Bok Choy with Cashews

I was lucky enough to get some greens from Beth's Farm, and I decided to make the bok choy with an Asian flair. Cashews are my newfound love - when I was a kid I thought I didn't like nuts, and slowly over the years have been introducing them to my diet; this summer I discovered that I love cashews! Packed with protein, magnesium, and iron, these nuts pack a quick energy punch and indulge cravings with monounsaturated fat that give the buttery rich taste. Cashews are typical in Thai, Chinese and Indian cuisine, mixed into sauces and used as crunchy garnishes, an excellent way to add protein to a vegetarian dish. I've just gone nuts for cashews! (Terrible pun intended.)

Here's my Bok Choy with Cashews recipe:

Ingredients

Cashews (to taste - I used about half a cup)

Bok choy (1 head per serving)

Bunch green onions (2-3 per head of bok choy)

Few tsp. peanut oil

Few tsp. minced garlic

Splash of sesame oil

Pinch of hot chili paste (I used , authentic Asian)

1/2 tsp. soy sauce (I'm not a huge fan of soy)

Sesame seeds (to taste)

Salt and pepper to taste

Method
1) Toast cashews in a dry pan on medium-low heat until the nuts are fragrant. I used raw cashews (unsalted allows you to control the level of sodium in the dish) and toasted them for about 20 minutes and then removed them from the pan. Toast the sesame seeds as well if preferred.
2) Add the peanut oil to the pan and chopped scallions, including both the greens and the whites. Once the scallions are getting soft, add the minced garlic to the pan.
3) Wilt the boy choy into the pan, roughly chopped, adding splash of sesame oil, soy and hot chili paste. Toss with tongs to coat bok choy evenly in oil and mix around seasoning.
4) Turn heat down to low and cover, cooking for a minute. Add cashews and sesame seeds back to the pan and season with salt and pepper.
Enjoy!

Chinese Stir-Fry Recipe

My friend Ashley brought back fresh bok choy from the farm in Maine so naturally I decided to make Chinese stir-fry:

Here's the recipe:

Mushroom Stir-Fry

Ingredients
Glaze
2 Tbsp soy sauce (use wheat-free soy sauce if you are avoiding gluten)
2 Tbsp honey
1/4 cup of chicken or vegetable broth (I used vegetable for my vegetarian diners and it was quite rich and flavorful)

Sauce
3 Tbsp soy sauce
3/4 cup chicken or vegetable broth
2 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 teaspoon Asian chili sauce
1 Tbsp corn starch

Vegetables
4 teaspoons minced garlic
4 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
4 Tbsp vegetable oil, preferably a high smoke-point oil such as grapeseed oil, peanut oil, or canola oil
About 2 lbs of cremini or button mushrooms, quartered
2 cups of a long-cooking veggie such as sliced carrots. Other long-cooking vegetables that can be used are broccoli florets, cauliflower florets, asparagus (diagonally cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces), or green beans (trimmed, diagonally cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces)
1/2 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup of a more quickly cooking vegetable such as red bell pepper (stems, seeds removed, cut into 1/2-inch dice) or snow peas (strings and ends removed)
1 1b leafy greens - bok choy or napa cabbage (separate the stems of the bok choy and the tougher core of the napa cabbage from the greens)
1 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds (optional)

Method
1) Whisk the glaze ingredients together in a bowl and the sauce ingredients together in a different bowl. In a third bowl, mix the garlic, ginger and 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil.

2) Heat 3 tbsp of vegetable oil in a large, stick-free skillet on medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and cook, without stirring, until browned on one side, about 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and use tongs to turn the mushrooms to brown the other side. When mushrooms are browned and tender, about 5 minutes, increase the heat to medium-high and add the glaze. Cook, stirring to coat the mushrooms, 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer mushrooms to a large bowl. Wipe out skillet with a paper towel.

3) Heat a teaspoon of vegetable oil in the skillet on medium-high heat until the pan begins to smoke. Add carrots (or other longer cooking veggie) and cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Add 1/2 cup broth and cover skillet. Cook until carrots are tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Uncover and cook until liquid evaporates. Transfer carrots to bowl with mushrooms.

4) Heat a teaspoon of vegetable oil in the skillet on medium high heat until it begins to smoke. Add the bell pepper and bok choy stems or napa cabbage cores and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to brown and soften, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add leafy greens and cook for a minute further. Push the veggies to the side of the pan and add the garlic-ginger mixture in the clearing. Cook 15 seconds, until fragrant, and then mix in with the other vegetables.

5) Add all the vegetables back into the pan (mushrooms, carrots, etc.) Add the sauce to the pan. Mix well and cook, stirring, until the sauce has thickened and all the vegetables are coated with the sauce, about 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds if desired. Serve immediately - (I served it over brown basmati rice.)

Serves 3 to 4. (Of course I doubled this since I'm typically cooking for 8+)