Saturday, July 23, 2011

chin chin...

was really very good. some of the best food of the year without question. but you've heard all that before. if you like the idea of getting together with some mates, picking at very nice asian food and drinking some original cocktails, you should get there.

the real reason for the post is to share a recipe (well, as close to a recipe as you get here). work has been off the scale - hell fortnight is over as of yesterday. i managed, between crises, talks, training and complaining, to order a box. it's been a while cos i've been jetting around the country a bit lately, and so box ordering gets patchy.

anyway, the recipe...this week's box had some massive spring onions in it (to be honest, i'm not certain that they weren't smallish leeks). a dish on relatively high rotation during the warmer months is inspired by a side-recipe in the cook's companion. stephanie describes a spring onions sauce that she puts over white-cooked chicken, often on boxing day.

the idea is to finely slice a fair number of spring onions, add a little finely chopped or grated ginger and/or garlic. then, heat up some peanut oil until it is almost ablaze. really. you want it smoking hot. when it gets there you pour it over the spring onions - there will be spitting and sizzling, but the spring onions cook a bit, and release some umami. to up this, you then add a splash or two of light soy sauce, a bit of chinese rice wine and maybe half a teaspoon of sesame oil. stir it all together.

for me, this gets pureed over some shredded/slices poached chicken boobs (i make a fake master stock to do the poaching) and some finely sliced snow peas or green beans. when eating it can, not surprisingly, get a bit oily, so i often make a quick 'salickle' (cross between a salad and a pickle - actually that doesn't really work does it now that it is written down...) with cucumber/carrot/daikon. i only had box carrots but this was fine.

the whole thing is served with steamed rice, and looks like this...


it is actually much more appetising than it looks, and could easily be vegetarianised (it would be great with either fried or fresh chunks of tofu). this was one of those rare moments for me where it was exactly what i wanted...plenty of 'frunch' (fresh/crunch - i am tired), and very tasty. after not cooking anything for myself for about a week, it was a nice change.

chat soon

p

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