Confession: my freezer is full of ziploc bags of goodies. Today: rolled up raw bacon slices (3 to a bag), bread crumbs, chopped celery, whole habaneros, sad little carrot chunks, peeled ginger hunks, and even some cooked pumpkin puree. Previous finds have included lamb jus and chipotles en adobo. It’s best when I remember to label the bags, because those two looked pretty much the same when frozen. It makes perfect sense to me — who uses a whole can of chipotle en adobo in a single recipe? Leftover bags of potato rolls from an office luncheon? Pulse them in the food processor and freeze the crumbs for future meatloaves. I chop and freeze celery and carrots to have them ready-to-go to start a soup or enrich a stock. In the case of the pumpkin, I used only part of a can so I put the remainder away for another creation.

So sometimes these bags lie untouched for months (I’ve started dating them when I remember to label them). And then I’ll be digging for the walnuts that I KNOW are in the back of the freezer, and I’ll come across something forgotten, which gets my hamster going. Which is what happened with the pumpkin. I had bought chicken tenders a couple of days ago since they were on sale and we are in the middle of a heat wave and I knew they would cook FAST. But then I came across the pumpkin, and it’s been turning over in my mind, and I knew I didn’t want to make pumpkin bread (in a heat wave?), and I was pretty sure I had curry paste and coconut milk in the pantry, and Thai basil in the garden, and so the idea of a pumpkin curry began to form in my imagination. I also found an additional freezer surprise — the last of a bag of cubed butternut squash — SCORE!

Thai cuisine in general feels “light” to me, even with the coconut and spices. We eat a Thai-inspired dish probably once a week in the summer. This curry is lighter than what I usually make — which is more appropriate to this heat.

Pumpkin Curry
Serves 4 to 6

1 1/2 tablespoon canola oil
1 large shallot (or 1 small onion), sliced thin
1/2 can (~2oz) Panang curry paste (see photo)
1.5 lbs chicken tenders
1 can (14oz) light coconut milk
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
2 cups cooked pumpkin puree
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon fish sauce, to taste (see photo)
1/2 to 1 tablespoon lime juice, to taste
1 1/2 cup frozen butternut squash cubes, thawed
Steamed rice
Thai basil leaves for garnish

Heat a large pot or skillet over medium heat. Add canola oil then shallots. Stir the shallots until they soften slightly. Add the Panang curry paste and cook it in the oil with the shallots until fragrant, just a minute or two.

Add the chicken chunks and stir to ensure they are fully coated with the curry paste. Cook until the chicken’s outside is opaque and it is about 50% cooked. Takes maybe 5 minutes, but that will vary depending on white or dark and the size of your chunks.

Add the coconut milk, chicken broth, pumpkin puree, fish sauce, and lime juice. Stir gently to incorporate. Taste for seasoning and add a touch more fish sauce and lime juice if needed. Allow to simmer gently, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is ALMOST done — maybe another 8 to 10 minutes. I check doneness by feel, but feel free to use a meat thermometer and probe the largest chunks.

Add the squash cubes — they will need just 3 or 4 minutes in the curry to come up to temp.

Serve over steamed rice. Garnish with the Thai basil leaves.

NOTES:

I had Penang curry paste in the cupboard, but I think red curry paste would work as well.

The chicken won’t brown, like in a saute, but you’ll see that the outside firms up and changes color. It is still raw inside but that’s okay because it will continue to cook while the sauce simmers.

Boneless, skinless breasts or boneless, skinless thighs would substitute just fine for the tenders. I think it would be fab with shrimp, too. I’d saute the shrimp for just a minute or so with the curry paste and add the butternut squash cubes with the liquids and adjust the cook time down considerably.

The Thai basil leaves are more than garnish — stir them into your bowl of curry where they will wilt slightly. They add a lovely anise flavor to the curry and really enhance the mild pumpkin flavor.

My cook times are approximate — I cook by feel, not the timer. Sorry

With the weather warming, our palates naturally turn to lighter fare.  This is a nice dish for this transition from winter to summer (you know, the DC spring that lasts 3 days). You can serve it warm over steamed rice and the next day, serve the cold leftovers over greens. I discovered this recipe years ago on the Internet SOMEWHERE, but I’ve adapted it to my taste and kitchen. My apologies to the original poster for lack of attribution.

