Expanding my horizons (aka adventures with offal!)

3 years ago, when I discovered I needed to go gluten free, I made the difficult decision to start eating meat again after 18 or so years of being a vegetarian.  The vegetarian gluten free options were so limited and so expensive and I was already completely overwhelmed by the change that I really felt it was the best option at the time.  In the past year particularly, the gluten free options at restaurants in Seattle have multiplied and it is much easier to eat out and still be a vegetarian.

One of the things I insisted upon when I made the switch back to eating meat was that I was going to start buying locally raised, pastured animals and cooking with them as much as possible (I know the farm where my lamb comes from every year, and the animals are well treated).  The other was that I didn't want anything to go to waste, so I've been trying to incorporate more of the odd bits into my diet and have discovered some of them are really, really tasty.

So Friday night, this happened:

Pardon the blurry phone pic, I was improvising.  :)  That delightfully innocuous looking dish is beef intestine bbq from local Korean restaurant.  I tried looking up the Korean name, because I'm sure it sounded much more romantic and appealling, but it doesn't seem to be on their online menu!  I tried the bbq beef tongue last time I was there and it was delicious, so I thought this was a safe place to branch out to something a little weirder.

If you've never had Korean bbq, you probably aren't prepared for the fascinating and almost overwhelming array of little dishes they bring you.  There were lettuce leaves to wrap the meat in, 4 kinds of dipping sauce (bbq, sesame oil/salt, hot sauce, and fermented red bean), 5 kinds of side dishes (kimchi, steamed broccoli, marinated tofu, sprouts & shredded carrot, and potato salad), plus the sizzling tray of (in this case) intestines and grilled onions.

So.  Darn. Tasty.  I was pretty surprised how good it was, and that it wasn't too chewy.  Whatever sauce they had on it had just the right level of spice and had the extra added bonus of making it all look like a plate of rigatoni so it wasn't too scary at all.  ;)
 

Asian Chicken Noodle Soup

One of my little joys in life is trying new things, whether it be food, music, an obscure craft, or the flying trapeze.  As a consequence, my tastes tend to be on the eclectic side, and I like inflicting sharing those tastes with everyone around me.  My veggie boxes the last few weeks have had more than a handful of oddballs in them, so I decided to have some friends try something new.  After clarifying with them that brussel sprouts are not the same sprouts you get on a sandwich from the deli (though I do want to try these some time very, very soon), we settled on burdock root.  I've only had burdock a handful of times, but love the slight nuttiness and crunch it lends to a stir fry.  We've had so much fog and gloom here in Seattle of late, I've been craving soups and all manner of warm drinks, so this Asian-inspired chicken noodle soup was born:

Asian Chicken Noodle Soup

For the chicken:
2 chicken breasts
pinch each of salt, pepper, celery salt, cloves, and cayenne
2 t olive oil

For the soup:
1 T olive oil
1/2 white onion, diced
1 'thumb' ginger, peeled and diced
1 clove garlic, diced
1/4 lb oyster mushrooms (sliced if large, left whole if smaller)
5 shiitake mushrooms, sliced
2 carrots, thinly sliced
6 C vegetable stock
1 bunch collard greens, rinsed, deveined, and cut in 1" wide strips
1/2 t sesame oil
2 t tamari (or soy sauce if you aren't GF)
3 t rice wine vinegar
2 bundles rice noodles
1 burdock root

Garnish:
2 scallions, chopped

Thoroughly scrub the burdock root and peel off the outer dark brown layer.  Using vegetable peeler, cut the remaining root into 3-4" long strips and place in a bowl with cold water to keep from discolouring while the soup cooks.

Sprinkle chicken breasts with spices and rest for 10 minutes.  Heat 2 t olive oil in a frying pan and cook chicken until no pink remains in the center and the outside is golden brown. Remove from heat and let rest 10 minutes.  Just before soup is finished, slice into 1/2" wide strips.

