The shaoxing wine (Chinese cooking sherry; a pantry staple for us) and soy reduction in this recipe provides just enough salt to season the vegetable as well as just a hint of sweetness, but not enough to overwhelm the delicate flavors the bok choy is already bringing to the dish. This is a delicious appetizer, side dish, or vegetable course meal suitable for 2–10 people. It’s the kind of plate that people will want to gather around and demolish the moment it comes out of the wok. Oh, and if you’re snappy, it can be ready in about seven minutes. Yeah. Seven.
The law with smaller vegetables is that usually their flavor is concentrated, which proves true here. Bok choy keeps a lot of water in its stalks, so when it’s cooked correctly it can be really succulent, almost like celery. Its grassy flavor is refreshing and delicious, and its leaves wilt nicely when cooked to absorb any sauce you mix with it.
Shaoxing Baby Bok Choy:
Serves 2
½ pound cleaned baby bok choy, stems removed
1 teaspoon oil with a high smoking point (we used vegetable oil)
2 tablespoons shaoxing wine
1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
1 large green onion, chopped
½ teaspoon sesame oil
1 hefty pinch of sesame seeds
Heat a wok on high until it just starts to smoke, then add the oil and swirl it around the pan. Add the bok choy to the hot wok and toss well, coating it in oil as well as instantly wilting the green leaves. Let the bok choy sit on high heat for about 30 seconds to achieve a little bit of singing, then flip the vegetables over like one would with an omelet (or just give it a good stir if you’re not comfortable flipping).
Add the shaoxing wine and the soy sauce to the wok, then let the bok choy sit as the sauce reduces, about 1–2 minutes depending on your stove; you’ll want the liquid to reduce by about half. After the sauce has reduced enough and the stalks have become a much deeper green color, add the chopped green onion and give everything in the wok a quick stir; cook for another 30 seconds or so to wilt the green onion.
Remove the wok from the heat and stir in the sesame oil. Transfer the the warm bok choy to a serving plate and garnish with some sesame seeds. Serve immediately.
The baba ghanouj recipe is a little nod to the only Middle Eastern restaurant from my Oregonian hometown of Coos Bay/North Bend, simply named Cafe Mediterranean. My family is reasonably certain that when they first opened that we generated a venerable chunk of their revenue. Back in the early 2000’s, living in such a small town, we hadn’t really ever been exposed to food like that before, and it was such a welcome influence that it sent us on a mezze kick in our own kitchen that lasted for years. They had a strong menu, but for us, the star of the show was their baba ghanouj. One day, we asked for the recipe, and they graciously revealed the secret ingredient that made it so addictive: a little kiss of liquid smoke. It ties everything together so nicely, opening up a larger dialogue between the eggplant and the garlic.
Since then, we’ve tweaked it to make it our own, for instance, roasting the eggplant longer for a deeper flavor and adding a lot more garlic. We also boost the smoky flavor by garnishing the dish with a little dusting of smoked paprika.
Smoky Baba Ghanouj:
1 large eggplant, halved
¼ cup tahini
4–5 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Juice of 1 lemon
A drop of liquid smoke
Salt to taste
Olive oil for garnish
Smoked paprika for garnish
Preheat oven to 350°F. Cover a baking sheet in aluminum foil then lightly oil the surface. Roast the eggplant on the baking sheet skin side up for about 2 hours or until the flesh of the eggplant is very tender.
When the eggplant is cool enough to handle with your hands, scoop the flesh out of the skins and place into a food processor with the tahini, garlic, cumin, lemon juice, and liquid smoke. Pulse at first, breaking everything up into more manageable sizes for the blades, then blend steadily until completely smooth. Taste test and add salt to your liking. When finished, place the baba ghanouj into a serving dish and drizzle with a little bit of olive oil and a light dusting of smoked paprika.
It really is a shame that people don’t eat more vegetables. Too often they take the back seat, pushed to the side of the plate only to be overshadowed by protein, and we think that this mentality is problematic. Yes, protein is important, but if that’s all you think about, that’s all you really get. Nothing you decide to eat (or cook, for that matter) deserves to be an afterthought.
