Pasta Carbonara (GF/DF)

I improv'd this meal at 4 o'clock when faced with dinner time and no real plan and diminishing food stock in fridge.  I happened to have a half pound of Trader Joe's uncured, nitrate-free bacon ends & pieces from a while back that still smelled edible and a frozen brick of sustainably-raised ground beef as my base along with chopped kale that I had cooked for the morning's green smoothie.  I set the beef chub to defrost in a tub of water then pulled out my trusty America's Test Kitchen for the recipe instructions.  Pretty much only the ATK cookbooks (and the Asian ones) survived the GF/DF purge a few years back because they are hands down the best cookbooks ever.

I still had leftover raw macadamias in the pantry from when I made nut cheese for GF pizza and Faux Cheezy-cake. This recipe uses the faux cheese method that I discovered in The Dairy-Free & Gluten Free Kitchen.

Other ingredients that I sourced from TJ's besides the bacon: the pre-chopped organic kale, organic brown rice-quinoa pasta.  I abhor brown rice pasta, but the addition of quinoa makes it a lot more palatable.  TruRoots also makes a good brown rice-quinoa pasta that I've found at Costco.

Since the TJ's bacon is rather random pieces and a lot of fat, I added water as it was cooking to help render the fat without burning the bacon.  I started off with 1 cup of water, then as it evaporated added more water until the fat was more rendered into edible sized pieces, then I allowed it to brown on both sides.  This process left a lot to yummy bacon lard and a nice golden brown glaze on my All Clad skillet that I deglazed with balsamic vinegar since we didn't have any white wine on hand.

The timing on this matters.  The macadamia-egg mix should be tossed on to the hot pan (heat off) when you are ready to serve.  T & kid were on a walk visiting the neighboring mule & goats so I had to cover the pan at the third to last step and wait for them to get home.  I had the pan back on low heat with just the pasta, kale & beef, and when they got home, I tossed the macadamia nut mix on.

This is best served fresh.  This recipe serves 4-6.

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb+ of uncured bacon
• 1 lb of ground beef (anti-biotic free)
• balsamic vinegar (in lieu of white wine)
• grey sea salt (aka Celtic salt)
• fresh ground organic grains of paradise (or black pepper)
• 1/2 cup raw organic macadamias
• 3 organic eggs
• 1/2 tsp organic onion flakes or powder
• 1/2 tsp organic minced garlic powder
• 16 oz chopped cooked organic kale (steamed or boiled)
• 1/2 package organic brown rice & quinoa pasta
• optional organic chipotle powder

Soak the raw macadamias in enough water to cover.

Cook the kale by boiling or steaming it until cooked through for 10-15 minutes.

Make the pasta according to instructions.  Approx 8-10 minutes.  Drain and rinse with hot water.

Turn oven to 150 degrees and set your oven-proof serving bowl in the oven to warm.  Since I had a nice handmade Tunisian bowl that I was afraid of breaking, I left it at the lowest temperature setting and put the bowl in while the oven was still cold.  Once it heated to 150, I turned the oven off and led the door closed to retain heat.

Drain the macadamias of most of the water leaving around 1/4 cup of water.  Puree the macadamias with the eggs, garlic and onion and a spoonful of sea salt.

Fry the bacon in a skillet until browned.  Remove bacon and add ground beef, sea salt, pepper.  Brown it until cooked through.   Deglaze the pan with balsamic vinegar.  Cover with a lid and turn off the heat to retain the heat.

Add pasta and kale to the skillet.  Pour the macadamia mixture over and toss until well coated.  Cover with the lid.  

Using a towel or potholders, remove the bowl from the oven.  Pour the pasta into the bowl.  Top with crispy bacon and more pepper.  Toss and serve immediately.

Ăn Ngon Lành|Eat Delectably!

