Sangkhaya Mak Eu (Coconut Squash Custard)

In this dessert, sweet coconut custard is baked inside a hollowed-out kabocha squash. It is a popular afternoon treat sold at markets in Laos. For the best results, use squash that's within the size range suggested below; otherwise the cavity won't properly accommodate the custard.

1 1/2 to 2 lb. kabocha squash
1/2 cup canned coconut cream
1/2 cup semi-moist Thai palm sugar
1/2 cup fine salt
6 egg yolks

1. Using a long, sharp knife, cut off the top of the squash, about 1" from the stem end. Discard top. Using a spoon, scoop out and discard the seeds and the fibers to make a hollow cavity. Set aside.

2. In a 1-qt saucepan, whisk together the coconut cream and 1/4 cup of the palm sugar. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, while whisking occasionally; remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes to cool slightly. In a medium bowl, whisk the remaining palm sugar with the salt and egg yolks until yolks are smooth and pale yellow. While whisking the yolks, slowly drizzle in the hot coconut cream mixture. Transfer mixture to top of a double boiler set over simmering water and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon, about 4 minutes.

3. Heat oven to 325 F. Pour custard into the reserved squash and set on rack in the bottom of an 8" x 8" baking dish. Pour 1 cup boiling water into dish. Bake until a knife inserted into center of custard comes out clean, about 2 hours. Let cool; slice into 6 wedges. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Personal Note: From Saveur.

Chicken and Winter Vegetables

Prep: 15 Min
Cook: 1 Hr
Rready: 1 Hr 15 Min

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons margarine or butter
2 to 4 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, sliced
2 stalks celery, diced
3/4 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
4 or 5 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
Green beans
2 cups chicken stock
A tiny splash of vermouth or white wine
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 bay leaf

Directions:

1. Season the chicken with additional salt, pepper, thyme, and cayenne. Set aside.

2. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Melt the margarine or butter in the skillet. Stir in the garlic for about 30 seconds. Stir in the onion, celery, and mushrooms, and cook until tender but firm.

3. Set vegetables aside, and cook the chicken breasts in the skillet 8 to 10 minutes on each side, until juices run clear. Set chicken aside.

4. Deglaze skillet with stock and vermouth, scraping up the fond. In a large sauce pot, mix in the potatoes and green beans and add the cooked vegetables and chicken. Pour in the deglazed liquid and fond from the skillet. Season with salt, thyme, cayenne pepper, and bay leaf, making sure the bay leaf is submerged in the liquid. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are tender and some of the liquid has been reduced. Remove the bay leaf before serving.

Personal Note: I just happened to have everything this recipe calls for in our remaining vegetable reserves for the week. It's proving an ideal supper for today--it's hearty, simple, and warms you up with heat and savory flavors. Would probably be good with crusty bread, despite having potatoes in it. No, really. I love carbs, ha.

Stir Fry: General Reference and Pointers

Vague Sense of Ingredients:
Sauce components (see directions below)

2 or 3 Tbsp oil (see directions below)

Aromatics:

2 Tbsp garlic, minced
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and grated or minced
1 cup onions, sliced

Vegetables:

Cauliflower or broccoli, cut into bite-size florets
2 or 3 scallions, sliced or minced
Bell peppers, sliced (I prefer orange, yellow, and red)
Carrots, julienned

Meat (or meatish component!):

Boneless chicken, beef, or pork, rinsed and patted dry, cut into chunks
Ddok, cut into chunks or slices

Barely cooked optional touches:

Water chestnuts, sliced
Bean sprouts
Bamboo shoots
Cashews

Directions and Loose Tips:

Whisk a mixture in a bowl to later coat the stir fry using a bit of sesame oil, soy sauce, fish sauce if you're feeling adventurous, Asian sauces at your discretion (I like fermented black bean, Szechuan, garlic, hoisin, orange, etc), and sugar. Optionally, you can add 1/4 cup stock and corn starch as a thickener as well.

