Ginger-Garlic Flavor Bomb Cornish Game Hens

I'm an admitted garlic fanatic. I just love the stuff. I also love ginger. In early September I wrote about grating and freezing ginger so it would always be on hand and I wouldn't have shriveled roots that would inevitably be tossed. It's been a great kitchen short cut. Then about a month ago I came across a piece in Bon Appétit extolling garlic season. Test kitchen manager Brad Leone offered up a wonderful garlic and ginger paste that combines the two with olive oil. He puts the paste in ice cube trays to freeze and then store in plastic freezer bags. Well, I was on it. Only instead of the ice cube trays, I used a small cookie scoop and froze the little flavor bombs on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet, then popped them into a freezer bag. They're remarkably versatile and so handy. You can use them to do a stir fry, make a vinaigrette, or add to soup or stew.

I happened to have bought a Cornish game hen last week and now that the weather has--for now--cooled, I defrosted it and was going to just roast it with garlic salt, smoked paprika, lemon juice, and olive oil. It's sort of a lazy go-to for me for poultry. Then I recalled my ginger-garlic flavor bombs. Eureka! I took out half a dozen of them to let thaw and considered what else would work. I remembered the most marvelous chicken recipe in Deborah Schneider's book, Baja! Cooking on the Edge. I love her marinade of garlic, chipotles in adobo, salt, and oil. So, I modeled a very different sauce on the concept. This one is made up of ginger, garlic, shichimi togarashi (a vibrant Japanese seasoning containing chili pepper, black and white sesame seeds, orange peel, basil, and Szechuan pepper), lime zest and juice, salt, and olive oil. It's just a bit chunky, even pureed. Slather it all over the hens and let it penetrate the birds for at least a couple of hours but up to overnight.

In the past I've grilled Deb's garlic chipotle birds and you can do that with this recipe, of course. But on this Sunday night I chose to roast the hen in my oven. I enjoyed it with small red, purple, and white potatoes rubbed in olive oil and garlic salt, with the hen resting on a pile of fresh baby spinach, dressed with its juices and a good squeeze of lime. The hen burst with bright ginger and citrus flavors and each bite ended with a bit of a kick of heat from the togarashi. After marinating for five hours, the flesh was moist, but the skin was perfectly crisp. And with the leftover marinade I gave a punch of flavor to a salmon fillet.

Ginger-Garlic Flavor Bomb Cornish Game Hens
(printable recipe)
Serves 2

Ingredients

6 ginger-garlic flavor bombs (directions on Bon Appétit), thawed
1/4 teaspoon shichimi togarashi
Zest of 1 lime
Juice of half a lime
Pinch of kosher salt
1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 Cornish game hens, trimmed and halved or quartered

Directions

In a small prep food processor or a blender, combine the first six ingredients and puree. You should have about a half a cup of marinade.

Slather ginger-garlic mixture all over Cornish game hen halves. Place in sealable plastic bag and refrigerate for 2 hours or up to overnight.

You can grill the hens or roast them in the oven. To roast, pre-heat oven to 375˚. Roast hens skin side up for an hour or until the skin is brown and juices flow clear.

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Resolved: Enjoy Great Food

I'll be making my monthly appearance on KPBS radio's These Days tomorrow morning at 10, this time with my friend chef Deborah Schneider. We'll be talking about healthy eating and cooking, something she knows a lot about, especially with the publication of her latest book, Cooking with the Seasons at Rancho La Puerta.


No, this isn't going to be about dieting. Nor is it going to be about denying yourself great tasting foods. If anything, it's going to be about embracing them and figuring out how to keep them foremost in your life, even when greasy fast food beckons. Every year at this time, we hear the same old, same old about eating right and exercising, but it's so easy to get sidetracked with all the demands on our busy lives. We often don't stop to actually taste let alone savor what goes in our mouths and end up eating stuff we don't even much enjoy. We're just refueling. But those of us who love good food know that refueling is a mere byproduct of the joy of eating and cooking. It's about celebrating the remarkable foods grown and raised in our region and the ability to turn them into breathtakingly tasty meals.

