Quick Preserved Kumquats - When Life Gives you Kumquats and Not Lemons...

This is the tabouli-ish salad I made using the quick preserved kumquats

Nagami Kumquats

I've run out of my preserved lemons and I am sad but I cheered up when I read the article, Preserved Lemons Brighten a Stir-Fry by Melissa Clerk at the NYTimes online site. Ms. Clark is spot-on when she writes, "A jar of preserved lemons sitting in the fridge is a boon for the busy cook. Chopped up and tossed into salads, stews and sautés, they add a bright, nuanced burst of flavor in one speedy step — as long as you happen to have some on hand."

True, dat. It's also true that the quick preserve method doesn't give you the same complex flavor as true preserved lemons, but this method provides a good substitute when necessary. Or you have some Nagami kumquats

Her recipe calls for 1 1/2 Meyer lemons, but I had a few of the Nagami kumquats and a plan to make a kind-of-a-tabouli salad and figured I'd give Ms. Clark's method a try. I love kumquats to eat out of hand, but I prefer the Miewa kumquats that I get from Will's Avocado's at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market which, while still tart inside, have a sweeter rind.

The Nagami's would make an awesome marmalade but for me, one or two eaten raw is my limit (Hmm... Shaker Kumquat Pie, anyone?). I eat the Miewas seeds and all but for this recipe, I de-seeded them as they would be used in a salad. Getting rid of the seeds is a bit fussy but since I wasn't working with too many, I didn't mind.

QUICK PRESERVED KUMQUATS

adapted from: "Preserved Lemons Brighten a Stiry-Fry" and "Sauteed Chicken with Meyer Lemon and Rosemary, by Melissa Clark on the NYTimes online site. The quick preserve method (using Meyer lemons) is in the chicken recipe.

Makes between 1/2 and 1 cup

Ingredients

• 15-20 tart/sour kumquats - like Nagami.
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 small or 1/2 large bay leaf
• water

Preparation

• Trim or pick off the little green stems, slice the kumquats in half lengthwise and then  cross-wise in 1/4" slices. Remove the seeds.
• Bring a small pot (a 1 1/2 qt sauce pan works for this) to a boil. Add the kumquat slices and then lower the heat so that the water is simmering and cook for 5 minutes. Strain the kumquats and run a little cold water over them.
• Rinse out your pot and add 1 cup water, 1 tablespoon kosher salt, 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 small (or 1/2 large) bay leaf and bring to a boil.
• Add the blanched kumquat slices, stir once, reduce the heat and simmer for 3 minutes. Strain under cold water and shake the strainer to remove all of the liquid. Pat dry.

Note: Today I used in the tabouli-ish salad. These should be used soon after they're ready but I'm sure they'd be fine in the refrigerator for a day if necessary. Ms. Clark's chicken recipe looks tasty, too. In a pinch, these quick preserved kumquats (or lemons) can be used where any preserved lemon is called for, or wherever your imagination takes you..

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Sauteed Kale with Walnuts, Kumquats and Feta / Pan-Seared Chicken Breast

So, I have been 'revisiting the breast' having long eschewed boneless, skinless chicken breasts for dark meat or whole chickens, usually appending "and tasteless" to "boneless, skinless". In too many instances, eliminating the skin and bones and pan searing or baking them them can be the gateway to dry, tasteless chicken.

There are good things to be said for them when you brine them beforehand or pound them out and roll them up with a stuffing or make breaded cutlets and dress them with a lemon caper sauce (and other preparations) but for this quest, I had one goal: that preparation would be simple, fairly fast and involve a whole boneless, skinless chicken breast.

I don't always cook a different meal every night. I generally prepare ingredients (proteins, grains, greens, beans) once a week and assemble my meals adding a vegetable or two. In the winter, I'll make a soup or stew once every week or so. It means I don't have to start from scratch or eat a cloned leftover for multiple nights. It also allows me to improvise with the preparation without spending hours. I have homemade pestos and things like oven roasted tomatoes and roasted lemons in the freezer as well as chunks of pancetta I can take out to season things .

