Roasted Vegetables with Chimichurri

Roasted Vegetables with Chimichurri

Roasted Vegetables with Chimichurri

by Victoria Challancin

A culinary specialty of Argentina, chimichurri, is a near-perfect sauce.  Bursting with flavor, this perky, vibrant condiment is simple to make and has multiple uses and an interesting history.  Can you get any better than that?  

Variations abound, of course, but it is generally agreed that basically it is a condiment, found on almost every table in Argentina, that includes fresh parsley, lots of garlic, a souring agent such as vinegar or lemon juice, olive oil (a modern twist), red pepper flakes, and oregano.  Of course, as soon as I type this I can hear some saying, "But what about the red version?"  As I said, variations abound.

Chimichurri:  A Bit of History

Like so many popular dishes, the true history of chimichurri is lost to time.  Lost, perhaps, but that is not to say that many versions of its origin don't exist to titillate the imagination.  Here are several:

• Named after a bon vivant Englishman named Jimmy Curry (also Jimmy McCurry and even a Scottish James C Hurray), who was traveling with the native troops of soldiers in Argentina fighting for independence in the 19th century and was supposedly the creator of the sauce, chimichurri is the way the locals pronounced his difficult-to-say name
• Many say it originated with the gauchos who created it to serve with the grilled meats they favored--both as a marinade and a condiment
• One perhaps silly story credits the Brits again by suggesting that the English-speaking colonists asked for their sauce, which they called "curry," by saying "Che mi curry," (instead of "Che mi salsa") in their poor Spanglish.  This morphed  from che mi curry into chimichurri
• Yet others say it came from the Basque animal herders in Argentina who used their own word tximitxurri, which means "a mixture of several things in no particular order."  Can you guess that I just love this last one?  I mean, I want to write a cookbook and call it A Mixture of Several Things in No Particular Order

Whatever the origin, the cooking world has embraced chimichurri .

There are many schools of thought on how the perfect chimichurri sauce should be made.  I learned to make it from an Argentinian, who told me the only way to make it was to use cane vinegar.  That's what makes it authentic.  Yet, somehow, when looking at recipes in books and online, I have never seen cane vinegar listed as an ingredient.  Others say you have to hand  or machine chop all the ingredients before adding the oil; puréeing it in the blender with the oil gives an undesirable emulsion (and I agree with this generally).   The oil can also be controversial.  Traditionally, corn oil was supposedly the favorite; modern times have given us olive oil which, to me, is indispensable.   Here is a version that I have used and taught countless times, though generally, I just throw it all together with no real recipe:

Recipe:  Victoria's Chimichurri Sauce

(Recipe by Victoria Challancin)

6 to 8 cloves garlic, peeled

2 serrano chiles, stemmed

2 cups flat-leaf parsley leaves

1/4 cup cilantro leaves 

2 tablespoons white vinegar

Leaves from one sprig fresh oregano

Salt to taste

2 cups extra-virgin olive oil

Chop garlic, chiles, parsley, cilantro, and oregano in a food processor or by hand.  Transfer to a bowl. Add oil, vinegar, and salt.  Stir to blend.  Check and adjust consistency and flavor by adding more oil, chile, vinegar, or salt as preferred. 

Enjoy! 

Cook's Notes:  As always, play with the recipe until it is yours.  Try varying it by using lemon juice, red wine or sherry vinegar, or cane vinegar instead of the white vinegar which I listed in my recipe.  Make a Cuban or Mexican version with pure cilantro.  Dried oregano works well too, as do dried red pepper flakes instead of the serrano chiles.  Add chopped tomato and/or red bell pepper for a change.  Some people like a bit of onion, though I prefer it without.  A teaspoon of cumin makes a nice change as well.  I have also added green olives with great success.

Chimichurri Rojo

As much as I love bright, fresh herby green chimichurri, I also like the red version.  Chimichurri, a favorite restaurant here in San Miguel de Allende that is unfortunately now closed, served a red one that was terrific.  Norman Van Aken developed a similar one for Epicurious from his New World Kitchen cookbook.  It is so worth checking out.  You can find it here. 

In a cooking class this week we made Roasted Vegetables with chimichurri, which were just dance-in-your-mouth fabulous.    Used as both a marinade and in the roasting itself, the chimichurri worked perfectly with the vegetables.  Vary the vegetables according to what is seasonal and on hand.  We used baby asparagus, carrots, red bell pepper, chayote, and zucchini.  Eggplant, fennel, turnips, beets (keep them apart!), and potatoes would also work well.

Recipe: Roasted Vegetables with Chimichurri

(Adapted slightly from a recipe from Foodista.com)

1 bunch (about 3 cups) parsley, stems removed

1 cup olive oil

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons dried oregano

1 tablespoon cumin

1 teaspoon salt

5 large cloves of garlic, minced 

1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes

2 pounds vegetables  (see above for my choices)

For the chimichurri:

Place the parsley, olive oil, vinegar, oregano, cumin, salt, garlic, and pepper flakes in a food processor.  Puree 30 seconds; then scrape the sides down and puree again.