This is a case argument for the multi-course meal at home. Not only does it create more of an experience for what you’re about to eat, it shifts the focus of the eater. You aren’t barraged with a bunch of things together on one plate that you’re forced to eat all at once, and often convinced to prioritize. Instead, you take your time, savoring one thing after another. The multi-course meal affects the cook as well. If you’re creating things to be eaten one at a time, then every course needs to be independent and be as delicious as possible. A vegetable dish meant to stand out on its own is far better than a vegetable side that is meant to compliment something else, and that’s exactly what this dish we’ve made does: it stands out.
This salad is really simple, but still possesses many of the primary flavors needed to feel “complete.” While it can certainly be made in a large skillet or frying pan, our favorite method of cooking is actually a wok or a grill. These methods promote a good sear on the broccolini quickly, more easily avoiding the mushy side effects of over cooking. The vibrant and green stalks still have a little bit of a crunch as well as a slightly blistered exterior. You can make this for a group of people easily, but it also makes for a delicious finger food in about five minutes. We like picking up the stalks and eating the florets first that have sopped up the spicy garlic and lemon dressing and finishing with the crunchy stems.
Warm Broccolini Salad:
2 bunches broccolini
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
Pinch red pepper flakes
¼ teaspoon fennel seeds
2 peppercorns
1 large clove garlic, peeled
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Salt to taste
¼ cup fresh parsley leaves, packed, roughly chopped, for garnish
½ ounce feta cheese, crumbled, for garnish
In a mortar and pestle, pound the red pepper flakes, fennel seeds, and peppercorns until they become a powder. If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, just grind it all up in a spice or coffee grinder. Add the garlic clove to the spices and pound until the mixture becomes paste-like, or just finely chop the garlic and stir together with the spices. Transfer the paste to a small bowl and stir in the olive oil and lemon juice. Add salt to taste then set aside.
Prepare the broccolini for cooking by slicing down the stalks, following the branches of the florets; you want nice long strands of broccolini, so let the natural growth of the stalks guide your knife. Heat a large pan (or wok) on high heat then add the vegetable oil and broccolini quickly, cooking until bright green and a little sear develops on some parts of the florets and stalk, about 2 minutes. Give the broccolini a quick stir/flip and cook for 2 more minutes after adding a teaspoon of water to the pan and putting a lid on the pan. Make sure the broccolini is cooked through, then remove from the pan and transfer to a bowl.
While the broccolini is steaming, add the olive oil and lemon juice mixture as well as the parsley leaves and toss until the broccolini is thoroughly coated in the dressing and herbs, then top with the crumbled feta. Serve immediately.
First and foremost, this is a multi-recipe post! Nothing here is too complicated, and when you make (and eat) all these things together, the result is immensely satisfying; it’s a favorite weeknight—yes, weeknight—spread for us. This is a dinner that really exemplifies some of our favorite flavors: bold spices, fresh herbs, and obscene amounts of garlic. While we understand that this recipe might not be exactly authentic (it isn’t), we can promise that it’s completely delicious. The styles of shawarma, after all, are completely dependent on what’s around and what’s good, and we used what was in our pantry. We can also promise that this is one of the easiest and quickest smorgasbords you can make to impress a small crowd. It makes a great sit-down meal, but also could promote casual grazing at a party. We’ve tried it both ways: 10/10, would recommend.
The zhoug was inspired from the Jerusalem cookbook, and has since found its way into many dinners of ours. Call us predictable, but we are suckers for fresh and spicy sauces that brighten things up.
Parsley and Mint Zhoug:
1 cup of fresh parsley leaves, packed, some stems are okay
½ cup fresh mint leaves, packed
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 green chiles, stems removed
Note: You can use whatever green chiles might be available to you for this such as jalapeños or serranos. We love using Thai chiles, and for this particular recipe we us 4–5. It all depends to how spicy you want this condiment to be.
