Lemon-Ginger-Soy Stir Fry

Mmmmmmm!  This dish was a pure improvisation tonight!!   You will not be disappointed. 
You'll need a wok or a decent sized skillet/saute pan for this preparation and a hungry stomach!! The trick to stir frying is a very hot pan, a good oil with a high smoking point, and your ingredients in approximately the same sizes.


The Players:
2 Boneless Chicken Breasts please use organic, hormone/antibiotic free, free range chicken or just go veggie... seriously people... cut these into 1 inch cubes. Soy Sauce low sodium, about 1/4 cup.  Fresh Ginger  about a 2 inch piece cut into chunks. Fresh Garlic 10 cloves.  Lemon Juice from two organic lemons.  Five Spice 1 tablespoon.  White Rice Wine Vinegar 1/4 cup. 1 large Red Onion  cut into 1 inch cubes.  1 bunch Green Onions organic, white and green parts cut into one inch pieces 1 Green Bell Pepper cut into 1 inch pieces. Snow Peas  about a good handful left whole. Sesame Oil

Preparation:
1.  Prepare ingredients as instructed above.
2.  In a food processor add ginger, soy sauce, garlic, lemon juice, five spice, and rice wine vinegar and process on high til well blended and fairly smooth.
3.  Pour this mixture over chicken in a plastic container, cover, and allow to marinate at least 1 hour or more.
4.  When ready to cook, heat wok over high heat til it begins to smoke. 
5.  Add about 4 tablespoons of sesame oil to hot wok.  Don't worry if it smokes.  You want it to smoke.  Turn on your fan! :)  Let the oil smoke a minute or two until it starts to turn.
6.  Add cubes of chicken to the hot wok reserving the marinade for later.
7.  Brown chicken in wok stirring occasionally for even cooking.
8.  Remove from wok and return to the marinade.
9.  Add 3 tablespoons more oil to the pan.
10.  Allow to come to a smoking point again.
11.  Add remaining vegetables and stir fry just til the colors brighten and they start to get gentle caramelization.
12.  Add chicken and marinade to the wok at this point and toss together.  Allow to cook another 4 minutes, occasionally tossing and stirring.

13.  Serve with steamed rice.

YUM YUM!!!

Gnocchi with Fresh Tomato Basil Sauce

Dishes like this are very typical, very traditional Italian staples.  We eat it as a meal, however, in Italy this would be one of the first courses, before a main entree with meat and vegetables.   I wanted to make something quick, easy, and satisfying enough for my boys to not look at me like I'm trying to starve them.  Pasta sounded good, but kinda boring so I decided to get some gnocchi, which are little dumpling like balls of potato pasta dough that get boiled just like pasta, until they are the perfect consistency. 

I wanted to make a meatless meal tonight as well, so I figured a good tomato sauce would be nice, and since I was at Trader Joes, I could have gotten a pretty decent sauce in a jar from their shelves and everyone would have been happy, however, I decided to make my own sauce with two baskets of mini heirloom tomatoes I got on Sunday at the farmer's market.  Oh!  I also had a huge bunch of fresh basil that was gonna go bad in another day or so if I didn't use it, so homemade sauce it was!!!

 The gnocchi I used were found in my local Trader Joes in the pasta section of the store.  Most grocery stores will now carry gnocchi.  If you can't find it easily, ask, perhaps you're looking in the wrong place.  Sometimes they'll have it in a refrigerated section with fresh pastas. 


Believe it or not that's pretty much it, you'll need a large pot of boiling water, some garlic, and some cheese for the top, and that's it.  Gnocchi with Tomato Sauce in under an hour!

THE PLAYERS: (your grocery list)

Gnocchi (two packages of gnocchi will make enough to feed four to five people.  find it in your grocery's pasta section.) Tomatoes (I used mini heirloom tomatoes, cut in half, which provided a very nice variety of color in the sauce. You can also use regular size heirlooms, or organic tomatoes on the vine.  You'll need a total of 4 cups of cut up tomato.)  Fresh Basil (in your produce section.  You'll need about 1/2 cup cut in a chiffonade.) Garlic (you'll need 4 cloves of fresh garlic, crushed.)Red Wine (I used a bordeaux.  You can use any good quality  dark red wine.)











PREPARATION:

Chop your tomatoes into 1 inch chunks.  If you're using mini ones like we did, cut them in half, leaving the very small ones whole.
Add about 4 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil to a large Saute pan and heat on high until oil is sizzling. 
Add tomatoes.  

The tomatoes will go through a couple of stages while they cook.  First the juices will escape into the pan, then the water in the tomato juice will cook off, and the tomatoes will begin to fall apart.  Then the tomatoes will begin to reduce into a thick consistency.  

Add crushed garlic to the tomato mixture. 
Put on a large pot of water over high heat, cover with a lid. 

