I do not have an oven. Its absence is of mild discomfort for me, and has caused me to bake with frenzy when I go back to Damascus on the weekends, where my friend who lets me sleep in her spare room also allows me to run around her kitchen making crepes and cakes and pies. But, in Beirut, I do not have an oven. (Or a toaster. Or a hand mixer. Or a blender.) All I have is a flimsy table-top gas stove with three burners. And a whisk.
Today was a day of cooking, and dreaming about cooking, and spending valuable work time reading about cooking and saving recipes (sorry, work). The result? A handful of things I tried out for the first time, with great success:
Mayonnaise (via the ever trustworthy Alton Brown)
1 egg yolk
2 pinches salt
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
2 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1 cup sunflower oil (or other light oil)
Whisk egg, salt, sugar, and mustard in a glass bowl. Mix lemon juice and vinegar in another bowl, then add half to the egg and mix well. Whisking quickly, add a drop of oil. Continue to add oil a drop at a time until the egg thickens and lightens in colour, at which point you can add the oil in a thin stream. Mix in the rest of the lemon juice and vinegar when half of the oil has been added, then continue to pour the oil in slowly.
This will make over a cup of mayonnaise. I mixed some with more dijon mustard and ate it on top of a pan-toasted baguette with some avocado (as suggested by the Wednesday Chef), and it was as lovely and filling as she had described.
Onto the mango. I have had one sitting in my fridge for almost a week, consequence of my extremely convincing fruit and vegetable man, whose shop is right across from my house and very well stocked. I did a quick search for a chicken and mango recipe and found this one from an about.com page, on which the following Crispy Chicken with Sweet and Spicy Mango Sauce is loosely based.
1 mango, ripe
1 Tbsp. fish sauce
1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. ground ginger (only for a lack of having fresh)
2 cloves garlic, pressed (I don't have a press and thus grate my garlic)
2 thai chilis, roasted on the stovetop, skinned, and chopped
1 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice
750g. chicken (two breasts)
1 cup flour
1 tsp each salt, pepper, paprika, and red pepper
1 red bell pepper
sunflower oil for the pan
Skin and chop the flesh from the mango and place in a medium bowl. Mix in all other ingredients, adjusting any to taste. Set aside.
Slice the chicken into bite size pieces. Mix the flour and spices in a bowl, then add the chicken and mix until coated. Heat several tablespoons oil in a medium-sized frying pan, then add chicken. Let cook on one side without stirring, then flip. Remove from heat and set aside when done.
Cut the pepper into short strips. Cook pepper in a pan with a teaspoon oil for one minute, then add the mango sauce and heat for another minute. Add chicken. Let the mixture sit over heat for several minutes, then serve over hot rice or (in my case) on a fresh baguette.
The mango mixed with the chilis makes a perfect balance of sweet and spicy (an observation originally pointed out and prepared for me by my good friend Matt R.). Adding chicken and heat tones down the mango and balances out the flavours, making for a full-bodied meal.
And then, finally, dessert. I love cooking, but my heart lies in baking. Not having an oven right now leaves me to only dream of cakes and brownies and scones, and discover what is possible on a stovetop. Which led me to this recipe for Strawberry Dumplings from Gourmet.com. Strawberries are going out of season, so I used peaches instead, halved the recipe, and added some spices. It came out wonderfully, strong on the dumplings (I like my fruit and bread desserts to balance between the fruit and dough) with a sweet thick peach syrup.
Peach Dumplings
2 medium sized peaches (about 2 cups)
1/3 c. sugar
1 tsp, cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
5 whole cloves
1 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
pinch salt
1 Tbsp butter
1/3 cup milk
Wash the peaches, rubbing off the fuzz with your fingers. Remove the skin and chop into cubes. (You could blanch to remove the skins, but mine were ripe enough to scrape the skins off with my fingers.) Place in a medium pot on medium heat with the sugar and spices. Bring to a simmer.
Whisk (or sift) together flour, baking powder, and salt for several minutes. With your hands, mix in the butter, using your fingers to break up chunks of butter until it resembles crumbs. Add in milk and mix until just together; the dough will look shaggy and wet.
Drop big spoonfuls of dumpling dough into the pot on top of the peaches. Cover with a tight lid and turn down heat. Cook until the dumplings have steamed and cooked through. Serve with cold cream or ice cream.
And now that I've typed it up, I'm going back to the fridge to finish the leftovers.
No comments:
Post a Comment