Asian lettuce wraps

                   

Happy Dragon year everyone!

I thought I'd take a little break from posting travel pictures and post a recipe, just to remind myself 8and all of you) that this still is a cooking blog after all. Travels are cool, but unfortunately I don't travel every day. On the other hand, I do tend to cook on a daily basis, especially in the winter, especially when I'm trying to get back in shape after over two months of food and drink orgies.

Since the world is celbrating the Chinese new year, I thought I'd cook one of my favorite Asian recipes, one that I used to eat at PF Cheng's when I lived in Florida. I know, Cheng's isn't exactly a real Chinese joint, but their lettuce wraps rocked and they are light enough and veggie packed enough to satisfy both my weight loss challenge and my healthy habits- eat more veggies! challenge.

So here it is. Maybe not the most adventurous Chinese recipe, but a good, solid one.

ASIAN LETTUCE WRAPS

1 pound ground chicken

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon dark sesame oil

1 tablespoon hoisin sauce

1 tablespoon siracha

1 tablespoon sweet and sour sauce

To serve:

Lettuce leaves

Bean sprouts

Shredded carrot

Shredded cabbage

Cooked brown rice

Heat a non stick skillet or a wok. Mix soy sauce and next 4 ingredients in a bowl. Add chicken to skillet and stir to crumble. Pour sauce over it and cook for about ten minutes, until chicken is done. If the meat should get dry, add a little more sauce. I added siracha because I love the heat it gives to the dish!

When chicken is done, cover and remove from stove.

Serve with lettuce leaves.



Vegetarian pad thai

I've recently became a tofu eating freak. Don't get me wrong, thre's nothing wrong with eating tofu, or with being a freak for that matter. The wierd thing about my tofu eating habit is that I have loathed tofu for so long, I was actually famous for campaining against "that cardboard-like crap". I would tell to everyone that listened to me that never would I dream of ruining a perfectly good dish by putting tofu in it. And so on.

The problem, if you are wondering what my problem was, is that the only way I had ever had tofu was in miso soup and, let's be honest, when you eat it like that it doen't taste like much. And I find that the broth makes it kind of slimey too, which is not my favorite consistency in the world.

I had to go to a Japanese restaurant in Milano to change my mind. There, because of a mistake, they brought me a noodle dish with tofu instead of chicken. What a revelation. Because it was sauteed in spices and condiments, it was actually yummy. There and then I decided that tofu would become part of my diet. I bought it shortly afterward and tried my first tofu recipe at home, adapting a Cooking Light pad thai recipe. Success!

VEGETARIAN PAD THAI

Sauce:

1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoons apple vinegar

1 to 2 tablespoons hot sauce

1 tablespoon honey

Noodles:

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

2 cups thinly sliced shiitake mushroom caps (about 5 ounces)

1 cup matchstick cut zucchini 

1 garlic clove, minced

8 ounces extra-firm tofu, drained and cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1 cup light coconut milk  

1 cup (1-inch) sliced green onion tops

1 cup chopped fresh basil

1/3 cup dry-roasted peanuts

8 ounces uncooked wide rice stick noodles (Banh Pho), cooked and drained

5 lime wedges

To prepare sauce, combine first 4 ingredients, stirring with a whisk.

To prepare noodles, heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, zucchini, and garlic; sauté 2 minutes. Add sauce and tofu; cook 1 minute. Stir in coconut milk; cook 2 minutes. Stir in green onions and next 3 ingredients (lettuce through noodles); cook 1 minute.

Serve with lime wedges.

Thai style fried rice

"Let's make Thai (or French/Chinese/Moroccan/etc.) food this weekend."

You often here me announcing such things on Monday or Tuesday night, as I enjoy a post-work drink at my favorite new bar, the Borromini Art Caffè. I won't lie to you: I announce such things at the beginning of the week because I can't wait for the weekend already. As much as I love my job, I still love cooking and doing nothing all day a little better. Waking up at 10... going dowstairs to have coffee with my friend Samy... taking my sweet time to make it to the pool... what's not to love?

And, of course, having time to cook for 8 or 10 people ROCKS. That is probably my favorite part of the weekend. I cook, they bring the wine/beer. It beats going to the restaurant, both because of the price and the quality of the food.

