Thai Fried Rice Pork

We went to Mozza’s newest restaurant: Chi Spacca. It for a meat eater must be what heaven is like. Huge, delicious steaks, chops, etc. Great sides. We had the Tomahawk Pork Chop. It is gigantic! It is delicious! It is more than 2 people can eat. Boy must the pig be big!

We started with an Steamed Asparagus, Egg, Bread Crumbs and Brown Butter. A perfect spring salad!

We brought the leftovers home and we decided to make a Thai Pork Fried Rice with the leftover pork. We use the recipe for: Fried Rice with Crab from Thai Street Food by David Thompson. We simply substituted the Crab with Pork. It was as good or better than any Fried Rice we get a restaurants. This is a recipe (with Crab or Pork or Shrimp) that you should try.

Fried Rice with Crab

Thai Street Food

David Thompson

SERVES 2

2-3         garlic cloves, peeled

good pinch of salt

3-4         tablespoons vegetable oil - peanut is a good choice

2 eggs - ideally 1 duck and 1 chicken

2         cups cooked rice - freshly cooked and warm but not steaming hot

2-3         tablespoons light soy sauce

pinch of white sugar

pinch of ground white pepper

approximately 100 g (3 oz) cooked crabmeat - more, if feeling generous

3         spring (green) onions, trimmed and finely

chopped coriander leaves, lime wedges and cucumber slices, to serve

chillies in fish sauce (see below), to serve

+ CHILLIES IN FISH SAUCE

¼         cup fish sauce

5-10         bird's eye chillies (scuds), finely sliced

1         garlic clove, finely sliced – optional but desirable good squeeze of lime juice – optional

good pinch of chopped coriander

Combine the fish sauce, chillies and garlic in a bowl and set aside. It keeps for some time - in fact it becomes richer and milder as it settles for a day. Make sure it is covered if you are making it in advance - and if the fish sauce evaporates, add an equivalent amount of water to refresh it. Just before serving, stir through the lime juice and coriander.

FRIED RICE WITH CRAB

This is a classic version of fried rice and one of the best. Fried rice made its debut on the streets of Thailand about 80 years ago. In the Chinese community, where fried rice has been eaten for much longer than this, it is traditionally one of the last dishes to be served at a celebratory banquet - say, for a wedding or to mark Chinese New Year - and so it has to be good to entice diners to take some.

Most authorities advocate allowing the cooked rice to cool completely, but I have found that if the rice is too cold it clumps - and forcing the clumps apart during frying breaks the rice grains. I actually prefer rice that is still slightly warm, ideally freshly cooked then left to cool for an hour or two. If it is too hot, the fried rice will be sticky; too cold, and it will be slightly tough and possibly marred by broken grains.

Some cooks say the best fried rice is made with an equal amount of duck and chicken eggs, and here's where the controversy begins: should the egg go in before the rice or afterwards? Each cook will have their own stance, but I believe the egg should go first. If the egg is added after the rice, I find it can make the fried rice gluey, sticky and heavy - especially if using a duck egg or two.

Blue swimmer crab has the sweetest meat so is the perfect choice for fried rice, but naturally almost any crabmeat will do. If you want the freshest most succulent crabmeat then you must cook and shell the crab yourself - it really does make a difference. Almost any other meat can be used, including fresh pork, chicken, prawns, Chinese barbeque pork or duck; if using raw meat or seafood, add them to the wok along with the garlic to ensure both are ready at the same time.

In Thailand, fried rice always comes with a few slices of cucumber and tomato as well as a few wedges of lime to squeeze over the rice. I like the refreshing crunch of the cucumber, and I think the lime is de rigueur, but I am not so convinced about the tomato.

·      Crush the garlic to a somewhat coarse paste with the salt - either by pounding it using a pestle and mortar or finely chopping it with a knife.

·      Heat a well-seasoned wok over a low-medium heat and add about 2 tablespoons of the oil, then stir in the garlic paste and fry until it has lost its sharp raw aroma, has become nutty, and is just beginning to color. Take care not to burn the garlic, as this would taint the fried rice and ruin it. Crack in the egg and allow them to set slightly before stirring and scrambling, trying to keep them in quite large, soft curds. Be careful not to overcook the egg and so make it dry.

·      Add the rice, turn down the heat to low and mix and toss the rice, frying it gently and ensuring that all the grains are lightly coated with egg and oil. If it seems too dry, dribble a little extra oil down the side of the wok, but don't overdo it - the oil should just coat the rice, not swamp it.

