Bok Choy and Kale Fried Rice with Fried Garlic
Yay! The first of the garlic. A recipe from seriouseats.com.
Yay! The first of the garlic. A recipe from seriouseats.com.
Ok – this recipe is a little fiddly for weeknight cooking, but that Napa cabbage will hold up beautifully until this weekend and what a great idea to use those lovely leaves for lasagna instead of in yet another Asian-flavored slaw. (Although I do love those Asian-flavored slaws.)
There are a million kale salad recipes out there, and no doubt you’ve already got a few favorites. I like this one with its Middle Eastern touch of sumac. You can buy sumac at Sevananda or any store that carries Middle Eastern groceries. It has a nice tartness and pretty red color. Substitute another spice, like Spanish paprika, or herb, like thyme, if you don’t have any on hand and don’t want to find it. But the nice thing about buying spices and herbs at places like Sevananda is that you can literally buy just a teaspoon and try it out – no huge investment in a jar that will sit in your pantry for years.
This method of tempering onions is a great one to have in your repertoire. Cuts the bite but leaves you the crunch and the flavor.
I’ll be making this recipe adapted from one on seriouseats.com because I have some red curry paste leftover from testing recipes and am delighted to have yet another use for it. Not to mention, what’s not to love about a slow cooker recipe? Easy, and dinner is done while you’re off doing other things. You could use the Swiss chard or the bok choy if you have another plan for your kale, and vary the other vegetables by what you have on hand.
Are you already a convert to sprinkling beautiful ripe strawberries with a bit of balsamic vinegar? If you haven’t already devoured the contents of your pint, try this over ice cream, frozen yogurt or plain Greek yogurt. The better the balsamic you use, the better the result.
In my CSA box was a little bundle of three medium size daikon radishes with greens. I think raw daikon radishes are an acquired taste. I love “regular” radishes, but the daikon has a bitterness to the heat that makes it not something I enjoy eating raw in a salad.
So to use my three pretty daikons today, I’ll be making these vegetables. Even if you don’t want to do the whole recipe, try the pickled vegetables part. It’s a fairly traditional take on Vietnamese pickled vegetables which are served on banh mi sandwiches and a great way to temper those daikons. You could do it with all daikon, but the carrots add color and the cucumber makes a nice change of texture. Try chicken, tofu or other shrimp instead of the salmon if you like.
This recipe is adapted from one in “A Change of Appetite” by Diana Henry.
From World Vegetarian by Madhur Jaffrey
Serves 4
This is one of my winner dishes for potlucks. The dish always comes back empty. Granted, the recipe calls for young leaves, but I’ve never differentiated the age of my Swiss chard, and never had complaints. Now that I look at the recipe, I don’t remember doing anything other than washing, chopping and steaming my chard before dressing with the sauce. The sauce is the money here anyway.
This is one of my favorite cookbooks! If you like ranch dressing, you’ll love this. It’s exactly what you remember ranch dressing to be, without a lot of stuff that you don’t have in your kitchen. It amazed me the first time that I made homemade ranch dressing. We’re enjoying this tonight, with a huge salad with other veggies (radishes!) and ham, as soon as I finish writing this up.
One last apple recipe for 2013. This is from “The Sprouted Kitchen: A Tastier Take on Whole Foods” by Sara Forte.
From the book:
The contrasts in both temperature and texture—from the crunchy crust, to the cold ice cream, to the warm apples—put this ice cream pie in a class all its own. And, believe it or not, all the components can be made in advance, so all you have to do is simply warm up the apples when you’re ready to serve. If you or someone you’re serving has a nut allergy, 1/2 cup more oats can be substituted for the pecans in the crust.
Note that if you put all the warm apples on top of the ice cream pie, you will end up with a big mess. I suggest cutting the pie into pieces and serving each with an individual scoop of warm apples. Alternatively, you can serve the sautéed apples at room temperature, which will keep the ice cream from melting so quickly.
From Bon Appétit.
I’m a big fan of cooked lettuce. Try this and see what you think.