"Mayonnaise Grilled Stew" Chicken Chowder (DF/GF)

Sometimes my daughter watches TV shows on youtube or movies (we don't have cable or netflix.  Yes we're one of those people) and makes a dinner request.  One time it was for Elmo's "pocket food" which ended up being a variation of goi cuon | spring rolls and the "sushi" (brown rice and roasted seaweed) she theretofore was eating quite happily.  The other day it was for Minnie's Stroney (minestrone, get it?).  Yes, it's rampant commercialism influencing her choices.  And sometimes, it's a useful tool for getting her to eat something she doesn't like for xyz reason but sometimes all it takes is a tweak in word choice for her to eat it.  Like when she was 4.5 and refused to eat beans.  I gave her red beans (aka kidney beans) and told her they were kidneys.  Full stop.  And she was happy to eat kidneys.  After a few times I let her know that they were indeed kidney beans, not actually offal.    Her request today was for Mayonnaise Grilled Stew her misheard take on Manny's Gorilla Stew in cloudy with a chance of meatballs 2.   

For whatever reason she dislikes zucchini and carrots but they and kale were the only appropriate veggies I had in the fridge and I happened to have shredded potatoes and sweet potatoes in the freezer, so my solution was to puree them which resulted in a thick and creamy soup.  I've never done it before and really enjoyed the chowder-ness of it though the color was not pretty.  It can also be kept whole.

• avocado oil (olive oil or pasture raised lard)
• half an organic sweet onion sliced
• 4-5 cloves of garlic, smashed
• 2 organic carrots, sliced
• 2 tbs oregano
• 1 tbs cumin powder
• 2 handfuls of grey sea salt
• 6 chicken leg quarters cut into 4 pieces (to expose the marrow)
• 2 organic zucchini sliced
• 12 oz of kale chopped
• 4 organic potatoes, shredded 
• 2 sweet potatoes, shredded

Sauté the onions & garlic in oil until fragrant.  Add the carrots and sauté.  Add the chicken leg quarters and cover with water.  Add oregano, cumin, and sea salt.  Bring to a low boil and simmer for 20 minutes.   Remove the chicken legs and set aside to cool.  

Add the zucchini, kale, and root vegetables.  Cook for 10 minutes or until cooked through.  Use an immersion blender to puree the soup.

Shred chicken and add to the soup.

Ăn Ngon Lành|Eat Delectably!

Cà-Ri Gà | Curry Chicken

If you're not focused on the most important stuff, and all that you've got left to show, is Curry Curry on the go

This dish is a melange of cultural & agricultural influence centuries of globalization from fish sauce indigenous to Viet cooking, coconut milk from Pacific currents at least 55 million years ago, lemongrass and curry spices from India (at least 1st century AD), potatoes from the New World (via 16th century Ming Dynasty China), and baguettes via colonial France (18th Century).  

This was one of my favorite meals growing up (and the first meal I learned to cook as an independent young adult).  The pot of curry would be set in the middle of the table and we'd ladle a bowl full and sop it up with baguettes.  The turmeric would stain our hands and once, memorably, my cousine Jacqui's toothbrush.  

The first time I saw this eaten with rice was when I had lunch at the UCSD Dining Commons with my sister Uyên's freshman year of college.  I was horrified, if you can imagine.  It was very outside of my insular world view at the time.  

Now that I no longer eat wheat, rice & curry has become unremarkable.

As always I like to boost the nutritional value.  I favor yams, sweet potatoes, taro, or cassava over potatoes and leafy greens like kale, collards, or chard.  (Just be sure to wear gloves while peeling taro as it can irritate the skin.)  Mostly I use sweet potatoes because they are easier to source organic and leave off the carrots so it won't be too sweet.  You can also use any squash like acorn, butternut, zucchini, kabocha, etc.

I'll give you a foxtrot--two ways to make this quick-quick & slow.

Cà-Ri Gà | Curry Chicken

• 6 organic chicken leg quarters (or whole chicken chopped into small chunks), unwashed (or meat of choice)
• 3-5 organic sweet potatoes scrubbed, peeled and cut into chunks
• coconut milk* (not the dairy alternative kind)
• optional carrots
• kale, chopped
• sweet onion
• Madras Curry powder (mild yellow curry)
• lemongrass, bruised
• Red Boat fish sauce
• Celtic or grey salt
• Coconut milk (look for an additive-free brand like Butterfly or frozen)
• 6 qt stock pot (I have a lovely La Cocotte Dutch Oven that I just  got on clearance at Home goods in February)
• baguettes or brown rice

Quick-Quick 

~30 min

Put chicken legs into the stock pot, 3 tbs of Madras curry or more according to taste, fish sauce, handful of grey salt, cover with water and lid.  Bring to a low boil for 15 minutes.  

