Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free Ginger Cookies

Here's my favorite new cookie recipe to wish you belated happy holidays. I can't seem to stop making these. They are the perfect winter cookie spiced with warming ginger and cinnamon. They are tender, soft and cakey on the inside with the slightest snap of a crust on the outside.

The original (gluten) recipe comes from Chez Panisse. But I spotted Shauna's gluten-free version on her site, Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef and was inspired, as I am by so many of her posts and recipes, to try them. I love that they don't contain any xanthan or guar gums, commonly found in most gluten-free recipes, each of which have adverse effects on me.

I started with Shauna's version and then began experimenting. First, I traded the butter for coconut oil, and used mostly maple syrup with a little brown sugar instead of the white sugar. And I also tried it with brown rice flour and chia instead of the white rice flour.

These cookies are addictive and the perfect accompaniment for a cup of hot tea, eggnog or horchata. They also make a great whoopie pie, sandwich cookie or ice cream sandwich. I made a whoopie pie for the photo with an eggnog filling (1 1/2 cups powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons eggnog. If you're going dairy-free, try a nondairy eggnog or rice milk-based horchata). But I most like to eat them on their own. Straight, simple, comforting. And I must mention, if you have an unhappy tummy, the ginger in these will make you feel much better. Rx: cookie!

I've been making double batches of these and keeping the dough in the freezer. I bake up a cookie sheet full at a time for fresh hot cookies on demand. (I have to confess to eating the occasional dough ball straight from the freezer and in the heat of summer, I find them particularly refreshing that way.)

Plan ahead, these need to go into the freezer for several hours or overnight. But you can make them like I do and keep the dough in the freezer for cookies anytime. I use a #40 ice cream scoop from the restaurant supply shop to make even, perfectly round cookies. These scoops are inexpensive and seem to be more sturdy than most others that I've used.

Happy baking to all and to all a good night! And a big thank you to Shauna for turning me on to these incredible cookies!



Ginger Cookies

1 1/2 cups sorghum flour
1 1/2 cups brown rice flour
2 tablespoons ground chia seeds
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
3 teaspoons ground ginger

1 cup coconut oil, room temperature
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup molasses


Measure out the flours and combine them in a medium-sized bowl. Add the chia, soda, salt, ginger and cinnamon. Whisk together to combine well. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the coconut oil, maple syrup and brown sugar. With a mixer, (I used a hand mixer), cream together. Add the eggs, vanilla and molasses, and mix again until evenly incorporated.

Add the flour mixture, half at a time and mix until completely incorporated.

Transfer the dough to a covered container and put into the freezer overnight or for several hours.

Before baking, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove the dough from the freezer and using a #40 ice cream scoop, make as many dough balls as you want to bake. Place the dough balls on a silpat- or parchment-lined baking sheet and return the sheet to the freezer, while the oven warms up. When the oven is ready, move the cookie sheet from the freezer straight into the oven. Bake for 12 minutes. The cookies will look just slightly underdone when you remove them from the oven, but they will continue cooking on the sheet until they cool. Let cool completely on the sheet to firm up (or they'll stick and fall apart).

I think these have the best texture when eaten the same day or the next day after baking.

Note: once the dough has frozen, you can also scoop out your dough balls and freeze them in a covered container or ziptop bag for faster baking later on. Just remember to bake them straight from the freezer to hold their round shape.

Enjoy!

Adapted from Chez Panisse and Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef.

Soba Noodles with Chicken and Almond Maple Sauce

The recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan have left me stunned and with an aching heart. I haven't yet made my way to Japan, but it has long been on the top of my travel wish list as a destination and culture that fascinates me. My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone there in their recovery.

Soba noodles are one of my favorite Japanese comfort foods. Soba are usually made from a mixture of buckwheat and wheat flours. Buckwheat, contrary to its name, is not a type of wheat, and is gluten-free. But most soba noodles also contain a bit of regular wheat flour as well to make them less fragile. I used Eden Selected 100% buckwheat soba noodles, available locally at Whole Foods. I'm still on the hunt for a certified gluten-free soba noodle, which Eden's is not, but I have used these repeatedly and have had no problems.

