Category Archives: Steam-sauté

Always Hungry? An improvised meal

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One of the problems I have with rigorous meal plans is that I refuse to shop for my food according to a menu! Even though I’m shopping in the supermarket, I want the freedom to buy what looks good–not what I need for a menu. When I find lovely ahi tuna for a measly &7.99 per pound, you be I’m having that for a meal. That was what I found on Friday, so I had an ad lib meal constructed from the simplified meal plan (page 152).

My high-quality protein was the tuna–pan seared to medium rare. The carbohydrate and vegetable were spicy mixed greens (a mix of radicchio, shredded broccoli stems, kale, and a few other robust greens) steam-sautéed with borlotti beans, seasoned with just a dab of bacon fat and red pepper flakes. Since tuna is not as oily/fatty as sardines, salmon, or mackerel, I followed the “pour on the fat” instruction by adding with a dollop of the lemon dill sauce.  YUM! Dessert? Raspberries and heavy cream (though these were not on the menu for today  either but I used the quantities suggested in the meal plan elsewhere.

(The dill sauce thins and spreads quickly when it hits something hot–next time it will go on the side!) The tuna steak that I had was close to a half pound, so there will be some for a lettuce wrap or salad tomorrow.

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Cabbage with juniper berries

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I’ve always liked cabbage–slaw, steamed, and even boiled if it was not cooked to mush. I’ll even just nuke a wedge with a little olive oil and salt sprinkled over it and call it a vegetable dish. It’s a good keeper that doesn’t get foul if it stays in the crisper for a while–especially if you just peel off the leaves from the outside of the head as you need them, instead of cutting the head in pieces.

Cover of book

Nigel Slater’s “Tender”

I’ve read a lot of Nigel Slater lately (Kitchen Diaries, Ripe, and Tender). I like his style: very descriptive of the garden, and the kitchen–almost makes me feel that I’m right there with him. I’m anticipating the followup volumes for Tender and Kitchen Diaries; his website is also well worth checking out.

Tender is a vegetable cookbook (as well as a gardening book)–not a vegetarian cookbook, though most recipes could be pretty easily adapted if you’re of the vegetarian persuasion.  The discussion of each vegetable includes cooking as well as growing information, and most delightfully, a discussion of seasonings for the vegetable.

His recipes are simple, designed to make the most of excellent fruits and vegetables without being at all fussy.  Quantities are rather loosely given, which makes it ideal for my improvisational style of cooking for myself (and the cat). I’ve found all sorts of thing I want to try, but here is one that particularly caught my fancy–perhaps because it’s fall, or maybe just because I had a head of cabbage in the crisper.

One of the seasoning he mentioned for cabbage was juniper berries. I’ve used juniper berries for other dishes, but can’t honestly say that I’d ever thought of trying them with cabbage.  Here’s what I did to try this out.

Cabbage with juniper berries

Ingredients

  • About 6 leaves from a medium head of cabbage
  • 3 juniper berries
  • dash of red pepper flakes if desired for spice
  • dash of salt to taste
  • small pat of butter

Preparation

  • Flatten the leaves on a cutting board and cut into bite-size pieces
  • Add crushed juniper berries, (see note below.), chili flakes if desired, and salt.
  • Toss the cabbage to distribute seasonings.
  • Add butter and 1 tablespoon of water.
  • Cover and microwave for about 4 to 6 minutes, until cabbage is still bright green, but tender (See NOTE).
  • Serve.

Cook’s notes

  • Though I used white cabbage, I’m sure this would be fine with red or savoy cabbage as well.
  • The juniper berries are very oily, so I did not put them in my spice grinder–I used a mortar and pestle that could be cleaned easily.
  • The microwave really seems to bring out the heat in the chili peppers, so add less than you might were you just going to sauté the cabbage.
  • The amount of water needed will depend on whether the cabbage is just washed and still wet, and/or how tight the cover is. I don’t usually use plastic wrap, but Pyrex bowls with vented covers, so I do lose some steam.
  • Sauté or steam-sauté would work as well–I just didn’t want to wash another pan when I was preparing this after a day of indexing work.

