From the Wing-It School: Ginger Beef

I don't recall if I've mentioned this, but I'm taking Project Management classes online. It takes up a great deal of my time and a lot of focus. I haven't created anything new in the kitchen for a while.

Today, during the break between classes (next one starts in June), I had a chance to do so. My sweetie was born in Tokyo, and I wanted to make something appropriately Asian. He said his mom would enjoy today's results, which pleased me to no end.

I did go hunting for recipes. I'd had in mind to make ginger pork or beef, but all the recipes I found had sugar or honey, which I am told is nowhere near authentic. One had balsamic vinegar. I didn't get that at all. I love balsamic, but if I'm going to incorporate it into meat, it's counter-intuitive to me to combine it with soy sauce, never mind sugar.

The following serves two, but can be easily expanded:

1/2 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup rice vinegar (make sure you get one with no sugar or sodium added)
red pepper to taste
2 T sesame oil, divided
5 green onions, cut into 1 1/2 to 2 inch pieces
3/4 lb beef shoulder steak cut into 1/2" slices
(1 cup of mushrooms, which I was out of, but will incorporate next time)
1/4 cup ginger cut into matchsticks (you could go up to 1/3 cup if you have serious ginger fans in the house. Also--get as young a piece of ginger as possible, it's more fragrant, tastier and easier to cut)
sesame seeds for garnish
2 cups cooked rice (I like brown, Ken prefers white. What we had in the house was leftovers from take-out)



In a medium-sized bowl, combine the soy sauce, vinegar and several grinds of red pepper.

Heat 1 T of the sesame oil in a wok or deep pan on medium heat. A saute pan will work nicely. I have a pan with deep curved sides that also does the job. Add the ginger and stir for about five minutes (this is when I cut up the green onions). Add 1 T of the sauce and stir frequently for another three minutes.

If I'd had mushrooms, this is where I would add them, with a couple of T of the sauce, stirring for about a minute.

Add the other tablespoon of oil. Chase sweetie out of the kitchen (the smell of cooking sesame oil makes both of our mouths water), then add the meat. Stir in the other T of oil, adding more sauce as the liquid gets absorbed into the meat and vegetables. When you only see a little bit of red left in the meat, throw in the green onion and stir.

Put rice onto plates. When the onions are bright green, but not wilted, your meal is done. Spoon over rice, add a bit more sauce, red pepper to taste (or, if you have access to Shichimi Togarashi, a Japanese red pepper blend, go for it). Top with sesame seeds, enjoy!

I think I'll try this with pork in a few weeks. Stay tuned!

Next week:  an unusual sweet

Questions? Comments? Death threats? Let's hear them!

In which Kate wishes she had a tagine or for the weather to clear up already

I love food from the Middle East. Falafel, couscous, stews in a tagine, lots of lamb, really strong coffee, pita, cucumbers, I could go on. There used to be (and for all I know still is) a great restaurant in Salt Lake City called Cedars of Lebanon where I had some fantastic food. There was also Robert's Deli, where I first ate sharwama, but that's gone now.


I came across this week's recipe while searching for a Moroccan chicken dish, all the better to use my preserved lemons. One link led to another, one reason I love the internet, and I found the Chrysalis Voyage site.


Most of the ingredients I had in my kitchen, but I had to look up za'atar. Sumac I had heard of but never tried. Penzey's had both, if I needed, but I tried locally first and lucked out. Fairway Market had both. While I have objection to mixing up my own spice blends, I was in kind of a hurry. It was Friday night, I wanted to relax. 


Being a mistress of making my own life difficult, I went all the way through the market to the cashier only to discover I'd left my wallet at home. Fortunately, I live close enough that they hadn't put the items in my cart away before I went home and back.


I decided to double the marinade recipe, because I was going to be serving four or five people, but I'll put Kim's measurements here:

I use Rock Cornish Hens because I find ½ a hen a nice individual portion, but feel free to use whatever you prefer. Boneless chicken breasts work just as well.

3-4 Rock Cornish Hens or equivalent of your fave chicken pieces

Juice of 2 lemons

¾ C Olive oil

2-4 cloves crushed garlic-to your taste

Very generous pinch of each: cinnamon, nutmeg, turmeric

Salt and Pepper— to your taste

1 T Za’atar

1 T Sumac

1 onion thinly sliced

3-4 T pine nuts

Set aside. In a bowl, mix olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt/pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, turmeric, za’atar, and sumac. Pour in a large Ziploc bag and add hens or chicken pieces marinating in fridge for 6-8 hours, turning the bag over occasionally. Remove hens/chicken pieces from marinade and heat marinade in a separate serving bowl to boiling in the microwave (my sweetie was a little edgy about cooking something in the marinade until I reassured him it was heated to the boiling point first). Set aside marinade. Roast hens in a tagine or oven for about an hour at 350, or until cooked through. Or, you can grill the chicken on the barbeque—also delicious.

The original plan was to descend on Austin the former landlord in a small celebration of the anniversary of my sweetie and I getting our own place. Austin loves grilling and dangit, it's April, even in New England it should feel somewhat like spring. It poured rain all day, so no grill. We ended up roasting the chicken in the oven and they came out very well, but I do want a tagine, like the one at the left.