·      Season with the soy sauce, sugar and pepper and continue to fry until the soy sauce is absorbed. Taste the rice: it should be gently seasoned, nicely but not overly salty and pleasingly rounded in flavour. Under-seasoning the rice will make it taste spare and hollow - add a little more soy sauce, if necessary. Now stir through most of the crabmeat and spring onions but reserve a little of both to sprinkle over the fried rice when serving.

·      Divide the rice between two plates and sprinkle with the reserved crabmeat and spring onions. Serve with coriander leaves, some slices of cucumber and a wedge or two of lime, and accompany with a small bowl of chillies in fish sauce.

Shrimp Risotto

We love so many recipes from  from The Balthazar Cookbook by McNally, Nasr & Hanson. This one is for Risotto With Shrimp and Red Peppers. It is delicious! The recipe can be found in our blog of: Sep 25, 2012. Click the date to get the recipe.

Fava Bean Pasta

We love Fava Bean Pasta. It is one of the great testaments to spring. I spent hours double peeling the fava beans – it is worth it! We also picked up fresh English peas at the market and made pea purée The pasta is one of my favorites. Fava’s, and Bacon (my favorite seasoning) and onions. You can find the recipe in our blog of: April 30, 2008. Just click the date to get the recipe.

The Pea Puree is from a recipe from Jar Restaurant. It is delicious on toast points.

Pea Puree

Jar Restaurant

1 1/2 cups Fresh English peas (frozen peas can be substituted)

1         stalk Leek, cleaned and chopped (use entire stalk)

1/2         white onion, chopped

4         cloves Garlic, smashed

1         cup Extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

Heat olive oil in small pot. Add leek, onion and garlic and cook for

5 minutes. Add the peas and continue to cook until peas are soft.
Add salt and pepper to taste.  Strain the peas, reserving the oil.

Using either a ricer or a food processor, puree the pea mixture. Add enough of the reserved oil so that the consistency is similar to mashed potatoes.

Expatriate Roast Chicken

One of our favorite  Chicken recipes is Expatriate Roast Chicken with Lemon and Olives from The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen by Paula Wolfert. This is a very easy chicken to cook and the Moroccan flavors are exceptional. You need Preserved Lemons which you can either buy or preserve yourself. The chicken is cooked on a rack over boiling water and the humidity keeps the chicken extremely moist. The preserved lemons add a wonderful kick to the chicken. You can get the recipe from our blog of: August 2, 2008. Click the date to get the recipe.he recipe from our blog of: 

With the chicken we made Cous-Cous, the traditional side for this dish. It absorbs all of the great sauce that the Chicken recipe creates. 

Mushroom and Spinach Lasagna

Cathy created a fantastic Mushroom and Spinach Lasagna. She we alternated lasagna noodle layers of Mushroom and Spinach topping each with Parmesan Cheese, Midnight Moon and Burrata Cheese from The Cheese Store of Silverlake. This created an extremely rich lasagna. I want to make this one again!

She very cleverly adapted a recipe from The Balthazar Cookbook for Stuffed Saddle of Lamb, using the stuffing for the lamb as the basis of the lasagna filling. She then modified the stuffing recipe and it turned out to be perfect!

7       tablespoons butter

6       cup spinach, cleaned

1       medium yellow onion, diced

1       oz Dried Porcinis (reconstituted in water) then diced

1       lb mushrooms diced

Salt

Freshly Ground white pepper

Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large saute pan over a medium flame. Add the spinach and gently toss until the leaves are wilted but still have some crunch to them, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a colander to cool.

Add 2 more tablespoons of olive oil to the pan over medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes, until soft but not brown. Pour the cooked onion into the colander with the greens. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil to the pan and increase the heat to medium-high. Add the mushrooms and saute until nicely browned, about 10 minutes. Add the mushrooms to the colander and press the contents to squeeze out excess moisture and fat. Add salt, a pinch of white pepper and toss to combine.

First Asparagus, Goan Shrimp

We made our first asparagus of the season. We made a salad of with Asparagus, Burrata and Brown Butter. It was delicious. We know Spring is here when we see fresh Asparagus in the market!

Goan Shrimp is one of our favorite preparations. You can get the recipe from our blog of: August 9, 2008.

Baked Pasta with Brussels Sprouts

We invited Scott and Tom over for dinner. We started with a spring salad of: Asparagus grilled on our Panini, Burrata Cheese, Brown Butter and Hazelnuts.

For the main course we made an unusual baked pasta.

From a recipe in the New York Times. Who ever heard of the dish? It turned out to be quite good!

