fry chops until browned on each side and just cooked through, about 1 minute per side. Transfer chops to a plate, loosely cover with foil to keep warm, and set aside. 2. Add the remaining 3 tbsp. oil to the same skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and sauté, stirring often, until soft and just beginning to brown, 3–5 minutes. 3. Add vinegar and cook, stirring and scraping browned bits stuck to bottom of skillet, until reduced by three-quarters, about 1 minute. 4. Add wine and cook until reduced by half, 5–6 minutes. Stir in cornichons, mustard, and any accumulated juices from chops. Reduce heat to medium and cook until sauce thickens, about 2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Return chops to skillet and baste with sauce until warmed through, about 2 minutes.

First published in Saveur, Issue #59

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to go with the pork, i chopped some whole almonds and sauteed them in olive oil, and then tossed in fresh green beans, cooking them until they were still crunchy, and brilliant green.

x-mas eve feast, unplanned

one of the easiest and most special meals to make is a roast chicken.

easy =  hardly any work goes into it
special =  it’s so delicious, everyone who partakes is pretty happy

because of these reasons, i made a roast chicken last night. according to julia child, all one needs is a good chicken–something that is harder and harder to find in the US, where chicken raising has become an abomination, and as a result many americans consider the meat of a chicken as an unnecessary element that gets in the way of the crispy greasiness coating their tender, finger, or boneless pile delivered in a bucket.

sorry about that.

back to the delicious part. i only buy kosher or organic chickens–trader joe’s is a good spot to find ‘em. here’s the easy part (wait for the special, just an hour and a half later).

from sarah’s kitchen:

1. preheat the oven to 425 F.
2. wash the entire chicken with warm water and dry completely (i used a paper towel for the drying).
3. extricate any giblets from the inside (i throw ‘em away).
4. rub soft butter all over and toss a bit inside.
5. lightly salt the entire chicken (i use sea salt) and sprinkle fresh rosemary and herbe de provence, or whatever you have on hand that includes a woody herb, like rosemary.
6. place on a roasting rack, breast side up, and pop in the oven for 15 minutes.
7. after 15 minutes, baste once and reduce the temp to 350F.
8. every 8-10 minutes, baste, and after an hour or so, you can tell if the chicken is ready, by:

• the legs detach and move with ease when you wiggle ‘em
• the juices that flow out are yellow
• the thickest part of the thigh is tender

(last night, when i wiggled the delectably brown bird, the leg fell off = it was done!)

9. let the chicken rest, outside of the oven, for about 10-15 minutes, then carve. mmm mmm.

***make sure to keep the carcass and all bones for a chicken stock! stick it all in a plastic bag, and put in the freezer for later. i’ll include a recipe for that, soon.

ala julia

i’ve been devouring “my life in france,” a delicious tale chronicling julia child’s time in france, where she learned that for her, cooking was more than a hobby–it was a lifestyle. i’ll be sad to say goodbye to such a joyous read.

although she’d never made something quite so american and pedestrian as coffee cake, reading a few chapters this morning inspired me to try my hand at it. the fragrant cinnamony goodness is filling our home now. it’s just about ready…

i used the joy of cooking’s recipe–seemed only right to use a tried-and-true american cookbook for such a foodstuff. there’s not much to it:

aptly called “Quick Coffee Cake“ (or Kuchen)
preheat oven to 375 degrees

sift together:
1 1/2  C sifted all-purpose flour
1/4  t salt
2  t double-acting baking powder

cream until soft in a large bowl:
1/4 C butter

add gradually and cream until light:
1/4 to 1/2 C sugar

beat in:
1 egg
2/3 C milk

add the sifted ingreds to the butter mixture.

add:
3/4 t grated lemon rind OR 1/2 t vanilla

stir the batter until smooth. spread in a greased pan. cover with:

streusel

2 T all-purpose or rice flour
2 T butter
5 T sugar

blend these ingreds until they crumble with your fingers.

add
1/2 t cinnamon

sprinkle the crumbs over the cake and bake as directed.

bake about 25 minutes

mmmm… roasted squash

needed a quickie dish to complement, or at least sit near without compromising, my melange of leftovers. we had an acorn squash that needed eatin’, and as i wasn’t sure if it was still good, so i chose an easy recipe in case i needed to abort.

turns out acorn squash is DELICIOUS without much preparation. here’s the recipe i made, without the addition of cilantro, substituting sriracha sauce for chilies, and without much concern for measuring

quickie meals for one, continued

when i approach the project of cooking for myself alone, i have a couple parameters in mind:

1. use what’s in the fridge. i generally don’t buy many groceries when i’m alone.

