Cooking with Maple Sap -

Last night I made a fusion dinner - and I'm not sure what cuisines I fused! I started off with a tremendous amount of performance anxiety, even though close friends were coming over. But we were going out for pizza originally with one couple, then I realized I had defrosted 2 lbs of scallops for dinner the night before, which we hadn't used and needed to. Another couple called with a last minute invite to their house and they were included. This is what I started with:

Scallops
Asparagus
Crescent Potatoes
Mesclun

I marinated the scallops in sake with some ginger slices that had been peeled and flattened with a broad side of a cleaver. I made a sauce for the scallops with 1 cup of maple sap which was halfway to syrup - and I think I'd substitute 2 T syrup mixed with water to make one cup when I make this in other times of the year. I added 1T corn starch, 1/2 tsp white pepper, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp sugar, and 1/2 c more rice wine.

I stir fried in vegetable oil 2 cloves of minced garlic, 2T minced ginger, 6 cut up scallions, and then added the scallops and cooked them over high heat and turned them once. When they looked done, after a few minutes, I added the sauce and stirred until it thickened.

I served them with crescent potatoes which I had cut up and tossed with olive oil, then roasted and tossed again with a little salt. One couple brought a gorgeous loaf of crusty bread from a baker in Brattleboro, and the other a marinated and roasted tofu for the vegetarians in the group.

The salad was the mesclun lettuce with asparagus that I had peeled at the base of their stalks, then steamed. I dressed it with 1/4 c sesame oil, 1/4 c rice wine vinegar, 1T soy sauce, 1/2 tsp of sesame seeds.

So...potatoes instead of rice with Chinese flavors? Substituting maple sap for chicken broth in a sauce? It worked somehow.

For the kids, I sauted 3 boneless chicken breasts until browned, then added 2 cups of sap and simmered. I added 3 T of sricha hot sauce at the end and cut the cooked chicken into slices and poured the sauce, which I had thicked with a little of the scallop sauce, over top. I sprinkled sesame seeds and chopped cilantro on top. The boys really liked the flavors and the chili sauce is actually pretty mild.