Category: Cooking

Recipe: Menestra a la Betty

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My partner’s Peruvian mother, Betty, makes the best menestra – beans, lentils, legumes. They´re seasoned just right and she makes it consistently well. The final beans are red in color but not spicy. Here’s her recipe:

Menestra a la Betty

Para 6 porciones:
Ingredientes
Menestra – 300-340g
Cebolla
Ajos
Sal
Ají especial (ají panca molido)

Pasos en un Instapot (u olla de presión)

  1. Picar la cebolla en cuadraditos y freír en aceita por unos minutos, hasta dorar en Instapot Sautée mode.
  2. Agregar ajos picados (1-2 cucharas) y el ají especial, dorar 2 min.
  3. Agregar la menestra y cubrir con agua. Sumerge la menestra por el ancho de dos dedos.
  4. Cocinar, medium or high pressure. Frijoles 30-40 minutos, lentejas 10-15 minutos.
  5. Abre la olla, agrega sal al gusto, mezclar, y tapar de nuevo hasta la hora de servir.

Add salt AFTER the legumes have been pressure cooked. Do not add before, as it will make the beans take longer to fully cook and soften.

Wok noodles with Little Flowering Kale Thing (Raab) and Black Garlic

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I’m on a mission to identify what’s growing in the garden and enjoy cooking with it. There is kale starting to form flower buds, resembling thin broccoli florets. I discovered these flower buds are called “raab”. They are tender and significantly less bitter and fibrous than broccoli.

I harvested these stems (leaving the leaves) and tossed them with shiitake mushrooms, garlic, onions, soy sauce, sesame oil & seeds, protein and egg noodles to create this dish. I used diced bacon and think firm tofu would work well too. Use high heat for that wok hei! Serve with kimchi and black garlic. Enjoy!

On “raab” etymology:


“Turnips are the true “Broccoli Raab”, also called Broccoli Rabe, or Rapini. “Rape” is the Italian name for turnip, and broccoli means something like flowering thing (in Mike’s rustic Italian). Adding “ini” at the end implies that it is a small thing, so if we put it all together “rapini” is a little turnip thing, and broccoli rabe is a flowering turnip thing.”

from https://whistlingtrainfarm.com/rapini%E2%80%94its-all-in-the-name/

Wok Bok Choi

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There is bok choi growing in the garden, planted by the previous resident. Big stalks of bitter, fibrous stems daunted me for a month.

Recently I got a carbon steel wok. I scrubbed and seasoned it over direct flame. The first several times I used it, I set off the smoke alarm while it was warming up. I think it has something to do with using canola, safflower, or common vegetable oil. They’re not cut out for the high temps of wok frying. For that, look to peanut oil or bacon fat.

I watched this video on how to wok stir-fry bok choi. She emphasizes good technique and using garden-fresh vegetables. She only uses oil and salt to season, letting the bok choi’s natural flavor shine. She’s right about the simplicity. “Fresh vegetable has its own umami and sweetness.” There is a natural sweetness to the crunchy stem; sugar is not necessary. And you don’t need a fancy stove-top with gas flame to stir-fry!

Here’s my result today: Stir-fried garden bok choi with hamachi kama (yellowtail cheek). 잘먹겠습니다! Let’s eat!