“What often passes as a salad in North America can be depressing, whether it’s a heap of wilted vegetables or noodles smothered in mayonnaise.” Thus begins the salad section inn Kalaya’s Southern Thai Kitchen.

To prove this point, the section opens with Yum Woon Sen Talay, a glass noodle salad with various fixings.

Besides bouncy noodles, chewy shrimp and squid, this modest platter contains savory pork, zesty scallions, cilantro, Chinese celery, tomatoes and it is pumped with… Gird your loins! — as Nigel warned:
— 1/4 cup of garlic fried in oil
— 3 Tbsp fish sauce
— 8 fresh Thai chilies
— 2 Tbsp chili flakes
— 1/2 cup lime juice
— 2 Tbsp fried shallots
— 1/2 cup roasted cashews

There’s also 1/2 cup of Nam Jim which adds another 10 Thai chilies, another 1/4 cup of now fresh chopped garlic, salt/sugar, more cilantro, more fish sauce, and more lime juice.

And here’s the cherry on top — deep fried dried shrimp. People, if you have not tried it — don’t. You’ll go broke. Dried shrimp are expensive. Once you deep fry them for the topping, you’ll end up picking out these crunchy savory bits from the top of the salad until someone stops you. Like Tom, when he asked if I was going to leave any for him.

The salad holds beautifully for a leftover lunch warm, room temperature of straight out of the refrigerator.

#food #cooking #thaifood #glassnoodles #salad #squid #shrimp #fishsauce #inmykitchen #myhappyplace

Ebi Nira Harusame, glass noodles with prawns and garlic chives from Simply Donabe.

A mix of influences from the Asian side of the world — dashi, doubanjian, fish sauce — come together beautifully. The ability of tiny weightless glass noodles to absorb liquid — and all that influence with it — is just incredible. Doubanjian adds the heat, fish sauce adds the umami factor. The actual flavor of the whole thing would depend upon the quality of the dashi. I happened to have kelp and bonito to make my own.

#food #cooking #donabe #japanesefood #onepotmeal #homecooking #inmykitchen #myhappyplace

Central Asian Khanum — one big lazy dumpling coiled to fit the steamer.

This one is stuffed with meat, potatoes, and fried onions. Horseradish sour cream sauce with dill and lemon juice on the side. An excellent additions here are more fried onions and dill thrown under the steamer lid for the last minute or two — to wake up the scent.

The traditional stuffing is usually pumpkin. But it can be anything — possibilities are endless. At the time, all I could think of was meat and potatoes.

The reminder of this meat-wrapped-in-dough variation came from Silk Roads book. I so love food from that part of the world!

With the book came the memories of our summer times in Kazakhstan, a little piece of heaven called Borovoye — now Burabay — in the midst of endless steppe. Hills, pines, lakes, and quiet. Look it up…

#food #cooking #kazakhstan #centraladianfood #khanum #dumpling #inmykitchen #myhappyplace #homefood #pakhta

This is my happy place. After working in the yard I love to sit in the shade in that chair late in the afternoon sipping a beer. I can hear the faint hum of traffic down in the valley but mostly it's just the birdies and the wind in the trees. It's just so peaceful.
#MyHappyPlace #Gabion #Sheds

Has it ever happened to you? You’re cooking, cooking, cooking for a big party. Planning — and that’s my favorite part. Choosing dishes you love or those you were saving because they are for the big group. Imagining how the when day comes and you will devour them with everyone…

Then, the day comes and you can’t put a piece in your mouth. And if you can, you don’t taste anything.

This happens to me all the time. This happened again when I recently cooked for our friends at the radio station. There were a few dishes I was literally craving and couldn’t do anything about myself until they were gone.

That spanakopita from Taverna. I love it so much and was so excited to make it and have some. Nope — couldn’t eat.

Well, fixing it now when cooking just for us. Yes, it is as good as I remember it: bright, zinging green.

Spring is in the air.

#food #cooking #greekfood #spanakopita #homefood #inmykitchen #myhappyplace

Our move from Manhattan to the country thirty one years ago coincided with the release of Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen. Tom gave me this book for our first wedding anniversary probably in hopes that I would learn something about food and cooking. To a certain degree, that worked.

To this day, I have never seen recipes better organized, explained, and laid out as in this book. For me, it is the best, most authentic, comprehensive, interesting, gimmick-free, doable book in my now Mexican cookbooks library.

In the book, this recipe is called a “very, very good chili.” And it is. There are no tomatoes involved, no beans. It’s a chili chili. Tomatoes and beans are mentioned as a suggestion for those who like less intense flavor. The base for this chili is a sweet and spicy ancho seasoning paste made with charred garlic, flavored with Mexican oregano and a touch of cumin and cloves.

For two pounds of meat — a mix of pork and beef — a half a pound of toasted rehydrated anchos are used. An interesting touch here is masa harina mixed with water and whisked in during the last minutes of simmering to thicken the juices. The result is unique burgundy colored stew with deep earthy fruity flavor, rich and unctuous.

#food #cooking #mexicanfood #chili #ancho #inmykitchen #myhappyplace

🎶Time keeps on slipping… into the future…!🎶 #DaylightSaving #MyHappyPlace #FuckStandardTime

Last week in our neck of the woods, we beat cold temperatures of the North Pole. This week, the blizzard of the century promises 2 ft (more than half a meter) of snow and 50 mph (about 80 kmh) winds. New York mayor issued a travel ban on city streets tonight into tomorrow — no cars, no trucks, no e-bikes.

Meanwhile, warm and sunny Panama is on our table.

The Center of the Americas, the Crossroads of the World, Panama appropriately soaked up and adapted culinary influences of all the peoples surrounding it.

Choosing between hearty soups and stews, fried and roasted meats, rice and beans, we zeroed on fish ceviche. In Panamanian version, along with lime, fish was flavored with grapefruit and habanero. This added some softening sweetness to the dish without making it sharp.

Paired with green plantain patacones it made a nice light dinner.

#food #cooking #panamanian #ceviche #corvina #fishceviche #inmykitchen #myhappyplace #latinocuisine #patacones