I’ve tried it now–right up there with caraway seeds.The combination is a winner–I’m not sure I can easily describe what the juniper berries do for the cabbage, but it certainly puts it in a different class from “boiled” cabbage that I grew up with and what is typical of “southern” cooking. I think it adds background earthiness and complexity to the flavor. It was no longer “just” cabbage!

It was a side for roast turkey thighs, but I can easily see this as a great side for pork, or most particularly for duck legs or duck confit.  I’ll certainly make it again–probably on many occasions.

I didn’t use extra virgin olive as I normally might with cabbage because I just could not get the flavors of that and the juniper berries together in my head. (Cabbage with a little extra virgin olive oil is excellent, though.) If I were making this to go with duck, I make it with duck fat instead of butter.

bowl of cooked cabbage

cabbage with juniper berries

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These links are to The Regulator Bookshop, my local, independent bookstore. I like to use them whenever possible–though I do sometimes go to Amazon.com. I have no connection with The Regulator Bookshop, such as an affiliate status–I just support local independent business when I can.  They are very efficient in processing orders, even if the book you want is not in stock.

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King klip

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I went to Harris Teeter (affectionately known as the Teeter or HT) this morning looking for something to cook for  dinner (or supper if you prefer).  I was scoping out the fish contemplating salmon, tuna, or one of the standbys when  saw something that I was not familiar with, but look great.  The sign said it was  King klip.  My cooking curiosity being what it is, I had to bring some home with me, particularly as it  was inexpensive.

The fishmonger told me it was sort of like grouper and would do well grilled.  The heat being what it was this afternoon (my thermometer in the shade said 97 ° F ), I thought that grilling was out of the question so I opted for the cast-iron griddle –my standby.

I portioned my fish (I was a little overzealous when I said how much to cut so I have King klip filet portionedanother portion to try cooking a different way tomorrow), patted it dry, and rubbed itwith a tiny bit of olive oil.   Then I started wondering what I was going to have with this lovely fish…looking around the kitchen I saw the kaboka squash that I’d brought home from the Compare market the other day and decided that was going to be part of dinner tonight.  (I now have to figure out what to do with the rest of this thing as well, since I used only about a quarter of it.)  I attacked it with my chef’s knife, halved it, seeded half, and then took off several slices to use this evening.

I decided that I needed some green stuff with this as well, so I make a trip to a neighbor’s garden(yes, she had previously offered)  for some of  the last of the snow peas–it’s really the last–the heat has gotten to them for sure.

I decided that I’d steam sauté the squash, extravagantly with a bit of butter since the rest of the meal would be “lean”.  I used a paring knife to remove the skin and cut it into chunks so it would cook fairly quickly.

I topped and tailed my snow peas and since they were feeling the heat I put them into some cold water until I was ready to cook them.  I started the  squash in my small sauté pan with a bit of butter and about a tablespoon of water, covered tightly.  It was time to heat up the griddle.  Once it was hot, I rubbed just a light coat of oil onto the surface and put my filet on to start cooking.

Meanwhile, a quick check on the squash–not quite ready to let the water evaporate yet, but close.  Back to the fish–not quite ready to turn yet–still resisted my sliding the spatula under the edge, so it needed a bit more browning to “release” by itself.   It was smelling really good by now.  About the time it was ready to turn, the squash should be read to be uncovered to finish cooking while the water evaporated, and then to start sautéing to finish.

   The fish released and turned easily on the griddle.  I removed the lid from the squash and let the water evaporate from the pan; turned the heat down to hold while the fish was finishing.  I could see the opaque line moving toward the middle.

I put the snow peas into the pan on top of the squash and put the lid back on so that they would get just a bit of steaming .  By the time this thick filet was opaque to the center, the squash and peas were ready to eat as well.

I warmed my plate under hot water and dried it, and put my dinner on it!  Simple, and really pretty healthy–I did put just a small pat of butter on top of the fish to finish it off with the lemon.  That was about 30 to 40 minutes start to finish.  Since this was my first time with this fish, I wanted to cook it as simply as possible to get to know its basic taste.  It was a very mild fish, but it held together well during the grilling.  It’s going in my “standby” category with tilapia for a good all-purpose white fish.  (It’s line-caught, by the way; I was pleased to see that HT signs indicated how all of the fish in the case had been caught)!   It was a simple, but good, quick, healthy meal!

