Bulgogi Lettuce Wraps

Over the years I have gotten more discerning about my cookbook purchases.  I've purged old cookbooks and resisted buying ones that I was unsure that I would ever cook from.  In fact, I had decided I had enough cookbooks and could get by with the good, old internet.  Then I came across Ruth Reichl's newest cookbook/memoir, My Kitchen Year.  It was listed on several best books of 2015, so on a whim, I used my Barnes and Noble gift card to buy the book.  I figured if nothing else, it would be a good read, having enjoyed Reichl's other memoirs a great deal.

It has quickly become a trusted and true source.  I've made four or five recipes from it already and have been thrilled with all but one of them, which is pretty good success rate.  She has a mixture of vegetarian and meat based, international flavors and totally US fare.  There is equal number complicated with fancy ingredients as simple mostly pantry ingredients.   It was totally worth the buy, from both a literary (the memoir is about the year after Gourmet ceased to exist) and a cooking standpoint.

Thursdays are our current crazy days--three kids in three different directions over the same time frame.  From when Isaac leaves at 5:10 for gymnastics to 7:15 when Madeleine returns from piano, we are all over the place.  It makes a meal difficult when I arrive home from school at 4:15.  I've deemed Thursdays leftover or sandwich night.  Until this recipe came along.  I had the meal ready in less than hour and it was equally good reheated at 7:15 when kids were eating a second supper as the first time around.  Plus, it felt so special.

I found a kimchi I loved at Whole Foods.  I am sure it's not terribly authentic, but both Curtis and I love it (I love it so much I put it directly onto rice and just eat kimchi and rice).  I am thrilled to find a brand I like.  Kimchi is a fermented, spicy Korean side/condiment.  When it is made correctly, it contains lots of helpful fermented bacteria that makes for a healthier gut (like in yogurt, sauerkraut, probiotics).  The brand I found is WildBrine.  Kimchi quickly has found itself a permanent home in my fridge.

This serves 5-6.

Bulgogi Lettuce Wraps
from My Kitchen Year by Ruth Reichl

6 T soy sauce
1 1/2 T sesame oil
3 t sugar
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch fresh ginger, grated
1 bunch scallions, minced
1 1/2 lbs skirt or hanger steak, partially frozen and sliced thinly across the grain

1 head Boston lettuce
cooked white rice
kimchi
chili garlic sauce or Sriracha
toasted sesame seeds
sliced scallions
slice onions

Combine the soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, garlic, ginger, and scallions.  Stir in the sliced steak and marinade 15 minutes to an hour (I did just 15 minutes because I was pressed for time).

Heat a wok with a bit of oil.  Drain the steak and add just the steak to the wok (discard the marinade).  Sear the meat for 3-4 minutes or until it is cooked.

To serve, take a lettuce leaf and gently lay some cooked with meat in the middle.  Top with kimchi, Sriracha, toasted sesame seeds, scallions, or sliced onions (pretty much anything you want).  Wrap the lettuce around it (John calls it tacos), and eat with your fingers if the lettuce leaf holds together.  Serve with a side of rice.  Of course, you can do as my kids did and put a little rice directly into the lettuce leaf as well.  The leaf probably won't hold together to use your fingers with it, but it's just as tasty if you eat it with a fork and knife.

Ginger Scallion Fried Rice

I am branching out from my weekend of exceptional eating to pull in a recipe from earlier in the week.  This one will also be repeating itself frequently in menu rotation.

I remember eating a dish growing up called Vietnamese Fried Rice.  It was made using leftover rice, peas, and pretty much whatever else my mom could find in the fridge.  I had mixed feelings about it.  I think I once loved it, but as I got older, I appreciated it less.  I have never made that recipe myself, despite knowing exactly what cookbook it is in and what side of the page it is on.

Then I stumbled across this recipe.  The pictures promised me amazing things.  If I ate this recipe, it would invoke the setting and feelings represented in this magnificent picture.  Well, unfortunately I was not transported to snowy Yellowstone National Park Lodge in the middle of winter.  However, I did find a new recipe that I love.  It was a hit with everyone in the family and slight step up from the fried rice of my youth.

This is a good recipe to have everything mise en place (also known as prepped and ready to go before you start cooking).