This was the dish for which I first purchased fish sauce. Fish sauce is a Asian condiment made from fermented, salted fish (you probably don’t want the details). Fish sauce can be found in American grocery stores as well as international markets. I have to be honest, it is VERY pungent and VERY salty — a little goes a long way. I use it in all sorts of dishes where I want to add richness (“umami”), like a chili or a stew, because no “fish” flavor really comes through — just salty and savory. Not so different from using anchovies or anchovy paste as a base for a pasta sauce. If you’ve never used it before, this is a good “Intro To Fish Sauce” dish.

Thai-Inspired Beef Salad

1 medium red onion (or 1/2 a large red onion — to taste)
5 tablespoons lime juice (I use bottled Nellie’s)
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
Bunch of cilantro
1.5 pounds flank steak; alternatives are skirt steak or a well-trimmed 3/4″ thick London broil
2 tablespoons toasted rice powder

Optional Garnish(es): Chopped dry roasted peanuts, cilantro leaves, mint leaves

I like to pull meat from the fridge about 1/2 hour before I think it’s going to hit the grill (or pan). I let it rest on the countertop, pushed back out of reach of the dog, of course. For this dish, it takes me about 1/2 hour for prep, so I pull the meat out at the beginning as I’m pulling the other ingredients.

Start by making your toasted rice powder: Put 2 – 4 tablespoons of raw uncooked white rice (I use jasmine) in a dry skillet heated over medium to medium-high heat. Watch it, shaking the pan occasionally, until the rice starts to toast and take on color. Now, shake the pan often to keep the rice moving — it can go from light brown to burnt rather quickly! Take it to a light-to-medium (golden) brown and pull from the heat. Allow to cool and then use a blender, spice grinder, or food processor to process to a coarse powder.

Slice your onion in half root to stem. Pull the papery peel off each half. Slice the onion vertically into thin strips – root to stem. Separate these slices into a bowl of ice water while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. This ice water bath will mellow the bite and crisp them up.

In a small non-reactive bowl, mix the lime juice, fish sauce, and chili flakes. Set aside.

Rinse your cilantro and drain on a paper or dish towel. Pull the individual leaves off each stem until you have about a cup of lightly packed leaves. It’s okay if you have bits of the tender top stem, but try not to get too much lower stem. Set aside.

DO NOT SEASON the meat — the dressing will have sufficient salt, thanks to the fish sauce. Cook your meat to medium-rare to medium. You want a nice crust on the outside and some pink juiciness still in the middle. Ideally, you would do this on a charcoal grill, with a gas grill being a close second. No worries — a quick sear in a hot skillet on the stovetop works too. I’d put a teaspoon or two of a neutral oil, like canola, in the hot skillet (less for flank or skirt steak, more for a London broil). Lay the meat in and DON’T touch it. After 5 – 8 minutes, the meat will naturally release from the pan, signifying it’s ready to be turned. Flip once and sear the other side. Again — the meat will naturally release from the pan when it’s nice and crusty. Use a meat thermometer if you are concerned about the level of doneness.

Whether grilled or pan-seared, let the steak rest 8 – 10 minutes after pulling from the heat.

Put the cilantro leaves in a large bowl. Drain the onions, pat dry, and add to the bowl. Slice the meat thinly across the grain and add to the bowl. Pour the lime/fish/chili dressing over the meat. Sprinkle with a tablespoon or two of toasted rice power and toss it all together. Garnish with the peanuts, additional cilantro leaves, or mint leaves, as desired.

Dork Note: I had the leftovers over greens for lunch, with every intention of taking a photograph. Unfortunately, I didn’t recall that intention until halfway through the salad — sorry.

So I’ve been following Heather Christo’s blog for a few months or a year or so. I’ve made a few of her recipes, generally with success, but mostly I use her blog for inspiration for flavor profiles and to validate a recipe’s proportions, cooking temp and times, etc. (yes, I analyze recipes for formula errors just as I would an Excel spreadsheet). Heather recently published a cookbook and is on her cross-country book tour. She’s going to be at a book signing tonight here in the DC area, so I grabbed my copy (that I nabbed as soon as it was available on Amazon) and am headed out this evening to get it signed.

So earlier this week, as I was asking about one of her recipes (ingredient analysis, **sigh**), I said I was going to her signing and asked “are we SUPPOSED to bring cookies to the signing?” She said she’d love it, so I whipped up a batch of these ROCKING oatmeal cookies last night with a dozen set aside for Heather. It’s networking, right? Not stalking?

