Home Living
SPICE UP
B
Tuesday, June 21, 2022
The Observer & Baker City Herald
YOUR
GRILLING
GAME
By GRETCHEN McKAY
Korean Gochujang hot sauce
gives this barbecued chicken
a spicy-sweet kick.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Gretchen McKay
photos/Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette-
TNS
N
ow
that it’s
officially barbecue
season, you might be
GOCHUJANG,
A SPICY PASTE
POPULAR
IN KOREAN
COOKING, PAIRS
WELL WITH A
CUCUMBER
SALAD
looking for a few new
recipes to freshen up your
family’s grill offerings.
If they love anything and
everything spicy, and
feel equally passionate
about Asian food, this
easy recipe from Simply
Recipes’ inaugural digital
issue could be a great
place to start.
Made with one of the more
economical parts of a chicken
— bone-in thighs — it gets a
sweet and peppery kick from
gochujang, a spicy paste used
in Korean cooking that’s made
from fermented red chilies and
fermented soybeans. It’s paired
with a crunchy cucumber salad
that whips together in minutes
and cools the palate with its
refreshing mix of rice vinegar
and soy.
A crisp and cool cucumber salad is a per-
fect side for spicy Gochujang chicken.
You can fi nd gochujang in
most Asian markets and larger
grocery stores. (It comes in a
tub, and those with wheat aller-
gies should note that it is not glu-
ten-free.) A seedless cucumber
works best in the salad, but no
worries if all you have is a reg-
ular cuke — it will taste just as
fresh and crunchy. Also feel free
to substitute boneless, skinless
thighs for bone-in for a quicker
cook time.
It’s tough to imagine there
will be any, but leftovers will
keep for three to four days in the
refrigerator.
GRILLED
GOCHUJANG
CHICKEN THIGHS
WITH CUCUMBER
SALAD
For chicken
½ cup gochujang
¼ cup maple syrup
¼ cup apple juice
2 tablespoons
soy sauce
2 teaspoons
sesame oil
2 cloves garlic,
grated or minced
½-inch piece fresh ginger,
grated or minced
8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
Chopped chives, sliced scallions and
toasted sesame seeds, for garnish
2 cups cooked rice, for serving
For cucumber salad
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 English (seedless)
cucumber, sliced thin
Generous pinch of red chili powder
Generous pinch of sesame seeds
2 green onions, chopped
Make the paste: Place the gochujang,
maple syrup, apple juice, sesame oil,
garlic and ginger in a medium bowl or
measuring cup. Whisk to combine. Place
½ cup of this paste in a small bowl and
reserve the rest for basting while grilling.
Place chicken thighs in a large shal-
low pan. Using a pastry brush or spoon,
lightly brush both sides of the chicken
with the paste. (To avoid contamination
from raw chicken, discard the rest of the
sauce you just used.)
Let the chicken sit at room tempera-
ture while you heat up the grill. This will
allow the chicken thighs to come to
room temperature before grilling.
Using a paper towel and tongs, oil
your clean grill grates with canola, vege-
table, or another high heat oil.
See, Spice/Page B2
Enjoying the lovely lilac time of year
Garden chores for June
WENDY
SCHMIDT
BETWEEN THE ROWS
L
ilac time. What a lovely
time of year! The scientifi c
world will never be able to
nail what lilacs really smell like
for their room deodorizer. They
should just stop disappointing us!
Lilac (syringa) is one of 12 cur-
rently recognized species of woody
plants in the olive family. Native to
southeast Europe and middle Asia,
lilacs have become common in
temperate zones all over the world.
The name lilac comes from
the Persian word lilaq, which
means “fl ower.” Purple lilac has
the stronger scent. Lilacs were in
George Washington and Thomas
Jeff erson’s colonial gardens.
Woody perennials are what can
be collectively known as “yard
bushes,” “landscape assets and
accents” or “landscaper’s best
friends.” Diff erent yard bushes are
useful in diff erent situations. Situ-
Ryan Somma/Flickr
Lilacs come in seven colors, but purple is the most common.
ations change due to sun exposure,
pH of the soil, and personal prefer-
ence. In the next few columns, I’ll
explore some of the more desirable
“yard bushes.”