When I went to Seattle, Lara Ferroni turned me on to the cookbook, Lucid Food by Louisa Shafia. She said she was inspired by the gorgeous, natural photography by Jennifer Martiné. I can see why. This is a book you can get lost in looking at the photographs. Kale has never looked so sexy. I was also charmed by the hand-drawn graphics embellishing the book.

This book seduces you with its storytelling, all the while teaching you to "green your cuisine" and eat in more sustainable ways. I love the introduction... Shafia describes the magic of a power outtage in New York City caused by a multistate blackout. Disconnected from trains, computers, and air conditioning, New Yorkers took to the streets for an impromptu party on the sidewalk. With their tvs turned off, neighbors chatted under a full moon and enjoyed the simple pleasures of a summer evening.

One of my favorite recipes from Lucid Food is this one for soba noodles with an almond butter sauce sweetened with maple syrup. Shafia makes it with tofu. I'm off soy for now, so I subbed some roasted chicken. The soba noodles have a soft, nutty, earthiness that is bathed in a very seductive sauce. It's made with a base of almond butter sweetened gently with maple syrup and sesame oil.

The sauce also includes a shot of soy sauce for savory saltiness. As I mentioned, I'm off soy for now, so I found a substitute that works well in this kind of context as a seasoning. It's Coconut Secret brand raw coconut amino. It is a gluten-free, soy-free, organic, coconut-based amino seasoning sauce. It also has much less salt than traditional soy sauce. It's raw, vegan, gmo-free, and contains 17 amino acids. I found it at Whole Foods, next to the soy sauce.

Along with the sobas and almond butter sauce, these noodles have snap peas for a fresh, green crunch. One of the things I love about this recipe is that Shafia pours the hot noodle water over the peas in a colander (also draining the noodles) to quickly cook the snap peas just enough. I also added some strips of red bell pepper too.

One note: the Eden Selected web site recommended cooking these 100% buckwheat sobas the traditional Japanese way to create a firmer noodle. This is easily done by shocking the noodles while they are cooking. Bring your water up to a boil, add the noodles, stir, and then let them come back up to a boil. As soon as the water begins to boil, add about 1/2 cup of cold water to the pan to stop the boiling. Repeat this one or two more times until the noodles are cooked through — when the inside of the noodle is the same color as the outside and they are still firm yet tender to the bite. This will happen quickly, in about 5-6 minutes.

We liked this sauce so much that I increased the proportion of sauce to make a little more of it. You can serve the extra at the table to add as you like.

Soba Noodles with Chicken and Almond Maple Sauce

1 pound roasted chicken meat, shredded

sauce:
3/4 cup almond butter
2-4 tablespoons soy sauce or soy-free Coconut Aminos
6 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced or grated
2 cloves garlic, minced or grated
2 tablespoons rice vinegar

noodles:
3 cups snap peas, ends trimmed and sliced diagonally
8-12 ounces soba noodles
1 red bell pepper, sliced
3 scallions, thinly sliced
one bunch cilantro
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
chili oil for serving

Make the sauce: Combine the almond butter, soy sauce (or aminos), maple syrup, sesame oil, ginger, garlic, and rice vinegar. Whisk together until it becomes a cohesive sauce. Set aside.

Place the sliced snap peas in a colander in the sink.

Fill a large pot with water, sprinkle in a pinch of salt and bring to a boil. Add the noodles, return to a boil. As soon as the water returns to a boil, add about 1/2 cup cold water to stop the boiling. Let it come back to a boil again, and repeat with another 1/2 cup cold water. Repeat one more time, if necessary, until noodles are cooked through. This should take only about 5-6 minutes.

When the noodles are completely cooked, drain them into the colander with the peas. The hot water will cook the snap peas just enough. Rinse the noodles and peas in the colander briefly with cool water. Drain and then pour them out into a large serving bowl.

Add the shredded chicken, bell peppers, cilantro and scallions to the noodles and peas. Drizzle with about half of the sauce. Toss together with tongs until all of the noodles are coated with the sauce.

