Kale and Cucumber Salad with Roasted Ginger Dressing

Posted on January 16, 2017 by melsmosaic

Does the name of the recipe not say enough? This was from a recent issue of Bon Appetit. Kale, love it, cukes, well, I will say I don’t absolutely love them solo (not as much as tomatoes), but when with other stuff, bring them on, and I love ginger. And, I’d never roasted it.

Ingredients

Dressing
8 ounces fresh ginger
1 green or red Thai chile (I used a couple dashes of tabasco b.c of my low heat tolerance)
1 garlic clove
3 tablespoons fish sauce
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons vegetable oil (I used olive oil)

Salad
1 bunch small Red Russian kale, ribs and stems removed, leaves torn into bite-size pieces (ended up using baby kale)
1 English hothouse cucumber, very thinly sliced
3 Persian cucumbers, very thinly sliced
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons sugar
Kosher salt
1 bunch cilantro, coarsely chopped (love cilantro)
¼ cup store-bought fried onions (nixed these)

Preparation

-Heat broiler. Broil ginger in its skin, turning once, until very dark brown and beginning to scorch in places and a paring knife passes through the center with relative ease, 40–50 minutes (if skin is getting too dark before flesh is tender, turn down the heat or move to the oven). Let cool; slice (leave on the skin).

*This really does take this long, and I had a smaller piece. I would highly recommend putting it on foil on your baking sheet as it can ‘scar’ the thing — make major black marks. I’m not saying cookie sheets are all about looks, but it does leave evidence of what was there. Come the end, the skin of the ginger is very crackly and also bulbous, is the best way to say it. Quite cool! Forgot to take a picture.

-Pulse ginger, chile, garlic, fish sauce, sugar, oil, and 2 Tbsp. water in a food processor, adding additional water by tablespoonfuls if needed, until a smooth paste forms.

Do Ahead: Dressing can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and chill.

Assembly

-Toss kale and ¼ cup dressing in a large bowl to coat; massage with your fingers until kale is slightly softened.

-Toss English and Persian cucumbers, onion, lime juice, and sugar in a medium bowl to combine; season generously with salt. Let sit 10 minutes to allow cucumbers and onion to soften slightly.

-Add cucumber mixture to bowl with kale and toss to combine, adding additional dressing if desired. Serve topped with cilantro and fried onions.

This was a very nice salad — very fresh! Can definitely be paired with a variety of food. It’s fairly light and has a great flavor. And fun to make since the roasted ginger isn’t your everyday affair. And a side note, it was enjoyed with the wild boar burgers highlighted in another post.

Ginger Cubed/Power of 3 Biscotti

Posted on January 23, 2016 by melsmosaic

Technology is great…but sometimes you can’t type the proper stuff. The title of the blog should read Ginger $3 Biscotti. Ok, I feel so relieved now this is coming across better! This biscotti has three types of ginger is why that 3 is so important. Anyway\dotsbiscotti is one of my favorite things to bake because it can be made with no dairy, so those of us who are lactose intolerant/lactards can enjoy it! I hadn’t made this ‘flavor’ recently so had to break it out.$

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
¾ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated (I have found some great stuff jarred stuff at the Asian market that is handy to just have on hand)
1/3 cup crystallized ginger, chopped (Trader’s Joes or Whole Foods bulk)
1 cup pecans, chopped

Directions:

-Preheat the oven to 375. Blend the flour, sugar, ground ginger, baking powder, baking soda, and salt briefly with an electric mixer (I love my KitchenAid).

-Blend in the egg, vanilla, fresh and crystallized ginger. Finally add the nuts, and might need some water, too. Blend until dough is good texture to put into logs.

-Grease a large baking sheet (oh silpat, I love you). Divide the dough in half and roll each half into a log. Transfer the logs to the baking sheet, leaving space between the logs.

-Bake until the logs are firm to the touch, about 30 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and reduce the temperature to 325. Wearing an oven mitt to hold the logs in place, use a serrated knife (pizza cutters actually work a heck of a lot better) to cut them crosswise on the diagonal into 1/2-3/4″ thick cookies.

-Lay the cookies on one side and return the baking sheet to the oven. Bake until the biscotti are crisp, 5 to 10 minutes. Cool the biscotti on racks and store in an airtight container.

**at this point I actually just turn the oven off and let them stay in the oven until I’m ready to eat them. I also put them on a rack on the cookie sheet so they get the heat on both sides during the second bake.

I have been making these for years and love them. Can never go wrong with biscotti, from dunking them in coffee to wine to just munching on them for snacks.

Tuna Steaks, Ginger and Broccollini…oh yeah!

Posted on September 30, 2015 by melsmosaic

Dinner time, new recipe, bring it on. Found something with some Asian flair that had to be tested recently.

