Chicken Tinga Tacos…one of my new favorites

You guys are going to love me for this...

I’m sick again. I may have discovered the kink in my plan to be a person that sleeps less and accomplishes more. All I want to do is lay around, drink smoothies and eat chicken soup. This is on the stove as I type. I’m hoping that by virtue of the almost insane amount of ginger in there, I might actually be able to smell and taste it when it’s finished. It would be about the only thing.

Perhaps my most favorite recent discovery, Chicken Tinga Tacos will likely be in the rotation for some time. I spotted these in the pages of Food & Wine, and may have skipped right over them, but for a recent celebration of Taco Tuesday with the gals at La Verdad, where the Chicken Tingas were our favorite tacos of the evening.

From my very scientific web searches on the topic, it appears Tinga is a stew of braised chicken, pork or beef, with tomatoes, onions, garlic and chipotles in adobo. Which is good, because that’s what it is in this recipe, so it appears we’re on the right track. A couple of the recipes I saw also called for Mexican chorizo (definitely different than Spanish chorizo, if you are reading a recipe that specifies you definitely want to get the right one, Spanish chorizo has the very distinctly flavored Pimenton in the mix, Mexican chorizo uses chile peppers.) I am sure that would also be quite delicious.

This recipe calls for chipotles in adobo. I have mentioned them before for the Chilequiles, and when I finally get a B&G Pantry page together for your viewing pleasure they will definitely be on it. They are spicy and smoky and add a ton of flavor and background smoke and some excellent heat to things. They are also potent. A little goes a long way. I am guessing you can find them in most grocery stores. Whole Foods carries them, and any market with a decent international section probably does too. (I wonder if my dad can get them? I think yes, even in good old small town CT he can find them, so it is looking good for the rest of you.)  They last pretty much forever in the fridge so don’t be afraid to buy a can or two if you see them. They look so innocuous, but they are spicy. Chipotles are, after all, smoke dried jalapeños, and the seeds are still in there.

This would be a great dinner during the week, it only takes about an hour, and better yet, I think the Tinga would only get better with time, though I can’t say I’ve had many leftovers to test this theory. There is also something that feels very Sunday about it, probably the braising part, even though it is a short braise. It also would be great game day food, and easy for a group. I served it the first time with a combo of hard shells* and soft shells – the hard shells won the day – and it would also be great as a tostada topping, or for nachos, or probably on a roll of some sort like pulled pork. And also just with a fork. Or any spare tortilla chips you might have hanging around. (*Do me a favor next time you are making tacos of any kind, heat some oil in a frying pan ¼ – ½ inch, I’d say, fry corn tortillas until they start to get just a bit stiff, then fold them over so they are taco shell-like and fry for another minute until they are just barely brown and crispy, but not stiff and shatter-y like those gross ones you buy in a box. Truly, it makes a world of difference and takes very little work.)

someday we'll talk about that corn...

There are really only a couple of steps. First you brown the chicken thighs in a little oil, then take the chicken out and add some sliced onion. Let it soften and brown a little, then add the garlic, cook for a minute longer, and then add the tomatoes, chipotles in adobo and chicken stock. This combo simmers for about 20 minutes. Turn the heat off for a couple minutes and let it cool slightly, then puree it in a blender, add it back to the pan and add the chicken back in.

pureed

Simmer for another 20-30 minutes and voila! Shred the chicken and you are ready to serve.

shredded

I serve mine with corn tortillas, either fried into hard shells or just warmed in foil in the oven. Cotija cheese is a must, and I like avocado and something pickled too, radishes or red onion. And finish it with a squeeze of lime.

toppings

Hold UP. I think, I THINK I just saw a commercial for TGI Fridays that involved allusions to romance and cute bartenders. Is Fridays a martini bar now? With an app and entree combo for $10? When did that happen?

Is there ANOTHER GOP debate tonight? Are there more debates this primary season than ever before? Doesn’t it seem that way?

I am trying to turn over a new leaf in 2012. I am trying not to let people annoy me for no reason. It’s their life, and if they want to jump around like a fool like the Sweaty McHeadband in my kickboxing class, or kill themselves with cancer sticks like half the people I get stuck behind walking to work, that’s their problem, not mine. It means I will be putting the next blog I wanted to start, peopleiwanttopunchintheface.wordpress.com on the back burner for the time being. Here’s to new beginnings!

I’ve gotten locked in my bathroom twice in the last week. I thought I was going to waste away on the floor of the smallest bathroom in the world. It was terrifying so I took the doorknob off. Now there is no doorknob, but also no chance of getting locked in there. Probably time to talk to the landlord.

I am currently obsessed with Ryan Adams’ “Easy Tiger.”

I am reading The Line of Beauty, and am having difficulty getting into it, but that is probably because I don’t get in bed to read until about 11pm and one of my eyes is already pretty much shut from exhaustion.

This is awesome. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9NF2edxy-M

So is this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF9-sEbqDvU and this (even better): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta9K22D0o5Q&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

And now, please enjoy your Tinga…

Chicken Tinga Tacos (serves 6-8, probably with leftovers)

adapted from Food & Wine

1/4 cup plus 2 tbls extra-virgin olive oil

2 1/2 lbs trimmed, skinless, boneless chicken thighs

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 large onion, thinly sliced

3 large garlic cloves, minced

One 28-ounce can diced tomatoes

2 canned chipotles in adobo, coarsely chopped

1 cup chicken broth

24 corn tortillas

Cotija cheese, avocado, pickled onions, slaw or toppings of your choice

Heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet. Season the chicken all over with salt and pepper, add it to the skillet and cook over moderately high heat, turning once, until browned, about 12 minutes. Remove the chicken to a plate and pour off the fat.

Add the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil to the skillet and then add the onion. Cook over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion is lightly browned and softened, 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and their juices, the chipotles and the broth and bring to a boil. Simmer over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened and slightly reduced, 20 minutes.

Transfer the sauce to a food processor and let cool for 15 minutes. Puree until smooth and season with salt and pepper. Add the sauce back to the pan and add the chicken. Pour the sauce over the chicken. Simmer the sauce and chicken over medium low heat until the meat is tender and the sauce is very thick and darkened around the edges. Wrap the tortillas in foil and warm them in the oven for about 10 minutes or fry into hard shells.

Shred the meat, spoon about 3 tablespoons of chicken onto each tortilla and sprinkle with the crumbled cheese and toppings of your choice.

Chicken Tinga Tacos

Working my way back to you babe – Scallion Pancakes for the (Chinese) new year…

Happy New Year!

It’s 2012! How did that happen?

This post is a total cop out. Two months I’ve been gone. TWO MONTHS! And all I have for you is this dumb recipe. Just kidding, it’s delicious. It’s not dumb at all. There’s just not much to it. There are approximately four ingredients and one of them is water. But somehow, in spite of its simplicity, it is a delight.

Scallion pancakes are one of my most favorite Chinese take out treats. They are crispy and delicious and taste like scallions and you get to dip them in soy sauce. Please tell me one thing that is bad about that?

And, bonus, they are very easy to make.

start with the flour

Flour in a bowl. Add a little salt.

Flour and water

Add boiling water to the mix and stir it (not with your hands, because it’s hot.)

When the dough starts looking shaggy, take it out of the bowl and clump it together on the counter. You won’t need much flour on the counter, as this is a pretty dry dough, but have a little there to be safe.

shaggy

Clump the dough into a ball and start kneading. It will take anywhere from five to ten minutes of kneading to get the dough where you want it.

after one minute

after four minutes

after nine minutes

You should knead until the dough is smooth and stretchy. Then cover the dough with a damp towel and let it sit for 30 minutes while you do something else. Slice the green parts of some scallions, perhaps. Or make a dipping sauce (soy sauce, chopped scallions, a couple drops of sesame oil, and a splash of rice wine or rice vinegar.) Or watch a sitcom. Or something else you like to do. I don’t know, I don’t know your life.

After the dough has rested for 30 minutes it will be even smoother and stretchier, if you can believe it. Cut the dough into eight pieces (I find cutting it in slivers like a pie is the easiest.) Then the fun part begins. Roll each piece of dough into a circle. They are not going to be very big, please see the photo below for a gauge. That is my creepy hand next to the dough.

about the size of my hand...which is a helpful measure for the rest of you...

It’s a wonder I haven’t made it as a hand model.

