Cook it.

Recipes for inspiration in the kitchen

my go-to recipes for thanksgiving

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving already. Boy, has this year slipped past. I’ve been swamped with all of the usual end-of-year business such as holiday prepping and semester wrapping-up not to mention I’m in the middle of my Rituxan treatments which have got me all exhausted. Why doesIt seem like I only get beat down by this NMO during such inconvenient times like the holidays or when a hurricane is coming to town? But as with most things in life, you get all sorts of things thrown at you, and you just learn to take them in stride. I’ve been thinking about Joan Didion’s novel Play It As It Lays lately, how you just need to play the cards you’re dealt. Anyway, it’s Thanksgiving, and I still have lots to be thankful for.

I’ve already posted some of my favorite Thanksgiving recipes last year, so no need to waste cyberspace and repost. Instead, I’ll just link to them. Slap on your apron and get to cookin’! Happy Thanksgiving, and don’t forget what you’re grateful for.

 

 

 

oven-fried chicken

Mmm...greeease...

Again it’s been a while since I posted a food entry. It’s not that I haven’t been eating or cooking. It’s just I’ve been doing a lot more thinking about food and cooking rather than writing ever since I read The Flavor Bible (which I still need to blog about). Anyway, back to what makes the world go round: food.

I’m often asked what would be my last meal. Because this question is so difficult for someone that loves so many different kinds of food, my last meal would inevitably be a multiple-course meal consisting of all my favorite eats: sushi, French fries, my mama’s eggrolls, New- York-style cheese pizza, fried chicken, and a bowl of noodle soup (most likely ramen or pho). I don’t know if there’s a commonality to my favorite foods except maybe DELICIOUS! Just kidding. Maybe unhealthy? Aside from the sushi, I guess.

So yes, fried chicken is one of my favorite foods. Most things can’t go wrong when they’re dropped in a vat of oil. While I love KFC’s original recipe and Popeye’s Cajun spicy fried chicken, I thought why not try my hand at homemade fried chicken? The last time I attempted fried chicken years ago, I made the mistake of not monitoring the oil temperature and so the chicken turned out charred on the outside and still raw on the inside. This time, I followed a method from Ina Garten that involves frying the chicken to seal in the juices and then finishing it off in the oven for thorough cooking. I tried to look online for KFC’s secret original recipe but my kitchen was missing the MSG (not to mention marjoram at the time) so I had to make due with only nine out of the eleven secret herbs and spices. I only put in about half the amount of herbs and spices as I should have, and the chicken could’ve used more flavor, but trial error is inevitable. I boosted the measurements in the recipe below, so hopefully your chicken turns out even tastier. A quick tip before you fry: to keep chicken crispy, set fried pieces atop brown paper bags instead of paper towels after frying. Happy frying, and remember that if the Blind can Cook it, so can you!

 

: Oven-Fried Chicken

: Original recipe from Barefoot Contessa Family Style

 

  1. 2 (3 lbs.) chickens, each cut into 8 pcs.
  2. 1 qt. buttermilk
  3. 2 c. all-purpose flour
  4. 1 tbsp. kosher salt
  5. 1 tbsp. freshly ground black pepper
  6. 1 tsp. dried basil
  7. 1 tsp. chili powder
  8. 1 tsp. garlic powder
  9. 1 tsp. dried marjoram
  10. 1 tsp. onion salt
  11. 1 tsp. dried oregano
  12. 1 tsp. paprika
  13. 1 tsp. ground sage
  14. 2 tbsp. MSG
  15. vegetable shorening or oil for frying

 

  1. Place chicken pcs. in a baking pan and pour buttermilk over them. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
  2. Combine flour, and all 11 herbs and spices in a lg. bowl. Take each chicken piece out of the buttermilk and cover liberally with flour mixture. Pour oil or shortening in a lg. heavy-bottomed stockpot to a depth of 1″. Heat oil to 360 degrees.
  3. Working in batches, carefully place several pieces of chicken in oil and fry for 3 min. on each side or until coating is a light golden brown. (It will continue to brown in the oven.) Don’t crowd the pieces. Remove chicken from oil and place each piece on a metal baking rack set on a sheet pan. Allow oil to return to 360 degrees before frying next batch.
  4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  5. When all the chicken is fried, bake for 30 to 40 min. until chicken is no longer pink inside. Serve hot.

