Read The Veggie Spiral Slicer Cookbook Online
Authors: Kelsey Kinser
The Veggie Spiral Slicer Cookbook (17 page)
NOTE:
To make homemade kecap manis, mix together 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and 1-1/2 tablespoons of honey.
Pad thai is the ubiquitous Thai stir fry. In fact “pad” is just a way of saying something that has been fried in a wok. With the number of ingredients listed here, pad thai may seem like a lot of work, but once you have everything measured out it goes pretty quickly. More quickly, I bet, than driving to your local Thai restaurant. Fish sauce may seem like a weird ingredient, but it essential for truly authentic Thai flavors. Just don’t drop the bottle—the flavor is better than the smell, trust me.
MAKES 6 SERVINGS
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup tamarind paste
2 tablespoons fish sauce
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 Thai chile, seeded
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 green onions, sliced
2 boneless chicken breasts, cut into cubes
2 large eggs
1 large zucchini, spiralized on blade 2
1-1/2 cups mung bean sprouts
chopped toasted peanuts, chopped cilantro, and lime wedges, to serve
1.
In a large skillet, heat the oil on medium-high. Add the tamarind paste and stir it into the hot oil to break it up. Add the fish sauce, brown sugar, Thai chile, garlic, and green onions. Stir everything together for about 1 minute.
2.
Add the chicken breasts and stir together to coat the chicken in the sauce. Stir occasionally until the chicken is almost fully cooked, about 6 minutes. Move the chicken to the perimeter of the pan and crack the eggs in the center of the pan, scrambling them with your spatula/spoon. Once the eggs are almost fully cooked, stir the chicken together with them.
3.
Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine. The noodles will release a lot of water. You want to turn the heat up to high once they do this and cook, stirring occasionally for approximately 10 minutes or until the noodles are wilted and the sauce is thick enough to coat the noodles.
4.
To serve, dish out into bowls and top with chopped peanuts and cilantro. Squeeze the lime wedge on top. Serve with extra lime wedges.
On the handful of rare occasions when my fellow pastry school classmates and I had gotten ahead of our curriculum, our mind-blowingly talented chef instructors would introduce us to regional specialties of the areas they grew up in. One of the dishes that I will always remember is the Alsatian tart flambé. Taken down to the bare essentials, it is composed of a thinly stretched-out flat bread topped with crème fraîche, sliced onions, and bacon. So pure, so simple, so delicious, but not exactly health food. After pastry school, I moved to New York City and found myself settled in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bushwick for a time. This seemed to be the epicenter of a small health food craze—the rice/noodle bowl. Basically, take whatever ingredients you have or are in the mood for and mix with brown rice or whole wheat noodles. This dish is my Brooklyn-influenced riff on the timeless Alsatian classic. I give you: The Alsatian Potato Bowl.
MAKES 2 SERVINGS
4 small red skinned potatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 slices thick-cut bacon
2 cups thinly sliced yellow onion
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup crème fraîche
salt and pepper, to taste
chives, for garnish (optional)
1.
Preheat the oven to 425°F.
2.
Slice the potatoes halfway to the center, lengthwise, taking care not to cut them in half, then spiralize on blade 3. Since you have sliced them halfway into the center, the noodles should automatically be shorter. If they are coming out too long, break them up by hand. Toss the noodles in the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Spread out evenly on a sheet pan, making sure not to crowd the noodles. Place in the preheated oven on the middle rack. Roast for 20 minutes or until the tops of the noodles are softened and the bottom of the noodles are getting crisped and browned.
3.
In a skillet, cook the bacon and set it aside to rest on a paper towel–lined plate.
4.
Cook the onions in the hot bacon fat on medium-high heat until they are softened and translucent. Turn off the heat.
5.
Once the potatoes are cooked, take them out of the oven, turn on the broiler, and return the potatoes to the oven. Broil for approximately 4 minutes, being careful not to burn them.
6.
Crumble the bacon and place back in the pan with the onions. Add the potatoes to the pan and stir everything to combine. Mix together the mascarpone and crème fraîche and pour over the potato mixture. Stir well to break up any clumps of potato noodles or crème fraîche.
7.
Serve immediately in a bowl. Top with chives, if using. This goes great with a nice kale salad, naturally.
