Something New

                             

I owned a bamboo steamer for ten years and never once got around to using it.  When I finally decided to break it out the other day, it was full of spiderwebs and smelled faintly of mildew--one too many years in the basement, I guess.  So I treated myself to a new one--at $9.95, I figured I couldn't go wrong.  I had bookmarked the Steamed Cod with Caramelized Onion, Ginger and Scallions from Asian Flavors of Jean-Georges.  It's a book I've had in my Amazon "saved items" queue ever since I discovered it at the library.  One day my finger will slip and it will end up in my "shopping cart items--to buy now" queue, but until then, I'll keep trying not to splatter up the pages of the library copy. 

  

I'm not sure if I rigged this up correctly, but it seemed to work just fine.  I lined the baskets with parchment paper--if you have lettuce leaves, use those.  I set the steamer in my cast iron pan, filled it halfway with water, brought the water to a boil, then steamed for 10 minutes or so, adding water when necessary to keep the level up. 

The finished dish, served with a stir-fry of baby zucchini, shitake mushrooms, and snow peas, was clean and light, the fish was exceptionally moist, and the flavors were surprisingly nuanced despite the few ingredients and ease of preparation--this is by far the easiest recipe in this cookbook.  I'll be using this steamer again in the very near future.

Steamed Cod with Caramelized Onion, Ginger and Scallions

From Asian Flavors of Jean-Georges

1/4 c. plus 2 T peanut oil (or any neutral flavored oil)

2 medium onions, sliced

One 1-inch piece fresh ginger, julienned

Four 6-ounce thick cod fillets (or any white-fleshed fish)

Salt

Cayenne pepper

2 T sesame oil

1/4 c. slivered scallions

1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro

Soy sauce

1.  Heat 1/4 c. of the peanut oil in a large skillet over medium high heat until almost smoking.  Add the onions and brown, but do not cook through, about 2 minutes.  Toss in the ginger and remove from the heat.

2.  Prepare a steamer.  Season cod with salt and cayenne pepper, then top each piece with the onion-and-ginger mixture.  Steam until a thin-bladed knife pierces through the flesh easily, about 10 minutes.

3.  Meanwhile, heat the sesame oil and remaining 2 T peanut oil in the same skillet in which you cooked the onions, until the oil smokes (watch this one--I burned my first batch of oil).  Transfer the cod from the steamer to serving plates.  Top each piece with some scallions, then pour on the hot sesame-peanut oil mixture.  Top the fish with cilantro, season to taste with soy, and serve.

Serves 4

Rainbows and Peace Signs

It's Regents week, which means regular classes are cancelled, and no high school students are on the premises.  As teachers, our only job other than the odd proctoring assignment is to make ourselves scarce in our rooms.  There was a two hour stretch today where I did not speak. To anyone.  It was bliss. It was peace.  It was zen.  To honor the experience, I made my version of Nina Simonds' Rainbow Peanut Noodles from her excellent book, Asian Noodles, for dinner.

Here is the Chinese Peanut Dressing.  Doesn't it look serene? 

Here is the salad, made with soba noodles instead of the linguine Simonds suggests.  Did you know soba noodles are a whole grain?  They are made from buckwheat and are highly nutritious, full of fiber, protein, magnesium and many other nutrients.  And they don't have the taste and texture of cardboard!  They just taste sort of nutty.

Rainbow Peanut Noodles

1/2 lb. soba noodles, cooked until tender (four and a half minutes), rinsed in cold water and drained

1 large carrot, peeled and grated

1 persian cucumber, thinly sliced

1 small red pepper, julienned

1 handful of snowpeas, de-stringed and cut in thirds lengthwise

3 scallions, thinly sliced into rings

Chinese Peanut Dressing

1 1/4 inch thick slice of fresh ginger, peeled and cut in half

2 small cloves of garlic, peeled

1 tsp chile garlic paste

1/4 c. smooth peanut butter

handful of peanuts, if you happen to have them around

1/8 cup soy sauce

1 1/2 T sugar

1 1/2 T Chinese black vinegar or Worcestershire sauce

1 1/2 T toasted sesame oil

For Dressing:

Finely chop ginger and garlic in a food processor.  Add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth.  Add water to thin, if necessary.

For Salad:

Toss everything together with dressing.  Or make it pretty, like a rainbow, then toss it together with the dressing. 

Serves 3