Cooking with Confidence

1. Cook your chicken What You Need: Add a liAle oil to a pot or pan over LIQUID medium-high heat. • 2 cups water or broth FlaAen out your chicken pieces in the • 1 small can tomato juice pan, sprinkle with salt and cook chicken unEl brown on both sides. PROTEIN Make sure there’s no pink in the • 1/2 cup peanut buAer center. • op?onal: 2 boneless Use a fork to cut chicken into bite- sized pieces. Set aside. chicken thighs VEGETABLES • 1 onion • 2 carrots • 1 sweet potato • 1 bunch green onions EXTRA FLAVOR • big pinch ground ginger • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne or red pepper flakes • salt and pepper to taste 251

2. Chop your vegetables Dice your onion and slice your carrot. Cube your sweet potato. 3. Cook today’s sofrito in oil Add a liAle oil to a large pot with your onion and carrot. (We’ll add the sweet potato with water next.) Add ginger, cayenne, and salt and pepper to a large pot on medium heat. Cook unEl onions are sow, about 5 minutes. 252

4. Add everything else and boil Add your chicken, potato, and water or broth. Turn heat to high, bring to a boil, then turn down the heat to medium-low. Cook everything unEl potatoes are fork tender, about 20 minutes. 5. Mash everything up (or keep it chunky - up to you) Add tomato juice to the stew. Mash. You can also use a slotted spoon to move most of the veggies to a bowl and mash that way, if it’s easier. Add peanut butter last, and bring soup back to a simmer. Taste, and adjust seasonings if you like. Salt? Sugar? Lemon juice? Tabasco? If it’s too thin, add more peanut butter. If it’s too thick, add water. Taste as you go! Top with tons of chopped green onions. 253

Notes for next time… Peanut Soup Flavor ________________________________________ Texture ________________________________________ Seasonings Next Eme… ________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ Adding peanut buTer to vegetable soup What I like about it ___________________ Might be good with ___________________ What else might taste good in this soup? ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ 254

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Ribollita Adapted from Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa at Home Italian for “reboiled,” this soup’s tradiEonally yesterday’s minestrone, reheated with whatever other lewover vegetables or bread needs to be used before they go bad. It tastes sooo much beAer the next day. 256

Whoa! Does this list of What You Need: ingredients seem way too long - and expensive? CARBOHYDRATE • 1 slice of bread per bowl Bread LIQUID • you have bread already • 3 tablespoons olive oil • 1 can diced tomatoes Olive oil • 1 can white cannelloni beans • 3 cups water • you’re a cook, you have this VEGETABLES Canned goods • 1 onion • 2 carrots • should total $2 - the price of a • 2 small gold potatoes single serving of canned soup - • 2 celery stalks skip it if you like, though • 1 bunch kale • 2 garlic cloves Vegetables EXTRA FLAVOR • this soup will prove to you that • salt and pepper, to taste kale, if chopped small enough, is • op?onal: 1 tablespoon dried not gross thyme, rosemary, or both • all of these should cost less than $6, and lewovers will feed you for a week Dried Herbs • visit the bulk aisle, and only buy as much as you’ll use today for pennies (see page 261) 257

1. Chop your veggies De-rib your kale, and decide whether you'd like to chop, dice, or mince it. Slice or dice - depending on the texture you prefer Some people don't like the Cut potatoes in texture of kale when it's in large half, and then pieces. Your meal, your decision! cube. (Cubed potatoes cook faster than whole.) 2. Make your own croutons You do not need fancy bread! Sliced white bread makes great croutons. Slice your bread Toss bread squares in a bowl into squares with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Toast them in the oven at 400 degrees unEl golden and very dry to the touch. (If only lightly toasted, the bread will turn to mush in the soup.) 258

3. Puree your tomatoes and beans (don’t drain!) “Puree” = mash. Mash them unEl mush. You could use a blender, but a fork or a hand masher works just fine. This adds flavor and nutriEon to the soup’s water-based liquid. 4. Cook today’s sofrito in oil Heat oil, onions, celery and carrots over medium heat unEl onions are sow, about 5 minutes. 5. Add everything else and boil Add beans, tomatoes, water, kale, potatoes, garlic, and seasonings. Turn heat to high, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover with lid and cook for 20 more minutes to combine your flavors. Taste, and add more salt if needed. 259

6. Pour soup into a bowl over your croutons Yum, croutons! 7. Soups love garnish Taste, and think: Would this taste beAer with extra acid - like lemon juice or balsamic vinegar? Would this soup taste beAer with extra fat - like parmesan or cream? How about adding both acid and fat? 8. What to do with leuovers? This soup - like most soups - will keep for a week or two in the refrigerator, or a couple months in the freezer. 260

