Archive for the 'Vegetable' Category

Creamy truffled swiss chard

Published
by
marc
on July 22, 2008
in Side, Vegetable, Vegetarian and Winter
. 12 Comments

Given that steak is such a dense heavy dish I never fully understood why steakhouse sides are always so heavy. Don’t get me wrong, I love me a good baked potato with butter, sour cream, cheddar, bacon and chives, but it’s not exactly what I’d call a contrast up against a big hunk of grilled meat.

Creamed spinach is one of those steakhouse sides that I’ve always loved in theory (what’s not to like about a veggie that consists of more cream and butter than spinach?). But every time I tried to order it (usually in a steakhouse) I was so filled up by the headline act that the thick cloying side just didn’t work for me.

For my version, I went with another green veggie that has a bit more texture that could stand up to the bechamel. Instead of cream, I used milk, although you’re welcome to put the cream back in if you’ve been feeling a little skinny lately. I added gruyere to give it some more depth and a nice crusty top and since steak dinners have a certain decadence about them, I added some earthy truffle oil and shaved black truffles.

Honestly though you could leave the shaved truffles ($15 an ounce) out as a few drops of the truffle oil adds plenty of flavour at a much more reasonable price. Also, if you’ve never used truffle oil before, be careful, a little goes a long way and I find that too much oil makes stuff taste rather unpleasant.

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Summer Veggie Stew

Published
by
marc
on June 28, 2008
in Soups & Stews, Vegan, Vegetable and Vegetarian
. 7 Comments

I almost hate calling this a stew because it doesn’t really do it justice. There’s no liquid added, so any sauce that develops comes out of the veggies, melding together and caramelizing in the pan to make a wonderfully hardy “stew”.

Its great on pasta, but I think it’s even better scooped up with soft flatbreads like a pita or naan.

For this batch I used some incredibly tender young summer squash along with sweet grape tomatoes, spring onions and fresh peas, but you could really use just about any mix of just-picked farmers market produce. For the seasoning I went with a home made Herbes de Provence mixture of fresh rosemary, lavender, sage and bay leaves, but it’s also great with sumac, lemon rind, and harissa.

While I included measurements below, they’re just guidelines. The idea here is to get the fewest pans, plates and utensils dirty, so do what feels right, taste it then adjust the seasonings until you’re happy.
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Sukiyaki

Published
by
marc
on June 25, 2008
in Beef, Dinner, Dinner party, Japanese, Soups & Stews, Vegetable and Winter
. 11 Comments

No… I’m not going to bust out singing that Japanese pop song from the 60’s that got renamed for the US market by some culturally insensitive prick record executive. Instead you get my rendition of this ubiquitous dish that’s become synonymous with Japanese food. Not that I have anything against record execs, or even renaming songs, but really… did ya have to name it after a hotpot dish? I wonder how that guy would have felt if I took a song like “Unchained Melody” and renamed it “Beef Stew” in Japan because it’s easier to say and more catchy.

There are many styles of making this, but perhaps the most common way is to cook meat and veggies in a sweet soy sauce based broth at the table. While I’m a big fan of the table top cooking method (especially for Shabu Shabu), I actually prefer to pre-cook the stuff separately and just serve the sukiyaki in a large bowl in the center of the table.

Regardless of how you decide to cook it, it makes for a really simple weeknight meal that requires no more than some washing and cutting of veggies. It’s typically made with thin slices of well marbled beef, but you could really use just about anything. Japanese markets tend to have the meat pre-sliced and packaged. I lucked out and got a pack of wagyu end-cuts (kiriotoshi) for a couple bucks. Because they were the end cuts the pieces were kinda irregular (which would be a problem for shabu shabu), but works just fine for sukiyaki. The most important thing is that the meat is tender and has a good amount of fat marbled with the meat.

For veggies you can use just about anything. I went mostly traditional using Tofu, green onions, bamboo, enoki mushrooms, and chrysanthemum leaves, but I also added some fresh summer squash I got at the farmers market the other day. It’s a good way to clean out the vegetable drawer in your fridge.