Every week I come up with a theme, then go with it. My friends are adventorus eaters, thank God, so they never turn down the opportunity to try something new. This past weekend I had my heart set on Thai food, so I made my green curry and also fried rice. As much as I love curry, I have to say that the rice was my favorite part of the meal.

THAI STYLE FRIED RICE

Adapted from Cooking Light

• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon lower-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1 teaspoon sambal oelek (ground fresh chile paste), divided
• 1/4 teaspoon salt, divided
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 bunch green onions
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil, divided
• 2 1/2 cups cooked and cooled brown rice
• 1/4 cup vertically sliced onions
• 2 cups broccoli florets
• 1 cup julienne-cut bell pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
• Cooking spray
• 2 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled
• 4 lime wedges

Preparation

• Combine first 4 ingredients, 1/2 teaspoon sambal oelek, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Combine eggs and remaining 1/2 teaspoon sambal oelek in a bowl. Separate green tops from green onions, and diagonally chop; set aside. Cut green onion bottoms into 1-inch pieces; set aside.
• Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 teaspoons oil to pan, swirling pan to coat evenly. Add rice; stir-fry 1 1/2 minutes, stirring constantly. Transfer rice mixture to a large bowl. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in pan. Add onions to pan; stir-fry 30 seconds or until tender. Add brown sugar mixture to pan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 1 minute or until liquid thickens slightly, stirring occasionally. Add to rice mixture.
• Wipe pan clean with a paper towel; return pan to medium-high heat. Add remaining 2 teaspoons oil to pan, swirling to coat. Add broccoli and bell pepper; stir-fry 3 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add the remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt, green onion bottoms, and garlic; stir-fry 1 minute or until fragrant. Add rice mixture to pan, cook 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated.
• Add egg mixture to pan, swirling to coat pan; cook 30 seconds or just until egg is set. Top with green onion tops; garnish with lime wedges.

Vietnamese spring rolls

When I was a child most of the ethnic options available in Milano were greasy, depressing looking Chinese restaurants where the food was cheap and the smell of fried food lingered on your clothes long after you had left them. Nevertheless my parents loved Chinese food, so we went every weekend, even though the only thing I liked in the menu was steamed white rice. My sister, on the other hand, loved spring rolls. Even though I was only about three at the time I have this very clear memory of her devouring one fried little roll after the other, usually eating so many that they ended up being her main course instead of her appetizer.

As I grew older I started liking Chinese food just fine, and became a fan of many dishes, especially the spicy Szechuan ones, but I have say... spring rolls never really won me over. Don't get me wrong. I like them alright and I do enjoy the occasional Chinese spring roll, but ever since I've discovered the non-fried kind I have become addicted. They are so fresh and packed with crunchy vegetables you can actually feel that they are good for you while you are eating them. I'm not kidding. I was munching on one last night and felt the vitamins just flowing through me. I made them for a little Asian dinner I put together yesterday and decided to make them 100% vegetarian, but they are also very good with the addition of chopped shrimp. You decide.

VIETNAMESE SPRING ROLLS
For 6 rolls

6 round rice paper rolls
6 leaves of lettuce or spinach
1 zucchini, matchstick cut
1 carrot, matchstick cut
A bunch of bean sprouts
1 spring onion, chopped
2 tablespoons chili garlic sauce (or less if you don't like the heat)

2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon water

Submerge rice paper in warm water until soft, doing one sheet at the time.

Mix all vegetables except for lettuce and season with chili paste thinned down with a little water. Toss well. When rice paper is soft place it on a plate, add lettuce leaf, then spoon three tablespoons of vegetables over it. Roll up. Repeat with remaning ingredients.

To make sauce whisk soy, fish sauce, sugar and water in a bowl.

Thai green curry

I'm back. I didn't actually go anywhere, but I have barely posted anything in January and I haven't really read any of your blogs... so I guess that I'll spend the rest of the day doing that, catching up with what has been going on with you in the past three weeks. See, the thing is that I haven't felt very well since the beginning of the month and both cooking and writing about it seemed like a chore instead of the fun activities I've always considered them to be. But I feel better now, and cooking and writing about it once again sound like a great idea. So here's a recipe I've made last week for the first time, although I have eaten it hundred of times at Thai restaurants: green curry with chicken.

