A Quick Cluck

I'm deep in the incredibly layered and rich history of honey at the moment, so ... the honey posting I keep promising is not ready! I need more honey, more research, more sweetness before I can share it on here.

But I do want to share something else: chicken adobo. I've never been a huge fan of chicken, I think more than likely due to the pretty nasty growing practices they've been subjected to which does nothing for their taste let alone our health. However, a good chicken goes a long way and it's worth going the extra mile to find one. It is easier to digest than beef for one, and if you are weak and/or sick and you need a nice sweet warm protein to build yourself up with, then chicken it is. After Thanksgiving with all it's heavy richness, all I wanted was something simple with a little vinegar to cut the fat from the weekend (vinegar is an excellent way to move the blood and digestion). So I made adobo. Now adobo is much like making chilli, there seems to be a thousand ways to make it "authentically" (as you can see here in all these different pictures). I go with the way my roommate in college taught me. Chicken (preferrably with the bone and skin on), vinegar (apple cider or white), whole garlic cloves, whole black peppercorns, bay leaves, soy sauce, a little water, and that's it! So simple, and so so so so so so good. It's sweet, vinegary, salty, oozy, and fall-off-the-bone good.

Ingredients:

chicken with bone and skin (you choose but make sure you have enough meat to soak up the sauce)
bay leaves
garlic cloves
black peppercorns (whole)
soy sauce
vinegar (cider or white)

1. Brown the chicken in the pot first, add substantial amounts of garlic cloves (I used a whole bulb for two pieces of chicken thighs) so they lightly brown. Add water (just enough to cover the bottom of the pot). Add 1 part soy sauce to 1/3 part vinegar. You want the chicken to be at least half way covered. Add bay leaves. Bring to a boil.
2. Allow the chicken to simmer for a few hours turning it occasionally. You will know when it's done as the chicken meat falls off the bone and the sauce thickens into a caramely colored goodness. Serve over rice.

(some fun variations on this are adding potatoes, onions, or coconut milk)

More Than Tubers

November is at the cross roads between the colorful bounty of summer and the underground tuber-laden foods of winter. My last jaunt to the farmers market contained: fresh chesnuts, green star cauliflower, onions, garlic, farm fresh eggs, grass fed beef (bone marrow & ground), stone ground coarse cornmeal, maitake (hen of the woods) mushrooms, blue jacket potatoes, and monster size red beets. It's a wonderful thing how nature mimics what you need when you need it just by the nature of the food it gives us.

Fresh chestnuts arrive in time to provide plenty of vitamin C just as all the fruits of summer are disappearing. Chestnuts treat the kidneys, stomach, and spleen. Winter is kidney time in Chinese medicine, with it's cool dark climate it mimics the exact properties that are the kidneys : black, cool, and salty. Chestnuts warm the body up when it's cold. They strengthen all that is weak: digestion, sexual function, fatigue, and cold extremities. Chestnuts are also the one nut that is almost as high in starch as the potato (don't run away carb-loathers!). This also makes them very low in fat. If you get lower back pain in the winter then a chestnut may just be your favorite nut right about now.



Ahh...farm fresh eggs. I can not say enough about these. Forget the gummy elastic ghost of an egg that you find in a supermarket, these don't even cost much more than that! They also contain good cholesterol i.e. of the omega 3 variety (think: salmon craze). However, farm fresh (free range, hormone-free, etc.) eggs are higher in omega 3 than their mass produced counterparts. Egg whites are good for your lungs and egg yolks are good for your kidneys. Eggs are also thought to "calm a fetus" in TCM, so if you're pregnant and the baby is kicking up a storm, boil up an egg and devour. They are also wonderful post partum, building up your energy and blood.



You can very simply see the difference in a farm fresh egg, the yolk is a deep beautiful orange instead of the pale yellow flabbiness in other eggs. And the taste is a whole other beast, let me put it this way: do not waste your time on store bought eggs if you don't have to.



Blue jacket potatoes, sounds like a potato going to a party every time I hear it. And this potato should throw a party anyway because it absolutely gives more than it's white counterpart. There are so many colorful and wonderful potatoes out there that aren't of the white Idado variety that a whole post should be dedicated just to the potato. Suffice it to say, these blue potatoes are a must try, and they will boost your blood and circulation along with amp up the vitamin and mineral presence. Even Blue Cross/Blue Shield insurance endorses the colored potatoes amazingly enough, if only they would cover Acupuncture treatments more regularly!