Cut the vegetables in desired shapes.  Toss the vegetables with approximately 1/2 cup of the chimichurri sauce and place on a baking tray.  (I prefer to place the vegetables in separate piles so that if one type cooks more quickly, it is easier to remove before over cooking).  Sprinkle with salt.  Let sit for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Roast the vegetables for 10 minutes, check and remove any that are sufficiently cooked, return the remaining vegetables to the ovens and cook for 10 more minutes.  Check again, continuing in this manner until your vegetables are cooked to the desired doneness (I like mine a bit crisp).  Serve hot or at room temperature.

Enjoy!

Chimichurri Sauce

Insanely Versatile--the Many Uses of Chimichurri

The bright, fresh herb condiment can be used on its own, as a marinade, and as a basting sauce for all manner of foods.  Here are a few suggestions--just use your imagination (once you try it, you'll never want to be without it!):

• Use it as a marinade for seafood, chicken, meat (traditionally for offal and sausages particularly)
• Use it as a basting sauce for these same foods
• Add a bit more oil and vinegar (or not!) and use it as a vinaigrette for salads
• Serve it with or over cheese (very nice with goat's cheese)
• Serve it as a dipping sauce with good bread or on crostini
• Serve it as a salsa with zucchini or corn fritters
• Mix it into cooked white beans for a salad
• Serve it with pasta
• Drizzle it over grilled seafood (yummy on squid) and serve over baby lettuces
• Serve with any vegetable--beets, baby potatoes, carrots 
• Put it on pizza
• Add to an omelette
• Drizzle over chicken- or vegetable-stuffed crêpes
• Spice up sandwiches with a bit of chimichurri
• Add to mayonnaise for a variation on aioli
• Serve it with empanadas
• Add to rice or cooked grains
• Add to yogurt or sour cream for a lovely sauce for vegetables or eggs
• Just put it on your table and let your guests go wild!

I will submit this post as an entry to the Weekend Herb Blogging event hosted this week by Terry of Crumpets & Co, begun by Kalyn Denny of Kalyn's Kitchen, and continued by Haalo of Cook Almost Anything.  Thanks so much!

©Victoria Challancin.  Recipes are for all to share, but please ask permission before using text or photos.

Baked Crêpes Cacciatore with Parmesan Cream Sauce

Baked Crêpes Cacciatore with Parmesan Cream Sauce

by Victoria Challancin

Reinterpretations of old standbys can be a good thing.  I mean, everyone loves classic Chicken Cacciatore, right?  So when deconstructed into a filling for crêpes and topped with a gooey Parmesan sauce, how can you go wrong?  Can you tell I am in the mood for Italian comfort food?

This recipe was just so good, so comforting that I have to share the recipe with you.  I just wish I had some really stellar photos to go with it to do it justice, but we were rushing by the time it came to dishing these up at the end of an Italian cooking class that I simply didn't have the time to stage my final dish very well--I had a group of hungry, hard-working cooks looking for sustenance!

We made these last week in a cooking class I gave to Mexican cooks to teach them how to prepare new food, to give them new inspiration, to help them become more secure in their jobs, to help guarantee work in the future...you see, it's never just about the recipes.  It's about the people' it's about fun; it's about educating palates; it's about new techniques and ingredients; it's about life.  But I digress.

One of the cooks filling a crêpe

Chicken Cacciatore--a Little History

When it comes to Italian sauces, while the origins are often obscured by time or lost in history, the names are something else altogether.  And there is always a story about the names--or several. They are Italian, after all.  And unlike Mexican sauces, which refer to a specific ingredient (encacahuatada = in peanut sauce, enchilada = in chile sauce, enfrijolada = in bean sauce, and so on), Italian sauces often refer to the people who originated them.

There is a certain practicality about the names of Italian dishes that usually gives hints about the actual preparation.  And a certain ambiguity as well.  For example, marinara is a southern Italian tomato sauce named after the seafarers who carried it with them on long voyages long before refrigeration, to flavor their fresh-caught seafood.  Or, some say, it was the sauce prepared by the wives of those same Neapolitan sailors upon their return to port.


Puttanesca sauce, that perky, palate-enticing melange of tomatoes, olives, capers, anchovies, garlic, chile, and herbs, is another such case.  Made by the puttas, or prostitutes, either as a quickly produced pasta-topper thrown together in between their "dates" with clients or perhaps as a means to lure in men from the street with an irresistible, hunger-evoking aroma. You see?  Ambiguous.

And carbonara, a sauce named after carbonaro, the Italian word for charcoal burner, refers to a sauce made by tossing hot pasta with egg, pancetta, and cheese, as a quick dish made by the men who made charcoal from felled trees--or by their wives.

And then there is cacciatore.  Cacciatore is Italian for "hunter" and it refers to a sauce that is served with browned chicken or rabbit pieces.  Some say it should be called "alla cacciatora" in reference to the hunter's wife who probably actually prepared it, but again, therein lies that hint of ambiguity that I love about these names.

But the end result is that cooks know when they see the word alla marinara that it refers to a tomato sauce; alla puttanesca reveals a slightly picante tomato sauce with hints of chile and anchovies; alla carbonara tells us it has eggs and cheese; and alla cacciatore hints that the dish is made of browned chicken or rabbit braised in a tomato-rich, sometimes wine-enhanced cauldron of goodness.  And that brings us to this reinvented dish.