1 heaping teaspoon of ground cumin
Juice of 1 lemon, seeds removed
¼ cup olive oil
Salt to taste
Combine parsley, mint, garlic, chiles, cumin, and lemon juice in a food processor and pulse the ingredients together, occasionally scraping the sides of the bowl. Once the mixture resembles a thick paste, keep the blade running and pour in the olive oil through the top slowly, creating an emulsion. Season with salt and double check the mixture for smoothness, pulsing occasionally if needed. Serve in a small serving bowl.
Chicken Shawarma:
1 pound of chicken breasts, trimmed of silver skin
Kosher salt
Shawarma spice mix:
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon sumac
1 teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
Oil as needed
½ large sweet onion, thinly sliced into strips
Rinse the chicken pat dry with a paper towel. Fillet meat into pieces with even thicknesses; about an inch. Cover one side of the meat liberally in salt and spices and set aside.
Bring a pan to medium high heat with half a tablespoon of oil or so and place the chicken in the pan. As the meat cooks, salt and cover the other side with salt and spices. Cook until the chicken starts to whiten up the sides, then flip to finish cooking. Test the chicken for doneness (160-165°F) then remove from the pan to rest for 10 minutes before serving. While the chicken rests, add the onions to the pan and a little bit of water to help the drippings from the pan release. Cook onions until they become soft, translucent, and have sopped up all the drippings. Remove from the pan and serve.
Serve with pita, hummus, baba ghanouj, and, if you can swing it, throw together a two second Greek salad.
This recipe from my childhood grew up over the years as I grew as a cook and — in its final form — it has changed into something simpler and more representative of my relationship with Nate, highlighting both of our strengths in the kitchen. Nate is all about technique (and very good at cooking meat) while I tend to be more of the flavor-combiner/mad scientist sauce making type, and this recipe relies on the success of both of these schools of thought. Nate’s well executed marinated steak is the perfect platform for this fresh herb chimichurri which will sear your face off and keep you coming back for more.
Tiger Cry Steak:
2 beef or buffalo steaks (any kind will do, but we used buffalo top sirloin), 8 ounces each, trimmed of fat and silver skin
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 stalk of lemongrass, tender white interior sliced thinly, green and husks discarded
2 tablespoons thin soy sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice
Mix the pepper, lemongrass, soy sauce, and lime juice together to make a quick marinade then transfer to a plastic bag big enough to hold the meat. Add the steaks to the bag, distribute the marinade evenly, then marinate the meat in the fridge for a couple of hours to overnight (overnight is best). Before cooking, allow the steaks to come up to room temperature and be patted dry.
On the grill or stovetop, cook the steaks for 4–5 minutes on one side to create a nice sear, then flip them and cook for another 3–5 minutes. For medium-rare steak, test the temperature with a meat thermometer to make sure the interior is around 135 degrees. Allow meat to rest for 10 minutes, reserving the meat juices, then serve with chimichurri.
Thai Style Chimichurri:
2 cups of fresh cilantro leaves, packed, some stems are okay.
½ cup of fresh mint leaves, packed
4–5 thai chilies, stems removed
1 shallot, roughly chopped
2 large cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon of fish sauce
⅓ cup lime juice (about 2 limes)
¼ cup vegetable oil
Leftover meat drippings
In a food processor, combine the cilantro, mint, chiles, shallot, and garlic and pulse until the ingredients are all finely minced. Mix the fish sauce, lime juice, vegetable oil, and meat drippings together into a vessel with a spout and pour into the food processor with the blade running. Blend until it becomes a smooth sauce. Serve with rested meat.
Our challenge of savory seasonal eating continues!
Raspberry season is upon us, and we quickly discovered through our research process that there’s not a whole lot of savory raspberry recipes out there, which we found simultaneously disappointing and alluring. We found plenty of jams, jellies, cookies, pavlovas (Christ, so many pavlovas) and cakes, but no one seemed interested in figuring out how raspberries could make their way out of the realm of dessert.
But if there’s a way to make something savory, we will find it. As usual, the key was cheese.
