Pad Thai Redux

I know I've already posted a pad thai recipe, but after seeing this on Throwdown and hearing the rave reviews, I had to give it a try. I have good news and bad news.  The good news is this is unbelievable.  Seriously. Just like restaurant style pad thai if you like that sweet, sour and salty version, which I do.  This recipe knocked my socks off and I've had a lot of pad thai in my life. I'd say this even rivals the pad thai I had in Thailand...it was a Thai cook that Bobby challenged after all.  The bad news though, is that you have to make this sauce.

I grew up with fish sauce in the house and always on the table.  There are a bazillion brands to choose from in the asian store and I've never been able to tell the difference between brands--my choice is based solely on the fact that this brand is packaged in glass and not plastic. And despite the offputting smell, I actually really like fish sauce.  I put it on quite a bit of thai, and not so thai food.  That fish sauce aroma however, is something else.  I usually wait until the food is on my plate before adding fish sauce and almost never cook with it.  The smell of fish sauce can only be "enhanced" by simmering it in your house for an hour.   But for this recipe, simmer you must, until all the sauce ingredients come together in a syrupy, perfectly salty and sweet sauce. 

The only other two ingredients (besides a bit of table salt) in the sauce are palm sugar and tamarind juice.  Only three ingredients?  Yes, I was a doubter as well, which is why I had to try it out.  Three is all you need. Palm sugar can be found packaged in disks or in tubs.  I find that the tub hardens since I can't use it fast enough so now I just buy the disks.  They melt pretty easily in hot liquids.  Tamarind juice can be found in any asian grocer, and I believe, most mexican grocers. 

While fish sauce, tamarind and palm sugar do require a trip to an asian grocer, they all keep for a long time.  I think fish sauce has a half life of eternity.

Throwdown Pad Thai Sauce

• 1 cup tamarind juice, or 4 tbsp tamarind concentrate plus enough water to make 1 cup
• 4-5 disks of palm sugar ( or about 1 cup)
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup fish sauce
• 2 teaspoons salt

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan for about 60 minutes on medium until it is well mixed and syrupy. Stir occasionally to prevent burning.

The noodles are a bit easier to find.  I usually pick up a small stock of them when I'm at the asian grocer but only because it's half the price there.  No trip to the asian store is required though because Thai Kitchen packages some and it's a relatively easy brand to find.

Once you have the sauce made and the noodles soaking, and the tofu and green onions cut, cooking the pad thai takes mere minutes.  And of course you can use chicken instead of tofu--after it's cooked through you can push it up on the side of the pan while you move onto the egg step.

And since you have the palm sugar out  you might as well finish it off your thai dinner with this traditional thai dessert.  While Sticky Rice and Mangoes can be made without palm sugar, my mind always jumps immediately to this dessert with just a tiny whiff of the sugar. I posted the recipe in this earlier post.

 

Tofu Pad Thai

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons garlic oil, plus extra as needed
• 1 cup cubed extra firm tofu
• 7 oz small or medium-size dried rice noodles soaked 20 minutes in hot tap water, drained and rinsed to remove excess starch
• 1 clove garlic, minced 
• 1 large egg, slightly scrambled
• 2-3 green onions sliced thin the long way
• 1-2 cups rinsed bean sprouts to preference
• 1/3 cup Pad Thai sauce
• 1-2 squirts Siracha sauce (optional)
• 2-3 tablespoons ground roasted peanuts
• 1 lime cut into wedges

Directions

Heat half of the oil in a wok over high
Add tofu and cook for 3-4 minutes until golden on all sides.
Push tofu to side, and add the remaining oil as well as the garlic.  Cook garlic for 30-60 seconds taking care not to let it turn brown (and bitter).  Add egg and gently scramble in pan.
Add the noodles. Add a little water, stirring a few times quickly to ensure noodles do not stick together. Add green onions, bean sprouts and Pad Thai sauce and stir until everything is thoroughly mixed. The noodles should appear soft and moist.

Add chiles, peanuts, garlic chives and bean sprouts. Mix well. Remove to a platter.
Serve with raw bean spouts, green onions, lime wedges and additional Siracha sauce if desired.

