Recipe: Indonesian “Satay Style” Chicken

When baking, follow directions. When cooking, go by your own taste. – Laiko Bahrs

A satay street vendor in Bali, Indonesia. Photo: -Andrew-, Flickr ccl

Satay is traditionally a dish of marinated meat which is then skewered and grilled. It is commonly served with a peanut-based dipping sauce. Satay possibly originated in Java or Indonesia, but now has variants in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Thailand, the Philippines and even the Netherlands. One must remember that Indonesia was at one time a Dutch Colony.

Chickens on a window ledge in Bali.
Photo: AnnieGreenSprings, Flickr ccl

Satay can be found in virtually every Thai restaurant. The usual meats are chicken, beef, mutton, squid, rabbit or venison. More exotic meats have been used as well, including snake, turtle and crocodile.

Traditional marinade ingredients include sugar, soy, green onions and salt. Turmeric is always an ingredient as it is what gives satay its distinctive yellow colour.  A peanut based dipping sauce is then made for dipping after grilling.

Well the weather here in Nova Scotia isn’t quite good enough for grilling right now, but I wanted satay. Or perhaps I should say I wanted the “flavours” of satay. So I examined several recipes and reconfigured the ingredients to make a non-skewered “satay-style” chicken that incorporates the “dipping” sauce directly into the dish.

I do have to say it turned out rather well. Make no mistake, this is as far in look from a traditional satay as possible, but all the flavours are there. This is a recipe you should really try. It comes together very quickly after the chicken is seared and is a filling main dish.

Indonesian “Satay Style” Chicken

Prep 5 min  |  Cook 15-20 min*  |  Serves 4

This chicken recipe takes the flavour of a satay marinade and combines them into a sauce that is superb tossed with wide rice stick noodles.

1/2 lb rice stick noodles

1 tbsp oil

6 boneless skinless chicken thighs

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1” fresh ginger, chopped

1 medium Thai red chilli, chopped

1 cup coconut milk, divided in half

1/4 cup peanut butter, smooth

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 lime, medium (juiced)

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp fish sauce

1/2 tsp turmeric, ground

1/2 tsp coriander seed, ground

1/2 tsp basil, dried

4 green onions, sliced on a diagonal

1/2 cup fresh cilantro

Soften the noodles in hot water as directed by the package.

Mix together the sauce ingredients in a small bowl: 1/2 cup of the coconut milk, peanut butter, soy, lime juice, sugar, fish sauce, turmeric, coriander and basil.

Heat the oil in a wide saucepan with a cover. Sear the chicken until browned on both sides. It will still be raw in the centre. Remove. Chop into medium large pieces.

Sauté the garlic, ginger and chilli for 1-2 minutes in the saucepan. Add the sauce ingredients and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add in the remaining 1/2 cup of coconut milk and the chicken pieces.  Coat well with the sauce, cover and simmer on low for 5 minutes.

Add in the green onions and cilantro. Add the noodles and toss to coat.

Serve with more cilantro and lime if desired.

*Time includes searing the chicken. After searing the remainder of the recipe comes together very quickly.

…………………………………..

If you like this post retweet it using the link at top right, or share using any of the links below.

Questions? Comments? Derogatory remarks?

Foraging 10 & Recipe: Digging for your Supper. Linguine with White Wine Clam Sauce

She ate so many clams that her stomach rose and fell with the tide. – Louis Kronenberger

Clamming at low tide beside the North Atlantic.

Have you ever gone clam digging? The season is fast approaching. There are many excellent spots for the activity throughout the low tide mud flats of Nova Scotia. Perhaps when you come to our province on vacation you could make it a family activity. If you're camping, you can steam your clams just in a pot over your campfire. That would make for some wonderful memories.

Soft shell clams steamed in wine are a treat.
Photo: kthread, Flickr ccl

Clam digging can be quite a lot of fun if you find a good spot. "Clamming" is done both as recreation as well as commercially in many parts of the world. In the eastern parts of Canada and the USA it is most usually a salt water mud flats activity.

Shellfish harvesting has been a food source for the First Nations people since they first arrived on the shores of the Atlantic.

Currently in Atlantic Canada recreational shoreline harvesting is most common for the soft shelled white clam, although dulse and periwinkles are also often collected (with no digging...).

Periwinkles are also exposed at low
tide and can be harvested.
Photo: Wiki Commons

Soft shell clams (Mya Arenaria) belong to the Mollusca family, which includes bivalves, gastropods and cephalopods (shellfish, snails and octopus/squid/cuttlefish). 