So when I made this meal, I made four chicken breasts and two servings of the kale.  The recipe for the chicken breasts was adapted from America's Test Kitchen "Pan-Seared Chicken Breasts" and the only things I will change the next time I make this is to not crowd my baking pan so much - it took longer to cook the chicken than necessary I think, and I will remove the tenderloin from the breast (see: step 2 of this Food Network instruction for a picture). Some pre-packaged chicken breasts already have this removed. If you turn the breasts skin-side down, the tenderloin is the little flappy part. I also used olive oil in the flour-cornstarch slurry instead of melted butter.

Most importantly, was it good?

Green garlic, sliced kumquats, toasted walnuts,
barrel-aged feta cheese and lacinato kale.

Chicken-y taste - 75% Moist and not dry - 90% Nice crust - 95%.  I would make the dish again, but probably cook it with the skin and on the bone in the first step(increasing the cooking time) removing both before the 2nd step of searing it off in the pan. However, if you have boneless, skinless chicken breasts in your fridge and need to cook them pretty quickly without a lot of fuss, keeping them moist, with a nice browned crust, this would work very well.

Although not mentioned in the recipe, it's also important to cook the chicken breasts skin-side down in the baking step - that evens out and flattens the presentation side so that when you sear them off, you get even browning across the whole piece of chicken.

Sauteed Kale with Walnuts, Kumquats and Feta, Dressed with a Sherry Vinaigrette: Many who know me know that I am a sucker for lacinato (dino) kale.  Any type of hardy greens that can be sauteed may be substituted. If kumquats aren't in season, you can absolutely use orange segments or slices, or apples, or sliced strawberries. You can certainly sub shaved parmigiana for the feta, almonds for the walnuts and white wine vinegar for the sherry vinegar- you see where I'm going with this, yes?

Recipes: Pan-Seared Chicken Breasts + Sauteed Kale with Walnuts, Kumquats and Feta



Pan-Seared Chicken Breasts
(adapted from America's Test Kitchen's recipe)
Makes 4 servings

• Pre-heat oven to 275F / rack: lower-middle
• Baking pan to hold the chicken without crowding
• Aluminum foil
• Pastry brush
• Instant-read thermometer
• Large skillet (if you use non-stick, add a teaspoon of oil to the pan when pre-heating)

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Trim any excess fat.
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt -OR- 1 teaspoon table salt
• 3 tablespoons olive oil (the recipe called for 1 tablespoon oil and 2 tablespoons butter)
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Method:

• Pre-heat the oven to 275F and adjust the rack to the lower-middle position. Poke the thickest end of each breast 5-6 times and sprinkle each side evenly with 1/2 teaspoon (1/4 if table salt) of the salt. Place chicken, skin-side down in the baking dish.  Cover the dish tightly with foil. Bake until the thick end of the chicken breast registers 145-150 F. This will take 30-40 minutes - closer to 40 if the tenderloin is still attached.
• Remove the chicken from the oven and transfer skin-side up to a platter lined with paper towels and pat them dry.
• Heat the skillet over medium-high until you see wisps of smoke.
• Whisk together the olive oil with the flour, cornstarch and pepper and lightly brush the tops with this mixture.
• Lay the breasts in the pan, coated side down. Cook until browned (about 3-4 minutes). If your pan is small, cook two at a time. While the first side is browning, brush the side facing up with the remaining slurry of oil, flour, cornstarch and pepper.
• Flip the breasts with tongs or a fork, reduce the heat to medium and the second side is browned. The temperature should read 160-165F - about 3-4 minutes.
• Transfer the breasts to a platter and let them rest for 5 minutes.

Sauteed Kale with Walnuts, Kumquats, Feta and Sherry Vinaigrette
 Serves 2 or 4 if there are other sides.