A Love Affair with Aprons

Are aprons a sign of domesticity or just a current hip way to show our retro chic style?  Despite the fact that almost never wear an apron while cooking and I absolutely never wear a full apron, I've been on an apron sewing kick.  And what seems even more odd to me is how drawn I am to them despite the fact that I'm not a floral and frills kind of girl.  I don't think I own a floral clothing item and I have just one shirt with ruffly frills that I've worn exactly zero times. But aprons scream for frills and flowers, oui?

It started with the best intentions--cleaning and purging all of my craft boxes.  But gazing upon all those fantabulous fabrics and having all this time on my hands, well it helped me feel a little productive to get my craft on.

I hadn't sewn anything resembling clothing in years so first up was the easiest pattern I'd fallen for.  I'd found a pattern for a ruffled apron  over at One More Moore that made me antsy to start cutting my fabric.  And while she used plain fabric for her backing, I came across these great white on white fabrics my friend Deanna had sent me in a huge gift box full of fabric and goodies.  I've had quite a bit of fun with her sweet gift, but saved the white on whites for something girly.  What's more girly than ruffles and an apron?

The pattern was so easy and it was ultra rewarding to have a completed project so soon after beginning.  How very different that is from knitting. And my friend gave a little lesson on how to make these little flowers out of poly satin circles and a candle to melt and curl the edges.  Poly satin btw, melts crazy fast when just in proximity to a flame.  They weren't kidding when they recommended only wearing natural fibers when you fly.

I made my skirt a bit longer and cut the ruffles to three longer ones, but otherwise followed the pattern.  I heart damask and gingham.

I had so much fun with that one that I upped the ante a bit and decided on a full apron for my second. The pattern for the Spice It Up Apron was just as much fun. I left off the bottom ruffle because between the bodice and the pleats in the skirt, my head was spinning a bit.  But I do so love this bodice.

If anyone recognizes the skirt fabric, it is indeed a Target sheet that I bought on clearance because I loved the pattern.  Sheets can be a complete fabric score with all of their yardage if you can find great ones.  

And discussions of sheets is the perfect segue to my final apron thus far, which I like to call "The World's Most Impractical Apron...Ever."   It's made with white wrinkle prone cotton.  Enough said right? 

Not sure what inspired me to make a white apron but all the frills I'd been sewing made me want to create something pristine and white and girly. And I do adore white.

No new pattern for this--I just combined the above two aprons.  I made the  ruffled skirt from the first apron and attached the bodice from the second.  I also used a sheet for this apron as well which ended up working out really well....I used all of the sewn edges on the sheet so that I wouldn't need to hem each ruffle.  Sheets have a lot of hemmed sides as it turns out.

From Shabby Sheet to Shabby Chic (Ha!) Impractical I know, and I'll never wear it because it's a full apron, but I sure do enjoy gazing upon it. It's just so girly and white and white and white.  Did I mention I adore white?

Macadamia Butterscotch Blondies

Not a lot to say about these...needed a quickie recipe for the Superbowl and I think blondies with their caramely brown sugar base, are pretty perfect. You can essentially substitute any nut and any chip...blondies are so versatile and it's almost impossible to mess up the flavor combo.  They are also usually a bit thicker, but I seem to have misplaced my 8x8 pan and had to use a slightly larger pan.  I'd definitely recommend the 8 inch pan--the thick bars just feel that much more appropriate.

 Macadamia Butterscotch Blondies

9 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pan
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 cup macadamias, coarsely chopped


Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line a buttered 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, allowing a 2-inch overhang.
Butter bottom and sides of lining.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
Put butter and sugar in the bowl; mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add eggs and vanilla; mix until combined.
Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture, and mix, scraping down sides of bowl, until well combined.
Mix in butterscotch, cashews, and toffee.
Pour batter into prepared pan; spread evenly with a rubber spatula.
Bake until golden brown and a cake tester inserted into blondies (avoid center and edges) comes out with a few crumbs but is not wet, 40 to 45 minutes.
Cool in pan for about 15 minutes.
Lift out; let cool completely on a wire rack before cutting into squares.

