Cod Milanese with Chickpea and Artichoke Heart Salad

I bought Ina Garten's new cookbook the day it came out.  While I frequently buy used cookbooks for pennies on the dollar, I'm fine with buying Ina's cookbooks new.  Why?  They're so well done.  She obviously tests and retests her recipes because they just work.  And, they're so often relatively quick and easy.  Perfect for work nights.  That's how I felt about her Flounder Milanese.  After reading the book cover to cover and making a list of recipes to try, this one came to the top of the list.  I stopped at our favorite fishmongers and picked up some cod instead of the flounder. 

We left the office about 7:00 and headed home.  I still needed a salad.  My idea was celery.  A great recipe from the New York Times was on my radar.  But, it required a two hour marination.  Not happening at 7:00 in the evening!  So, on to eatyourbooks.com.  I typed in celery, pine nuts, feta, thinking I'd get a bunch of salad ideas.  Nope.  Just one, from Food 52.  So, I used the basic ingredients and made up my own salad dressing. 

What did we think?  Both recipes were fives.  They were SO easy to make.  And, SO very good.  This is exactly what we like on a late evening.  Quick, flavorful and pretty darned good for us. 

Cod Milanese

Ingredients:

1 pound cod fillet
1 c all purpose flour
salt and pepper
1 extra large egg
1 c seasoned dry bread crumbs
unsalted butter
good olive oil
1 T drained capers
lime juice

Directions:

Put the flour in a shallow bowl.  Beat the egg with a tablespoon of water in another shallow bowl.  And, the seasoned bread crumbs in another.  Since I didn't have seasoned bread crumbs, I put in a good bit of Italian seasoning.  Cut the fish into pieces.  I cut it based on the thickness of the fish.  Pat the fish pieces dry.  Melt a tablespoon of butter in a large skillet.  Add a tablespoon of olive oil.  Dip the fillets first in flour, then the egg, then the bread crumbs.  When the butter is sizzling, put the thicker fillets in.  When they are brown on the first side, flip them and add the balance of the fillets to the skillet.  You may need to add more butter and/or oil.  The thick fillets (1") took about 8 minutes and the thinner ones took about 4 minutes.  Serve topped with capers and a squeeze of lime or lemon.  Ina also added salad greens with a lemon vinaigrette.

adapted from Cook Like a Pro by Ina Garten



Celery, Artichoke and Chickpea Salad

Ingredients:

3 celery ribs with leaves, finely diced
1 can artichoke hearts, drained and diced
1 jar hearts of palm, drained and sliced thinly
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 c crumbled feta cheese
2 T toasted pine nuts
mustard vinaigrette

Directions:

Mix the celery, artichoke hearts, hearts of palm, chickpeas and vinaigrette together and allow them to marinate while you prep the fish.  For the vinaigrette, I had about 3 T of Dijon mustard left in a jar.  I added some red wine vinegar, a pinch of sugar, about 2 t of Italian seasoning and then a good bit of EVOO.  Serve the salad topped with crumbled feta and toasted pine nuts. 

adapted from Food 52

Five Spice Shrimp with Onion Rice, Oriental Celery and Onion Rings

Somewhere between Peyton's 2nd and 4th interception of the game, my mind started wandering... to food.  What was I going to fix for dinner when we got home?  What needs to be finished in the freezer?  What do we have all the ingredients for?  Alas, the game went into overtime and we didn't even get to our car til 8:00.  At that point we decided to stop at the grocery on the way home instead of trying to cook an elaborate meal.  So, when we finally got home around 7:00 Monday I was ready to cook.  More than ready!


How did this come about?  A couple of years ago when I was one of the ones who cooked the issue in Fine Cooking's cook the issue challenge, one of the dishes was a salt and pepper shrimp.  It was one of our favorites from the issue and I'd not made it since.  The celery was reminiscent of the stir-fried chicken and celery we made a few weeks ago.  The fragrance of the ginger and the little bit of heat would be perfect here.  In my new 1001 Ways to Cook Southern Cookbook there's a recipe for a five onon sauce.  An onion blend has been running around in my mind since reading that. What if I did a very finely sliced red onion with the batter from the Deep Fried Green Beans then mixed a blend of green onions, shallots and chives into the rice - brown of course. 


What did we think?  Amazing.  The sum was better than the parts.  And, unless you want to eat at 8:30, please start dinner a bit earlier than I did- lol.  I really can't think of any changes that I'd make other than possibly omitting the onion rings and serving them with a different dish.  I thought that by putting a good pinch of the five spice powder into the batter, they'd blend more with the other three dishes.  They didn't but we really didn't care since they were fabulous.  Now, I confess that I threw together the ingredients for the celery and the rice and didn't measure any.  I did, however, take a lot of photos so that'll help those of you who want measurements.   And, I've put some guesses in the directions.

 Ingredients:

for the celery:
4 ribs of celery
brown sugar
sweet chili sauce
soy sauce
dry sherry
ginger
sesame oil


for the rice:

brown rice
scallions or green onions
chives
shallots
sesame oil
olive oil


for the shrimp:

shrimp - the number per person will vary depending on the size - we used 20 of the 20-25 size
4 T corn starch
salt
pepper
2 t sugar
1/2 t five spice powder
oil


for the onion fries:
1 small red onion
oil
1/2 c flour
2 t cornstarch
1/4 t five spice powder
2/3 c beer

Directions:

For the rice:


Start the water for the brown rice.  I wanted to end up with about a cup and a half of cooked rice so started with the correct amount of dry rice.  We much prefer the real brown rice to the instant stuff.  I love the chewiness of the real stuff!  Once the water is boiling, add the rice and simmer until it's done - the time will depend on the type of rice you're using but I typically count on about 25 minutes.
 