Criminal concerns aside, this has become my go-to recipe for oatmeal cookies. I **LOVE** that the butter is melted, because sometimes I forget to put the butter out ahead of time, or I bought it ON the way home, or the kitchen is warm and the butter gets too soft and then my cookies get greasy. I try to be judicious about making specific product recommendations, but here, this specific Trader Joe’s fruit and nut mix really fits the bill. I’ve also made the cookies without the chocolate chips, and it’s a fine cookie, but the mini chips slip these little nubbins of chocolate in between the bigger chunks of nuts and really take it the next level. I bet white chocolate would be pretty divine too!

Rockin Oatmeal Cookies, adapted from Bluebonnets and Brownies’ Dark Chocolate, Cherry and Pistachio Cookies

Makes about 50 cookies.

1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
1 teaspoon salt
16 tablespoons butter, melted (2 sticks)
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon ginger liqueur
2 cups Trader Joe’s Macademia/Almond/Cranberry/Ginger Trek Mix
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Measure out 2 cups of the nut mix. I find the cranberries stick together — use your fingers to separate them from each other. Pull out the ginger chunks and chop finely (1/8″ to 1/4″ mini chunks). Roughly chop the macadamias and almonds as they tend to be whole. Put this aside (I know this step is slightly obsessive, but you don’t want clumps of cranberry or ginger-less cookies and you SO do not want to break a tooth on a whole almond).

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, oatmeal, and salt. Whisk together to combine and aerate, then set aside.

Melt the 2 sticks of butter and allow to cool slightly. Combine butter, oil, and both sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix on low to medium speed until well combined. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add liqueur and mix again.

Incorporate the flour mixture a little at a time on LOW speed until well mixed in.

Add in nut mix and chocolate chips. Mix by hand or on LOWEST speed with the mixer until the add-ins are well combined and mixed through the dough.

Chill the dough for 20 minutes. While it’s chilling, preheat the oven to 350F.

Place golfball-sized dough balls on a parchment lined cookie sheet – roughly 8 to a sheet (I do two rows of three with a row of two in between — I REALLY should have taken a picture of that). Bake ONE tray at a time for 9 minutes, rotate pan, bake for another 3 or 4 minutes. I keep the dough in the fridge in between batches.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a couple of minutes on the sheet before removing to a cooling rack or countertop with wax paper. Eat several while warm. Allow the rest to cool completely before boxing or bagging.

*****

[photo credit: Heather’s sister-in-law Natalie]

p.m. update:  So, Heather is as gracious and natural in person as you might expect from reading her blog. And about 8 feet tall and slender as can be and totally ROCKING some hot platform pumps (I should have taken a picture of those instead, right?).This was a small, intimate venue, so I got a chance to talk with her and her sister-in-law Natalie for a bit (Natalie was kind enough to take this photo as well as the Instagram version). I recommended they go get dinner at El Pollo Rico for authentic Peruvian charcoal chicken. Of all the awesome restaurants in Arlington, yes, we talked about Peruvian chicken!

Heather seemed to like the cookies — yeah for me!! Because I’m such a dork — those are my cookies right next to HER cookbook in the picture. If you’ve not visited her site, it’s well worth a visit. I can personally recommend her recipe for Lemon Summer Squash Bread.

I know they ain’t much to look at. These strawberry-rhubarb muffins schooled me in rhubarb. I watched my grandma cook up rhubarb for pie — she must have poured half the sugar bag in, it seemed. I truly had NO idea you could slice them RAW into a fairly basic batter and turn out something that wasn’t merely edible, but DELECTABLE. Moist, tender crumb, well-defined tastes of strawberries AND rhubarb (which surprisingly sweetened up under cooking), not too sweet, not too tart — I’m a convert to rhubarb!

There are only four muffins in the picture because we already had one apiece. You know, taste testing. Thumbs up from the Culinary Guinea Pig.

Strawberry Rhubarb Walnut Muffins, adapted from Smitten Kitchen’s Strawberry Rhubarb Pecan Loaf
Makes six “Texas-sized” muffins

3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup canola oil
1 large egg
1 tablespoon rum
1 tablespoon ginger liqueur
1 1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup nonfat greek yogurt
1/2 cup diced rhubarb (heaping)
1/2 cup diced strawberries (heaping)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (heaping)

Preheat oven to 350°. Line the muffin tin with paper liners, OR, grease them well with solid shortening.

