Category Archives: Ginger

Cornish Game Hen Soup — To Sooth and Satisfy

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Cornish game hen in a total comfort dish.
Cornish game hen in a total comfort dish.

Our fickle spring weather may be warm one day, and chilly the next. But this is one recipe to keep handy whenever you need a restorative slurp that’s like a great big hug in a bowl.

“Cornish Game Hen Soup” is all that, and straightforward to make, too.

It’s from the new “Korean American” (Clarkson Potter), of which I received a review copy, by the gifted New York Times staff food writer Eric Kim.

In this wonderful cookbook, Kim tells the story of being born to Korean immigrant parents trying to make a new life in an Atlanta suburb, where there was no Korean grocery to be found. So, his mother, whom he frustratingly says never measures anything nor ever gives out an entire recipe willingly, adapted and made do. The Korean home-cooking he grew up on was not necessarily completely traditional food, but a delicious amalgamation of cultures and countries flavored with unmistakable can-do spirit.

With bright technicolor photos, the book brings to life his bold, playful, and comforting dishes such as “Creamy Butatini with Roasted Seaweed,” “Meatloaf-Glazed Kalbi with Gamja Salad,” “Kimchi Sandwiches,” and “No-Churn Ice Cream with Dalgona Butterscotch Sauce.”

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Steamed Tofu and Trumpet Mushrooms with Ginger, Scallion and Soy For A Virtuous New Year

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Like the classic dish of Chinese steamed whole fish -- but without the fish.
Like the classic dish of Chinese steamed whole fish — but without the fish.

Heaven knows that after the hardships of the past two years, we deserved to indulge heartily during the holidays.

But after one too many cookies, seconds of pie, and slabs of meat that made plates buckle, we’re feeling it.

Is it any wonder that we now crave something lighter and cleaner tasting?

“Steamed Tofu with Trumpet Mushrooms with Ginger, Scallion and Soy” fills the bill — and appetite — beautifully.

The recipe is from “To Asia, With Love: Everyday Asian Recipes and Stories From the Heart” (Prestel), one of my favorite cookbooks of 2021. It’s by Hetty McKinnon, the gifted food writer and Aussie transplant who now makes her home in Brooklyn.

I may be an omnivore and my husband, aka Meat Boy, an avowed carnivore, but the recipes in this vegetarian cookbook never cease to satisfy. Indeed, neither of us ever feels wanting, despite the meat-free dishes.

“Steamed Tofu with Trumpet Mushrooms with Ginger, Scallion and Soy” is ready in a blink of an eye. In fact, it’s so easy that you’ll practically be able to make it from memory again the next time.

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Chewy Ginger Spice Cookies with Ras El Hanout

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Chewy ginger cookies with the depth of ras el hanout.
Chewy ginger cookies with the depth of ras el hanout.

After seasoning a lamb dish spectacularly, my leftover ras el hanout had been languishing forlornly in my pantry.

Remnants of this aromatic and punchy Moroccan spice blend were badly in need of a purpose and home.

Thankfully, the ideal one arrived in the form of “Chewy Ginger Spice Cookies with Ras El Hanout.”

Ras El Hanout is Arabic for “top shelf.” Like liquor at a bar, it connotes the best a mixologist or spice shop owner has to offer.

It’s a blend that can consist of more than a dozen spices, including cardamom, cumin, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, coriander, peppercorns, paprika, fenugreek, turmeric, fennel seeds, aniseed, and galangal.

I’ve always associated it with savory cooking. But this clever cookie recipe demonstrates just how well it takes to sweet preparations, as well.

The recipe is from the new cookbook, “Flavors of the Sun: The Sahadi’s Guide to Understanding, Buying, and Using Middle Eastern Ingredients” (Chronicle Books), of which I received a review copy.

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Scallion Oil-Poached Chicken

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Classic poached chicken with a vibrant scallion-ginger sauce.
Classic poached chicken with a vibrant scallion-ginger sauce.

Betty Liu makes the rest of us look like slackers.

Not only is she a doctor training to be a surgeon in Boston, but she’s a home-cook so gifted that she created an award-winning food blog, bettysliu.com. Her writing, recipes and photos have appeared in Bon Appetit and Saveur magazines. She’s also taught food photography classes around the world.

On top of that, she debuted this year, the top-selling cookbook, My Shanghai: Recipes and Stories from a City on the Water” (HarperCollins), of which I received a review copy.

My, oh my.

It’s even more impressive when you realize that Liu didn’t even learn to cook until she was in college, and missing her mother’s cooking. Back then, whenever she visited her parents, she cajoled her mother into teaching her how to make her favorite dishes. After college, she worked in Shanghai for a spell, which only deepened her passion for that regional cuisine.

Her cookbook honors her heritage and her family’s cooking, spotlighting the Jiangnan region, which encompasses the lower Yangtzee area, including the city of Shanghai. Not surprisingly, Jiangnan cuisine is all about seasonal fresh ingredients and elevating the natural, pure flavors of the food.

This beautifully illustrated book is complete with lavish photos that bring this region of China to life, as well as useful images that take you step-by-step through specific techniques, including making “Suzhou-Style Mooncakes,” “Scallion Flower Buns,” and “Shanghai Big Wontons.”

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The Simple Pleasures of Homemade Pickled Ginger and Gingery Ground Beef with Peas Over Rice

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Easy-peasy soboro donburi -- with homemade pickled ginger and fresh summer tomatoes.
Easy-peasy soboro donburi — with homemade pickled ginger and fresh summer tomatoes.

Anyone who knows me knows I am an absolute, unabashed, crazed ginger fiend. I’m the one sitting at the sushi bar, who’s always nagging the chef for seconds — even thirds — of pickled ginger. Yup, I am that person.

Yet surprisingly, I’d never made my own pickled ginger.

And what a fool I’ve been, now that I know how embarrassingly easy and fast it is to make at home.

My impetus for making my own pickled ginger came about when I saw that it was a garnish for a dish of “Gingery Ground Beef with Peas Over Rice” that I intended to make.

When I scanned the ingredients list of various jarred pickled gingers sold online, I was aghast. Quite a few of them contained the artificial sweetener, aspartame. Why? Oh, why?! That was such an immediate turnoff, that I decided to make my own instead.

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