Thai Bolognese

In a three day period, Mr Minx and I dined at Bobby Flay's new restaurant, Gato, had a 7-course lunch at Le Bernardin, another multi-course lunch at Ma Peche, and dinner at Harold Dieterle's Kin Shop. With all of that good food behind us, it was hard to come home to a fridge full of nothing. Right away we went to the grocery store to stock up on fresh veggies and dinner fixins. I figured a spicy Asian-style meal would be a good segue from fancy NY food to home cooking, and the first night home whipped up a pasta sauce that was part laab, part Bolognese.

I wanted to use ground pork, but the store we visited had none. Instead, I used ground turkey and made sure to season it well to get rid of, well, the turkey flavor. There's always an assortment of Asian condiments in the fridge (miso, gochujang, hoisin, chili bean paste) so I combined my favorite Thai chilli with basil paste and red curry paste, plus lots of fish sauce, lime juice, and coconut milk powder to make a richly flavored yet light sauce. You could use liquid coconut milk, but I find it doesn't keep well if you don't use the whole can right away. Instead, I always have packets of dried coconut milk so I can use a little or a lot and then store the rest in a zip-top bag in the cupboard.

While the dish wasn't Kin Shop-worthy, it was still pretty darn delicious.

Thai "Bolognese" Sauce

1/2 large onion, chopped
Vegetable oil
The innermost leaves of 1 stalk of lemongrass, bashed with the side of a knife and minced
1 lb ground turkey or pork
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tablespoon Thai chilli basil paste (Maesri brand)
1 tablespoon red curry paste (Thai Kitchen)
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
4 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons coconut powder
1/4 cup water
Juice of half a lime
1 teaspoon superfine sugar
Chopped cilantro
Thai basil
Chopped scallions
Fresh mint

Cook onion in vegetable oil over medium high heat until translucent. Add lemongrass and ground meat, breaking up meat with wooden spoon. Cook, stirring constantly, until meat is mostly cooked through and beginning to brown. Stir in garlic, chilli basil and red curry pastes, and 1 tablespoon of the fish sauce.

Combine the coconut powder, water, and lime juice in a bowl. Pour over meat mixture in pan and stir well. Add sugar and remaining fish sauce. Turn heat to low. Cook mixture until ground meat doesn't taste strongly of turkey or pork but has taken on the flavors of the pastes and fish sauce, 5-10 minutes.

Serve over pasta or rice, garnished with plenty of fresh herbs and scallions. Alternately, you can chill the mixture and eat it like laab (Thai ground meat salad), rolled in fresh lettuce leaves.

Serves 4-6.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Turkey Laab Burgers

I had purchased a pound of ground turkey with which to make some laab, a tasty Thai dish of seasoned ground meat. Then I remembered the two ciabatta rolls that were left in the freezer and offered Mr Minx the option of turkey burgers, instead. With laab seasoning, of course. I don't really like turkey all that much, finding it unpleasantly gamy, yet bland at the same time, so a goodly dose of chile sauce and lemongrass can only improve the stuff, don't you think?

Turkey also turns out some pretty dry burgers, so if you can swing it, add some chia seeds and water to keep the mixture moist. (I buy my chia seeds at Nuts.com.)

Turkey Laab Burgers

1 teaspoon chia seeds
2 tablespoons water
1 pound ground turkey (if you prefer chicken or pork, go for it)
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2-3 teaspoons chile sauce (I used Sambal Oelek; Sriracha works too.)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
2 tablespoons lemongrass paste (Gourmet Garden)
2 tablespoons chopped mint
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
3 tablespoons lime juice
2 scallions, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Combine the chia seeds and water in a small bowl. Allow seeds to absorb water, about 15 minutes. If you're using ground pork, you can omit this step.

Mix all ingredients well, including the soaked chia seeds. Put a tiny bit on a microwave-safe plate and cook for 20-30 seconds. Taste for seasoning. If the mixture needs more of anything - ginger, chile sauce, lime juice, etc. - add it now, and make sure there's plenty of salt and pepper. Turkey has a very strong flavor (I think) and it takes a bit to mask it.

Form meat mixture into 4-8 patties. Cook in a bit of olive or other oil over medium-high heat until cooked through and browned on both sides.

Serve on buns with fresh arugula, mayonnaise with a bit of Thai basil or cilantro mixed in, sliced tomato, and cheese if you want.

Serves 4.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Memorial Day Snacks

Come holiday time, I tend to bite off more than I can chew. I always plan a grandiose menu of items and kill myself cooking and for what? A blog post or two. Not that my guests aren't receptive to my fare, but I could probably serve hot dogs and make them just as happy.

(Note from MinxBro: Hot dogs would not make me happy.)

