A Life, Lived

Korean Stewed Chicken with Spinach

One of the recipes which really interested me in the latest Cooking Light Best of series (this one being the best of 2013) was this spicy Korean chicken dish. The photo looked amazing! The recipe used a special ingredient - Gochujang. This apparently  is an indispensable Korean sauce based on fermented soybeans and chiles.

The folks at Cooking Light declared:

you'll find it in Asian markets, or seek out Annie Chun's brand, which is more widely available.

LIARS

It took us close to 6 weeks and countless visits to Asian markets where one's senses were assaulted before we finally found the Gochujang. Happily we LOVE a challenge so we went from storeto store hunting through poorly organized shelves.

We were even happier when we ate it. This is simple to make (one you have found the key ingredient), relatively quick to prepare, and tastes brilliant! It is spicy - you would not enjoy it if you can take heat. Then again, if you can't take heat you're likely cooking grilled cheese and chicken fingers so that likely is not a worry. :-)

If you enjoy heat in your food and are able to find gochujang give this a try!

Korean Stewed Chicken with Spinach

1/3 cup gochujang (Korean chile sauce)
1/4 cup (1/2-inch) slices green onion bottoms
2 1/2 tablespoons lower-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons minced fresh garlic
2 tablespoons minced peeled ginger
2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
1 tablespoon brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1/2-inch strips
1 1/2 cups uncooked short-grain white rice
1 1/2 cups water
1/3 cup water
3/4 cup (1 1/2-inch) slices green onion tops
1 (5-ounce) bag fresh baby spinach
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Combine the first 8 ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in chicken. Cover and marinate 30 minutes.

Place rice in a medium saucepan; cover with water to 2 inches above rice. Stir rice; drain. Repeat procedure twice. Add 1 1/2 cups water to drained rice in pan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat; let stand 10 minutes.

While rice cooks, bring 1/3 cup water to a boil in a Dutch oven. Add chicken mixture; bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes. Uncover and simmer 10 minutes or until mixture thickens, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in green onion tops and spinach. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve with rice.

The New Office

I remember the staff meeting about 8 years ago when my boss told us that ETFO had put in an offer to purchase a piece of land to build a new building. There were challenges he said . . . it had just been zoned as residential so rezoning was necessary and the neighbours did NOT want an office building.

We went through the motions and he updated us from time to time.

Because it was spread out over such along period of time I don't think I ever thought we'd actually be moving while I was still employed.

This is the new office building:

My office is at the front on the second floor.

Now I am going through the craziness that is packing . . .

I had better get busy since Thursday is the last day in the old office!

Spicy, Crispy, Orange Beef

Hints of orange and a touch of heat dress up a classic combination from the Hunan region of China. Elaborate preparation is a hallmark of Hunan cuisine. Orange Beef, made by marinating beef overnight, then marinating again with a mixture including egg white, wine, and white pepper, is a classic Hunan dish.

I am always amazed when I discover that a Chinese dish I enjoy here in North America is actually a Chinese dish! It seems that so much of our so-called Chinese food is just invented pap designed to pander to the tastes of North Americans. Sadly this trend is very pervasive - Olive Garden anyone? It is a shame that some folks will never know the difference . . .

That aside, this post wasn't meant as a rant about the food habits of North Americans, rather it was a post about an amazing dish we enjoyed. Paul was looking for a stir fry andI was happy to oblige with a recipe that I had printed off some time ago.

Given the cool, wet spring we've been having this was a fine selection. The spice and citrus in this dish make it perfect for awakening the senses on an otherwise dreary day, and who doesn’t love to eat Chinese food when it’s cold outside?

Spicy, Crispy, Orange Beef

1 lb sirloin steak, cut into thin strips
¼ cup cornstarch
salt, to taste
1½ cups peanut oil, for frying
⅓ cup fresh orange juice
¼ cup seasoned rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons orange marmalade
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons hot chili sauce (like sriracha)
½ tablespoon brown sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ teaspoon ginger, minced
3 green onions, green part only, chopped
½ red pepper, de-seeded, chopped
orange zest, to garnish

Combine the orange juice, rice wine vinegar, orange marmalade, soy sauce, hot chili sauce, and brown sugar in a bowl. Mix well and set aside.

In a medium sized bowl, toss the strips of sirloin steak with 3 tablespoons corn starch and salt.

Heat 1½ cups of peanut oil in a wok over medium-high heat.

In small batches, fry the steak in the oil until golden brown.

Discard all but a tablespoon worth of peanut oil from the wok, and then add the garlic and ginger and cook for about a minute.

Slowly pour in the orange sauce mixture. Bring the sauce to a boil. Continue cooking until the sauce thickens, about 8-10 minutes. Add cornstarch slurry* if your sauce doesn’t seem to be thickening on its own.