Preparation time: 10 minute(s)

Cooking time: 1 hour(s)

sweet rice with chinese sausage

Xoi ga lap xuong

Salty from the sausage, sweet from the rice

It’s been a while since I posted a recipe or talked about cooking, for that matter. Enough with all that blind stuff, eh? Let’s take a break from all the tech talk and get back in the kitchen. Last week was my mama’s birthday–she would’ve turned 61–so here’s a dish from her repertoire. A comfort food I crave every so often is xoi lap xuong, a very easy dish to prepare using sticky, sweet rice and Chinese sausage. My mother used to make this and shape the rice into a perfect circle, spreading the sausage in one layer on top so that each bite contained exactly one slice of the dark red, fatty meat. Because this dish was so delicious, I thought it took a lot of skill to make. Little did I know after experimenting in the kitchen years later that xoi lap xuong was a very simple meal.

There are many different components to this dish, and it’s one of those things that different mamas prepare them in different ways. Here is my version along with some possible variations noted below. This is definitely a dish where if the Blind can Cook it, so can you.

 

: Sweet Rice with Chinese Sausage

: Xoi Lap Xuong

 

  1. 1.5 c. uncooked sweet rice
  2. 1/4 to 1/2 c. raw peanuts
  3. 4 to 6 Chinese sausage, sliced on the bias
  4. 3 stalks scallions, finely chopped
  5. 3 shallot cloves, finely sliced
  6. 2 tbsp. oil

 

  1. Steam rice and peanuts together in a rice cooker.
  2. In a lg. skillet, heat oil over med.-high heat. Add scallions and shallots and saute until tender, approx. 5 min. Set aside in a bowl.
  3. In the same skillet, pan-fry Chinese sausage over med. heat, stirring frequently until crispy. Using a slotted spoon, set aside.
  4. Serve Chinese sausage over sticky rice. Drizzle oil and scallion and shallot mixture over the top. Season with Maggi sauce.

Preparation time: 20 minute(s)

Cooking time: 30 minute(s)

 

Since my husband was on a pork fast, I made some chicken for him to eat with the sticky rice. Take 6 chicken thighs and cut into pieces. Marinade with 1 tbsp. honey, 1 tbsp. brown sugar, and salt & pepper to taste. After cooking the Chinese sausage, cook the chicken in the same skillet, using the sausage fat for flavor. You can also serve finely shredded pork (thit cha bong or thit ruoc) over the top–it looks like carpet meat but I grew up with the stuff. You can also added dried onion bits or crispy pork skin. Like I said, there is not one right way to eat this. The only constants are the sweet rice, the oil and scallion mixture, and the Maggi sauce.

penne with vodka sauce

Penne with vodka sauce

Spicy and creamy

In the recipe exchange I had participated in, I received a recipe for penne a la vodka. I pieced that recipe together with one I found on All Recipes and came up with this one. It was the third dish to the four-course Italian birthday meal, and Joy even said the sauce was her favorite part of dinner. The great thing about this dish is it’s quick and simple and delicious. This is definitely a valuable addition to the repertoire. I even got to use parsley picked fresh from our garden. If the Blind can Cook this, you definitely can.

Recipe: Penne with Vodka Sauce

Ingredients

  • 1 lb. uncooked penne pasta
  • 2 (3.5 oz.) Italian sausage
  • 3 strips of pancetta or bacon, cut into pcs.
  • 1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 med. onion, chopped
  • 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1 (28 oz.) can crushed tomatoes
  • 3/4 tsp. salt
  • 2 tbsp. vodka
  • 1/2 c. heavy cream or half-and-half
  • 1/4 c. chopped fresh parsley

Instructions

  1. Cook penne al dente. Drain.
  2. In a med. saucepan, heat oil over med. heat. Remove sausage from casing and add to pot along with pancetta or bacon, breaking up the sausage and stirring until browned. Add garlic, onion, and red pepper flakes; cook until fragrant.
  3. Add tomatoes and salt; bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer approx. 15 min.
  4. Add vodka and half-and-half or cream, and bring to boil. Toss with penne and garnish with fresh parsley. Serve with parmesan cheese if desired.

Variations

I used turkey Italian sausage and turkey bacon for a slightly healthier option. Taste is not compromised.

For a little green in the dish, consider adding spinach into the saucepan as you add the tomatoes. Simmer until spinach is to desired wiltedness.

Cooking time (duration): 30

Meal type: dinner

Culinary tradition: Italian

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tuscan potato soup

Tuscan potato soup

Missing the kale. Boo.

