spicy pickles celery with shreds of tree ear fungus

One of the things i loved most in Taiwan was something i also loved in Beijing, and Japan, and at Danny Bowein’s Mission Chinese Food (sf)…….vegetable pickles! When i came back from japan i brought with me a whole book on japanese pickles as well as a whole suitcase filled with vacuum packed pickles!

To be honest I love pickles everywhere: in Germany I’m the child of sauerkraut, in Poland I was on national television holding a jar of dill pickles saying, i hope fetchingly, “ogorky kishonie” salt-cured pickles, the great grandfather of new york kosher dills!
but anyhow, getting back to asian pickles, because i am in a bit of an asian pickle phase, yet again, one triggered by each time i go to asia….i’m pickling all the time. but little pickles. short lightly brined vegetables, more than long fermented pickles.
Here is last nights pickle of choice, chosen because i got a HUGE bargain on celery heads at the market on New Years Eve and wanted to figure out a way to use it up before it went sad and soggy.

I loved my Taipei inspired pickles last night, so much, that i ate leftovers this morning for brekkie, and tonight am bringnig a jar to friends for dinner. and that means only ONE thing: i’ll have to make another batch which is so easy, no problem. and i’m still the posessor of a large quantity of bargain celery. (Note: its good without the cloud ear fungus, too: i love the fungus’ texture and i had some on hand; if you don’t, omit. the spicy pickled celery is brilliant without, too). (Cloud ear or tree fungus is available in Chinese grocers/food shops; but it dried, whole or already cut in strips.)

Spicy Pickled Celery and Cloud Ear Fungus
Makes quite a bit; lasts prob up to a week in the fridge, leftovers good with everything!

1 big bunch celery, trimmed and cut into diagonal slices
2-3 teaspoons sea salt
2-3 teaspoons sugar
Several big pinches cloud ear/tree fungus strips
1/2-2/3 cup rice vinegar (unseasoned)
1 tablespoon or to taste, chile bean sauce

1. Combine celery with salt and sugar and leave to marinate for 1-2 hours.
2. meanwhile: combine dried cloud ear fungus with warm water to cover. Leave to sit and when soft but still chewy crunchy, drain; about 30 minutes.
3. Pour off and discard the liquid that has accumulated from the celery; combine celery with the vinegar, chile bean paste, and rehydrated fungus. Leave to sit covered in the refridgerator until ready to eat. If it is too sour, add a little water; too bland add a little more vinegar, salt, sugar, or chile bean paste: getting the balance is up to you. When you have it right, you’ll recognize that happy sigh that comes out of your pickle-loving soul.

me in Polish TV saying: ogorkie kishonie!

If you go into the woods today…..well, take this book with you! Don’t pick any mushroom unless you have this book, it is the BEST book of mushrooms identification i know….to be honest i’m a world class sissy about foraging mushrooms, and to be honest i’m terrified when people say they know what they are doing, eat this you’ll be okay. I only eat mushrooms and funghi that are vetted by a professional.

Nonetheless: mushrooms: magical, delicious, gorgeous, and if very occasionally lethal, all the more deserving of respect. And this book is fascinating, and makes running around the forest or even just walking the doggies–my own daily treks through the forests and fields involve 3 lively jack russells, so i am always watching the ground where they scamper, leap, dig, yap, the whole dog thing.  but i’m getting off topic: the thing is: i see the mushrooms! and they are everywhere!

Having The Identification Guide to Mushrooms of Britain and Northern Europe, by Josephine Bacon has made my daily walks a total adventure. I go walkies, i see mushrooms, i look them up in the book. i’m not brave enough to eat any yet, and don’t know if i will be ever, but this book provides me with so much wonderful knowledge and discovery. its available on Amazon.

ps: it goes without saying that i love, adore, swoon over, beautiful wild mushrooms. i think a mushroom recipe is in order here. going through files right now, will post soon.

not completely tested, so you’ll need to fiddle with he liquid amounts, etc. but the whole fish and mushroom combo, soooo good.

Fish with Chanterelles

serves 4

Inspired by a fish and chanterelles dish at a restaurant/bistro, Lou Peyrol, in southwest france…..

4 red mullet fillets (loup de mer) (400g/about a lb)

Seasoning: salt, pepper to taste

a little flour for dusting

400 g/12 ounces or so chanterelles, or a mixure of chanterelles and other foresty mushrooms

1 shallot, chopped

2 tabpespoons  butter (or half butter, half olive oil)

65 ml/about 1/3 cup dry white wine

juice of 1 lemon

75ml/1/2 cup fish or chicken stock/broth

2 tablespoon finely chopped parsley

2 tablespoons chervil leaves

Mix fish with a little salt pepper; set aside while you do everything else. Rub with a few drops of lemon juice, then dust with flour, shake off excess.

Clean chanterelles, trim off rough edges, and cut into large pieces.

Lightly saute the shallot in the butter until softened, then add the mushrooms, cook about 5 minutes, then remove from the pan. Pour in the wine, raise the heat until it reduces by about half, then add the fish stock. Season with lemon juice, add more stock/broth as you need for a brothy jus, and finally sprinkle in the parsley. Set aside and keep warm.