Then brush the round with sesame oil and sprinkle with chopped scallions.

brushed and sprinkled

But you’re not done yet. Now you roll it into a cylinder, like you were rolling a…umm…rug, or something.

a scallion pancake taquito

Then role THAT cylinder into a pinwheel thing. Like so…

scallion pancake snail...now with more creepy hand

And NOW, and now, stick with me one more minute, roll the snail into another scallion filled pancake…

aaaaand, we're done!

And now all that’s left is frying them up. You don’t need much oil for these, and you don’t need much time either. They fry up in minutes. These are not huge, the ones I’ve gotten from Chinese restaurants are bigger. If that is what you’d prefer, I suspect you could just divide the dough into four or six pieces and roll them out bigger. Heat the oil over medium heat until hot, drop one of the pancakes in the pan, and watch it carefully, it will be ready to flip in a minute or two.

fried

I have found the pancakes will sometimes puff up in the  middle a little and the edges will get crispy while the center does not. I found pressing gently on the center of the pancake when it first goes into the oil helps that.

Once you flip it, the second side cooks even faster than the first. When it is browned to your likeness, take the pancake out of the oil and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with a little salt, cut in quarters and serve with dipping sauce. Delectable Chinese take out with out the take out!

scallion pancakes at home

I think I would like to get this out before another New Year passes – and incidentally, it just so happens that the celebrations for the Chinese New Year are beginning (I believe the actual date is January 23rd) so make these and raise a glass to the Year of the Dragon – so I will wrap this up. But (and I know I say this a lot) I have so many things to discuss with you. This month’s project is noodles. Udon, ramen, and egg yolk filled ravioli, which I have been working on forever and can’t manage to perfect. But I am getting closer. And I want to share it with you. And I want to do some new things for “Meatless Mondays” and I want to talk about soup. And so many things. And I miss this little spot. So I will be back. Stick around.

Scallion Pancakes (makes 8 four inch pancakes)

Adapted from Delicious Days.

1 1/2 cups flour, plus additional for rolling out the pancakes

Pinch of Salt

1/2 cup water

1 bunch of scallions, green parts only, sliced into thin rounds

2 tbls sesame oil

canola or other neutral oil for frying

Whisk together flour and salt in a medium bowl. Boil the water and add to the flour slowly. Stir the dough until it is shaggy and cool enough to touch. Remove the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth and pliable, anywhere from five to ten minutes. Cover with a damp towel and let rest for at least 30 minutes.

After the dough has rested, cut into 8 equal pieces. One at a time, roll the dough pieces into thin rounds, approximately four inches across. Brush sesame oil onto the dough with a pastry brush, and sprinkle on a couple pinches of the scallions. Roll the dough round up like a cigar, and then roll the cigar into a pinwheel shape as shown above. Press the edge lightly to seal the round, and then roll again into a think 4 inch pancake. Set aside, and repeat with the remaining dough. As you complete the pancakes, pile them up with aluminum foil or parchment paper in between them.

Heat just enough oil to cover the bottom of the frying pan over medium heat until hot. Fry the pancakes one or two at a time in the oil until the bottom is brown and crispy, 1-2 minutes, and then flip, doing the same to the second side. Remove the pancakes to a plate lined with paper towels. Sprinkle lightly with salt, cut each pancake into quarters, and serve with a dipping sauce.

Enjoy!

Fall Project: Bacon!

Bacon. Homemade!

Hello my little jellybeans…I have missed you so. It has been crazy around here! Since we have spoken last, the following things have happened:

I have been to CT for a baby shower during a hurricane.

I have started class every Monday night with some colleagues.

I have been to Virginia for a wedding.

I have been to NY for a surprise party.

I ate pig eyeball. I also ate pig brain on a cracker.

I have been hanging out with my new best friend Baby L.

I rediscovered my love for cereal. I know this doesn’t sound like a big deal? But trust me, it’s huge, and kind of problematic. I am now remembering why I don’t keep cereal and milk around all the time. I could eat cereal three meals a day and not get tired of it. Rice Krispies with banana? Raisin Bran? (Kellogg’s. Obv.) Fruity Pebbles? Cap’n Crunch? Kix? I LOVE it. Love. It tends to limit the amount of cooking I do. It also does not include vegetables, so there are serious nutritional holes in the all cereal diet. But so good!

I have been doing new fun stuff at work.

Another baby was born into the family! Welcome Baby Dubs!

I joined the gym again! (Incidentally, took a class this weekend that has rendered me practically immobile. So. Much. Pain. Good pain?)

I finished watching “Friday Night Lights.” That show is AMAZING. I want to go back to the beginning and watch again. Seriously. Amazing.

The following things DID NOT happen:

Much cooking of any kind. A little bit here and there, I guess, but not much. I made some classics and repeats, and supplemented with much takeout, no real adventures.

But it’s fall! Football season! The perfect time for cooking! I feel my groove coming back. Yesterday I made ricotta, and might make some gnocchi later. I also made some tomato soup. I am excited about trying puff pastry, because all butter puff pastry is expensive, and the ingredients for all butter puff pastry are not, so I figured I might as well give it a try. I have a bunch of chicken in the freezer and a bunch of weeknight chicken recipes to try. I have some more projects for these upcoming months…bread, noodles, sausage, duck confit. Lots of plans.

But now, to what you are here for. If you recall, I made bacon awhile back. Every time I have mentioned that, some smart ass has asked if I slaughtered a pig. I did not. I am not allowed to raise pigs in my apartment, my landlord has allergies.

Lucky for me, Whole Foods sells lovely, large pork bellies for just such a purpose, so I got one there and we were off.

Making bacon is perhaps the easiest project ever. It requires almost no work. It takes a little bit of effort to track down the required ingredients, and then it takes about 10 minutes to put together. That’s it. You let it sit for a week in the fridge, and every night when you get home from work, you try to remember to flip the belly over. Literally, that is pretty much all there is to it. Once it has cured for a week you cook it in a low oven or smoke it until the internal temperature is 150 degrees, and voila…bacon! Delicious, porky, flavorful homemade bacon. So fun!

You need pink salt for making bacon. It contains nitrates, which kill bacteria and keep bacon that charming reddish/pink color instead of turning gray like most pork that you cook until well done. They have been vilified, but for no real reason, it seems, since they are not bad for you in the doses you find in cured meats. Plus, though curing bacon to bacteria free levels can be done without it, the risk of poorly cured meats is not something I like to mess with, so I am decidedly pro-nitrate. Gimme an N! Gimme an I! To give credit to the anti-nitrates out there, they ARE poisonous if you ingest too much. And a teaspoon on its own is too much, so keep away from the kids. Also any adults that confuse tablespoons and teaspoons. No one said curing meat wasn’t a job for a responsible adult. As with all things bacteria, you must be careful.

A good basic dry cure is salt, sugar and pink salt. The rest is just gravy. I followed the instructions of Michael Ruhlman, because his post on the subject was what got me wanting to do this in the first place. But I like the idea of including mustard, because I bet that’d be good. I will be doing this again, and stat. Seriously, do it with me. It is so easy. And very impressive. I made bacon!

As it was in the beginning…

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 6

Day 8 - looks like the real thing!

To keep you updated on things around here…

What I am currently reading: A Man in Full by Tom Wolfe. It is about Commercial Real Estate, and set in Atlanta. Both of these things are wildly relevant to my current job, so I am very much enjoying it.

What I am currently listening to: A lot of playlists. I’ve got a good mellow one, a good regular one, and a good upbeat one for the gym. And A LOT of cheesy pop (see: gym.) Also Otis Redding. There is nothing better than Otis Redding. Except for when I am listening to it through my iTunes and my Otis Redding is followed by Phoebe Snow. Phoebe Snow! SO good.

Home Cured Bacon

1 5lb piece of pork belly, skin removed.

2 ounces (1/4 cup Morton or Diamond Crystal coarse kosher) salt

2 tsp pink curing salt #1

4 tbl coarsely ground black pepper

4 bay leaves, crumbled

1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 cup brown sugar or honey or maple syrup (I used brown sugar)

5 cloves of garlic, smashed with the flat side of a chef’s knife

5 to 10 sprigs fresh thyme (optional)

Find a large bag that will hold a 5lb pork belly flat. The 2 gallon Ziploc bags are perfect for this. Mix all of the ingredients for the rub together in a bowl (that would be everything but the belly.) Stick the belly in the bag, and then rub well with the dry cure. Make sure you get it all on there and press it into the meat as best you can. Seal the bag and put in on a baking sheet and stick it in the fridge. Flip the bag every 24 hours or so.

