Pork with Chinese Yellow Chives

Chives - let's talk about them. How many kinds of chives can you name? Is it one - the tiny ones that you buy in little plastic packs and put on baked potatoes? If so, then congratulations - you are officially an ignorant American, like me! As it turns out, there are multiple varieties of chives, and while surfing the internet I came across this recipe that looked like it would help me further unravel the Mystery of the Unnamed Produce that I usually encounter at the asian grocery store. My journey into madness learning about garlic chives spanned multiple weeks and was very informative, so I'd like to share, in the hopes that you, the hungry reader, can better jump into the world of proper produce selection.

These are the correct chives - gau choy (right), and gau wong (left)

First of all, I had to make this recipe twice. I was so excited about the prospect of buying "asian chives" (which isn't really a thing, they're actually called "garlic chives": Allium tuberosum) instead of American chives (which I will refer to as baked potato chives, or BP for short: Allium schoenoprasum), that I grabbed the first thing that looked like chives at the asian store and got the heck out of there. This led to a disappointing, bland dish, which gave me pause to do a bit of digging and discover that there are actually 3 kinds of Chinese / garlic chives you can get from the asian grocery store, all of which are from the same plant, and all are about 12 - 18" long packs of thin-stemmed green (or yellow) things:

1. Flowering chives (gau choy fa). These have a rounded base and the purple / green buds at the top, and look like a larger version of BP chives. Apparently they have much less flavor than the others.
2. Standard garlic chives (gau choy, kow choi, jiu cai, nira) are broad, flat leaves that are much more delicate than the flowering variety, and are much more edible as a plant when stir-fried quickly. Both of these have a very pronounced garlic flavor, though these are almost similar to ramps in their consistency.
3. Yellow chives (gau wong, jiu huang, kow won, "albino chives") are like white asparagus - grown without sunlight by heaping dirt on them, they don't develop chlorophyll, so they never turn green. They also are milder in flavor, and taste more like onions than potent garlic. They're also significantly more expensive - $15 / pound near me!

Let's look the other way about how I completely ignored the recipe the first time I made this, purchasing gau choy fa and hoping for magic, when all I ended up with was a plate of pork and tree stems. Instead, we'll focus on the second version of this dish, which ended up being a culinary rockstar - packed with garlic flavor and vibrant colors, yet inherently simple in its construction and very authentic in its rustic components.

These are flowering garlic chives. Not at all the correct chives, these were woody and bland

The incorrect version looks decent, but it's not what the recipe intended

Crusty Chicken Thighs in Mushroom Sauce

They say never to apologize for your cooking, and unless someone dies from hysterical tastebud euphoria or E. coli, I never will.  In fact, the first time I tried this, I ruined the sauce so badly that I had to improvise into a cream sauce, which became delightfully unapologetic.  And okay, this recipe is staggeringly similar to that accidental recipe, crispy chicken thighs in a mushroom cream sauce, which I won't usually repost.  But since it took me three tries to get this right, I'd like to post the recipe and process that inspired this whole adventure, given that it is actually delicious when done correctly.  Plus, this original recipe has no added fat or carbs, making it relatively healthy.  I'm still amazed by this style of cooking chicken - dry, with the lid on, yet yielding a crispy delicious skin that rivals the best hand-battered southern fried chicken.  Unreal.

Having made this now enough times to get the method sorted out, I will modify the original recipe slightly with double the chicken, so that you can serve twice the number of meals.  But you can't crowd the pots, so shoot for 4 thighs per cooking vessel unless you have the world's largest dutch oven.

Blackberry Chutney over Pork Medallions

If you're lucky, where you live is berry season right now.  You're probably seeing them popping up in the grocery store on sale - $2.99 for a 6 ounce tub, trucked in from nobody knows where (aka Mexico).  But a better alternative is getting up to a farm to buy them right off the bushes, or even to pick your own.  We went up this weekend and bought 10 pounds, adding to our 10 pounds of blueberries and 5 pounds of black raspberries from an earlier trip.  You may think that this sounds like too many, but I assure you, it is not.  We now have blueberry jalapeno jelly, raspberry jam, blackberry preserves, blackberry muffins, enough frozen berries to make smoothies through the year, and this gem.

