This is a reader recipe in the current issue of Everyday Food. I didn’t change that much — I just opted to cook it in a slightly less hot oven (down from the original recipe’s 475 degrees for 60 minutes) and I added an onion in the cavity and broth/carrot/onion half on the bottom of the pan, as I tend to burn roasting pans without some liquid down there. And once you add broth, you might as well add some veggies.

Oh and I doubled the curry paste because, dude, that is good. Extra for dipping seemed like a given. And the best part? With only two if us, there’s roast chicken for lunch the next day!

Remember to check it after the first 20-30 minutes and cover it up as needed. The curry paste/honey will burn. A little is good, smoke billowing from your oven is bad. I covered after the first 25 minutes, then uncovered for the last 10 minutes of oven time. My chicken got a pretty dark but all was completely fine under the skin — moist and tasty! But, if I could back and do it again, I probably would have not uncovered it so long at the end — so, there’s a lesson for you.

Thai Curried Roast Chicken
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
2 tbsp red curry paste
2 tbsp canola oil
2 tbsp honey
2 tsp roasted chili paste
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 5-6 pound chicken
1 onion, halved
2-3 carrots, chopped into 2-inch pieces
salt & pepper
1-2 cups chicken broth
limes

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Add the cilantro through the garlic in a food processor and combine. Divide curry mixture in half and set one of the halves aside, to be used as a dipping sauce. You can also just mix in a bowl if you like.

Rinse and pat dry your chicken (inside and out). Salt and pepper it generously.

Place one onion half inside the cavity and tie the legs together. Loosen the skin over the breast meat and run some of the curry paste under there. Then, slather the rest of the paste over the chicken and put on an oiled rack set in a roasting pan. Add 1 cup of stock to the bottom of the pan to prevent burning. Add veggies if you wish.

Roast for about 30 minutes, then cover with foil so the top doesn’t get too dark. Roast 45 - 60 minutes more, checking a few times to see if you need to add more stock to the bottom of the pan or adjust the foil for optimal browning/non-burning.

When white meat is 165 and dark meat at least 170, remove from the oven and let rest for about 10 - 15 minutes before carving.

Serve with lime wedges and coconut rice. We also had some sauteed green beans on the side which were really, really good. Also, bring out the unused half of the curry past for a dipping sauce. Mmm!

So, the other day I realize that I have a whole bunch of basil that I need to use, like yesterday. A quick survey of the fridge also shows some ground chicken and a small container of roasted chili pepper flakes from pokpok (the little container that comes with the curry-noodle-chicken soup). Hmmm, I think to myself, I know what I could do — I could go online and find a recipe for Thai Basil Chicken and make that. Do you see where this is going?

I ended up at Thai Table and basically sort of followed the recipe there…well, except for a few things. So, I am in no way claiming that my version is authentic Thai cooking, let’s get that straight right now. If you want that, definitely use the Thai Table recipe!

See, I just used normal basil, way less chili pepper spiciness than called for and I added a bunch of halved cherry tomatoes that, like the basil, were crying out to be used. The result? Very tasty!

Kind of Like Thai Basil Chicken — Except Less Spicy, with Normal Basil and Some Tomatoes Thrown in for Fun
Adapted from a recipe at Thai Table
2 tbsp peanut oil
1/2 tsp Thai red chili paste (roasted if you’ve got it, make it spicier if that’s what you’re into)
1 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 cups basil leaves, loosely packed (If you can get actual holy basil, use that), if your basil leaves are really big, give them a quick chop
3/4 lb ground chicken
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp fish sauce
10 cherry tomatoes, halved

Heat the oil in a big pan and add the minced garlic and chili paste. Cook for a few minutes until you can really smell the spiciness and everything looks a little golden, about 2-3 minutes or so.

Add the ground chicken and break up with a wooden spoon. Stir while the chicken cooks. This part will take a few minutes and the chicken will produce liquid.

Just keep cooking and stirring until most of that is reduced. Add the sugar and stir that in, cooking for about 30 seconds. Next, add the fish sauce. Stir. Finally add all of your basil leaves and the cherry tomato halves.

