KM Chang or Kate's lettuce wraps

I love a lot of the food at PF Chang's, and their lettuce wraps are to die for. After ordering them for the nth time, I wondered if I couldn't make my own, especially cutting down on the sweetener. As in, use none at all. After an afternoon of mental dissection, I came up with:

1.5 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs
3 T sesame oil (I plan to cut this by 1 next time)
3 T soy sauce
3 T rice vinegar (I plan to increase this by 1 next time. Make sure you are using a rice vinegar that has no sugar or salt added)
1 cup chopped shitake mushrooms
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 T chopped fresh ginger (the younger the better)
1 T chopped garlic
1 can water chestnuts
3/4 cup green onions in 1" pieces (about a bunch)
1 cup reduced sodium chicken broth

Leaves of your favorite lettuce. I used butter, or Boston lettuce because my stomach doesn't like iceberg very much

add 1 T of sesame oil to a saute pan on medium heat. Sear the chicken on both sides, add the chicken broth, half the soy sauce and half the vinegar and simmer until about half of the liquid is gone and chicken is thoroughly cooked. Remove chicken from pan.Add other T of sesame oil, the mushrooms, water chestnuts and ginger. stir well to combine then add the rest of the soy & vinegar and red pepper. Stir constantly for about five minutes, until fragrant.shred or dice chicken, return to pan, stirring to coat. Add green onions, stir until they are bright green.

Serve in lettuce leaves.

..............................................................................................This is a recipe that came out better than it had any right to. It was a bit heavy with the larger amount of sesame oil, so I think adjusting that down and adjusting the vinegar up will lighten it up nicely. Next time, I think I may also serve some bean sprouts on the side to add if we want some additional crunch, though the water chestnuts do a good job of that.




 My sweetie took some great pictures, which I will add as a separate post. 

variety in the vegetation

I try not to be boring when it comes to cooking. Admittedly, I generally have the same thing for breakfast (espresso and a protein drink with almond milk), but when it comes to dinner, it's important to me to mix it up a little. Boring eating leads to not feeling sated, which can leave a person reaching for the Haagen Daaz.

I like a lot of fish, but it can get pricey, so I try to shop the sales. It is, apparently a good time to buy Spanish mackerel. I recently had it as sushi and rather enjoyed it. When I saw it on sale, I pounced.

This week's recipe is very simple. Roasted mackerel over radicchio with avocado, with a lemony vinaigrette (which actually involves no vinegar, but I digress).

6 (4-to 5-ounces) mackerel fillets with skin, halved

1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 medium head radicchio (about 10 ounces), leaves torn

2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley

1 medium avocado, thinly sliced

 .  . . .

 I heartily recommend drafting some help to peel the radicchio for assistance with plating. I threw in some butter lettuce more for color and to fill us up, since there were no carbs in the recipe.

Your how-to:

Preheat broiler.

Make several diagonal slashes (1/8 inch deep) in mackerel skin about 1 inch apart. Coat both sides of mackerel with 2 tablespoons oil, then season with 3/4 teaspoon salt (total).

Broil mackerel, skin side up, in a 4-sided sheet pan about 4 inches from heat until just cooked through and skin is crisp in spots, about 7 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk together remaining 1/3 cup oil, lemon juice, mustard, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl. Reserve 2 tablespoons vinaigrette, then toss radicchio and parsley with remaining vinaigrette.

Serve salad topped with avocado and mackerel and drizzled with reserved vinaigrette.

 . . . . . 

I enjoyed this quite a bit. The fish is rich and the slightly pepper flavor from the radicchio was a nice match. I'm glad I added the butter lettuce, because the contrast in taste and texture was delightful.

Making Ingredients Again

This is a quick entry, but I suspect I'll be referring to it often. I've wanted to make some herbed olive oil for a while, and shortly after Thanksgiving, we bought something we've been threatening to do for a long time--a box of quart Mason jars. I'm planning on preserving some lemons, possibly making chicken stock. My darling Nexx made a strawberry-basil cocktail that was a fascinating experiment in flavors.

One of those jars has been sitting for the last couple of months with six sprigs of rosemary and the peel of a lemon in it. You may notice no proportions here. I guessed.

