Miso Ginger Fried Rice with Cherry Tomatoes

For a chilly autumn day, this fried rice dish hits the spot. It's both savory and sweet. I did not come up with the combination of the Miso Ginger and Jasmine rice, the samples counter at my local Trader Joe's did. I'm using homegrown cherry tomatoes, although they're not all that sweet but they'll add more flavor to the rice.

Serves: 1-3

Make the rice

2 c dry jasmine rice
2 1/2 c miso ginger soup

Rinse the rise under water until most of the starch washes away. In an oven-proof bowl, combine rice and soup. Bake for 50 minutes at 400 degrees F.

Stir fry the rice

1 tbsp unsalted butter
a handful of cherry tomatoes
a cup of cooked rice

Melt butter in a skillet. Add rice and tomatoes. Stir around until rice is hot and tomatoes can be squished when gently pressed with a spatula.

No added salt needed.

Roasted Cauilflower

Over the past year, cauliflower has experienced a revival of sorts and the campaign has been driven by vegan enthusiasts. I am not vegan; heck I avoided cauliflower for decades. Although I am curious as to what textures are attributed to this vegetable. It's been picked up by wheat-free eaters as a replacement for pizza dough (Rachel Ray's cauliflower pizza dough); to replace rice as a side dish (Jamie Oliver's cauliflower risotto); and as mock mashed potatoes. Flavor-wise, eating cauliflower is like eating white bread and isn't substantial on its own. But when paired with other ingredients then the spotlight appears.

Take this recipe for example. All the flavor of the dish comes from the olive oil and the nutritional yeast. The salt and pepper remind you that there's a vegetable hiding under all the mock cheesy flavor brought on by the yeast. If you take all that away, these are just baked cauliflower florets; and that is a sight sadder than seeing people eat cauliflower mashed potatoes because they want to consume fewer carbs.
Roasted Cauliflower: start to finish
The majority of the calories in this dish comes from how much olive oil you use to dip the florets before dipping into the nutritional yeast. One cup of olive oil has roughly 1,900 calories. The original ingredient ratio called for more salt (1/2 tsp salt was still too much); and I used a lot more than 1/4 c olive oil. The majority of the calories of this dish comes from oil (aka fat). A large cauliflower head is about 146 calories; that is, if you consume the inner stalk as well. The first pass of this recipe made the kitchen smell really good; but the florets came out soggy and not crunchy.

Ingredients

1 medium organic cauliflower head
1/2 c nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 c extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

1. Use a sharp knife and cut the florets off the stalk. Set aside.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together yeast, salt, and black pepper.

3. Have the olive oil in another small bowl.

4. Dip each floret into the oil, but do not submerse it and then dip it into the nutritional yeast. Place in a single layer on a glass baking dish. 

5. Bake for 50 minutes, until browned. Serve hot.

Enjoy.

P.S. There is no "mock cheese" flavor by using nutritional yeast; although, it is an interesting addition.

Dill Pickled Vegetables

So far the only candidates for this dill pickle recipe are cucumbers and carrots. I made 2 pints + 2 quarts of dill pickles and carrots; although, the carrots are only in one of the quart jars because I ran out of cucumbers. Because I lack the equipment to properly can a quart-sized jar, the quart jars became refrigerator pickles.

Ingredients

sliced, quartered, or whole pickling cucumbers (~ 2 lbs)
fresh dill leaves, roughly chopped into 4" pieces
2 garlic cloves, peeled and trimmed, per jar
organic carrot sticks (optional)

the brine:

1 1/2 c white vinegar
1 1/2 c filtered water
1-2 tbsp kosher salt

Bring brine ingredients to a boil in a medium pot. Remove from heat when the salt has dissolved. Set aside until ready to use.

Directions

The order of operations is pretty important. You want all the floaty stuff to start at the bottom and then wedge it all into place by packing the jar with the vegetables. First things to the bottom are the garlic and dill leaves.

Wash and trim the ends of the vegetables. The flower end of the cucumber is what makes it go soft in the brine and nobody wants to eat limp pickles. Pack each jar full. Pour brine on top and leave 1/2" space at the top. Wipe the rims of the jars with a damp paper towel before placing and securing the lid and jar bands.

Start the timer when the water comes back up to a boil after adding the jars. Process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for 24 hours before shelving.

For the refrigerator pickles, skip the hot water bath. Simply place the sterilized lid and tighten the jar band. Put in refrigerator to cure for a week before eating.

Note: This recipe assumes you have sterilized jars, lids, and jar bands ready to go.

Note to future self: Add brine to jars you intend to can. If you run out of brine, make more.

The ratio was sourced from here (ratios mucked around with since I wasn't about to make 7 quarts of pickles).

Dulce de Leche

Now that I have unused 4 oz jars, I think I should fill them up with something sweet. These would make nice gifts for those sugarholics in your life.

Dulce de leche is a caramel sauce with South American origins and likely the result of needing to preserve dairy in those pre-refrigeration days. This recipe uses the lazy method: a crockpot and sweetened condensed milk.

