Better Late Than Never, and More On That Pancake

Christmas morning dawned at our house with a pile of presents, eggnog lattes, and total computer meltdown. My poor sister-in-law sat down at the desk to Google something; moments later she was heard to exclaim, “Should the computer be making that sound?” as an ominous warning tone sounded the death knell of our motherboard.

At first, I thought that Santa was playing a trick on me – had I been too naughty this year? Then I suspected my dear husband, who has been wishing for a new computer lo these many months. Finally I chalked it up to bad luck, and the short but happy half-lives of motherboards.

What this has to do with you, dear readers, is that it’s taken us several weeks to recover from the rebuild. (You don’t realize just how many programs you run on a daily basis until you have to reinstall ALL of them). Fortunately, no data were lost; some files just went missing for a while. Like the pictures I took of our Vigila feast. (And upon review, I realize once again that I am a lousy food photographer. Trust me, this all tasted better than it looks). So here you go:

First course, mushrooms stuffed with a mixture of crabmeat, goat cheese, and some panko (Japanese breadcrumbs).

Second course, crabcakes on a bed of baby greens dressed with a Balsamic vinaigrette.

Third course, Korean seafood pancake.

And that’s where the photos end, possibly because I’d had too much wine and couldn’t find the camera, but more likely because, as I mentioned in a previous comment, we got full. I made two of the pancakes and, unbeknownst to me, the Men of the Family had stopped off at a local watering hole for a game of pool and Hearty Appetizers while my sis-in-law and I were out for a nice sushi luncheon. So after we ate up the pierogies, I went ahead and made the seafood stew but we didn’t actually eat it until lunchtime the next day.

After all that food, even the dog was too full for seafood stew.

But more on That Pancake. Oh, how we love the pancake! I’ve made it four or five more times since Christmas Eve – we just can’t get enough of it. I’ve had it at restaurants, and it was good, but it tastes even better when it’s hot right out of the skillet. So get thee to an H-Mart, pick up some mix and try it for yourself. (Of course, you don’t need to buy Korean pancake mix. There are plenty of recipes out there on the ‘net that you can try instead).

Even though most recipes don’t direct you to cook the veggies and/or seafood first, I’m still to chicken to try it that way. So I use cooked, frozen shrimps and whatnot (thaw and drain them well) and saute the veggies until soft. When I have fresh seafood I saute it first, then take it out of the pan before cooking the veggies so the seafood won’t overcook.

I posted a quick version of this before, but because you know I love to be wordy, I’m gonna post it again! With even more instructions!!

Korean Seafood pancake (makes 12” pancake, serves 2 for dinner or 4-8 as an appetizer)

1 egg
¾ cup water
1 cup Korean panckae mix
2-3 tablespoons of oil
1 generous cup of miscellaneous cooked seafood, left whole or cut into bite-sized pieces: shrimp, scallops, shelled clams or mussels, langoustines, fish, calamari, etc.
1-2 tablespoons finely chopped onion or shallot
About 1/3 cup of carrot and/or bell peppers (any color), sliced into thin strips about 3” long
About 1/3 cup of sliced scallions
About 1 cup of finely sliced Napa or regular cabbage, or red cabbage, optional
¼ to ½ cup garlic chives, cut into 1” sections, optional
1 clove of garlic minced (skip it if you are using garlic chives)

Since I’m usually making more than one pancake, I like to have all the veggies arranged in little piles on a large plate. I combine the seafood in a small bowl and mix it all together. Call it the lazy cook’s mise en place.

Place the egg and water in a medium bowl and whisk to combine. Add the pancake mix and stir well until the batter is smooth. Get out a large cookie sheet that has one side without a raised edge that you can use to flip the pancake (you can also use the backside of a sheet that has a raised rim all around, or a pizza pan).

Heat a nonstick, 12” skillet over medium high-heat. Add the oil and onion, carrots and peppers; saute for a few minutes until the vegetables begin to soften. Add the scallions and optional cabbage and chives, and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage wilts. Stir in the garlic and seafood and distribute the ingredients evenly around the pan.

Use a rubber spatula to scrape the pancake batter out of the bowl and into the pan, covering the ingredients completely. If your spatula is also heat-proof, use it to gently wiggle the ingredients a bit so that the batter gets under everything.

Reduce the heat to medium and wait. Let the pancake cook until the top is no longer shiny and “wet” in appearance, about 10 minutes. Shake the pan gently and make sure that the pancake slides about freely; if it doesn’t, lift up the edges gently with a spatula and drizzle a little more oil underneath, then let it cook for a couple more minutes.

