Thai Food: Simple and Quick

 Funny how so many of us think "ethnic" cooking must be difficult.  But, it's really not.  I think people can easily become overwhelmed when they see a long list of spices/herbs, but think about it.  We're talking about taking some small bottles out of the cabinet and employing a measuring spoon.  Piece of cake, right?

Thai food is one of my favorite cuisines of the world.  I have a fantastic cookbook entitled Quick and Easy Thai. 

Its author spent 3 years in Thailand as a Peace Corps volunteer.  Her book features an array of true Thai dishes but easy for American cooks.  One of my new favorites from her book is simply called "Chicken with fresh basil."  

Check how easy this is to prepare:

You saute some chopped onion and garlic in a bit of oil. As soon as it all starts smelling good, add in some chicken cut into bite sized pieces. I usually use about 12 oz of chicken breast. Get your meat browned then add some fish sauce, soy sauce, a bit of water and sugar, and a chopped up serrano or two.  Stir in about a cup of fresh basil leaves to wilt, then serve. Not sure, but I'd be willing to bet my vegetarian friends could do all this with firm tofu. 

It's great on its own, or over some jasmine rice.  In the photo above, you'll see that I accompanied mine with marinated edamame.  I warmed the edamame in some boiling water for a few minutes, then added it to a mixture of garlic and soy sauce to marinate for about an hour. 

Obviously, I had some prep work: chopping onion and garlic, cutting up chicken and chopping the pepper, but actual time to cook the dish was probably about 12 minutes.  If you want rice, remember to start it first, since you need to give it about 20 minutes to do its thing. 

If you're a fan of Thai food, go seek out this cookbook.  I freaking love it!  The recipes are literally quick and easy so that you can whip up great tasting Thai on the proverbial weeknight.  Here are a few of my other favorite recipes from this book: Pad Thai, Red Curry Shrimp with Pineapple, Mussamun Curry Beef with potatoes & peanut, Green Curry Chicken with zucchini, and Chiang Mai Curry Noodles. I could go on and on...

I hope you will seek out this book. It can give your everyday cooking repertoire a nice shot in the arm! 

Quick Weeknight Comfort Dinner

It happens to us all.  It's a Wednesday night, we all need to eat, and mom is tired and not feeling terribly creative.  For this reason, I keep a stash of go-to items so I can still whip up something filling, tasty and that constitutes a decent meal on the fly.

After spending some of my last week in the hospital (what an experience!) I am still dealing with a dull headache, fatigue and frustration as we try to get my meds straightened out.  So, this was one of those "call it in" nights.

Thanks to my beloved Aldi, I had cheese ravioli, jarred Alfredo sauce, regular pasta sauce, and pesto on hand. The ravioli takes a whopping 8 minutes. I warmed up the red sauce for the kid and for Neil and myself, I used the Alfredo with some pesto and extra parmesan mixed in.  I had sliced fresh mozzarella, my basil plant and made a reduction of balsamic vinegar.  Lastly, thanks to my buddies at Publix, there were garlic knots in the freezer. 

Result? It really hit the spot!  And, there's still some leftover ravioli that I can turn into a pasta salad tomorrow. I highly recommend this plan for your busy weeknights when cooking isn't really in the cards for you. I know it's not "real" cooking, but it was just the thing for a Wednesday night!  

Summer is Officially Here!

When they declare "Yippee!  Summer is officially here!" what that  means here in Columbia SC is 100+ temps, 200+% humidity, frozen up a/c compressors, soaking wet clothing and afternoon storms that cause our (crumbling) roads to steam.  

Yep, you can actually see the steam rising. My sister can tell you first hand never, ever, walk home on a steamy road with nothing on your feet except pantyhose #burnedthecrapouttamyfeet #wontdothatagain...But, that's a whole other story! It also means we avoid using our dryers and ovens as much as possible because it just heats up the whole house. 


So, with all that in mind, let me share the ultimate summertime side dish that I got from a friend.  It's one of Ina Garten's recipes and it is the most awesome salad to have on a hot day. 

Cool, delicious fresh corn, red onion, basil. The cider vinegar is the trick.

Take it to your next cookout, block party, potluck, or just whip it up at home for a weeknight side.  Any day now, our famous Silver Queen corn will be hitting the markets and Silver Queen would reign supreme in this recipe.  When you read it, it doesn't sound all that exciting, but trust me.  It is delicious, it's cold, it requires minimal talent and minimal cooking.