Worried for about 5 minutes that maybe we went overboard with the blackberries, we went looking for recipes.  Good old Martha Stewart came through in a pinch, bringing us an assortment of about 20 different recipes ranging from desserts through drinks, with one savory dinner option.  This dish, pork medallions with a blackberry chutney, caught my eye, since I am a huge fan of the sweet / savory pairing, as well as the meats / sweets pairing.  The recipe looked easy, and we even had a couple of shallots lying around, so it was calling to us.  And the result was fantastic - tart, sweet, and with mellow caramel undertones from the molasses and sauteed shallots, we loved the blackberry chutney so much that we're trying to figure out what else we can serve it with.  So I have chosen to rearrange the name of this dish to showcase the chutney, which was by far the star in tonight's dinner.  It came together quickly, and had a short ingredient list, although you really do want good fresh berries, so some of the ingredients can be a bit fussy.  Don't make any substitutions beyond that, and you'll do really well with this dish.

If you can find it, get a pork tenderloin.  Not loin, that's too big and tough.  Tenderloin will do you well, and will cut up and cook easily.  We couldn't get our hands on one tonight, and used pork sirloin instead, which I think is a great runner up.  Otherwise, we followed Martha's recipe verbatim, which I reprint here.

Just a small fraction of the local blackberries we picked ourselves this weekend

Crispy Chicken Thighs in Mushroom Cream Sauce

As you may know, sometimes out of accidents amazing things are born.  I cite here vulcanized rubber, penicillin, Coca-Cola, teflon, and this chicken recipe.  I tried to make a dish from Jacques Pepin's Fast Food My Way calling for a quick cooked chicken thigh in a very fast mushroom pan sauce, but I tried to cut too many corners and came up with something that, while looking unappetizing, tasted amazing.  So I took it a step further and turned it into a cream sauce, preserving the cooking technique for the chicken and the sauce but adding a few steps and ingredients.  I was amazed with the results, which were still easy and amazingly delicious.  The mushroom cream sauce is on par with the best cream of mushroom soup I've ever eaten, just FYI.

You can make either the chicken, the sauce, or both, and any part of this will be great.  I had never seen this technique for cooking chicken, which is strange on at least two levels, but it really works.  I will definitely be using it in the future.  And while I'm not sure how he even figured it out, I will say that Jacques is a miracle worker of quick-cooked food techniques.

30 Minute Cassoulet

I love a good cassoulet - sit me down with that on the menu, and I almost don't care what else the place serves, I'm going to order it.  And what's not to love - a gigantic plate of meat, garlic, some herbs, and white beans, cooked until they're just starting to crisp in a hefty cast iron skillet.  I would love to make this at home, but the problem is that I don't want to sit around making the four or five different cuts of meat that chefs usually nestle into the beans, which is often some infuriating combination of rabbit, duck, Merguez sausage, and other difficult to procure animals or animal bits.

So while nosing through a family cookbook called Fast Food My Way, by Jacques Pepin based on his PBS TV series, I stopped cold when I saw a recipe called "30 Minute Cassoulet".  I almost didn't care what meats were in it, though I was pleasantly surprised.  A recipe that promised all of the flavors of a French bistro dish in less time than it takes to get service from a snotty French waiter?  Check, please.