Swirl 1 Tbsp oil in a wok over high heat. Add half the garlic and half the ginger, stirring, and cook about 15-30 seconds. Add the onion and cook, stirring, about 2 minutes. Add broccoli or cauliflower and scallions and cook over high heat until it browns and becomes tender but not at all mushy, about 5-7 minutes.

Remove vegetables from heat, add another 1 Tbsp oil if necessary, and cook the other vegetables similarly quickly at high heat, grouping them by toughness so everything has the right texture. Remove.

Turn heat to medium, swirl 1 Tbsp oil, and add remaining garlic and ginger. Stir, the add the meat and/or ddok. Raise heat to high, stir meat once, then let it sit for 1 minute before stirring again. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat has lost its pinkness, 3-6 minutes.

If you're like me and make enough that it doesn't all fit back in the wok to coat with the sauce you've made, take a huge sauce pot and stir it together under low heat that way. Toss in the cashews and other barely-cooked optional ingredients (if using) to lightly toast them, then add everything including the sauce and combine. Season with salt and pepper if necessary.

Serve over rice. I use a rice cooker for this, because stir fry is too hectic (lots of abrupt, short but crucial timing steps) to be timing white rice perfectly the normal way.

Personal Note: This is loosely based on Mark Bittman's guideline recipe, with the things my father taught me interjected. I've spent something like a decade making stir fry, both bad (I've totally flopped a bunch of times on my own) and good (Tasty! Where it makes takeout seem like paying someone to make me mac n cheese--it can be that good and easy). Now on my own I'm slowly learning how to make it open-ended but foolproof. That's why I'm finally posting some sloppy go-to reference for myself, so I don't forget what I've learned so far.

A few things:

Make sure your meat is really cut small enough and has been patted very DRY.

Keep your wok HOT and use as little oil as possible to maintain that heat.

Simplify the sauce--at first I was putting a little of every kind I had in, and the results were very underwhelming, I guess because it all cancels each other out. So now I'm not afraid to make a stir fry that is a bit more one dimensional but with big returns on actual flavor, with one sauce the major component and maybe just a dab of a couple other complementary things.

And maybe most important of all, don't be afraid to do the vegetables separately based on "toughness" class--it seems frustrating, like it defeats the purpose of stir fry (simple, quick, zap-fast cooking), but it makes a huge difference. If you're not willing to do like vegetables with like, you may well end up with soggy onions and peppers but barely cooked cauliflower and carrots.

Which reminds--the worst thing is soggy stir fried vegetables. Err on the side of "al dente"-ish, toothy crunch. Bittman talks about parboiling the cauliflower, and I just don't see it. I like it with a faint crunch though. Besides, you want things tender but firm--how else will they stand up to being microwaved as 3 a.m. leftovers? ;)

Roasted Curried Cauliflower Florets

Ingredients:
1 head cauliflower, washed, dried, and cut into florets
A few whole cloves of garlic, peeled
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp curry powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 F. In a small bowl whisk the olive oil, lemon juice, cumin, turmeric, curry powder, and salt and pepper. On a baking sheet or roasting pan, toss mixture onto cauliflower florets. Tuck cloves of garlic among florets. Roast for about 25 minutes or until golden and slightly caramelized.

Personal Note: This is a nice, slightly less typical way to use cauliflower for a super easy side dish with dinner.

Sicilian Eggplant Caponata

4 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
Stalk or so of celery, chopped (optional)
Handful kalamata olives, chopped
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp capers
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 or 2 tbsp tomato paste
1 or 2 eggplant, peeled, cubed, dried
Salt, pepper to taste
Red pepper flakes, fresh basil and/or oregano to taste (optional)
Toasted pine nuts (optional)

Dry eggplant thoroughly by salting cubes, tossing, and letting drain in a colander for 30 minutes. Squeeze and press excess moisture out with paper towel.

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan and fry the dried eggplant cubes.

