COCONUT CREAMED CHARD

My pursuits of the perfect Saag have taken me far and wide. I’ve tried many a recipe in my kitchen, some my own, some belonging to those far more well-versed in Indian cooking. My pursuits have brought forth this dish, reminiscent of the saag at my favorite Indian restaurant, but tweaked for my Brooklyn kitchen. Instead of spinach I used rainbow chard because it was local, fresh and calling to me with jewel-toned legs amidst the shrubbery of the produce aisle. Two bunches may look like a lot when you stick it in your cart, but chard (like every leafy green) cooks down to nothing. Ergo, buy more than you think you need. 

PARTY

View fullsize

• 2 bunches Rainbow Chard
• 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1 inch Ginger, peeled and minced
• 1 tablespoon Mustard Seed
• ½ tablespoon Amchur (or the pit of one mango)
• 3-5 Cardomom Pods (depending on your affinity for the scent)
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon Black Pepper
• ½ cup Coconut Milk

BUSINESS

1. Strip the leaves of chard from their jewel-toned stems. Reserve the stems for making veggie stock, we will not be using them in this recipe. Stack the leaves of chard and roll them into a fat, tight cigar. Slicing across the roll, cut the chard into strips. Set the ribbons aside.
2. In a large stock pot or wok heat the oil over medium-high heat until rippling.
3. Add the ginger and saute for 3-5 minutes, or until it is golden brown.
4. Add the mustard seeds and amchur (or the mango pit) and immediately put a lid on the pot. The seeds will start to pop and without a lid your kitchen will be covered in tiny little black spots. I repeat, put a lid on it.
5. When the popping dies down (after about a minute or two), open the lid and stuff the chard into the pot.
6. Add the cardomom pods, salt and pepper and stir everything to combine.
7. Continue to stir as the chard wilts and pour in the coconut milk.
8. Put the lid back on the pot, drop the heat to low and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
9. Remove the lid and continue to simmer for another 5 minutes, or until the leaves are tender and the milk has thickened slightly.
10. Eat it.

SAMOSA POTATOES

Beginning with an Indian inspiration I tore the insides from mental samosas and packed them into a casserole dish. The result is a tray of scoopable, spiced, tender, and crusty potatoes, perfect as the bed for some fried eggs. I add a lot of peas to my potato mixture, feel free to adjust the proportion should you be pea-averse. 

INGREDIENTS

View fullsize

• 4 large Yukon Gold Potatoes (~2 lbs)

• 1 tablespoon White Vineger

• 1/3 cup Olive Oil

• 2 Serrano Chilies, minced (~2 tbs)

• 5 cloves Garlic, minced (~1 1/2 tbs)

• 3 inches Ginger, chopped (~3 tbs)

• 1 tablespoon Black Mustard Seed

• 1 tablespoon Amchur

• 2 1/2 teaspoons Whole Cumin Seeds

• 1/2 teaspoon Ground Coriander

• 1/2 teaspoon Ground Cardamom

• 1/2 teaspoon Fennel Powder

• 2 cups frozen Green Peas

BUSINESS

1. Chop the potatoes into roughly 2 inch pieces.
2. Place them in a large saute pan and cover with two cups of water. Add the vinegar.
3. Cover the pan and bring to a simmer, cook at a medium temp for 15-20 minutes, until potatoes are fork tender but have not lost their shape completely.
4. Drain the potatoes and partially mash in a large bowl.
5. Heat the oil in a large wok or saute pan.
6. When the oil is hot, toss in the serrano chilies, garlic, ginger, cumin seeds and black mustard seeds.  Saute till light brown.
7. Throw in all the remaining spices.
8. Add the semi-mashed potatoes, stir everything to distribute the spices.
9. Add the frozen peas.
10. Spoon potato mixture into casserole dish and drizzle olive oil on top. Slide into the oven at 375 for 10-15 minutes to crisp up the top.

CARAWAY SMASHED POTATOES

This date night meal needed some heft (I intend to put my dear friend into a food coma) and what adds more power to a meal than the humble potato? Boiled, smashed, and pan fried, this potato has everything: a tender center, a crisp skin, salt, garlic. It was only missing one thing: intrigue. Enter caraway. You think of it as the flavor of rye bread, and it's the perfect compliment to a smashed potato.

