Wok Meets Chard: Crafting Lusciously Loaded Asian Dishes in New Hampshire

"Oh Lord, please don't burn us, don't kill us, don't toast your flock. Don't put us on the barbecue or simmer us in stock; don't bake or baste or boil us for stir-fry us in a wok."
                                                                                                 -From Monty Python & Flying Circus

"Wok (noun, pronounced wak): 1) a large bowl-shaped cooking utensil used especially in stir-frying; 2) also, a noun to express excitement about dining out for Asian cuisine."

1) Tom thought he could make savory tofu in his wok, much to the skepticism of his college neigbors. After letting the tofu simmer in a strange rice-wine vinegar & Hoisin sauce brew, his tofu became the mainstay of "Friday night munchies" throughout the campus.

2) "Let's go to CHINA FREAKIN' WOK!," Tom's friend Maria shouted after the party let out at 2 a.m.


Gratefully, wok cooking never has to be painful; if anything, the ability to cook, saute, & blend ingredients for a fresh, healthy, and ultimately luscious dish stands out remarkably with stir-frys & myriad fusions. If anything, it's been been proposed by more than one astute mind that the ever-American concept of the "melting pot" came from woks.

Case-in-point: Last night's creation of "Keene King Tofu," a New England Asian eggplant & tofu stir-fry cooked  in a now-cozier house share here in Keene, New Hampshire. Alongside a $3.00 New Mexican wok acquired from a yard sale, some of the following ingredients proved key:

- Cheaply yet freshly purchased Jasmine rice, white-rice wine vinegar, and Hoisin sauce from Shaw's Supermarket;

- A plethora of produce from Midwestern American carrots;

- Mid-Atlantic broccoli & onions;

- New England summer squash & kale;

-Californian & New Hampshire eggplants (including a Blanca Rosa variety);

- Westmoreland, New Hampshire Swiss chard & broccoli, and;

- Californian tofu & red pepper Alongside some dark green Swiss chard.

Oh, and technically three New Mexican dried chili peppers & Kroger's peanuts I brought out from New Mexico.

Once I boiled the Jasmine rice and chopped coarsely yet tenderly all the produce, I heated up the wok in olive oil & garlic magic before throwing in the eggplants to soften, other produce to tender, & finally th red bell pepper & tofu.

Topped off with dry roasted peanuts, the final entree looked something like this:

Debut of "Keene King Tofu," Taken By Matt Young, 08.22.11

A HUGE shout-out to go towards the Keene Farmers' Market, held here in town every Tuesday and Saturday from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. on Gilbo Avenue to host such exciting, entrepreneurial vendors as Sun Spring Farm (Westmoreland, NH), Stonewall Farm (Keene, NH), The Bread Shed (Keene, NH), and many others!

More local & food systems goodness to share as fall harvests start out, as well...

*Note, as my physical address has changed, so has my mailing address. If interested in sharing feedback or further correspondence, feel free to contact via my Gmail address & we can continue the conversation old-school.


New Mexico Green Chiles & How To Be Locally Global

"As with other crops in other parts of the country — we all know about the Vidalia onion, we know about other crops that really have their brand identity in place. New Mexico has that, but it's never been protected the way other crops and other parts of the country have."
                                                                                
                                      -Stephanie Walker, Extension Vegetable Specialist, New Mexico State University

      After a month of hiatus, with most of this time wrapping up final projects, reporting, & blogging for our Santa Fe Youth Food Cadre pilot team, it feels AWESOME to be writing back on other engaging stories of food, foodies, and food systems in action. I still want to share a shout-out to Allie, Amy, David, Emma, Jennie, Kate, Katie, Kimber, Liana, Maria Jose, Rachel, and Susan for shaping one of the more diligent, persistently passionate, and uber-optimistic teams I've ever worked with, let alone on cultivating local food systems in farms, schools, small businesses, governmental agencies, and beyond(!) Thanks, too, to Angela, Bianca, Christina, and Lora of Santa Fe nonprofit, Earth Care, for securing the funding & program management of such a dynamic group!

           Earth Care is actually in the midst of securing matching funding to run a second year of the Food Cadre as of this coming September; if you are passionate about food, food systems, public service, and pretty much anything pertaining to community development, feel free to seriously consider donating for the cause. For more information, feel free to check out the Earth Care's website or to call their lines at (505)-983-6896.

            Now, over the coming weeks, I'll aim to offer more original coverage & resources on what it means to be a "curious omnivore," especially once I settle into a gorgeous slice of southwestern New Hampshire for living & graduate school in the next couple of weeks. Yet, while I'm in the final throes of packing & my final week in New Mexico (sometimes called the "Land of Weird Enchantment"), I figured to leave out with a rather heartening story in a time of much food turbulence.

              Yesterday, a friend of mine living in Philadelphia and working with the Food Trust there shared a refreshing story from National Public Radio's Weekend Edition this past Sunday. Reporter Audie Cornish narrated how in the last week, New Mexican state legislators have taken a forward-thinking, "locally global" step in food security. A step only previously undertaken in the Champagne region of France & other select locations; to keep "Hatch" and "New Mexico-grown" chiles as...well, Hatch and New Mexico-grown, as opposed to cheaper bushels grown in India, China, and Mexico marketed as "Hatch" and "New Mexico-grown." As Stephanie Walker of New Mexico State University points out above, other regions of the United States have acquired & protected the rights to "Vidalia" onions among other bioregional names. Granted, this legislation only applies at the statewide level & faces limitations if Chinese, Indian, Mexican, or other international chile producers ignore the newfound legislation. Federal certification & enforcement would cost considerably more, but as time passes, perhaps there will be more impetus to push for asserting the relevance & niche of "Hatch" & "New Mexico-grown" chiles in the global economic web.

               I'll attach a link to the story below, and if you ever have the chance to trek to Hatch, New Mexico, it's one of the more unassuming and subtly potent towns in the Southwest (if not the whole United States). Chile paintings occupy almost all available wall space downtown and if you time your drive just right, the savoriness of chiles rellenos & steaming New Mexican dishes do fill the air, including at the Pepper Pot restaurant in town (restaurant link included below, as well).

                "It's Law: There's No Green Chile Like A New Mexico Green Chile"

                Pepper Pot

Baskets of Hatch Green Chiles, Anyone?, 08.01.11 

             
                 Over the next couple of weeks in cross-country travels, I'll aim for nothing less than exploring & savoring as local of regional & Americana establishments as I can. Until I report back next, here's to stellar summer eating & feel free to share any resources & stories from your slice of the country; on what it means to be a curious omnivore.