Heat 2 tbsp oil in another, non-reactive pan. Caramelize onions with celery for about 10 minutes over medium-high heat; add garlic in the last 1-2 minutes of caramelization. Add olives, capers, sugar and stir for another minute or so. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, and vinegar; stir over heat until thickened. Add fried eggplant, combine well. Season with salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and fresh herbs. Top with toasted pine nuts.

Personal Note: Made this because Robert spied some eggplant at the grocery store and oohed and aahed; it was an impulse purchase (plus, it replaced the okra I wanted to make but isn't in season now for the fancy vegetable of the week). I have never made caponata before, but this looks and smells pretty good. I doubt it will be as delicious as the roasted eggplant and orzo dish I made last month, though...

This is an amalgam of the bevy of recipes I found scouring the internet, which explains why much of it is worded clumsily and has rough estimates for measures. It's interesting how wild the variations on this are...sometime I might try it with some anchovy, green pepper, or who knows what else. There's even a version with octopus!

I want to send it to my mom because she loves eggplant but dad hates it, so she never gets to eat it. People online claim caponata is a dish even people who dislike eggplant like. Here's hoping!

I don't really know how to eat this...it's sort of relish-y, but also like bruschetti topping. And it seems like it'd be tasty topping and stuffing a baked pasta dish, or maybe even on top of penne. Hmm...

Braised Endive with Prosciutto

Adapted from All About Braising by Molly Stevens, found on Orangette blog

The original version of this recipe calls for browning the endive in butter, which helps to tame its bitterness, but with a feeble nod to my arteries, I have instead substituted olive oil for two-thirds of the butter. Happily, the end result does not seem to have suffered, and so far, neither have my arteries. For best results, choose endive with sleek, tight leaves and no bruises or discolorations, and opt for smaller specimens over large ones.

2 to 3 pounds Belgian endive
2 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs unsalted butter
4 or so thin slices prosciutto (about 3 or 4 ounces), cut crosswise into 1-inch-wide strips
1 cup good-quality chicken broth or stock
1/4 cup heavy cream
Coarse salt, such as Maldon salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 375 F degrees.

Rinse the endive, dry them lightly, and remove their outermost leaves. If the root end is brown or looks dried out, trim it lightly. Cut each endive in half lengthwise.

Warm the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add as many endive as will fit in a loose layer, cut side down, and cook until the cut sides are nicely browned, about 4 minutes. Flip the endive, and cook them for a minute or two on the other side; them remove them to a large (9” by 13”) baking dish, arranging them cut side up. Add the butter to the skillet. When it has melted and is no longer foaming, add the remaining endive, and brown them as instructed above and place them in the baking dish. The endive should fit in a single layer in the dish.

There should still be a thin sheen of butter in the skillet. Still over medium heat, add the prosciutto to the skillet, and turn them gently but quickly to slick them with butter. Tuck the strips between, around, and on top of the endive in the baking dish.

Pour the chicken broth into the skillet, and bring it to a boil over medium-high heat. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, scrape the skillet to loosen any flavorful bits; then pour the hot broth over the endive and prosciutto in the baking dish.

Cover the dish snugly with foil, slide it into the oven, and braise the endive until they are very tender when pierced with a paring knife, about 35 minutes. Remove the foil, and baste the endive by spooning over any juices in the pan. If the pan is dry, add 2 Tbs of water. Braise, uncovered, for another 8 to 10 minutes, until the pan juices have turned a caramel color and have almost completely evaporated. Pour over the heavy cream, and bake until it takes on a caramel color, about 6 minutes more. Serve warm or at room temperature, with salt and pepper to taste.

Yield: 3 to 6 servings, depending on what else is on the plate.

Personal Note: This is so freaking good. I am not the biggest salad person--my favorite salads don't focus on the leafy greens and are more about the other stuff, like olives or awesome tomatoes or cheese--and like a typical Asian (even though I'm not ;) I love bitter greens braised or briefly sauteed. I know this dish is a joke health and "I'm getting my veggies!" wise, but I don't care. It's amazing, even if you don't bother with the caramelized creamy last step...

