This was really, really good. I half remembered making something with shrimp and orzo and feta before but I’m pretty sure I baked that in the oven. So, I kind of threw this together based on other recipes I’ve seen before and what I had on hand. The garlicky, lemony wine sauce is amazing tasty! jwa brought the leftovers to work for lunch Thursday and I almost tried to steal them from him, as I really liked this dish. But, I didn’t — I am too nice.

Spicy Lemon Garlic Shrimp with Orzo:
1 1/2 cups uncooked orzo
1 tbsp olive oil
6 cloves garlic
1/2 onion, sliced
1 yellow pepper, julienned
3/4 of a pound raw shrimp, cleaned and deveined (the first time I typed this out I wrote “3/4 of a pond” and I almost left it because it was pretty funny)
juice and zest of 1 lemon
1 cup dry white wine
a pinch of red pepper flakes
3 tbsp unsalted butter
8 basil leaves, cut in long strips
1/3 cup feta
salt
lemon pepper

Cook orzo according to package. Drain, toss with olive oil, and add salt and pepper (lemon pepper works well if you have some) to taste.

Cover and keep warm with foil. Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon oil in large skillet. Add onion and pepper — cook until soft.

Remove and place atop cooked orzo. Recover with foil. Add garlic and shrimp to pan. If the pan is very dry, add a bit more olive oil. Sprinkle shrimp with salt. Cook for two minutes, turn shrimp over and put the lid on pan. Cook for 2-3 more minutes, until shrimp opaque.

Remove shrimp from pan and keep warm on top of veggies and orzo.

There should be all kinds of tasty brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Return it to heat and add the lemon juice and wine. Bring to a boil, lower heat, and reduce by half, about 4 minutes. Stir in butter, red pepper flakes and lemon zest. Adjust salt & pepper if needed.

Pour lemon butter sauce over shrimp and orzo. Top with feta crumbles and basil. We had this with some sautéed green beans and it was excellent!

***

Je Mange la Ville is going on holiday hiatus until 1/1/06. I will be out of town in California, no doubt eating at tasty places and taking pictures of it all. It’s possible I could post while gone but let’s not hold our collective breath.

I hope everyone has a happy holiday and eats all kinds of wonderful meals!

This is from what is quickly becoming my favorite baking book, Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook. It’s the one batch of cookies I’ll have time to make before leaving for California on Friday. Oh, they are good! I decided to bring them into work today. I followed the recipe exactly, except (and of course there’s an except), I added 1/2 teaspoon of instant espresso to the granulated sugar — making these Cinnamon Chocolate Espresso Shortbread!

Cinnamon Chocolate Espresso Shortbread:
3 sticks butter, room temperature
2 1/3 cups + 2 tbsp AP flour
4 1/2 tbsp Dutch process cocoa powder
1/2 heaping tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 cup superfine (baking) sugar

For sprinkling:
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp instant espresso

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray and line with parchment paper. Leave a 1-inch overhang on the long sides — set aside. Ina medium bol, whisk together flour, cocoa, cinnamon, salt and baking soda.

Beat the butter and sugar in an electric mixer (or hand-held) until light and fluffy (3-4 minutes). Scrape down the sides of the bowl a couple of times. Add flour and beat on low speed until combined. The mixture will be crumbly, like a pastry crust dough.

Evenly spread and press dough onto baking sheet. My batch didn’t go all the way to the ends. I just pressed it into a rectangular shape on the sheet. Chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. Prick the surface all over with a fork. Bake until just firm to touch, about 20 minutes.

Transfer to a wire rack and cut into 4-inch x 1-inch rectangles while still hot.

Mix instant espresso and granulated sugar in a small bowl. Sprinkle on warm cookies — use as much as you want. I ended up having a little leftover. I’m thinking it’ll go in my coffee this morning! Shortbread can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.

For Slash Food’s Spirited Cooking Day!

Here’s a recipe that I saw on the Food Network on the show, Calling All Cooks (do they even still make that show?) a few years ago. Since I’ve been making it, I’ve modified the amount and type of pepper used quite a bit and it’s still pretty spicy. Originally, the amount of pepper (cayenne, black pepper, lemon pepper white pepper, & red pepper flakes) was insane. This version is still moderately crazy but in a good, it’s-still-spicy-but-my-face-is-not-on-fire way.