Put on a pair of oven mitts and get the cookie sheet ready. (If you have a gas stove, either turn off the flame or do the flipping over the table). Slide the pancake out onto the cookies sheet, then turn the skillet upside-down over the pancake. Put your oven-mitted hand in the middle of the skillet, your other oven-mitted hand on the cookie sheet, press your hands together and flip the whole thing over. Take the cookies sheet off the top and hope for the best. (If the pancake has ripped, push it back into place with a spatula).

Return the skillet to the stove and cook a few more minutes over medium heat. Slide it out onto a large serving platter or cutting board, cut into wedges and serve with your favorite dipping sauce.

Kapusta, Baby!

I know, I know – I’ve been promising to post this recipe for, like, ever. When I made it for Christmas this year, I finally remembered to make some notes as I went along, although I apparently got distracted halfway through and didn’t write down the entire process. Nonetheless I will attempt now to recount it for you in great detail.

This method is based on what I observed my father-in-law doing on one Vigilia years ago, with a few tweaks stolen from other cultures’ cuisines. (Frying the caraway seeds in oil is straight out of Indian cooking). The exact amount of ingredients is not critical, but I generally aim to use roughly equal proportions of cooked cabbage and saurkraut to keep the sourness in balance. From what I can remember, a 2-lb cabbage cooks down to about 5-6 cups.

It’s a little time consuming but doesn’t require a lot of attention. You can make the kapusta one day, bake it with the kielbasa the next, and serve it on the third day.

I usually prepare this as a component for a main course (baked kielbasa and kapusta), but you can serve it on its own as a side dish. Of course, if you do bake it with the sausage, it begins to resemble choucroute garnie, and if you add another four or five types of meat, presto! you’ve just made bigos (Polish hunter’s stew). So this kapusta is a versatile thing.


Bernie’s Kapusta and (Optional) Mushrooms

Ingredients:
1 to 4 tablespoons fat (ideally, rendered bacon fat or lard, but schmaltz or olive oil will do)
Up to 1 tablespoon caraway seeds
1 pinch of cumin seed, optional
1-2 big onions, cut in half and sliced from top to bottom
A fresh green cabbage, cut into 2” wide wedges then sliced crosswise into 1/3” strips
about 1/2 cup dry Vermouth or dry white wine
Saurkraut, ideally homemade, or at least fermented (look for the stuff in the plastic bags), or in jars from the Polish market
Optionsl: 1-2 oz dried mushrooms soaked in hot water until soft (Polish ones are ideal but porcinis will do)

1. Heat the fat or oil in a very large pot. Add the caraway and optional cumin seeds and cook, stirring, until the seeds start to “pop” in the hot oil.

2. Add the onions and stir. Lower the heat and cook until the onions are soft, about 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Here’s a picture of the seed-onion mixture, just after adding the onions, to give you an idea of the relative seed-to-onion ratio that you’re aiming for:


3. When the onions are soft, add the cabbage and stir well. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage is completely wilted and soft. This may take a while, 30-45 minutes. If the cabbage gives off a great deal of liquid you can take the cover off of the pot and raise the heat a bit until the extra liquid boils away.

4. Now it’s time to add the saurkraut. Drain it (I don’t bother with rinsing) and add it to the cooked cabbage/onion mixture in an approximately equal volume. Add the vermouth, too. Stir well, cover the pot and simmer for a few more minutes until everything is well heated. There should be a bit of liquid in the pot – it shouldn’t be soupy, but not completely dry either.

5. If you’re serving this as a side dish, it’s time to eat. You can make it a day or two ahead of time and reheat – it’s just as tasty. But if you’re planning to make baked kielbasa and kapusta, read on…


I’ve made this five or six times and I’ve finally learned to use a LOT more sausage than I think I should. People love kielbasa…so buy an extra pound and find a way to fit it into the pan.

Bernie’s Kielbasa and Kapusta

Ingredients;
At least 2 lbs of smoked kielbasa (Bernie uses Hillshire Farms. If you want to go lower-fat, try Hillshire Farms low-fat or Trader Joe’s Turkey Kielbasa)
A vat of kapusta

1. Transfer the kapusta to a large covered baking dish or pan. When I make a really big batch, I use my roasting pan.

2. Cut the kielbasa into sections. If you are making this for a party, cut the sausages into 3” lengths and slice them lengthwise, for ease of serving. If you are cooking for the family you can leave the sausages intact for single-sausage servings.