Hearty Whole Wheat Pasta with Brussels Sprouts, Cheese and Potato

Nigella Lawson

NYT

Yield 8 entree servings

Time 45 minutes, plus resting

Summary

Adapted from “Nigellissima: Easy Italian-Inspired Recipes,” by Nigella Lawson

Ingredients

                  1 3/4 pounds brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved

                  1 (8-ounce) baking potato, peeled and in 1-inch dice

                  1 pound whole wheat or spelt tortiglioni or penne

                  Salt, to taste

                  1/2 cup ricotta

                  8 ounces Gruyère, in 1/2-inch dice

                  3 tablespoons unsalted butter

                  1 tablespoon olive oil

                  1 garlic clove, minced

                  4 sage leaves, shredded

                  1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Method

                  1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water generously, then add brussels sprouts, potato and pasta, and let water come back to a boil. Cook for about 8 to 10 minutes, or until potato is tender and pasta is al dente. Just before draining, remove 2 cups of the cooking liquid and set aside.

                  2. Tip drained pasta, brussels sprouts and potato into an approximately 10 x 15-inch roasting pan (or a 9 x 13-inch lasagna dish), then add ricotta, Gruyère and 1 cup cooking water, and toss well to combine. Add more liquid if you feel the pasta is too dry.

                  3. Warm butter, olive oil and garlic in a small saucepan and, when melted and beginning to sizzle gently, add sage and fry for about 30 seconds. Spoon or dribble the butter and sage over the pasta. Sprinkle with Parmesan and bake for 20 minutes, by which time the surface will be scorched a light gold. Let stand for at least 15 minutes before eating.

Source: The New York Times

Fettuccine with Venetian Chicken Sauce

We had some left over chicken. The cookbook On Top of Spaghetti has chocked full of recipes of spaghetti sauces. We decided to make this one to re-purpose the left over chicken.

Fettuccine with Venetian Chicken Sauce

On Top of Spaghetti

Johanne Killeen and George Germon

Serves 6 to 8 as a first course or 4 to 6 as a main course

In Venice, water is everywhere. With the

canals and the lagoon spilling into the Adriatic, one associates Venetian cooking with fish and seafood. It's true you can eat delectable local sea creatures in a select group of impeccable restaurants. We have feasted on razor clams, scallops, feisty mantis shrimp, inkv cuttlefish, and octopus—the list goes on. But there is more to this cucina. You could be regaled by grilled radicchio from nearby Treviso; steamed white asparagus from Bassano; wild mush­rooms prepared in every imaginable guise; criminally rich Venetian calves' liver; risotto with vegetables, meats, or white truffles; silky, homemade pastas; and some yen- impressive desserts. One dish we have found inspirational is a delicate vegetable sauce made with tiny pieces of diced chicken tossed with ribbon noodles .We took this food souvenir ofVenezia home with us and created a sauce and pasta that evoke happy memories of that magic city. Our elegant, suave sauce is made with carrots. Its striking yellow-orange color is food for the eyes.

2          cups homemade chicken stock

8          ounces skinned and boned chicken breasts

6          tablespoons unsalted butter

1          small garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped

¼         teaspoon sea salt

1         cup tomato juice, preferably organic

1         pound dried fettuccine or fresh fettuccine

Freshly grated Parmigiano-Rcggiano

1.   Bring the chicken stock to a boil in a saucepan,

2.   Cut the chicken breasts into lengthwise strips about the width of a finger. Drop the strips into the boiling stock. Cover and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 4 minutes. Remove the cover and set aside, allowing the chicken to cool in the liquid. When cool, transfer the chicken to a cutting board and reheat the stock.

3.   Meanwhile, melt 4 tablespoon of the butter in another large/saucepan. Stir in the garlic and cook over low heat until the garlic becomes golden. Add 1 cup water to prevent the garlic from j browning. Stir to combine. Add the carrots and salt and cook over moderate heat, stirring often, until the mixture is nearly dry with just a bit of water left. Be vigilant and stir constantly toward the end of this step to be sure the carrots do not brown at all. Add the hot stock and tomato juice. Cover and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, set the cover ajar, and simmer gently for 35 minutes, or until the carrots are very soft. Puree with an immersion blender until you have a smooth puree. Set aside.

4.   Cut the chicken strips lengthwise into 1/8-inch-thick slices, then cut across to make 1/8-inch dice. Add the chicken to the sauce and reheat gently.