Serves 4 - 5

Ginger Scallion Fried Rice
adapted from The Year in Food

4 T sesame oil
6 scallions, sliced, white and dark green parts kept separate
1 medium carrot, julienned or cut into matchsticks
1/2 c shelled, frozen edamame
3 T minced ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 oz mushrooms, shiitakes are preferable, but white button mushrooms will do
2 medium eggs, beaten
3 c cold, cooked brown rice (white will do if you have no brown)
5 T tamari or soy sauce
1 c cooked, shredded chicken or tofu

Heat a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the 1 T of sesame oil.  Toss the white parts of the scallions and stir for about a minute.  Add the carrots, edamame, ginger and garlic and stir to combine.  Saute, stirring occasionally, for five minutes.  Remove from heat and set aside.

In the same pan, add another T of oil.  Add the mushrooms and saute until soft, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.  Remove and add to carrot/edamame mixture.  Increase the heat slightly, add another T of sesame oil and add the beaten eggs.  Cook as if you were making scrambled eggs.  When just cooked/scrambled, remove and add to carrot/edamame/mushroom mixture.  Add remaining 2 T of sesame oil and the cooked rice.  Spread rice evenly throughout pan and cook, stirring a little.  Sprinkle some black pepper over top.  After about five minutes (if rice seems to be sticking a lot to the pan, you can add some canola oil to the pan), add the tamari or soy sauce.  Stir to combine.  Add the bowl of cooked veggies and eggs and cooked chicken/tofu.  Saute, stirring frequently, until hot, about 5 minutes.  Remove from heat, sprinkle with dark green parts of scallions and serve.

Gomoku Soba

When it is hot, I crave Mediterranean dishes---ones heavy on fresh tomatoes and eggplant. Dishes that started with olive oil and garlic. As the weather cools, I find myself moving halfway across the world. Noodles still come into play, but noodles known by udon, soba, and rice sticks. Asian foods emerge as the temperatures drop. Stir fries loaded with broccoli and carrots and hot, rich soups with noodles, cabbage, and scallions floating in them.

Part of my journey to Asian food this fall was the arrival of this in our CSA box. This is a Napa or Chinese Cabbage. As usual, I consulted my go to international cookbook, Sundays at Moosewood. This very rarely lets me down when it comes to the non-typical vegetables that show up in our box.
This recipe takes a couple of non-typical ingredients. The first is kombu. Kombu is a flat, green, dried seaweed. I find it in a blue bag at Central Market (I am sure Whole Foods and an Asian market would have it, too). It looks a little expensive, but you only use a little of it at a time. The other non-typical ingredient is dried shitake mushrooms. I buy these in bulk at Central Market as well (again, I suspect Whole Foods or an Asian market would have these too). The price on the container kinda freaked me out (it's like over $60 per pound). However, the mushrooms for this recipe cost $1.60, not too bad.

Unfortunately, my children love this. That makes me sad, less for me. I made the broths ahead of time and then would cut the vegetables and cook the noodles for individual servings.

This recipe serves 4.

Gomoku Soba
or Noodles and Vegetables in a Flavorful Broth
from Sundays at Moosewood

1/2 oz dried konbu (I just estimated)
8 c water
8 dried shitake mushrooms
2 c hot water
5 T soy sauce
1/2 c sake or mirin
1/2 c lg carrot, sliced into thin rounds
8 scallions, cut into 2 1/2" lengths
2 c sliced Chinese cabbage, 1/2" thick
1/2 lb soba noodles

4 hard boiled eggs, peeled and halved (optional, I skipped this)
chopped scallions (optional)

Bring the kombu and 8 c of water to a boil. Turn the heat down, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the kombu (pour through a strainer if you need to). This broth is called kombu dashi. While the kombu simmers, soak the shitake in 2 c of boiling water for 20 - 30 minutes. Remove the shitake mushrooms, reserving the liquid. This broth is called shitake dashi. Trim off and discard the stems of the shitake. Thinly slice the caps into strips. Combine 1 1/2 c of the shitake dashi (this should be all or nearly all of it) and 3 1/2 c of the kombu dashi (save the leftover kombu dashi for another batch of soup. It will last 4 - 5 days). Add soy sauce, sake, and sliced shitake. Simmer.