Before serving, sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds. Serve with chili oil and more almond butter sauce to add as you like at the table.

Serves 4.

Adapted from Lucid Food by Louisa Shafia.

Burmese Crunchy Ginger Salad

As Thanksgiving approaches and most food talk is of turkey and gravy and stuffing and pie, I find myself craving lighter and brighter flavors. We had this salad recently and couldn't stop thinking about it and wanting more afterwards. It's like hitting the reset button on your tastebuds. It's fresh and crunchy with very bright, refreshing and incredibly addictive flavors.



So what's in it? You start with crispy, crunchy Napa cabbage. I'm really not a big cabbage or cole slaw eater, but the light, curly texture of Napa cabbage is the perfect vehicle for this salad. You shave the Napa cabbage easily with a sharp knife, then add toasted coconut (the big shavings, not the little withered and dried up bagged stuff that's been on the grocery store shelves for who knows how long), add some toasted nuts (the original had peanuts, we used cashews), a lot of fresh ginger in julienned sticks so you can bite into it — texture is everything here, you don't want ginger slush, fried, crunchy garlic, sesame seeds, tiny bits of a chopped jalapeño, and the secret ingredient that brings it all together... dried shrimp. Sounds weird, I know. I've had crunchy little dried shrimp bits in all kinds of Asian food, but I got intimidated when trying to buy some at the Asian market myself. I'd like to know a little more about where they come from and whether they're full of chemicals that I don't want to be eating. So we made it the first time without the dried shrimp. It was good, but not singing in the streets spectacular. A whole dimension of flavor was missing and it was the shrimp.



Then something wonderful happened. We happened to be eating dinner at our favorite Vietnamese cafe, Tam Deli, and talking to one of the owners, Tran. I love hearing her cooking tips. She mentioned that she dries her own shrimp for the restaurant. That stuck with me. I know the care she takes with everything she makes. So a few days later, we went back and asked if we could buy some of the dried shrimp from her next batch. What she delivered was gorgeous, fresh, shredded shrimp. It was soft and fluffy like peach snow. I tossed it around in a dry skillet for a few minutes to crisp it up and it was amazing in the salad. It added the savory but undefinable flavor the salad needed.

This salad is very easy, but takes a few minutes of prep. You need to toast the nuts and coconut and fry the garlic into little crunchy chips. But each of these steps can be done in the same skillet or wok. I'm ballparking the quantities here. You can put more or less of any of these ingredients, just don't skip any.

I dare you to try this and not get hooked. I could seriously eat this several times a week. And it's just the thing to balance out all that heavy turkey and stuffing coming your way next week.



Gluten-free note: I checked with the folks at Squid Brand fish sauce in Singapore and they assured me that their fish sauce is gluten-free.

Burmese Crunchy Ginger Salad

salad:
half a head of Napa cabbage
one bunch cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup julienned ginger
3/4 cup roasted and salted cashews or peanuts, chopped
3/4 cup coconut flakes
2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced into the thinnest slices you can cut
1/4 cup sesame seeds
3/4 cup dried shrimp
1 jalapeño, seeds and ribs removed, finely chopped
3 tablespoons vegetable oil, like safflower

dressing:
juice of 2 limes
1-2 tablespoons brown rice vinegar
2-3 teaspoons fish sauce
3 tablespoons honey (or more to taste)
3 tablespoons garlic safflower oil (from frying the garlic chips)

Hold a head of Napa cabbage horizontally on a cutting board. Using a sharp knife, cut thin shavings straight down and it will make beautiful, fine, crunchy shreds. Put these in a large serving bowl.

In a dry skillet, toast the coconut flakes over low to medium-low heat, stirring continuously. Don't walk away. Stay present and keep stirring and letting it toast slowly until it's a golden brown. This will take several minutes but will be well worth it. The flavor and texture it brings out is amazing. Set aside in a bowl or on a plate to cool.

Do the same with the sesame seeds and dried shrimp, just to crisp them up.

Last, pour 3 tablespoons oil into the pan and add the garlic slices. Cook them in the oil over medium-low heat until they turn golden. This will happen quickly so stay with them. Remove them to a plate lined with a paper towel to drain (like you would with bacon). Pat the excess oil off with another paper towel and let them sit. They'll crisp as they dry.

