Romance on the boat <3
Friday, October 19, 2007 at 13:35 
Eric surprised me with some beautiful roses last night. I love it when he does that, heck all girls love it when their men do that. Yay! Romance on a boat is just like living on a boat, you have to make do with what you have, so I present you with my new flower vase, Eric's utility thermos. I like to think the flowers look quite handsome actually!
I made a big dinner last night, which is not in and of itself too stupendous, we cook at home every night, but I love this recipe, and it takes a little more time than just pasta and red sauce. As I mentioned in the Pro's and Con's thread, the galley on our boat is very small, so cooking becomes a challenge, as burners and pots are small, as is preparation space. 
The navigation (nav) table has become my prep space, and it worked out great last night for this dish. I'm always happy when I can cook a healthy and delicious meal - if I can accomplish both of those things, then I know I'm really on my way to becoming a good cook.
I've been looking for more recipes to make with greens (Swiss chard, cabbage, kale, etc.) I know that when we go sailing I'll have to start using different and more exotic greens than romaine and iceberg lettuce, so I want to get a start on it now. If anyone has any good recipes please do share. I'll post the recipe in an individual post after this, as I'd like to keep them tracked in a separate 'recipe' category.
Reader Comments (5)
Kale is awesome with sesame oil and toasted almond slivers. Add some salt and pepper and you have a yummy healthy side dish.
Cabbage is great to make as a Chinese salad. Add sliced carrots, green onions almonds, sesame seeds and top ramen noodles (not cooked) and crushed. The dressing is: 4 tbs sugar, 2 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper, 1 cup oil, 6 tbs rice vinegar. Modify as you would like. Great salad, if you want you can add sliced chicken and make a complete meal out of it.
Gailan, also known as "Chinese broccoli" or "Chinese mustard greens", is both inexpensive and simple to prepare and cook. Find it at any Asian grocery store. The stalk tastes similar to broccoli stems; the leaves are unlike the leaves of other vegetables: slightly bitter- though not as much as Brussels sprouts- and a bit slippery.
Preparation: Snap off the ends, as you would with asparagus. Use a knife to peel the tough skin from the bottom up towards the leaves. The skin will naturally stop peeling off when it becomes tender. Cut off any bloomed flowers that you find; we eat the buds, but you can discard these also if you don't like the look of them. Wash the gailan by dunking it a few times in a bowl of water; like spinach, the vegetable can be a bit sandy.
Cooking: boil the cleaned gailan for 3-5 minutes in water that has a bit of your favorite cooking oil in it. (Adding oil to water when boiling vegetables helps preserve their color.) Remove from the water, trim into 3" pieces, and serve with some pepper and oyster sauce. Chances are you don't have oyster sauce; substitute a pinch of sugar and something savory (soy sauce) instead.
Lotus root is a very interesting starch which can be easily added to your cooking repertoire. The unprepared form looks very odd; their fleshy tone and multi-segmented, hairy joints were a bit off-putting the first time I saw them. Lotus root is in season during the late autumn and early winter, and can easily be found in most Asian grocery stores then. It is inexpensive, straightforward to prepare, and visually stunning on your plate.
Selection: Choose as you would choose your potatoes. Avoid pieces that have obvious cuts or have been snapped open. Look for pieces that are fat in diameter for their given length.
Preparation: Cut the multi-segmented lotus root apart at the "joints". Trim each piece to get rid of the joint. Peel off the tough skin as you would with a carrot or potato; a peeler works well, and a ceramic peeler would hold up well in an marine environment. Cut the cleaned lotus root into 1/8" or 1/2" slices. If you want to serve the lotus root sauteed a side dish, opt for 1/8" slices. If you want to stew the lotus root in a bit of chicken broth, or use it as a potato substitute in a soup, then opt for the fatter slices.
Cooking: Sautee lightly in your choice of cooking fat over medium heat. Perhaps add some ginger, or sesame seeds, or garlic, or all three. Consider adding salt and pepper. After sauteeing for 3-5 minutes, add 2 to 3 tablespoons of water to your pan, and cover with a lid. Let the lotus root simmer for 5-10 minutes. You can turn this into a meal by adding some sliced carrots and protein (Chinese barbequeue pork is probably best, but your favorite of beef, chicken, pork, or tofu would also be fine) when you begin cooking the lotus root. Add snow peas and maybe some sliced mushrooms during the last 3 minutes of simmering.
Stewing: thick-sliced pieces of lotus root stew up nicely. When cooked this way, the lotus root becomes stringy when cut in half and pulled apart. From an Asian culinary standpoint, this is a desirable aspect of the root; from your standpoint, it'll seem strange but enticing. When stewing, cut pieces large enough that you'll bite them in half when they're on the end of your spoon. To stew, either use them as a potato substitute in a soup, or cook a soup especially for them: in a pot, heat some chicken (or fish, or vegetable, or beef) broth. Bring to a boil, add the cut pieces of lotus root, and bring it back to a boil. Reduce to a simmer for 40 minutes. Adding other root vegetables, and perhaps some meat, makes for a very enjoyable stew.
Wow, thank you for sharing that. I'll have to try them both! I've been wanting to get a ceramic peeler too. Kyocera makes several kinds, and I think their prices are a bit cheaper than WS too: http://www.metrokitchen.com/category/kyocera-ceramic-peelers
Thanks again dbkliv, whoever you may be! :)