Green star cauliflower. I'm not certain that is how they refer to it, but that is what it looks like to me every time I buy one. I buy it for it's beauty but it also provides itself as an antidote to heat in the lungs and stomach which can often manifest as the infamous GERD, or acid reflux. Given that Thanksgiving is creeping up, perhaps a little pureed cauliflower would be in order along with a dash of anise liquor to help ease the path for all that heavy food.



And what about the maitake mushrooms, corn meal, beef bone marrow, and all the other goodies I brought home? Well, bone marrow is used to treat joint issues (arthritis, pain in the joints, etc.) as well as the kidneys. Maitake mushrooms deserve a post of their own much like the potatoes, but they are excellent for the liver and in fighting cancer. Corn meal will cure that colic or stomach ache you've been feeling (provided you don't eat a donut afterwards).

I made a beautiful meal with my bounty (and no pictures are provided because it was simply...that. good.) :

Baguette served with roasted bone marrow & parsley, red onion, & lemon salad
Seared grass fed New York strip steaks
Creamy polenta with buttery maitake mushrooms
Romaine lettuce with poached eggs, thick sliced crisp bacon bits, & shallot vinagrette
Creme Caramel

Babies and Pies

Ever wonder what a good alternative present would be to give someone who just gave birth? It's been a while since I posted a proper full on recipe and so I thought I'd share a recent dish I made for two women who just had beautiful babies. Often I am asked to share, prescribe, or cook medicinal foods for specific conditions or situations. Having had a baby is not a 'condition' per se, but it is a situation in which you would ideally eat foods to build up your blood and energy again as having a baby is no joke - it is taxing to the body. The focus for post partum women would be on those two things in general: blood and energy. Of course there can be other factors coming into play as every individual can have extra things to address: diabetes, or constipation, or a whole milieu of things. But for these purposes I'm going to keep it simple, and delicious. No one in my house had a baby and we ate the same Goji Berry, Red Date, and Lamb Shepard's Pie that I cooked up for these two lovely new moms. On the other hand, if you just want to cook it because it is quite simply going to feed your soul happiness (and it will keep for 3-4 days), then this is a great casserole to have when you're working hard and all you really want to do is come home, slice it up, put it on a plate, heat and eat it!



Ingredients:

1 lb ground lamb
0.5 lb ground beef
3 fresh garlic cloves
1 large vidalia onion
3 large carrots
1 large tomato
2 cups green peas
2 cups chopped baby bella mushrooms
6 Idaho russet (medium sized) potatoes
butter
whole milk
grey coarse sea salt
fresh cracked black pepper
beef stock
7 oz. aged cheddar cheese
1-3 thai bird chile
Gou Qi Zi (goji berries) – ½ cup
Da Zao (red dates) – ¼ cup
*you can get goji berries at Whole Foods or you can get both the goji and the red dates at a Chinese Herbal pharmacy



(lamb on the left and beef on the right)

Instructions:

1. Prep Work : Peel potatoes and chop into large chunks (meanwhile boil salted water to put them in). Mince 3 garlic cloves (more if you want!), chop onion coarsely, chop green pepper into 1 cm cubes, chop tomato into small squares (it will cook away), peel carrots and chop into little squares (if you want larger chunks go for it). Pre-boil green peas for 10 mins – strain and set to side.

2. If the Gou Qi Zi and the Da Zao are dried as you will likely find in the U.S., then rehydrate them in water for at least one hour, then strain and drain out the water. Chop up finely both the Gou Qi Zi (Goji Berries) and the Da Zao (Red Dates). You will need to cut the red dates in half and de – pit them before mincing.

(red dates on the left and goji berries on the right)


(you will need to make sure the red dates are properly de-pitted)

3. Put 1-2 tbspns of olive oil or other cooking oil in a pan, put it on medium heat, place garlic in first and saute until it starts to cook, add the onions, put on a low heat and let both cook until the onions begin to become translucent. Add in 1-2 chopped Thai bird chiles or other spice if desired. Add in the goji berries and the red dates and continue cooking for a few more minutes as the onions soften more and the dates and goji berries begin to meld into them. Add the chopped carrots and the green peas, keep cooking (add oil if it is beginning to stick at this point). Add the chopped green pepper. Once everything has begun to meld together more, add salt and pepper to taste (rec’d: 2 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper to start).


