Curry, curry, curry...

Yellow chicken curry is one of those dishes that never ends up having leftovers. No matter how large of a batch I plan on making, our little family of 3 has no problem packing this meal away. Don't ask me how we do it, or where in our bodies we store it away, but we are lucky if maybe a half portion is leftover for Ty's lunch the next day. This recipe is terribly easy, and doesn't even take that long to make...perfect hearty meal idea for that night you don't have anything planned and little time to whip something out.

Here we go:

Peel and dice 3 medium potatoes, boil and chill. Our family favors those potatoes, so our recipe usually consists of more like, 5 potatoes.
I usually always have a few chicken breasts already pre-baked and sitting in my fridge for east access, so I grab a couple of those and dice them up.
In a separate bowl, mix together 2 1/2 TBSP curry powder, a tsp or two of crushed red pepper flakes, 2 TBSP minced ginger, 3+ cloves minced garlic and 2 tsp salt. Make into a paste. I just throw this into my mini-food processor and it works wonders.
In a saucepan, saute a sliced onion and a red bell pepper. Add the chicken cubes and heat through. Reduce heat,m add the curry paste. Stir quickly, you don't want this part to burn! It will taste bitter and ruin the dish. Add 1 can of coconut milk and mix through. Add the diced potatoes, some bamboo shoots and heat through. Serve over a bed of rice, and top with some fresh cilantro leaves.
Now, how easy was that? Quick and delicious. Especially easy if you already have leftover rice, chicken breast and some baked potatoes sitting in your fridge. So simple and satisfying :)

I found LEMONGRASS!!!!!!

I know, I know. Sounds silly to get excited over, right? Well, not in this house! With Asian cuisine being the main hit in the Kearsley household diet, we need this staple ingredient used in a lot of our favorite Thai recipes. During one of our nearly every weekend trip to downtown Naples (is not as easy said than done, mind you!) I found our beloved ingredient for sale at the Asian market! After asking, "quanta costa?" and finding out it was only 50 cent Euro per KILO (WOW) I cleaned them out and bought all they had! My husband nearly jumped out of his seat when I showed him what I found and we were both so excited to enjoy our lemongrass chicken, tom yum soup and one of my most favorites of all time...LARB! Which brings me to the following recipe...my beloved Larb (thai salad). It doesn't sound that appealing, but it is SO DELICIOUS! Not only is it extremely healthy and light, but full of rich flavor and spice. First of all, pick your meat of choice. Usually I do pork or chicken, but it's delicious with turkey or beef as well.

First off, assemble your dressing. Whisk together the following and chill.

Juice of 5 limes (about 1/4-1/3 cup)
Juice of 1 lemon (about a 1/4 cup)
2 1/2 TBSP honey
2 1/2 TBSP fish sauce

Larb:

Saute' the white parts of 2 stalks of lemongrass, 1 chopped red onion, 3 thinly sliced shallots, 2 cloves minced garlic, 4 inch piece of grated ginger, 2 finely chopped green chilies and salt and pepper to taste. Add your minced meat of choice (so if using chicken, I bake the breast, then finely mince up), add some sambal oolek (I use a nice rounded TBSP), the dressing and heat through. Salt and pepper to taste one last time. Arrange a bed of whole lettuce leaves on a serving plate.
In a separate saucepan, quickly fry a 1/4 cup of minced garlic. Spoon meat mixture onto lettuce bed, and top with a handful of cilantro leaves, chopped peanuts, diced cucumbers, the crisp fried garlic, red onion and mint. Enjoy! I know this is pretty much a weekly meal in our house, and what a wonderful guilt-free meal to sit down and devour :)

MMMMMMM...PHO!!!!!!

When we lived back in the states, my favorite place to go and eat was this little Vietnamese restaurant called, "Green Papaya." My sister and I have been meeting here for lunch/dinner dates for almost a decade. We would sit and order fresh salad rolls, and a big steamy bowl of soup, nearly 2-3 times a week at the very least. I crave that beef noodle soup on a daily basis. My husband knows I could eat it everyday, anytime of day, it ran through my veins I ate it so much back home. Moving to Italy, I was bummed to find out that if I ever wanted to eat it here, I would have to make that beloved broth here at home. Now, if I plan for it right, it's a process that starts around 8 in the morning, and it's ready by dinner time. It IS a long process, but it's totally worth every bite in the end. Through many batches, I have perfected that golden taste I love, and here is my recipe as close as I can remember to the measurements.

Ingredients:

For the stock:

5-6lbs Oxtail Beef Bones
1-2lbs beef (I will do anything bone-in and meaty like chuck shoulder, etc)
1 onion
4 inch piece of ginger
8+ star anise
3+ cardamom pods
1 1/2 TBSP coriander seeds
6-7 whole peeled garlic cloves
1 TBSP fennel seeds
1 1/2 TBSP whole black peppercorns
1 TBSP salt
Sugar to taste
Fish sauce to taste

For the soup:

Pho Rice noodles
Steak sliced extremely thin (ask the butcher to do this for you)
Thin sliced onion
Chopped Green Onions
Mint, Thai Basil and Cilantro
Lime Wedges
Bean sprouts
Hoisin and Sriracha


Bring some water to a boil, place oxtail in and boil about 15-20 minutes. Dump out, place bones back in the pot and fill with 8 quarts of clean water. Bring it to a boil and skim the scum that rises to the surface. In the meantime, slice your onion in half, and place that and your ginger (both unpeeled) in your oven on broil and roast/char. Once done, peel both, and place in the broth. Turn the stove down to med heat and simmer the broth, continuing to skim the surface of the gunk. Take mesh spice bag and place the star anise, cardamom, peppercorns, garlic, coriander and fennel. Also add the beef chuck. Simmer for 2 hours, continue skimming. After 2 hours, add about 1-2 tsp sugar and some fish sauce. I usually start out addin about 1/4 cup first, then add it gradually after that to my preferred taste. At this point, also remove the beef chuck and set aside. You can eat this later in your soup if you prefer, I usually don't but I slice it up and my husband adds it to his. Continue simmering for 2 hours, and taste it here and there-adding sugar and fish sauce to your preference. Once ready to eat, I remove the onion, spice bag, ginger and run the broth through a cheesecloth.
A few things to do while your broth is simmering all day:
Slice an onion really thin and place in a vinegar bath. For my vinegar bath, I just mix 2 cups water, 1/4 cup white vinegar. Just soak for like an hour or so. This makes the onion really strong, a perfect garnish for this soup.
Soak your noodles in water. Once ready to eat your soup, bring some water to a boil and quickly boil your noodles-it only takes but maybe a minute so watch closely.
Slice up your green onions and limes, and get your mint, basil, cilantro and bean sprouts washed and rinsed.
Once ready to assemble the soup, place your cooked noodles in your bowl. Top with the RAW thin sliced steak. Ladle the HOT broth (I make mine scalding hot, because the broth is what cooks the raw steak) into the bowl and garnish with the mint, onion slices, green onions, mint, cilantro, thai basil, bean sprouts and some hoisin and sriracha hot sauce. I spoon an extra bit of the 2 sauces into a little ramekin and dip my steak slices into that as well. SO DELICIOUS! Enjoy your meal, it will even smell like a Vietnamese restaurant in your house after cooking the broth all day :)