To chiffonnade your basil, stack the leaves, roll them like a cigar, and then cut thin slices to make a shred. 
Add 1/2 of the bottle of red wine to the tomatoes and stir in the basil.

The wine will re-liquefy your tomatoes, so now you'll put a lid on it and turn the fire down to simmer this for 20 minutes.  

 When your pot of water starts to boil, add 1 teaspoon of salt, and your gnocchi. 
The gnocchi will sink to the bottom.  
Bring back to a boil. 
When the gnocchi float to the surface of the boiling water, allow it to cook for 2 minutes more.  
Then drain immediately. 
Check your tomato basil sauce, it should be slightly thicker.  Turn the fire off.  
Add gnocchi to your saute pan and toss with the tomato basil sauce to coat the gnocchi. 
Serve with thin slivers of parmesano reggiano cheese, perhaps a bit of fresh ground pepper, and hot, crusty bread. 

Yum.

 

What To Do When You Cook Too Many Sweet Potatoes: Sweet Potato Oatmeal Pancakes

It's Thanksgiving morning.  Last night, the Austrian, the Pyrate, and I wrapped up our contribution to Thanksgiving Dinner.  We made two beautiful Sweet Potato Kahlua Swirl Cheesecakes, an Apple Persimmon Pie, and prepped a huge bowl of winter vegetables to be roasted this morning.   For the cheesecakes, the Pyrate peeled a heaping pile of sweet potatoes which turned out to be about double what I actually needed for the cakes.  So, this morning when we woke up, excited to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, I had the great idea of making pancakes with some of the leftover mashed sweet potatoes.  And perhaps tomorrow we'll bake the rest with a pecan topping to have with leftover turkey we bring back from my Auntie Ruby's House.

This morning we got the winter vegetables in the oven, then I set about the business of making these absolutely delicious Sweet Potato Pancakes.   You can serve them up any time of year.  It doesn't take long to boil a couple of sweet potatoes and mash them, however you can also use candied yams from the can if you insist you don't have time for that step.

We whipped  these up in less than 30 minutes, and shortly we were piled into my bed in our pajamas watching the parade, plates in hand, and happy as can be.  A very nice moment.  These pancakes were such a hit in our house this morning, that we've decided to make them a Thanksgiving tradition in our house every year.  I love traditions!  So I'm excited to add this healthy sweet treat to ours! 
Serve these up with candied pecans and pure grade A maple syrup.

THE PLAYERS: (your grocery list)

Oat Flour (You'll need one cup and it's found in the same section as regular flour in the subsection where there are organic meals, and/or in the organic section of the grocery store.  Alternately, use the link above to order it online.)  Whole Wheat Flour  (Also one cup of this and it's found in the same section where regular flour is found.) Demerara Sugar (this natural sugar can be found in your baking section, turbinado is also good, but if you can't find either you can use plain granulated.  I used vanilla sugar I made by storing a used vanilla bean in an airtight container full of Demerara sugar) Baking Powder (also in baking goods section where the flour is)Nutmeg (I prefer to keep whole nutmeg nuts in an airtight jar in my spice pantry instead of the pre-ground kind.  You can find whole nutmeg in most stores, especially in international groceries and organic groceries.  When using this you simply use the fine side of a grater or a rasp to take from the nut what you need then replace the rest in the airtight container for use at another time.) Cinnamon (the ground assortment) Cloves (ground) Egg  (You'll need two large eggs) Orange Juice (pulp-free) Milk (1 cup of 2 %  reduced fat) Vegetable Oil (canola, peanut, or vegetable oil are fine...)Mashed Sweet Potatoes (You'll need 1/2 cup)

PREPARATION:

Mix all dry ingredients together:

1c oatmeal flour, 1c whole wheat flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tsp ground nutmeg, 1 tsp ground cloves

 In a separate bowl, whisk together all wet ingredients.

 2 eggs, 1 cup orange juice, 1 cup milk, 1 tbsp oil, 1/2 cup mashed sweet potatoes.
Heat your griddle, add a little peanut oil so your cakes don't stick.
Check your batter, it should pour easily from a ladle.  If it seems a bit thick, add more milk a few tablespoons at a time til it's a consistency you can pour onto your griddle, but not runny.
Pour batter onto hot griddle and spread a bit in a circular motion.  
Do not disturb your cakes until they are done on one side.  
You will know when they are done when you see air bubbles form and begin to burst on the surface, and the edges begin to look dry. 
Flip them over quickly with a griddle spatula (pancake turner).
Let them cook on the other side until brown and  the center of each cake feels slightly firm and no longer soft in the center to the touch. 
Transfer done pancakes to a dish and keep warm in an oven set at the lowest possible temperature until ready to serve.  
Serve with butter, syrup, and garnish with candied pecans. 

Mmm. Mmm. MMM.

BBQ Korean Style!!!

This meal was so good, we had it two nights in a row!!!  Fresh fixin's cooked right at the table, just like in your favorite Korean BBQ restaurant!!!  You can do this with or without meat, and almost all of the other players in this symphony of flavor are readily available in any grocery store. 

