A Good Dish

making food simpler

Cold Sesame Noodles: A Simple, Spicy And Addictive Recipe That Is An Easy Fix On A Hot Summer Day

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Sesame noodles with peas and shoots
Stoneware plate by Mary Barringer

The Upper West Side of Manhattan used to be home to loads of good Chinese restaurants. Every few blocks, there was another reliably decent spot. Unfortunately, with gentrification came rising rents. As a result, our favorite local Chinese restaurants, Empire Szechuan and Chun Cha Fu, have been closed for years and we’ve never found a satisfactory replacement in our neighborhood. We can always go to to Chinatown or Flushing but we sure do miss having a good local standby. 

Small stoneware plates
by Mary Barringer

I ate at Empire when I first moved to the Upper West Side, when I was dating my husband, with our son and my sister and her family and with my in-laws as well as with out-of-town guests. It was our go-to for delivery whenever I just couldn’t cook. Their spicy soups got me through a lot of colds in my 20’s. Chun Cha Fu (now Carmine’s) had banquet rooms that could serve 3 or 4 families at big round tables with an enormous turntable in the center for rotating dishes. My husband’s family ate there when he was a kid and my family went there with 2 others to celebrate our college graduation. In college, we often ate at the Cantonese style Moon Palace a few blocks from school, but once we discovered the sesame noodles (and everything else) at Empire, there was no turning back. That big plate of spicy and sweet cold noodles with a heap of julienned cucumber was my gateway dish to a whole other world of food. 

I like udon in this recipe
but spaghetti or Chinese egg noodles
or soba also work well

I recently got a craving for those noodles and since there isn’t a local Szechuan place I can reliably order from, I decided to recreate them as best I could. There are lots of sesame noodle recipes out there. Some use tahini and others peanut butter. Some include black tea, sriracha, garlic oil or sugar. I culled the ingredients that I thought would taste good and then added a splash of mirin, a Japanese rice wine that is definitely not traditional but gave a little sweetness without added sugar. I didn’t have cucumber so, since I am trying to make do with what I do have, I substituted frozen peas, scallions and some pea shoots I’ve been growing in a sunny window. (When I made it a second time, I added the more traditional cucumber but actually liked the peas better). I used udon noodles but spaghetti, egg or rice noodles would work, too. If you are not eating any flour or grain, I think this sauce would be delicious on broccoli, chicken skewers or baked tofu. I’m not sure I got the recipe just like Empire’s but on a hot day when I didn’t want to heat up the kitchen, these cold noodles took me down memory lane and hit the spot.

Sesame noodles with cucumbers
Stoneware plate by Mary Barringer

SPICY SESAME NOODLES 

Cook one 8 oz package of udon noodles according to directions (don’t overcook), drain, cool with cold water and set aside. Save a splash of the pasta water to thin the sauce.

For the sauce whisk together:

  • 1/3 cup peanut butter, chunky or smooth or 1/4 cup tahini
  • 3 TBs soy sauce
  • 1 TBs neutral oil 
  • 1 TBs toasted sesame oil
  • 1TBs mirin
  • 1TBs rice or sherry vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp granulated garlic or 1TBs grated fresh garlic
  • 1 TBs grated ginger
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper or to taste (or chili oil or sriracha)

Loosen with a splash of the pasta water

Add noodles to sauce and toss to coat along with your choice of:

  • 1/2 cup frozen peas, blanched and cooled
  • 1 bell pepper, any color, julienned or diced
  • 2-3 scallions, thinly sliced
  • A big handful of pea shoots or bean sprouts
  • Cold cooked or blanched greens like arugula, watercress, spinach or kale
  • Even leftover broccoli could work in bite sized pieces

Top with your choice of:

  • Toasted sesame seeds
  • Chopped peanuts
  • Chopped fresh cilantro, parsley or mint
  • Julienned cucumber
  • Squeeze of lime juice
  • Thinly sliced or cubed baked tofu

Serves 3-4 people (or 2 if your son is hungry) and can be easily doubled to serve more or leave in the fridge to eat the next day. It makes a perfect picnic lunch. 

