No Knead Bread

The easiest crusty bread recipe ever!

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 ½cups water
¼teaspoon yeast
1 ¼teaspoon salt
olive oil (for coating)
extra flour, wheat bran or cornmeal

Directions:
1. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Add water and, using a wooden spoon,
spatula or your hand, mix until wet and sticky, about 30 to 60
seconds. Place the dough in another bowl lightly coated with olive
oil. Cover and let rest for 12 hours at room temperature.
2. Remove the dough and fold once or twice. Let the dough rest for 15
minutes. Next, shape into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel with
flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; place the dough seam side down on the
towel and dust with flour. Cover with a cotton towel and let rise one
to two hours at room temperature, until more than doubled in size.
3. Preheat a six- to eight-quart pot, at 450 to 500 degrees, at least
30 minutes prior to baking. Once the dough has more than doubled in
volume, remove the pot from the oven and place the dough in the pot,
seam side up. Cover with the lid and bake 30 minutes. Remove the lid
and bake 15 to 30 minutes uncovered, until the loaf is nicely browned.

Fresh Pea Soup with Mint and Lemon

Very refreshing cold on a hot summer day (but looks a little like baby food)

Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 chopped leeks (white and light green parts only)
- 1 chopped med/large onion
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 5 cups freshly shelled peas (~8lbs unshelled), or 20-oz frozen peas
- 1 cup mint leaves
- 1 lemon, zest and juice
- sour cream
- salt, pepper

Directions:
1. Saute leeks and onions in butter until soft/browned
2. Add stock and peas, boil for 5 minutes then take off heat, season with salt/pepper
3. Blend soup in batches with mint and lemon juice/zest
4. Serve with dollop of sour cream
5. Serve hot or cold

Strawberry Mirror Mini Cakes

You can find the recipe for Strawberry Mirror Cake all over the internet, but I first found it here. I am now imagining putting mirrors on ALL my cakes.

Matcha Green Tea Mousse Cake

I told Kristal that she should make something like this awesome looking cake for Kim's birthday. I was surprised when she actually said she would, and she did! I think we upped the ante for any future birthday cakes with this one.

Nem Nuong - Vietnamese Pork Kebabs

Ingredients
Nem Nuong
1 pound ground pork
1 inch ground ginger
1 tsp five spice powder
4 cloves minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 tbs water
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1 tablespoons roasted rice powder
1/2 tablespoon oil
10 wooden skewers (soaked in water for 20 minutes)

Sides
lettuce
mint
cilantro
basil
shredded carrot and cucumber
vermicelli
rice/rice paper (optional)

Fish Sauce
1/8 cup fish sauce
1/2 cup warm water
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp white vinegar
1/2 lime juice
1 clove minced garlic
1 red chili

Method
1. Mix all ingredients well and let sit for 2 hours. Soak wooden skewers (or chopsticks, since we were out of skewers - I think they might even have worked better).
2. Rub oil into palms so that meat doesn't stick when forming skewers.
3. Grill on high heat
4. Mix fish sauce ingredients in a jar. Shake to dissolve sugar
6. Serve with vermicelli and veggies with fish sauce. Alternatively can be served over rice, or wrapped in rice paper (but it got a little messy)

Sake Steamed Chicken with Dipping Sauce

No picture today because we were too hungry.
Taken from the New York Times... Kim was a doubter, but it was really good. Even she said so after.

Chicken
1 whole chicken
2 cups sake
2 cups water
salt

Dipping Sauce
3 tbs soy sauce
2 tsp mirin
2 tsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 lemon zest
1 minced garlic clove
1 tbs minced ginger
chopped cilantro
sliced scallion

Instructions
1. Salt inside and outside of chicken (more than you think you'd need).
2. Pour water and sake into steamer. Steam chicken for 45 minutes or until juices run clear. Leave to cool in pot for at least 20 minutes after turning off heat.
3. Combine ingredients for dipping sauce.

Enjoy.

Green Papaya Salad with grilled 5 spice chicken

Ingredients:

Grilled 5 spice chicken

Chicken thighs
soy sauce
sesame oil
5 spice powder
white pepper
sugar
left over spices in spice grinder

Salad

1 green papya - shredded with awesome vietnamese shredder
1 carrot or 2 depending on its size - shredded w/ above shredder
cilantro a bunch chopped
basil, thai if you can find it , chiffonaded
Mint too, but we forgot
green onions aka scallions sliced
1 thai red chili sliced and seeded
crushed roasted peanuts

Dressing

3 tablespoons of fish sauce
Juice from 1 and 1/2 limes
Zest from 1 and 1/2 limes (kim's idea)
3 tablespoons white sugar
2 cloves minced garlic













Instructions:!!

Mix together the ingredients for the grilled chicken and let it marinate, better if it marinates for at least half an hour to overnight. Grill over medium high heat. Let rest, then shred or slice

Mix together the salad and the dressing and adjust for seasoning.

Make rice. Top salad with roasted peanuts.

Serve together and enjoy!