One at a time, cook each vegetable in the broth (I typically put the vegetables on a slotted spoon and dip into the broth. This makes it easier to fish out the blanched vegetables). Cook until each is just barely cooked. I cook carrots first, then scallions, than the cabbage. Remove the cook vegetables from the stock and set aside. As the take turns cooking, cook the soba in a separate pot of bowling water, according to pkg directions (about 3 minutes). Drain. Divide the soba between the individual bowls (one for each person eating). Arrange on top of the soba the vegetables and two halves of the hard boiled eggs. Pour the very hot broth over top. Garnish with chopped scallions, if desired.

Twice-Fried Green Beans and Cashews

Just for the record, vegetarian food isn't always healthier. Granted this meal would have been even unhealthier if I had used meat, but even without the meat, it had a bit of fat in it. I guess that's what happens when you deep fry green beans.

I know, deep-fried green beans? I was a little hesitant, but I was wanting a green bean stir fry for supper and this recipe looked the best of what I found in my little search. Turns out, it is really, really good. The green beans were incredible (but according to Curtis, most foods are incredible when fried--I would disagree with him there). The seasonings were minimal, but did the trick. My only problem was frying the cashews--I briefly forgot about them and they ended up a little too fried. We ate most of them anyway.

This will serve 4 - 6 people.

Twice Fried Green Beans with Cashews
adapted from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman

neutral oil like grapeseed, corn or canola for frying
1 1/2 lbs green beans (or however much you have--I didn't measure mine, I just used what I had), trimmed and cut into 1 1/2 - 2 inch lengths
salt
1/2 c cashews
1 lb tofu, drained and cut into 1/2" cubes
1 - 2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c mild onion or scallions, chopped
1 t fresh chile (Jalapeno or Thai), optional (we didn't use it, but I suspect many would like this)
1 T sugar
2 T soy sauce
cooked rice or thin noodles (Udon, rice noodles, etc--I like the rice though since the green beans are kinda long)

Heat a enough of a neutral oil (I used canola) to be about 1 - 2 inches deep in a heavy black skillet or deep fryer (I probably used only about 1 - 1 1/2 inches of oil). Bring to 350 degrees (you can measure this with a candy thermometer--a meat thermometer won't get hot enough). Add the beans all at once and cook, stirring occasionally until they begin to brown, 5 - 10 minutes. Remove them with a slotted spoon, drain on paper towels, and sprinkle with salt. Add the cashews to the hot oil and fry until golden brown. Watch carefully to prevent the cashews from burning. Drain and sprinkle with salt. Set aside.

Let the oil cool a few minutes then pour off oil to containers to either reuse or dispose of in the trashcan (my husband's a plumber, he'd like for you to put in down the drain so you can give your friendly plumber some work). Keep 2 T of oil in the pan (or a separate pan, which I used because I didn't have enough patience to let the oil cool). Turn the heat up to high, and stir fry the tofu until it is golden brown. Add the garlic and onion and stir fry for a few minutes, until the onion softens (you can also use scallions, in which case only stir fry for about 30 seconds). Add the green beans and cook for 2 minutes. Add the sugar and soy sauce, stir, and remove from heat.

Serve over rice or noodles. Top with fried cashews.

Scallion and Cheese Muffins

Have I mentioned how much I love this batch of library cookbooks? Yep. Willliams-Sonoma cookbooks officially ROCK!! I've been cooking out of these as much as possible lately so I can try all the recipes that look before I have to return them in another week (I've already renewed the baking cookbook once).

These muffins are terrific. They taste like something you would get a restaurant, you know which ones I am talking about--they are often called "Country Herb Muffins" or something like that. (Ok, so restaurant is used loosely as I am thinking of one of those salad/buffet only places).

We loved them. Next fall or spring when we are wallowing in scallions, I will make these again (and again and again!)

Scallion and Cheese Muffins
slightly adapted from The Williams-Sonoma Baking Book

5 T olive oil
1/4 c finely chopped onion
1/4 - 1/2 c finely chopped scallions, white and light green parts only
3 c flour
1 1/2 c Swiss Cheese
3 T fresh parsley, minced
4 t baking powder
1 1/2 t salt
1 t dried oregano
2 lg eggs
1 c milk

Heat 3 T oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and scallions and saute until translucent, 2 -3 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. In a bowl, stir together the flour, cheese, parsley, baking powder, salt, and oregano. In a 2 c measuring cup, whisk together the eggs, milk, and 2 T oil until blended. Add the cooled onions (and any oil left in the pan). Make a well in the center of the floor mixture and stir in the milk/onion mixture just until everything is evenly moistened. (It's ok if the batter is lumpy). Spoon the batter evenly into 12 greased muffin cups. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven until the muffins are golden, dry and springy to the touch, 25 - 30 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes, remove from muffin cups. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Pineapple-Glazed Chicken

This is another find from one of my library cookbooks--The Mayo Clinic Williams-Sonoma Cookbook. I served this to the kids (Curtis was out of town with work) and they loved it. Curtis even liked the leftovers when he ate them a couple of days later. I served this with Saffron-Raisin Pilaf.

