Recipes by Ingredient + Prep – Page 103 – Writing With My Mouth Full

Zucchini Chicken Salad

My parents buy their groceries in bulk. I found a box of Perdue smoked chicken breasts in the fridge and they turned out to be the perfect salad ingredient. This recipe is also good with leftover roasted chicken. I had a zucchini in the fridge which I thinly sliced and then I tossed a small bunch of spinach in the bowl at the last-minute. The result? A salad you can eat without any proding from your nutritionist.

Ingredients:
Perdue smoked chicken breasts, cut in smaller pieces
1 zucchini, thinly sliced
a bunch of spinach, thoroughly washed and roughly chopped
1 red onion, thinly sliced
lemon juice
salt, pepper, olive oil

1. Whisk lemon juice with olive oil in a bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste. Toss in the rest of the ingredients and let sit for a few minutes to let them marinate in the dressing.

Tomato and Feta Cheese Salad

My friend Stacie, who is Greek, taught me how to appreciate feta cheese. Feta is traditionally made from goat or sheep’s milk. It’s salted and brined and dries easily when drained. It’s the crumbly texture that makes it a perfect dressing for a tossed salad. I combined some feta cheese I bought with some beefsteak tomatoes. Drizzle some very good olive oil and you’ll have the perfect summer salad.

Ingredients:
beefsteak tomatoes, diced
fresh feta cheese, crumbled
baby Yukon potatoes
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
a squirt of lemon juice
a jig of red wine vinegar
salt, pepper, olive oil

1. Cook the potatoes in salted boiling water until tender. Drain and quarter them to smaller pieces.
2. Combine and toss all the ingredients in a big bowl and season to taste.

Tomato Pasta Salad

This is one of my favorite dishes to make in the summer when all kinds of tomatoes are in season. For this recipe, I use beefsteak tomatoes, a round and bigger type, because they’re not as juicy as the heirloom ones. I toss them with pasta shells to mimic the shape of the sliced tomatoes and then I add some boiled baby Yukon potatoes to make it heftier. It’s a great dish to pack in a Tupperware for the beach–all the carbohydrates will keep you alert even if you’re under the sun all day.

Ingredients:
pasta shells
beefsteak tomatoes, diced
baby Yukon potatoes
fresh mozzarella cheese, diced
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
salt, pepper, olive oil

1. Cook the pasta in boiling water for about 15 minutes. Drain and shock in an ice bath to stop its cooking.
2. Cook the potatoes in salted boiling water until tender. Drain and quarter them to smaller pieces.
3. Combine and toss all the ingredients in a big bowl and season to taste.

Kalbi, Korean-style Barbeque

I watched the boy make his own kalbi marinade for a barbeque party once. It’s so involved, that’s why people usually just buy it in a jar. Kalbi, or galbi, as some Koreans spell it, is really just short beef ribs cut across the bone. You can even leave them uncut but they’re easier to marinate and broil later if the bones are smaller. Filipino barbeque is as sweet as this Korean-style version, so I immediately knew my parents would like it. I went to the meat market and asked the butcher to cut the ribs lengthwise. I now make this marinade ahead of time and store it in a jar in the fridge. For more flavor, marinate the ribs for a day.

Ingredients:
2 pounds beef short ribs, cut lengthwise
1 cup soy sauce
2 tbsps white sugar
a jig of rice wine
3 tbsp sesame oil
1 knob ginger, minced
1 bulb of small garlic, minced
1 bunch of scallions, finely chopped
salt, pepper

1. Make kalbi marinade. In a small pot over low heat, slowly dissolve sugar in soy sauce. Slowly add small amounts of water to dilute the saltiness of the soy sauce. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
2. Massage meat with sesame oil and the rest of the ingredients in a glass baking pan. Add the marinade over the meat and let sit, covered with plastic wrap, for a couple of hours.
3. When ready to cook, broil in the oven for about 10 minutes.

Lugaw, Filipino-style Porridge

The Philippines is a tropical country but during the monsoon season, Filipinos stay in and make soup. Lugaw is heavier than plain soup because of the sticky rice that we use. I grew up eating it with leftover chicken meat to drive the flu away. Americans will compare it to rice porridge and the Chinese refer to it as congee; the Japanese okayu. No matter what you call it though, and whether you like it soupy or thick, this dish will make you feel better.

This version is the easy way using leftover white rice and store-bought chicken stock. To add some flavor, my friend Anna introduced me to Chinese pickled cabbage and stinky tofu. I spoon a teaspoon to each serving and skip the salt and pepper.

Ingredients:
2 cups of white rice, cooked
4 cups of chicken stock
1 preserved duck egg, sliced
2 stalks of scallions, roughly chopped
a handful of cilantro, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced, toasted
a drizzle of fish sauce
juice from 1 lime

1. In a saucepan, combine stock and rice and let simmer until hot. Toss in the scallions and the cilantro and mix. Season with fish sauce and lime juice.
2. Ladle in bowls and sprinkle with toasted garlic and top with sliced duck eggs before serving