One of the cooks stuffing the crêpes

This Modern Dish

This modern interpretation of Chicken Cacciatore is a quick fix, not a long braise.  You can make it from rotisserie or from freshly poached chicken breasts as I did here.  The crêpes themselves, called crespelle in Italian, have a slight twist in that they use browned butter in the batter.  The sauce--yes, yes, I know, I know, it's fattening with its use of cream and cheese (make it with a low-fat milk bechamel sauce if you must)--is rich and comforting for that occasional meal when just nothing less will do.  

A row of stuffed crêpes ready for saucing

One lone, unadorned fellow on my plate

The unadorned dish, straight from the oven, just in time to avoid a food riot

Recipe:  Baked Crêpes Cacciatore with Parmesan Cream Sauce

(Recipe from Fine Cooking Magazine)

Cook's Notes:  I poached boneless chicken breasts with garlic, onion, celery tops, carrot, and bay leaves.  Next time I would add wine.  I also used a roasted and peeled poblano chile instead of the Anaheim and used the broth from the poached chicken.  I would also increase the amount of hot sauce.  You might double the amount of tomato as well, if you like.  Remember that you could make a low-fat bechamel sauce should you not want to use cream.  Try Fine Cooking's recipe for Brown Butter Crêpes and note all the variations at the end of the recipe.

For the filling:

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, more to grease the dish

8 oz crimini or white button mushrooms, cleaned, trimmed, and sliced 1/4-inch thick (about 2 1/2 cups)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 medium (8 oz) red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and cut into small dice

1 large mild fresh green chile such as Anaheim, cored, seeded, and cut into small dice

1/2 large yellow onion, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary

1 tablespoon all-purpose unbleached flour

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

1 14-oz can diced tomatoes, drained

1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice or to taste

1/4 teaspoon hot sauce or to taste

2 cups chopped leftover roast chicken or poached chicken

For the cheese sauce:

1 cup heavy cream

3 oz (1 1/2 cups)  freshly and finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Freshly ground black pepper

For assembly:

12 8-inch Brown Butter Crêpes, warmed if made ahead  

1 teaspoon sweet paprika (optional)

In a 12-inch skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil and the butter over medium-high heat until sizzling.  Add the mushrooms, season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of pepper, and cook, stirring frequently, until the mushrooms release much of their liquid and begin to brown, 7 to 9 minutes.  Transfer to a medium bowl and return the skillet to the heat.

Add the remaining 2 tablespoons oil, the bell pepper, chile, onion, rosemary, and 1 teaspoon salt.  Reduce the heat to medium, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are very soft and fragrant, 8 to 10 minutes; don't let them brown.

Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and cook for a minute or so, stirring and scraping so the flour gets mixed with the fat and starts to toast a bit.  Add the broth and let it come to a simmer, stirring and scraping up any browned bits, about 1 minute.  Add the tomatoes, lemon juice, and hot sauce; bring to a simmer again and cook for 1 to 2 minutes to slightly thicken the sauce.

Add the chicken and mushrooms and simmer for a few minutes until everything is heated through.  Remove from the heat and season to taste with more salt, pepper, hot sauce, or lemon juice.  Cover the filling and keep warm. 

Make the cheese sauce: 

In a heavy 1-quart saucepan, bring the cream to a boil over medium-high heat.  Reduce the heat to maintain a lively simmer and cook until the cream has reduced by half, about 10 minutes.  Reduce heat to low and add the cheese, stirring until melted.  Season generously with pepper.  Remove from the heat and let cool slightly.

Assemble and bake the crêpes:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Butter the bottom and sides of a 9x13-inch baking dish.

Working with a few crêpes at a time, lay them on a clean work surface.  Spoon about 3 heaping tablespoons of the filling evenly onto the bottom third of each crêpe.  Fold the bottom edge of each crêpe up and over the filling, fold the sides in toward the center, and finish rolling up from the bottom.  Evenly arrange the crêpes seam side down in a single layer in the baking dish.

Spread the cheese sauce evenly over the crêpes and sprinkle with the paprika (if using).  Bake until the sauce is golden and bubbling slightly, 12 to 16  minutes.  Serve.  

Enjoy!

©Victoria Challancin.  All Rights Reserved.

3 in 1--A Perfect Combo

3 in 1--A Perfect Combo

By Victoria Challancin

Who doesn't love a versatile recipe with multiple possibilities?  This recipe is just that:  puff pastry "ravioli," Marcella Hazan's famous tomato sauce, and Mario Batili's popular caponata.  Voilà!  Three in one.

When I spied these gorgeous (and I mean "drop-jaw"gorgeous) ravioli on the popular White on Rice Couple blog, I knew I would riff on them in some way. Todd Porter and Diane Cu, the professional photographers who write this beautiful blog had Dara Michalski of the inspiring Cookin' Canuck blog submit a guest post with wonderful Pancetta, Caramelized Onion Puff Pastry "Ravioli" with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce. Perfect.  I borrowed Dara's idea but switched out the parts a bit.  The basic puff pastry raviolis are the same, but I chose to stuff them with an interesting caponata by Chef Mario Batali which is enriched with cocoa, cinnamon, orange juice and zest.  Instead of a red pepper purée, I wanted the Mexican cooks who took this Italian cooking class with me to have Marcella Hazan's classic tomato sauce in their repertoire, so I chose that.  The results were delicious.  And the added bonus is that at the end, you have several recipes to play with.