After a week, preheat the oven to 200 degrees (or better yet, get your charcoal grill fired up to smoke it.) Remove the belly from the bag, rinse it under cold water and pat dry. Place on a rack on a cookie sheet and roast in the oven or smoke on the grill for an hour and a half, or until the internal temperature of the belly is 150 degrees. Remove from the oven, marvel at your creation and give yourself a big old pat on the back. You made bacon! You are like a straight up pioneer or something!

Weeknight Chicken Volume 5ish…Chicken Thighs with Rosemary and Brown Sugar

weeknight chicken in the truest sense...

A couple of weeks ago, I had taken chicken out of the freezer for a mid week weeknight chicken dinner and recipe to share with you guys, but then I never actually came up with a plan for it, so I got home on the night I was going to make chicken with defrosted thighs and no plan. I wandered around and stared aimlessly at my cookbooks, and picked up one of the Fine Cooking compilations that they do (I highly recommend picking them up when you see them in the bookstore, I think they do them a couple of times a year) devoted to chicken. They didn’t have anything in there that called my name this particular evening (though there is a fab recipe for braised chicken with tomatoes and fennel that I love and will share with you when the weather is more appropriate for it) but it did make me think of another Fine Cooking chicken recipe that my Auntie A. now considers a family fave – Grilled Rosemary Chicken Thighs with Sweet & Sour Orange Dipping Sauce. The name cracks me up, because I feel like it doesn’t sound at all like what it is. In my case, it was whole thighs (bone-in, with skin) coated with oil, brown sugar, rosemary and spices, and grilled, inside on the grill pan, to a delicious finish. I didn’t bother with the sauce.

The original recipe uses boneless skinless thighs, served with the sauce for dipping, which would also be tasty, I’d imagine, so perhaps one day I’ll try it. But my modification suited me just fine. It was really good, and crazy fast, and while I would recommend doing this outside on a grill if you can, because I think that would make it easier to control the heat and the char, etc., or maybe try roasting the thighs with the oil and rub, with a little diligence, these worked just fine inside. (To be sure, the boneless skinless thighs would certainly be easier and quicker inside, but taking the thighs off the bone would not have been quicker, for sure, and removing chicken skin and just throwing it away makes me sad, because, you know, chicken skin…delish. Maybe next time I can try to get the thighs off the bone but keep the skin. Experiment!)

chicken with rosemary and brown sugar (and look at the compound butter!)

These are a little spicy from the red pepper flakes, and a little sweet from the sugar. The rosemary flavor is awesome – I am sometimes a little wary of rosemary because it is strong and woody and can be overly prominent at times, but not here. It’s great here. And it was great for lunch the next day too. I made some small smashed potatoes to go with it, and tossed them with garlic scape compound butter (compound butters are miraculous – I will post about those) and had a kind of unexpectedly great last minute dinner. And it would have been even easier had I more space to spread out on a grill…the size of the grill pan makes it very hard to grill anything off of direct heat, obviously, so I did have to pay attention. I imagine the grill would add a smoky flavor too, which would be great, if that’s the kind of thing that revs your engine. Maybe I will try roasting it next time to see what that does…and maybe marinating it with all the good stuff for a couple hours or a day would intensify the flavors a little bit (more experiments!) Anyway, this was really tasty and really easy, even easier and tastier than I expected, so I recommend it wholeheartedly!

So now, I have some questions for you…

A) Are you in the northeast corridor and did you feel the earthquake today? Crazy! (heh)

B) Does anyone know what happened to summer? Because it is fall. And while fall is my most favorite season of all, we totally got the short shrift on summer this year. It didn’t start until Memorial Day and it is going to end in mid-August? Nonsense.

C) What should I do to make B&G better? I would like to do some work on this here little spot over the next couple of months, and have a new and improved B&G for 2012…what should I change/fix?

What I am listening to: The National, Boxer, and Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine. John Prine is awesome (also, hilarious) and this is an awesome compilation of awesome people singing his awesome songs.

What I am reading: “Brideshead Revisited” Evelyn Waugh – just starting it. Can’t wait to finish it and then Netflix the mini-series and the movie. Favorite game ever. Also, I am glad I am not a boy whose name is Evelyn.  I imagine that isn’t easy.

All my pics from this dish were pretty much exactly the same...whatevs.

Grilled Chicken Thighs with Rosemary and Brown Sugar (serves 3-4, depending on appetite)

Adapted from Fine Cooking

1 tbl minced fresh rosemary

2 tsp dark brown sugar

2 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

2 tbl canola oil, plus more for the grill

6 chicken thighs (or chicken pieces of choice)

Heat a grill pan over medium heat for several minutes until hot. In the meantime, mix together the rosemary, salt, sugar, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes and set aside. Toss the chicken pieces with 2 tbl of canola oil, and rub with the rosemary mixture to coat well. When you are ready to put the chicken on the grill, rub the grill with a bit of the oil to prevent sticking. Cook chicken thighs turning and moving frequently to prevent burning, until cooked through – juices run clear when pricked with a fork or knife or internal temperature is 175 on an instant thermometer in the thickest part of the meat, not touching the bone – (20 minutes or so?) When chicken is cooked through, remove from the heat and let rest for five minutes. Serve with sides of your choice. So easy! Leftovers don’t suffer. (NOTE: my tendency is to salt things once I take them off the heat and before serving. Resist the urge to do so with these, the rub is pretty salty. Wait until you’ve tasted it.)

Bacon Update!

Day 5

Pulled Pork and Slaw for Five or Thirty-seven…

pulled pork with dad's slaw

Pulled pork confuses me a little because from a cooking standpoint, if you are without a grill, this is a wintery food. The cooking is low and slow (overnight at about 275, which is as low as my oven goes) and the result is fall off the bone goodness that feels like a braise. But the result is all summer-barbecue-potluck-outside-hanging out to me. It tastes like summer, goes well with summer sides, and has kind of a 4th of July feel. So I guess really, make sure you have an air conditioner, so it doesn’t matter that it’s 85 degrees in the house when you have the oven on all night, or just stick to winter. Which ever best suits your fancy.

I’ve made this twice this summer. Once with my cousins for the cousin dinner on our family vaca (four boston butt roasts for 37 adults) and once recently, because my brother was in town and I figured he’d like it (just one smallish one for five adults, and I was afraid I wasn’t going to have enough.) Also because I didn’t take pictures of it the first go round, and I wanted to tell you all about it, so I needed to make it again. Both times I had some leftovers, and both times I made hash with them. Bonus.

Pulled pork is served in a couple of different ways, and I THINK I know which one I like better, but I suppose I could change my mind at any time. You will see it served with a sweet/spicy barbecue sauce finish, or you will see in served North Carolina style, which is a vinegar sauce finish. On the vacation I finished two of the roasts with barbecue sauce, and two of them with vinegar sauce. The second time, I went just with the vinegar. It is just so good that way. Maybe because sweet, sticky barbecue sauce has never been my favorite condiment? Not sure, but North Carolina style is the one for me. I think.

Pulled pork is really so easy, which is why I thought about it for the cousins’ dinner in the first place. I knew we could put the rub on it and cook it over night, come up with some sides that could be done mostly ahead of time (we came up with meat beans…oh meat beans, so good. I think normal people call them campfire beans, but really, meat beans is a more apt description, since there was no campfire but lots of meat…they are for another post, when my cousin sends me the recipe) throw together the slaw, and still spend the day at the beach, which was the point of the vacation, after all.

When I was originally looking for a recipe for pulled pork, I called the expert, and Pops mentioned that he used the Chris Schlesinger rub from his grilling cookbook. Chris Schlesinger owns a fantastic barbecue place up here that is so delicious, so I figured it would be tasty, plus, my cousin used to work there before we lost her to the far reaches of the Florida beaches, and I figured she would appreciate it too. It got such a great reception at the reunion, I didn’t change much up the second time, except I added a brine, because I felt like it.

The rub does not mess around. It is spicy. I was nervous it was too spicy when they first came out of the oven, but with the sauce and the slaw and the buns it does just fine, and the spice holds up nicely. It’s basically equal parts salt, sugar, brown sugar, cumin, chili powder and pepper, and then half as much cayenne and twice as much paprika. Tons of flavor.