Orzo With Roasted Vegetables

From Barefoot Contessa Parties! by Ina Garten

Serves 6.

Ingredients:
1 2 small eggplant, peeled and 3/4 inch diced
1 red bell pepper, 1 inch diced
1 yellow bell pepper, 1 inch diced
1 red onion, peeled and 1 inch diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/2 lb orzo pasta or rice-shaped pasta

For the dressing
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (2 lemons)
1/3 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

To assemble
4 scallions, minced (white and green parts)
1/4 cup pignolis (pine nuts), toasted
3/4 lb good feta, 1/2 inch diced (not crumbled)
15 fresh basil leaves, chiffonade or julienne cut

Directions:
*To toast pignolis, put in a small saute pan dry for 4 minutes or until golden brown, tossing frequently to prevent burning.
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Toss the eggplant, bell peppers, onion, and garlic with the olive oil, salt, and pepper on a large sheet pan.
3. Roast for 40 minutes, until browned, turning once with a spatula.
4. Meanwhile, cook the orzo in boiling salted water for 7 to 9 minutes, until tender.
5. Drain and transfer to a large serving bowl.
6. Add the roasted vegetables to the pasta, scraping all the liquid and seasonings from the roasting pan into the pasta bowl.
7. For the dressing, combine the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper and pour on the pasta and vegetables.
8. Let cool to room temperature, then add the scallions, pignolis, feta, and basil.
9. Check the seasonings, and serve at room temperature.

Personal Note: Wow, does this not have everything delicious imaginable in it?! This is in the "so freaking good" category for me. I mean, feta! Toasted pignolis! Fresh basil and lots of it! Scallions! Roasted, sweet seasonal veggies! Mmmm. And it's very, very easy. According to Ina, all of the vegetables are in season at the same time, and this can easily be made in advance (you can do everything ahead up to step 8 and then add the scallions, pignolis, feta, and fresh basil before serving). It probably goes without saying, but this dish is really pretty, smells awesome, and is good for entertaining because it's served room temperature. It's important to add the dressing while the pasta and vegetables are hot so they absorb the flavors.

EDIT: Aw, this dish received a shout out from my cutie. Sweet.

Caramelized Shallots

Caramelized Shallots

Courtesy Ina Garten from Barefoot in Paris

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
2 pounds fresh shallots, peeled, with roots intact
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons good red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Melt the butter in a 12-inch ovenproof saute pan, add the shallots and sugar, and toss to coat. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, tossing occasionally, until the shallots start to brown. Add the vinegar, salt, and pepper and toss well.

Place the saute pan in the oven and roast for 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the size of the shallots, until they are tender. Season, to taste, sprinkle with parsley, and serve hot.

Personal Note: Um. Fucking delicious. That's all!

Cowboy Mashed Potatoes

Cowboy Mashed Potatoes

Submitted by Bruticus on Allrecipes.com
"Quick, easy and delicious mashed potatoes with corn and carrots."

Original recipe yield: 10 servings
Prep time: 20 Min
Cook time: 20 Min
Ready in: 40 Min

Ingredients:
1 pound red potatoes
1 pound Yukon Gold (yellow) potatoes
1 fresh jalapeno pepper, sliced
12 ounces baby carrots
4 cloves garlic
1 (10 ounce) package frozen white corn, thawed
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Place red potatoes, yellow potatoes, jalapeno pepper, carrots, and garlic cloves in a large pot. Cover with water, and bring to a boil over high heat. Cook 15 to 20 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. Drain water from pot.
2. Stir in corn and butter. Mash the mixture with a potato masher until butter is melted and potatoes have reached desired consistency. Mix in cheese, salt, and pepper. Serve hot.

