Fried Rice with Pork and Edamame

Ode to Edamame

Fried Rice with Pork and Edamame

• 2 cups Edamame, in pods
• Sea salt
• 1 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil, plus more for serving
• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 2 cups cooked white rice, preferably a day old
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 carrots, peeled and shredded
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted
• Soy sauce, for serving

Cook edamame in heavily salted boiling water for 4 minutes.  Remove from heat, drain, run under cold water and set aside.

Combine olive oil and sesame oil in a skillet and set over medium low heat.  Add pork and cook, stirring and breaking up chunks into small pieces until brown and cooked through.  Add rice and cook until rice is glistening and hot.  Season with salt and pepper.  It may be necessary to add a bit more olive oil if mix appears dry.  Toss in carrots and scallions and cook, stirring, just until vegetables are soft and fragrant,  about 2 minutes.  Add egg and work into mix as if you were scrambling.  Cook until egg is set.  Divide rice between serving bowls.  Sprinkle with each with sesame seeds and divvy up edamame.  Serve with soy sauce if desired. 

Indian Summer Corn and Farro Salad

The Farro Salad at Charlie Bird's serves as the inspiration for Gael's delicious dish.  It is so fun to watch Gael conceive of a recipe as she clearly thinks in terms of palette as well as taste.  No surprise.  The end results hearty enough to be a meal on its own but works nicely along side grilled meat or fish.  The nip in the air will turn to frost any day now. Eat as much corn and as many tomatoes as you possibly can. 

Indian Summer Corn and Farro Salad

• 1 cup farro 
• 1 cup apple cider
• 2 teaspoons sea salt, plus more for seasoning
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 ears yellow corn
• 1 1/2 cups yellow cherry tomatoes,  halved
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 jalapeño pepper, finely chopped, or more to taste
• 4 radishes, sliced paper thin
• 1 cup mint leaves
• 1/4 pound aged Manchego cheese

Combine farro, apple cider, salt and bay leaves in a medium saucepan.  Add 2 cups of water and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until all the liquid evaporates and the farro is nice and tender but still toothsome, about 30 minutes.  Remove from heat, discard bay leaves and set aside.

Meanwhile, grill corn until nicely charred, rotating cobs for even cooking.  Cut kernels from cobs and place in a bowl.  Whisk together lime juice and olive oil.  Add jalapeño pepper and let stand just long enough to soften, about 10 minutes.  Combine farro, corn and tomatoes in serving bowl.  Dress salad with olive oil mixture and adjust seasoning with more salt as needed.  Add radishes and mint leaves and toss gently.  Use a vegetable slicer to shave thin strips of Manchego over salad just before serving. One last drizzle of olive oil never hurts. 

Handmade teal bowl from Henry Street Studio

Tarte Tatin à la Stephen Doyle

You know you are working with a designer when he tells you to arrange the fruit in pan so to create an apple rondel.

Tarte Tatin à la Stephen Doyle 

For the pastry

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon Maldon sea salt
• 8 tablespoons cold sweet butter, cut into small pieces
• 6 tablespoons cold Crisco

Whiz together flour and salt in the work bowl of a food processor.  Add butter and Crisco and pulse until the mixture resembles a coarse oatmeal.  Transfer to a mixing bowl and add enough ice water that when dough is gently worked with hands it just comes together.  Divide dough in half and shape into two discs.  Wrap both in waxed paper.  Refrigerate one for two hours and freeze second for later use.   When ready to use, let dough warm up slightly - rolling dough straight from fridge leads to cracking and irritable dough syndrome.  

For the apples

• 4 tablespoons sweet butter, room temperature
• 2/3 cups sugar
• 7 large Gala apples

Heat oven to 425.  Mush softened butter around on the bottom and sides of a 9 inch Tarte Tatin pan or cast iron skillet.  Add sugar and swirl around to coat.  Quarter, core and peel apples and arrange in rondel like configuration.  Start from the outside and overlap apples, working your way inward.  Set pan over high heat and cook, adeptly rotating pan to assure even heat, until sugar, butter and apple juices have melted together and made a brown caramel.  It should smell divine.  Remove from heat.  

Roll out pastry between sheets of waxed paper, lightly floured,  to a circle approximately 12 inches in diameter.  While still connected to one waxed paper sheet, center pastry over apples and peel away paper and then tuck in excess pastry to neatly swaddle fruit.   Place Tarte Tatin in oven, set a baking sheet, lined with foil, on lowest rack to catch inevitable sugary drips,  and bake about 15 minutes.   Reduce heat to 375 and bake until juices are bubbling up and apples have softened, about another 25 minutes.  The pastry should be golden brown.  Remove from oven and let stand about 30 minutes before praying in French and inverting Tarte Tatin onto serving platter.  Be careful - caramel is hot.  Stand over kitchen sink to catch drips.