This makes 6 servings. The recipe recommends about 2 - 2 1/2 lbs chicken thighs, but I am sure you can use whatever cut of chicken you are partial too (however, use weight to judge the amount of substitutions). Also, be sure to remove the ginger slices before serving. Biting down into the ginger isn't necessarily a very delicious thing.

Pineapple-Glazed Chicken
from Mayo Clinic Williams-Sonoma Cookbook

6 chicken thighs, bone-in, skin removed, visible fat trimmed (about 2 - 2 1/2 lbs)
3-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled, and cut into 1/4" thick slices
2/3 c pineapple juice
2 T soy sauce
1 T sesame seeds
1 c pineapple chunks
3 green onions, thinly sliced, including green portions

Heat some olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the chicken and ginger and cook until the chicken is browned on both sides, turning chicken every few minutes, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir together the pineapple juice and soy sauce. Pour into pan with chicken and bring to a boil. Cover and cook 3 minutes. Uncover and add the sesame seeds and pineapple chunks. Cover and continue cooking, turning chicken occasionally, until the chicken is opaque and the liquid in pan has reduced to a glaze, about 5 - 10 minutes.

To serve, put chicken and pineapple on platter. Spoon glaze over top chicken and garnish with green onions.

Lebanese Potato Salad

While potatoes aren't quite in season yet, potato salad is. Let me clarify. Here in Central Texas, it is prime picnic season. This is the best time of year to find a park somewhere, preferably off the beaten path so it's not to crowded that you can't enjoy being outside, and have a picnic. Potato Salad is a typical picnic salad. Many potato salads are laden with so much mayonnaise, you feel like you are risking your life with each bite (yikes---salmonella poisoning). I prefer my potato salad lighter and spring-ier tasting. How much more like spring and outside can you get than some good extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, and parsley?

This is our quintessential potato salad. I made it for Easter lunch to go with our ham (due to having young kids, we needed a lunch we could immediately upon walking in the door after church. Mashed potatoes just weren't happening). I think it stole the show right away from the slightly over cooked ham (ok, very overcooked, dry ham) and divine deviled eggs (is that an oxymoron?).

This is the only potato salad recipe you will ever make again. Mmm...I wish there were some leftover for my mid-afternoon snack today! This makes 4 - 6 servings (probably not 6 servings if Curtis and I are helping to eat it).

Lebanese Potato Salad
from Extending the Table...A World Community Cookbook

4 large potatoes, cooked, peeled and cubed
1/2 c fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 c green onions, finely chopped
1/4 c extra virgin olive oil
1/4 c lemon juice
1 t salt
1 garlic clove, minced
dash of pepper

Toss all ingredients together. Chill several hours before serving.

Awesome Homemade Ramen

The bok choy has been collecting in my refrigerator. Despite having lots of bok choy recipes, I have felt at loss lately about what to do with it. I am all out of beef (what a bummer!! Come on steer--fatten up already!), and was needing a break from stir-fry. I haven't been terribly into bok choy salad this year, but am finally starting to get a hankering for it. I needed a new bok choy and I needed it fast!

Then, a couple of weeks ago, I saw a recipe on thekitchn.com for an easy bok choy/poached egg noodles soup. I stored the info somewhere in my brain where it didn't get lost (for a change) and remembered it last night when I was contemplating serving my kids hotdogs and white rice for supper (which I must confess, I did. They also ate lots of peas). My husband obviously wasn't home for supper. I couldn't bring myself to eat hotdogs and white rice. Although the kids thought it was fabulous for a change, I wasn't impressed. Then, I remembered this recipe.

