C. sapidus

Gautam, you make an excellent case. I have added chayote to my vegetable garden list for this year. Thanks for the fascinating information. If we do get any fruits from our chayote, the boys prefer to eat them raw rather than cooked.

We marinated thick T-bone steaks with soy sauce, black pepper, and mashed garlic; grilled the steaks, and then rested them in a warm oven. Most of the family simply devoured the steaks plain. Elder son is playing two sports at the moment, so he polished off two steaks (one per sport, presumably). The children ate a salad of sliced cucumbers, Romaine lettuce, and halved grape tomatoes, topped with ranch dressing. After the youngsters had take their share we mixed in sliced lemongrass and shallots, torn mint leaves, and a dressing of pureed cilantro stems, chiles, garlic, lemon juice, palm sugar, white pepper, and fish sauce. For starch, I cooked coconut rice and Mrs. C whipped up a tasty fingerling potato salad. My plate: steak salad and coconut rice.

A simple and satisfying weeknight dinner from Thailand the Beautiful Cookbook, served with jasmine rice. Curried shrimp (goong pad pong garee): Slivered onions, red bell peppers, and green peppers (I used Poblano chiles) stir-fried with garlic, oyster sauce, fish sauce, sugar, curry powder, and Thai basil. Bean sprout pork (moo pad tua ngok): Bean sprouts, ground pork, and scallions stir-fried with garlic, white pepper, sugar, and fish sauce.

Thanks, nakji. I take it that you are fond of zucchini? I have never seen fresh hearts of palm, so we used canned (pictured on Wikipedia - clicky). Canned hearts of palm taste sweet, somewhat unctuous, and are soft enough to cut easily with a dull knife. Artichoke hearts (or perhaps white asparagus) might be a closer substitute than bamboo shoots. As always, I love hearing about what you create, adapt, and overcome.

Crema de palmitos (pureed hearts of palm soup). More on Making Mexican at home (click).

Gautam, I doubt we have gone many days without cucumbers, but perhaps I am delusional from a lack of cucumbers. We will be making do with limited vegetable garden space again this summer, but I am intrigued by your suggestion. Perhaps this belongs on another thread, but what do chayote leaves taste like and how would one typically use them? Thanks, kalypso! I liked chile limon, too, and using it with chicken sounds like a nice twist. Crema de palmitos from Zarela’s Veracruz: saute garlic, three bunches of chopped scallion whites, and chopped hearts of palm. Add chicken broth, buzz with a stick blender, heat through, and garnish with scallion greens. Simple, good, and quite rich (even without any crema).

Chileatole verde. Surprisingly, this is the first-ever mention on eGullet. Details and picture on Making Mexican at Home (clicky).

Chileatole verde, from Zarela’s Veracruz. Chunks of chayote and zucchini simmered until barely tender in a broth of pureed spinach, tomatillos, onion, garlic, jalapenos, cilantro, tarragon (sub for hoya santa), parsley, and epazote in homemade chicken stock. Pureed toasted sesame seeds thickened the chileatole and added a lovely flavor. This had an unusual (in a good way) combination of flavors that I keep thinking about. Definitely worth making again, and further motivation to find a sunny window to grow hoya santa.

Grilled chicken, Sinaloa-style (Authentic Mexican); arroz blanco (Mexican Everyday); and corn-mango salsa (Vegetables Everyday). We marinated the chicken with fresh-squeezed orange juice and pureed onion, garlic, thyme, Mexican oregano, bay leaves, and S&P. For the salsa we boiled frozen corn on the cob, sliced off the kernels, and mixed in chopped Champagne mango, minced jalapeno chile, lime juice, salt, and cilantro. Delicious, although perhaps not traditional. The corn and mango were so sweet that the salsa needed extra lime juice and salt to balance.

Mmm, beautiful eggs. No enticing leftovers demanded to be eaten this morning so I made an omelet, filled and topped with shaved Romano cheese and a saute of shallots, roasted chile Poblano rajas, and a dab of black chipotle paste.

Klary, your husband is a fortunate man. menuinprogress, beautiful scallops! eVITAERC, welcome to dinner! Andrew’s Goan fish curry from My Bombay Kitchen: Baked acorn squash (courtesy of Mrs. C), cumin rice, and cucumber and ginger salad:

Leftovers for breakfast, tarted up with slivered almonds and more cilantro.

What was in your leek and carrot soup? I am still seeking ultimacy in carrot soups, but we have made some quite pleasant ones recently. From upthread: carrot soup with garlic and ginger (clickety). Last night we made curried carrot soup from Vegetables Everyday. Saute leeks until brown, add carrots, sherry, curry powder, and chicken stock. Simmer until tender, puree with milk, and finish with cilantro. Our sherry supply must have, um, evaporated, so we substituted white wine and a finishing glug of sherry vinegar. Not ultimate, but the acidity brightened the flavors nicely.

Two generally well-reviewed books: D.J. Mesfin: Exotic Ethiopian Cooking. I have this book but have not cooked from it yet, partly because I lack ready access to teff, and partly because I have shied away from the remarkable amount of butter in many recipes. Marcus Samuelsson: The Soul of a New Cuisine. This includes a few Ethiopian recipes in a pan-African cookbook. eGullet thread discussing Ethiopian cookbooks: Ethiopian recipes (clicky) I grew up near DC, so that is my standard for Ethiopian food. I have usually been disappointed when I have tried Ethiopian restaurants elsewhere.

Baguette! *slaps forehead* No leftovers, but I do have a breakfast-sized container of rice, mushrooms, and a smidgeon of thit bo kho juice stashed in the fridge. Whew, thanks, OnigiriFB, but you give too much credit. Most of the time I’m just following a recipe.

