It seems that all you really need is a dry summer day. Laying the sugared peels on a rack then waiting 24 hours for the peels to dry is nonsense. I was able to make a batch of lime peels and a batch of orange peels in the same day. And, a batch of candied lemon peels the next day. Probably could have made it all in the same day if I had more drying space.
In terms of quantities, the peels of six limes filled an 8 oz jar; one medium mandarin orange filled 1/4 of an 8 oz jar, and two large lemons filled 1/2 an 8 oz jar.
Use a sharp edged (not serrated) vegetable peeler to remove the peel from the fruit. Thinly slice the peel into strips. The less pith (white stuff) that is on the peel, the more translucent the peel will become when it is boiled in the sugar syrup.
I used one batch of sugar syrup for all these fruits. I still have 10 oz of sugar syrup leftover.
Sugar Syrup
2 c organic granulated sugar
1 c water
Combine water and sugar in a small pot and bring to a boil. Stir until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and set aside.
The Process
1. Peel the fruits and slice the peel into strips. Place the strips into a pot and fill with just enough water to cover. Bring to a boil and let boil for 10 minutes. Drain the water.
2. Place the boiled peels into the sugar syrup. Bring to a boil. With a candy thermometer, maintain the heat until the thermometer reads 230 degrees F (syrup stage). The peels should begin to turn translucent. This is best observed with lemon and orange peels. You'll have to make a judgement call when doing lime peels. Boil at 230 degrees F for at least 5 minutes.
3. Remove peels from the syrup using a fork or chopsticks. Lay in a single layer onto a Silpat mat or drying rack. I prefer using a silicone mat for easier removal of the sugared peels. This is just so that the peels cool down a bit.
4. Once the peels have cooled. Fill a shallow bowl with 1/2 c granulated sugar. Transfer peels to the sugar and stir until the peels are coated. Set aside. Every few hours, stir the peels around the sugar. When the moisture has sufficiently evaporated from the sugar-coated peels, remove the peels to a separate container.
I use a canning jar with its inner lid removed and use a square of a paper towel as the temporary lid; using the sealing band to keep the paper towel in place. This way the peels can still dry out and the jar can sit on the counter without bugs getting in.
Watermelon Granita
A warm summer in the Pacific Northwest is a great time to enjoy other recipes using watermelon. This recipe is mixed with lemonade for a refreshing summer cooler. I suppose you could also just eat it as an iced watermelon treat. If you're extra crafty, you can peel the limes with a vegetable peeler and reserve the lime peel to make candied citrus peels.
Makes 1 quart.
Ingredients
6 c seedless watermelon, cut into chunks
1/4 c lime juice (3 limes)
1/2 c organic granulated sugar
Directions
1. Wash and juice three limes. Strain out the pulp and set aside.
2. In the bowl of a 7-cup food prep, add sugar and lime juice. Then fill the bowl with watermelon chunks. Purée until smooth.
3. Pour into a 9" x 13" glass baking dish. Place dish in the freezer.
4. When frozen, use the tines of a fork to scrape the frozen purée into granita.
Scoop into tall glasses and fill with lemonade. Enjoy.
The only difference between this and watermelon sorbet, is that the latter has added water and is processed in an ice cream machine.
Makes 1 quart.
Ingredients
6 c seedless watermelon, cut into chunks
1/4 c lime juice (3 limes)
1/2 c organic granulated sugar
Directions
1. Wash and juice three limes. Strain out the pulp and set aside.
2. In the bowl of a 7-cup food prep, add sugar and lime juice. Then fill the bowl with watermelon chunks. Purée until smooth.
3. Pour into a 9" x 13" glass baking dish. Place dish in the freezer.
4. When frozen, use the tines of a fork to scrape the frozen purée into granita.
Scoop into tall glasses and fill with lemonade. Enjoy.
The only difference between this and watermelon sorbet, is that the latter has added water and is processed in an ice cream machine.
