Ever buy a stub of fresh ginger from the grocery store and end up using it in just one or two dishes, then look in horror as it gets all shriveled in the fridge or on the counter by the garlic? Well, here is a way to add another month of life to the ginger. At sushi restaurants, I used to nibble on the pickled ginger with a bit of wasabi mustard and some soy sauce, though not as a palate cleanser, but simply to eat it. I haven't been able to slice it thin enough at home to replicate the ginger you get at the store or restaurant. Maybe I need a much sharper knife than the RADA knife I picked up last year. I am avoiding artificial colorants. The pink tinge can be added naturally by boiling a small red beet with the vinegar before adding the ginger to the pickling liquid.
Another way to keep the essence of ginger around is to peel the fresh ginger root and slice it into long, thin matchsticks. Then dry the ginger and keep it as a dried spice in a glass jar. I've found this also works pretty well when cooking up clear broths, steaming seafood, and to add to meat-based stews when I've run out of fresh ginger. Nothing tastes quite like fresh ginger and the flavor is far more mild after it's been dried.
At some point I would like to procure a small ceramic ginger grater. I saw it once at the Portland Home & Garden show a couple years ago, and now I can't find it anywhere. It's used in Asian cuisine a lot to get fresh ginger juice from grated ginger. Onto the recipe...
Ingredients
1/2 lb fresh ginger root, peeled and thinly sliced
1/3 c. rice vinegar
2 tbsp cooking mirin
2 tbsp sake (dry and of drinking quality, but not fusion-flavored or carbonated)
2 tbsp organic granulated sugar or brown sugar
Directions
1. Scrub the ginger under water with a mushroom brush or the rough side of a sponge to remove all the dirt. Blanch it in boiling water for a minute or so, then drain.
2. Combine the cooking mirin, sake, and sugar in a small pot and bring it to a boil until the sugar dissolves. To alter the natural beige color of the ginger to a pinkish color, you could add a small red beet in this step. Let cool.
3. In a clean, sterilized jar add the ginger and pour the vinegar over the ginger. Cover the jar and use the ginger within a week, or up to a month if kept in a refrigerator.
Stovetop Sloppy Joes
I read that this is an American classic, but I didn't start eating nor making it until well after college. I suppose it's an evolution of sorts from frying ground beef and mixing in liberal amounts of catsup and Chipotlé hot sauce. This batch came out sweeter than I expected, probably because of the red bell peppers instead of the traditional green bell peppers.
This version doesn't use onions, although if you enjoy such flavorings, you could add a chopped onion. The recipe ratio is slightly more elaborate and still tastes fine between toasted bread, buns, sliced hoagie rolls, or whatever other source of bread-like material you have on hand. It is thick enough to be eaten with saltines or other types of crackers. Serving size depends on what you think an adequate serving size is from how much ground meat is used. If you're only using a pound of meat, then it'll be roughly four servings for the batch.
Ingredients
1 lb lean ground meat, tastes best with beef
6 oz tomato paste
1/2 c. water
1 red (or green) bell pepper, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp cooking wine
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp dry yellow mustard
1/2 tsp smoked chipotlé powder (or chili pepper)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Directions
1. In a large pot, heat olive oil until it spreads easily across the bottom of the pot. Add the bell pepper and garlic and fry until the oil is fragrant. If you are using chopped onions, they go in this step too. Add the ground beef and brown the sides before breaking it up into smaller chunks with a heatproof utensil.
2. When the beef is mostly cooked (very little pink showing), add the tomato paste, water, Worchestershire sauce, paprika, dry mustard and chipotlé powder. Season with sea salt and a few grinds of black pepper.
3. Simmer on low heat for 20-30 minutes. Toast some bread and slather butter onto it, or serve over hamburger buns, with crackers, or over more cooked meat.
This can also be made in a crockpot. The process is largely the same, except the water is omitted and the sauce cooks on low for 6 hours, after the meat has been browned in another pan.
This version doesn't use onions, although if you enjoy such flavorings, you could add a chopped onion. The recipe ratio is slightly more elaborate and still tastes fine between toasted bread, buns, sliced hoagie rolls, or whatever other source of bread-like material you have on hand. It is thick enough to be eaten with saltines or other types of crackers. Serving size depends on what you think an adequate serving size is from how much ground meat is used. If you're only using a pound of meat, then it'll be roughly four servings for the batch.
Ingredients
1 lb lean ground meat, tastes best with beef
6 oz tomato paste
1/2 c. water
1 red (or green) bell pepper, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp cooking wine
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp dry yellow mustard
1/2 tsp smoked chipotlé powder (or chili pepper)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Directions
1. In a large pot, heat olive oil until it spreads easily across the bottom of the pot. Add the bell pepper and garlic and fry until the oil is fragrant. If you are using chopped onions, they go in this step too. Add the ground beef and brown the sides before breaking it up into smaller chunks with a heatproof utensil.
2. When the beef is mostly cooked (very little pink showing), add the tomato paste, water, Worchestershire sauce, paprika, dry mustard and chipotlé powder. Season with sea salt and a few grinds of black pepper.
3. Simmer on low heat for 20-30 minutes. Toast some bread and slather butter onto it, or serve over hamburger buns, with crackers, or over more cooked meat.
This can also be made in a crockpot. The process is largely the same, except the water is omitted and the sauce cooks on low for 6 hours, after the meat has been browned in another pan.
Pickled Garlic
At last weekend's Farmer's Market in Vancouver, I sampled some of the pickled garlic from the Garlic Lady booth. I tried the barbecue smoked and the spicy Italian pickled garlics. There was definitely smoky flavor in the BBQ one, but it didn't quite taste like what I thought it would taste like. The spicy Italian was much better tasting. Here is my attempt at making pickled garlic.
