Recipes From Around The Web: Pho, Pumpkin Stew and Olives

Normally my taste buds run in streaks. I’ll get a taste for duck and I’ll make duck several times in several different ways for a month and then I’ll be done. Or pumpkin, for about 6 weeks of the year everything I touch has pumpkin in it, near it or I have shaped to look like a pumpkin. Either I am losing my attention span or my taste buds are changing, but for the last two weeks I have been all over the map. In keeping with my normal taste bud streak I have been quite literally pickling everything I can get my hands on. I am lucky enough to have several friends in my life who are more than happy to pick up the ‘slack’ because although nutritionally, pickled produce isn’t the worse thing that one to eat, it will take its toll on your kidney’s eventually especially if you eat nothing else.

Speaking of pickling, well technically, brining, I decided to kick the preserving up a notch and make my own olives. This is at the long end a 6-month process and on the short end a 6-week process. After reading several different recipes and watching a lot of youtube videos like this one:

I decided to go with Apple Crumbles. Her recipe was the most clear to me and I liked that she had pictures most steps of the way. Since I don’t own a pickling kettle I just have the olives in mason jars that I am draining and refilling with brine daily. Apparently, the more you change the brine the quicker the process. My goal is to have these olives ready for Thanksgiving. I am cutting it pretty close.

It being pumpkin season and all, I was pretty excited when I came across Jehan Can Cook’s recipe for Chicken and Pumpkin Stew. What attracted me to the stew was that it was a slightly spicy coconut milk based stew. The recipe pulls together a lot of the flavors that I like, cumin, garlic, ginger, pumpkin (technically calabaza squash), and coconut milk. The recipe does call for chicken bouillon, which I just never have, so I added a little homemade chicken stock instead to bump up the flavor. The recipe says to cook the stew for 20-25 minutes or until the pumpkin is tender, I cooked it for close to 40 minutes, only because my pumpkin was taking bit longer to break down. It was wonderful that this was a one-pot stew and I did end up with a delightfully spiced stew in under an hour that I served over brown rice, but would probably just serve with crusty bread next time.

This week’s final treat was Vietnamese Beef Pho Soup. The two recipes that I found most helpful, and I’m a little chagrined to say this were the recipes at epicurious and at Food Network.  My first try out on this, I had pork stock in my freezer so I went ahead and used that. To give the broth the unique Pho flavor I toasted my star anise, cloves and fennel seeds and then put them into a cheesecloth with chunks of ginger, dropped the spice packet into the broth and simmered for a good 20 minutes allowing the spices to infuse the broth that way. As I am typing this I have a beef broth cooking on the stove to try the recipe again to see if the difference is that huge. Both recipes called for either knuckle or oxtail to make the broth, and my butcher was sympathetic as he told me he was out, but then he suggested that I use the shank instead. What is lovely about Pho is that it is so simple and so delicate in flavor. The cilantro, mung beans, scallions and lime juice keep the soup fresh while the rice noodles and beef fill you up. I will admit that putting the raw sliced flank steak into the soup was a little nerve-racking, until after delivering myself a swift kick in the shins I reminded myself of all of tartares and carpaccios I have eaten in my lifetime with no harm.

If anyone knows of a stunner Pho recipe I would love to hear about it!

Related Articles

• Cooking with Pumpkins (greenandcleanmom.org)
• Weekend Menu Planning: Pumpkin Recipes for Soup, Chili, Stew, and Drinks (blogher.com)

Pickles!

Though pickles have long been a favorite of mine, it wasn’t until I gave up all foods with High Fructose Corn Syrup in them that I started pickling on my own. Pickling has not only made me  popular with my friends, I do take pickle requests, it is quick and simple. This is all you need for pickling.

All you need

You need vinegar, kosher salt or pickling salt as it is sometimes called, jars, pickling spices, you can make your own or buy them, I buy them from my local spice shop, water, and kirby cucumbers.

The ratio is very simple. For every 2 quarts of water you need 1 cup of vinegar and 1/2 cup kosher salt. Put those ingredients into a pan and bring to a boil. After you have sterilized the jars by soaking them in boiling water, put one tablespoon of your pickling spices into the bottom of each jar. I add a teaspoon of red hot pepper flakes for a little kick , but you don’t have to. I also add two sprigs of dill to each jar if I have it on hand.