3. Arrange the kielbasa on over the kapusta, nestling the sausage into the cabbage as needed to make it all fit into the pan.

4. Cover the pan with the lid, or with some foil, and bake at 350 F for 45 mintues or so, until the kapusta is bubbling hot and there are little browned bits around the edges of the pan.

Don't Check that Email While Cooking!

In my last post, I mentioned that the pork chops were accompanied by braised red cabbage. What I didn't tell you was that I burned the cabbage. I mean really burned the cabbage.

Those of you who watch Neighborhood Dish might have noticed that I always set a timer. Why? Because I'm easily distracted. I often interrupt one thing to do another. For instance, since Starting this, I've already answered 3 emails, taken a shower, and done the lunch dishes. I chalk it up to preferring Intuition the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (Registered Trademark).

And I did set a timer for the cabbage before checking my email in another room. Really, I did. However, there's something addictive or compulsive about email, and the computer in general. I heard the timer going off. But "Let me just finish this sentence" turned into "Let me just finish this message" to "Let me just see what this person is emailing about." And before I knew it, there was a nice crust -- about 1/4-inch thick -- of burnt red cabbage on the bottom of my nice braising pan! There was enough to salvage on top, which was tasty, although my dinner guest said, "Did you burn the cabbage or something?" It took me two days of soaking and boiling some water in the pan to finallly get it clean.

So, if you're anything like me, the moral of the story is: Never check your email while cooking!

Pork Chops a la Ex

We get something out of every romantic relationship: I got a love of The Who from my college boyfriend, Keith, an introduction to Jazz from Donovan, and a better understanding of Texans from Kevin.

I've always avoided buying and cooking pork chops. They always seem to come out dry and tasteless when I make them. But I received some pork loin chops in my recent meat CSA haul and thought I'd give them a try (well, I didn't have much choice!). But not without the help of an ex-boyfriend.

Ricky, like most Italians, is obsessed with food. He drove me crazy asking me first thing in the morning what I wanted to have for dinner. And like many people obsessed with food, he's an excellent cook. He often served up some wonderful dishes, such as his Lobster Fra Diavolo or Liguine with Clam Sauce (which unfortunately taught me that I can't digest clams). A dish I particularly enjoyed was his pork chops with vinegar and cherry peppers. So I gave him a call (we're still on speaking terms) and asked for the recipe:

Ricky Chiozzi's Pork Chops with Vinegar and Cherry Peppers

Ingredients

Olive oil

3-4 vinegar peppers (You can find them jarred in the Italian food section of your local supermarket. I used Pastene.)

3-4 cherry peppers (see note above)

1 clove garlic

2 pork chops

Flour

Procedure

Coat a fry pan with just enough oil to cover. Chop the garlic and the peppers with just the liquid that comes along when you spear them out of the jar. (They will give off more juices in the pan.) Saute the garlic for a minute or two on medium heat, until it starts to color. Add the peppers and saute for another minute or two. In the meantime, flour the pork chops on both sides. Fry the pork chops in the pan with the oil, garlic and peppers on medium to medium-high heat so that a nice crust forms on both sides. (Not moving the pork in the pan helps this, too.) Remove the pork chops from the pan and keep them warm. Add enough water to the pan to deglaze it by scraping the bits on the pan with a wooden spoon. Pour the resulting sauce over the pork chops and enjoy!

Results

It was every bit as delicious and tender as I remembered. I love taking up a pepper with a bite of pork. I wish I'd thought to used the grooved side (groovy side?) of my new bamboo cutting board when cutting the peppers to collect the juice. The proportion of cherry peppers to vinegar peppers and their amounts are my own. Experiment according to your own taste. I served this with two recipes I got from the Back to Basics cooking class I took at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts last spring: Braised Red Cabbage and Quinoa (a word I always mispronounce "kwi-no-a" instead of "keen-wah") with Carmelized Onions and Sauteed Mushrooms.

Now I can't wait to get more pork chops at my next CSA pick up!

The Holiday Menus, or Holy Crap It's Almost Vigilia

I, like many people I know, am way behind in holiday preparations. I've had vague ideas floating around in my brain about what to serve for Vigila and Christmas dinners, but it wasn't until last night that I sat down to actually think out the menus. (OK, for those of you who are lifelong procrastinators, this may not seem remarkable. But I am a woman who writes out timetables for Thanksgiving dinner and weighs biscotti dough. I am, or at least I used to be, All About Planning. See what having kids does to you?)