Puff Pastry "Ravioli" filled with Caponata and Served with Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter

 Marcela Hazan's classic three-ingredient tomato sauce

Apparently, Marcella Hazan, the beloved doyenne of Italian cooking, has given us one of the most searched recipes in Google history, Classic Tomato Sauce.  Unctuous and soothing, this recipe is made of only three ingredients:  tomatoes, butter, and onion.  That's it.  It couldn't be simpler--or better.  If you are looking for startlingly tasty comfort food, try this sauce over fresh pasta with just a grating of good Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.  Make it from vine-ripe fresh tomatoes, or even from good-quality canned ones, as I have done here.  And don't cheat on the butter--it is essential to the success of this simple sauce.

Recipe:  Marcella Hazan's Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter

(Adapted from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan)

Serves 4 people with enough sauce for 1 pound of pasta

Cook's Notes:  You can play with this recipe by adding chopped garlic, fresh basil, and many other ingredients, but you will never, ever improve on it.  It is not without reason that this sauce is so loved and appreciated.  It is perfect.  How could it not be with so much butter, right?  Do use top-grade tomatoes and quality butter though.  

28 oz canned tomatoes with their juices, chopped or whole

5 tablespoons salted butter

1 medium yellow onion, peeled and halved

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper (my addition, because I can't help myself)

Heat a heavy, medium saucepan over medium heat.  Add all of the ingredients and bring to a simmer.  Lower heat to keep sauce at a steady, gentle simmer.  Cook uncovered for 45 minutes, or until droplets of fat float free of the tomatoes.  Stir occasionally, mashing any chunks of tomatoes with the back of a wooden spoon.  Discard the onion.  Use an immersion blender to make a rough puree if desired.

Enjoy!

Experiment:  I brushed the ravioli in the center with an egg white wash and the other four with an egg yolk wash.

Last year, while visiting my son in Los Angeles, I tried the best caponata ever at the Pitfire Artesan Pizza on Washington Boulevard. Served with roasted vegetables, this recipe really sang.  I kept tasting it and trying to figure out how to duplicate it--I just knew there was something different about this caponata.  Enough whining and pleading with the waitress for the recipe finally elicited a response from the chef:  it contained cocoa.  Yes, unsweetened cocoa.  Delish.

The Pitfire's glorious Roasted Vegetables with Caponata

I started looking around for recipes for caponata that contained cocoa and discovered there were many.  How had I missed this before?  I have certainly made enough of this dish with all sorts of variations over the years--I am half Italian after all.  Of course I know how to make caponata.  Or so I thought.

After vetting quite a few recipes, this is the version I settled on, though Emeril Lagasse's recipe with cocoa nibs looks equally enticing.  But Mario Batali, who certainly knows his stuff, won out in the end.

Recipe:  Eggplant Caponata

(Recipe by Mario Batali, from Food Network)

Serves 8

Cook's Notes:  I substituted raisins for currants.  Also, I rubbed the baguette slices with a cut garlic clove and brushed them with olive oil before toasting in the oven on a baking sheet.  Another recipe by Mario for caponata uses balsamic vinegar instead of orange juice; check it out to compare.

1/2 cup virgin olive oil

1 large Spanish onion, chopped in 1/2-inch dice

3 tablespoons pine nuts

3 tablespoons currants or raisins

1 tablespoon hot chile flakes, plus extra for garnish

2 medium eggplants, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (to yield 4 cups)

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves or 1/2 teaspoon dried

1/4 cup basic tomato sauce

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

5 sprigs mint, chopped

1 baguette, sliced on the diagonal into rounds and toasted

Heat the oil in a large sauté pan.  Add the onion, garlic, pine nuts, currants (or raisins), and red-pepper flakes, and sauté gor 4 to 5 minutes over medium heat until the onion is translucent.  Add the eggplant, sugar, cinnamon, and cocoa powder, and cook for 5 minutes more, stirring often.  ADd the thyme, tomato sauce, orange juice, and orange zest, and bring to a boil.  Lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Let cool and serve at room temperature.  Best made one day ahead, to let the flavors develop.  Will keep up to 5 days in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!

The puff pastry ravioli themselves come directly from the White on Rice Couple blog.  I simply changed the filling and sauce.

Recipe:  Puff Pastry "Ravioli"

(The concept for this recipe comes from the beautiful recipe created by guest blogger Dara Michalski of Cookin' Canuck blog for White on Rice Couple for their beautiful food, travel, and photography blog; although it has been adapted beyond recognition the credit is all theirs.)

Cook's Notes: I made an egg wash from egg yolk instead of egg white and substituted feta cheese, because I had it on hand, for the goat's cheese.  I changed the egg wash as well, choosing to use the yolk instead of the white (see below for photo).  I used a beautiful buttery-rich puff pastry from a local San Miguel bakery.  My baking sheets are old and well-seasoned, and thus did not need the parchment paper.

500g (or 1lb) frozen puff pastry, thawed

1 egg yolk beaten with 2 teaspoons water

4 teaspoons crumbled goat's cheese or feta

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Place the egg yolk and water in a small bowl and beat with a fork until frothy.  Set aside.