And, it's often less expensive to do than you'd think. By eating seasonally, for instance, you get the benefits of bounty. Right now we've got lovely root vegetables, greens, citrus and squash at the farmers markets in San Diego. By eating inexpensive grains and legumes, you get a wealth of fiber, a lot of flavor and only the smallest dent in your wallet. Plus, they're so versatile you can create a wide variety of meals using the same basic ingredient. Barley is perfect in a hearty soup but also makes a delicious risotto. Add garbanzo beans to a salad for lunch or puree them with olive oil, garlic, lemon juice and salt to make a bright tasting dip.

Yes, when it comes to something like grass-fed beef, you're going to pay more per pound but try using it as a flavor enhancer in a stir fry or just serve a smaller portion with your meal, balanced with more vegetables and grains. You'll be eating a protein that is better for you than conventionally raised beef and enjoying portions also more in keeping with better health.

Where to start? Let's look at places to shop:

Farmers markets top the list, of course. You can find a schedule for all of San Diego's farmers markets on the San Diego Farm Bureau's web site.

For good, inexpensive produce, check out the Farmers Market/Farmers Outlet shops in San Diego. The two I know are in Tierrasanta on Santo Road and in Grantville just off of Friars Road near Mission Gorge. They also carry organic packaged products from companies like Bob's Red Mill and Newman's Own. And, they stock a wonderful variety of ethnic foods, including Middle Eastern and Hispanic products.

I enjoy shopping at both Whole Foods and Bristol Farms, but it can get pricey. So I often go to Henry's to find wonderful produce, both conventionally grown and organic, a wide variety of specialty "health" foods -- flax seeds and agave syrup, for instance -- and bins of grains, nuts and flours. You'll do just as well at OB People's Market, Jimbos and, of course, Trader Joe's.

For fish and seafood I like to make sure what I'm buying is absolutely fresh and locally caught if possible. So, I go to either Catalina Offshore Products near Morena Blvd. or Pt. Loma Seafoods on Emerson off of Rosecrans. I buy free-range, organic, air-chilled chicken at Whole Foods or Bristol Farms. I get grass-fed beef at Whole Foods, Boney's Bayside Market in Coronado or the La Jolla Butcher Shop. I'm also a sucker for Iowa Meat Farms' Baja chicks. I don't know what they put in their marinade but it makes for tender, savory roasted chicken. And their Berkshire pork is astoundingly juicy, tender and flavorful -- nothing at all like conventionally raised pork.

How about getting out of your comfort zone and exploring ethnic markets? Just when you start getting tired of brocolli, how about going to 99 Ranch Market on Clairemont-Mesa Blvd. and trying Chinese brocolli. It's delicious steamed, then stir-fried with garlic and ginger and topped with oyster sauce. Or fresh water chestnuts (you'll never go back to canned again). Or Asian pears or persimmons. Or three different types of baby bok choy. Not sure what you're looking at or how to cook what you see? If a store employee isn't available, be bold and ask the customer next to you. You'd be surprised at how kind people are and flattered to be asked.

Among my favorite Asian markets are 99 Ranch, the newly renovated Mitsuwa on Mercury, Nijiya (with organic produce from its own farm) on Convoy near Aero Dr., Zion and First Korean Market.

There are plenty of wonderful items at our many Middle Eastern markets. At Balboa International Market on Balboa near Genesee I recently found beautiful Persian cucumbers, enormous pomegranates, roasted pistachios and a lot of interesting spices. Also worth visiting are Parsian on Convoy and North Park Produce in North Park and in Poway. They have my favorite short grain white rice. It's not labeled but you'll find it in a bin. It makes very tender, sweet rice, and is especially good when you add just a little freshly chopped dill.

I love our local Hispanic markets. Northgate Gonzalez, just off the 805 at 43rd St., has a remarkable produce section, where I've found fresh green garbanzos, magnificent peppers and lovely nopales.


They also have a wonderful array of ceviches -- shrimp, octopus, fish, spicy, mild. Whatever your tastebuds find pleasure in, they have it, already prepared and delicious. They, along with El Tigre and Foodland, have large meat and seafood sections and their own tortillerias.

