Thai-Style Shrimp Balls with Napa Cabbage

You know what you think when someone walks into a gigantic closet filled with various types of clothing and proclaims: “I have nothing to wear?” I suspect people could think the same of me when I stand in front of shelves of cookbooks and say “I can’t think of anything new to make for dinner.” That problem may be solved once and for all with the latest book from Melissa Clark, Dinner: Changing the Game. First, it’s full of great-looking recipes, but each of those comes with options for tailoring it to suite your taste or what ingredients you may have on hand. And, there are suggestions for what to serve with the main dishes to help you make a complete dinner plan. It starts with a whole chapter just for chicken; then there’s one for other meats, a ground meat chapter, fish and seafood, eggs, pasta, tofu, beans, grains, pizzas, soups, salads, and dips and side dishes. I always mark interesting pages with sticky flags as I read a new cookbook, but this time, it got out of hand with the number of flags attached to pages. I cooked from the book for three days in a row, and I have another page marked for dinner tonight. I started a weekend with the shrimp balls shown here for Friday night dinner. Then, I made the Sticky Tamarind Chicken with Crisp Lettuce for a Saturday night meal, and the options for that include using bone-in, skinless chicken thighs or boneless thighs or breasts or wings depending on your preference. The flavorful, marinated, roasted chicken was served over a fresh lettuce salad with sliced jalapeno and cilantro leaves. The next morning, I made the Chilaquiles with Tomatillo Salsa and Baked Eggs for brunch. The layered corn tortillas with spicy green salsa and lots of melted cheese was a delicious base for the eggs that baked on top. I added some chopped greens between the tortilla layers just to include more vegetable goodness in the mix. Tonight, I’m going to make the Warm White Bean Salad with Arugula Pesto and Preserved Lemon. And, all those other marked pages? There are too many to mention, but a few include Cumin-Chicken Meatballs with Green Ghile Sauce, a savory Herbed Parmesan Dutch Baby pancake, Pasta Carbonara Torte with Tomatoes and Sage, Chile and Ginger-Fried Tofu Salad with Kale, and Leek Tomato and Farro Soup. None of the recipes are over-complicated or too time-consuming, and you’ll see the time required listed next to the number of servings. 

I was actually surprised at how quickly the Thai-Style Shrimp Balls came together. The dipping sauce was a quick mix of soy sauce, rice vinegar, minced fresh ginger, lime juice, sesame oil, and sliced green onions (I tend to skip the sugar in sauces like this because I prefer the tartness). Shelled and cleaned shrimp were chopped into small chunks, and there’s no need to worry too much about how small the chunks are. The shrimp does not need to be minced, just quickly chopped into little pieces. The chopped shrimp was combined with more minced ginger, minced garlic, finely chopped chives, an egg white, lime zest, and some salt. The mixture was formed into little one-inch balls. They’re not as firm as meatballs, but they hold together fine. Just line up the balls on a parchment-lined baking sheet. To steam, I used a bamboo steamer with its own top in a large skillet, but any type of steamer will work fine. Napa cabbage leaves were used to line the bottom of the steamer, and I was lucky to get the last of Boggy Creek Farm’s Napa cabbage for the season. The leaves I was using were small enough that I could arrange them with two shrimp balls on each. Once the steamer was placed over simmering water, it only took a few minutes to cook the shrimp balls. I removed each cabbage leaf with the shrimp balls sitting on it, and served it in the same arrangement. Last, I garnished with more chopped chives and some black sesame seeds. 

As mentioned in the recipe head note, you could serve the shrimp balls with rice noodles or plain rice, but I went for more of a pick it up with some cabbage like a little wrap kind of thing. And, these diminutive balls packed incredible flavor. The ginger, garlic, and lime zest brought a lot of zip. With this new book, I definitely have no excuse for not coming up with something new to make for dinner. 

Thai-Style Shrimp Balls with Napa Cabbage  
Reprinted from Dinner: Changing the Game. Copyright © 2017 by Melissa Clark. Photographs copyright © 2017 by Eric Wolfinger. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of Penguin Random House, LLC.
 
These juicy, ginger-scented shrimp balls are like the filling inside your favorite shrimp shumai, sans the wrappers. And since you don’t have to enfold each one individually in dumpling dough, they come together really quickly and steam up in minutes. If you don’t have a steamer basket, it’s a good thing to pick up. They are inexpensive, and the collapsible ones don’t take up much space. Or, a decent hack is to crumple up four large foil balls (at least 1½ inches in diameter) and place them in the bottom of a pot with a tight-filling cover, filled with ½ inch of water. Rest a plate on top of the foil balls to keep it above the water, bring the water to a simmer, and put the food directly on the plate to steam. It’s not ideal, but it works in a pinch. Serve these shrimp balls over white rice (page 276) or rice noodles coated with a little sesame oil, which will give you a dumpling-like texture if you eat some shrimp ball and noodles in the same bite. A salad made from pea shoots and drizzled with a little of the dipping sauce, below, would round it out nicely. They also make nice hors d’oeuvres for a dinner party. 