The brine was pretty standard, water, salt, sugar, spices, but honestly, I am not sure it made a huge difference.

brining

The meat went into the brine and into the fridge for 24 hours. The next night I went out after work and stayed out a good bit later than I anticipated. When I got home I rinsed off the roast, rubbed it vigorously with the spice rub, and threw it in a pan in the oven as low as it could go, and went to sleep. I woke up, got ready for work, and it still wasn’t quite done, so I had to make a quick run home a few hours into the work day to take it out of the oven, but it was all ok! Totally worth it. The pork comes right off the bone and shreds and the fat melts into it and it is all just so good. The nicest part about this is that you can turn it into a meal that is fairly quick to pull together and serve if you are having company, because even though it requires a lot of hours, it doesn’t require a lot of hours of actual work, and all the prep can be done ahead of time. My fam was coming over for dinner that night after work, my brother and his gf were in town, and I was able to easily make a basic slaw, add the vinegar sauce to finish, reheat the meat, and put together the rest of the sides (in this case, fried corn (a revelation, but not exactly haute cuisine…open and drain a can of Keebler’s Niblets corn. Saute three pieces of bacon, crumble bacon, add corn to frying pan with bacon fat, fry until delicious, add crumbled bacon back in. Serve.) and baked beans (in this case, open a large can of B&M. Pour into a pan. Add ketchup and mustard. Serve. Doesn’t make me proud, but they sure taste good)) and it feels like a quick weekday meal. The meat is spicy for sure, but the slaw and the rolls balance it out so well. The slaw that I like is a basic vinegar based slaw, not a creamy one. I love me some creamy slaws, but this one is nice, feels light, is a little sweet, and is good as a side on its own too. It gets rave reviews. I can’t figure it out, because there really is almost nothing to it. But it’s a hit. I think it’s all the sugar.

mmmmmmm...

The boys, the girls and the moms-to-be were all pleased with this. Lots of clean plates in the group of 37 and the gang of 5. And, in both occasions, I used the leftovers to make hash. One of these days, I will tell you about hash, because it is easy and great for a crowd, uses leftovers and could be done the night before or the morning of. And it’s pretty…

leftovers for breakfast.

Pulled pork is a fun treat. It feels indulgent and like it took work. It is a crowd pleaser and it makes for very tasty leftovers.

Before I get to the recipes, I want to give a little hint as to the nature of my August project…

makin bacon…

That was actually a big hint, and if you follow B&G on Twitter (@bandgmeg) or Facebook, you already know this, but I am pretty excited…it is day five and it is looking pretty good…full report to follow, of course.

What I am listening to these days: Josh Ritter The Animal Years pretty much blows my mind every time I hear it, my running mix is pretty pimp, and Toots & the Maytals is the perfect summer soundtrack…

What I am reading these days: Just finished The Hunger Games trilogy. That is some DARK young adult fiction, currently reading Kitchen Confidential which is making me simultaneously miss working in restaurants and wonder how I possibly survived, AND, I just restarted my subscription to the Sunday Times. Nothing makes me happier than waking up in the morning and having that outside waiting for me.

Hey, did you guys know it’s almost time for football? Guess what is perfect for football?! Pulled pork! Get to it!

pulled pork and slaw

North Carolina Pulled Pork (serves 6-8)

thanks to Chris Schlesinger for the recipe

1 7-8 lb bone in Boston Butt pork roast or shoulder

Hamburger buns for serving

For rub:

2 tbl kosher salt

2 tbl sugar

2 tbl brown sugar

2 tbl cumin

2 tbl chili powder

2 tbl black pepper

1 tbl cayenne pepper

4 tbl paprika

For vinegar sauce:

1 cup white vinegar

1 cup cider vinegar

1 tbl sugar

1 tbl red pepper flakes

1 tbl hot sauce

salt & pepper to taste

Mix all the sugar and spices for the rub together and stir to blend. Place the roast, fatty side up, in a large roasting pan, and rub spice mixture onto roast, coating it well, and massaging into the meat. Place the roast into a low oven (250-275 degrees) for 8-10 hours, until the internal temperature reaches 200 degrees. The meat should be falling off the bone and easy to shred. If the rub on the outside of the roast starts to get too dark or crisp during the roasting, cover the meat with foil and continue until done.

Mix the vinegars, sugar, spices and hot sauce together and set aside. When the meat has cooled slightly, enough that you can shred it with your hands, pull the meat off the bone and shred. Pour the vinegar mixture over the meat (you may not need all of it, put the remaining aside for people to add to their sandwiches as they’d like) and mix well into the pork. If you are not serving right away, reheat the pork in a low oven until heated through. Serve pulled pork with hamburger buns and slaw (see below.) (NOTE: If you prefer a bbq sauce finish, that is easy enough! Skip the vinegar mixture, and mix pork with your favorite bbq sauce, and serve extra along side.)

Cabbage Slaw (makes about 8 cups)

1 head savoy cabbage sliced thin and into bite sized lengths

1 medium onion, halved and sliced thin

1 cup sugar, divided

3/4 cup canola or other neutral oil

3/4 cup white vinegar

1 tbl dry mustard powder

2 tbl kosher salt 

Mix the cabbage and the onion in a large bowl, and toss with 3/4 cups of the sugar. Mix the oil, vinegar, remaining 1/4 cup sugar, mustard and salt in a small saucepan, stirring to combine. Bring to a boil and pour over the cabbage mixture. Toss to coat the cabbage well, and chill. Drain excess liquid off slaw before serving. (Note: this makes more liquid than you need. When I made this for 37, I used three heads of cabbage and only doubled the liquid and it worked quite well.) Slaw is best eaten the same day. It will brown quickly, and while it tastes fine, it is not nearly as aesthetically pleasing.

July project: Canning – Dilly Beans, Sweet Hot Mustard, Plum Jam and Zucchini Relish

You guys! I missed you! Work has been total madness! I have the emotional constitution of a pubescent pre-teen this week! Fighting off a nervous breakdown at every turn! I don’t know what’s wrong with me…but I missed B&G for sure. It’s the weekend, and I needed one bad. So things are on the mend…

First, some housekeeping…

1. Happy Blogiversary B&G! Bread & Ginger turned two years old on July 21st. I should have posted that day. I didn’t.

2. Happy 100th post B&G! That happened with my previous post on July 20th. Fun coincidence!

3. In which I am over “In which…” it’s too binding. When I started it, it was a nod to something that quite frankly, at this moment I cannot recall…Peace out “in which…!”

4. B&G is on Twitter! Follow me @bandgmeg

5. B&G is also on Facebook, but you may already know that…

6. And lastly, if you scroll down to the bottom of this page, you will see that I added a Widget that allows you to donate to the World Food Programme to aid the crisis in the Horn of Africa. Everyone has their charitable causes that they choose to support, as you can imagine, many of mine involve food or hunger. The pictures of the crisis are devastating, I can’t think about them without tearing up, so I figured I would just offer up the opportunity to donate if you are able. Just 50 cents is a whole meal, or something crazy like that. It doesn’t take much.

It is amazing what I am lucky enough to be able to take for granted.

7. I may have made a grave error. I started watching “Friday Night Lights” on Netflix. What in the name of Gracie Belle Taylor took me so long? I am obsessed, and will probably get nothing accomplished until I finish all five seasons.

So hello!

I embarked on a project last month. I am hoping to do that more regularly. I already have a good one in the works for this month. In July, I took on canning.

the results

As in: putting stuff in jars, and then sealing them with a water bath, so that they can hang out in the cupboards for awhile, and then in say, February, when you get a hankering for the taste of summer, you can open up a jar of dilly beans, and snack away.

At the ready.

This all came about because my family went up to Portsmouth, NH earlier this year to visit my sisters, and we went to lunch and several people at the table ordered bloody marys. The bloodies at this particular establishment came garnished with a delightful looking green bean that I snatched off of one of my unsuspecting siblings, and I was hooked. It was awesome. A green bean pickle with some spice. I wanted to replicate them immediately. As you can imagine, immediately turned into several months, and I decided that my July project would be canning. I had never done it before, so I called in an expert. My aunt and I picked a Saturday (the hottest in creation) and four recipes.

I planned on making dilly beans and my Aunt El’s (by way of my Aunt Col) sweet hot mustard that is to.die.for. My aunt picked plum jam and the my grandmother’s zucchini relish, which is a favorite in our fam.

Canning is not difficult by any stretch, but it requires a fair amount of time, and it has to be done correctly, because there is some risk involved. But as long as you pay attention, it really is quite simple. The jars must be sterilized, and the contents must be hot enough to create a seal as it cools. The pop of the top sealing as it cools is a delight after all the hard (and hot) work of canning. If you are going to give this a whirl, I recommend grabbing a book and doing a little reading. The Ball Blue Book is a classic authority, but there are tons of good ones out there. There are some little important steps in the process that you want to make sure you check off the list. Botulism would blow, I suspect.