Lightly dust a work surface with flour.  Cut the puff pastry into four equal squares.  Roll two of the squares into a square approximately 9 inches x 9 inches and 1/4-inch thick.  On one of the pieces of rolled pastry, spoon a heaping teaspoon of filling for each ravioli. You should have about 9 mounds.  Brush the edges and in between each mound with the egg wash.  Cover with the other rolled sheet of puff pastry.  Gently press around each mound to seal the two sheets together.

Cut around each "ravioli" with a hand-held ravioli cutter, sharp knife, fluted wheel, cookie cutter, or a pizza cutter (as I did).  Carefully place each ravioli onto a baking sheet, leaving a few inches in between each ravioli.With a sharp knife,  cut two small slits into the top of each ravioli so that steam can escape while cooking.  Brush the tops of the ravioli with egg wash.

Repeat process with remaining puff pastry pieces.

Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until puffed and golden-brown, rotating sheet pans halfway through cooking.  Place on cooling rack for 5 to 10 minutes.  

Assemble:  On each serving plate, spoon a small pool of tomato sauce and top each with two ravioli.  Garnish with sprigs of fresh herbs and/or red chile flakes.  Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Variations:  My mind soars with possibilities of variations on Dara's basic theme.  Why not fill them with sherried mushrooms and float them on a Basque sauce?  Indian keema with a curried tomato sauce?  Brie or camembert with a creamy wine sauce with basil?  Mozzarella or Italian sausage with an Italian salsa verde?  Mexican picadillo any one of a number of Mexican salsas?  Middle Eastern minced kabob atop a puddle of muhammara? Chinese dumpling filling of your choice over perhaps sweet and sour sauce?  Pick a cuisine, choose a flavor principle, and let your imagination go wild.

©Victoria Challancin.  All Rights Reserved.

Homemade Chinese Duck Sauce with Mini Vegetarian Springrolls

Notice to Subscribers:  Please excuse the reposting of this, but freaky things happened yesterday with my blog.  Mysteriously, though I haven't been near it since I wrote it, the post on Chia Seeds got resent, republished.  I have no idea how.  And then I noticed that this post was taken off and sent to "draft."  For this reason I am reposting this one as many people have written that they enjoyed it.  Please forgive the confusion and if you have any insights as to the evil genies that may lurk inside my computer, do let me know!  Thanks, v

Homemade "Duck" Sauce with Mini Vegetarian Springrolls

by Victoria Challancin

It started with a glorious plum season.  Logically, it spread from there to how I could best use them.  A niggling desire to make my own plum sauce, instead of resorting to some icky-sticky stuff in a jar, spurred me to investigate the possibilities further.  So when I found this lovely, easy recipe from Serious Eats, it was practically a done deal:  Duck Sauce...  more accurately called "Plum Sauce"...a homemade condiment, easy to make and delicious, and guaranteed to inspire the invention of new dippers. 

A Little History

Plums have a long recorded history.  Originating in China, where they are still much-appreciated, plums were immortalized by Confucius who wrote about them around 479 B.C in both songs and in his listings of popular Chinese foods of his time.  Alexander the Great spread them across the Mediterranean region.  And by 65 B.C. plums, which were introduced to the Roman Empire by Pompey the Great, were growing in the orchards of Rome.  Today plums, the second most cultivated fruits in the world second only to apples, are found throughout the world.

Although I have travelled extensively in Asia, my experience with Duck Sauce was fairly limited to cheap, tacky packets of who-knows-what sugary chemical concoction that accompanied springrolls in everyday, lackluster Chinese restaurants that I visited while on the road in the US.   I never had such in Hong Kong or anywhere else in Asia.  Still, there was something that intrigued me.  I just knew if I made my own, it could be really good.  After forty or more years, I finally did it.  And the result was more than worth it.

The term"duck" sauce is of course a bit of a misnomer.  It has little to do with ducks at all, unless you count the misguided restauranteurs who served a plum-type sauce instead of the traditional hoisin sauce (more properly spelled "haixian") with their Americanized version of what we know as Peking duck, a far cry from the fabulous lacquered ducks found hanging from stalls all over Hong Kong.  Really, this recipe for duck sauce is plum sauce, pure and simple, whose history can be traced to its more authentic Chinese roots. Duck sauce, on the other hand, might include other types of stone fruits other than plums, such as peaches or apricots, as in this recipe.

Whatever we decide to call it, this easy recipe should certainly be in your repertoire to replace the purchased variety.  It is infinitely more interesting.

Cook's Notes:  This recipe is straightforward--easy and tasty.  I used dark purple plums with an orangey-red pulp.  The leftovers were perfect smeared over goat's cheese on crackers.  It would also work as a glaze for chicken, pork (particularly spareribs), or fish, and yes, with duck as well.

Recipe:  Homemade Chinese Duck (Plum) Sauce

  (Recipe from Seriouseats.com)

Makes about 2 cups.

1/2 lb. plums, pitted and roughly chopped

6 oz dried apricots, roughly chopped

1 cup apple juice

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

3 tablespoons light brown sugar

2 teaspoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1/4 teaspoon mustard powder

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Place plums, apricots, apple juice, vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, ginger, mustard powder, and crushed red pepper in a medium sauce pan.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce to a simmer and let cook until fruit is completely softened and sauce thickens, about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Purée until smooth with an immersion blender or in a regular blender.  Transfer to a bowl and serve immediately, or place in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.