When hens/chicken is about finished, saute sliced onions and pine nuts in 2-3 T of hen marinade. Put cooked chicken on a large serving platter and scatter onion/pine nuts on top. Sprinkle with a little more sumac and drizzle with a little more marinade, passing the rest at the table.  Recipe serves 6 approximately. (1/2 a Cornish hen for each person)

I toasted the pine nuts first, I find that ends a little bit of flavor, and it only takes a few minutes. The onions and the nuts topped off an already special dish and brought it to a higher level. Eight small chicken breasts served four of us. Next time, though, we grill!

Questions? Comments? Death threats? I'd love to hear from you!

In which Kate learns take better inventory of her wine

This week's entry should have been a resounding success, if it weren't for one thing: I grabbed the wrong bottle of wine. Let me begin at the beginning:

A while back, I found this recipe. Olive Oil Cured Swordfish. I loved it on sight. First off, I really enjoy the flavor and texture of swordfish. Second of all, a lot of the recipes I've seen for swordfish are heavy on the citrus, almost too much so. This one used it as an appetizer, and the orange and coriander made it very different from what I've seen. And it was pretty easy--my biggest challenge was finding a vessel big enough to lay out the fish slices:

Ingredients:

6 oz fresh swordfish

1/4 cup dry white wine. Dry. Note that, it's very important. 

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 t salt

1 orange

Sea Salt

Freshly ground black pepper.

What happened with the wine was this, I took inventory, found the wine I wanted to use (we only had two whites in the house), made a mental note and prepared my shopping list. When I grabbed the wine to make the marinade (see below), it was a sweet wine, not a dry one.  If I'd had more lemon juice to counter it, things might have turned out better.

As it was, I sliced the swordfish thinly, the hint in the recipe to lead with the heel of the knife was very useful. I ended up with pretty uniform slices. 

in a small bowl, whisk together the white wine, lemon juice and salt to combine. Pour this mixture over the raw fish slices and allow to rest for 1 hour at room temperature. I would recommend a little more than an hour if you have the time. My thicker slices didn't get "cooked" in the full hour.

Meanwhile, zest the orange, then segment (supreme) it, slicing the segments again in half lengthwise. Reserve both. Toast, then grind the whole coriander in a mortar & pestle. Here is a place where I need a lot of practice, my knife work is not, shall we say, supreme. Fortunately, my sweetie goes through satsumas in the winter the way I go through chocolate when I have PMS.  

Remove the fish slices from the marinade and set them atop a large piece of paper towel set on a plate. Top with another piece of paper towel to cover and gently press to dry.

Transfer the fish slices to a serving platter, arranging them in a single layer. Drizzle with olive oil to just cover. Scatter the orange segments, zest and ground coriander over them and sprinkle with a bit of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

I decided to serve this over an arugula salad as a main dish. It worked reasonably well, but it wasn't perfect. A day later, the marinade had done its job completely and the results was delicious. I plan to make this again, and when I have the money, serve it on a block of Himalayan salt like the one below


Happy eating everyone! As always, comments are encouraged.

Next week: something with sumac, and I don't mean the poison kind.

In which Kate gives up on seeing robins and crocuses (croci? croqui?)

March is supposed to come in like a lion and out like a lamb. Here in southern New England (or annexed NYC, depending on how you look at it), we had one 70-degree day a couple weeks ago and have gone back into the forties and rainy. I suspect Spring got mugged in Central Park and is being held hostage somewhere.


So, no robins on the grass (at least when I get downstairs. On the 11th floor, I just get the Goodfeathers on my balcony. And the occasional hawk), no crocuses. I may have seen daffodills, but that could be a pipe dream.


This all leads to part 2 of What to do With Preserved Lemons. I'm really pleased with how this came out. Light, and fresh and a reminder that eventually, the winter dolldrums will be behind us. The following serves 2:


1.5 medium tomatoes (about a cup and half, tomatoes being just slightly smaller than a baseball) chopped
2 T olive oil
1/4 cup brine from preserved lemons
1 preserved lemon, pith removed, finely diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste


2 servings of your favorite pasta, cooked. I used spaghetti.


I recommend making this ahead. While the tomatoes will take on the lemony flavor pretty quickly, an hour or so in the brine makes this just sublime. 


Combine the first six ingredients in a bowl, stir well and let sit about an hour. Toss with pasta. 


Yes, really, that's it. It was fantastic and fresh and gave me some hope that the second signs of spring are on their way.


Next week--something fishy.


Questions? Comments? Death threats? Let's hear them!

Half an onion feels lonely-Spicy Roasted Chick Peas take 1

I've been wanting to try this week's recipe for a few weeks now, but life kept getting in the way of serious cooking. Finally, this evening, I had a chance to do so.


I wasn't familiar with Clean Eating Magazine, and I came across a "clean" fish & chips recipe. It used whole-grain bread crumbs and baked thinly-sliced sweet potatoes. It didn't quite work for me and the test eater (hi, sweetie!), which is why you haven't seen it here on Knives, Fire and Fun.


