Tag Archive for 'garlic'

Yuca with yogurt mojo

Published
by
marc
on May 23, 2008
in Cuban
. 5 Comments

This yuca was a spontaneous purchase I made yesterday while at Wholefoods. It’s a long thick root that looks like a giant sweet potato with a waxy scaly skin. I’ve never cooked it before and have only eaten it a handful of times and yet this staple in many parts of the world called to me as I was heading to the cashier.

Yuca also known as “cassava root” is the the tuber below a cassava plant. According to Wikipedia, “the cassava plant gives the highest yield of food energy per cultivated area per day among crop plants, except possibly for sugarcane”. Both the leaves and the roots are eaten, and the roots are turned into flour which is used to make tapioca, boba, bread, etc.

But there’s a catch: it contains a compound that turns into cyanide in the presence of an enzyme found in the plant. The leaves have a particularly high concentration of this compound but it’s also found in the roots. Luckily, cooking renders it harmless, so just make sure it’s cooked all the way and you’ll be fine.

It’s got a texture somewhere between potato and pumpkin with a slight sweetness. Doused in olive oil and dressed with a garlic yogurt mojo sauce, it makes for a great side for fish and meat dishes. The tart yogurt and lemon give it a nice light taste while the potent raw garlic adds a ton of peppery flavour.

How do you like to prepare yuca?

1 small yuca (cassava root) peeled and cut into large even sized chunks
1 garlic clove finely minced
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 C plain yogurt
1 Tbs lemon juice
olive oil
cilantro leaves

Add the yuca to a large pot of salted water and bring to boil. Boil until you can pass a fork through a piece of yuca. You want it cooked through, but you also don’t want to over cook it as it will lose its shape.

Mash the minced garlic and salt together to form a paste then add the yogurt and lemon juice. Stir to combine.

When the yuca is cooked, drain and dump into a bowl. Add copious amounts of olive oil while gently tossing until the surface of the yucca is slightly shiny. Plate the yuca and pour the yogurt mixture on top. Scatter some cilantro leaves on top and grind a little black pepper to finish.

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Ramp kimchi & Ramp confit

Published
by
marc
on April 29, 2008
in Pickle, Spring, Vegan, Vegetable and Vegetarian
. 12 Comments

So this weekend we made another trip north to pick ramps. This time we brought home a grocery bag brimming with these delightful members of the onion family (they’re sweet and have a flavor somewhere between leeks and garlic). The reason for this large harvest is that L had the brilliant idea of making ramp kimchi, and I wanted to make a ramp confit.

Kimchi, for those unfamiliar, is a fiery Korean side-dish that’s pickled in a potent mix of chili powder and garlic. The specifics and vegetables vary by region and season, but Korean families take pride in the number of urns of kimchi they prepare per year. Prior to winter, families would gather to pickle the last of fall’s vegetables to last them through the cold months until spring.

Confit on the other hand traces its roots to France before refrigeration where meats like duck and goose were cooked in their own fat to preserve them. The word is derived from the verb “confire” which quite literally means “to preserve” and can refer to fruits or vegetables as well as meat.

If you haven’t guessed by now, the common thread here is 2 ways to preserve these perishable gems so they last more than a few days. I figured it would be fun to employ methods coming from 2 continents, and the results were fantastic!

While ramps are a vegetable that aren’t available in Korea, they work perfectly for kimchi because of their strong (though not overpowering) garlic flavor. The long leaves are well suited for wrapping around a slice of steamed pork, or a bit of rice and the flavors just burst with spicy goodness in your mouth.

The confit on the other hand roasts the ramps in an ample amount of olive oil, rounding out the flavor and intensifying the sweetness. The olive oil it’s cooked in is redolent with ramp’s leeky garlicy aroma and is marvelous on pizza dough or bread.
Continue for full recipe

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Vegetarian Gyoza (potstickers)

Published
by
marc
on April 12, 2008
in Appetizer, Asian, Japanese, Party and Vegetarian
. 10 Comments

As I was coming up with a title for this post, half of me wanted to omit the “v” word because as a meat eater, I often skip passed the flimsy vegetarian approximations of dishes that are supposed to contain meat. Why? I guess my experience has been that most veggie approximations are just that… less tasty approximations for people that have made the switch.