I love this recipe. It is so good and so easy! I used dried udon noodles, but you can use prepared udon noodles as well. I also found some chicken stock from an asian/orange-spiced roasted turkey I made after Thanksgiving (ok, way after Thanksgiving, like in January. It was a rough November) and used that. I didn't use much other seasonings, but if I use less flavorful stock next time, I probably will season it. I very gently eased my egg into the soup and it poached perfectly--I was so pleased with myself, my first poached egg. The amounts are kinda loosey goosey because this is one of those recipes that is a base--adapt to your likes. I used about 1 c of bok choy and thought it needed more.

I begrudingly shared a bite with M, after she had filled up on her rice/pea/ketchup concoction she created on her plate. She also enjoyed it. It's funny, I've made a bunch of "fancy" recipes lately, but this simple comfort soup, that reminded me of eating ramen noodles in college, has been my favorite new recipe of the last two weeks. This will serve two ravenous adults as a meal.

Awesome Homemade Ramen
adapted from thekitchn.com

4 -5 c chicken broth
2 whole star anise (opt)
1 stick cinnamon
1/2 pkg dried udon noodles (about 5 oz) or 2 7-oz pkgs pre-cooked udon noodles
1 -2 c bok choy leaves, sliced into ribbons
2 green onions, thinly sliced
soy sauce, to taste
1 t garlic powder (opt)
sesame oil, to taste

Bring the broth to a simmer in a medium sauce pan. Add the star anise and cinnamon, if using, and simmer for 5 - 10 minutes. If using dried udon noodles, add them to the broth and cook until they are pliable (very bendy, but not fully cooked). Crack the eggs into separate measure cups and slip them one at a time into the broth. Cook for two minutes. Add the bok choy and stir very gently so as not to disturb the eggs. Cook for an additional two minutes, until the egg whites are completely set, but the middles are still loose (cook an extra minute if you want your yolk set). Remove from heat and add garlic powder (if using) and green onions. Add soy sauce and sesame oil to taste. Eat immediately.

Broccoli, Carrot, and Tofu Stir Fry

Even though we aren't vegetarians, I like to eat tofu on a semi-regular basis to add some protein variety. It helps a lot that all three of my kids LOVE it. I adapted this recipe from The Washington Post to fit my CSA box for the week. The sauce is nice and light. I think it could use a little more flavor, in fact. It definitely didn't hide the taste of the vegetables.

Stir fry always goes over well in our house. It's nice to have some easy meals that are hits with everyone. I liked this combination because of the nice bright colors. (Simple thrills....). This serves 4 at the absolute most.

Broccoli, Carrot, and Tofu Stir Fry
adapted from The Washington Post

1 lb extra-firm tofu, pressed, drained, and cut into 1/2" pieces
2 T minced scallions, white part only plus 2/3 c scallion greens, cut into 1-inch lengths
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 T ginger, grated
2/3 c chicken or vegetable broth (or water)
2 t soy sauce
2 1/2 T mirin or sake (rice wine)
2 t sugar
3/4 t sesame oil
2 t Worcestershire Sauce
3/4 t cornstarch
3/4 lb broccoli florets, cut into large bite-sized pieces (I think I had 2 - 3 c, I didn't measure it)
2 - 3 carrots, sliced
4 T sesame oil
3/4 c dry roasted peanuts (optional---I had these and forgot to use them)

In a small bowl, mix the minced scallions (white parts), garlic, and ginger. Place the scallion greens in another bowl. In a medium bowl, mix the broth, soy sauce, rice wine, sugar, 3/4 t sesame oil, Worcestershire sauce and cornstarch. Set aside.

Heat 2 T sesame oil in a large skillet over medium high (or high, depending on your stove) heat. Place tofu in pan and sear until browned and a little crispy. Remove from pan. Add another 2 T oil to pan. Add the scallion-ginger mixture and stir-fry about 15 seconds. Add the broccoli and carrots and stir-fry until just they are just barely crisp-tender. Add the scallion greens and tofu and stir-fry, about 1 1/2 minutes. Add chicken broth mixture and stir until stir-fry thickens, 1 minute (or maybe more). Add the peanuts, if using, and toss lightly. Serve hot over rice or udon noodles.

Not Very Orange Chicken

(Sorry about how dark this picture is. Photographer error).