Grilled cheese sandwiches are essentially a step below pizza ingredient-wise, so they’re near the top of the favorite food list for us. Few things can compare to crisp and thickly sliced rustic bread (Nate makes the best) with melted cheese. However, there is one thing that these sandwiches usually lack to create what is more commonly accepted as a “complete taste” on its own, and that’s acid. That’s why you see grilled cheese and tomato soup paired together all over the place.
So we thought…why not switch up the acid?
Berries and cheese go way back, so we weren’t too scared about them intermingling. Our acidic subject? Fresh raspberries. Our cheese? We eventually decided to go with a blend of chèvre for flavor and Jarlsberg for texture. So we smashed some raspberries we got from Sauvie Island Farms after a lovely day of berry picking onto some of Nate’s homemade 50% whole wheat sourdough bread and got cooking.
The results? Crunchy, fluffy, creamy, gooey, and tart. It was everything we hoped it would be and more. If you have any fruit laying around, especially incredibly fresh fruit, we wholeheartedly recommend you put your thinking cap on and find a cheese that’ll pair well with it, then immediately stuff it in a grilled cheese sandwich. You will not be disappointed. Sometimes it really is the simplest things that taste the best.
Smashed Raspberry Grilled Cheese Sandwich:
Makes 1.
2 thick slices of good rustic bread (whole wheat sourdough was magical with this, but if you wanna try something else, it’ll still turn out awesome)
About 1 tablespoon of butter, room temperature
8–10 ripe raspberries (enough to cover the surface of one piece of bread)
2 ounces of Jarlsberg cheese, grated
1 ounce chèvre, room temperature
A dash of freshly ground black pepper
In a small bowl, mix the grated Jarlsberg and chèvre together along with the fresh black pepper. Set aside.
Butter both pieces of bread on one side using ½ a tablespoon of butter each. On the unbuttered side of one of your pieces of bread, lay out your raspberries and smash them with a fork, moving the juices around until the entire surface of the bread is covered. Spoon the cheese mixture on top of the smashed raspberries and spread it until the cheese covers the surface of the bread. Put the other piece of bread on top, buttered side up.
Preheat a non-stick pan on medium heat and put the sandwich in the pan. Allow each side to cook for roughly four minutes, adjusting heat as needed to cook the sandwich through, or until each side of the bread is golden brown and the cheese is melted. To help the melting process along, you can put a lid on the pan, keeping the heat trapped in, though you should limit this because you will lose that deep crispness with too much steam.
I’m going to be completely honest here; I’m not the biggest fan of cherries.
It’s not that I have anything against them, they’re just not really my steeze. But this blog is supposed to be a challenge, and that means transforming whatever is in season, whether I like it or not, into something unique and delicious.
Doing research for cherry flavor profiles ended up giving us the key for what we would do with them. While cherries aren’t toward the top of my list, there are a multitude of flavors that I do love that have an affinity for them: chocolate, nuts, coffee, dried fruit or chiles, vanilla, and other spices like cinnamon to name a few. I had trouble picking a direction until I realized that I didn’t have to, after browsing through a Mark Miller cookbook. There’s already something out there that uses most of these things and that I was certain would welcome the presence of cherries: mole.
Sometimes containing upwards of 60 ingredients and often demanding an entire day to make, mole is definitely an undertaking. While all the work is certainly worth it, sometimes I’m just not up to it. Sometimes I just feel like being lazy while something braises in the oven for hours while I troll my way through an RPG or a good book. I’ve made so many damn lazy moles in my day, and while they aren’t as complex as they could be, I still find that they hit the spot; plus they’re really fun to make and easy to experiment with. Never under-estimate the amount of joy I can derive from dumping a bunch of shit in a food processor, blending it together, and seeing what happens. I certainly had a lot of fun fooling around with this recipe.
