Cooking from the Pantry, Part II: Ginger Fried Rice (and Boulder Farms)

I'm up to my eyeballs in boxes, packing tape and bubble wrap. Our third bedroom is fast become a staging ground for our impending move, which is less than 2 weeks away (eek). I'm trying to get as much done as possible. This way, when my husband gets here, we can do some hiking in the mountains and head over to the farms near Boulder. Of course there are tons of things to do in the city as well (like a date night at the retro- Lakeside Amusement Park , the Sunnyside Music Festival and 'Now Boarding' at the Denver Art Museum), but sometimes I like to hit the road and get out of town. 
This morning I got a little bit of packing done and then we spent the rest of the day outside --this weather is absolutely spectacular. You can feel it; fall is just around the corner. That, my friends, makes me downright giddy. The cooler nights are wonderful, and while the sun is still really strong during the day, we now have a respite from the oppressive heat of June and July. Those heat waves seem to be behind us. (And hopefully those wildfires too.) This weather gives me a serious case of perma-smile. 
So, we went back to Boulder for a little hike and to check out a few farms that we had never visited. Our first stop was Cure Organic Farm, which has a great farm store. I picked up some wonderful looking produce (included in today's bounty: tomatoes, cucumbers, garlic, beets, peaches, carrots, and leeks)...

...and then we fed the pigs and saw the ducks.

I  have to tell you (and this might sound strange coming from an vegetarian who grew up in a kosher home), but I totally love pigs. There was a little part of me that wanted to take one of these guys home, but I think that we've got enough on our plate right now...and I'm not sure a) how keen the farm would be to give us one of their porcine friends, and b) how keen my husband would be having a pig roaming around our backyard...
I though about asking if the pigs had names, but then decided not to. That's because the last time I was on a farm and asked, "What's the pig's name?" the response was "Bacon Bits." I was horrified. I've learned it's better not to ask questions if you don't really want to hear the answers. 

We read David Wiesner's "Three Pigs" almost every night, so Otis was really excited about these guys, um, gals.

Our second stop was Munson Farm, right across the street from the Cure Farm. There I picked up white corn, Palisade Peaches, and some watermelons that looked like perfectly shaped bowling balls. There were also Zinnia flower beds that were "cut your own." 

When we got back to the house I decided to do a little cooking. A new restaurant called Uncle opened in the Highlands and, according to Eater, it's "Momofuku-esque." Reading the review got me thinking about a Momofukufor2 recipe I had seen for Ginger Fried Rice (adapted from Mark Bittman). I had pinned it on my recipe board a while ago, but never got around to making it. So last night I cooked up some rice, since the recipe calls for day-old rice. I had the rest of the ingredients on hand (either in the fridge or the pantry) and included my recent farm purchases-- eggs and leeks. 
I thought this recipe would work well as an installation for my "Cooking From the Pantry" series-- where I try to use up ingredients from the cupboard-- in this case, rice. 
I think I'll be making this one again and again. It's tasty and simple. So here it is:

Ginger Fried Rice Recipe (Courtesy of Momofukufor2 blog, adapted from Mark Bittman at the nytimes.com, adapted from Jean-George Vongerichten.)

Serves 2

Ingredients
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced ginger
Salt
1 cup thinly sliced leeks, white and light green parts only, rinsed and dried
2 cups day-old cooked rice, preferably jasmine, at room temperature
2 large eggs
1 teaspoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons soy sauce
Preparation
In a large skillet, heat 1/4 cup oil over medium heat. Add garlic and ginger and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp and brown. With a slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels and salt lightly.
Reduce heat under skillet to medium-low and add 2 tablespoons oil (or maybe even just 1 so it's not too oily) and leeks. Cook about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season lightly with salt.
Raise heat to medium and add rice. Cook, stirring well, until heated through. Season to taste with salt.
In a nonstick skillet, fry eggs in remaining oil, sunny-side-up, until edges are set but yolk is still runny.
Divide rice among two dishes. Top each with an egg and drizzle with 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil and 1 teaspoon soy sauce. Sprinkle crisped garlic and ginger over everything and enjoy hot.

