deliciousness

tom yam kung - spicy soup with lemongrass

via vatcharin bhumichitr’s gourmet thai in minutes
serves 4

2.5 cups chicken broth
1 lemongrass stalk, bruised and chopped into pieces
4 kaffir lime leaves, roughly chopped
2 small fresh red chiles, finely chopped
button mushrooms
shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp sugar
cilantro leaves

in a saucepan, heat the broth to boiling. add lemongrass, lime leaves, chiles, and mushrooms, and return to boil. add shrimp, fish sauce, lime juice, and sugar and simmer until shrimp cooked (about a minute).

takeout-style sesame noodles

via nytimes
serves 4

1 pound Chinese egg noodles
2 tablespoons sesame oil, plus a splash
3½ tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons Chinese rice vinegar
2 tablespoons Chinese sesame paste
1 tablespoon smooth peanut butter
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon finely grated ginger
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons chili-garlic paste, or to taste
Half a cucumber, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/8,-by- 1/8,-by-2-inch sticks
¼ cup chopped roasted peanuts

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add noodles and cook until barely tender, about 5 minutes; they should retain a hint of chewiness. Drain, rinse with cold water, drain again and toss with a splash of sesame oil.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the remaining 2 tablespoons sesame oil, the soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame paste, peanut butter, sugar, ginger, garlic and chili-garlic paste.

Pour the sauce over the noodles and toss. Transfer to a serving bowl, and garnish with cucumber and peanuts.

white sangria

via nytimes
makes 8 cocktails

2 small white nectarines or white peaches
1 small green pear or green apple
1 small navel orange
1 bottle cava, moscato d’Asti or other sparkling wine
1 3/4 cups apple juice
1 1/3 cups Cointreau
1 cup club soda

Slice fruit into thin bite-size pieces. Place in large pitcher. Pour in sparkling wine, apple juice and Cointreau. If possible, refrigerate an hour or two to draw out sweetness and floral aromas of fruit. Add club soda, and stir. Spoon some fruit pieces into glasses filled with ice, and pour.

white wine and tarragon steamed mussels

adapted from jon shook and vinny dotolo’s two dudes, one pan
serves 4

olive oil, salt, pepper
2 shallots, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, diced
1 cup dry white wine
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (more if you like spicy)
3 lb mussels, cleaned (see note below)
2 cups heavy cream
1 loaf bread
1 bunch of fresh chives, finely chopped
2 1/2 tbsp roughly chopped tarragon

NOTE: Make sure your mussels are ALIVE when you get home. They should be closed - if they’re open (and stay open when you tap them), they’re dead. Likewise, if they are closed after being cooked, they are dead. UNSALVAGEABLE! To clean mussels, dump in a big bowl of water with a little flour or corn starch mixed in. Rinse, then debeard - pull off the hairy threads that poke out around the tip.

Heat oil in dutch oven over medium high heat. Add shallots and garlic, lightly season (think of mussels as pre-seasoned), and cook until they begin to brown (2 min). Make sure you don’t burn the garlic! Pour in wine, scraping browned bits off the bottom of the pot, and stir in red pepper flakes.

Add mussels to pot, cover, and steam until just beginning to open (3 min). Pour in cream, cover, and cook until all mussels are open (3-5 min). Remove from heat, sprinkle with chives and tarragon and serve with bread.

frank’s clam chowder

adapted from jon shook and vinny dotolo’s two dudes, one pan
serves 8 

4 tbsp butter
1/3 cup flour
8 oz sliced bacon (i used pancetta)
2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and finely chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled and finely chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup bottled clam juice (i used 1 cup and still not clammy enough)
1 1/2 tsp chopped thyme
3 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1 6.5 oz can of clams with juices
salt and pepper

Melt butter in dutch oven over medium heat. Whisk in flour and cook, while stirring, until it bubbles (2 min). Scrape the roux into bowl and set aside. Wipe out pot and turn up heat to medium-high. Add bacon and cook until brown and crisp (8-10 min). Set aside on paper towel-lined plate to drain. 

Add potatoes to bacon fat and cook, stirring often, until they begin to turn translucent around edges (2 min). Stir in carrots, celery, and onions, season with salt and pepper, and cook until potatoes start to brown (4 min). This is where the finely chopped part becomes important - my pieces were not small enough and everything took double the time to cook. Smaller pieces of potatoes ended up turning into much, thickening the chowder too much. Add clam juice and thyme and simmer until broth reduced by half (4-6 min). 

Pour in cream and milk, season, and bring to a boil. Simmer until carrots are tender (10-15 min). I also added uncooked pasta with the cream and milk. Cooks along with the veggies in same amount of time. Stir in roux a little at a time until chowder is thick and hearty. Stir in clams with juices and crumbled bacon. Cook for 1-2 min until heated through, then serve. With all the cream and milk, the original receipe was grossly under-seasoned. Clams and juice were not enough to season. Actually, you need at least double amount of clam meat to keep this from tasting like cream of veggie soup with hint of clam.

雞絲涼麵 - spicy cold noodles with chicken slivers

serves 4
adapted from fuchsia dunlop’s land of plenty: a treasury of authentic sichuan cooking

2 chicken breasts
pepper, soy sauce
1 lb fresh chinese noodles, shanghai-style
peanut of vegetable oil
2 large handfuls of bean sprouts
4 scallions, thinly sliced

2 1/2 tbsp sesame paste
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp chinkiang vinegar
1 tbsp + 1  tsp white sugar
3 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp ground roasted sichuan pepper
2-3 tbsp chili oil with chile flakes (or hunan chili paste)
1 tbsp sesame oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Season chicken breasts with pepper and soy sauce and roast for 30 minutes, flipping halfway through. Let cool and tear or cut into 1/4 inch thick slivers. 

Cook noodles in boiling water according to directions (usually 3-4 minutes) - make sure not to overcook. Rinse in cold water, drain, and mix with oil to prevent sticking (I didn’t really need the oil, just rinsed with enough water to wash off the starches that cause stickyness and consumed quickly).

Blanch bean sprouts for a few second in boiling water, then rinse with cold water and drain. Combine all seasonings into sauce - add water to dilute to desired consistency.

To serve, layer sprouts, noodles, chicken, and scallions. Pour sauce and toss.

NOTE: this is a spicy dish, thus the title. The measurements above, sans sichuan peppers, are for a less spicy sauce as I was making for my mom, aka does not like spicy. To make spicier, add more chili paste and sichuan peppers.