Combine the dressing ingredients in a bowl with the oil from the garlic. Whisk it all together and taste. Add more honey or fish sauce as needed for more sweetness or saltiness.

Combine all of the salad ingredients in either a composed salad or just toss it all together well. Drizzle with the dressing just before serving.

Serves 3-4.

Adapted from The Providers.

Murgh Makhani

Our friend, Amar, is coming to visit in a few weeks. He's from India, has lived in Texas, Japan, Morocco and now in Maryland. Before he left Austin for Japan, he shared with me his recipe for murgh makhani — "buttered chicken." It is one of my favorite Indian dishes. (I've also seen it spelled "mahkni" or "mahkane.")

Chicken is marinated in yogurt, ginger, chili, garlic and spices, and then finished with a tomato cream sauce. It is an exotic, velvety delicacy. I've been hooked since the first time I tasted it. We served it over basmati rice with roasted cauliflower — which offers a nice contast in texture. This same sauce could be made vegetarian by omitting the chicken and cooking it with veggies or tofu instead.

Here's hoping I can talk Amar into sharing some more of his recipes when he visits.

This is a rich sauce. I used 2% Greek yogurt this time. I've made it with cream, half and half, fat free half and half and even whole milk. Of course, the more fat you use, the more velvety it is. Leave the jalapeno seeds in if you want a very spicy version. Note that the chicken needs to marinate for at least two hours or overnight. Also, the flavors of this dish really develop over time. I noticed that the leftovers we had for dinner the second night were even more flavorful than the first time. So you could make it ahead and then add the cream and butter when you reheat it just before serving.

Murgh Mahkani

one pound boneless chicken tenders
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
1 teaspoon salt
4 large cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 jalapeno, seeds and ribs removed, minced
2 teaspoons Garam Masala
1/2 large onion, chopped
2 whole cloves
2 black peppercorns
28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1 tablespoon honey or agave nectar
8 ounces cream
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
cooked basmati rice

Stir together yogurt, ginger, salt, garlic, jalapeno and Garam Masala.

Place the chicken in a zip bag or large lidded container. Add yogurt mixture and stir or rub together to cover chicken completely. Marinate in the fridge for at least two hours or up to overnight.

In a large saucepan, cook the onion, cloves, and peppercorns until onions are translucent. Add the chicken, tomatoes, cayenne and honey and stir together. Simmer together until all ingredients are heated through and flavors come together.

At this point, you could let it cool, refrigerate it and reheat it the next day. The flavors will be more intense. To serve, add the cream and butter and stir together. Bring up to a simmer and let butter melt.

Serve over basmati rice and sprinkle with cilantro.

Serves 4.

Adapted from Amar Shekdar.

Ice Cream from San Francisco's Bi-Rite Creamery

I'm just back to the dizzyingly hot inferno of Austin after a cool and delicious reprieve in San Francisco. It was a tasty adventure and I have much to share with you. I'm still walking around in a fog, adjusting back to Central time. I'll have more photos soon, but here's a start...some of the best ice cream I've ever tasted.



Bi-Rite Creamery & Bakeshop is an ice cream shop in the Mission district of San Francisco. It's affiliated with the delightful little Bi-Rite Market just up the street. They use organic and sustainable ingredients from local producers to make their delectible flavors. I was also happy to see that they use biodegradable cups and spoons. But most importantly, they offer a creative array of flavors that are mind-blowingly good.



I tasted half a dozen flavors before settling on one scoop of ginger ice cream and one of malted vanilla with peanut brittle and bits of chocolate. Wow. The ginger was velvety sweet and luscious, not too strong. And the malted vanilla was perfectly accented by the peanut candy and bits of chocolate. I'd be in big trouble if I could get access to this ice cream regularly.

Aside from trips to MOMA, I'd never spent much time in the Mission before. It was a beautiful day and worth the trek just for this ice cream. They have little benches on the sidewalk in front of their storefront or you can walk a block down the street to the park. Don't miss it!