While the water is coming to a boil cut the Kirby cucumbers into either spears or slices. I find that 6 pounds of Kirby’s makes 5 1 quart jars of pickles. This batch I did both.

Once the water comes to boil top off the cucumbers with the brine, seal the jars, done and done. They will keep in the fridge for months. You can also pickle nearly any vegetable using this brine. Cauliflower, asparagus, carrots, green beans (yellow ones work best.)

Pickles

6 pounds Kirby’s
4 quarts water
2 cups vinegar
1 cup Kosher Salt (or pickling)
5 tablespoons pickling spice
5 teaspoons red pepper flakes
10 sprigs dill

Now that the secret is out, my phone is sure to stop ringing.

Golden Tile Baked in Banana Leaves

Cooking food in banana leaves is one of those things that I have always wanted to do because it seems like a cooking technique that can easily be transferred from steamer, to grill, to oven and pan.  I don’t really have  good excuse as to why I hadn’t done it before other than pure lack of motivation. Shiva thus far has largely been teaching me vegan/vegetarian dishes, so it was a little exciting to broach the animal protein barrier. Shiva just asked me to pick up fish, and I didn’t know if we were cooking the fish whole or in fillets so I brought over this guy, which is a Golden Tile from New Jersey, whose head I am cutting off.

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After the fish was butchered (I kept the body left overs for stock) we cut the fish into portions and sprinkled the fish with 1 teaspoon salt. Then we took 1 teaspoon of turmeric and 1/2 teaspoon chili powder and rubbed the spices into the fish. Then we just sprinkled with fish with 1/2 teaspoon more salt.

Banana leaves are surprisingly available because they can be frozen, and are easy to handle. You can just tear off strips to the size you need.

Before we tied the fish up we put a little of this mustard sauce, as in about 1 teaspoon per serving in each packet, I apologize for the photo.

Put the fish on a piece of leaf, add mustard sauce and just fold and tie with butchers twine. Pop into a 400F preheated oven and cook for 5 minutes, longer if you want your fish more cooked. You can either remove the fish from the leaf or just open the packets and sprinkle with cilantro and serve. This really did render beautifully, moist, flaky and flavorful fish and can be cooked with pretty much any fish you have on hand.

Watery Dahl with Peas and Homemade Roti

Recently, Shiva was nice enough to invite me out to lunch and tea. While we were having tea he took a pan from the top of his stove and said; ” Try this!”  Into my mouth went a spiced pea dish that elevated the always good, but not necessarily anything to write home about, pea into a star. In all sincerity, this was by far the best pea dish I had ever had. After I concluded the cooking interrogation I went home and made this:

Peas, Watery Dahl and Roti

I might be a wee bit competitive. Let’s start with the Dahl, which takes the longest to make, about 15-20 minutes. For those of you concerned with protein, especially in vegan meal, here, it comes from the Dahl. There are several different kinds of Dahl, for watery Dahl, Shiva taught me to make it with Mung Bean Dahl, which in its package looks like this:

You cook Dahl very much like rice. Only in this case it is a 1:5 ratio. meaning 1 cup Dahl to 5 cups water. Once rinsed, put the Dahl and water in a pan and add 1 teaspoon turmeric and bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat to a simmer, cover and cook until done, 15-20 minutes. You want some water not to have absorbed for easy eating, and in fact Shiva told me that the water from this dish is often fed to sick people.

When the Dahl is done, turn off the heat and in a small saucepan heat 2 tablespoons neutral nut oil and roast 1/2 tablespoons cumin seeds and an additional 1 teaspoon turmeric. When the cumin seeds begin to pop, pour all of it into the Dahl, stir and salt to taste.

Now for the Roti’s. This is the flour that I used, and what you are looking for is a very finely ground wheat flour. This flour though a little gravelly has a texture not that far from a cornstarch.

The roti dough is literally just this flour with water. For 4 rotis I used:

1 and 1/2 cups flour and about 1/2-3/4 cup water.

