Food for Thought

The OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) recently published an interesting study on social indicators.  I was intrigued by the stats related to unpaid work (essentially, household work).

Among member countries (see below), Americans spend the least amount of time per day cooking and cleaning up (30 minutes on average), and the third lowest amount of time eating (74 minutes).  The OECD average is 50 and 101, respectively.  Give it up for the Turks, who average 74 minutes of cooking per day.

The American rate of participation itself--how many people cook, period--is also low.  This category led to some interesting stats.  For example, less than half of adults in India cook, but those who do spend almost three hours in the kitchen per day.  A large majority of the population in Denmark and Norway cook, but only for about an hour per day.  I assume these differences have a lot to do with traditional household structures (or lack thereof).

In other news, the French and Germans shop a lot, the Swiss live long, the Dutch trust people, and Icelanders have the highest rate of positive experiences (feeling well-rested, being treated with respect, smiling, experiencing enjoyment, etc.).


Member countries in the OECD:

Belgium

Denmark

Germany

South Africa

France

Netherlands

Finland

Norway

UnitedKKingdom

Italy

Spain

Hungary

Poland

Australia

Ireland

OECD

Korea

India

Turkey

Sweden

Slovenia

United States

New Zealand

China

Austria

Estonia

Canada

Portugal

Japan

Mexico

Green Beans Galore

This morning I headed out to a friend's family's small farm in Michigan.  Thanks to their generosity, another gal and I each came back with two buckets full of green beans after about an hour and a half of work.  This afternoon I've been blanching and freezing them.  One thing I like to do with fresh beans is to make Szechuan Green Beans like they serve at J. W. Chen's (see the previous post).  I actually didn't remember the name of the dish when I tried to replicate it, but it turns out that what I did is pretty similar to recipes online.  You'll also find my attempt at their Honey Chicken later in this post.

Green Beans à la Mrs. Chen's

• 12 oz. fresh green beans (there's no good reason for that quantity, it's simply the amount I happened to get from CSA last week)
• 1-2 T sesame oil
• 4 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 tsp. fresh ginger
• 1 tsp. soy sauce
• 1 tsp. fish sauce
• 1/2 tsp. rice vinegar
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. sherry
• 1/4 tsp. sesame seeds
• 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

Heat oil in saucepan on medium-high. Add garlic and ginger and sauté for one minute. Add green beans and cook, stirring frequently, until they are dark green and crisp-tender.  Stir in remaining ingredients and continue to heat for a minute or two.

Honey Chicken à la Mrs. Chen's 

For this, I started with an online recipe but made some major adjustments.  The sauce would easily work with stir-fried chicken instead of batter-fried.

• 1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken, cut into 1" pieces
• oil for deep frying

Batter:

• 1/4 cup corn starch
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 egg
• 1 egg white
• 1/2 cup water

Sauce (some of the amounts are approximate; I was unaware of exactly how much I added of various things):

• 1 1/2 T. oil
• 1 T. ginger, minced
• 3 T. garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 c. honey
• 3/4 c. water
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1 T. rice wine vinegar
• 2 tsp. soy sauce
• 1 T. cornstarch, mixed with 1 T. water

• Sesame seeds (to garnish)

1. Mix all ingredients for batter, cover, and let sit for 30 minutes.  Be ye not surprised, it will be fairly thin.

2. Heat oil to 350 degrees.  Coat chicken with batter and deep fry in batches until thoroughly cooked and golden.  Drain on paper towels.

3. To make sauce, saute ginger and garlic in the oil in a medium saucepan.  Mix in all remaining ingredients except cornstarch, stirring well.  Add cornstarch mixture and simmer until thick.

4. Coat chicken with sauce, and garnish with sesame seeds.  Accompany with rice.

Serves 4.

Summer's in full swing!

As if the 100 degree heat index wasn't signal enough, it's clear from the abundance at the farmers' market that summer has arrived in the Bend.  My most recent CSA batch came with some new produce for the season--cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, green beans, and onions.  The tomatoes have really taken off in our community garden, and I spied an almost fully grown zucchini today, along with a couple small peppers and yellow squash.  (I promise I'll get a photo up! Unfortunately, my camera and computer have had a slight tiff and are refusing to speak to each other at the moment.)  A friend's little brother even discovered some wild black raspberries growing nearby when he was visiting.  I think I've managed to beat the birds to them, so far.

Last week a few of us went to the Blueberry Ranch, a local joint that advertises itself as the largest organic blueberry farm in the Midwest.  We each picked a bucket or so, with most of them winding up in the freezer, if not muffins, cobbler, or pie.  Nothing says delicious like having a stock of blueberries a few feet away!

Look forward to an upcoming post about replicating the Szechuan Green Beans and Honey Chicken at one of our best local restaurants, J. W. Chen's, known affectionately to those in my program as "Mrs. Chen's" or "Madame Chen's." (I wonder why no one has suggested Frau Chen's, yet?)  In the meantime, here are a few of my favorite recipes from around the interwebs.

Forty-Four Clove Garlic Soup

Bourbon Chicken

Wheat Bread with Flax Seed (There seems to be a typo--I increase the wheat flour to 2 1/4 cups.)

Nancy Silverton's Deep Dish Apple Pie (Do not be deceived by the nature of the website.  I actually own the cookbook from which this is taken, though I've only tried two recipes so far.  This has to be one of the most complicated desserts I've ever made, as well as the most intense apple pie I've ever eaten.  It's certainly worth making...maybe once a year.)