4 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce 
1 1/2 tablespoons rice vinegar 
1 1/2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil 
1 1/2 teaspoons light or dark brown sugar 
1 1/2 tablespoons sliced scallions (green parts only) 

1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and chopped into small chunks 
2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger 
1 garlic clove, grated on a Microplane or minced 
2 tablespoons minced fresh chives, plus more for serving 
1 large egg white 
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lime 
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt 
4 to 6 napa cabbage leaves, for steaming 

TOTAL TIME: 25 MINUTES 
SERVES 4 

1. Make the dipping sauce: In a medium bowl, combine the soy sauce, rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon ginger, lime juice, sesame oil, and brown sugar, and whisk until the sugar dissolves; then add the scallions. 
2. Line a baking sheet with wax or parchment paper. In a large bowl, combine the shrimp with 1 tablespoon of the ginger and the garlic, chives, egg white, lime zest, and salt. Mix well, and form the shrimp mixture into 1-inch balls. Place them in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet. Chill them up to 4 hours if not steaming immediately. 
3. Lay one or two cabbage leaves over the bottom of a steamer basket to just cover the surface. Put the steamer in a pot filled with an inch of water and bring the water to a simmer. Working in batches, place the shrimp balls on the cabbage leaves, cover the pot, and steam for 3 minutes, turning them over halfway through. After each batch, transfer the shrimp balls and the cabbage leaves to a plate. Use fresh cabbage leaves for each batch. 
4. Garnish the shrimp balls and cabbage with chives, and serve with the dipping sauce on the side. You can eat the cabbage or not, as you prefer. 

I am a member of the Amazon Affiliate Program. 
Tweet

Grilled Shitakes with Teriyaki Dressing + GIVEAWAY

To greet the new year, I have a gift for you today! I received a grill pan from Lagostina that I used for grilling shitake mushrooms, and you could win one just like it. Leave a comment on this post before noon CST on Friday January 6th with your email address so I can contact you, and you’ll be entered to win a Lagostina 11-inch Grill Pan. The winner will need to give a mailing address in the US to receive the pan. Like all the Lagostina cookware pieces, this grill pan is beautiful. It’s a good size for fitting on one burner and still having a lot of surface area for stovetop grilling. And, even though I got the pan a bit messy while grilling teriyaki marinated mushrooms, it was easy to clean and return to its sparkling appearance. For this dish, I turned to A Spoonful of Ginger: Irresistible, Health-Giving Recipes from Asian Kitchens by Nina Simonds. This isn’t the only grilling recipe in that book either. I also made the Spicy Grilled Squid with Warm Greens. Both are quick-cooking dishes that work well with a grill pan. I took a different approach for the grilled shitakes than what was suggested in the book. Rather than skewering the mushrooms and green onions, I set then on the grill pan flat. 

The Teriyaki Dressing was made by mixing one-half cup of soy sauce, one-third cup of white wine, three tablespoons water, two tablespoons of honey, a tablespoon of sesame oil, and two tablespoons of minced fresh ginger in a saucepan. I also added some crushed red chiles to give it some spice. The mixture was heated until boiling and stirred to dissolve the honey. It was then brushed on the mushrooms and green onions, and some of it was reserved for dipping. The grill pan was heated over medium heat, and it was brushed with coconut oil. The mushrooms and green onions were grilled for a few minutes on each side until everything had good char marks and was tender. 

The grilled shitakes were a delightfully savory side dish with the squid and greens I served with them. And, the grill pan performed perfectly. I’ve been enjoying using the both the stewpot and grill pan I received from Lagostina. They’re both as pretty as they are functional. Good luck to everyone with the giveaway, and Happy New Year! 

I am a member of the Amazon Affiliate Program. 
Tweet

Shrimp Pan Roast

At first glance, you might not think that the American South has much in common with southern India. But, Asha Gomez finds several intersections in food traditions, hospitality, and more from both regions in her new book My Two Souths: Blending the Flavors of India into a Southern Kitchen, and I received a review copy. She grew up in Kerala where the climate was also hot and humid, where rice is also a local crop, where there’s also an active coast line, and where “a talent for creating bounty out of an often modest pantry” is also common. She then spent fourteen years living in New York before getting married and moving to Georgia. Hosting supper clubs serving Keralan cuisine out her home in Georgia evolved into a restaurant business. Today, she operates a culinary event venue and an Indian patisserie. She continues to bring together the “resourcefulness and soulfulness” of both home regions in her cooking. The book includes dishes for breakfast, lunch, tea time, dinner, and desserts and sweets. The recipe for Puffy Ginger Hoecakes combines flavors of uttapam rice pancakes in these cornmeal cakes, and they’re served with a spicy syrup made with cumin seeds, coriander seeds, and red pepper flakes mixed into maple syrup. She tells the story of how the dish Country Captain traveled from India to the American South via a British sea captain. She interprets it with more of its Indian roots with spices and coconut and serves it with Carolina gold rice. Her Three Spice Carrot Cake is made with ground black pepper, clove powder, and cardamom and is topped with cream cheese frosting flecked with more of those same spices. I was very interested in the Onion Lentil Dumplings in Savory Buttermilk in which the lentil dumplings are served on top of a warm bowl of spiced buttermilk soup. Then, the Shrimp Pan Roast or Chemmen got my full attention. 

