Wok Wednesdays: The Breath of a Wok | Uncle Sherman’s Home-Style Chicken and Vegetables

This week's recipe is chock full of vegetables. We have bok choy, mushrooms, broccoli, and cauliflower, though any vegetable can be used; preferably in season vegetables for best flavor.

Mise en place.

Bowl 1: Chicken, ginger, garlic, cornstarch, soy sauce, oil, salt

Bowl 2: Bean sauce

Bowl 3: Ginger, garlic, broccoli, cauliflower

Bowl 4: Bean sauce

Bowl 5: Water

Bowl 6: Bok choy, mushrooms

Bowl 7: Water

Bowl 8: Cornstarch, soy sauce, water

The bean sauce on its own is quite salty so I omitted the additional salt called for in the recipe. I should no better - Grace would not steer us wrong - the salt was needed in the end after all.

The flavor of this stir-fry is on the mild side, which would make for a great meal to expand a child's palate while introducing them to Asian cuisine.



We have been asked not to post the recipes on our blogs. Why don't you grab the book and join in on the fun, and become a Wok Wednesdays member. Everyone is welcome - bloggers and non-bloggers alike!

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Wok Wednesdays is an online group of wok devotees that are cooking through Grace Young's The Breath of a Wok.

Wok Wednesdays | Hakka-Style Stir-Fried Shrimp and Vegetables

WW wokking thru Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge
by Grace Young

This stir-fry is chok full of vegetables (my kind of dish!) and according to Grace, only a modest amount (by Western standards) of shrimp - a half pound - this to serve two to three people. However, I found the amount of shrimp to be just perfect. I would add more cabbage next time though, for I like cabbage.

 Mise en place.

Bowl 1: Garlic

Bowl 2: Carrot

Bowl 3: Shrimp

Bowl 4: Napa cabbage

Bowl 5: Broccoli, cauliflower

Bowl 6: Salt, white pepper

Bowl 7: Carrot water

Bowl 8: Carrot water, cornstarch

The carrots are first soaked in cold water for one hour before stir-frying; this, it is said, makes for a crisper carrot. The left over carrot water was also used in the stir-fry to add a little sweetness.

I was surprised how much flavor this dish had, with the only seasonings being salt, pepper, and garlic. Granted it had over a tablespoon of garlic! - that along with a little wok hei, made for a simple and tasty stir-fry.

We have been asked not to post the recipes here on our blog. If you would like the recipe, you will find it on page 175, of  Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge, which you can purchase at your local bookstore or find it at your local library. I highly recommend purchasing the book - you won't be disappointed.

Tavern Gazpacho

from The Black Dog: Summer on the Vineyard Cookbook
by Joseph Hall & Elaine Sullivan

When temps heat up, who wants to turn on the oven, stove, or even the grill? Certainly not me!

After I heard that it was going to be in the triple digits the following day, I decided it was going to be ice-cold gazpacho for dinner.

Gazpacho is a cold soup made up of raw vegetables and tomato juice.

This really could not be any simpler to make. You take a bunch (three pounds to be exact) of tomatoes, red onion, cucumber, red bell pepper, scallions, and celery, and chop everything up into small diced pieces. Toss into a large bowl or container and add some tomato juice (I like to use V8 - Spicy Hot), red wine vinegar, olive oil, Tabasco, some fresh basil, Worcestershire sauce and some salt (I omit the salt, for I find the V8 is salty enough on its own) and pepper. Give it a stir, and chill for several hours - preferably overnight.

Bam! You have dinner ready. How simple is that? Not to mention delicious!

This is the only gazpacho recipe I have made, and I think it is absolutely wonderful. 

Funny, I got this recipe from my sister, who has made other recipes in the past, and this is her favorite. The funny part is, she got it from my daughter, who got it on-line, then to find out I have the cookbook the recipe came from!

Do give this recipe a try. It really is refreshing on a hot day, and it's healthy to boot!

You can find the recipe on page 55 of The Black Dog: Summer on the Vineyard, or by clicking here.

The recipe calls for one quart of tomato juice. I always buy extra to add to the leftovers. Also, the recipe states it will serve six. That would be very generous portions. I placed my soup in a container with marked measurements, it registered at just over four quarts. I'm thinking this will serve closer to eight.

Book 114: The New Mayo Clinic Cookbook | Fresh Spring Rolls with Shrimp

 By Cheryl Forberg & Maureen Callahan

When it's too hot to cook, or even to light up the grill, what does one make for dinner besides salad?

Spring rolls! Similar to a salad, but more fun to eat. :)

I thought these would be the perfect meal to have, with temps hitting the one-hundred degree mark - I so was not going to turn on the oven. I did however have to turn the stove on to boil the water to cook the shrimp and soak the noodles in; but it was on only long enough for the water to come to a boil, and I turned the exhaust fan on to suck up the extra heat, so it wasn't too bad.

