Recipes
Wontons — soup or fried
Mom always made ginormous batches of wontons so she could keep some in the freezer for later. To freeze uncooked wontons, lay them on a baking sheet so they don’t touch and put the sheet in the freezer until the wontons are frozen solid. Once frozen, the wontons can be transferred to a freezer bag for storage. On a cold weeknight when you don’t feel like cooking, take some out of the bag, allow them to thaw, and throw them into a pot of simmering broth for a comforting dinner.
I’ve adjusted the recipe to make a more modest number of wontons — only about 100. I’ve also included instructions for the two most common ways of serving them, cooked in soup and fried. The soup recipe serves 2-4; the fried wonton recipe makes as many or as few as you need. Unless you’re serving dozens of people, you’ll still have some wontons left over for the freezer. Folding all of these will entail about an hour of meditative handiwork for one person, or a pleasant bonding experience for two.
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons minced scallions, both white and green parts
- ¾ cup finely shredded Chinese (Napa) cabbage
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- ¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 package wonton wrappers (available in the refrigerated or frozen foods sections of Asian specialty grocers or better supermarkets)
- 1 beaten egg or ¼ cup water
Directions
- Thoroughly combine all the ingredients save wrappers and the egg in a medium mixing bowl.
- Get ready to fold a wonton: Take a wonton wrapper and hold it in your non-dominant hand. Place about 1 heaping teaspoon of filling in the center of the skin. Using a knife or small pastry brush, wet the edges of the skin with water or egg.
- The first fold is simple: Fold the skin in half diagonally so that it completely encases the filling. Press the edges together, being mindful to squeeze out any air bubbles between the filling and the skin. Be sure the edges are completely sealed, with no gaps.
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- The second fold tends to throw people. Your half-folded wonton now looks like a triangular turnover, with one perpendicular corner and two “arms” (long, sharp corners). Dip one of the “arms” of the wonton into egg or water. Then pull it toward the other arm and press the arms together so that the top surface of one of them is firmly glued to the bottom surface of the other.
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- The finished wonton should look something like this:
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- Repeat 2-4 until the filling and/or wonton skins are exhausted. (Any leftover skins can be wrapped tightly in plastic and stored in the freezer for use with the next batch. Any leftover filling can be rolled into small balls and dropped into soup as meatballs.) Keep folded wontons and skins covered while you work so they don’t dry out.
- To cook, simply add the wontons to a large pot of vigorously boiling water until they float and the skins look wrinkly. Or use the soup or fried wonton methods below.
For wonton soup: Heat one quart of chicken broth in a pot until it starts to boil. Carefully place about 12 wontons in the pot along with any meat and/or vegetables you’d like to add. (Mom used wonton soup as a convenient repository for leftovers.) When the wontons float to the top of the broth and look wrinkly and translucent, they’re done. Toss two thinly sliced scallions over the soup as a garnish. This amount will serve two people as a lunch, or four people as an opener to a larger meal.
For fried wontons: Heat about 2 inches of neutral cooking oil (such as canola) in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. When it’s hot enough to make a drop of water sizzle on impact, add wontons, one at a time. The number that you can add will depend on the size of your pan, but you don’t want them close enough to touch each other. Fry until the undersides are golden brown; flip and fry until the second side is also golden brown. Immediately remove from the oil, drain well on paper towels, and serve hot with sweet and sour or hoisin sauce.
Kale-filled crepes recipe
Ingredients
Kale filling
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ red onion (chopped)
- ⅔ cup stock
- 2 cloves garlic (chopped)
- 1 cup kale (chopped)
- 1 cup turnip greens (chopped)
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley (chopped)
- 2 petite summer squash (chopped)
- Salt to taste
- 8-10 nasturtium blossoms
Salal Raspberry Syrup
- ½ cup wild black raspberries
- ½ cup salal berries
- ½ cup water
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 4 tablespoons raw sugar
Crepes
- 1 cup sifted white flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup milk
- ½ cup water
- 3 tablespoons butter (melted)
- Bacon grease
Felisa Rogers studied history and nonfiction writing at the Evergreen State College and went on to teach writing to kids for five years. She lives in Oregon’s coast range, where she works as a freelance writer and editor. More Felisa Rogers.
