thai chicken san choy bau

Sometimes I can't wait to try new elaborate recipes that have lots of ingredients and many steps to keep one busy in the kitchen for several hours. Other times I want to try something new, but I want it to be quick and easy.

Last week thumbing through Off the Shelf, a cookbook by Donna Hay, I found this recipe, which looked both easy and flavorful. If you've never checked out a Donna Hay book I would highly recommend it. Just looking at the pictures makes your mouth water, and every recipe has a picture, I love that.

Making this chicken also took me back to Thailand where Matt and I took our first trip to Southeast Asia last November. I loved walking through the markets and checking out stalls brimming with vegetables or fresh curries. One day, while in Northern Thailand, we took a cooking class to learn more about traditional cooking. After a trip to a local market with our instructor, the class took our positions at the school to make everything from spring rolls to fresh curry paste using a mortar and pestle. I was amazed at how easy it was to use a few ingredients from the market to pull together wonderfully tasty dishes easy enough for both novice and experienced cooks.

Cooking up this chicken and then adding in a little short grain brown rice a flavorful dinner came together in less than 30 minutes.

Recipe for Thai Chicken San Choy Bau

Adapted from Off the Shelf by Donna Hay

2 red or green chilies, medium dice

1 pound chicken, minced

1 tablespoon peanut oil

2 tablespoons lemon juice

3 tablespoons soy sauce*

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

1/4 cup mint leaves, chopped

baby lettuce leaves**

Fry chilies and minced chicken in peanut oil in a hot frying pan until golden. Add lemon juice and soy sauce and cook for about a minute. Remove from the heat and stir through chopped cilantro and mint. Spoon into baby lettuce leaves and serve.

Short Grain Rice - Cooking via the absorption method: Combine 1 cup short grain rice for every 1 and 1/2 cups water and then for each additional cup of rice add just 1 additional cup of water. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 8-10 minutes, or until the rice has absorbed all the water.

Local Ingredients:

Lemon's from the Farmer's Market

Cilantro, mint, and lettuce leaves from our garden

Alison's Notes:

*Because we don't cook fish, Matt is allergic, I try to find substitutes for ingredients that include fish, including fish sauce. This recipe originally called for 2 tablespoons fish sauce and 1 tablespoon soy sauce. However, I substituted in 2 extra tablespoons of soy sauce and took out the fish sauce.

**I used Winter Density lettuce from the garden. I think any lettuce with a nice cup to hold a bit of the chicken mix would work well.

This should serve approximately 4 people for a main dish and with the rice it makes a nice easy meal.

(photography by: alison clayshulte)

Community: La Cocina

A quick note today to highlight one of my favorite food community organizations in San Francisco, La Cocina. This organization is an incubator kitchen founded to serve as a platform for low-income entrepreneurs launching, formalizing, or expanding their food businesses. In their words, "La Cocina was born out of the belief that a community of natural entrepreneurs, given the right resources, can create self-sufficient businesses that benefit themselves, their families, their community, and the whole city (of San Francisco)."

Recently visiting on a Thursday morning there were 6 different businesses working in the kitchen. I love that the businesses they support range from kids food and catering companies to healthy drinks and packaged treats. Today only at all the Whole Foods Markets in San Francisco, 5% of the sales for the day will go to benefit La Cocina. And, several of the La Cocina businesses that currently have products at Whole Foods (Peas of Mind, Kika's Treats, Clairesquares, and CMB Sweets) will be at each of the three locations in San Francisco sampling their products, yum!

They also offer amazing cooking and mixology classes, and rent out their commercial kitchen space to already established food businesses. In May I took a cooking class called Stocks, Soups, and Sauces. This class was put on by professional chefs who donated their time to come in and teach us the basics for building a good stock and then how to use the stock as the base for amazing soups and high-end sauces. The chefs also shared their knowledge of tricks to use in the kitchen and funny stories from their own personal experiences.

Their next class, A Tour of Tequila, is tomorrow night at their location in the mission. During this class guests will learn about tequila culture and history, taste vertically, sample different varieties, and create a classic cocktail. Learn more about the mixologists teaching the class and how to sign up at their website.

sweet corn succotash

If you've been reading my blog you know I am a sucker for fresh sweet corn. Last week, as I was looking for a fresh vegetable salad that would go well with a combination of other salad's and main dishes I came across this succotash in a former issue of Food & Wine Magazine. It originally caught my eye because of the sweet corn, but then it also called for okra, another favorite. Alas, it is not the season for okra in Northern California. But I quickly remembered a wonderful package that I received earlier in the week from my brother who is currently working on a farm in the central valley.

