Tom Yum Goong - Hot & Sour Soup

It's -24°c outside right now.  Perfect weather for soup!

Fish or Chicken Stock:

1 pound fish bones (sole cod or other white fish), OR 1 chicken carcass, broken into pieces OR 1 pack of chicken wings (We used a whole chicken but kept aside the breasts and thighs etc. )
1 onion, quartered
1-inch piece fresh ginger, bruised
1 lime leaf
6 cilantro stems, stalks and roots bruised
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Wash your fish or chicken bones in cold water first.  Place in a saucepan and cover with 6 cups water.
2. Bring to a boil, skim if necessary.
3. Add the onion, ginger, lemongrass, lime leaf, and cilantro. Season with salt and pepper.  Return to a boil, turn heat down and simmer for 20 minutes only (no lid), for the fish stock.  For the chicken stock- simmer half covered for 30 minutes.  Remove from heat.
4. Cool, strain into a clean pot and get ready to make the soup. 

Hot & Sour Soup

Ingredients:

3 cups chicken (or fish) stock
1 1/2 cups water
1 lemongrass stem
4 red bird's eye chilies, seeded and finely sliced
1-inch piece galangal, peeled and finely sliced
3 lime leaves, torn into pieces
1 ready cleaned squid tube, cut into rings
1/2 pound cooked shrimp  (shelled is easier to eat obviously)
4 button mushrooms, sliced
juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp. sucanat (sugar)
3 Tbsp. fish sauce
1 red chili, seeded and finely sliced for garnish
cilantro leaves for garnish

Directions:

1. Place the stock in a large saucepan with the water.  Heat gently.
2. Trim the root from the lemongrass and slice the bottom 2 inch section into very fine slices.  Bruise the remaining stalk and add all this to the stock with the chilies, galangal, and the torn limes leaves.
3. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
4. Remove the bruised lemongrass, add the shrimp, squid rings, and the mushrooms, then add the lemon juice, sugar, and fish sauce a bit at a time until you have the right balance of flavours.
5. Serve in bowls with red chili slices and cilantro garish.

I chose to start with a chicken stock rather than a fish stock and it was very delicious!  This soup is of course HOT and SOUR so be aware of the number of chilies you use.  Use less than I have if you can't take the heat.  :)

Thai Red Chili Mango Shrimp

Super fast and super easy. If you don't like your food too spicy, half the spices. I generally double the spices whenever I see a recipe. haha. I made this for my fella to celebrate Canada Day. It was a gorgeous day out, so rather than spending extra time making Thai red curry paste from scratch, I "gasp" used store bought. And I don't regret it at all! Delicious! Also, the lettuce came from my very own container garden as did the cilantro. :)

Ingredients:

150ml of organic coconut milk
2 heaping Tbsp of Thai red curry paste
2 Tbsp fresh cilantro , finely chopped
2 small red chili's, finely sliced
3 to 4 cloves of garlic, finely minced
Juice of 2 limes
2 ripe mangoes
1 pound raw large shrimp, deveined with tails intact
oil for grill (coconut is best)
1 tsp. sucanat
fresh lettuce leaves
lime wedges for garnish


Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, combine the coconut milk, curry paste, cilantro, chili, garlic and lime juice and whisk together until blended. Put half of the dressing in a lidded container for the marinade and the other half will be used as dressing.

2. Cut your mangoes and cube the fruit and divide into two half's. (youtube how to cut a mango if you have never done this). Add half of the mango to the marinade and half of it to the dressing.

3. Add your shrimp to the marinade and toss to cover. Refrigerate and marinate for at least one hour. Add one tsp. sucanat to "dressing" half of your mixture and cover in another bowl refrigerated.

4. Heat your grill to a nice hot temperature, remove shrimps from marinade (discard leftover marinade) and grill until cooked through, turning once. Just a minute or so each side.