In both of Gomez’s south's she’s able to bring home freshly caught shellfish. In Kerala, this would be made with fresh prawns, but here shrimp is more common. In addition to the fresh shrimp, dried shrimp is also used to amp up the flavor. In the past, a need to buy dried shrimp would send me across town on a food hunt. I’m delighted that now I can buy dried shrimp right in my neighborhood at a Korean grocery store. To begin this dish, the dried shrimp was combined with some freshly grated ginger and coconut milk in a blender and pureed into a smooth paste. Coconut oil was then heated in a large skillet. Minced shallots were added with fresh bay leaves. Once the shallots were browned, hot paprika and turmeric were added. Then, tomato paste, the dried shrimp paste, some salt, and a little water were added. The mixture was cooked for a few minutes. The fresh shrimp were then cooked gently in the sauce just until they began to curl. Because I always like to push the spiciness level a bit higher, I added a pinch or so of cayenne. 

If you’re worried at all about using dried shrimp, you shouldn’t be. They add great, umami flavor but aren’t overpowering at all. The spices all come together deliciously here, and the tomato paste adds more umami and a hint of sweetness. It’s fascinating to read how two areas that are worlds apart actually have a lot in common, and it’s even better to eat the results of a combination of those two places. Happy Holidays, everyone!

I am a member of the Amazon Affiliate Program. 
Tweet

Ground Chicken Kebabs

Did you see the film The Hundred Foot Journey? Do you remember the omelet-making scene? That omelet was the creation of Floyd Cardoz who was the consulting chef on the film. It’s also found in his new book, Flavorwalla, of which I received a review copy. In the book, he explains that a walla in India is someone who sells something specific or is particularly knowledgeable about a topic. A paowalla is someone who sells bread. Floyd Cardoz is the flavorwalla because he has “made his mark as a creator of bold, exciting food with balanced layers of flavors and textures that play off each other.” The recipes reflect his varied style of cooking with a mix of cultural influences. There are Mexican, Thai, Moroccan, and Portuguese influences in the dishes as well as Indian flavors. The common thread is the use of spices, herbs, and aromatic ingredients to punch up the results. There’s a Spiced Chicken Soup with Chickpea Noodles that sounds like it’s guaranteed to lift you from feeling under the weather. It’s made with cinnamon, cloves, cumin, scallions, ginger, fresh chiles, and homemade noodles with chickpea flour. I was intrigued by the Yellow Lentil “Dal” enriched with whisked eggs stirred in at the end. And, the Stewed Chicken with Fresh Tomatoes with chipotle, ginger, turmeric, and tamarind paste sounds great for late summer tomatoes. There are other egg dishes in addition to the omelet like Oven-Baked Eggs with Poblanos and Fingerling Potatoes and Coddled Eggs with Crab, Grits, and Leeks. There are quick meals for weeknights and dishes that are perfect for parties, and there are a few cocktails as well like the Tamarind Margarita. I fired up the grill for the Ground Chicken Kebabs because of the big flavors from ginger, garlic, mint, and serrano, and they were great served with the fresh, zesty Romaine Salad with Lime and Thai Chile. 

Cardoz explains that in many places in the world “kebab” is anything grilled whether it’s a cut of meat or piece of sausage or something formed into a patty. It doesn’t always involve food on a stick. And so, these patties were not skewered, just grilled as is. Two cloves of garlic, an inch of ginger peeled and cut into coins, and half a serrano chile chopped were combined in a food processor and finely chopped. Two tablespoons of cilantro and two more of mint leaves were added and finely chopped. A half cup of finely chopped onion was added to the mixture along with salt, pepper, and a half teaspoon of Garam Masala. The mixture was worked into a pound of ground chicken by hand. Lately, I’ve been buying humanely-raised, pastured chicken from Smith and Smith Farm at the farmers’ market and have been completely avoiding industrially-raised chicken. Direct from the farm, they sell whole chickens, pieces, and even boneless breasts and packs of ground chicken. So, once mixed, the chicken was formed into small patties that were refrigerated while the grill was being prepped. I brushed each side of the patties with vegetable oil and seasoned them with salt and pepper before placing them on the grill. They only need about three minutes per side depending on the heat of the grill. The dressing for the salad was made with canola oil, lime juice, fish sauce, minced ginger, and a minced Thai chile. It was tossed with chopped romaine, sliced radishes, cilantro leaves, and mint leaves. I served the kebabs with lime wedges and the salad on the side. 

