MITCH IN THE KITCHEN

chilaquiles with eggs

Turning leftovers (perhaps Cinco de Mayo leftovers?) into breakfast is a practical way to go, especially when the delicious end result is chilaquiles. Stale tortillas (or tortilla chips) are bathed in a simple tomato sauce (or other leftover sauces) along with leftover meat. I had an outstandingly pleasant brunch (no waiting for a table, lots of sunshine, unlimited coffee refills) with Nicole last weekend where I enjoyed a plate of chilaquiles that were juuuust pliable enough to wipe up every last bit of sauce and runny egg yolk. I couldn’t wait to try it at home since I happened to have old tortilla chips, leftover canned tomatoes, and an opened can of chipotle chiles.

For the sauce: Puree tomatoes (juice and all) with chopped onion, garlic, chipotle chiles, a pinch of salt, and a pinch of honey (or sugar). Add sauce to a pan with a bit of oil and heat through over low heat. Add a bit of broth to thin out the sauce if it gets too thick (you want the sauce to coat the tortillas/chips).

Next, add fried corn tortilla pieces or tortilla chips and leftover cooked meat (optional) that’s been shredded or chopped. Toss just enough to coat. Put mixture on a plate and add crumbled cotija cheese (or you could sprinkle a melty cheese on top and broil it quickly), sliced radishes, chopped onion, and sour cream if you’d like. Then top it all off with a runny fried egg and fresh cilantro.

hot and sour wheat gluten

This here dish was inspired by the achingly delicious flavors of Xi’an Famous Foods, which I like an awful lot (though I don’t think they put peanuts on anything).

3 oz seitan/steamed gluten rolls, unrolled and torn into ragged pieces
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2-inch segment of ginger, minced
some dried whole chiles, lightly crushed
splash of rice wine
2 teaspoons light soy sauce
1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
2 teaspoons black vinegar
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted and ground
1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds, toasted and ground
1/2 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns, toasted and ground
1 celery stalk, cut in half lengthwise and sliced on a bias
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
hot chili oil
crushed peanuts and chopped cilantro

Heat some oil over medium heat in a pan. Add garlic, ginger, and gluten pieces. Cook for a few minutes, until garlic and ginger are fragrant. Add remaining ingredients except sesame oil, chili oil, peanuts, and cilantro. Toss to coat evenly. Add enough water to keep things moistened (1/4 cup maybe? I don’t remember how much I used). Simmer for about 5 minutes, then finish with sesame oil and/or hot chili oil. Garnish with peanuts and cilantro.

By the way, the gluten rolls look like… uh, this:

roasted green beans with chile and lime

Ultra-simple directions: toss green beans (or flat-shaped Romano beans like the ones in the photo) with oil, ancho chile powder, cayenne pepper, and salt. Roast in a 425-degree oven for 20 minutes or so, until they get crackly and brown. Finish with a few squeezes of lime.

salsa de tomatillo, salsa borracha

This week I came across a lovely article in Saveur about Mexican salsas and Mark Bittman’s New York Times feature about tomatoes (both complete with mouth-watering photos). And now I have two jars of homemade salsa, ready to be spooned over huevos rancheros and dipped into by crispy tortilla chips. Salsa de tomatillo is a no-brainer when my CSA gives us tomatillos. I’ve made it with raw tomatillos before, but I think I like the roasted version better. Salsa borracha is a tangy, thinner salsa that gets a boozy kick from beer AND tequila. I adore them both.

bangin’ baingan bharta

There is restaurant Indian food, and then there is homemade Indian food. The former typically features menus with deep fried things, tikka masala things, and a flavor that I can only describe as “Americanized sweetness” (you’ll find this at Thai and Chinese restaurants too). The latter is something I came to know a bit in the homes of childhood friends and more recently, their grown-up kitchens. As you might expect, the homemade stuff tastes like something you could eat everyday, not something heavy enough to mess up the rest of your night.

One of these aforementioned friends cooked up some baingan bharta (mashed eggplant with tomatoes and a whole lot of delicious seasonings) and I was a little jealous that this video of Rajen wasn’t taken in my kitchen. I had been saving a couple of eggplants to finally try it out, and this was more than enough inspiration to get me through being in a kitchen with all four burners (and the oven) blazing.

A brief overview of how I made it:

Roast, steam, microwave, or grill eggplant (the big purple globe kind) until soft. Set aside and let cool.

Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds, which will sputter and pop. Add chopped onion, chopped bell pepper, minced hot pepper, minced garlic, and minced ginger. When everything has softened up, add chopped tomatoes, ground coriander, ground cumin, turmeric, cayenne pepper, garam masala, and salt. Cover and let it all simmer into a loose sauce (add a bit of water if things start to stick).

Remove skin from eggplant and roughly mash the flesh. Add to tomato sauce mixture and heat through. Garnish with fresh cilantro.

cold and spicy sesame noodles

I’m still on this cold/picnic/unintentionally vegan food kick. Cold sesame noodles are a classic Chinese takeout dish that easily please. They also make good use of leftover cooked noodles and warm summer days spent indoors poring over class lecture notes (no one has to smell my spicy garlic breath). I like my sesame noodles extra spicy and without peanut butter. Strips of cucumber add a little textural contrast and help cool off your tongue a bit. You can also add shredded chicken to make it a full-on meal.

(serves 1)

4 ounces fresh wheat or egg noodles, (or you could even use spaghetti)
2 tablespoons well-stirred Chinese sesame paste
1/4 teaspoon finely minced ginger
1/4 teaspoon finely minced garlic
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
garlic chili sauce (Sriracha works too) and/or hot chili oil, to taste
julienne cucumber, scallions, and toasted sesame seeds for garnish

Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and rinse under cool water. If you’re using leftover cooked noodles sitting in the fridge, loosen them up a bit by placing them in a colander and running some warm water over them. This way, you don’t get a giant, stuck-together clump of stiff and sticky noodles.

Combine remaining ingredients (except garnishes) to make sauce. Combine noodles with sauce and toss to coat evenly. Serve with cucumber, scallions, and sesame seeds.

kimchi pancakes

Once in awhile I make sweet pancakes (like these), but I am more enthusiastic about savory pancakes: Chinese scallion pancakes dipped in eggs, French crepes with cheese and meat and that sort of thing, and Korean kimchi pancakes. The last in that list are the easiest to make at home, in my opinion.

1/2 cup flour (I used a combination of all-purpose and whole wheat)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold water
about 1/2 cup chopped napa cabbage kimchi (or more, if you’d like)
1 egg
oil for frying

Combine flour, salt, and water. Fold in kimchi. The mixture should be like runny pancake batter; add more water if necessary.

Add egg. I like to crack the egg directly into the batter and just barely incorporate it so that the pancakes have little eggy bits in them, but you can also beat the egg before adding it to the batter, or even beat it together with the water and add it at the beginning. Or hey, you can even add the egg to the pan, like David Lebovitz does.

Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat (a good cast iron one will give you crispy results). Pour half of batter into pan (for an approximately 6 to 7-inch pancake). Cook until golden and crispy, then flip. Repeat with remaining batter.

momofuku spicy pork sausage & rice cakes

Part three of last week’s cooking spree was a “banging” (as it’s called in the headnote) recipe from the Momofuku cookbook that a spicy-food-lover like myself could never say no to. It combines elements from three comfort foods that have nothing to do with each other: Sichuan mapo tofu (Sichuan peppercorns, tofu, ground pork), Korean spicy rice cakes (chewy cylindrical street food), and a Bolognese-like ground meat sauce. Unlike a lot of other dishes in the cookbook (48-hour short ribs, homemade alkaline noodles) this one is totally doable for home cooks and for regular everyday meals. I want to feed this to my omnivorous, capsaicin-fiend friends sometime. Definitely worth repeating.

pad kee mao (drunken noodles)

Most of you probably have a standard dish you like to order for dinner at your local Thai takeout joint. John and I robotically call in an order for one pad see ew and one pad kee mao, both with veggie duck, and no utensils please, whenever we’d rather not cook. While these are staples on the menu of pretty much every American Thai restaurant I’ve ever been to, stir-fried noodle dishes are more of a street-food thing in Thailand. There are carts (and clusters of carts in what resembles a food court) that sell boxes of hot, spicy, greasy, cooked-to-order noodles throughout the night for about $1.50. No waiters, no cocktail menu, and no impressively designed restroom fixtures, as you’d expect in New York City. Just free outdoor seating on the muggy streets of Bangkok (or Udon Thani, where I also got a chance to scarf down some pad thai a few years ago).