   

Traditionally it’s eaten by dipping the cooked meat into a raw egg, but due to the potential for getting salmonella I wouldn’t recommend it. You could soft poach or coddle the egg, but I still don’t think that would technically be “safe”. Instead I just grate some raw yamaimo (japanese mountain yam) also known as nagaimo which has the texture and slimy consistency of a raw egg when grated. If all this talk of slimy things is turns you off, or you can’t find it, you could always just skip it.

Leftover sukiyaki makes for a great bowl of udon (with some boiled noodles and egg cooked in the broth), or you could turn it into a donburi by reheating it with some beaten egg on top then serving it over a bowl of rice.
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Cheesy fried green tomatoes

Published
by
marc
on June 10, 2008
in Breakfast, Brunch, Vegetable and Vegetarian
. 23 Comments

I picked these green tomatoes up at the farmer’s market this weekend with every intention of turning them into a nice light tomato mint sorbet. Instead, I woke up Sunday morning with a hankerin’ fer some fried green ta’maters.

I guess I should have known this was going to happen when I bought them, and bought some extras. Hopefully they’ll still have some more this week so I can make my sorbet. Roasted green tomatoes also make fantastic salsa, and I love green tomato chutney’s and jams.

Given the big fuss over raw tomatoes, I guess it’s only appropriate that I deep fried the little bastards. Though in all fairness to these Lycopene rich fruits, I’m guessing the salmonella outbreaks are a result of bad farming and people/restaurants not properly washing the tomatoes.

Because they’re not fully ripe, green tomatoes are tart, dense and perfect for frying as they have less moisture and hold their shape. This recipe will yield fragrant disks with thick savory crusts and a tart, tender interior. They’re fantastic with a soft poached egg on top, and if you want to go for the full heart attack, make a cream and sausage gravy to pour on top (I call this Southern Eggs Benedict).
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Shabu Shabu Salad

Published
by
marc
on June 4, 2008
in Fusion, Japanese, Summer and Vegetable
. 8 Comments

When in need of a quick simple meal I often turn to Japanese food for inspiration. While some preparation and presentations can be extremely time-consuming, at it’s core, Japanese food is about simplicity.

Shabu Shabu is typically considered a winter dish because it involves cooking paper thin slices of meat and vegetables in dashi at your table. The name is derived from the sound chopsticks make as you swish your meat around in the boiling stock to cook it. After a brief dip in the water, the meat is typically dipped in either a sesame sauce or ponzu (citrus and soy sauce).

This summer salad is a lighter take on Shabu Shabu requiring minimal cooking (thus minimal heat) while providing a well balanced meal that will sate your hunger and keep it at bay for a few hours longer than a bunch of lettuce would.

Dressed in a yuzu soy sauce dressing, the crispy batons of daikon radish add some body to the salad while the flash cooked pork gives it both flavour and protein. The best part is that it takes almost no-time to prepare and won’t turn your kitchen into a sweltering sauna in the middle of summer.

for pork
a pot of dashi (since you’ll toss this out I usually cheat and use the powdered kind)
very thin slices of pork (think deli meat thickness)

for dressing
2 Tbs soy sauce
2 Tbs yuzu juice (or lemon juice)
1 Tbs vegetable oil
2 tsp toasted sesame seeds
1/2 tsp sugar

for salad
2″ length of daikon radish peeled
couple handfuls of mixed baby greens or lettuce (I used arugola and mizuna)
cherry tomatoes

If you have a Japanese grocery nearby you should be able to get nicely marbled meat pre-cut into thin slices, but if you don’t you could have your butcher do it for you. If you have a sharp knife and better knife skills than I, you could do this yourself in theory, but you’ll want to partially freeze the meat I should warn you that it’s very hard to get thin uniform slices.

Cut the daikon lengthwise into thin batons, using a mandoline speeds this up. Soak them in a large bowl of ice cold water for about 10-15 minutes to take the “bite” off and bring out the sweetness.

Bring the dashi to a boil and using chopsticks or tongs, swish one or two slices of meat around at a time for a few seconds. Because it’s pork you need to cook it all the way through, but it should just barely be cooked. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate to drain and cool too room temperature.

Whisk all the dressing ingredients together. Transfer the pork to a bowl and pour about half the dressing over the meat and stir to combine. Drain the daikon and toss with some of the dressing. Toss the greens with some dressing and then assemble your salad.

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