Bibimbap
(which means “mixed rice”) is a classic Korean dish, and this recipe features the use of
bulgogi
, a Korean-style marinated beef, as the main protein. Feel free to use chicken, pork, tofu, or whatever protein you prefer. Despite the long ingredient list, this is a relatively simple dish of lightly burnt rice topped with whatever you have in the kitchen and a quick sauce. Feel free to experiment and have fun!
MAKES 4 SERVINGS
For the bulgogi:
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 scallion, thinly sliced
1 medium clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon grated peeled ginger
1/2 pound ground beef
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
For the crisp rice:
1-1/2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil, divided
2 medium sweet potatoes, spiralized on blade 3, then riced
For the sauce:
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Bibimbap mix-ins:
1 small zucchini, spiralized on blade 3
1 large carrot, spiralized on blade 3
4 fried eggs
kimchi
1.
In a bowl, combine the soy sauce, sesame oil, scallion, garlic, brown sugar, ginger, and ground beef. Stir this until all of the liquid has mixed in with the beef. Refrigerate for a minimum of 30 minutes, or preferably overnight.
2.
In a large wok or skillet, heat the vegetable oil on medium. Cook the beef, stirring occasionally for 6 to 8 minutes or until the beef is cooked through. Set aside and wipe the wok clean.
3.
Add the sesame oil back on medium heat to make the crisp rice. Stir the sweet potato rice into the hot sesame oil and stir to coat. Press the rice flat and cook until the rice has crisped on the bottom, about 15 minutes.
4.
While waiting on the rice to crisp, mix together the sauce. Stir together all of the ingredients and set it aside.
5.
Divvy up the crisped rice into bowls. Top with the bulgogi and various mix-ins. Serve with a drizzle of the sesame sauce and top with the fried egg and kimchi. Enjoy immediately.
Indian-Style Potatoes and Chickpeas
Some days it feels like I have more spices in my cupboard than fresh food in the refrigerator. On days like these, I make Indian food. This dish is an inspired combination of
palak paneer
and
sag aloo
, plus a new addition with the roasted chickpeas on top. I firmly believe you should always have canned chickpeas and frozen spinach on hand for last-minute dinners that you’ll want to make again and again.
SERVES 3
For the roasted chickpeas:
1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained and set out to dry on paper towels
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
3 teaspoons spicy curry powder
For the spinach potato noodles:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon brown mustard seeds
1 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds
1/2 cup diced yellow onion
1 (10-ounce) package of frozen spinach, thawed
1 large Russet potato, spiralized on blade 3
1 cup salted ricotta cheese
1.
Preheat the oven to 450°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2.
Make the roasted chickpeas. Toss the chickpeas in the vegetable oil. Spread the chickpeas out on the baking tray and roast for 30 to 45 minutes or until the chickpeas are browned and crispy. Set the chickpeas aside to cool slightly.
3.
While the chickpeas are roasting, blend the mustard, mayonnaise, and curry powder in a medium bowl. Once the chickpeas have cooled, stir them into the curry mustard-mayonnaise. Reserve the chickpeas to top the spinach potato noodles.
4.
Make the spinach potato dish. This can be done during the last 20 minutes of roasting time. In a large skillet, heat the vegetable oil on medium-high. Add the mustard seeds and cook until the seeds begin to “pop” out of the pan. Add the diced onion and cook, stirring frequently until the onions are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.
5.
Add the spinach and potato noodles to the pan with 1/2 cup of water. Bring the water to a simmer, lower the heat to medium, and cook, covered, for 10 minutes. If the pan gets too dry, you can add a splash of water whenever needed.
6.
After the 10 minutes have passed your potato noodles should be softening. Once they are, remove the cover, turn the heat back up to medium-high, and cook until the moisture in the pan has cooked off and the potato noodles are completely limp and cooked through, though not necessarily browned.
7.
Stir in the ricotta cheese and cook for another couple minutes, or until the ricotta is heated and sticking to the noodles.
8.
Serve this meal with the spinach mixture as the base and curried roasted chickpeas on top.
You either love truffles or you’re completely over it. If you’re of the latter camp, feel free to just omit this ingredient and call it “plain ’ole mac and cheese.”
MAKES 4 SERVINGS
