Cooking for Italian Mediterranean Linguine

The combination of shrimp, garlic, red wine, Italian herbs, sundried tomatoes and Greek olives gives this colorful dish a Mediterranean flair.

Recipes

8	ounces uncooked linguine
1/2	package (1-1/2 ounces) sun-dried tomatoes, drained
Nonstick cooking spray
1	package (8 ounces) sliced fresh mushrooms
4	cloves garlic, minced
3/4	cup finely chopped onion
1/2	medium green bell pepper, thinly sliced
1‑1/2	teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
1/2	teaspoon red pepper flakes
2	tablespoons dry red wine
12	ounces medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
12	kalamata olives, pitted and sliced or 20 medium pitted black olives, halved
1/4	cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2	teaspoon salt
3	tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2	teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

PREPARATION:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt. Drain; set aside.
2. Meanwhile, bring 2 cups water to a boil over high heat; add tomatoes. Reduce heat to low; simmer, uncovered, 4 minutes. Drain well; cool slightly. Cut into thin strips; set aside.
3. Spray large nonstick skillet with cooking spray. Heat over medium-high heat until hot. Add mushrooms and garlic; cook 4 minutes. Add onion, bell pepper, Italian seasoning and red pepper flakes; cook 4 minutes. Add wine, tomatoes and shrimp; cook 6 to 8 minutes or until shrimp are opaque.
4. Add olives, parsley, salt, pasta and Parmesan cheese; toss to blend. Remove from heat; drizzle with olive oil.

Italian Cooking Recipes

Angel Hair Pasta with Seafood Sauce

Angel hair pasta is best served with a thin, delicate sauce such as this irresistible one which uses fresh plum tomatoes and savory seafood.

INGREDIENTS

1/2	pound firm whitefish, such as sea bass, monkfish or grouper
2	teaspoons olive oil
1/2	cup chopped onion
2	cloves garlic, minced
3	pounds fresh plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1/4	cup chopped fresh basil
2	tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
1	teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2	teaspoon sugar
2	bay leaves
1/2	pound fresh bay scallops or shucked oysters
8	ounces uncooked angel hair pasta
2	tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

PREPARATION:

1. Cut whitefish into 3/4-inch pieces. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat; add onion and garlic. Cook and stir 3 minutes or until onion is tender. Reduce heat to low; add tomatoes, basil, oregano, red pepper flakes, sugar and bay leaves. Cook, uncovered, 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add whitefish and scallops. Cook, uncovered, 3 to 4 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with fork and scallops are opaque. Remove bay leaves; discard. Set seafood sauce aside.
4. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt. Drain well.
5. Combine pasta with seafood sauce in large serving bowl. Mix well. Sprinkle with parsley. Serve immediately.

Thai Satay Recipes

One of the most common sites in a Thai street food market is a grill, sputtering smoke, covered in smoldering meat kebabs. The vendor will turn the skewers a few times, usually after less than a minute, and sometimes dot on a little marinade with each turn. These always make me think of chicken satay, one of the typical appetizers in Thai restaurants in the US or Europe. Just spotting bamboo skewers in the market, though, doesn’t mean you’ve found Thai satay. In Thai food markets, street vendors skewer and grill all kinds of meat, from beef strips to pork belly, from an entire speared chicken wing to pieces of offal.

Chicken satay with peanut sauce and cucumber relish (Click to enlarge)

Chicken is marinated with spices like coriander seed and turmeric, which permeate the meat with a rich flavor and yellow color.

Peanut sauce is what makes chicken satay “satay” instead of simple grilled chicken. In Thai restaurants abroad, peanut sauce also takes the spotlight, drenching not only satay, but sometimes cold noodle salads or sauteed vegetables.

Considering the number of “Thai peanut sauce” jars on US supermarket shelves, it’s surprising that peanut sauce is not a native Thai food. It’s actually from Indonesia. In Thailand, peanut sauce is only served on satay or, sometimes, on a different deep-fried snack like a triangle of crispy tofu. In Indonesia, though, different varieties of peanut sauce show up in not just satay, but vegetable dishes like gado-gado or karedok, or coating otak-otak – a steamed fish cake.

Peanut sauce is one just part of satay which, like many Thai foods, has developed into a balance of simple, but very different, components – tender grilled meat, rich, grainy peanut sauce, and fresh cucumber salad. Strips of chicken are marinated with spices like coriander seed and turmeric, which permeate the meat with a rich flavor and yellow color. Skewering the chicken in small pieces means that it cooks quickly and evenly, without becoming tough – very important for a small satay stand, where customers order by number of sticks, then wait while their satay is thrown on the grill and cooked fresh.