I love chick peas. They're so yummy and so flexible. Raw on a salad, in channa masala or saag, I've pan-cooked them with onions and stirred in avocado afterwards (where did I put that link?). I've had them in a tagine as well. Then there's hummus. You get the idea.


Anyway, this recipe looked interesting, though it didn't strike me as a snack, so I thought I'd whip these up and put them on top of a salad. Here's our ingredient list:

• 2 cups canned or cooked chickpeas, drained and well rinsed --the cans I had were 15.5 ounces. Close enough
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice (Crap, I just realized I forgot this)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp maple sugar flakes (I skipped this, in case my sweetie decided he wanted some. He doesn't do sweet & spicy combos. I say he's missing out)
• 1 1/2 tsp cumin, ground
• 1/2 tsp coriander, ground
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon, ground
• 1/4 tsp each sea salt and ground black pepper
• Pinch cayenne pepper, to taste

I also chopped up half a lonely onion and threw it in the mix.

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. Combine all ingredients in a bowl; toss well.
3. Spread chickpea mixture on foil-lined baking sheet.
4. Put in oven, roasting for 20 to 25 minutes; toss mixture about halfway through.
5. When chickpeas are dark brown in spots, remove from oven and let cool.
6. Store in airtight container in refrigerator

These did not come out perfect. I think next time (which may be tomorrow, I do have another can of chick peas), I will stir them more often, maybe every 8 minutes instead of every ten. I believe the goal is a light crunch on the outside with a creamy center. Almost, but now quite. So, you'll see this one again.

Thanks for reading!

Questions? Comments? Death threats? Let's hear from you!

What to do with Preserved Lemons

I hemmed and hawed a little bit about this post because the results were mixed. This occasionally happens when I cook by the seat of my pants.

Anyway, you'll recall about a month ago, I put up some lemons to preserve. I checked them on a regular basis and added some additional lemon juice to keep them covered. Then I ran out of lemons, so taking a cue from my friend Beki, added some water.

A few weeks later, the brine tasted delicious. Next batch will have a lot more pepper, possibly a bay leaf. This batch had coriander and cinnamon and I was so thrilled with the taste I had to have it in something.

I breaded some chicken breasts with panko, thyme and pepper, and thought for a side dish, I'd make quinoa (which to my amusement does not pass my spell check) with some lemony mushrooms. The thought was to brighten the nutty quinoa with the freshness of the lemons. I put about a T of olive oil in a pan, chopped the mushrooms into 1/2 inch pieces and sauteed the shrooms for a bit over medium heat. After a few minutes, I added a half cup of brine , half a chopped lemon peel and cooked it down until just a little bit of liquid was left. 

I should have left the mushrooms on their own. They tasted delightful, as if they'd been marinating for weeks. I liked them stirred in with the quinoa, my sweetie was less than enthusiastic. He didn't think the flavors meshed very well, and in retrospect, I think I have to agree. Naturally, I was disappointed, but my spirits perked up when he said he would try the lemon flavor in other things.

I'm thinking of tossing it with fresh tomatoes, garlic and olive oil and serving over pasta. Fresh parsley too, now that I think of it. I bought a bottle of Turkish olive oil that's a lovely yellow-green, so I think it will have a good olive taste.

To my knowledge, there's nothing special about Turkish olive oil. I was TJMaxx and I can't shop there without taking something home from the gourmet foods section. They always have pretty bottles of olive oil and I was running out. And now I'm running on, so I will sign off. Thank you as always for reading.

Questions? Comments? Death threats? Let's hear them! 

Variations on a theme

Today's post will be a little short, as it was meant to be last week's post and I'm still not completely over the cold. This is to the annoyance of my poor sweetie as well as myself because, probably like most people, I snore when congested.

Anyway, back in November, I tried Rachel Ray's recipes, specifically that of Beer Cheese Soup. I found the recipe easy to follow, no what I considered unnecessary ingredients (you can skip the chicken broth rant), and it was very flavorful and warm and went deliciously with a toasted English muffin.

At the bottom of her recipe, there was a note, "try it with gruyere!" So that's what I did. I was a little short on the exact amount of cheese, so I threw in a few slices of Havarti. It's mild, it's creamy, and I figured it would do more for texture than taste. I also used a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale instead of Harp (BTW, if you see a guy in a green windbreaker who answers to Lucas Payton, tell him I said thanks for getting me hooked on Newcastle).

The gruyere I had was pretty mild, and I wasn't left with a very strong cheesy taste the first time I ate it. When my sweetie had the leftovers, the flavors had combined to a taste that was greater than the sum of its parts. Maybe I should have left it on the stove a little longer, I don't know. This is a combination I'll try again.

I also skipped one of the carrots and added two shallots in its place. I definitely liked this better. Sweet and sharp at the same time.

I might go for the stronger beer wtih the sharper cheddar next time, and a milder beer with the gruyere. Or maybe that cheshire with onions that was so nice when I was experimenting with macaroni and cheese, the possibilities are endless. . .

Questions? Comments? Death Threats? And everyone say hi to new follower TNJ! TNJ, send a quick email to that smart blonde at gmail and I'll get your Amazon gift card right out!