Stir until the basil wilts down a bit, a minute or so, and serve over rice.

***

Wow. Today is a bonus day. The other night I sauteed up some spinach to go with some fish and I started the same way I always do — a little olive oil, brown some garlic, red pepper flakes (just a pinch), a bunch of spinach and some salt.

Then, I got the idea to add about a 1/2 teaspoon of Dijon mustard right as the spinach was getting wilty. Oh my god, so good! Dijon spinach with toasted garlic is the best. Seriously.

PS: It’s frickin’ cold in here, Mr. Bigglesworth.

Like last night, I chose to watch 30 Rock (Liz Lemon!*) instead of doing a Super Foods Friday post. So, instead of that, enjoy some pictures I took at Whiskey Soda Lounge a month or so ago and never got around to posting about.

Grilled prawns — they were HUGE! The whiskey and soy marinated ribs are in the background, waiting to be devoured.

jwa’s Bloody Mary

My drink — the vodka plum collins.

Tom Saep Neua — Hot and sour Isaan style Cascade Natural beef soup (with a little coconut rice in it) it was really, really good.

Pok Pok Affogato — Condensed milk ice cream with Vietnamese coffee and a Chinese fried donut. Enough said.

* I find jwa’s TV-crush on Liz Lemon very comforting — 1. she’s fictional, 2. she’s at least 35, 3. she wears glasses and 4. she’s funny. Hooray!

So far, I have made Turkey & Cranberry Ravioli, Turkey-Tomatillo Soup and Turkey Green Curry. I have one more zip lock bag full of diced turkey in the freezer and I am looking for ideas. Help!

Below are the recipes for the soup and the curry that I came up with. They were both sort of spur of the moment dishes, so I’ve recounted them to the best of my recollection. Should be close enough.

Turkey & Tomatillo Soup
12 tomatillos, husks and cores removed
1 1/2 cups diced, cooked turkey
1 tbsp canola oil
1 1/2 - 2 cups turkey stock (or chicken stock)
1 white onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed into bite-sized pieces
1 jalapeno, diced
1 can of black beans, drained
1/2 tbsp of your favorite Mexican spice blend (ideas — a mix of cumin, Mexican oregano, red pepper flakes & dried cilantro flakes)
2-3 tomatoes, diced
cilantro leaves and lime wedges for garnish

Heat the oil in a large soup pot. Add the onion, tomatillo, garlic and jalapeno. Let cook about 10 minutes until onions are nice and soft and the tomatillos start to break down. Add the stock and bring to a simmer.

Next, add in the turkey, black beans and sweet potatoes. Give it about 10 more minutes to let the potatoes cook. Stir in the tomatoes and salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with cilantro and lime and wedges. Eat with plenty of tortilla chips.

Turkey Green Curry
1 can of lite coconut milk
1 1/2 cups cooked, diced turkey
1 tsp tumeric
1 tsp cumin seeds
1-2 tbsp green curry paste
1 onion, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 tbsp canola oil
1/2 cup red lentils
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup turkey stock (or chicken stock)
1 cup frozen spinach, defrosted and drained of excess water
salt
cilantro leaves & plain yogurt for garnish
cooked basmati rice

For this one, sauté the onion, bell pepper and garlic in oil. Then I added the cumin seeds and the green curry paste. Let that cook for about a minute then add the coconut milk, tumeric and stock. Add the spinach and bring to a simmer and let cook for about 5-6 minutes.

Next, add in the lentils. Cook until lentils are soft — about 15 - 20 minutes. Mix in the diced turkey, the raisins and then a little salt. Taste and adjust salt and green curry paste content. Serve in bowls over cooked basmati rice with some yogurt and cilantro leaves for garnish.

Hey, so there seems to be a good for you theme this week. I think that’s because Monday I’ll be posting my Weekend Cookbook Challenge 4 dish and uh, that’s not healthy. At all. It involves half and half, honey, maple syrup, butter, thick pieces of stale bread and an oven. It was awesome.