Bi-Rite Creamery
3692 18th Street @ Delores
San Francisco

Pineapple Mint Slushie

It's that time of year when we're seeing triple digits by lunchtime and I only want to eat and drink things that are cold, preferably frozen. So I share with you the perfect summertime refresher that my friend, Jennifer, introduced me to at her house. You combine fresh pineapple juice with mint and ice and sometimes Jen adds fresh ginger to give it another layer of flavor.

This one is a little bit fussy — you purée fresh pineapple and then have to press it through a sieve to remove the pulp, unless you have a juicer. But it doesn't take long and gives you the ultimate smooth essence of pineapple.

I drink piña agua fresca all the time at our favorite neighborhood Mexican joint. It's really good. But theirs doesn't include the mint. Fresh mint somehow makes the pineapple flavor even more somehow. For a little different spin, I like it with the ginger too. But as much as I love ginger, it's warming to me, so I usually make this in the blazing summer with just mint. Try it both ways and see what you like.

Note that you can prep the pineapple juice and combine it with the mint a little ahead of time and stash it in the fridge. But don't blend it with the ice until you're ready to serve it. You want these icy for the utimate slushie refreshment.

I haven't tried this, but I'm guessing a little shot of rum in here would be pretty tasty too.



Pineapple Mint Slushie

1 pineapple, peeled, cored, and chopped
approximately 1/4 cup sugar or agave syrup, to taste
1/2 cup fresh spearmint leaves
1-2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger, optional
5 cups ice cubes

In a blender, purée the pineapple.

Pour a little of the purée at a time into a seive placed over a bowl. Press it through the sieve with a spoon.

When all of the purée has been run through the sieve, discard the pulp, and return the juice to the blender. Add the sugar/agave and mint. Keep in mind that you may need more or less sweetener depending on the ripeness of your pineapple. Taste to decide. But don't skip it altogether. The little bit of extra sweetness really brings out the flavor of the pineapple. It's flat without it. Whiz together in the blender until the mint is incorporated.

If serving immediately, add the ice cubes and blend completely until smooth. Serve in chilled glasses.

If not serving immediately, refrigerate the pineapple-mint mixture until ready to add the ice and serve.

You're not likely to have any extra since folks will probably be asking for seconds. But in case you do, you can pour the excess into popsicle molds and freeze them for later.

Serves 4-6, depending on serving size.

Adapted from Martha Stewart Living, January 2004.

Gingerbread

It's almost Halloween and I have the perfect treat, just in time. This one was both a trick and a treat actually. It's the first recipe I've tried from San Francisco pastry chef Elizabeth Falkner's Demolition Desserts. And it is the best gingerbread I have ever tasted. Ever. I'm not a rah-rah-rah gingerbread kind of person. I'll have gingerbread pancakes once a year or so and that's about it. But I love ginger. And this recipe was so intriguing...candied ginger, ground ginger and the smoky, slightly lingering warmth of chipotle. I had to try it.

And try it I did. Again and again. The recipe makes one small loaf (about half height of a regular loaf pan) but calls for a tablespoon of baking powder. That's tablespoon, not teaspoon. I tried it several times and got the same result each time, a collapsed middle.



But the taste and the texture haunted me. It's the lightest, yet most delicately flavorful gingerbread I've ever tasted. Not dry and dense and gunky like most gingerbreads. And not black as tar from too much molasses. It's light yet still moist and warmly flavorful. But not in an overpowering way. More like an "I can't stop eating it" way. My husband, the devotee of all things chocolate, even said, "this is how gingerbread is supposed to taste." He was right. The candied ginger bits make little taste sensations in your mouth. This is good stuff.

So I don't know if that measurement was a mistake or what. Using a whole tablespoon of baking powder, mine rose and rose and rose and then collapsed. So I knocked the baking powder down to a teaspoon and a half. That seemed to do the trick. I still had to cook it about 6-7 minutes longer than it said, and the middle was slightly more moist than the edges, but no more collapse.