We started with the zucchini as it has to sit for a couple of hours at two different points during the process. The zucchini, onion and red pepper are sliced thin, tossed with salt, covered with water and left to sit for two hours.

relaxing

And beans were prepped. Lots of them.

beans

The beans were the easiest to prepare actually. Once I trimmed them, I stood them upright in the jars…

lined up, ready to go.

and then added garlic, dill seeds and cayenne (lots of cayenne. These are SPICY. I might add a bit less next time.)

spicy beans

The liquid is boiled (vinegar, water, salt) and poured over the beans, the lids are put on the jars and the jars are processed in a boiling water bath for five minutes. And voila! I just opened these up the other day after letting them sit and develop flavor for a couple of weeks. Delicious! And quite spicy.

dilly beans!

Back to the zucchini…the process is similar to the dilly beans. We drained the water off the zucchini and boiled the pickling liquid, poured it over the vegetables and let it sit again for two more hours.

brewing

And now the plum jam, which I don’t have very many pictures of. The jam had the fewest steps. Boil the fruit, add a bonkers amount of sugar, boil some more, and voila! Jam! The recipe we were following did not call for pectin. In hindsight, we probably would have used it, because this is not super thick, but it is super delicious.

plums

The interesting thing about the jam is that they get wax tops. Paraffin is melted and poured over the top of the jam, and that is what seals it. It’s very cool.

in jars

The last of the day was my Aunt Col’s (or apparently Aunt El’s…unsure) sweet hot mustard. This stuff is SOO good. It is perfect with kielbasa. It is hot and sweet at the same time, and in a bizarre twist, it has eggs and butter in it. I was very surprised to find that out.

Dry mustard powder, horseradish, vinegar, water combined, boiled up, and then eggs and butter are added and then, because of the eggs, we processed this in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes to make sure the eggs were cooked. (Eggs are pasturized at 140 degrees for five minutes.)

mustard in jars...

Overall, the canning project was awesome. I will absolutely be doing this again. Yes, there is work involved, and you do have to pay attention, but it is so worth it. Look at all the good stuff…

savory...

sweet.

The jam is perfect in the mornings, the zucchini relish is awesome with a sandwich or on a hot dog, the mustard is amazing with sausage, a ham or turkey sandwich, pretty much anything you can imagine, and the dilly beans are a fantastic snack. Success! And there is something very satisfying about canning. It’s so pioneer-like. And like I said, it’s not hard, exactly, but it is precise, and you want to leave yourself some time to do it, to make sure you do all the steps. The jars have to be sterilized by boiling, they have to be clean when they get sealed, and the water bath has to be at a rolling boil. The alternative is botulism, so this is one you definitely want to do correctly. But sally forth and can stuff! It is very satisfying, and you get to enjoy the fruits of your labor for months! And your friends will be so impressed when you hand them a homemade hostess gift! I think I am going to give it another try in September…I need to start planning my recipes.

A couple more things, since it has been so long since we’ve talked…

I have a very funny friend with a very funny new blog…you should def check it out.

I know I mentioned it already, but seriously, Friday Night Lights? Oh. Ma. Gah. For real, how did I miss this the first go round? This show is amazing. And perfect (except for the slightly creepy feeling I get when I realize that I am totally gaga for Tim Riggins, a character that is supposed to be in high school. Granted, the most age inappropriate high schooler in the history of high school, and also, the actor is actually like 28, but still, squicky.)

Dilly Beans (makes four pints)

Adapted from Food In Jars

2 pounds green beans, trimmed to fit your jars

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (you can use more, but know that I used a generous 1/4 teaspoon for each jar of beans, and they are quite spicy, so you may want to restrain yourself.)

4 tsp dill seed (not dill weed)

4 cloves garlic

2 1/2 cups white vinegar (5% acidity – it says this on the label, and is the standard for white vinegar, but you want to confirm, since the acidity of the vinegar is what helps keep canned relishes preservable and safe.)

2 1/2 cups water

1/4 cup plus 1 tbl kosher salt

Place your jars on a rack or a towel on the bottom of a large stock pot or canning pot, and fill it with water. Bring to a boil to sterilize the jars while you prepare the rest of your ingredients.

Wash and trim your beans so that they fit in your jar.

Combine vinegar, water and salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. As you wait for the brine to boil, pack your beans into the jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace (distance between the tops of the beans and the rim of the jar). Add 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1 clove of garlic and 1 teaspoon dill seeds to each jar with the beans.

Pour the boiling brine over the beans, making sure to leave that 1/2 inch headspace. Use a plastic knife to remove air bubbles from jar by running it around the interior of the jar. Wipe the rims and apply the lids (which have been sitting in a small saucepan of water at a mere simmer for at least ten minutes in order to soften the sealing compound) and rings.

Process for 5 minutes in a boiling water bath (timing doesn’t start until the pot has come back to a roiling boil).

Let the beans develop flavor for a couple of weeks, then enjoy!

Zucchini Relish (makes four pints)

Recipe from my Gram

2 lbs zucchini sliced thin

1 medium onion (about 1/2 lb), sliced thin

1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced thin

1/4 cup salt

2 cups white vinegar

3 cups sugar

1 tsp celery seed

1 tsp turmeric

1/4 tsp mustard powder

2 tbl mustard seed

1/4 tsp ground cloves

Toss the vegetables with the salt, cover with water and let sit for two hours or overnight.

Boil vinegar, sugar and spices. Drain salted vegetables well, and pour hot brine over the top. Let vegetables stand in the brine for two hours.

When the two hours is up, sterilize the jars, boil the vegetable mixture again, and pour hot mixture into the clean jars. Make sure the edges of the jars are wiped and clean, and cover with lids that have been simmered in hot water to soften the seal for 1o minutes. Twist rings in place and process in a boiling water bath for five minutes (timing starts when water returns to a rolling boil.) Voila!

Plum Jam (makes about 4 pints, but I would use half pint jars for this, a pint is a lot of jam)

Adapted from a book that I can’t remember the name of right now…I’ll get back to you

3 1/2 lbs ripe but firm plums

2 cups water

3 1/2 cups sugar (this is REALLY sweet, super crazy delicious, but quite sweet, if you like your jam a bit more tart, feel free to cut this down a little.)

1 tsp butter (apparently reduces the foaming that jams like to get in to)

Cut plums in half and remove the pits. Crack some of the pits (you will need a hammer), remove the kernels inside, and set aside (ok, so this step seems a little suspect and unnecessary…though, I would recommend it if only to smell the kernels. No joke, they smell so good and so purely of plum, it really is crazy. If you are going to do this, wrap the kernels in cheese cloth so they don’t get lost in the jam, and then fish them out when the jam is cooked.)

Put the plums, water and kernels in a large pot. Bring to a boil, the reduce the heat and simmer for 40 minutes. Add the sugar and heat gently, stirring frequently, until sugar is completely dissolved. Add the butter and boil rapidly for 15 minutes until the setting point is reached, skimming any foam off the top. Pour into the sterilized jars and let cool for 10 minutes. Seal with wax tops, or process in a boiling water bath with regular lids and rings, for 10 minutes.

Sweet Hot Mustard (makes 2 quarts)

recipe from my fabulous Aunts, El and Col.

3-4 tbl prepared horseradish

1 2/3 cups dry mustard powder (Coleman’s)

1 1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp white pepper

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1/4 cup water

2 cups sugar

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups white vinegar

3 eggs

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

Combine horseradish, mustard powder and peppers in a large pot. Whisk in the water to make a paste (break up any lumps of mustard powder.) Add the sugar and salt and stir, then whisk in the vinegar (the mustard powder does, in fact, want to lump up, whisk vigorously.)

Bring this mixture to a boil, stirring constantly so it doesn’t burn. Beat the eggs in a small bowl, and slowly, while whisking, add about one cup of the hot mustard mixture to the eggs to temper them and prevent curdling (I was only mildly successful at this part.) Pour the tempered egg mixture back into the hot mustard mixture, add the butter and stir until the butter melts. Pour the mustard into sterilized jars and process in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes (I couldn’t be too careful here, what with the raw eggs, and all – though the hot mustard cooks them. I am a nervous person.) Note, my mustard seemed a little runny, and did separate once in the jars. Don’t fret! It firms right up in the fridge and if it separates just shake shake shake before serving! This is best served cold anyway, so stick it in the fridge before you are going to use it. That should keep it from separating as well.

So there you go! Can away! I will totally be doing this again…there are pretty limitless options!

Garlic Scape and Fresh Pea Pesto: In which I make a summery dish…

Garlic scapes

It’s scape week at B&G! Like Shark Week without terrifying sea dwelling man eating beasts. It’s also been a very busy couple of weeks around here, you see, readers, I am in love. I’ve only known him six days, and there is a fair amount of competition for his affection, but I think this could be going places…welcome to the world Baby L.