5. Remove shrimps from heat and serve on fresh lettuce leaves. Spoon mango dressing on to your shrimp and lettuce. Serve with lime wedges. Yum!

Martha's Jalapeno & Garlic Shrimp

I decided to make that yummy Cucumber & Dill salad again and thought a simple shrimp dish would go nice.  This shrimp recipe comes from Martha Stewart Living May 2010.  It might appeal to some of you who don't like your food too spicy.  I found it a bit bland for my taste and would prefer to have something with a bit more kick like my Adobo Shrimp .  Still, I liked it enough to eat a bunch of them.  And I did just run out of black pepper so, maybe that would have helped.  :)

Ingredients:

1 pound of peeled, deveined shrimp
3 garlic cloves pressed
1/2 jalapeno chile, seeds removed, finely chopped (I recommend the entire chile)
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
3 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Toss together the shrimp, garlic, lime juice and a Tbsp of the oil.  Season with salt and pepper, and marinate in fridge for 45 minutes.

2. Heat remaining oil in large skillet over med/high heat.  Remove the shrimp from the marinade and add to skillet.  You can use less oil if you use a non stick skillet.  Cook through, about 2 minutes per side.


serve with lime wedges.

Curry Coconut Shrimp with Basil & Rice Noodles

This is easy, fast and super duper yummy. Like -"Hey let's make this again tomorrow" kinda yummy. Like as in "you will spend the entire meal discussing how delicious the meal is", kinda yummy. From my favorite noodle book.

Ingredients:

6 ounces of thin vermicelli rice noodles, softened for 15 minutes in hot water and then cooked for about 3 minutes in boiling water until just tender. Rinsed under cold water and drained.
1 1/2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
500g medium shrimp, peeled, deveined and rinsed
1 1/2 cups frozen peas, thawed
1 cup fresh Thai basil, cut into thin strips (you can use regular basil as well)
2 red onions, sliced thin

Seasoning Ingredients:

1 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
2 stalks lemongrass, trimmed, tough outer eaves discarded and chopped into fine pieces
1 1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper

- process all of these seasonings to a coarse powder in a blender. Set aside.

Coconut Sauce Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups coconut milk
3 Tbsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp sucanat

- mix these coconut sauce ingredients together and set aside.



Directions:

1. Arrange your cooked and cooled rice stick noodles on a platter or serving plates.

2. Heat a heavy skillet (or a wok) over medium/high heat. Add the oil and heat for 1/2 minute. Add the seasoning coarse powder and the onions, turn down heat to med/low and stir fry for 3 minutes until onions are tender. Add the coconut sauce and cook for 3 more minutes.

3. Add the shrimp, turn up the heat to med/high and cook for about 3 minutes (until the shrimp turn pink). Add the peas and basil, toss and spoon over the rice vermicelli stick noodles. Serve immediately.

Shrimp Cocktail sauce

I had some precooked shrimp in the freezer but nothing to dip them in! Well this cocktail sauce is ready in a flash and it's extra yummy.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup thai chili sauce (be sure it is gluten free before buying)
1/2 cup organic ketchup
juice of 1 lemon
2 Tbsp prepared horseradish
1/2 to 3/4 Tbsp gluten free Worcestershire sauce (see my recipe on previous blog post)
1/4 tsp. hot chili paste
salt, to taste

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and serve as dipping sauce with cooked, cooled shrimp.

Meat & Seafood Internal Temperature Cooking Chart- illustrated

I got my illustration on tonight and made you this chart. Use a quality instant read thermometer to check the temperature of your meat and you should be able to cook it perfect!

Pad Thai -alicious

Another Cooks Illustrated recipe! it's delicious. I highly recommend the website and the magazine. We have been fans for years. Since I am gluten free I was unable to add some chopped Thai salted preserved radish as every brand I could find had soy sauce in it (most soy sauce contains gluten). We happen to live in a city with excellent Asian food markets. If you don't, you could probably order the unusual items on line and then make it once they arrived.