You want the dough to be moist, but not too sticky because you are going to form balls and roll them out into thin pancakes that you then cook in a very hot dry pan for about 90 seconds on each side. Feel free to roll the balls in flour as necessary so they don’t stick to the rolling pin or rolling surface.

Because my fabulous photographer Kristin Booker from fashionstylebeauty.com wasn’t around, I didn’t get pictures of me actually cooking them. But I did get this one!

Once the rotis are done, it’s pea time.

Spiced Peas with Onions

Serves 2

1/2 pound frozen peas

1/2 large yellow onion diced

1 handful cilantro, washed and roughly chopped

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons neutral nut oil

Heat the oil in a pan over a medium high heat until quite warm. Add the turmeric, cumin and coriander roasting them until fragrant but not burned. Add diced onion and cook the onion just until the oils start to release. Add peas and stir.

You want to cook them just until the peas are heated through, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally so they don’t stick to the pan. When almost done add the cilantro, stir in and serve.

Voila, one vegan Indian meal in about 30 minutes.

Six Weeks of Veganism and The Moral

For 7 years from the ages of 15 to 22 I was a happy vegetarian. Admittedly, I initially became such in a fit of teenage rebellion against the horrid cooking of stepmother du jour. Though raised by a relatively accomplished carnivore cook, when he chose to take the reins, I, much to my surprise found that my body did not miss meat. This is not to say that my mouth didn’t water at the smell of Sunday bacon frying, but rather that once removed from my diet, meat wasn’t something that I found myself thinking about when walking down the street. Then I was mis-diagnosed with lactose intolerance and when faced with the idea of going vegan or back to meat I went the easier route. Many years later, finding myself writing a food blog resting on the platform of ethical eating, I had to admit that it is difficult to ring that bell as loudly as I would like without ever having tried to walk the vegan road. So, I committed to a month of veganism, which all on its own stretched to six weeks.

Veganism is certainly moving more and more to the mainstream, not least due to several Hollywood stars towing the line, Portman, Phoenix and Penelope Cruz to name but a few. However, any diet choice, no matter how extreme is easy to accomplish when one has the resources available that might not be to the rest of us, like home chefs, and someone else doing the shopping and careful considerations of making sure meals are balanced. But non-celebrities eat vegan too and have for years and there are several great blogs dedicated to vegan eating, The Urban Vegan, VeganYumYum, eat, drink & be vegan.

I am, and can afford to be an ethical eater, especially when it comes to meat. I subscribe to the school of thought of meat as a condiment to a meal and not the star. I consume very little dairy and eat a plant-based diet. Or so I thought. When I decided to go vegan I did it with the focus of doing it as soy free as possible. Too many people who eat vegan merely substitute their meat centric diets with soy versions, and as many studies have shown, soy consumed in large quantities raises estrogen levels, and is one of the most genetically modified plants on the planet. Not to mention, the idea of veganism is to get back in touch with grains and vegetables, not just soy that has been over processed and pressed into meat like slabs and flavored to taste like the very thing one is supposed to be cutting from their diet. I did find it relatively difficult to find a non-soy veggie patty, until I discovered Amy’s California Veggie Burger whose ingredients are grain based.

I spent several weeks reading recipes and making shopping lists. Certainly the most difficult thing was breaking my routines and properly prepping my kitchen for the weeks to come. I allowed myself yeast and honey (some vegans eschew even these ‘animal’ products.) I made myself lots of veggie stock. I purchased a tub of non soy earth balance, gathered my recipes for soups, pastas, salads, hummus etc and pulled the meat plug.

It was much, much easier than I thought possible. And though it was difficult to eat out, it wasn’t impossible, nor is veganism much cheaper. What I did find it was that I had to eat more often and more quickly from the onset of the sensation of hunger. I took to carrying nuts and dried fruit as well as bananas for those moments I found myself out and about longer than I had planned. I discovered that many pizza places make a cheeseless pizza using pesto to add flavor. I found that being a vegan in almost any Asian cuisine is quite simply, easy. I learned to love nut butters again and instead of making cheese toast when I came home from a long day, I spread avocado on whole grain bread for a quick snack. I found myself craving certain kinds of vegetables and reconnected with pasta. I found myself needing less sleep, having more energy, and feeling sharper and quicker all around.

