Rice noodle salad (salad week begins)

Ev and I were in Utah for 25 days or so. We cooked a lot while we were there but we did not have many of our supplies, so we were kind of limited. We also did eat out more than we are used to. So when we got back on Tuesday we were craving a return to our usual food. So began our week of salads. This is a rice noodle salad, which is mostly uncooked. I resisted the urge to put eggplant in because lately I have been feeling that I add it to everything. As always with my recipes, the measurements are very approximate guesses. As you can see from the pictures, I arranged Evelyn's very artfully on a plate and threw mine in a bowl.

Rice noodle salad:

3 big leaves of kale torn into pieces

6 oz. rice noodles

grape tomatoes

r. pepper sliced thin

16 slices cucumber

extra firm tofu, pressed

sliced white mushrooms (my salad only; Ev doesn't like mushrooms that much)

Dressing:

2 in fresh ginger minced

1 1/2 Tbs soy

1 1/2 Tbs rice vinegar

1 pinch sugar

1 tsp sesame oil

Boil water and cook rice noodles.

Fry the tofu in a dry (un-oiled) non-stick pan over medium high heat. It will take a while for it to release its water, during which time it does not really brown. Continue until the tofu is brown all over (flip it occasionally of course). When done remove and turn off heat. Put the kale on the still hot pan. This should be enough to cook the kale if you make sure all parts spend some time touching the hot pan.

Combine the non-dressing ingredients. Then pour the dressing over.

Dressing:

Combine the first 4 ingredients and let sit. Add the sesame oil and stir well.

This was quite a good salad.

Two broccoli salads

Last week, I flew back to Houston from France, where I had been for 9 days. The day after I got in, I was speaking at a conference, which was going on the next two days as well. Jon and I didn't have much time between conference activities to go grocery shopping and cook, but these two salads were perfect quick meals. Each one only takes about 15 minutes to prepare. Like the last time I returned from a long trip, I was craving lighter fare and veggies, and these really hit the spot. Both have pasta and broccoli as a backbone, but they are very different end results. I prepared the broccoli the same way for both salads-cut into florets and blanched in the water that would later cook the pasta. I don't like raw broccoli, but I find that just a few seconds in hot water takes away the sharp bitterness I dislike.

Israeli couscous is small round pasta. It's bigger than regular couscous-each piece is about the size of a peppercorn. The Israeli couscous salad began as an attempt to deconstruct one of my favorite broccoli preparations-broccoli with raisin vinaigrette. I thought that roasted broccoli pieces in Israeli couscous with raisins, pine nuts, and a cumin-spiked vinaigrette would be nice. Well, we ended up being in a big hurry when I made it, and we were out of raisins, so I decided to sub tangerines in there and blanch instead of roast the broccoli. I'd still like to try my idea with raisins, but this incarnation was good too. Be warned: it has a lot of cumin. Unless you have advanced to expert-level in cumin, you might want to cut it in half.

The soba and broccoli salad is even easier than the couscous, and it's great comfort food, served either warm or room temperature. I made it again this afternoon so I can have it for dinner tonight at school.

Israeli couscous with broccoli and tangerines

1 crown broccoli, rinsed and chopped into florets

1 cup Israeli couscous

2 tangerines, peeled, separated into segments, and each segment cut in half width-wise

1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 tbsp sherry or red wine vinegar

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp whole cumin seeds

Pinch of salt

Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil. Toss in the broccoli. Almost immediately (10-30 seconds later), use a slotted spoon to transfer it to a medium bowl. When the water has come back up to a boil, add the couscous and cook until it is done (8 minutes or so).

In the meantime, put the tangerines in the bowl with the broccoli and prepare the vinaigrette by whisking together the remaining ingredients. When the couscous is done, drain it and transfer it to the bowl with the broccoli and tangerines. Dress everything with the vinaigrette.

Broccoli and soba salad

1 crown broccoli, rinsed and chopped into florets

1 bundle of soba noodles*

1/4 red pepper, diced

1-2 tbsp tahini-miso dressing

Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil. Toss in the broccoli. Almost immediately (10-30 seconds later), use a slotted spoon to transfer it to a medium bowl. When the water has come back to a boil, toss in the soba noodles and cook until they are done.

In the meantime, put the red pepper in the bowl with the broccoli. When the noodles are done, drain them and throw them into the bowl with the broccoli and pepper. Dress with tahini-miso dressing to taste. The heat and water on the noodles will help the dressing spread out well, so make sure to dress it while it's still hot.

*In my experience, soba noodles are generally sold as several wrapped bundles in a plastic package. If you get them in some different increment, just throw in what looks like 2 servings.

Two coconut vinegar recipes

A Chinese grocery store opened up near where Ev tutors and I have reaped the benefits,
namely coconut vinegar. Below are two dishes I made with it (the sauce is basically the
same). The cabbage bowl was colorful and fun, but the wraps are the star.
Cabbage salad bowl:

Dressing:
Coconut vinegar
Soy sauce
Minced fresh ginger
Minced garlic
Honey

Rice noodles
Tofu skins

Red cabbage, thinly sliced
Bean sprouts
Carrots, julienned
Snow peas
Pea shoots or other green sprouts

Combine dressing ingredients to taste. Cook rice noodles as per package directions. Cook tofu skins in a pan with some oil. Add some soy sauce and cook for 1 more minute. Combine all ingredients and dress.

