Ramps Pesto

Perhaps I'm ignorant about food, or maybe the craze has just popped up recently, but I had never heard of ramps until about 2 years ago.

And it wasn't until last spring that I tasted ramps for the first time (at a restaurant) and proceeded to fall in love with that pungent, garlicky flavor.

And then it wasn't until this spring - just a couple weeks ago, in fact - that I finally saw them in the market. I pounced on my chance to pick up a few stalks so that I could finally, finally try cooking these gorgeous plants myself.

Ramps, also known as spring onions, wild garlic, or wild leeks, grow wild throughout the forests in Massachusetts and pretty much up and down the East Coast. These vegetables are one of the first things to pop up in the spring, and people go crazy when they appear for their short, short season.

Ramps are not really cultivated, so if you see ramps on the menu or the market, someone has gone out foraging for them. Some have expressed concern about the fanatacism surrounding ramps leading to over harvesting of the delicate plant.  In fact, Quebec has outlawed the sale of ramps since 1995, called it a "threatened" species.

I think ramps are still growing healthily in many parts of New England. However, I wouldn't be surprised if there are patches that have been picked in an unsustainable manner.

With this knowledge and understanding about ramps, I approached my first (and likely only encounter) with ramps this spring with a heightened level of appreciation and awareness.

Ramps are both garlicky and "onion-y" - pungent, almost spicy, and very fragrant. I think they work super well in pesto because they act both as the green "leafy" agent and the strongly flavored "garlicky" agent.

I always hated peeling all those garlic cloves when making traditional basil pesto, so this saves a previously annoying step!

Making ramp pesto is super easy and there's really no "exact" recipe. Essentially, you need ramps, some sort of nuts, some sort of hard, salty cheese (grated, please), and oil. As for nuts, try using toasted walnuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, or almonds. You could also use pine nuts, the traditional nut used in basil pesto.

And that's it!

Throw everything into a food processor except the oil. Give it a whirl until you have a chunky puree.

Turn the machine back on and start adding the oil in a stream. Add enough until you are happy with the consistency.

You want a smooth paste.

The whole process takes all of 2 minutes, really.

Taste test it, though. You can add a bit of salt if you think it needs it (it all depends on how salty your cheese was). Alternatively, you could add more cheese too if you so desire. It's really up to you.

Once you're satisfied with the flavor of the pesto, you can do all sorts of things with it. You can freeze a portion of it for later use. You can throw a dollop of it in soup (yum!). You can eat it with bread, or you can serve it with pasta!

You can see what I chose to do. I eye-balled the whole thing and didn't really measure exactly. I just added enough pesto so that it nicely covered all the pasta I had made. If you have leftover pesto, you can always freeze the rest and eat it with crostini or a tomato mozzarella salad.

In my case, there was quite a bit of pesto (compared to pasta). I don't mind a saucier pasta at all, so I threw it all in. It's your call.

Enjoy!


Ramps Pesto
Serves about 2

1 bunch of ramps (see my photo below, maybe 10 small stalks?)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated
1/2 cup nuts (many recipes use walnuts or pistachios; I had marcona almonds on hand, which worked fine)
~1/3 cup olive oil, give or take
optionally salt
1 lb fresh pasta

Kajitsu

This is the eight post in the Eating the Big Apple series. Other posts include Soba Koh, Sylvia's Restaurant (Gospel Brunch), Torrisi Italian Specialties, Ippudo,Tasty Hand Pulled Noodle, Il Buco Alimentari & Vinera, and Shake Shack.

I've heard of this place so many times.

First, in the thick of Project Food Blog in 2010 (wow, I can't believe that was 2 years ago!) when we were down to the final three contestants, fellow contestant Marc Matsumoto wrote a really creative entry about this place.

About a year later, friends of mine visited and absolutely fell in love with it. Knowing that I love vegetables, they continued to bug me to try it. "Jen, I think you'll really like it."

I definitely tried to go. Not surprisingly, this two star Michelin restaurant was really hard to book.

It wasn't until later that I found out the original chef, Masato Nishihara, had announced he was moving back to Japan in April 2012. People came in droves to experience his food before he left.

This past June (right after Nishihara left) I got the unexpected opportunity to visit New York again, this time to attend the Saveur Food Blog Award Celebration in New York (I still can't believe I won). I called Katjistu immediately and finally landed a seat at the table with the new chef.

I was so curious. What would shojin ryori taste like?

Shojin ryori is a specific type of Japanese cuisine that originates from Zen Buddhism. The cuisine is strictly vegan and emphasizes bringing out the natural flavors of fresh, seasonal ingredients.

