Salad with Thai Peanut Dressing

This recipe is credited to my mother, who upon finding herself headed to a Midwest barbecue (read: lots of unhealthy food), wanted to make a vegetable heavy dish that she could nibble on without worry. My younger brother also gets a shout out because he was the one that introduced us to Thai pizza, which is delicious. My mother took the sauce and used it as a dressing over a mix of vegetables. What is below is a rough estimate of what I put in my own version tonight. (At some point I will invest in a camera so that I can share images of these dishes with you).

Salad with Thai Peanut Dressing

3 chicken quarters
1/2 head red cabbage, sliced thin
1 tsp salt
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and sliced into thin 2 inch strips
2 small broccoli stems, sliced into thin 2 inch strips
1 1/2 cups 1-inch pieces snow peas
2 c bean sprouts
5 carrots, julienned
4 green onions, green parts only sliced thin
1/4 c peanut butter (I used smooth, natural)
2 tbsp hoisin sauce, heaping
2 tbsp teriyaki sauce, heaping
1 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tbsp minced onion
1 tbsp minced ginger
1 large clove garlic, minced
4 tbsp water
chopped peanuts for garnish

Place chicken quarters in a pot and cover with water.
Put over high heat and bring to a boil.
Reduce to a low boil and let cook until cooked through.
While chicken is boiling, place red cabbage in a large bowl and sprinkle with salt.
Toss to coat and let sit while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Chop remaining ingredients and place in a large serving bowl.
In a small sauce pan, mix together peanut butter, hoisin sauce, teriyaki sauce, maple syrup, red pepper flakes, onion, ginger, garlic, and water.
Put dressing over medium heat and bring to a simmer.
Let dressing simmer for a few minutes, then remove from heat.
Once chicken is done, remove from heat, drain, and let cool before handling.
Place cabbage in a salad spinner and cover with water.
Stir cabbage around to remove salt, then drain and spin dry.
Add cabbage to large serving bowl.
Once chicken is cool enough to handle, remove skin and remove meat from bones.
Chop meat into small pieces and add to serving bowl.
Pour dressing over the top and toss until everything is coated.
You can serve at this point or chill it before serving.
When serving, sprinkle top with chopped peanuts.

Caution: Hot

It's been hot and humid here in Maine, which is unusual. For example, for a good portion of June I still needed to wear a jacket and leggings on my bike ride to work. I'm enjoying the heat and hope it lasts long enough for me to want it to go away. I have to say, this summer has been absolutely beautiful. While it may not have been hot in June, it didn't rain all month like last year. I'm not sure if a lack of rain (well, it's rained, but not constantly, day after day) is affecting the farm. They mentioned in the last newsletter that it's been dry enough for them to dry and bale hay. And the vegetables are still coming. They think next week they will also have flowers in the pick-your-own section, which is cool.

So, where am I with my vegetables from last week? Mostly gone, though I still have some napa cabbage, a small cabbage, some lettuce, and the zucchini left. Perhaps I'll make some coleslaw inspired salad this weekend. Most of the remaining vegetables went into my dinner last night, a hot and sour soup inspired stew. The hot and sour soup recipe I use is from Ken Hom's Fool Proof Chinese Cooking. If you've never made Hot and Sour soup, you really should pick up a copy of this book and try his out. I've never been a fan of the glutinous vibrant red variety in most Chinese restaurants in the US. Hom's recipe, however, is a proper soup and the only vibrant red comes from the hot pepper oil. It's absolutely delicious.

I was already considering using his marinade for some ground pork I had and as I got going I decided to make a stew that I could put over rice. His recipe has tofu, egg, pork, woodears and shitake mushrooms. I used the egg, pork, and shitake mushrooms and added broccoli, baby bok choy leaves, napa cabbage and some spicy red peppers. It's important, when making his soup, to make a chicken stock. I didn't have any, so I used bouillon and simmered it with slices of ginger, crushed garlic, and onion to make the base. After making that, the rest of the soup went together rather quickly. And despite the heat, it was a perfect meal.