The last time I saw this much meat in one place... [insert joke here]

30 Minute Cassoulet
from Fast Food My Way, by Jacques Pepin

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 pound daisy ham, tough outer skin removed (stand by for description)
• 3/4 pound mild Italian sausages, cut into 3" pieces
• 4 bratwurst sausages, cut into thirds
• 1 cup diced whole button mushrooms (3 oz)
• 3/4 cup diced (1/2") onion
• 2 tbsp crushed garlic (4 cloves)
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 15.5 oz cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 3/4 cup diced (1") tomato (1 large tomato's worth)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 3 tbsp chopped parsley

Okay, the ingredients.  First and foremost, what the heck is daisy ham?  I asked the same thing.  For a first recipe from this book, I wasn't pleased that he called for some obscure meat product that no red-blooded American has ever heard of.  But not to worry, I looked it up and it turns out that this is just a smoked, boneless ham, typically Boston Butt, and individually sealed up.  I found it with no difficulty in the meat section, over by the cooked ham.  Go America.  Next, the other meats.  I went with mild rather than hot Italian sausage, which I think was the right choice.  And I stayed with the bratwurst called for in the original recipe.

A daisy ham.  This one even had 'daisy' in the brand name.  I cut off the outer skin and then it was just delicious smoked ham.

All kinds of sausage going on here.  Recipe calls for cutting up the Italian and keeping the bratwurst whole

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet and add the ham and Italian sausage.  Do NOT add the bratwurst, that gets steamed / poached in the next step.  Cover and cook over high heat for 7-8 minutes, turning occasionally.  This gets good browning but helps cook everything through, and slows the drippings from burning to the pan.

Brown the ham and Italian sausage with a lid on - not what I would have expected, but it worked

Add the bratwurst, mushrooms, onion, garlic, thyme, and bay leaf.  Mix well and cook for 5-6 minutes.

The next round of additions is the mushrooms, aromatics, and the bratwurst

Getting a bit crowded in the pan, I wondered if maybe I should switch pans.  But I like a challenge.

Add the beans, tomato, water, and pepper, bring back to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and boil gently for 5-10 minutes.

Add the chopped tomato and rinsed white beans

This is when I knew the pan was too small.  Oh well.

Give everything a stir to incorporate, cover, and cook on low for just a few minutes!

 

10 minutes of this, and you're good to go.  And if you end up doing other things and letting this cook longer, it's only going to make it better.  At serving time, discard the bay leaf, cut the ham into slices and slice sausage pieces in half, and arrange meat on platter with beans.  Sprinkle with parsley, and serve with Tabasco and Dijon mustard.

Cassoulet, served in 30 minutes or more.

Pho For Four in 45

Growing up in the midwest, I had never heard of Pho.  So when I moved to New York, this was a strange concept to me - noodle soup that was neither bland chicken noodle or an oversized bowl of wonton soup?  Blasphemy!  But you know what, Pho is a delicious part of Vietnamese culinary heritage, and I became addicted to as soon as I knew what it was.  A hearty, filling, spicy, rich, yet light soup that offers a huge amount of complexity, but is basically served on tap in Vietnamese restaurants, is cheap, and just makes you happy about life.  Whenever I am sick, the first thing I do is get a huge bowl of Pho, and that starts me on my road to recovery.  And when I'm not sick, it's even better.

Don't be fooled about a few Pho-related things.  First, it's not pronounced like "faux", it's pronounced like "fuh".  As in, the pun "pho on the floor" is technically improper, while the pun "what the pho" is valid.  I realize my title is therefore off, but it's the best I got.  Second, don't think you can wander into a Pho shop and just order anything on the menu.  It turns out the Vietnamese people eat a lot of strange cuts of beef (technically, I believe they usually use water buffalo), including 'tendon' and tripe (stomach).  But not me!  We're using top round, so don't give up on me, reader.

This recipe requires very little special equipment, though it can be helped by a meat slicer if you happen to have one (which you don't).  The premise of the dish is to get the broth rocket hot and then cook the thinly sliced beef at the last instant, so it needs to be as thin as possible.  My version uses meat sliced on a deli slicer, but you could partially freeze and slice by hand, or buy it thinly shaved at most Asian grocers.

The defining component to the Pho broth is anise seeds - don't omit these!  They taste like licorice and look like starfish, and without them the broth won't taste at all like it should.  For the record, I hate licorice, yet love this broth.