Funny story: I made this on Sunday night and all I had was vanilla vodka. I forgot that liquor stores in Portland (all of Oregon?) are not open on Sunday. In fact, I got into a discussion at the Wild Oats on Division with an employee and a guy who was looking for somewhere to buy vodka for a bloody mary party. She was telling him there was supposedly a liquor store at 52nd and Powell that was open on Sunday. Ha! I had just driven by there before going to Wild Oats. Not open. I shared my news and we all stood around trying to think of a place to buy vodka on a Sunday afternoon in Portland. The people behind me in line thought maybe some place in Gresham. I said maybe the one on Hawthorne and 12th was open Sundays but I hadn’t checked yet.

After briefly contemplating making Peppery Gin Chicken, and not feeling like driving down Hawthorne, I went ahead and used the vanilla vodka. It seemed to work fine but if you have plain vodka, you’ll probably want to use that.

Peppery Vodka Chicken:
1 tbsp black pepper
1 tbsp lemon pepper
1 tbsp garlic pepper
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tbsp shallot pepper
Zest of one orange or 1 tsp dried orange peel
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup vodka
1 (16-ounce can) diced tomatoes with juice
1 small can sliced black olives, drained
1 can artichoke hearts in water, drained and quartered
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp dried oregano
1/4 cup feta cheese
handful of basil leaves, cut into thin strips

Mix peppers and orange zest in a shallow bowl. I’ll also add that you can use whatever pepper blends that you have. I’ve found it works well with some fresh, ground pepper and then 2-3 pepper blends (lemon pepper, garlic pepper, etc.) that you may have on hand. Rinse chicken with water and while still slightly wet, coat in the pepper mixture.

Heat oil in a large skillet and add garlic, onions and chicken. Brown the chicken on both sides. Some of the pepper will stick to the pan or fall off the chicken — that’s fine. It will just blend into the sauce! Turn off the flame. Add the vodka. Scrape down anything stuck to bottom of pan and turn flame back on. Cover and cook about six minutes over medium heat.

Add tomatoes, olives, artichoke hearts, Worcestershire, and oregano to the pan and let simmer, with the lid on, for about 20 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. Stir and flip chicken over periodically during this cooking time.

Serve with extra-creamy mashed potatoes — this seems to go well with the spicy heat of the chicken dish!

Extra-Creamy Mashed Potatoes:
3 large Russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 3-inch chunks
1/3 cup sour cream or yogurt
1/4 cup ricotta cheese
4 tbsp fresh chopped chives
4 cloves garlic, minced
Milk for desired creaminess
Salt & pepper to taste

Place the cut potatoes in a large stockpot, cover with cold water, and add some salt. Bring to a boil, then simmer until tender when pierced with a fork, approximately 20 minutes.

Drain well in a colander; return to hot pan and set over low heat for a minute or two to dry out potatoes. Mash the potatoes with a potato masher and add sour cream or yogurt, ricotta cheese, chives, and garlic; mix well. Add as much (or as little) milk to achieve the level of creaminess that you want.

To assemble:
Place a heap of mashed potatoes on a plate. Arrange a chicken breast and sauce on top of the potatoes. Sprinkle artfully with fresh basil strips and feta cheese crumbles.

This works well with sweet wine like a Riesling or a Gewürztraminer — or a big glass of milk is good too!

Oh, look, it’s more bubbling, baked things! Isn’t that what Winter is for? Why yes, yes it is. I really love moussaka. This, too, I would get at Greek Islands. I don’t know, there’s just something about lamb, red wine and cinnamon…

While I was a vegetarian, the one meat I think I thought back fondly about the most was probably lamb. Not that I ate it that often, because I didn’t, but because it was so interesting tasting. Nowadays, I probably have lamb a few times a year and moussaka is a great way to do that.

For these — instead of making a big lasagne-sized casserole — I made individual moussakas in oven-safe bowls. So cute!

If you had one cup or a bit bigger ramekins, you could easily make four moussakas with this recipe. If you had bigger soup bowls and were starving, you could make two big moussakas (and possibly have leftovers).

