Yesterday’s menu was fried rice, a pretty easy dish, and a good way to use up the loose ends of things. The loose ends are good this time of year. We are starting to get early summer produce from the co-op, and so have squash, carrots, bok choy, and spring bulb onions. There was also flank steak left over from the steak-frites so I marinated thin strips that in a mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil, and chili-garlic paste. In the photo are the prep bowls.
The key thing about fried rice is to not to let everything get mucked up together too soon. If you prepare the following three things are prepared in advance, then add them to the dish at the end to warm, you will have fried rice that is both delicious and beautiful.
1. The steak pieces get their own treatment, so they aren’t overcooked.
2. The rice also needs to be chilled, or at least cool so that it is no longer sticky. This is easy if you have made extra rice and already have it in the fridge.
3. Eggs are scrambled separately so the egg doesn’t take on the color of the sauce.
Once those three things are prepped and stowed you can fry the onion, squash, carrot, boy choy and whatever else you are using in peanut oil. Sometimes I add fresh ginger and garlic at this point. Don’t overcook the vegetables at this stage! When you start adding the rice, the eggs, and the steak it will take several minutes for them to re-heat. Meanwhile, your vegetables will continue to cook, so if you fry them until they are soft you will end up with mushy vegetables by the time everything is heated.
Add the rice and whatever adjuncts you are using (except for the eggs) once the vegetables are cooked but not overcooked. Add 1-2 t. sesame oil, mixed with a couple 3T. soysauce and a large tablespoon of Hoisin sauce. When all of this is warmed, add the eggs and serve.
We also have been buying bags of tomatoes frozen from last year’s crop. I don’t know about the energy costs to keep these in storage for six months but they are good to have now a couple of months before tomatoes start coming in. The ones in the photo were destined for a ragu fortified with a pound each of local ground beef and pork sausage. I was waiting for them to thaw in the bowl so the skin could be removed before cooking. In the end I don’t know if that was necessary. I processed them raw in the blender before putting them in the pot, which probably would have eliminated the large skin pieces. The sauce cooked all evening to reduce the liquid from the tomatoes and the cup or so of red wine I added. The sausage, of course, is fatty so I skimmed the fat with a spoon before I put it up. I ended up with a good half-gallon of sauce. We will probably eat some tonight (stay tuned!) but most of it will be frozen in appropriate portions for later use.
We usually make the rice according to my grandfather's formula. Using a double boiler, it's a cup of rice and a cup and a quarter of water. (I up the water just a little; Papa was an Uncle Ben's kind of guy.) It takes a little longer to cook, so start it first, but once it's cooked you can turn the heat off and let it hang out until everything else is ready.
ReplyDeleteWe always make extra rice. This dish, for example, is even simpler if you can just pull the chilled, already un-sticky-fied, rice from the refrigerator. But if fried rice isn't on your menu for the week, the leftover rice makes great lunch snacks. Right, Louise?
your writing is as good as your cooking. is all this leading eventually to the [hard-copy] publication of a cookbook? and if not, shouldn't it be?
ReplyDeletejust sayin.