The second course of the Italian birthday dinner was this Tuscan potato soup which is very similar to Olive Garden‘s bottomless potato soup. I found the copycat recipe online years ago and have been making it since. It’s a little spicy (which you don’t expect), and the blend of vegetables, meat, and the creamyb chicken broth all make for a flavorful soup. Because it’s not too thick, it’s not super filling, and thus makes a proper second course for a four-course meal. But because it’s creamy, it’s still hearty enough to please the palate.

The kale adds a little texture and color to the soup but my husband had picked out the wrong kale at the grocery store–I needed the curly, leafy kind but he chose one that tasted like straight-up grass and dirt. Who knew there was more than one kind of kale? So sorry, but this phohto doesn’t have the green kale. And remember, if the Blind can Cook it, so can you.

Recipe: Tuscan Potato Soup

Summary: A knock-off of Olive Garden’s soup

Ingredients

  • 3 (14 oz.) cans chicken broth
  • 9 c. water
  • 3 to 5 slices bacon, chopped
  • 1 lb. Italian sausage, loosely grounded
  • 4 lg. red potatoes, unpeeled and thinly sliced
  • 1 lg. white onion, finely chopped
  • 3 to 5 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 2 tbsp. olive oil
  • 2/3 c. half-and-half
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tbsp. ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp. cayenne pepper
  • 2 c. chopped kale leaves

Instructions

  1. In a lg. stockpot, combine water, chicken broth, salt, and potatoes. Set to a low boil.
  2. In a separate pan, fry up bacon until slightly crispy. Set bacon aside, saving the grease in the pan.
  3. In the same pan used to cook the bacon, add the Italian sausage, onion, and olive oil. Simmer on low until sausage is cooked through, stirring occasionally.
  4. Add bacon and sausage mixture into the soup pot. Mix the garlic, cayenne pepper, and half-and-half into the soup pot. Cover and simmer on low for 30 min.
  5. Five min. before serving, stir in the chopped kale leaves.

Variations

I used turkey bacon and Italian turkey sausage for a slightly healthier option. (And also because my husband doesn’t eat pork.)

Cooking time (duration): 60

Meal type: dinner

Culinary tradition: Italian

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bruschetta

Bruschetta

Voila! Classico antipasto italiano.

A classic antipasto italiano–Italian Appetizer–is bruschetta, pronounced with a short “u” as in “brush” and a hard “ch” sound like a “k” as in “basket”. Many Americans incorrectly use a long “u” and a soft “shh” sound, and while this is acceptable in most English speaking countries, I like to use the authentic Italian version, complete with rolling R’s and gusto.

Now that we’ve got the pronunciation stuff out of the way, let’s move on to the dish itself. I recently hosted another birthday dinner for friends Joy, Joanna, Heari, and Teresa. Their birthdays stretched way back from February and into the future to May; everyone’s lives had just been too busy for us to coordinate dates. But finally, during a recent Saturday evening, we found ourselves seated around my farmhouse table sharing a meal together.

I decided to go with A Night in Tuscany as the theme since they all enjoy those ever-so-reputedly-bad-for-you carbs. For the first course of the four-course meal, I made this classic bruschetta dish. It turned out yummy; the red onion added a sweet yet pungent kick to each bite. I used Genovese basil fresh from our garden and a saltier, French butter on the baguette slices before baking. The creamy richness of the butter (which my dad bought for us from a Vietnamese grocery store) added an extra oomph to the bruschetta. Perfection in every bite. If the Blind can Cook it, so can you.

Recipe: Bruschetta

Summary: Original recipe courtesy of my friend Karen

Ingredients

  • 4 roma tomatoes, diced & strained
  • 1/2 red onion, diced
  • fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
  • minced garlic (optional)
  • extra virgin olive oil to taste
  • balsamic vinegar to taste
  • salt & pepper to taste
  • 1 baguette, sliced into 3/4″ slices
  • melted butter
  • 1/8 c. grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Instructions

  1. In a med. bowl, combine tomatoes, onion, and basil. Add olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Toss well and set aside.
  2. Meanwhile, spread butter on each baguette slice. Bake at approx. 350 degrees for 3 to 5 min. or until butter is melted and bread is lightly toasted.
  3. Top with tomato onion mixture. Add parmesan cheese on top if desired.

Variations

You can add minced fresh garlic to the tomato and onion mixture if desired. Italian food is known for the garlic, after all.