THAI GREEN CURRY

1 teaspoon of sesame seed oil
2 onions, sliced
1 zucchini, sliced
3 tablespoons green curry paste
2 pounds chicken breast, cubed
4 tablespoons of shredded fresh basil
2 1/2 cups coconut milk
2 tablespoons fish sauce (nam pla)

Heat up the oil in a wok and saute the onion for a couple of minutes. Add curry paste, stir well and let cook for two more minutes.

Add zucchini, chicken, basil, coconut milk and fish sauce and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked and the sauce has thickened. Garnish with fresh basil and serve.

Thai chicken with basil

 

The first time I had chicken basil I was at a small Thai restaurant in Naples, Florida, a place called Siam Thai. Although it was a stone's throw away from glitzy, snobby 5th Avenue South —Naples' downtown area— the place was  family-ran a hole in the wall that featured the right dose of depressing Asian decor, including a couple of posters of Thailand that had seen better days and a mismatched cutlery. Needless to say, it was one of my favorite restaurants in the area. 

It also happened to be literally a minute away from my office, which is how, on a fall afternoon in 2006, my friend and coworker Dan and I ended up sitting at one of the tables in the dark dining room. Since basil is one of my favorite ingredients and Thai basil sauce happens to be one of their spiciest, I feel in love with the dish immediately. In the following four years I ordered chicken basil at every Thai restaurant I went to, although the one from Siam Thai —much like first love— was hard to forget and remains to this day my favorite.

Enter Tommy. Whenever we eat something at a restaurant, even when it's delicious and flirting with perfection, he always says the same thing. "I bet you can make this better at home." Which is sweet, really, although not always true. Or at least I don't think it's true. He seriously does, he tells me. Anyway, because he said that, I found myself buying a Thai cookbook to try and make chicken basil at home. It's an easy recipe and I have to admit that I make a killer basil sauce. But better than Siam Thai's? I don't think so.

THAI CHICKEN WITH BASIL

Serves 2

2 chicken breast halves, cut into strips

1 small onion, sliced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

Bird eye chilies, to taste, sliced

6 tablespoons (or less if you don;t want it fiery) chili garlic sauce, such as Huy Fong

3 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons fish sauce

2 tablespoons brown sugar

A big bunch of basil, washed and torn

In a wok heat up some oil ( I usually use canola), then add garlic and chiles. Stir fry over medium high heat for a couple of minutes, stirring and making sure that the garlic doesn't burn. Add onions, chicken and chili garlic sauce. Stir and cook until chicken changes color.

Add soy sauce, fish sauce and sugar and stir some more, cooking for a few minutes longer. Remove from fire, add basil and serve immediately.

Vietnamese sweet and peppery fish

 

Ever since I said that I was going to write on my blog on a daily basis I pretty much disappeared and posted twice —which is very typical of me, so I'm not too surprised. Again, I have a good excuse (don't I always?). This time my disappearance has nothing to do with appliance malfunction. It was Tommy's birthday, so for a few days I was busy having birthday drinks and the likes, which meant that I had no time to cook and no time to post new recipes. But now the birthday is over, the hangovers are gone and it's time to get back on track. 

The track being healthy eating, because for one reason or another I kinda forgot about my resolution to only eat stuff that is good for me. So today I'm off to Whole Foods to stock up on grains and vegetables and seafood and for the next month I'm going to straighten this eating situation and go back to my normal habits. In the mean time, here's a really good and healthy recipe, courtesy of Cooking Light. It's a Vietnamese "caramelized" fish that is both sweet and peppery —the best of both worlds.

VIETNAMESE SWEET AND PEPPERY FISH

From Cooking Light

1/2  cup  water, divided

3  tablespoons  sugar

2 1/2  tablespoons  Thai fish sauce

3  tablespoons  minced peeled fresh lemongrass

1  tablespoon  minced fresh garlic

1  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper

1  cup  coarsely chopped green onions

4  (6-ounce) mahi mahi fillets

1  tablespoon  chopped fresh cilantro

Combine 1/4 cup water, sugar, and fish sauce in a large nonstick skillet; bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add lemongrass, garlic, and pepper. Cook 1 1/2 minutes or until slightly reduced. Add 1/4 cup water, onions, and fish, and cook over medium-high heat 7 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork, turning once. Sprinkle with cilantro.