This is a beautiful cake to cut into slices and then into cubes. Keep in mind that it is its shining best when warm. So serve it straight out of the oven (with a little butter) or if making ahead, rewarm it in the toaster oven or microwave. Contrast it's warmth with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and roasted pears and you'll be in heaven. That's if it lasts long enough to serve that way. We ate almost an entire loaf straight out of the oven. Yeah, it's that good. It would be amazing with tea also. Ever so civilized on a chilly day. In the book, Falkner serves it with pear sorbet, pomegranate gel and icing "shards." I'd love to try it that way, but I can't imagine it lasting long enough for me to make those other elements. Maybe I'll get a chance to try it that way at Citizen Cake or Orson next time I'm in San Francisco.

Happy tricks and treats!


Chipotle Gingerbread

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon chipotle powder
1 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon candied/crystallized ginger, minced
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup canola oil
1 large egg
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar (I used turbinado)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons unsulfured blackstrap molasses
1 1/2 tablespoons honey or agave
1/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Butter a 4 1/2 x 8 1/2 inch loaf pan. (Much easier to remove if you also add a wide strip of parchment paper and butter that too. Use it to line your pan and let it's sides overlap to act as a sling later.)

Melt butter. Add chipotle powder and stir together. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, candied ginger, ground ginger, salt and cinnamon.

In a small/medium bowl, whisk together egg and oil. Add sugars, molasses and agave/honey and whisk until just combined. Stir in the buttermilk and the butter with chipotle.

Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and stir or whisk until just combined. Pour into pan.

Bake for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick/tester comes out clean. Don't test it until the very end though, you don't want to loose heat and risk a collapse. Let cool in pan for 10-15 minutes, the use parchment to lift loaf out of pan. If you don't have parchment, place a plate or platter over the loaf pan and invert it. Once out of the pan, turn it right side up. Serve warm.

Makes one small loaf.

Adapted from Demolition Desserts by Elizabeth Falkner.

Google Grain Salad

I picked up a new cookbook the other day, Food 2.0: Secrets from the Chef Who Fed Google. I read cookbooks like other people read novels. I devour them. I enjoy them. But I haven't gotten this excited about a cookbook in a long time.

So far, I've made two of the recipes I've earmarked. But there are many more pages with turned down corners to look forward to.

I'll have to post more later on why I'm so excited about this cookbook. It rocks! But for now, here's a recipe to introduce you to it. This recipe represents the book well. It's healthy, it keeps you going, it has ingredients you're familiar with but probably don't use that often, and they are combined in a really novel and delicious way. See what you think.

The recipe as written calls for wheat berries, kamut grains, millet grains and farro grains. After looking at two different granola-type markets, I could only find the millet and wheat berries. So I used those and combined them with a rice blend I found recently at the Japanese market. It has 6 different kinds of wild rice. The cooking times were all the same, so it worked.

This is a great autumn or holiday salad. It's pretty enough for your Thanksgiving table and would go well as a side with any roasted meats. The candied ginger and cinnamon give it warmth while the kale makes it healthy and tasty. It's rounded out with white balsamic vinegar, but rice wine vinegar or champagne vinegar would work too.

One note, I don't know if the rice plumped up more than the all grain mixture would have, but my version ended up needing more of the flavors to balance out all the rice and grains. So I doubled the ginger, cranberries, and dressing (including cinnamon). Try it and see what you think. It's easy to toss in more of whatever you like most as you assemble the salad. The amounts I'm using here are the way I made it. Cut them back down, if you like.

Also, I was pleasantly surprised by how filling this is. A small bowl powered me through an afternoon and evening right past dinner. This one's going into our fall favorites rotation.

Google Grain Salad

1 cup wheat berries
1/2 cup kamut grains
1/4 cup millet grains
1/4 cup farro grains

or

1 cup wheat berries
1/4 cup millet grains
3/4 cup wild rice blend

added to:

1 head dinosaur kale, coarsely shredded
1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted
4 tablespoons chopped candied ginger, sliced
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
salt and pepper

Put a medium-large saucepan of water on to boil. Drop in the grains/rice and cook until tender, about 20 minutes. During the last 2 minutes of cooking, drop the kale into the pot to blanch it. Drain and rinse with cold water to cool. Drain again.

