Older Bolder Life

Stronger | Leaner | Sharper | Longer - From Older Bolder Fitness

Asian-inspired

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Carrot and Pepita Salad with Ginger Dressing

By

Today’s Friday Feast recipe is going to be one that’s very much like the style of cooking I’m trying to do these days – damned tasty, colorful, a bit out of the ordinary, and a quick, straightforward prep.

My lovely wife has been clamoring for carrots as we’ve jumped from record cold to the sunny 70s here in North Texas in less than two weeks; she’s a big hummus fan and enjoys it immensely with crudite (carrots are pretty much always on the crudite platter around our camp).

That said, I’ve been digging around for new spins on carrots as the star of salads and fresh, uncooked side dishes of late, and this Carrot and Pepita Salad with an easy, Asian-inspired Ginger Dressing is a nifty one and probably the pick of the litter so to speak of all that we’ve tried lately.

I pulled this one together after reading several similar recipes, the one that looked the best on paper called for 5 to 6 ounces of fresh pea shoots along with the carrots, which for the life of me I’ve been unable to source (the pea shoots) this time of year and post the freeze of the century in Texas.

Digging around a bit for likely subs for pea shoots, which appear to be damned easy to grow at home by the way, the most commonly recommended were baby arugula, baby boc choy, or even baby spinach. We happened to have some baby arugula in the fridge, so that’s what you’ll see in the images today, though I’ll bet this is great with the pea shoots as well.

The recipe is ridiculously easy overall, and calls for a somewhat unusual step of dry toasting your pepitas in a skillet, removing from the heat, and then adding 4 tablespoons of tamari or soy to the hot pepitas and letting them soak as they cool.

Give this one a spin as spring rolls into your neighborhood, it’s a keeper.

1/4 cup pepitas
6 T tamari or soy sauce
4-5 medium carrots in matchsticks
5-6 ounces pea shoots, baby arugula, baby spinach, or baby boc choy
3-4 green onions, trimmed, sliced on an angle

Dressing
3/4-1” piece of fresh ginger, peeled, grated
2 T mirin
2 T toasted sesame oil
1 T rice vinegar
Good salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Dry fry the pepitas until they begin to color (keep them moving so they don’t burn); remove from the heat, add 1/4 cup soy/tamari and set aside to cool.

Combine the dressing ingredients, whisking or shaking in a jar until well combined; hold in the fridge until you’re ready to dress the salad.

Combine the prepped carrots, pea shoots or sub of your choice, and the green onions in a small bowl, stir in the dressing, and top with the toasted pepitas.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Zucchini Jalapeño Salad

By

Now that summer is in full swing for most of the country, or soon will be, it won’t be long before we’ll all be seeing oodles of zucchini at our favorite farmer’s market or grocer.

We’ve been seeing the really good fresh, younger zucchini here in North Texas for several weeks now, and while I’d probably rather slice it thin length-wise and grill it quickly over high heat, my lovely wife is a huge fan of spiralized zucchini salads.

This past week I started fiddling around with several of our favorite salad preps and dressings, and cobbled together this Zucchini Jalapeño Salad with an Asian-inspired dressing featuring the gently sharp acidity of rice vinegar with a healthy splash of toasted sesame oil.

Throw in one or two finely diced red jalapeño or Fresno chiles and some of that delicious chile crisp from last week, and you’ve got a nifty, bright tasting, unique, and healthy as can be side or salad for your next feast with the family.

There’s not much to this one, though note in the recipe below that a little resting time is called for to let these flavors mature. And as always, given the Asian inspiration here on flavors we’ve played with adding a bit of sweetness, though at least around our table, we prefer it without.

No spiralizer? No sweat, just chop into matchsticks and go to it.