I think that I’ll try baking the other half of that filet in foil with some veggies.  As for the rest of that kaboka, I have a neighbor  who I’m sure will be able to make use of at least part of the other half.  (If you’re doing single-serving cooking, it’s always good to find out what your neighbors like to eat–so you can share when you get really big things like winter squash or watermelons.)  I’ll share, and still have a bit more of the squash for me.  The second portion of fish will probably be a hobo pack with some fresh tomatoes and herbs–maybe tarragon. The rest of the kaboka squash is likely going to get a “classic” treatment:  baked with some butter and brown sugar.

One of the good principles of single-serving cooking is to share the big stuff.  Most of my single (or cooking for two) neighbors always seem really please to be able to get a portion of something like the kaboka–especially if you give cooking instructions if it’s unfamiliar to them.)

Cooking vegetables quickly

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No matter how much you like to cook, sometimes you just want to prepare veggies quickly, but still want them to taste good.  One of my favorite ways to quick-cook vegetables is a technique that I learned from How to Cook without a Book by Pam Anderson, who really stresses improvisation and good food.

One of her techniques that I’ve found useful for vegetables is the “steam/sautéed” method.  It’s a very simple technique, using both “wet” and “dry” cooking in a single pan, without boiling or blanching and draining.  You can facilitate speed by how you cut the vegetables–smaller pieces cook more quickly than larger chunks.  This book is an excellent resource to help you learn to improvise and adjust quantities for single servings, doing away with leftovers. Recipes are simple, and presented in a manner that makes them very easy to adjust serving sizes, giving the necessary ingredients and there are variations given so that you get the feel of improvising.

To cook vegetables this way, you need vegetable, some fat, and flavorings.  The recipes in the book are presented starting with one pound of vegetables, but are easily down-sized to a single serving.  The basic ratio of these recipes is (p. 204):

  • 1/3 cup water
  • 1 tablespoon fat
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 pound prepared vegetable
  • optional aromatics (1/2 small onion, sliced thin, or 2 medium garlic cloves, minced)
  • optional spices (dried or fresh herbs and or flavorings)
  1. Bring the water, fat, salt, and vegetable, along with the optional aromatics, spices, dried herbs and/or other flavorings to a boil in a Dutch oven or a large deep skillet. Cover and steam over medium-high heat until the vegetable is brightly colored and must tender, 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the vegetable size.
  2. Remove the lid and continue to cook until the liquid evaporates, 1-2 minutes longer, adding optional fresh herbs and/or other flavoring at this point. Sauté to intensify flavors, 1-2 minutes longer.  Adjust seasonings, including pepper to taste and serve.

The cooking instructions are simple. I’ll give you an example of a recipe from this book, and of the technique (above):

Steam/Sautéed Carrots with Cumin (p.209)

  • 1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch coins
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley or cilantro leaves

Follow the Steam/Sautéed Vegetables recipe (p. 204), adding the cumin with the carrots and the parsley once the carrots start to sauté.

One pound of carrots is approximately 5-6 medium or 4 large, so it’s easy to adjust the proportions here for two medium carrots.  For me, 1 large carrot is about the right amount for a serving of vegetable.  The amounts of fat, spices, and water are easily adjusted (see Measurement Conversions), and they do not have to be exact–you can add a bit more water if the vegetable is not quite tender enough, and a bit extra will evaporate once the pan is uncovered.  You’ll adjust the seasonings to taste, as well.

You will need to consider whether your vegetable is “soft” (vegetables which normally give off water as they cook) may not need the steaming before the sauté step), but  vegetables that do not give off moisture as they cook, like the carrots, green beans, cabbage or broccoli, do need this step.  The amount of water will vary with the density of the vegetable–you will learn to judge that, always remembering that you can add more water a tablespoon or so at a time as needed.

Dried herbs and spices (except black pepper) should be added with the vegetable in order to have the flavors develop.  Because fresh herbs can lose volatile oils with heat exposure, these need to be added at the end so that the freshness is retained.  With this technique is easy to prepare vegetables for small-time cooking, keeping the big-time taste.