Pad kee mao translates to “shit drunk noodles,” or in more menu-friendly terms, “drunken noodles.” When done right, it’s very spicy (unfortunately mine weren’t, thanks to weak ass supermarket jalapeños). But there is no alcohol in the dish itself. There are a few origin stories about the name floating around (as there are for plenty of other dishes):

• You’ll get really drunk trying to soothe your burning mouth with that beer in your hand
• You’d have to be drunk to be crazy enough to eat something this spicy
• The dish is a favorite among late-night partiers
• The chef was drunk and added too many chilies
• It’s a great hangover cure

It seems like every other pad kee mao blog post out there notes that these noodles are good enough to eat while sober. I have to agree.

6 to 8 oz dried rice noodles (or the fresh, wide kind)
8 oz protein of your choice, sliced or ground (chicken, beef, pork, shrimp, mock duck/seitan, tofu, etc. etc.)
1 to 1 1/2 bell peppers, sliced
1/2 small white or yellow onion, sliced
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 jalapeño or serrano pepper, or a few Thai bird chilies, chopped
2 small tomatoes, cut into wedges (optional)
2 eggs (optional)
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons fish sauce
juice of one lime
pinch of sugar
basil leaves (Thai basil if you can get it)

If using dried noodles, soak them in a large bowl of lukewarm (not hot!) water while you do all the other prep work. They should be pliable but not soggy.

Heat a big pan or wok over medium-high heat with some canola, peanut, or vegetable oil. Add whatever protein you’re using. Stir-fry until protein is mostly cooked through. Add onion, bell pepper, garlic, and hot peppers and cook until softened.

Add noodles to the pan, and mix in with the vegetables. They should soften up a bit. Add tomatoes.

Combine oyster sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, and lime juice. Push all the noodles and vegetables to one side of the pan. Add sauce mixture to that space in the pan and bring to a simmer. Toss sauce with noodle mixture to coat evenly.

Push noodle mixture to one side of the pan again, and add eggs. Scramble them with a spatula. When they’re mostly cooked, stir into the noodles. Throw in some torn basil leaves (not shown).

shortcut chicken tinga

This is without a doubt the tastiest thing I’ve ever made with leftover cooked chicken. Thank you Rick Bayless for the recipe, and John for having the presence of mind to look it up as I chopped some onions thinking I could wing it.

Tinga is a Pueblan stew made with meat (pork, chicken, or beef), chipotle chiles (smoked jalapeños), and tomatoes. The recipe calls for 6 hours of slow-cooking, but we used cooked shredded chicken, let it simmer for about 30 minutes, and it tasted juuuuuust fine. You can also go the traditional route by starting with raw meat and letting it soak up all the flavorings as it cooks. Added bonuses are minimal prep work and a short list of very accessible ingredients. And it’s great for feeding a crowd.

(adapted from Rick Bayless, Mexican Everyday)

2 medium (about 1/2 pound) red or Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (I left this out)
half of a 3-pound whole roasted chicken, meat shredded
15-ounce can of whole or diced tomatoes in juice (preferably fire roasted, but if not, it’s ok)
1 to 2 canned chipotle chiles, sliced 1/4-inch thick (seeded if you want it mild)
2 teaspoons of the adobo sauce from the canned chipotles
several dashes of Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (the Mexican kind if you have it)
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 medium onion, sliced 1/4-inch thick
decent amount of salt

My stovetop version:
Put everything in a large pan (break up the tomatoes) and bring to a simmer. Turn heat to low and cover, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes.

If you have a slow-cooker:
Spread the potatoes over the bottom of the slow-cooker and top with a 1-pound piece of boneless pork shoulder, boneless, skinless chicken thighs, or boneless beef chuck. Mix tomatoes and their juice with the chipotles, adobo, Worcestershire, oregano, garlic, onion, and about 3/4 teaspoons salt. Pour the mixture evenly over the meat and potatoes. Cover and slow-cook on high for 6 hours. Spoon off any accumulated fat before serving. You could also double the recipe; might as well if it’s going to take several hours.

If you don’t have a slow-cooker but have a Dutch oven or other heavy pot:
Lay the meat in the pot and top with the potatoes. Cover with sauce mixture, set the lid in place and braise in a 300-degree oven for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, until the meat is tender. Might as well double the recipe for this method too.

When you’re ready to eat you can top the tinga with a few ounces of freshly fried Mexican chorizo (casing removed and totally optional). Serve with warm tortillas, crumbled cotija cheese, and sliced avocado. Or sandwich it all in some crusty bread.