Recipe Basics: Herbs Fresh herbs are great! But, you owen have to buy an enEre package rather than just buy what you’re going to use today. Tie up lewover herbs and hang them upside down unEl they feel very dry. Herbs you dry yourself will turn out much more flavorful than store- bought dried herbs. Check out the bulk aisle, and feel free to only bag 1 teaspoon of the dried herbs you need. Or, check the prices of boAled dried herbs at the closest dollar store. No shame in using dried herbs rather than fresh! A good rule of thumb is, when the recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of fresh herbs, subsEtute 1 teaspoon of dried herbs. Use less dried than fresh, because dried herbs are packed with flavor. 261

Notes for next time… Vegetable combinaAon Next Eme… ________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ Croutons technique Next Eme… ________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ RiboliTa Flavor _______________________________________ Texture ______________________________________ What other flavors might taste good in this soup? ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ 262

263

Egg Drop Soup Peanut Soup Heat a can of broth over medium heat for a few Chop and cook 2 carrots,1 onion, a liAle salt and minutes. pepper, and maybe some ginger and cayenne Taste, and add seasonings, if you like. Garlic and pepper with a liAle oil over medium heat unEl ginger are good opEons here. onions are sow, about 5 minutes. In a separate bowl, sEr an egg or two with a fork Add 1 can of broth (or 2 cups water), 1 chopped unEl blended. If you have it on hand, add 1 sweet potato, and maybe 1 pre-cooked chicken teaspoon cornstarch to keep the eggs silky. breast to the soup pot. Turn heat to high, and Hold a fork over your pot of bubbling broth. when it comes to a boil, turn down to medium- Slowly pour your egg mixture through the Enes low heat. Let cook for 20 minutes, or unEl sweet of your fork into the broth. potato pieces are fork tender. SEr the egg pieces into the broth a couple of Add 1 small can of tomato juice to the pot and Emes, then let sit and cook unEl no longer then mash everything up. (If you’ve got a blender, translucent. This should take about 20 seconds. wait Ell everything cools, then blend.) Put soup back on the stove on medium heat and add in a 1/2 cup of peanut buAer. When it's warmed up, serve topped with tons of green onions. RiboliTa Cream of Potato Soup Mash together a can of white beans and a can of Sauté a liAle garlic with one diced onion in some tomatoes. oil over medium heat unEl onion is translucent. In a pot on medium heat, cook 1 onion, 2 carrots, Add 1 carrot and 2 potatoes, with some salt and and 2 celery stalks unEl onions are sow, about 5 pepper to taste. Keep cooking everything for 10 minutes. minutes. Add bean/tomato mixture, 1 bunch chopped Awer 10 minutes, add 4 cups water or broth. kale, 2 small gold potatoes, 2 cloves of garlic, and Cook for 20 more minutes, or unEl potatoes are 3 cups of water to your pot. Turn heat to high, fork tender. bring to a boil, and then lower heat to medium- Remove the pot from heat and mash everything low. Cook unEl potatoes pieces are fork tender, up. about 20 minutes. Put it back on the heat and add in milk, cream, Chop up some bread into cubes. Toss with some and cheddar cheese to taste. Add some cream olive oil then toast in an oven unEl golden and cheese, if you like. Keep sErring unEl everything very dry. unEl they are croutons. comes together and is warmed up. Pour soup over croutons and enjoy. 264

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STAMP HERE Try It Again! Pick one recipe from this chapter and make it yourself (or with some help) outside of group. What did you make? ___________________________________________________ What would you do differently next Ame? ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ Would you make it again? ______________ What did you do well? ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ 266

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Dumplings for Days Truth Eme: making dumplings takes some Eme and pracEce. Once you get the hang of it, making a big batch for the freezer can either be a fun awernoon with friends or a very pleasant, meditaEve Eme just for you. 268

Recipe Basics: Dumplings Wrapping cheap vegetables with a bit of protein in dough has been popular for ages throughout the world. Like sandwiches, almost anything can go into a dumpling and come out tasting delicious. Pick your sofrito, choose a meat if you like, and give it a go. 1. Chop veggies, and 2. Mash your filling into a cook the tough ones sAcky paste 3. Form your dumplings + 4. Boil, bake or pan-fry unAl pinch wet edges to close the fillings are cooked 269

