Archives for the 'gratins, stews, and stir-frys' Category
Marinated tofu - deconstructed stir-fry
Tofu is okay…if it’s not prepare well it can be nasty. But steep it in vibrantly seasoned marinade and pan fry it until the edges are crisp…then you have a tasty pile of flavor. I’m a Top Chef watcher and when goofy-hair-guy rendered some beef fat and then marinated the tofu in it, I thought it was genius…of course I probably would have gone with pork fat…whatever.
This meal is a deconstructed stir-fry. I’m a fan of this method because it allows each component’s flavor to shine brightly. Also it plates much prettier than a jumbled stir-fry, and sometimes that’s important too.
Here’s a simple guide on how to create the marinated tofu and the deconstructed stir-fry:
1. In a blender jar add 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup rice vinegar, 1 teaspoon chili oil, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, 1/2 a shallot, 3 cloves garlic, 2″ x 2″ knob of fresh ginger (cut into pieces). Let this rip on medium speed until the ginger, shallot, and garlic are emulsified. Pour 1/3 of it into a dish. Slice a firm-style block of tofu into 12 pieces and arrange the tofu on top of it, pour the remaining marinade over the tops of the tofu.
2. Prep the remaining components. In my case I sliced 2 huge white mushrooms and 2 green onions. I diced 3 cloves of garlic and another 2″ x 2″ knob of ginger.
3. Chop and wash/spin the bok choy. Preheat the oven to 150°.
4. Heat a skillet up over a medium flame and once it’s hot add two or three tablespoons of neutral oil, like canola. Once that comes up to heat carefully transfer the tofu into the hot skillet, piece by piece, being careful to watch out for the spattering oil.
5. Now this is the hard part…don’t do a thing. Don’t try to flip them, don’t try to pry them up and look at them…just let them cook for about 5 to 7 minutes and then you can look…chances are they’ll need another 5 minutes or so. Then using a spatula, gently flip each one and let the other side brown. I think my batch probably took 15 - 18 minutes total, this is the most time-consuming part of this dish. While the tofu cooked I unloaded the dishwasher and cleaned up the kitchen.
6. Once the tofu is deep, beautiful brown, remove it from the skillet. Take the skillet over to the sink and douse it with water and clean it up…it’ll clean easy while it’s hot, but once it cools down it’s a bitch.
7. Put the skillet back on the burner with high heat this time. Let it heat up for 5 minutes or so. In the meantime, put the tofu in the oven to stay warm.
8. Now that the skillet is hot add 1 tablespoon of oil and the diced garlic and ginger. Then add the mushrooms and salt them. At this point you might think you need more oil but actually add some water. The pan should be so hot that it should vaporize immediately and it acts as a tool to move the mushrooms around the pan. This should portion should take about one minute to cook.
9. Remove the mushrooms, garlic, and ginger. Add the bok choy to the pan (still on high heat). Shake or stir the pan to keep the bok choy moving and salt it. Again, you can add some water to create some non-stick action with it’s vapors. This portion should take about 1 minute.
10. Slide the bok choy to the coolest part of the skillet and add the green onions. Toss a little canola (1 teaspoon) on them if you like and salt them. Shake or stir and remove from the heat.
11. I plated this meal by making a mound of bok choy, encircled with the mushrooms, I arranged the tofu on top and garnished it with a bok choy leaf. Then I tangled the onions over the whole thing. It was awesome! The garlic and the ginger really perked up the bland mushrooms, the bok choy was delicate and sweetly tasted of spring and the onions are always addicting. Low calorie, low carb and delicious.
Balsamic chicken with porcini and lentilles de Puy
I made the balsamic chicken that I read about over at Cooking and Eating in the Windy City and while I didn’t follow the recipe, I did come up with an excellent meal that satisfied and soothed. Stove top braises are satisfying because you can hover about the kitchen, occasionally peeking under the lid, spooning sauce over the chicken, tasting, adjusting, adding more of this or that. When I have the time I love to cook that way.
I used boneless skinless breasts and thighs for the chicken and that helped to reduce prep and cooking time although I’m sure it would be even more delicious with a whole local chicken. The porcinis came from my pantry’s stash of dried mushrooms and they were a tasty and splendid addition to the pan sauce. But I have to admit that it was a stroke of genius on my part (but of course!) to serve it with the little green, peppery french lentils…they were an apt foil to the rich, tangy chicken. The side salad was maché and frisée with a dijon vinaigrette. I think this is my favorite meal that I’ve made in awhile…let me know if you like it.
