Flounder and Chicken Congee

Flounder and chicken congee

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Otherwise known as jook, congee consists of rice and (either water or) stock that’s slowly simmered until the rice grains begin to break down. The result is a thick porridge that epitomizes Chinese comfort food at its very best. It’s perfect for a chilly autumn evening like tonight.

There are as many recipes and variations of congee as there might be hairs on a donkey’s tail. This version contains flounder that was marinated in a mixture of sesame oil, rice wine and soy sauce, along with some leftover roast chicken from last week’s chicken dinner.

The beauty of congee is that it can be a flavor vehicle for whatever toppings you happen to have on hand. These may include chopped deep-fried strips of dough, “hundred-year old” eggs, roasted peanuts, minced onion chives and nam yu (fermented tofu).

Chicken Dinner

Sometimes simple is best.

Roast chicken; sautéed peppers and green beans, Tuscan style; steamed rice and heirloom tomatoes

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One measure of a good cook is roast chicken. These days, I prefer Thomas Keller’s method for mon poulet rôti. It’s the essence of simplicity, a philosophy that underlies most of my cooking. Pat a chicken dry with paper towels, sprinkle with salt and pepper throughout (and in its cavity), truss with kitchen twine, then roast in a pre-heated oven at 450 F for one hour. The result: juicy, tender meat paired with stunningly crisp chicken skin. The skin alone is worth the price of admission. It’s delicious with a capital “D”.

I should mention that the chicken was bought at USGM this past weekend. Its provenance is from Flying Pigs Farm in Shushan, New York. The flavor blew me away. There’s simply no comparison to regular supermarket chicken. Score one for local food and sustainable farming.

The best part is a week’s worth of leftovers. Chicken sandwiches, chicken fried rice, chicken pot pie. Long after tonight’s dinner, the carcass gets reborn as the base for chicken stock, some of which will go towards congee, the rest for soup or whatever might strike my fancy. Very little gets wasted in Spamwise’s kitchen.

Mini-Blog Vacation

Hm, well no excuses this time. Been a bit busy playing World of Warcraft. But! There will be cooking and food and so forth this weekend. All pixels all the time makes Spamwise a dull hobbit. Or something.

In three weeks it will be the autumnal equinox. And none too soon. Even though we’ve had the summer that never was, I felt a slight nip in the air yesterday. I can’t wait; for me, it means the return of languid braises and long, slowly simmered soups and stews.

One thing I *have* been thinking of making lately: Zuni Cafe’s chicken and bread salad. Roast chicken, leftover day-old bread (either sourdough or a baguette, and a sharp, garlicky, lemony dressing. My mouth’s watering just typing this sentence. That *might* be a project this weekend.

Stay tuned.

Meatballs

Polpetti, served with angel hair pasta, summer vegetables and herbs

Outside of Italy, meatballs are most often served with spaghetti, but in Italy, they are presented quite differently. They make an excellent antipasto cooked in a tomato or wine sauce, or coated in bread crumbs and served plain. Here, I’ve poached them in chicken stock and paired them with angel hair pasta, summer squash and sugar snap peas. This is lovely, served either as a primi (or first course), or as an entrée.

Two 20 Minute Meals

The most common excuse I hear when people say they’re not into cooking is “I don’t want to slave for hours on end in the kitchen just to make something to eat”. That could be a legitimate excuse but the reality is that you can make something tasty in a fraction of that time and it doesn’t even have to be complicated, as these two dishes prove. I think the real reason why people make excuses when it comes to cooking is they either don’t want to expend any effort or they don’t know how to cook. And we wonder why fast food and obesity are the issues they are today.

Thin spaghetti with mustard greens, garlic, pine nuts and golden raisins — This is an adaptation of a dish at Contigo, a restaurant located in Noe Valley in San Francisco. The original uses fava greens instead of mustard greens and doesn’t contain pasta.

Saturation Point

We’ve been having so much rain lately, it’s starting to make me think I’m living in Seattle. Hmph.

Radishes — Serve these thinly sliced, with bread, butter and a little salt. Heaven in three bites. Also good roasted with some olive oil, chopped mint, salt and pepper.

Midsummer Bounty

Some pix from this morning at Union Square Greenmarket. Some of what you see in this post will appear in meals throughout this week’s menu.

Strawberries — Simple is best when it comes to in-season strawberries. I like them with cream and a bit of sugar, or with a touch of balsamic vinegar and a sprinkle of black pepper. Breakfast tip: try a bowl of fromage blanc with strawberries macerated in vanilla sugar and chopped mint.

Sucrine — Rooted in the French word for “sugar,” sucrine (sugar lettuce sounds better) is a smaller variety of romaine with soft, silky leaves, buttery texture, and, as the name suggests, a sweet-ish flavor. You can take the elongated core of the lettuce, peel it, and steam it — it is as delicate as asparagus and just as delicious.