And Presto! It's Pesto.

I remember my first introduction to pesto.  It came out of a packet. No, really.  This would have been somewhere in either the late 80's or early 90's.  I spotted it in a grocery store; a packet of pesto sauce made by Knorr Swiss.  You see, this "exotic" green sauce hadn't really become mainstream in America at that time. Not only had I never tasted it, I'd never even heard of it.  What came out of that packet was indeed delicious, but years later when I finally found fresh pesto being served in Columbia, I quickly realized the difference.  This, of course, led me to "Hey, why don't I just make this myself?"

Pesto originated in the Ligurian region of Italy and remains today their culinary star.  Just as France dictates that champagne can only come from Champagne, the Italians have restrictions on true Pesto alla Genovese.  They insist on the proper ingredients, preferably all local.  So, pesto involves basil, pine nuts, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, parmesan, pecorino romano and sea salt.  If you're a purist, which I am not, invest in a mortar and pestle to grind the ingredients into a sauce.  This is the most pristine method of preparation.  I use either my blender or food processor simply out of convenience and speed.  Some Ligurians would say that the heat generated by the machine may alter flavor a bit, but <<newsflash>> I'm not Ligurian.  I'm a busy American mom whose attitude is:  when I want fresh pesto, I want it now!

Truthfully, if I had a nice mortar and pestle, I'd use it.  But I don't, so the blender it is. The funny thing is that some people I know have no idea how ridiculously easy it is to make your own. And, how fast.  Just this morning, we sat out on our patio and had coffee.  Neil and I both glanced over at our pot of basil and decided today would be a great day to whip up some pesto.  Now, the reason I'm posting this at all, is to show you how fast and easy this is.  If you're not in the habit of making pesto, I want you to start after you finish reading this.  

Pay attention, this is tricky...Pick a good packed cup of basil leaves.  Put those in your blender with 1/4 cup of parmesan, 1/4 cup pine nuts, 2 tsp minced garlic.  As you begin blending, pour in a 1/4 cup olive oil through that opening in the lid of your blender.  You may need to thin it with a little bit of water.  You be the judge.  

VOILA! PESTO.  

See?  Wasn't that ridiculously easy? Now you're ready to toss this magical emerald sauce with hot pasta, stir it into a baked potato, add some to that pot of minestrone you have on the stove or mix it into a cream sauce and drizzle over grilled tuna.  If you're not ready to use it, you might like this: I freeze mine in ice cube trays.  Once frozen, just pop them into a ziploc and when you need pesto, each cube will give you about 2 Tablespoons, depending on the size of your ice cube trays, of course. Here's an interesting tidbit:  years ago, I wrote to Vegetarian Times magazine and told them about my ice cube tray trick and guess what?  They published my letter.  15 minutes of fame.

Ok, that's it.  If you don't have any basil in your garden or on your patio, get in the car and go to Lowe's or a garden center.  That's step one.  

Now get going and buon appetito!

 

Pretty Perfect Pesto

Pesto is one of the most magical sauces on Earth.  Not as magical as bearnaise, but pretty close.  How can anyone not be enamored with the basil:  it's a flavor that you can smell and an aroma you can taste.  And the pine nuts are subtle, yet provide a "toothsome-ness".  Then there's the nutty, kinda smoky undertone of the heavenly Parmesan.  All of these are married together by the almighty olive oil.  It's just brilliant.

Before I became Super-Mom (I am, you know) I used to grow myself a bumper crop of basil each year and make my own pesto.  It made great circes for friends but it was also so awesome to put some away so that in the dead of winter, I could pull a little bit of Summer out of my freezer.Once, I wrote in to "Vegetarian Times" magazine to share that I froze my pesto in ice cube trays.  Then, I'd store the cubes in a ziploc and could just grab a few to thaw for sauce, or toss the cubes into a marinara, etc.  They actually published my letter.  Yes, I am a published author.

Being a coupon addict, I recently bought some Buitoni pasta and pesto, since I was on my weekly trip to 'rob' Publix.  (I bought the reduced fat one). What better quick, weeknight supper for Super-Mom and Super-family?  My expectations for the pesto weren't low, because Buitoni is a pretty good brand, but they weren't overly high either.  After all, it's not my homemade pesto.  Well, guess what?  It was really good.  I mean really.  The basil was very fresh and bright tasting and it was a little thicker than homemade, which I really like.  So, until I can start making my own again, I'm going to be buying this stuff with pesto zesto.