Seasonal Pantry: Yummy ginger, good for what ails you

As I was shopping at Oliver’s Market a few nights ago, I picked up a large ginger root. Another shopper looked at me, looked back at the ginger and then asked what I planned to do with it. She’d never used it before and was curious about its purpose. Was it grated like cabbage for cole slaw? she wondered.

This got me to thinking about how much I love ginger and about how hard it was to find fresh ginger up until maybe the 1980s. Now it is almost everywhere, except in our farmers markets, as it is challenging - not impossible, but neither easy nor profitable - to grow it in our climate.

Ginger is a rhizome, typically referred to as a root, that is used widely in food and cooking, in medicine and in the perfume industry. It quells nausea, including from motion sickness. It also relieves congestion, eases cramps, reduces flatulence, stimulates appetite, reduces inflammation and calms aching joints and muscles. In Chinese medicine, it is a cooling food, one that increases yin, decreases yang and helps clear our bodies of too much heat.

In the kitchen, ginger adds a layer of delicious flavor to an enormous array of savory and sweet dishes. I almost always add several slices of fresh ginger to the water when I poach a chicken, which I do weekly. When I’m ailing, I’ll add a slice to tea or sip on locally made ginger soda or beer. In hot weather, a ginger mojito is a delicious hedge against the heat. And what would sushi and sashimi be without little nibbles of pickled ginger between bites?

I keep fresh ginger, ground ginger and candied ginger on hand all the time and use one, two or all three in a huge array of dishes. For recipes from the Season Pantry archives, including a delicious three-ginger goat cheese tart, visit Eat This Now at pantry.blogs.pressdemocrat.com.

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If you love Asian soups, you’ll enjoy this one, which is inspired by one that I enjoyed at an outdoor food stand in Kuching, Sarawak, on my first night in Malaysian Borneo. If you have beef stock on hand or if you make the stock a day or two before making the soup, you won’t feel overwhelmed.

Ginger Beef Noodle Soup

Serves 4 to 6

3 tablespoons coconut oil or clarified butter

1 large yellow onion, diced

6 garlic cloves, minced

1 3-inch piece fresh ginger, grated

2 beef shanks, each about 2 inches thick

- Kosher salt

1 quart beef stock, hot (see Note below)

2 stalks lemongrass, bulb parts only, crushed and very thinly sliced

1 teaspoon whole white peppercorns

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

10 ounces rice noodles of choice

¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves

1-2 limes, cut into wedges

Melt the coconut oil or clarified butter in a wide soup pot set over medium-low heat, add the diced onion, and sauté until it begins to caramelize, about 25 minutes. Add the garlic and grated ginger, and sauté for 2 minutes more. Add the beef shanks and brown on all sides.

When the shanks are browned, season with salt and add the stock, along with 2 cups of water, the lemongrass, the peppercorns, and the red pepper flakes, bring to a boil over high heat, reduce to low, and simmer, partially covered, until the meat is very tender, about 2 hours.

Prepare the rice noodles according to package directions and drain.

Remove the cooked shanks from the pot, chop the meat coarsely, and return it to the pot. Taste the broth, and correct the seasoning. Divide the noodles among individual soup bowls, ladle the soup over the noodles, garnish each portion with some cilantro leaves and a squeeze of lime, and serve immediately.

Note: For the best results, simmer 6 cups of beef stock with 6 slices of fresh ginger, 3 stalks of lemongrass, 3 kaffir lime leaves and two star anise until it is reduced to 4 cups. Cover and cool to room temperature before straining.

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Who doesn’t love a cookie? Even the word lifts one’s spirits, don’t you think? On those rare occasions when I buy a cookie at a coffee shop or some such, I always choose ginger. You can easily make delicious ones at home, too.

Ginger Ginger Ginger Cookies

Makes about 3 dozen 3-inch cookies

2½ cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground white pepper, optional

12 tablespoons (¾ cup, 1 ½ sticks) butter, at room temperature

1 cup, packed, brown sugar

1 large farm egg, lightly beaten

¼ cup molasses

2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger

¼ cup minced candied ginger

½ cup coarse sugar, such as turbinado

Put the flour, baking soda, salt, ground ginger, cinnamon and pepper, if using, into a medium bowl and mix with a fork. Set aside.

Using an electric mixer or large sturdy whisk, beat the butter in a large bowl until it is very light and creamy. Beat in the brown sugar, followed by the egg, molasses, fresh ginger and candied ginger. Fold in a third of the flour mixture, mix lightly and continue with two more additions. Do not over-mix.

Cover and chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Line two baking sheets with parchment.

Put the coarse sugar into a wide bowl.

Using an ice cream scoop, form balls about the size of a ping-pong ball. Drop the balls, one at a time, into the coarse sugar and roll them gently to coat them. Transfer to the baking sheet, leaving 1 ½ to 2 inches between each one.

Set on the middle rack of the oven and bake until the edges crack and the centers remain a bit soft, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, transfer the cookies to a wire rack and cool completely.

Enjoy right away or store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

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A version of these delicious brownies, published in “Betty Crocker’s Cookbook for Boys and Girls,” is the first recipe I ever followed, back when I was 8 years old and a neighbor gave me the book for my birthday. There was no ginger in that version - they were called Butterscotch Brownies - and it’s doubtful there was any ginger in my mother’s spice cupboard, either.

Double Ginger Brownies

Makes 18

1 tablespoon plus ¼ cup unsalted butter, preferably organic

¾ cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup, packed, light brown sugar

1 large pastured egg

2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cup lightly toasted and chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Use the tablespoon of butter to coat the inside of a 9-inch square pan. Set it aside.

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl, mix with a fork and set aside.

Put the butter in a small saucepan set over very low heat and when it is melted, stir in the sugar.

Put the egg into a medium mixing bowl and whisk vigorously until it is light and creamy. Fold in the butter mixture, the ginger and the vanilla.

Use a rubber spatula to fold in the flour mixture and the nuts, if using. Pour into the buttered baking pan, using the spatula to remove all of the batter from the mixing bowl.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until lightly browned on top but still a tad soft in the center.

Remove from the heat, cool slightly, cut into squares and finish cooling on a rack.

Michele Anna Jordan has written 19 books to date, including the new “More Than Meatballs.” Email Jordan at catsmilk@sonic.net. You’ll find her blog, “Eat This Now,” at pantry.blogs.pressdemocrat.com.