Monthly Archives: March 2022

Donabe

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A light, refreshing and delicious soup. I add a little bit of sriracha sauce to liven it up, but my husband liked it just as it was, although we agree that this should be salted to taste (in other words, add more). According to the New York Times, from where I adapted this recipe, donabe refers to the clay pot in which it is cooked as it keeps the soup hot longer. My enameled cast iron pot did just fine.

INGREDIENTS

  • 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
  • 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • 1 (2-inch) piece ginger, peeled and halved
  • 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, sliced into 1/8-inch-thick strips
  •  Kosher salt and black pepper
  • 8 ounces tender mushrooms, such as maitake, beech or enoki, or a combination, stemmed and broken into large clusters
  • 6 ounces napa cabbage, chopped into 2-inch pieces (about 2 cups)
  • 6 ounces daikon, peeled, halved lengthwise and sliced crosswise 1/4-inch thick 
  • 3 scallions, cut into 1-inch lengths
  • 2 large carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
  • ¼ cup ponzu
  • ½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil
  • Chinese wide noodles, cooked according to package directions, then drained

PREPARATION

  1. In a large Dutch oven, combine broth, garlic and ginger. Season chicken with salt and pepper, and add to pot. Bring to a boil over high, skimming the foam and fat that rises to the top and discarding it. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, occasionally stirring and skimming, until foam no longer appears in the broth, about 5 minutes. 
  2. Add mushrooms, cabbage, daikon, scallions and carrot to the pot, arranging them in sections, and season with salt. Cover and simmer over medium to medium-low heat (maintain a good simmer, but do not boil) until chicken is cooked through and vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Discard ginger. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
  3. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine ponzu, sesame oil and a tiny pinch of red pepper flakes, and mix well.
  4. Also meanwhile, cook your noodles. We liked the version shown below.
  5. Divide donabe among four bowls. Drizzle with some of the ponzu sauce and serve warm.

The noodles were first put in the bottom and the soup was ladled over it. This donabe is even better the next day, we think. We have also developed an affinity for daikon radishes, that when cooked remind us of a cross between a mild radish, a turnip, and a potato.

Cacio e Pepe

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I first had this dish when my husband and I went to Eataly in Los Angeles. The first entreé was way too salty, so even though I never do this, I alerted the wait staff to bring something else (the waiter confided in me that they have a new chef and a lot of food was salty). So I chose this, and loved it.

We saw it in Trader Joe’s in the frozen food aisle and that was delicious, too. Then pandemic-supply-side problems hit, and we couldn’t get it. So I found three recipes, combined and came up with this. Enjoy!

Cacio e Pepe | 2-4 servings

Ingredients

  • Kosher salt
  • 8 ounces dry pasta–we used Linguine Fini, from Barilla
  • 3 Tbs. butter
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 3/4- 1 cup of Pecino Romano or other hard cheese
  1. Bring 2 quarts water to boil in a pot; add salt, then bend in your pasta. Cook, stirring occasionally, until it’s about two minutes before it’s tender. Drain, reserving 1 cup water (I saved about 1 1/2cups).
  2. In the meantime, in a large skillet or cookware, melt 2 Tbls. butter over medium heat. Add pepper and cook, stirring with a rubber spatula until toasted, about 1 minute.
  3. Add 1/2 cup of pasta water to the skillet and bring to a simmer. Add pasta to the skillet and using tongs, swirl the pasta mixture together. Add more pasta water if it looks dry.
  4. Grate the cheese finely, and add to pasta mixture a handful at a time, stirring with a set of tongs so you can lift the pasta to help it incorporate the ingredients. Add about 1/4 cup more pasta water. Cook and swirl it with tongs until cheese melts, sauce coats the pasta and the pasta is al dente. (Again, if it looks dry, add more pasta water, about 2-3 Tablespoons at a time.)

This is the process photo of what it looks like in the pan.

Persian Rice-Stuffed Onions

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I read about this one in the New York Times, but then went wandering onto the internet to see others. This version of riced-stuffed onions is adapted from a couple of different recipes.

Once you get the large onion boiled up and slightly cooled, the recipe is not a hard one. Leftovers are good, too. This makes about 4-6 servings.

NOTE: Two large onions are recommended, unless you are cooking for a small group. I also used a mixture of brown and white basmati rice.

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 large white or yellow onions.
  • 1/4 sliced almonds (I used chopped almonds as it was all I had)
  • 1/2 teaspoon loosely packed saffron, crumbled
  • 1 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
  • 1 cup basmati rice, rinsed until water runs clear
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • ground pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamon
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon, or one 3″ stick of cinnamon
  • 1/2 pound ground pork (can be left out, if you want a vegetarian version)
  • 1/4 cup shelled salted pistachios, chopped
  • 3 tablespoons golden raisins
  • 2 tablespoons dried tart cherries, chopped (if you don’t have, increase the amount of golden raisins)
  • 1/4 cup chopped parsley, plus more for garnish
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons white wine or cider vinegar

PREPARATION

  1. Bring a large deep pot of salted water to a boil. Cut off a sliver of the root end and top of an onion, then peel. Cut a lengthwise cut into each onion from the top to the root end of the onion (which will make it easier to separate the layers). Submerge it into the boiling water, reduce heat to let it simmer until the onions are softened through the middle and the layers separate easily, about 20 minutes. Sometimes mine liked to pop up, so I sometimes use a spatula at an angle or a smaller pot lid, also at an angle to keep it submerged. Transfer to a cutting board and let cool.
  2. Meanwhile, heat oven to 400 degrees. Also meanwhile, brown the ground pork, adding some salt and pepper as it cooks. Drain if too greasy and set aside.
  3. In a dry saucepan, toast the almonds, keeping an eye on them so they don’t burn. Let cool.
  4. In a small bowl, combine the saffron and lemon juice and let it sit.
  5. Separate the onion into layers; if they are stubborn, you may have to slice off a bit of the top and the bottom. On the larger outside layers, cut in half. Try to get a total of 24 layers.
  6. Finely chop any extra layers to make 1 cup. If you don’t have any extras (like me), cut up a raw onion.
  7. Heat 2 Tablespoons of the oil in a high-sided, 12″ ovenproof skillet with a lid over medium heat. Add chopped onion (raw or cooked) and cook, stirring occasionally until tender (approx. 3-8 minutes).
  8. Stir in rinsed rice, 2 tablespoons butter and stir until evenly coated. Stir in 1 teaspoon salt, the pepper, saffron-lemon juice, cinnamon, cumin, cardamon, and 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil over high, then cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook until the liquid is just absorbed — about 3 minutes (rice will still be undercooked).
  9. Stir in toasted almonds, pistachios, raisins, cherries and parsley. If the rice mixture isn’t golden-looking enough, add 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric. Transfer rice mixture to a bowl, and wipe out pan. Coat the skillet with the remaining 2 Tablespoons of oil.
  10. Spoon two tablespoons of rice mixture in the center of each onion layer piece, wrap. Set aside. Repeat until all layers have been filled, or you’ve run out of rice. If you have extra rice mixture you can save it to spoon around the stuffed onions.
  11. Heat pan over medium-high heat. When pan is hot, place the onions seam-side down. Let cook for 2 minutes until the bottoms have browned slightly. Add vinegar to 1 cup water and pour around the onions. Drizzle with remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter, then sprinkle lightly with granulated sugar.
  12. Cover the pan with the lid, and transfer to the oven to bake until all liquid has been absorbed, rice is cooked through, and onions are tender, about 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven. Garnish with parsley and drizzle with oil (opt.) Serve warm.
two, side by side