So why on earth would I take the porky goodness out of these dumplings? Well, those of you that have been reading along may have noticed that I have a new found obsession with Quinoa. I’ve used it in place of cous cous and suggested it has potential as a substitute for tobiko. Red quinoa even looks a bit like cooked ground meat… which got me thinking… could I possibly sub in quinoa for pork and trick other meat eaters into thinking they were eating pig? A worthy challenge indeed.

I started with my recipe for making regular gyoza, subbed in quinoa for the pork, added shitake mushrooms for a boost in flavor and an egg to help bind everything together. If you’re horribly opposed to a meatless dumpling you could always turn this back into a less animal friendly recipe, but I really do urge you to give this a try. Aside from the fact that Quinoa is cheaper, healthier, and greener, I actually like these better than their meat containing counterparts.

   

1 C cooked quinoa
1 C boiled cabbage squeezed and roughly minced
2 fresh shitake mushrooms minced
1 Tbs minced ginger
2 cloves garlic minced
2 green onions minced
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp mirin (sweet japanese cooking wine)
1/4 tsp finely ground white pepper
salt to taste (usually add about 1/4 tsp but it’s up to you)

1 egg
1 pack gyoza wrappers (small round wonton wrappers)

dipping sauce
2 Tbs soy sauce
2 Tbs rice vinegar
1/4 tsp chili oil (optional)

make the dumplings

Cook the quinoa according to the package directions. Boil some cabbage for about 10 minutes, cool, then squeeze any excess liquid out before mincing.

Combine the first 10 ingredients in a bowl and mix, taste and add some more salt if you like. Add in the egg and mix well to combine.

This next part seems to intimidate a lot of people but after a bit of practice it goes really fast. Basically you want to take 1 wrapper in the palm of your hand left hand (if right handed) and spoon a small amount of filling in the center (it’s easier to pleat if you have less, you can always add more in the subsequent ones).

Dip a finger from your other hand in a bowl of water and get the outer 1/4″ of the wrapper wet all around.

Fold the wrapper in half like a taco then starting from the left edge, start sealing the wrapper placing a pleat about once every 1/4″. Don’t worry if your first few look bad, they’ll get better and as long as it’s well sealed, it shouldn’t effect the end result much.

fry the dumplings
Get a non-stick pan (that has a lid) hot over medium heat, then add about a teaspoon of oil. Place the dumplings in the pan with the flat-side down. Cook for about 1 minute or until the bottoms are just turning light brown.

With the lid ready to cover the pan, add about 2 Tbs of water then quickly put the lid down (be very careful as the pan will start spitting hot oil as soon as you put the water in). Turn down the heat and steam the dumplings for about 4 minutes.

Remove the lid, turn up the heat to medium high and let any remaining water evaporate so the dumplings get nice and crisp on the bottom (about another minute). Plate and serve immediately with dipping sauce.

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Sauteed kale with garlic

Published
by
marc
on March 13, 2008
in Side, Vegetable and Winter
. 0 Comments

Sauteed kale with garlic

Most recipes call for cooking kale 30+ minutes, but unlike collard greens, Lacinato isn’t as fibrous and doesn’t need to be cooked that long (you can even eat it raw). A quick saute followed by a 10 minute steam is enough to preserve the green color, flavor and firm texture without turning it into a smelly brown mess boiled in liquid. I also like to use a minimal amount of liquid so all the nutrients don’t leech out into the water.

You can turn this into a meal by frying some pancetta with it then dropping a soft poached egg on top and serving it with a thick slice of crusty bread. Or experiment with different spices and aromatics such as sage, chili peppers, or shallots for a different take. If you want to go asian, replace the salt with a splash of soy sauce and the wine with Mirin.

1 bunch Lacinato kale roughly chopped
4 cloves of garlic sliced thin
Splash of good olive oil

Splash of white wine or water
Salt & fresh ground black pepper to taste

Squeeze of lemon

Heat a large pot with a lid over high heat until very hot. Add a splash of good quality olive oil and then the garlic.

Saute the garlic for a few minutes until lightly browned and fragrant.

Add the kale, a small splash of white wine and the salt and pepper and stir. Lower the heat to medium low, cover and cook for another 10 minutes.

Adjust seasoning if needed and serve with some lemon juice squeezed on top.

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