Cooking time (duration): 20

Diet type: Vegetarian

Meal type: hors d’oerves

Culinary tradition: Italian

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cajun crawfish boil

Since we are in the throes of crawfish season (which lasts from January to June), I decided to do this post. Crawfish (or crayfish or crawdaddy, as they’re known in other parts of the country) are little shellfish that resemble tiny lobsters. Here in the dirty South, we call them crawfish. They are little “mudbugs” that live in the swamps, and yes, while this sounds disgusting, they are actually delicious when cooked Cajun-style.

First, let’s define Cajun cuisine. Often, it’s confused with Creole cuisine, but there is, in fact, a difference per se. The Creoles were wealthy planters who settled in southern Louisiana with their European chefs, thus it is a food of aristocracy. Using Old World techniques on indigenous ingredients, Creole cuisine was born. Bouillabaisse, native to Provence, gave way to gumbo; the Spanish paella was the basis for jambalaya; and so on.

The Cajuns, on the other hand, descended from the Acadian refugees. They were less aristocratic and more agrarian; they cooked simple “one pot” dishes for mere sustenance. Cajun food is usually characterized by such ingredients as wild game, seafoods, wild vegetables and herbs. Ingredients from nearby swamps, woods, and bayous are typical things found in the Cajun black iron pot.

Today, many Creole and Cajun foods have blended into a melting pot, if you will, of southern Louisiana. One things’ for sure, though: it’s an American cuisine from the South like no other.

A crawfish boil is an event native to Louisiana but over the years has spread to most of the deep South (like my native Houston), and now, it can even be found in California, Colorado, and D.C. But because I’m a Southern girl, I don’t trust eatin’ crawfish nowhere but down he’e. What’s unique and fun about a crawfish boil is the atmosphere. Not only are you grubbin’ on good food, but you do it outside on a picnic table covered with newspaper or butcher paper. You do it over beer. You do it with your bare hands. (Or if you’re prissy like me, with plastic or latex gloves.) Most importantly, you do it with good company–it is NOT to be eaten alone. The crawfish and all the fixin’s are poured straight from the pot onto the middle of the table, and everyone grabs from the steaming pile of awesome goodness.

This recipe is based on one I got from a former coworker who has French roots from southern Louisiana. Whether she’s Creole or Cajun, I have yet to determine, but either way, this recipe is pretty tasty. She and her family do a crawfish boil every year for about a hundred friends and family. I, of course, scaled down the servings and tweaked it a little, but remember that you need to do this with a group. Also, it’s like a half day affair, so make sure you have lots of energy. I haven’t held a crawfish boil myself since 2008 because the purging, cooking, and especially the cleaning up have been too much for this tired soul. But when the best restaurants around town sell crawfish for $7+ per pound, a little DIY is something to consider.

Crawfish

Crazy Cajun crawfish

Recipe: Cajun Crawfish Boil

Summary: From the Melancons of southern Louisiana

Ingredients

  • 30-40 lbs. live crawfish
  • 3 lemons, halved
  • 2.5 tbsp. cayenne pepper
  • 6 med. onions, halved
  • 9 unpeeled garlic heads
  • 1.5 tbsp. minced garlic
  • 2.5 tbsp. Louisiana brand hot sauce
  • 1/2 to 1 lg. pkg. Louisiana brand crab/seafood boil powder
  • 12 oz. cans pineapple slices
  • 10 med. red potatoes
  • 1 lg. pkg. button mushrooms
  • 2 lbs. sausage links
  • 30 sm. frozen corn on the cob
  • 1/2 canister of salt

Instructions

  1. Crawfish must be purged before cooking to rid the shellfish of dirt and impurities: an hour before cooking, dump live crawfish into a lg. bin and rinse with water. Dump water and repeat. Refill bin with enough water to cover crawfish. Add half the salt canister and stir.
  2. Fill the pot’s basket with crawfish. Place the basket inside the pot and fill pot with water to cover crawfish. Remove basket and note the water level. Dump water and refill pot to the noted water level.
  3. Heat water to rolling boil. Add Louisiana powder, squeezed lemons plus their rinds, minced garlic, hot sauce, cayenne pepper, and pineapple slices plus juice.
  4. Dump crawfish into bin. Rinse 2 more times.
  5. Dump crawfish, potatoes, onion halves, and garlic heads into basket. Hose down.
  6. When water reaches rolling boil, carefully lower basket into pot. Bring back to rolling boil, and then time for 4 min.
  7. After 4 min., turn off fire. Add corn, sausages, and mushrooms. Let stand for at least 20 min. The longer it soaks, the spicier the batch.