While it's heating up, chop onions into quarters & prep the root vegetables.  Add the lemongrass, onion & root vegetables to the pot as you go.  

Using the dull side of a clean cleaver or knife, bruise the lemongrass all along the stalk to release the juices.  Chop into half and add to pot.  

When the 15 minutes are up, add chopped kale and cover with lid again until cooked.  Turn off heat, add coconut milk, stir well and serve. Add fish sauce or salt to taste.

Slow

If you are feeling industrious, you can chop the chicken into chunks.  Exposing the marrow greatly increases the flavor.   Marinade the chicken or meat with 2 tbs curry powder and sea salt for 2 hours or overnight.  

Put the sweet onion, skin and all, into the oven or toaster oven.  Broil whole for 15 minutes or until cooked through.

Add chicken to the stock pot, 1-2 tbs of Madras curry or more according to taste, fish sauce, handful of grey salt, cover with water and lid.  Bring to a low boil for 15-20 minutes.  

While it's heating up, prep lemongrass & root vegetables.  

Bouquet garnis of lemongrass: Tear off one leaf and set aside.  Using the dull side of a clean cleaver or knife, bruise the lemongrass all along the stalk to release the juices.  Fold it up into thirds, tie with the spare leaf, and add to pot.  

When onion is nicely caramelized, add it to the pot char and all.

Chop the root vegetables and add to the pot.

When the chicken is cooked, add chopped kale and cover with lid again until tender.  Turn off heat, add coconut milk, stir well and serve.  Add fish sauce or salt to taste.

* * * * * *

Serve curry over rice or with warm baguettes.  The rare occasions that I eat GF bread, I use Pamela's pizza crust mix.  The processed carbs or perhaps the binder/thickener cause me a little digestive upset (irritability, spike in blood sugar and then acceleration of hunger) so I try not to eat this very often.

Best served while watching this clip from the original Japanese movie Shall We Dance?

Ăn Ngon Lành|Eat Delectably!

*Tropical Traditions recipe for making your own coconut milk here.  If you are using frozen,give the package a quick rinse before opening to remove any residue, dirt, etc.

Red Boat Nước Mấm Rocks!

Being Việt , I don't have a fear of fish sauce.  I use nước mấm with a lot of things besides Vietnamese food--eggs, bone broth, any soup or stew, salad dressing, meat marinade, quinoa, thai food, cambodian food, laotian food, adobo chicken/pork, pasta puttanesca or pasta sauce, kimchi, kimchi jigae, miyuk gook, and an experimental dessert (in progress)--typically in place of or to enhance sea salt.  Because fish sauce is fermented and nutritionally dense, I add it at the end of cooking after the stove is turned off when possible.  No sense in cooking off those nutrients, amino acids, vitamins, etc.

I only use locally-headquartered Red Boat Fish Sauce (Milpitas, CA).  Red Boat is a nutritionally dense, fermented sacred food meaning it is a nutrient-dense food vital to a cultural foodway prepared according to a centuries if not millenia-old method with whole ingredients.

I don't know about "The Best in The World" business, I mean in Việt Nam most families worth their salt make their own nước mấm.  And every family knows their homemade nước mấm is The Best.  For those who've relocated to urban areas and no longer make their own, they will go to great lengths to return to the mother's family home and bring home batches and batches of nước mấm.  (Aside: I actually have a funny somewhat related anecdote about flying in-country with mấm and mít|jackfruit when my husband, siblings and I went to VN together in 2007, but I'll save that for another post/blog or in person recounting.  You kinda have to know what mấm and mít are and be familiar with Công Sản officiousness to get the humor in it.  Like many anecdotes it's the telling of it that is so hilarious.)  Weo, I guess "Best Commercially Produced Fish Sauce Export in the World" didn't really have that je ne sai quoi ring to it.  I would be remiss not to mention that Red Boat is winning the approval of all sorts of celebrity chefs and foodies all over the US.  I won't name drop, because I am bad with names and what is with the cult of personality anyways.  Just google it.

Nước mấm taste test --Don't try this at home, kids!

After doing a nước mấm taste test on a "hot date night" (which was exactly what you think a fish sauce taste test would be like on a date night for a domesticated couple), I will credit it with "Best Fish Sauce in the Western Hemisphere" for sure.  I expect there to be a vast quantity of inferior bootleg versions of this in the next year--Gold Boat, Red Yacht, 2 Red Boats, 3 Red Boats, 2 Red Boats and a Dinghy.  I hope Red Boat has a good trademark lawyer...

