C. sapidus

Mmm, looks good! I have been eyeing that recipe for a while. How did it taste? Did you start with raw chestnuts?

The boys have been lobbying for steak and coconut rice. Since Mrs. C had a dinner meeting tonight, at her suggestion I indulged the boys with a very non-WW-friendly meal. Fillet mignons were rubbed with salt, pepper, and olive oil before hitting the grill. Coconut lemongrass rice on the side. Two bowls of eternal cucumbers before dinner. The boys ate their fillets rare and unadorned. I made an Asian-style steak salad with mine: lettuce, tomatoes, Thai basil, mint, cilantro, and nuoc cham dressing in the glass. Mrs. C “happened” to come home early enough to nibble on a little fillet. Coincidence? Edit: I rebalanced the picture - the old one looked like the cow was still mooing. Sometimes "autolevel" just doesn't work well.

Ask (or search RecipeGullet) and ye shall receive. Octaveman's Mongolian Beef (click).

With leftover ga ro-ti, we made sticky rice with roast chicken and scallion oil (xoi ga). Daikon and carrot pickle (do chua) on the side, all from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen. More about dinner on Dinner! (click).

Thank you, Marlene. We soaked the sticky rice for several hours, drained and rinsed it in a colander, and tossed it with a little salt. After boiling water in the stock pot, we mounded the rice in the center of the stock pot insert and steamed for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally with a spatula until the rice grains became translucent and chewy. Pretty straightforward, really. I have not tried it, but Thai Table has a recipe for making sticky rice in a microwave.

Tonight we made banh mi (hungry kids, no pictures), and sticky rice with roast chicken and scallion oil (xoi ga). We used Sunday’s leftover garlicky roast chicken (ga ro-ti), but I did not have time to pick up baguettes so we made the banh mi with potato rolls. Banh mi makes a wonderful quick dinner – we arrived home very late this evening, and we were eating in ten minutes. This was my first time making sticky rice. I will probably finish the small bag that we bought, but so far I prefer jasmine rice. The scallion oil garnish added richness and a nice subtle accent, though – we will make that again. Daikon and carrot pickle (do chua) on the side. Edit: clumsy fingers.

OK, I just keep rolling this particular dish around in my head and imagining the flavors together. Five-spice duck breast: yum. Sweet potato with ginger and cinnamon: yum, and great complement to the cinnamon and ginger in the five-spice powder. Brussels sprouts: yum. Brussels sprouts with chili garlic sauce and fish sauce: major double yum. Warm, spicy, sweet, salty, bitter, succulent, aromatic - man, that sounds good.

Tonight we enjoyed garlicky oven-roast chicken (ga ro-ti) from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen; braised cabbage with dried shrimp (pow choy ha mai) from Cradle of Flavor; cucumbers (of course); and jasmine rice. I took a picture, which I am certain was beautiful, but for some reason I deleted the picture before downloading. Susan – good tip on making extra chicken. The family (mostly elder son) finished more than three pounds of chicken legs. I cooked another two pounds of chicken thighs for Tuesday’s dinner. We will use the thighs for either banh mi or for sticky rice with roast chicken and scallion oil (perhaps both). I could have made an entire meal out of the braised cabbage with dried shrimp. Seasonings included dried shrimp, garlic, salt, sugar, and black pepper. The whole was far greater than the sum of the parts. I made the jasmine rice in our small copper sauteuse. The rice had a much better texture than usual, presumably because the copper provided more even heat. Whatever the reason, we will continue using a copper pot for rice. We flavored the rice with leftover tamarind-ginger dipping sauce (which had mellowed nicely) or with pan drippings from the chicken.

Have you liked the results of the recipes you've tried? I've heard good things about the book in general, but nothing specific about the actual recipes. ← We have been very pleased with the recipes from this book. Most have been outstanding and none have been less than good. Particular favorites include beef rendang, chicken rendang, shrimp sambal, nasi goreng, pan-seared fish with chiles and garlic, beef and chicken satay, fried potatoes with chile and shallot sambal, stir-fried Asian greens, braised lemongrass long beans, and coconut rice with lemongrass. For what it is worth, several folks who are familiar with this part of the world have taken the time to comment on our dinner pictures. In general, they seem to think that the food at least look authentic (without benefit of a taste-test, of course).