4. At this point your pan should contain a very nicely melded and cooked base, keep stirring (don’t let it stick), add the beef & lamb, mince it with the spatula and keep stirring! Once the beef and the lamb are nicely minced and cooking with everything, add one chopped tomato. Stir it up. Add 1 cup beef stock. Keep stirring and cooking (you will be cooking this on the pan from start to finish for 25 mins). Let the liquid cook down a little bit, add more if there isn’t enough (you want it to look moist with some juice but not soupy). Add more salt and pepper to taste (TASTE at this point).


5. Meanwhile your potatoes have cooked in boiling water, strain them, leave a little cooking liquid, add butter, salt, pepper, milk and MASH. Set to the side.


6. Your base should have continued cooking, you should have tasted it by now to make sure it’s salty and savory enough. Add mushrooms at this point. Stir them in until they are just cooked. Turn off heat and let it cool.


7. Place base in two medium sized pirex baking pans or one large one. Add the potatoes, smooth over with a fork.



8. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.

9. Grate cheddar cheese on the potatoes into a thin layer.


10. Put in oven and cook for 20 mins. Broil the last 3-5 mins to brown the cheese on top but make SURE you watch so that it does not burn, remove once it is browned (this could take less than 5 mins).


11. Let it cool 10 mins and ENJOY!


(all those dark spots are where the juiciness has seeped through the potato layer and come out on top to entice you to slice in and enjoy..)


(another version - I made about 4 casseroles of this a week ago!)

Servings: makes two medium size casseroles or one large and will feed 2-3 people for 2-3 meals, depending on appetite. Or, 4 people for one meal.

Building with Black Beans

Some of you may be happy to know that black beans are medicinal in many interesting ways. One of those ways is something I've mentioned here before and will likely keep mentioning, they are good for your blood. I feel like I may need to explain this whole "good for your blood" thing a bit more as it is becoming a common thread and it may seem a bit vague and possibly vampiric. I've mentioned it in the beef noodle soup, beet, and mochi postings. As you may recall in the beet piece I touched on how Aphrodite was the goddess of beets and that it was said that this was because beets were good for beauty, well blood is your beauty in essence. In fact, it is your essence, and just so happens to be a very important thing to nourish. This does not mean you have to be blood deficient (ie. anemic or anything along those lines) in order to take care of this blood thing. Rather, it's something that you maintain always so that you keep your bases/building blocks stable, healthy, and yes, beautiful (for men & women!) for as long as possible. In TCM blood is considered one of the essential building blocks (in fact, it is likewise in western/modern medicine as well) and it is not just the stuff that oozes out when you cut yourself, but it is the body's sustenance. Your body's daily culinary feast is blood. Therefore, I'd say you need to make that blood pretty good in order for your body to be happy. I won't get too technical beyond this (though it would be fun for me to), but if any of you want more details and more technicality, ask/comment away! Now that we're done with the good for your blood thing..

Back to black beans. They are a part of the legume family and legumes are considered drying and diuretic in general. Each bean has it's separate characteristics within this. The black bean while diuretic, is also warming and sweet in nature, builds fluids and blood in the body, and is supportive of your kidney and reproductive function. Some examples of situations to eat lots of black beans: (during times of blood loss) pre and post menstrual cycle, post-partum, post-surgical; for lower back pain (you would have to eat them for a long while, 3-4x/week minimum); anemia; and infertility. Separately, black bean juice can be used for hoarseness, hot flashes, kidney stones, and urinary difficulties. There are more situations but this is a general outline which should be a good start. You can simply eat black beans to give your blood a boost once in a while, and just because they are tasty!

Black beans are thought to be native to Mexico and appeared some 7,000 years ago. There are a million ways to prepare them and many things to likewise pair them with. I cooked a simple version of black beans last night and paired them with a slow stewed piece of osso bucco (you can pair them with chicken, steak, fish, up to you!). Here is how I did it:

1. Ingredients: 1.5 lbs of dried black beans (this will feed 10 people!), onion, garlic, powdered cumin, fresh oregano (excellent digestive and consequently much like garlic, an anti-microbial), cilantro, bay leaves, salt, pepper, chile morita (you can use serranos, jalapenos, dried chili flakes, up to you), vinegar, 1-2 tomatoes
** I was missing celery and some cured pork fat in my opinion, I strongly suggest you add them (if you do add cured pork fat or celery - you should at the beginning so they stew slowly with the beans)





2. Rinse the beans a few times and make sure there are no pebbles or straggling bits of earth. Soak the beans for a minimum of 4 hours or overnight (covered in 2 inches of water). I soaked them 4 hours and they turned out fine but overnight will likely give them that extra flavor. The idea is to rehydrate them so that they remain intact and therefore nutritious during a slow boil.