Balsamic chicken with porcini mushrooms and lentilles de Puy
inspired by Erin from Cooking and Eating In The Windy City
printer-friendly recipe
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, seasoned with salt and pepper
2 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, seasoned with salt and pepper
3 slices of good thick bacon, diced
3 shallots, peeled and sliced thin
2 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
1 cup of water
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1 cup dried porcinis, rehydrated with the liquid discarded
Put a large skillet or chef’s pan (that has a lid) on a burner over medium heat. Add the diced bacon once the pan is hot and then cover and reduce the heat to medium low. Stir occasionally and cook low and slow until crispy. Remove the bacon, turn up the heat to medium and add the chicken, cooking to brown it on all sides. Once it is browned, remove it from the pan and add the shallots, give them a toss or two in the pan juices then reduce the heat to medium low and cover the pan. Let them cook like this for 10 minutes. Remove the lid of the pan, add the garlic, and let them cook another 10 minutes over medium low heat, stirring occasionally.
Add 1 cup of water and stir to mix it all together and dislodge any good bits stuck to the sides or bottom. Add the chicken, bacon, and porcini mushrooms back to the pan and let them cook for 5 minutes or so with the lid off. Add the balsamic vinegar and stir the sauce. Spoon it over the chicken and let it cook for no more than 10 minutes or so, turning the chicken in the sauce at least once. Make sure you serve it before all your pan juices disappear.
If you’re going to serve this with the lentils you’ll want to start them right after you put the shallots in the pan…that way they get about 30 minutes to cook and that should be perfect. Rinse them first and then put them in a heavy sauce pan, cover them with water and place the pan on a burner over medium high heat. Once they boil, skim the foam off, reduce the heat to medium low, and cover the pan.
Grinding my own garam
Spicy food is something I love, but even though I have a cabinet full of spices I’ve never actually made my own garam masala before. This is mostly because I’m incredibly lazy but it’s also because we have a Penzeys Spice Store here in town…I always assumed that their blends are as good as fresh. Holy cow…I can’t believe how stupid I was. Penzeys is good, but fresh toasted and ground is fantastic…it’s like fireworks in your mouth…like spicy pop-rocks, like a mini-vacation to a warm and loveable land.
I guess you can tell I’m enthusiastic about this…it’s like someone who just quit smoking, or lost 30 pounds, or found god….it’s all they can talk about, and every single conversation eventually turns to their obsession. That’s me baby…I’m a grinder and toaster now…never to go back to my lazy, idle ways of sloth and less robust flavor.
Besides being filled with that aforementioned fabulous flavor, it was super easy (btw, I said “super” with a french accent…as in “soup-per”). I searched the interwebs and found lots of recipes for garam masala and they all pretty much used similar spices while noting that garam masala is perfect for customizing to your personal taste. I used black peppercorns, cloves, green cardamom, star anise, nutmeg, cinnamon, and black cumin seeds. I toasted them in a cast-iron skillet over medium heat until they were fragrant, the aroma flitting about the house like a spring breeze, and then I tipped them into the grinder that I use for spices. I pulsed them until they were ground well…but not too fine and then I made the best garam masala curry I’ve ever, ever made.
Garam Masala Spice Blend
printer-friendly recipe
1 1/2 Tbs black peppercorns
3/4 Tbs black cumin seeds (kala jeera)
1 1/2 tsp whole cloves
4 large green cardamom pods
2″ stick of cinnamon
1/2 a whole nutmeg
2 star anise
Gently roast all spices and grind everything to a fine powder in a coffee or spice grinder. Makes enough for two batches.
Garam Masala Curry
1 onion
1 potato
1/2 head of cauliflower
1 chicken breast
canola oil
Peel and dice the onion. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a heavy pan and toss the onions and half of the garam masala spice mix into the pan. Stir and cook over medium heat.
While the onions are cooking peel and dice the potato. Add it to the pan. Segment the cauliflower into small florets and add it to the pan too. Lastly dice the chicken and add it to the pan. Add salt. Add just a bit of water or chicken stock to come up about halfway on the ingredients. Cover and allow the ingredients to heat up to a boil and then immediately lower the heat to a simmer.
Let the covered pot simmer until the potatoes begin to get tender then remove the lid and adjust seasonings. Maybe add more salt, more garam masala (just a bit). Check the liquid level and adjust by adding more water, stock, or cream or allowing it to cook down. When the ingredients are all tender and the seasoning and consistency is right then you are ready to eat. For me it cooked for about 30 minutes total…20 with the lid on and 10 with it off.
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