Despite my tendency to over-organize prior to an event, I'm not so good at keeping notes on how it all went afterward. Here's where the blogging thing becomes a major bonus: I can check my posts to see what I made for Vigilia (Christmas Eve) last year, and how it came out. (Note to self: don't serve kapusta with cod again).

This year we're going ever farther away from the traditionally meatless Vigilia feast. We'll still be meatless, but I'll be adding two Korean recipes as well: a seafood pancake and a seafood stew. My friend Marta won't be joining us this time; instead, my sister-in-law's family will be with us for the holiday duration. This will be their first Vigilia away from home - my hubby's family usually congregates at my parents-in-law's. We're thrilled that Sis et al. will be making the journey. To keep our nephews happy (I'm not sure how receptive they'll be to Korean seafood stew!) I've kept crabcakes, pierogies (potato-cheese as well as saurkraut-mushroom), and stuffed mushrooms on the menu.

Last night, it occurred to me that (1) although I have eaten several, I have never actually MADE a Korean-style pancake and (2) it might be a good idea to do a trial run before Christmas Eve. So I got out my trusty bag of pancake mix that I purchased at the recently-opened H Mart in Burlington. The instructions couldn't have been simpler: combine pancake mix and water, add seafood, cook. Except that I couldn't stop there and just had to search online for Korean pancake recipes...all of which contained an egg or two. I checked my bag of mix: no egg in the ingredients, no egg in the instructions. Moreover, both the online mix bag instructions directed me to add uncooked veggies and seafood to batter. I was unconvinced that the fillings would cook sufficiently in the time it took to brown the pancake. What to do?

I decided to wing it, of course. One cup pancake mix, one egg, and 3/4 cup water. Veggies (red bell pepper strips, sliced garlic, shredded Napa cabbage, and sliced scallions) and seafood (just shrimp in this trial run) were sauteed until limp/cooked, and then the whole batch of pancake batter was spread on top. Cooked in the skillet until golden, then slid onto a plate and flipped back into the skillet for more golden goodness on the flip side. And it was....yummy. So yummy that I was tempted to make another one tonight. I'm glad I went for it with adding the egg to the batter.

And for Christmas dinner? Very straightforward, just kielbasa and kapusta. With rye bread and creamy horseradish. And some hot mustard. And more pierogies. And...oh, you'll just have to wait and find out what we finally ended up with. It's three days away - I haven't planned my menu yet.

Lo Mein of Lamb & Leftovers

Some days, things just don't go as planned.

I've been trying hard to cook with what I need to use, vs. what I feel like eating - a necessary skill when you've invested in both meat and veggie CSAs. A quick survey of the fridge last night told me that tonight's supper would be something along the lines of braised tofu with cabbage (and no, it was not CSA tofu).

Then this morning I arose with, ugh, a sore throat and sniffles. (It is not, I believe, the Dreaded Flu). I was also dismayed to discover that I'd used up the last of my Korean ginger-honey tea concentrate - nothing whacks a sore throat upside the head like a good dose of ginger. So in I went to our local Hong Kong Market (formerly Super 88) in search of more tea, but instead walked out with some fresh shitake mushrooms and a nice bunch of garlic chives. (They were out of the tea).

(An aside: for years, I avoided fresh shitakes. I was introduced to the dried version by a Chinese-American friend who told me to never buy the fresh ones because they have little flavor. I stuck by that for years, until I discovered bibimbap and learned that yes, Virginia, fresh shitakes do have a place on the plate).

Why did I buy the 'shrooms and chives? It's not like I *needed* them; the fridge is already too full. We are still finishing up the Thanksgiving feast, although that (thankfully) is at last down to the final bits of turkey & wild rice soup. I really think I must have some kind of grocery shopping compulsion...at any rate, I knew I was gonna have to face the music when I put the new booty away. As I opened the fridge, the produce stared me down, as if, how could you? There's two-week-old kale in here!

Which brings me to the recipe/method for this post: lo mein. It, along with fried rice, enchiladas and curry of miscellaneous vegetables is one of my standard, clean-out-the-fridge tricks. Because yes, in addition to veggies I didn't need, I bought noodles I didn't need. A friend got me onto using thick, chewy udon noodles for lo mein (which maybe means that I shouldn't be calling it lo mein, if I use a different noodle? I am no expert, for sure, in the nomenclature of noodle dishes). You can find ones that are pre-cooked, which saves a step at dinner time and a dirty pot at cleanup time.