I loved this recipe because it represented a couple of accomplishments for me. One, I again successfully fried something (woohoo!! Maybe there is hope for my biscuits.....not related to frying, just related to things I have a hard time doing in the kitchen). Two, I made something that tasted as good as or better than something I could have bought at a Chinese restaurant (which is rare, because I tend not to cook much Chinese food).

I choose this recipe to serve as the main course for the scallion pancakes. The kids really liked it, as did Curtis and I. It took a lot more time than I expected. I read the recipe and thought, that's easy, it will take no time at all. Not the case. I ended up frying 3 or 4 batches of chicken before it was all cooked which took quite a while. In the future, I will probably allot myself 45 minutes to fry the chicken. That was the only time consuming part of the recipe. The rest was easy and fast. My only complaint about the recipe itself was that it didn't have much of an orange taste. The sauce was wonderful, just not particularly orange. I will make this again sometime, though. I just won't expect it to be orange.

This recipe will serve 4 - 5 people.

Not Very Orange Chicken
from blogchef.net

Chicken
2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 1/2" cubes or so
1 1/2 c all purpose flour
1 - 2 eggs, beaten (use one to start with and then a second if you need more)
1/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper
canola or vegetable oil

Sauce
1 1/2 c water
2 T orange juice
1/4 c lemon juice
1/3 c rice vinegar
2 1/2 T soy sauce
1 T orange zest
1 c packed brown sugar
1/2 t ginger root, grated
1/2 t garlic, minced
2 T green onion, chopped
3 T cornstarch
1/4 c water

In a 9 x 9" pan or other shallow dish, combine flour, salt and pepper. Beat egg in a small bowl. Dip chicken, one piece at a time, in egg mixture and then place in flour mixture, turning to coat entire piece of chicken. Fry chicken in batches of canola or vegetable oil heated to 375 degrees (I used my black skillet for this, you can use a deep fryer if you have one). Turn as necessary (oil should mostly cover each piece of chicken) and fry until completely cooked. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, combine 1 1/2 c water, lemon juice, orange juice, rice vinegar, and soy sauce. Blend well over medium heat for a few minutes. Stir in brown sugar, orange zest, ginger, garlic, and onions. Bring to a nice rolling boil. Combine cornstarch and 1/4 c cold water. Slowly stir cornstarch mixture into sauce. Stir and boil until sauce thickens. Pour sauce over breaded chicken. Garnish with green onions and orange slices. Serve over rice.

Scallion Pancakes

I combined Shrove (Fat) Tuesday, the Chinese New Year (2 days late), and celebration of China's gold in pairs figure skating (they were incredible!!! I love the fact that they have been skating for many, many years and aren't just a pair of teenagers.)

We all really enjoyed these. It reminded me a little of naan. M even eagerly devoured them because she remember Mae on Sid the Science Kid (PBS kid's science show) loves scallion pancakes. We dipped these in lemon wasabi sauce I received free at the grocery store last week. I think just plain soy sauce would be good with them too. The dough needs to rest 30 minutes. Mine ended up resting much longer than that and turned out just fine. If you would like good pictures of the process of making these, check out this website.

This recipe makes 8 pancakes.

Scallion Pancakes
from thekitchn.com

2 1/2 c white flour
1 c warm water
Canola or vegetable oil
Kosher salt
1 bunch scallions, finely chopped

Mix flour with water until it forms a smooth dough. Knead until dough is smooth and elastic (I didn't know a non-yeast dough could feel like this, but it does!). Coat lightly in oil, return to bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and let rest for at least 30 minutes.

Cut the dough into 4 equal parts. Roll each section of dough out into a thin rectangle at least 12 x 9" on a lightly floured surface. Lightly brush the top of the dough with oil, then sprinkle it evenly with scallions and kosher salt. Starting at the long end, roll the dough up tightly (creating a long snake). Cut the rolled dough in half. Coil one half into a round bundle. Roll out the bundle into a flat, smooth, round pancake. Heat a 10" skillet over medium high heat, and oil it lightly with canola oil. When the oil shimmers, lay the pancake gently in the pan. It should sizzle (not burn). Cook for 2 minutes, flip and cook for an additional 2 minutes on the other side, or until golden brown. Repeat with remaining dough. Cut into wedges and serve immediately with soy sauce or another dipping sauce.