This package not only had two beautiful bouquets of dried lavender, but it also came abundant with summer squash from his farm. Summer squash is a vegetable that has a very mild flavor and doesn't require long cooking, thus it was a perfect "in-season" substitute for the okra.

Recipe for Sweet Corn Succotash

Adapted from Food & Wine, August 2008

2 cups fresh green peas*

1 thick slice of bacon, finely diced

1 small white onion, finely chopped

3/4 pound summer squash, coarsely chopped

3 medium tomatoes, coarsely chopped

3 ears of corn, kernels cut off

salt and pepper

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cups slivered basil leaves

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the peas until tender, approximately 5 minutes and drain. In a deep skillet fry up the diced bacon over medium high heat until browned. Add the onion and cook until just softened. Add the squash and cook for 7-8 minutes, until soft.

Add the tomatoes, corn and peas and season with salt and pepper. Simmer and stir as the flavors begin to come together. Just before serving add the butter and basil and stir the butter into the vegetables as it melts. Serve.**

Alison's Notes:

*I could not find fresh green peas in the shells so I picked up a couple cups of peas from the salad bar at the local grocery. This also saved time when it came to putting together the succotash, no need to boil the peas.

**This dish was excellent served both warm and as left overs cold out of the fridge the following day.

Local Ingredients:

Sweet corn - Farmer's Market or finding it in many grocery markets right now.

Summer squash - all over the Farmer's Market from early through late summer.

Tomatoes - available at select Farmer's Market's, I purchased USA grown from the local grocery.

Basil - picked from our garden, however this can be found in many grocery's and at Farmer's Markets.

Onion - Farmer's Market or grocery.

(photography by: alison clayshulte)

lemon bars

The first time I attempted to make lemon bars was several years ago, and while I don't recall the recipe or how they looked, I distinctly recall tasting cooked egg. Ugh! I think I must have been trying to make lemon curd and then spread that on top of a pastry crust. Truthfully I don't think I made it past the curd. It has taken years for me to even attempt anything that hints at lemon curd again. But this recipe kept calling my name, and the neighbors lemon tree seems to have an endless supply, reminding me each time I walk out my front door how much I love the flavor of fresh sweet lemon bars.

This week I finally took the plunge. Picking my lemon's, mixing the crust, and whisking those eggs and sugar as hard as possible I was determined not to have the same experience again. Turns out I had nothing to worry about, well at least very little. This time they turned out excellent, and I think I actually gasped with delight when I took that first bite. They are like lemon wonder bars, an excellent curd atop a shortbread crust that melt in my mouth.

Recipe for Lemon Bars on Brown Butter Shortbread

Adapted from Tartine, by Elisabeth Prueitt and Chad Robertson

crust:

1/2 cup confectioners' or powdered sugar

1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup pine nuts (optional)*

filling:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 and 1/4 cups sugar

1 cup + 2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice (about 7 medium lemons)

lemon zest, grated from one small lemon

6 large whole eggs

1 large egg yolk

pinch of salt

confectioners' sugar for sprinkling on top (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and butter a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.

To make the crust, sift the confectioners' sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the flour and stir to mix. Add the butter and pine nuts (if using) and beat on low speed just until a smooth dough forms, approximately 5-7 minutes.

Transfer the dough to the prepared pan and press evenly into the bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides (this was hard to do - so I did a couple sides and then left the others alone). The crust should be about 1/4 inch thick on the bottom. I used a smooth glass cup to help roll out and evenly distribute the crust. Line the crust with parchment paper and fill with pie weights**(see note below). Bake the crust until in colors evenly to a deep golden brown, about 25-35 minutes. During the baking be sure to rotate the pan 180 degrees at least once to ensure even baking.

While the crust is baking, make the filling. Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and add the sugar, whisk until blended. Add the lemon juice and zest and whisk until the sugar has dissolved. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk the whole eggs and the egg yolk together with the salt, until they are smooth. Add the eggs to the lemon juice mixture and whisk until all are well mixed.

