Bun' cha ca' (Vietnamese fish and noodle dish)

This recipe is from Thuy, Tin's mom.  It's quite easy, healthy, and above all, tasty.  A lot of the dishes we order at Vietnamese restaurants are somewhat heavy - either in a creamy sauce or friend.  But in this dish, the catfish is in a light marinade and grilled, and the flavors come from herbs and nuoc mam', the typical fish sauce based dipping sauce.  Most of the ingredients should be available at a well-stocked grocery store - the King Soopers near us has everything except the galangal.  Galangal is a root that looks like ginger, but is not as spicy.

There are 5 components to the dish: rice noodles, grilled catfish, sauteed onions and dill, and finally the toppings: nuoc mam' and peanuts.  First, here is the full list of ingredients, separated out by component.  This is about the right amount for 6 people.

1 package thin rice noodles (vermicelli, something that looks like this, 1 pound or 500 g)

4 fillets of catfish (catfish seems to vary dramatically in size, you want about 2 pounds for 6 people)
1 t. turmeric
1/2 inch grated or finely minced galangal (if you can't find any, you could use a smaller amount of ginger or a squeeze of lemon or lime juice - it'll be a little different but that's okay) 
1 T. olive oil

1 large yellow onion
1 large bunch fresh dill

1 T. lemon juice
2 T. sugar
2 T. concentrated nuoc mam' (we have the brand second from the left in this photo)
4 T. water

Roasted unsalted peanuts, slightly crushed

Directions
1.  Start with the catfish: slice the fillets into pieces that are about 1.5 - 2 inches by 4 - 5 inches... this doesn't need to be exact, but try to make the pieces relatively uniform so they cook evenly.
2.  Place the fish in a zip-lock bag with the turmeric, galangal and olive oil and marinate for 1 hour.
3.  While it's marinating, cut up the onions and dill, prepare the nuoc mam', and put a pot of water on the stove to boil for the noodles.   Slice the onion very thinly, and set aside.  Separate the fronds of the dill from the thick stems and slice into 1 inch pieces; set aside separately.
4.  For the nuoc mam', combine the lemon juice, sugar, concentrated nuoc mam', and water in jar and shake.
5.  Cook the rice noodles according to the package directions.
6.  Heat a little olive oil, and sautee the onions until they are softened.  Add the dill and stir for about a minute more, allowing the dill to wilt.
7.  Pre-heat a grill (or broiler), and once the catfish is done marinating, place the pieces on the grill and watch closely.  Depending on how thick the pieces are and how hot your grill is, it may only take a few minutes per side.
8.  Serve!  Put some noodles in your bowl, followed by a piece of fish (or two), veggies, peanuts, and a few spoonfuls of nuoc mam'.

Grilled romaine salad two ways

It's certainly greens season at our CSA! We are getting lots and lots of lettuce, and last week, we started getting kale, green onions, beets, and kohlrabi (kohlrabi is a weird vegetable, I don't really love the taste of it raw or cooked, but I love it pickled, have made a few batches using this recipe) ... some other stuff I'm forgetting too.

But anyway, grilling lettuce is really a nice twist on your standard salad. It gets a little smokey flavor to it and wilts a little, but is still crunchy. This makes it even easier to eat large quantities of lettuce, which is kind of necessary right now since we got 4 heads in the this week's delivery (and that's not counting the kale). It also requires using a knife, which I think is a good thing (as I recently noted.) When I say "hearts" of romaine, I mean to take off the outside layer or two of leaves - they are a little tougher, and usually a bit bruised and not as crunchy and falling off the head.

So here's two recipes, made the first a few nights ago, and had it with a pasta dish with sardines similar to what I wrote about here, minus the fennel and raisins, plus some kale. Made the second tonight, had it with the same leftover pasta.


Grilled romaine salad "Mediterranean" style - serves 2
1 heart of romaine lettuce
Olive oil
About 6 canned or jarred artichoke heart quarters
About 8 olives (nice ones, preferably, standard Kalamata do the trick)
About 2 ozs. fresh mozzarella, cut into small bite-sized pieces
1 tomato, chopped
1 T. red wine vinegar
Fresh ground pepper

1. Pre-heat the grill to medium or medium high.
2. Prepare the lettuce as described in the commentary, then slice the head in half, length-wise. If there is a lot of excess in the root area, cut some off, but be sure to leave enough so the half-head stays intact.
3. Rinse the lettuce, make sure the water goes in between the leaves. Gently fan out the leaves to some degree to make sure you get rid of the grit. Gently dry with a clean towel. It's okay if it's a little wet.
4. Brush the cut sides of the half-heads with olive oil.
5. Place on the grill, cut sides down, and grill for about 5 minutes. They should get a little wilted, and have grill marks on them. If some of the outer leaves get burned, that's fine, you can just get rid of them.
6. In the meantime, combine the artichokes, olives, cheese cubes, tomato, and vinegar in a small bowl. Given the oil on the lettuce and that came with the artichokes, I didn't feel it needed much more, but hit it with some more olive oil if you wish!
7. When the lettuce is done, top with the mixture and some fresh ground pepper. I think this is best served warm-room-temperature-ish.


