Green(ish) Curry

We tried a new curry recipe and the sauce turned out really nice--light and mild. It was supposed to use Panang curry paste, but I didn't want to make a special trip to the Asian grocery so I went with green curry paste and just a touch of red (maybe 1/2 tsp at most) to spice it up.

Green curry paste (I used most of a 4-oz can of Thai Kitchen green)
1 13-oz can light coconut milk
1 1/2 tsp grated lime zest or 3 kaffir lime leaves (I cheated and left this out but it'd probably be nice to have)
1 1/2 tsp soy sauce
several shredded basil leaves or a generous sprinkling of dried basil
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 tsp lime juice

Heat a large pan on medium and mix together the curry paste, coconut milk, lime zest, and soy sauce. Simmer for 5 minutes or so and add whatever veggies or pre-cooked meats you want. Add the basil, cilantro, and lime juice at the end and serve over rice. Yum.

Our recipe called for red peppers, cucumbers, and tofu, but those felt a little bland to us, so next time I think we'll go for something stronger like broccoli and peanuts.

Froyo?

So are frozen yogurt stores all the rage across the country, or just around here? In the last year or so we've seen about three or four places pop up selling frozen yogurt. Not TCBY-type places. These are all self-serve and the gimmick is that they have a topping bar with everything from nuts to little pieces of mochi. Like this place, which is going in about a block from us. Get a load of that list!

We're crazy about it. Is this a nationwide fad?

Inarizushi is Yummy!

I finally got around to making inarizushi (稲荷寿司) this past Monday. Basically, do the following: 

Cook 1.5 cups of sticky white rice (that is 1.5 cups dry), which was at least a cooked cup too much.

Cool the rice off. Traditionally, I suppose you just set it out, but I sped up the process by putting the rice in a big bowl, spreading it out as much as possible, and putting the bowl in the fridge for a while.


Mix together about 3 tablespoons of rice vinegar with 1.5 tablespoons of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon salt. If needed, nuke the mixture for a few seconds to help the sugar dissolve. I actually used closer to 4 tablespoons of rice vinegar and about 2 tablespoons of sugar. A mug works great for this mixture, as it is microwavable.

Anyway, once your rice is cool enough to handle comfortably (as in handle with your hands), mix it in with the rice until you feel like all the rice has some mixture on it.

Open a can of inarizushi-no-moto, which is the preseasoned fried tofu envelopes that make inarizushi so yummy. Carefully open each tofu envelope with your fingers and stuff with the rice mixture, leaving room to fold over the side so the rice doesn't fall back out. 

Snarf your fantabulous inarizushi! You can eat the leftover rice plain or you can roll it in nori (seaweed) for other sushi yumminess.

The cost of this yummy treat is not too bad when compared to buying inarizushi from a store (even from Lawson's outside the embassy compound in Tokyo, which is where I used to buy it as an occasional treat). The rice and rice vinegar are relatively cheap, since most of you will have them on hand already. The inarizushi-no-moto costs about $4.50 from your local Japanese market (um, I mean the Japanese market in your American city, not the market in your Japanese city). 


P.S. - Reese LOVED the leftover juice from the inarizushi-no-moto can.

Chèvre to the rescue

I <3 cheese. All kinds of cheese- I even like some blue cheese on the occasional salad.
I also <3 Mexican foods. This often involves Mexican blend cheese and all of their amazing melty, gooy wonder. This works out well for Cherilyn, who is all about the easy quesadilla or nachos, my problem is I really ought to avoid lactose. This is easy for me when it comes to milk as I have never enjoyed it. I drink Almond Breeze almond milk and life is good. Lactose free ice cream and almond or rice based ice creams are tasty as well. However cheese is my Achilles' heel.

Recently I decided, on a whim, to melt some Chèvre w/ basil I had on my tortilla and then add my salsa and see how it worked... It was AMAZING! The tartness of the Chèvre went so well with the salsa I was amazed! Since then I have obtained some Chèvre with pimentos in it & that is also very tasty! It melts well (though I find I have to use a knife to smear it around) & I love the blend with the salsa!