When the crust is ready, pull out the oven rack and pour the filling directly into the hot pan. If the crust has come out of the oven and cooled before you have finished making the filling, put it back in the oven for a few minutes to that it is hot when the custard is poured in. Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees and bake just until the center of the custard is no longer wobbly, 30 to 40 minutes.

Let cool completely on a wire rack, then cover and chill well before cutting. Using a sharp knife, cut into squares. When ready to serve dust the tops with confectioners' sugar (to get a light dusting I sprinkled a little of the sugar into my sifter and shook it lightly over the custard). These will keep in an airtight container or well covered in the baking dish in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Alison's Notes:

*I used the pine nuts for my crust and was pleased with the results. The recipe recommends the pine nuts for their earthy flavor and as one of few nuts that won't be overwhelmed by the strong flavor of the lemon.

**I have yet to purchase a set of these, though it is on my list. I the mean time I use a trick I learned from my mom, instead of using pie weights I use dried beans or grains, this time I used lentils. The only trick is that the legumes don't have as much weight, obviously, so you must gently press down on the paper a couple times while baking to let the air out.

(photography by: alison clayshulte)

cold noodles with peanut sauce

Sometimes I go through my cookbooks and realize all the recipes I have yet to try. These noodles are the result of one those recent scavenger hunts. The recipe came from Deborah Madison's book, The Savory Way. I've had this cookbook for many years and it was starting to collect a bit of dust when I picked it up again last week. So you can imagine my delight when I starting thumbing through and almost every single recipe looked not only doable but intriguing and tasty.

In the introduction of the book Madison writes, "The word savory isn't one we use very often, but to me it suggests the place where flavor and fragrance meet, in foods with deep, full tastes that are exciting to the palate...this food has character and even elegance; but at heart it's simple home cooking..." WOW, this is exactly the kind of food I try to create. I felt an instant connection, and look forward to trying more from this novel of savory, nourishing, mealtime solutions.

Recipe for Cold Noodles with Peanut Sauce

From Deborah Madison's, The Savory Way

salt

1 pound Chinese egg noodles or linguine

2 tablespoons roasted peanut oil or dark sesame oil*

1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves

6 scallions, thinly sliced

1 half-pound package firm tofu, cut into small cubes

peanut sauce (see below)

chopped roasted peanuts or toasted black sesame seeds

fresh cilantro for garnish

Bring a large pot of water to boil for the noodles. When the water boils, add salt to taste and the noodles. Cook until the noodles are done, about 3-5 minutes. Immediately drain into a colander (waiting in the sink) and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking, shake off the excess water. (If you prefer to have the noodles warm, shake off the excess water but don't rinse them).

Toss the noodles with oil (optional), cilantro, scallions, and tofu. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use; then toss with the peanut sauce. Garnish with roasted peanuts or sesame seeds and fresh cilantro sprigs.

peanut sauce

6 large garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 large bunch of cilantro, leaves and upper stems only, finely chopped

1 piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped (about 2 tablespoons)

1 tablespoon peanut oil

1 tablespoon dark sesame oil

1 tablespoon hot chili oil

1/2 cup peanut butter or sesame-peanut butter

1/2 cup soy sauce

3 tablespoons sugar

2-3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar, to taste

Mix the garlic, cilantro and ginger in a bowl with the oils, peanut butter, soy sauce, and sugar until well combined (this can also be done in a food processor). Add the vinegar and season to taste with additional soy sauce if necessary. The sauce can be thinned with hot water if it comes out thicker than you like. This sauce can be kept for months if stored in an airtight jar and refrigerated. If refrigerated thin it with hot water as needed before using.

Deborah's Notes on the Peanut Sauce:

- The peanut sauce is useful to have on hand and when covered and refrigerated will keep for months. She suggests spreading it on grilled tofu, with grilled eggplant, or as a dipping sauce for tofu, or fresh cucumber.

Local Ingredients:

Cilantro - This was grown in the our garden, but can also be found at the Farmer's Market

Garlic and Scallions - Farmer's Market

Alison's Notes:

*I completely forgot to add the oil in the noodle mix and thought it turned out fine. It might help keep the noodles from sticking, but once you add the peanut sauce and mix they come apart fairly well.