Currying Favor
(Recipes • Nature)
This year more than most, Spring and Winter have fought hard and often over who’s turn it is to steer the wind and wreak the seasonal havoc.
Tonight, Winter wins again.
It’s a bitter pill to swallow for Plantsman and Commutermaid, who decidedly operate with more efficiency and aplomb under the gentler countenance of the recently defeated but sure to rebound Spring. To be sure, one could attempt to drown one’s frozen sorrows in a hot, sweetened coffee with a shot of bourbon, however, the occasion really calls for something more substantive – say a good chili or shepherd pie.
Or, when the beef’s locked in the freezer and there’s naught left but leftovers, it could be a hot little curry that melts the long Winter of your discontent.
Texas Thai Curry
Ingredients:
→ 3 tablespoons olive oil
→ 2 cups diced chicken thighs, cooked pork loin or (God willing) fresh Gulf shrimp
→ 1 cup sliced mushrooms (shitake if you got ‘em)
→ 2-4 tablespoons red Thai curry paste
→ 1/2 to 1 cup chopped shallots or onions
→ 2-4 big, fat garlic cloves, minced
→ 2 Serrano or equivalent hot peppers, minced
→ 1 large (25-ounce) or 2 medium cans good-quality coconut milk
→ 1 small can sliced pineapples or the equivalent amount of fresh (or try mangoes or some other fruit experiment)
→ 1 can sliced water chestnuts or bamboo shoots
→ 2 tablespoons fish sauce
→ 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
→ a dash of Chinese 5-spice
→ 1/3 cup fresh chopped Italian parsley, cilantro or oregano
→ the juice of 1 fresh lime
Method:
→ Open the can(s) of coconut milk and separate out about 1 cup of coconut cream (the thick stuff at the top of the can) for later use. Pour the rest in a heavy pan. If using uncooked chicken, boil meat in coconut milk for 40 minutes. For pre-cooked pork or shrimp, simmer meat in coconut milk on low until heated through.
→ Heat oil in wok or large, heavy pan. Add onions or shallots, garlic and hot peppers and saute for 4-5 minutes on medium-high heat.
→ Add curry paste. Good Thai curry paste is hot! so adjust the amount based on the preferences of your diners. But for authentic curry, more paste is better. Use the curry paste as if it were roux – stir it in among the softened onions until it, too softens. Then add the mushrooms, cardamom and Chinese 5-spice and stir.
→ Add the coconut milk that you used to cook the meat, about a half-cup at a time, stirring constantly. Then add the meat and mix well, stirring until sauce thickens a bit.
→ Add the water chestnuts or bamboo shoots. Turn the heat down to low, add the fish sauce and stir.
→ Add the parsley or cilantro, the lime juice and the coconut milk and stir well. Turn the heat to its lowest setting, cover the pot except for a small opening to allow steam to escape.
→ While flavors are blending in the curry, make some rice, noodles or bulgar wheat to accompany the meal.
Serve over whatever you made in the last step and, if possible, include ice-cold Singha malt liquor.
I believe you’ll find that Spring is just around the corner.
→ B.Dunn, Feb 23, 2010, 03 55 pm
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Third Time's A Hot Charm
(Recipes • Food)
The kids are off from school, it’s really impossible to work, yet we still have garden leftovers that need attention else they go bad, and you can’t have that. Which is why this blog has resembled a cookbook lately.
Today I found eight good Jamaican Hot Chocolate habanero peppers waiting patiently in the fridge, along with various odds and ends that appeared promising from a hot sauce point of view.
This was the third (and smallest) batch of habanero sauce I’ve made this season. The last one just went out the door as little Christmas presents, but next year this is the recipe I’ll be using, providing I’m lucky enough to enjoy a habanero harvest in the summer. 
Adapted from a recipe for “Spicy Island Hot Sauce,” this version comes as close as I’ve managed in achieving the major goals I’ve set for such a substance. First and foremost, it allows the JHC habanero’s musky flavor to shine through without searing the tongue, while nonetheless not sacrificing the satisfying heat of the pepper. The heat and chile flavor is pure habanero, as no other peppers are included, unlike many recipes. This also is a complex, sweet and fruity sauce that should work well in marinades, tacos and on pork, chicken and fish.
Granted, I used a pint jar of persimmon jam I made a few weeks ago, and hardly anyone’s going to have that on hand. But you could substitute a like amount of chopped mango, papaya, peaches, apricots or pineapple with good results, I bet. Each would lend its own character to the total.
(But hey – let’s be careful out there – don’t work with habanero peppers without donning kitchen gloves first. Also, turn the oven ventilation on if you have it. Respect the chiles or expect to suffer extremely painful consequences.)
