All posts tagged basil

By Jessica | March 18, 2009 | Main Courses, Recipes | 3 Comments

Since I had bacon for breakfast, and two dinners: buffalo wings and beer, then ramen with pork later that night, my heart was banging and begging for some heart healthy love. So I set about creating a fat-free, sugar-free, guilt-free, and everything else bad for you-free meal for me and B. Since we recently became obsessed with the spicy green papaya salad from thai restaurants, I built a larger meal around that idea. And hot damn that shit is good. I mean, not as good as how much we need to help the US citizens of South Africa get more maps, but probably almost as good, you know, for our kids, such as, I believe. Maps.

Spicy Mango and Shrimp Salad

1/2 head of bibb lettuce, tore apart
1/2 cup of fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup of fresh basil, chopped
1 jalapeno, finely diced
1/2 inch ginger, peeled and finely diced
1/2 almost ripe mango, cut in thin, 1 inch strips
1 scallion, cut in thin, 1 inch strips
1 carrot, peeled and cut in thin, 1 inch strips
1/2 cucumber, peeled and cut in 1 inch strips
1/4 cup of salted peanuts

Shrimp:
20 medium shrimps, peeled
1 tbs of paprika
1/2 tbs of cayenne
drizzle of olive oil

Dressing:
2 parts soy sauce
2 parts rice or white vinegar
1 parts sirachi
1 part sesame oil

Serves 2 hungry heffers.

After your shreemps are peeled and washed, sprinkle with the spices and mix in the olive oil. Let sit for 20 minutes while you chop your veg and get your dressing on point.

Mix your greens, cilantro and basil together, and divide in two eatin bowls. Sprinkle the jalapeno and ginger over the greens. In pretty little piles, place mounds of the mango, scallion, carrot and cucumbers around the outer edge of the bowl over the lettuce. Don’t mix – it will look awesomer this way.

Combine the first 3 ingredients of your dressing. Slowly whisk in the oil. Feel free to play with the amounts to achieve success for your taste buds. Now pour over your prepared salad.

Heat your stove top grill pan, or skillet and place the shrimp. After a minute and a half, flip. Cook for another minute and a half. Grab and place in a delicious little pile in the center of your salad.

Sprinkle with the peanuts. Write me a note and tell me you sweat this salad.

By Jessica | October 28, 2008 | Recipes, Restaurants, Snackin, Salads and Apps | No comments

B and I went to one of our favorite restaurants on Smith the other night, La Lunetta, and enjoyed a delish meal, served at the kitchen counter, perfect for spying on our cooks. Our guy’s the chef over there so he treated us lovely. Aside from homemade sausages for wolfing and pork ragu for rib-sticking, there was a panzanella for recipe-stealing. This was my first foray into the world of panzanella and I can’t believe I have never been before. After having multiple dreams of the salad during the night, and waking up with a salivation for more, we decided to recreate the deliciousness to our best. And now, you can too. Booyah!

Panzanella Salad with Fresh Mozzarella and Basil

half a ball of fresh mozzarella
1 very small red onion, cut in small strips
2 tomatoes, peeled and roughly chopped (either vine or plum)
2 semolina rolls with sesame
lots o’ olive oil
1/4 cup of red wine vinegar
salt and pepper
10 small fresh basil leaves
Serves 4 as an app.

Let’s talk about peeling tomatoes. Now. I don’t want you to be intimidated. This is very easy and extremely gratifying. Do it once and swear you’ll wanna do this for everything. Make 2 slits in the shape of an “X” on the top and the bottom of each tomato. Boil a pot of water. When it comes to a boil, turn off the flame and drop the tomatoes in the pot for 1 minute. Remove with a slotted spoon and drop into a bowl of ice water. After 30 seconds, you can easily pull the skin off the tomatoes, starting with the corners at the slit you made. Walla. Chop your tomatoes, toss the seeds, set aside.

Pull apart your cheese into large forkful chunks and scatter on your serving platter. Try not to eat too much before serving.

Heat a skillet with a good amount of olive oil. When the oil is hot, toss in the onion and tomatoes. As soon as the onion is slightly soft remove along with the tomatoes and place on top of the cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Add more oil to the skillet. Tear apart your bread in big forkful chunks and throw in the oil. Keep a high heat so that it doesn’t really cook on the inside and yet browns on the outside. Once achieved, add the bread and the oil from the pan to the platter. Add the red wine vinegar and basil leaves. Toss and serve immediately.