Food52 via Serious Eats would have you combine these ingredients, if making it from scratch:

1 quart whole milk
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 vanilla bean, split
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

And, you'd have to slave over a hot stove for 1.5 - 2 hours, stirring constantly so the mixture doesn't burn or scald. And, once you're done this mixture keeps well for four weeks in the refrigerator.


Fortunately, there's always-on electricity and products like already canned sweetened condensed milk. Here's the other not-really-from-scratch process, which comes from the Crazy for Crust blog:

Ingredients

two 14-oz cans sweetened condensed milk
clean glass jars with rings and lids
water

Directions

1. Evenly distribute sweetened condensed milk across the jars being used. It should fill seven 4 oz jars or three 8 oz jars. Attach lids and rings to jars.

2. Place jars (not touching each other) into the slow cooker and fill with enough water to cover the jars by 1-2 inches.

3. Set slow cooker for 10 hours on LOW.

The only problem with this method that the dulce de leche is not shelf stable because of its low acidity. This will also spoil if not used within 4 weeks and must be refrigerated, even though the jars are sealed.

Either method is a LOT better than buying the irradiated stuff from the grocery store, IMHO.

Kitchen Notes: Kimchi Pairings

After failing to properly can a batch of kimchi, I have four pint jars of it in my refrigerator. The fifth jar that I took into work seems as unpopular as the fresh longan and fresh litchis that I also brought into work. The kimchi wasn't done fermenting (only a week + 2 days had transpired) and ended up getting cooked a little while canning, plus a lot of its liquid leaked out so I'm not sure how much "life" the jars have in the fridge since then.

Here is the scale. The higher it is on the scale, the more likely it is to be served to others. I'll put comparative recipes in the scale for taste context. As a bachelorette, I'll eat most things that rank at or above a 7. Some of these I've done, some suggestions are imaginary. The kimchi and clam chowder was not imaginary but I think it might taste okay with the Boston version instead.

10 (best, is that even possible?)

9.9 - (my Dad's roast duck recipe)

8 - kimchi and pork stew (Korean jigae)

7.5 - baked chicken parts with kimchi

7.2 - kimchi and beef/pork/shrimp/vegetable pho broth

7.1 - kimchi with ramen noodles

7.0 - homemade kimchi straight from the jar

3 - kimchi and New England Clam Chowder

2 - kimchi using Chinese white radish

1.1 - (tuna casserole)

1 (worst, into the compost heap it goes)

Preserving Roasted Hatch Chiles

It seems that either canning roasted hot peppers is so commonplace, like making bread, that everyone knows how to do it or doing so without a pressure cooker isn't safe to do so. At any rate, I couldn't find a canning process on the net that actually tell you how to preserve the summer's bounty of hatch chiles. I can't possibly be the only Pacific Northwesterner who enjoys seasonal fruits and vegetables outside of growing seasons. These are great with nachos and cheese.

Wikipedia suggests that the Scoville scale of these peppers ranges from 0 (unlikely!) to 70,000 (more likely). I de-skinned and de-seeded the roasted chiles without gloves and so far no problems. Not like that one time I rubbed my eyes after handling cayenne peppers. Oh the agony!
2015-09 Roasted Hatch Chiles
Prepare the Hatch Chiles (or Anahein, Jalapeno, or whatever hot chile pepper you have)

Five Spice Powder Roasted Chicken

This came out decent and a tad undercooked in the thigh area; more or less edible straight from the oven. This is adapted from my dad's roast duck recipe. If I do this recipe again (the first time I never wrote it up), I'll have to try the slower roasting method. Most poultry roasting recipes call for 50-60 minutes of unadulterated time in a very hot oven, with temps ranging from 400 degrees F to 450 degrees F. A slow roast would involve dropping the oven temp to 275 degrees F but increasing the time to roast to 3-4 hours. That would definitely not be a weekday meal unless I started it on a weekend.

Ingredients

1 whole fryer chicken, cleaned and giblets removed

2 1/2 tsp Chinese five spice powder
4 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp red Chinese rice wine
2 tbsp organic granulated sugar
3/4 tsp kosher sea salt
1 c filtered water

Directions

Place chicken breast-side up into a 9" x 13" baking dish (or roasting pan, if you have one).

In a bowl, combine five spice powder, sugar, salt, soy sauce, rice wine, and water.

Use a spoon or basting brush to cover the chicken (all sides) with the five-spice sauce.

Roast for an hour in a pre-heated oven at 400 degrees F.

Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes before carving.

Spicy Tomato Salsa

This batch came out a lot spicier than last year's and it is likely that I wasn't paying attention to actually reading last year's recipe write-up. Because I also picked up some hatch chiles from the produce market at the same time as the tomatoes, I thought I might reserve some of the tomatoes for another salsa recipe using the hatch chiles as I was already mid-recipe. I ran out of pint jars so I only made 6 pints.

What's different between last year and this year's salsa? I left the seeds in the jalapenos, and there's half as many tomatoes in this batch.