Okay, but here we are at healthy fish day! Actually, this was pretty tasty, I shouldn’t mock. The original recipe (from Self Magazine via Epicurious) called for putting the cilantro into the coconut milk but I found mine lost its nice green color then. So, I suggest you leave the cilantro for a garnish.

You can also use many different kinds of fish for this dish. Halibut and ling cod would probably work well too. As written, the recipe used snapper. Eh. I used frozen white Pacific salmon that I got at Trader Joe’s. I spied it on the freezer while looking for the veggie burgers and it looked interesting. I had forgotten it was there and felt guilty. So I defrosted the salmon overnight and it worked fine in this recipe. Fresh fish would most likely be best, though.

I also used my grill pan for this because I wanted the nice lines on my fish but you can certainly use a regular pan. If you do use a grill pan, just use that for making the whole dish, including the coconut milk and the onion and garlic with the fish, it works fine.

Coconut Spinach Salmon:
1 tbsp olive oil
4 salmon fillets (about 6-8 oz each)
salt & pepper
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1/2 cup diced red onion
1 can light coconut milk
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp chili garlic sauce
4 plum tomatoes, diced
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and julienned
1 bag (10 oz) spinach, washed (not dried)
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
Cooked basmati rice

Heat 1/2 tbsp oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Season fish with salt and pepper and cook 2 or 3 minutes per side.

Remove fish from skillet. Return skillet to heat; cook garlic, ginger, onion until tender. Add coconut milk and lime juice and bring to a boil.

Add the soy and chili sauces and return the fish to the pan; simmer until the fish is cooked through — 5-8 minutes depending on the size and type of your fish. Meanwhile, while fish is simmering, heat remaining 1/2 tbsp oil in a separate, large skillet over medium-high heat. Sauté bell pepper until it is soft and then add greens and cook until they are just wilted.

To serve:
Start with rice in a bowl and then add spinach and peppers. Top with fish and spoon coconut sauce down over fish. Garnish with fresh cilantro leaves and lime wedges.

These recipes for shrimp skewers and glaze, I found on Epicurious the other day and thought they looked really good. It was one of those, “Oh, I think we’re having that for dinner tomorrow” moments. It just looked all fresh and healthy and kind of light. Okay, this was in the pre-risotto phase but bear with me here.

The original recipe was for outdoor grill cooking but I used my grill pan. If you make these outside, it’s pretty much the same thing — 3 minutes per side. Oh and if you make these outside on the grill, you’ll want to soak your skewers in water for 30 minutes before assembling or use metal skewers.

Shrimp, Mango & Red Pepper Skewers
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp minced peeled fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp dried crushed red pepper
36 jumbo shrimp (about 2 pounds), peeled, tails left intact, deveined
2 red bell peppers, each cut into 12 pieces
2 firm but ripe mangoes, peeled, pitted, cut into cubes
twelve 12-inch bamboo skewers
Garnishes: Lime wedges and fresh, chopped cilantro

Mix olive oil, ginger, pepper flakes and garlic in large bowl. Add shrimp, bell peppers and mangoes; toss to coat. Alternate bell pepper, mango and 3 jumbo shrimp on each of the skewers. I ran out of bell pepper before shrimp and mango, so one of my skewers was just mango and shrimp. That was okay.

Heat a grill pan and cook shrimp until done, brushing with glaze during last 2 minutes. This will be about three minutes per side. I brushed with glaze before turning over on second side.

I found that my shrimp were not laying completely flat due to the mangoes and peppers. Therefore, they weren’t really cooking completely. An easy way to fix this was to cover the pan. That way, if they didn’t cook with direct heat from the pan surface, they cooked from the heat present inside the covered pan. They still got a few nice lines on them from the grill pan and turned pink so it worked out fine.

Cook the skewers in batches and keep finished skewers warm on a plate, covered with foil until ready to eat.