Does anyone else have any suggestions of tasty things to do with Chèvre? I eat it on crackers and salad and tortillas now. Anything to help me get my cheese fix, and stay out of the yummy sharp cheddar also in the fridge would be good!

Whomever gifted the yummy sugars...

Thank you!
I keep forgetting which sib gave Cherilyn the yummy fancy sugars, but I am enjoying them on top of my coffee! I also introduced Cherilyn to vanilla sugar on fresh strawberries! Yum yum!

General Food Updates

Hello, all and welcome, Dena! I have been cooking quite a bit recently but I don't really feel ready to be putting any new recipes on here. My cooking has been more oriented in a skill-building direction, following existing recipes written by professionals. The big news is I have started teaching myself how to bake bread! I got a fantastic book simply entitled "Bread." It is actually a DK guide. Thus far my experiences with this book have been excellent! The recipes are so detailed and thorough that it's basically impossible to mess them up so long as you are literate and at least passably good at following directions :)

Beyond the bread-making front, it is Gazpacho season!!! I love Gazpacho season. It is one of my favorite times of year. This year my garden is pretty much an epic failure. The fates are conspiring against me and I have had basically zero luck getting anything to grow and stay growing. So I have been leaning heavily on my local farmers’ market for my produce. Fortunately, they have phenomenal stuff!

K, maybe I lied a little because I am going to include a recipe for “zucchini carpaccio.” The name is a little over the top but you can blame Tyler Florence for that because I sharked the idea from him.

Zucchini Carpaccio:

2 small zucchini

2 tbs. extra virgin olive oil

Juice of ½ a lemon (recipe works without this too but this adds a pleasant freshness and makes it more salad-y)

Freshly cracked pepper/ lemon pepper

Salt

2 tbs julienned basil and/or julienned mint

Parmesan to taste ( I would recommend using the real stuff for this just because it’s pretty major in the recipe. Shaved will give you the best texture compliment too)

Very thinly slice the zucchini into rounds using either a very sharp knife and a steady hand or a mandolin. Dress with the oil, lemon, salt, and pepper. Shave your parmesan over the zucchini using your mandolin, sharpy-sharp knife, or the shaving side of a box grater. Add your julienned herbs (a combo of mint and basil is actually really nice on this). Mix gently and eat J

*I have been making this the night before for my lunch and it refrigerates well. The zucchini stayed firm and everything was delicious.

Potato and Cauliflower Burritos

We made this tonight and it was super yummy and different from any of our other burritos. I got kind of a breakfast burrito vibe out of it, which was nice. It turned out medium spicy, but I think those who like stuff lower on the spice continuum could leave out the chipotle chili and still get a nice flavor just from the fire-roasted tomatoes.

So here it is:

One 15-oz can fire-roasted tomatoes
1 chipotle chili in adobo sauce
2 cloves garlic, peeled

2 tsp vegetable oil for sauteeing
1 small onion, halved and sliced thin
1/2 tsp dried oregano
3 cups cauliflower, chopped small
1 medium potato (I used a red potato), cut into small cubes

3 Tbs. chopped cilantro
several medium flour tortillas
a nice pile of shredded jack cheese
some cooked rice if you want (we forgot it, but the burritos would be less spicy if we used it)

1. Pulse the tomatoes, chili, and garlic in a food processor until it turns into salsa.
2. Heat the oil in a large skillet on medium and sautee the onion a couple minutes. Stir in cauliflower, potatoes, and tomato stuff, add salt and pepper to taste. Cover and simmer 10 to 15 minutes until potatoes are cooked through and then simmer 5 minutes more to thicken up the sauce.
3. Stir in the cilantro and spoon your mix onto your tortillas. Add cheese and maybe rice, and serve. Yum!