A few of the ingredients.

This is a must have tool! Shreds carrots beautifully. You could use a food processor, but for one carrot, it's not worth the clean-up. 

Here is the rice-paper before softening in water - it feels like plastic - actually reminds me of the floor mats that you place under your office desk chair - ha ha ha.

The recipe instructs you to lay down a double thickness of paper towels and lay the softened rice-paper on top and to turn once to blot dry. I chose to just dab the top with an extra towel, this may have been the problem I experienced with the rice-paper tearing and sticking - sticking is an understatement - I was unable to remove it from the paper towel. The rice-paper did not seem to stick to my cutting board as much (which just so happened to be recently oiled and waxed).

You first place the noodles and vegetables, which consist of cabbage, cucumber, carrot, bean sprouts and cilantro, on the bottom half of the rice-paper, then give it a roll half way, then place the basil leaves and shrimp, and finish rolling up. To serve, cut the rolls in half on the diagonal and place decoratively on a plate.

As the photo shows, I did have some issues with the rice-paper tearing.

The dipping sauce.

Dipping the roll into the sauce did not work to well - the filling wanted to fall out - it is much easier to spoon the sauce into the roll itself. 

These were tasty, though I enjoyed the recipe my sister made even more - or maybe it was the sauce I liked better; I did like using carrots and cucumber from the recipe I followed. The one my sister used was from Fine Cooking, and you can never go wrong with a Fine Cooking recipe - my all-time favorite magazine.  

I looked up the FC recipe to compare ingredients, and saw that the recipe was contributed by none other than Nancie McDermott! Not only an author of several Asian style cookbooks, but she is also a member of Wok Wednesdays!, the on-line wokking group that I am in! How cool is that? 

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Click here for the recipe!

WW: Stir-Fried Cumin-Scented Beef with Vegetables

Wok Wednesdays wokking through Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge
by Grace Young

The preparation of this dish was quite different from past recipes. Before beginning the actual stir-frying, the meat is first blanched quickly (15 seconds) in hot oil, then removed with a metal skimmer and placed on a paper towel-lined plate or bowl - this will ensure removal of any excess oil.

This blanching technique, called jau yau, or "passing through oil" makes the meat quite tender, not to mention that it gives my wok a beautiful sheen - much like when I give it a wok facial.

Though cumin is one of my favorite spices, I did miss the flavor that other stir-fries have from adding a broth mixture or hoisin sauce mixture at the end. 

The cauliflower was a nice change from the usual vegetables, and with the beef, carrots, and tomatoes, this made for a satisfying one-dish meal - no additional sides needed.

 Mise en place

Bowl 1: Oil 

Bowl 2: Flank steak, cornstarch, soy sauce, dry sherry, oil 

Bowl 3: Garlic, crushed red pepper

Bowl 4: Carrot, cauliflower, cherry tomatoes 

Bowl 5: Salt

Bowl 6: Cumin (One of my  f a v o r i t e  spices!)

Bowl 7: Scallions

Bowl 8: Salt

Oh how I miss the natural light of summer...

Well it certainly looked to be enough leftover for Andy's lunch the next day - but we finished it off. 

One rule of the Wok Wednesdays group is we are asked not to post the recipes here on our blog. If you would like the recipe, you will find it on page 74 of Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge, which you can purchase at your local bookstore or find it at your local library. You can also get the recipe here. However, I highly recommend purchasing the book - you won't be disappointed. 

 

Wok Wednesdays is an online cooking group. If you would like information about joining us, click here, or visit us on Facebook. Would love for you to wok along with us!

 

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WW: Vegetarian Five-Spiced Tofu

Wok Wednesdays wokking through Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge
by the fabulous Grace Young

This was such a beautiful looking stir-fry!

Grace recommends using fresh water chestnuts, for they are far more superior than the canned. She even suggests substituting jicama, Asian or Bosc pears, if fresh is unavailable. This I did not know - for I have a habit of reading the entire recipe at the time of prepping and not beforehand. If I had known, I would have made an effort to find fresh.

I normally pass on recipes calling for tofu. Never have been of fan of it myself, though my husband loves it. He thought it was good in this dish - me, I did not care for it. I thought it to be a bit tough and on the dry side.

The flavor of this stir-fry was on the mild side; it did not have the wow factor that I have come to expect from past recipes.

It's very rare that a recipe from this book doesn't excite me. Can't win them all I guess!

Stay tuned for our next WW recipe: Stir-Fried Chicken with Pineapple and Peppers

Mise en place.