Heat the pan to medium high, the place remaining butter in pan and add the fish, skin side down. Cook over medium heat for about 5-8 minutes or until it is just about cooked through. Turn over carefully to cook lightly.

Warm the mushrooms through. Pour a little bit of the sauce in the bottom of the shallow soup bowl, place a few spoonfuls of the sauteed mushrooms on top, then a fish fillet on each. Drizzle a little more of the sauce on top and around the edge, then sprinkle with chervil and serve right away.

Trying to find an idea for my chicken--which was waiting for me patiently in the kitchen--I put on my fake leopardskin heels and started to dance

I had a chicken in my kitchen, a beautiful plump chicken; and in my head swarmed ideas for its roasting. Alas, i was too unfocused: lemon and olives, smoked paprika, cinnamon and cumin,what about a streamlined Peruvian pachamanca ?

Who could decide? my normal ways of pursuing taste have abandoned me, I gotta find new ways. I went down to the kitchen, put on my fake leopardskin heels, and started to dance.

As I danced I started to feel happier, and soon I was in my cabinet of Asian flavours where, since visiting Taipei I have been spending a lot of time, gathering ingredients. And so I made a paste of preserved tofu, garlic, ginger, spices, and rubbed it all over the bird. Let it sit a little while to enjoy the evening air, while i danced a little longer, then into the oven to roast!

Here are the exact-ish amounts: it served the two of us, with leftovers for 3 small chicken-loving doggies.

1 whole chicken, med-small in size

4 cloves garlic, chopped

About 1-2 tablespoons chopped ginger

Pinch five spice

Pinch cumin

4 squares chile-fermented bean curd,mashed into a paste

1 tablespoon soy sauce

Drizzle sesame oil

2 tablespoons ginger wine or rice wine/mirin and a little extra ginger

1 clementine, cut into wedges

Coriander/cilantro to serve
Place chicken in a roasting pan just large enough to fit it.

Combine the garlic, ginger, five-spice and cumin, with the preserved tofu, soy sauce, sesame oil, and either ginger wine or mirin plus a little extra chopped ginger. Rub all over the chicken inside and out. Stick the clementine wedges into the cavity of the chicken. Set aside to marinate a bit–30 minutes is good, 2 hours is better.

Heat over to 400F; place chicken in, roast in high heat until browned, then reduce head to about 325 and continue roasting until its cooked through–usually takes about 1 hour 20 minutes in my oven.

Remove from heat, place chicken on plate, covered with foil while you make pan sauce.

Spoon off or drain off fat from pan drippings, then place roasting pan on stove top and add either water, broth or more wine, and cook, quickly, until pan juices or a nice intense jus forms. Pour the juices from the roasted chicken into the pan, and remove the clementine wedges, squeezing them into the pan juices too.

Serve the chicken either whole, or cut into serving pieces with its jus, sprinkled with coriander leaves/cilantro.

the pan juices are so savoury,the meat tender

eating piquillo peppers filled with chevre at bistro balzar, paris. next course was roast chicken. so good went back the next day!

Inspired by my Parisian peppers: you can roast your own if you have a glut of great red peppers, but the Spanish piquillo peppers, roasted and lying cozily in a tin, really: are wonderful, even for make-it-yourself moi. In the pic below you can see the bistro (Paris’ Bistro Balzar) served 3 tiny piquillo peppers; when I make it I serve one pretty large pepper; it really depends upon the size of the peppers you have available!

INGREDIENTS:

2 large roasted red peppers or 4 smaller piquillo peppers (see first paragraph below or note about pepper sizes above)

5 ounces soft goat cheese (from California or France), plain or herb/chive

1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1-2 cloves garlic, chopped

A light sprinkle of pimenton (smoked Spanish paprika)

A few shakes of raspberry or balsamic vinegar

Handful young arugula, baby greens, young pea shoots, watercress, basil, whatever delicious little greens you fancy

1 tablespoon chopped chives, or chervil, or basil

INSTRUCTIONS:

If using large peppers, cut or tear each into two pieces; if using smaller piquillo peppers, leave them whole. Fill each pepper or pepper half with one quarter of the goat cheese; if using halved peppers, fold the pepper around the goat cheese; if using whole peppers, simply stuff them.

To serve cold: Place the stuffed pepper on a plate and sprinkle with the olive oil, chopped garlic, pimenton and a few sprinkles of raspberry vinegar. Accompany with greens, tossed in some of the olive oil and vinegar from the plate. Sprinkle with chives or other herbs, and serve.

To serve hot: Place the goat cheese-stuffed peppers in a heavy frying pan with the olive oil and garlic. Heat over medium-high heat on one side until it begins to sizzle, then turn over for a minute or two or until it heats through and the cheese just begins to run a little. Splash in the vinegar and sprinkle with the pimenton. Cook a minute or two longer, then serve on plates, with the greens, each hot pepper sprinkled with chopped chives or herbs.

Serves 4 as a starter