Eggplant Component:
2 small eggplants
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp olive oil

Lamb Component:
1 tsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 onion, chopped
1 pound ground lamb
1/4 cup red wine
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 tomato, chopped
2 tbsp water
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Sprinkle of cinnamon

Béchamel Sauce:
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1 cup milk
Pinch nutmeg
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3 tbsp grated parmesan + 1 more tbsp (or so)

Incidentals:
1 more tomato, sliced
1/4 cup crumbled feta
1/2 tsp dried oregano

For the Eggplant:
Wash eggplant and cut off both ends. Peel the purple skin off (I used a knife, but a potato peeler might work too) and slice it across into about 1/2 inch thick circles. Salt both sides of eggplant pieces and let stand for 30 minutes in a colander. Rinse and pat dry. Heat the oil in a large sauté pan, and fry the eggplant on both sides, until golden brown. Drain well on paper towels.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

For the Meat Filling:
Heat the teaspoon of oil in a large skillet. Add the onions and garlic and cook until onions are tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the lamb and cook until brown, about 6 more minutes. Drain out excess grease, then add the wine to the lamb mixture and cook for for about 5 minutes. Add in tomato paste, tomato, water, parsley, salt, pepper, and cinnamon. Simmer for 30 minutes more, then remove from heat and cool.

For the Béchamel:
In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Blend in the flour, and gradually stir in the milk. Cook, stirring, until thick and smooth. Add in the nutmeg, salt and pepper. Cool. Add 2-3 tablespoons of parmesan and blend well.

For the Assembly:
Here, I used individual, oven-safe bowls. As mentioned earlier, you can certainly also do this in a casserole dish. Start off by layering tomato slices in the bottom of each bowl.

Then, place some eggplant circles, followed by lamb mixture. Repeat eggplant and lamb mixture layers until both are used up. Top with the Béchamel and sprinkle with the extra one tablespoon of parmesan, then a little feta cheese (just a few crumbles on top to make it look pretty). Complete the masterpieces with a sprinkle of dried oregano on top of each.

Place in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes, until bubbly and golden on top. Remove to a rack and let cool for 10 minutes.

For the Eating:
Serve with a salad of spinach leaves, kalamata olives, tomato and feta. Oh, and red wine. There must be red wine.

Then, open the box of Baklava you might have gotten for a holiday present. How convenient! Mmm!

Tomorrow: Spirited Cooking.

***

On a different, non-lamb casserole note, congratulations to Christy & Dave. Yay!

Yeah, I’ve been out of school since 1995 — so? I used to make this both as an undergrad and a grad student. It’s cheap, it’s quick, it’s easy and it’s Mexican food and yet it’s a pizza. It’s awesome. And really, you can fancy-pants it up as much as you want. You could make your own pizza dough, make your own enchilada-type sauce, roast peppers, shred chicken, etc., or you could use the 99 cent Jiffy Pizza dough mix, buy jarred sauce and eat dinner for two+ days for around $10.

For old times sake, I usually go the pizza dough in a box, sauce in a jar, veggies-only route but that’s just me — for I am both sentimental and lazy.

Cheap & Tasty Deep Dish Mexican Pizza:
2 boxes pizza dough mix
water
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 can refried beans
1 jar/can enchilada sauce (you can freeze the remaining sauce in 1/2 cup servings for future use)
1 - 2 cups grated cheddar cheese (I’ll say one cup, but we all know it’s more like 2 cups)
1 small can chopped black olives, drained
1 tsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, sliced
2 bell peppers (any colors will work), cleaned and sliced into strips
1 tomato, sliced thinly

Optional Garnishes:
fresh cilantro, chopped
1 jalapeno, diced
Sour cream
Salsa
chopped green onion

Heat one teaspoon of vegetable oil in a pan. Sauté the onions and bell peppers (sprinkled with a little salt) until caramelized and a bit darkened in color. Set aside.

Make the pizza dough but add the cumin and chile powder. Press it into a lightly olive oiled, lasgane-sized baking dish (the 15-inch by 12-inch or so variety). I usually go up the sides about a 1/2 inch. Brush top of dough with about 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil.

Bake crust at 425 degrees (or the temperature the box says) for about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven.

Spread refried beans on top. Cover with a layer of enchilada sauce. Add the sautéed veggies. Next comes the shredded cheese, followed by a sprinkle of black olives and the tomato slices.

Return to the oven and bake until all bubbly and the cheese starts to get golden — about 20 minutes. Remove and let sit for at least five minutes so it’s easier to cut into pieces.

