Funky Veg

Courtesy of Bon Appétit

There were a couple of dishes I wanted to try out for the holidays. One was a riff on an Asian dish and the other Italian. Both were just a touch different because it treated the vegetables like main courses. (Certainly, if you’re a vegetarian, then they are a main course. Alas for me, they are merely fabulous side dishes.)

Brussels sprouts are awesome roasted in olive oil with salt and pepper. (And yes, they are Brussels not Brussel sprouts. Native to the Mediterranean and cultivated in the 13th century in Belgium—hence the capital’s name—they are in the same family as the cabbage, kale, and broccoli.)

Adding maple syrup and bacon makes it a winter staple. I could eat them by the carload. But this time, I came across a recipe in Bon Appétit that took the standard maple goodness and made it brown sugar, chili sauce goodness.

Kung Pao Brussels sprouts. Just saying it makes me think I can split bricks with my left hand. It’s got a little crunch, a bit of spice, and a smidgen of zing. Better yet, it takes only about a half hour to make them.

Courtesy of Food Network

Then, there was the spaghetti squash. When winter rolls around, I usually resort to butternut. I love making soup out of it (as seen in a previous post). But this time, the spaghetti won out. Food Network had a great recipe that called for pricking the sides of the squash and then roasting it. Shred the insides, add salt and pepper, and a ton of grated Parmesan cheese. (OK, maybe the recipe didn’t call for a ton. I just used that much. What’s a little extra cheese between friends?)

Let’s start with the sprouts:

2 lbs. Brussels sprouts, halved

5 TB vegetable oil

1 tsp cornstarch

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 TB fresh ginger, minced

2 TB sambal oelek

6 dried chiles de arból, crushed

½ c. soy sauce

3 TB brown sugar

2 tsp rice wine vinegar

1/3 c roasted, unsalted peanuts

Kosher salt and ground black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Toss Brussels sprouts and 4 TB of the oil in a rimmed baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper. Roast, tossing once, until softened and browned, 20-25 minutes. Set aside.

Meanwhile, mix cornstarch and 1 TB water in a small bowl until smooth. Heat remaining 1 TB of oil in a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Add garlic and ginger. Cook, stirring often, until garlic is golden brown, about 2 minutes. Add chili paste and cook, stirring, until darkened, about 2 minutes. Add chiles, soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, and ½ cup of water. Bring to a boil. Stir in cornstarch slurry. Simmer, stirring, until sauce coasts a spoon, about 2 minutes. Let cook slightly. Toss Brussels sprouts with sauce and serve topped with peanuts.

Note: the recipe is just fine with the sambal if you don’t have or can’t find the chiles. And make sure the peanuts are chopped so they are bite-sized. No point in choking on a good dish.

Now for the spaghetti squash. (This one’s a cinch!)

1 medium spaghetti squash

½ c. grated Parmesan cheese

½ stick of butter

Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use a paring knife to prick squash all over. Place in a baking dish and bake 1 hour or until soft. Cut squash in half. Scoop out and discard seeds. Using a fork, scrape flesh in strings into a serving bowl. Toss with Parmesan (a little or a lot, up to you) and butter and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Enjoy!

Coq au vin blanc

Julia Child made this dish popular in the 1960s with her French Chef series on PBS. But this rustic dish has been made regionally in France for generations. Typically, the “coq,” or rooster, was used. As a sinewy meat base, braising in liquid was required to make it a more succulent recipe. These days, most cooks can’t get their hands on a rooster so any package of chicken will suffice. In this case, I used thighs and legs. But, breasts could easily be replaced with perfectly nice results.

The dish calls for a red wine—Bordeaux, Beaujolais, or even a Chianti. Because it’s a peasant dish, any wine you have on hand can be used including white wine (in which case the recipe is known as coq au vin blanc). Riesling is often used, as is Chardonnay, which is what I put in. You could even get a little fancy and pour in some leftover champagne. (But really, who has leftover champagne?)

I used Julia’s recipe in her Master the Art of French Cooking. She acknowledged that any wine can be used for the recipe, but red is more characteristic. Please note she uses Cognac, too. I have found that she frequently pairs wine and brandy in many of her recipes.

The basic line-up is chicken, bacon, onions, and mushrooms. I used chopped onions, but you could easily substitute pearl onions. I got funky with the mushrooms this time using shitake, Portobello, and oyster. Little white button mushrooms are also just fine.

In France, coq au vin is often paired with buttered peas and parsley potatoes. I have served it with polenta and even mashed potatoes. You could even decide to throw it over buttered egg noodles, especially if you decided to go with a Riesling. It gives it a little more of an Alsace-Lorraine spin on it.

Here is the recipe:

4 oz. bacon, chopped

4 TB butter

3 lbs. chicken

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. pepper

¼ c. Cognac

3 c. wine

1 c. chicken stock

½ TB tomato paste

2 cloves garlic, mashed

¼ tsp. thyme

1 bay leaf

1 onion, chopped

½ lb. sautéed mushrooms

3 TB all-purpose flour

Fresh parsley as garnish

Use 2TB of the butter to melt in a Dutch oven. Add chopped bacon and cook on medium heat until lightly browned. Remove bacon, reserving fat. Fry off chicken in fat and reserve. Add onions and sauté. Add Cognac. In a separate pan, sauté mushrooms to run off excess liquid then add to onions. Then, tomato paste, garlic and herbs. Deglaze with wine. Return chicken and bacon to the pot. Simmer until liquid has reduced by half. In a separate pan, make a roux with the other 2TB butter and the flour. Remove chicken parts to serving platter and then add the roux to the sauce to thicken. Pour over chicken, shoot the parsley on top, and serve.