Salt and Pepper Squid
While this recipe is a keeper, the most time-consuming task of the recipe is cleaning the squid if you are using fresh squid. I don't know of any seafood counter at an Asian grocery store that cleans squid before packaging it for sale. This is the third recipe attempt from a collection of Fuchsia Dunlop cookbooks. This recipe comes from her book Every Grain of Rice, which won this year's James Beard award for international cookbooks. The photo of my dish doesn't even look remotely close to the pretty squid shapes in the photo of her book. It was tasty regardless.
This is a dish that you could order at a restaurant and not think twice about how long it takes to prepare it. Between cleaning the whole squids, slicing, then deep frying them, it took about an hour from start to finish. I doubt that starting with cleaned squid tubes would have helped all that much; besides those are usually sold frozen. Fresh squid just has a different taste and texture.
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| Salt and Pepper Squid |
The cookbook has a vegetarian option for this recipe where instead of the squid, you use 14 oz of plain white tofu cut into bite-sized cubes then deep fried until golden.
Note: there is no black pepper nor white pepper in this recipe. The pepper here is Sichuan pepper, commonly referred to as Sichuan peppercorns. Also, two stalks of green onions were plenty for this dish. And, when deep frying the squid, watch out for the oil.. it will splatter and spit and crackle when moisture from the squid hits the hot oil.
Ingredients
1 lb squid, cleaned
1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
3 tbsp potato flour (for deep frying)
1 1/2 c neutral cooking oil, such as peanut oil
2 tbsp olive oil, for frying
2 tbsp fresh garlic, minced
2 tbsp spring onion whites, minced
2 tbsp spring onion greens, minced
1 fresh red chili, thinly sliced
1/4 tsp toasted Sichuan pepper mixed with 1/2 tsp kosher salt
Directions
1. Clean squid. You'll only be using the tentacles and the body. Trim the tentacles from the head, then slice in half lengthwise. Score the body using diagonal cuts with a knife.
2. Toss the squid body and tentacles in a bowl with Shaoxing rice wine. Let this marinate while you prep the other ingredients.
3. Drain the liquid from the squid and dredge in potato flour. Deep fry in a wok (or other appliance for deep frying) at 350 degrees F. Use a metal slotted spoon to remove the squid when it has reached a light golden brown color. Drain the oil from the squid on paper towels.
4. Drain off all but one tablespoon of oil from the wok. Add garlic, spring onion whites, and chili to the wok and stir fry over medium heat. Raise the heat to high and return the squid, Sichuan pepper, and salt to the wok. Stir and toss for a minute.
5. Add the spring onion greens last, mix well and serve.
Spicy Hot Eggplant
A madman checked out three of Fuchsia Dunlop's cookbooks from the library and suggested that we cook at least three recipes from them. This is the second of three recipes that looked doable and another attempt at authentic Chinese cuisine. This recipe comes from Dunlop's Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook which highlights the cuisine and cooking style of the Hunan province. Chili bean paste isn't in the pantry, so I mixed chili oil with black bean paste as a substitution. This came out tasting just okay. I'm not terribly inclined to make it again any time soon.
Ingredients
3 Asian eggplants, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks
2 dried shitake mushrooms, rehydrated and finely chopped
3 oz ground pork
2 tbsp chili oil + 1 tbsp black bean paste
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tsp fresh ginger, minced
1 fresh red chili, finely sliced
2/3 c. stock or water
1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
2 scallions, green parts only, finely sliced
1 tsp sesame oil
olive oil for frying
kosher salt, to taste
Directions
1. Peel the eggplants then cut them in half lengthwise, then crosswise. Cut each quarter into chunks, sprinkle with salt and let drain for 30 minutes.
2. Squeeze the water from the mushrooms, then finely chop and set aside.
3. Rinse and pat dry the eggplant. Heat the oil for deep frying in a wok over high heat until it reach 350 degrees F and fry eggplant until they are tender.
-or- Blanch the eggplant for a few minutes in salted boiling water until softened. Remove from heat or water and set aside.
4. Fry pork separately and add the chili bean paste. Stir fry until the oil is red.
5. Add the ginger, garlic, mushrooms, and chili paste. Stir in the stock, dark soy sauce, eggplant, and simmer for a few minutes over medium heat. Season to taste with salt.