We have been delighted with both of these books. I will give a special shout-out for Cradle of Flavor. Mr. Oseland tells the story behind each recipe, and lists suggested accompaniments for each dish. The recipes are very detailed and each step is clearly spelled out. This creates a certain amount of repetition, but avoids the need to flip to multiple sections of the book while cooking. Each step is numbered, so once you have toasted shrimp paste a few times it is easy to skip to step #2.

I have fond memories of a late-night quiche and ratatoullie at Au Pied de Cochon, which represented fine dining when I was in my late teens. The quiche was better than any I had eaten before, and that was my first ratattoullie. Ah, yes, the strange tale of Vitaly Yurchenko's defection and undefection, from Time. Most of my other late, lamented restaurants were victims of Silver Spring’s rebirth. Jamaica Joe’s once brightened a strip mall at the intersection of Colesville and Georgia. I ate there any time I was nearby, hungry, and short on cash. Jamaica Joe’s was set up like an old diner, with a long counter on one side, small tables against the wall on the other side, and nonstop Bob Marley videos on the TV at the far end of the counter. I remember sitting at the counter, probably enjoying a beef patty, jerk chicken, the everpresent bottles of Pickapeppa and Jamaican Hellfire sauce, dense sweet potato pie, and a bottle of nosehair-curling DG ginger beer. When concert footage of No Woman, No Cry played on the TV, all of the female servers quietly but sweetly contributed their voices to the chorus. I deeply miss Siddhartha, an Indian vegetarian restaurant last seen at the corner of Thayer and Georgia. My then-vegetarian sister chose Siddhartha for her birthday dinner many years ago. I had never tried Indian food before, but I was in love after one spoonful of palak paneer. Eventually, I discovered Siddhartha’s Mysore masala dosa, slathered with orange-red spicy goodness and perfect for dipping in the equally spicy accompanying soup. I surmise that Indian immigrants with American-born children ran Siddhartha. Waiting in line to order, I overheard this dialogue: Anglo customer: “Is this dish made like it is in India?” Teenaged offspring: “I have never been to India. Do you want me to ask my parents?”

Guppymo: I’m so glad to see you posting again! That noodle soup sounds delicious and perfect for a weeknight. I hope to try it next week. We made two kinds of shrimp tonight: one was spicy tamarind shrimp from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen. This time I cooked the sauce down a bit more than usual. I loved it, but it was a bit too sour for Mrs. C and elder son. For complete tamarind overload, I also made ginger-tamarind dipping sauce. What can I say, I love tamarind. Mrs. C said that the dipping sauce was like a Willie Wonka candy – the flavors kept changing after you tasted it.

Yup, Thai basil - I love it too. I should have switched the garnishes - scallions with the S&P shrimp and Thai basil with the tamarind shrimp. Oh, well, there is always something to improve on next time. Cooking together is delightful, especially when we can watch the boys laughing and playing in the front yard while we cook. But hey, don't knock help cleaning up (or appreciative diners, either).

Ben Hong: Thank you! Tonight we made Sichuan pepper-salt shrimp from an internet recipe. We tossed the shrimp in cornstarch, shallow-fried it until partly cooked, drained most of the oil, and finished cooking the shrimp with chiles, garlic, salt, white pepper, and ground roasted Sichuan peppercorns. I don’t know if this was Chinese or more Chinese-style, but it was tender, crunchy, salty, and numbing, with a sneaky-hot kick. The rest of the meal is on the Dinner! thread (click). Sichuan pepper-salt shrimp

Tonight’s dinner featured the return of shrimp two ways: spicy tamarind shrimp (from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen) and Sichuan pepper-salt shrimp. I also made tamarind-ginger dipping sauce (also from ItVK). Mrs. C made a cabbage and bacon salad (yum) and rice. Sichuan pepper-salt shrimp Spicy tamarind shrimp

Catherine and Sazji - you make pretty convincing arguments for growing garlic. The counter-argument is that I must dig up two wheelbarrows full of rocks for every 6-foot by 6-foot patch of garden. Tomatoes, chiles, and herbs take priority. If there is any space left over, I will give garlic due consideration. Fair enough?