The simplicity of little, grilled patties made the brightness of flavors even more unexpected. The squirt of lime on each kebab brought out the herbs, ginger, and chile within. A bite of kebab with a bite of fresh, crisp salad made an ideal mix. If you’re looking to add more spice and interesting flavors to your cooking, this book would be a great place to start. 

I am a member of the Amazon Affiliate Program. 
Tweet

Gingerbread Cheesecake

After one more holiday recipe, I promise to move on to cooking in the New Year. I’d been thinking about this cheesecake for years. I cut the pages from the December 2007 issue of Living magazine and filed them away. I remember the whole story about gingerbread from that issue. There were all sorts of pretty cookies, different ways of making gingerbread like with honey rather than molasses, and even gingerbread caramels. From that story, the White Chocolate-Gingerbread Blondies that also appear in the Martha Stewart’s Cookies book became a favorite of mine. But those little gingerbread men on top of the gingerbread-flavored cheesecake were so cute. I think of this cheesecake dessert every year for Christmas, and finally had to give it a try. You need some cookie crumbs to make the crust for the cheesecake, so making the Molasses-Gingerbread Cookie dough comes first. I made enough dough to be able to cut out some gingerbread men for decorating as well. I didn’t go so far as to make both types of gingerbread cookie dough to be able to have two colors of gingerbread men on top as shown in the photo from the magazine, but I was happy with the result with all the gingerbread men from the same dough. 

The Molasses-Gingerbread Cookies recipe is very similar to the recipe I’ve always used for gingerbread cut-out cookies. It included molasses, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. For the cheesecake, one quarter of the dough is rolled into a big rectangle and baked until firm. When cool, it’s broken into pieces and pulsed in a food processor to make crumbs. Next, melted butter, some sugar, and two cups of those crumbs were combined and pressed into a springform pan with the bottom wrapped with foil. The crust was baked for about 15 minutes or until set. The cheesecake itself was a mix of cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, eggs, molasses, lemon zest, and more ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. I also added some finely grated, fresh ginger for an extra boost of ginger. The filling was poured into the crust, the springform pan was placed in a large roasting pan, the roasting pan was set into the oven, and hot water was added to the roasting pan before closing the oven to bake. The cheesecake needs to bake for at least an hour, but mine was still very jiggly at that point. I left it in the oven for an extra 15 or 20 minutes until the center was only slightly wobbly. When the cheesecake was completely cool, it was transferred to the refrigerator to chill for several hours. I dusted the top with confectioners' sugar before placing the cookies in a circle.

It’s a shame that gingerbread only gets the spotlight during the holidays. Every time I bake with molasses, I think about how much I love the flavor and how I should use it more often. The molasses and all the gingerbread spices were delicious here from the crust to the filling to the cookies on top. Maybe I’ll finally try the gingerbread caramels the next time the holiday season arrives. 

Tweet

Cambodian Red Curry Chicken Wings

Some changes are coming to Lisa is Cooking. Big changes, to me anyway. I’m moving out of the kitchen where I’ve been cooking for fourteen years. I’ll be leaving behind the spot on our back porch where I’ve shot most of the photos that have appeared on this blog. The gas range with the oven I’m completely used to will be a thing of the past. We’re packing up and moving over, not too far away, to a temporary residence while our house gets rebuilt. It should take less than a year but probably not much less. In the meantime, I’ll be cooking in a completely unfamiliar kitchen with even less countertop space than I have now. I haven’t even figured out yet where I’ll take food photos or where I'll knead bread or where to put the food processor. It’ll be an adventure, or that’s what I’m telling myself. I won’t be able to resist sharing updates about the house project along the way. When it’s done, I’ll be moving back into another different kitchen. This future kitchen will be a little less unfamiliar since I designed it and know where everything will go. I just haven’t stood in it yet. And, the appliances will be new and different, but they’ll be ones of my choosing. I can’t wait to get acquainted. So, I apologize in advance if it takes me a bit to get situated in my temporary kitchen and if my photos look weirder than ever for a year. What won’t be changing here at Lisa is Cooking is the cooking itself. I’ll still be trying all sorts of dishes from every different source I encounter. I’ll still be whipping up things like these Cambodian Red Curry Chicken Wings that I saw in the July issue of Food and Wine magazine. The recipe is from Edward Lee, and it was inspired by the food from the restaurant Senmonorom in Lowell, Massachusetts. I made a minor change to the cooking process, but that’s the kind of change that’s expected. 

