Recipes by Ingredient + Prep – Page 36 – Writing With My Mouth Full

Ramps Fried Rice

Now that everyone knows what ramps are, I don’t have to go to Vermont to rummage for them or pay $5 for a bunch at Whole Foods. The farmers market have settled on the $2.50 price for each small bundle and more than one tent sells them now. I still find them pricey–the Spotted Pig still gets away with charging $13 for a plate of it–so I’ve gotten used to pickling my own every spring to make them last longer than a week.

After getting my first few bunches to welcome spring this year, I still had a couple to play with. With some pancetta in the fridge, I decided to add some cold rice to make a very onion-y fried rice. I matched it with some mâche tuna salad and lentil soup to make a hearty lunch box the next day.

Ingredients:
2 bunches of ramps, thoroughly washed, roots sliced off
a thin sliver of pancetta, diced
1 egg
1 cup of leftover white rice, crushed with the back of your spoon
salt, pepper

1. Sweat the pancetta in a skillet with some hot oil and continue to cook until a little browned. Toss in ramps, season with salt and pepper, and sauté until wilted.
2. Add rice and fry until warm. Crack the egg into the pot and mix with the rice until scrambled.

Tuna Sandwich

Call it pan-bagnat or Niçoise salad in a bun–I’m calling it a tuna sandwich.

The weather turned over the weekend and we scrambled for last-minute plans on Saturday morning. I woke the Dr. from a deep slumber to see if he wanted to get out of the city and hike. He wasn’t very happy when I found out that the last available Zip Car was parked in the garage five blocks from my apartment. He was grumbling when I fed him congee with preserved duck egg for breakfast; he was still grumbling when he drove almost an hour up to Cold Spring; and I swear he was still grumbling as we struggled up big rocks on Breakneck Ridge.

I had prepared these tuna sandwiches while waiting for him to pick me up. He was expecting a packed lunch in return after being disturbed from his otherwise uneventful Saturday, but I don’t think he knew he was going to get a very good one. I was glad when he couldn’t stop complimenting me about them. They not only woke him up; he didn’t mind having someone push him into having a good weekend after that.

Ingredients:
1 can of good tuna in olive oil
3 bread rolls, halved
2 eggs, hard-boiled, sliced
1 tomato, sliced
several pieces of olives, pitted
1 small red onion, sliced
a handful of maché or arugula

For the dressing:
2 anchovy fillets, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
oil, salt, pepper

1. In a small bowl, mix together the dressing ingredients except for the oil. Slowly drizzle in oil, whisking constantly.
2. Spread some of the dressing on one half of the bread. Top with tomato and onion slices, then with tuna, olives, greens and egg slices. Drizzle the remaining dressing. Cover with second bread half and firmly press sandwich together.
3. Wrap sandwich tightly in foil, waxed paper or plastic wrap, then place in a plastic bag. Put sandwich under a weight such as a heavy book. Unwrap, slice and serve immediately.

Carrot Top Soup

The last bunch of carrots I bought from the market came with very fresh tops. Usually, they’re too wet and limp from over-spritzing, but this time I couldn’t just chop and throw them away.

I remember a time when I was growing up in Manila and cooking. My Uncle Tony was quietly watching me slice some tomatoes. I sliced off the top, where the stem was, and then the bottom and discarded those parts. He asked me if they had gone bad and I said no. Why did you throw them out then? he retorted. Why did I throw them out? I think just because they were “ends”. From that day on, I have used an entire tomato as long as no part of it was too bruised to eat. I also string fresh beans diligently to avoid just chopping off the ends and wasting some flesh and I roast Brussels sprouts whole to keep all the leaves intact, leaving guests to remove the hard ends themselves while eating.

Eat the tops with the carrot and you won’t just get your dose of beta carotene: carrot tops are a great source of chlorophyll that contain cleansing properties to purify the blood, lymph nodes and adrenal glands and in turn clear tumors from our bodies. See? There was always a good reason why Bugs Bunny ate the entire thing.

Ingredients:
1 bunch of carrots, including the green tops, chopped
1/2 cup cooked rice
3 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock
a few sprigs of thyme
1 small red onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
oil, salt, pepper

1. In a small saucepan, heat some oil and sauté garlic until brown and onions until soft. Add the carrots and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the carrot tops with the thyme and cook until tops are wilted. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Add stock and let simmer, halfway covered, for up to 20 minutes or until carrots are tender. During the last 3 minutes, stir in cooked rice. Adjust taste with a few more sprinkles of salt and pepper.

Chicken-Shank-Chorizo Casserole

La Tienda is my new favorite online store. When a package of cooking chorizo arrived in the mail last week, I knew I had to make a very hearty stew with it, I just didn’t know with what. At Whole Foods, I debated if I should pay $13 for two duck confit legs. The current state of the economy won out and I picked up four chicken legs instead for less than $4. I splurged on a $7 ham shank though because I didn’t want the good chorizo to be alone in the pot.

While cooking, the entire apartment smelled really good. Sautéing the chorizo with the garlic and onions was my favorite part, right after uncovering the pot after two hours of braising time. It was delicious with rice for dinner and it will be delicious tomorrow with pasta for lunch.

Ingredients:
1 ham shank
4 chicken legs
4 pieces of cooking chorizo, chopped
4 ribs of celery, chopped
4 carrots, peeled, chopped
4 small potatoes, peeled, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
4 sprigs of thyme
oil, salt, pepper

1. In a large Dutch oven, heat some oil and brown chicken legs on both sides. Remove them to a plate. Add a little bit more oil and brown the ham shank on all sides. Remove to the same plate.
2. In the same pot with the rendered fat, sauté the garlic and the onions. Add the chorizo and the potatoes and cook until slightly browned. Stir in the celery and the carrots with the thyme.
3. Add back the chicken and the shank. Add enough water to submerge the meats and let simmer. Season with salt and pepper. In the meantime, preheat the oven 350º. When the oven is ready, transfer the pot, covered, inside and braise for up to 2 hours. Carefully remove the pot from the oven and uncover. Stir and serve with rice, pasta or crusty bread.

Kale and Bacon Salad

I saw a bunch of lacinato kale at the market and I immediately thought of the delicious salad I had at Lupa over the holiday season. At the time, I didn’t know there were other kinds of kale because I’ve only seen the curly ones in Harlem. It turns out kale is classified by leaf type and lacinato is also known as black cabbage. It’s crispier and can be eaten raw, where as the curly ones need to be cooked down or else the leaves are too tough to chew.

The Lupa salad used guanciale, or unsmoked pig’s cheeks. I made do with a slab of bacon sliced thinly because I didn’t want to spend too much money after paying only $2.99 for the bunch of kale. The kale was also roasted but I left that out here to make the recipe even more simple. This might not be hefty to be its own course, but it sure was a good starter.

Ingredients:
1 small bunch lacinato kale, washed, leaves torn from hard stalks, chiffonade
6 to 8 strips of bacon, chopped
juice from 1 lemon

1. In a skillet, render some fat by frying the bacon. Cook until bacon pieces are brown and slightly crispy. Remove from pan using a slotted spoon. Set the fat aside.
2. Put the kale leaves in a big bowl and toss them with lemon juice using your hands.
3. To serve, put a handful of kale on each person’s plate. Sprinkle with bacon and drizzle with some of the fat for extra moisture.