Shape Your Dumplings Don't stress - make whatever shape feels best! Asian specialty grocery stores sell square-shaped or circular wonton wrappers in the freezer secEon. (Or, you can make and roll your own pasta sheets - see p. 117.) The easiest thing to do is just: • wet the rim (or edges), • fold whichever shape over filling, • and press edges to close. Ravioli “The Pleated Fold” Another shape? Play around! 270

271

Beef + Pork Pelmeni Adapted from Bonnie Frumkin Morales’s Kachka: A Return to Russian Cooking Pronounced: pil-MEAN-yi Portland restauranteur Bonnie Frunkin Morales calls these dumplings “the original frozen food. Way before refrigeraEon, families in Siberia would gather together to make hundreds at a Eme and throw them out the window into the snow as they worked.” 272

1. Mince your onion What You Need: 2. Mix meat, onion, salt, and 2/3 cup cold water in a bowl CARBOHYDRATE • 50 wonton wrappers Use your hands to squeeze everything into a wet, sEcky paste. PROTEIN • 1/4 pound pork sausage • 1/4 pound ground beef VEGETABLES • 1/2 an onion EXTRA FLAVOR • 1 tablespoon salt OPTIONAL DRESSING • 1 tablespoon buAer • 1/2 teaspoon wine vinegar • pinch of salt, or more to taste • dried parsley to taste 273

3. Form your dumplings b a Lay a few wonton wrappers Use a teaspoon to drop your next to each other on your filling into the center of each culng board. wonton wrapper. c (If you over-fill the first few, don’t beat yourself up over it.) d Dip your finger into a cup of Pinch those wet edges together, water and wet the rim of each Eghtly, to seal them closed. wrapper. (If the first few - or dozen! - tear, don’t beat yourself up over it.) 274









































295

Pork Gyōza Adapted from a recipe by Beth Moncel (Budget Bytes) Pronounced: gee-OW-za About 2000 years ago, meat-and-vegetable-filled dumplings called Jiaozi became popular in China - and are sEll popular today. Awer World War II, Japanese soldiers returned home from war with China - and with a new love for Jiaozi, which they called gyōza. 296

1. Chop your vegetables What You Need: Chop cabbage (as chunky or fine as you CARBOHYDRATE like, but keep in mind it needs to fit inside • 50 wonton wrappers a dumpling. Use a cheese grater to grate your ginger. PROTEIN Slice green onions and mince your garlic. • 1/4 pound pork sausage 2. Cook your cabbage VEGETABLES In a large pot, sEr cabbage with a liAle oil • 1 head of cabbage over medium heat unEl it’s wilted to half of • 4 green onions its original size, about 15 minutes. Let cool. • 1-inch piece of ginger • 2 cloves of garlic EXTRA FLAVOR • 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce OPTIONAL DRESSING • 1 tablespoon soy sauce • 1 teaspoon wine vinegar • splash of hot sauce 297

3. Combine pork, vegetables, and soy sauce to make your filling Add green onions, garlic, ginger, 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce, and uncooked pork to the pot of cabbage. Mix with your hands unEl everything is mixed together and a liAle sEcky. 4. Form your dumplings Use a teaspoon to drop your filling into the center of each wonton wrapper. Use water to wet the rim of each wrapper, and pinch the edges Eght to close. 5. Freeze your dumplings - they’ll be good for 3 months Place gyōza on foil - make sure they’re not touching - and put in the freezer. (This way, they won’t sEck together or rip.) When they’re frozen solid, you can throw them in a plasEc bag for easy storage. 298

6. Cook a few gyōza whenever you want Heat a liAle oil in a non-sEck pan over medium heat. Add the gyōza and fry unEl the boAoms are brown. (Restaurants don’t turn the dumplings over to fry on both sides, but you can, if you want to.) Quickly pour 1/3 cup of water into the pan and immediately place a lid on top. (Have the lid ready to go!) Steam the dumplings unEl most of the liquid has boiled away (takes 10-20 minutes, depending on your stove). Take off the lid and cook unEl the dumplings are crispy again on the boAom (only takes a couple minutes). OpAonal dressing: Mix soy sauce, vinegar, and hot sauce in a bowl. Dip gyōza into sauce and enjoy! 299

Notes for next time… Meat + Cabbage filling Flavor ____________________________________________ Texture ____________________________________________ Method of frying THEN steaming THEN frying dumplings Next Eme… ________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ Dressing (Soy Sauce + Vinegar + Hot Sauce) What I like about it ___________________ Might be good with ___________________ What else might taste great in this dumpling? ___________________________________________________ 300