So, this week has not gone as planned.  First of all, let me apologize for the badly lit photos, not only did we have a short in the light fixture over the kitchen table, but my camera was trippin' as well....
I may have bit off more than I could chew thinking I'd cover more than one asian culture's cuisine.  I was ambitiously planning a Chinese, a Japanese, and an Indian dish as well this week, but, that was a ridiculous notion!  So far, we covered the Korean Hot Pot (go here to see that recipe).  That was fun, and tasty.  I bought the smallest tub of Gochujang I could find.  That tub of Gochujang, however, would last me a year, if I don't use it, and for sure I knew I wanted  to do some Korean BBQ because it's one of my faves... I love to eat at places where you the food is cooked right on your table.   Korean BBQ steps it up a notch, with it's sweet, spicy, smokey flavors.  Everything tastes fresher than fresh.  Quick cooked to seal in the nutrients.  Fresh food just tastes different.  The molecules have not been completely destroyed.  The textures are more vivid.   So I recommend this sincerely!

There are two things you will need.  One is a table-top gas burner.  I bought ours at the asian grocer for about $19.

You can use it for doing a more traditional Hot Pot at the table, Shabu Shabu , Fajitas, and many other table prepared foods you'll find in many different cultures.  They use gas canisters the size of a spray paint can, and these are easy to load and replace.  I bought a pack of 3 canisters for about $8.  Between the Hot Pot, and two nights of Korean BBQ, we finished off one can of gas.

You'll also need a grill for this dish.  A traditional Korean grill will be round and has a stone center, and will fit neatly over your burner.  We purchased a rectangular grill top.

It has a larger surface area so we could cook more.  But in retrospect it probably would have been better to use the traditional one because the marinades and sauces used in Korean BBQ are sweet and will easily burn if they have nowhere to go.  The traditional Korean BBQ grill has a resevoir underneath to catch juices where they can't burn instead of them collecting on the hot grill and charring. 

If you've already got a George Forman grill or something similar to that, it will work.  But you still wanna be able to use it at the table and there needs to be enough surface area to cook meats and vegetables simultaneously.  These Korean grill tops run about $10-15 depending on where you look for them.  Asian grocery is the best place to look. 

I also had to adjust on the second night what grain we used.  The first night we used brown rice.  It wasn't sticky enough to take the sauce and be picked up with bbq via chopstick.  So the second night, I used a Japanese Sweet Rice which is highly glutinous (meaning sticky like glue...not high in gluten).  YUMMY.

Most of your prep time will be spent cutting up veggies, which shouldn't take more than half an hour, and then the food is actually cooked at the table where everyone sort of participates in adding, turning, removing, dipping, and gobbling it all up.

You'll want to set your table up prior to anything else so it's out of the way.  Each place setting will need a plate, with two smallish bowls.

One bowl will be for each person's portion of rice, the other will be for their sauce.  You'll also want to have some Gochujang at the table so that folks can mix in extra spice into their sauce.

So here we go.  That's all I have to say.  Let's get to it!!



 THE PLAYERS:  (your grocery list)

 Japanese Sweet Rice  (get this in any asian grocery store, and in some normal supermarkets in the asian foods section where the rice is shelved.)  Mirin Style Sweet Cooking Rice Wine (This is not Korean.  But I added it to the marinade anyway because it tastes good.  It's basically a cooking sake... basically... Just look in your asian grocer for this in the same aisle where the soy sauces and marinades are... Just get the one attached in the link above.  Make it easy on yerself!)  Soy Sauce  (Child, if you can't find a bottle of soy sauce.... you got issues... any store, probably even your neighborhood quicky mart has soy sauce...)  Garlic  (fresh by the head....)  Fresh Ginger (Get a decent sized root section from the produce section in the grocery store.  It should be firm and not easily bent in your hands.  If it's floppy, it's old and its flavor will be flat. Save the leftovers to make tea!  Fresh Whole Black Peppercorns (you'll be crushing these yourself, preferably with a mortar and pestle, however, if you don't have one, a grinder works well, and as a last resort you and smash them with the backside of a spoon.) Light Brown Sugar (Find organic brown sugar, instead of the typical brown sugar you find everywhere, because it's just white sugar with molasses added... organic sugar is brown because of its natural molasses content.  why buy sugar that's been processed to remove that, then artificially replace it.  that's silly to me, and even though I don't have the science to back me up, sounds like there has to be something wrong with that picture...) Veggies (Bok Choy, Broccoli, Soy Bean Sprouts, Zucchini, Green Onions, Red Bell Peppers)  Proteins (In asian grocers they will have thinly sliced meats and fresh tofu: Take your pick:  Firm Tofu, Thinly Sliced Chicken Breasts,  Shrimp, Thinly Sliced Beef,, Korean BBQ Style Sliced Beef Ribs).  Sesame Oil



PREPARATON:
Make your Sweet Soy Base Sauce (Jomi Ganjang) the day before.  
In a medium saucepan combine:
1/2 Cup water, 4 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced, 6 slices peeled fresh ginger
 Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. 
Add:
1 cup of soy sauce... low sodium please, 1/2 cup light brown sugar, and 1/4 cup of Mirin Style Sweet Cooking Rice Wine (can be substituted with a cold sake, or a sweet white wine like zinfandel)
Turn the heat to high and boil for 2 minutes.
Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.  
Strain the sauce through a sieve, into a container that has an airtight lid.  
Store in the fridge for up to 3 months.