INGREDIENTS

View fullsize

• 6 Red Skinned New Potatoes
• 1/4 cup White Wine Vinegar
• Olive Oil for pan frying 
• 1 head Garlic Cloves, smashed and peeled
• 1 tablespoon Whole Caraway Seeds

BUSINESS

1. Clean your potatoes and place them in a large stock pot. Cover them with cold water, until it is at least an inch above the potatoes. Put a lid on the pot and bring it to a boil. Cook until the potatoes are fork tender, about 35-40 minutes.
2. Remove the potatoes from the water, drain them and let them cool. When they're cool enough to handle, use a heavy pan to press them down (or smash them) until they're relatively flat.
3. In a wok or cast iron skillet, heat a good pour of olive oil. Add the garlic and sprinkle in some caraway seeds (judge the amount depending on how many batches of potatoes you'll be frying). Cook garlic and caraway until fragrant.
4. Add potatoes (don't crowd the pan, maybe only two at a time) and fry until golden brown, then flip and cook again until golden.
5. Remove from the pan and serve.

CABBAGE AND ONIONS

In an effort to serve foods with a natural blush for my practice date I picked up a head of red cabbage at the market. Cabbage has a bad rap for being smelly, cheap, and mushy, and the fault for such a reputation sits heavily on the shoulders of mid-century cooks. Cabbage is a riot of color and texture, the tender leaves contrast mightily with the crunchy veins. I toss mine with apple cider vinegar and miso for a punch of acidity and flavor. No mush over here.

INGREDIENTS

View fullsize

• 2 medium Red Onions
• 3 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1 head Red Cabbage
• 1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
• 2 tablespoons White or Yellow Miso
• Salt and Pepper to taste

BUSINESS

1. Cut the onions in half vertically, then slice the halves thinly. 
2. Heat the oil in a wok or large stock pot, then add the onions and sauteee for 6-10 minutes over medium-high heat until translucent and slightly charred.
3. While the onions are cooking, cut up the cabbage. Chop the head in half vertically, then cut out the core of each half. Slice each half into thin strips.
4. Add the cabbage to the onions and stir to combine. Sautee for 5 minutes.
5. Pour the vinegar around the edges of your pot, then immediately cover with a lid and cook on high heat for 5 minutes. 
6. Remove the lid, add miso, salt, and pepper, stir to combine and cook another 5-7 minutes, until the cabbage is your desired texture. 
7. Remove from heat and serve.

SCALLION PANCAKES

The perfect appetizer for a small group. Make a batch and let your friends gather in the kitchen to nibble the crisp edges as you scrape these off the hot griddle.

INGREDIENTS

View fullsize

• 9 tablespoons White Rice Flour
• 6 tablespoons Sorghum Flour
• 1/2 tablespoon Tapioca Flour
• 1/2 tablespoon Potato Flour (flour, not starch, take heed)
• 1/4 teaspoon Xanthan Gum
• 1/2 cup Boiling Water (boil first, measure later)
• Salt and Pepper
• Sesame Oil
• ~1/4 cup finely chopped Scallions
• Oil for pan frying

GET BUSY

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
2. Pour the boiling water over the flour mixture and stir everything together. The dough will be tough, so get in there with your hands and knead it toward the end.
3. Pinch off some dough the size of a ping pong ball. Dust your counter with some extra rice flour and roll the dough out into an oblong shape, about 1/8 inch thick.
4. Brush the flattened dough with sesame oil and sprinkle gently with salt and pepper.
5. Scatter about one tablespoon of chopped scallion on the dough.
6. Roll the dough up like a cigar and pinch the ends to secure.
7. Roll the cigar into a spiral.
8. Using your rolling pin, roll this spiral out to about 1/4 inch thick. You should have a pancake roughly 5 inches in diameter.
9. Heat some oil in a saute pan until it is almost smoking.
10. Pan fry the cake for 2-3 minutes per side, or until golden brown and crisp all over.
11. Let the cakes cool on a paper towel to absorb some of the oil, then slice and serve!

FU GWA WITH SHITAKE

Do yourself a favor and scour Chinatown for veggies. You'll see things you never knew existed. Like this, Fu Gwa. It's known as Bitter Melon in America and the name is no joke. Be prepared for an intriguing taste at your table. The texture is close to zucchini, but firmer. Chop it up, stir fry it with some shitake mushrooms and put it on the table. It'll be gone in no time.

INGREDIENTS

View fullsize

• 2 cups Dried Shitake Mushrooms
• Hot Water
• 2 pounds Fu Gwa
• 3 tablespoons Sesame Oil
• 3 cloves Garlic, chopped
• 3 tablespoons Soy Sauce

BUSINESS

1. Soak the mushrooms in hot water for at least 30 minutes, until they're tender enough to cut. Cut them into bite sized pieces.
2. Cut the Fu Gwa in half and scoop out the seeds, then chop it into rounds or cubes.
3. Heat the sesame oil in the base of a wok and add the garlic when it's hot. Stir fry until garlic is browned.
4. Add mushrooms and stir fry for 7-10 minutes.
5. Add Fu Gwa and Soy Sauce, stir fry for 5-7 minutes, then serve.

