Ramps Pesto

Perhaps I'm ignorant about food, or maybe the craze has just popped up recently, but I had never heard of ramps until about 2 years ago.

And it wasn't until last spring that I tasted ramps for the first time (at a restaurant) and proceeded to fall in love with that pungent, garlicky flavor.

And then it wasn't until this spring - just a couple weeks ago, in fact - that I finally saw them in the market. I pounced on my chance to pick up a few stalks so that I could finally, finally try cooking these gorgeous plants myself.

Ramps, also known as spring onions, wild garlic, or wild leeks, grow wild throughout the forests in Massachusetts and pretty much up and down the East Coast. These vegetables are one of the first things to pop up in the spring, and people go crazy when they appear for their short, short season.

Ramps are not really cultivated, so if you see ramps on the menu or the market, someone has gone out foraging for them. Some have expressed concern about the fanatacism surrounding ramps leading to over harvesting of the delicate plant.  In fact, Quebec has outlawed the sale of ramps since 1995, called it a "threatened" species.

I think ramps are still growing healthily in many parts of New England. However, I wouldn't be surprised if there are patches that have been picked in an unsustainable manner.

With this knowledge and understanding about ramps, I approached my first (and likely only encounter) with ramps this spring with a heightened level of appreciation and awareness.

Read more »

Click here to continue ...

Tab Tim Grob (Rubies in Coconut Milk)

This is the final of four dishes that I learned to make during my 4-hour cooking class at BaiPai Cooking School in Bangkok, Thailand. This is a mini-series that's part of a larger Thailand! travel series of my eats in Bangkok. Scroll to the bottom of the post to see all the posts in this series.

These changes in the weather lately are driving me crazy.

The teasing few days of warm weather we had last week (high of 80° F!!) flipped a switch within me. All of a sudden, I was decidedly done with winter. Over the weekend, I grabbed all my down jackets and wool coats and put then into storage. Same with the boots and winter gear.

Yesterday morning I walked out in a thin jacket and a short sleeved shirt, only to turn right around after walking outside in order to grab a warmer jacket.

But warm days are coming very soon. And before we know it, we'll be longing for relief from the hot weather.

On that note, we end our Thai cooking school series with one of my favorites. It's a dessert that's perfect for times when it's really hot outside. Served over ice, Tab Tim Grob is extremely refreshing and cool. The bright colors also make me think of summer.
  "Tab tim" means rubies or pomegranate and "grob" means crunchy.

These gorgeously colorful "jewels" do indeed resemble pomegranate seeds in some way. Water chestnuts are covered in an ever-so-thin dusting of tapioca flour and then boiled briefly. What results is a perfect "seed" with a slightly crunchy center and a soft, clear outer layer.

I had never heard of this dessert before coming to Thailand. By the time I left Thailand, I was convinced it was one of my new favorite desserts from the country.

Read more »

Click here to continue ...

Pad Thai (Phat Thai)

This is the third of four dishes that I learned to make during my 4-hour cooking class at BaiPai Cooking School in Bangkok, Thailand. I also learned how to make this at my cooking class at Somphong Thai Cooking School. This is a mini-series that's part of a larger Thailand! travel series of my eats in Bangkok. Scroll to the bottom of the post to see other posts in this series.

It was one of the first things I asked during our cooking class in Bangkok.

"Do Thai people eat Pad Thai a lot?"

It's such a common dish here in the U.S. We see it in every Thai restaurant, from the cheap chains to the higher end ones. We even see it in Chinese restaurants sometimes. Do Thai people actually eat this dish? Or is it like the Thai version of "Chinese" crab rangoons, chop suey, and egg foo young?

Without hesitation, our instructor Nok replied, "Absolutely. I love this dish and eat it all the time. We bring it to potlucks, we eat it on the street, we make it at home. It is probably the dish we eat the most."

I learned how to make this dish twice while in Thailand. Both cooking classes offered it as one of the four courses. I also ate it numerous times while I was in Thailand.