Anyheo, I am currently was organizing a wholesale coop for Red Boat for Holistic Moms Network Tri-City & San Jose chapters and my phamily & homies in the Bay and SoCal with the approval of the gracious owner Cường Phạm (no relation, that I know of.  I mean, one never knows.  Obama and every US President but one is related to King John of England for pete's sake.  Yeah, King John of Robin Hood notoriety.  Deep innit?).  I can be a little ... enthusiastic about things I like (see pimping pork for example).  I seriously was on the verge of fermenting my own fish sauce when hallelujah, I found Red Boat--saving me the hassle of sweet-talking the husband, finding a spigot crock, sourcing sustainable, wild caught anchovies, fermenting dead fish, fobbing off angry neighbors and intrepid/gangsta racoons (if you don't know about the gangsta racoons of Alameda County, weo count yourself lucky).  My husband is relieved and instead my phamily, friends, acquaintances, strangers, Sunset magazine, the universe has to put up with me singing the praises of Red Boat and hella dissing whatever piss-swill fish sauce they use (it's endearing in context, really).  FYI I will seriously throw-down epidemiology with any MD who spuriously claims that fish sauce causes strokes.  Let's see the correlating research on say, the entire subcontinent of Southeast Asia, controlled studies, or did med school not teach them evidence-based medicine?  I was not a research analyst for almost a decade without knowing a thing or two about substantive proof.  Fear of salt is yet another American cultural myth while fear of the lack of salt is a colonized people's legacy.

The order ended up being 9 cases which totally exceed my expectation for 3 cases.  I should have just gotten 10 cases because there were a lot of latecomers who wanted in and I am not willing to break into my personal reserves and it also makes a great gift.  My aunty Len, the Phamily matriarch, says the company should give me free fish sauce for being a one-woman promotional dervish.  Never mind the fish sauce, I want stock options!  (Actually, anh Cường, I'd be happy with free nước mấm or like y'know, a bad-ass Red Boat t-shirt/swag. Just sayin'.)

I am usually too busy cooking or eating or doing stuff to make food porn.  I do have a few relevant photos scattered over various social media sites so I'll dig them up eventually and add them to this particular post here.  I'm a busy work-at-home mom starting up a new birth support worker business, freelance writing, making art, following my bliss, living and loving, on top of the blogging.  Hence the sporadic nature of my posts.  (FYI there's several drafts in the queue--local organic meat sources, nước cốt dừa|coconut milk, Brown Rice Bánh Xèo|Savory Crepes, Bún Măng Vịt|Duck & bamboo soup, Bánh Da Lợn|Pandan Mung bean cake-ish whence we get into the origins of the name, and Râu Câu|Seaweed jelly birthday cake using homemade fruit food coloring--so subscribe to my blog for updates on the food front.)

As with all my recipes, I try to use organic or sustainably produced ingredients where possible.  It just tastes better.  Also, I eliminate wheat, dairy, soy (when possible), chemical additives, and refined sugars.

Recipes below:

1. Anchovy Salad Dressing
2. Gỏi|Slaw
3. Gỏi Cuốn|Spring rolls
4. Nước Mấm Pha|Dipping sauce

Ăn Ngon Lành|Eat Delectably!

Confessions of a Phở-natic

Blasted blogger somehow overwrote my newer version with a draft so now I have to reconstruct.  Other recent blogs on the topic of Phở
Genealogy of Phở
Real Phở Bo Recipe

Real Phở Ga Recipe

So my foodie friend over at Streatery called my out on my claim to be "not zealous" and the lengths I am willing to go to acquire quality meat--organic, pasture-raised if possible, humanely butchered.

Yes, I have sourced sustainably-raised Sonoma Liberty duck legs to make bún măng vịt|duck bamboo soup (post forthcoming) after 3 months/attempts (and I'm not too proud to say I did it through a raw pet feed coop;  I've volunteer schlepped thousands of pounds of raw meat for two months to make good on this).

Yes, I have been an itinerant meat dealer slinging cryovac'ed cuts from a organic heritage hog (red wattle!), hustlin' all up in east Oakland.  Holla! (or if you're in Fruitvale ¡Hola!)