The basic method is to chop up some garlic and onions, whatever veggies you have on hand, and whatever leftover meat you have (or use tofu, or just skip it). Stir-fry the veggies in a little peanut oil or sesame oil, adding the longer-cooking veg to the skillet or wok first. When all the veggies are cooked, dump them into a bowl. Add a little more oil to the pan, add the garlic and cook for a few seconds, then add the meat/tofu/nothing. When the meat is heated through, add that to the bowl. If you are feeling highly motivated, scramble an egg in the pan, turn it out on a plate and chop it with a knife. Finally, add a little more oil to the pan, add the noodles and some seasoning (soy sauce, fish sauce, rice wine vinegar, black vinegar, brown bean sauce, all of the above) and a little water and cook to soften the noodles. Dump the cooked veggies, meat, and egg on top of the noodles and use a big spatula or chan to turn everything over and combine. Taste for seasoning and add some chopped green onion, cilantro, or basil as a garnish.

What was different about tonights lo mein was the leftovers I had to work with: the two-week-old purple kale (which looked surprisingly fresh. Must be something about buying direct from the farmer there!) and a mostly-consumed small leg of lamb. I don't think I've ever seen lamb and kale together, but what do I know, anyway? And then it occurred to me, lamb goes well with garlic, so why not garlic chives? I decided to go for it. Then while I was cooking, the words "hoisin-glazed lamb" surfaced from somewhere deep in the back of my head.

The final result was (surprisingly) tasty, and quite pretty. The purple kale turned almost black when cooked, making a nice contrast with the thick white noodles, the green chives and some red bell pepper (that also needed to be used up). Unfortunately, I don't have a photo to show you because I forgot to take a pic before dinner, and then - we ate it all up.

Of course, I'm still left with the cabbage and tofu, which means that's got to be on the menu for tomorrow night...with mushrooms.


Lo Mein with Leftover Lamb

peanut and sesame oil
1 small red onion (or 1/2 large), sliced
about 1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced
6-8 fresh shitake mushrooms, stems removed, caps sliced
1/2 small bunch purple kale (or other greens), washed well and chopped
about 1 cup diced cooked lamb
about 1/2 cup garlic chives, washed and cut into 1" lengths
1 pound fresh udon or other noodles, cooked 9and drained, if you can't find the precooked variety)
1-2 tablespoons each of soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and ice wine vinegar or black vinegar

Heat a wok or large frypan over high heat. Add a little peanut oil (~1 tablespoon) and the onion and stir-fry for a few minutes, then add the bell pepper. Stir-fry until the onion and pepper are beginning to soften, then add the mushrooms. Stir-fry for a few more minutes, then add the kale and a little water to the pan. Let the veggies simmer, turning occasionally and adding a little more water as needed until the kale is just tender, about 5 minutes (longer if you have tougher or older greens).

Add the lamb and cook for a minute or two, then place the noodles in the pan and pour the soy sauce, hoisin sauce and vinegar on top. Turn down the heat to medium and use a pair of tongs or a wooden spoon to gently nudge the noodles apart. Turn everything over to mix gently, adding the garlic chives. Add a little more water if the pan seems dry or you want a thinner sauce. Taste and correct seasonings (the sauce will be sweet from the hoisin). Eat.

Make 2-4 servings, depending on how hungry you are and if you are making other dishes.


Notes:
(1) You can, of course, use dried shitakes for this. Save the water that you soak them in (strain it through a coffee filter set in a funnel or sieve) and add it to the wok when you cook the kale. (2) If you can't find garlic chives, or don't want the angst of trying to use up the leftovers, substitute a couple cloves of garlic, finely chopped, and some green onions/scallions cut into 1" sections. Add the garlic to the pan with the meat and the green onions with the soy sauce.

Good Soup Recipe

We just began the extended season of our CSA this week, and received a beautiful bunch of kale. Back in the Spring, I started to run out of ideas of what to do with it, as we had several weeks of kale in a row. Then I remembered about the Portugese kale and linguica soup. A search on the Food Network website's Recipe tab turned up some Spanish recipes with chorizo. I made Bobby Flay's recipe yesterday (click blog title to link to recipe) and it was delicious and comforting -- a keeper. I had a dinner guest who is not fond of beans, so I substituted diced sweet potato, also from the CSA. There is also a recipe for tomato-garlic toast, but I just sprayed slices of ciabatta on both sides, toasted them and then rubbed them with cut garlic (that is, I made crostini). The recipe is time consuming, but you could probably just use jarred sun dried tomatoes as a shortcut. If I did this right, you should be able to link right to the recipe by clicking the title of this blog post. Now I just need to figure out what I'm going to do with the rutabagas and parsnips!