By Jessica | October 8, 2008 | Main Courses, Recipes, Snackin, Salads and Apps | 1 Comment

What do you get when you combine homemade dumplings and spring rolls, wine flowage, and tequila shots to boot? Our house on Saturday night. Oh. Yeah. And I’m not going to lie to you people, the food was banging. Even C said the food seemed easy enough to make at home and her culinary skills peak at choosing a stinky cheese and a dope wine – not that thats anything to laugh about. I can’t taste the difference between merlot and shiraz but give me a blind pork test and I’ll school you. Anyway, make these things at your house to impress your friends.

Steamed Pork and Scallion Dumplings

1/2 lb of ground pork
2 scallions, sliced
1/4 cup of tamari
3 tbs of sesame oil
dash of vinegar
fresh pepper
wanton wrappers
Makes about 12.

Mix the first 6 ingredients together. Drop a spoonful of mixture on to the center of the wrapper. Wet the exposed edges with water. Grab all the corners, bring to the middle and scrunch together. Steam for 20 minutes. Dipping sauces below.

Steamed Ginger and Beef Dumplings

1/2 lb of ground beef
1/4 cup of finely chopped ginger
1/4 cup of tamari
salt and fresh pepper
wanton wrappers
Makes about 12.

Mix all ingredients together. Drop a spoonful of mixture on to the center of the wrapper. Wet the exposed edges with water. Grab all the corners, bring to the middle and scrunch together. Steam for 20 minutes. Dipping sauces below.

Fried Cabbage, Shitake and Carrot Dumplings

1 carrot, diced
1/4 cup of white cabbage, shredded
1/4 cup of shitake mushrooms, diced
wanton wrappers
veg oil for frying
1/2 cup of water
Makes about 12.

Dice your carrot, cabbage and shrooms and combine in a bowl. Drop a tablespoon or so (you’ll begin to feel it out) onto the wrapper. Guess what you do here. That’s right. Wet the edges, grab the corners, bring together, scrunchy scrunchy. Here is what is different. Heat a frying pan and add a bit of veg oil for frying. When very hot, place your dumpling to fry for 5 minutes. When they have a nice crispy brown bottom, pour in a 1/2 cup of water and cover immediately to finish cooking through with a nice steam bath. Let it do its thing for 5 minutes. Should be ready at this time. Dipping sauces below.

Fresh Spring Rolls

1/2 carrot, julienned (that means cut into thin strips at about 3 inches)
2 scallions, cut down the middle middle and cut at about 3 inches
1/2 bunch of cilantro
1/2 bunch of chinese or (uh, american? or italian?.. dunno) basil
rice paper rolls

Cut your veggies and clean and dry your herbals. Add the rice paper to a bowl of very warm water and let it soften for about 30 seconds. Make sure you get all the edges under the water so it doesn’t roll up and crack. When the paper is soft, very gently pull it out and lay flat on a cutting board. Throw a bit of each of your ingredients into the center towards the bottom of the wrapper. Begin to roll the fatty towards the center. Halfway up, grab the right and the left and fold over the rolled half. Then continue to roll up. As soon as the paper dries, it will stick to itself. To serve, use a very sharp knife to cut 2 or 4 slices and stand up if possible.

Dippin Sauces

sirachi
wasabi paste with tamari
chopped ginger in tamari
sesame oil with red pepper flakes (or without)

Let me mention that I particularly like the wasabi with the beef and the sesame oil with the spring rolls. Let me also mention that these are damn easy to do, cheap as all get out and fun to eat. I am not afraid to cater your next dumpling affair. Gimme a date and a time and I’ll be there. You provide the tequila.

By Jessica | August 29, 2008 | Main Courses, Recipes, Snackin, Salads and Apps | No comments

Have you ever finished a weekend full of sausage and felt like your heart just might burst if you don’t give it some green? Yeah. That’s why Sundays there are always green meals happening. Recently, I had my fill of meat so I had to do a fat-free, hi-ruffage salad. Because I care.

Vietnamese Salad

2 servings of udon noodles
2 scallions, sliced
1/4 cup fresh mint, chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 cup bean sprouts
3 cups iceberg lettuce, shredded
Dressing:
2 parts fresh lime juice, 2 parts tamari, 1 part sesame oil
You’ll probably want to start with two juicy limes and work your way from there.
And, instead of tamari, you can use low-sodium, high-quality soy sauce. (Or fug it, some leftover Chinese Packets)

Boil your noodles, toss with half the dressing. Pour into a large bowl. Throw the lettuce on top. Then the rest of the herbs, scallions and sprouts. Top with the rest of the dressing. This makes two large servings. Your tiny beating heart will thank you. (Although, this really goes well with thinly sliced beef, rolled around a slice of onion, grilled.)