Thai street vendor barbequing satay sticks (Click to enlarge)

Peanut sauce in Thailand is both very sweet and surprisingly spicy. Made of ground roasted peanuts, it’s richer and fresher-tasting than sauces made from emulsified peanut butter. Garlic, roasted spices, coconut milk, and tamarind pulp add complexity to the peanut base, and fish sauce and shrimp paste bring salt and a deeper flavor. To make this a vegetarian sauce, substitute a little tomato paste to add a similar undefinable, savory flavor to your homemade peanut sauce.

The third component of satay is ajat, a simple salad of cucumbers, thinly-sliced shallots, and wheels of chili pepper marinated in vinegar and sugar. Cucumbers in brine look strange tied in a tiny plastic bag, inside the bag of satay, but nibbling on these fresh pickles cools down your tongue in between bites of meat and spicy, oily sauce.

Impression of the street: Satay vendor at night (Click to enlarge)

Grilled over coals, the sugar caramelizes and the pork pieces char at their edges.

Another common site on Thai grills is muu bing – grilled pork. I have a hard time walking past a grilled pork vendor without grabbing at least a single stick to snack on. Thin slices of pork meat are skewered and marinated in spices like coriander root, coconut milk, fish sauce, dark soy sauce, and sugar. Grilled over coals, the sugar caramelizes and the pork pieces char around the edges. Sometimes a single piece of fat is threaded at the bottom, and as it melts it keeps the meat soft and moist. If the meat itself is marbled and fatty, like a slice of bacon, the fat cooks to a char along with the meat. The chunks of fat put me off at first, but after eating a lot of grilled pork, I’ve converted – even if I do sometimes eat around the big pieces of fat, the meat from a fatty skewer tastes richer and more flavorful than a lean skewer.

I call another kind of grilled kebab “bar kebabs,” since the most reliable place to find them is from a cart, hitched to a motorcycle, that pulls up outside of busy bars late at night. Pork, chicken, or beef slices are grilled on a skewer with a slice of pineapple, a cherry tomato, and a thick ring of green spur chili. The combination of flavors makes these kebabs easy to keep eating, and the hot chili encourages people to keep drinking, making them a good deal for the vendor, the bar, and the customers. Thai people will order a plateful of these kebabs to share, resting it on the table next to the communal whiskey bottle.

If you want to grill some satay at home, Temple of Thai has all of the ingredients and advice you need.  Or make it really easy on yourself, and pick up a satay set.

Even if it’s not traditional, satay is a great base for improvising with different kinds of meats and fresh relishes. Do you have a favorite way to prepare satay? How about a non-traditional use for leftover sweet-and-savory peanut sauce?

Thai Street-Food Recipes

In the first part of this post on Thai appetizers inspired by street food, I made crispy fried shrimp with sweet chili sauce and Thai curry puffs. The curry puff recipe came from Supatra Johnson’s book Crying Tiger: Thai Recipes from the Heart. Crying Tiger also provided the inspiration for the next set of appetizers.

Grilled prawns on a lemongrass skewer

This appetizer looks impressive but is easy to make. It’s simply curried paste of shrimp wrapped around stalks of lemongrass, then grilled or broiled. The lemongrass perfume flavors the shrimp, and the tender lemongrass centers are edible afterwards. This recipe would also work with chicken or pork, though sweet shrimp meat marries well with the light curry flavor.

In a food processor or blender, pulse together:

Until the mixture is pulverized and forms a paste. Leave aside at room temperature to let the tapioca starch thicken everything up.

Cut

½ inch from either end, and take off 2-3 layers from the outside. Cut in half, making skewers of about 5 inches long. The thick end can be split in half lengthwise to make two skewers.

Take 1/3 Cup of the paste and pat it into a ball around the top of a skewer. Roast over the medium-hot coals of a charcoal grill for 5 mins, or under a broiler, very far from the flame. The skewers are cooked when the shrimp paste has turned firm and pale pink, with golden char marks.

The last recipe I cooked from Crying Tiger is Miang Kam – leaves filled with pungent Thai herbs, dried shrimp, and coconut.  Some people might look askance at biting into a leaf stuffed with whole chunks of lime, skin included, raw ginger and shallots, dried shrimp, and pieces of fresh chilies, but sweet and savory sauce mellows and balances these intense flavors, while each taste develops and then explodes on your tongue. People who are shy of chili can leave it out, and just fill each leaf with their favorite ingredients.