Need Coffee? Ordering A Coffee Subscription Online Is An Easy Way To Try New Beans From Many Different Roasters

Wood-fired stoneware mug
by Linda Christianson
from St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour

I used to think coffee was bad for me but since quite a lot of recent studies say just the opposite, I drink a cup every morning. I’d like to drink more but then I would be up all night. Now the decision to drink coffee is an easy one but finding coffee beans I like is tougher. In a typical pre-pandemic week, we would buy coffee beans from a local coffee shop like Plowshares and Variety. In a pinch, if I was being lazy, I might pick up a bag at Whole Foods or, if feeling thrifty, a 2 pounder of organic beans at Costco. We had been trying out different roasters across the city (Devocíon, East One, Box Kite with mixed results) to find beans we liked when the stay at home order was issued in March. Since then, we have been ordering beans online. Wow – there is a whole huge world of freshly roasted coffee available to be delivered to your home!

Porcelain espresso cup and saucer
by The Bright Angle
from Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show

I am happy we can order consistently good tasting beans from local roasters online instead of actually going to their brick and mortar shops, grateful they still roast and ship. (We are just about to try Partners (in Brooklyn) because they offer 20% off your first order). But when a friend recently turned us on to online coffee subscriptions (thank you, Melea), we realized what endless possibilities we have. Now our eyes have been opened to Bean Box (so far we’ve enjoyed 1 out of 3 of their selections), Trade Coffee (2 for 2), Misto Box (0 for 1), companies who will send coffees from different roasters all over the country. Sites like Condé Nast Traveler and Roasty Coffee have descriptions of the various companies but I thought Homegrounds was the most helpful because they actually compare the various subscription services to help you choose. Homegrounds is one of many coffee focused sites (such as The Coffee Compass, Coffee Geek and Perfect Daily Grind) that discuss all aspects of coffee from sourcing to storing to brewing. And, of course, there are many opinionated threads on Reddit that argue the merits and faults of different coffees and subscriptions.

Earthenware mug by Maggie Jaszczak
from Northern Clay Center

A subscription where you leave the choice up to someone else is always a gamble and a coffee service is no different. You might like what they choose and you might not. The first bag of beans I got from Misto Box (from a roaster in Kentucky) brewed up watery and flavorless, even though the beans had been roasted that week. But that may be true with any beans you buy at a store or order yourself solely based on a description without having tasted them. I said that I liked a medium roast with full body and caramel flavor but that didn’t guarantee that I would like the beans they said tasted that way. Some companies (like Trade) will send a different bag of beans if you don’t like the first selection. Disappointingly, the “coffee curator” at Misto was so slow to respond to my emails requesting a replacement that I debated canceling and trying a different service but, after a week of emailing, he finally agreed to send another bag of beans.

Kurinuki (carved from a block of clay)
earthenware mug by Joe Pintz
from Worcester Craft Center

Like beer and wine, choosing a coffee involves knowing the terminology. Coffee is described by its roast level (with, strangely, light having the most caffeine and dark the least) as well as by adjectives like smoky, mellow, fruity, rich and toasty. According to JavaLush, another coffee lover’s site, there are 172 words to describe coffee, even more than to describe wine! I’ve been drinking coffee for decades and am only now beginning to learn a vocabulary to use to explain what I like. Unfortunately, knowing some words doesn’t guarantee I will get something I like. The only real way I know to do that is to taste. And like with beer and wine, I may or may not like someone else’s recommendation. So I take a chance trying new beans, both single origin and blends, and brew and taste them until I find the ones I like. Part of the fun of a subscription is getting new coffees to try that we wouldn’t have chosen ourselves. Sometimes they please us and when they don’t, we try combining different roasts or brewing them a different way (drip or aeropress or cold brew) or changing the grind size or varying the amount we use. If all else fails, they go in the compost. So far that has only happened twice. I continue to look forward to the next bag to arrive, ever hopeful that it will be my new favorite.

Peonies

A Tasty Main Course Salad You Can Make From Pantry Supplies With An Unlikely Ingredient – Sardines

“Pantry” salad with chips
Glazed porcelain plate by Doug Peltzman

I’ve never liked sardines but I finally found a way to eat them other than holding my nose and swallowing. In fact, I think I like this sardine recipe even more than tuna salad (which I don’t eat anymore because of the high mercury content). Before I tell you how I prepared the sardines, let me tell you a few reasons for even bothering to eat them. First of all, sardines with bones are among the healthiest of all fish for us because they are small and low on the food chain (not having ingested lots of toxins like larger fish), high in omega-3 fatty acids (the kind that may prevent cardiovascular disease) and provide us with high quality protein and easily absorbable forms of calcium and vitamins B12 and D. Sardines are always on the list of sustainably sourced fish and they are often canned in olive oil, one of the healthiest oils, or just in water. And, right now during this pandemic, they are a readily available source of fish and can be ordered.