Baghali Ghatogh (Lima Beans with Eggs and Dill)

My interest in all things Persian and Iranian predates that little/embarrassing guilty pleasure called The Shahs of Sunset on Bravo television. Before I got married and had children, I did a lot of traveling. But there was one country I'd always wanted to go to but never managed to visit. And that country was Iran. I was curious about ancient Persian history and modern-day, post-revolution, multi-ethnic Iranian society. 

Iran holds an important geographic location: Iraq is situated to the West, the Caspian Sea is to the North, Afghanistan to the East, the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman are to the South. Turkmenistan and Pakistan share a border with Iran as well. Basically, Iran straddles the Middle-East and South Asia. 

Persian cuisine is considered one of the most ancient and developed styles of cooking. It has influenced the cuisine of its neighboring countries as well as those countries that are hundreds of miles away. Countries in North Africa, the Middle-East and the Indian-Subcontinent can trace some of their dishes back to Persian precedents. That said, Iranian cuisine is really distinct from what most people associate with greater Middle-eastern cooking.

I‘ve wanted to delve into Persian cooking for a while, so I excited to see Saveur’s story “The Land of Bread and Spice” last month.  It was full of great looking Iranian recipes, and quite a few were vegetarian. This dish- Baghali Ghatogh- was the first one I tried and it was fantastic. I'm always looking for new vegetarian entrees, and this one was not only delicious, but it perfumed the house with the smells of saffron, garlic, dill and turmeric. Fantastic, really. 

Now regarding the preparation:

Since I live at altitude I had to cook the beans for a bit longer than suggested and I added a little bit more water to get the beans tender. I also modified the amount of dill, using 3 cups instead of 4, but that is only because that's what I had in my fridge. Next time I'll use 4 cups.

After the success of this dish I'm definitely going to be doing a lot more cooking with these flavors and spices. And with a little bit of assistance from The Legendary Cuisine of Persia, I'm sure I'll get it right! As they say in Farsi, nooshe jan! ‫نوش جان 

Baghali Ghatogh (Lima Beans with Eggs and Dill)


Eggs cooked with dill-scented lima beans is a northern Iranian specialty. This recipe appeared in Saveur magazine (March 2012) in Anissa Helou's story The Land of Bread and Spice.


Serves 4


Ingredients

6 tbsp. unsalted butter


½ tsp. ground turmeric


4 cloves garlic, finely chopped


4 cups finely chopped dill (I used 3 cups*)


1 cup dried lima beans, soaked overnight, drained
¼ tsp. Crushed saffron {See comments below. I used safflower, next time I'll use saffron.} 

5 cups of cold water


Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste


4 eggs
Saffron threads, to garnish


Instructions

Heat butter in a 12″ skillet over medium heat. Add turmeric and garlic; cook until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add 3 cups (I used 2) dill and the beans; cook until dill is slightly wilted, about 2 minutes. Add crushed saffron and 5 cups water; boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; cook, covered, until beans are tender, about 1½ hours. {My cooking time was more like 1 3/4 hours and I had to add a bit more water.} Season with salt and pepper; stir in remaining dill. Using a spoon, form 4 shallow wells in bean mixture; crack an egg into each well. Cook until eggs are cooked over-easy, about 3 minutes. Sprinkle with saffron before serving.

Ottolenghi's Chard and Saffron Omelette

Anyone who reads this blog knows that I have a wee-little-celebrity-chef crush on Yotam Ottolenghi.  I love his Guardian column, his blog, cookbook(s) and the next time I'm in London I hope to dine in at least one of his four restaurants.  I was really happy when Plenty: Vibrant Recipes from London's Ottolenghi was published for an American audience.  This meant that I no longer had to tinker with British cooking conversions.  And for that I was thankful 
While Yotam is a devout omnivore, he has seemingly become the voice of vegetarian cooking across the pond.  His recipes use imaginative combinations, pull from a nice range of cultural influences and they are super tasty too!  Okay, love fest over.
I've posted his garlic soup with harissa and cauliflower-cumin fritters with lime yogurt.  This recipe for a chard and saffron omelette is delicious.  It takes a bit more time to make than say, scrambling an egg.  But it's worth it. 
The key to making this dish successful is to mind the flame (making the heat too high will burn the eggs which have an almost crepe-like quality) and be generous with salt and pepper.  Ottolenghi presents the omelette in a fan shape by folding it two times, but when I did this it caused some of the filling to fall out.  So either fan-it or serve it in a traditional omelette shape.  
I also removed the chard from the stalk, opting not to use it.  The original recipe uses the stalk because this particular dish cooks for a while, letting the tough stalk cook through.  I guess both ways work.  Other than that, I just followed the recipe as is.
Okay, my appetite is sated and now I'm off to ride the Georgetown Loop Railroad in the historic (former) mining town.  I love Historic Colorado!
{Note: I do my grocery shopping by making recipes that use overlapping ingredients.  This way it's not too expensive because nothing goes to waste and every ingredient purchased is used in multiple dishes.  So, for example, the left-over creme fraîche will be used in a carrot-fennel soup this week. The left-over parsley and dill will go into an Ina Garten French Potato Salad.  I try to do this every time I shop to keep costs down.} 

