SUPERNOVA MEETS WOK

Posted in Poultry by sallybr

My wok is 18 years old, it was one of the first gifts I received when I moved from France to the US, back in 1995. Thank you, dear friend, you know who you are… 😉 I used it a lot in Oklahoma, even though our stove was not powerful enough to bring the best in stir-frying. The wok patiently waited for me inside a box when we traveled for two sabbaticals, and into the box it went again when we moved to the Little Apple and co-existed with an electric stove that even Benjamin Franklin would consider sub-par. Once Supernova was installed, I went to the basement to retrieve my old friend, apologized for the neglect inflicted upon him, and said his loyalty would be compensated: he would meet a superstar and they would live happily ever after… Happy to report that it was love at first flame!

HOISIN CHICKEN WITH CASHEWS
(inspired by Fine Cooking magazine & Barbara Tropp)

2 Tbs peanut oil
1 medium shallot, sliced
2 Piquillo peppers, sliced
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 3/4-inch chunks and velveted
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 oz. snow peas, trimmed
Crushed red chile flakes
2 tsp. minced fresh ginger
1/3 cup hoisin sauce diluted with 2 Tbs water
1/3 cup roasted cashews

The day before or a few hours before your meal, velvet the chicken using this method. Heat 1 Tbs. of the oil in a wok over medium-high heat. Add the shallot slices and cook for 2 to 3 min. Add the Piquillo peppers (I buy them jarred) and cook until both the pepper and onion are browned around the edges. Remove the vegetables from the skillet; set aside. Pour the remaining 1 Tbs. oil in the skillet. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper, add it to the oil, and cook, stirring frequently, so that all sides brown, 2 to 3 min. Stir in the snow peas and sprinkle in some red chile flakes. Add the ginger. Reduce the heat to medium low and stir in the thinned hoisin sauce. Simmer for 1 min. to wilt the snow peas and finish cooking the chicken. Sprinkle with the cashews and serve over rice.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Velveting the chicken makes this type of stir-fry so much better that it’s worth investing the small amount of work to do it. Since the chicken can stay in the egg white mixture for up to 24 hours, you could conceivably do it the evening before you intend to make it for dinner. I prefer to do this preparation either when I wake up, or if time allows, at lunch time. Piquillo peppers are from Spain, so their use in this dish qualifies as “fusion-cooking”. In reality, I had an open jar in my fridge and wanted to use it up. So there. 😉

What I love the most about this recipe is the simplicity of the finishing sauce, a mixture of hoisin and water, no cornstarch to deal with. The snow peas barely got in touch with any heat, so they stayed bright green and with a little crunch that was perfect to add that extra something to the dish. A real keeper for a weeknight, there were only three little pieces of chicken left, which made for a super light lunch next day. But, at least I did not have to share…

ONE YEAR AGO: 500 Posts and The Best Thing I ever made

TWO YEARS AGO: Back in Los Angeles

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FOUR YEARS AGO: Korean-Style Pork with Asian Slaw

16Nov2013

POMEGRANATE CHICKEN THIGHS & CARROT MASH

Posted in Poultry, Side dishes by sallybr

I am feeling quite generous these days, so you’ll get two recipes in a single post. It turns out they went so well together, that it would be sad to separate them. The source of inspiration for the chicken was a blog I found not too long ago, and started following right away: The View from Great Island, hosted by Sue. Her photography is beautiful, and I’d be happy sitting at her dinner table anytime! The mashed carrot was in the latest issue of Fine Cooking magazine as an option for Thanksgiving side dish. Roasted asparagus rounded our meal quite nicely.

POMEGRANATE AND LIME CHICKEN THIGHS
(adapted from The View from the Great Island)

for the chicken
1 cup Greek yogurt
1/2 cup pomegranate juice
1 tsp salt
4 bone-in skin-on chicken thighs

for the glaze
1/4 cup pomegranate molasses
juice of 1 lime
2 Tbsp agave nectar
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard

To marinate the chicken, put the yogurt, pomegranate juice, salt, and chicken in a large zip lock bag. Massage everything until well combined. Put in the fridge to marinate for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Set the oven to 300 F. Remove the chicken from the marinade, place the pieces skin side down on a large baking dish, and cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour at this low temperature. Remove the foil, if there is a lot of liquid accumulated in the dish remove most of it and discard. Turn the pieces skin side up, cover with foil again and bake for another 20 minutes. At this point, prepare the glaze by combining all ingredients together. If too thin, gently warm it on a small saucepan to thicken it a little. Watch it carefully because it can burn due to all the sugar.