Ryota Ueshima, the new chef at the helm, had previously worked at Murasaki no Wakuden, one of the top kaiseki restaurants in Kyoto. Kaiseki is not vegan, but it incorporate a lot of the same philosophies as shojin ryori, most notably the art of creating and presenting fresh, seasonal ingredients in the utmost exquisite way in order to best showcases their natural flavors and colors.

The restaurant includes both normal style seating and "sushi bar" style seating. We sat at the bar, which was great because it gave us a front row view to all the action in the kitchen.

The menu only has tasting menus. You can either order the four-course “Kaze” ($50) or the eight-course “Hana” ($70). The Hana and Kaze share the first four courses, but the Hana includes three additional dishes, including house-made soba noodles, dessert, and matcha.

We decided to go with the Hana, since Bryan always thinks you should try a restaurant's "signature" or flagship offering, especially if it's your first time and you're going to write a blog post about it.

We began with the first dish, Summer Eggplant with White Miso Sauce. I was surprised that the miso paste was actually a bit sweet. The dish had a pretty strong ginger essence. The deep fried (shallot?) strings on top gave the salad a nice crunch, and overall the dish felt simple, clean, and balanced.

The second course came hidden underneath a huge Magnolia leaf. In fact, it was called Shiitake Mushroom Soup with Magnolia Leaf Lid.

Inside there was a clear broth filled with fried shiitake mushrooms, house made fried tofu, syungiku, goma-fu, and choji-fu (the "-fu" being different types of pillowy wheat gluten blocks).

I absolutely loved the two types of fuyu, especially the more chewy one. The soup flavors were subtle yet complex at the same time, with a deep mushroom base supported by white peppery overtones. Although the dish was not very salty, the deep umami from the mushroom stock provided plenty of depth to the entire dish.

This was one of our favorite courses.

The next course was a fun play on chips and dip.  The "chips" were actually leaves from a fire-roasted artichoke, while the "dips" were mashed up versions of lilly rosebud, avocado, and squash with plum. From a distance, the colors of the dips almost resemble a typical sushi plate, with the avocado as wasabi and the pink squash with plum as the ginger.

These "Artichoke Chips with Vegetable Dips" were served with a konnyaku yam with tofu sauce and a brown mustard spring roll. The mustard spring roll, which was rolled as thinly as a pencil, was crunchy with a strong yet vinegary zing from the mustard inside. I loved it. The dips were OK, but didn't especially strike me as that interesting.

The next course, simply yet deceptive called Vinegared Summer Vegetables, was beautiful and exotic at the same time. It consisted of ingredients like tomatoes, junsai, cresson, lotus root, and kaede-fu. Again, I loved the clean, simple, yet very balanced flavors of the various cold components.

"Junsai" is a water plant that is slightly gooey and gelatinous. These plants grown in mud ponds in Japan, the best being from Kyoto. Only when the junsai is grown in its native environment (transplanted ones won't do) will its young shoots develop the highly prized gelatinous covering. It's that stuff he's spooning in the picture up top.

"Cresson" is the green vegetable, which was briefly blanched while kaede-fu are the spongy, wheat-gluten based stars.

The next course, Fried Yuba Wrap with Morel Mushroom and Hijiki, was deeply flavorful. The soup was thick, with a strong essence of seaweed from the hijiki, a deep, black, and fragrant Japanese seaweed. The Yuba wrap consists of layers upon layers of soy sheets wrapped around Morel Mushrooms inside. This dish was extremely flavorful, full of rich umami from the seaweed and Morel mushrooms.

Vegan sushi isn't just about cucumber and avocado rolls. This Burdock Root with Kimipira Sushi was one of the best nigiri sushi "pieces" I'd ever had in the US. On top, thin, delicately julienned clies of burdock, carrots, and celery were marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil, and sugar.

The rice was incredible - among the best sushi rice I've ever had in the US, rivaling what I've had in Japan. To complete the elegant presentation, this huge "sushi" was topped with microshiso leaves and French breakfast radishes pickled to look like ginger.

This dish was fantastic. The slightly sweet and crunchy vegetables were a perfect accompaniment to the gorgeously chewy rice.

Next we had Somen Noodle with Summer Cypress. The enoki mushrooms on top look sort of like noodles, while the "caviar" you see on top are actually seeds from the Summer Cypress plant. The seeds of this plant, called "tonburi" in Japan, are a delicacy in Japan and have a texture that is similar to caviar. Their preparation is quite labor-intensive, involving soaking and boiling the seeds for a day before hand-rubbing their outer skins off.