2 medium zucchini, trimmed, spiralized or cut into 3-inch matchsticks
1/2 tsp kosher salt

1-2 red jalapeño or Fresno chiles, seeded, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 and 1/2 tbsp unseasoned rice vinegar
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1/4 tsp kosher salt

Optional
1-2 tsp chile crisp (homemade is far better)
Up to 1 tbsp sweetener of choice (see note above)
Toasted sesame seeds as garnish

Prep the zucchini using your method of choice, place in a medium bowl and sprinkle with the 1/2 tsp of kosher salt. Note if spiralizing your zucchini, consider cutting the longer strands into roughly 3-inch long pieces. Let rest 30 minutes or so, drain, and return to the bowl.

In the meantime, combine the prepped chiles and garlic, the rice vinegar, sesame oil, 1/4 tsp salt, and sweetener of choice if using in a small bowl, whisk to combine. Set aside to let the flavors develop.

After draining the zucchini, stir in the dressing to combine well. Let it rest in the fridge for another 30 minutes or so before serving (could probably go up to 5 or 6 hours), cover if resting longer than 30 minutes.

Stir in the chile crisp right at service and sprinkle with the toasted sesame seeds if using.

Enjoy.

The Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Libby’s Chile Crisp

By

We’re always on the lookout around our camp for interesting sauces, spice mixes, and flavorings of all shapes and sorts to add interest to the foods we enjoy.

It really helps to have a friend “in the industry” to politely pester now and again, especially one who’s as creative as our compadre Chef Libby down in Austin. For reasons that aren’t wholly clear to either one of us, our palates align pretty damn closely, as do our tastes in recreational pursuits, namely fly fishing and other diversions undertaken on or around the water.

Libby and I were chatting several months about sauces, and I mentioned that we were looking for something along the lines of a typically sweet (make that overly-sweet) Asian chile sauce when she asked if we’d ever tried her version of a chile crisp?

For the life of me I couldn’t remember her ever sharing the recipe, one that she’d sourced years ago from Bon Appetit and fiddled with to clean up the ingredients to align more with a Primally-influenced palate.

Libby’s Chile Crisp has become probably my personal favorite table condiment of all time, displacing the ever-so-durable Tex-Mex table salsa (some might even call that a pico), a condiment that’s become increasing essential and good on just about everything I can imagine being seared, roasted, or otherwise cooked on a grill, eggs of every sort, and even vegetables (roasted or grilled in particular).

This recipe produces a rich, red slather that’s at the same time spicy (the red pepper and ginger), crunchy (the toasted shallots and garlic), with a hint of Asian-inspired flavors (the star anise, tamari, and ginger), with a soothing, flavor-infused oil to tie it all together.

Eggs will never be the same again with chile crisp in the fridge – I just had it drizzled over three chilled boiled eggs (cut in half so the just set yolks could soak up the flavor) for lunch as I finished this post in fact.

The recipe easily doubles, and you’ll get a better crisp-ing effect if you use at least an 8-inch sauce pan to spread the shallots and garlic out in a thin layer (go bigger if doubling the recipe); just watch them and don’t push them too fast. Oh, and by the way, we like it with more red pepper flakes; this is the recipe Libby originally shared with us back in the day.

3/4 cup oil of choice (we use half olive oil, half avocado)
2 medium shallots, thinly sliced
1 head garlic, separated into cloves, thinly sliced
2-3 star anise pods
1 cinnamon stick
2 to 3-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled, chopped fine
2-3 tbsp crushed red pepper flakes
2 tbsp coconut aminos or tamari
Optional: 1-2 tsp sugar of choice

Combine the oil(s), prepped shallots, garlic, star anise, and cinnamon stick in a saucepan at least 8-9 inches in diameter. Place over medium heat until simmering, then reduce the heat to keep it just simmering and swirl now and again for 20-30 minutes, until the shallots and garlic have crisped and browned.

Meanwhile combine the prepped ginger, red pepper flakes, tamari or coconut aminos, and the optional sugar in a medium bowl and set aside.

When the shallots and garlic have browned and are crispy, strain into the ginger-pepper bowl, and leave the shallots and garlic to cool in the strainer (makes them crispier). When cool, stir back into the infused oil.

Keep in the fridge between uses, and yes, the recipe doubles easily (you’ll want more…).

Enjoy.