Star anise - the key ingredient in Pho broth

Most recipes for Pho call for making stock from beef bones for 4-6 hours, which I didn't want to do.  To make this soup at home, I was prepared to cheat slightly, but not to the point where I was buying Pho soup powder.  My version can be made in 45 minutes, which I feel is a significant improvement, and still tastes fairly authentic.  If you really want to, go ahead and take a day off to make this soup - it will be much better, and you'll feel like something was accomplished.  But if you don't feel like wasting a day, just try this recipe, which I have fused from 2 online recipes and my own observations.  The results are about 95% as good, plus you will have 5 extra hours of your life back.

Fast Pho

Adapted from Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table and Recipelink

Makes 4 servings.

• 1 cup thick-sliced onions, about 1 large
• 2 inches peeled fresh ginger, sliced into 1/3" thick rounds (skin on)
• 10 star anise pods
• 6 whole cloves
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 5 cups non-fat, reduced-sodium beef broth
• 5 cups water
• 4-6 Tbsp. Asian fish sauce, or to taste

• 3 oz. dried rice stick noodles
• 6 oz. fresh bean sprouts
• 3/4 lb. lean beef (I used top round), sliced about 1/16" - 1/8" thick
• 1/4 cup each finely-minced packed fresh cilantro, basil (preferably holy basil), and/or mint leaves
• 1/4 cup finely minced green tops of scallions
• Sriracha (Thai / Vietnamese hot sauce, aka 'Rooster' sauce based on the label on the bottle)
• 4 lime wedges
• Hoisin sauce
• 1 jalapeno, sliced into thin rounds (optional)

Over a gas burner (your grill or stovetop), char the onions and ginger over an open flame, turning to get a good char on both sides.  Remove from heat, cool enough to handle, and peel skin from edges of ginger.  In a small dry pan, lightly toast the anise seeds and cloves.

Charring the onions on the stove

Place broth and water to a large pot and add the ginger and onion slices, as well as the anise, cloves, and sugar.  Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes while you prepare the remainder of the ingredients.

Simmering the aromatics in the broth.  I have since doubled the broth recipe, so pretend the level is higher

Boil enough water to cover the dried rice stick noodles, and place in a large bowl or shallow dish to cover.  Allow the noodles to reconstitute for 15-20 minutes, or as indicated on the package of noodles.  This can vary significantly depending on what size noodles you use, so be careful not to oversoak or the noodles turn to mush.

While noodles are cooking, prepare the beef - slice thinly, either with a slicer or with a knife.  If you need to slice by hand, freezing the beef for up to an hour will make the job significantly easier.  You want to get this as thin as possible without chopping off fingers by accident.

Slicing the beef paper thin.  Note that all of my fingers are still firmly attached

As noodles are finishing soaking, stir the fish sauce into the broth, and allow it to simmer for a few minutes.  Strain the broth through a strainer (potentially lined with cheesecloth if you're really inclined, which I wasn't) to remove the onions, ginger, and whole spices.  Return stock to pot and bring back to a boil.  Drain rice noodles, and portion into four serving bowls.

Strain the broth and return to a boil

Now here's where I diverge from most recipes.  To be safe, I like to throw the beef into the large pot of boiling broth rather than cooking in the serving bowls, which would otherwise seem like a recipe for disaster at home.  But seriously, don't leave the beef in for more than about 30 seconds.  Just toss it in, stir it around, and when there's no more raw color (pink is fine), you are DONE.  Serve immediately.

I added the beef for about 30 seconds and stirred it until I was sure it wouldn't be raw (NOT until it was fully cooked)

To serve, put 1/4 of the sprouts in each bowl over the noodles.  Ladle broth and beef mixture into individual bowls.  Garnish bowls with herbs (I used Thai basil and cilantro), green onions, jalapeno slices, Sriracha, lime wedges, and hoisin sauce.  If you want to let people have fun, put all of these condiments out at the table, and let everyone garnish as they see fit.  Now enjoy!  You've just made an easy Pho soup in 45 minutes - aren't you the lucky one.

The finished Pho, garnished the way we like it.  The meat is barely cooked, the broth is light and flavorful, and it didn't take 6 hours to prepare