06.01.08
Posted in Beef, Cuisines, Meats, Thai at 8:37 am by julie
So this was kind of fun. I’ve had a sort of off-hand interest in making the beef rendang from Molly Stevens’ All About Braising
for a while now, since reading rave reviews of it on eGullet. However, Molly’s version includes a few ingredients that I am pretty sure I couldn’t get in Salem, and have never actually seen in real life, such as fresh galangal and turmeric. (I’m not even sure I had realized dried turmeric came from a root, for that matter.) The ingredients essentially add up to a red curry paste, in which beef is slowly cooked with coconut milk until all the liquid evaporates, and the beef is fried in the remaining coconut oil and gravy-like remnants of curry.
After our last order of Curry Simple sauces arrived, I looked over the booty and began to wonder if I might be able to use some of it to make a simplified version of beef rendang. Jeremy brought me home a beautiful 3-pound brisket, and the next day I cut it into cubes, trimming off the fat cap as I went, and tossed it in my big Dutch oven with some whole star anise, a chunk of ginger, and enough red curry sauce to cover. It simmered ever so slowly away into the evening, and after a few hours of periodic stirring, I had a potful of tender beef covered in a rich mahogany gravy. Served over rice, it took no more of my time to prepare than does our favorite masaman curry, just spread out over the course of an afternoon, and the flavor was fantastic. Mind you, we haven’t eaten the red curry yet in its more basic form, but cooking it down with the beef made it complex and savory, with hints of sweetness, citrus (from the lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves, I imagine), and heat. It was a bit spicier than the masaman and yellow curries, but nothing a tall glass of water, a pile of rice, and a scoop of white chocolate ice cream for dessert couldn’t solve.
If I ever track down a source for fresh galangal and turmeric—there must be some in Portland somewhere, right?—it would be fun to try my hand at mixing my very own curry paste. In the meantime, we’ll definitely be making this version again!
Simple Beef Rendang
3 lb beef brisket, trimmed of fat and cut into 1 1/2″ cubes
2 T olive oil
3 star anise, whole
1″ chunk of ginger, peeled
1 family-size packet of Curry Simple red curry sauce
In a large Dutch oven over medium high heat, cook the brisket in the olive oil just until the meat begins to get a good sear. Add the star anise, ginger, and just enough red curry sauce to cover the meat. You may not need the whole packet; the excess can be refrigerated or frozen. Stir to combine and bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low. Simmer very slowly uncovered for 2-3 hours, stirring every 25 minutes or so, until the curry sauce reduces to a thick gravy. If desired, skim off any excess fat before serving over rice.
Source: Loosely based on All About Braising, by Molly Stevens
Update 6/1/08: Tonight’s dinner was a panang-ified chicken curry with onions and peppers, using the remains of the red curry packet. (There was just enough leftover from the rendang to make 3 servings.) I added a tablespoon of peanut butter to the sauce, as recommended by the Curry Simple website. I’ve never had panang curry, but Jeremy said it tasted a little like what he’s had before. In this incarnation, the red curry sauce was definitely spicier than it was in the rendang—it was pushing the limits of my heat tolerance, but I went back for a little more, so clearly it didn’t bother me too much. 
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04.23.08
Posted in Cuisines, Dinner, Meats, Poultry, Thai at 1:46 pm by julie
So Nolan is a month old now, and I’m still not getting in the kitchen much. Between pumping and feeding and changing diapers and the like, it’s hard enough finding time to brush my teeth, much less plan and cook a meal. So we’ve been keeping it simple: Freezer meals, quick-cooking stuff from Costco, donations from visitors and take-out runs by hubby have been pretty standard for the past few weeks, but I’ve squeezed in a few items, and if I can sit down long enough sans-baby to write up some posts, I’ll fill you in.
For now, I’ll point you in another direction. Last February, I decided to make masaman curry for Jeremy’s birthday. My pantry, however, is decidedly of the Italian bent, and I wasn’t about to go buy everything I’d need to toast and grind and smash in order to make fresh curry paste, since I don’t actually like curry. Jeremy loves it—particularly the masaman—and has been trying to get me eating curry for years, but it’s just too spicy for my palate (both in the ay-caliente sense and the volume-of-spices sense). What I did instead, as you can read in the original post, was purchase a packet of premade masaman curry sauce from Curry Simple. Couldn’t be easier—you just stir-fry all the meat and veggies you like, pour the sauce over everything until it is warmed through, and serve it with rice. I got a large packet, reasoning that curry freezes well and Jeremy could eat to his heart’s content and then save the remains for later meals. However, it actually turned out to be the only curry I have ever met and liked: well-balanced, slightly sweet, and not spicy at all.
