Seasonal on whole new level: Soba Noodles with shrimp & cilantro

Seasonal cooking is obviously the big buzzword among a lot of the food obsessed these days. It doesn't quite have the annoyance factor of the term "locavore" quite yet, but it's coming. Not that it's a bad thing, but why does everyone have to trumpet it like it gives them so much faux-cred. Just cook locally and quit talking about it for christ's sake! San Diego chef and cookbook author Su-Mei Yu is also big on seasonal cooking, but on a whole new holistic level. Not exactly using what's in season, but cooking according to what the body needs to cope with the seasonal weather changes. A pretty fascinating concept, I have to say. Also pretty damned delicious if her soba noodles & shrimp dish are any indication. This was a cover recipe on a recent issue of Food & Wine Magazine. One of those things as soon as I saw the pic I was so in. Thai noodles and grilled shrimp? Oh yeah! So why is this so seasonally appropriate right now? According to Su-Mei when explaining why you don't want to skimp on the lime wedges "The sour juice protects the respiratory system in the early spring and cilantro helps when you're congested." Works for me. This is another one of those dishes that I'd be more than happy to be served in a good Asian restaurant. The best part for all of us at home is it's fast and simple and delivers so much for the minimal effort. Now I don't know if this was just w and my appetites the night we had it, but the recipe said it's enough for 6. Um, we finished every...last...scrap between us. Maybe she meant 6 small first course portions. Or 6 small Asians. Or maybe we're just overfed Americans. Whatever, just be forewarned you won't be able to stop eating this fabulous dish!
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Soba Noodles with grilled shrimp & cilantro
from Food and Wine Magazine/ Su-Mei Yu

ingredients:
6 ounces soba noodles
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
3 tablespoons tamari
1 teaspoon agave syrup
2 large shallots, thinly sliced and separated into rings
6 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest, plus 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 pound large shrimp, shelled and deveined (deveining not necessary, fyi- bb) Salt
2 scallions, finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
Lime wedges, for serving

method:
1-Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the noodles and cook, stirring, until tender, 4 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water. In a medium bowl, combine 2 tablespoons of the oil with the soy sauce, tamari and agave syrup. Add the noodles and toss.
2-In a skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil. Add the shallots and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until golden brown and crisp, 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the shallots to paper towels. Add the garlic to the skillet and cook over low heat until golden and crisp, 2 minutes. Transfer the garlic to the paper towels.
3-Light a grill or preheat a grill pan (but really, light the grill. the extra flavor is so very worth it!- bb). In a bowl, combine the lime zest and juice with the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil. Stir in the shrimp and season with salt. Grill the shrimp over high heat, turning once, until glazed and just white throughout, 3 minutes.
4-Arrange the noodles on a large platter. Sprinkle with the scallions, cilantro, crushed red pepper and the fried shallots and garlic. Arrange the shrimp on top and serve with lime wedges alongside.

Thai Fish Curry: healthy food for a growing family!

Tired of looking at that piece of fried chicken from the previous post that has been staring at you for the past week and a half? Me too, so it's time to get off the blogging slacker seat and get some fresh material up here. I mean it's not like I've been going hungry the last few weeks. With plenty of deliciousness backed up in the blogging pipeline, I'll start off with this excellent bit of Thai-ishness that w and I had last night. We've been hitting the heavy food thing pretty hard right now, and with w carrying the next generation eating obsessive inside her ever expanding belly, something lighter for us and brain-healthy for the young 'un seemed in order. I was in the mood for something easy and flavorful, and since Thai curry always satisfies those needs, I jumped on the epicurious app on my iPhone (have I ever mentioned how much I love this app? Oh, yeah, I did here) to see what they might come up with. The first hit back was this Thai Fish Curry that was printed in Bon Appetit in 1992 (1992?? I am constantly amazed at the internet!). After reading the recipe and the comments, I did a little adapting, took a very few minutes to throw it together, and out came two very attractive and palate satisfying platefuls of southeast Asian flavors. It really is ridiculously easy, and the incredibly aromatic dry rub (pic at right) you process will leave you enough for another go, maybe with some chicken or shrimp subbed in for the halibut.
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Thai Fish Curry
adapted from epicurious/Bon Appetit
yield: Serves 2

ingredients:
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro stems
2 tablespoons minced fresh lemongrass (from bottom 6 inches of stalk)
1 tablespoon turmeric
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 tablespoon ground cumin
3 large garlic cloves, halved
3/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1-1/4 pound 1 1/2-inch-thick halibut fillets, cut into 3-inch pieces
1 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk
2/3 cup bottled clam juice
Minced fresh cilantro

method:
1-Blend first 9 ingredients in processor to dry paste, stopping frequently to scrape down sides of work bowl. (Paste can be prepared 3 days ahead. Cover and chill.)

2-Heat oil in medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 3 rounded tablespoons spice paste; stir 1 minute. Add fish and cook 2 minutes, turning occasionally with tongs. Add coconut milk and clam juice and simmer until fish is cooked through, turning occasionally, about 4-6 minutes depending on thickness of fillets. Transfer fish to plate. Boil liquid until reduced to thick sauce, about 8 minutes. Season with salt. Return fish to sauce and heat through. Sprinkle with cilantro. Serve over rice.