All of these places help you do another thing well to make cooking at home easier -- creating a well-stocked pantry (and by pantry I also mean refrigerator and freezer). Here's just some of what you'll find in mine in no particular order:

Olive oils, avocado oil, grapeseed oil, sesame oil

Variety of vinegars

Capers packed in salt

Dried fruit

Sea salt, whole peppercorns

Olives

Tube of tomato paste

Bags of lentils, rice, wheat berries, pearl barley, quinoa, etc.

Pasta, including whole wheat pasta

Walnuts, pine nuts

Cans of good crushed tomatoes – low sodium

Dijon mustard

Variety of spices

Oatmeal and high-fiber cereal

Panko

Fish sauce

Yeast

Jars of homemade herb rubs

Flax seeds, chia seeds and hemp seeds

Unbleached flour, wheat flour, rye flour

Sugar but also agave syrup

Real maple syrup

A piece of parmesan cheese

Homemade stock in freezer and containers of store-bought in pantry

Cans of beans – Great Northern, black, garbanzo, Cannellini

Dark chocolate

Plus, I always have heads of garlic, shallots, onions and lemons in my kitchen. And, I grow a variety of herbs in my garden just outside my kitchen. Rosemary, chives, thyme, oregano and Italian flat leaf parsley are always available and in the summer I grow different varieties of basil as well as cilantro. In short, I always have the makings of a meal.

Good ingredients easily on hand make it much more likely that you'll make good meals for yourself and your family. You might even try your hand at something very fundamental: baking bread. I've become a fan of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois.

Yes, these recipes are good and the working time involved is minimal -- just a few minutes to mix the dough and another few to shape the loaf. And, yes, there's some rising time after you first make up a batch of dough, before you put it in the oven and while it bakes, but you can do other things in that time. I have been making their basic boule for months now, always keeping a container of dough in my refrigerator to make a loaf on the fly.


Today I made two loaves of their whole wheat bread. The flavor is rich and nutty with a hint of sweetness from honey.


Of course, we all enjoy dining out. With chefs so eager to incorporate and even feature farm-fresh produce, sustainably fished seafood, and the meat of pastured animals on their menus, it's not difficult to order healthy delicious food at most of the fine dining restaurants in town. But we also have a growing number of restaurants that specialize in healthy meals. And they're good, not like the "natural foods" places I used to try back in the 70s and 80s which had strangely plastic-tasting dishes that I found so off-putting. The farm-to-table movement has led to fresh, authentic approaches to cooking with the result that the food is good for you and also really delicious. I had a marvelous grilled ahi salad last week at Tender Greens in Liberty Station, along with a thick, comforting bowl of tomato soup.



Salad Style in downtown's East Village is becoming a popular place that friends of mine have enjoyed. We also have Spread in North Park -- admittedly not a favorite of mine but a favorite of many others. And there are a number of "fast food" places where you can get healthy dishes. La Salsa, Fins and Baja Fresh come to mind -- and that's just Mexican food.

Still looking for good vegetarian or vegan restaurants? You'll find many more options here.

Deb and I will discuss all these ideas and more. But the bottom line? Eating and cooking healthy food is not a sacrifice, it's a pleasure.

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El Tigre and Mercado International 2000: Chula Vista’s Culinary Charms

After a childhood of seemingly interminable waiting for my mom in the parking lot of the Encino Gelson’s market, I never thought I’d say this—and she’ll certainly laugh—but some of my most enjoyable days are spent at the grocery store. And if you can find a buddy who enjoys it as much as you, well, how lucky is that? Well, I’m very lucky. Deb Schneider, a wonderful chef and author of Baja! Cooking on the Edge, has become a great pal and we recently spent a fun day roaming from Latin market to Latin market.

Our first stop was Northgate Gonzalez, which Deb hadn’t yet seen. Since I’ve already covered the various gems you can find there, I’ll just move on to our next stop. We headed down to Chula Vista to check out the new El Tigre on Third Ave., which neither of us had been to. Deb is a fan of the older market in Nestor and I’ve been to the one in Escondido, which seemed a bit tired to me. This was before the announcement that Northgate Gonzalez was taking over the El Tigre chain.