Lazy Cherry Ancho Mole:
1½ ounces ancho chiles, stems and seeds removed
1 pound of fresh dark cherries (we like Bings), pitted and halved
½ small onion, roughly chopped
1 cup of brewed strong coffee, hot
2 chipotles in adobo sauce
¼ cup whole almonds, toasted
1 ounce chocolate (over 60%, please, none of that milk chocolate nonsense), finely chopped
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons of salt
1 teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon of cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon of allspice
A pinch of clove
A few grates of fresh nutmeg
Rehydrate the chiles by submerging them in water and microwaving for 2–3 minutes. They should be soft and have changed in color, becoming more red. Remove from the water and set aside. Discard the water.
In a food processor, combine all of the ingredients for the mole except for the coffee and the vinegar. Pulse repeatedly, scraping the sides until the mixture is as smooth as you can get it. Combine the coffee and vinegar together and pour through the top of the food processor while the blade is running. The mole should loosen up and blend until completely smooth. The quick mole is ready to use, but can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week before using.
Braised Pork in Lazy Cherry Ancho Mole:
4 pounds lean pork shoulder, cut into 2-3 inch cubes
1 batch of Lazy Cherry Ancho Mole
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a casserole dish (or dutch oven), pour in the mole and place the pieces of pork on top. If using a dutch oven, simply place all the pork inside and give it a quick stir. Cover in aluminum foil or lid and braise for about 3 hours or until the meat becomes tender and falls apart. After braising, remove the meat from the mole, allowing it to rest and be shredded later. Remove the excess fat and, if you like, use an immersion blender to make sure the mole has a really smooth texture.
Shred the meat with forks and serve after cooling with sauce on the side. Accompaniments can include corn tortillas, rice and beans, or just eat it out of the pan over the stove.
Oregon’s berry bounty is impressive, especially in the summer. Wave after wave of variety comes into its own and it can seem overwhelming when the time comes to choose which one to work with, but after much deliberation, Nate and I think that we’ve finally decided on what our favorite is.
Is it the plentiful, tart, and quintessential Pacific Northwestern blackberry?
No.
Is it the delicate, elegant, and high-brow dessert-loving raspberry?
No.
Is it the versatile, delicious, and nutritious blueberry?
No. No it is not.
For us, the most sublime berry is the one that welcomes us into the warmer months in Oregon. Hitting their peak in early summer, their season comes and goes quickly. It’s important to get them while you can because, as summer develops, they just aren’t the same anymore, then they disappear altogether, waiting for late spring once again. We are, of course, talking about what might be the most popular berry in America: the strawberry.
One might think to oversimplify this common ingredient; after all a strawberry is a strawberry is a strawberry, right?
Noooooope.
There are so so many species of these little beauties, and they all taste a little different from one another. However, there are two that rise above the rest for us: Hoods and Seascapes. I’d be impressed if anyone went wrong with either one of them if you get them at the right time, and the time is now, but as this recipe suggests, like so so many things in this world, we believe that they should be drowned in cream and churned.
P.S. This fresh fruit ice cream proportion works magic with these strawberries, but don’t let that stop you from getting creative. If you apply the same amount of any fresh fruit into this recipe, it will work. Let this be a way for you to experience all the best fruit this summer. I mean, that’s what we will be doing…
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Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream:
About 1½ cups (335 grams) fresh, ripe strawberries, tops removed (Hoods or Seascapes if you can get them)
A pint (472 grams) heavy whipping cream
1¼ cups (263 grams) whole milk
¾ cup plus 1 tsp (161 grams) sugar
Scant ¼ cup (67 grams) light corn syrup
A dash xanthan gum
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Blend strawberries in a food processor or using an immersion blender, then transfer into a large bowl big enough to hold all ingredients. Whisk in the cream, milk, sugar, corn syrup, and xanthan gum.
Ready your ice cream maker (if you have a freezer bowl type make sure the bowl is completely frozen! This usually takes at least 24 hours.), and begin churning immediately. Churn for 25–30 minutes, or until the mixture resembles thick soft serve ice cream. Transfer ice cream to an airtight container, but before putting on the lid, cover it with a layer of plastic wrap, allowing it to stick to the entire surface of the ice cream. Seal the container and place in the back of the freezer for at least 4 hours prior to serving. For best consistency, freeze overnight.