Eggdrop soup

 

Day 2 of unemployment. If you didn't know I am freshly out of a job you can read my previous post here. Anyway, someone today told me that I should write a blog about being unemployed, which kinda sounds like a neat idea, except that it would be the most boring read ever —I woke up. Made coffee. Looked for a journalism job in a town where there's only a newspaper (which just laid me off). Didn't find one. Made lunch. Had drinks. Painted my toenails. Watched paint dry which, incidentally, is more fun than reading this blog about being unemployed.  No, I definitely don't need to start a new blog about being jobless. I'll just bitch and moan about it on this blog, which is what I do most of the times anyways, so, there.

Yesterday I received a ton of sympathy messages from both ex-coworkers, friends and complete strangers (yes, I'm talking about you, Pat Butcher!) which made my day. And made me get all teary and sentimental, something that happens on average once a decade. It was kind of weird, getting chocked up because of e-mails and Facebook messages and blog comments. When Tommy saw me in such a state he asked me a question that, I guess, makes sense if you are not dating a psychopath: "Did you cry when they fired you?" I looked at him as if he had lost his mind —not because I was trying to be a snot, but because I was sincererly bewildered by the question. So I anwered with another question: "No. Why? Do people normally cry when they get canned?" To his credit, I have to say that he shrugged and said something along the lines of "not neccesserly", so that I wouldn't feel too crazy or abnormal. 

The truth is, crying didn't cross my mind at all. Yes, I was losing my job. Yes, I was losing my journalism job that I worked pretty hard to get in the first place. Yes, it was stupid and unfair on twelve different levels. But I just sat there, feeling detached from the whole situation —kinda like when you dream  and you can see yourself doing stuff in the dream and you would like to intervene but you really can't. Or you don't want to. And, really, I didn't get teary until yesterday when I received all those support messages. But I guess that's what you get from a person who, as a little girl, locked herself in the bathroom when she got yelled at so that her parents wouldn't see her crying. 

The teariness didn't last long, though. As I always do when I feel a little down, I made soup. Egg drop soup, to be precise, although is definitely a different version from what you get at a Chinese restaurant.

I felt better immediatly. 

EGG DROP SOUP

Serves one jobless, hungry person

3 cups hot broth (I used chicken but you can use vegetable to make it vegetarian)

1/2 teaspoon five spice

1 Asian thin egg noodle nest

A handful frozen green peas

1 egg

Salt and pepper

4 scallions, thinly sliced

This is really easy. Warm up the broth and stir in the five spice to give it a little Asian kick. When the broth is boiling add the noodles and the frozen peas. Cook for 4 or 5 minutes, until noodles are done.

In the mean time, beat the egg and season it with salt and pepper. 

After the 5 minutes have elapsed remove pot from heat, stir in egg, sprinkle with scallions and enjoy!

Bánh mì

As it often happens with my favorite foods, bánh mì isn't readily available where I live. It's not that I'm crazy picky, it has more to do with the fact that Naples is a pretty mainstream town where ethnic options aren't always plentiful and exciting.
If you ask me, the bánh mì -a Vietnamese sandwich of crunchy baguette, rich pate', spicy pork and refreshing veggies- is possibly one of the best sandwiches in the world, along with the Cuban, the Italian prosciutto di Parma with fresh mozzarella and tomatoes and grilled ham and cheese. After reading a couple of articles about it in cooking magazines such as Cooking Light and Bon Appetit I decided to take the matter in my hands and make it home. It was a hit and it's fairly simple to make once you buy a couple of ingredients from your local Asian market.

BANH MI
Makes 4 sandwiches

1/2 cup grated carrot
1/2 cup grated peeled daikon radish
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 teaspoons brown sugar
Salt
4 tablespoons chili garlic sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 1/2 pound pork tenderloin
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 baguettes
Thin cucumber slices
Fresh cilantro sprigs
2 thinly sliced green onions
1 thinly sliced jalapeño pepper

Combine carrot, radish, vinegar, brown sugar and salt to taste, cover and let stand at least 15 minutes. Drain.