Ingredients
1 c. distilled vinegar
1/3 c. organic granulated sugar
1 c. peeled cloves with ends trimmed (about two garlic bulbs)
1 tsp Italian seasoning or herbs de provence seasoning blend
1/2 tsp celery seed
1/4 tsp dry mustard
Directions
1. In a small saucepan, heat vinegar and sugar until sugar is dissolved and the liquid is boiling. Add garlic cloves and boil for five minutes.
2. In a clean glass jar add the seasoning, celery seed and dry mustard.
3. Transfer garlic to a clean glass jar and fill the jar with the hot vinegar liquid so that it covers the top of the garlic. Let the jar cool and sit in the refrigerator for at least three weeks before opening.
Ingredients
1 c. distilled vinegar
1/3 c. organic granulated sugar
1 c. peeled cloves with ends trimmed (about two garlic bulbs)
1 tsp Italian seasoning or herbs de provence seasoning blend
1/2 tsp celery seed
1/4 tsp dry mustard
Directions
1. In a small saucepan, heat vinegar and sugar until sugar is dissolved and the liquid is boiling. Add garlic cloves and boil for five minutes.
2. In a clean glass jar add the seasoning, celery seed and dry mustard.
3. Transfer garlic to a clean glass jar and fill the jar with the hot vinegar liquid so that it covers the top of the garlic. Let the jar cool and sit in the refrigerator for at least three weeks before opening.
Another tomato soup
It's springtime and still not warm enough to grow tomatoes. It is one of those soups that you can eat alone and not feel like it's bachelor food. So anyways, onto the recipe. The soy sauce has two purposes here, one is to add sodium without adding salt, and two, to balance the acidity of the tomatoes. The rice is just to add some texture and a tiny bit of protein. One cup of cooked brown rice has about five grams of protein.
Ingredients
one 14.5 oz can organic diced tomatoes
1 c. cooked chicken meat, diced
1 c. frozen corn kernels
1/4 c. brown rice, soaked in water for half a day
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 tbsp light soy sauce1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Directions
In a 2-quart stainless steel or heavy bottomed pot, heat olive oil over medium heat and add the chopped red bell pepper and garlic. Next, add the tomatoes, corn, and brown rice. Add the soy sauce and mirin. And finally, add the rice. If you haven't soaked the rice, it will take longer to be palatable. An alternative is to use leftover cooked brown rice (1/2 cup) and add it to the soup about 10-15 minutes before you intend to serve it.
Bring to a boil, then let simmer for 30 minutes on low heat. Remove from heat and serve.
Makes 2-3 servings.
Ingredients
one 14.5 oz can organic diced tomatoes
1 c. cooked chicken meat, diced
1 c. frozen corn kernels
1/4 c. brown rice, soaked in water for half a day
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 tbsp light soy sauce1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Directions
In a 2-quart stainless steel or heavy bottomed pot, heat olive oil over medium heat and add the chopped red bell pepper and garlic. Next, add the tomatoes, corn, and brown rice. Add the soy sauce and mirin. And finally, add the rice. If you haven't soaked the rice, it will take longer to be palatable. An alternative is to use leftover cooked brown rice (1/2 cup) and add it to the soup about 10-15 minutes before you intend to serve it.
Bring to a boil, then let simmer for 30 minutes on low heat. Remove from heat and serve.
Makes 2-3 servings.
Homemade Granola Trail Mix
I'm baffled at the grocery store prices for granola and/or trail mix. I thought I'd give this a whirl since the weather is becoming warmer and drier; soon it'll be prime hiking season and I'll want something tasty to nibble on. This is a recipe that you can totally customize to what's already in the pantry and to your liking. The maple syrup can be substituted with honey and raisins for cranberries. It just so happened that I used the last of the raisins in a batch of oatmeal cookies.
Ingredients
2 c. old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 c. raw pumpkin seeds
1/2 c. dried black currants
1/4 c. sweetened dried cranberries
1/4 c. raw almonds, sliced
1/4 c. lightly-salted roasted almonds, whole
1/4 c. maple syrup
1/4 c. brown sugar
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp water
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
Directions
Preheat oven to 260 degrees F.
1. In a large bowl, combine oats, almonds, pumpkin seeds, currants, cranberries.
2. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter with maple syrup, brown sugar, water, vanilla, and ground cinnamon. Let cool before pouring over oat mixture. Mix well and pour into a greased 13" x 9" x 2" baking dish.
3. Bake for 30 minutes at 260 degrees F, stirring once every 15 minutes. Raise oven temp to 275 degrees F for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and stir occassionally as the granola cools. Store in an airtight container.
Ingredients
2 c. old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 c. raw pumpkin seeds
1/2 c. dried black currants
1/4 c. sweetened dried cranberries
1/4 c. raw almonds, sliced
1/4 c. lightly-salted roasted almonds, whole
1/4 c. maple syrup
1/4 c. brown sugar
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp water
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
Directions
Preheat oven to 260 degrees F.
1. In a large bowl, combine oats, almonds, pumpkin seeds, currants, cranberries.
2. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter with maple syrup, brown sugar, water, vanilla, and ground cinnamon. Let cool before pouring over oat mixture. Mix well and pour into a greased 13" x 9" x 2" baking dish.
3. Bake for 30 minutes at 260 degrees F, stirring once every 15 minutes. Raise oven temp to 275 degrees F for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and stir occassionally as the granola cools. Store in an airtight container.
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