Meat Man
Head of State — MOVIECLIPS.com

Mangalista yummy!

And I have braved the mega-hipster crowd and hours long line at Pork Prom just to eat crumbs of the curly haired Hungarian Mangalitsa.

And I have divvied up 120 lbs of delicious organic hog and offal as it defrosted blood all over my floor.

But, I am not zealous.  I am enthusiastic.  I just like good food and good health at a reasonable cost.

So here are some confessions of a Phở-natic:

• My recipe is my own.  Of course I didn't invent it.  Over the years of trying to phở-ness (oh yes, I will portmanteau phở into every conceivable iteration) with advice from my mom, my oldest aunty, I cross-referred to existing recipes from cookbooks and internet for quantity because you know "add as much as you like to taste, I don't know how you like it" is not a valid measurement and rice bowls and soup spoons are not reliable measurements.  And although I did acquire a digital scale to ride this new foodie trend of weighing food, I still don't think in metric.  Sorry, American born.
• I don't eat beef.  I stopped eating it in on a regular basis in 2003 after noticing I was not digesting it very well and what's more, would develop boils after eating conventionally produced beef.  Eww! TMI I know.  I make beef phở on infrequent occasions and try to use only the highest quality beef, so boils are no longer a problem and I take enzymes to help me digest.  I make chicken phở far more frequently.  I gave up on restaurant phở last year not just because the broth was mediocre and masked by liberal use of nước mắm to cover up the lack of hours long bone extracting simmering, but also because the excessive amounts of MSG gave me severe intestinal cramps and prompted a bad metabolic crash.  And that's without slurping the broth.  I may make exceptions for Turtle Tower (SF) and Pho Nguyen Hue (OC) but probably only if I am carrying my supplements that buffer me from chemicals that my body finds toxic.  Otherwise I will violate the cardinal rule of eating at a phở specialty restaurant by ordering from the non-phở menu.  Can't go wrong with a grilled meat rice plate.  Cross my fingers.  Now that we are sourcing grass-fed/-finished, pasture-raised, sustainable beef, I've increased my beef intake with minimal repurcussions.  I like tripe in my phở but I've yet to source organic, non-chemically processed tripe and we're not ready to buy half a cow.
  