Quick Notes

Cook the crawfish outdoors using the same pot, basket, and propane burner used for deep-fried turkey.

Many people say the larger the better, but I like medium-sized crawfish best because: (1) they’re easier to peel, and (2) they soak up the spices better.

Use andouille or boudin sausage for an authentic Cajun boil.

Avoid eating the crawfish with straight tails: they went into the pot already dead and could contain harmful bacteria. Stick with the curled tails.

Dipping sauces: I like to eat my crawfish straight up without any dipping sauces as I prefer to taste the essence of the spices. But many people enjoy it with various condiments. The ones I often see are: (1) salt and pepper with fresh lemon juice; (2) mayo mixed with Sriracha (or rooster) hot sauce; and (3) Creole seasoning mixed with fresh lemon juice.

This recipe should serve approx. 10.

Variations

The longer the crawfish soak after turning off the fire, the spicier they will be. Soak for a minimum of 20 min.

My favorite crawfish restaurant in Houston is The Boiling Crab. They seem to use a ton of minced garlic on their crawfish, which I may try to emulate next time by upping my minced garlic by ten or something. If you get to this before I do, let me know how it is.

Meal type: dinner

Culinary tradition: USA (Southern)

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vietnamese eggrolls

Eggrolls

Crisphy cha gio on top of a bed of vermicelli

Cha gio, or Vietnamese eggrolls: one of my favorite things to eat. I can make 100 of them and nibble on them every day for weeks. I never get tired of this homemade version which is a recipe I modeled after my own mother’s. And you know mama’s home cookin’ is the best kind of cookin’ they is.

My mom used to make these as a treat every once in awhile, and they’re so good that I don’t even eat them with nuoc cham, or the fish dipping sauce that is a staple condiment for many Vietnamese. I prefer the eggrolls virgin, untouched and unmarred by any any additional sauce or lettuce or vermicelli. Of course, eating them this way makes them disappear much quicker, so I like to feed them to others with a bowl of vermicelli (bun cha gio).

This recipe is not exactly my mothers–she passed away when I was 14, an age before I became interested in cooking. But of the dozens of Saturday mornings I spent in the kitchen peeling eggroll skin after eggroll skin for her, I got to “know” the ingredients by sight and smell. It sounds a little sick, but I loved inhaling the aromatic raw meat and vegetable mixture that is to become the eggroll filling. As a matter of fact, I still do that today when I make eggrolls–that’s the only way I know if the mixture needs more fish sauce or garlic or whatever.

So eggrolls being one of the things I missed most from my mama’s kitchen after she died, I came up with my own concoction that, if my memory doesn’t fail me, tastes incredibly similar to hers. Now if only I was talented enough to figure out her homemade pho from scratch.

Eggrolls contain pork, but one time in elementary school for an international culture week, my mom substituted the ground pork with turkey because I had a Muslim classmate. Now that I have a husband who avoids beef and pork, I too make my eggrolls with ground turkey. They’re not as juicy but they’re healthier. (Well, as healthy as they can be after being submerged in the canola oil.).

I must say cha gio are my masterpiece, but they’re only made like once a year because the whole process–from chopping the veggies to wrapping the eggrolls to frying them–used to take six hours or something insane. Thank God for the food processor, which now has cut my prep and cook time down to a mere four hours. (Har, har.) Don’t let that scare you away from attempting them though; keep in mind that I’m a slow worker, not to mention blind. So remember that if I can do it, so can you. And I encourage you to try this.

Recipe: Vietnamese Eggrolls

Summary: Based on my mom’s cha gio recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 lb. ground pork or turkey
  • 1/2 lb. shrimp, peeled & minced
  • 1 med. yellow onion, finely chopped
  • 1 lg. carrot, finely chopped
  • 2 oz. dried cat ear mushroom (black fungus)
  • 6 (1.75 oz.) pkgs. dried bean thread noodles
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 3 shallots, finely chopped
  • 2/3 c. fish sauce or to taste
  • 2 eggs
  • ground black pepper
  • 2 pkgs. egg roll wrappers or rice paper
  • canola oil for frying

Instructions

  1. Soak mushrooms and noodles in hot water until tender, about 5 to 10 min. Then finely chop either with knife or food processor.
  2. Mix all ingredients in a lg. bowl and season with pepper to taste.
  3. If using eggroll wrappers, use beaten egg to seal. If using rice paper, simply wet paper and roll, using about 2 rounded spoonfuls of filling in each eggroll.
  4. Heat oil and test for readiness by dropping the tip of an eggroll into the oil. It is hot enough if it immediately begins to sizzle. Fry eggrolls until golden brown, about 4 to 7 min. each.

