Monday, February 13, 2006

Due piatti a base di carne e verdure un po' particolari

As I mentioned, I wanted to try little by little all those really interesting vegetables that they have at the Farmers' Market.. so, I'll show you here two recipes that I created with Collard Greens and Bok Choi and two different types of meat.
The 'philosophy' under these recipes is similar - you'll notice that I like a lot to put yogurt with meat. I think it gives a nice taste and texture to it.

Maiale piccante con collard greens (spicy pork with collard greens)
You'll prepare the pork and the vegetables separately. The preparation of the collards is very easy: wash them and put them in a pot with a little water on the bottom, cover, and let cook basically by steaming. Turn them from time to time, so the leaves on the bottom don't get overcooked by the water. When they're done (soft but not too much), cut them and toss with some olive oil, salt and if you like a little balsamic vinegar.
Cut some deboned pork chops into bite-size pieces and put them in a pan where you will have heated some olive oil. Stir for a while under high heat, until they are white on the exterior. At this point you can add salt and some sauces: a little barbecue sauce, some red curry paste and some yogurt (two tablespoons). This mixture will give a nice spicy strong taste to the meat, and the yogurt will tenderize it. Cook for another 20 minutes, or until the meat is nearly done. Then, add some cornstarch to thicken the sauce, and add some more yogurt to make a nice smooth cream that will taste of meat juices and spicy sauce. Turn off the heat about 30 seconds after you added the yogurt (four tablespoons), otherwise this will melt.
Serve combined with the vegetables on a side, with some good bread.

Pollo con cavolo cinese, miele e arachidi (chicken with bok choi, honey and peanuts)
Wash the bock choi and cut it into pieces. Finely slice an onion and saute it with some olive oil, and add the bok choi to it. Add salt and pepper and cover the pan.
While the vegetables are cooking, cut some boneless and skinless chicken thighs into bite-size pieces. Add to the vegetables. Add a little more salt and some red curry paste if you want this dish to be spicy (I do. :) ). Saute for a while under high heat until the chicken is white and cooked from the outside. Then, stir in some yogurt. At this point, I tasted the sauce: it was good, but a bit bitter. The bok choi is much more bitter than all the other types of vegetables that I tried so far.. so, I decided that I would add some honey to compensate. I added about two tablespoons of honey (for about one pound of vegetables and one pound of meat). After this, the sauce was not bitter anymore. It was actually very good. :)
Let cook for about twenty minutes, or until the chicken is done. Taste and add salt, pepper, honey and/or red pepper according to your desires. :)
Serve on top of steamed/boiled rice, and sprinkle some chopped peanuts on top.
The result was very good. Lucas could not taste the honey in it, which I guess is good, because it compensated the bitterness of the bok choi without overwhelming its taste. :)

7 comments:

Mr Duffy said...

Penso che proverò la seconda :)

chemcookit said...

Comida, Mr Duffy: grazie! Che onore!! :)

Mr Duffy said...

Una cosa mi lascia perplesso: lo yoghurt... immagino yoghurt naturale; ma quanto??

chemcookit said...

Ah, scusa il ritardo della risposta - e' stata una lunga giornata.

Dunque, a me piace con parecchio yogurt, quindi ne metto circa 3-4 cucchiai grossi. Ma se non ti fidi, puoi provare con meno. Se lo cuoci troppo e diventa liquido, puoi aggiungere dell'amido (mais o patate) per riaddensarlo.

Ah, si', certo, naturale :) - a meno che sei in vena di strani esperimenti.. :) :)
Magro o intero non cambia molto.

chemcookit said...

Ah! Mi sono resa conto di una cosa che forse mi spiega il tuo stupore: lo yogurt negli US e' molto piu' spesso di quello italiano. Dovresti probabilmente usare quello che in Italia si definisce 'compatto', non ha proprio la stessa consistenza di quello che uso io, ma e' cio' che piu' gli si avvicina. Quello americano e' un po' piu' cremoso e meno compatto, ma molto piu' denso della versione liquida normale tra gli yogurt italiani.

Mr Duffy said...

Grazie mille per le delucidazioni... volevo prepararlo stasera, ma l'arrivo di mamma Duffy con un sacco di pietanze prelibate impone uno slittamento, sarà per la settimana prossima :D

chemcookit said...

Ah, che peccato, eh ;) - sacrificarsi per le delizie della mamma... :):)