Pour the drained rice/grains into a large serving bowl. Stir in the almonds, ginger, and cranberries.

In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, vinegar, and cinnamon. Pour over the salad and toss together. Season with salt and pepper as you like. Serve room temperature.

Serves 4

Adapted from Food 2.0: Secrets from the Chef Who Fed Google.

Carrot Orange Ginger Smoothie

After oral surgery last week, I'm continuing my exploration of foods that are easy on the teeth. This smoothie is an old favorite that I haven't made in a long time. I'm glad I had an excuse to try it again. The beta carotene is really good for you, but it's even better tasting. Reminds me a little of an orange creamsicle. You get a big hit of orange flavor from the orange juice concentrate without completely watering down the smoothie by using orange juice. I'm going to refreeze the OJ concentrate in an ice cube tray so I can have it on hand for future smoothies.

1/2 cup silken tofu
1/2 cup carrot juice
1 cup vanilla frozen yogurt
4 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
pinch of salt

Blend all ingredients in a blender.
Serves one.

Adapted from Super Smoothies by Mary Corpening Barber and Sara Corpening Whitford.

Pickled Ginger Sorbet

This is a cure for what ails you. Sore throat? Tummyache? This will make you feel better.

I learned this recipe from Terry Conlan, the chef at Lake Austin Spa in an Asian grilling class at Central Market, our local gourmet market. Every recipe he presented was so full of flavor and so satisfying that it hardly seemed like airy spa food. His food would be reason enough to visit the spa.

This sorbet has bold ginger flavor boosted by lemon juice and rounded out with honey. The recipe only makes a little over a pint, but this is not something you'll pig out on like your favorite ice cream. A small scoop with a cookie would make a refreshing, light dessert after an Asian meal. Or you could serve it as Terry did, alongside some spicy tuna. Perfect summer food. Very refreshing. But I'm providing it here, in the dead of winter, because it's the perfect thing to soothe my sore throat. Ahhh...

Terry recommended a pink-colored pickled ginger for this recipe because of it's sweetness. But the one at my market contained some additives that didn't look too friendly. So I've adapted it using a natural, faintly yellow-colored pickled ginger. But I loved the soft, fluffy pale pink color of his so I added one drop of red food coloring to give it that pink glow. No matter what color it is, you'll be refreshed.


1 1/2 cups water
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup pickled ginger with syrup
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 drop red food coloring

Heat the water and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves, stirring occasionally. Stir in the honey.

In a blender or food processor (I used an immersion blender), pureé the ginger, a bit of the ginger syrup and the lemon juice. Add the drop (just one!) of red food coloring, if you like. Whiz again to completely distribute. Stir into the sugar syrup.

Let the mixture cool to room temperature. You can speed this along by putting it in a container, put the container in an ice bath in a large bowl, or even in the pan you just melted the sugar in. Let sit in the ice bath until it gets cool.

If you don't have an ice cream maker, you can pop it in the freezer until frozen. Take it out to stir it and fluff it up occasionally while it's freezing. When you're ready to serve, let it thaw slightly and then pulse in a food processor.

To use an ice cream maker, put the cooled mixture in the freezer for an hour to chill it. Then process in an ice cream maker according to its instructions. Mine took about 20-25 minutes to get it to a soft serve consistency. Then store it in the freezer until ready to serve.

Adapted from a recipe by Terry Conlan of Lake Austin Spa.

Pear Ginger Crisp

This recipe is adapted from Eric Gower's The Breakaway Cook. It's one of the best things we've ever eaten. I've made it my own by using my favorite crumble topping. His version has a lower ratio of oats to flour. I like equal parts. I also use turbinado or demerara sugar, which have larger grains and add some crunch to the topping. The smell of this baking will drive you wild. I've made it with Asian pears, as he calls for, and with Taylor Gold pears. I like them both. Even less than ripe pears are fine in this. His recipe says it serves six, but if you're like us, you'll be standing next to the oven digging in and burning the roof of your mouth trying to get at it. I'm not even embarassed to admit that this is excellent for breakfast the next morning, even cold from the fridge.