Miang Kam using Betel Leaf (click to enlarge)

Arrange a plate with piles of:

1/3 cup roasted, shredded coconut2 Tbl finely diced ginger¼ cup diced Thai chilies (or jalapeno or bell peppers, if Thai chilies are unavailable or just too intimidating)1/3 cup finely diced lime (or lemon), skin included1/3 cup roasted, unsalted peanuts1/3 cup diced shallots or onions2 Tbl dried shrimp

Make the sauce by roasting:

in a foil packet, over a burner, for 1-2 minutes.

Combine in a saucepan and heat:

Stir until everything is dissolved, and boil for 5 minutes. Let the sauce cool.

A single leaf of Miang Kam using Napa Cabbabge (click to enlarge)

Cut napa cabbage or iceberg lettuce into pieces. In Thailand, bitter cha-plu leaves are traditional, but lettuce works too.

Your guests will customize their Miang Kam by wrapping the ingredients in a lettuce leaf, pouring a little sauce over the top, then placing the entire leaf-wrapped package in their mouth. It’s a beautiful presentation, and everyone stays busy assembling their own Miang Kam.

If you like Miang Kam, you might want to try out this selection of other Miang Kam recipes, including some regional specialties like Chaing Mai style Miang Kam.

Temple of Thai has all of the ingredients you’ll need to try out these recipes at home, as well as Crying Tiger, for more inspiration.

Thailand Celebrates the Chinese New Year

The holiday season wraps up after January 1st in the West, but here in Thailand we are still in the middle of a myriad of celebrations. Thais celebrate the western New Year on January 1st and Songkran, the Thai New Year, in April, but they also squeeze in the Chinese Lunar New Year which is traditionally a 15 day celebration. This year is the Chinese Year of the Rabbit and began on February 3rd 2011.

Chinese Lanterns in China Town (Warorot Market area), Chiang Mai

Around 15% of the population of Thailand are believed to be descended from Chinese settlers who arrived from the early nineteenth century onwards and integrated successfully with Thai society. Since Thai people have strong a Chinese heritage, Chinese traditions like the Lunar New Year (Wan Trut Jin in Thai) have become an integral part of Thai culture. The Yaowarat district of Bangkok and the city of Nakon Sawan have the biggest and most famous celebrations, but Chinese New Year is observed for several days and nights all across Thailand. In Chiang Mai the year of the Rabbit was celebrated with a festival in the streets around the famous Warorot Market.

Chinese New Year Celebrations Chiang Mai (click to enlarge)

People feverishly finish up their shopping for the festival just two days before New Year’s Day. These are the last days to buy food and supplies for the festival, as Chinese-run shops are closed over the holiday. Homes and businesses are cleaned thoroughly from top to bottom and then the brooms are put away until after the festival, as tradition dictates that otherwise good luck may be swept away. On the last day of the ‘old’ year, people begin to offer prayers to the Gods and to their ancestors. Even more prayers are offered the next day which is the first day of the New Year. Thais visit Chinese Buddhist temples and burn bundles of incense, and leave behind floral wreaths of orchids, jasmine, and marigolds.

Chinese New Year Food Offerings at the Temple (click to enlarge)

Food is an important part of this holiday. Prayers are accompanied by offerings of food which has symbolic meaning. A whole steamed chicken or duck means wholeness, while mandarin oranges bring wealth and good luck. A family, temple, or even an entire company might celebrate together, putting out platters of fruit or heavy Chinese sweets like glutinous rice flour cakes filled with sticky brown sugar and red dates. Many also offer vegetarian foods. Along with these spirit banquets, the burning of paper money, paper gold, and even paper clothes is performed for the ancestors to use in the afterlife.

Of course, not all of the food is for the spirits. On New Year’s Day people visit their relatives and friends in their homes, eating and visiting. To bring good luck for the coming year, Thais offer their relatives seasonal oranges (perhaps imported from China), and give red envelopes full of money to children. Many people wear auspicious colors like red and gold.

Lion Dance Acrobats Perform in Chiang Mai (click to enlarge)

A very important part of the festivities is the lion dance where performers dressed in a Chinese lion costume dance through the streets, visiting homes and businesses. Two dancers stand inside the lion’s giant paper-mache or foam head, and the rest of the dancers hold drapes of fabric over their heads to make the lion’s body and tail. Drummers follow the lion, their thumping drumbeats symbolizing the beating of the lion’s heart. The lion dances in exchange for an offering of cash, and he ensures good luck for the next year, often accompanied by exploding firecrackers to scare away demons. At a Chinese New year festival the acrobatic version of the lion dance where the performers leap on raised columns to the delight of spectators.

