A bootleg rainy day.

Enough with all this sun and beautiful weather. I want a gray rainy day so I have an excuse to sit home all day, watch “The Dog Whisperer” and cook. When the rain didn’t come, I settled a few days ago, for an overcast day instead. A gray day-- one out of two isn’t bad. And instead of “The Dog Whisperer” I watched the Democratic National Convention all day. All things considered, this was a pretty solid improvisation for the rainy day I had hoped for.

I was feeling slightly under the weather on my gray day so I wasn’t looking to spend all day in the kitchen. So instead I did the type of cooking where you assemble everything and then just let it sit. And by letting it sit it improves and changes and becomes more interesting (I was hoping to adapt that same strategy for myself as well that day). This was a seriously lazy day.

As I’ve mentioned before, I love all things pickled. So when I came across a recipe for Smashed Cucumbers with Ginger I knew I would have to make it. Pickled in rice wine vinegar they are super fresh and summery tasting. A really nice accompaniment for nearly any Asian dish. And speaking of Asian dishes, when traveling in San Francisco for work last summer I had dinner at a Vietnamese-fusion restaurant near the Ferry Building, called Slanted Door. Dinner was quite good (though not the best of the bunch-- feel free to email about some seriously amazing food in San Fran!) and when Food & Wine published a recipe for Caramelized Black Pepper Chicken from the chef at Slanted Door I figured it was probably worth trying.

I prepped both the chicken and the cucumbers and let them marinate for a number of hours longer than their respective recipes suggest. I figured that pickles can never be too pickley and chicken always runs the risk of being bland, so better to air on the side of caution. The cucumbers were refreshing, sweet and salty all at once-- a complete success. But, it was the chicken that really shocked me. It had a great balance of savory and sweet with a solid dose of salt for good measure. I would make this again in a heartbeat.

And because no rainy day is complete without dessert I decided on Double Chocolate Pudding-- but maybe I was too focused on a recipe that wouldn’t require me to exert much energy and not focused enough on the recipe itself. Now, why would I, someone who isn’t particularly passionate about chocolate choose a double chocolate recipe??? Laziness, sheer laziness I tell ya! Ultimately, it wasn’t bad but I think my lethargy prevented me from adequately whisking, which resulted in a mildly gritty pudding that was a little overkill with the chocolate (and I used less than the recipe called for). No, I wouldn’t call it a bust but certainly not something I would make again. As for me, a couch, some pickles, a flash back to a fabulous trip to California and a rather inspiring speech was the recipe I needed for a fake rainy day. But hey chocolate fiends, the recipe you need is probably for this pudding!

Caramelized Black Pepper Chicken
adapted from, Food & Wine, December 1998
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup fish sauce (nam pla)
1/4 cup water
3 T rice vinegar
1 t minced garlic
1 t finely grated fresh ginger
1 t coarsely ground pepper
2 fresh Thai chiles, halved, or dried red chiles
1 T canola oil
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1 lb skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces
4 cilantro sprigs, chopped 
5 oz baby spinach (optional)*

1) In a medium bowl, combine the sugar, fish sauce, water, rice vinegar, garlic, ginger, pepper and chiles. Add chicken, toss to coat, cover and let marinate for 30 mins up to four hours.


2) Heat the oil in a large deep skillet. Add the shallot and cook over moderate heat until softened, about 4 minutes. Add the fish sauce mixture and the chicken and simmer over high heat until the chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a serving bowl, garnish with the cilantro and serve.
serves 4
*when I reheated the dish for lunch the next day I added a container of baby spinach I had laying around. This dish yields a ton of sauce and it would be a shame to have it go to waste. Either when reheating or when initially serving add spinach once chicken is cooked, lid the dish and allow spinach to wilt for two minutes.

Smashed Cucumbers with Ginger
adapted from, Saveur, Issue #113
4 kirby cucumbers

Kosher salt

1  1" piece fresh ginger, peeled

1 T sugar

2 T rice wine vinegar

1 t sesame oil

2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

1) Cut cucumbers into irregular chunks about 2" long and 1⁄4" thick. Transfer cucumber slices to a medium bowl, sprinkle with 2 tsp. of kosher salt, mix, and set aside at room temperature to extract excess liquid and let them soften, about 1 hour.
2) Meanwhile, julienne ginger; transfer to a medium bowl and set aside.
3) Drain and gently squeeze cucumbers to extract more liquid, then pat dry with a towel. Add cucumbers to the bowl of ginger along with sugar, vinegar, sesame oil, and garlic. Toss to combine and season with kosher salt, to taste.
4) Let rest at room temperature for at least 15 minutes, up to 24 hours (refrigerated) before serving to allow the flavors to come together.
serves 4-6, as side dish

Double Chocolate Pudding
adapted from, Food & Wine, September 2008
2 1/4 cups whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
2 T cornstarch
3 T unsweetened cocoa powder
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
5 oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped*
2 T unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 t vanilla extract

1) In a medium saucepan, combine 2 cups of the milk with 1/4 cup of the sugar and the salt and bring to a boil over moderate heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat.
2) In a medium bowl, whisk the cornstarch with the unsweetened cocoa powder and the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar until blended. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of milk and whisk until smooth. Whisk this mixture into the hot milk in the saucepan and bring to a boil over moderate heat, whisking constantly. Reduce the heat to moderately low and simmer, whisking constantly, until the pudding is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 2 minutes.
3) In a medium bowl, whisk the whole egg with the egg yolks. Gradually whisk about 1 cup of the hot cocoa pudding into the eggs until thoroughly incorporated, then scrape the pudding back into the saucepan. Cook the pudding over moderate heat, whisking constantly, until it just comes to boil, about 2 minutes.
4) Strain the pudding into a medium heatproof bowl. Add the chopped chocolate, butter and vanilla and whisk until the chocolate and butter are melted and incorporated and the pudding is smooth, about 2 minutes. Transfer the pudding to six 6-ounce ramekins and refrigerate until chilled. (If you’re not in a hurry, press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the pudding in the bowl and refrigerate.)
*I strongly believe you can use half as much chocolate, but anywhere from 2 oz to 5 oz should be good.
6-8 servings

**apologies for the lack of photos this time, neither chocolate pudding nor simmering raw chicken is the most photogenic of food items