Pan-Seared Tuna Steaks with Ginger Vinaigrette, from Food & Wine

Ingredients

5 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
5 tablespoons sake
2 1/2 tablespoons mirin
3 tablespoons minced shallot
1/2 tablespoon finely grated peeled fresh ginger
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
Pepper
1 bunch of Broccolini, trimmed
Two 1-inch-thick yellowfin tuna steaks (grabbed frozen Ahi from Trader Joe’s)
2 teaspoons toasted white sesame seeds
Lemon wedges, for serving

Directions

In a small saucepan, simmer the soy sauce, sake, mirin and shallot until the liquid is slightly reduced, 3 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in the ginger. Slowly whisk in 1/4 cup of the oil. Season with salt and pepper.
In a steamer basket set in  a large saucepan of simmering water, steam the Broccolini until tender, about 6 minutes. Transfer to plates.
Meanwhile, in a large nonstick skillet, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil. Season the tuna with salt and pepper. Sear over high heat until golden brown but still rare within, about 30 seconds per side. — Ok, I actually had a BBQ to use to I did this thing called grill the tuna. Short, sweet, to the point. Delicious!

Transfer to a paper towel–lined plate to drain. (So didn’t have to do this part).

Slice against the grain and transfer to the plates. Drizzle with some of the vinaigrette and sprinkle with the sesame seeds.

Serve with lemon wedges and the remaining vinaigrette.

To be honest, I almost forgot the brocollini because there was so much going on in the kitchen and I don’t serve stuff just like the recipe, but then I realized something was missing. This was a great combo of flavors, and I often forget about brocollini. Was pretty quick to make, too. So, give it a try if you’re looking for something new.

Mixed Beans with Peanuts, Ginger and Lime

Posted on September 12, 2015 by melsmosaic

Got together with friends to make a feast recently and found a tasty-sounding Bon Appetit recipe to try — Mixed Beans with Peanuts, Ginger and Lime.

Made a couple changes in the recipe because of nuts, lack of beans, and other stuff.

2 pounds mixed snap beans (such as green, wax, haricots verts, and/or Romano), trimmed — used straight frozen green beans from Trader’s Joe’s
½ teaspoon kosher salt, plus more
5 tablespoons olive oil, divided
½ large shallot, finely chopped
1 1-inch piece ginger, peeled, finely grated
1 lemongrass stalk, tough outer layers removed, finely grated on a Microplane
2 garlic cloves, finely grated
½ teaspoon ground coriander
Freshly ground black pepper
⅓ cup salted, roasted peanuts — used cashews vs. peanuts
3 kaffir lime leaves, finely chopped — I went to 4 stores, including international markets, and couldn’t get these. The guys at both the Mexican markets and Asian markets laughed at me. I thought that was comical myself that they didn’t carry them.
1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
¼ teaspoon sugar
⅓ cup (packed) cilantro leaves with tender stems, plus more for serving

Preparation

Working in batches by type, cook beans in a large pot of boiling salted water until crisp-tender, 1–4 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a large bowl of ice water; let cool. Drain and pat dry.

Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in a small skillet over medium and cook shallot, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3 minutes. Add ginger, lemongrass, garlic, and coriander and cook, stirring, until very fragrant, about 1 minute. Transfer to a large bowl; season with salt and pepper.

Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in same skillet over medium-high. Cook peanuts, tossing often, until golden brown and fragrant, about 2 minutes. Transfer to paper towels; let cool, then coarsely chop. Set aside 1 Tbsp. peanuts for serving.

Whisk kaffir lime leaves, lime zest, lime juice, sugar, ½ tsp. salt, and remaining 3 Tbsp. oil into shallot mixture. Add beans, remaining peanuts, and ⅓ cup cilantro and toss to coat; season with salt and pepper. Serve topped with more cilantro and reserved peanuts.

It was good, but nothing that exciting. Don’t know if the lime leaves are what would totally bring it in. Glad I made it, would not discount making it again, but not top of my list.

No Recipe Green Sunday Dinner

Posted on March 17, 2014 by melsmosaic

Last night I wanted to make a pre-St. Patrick’s Day dinner, color-wise. I had done an Irish brunch so needed something lighter but wanted a green theme. I assessed what I had in my kitchen and off I went.

Started with some green olives to nibble on while prepping. Then went for some scallops with ginger, garlic and green onions, some Brussels sprouts (with pistachios) and arugula with grapefruit.

The key to the taste of this was some sesame oil!

Put some of that in a pan then added the green onions, garlic and ginger. My kitchen smelled SO good.

Then, I purposely used a big pan to (1) save time and (2) get some of those amazing, drool inducing flavors/tastes into both the scallops and Brussels sprouts.

Wanted to add some (more) tang to my arugula salad so added some grapefruit.

While all this was happening, had some kale chips going — just tore some kale, tossed in olive oil, sprinkled with salt and baked at 400 for 10 minutes. I put the kale on a rack so I don’t have to flip it.

Opened up a red from Italy that I’d had for awhile to serve with dinner — amazing! Osel Ruche.

Final product all around was AMAZING. Plenty of green on the plate — green kale, green arugula, green Brussels sprouts, green pistachios (tossed with them), green onions, green olives for apps. Love just throwing stuff together!

Where’s My Stash?

Posted on October 18, 2013 by melsmosaic

I am referring to tea here…and I found it! I had never been a huge tea drinker but a few years ago I was introduced to Stash (tea) and I finally found a taste for the stuff.

They have a huge range of options, from green to black to ginger to chocolate. Last week I found out they are based in Portland and got to check out one of their main stores. They were offering a couple seasonals so I had to pick them up.