Thai Red Curry Fish

It is still raining here. In fact, I walked to work this morning in the rain. I tried to count the number of incredulous looks I received from drivers-by as I happily tromped through the puddles in my tall boots, but they were too frequent to count. Splish-splosh, splish-splosh, I received another bewildered look.

I continued through the light rain, mulling over ideas of what to make for dinner. Rainy days add two criteria to the dinner planning ritual: it must be cooked in a pot on the stove, and it must be served steaming hot. Hmmm, maybe soup? Or something served over rice? And then there lay the answer: Thai Red Curry Fish. I'd been eyeing the recipe on epicurious for some time, and had almost all of the ingredients on hand.

I was completely surprised by how well this dish turned out. I purchased inexpensive Dover Sole filets (admittedly frozen from Trader Joe's...) and dinner was ready in less than 20 minutes. The light flavor of the fish perfectly balances the spicy curry and I found myself preferring the tender texture of the fish over my usual preference of chicken. Served over a bed of Jasmine or Basmati rice, this recipe is perfect for a quick, weeknight meal, or an elegant and simple dinner for entertaining.

Thai Red Curry Fish
(adapted from epicurious.com)

1/3 cup finely chopped onion
2 T fresh cilantro stems, minced
2 T lemongrass (from bottom 6 inches of stalk), minced
1 T turmeric
1 T fresh ginger, minced
1 T ground cumin
3 large garlic cloves, halved
3/4 t dried crushed red pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3/4 pound white fish fillets, cut into 3-inch pieces
2 T fish sauce
1 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk
Fresh cilantro, minced

Blend first 8 ingredients in a food processor to dry paste, stopping often to scrape down sides of bowl.

Heat oil in medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 rounded tablespoons spice paste; stir 1 minute. Add fish and cook 2 minutes, turning once with tongs. Add coconut milk and fish sauce and simmer until fish is cooked through, turning occasionally, about 4 minutes. Transfer fish to plate.

Boil liquid until it reduces to a thick sauce. Season with salt. Return fish to sauce and heat through. Serve over rice and sprinkle with cilantro.

Hot Chocolate for a Rainy Day

I have dreampt about Seattle for the past two nights. In my dreams I find myself walking up steep hills in the dark to reach my favorite coffee shop and bakery, playing soccer in the pouring rain, and just wandering the streets of Seattle--which seemed to have merged with the streets of Florence to form one perfect city--for hours on end. I have not slept well, but I don't notice.

I woke up several times last night and finally this morning to the sound of cars splashing through puddles, huge claps of thunder, and raindrops hitting our windows. No wonder I was dreaming about Seattle. As I sit looking out the window at the gray clouds, the foggy mist of rain, and the wet streets below, I desperately miss the dark, rainy, cold days of Fall back home.

Last night Matt made a fire in our fireplace for the first time and my discontented dreams were temporarily silenced. I know of few things greater than a fire in the fireplace on a dark rainy day, coupled with a large mug of my favorite hot chocolate. Thick, hot and creamy, this is the real thing. The coffee liqueur brings out the depth of the chocolate while the cinnamon and chili powder provide an intricately woven backdrop. The method of heating and whisking it repeatedly gives the hot chocolate a rich, frothy texture. Really, life does not get much better than this.

Hot Chocolate for a Rainy Day

2 C milk
1 vanilla bean
1 stick cinnamon
2 T. coffee liqueur
Pinch salt
4 ounces best-quality bittersweet chocolate, grated
Pinch of chili powder, to taste

Pour milk into a large saucepan over low heat. Split the vanilla bean, scrape its contents into the milk, and add entire bean. Add remaining ingredients, stirring until chocolate is melted. Stirring continuously, increase heat to medium/medium-high and bring to just a boil. Remove from heat, discard vanilla bean and cinnamon stick, and whisk until frothy. Return to heat and bring to just a boil again. Again, remove from heat and whisk until frothy. Repeat heating and whisking one final time.

Serves 2.

You can also add several strips of fresh orange peel (only the orange part, the white part is very bitter) during the first step and remove before whisking.

The fight for eternal summer and my favorite tomato soup

Oh Los Angeles, you fight it so hard. October arrives as the days drop below 70 degrees, and your fight for eternal summer begins as you desperately bring back days hotter than Summer knew. But I know your secret. I know Autumn is hiding under your skirt of smog, only temporarily held at bay by your best Santa Ana winds.