Scapes are a treat. If you’ve never had them, they are the flowering stalk of the hard neck garlic bulb plant. Obvs. They sprout in the spring out of the top of the garlic bulb, and when the top starts to curl, it’s harvest time. That up there is about a half pound of them. About three dollars worth. So far I’ve used them for a lovely garlic scape and fresh pea pesto, a shrimp and garlic scape fried rice, and a garlic scape compound butter, and they are still kicking. They go a long way. Scapes taste like a mellow garlic. They have that nice garlic flavor without the kick and the bad breath. Perfect, really.

When you look up scapes on the webs, you can’t get very far without someone raving about pesto, so I figured I would do that, but I wanted to add my own twist. And then I found peas.

peas

They had English shell peas at the farmers’ market. These are basically frozen peas in their just picked form, and I thought they would add some nice sweetness to the pesto.

The rest of the ingredients were pretty traditional. Toasted pine nuts, parmesan cheese, olive oil, and voila, a pesto was born.

look at all that green!

I very quickly blanched the peas and roughly chopped the scapes, and through them in the food processor with some lightly toasted pine nuts, and then added salt, pepper and a generous dose of grated parmesan and let the processor do its work.

almost there

Then, with the processor running, I added the olive oil, and a sauce was born.

garlic scape and fresh pea pesto

I love the color of this. It is so bright and happy.

I had it the first night with a buttery fried egg, and I loved that addition, but I had it the next day room temperature for lunch at work. Nothing fancy, just right out of the plastic container, and I will tell you what, it was even better. The scapes had a chance to mellow just a little bit and the sweetness of the peas was more pronounced and it was awesome. If you have a farmers’ market or a whole foods near you, take a look for garlic scapes and fresh shell peas, though I suspect frozen would work in a pinch.

summer's best work

And this is not only a pasta sauce. It would be great on crostini or as a sandwich spread, or with grilled fish or chicken or even beef. Why limit yourself? Also, a fantastic thing to make if you don’t have air conditioning and just walking in the front door of the apartment makes you sweat.

Music recommendation for the week: Rihanna. For serious. I love her.

Live like it’s Scape Week.

Garlic Scape and Fresh Pea Pesto (makes approx. 1.5 cups, enough for one pound of dried pasta)

3/4 cup fresh peas (from about 3/4 lb fresh English shell peas)

generous half cup roughly chopped garlic scapes (approx. 8-9 scapes)

2 tbl pine nuts, lightly toasted (if you love nuts, feel free to up this to 3 tbls. I’m betting it will still be delicious!)

1 cup freshly grated parmesan, plus more for serving

1/3 cup olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1 lb dried linguine

Boil the pasta in a large pot of salted water. In the mean time, lightly toast the pine nuts and set aside.

Heat a small saucepan over medium high heat to a high simmer/low boil. Add a pinch of salt and the peas, and cook for barely 30 seconds. Drain peas and run under cold water to stop the cooking. Add the peas, the garlic scapes and the pine nuts to the bowl of the food processor with a pinch of salt and a few twists of fresh pepper. Pulse the processor until the ingredients are roughly chopped. Add the cheese and turn the processor on. Pour the oil through the pour spout slowly, while the processor is running, until the pesto is an almost creamy looking sauce (this will just take a minute.) Toss with the drained pasta, and let cool. This is best served room temperature. If so inclined, fry an egg sunny side in butter and serve over the pasta with additional parmesan, salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy leftovers as much if not more!

Spicy Sesame Noodles with Chicken…and rambling

Oh man, I’m sorry these things take me so long, you must be sick of me making excuses, so you know what? I’m not going to anymore. To quote 50 Cent “my s(tuff)* coming out WHEN I FEEL LIKE IT.” (*He did not say “stuff.”) Fiddy’s my new guru of life. Did you know he’s writing a Young Adult novel about bullying? There are so many things wrong with that sentence, and yet, it’s totally true.

And since we’re talking about books, you guys, I am in the nerdiest pickle right now. Everything I am reading is SO FREAKIN GOOD that I can’t decide what to read at any given moment and I am pretty much paralyzed with the inability to choose and I am accomplishing nothing. Seriously. It’s a problem. I can’t get anything done (for instance, the bulk of this post is already written, by hand, in a notebook, can I type it up? No I cannot) because I have to spend so much time reading because I can’t just pick one thing. Nerd. Alert. The New Yorker is amazing, and I am reading “Blood Bones and Butter” by Gabrielle Hamilton and apparently she cooks better than she writes which is unreal and seems impossible because the book is crazy good, plus! I was in my friendly neighborhood Borders the other day (is anyone else a member of Borders rewards? I got an e-mail the other day saying I had $10 in Borders Bucks to spend before the end of the month, so I better get on in there. And it worked! I actually had $10 that I could use on anything! How did I get that?) and I saw THIS.

Because I need something else to subscribe to

Oh my gosh you guys, David Chang, my chef/celebrity crush (does anyone know him? Can I meet him? Can I get a reservation to his restaurants? I have to go to NY obvs, but I will do that. I will go and spend an entire weekend eating at only his restaurants and I think I would be crazy happy with that. Anyone want to join me?) HAS A MAGAZINE. And it is published by McSweeney’s so it is awesome on top of awesome. It is apparently a going to be a quarterly (this is the first issue) and there are no advertisements and all sorts of great people contribute to it and OH MY GOD. Each issue is going to have a different theme and this one is Ramen and did you know you can write an entire amazing magazine with Ramen as your theme? There are a few diversions, but there are recipes! And so much Chang! And it was exactly $10 so it was also FREE! My head is going to explode.

OK, and one more thing, real quick, since we’re talking about books. I love my Kindle. Love. So psyched to be headed off to vacation with my little Kindle loaded with about six unread books and four back issues of the New Yorker, because you know I would have not been able to choose and would have brought all of those with me in book and magazine form if they weren’t on my Kindle, but books! Oh my gosh, please people, keep buying books so they don’t disappear. They’re so pretty and creative and I just love being around them. I am currently obsessed with finding all the books I read and loved when I was little and hoping they are still somewhere in my parents’ house. Because I would read the heck out of them again. My parents were not in to the television when we were little (for us, they totally watched) because it rots your brain and also because there were all sorts of inappropriate things on there that they wanted to avoid us seeing. But books, we could read as much as we wanted and we could read ANYTHING we wanted. The logic being, even if you are reading the words on the page your imagination and experiences filter what you are reading, which I think is totally true. Case in point. I read Clan of the Cave Bear the summer between 5th and 6th grade. I may be wrong but I am fairly certain that would be (or is?) totally a rated R movie and there was no way I would have been watching that. But, what I remember of it is sitting during swim period at the day camp that I went to with a friend who also read a ton and reading the sex parts to each other and laughing and laughing and laughing. What I didn’t realize at the time, was that first sex part? Forcible and NOT at all funny, but since I had no concept of that, I totally missed it. I forget where this was going, but anyway, books are awesome. And if you didn’t read Christopher Pike or VC Andrews or any of the Clan of the Cave Bear series you totally should. (I had some some intriguing taste in books. Like, A Wrinkle in time was not murder-y or warped love triangle-y enough for me or something? Geez. I wonder what a therapist would say. Also, I think I need to read all of these books again. They were so good! I really should get a therapist.) Another interesting note, I still can not watch scary movies. Scream? Never saw it. I mean, that was basically a Christopher Pike novel, of which I read every single one, but forget the movie. I’d still be terrified. Same with Silence of the Lambs. Read it in like seventh grade maybe? I read the mass market paperback that tied in with the movie, which came out in 1991, so seventh grade sounds right. Still have never seen the movie. I think I would like to? I’ve thought about it. But not by myself. Seriously, I have no idea where this is going. We’ll talk about food now?

Sorry. There is also a caveat before I actually get started with this recipe…I’m calling this a weeknight chicken recipe, but it’s probably not really a weeknight chicken recipe exactly, since I would say that noodles are the main event here, but! it is definitely for weeknights, and it definitely has chicken in it, so I’m counting it. It’s also too good not to share immediately.