Chard and Saffron Omelette (Courtesy of Yotam Ottolenghi, Plenty: Vibrant Vegetable Recipes from London's Ottolenghi) 

Serves 4 (or 2 hungry people) 

Ingredients

1/2 lb (1 medium) waxy potato, peeled and cut into 3/8 inch dice

1 cup water

pinch of saffron threads

3/4 lb Swiss Chard stalks and leaves (I omitted the stalks), shredded

salt and pepper to taste (season this dish well)

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 garlic clove, crushed

5 eggs

1/4 cup milk

2/3 cup chopped herbs (tarragon, dill, parsley)

vegetable oil

1/2 cup creme fraîche, cold

Directions

Put the potatoes, water and saffron in a large pan and bring to a boil.  Simmer for 4 minutes, then add the chard and some salt and pepper.  Continue cooking, covered, for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the potato is soft.  Drain out any excess liquid that is left in the pan.  Off heat, add the lemon juice and garlic.  Leave to cool.

Whisk together well the eggs, milk, herbs and some salt and pepper.  Pour 1 teaspoon of oil into a hot, 9-inch nonstick frying pan, then use one-quarter of the egg mixture to make a thin round omelette.  Transfer to a paper towel.  Make three more omelettes in the same way.  Leave to cool down. 

Divide the cold creme fraîche among the omelettes, spreading it over half of each.  Taste the chard mixture and adjust the seasoning, then spread generously over the creme fraîche. Fold each omelette over in half, then fold again to get a fan shape.  

Allow the chard mix to show at the open side.  Arrange the omelettes in a lightly oiled ovenproof baking sheet.  (Keep in the fridge if making ahead.) When ready to serve, preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Place the omelettes in the oven for 5-8 minutes or until hot.  Serve at once. 

Ina's Slow-Cooked Scrambled Eggs with Green Herbs

I haven't posted an egg recipe in quite some time, so here's one that I really enjoyed.

This brunch is simple to make and uses up some of the fresh herbs I've been getting from my CSA and garden. I followed Ina's instructions and added the herbs off-heat. Next time, and there will be a next time, I may add a little bit of goat cheese. But even without the cheese, these eggs are delicious. Temperature is key -- these are slow cooked-- something far too many restaurants mess up. It takes a few minutes so don't rush. You'll be glad you took the time.

You can serve this with some fresh butter bread (toasted), but I served this with a salad using ingredients from our CSA including green lettuce, red leaf lettuce and a variety of heirloom tomatoes. It was delicious and a great way to start off the morning...

Slow-Cooked Scrambled Eggs with Green Herbs 

(Courtesy of Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa)

Serves 4

Ingredients

•   10 extra-large eggs

•   6 tablespoons whole milk or half-and-half

•   1 teaspoon kosher salt

•   1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

•   2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided

•   1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley leaves

•   1 tablespoon minced scallions, white and green parts

•   1 tablespoon minced fresh dill

Directions

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, salt, and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of butter in a large saute or omelet pan. Add the eggs and cook them over low heat, folding them over almost constantly with a rubber spatula, until the desired doneness. Off the heat, add the remaining tablespoon of butter, the parsley, scallions, and dill. Stir until the butter is melted. Check for seasonings. Serve hot.

