C. sapidus

Indian tonight, mostly from Curry Cuisine. Boatman’s shrimp masala: Shrimp simmered in a masala of fried cumin, curry leaves, sliced onions, turmeric, cayenne, tomato paste, and thinly-sliced ginger, and then garnished with cilantro (not pictured). Oops, reading the recipe I was supposed to add sliced tomatoes. Guess I’ll have to use the tomatoes tomorrow somehow. Green pea pilau: Peas and basmati rice with fried onions, cinnamon, cumin, cloves, cardamom, and bay leaf, with shredded mint and cilantro folded in just before serving. Fried okra, courtesy of Mrs. C.

Continuing our charcoal-grilled chicken theme . . . Bahamian grilled chicken, from The Barbecue Bible. We rinsed chicken thighs with lime juice before marinating the chicken with onion, garlic, Scotch Bonnet chiles, fresh thyme, paprika, white pepper, salt, and oil. The chile heat did not come through, but a little Tapatio sauce fixed that. Bahamian peas and rice: bacon, onion, garlic, green bell pepper, basil, thyme, tomato paste, sugar, S&P, and green pigeon peas. What’s not to like? Mrs. C cooked up some vinegary greens from the CSA box.

Thank you, Kim. I preheated the pan before adding butter, and then let the butter brown before adding the eggs. By the time I finished fumbling around with the fillings, the omelet was about done. I hope Mr. Kim appreciated his send-off.

Omelet with Gruyere cheese and garlic-scape pesto. Mrs. C made the pesto, which was totally delicious and well worth being a social pariah for a day or two. Eggs and garlic scapes from the CSA box.

If feels like summer, so we switched to simple summer dinner mode and fired up the charcoal grill. Grilled chicken thighs marinated with garlic, black pepper, fish sauce, and lime juice. Grilled zucchini, same marinade as the chicken (I said it was a simple meal). We made a quick dipping sauce of ginger, lime and lemon juice, fish sauce, and sugar. Crusty buttered bread, leftover salad, and call it dinner.

Kim, thank you for the very kind words. Your Mother’s Day spread looks fabulous, and the dinner party sounds like a delightful evening. We had a summery dinner on a cool, drizzly evening . . . Chicken with soy-ginger-sesame oil-rice vinegar marinade, grilled over charcoal. Grilled asparagus with sesame oil Served with buttered shoepeg corn, and bread with smoked gouda cheese.

Cashew shrimp (gkong pad med mamauang himapahn), from Dancing Shrimp: Marinate shrimp with tapioca starch, fish sauce, black soy, and peanut oil. Slowly fry raw cashews and remove. Fry dried chiles and remove. Stir-fry two minced heads of garlic(!) and sliced shallots, and then add the shrimp and marinade. When the shrimp is nearly done, add oyster sauce, white pepper, and the cashews and fried chiles. Satay beef (nuea satay), from Thailand the Beautiful: Slice flank steak thinly and marinate with coconut milk, sugar, curry powder, fish sauce, and oil. The grill was uncooperative, so Mrs. C cooked the satay under the broiler. Peanut sauce (nam jim satay): Very simple and very good – coconut milk, red curry paste, fish sauce, sugar, and ground roasted peanuts, combined and simmered. I could make a satisfying meal of peanut sauce and jasmine rice. Edamame with sesame oil: Made by Mrs. C.

Can’t go wrong with pulled pork. Home-style chicken and potato curry (murgir jhol) and ghee rice (ghee bhaat), courtesy of Vivek Singh in Curry Cuisine. Mrs. C dry-fried delicious, meaty mushrooms, flavored with soy sauce and (I think) balsamic vinegar. For the chicken we fried bay leaves, cardamom pods, and black peppercorns; brown-fried onions; added potatoes and chicken thighs (skinned and chopped in half); seasoned with ginger and garlic paste, coriander, cumin, cayenne, and turmeric; cooked everything down with chopped tomatoes; simmered until done with chicken stock; and finished the dish with chopped cilantro and roasted / ground cinnamon and cardamom. We soaked basmati rice, boiled the rice with excess water (like pasta), drained when done, and then mixed the rice with ghee and sea salt.

Prawn, good to see you posting again (and I hope the exam went well). Kim, nice looking meal as always. I remember my mother making Yorkies, so yours brought a smile. Garlic-black bean pan-fried fish fillets, served over jasmine rice. This is a family favorite. The topping contained two heads of minced garlic, grated ginger, chopped cilantro stems, dried salted black beans, cayenne, dark soy, sugar, and rice wine. The fish is partly-fried and then removed to rest while the topping is cooked, and then the fish is finished in the pan with the topping. This two-stage cooking seems to yield a particularly delicate texture. Mrs. C roasted French beans with garlic and ginger, and made cornbread with freshly-ground cornmeal from the CSA.

