Food from Northern Laos is distributing this cookbook online for free as a way of promoting their cultural diversity and cuisine. I know we have many Thip Khao lovers here that will enjoy this book. Enjoy!
-JAY
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19Jan
Khao Soi Noodle Making, Tai Neua style -
18Feb
Mekhala‘s Asian cooking pastes are organic, vegan, and gluten free, and we were lucky enough to get our hands on a few of them. Of the dozen or so available varieties, the four that we cooked with were the Yellow Curry (Thai), Red Curry (Thai), Lemongrass Turmeric (Vietnamese), and Sichuan Mala Chilli (Chinese).
Lemon Turmeric Wild Coho Salmon 
Yellow Curry Cauliflower Stew
The Yellow Curry paste worked well with coconut milk in a vegan cauliflower, peas, and onions dish. This was my second favorite of the four dishes shown here, and my dining partner’s favorite.
We used the Lemongrass Turmeric paste with coconut milk on wild salmon, which was my favorite of the four dishes. The scallions absorbed a ton of flavor, which helped make this a tasty combination.
The Red Curry with coconut milk and Lotus Foods Organic Jade Pearl Ramen (green noodles) was a wonderful soup you might expect to find in a restaurant, so it was nice to have it at home. This was my dining partner’s second favorite dish of the four.
Sichuan Mala Chilli Bacon Salad 
Red Curry Jade Ramen
We combined the Sichuan Mala Chilli Paste with apricot preserves and a little lemon juice, and applied it to the bacon prior to cooking. This gave the bacon a nice sweet, sour, and spicy flavor, and a color that might put off people (like my dining partner) who aren’t used to eating bright red meat.
Whole Foods and Mom’s each carry a few of Mekhala’s varieties. I’m keeping an eye out for the Thai Basil Garlic paste. Mekhala also has a line of sauces and dressings such as Pad Thai and Thai Chilli. Once you have some of Mekala’s products in your pantry, you can use some of the recipes on their website, or experiment like we did. And yes, these dishes all involved some cutting and pastes. 🙂
-JAY
Editor’s Note:
Mekhala was nice enough to send several of these products for us to review. The Yellow Curry paste was purchased at Whole Foods.
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05Jul
Thank you John Shields for bringing this wonderful event to our attention.“This year the greater Chesapeake community will be celebrating the 53rd anniversary of the U.S. Oyster Festival, the home of the National Oyster Cook-Off and the National Oyster Shucking Competition. The festival is happening October 19 & 20, 2019 at the St. Mary’s County Fairgrounds in Leonardtown, Maryland. Both the Oyster Cook-Off and the National Oyster Shucking competition take place on Saturday, October 19.”
Contestants will be coming from all over the country, however, participants from the Baltimore/Washington region are under-represented. Whether a home cook or professional chef, enter your family recipes or creative new ones, and show the world that nobody can compete with the oyster cooks in our area! Submit your recipe(s) to the 40th Annual U.S. Oyster Festival’s National Oyster Cook Off!
Up to six recipes per contestant can be submitted, and the deadline is August 31, 2019. The three contest divisions are (1) Hors D’oeuvres, (2) Soups/Stews, and (3) Main Dishes. Here are the cook-off rules.
-JAY
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15Mar
In these cold winter months, everyone loves warm comfort foods, but I always find myself yearning for brighter colors on my plate as a reminder that spring might someday arrive (stupid lying groundhogs aside). Luckily, even among winter’s dull feasts of brown tubers and dark greens, there’s still ample color to be found.Shopping around last week, inspiration struck me in the form of bright green bitter melons and celery, bright-skinned Beauregard sweet potatoes, and, of course, the presence of smoked pork jowls (not brightly colored, but gleaming suggestively in my imagination). I also picked up a celery root because (a) they’re tasty, (b) the flavor sounded like a good counterpoint to everything else, and (c) I’ve decided to take the whole snout-to-tail food movement to its illogical companion, eating root-to-leaf.*
Ingredients:
1 sweet potato, peeled 1 baseball-sized celeriac, peeled 3 smoked pork jowls2 medium bitter melons 1 sweet onion 1 medium leek (light parts) The very tiniest bright yellow hearts of a bunch of celery, minced Mustard seed Coriander Fennugreek Oil MirinSticking to some cold-weather traditions, I made a mash to accompany my (fairly traditional) usual bitter melon concoction. First, I threw the potato, celeriac, and jowls in my stock pot, and covered with water and brought it to a gentle boil and let it go about 20 minutes. When done, drain (reserving the liquid) and move the roots to a large-ish bowl.
While that was boiling, I heated oil in my sauté pan with the spices, adding the leeks to melt and onions to caramelize. After about 15 minutes, I pulled the jowls out of the water, patted them dry, and threw them in my pan, cranking up the heat to render some of the fat. When that looked about right, I added the diced melon and celery, tossing to cover them with all that smoky, spicy goodness. When everything was cooked, I deglazed with a 1:1 mix of the reserved liquid and mirin.
I poured deglazing that liquid over top of my roots for a rough mashing. I just used a fork because if you mash too finely or puree it, you’ll lose that lovely bi-color effect, and muddy the flavor. This way, you still get distinct bites – some sweet with mostly potato, some sharp crunchy celeriac, and some a lovely mix. Adding the bitter melon sauté over it was a wonderful combination – bitter, spicy, smoky, and of course: jowl!