For dessert, we had this lovely light Matcha Bean Yokan and Hoji Tea Jelly. Asian desserts tend to be lighter and less sweet than American desserts, which I really like. Yokan is a dense gelatin-based block (made with matcha green tea here), while the jelly is less dense with a rich roasted tea flavor. Tiny tapioca balls on top complete the picture.

We watched Chef Ueshima as he executed the traditional Japanese art of making matcha with a bamboo whisk. Finely ground matcha powder is vigorously stirred with hot water using a bamboo whisk until a fine foam forms, almost like cappuccino.

We drank the matcha with candies by Kyoto Suetomi in Japan.

Two airy, light, sugar wafers were held together by a sweet, chewy filling in the center. The strong, slightly bitter matcha was a good contrast to the sweet sandwich cookies.

We ended the meal with fresh rambutan, a juicy tropical fruit that reminds me quite a bit of lychee.

Thoughts
Our meal at Kajitsu was really fun, although it took awhile for Chef Ueshima to warm up to us. Initially, he would just silently hand us the plates, allowing the server to explain each dish to us. It's quite understandable. After all, he had just come from Japan. We were literally trying the first set menu he had designed for the new restaurant. He felt uncomfortable with English, I think, which is why he stayed reasonably silent.

It wasn't until I tried to speak to him in Japanese that he relaxed and became a lot more friendly. He began trying to describe the dishes to us, using a mix of Japanese and English (after all, Bryan does not speak a lick of Japanese and mine's still pretty elementary!). With the help of smartphone dictionaries, we were able to communicate reasonably well, with much laughter in between.

The food was excellent. It was clear that a lot of thought had been put into designing these dishes. There were several standout dishes (e.g., the Shitake Mushroom Soup, Fried Yuba Wrap, and Burdock Root with Kimipira Sushi), and an occasional one that made me scratch my head (Artichoke Chips with Vegetable Dip).

It's hard for me to gauge how it compares with former Chef Nishihara's work. Although I really enjoyed the meal, I was not as floored with the food as I had expected to be based on everyone's glowing reviews.

Nevertheless, it was still a really, really cool experience and definitely worth trying at least once. If you've never had shojin ryori before, it's really quite an enjoyable and eye opening experience. I sampled so many flavors and textures I had never tried before.

It's pretty incredible that the chef can pull off such an interesting, flavorful, and fascinating progression of flavors - all without any meat products.

Kajitsu
414 E 9th St
 New York, NY 10009

Taiwanese Grilled Corn

I'm convinced there's absolutely no better way to enjoy corn than this.

Perhaps it's the combination of culture, memories, and large doses of nostalgia. After all, this is my mom's special grilled corn recipe. We ate it while grilling the first time I ever swam at a "beach" as a kid (yes, it was just a lake beach in the land-locked Midwest, but I absolutely loved it).

Whenever my mom visited Boston (back when we didn't have a grill), she would make this at my sister's place, which has multiple grills. Every single time, it was fantastic and we could never get enough of it. This Taiwanese-style of grilled corn is really, really tasty. Imagine -  sweet, charred, almost caramelized corn with hints of garlic, soy, and sweet chili sauce.

In Taiwan, you'll most often see this type of grilled corn served at night markets, although it appears in  traditional outdoor markets as well.

I called my mom this past weekend in a moment of desperation when trying to figure out what to make for my relatives who were coming over for dinner.

My mom saved the day.

And I was floored how simple this recipe was.

There are just three ingredients in this magical sauce. Soy paste, which is a thick form of soy sauce, sweet chili sauce (tian la jiang), and lots of garlic. If you want to make it spicier, you can add some sort of chili oil or chili sauce.

You know how Asian moms are - there's no such thing as measurements.

"Start with some soy paste, and then add some sweet chili sauce, and then mash some garlic inside."

"Umm . . . can you give me some sort of ratio? Is it like 1:1? Or mostly chili sauce? Mostly soy paste?"

Turns out it's roughly 4:1 - with soy paste being the main ingredient. I'm glad I asked! I was totally considering trying a 1:1 ratio . . .

Mix together the sauces with lots of fresh, smashed garlic. I think the amount of garlic you add is largely personal. I can't see you going wrong either way. I chose to add about 4-5 cloves, and I smashed them up real good to try to extract as much "garlic juice" as possible.

Stir everything together and set aside. It's nice to let the flavors meld a bit while you grill.

And then start grilling the corn!