DOU MIAO WITH FERMENTED TOFU

Without a doubt, Dou Miao is my favorite vegetable. The pea shoots are easy to cook, tender and crunchy all at once, sweet and savory. I can eat more Dou Miao in one sitting than any other vegetable. I guess I should tell my parents they raised me well.

INGREDIENTS

View fullsize

• 3 tablespoons Sesame Oil
• 3 Cloves Garlic, sliced thinly
• 3 cubes Fermented Tofu (they're small but mighty)
• 2 pounds Dou Miao, washed
• 3 tablespoons Shaoxing Rice Wine

BUSINESS

1. Heat oil in wok over medium-high heat. Add garlic and stir fry until golden.
2. Add fermented tofu, mash into paste.
3. Add Dou Miao, stir fry until reduced by at least half (about 7 minutes)
4. Pour in rice wine, deglaze pan, toss veggies and serve.

CUMIN ROASTED CARROTS

Appetizers don't have to be fried and starchy (though I am a fan of a good french fry), start your next party with an extra serving of veggies. Carrots are perfect finger food.

INGREDIENTS

View fullsize

• 6 slim Carrots, with greens attached
• 3-4 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Ground Cumin
• 1 teaspoon Orange Zest

GET BUSY

1. Heat your oven to 375 degrees.
2. Bisect the carrots from green to tip (without going through the top root). Then turn the carrot 90* and repeat, making four squiddy legs to the vegetable. Place them in a roasting tray.
3. Drizzle oil over the carrots, then sprinkle salt and cumin. Toss to distribute spice.
4. Roast the carrots for 18-22 minutes, until just barely fork tender and slightly browned at the narrow tip.
5. Remove the carrots from the oven and sprinkle orange zest over them. Plate the vegetables and serve.

BEETS AND CHORIZO

Beets are always paired with blue cheese, which is lovely but needed a kick in bum for this dinner party. Cheese provides fat and acid which pair well with beets, so I opted to trade them for chorizo. Spicy, fatty, crisp, they make the perfect accompaniment to luscious beets.

INGREDIENTS

View fullsize

• 3 medium Beets
• 2-3 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 4 small Chorizo (the hard, cured kind, not raw meat)
• 2 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
• Salt to taste

GET BUSY

1. Heat your oven to 375 degrees.
2. Peel and quarter your beets. Place in a roasting tray and drizzle with oil.
3. Roast the beets for 75-90 minutes, until they're fork tender.
4. While the beets are roasting, slice the chorizo into small discs and throw them in a large sauté pan. Cook the chorizo over a medium-low flame, rendering out the fat, for 10-15 minutes, stirring constantly, until crispy. Scoop the crisped meat out of the rendered fat (save the fat for another recipe).
5. Remove the beets from the oven, allow them 10 minutes to cool, then slice them into filets.
6. Toss the beets and chorizo together in a bowl with salt and balsamic vinegar. Plate and serve.

BUTTERNUT RISOTTO

The most important ingredient in your risotto (and by far, the most often overlooked) is the stock. Go ahead and bicker over the rice (arborio or carnaroli?), the fat (olive oil or butter?), the acid (lemon juice or wine?), you’re just wasting time. No matter what combination of rice+fat+acid you settle on, if you use boxed vegetable or chicken stock your risotto will grow fat on that antiseptic flavor, the sanitized taste of cartoned stock.

INGREDIENTS

View fullsize

• 1 small Butternut Squash (about 1 pound)
• 1 Yellow Onion
• 3-4 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1 cup Arborio Rice
• 1 glass White Wine (~3/4 cup)
• 1 quart Squash Stock 
• Salt and Pepper to taste

 GET BUSY

1. Heat your oven to 450 degrees. Using a sharp knife, cut the rind off the squash, leaving bright orange all around. Cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds, and then cut the flesh into small cubes (less than a centimeter). Add the squash rind and seeds to a small sauce pan on the side. Cover them with water (or extra veggie stock) and heat it over a low flame.
2. Thinly slice the yellow onion and sauté with the olive oil in a dutch oven or other heavy bottomed stock pot. Add salt.
3. When the onion is translucent, add the rice to the dutch oven and sauté just until the rice grains look lightly toasted.
4. Add the white wine to the dutch oven, deglazing the pan. Stir in the cubed squash and cook for 5 minutes.
5. Begin adding the warm stock one ladle at a time to the dutch oven.  Allow the rice to absorb the liquid slowly, when it looks like the liquid is gone, add another ladle full.
6. Stir and continue to ladle in stock until all the stock is gone, this should take about 30-35 minutes. Remove the risotto from your stove and serve.