You begin by cooking the wings in a saute pan on the stovetop. When they are browned on all sides, they should be transferred to a paper towel-lined plate and set aside. Then, the sauce was started with shallots, garlic, lemongrass, and ginger being added to the hot pan. After a few minutes, dried chiles like chiles de arbol, soy sauce, fish sauce, cumin, coriander, paprika, nutmeg, and turmeric were added and cooked until fragrant. Last, coconut milk was added, and the sauce mixture was poured into the blender to be pureed. The pureed sauce was returned to the saute pan. This is where I made a little change. Rather than adding the browned chicken wings to the sauce to simmer for a few minutes, I placed the wings on a baking sheet, basted them with the sauce, and placed them under the broiler. I had a vision of these wings being sticky and coated with the sauce while still having bits of crisp, browned skin. I opted for the high heat of the broiler instead of leaving the wings sitting in the sauce. After basting on both sides and allowing the sauce to achieve a lovely state of stickiness, I served the extra sauce drizzled over the top and as a dipping sauce on the side. 

As described in the magazine, the flavors are less spicy than Thai but deliciously layered. Served with limes for squeezing and some simple rice and vegetables, this was a fun meal. You have to accept that your fingers will be gooey with sauce, but some of the best meals start with that acceptance. Now, I’m off to pack up more of my kitchen things and get this adventure underway. 

Tweet

Shrimp on Lemongrass Skewers with Yellow Rice

If you’re familiar with the Yummy Supper blog, then you already know about the beautiful photos and the fresh, lovely food. And now, more recipes have been collected for the brand new Yummy Supper book by Erin Scott. I was delighted to receive a copy. The book doesn’t read at all like a specific-diet cookbook. It’s not about sacrificing certain ingredients or making difficult compromises. Instead, it’s about what foods work naturally and deliciously for gluten-free eating. The book is full of seasonal, healthy food; some family favorites; a few sweet treats; and the dishes just happen to be gluten-free. Of course, there are recipes that could be prepared with or without gluten. For instance, when bread or pasta is included, you could easily choose your preferred type. But mostly, the ingredients are whole foods that fit well into most diets. In the Eggs chapter, there are pretty, little Savory Custards with Wild Nettles; a buttery, tender Soft Scramble with Slab of Aged Cheddar + Arugula; and summery Baked Eggs on a Bed of Roasted Cherry Tomatoes. In the Veg chapter, you’ll find Parsnip Crisps, Mushroom Lovers’ Galette with Herby Goat Cheese, and Caramelized Brussels Sprouts with a Splash of Saba. There are also drinks, seafood dishes, meat and poultry recipes, dishes with grains and seeds, a chapter focusing on nuts, another for fruit, and Kid Favorites. The Simple Almond Torte is made with almond meal and no flour and honey instead of refined sugar. The Bali Garden Stew is a hearty chicken stew that’s packed with vegetables and made spicy with chiles. There’s a lot to love here, and it was hard to decide where to start. I chose the skewered shrimp with lemongrass because it seemed like a great meal for a warm summer evening. The grilled shrimp were served on a bed of fragrant, flavorful yellow rice. 

Before grilling, the shrimp were marinated in a mix of lime juice, canola oil, chopped garlic, chopped ginger, and salt and pepper. Lemongrass stalks were trimmed, and the outside layer was removed from each so they could be used as skewers. Small holes were poked in the shrimp so they could be slid onto the lemongrass stalks, and the skewers were placed in a shallow pan with the marinade. Meanwhile, jasmine rice was rinsed and drained and then cooked until tender. It was left to sit off the heat for a bit before being used. Minced shallots were cooked in butter, and finely chopped lemongrass, grated fresh turmeric and ginger, and minced garlic were added. The cooked rice was stirred into the spices, and coconut milk and cilantro were added. The shrimp were grilled for a few minutes per side and then served on top of the yellow rice with sliced green onion and chiles. 

First, this was possibly the most delicious rice I’ve ever tasted. It was rich from the butter and coconut milk and flavored with the mix of spices. The fresh turmeric gave it a pretty, sunny, yellow color, and it was exactly what belonged with the shrimp. The shrimp picked up great flavor from the marinade, and the lemongrass skewers were fragrant after warming on the grill. I’ll be reaching for this book often for dishes that I know I can share with friends avoiding gluten and for the kind of food that I like to cook. 

I am a member of the Amazon Affiliate Program.

Tweet

Lemon-Ginger-Beet Juice

I promise, this isn’t one of those “it’s January and we should be eating nothing but beet juice” kind of posts. Actually, this has nothing to do with January or resolutions. In fact, I’ve been waiting for months to mention this. Ever since reading the book Eating on the Wild Side, I’ve been implementing several of the suggestions from it and trying to eat more of the healthiest foods described. The book looks at the history of several edible plants and how their nutritional value has changed over time. As sweeter or milder versions of fruits and vegetables have been selected over bitter or other less desirable tastes, nutrients have been bred out of those fruits and vegetables. One vegetable that hasn’t changed much, however, is garlic. Garlic, and all alliums, offer all sorts of health benefits, but specifically with garlic, getting those benefits depends on how it’s used. Garlic contains alliin and alliinase which combine to form allicin when garlic is cut, sliced, minced, or smashed. And, allicin is very beneficial to good health. However, alliinase is heat sensitive. So, if cut garlic is heated immediately after being cut, no allicin is formed. If cut garlic is left to sit for ten minutes before being heated, the maximum amount of allicin is created. Then, you can cook it as you normally do. I’ve been reordering my cooking process for every dish that includes garlic. My first step has become slicing, mincing, or chopping the garlic in whatever way needed and letting it sit for at least ten minutes while prepping everything else. Another thing I was delighted to learn from the book is that our modern cultivars of artichokes are very, very nutritious. They’re noted for having a higher antioxidant capacity than all other fruits and vegetables. They’re also high in inulin which promotes good gut microflora. And, the best part of the info about artichokes is that the hearts contain as many antioxidants as the rest of the leaves. The canned or jarred versions have all those nutrients too. I tend to choose ones packed in glass jars to avoid BPA lining in aluminum cans, but it’s great to know those marinated artichoke hearts are so healthy. And, then I read about beets. 

