I first learned to cook when I lived at Lothlorien, a vegetarian co-op at UC Berkeley, my sophomore year. One night a week me and two other "elfs" would cook dinner for the lot. Back then I followed recipes and learned as I went along, cooking vegetarian and vegan meals for 60+ co-op residents. It was a crash course in cooking. And I really enjoyed it. Of course, the first meal I ever cooked at Loth included Gazpacho and the recipe called for seeding about 30 jalapeno peppers. I had never handled a jalapeno before and had no idea the pain that was to befall me. Wow. After about 20 minutes of seeding the jalapenos with just my fingers, they were burning so badly that I actually had to stop cooking and get first aid! I literally BURNED my fingertips. It hurt A LOT! My fingers were ON FIRE!!! And it took hours for the pain to go away. But I sure never made that same mistake again!
Anyway, I digress..
from Vegetables Every Day by Jack Bishop
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1/2 cup chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 1/4 peanut oil
1 pound broccoli florets, rinsed, patted dry, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
Toast the sesame seeds by first heating a small, stick-free sauté pan on medium heat. Add the sesame seeds and jiggle the pan so they spread out in a single layer. Let them cook until lightly browned, stirring occasionally, about 3-5 minutes. Do not walk away from them while cooking, as once they start to brown they can easily burn. Once lightly toasted remove from heat and put into a small bowl, set aside.
Mix the stock, soy sauce, and toasted sesame oil together in a small bowl, set aside.
Heat 1 tablespoon of peanut oil in a large, covered sauté pan on medium high heat. Add the broccoli florets, stir to coat the florets with the oil, Sauté for about a minute. Clear a space in the middle of the broccoli and add the ginger and garlic. Add a little more oil to the ginger and garlic (about a teaspoon) and sauté for half a minute, stirring just the garlic and ginger, until fragrant. Then stir the garlic and ginger in with the broccoli.
Add the chicken (or vegetable) stock mixture to the pan. Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat and cover. Let cook for 2-3 minutes, until broccoli is still firm, but can be pierced with a fork. Remove from heat. Remove broccoli with a slotted spoon to a bowl. Return pan to heat, increase heat to high and boil down the liquid until just a couple tablespoons remain. Turn off heat, return broccoli to the pan, add the toasted sesame seeds, toss with the liquid. Put into a serving bowl.
Every week at Loth we'd get gorgeous boxes of organic produce and we could use anything we wanted to cook for ourselves. Around the same time I bought Mollie Katzen's The Enchanted Broccoli Forest and starting regularly making vegetable stir fry with her delicious sauce that had things like tamari, ginger, fresh orange juice, garlic, etc. YUM! I would cook plate after plate. Eventually I stopped following the recipe and made it my own with a few adjustments (like leaving out the cornstarch for example).
This decidedly Asian dish was the first one in my repertoire.
And yet, I can't remember the last time I cooked with Asian flavors! So I decided to go back to my roots last week, inspired by our purchase of "Just Chicken-Teriyaki" from Trader Joes. As you recall from the last post, my goal now is EASY and HEALTHY. And I've been leaning towards simple protein preparation and more complex vegetable sides. Though I hate to call the veggies "sides", as I like to think of the vegetable portion of the meal as the star with the protein as the supporting player. In terms of the food pyramid, that's how you should always think of your meals - at least in terms or proportions.
So I had this "Just Chicken-Teriyaki"which was sliced cooked breast meat with subtle teriyaki flavoring. I added lime lime juice and heated it in a pan, making sure not really dry it out - I was merely reheating and adding moisture and additional flavor. I am a firm believer in adding acid to your dishes to brighten and enhance. I like to always have lemons, limes and oranges handy. They work wonders and with very little effort!
To serve along with the chicken, I once again turned to Vegetables Every Day by Jack Bishop for inspiration - Sesame Broccoli. I've included the recipe below.
I used canola oil in place of peanut oil and used just a smidge less oil than the recipe called for, all in the name of lowering calories. But it really doesn't have that much oil in it and it makes a big ole pile of yummy broccoli!
Sesame Broccoli
from Vegetables Every Day by Jack Bishop
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1/2 cup chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 1/4 peanut oil
1 pound broccoli florets, rinsed, patted dry, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
Toast the sesame seeds by first heating a small, stick-free sauté pan on medium heat. Add the sesame seeds and jiggle the pan so they spread out in a single layer. Let them cook until lightly browned, stirring occasionally, about 3-5 minutes. Do not walk away from them while cooking, as once they start to brown they can easily burn. Once lightly toasted remove from heat and put into a small bowl, set aside.
Mix the stock, soy sauce, and toasted sesame oil together in a small bowl, set aside.
Heat 1 tablespoon of peanut oil in a large, covered sauté pan on medium high heat. Add the broccoli florets, stir to coat the florets with the oil, Sauté for about a minute. Clear a space in the middle of the broccoli and add the ginger and garlic. Add a little more oil to the ginger and garlic (about a teaspoon) and sauté for half a minute, stirring just the garlic and ginger, until fragrant. Then stir the garlic and ginger in with the broccoli.
Add the chicken (or vegetable) stock mixture to the pan. Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat and cover. Let cook for 2-3 minutes, until broccoli is still firm, but can be pierced with a fork. Remove from heat. Remove broccoli with a slotted spoon to a bowl. Return pan to heat, increase heat to high and boil down the liquid until just a couple tablespoons remain. Turn off heat, return broccoli to the pan, add the toasted sesame seeds, toss with the liquid. Put into a serving bowl.
No comments:
Post a Comment