Two hours before dinner time, marinade your meat in 1/2 cup of your soy base sauce. 
(we did both beef and chicken)

Cook your rice in a rice cooker according to the instructions on the package, allowing plenty of rice, because it will go very fast... 

Set your table.  Place the stove and grill in the middle of the table.

Divide remaining sauce between the sauce bowls at each place setting.

Cut up your veggies into 3 inch long julienne sticks, arrange them on a platter.  

Slice your broccoli on the thin side, so that it has flat surfaces to cook on the the grill. 

Turn the table top stove fire on, and place the grill over it.  If you're using the round Korean grill make sure to add water in the reservoir so that drippings won't stick and burn.  
While the grill heats up, call everyone to dinner.  
Invite them to add a bit of Gochujang to their sauce for extra spice.

Add a couple of tablespoons of sesame oil to the grill surface, then add some of your items that take longer to cook... a few broccoli slices, peppers, some chicken breast

Stagger adding ingredients so something is always cooking and something is always ready to eat.  
Chicken takes longer than beef.
The first round will seem like it's taking forever... 
Talk among yourselves, and just be patient. That's part of the charm... it forces you to commune with your people in a way you might not in your everyday dining.

Be sure not to eat everything that's ready and forget to put more on.  As soon as there's an empty area, add more veggies, meats, tofu, etc... 

One person can be in charge of that if you like.

Add more sesame oil if needed.

People can use their chopsticks to take food from the grill, dip it in their sauce bowl, then place it on their rice bowl.  
Delish-Delish!!!
 



 Afternote: If you have leftovers, put them away and stirfry everything that was left together in a wok the next day, drizzle with a bit of your soy base sauce,  and serve over ramen noodles. 

Delicious Korean Hot Pot

(asian grocery sources at the end of this post)
Child, don't look so skeptical now... This is gonna be a winner!  Nothing beats a nice hot bowl of broth, veggies, and noodles on a cold day.  We have noodles similar to this at least twice a month or more often.  I buy the broth in those resealable cartons and keep it in the fridge so the Pyrate can make himself a bowl of this instead of those disgusting instant ramen soups he loves so much.  He'll sometimes just have the broth with the staple items, sometimes just the noodles, onions, and a bit of chinese or thai chili paste.  He actually doesn't mind making this either because it's so much more satisfying and easy to make.  This version is like the royal version, with lots of delicious goodies to enjoy... 

A bowl of goodies from our Korean Hot Pot

This is sooooo easy you can do it in a flash.  There's almost nothing to cook.  The hardest work will be finding yourself a local asian grocery to adopt as your official source for ingredients we'll be using for this week's recipes.  But that's a good thing!  Venture out a bit!  Explore!  Broaden your horizons!
I'm being silly, but seriously, I picked up the pyrate from school today, stopped by our local asian grocer and grabbed up some ingredients for this Korean version of comfort food.   Why Korean?
Well, first of all, I was watching a show on the cooking network where they were using an ingredient called Gochujang in a competition.  3 chefs had to use it in their appetizer, main course, and dessert.  I missed the beginning so I was left frustratedly asking the tv screen over and over again, "What the heck is this ko-joo-ching???"  (there was no visible text so all I could do was assume based on the phonetics I could hear...) Would you believe I went online and, thanks to Google's intelligent search engine's spell correct feature which promptly replied to my search, "did you mean gochujang?" and within a matter of less than 2 minutes I was schooled.

Gochujang

Gochujang is a smokey, sweet, spicy red pepper paste used quite commonly in Korean cooking.   It is a must have in your arsenal if you do any kind of Korean cooking.
So we'll be doing a couple of recipes this week that call for this yummy chili paste and I can't wait to share!
The Austrian's been fighting off a sore throat the last two days.  He could really use some fresh, nutrient packed vegetables to fortify his system for the fight. 
What I like about asian foods, is they are usually super-fresh cooked, super-fast, therefore they retain much of their nutrients.    This hot pot, for example could not be any simpler or quicker.  Broth is basically heated up to a boil then ingredients are added in order of length of time it takes to cook them and the ingredients are cut in a way that they cook in a few seconds so once everything is in the broth the fire is turned off and voila!  Dinner is served.  Hot pots are crazy versatile as well.   You can add or subtract ingredients to your heart's desire. 
If you really like this recipe, you might want to consider investing in a Korean cookbook.  I recommend these books that can be found at most booksellers:

The first book, has a photo of a version of this hot pot dish we're making right there on the cover!  They both have excellent ingredient glossaries.  Ingredient glossaries are the thing you really will rely on when learning to cook foods from cultures other than your own.  Ingredient glossaries in cookbooks will save you time, money, and in some cases, your life!  lol.    I may have said it before, but I'll say it again, knowing your ingredients will help you to put them together in ways that actually work!