5.   Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Generously salt the water and drop in the fettuccine. Cook, stirring often, until al dente. Drain the pasta and transfer to a heated platter or shallow gratin dish. Toss with the remaining butter and fold in enough sauce to coat the noodles generously. Sprinkle with Parmigiano-Reggiano and serve at once. Pass more cheese at the table.

Once again we made Roasted Chicken with Clementines & Arak from Jerusalem by Ottolenghi & Tamimi. This is a fantastic Chicken dish. You slice down the Clementines and they roast with the chicken. The Clementine skin be comes tender and delicious and is a delight to eat. We love this dish! You can find the recipe in our blog of: December 12, 2012. Click the date to get the recipe.

We served the chicken with ultra-rich Garlic Mashed Potatoes, from the The Balthazar Cookbook by McNally, Nasr, Hanson. These are THE mashed potatoes of your dreams. You can get the recipe from our blog of: November, 12, 2012. Click the date to get the recipe.

Risi E Bici

No single dish typifies a season (ok, Turkey does for Thanksgiving), but for us Risi E Bici is one of the ultimate spring dishes. It is made from fresh spring peas, rice and prosciutto. It is thicker than a soup and thinner than a risotto. It is absolutely wonderful. You can get the recipe from our blog of: April 5, 2012. Click the date to get the recipe.

Dal Nariyal ka Shorba

On our last trip to India we stayed at a fantastic hotel in Rajasthan. It was a converted palace called: Devi Garh. We loved our stay there. The food was fantastic and we especially liked a soup called: Dal Nariyal ka Shorba made from lentils. We asked them for the recipe and they were pleased to type up a version for us. We couldn’t wait to make it when we returned to the states.

We invited our friend Shu over to validate its authenticity and he agreed that it was excellent. Try this soup (even if you can’t pronounce its name). We had promised we would make meat loaf for Shu, and made our favorite recipe a fabulous provencal meat loaf and mashed potatoes. The recipe can be found in Mediterranean Grains and Greens by Paula Wolfert. The meatloaf is entirely made from pork and sausage with lots of greens. It is almost like a pate in texture. It is delicious. The recipe can be found in our blog of: Dec. 21, 2008. Click the date to get the recipe.

What better to go with meatloaf then mashed potatoes? And no mashed potatoes are better than the garlic mashed potatoes from Balthazar. You can get the recipe from our blog of Nov. 12, 2012. Click the date to get the recipe.

Dal Nariyal ka Shorba

From the Chef of Devi Garh

For – 4 people

Ingredients            quantity

Lentils (Red)         100  gm

Lemongrass          25   gm

Leeks                   15    gm

Celery                  15    gm

Carrot                  15    gm

Coriander             10    gm

Red chilly             05    gm

Garlic                  10     gm

Onions                10     gm

kafir Lime leaves  03    nos

Oil                       15    ml

Coconut milk        15    ml

Method

1.   Soak the lentil and roughly cut the vegetables.

2.   Heat oil in saucepan add garlic onions, kafir lime leaf, lemongrass and vegetables saute it for 05 min and add soaked lentil and water boil it for 15 min.

3.   Make a puree of it, add lemon leaves and simmer for 03 min add coconut milk check with seasoning finally put coriander and serve hot.

Garnish         :   kafir lime leafe, chop corriander.

Thai Fried Rice

When we were in Bangkok recently we wanted to go to David Thompson's restaurant, but the food at our hotel was so fabulous we never went out to eat. We have his giant Thai Cookbook: Thai Street Food, and made Fried Rice with Crab from it. (we substituted Shrimp and Scallops for the Crab. This recipe is a keeper!

Fried Rice with Crab

Thai Street Food

David Thompson

SERVES 2

2-3         garlic cloves, peeled

good pinch of salt

3-4         tablespoons vegetable oil - peanut is a good choice

2 eggs - ideally 1 duck and 1 chicken

2         cups cooked rice - freshly cooked and warm but not steaming hot

2-3         tablespoons light soy sauce

pinch of white sugar

pinch of ground white pepper

approximately 100 g (3 oz) cooked crabmeat - more, if feeling generous

3         spring (green) onions, trimmed and finely

chopped coriander leaves, lime wedges and cucumber slices, to serve

chillies in fish sauce (see below), to serve

+ CHILLIES IN FISH SAUCE

¼         cup fish sauce

5-10         bird's eye chillies (scuds), finely sliced

1         garlic clove, finely sliced – optional but desirable good squeeze of lime juice – optional

good pinch of chopped coriander

Combine the fish sauce, chillies and garlic in a bowl and set aside. It keeps for some time - in fact it becomes richer and milder as it settles for a day. Make sure it is covered if you are making it in advance - and if the fish sauce evaporates, add an equivalent amount of water to refresh it. Just before serving, stir through the lime juice and coriander.