Oh, I wouldn’t mind a few more . . . Stir-fried shrimp in aromatic tomato-cream sauce; turmeric rice; and greens from the CSA. The curry made a delightful salad dressing.

Thank you, Blether, chicken hora-pa (Thai basil vs holy basil) would be more accurate. I do hope to grow some holy basil this summer and make the dish properly. On a slightly related note, it always amuses me when restaurant menus list the dish as "chicken kapow" -- conjures images of a cheesy fight scene from the old Batman show.

Kim, thank you, and props for the gorgeous wings! When I can’t think of what to cook, thoughts incline towards favorite tastes and fragrances – spicy chiles, fragrant garlic, shallots, and Thai basil, salty-savory fish sauce and soy sauce, vinegary tang, and a touch of sweetness to round out the flavors. Yup, chicken stir-fried with chiles and basil (chicken kaprao). No holy basil, so we used Thai basil mixed with a few mint leaves. Served with jasmine rice and peppery salad greens, the first allotment of our first year with a CSA.

Any chance we (well, OK, *I*) could get details on Mrs. C's salad so it would be FABULOUSLY famous, instead of modestly..... Mrs. C never makes anything the same way twice, but here is the gist of her cabbage salad. Separately, brown slivered almonds and broken-up dry Ramen noodles in salted butter. Chop up dried fruit (cranberries, raisins, etc.). Thinly slice cabbage (Napa, Savoy, or green cabbage). Mix up a dressing containing acid (rice vinegar, fruit vinegar, and/or lime juice), sugar (honey, palm sugar, simple syrup, etc.), soy sauce, and oil. The original recipe, long since forgotten, called for a fairly sweet dressing but Mrs. C prefers it tart. Toss cabbage with a minimal amount of dressing and let sit until the cabbage wilts (about 10 minutes). Just before serving, mix in the dried fruit and butter-browned almonds and Ramen. Enjoy!

I would like a dinner invitation to each of your houses, please. Slipper burgers (chapli kebab), from Barbecue Bible. Ground buffalo (sub for lamb) mixed with onions, garlic, ginger, cilantro, chiles, cayenne, black pepper, coriander, cumin, and salt. Burgers were chilled for an hour and then grilled to medium. The boys, bless their hearts, prefer frozen patties from the grocery store. I topped my slipper burger with Sriracha, mayo, and feta cheese, and enjoyed it with Mrs. C's modestly famous cabbage salad.

Red chile steak, from Mexican Everyday. There is a shortcut version made with ancho chile powder, but we had none so we made it with toasted / soaked / blended whole ancho chiles. Chunks of steak browned medium-rare and browned white onion, simmered with tomatoes, pinto beans, beef broth, garlic, cumin, and Mexican oregano. A long-simmered weekend version with beef chuck would be even better. Mrs. C made delicious batch of guacamole, which did not survive to picture time.

I agree with this completely. Our kitchen and dining room are open to each other, but we just went to considerable trouble to remove the walls that isolated the kitchen and dining room from the rest of the house. Despite the fact that we are not yet finished (and may not be finished for a while . . .), I smile every time I glance up from the cutting board and see the living room, the family, and the fireplace. Our house is pretty small, but open sight lines make a space feel much larger. We are pretty informal when we entertain, so I don't worry about a few dirty pots and pans. Cleaning as you cook keeps things manageable, and one can hide a lot of dirty dishes in a large, deep sink.

Kalypso, great tip on the carne de res con col. We made it for dinner tonight, and the family loved it. Cilantro looked pretty sad at the grocery store, so we used culantro instead. Accompanied by our usual arroz blanco, cooked with chicken stock, white onion, garlic, roasted chile Poblano, and Mexican oregano. Carne de res con col with arroz blanco

No posts since August? Tai bai chicken (tai bai ji), from Land of Plenty. Looks are deceiving – what you cannot see are the piles of dried chiles, pickled chiles, and scallion whites that flavored the oil, or the cup and a half of chicken stock that simmered down with Sichuan peppercorns, Shaoxing wine and dark soy to make a delicious, very spicy-and-numbing sauce. Finished with scallion greens and sesame oil. Younger son invited a friend over for dinner. The friend was a trooper, asked for seconds, and then soothed the burn with lots of ice cream.