6. Cook until the sauce is reduced. Add the scallions and stir fry until barely cooked.
7. Remove from heat, stir in sesame oil, and serve.
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| Spicy Eggplant with Pork |
3 Asian eggplants, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks
2 dried shitake mushrooms, rehydrated and finely chopped
3 oz ground pork
2 tbsp chili oil + 1 tbsp black bean paste
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tsp fresh ginger, minced
1 fresh red chili, finely sliced
2/3 c. stock or water
1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
2 scallions, green parts only, finely sliced
1 tsp sesame oil
olive oil for frying
kosher salt, to taste
Directions
1. Peel the eggplants then cut them in half lengthwise, then crosswise. Cut each quarter into chunks, sprinkle with salt and let drain for 30 minutes.
2. Squeeze the water from the mushrooms, then finely chop and set aside.
3. Rinse and pat dry the eggplant. Heat the oil for deep frying in a wok over high heat until it reach 350 degrees F and fry eggplant until they are tender.
-or- Blanch the eggplant for a few minutes in salted boiling water until softened. Remove from heat or water and set aside.
4. Fry pork separately and add the chili bean paste. Stir fry until the oil is red.
5. Add the ginger, garlic, mushrooms, and chili paste. Stir in the stock, dark soy sauce, eggplant, and simmer for a few minutes over medium heat. Season to taste with salt.
6. Cook until the sauce is reduced. Add the scallions and stir fry until barely cooked.
7. Remove from heat, stir in sesame oil, and serve.
Sichanese Dan Dan Noodles
If it weren't for this cookbook, I would not have known to make the dish nor the sauce that goes with it. This recipe comes from Fuchsia Dunlop's Land of Plenty. Total prep time is about an hour, including noodle cooking time. This was one of the few times I went out of the way to procure a single recipe ingredient, in this case it was the tianjin preserved vegetable; which is a garlic and salt-preserved cabbage. If you can't find this little clay urn of intensely salty vegetable, you could probably substitute the more commonly used preserved turnip or preserved mustard greens instead.
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| Egg Noodles with Pork & Bok Choy, Sichuanese Flavors |
More appalling was the fact that the Wel-pac brand was the only packaged noodle at the Asian grocery store that listed egg as an ingredient instead of yellow food coloring. Sichuanese food is nearly synonymous with hot and spicy. The spiciness of the dish comes from chili oil and toasted sichuan peppercorns.
Serves: 4
For the noodles:
1 pkg (3 bundles) egg noodles
8 bok choy heads, halved and leaves only
For the sauce:
2 tbsp tianjin preserved vegetable, or pickled Chinese cabbage
1 tbsp olive oil
3 spring onions, green parts only, finely chopped
3 tsp light soy sauce
2 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp chili oil, to taste
2 tsp Chinese black vinegar
1 tsp ground toasted sichuan peppercorns
1 qt hot chicken stock
For the pork:
1 tbsp olive oil
3.5 oz ground pork
1 tsp Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
1 tsp light soy sauce
Directions
1. Rinse the Tianjin vegetable in a sieve under the tap to get rid of excess salt and shake dry. Heat the oil in a wok over a high heat,and stir-fry the Tianjin vegetable until it is dry. Set aside.
2. To prepare the pork topping, add the oil to the wok and heat through. Add the ground pork and stir-fry, splashing in the Shaoxing wine. Add the soy sauce and fry until the meat is cooked but not too dry. Set aside.
3. Divide the stir-fried preserved vegetable, the spring onions and the light and dark soy sauce, chili oil, vinegar, Sichuan pepper and stock among four serving bowls.
4. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add the bok choy and blanch until just cooked. Place a couple of leaves in each serving bowl. Meanwhile, add the noodles to the boiling water and boil until cooked to taste. Drain the noodles and divide among the prepared bowls. Top each serving with a spoonful of the cooked pork.
5. Serve immediately. The noodles should be mixed into the sauce at the table, using chopsticks.
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