I am overloaded with bok choy from my garden, and have been eating it every day in something - usually salads, but a few stir fries.
I made another delicious bok choy salad (trying to use it all up, before it has all bolted - still have 6 heads out there!), this time based on a recipe I've been making for years, though I tweaked the recipe considerably. The original recipe - Spicy Gingered Asian Slaw, from the original Union Square Café cookbook, had napa, plus some carrots and bell peppers as the vegetables, but I have made countless versions of it, and that recent shallot dressing reminded me of it. The original dressing only had lime juice as the acid - no vinegar - but I added a little rice vinegar, plus some anchovies, since I liked them so much in the last salad, and they went well with the curry paste in the original dressing. I left out the garlic, but added a bunch of garlic chives for that flavor, and regular chives in place of the scallions in the original recipe. And I used some julienned kohlrabi (another thing from out there in the garden), macerated with a little salt, then rinsed and drained, while making the rest. Here is the recipe for the dressing:
1/4 c lime juice 1/4 c neutral vegetable oil 1 tb white rice vinegar 4 anchovy filets 25 g shallots (3 tb - easier to weigh, when no need to chop up) 14 g ginger (slice against the grain, to prevent fibers from showing up after blending) 10 g fresno, jalapeño, or other medium heat fresh pepper 1 tb sesame oil (the toasted type) 1 tb honey 1 tb thin soy sauce 1 tb red curry paste
Place in a blender, or immersion blender container, and blend until smooth.
I used this for about 6-7 c total vegetables, then tossed with 3/8 c each regular and garlic chives, 2 tb finely chopped peanuts, 1 tb toasted sesame seeds, and 6 tb chopped cilantro.
Another thing that I added to this was some quinoa, which I toasted before cooking. I have never seen this suggested with quinoa, but it's done with other grains, so I figured, why not? I toasted a full cup of it, but in 3 batches, and it was sort of messy, tossing it like I do spices, as it was popping, like amaranth. The color was slightly darker, and with a definite toasted aroma, but it wasn't that much more flavorful, esp. in the salad, which had the sesame oil, sesame seeds, and roasted peanuts, which probably covered up any toasty flavor. Might be worth trying in a milder dish. I used about 1/3 of this in the salad. I have found that quinoa is good in salads like this, as it helps keep the dressing from separating quickly - it sort of sticks to the veggies.
Any other interesting uses for bok choy out there?
_________________ Dave
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