Guava-Lime Glaze
1 can guava nectar
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup red wine vinegar (I only had port wine vinegar so I used that — that’s why my glaze is a little dark)
1/3 cup fresh lime juice

Combine nectar, orange juice and vinegar in heavy medium saucepan. Boil until reduced to 2/3 cup, about 30-40 minutes. Keep a close eye on this as I almost had a boil over of epic proportions. Imagine cleaning some of that off your stove top. Yikes! Cool completely. Mix in lime juice. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.)

You can also, completely guilt-free, just buy a jarred marinade or glaze instead and use that on the shrimp.

Coconut Risotto
1 can light coconut milk
3 cups chicken stock
1/4 - 1/2 tsp Thai chili paste or red pepper flakes (to your taste really, if you like things spicy, go crazy, if not, be timid)
1 1-inch piece of ginger, peeled
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 leek, trimmed, washed, and sliced
1 tsp lemon grass paste (if you don’t have this, don’t worry about it. You could also just simmer a piece of lemon grass in the coconut stock too)
1 cup arborio rice
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic
salt & pepper to taste

This I decided to make at the last minute instead of plain coconut rice. Well, it wasn’t really at the last minute, as risotto isn’t really a last minute type of undertaking, but it was when I was getting everything together to start dinner. I realized I had everything to make risotto and just sort of winged it as I do love the creamy. As I mentioned before, this is one of the things I love most about risotto (besides the creamy) — once you get used to making it, you can pretty much just make recipes up.

So, for this version, begin by combining the coconut milk, chicken stock, lemon grass paste, chili paste (or pepper flakes) and the piece of ginger in a pot. Bring it up to a simmer. Next, in a heavy bottomed soup pot, add the olive oil and sauté the leeks and garlic until soft, about 3 minutes (medium heat). Add the rice and stir to coat with the oil. Begin to add the simmering liquid in 1/2 cup portions, stirring until all the liquid is absorbed before adding more. When you get close to the end of the liquid, fish the ginger out and discard.

Edited to add – Oh, if you have some white wine open, go ahead and start with a 1/2 cup of that into the rice (before adding and coconut-stock). I just didn’t have any white wine open and red wine didn’t seem like a good idea for this risotto.

You can cheat a little here and not stir constantly but try to stir every couple of minutes at least. This will allow you to get the shrimp going while still making the risotto.

You will probably go through most of the liquid. When you’re getting close to using it all, give the risotto a taste and see if it’s done. It should be creamy and soft. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve on a plate and place 2-3 skewers alongside. Garnish with lime pieces and cilantro. Serve more chili paste on the side, if someone you know is like jwa, who is slightly insane and likes things crazy-spicy-hot. Laugh a little when he burns his mouth and begs for more wine.

Yeah, I know I’ve posted about peanut noodles before but this is a different recipe (and I do love the peanut sauce). Besides, this may be my favorite version of the sauce! It’s based on a recipe in the Enchanted Broccoli Forest — I’ve just added a little less water, a bit more soy and garlic and used some ginger.

Here, I’ve tossed it with cooked udon noodles, raw julienned peppers (red, yellow and green), sautéed chicken breast pieces, shitake mushroooms and cilantro. You can really use whichever vegetables or meat/tofu that you want. Oh, one thing I did that was kinda good — when I sautéed the chicken, I threw a handful of sliced shitake mushrooms in the pan and let them get all golden and somewhat crunchy while the chicken cooked.

This sauce also works great as a dip for veggies or skewered chicken.

Peanut Noodles II
1 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
3/4 cup boiling water
4-5 tbsp rice wine vinegar
4 medium cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp honey
2-3 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced
4 tbsp toasted sesame oil

cooked udon noodles
raw veggies, julienned
cooked chicken breast, diced (or diced tofu, shrimp or turkey breast)
cilantro for garnish

Using a whisk, mix boiling water into peanut butter until smooth. Add vinegar, garlic, honey, soy, red pepper and sesame oil. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Toss peanut sauce with cooked noodles, veggies and chicken. Garnish with chopped cilantro and possibly some sesame seeds and enjoy!