Quick Notes

Refrigerating the filling mixture overnight allows the flavors to meld together better.

Don’t overstuff your eggrolls or else they will either burst or not cook through.

The folding technique is as follows: if using the square eggroll wrappers, set the skin so that it is a diamond in front of you. Set the filling in the lower center of the skin. Fold the corner pointing at you up over the mixture. Then fold in the two sides. Then roll eggroll away from you, sealing the far corner with a little bit of beaten egg. If using round rice paper for skin, simply wet the banh trang in a lg. bowl of very hot water. It just needs to be immersed for a few seconds; don’t oversoak–the paper will get more and more pliable as it soaks up the water. Oversoaking the rice paper results in mushy skin that will tear easily. Place the circular skin in front of you, place the filling in the lower center of the skin. Fold in the same pattern as with the square skins, but omitting the beaten egg for sealing.

Line the cooked eggrolls on paper towels or paper bags to drain excess oil. Paper bags, I heard, do a better job of soaking up the oil without making the eggrolls soggy.

Variations

The authentic Vietnamese eggroll uses rice paper for the skin, but many use the Filipino lumpia eggroll skin nowadays. Just be sure not to use the Chinese eggroll skin; I made that mistake the first time I ever made eggrolls (yes, back in college), and the skin puffed up like a wonton crisp, which is NOT what you want.

Meal type: hors d’oerves

Culinary tradition: Vietnamese

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tuna casserole

Starkist

Say hello to Charlie. Then eat him in this casserole.

The holidays are always a frenzy, especially in the kitchen. You’ve got all four burners going on the stove, three different things in the oven, another in the convection oven, something in the slow cooker, maybe even on the grill or deep-fryer outside. It’s no wonder that we just want to all take it easy after the holidays are over.

Enter the tuna casserole. It’s simple and quick to make, and produces a hearty one-dish meal for the entire family. And it also makes for good leftovers–send it with your husband to work, serve it to the kids after school, eat it yourself at your desk while trying to take care of work and household tasks. It allows a combination of flavors all in one dish, so there’s less clean-up without sacrificing blandness.

Maybe for some culinarians (is this even a word?), tuna casserole sounds oh so boring, unadventurous. And while I do think of it as the typical American meal originating from the 1950s with the picture-perfect housewife in her petticoat, apron, and pointy-cupped bra holding a spatula in one hand and the tuna casserole in the other, I was, for whatever reason, craving a college comfort food. Yes, in college, I was the master of Hamburger Helper and Tuna Helper. It was one of the first things I learned to “cook.” But now that I’m a decade older, I thought maybe I should skip the meal-in-a-box and try making it from scratch.

Besides being a college comfort food, Starkist tuna is a childhood favorite. I know most of you will cringe at the thought of this, but my mama used to feed me rice mixed with tuna and fish sauce. The tuna always had to be the kind in vegetable oil (I don’t even know if they had the spring water kind then, and even if they did, it would’ve been too dry and blegh), and she’d mash the rice/tuna/fish sauce mix with the back of the spoon–the oil aiding in coagulating the rice mixture, shaping it into a mound inside the bowl before placing it in my happy, open arms. To this day, I still crave this comfort food from my younger years every so often. My husband always makes a face, saying it’s disgusting, but one can never explain one’s comfort food, right?

Anyway, this tuna casserole is an adequate Americanized substitute for my rice and fish sauce variety. I found it still tasty for days afterward. I love the browned cheese. Yum!

Note: As much as it is delicious, tuna casserole is definitely not photogenic For this reason, I decided to forego the picture and just post a pic of Charlie the Tunafish instead. Don’t ask me how I know the logo’s name.