Ingredients:

2 Tbsp Tamarind paste or Tamarind concentrate
3/4 cup boiling water
3 Tbsp gluten free fish sauce
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
3 Tbsp sucanat (or sugar if you can't find sucanat)
3/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
4 Tbsp. peanut oil
8 ounces dried rice stick noodles
2 large eggs
1/4 tsp. salt
12 ounces medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
3 cloves garlic, minced fine
1 med. shallot, minced fine
2 Tbsp dried shrimp, chopped fine
6 Tbsp chopped roasted unsalted peanuts
3 cups bean sprouts
5 medium green onions, green part only, sliced thin
fresh cilantro leaves for garnish
lime wedges for serving

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, add boiling water to the Tamarind paste or concentrate. (if you have dry paste with seeds and fiber you will want to press it through a fine strainer once you have re hydrated it. Our Tamarind paste was packed in water and already strained). Stir in Fish sauce, rice vinegar, sucanat, cayenne pepper and 2 Tbsp oil. set aside.

2. Cover Rice sticks with hot tap water in a large bowl, soak until softened, pliable and limp but not yet fully tender. (20 minutes). Drain noodles and set aside. Beat the eggs and 1/8 tsp. salt in a small bowl and set aside.

3. Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a large nonstick skillet over high heat until just starting to smoke (2 minutes). Add the shrimp and sprinkle with remaining salt, cook tossing once in a while, until shrimp are opaque and slightly browned on edges (3 minutes), transfer to plate and set aside.

4. While skillet is off heat, add the remaining oil to the skillet & swirl to coat. add garlic, & diced shallot, set skillet over med. heat and cook for 1 1/2 minutes, add eggs to the skillet and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until just scrambled (20 seconds). Add noodles & dried shrimp to eggs, toss to combine. Pour the fish sauce/Tamarind mixture over the noodles, increase heat to high and cook, tossing occasionally until noodles are coated. Add the peanuts, bean sprouts and most of the green onions and the shrimp to the skillet. Cook, tossing frequently until the noodles are tender.

Serve with cilantro and lime wedges as well as a little garnish of green onion and peanuts.

delicious!

for a feast, serve with coconut rice

and green curry

Adobo Shrimp

Ingredients:
1/2 pound fresh shrimp, deveined and peeled.
3 chipotle chilli's, (from a can of chipotle chilli canned in adobo sauce), chopped fine
3/4 cup fresh orange juice
handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
salt, to taste

Directions:

1. In a med bowl, combine the chopped chipotle chilli's, orange juice, cilantro and olive oil. stir well until marinade is combined.

2. Place shrimp in a medium non-reactive bowl, pour chipotle/ orange juice marinade over to coat. Marinate for 20 minutes.

3. Heat grill to high, remove shrimps from marinade and sprinkle them with salt before placing on grill. Grill the first side for 1 1/2 minutes, turn and grill until finished (about 3-4 minutes total cooking)

4. remove from heat and start eating!

Forever Summer Salad

What to do with all those cucumbers? How about a delicious and fresh dinner salad.

Ingredients:

1 Organic avocado, removed from skin,deseeded and cut into cubes
1 Organic English cucumber, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 cups organic fresh strawberries, washed, trimmed and cut in halves
1/2 lb. fresh shrimp (buy the kind that has already been deveined)
1 organic lime, juice of
2 Tbsp. extra virgin Olive oil
salt, to taste
fresh ground pepper, to taste


Directions:

1. Cook the shrimp by dropping them into boiling water and leaving in the water for 3 and 1/2 minutes. Take them out of the pot when done and rinse them in cold water to cool them down.

2. In a small bowl, mix together the lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Set aside.

3. Place the cooked shrimp, cucumber, cut strawberries and avocado in a large bowl, pour the dressing over and toss lightly. adjust salt and pepper. Serve it right away.

oh yummith!