I guessed well, I'm happy to say. The mixture has been used on both lamb and pork, and there are chicken and potatoes in its future.

Especially for my Aunt Barbara--Lentil Mushroom Soup

I've been tossing around this recipe in my head for a while. I was going for hearty without being too heavy, so no cream in this one. A dollop of sour cream, on the other hand, may work for your palate (it did for mine, though not for Nexx).

First, the fungus:

4 oz dried crepe mushrooms

1 cup sliced crimini mushrooms

.5 cup chopped shitake mushroom stems (I'm using the caps in lettuce wraps)

A little aromatic:

3 cloves of garlic minced

1 cup of onion finally chopped

A bit of legume:

one cup dried brown lentils

Some fat:

2 T butter

This and that:

6 cups boiling water

2 cups beef broth 

1 T dried thyme

Worcestershire sauce

salt to taste

Stir the dried mushrooms into the boiling water, turn off the heat and let sit for about an hour. While they are sitting, melt 1/2 the butter in a small pan and sautee the shitake stems with a little Worcestershire sauce. Remove from pan, add the other T of butter and the onions, stir on low heat until the onions turn golden and add the garlic. Continue stirring until onions are dark brown and carmelized.

After your hour has passed, add the onions & garlic, crimini shrooms, the lentils, thyme and salt, still well and put the heat up to medium high. Stir in beef broth and bring to a low boil. Turn heat down to low and let it simmer for about an hour or until lentils are soft.

This was served alongside some leftover roast pork. I will be doing this again, this time adding parsley, a touch of lemon and some cayenne. There may also be beer involved, as soon as I figure out which one. 

So now this week's mission is to drink several different kinds of beer. Challenge Accepted!

once again, hold the sugar

I forget how I found tonight's recipe, but I knew the minute I read it that I was going to have to make it. I love sesame and ginger together, and the opportunity to try a new pepper? I'm not going to pass that up.

I did make a few adjustments of my own, starting with the sauce.

¼ cup + 3 ½ tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons Korean red pepper powder (gochugaru)
3 large garlic cloves, pressed
1 ½ tablespoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons finely grated fresh peeled ginger, juice and pulp
1 tablespoon lightly toasted sesame seeds

I followed the above with the exception of the sugar, which I cut down to a teaspoon. I also made it a day ahead to give the flavors some time to meld.

This afternoon on my lunch hour, I threw five chicken thighs in a sauté pan with about a cup of low-sodium chicken broth, two tablespoons of garlic and about a teaspoon of dried cilantro. I stewed the chicken for about an hour. From there it went into a deep rectangular plastic tub for shredding. I use two forks to shred it, then stirred in the sauce and put the whole thing in the fridge until dinnertime.

The dressing for the slaw, I also made the night before:

2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon palm sugar or dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh peeled ginger

I dropped the sugar to half a teaspoon. I also didn't mix it in a bowl. For dressings, I prefer to use a jar, just screwing on the lid and shaking well. If you like the ArgoTea in bottles, those bottles are the perfect size for a dressing.

I shredded the cabbage and tossed it with the dressing on the rest of my lunch hour.

For dinner, I just heated up the meat and piled it on plates. Instead of potato rolls, I added some rice crackers on the side. Nexx didn't even bother with the crackers.

Delicious.

In which Kate finally gives in to to the kale conspiracy

If you read any articles or blogs or medical sites about dieting in the last year or so, you've been hearing about the wonders of kale. No longer a frilly garnish to take valuable plate real estate, but this is a vegetable that should be cherished, worshipped, steamed, baked into chips and of course, juiced.

About five years ago, my sweetie lived in Chicago. When it was too cold to walk to someplace to eat (groceries were not convenient and he didn't have a car for much of that year), we would get delivery. I cannot remember the name of the place, but I did remember a dish they called "peasant pasta" that I thought I might be able to recreate.

I started with a large skillet and about .75 lb. of hot Italian sausage. I like the sweet kind as well, but this is to your taste. I cut the sausage into small chunks--about the size of your average chocolate from a box--and browned it, stirring often.

Once it was browned, I removed it with a slotted spoon and added 1 T of olive oil to the pan. Then I added the better part of a bunch of kale torn into approximately 2" pieces, and five cloves of chopped garlic. Figure 2-3 cups of loosely packed. 

