Chicken with Peas Before and After

Thursday June 2

Stirfry with pea sprouts and yellow snow peas (yeah, sounds terrible, but tastes as good as the seven or eight snap peas we got from our own garden), both from the Northside Farmers' Market, which now has more actual farmers than Findlay Market.  The recipe:

3/4 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast - cut up into cubes and marinate in ca. 2 tsp Shaoxing wine, 2 tsp. soy sauce, dribble of sesame oil, and a grind or two of white pepper.  It's easiest to cut it up while half-frozen and let it sit in the fridge for a couple of hours in the marinade.

String and wash snow peas; wash and spin dry sprouts, and cut in half if long.

Mince 3-4 cloves garlic, get out some oil, rich chicken broth, Shaoxing wine, and salt, and have some oyster sauce available if needed.

In hot oiled pan, stir-fry snow-peas a minute with salt, and when bright green (ours were yellow variety, though), remove to covered platter.  Then stir-fry chicken in more oil, with salt and half the garlic, and when pink is gone, put on platter with peas to keep warm.  Finally, stir-fry rest of garlic briefly, add pea sprouts and more salt; when it's getting slightly wilted after a half minute, add a little broth and a little wine.  Stir and toss a minute by itself, then re-add everything else.  If too bland, season with a teeny touch of oyster sauce in the center and let it all reduce and get hot.

Preparation of snow pea sprouts as an independent dish: stir-fry a lot of chopped garlic in a fair amount of oil. When the garlic begins to color and smell garlicky, add the pea sprouts or shoots and a pinch of salt. When the vegetable is on its way to wilting, add a splash or two of chicken broth, then some similar splashes of Shaoxing wine. Stir and toss until the greens look -- done.