Remove the aluminum foil from the baking dish, increase oven temperature to 425 F. Bake for 15 minutes, once the skin starts to get some color brush the glaze all over the chicken thighs and bake for 10 more minutes or until very dark. You can also broil the pieces at this point, but pay attention to prevent it from burning. Serve with lime wedges.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

CARROT MASH WITH ORANGE AND MINT
(adapted from Fine Cooking magazine)

2 lb. carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
salt
1 oz. (2 Tbs.) unsalted butter, cut into 2 pieces
2 Tbs. almond milk, unsweetened
2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp dried mint
1 tsp finely grated orange zest
Put the carrots in a large saucepan with enough cool water to cover by at least 1 inch. Add 1 tsp. salt and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down and cook at a gentle boil until the carrots can be easily pierced with a fork, about 25 minutes.

Drain well in a colander, letting the steam rise for a few minutes. Meanwhile, heat the butter, almond milk, oil, mint, orange zest, and 1/2 tsp salt in the saucepan over low heat until the butter melts.

Purée the carrots in a food processor until smooth and then add them to the pan, stirring well to combine.

Adjust seasoning and serve.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: My main modification of the chicken recipe was to adapt it to my favorite method of cooking chicken thighs: low and slow followed by high and fast. I like the way the meat gets super tender and the skin super crisp. You should stop by Sue’s blog and check her version too. She actually made the glaze from pomegranate juice, reducing it with sugar. Since I had a bottle of pomegranate molasses, I followed a slightly different path. The full idea is to have a reasonably thick glaze to coat the chicken.

The carrot mash: my only tweak was to use almond milk instead of heavy cream. I love almond milk and use it every chance I get. A lot more orange zest went into the recipe then called for, because the music playing got me carried away with the Microplane. Such a cool gadget! Phil thought it was slightly too orange-y and not enough carrot-y, but when we had leftovers next day that flavor had mellowed down considerably. As to a side dish for Thanksgiving, I was a bit shocked by how little puree 2 pounds of carrots produced… If you will be feeding an army of people, be ready to peel a ton of carrots and scale this recipe up by a factor of 3 or 4. 😉 Still, a delicious option, bright color, bright flavor, it will shine on your Thanksgiving table next to that big bird.

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12Nov2013

ARTICHOKE-SAFFRON SOUFFLE

Posted in Small Dishes by sallybr

The inauguration of the Supernova oven demanded a special recipe. Soufflé had been on my mind for a long time, so all I needed to do was pick a flavor. A parenthesis is necessary. I’d lived for 16 years in a place that did not have frozen artichoke hearts for sale in any grocery store. I was in a state of permanent frozen artichoke withdrawal syndrome, only relieved during sabbatical experiences like the one in Los Angeles. The move to Kansas last year marked the end of my frozen artichoke misery. I now keep those cute little bags in our freezer, and never run out of them. End of parenthesis. Having said all that, artichoke was a natural option to flavor my soufflé. To make it even more special, the bechamel base would be flavored with saffron. Artichoke hearts. Saffron. Case closed.

ARTICHOKE-SAFFRON SOUFFLE
(from the Bewitching Kitchen, following Julia Child’s basic method)

6-cup mold, buttered and sprinkled with grated Parmigiano cheese

3 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp flour
1 cup hot milk
good pinch of saffron
1/2 t salt
1/8 t pepper
4 egg yolks
5 egg whites + pinch of salt
3/4 cup artichoke hearts, sautéed slightly in olive oil
1/8 cup Fontina cheese, grated

Heat the milk almost to the point of boiling, add the saffron and let it rest for 15 minutes. Melt the butter, stir in the flour and cook for 2 minutes, don’t allow it to brown. Remove from the heat, and when the butter stops furiously boiling, add the saffron/milk all at once. Return to medium heat and cook, stirring constantly for a couple of minutes more. The sauce will thicken considerably. Season with salt and pepper.

Remove from heat, allow it to cool for 5 minutes or so, and add the egg yolks, one by one, mixing very well after each addition. This sauce can be prepared to this point and refrigerated; bring it to lukewarm before continuing. If you decide not to refrigerate it, then dot it with butter, cover it with a plastic wrap and go work on the egg whites.

Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until firm peaks form – depending on your mixer or the strength of your biceps it will take 2 to 5 minutes. Add 1/3 of this mixture to the sauce, to thin it slightly – add the prepared artichoke hearts and the Fontina cheese, mix well. I like to keep the artichoke hearts in chunks, but if you prefer you can cut them in very small pieces.