Mizutaki

My grandparents lived in Japan for a year (or two?) working in a school there. One of the things we gained from that experience was the festive dish of Skiyaki. I found this recipe a year ago. It is similar to skiyaki in that it is a communal meal--a hot pot in the center of the table to cook the food in. However, the cooking sauce is water and seaweed based instead of soy sauce based which reduces the salt considerably! I also like how this recipe uses more ingredients that may be found in Japanese cuisine instead of our very, very Americanized version.

All the work of this meal takes place in cutting the food for eating and making the dipping sauce. When it's time to eat, new ingredients as the old ingredients get eaten right out of the pot! It's a fun, festive, healthy meal. This time of the year, a lot of the ingredients can be found at the farmer's market. We used our leftover vegetables the next evening (mushrooms and leeks) on top of a pizza. We sat the kids at the end of the table, farthest away from the hot pot to prevent them from burning themselves. They both loved it. M especially liked the shrimp.

Mizutaki
Dipping Sauce
1/2 c fresh lime juice
2/3 c tamari soy sauce
1 T sake (or mirin)
1/2 c daikon, finely grated
2 t ginger root, peeled and finely grated
1/2 c chopped scallions

Liquid for hot pot
3 c water
8 -inch piece of dried konbu

Ingredients for cooking in hot pot
2 medium bok choy, cuting 2 inch pieces
4 bunches scallions, cut into 2-inch pieces
3 leeks, well rinsed, tender white parts cut into rings 1/4" wide
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
1/2 pound spinach, washed and stemmed (we omitted and just used more bok choy)
1 cake tofu, pressed and cut into 1/2" cubes (I may or may not use next time....)
1 pound scallops
1/2 pound shrimp, shelled and deveined

4 - 6 servings of cooked rice

Slice and prepare vegetables, putting each a separate bowl. Prepare tofu and seafood, putting each in separate bowl. Refrigerate until everything is ready to cook.

For the dipping sauce, combine the lime juice, soy sauce, and sake in a saucepan and heat on low heat. In each of four individual bowls (or however many people that are eating--this will comfortably feed 4 - 6 adults), put 1 T grated daikon, 1/4 t of grated ginger root, and 1 T chopped scallions. To each bowl add 3 T of soy sauce mixture. Some extra dipping suace and garnishes will be left to freshen each bowl during the meal.

In a large shallow pan on a hot plate (or I've found a large electric skillet works great!) in the center of the table, heat the water and konbu until it begins to boil. Let it boil slowly for 2 minutes. Remove the konbu. During the meal, heat more water in the microwave to boiling and add to the skillet as needed. (The electric skillet should be set to around 250 degrees).

Once everyone is seated, beging cooking, adding the scallops and shrimp first, then the leeks and tofu, then the bok choy and mushrooms, then the scallions, and finally, just when everything is ready to eat, add the spinach.

To eat, remove desired ingredients from hot pot, dip into dipping sauce and put on top of rice (in a small bowl for each guest). Keep adding and removing ingredients as long as everyone is still hungry.

Scallion Crepes with Bok Choy, Braised Root Vegetables, and Hazelnut Crisps

Tonight's meal was out of one of my library books---Local Flavors by Deborah Madison. Of the three things I made, the scallion crepes were by far the most work--the other two were simple (the hazelnut crisps are not pictured).

A little overview about how I jigsawed prep for this meal together. The hazelnut crisps (cookies) need to chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour, so I mixed those up first. Then I prepared the crepe batter and let it sit for awhile. As the crepe batter sat, I got the braised root vegetables started. While they cooked (they have a 15 minute cook time at one point), I cooked the crepes and the crepe filling. Yep. My kitchen was crazy busy. It was a disaster area when I finished, but it mostly fell together. I think if you make a single recipe (I doubled the recipe because we were having friends over), the timing would be just right. Also, if you son decided to nap when he should instead of 4:15, supper also probably would be ready on time. Since I have 3 recipes, I will write them out in more typical recipe form (and let me know if you would prefer that in the future or if the narrative is preferable) to make things a little clearer. At the end, as usual, I will include reflections on the meal.