Andrea, thank you! (and we would love to see pictures next time). Percy, thanks, I’m back to normal(ish). I learned a good bit about Parsi-style eggs from you, of course, right here on this thread! Gautam and a few others were also kind enough to lend insights. The eggs upthread were loosely based on the akuri recipe in Niloufer Ichaporia King’s My Bombay Kitchen, adapted to the ingredients at hand.

I enjoyed Breath of a Wok, but more for the technical, cultural, and historical information than for the recipes. Also, it pissed me off that the book’s binding fell apart almost immediately. Ratings caveat: many of the recipes in the book are relatively mild, whereas I generally prefer a healthy blast of chile heat. Feel free to adjust expectations accordingly. Edited to add: Chris, your pictures look awesome! The following recipes were winners: Lee Wan Ching’s sizzling pepper and salt shrimp (p. 104): Probably my favorite recipe in the book. Delicious, dead simple, and an excellent basis for improvisation. Millie Chan’s garlic shrimp (p. 105) Martin Yan’s Genghis Khan beef (p. 91) Also good: Stir-fried chicken and shallots (p. 68) Chicken with Sichuan peppercorns CCTI (p. 68) Uncle Sherman’s home-style chicken and vegetables (p. 69): Very kid-friendly. Stir-fried pork with scallions (p. 81) Fried rice with ham, egg, and scallions (p. 120) Ming Tsai’s Mandarin fried rice (p. 121) Martin Yan’s Mandarin five-flavored boneless pork chops (p. 188) Virginia Yee’s dry-fried Sichuan string beans (p. 160) Sweet and sour cabbage (p. 146) OK: Mrs. Miu’s stir-fried chicken with cashews (p. 71) Stir-fried shrimp with garlic sauce (p. 106) Lee Wan Ching’s Chinese broccoli with ginger sauce (p. 140) Uncle Lang’s pan-fried sea bass (p. 162) Not good: Kung pao chicken (p. 74)

Bad news: home sick. Good news: time to make Breakfast! Parsi-style scrambled eggs (caramelized onions, garlic, green chiles, dried fenugreek leaves, and dollops of ghee) on grocery store garlic naan (rubbed with olive oil and toasted on the gas grill). The scrambled eggs weren't as creamy as they could have been, but the flavor hit the spot.

Black walnut (Juglans nigra) produces an allelopathic chemical called juglone, which is most prevalent in the roots but also found at lower concentrations in leaves, bark, and wood. Juglone is poorly soluble in water, but may kill or damage tomatoes, rhododendrons, and other plants growing near black walnut trees. Personally, I would not hesitate to use a cutting board made from black walnut. The woodworker (not the cook or diners) has far greater potential for exposure. Absent severe allergies, the risk of adverse health effects from using a black walnut chopping block is likely to be insignificant. If one is concerned, however, there are many other beautiful and functional woods from which to choose. More information from Ohio State (clicky)

From Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking: Grilled chicken alla diavola, Roman style: Younger son marinated chicken thighs with lemon juice, olive oil, and coarsely-ground black pepper. The lemon flavor permeated the chicken, marrying nicely with the crusty grill flavors. Conchiglie with peas, bacon, and ricotta sauce: Better ricotta would have improved this, but it is hard to go too far wrong with bacon, butter, parmesan, peas, and pasta.

I will never again use a nonstick pan for high-heat cooking. While frying a paste of pureed shallots, garlic, and chiles in a non-stick saute pan, I noticed two rather disturbing developments: - the spice paste turning a sickly grayish-green, and - the industrial-strength stench of burning plastic Needless to say, the nonstick coating on the Circulon Premier Professional pan had failed spectacularly. Even more needless to say, I used a stainless steel-lined pan to prepare a new batch of spice paste. Good thing we don’t have a parrot. I should have taken a picture of the revolting mess before tossing everything in the trash.

Laotian Chicken and potato curry (khoua kai), from Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet. Yes, I know that Laos is not Thailand, but this thread seemed like the closest fit. Served with jasmine rice and raw vegetables. To make the curry, chop chicken legs through the bone and toss with salt and pepper. Parboil Yukon Gold potatoes and reserve the potato water. Fry a paste of shallots, garlic, and soaked chiles, and then brown the chicken in the paste with fish sauce. Deglaze with potato water and coconut milk, add the potatoes, and simmer until tender. Add coconut cream, lime leaves, chopped scallions, and chopped cilantro, adjust seasoning, and finish with a grinding of black pepper. I am looking forward to leftovers at lunch tomorrow.