This sweaty Memorial Day, Mr Minx dragged out the grill and cooked up a beer can chicken, pork chops, and skewered shrimp, all with an Asian flavor profile. The beer can chicken got a dose of Cambodian lemongrass curry seasoning, the pork chops were marinated in coconut milk, ginger, and garlic, and the shrimp we all garlick-ed up. But man does not live by meat alone, so I whipped up some coconut gazpacho  (this time adding red bell pepper and cucumber, hold the onion), and a cucumber/radish salad.

But that's not all, folks. I also made what I'm going to call tǎn zhū, or pigs in a blanket, Chinese-style.

Basically, I used puff pastry, a la the samosas I made last week, to encase a mixture of sautéed onion, Chinese sausage (lap cheong), and raw scallion. Served with a dipping sauce made from hoisin, sesame oil, and soy, they were a big hit.

I also made some summer rolls stuffed with chicken meatballs made with this recipe, with carrot, radish, and cucumber, plus fresh mint, basil, and cilantro from the garden. Not pretty, but really really good.

(The dark bits in the meatballs are chia seeds to add moisture. See this post for more info.)

After all that prep, I wasn't about to make dessert. Luckily, Yia Yia's was open and my brother picked up a huge cherry pie, which we served with coffee ice cream.

And a good time was had by all. Hope your Memorial Day was as tasty. :)

Posted by theminx on Minxeats.com.

ลาบไก่ ไก่งวง

I adore Thai food and wish I had the opportunity to explore it more often. I don't always leave happy when I visit the Thai restaurants in the area, so more often than not, if I want Thai flavors, I have to create them at home. Recently, during one of my regular tours of teh Internets, I spotted a recipe for laap mu, or Thai ground pork salad, that struck me in that, "I have to make this now" way. After checking out several variations on the recipe, including Top Chef Season 1 winner Howard Dieterle's version, I concocted one of my own. I wanted a salad that was spicy and tangy, but also filled with the aromatics like galangal and lemongrass that have made me such a fan of the cuisine.

We are still dealing with that triglyceride thing, so of course pork was out. Chicken (gai) is another meat that would have worked in the dish, but I could only find ground turkey at the Wegman's. (I've purchased sweetbreads there, and they had whole quail, so it seems odd not to have such a basic cut of meat. I probably didn't look in the right place.)

The Thai word for turkey seems to be ki ngwng. Say that five times fast. Hell, say it once. Gai is so much easier.

Pronunciation aside, the problem with turkey - particularly breast meat - is that it is dry. Chia seeds are of no help for this recipe, so if you can find ground turkey that contains some dark meat, or if you can grind up some chicken thighs in the food processor, you'll have a much moister dish. In any case, even with dry turkey breast the flavors were quite nice - aromatic, refreshing, and tart, with a nice chile kick. Serve the laap with lettuce leaves to make wraps, or on a bed of lettuce if you want a more salad-y thing. It's a great meal for a hot summer night and it involves relatively little cooking.

The rice powder and the sauce can be assembled ahead of time, but for the best results, the salad should be dressed just before eating.

Laap Ki ngwng

2 tablespoons raw rice
1 pound ground turkey
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2-3 teaspoons chile sauce (I used Sambal Oelek; Sriracha works too.)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon galangal powder
1 tablespoon lemongrass paste (Gourmet Garden)
3 tablespoons lime juice
2 scallions, chopped
1 shallot, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons chopped mint

Toast the raw rice in a dry skillet over medium heat, stirring often, until the rice has started to brown and emit a nutty fragrance. Remove from skillet, allow to cool, and pulverize in a coffee or spice grinder. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine fish sauce, chile sauce, sugar, galangal, lemongrass, and lime juice. Set aside.

Cook the turkey meat in the vegetable oil until cooked through and no longer pink, breaking up clumps with a wooden spoon or the edge of a spatula. Turn off heat. Add half of the fish sauce mixture while the meat is still hot, tossing to combine. Allow the meat to cool for 15 minutes before adding remainder of sauce, plus scallion, shallot, cilantro, and mint. Sprinkle with toasted rice powder before serving.

Serve over lettuce, or use large lettuce leaves as a wrapper for the laab.

With the laab, we ate a simple cucumber salad - sliced cucumber, splashes of lime juice and fish sauce, chopped scallions, cilantro, mint, and peanuts - and steamed Jasmine rice.

Posted by theminx on Minxeats.com.

Chicken Milanasian

Veal Milanese is a Italian dish of pounded veal cutlets coated in bread crumbs and fried, a dish that is both tasty and quite plain. A bit of investigation on teh Innerwebs reveals that some cooks like to top the breaded meat with something a bit more flavorful, for example Nick Stellino's version with tomato pesto, or Rachael Ray's tomato/onion/basil sauce.

