Massaging the kale and a bit of tahini and honey in the dressing are the secrets to this healthy asian kale salad. A big handful of cilantro lends a nice bright note. Other than massaging the kale it’s easy enough. Grate some carrot, chop some red pepper, slice some shallot and chop some cilantro. Mix up a simple vinaigrette and you have an easy asian kale salad. It’s even healthy I suppose....
Beef and beer stew – carbonnade a la flamande – is all about the beef, the beer and the onions. Browned beef. Caramelized onions. Brown Ale. A little bit sweet from the sugar. A little bit sour from the vinegar. A little bit smoky from the bacon. Everything in balance. Delicious. Beer and beef stew is slow food. Weekend food. Food to impress if you take time and care. Brown the feef in batches....
Grilled spicy Korean chicken lettuce wraps. Big, bold Korean spiced chicken against cool rice noodles. Wrapped up in a crispy lettuce leaf. Drizzled with a sweet, sour and salty sauce. Just crazy tasty stuff. Fun food. Eat with your hands food. Food to eat with friends. To share. To eat family style. Perfect for casual entertaining. spicy korean chicken Ingredients spicy korean chicken 2 lbs chicken thighs boneless skinless 2 cloves garlic crushed 2 tsp ginger grated 1 tbsp gochugaru korean chili flakes 1 tsp sesame oil 2 tbsp fish sauce 1 tbsp gochujang korean chili paste 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar water to make a smooth paste lettuce wraps lettuce boston (bibb) or leaf works well 8 oz rice vermicelli see note below nuoc cham to serve get the recipe for nuoc cham cilantro, mint, thinly sliced shallots, sesame seeds etc to garnish Instructions Soak 6-8 wooden skewers if you feel like doing skewers....
Gunpowder potatoes are India’s spicy, wonderfully delicious answer to chili cheese fries or poutine. Aloo chaat. Potato flavour bombs. Indian taste meets addictive North American junk food flavour. Grilled. With butter. And Indian spices. There is nothing not to love here. Dishoom’s gunpowder potatoes are famous for a reason Dishoom is a trendy Indian restaurant in London’s west end. Big lines. Big prices. Posh Indian. A big deal. But there’s no reason you can’t make them yourself....
The kathi roll is a beautiful thing. One of the greats. This is one serious sandwich. Think chicken tikka wrapped up in a flaky paratha with a crazy delicious sauce. A sauce with a glebekitchen twist. I’d put it up there with a Philly cheesesteak. Banh mi. Pulled pork. Maybe even Montreal smoked meat on rye with a kosher dill. No, not really. Montreal smoked meat is my sandwich holy grail....
I love beans. And these savory navy beans are near the top of my list. Rosemary. Thyme. Parsley. Onions and garlic. Shallot. What’s not to love? I also love how the house smells when I cook this. It’s a meal in a bowl. A stew really. Nourishing. Satisfying. Just good. It flips from vegan to not with two ingredients. Make it vegan or add the optional bacon and chicken stock and it will satisfy the most carnivorous palate....
Tomatillo salsa. Big, fresh, vibrant flavours. It’s instant delicious and it’s easy to make at home. I love tomatillo salsa or salsa verde in roasted dishes and braises. It’s an instant fix. Need some Mexican inspiration. Tomatillo salsa to the rescue. Roasted chicken, pan fried pork chops, nachos, green pork chili. Everything is better with tomatillo salsa. Might be more powerful than bacon. I know that’s a bold statement but it’s really, really good....
Next time you want something cool and refreshing for dinner think Vietnamese noodle salad bowl. Simple. Easy. Delicious. It’s perfect for those hot summer nights. The ones where you just don’t really feel like heating up the kitchen. It’s so easy to make a Vietnamese noodle salad There’s almost nothing to making a Vietnamese noodle salad bowl. Prepare some rice noodles. Chop some vegetables. A few herbs. Some marinated pork. And a simple sauce to bring it all together....
Cornish hen with mustard cream sauce is long on style and short on work. Roast the hens. Maybe baste them once along the way. Whip up a quick reduction sauce and you’re done. It pairs beautifully with potatoes of any sort. Mashed, roasted, or along side a potato galette . I am a fan of the cornish hen. We don’t get poussin where I live so cornish hen is my go to stand-in....