They have a brittle shell of calcium carbonate, which explains their common name. They’ve also earned the nickname of “squirt clam” because they spurt water when disturbed by diggers. This mechanism is to propel them deeper into the sand to avoid capture.

All you really need to hand harvest clams is a tined digging fork and a bucket with some sea water in it to keep the clams alive. Some people use a garden hoe or shovel, but you greatly increase the chance of shattering the shells when you dig thus rendering the clam unusable. Clams must be cooked while still alive.

Dulse. Photo: Hljod.Huskona, Flickr ccl

Commercial clamming, usually for razor and quahogs, is done offshore using draggers. This damages the sea bed terribly and scoops up everything in its path—not just what the fishery is after.

Alternatively a large “clam rake” with a sort of basket attached is sometimes employed and dragged behind. Cultivated clams in comparison are hand dredged.

The legal size to harvest clams in Nova Scotia is 44mm long (1.7”). When the tide is low, or almost all the way out, you walk out on the exposed flats and look for little holes in the sand. That is the mark of a clam below the surface.

It can also be the mark of a sand worm, which are gross, but you persevere. This video shows what the holes in the sand flat look like.

After harvesting, the clams should be rinsed and placed in well salted water with some corn meal. The clams ingest the meal and excrete sand and “other particles” that you may not want to eat.

Once prepared, the clams can be steamed until they open, or shucked and collected with their juices for use in recipes. You can certainly harvest clams for the following recipe if you wish, or use canned clams. Both are written in the recipe.

A word of caution, clam beach closures due to contamination have dramatically increased over the past decade all along the Eastern seaboard. Most often it is caused by clams feeding on toxic plankton, which can cause paralytic shellfish poisoning in humans if eaten. So be certain the flats you choose are approved for clam harvesting. 

If you have any doubt at all, call the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (tel 902-426-3550). The usual clam digging season in Nova Scotia runs from the first week in May through to the end of October.

Linguine with White Wine Clam Sauce

Prep 5 min  | Total 15 min  | Serves 4

linguine for 4 people (use your own judgement)

2 tbsp olive oil

2 shallots, sliced

3 garlic cloves, minced

24-36 soft shell clams in the shell, depending on the size (or 2 cans baby clams, drained)

2/3 cup white wine

2/3 cup coffee (18%) cream

1/2 tsp tarragon

1/2 tsp salt, or to taste

cracked black pepper to taste

1/3 cup chicken stock

3 tsps cornstarch

parmesan cheese, for serving

parsley, for serving (or chives)

Cook the linguine, drain and keep in warm water.

Heat the oil in a large, wide saucepan. Add the shallots and garlic and sauté on medium for a few minutes until the shallots start to soften. Add the clams and sauté for 1 minute.

Stir in the wine, cream, tarragon, salt and pepper. Cover and allow to cook for 3 minutes.

Mix together the stock and cornstarch. Add to the clams and allow to thicken. Let cook for 2 more minutes.

Drain the pasta and toss in the pan with the clam sauce. Let heat through.

Serve with parmesan and parsley (or chives) at the table.

………………………………….

If you like this post retweet it using the link at top right, or share using any of the links below.

Questions? Comments? Derogatory remarks?

Foraging 9, Gardening & Recipe: You’re not leaving this table until you eat all your ground cover.

There is a serene and settled majesty to woodland scenery that enters into the soul and delights and elevates it, and fills it with noble inclinations. – Washington Irving

   

Photo: pellaea, Flickr ccl

Cornus canadensis, a member of the Dogwood family, is like no other dogwood. You see, it only grows to between 5-8” tall. If you look closely you can see the family resemblance. The leaves look exactly like other members of the family. You’ve seen this dogwood a thousand times. They make a beautiful green, white flowering carpet almost everywhere through our forests. They can also be grown at home for their beauty, and also used as a food source.

Bunchbery grows everywhere in our forests.
Photo: Dave Kleinschmidt, Flickr ccl

Cornus canadensis is native to the northern regions of China, eastern Russia, Japan and North America in coniferous forests. It grows along the margins of woods, on old tree stumps, and in mossy habitats that will supply its requirement of cool, moist soil. It makes a beautiful natural ground cover in shady woodland areas.

The most common name for it is Bunchberry, but it also goes by some other colourful names such as pigeonberry, squirrelberry and crackerberry. I’ve read of two reasons for the last name, the first being because of the snapping sound made when the fruit is popped, the other that it comes from an old word for crow (crake). As you can tell, with all the alternate names it is evidently a favorite of wildlife.

