Thai Night

I have a friend who used to live in Thailand, he's a chef, a scuba diving instructor, currently studying as a med student, and list goes on. We have begged him for years to cook for whenever he comes to visit New York City. Being that this is New York City most visitors would rather eat out since there are so many great restaurants. This most recent time he visited we were able to get him to do a little cooking for us and it was really special. I have no idea what these two dishes are called but they were both quite delicious. The above is more of a street snack and involves a little of each of the following ingredients lime rind, fresh grated coconut, finely chopped ginger, finely diced onion, dried shrimps, chili, peanuts, and honey syrup.



We also had a Thai coconut shrimp soup. This soup was so flavorful and still very light, it had the perfect hint of coconut and lime and the shrimp were subtly sweet.
My boyfriend also made a Thai chicken green coconut curry that is the best chicken curry I have ever had. For this particular recipe we have to travel down to a specific store in Chinatown that imports a special small round Thai eggplant. And for desert we had sweet sticky rice with mango. This meal was total perfection from start to finish!

One of these days I'll be sure to post the recipe for how to make the chicken curry.

Tuna Tuesday

Serves two

Oven Roasted Asparagus
1 bundle of asparagus, trimmed and rinsed
Olive oil
Salt/pepper
Parmesan
Lemon

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees
Toss the asparagus in a little bit olive oil. Add a little sprinkle of salt and some fresh fresh ground pepper. Lay asparagus on a baking sheet and cook for about 10-12 minute.
Plate and serve with some fresh slices of Parmesan cheese and a lemon wedge.

Tuna Salad

Romaine lettuce
Ortiz tuna in olive oil
Garbanzo beans
Corn kernels
Grape tomatoes
Cucumber
Avocado
Balsamic vinegar
Dijon mustard
Lemon juice, fresh
Salt/pepper

Slice tomatoes in half and place in bowl. Sprinkle a generous amount of salt over the tomatoes and a couple grinds of fresh pepper. Add the juice of half a lemon followed by 2 teaspoons of mustard and 1-2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar. Stir to combine and taste the dressing. Add more of anything you like until your happy with it. Then add about 2/3 of the jar of tuna to the bowl, this is just about 4 oz. Since the tuna comes packed in olive oil there is really any need to add extra olive oil. If you want to add more oil you can pour a little more in from the jar of tuna. Stir together or mix with your hands so the tuna breaks up into smaller pieces.

In a separate bowl combine lettuce and all other salad toppings add in tuna and tomato mixture, toss and serve.

Beans, greens & grains...Oh my!

For a Veggie/Vegan friendly variation use vegetable stock and and your favorite meat-free sausage.

Serves 4

1 tbs oil
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 cup quinoa, dry
3-4 cups chicken stock (depending on how soupy you like it)
5 leaves swiss chard, roughly chopped
1/2 cup red kidney beans, canned
1 scallion, chopped
4 sausage links (one per person)
Squeeze of fresh lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in pot and add garlic, cook for about a minute then add quinoa and stir over heat for another minute. Add one cup of chicken stock, bring to boil then cover and reduce heat to simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in swiss chard until gently wilted and mixed with the quinoa. Next add beans, scallions and 2-3 more cups of chicken stock, depending on the consistency you like. More broth equals more soup and less broth makes for more of a stew like consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook over medium heat for another 5-10 minutes or until beans are warmed through. Remove from heat and squeeze in a little fresh lemon juice and give it one last stir.
In a pan cook the sausages until they are nicely browned then remove from heat and slice into pieces and serve over stew.

For this recipe I used Bilinski's pesto romano chicken sausages, but of course you can use whatever sausages you like.