Back from Europe, Now Exploring Asia

Wake up! Wake up!

While in Europe for 11 weeks, this little blog as been on sabbatical too. It's time to wake it up!

We had some spectacular meals while traveling. Some disappointments. And some that got us adequately fed to keep going from day to day. We discovered that it was tough to pick the memorable meals -- sometimes they just came out of nowhere and surprised us. Like the braised pork knuckle in the beer joint in Regensburg. Or the rotisserie rabbit from the chicken man in Ansouis. Or that dried out gnocchi that I discovered could be pan fried.

But it wasn't till we hit northern Europe that we found meal after meal of reliably great food. Like this one from a fabulous Indonesian restaurant in Amsterdam. Unlike the France and Italy, which seem mired in the past, where you were hard-pressed to find any food other than French or Italian, the Dutch have embraced a wide variety of cultures, and their food has benefited from this. Even in the restaurants that were not primarily Asian or middle-eastern we found a sense of adventure and experimentation that led to fun, tasty meals, prepared by fun, energetic chefs.

I do prefer the bold, knock-your-socks-off flavors that come from Asia and the Middle East over the more subtle flavors of Europe. They take hold of your palate, shake it around, and don't let go. Yum.

Before we left, I discovered the HMart, a relatively new Asian grocery mega store in Burlington, MA. Every aisle is jam-packed with tasty goodies. And I don't know what to do with most of it. An opportunity!

Eleanor and I took our first visit since "the trip" a couple of days ago, and she was pretty good about keeping me for over-buying, saying several times, "Dad...remember, we've got to eat that stuff before it goes bad". Point taken.

My problem in the past with the HMart has been that I don't know what to do with anything. But then I don't remember what the possibilities are when I'm home preparing for the NEXT visit, so I'm never prepared. So this time, I snapped pictures of the stuff that intrigued me, and that I needed to learn more about. And I bought a book on Amazon, still to come, called, Asian Ingredients: A Guide to the Foodstuffs of China, Japan, Korea, Thailand and Vietnam, which promises to help me figure some of this stuff out. Here's some of the stuff I've got my eye on...a SMALL sample. Greens galore. Tubers and roots and fruits and greens. Greens.

And the prices were very reasonable.

And fish. I'm very excited about trying out the fish. They have a spectacular fish counter with LOTS of fish, that mostly looks very fresh, which they will dress for you any way you want. Next time, I'll be prepared. I founds some good recipes in a book that Susan had on the shelf.

In the meantime, I had a lot of greens on my hands -- something called Yu Choy, which looked like a cross between spinach and mustard greens and bok choy. And Shanghai bok choy, which was smaller than regular bok choy, but bigger than baby bok choy. And some hen-of-the woods mushrooms. And a new tamari sauce. So I prepared what to me has been my go-to Chinese food preparation, which I haven't done much of in years:

•  Marinate thinly sliced meat (in this case, frozen chicken thighs from Trader Joes) in a mixture of a few tablespoons of soy sauce and dry sherry, some splashes of rice wine vinegar, and a teaspoon or so of corn starch.  
• Prep all the veggies in advance, minced garlic, bit-sized pieces of scallion, and the chopped greens.
• Stir fry the scallions, then the garlic for 20 seconds or so, then add in the greens, and when the greens are a little wilted and bright green, pull them out of the wok and set aside.
• Stir fry the chicken in a some oil and garlic in batches, until just done.
• Add back in the veggies, turn the heat down, and add a sauce made of the same soy/sherry/vinegar/corn starch mixture as the marinade, till heated through and shiny.
• At the very end, stir in a couple of teaspoons of crab paste.  Secret ingredient.
• Serve over rice (in this case, brown rice).

Anyway.  There's a project a-brewing to experiment my way through the HMart.  It may take a decade or two, but I think I'm up to it.  Stay tuned!

Bean and green saute, with tomatoes and eggs: Start with a pot of beans, part 2

Two containers of wet and wonderful beans from the weekend's cooking.  What to do next?  A new cooking challenge for me this fall has been a foray into the world of CSA -- community supported agriculture.  I signed up with Enterprise Farm this summer, and as a result I get a box of produce each Wednesday, that demands attention, especially as the next Wednesday rolls around, and I haven't eaten everything that won't keep from the previous week.  This week, it was dandelion greens.  More greens.

So I had to use greens.  And, I had bought a big box of field tomatoes from Wilson Farm that were going to be used for slow roasting (stay tuned!!), but I had plenty more to use.  I've discovered only recently how terrific tomatoes are when they're cooked.  Either a lot, like with slow roasting, or just a bit, when added to a saute pan with other things.  Even so-so tomatoes burst into sweetness and complex flavor when cooked. Try it -- you'll see!