Green garlic — Green garlic is young garlic which is harvested before the cloves have begun to mature. The resulting vegetable resembles a scallion, with a deep green stalk and a pale white bulb. It can often be found for sale at a farmers’ market in the spring, and can also be grown at home relatively easily. Many large grocery stores do not stock green garlic, although growing consumer demand may change this. It can also usually be special ordered through a greengrocer.

Squid and Strawberries

Like I said, caption titles are hard. There are days when I wonder, what am I going to call this post? I can only do so many things with ‘Dinner’ before it gets boring.

A while ago, Mark ooohed and aaaahed over a plate of potatoes, so I thought I’d do a mini-demo which, coincidentally enough, is in line with last night’s dinner.

I’ve found that perfect fried potatoes requires three things: the right type of potato, the right type and amount of cooking fat and high heat.

Some potatoes are more conducive to baking and mashing than roasting. These potatoes are high in starch and consequently have a dry, mealy texture. Idaho potatoes and Russet Burbanks fall into this category.

Some are ideal for roasting, soups and barbecuing, because they tend to hold their shape when cooked. These potatoes are relatively high in moisture and sugar, but low in starch. Red-skinned potatoes, Yellow Finns and Ruby Crescents fall into this category.

Some potatoes such as Yukon Golds, Bintjes and Purple Peruvians fall in the middle, “all-purpose” category. They are moister than baking potatoes and will hold together in boiling water. They are particularly well-suited to roasting, pan frying, and using in soups, stews, and gratins. They can be baked, mashed, and fried, but will not produce the same results as baking potatoes.

When you’re making fried potatoes, the fat of choice is butter. I prefer unsalted butter. This gives you a measure of control over the final dish. Using salted butter in place of unsalted means you have to adjust the amount of actual salt you add to the recipe. Since most recipes calling for butter also call for salt, this sounds like it would be a simple process, but without knowing just how much salt is factored into the salted butter, it’s difficult. If you do use salted butter, reduce 1/4 teaspoon salt for each 1/4 pound stick of salted butter used.

By the way, butter is good (as in fat carries flavor), so if you’re the kind of person who’s anti-fat and anti-salt, this blog won’t be for you.

This is about 4 medium Bintje potatoes that have been peeled and sliced about 1/4″ thick. I’m frying them in 2 T. unsalted butter over medium-high heat. After roughly 10 to 15 minutes, they should look like this:

Breakfast For Dinner 1

Plain omelette, spinach and radish greens sautéed in butter, roasted radishes with marjoram and mint, rye bread

When spinach and greens are briefly wilted in butter with a little garlic, they take on a magical quality. They literally melt in your mouth.

Gnocchi 3

When I started this blog three years ago, I didn’t know what I wanted to blog about.

I thought a combination of politics, poetry, LGBT, writing and food would be a good mix. I guess the food eventually won out. Somewhere along the way, food photography entered the picture. As time progressed, my photography skills improved [i.e., not as much flash photography, more use of natural light]. I’m still not satisfied with things on that end. For instance, when I’m eating out, I can’t take a picture in a low-light setting to save my life so I usually miss out on some great shots. I guess that’s a goal for the future.

I recognize that this here blog thingy isn’t well known. Very likely that’s because I haven’t networked as much compared to some folks on my blogroll. And I still have to get over my fear of Facebook.

So you can imagine my surprise when Kaela of Local Kitchen gave me a One Lovely Blog award. That’s the first time I’ve ever won a blog award of sorts. The 10 blog thing might take some thought so I’m afraid I’m going to have to sit on that for a bit while I sort things out.

In the meantime, here’s some [food] eye candy:

Sheep’s milk ricotta gnocchi with chanterelle mushrooms, zucchini and nasturtium flowers

The gnocchi from two weeks ago was such a hit that I think it’s earned a permanent place in my repertoire. There’s a lightness and a subtlety that comes from the ricotta. Potato-based gnocchi [while good in its own right when made well] just doesn’t compare.

If you can’t find chanterelles, use regular supermarket button mushrooms.

If you live in New York City, nasturtium flowers can be found at Union Square Greenmarket on Saturdays. Fresh chives are a good substitute.

unsalted butter
chanterelles, sliced
1 clove garlic, sliced thinly
1/2 large zucchini, sliced into matchsticks
kosher salt, to taste
freshly milled black pepper, to taste
fresh thyme, chopped
4 or 5 nasturtium petals, chopped

Ideally you’ll want the ingredients prepped ahead of time. As the gnocchi cooks, make the sauce.

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add garlic and briefly sauté, about one minute. Add zucchini and sauté until zucchini is partially softened, about two to three minutes. Add mushrooms and a scant pinch of kosher salt. Cook, stirring occasionally or until chanterelles are browned, about an additional two to three minutes. Remove from heat.

I like to add another pat of butter at this point for additional richness but the sauce is good as is.

Check seasoning. Lift gnocchi with a slotted spoon and place in individual serving plates or bowls. Spoon sauce over gnocchi. Scatter with nasturtium petals and thyme, and serve immediately.