3. Since I used dried chile moritas, I had to soak them in water while the beans soak too.




3. Once the beans are done soaking you will notice that the water has turned a beautiful dark color. This is where many cooks/chefs will diverge on theory. Do you throw the water out or not? Some say yes in order to avoid the flatulence factor. The rest (and I am with those) say no, that's hogwash, and the water has harnessed a beautiful dark color and flavor for a reason. I kept the water. Here is how it looks:





4. Next, you start this bountiful bean feast boiling, put the pot on the stove with the soaked beans AND their juice (if the water line is below one inch, please add so there is at least one inch above the bean line), add all the ingredients: crushed garlic (I put in 4-5 cloves, you can add more/less to taste), 2-3 bay leaves, 1 tspn cumin, 1 chopped up onion (it cooks down so it can be a rough chop), 3-4 cilantro stalks chopped up with the root and the leaves, 1 tbspn or more of oregano leaves, salt, pepper, I added a chicken bouillon cube (if you have cured pork fat, no need to add this), 1 chopped up tomato, 3 rehydrated chilis, approx a tbspn of vinegar. Bring to a high boil for 5 mins then reduce to a simmer for at least 2 hrs (3 is a good amount however). Recipes are very hard to translate into what your water is like, your stove is like, etc, and also what your taste is, so please please just play with this, taste, check, then taste and check again! The beans should not get dry ever so add water when they start sucking it all up. You want it somewhat brothy but this is not a black bean soup, it's a black bean dish. Moist but not dry.





5. Your beans should be done in 2-3 hours, you can let them simmer for longer if you want. TASTE them and decide for yourself. Some people like them beanier (more bean roughness), some like them mushier like peas. Up to you. At this point you will want to make what is referred to as the sofrito, which consists of what you started with at the beginning. There are many variations on sofrito much like most recipes, so you can play with this as well. They even sell it in bottles in the Mexican or Latino-catered stores. If you are making it from scratch, mince up 4-5 cloves garlic, 1/2 - 1 onion, 1 tomato, cilantro, a green pepper, olive oil, salt, pepper, and blend - you can add as much as you deem necessary (to taste) to your black beans. If you have leftover sofrito you can freeze it and use another time. Here is a link to a few more recipes for this:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sofrito/Detail.aspx

6. During this whole bean thing you should have cooked what you chose to accompany the beans, I cooked rice, a slow simmered osso bucco, and I also added a garnish and sliced avocado. I like a good garnish to bring out the flavors of a dish sometimes using what was originally in the dish. A quick digression here, I am currently reading Bill Buford's book Heat and he mentions that Mario Batali calls this type of garnish a "high note", I quite like this reference as it is indeed the high note of the dish bringing out all the other notes. In Thailand they often do this, adding a bit of raw to a cooked dish whether that is vinegar or a garnish. For this dish, I prepared a garnish of cilantro, vinegar, onion (minced), and sea salt. I added a dollop of that to each plate on top of the beans, along with the rice, bit of meat, and sliced avocado. Oh and of course, I served a hot sauce on the side (Franks, which is vinegary and not so hot).





Other ideas for black bean dishes: black bean salsa in the summer, black bean hummus (I'll definitely do that one next), black bean and corn soup, and on and on. I hope you enjoy some black beans next time you're feeling the need to build yourself up a bit. I woke up feeling great today post black bean feast.

**Medicinal note: some signs and symptoms of "blood deficiency" as per TCM are brittle nails, dry skin, scanty menses (for women), brittle hair, thirst/dry mouth

ADDENDUM RECIPE:

After cooking with the black beans, a few weeks later, I decided to go for it again but this time I did it with Flor de Mayo red beans (similar medicinal value to black beans), I added two smoked pork hocks, corn, carrots (towards the end so they didn't disintegrate), celery, Thai chili's (instead of chipotle since the pork is smokey enough and I wanted more kick) and extra onion - otherwise the recipe is exactly the same as above and you should follow those steps. This I must say turned out amazingly well and I liked it even better, you have to cook the hocks in the beans for at least 3 hours so they get soft (and they impart a lovely smokey flavor), take them out and slice up and place back in the beans, served with sliced avocado and a dollop of yogurt (in lieu of sour cream).

Beef Noodle Soup - good for your blood & digestion!

