Looking for inspiration

I'm not all that creative in the kitchen. A pasta dish with a bit of extra colour impresses me. I'm too easily impressed. I need to expand my world when it comes to dining. Today one can find inspiration watching cooking shows on television. But a more traditional way is to enjoy a night out by taking your partner to  a fine dining restaurant.

The picture with today's post shows a squash and baby spinach risotto with pan-seared scallops. I took the picture at The Springs restaurant in London, ON. It had to have been one of the  prettiest dinners I've ever had.

And the best part of the dinner was the knowledge that I could do that (and will). And my doctors  will approve. This dinner is heart-healthy.
This is the head of your page. google.com, pub-1931185612816363, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0

Clean-out-the-fridge-night

Last night it was Taiwanese ginger chicken. Tonight it was clean-out-the-fridge-night. Judy suggested I take the leftover ginger chicken, cook a little extra rice, and add both to a smattering of leftover veggies.

I found broccoli, carrots, celery, green onions, yellow sweet pepper, basil and roasted, salted cashew nuts. I chopped them all and fried them in stages. Some of the vegetables demanded a bit more time in the fry pan than others. For instance, one wouldn't want to fry broccoli flowerettes at the same temperature and for the same amount of time as big, chunks of sweet pepper and thick, slices of raw carrot.

I had a small bit of ginger left from the night before. I peeled this, chopped it into about eight coins and fried these in some roasted sesame oil, along with a couple of chopped garlic cloves and a large sprinkle of dried, hot, red-pepper flakes. After no more than two minutes, I added the carrots to the fry pan. After a short break I added the chopped broccoli stems and then after a bit more time I added the sweet pepper.

I held the chopped green onions, basil and chopped cashews in reserve and added the leftover ginger chicken to the fry pan. I immediately followed this with the rice. I turned up the heat and stirred everything. Then I added the green onions, basil and cashew nuts. All were, of course, coarsely chopped.

I called Judy. Dinner was ready. By the time she arrived at the stove, dinner plate in hand, the green onion had heated through but the green ends still held their shape. Perfect for this meal.

If one is a senior, especially a senior on a slim, fixed income, using every bit of food that comes into the  home is important. Waste is expensive. This dinner cleaned out our fridge but didn't look or taste like a desperation dinner.

As hot as you like it Taiwanese ginger chicken

This recipe won't put a complete meal in front of you. It lacks vegetables. That said, it was quite satisfying as a Saturday lunch just as shown. The bottle of Fiol Prosecco DOC we had with it helped balance the meal with its hints of pear and melon. For a prosecco, Fiol is not cloyingly sweet as some of these sparkling wines can be. In fact, it claims to be extra dry. But it's not.

Inspired by a recipe from the New York Times, I cut back on the garlic and added some celery and sweet, red pepper. The next time I may up the ginger, gin and soy sauce from the amounts listed. Why? For more flavour and more sauce. My wife and our guest were both asking for more sauce and I had none. Next time, I will.

The original recipe called for rice wine. This is not the same as sake. And since true rice wine is difficult to find, what is a good substitution? Gin. Go figure. I used Tanqueray.

One can either use red-pepper flakes for the heat or fresh, finely chopped, hot peppers. I went with fresh, using one, small, Thai red pepper from Remark on Hyde Park just north of Oxford St. W. These peppers are quite small and come in green, half-pint containers that hold dozens. If you are not going to use them quickly, they can be frozen for use later.

I remove the seeds before mincing the pepper into fine pieces. This cuts the heat. As it is, Judy and I find just one of these red peppers is more than adequate to spice a meal, but if you'd like to use more, please, go ahead. You have been warned.

Judy was concerned about the ginger in this recipe. She urged me to cut back. I resisted. I did go a little lighter on the garlic though. A fine call by Judy.

This chicken dish, complete with a thick sauce, works well served over white, Basmati rice. A few minutes before serving I tossed some chopped celery into the still cooking mix and I decorated each  plate with a few sweet, red pepper rings that had been briefly fried in a separate pan with olive oil.

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp sesame oil (I used equal parts regular and toasted) . These oils add a nutty flavour to the dish.)
• One 2 1/2-inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced into 'coins'. You should get about ten 'coins'.
• 9 cloves of peeled garlic
• 4 whole green onions cut into 1-inch pieces
• 3/4 tsp red-pepper flakes or one, minced Thai red-pepper. I would say no more than 1-1/2 minced Thai red-peppers. You do not want this to uncomfortably spicy hot. If in doubt, go for less. You can always add more.
• 1-3/4 pounds of chicken thighs, trimmed and cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 rounded Tbsp light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup Tanqueray London Dry Gin
• 1/4 cup light soy sauce
• 2 stalks of celery, diced
• 1/2 cup to 1 cup of fresh, coarsely chopped basil. I used 1/2 cup and my wife, who hates basil, loved it in this dish. A half cup worked for her and our friend.
• an ounce or two of salted, roasted coarsely chopped cashews

The preparation is simple

1. The very first thing to do it get the rice cooking. This will take about 20 minutes. Start it first.
2. Then heat a deep, 5 qt. frying pad or large wok, add 2 Tbsp of sesame oil and when oil shimmers add the ginger coins, garlic, chopped green onions and minced hot pepper. Cook for possibly two minutes.
3. Push the aromatics to the side, add remaining oil and after heating oil for a few seconds, add the chicken. It should be cooked in 5 to 7 minutes.
4. Add the brown sugar, stir all together and add the gin and soy sauce. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer until sauce has reduced and thickened, about 15 minutes. About five minutes before being done, add the diced celery. You want some resistance but not raw.
5. About three minutes before the chicken is done, fry the sweet, red pepper slices in a separate fry pan. Flip once. Salt.
6. Add basil to chicken dish, stir and serve. Spoon onto white rice  and decorate  with slices of red pepper.
7. Coarsely chop an ounce or two of salted, roasted cashews and sprinkle on each serving.

Peasant Food

My wife called my lunch peasant food. A little pasta, 55 g, a handful of cherry tomatoes halved, half a sweet pepper coarsely chopped, a minced clove of garlic, a pinch of hot pepper flakes, a little grated Parmesan, a few leaves of fresh basil, some salt and pepper plus a tablespoon of olive oil in which to gently fry the veggies. These are all ingredients an Italian peasant would have on hand, according to my wife.

For me, this lunch recalls the no-recipe recipes that the New York Times runs almost weekly. This was quick and easy and, more importantly, delicious.

Put the dry pasta in a pot of boiling water, while the pasta is cooking cut the little tomatoes in two, chop the sweet pepper and put a tablespoon, or so, of olive oil in a heating fry pan. While the sweet pepper is cooking chop the garlic and tear the basil leaves into large pieces. With just minutes until the pasta is done, drop the tomato into the fry pan with the sweet pepper. After a minute add the garlic. The garlic will be done a minute or so. It should be a golden colour and most. It should not be allowed to get dark brown.

Drain the cooked pasta, add it and a little of the pasta water to the fry pan with the sweet pepper, tomatoes and garlic. Sprinkle some hot pepper flakes onto the mix and then grate some Parmesan cheese on top. Toss all and then add the basil and salt and pepper. Cook for about a minute. Just enough time to wilt the basil. Serve and add some more grated Parmesan at the table if you like.

It is a no brainer to make and it tastes as good as it looks. The ounce or so of pasta water helps to make a light garlicky sauce composed mainly of the juices from the tomatoes and sweet pepper.

This was inspired by a quick afternoon lunch made by David Rocco on his cooking show. I'm going to make it again come spring, serve it with some red wine and enjoy it with my wife and possibly some friends.