Lettuce Wraps:

Dressing:
Coconut vinegar
Soy sauce
Minced fresh ginger
Minced garlic
Honey
Sriracha sauce

Vegetable oil for sauteeing
½ onion, thinly sliced
1/3 eggplant, julienned
3 oz shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced
6 0z tofu skin, thinly sliced
1 red pepper, thinly sliced

1/2 cucumber, sliced
Several cherry tomatoes, sliced
Snow peas

Romaine lettuce leaves

Combine dressing ingredients to taste.
Slice everything but the lettuce thinly like match sticks. Saute the onion and eggplant until eggplant is tender. Add the shiitakes and tofu skins and saute another five minutes or so. Add the pepper and saute for about three more minutes. Dress with sauce. To eat, put a little bit of everything in a lettuce leaf and wrap it up as neatly as you can. (Good luck!)

Soba noodle salad

My morning has been far too stressful. First, a Pyrex baking dish exploded in my oven (see above picture), scaring the bejesus out of me and making me feel stupid for not noticing that Pyrex says "no broiler" right on the bottom. Then on my bike ride to school a driver made a left turn into the wrong lane, where I was lawfully riding, and nearly hit me. And if the visions of burning glass flying at my face and broken limbs were not enough, my electric bill for last month was ridiculous, even though we weren't there most of the month, and when we are there, we keep it 85-90 degrees and unplug almost everything we aren't using at the moment. The apartment management company claims that our air conditioning had accidentally been cross-wired to someone else's meter, so we are now paying for what we actually use, but it seems way too high. Now in an effort to calm myself, I will tell you about this lovely salad I made for dinner last night before any of these upsetting things happened.

I got the idea for this salad and dressing from the June 2008 issue of Bon Appetit, but now I just customize it with whatever I have around the house. This time, I had edamame, tofu skins (more on those later), red bell pepper, tomatoes, lettuce, peanuts, carrots, and cucumbers. I normally make the dressing with an orange juice and peanut butter base, but I was out of OJ and very low on PB, so this time I based it on pineapple juice, a smidgeon of PB, sesame oil, and lime juice. It turned out pretty well, although OJ is better than pineapple juice for this purpose. The only cooking you have to do for this is boiling the noodles, edamame, and tofu skins, which I did at the same time, so it doesn't heat up your house much. That's always a plus in the summer.

Now to discuss tofu skins. Tofu skin is kind of new to me, and there are a couple different kinds, so I don't really know what to call it, but both Jon and I have really been enjoying it. It's my understanding that it is a byproduct of tofu production, kind of like a skin that forms on the top of a pudding. I picked up a few different types of tofu skins a couple weeks ago in Chinatown. Some of them are wet and wrinkly, and some are dry and almost look woven. I think the dry kind might be just a dried-out version of a wet kind, but since I know nothing about the tofu-making process, I don't know. All freeze very well. They have a really great chewy texture that makes them more satisfying in some dishes than regular tofu. The kind I used for this recipe was labeled "tofu striper", but that may have just been the store's translation. It was a dry one that looked almost like thin woven cotton handkerchiefs. It came in 4-inch squares, and I cut it into 1/4-inch strips to give it kind of a linguini shape. I cooked it with the noodles to get it a little soft but didn't really do anything special with it. Expect to see tofu skins appearing in more recipes on this blog. They're really quite fantastic.

The kind of tofu skin I used

Soba noodle salad
I made the dressing by pouring a little of this and a little of that and tasting often, so the amounts I have listed are just guidelines. Use your tongue while making it and adjust it to your tastes. I would recommend that you make the dressing a little sweeter than you think you should because there isn't much sweetness in the other ingredients. Finally, add whatever vegetables you want. Sliced raw baby bok choy is good, as are cooked greens. Water chestnuts and bean sprouts are nice for crunch, but I didn't have any around.

Salad:
8 oz soba noodles
1/2 cup frozen edamame
2 oz dry tofu skin, cut into narrow strips
1/3 large cucumber, julienned
1/2 large carrot, julienned
1/2 red bell pepper, cut into narrow strips
1 Roma tomato, cut into narrow strips, or 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
4 leaves of lettuce, torn into bite-sized pieces
Crushed peanuts to garnish

Dressing:
1/3 cup pineapple or orange juice
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
Juice of 1 lime
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 tsp peanut butter
1 tsp sesame seeds
Srirachi sauce, to taste

Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the noodles and edamame and cook for about five minutes. Add the tofu skins and cook until the noodles are tender, about 6 more minutes. While you're waiting, whisk the dressing ingredients together and mess around with it until you think it's perfect. Drain the noodles, beans, and tofu skins and put in a large bowl. Add most of the dressing and toss to combine so the noodles won't stick together. Add the cucumber, carrot, pepper, and tomatoes and toss together. Serve on a bed of lettuce and garnish with crushed peanuts.