Of course beets are good for you. Everyone knows that. Wild sea beets are similar to Swiss chard, and modern beets with big roots were domesticated from them. Despite the sweetness of beet roots, they have very little impact on blood sugar. The red color in beets comes from betalains which are excellent cancer-fighting phytonutrients. And, beets contain naturally occurring nitrates which can reduce blood pressure thereby increasing blood flow to muscles. The effect has been tested on athletes, and it was discovered that after drinking beet juice, test subjects were able to exercise 15 percent longer than others who didn’t drink it. British athletes drank beet juice rather than other Olympics-approved energy drinks before competing in the 2012 Summer Olympics. I loved learning this. I had kept a beet juice recipe from the September 2012 issue of Food and Wine magazine, and after learning this I couldn’t wait to try it before a run. There’s always a point in the winter when it seems like we’re inundated with beets from our CSA, and this year I was ready and waiting for that to happen. I was ready to juice all the beets we received. So, on a Friday afternoon when I was tired and ready for the week to be over, I set up my juicer and set about making an energy-enhancing beverage. I started with some ginger, a peeled lemon, and then I used several spinach leaves which I had on hand. The original recipe suggests kale. Then, I added a halved and cored apple, and instead of a cucumber, I used a pear. Last, I added a couple of cleaned and trimmed beets to the juicer. 

The color is fabulous as anything with beets always is. And, the flavor is much better than you might think. That’s largely thanks to the lemon and ginger. Really, add lemon and ginger to any vegetable juice, and it will be delicious. But, the vegetal flavors of the beet and spinach do take a backseat here. I went for a run after drinking the beet juice and felt great. I’ll have to test the concept a few more times before I can say with certainty if it really makes a noticeable difference while exercising, but I do know it’s a very healthy and tasty drink that I’m happy to keep testing. 

I am a member of the Amazon Affiliate Program.

Tweet

Pumpkin Spice Cookies

Apparently, as the bandwagon was driving by, I jumped right onto it. It’s a pumpkin spice world. There’s probably even a pumpkin spice shampoo at this point. Pumpkin spice toothpaste? But, who can resist those flavors? In full disclosure: there is actually no pumpkin in these cookies, but they are shaped like pumpkins so I think the name is valid. I baked them to send as long-distance trick-or-treats for my nieces and took a few to a party as well. I heard lots of good things from the party guests about them which tells me the recipe is a definite keeper. It’s from the October 2000 issue of Living magazine, and it’s available online. I made a few changes from the original. They’re intended to be circular cookies cut from logs of chilled dough. I added a step by rolling out the dough and cutting pumpkin shapes. It’s a somewhat soft dough, and it does spread a bit in the oven. After the first sheet of spread-out, blobby-looking, baked pumpkin cookies, I decided to chill the cut cookies on baking sheets before putting them in the oven. That helped some. But, any shape more intricate than a pumpkin might not work well. You’ll also see in the photo with the original recipe that they’re decorated like jack-o-lanterns in various colors. Piping bags and I don’t always get along so well which is why I took a different direction with the decorating. 

The dry ingredients including flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and ginger were sifted together and set aside. Butter and sugar were creamed together, and then eggs were added followed by vanilla. Next came the molasses, and every year at this time, I’m reminded of how much I really like the flavor of molasses. After incorporating the lovely molasses, the dry ingredients were added and mixed into the dough. Rather than dividing the dough into two pieces and rolling each into a log to be chilled, I just chilled the dough in one big disc. The next day, I worked with a quarter of the dough at a time and rolled it out with a rolling pin to about a one-quarter inch thickness. I cut pumpkin shapes, placed them on baking sheets and popped the baking sheets into the refrigerator for a few minutes before baking. After the cookies were baked and cooled, I used Royal Icing to outline each cookie and then filled that outline with more icing which was topped with orange sugar. This was far easier for me than attempting to draw jack-o-lantern faces with a piping bag. 

Fragrant cinnamon and ginger draw you in, but I think it’s the molasses that seals the deal. I liked these cookies just as well with no icing or decoration at all. But, for Halloween, they do demand some dressing up, some color, and more pumpkin-ness. 