Grilled romaine salad with roasted beets and goat cheese - serves 2
A handful of baby beets, or one larger beet (you may just want to roast as many as you have though and save them for something else!)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 heart of romaine lettuce
Goat cheese to taste
Optional: some toasted pine nuts or walnuts
Balsamic vinegar

1. Pre-heat the grill to medium or medium high.
2. Clean the beets and cut into bite sized pieces (slice in half if using baby beets).
3. Put the beets on a square of aluminum foil, and add olive oil, some salt and pepper. Fold the foil into a packet - not too tight, give the beets some room. Throw the packet on the grill. Cook for about 15-20 minutes, to whatever level of doneness you like.
4. When the beets are cool enough to handle, peel off the skins.
5. Prepare and grill the lettuce as described above.
6. Top the grilled lettuce with the beets, crumbles of goat cheese, and possibly some nuts or croutons. Splash on some balsamic vinegar right before serving, and some more olive oil if you desire.

Grill-braised leeks and artichoke over wild rice with mushroom sauce and eggs

Most of the recipes I post are vegetarian, and in general, I mostly eat vegetarian. I wrote a little about my reasons for doing so here – and could certainly expound upon some of those ideas even more. But the main reason why I mostly eat vegetarian is that I like it. In fact, I love it. I simply love veggies, herbs, grains, eggs, cheese, and nuts. However, the one part that can get a little old has to do with texture. Perhaps not even texture really – textural qualities and descriptors include chewy, tender, meaty, flaky… all of which can be achieved using ingredients from the grain, vegetable, legume, and dairy domains – it might be better described as food geometry - the shape, size, and layout of food on your plate. In simpler terms, I like a dish that requires using a knife. If you look at the cookbook that I single out as the cookbook that opened my eyes to the diversity of flavors in vegetarian cooking, the Moosewood Cookbook, nearly every dish can be eaten with a fork alone. Consider the vegetarian staples. Pastas, stir-fry, and soups use ingredients already processed into bite sized pieces. Quiches, omelets, and casseroles are delicate enough to only necessitate a fork. Pizza and sandwiches require only your hands. Lasagnas and anything stuffed come closer, but even still you could get away with a fork.

So the bottom line is that sometimes I want a vegetarian meal that requires a knife and has a large focal point in the middle of the plate. And recently, I had half a bag of wild rice and a bunch of dried mushrooms in the pantry. I was tempted to make a nice soup or frittata using those ingredients as well as some leeks for a classic combination of flavors. But instead I opted for the “deconstructed” version (I feel terribly pretentious using that term – and I don’t even know if it’s the right word - but I think it suits the meal). What I mean by deconstructing is to keep things relatively large and whole and mix the flavors at the end, on your plate, to your desires. And the focal point ended up being the least likely of the players: the leeks. As well as some artichokes as I ended up cooking the same way as the leeks because there was a pretty big crowd over for dinner. So, the menu ended up being:
-Grilled braised artichokes and leeks
-Mushroom sauce
-Wild rice
-Poached eggs
-Chicken sausages (on the grill)
-No-knead bread I had started a day earlier and finished that morning

Everything was really good, and unfortunately my photography skills don't really do it justice, especially because I'd already broken the egg.

I will just give the recipes for the artichokes, leeks, and mushroom sauce since the rice was just according to the package and I’ve talked about poaching eggs before. I also ended up cutting the wild rice about 2:1 with brown basmati rice, again cause there was a crowd. The leek and artichoke recipes were to some degree inspired by an Alton Brown leek recipe, and a Mark Bittman artichoke recipe.