Moreover, I found myself having to admit, that clearly I had been eating far more animal products then I was actually aware of. Now, that the experiment is over and I can eat meat, I have only done so three or four times, and each time noticed how the meat slowed my digestive process, as well as sapped my energy. What I did find myself adding back in was butter, in part because eating responsibly sourced butter is better for me than eating the oil-based substitutes.

This is where the issue of veganism becomes a touchy one. There is a difference between ethical and moral eating. I, for one, am most interested in navigating our food environment to find the path that most works for me and find myself knee jerking against anything that reeks of fanaticism or doctrine. I find it difficult to tolerate a lecture about the conditions of animal death in slaughterhouses, but will listen avidly to any information about how the body best processes food, and what is actually in the ingredients we use for not only fuel but happiness. As the saying goes, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. A month into the experiment I had lost an entire size without changing my exercise routine in any way.

Over the last two months I have had a few dinner parties, all of them vegan based, the last did have one dish with homemade paneer, not to worry we will get to those recipes soon. On each occasion there was much discussion laced with the tone of surprise about how everyone was satisfied and hadn’t missed meat during the meal at all.

I’m not trying to change your mind, bring you to the dark side, or make you feel guilty, but what I am saying is that veganism isn’t just for the hippies, fanatical or celebrities, it’s for all of us. I can’t recommend highly enough giving it a go, if only so you can rediscover what it is that you actually want to eat versus what you have fallen into the habit of eating.  Veganism was an eye opener for me, and I had already fancied my eyes quite open already.

Hot and Sour Soup and Braised Pork with Spicy Soy Sauce

I took most of December off from food blogging for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that in general December is busy for everyone and the blogosphere grinds nearly to a halt, even the food news, which is after all my focus. But above both of those things I felt strongly that I needed to refocus. So I spent the month cooking recipes out of Mark Bittman’s deservedly famous tome How To Cook Everything, searching in part to clarify my food voice in a chorus of so many already great ones.

I also had the pleasure of receiving a signed copy of David Chang’s Momofuku cookbook. Needless to say I spend several days pouring over the pictures and reading every single word, even the ones not written by him. The wonderful thing about David Chang’s book is that it truly reads like a memoir and there is a fuck you attitude, which he says several times in the book, matched with an undeniable elegance and a triple awareness of the shocking ridiculousness of his success. The book is decadent on every level, from the food porn shots, to the quality of the paper not to mention the recipes. But above all it is honest. He is honest in the book in telling us, the reader, to buy steamed buns, rice cakes and noodles, but includes recipes for the crazies who want to make them. He is honest about what he does and though he is obviously grateful for his success he seems a little baffled, in part because though Noodle Bar and Ssam Bar are now without a doubt successes, the initial ideas for both restaurants fell flat and only through David Chang’s strongest trait, adaptability, a whole lot of luck which included the talented staff and co-chefs that flowed his way, did they survive at all, literally. The final accolade on the worshiping of David Chang cake is his commitment to the use of local, ethical and sustainable ingredients which shows not only in where he purchases his products but also what he uses in his dishes, like the pig tail special I had the pleasure of eating on my birthday at the Noodle Bar.

What do these two things have in common? I’ve mentioned before that I was lucky to grow up with a single father who in the 70’s (along with a lot of other people at the time) picked up a wok and tried their hands at Chinese cooking. My father went all the way and got pretty good at several recipes. Thus I, an undeniably Caucasian woman in her latest of late thirties, has an affinity of both palate and kitchen to cook Asian cuisines.  This has somehow always felt strange for me. I feel some misplaced guilt at appropriating a food culture that isn’t ‘mine.’ It wasn’t until my business partner said to me after I had done a batch of potstickers to middling success, “I find it strange that you cook all of this Asian food.” When I asked him why he went on to say, “I guess I just thought that you would cook more American foods,” and my reply of “but for me Asian food is part of American food and has been so for quite some time,” rang true to the cook, writer and self that is me.