Bowl 1: Five spice tofu

Bowl 2: Garlic

Bowl 3: Carrots, red & yellow bell peppers, mushrooms

Bowl 4:  Salt, pepper, sugar

Bowl 5: Soy sauce, dry sherry, sesame oil

Bowl 6: Water chestnuts, scallions, pickled ginger

Bowl 7: Cilantro

One rule of the Wok Wednesdays group is we are asked not to post the recipes here on our blog. If you would like the recipe, you will find it on page 205 of Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge, which you can purchase at your local bookstore or find it at your local library. I highly recommend purchasing the book - you won't be disappointed. 

 

Wok Wednesdays is an online cooking group. If you would like information about joining us, click here, or visit us on Facebook. Would love for you to wok along with us!

 

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TWD: Summer Vegetable Tart

Tuesdays with Dorie baking through Baking with Julia
by Dorie Greenspan

Phyllo/fillo/filo, however you want to spell it, it translates to leaf in Greek. As you can see, it is tissue paper thin of unleavened flour dough that is stacked in several layers to get a crisp and flaky crust.

You often see it used in Middle Eastern dishes, such as spanakopita - those spinach filled triangles, baklava - the nut filled pastry covered in honey, and one of my favorite dishes, bastilla (spelled several different ways) - the chicken and almond dish covered in phyllo and dusted with powdered sugar and cinnamon.

Using phyllo at home, I can take it or leave it - more likely to leave it. It is a pain to work with. You have to keep the sheets that you are not working with covered with a damp towel or they will dry out rather quickly and become unusable. And the sheets being tissue thin, they tear easily. You definitely need some patience to work with phyllo; and if you don't use it all, you can't refreeze it - it becomes brittle. So you have to use it up within two weeks time.

The filling for our tart is made from sautéed vegetables (onion, bell pepper, and mushroom), garlic, thyme, and goat cheese - my favorite! The recipe instructs you to gently stir in the cheese to the cooked filling to warm it up a bit, but not actually melt it. I opted to crumble the cheese over the phyllo before filling, and then again on top. I also added thyme, salt, and pepper to my cheese.

This tart has wonderful flavor, though next time I would opt for your typical tart/pie crust. I felt the phyllo was to light for the heaviness of the vegetables.

Success meter (1-3): 2.5

You start out by brushing clarified butter (I sprayed olive oil for this tart) on to the sheets and giving them a sprinkle of freshly ground pepper.

Here you can see just how thin the sheets of dough are. You continue the process of buttering and peppering your sheets one at a time until you have a total of eight layers.

All eight layers completed. Time to pre-bake the crust. This bakes for about ten minutes or until golden brown.

Fill with the sautéed vegetables and it's ready to serve. Personally, I don't find the crust visually appealing. It looks like parchment paper if you ask me.

Look at all those flaky layers.

I made a single serving as a trial run and found it awkward to handle the tart with the edges hanging so far over the pan. I also used butter (not clarified as the recipe instructs) this round to coat the sheets of phyllo. The butter version came out a bit more bronzed than the tart above sprayed with olive oil.

Anyone else's book falling apart from so much use?

Don't forget to browse the TWD LYL: Summer Vegetable Tart link, for other versions of this tart from all of the talented bakers in our group!

WW: Wok-Seared Vegetables

Wok Wednesdays wokking through Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge
by Grace Young

I wish there was something more to say about this dish, but there isn't other than it was quick, easy, and delicious, as most of Grace's recipes are.

Success meter (1-3): 3

I really wanted to use the cool tool - the kinpira peeler, for julienning the carrots, but I felt they needed be the same consistency as the asparagus (personal preference) so I julienned them the old-fashioned way - with a knife.

One of the rules of the Wok Wednesdays group is we are asked not to post the recipes here on our blog. If you would like the recipe, you will find it on page 223 in Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge, which you can purchase at your local bookstore or find at your local library. I highly recommend purchasing the book - you won't be disappointed. 

Wok Wednesdays is an online cooking group. If you would like to join us or just want more information, click here or visit us on Facebook.

Roasted Vegetable Quesadillas

Recipe from Moosewood Restaurant: New Classics

Much to my surprise, I found that I have not shared this recipe with you. I went to the search box of my blog to view the recipe for the ingredients so I could stop off at the store on my way home from work and it was not there! How could I keep this to myself for so long? I have made this several times, and always say to myself that I must share this recipe.

Well, now is the time.

This is a delicious, healthy, and quick dinner to prepare, even on a weeknight. The recipe is easily adaptable to your likes or dislikes, or to what you may have on hand. What vegetable does not taste irresistible roasted and sprinkled with cheese? Oh, and a little Sriracha Sauce if you, like me, like things spicy.

Success meter (1-3): 3 

I was going to add the extra cherry tomatoes that I had leftover from this recipe as well and forgot. That's OK. I'll add them to these leftovers to make what I hope is an awesome omelette tomorrow morning.

Yep, these are tasty.