After Nolan was born, I was racking my brain for easy meals, and that curry sprang to mind. Soon several more packets of sauce were winging their way to our doorstep, and we ate masaman curry for several meals this past week. I make mine with just slices of chicken breast, boiled red potatoes, and roughly diced onions, and it only takes as long to make as the rice takes to cook. It just keeps growing on me: it’s only been a few days, and I’ve already found myself wanting to bust open another package (which sort of amazes me, I must say). And as an extra bonus for new moms, according to my wonderful doula, the spices in curries are also beneficial to lactation!
Anyway, please continue to be patient with me! Here’s what I’m dealing with:
Update 4/27/08: Last night’s dinner was yellow curry, from the small packet we received as part of a current promotion. I used shrimp, onions and green peppers in it; we thought it was tasty and it was mild enough for me to eat without drinking gallons of water, but I think the masaman curry is still our favorite.
Update 5/3/08: More masaman curry with chicken and potatoes for dinner last night. I think we may be getting addicted! We’ve already gone through the order we placed after Nolan’s birth, so I ordered even more this morning: More masaman, of course, but Jeremy talked me into trying the red and green curries also, even though they are spicier.
Update 8/14/08: Last night’s dinner was yellow curry with chicken, potatoes, onions and bell pepper. I ate mine way too fast because the baby was fussing, and burnt my tongue pretty thoroughly, but what I could taste of it was very good. I want to try making the yellow curry with some leftover tilapia we have in the freezer, but Jeremy is anti-tilapia due to associating it with his kidney stones a couple weeks back.
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09.06.07
Posted in Cuisines, Foodblog Events, Pastas, Seafood, Shrimp, Thai at 9:53 am by julie
I seem to make a lot of pasta on Thursday nights, and then run out of time to write up a post for Presto Pasta Night, but this week I got an earlier start. Jeremy made a Costco run after work on Tuesday to pick up some protein for meal while I kept Freyja company at home. He soon returned with some lovely fresh tiger prawns and a hope of getting coconut shrimp for dinner. Unfortunately for Jeremy, I don’t care for coconut shrimp, so he’ll have to save that craving for restaurant ordering. The flavor profile was a good one, though, so I hunted down an alternate recipe for sautéed shrimp in a Thai coconut broth with noodles.
It turned out to be a quick, easy meal, despite the fact that I was short on a few ingredients: I didn’t have quite enough of either curry powder or fresh ginger. I also had no ramen noodles (no big loss there), so I used some broken Barilla Plus spaghetti instead. The recipe’s process needed a bit of refining: I kept the broth and noodles separate until the end, sautéed the prawns and their aromatics in a large skillet, and poured the broth and noodles over top of the prawns, tossing it all together and scooping it with a ladle and tongs into our pasta bowls. We ate it with fork and spoons, and I surprised myself by actually liking it. The real kicker is that I liked the noodles and broth better than the prawns, which I felt I had overcooked a bit. I had anticipated that if I didn’t like the flavors of the dish, at least I could pick out the prawns to eat, but it turned out the other way around. Jeremy was a bit put off by the thinness of the “sauce,” but after I told him it was meant to be a soupy broth, he ate two bowlsful and seemed very pleased that there was enough left over for lunch; hopefully he’s not missing that coconut shrimp too much.
This is my entry for Presto Pasta Night #28, hosted by the fabulous Ruth at Once Upon a Feast. Drop by and check out the pasta party every Friday for some great recipes.
Sautéed Prawns and Noodles in Thai Coconut Broth
Thai Coconut Broth
6 oz spaghetti noodles
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can chicken broth
1 (14-ounce) can light coconut milk
1 T minced garlic
2 tsp minced fresh ginger
2 tsp curry powder
1 T chopped shallots
Sautéed Prawns
1 1/2 lb peeled and deveined medium-size fresh tiger prawns
2-3 T olive oil
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp chopped shallots
1/2 tsp dry ginger
1 T lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Cook noodles until al dente in a large saucepan. Drain and rinse with cold water.
Bring broth and next 5 ingredients to a boil in saucepan; reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes. Meanwhile, begin cooking prawns.
Sauté prawns in hot olive and sesame oils in a large skillet over medium heat for 2 minutes, or just until prawns turn pink. Add garlic and next 5 ingredients, and stirfry until fragrant. Pour hot coconut broth and noodles over prawns, toss through to combine, and slurp up with a fork and spoon.
Source: Adapted from Southern Living, November 1998.
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09.04.07
Posted in Beef, Chinese, Cuisines, Dinner, Italian, Meats, Pastas, Thai at 11:01 am by julie
I’m still cooking and and taking pictures, but for some reason lately it seems like a great effort to translate that information into a timely blog post. Consequently, I’ve got a backlog of post fodder building up, and I’ve decided to just unleash all of it on you at once.