When the kale was wilted and bright green, I added .75 lb of chicken breast, which I had cut into bite-sized pieces. 

Once the chicken was opaque, I added 2 cans cannelini beans (drained and rinsed), 1.5 cups of low-sodium chicken broth, one can of tomato paste. For spices I added a teaspoon of oregano and a few shakes of red pepper. 

I simmered this combination for about an hour until the broth was mostly cooked down. Then I threw a pound of gemelli in boiling water. While the pasta was cooking, I added half a cup of heavy cream to the skillet and slowly stirred in a half cup of shredded grana padano (It was cheaper than the good parmesan this week).

Next up, I drained the pasta. I used gemelli for this because my goal was for a hearty meal, and I wanted a pasta that wasn't going to get lost in all the other flavors. The pasta went back in the pot, as did the contents of the skillet. Several stirs to mix well later and  I had a very tasty meal. Well, I had a meal and a half. Nexx had at least two.

Now, I do have some plans for improving this. More kale, for one thing, possibly onions, though I'm not completely sure about those. Pancetta. Mushrooms. I figure on making this again after the first of the year when the January cold really starts setting into New England

Homemade bread for the post-surgical patient.

There's a whole lot on the Internet about wheat these days. Must eat whole grains. No, wheat is evil. Wheat is responsible for the obesity epidemic.  Humans haven't really evolved sufficiently to eat grain.

I need to eat more produce, I know this. I also know that I've eaten wheat in various forms all my life and it hasn't killed me yet. I don't have celiac disease. So I am going to eat the stuff here and there. 

I went looking for "easy bread recipes" before I had my surgery and bookmarked this recipe from PBS . I came back to it last weekend when I thought I could stand to do a little cooking, but kneading was not going to be a good idea.

Very simple ingredients:

1. 500 grams all-purpose or bread flour (17.5 ounces)
2. 1 teaspoon salt
3. 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
4. 1 1/3 cups warm water
5. 1/4 cup olive oil
6. 2 tablespoons olive oil, in a small bowl

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and yeast to evenly distribute all the ingredients. Add the water and 1/4 cup olive oil, and then mix everything together until you have a uniform dough. You can use your hands, but you'll lose a bunch of dough because it will stick to your fingers. (I love instructions like this. I used a wooden spoon) Using something narrow and sturdy like metal chopsticks or the handle of a wooden paddle works great because they have very little surface area for the dough to stick to.
2. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and put it in a warm place for 18-24 hours to rise. (for this I have found I have to turn the oven on and leave the dough on the counter.)
3. Once the dough has risen, you can either make one giant focaccia with all the dough, or split it up and bake smaller loaves. I use a pan that’s 7.5" x 9.25", and it's perfect for half the dough. If you end up keeping some of the dough for later, just cover it back up and put it in the fridge until you are ready to use it.
4. Put the olive oil in a small bowl and use a pastry brush to brush the bottom and sides of the pan with a generous coating of oil. Drop half the dough into the pan, and turn it over a few times to coat it with oil so it doesn't stick to your fingers. Press the dough towards the edges of the pan in an even layer with your fingertips. This is how the focaccia gets its dimpling, so while you want the dough to be roughly the same thickness, the little divots your fingers leave are a good thing.
5. Use the pastry brush to spread a layer of olive oil onto the top of the dough. Cover and let it sit in a warm place until it doubles in height.
6. When your dough is almost done rising, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (205 C). 
7. When the dough is finished rising, sprinkle the toppings onto the top of the bread. I used kalamata olives (rinsed and chopped) and fresh rosemary. Put the pan in the oven and let it bake until the top is golden brown (about 20-30 minutes).
8. Remove the pan from the oven, and then carefully transfer the bread to a wire rack to cool. The focaccia is best eaten the same day, but you can put it in a sealed container once it’s cooled all the way if you want to keep it for longer.

 My dough came out a little sticky, so I added a few more ounces of flour. This is also where I discovered I need to generate sufficient heat in the kitchen in order to get my dough to rise.

We ate the bread with some piave vecchio cheese. It didn't look very pretty, but it was delicious. We only left it to cool enough so we could pick it up and eat it. I did one on Sunday with half the dough and another the following day. This will be done again.