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Pho means soup in Vietnamese but in the West it means this Vietnamese-style soup dish made with an aromatic beef broth, noodles, beef, and herbs.
I based my Pho recipe on these three websites:
Wikipedia, Vietworldkitchen, and Food Network USA.
I can't really say much more other than I wasn't able to get any rock sugar so I used regular sugar, I pounded the raw beef thin between two pieces of plastic wrap, and used the beef off the bones sliced thin after it was in the fridge overnight.
Thai curry is a dish I have not made in awhile but I was out shopping for ingredients to make Phở and I came up empty on a couple of items but was still in the mood for an Asian kick so I bought some stuff to make red curry.
There really isn't anything spectacular about this dish for its preparation other than a couple tricks but it does pack a wallop of flavours. Think heat, sweet, savoury, black licorice, citrus, ginger, and many other hints and flirtations of Asian flavours.
Jasmine rice is probably one of the easiest and quickest rices to make and before doing anything else some rice was put on the stove. After that, I got water boiling to cook a diced sweet potato. I think it is important to do this so that it is already cooked before going into the curry. If you cook the sweet potato right in the curry it'll release a lot of moisture and throw off the consistency of the dish.
I heated my wok up to a pretty decent medium high heat and added some vegetable oil and a small can of red curry paste. I stirred that into the oil and then added chicken. After the chicken was coated and partially cooked the onion and green pepper went into the wok. I kept that cooking while stirring constantly. I then added the coconut cream and finished off with some basil and green onion. The basil really showcases its anise-like flavours and aromas in this dish.
I prefer coconut cream over milk because it is thicker and richer. I often like to have coconut cream on hand that has been sitting in my pantry for a long time. When this happens the fat separates on top of the thinner liquid. I use some of that fat with the vegetable oil to get the dish started. When cooking this dish I picked up the coconut cream yesterday and the fat and water were mixed together, no big deal.
I had some Bird Label Riesling with this dish. There were some leftovers for today's lunch. This dish lends itself well for leftovers.
Tonight I put together a quick pasta. I started off by sweating down one onion, adding some garlic, hot pepper flakes, and then a splash of dry vermouth. A few weeks ago I bought 10 lbs of local tomatoes for $10. I froze most of them whole and tonight I took a few out and dropped them in some boiling water to take off the skins. After that, I rough chopped the tomatoes and added them to the mix. After 10 or 15 minutes the sauce was ready. I mixed that with the pasta in a bowl, added toasted pine nuts, fresh basil, and topped with parm.
Stir fry in no time is pretty easy. For mine, I put some oil in a small sauce pan and let that infuse with garlic, ginger, star anise, and a hot pepper. While that was happening on low heat I started to cut up my veggies, pounded my meat flat with a tenderizer, mixed some corn starch with cold water, and then got out my sauces/flavourings. The items from left to right, front to back are: Si Racha hot sauce, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, fish sauce, 5 spice, sesame oil, and hoisin sauce. Some plain sugar and corn starch/water are off to the right.
Here is the oil infusing :
High heat. It's a stir FRY , not a stir steam. I hit the wok with the tenderized beef and veggies at the same time on high heat and stirred like crazy, only to stop for this picture.
I didn't add all of those things from the counter until the very end and then serve with rice or noodles. My dish had rice.
Tonight we made some pizza from scratch. Awhile ago I made a big batch of pizza sauce which is pretty simple. The sauce is just canned whole tomatoes with some garlic, oregano, a dried chili, and a tad of salt blended. After using it that night I put the rest in a freezer bag to use in the future. The future was tonight. Trisha made the crust from scratch. In her words,
"I started by heating 3/4 cup of water to approximately 118 degrees, stirred in 2 teaspoons of sugar and then 1 tablespoon of traditional yeast. Let sit for approximately 10 minutes to proof - you will know when it is ready as there will be a layer of foam on top. Combine the liquid with 1 cup of flour, 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of salt, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. I did this in my Kitchen Aid mixer, using the flat beater on the lowest speed until well combined. Add 1/2 cup more flour 1/4 cup at a time and switch from the flat beater to the dough hook when well combined. Add approximately 1/2 cup more flour (2 cups in total) and adjust your mixer to the next speed. Let the mixer knead the dough for you for 5 minutes or so, until it is nice and smooth. If it is sticking during this process, add a little extra flour. If you choose do this by hand, you've got at least a good 5 minutes of kneading ahead of you. After kneading, place the dough in a large bowl and coat with olive oil. Cover lightly with a tea towel and let rise for 1 to 2 hours".
This made for one of the strongest dough I've ever worked with. When the gluten is released this much it makes the dough easy to work with and it won't tear. The dough will also crisp up better in the oven this way too.
The pizza was topped with hot genoa salami and mozza.
Buffalo-style chicken wings are one of the many wing flavours available but it is probably the most popular and also the most bastardized type of wing you'll find. Many restaurants say they have buffalo wings on their menu but what they have is not even close to buffalo-style wings. I've ordered buffalo wings at one particular tavern in town and what I got was a baked wing in some sort of BBQ sauce with a lot of mustard flavour. Sure, some people may love that tavern's wings but they are not buffalo wings.
Tonight I made a small batch of wings for two. The chicken itself was not from a local farm but sometimes I just gotta have me some wings. At least they were not frozen from a box. I don't even know what those wings are.
Buffalo-style wings require three ingredients: Butter (some say margarine but stay away from margarine at all costs), vinegar (I use red wine but you can use white), and hot sauce (I use regular Frank's Red Hot). One thing I add to my sauce is some sugar to balance off the flavours. I combine all these ingredients in a small sauce pan in almost even amounts aside from sugar and vinegar. I use a bit less vinegar than the other ingredients and about half the amount of sugar. Find a mix that works best for you.
I rinse my wings well and pat really dry. I then toss them in a liberal amount of all-purpose flour and shake off the excess. I then deep fry them for anywhere between 10-15 minutes depending on the size of the wings. The wings should be golden brown when done. Take them out and put them on a cooling rack with a tea towel or paper towel underneath for about 30-40 seconds. Then, put them into a big mixing bowl and pour the sauce mixture over them. Toss around until coated and place them on a plate with some tongs if you don't want them swimming in sauce or just pour the whole bowl onto a plate if you like them messy. Enjoy.
I love a good burger. In fact, a burger is probably in my top 10 favourite foods. The mixture of ground meat (taking normally tough cuts of meat and grinding them makes them tender and mixes the tasty fats evenly throughout the meat), searing heat, seasoning, and toppings just works well with my mouth and tummy. Yesterday I picked up 12 ounces of medium ground beef from Dean's Meats in the City Market and made two patties. I cooked these on a cast iron griddle on my small charcoal grill. It's like a big Weber but smaller. I actually set it up on top of the grill of the Weber. I used the cast iron griddle to avoid any flare ups that would have occurred due to the beef being medium ground as it contains a decent amount of fat. Here are a couple pics of the tasty treat:
Pho means soup in Vietnamese but in the West it means this Vietnamese-style soup dish made with an aromatic beef broth, noodles, beef, and herbs.