In a big bowl, beat or whisk together the brown sugar, oil, egg, rum, and ginger liqueur (I used my stand mixer because I was feeling lazy). In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking soda; stir. Add dry ingredients to first mixture with the yogurt and combine. Stir in rhubarb, strawberries, and walnuts (lowest speed if using a stand mixer or you will get MUSH!!). The batter will be very thick!

Spoon evenly amongst the muffin wells. Bake at 350° for about 30 minutes, or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. I would check at 25 minutes and then at 3 to 5 minute intervals thereafter.

I started to title this Farm Stand Tuesday, but then I realized that might obligate me to stop at this farm stand EVERY Tuesday, but sometimes I’m late, sometimes I telework, sometimes I’m cashless, sometimes I have to pee, and that obligation would just CHAFE me. So I’m avoiding that commitment, sorry.

So this is a farm out of PA that brings fresh, seasonal produce down thisaway several days a week through the growing season. Much they grow themselves, some is from auction, but the quality is good and the prices are competitive and I kinda like knowing WHERE my food came from, not that I’m militant about it (case in point, Peruvian-sourced asparagus in my fridge at home right now).

For me, the fun of a farm stand or farmer’s market is INSPIRATION. What caught my eye today was the rhubarb. Rhubarb has a fairly short growing season — you find it only briefly in conventional grocers. The leaves are poisonous apparently (that’s what I was told when I was little and now Wiki confirmed it, go figure). My paternal grandma used to make strawberry rhubarb pie in the spring — deliciously sweet and tart with a crust to die for. Of course, these farmers are also excellent marketeers, and right next to the bright red stalks were strawberries. Based on last week’s experience, I knew those strawberries were PDG, so I grabbed a box. Knowing I might cook them down, I bought the cheaper-by-$1 “older” ones — no worries — they’ll be good to eat out of hand today and sauced down tomorrow or the next. I also grabbed a bag of field-washed mixed greens — the staff and I discussed and decided they were “clean enough” since I don’t have a colander or lettuce spinner at work (I don’t mine the occasional germ — see Confessions). And the radishes were too pretty and pink to pass up.

So where am I going with this? Obviously — some sort of strawberry-rhubarb concoction is in my future. A crumble/cobbler? A compote? Maybe something in a quick bread? I’m definitely going sweet, out of memory for my Mimi.

As for the greens and radishes, I’ll put together an awesome salad for my lunch. I have some dried figs in the fridge here at work and I can scrounge some nuts from a co-worker. Tomorrow I’ll try to remember to bring in some tuna or cooked chicken from home, and maybe some crumbled feta, and if I bake off another loaf of that artisan bread, then I’m set for the week, right?

Ooooo … the possibilities!

*****

Lunchtime update: I am a total mooch.

Darling co-worker contributed goat cheese, sesame sticks, and shelled pepitas. I nabbed a handful of olives from an unlabelled jar in the office fridge. It is my own salad dressing.

Nom nom nom

So Sunday turned out to be Couples Day. My husband and I have regular Date Nights (typically Wed night for Top Chef and Sun night for Mad Men … yes, TV is involved, but it’s regularly scheduled and easy to Pin On A Calendar), but somehow Sunday turned into Couples Day. We had lunch together at home (leftover Epic Fail), test drove a car (probably an Epic Fail itself), and then headed to this newish frou-frou shopping center to wander about before we saw the new Star Trek movie.

So in this shopping district I stumble upon a store devoted to olive oil and vinegar, Ah love Oil & Vinegar. There are about a zillion olive oils in these adorable metal tanks TO SAMPLE and another zillion balsamic vinegars also in these little tanks TO SAMPLE. OMG — almost as good as a chocolatier (there’s one of those at this shopping center too but it was a warm day so they have to wait for another trip). This stuff is NOT cheap, but I always love the chance to sample before I buy. So I tasted a few (maybe six I was being conservative and saving room for popcorn) and ultimately bought their black truffle olive oil (I’ve been wanting to buy truffle-infused oil but was very nervous about dropping big $ on something that wasn’t so good) and their fig balsamic vinegar (I have a THING for figs).

Have you ever slurped vinegar by the spoon? You can do that with a good aged balsamic — smooth, sweet, almost syrupy. Add some fig essence and you have a sauce fit for strawberries … ice cream … pound cake?