Here are ingredients that can be used in this dish.  I have divided them into to categories.  Staples (what should always go in) and Options (what you can add to it)

Korean Rice Cakes

THE PLAYERS: (Your Grocery List)

STAPLES:  Broth  (You can use Vegetable, Chicken, or Beef Broth.  Get organic, low-sodium if you can find it.  Or you can also make a dashi type broth by taking a sheet of Laver Seaweed and dropping it into your boiling water a few minutes before adding your soup ingredients.) Gochujang  (Korean red chili pepper paste.  Gotta get this at the asian grocer.  You won't find it anywhere else, and nothing else will do.  If you live in a big city, and can't find an asian grocer you're not looking hard enough.  If you're not in a big city, or you live somewhere where there isn't much of an asian community, then try online for the asian ingredients.  I'll add some links after the recipe for shopping for asian ingredients online. If you're looking online, sometimes gochujang will simply be called hot pepper paste.  It comes in rectangular plastic tubs....pretty much always, and a popular brand is Sempio. Don't buy the stuff in the jars.  Get the stuff in the tubs...) Korean Noodles (these can be substituted with udon or ramen noodles as a last resort...but try to get the real deal, dried noodles from the asian grocer. they'll have two kinds: Korean vermicelli and Korean Noodles.  I like the noodles better than the vermicelli.)Carrots  (Those long orange things that grow underground.) Green Onions (also self explanatory... can be substituted with leaks)  Leafy Greens (I used Bok Choy, but spinach, savoy cabbage, napa cabbage, or regular cabbage are also very good.) Bean Sprouts (These can be found in most grocery store produce sections.  They are the sprouts from soy beans...full of nutrients!)

OPTIONS: Mushrooms (I used ordinary brown mushrooms, but you can get as exotic as you like.  But if you use dried ones keep in mind that you'll need to reconstitute them in hot water before you can use them.) Dumplings (Oh boy! For me, this would be in the "staples" set of ingredients, but that's just me... lol... In the version I made tonight they were included.  You can find these in stores like Trader Joes in the frozen section, but the best ones you'll find in the freezer of the asian grocer.   Get Korean ones, but in a pinch, japanese or chinese will also work quite nicely.  They come filled with chicken, pork and beef, or veggies.  Take your pick!) Korean Sliced Rice Cakes (These chewy, doughy bits of yumminess also went into the hot pot we made tonight.  They are slices of Korean rice cake sticks... which can only be explained as doughy pasta type things that maybe akin to gnocchi... I don't know.  But all I can tell you is that the texture and the flavor is delicious.  And yes, we had these in our soup tonight as well.  They can be found in the freezer section of the asian grocery store near the dumplings.)  Meats(You MUST use thinly cut quality meats should you decide to include them in your hotpot.  If they are not cut thin enough they won't cook fast enough.  In asian groceries, the butcher section will usually sell meats already cut like this... They flash freeze the meats, then slice them on a mechanical slicer, wafer thin so they literally cook in seconds when in contact with heat.  If you have trouble finding pre-sliced meats, you can slice your own, but guess what?  any supermarket butcher department will do it for you as well.  They just don't advertise it.  You'll want to use chicken breasts, rib eye, filet mignon, or pork loin, sliced across the grain.  This is very important... You can also do this with fish, but I don't recommend it because it's tricky to get the right consistancy.  However shrimp works very well. ) Snow Peas (known in some places as chinese peas.  They sort of look like sweet peas, but they are very flat)  Bell Peppers (red are best for their sweetness) Sweet Asian Yam (These are also found in asian grocers. they are not sweet potatoes.  they are more purple than sweet potatoes, and they are not orange inside.  they are cream colored inside.) Broccoli

 

 

 PREPARATION:

Here's the fun part!   This is an eyeball kinda meal so use your discretion with amounts.  Things are quick cooked so you won't be deceived by quantity and size, what you see is what you'll get when it's done.  A handful of this and a handful of that will do just fine, and if you're adding meat, use just enough to flavor your pot.  One chicken breast half worth of slices, one steak's worth of slices is more than enough for a hot pot to feed 4.   If you buy a lot, just plan to have hot pots a few times during the week, and switch up the participating players to make variety.  Tonight, we put everything in our hot pot except for the broccoli.  

Put a large pot of broth (or water with a sheet of dried smoked laver/seaweed)on the stove to boil.  (Depending on how many you will feed.)