Sometimes, I get home from work and I just want to throw stuff in a pot and have a nice dinner 15 minutes later. Sure, roasting and chopping and flambéing and baking are all fun, but sometimes a girl just needs to open a can or two, stir a little and call it a day. This is a recipe for one of those nights. It’s warm and a little spicy and the ginger packs a nice, pleasant kick.

It’s also great way to use up leftover turkey — if you are like me, you still have some Thanksgiving turkey leftovers in your freezer! (C’mon, You know you do…) Of course, you could also use chicken, cubed tofu or even shrimp.

Lazy Turkey Ginger Coconut Soup:
1 medium onion, diced
2-inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp vegetable or peanut oil
1 14-ounce can of coconut milk (lite or regular)
1 14-ounce can of black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 tsp of lemon grass paste
1 28-ounce can of plum (or regular whole) tomatoes
1 1/2 cups of diced, cooked turkey, chicken or tofu
1-2 tsp chili garlic sauce
1/4 tsp of dried basil
1/2 cup cooked brown rice

Heat the oil in a soup pot. Sauté onion, garlic and ginger until onion is translucent — about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, including sauce and stir with a wooden spoon. Turn up heat and try to break up the tomatoes with the spoon. When it reaches a boil, reduce heat to a simmer. Next comes the coconut milk, beans, chili garlic sauce, dried basil and the lemon grass paste.

Ah, lemon grass paste. This is very fun stuff! I found a tube of it in the produce section a little while ago and have enjoyed playing with it. Go get some and start squeezing it in stuff and you’ll see.

Stir together everything and simmer for a minute or two. Add cooked rice. You could also probably use 1/4 cup dried rice and just let it cook in the soup for 20-30 minutes while simmering. I had cooked rice, so I used that — plus this way, less waiting around for the soup to be done as basically, once it’s all combined — it’s done!

Ladle into bowls and enjoy.

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 love spicy peanut sauce. I just came across a new recipe and gave it a try this weekend. I think it turned out pretty well. It was especially helpful that I could get the mint and the basil that the recipe called for from the yard. I ended up using about half spicy, purple basil (from the garden basil head) and half regular green basil.

The dressing is pretty simple because it just entails just popping all of the components into a food processor or blender and uh, processing or blending. Cooking the pasta or noodles is pretty straight forward, as is preparing the chicken. Some chopped (okay, okay julienned veggies join in and voilà — it’s done!

Peanut Noodles w/ Chicken & Vegetables
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
1 serrano chile, de-stemmed and seeded, chopped roughly (or, start with a 1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes and adjust from there if you don’t have fresh chiles on hand, you could also use Asian chili garlic sauce too)
2 cloves garlic
1/3 cup basil leaves
1/4 cup mint leaves
Salt and black pepper to taste

1 package Asian-style egg noodles (or spaghetti will work fine as well)
1 English cucumber, peeled and julienned into small strips
1 orange bell pepper, julienned
1 yellow bell pepper, julienned
1 bunch chopped scallions (I used kitchen scissors and snipped the green onions on an angle)
2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 lb or so chicken breasts, sliced into small pieces and sautéed until cooked through (I marinated the raw chicken first in some ginger, soy sauce and sesame oil for about an hour before cooking)

Garnish: Sesame seeds, more mint & basil leaves

***
Cook chicken and set aside.

In a food processor (or blender), mix peanut butter, oils, and vinegar. Add chile, garlic and herbs and puree until smooth and creamy.

Cook the pasta and drain. I usually sprinkle a little sesame oil on the hot noodles to keep them from bunching up before I combine everything.

In a large bowl toss the noodles, chicken, veggies and sauce together. Check for seasoning and garnish with sesame seeds and extra basil/mint leaves.

I served this at room temperature but it would also be good cold (or warm, in colder weather).

***
Alternately, here is another peanut sauce recipe that I like a lot too. It’s not quite as creamy as the preceding one and has more of a sharper, saltier, soy saucy taste.

Peanut Sauce II
1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic
2 tbsp light brown sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
3 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
1 tsp red chili sauce (I use the chili-garlic variety)
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
6 tbsp water

In a blender of food processor, add all ingredients and process until smooth. That’s it.