Enjoy!

 Mini Vegetarian Springrolls with duck sauce, soy-ginger sauce, and Chinese mustard    Photo by Jennifer Haas

The duck sauce was really the star of this show as it was what I wanted to make.  The springrolls were quickly invented to go with it.  There are plenty of recipes which abound using oyster sauce, dried black mushrooms, and other ingredients.  I just picked common fresh ingredients and thickened a bit of soy sauce to bind them.

Cook's Notes:  Not having access to water chestnuts, I always add the readily available (here in San Miguel) jícama, which I actually prefer.  This recipe isn't particularly authentic, but it is made with common ingredients and makes a delicious appetizer, guaranteed to fly off the plate.  I served it with duck sauce, reconstituted dry Coleman's mustard, and a dipping sauce made with soy sauce, spring onions, hot sesame oil, and grated ginger.

Recipe:  Mini Vegetarian Springrolls

(Recipe by Victoria Challancin)

Makes about 40

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

2 tablespoons neutral vegetable oil

1/2 head of green cabbage, or Savoy or Napa cabbage, finely shredded

1 cup julienned jícama

1 cup julienned carrots

1/2 cup diagonally sliced green onions

1 cup julienned snow peas

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 cup soy sauce

40 wonton wrappers

Vegetable oil for frying

In a skillet over medium-high heat, heat the sesame and vegetable oil.  Sauté cabbage for 2 minutes.  Add carrots, jícama, green onions, and snow peas.  Cook an additional one minute. 

Whisk together cornstarch and soy sauce until smooth.  Stir into vegetable mixture.  Cook until sauce comes to a boil and is slightly thickened, about 2 minutes.  Remove from heat and cool.

To fill the wontons, lay a wrapper in front of you so that it forms a diamond shape.  Wet all the edges of the wrapper with water, using index finger.  Place a heaping teaspoon of filling in the middle.  Bring the top half of the wrapper over the filling and seal the edges by pressing slightly.  Fold the side points (the ends of the rolls) over, then continue rolling like a taco or a cigar.  Note that it is easier to lay out 8 wonton skins at a time, as in an assembly line.

Fry the wontons in about 2 inches of hot oil until golden and crispy, about 2 minutes.  Served with duck sauce.

Enjoy!

A near-abstract photo of ornamental koi taken in Encinitas, California

©Victoria Challancin.  All Rights Reserved.

Mexican-Style Summer Olive Salad

 Photo by my son, Zachary Popovsky

Mexican-Style Summer Olive Salad

by Victoria Challancin

I seem to store up recipes that I eventually want to write about.  Sometimes for years.  This Mexican Olive Salad is a perfect example.  I actually tested it for Marcela Valladolid for her Food Network's Mexican Made Easy when I worked on pre-production for the show.  I tucked the recipe away and remembered it today while scrolling through photos, this one taken by my son.

This easy recipe is a perfect example of Mexican-Mediterranean fusion food, which is so popular in Baja, Mexico.  You could riff on this endlessly.  Add some boiled egg, cucumber, or cubed avocado.  What about tuna?  Or serve it as is over grilled fish or chicken.  Jícama would work here as well, as would cooked cubes of potato.  Serve it on endive leaves or with homemade tortilla chips.  Or perhaps make a "taco" out of jícama sliced thin on a mandoline and use that as a base, a practice that is becoming popular here in San Miguel in upscale restaurants.

Light, fresh, easy to put together, this is summer in a bowl.  (Can you tell our weather is heating up?).

Recipe:  Mexican-Style Summer Olive Salad

(Recipe by Marcela Valladolid of Food Network)

Cook's Notes:  This version has an additional 3/4 cup of red cherry tomatoes.  You can either tear the dried red chile into small pieces or use scissors to cut it into thin rings.  Other hot dried chiles could be substituted.  To read about Mexican cheese such as cotija, check out this post I wrote on Mexican Cheeses.

Dressing:

2 teaspoons whole cumin seeds

2 teawspoons whole coriander seeds

1 chile de árbol with seeds, torn into very small pieces or 1/2 teaspoon chile flakes

1/4 cup pine nuts

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Salad:

3/4 cup pitted and halved Kalamata olives

3/4 cup pitted and halved green olives

3/4 cup assorted colored cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

3/4 cup red cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves

8 ounces Mexican cotija or feta cheese, cubed

In a small, dry skillet, toast cumin seeds, coriander seeds, chile, and pine nuts over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 3 minutes.  Transfer to a serving bowl and whisk in olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper, keeping in mind that the olives are salty.

Add tomatoes, olives, cilantro, and cheese.  Toss gently to combine.

Enjoy!

California Green

©Victoria Challancin.  Please ask for permission before using  photos.  Thanks!

Green Inspiration

Bright Lights Swiss Chard

Green Inspiration

by Victoria Challancin

If you never thought of Florida as being a part of the South, think again.  I'm talking rural South Florida.  Rural Palm Beach County.  South of the Big Lake.  The place where I was born and raised.  Reminiscent of the Old South in culture, food, and speech.  And I, after not having lived there in over 37 years, still have a Southern accent to prove it.

And in that little corner of the South, we ate greens regularly. 