Serve with the garnishes on the side and be happy you don’t have to study for anything.

When I was growing up, my mom and I would often go to this restaurant called Greek Islands and I would always get a bowl of the egg-lemon-chicken soup — avgolemeno. I started making a version of it last winter and I’m pretty happy with this recipe. Some of the recipes I found called for a whole chicken, while I decided to just use a few chicken breasts. I think it makes enough of a “stock” that way and I usually have chicken breasts on hand. A whole chicken? Not so much. I also like to shred the chicken meat, rather than dice it. Whichever way you choose to do it, this is a great, winter soup for a cold night!

Or a cold day, as I am bringing some leftovers from last night to work for lunch!

Avgolemeno
3 chicken breasts, trimmed of excess fat
10 cups cold water
1 tbsp kosher salt
2 leeks, cleaned and quartered
2 carrots, peeled and quartered
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2/3 cup arborio rice
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
2 large eggs
1 tsp freshly ground pepper

In a 6 to 8-quart stockpot, combine the chicken, water, and 1 tablespoon of salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; immediately reduce the heat to a very low simmer, and skim the foam from the surface. Add one of the leeks, one of the carrots and bay leaves. Continue to simmer with the chicken until the chicken is thoroughly cooked, and you have a stock — about 45 minutes to one hour.

Meanwhile, dice the remaining quartered leek and carrot. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, leek and carrot and cook, stirring, until translucent, about 6 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Remove chicken from the broth, and allow meat to cool. Strain the broth and skim the fat. (Place the broth in the refrigerator to make it easier to skim.)

When the chicken is cool enough to handle, pull the meat apart and shred it. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Return the broth to high heat, add the rice and sautéed veggies and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the rice is almost cooked through, about 20 minutes. Add the chicken and reduce the broth to a low simmer.

In a medium sized bowl, beat the lemon juice, eggs, and pepper. Temper the egg and lemon mixture: Ladle 2 cups of hot broth into a measuring cup with a pourable spout. While whisking, slowly pour the 2 cups of hot broth into the egg mixture. Pour the broth and egg mixture back into the pot. The egg and lemon will make the soup creamier and a lighter yellow color. Salt to taste.

If soup seems too thick, you can always add a bit of packaged chicken stock. Garnish with some fresh thyme or oregano leaves.

Ah, recently, I made this for dinner (last Sunday night, to be exact). This one, like the pork loin, is an Emeril recipe. Again, not super-crazy about the show, but everything of his I’ve made has turned out pretty well! So, yay! for Emeril. I didn’t change much except I listened to Alton Brown and used mostly all butter but also a bit of vegetable shortening for the crust. Flaky!

As this is an Emeril recipe, the filling had extra butter in it. Seemed way too overkill to me (because, when you are eating 11+ ounces of goat cheese it’s important to be mindful of how much butter you are eating!) The recipe called for 6 tablespoons of butter in the filling, I changed that to 2 tablespoons. Oh! I also added a pinch of ground rosemary to the crust.

So, this meal has lots of steps. The first thing you’ll want to do is remove some of the excess papery skin from a head of garlic. Wrap it in foil and roast it in the oven for 30-40 minutes at about 400 until it is soft. Set aside.

Savory Tart Crust:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
6 tbsp cold unsalted butter, diced
2 tbsp cold shortening , diced
1 teaspoon salt
3 to 4 tablespoons ice water
a pinch of ground rosemary

In a food processor, combine the flour, rosemary, butter, shortening and salt and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Drizzle in the water and pulse until the mixture comes together. Turn out of the food processor, form into a ball, and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll the pastry to a thickness of 1/8-inch. I used the rolling the dough up on the rolling pin and then unrolling on the tart pan. However you do it, place the rolled out dough in a 9-inch tart shell with a removable bottom. Cut off some of the excess and then roll the rolling pin across the top of the tart pan to cut off the rest of the excess dough. Yes, I had a couple of tears in my crust — I just filled those in with leftover dough.

Blind bake until lightly golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes. It didn’t say to but I docked the crust with a few fork pricks along the bottom, just because I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to do that or not.

After baking, transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Garlic and Rosemary Goat Cheese Tart:
11 ounces goat cheese (2 small packages)
2 tbsp cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1 head roasted garlic, pulp mashed
3 large egg yolks
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh thyme leaves
1/2 tsp chopped fresh oregano leaves
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives, chopped
handful of parmesan cheese
1 Blind baked tart crust

Adjust the oven to 375 degrees F.