The grape cuttings I took last
fall are now starting to leaf out, as
are the rose cuttings. The grapes
will hopefully grow up to be part
of the arbor, sharing space with the
vines already there.
The rose cuttings will fi nd a
place in the parking strip by the
street. I have an overwhelming
desire to take and grow cuttings.
This must soon stop. I seem to
have a 10-acre imagination stuck
on a small city lot.
• Houseplants can be evicted
for the summer to live on a shady
porch. This gives you a chance to
check thoroughly for pests and clip
out dead leaves and branches. You
could have a little green bower for
reading or meditation.
• Watch for bagworms and deal
with them, they especially like
juniper and arbor vitae.
• Deadhead bulbs and spring
perennials as soon as the blossoms
fade.
• Thin seedlings to promote
better growth.
• Early detection is essential for
control of vegetable pests.
• Repeat plantings of corn
and beans to extend the harvest
season.
• Plant pumpkins now to have
Jack-O-Lanterns by Halloween.
• Stop harvesting asparagus
when the stalks become thin.
Happy gardening and thanks for
reading!
█
Wendy Schmidt is a longtime gardener.
She lives in La Grande.
ANN
BLOOM
NUTRITION:
IT’S ALL GOOD
Digging
into the
details
of dairy
J
une is National Dairy
Month, and of all the
food groups it may be
the most misunderstood.
Dairy includes, of
course, milk (cow, goat,
sheep, etc.) — whole,
reduced fat, low-fat and
nonfat, cheese, cottage
cheese, yogurt, ice cream
and fortifi ed soy milk.
However, it doesn’t include
items such as sour cream,
butter, cream, or cream
cheese. Why? Although
these items are made from
dairy products and found
in the dairy section of the
store, their fat content,
compared to the amount
of calcium they contain (if
any), eliminates them from
the dairy group.
Calcium is the nutrient
found in dairy foods that
our bodies need to build
strong bones and teeth.
Although calcium is found
in other foods such as
leafy greens (i.e. broccoli
and kale) and almonds,
the amount these foods
contain is too low to jus-
tify their placement in the
dairy food group. There-
fore, they are placed in
other food groups — leafy
greens in the vegetable
food group, for example.
Foods are grouped based
on the primary nutrient
they contain. In this case,
calcium (and the amount)
is the nutrient used to clas-
sify dairy foods and their
placement within the dairy
food group.
Soy milk, if it is forti-
fi ed (meaning calcium and
other vitamins are added)
can be included in the
dairy group, even though
it is not made from animal
milk. “Milks,” or milk
drinks, made from hemp,
rice, coconut, almond or
other plant-based liquids
are not included in the
dairy group because they
do not contain calcium
and the other vitamins and
nutrients contained in dairy
milk. Some may be for-
tifi ed; consumers should
read the labels to see if the
product they are interested
in is fortifi ed or not.
The nutrients in the
dairy group include cal-
cium, potassium, Vitamin
D, protein, Vitamin A,
ribofl avin, Vitamin B12 and
others. Calcium promotes
bone health and develop-
ment in children and ado-
lescents, and helps prevent
osteoporosis in adults. Most
individuals do not consume
enough dairy products.
Low-fat or fat-free dairy
products are preferred from
a nutritional standpoint
since they are lower in sat-
urated fat. According to the
American Heart Associa-
tion, a diet high in saturated
fat can contribute to heart
disease. Low-fat or fat-
free dairy products contain
as much calcium as their
full-fat relatives.
The amount one needs
from the dairy group every
day depends on age, gender
and physical activity level.
In general, according to
the U.S. Dietary Guide-
lines for Americans 2020-
25, the amount is 3 cups or
cup equivalents. A cup of
dairy is 8 ounces of milk
or yogurt, or 1½ ounces of
cheese, a half-cup of cot-
tage cheese or 8 ounces of
See, Dairy/Page B2