FRIED RICE WITH CRAB

This is a classic version of fried rice and one of the best. Fried rice made its debut on the streets of Thailand about 80 years ago. In the Chinese community, where fried rice has been eaten for much longer than this, it is traditionally one of the last dishes to be served at a celebratory banquet - say, for a wedding or to mark Chinese New Year - and so it has to be good to entice diners to take some.

Most authorities advocate allowing the cooked rice to cool completely, but I have found that if the rice is too cold it clumps - and forcing the clumps apart during frying breaks the rice grains. I actually prefer rice that is still slightly warm, ideally freshly cooked then left to cool for an hour or two. If it is too hot, the fried rice will be sticky; too cold, and it will be slightly tough and possibly marred by broken grains.

Some cooks say the best fried rice is made with an equal amount of duck and chicken eggs, and here's where the controversy begins: should the egg go in before the rice or afterwards? Each cook will have their own stance, but I believe the egg should go first. If the egg is added after the rice, I find it can make the fried rice gluey, sticky and heavy - especially if using a duck egg or two.

Blue swimmer crab has the sweetest meat so is the perfect choice for fried rice, but naturally almost any crabmeat will do. If you want the freshest most succulent crabmeat then you must cook and shell the crab yourself - it really does make a difference. Almost any other meat can be used, including fresh pork, chicken, prawns, Chinese barbeque pork or duck; if using raw meat or seafood, add them to the wok along with the garlic to ensure both are ready at the same time.

In Thailand, fried rice always comes with a few slices of cucumber and tomato as well as a few wedges of lime to squeeze over the rice. I like the refreshing crunch of the cucumber, and I think the lime is de rigueur, but I am not so convinced about the tomato.

·      Crush the garlic to a somewhat coarse paste with the salt - either by pounding it using a pestle and mortar or finely chopping it with a knife.

·      Heat a well-seasoned wok over a low-medium heat and add about 2 tablespoons of the oil, then stir in the garlic paste and fry until it has lost its sharp raw aroma, has become nutty, and is just beginning to color. Take care not to burn the garlic, as this would taint the fried rice and ruin it. Crack in the egg and allow them to set slightly before stirring and scrambling, trying to keep them in quite large, soft curds. Be careful not to overcook the egg and so make it dry.

·      Add the rice, turn down the heat to low and mix and toss the rice, frying it gently and ensuring that all the grains are lightly coated with egg and oil. If it seems too dry, dribble a little extra oil down the side of the wok, but don't overdo it - the oil should just coat the rice, not swamp it.

·      Season with the soy sauce, sugar and pepper and continue to fry until the soy sauce is absorbed. Taste the rice: it should be gently seasoned, nicely but not overly salty and pleasingly rounded in flavour. Under-seasoning the rice will make it taste spare and hollow - add a little more soy sauce, if necessary. Now stir through most of the crabmeat and spring onions but reserve a little of both to sprinkle over the fried rice when serving.

·      Divide the rice between two plates and sprinkle with the reserved crabmeat and spring onions. Serve with coriander leaves, some slices of cucumber and a wedge or two of lime, and accompany with a small bowl of chillies in fish sauce.

Indian Dinner

Shu wanted to cook us a down-home Indian dinner. We of course jumped at the chance and offered our house as the venue. He made a wonderful Bangladeshi Style Chicken Biryani. Along with it he served a Riata that he made to cut the heat. We had two sets of desserts, Robert and Darryl made a Chocolate Cake and we bought dessert from McCall's Meat and Fish. (Maybe they have to add: and Bakery to the name of their store now that Karen is baking fabulous things! The dinner was perfect, transporting us back to India.

Mushroom and Sausage Risotto

One of our favorite winter dishes is Sausage Risotto. We always make this recipe Risotto con Luganegh Risotto with pork sausage from The Cuisine of Venice & Surrounding Northern Regions by Guisti-Lanham Dodi. You can get the recipe from our blog of: April 21, 2009. Click the date to get the recipe. The Pork Sausages were from McCall’s Meat and Fish, of course, the cheese from The Cheese Store of Silverlake.

We started with The Hungry Cat Salad. The recipe can be found in our blog of: Nov. 21, 2009. Click the date to get the recipe and the story of why we call it The Hungry Cat Salad.