Into a large mixing bowl place the goat cheese, butter, ricotta cheese, and roasted garlic and beat ingredients with a mixer on high speed un1til smooth. Add the egg yolks one at a time, then the flour, rosemary, thyme, oregano, salt, and pepper, mixing well to incorporate.

Pour the cheese mixture into the prepared tart crust. Sprinkle the top of tart with diced olives and parmesan. Bake until the top is golden and the filling is set, 25 to 30 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 30 minutes before serving. Remove ring from tart pan and serve.

Black Olive Vinaigrette:
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tbsp minced shallots
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp finely chopped kalamata olives
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil (or more if you like, I tend to like vinegary dressings)

In a blender combine the vinegar, shallots, garlic, salt, and pepper and let sit for 5 minutes. Add the mustard and olives and blend until smooth. While continuing to blend, add the oil in a thin, steady stream until vinaigrette is smooth and emulsified. Transfer to a non-reactive container and set aside, refrigerated, until ready to use. Toss the greens with enough Black Olive Vinaigrette to just coat the greens and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Serve immediately with slices of the tart.

Check out the crust flakiness! Woo!

I think I’ve mentioned before how I have been trying to cook different types of meat. This last Saturday was my first foray into pork loin. I found this amazingly tasty sounding recipe for pork loin marinated in ginger ale, soy sauce and garlic and I just knew I had to try it.

I changed a few things — mainly I just roasted the sweet potatoes in the pan with the roast, rather than roasting them separately with molasses and corn syrup and such. I’ve listed the original pork recipe below and added what I did differently. The recipe is by Emeril and can easily be found by searching Food Network’s recipes for pork loin, if you want the original sweet potato recipe.

Ginger Ale Marinated Pork Loin with Caramelized Sweet Potatoes
3 pounds center cut boned pork loin roast, patted dry
2 1/2 cups ginger ale
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 cup sherry (did not have, used 1/4 cup brandy in the marinade instead)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup chopped ginger
1 small yellow onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
6 cardamom seeds, crushed (used 1/4 tsp ground cardamom instead)
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 cups veal stock or dark chicken stock (ha! I used leftover ginger-turkey stock that I had in the freezer)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 sweet potatoes or yams, washed, peeled, and cut into about 2-inch chunks

In a zip lock bag (I usually stand it up in a bowl to easier pour things into it), combine the ginger ale, soy sauce, 1/4 cup of brandy (or 1/2 cup of sherry), honey, ginger, the onion, garlic, cardamom, and red pepper flakes. Place pork in bag and refrigerate 12 to 24 hours, turning occasionally.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Remove the meat from the marinade and reserve. Pat the roast dry with kitchen towels, season lightly with salt and freshly ground black pepper, and place in a roasting pan. Scatter sweet potato chunks around roast. I just did it this way, as I figured the potatoes would soak up some marinade and pork juices and get all carmelized just as well. In addition, the original recipe called for baking them at 350 for about an hour too.

Cook uncovered until an instant-read thermometer registers an internal temperature of 155 degrees F, about 1 hour. When there, remove the roast from the oven and place on a platter (mine took about one hour and ten minutes). Tent with aluminum foil and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes before carving.

Place sweet potatoes on a separate baking dish and increase oven heat to 425. Return to oven for about 10 minutes to caramelize a bit more.

Meanwhile, strain any remaining marinade into a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook at a brisk simmer for 5 minutes. Okay, this was a bit weird — mine foamed up a lot while cooking briskly. I’m guessing it was the carbonation from the ginger ale but I skimmed a lot of bizarre foam off the top. Place the roasting pan over 2 burners over medium-high heat. Add the remaining 1/2 cup sherry (or actually, here I used some port we had open — about 1/4 cup) and cook, stirring to deglaze the pan. Pour the juices into the saucepan with the remaining marinade. Add the chicken (or turkey) stock and cook until reduced by almost half.

Whisk in the butter and remove from the heat. Adjust the seasoning to taste. Strain into a sauceboat or decorative bowl, then carve the pork.

To serve, arrange the sweet potatoes in the middle of the plate and slices of pork around the top. Drizzle with the sauce and serve immediately. We also had this with braised brussel sprouts — recipe here. I just used more of the turkey ginger stock for that recipe.