This new El Tigre is light and bright with wide aisles, but I actually thought it was so antiseptic it could be any supermarket in San Diego, except that this one happens to sell a lot of Latin American products. And, for some reason they weren’t fully stocked. The produce department, in particular, seemed to be crying out for more, more, more.

However, there were some happy surprises. Their fish department, for example, is filled with lovely fillets of catfish and red snapper, a variety of shrimp and an amazing display of octopus.

They sell campechana del mariscos, a seafood mix of octopus, calamari, fake crab and mussels used for Seven Seas Soup. You can find a good recipe for this in Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen. (It’s too long to print here.)

In that same part of the store is the bakery and you’ll find a beautiful display of pastries and bolillos (large sandwich rolls), very similar to what you’d find at Foodland or Northgate Gonzalez.

Pick up an elephant ear, those flaky sugary cookies made from puff pastry, and go over to the in-house coffee bar, D’Volada, for an espresso or latte—made with their own mix of Mexican and Colombian beans—or a calming cup of tea. Try a fresh brew of gorgeous chamomile buds.

On the opposite side of store, alongside the produce department, is an astounding array of dried chiles, corn, beans, lentils and nuts. There were at least a dozen varieties of dried chiles in huge bins. Unfortunately, no chipotles, which Deb needed for a recipe she was testing. Rounding out the selection of dried items, were rows upon rows of dried, packaged herbs, peppers, teas and the like in a rainbow of colors.

Going up and down the aisles, Deb and I found some interesting South American products. I took home a bag of maiz cuzco gigante—giant corn that’s meant for toasting in oil.

This isn’t exactly popcorn, but it does make for an interesting snack. Just heat up a teaspoon or so of vegetable oil in a skillet and add enough corn to cover the bottom of the skillet. Let ‘er rip over the heat, tossing frequently, until the corn kernels are golden brown. Then drain on a paper towel and top with salt or other seasonings. These are the perfect little nosh, but also are nice on a salad.

The giant corn wasn’t the only unexpected item. While heading toward the produce department, Deb and I found ourselves laughing at the display of statuary hovering over the frozen food aisle. Enough said.

Back on the streets, we headed out for the other El Tigre but somehow we got lost. Lucky us. As we drove down Third we noticed a little white market called Mercado International 2000. Since we weren’t making any progress finding the other El Tigre we returned to Third and satisfied our curiosity.

This was a wonderful find. Maybe I like my markets to feel more like a treasure hunt, but I loved Mercado International 2000. It’s small and kind of dark, but festive and packed with lots of interesting items.

One of the first things we did was scour the refrigerated section at the entrance. Deb pulled out a couple of cans of Pulque, hugely excited to see this in a San Diego store. I was game to try it and bought a can.

Pulque is fermented agave juice, not to be confused with beer and certainly not with tequila, which is distilled. While its origin is unknown, it’s been around Meso America as a traditional beverage at least since pre-Columbian days. In Aztec culture, drinking pulque was part of religious celebrations and limited to specific holidays for the masses. To make pulque, the sap of the agave plant—called aquamiel (honey water)—is extracted and fermented, reaching an alcohol content of between two and eight percent. Today, there are still pulquerias, where pulque is served, but it’s also canned, which is what I bought.

While I love sipping a good tequila añejo (old) or reposado (rested), the pulque didn’t move me. At all. The milky white liquid had a flat taste to me, almost like soapy water. I’m told that the canned pulque isn’t nearly as good as what you would get at a pulqueria, but even so, I don’t think I’d seek it out. What I could have tried, however, was to mix it with mango or pineapple juice to create a curado.

Mercado International 2000, like other Hispanic markets, has a wonderful tortilleria and it has bustling meat department with flags from Latin American countries hanging overhead.

I loved the panaderia, with its vast selection of pastries, including a conical puff pastry filled with cream that I bought and hugely enjoyed.

There were some wonderful items in the frozen food section. I bought empanada dough, which I’ll soon be experimenting with. And, I found a box of frozen arepas de choclo (sweet corn).