Preheat oven to 400°. Mix chili garlic sauce and 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar, stir well. Sprinkle the pork with 1/2 teaspoon salt and baste with 2 tablespoons of the chili garlic sauce mixture. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes. Cool and refrigerate.

Combine mayonnaise and remaining chili garlic sauce mixture.

Cut each baguette horizontally, cutting to, but not through, the other side. Spread mayonnaise mixture inside baguettes. Thinly slice pork; divide pork between baguettes. Top with carrot mixture. Arrange cucumber slices and cilantro sprigs on each baguette. Top with onions and jalapeño. Press top gently to close; cut each baguette into 4 equal servings and press in panini press if desired.

Pho

For those of you who don't know it yet, I am a restaurant critic. I literally eat (and write about it) for a living which yes, is cool as hell. The coolest thing -other than the newspaper paying for my meals- is getting to try new cuisines and restaurants and, although Naples doesn't really offer anything too crazy, lately a bunch of ethnic restaurants have opened and most of them have become my favorites. Case in point: a little place called Noodle Saigon, responsible for introducing me to the delicious, heavenly pho.
Pho isn't just a Vietnamese soup. Pho is the national dish of Vietnam and it's such a satisfying yet simple dish I could easily eat it every day. Star anise, cinnamon, chiles... I had to have a recipe. So I bought a Vietnamese cook book and have been made my own pho ever since. I make it extremly spicy, but that's just me. If you don't want it too spicy don't marinate the meat in chili garlic sauce and go easy on the siracha.

PHO BO

For broth:
1 qt. water
2 beef buillion cubes
2 pho bo cubes (if you can't find them at the Asian store use one more beef cube instead)
6 pieces of star anise
2 sticks of cinnamon

Combine all ingredients and simmer for 20 minutes. When the broth is ready keep it warm but not boiling. Fish the solids out and discard them.

Other ingredients:
Rice noodles (medium size). I use 1 package (1 pound) for 4 people.
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 can of bean sprouts, drained
a bunch of basil, chopped
a bunch of cilantro, chopped
2 small Thai peppers per person, chopped (or less if they are too spicy to handle)
10 green onions, chopped
1 1/2 lbs beef tenderloin, thinly sliced

Extras:
Siracha hot sauce
Soy sauce
Plum (Hoisin) sauce

After you prepare the broth, soak the noodles in it for about 10 minutes or until ready. Be careful because they overcook easily.

In the mean time, chop and prepare all the other ingredients.

When the noodles are ready place them in 4 bowls. Put the broth back on the stove and bring it to a boil. In the mean time put meat, vegetables and herbs in each bowl over the noodles. When the broth is very hot pour some into each bowl. The meat will begin to cook immediately and will be ready to eat in 2 minutes. Serve with extra sauces on the side.

Chicken and veggie stir fry in black bean sauce

Wow, that is one long title... I thought about calling it "Chinese stir fry", but then again, other than the chili black bean sauce it doesn't have much Chinese in it. It was an attempt to reproduce the heavenly flavors of a dish I ate at Charlie Chiang's a couple of weeks ago, an attempt that failed, but while failing it produced a pretty delicious dinner. The chili black bean sauce is not hard to find -Asian grocery stores carry it, and if Naples, Fla. has an Asian grocery store I expect pretty much every city and town to have one as well.

CHICKEN AND VEGGIE STIR-FRY WITH BLACK BEAN SAUCE

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into thin strips
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons chili black bean sauce
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 zucchini, cut into slices
2 cups snow peas
1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
2 scallions, chopped
Sesame oil for cooking

Place chicken in a bowl and sprinkle with one tablespoon of cornstarch. Stir and set aside.

In a small bowl mix the broth, soy sauce, chili black bean sauce and one tablespoon of cornstarch. Stir to mix well.

Heat a wok on medium high heat, swirl in sesame oil and add the chicken, stir frying for a couple of minutes or until it changes color. Lower heat and add zucchini, snow peas, bell pepper. Season with a dash of soy sauce and cook until vegetables are crisp tender.

Add broth concoction to wok and cook for another couple of minutes, stirring constantly, until sauce is thickened and bubbly. Sprinkle with scallions and serve immediately.