C. sapidus

Chicken curry with sweet potatoes (ca ri ga), from Mai Pham’s Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table. A warming, savory-spicy-sweet winter stew from tropical Vietnam, this tasted even better the following morning. As a bonus, the recipe is quite tolerant to substitutions. I had been meaning to make this for some time, but never quite got around to it. It will not be long before we make it again. Pleasures of the Vietnamese Kitchen includes quite a few other recipes that rock, FWIW. Oops, almost forgot the pic:

I love cookbooks and houses, so thank you for leading off with both. Do you use your porch much? Was the front room next to the porch an addition? I am quite jealous of your potted herbs above the kitchen sink. I would love to do that in our house but unfortunately our kitchen window gets zero winter sun. Is your ristra for show or for use? That cow seems to be giving your living room an accusatory glare. I look forward to reading along this week, especially since Mrs. C grew up on a farm in the Wisconsin prairies. As I recall you did not start out in Kansas, so please work in a bit of your history at appropriate moments. Venison BBQ? I am intrigued. Does venison have enough fat, or do you have to supplement? Blog on!

I was very happy with the flavor and fragrance of the dish, but I do play to try this curry again with proper ingredients and compare. In this case lemon zest and lime leaves were a reasonable substitute, but I don't know whether that would be true in a less-complicated dish where the flavor of lemongrass featured more prominently. Odd that you are so close to lemongrass country and can't find it, whereas we are so far away and lemongrass is reasonably available (although often looking a little tired). And, as always, thanks for the kind words.

In various Asian cuisines, a variety of ingredients are used to add a meaty fullness to vegetable dishes. Options include soy sauce, fish sauce, oyster sauce, yellow soybean sauce (dtow jiow), fermented black beans, dried mushrooms (and their soaking liquid), and chicken stock. Of course, adding a small amount of ground pork works nicely, too.

I suspect that the next foodblogger may know how to balance a spoon on her nose. Amirite, Shelby?

Another fine recipe adapted from Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table: Chicken curry with sweet potatoes (ca ri ga): Brown curry-rubbed chicken thighs with garlic, shallot, and Sriracha. Deglaze and simmer with coconut milk, chicken stock, fish sauce, sliced carrots, onions, ginger, lemon zest and lime leaves (sub for lemongrass). Garnish with scallions, basil, and cilantro. The family and a visiting friend of younger son's inhaled the curry, sopping up the gravy with hunks of sunflower baguette. We will definitely make this again.

Well done, Chris! You can foodblog any time, as far as I am concerned. How’s next week look for you?

Steaming is another option, and we are quite fond of steamed sea bass with scallions, ginger, and black beans. James Peterson has a good recipe in Fish & Shellfish. Perhaps that recipe could be adapted for SV? I love fish in coconut milk and Thai curry paste, but I would recommend something with less assertive flavors if striped bass is a rarity for you.

This picture interests me. We are waiting for a Sears repairman (due on Thursday) to fix the drain line on our dishwasher. It would be a simple repair if I could access the darn thing. Unfortunately, the installer did not put a loop in the electric wiring long enough to pull out the dishwasher (and I’m a lousy electrician). You might ask your installer to add a loop in the electric wiring long enough for your dishwasher to be easily accessed for service.

I like Rittenhouse bonded and Wild Turkey in my Manhattans, but it is difficult not to choose Pikesville Rye at $13 for 750 mL. Every once in a while I hit the perfect proportions on a Manahattan, and the angels sing (even when I only have one ).

For us, toiling was all done yesterday. We had a small family gathering last night, serving tom kha gai, and diner-assembled lettuce wraps with larb gai or a garlicky pork stir-fry. Ham sandwiches for the young ‘uns, mulled white wine for the grown-ups (and near grown-ups), and plenty of cheese, crackers, raw veggies, and dips upon which to nosh. I also baked two crab quiches yesterday for Xmas brunch at my brother’s house. Russian friends invited us for dinner tonight, so Mrs. C will make her ever-popular cabbage salad. No turkey and stuffing for us this year. Boys were up late preparing a scavenger hunt for Mrs. C. Turnabout is fair play – we used to give the boys Xmas scavenger hunts that included math problems. Looking forward to enjoying your feast vicariously! Oh, and extra kudos for involving your charming daughters.

Chris, I am exhausted just reading about your exploits so far. Kudos! Looking forward to the rest of the week. I used to have the same Chicago Cutlery boning knife, but a guest sustained a rather impressive cut when helping to carve a holiday turkey. Greasy fingers, the blade hitting bone unexpectedly, and the lack of a stop on the handle can be bad news. I now use a Tojiro honesuki (chicken boning knife), and find it quite effective.

PattyO, I am terribly sorry to disappoint you but “eternal cucumbers” are nothing more than sliced cucumber sprinkled with a little salt. So, you ask with justifiable annoyance, how did sliced cucumbers become “eternal”? When our boys were younger, cucumbers were the only vegetable that they would eat reliably. Consequently, we served cucumbers with darn near every meal. When I did my foodblog, Priscilla (initiator of the Dinner! thread, among other accomplishments) referred to the ever-present vegetable accompaniment as “eternal cucumbers.” In compensation for misleading you, here is my favorite recipe for SE Asian cucumber salad (clicky), from Mai Pham's Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table. I hope that provides some consolation.

