stir-fried leafy greens

now that you feel all awesome and self-satisfied about voting (if you're in america, of course. and if you voted - DID YOU?!), you can keep the momentum going by making some healthy vitaminlicious greens for dinner. treat. yo. self.

this is a very basic method that works for all kinds of greens, although the more tender ones like baby spinach or something will take less time than the more brawny specimens. 

we went to the local asian market the other day to get things like japanese curry powder (to finally make katsu kare from scratch!) and pocky. pocky and gummy fruit candies are very necessary, particularly if you're being good and eating your greens.

i feel a little weird saying "asian market," because obviously asia is a gigantic continent with many different cultures and foods. however, this particular market, while leaning mostly toward vietnamese and chinese food (the japanese curry powder was in the "foreign foods" section), bills itself as the "premier asian grocery" of central texas, so whatever, haters. 

we also loaded up on frozen things like edamame and tofu skin (apparently you can make noodley things with it?) and lots of produce, like the adorable and tiny indian eggplants below (that's a reference quarter at the bottom - so tiny!). 

i got a ton of greens and greens-like things, because there's so much more variety than you find at typical supermarkets. the only problem is that they need to be eaten fairly quickly, so i've definitely been getting my nutrients this week. we got little baby bok choys, chinese broccoli (like broccoli rabe, but less bitter/spicy), yu choy (pictured below), and amaranth greens (which are pretty and delicious). 

i hadn't had yu choy before, but it's sort of like bok choy mixed with chinese broccoli. and it has pretty yellow flowers. to stir fry it, i used the basic template i almost always use with greens, which can be dressed up if you're going for the flavors of a particular cuisine.

the basic form is to cook lots of minced garlic and some chili flakes for about 30 seconds in some pretty hot oil, then add the greens and a little liquid and let things cook until the greens are tender (5-10 minutes, depending on heartiness). then if you're making southern-style greens, for instance, you could add some chopped bacon or smoked paprika and diced onion to the garlic/chili flakes mix.

in this case, i wanted to go more chinese in style, so i used about 2/3 garlic to 1/3 minced fresh ginger and added some soy sauce as the greens were cooking. once everything was just about done, i added some leftover cooked rice, toasted sesame seeds, a bit of rice wine vinegar and a little sesame oil.

when you're cooking something with relatively thick stems like this, it's a good idea to put the stem parts in first, let them cook a bit, then add the leaves. that way nothing gets too overcooked. in this case, i just chopped the yu choy into ~1 1/2 - 2 inch sections from the bottom of the stems up through the leaves. i added the stems to the hot pan after the garlic, ginger and chili flakes were getting nice and toasty and let them cook (with a tablespoon or two of water) for a minute or two before adding the leaves and a bit more water. then just let things cook until the greens are tender - this took about 7 or 8 minutes. it's not a big deal if it's not all perfectly separated into stems and leaves, though - think broad strokes.

this is a super-easy and very quick (going from washing the yu choy to eating it took about 10 minutes) and incredibly healthy. it's just what we all need to keep from worrying ourselves sick over this election. fingers crossed!

*ingredients*
~ 1 pound greens (yu choy, bok choy, kale, spinach, mustard, chard - ALL the greens are good)
5 - 6 cloves of garlic, minced
~ 1 - 2 tablespoons of minced ginger (i used a coin about a centimeter thick and 1 inch in diameter)
big ol' pinch of chili flakes (to taste)
~ 3 tablespoons water
~ 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce/tamari
1 - 2 teaspoons rice wine (or other) vinegar

the rest is optional, but good:
lots of toasted sesame seeds
~ 1 teaspoon sesame oil
sriracha
garlic chili sauce
mustard (it's a little weird, but it works. for me.)
leftover rice
some kind of cooked tofu/chicken, etc.

listening to: new mountain goats album! (duh)

arugula & almond pesto

SO. Springy. our yard is full of pretty and good-smelling flowers and i am so ready for backyard cookouts and trips to the beach. i also just took my last law school final EVER and i'm getting an iphone finally, so things are really looking up for old me. this pesto is just the kind of quick and easy spring pick-me-up that i want right now.