While your broth's heating up,  you want to prep all of your ingredients.

As you cut these items, place them in separate prep bowls. 

Cut carrot in this manner, on the diagonal, cut one 1/2 inch slice off the end of the carrot.  Turn it 1/4 turn and repeat with a diagonal 1/2 inch cut.  Turn again 1/4 turn and so on...

Cut 2 green onions Remove the root end and the soft parts of the green end, and then cut green onions into thirds.  Then lengthwise cut these thirds into thin slivers.

Roll Bok Choy or other greens and cut into inch wide course shreds.

Slice mushrooms then cut in the opposite direction to make little strips.

Cut Snow Peas into thin slivers similar to the green onions.

Cut the Bell Pepper into thin strips.

Peel the yam then with the peeler, slice the yam into thin sliver strips. 

Cut broccoli into thin slices (about 1/4 inch thick)

If you're using meat, stack the thinly sliced meat and cut into strips 1/2 inch wide.

Now your pot of water should be boiling.

Add carrots to your boiling pot.

Wait 2 minutes.

Add broccoli if you're using it.

Add mushrooms.

Add yams.

Add shrimp if you're using it.

Add bell pepper.

Add bok choy.

Add noodles.

Add meat if you're using it.

Add dumplings, soy bean sprouts, rice cake slices, and snow peas.

Boil 1 minute ONLY and remove from heat and put a lid on for at least 2 minutes before serving.

To serve,

Put some noodles from your pot in the bottom of a soup bowl.

Ladle broth, and veggies over the noodles.

Pile a couple of dumplings, rice cake slices and meat on top of that.

Take a pinch of raw green onion slivers and pile on top of that.

Add a small dollop (size of a dime for the faint of heart, a bit more for heat lovers) of Gochujang like a cherry on top.

And dinner is served!!!!  Your grateful eaters will need both chopsticks and a tablespoon if they are to get every last drop.  Right before they eat this they swish it around to mix in the fresh green onions, and the gochujang so that it colors the broth. 

You'll need nothing more than a tall glass of iced green tea and a napkin for slurping noodles!!!


a list of korean grocers in the US



ONLINE ASIAN GROCERS:
www.koamart.com
www.hmart.com
www.asianfoodgrocer.com

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Flesh Free Dinner: Home Baked Pizza and Rocket Salad

As always, I suggest reading through my recipes completely before you even do your shopping for ingredients.  Feel free to ask questions via the comments link at the end of the post.  Enjoy!

History I know it might bewilder some that a black girl from Compton, California, with  Mississippi roots has so many non-American tendencies when it comes to eating, but I chalk it up to the awakening I had while living in Germany.  In Europe, even in the large cities, most people eat very close to the source.  You might find our American fast food chains there but they don't do as good business as they do here in the U.S. where we are practically in a coma when it comes to awareness about what we consume.

They've got supermarkets for those who are fascinated by America and it's questionable habits.  But really, for the most part that's only in the last decade and a half.

 

Portuguese Marketplace in Lissaboa (Lisbon)

In the middle of every town there is a farmer's market set up on weekends and in some places, 2 or 3 times a week.  On every other corner, instead of a starbucks,  in residential neighborhoods, you will find an actual cafe where they will fresh grind beans for your cup specifically and if you sit there for more than 10 minutes you'll be in a conversation with one of your neighbors... loneliness is rare.

 

Typical German Bakery Shelves

There is, in every residential community, a baker who actually starts work at 2 am baking the bread for that day... bread that will still be slightly warm when the baker's wife slips it in a paper sleeve and hands it to you.  You'll also find a butcher in every neighborhood, whose cuts of meat, he has usually cut and ground on the premises,  from stock he has purchased from a farmer he knows, and you'll find a produce kiosk that sells mostly what is available locally, and in season.  There are cheese shops in every neighborhood, selling cheeses produced  somewhere within 100 mile radius... get this... from a cow, goat or sheep, fed healthy grasses and grains, (not just corn) on a farm that you could trace.  The cheese shop owner probably even knows the farmer's name and has probably even been to the farm and seen how the animals live.

 A neighborhood Metzgerei or Butcher Shop

Produce is not as laden with preservatives and pesticides because it doesn't have to travel so far from its birthplace.  And there is a flavor benefit to this shorter journey.  It's left longer attached to the earth's goodness, soaking up the sun, and therefore actually tastes like what it's supposed to taste like and doesn't need so much flavor embellishment from sugar or salt.

Fast food is not mass produced, processed, chemically laden, sugar saturated, quasi-food.  Fast food, if you can find it, is very different. Fast food there is foods such as Doener Kebab, Gyros, spit roasted chicken, or sausages made by the local butcher shop.  Pizzas are made the Italian way, with tomatoes, red and fragrant with remnants of the earth and the sun... hand stretched crusts made from unbleached flour.... and cheese so fresh you could compare it to a very expensive version in a upscale Italian restaurant.