Tweet

Homemade Ginger Ale

Do you know the difference between salsify and scorzonera? Actually, I wasn’t even familiar with scorzonera until I read Roots: The Definitive Compendium with more than 225 Recipes by Diane Morgan, but I love learning new things about food. I learned scorzonera, also called black salsify, is very closely botanically related to salsify, and both have long, slender roots with similar flavors while scorzonera is milder. Twenty-eight types of roots are covered in the book with information about where they were originally grown, how they’re eaten, and their nutritional profile. And, following this information for each root, there are recipes. As I started reading the book, I was immediately fascinated by the Red Velvet Cupcakes with Orange Buttercream which are made with pureed beets and no food coloring. I made them in a rush and barely got just a quick photo to post on Instagram before taking them to a party where they disappeared in record time. Then while reading about galangal, I learned that “kha” in Tom Kha Gai is galangal in Thai. I never knew that, and I can’t wait to make this version of the soup. There are pretty dishes to make with cross-sectional cuts of lotus root, and a Three-Layer Parsnip Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting which would be a lot like a carrot cake. There’s also a Composed Jicama, Avocado, and Grapefruit Salad with Cilantro Drizzle that would be perfect for in-season avocados and grapefruit right now. And, of course, there are several dishes for that most popular of all roots, the potato. I can tell this book and I will be spending a lot of time together. In the Ginger chapter, you can learn to make your own Sushi-Style Pickled Ginger, a Brown Sugar-Ginger Ice Cream, and Candied Young Ginger. But first, I had to try the Homemade Ginger Ale. 

To start, you need to peel and grate enough ginger fill one-half cup. The grated ginger is then combined with brown sugar and water in a saucepan, and the mixture is brought to a boil and then simmered to dissolve the sugar. It’s then removed from the heat and allowed to steep and cool for about half an hour. Once cool, the syrup is strained through a sieve and chilled in the refrigerator. To complete the ginger ale, the syrup is mixed with club soda, lime juice, and lemon juice. 

Homemade soda is the best since you can control the level of sweetness. This ginger ale has good, spicy flavor with nice brightness from the lemon and lime. Naturally, I added rum to mine, but you knew I’d say that, didn’t you? Now, I want to go try a few things from the Sweet Potato chapter and then start asking around to find out if anyone is growing burdock root locally.

Homemade Ginger Ale 
Recipe reprinted with publisher's permission from Roots: The Definitive Compendium with more than 225 Recipes

Who knew it could be so simple to make ginger ale at home? Here’s an all-natural version, blissfully free of high-fructose corn syrup and preservatives. When I compared this homemade ginger ale to a national brand, it proved unrivaled in spicy, aromatic ginger flavor. Although the ginger syrup recipe makes enough for just four servings, it is easily doubled. Store the remainder in the refrigerator to use whenever you crave a tall, sparkling glass of refreshing ginger ale. 

Makes 1 Cup/240 ML Ginger syrup; Enough for 4 Drinks 

Ginger Syrup
1/2 cup/55 g grated fresh ginger 
1 cup/200 g firmly packed light brown sugar 
1 cup/240 ml water 

Ice cubes 
4 cups/960 ml club soda 
1/4 cup/60 ml fresh lime juice 
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp fresh lemon juice 
4 lime wedges 

1. To make the ginger syrup, in a small saucepan, combine the ginger, brown sugar, and water and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly until the sugar dissolves. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes to completely dissolve the sugar and infuse the syrup. Remove from the heat and let the ginger steep in the syrup until cool, about 30 minutes. Strain the syrup through a fine-mesh sieve placed over a container with a tight-fitting lid and then cover and refrigerate until well chilled. (The syrup will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.) 

2. Fill four 16-oz/480-ml glasses two-thirds full of ice. Pour ¼ cup/60 ml of the syrup, 1 cup/240 ml of the club soda, 1 tbsp of the lime juice, and 1 tsp of the lemon juice into each glass and stir to combine. Garnish each glass with a lime wedge and serve immediately.

I am a member of the Amazon Affiliate Program.

Tweet

Dark and Stormy Fresh Ginger Gingerbread

On a day when I wanted to make dessert but didn’t want it to be an all-day project, this was the perfect cake. It’s from Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts which is full of great desserts that don’t take all day to make. I was drawn to the idea of a quick gingerbread made with fresh ginger, and the variation suggested in the side-bar sealed the deal. That variation was to replace some of the water in the recipe with dark rum to match the flavors in a Dark and Stormy cocktail. So, not only was this cake whipped up in record time by mixing everything in a food processor, adding a little Gosling’s Black Seal rum took me back to that pretty, pink sand and that sparkling, blue water of Bermuda on a January day. Alice Medrich also offers all sorts of great ideas for garnishing desserts, and there’s even a page of “Things to do with gingerbread” that lists accompaniments like lemon whipped cream, dessert chutney, and fruits in syrup. Sticking with the Dark and Stormy theme, I topped mine with grated lime zest and poured a little more rum over the mascarpone whipped cream. 