I had made these from scratch a few weeks before with my friend Debra so I thought I’d give these a try. Arepas are a flat cornmeal pancake, perfect for grilling, baking or frying, especially when stuffed with cheese. Debra and I fried them and made sandwiches with sliced queso fresco and then fried them again to get the cheese to melt a little. I thought I’d actually try these frozen ones for dessert, since they’re fairly taste neutral, and served them hot with dulce de leche ice cream. Next time I’ll stick with the cheese.

What was successful came from a box of achiote rojo, a sauce long associated with the Yucatan.

This is one of those must haves for the pantry. It’s a blend of Mexican spices—annatto seeds, cumin, ground oregano, allspice and ground ancho chile—that come together as a vibrant red-orange paste. Crumble this into a bowl and add some minced garlic, orange juice, a little vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper to taste to create a thick liquid for a marinade. It’s perfect for chicken, shrimp or a fillet of fish like snapper or cod. My friends Armando and Paula slather it on turkey for both the oven and the grill, and claim it creates the most tender and tasty turkeys. Achiote isn't at all hot, but very fragrant and flavorful and you also wind up with a gorgeous dish.

Of course, you don’t need to buy a box of achiote. You can easily make it from scratch. Here’s a wonderful recipe from whatscooking.us for homemade achiote sauce with chicken legs:

Chicken legs with achiote sauce
Makes 6 servings
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 45-60 minutes
Cooking method: marinate, baking

For this recipe you will need:

1 TBSP annatto seeds

½ tsp cumin

½ tsp ground oregano

1 tsp whole allspice

2 TBSP ground chile ancho

4 cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup vinegar

½ cup fresh orange juice

½ tsp olive oil

6 pieces chicken drumsticks and thighs

salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Dry-toast annatto seeds along with the rest of the spices in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Stir constantly until fragrant, around 2-3 minutes.
2. Cool slightly and grind in a food grinder (I used my blender on high speed)
3. In a large bowl whisk together spice mixture, garlic, vinegar, orange juice, and oil until well blended.
4. Coat chicken pieces with salt and pepper and arrange in a baking dish.
5. Add the annatto sauce and marinate overnight.
6. Preheat oven to 350° F (175° C)
7. Cover baking dish and bake for about 45-60 minutes. Chicken should be tender and fall right off the bone when tested with a fork.
8. Serve with white rice and enjoy!

At Mercado 2000 International, I also found a marvelous variety of hot sauces, including Salsa Huichol, which certainly burns, but Deb swears is the best. And I got a delicious sweet/hot apricot sauce, called chamoy (in Mexico, typically pickled apricots or plums are the fruit base and are mixed with chile powder), which you can use to dress everything from pork rinds, or chicharrones, to fruit.

Finally, I was captivated by the many varieties of Mexican chocolates for sale. I’ve always bought Ibarra, but here I also found Don Gustavo, Casero and Moctexuma. I was a sucker for the handsome Moctexuma design and bought a box, which has turned out to be very good.

By now, three markets into our shopping spree, Deb and I were famished. It happens that Mercado International 2000 has a little taco shop alongside the parking lot. Serving a variety of tacos, torta, mulitas, tamales and other treats, it tempted us to try lunch. I ordered a lingua de res taco (tongue) and a mulita (kind of a thick corn tortilla sandwich with grilled chicken, cilantro, scallions, avocado and cheese).

They’re served on paper plates with sliced cucumber and radishes. Everything was fresh and popping with different flavors. It’s a tasty, delightful mess, alone worth the visit.

El Tigre is located at 1058 Third Ave. between Emerson and Naples Sts.

Mercado International 2000 is located at 1415 Third. Ave. between Orange Ave. and Quintard St.