4-6 pears, peeled, cored, sliced and tossed with the juice of 1/4 lemon
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into 1-inch matchsticks
1 tablespoon maple syrup

1/2 cup flour (white whole wheat works well too)
1/2 cup oats (not quick cooking)
1/2 cup demerara or turbinado sugar
pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
4 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 375. Melt the 1T. butter in a skillet. Add ginger and sauté until it softens. Add maple syrup and cook for several minutes. Add pears and stir together to combine flavors. Pour the mixture into a greased baking pan.

Combine the flour, oats, sugar, salt and spices. Stir together. Slice the butter into small pieces and cut into the oat mixture using your hands (or you can quiz it all together in pulses in the food processor). Texture should be crumbly and lumpy. Sprinkle the topping over the fruit and bake for 30 minutes or until you can't take the smell anymore. (I've done this in a convection toaster oven to avoid heating the whole kitchen up – because you'll want to make this in the summer too.)

You can certainly eat it blazing hot straight out of the oven, as we often do, but it's better if you let it cool down for 10-15 minutes. The juices come together and it's not so runny in the bottom. (That juice by itself is worth making this for. You could cook it down a little and turn it into an excellent ice cream sauce.)

Food for tummyaches

My husband had a tummyache this week. I wanted to make him something comforting so off I went to the store for applesauce and bananas and ginger and Gatorade and squooshy bread. (And, of course, the pink stuff.) Yesterday, he had recovered enough to adventure back into the world real food. And since we’ve just returned from backpacking in the Tetons, I was ready to get back into the kitchen. Boiling water for freeze-dried pouches is not cooking.

I started with udon noodles. The fat, pillowy noodles appeal to all tummies, especially recovering ones. (I use frozen udon from a local Japanese market. They're fatter and fluffier than the dried ones you cook in boiling water. You can defrost these in the microwave briefly and then pour your broth right over them. Almost instant.)

Add a little chicken, a lot of ginger, some onion, garlic and a splash of fish sauce for body. And finally, some bok choy, to make it interesting. He said he was up to it. On a normal day, this might benefit from a pinch of hot pepper flakes to give it a little kick. But this way it’s very smooth and soothing with just enough structure.

As a little bonus treat and to continue our ginger theme, I made pear and ginger crisp from Eric Gower’s The Breakaway Cook. It’s the ultimate in comfort food. Soft, smooth pears with ginger and little maple syrup. “It’s good on a lot of different levels,” the hubby said. So true. It’s so good you want to crawl in the pan and roll around in it. As it bakes in the oven, you’re drawn to the kitchen, standing at the oven window, wanting it to be ready now. “Do we have to wait for it to cool?” he said as soon as it came out of the oven. Then there’s the juice in the bottom of the pan. It’s pure pear heaven. I have a few ingredient crushes and pears are high on the list. This is one of the reasons why. (David Lebovitz pear caramel ice cream and King’s Cupboard’s pear caramel sauce are two of the other reasons.)

So if you’re tummy needs some soothing or if you’ve just had a bumpy day, this is your meal.



Ginger Chicken Udon Soup

1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 large cloves garlic, chopped
2-inch piece of ginger, peeled, sliced into coins
splash of Asian fish sauce
2 chicken breasts, (I used boneless/skinless), about 1.5 pounds
2 quarts (reduced sodium) chicken broth
half of a bunch of cilantro, particularly the stems, finely chopped
4 heads of baby bok choy, cleaned, sliced
frozen udon noodles, defrosted, however much you want per bowl


Sweat the onions, garlic and ginger in a little olive oil until softened. I added the chicken before the broth so it could take in these flavors before being bathed in the broth. Brown chicken lightly on both sides. Add broth. Bring it up to a low boil. Lower heat. Add fish sauce and cilantro. Simmer until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken to cutting board and shred with forks, removing those chewy bits. Toss the chicken back in. Just before serving, drop in the bok choy, to preserve it’s crunch and color. Serve over a bed of udon noodles. (If you’re going to have leftovers, save some of the bok choy to put in after reheating the next day.) Garnish with cilantro.

Serves 4-6.