No chili left behind

On New Year's Day 2009, I resolved to be more mindful of wasting produce. The maxim has met with mixed success, but in general I try to have a recipe in mind when I head to the store. However, my local grocery has their fruits and vegetables displayed so alluringly, it's often hard to keep myself from loading up on more rapini, cucumbers, cilantro, etc. than I will ever be able to use in their lifespans.

A dish that can help ease elderly vegetables to their final resting place is, of course, the stir-fry. I was proud of myself this week when I whipped one up using kale (I bought too much last weekend), green beans (there are usually some languishing in the crisper), some scallions that were looking quite sad until I peeled off their outer layers, and tofu (there was a vegetarian in our midst).

My wok is also rather sad, and is unable to both support the volume of a stir-fry and thoroughly cook its components at the same time. So everything got cooked separately and thrown together for a few minutes at the end. I dry-fried the tofu in squares, just enough to brown it on the outside - no oil or cooking spray of any kind, just throw those happy little bean curd slices in a dry, hot skillet over medium heat, turning every 5-7 minutes until desired crust is achieved. The kale and green beans were blanched in salted, simmering water for five minutes. I heated about 1 T of canola oil in the skillet, adding the sliced green onion and two minced cloves of garlic. When those were cooked to my satisfaction, the rest of the ingredients were added, along with a generous glug of mushroom soy sauce (a thicker variety, more conducive to sauces), pre-minced garlic and ginger mix (was going to grate real ginger root, until I discovered the section in the fridge had shuffled off this mortal coil), Sriracha and red pepper flakes. I tossed until it was all warmed through and then I ate it.

In a second triumph for not wasting produce, for dessert I made myself a dish of the unserved vanilla ice cream and fruit mix from the dinner party. With a tiny cup of coffee and milk, it tasted much better than on Saturday, the fruit perhaps having advanced a bit in the ripening and melding-flavors processes. Plus, coffee with dessert makes things twice as good, always, even though I slept horribly that night. When I informed my boyfriend of said triumph, he replied "that fruit is probably rotten by now."