Vegetable Hot and Sour Stew

6 c water
2 tsp chicken bouillon
4 inches of ginger, sliced
6 cloves garlic, crushed and peeled
1/2 c sliced red onion
12 shitake mushrooms, stems and tops separated; slice tops
1/2 lb pork
4 tsp soy sauce
4 tsp rice wine
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp sugar
12 napa cabbage leaves, washed and sliced into 1 inch strips
8 to 10 baby bok choy, leaves separated from stems
3 c broccoli pieces*
2 hot peppers, sliced into rounds
2 eggs
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp black pepper
8 tbsp rice vinegar
3 tsp chili oil
1/4 c cilantro
2 tsp sesame oil
cooked rice

In a stock pot, combine water, bouillon, ginger, garlic, onion, and stems from the shitake mushrooms.
Bring to a boil, turn down a tad and let cook for 15 to 20 minutes.
While the base is boiling, mix the 4 tsp soy sauce, 4 tsp rice wine, 1 tsp sesame oil, 1/2 tsp sugar and pork.
Use a wire strainer to remove the ginger, garlic, onion, and shitake stems from the base.
Turn down heat so base is simmering, then slowly add the pork, breaking it into small pieces. Allow to simmer for a few minutes.
Once pork is no longer visibly pink, add the cabbage, bok choy, broccoli, shitake caps, and red pepper. Allow to cook until broccoli is bright green and cabbage and bok choy are wilted.
In a small bowl, beat the eggs with the 1 tbsp sesame oil.
Push the vegetables to the sides of the pan, clearing a space where there is mostly broth in the center. Slowly pour the egg into this space, stirring with a fork to break it up, then stir.
Add the remaining ingredients and allow to simmer for a few minutes.
Remove from heat and serve in a bowl over cooked rice.

*I typically cut the long stemmed florets off the sides, until I reach the heart of the top. Then I cut this from the stem and break into pieces. I then cut off the bottom of the stem, peel the skin off the main stem at the bottom, and then quarter lengthwise and cut into 2 inch lengths.

Chicken and Broccoli in a Garlic Cream Sauce and Chayote Dessert

Last night my mentor (who took offense at being referred to as my "clean up crew" despite it being a self-inflicted title) made Chicken and Broccoli in a Garlic Cream Sauce. Look at that beautiful broccoli! It smelled fantastic while cooking, always does, unless you let it cook too long. You can tell you've cooked broccoli too long as soon as your house starts smelling like your high school cafeteria, the holy land of over-cooked or dried-out "fresh" vegetables. Am I glad that my mom used to pack our lunches for us. I could take all the teasing questions about whether my mom also chopped down the tree, mashed it into a pulp, and made the paper bags for us too; the jealous taunts produced when my friends found out my mom made all of our bread.
I realized that I cook quite differently from my mentor now. I typically put at least eight cloves of garlic in my garlic cream sauce. She used four. I resisted the urge to go grab more. She, after all, was doing the cooking. We typically stay out of each other's way while cooking. If we are in the kitchen at the same time, we are usually making separate things. Did anyone read the New York Times article about alpha cooks? My mom and I are both alpha cooks. I managed to bite my tongue (but not my tone) when she asked me to chop some celery for this dish. I would never put celery in it. But, as my sister-in-law would point out, what "white people" dish is complete without celery and onions? None, I tell you. Many-a "white people" dish contains celery, onion, and ground beef and most often includes some "cream of" something soup. Cook something like that up and you'll be transported to the aromatic world of a white, midwestern church potluck.
This dessert was not such fare. Chayote squash, which I halved, seeded (only one large seed in this squash), and stuffed with a mixture of walnuts, raisins, coconut, brown sugar and cinnamon. I baked it at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes, turned it down to 325 for a while, and then called my dad while on the way to the gym and asked him to turn the oven off, but leave them inside. When we got home a couple hours later, they were soft and still warm. It was agreed that chayote, while probably making a rather healthy dessert, also makes a rather bland dessert. The topping was delicious, but the chayote tasted of nothing next to it. When I use this vegetable again, it will be with something savory. Perhaps I'll take the Field Guide to Produce's advice and make a mixture including chorrizo to stuff them with, making sure to slice the flesh so that the flavor can penetrate the chayote a little better.