Category: In the Kitchen

I’ve never managed to properly replicate the deliciousness of celery salad as found in Chinese restaurants. So I posed the question to the available authorities, and I have a new recipe to try out.

From a friend of my mother-in-law: De-string and cut celery into pieces. Blanch pieces in boiling water for 1 minute (leave heat on high for rolling boil) until bright green then shock in cold/ice water. Drain, then dress with salt mixed with sesame oil. Let sit a long while to absorb flavor. Drain off dressing and serve cold.

From LA Times:

1 smoked ham hock
5-6 cups water
1 cup dried black-eyed peas
1 tbsp sambal oelek or sriracha
1 chopped onion
1 chopped stalk celery
2 bay leaves
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 cup long-grain rice

In large saucepan, put hock and water and bring to boil. Skim foam, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 30 min. Wash and sort peas, then add to saucepan, and discard any that float. Add sambal oelek, onion, celery, bay, and thyme; simmer uncovered until tender but not mushy, 1-1.5 hrs. There should be 2 cups liquid remaining; make up any lack with water. Remove hock, shred meat, and stir meat back into beans with the rice. Cover and simmer without lifting lid, over low heat, 20 minutes. Remove from heat, and set aside still covered for 10 mins more, so rice steams. Remove cover, fluff, and serve. Ideally with collard greens.

From LA Times:

2 cups (8oz) cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup plus 6 tbsp softened butter
3 egg yolks
juice and finely grated zest of 1 orange
2 heaping tbsp orange marmalade
1 tbsp vanilla

garnishes: mascarpone and heavy cream whipped together, candied orange peel

Heat oven to 350F. Lightly grease and flour a 9″ Bundt pan. In bowl of stand mixer, whisk flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Add butter and mix using paddle attachment, until butter fully incorporated.

In separate bowl, beat yolks, juice and zest, marmalade, and vanilla. With mixer running, slowly beat in half the egg mixture until incorporated, then beat in the second half.

Spoon batter into pan and bake till puffed and lightly browned, and toothpick in center comes out clean (50-60min). Rotate halfway through for even coloring. Cool on a rack.

Tasty, easy, easier on dietary restrictions than the chocolate-and-heavy-cream sort.

ONE: mac nuts, pepitas, dates, walnuts
1 cup walnuts
1/2 cup pepitas
1/2 cup macadamias
1.25 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
2 cups pitted dates
2 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup cocoa powder

Buzz walnuts, pepitas, mac nuts and 1 cup coconut until finely crumbled. Add dates, oil, salt and vanilla, and buzz till it looks like wet sand. Roll into tbsp balls. Roll in cocoa and last coconut. Lay on a parchment lined tray and freeze at least 30 mins. Serve room temp. Makes 20.

TWO: figs, apricots, almonds, spices
http://altonbrown.com/sugarplum-recipe/
6 ounces slivered almonds, toasted
4 ounces dried plums
4 ounces dried apricots
4 ounces dried figs
Whizz all this into bits but not paste in the processor. Then mix in
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon anise seeds
1/4 teaspoon caraway seeds
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
Pinch of kosher salt
1/4 cup honey
Make into wee balls (makes 80 he claims, i got more like 40), lay out on parchment, and roll in:
1 cup coarse sugar

Plus bonus recipe for booze (Rudolph’s Nose):
2.5 cups Ransom Old Tom
1/3 cup velvet falernum
1.25 cup cranberry shrub
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 oz Angostura

mix, strain into a pitcher, serve rocks. Makes 10. To make shrub: heat 2 cups apple cider vinegar and 2 cups sugar, stirring till dissolved. Add 2 cups cranberries or 1 cup unsweetened juice, 2 oz clove and 4 crushed star anise (seems like a lot of spice), and reduce by 1/3.

from a magazine I read in a doctor’s waiting room… not that I see any cause for deviation from the WASPy classic I always make.

cress-horseradish
roast pepper-thai chile
tomato-pimenton
olive-garlic
smoked salmon-radish
miso-sriracha-sesame
avocado-anchovy-caviar

scribbled on a sheet of paper that’s kicked around for *cough* years probably *cough*

1 cup vinegar (half rice, half white)
2 cups water
3 tbs sugar
3 tbs salt
pickling spice (coriander, turmeric, cumin, mustard, bay, chile)

4 large pitted dates
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tsp lemon zest (optional)
2 tbsp tahini
1 tsp crushed red chile flakes (mine are old and dead so I added also a dash of Penzey’s Berbere powder)
1/4 tsp sea salt
8 stalks celery, cut thin on the bias (I also included lots of robust leaves)
1/2 cup roughly chopped parsley
1/4 cup roughly chopped mint
1/4 cup slivered almonds

Put dates in a bowl, pour over 1/2 cup boiling water and let sit 10 mins. Whizz up dates and soaking liquid with lemon juice, zest, tahini, chile, and salt. Add the celery and herbs and almonds, mix up.

from a friend:

White Tuna (in water)
Apple (sweet-tart)
Cauliflower
Celery
Pickles (for real, yo)
Celery Salt
Black Pepper
Mustard (dijon)
Mayo
Lemon
Balsamic Vinegar
Maple Syrup

Take the apple, cauliflower, celery, and pickles and chop up into small happy pieces and throw them in a big bowl. Mix in a few cans of tuna, as little or as much as you like. I generally do more veggies than tuna. Plop on a nice dijon mustard and mayo. Add a couple tablespoons of maple syrup, lemon juice, vinegar, a couple shakes of pepper and celery salt. Mix it all together.