A favorite with shrimp: Pad Kee Mao Goong

I wrote about this recipe before but I think it's even better with shrimp.

Note: I usually cook the shrimp first and then add to the dish later.

Here I am cooking the dish. Note I add the Thai Basil at the last stage:

Here is the completed recipe:

A new favorite cookie: Hazelnut Kisses

Another recipe I got from Martha Stewart's website is quick to come together as long as you have ready access to hazelnut flour and an egg beater or kitchen-aid mixer.

There are minimal ingredients besides hazelnut flour, regular flour, egg whites, vanilla and sugar.

Parchment paper makes baking the cookies very easy.

Here are the cookies after having been baked on the parchment paper for about 18 minutes

The cookies served alongside chestnut-chocolate tortelli

A yearly favorite: Chestnut Mushroom soup

One of my favorite recipes of the fall season is chestnut mushroom soup.

I learned of this recipe from Martha Stewart on PBS.

If you can get fresh chestnuts and a good source for shitake and porcini mushrooms, I'd recommend this.

It's pretty easy to make too. A blender is required.

Key steps:

Below you'll see the chestnuts after they've been roasted and peeled. I order mine from Charlie's Chestnuts.

Like the recipe I use 2-3 ounces of shitake, and 6 ounces of porcini.

Here is the cooking of the mushrooms and chestnuts in the chicken stock. 45 minutes to an hour is about right

Here is the completed mushroom soup after the soup has been pureed and cream has been added:

Fettuccini with squash, zucchini, roma tomatoes and green beans

One of my perennial favorites that I learned probably about 20 years ago.

These days it can be made year round but I do really like it in the summer.

What makes this dish great is the ease of preparation, the combo of virgin olive oil with thyme, pepper and salt in addition to the fresh vegetables.

Ingredient list:

1) Three or four small to medium squash
2) Three or four small to medium zucchini
3) Three to four roma tomatoes
4) 1/3 to 1/3 pound of green beans with the ends cut off
5) Salt and pepper to taste
6) Three to five tablespoons of virgin olive oil
7) One to three teaspoons of thyme. Less if you have fresh thyme.

Preparation:

Preheat large non-stick pan with virgin olive oil.

Peel squash and zucchini. Cut in half length-wise and again in half length-wise. Cut into small die size.

Place cut squash and zucchini into medium to medium high hot pan and cook for 10 minutes to soften. Preferably covered.

While squash and zucchini are cooking, add salt and pepper and a teaspoon or more of thyme.

Cut Roma tomatoes taking ends off and cutting into small die shape. Set aside.

Take green beans, cut ends off if desired, steam until 70-80% done. Let cool.

When squash and zucchini have softened add Roma tomatoes and stir. Let cook a few minutes more. Cover while cooking

Add cooked green beans and stir again. Keep the pan covered to help the green beans soften some more.

Add more salt and pepper and thyme to taste.

Serve.

The complete dish.

My favorite clam chowder : Rhode Island style

In the spring I decided to try the NYTimes recipes for clam chowder.

My favorite of the three was Rhode Island style that dispenses with cream or the crushed tomatoes.

I like the clear broth with the combination of vermouth, thyme and bay leaf.

I diverge from the NYTimes recipe using dry vermouth and have substituted lobster juice instead of clam juice which I find a very good stand in.

Lad Na with broccoli, bamboo shoots and tofu

Lad Na is another Thai dish staple.

I almost always prepare it with broccoli, bamboo shoots and tofu.

The prep and cook time is about an hour.

Ingredient list:

8 to 12 ounces wide flat noodles
dark soy sauce (gives the noodles a molasses taste)
3-8 cloves of minced garlic
bean curd sauce
2-3 heads of broccoli
1 can of bamboo shoots
2-5 tablespoons fish sauce
2-5 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 tablespoons mountain sun sauce

Here is the completed dish

Moo Pad Prik Khing

One of my favorites due to the combination of ingredients and flavors. I especially like the lime leaf combo with soy sauce and prik khing curry paste.

I originally got this recipe from a youtube video.

In my experience, it seems like a pretty popular recipe at Thai restaurants.

This variation uses a bit more vegetables.

My ingredient list :

1 pound pork cut into half inch pieces
1-2 tablespoons Mae Anong Phik Khing curry paste
1-2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1-2 tablespoons light soy sauce
5-6 leaves of lime leaf julienned
2 red or yellow bell peppers
1/2 pound green beans
1/4 cup water

This dish served!

Clam Chowder recipe from the nytimes.com

Today I made a recipe from the recipe archives at the nytimes.

Here is the link : Best Clam Chowder

I followed the recipe although I made a few adjustments since clams can be expensive to buy here in Colorado; especially Whole Foods.

Instead of cooking the clams I bought clam meat at the local Sprouts.

Since I didn't have clam broth, I soaked the frozen clam meat in warm water and used the leftover water as the stock.

For the bacon, I got natual thick sliced bacon and then diced it up.

I used about a pound on a half of red potatoes instead of just 3 potatoes.

Here is a photo of the finished recipe. It was actually quite good.

Pad Gra Pow Gai (variation 2)

Made one more variation of Pad Gra pow Gai, but instead of noodles, thai rice was the starch this time.

This is another recipe from importfood, but you can find many variations on the web.

I'd say this is a recipe that's more of a combination/happy medium of the two I wrote about below.

Here's the link to the importfood recipe.

Out of all the recipes, I found this one of the easier preps and one of the tastiest.

I used three tablespoons of the holy basil paste and even added some extra red and yellow pepper.

Since I also had some extra thai basil, I added a handful right at the end too.

I think what made this recipe pop for me was the ground chicken and the added cucumber as a side to the dish.

Here's how it came out below.

Gai Pad Grapao

Since I just posted on a Thai basil dish last week, thought I'd continue with a dish made with Thai and Holy Basil.

The link for the recipe on importfood.com

This is one of the easier Thai recipes and I used a lot less Thai chilies than what they recommend.

Here is my slight variation of the recipe :

one pound boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
4 fresh Thai chile peppers (green color is preferred), since I'm not super heat tolerant
6-10 cloves garlic minced or pressed through a garlic press
a handful or two of dried holy basil (soak in water for 15-20 minutes)
2 teaspoons - or more - of palm sugar
2.5 tablespoons fish sauce
1/2 cup water
1 or 2 cups fresh Thai basil

The dish came quickly together in about 30 minutes and I ate with jasmine rice.

Pad Kee Mao Gai

I've been cooking Thai cuisine the last 2 years and have learned quite a few dishes.

I've done Lad Na, Pad Thai, Masaman, Pad Prik Khing, and other recipes, but wanted to try something new with Thai basil.

I order a lot from importfood.com, and wanted to use their recipe on the website but did a little more searching to see what the recipe would look like and see the possible variations.

I tried this recipe here : Alosha's Kitchen and with a couple of small modifications, I thought it was a very good recipe.

To keep the heat down to medium, I used only three Thai chilies along with 12 ounces of wide noodles and a pound of chicken. I did use a whole small red onion and a red and yellow pepper; so twice the amount of onion.

If you're using 12 ounces of wide noodles I would recommend a 1/4 cup of fish sauce, slightly a little less of the golden mountain and thick soy sauce and directly mix it with the chicken before putting it in the pan. I also mix my palm sugar with water for easy use and store it in the fridge so I can just pour it on the dish as I'm creating it.

Here's a photo of the finished dish :