Hazelnut Crisps
1 c hazelnuts
1 T sugar
1/2 c unsalted butter
1/2 c brown sugar, packed
1/2 t salt
1 t vanilla
1 egg yolk
1 1/4 c flour

Toast the hazelnuts: in a preheated 350 oven, roast the hazelnuts on a cookie sheet for 10 minutes. Remove them from the oven and put them in the center of a clean dishtowel. Wrap up in the dish towel and roll them around to help loosen skins. Remove as many skins as possible, but if you don't get them all, that's ok. Grind the hazelnuts in a food processor with 1 T sugar until fine, but leave a few chunks scattered throughout. In a mixer, cream the butter, brown sugar, and salt until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and beat. Stir in the hazelnuts and flour. Roughly shape the dough into a log and wrap in wax paper. Run the dough through your fingers to lengthen and create a log about 1 1/2" in diameter. Refrigerate for at least an hour. Cut the log into 1/4 - 1/3 inch thick slices and place on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 until lightly browned on top (about 15 minutes). For something that reminds you of a nutella cookie, melt some chocolate chips in the microwave and partially dip the cookies in the chocolate.

Scallion Crepes
3 large eggs
1 T sesame oil
1 T canola oil
1 c water
3/4 c milk
1/2 t salt
1 c flour
1 bunch scallions, sliced very thin on the diagonal
14 c toasted sesame seeds

Filling
6 (or more) baby bok choy leaves, cut lengthwise into quarters
1 c snow peas, slivered diagonally
sea salt
canola oil

Combine eggs, sesame oil, vegetable oil, water, milk and salt in a blender of food processor on high speed. Add the flour and blend again for 10 seconds, scrape down sides and blend again briefly. Pour into a bowl and set aside to rest. Heat a 9-inch nonstick pan (about 7 1/2 inches at the base. Size does matter. If you use a smaller or larger pan, use less or more batter for each crepe) with vegetable oil. When the pan is the hot, add 1/3 c batter and swirl around the pan. Scatter some scallions and sesame seeds over top and cook until golden on the bottom, about one minute. Loosen the crepe, flip it over and cook the other side until it's dry, then slide onto a plate. Repeat process until all batter is used, stacking them on top of each other. Wrap the crepes in foil and keep warm in a preheated 250 oven until the vegetables are ready. For the vegetables, bring a wide nonstick skillet of water to a simmer. Add the salt and the bok choy. Simmer for 2 minutes, and then drain. Return the skillet to the stove and heat to high. Add the canola oil and then the bok choy and snow peas. Stir-fry until crisp-tender and bright green. Season with salt. To serve, roll up some vegetables in a crepe. Add a little soy sauce if desired.

Young Root Vegetable Braise
1 bunch scallions (or 4 slender leeks), sliced
2 full grown carrots (or 6 small young ones), julieneed
12 little turnips (if larger, peel), halved (and quartered if larger)
1 bunch radishes, halved (and quartered if larger)
sea salt
2 T unsalted butter
2 T finely chopped parsley
1 T fresh lemon juice

Bring 6 c of water to boil with 1 1/2 t salt. Blanch the carrots, turnips, and radishes for 7 minutes, then scoop out and set aside, saving the cooking water Melt 1 T butter in a saute pan. Add the scallions (or leeks) and cook over medium heat for about 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add 1/2 c of the vegetable cooking water, the blanched vegetables, half of the herbs, and 1/2 t salt. Simmer until the vegetables are fully tender, 10 - 15 minutes,a dding water in 1/3 c increments to prevent sticking. There should be a little sauce. Add the remaining butter and lemon juice. Raise the heat and swirl the pan back and forth until the butter has melted into the juice. Remove from the heat and add the rest of the herbs. Serve.

Reflections
This meal was very tasty! I have learned from the crepe master (Curtis) that I make the crepes too thick. His were much thinner, but he said the batter was perfect. I need to take lessons from him (he's made just a few crepes in his life---it's one of his hidden talents). Next time I will double or triple the amount of veggies or else make different fillings to go in the crepes--we ran out of filling before we ran out of crepes. The root vegetables were incredible. I now know what I am going to do with all the radishes and occasional turnips we've been getting in our box. In a couple of months when we are also getting carrots and leeks, this meal will be even more locally made than it was tonight. The cookies were great as well, especially dipped in chocolate. M and J liked the crepes (I left the scallions and sesame seeds out for them). M ate the greens, J did not. Neither ate the root vegetables, but we didn't really push it much because we had company (who incidently brought mashed potatoes so M was more than happy to eat those). The crepes were the only time consuming portion, but I think if I plan better next time, it won't feel quite as hectic and stressful.