An Italian preparation topped with tomatoes seems like a real no-brainer, only I wasn't in the mood for Italian flavors. When the weather starts to get warmer, I really start craving the bright, exciting flavors of Southeast Asian food, particularly Kaffir lime and lemongrass. Why not add a healthy dose of the latter to some fresh tomatoes?  I wasn't going to use veal for a couple of reasons (I've long eschewed eating veal because of the barbaric practices involved in production; this site claims that things are different these days) and though I usually avoid boneless, skinless chicken breasts, this application is one of few that actually makes sense for that otherwise flavorless meat.

Chicken Milanasian 

Tomato topping
1.5 tablespoons lemongrass paste (Gourmet Garden)
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 teaspoons honey
dash garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon fish sauce
salt
1 pint cherry, grape, or other miniature tomatoes, quartered
3 scallions, white and light green parts, finely chopped

Cutlets
3/4 cup flour
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups panko bread crumbs
salt and pepper
1 lb boneless skinless chicken or turkey breast scalloppine
2 tablespoons olive oil
additional chopped scallions or chives for garnish

Instructions:
Tomato topping:
In a medium bowl, stir together the first seven ingredients; season with salt to taste. (If the sauce seems too tangy, add more honey.) Gently fold in tomatoes and scallions. Set aside to marinate for about an hour at room temperature.

Chicken:
Create a dredging station: Season flour with salt and pepper and place on a plate. Put the egg in a bowl, and the panko on a separate plate. Dip each piece of poultry into flour first, patting off excess, then into beaten egg, then coat with panko crumbs. Set each piece on a clean plate until all are finished.

Heat one tablespoon of oil over high heat in a large sauté pan until oil sizzles when a couple flakes of panko are added. Add half the coated poultry pieces. Cook 2 minutes, then turn and cook other side an additional 2 minutes. Remove poultry to a paper-towel-lined plate and repeat with remaining oil and meat.

Serve cooked cutlets with a few spoonfuls of tomato topping. Garnish with chopped scallions or chives.
------------------------------------
I served the chicken atop leftover pasta that had been warmed up with a couple of tablespoons of leftover peanut sauce. Mmm!

Posted by theminx on Minxeats.com.

Exotic Dinner Party

Had I made it past the first round of Project Food Blog, this would have been my third post:

When I read that the third challenge was to hold a "luxurious dinner party where guests would discover new tastes and exotic flavors," I was immediately struck by the word "exotic." My favorite cuisine, one that is still pretty exotic in the greater Baltimore area, is Thai food. I can't begin to tell you how much I love the intense flavors of lemongrass, kaffir lime, and chiles commingled with creamy coconut milk, the scent of fragrant, nutty, jasmine rice perfuming the air along with garlic and galangal, and the aromatic wonder that is red curry.

:::closing eyes and taking a deep, imaginary sniff::: Ahhh!

My favorite Thai restaurant closed a few years ago, leaving me heartbroken. Where was I going to get my fix of tom yum goong and Thai iced tea? While there are still a couple of pretty decent Thai places around, sometimes I find it easier to concoct something at home. And while I love authentic food, the inauthentic certainly has a place in my heart, too. Definitely in my kitchen. I thought it would be fun to have a party featuring not only Thai food, but also Thai flavors in dishes of other ethnic origins, to make them more accessible to my inexperienced friends. The Thai food virgins.

I was happily surprised to find that eight of the fourteen friends and family members I invited were eager to experience the flavors of Thailand. Counting Mr Minx and I, that would make ten diners.

And six dining-room chairs.

Rather than a sit-down dinner party, I thought it could be more fun to have a finger food buffet, that way, I could accommodate everyone, while making food prep a bit easier on myself.

The first thing I do in a situation like this - well, in any party situation - is to go through my cookbooks to get ideas for dishes. What authentic Thai dishes did I want to include? What other party food could be transformed with the flavors of lemongrass and Kaffir lime? How much coconut milk and red curry paste could I get away with using without making everything taste similar? What could be enjoyed cold or at room temperature? What dishes best fit the various dietary requirements and allergies that would be in attendance? And what do *I* really want to prepare that both shows off the ethnic flavors I wish to showcase...and my cooking talents?

And then I had it - the menu:

Thai red curry and Thai basil deviled eggs
Laab chicken salad wraps
Smoked Tofu lettuce wraps
Thai coconut gazpacho
Roasted eggplant with tofu and basil
Trio of Thai dips with crudités
Cucumber relish
Thai pork sliders (Tod mun mu)
Thai "babaganoush"
Jasmine rice salad
Coconut trifle

The whole spread.

One of my all-time favorite Thai dishes is tod mun pla, fried fish cakes studded with bits of green beans and seasoned with Kaffir lime. These little beauties are aromatic, crunchy, and fried - a triumverate of perfection. I always thought they would make terrific sliders. So I concocted a Minxian variation, substituting ground pork for ground fish. Served on mini potato rolls and topped with a traditional cucumber salad, these tod mun mu (mu being the Thai word for pork) were little bits of burger heaven.