In New England bunchberries (aka puddingberries) were added to other fruits in puddings for additional color and also for their high pectin level to help the puddings set up without additional thickening agents. For this same reason they were also added to jams and jellies. 

A prolific northern woodland ground cover, it spreads by underground runners and seeds and will do very well if you meet its growing conditions. Bunchberry requires acidic, moist soil and lots of shade with a little morning or afternoon sunlight as they are extremely heat sensitive.

Photo: Lynette S., Flickr ccl

If you wish to add some bunchberry to your property, you may have a little prep to do beforehand. To make your soil more bunchberry friendly, dig old wood and pine needles into the soil. Then top dress with more pine needles. The decaying wood gives the organic matter that bunchberry requires and pine needles increase the acidity of the soil. 

Try pine needles around your rhododendrons for the same purpose. Don’t forget to add wood chips and pine needles every few years to your bunchberries to keep the soil in proper condition.

Bunchberry’s white flowers turn into clusters of pea-sized red fruits. In actuality what you see as a single flower is made up of many tiny flowers surrounded by four larger white bracts. This is how the “single flower” fruits into several berries. Each berry has a hard large seed. Botanically, the fruits are actually drupes, which is fruit with a “stone” such as apricots, peaches, etc.

Photo: Our Enchanted Garden, Flickr ccl

The berries are edible but somewhat bland. Some say they taste mildly of apple. Regardless, bunchberries are among the best berries for inclusion in homemade jelly and an excellent addition for with other sweeter berries that would need pectin added to set up.

Bunchberry recipes are few and far between, most likely lost in the mist of time and due to the availability of Certo®. But I did find one that sounds very interesting. It uses the pectin in the bunchberries for thickener. 

The Recipes: 

Fruit Sauce with Lemon Ricotta Stuffed Crêpes

I’ve assembled three recipes here that would make a delicious dessert. Fruit syrup, crepes and lemon ricotta filling. If you’ve never made crêpes, they’re easier than pancakes, and definitely a skill you should learn. Crêpes can be used for both sweet and savoury dishes. Just make the crêpes, stuff with the filling (either by rolling or folding into triangles), and drizzle with the syrup. Top with fresh raspberries if desired.

Bunchberry Raspberry Fruit Sauce

from http://www.treknature.com/gallery/North_America/Canada/Atlantic/Newfoundland/photo30766.htm

2 cups bunchberries

2 cups raspberries

4 tablespoons water

1/4 cup honey

Place the fruit in small saucepan with the water and honey. Bring to a boil and cook until soft, about 10 minutes. Press the cooked fruit through colander or food mill. Use on pancakes or crepes and store remainder in a jar in the refrigerator.

Crepes are a breeze to make.
Photo: mikewarren, Flickr ccl

Basic Crêpes

from http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/basic-crepes/Detail.aspx

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 large eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup water

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons butter, melted

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and the eggs. Gradually add in the milk and water, stirring to combine. Add the salt and butter; beat until smooth.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle, frying, or crepe pan over medium high heat. Pour 1/4 cup of the batter in the hot pan. Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly.

Cook the crêpe for about 2 minutes, until the bottom is light brown. Loosen with a spatula, turn and cook the other side. Can be served warm (best) or chilled until ready to use. If chilling, separate with saran wrap or they may stick together.

Basic Lemon Ricotta

454g ricotta cheese

2 eggs, beaten

1 lemon, juice & zest 

1/4-1/2 cup icing sugar

Use the sugar to your individual taste. Beat together all ingredients and chill until ready to use.

………………………………….

If you like this post retweet it using the link at top right, or share using any of the links below.

Questions? Comments? Derogatory remarks?

Recipe: The Desire for the Exotic. Chai Cream Liqueur

The reason why the sun never sets on the British Empire is because God doesn't trust the British in the dark. – Anonymous

Exoticism in Britain even extended to marketing of products.

During most of the 1800s, Britain was the master of the world with an empire on which “the sun never set.” In other words, the empire either occupied or had outposts in areas so widespread around the globe that the sun was always up over some part of their empire.

In Britain, it was the height of style to own, embrace, or be aware of the latest exoticism from the far flung reaches of the empire. Nabobs (those with high positions in exotic lands) brought their newfound tastes back with them to the mother country.

"Foreign" translated to "better," at least in association...