“Why would you want to eat that when you could have ice cream?”
“That‘s gross, no thanks. I’ll take the good stuff.”
“Aww, I’m sorry that’s all they have for you…”
Rude.
I’m going to make something clear here. If you think that sorbet is gross, it’s because all the sorbet you’ve had is garbage. It’s simple as that.
I can understand the aversion; lots of commercial sorbet can be incredibly icy, resembling more of of a sad popscicle that got crammed into a pint container, but know this: it doesn’t need to be this way. Real sorbet is light and bright, harnessing the pure and unadulterated essence of the fruit it was made with. In a way, it’s like a little time capsule, keeping the fruit at the peak of its ripeness so you can revisit it every time you open your freezer. Good sorbet outshines any alternative no-fat, low-carb, low-sugar, high-protein, “guilt-free” bullshit on the market today. We tried some just to see for ourselves what the fuss was all about (for science!) and let’s say that we won’t be returning to that arena any time soon. Or ever.
While Nate and I love almost everything about ice cream (eating it, making it, designing it) we understand that it’s a sometimes food. So, in an effort to find a dessert lower in fat that would be a little easier on our bodies and also rid ourselves of the ungodly amount of strawberries we purchased at the farmer’s market this week (they were just so pretty) we came up with this little recipe. Using amazing strawberries make it bright and floral while the habanero lends its own sweetness to the mix along with something a little extra.
Strawbanero Sorbet:
2 pounds ripe strawberries, tops removed
1 small(!) habanero
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup water
¼ cup light corn syrup or tapioca syrup
2–3 tablespoons lemon juice (to taste)
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Put the sugar and water in a sauce pan over high heat and allow the mixture to boil, dissolving all the sugar in the solution. Once it resembles a syrup, remove from the heat and let it cool to room temperature.
Spear the habanero on a fork and flame the skin over a gas burner (or with a blow torch) until the entire body of the chile is black. Remove the habanero from the fork and place in a plastic bag for 10 minutes or so, allowing the chile to sweat and its outer skin be very tender. Rub the char off the habanero, then remove the stem and the seeds, discarding them.
Put all of the strawberries and the processed habanero into a food processor and blend until completely smooth. Strain it, if you like. Transfer the very fine strawberry habanero pulp to a large bowl and whisk in all the simple syrup and corn syrup. Chill in an airtight container until cold, at least an hour (we recommend overnight as it will allow the subtle flavor of the habanero to develop further).
Prepare your ice cream/sorbet churner (if you using a freezer bowl make sure that it is completely frozen—this typically takes up to 24 hours). Remove the sorbet mix from the fridge and add the lemon juice, then pour into the churning machine. Churn for 15–20 minutes, or until it becomes thick and almost smoothie-like. Transfer into an airtight container like a large tupperware; cover in plastic wrap, allowing it to stick to the entire surface of the sorbet, lid it, then chill in the freezer for at least 4 hours.
Serve in cups, cones, or maybe even in a spritzer for a zippy float.
Our ideas about eating and cooking evolved pretty dramatically this year. Up until this point, things had been pretty willy-nilly/do as you please in the kitchen, and for the most part, we were totally okay with that. Our lives were filled with carbohydrates and dietary fat (beautiful, beautiful carbohydrates and fat) through the forms of heaping noodle dishes, creamy pastas, pizza, and indiscriminate amounts of grilled cheese sandwiches made on home-baked bread and cooked in quantities of butter only attainable through the accurate method of eyeballing it—”Is that a good amount?” I would say. “Yeah. That’s good. Real good,” he would say.
You can probably guess where this story is going.
It didn’t take long for us to realize that something was amiss, well, ahem, heavier. Luckily, Nate knew exactly what to do to help solve the problem. You’d never guess, but he’s about eighty pounds lighter than he used to be. At his heaviest, his doctor told him that he was pre-diabetic and had high cholesterol and fatty liver disease, and as you can imagine, this forced him to consider some changes. Like with all other problems he’s faced with, what did he do?