The only slightly time-consuming task here was peeling some fresh ginger. You need to peel and slice enough to fill one-half cup. Then, the fresh ginger was finely minced in the food processor. Next, brown sugar, cinnamon, ground dried ginger, allspice, cardamom, salt, molasses, butter, an egg, rum, water, flour, and baking soda were added. In all of about 15 seconds, the batter was done. The cake baked in an eight-inch square pan for about 30 minutes. I whipped mascarpone and cream with a scant bit of sugar and washed a lime for zesting. Once the cake was cool, it was ready to be topped with the lime zest, some whipped cream, and a drizzle of more black rum. 

Ginger and molasses have become a couple of my favorite ingredients in recent years, and they’re especially good in the wintertime. They’re also quite good with the flavor of rum. Admittedly, our winter hasn’t been too harrowing, but still, a dessert that brought back memories of Bermuda was a welcome idea.

I am a member of the Amazon Affiliate Program.

Tweet

Quinoa Flake Crusted Salmon with Chile Citrus Sauce

A couple of times this summer, I’ve mentioned wild Alaskan salmon, and that’s what’s shown here again today. This time, I want to share a little information about why this salmon is such a good choice for sustainability. The Alaska Constitution includes a statement regarding protecting natural resources and specifically that “fish...be utilized, developed, and maintained on the sustained yield principle.” The Alaska Department of Fish and Game manages salmon runs by checking numbers of salmon moving upstream to spawning grounds. Sonar counters and fish wheels are used to count, and aerial surveys are performed as well. When enough salmon have reached the spawning grounds to maintain the population, only then are areas opened for commercial fishing for specified lengths of time. This process has made Alaska a “model of seafood sustainability.” Once again, I was delighted to receive some wild, sockeye salmon from the Copper River/Prince William Sound Marketing Association. This time, the salmon came from Prince William Sound which sits between Cook Inlet and Yakutat Bay on the east side of Kenai Peninsula. This salmon was frozen and vacuum packed before being shipped. The color was the same deep, lovely red, and once thawed, the texture was exactly the same as fresh salmon. I had just read about a salmon dish that I wanted to try in The Elements of Taste, so I was ready to get cooking.

Although it’s from book with some serious ideas about flavor that has several serious, chef-style recipes, this dish is actually very simple to prepare. In the book, it’s made with a rice flake crust. I wasn’t able to locate rice flakes, but I did find quinoa flakes and used those instead. The salmon fillets were brushed with a mix of eggs whisked with flour, and then they were pressed into the quinoa flakes that had been seasoned with salt, pepper, and cayenne. The sauce was a reduction of orange juice, mirin, minced lemongrass, grated fresh ginger, dried hot chiles, and a little sugar. After 30 minutes or so, the sauce became syrupy and fragrant. The salmon was quickly seared, crust side down first and then was plated with a pool of the sauce.

The flavor of the salmon was delicious as always, and the quinoa flake crust gave the surface incredible crunch. It was definitely more crunch than you would get with just flour or even cornmeal. The sauce was fruity, spicy, and aromatic and made for a lovely thing to slide each bite of salmon through on the fork. It was another great meal with this carefully caught and well-managed, sustainable fish.

I am a member of the Amazon Affiliate Program.

Tweet

Peach-Apple-Ginger Juice Cocktail + Giveaway

It’s time for summer getaways or at least a summer state of mind, don’t you think? I was contacted by Travassa Destinations to help them celebrate their first anniversary, and it’s the perfect time of year to do so. They have properties in Austin, Texas and Hana, Hawaii, and the resorts focus on five core principles: culinary, wellness, adventure, fitness, and culture with chefs, yoga instructors, massage specialists, and adventure guides to bring them to life. To celebrate their anniversary, they have some special giveaways offered on their Facebook page, and I have a gift to offer here as well. I’ll pick one winner from the comments to receive a culinary package including a cocktail shaker, a vegetable garden kit, a pair of Native shoes, a Breville juicer, and wines from Club W. I received this same gift package, so I know it’s a great way to get summer started. This was my first time using a juicer, and it’s delightful to turn fresh fruit into a beverage so quickly and easily. I had some local peaches to juice which I thought would be perfect with a little fresh ginger, and then I added an apple to round out the flavors. The juice blend was great on its own, but I took it one step further by mixing it with limoncello, rum, and ice in the cocktail shaker. It was a cold, fruity, and zippy cocktail suited for a long, summer weekend.

Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win the gift package. On Friday, June 1, 2012 at noon CST, I’ll pick one commenter to receive the gift. The winner will need to provide a mailing address in the US or Canada. Also, please leave an email address so I can contact you for your mailing information. Good luck and happy summer!

UPDATE 1 JUNE 2012: The winner of the gift package is Ahu from Ahu Eats.

Tweet