Add the steak for just 2 minutes or so, coating it in the sauce Serve immediately over rice or Chinese-style vegetables. Top with a generous amount of green onions, chopped red pepper to taste, and a bit of orange zest.

Note: To make a slurry, mix one tablespoon cornstarch and one tablespoon cold water in a bowl. After it is well mixed, you can add it to your sauces to thicken them up!

Travel Tuesday - Dan Brown's Inferno

I've been enjoying the latest thriller from Dan Brown (Mr. Da Vinci Code) even though I know I should not as it is the equivalent of bubble gum literature. That aside it has some interesting twists and turns and is set in Italy so while it may have the traditional Brown plot designs and that horrid machine gun-like sentence structure it also features lovely descriptions of some of my favourite places. :-)

The famous allegory poem by Danto features strongly in the plot. At one point Brown refers to Dante's exile from Florence (just rescinded in 2008 some 750 years later). He finally was buried in the city of Ravenna but the Florentines are still trying to get back his bones . . .

The part of the book I just read features the basilica of San Marco in Venice. Brown describes the glittering gold interior of the church.

and the Pala d'Oro made up of close to 2000 jewels on a gold background.

The famous horses standing on the balcony overlooking the square also feature in the plot. The statues were installed on the basilica in about 1736.  The horses were displayed at the Hippodrome of Constantinople, and in 1204 Doge Enrico Dandolo sent them to Venice as part of the loot in the Fourth Crusade. After a long restoration, since the 1990s they have been kept in St Mark’s Museum (inside the basilica). The horses now on the facade of the cathedral are bronze replicas.

These are the fakes:

What I didn't realize was that in order to stabilize the tiny ships used to transport the horses from Constantinople to Venice in 1204 the heads were hacked off and later reattached. That is why the horses have the distinctive collar which covers up the marks left during the severing and reattachment of the heads.

Be sure to pop on over to Sandi's blog to see what else is happening on Travel Tuesdays. Since she is currently in Florence I wonder if she is visiting the spots Brown writes about while she is there?

Sausage, Fennel, and Ricotta Pizza

We never get tired of pizza – it’s so quick to make, versatile, so easy to make it healthy, and so bloody tasty! Pizza is one of the things we crave on Friday night at the end of the work week (well, MY work week)

With this recipe from the folks at Cooking Light, dollops of ricotta cheese top crispy Sausage, Fennel, and Ricotta Pizza. While it does not specifically call for fennel sausage we decided that more the better so we used fennel turkey sausage instead of the Italian turkey sausage that is called for.

Be sure to use a preheated pizza stone or baking sheet to ensure an extra-crisp crust.

The end result was amazing - so good that we have whipped this up three times since (and if you know anything about us we rarely cook the same thing twice, let alone three times!) Of course, the fact that a serving has 350 calories helps too. :-)

Sausage, Fennel, and Ricotta Pizza

12 ounces refrigerated fresh pizza dough
1 (4-ounce) link Italian turkey sausage
1 cup thinly sliced fennel bulb
1 tablespoon cornmeal
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup part-skim ricotta
1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic
1/3 cup thinly sliced red onion
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

Place a pizza stone or heavy baking sheet in oven. Preheat oven to 500° (keep pizza stone or baking sheet in oven as it preheats). Let pizza dough stand at room temperature, covered, while oven preheats.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Remove casing from sausage. Add sausage to pan; cook 4 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring to crumble. Add fennel bulb; cook 4 minutes or until tender.

Roll pizza dough into a 16-inch oval on a lightly floured surface. Carefully remove pizza stone from oven. Sprinkle cornmeal over pizza stone; place dough on pizza stone. Brush dough evenly with oil. Sprinkle sausage mixture evenly over dough, leaving a 1-inch border. Combine ricotta and garlic in a small bowl; top pizza with teaspoonfuls of ricotta mixture. Sprinkle red onion and remaining ingredients evenly over pizza. Bake at 500° for 11 minutes or until golden. Cut into 8 slices.

Champagne and Strawberry Gelatin

A few years ago we learned how to make this during a coking glass at the LCBO (Ontario's booze monopoly). During the class the chef actually made a terrine which was sliced and plated. Because I like 'easy' when it comes to dessert I served it in wine glasses - my only suggestion here is to serve it in something clear because it is quite pretty to look at.

As far as desserts go this one is near perfect - you quickly pull it together in the morning, hide it in the back of the fridge, and then pull it out for appreciative guests after dinner. I generally serve it with assorted cookies to round things out.

While the recipe calls for strawberries any fruit would work - for dinner last week I used a combination of blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries.