What, you might ask, exactly are "greens"?  In my family they could have been turnip greens, collard greens, or mustard greens--any one would qualify, always cooked with some bit of pork, whether it was a ham hock, a streak-o-lean, or some fat back.  And you always cooked a "mess" of them.  I never knew exactly how much a "mess" of greens was, but I knew it was a lot.  At least it was in my family, where my Dad always had a minimum of two acres of vegetables growing in his garden in that rich black Everglades' soil and where my Mom cooked daily like she was preparing for the army of hungry mouths that always, always appeared at meal time.

 Kale and mustard greens

Of course, in my modern kitchen, "greens" have taken on a new scope. Spinach, chard, purslane, Mexican quelites, and kale all have been added to my list of "greens."  And I prepare them in a way that would probably make my Dad wince.

This past weekend my husband and I visited our local Saturday Organic Market, where I was dazzled, as I always am, at the variety of produce, the astounding number of artesanal products, the cheeses, the breads, the jams and jellies, the nut butters, the herbal remedies, the freshly-prepared foods, and more.  So much more.  Oh my, it is so lovely to see the organic movement take wings in my beloved San Miguel.  And it inspires me.  Especially those greens.

 Fennel and beets

What did I buy, you ask?  Three bunches of kale.  Beautiful kale.  Two different varieties.  Luscious.  Scroll down to see what I did with them.

 Mizuna or Japanese mustard

 Salad yum

 Fresh lettuces by the heads

 ...and loose by the leaves

 Not greens, but pretty nevertheless

 Keeping it all fresh with a bunch of lettuce as a sprinkling device

And just outside the market on the street, fresh baby nopal cactus paddles, cleaned and ready to go

My Kale Inspirations

 Kale Chips

I first became enamored of kale chips when I saw them in Encinitas, California, a couple of years ago for sale for the staggering price of US$8.25 for a tiny, tiny bag.  Well, I liked the idea of fresh dried chips made from "greens," of course, but it was the price tag that was the real challenge.  My head was reeling over how I could go into the business of making kale chips and selling them as if they were gold.  By now, the world has discovered kale chips, knows how easy and cheap they are to reproduce, and beams over how healthy they are (yes, yes, full of vitamins and antioxidants...full, full, full).  For 10 pesos or around 80 US cents, I made an entire tray.  And they were delicious.  I think even my Dad would have approved of my use of his beloved greens.

Recipe:  Kale Chips

(Recipe by Victoria Challancin)

Cook's Notes:  I used a few grindings of a chemical-free, all-natural spice blend that I occasionally use, but cayenne pepper is also great if you really want a kick.  Also, just sea salt and freshly ground black pepper work just fine.  It's the taste of the kale you are looking for, after all.  There are several types of kale, any one of which would work fine.

One large bunch of curly-leafed kale

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper (or see notes for substitutes)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  

With a sharp knife, cut out the coarse part of the kale stems and tear the leaves into even pieces of desired size.  Place the kale in a large bowl, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Using your hands, "massage" the kale for a minute to soften the texture.

Spread the kale pieces over a cooking tray/rimmed cookie sheet.  Bake for 8 to 12 minutes or until lightly crunchy.  Be careful not to over bake.

Enjoy!

Now for a main vegetarian dish for our lunch.

 In the sauté pan

Next I decided to make something vaguely Mediterranean in flavor with another bunch of kale.  I had a big bag (it was from Costco, after all) of mini sweet peppers in a variety of colors.  Add a scary amount of garlic, a glug of good olive oil, a handful of raisins, some feta cheese, and voilà, another kale dish was born.

 The finished dish

Recipe:  Sweet Pepper Sauté with Kale and Feta

(Recipe by Victoria Challancin)

Cook's Notes:  Of course you can substitute regular bell peppers.  Goat cheese would also work well.  And why did I not remember that I had pine nuts--toasted, they would be wonderful with this dish. Toasted pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds or any nut of choice would also be great.

2 cups mini sweet peppers, halved and seeded

1 to 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

4 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced thin

One bunch kale, tough stems removed

1/4 cup raisins

2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted (optional)

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled

Pour oil in a non-stick sauté pan.  Heat over medium heat.  Add garlic and sauté, stirring constantly for about 30 seconds.  Add the peppers and cook, stirring occasionally for the amount of time it takes to remove the stems from the kale leaves, approximately 2 to 3 minutes.

Using a sharp knife, remove the coarse kale stems.  Tear the leaves into manageable pieces.  Add the leaves and raisins and toasted pine nuts to the pan, stirring to coat with oil.  Season with salt and pepper.  Top with a lid and allow to steam for 5 minutes or until kale is soft and peppers are cooked, but retain firmness.

Place in a serving dish and sprinkle with feta cheese.  Serve warm.

Enjoy!

 Sweet Pepper Sauté with Kale, Raisins, and Garlic

Two bowls with kale...

What did I do with the third bundle of kale, you wonder?  I left those for my husband to nibble on raw--just as he prefers them!

If you enjoyed this, you might like my Raw Kale Salad and Avocado with Japanese-Inspired Vinaigrette.