Now, add the remaining egg whites and fold into the sauce. You don’t need to mix it until it is all incorporated and totally homogeneous, because the “lift” of your souffle’ depends on the air present in the beaten egg whites. If you deflate it, you won’t have a well-risen souffle (it will still taste good, though).

Fill the souffle’ mold to 3/4 of its volume, place it in a 400F oven, reducing the temperature immediately to 375F. Cook the souffle’ for 30 minutes – do not open the oven door during the first 20 minutes. If you like it moist inside, serve after 30 minutes. I prefer to cook for 5 additional minutes, then the texture inside is perfect, not too dry, not too creamy.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

(click to enlarge)

Comments: A friend of mine recently asked me what I would do to get some drama into my life now that the kitchen hellnovation is over. Rest assured, Drama and Sally go hand in hand. Birds of a feather. Two of a kind. Peas in a pod.

I am not a soufflé-novice, and in fact it is one type of dish I’m pretty comfortable making, even for company. However, since the timing is so important, I normally prefer to make soufflé just for the two of us. I suppose it’s acceptable to throw a hysterical fit screaming at the husband to come sit at the table “RIGHT NOW!” but guests might be put off and never accept another invitation. Anyway, I was pretty confident making my concoction, prepared the bechamel based infused with saffron, sautéed the artichoke hearts, whipped up the egg whites. The oven was on, the beautiful blue indicator light had turned off, sign that Supernova had reached proper temperature.

Huge smile, I opened the oven door, and the smile became a shriek of horror followed by a “NOOOOOOOOO!” that could have awaken the dead. I forgot that we had assembled all the racks the day before, and there was no space in between them, so the only thing that could go in would be a sheet pan. Drama? You bet. Beloved husband tried to help but I advised him to leave the premises and take all canines with him. He complied. That’s when I stopped thinking rationally. I quickly put oven mittens on both hands, grabbed one of the racks, pulled it out, ran frantically around trying to find a spot where it could rest without burning any surface, re-arranged the other racks and finally placed the souffle dish inside. ~~Slammed~~ Closed the oven door, and noticed that the indicator light was back on. And on it stayed for quite some time (sigh). In other words, instead of going into a 400F oven, my production went into an environment that was more like 300F. Clear soufflé-abuse. I kept staring through the oven’s window, knowing that the first 15 minutes pretty much decide the fate of your souffle as far as rising goes. Mine was struggling. In retrospect, I should have waited for the oven to reach proper temperature, and only then placed the souffle in. The base is actually very forgiving, it can wait for a while before baking. I knew that, but I wasn’t thinking. Lesson painfully learned.

However, as I’ve said many times before, taste matters more than looks. And this was one tasty soufflé, my friends! Artichokes and saffron: a pair made in heaven, like peas in a pod, birds of a feather, Sally and Drama. 😉

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8Nov2013

THAI-STYLE PESTO WITH BROWN RICE PASTA

Posted in Pasta & Noodles by sallybr

As someone who owns a disturbingly high number of cookbooks, subscribes to several cooking magazines, and downloads cookbooks on her iPad on a regular basis, I am aware that those should be my main source of inspiration for dinners. Surprisingly, one more time I will blog on something seen on FoodTV. Go figure. Rachael Ray enticed me with this pesto, especially through her description of how floral and complex-tasting Fresno peppers can be. I had most ingredients around, all I needed to grab at the grocery store was the bright red Fresno pepper. Quick to put together, this turned out as a very delicious pesto. Not sure about the floral, though. Read on… 😉

THAI-STYLE PESTO WITH BROWN RICE PASTA
(adapted from Rachael Ray)
.
1 pound brown rice spaghetti
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
1 cup fresh baby arugula leaves
5 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
2 tablespoons tamari
1 clove garlic, minced
1 lime, juiced
1 Fresno chile, seeded
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water, add the pasta, and cook until al dente.Place the basil and arugula leaves, 3 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds, tamari, garlic, lime juice, and chile into a food processor. Pulse into a paste. Drizzle in the extra-virgin olive oil. Pour the pesto into a large bowl and reserve. If the pesto seems too thick, reserve a little bit of the pasta cooking water, and use it to thin the pesto right before incorporating into the cooked spaghetti.
.
Drain the pasta, add to the pesto, and toss to combine. Garnish with the remaining 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds.
.
ENJOY!
.