This is a wonderfully delicious and healthy one-dish dinner, but I served it with a fried egg on the side, because why not.
– MAW
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* Not really. This just sort of happened and when I noticed I decided to be silly about it because why the hell not.
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15Feb
Samuel Adams / Boston Beer Co. has a new offering – Samuel Adams Alpine Spring, as well as a partnership with Chef David Burke, who created some tasty recipes using the craft beer. They were nice enough to send us the recipes, which are:
- Alpine Spring Lobster Benedict with Hopped “Beer-naise” Sauce
- Hops-Infused Churros with Hoppy Hot Chocolate
- Alpine Spring Donut Ice Cream Sliders
Samuel Adams Alpine Spring + Cooking with Hops (Recipes by Chef David Burke) Read the rest of this entry »
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13Jun
This is a repost:I’ve been helping my friends at the Arlington YMCA about this for a month or so, and they are now ready to accept recipe submissions for this fund-raising project. The recipes should be healthy but do not have to be vegetarian, vegan, or organic, but let them know if they happen to be. Feel free to distribute this to chefs restaurants, food bloggers and other foodies. They would also like some restaurants (that have appropriate mobile equipment) to demo their recipe submissions but it is not a necessity. The cookbook is not Arlington specific, so submissions are open to the DC Metropolitan area.
This is a good change to get your name, blog or restaurant mentioned in a cookbook. Portfolio builder?
Thanks.
-JAY
———————————————-Press Release (March 4, 2011):
Arlington, VA – As the New Year begins, so do those New Year’s resolutions. Thousands of Americans will have a fresh new start as they challenge themselves to live a healthier lifestyle. To help make this New Year a total success, the YMCA of Arlington is coming out with a healthy eating and lifestyle cookbook. It’s an effort to help the metropolitan area as they commit to exercising, eating healthier and living better lives.Our New Year’s resolution at the Y is to help the metropolitan area keep theirs. “We take great responsibility in helping kids, families and individuals in our communities lead healthy and wholesome lives. A New Year’s resolution is always a good start, but the Y is here to help people maintain their commitment, not just through the year but for the rest of their lives.”
I am calling all Metropolitan Washington Area restaurants, food bloggers and foodies to participate in the YMCA Arlington Cookbook by donating a recipe or recipes. We are accepting healthy recipes, including (but not limited to) organic, vegetarian, vegan and ethnic foods. This book will be published and sold within the branch to help with our annual campaign Building Bridges. Last year alone, we provided more than $2 million in scholarships and financial assistance to nearly 12,000 children, families, and seniors. With your help, we can continue to provide essential child care, camp, counseling, social services, and health and wellness programs. You can help us make sure no one is turned away.
Cookbook Recipe deadline:
Please email recipes Bianca.Patterson@ymcadc.org by June 30th, 2011.
Bianca Patterson
YMCA Arlington
3422 13th St. N
Arlington, VA, 22201
(703) 525-5420For more information, call (703) 525-5420 or log on to www.ymcadc.org and find the YMCA Arlington branch for details.
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05Mar
I’ve been helping my friends at the Arlington YMCA about this for a month or so, and they are now ready to accept recipe submissions for this fund-raising project. The recipes should be healthy but do not have to be vegetarian, vegan, or organic, but let them know if they happen to be. Feel free to distribute this to chefs restaurants, food bloggers and other foodies. They would also like some restaurants (that have appropriate mobile equipment) to demo their recipe submissions but it is not a necessity. The cookbook is not Arlington specific, so submissions are open to the DC Metropolitan area.
This is a good change to get your name, blog or restaurant mentioned in a cookbook. Portfolio builder?
Thanks.
-JAY
———————————————-Press Release (March 4, 2011):
Arlington, VA – As the New Year begins, so do those New Year’s resolutions. Thousands of Americans will have a fresh new start as they challenge themselves to live a healthier lifestyle. To help make this New Year a total success, the YMCA of Arlington is coming out with a healthy eating and lifestyle cookbook. It’s an effort to help the metropolitan area as they commit to exercising, eating healthier and living better lives.Our New Year’s resolution at the Y is to help the metropolitan area keep theirs. “We take great responsibility in helping kids, families and individuals in our communities lead healthy and wholesome lives. A New Year’s resolution is always a good start, but the Y is here to help people maintain their commitment, not just through the year but for the rest of their lives.”
I am calling all Metropolitan Washington Area restaurants, food bloggers and foodies to participate in the YMCA Arlington Cookbook by donating a recipe or recipes. We are accepting healthy recipes, including (but not limited to) organic, vegetarian, vegan and ethnic foods. This book will be published and sold within the branch to help with our annual campaign Building Bridges. Last year alone, we provided more than $2 million in scholarships and financial assistance to nearly 12,000 children, families, and seniors. With your help, we can continue to provide essential child care, camp, counseling, social services, and health and wellness programs. You can help us make sure no one is turned away.
Cookbook Recipe deadline:
Please email recipes Bianca.Patterson@ymcadc.org by June 30th, 2011.
Bianca Patterson
YMCA Arlington
3422 13th St. N
Arlington, VA, 22201
(703) 525-5420For more information, call (703) 525-5420 or log on to www.ymcadc.org and find the YMCA Arlington branch for details.