Tonight’s dinner is an ode to this Fig Balsamic Vinegar. I built a simple salad with Red Leaf Lettuce from New Jersey, tart strawberries (they’re big and pretty but not super sweet), crumbled blue cheese, toasted almond slivers, and garlicky croutons, drizzled with the fig vinegar and a few drops of extra virgin olive oil. Served alongside is my homemade crusty artisan bread and a glass of pinot noir … mmmm …

6/5 update: Just had a bowl of RIPE strawberries from the farm market, drizzled with some of this fig vinegar … OMG awesome

Of course, it’s leaping ahead right into summer, which is the typical schizophrenic DC spring. Furnace in the morning, A/C in the afternoon. Time to put away the slow cooker and start thinking about eating lighter. You know, to save room for ice cream.

So I stopped at a farm stand on my way to work on Tuesday. They had some BEAUTIFUL asparagus. Just beautiful. So I grabbed a big bunch (and a quart of strawberries) and had ALL day to scheme about what I was going to do with those lovely little stalks. The tiniest were tender enough to eat raw. I had some prosciutto at home, and some half-and-half, and some parmesan cheese, but a heavy cream sauce just didn’t seem appropriate for the warming days.

So I started brainstorming. I love crisped prosciutto – like what you get on top of a pizza. I also love roasted asparagus, whether from the grill or the oven. So I started to think about wrapping the asparagus in the prosciutto and roasting them off in the oven. Drool. I had bucatini (thick spaghetti with a tube running down the middle) in the pantry and eggs in the fridge, so I started thinking about a soft runny poached egg over the pasta. And the asparagus. Yum. Toss a little parm over the top and you’ve got Heaven on a Plate.

So here’s what you need (for 1 hungry person):

2 or 3 slices of prosciutto, each sliced length-wise into 3 strips
6 – 9 asparagus stalks
A smidge of olive oil
2 oz dried bucatini, spaghetti, or linguine
A smidge of salt
1 or 2 eggs
1 Tablespoon white vinegar, lemon juice, or lime juice
A healthy handful of shredded parmesan or asiago cheese
Some fresh ground pepper

Here’s what you’ll do:

The challenge for me was to get asparagus, pasta, and eggs to all come together at the same time. Trust me — it’s worth it even if your timing is off a bit like mine!

Start a large pot of water to boil for the pasta. Bring to a full rolling boil.

Start a low pan of water to boil for the eggs. Drop the heat to a bare simmer.

Preheat oven to 325. Spiral one strip of prosciutto around each asparagus stalk. Place them in a single layer on a cookie sheet or in a roasting pan. Drizzle with the olive oil and place in oven. Check every 3 to 5 minutes, shaking pan gently to roll the stalks for even browning (don’t unroll them though!). Time will vary based on stalk size, oven variation, how often you open, etc. But the hope is that they’ll finish just before the pasta is done.

Once the large pot of water is boiling, add some salt and then drop in your pasta. My box called for 11 minutes, so I set the timer for 5 minutes. Stir occasionally so it won’t stick. When the timer went off, I reset it for another 5 minutes.

At that point, add the vinegar to the low pan of barely simmering water and stir. Crack an egg into a tea cup. Gently slip the egg into the simmering acidulated water, kind of flipping the white over as it drops. Repeat with a second egg if desired. Use a soup spoon to gently spoon hot water over the top of the egg — to cook it from the top as well as the bottom. You might need to use that spoon to pull in wayward egg white. Don’t mess with it too much — it’s pretty fragile.

Don’t forget to shake the asparagus! You’ll probably pull it from the oven about 2 minutes before the pasta is done.

When the timer goes off the 2nd time (10 min total mark for me), test your pasta. The only way I know is to pull a strand out, run it under cool water, and eat it. It will likely need another minute or two, but really really watch it now. When done to your preference, drain REALLY well in a colander.

Assembly:

Put the pasta on a plate. Arrange the prosciutto-wrapped asparagus on top. Use a slotted spoon to remove the poached egg(s) — place on top of the asparagus. Sprinkle the cheese and fresh ground pepper to taste.

Take a moment to admire your work — isn’t it so fresh looking? So spring-like? So simple?

Now — take a butter knife and fork and break into the egg, allowing the yolk to ooze down into the pasta. Stir the mostly-cooked egg, hot pasta, and cheese together making an ooey gooey sauce. OMG — divine.

That was Tuesday night. I liked it so much I had to have it AGAIN for lunch today.