Early Morning Photos And Breakfast at Snooze

A little early morning photoshoot of my friend Mel and her boys was just enough effort to build up an appetite for the best brekkie in the Denver Metro area.  Even better was visiting Snooze's  new Southglenn location and being seated immediately.  I know that doesn't sound like much, but in all my years of eating at Snooze, I've never waited under 45 minutes for a table.  But it's so worth the wait.

The coffee comes in these happy yellow curvy mugs, which Mel pointed out to me this morning, have little thumb rests.  Turns out they must have quite a fan club of their own because Snooze sells them right there in store.  Someday I will bring a few of these happy mugs home to live in my kitchen. But even happier than the mug is what those sunny little mugs hold.

Snooze makes the BEST pancake flavors ever.  Seriously...check out Mel's pancakes....

Red velvet pancakes?  That's pretty cool.  And what about the Graceland pancakes?  While banana and peanut butter cream seem simple enough, how intriguing is bacon caramel sauce?  I was admittedly a bit shocked that Mel's not a pineapple upside down kind of pancake girl.

All of my pancake adulation and which flavors did I choose?....


What can I say--at least it's not eggs benedict again.  I love the idea of all of those pancakes, but when it comes to ordering breakfast, savory almost always wins.  And when it doesn't, I sit there so saddened at my breakfast choice.  No one should be sad when having breakfast.

Tabasco or Cholula?  Why choose?  Snooze + breakfast burrito = happy morning indeed.

Aren't Duncan and Dave just the cutest?

The Violation of Banana Bread

First, I know that with much of the country in a deep freeze right now, it's unlikely that I'm going to get a lot of sympathy here.  But c'mon, this isn't even a valid temperature.

How could we possibly have been so close to 70 degrees last week?  With the temp dipping so low that puppy paws freeze after mere moments outside despite careful application of Musher's Secret, we had to think of some inside activities.  Okay, I had to think of some inside activities...the animal just slept.  And with unlimited time on my hand these days (that's a whole 'nother post) I've been making a list to entertain myself.  Obviously getting to spend some time in the kitchen in on the list.

Banana bread is in a protected class in my book.  While I love trying new recipes or variations of recipes, messing with banana bread just seems wrong.  I have a favorite recipe (don't we all) that includes adding a stick of melted butter right at the end, stirring it in and baking the loaf.  It's so comfort food.  But I've been spending so much time in Nigella's Nigella Kitchen cookbook and loving each recipe so far, I figured she deserved a bit of trust when presenting a new version of banana bread...Coconut and Cherry Banana Bread.  It's pretty much like any other banana bread recipe except that she adds a bit of fancy extras to the end batter.  My curiousity got the better of me here.

The verdict?  So torn here.  It was pretty tasty.  If it was any other bread and didn't have the word "banana" in it, I'd definitely make it again.  But alas, I knew it was banana bread, it had that moist banana bread texture, but it wasn't banana bread. Kind of mean to tempt you with all of the fixings of banana bread then switch the final flavor and texture in the end. I started craving plain 'ole banana bread with just that first bite.  If you don't have the emotional attachment to banana bread that I apparently seem to have, and you like coconut and dried cherries, this is pretty good stuff.

Note: Nigella has this bread baking in a 325 degree oven and every baking recipe I've ever tried at that temp has failed miserably.  I baked this at 350 for the same amount of time and it was perfect.

Nigella's Coconut and Cherry Banana Muffins
adapted from Nigella Kitchen

8 tablespoons butter, melted and slightly cooled
4 very ripe medium-sized bananas, mashed
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup dried tart cherries
1-1/3 cups unsweetened shredded coconut

• Heat the oven to 325 degrees.  Grease and flour a loaf pan.
• Stir the butter and sugar together, then add the mashed banana and eggs.
• When the eggs are well incorporated, fold in the flour, baking powder, and baking soda.
• Lightly stir in the cherries and coconut.
• Pour into prepared loaf pan) and bake 50-60 minutes
• Let cool 10 minutes in pan
• Remove from pan and let cool completely before slicing.