Yield: 6 pints (canned) + 1 quart (refrigerated)

Ingredients

12 green jalapenos, stemmed but not seeded
8 tomatilllos, husk removed and quartered
5-6 lbs ripe Roma tomatoes, quartered, not peeled/seeded
2 green bell peppers, stemmed and seeded, diced
2 heads of garlic, cloves removed and roughly chopped
1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
juice of 2 limes (4-5 tbsp)
2 tbsp kosher salt (without anti-caking additive)

Directions

Process in batches, a few pulses at a time with a food processor machine, all the ingredients except for the cilantro, lime juice and salt. Last year's salsa was processed into a sauce-like consistency. This time, it's a bit more chunky.

Empty roughly chopped batches into a large stockpot. Add lime juice, salt, and cilantro.

Cook for 1.5 hrs, or until the desired consistency is achieved.

I used a slotted spoon when filling the pint jars for canning. The quart or so of salsa leftover had a lot of water.

I processed the jars in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes.

I'm not sure this will last until next summer. I have already polished off a quart of salsa and gave away one jar. Looks like I may have to procure more of everything. :) :)

Kitchen Notes: Everything Pumpkin

Last year's T-day desserts featuring pumpkin were clearly winners: pumpkin pound cake and the pumpkin roll with candied ginger in the cream cheese filling. Here's a listing of all the pumpkin recipes-to-date on this blog:

pumpkin pie spice
pumpkin spice scones
pumpkin fried rice
pumpkin bread with yogurt
pumpkin bread with tofu
pumpkin soup
pumpkin pound cake
pumpkin roll with candied ginger
pumpkin spice latte
pumpkin muffins
pumpkin cranberry biscotti

Should kabocha squash be included in the pumpkin recipes? After all, it is pumpkin-like in shape, cooking methods, and color. If so, here are those recipe links:


Spicy Sweet Roasted Kabocha Squash
pumpkin potage

With the autumn season close by, pumpkins will soon be available at local farms and the produce market. Here are some recipe ideas that I'll be toying with for this year's T-day:


Southern Living's Pumpkin Chips (deep fried)
Pumpkin Butter
Pumpkin Cornbread
Pumpkin Bread Pudding
Serious Eats' Pumpkin Liqueur

Gluten-Free Zucchini Muffins

I feel like I am contributing to California's water shortage by encouraging the use of almonds in recipes, or the desolation of coconut groves in the Philippines by using coconut flour. Nonetheless, here is another egg-heavy coconut flour recipe. The coconut oil and vanilla are not in this recipe. I simply forgot to add it. Let this be a lesson to you.. don't bake when tired, really! Things get missed.

Makes: 12

Ingredients

1/2 c organic coconut flour
1/4 c almond flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
4 large eggs
1/3 c raw honey
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 ripe banana
1 c shredded zucchini
1 shredded organic carrot (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

1. In the bowl of a food processor, combine almond flour, coconut flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Add eggs, honey, vanilla, and coconut oil. Pulse until combined.

2. If you happen to be using a frozen banana, thaw it then lop off the stem and squeeze the banana out into the bowl. Add apple cider vinegar, banana, and zucchini. Pulse to mix thoroughly.

3. Line a muffin tin with silicone or paper muffin liners. Fill each liner with 1-2 tbsp of mixture.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool and enjoy.

These came out looking really dark and not smooth on top.

Blackberry Basil Seltzer

This version of the seltzer is more colorful than the strawberry one and can be served in short glass. Refreshing and light on the palate, this is another drink for a summertime dinner party.

For each serving:

1/4 c blackberries
2-3 basil leaves
1 tbsp syrup sweetener (agave, honey, or simple syrup)
seltzer or sparkling water
crushed ice

Directions

In a glass, add ingredients and squish together with the back of a spoon. Add ice and fill glass with seltzer water. Enjoy.

Strawberry Basil Spritzer

This summer, the sun has been awfully harsh with wanting to be in the sky for 16 hours at a stretch. At least the solstice has passed and the days are starting to get shorter. This beverage can be kicked up a couple notches with the addition of vodka, but is good enough on its own without alcohol.

Ingredients

4-5 organic strawberries, washed, stemmed and halved
8 basil leaves, coarsely chopped
1 oz simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water, boiled and reduced by half)
juice from 1 lime
club soda or sparkling water
3 oz vodka (optional)

Directions

In a pint jar, combine strawberries, basil leaves, simple syrup, and lime juice. Let chill until ready to use. Scoop out 1-2 tablespoons of the mixture per serving, into a tall glass with ice. Add enough club soda or sparkling water. Stir briskly then serve.

Watermelon Coconut Ice Cream

I'm not sure this even qualifies to be an ice cream since it lacks dairy as a main ingredient. This is something else to do with the watermelon that is ultra-low in calories and high in awesome. I could easily polish off a watermelon by myself. Watermelon granita is how I enjoyed it last year. This summer, I think I can start to experiment a little more.

Makes: 1 quart

4 c seedless watermelon, cubed
1 can full-fat coconut milk (at least 70%), shaken, not stirred
1/4 c raw honey
juice of 1 lemon

Blend everything together in a food processor. Pour into a 9" x 13" baking dish. Place in freezer until set. Scrape everything out and place frozen bits into the food processor. Purée until smooth. Scoop into a freezer-safe container and chill until set, about 3-4 hours.
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