I quickly learned that Pad Thai in Thailand is quite different from the Pad Thai in the US. I was surprised how similar the recipes from the two classes were (virtually identical), and how different (and so much better!) these were compared to the Pad Thai I'd eaten in America.

Read more »

Click here to continue ...

Larb Gai (Minced Chicken Salad)

This is the second of four dishes that I learned to make during my 4-hour cooking class at BaiPai Cooking School in Bangkok, Thailand. This is the fourteenth post in the Thailand! travel series of my eats in Bangkok. Scroll to the bottom of the post to see other posts in this series.

When Bryan first found out he had to go to Thailand for a work trip, he thought he would starve.

You see, Bryan can't eat coconut milk. And he doesn't really like food that's sweet. His limited experience eating Thai food in the US lead him to think two things:

1) Thai food looks like Chinese food but tasted a lot sweeter (e.g., Pad See Yu versus Beef Chow-Fun)

2) Thai food is full of coconut milk.

Now, there are some elements of truth to some of his impressions. Coconuts are native to Thailand and coconut cream and milk are fundamental elements in many Thai dishes. Furthermore, Thai cuisine is all about the perfect balance of spicy, sweet, salty, and sour. This means "sweet" is inevitably one of those elements.

Jen with fresh coconut ice cream at Chatuchak Market

However, there are so many dishes in Thailand that don't fall neatly into one of those two categories. Thai food is extremely rich and diverse, incorporating influences from many different regions.

After arriving in Thailand, we both immediately fell in love with Isaan cuisine, the food from the Northern part of Thailand next to Laos. Certain things make this region's food particularly appealing to Bryan.

First of all, you just don't see the coconut milk based curries. It's not really a predominant part of Isaan cuisine. This works quite well for Bryan, who can't really tolerate coconut milk.

Secondly, the food is extremely spicy, which Bryan loves. The higher level of spice successfully balances out the salty, sour, and - yes, even sweet - aspects of a particular dish. Bryan didn't mind the slight sweetness in dishes we had in Thailand, and I think it's because everything was so balanced it didn't really stick out.

Maybe in the US Thai restaurants have to tone down the spice and increase the sugar, which messes with the perfect balance?

In any event, one of my favorite Isaan dishes (up there with Som Tam, the pounded green papaya salad), is Larb Gai. Also known as lop gai, lap gai, or laab gai ("larb" rhymes with "saab"), this refreshing salad is made with ground chicken, roasted rice powder, lime juice, fish sauce, and a load of gorgeously fragrant herbs, such as cilantro, mint, scallions, shallots, galangal, and kaffir lime leaves.

It's healthy, exploding with flavor, and just about the perfect mix of sweet, spicy, salty, and sour.

Read more »

Click here to continue ...

Golden Bags

This is the first of four dishes that I learned to make during my 4-hour cooking class at BaiPai Cooking School in Bangkok, Thailand. This is the thirteenth post in the Thailand! travel series of my eats in Bangkok. Scroll to the bottom of the post to see other posts in this series.

In my way-too-short five days in Bangkok, I packed in two cooking classes over two days where I learned how to make seven different Thai dishes.

Having very little exposure to Thai food before I traveled there, every new dish was a new adventure. I loved learning about the street food, fresh market produce, and dishes from various regions around Thailand. The cooking classes were great because they got me familiar with Thai ingredients and how to cook them.

Unfortunately, it's harder to get some of these ingredients halfway around the world. There are certainly some dishes that just won't be the same if I try to remake them here in the US.

However, other dishes will translate quite well across the ocean, and I think these deliciously cute little Golden Money Bags are definitely one of them. This particular appetizer relies a lot less on the distinct flavors of Thailand-specific ingredients. It's actually quite flexible, and therefore I think it can stand up to a lot of substitutions.

Better yet, they impressive to look at yet surprisingly really easy to make. I was floored how perfectly my little bags turned out, even though it was my first time ever making them!

Read more »

Click here to continue ...