Wild tinned sardines are a widely available and inexpensive source of fish

Some people like sardines out of the tin on a buttered cracker or toast. I can manage that if I have to but never found it delicious. I would have to add equal parts butter to the sardines but then they wouldn’t be at all healthy anymore. My parents used to eat them with vinegar and chopped onion but I’ve never loved raw onion so never adopted that version. Not unlike my recipe for tinned salmon salad, I mix rinsed sardines with a long list of ingredients which is flexible and ever-changing. If you don’t have or really can’t stomach sardines, this recipe will improve your tinned tuna, mackerel or salmon, probably even mashed beans. Chopped toasted almonds would be good in place of sesame seeds and if you don’t have fresh dill, use dried or try thyme or cilantro or just parsley. If you prefer mayo to yogurt, use it or just use mustard. If you don’t have or want to use Parmesan, use cottage cheese or Cheddar or leave out the cheese altogether.  Should you only have one tin of sardines, you could beef up the salad with a cup of cooked beans or a hard-boiled egg or two. You can use just lemon or pickle juice (or substitute vinegar) but I think both makes for better flavor. I didn’t have pickles so I used olive brine this time. If you want to toss in some chopped pickles, carrots, jicama or peppers, a spoonful of relish or some chutney, you would only be adding layers of flavor. In my mind the whole purpose is to tame the fishiness (yes, I said it) of the sardines. I think it works! Let’s make up another name, like Pantry Salad, to make it more appealing. When it gets hotter this summer, you won’t have to turn on the stove to make this. Serve as a sandwich, with crackers or alongside a shredded carrot, green or fennel salad and you’ll have a satisfying, inexpensive and tasty lunch or dinner by just shopping in your pantry and refrigerator.

This tasty salad goes equally well with crackers or bread or a vegetable salad
Porcelain plate by Doug Peltzman

PANTRY SALAD

Mash the contents of 2 tins sardines with bones (3 small headless fish in each 4.375 oz tin)and mix together with:

  • 2 TBs plain Greek yogurt
  • 2-3 TBs grated Parmesan
  • 2 TBs Dijon mustard
  • 1 TB lemon juice
  • 1 TB pickle juice
  • Zest of one lemon
  • 2 TBs chopped fresh dill (or 2 tsps dried)
  • 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
  • 1-2 chopped scallions or 1 TBs finely minced red onion
  • 1 TB relish, capers or chopped olives or pickles, optional

Top with toasted sesame seeds or chopped toasted almonds and parsley

Porcelain plate verso by Doug Peltzman
(It even has a hole through the foot foot for hanging on a wall)
Tree Peony

Kitchari/Khichri Is A Comfort Food For These Stressful Moments In Which We Need Comfort Where We Can Find It

 

Kitchari/Khichri is easy comfort food
Stoneware bowl by Melissa Weiss

On a “normal” Memorial Day weekend, I would be posting ideas for a picnic or barbecue but there is nothing normal about this year. Instead, I will share one of my comfort food recipes, kitchari (also known as khichri, khichdi, khichuri and other variations). In times of stress, like during this pandemic, we tend to crave whatever it is we personally think of as filling and soothing food. For different people, that means different things. Some will go for macaroni and cheese, goldfish crackers or chicken pot pies. For others, pizza, grilled cheese or a big bowl of minestrone or chicken soup with a side of crusty bread will do it. My mom always goes for meatloaf and mashed potatoes. I have a friend in Virginia for whom simple buttered toast does the trick. I’ve noticed that my family has been carbo loading, eating more pasta, rice and bread than usual and our fair share of my go-to garlicky bean salad (which I’ve been making with big scarlet runner beans). Maybe that is because those are the stable ingredients we have on hand or maybe starchy things calm or soothe, I’m not sure. Maybe both. I find both cooking and eating comforting and I have been doing quite a lot, as have, I believe, many people, judging by how hard it became to procure those ingredients!