Continuing the shrimp theme . . . Shrimp in spinach-tomato curry sauce: with coconut milk, tomatoes, ghee, garlic, ginger, mustard, mustard seeds, turmeric, cayenne, and cumin. Coconut milk makes everything better. ”Simplest pulao”: made with chicken stock and ghee-fried onions, garlic, ginger, black peppercorns, and a bay leaf. Eternal cucumbers. Teenaged boys have reverted to complaining about perfectly good vegetables, so we are going back to basics.

Scotty Boy - wow, that looks like an amazing meal! Kim: Thanks! Brown pork chops in a skillet, reduce heat, and then cook the chops through with garlic and dry white wine. Remove the chops and deglaze the pan with amontillado. Add olive oil and more minced garlic, cook until the sauce is syrupy, and then finish with chopped parsley and lemon juice. Or just look in Bittman’s How to Cook Everything, if you happen to have that book. An unusually conventional dinner for us tonight: roasted chicken thighs with tarragon butter; spaghetti with home-made pesto; and eternal cucumbers.

dcarch – intricate and beautiful as always Chris Taylor – agreed, and thanks! String beans with roasted chile sauce and pork, stir-fried with plenty of garlic, seasoned with fish sauce and soy sauce, finished with handfuls of Thai basil, and served with jasmine rice. A favorite weeknight meal adapted from Kasma Loha-Unchit's It Rains Fishes.

We started dinner with a glass of coquito, a Puerto Rican version of eggnog made with coconut milk. A friend gave us a batch, and quite frankly I could have skipped dinner for more coquito. Must. Get. Recipe. ”Express” bhaji, from My Bombay Kitchen. We used a mix of spinach, red chard, and scallion greens, stir-fried with green chile and julienned ginger. Murgh masala (chicken in onion tomato gravy): I doubled the recipe from Classic Indian Cooking. Half went to a pot luck at work; the rest stayed home for dinner. Served with basmati rice, courtesy of Mrs. C. I snapped a couple of pictures while cooking. Chicken thighs were de-skinned, chopped through the bone, browned, and set aside. Ten cups of thinly-sliced onions were then slowly brown-fried in the rendered chicken fat (they still had a ways to go in the picture). Add chopped garlic, grated ginger, Ceylon cinnamon, green cardamom, cayenne, and turmeric, and then simmer with chopped tomatoes, boiling water, and chicken. Finish with chopped cilantro and roasted, ground cumin.

Chris, beautiful pork spare ribs! Our dinner: Penne with mushroom sauce; Savoy cabbage with pancetta and onions

Dakki, I loves me some frijoles charros. I made a “can’t miss” recipe for pork chops. Meh, still a touch on the dry side, but not horrible. The sauce was delicious and the cabbage turned out nicely. Careful and thorough testing of the port - Dow's Fine Tawny Porto - ensured that it was fit for inclusion in a family meal. Pork chops with sherry-garlic sauce, braised red cabbage with port and walnuts, store-bought bread

:laugh: and thanks! Calabacitas and chayote seem to go so well with Mexican flavors. I forgot to mention that I fried the sliced garlic in oil that I had used to fry Pasilla chiles, which added a subtle heat and extra flavor.

Tortilla soup with smoked turkey stock, chicken, queso fresco, lime wedges, and fried pasilla chiles. Details on Making Mexican at Home (clicky)

Sopa de tortilla con pollo (tortilla soup with chicken): We used Mrs. C’s smoked turkey stock from Thanksgiving. Browned onions and garlic cloves, pureed to a sauce with tomatoes, fried to deepen the flavors, and then simmered with smoked turkey stock and cubed chicken thigh meat. Served with cubed queso fresco, fried tortilla strips, fried chile pasilla, and lime wedges. Calabacitas al mojo de ajo (zucchini with toasted garlic and lime) Arroz blanco (white rice): Jasmine rice with roasted chile Poblano, Mexican oregano, white onion, garlic, and chicken stock.

Excellent, thank you! If I might as one more question - how much rosewater do you add per volume of syrup in your baklawa?

After. As heidih described, baklava improves after a few days. So no one has added rose water to their baklava syrup? Guess I'll have to break new ground with the next batch.

Firstly, thanks to ChefCrash for posting this wonderful and dangerous recipe. I made a 13 x 9 pan of easy baklava using all butter, two layers of nut filling, and syrup containing sugar, honey, cinnamon bark, cloves, and lemon zest. After the baklava soaked in the syrup for a few days, Mrs. C declared it “the best baklava I have ever eaten.” The texture of the phyllo dough was a little off, but I used a different brand this time. For purposes of scientific experimentation, I feel obligated to repeat the baklava using my normal brand of phyllo dough. Yep, I am willing to take one for the team. Has anyone tried adding a little rose water to the syrup?