Thimbleberry rosemary simple syrup
Ingredients
- ½ cup of honey
- ½ cup of water
- 1 cup of thimbleberries
- 1 lime
- Three sprigs of fresh rosemary (chopped)
Directions
- In a small saucepan, heat honey and water. When liquid comes to a boil, add berries. Stir. Remove from heat.
- Add lime juice and rosemary. Leave to steep for 3-4 hours.
- Strain. If necessary, press berry mash against strainer to release liquid.
- Chill and serve.
Felisa Rogers studied history and nonfiction writing at the Evergreen State College and went on to teach writing to kids for five years. She lives in Oregon’s coast range, where she works as a freelance writer and editor. More Felisa Rogers.
Wild berry champagne barbecue sauce
Ingredients
- ¼ cup of olive oil
- 1 tablespoon of chopped garlic
- 1 cup fresh huckleberries
- 1 cup fresh salmonberries (thimbleberries or raspberries also work)
- ¼ cup spumante champagne
- 2 tablespoons of honey
- 2 tablespoons of ketchup
- ¼ teaspoon of salt
- dash of Worcestershire
Directions
- In a saucepan, sauté garlic in olive oil.
- Add remaining ingredients.
- Bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes or until slightly thick.
- Remove from heat; cool.
- Place mixture in a blender; process until smooth.
- Use as sauce over pork, steaks or poultry.
Felisa Rogers studied history and nonfiction writing at the Evergreen State College and went on to teach writing to kids for five years. She lives in Oregon’s coast range, where she works as a freelance writer and editor. More Felisa Rogers.
Pasta with mussels and cream sauce recipe
Ingredients
- 8 oz. fettuccini (cooked al dente)
- Parmesan cheese and pepper
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Group 1
- 30-40 mussels
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup white wine
Group 2
- 1 cup oyster mushrooms
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 green onions
- 3 tablespoon white wine
- Mussels (sans shell)
- 1 teaspoon chopped parsley
Group 3
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1½ tablespoons flour
- ½ cup half and half
- ¼ cup stock
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ lemon
Felisa Rogers studied history and nonfiction writing at the Evergreen State College and went on to teach writing to kids for five years. She lives in Oregon’s coast range, where she works as a freelance writer and editor. More Felisa Rogers.
Dolmas with tzatziki sauce recipe
Michelle’s Dolmas
Ingredients
- Cooked rice
- Olive oil
- Garlic (minced)
- Carrot (grated)
- Zucchini (diced)
- Fresh dill or fennel (diced)
- Salt
- Feta cheese (optional)
- Water
- Lemon juice
Directions
- Cook rice.
- Sauté onion, garlic, grated carrot, little pieces of zucchini and little pieces of fresh fennel. Add dill or fennel, more olive oil, and feta cheese. Turn off heat.
- Remove a grape leaf from your jar and spread it flat on a cutting board. Take a spoonful of the rice and vegetables and plop it in the center of the grape leaf. Fold up the bottom of the leaf first, then fold the sides in and roll.
- Put the dolmas in a big saucepan. (You want to fill up the bottom of the saucepan with dolmas.) Add water until the water level is about halfway up the dolmas. Add lemon juice.
- Set a kitchen plate on top of the dolmas to hold them down during the steaming process. Put a lid on the pot and bring the water to a boil.
- Minimize heat, and steam the dolmas for 30 minutes on the stove top. Keep an eye — the dolmas should be ready when the liquid is gone.
- Drizzle with olive oil and serve with tzatziki sauce.
Felisa Rogers studied history and nonfiction writing at the Evergreen State College and went on to teach writing to kids for five years. She lives in Oregon’s coast range, where she works as a freelance writer and editor. More Felisa Rogers.
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