Recipe: Tuna Casserole

Summary: Original recipe from All Recipes

Ingredients

  • 1 (12 oz.) pkg. egg noodles, cooked to al dente
  • 2 (6 oz.) cans tuna, drained
  • 2 (10.75 oz.) cans condensed cream of mushroom soup
  • 1 c. frozen peas, thawed
  • 1/4 c. fresh or canned sliced mushrooms (optional)
  • 1/4 c. minced onion
  • 2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1 c. Ritz crackers, crushed

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
  2. In a lg. bowl, combine, egg noodles, tuna, cream of mushroom, peas, mushrooms, onion, and 1 c. cheddar cheese. Spread in a lightly greased 9″x13″ baking dish. Cover with cracker crumbs and remaining cheddar cheese.
  3. Bake for 10 to 15 min. or until cheese is brown and bubbly.

Variations

I used Ritz crackers in my version since this is what I had on hand. But the original recipe calls for 1 c. crushed potato chips. If this is what I happen to have on hand next time, I’ll use chips instead. Or try using Panco bread crumbs; as Alton Brown puts it, they offer a better breading alternative than just regular bread crumbs.

Cooking time (duration): 25

Diet type: Pescatarian

Meal type: lunch

Culinary tradition: USA (Traditional)

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This is a dish I really did cook entirely on my own, so if the Blind can Cook it, so can you.

vietnamese shaking chicken (or beef)

Ga luc lac or bo luc lac are French influenced dishes consisting of seared and sauteed bpcubes of meat served with a vinaigrette dressing. The term “luc lac” comes from the sound of the meat shaking in the pan while cooking. The dish is usually made of sirloin or ribeye steak, but I decided to go a slightly healthier route and make it with chicken. Whichever meat you choose, it’ll be tasty.

You can serve it with white rice or a French style fried rice (recipe posting TBD). This is often a favorite at Tan Tan and Sinh Sinh restaurants (reviews of these places also TBD).

The picture below is of the beef version which is on Rasa Malaysia. The one we took of our chicken version turned out too dim for the web.



Bo luc lac (Shaking beef)

Photo courtesy of Rasa Malaysia



Recipe: Vietnamese Shaking Chicken (or Beef)

Summary: Original recipe for beef from Ravenous Couple on Rasa Malaysia

Ingredients

  • 1.5 lbs. chicken thighs or beef sirloin or ribeye, cut into 1″ cubes
    • Marinade:
    • 2 tbsp. minced garlic
    • 1.5 tbsp. sugar
    • 2 tbsp. oyster sauce
    • 1 tbsp. fish sauce
    • 1 tbsp. sesame oil
    • 1 tsp. soy sauce
    Vinaigrette dressing:
    • 1/4 c. rice vinegar
    • 1.5 tbsp. sugar
    • 1/2 tbsp. salt
    Dipping sauce:
    • 1 lemon, juiced
    • 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
    • 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
  • 2 tomatoes, thinly sliced (optional)
  • 1 bunch watercress, long stems trimmed (optional)

Instructions

  1. In a medium bowl, combine marinade ingredients with the meat. Refrigerate and let marinate for 30 to 90 minutes.
  2. Prepare vinaigrette by combining vinaigrette ingredients. It should be a balance of sour, salty, and sweet. Pour 3 to 4 tbsp. over the onion and let stand for at least 10 minutes.
  3. Heat a wok over high heat. Add onion and meat 1 layer at a time and sear for about 2 minutes. Then shake the wok to sear all sides of the meat, about another 1 to 2 minutes.
  4. Prepare dipping sauce by combining ingredients.
  5. Drizzle vinaigrette on top of meat and serve with tomatoes, rice, and dipping sauce.

Variations

I accidentally added cupfuls of sugar instead of tablespoonfuls. (This is what happens when you are blind and have to juggle all the measurements in your head.) We managed to throw a lot of it out and salvage the dish, but in the end, it wasn’t too sweet at all. I also used brown sugar instead of white as a healthier alternative.

The original recipe called for slightly pickled red onions but I prefer mine sauteed with the meat. I can’t get enough of that scrumptious sauce flavor so I just added the onion to the wok while cooking the meat. I also substituted green onion since that’s what was in my fridge, and I needed to get rid of it. But using actual onion is preferable.

I also cut the rice vinegar by half for the vinaigrette. This worked out much better. I would maybe try white vinegar and even less of it next time to see how that turns out.

Lastly, the original recipe called for more oil to be added to the wok for cooking but I found the sesame oil in the marinade was enough to keep the meat from sticking to the wok surface. Otherwise, it’d be a super greasy dish.

Cooking time (duration): 30 (excluding marinade time)

Meal type: dinner

Culinary tradition: Vietnamese

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Remember, if the Blind can Cook it, so can you.

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