Our gimpy, 11-year old terrier must read eGullet during the day. Presumably inspired by this thread, he caught a large rabbit in the back yard and left the corpse at the foot of our bed for Mrs. C to discover when she retired for the evening. The rabbit looked very peaceful, although its neck was perched at an unnatural angle. Surprisingly, neither of the dogs made any attempt to eat this prize. Apparently, the thrill of the chase was sufficient. Although some of Judith's and Daniel's meals immediately sprang to mind, we will not be dining on stir-fried or red-braised lapin.

Dejah: Thanks! (Bam?) But man, looking at your Sunday dinner, I have so much to learn. I love how you mixed complementary and contrasting flavors and textures and cooking methods – papaya with crispy spring rolls and curry puffs, salt and pepper shrimp with shrimp chips, steamed dishes with soups and stir-fries, and oh, that beef with ginger tendrils! XiaoLing: My family and I thank you for taking the time to describe your family’s red braises. I hope you like the star anise as an addition. You can always leave it in for a short time if you don't want the sauce to be too star-anise-y. I have been on a star anise kick lately, so I used two. Fried chicken and curry sounds like fun, and your picture is beautiful.

Ann_T: So sorry to hear about the break-in, but so glad that no one was hurt. Um, get a new camera soon, OK? Nakji: Oh, my, that looks and sounds incredible! We had red-braised chicken, stir-fried mushrooms, stir-fried snap peas with garlic, and jasmine rice. More info: Chinese eats at home (click).

Tonight we had red-braised chicken, stir-fried mushrooms, stir-fried snap peas with garlic, and jasmine rice. For the red-braised chicken, I started with XiaoLing’s description from Introduction to the Culinary Delights of Wuhan (click). I added chile bean paste, star anise, and five-spice powder, and substituted palm sugar for sugar and chicken stock for water. Abso.Lutely.Dee.Licious. Everyone in the family loved it. I don’t usually improvise dinner, so I was quite tickled that the chicken worked out so nicely. Thank you, XiaoLing!

I assume by this you mean it's not worth growing your own? ← Yes, I meant growing garlic. I don’t mind peeling it – we go through several heads of garlic a week, so I have become a reasonably efficient garlic peeler. Phiddlesticks. Remember that nakji is in Vietnam, where (from what I have read) most folks go out for pho. Would you make your own bagels if you lived in Manhattan? I promise not to be shocked if the answer is yes.

As much as we enjoyed the banh mi, I would probably just buy one for a buck fifty if that option was available. Thanks for the inspiration to make the carrot and daikon pickle. Mrs. C and I loved it, younger son liked it, but elder son continues to prefer raw vegetables (even raw daikon, surprisingly). We nearly finished the whole batch, so next time I’ll double the amount.Speaking of inspiration, I am still hoping to make the garlicky roast chicken, perhaps this Sunday if our volleyball tournament finishes early enough. Thanks, and sorry – I can definitely sympathise about driving 40 miles for an ingredient. No leftovers – the char siu plate was thoroughly cleaned (and, I suspect, licked ). Even if we had leftover char siu, bao-making is probably at the outer fringes of my limited baking skills. Your char siu bao looks so good, though – maybe I’ll make a double batch of char siu some weekend and experiment.

Michael: Thank you! This version had no breading, and I prefer it that way. Next time I'll use more tangerine peel and get the oil a bit hotter before deep frying. It definitely had plenty of hot pepper, though.

For summer, I think of fruits and berries, picked ourselves and still warm from the sun – strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, etc. Similarly, fall means locally-grown apples, especially Stayman and Ida Red. Doesn’t matter how they are prepared – apple crisp, apple pie, or just eaten plain. Apples = fall. Fall is also when our vegetable garden typically recovers from the ravages of summer and starts spewing forth tomatoes. I try to remember all of the special dishes – Mexican, Thai, Vietnamese, and Italian – that excel with fresh tomatoes. One other summer favorite: the crab feast. Steamed blue crabs, newspaper on the table, corn on the cob, cheap cold beer, and spending time with friends and family. Yes, I know that you can get crabs most of the year, but without 90% humidity it just doesn’t seem right.

Priscilla should get royalties on that characterization. That looks so elegant, so civilized, so good. Glutton? Nah....I agree - just beautiful. What a lovely turn of phrase. Vietnamese dinner tonight – details on Vietnamese Food, post #296 (click). Char siu pork (thit xa xiu) Banh mi