Tropical Bob’s Habanero Sauce
Ingredients:
→ 8 habanero peppers, most seeds and membranes removed, chopped coarsely
→ 1 medium onion, chopped coarsely
→ 2 large garlic cloves, chopped
→ 1 medium tomato, peeled
→ 1 large stalk celery, strings removed as much as practical, chopped coarsely
→ 3 tablespoons fresh ginger, chopped
→ 2 tablespoons fresh thyme
→ 1 pint persimmon jam (or substitute fruit as mentioned above)
→ (only if not using the jam) 2 tablespoons honey
→ 1/3 cup good dark rum
→ 2/3 cup of lime juice (about 4 limes)
→ 1 teaspoon kosher salt
→ 1/4 teaspoon cardamom
Method:
→ Bathe some half-pint canning jars and lids in hot tap water in separate pans
→ Carefully load all sauce ingredients into a blender. Start on a slower speed and work up to medium high, for a total of about a minute until the mixture is smooth but before it starts frothing.
→ Pour the mixture into a large sauce pan and, over medium-high heat, bring to a boil. Stir, lower heat and gently simmer for 10 minutes. Cover pan, remove from heat and allow to cool for about 20 minutes.
→ Remove jars from large pot, add more hot water and boil. Use a funnel to pour sauce into canning jars. Tighten lids. Boil them in the large pot for 30 minutes.
This batch yielded 4 cups (8 half-pint jars), plus a big shot glass full – enough for tasting and concluding that this stuff will be even better once it’s aged in the jars for a few days.
→ B.Dunn, Dec 27, 2009, 12 28 pm
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Gulf Coast Holiday Dip
(Recipes • Food)
Rich, zippy and makes you say “oh, yeah,” this is a modification based on a recipe from one Lynda Kay. Use fresh shrimp for best results. If you make it this time of year, you’ll have to get your crawfish frozen.
Ingredients:
→ 1 pound fresh gulf shrimp
→ A half-cup of good crab boil such as Old Bay or Zatarain’s
→ 1 pound peeled, frozen crawfish tails
→ 1 pint heavy cream
→ A heaping half-cup of good Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, shredded
→ 6 tablespoons butter
→ A generous quarter-cup flour
→ salt and white pepper to taste
→ 12-16 good dashes of your favorite Tabasco-style hot sauce
Method:
→ Thaw the crawfish. Peel the shrimp. Put a big pot on to boil and stir in the crab boil; bring to a rolling boil. Add the shrimp to the pot and boil them for two minutes. Turn off the fire and let them soak a couple minutes more to absorb the seasoning.
→ Put the boiled shrimp in a food processer and grind them up coarsely.
→ Melt the butter in a large heavy-bottom pan. Sprinkle in the flour and stir for about five minutes over medium-low heat until the roux is smooth and begins to brown. Add the cream a little at a time and keep stirring for another five minutes until the sauce is smooth and thickened. Lower the heat a little.
→ Stir in the shrimp and add the crawfish. Add the cheese and stir until it’s melted and mixed well.
→ Season with the salt and pepper. Add the hot sauce and mix well again.
Serve warm with bagel chips. Makes somewhere in the neighborhood of a half-gallon; probably won’t last real long.
→ B.Dunn, Dec 24, 2009, 12 21 pm
When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Breakfast Tacos
(Recipes • Food)
This is one of those things you can do with a lot of morning visitors and the last remains of a fall garden. Tortillas stretch the ingredients so far it almost seems like Jesus and the loaves. But we aren’t talking about fish tacos here.
Especial de huevos, papas y tocino tacos:
Ingredients
→ 12-16 taco-size flour tortillas
→ 4-6 medium potatoes
→ 1 small onion, chopped
→ 2 medium green tomatoes, chopped and diced
→ 1-2 large green chile peppers
→ 4 thick slices of bacon
→ A generous cup of jack cheese, shredded
→ 2-3 tablespoons fresh chopped Mexican oregano (you could click the photo)
→ 6 eggs
→ Fresh Salsa
Method
→ Scrub but don’t peel the potatoes. Put them in a large pan, cover with hot water and boil for about 20 minutes.
→ Heat the oven to its lowest setting, stack tortillas on a plate, separated with small pieces of wax paper, and covered with a larger piece. Put them in the oven to warm.
→ Fry the bacon in a large frying pan until the fat is rendered and it’s fairly crisp. Set aside folded inside paper towels.
→ Saute onion and green tomatoes in bacon grease until soft.
→ Remove potatoes from water, slice and dice, add to frying pan. Cover but stir vegetables occasionally until potatoes have softened. Season with the oregano, salt and pepper.
→ While potatoes are cooking, scramble the eggs with a little milk or cream. Cover with the cheese when the eggs are done. Turn off the burner and cover with pan lid to melt the cheese. Crumble the bacon
→ Assemble the tacos by rolling up the ingredients in warm tortillas: cheesy eggs first, then bacon pieces, potatoes and salsa. (Your favorite hot sauce is a fine substitute for the salsa.)
Serves 6-10 depending on how hungry they are.
→ B.Dunn, Dec 22, 2009, 08 05 am