Have some thoughts about El Tigre, Mercado International 2000 or other ethnic markets in San Diego? Do you have a favorite neighborhood market or shop that carries unique or unusual foodstuff? Let me know or add to the conversation by clicking on comments below:

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Foodstuff Miscellany: The Wining and Dining Edition

• Dog Day Afternoon. If you have a dog and you enjoy wine—and you’d like to enjoy them together with others—you’ve got to go to the monthly Dog Day Afternoon at the Wine Cabana in Old Town. I took my Rhodesian Ridgeback Shayna there last Sunday for the first time to hang out in their Moroccan-style patio. We met our dog park pal Tamara with her labradoodle Annie and some friends of theirs. While the humans indulged in Greg Norman Estate Shiraz from Coonawara, Australia, along with a plate of sliced provolone, salami and mixed olives, Shayna and Annie met some new canine friends, sampled some apparently tasty dog kibble (and a little of the provolone) and relished the attention of other wine/dog aficionados. There’s no set date each month for Dog Day Afternoon so go to their web site and sign up for the weekly newsletter to get a heads up for that and their many other events (Singles’ Night, Chocolate Tuesday, Library Cellar Tasting…). And, if you’re having a hard time locating rare or elusive wines, The Wine Cabana’s newest staff member, Gina Roiban, a licensed wine broker, can give you a hand. You can reach her at gina@roibanwine.com. The Wine Cabana is located at 2539 Congress St. at Twigg St.

• RA Sushi Honors (fingers crossed) Raw Baseball Talent. RA Sushi Bar Restaurant on Broadway at Fifth in downtown San Diego has introduced a new sushi roll for Padres fans. Called, of course, the Padre Roll, it’s a blend of crab mix and cucumber, wrapped in seaweed with rice, and topped with salmon and avocado with splashes of spicy mayo. It’s a great combo. You should also try the outrageous mango ceviche (lobster, scallop, shrimp and mango salsa nestled in crispy endive leaves). To round it out, the dish has got pieces of avocado, cherry tomatoes and sautéed pine and cashew nuts. Still not enough? The scallop dynamite roll is as delicious as it is messy to eat. You’ve got kanikama, or imitation crab, and cream cheese rolled in rice and seaweed, then dipped in a light tempura batter. All this is then topped with scallop dynamite which is itself topped with eel sauce, red beet and spinach tempura flakes. If you dine at RA May 27 through June 2, you can participate in the restaurant’s third annual Nicky’s Week, a fundraiser that honors Nicky Mailliard, a young friend of the owners, who died in 2005 at age 14 from brain cancer. That week, all proceeds from the sale of Tootsy Maki rolls, edamame, pork gyoza and select beverages will be donated to benefit cancer research at St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. Nicky’s week ends with a silent auction on June 2 from 5 to 10 p.m. RA is located at 474 Broadway.
• Coastal Cuisine, Baja Style. Last year, San Diego chef Deborah Schneider published Baja! Cooking on the Edge. I met Schneider at a luncheon at the Lodge at Torrey Pines a couple of weeks ago hosted by Rancho La Puerta to introduce some local media folks to their soon-to-open cooking school La Cocina Que Canta. I immediately bought a copy of the cookbook, which just last weekend received the San Diego Book Award for Best Cookbook in 2006 at the 13th annual San Diego Book Awards. If you love the flavors of Baja and want to learn how to replicate them, this is a great place to start. The book is filled with seductive recipes and equally seductive photos that will make you immediately want to either pack a bag and head south across the border or run to the kitchen and cook. A sampling of her recipes includes Shrimp tacos; Ceviche, Ensenada Style; Lobster, Puerto Nuevo Style; Coconut Calamari with Dried Orange and Sesame; and Chocolate-Jalapeño Truffles. Schneider also explains how to make many of the necessary basics—pico de gallo, tomatillo salsa, fresh tomato rice, frijoles negros (basic black beans with epazotes), flour and corn tortillas, and chicken and beef stocks. Schneider’s enthusiasm for her subject is warming; her approach is thorough and chatty—both a great blueprint and a great read. You’ll learn all about salsas and chiles, the amazing wineries of the Guadalupe Valley and the intricacies of Mexican dulces. This weekend I’m planning on making her Chipotle Grilled Chicken with Avocado Salsa for friends who are coming over for lunch. That is, unless I get seduced by Aguachiles (shrimp marinated in lime juice). Or Cucarachas (garlic shrimp in the shell). Stay tuned.