The crisp days will arrive soon, and wool pants, red suede skirts, and umbrellas will be fashionable once again. Soup is no longer served chilled, but rather guests are greeted by steaming pots of mulled wine and hot pumpkin soup. Trick-or-treaters appear weeks before Halloween as anxious children find excuses to don their alternate personas.

Oh Los Angeles, I know you are trying your best, but Autumn is inevitable. Try a bowl of this soup, you will feel better, and perhaps you might even see the beauty in the dancing rain drops forming streams down your windows.

My Favorite Tomato Soup

I must have Seattle rain in my blood, for nothing makes me more elated than the arrival of the dreary days of Fall. I simply adore the feeling of waking up to clouds looming overhead, the air heavy with the threat of rain. It is these days in which I bounce out of bed, sing to myself in the shower, and smile at my grumpy co-workers in the office.

I have found it quite helpful to bring an extra supply of this soup to work, as almost all of my co-workers need cheering-up, and this soup always does the trick.

4 C. tomato sauce
1/2 t. baking soda
1 T. olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 large baking potato, baked and peeled
2 C. half-and-half
2 T. freshly grated Parmesan
1/2 C. chicken stock
Creme fraiche or sour cream (optional)

In a large bowl, stir together tomato sauce and baking soda. Set aside.

Heat a skillet over medium heat. Add oil and onion and saute until onion is tender and translucent. Drain. Place onion and potato in a food processor or blender and puree until smooth.

Over medium-high heat, combine tomato mixture and half-and-half in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add potato-onion mixture and cook, stirring occasionally, until thick and smooth. Add cheese and stock and simmer for 5-10 minutes more.

Top with a dollop of creme fraiche or sour cream before serving.

Serves 4.

Uncle Ralph's Special

Monday was Matt’s 25th birthday. How time is flying by.

It all started with a 17-year-old whose greatest cares were Bellevue High football games, snowboarding, homework, and curfews. Now married, with a [rather large] dog, an interesting job, a fantastic apartment in LA, and surrounded by the best of friends, I am incredulous at how fast it has gone.

We debated what to do and where to go for his birthday, and I couldn’t help but smile when Matt suggested staying home and making Uncle Ralph’s Special. I love that when Matt mentioned this dish, I thought of summery days full of croquet, crab feeds and people who would years later become family.

Uncle Ralph is Matt’s 80-something great-uncle: a man who spends those summery family-reunion days in a rocking chair on the round covered porch, knitting and talking fashion with the ladies. He is perhaps the most popular member at the annual family reunions, and definitely one of the best cooks.

During Matt’s childhood, this dinner was a special occasion. A dinner for Matt and his mom while his dad was away. Ironic, since this dinner originates out of the Depression as an inexpensive and filling meal. Matt’s rendition of Uncle Ralph’s Special contains significantly more bacon than the original—but what favorite of Matt’s ever contains less than double the recommended amount of meat?

Tanti auguri, darling.

Uncle Ralph’s Special
(with Matt's updates)

1 lb. small shell pasta
2 cans Cambell's tomato soup
1/2 pound bacon, roughly diced
1 onion (yellow or sweet), diced

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Add pasta, cook according to package directions.

While the pasta cooks, cook the bacon over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes. Add the onions. Cook until the bacon is crispy and the onions are tender. Drain and discard the grease.

Drain the pasta -- do not rinse. In a large bowl, combine the pasta, tomato soup and bacon mixture. Stir until combined. Serve hot.

Serves 1-4, depending on if Matt is at your table or not.

On comfort food and Sloppy Joes

Whether for comfort in hard times or for reflection during the great times, sometimes we all need a reminder of times past. It is believed that the sense of smell is most closely linked to memory, which I believe is why certain foods become “comfort foods”. The smell of the food directly links the participant to a memory involving that meal.

For myself, comfort foods range anywhere from my dad’s Famous French Toast, to Stouffer’s Macaroni and Cheese dipped in applesauce, to hot spiced cider; each food evoking a series of different memories. Recently my cravings have been leaning towards those dishes that my mom would prepare on weeknights, with Sloppy Joes leading the way.

I have tried to figure out which memory(ies) are tied to Sloppy Joes, but have met little success. The only thing that comes to mind is sitting at our kitchen table, kicking my little legs that never would reach the ground, and happily smacking my lips as I devoured my plateful of messy goodness. I tend to have a photogenic memory, with only snapshots of past events. To remember the happy feeling of sitting with my family and just enjoying dinner is very comforting.