Split mung beans known as moong dahl
Inlaid Stoneware bowl by Melissa Weiss

One of my many comfort foods, kitchari, a combination of basmati rice with mung beans and spices, is also one of the easiest to make. I first tasted it a few years ago at Kripalu, a wellness center in the Berkshires, and then learned to make it from their cookbook, in which they call it the “chicken soup of India.” Yes, it is an appropriated taste but so are falafel, spaghetti, fried rice, posole and salsa and chips, all in my top 10 of comfort foods. In my mind, it is the East Asian version of rice and beans, another popular comfort food which takes various forms in so many cultures. Think Cuban yellow rice with black beans, Louisiana red beans and rice, Italian riso e fagioli with tomatoes, Persian herbed rice with fava beans, Japanese red bean rice made with aduki beans and southern Hoppin’ John. Jeremy Rock Smith, Kripalu’s chef, explains that “kitchari provides a full complement of beneficial amino acids in a complete meal that is easy to digest.” Perhaps that is one reason it is so soothing.

Measure spices before you start cooking
Stoneware bowls, each 2″ tall, by Melissa Weiss

This is also an adaptable dish that can accommodate what you have in your pantry. If you don’t have split mung beans, you can use whole (but make sure you’ve soaked them overnight), or use lentils. If you are eating grain free, use riced cauliflower. This recipe is easily doubled so you will have leftovers for breakfast or lunch the next day. You can make kitchari soupy or dry, gently or highly seasoned and plain or topped with scallions or sesame seeds. If you want it to be warming, add fresh ginger and cinnamon. Add more greens and cilantro for cooling. If you have already cooked veggies, add them at the end of cooking. My son and husband find it bland (they don’t love it but humor me and eat it) and add huge amounts of hot sauce. I like kitchari because it is tasty, filling, inexpensive, quick and easy to make from ingredients you probably have at home plus filling and soothing. What could be more comforting?

Add whatever vegetables you like to make kitchari to your taste

KITCHARI/KHICHRI

  • 1 TBs ghee or vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp brown or black mustard seeds
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 tsp fennel seeds (optional)
  • 2 or 3 cracked green cardamom pods (optional)
  • 1 tsp turmeric 
  • 1 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/2 tsp ground coriander
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 cup moong dahl (split mung beans) or lentils
  • 1 cup white basmati rice
  • 5-6 cups broth or water (Start with 5 and add depending on how soupy you like it)
  • 2-3 cups chopped vegetables (chopped carrots, greens, cauliflower, celery, etc)
  • 1/2 tsp fine sea salt (or to taste)
  • Chopped cilantro
  • Lemon wedges, for serving

Rinse the beans or lentils and rice until water runs clear and set aside. 

Measure out seeds and spices and set aside. 

Heat the ghee or oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. 

Add seeds and stir until they pop. Add the powdered spices and bay leaves and cook another 30 seconds, stirring. 

Add the beans and rice and cook 2-3 minutes to toast. 

Add the liquid, bring to a boil and reduce to a low simmer. Cover and cook another 15-20 minutes until soft. Add more liquid if you want it softer or soupier. Turn off but leave covered and let sit a few minutes. Stir in the salt and a handful of chopped cilantro and serve with lemon wedges, chopped scallions and toasted sesame seeds (and hot sauce) so people can add what they please. 

Serves 4-6 and stores well in the refrigerator for a few days. Reheated leftovers make a good breakfast or lunch. This recipe can be doubled easily if you want to cook once and eat many times. 

Set of 4 deep bowls, each 4-41/2″ tall
Slab/mold built stoneware with ash and underglaze by Melissa Weiss

Melissa Weiss makes some of the funkiest, loosest and friendliest (not unlike the potter herself) pots around. Her pieces are handbuilt (from clay she digs herself in Arkansas) and have an appealing directness both in structure and surface. Weiss layers slips and glazes over her wild clay, as she says, “to complement the clay as opposed to covering it up”and she fires in reduction in a gas kiln, reduction cooled with wood. We actually felt fortunate to be able to buy this set of 4 blue bowls recently (her online sales go lightningly fast) and are so enjoying using them as well as just having them on our table.

