Cooking on a Boat with Kirsten: Episode 4 Fried Rice

This recipe is a favorite on the boat...really yummy and satisfying even if you have run out of meat options.

I originally found this recipe, that I have tweaked over time, on the web, though I don't know where anymore so....thank you to whoever originally posted this recipe.


Thai fried rice

Ingredients:

Servings:
4 medium-ish servings. If you have a hungry crew of 4, double everything and maybe you'll have some leftovers.

4 cups cooked cold jasmine rice (cold rice is essential so the grains will not stick together when stir frying)
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves freshly minced garlic
1 1/2 cups chosen protein (chicken, crab, prawns, salmon)
3 eggs (6 eggs if you making it vegetarian)
2 teaspoons sugar
3 tablespoons Thai fish sauce (no substitutes)
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
2 medium carrots sliced
1 head of broccoli

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a wok or large skillet over medium high heat.
2. While pan is warming, toss the cold rice with your hands, making sure to separate the grains from any clumps.
3. Add the garlic to the heated pan, and stir until fragrant and slightly golden.
4. Add protein and stir fry for about 1 minute. If you are using prawns, remove them from the pan after about 1 minute. If you are using crab, I would add it just before the rice is finished to warm it through.
5. Push the meat and garlic up the sides making a well in the middle and add eggs.
6. Scramble eggs for 1 minute in middle of pan then, incorporate all ingredients together, stir frying for another minute.
7. You may need more oil in the pan to cover rice. Add rice, turning over rice with pan ingredients several times to coat and stir frying for 2-3 minutes. You want the rice to begin to have a toasted smell, making sure that all the ingredients are constantly being moved around the pan for even cooking.
8. Sprinkle in the sugar and add the fish sauce and oyster sauce.
9. Stir fry all ingredients together until sauces are absorbed and the rice begins to brown a little, 5 minutes-ish. Add carrots. Stir fry 3-4 minutes. Add broccoli. Stir fry until broccoli is bright green and a little tender, 4-5 minutes longer.
10. Eat. Yum!

Clarke Island

I forgot to mention how insanely pretty it was sailing through Barkley Sound's Broken Group. We felt like a ghost ship sailing in and out of banks of fog, watching islands appear and then disappear into the mist. We anchored near Clarke Island, a sea kayaker's paradise, and paddled to shore through some of the most beautiful water ever. I kept having to pinch myself...it was so hard to believe that it was possible to be in such a gorgeous setting. It just doesn't seem like it could get any better...dreamy Caribbean-like water over white sand with stunning mountains as a backdrop. Sheesh! Ridiculously, for lack of a better word, gorgeous. On shore we walked through old-growth forest to more beautiful beaches. We saw a little cross-bill bird, totally unafraid of us, go about his business of working seeds out of a pine cone and itty bitty island deer along the way.

Back on the boat we felt like we were on the edge of world as we watched waves roll in from the open ocean. Marinero rocked and rolled in the wind and waves of the unprotected anchorage. I wasn't happy with the catch of the anchor when we first arrived so we pulled it up and moved a little closer in towards shore in hopes of taming the motion of the boat a little. This time we had a solid catch in sand (instead of hopping around on rocks) but no such luck with calming the motion. There was another boat anchored nearby that appeared to have a force field of calmness around it. We need to see if we can have that feature installed on our boat.

Click here for photos.

Cooking on a Boat with Kirsten: Episode 3 Rustic Bread

We all know good bread is hard to find while cruising so here's another recipe...

I modified this recipe from the original that appeared in Cook's Illustrated.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups (10 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 cup (5.5 ounces) whole-wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water, room temperature
6 tablespoons mild-flavored lager
1 tbsp. honey
Olive oil

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Whisk all-purpose and whole wheat flours, salt, and yeast together in large bowl. Add water, honey and lager. Using rubber spatula, fold mixture, scraping up dry flour from bottom of bowl until shaggy ball forms. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for at least 8 hours or up to 18 hours.

2. Lay 18 by 12-inch sheet of parchment paper on counter and wipe with olive oil. Transfer dough to lightly floured counter and knead 10 to 15 times. Shape dough into ball by pulling edges into middle. Transfer dough, seam side down, to center of parchment and brush with olive oil. Pick up dough by lifting parchment overhang and lower into heavy-bottomed Dutch oven (let any excess parchment hang over pot edge). Cover loosely with plastic and let rise at room temperature until dough has doubled in size and does not readily spring back when poked with finger, about 2 hours.

3. Adjust oven rack to middle position. Remove plastic from pot. Lightly flour top of dough and, using razor blade or sharp knife, make one 6-inch-long, 1/2-inch-deep slit along top of dough. Cover pot and place in oven. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Bake bread for 30 minutes.

4. Remove lid and continue to bake until loaf is deep brown and registers 210 degrees, 20 to 30 minutes longer. Carefully remove bread from pot; transfer to wire rack and let cool completely, about 2 hours.

Arriving in Barkley Sound

From Hot Springs Cove we headed up inlet to Bacchante Bay where we spent the night in hopes of paddling up the creek there. Unfortunately we were too lazy to wake up early to paddle the high tide in. When we finally made our attempt to paddle upstream, both creek and tide were too low to make any progress. We're not sure if was due to the dry summer or low tide. Probably both. After a quick swim we headed back down inlet to Ahousat to stage for our next hop around the outside. There was nothing notable about the dock at Ahousat except for the pack of dogs who would have liked to have eaten Pika for dinner.

Our next stop was Ucluelet for re-provisioning, laundry, water top-off, fuel and a dinner out. The next morning we squeezed in a lunch of the freshest fish and chips ever (the fisherman who just brought in the salmon we ate was in line in front of us) and a hike on Pacific Wildside Trail while we waited for the tide to turn in our favor.

We spent the afternoon motoring to Pipestem Inlet where we stayed anchored for the next two nights. The following morning we woke to rain. Finally. We had been sailing in the Pacific Northwest for two and a half months and had only seen three days of rain. The landscape finally looked at peace again, draped in low lying clouds and drizzle. Sigh. We suited up in rain gear and climbed into our kayaks for a soggy paddle up beautiful Lucky Creek to a sweet little waterfall.

After two nights in Pipestem Inlet we moved on, through the pouring rain, to a lovely little anchorage at Nettle Island. The rain continued to pour so we opted to not put on our already soaked rain gear to paddle to shore. We stayed on the boat playing board games and reading instead.

The following morning we got a sun break so we laid all our soaked clothing out on the warm decks to try to dry them out before heading out to Joe's Bay at Turtle Island. Our plan was to paddle once in Joe's Bay but the winds were so high and the water so choppy that we were boat bound again. I was starting to get a little stir-crazy at this point....

Click here for photos.