• Large skillet.
• I had all of my ingredients prepped and cooked this in the same skillet I used for the chicken breasts while they were resting.

Ingredients:

• 1 small bunch of lacinato (dino) kale, washed with lower stems removed, chopped into (approximately) 1" pieces.
• 1/2 cup of (large pieces or halves), toasted walnuts
• 1/2 cup of crumbled feta cheese (I used a barrel-aged feta which is slightly more dry. I also prefer brands that aren't super salty)
• 1/2-1 cup of chopped green garlic (you can use minced shallots, diced onions or chopped leeks)
• 2 teaspoons of olive oil
• salt and fresh ground pepper
• Sherry vinaigrette

Method:

• Heat the skillet over medium high heat with the oil. Add the green garlic and small pinch of salt to season, turn the heat down to medium and sweat the green garlic for 2-3 minutes. Don't let it get soggy.
• Remove the green garlic (or other aromatic) from the pan, turn up the heat to medium high and add the kale in handfuls, tossing with tongs. Cook for about 3-4 minutes adding a couple of pinches of salt and pepper to taste. Add the kumquats and cook for a couple of minutes.  Add the toasted walnut pieces and toss the mixture with tongs.
• Remove the pan from the heat and add the contents to a bowl large enough to be able to toss.
• Drizzle on the vinaigrette to taste and the feta. Toss and serve.

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Kumquat: The Inside-Out Citrus (...that's not necessarily citrus)

References to kumquats (gam gwat - golden orange) can be found in Chinese literature in the 12th century.  Kumquats preserved in salt and stirred into hot water are a Cantonese remedy for a sore throat.

They are neither an orange nor are they consistently identified as citrus. They are classified in the genus Fortunella, named for Robert Fortune, the Scottish botanist. Fortunel brought the 'nagami' (oval kumquat) to the West in the mid-1800's and it remains the type. Other types are: the meiwa, the marumi and the Hong Kong kumquat. (From: Saveur)

I'd seen them around over the years, but I had NO clue what to do with them and if I'm to be honest, I'll tell you that I wondered why the hell you'd go to the necessary trouble to peel something so small (Oh! Ignorant! DivinaLoca!).

I buy my avocados at the Brokaw Farms stand at the Ferry Plaza farmer's market. They mostly grow avocados but they grow and sell other fruit, notably delicious Gold Nugget mandarins, blood oranges, cherimoya (these are amazing- and another "Who knew?" moment after I  popped my cherimoya this winter) guavas and meiwa kumquats. Will's are the only kumquats I've knowingly eaten, but I've read that the meiwas are sweeter than other varieties.

One morning I bought a handful. When I got them home I cut one open, surprised at the tiny amount of pulp compared to the peel, and seeds - there were two or three seeds per kumquat. In the spirit of "What the hell", I popped one in my mouth.

SourSweetAromatic~Wow!~ButTheSweetIsComingFromThePeel~WOW! Seeds were no bother, I just crunched right through them. I buy them every week now when they're available but like strawberries, I never seem to get around to doing anything with them, I just eat them.  Last night, Liz (of Today's Special) posted that she, "...sliced [them] in a salad with toasted walnuts and shaved Piave cheese..." I might actually stop the hand-to-mouth repetition for that.

Other recipes I'm looking at are:

• Kumquat Compote with Sauternes and Ginger (Epicurious)
• Kumquat Mango Jam (Prospect: The Pantry)

What about:

• Salsa - with kumquats, red onions, cilantro, and maybe a little chipotle in adobo?
• Vodka-Kumquat infusion? Kumqua'cello?
• Lamb stew with kumquats and olives?
• A warm salad of lightly sauteed chard with kumquats and shallots?

Although it has already passed (it is held in late January), Florida has a kumquat festival or you can watch a cute-bordering-on-annoying video on how to eat a kumquat on YouTube, or you can just trust me and when you see them, buy a few and just pop one in your mouth.

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