He analyzed the hell out of it.
He started exercising regularly and completely rebooted his diet through lots of painstaking and determined research, losing the weight in a matter of months. He knew that if he did it once, he could do it again, so we started counting our calories in an attempt to eat a more balanced diet. Since then, between the two of us, we’ve lost over 50 pounds (of body fat, not counting the muscle we’ve put on). Putting our heads together, we strove to fit some of our favorite flavors into the parameters of our food goals, and have actually created quite a few outstanding meals that have become go-tos for us. This is one of them.
We’ve come to a conclusion: healthy food that’s bland is unacceptable. Period. If it doesn’t taste good, then you won’t keep eating that way. Cooking uninteresting healthy food isn’t a sustainable strategy for healthy living—leaving out carbs, one of the biggest dieting hacks that’s cropped up in the last ten years or so is most often counter productive as well. One of the ways that we’ve tried to make our meals more delicious is making them look less like a healthy shopping list and more like a complete meal with inspiration and flavor. Everything on the menu should work together; tailor all of your ingredients to directly correlate with each other, and the meal you’re making will be nutritious and satisfying. This is what separates diet from cuisine.
data-animation-override> “We’ve come to a conclusion: healthy food that’s bland is unacceptable. Period.”
This meal is inspired by a simple Southeast Asian staple: chicken and rice. We’ve transformed it into a hearty, easily made to be on-the-go meal known simply to us as “The Bowl”; packed with flavor coming from well seasoned protein and quinoa, avocado, fresh herbs, and a remarkably addictive sauce. While it isn’t the most photogenic thing in the world, don’t let this sauce’s humble appearance fool you. It’ll brighten up any savory dish it meets. While we heartily recommend using a mortar and pestle to make the sauce, it will still be delicious if you use a blender or food processor.
Bowl Sauce:
⅓ cup peeled fresh ginger, cut into thin rounds against the grain
⅓ cup fresh garlic, peeled, stem nubs removed
4–6 Thai chilies (or 2–3 serranos), stems removed
¼ cup white shiro miso
⅓ cup Thai light soy sauce
¼ cup white distilled vinegar
Juice of half a lime
If making in a mortar and pestle, pound the ingredients in succession according to the order listed above. The more fibrous aromatics will take more work, so starting with them first allows them to get more attention. Once the ginger, garlic, and chiles have been pounded into a thick paste, stir in the miso, soy sauce, distilled vinegar, and lime juice into the mortar and pestle and stir gently.
If making in a food processor, add the ingredients in the same order. Pulse the ginger, garlic, chilies, and miso together until it resembles a thick paste. In a liquid measuring cup (or something with a spout) mix the soy sauce, vinegar, and lime juice together, then pour through the top of the food processor or blender while the blade is running. Blend until smooth.
Keep refrigerated in an airtight container for about a week, if it lasts that long.
Quinoa:
½ cup quinoa
1 tablespoon curry paste of your choosing (optional)
1 cup chicken broth
Salt to taste
Wash the quinoa in a strainer under running water and drain well. On medium heat in a deep sauce pan, toast the quinoa until it begins to give off a nutty aroma, giving it a stir from time to time. Add the curry paste if you’re using it and chop it with a spoon, making sure it’s well incorporated among the quinoa, then pour in the chicken broth. Bring the heat up to high and wait for the broth to boil. Once it has, put on a lid and bring the heat down to low.
Cook for 15 minutes, lidded and undisturbed on low, then turn the heat off and allow it to rest for five minutes. Remove the lid, fluff, add salt to taste, and set aside to cool.
The Bowl:
1 cup cooked quinoa
8 ounces chicken breast, seared and seasoned with salt and pepper
2 cups greens (we like spinach)
Half of a large avocado
Bowl sauce
Chopped cilantro
Cucumber slices
Divide the quinoa, chicken, greens, and avocado into two bowls and serve sauce on the side. Garnish with cilantro and cucumber slices.