Keema matar is not your run of the mill curry. It’s a little different. Ground lamb or beef with peas. Sometimes different is really good. This is one of those times. It’s not common on restaurant menus. Which is a shame. I’ve seen it once or twice. Discovered it in a restaurant in fact. But it’s rare. Outside the usual formula menus safe zone. Which is too bad. That’s the problem with Indian restaurants these days....
Texas knows beef. Texas knows barbecue. Shouldn’t be a big surprise to anyone that Texans make awesome barbecue beef. Making BBQ beef short ribs is an outstanding way to use a cut classically reserved for braising. Brisket gets all the glory and when its great it’s so off the scale wonderful it’s easy to understand why. Brisket is hard to make though – which is why the famous pit masters in Texas are famous....
Balsamic roasted carrots are so simple and yet so tasty. Roasting roots vegetables concentrates their sweetness. Balsamic glaze pushes them over the top. A well executed main deserves a well executed side. Boiling some carrots and tossing some butter on them. That’s OK but it isn’t great. Maybe for a Tuesday night dinner. But not for Saturday. Not for guests. And definitely not for holidays. For holidays you want something special....
Think about beef and broccoli. Now think about what would happen if you took a classic and moved it to Thailand. That’s what this is about. Not the usual run of the mill beef and broccoli. Not the one you grew up on. Spicier. A little less “formula” tasting. Not that different. But not the same either. If you are looking for Chinese Canadian (or American) beef and broccoli this is not the recipe for you....
There’s nothing like a classic American potato salad. Something about the creamy potatoes, eggs and mayo just make it perfect for a backyard barbecue. Or with fried chicken. This is the best potato salad I know how to make. And I know a few… This is my kind of comfort food. Probably because I love BBQ. And I love fried chicken. And I love potatoes. So not a big surprise....
There’s something unbelievably satisfying about braised short ribs. Brown them deeply, add some wine, stock and a few aromatics. Stick it in the oven for a couple hours and walk away. Something wonderful happens. Magical. It’s slow food. It’s good food. Braises with bones are better. Make no mistake. But there’s enough goodness in the short ribs that it doesn’t matter. Enough connective tissue. Enough marbling. Umami. Wow. I grab them whenever I see them....
Singapore noodles are a delicious jumble of BBQ pork, shrimp, red peppers and rice vermicelli all wrapped up in a crazy tasty curry package. Seriously good eating. It’s easy too. Fast food. I love it when fast food is this good. Better than takeout. On a weeknight. From your kitchen. What’s better than that? This is an old recipe. One I’ve been tinkering with for years. I’ve made a few small tweaks....
Thai beef stir fry is long on big south east Asian flavours but short on cooking time. It’s perfect for a weeknight meal when ho hum just isn’t going to cut it. It’s pretty easy. Make the sauce. Stir fry the beef. Toss the beef with the sauce and serve. On rice noodles. On rice. With greens. Whatever you want. Make it your own. The sauce makes this Thai beef stir fry The sauce is the thing here....
Thai roast chicken is a great way to break out of your roast chicken funk. Roast chicken is great. But roast chicken with big Thai flavours is even better. I don’t know that this is actually a Thai dish. The flavours are mostly Thai. The roast chicken technique is actually French. The dipping sauce is all Thai. The greens could be from anywhere in Asia. Thai roast chicken with French technique I’m calling it Thai roast chicken though....
There are sandwiches and then there are epic sandwiches. Vietnamese Banh Mi is an epic sandwich. Crisp French baguette with gochujang mayo drizzled all over sliced warm pork belly. Are you drooling yet? I love a good sandwich. There are lots. But this one has a special place in my heart. Not quite the exalted status I place on the Montreal smoked meat. But close. Probably because I love pork belly....
A twist on a chicken sandwich. Hard to believe but true. It’s a bold statement and I don’t blame anyone who just hits the back button when they see the title. But it’s true. It’s not the bread and it’s not the toppings. It’s not the condiments – no wonder ingredients in the mayo. No garlic, chipotle, anchovy, caper, lemon or anything else. It’s the chicken. Every chicken sandwich starts out with the same thing....