 

Boycott the Cardboard Box!  Find a Farmer's Market in Your Area!

If you think you might never have the time or patience to make a homemade pizza for yourself or family, think again.  You might be busy, but listen!!  The Pyrate and I went to Trader Joes at 4pm.  We were back home by 4:30pm.  The Pyrate did his homework.  I did some writing and catching up on emails.  At 5:30 we converged upon the kitchen and started prepping the ingredients.  By 6:05, I was cutting the pizza with a pizza wheel and serving up plates to my troops.  The pizza was still bubbly hot when it was served.  The salad made with dark green leafy pleasure instead of flavorless iceberg and processed dressing.

Ordering Dominoes or Pizza Hut or whatever it is you get in your neighborhood is not faster, and for sure NOT HEALTHIER.   I'm not one to tell you what to do, and in our house, we aren't exactly purists or fanatical about our eating habits.  However, as I've noted before in previous posts, we are moving in a positive direction to remove as much processed foods from our diets as possible, and we are happily reducing the distance between our bodies and the source from whence the food comes that sustains us.  This is holistically and ecologically positive behavior modification on my part. 

So many offenses can be reduced this way.  There are little or no processed sugars in this meal.  There's probably 50% of the sodium you would ingest if you order a pizza delivery.  There are fresh vegetables in this meal that I picked up at the farmers market on Sunday.  There's something very powerful about produce from the farmer's hand to mine.  If you make it yourself you can choose items like fresher cheeses, purer sauces, wholegrain crust free of preservatives.

We made this meal meatless and meat was not missed.  Of course, it's not completely vegan, because of the cheese.   If you feel you can't eat a meal without meat, I challenge you also to just try one meal a week without meat and see if you miss it. Otherwise you can add your choice of fixin's to this recipe and enjoy!

 

Home Baked Pizza and Rocket Salad:  A family favorite meal in our house and takes about 30 minutes including prep time and baking.  Who says delivery is more convenient than homemade pizza???  We picked up all the ingredients for this at Trader Joe's for less than $20 for the whole dinner that will feed at least 4 people!!!

THE PLAYERS (your grocery list)

 Roma Tomatoes (Be sure to wash these well, because they are almost always coated with some sort of protective wax preservative, and purchase the reddest, blemish-free tomatoes you can find.  I try to choose organic if my budget allows.  Trader Joe's roma tomatoes are really delish, and the shiny coating they use to protect the skin is food grade beeswax and is not harmful at all. )   Fresh Basil (Basil is a deliciously sweet-minty herb used by many cultures to add  freshness to food's flavor.  It is best cut just before adding to your recipe, to perserve its delicate flavor, and  added to recipes at the end of cooking time, or left uncooked and added just before serving a dish, as we will do here.)Trader Joe's (TJ's)Fresh Pizza Dough (Get two packages for two pizzas.  You'll find this in TJ's refrigerated produce section somewhere near the cheeses usually.  They usually have plain, garlic herb, and whole wheat.  I use the whole wheat because it's healthier, but if you prefer white dough, it's tasty as well.  Skip the garlic herb.  It usually has a bit of a bitter aftertaste.  Add your own garlic and herbs fresh when you get it home if you like that. If you can't find a Trader Joe's where you live, then ask your supermarket grocer if they carry a fresh pizza dough for baking.  If not, then substitute a good crusty bread, baguette, focaccia dough, or flat bread from the bakery section.) TJ's Fresh Sun-dried Tomato Pesto Sauce (You'll find this at TJ's in the refrigerated section where the fresh pastas and sauces are.  It will lend a sweeter, more rustic flavor to your pizza.)  TJ's Quattro Formaggio Cheese Blend (You'll find this in the cheese section with the grated cheeses.  This is a perfect blend of parmesan, asiago, fontina, and provolone cheeses. We won't be using a lot of this. Just enough to flavor!)  Fresh Mozzarella Ball (You don't want to buy your mozzarella already grated.  You want it still in the shape of a ball as it was traditionally made in Italy, and you want to get the freshest mozzarella ball you can find, preferably still floating in watery brine. Mozzarella ,like most softer cheeses, is lower in sodium and saturated fats than harder cheeses.  You can also try this recipe with goat cheese... chevre... should you prefer.)  Wild Rockets (A normal sized 5 oz. salad green bag, or if you are buying it loose, eyeball it... enough for 4 people...In America, we call this delicious green Arugula.  It is not as popular because of it's peppery flavor.  But when I lived in Germany, I fell in love with it's compatibility with certain types of dishes.  Trader Joe's carries both normal Arugula and Rockets, or Wild Arugula as it's also sometimes called.  If you can't find the wild variety, the normal Arugula leaves will work just fine. )  Cherry or Grape Tomatoes (Either will do, preferably organic, of course, and pick the best color and healthy skinned specimens you can find.) Balsamic Vinegar (This dark, sweet, rich vinegar comes from the Modena and Reggio Emilia regions of Italy and is made from white Trebbiano Grapes.  I cook with balsamic quite a bit, because it is quite versatile.  In my pantry, I keep two different grades of balsamic vinegar... an expensive aged version, and a cheaper normal version.  The aged version is thicker and richer, and sweeter, requiring less oil and usually no other embellishment for a dressing.  The less expensive balsamic is just fine as well, but I tend to use it mostly for when my recipe calls for it to be cooked, reduced, or otherwise treated.  The more expensive 12 years or older aged versions I reserve for salads pretty much exclusively.  They can cost anywhere from $20-100 for a very small bottle, but it goes a very long way.  One bottle will last you a year at least if you use it properly.) Extra-Virgin Olive Oil (See my writeup "Olive Oil" in the "Find It" cloud in the margin listings on this blog page.  For this use, Extra Virgin Olive Oil is best.  You want that olive flavor.) Pizza Pans (Anywhere kitchen tools are sold, you can find these.  Mine double during the holidays as extra cookie sheets.  The kinds with the holes in the bottom will allow your pizza crust to be crispier on the bottom. I use both kinds and prefer non-stick so that I don't have to use any oil spray.  You can also use a cookie sheet, pie dish or pan, or a rectangular baking pan or jelly roll pan.  And believe it or not, you can also grill this on a bbq grill by using a pizza slide to build the pizza on and slide it onto the grill.)