Beans, greens, tomatoes.  A good start.  Heat some olive oil, add a smashed clove of garlic and a couple of chopped tomatoes (seeds and all).  Cook for about 10 minutes, until the tomatoes start to reduce in size.  If you cook longer, they'll practically disappear, concentrating the tomato flavor even more, but I was hoping to recognize the tomatoes when was done.  Add the chopped greens and let until they start to wilt, and then add the cooked beans with some of the bean cooking liquid.  Bring to a boil and simmer for as long as you can to meld the flavors.

Looking at all the soupy goodness caused two inspirations.  One, was to serve it over polenta, which works well with anything runny.  And the other was to poach a couple of eggs in the simmering pan, so that they'd ooze out all over when it was time to eat.

Seasoning was a salt, pepper and half teaspoon or so of chili powder.   Mine came from Chimayo New Mexico, but whatever you have, I'm sure will be great.

This beat my expectation.  The taste was great, but the texture was superb.  The runny egg imparted a silky feeling to the whole thing, and a rich flavor to the concoction.  I'll be trying that trick again sometime soon.

See the rest of the series:
Start with a pot of beans
Bean and green saute, with tomatoes and eggs: Start with a pot of beans, Part 2
Bean soup: Start with a pot of beans, Part 3
Into the freezer: Start with a pot of beans, Part 4

And, there's an October blog carnival on -- legumes hosted by Cook Sister inspired by My Legume Love Affair on Well Seasoned Cook.

Start with a pot of beans

It's only fitting to start my new blog by telling the story of a humble pound of beans as they find their way into several dishes over the course of the week, and ending up with the last portion in the freezer, waiting for the appropriate moment.  Legumes are the most basic of foods.  Remember in Genesis when Essau sold his birthright for some lentils?  And in Mark Bittman's  Food Matters the very first recipe is for a Sunday pot of beans.  And, I just bought my first box of heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo.  And, there's an October blog carnival on -- legumes hosted by Cook Sister inspired by My Legume Love Affair on Well Seasoned Cook.  Here's the story of my Sunday pot of beans, made Saturday.

Beans and greens and shrooms

1 lb vaquero beans (from Rancho Gordo), about 2 cups dry, using about 2 cups of the COOKED beans for this recipe, and the rest, for the inspirations over the rest of the week

1/2 onion, chopped

1 large bunch red chard (or whatever greens you desire...I prefer sturdier greens)

1 medium shallot clove, chopped

3 or 4 medium cloves garlic, minced

1 small packet dried mushrooms (about an ounce)

Olive Oil, a tablespoon or so for the beans and another for the greens

Butter, a tablespoon or so

Salt and pepper to taste.

Seasoning, optional.  Such as sesame oil, tamarind paste, smoked paprika, pinch of cayenne.

Cook the beans.  I tried for the first time the Rancho Gordo suggested method, in a crockpot.  Inspect the dried beans for stones and dirt, and rinse.  Add 3-4x the amount of water, and sauteed onion.  Cook on high.  Mine took several hours, but not all day, so be careful.  I was concerned that I'd overcooked the beans because they started to burst open, but once they burst, all that beany taste started melding with the water, which ended up working very nicely for the bean dishes over the course of the week.  They were soft, but not falling apart.  The beans were ready early, but they can sit for awhile.  Actually, I think they benefit from that.  Mine sat for a few hours waiting for dinnertime.

When you start getting hungry for dinner, wash and chop the greens roughly -- a broad chop for the leafy part, and a smaller chop for the stem part so they cook evenly.

Rinse the dried mushrooms in warm water, drain, then cover with boiling water for 15 minutes or more, until the shrooms are tender.

Meanwhile, in a skillet, heat  the olive oil and butter, then the shallots and garlic, and cook until softened.  Add the greens, and saute until they start to wilt.  About 5 to 10 minutes.  Add the mushrooms and cooked beans to the pan, stir and continue cooking.  Add a few tablespoons of the mushroom  liquid as well as the bean liquid, and keep cooking.  Perhaps 10 minutes, until everything is hot.

With some salt and pepper, this is a very tasty dish.  The beans and the mushrooms blend naturally into an earthy, satisfying meal.  I was very happy with my first try with the heirloom beans, too, but use whatever you can find.

You can add some flavoring if you'd like, and I tried a few.  Sesame chili oil was a little overpowering for my taste, but plain toasted sesame oil might be good.  I tried a dab of tamarind paste on a small corner of my plate, and that worked well, but may not be to everyone's taste.  Pimenton is always a good one.

Serve plain, or over rice, or other grain.  You could even add the grain to the saute pan to blend all the flavors.

There was plenty of this dish left over for another meal or two. And, there were plenty of plain, cooked beans leftover for new experiments.  See these recipes:

See the rest of the series:
Start with a pot of beans
Bean and green saute, with tomatoes and eggs: Start with a pot of beans, Part 2
Bean soup: Start with a pot of beans, Part 3
Into the freezer: Start with a pot of beans, Part 4