Simple cooking: Thai Green Curry Shrimp

I'm not saying that cooking is simple. I mean, simple is doing your multiplication tables, frying an egg, or taking out three pirates in a bobbing boat in the ocean at dusk. There was a time before I got the cooking bug when I would go to some Thai joint and absolutely marvel at the flavors and wonder how they jammed so much complexity into the bowl. It seemed almost magical, and something I couldn't ever imagine doing myself. That is one of the things I love most about exploring cooking....learning that some of the most interesting, deliciously full flavors come from the simplest of ingredients and quickest cooking methods. Last night was yet another classic example. w and I were both in the mood for something light after a(nother) weekend of overindulgence. I was at work with no idea what to make, and started checking out epicurious, inserting different search terms looking for inspiration. Shrimp was sounding good, curry always makes us happy, and suddenly, thanks to the scientific genius that is Al Gore's invention of the internet, this popped up on my screen. Simple? Check out that ingredient list. Fast? Put your rice on and by the time it is done you will have completed your prep and have this steaming bowl of Thai goodness in front of you. Is cooking simple? Apparently so!
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Thai Green Curry Shrimp
adapted from epicurious/Bon Appetit
yield: Makes 6-8 servings

ingredients:
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 cup thinly sliced onion
1 cup chopped green onions (about 8 small)
1 to 2 tablespoons Thai green curry paste*
1 14-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk*
1 cup low-salt chicken broth
3 tablespoons Thai fish sauce (nam pla)*
2 teaspoons sugar
1 cup diced plum tomatoes
2 pounds uncooked large shrimp, peeled, deveined (I used 25-30 count shrimp-bb)
salt
Chopped fresh cilantro
Lime wedges

method:
Heat peanut oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add sliced onion; stir-fry until soft and beginning to brown, about 4 minutes. Reduce heat to medium. Add green onions and curry paste; stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add coconut milk, chicken broth, fish sauce, and sugar; bring to boil. Add tomatoes and boil 2 minutes. Add shrimp and cook just until opaque in center, stirring often, about 3 to 5 minutes depending on size of shrimp. Add salt to taste. Transfer curry to large shallow bowl. Garnish with cilantro. Serve, passing lime wedges separately.
Note: the lime wedges are essential to really make the flavors pop. Make sure you squeeze in a healthy amount in your bowls!-bb

Mai Thai: five minutes to happiness!

I have seen the future of Thai food happiness in Portland, and by lucky coincidence it is about a five minute drive from our house! A newish place called Mai Thai (shocking play on words, I know) opened a couple of months ago down on 31st and SE Belmont. Both w and I are huge Thai food aficionados, but here, like everywhere in America, you have to wade through rivers of mediocrity to find anything of quality. I had gotten a couple of to-go orders in the last three weeks from Mai Thai and was very impressed. Taking into account that no restaurant food eaten at home is as good as having it at the source, this was still really flavorful, interesting, and just plain good. I found one dish last week called Pad Prik King (c3 on their menu) which was a large serving of just-right green beans in a house made chili sauce with prawns. Two bites in I was already wondering when I could have it again. Instant food addiction!

So last night w and I decided to have the dine in experience and made the mercifully short drive. Their dining room is very nicely done, with nice touches like silk tablecloths and throws over the chairs, but not too over-the-top like some places. Just comfortable. We started in with an appetizer of Toa Hoo Tod (menu item #3, pic above left), which was light, pillowy golden brown fried tofu with a perfectly balanced Thai sweet-sour sauce. The perfect start because it was flavorful but not filling, which as I understand it is the whole point of appetizers, right? We followed that with their squid salad (below right)...cooked squid with onion, mint leaves, lemon grass, tomatoes, chili paste and lime. An explosion of flavors, and even at "medium heat" not too hot, but with enough kick to have us sniffling ever so slightly. The squid was very fresh tasting with a perfect chew. Like everything we had this was a beautifully presented dish, thoughtfully plated for real visual appeal. The whole "eating with your eyes first" is clearly understood here.

Between courses, we were talking with our server who also owns the place with her family. They came up from Los Angeles recently, looking to do their own style of Thai cooking without getting lost in the maze that is Asian dining in L.A. The space on Belmont was an underperforming Chinese joint for years, and they did a great job of renovating. Plus what really sells me on a place like this was her insistence that they "do food we like to eat, not what people expect". I love that attitude, especially when it's executed as well as they do at Mai Thai.

So we were ready for more at this point. I of course had to satisfy my Pad Prik King jones and it was as good as the first time (left). Their chili paste sauce is so good, complex, incredibly flavorful but not overpowering, and the beans have nice bite without that annoying "squeek" you get when you bite into improperly cooked beans. We had it with prawns which I have to think is the way to go, but they also offer it with chicken or tofu. One of w's (and probably everyone's) benchmarks is Pad Thai, the ubiquitous but rarely well done item at every Thai restaurant. We ordered a plate (#39, below) and both were giving each other looks like "wow, someone has finally got it right!" The noodles were slightly chewy in a good way, the sauce piquant but not biting (maybe there was a tad too much sauce, but not enough to really detract). The serving was very generous as well, something that can be said for everything we had. The entrées in general run in the extremely reasonable $9-$14 range, and considering how good everything has been, this has to be considered one of Portland's food bargains. I've also tried the Fantastic Tofu (C1) which was just that, and a Mussamun Curry (35) which was the only average dish I've had off the menu. There are also desserts to be explored, but this night the stomach real estate was not to found. But you know I'll be back for it!

Mai Thai is one of those places you hope sticks around so you can see what develops. The staff is very friendly and ready with solid advice, like her suggestion that we try their whole sea bass, which we didn't but will next time because it's hard to find whole fried fish dome well, and I'm betting Mai Thai nails it!

Mai Thai
3104 SE Belmont Street
503.232.9844