Queso Frito with Radish Salad and Chile-Lime-Honey Vinaigrette

A simple honey-kissed vinaigrette, boasting the bite and tang of fresh lime juice and Thai bird's eye chillis, is drizzled over perfectly-seared pieces of Queso Blanco lounging on a bed of thinly-sliced radishes and fresh cilantro leaves. Each bite of this moreish salad offers the taste of rich, creamy, gooey cheese with crispy exteriors, the crunch of the radishes, the fresh taste of cilantro, and the lime and chillis to balance out the richness of the cheese.

I love this.

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Salted or Fermented Soybean Paste Used in Modern Thai Cooking: เต้าเจี้ยว

The Thai people sometimes jokingly liken the face of someone who is, mildly put, deficient in aesthetics to various fermented soybean products, the most oft-invoked of which is fermented bean curd (เต้าหู้ยี้). A less frequently-used variation that I can think of (and perhaps have been at the receiving end of such comparison) is this thing of ugliness presently gracing your screen: salted/fermented soybean paste/sauce.

Why? Well, look at her. Not exactly Helen of Troy.

But don't be so quick to spurn this gooey brown dame for, oh, she'll decorate your life in ways you perhaps would never imagine.

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Thai Green Mango Salad and How to Make Perfect Medium Boiled Eggs - ไข่ต้มยางมะตูมกับยํามะม่วง

My friend raised his eyebrows when I casually mentioned to him that most of the Thai dishes I make at home were not what you usually found on most Thai restaurants' menus. "What do you eat?" My friend asked. His eyebrows went all the way up to the hairline now, rendering the forehead almost nonexistent. Take, for example, Pad Thai. Remove that from a Thai's diet and, as my friend figured, that Thai would be as good as dead.

Pad Thai? Hardly. Take this simple green mango salad from me, though, and watch my soul wither and die.

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Tom Yam-Flavored French Macarons Recipe

I'm starting a new series in which some of my favorite food bloggers are assigned to come up with a dish that encapsulates the flavors of the Tom Yam herbal "trinity," namely lemongrass, galangal, and kaffir lime. The fun is in seeing how these talented guest bloggers incorporate the flavors of these three herbs, heavily used in the Thai cuisine, into various dishes both savory and sweet.

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Celery Almond Pesto

This is a milder and -- I assume -- more kid-friendly pesto. Just every bit as delicious as the classic basil-pine nut, though.

Use fresh herbs, fresh garlic, good quality raw nuts, the best olive oil you can afford (this is when it really counts), and excellent Parmigiano-Reggiano.


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All you have to do is blend together in the food processor: 4 cups of fresh celery leaves (Chinese celery is more leafy, darker in color, and has more pronounced celery taste), 1/3 cup raw blanched almonds, 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, 2 large garlic cloves (peeled), 1/3 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, and 1 teaspoon salt.

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Fish, Fennel, Chocolate, and Mushrooms: Announcing the Winners of Cooking Contest with Chef Curtis Duffy

The flesh of a salmon fish that once swam somewhere around the Faroe Islands is poached to perfect tenderness in the green-gold Olio Verde. Carrying with it the oceanic flavor of fleur de sel, the unctuous salmon drapes itself along an ebony stream of savory bitter chocolate custard that meanders across the fertile plain. Earthy braised morels and roasted Maitake burgeon in the midst of the foggy dust of fennel pollen that has set over the tiny ponds of fennel frond purée. Over on the other side, a lush emerald mountain of savory fennel sorbet sits majestically atop the dark, fertile ground of toasted cocoa nib bread reminiscent of the rich layers of volcanic basalt -- the very essence of the 18 islands. Comforted by the fresh scent of fennel with its bulb -- shaved paper-thin --, delicate spidery fronds, and tiny blossoms, the salmon once again finds itself back in the down-reaching valleys and the paltry fjords where the warm Gulf Stream and the cold northern currents kiss. It can't help but notice -- spring has arrived.