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Rachael Ray’s title for this show was “Thai Tonight”, and she served the pasta with a stir-fry of chiles and chicken over shredded iceberg lettuce. I had some iceberg lettuce in the fridge, but went with grilled flank steak. I simply seasoned the lettuce with lime juice and a tiny bit of grapeseed oil, added some Campari tomatoes that were feeling ignored and risking the cruel fate of a compost pile. The grilled steak rested on the bed of this improvised salad. A simple main dish to allow the pasta to shine.

I did not have a lot of basil available, so I used baby arugula to compensate, I like its sharper nature. Now, let’s address the floral component of a Fresno chile. When I plated the dish, I told Phil that next time I would use two peppers to make it more colorful, because “Fresno is all about flavor, not real heat.” After the second forkful of pasta, lips burning, taste buds fried, we were both grateful that I used only one! 😉 Either Rachael’s tolerance for heat is a lot higher than mine, or I managed to pick a mutant pepper with unusually high levels of capsaicin at the grocery store. But, the interesting thing is that after a while we more or less got used to the heat and the sweat dripping from our foreheads, and thought the level of spice was just right. So I say be brave, grab a Fresno (make sure you seed it) and go for it!

Rachael used brown rice pasta as the starch component. Traditionally, one would choose the regular, white rice noodles associated with Thai cooking, and of course they work great for this type of dish. But I loved the slightly firmer texture of the brown rice spaghetti. Nowadays I use whole wheat pasta almost exclusively, but both brown rice and quinoa pasta have their spot in the Bewitching pantry.

Dinner is served!

ONE YEAR AGO: Shrimp with Spicy Orange Sauce

TWO YEARS AGO: A Simple Appetizer (Baked Ricotta)

THREE YEARS AGO: Sour Cream Sandwich Bread

FOUR YEARS AGO: Pasta with Zucchini Strands and Shrimp

4Nov2013

IN MY (NEW!) KITCHEN: NOVEMBER 2013

Posted in General, In My Kitchen by sallybr

Remember our old kitchen? Well, we barely recognize the place now! Weeks of renovation struggles are over, and we could not be happier with the outcome! So I join Celia, from Fig Jam and Lime Cordial in her series In My Kitchen revealing our new space…

In our kitchen…

We now have a 6-burner Blue Star range, powered by gas, with a convection oven,
and a gorgeous coral-front panel… We named it Supernova 😉

and you can customize yours with a click here

In our kitchen…

A new look for our tired cabinets, with new front doors and a green, antique treatment to the frames. We love the hardware too. It matches the stainless steel look of the appliances.

In our kitchen (and dining room)….

(click to enlarge)
A new hardwood floor, light, bright, and comfy on our feet. It has a light semi-gloss finish. That alone made our kitchen into a completely different space, joining smoothly with the dining room next to it.

In our kitchen…

A new fridge that actually makes ice! Isn’t that something? (when this photo was taken, the new granite countertop had not been delivered yet). But, just a couple of days later…..

A gorgeous piece of Yukon White granite, born and raised in Brazil, found its permanent home in the center stage of our favorite place in the house. The cabinet underneath was enlarged to accommodate the bigger stone. We absolutely love this addition, it makes cooking and hanging out in the kitchen so much nicer!

In our kitchen…

A colorful light fixture on top of the sink… With a window frame painted in antique yellow.
No, we are not afraid of color! 😉

In our kitchen…

A dish drying rack from Simple Human. I’ve flirted with this piece for 8 years, decided it was time to get one. Very functional, very stylish. You can change the orientation around to fit your space, and the dripping spout works like a charm…

In our kitchen…
A trash can also from Simple Human, perfect size to fit in the space between the fridge and the little hall that leads to the garage.

In our kitchen…
A Bosch dishwasher that actually cleans the dishes! Can you imagine that? 😉

In our kitchen….

A drawer to hold our knives, with cleverly designed inserts sold by Bed Bath and Beyond. The storage is completely flexible, you can customize to the size of your knives and drawers.
Three inserts did the perfect job for us.

In our kitchen…

A drawer with wooden dividers (also from Bed Bath and Beyond) to make storage a little more organized. Don’t you love the light yellow frame that we chose for the central island cabinet? Brought even more light to the place!

In our kitchen…

A little ceramic pot that is oven-friendly, and makes me smile every time I look at it. One of those happy little containers… found it at Marshalls.

To wrap up the post, a before and after short series…

A completely new look, that matches our mood, our style, our personalities.

Now, a final message from a four-legged friend who probably struggled the most with the ordeals of the hellnovation: Chief. He stayed inside with the workers all the time, but sometimes searched for peaceful places to sleep, as far away from the noise as possible. A laundry basket (with freshly washed garage towels), or an empty luggage seemed perfect to rest his tired body… 😉