A week or so ago I was really wanting some beef and broccoli: not just any beef and broccoli, actually, but the version I used to have at a now-closed Vietnamese restaurant, which had little wedges of noodle pancake tossed in with the rest. I used a recipe from Cooking Light, and sort of made up the noodle pancake thing using some boiled chow mein noodles. It turned out pretty well. The beef was thinly sliced flat-iron steak, and it was incredibly tender; the sauce tasted alright, but I found the presence of ginger really distracting and unlike local restaurant versions; the noodle pancake was too thick and a bit charred on the outsides. If I tried this again, I would leave out the ginger, and make a thinner noodle pancake with rice noodles. But if anyone has a more authentic recipe for beef and broccoli, share the love!
We’ve been making lots and lots of pasta this past week, since it’s my go-to meal when I haven’t made advance plans and gone grocery shopping. We had Noil’s Noodles for lunch one day (that recipe deserves its own post when I can get some pictures; it’s like my ultimate comfort food) using rotini because we were out of plain egg noodles. Also, Jeremy seems to have developed some sort of snobbish dislike for ordinary wide egg noodles. I don’t get it. Another night, I made a version of Jaden’s garlic scallion noodles, using Barilla Plus angel hair pasta, our last two chicken tenders, half a tiny Napa cabbage that I found in the bottom of the crisper (surprisingly fresh for its age), and some julienned carrots. Turned out to be a really tasty something-out-of-nothing meal, and one I’ll keep in mind for similar occasions.
I should note that I’ve been using a lot of the Barilla Plus pastas lately because they have a boosted protein and omega-3 content, and we like them a lot. We can’t tell the difference at all as far as flavor goes, which is great. We have tried several types of whole wheat pasta also, and while they are very tasty, they definitely have a noticeable flavor and texture difference that doesn’t work equally well with every sauce. So I would recommend the Barilla Plus option, but I’ve noticed that it wants more of a flavor boost than your standard pasta, so be sure to taste it and up the sauces and seasonings a bit if you find the same.
Finally, and more recently, I made a linguine carbonara for dinner at the end of the week, based on Mario Batali’s recipe in Molto Italiano. We didn’t have spaghetti, so I used linguine, subbed in bacon for guanciale (although I would happily use the latter if I could just find it somewhere), added peas to the pasta for the last two minutes to give the dish a veggie component, and didn’t bother separating the yolks out to nest on top of the dish (maybe another time, though). For a tense moment I thought I had scrambled the eggs instead of carbonara-izing them, but it all worked out in the end, as you can see from the photo.
Soon to come, I promise: our Labor Day dinner of roast duck, spaetzle, and haricots verts. Mmm, duck…
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02.03.07
Posted in Cake, Cuisines, Dessert, Dinner, Thai at 2:33 pm by julie
Jeremy’s birthday was today, and it was really great to be able to spend it with him, since he was away in New York for the past two. We started out the day with Jeremy jogging for 50 minutes while I got some ricotta praline pancakes on the griddle for him. Then our good friends Tara and Loren came over, and we went out to lunch at Roadhouse Grill, where they sang to Jeremy and made him wear a coffee filter on his head and a toilet paper cover as a collar in order to receive a bowl of ice cream. After that excitement, we had a quiet afternoon catching up with Tara and Loren, which was really nice.
When our guests left, I got started on Jeremy’s birthday cake: German chocolate, naturally! I got the cake in the oven and discovered that there was less coconut than expected in the cupboard, so I made a quick dash over to Safeway for that, and ended up lugging home a bunch of inordinately heavy stuff: short ribs, sunchokes, potatoes, rice, and so on. Thank goodness we had enough flour and sugar. Good exercise, though, I suppose. Jeremy got in some painting while I was gone… hopefully he’ll post updated photos of what he’s working on before too long.
Anyway, while the frosting finished up (this recipe involved making dulce de leche in the oven, a lengthy process), Jeremy helped me with dinner, which was masaman curry. Jeremy loves curry, but I don’t care for it, so I would probably not have considered making it if it weren’t for Curry Simple. Their Thai tea syrup was recommended on one of the food blogs I read, and when I saw their packets of masaman curry sauce, I knew Jeremy would appreciate it for a special occasion like his birthday. Everything arrived really quickly after I ordered it, and dinner was as easy as sauteeing chicken and then vegetables while I boiled some new potatoes, and mixing everything together with the sauce packet. We served it over jasmine rice with Thai iced tea to drink, and the surprising bit was that I actually thought it was pretty good, not too spicy. I ate a small plateful, Jeremy had two huge helpings, and we still had plenty of leftovers, so I think it was an all-around success. Good thing too, because I ordered some pad thai sauce at the same time. I should also note that the Thai iced tea was delicious, and tasted just like what I’ve ordered in restaurants. So I imagine we’ll continue ordering from Curry Simple from time to time.
Once Jeremy had time to digest his dinner, we tried out the cake, and it came out really well also. It was actually the inside-out German chocolate cake from Epicurious, but I don’t have any way of storing layer cakes, so I converted it to a sheet cake and left off the ganache layer because it seemed plenty sweet and rich as it was. I’ll post the recipe and my adjustments tomorrow…
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