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Khao Chae - Rice in Jasmine-Scented Iced Water and Savory Accompaniments

Once upon a time, there was a little girl whose father had passed away a few weeks earlier. Not the type that sobbed and bawled, she just went about her business quietly, with her senses somewhat deadened and dazed, all the while carrying in her heart a void that felt bigger than the heart itself.

A lengthy and elaborate funeral had just come to an end. The people in her little world had just stopped wearing black. And though life would never again be the same, at least, for the time being, there would be no more well-meaning strangers who whispered into her ears words that neither soothed nor healed or fools who tried to console her by saying Daddy was now in a place far better than here. For the first time in months, she felt a bit of a relief now that those things had ended.

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The Best Vareniki Dough Recipe from Valya - How to Make Vareniki S Syrom (Вареники с Сыром)

"The best" anything, I've noticed, often comes down to what one has grown up loving. When it comes to taste, calling something "good" is a highly individual thing and labeling something "best" is -- I admit -- laughably subjective. So in saying that this dough recipe produces the best vareniki ^[1] I've ever had, I assume you know I claim no objectivity.

You see, I don't have a Russian/Ukrainian/Polish/Etc. grandmother (except an imaginary one), and so I didn't grow up eating filled dumplings made in the various Eastern European traditions. This also means I was never one of those who walk the earth with a memory of their grandma's infallible dumplings as the measuring rod against which every dumpling is evaluated either. You could say that, dumpling-wise, I was tabula rasa.

Then, a few years ago, somebody wrote on that previously blank slate.

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Thai Mortar and Pestle: How to Choose and Use Them

Ebenezer (אבנעזר), "stone of help," is my granite mortar-pestle.
With the line-up of curry posts planned for this year, I thought it would only be appropriate to introduce to you at this point the Thai dynamic duo: the mortar or krok* (ครก ) and the pestle or saak** (สาก ). These two are, in my opinion, among the most indispensable tools in the Thai kitchen. In fact, I look upon with suspicion anyone who claims to be a serious Thai cook yet doesn't own at least one set of mortar and pestle, just as I would anyone who claims to be a serious Chinese cook yet doesn't own a wok or a cleaver.

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Fennel Panna Cotta with Smoked Salmon, Fennel-Shallot-Caper Chutney, Chocolate-Myzithra "Dirt," and Crispy Shiitake Mushrooms

Velvety fennel panna cotta, served slightly chilled, is a perfect foil for the topping of alder wood-smoked salmon, fennel-shallot-caper chutney, chocolate-Myzithra "dirt," and shatteringly crispy slivers of shiitake mushrooms. Each small bites subsumes half a dictionary's worth of adjectives: cool, creamy, crispy, sweet, earthy, tangy, sandy, briny, crumbly, bitter, smoky, and crunchy. Served in tiny shot glasses, this ensemble makes a very nice amuse-bouche and, of course, a great conversation piece.

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Asparagus Recipes: Announcing the Winners of Battle Asparagus

Photograph submitted by crispywaffle.com
With all the fresh, voluptuous, tender asparagus spears everywhere you look these days, all the amazing entries to Battle Asparagus, the 6th of our monthly vegetable-themed contest, Beet 'n Squash YOU!, must come in handy.



I have chosen Asparagus Bundles with Bacon, Panko, and Chili Mayonnaise by Sheryl of Crispy Waffle as one of the winners of Battle Asparagus. I salivated in the manner of a Crocuta crocuta when I first saw the entry. I am salivating in the manner of a Crocuta crocuta as I'm typing this announcement. Congratulations, Sheryl!

Mel of Gourmet Fury, my Beet 'n Squash co-host, has also announced her pick and listed out all of the wonderful entries in the roundup post. You should really check out the entries we have this month. We have the best collection of asparagus recipes I have ever seen anywhere!

More fun coming your way next month! Join us in Battle Radish!

Enter your radish recipe and have a chance to win a beautiful collectible special tin shortbread from the renowned Walkers Shortbread, the company that makes our favorite shortbread.

Details can be found here.

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