arugula has something of a weird reputation, i think. if you look up "arugula" and "liberal" together, there will be a great many results. i'm not sure why arugula is supposed to be more liberal-food than, say, baby spinach (aside from the David Kamp book and the manufactured Obama-elitism thing), but there you go. personally, i prefer to call it "rocket" like the british do. it sounds much cooler. 

this something-like-pesto is extremely simple and could no doubt be dressed up in any number of ways. i like to keep it basic and then use it on lots of different things - sandwiches, frozen pizza, and cheese & crackers are just a few of the things that benefit from the addition of a peppery and pleasantly bitter arugula spread.

you can probably make this with a mortar and pestle, but i found the food processor to be awfully quick and convenient. just blitz together a few handfuls of toasted almonds with 2 - 4 smallish cloves of garlic. it's good to break the garlic up a little before adding it to the processor to make sure it all gets incorporated together.

once the almonds and garlic are ground together (in tiny crumbs, not necessarily a paste), start adding the arugula (ROCKET!). i used about 3/4 of a 7 ounce bag, but it isn't rocket science (or is it?). also add some olive oil. this moistens everything and makes it more sauce-y. you will need perhaps 1/3 of a cup or less - i like to drizzle it in a little at a time while the processor is running.

to cut the bitterness a little, i added some orange juice - perhaps 1/4 of a cup or so - whatever came out of half of a fairly juicy orange. the acid in the juice also helps to keep the pesto a bright vibrant green.

that's it, really. blend everything together until it's at a good texture. if you want to thin it out, add more oil and/or juice. also add some salt, to taste. you could use some parmesan or asiago or something to make it more like traditional pesto, but i like using it on cheesy things (aforementioned sandwiches/pizza), so i like to keep it plain. 

it's a particularly great sandwich topping when mixed with a little cream cheese or soft goat cheese and spread generously onto nutty, seedy toast and accompanied by gruyere/cheddar cheese and some peppery turkey. or, you know, whatever.

*ingredients*
it might be obvious, but this is really only good if you really like arugula. it's pretty bitter, so it probably isn't for everyone. 
2-4 small cloves garlic
1/2 - 2/3 cups toasted almonds
5 ounces or so fresh arugula
1/3 cup olive oil (or more, to taste/texture preferences)
1/4 cup orange juice (or about 1/2 an orange's worth)
salt, to taste

listening to: rocket man (shatner, ftw!), saint etienne

beer-braised chicken, escarole, grapefruit, olives

wow, y'all, having a real-people job is tiring. i am totally not trying to complain, because i'm getting great experience in a field in which i want to practice, but man. once you add on the bus rides, i am suddenly gone for at least 45 hours a week. this has had a deleterious effect on the number of walkies the dogs get, as well as on my dinner-cooking.

the other day, however, i got off the bus for a brief 20 minute shopping expedition (so brief because that was the amount of time before another bus came). i wanted to make a quick and easy thing with some chicken thighs. they're great because they are more flavorful and less prone to drying out than are chicken breasts. also they're usually cheaper. so, bonus (especially since we always use humanely-raised chicken, which is more expensive but Worth It).

i decided to make a dish i think of as vaguely french - chicken sort of braised (in beer!) with oil-cured black olives, citrus, and greens. this time i used boneless, skinless chicken thighs, but it's great with regular ones. it just takes longer to cook. also sometimes instead of greens i use fennel and little potatoes. the citrus can be lemon or orange or something as well.

actually, i thought it was going to be orange in this dish, but what i remembered as an orange in our fridge turned out to be a grapefruit. luckily, it turned out to be more of a happy accident than a mistake, as the escarole and grapefruit really got along well. so well, in fact, that they are going to the movies this weekend and didn't even invite me. that grapefruit is such a friend-poacher.

