Rhubarb Chutney

I made this recipe last summer. I remember it well because it was the weekend in July when I had just purchased an ice cream maker and was preparing to freeze the canister so I could get started with this cherry gelato recipe - and my freezer failed. It turned out that it had been melting down for a while, and the hot-as-heck weather that weekend just accelerated the liquification process. All this is just to say that I didn't trust my frozen rhubarb chutney, because it had been sitting in the door shelf of the freezer and sat there, never really freezing, for a couple of weeks. We had it once on the day I made it, but I ended up throwing the rest out.

I'm determined that this year will be different! We had this stuff over lamb last summer. Last night, I made it again and we had it over chicken breasts. I've got some lamb shanks in the fridge, and we will put the chutney to good use again with them tonight.

This recipe makes me think of Easter eggs, for two reasons: the color (bright pink - no lamb accompaniment has the right to exhibit such a flashy hue) and the smell (hot vinegar - you just don't smell that except when dyeing eggs at Easter).

I will say that although the recipe tells you to cook the rhubarb, green onions, and currants for only 4 minutes (before the rhubarb falls apart), you will also get fine results if you choose to just have the stuff simmer on the stove forever while you do other things, treating the chutney as more of a jam. That's what I did last summer, and I remember us saying, "Ooh, this is good." However, you do end up with a more beautiful and chunky mixture if you stop cooking when the recipe tells you to - that's how I did it this time.

I got the recipe from Epicurious - originally published in Bon Appetit in April 2003. A couple of modifications:
-It calls for 1 3/4 pounds rhubarb. This year, I only had three (long and slender) stalks, totalling about a pound, so I cut back on all the other ingredients a bit. The measurements seem very flexible.
- It calls for 1/2 teaspoon "(scant) ground cardamom." I love cardamom, and I had smoky black cardamom pods (further discussed in this posting) just burning a hole in my spice cabinet, so I threw a black cardamom pod into the mixture and discarded it when I took out the cinnamon stick. Here's a picture of the black cardamom. Just imagine a lovely smoky smell.


-Oh, also - you might notice in the picture below that my cinnamon stick is an Andre the Giant among its peers. I got it from one of those bags in the Hispanic foods section at the grocery store. They are very economical and seem to work well for savory foods that call for a little cinnamon flavor. Normally they have a heavenly scent of Mexican cinnamon, although this one seemed a little dried out at the beginning.

So, the recipe.

Ingredients:
-1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
-1/2 cup red wine vinegar (you could also use apple cider vinegar - I looked at another recipe, very similar to this one, that uses apple cider vinegar instead)
-1 1/2 cinnamon sticks
1 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange peel
1/2 teaspoon (scant) ground cardamom
4 1/2 cups coarsely chopped rhubarb (from 1 3/4 pounds rhubarb)
3/4 cup dried currants
4 green onions, chopped

Stir first 6 ingredients in heavy large saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves and mixture boils.

Add rhubarb, currants, and green onions; bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until rhubarb is tender but not falling apart, about 4 minutes.

Cool to room temperature. Discard cinnamon. Cover and refrigerate chutney until cold, at least 1 hour. [Carrina's note: or if you are impatient, just spoon out whatever portion you are going to use right away into a separate container, and stick it into the freezer until it is sufficiently jelly-fied for your taste. I think I put ours - about 1 cup's worth - in the freezer for about 15 minutes. It was fine.]

(Can be made up to 2 days ahead. Keep refrigerated.) Bring to room temperature before serving.

The chicken is slightly overexposed here, but you can still see the beautiful pink of the chutney.

Chicken with Lime Juice and Coca-Cola(!), plus Red Quinoa and Baby Bok Choy with Sesame-Soy Glaze

First, the recipe for the chicken: I got it from a friend who now lives in Peru.

Chicken with Lime Juice and Coca-Cola (thanks, Laura!)
-4 medium boned, skinless chicken breasts
-5 cloves garlic, minced
-Juice of 5 limes
-1 can Coca Cola
-Salt and pepper to taste
-Olive oil to coat bottom of skillet

Heat olive oil and place chicken breasts in skillet. Brown on medium heat turning as needed. As soon as chicken is brown add garlic and saute 1 minute. Pour Coca Cola and lime juice over chicken and simmer uncovered on low heat, approximately 20 minutes. Serve over rice along with your favorite vegetable.


It was so easy, and so good! My only regret is that I did not brown the chicken enough. I thought I had, but really it just had kind of a temporary dark glaze from the oil. It looked a little pasty when all was said and done. Next time I'll give the breasts several minutes on each side.

And now, the baby bok choy! This recipe was a lot of fun: the oil spatters quite a bit though, so watch your glasses and make sure the fan is on. Oh, and use your best judgment with whether you really want to go adding garlic to a pan as hot as this one gets. I found myself holding the pan off of heat for at least a minute, throwing the garlic in after the green onions (scallions) so that the moisture from the onions could act as a buffer to keep the garlic from burning.

This recipe is from Cooks Illustrated and was originally published on May 1st, 2001.

Sesame-Soy-Glazed Baby Bok Choy

Serves 4 as a side dish.
"This recipe works best with baby bok choy weighing no more than 4 ounces each. If your market sells larger baby bok choy, remove a layer or two of the large outer leaves."
-2 tablespoons soy sauce
-2 tablespoons chicken stock or canned low-sodium chicken broth
-1 tablespoon rice vinegar
-2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
-1 teaspoon granulated sugar
-3 tablespoons peanut oil
-4 baby bok choy (about 4 ounces each), each head halved lengthwise
-3 medium cloves garlic , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 tablespoon)
-1 inch piece fresh ginger , minced (about 1 tablespoon)
-2 medium scallions , sliced thin
-1 tablespoon sesame seeds , toasted in a small dry skillet over medium heat until lightly browned and fragrant, about 4 minutes

1. Combine soy sauce, stock, vinegar, sesame oil, and sugar in small bowl.

2. Heat large nonstick skillet over high heat until hot, about 2 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons peanut oil, swirl to coat pan bottom. Place bok choy in skillet, cut-side down, in single layer. Cook, without moving, until lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Turn bok choy and cook until lightly browned on second side, about 1 minute longer; transfer to large, warm platter.

3. Add garlic, ginger, and scallions to now-empty pan and drizzle with remaining 1 tablespoon peanut oil. Cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 20 seconds. Add soy sauce mixture and simmer until reduced and thickened, about 20 seconds. Return bok choy to pan and cook, turning once, until glazed with sauce, about 1 minute. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve immediately.

I love baby bok choy! Love it! It's so cute and wrinkly, and invidual-serving-size-ready!

It looks kind of burned, but I think it has to in order to get that caramelized flavor.

And here's how everything came together! I didn't write any instructions for the red quinoa because it basically made itself. I gave it a quick rinse (turns out that the kind I buy in bulk is pre-rinsed to get rid of quinoa's naturally bitter coating) and threw it in the rice cooker with 1 part quinoa to 2 parts chicken broth. So easy!

Note: I've tagged this recipe as "gluten-free" because the main dish is. The baby bok choy, however, contains soy sauce, which has wheat. So, the menu is not gluten-free. But it could be with a few adjustments.