Grilled braised artichokes and leeks
1 T oil
1 T butter
4 large leeks
3 artichokes
salt
pepper
about 2 cups broth or stock (I used BTB veggie stock)

1. Preheat the grill to medium high.
2. Melt the butter and combine with the oil.
3. Trim away the green top of the leek, and then the outermost layer or two of the white part. We want to cut the leeks in half, long-ways, but we need to be careful to keep the layers together, yet still rinse between the layers. To do this, we're gonna keep most of the root area intact. So with a knife, just barely shave away the roots themselves, leaving the bottom of the leek round. Then, slice the leek in half, long-ways. Now rinse them well, the bottom of the leek should keep everything in place and allow you to pull apart the layers to a degree under running water to get the grit out. Leeks can often be really dirty, so this is important.
4. Brush the cut sides with the oil/butter mixture, sprinkle with salt and pepper.
5. Clean the artichokes: rinse them, then use scissors or kitchen shears to snip off the spiky parts. Then cut them in half vertically, and scoop out the hairy part. Marvel at how quickly the flesh oxidizes (turns a little brown), but don't worry this is okay. To slow down that process a little, brush with the oil/butter as soon as you're done scooping at the hairy part on each artichoke half. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
6. Place all the leeks and artichokes on the grill, cut side down, and grill with the lid closed till a little caramelization and grill marks appear (5-8 minutes).
7. Ready two BIG pieces (about 14" each) of heavy duty aluminum foil and place one over the over perpendicularly. You will use this to hold the veggies to complete the braising. Place 3 artichoke halves on top of the foil and fold the edges up around the chokes. Make sure it looks capable of holding liquid, and then pour in broth to about 3/4" deep. Fold together the ends of the foil to create a relatively tight pouch that will hold some steam. Repeat for the other three artichoke halves, and then all the leeks (they'll fit in one pouch).
8. Return the three pouches to the grill, and cook for 15 minutes.
9. Carefully check on the pouches after 15 minutes. Remove from the grill, open pouch carefully (watch out for steam), and see if the veggies are down. You want to be quite tender, a sharp knife should easily pierce the artichoke flesh (on the cut side), and the leeks should be very soft. If they're not, return to the grill, adding more stock if necessary (or water, if you're out of stock), and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes.

Mushroom sauce (or simple saucy mushrooms)
2-3 1.25 ounce packets of dried mushrooms - I used one oyster, one porcini, and one unidentified half packet from the depth of my pantry - may have been shitake.
1 T. butter
salt
3 shallots, chopped rather small
1 carton of white button mushrooms (the larger cartons at the store), sliced
half and half to taste - about 1/2 c.
leaves from 6-8 sprigs of fresh thyme
freshly grated parmesan cheese to taste (optional)

1. Boil some water and pour over dried mushrooms. Break apart any very large dried mushrooms. Let them sit for 20-30 minutes in a bowl.
2. Heat butter and cook shallots over medium for about 8-10 minutes, till they are thoroughly cooked and starting to brown.
3. Add the fresh mushrooms and cook for another 8-10 minutes.
4. Scoop the rehydrated mushrooms out and add them to the pan. Don't throw away the soaking water.
5. Stir everything for a minute, and reduce heat to low, and add the half and half and thyme. Add some of the soaking liquid and salt and pepper as well, and cook a few more minutes till you've got a taste and consistency you like. If you'd like, stir in some parm, or just serve it at the table.

At the table...
Mix, or don't mix, the various pieces to your taste.

I heart my new grill (and grilled pizzas)

I'd like to think I'm not materialistic, but I love our new grill. LOVE it. Andy and I got it for anniversary #5. It is a Weber gas grill, E-320 Genesis. This box had a shipping weight of 275 pounds. It's all cast iron and stainless steel parts, so we unpacked it at the front door, carried it piece by piece to the back deck, and assembled it out there.


We've cooked on it each night since it arrived, including a big dinner with Lisa, Tin, Thai, and Elliot the first night, after two or three hours of putting it together. We've mostly been grilling veggies, sausages, and burgers, but on Saturday we grilled some pizzas. The benefit to grilling pizzas as opposed to cooking them on a stone in the oven is 1) you don't heat up the kitchen with a 450-500 degree oven, 2) it's fun, 3) you get cool grill marks on a nice, crispy crust.

There's a lot of recipes and discussion out there for grilling pizzas, including a nice detailed writeup on 101cookbooks and Bitten. So I won't go into detail, except to say that I made the dough I always make for pizza, which is the recipe from our Cuisinart manual (but with half whole wheat flour and half bread flour), and topped them with garlicky olive oil, leftovers, and parmesan (would have been better with more cheese but we were out). Mine was leftover grilled mushrooms and sauteed collard greens with raisins, pine nuts, and garlic. Andy's was leftover grilled red pepper, summer squash, mushrooms, and chicken sausage.

It was dead easy, but the most important thing is to make sure your dough is not to sticky. I put on some extra oil and cornmeal to prevent disaster. They were a little burnt on the bottom cause I'm still getting used to how awesomely hot this grill gets.