One part of the empire which greatly influenced life at home was British India (known as the period of The Raj). Many English tastes owe their genesis to this period. The spread of curries to England is owed in great part to returning occupiers who acquired a taste for spicy foods when stationed there. Recipes were brought back and the British altered them to suit their own tastes.

Chai tea is another. There is nothing more British than tea, although the climate is completely unsuited for growing it. Chai is spiced tea that originated in the northern parts of India, Nepal, Pakistan and Tibet. If you’ve never had good Chai tea you should try it. It’s not at all like tea, and quite pleasant. You could use just the spice blend of the following recipe, and a normal amount of tea, to make it.

I decided Chai would be a good candidate for a cream liqueur. It was storming on Saturday and I felt it was a good time to stay in the kitchen and "experiment." This recipe—my own invention—is now a favourite. It’s difficult to describe. I would say it is closest to homemade Irish Cream, but that’s not quite right. The taste of the cardamom is forefront, followed by ginger, cinnamon and cloves. The tea is there, but way down on the scale.  It’s an amazing taste, for certain. I know you will enjoy it.

Raj Chai Cream Liqueur

14 black tea bags

2 cups water

Chai spices (see below)

1 cup sugar

1 3/4 cups whipping cream

2 large eggs

2 cups vodka

Chai spice mixture:

1/2” fresh ginger, sliced

6 green cardamom pods, crushed

2” stick cinnamon

3 whole cloves

12 black peppercorns, cracked

Combine the tea, water and spices in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer on low for 15 minutes. After the 15 minutes, remove the tea bags. Squeeze liquid from the tea bags back into the pot. Reheat the liquid with only the spices and allow to simmer for 5 more minutes. 

Strain out the solids. You will have a very dark brown mixture that smells and tastes very much like tea. Measure the liquid. It must be 1 cup (*top up liquid to 1 cup if necessary, or boil to reduce to 1 cup if over volume). 

Add the sugar to the saucepan and bring to a boil. Instantly remove from the heat and let cool completely. If you don’t cool this mixture completely you will scramble the eggs in the next step.

Place the cream and eggs in a blender. Pulse to blend. Do not whip. Combine the tea and vodka. While blending on low, pour into the egg cream mixture. Chill before serving.

Note: if you find solids after blending, simply strain again to remove. (Or ignore them. They disappear when shaken.)

…………………………………

If you like this post retweet it using the link at top right, or share using any of the links below.

Questions? Comments? Derogatory remarks?

Recipe: Be smooth in the kitchen. Make homemade mayonnaise!

If you want new ideas, look in old books. – Hanno Ehses

Photo: little blue hen, Flickr ccl

Homemade mayonnaise is so different from purchased mayonnaise (and "Miracle Whip®) it difficult to even put them in the same category. When you make your own you can flavour it with whatever you wish for endless variations.

But what's the basic difference? Here's how I would describe the difference. Take a finger full of vegetable shortening. Put it in your mouth. Now chew it. Not very pleasant, right? That's the taste of store mayonnaise, at least to me. Whipped vegetable fat. Mmm. 

Now picture something that is light and creamy with a hint of lemon, or chipotle, or even basil. With no overbearing oily taste. That's homemade mayonnaise. And it's actually very easy to pull off. All you need is a blender and some pre-chilled ingredients. It takes about 5 minutes to pull together, maximum. 

Also, do the cost calculation. A 890ml jar of Hellman's Mayonnaise in Halifax's major grocery stores is $4.99. In comparison, 3L of Unico vegetable oil is in the Stupidstore flyer this week for $5.49 (save $2.50). This recipe takes 1.5 cups (or 340ml) of vegetable oil ($0.62). Double the recipe to get the Hellman's jar ($1.24). There is the cost of the vinegar, but it's only 1/4 cup...

I would classify making mayonnaise a "dying art." I have no idea why, as it's unbelievably easy. Do it once and you've got the skill forever.

The recipe I am posting is from one of the first exposures I had to cooking. I was still living at home, so it was many moons ago. The book is a two volume set called Meta Given's Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking, JG Ferguson & Assoc., Chicago, USA, Revised Edition 1955. 

Both volumes comprise 1,502 pages, with very few pictures. A veritable treasure trove of forgotten culinary delights. I will be hand picking recipes from these volumes in the future as well.

As a side note, since it was published in 1955, it has a ton of those "mid century modern" entertaining recipes that we associate with the United States at that time. Modern, quick and convenient. I'll be sharing some of those as well.