We don't do any of those fancy tricks to try to keep the corn moist. We just throw the cobs (shucked) straight on the hot grill. Rotate it every few minutes so that it can char as evenly as possible.

After about 15-20 minutes, when the corn is just starting to char, start brushing it with the sauce. Do this over and over again, rotating the corn every few minutes and reapplying the sauce.

Pretty soon, the corn will be gorgeously charred and will have absorbed much of the flavorful sauce. If you coat the corn cob 2-3 times with sauce, you'll end up with a lighter tasting cob. Slather it 5-6 times, and the flavor will be more intense (more preferred, in my opinion, but minds may differ).

In Taiwan, they finish the whole cob off by slathering lard all over it before serving. You can do the same with butter or oil. Or, if you're like my mom, you just skip that step entirely.

Frankly, it's pretty tasty either way.

Serve!


Taiwanese Grilled Corn
4 tablespoons soy paste
1 tablespoon sweet chili sauce
4-5 cloves of garlic, smashed
hot chili sauce (optional)
6-8 ears of corn, shucked

Mix together soy paste, sweet chili sauce, and smashed garlic cloves. Set aside. Grill corn on a hot grill until the corn begins to char, about 20 minutes. Brush on the marinade and turn the corn, repeating this 3-4 times, or according to your preference for intensity of flavor.

Serve!

Nom nom nom . . .

Grilled Sweet Potatoes with Lime & Cilantro

I guess I'm still a grill noob, excited by the prospect of trying to grill anything.

We've had tons of fun grilling all sorts of stuff our year in the new home. We've grilled vegetables, like asparagus, zucchini, and eggplant. We've even tried fruit, such as pineapples (Bryan's favorite) and peaches (served with ice cream on top, yum!).  We've done entire salmon filets many times (one of our favorites!) and various steaks on a semi-regular basis.

For some odd reason, one day I thought it might be fun to try grilling potatoes.

Can you even grill a potato? I'd never heard of anyone grilling potatoes. I don't think I'd ever had it at a restaurant.

Perhaps the closest thing I'd had was tin-foil wrapped potatoes (not unlike Bryan's family's famous tin-foil chicken) thrown into a fire during a camping trip.

Thankfully, the internet is full of answers. I found a great, simple Bobby Flay recipe for grilled sweet potatoes, kicked up with lime, cayenne pepper, and cilantro.

Bryan loves cilantro and basically is a huge fan of anything Bobby Flay makes, so I was pretty confident this would be a winner.

Sweet potatoes are a bit tricky to grill. You need to pre-cook the potatoes. Bobby Flay suggests boiling the potatoes until they become soft. To save time, I microwaved mine instead for about 5-6 minutes.  Note - don't forget to poke holes in the sweet potato with a fork before microwaving. Otherwise, the steam created inside will cause the potato to explode! I learned this the hard way in my toaster oven in college!

You don't want to overcook the potatoes. If they become too mushy, they become far too floppy and delicate for the grill.

While microwaving (or boiling), prepare your topping by mixing together fresh lime zest, cayenne pepper, and salt. Chop up some cilantro on the side.
 
Once the potatoes are cooked. Slice them into evenly thick pieces (mine were about half an inch) or cut wedges. Brush with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Grill for about 1 1/2 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. 

Season with the salt mixture and top with chopped cilantro.

Enjoy!


Grilled Sweet Potatoes with Lime & Cilantro
recipe from Bobby Flay, with tweaks in the method by me

Ingredients
3 sweet potatoes, unpeeled
Kosher salt
2 teaspoons finely grated lime zest
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1/4 cup canola oil
Freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro

Parcook or microwave sweet potatoes (remember to pierce potato skins with a fork if you plan on microwaving!) for about 5-6 minutes, or until mostly cooked but not yet mushy (it's harder to grill when it becomes too floppy!)

Meanwhile, mix 1 tablespoon of salt, lime zest, and cayenne in a small bowl to make the salt mixture.

Cut the potatoes into nice, thick slices or wedges. Brush all sides with oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill for about 1 1/2 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Season with the salt mixture and top with chopped cilantro.

Serve!

Fresh English Peas with Mint

Is spring almost over?

We've been really spoiled in Boston this year. We had the mildest winter I've ever experienced (I think it snowed once or twice the entire winter?). Since then, we've had this long, drawn-out period with reasonably mild temperatures.

It's June now, yet it still feels refreshingly spring-like outside.

Nevertheless, there are rumblings that the sweltering heat will come soon enough. Perhaps I better share with your my recent spring vegetable escapades before it becomes too late!