Dice the green onions and mix them with chives and shallots.  I used about 5 green onions, a tablespoon of shallots and a teaspoon and a half of chives.  Since it was about 9 degrees out, I didn't venture to the herb garden to see if any of my chives made it, so I settled for freeze dried.  And, I typically use Penzey's freeze dried shallots.
 
Start half olive oil and half toasted sesame oil in a small skillet.  You'll want about a teaspoon of each.  Heat the oil to shimmering before adding the onion mixture.  Once you add the onion mixture, 
 
 

 
cook on relatively low heat until the onions are softened.  You can either remove the mixture from the heat or turn it to low while you finish everything else.  
 
When the rice is done, drain it well and toss it with the onion mixture.
 
 

 
For the shrimp:
 
Thaw, peel and dry the shrimp.  Mix the cornstarch, sugar, salt, pepper and five spice powder. 
 
 

 
Toss the shrimp in the cornstarch mixture. 
 
 

 
Heat 1 1/2 T of vegetable oil in a large skillet.  Once it sizzles when you toss a drop of water into the oil, you're ready to add the shrimp.  When the shrimp are nice and brown on one side,
 
 

 
flip them with a pair of tongs and brown them on the other side.  Drain on paper towels.
 
For the celery:
Mix about 2 t each of brown sugar, sweet chili sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil and dry sherry. 
 
 

 
Thinly slice the ribs of celery.  Pour the sauce into a medium skillet and heat it to bubbling.  Add the celery and a finely minced knob of ginger (about the size of your thumb from the middle knuckle to the end.) 
 
 

 
Cook the celery only until you've taken the edge off.  It should still be pretty crunchy.
 
For the onion rings:
Strangely enough, these actually take longer to cook than the shrimp or the celery. Thinly slice the onion on a mandoline or with a knife. 
 
 

 
Mix the batter. 
 
 

 
Toss the onion rings in the batter. 
 
 

 
Heat oil about 1/4" deep in a skillet.  Make sure it is nice and hot or you'll just simmer the onions.  Carefully add the onions to the oil. 
 
 

 
Once they're crispy and brown on one side, turn them over and cook the other side.  Drain them on paper towels.
 
To put it all together:
Make a bowl or plate of a serving of rice, a serving of celery and a serving of shrimp.  Spoon the remaining sauce from the celery over the rice.  Top with the onion rings - or not.  We wound up eating our onion rings then stirring everything else together. 

Stir Fried Chicken with Celery

Every once in a while I make a recipe that I'm not quite sure what prompted me to move it to the front of the list and actually prepare it.  But, I'm REALLY glad I did.  This is one of those.  Other than the cream of celery soup (Joy of Cooking) that Mom fixed for me after some major surgery in 1985, I can't remember a recipe where celery played such a leading role.  And, back in 1985, I was in NO condition to request cream of celery soup.  This, however. was a totally conscious decision.  And, what a decision it was.  This pretty quickly made it onto our top 30 list and may even be on our top seven list.  

Chicken in my book is a blank slate.  Most of the time it has to be paired with some very interesting ingredients to get my attention.  Yes, fried chicken is an exception.  But, look at the recipe for Lemon Brined Fried Chicken.  That's not a short ingredient list.  It is, however, some of the BEST fried chicken we've ever had.  This, however is chicken and celery.  Add some ginger and soy sauce and you've got some of the best chicken ever.  My guess is that this would be equally incredible with shrimp and maybe crab.  At any rate, whatever you do, please try this.  The ginger adds a fragrance and a scent and a flavor that's incomparable.  The celery has some crunch that doesn't overwhelm.  And, the chicken is melt-in-your-mouth tender and flavorful.  Incredible!!

Stir Fried Chicken with Celery

Ingredients:

2 t cornstarch
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 egg white
3 T veg oil
1 1/2" piece ginger
1 leek
5 ribs celery,
1 1/2 T light soy sauce


Directions:

Cut chicken into 1/8 thick strips.  It's a bit easier if the chicken is tossed in the freezer for a bit before being cut.  Tosss it with the corn starch, egg white and a pinch of salt.  Set it aside for 10 minutes.

 

Peel and finely dice the ginger.  The best tool I've found to peel ginger is a spoon. 

Cut the tough green end off the leek, then cut it in half and rinse it well under cold running water.  Leeks tend to contain a lot of grit.  Once the leek is rinsed and dried, chop it.  Chop the celery ribs diagonally into 1/4" slices.

Heat two tablespoons of oil in a wok or 14" skillet.  Swirl it around to coat.  Add the chicken and stir fry it for about 2 minutes. 

Stir it constantly.  Once it's opaque, remove it from the wok and transfer it to a plate. 

Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the wok.  Once it's heated, add the ginger and leek. 

Stir fry for about 30 seconds.  The ginger aroma will about knock your socks off!  Add the celery and stir fry for about a minute until it's crisp yet tender.  Finally, add the chicken back in along with the juices that accumulated on the plate and the soy sauce.  Stir fry until the chicken is cooked through.  That'll take one to two minutes. 

We served our chicken over brown rice with some diced water chestnuts and green onions stirred in. 

I also scrambled the leftover egg yolks and tossed those into the rice.

adapted from Saveur