Sweet Pea salad with Chili Lime tiger prawns and garlic/lime baby potatoes

salad adapted from this recipe
we always make extra for leftovers. There is plenty of extra salad dressing here, will keep well for 4 days in fridge. Prawns are big, 10 of them could easily serve 3 or even 4 people.

Sweet Pea Salad with Chili Lime Shrimp-
Ingredients:
10 Tiger prawns
6 bamboo skewers soaked in water for 1 hour

Shrimp Marinade-
Ingredients:
2 limes - the juice of
1 Tbsp. Rice wine vinegar
2 Tbsp. sucanat
1/4 cilantro, chopped
1 tsp. hot red chilli, finely chopped
1/4 cup peanut oil

Sweet Pea Salad-
Ingredients:
2 cups sugar peas, washed
1 1/3 cups mixed baby greens, washed and dried
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced thin
1/2 yellow pepper sliced thin

Dressing:
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. ginger, peeled and minced
2 large shallots, minced
1/4 cup Rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp. honey
1/2 cup extra virgin Olive oil
2 limes, juice of
1 Tbsp. tamari soy sauce
1 Tbsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds

Directions:
1. combine marinade ingredients for prawns. Place prawns in a lidded container, pour marinade over prawns, seal and refrigerate for 30 minutes
2. Preheat barbecue to high and oil grill
3. remove prawns from marinade, discard the used marinade and place 3 prawns on doubled up skewers
4. season with salt and pepper
5. oil the grill and barbecue the prawns for about 1 1/2 minutes per side (or until cooked through)
6. serve with Sweet Pea Salad (see directions below) and garlic/lime baby potatoes (see below)

Sweet Pea salad directions-
1. place sweet peas, baby greens and peppers in a large bowl
Dressing-
1. combine ginger, shallots, vinegar, honey, olive oil, lime juice, red pepper flakes and tamari soy sauce in a bowl.
2. whisk vigorously while slowly adding the sesame oil.
3. salt and pepper to taste
4. pour two Tbsp. dressing (or to taste) over salad ingredients, sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on top and serve with Chili Lime prawns

Garlic/ Lime baby potatoes (you will want to make these before you barbecue the prawns, they will stay nice and hot in the foil packet)

Ingredients:
1 lb. organic baby potatoes
1 large organic carrot, sliced
1/2 red onion, chopped
3. Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
dash of cayenne pepper
1 lime, juice of
3 cloves of garlic, pressed

Directions:
1.Partially cook potatoes on high for 5 minutes in microwave, or partially boil them.
2. combine all the ingredients together in a bowl. lay out a large piece of foil and spoon the potato mixture into the foil. wrap tightly to form a packet.
3.Barbecue on high for about 15 minutes( or until cooked through and browned). turning frequently.

Chili Citrus Shish Kabobs

Chili - Citrus Chicken:

1 orange, zested and juiced
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1 lime, zested and juiced
4 cloves garlic, pressed
4 small hot chillies chopped fine
1/4 cup tamari gluten free soy sauce
1/4 cup peanut oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 1 inch cubes

Lemon- garlic shrimp:

3 cloves garlic , pressed
2 shallots, minced
1 bay leaf
2 Tbsp. fresh thyme
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp. chili pepper flakes
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined

Vegetables For Kabobs:

red and yellow bell peppers
red onion
cherry tomatoes
mushrooms
zuchinni
baby potatoes, boiled until cooked through

Balsamic basting vinaigrette for vegetables:

1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
soak bamboo skewers in water for one hour before charring

Directions:

1. Using a whisk, stir together all of the chili citrus chicken ingredients (except the chicken) in a bowl. Add the chicken to the mixture and coat. Cover and marinate in refrigerator for 1 hour.

2. Using a whisk, stir together all of the lemon garlic shrimp ingredients (except the shrimp) in a bowl. Add the shrimp to the mixture and coat. Cover and marinate in refrigerator for 1 hour.