A tod mun mu slider topped with cucumber relish and cilantro.

Another twist on Thai flavors is found in my coconut gazpacho. I whipped some of this up a few weeks back, when I had a surfeit of coconut milk on hand. The flavors are gorgeous, and a chilled but spicy soup is perfection on these still a bit too-warm early Autumn days.

Because Mr Minx isn't a fan of deviled eggs, I seldom get to eat them. But with seven egg-loving party guests (and one hater), I thought it would be a good occasion to break out my fancy deviled egg plate. (No good Southern girl should be without one, so I've been told!) I flavored half of the filling with Thai chilli basil paste (one of my all-time favorite condiments) and half with red curry paste. All were incredibly good, and I had to stop myself from eating most of them.

Yeah, they're not pretty. Almost every yolk was way off-center, which caused the
whites to tear when I removed them. And I didn't have a piping bag.

The egg-hater happens to be an eggplant lover, so I made a couple of dishes with her favorite vegetable. One was a fairly straightforward Thai stir-fry of roasted eggplant and tofu, and the other a Thai-ized babaganoush, with almond butter standing in for the tahini.

Babagawhash?

Can't have a dinner without dessert, right?  I contemplated making some of that decadent coconut custard that is usually served in tiny little two-tablespoon-sized bowls, but instead decided that a trifle would be just the thing.  I cheated a bit and used Bird's Custard, but mixed with two cans of coconut milk rather than cow's milk, and an Sarah Lee All Butter Pound Cake. Plus fresh pineapple and mango. It was a smash hit.

The verdict?

Everyone seemed to enjoy the food, and I received several requests for the recipes, which I'll be posting here in the near future. Two of the three dips were completely decimated, with the third being too spicy for most people. And people who didn't like coconut milk were eating...coconut milk.

Personally, I was very happy with the way just about everything turned out. The sliders were probably my favorite, followed by the gazpacho and the eggs (which made for a killer breakfast on Sunday).

If you liked this post (or even if you didn't), please leave a comment!

Thai-style Seviche

Mr Minx usually does all of the cooking during the week, and I take over on the weekend. Last weekend, however, I had no idea what I wanted to make. Well, I had a vague notion, but nothing clear cut. I knew I wanted to toy with something that I might enter in a recipe contest, but that dish was more of an appetizer than an entree. Then I opened the magic freezer, which was full to capacity, and rummaged around a bit.

We had bags of scallops and langoustine tails from Trader Joe's. And tons of other foodlike substances, but none of it evoked any sort of inspiration.

I desperately needed a pedicure, so took a walk to my friendly neighborhood nail salon. On the way back, I stopped in the Giant in the same shopping center and picked up some watermelon and feta cheese with which to make a salad, and some claw crab meat that was on sale. And a baguette because the appetizer dish was going to be a bruschetta. But still no ideas.

Once home, I farted around on the computer a bit, flipped through some magazines, admired my nails, and eventually realized that it was getting late and I had to think of something pretty quickly. By that point in the afternoon I had gotten lazy and didn't really want to turn on the stove, but we couldn't just eat bruschetta. Well, we could, but Mr Minx would have been cranky about it.

So I defrosted some seafood and made seviche. The only cooking I needed to do was with the scallops, as I wasn't trusting citrus juice and limited time to "cook" them properly. The crab and langoustines were precooked and ready to go. After whipping up a dressing, I tossed in the shellfish and stashed the bowl in the fridge for an hour or so. Mr Minx still seemed a little cranky about not getting a hot meal with the usual protein/starch/veg components. Until he tasted it. And then our oddball dinner didn't seem so bad.

The end result was pretty as a picture.

Thai-style Seviche

1/2 cup clam juice
1/2 cup lime juice
2 tablespoons powdered coconut milk made into a paste with 2 tablespoons of water
2 teaspoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon lemongrass paste or 2 stalks of fresh lemongrass, finely minced
1 heaping teaspoon Thai red chile paste
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
3 scallions, finely chopped
1 lb of assorted cooked seafood (I used crab, langoustine tails, and scallops)
small handful Thai basil, chopped
1 red chile, sliced into rings (I used a cayenne, since that's what I had)

In a large bowl combine clam juice, lime juice, coconut milk paste, fish sauce, lemongrass, red chile paste, and sugar. Whisk well to incorporate. If the mixture seems thick, add a bit of water. Add red onion, about half the scallions, and the seafood, stirring gently to combine.

Refrigerate for at least half an hour up to 3 hours.

To serve, remove seafood from liquid with a slotted spoon into a glass or bowl, lined with soft lettuce leaves if you'd like. Garnish with Thai basil, scallions, and chile slices.

Serves 4-6