And so it came about that I found myself in the kitchen last night, preparing seven platefuls of Sloppy Joes for my dear friends of TND. They turned out delicious, sweet and tangy, and messy as ever. Paired with potato salad, a simple salad of greens, gourmet beer (honestly) and for dessert, warm brownies topped with vanilla ice cream, the dinner was more gourmet than I anticipated. And it certainly gave me new memories to associate with Sloppy Joes.

Enjoy.

Sloppy Joes
(adapted from Rachel Ray’s 30-Minute Meals)

1 T extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/4 lb ground beef sirloin
1/4 C brown sugar
1 T steak seasoning blend
1 medium onion, chopped
1 small red bell pepper, chopped
1 T red wine vinegar
1 T Worcestershire sauce
2 C tomato sauce
2 T tomato paste
4 large soft rolls, split and toasted

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add oil and meat to the pan. In a separate bowl, combine brown sugar and steak seasoning. Using a wooden spoon, break up the meat and add sugar-spice mixture to the meat. When the meat has browned, add onion and red peppers to the skillet. Reduce heat to medium, add the red wine vinegar and Worcestershire sauce and cook for 5 minutes. Add tomato sauce and paste to pan, stirring to combine. Reduce heat to simmer and cook Sloppy Joe mixture 5 minutes longer.

Place each toasted bun bottom on its own plate and top with a large spoonful of Sloppy Joe mixture. Top with the toasted bun top and serve warm.

Yield: 4 servings

Brownies a la Orangette

I took a personality-career matching test the other day to try and figure out what I should do with my life. After a series of about 75 questions, the results came back: "You are a Persuader". AHA! A Persuader! Of course! Of all the things I have always known about myself, the most obvious is my ability to persuade people to see my view of things as absolute truth. A very useful skill, yes, when used on other people; however it is often quite detrimental when used on myself. I can gracefully justify any decision to any direction and this often gets me into a fair bit of trouble.

Yesterday proved no different as I found myself persuading myself to turn to the dark side. Of chocolate, that is. With several chunks of best-quality chocolate complaining of neglect in my cupboard, making brownies became the obvious best-use of my day off. Forgetting about the cleaning, decorating, or getting that tan that I so desperately need, I threw myself into research mode to find the perfect brownie recipe. After only a few minutes I found it, a recipe for more fudge- than cake-like brownies posted by Orangette.

Seeing as Matt was not given the day off and would be returning home from an extremely long day only to turn around quickly and head off to the studio to record more of Black Molly's upcoming album, I had to get the brownies done. STAT.

The results of this persuasion were outstanding. I changed Orangette's recipe only slightly, as I had only dark chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate on hand, so I used less sugar to compensate. These were incredibly rich and oozing of fudgy deliciousness.

Perhaps I will become a persuasive baker.

Adapted Ever-So-Slightly From Orangette: The Archetypal Brownie
or, as the book calls them, Best-Ever Brownies
Adapted slightly from Baking with Julia; contributing baker: Rick Katz

1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter
4 ounces best-quality semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 ounces best-quality dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs

Center a rack in the oven, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and salt; set aside.

Melt the butter and the chocolate together in a heat-proof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water--make sure the bowl does not actually touch the water-- stirring frequently. When the chocolate and butter are both melted and smooth, add a 1/2 cup of the sugar to the mixture, and stir it for 30 seconds; then remove the mixture from the heat, and stir in the vanilla extract. Pour the mixture into a large bowl.

Put the remaining 1 cup sugar and the eggs into a medium bowl, and whisk by hand to combine. Little by little, pour half of the sugar and eggs into the chocolate mixture, stirring gently but constantly with a rubber spatula so that the eggs don’t scramble from the heat.

Beat the remaining sugar and eggs on medium speed until they are thick, pale, and doubled in volume, about 3 minutes. Using the rubber spatula, gently fold the whipped eggs and sugar into the chocolate mixture. When the eggs are almost completely incorporated, gently fold in the dry ingredients.

Pour and scrape the batter into an unbuttered 8-inch square pan (I’ve found a heavy nonstick metal brownie pan to be ideal, although the original recipe recommends ceramic or glass). Bake the brownies for 25-28 minutes, during which time they will rise a bit and the top will turn dry and a bit crackly. After 23 minutes, stick a knife or toothpick into the center to see how they are progressing. They should be just barely set—not too raw, but still fairly gooey (mine took 30 minutes and were still a bit undercooked). Cool the brownies in the pan on a rack. When they’re completely cool, cut them into rectangular bars to serve.

These brownies will keep, at room temperature or refrigerated, for 2-3 days. I like to reheat them and serve topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or alongside a shot glass of milk (I find this the perfect ratio of amount of milk to brownie).