3. Cut the vegetables into slightly larger than bite sized pieces.

4. Puree balsamic basting vinaigrette ingredients in a blender for 30 seconds.

5. arrange meat and vegetable pieces onto skewers according to your own wants. (I wanted more shrimp and Ken wanted more chicken). It really works best to skewer each type of meat and veggies separately so that you can control the cooking times. Obviously chicken cooks Waaay faster than shrimp. :)

Grill the kabobs on high on the barbecue for about 10 to 15 minutes, turning 1/4 rotation every 2 to 3 minutes, or until the chicken reads 165 with your instant read thermometer inserted. (baste vegetables once each side)

serve with brown rice and chutney.

adapted from this recipe

Shrimp salad rolls -with Peanut Sauce and Spicy Sweet & Sour dipping sauce

Shrimp salad rolls
Ingredients:
6 ounces vermicelli noodles, softened in hot water and cooked until just tender (a couple of minutes), rinsed under cold water and drained, cut into 3 inch lengths
2 large carrots, peeled and grated
3/4 cup fresh thai holy basil (or sweet basil leaves) finely shredded
1/3 cup fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped

Spicy Lime dressing -mix together
3 Tbsp. fish sauce
juice of 2 limes
1 med jalapeno pepper, chopped
2 1/2 Tbsp. sucanat

24 round rice paper wrappers (8 inch diameter)
1 head leaf lettuce, separated, rinsed, dried and tough center bits trimmed
1 pound medium shrimp. poached in boiling water until pink, peeled, sliced in half lengthwise and deveined

we use rice wrapper rolling plates available at specialty asian stores.

Directions:
1. In a bowl, combine the noodles, carrots, basil, and cilantro. add the spicy lime dressing and toss to coat

2. Fill a wide shallow pan with hot water & spread a dish towel out on a work surface. Dip a rice wrapper in the water for about 3 seconds until softened and place on towel . (or use the rice wrapper plates to make things much easier for you if you are a novice. We bought ours in chinatown)

3. Place a lettuce leaf on the lower third of the rice wrapper. spoon a scant 1/4 of the noodle mixture onto the lettuce, arrange 2 shrimp halves next to each other, and roll up into a cylinder, tucking in the ends as you go. Place the roll on a platter and cover with a damp towel to keep from drying out. repeat with remaining wrappers. you will get better at it. :)
serve with the two sauces below:

Peanut sauce-

Ingredients:
1/4 cup gluten free hoisin sauce
(to make hoisin sauce- in a med bowl stir together 4 Tbsp. Gluten free soy sauce, 2 Tbsp. natural peanut butter, 1 Tbsp. honey, 2 Tbsp. rice vinegar, pinch of garlic powder, 2 tsp. sesame oil, 2 dollops of hot sauce and a pinch of black pepper. stir well it will mix eventually)

2 Tbsp. natural peanut butter
1 1/2 tsp. tomato paste
1 tsp. sucanat
1/3 cup water
1 tsp. macadamia nut oil
1 1/2 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. crushed red pepper

Directions:
1. In a small bowl combine hoisin sauce, peanut butter, tomato paste, sugar, and water and stir until smooth.

2. Heat a small heavy saucepan on high and add the oil and heat until hot (20 seconds). Add the garlic and crushed red pepper and stir for about 5 seconds. stir in the peanut butter mixture, and cook (turn the heat down slightly) for about 3 to 4 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature

Spicy Sweet-&-Sour Dipping sauce

Ingredients:

1 tsp. crushed red pepper
Juice of 3 limes or 2 lemons
1/4 cup fish sauce
3 Tbsp. sucanat
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
2 Tbsp. grated carrots

Directions:
In a medium bowl, soak the crushed red pepper in the lime juice for 3 minutes. Add the fish sauce, sucanat, and garlic and stir to dissolve the sucanat. just before serving, add the carrots. (sauce will keep coverd in fridge for several days)