Personal Note: My default mashed potato guidelines come from Mark Bittman in How To Cook Everything, and when I read this online recently I balked at how little time it required--mashed potatoes, from my experience, are ridiculously easy, but they take a long time (all that peeling, boiling, plus the gradual incorporation of the 3 forms or whatever of creamy fat, etc). It also made me a little uneasy, as adding shredded cheddar cheese just seemed so...trashy to me. And where's the liquid component? Boiled garlic?? etc. Ha. Well, it's certainly not the fluffy pure potoato side dish to go with elegant French entrees or to impress guests. But all of the reviewers went on and on at how they were skeptical too, and yet the results were tasty. I think this recipe was featured at one point, even. So about a week ago I tried it as a spur of the moment thing to go with the steak (or was it the grilled chicken? I forget) I was making for Robert and I for dinner. I didn't even have any red potatoes, so I just used my Yukon Golds, aaand I didn't have carrots, so I ditched that part too. Actually, I'm not familiar with adding crap to mashed potatoes; my mom was a purist, so we never even had so much as bacon or chives in ours growing up. Well. These potatoes are definitely different from normal mashed potatoes, but they are indeed delicious and satisfying, albeit in a totally distinct way. Give 'em a try if you're short on time and ingredients. Personally, I always preferred somewhat clumpy, authentically mashed (as opposed to whipped/electric mixer mashed) potatoes anyway. They're pretty good, really.

Black Bean Salad

Black Bean Salad

3 cans black beans, drained and rinsed thoroughly but gently
1 can Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed thoroughly but gently
1 can yellow corn, drained
A few scallions (both the white and green), sliced
1 medium to large yellow/cooking onion, chopped
1 or 2 chiles (jalapenos), minced
2 small cucumbers, cubed
A bit of oil (so the astringent juice "binds" to the ingredients. I use canola/vegetable, but olive oil etc. might work)
1/2 lime's juice or to taste
Vinegar (your choice; I like red wine/sherry vinegar or rice wine vinegar) to taste

Put all ingredients in a nonreactive container and mix, adjust flavors. Cover and chill.

Personal Note: Cribbed from my dad and basically ad-libbed. This is great for really scalding days when you can't comprehend cooking or even eating hot dishes. All it takes is opening cans, chopping stuff up, dousing the whole thing in some juice and vinegar, tossing, and throwing in the fridge to chill. It gets better over time too. Also, it's got tons of protein and fiber, but doesn't lack flavor. I find it can be tasty with tomatoes, but they get mushy quickly so it's best to chop some up at the last minute per meal (this makes enough to last for days as a snack, side, and/or main meal component). Oh, and obviously other stuff can go in here! It's a very "whatever you want, and the kitchen sink"-type "recipe." Yum.

Sauteed Okra with Quick Tomato Sauce

Tomatoes and okra are a classic combination. This juicy side dish, served with rice or pasta, makes a perfect accompaniment to chicken or fish, such as halibut or catfish.

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound small okra (no more than 3 inches long), stems removed
Salt and ground black pepper
4 medium cloves garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press
1/2 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon minced fresh basil leaves

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until almost smoking. Add the okra and cook, stirring occasionally, until the okra is bright green, 3 to 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste and transfer the okra to a bowl.

2. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the empty pan. Add the garlic and pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Stir in the tomatoes and sugar, bring to a simmer, and cook until slightly reduced, about 2 minutes. Stir in the okra and cook for 1 minute longer. Stir in the basil and adjust the seasonings, adding salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Personal Note: This is from The Best Recipe cookbook series from America's Test Kitchen/Cook's Illustrated. It's in the Perfect Vegetables volume. My mom gave me a zillion of them when I went away on my own to college. Robert loves okra, being all Southern and whatnot (he also likes grape soda and white gravy, ee), and I admitted when I first visited Memphis that it was palatable fried. However, I'd only ever seen it fried or in that snotty monstrosity people who hate okra are familiar with, boiled or whatever in a slimy pile. This is great though--it's ridiculous how easy and quick it is, and now that I've made it a few times I know it's totally foolproof. The okra has this snap or "bite" to it that is just ! It's my favorite way to eat okra now, even more than fried...it goes so well with the tomato and the spice of the red pepper. Yum.