Leftovers!
Incidentally, the leftover pork makes great sandwiches the next day — Grand Central sourdough bread, arugula, tomato, pork, dill havarti cheese and this awesome garlic jelly I found the other day. Mmm!

Pok Pok Thai
3226 SE Division
Portland, OR 97202
503-232-1387

The other day I read Food Dude’s enticing review of Pok Pok Thai (read it if you haven’t yet — you will want to stop there for dinner on the way home, trust me) and seriously could not wait to try this place. It all sounded so good! We live about five blocks away, how perfect! It seriously took all of my willpower not to blow off the pork loin roast I was going to make Saturday and not go to Pok Pok right then and there.

But, we managed to make it to last night (only because they are not open Sunday) and got take out. We both had the pok pok special — 1/2 a roast hen, dipping sauce, sticky rice and papaya salad — and for the first ten minutes all we did is eat and proclaim to each other just how tasty it was.

me: oh my god, this is so good.
jwa: this *is* really good.

(few minutes of eating pass)

jwa: wow.
mlb: I know. The skin is….wow. I love the skin.
jwa: Yeah and it’s all so interesting tasting. So…good. And spicy! Mmmmmm….

(more happy eating)

mlb: Oh, we should do this again soon.
jwa: I think so. Now I am going to steal the rest of your Thai ice tea with lime. Mahahahahahaha! *slurp* *slurp*

Yes, I really liked it all very much, although, I thought the papaya pok pok was a little too spicy for me but I’m just like that. jwa, however, loved it all. Next time, I will either try the Muu Sateh (pork loin with peanut sauce) the Khao Soi Kai (chickeny, coconuty, noodley soup) or hell, maybe I’ll just get a whole bird and sticky rice for myself. Because that, was seriously good.

I think we will be back quite a bit.

Plus, it’s also fun to say “pok pok.”

And, since I like grading with little food images so much, our Pok Pok dining experience definitely gets three limes out of four!

I have mentioned my love of risotto before — mainly here and here — and I’m sure there will be more references in the future too. But, this is one of my favorite risotto recipes, once again from the book, The Best 125 Meatless Main Dishes. I add sliced avocado to the top and substitute cilantro for the parsley in the original recipe but it’s pretty much as written. Oh and I like to use stock (chicken or veggie) instead of water but other than that it’s exactly like in the book!

Yeah, I probably use a bit more cheese too…and sometimes, I throw a roasted and diced jalapeno in there too. Okay, so it’s closely-based on the recipe in the book, The Best 125 Meatless Main Dishes.

Black Bean & Corn Risotto with Pepper Jack Cheese:
1 can black beans, rinsed & drained
3 1/2 cups simmering stock (chicken, turkey or vegetable)
1/2 cup tomato juice
1 tbsp canola oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp dried oregano
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp chili powder
1 cup Arborio rice
1/2 cup amber ale (Ropewalk Amber Ale is good for cookin’ and drinkin’)
1 1/2 cups corn kernels (fresh or frozen)
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, minced
1 cup pepper jack cheese, shredded

Garnishes:
Avocado, sliced
Corn tortillas, warmed up and cut into wedges
Diced, roasted jalapenos for the more adventurous

Make a broth by stirring together the tomato juice and stock in a large pot. Bring to a boil, then keep at a simmer. Heat oil in a heavy bottomed sauce pan over medium heat. Sauté the onion, garlic and spices for 2-3 minutes, then add rice and coat with spices and oil. Add beer and stir gently until liquid is absorbed. Drink the rest of the beer while making dinner. Stir in the corn and add stock/broth mixture by 1/2 cupfuls, stirring and waiting until liquid is absorbed to add more tomatoey stock. Add beans with last 1/2 cup of broth.

Heat one corn tortilla for each serving of risotto. In a dry pan, blister each side. Cut into wedges.

Stir in cheese and cilantro and spoon into bowls. Fan avocado slices on top and serve with warm corn tortilla wedges.

This meal was so very good. It’s –
1. Creamy
2. Mexicany
3. Cheesey
4. A bit spicey

I love risotto. I don’t even mind all of the stirring! And you can relax after eating your wonderful risotto dinner by watching Season 2 Scrubs dvds or perhaps an Arrested Development.