PREPARATION:

PIZZA
Take pizza dough out of refrigerator to come down closer to room temperature so it will be easier to stretch.
Preheat Oven according to the directions on the dough packaging.  
Slice Roma Tomatoes You'll need at least three or four tomatoes sliced about 1/4 inch vertical slices, then set aside.
Slice Mozzarella into about 1/4 inch thick slices and set aside.  
Prep a large wooden cutting board or a kitchen counter space by sprinkling the surface with about a 1/2 cup of flour per pizza dough.
Place one of the doughs on the floured surface. Coat the dough with a bit of flour so it doesn't stick to your hands or the work surface.  
Begin to stretch the dough, either with a floured rolling pin, or by hand, by simply letting the weight of the dough and gravity stretch it by holding it at one end and letting it hang downward, rotating the dough consistantly until it is as large as you want it to be.  The larger the area, the thinner the dough, the crisper the crust will be.  DO NOT KNEAD this dough.  It will make it tough. Place stretched dough over pizza pan, pie dish, or on a flat cookie sheet, letting dough hang over the sides. 

Drizzle enough olive oil onto dough to give a very light coating. 
Spread half of the sun-dried tomato pesto onto the dough.  Don't worry that it's thin layer, the flavor is very bold so you don't need a slathering like you would with regular tomato sauce, plus later we'll be adding tomato slices... Leave about an inch and half edge of free dough all the way around. (plus what's hanging over the sides.)

Sprinkle about  1/3  cup of the shredded quattro formaggio over the tomato pesto.  Might seem like not enough, but everything on this pizza is flavorful!  You won't need more!

Place the tomato slices on top of the quattro formaggio. 
Place the mozzarella on top of the tomatoes.  I like to place the mozzarella slices so that they overlap the edges of the tomatoes to hold them in place when it melts.  This also varies the texture of the tomatoes nicely when cooked. 

Fold in the dough edge that's hanging over, so that it forms a ridge of dough all the way around. 
Repeat these steps with second pizza.

 Place in the center of a hot oven.  
Bake for about 10 minutes  (or until crust is golden brown to your liking)




ROCKET SALAD (do this while the pizza is cooking)

Rinse greens in a colander and dry on a clean dish towel.
Place in a salad bowl or onto individual plates.
Add cherry or grape tomatoes. 
Sprinkle a bit of quattro formaggio over salad. (optional)
Set aside.

  Dressing
In a bowl combine 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil and 1/8 cup aged balsamic vinegar  (a basic vinaigrette is 2 parts oil, 1 parts vinegar) and 1 TBSP of either honey or organic demerara sugar and 1 TSP of fresh ground black pepper.  
Whisk ingredients together until creamy. 
Set aside.  Drizzle onto salad just before serving.

PIZZA 
Take about 10 basil leaves and stack them flat on top of each other then roll up like a little cigar.  Slice this so that you end up with slivers.  
Sprinkle these over the pizza just before serving.

 

...I,  MANGIA!!!

Bon Appetito! 


Alternative Ingredients You Can Add

Meats (cubes, or thinly sliced, just enough added just for flavor, not for filling your belly), Asparagus, Marinated Artichokes (recipe coming soon), Onions, Crushed Garlic, Pine Nuts, Sweet Italian Peppers, Bell Peppers, Cilantro,  Red Chili Flakes, Herbs ( Rosemary, Thyme, Oregano are great...add before baking, not like the basil),