I am submitting this post to Weekend Herb Blogging, begun by Kalyn Denny of Kalyn's Kitchen and hosted by Ancutza from Matrioska's Adventures.  I will also submit it to Nancy of the beautiful Spicie Foodie for her YBR round-up of best recipes for March.  

©Victoria Challancin.  All Rights Reserved.

Fast and Easy Potato-Zucchini Waffles

Fast and Easy Potato-Zucchini Waffles with Dill

Fast and Easy Potato-Zucchini Waffles with Dill

by Victoria Challancin

I came home today after a busy afternoon of working with a non-profit charity, Mujeres en Cambio, which, among other things, gives out scholarships to young women who live in the many out-lying rural communities of San Miguel de Allende.  Perhaps one day I will write more about this project, as I believe in it so strongly and am so pleased to be a part of helping these girls further their education. But for today, I'll just tell you about what I cooked when I got home, whipped!

Looking for a refreshing and easy vegetarian meal for my husband to be made with ingredients I had on hand (mainly potatoes, zucchini, and tomatoes), I settled on a recipe in my head that I have made in the past.  Subsequent research reveals that the lovely food blog Cara's Cravings was my original inspiration, though I just tossed this together in my own way when I started cooking.  I am a big fan of the waffle iron, you see.

 Potato-Zucchini Waffles with Dill

Essentially, these are just a riff on the zucchini pancakes I wrote about here, only this time I made a horseradish-enhanced yogurt accompaniment instead of tzatziki.  A food processor made quick work of the shredding of the ingredients and the waffle iron completed the job, leaving me just enough time to slice some ripe tomatoes, smoked sea salt from Trader Joe's, and a drizzle of olive oil and toss together a quick sauce.  This meal came together in a matter of minutes and was tasty and satisfying in every way.  A quick lunch indeed.

  Potato-Zucchini Waffles with Dill

Cook's Notes:  A nice variation on this recipe might be to add 1/2 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese and serve it with a chunky tomato sauce.  You can either grate the potatoes and zucchini on the large holes of a box grater or just pop them into the food processor, using the shredding disk, as I did. I measured the vegetables after I had grated them only because I decided then to write about them and needed to know how much I used.  It was 2 large baking potatoes and 6 small Mexican zucchini, but that will depend on the size of the vegetables.

Recipe:  Potato-Zucchini Waffles with Dill

(Recipe by Victoria Challancin inspired by Cara's Cravings)

2 cups shredded potato with skin

2 cups shredded zucchini 

3 small green onions (white and a bit of green)

1 large garlic clove, pressed

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

3 large organic eggs

1 1/2  teaspoons fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dried

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Potato-Zucchini Waffles with Dill

Either grate the potatoes and zucchini on the large holes of a box grater or use a food processor with a shredding disk.  Place the grated vegetables in a large metal bowl and blot with several paper towels.  Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine the ingredients and distribute the flour.  Cook in a waffle machine according to machine instructions or pan-fry as fritters in a skillet with a few tablespoons of vegetable oil.  Serve with the yogurt sauce if desired (see recipe below).

Potato-Zucchini Waffles with Dill

Cook's Notes:  Sour cream would work equally well as yogurt as would lemon juice instead of vinegar.

Recipe:  Mustard-Horseradish Yogurt Sauce with Dill

(Recipe by Victoria Challancin)

1 1/2 cups plain natural yogurt

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 heaping tablespoon horseradish, or to taste

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar or lemon juice

3/4 teaspoon minced fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dried dill

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste 

Combine ingredients in a medium-sized bowl.  Check and adjust seasoning to taste.  Serve chilled.

Enjoy!

San Miguel Magic

Yes, San Miguel de Allende is special.  Yes, it has been conferred UNESCO World Heritage status.  Yes, every magazine in the world seems to have written it up as a top world cultural destination.  Why?  Is it the singular beauty of this 550-year old city?  The colonial buildings? The surrounding mountains?  The arts?  The quaintness?  The fabulous churches, fountains, gardens?  The people themselves and their oh-so-lovely culture?  What really makes San Miguel so special?  Of course, it is an amalgam of all these things and so much more.  But perhaps for me it is the beauty of the unexpected.  Take today, for example...

While I can hardly call the festival of all-things-Cuban "unexpected,"  I was still surprised.  I had read about it and knew it was coming after all.  Yet when I rounded the corner on my way to distribute the scholarships I mentioned at my friend Pakina's family restaurant, La Terraza, located right off the main square, I was blasted with heady, tropical rhythms and the sounds of people dancing and singing.  Cuban-style, of course.  That, and more.  Sprinkle in a few of my beloved mojigangas, giant paper mache figures worn in parades by dancing people and used as props otherwise at practically every event (you have seen more of these on my blog, as in these Mexican ones from the Chili Cook-Off), some books on Cuba, an enlightenment on the cuisine, a couple of beauty queens, and, of course, the singing dancers, and you have the makings of a proper San Miguel festival.  But it was mainly the whimsical mojigangas that grabbed my attention.

San Miguel de Allende.  Always a surprise.

 A Cuban-Style Mojiganga

His Partner

A little perspective...with beauty queens

If you enjoyed this post, you might like:

The Zucchini Fritters with Tzatziki recipe here.

Or the Cinnamon Roll Waffles recipe here.

Or more mojigangas and festivities here.

©Victoria Challancin.  All Rights Reserved.