Spicy Sesame Noodles with Chicken

This is a recipe courtesy of my mom…she didn’t make it up, but she used to make it all the time, and has no recollection of where it originally came from, so she wins by default. Cold Sesame Noodles is the name of this game. Tahini, sesame oil, soy sauce, sambal, garlic, scallions, red wine vinegar and oil, and then a bit of water to thin it out, and that’s it. There are a lot of recipes for Cold Sesame Noodles online, and many or most of them have peanut butter and sugar in them. The pb I sort of get, but these aren’t peanut noodles, they are sesame noodles, and this recipe relies solely on sesame paste. The sugar I don’t totally get, but like I said, very common, so maybe I’ll try one of those recipes at some point and compare.

I enjoyed this for dinner and several lunches as the main event, but it may be intended as a side dish, which is how my mom usually served it. But what it is really perfect for is a picnic, a potluck, a bar-b-q or whatever because you can make it ahead of time and it really is better cold. The first night I made it I couldn’t wait, so I had some that night when it was still warm, but they really, truly are better cold.

The process is easy. Poach some chicken and then use the very same water to boil some linguine. While those things are happening, chop some scallions and mix up a quick dressing, and that is it. Shred the chicken and mix it all together and voila, dinner or covered dish or side or on the go food (I packed these in containers for my sibs for our road trip last week. I was mocked for the chinese food containers I used, but they put a sock in it when they started eating.) This is great for the summer because it is minimal work and best enjoyed cold. I am probably going to make some more this week because it is stifling in my apartment. Cold food is good.

One more thing, I made a serious omission in my last post when I was mentioning blogs. I forgot to tell you about this one. Healthy Adventures with Adrienne Martin. Adrienne is a gorgeous funny awesome lady that I used to work with at the restaurant, and she has a cute husband and two cute girls and I want to be as cool as her when I grow up. She is very devoted to encouraging people to live their best life and doing the same herself and I suspect if anyone ever is going to convince me to put kale in a blender and drink it, it will be her. She has an exciting new project coming up that I can’t wait to see. Also, without her encouragement, I am not sure B&G would exist. Good luck Adrienne!

Also, really the last thing, listen to Vampire Weekend when you get a chance. I love them and they make me smile and they seem perfect for the summer.

Spicy Sesame Noodles with Chicken (serves 4ish…depending on size of appetite and how you are serving it. I got four dinner/lunches out of it for me. My brother might get one out of this amount. Maybe two if he was feeling generous.)

1 large boneless chicken breast

1/2 lb dried linguine

1 tsp plus 1 tbl sesame oil

1/4 cup tahini (sesame paste)

3 tbls water (or to desired consistency)

2 tsp sambal oelek (or chile oil, sambal has a bit more heat-you will probably be able to find it in a grocery store with a decent ethnic food section, you will definitely be able to find it in an Asian grocery. If you can not. Use chile oil, which you will be able to find. Totally interchangeable here.)

3 tbl soy sauce

2 tbl red wine vinegar

1/4 cup peanut or canola oil

2 tbl minced garlic (mince pretty fine, it stays raw in the final dish)

3 scallions, chopped

Bring chicken breast to boil in a large pot of water over high heat. When water boils, turn the heat off and let the chicken sit for 10-15 minutes until cooked through and then remove from the water. Bring the water to boil again and salt it well. Cook pasta until al dente, and then drain and rinse under cold water until cool. Add the pasta back to the cooking pot, toss with 1 teaspoon of the sesame oil, and set aside.

In the meantime, mix the remaining ingredients, with the exception of the scallions, together with enough of the water to make a runny, but still fairly thick, dressing and set aside. When the chicken is cool enough to touch, shred it and add it, with the chopped scallions, to the pasta pot. Pour the dressing over and toss to combine. Let the pasta cool and serve cold or at room temperature with a sprinkling of kosher salt. Leftovers improve.

In which I make (finally) something sweet…

Great Gatsby’s Ghost! I just realized I have not posted anything sweet on here since LAST AUGUST! That’s crazy! I have certainly made sweet things, and I have most definitely eaten sweet things, but apparently, I showed them no love here. I’m aghast. That changes today.

Well, hello there!

I made Hello Mollys and I actually made them incorrectly, though it appears that no one but me was the wiser. Hello Mollys are better known as Seven-Layer bars, Congo Bars or Hello Dolly Bars, but they happen to be the specialty of one of my favorite relations, whose name happens to be Molly, and as a result, in our family, these are called Hello Mollys. She makes them at Christmastime, so I always think of them as a Christmas treat, but that is actually not the case at all. There is nothing seasonal about them, and even if there is, I made them a couple weeks ago (I know! Why can’t I stay on top of this?!?) and everybody at work loved them in spite of the time of year. When I made these, I promptly sent an e-mail to Molly telling her I had done so, and I had followed her recipe, and that I liked hers better. I think I have since figured out why that was the case…

If you look these up on the webs, there are definitely some variations, but there are more similarities than differences. The name Seven-Layer Bars comes from the cookies having –you guessed it – seven layers. Each of the layers is an ingredient, so I suppose they could also be called Seven-Ingredient Bars. I don’t know where the name Congo Bars or Hello Dolly Bars came from. Irrelevant to the discussion at hand… The layers/ingredients are: butter, graham cracker, chocolate chips, walnuts, coconut, condensed milk and almonds. Is that seven? Yep! That’s it. That’s what you need. You might even already have all that stuff in your kitchen! The recipe is super easy to remember too, since all the amounts, except for the butter, are the same (though you can feel free to play with them and adjust proportions to your liking.)

getting layered

It goes something like this – melt a stick of butter in a 9×13 baking pan (this is where I went wrong, I am not sure exactly what size mine was, but it was bigger, and I didn’t have a 9×13  – I have remedied that situation.) Once the butter has melted and you’ve swirled it around the pan, you add 2 cups of graham cracker crumbs and spread it around to make an even layer. Then add two cups of chocolate chips and spread it around to make an even layer. Then add two cups of lightly chopped walnuts, and spread them around to make an even layer. Then add two cups of shredded coconut and spread it around to make an even layer. Then it gets crazy! (and also, this is the other place I went wrong.) Open two cans of sweetened condensed milk and pour it over the top. Last but not least, sprinkle two cups of sliced almonds over the top, spread around to make an even layer, and then bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. When I made them, I sprinkled the almonds on first and THEN poured the condensed milk over, so they got coated too and got kind of shellacked on to the cookies. When Molly does it, the almonds stay flaky on the top and some of them end up falling off and they so they are not quite as almond-y or something. I don’t know, I just know I like hers better…I am not a huge nut fan, so that might be why. As I mentioned, no one at work thought that anything was amiss, so they work either way. I want to make these again, but I want to sub in some butterscotch chips for some of the chocolate, and I want to use salted peanuts instead of walnuts. And I would also like to perhaps sub in fancier chocolate instead of just regular chocolate chips, and then use pistachios? I don’t know about that one, but I’d be tempted to try it. Probably in a smaller pan since that would mean a lot of pistachios, and they are ‘spensive.

So there you go, if you have a potluck coming up, or you feel like bringing something when you go to someone’s house, or you just feel like making yourself a delightful treat, these truly couldn’t be easier. And so quick! You have to leave in 45 minutes? No worries! Make some Hello Mollys and slice ‘em when you get where you’re going. Just don’t burn yourself on the walk or ride over there. Wear your oven mitts. (But don’t leave them behind, because then you won’t have them anymore.)

yum

Phew! Something sweet! Balance has been restored…now on to more pressing matters.

1. The Olsen twins: Am I supposed to be able to tell them apart? Please advise.

2. I had to have an emergency root canal on Monday afternoon. I sort of suspected I might, when I spent all of Sunday trying to figure out if I could mainline Advil, or if I had any connections to unsavory characters that specialize in pills. I was really hungry that night so I made myself an egg and not very toasted toast, hoping it would be soft enough to get down my gullet without causing pain, but a wayward crumb crept over to the left side of my mouth, resulting in 20 minutes of tears until the feeling that someone was pounding nails into my tooth roots subsided. Monday afternoon in the dentist chair also saw 20 minutes of tears when I realized that the last root canal I had was under the blissful influence of Valium, and this one was going to have to be Valium free, and also, did you know how expensive root canals are when you’ve already used most of your dental benefits this year getting a beautiful shiny crown that is also about to be defaced? I felt really sorry for the dentist, who had never met me, because he had to deal with a grown-ass stranger lady falling apart in his chair on a Monday afternoon when he probably thought he’d get to go home early. And then, apparently, it was a really difficult tooth to deal with. Sorry guy. I am afraid of dental work and I have difficult teeth. I am not proud of either.

3. Have I told you about the Honey Badgers? I don’t think I have, and that makes me remiss. The HBs are a group of fantastic, hilarious, loyal, gorgeous ladies that I am lucky enough to keep company with. The name Honey Badgers does not, in fact, come from creepy coyotes, but from this. (Gram, don’t even bother, you won’t enjoy that…) HBs 4 dash eva.