Martha's Linguine with Asparagus and Egg

For those of you who regularly read Sparrows & Spatulas you might recall that four of us recently started a 'Dinner Club.'  The ball was in my court for the first meal and I prepared:
Starter soup: Heidi Swanson's Cauliflower Soup with Mustard Croutons
Side dish: Heidi Swanson's Wild Rice Casserole
Main dish: Spanakopita with Tzatziki Sauce
Dessert: Our guests brought an Almond Cake from Sweet Melissa in Cobble Hill. Yum. 
The second installation of the 'Dinner Club' was last weekend and my best friend and his husband (my friend too) were in charge of the menu. They really out did themselves and the meal was delicious!
We settled on a Saturday dinner-- early bird, 5:30 p.m. That's pretty much how I roll these days unless I am entertaining at my place. Otis really has to be in his crib by 9. And, not wanting to rush dinner conversation and eating, we all decided it was better to get an early start.
While my son was distracted by chasing an adorable elderly cat named Claudia (she's fine being publicly identified), we sat down to a lovely decorated table with great chairs (I'm having home decor envy in case you can't tell). We dined on linguine pasta, blanched asparagus and a fried egg. Brian served the dish with a side of absolutely amazing hollandaise sauce. Few things go better with asparagus than hollandaise! And you really can't go wrong when you pair pasta with a runny egg. Brian also prepared a citrus-herbed garbanzo bean side dish which had really great flavor. For dessert I brought the Lemon Yogurt Cake with Lemon Glaze (blogged about here). 
Wondering what we did to quench our thirst? Homemade (and I believe an original recipe) of Fresh Berry Limeade. It was a great way to spend the evening.

Here are a few notes and adaptations on this recipe:
1. The market I went to didn't have thin or "pencil" asparagus so I bought regular (thick) asparagus. A few days later I saw the kind I was looking for...I should have waited. I think that the high quality, uber thin, seasonal asparagus is the way to go with this recipe.
2. You can use dry pasta but I think fresh pasta is a better choice. It cooks quickly and tastes better.
3. Salt and pepper are important seasonings in this dish. Actually, they are the only seasonings, so be generous with your pinches.
4. Brian fried an egg, sunny-side up, in butter instead of poaching it. I think both work. Be sure to keep the yolk runny.
5. A side of hollandaise sauce really compliments the dish. The original recipe didn't have it. I would definitely add it. I typed up a simple recipe for hollandaise from "The Joy of Cooking."
I'm looking forward to our third meal together. I've been flipping through back copies of Saveur Magazine in search of the perfect recipes. Feel free to submit suggestions in the comments section :)
Until then, Bon Appetit!

Martha's Linguine with Asparagus and Egg (Courtesy of Martha Stewart, Brian's adaptations are listed above.)

• Ingredients
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 3/4 pound linguine or fettuccine (I like fresh pasta for this recipe and I would go with linguine.  Fettuccine is too thick.) 
• 1 large bunch thin asparagus (1 pound), ends trimmed, halved lengthwise
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan (1/2 ounce), plus more for serving (optional)
• 4 large eggs

Directions

1. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions, adding the asparagus in the last minute of cooking. Reserve 1 cup cooking liquid; drain pasta and asparagus and return to pot along with butter and Parmesan. Toss until butter is melted, adding enough pasta water to create a thin sauce that coats pasta.
2. While pasta is cooking, in a large straight-sided skillet, heat 2 inches water over medium until a few bubbles rise to the top. Crack each egg into a small bowl and gently pour into skillet. Cook until whites are set and yolks are runny, 4 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer eggs to a parchment-lined baking sheet.  (See adaptation above.)
3. To serve, divide pasta among four bowls, top each serving with an egg, and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with Parmesan if desired.

   

   

   ***

   Hollandaise Sauce (Courtesy of The Joy of Cooking)

   Yields 1 cup
   Place in the top of a double boiler or in a large stainless-steel bowl set up as a double boiler:
   3 large egg yolks
   1 1/2 tablespoons cold water
   Off the heat, whisk the egg mixture until it becomes light and frothy. Place the top of the double boiler or the bowl over- not in- barely simmering water and continue to whisk until the eggs are thickened, 2-4 minutes, being careful not to let the eggs get too hot (or they will scramble). Remove the pan or bowl from over the water and whisk to slightly cool mixture.
   Whisking constantly, very slowly add 1/2 cup warm (not hot) clarified butter, 1069
   Whisk in:
   1 to 3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
   Salt and ground white pepper to taste
   If the sauce is too thick, whisk in a few drops of warm water. Serve immediately or keep the sauce warm for up to 30 minutes by placing bowl in warm water.