Thai Sorbet

For the last few weeks, I've been getting a lot of Thai basil from my CSA. Loving Thai food, and basil generally, this has not proven to be a problem for me. However, this bounty has also had me considering some less conventional ways to use this basil, too!

Since I like sorbets, and the weather has been ridiculously hot, it seemed like the right experiment to try. I thought basil alone might be a little bland, so sought out some lemongrass too. Little did I know that finding it would be so difficult! I've seen it in my local grocery store a number of times, but now that I was looking for it...well, it just wasn't there! I finally went to a Whole Foods, where I bought the last lemongrass they had. Maybe there's a run on it, or a worldwide shortage, and I just didn't know!

I took to the basil and lemongrass, slicing and chopping a little, crushing some others, and generally trying to get both the tender basil leaves and the hardy lemongrass stalks to open up to release their flavors.

I put all the basil and lemongrass into a saucepan with about two cups of water and put it on to boil, then reduced it to simmer. This part is like making tea, and allowing it to steep! Once it had boiled and then simmered for about 10 minutes, I added a bit of sugar. I didn't want it to be so sweet as to overpower the subtle lemongrass and basil, but it did need some sugar to help it become something other than tea-colored ice cubes! (Nerdy science fact: adding sugar to water turns it into a different substance, obviously, but it also lowers the freezing point, which is why you get a soft freeze that you can eat with a spoon, instead of a block of ice.)

I simmered for another 10 minutes, then let the entire mixture cool, steeping the entire time. When it had cooled, I strained the mixture, added in a couple small, whole basil leaves, and put it in a container in the fridge. The best part about sorbets is this natural stopping point - I do not have to freeze it that night!

The next night, I pulled out the mixture, which is a little sweet, and very fragrant with herbal notes. I poured it into my trust ice cream freezer, and let it whir. Because it has a little less sugar, it took a little less time to freeze up, but I let it continue to spin to achieve a creamy consistency.

I can admit that I am biased in favor of my own cooking, but this truly was lovely - flavorful but restrained, cool and creamy, and just plain good!

Eggplant Krapow

There was so much good food from the CSA, I had to cook a vegetarian meal. I decided to utilize some of the eggplant , and use a preparation similar to the Drunken Noodles I made a few weeks ago! I started, as always, by cutting and chopping all the vegetables so they were ready to go.

The chiles and garlic, ready to go.

Once ready, I sauteed the chiles and garlic in some sesame oil. When softened and fragrant, I added some sauce, stirred for a minute, and then added in all the vegetables.

I stirred them into the mixture and flipped them in the pan a few times, then allowed them to cook through, stirring occasionally.

When the vegetables were softened and cooked, I added a smidgen of sugar, some kaffir lime leaves and some fish sauce. I stirred all of this together, allowing the sauce to thicken a little and coat all the vegetables.

Last, I added the Thai basil to the pan, stirring it into the hot mixture to wilt the leaves.

The mixture was fragrant and steamy, as I plated it. As I'd considered, I lessened the amount of sauce ingredients, as the saltiness was overpowering last time, and increased the garlic and chiles. This time, the plate was a perfect meld of tang, salt and heat.

CSA Bounty

So it's taken me a while to post again, but never fear, more is coming soon...with pictures of such yummy treats as my Sunday morning scramble, my new sorbet (in a very lovely flavor!) and some other things I've been eating. Stay tuned for pictures soon!

I Like My Thai

If I were told I could only have one cuisine forever...I would likely choose Thai. I love the flavor profile - the subtleties of the heat, the sweet and the salty - in all presentations, from papaya salad to Tom Yum soup to Kee Mao, more commonly known (when Pad Kee Mao) as Drunken Noodles. This dish features the fresh flavor of Thai, or Holy, Basil (pictured left) with chiles and garlic. While it certainly has some heat, it has a lovely, balanced mix of flavors.

This week my CSA had an abundance of Thai basil, so I helped out by taking a few large handfuls! It was perfect for making some Drunken Noodles, and I knew I could also use my baby onions and some garlic scapes.

By now you've noted my interest in mise en place, having all my ingredients ready to go before I turn on the heat of the stove top. With a stir fried dish like this, it's even more important to have everything ready to go.

I started by cutting up three Thai chiles (often called Bird chiles). One, I sliced into thin strips, and the other two I chopped and crushed a bit with the side of my knife. I then chopped and crushed five cloves of garlic, and thinly sliced the soft stems and bulbs of two garlic scapes. These are the flavorful aromatics that form the base for this dish.

I then sliced up a milder chile - I used an Anaheim pepper - in thin strips. I cut a plum tomato into wedges, and thinly sliced three baby onions. These are additional vegetables for the dish.

I measured out the sauces. In one bowl I added oyster sauce and light soy sauce. In another I measured out fish sauce. A bit of lime zest and an equal bit of sugar were also prepared.

Finally, I laid out the ground chicken meat (though any protein, from ground pork to cubed tofu, will work!) and separated a small (at least I tried for it to be small!) portion of rice noodles.

I put on some water to boil and salted it. This was on a back burner, to be out of the way. In a large frying pan or wok, some oil was heated and then the garlic, scapes and hot chiles were added. Over medium heat, they rendered down a bit. When the garlic started to turn golden and the mixture was very aromatic, I quickly added in the oyster and soy sauces, swirled the pan, and added the chicken.

After stirring to ensure the chicken breaks apart enough and mixing the sauces and spices into it, it was almost cooked through. Overall, this was about 6-8 minutes; no need to rush it! When the chicken was almost cooked through, I added the tomatoes, onions and mild chile and stirred so they could soften.

When the vegetables have softened a bit, the fish sauce, sugar and lime zest are added and mixed in. After about 30 seconds of sautéing, the basil went into the pan. I adore basil, and love the flavor it adds here, so I added lots.

After a few more minutes of stirring to wilt the basil, the dish was complete. Total cooking time was about 15 minutes - manageable on a hot summer night.

This picture makes me hungry, and I just ate this!

This dish was delightful! While I think I'll adjust the amount of sauces added (downward) next time, the flavors were wonderful, and I ate all of it...and loved it! I even enjoyed in with a Brooklyn Brewery Pennant Ale '55, in honor of my favorite Brooklynites.