Feeding the Dragon on Chinese New Year in Chiang Mai (click to enlarge)

The dragon dance is also likely to be performed at New Year celebrations, where a long bodied Chinese dragon carried on poles by numerous people simulates the writhing movements of this river spirit. The dance is often the climax of Chinese New Year celebrations in Chinatowns the world over. The dragon will roam streets where it is stopped by people wishing to place money in the dragon’s mouth to encourage prosperity in the coming year.

Thai Massaman Curry Recipes

The delicious rich scents of roasted coriander and cumin seeds filling the kitchen and the tiny satisfying “popping” sounds they make are some of the rewards of cooking authentic Thai Massaman Curry. This is one of my favorite curries with tender slices of long-cooked beef with soft chunks of potatoes contrasted with boiled peanuts in a complexly spiced coconut sauce.

Massaman curry in Kaitlyn's kitchen (click to enlarge)

Massaman’s flavor owes more to dried spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and dried chilies than to the more typical fresh Thai spices like lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves, making it unusual amongst Thai curries. The inclusion of these dried spices reveal the influence of Malay and Indian cooking on this curry, which originated in the South of Thailand. This “Muslim-style” curry can be made with mutton, chicken or beef but not usually with pork (although it can be).

Massaman Curry is a great match for a crusty baguette, sauteed vegetables or a fresh salad, and an assertive red wine.

Since many of you live in places colder in early December than here in Chiang Mai, Thailand (where the “cold” season is a chilly 50°F at night at the most extreme) Massaman curry makes for a warm and hearty, winter meal. Thai people usually serve their curries over steamed jasmine rice, but Massaman curry is also a great match for a crusty baguette, sauteed vegetables or a fresh salad and an assertive red wine. With this recipe from Temple of Thai and with help from an expert curry-maker, I made a delicious, creamy, complex Beef Massaman Curry.

Start the homemade curry paste by roasting separately in a pan:

Then grind the spices together in a granite mortar and pestle (I found out the hard way when making Green Curry that a ceramic mortar and pestle will not do the job!). Next add:

½ tsp ground nutmeg½ tsp ground cinnamon½ tsp ground cloves A selection of ingredients for Massaman Curry and Curry Paste

Then peel, chop and pound in:

4 oz shallots (about 4 medium shallots)1 oz garlic (about 1-2 cloves of European garlic, or 4 cloves of Thai garlic)

Thinly slice:

Pound these ingredients into the mixture with:

It might take a while at first, but I found that this curry paste came together with just over ten minutes of concerted, loud pounding. Mix the paste with a spoon, checking through for large chunks of chili pepper, lemongrass or galangal. When these ingredients are adequately integrated, mash in with the pestle:

Then set the curry paste aside.

Massaman Curry Paste in a granite mortar (click to enlarge)

To start the curry, open:

Skim the coconut cream from the top of the can, and put it aside.

Boil:

Thai beef usually comes from grass grazing cattle. This is an efficient and ecologically friendly way of producing beef. The meat is tougher and more strongly-flavored than beef in other countries, so it should be boiled longer – I kept the meat simmering for 40 minutes, but you might be able to reduce this time to just 5-10 minutes if you use a higher grade of beef. Adjust the cooking time for other types of meat. Use tofu for a vegetarian Massaman by adding unboiled tofu to the curry towards the end of cooking.

Add:

and boil for 20 minutes. Drain the beef and reserve the stock.

Massaman Curry bubbling on the stove (Click to enlarge)

In a large saucepan or wok, fry together:

Until fragrant and steam rises from the paste. This cooks the shrimp paste so that it tastes mellower and less raw.

Add:

Cook until the coconut cream “breaks,” or separates with oil rising to the top. Then add the cooked meat, potatoes, the rest of the coconut milk and:

Boil these ingredients together for ten minutes, adding the reserved broth if the coconut milk becomes too thick. This curry should have a lot of broth, like a soupy Green curry, not a thick sauce like a Penang or Indian-style curry. If you want a lower-fat recipe, add more broth and reduce the coconut milk, though this will taste less creamy and a bit more spicy – the coconut fat mitigates the heat in the curry paste.

Homemade Massaman Curry, the finished dish (click to enlarge)

Temple of Thai’s Asian food store has everything you need to make this Massaman Curry, like coconut milk, dried spices, and tamarind. Or take a shortcut and try this curry paste to make a quick, authentic Massaman Curry.