First of all, before anyone starts criticizing my use of hoity-toity French words, let's get this whole Mis en Place business out of the way. Mis en Place (MEEZ ehn plahs), literally French for "put in place," is a kitchen term which refers to the setting up of one's station to prepare for service. It usually involves chopping all of one's vegetables, getting stocks and sauces in order, having dishes close at hand with salt, pepper, olive oil and butter - everything is prepared and ready to be assembled when requested. On cooking shows, it is what all of the interning lackeys get to do behind the scenes - chop up all of the veggies, measure everything out, and get it ready so that the chef doesn't have to do any of the prep on camera. Well, I guess it used to be that way - with the advent of shows designed to make you think it takes 30 minutes to make a good ragout, well. . . But! I digress! I say all of this because Mis en Place is the term for this preparation. It is not a snobbily-used French word, that is simply what this is called. The meat/cheese/veggie table at your local Subway chain is an example of mis en place, for the love of crumb cake! Chances are, if you have ever worked in a kitchen, you will be asked if your mis en place is in order for service. You had better be honest, or you'll regret it at around 8 pm on a busy night.
Okay, now that we have that little detail squared away, let's talk about stir fry. Husband and I are going out of town this weekend for just a few days, but I still had bags of my CSA produce left, and I wanted everything eaten and out of the house before we left. How to use snow peas, baby mustard greens, swiss chard, unidentified greens, scallions, radishes, garlic scapes, plus the carrots I bought to make pilaki and didn't use and kohlrabi? Stir fry to the rescue! It has much better payback than the garbage disposal, I can assure you.
The reason your mis en place is so important in stir fry is because everything happens so fast. You must have all of your prep finished before you even get out the wok. I like to have the rice almost finished in the rice cooker, as well, before beginning. A completed stir-fry waits for no man! I like to have every ingredient in a line according to when I am going to add it to the pan - everything in order!
I love my wok, and I think everyone should own one. The first rule, in my humble opinion (and as someone who used to work for Williams Sonoma), is to never spend a lot of money on a wok. It's meant to be abused and seasoned, and I think it is just ridiculous to pay over $40 for one. I bought mine 3 years ago at World Market for $15, and it has never let me down. You don't really need to buy a wok with nonstick coating; if you use it properly, it won't stick anyway, and with frequent use, it will become nonstick - just like your beloved cast iron skillets.
Second rule - there is no such thing as low heat in stir frying. It defeats the purpose. For this reason, unless you have a really powerful gas stove, I recommend buying a flat-bottomed wok, so you will have as much surface area on the burner as possible. You must be willing to cook hot and fast. Once you get the hang of it, it's fun and easy - not to mention healthy, as it hardly uses any oil.
When you are ready, you will heat your wok to smoking on high heat. Pour in about 1/4 cup of oil and take the wok off the heat, rotating the pan to coat it with oil. Pour off the excess oil and wipe the entire wok with a paper towel, and then place it back on medium high heat. You are now ready to start stir-frying. You don't have to follow my ingredient list implicitly - stir fry is a living and seasonal thing, and you can bend it to your whim. The keys are using various products with a mind for how their textures and flavors will compliment each other (Chinese sausage and snow peas are a revelation on their own for their contrast) and lining everything up according to the time it takes to cook, and adding it in that order.
Everything in the Crisper is Fair Game Stir Fry - serves 2
1 large shallot, diced
3 spicy Chinese style sausages, chopped into 1/4" pieces (or 4 ounces spicy Italian sausage, crumbled, or 4 ounces ground pork)
6 large scallions, thinly sliced - white parts and green parts separated
2 TBSP garlic & ginger paste (available from Asian and Indian markets) or 2 cloves garlic, mashed, and 1 inch piece of ginger, grated
2 small carrots, thinly sliced
1 medium kohlrabi, thinly sliced
a few radishes, thinly sliced
2-3 TBSP soy sauce
1 pint/large handful snow peas and/or sugar snap peas, strings removed and cut into slivers
1 4 ounce pack fried tofu (you can find it pre-fried at Asian Markets), cut into small cubes
red pepper flakes to taste
large handful mixed greens, including, but not limited to, mustard greens, Swiss chard, beet greens, arugula, spinach, etc. Anything will work, really.
large handful of mung bean sprouts
Prepare all ingredients and line up on work space. Have rice bubbling away in rice cooker. Have serving bowls at the ready. Have Significant Other on notice dinner will be ready in under 10 minutes. Prepare wok as directed above. Add Shallots and sausage, cook until just beginning to brown, about 2 minutes. Add white parts of scallions, garlic/ginger paste and carrots, cook about 2 minutes. Add kohlrabi and radish; move everything to one side of the wok and add the soy sauce to a "naked" area of wok; allow to sizzle a little and the stir it into the veggies. Add the peas, cook 1 minute and then add the tofu and red pepper flakes. Cook about 2 minutes and taste a piece of tofu. If it is almost hot, add the greens, stirring until they are just wilted, then add the sprouts. Adjust seasonings. You can add some sort of ready-made sauce, if desired, such as black bean or hoisin sauce, purchased from the Asian Market. Stir quickly and serve over hot rice, garnishing with the reserved green scallions.
On this day last year, I was making Shrimp, Tomato and Basil Pasta.
Before you turn up your nose at the idea of anchovies, I would like to point out that 1. anchovies are delicious (yes, they are) and 2. if you didn't know they were in here, you probably wouldn't even know. That's because anchovies are often a hidden delicious ingredient. What do you think makes Worcestershire sauce and Caesar salads so delicious? Anchovies! You see, anchovies are like little salty bundles of goodness, invigorating everything they touch without leaving any of the fishiness usually associated with them behind. In this recipe, as with many which start with anchovies, they practically melt in with the sauce. You could fool anyone by not telling them. Except a vegetarian. That would be mean.
Central Ohio is finally starting to get into the swing of growing. It's interesting to see the difference in availability based upon the location of the farm - Southern Ohio farms have strawberries and peas already, where Northern Ohio farms still have asparagus and a week to go yet for strawberries. It's good to live right in the middle!
