Kung Pao Noodle (Lucky Peach 5)

Roy Choi

Soy Marinated Chicken Thighs

• 1/4 C soy sauce
• 1 T mirin
• 1 T rice vinegar
• 1/2 t sesame oil
• 1 T orange juice
• 2 dried arbol chiles
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 scallions, chopped
• 1/2" piece peeled ginger chopped
• 1/2 onion, cut into 4 pieces
• 1/2 T kosher salt
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs [I messed up and read this incorrectly but it's an easy fix]

I apologize for not taking a picture of the unblended ingredients, but I'm sure you get the idea.

Kung Pao Sauce

• 1 head garlic
• 1/3 cup chili-garlic sauce (or sambal)
• 3 T chili oil
• 1/3 C fish sauce
• 1/3 C rice wine vinegar [Couldn't locate this so I use a mixture of rice vinegar and rice wine]
• 1/3 C soy sauce
• 2 T sriracha [For whatever reason I didn't own sriracha yet.  Instead I used extra sambal.]
• 1/3 C minced lemongrass
• 1/3 cup kochukaru (Korean chili powder)
• 2/3 cup Thai basil leaves, loosely packed
• 2 t sugar
• 1 t sesame seeds, roasted
• 1 lime, juiced

Chop off the top 1/2" off a head of garlic.

Roast in foil at 400 degrees for 1/2 hour.

I bought like 20 stalks of lemongrass and proceeded to try to process them and was about to give up the ghost on this recipe when I didn't even get an 1/8 of a cup out of my efforts.

Some bitching on facebook led Jessica D to tell me that you can just buy this stuff at Asian supermarkets.  Jesus Christ.

This time I remember to take a photo.

The results.  I definitely didn't make a quart like the recipe suggested but just a little bit more than the actual recipe needed.  Afterwards I just sauteed just carrots, chicken tenders, and celery in it and ate it over rice.

The Rest

• 1 lb fresh Korean noodles (aka "Oriental Style noodle vermicelli") [Didn't feel like dragging myself to a Korean market and bought some relatively skinny Asian noodles that didn't need to be parboiled]
• 1 white onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 C minced lemongrass (from the bulbous end of the pants, outer layers peeled away)
• 1 C scallions, thinly sliced [Didn't have these since the bunch had rotted by the time I made this]
• 1 bell pepper, sliced
• 1 C bok choy, spinach, or watercress, cut into 1/2" pieces
• 1 C eggplant, sliced into thin batons
• 1 C chopped tomato
• 1 C dried arbol chiles [After picking these and sichuan peppercorns out of my mouth all the time when making the Momofuku rice cakes some time ago, I thought "Screw this."]
• vegetable oil
• a fried egg for each serving
• water
• chopped cilantro
• Thai basil, picked and sliced [See scallions]
• fried shallots [Oh damn, I forgot to bust these out]
• sesame seeds
• roasted peanuts
• fresh Fresno chiles, julienned

The chicken thighs after I ripped the skin off.  Broil these for five minutes on each side or until slightly blackened.

Mise en place all lined up.  Actual cooking flies by in a New York minute.

First saute the onions, lemongrass, and scallions (if I had them).

A minute later, add the vegetables.

Add the sauce and toss to coat.  Then add the noodles and do the same thing.

Voila!  Cooking this dish didn't exactly make me a bigger fan of Kung Pao although the leftover sauce was pretty tasty when I utilized it otherwise.  I wonder if it would've been even more amazing if I had the right Korean noodles for the dish.
Even though the recipe involves about 40-something ingredients, the prep is exceedingly minimal.

Soy-Braised Lamb Shanks

from Home Cooking with Jean-Georges: My Favorite Simple Recipes by Jean-Georges Vongerichten

• Grapeseed or other neutral oil
• 4 whole (2-pound) lamb shanks, trimmed and patted dry
• 2 medium yellow onions, sliced
• 2 medium shallots, sliced
• 13 garlic cloves, sliced
• Kosher salt
• 2 Asian pears, cored and cut into 2-inch chunks
• 1 bunch scallions, green parts only
• 2 lemongrass stalks, smashed and thinly sliced
• 5-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
• 1 fresh long red (finger) chile, stemmed, seeds, and sliced [Neglected to remember this one]
• 4 whole star anise
• 1 1/4 cups semidry Gewurztraminer or Riesling [I used a random white wine I had already opened rather than going out to buy the right kind of 2 servings]
• 1 cup champagne vinegar [They only had normal white wine vinegar at Stop & Shop]
• 3/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup honey

Cut the portions of lamb shank in half since I was only cooking for 2.  I would have had to brown them in batches clearly if I had purchased more.  They barely fit.

Mise en place.

Cooking the onions, garlic, and shallots until golden brown and tender.

Dump the braising liquid in, bring to a boil, and then throw in the oven for about 3 1/2 hours.

Reducing the resulting liquid.

Resulting dish alongside parmesan encrusted summer squash from the same cookbook.  The squash is not really complicated enough to warrant the usual blog treatment but it was tasty.  The suggested side for the dish was a Jalapeno and Green Apple Duo but I'm not going to approach a side dish for 8 while cooking for two.
The braised meat was nice enough for braised meat, but I wish the flavors had been a bit more in my face.  The chile probably would have helped.

Ori said he liked watching me cook with such determination.

Lemongrass Chicken (BRW)

• 2 lemongrass stalks, trimmed and thinly sliced
• 2 large shallots, roughly chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 1 small fresh red chile, stemmed and roughly chopped, or 1 teaspoon hot red pepper flake
• 1 tablespoon nam pla or nuoc mam [Thai and Vietnamese fish sauce, respectively]
• 1 chicken, 3-4 pounds, cut into serving pieces, or 2 1/2 to 3 pounds chicken parts, trimmed of excess fat
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon corn, grapeseed, or other neutral oil.
  

Everything but the front piece that I've tried from a stalk of lemongrass is inedible. Sometimes I wonder how it occurred to someone to eat a particular vegetable or fruit or herb that doesn't seem inherently obvious.
Maybe I'll understand after reading Harold McGee.

Puree the first 5 ingredients for the marinade. Bittman suggests doing this a day in advance if possible. I don't usually re-read recipes until the day I cook something. is that so bad?

The chicken should preferably also be allowed to sit in the refrigerator for several hours before cooking. Didn't plan for this one either.

Browning the chicken in my cast-iron skillet which I'm using way more often these days.

The dish was very reminiscent of food memories of my mother's cooking. The recipe is basic enough that maybe it's more or less the exact recipe for whatever this reminds me of.
It probably would've hit me harder in the flavor department if I allowed all that time for flavor-melding and marinating.

Apparently this is based on a dish from Bittman's long-time friend Jean-Georges Vongerichten. I wonder if Jean-Georges' take is more elevated. On a recent trip to NYC, I had the prix fixe lunch at his ABC Kitchen.
It was quite a beautiful environment, and the waitstaff wore a casual uniform of jeans and well-fitting, bright country checks. I had the gazpacho with cherry tomatoes and watermelon (good and bright), ricotta and farm egg raviolo with a rich pork ragu, and the zucchini cake. I wasn't blown out of the water (though I'm always looking for that kind of experience), but the tiny candied lime on top of the cake was quite lovely.