A strong contender for the best stew I have ever eaten: thit bo kho (beef stew with star anise and basil) from Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table. Annato oil, fish sauce, and soy sauce provided color, and the come-hither aromas of frying garlic and shallots, browning beef, and simmering lemongrass, curry powder, and freshly-toasted and ground star anise filled the kitchen. Adding garlic, shallots, and basil in stages layered the flavors nicely, and the garnish of Thai basil, cilantro, and thinly-sliced onion added a fresh, aromatic punch. Mrs. C sauteed Portobello mushrooms with red wine and thyme, earning a score of nine from both boys. Served with jasmine rice, green salad, sliced cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes. Thit bo kho

Kalypso, those soups would match our weather nicely. We made a batch of salsa negra from Rick Bayless’ Mexican Kitchen. Ingredients: We fried the chipotles and garlic cloves, ground them to a paste with piloncillo syrup, and then fried the paste to intensify the flavors. The end result reminded me of a deliciously smoky nahm phrik pao, but without the oil slick. I can see adding a dab of this salsa to anything that can be improved with a jolt of sweet-smoky chile heat. You can see how salsa negra earned its name: We used this salsa to make camarones enchipotladas. We dry-roasted and pureed garlic, white onion, and tomatoes with ground cloves and pepper, fried the sauce to concentrate the flavors, added salsa negra, and then cooked the shrimp in the sauce. Unfortunately I added salsa negra too enthusiastically, so results were muy picante, too much so for the family. We have lots of salsa negra left over, so I am determined to make better use of it next time. Served with arroz blanco, fortified with chicken stock, white onion, frozen peas and chunks of leftover chicken. The camarones also made a nice topping for green salad.

Funny and hunger-inducing is a rare combination, one that you capture with aplomb. I always look forward to your travelogue, and appreciate the time that you put into them. Cool garden. Did you happen to notice what material they used for the walls of their raised beds? Concrete poured into forms, perhaps? I like the look of that curry, too. C'mon, you didn’t sneak a taste?

The recipe calls for crisping the bacon in garlicky olive oil, and then quickly boiling down dry white wine in the hot porky lipids. We happened to have sauvignon blanc dregs in the fridge, added a little extra to finish the bottle, and found the additional touch of acidity welcome. Fettuccine Alfredo was one of the very first things that I learned to cook, so (other than calories, of course ) I have no issue with rich sauces. As with many of Marcella’s dishes, the rich sauce is spread quite thinly over copious pasta. I generally use Marcella’s pasta-to-sauce ratio for fat- and cream-based sauces, and double the sauce for tomato-based pasta dishes. Sounds like a similar idea to a recipe that I have on my list: fettuccine al limone from Marcella’s Italian Kitchen. Thanks, Rona!

Spaghetti with carbonara sauce (Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, p. 202). This was my first time making carbonara. Pasteurized eggs and grated Parmesan and Romano cheeses soaked up generous quantities of bacon grease and garlic-infused oil. Boiled-down sauvignon blanc lent a subtle tang. Good stuff, but the youngsters were surprisingly unenthusiastic.

We live in a town of 50K located an hour from DC and Baltimore. Readily available: creme fraiche, Mexican crema, miso, frozen duck, pancetta, pig trotters/tails/tripe. Other pig parts would require a 45-minute drive. We have most of the other ingredients in the kitchen, but I had to mail-order them. No specialized butcher. I am amazed that so many people can find sherry vinegar locally. I searched for weeks, and finally ordered a bottle from Kalyustans (along with pomegranate molasses, oddly enough, and a few Indian spices). Good luck with the cookbook! (edited to add a few pig parts)

Thank you, Katie. Yup, the recipe is pretty simple. My Bombay Kitchen is well worth getting, but in the meantime here is a link to the recipe: pumpkin roasted with curry leaves (clickety). I hope you enjoy it.

Butternut squash with curry leaves, adapted from My Bombay Kitchen. Sliced squash tossed with olive oil, garlic, fresh and dried chiles, and salt. Strewn with curry leaves and baked in a hot oven. The savory flavors contrasted nicely with the sweet squash, and the browned bits were especially delightful. This was not our whole meal, but for me, it could have been.

My favorite take-out pizza topping combination is jalapeno and anchovy. When a large group orders pizza, this can be a surprisingly popular combination, often one of the first to disappear (definitely before the pineapple pizza -- sorry Katie, I shouldn't pile on ). When we phone in an order, we invariably get a call back: “Did someone order a jalapeno and anchovy pizza from this address?”

Chris, we installed a Blue Star RGTNB366BSS (36-inch rangetop, six burners) when we renovated our kitchen three years ago. We have been delighted with it. The 22K burner does a great job when we stir-fry, although one must still avoid adding too much cold food to the wok at one time. I also greatly value the Blue Star’s ability to hold a low simmer on all burners. If you choose a Blue Star, consider whether the standard burner arrangement fits your cooking style. If not, you may be able to specify an alternate burner arrangement. If you can swing it, giving up an extra six inches of counter top yields a bonus of two extra burners. If you get a powerful range, pair it with a comparably powerful ventilation hood. We do a lot of high-heat cooking and the 600 CFM Vent-A-Hood captures cooking oil effectively. In our previous house, a wimpy vent hood allowed an underpowered stove to leave a film of greasy gunk throughout the kitchen. We looked at induction but options were much more limited three years ago. I am not a particularly gentle cook, so I was also concerned that banging and sliding pots and pans on an induction cooktop could scratch or crack the ceramic. Good luck!