4. I read a  lot of blogs and websites and there are a couple in particular I’d like to share with you…Gifts that Give is a blog by my friend Meg with fantastic daily ideas about gifts that give back. She has excellent taste and I want pretty much everything on there. The Hairpin makes me laugh every single day. Tastespotting is inspirational. Gilt Taste is just trouble. That is just the tip of the iceberg. I’m not gonna lie, I love the internet.

5. I also read a lot of more traditional reading material like books and magazines. (Do books on Kindle count as traditional?) Right now I am reading “In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin” by Erik Larson. It is great. Erik Larson is really good. He also wrote “The Devil in the White City” which I could not recommend more highly. He writes non-fiction in the most enjoyable, readable way imaginable, and he writes about major events with a focus on one or two players, and the books are great. I also read The New Yorker on my Kindle, and I am very excited for my upcoming vacation, so I can catch up on the back issues that I have gotten half way through that are still languishing on there waiting to be finished. A couple of issues of Vanity Fair will also be accompanying me to the North Carolina shores in a week and a half. I hope no one in my extended family is hoping to like chat with me or anything while I am there.

6. I will be on vacation in about 10 days with 46 other people. That is not a typo. There will 46 walking around humans in two large houses on the beach. 46 of my favorite humans in existence. I CAN NOT WAIT.

7. Bruins. Game 7. Up by one. Nervous. Also, I love the name Peverley. I could say it all the time. I want it to be my name. I wonder if he’s single? (Related: playoff beards are G-R-O-S-S. Not a fan.) UPDATE: 2-0, I’m less nervous.

Hello Mollys (makes 18-24 cookies)

1 stick butter

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

2 cups chocolate chips

2 cups lightly chopped walnuts

2 cups sweetened shredded coconut

2 cans sweetened condensed milk

2 cups sliced almonds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Melt the butter in the baking pan (you can do this on top of the stove, but even easier to stick the pan and the butter in the oven as it heats up.) When the butter is melted, swirl the pan around so it coats the entire bottom as evenly as possible. Add the graham cracker crumbs to the pan and spread over the bottom in an even layer. Add the chocolate chips to the pan and spread them in an even layer. Do the same with the walnuts and then the coconut. Pour the cans of condensed milk evenly over the layers, and top with the sliced almonds. Bake for 30 mins. Cool, cut into bars and enjoy!

In which I make some more chicken…

Ahoy mateys!

I have been BUSY! I have been cooking, but also doing other things, like throwing a baby shower, hanging out at the beach, playing golf for the first time…busy. I have lots of things to tell you about: two weeknight chickens, banana bread, softshell crab two ways, pesto, Congo Bars/7 layer bars/Hello Mollys, fish tacos, brownies, leek and lobster bread pudding…SO MANY THINGS! Today though, I am going to talk about weeknight chicken again, because I have a good one for you.

three teacup chicken

I have actually made three teacup chicken once before, but it was a bit different. The first time I did it I used chicken breast pieces. I liked it this way better. First of all, dark meat chicken, second of all, less prep, third of all, I just liked it better, k?

The name comes from the measurements in the sauce. Apparently a small Chinese teacup is approximately a quarter of a cup, and the three major ingredients in the sauce, soy sauce, rice vinegar and sugar are each one of the three teacups. This recipe uses chicken legs, but the cooking was pretty much the same for both, which was interesting, because it meant cooking whole chicken legs in the wok, which I had not done before (never fear, if you are wok-less, this one could totally be done in a high sided saute pan just as well.)

This is super easy.

In the wok.

Brown the chicken over medium high heat, add ginger and garlic, and then the sauce ingredients, cook, covered, until the chicken is cooked through, then remove the chicken and reduce the sauce for a minute or two then serve. Delicious! I served it over rice and it was mighty tasty. And super quick.

mmmmm mmmm...

Some thoughts:

1. Fellas, listen up, this one’s for you. Some life lessons, totally free, courtesy of me.

• If a lady hasn’t asked you for a picture of your genitalia…don’t send it to her via Twitter. Or actually, at all, don’t send it at all, via any medium. (I may not know all ladies, but I can pretty much guarantee if she didn’t ask for it, she doesn’t want to see it. Also? Some vocab for you: harassment. Look it up.)
• If a lady does ask you for a picture, and you’ve never actually met her…don’t send it (and maybe reconsider your social media relationships…she sounds like no good.)
• If a lady does ask you for a picture, and you have met her, but you are married and she IS NOT YOUR WIFE…don’t send it. Seriously. I can’t believe we still have to have this conversation.
• If a lady asks you for a picture, and you’ve met her, and she is currently your wife, but you are, hope to be, thought about being, or have a loved one who is or hopes to be in a public office, maybe still?…DON’T SEND IT OVER TWITTER/FACEBOOK/THE INTERWEBS. Seriously. It is a TERRIBLE IDEA. Also, potentially super creepy. KEEP IT TO YOURSELF. I hope we all learned something today. You are welcome.

2. Listening tip of the week. Adele. She’s not new if you’ve been paying attention, but she’s just awesome all the time. 

3. I almost had to play the Slap a Stranger game recently when a weirdo got in the revolving door compartment with me. Seriously, just jumped right in. Lucky for his well being I was too shocked to hand out anything but a death stare. 

4. I am curious about kimchi. Everyone talks about how awesome it is, but the description of it usually includes the word “funky.” Am I crazy for thinking that doesn’t sound super delicious? Luckily, I happen to know a Korean food expert, and I am hoping he can enlighten me. 

5. I’ve discovered food trucks and I’m in love…if you are in Boston, find yourself a clover truck and try the chick pea fritter sandwich. It is definitely the most popular sandwich from a very popular truck for a reason. 

6. I played golf for the first time this weekend. I was not good. But I had very patient teachers who tried their best not to laugh at me, which I appreciated. And I kind of liked it! New hobby!

7. So I have a book recommendation for you. (Things is getting crazy up in here!) The NeverEnding Story. NOT the movie. The movie, as it turns out, sucks a lot by comparison. Read the book. And then watch the movie again. Because the special effects are HI-lariously bad.

8. It’s SUMMER! Finally! I can’t even tell you how excited I am. I have had two epic good weather weekends in a row. It is fantastic. I missed it so.

Three Teacup Chicken (serves 4)

Adapted from Serious Eats and Simply Recipes

3 whole star anise

¼ cup soy sauce

¼ cup rice vinegar

¼ cup sugar

2 tbls Shaoxing rice wine

½ tsp vegetable oil

4 chicken legs, skin on (or, if you’d rather, use 1½ – 2 lbs breast or thigh meat, cut into bite size pieces*)

4 garlic cloves, smashed

One 2 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into 6 or 8 pieces.

1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns, lightly toasted and ground (I did not have these, apparently to my complete detriment. I threw in some red pepper flakes for heat, and it still tasted delicious, though I guess I’m missing out. Next time.)

½ cup chicken stock

Whisk together star anise, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, and rice wine (and red pepper flakes if you are using) in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside.

Place a large wok over high heat. (Recipe note: I used my wok to do two legs and it was great, but it’s not huge, so four may have been too crowded. A sauté pan would also work just fine (and maybe better if you are making four legs at a time, just make sure you use a high-sided one that is not too big, so the sauce doesn’t evaporate too quickly.) When it starts to smoke, pour in oil. Swirl oil around, and then add chicken legs skin side down. Adjust heat to medium-high and cook without moving or touching until they are browned, 3 to 4 minutes. Flip the chicken legs, and add garlic and ginger. Continue cooking until the other side is browned, 3 to 4 minutes.

Add Sichuan peppercorns if you are using, soy sauce mixture, and chicken stock. Toss chicken pieces with sauce. Turn heat to high and bring to a boil. Then cover, reduce heat to low, and cook until juices run clear, about 12 minutes. Remove legs and set aside on a plate.

Turn heat to medium-high, and reduce sauce until it lightly coats the back of a spoon, stirring often. Serve chicken legs with sauce with rice or a vegetable.

*If you are using pieces in a wok you may want to add the in two batches so you don’t crowd the wok and lower the temperature significantly, add the first batch, toss for a minute or two, then remove and add the second and toss for a minute or two before adding the first batch back in and adding the sauce. Additionally they may only take about 5-6 minutes TOTAL to cook through, add the sauce mixture after a minute or two, and then remove chicken when cooked through and reduce sauce as detailed.