If you're hardcore, you can make mayonnaise with a whisk.
My limbs are puny and why do this when a blender works?
Photo: devlyn, Flickr ccl

Basic Homemade Mayonnaise

1 tsp dry mustard

1 tsp salt

2 tsp confectioners' sugar

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

2 egg yolks, large eggs

1/4 cup chilled vinegar (see below on "variations")

1 1/2 cups canola or other salad oil

Place dry ingredients in the blender and pulse to mix. Add the egg yolks and blend well.

Add 1/2 tsp vinegar and blend on high. then add a few drops of oil (just a few drops at first). Blend on high. Then add more oil, a few drops at a time, until about 2 tbsp of oil have been incorporated.

Then add in a little vinegar, then a little oil. As the mixture thickens, you can add more oil. Add vinegar to thin, and oil to thicken. Continue alternating vinegar and oil until all is incorporated. 

Makes about 2 cups.

Variations

Lemon mayonnaise

substitute lemon juice for vinegar in the recipe

Chipotle mayonnaise

add 1 chopped, seeded chipotle pepper in adobo to final blending

Fruit salad mayonnaise

Add 1 tbsp currant jelly to final blending

Basil mayonnaise

Add 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil to lemon mayonnaise

………………………………….

If you like this post retweet it using the link at top right, or share using any of the links below.

Questions? Comments? Derogatory remarks?

Foraging 8: The Low(ly) Partridgeberry (aka Lingonberry)

The sharper is the berry, the sweeter is the wine. – proverb

Partridgeberries. Photo: Christopher Collins, Flickr ccl

It's amazing what you ignore when you're waking in the woods. The only reason I noticed this plant was because of a frosty walk we took in Point Pleasant Park in Halifax late last Fall. Everything was touched with frost and quite dead looking—except for one ground hugging dark green, tiny, insignificant plant. What caught my eye were the berries. Small, bright red glowing orbs. Beautiful.

I thought they looked familiar, and when I went looking I found out they were called Partridgeberries. Partridgeberries go by many names:  cowberry, red whortle berry, foxberry, northern mountain cranberry, dry ground cranberry, rock cranberry,  whimberry and of course lingonberry.

New growth and flowers. Photo: Wiki commons

Partridgeberries are small, red, edible berries that grow on a perennial, low growing "shrub." The "shrub" can grow from completely prostrate on the ground to up to 16" high, depending on growing conditions. 

The leaves are small (1/4" to 1") with a distinctive division down the centre.They are related to both blueberries and cranberries. 

Partridgeberries fruit twice each year, first in July and again in late September to early November. They are found growing in Scandinavia, Alaska, and northeastern Canada. 

Partridgeberries are similar to cranberries, but not quite as tart. They make excellent jam, jelly, juice, sauce, wine and liqueur. (Liqueur!!! Food for thought…)

Since partridgeberries are closely related to cranberries, they probably have a similar nutritional content, although exact data is unavailable. It is known that they are a good source of vitamin C.

Partridgeberries also contain anthocyanin, a potent antioxidant. Researchers believe that these substances can help reduce the risk of heart disease, heart attack and cancer.

Anthocyanins help prevent the oxidation of cholesterol in the blood. By doing so, they keep blood vessels healthy. Therefore, anthocyanins play a preventive role in the early stages of America's number one killer, heart disease. Researchers believe anthocyanins may also help decrease inflammation and stop cancer before it gets started.

Partridgeberry Cake

Original recipe from Melissa Cormier. I have made changes. See original at

http://www.gulfnews.ca/Opinion/Columns/2010-04-05/article-1420431/Redberry-(or-Partridgeberry)-Cake/

Partridgeberry Spice Cake. Photo: hfb, Flickr ccl

1/2 cup butter
1 cup white sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cardamom
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup milk
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 cups of partridgeberries, (previously heated in a saucepan and mashed)
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Grease and flour a bundt pan. Cream butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl. Add the eggs one at a time. Mix to combine. Add the milk and mix well. Then beat in the cinnamon, cardamom and vanilla.

In a separate bowl combine flour and baking powder. Gradually add the flour mixture by stirring with a spoon. Add berries and stir just until blended. 

Bake until golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean, about 45 minutes.

Remove cake from oven. While still warm, poke holes in the cake with the back of a (skinny) wooden spoon. Pour the sweetened condensed milk over the top and let cool.

Can anything with a sweetened condensed milk drizzle taste bad?

………………………………

If you like this post retweet it using the link at top right, or share using any of the links below.

Questions? Comments? Derogatory remarks?