I owe the inspiration to cook this at home to my friend Enisha - before this I always enjoyed eating Thai beef noodles, but I had never made them at home and I loved making a plethora of other noodles. Now beef noodle soup is at the top of my noodle dishes when having a noodle attack! Since the weather is still slightly cool and it's very important to eat warm foods when it's cold outside to protect your digestion, I am still making soups. In the middle of winter I'll tend towards a more hearty stew, but Thai beef noodles can be eaten in warm and/or cool weather because while they keep you warm they don't weigh you down.

Consequently, as I was making this soup I realized that a lot of the ingredients are very medicinal and while I have no idea if this was part of the thinking behind this soup, I was very excited to learn it! As I sit here typing the aroma of the beef neck that is stewing with all the spices and herbs is inspiring me further to share this dishes secrets!

This is by NO means the one and only way to make Thai beef noodles, and having researched it further - there are countless ways, in fact I am sure in Thailand you will find each beef noodle master to have their own little twist and secret. I know this because I have spent much time finding the "best" beef noodle soup in Bangkok, and each one has it's own nuances.

Here are the ingredients you will need:


1.Beef Neck (I love this cut but it's difficult to find - you can use many different types of beef, it depends on if you want to make the broth from scratch - IF you do, you MUST have bones on your meat. I've used short ribs and these work well but are more greasy and beef neck has a nicer shred in my opinion. If you are going to sidestep the 3-4 hours of cooking beef broth properly then you can buy some beef broth cubes or broth in a box or can and just buy a cut such as sirloin, skirt steak, etc, slice thin and add towards the end so it doesn't overcook and get chewy). **Medicinal note: cooking with the beef neck has the added bonus of getting a really rich broth from the marrow of the bone which is very good in conditions where you are weak, anemic, or post partum and post menstrual.



2. Garlic, Thai basil (it is more aromatic - but you can use sweet Italian as a substitute), fresh bean sprouts, morning glory (aka. water spinach) or pak kana (aka. Chinese broccoli), shallots, star anise, cinnamon bark, thick sweet soy sauce (you can use regular soy sauce if you don't have this), white pepper, fish sauce (aka. nam pla), lime, dried or fresh rice noodles (the thickness depends on your taste - I like sen lek which is the middle thickness (less than a fettucini and more than the thin string noodles).
**Medicinal note: star anise is good for the digestion and is a TCM herb, cinnamon bark is excellent for warming the kidneys and promoting circulation, basil is good for the digestion, white pepper can help in cases of diarrhea (considered a "cold stomach" in TCM), and garlic has endless uses (anti viral, anti bacterial, blood circulation, etc) but since it will be fried here it doesn't have as strong a benefit as if it were to be used raw (note: you need to smash the garlic and give it 15 mins. for the chemical reactions to take place to get the most medicinal benefit out of it - more on garlic later!).

Now, on to the next thing : HOW do you make these delectable noodles? Well, here are the steps and feel free to post questions if they are not clear enough.


1. Put beef neck (approximately 3-4 lbs depending on how many you will be cooking for but this will provide at least 8 hearty bowls of broth and beef with your noodles), in a big stock pot, covered in water. Add star anise (2-3 is sufficient, less if you don't like the taste of anise), 1 cinnamon bark (small size is fine), white pepper (1 tspn, you can add more to taste later), 1 tbspn of thick sweet soy sauce (if you use regular soy sauce, add 1 tbspn sugar). Bring to a rolling boil and let it simmer for a longgggg time (depending on how fresh the meat is) it should take about 2-3 hrs for the meat to begin to fall off the bone). Once it's cooked a while add some fish sauce to taste (but at least 1 tbspn if not more).

2. Meanwhile: soak the rice noodles (if they are dry) in water; slice up some shallots into thin half moons; slice up limes (NOT lemons which are yellow in color and much too sweet); wash the basil and leave on the stems; wash the bean sprouts; coarsely mince up some garlic and fry in vegetable oil so it's crispy then leave to the side in a small dish; make a small dish of prik nam pla with dried chile powder and fish sauce so you have a nice chile sauce for those that want more salt/more chile in their soup.
3. Cook the noodles for as long as the type you bought says and strain (at this point add the morning glory or chinese broccoli for the last 30 secs with your noodles), then add a small portion to each bowl, add raw bean sprouts on top, pour broth over it with pieces of shredded beef (avoid the star anise and cinnamon bark), serve to each person and have the following on the side to add as you individually please:
basil, lime, prik nam pla, crispy garlic, shallots

**Medicinal Note: Beef Noodle Soup is good for you if you are having trouble with your digestion and are experiencing excessive diarrhea or stomach cramps due to cold foods; it is also very good for those that are anemic, post partum, post menses, post surgergy where there has been blood loss.