Even though most of the alcohol is burned off during the cooking process some residual alcohol would remain so if you're serving this to children or those who do not drink you'd want to sub in sparkling non-alcoholic wine or even white grape or cranberry juice.

Champagne and Strawberry Gelatin

1 750  ml bottle of sparkling wine
1 cup white sugar
1 small bunch mint, leaves removed from stems
2 tablespoons of powdered gelatin
2 cups strawberries, hulled and sliced (NOTE - substitute other seasonal fruit as desired)

Pour 1/4 cup ice water into a small bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over the water. Let sit until the gelatin turns rubbery/spongy - do not stir.

Boil the sparkling wine and sugar together until the sugar dissolves.

Add gelatin to the hot liquid.

Divide the fruit and mint leaves amongst 6 - 8 125 ml wine glasses or other clear bowls.

Ladle the wine jelly over the fruit (I found that a funnel and ladle assisted with this step!)

Chill until set.

Photo Hunt - Copper

This week's Photo Hunt theme is copper.

Of course I have to post photos of Cesare, the wonderful copper artist in theTuscan hilltown of Montepulciano.

I make a point of visiting his shop whenever I am in the area.

Back Home

What a great week in Port Elgin. It is such a privilege to work with such committed and passionate educators from across Ontario.

Exhausting though- getting too old for 4 and 5 hours of sleep a night.

Mind you, spending time on Ontario's sunset coast helps . . .

Tuscan Grilled Chicken & Pepper Salad (Pollo Forte)

The title of this recipe ignored me to the point that I almost refused to make it. Now it is possible that there are some Tuscan dishes I have yet to experience but I have never eaten anything like this while I was in Tuscany. To me this seemed more like something Olive Garden might place on their menu, calling it Tuscan, deceiving all of those who have never been to Italy.

SIGH

However (you knew that was coming right?), I liked the sounds of the ingredients and decided to whip it up last week.

We LOVE big summer salads - generally eating 2 or 3 of them a week. It must be the combination of fresh produce, speed, and relaxed eating on the terrace and this one was a perfect addition to our repertoire (once I got past that stupid name).

Note to fine cooking - Pollo Forte means strong chicken . . . did your chicken work out prior to being made into a salad?

I shall just call this one Grilled Chicken and Pepper salad and we shall call it a delicious day!

Grilled Chicken & Pepper Salad

5 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 6 oz. each)
Olive oil for brushing
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded, and very thinly sliced
1/2 green bell pepper, cored, seeded, and very thinly sliced
1 poblano chile or other hot green chile, cored, seeded, and very thinly sliced
1/2 to 1 jalapeño, cored, seeded, and finely chopped
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup red-wine vinegar
1 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
20 red cherry tomatoes, halved
20 yellow cherry tomatoes, halved
3/4 cup Niçoise, Kalamata, or other good-quality black olives, pitted
30 basil leaves, washed, dried, and torn into small pieces

Heat the grill. Lightly brush the chicken with olive oil.Grill the chicken breasts on one side until almost firm to the touch, 4 to 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and then turn them over and continue to grill until cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the grill and let cool. Cut the chicken on the diagonal into thin slices. Put the chicken in a large bowl along with the bell peppers, poblano and jalapeño chiles, and onion. Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk the two vinegars, garlic, red pepper flakes, and extra-virgin olive oil.

Toss the vinaigrette with the chicken and peppers and let stand at least 30 minutes and up to an hour. Add the cherry tomatoes, olives, and basil. Gently toss the salad and season to taste with salt and pepper. Let the salad stand another 15 minutes before serving to allow the flavors to meld.

Spicy Grilled Sweet Potatoes with Orange and Honey

This recipe originally called for roasting the sweet potatoes in the oven. I thought that grilling might work better - the heat of the grill bringing out the sweetness in the glaze and the potatoes themselves. I'm happy to say that it was a success!

It is always nice when kitchen experiments work that way. :-)

I must say that the title in this is a bit much - we didn't find these spicy in the least. The fine print on the recipe spoke of a gentle kick. I'm still awaiting that . . .

If you truly want a kick you had better up the amount of cayenne!

Spicy Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Orange & Honey

3 Tbs. unsalted butter
3 Tbs. honey
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 tsp. cayenne
4 medium sweet potatoes (2 lb. total), preferably the same size and shape, peeled, cut into slices of uniform thickness
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the grill to high.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter. Whisk in the honey, orange juice, and cayenne. Put the sweet potatoes in the bowl, add the honey mixture, and toss the pieces well to coat them thoroughly.

Turn the grill down to medium.

Place the sweet potatoes directly on the grill grate.

Turn them over when browned (about 10 minutes). Baste several times with the sauce.

Remove from grill when browned and tender. Serve at once.