Then I sat down and really thought about what I think about when I think of food, where I find myself in the aisles of food stores, or even what parts of town, what food blogs I enjoy reading most and where I love to eat, as well as where I put the most effort into cooking when I’m just trying to get something perfect for me. I have been working on my Pho recipe for three months straight now, I have made stocks of all kinds of bones, I have tried shank, regular soup bones, I have tried mixing pork and beef bones, I even added some lamb bones once in search of perfect balance, it was weird, don’t try it. I have tried several different incarnations of the spices that I dry toast and use. I have tried different noodles, different cuts of meat and still I search, enjoying every step, for the reason my Pho isn’t amazing. Don’t get me wrong it is damn good, but I haven’t knocked it out of the park yet.

However, the first time that I made Hot and Sour Soup it was shockingly good. And in all honesty the best Hot and Soup I have ever had and I love Hot and Sour Soup. I even love the MSG, cornstarch laden crap sold at really cheap Chinese take out places, in a different way of course, but there is love there none-the-less, a love that I am now finally proud of.

This recipe is from Mark Bittman and for those who do not yet own How To Cook Everything, and have an extra 35 dollars sitting around, stop reading, get up and go get it. I’ll be here when you get back. The book is organized to teach people how to riff of basic recipes and thus encourages improvisation, as well as the basic truth about food: it all tastes good when prepared well and there are no ‘wrong’ ideas as long as you stay within a certain area of reason. This recipe is what I have done to/with his recipe. His recipe calls for a ½ pound of tofu cut into ½ inch cubes. Given the issues surrounding tofu, genetic modification and heavy pesticides, as well as the fact that I was using pork meat and pork stock, I felt that the tofu was more protein than I needed and added instead bamboo shoots for body. For all you fantastic vegetarians out there, make this soup with a vegetable stock, put a whole pound of tofu and an extra ½ pound of bamboo shoots in the soup. For the rest of us:

I braised the pork ahead of time, this is enough for two batches of soup.

Braised Pork with Spicy Soy Sauce

1 fresh hot chili seed and minced

2 pound boneless pork shoulder trimmed and cut into bite sized chunks

1/4 cup soy sauce

¼ cup nam pla (Thai fish sauce)

¼ cup sugar

½ cup stock

2 tablespoons minced garlic

2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger

1 cup thinly sliced onion

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil over a medium-high heat. Then turn the heat down to a minimum and cook, covered, stirring every 10 minutes or so for about 45 minutes. Remove the lid, turn the heat up and boil until the liquid is reduced to less than a cup. You can do this ahead of time, you can even put this over rice and call it a day.

Hot and Sour Soup

1 tablespoon dark sesame oil

3 tablespoons soy sauce

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1 pound of the braised pork

6 cups of chicken stock (I used both a turkey and a pork on separate occasions, it’s what I had)

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

5 dried whole shiitake mushrooms soaked in hot water for at least 10 minutes

5 Chinese wood ear mushrooms also soaked for 10 minutes (I used black trumpets because I like them)

¼ cup rice vinegar, more if you like it more sour

3 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 eggs, lightly beaten

¼ cup chopped cilantro leaves

½ cup chopped scallions

½ pound thinly sliced bamboo shoots

Whisk together the sesame oil, soy sauce and cornstarch and set aside. Combine the stock with the garlic and ginger in a large pot and bring to a boil over a medium-high heat. Drain the mushrooms, trim off any hard sports and cut into very thin slices, and add to the stock. Reduce the heat to low and cook at a steady bubble for 5 minutes.

Bring the stock back to a boil over a medium-high heat and add the meat, cook for another 3 minutes. Add the vinegar and pepper and reduce to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Add ¼ cup cold water to the cornstarch mixture and stir into the soup until it thickens, about 1 minute. While stirring, pour the eggs into the soup in a slow steady stream, the eggs will form thin ribbons that will float to the top of the soup. Remove from the heat and add more vinegar or pepper until you find the hot/sour point you like. Garnish with the cilantro, the scallions and serve.

Did I take a picture once, in all the batches I made this month, of course not, I am still me after all.

Oh, and the news item from Eatocracy that told of a recall by Rolf’s Patisserie on Christmas Eve that included some gingerbread bread houses that were sold by Whole Foods, that are possibly contaminated with Staphylococcus Aureus bacteria seemed the height of Holiday food irony.