• When I am on a budget or cannot find time to source local organic, grass-fed beef or organic pasture-raised chicken--which is most of the time--I buy halal, that is, beef/chicken that is grown in accordance with spiritual strictures tastes better than meat grown for greed & environmental destruction.  And that is not just the Bay Area smug talking.  I'll post again about my local meat sources, but currently, I go to Indian Market and get their organic, halal Petaluma Poultry chicken for $2.29/lb.  It's really a marked taste improvement over supermarket chicken.  I had pasture raised chicken for the first time a few months ago and was really astounded by the flavor which blew my now-ordinary seeming organic halal chicken out of the farmyard.
• I put leafy greens in my phở.  No, I'm not talking about ngò gai, basil, and cilantro.  I'm talking raw baby power greens--chard, baby kale and baby spinach are my current faves.  What da phở?  Weo, I never claimed to be a purist about phở (ok, maybe I did).  I love my people's food, but here in the US, it consists of too much refined whites and too much meat.  I need greens with every meal to feel nourished.  I make sure they are cooked to reduce the oxalic acid in raw greens to which I am very sensitive.
• I don't like onions.  Although I faithfully follow my grandmother's method of carmelizing a whole onion, I've been allergic to onions ever since I can remember (yes, this is a real thing.  I would get rashes and have respiratory issues.) and rarely used it in the last two decades of my cooking experience.  However, my chiropractor recently cured me of this allergy (not just for backs, yo!) and now onions are back in my pantry.  Perhaps, this is the missing ingredient to make my phở taste like my grandmother's.  And indeed, it does make a difference to the color of the broth.
• Making my own brown rice phở noodles or substituting another kind of brown rice noodle is on my list of to-do's to try to make phở even more nutritious.  I am lucky enough to have a mother-in-law who grew up in a rural hamlet in the delta making everything from scratch so I pick her brain a lot and there's also my bro and Streatery's genius.  I had an epic first attempt fail with brown rice bánh xèo (a future blog post one day) but I'm not giving up just yet.  So until I master brown rice flour, I have been known to eat phở with brown rice; that's the actual rice grains.  It's... interesting.
• On the noodle tip, I prefer even-wider-than-fettucine-XL-sized bánh phở|noodles which seems to be a northern thing.  I've only ever seen wide noodles at the northern style restaurant Turtle Tower in the Tenderloin because they make their own noodles by hand.  So this means I choose the dried, made overseas noodles over the "fresh" regional-/California-made noodles which typically comes in narrower widths.  I also choose the dried kind because they don't use wheat/gluten or preservatives unlike the fresh ones.  But if I am willing to pay the discomfort with chemical preservatives and do choose fresh, I go for the wider hủ tiếu|rice noodles.
• Besides leafy greens, I garnish my phở with basil, cilantro, ngò gai (when I have it), occasionally blanched mung bean sprouts, Red Boat nước mắm
  ắm nhi
  ắm nhi
  , and lime/lemon juice.  Other than RB which is a recent artisanal product, that's how I've eaten it since I was a child and how I came to appreciate the nuances of broth unpolluted by condiments.  I still lift my bowl to slurp the last of the broth which btw is entirely polite in Việt etiquette.
• I have been known to substitute dried Italian basil when I don't have have Thai basil on hand.  What can I say, our herb garden didn't over-winter last year and I can't get to the Asian store that often.  Our garden this year had African basil and chocolate basil, not Thai basil, so that is what went in the phở.
• As I indicated as much in my flagship blog post, I am not attached to any "real food" celebrity or branded dietary program.  I finally watched Food, Inc for the first time a few months ago.  And I've yet to finish reading The Omnivore's Dilemma.  When I volunteered to table for my HMN chapter at the Wise Traditions WAPF conference last year, I had no clue who Sally Fallon is or why our chapter leader mom was so excited she punched me when she saw her; I was there to see if I could get discounted organic stuff in the vendor section (not so much).  I've only been to one foodie convening and really it was just something to do with my bro & his girlfriend when they were in town.  So I'm not really a convert to anything, just appreciate real food.
• I cheat time--though not nutritional value--with a pressure cooker.  I have a vintage Fissler Vitavit Royal that I inherited from my grandmother before she passed.  It must be rather fancy because replacing the aged gasket & valve set me back $30.  I can only cook family sized amounts in this one because the bones take up so much volume.  The provenance of this special pressure cooker was probably my gourmand fashion designer uncle turned gourmand friar-priest uncle when he entered the monastery.  He is probably also why my grandmother who couldn't read english was also in possession of Craig Clairborne's NY Times Cookbook which I inherited as well, though I donated/recycled it last year.  (Gasp!  What can I say, America's Test Kitchen is my go-to cookbook.)  This takes me from 5 hours with my cauldron to 1-1.5 hours with my pressure cooker.  An indication for me as to the quality is if the broth is gelatinous overnight in the fridge from the rendered collagen.
• I re-use the bones and that gets me maximum nutrient extraction and value for my dollar (or use-per-eat to paraphrase my girlfriend Tuyen's theory of economic consumer rationalization).  I make batches and freeze the broth because I am too lazy to can though I admire the efficiency and smarts of making shelf-stable canned broth.  I defrost weekly or thereabouts and everyone in the family sips a cup of broth on the daily for the mineral content immune boost.  Note that bones can be made for 2-3 re-uses but after that, it diminishes in beefy flavor so you'll have to add meat cuts.  The bones can then continue to be used for bone broth/hunter's tea.
• I met a Hawai'i-kine custom surfboard maker in Santa Barbara back in January.  He told me how he's been blackballed at the local phở joint for trying to mod his phở too many times trying to make it more like the saimin he missed (itself a fusion of local ethnic groups).  Maybe 5 years ago this might have prompted an one-sided traditionalist argument on my part (though I don't know that I'd even argue, if it wasn't for people mod'ing, bánh mỳ ổ|Vietnamese sandwich may have never come into existence and the world would be a sadder place for it), but I just shrugged and told him how to make his own phở and mod it however he wanted.  Some folks add carrots or daikon to the pho to sweeten it.  Others add pork bones.  I like my phở with kale and brown rice.  Who am I to judge?

 So there you have it.  Keepin' it phở real.

Ăn Ngon Lành|Eat Delectably!