Meanwhile, heat 1 T olive oil in soup pot and sauté onion and garlic until slightly browned.  Add ginger, mushrooms and carrot.  Cook 1-2 minutes until mushrooms have started to release juices, then add stock. Simmer 10 minutes, then add tamari, rice wine vinegar, and sesame oil.  Stir well to combine. Add collard greens and rice noodles and simmer until almost cooked (~3 minutes).  Drain water off burdock root and add root to the pot.  Cook an additional 2-3 minutes and remove from heat.

To serve, ladle soup into individual soup bowls (larger sizes seem to work better), top with sliced chicken breast and sprinkle with scallions.  Eat while hot!

Gluten Free Pan-Fried Chinese Pancakes

3/4 C warm water
1/4 t salt
1/3 C Bob's Red Mill Pizza Crust Mix
1-2/3 C Bob's All-Purpose Baking Mix
2 t sesame oil
6-8 green onions, thinly sliced
1/2-1 t sesame seeds
vegetable oil for frying

Mix water  & salt in a medium mixing bowl until dissolved and add flour.  You could use a mixer or a spoon for this - the dough is pretty easy to work.  Sprinkle counter with either of the flour mixes and knead until smooth and firm (3-4 minutes).  Add additional flour as necessary to keep from sticking.  Rest, covered, for 15-20 minutes.  On floured surface, roll out to 1/2" thickness.  Sprinkle with half of the sesame seeds, onions, and sesame oil.  Roll the dough up like a jelly roll and keep folding in itself until the onions are fully incorporated (you could just knead them in, but the constant folding produces a more layered and flaky dough).  Repeat with remaining half of the sesame oil, seeds, and onion.  Divide dough into 8 balls.  Pat flat into 1/4" thick rounds and fry over medium heat in a deep frying pan coated with a thin coating of vegetable oil.  You don't want to deep fry them, you just need enough oil to brown them and keep them from sticking.  Pancakes should be golden brown and firm when done.  Serve with gyoza or hoisin sauce for dipping.

Here's the dough before going in the frying pan:

And here's the fully cooked pancakes, served alongside the soup:

One more, because it makes me ridiculously happy:

(Doesn't it look like the food is staring at you?? Creepy!)

Curried Pumpkin

Whenever I'm sick or feel a cold coming on, I get cravings for spicy food.  Not just hot spicy, because I like that all the time, but the complex layers of spices you find in Indian, Thai, and Korean food.  I had a special request for Butter Chicken, and found myself rummaging through the weekly veggie box to see what needed used and would go well with it.  Butter Chicken is glorious by itself, but part of me feels like dinner isn't dinner unless there's a veggie on the plate.  (Thanks, Mom!)  This time of year, winter squash and root vegetables seem to be the stars of the produce box, so an onion, a carrot, and a pumpkin worked their way to the top of the list.

Curried Pumpkin

1 smallish pumpkin or winter squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 onion, diced
3-4 cloves of garlic, diced
2 T olive oil
1 14-oz can diced tomatoes
 1/2 lime, juiced
 1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp ginger powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 C plain yoghurt
pinch of salt
pinch black pepper

Heat the olive oil in a medium sized heavy bottomed pot and sauté onion and garlic until slightly browned.  Add cubed pumpkin and spices and sauté for a minute longer, then add tomato, lime juice, yoghurt, salt, and pepper.  Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes, or until pumpkin is tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed.  Serve with rice.  (Serves 4)

The pumpkin is on the upper RH burner here, just about ready to serve (it was feeling a bit shy and hiding in the back!):

Coconut Carrot Rice

1 C long-grain rice
1-1/2 C chicken stock
1 T olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, diced
pinch salt
pinch pepper
1 carrot, cut into 2" strips with a vegetable peeler
1 can coconut milk

In a medium pan, heat the olive oil and sauté the garlic until translucent.  Add rice, chicken stock, and salt & pepper (to taste).  Simmer uncovered for 5-7 minutes, or until the liquid has been mostly absorbed by the rice, stirring occasionally.  Add carrot strips and full can of coconut, and cook an additional 7-10 minutes, or until the coconut milk has been mostly absorbed and the rice is tender and creamy (a little residual moisture in the pan is fine). If you find you need to add more liquid, plain water will do just fine.  (Serves 4)

This may not be the prettiest meal on the block, but the house smelled heavenly!