I'm a huge, huge fan of fresh English peas. I first tried  fresh peas from a pod at a farmers market in Kendall a couple years ago. The farmer just handed me a pod and showed me how to eat them, raw.

They were so, so good. Fresh, sweet, and definitively crunchy.

The other day I picked up a package of freshly shelled peas from the market.

I wanted something light, reasonably unadorned, yet bursting with natural flavor.

I ended up making a simple side dish of peas with fresh mint, which perfectly hit the spot.

The mint adds a lovely fragrant, floral note to this dish. Chop it up finely, maximizing the amount of flavor from the herbs.

Quickly blanch the peas in boiling water. I would cook it for 1 minute and then taste test it. If you like the crunchier (not mushy) mouth feel of fresh peas, I would err on the shorter cooking time. Once finished, throw the peas into an ice bath. This will stop the cooking process (you don't want them to turn mushy!) and preserve that gorgeous, bright green color.

Saute the peas in a saucepan with a little bit of butter and oil (I didn't really measure, but maybe I added 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 teaspoon of oil?). Add salt and pepper to taste. Finally, throw in chopped mint.

Enjoy!


Fresh Peas with Mint
inspired by the Amateur Gourmet and White on Rice Couple, 

Note: this is a really, really flexible recipe, and the amounts below are just guidelines. Feel free to add more oil, butter, salt, pepper, etc. depending on your preference!

2 cups fresh peas, removed from pod
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
handful of fresh mint, finely chopped (about 2-3 tablespoons)

Blanche the shelled beans in boiling water for about 1-2 minutes. Cool immediately in an ice bath and filter. Over medium heat, melt butter and oil together. Add peas and cook for about 1 minute (until hot). Add salt and pepper to taste. Toss in mint at the end and stir.

Serve!

Yellow chives and 5-spice bean curd

Have you ever heard of the yellow chive?

Or perhaps I should start a bit more basic. Have you heard of Chinese chives in general? You'll often see Chinese chives referred to as "leeks" on Chinese menus (ever heard of the pork and leek dumpling?), when in reality, they are really quite different from those large, super-sized scallions-like things we call leeks in America.

Chinese chives are a member of the allium family, which also includes garlic, scallions, and onions. These chives have a wonderful fragrance, sort of like garlic, but much sweeter and less pungent. In fact, some people call Chinese chives garlic chives. Chinese chives are hardy perennials that grow quite well in home gardens. When I was a kid, our Taiwanese neighbors would always drop by extra "crop" that they couldn't finish.

Yellow chives are unique because they have been kept away from the sun. As a result, they never develop those characteristic dark green, hardy stems. Instead, yellow chives are more tender, milder, and sweeter in flavor - arguably considered a bit more of a delicacy. They cost about twice as much as normal Chinese chives, and are a bit harder to find.

One of my favorite home-cooked Chinese dishes is traditional Chinese chives with 5-spice tofu. As a twist, I decided to try replacing the traditional green chive with its albino cousin, the delicate yellow chive.

What I love about yellow chives, or any Chinese chive in general, is that they are so fragrant on their own, you don't have to add additional aromatics. Being members of the allium family, they provide their own fragrant aromas.

This makes cooking them so so easy.

Heat up a wok (or fry pan) on high with about a tablespoon of oil. Add the chopped chives and cover, letting them cook for a few minutes until soft. You can stir them around a bit if you'd like.If needed, add a dash of water to the hot wok and cover.

5-spice tofu (or pressed bean curd) is also very fragrant, and thus does not need much additional flavoring. After the yellow chives have softened, add the sliced tofu. I like to cut the tofu into strips approximately the same size as the yellow chives.

The pressed tofu is already cooked, so you really just need to heat it up. Stir everything around until well mixed. Add flavoring agents (I like to add white pepper and salt, but you can go ahead and use black pepper or whatever you fancy).

Once it is seasoned to your liking, serve!

I love this dish. It's so simple yet so packed with flavor. Seriously, if I had a Chinese grocery store closer to me, I'd be making this dish every week.

Serve and enjoy!
 

5-Spice Tofu
Serves 2-3 | Prep and Cook time - 15 minutes
 
2 blocks of 5-spice tofu (available in Asian markets), thinly sliced into matchsticks
1 bunch of yellow chives, cut into 2-3 inch pieces
1/4 tsp salt (or to taste)
1/2 tsp white pepper (or to taste)

Heat wok up to medium high heat with 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Add chives and stir fry for about 2-3 minutes, or until chives are softened. Add 5-spice beancurd. Stir until well mixed. Add salt and pepper to taste.

 Serve!