who wouldn't love escarole, though? it shares a family line (chicory!) with things like endive, radicchio, and the chicory that so delightfully flavors new orleans-style coffee. like those other lovelies, it has a bit of a bitter edge that lets you know it means business. it's no baby spinach you're dealing with here.

but where cousin endive is a little buttoned-down and staid (all those leaves folded tightly together into a little bullet), escarole is frizzly and wild, letting its leaves go where they may with little regard for propriety. it's great in soups or as salad with maybe a hard-boiled egg vinaigrette and it's fantastic in this dish.

prep for this is really easy, as one would expect of any good weeknight dinner. just cut off the bottom stem thingy of the escarole and cut the leaves into about 1 inch lengths, moving up from the end.

the rest of the ingredients can be dispatched almost as simply. slice two cloves (or more) of garlic thinly and one medium shallot slightly less thinly. chop up some italian parsley. i actually leave the olives whole, but you could pit them if you want to be particularly fancy. use a microplane or similar to zest your citrus. i used the zest from about half of the grapefruit, as it's strong. if you use lemon, just chop it into eighths or something and don't bother zesting it first.

the citrus flesh (if you aren't using lemon) is the only part of this that could be a little fiddly. i like to cut the sections into supremes because i don't care for the membrane things around the meat part, especially when using grapefruit. if you want to just make thin slices going from pole to pole, however, i don't think it would be the end of the world. if you want to try your hand at supreming, here's a video. once you get the hang of it, it really doesn't take long.

once everything's cut up, heat a tablespoon or two of olive oil on medium-high heat in a pan large enough to hold all of the chicken thighs in one layer. once the oil's shimmery, add the chicken (put a little salt and pepper on it first). don't move it for a couple of minutes, then check a piece to see if it's browned. you're basically just trying to sear it, not cook it through at this point. flip once and brown on the other side. once both sides are brown, set the pieces of chicken on a plate to wait.

turn the burner down to medium-low (i think it was at about 5 on our dumb electric stove) and heat a little more olive oil if necessary. add the shallot, let it cook for 30 seconds or so, then add the garlic and let them both go for another 30 seconds. then add the escarole. as with so many greens, it'll look like a ridiculous amount when you put it in, but it wilts down a great deal as it cooks.

after about a minute or three (or whenever it starts looking a bit dry), add about half a bottle of beer. i used anchor steam, because that's what was in the fridge. i think any good normal beer would work. you probably don't want a stout or a miller chill, but anything in between would probably be good. i also sometimes make this with a dry white wine or some dry vermouth and chicken stock. so you have options, if you don't want to use beer. but the beer was really good in it.

then add the chicken back (i usually cut it into large chunks before this, so it cooks faster), as well as the olives and parsley, the zest, and the grapefruit. turn the heat down to lowish and let it cook partly covered for half an hour or so until the chicken is done. i usually just take a piece out and cut into it to check, but you could also use a thermometer to make really sure. taste the broth and add salt and pepper, if necessary.

this is good as a sort of stew, if you have lots of crusty bread to dip in the amazing sauce that forms when all of those bold flavors mix and mingle and get friendly-like. it would also be great on pasta or some little boiled potatoes. or rice. or quinoa.

basically, it's versatile, tasty and pretty quick. not too bad for a wednesday night dinner.

*the chicken in the picture above is a classic example of how you should do as i say, not as i do. i totally didn't sear the chicken first (although i usually do) and it was not as good. definitely go for the browning step. also you don't get a sense of how saucy this is because i had to take a picture before it was done. stupid early-setting sun.

*ingredients*

~ 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs (or more, if you are using regular chicken thighs)

1 head escarole

1 citrus fruit (grapefruit, orange, lemon)

2 cloves garlic

1 medium shallot

10 + oil-cured black olives (usually available in the fancy-olive section of the supermarket)

1/4 or 1/3 cup chopped italian parsley

1/2 a beer or similar amount of wine, stock, etc.

salt and pepper to taste