Black Pepper/Rosemary Taralli (Or How I Satisfied My Craving For Crunch With Pantry Ingredients While Staying Home)

Taralli made with 50/50 white and whole wheat flour
Porcelain Tumbler by Bryan Hopkins

Since we are going to the grocery store as infrequently as possible during this pandemic, we are trying to make use of whatever we have at home instead of buying daily or on a whim. Recently, I had a hankering for something flavorful and crunchy that wasn’t chips or carrots, the only two things we still had at home that fit that description. We were out of crackers, nuts and celery, the other things that might have satisfied me, and we had already made soft pretzels with our sourdough discard – tasty but not crunchy. So I flipped through some recipes in the “to make” pile and found a couple I had saved on baking taralli. I tried making them a few ways until I found one I liked. The version I settled on is a combination of Martha Rose Shulman’s and Julia Moskin’s recipes from The New York Times plus some rosemary.

Boiled and baked taralli on left
Just baked on right

Taralli, in case you aren’t familiar, are baked circular Italian snacks, not exactly crackers nor cookies but more like a crunchy, denser breadstick – the perfect accompaniment to a late afternoon drink but also good with soup or salad. Some are plain, others are flavored with fennel seeds but my favorites are spiced with lots of black pepper. I added rosemary, although not traditional, and I think thyme or cumin would also taste good. One style of taralli is shiny and smooth from a brief water bath, like bagels or pretzels, and then baked. Others are just baked and thus more crumbly, almost like shortbread. The dough comes together very quickly and is fun to roll into little coils that you loop, pressing the ends together. And because the recipe makes at least 5 dozen, you can freeze some before baking to serve whenever we are finally able to have friends over for a drink. Here is hoping that it is sooner than it looks like now. Until then, have fun making these with your existing pantry ingredients and treat your home bound self to a tasty, savory, crunchy and satisfying snack.

Bowl of baked and boiled taralli
(They will be shinier with all white flour)

BLACK PEPPER TARALLI 

Makes 5-6 dozen.

  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 cups whole wheat flour (or use all white, if you prefer with a little less liquid)
  • 1 TBs fine sea salt
  • 1 tsp dry active yeast
  • 1/3 cup lukewarm water
  • 1/2 cup white wine at room temperature
  • 3/4 cup olive oil
  • 3 TBs coarsely ground black pepper (less if you don’t like spicy)
  • 1-2 TBs chopped rosemary (or thyme or cumin seeds)

Measure out dry ingredients (except yeast), whisk to combine and set aside.

Combine the wine and water with the yeast and stir until dissolved.

Add olive oil to yeast mixture and stir to combine.

Add wet to dry ingredients and stir well for a few minutes until completely blended.

Knead 7-10 minutes until smooth, cover and set aside for an hour or so.

Alternately, mix at low speed in a mixer with a paddle attachment until combined. 

Then switch to the dough hook and beat on medium low until smooth and spongy, 5-7 minutes. Cover and let rest for an hour or more.

Now the fun part, especially for potters. Preheat the oven to 350F for the boil and bake method and 375F for the simple bake. If using the boiling method, set a stockpot of water on to boil. Tear or cut the dough in half and then each half into 3 pieces. Pinch off small walnut sized pieces of dough and roll between your hands to make 4-5” coils. Pinch the ends of each coil together to make a circle. (A drop of water helps it stick better). Lay the rings on a parchment covered cookie or rimmed baking sheet. Each of the 6 lumps of dough should make 10-12 rings, depending on size.

For boil and bake, drop 5-6 rings into actively boiling water. They should resurface in 30-60 seconds. When they pop up, gently scoop each ring out with a spider or slotted spoon and lay out on a dishtowel. When they have all been boiled, place the rings back on the parchment and bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes until just golden. Flip the rings, turn the oven down to 250F and bake for another 15-20 minutes to dry out. Cool the rings on a wire rack. They will crisp as they cool.

For the straight bake, put the rings into a 375F oven for 25 minutes or until golden and cool on a wire rack. Taralli will last in an airtight container for several days, if you can keep your hands off them for that long! 

The rings may be frozen before boiling or baking by putting the full cookie sheet in the freezer until the taralli are frozen and then transferring them to a plastic bag, much like freezing berries. You don’t have to defrost them before baking.

 

Bryan Hopkins makes wonderful porcelain ceramics in Buffalo, NY, where he teaches, and is a member of Objective Clay. His work is textural and sculptural and functional, not an easily achieved combination. He also has a very good pretzel recipe on his website.

Tulips in the Westside Community Garden