Orange Chipotle Wings, Sweet Potato Soup, Beef Stroganoff, Truffle Salmon, Tofu Bowls, Ferments & More!
For now (with lots of other things to write and work on), I’ve decided to change this What’s Cooking recipe ideas round up to every other week — which means there’s a lot to fit in here this week!
Orange Chipotle Wings (Plus Baby Back Ribs, Sweet Potatoes & Salad)
Orange and chipotle flavors go together so well! I’ve used this for salmon and shrimp and now moving on to chicken wings.
I used this New York Times recipe as a guide, but made some adjustments. I rarely have sour cream on hand, so I used goat creole cream cheese and homemade yogurt and mayo in place of that, plus I used orange infused olive oil in place of the canola oil and a little orange juice along with the zest. I also added orange and lemon zest along with lime zest to the dipping sauce.
This was what we had on Mardi Gras — I was in my kitchen a lot that afternoon while it stormed! We had a friend visiting who knows our main farm staffer from a past internship, so in addition to the wings I made a rack of baby back ribs I’ve had languishing in my freezer and meaning to use up. For those I roasted to brown, then cut and tossed in the Instant Pot with a quick homemade barbecue sauce and a little water and apple cider vinegar to pressure cook and then stuck them back in the oven to crisp up after pressure cooking.
We had the wings and ribs with roasted sweet potatoes and a salad. A truly delicious combination of sweet and spicy and bright!
Velvety Sweet Potato Soup (with Four Different Proteins!)
For the most part, I would take Irish potatoes any day over sweet potatoes, but I am constantly taking home culled sweet potatoes from the shop.
Pinch of Yum recently published this Sweet Potato Soup recipe, so I figured it would be a good way to use a bunch up! I love crispy cauliflower, so I was intrigued by adding those on top like she does, but the first weekend I made it, we sold out of cauliflower before I could grab one for myself.
Plus, you need protein! The first night, I made shrimp for us and sausage for our guest who doesn’t like seafood and ended up eating my portion with both, plus plenty of chili oil drizzled on top.
Later in the week for leftovers, I made some truffle salmon (below) to go with it and then with the final leftovers, I had another block of tofu to use up and just sautéed that and added the last of the peanut sauce (from another meal below) to it. Can confirm they all went well with the soup!
Truffle Salmon
A soil customer and friend gave us some gorgeous salmon from his fishing trip to Alaska, and I gave this piece a simple and decadent treatment.
Ever since I made Pinch of Yum’s Bang Bang Salmon a couple of month ago, I’ve been on a kick of using this method every time I make salmon (i.e. salt and season it, then add a mayo-based sauce on top to lock in moisture and flavor). I’ve done it with a chipotle orange sauce like the chicken wings and now with my favorite truffle mayo (plus Smokey Shiitake and Black Garlic Seasoning).
The salmon came out perfect!
Sirloin Tip & Mushroom Stroganoff with Roasted Turnips
Another meal with our visiting farm hand and staffer and this was probably their absolute favorite of the bunch.
We’re low on most cuts of beef, but seem to always have sirloin tip! And I think it’s one of the best cuts to slice thin (ideally while partially frozen) for stroganoff.
So I started with that and tossed the beef with a little flour, cornstarch, sea salt, black pepper, Smokey Shiitake & Black Garlic seasoning and another mushroom seasoning with thyme, dry mustard and red chili flakes.
When I was ready to make it that evening, I sliced two yellow onions and sautéed those while I seared the beef in batches (too much in the pan will cause it to steam versus brown).
Then I added a pound of oyster mushrooms, plus chestnut and pioppino mushrooms and eventually after that cooked down, minced garlic.
We had also pulled some more purple top turnips from the cover crop plot, so roasted those in the oven while making the stroganoff. Once all the meat was browned and the veggies were cooked, I combined it all together and added frozen beef broth and a little soy sauce (Worcestershire is better, but I was out).
To finish, I added some heavy cream and we ate with with pasta, the roasted turnips, parmesan and fresh dill. It was so good!
Tofu Bowls with Swiss Chard & Peanut Sauce
Sunday lunch turned meal prep for the week! I started by making a light batter for the tofu with sesame oil, soy sauce, coconut aminos, cornstarch, nutritional yeast and seasonings and roasting in the oven.
I also made some basmati rice and garlicky Swiss chard and then made a peanut sesame sauce with peanut butter, tahini, sesame oil, gochujang, soy sauce, coconut aminos, ginger, garlic and rice vinegar.
I ate the bowls with lots of chili crisp and leftover turnips!
ABF - Always Be Fermenting!
And finally, ferments! One thing I did on Mardi Gras day instead of parading was chop a lot of vegetables. ;-)
These are two of my staple ferments that I don’t think I can live without!
The radish salsa (inspired by Nancy at Succotash Ferments) uses some kind of light salad radish like cherry belle, French breakfast or red rover (a denser radish like daikon works, but it’s not as good), along with onions, garlic and lime juice. If I have peppers and cilantro, that goes really well, too, but it’s fine without. This time I had a few green onions left, plus some frozen diced habanada peppers, so I used those. The half gallon takes about three tablespoons of salt and once I jam as many radishes in as I can, I fill it with water to make a brine.
The kraut recipe is inspired by Liliana at South of Eden and is just purple cabbage seasoned with caraway and chili seed. I have made it with green cabbage and shredded beets many times, too and it’s really lovely like that. This time I had a small purple cabbage, some green cabbage, collards and purple daikon and it came out delicious without the beets. I also added garlic because I think all kraut is better with garlic!
The kraut is a fairly quick ferment at room temperature and I’ve done it in as little as five days before. This time I let it go something like eight or nine days. The radishes are still going, but I will likely put them in the fridge this evening or tomorrow — right around two weeks.
People always ask what I use these on. The kraut is great with eggs, on sandwiches and even in salads. The radish salsa I use almost exclusively in breakfast tacos, but also other tacos, sandwiches and salads, too. They both add a salty, funky pop to any dish and of course all the good gut microbes!