2. try something new

3. don’t use a recipe

i’ve never reflected on these rules, i’ve just obeyed them as if it were always this way with solo cooking. the past few days have seen some creativity:

BREAKFAST:

poached egg atop sauteed green tomatoes

not much to report on how this worked. i sliced some green tomatoes and cooked them in olive oil and some spices (used Tomitillo from spain–just about anything is nice, though) so that the toms cooked down a bit. while those were heating up, i poached an egg in lightly boiling water. it all finished up in about the same amount of time–approximately 2 minutes. if i had a toaster, i woulda toasted the bread during all of this, too.

OPEN-FACE ZUCCHINI SQUASH SAMMIE

i bought a short, stout, and round squash, which was perfect for a one-person meal. i sliced it up tossed it in a pan with some olive oil and fresh ground pepper. when it was done, i put some sliced cheese on a piece of bread and topped it with the squash to melt in the pan with the cover on for a few minutes. again, this meal probably took all of 5 minutes or so, and it was delish.

BABYSITTIN’ SUPPER

when you’re at someone else’s house, sometimes figuring out 1) what to cook; 2) how to cook it; can be a challenge. for me, one of the easiest meals to prepare in an empty or unfamiliar larder situation is peanut sauce. you can pretty much toss anything into peanut sauce and noodles, so i did.

i sauteed carrot and a red bell pepper, and got the noodles cooking. my version of peanut sauce is never the same, as i just keep adding ingredients until it seems just right. i sauté some garlic and ginger quickly, add peanut butter and some water to coax the chunky stuff into a sauce, and add differing levels of the following:

hot sauce (usually sriracha sauce)

soy sauce

vinegar (if asian is handy, great)

fish sauce (not necessary)

sesame oil

from this point, it’s all, “a little more of this, a little more of that” and constantly adding more water so that it isn’t too thick. when ready, pile the sauteed veggies or meat or whatever on top of the noodles and add the sauce. if you have some cilantro or basil, add one of ‘em (had the latter last night) after the food is on the plate.

quickie dinner for one

sometimes when i’m cooking for just myself, i have no patience for recipes, foresight, or elegance. and that’s ok. sometimes i can create some pretty yummy stuff, and tonight was one of those times.

what did it take?

a smidgeon of chorizo (around 2 T)

cheese

garlic

one purple potato

small amount of fresh avocado

tortilla

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i sliced the potato thinly and fried it with garlic and olive oil. in another pan, i fried the chorizo. once the potato was browned and soft on the inside, i turned off the burner and removed the potato. i placed a tortilla in the pan (i keep ‘em in the freezer and it thaws in the hot pan), and put cheese on the tortilla and let it melt a bit, and then put the potato and chorizo and sliced avocado on the tortilla. once everything seemed sufficiently melted and a bit brown, i folded the tortilla into a burrito-type fashion, and mmm mmm. cheap, easy, and delicious.

chorizo: it’s pretty yummy

tonight was a mystery: what to do with chorizo bought from the santa cruz farmer’s market? it’s good stuff–local, humane (odd word to describe an animal, i know it), and organic. when i searched for recipes, most turned up to be a variation on a scrambled egg theme, which i initially dismissed. and then dismissed again when i found a recipe with my larder in mind: kale, potatoes, chorizo = tuscan kale soup with chorizo. i added cream near the end — remember the carbonara with the mistaken addition of milk? the cream did it justice, as did salt and freshly ground pepper. mmmm… i may make david a soup lover yet!

have bacon?

make carbonara.

i’ve been searching for the perfect creamy goodness carbonara recipe, and i think i’ve finally found the one to do it. a friend let us borrow her jamie oliver cookbook, and it has turned out a few good meals so far. this latest effort proved easy and scrumptious, so easy that i can recount the recipe from memory:

3-4 slices prosciutto, chopped (i used bacon from the farmer’s mkt)

1/3 C grated parmesan

sprigs of parsley, chopped

1 lb linguine

1/2 cream (mistakenly grabbed the milk, and it was still creamy!)

4 egg yolks

rind of one lemon (i’ll nix this next time)

salt/pepper

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fry the bacon until golden. whip together the parmesan, cream, yolks, parsely and lemon. when pasta is ready, drain, reserving some of the cooking liquid. put the pasta back in the hot pot, and quickly stir in the egg mixture. the hot pot should cook it, keeping it creamy and smooth. (i turned on the flame again, because it seemed a bit too milky, which turned out true, b/c i mistakenly used milk… now i have to find a use for the cream!).

if it isn’t creamy enough, add some of the reserved liquid.

mm mmmmm