Category: Appetizers

Savory Samosas

Savory Samosas

I remember living in Singapore as a child and how distinct the culture there was, with influences from the British, Malaysians, ethnic Chinese and Indians. Even though English was the official language, people who lived there spoke many languages. And the ambience was so vibrant…along with the food. One of my favorite foods was Indian: Tandoori, samosas, curries. That memory of Singapore made me crave Indian food. So when it came time to figure out what I was going to make for dinner, samosas came to mind.

Aug 20, 2010 | 4 comments View Post
Miang Kham — A Tasty Thai Street Food Snack Pays a Surprise Visit to Us in Texas

Miang Kham — A Tasty Thai Street Food Snack Pays a Surprise Visit to Us in Texas

Aunt Noi pulls out a bag and says she brought a snack for us. Next we notice her setting out several small covered bowls, a couple of spoons and a larger container of a stack a bright green leaves. She explains, as she’s opening the containers, that she’s brought a surprise that I’ve probably never had before. As I look over the contents of the bowls — crushed peanuts, dried shrimp, small lime pieces, garlic, chiles, toasted coconut, shallots and a thick sauce — I ask, “Is this Miang Kham?”

Aug 16, 2010 | 4 comments View Post
Salmon Chanted Hors D'oeuvres — Made with Homemade Alaskan Sockeye Gravlax

Salmon Chanted Hors D’oeuvres — Made with Homemade Alaskan Sockeye Gravlax

Gravlax hors d’oeuvres are easy to make as well as tasty. So take a walk on the wild side and make your own gravlax. You’ll be surprised at how easy it is. This post includes step-by-step instructions as well as photos.

Aug 16, 2010 | 2 comments View Post
Lemongrass Steamed Mussels with Thai Dipping Sauce

Lemongrass Steamed Mussels with Thai Dipping Sauce

Mussels are one of those seafood dishes that you have to be careful about when serving company. Many people object to their strong flavor and aroma. Charles and I love them, however, and we were once talking about our favorite ways to cook mussels when my mother, Pranee, told me about a dish she cooked at a now-defunct restaurant in Houston called Renu’s. It was simply mussles that had been steamed in water infused with lemongrass and it was served with a dipping sauce that Thais commonly use for seafood: a mixture of fish sauce, lime and chopped chilis.

Aug 16, 2010 | 1 comment View Post
Vietnamese-style Spring Rolls Kicked up a Notch, with Grilled Lobster Tails

Vietnamese-style Spring Rolls Kicked up a Notch, with Grilled Lobster Tails

We rarely have lobster, and it always seems like such a heavy thing to have for dinner, with all that butter for dredging it, but I was inspired to grill lobster tails and use them to fill Vietnamese-style spring rolls, instead of the traditional pork and shrimp combo. As Emeril would say, it’s kicked up a notch.

Jul 26, 2010 | 2 comments View Post
Oysters with Cilantro and Cucumber Salsa

Oysters with Cilantro and Cucumber Salsa

Most people squeeze lemon juice on oysters in the half shell and then dunk them in cocktail sauce or ground horseradish, but I’ve always enjoyed the fresh flavor of mirin and ponzu and was inspired by a recipe for cucumber salsa for oysters in chef Nobu Matsuhisa’s book Nobu West. I added a twist of my own and served them to Mom and Charles, who eagerly gulped down my test bivalves. I broke with my usual abstinence and ate one too.

Jul 19, 2010 | 4 comments View Post
2010 Memorial Day Weekend Willamette Valley Wine Tour

2010 Memorial Day Weekend Willamette Valley Wine Tour

Every year on the weekends around Memorial Day and Thanksgiving, vineyards and winemakers in the Willamette Valley invite the public to taste their latest wines in their cellars or tasting rooms. Many of these are boutique wineries that cannot operate tasting rooms year ’round, so this is your chance to discover newer and smaller producers.

Wine tasting ranks almost as high as outdoor activities in Oregon and it does get you out in nature, too, off the main roads and into the rolling hills of the vineyards.

Jun 06, 2010 | 4 comments View Post
Hazelnuts + Dried Figs + Olive Oil + Garlic + Anchovies = Anchoïade Niçoise

Hazelnuts + Dried Figs + Olive Oil + Garlic + Anchovies = Anchoïade Niçoise

The foods from Southeastern France are known for their bold flavors, and what could be more bold than garlic, anchovies and olive oil? No shy wallflowers are they! What’s amazing in this combination is that none of them are able to stand out over the other. Now that’s teamwork!

May 05, 2010 | 1 comment View Post
Doctors Whose Eggs Are Green...or...Green Eggs and Ham

Doctors Whose Eggs Are Green…or…Green Eggs and Ham

Ham I am and pink, I think.
Eggs, I beg, all preened and green.
Stuff with me and I will oink,
“Oh, such porkety eggsqueezeene!”

I’ve long been hooked on playing with words. Small wonder that I was smitten with the books of Dr. Seuss when I was young and later with the equally sophisticated artistry of Walt Kelly’s Pogo. Those masters created playful, amusing and rhythmical rhyming sounds with just words, whether simply twisted into a new shape and sound or totally made up nonsensically.

Apr 04, 2010 | 5 comments View Post
Perfect Pairing: Pear and Brie Baked in Pastry

Perfect Pairing: Pear and Brie Baked in Pastry

Brie and pear make a delicious and classic combination, with a twist of being encased in pastry and baked to golden deliciousness. Is that really a word? Deliciousness? Make it and decide for yourself and be sure to enjoy it with a glass of Oregon pinot gris or riesling!

Mar 07, 2010 | 6 comments View Post
Corny Shrimp Pups

Corny Shrimp Pups

Wherever you find a carnival, a state or county fair, you will surely find abundant, itinerant street food and some form of corn dogs have been a part of that culture for decades.

These days, with many chefs and cooks thinking outside the box, variations on the original recipes begin to appear. Inspiration for Corny Shrimp Pups came from a Neiman Marcus cookbook that I recently purchased at Tuesday Morning for a song.

Feb 26, 2010 | 3 comments View Post
Dungeness Crab Martini

Dungeness Crab Martini

The martini is perhaps the most romanticized and bastardized alcoholic wallop ever invented. Among famous martini aficionados are Winston Churchill, FDR, Ernest Hemingway, Cary Grant and the fictional James Bond who preferred his “shaken, not stirred” and with vodka. H. L. Mencken once called the martini “the only American invention as perfect as the sonnet.”

Does martini always = cocktail? What about shrimp cocktail? Why not an ample serving of simply dressed crabmeat presented in the same glass. My vision of a crab martini will be beautiful, unadulterated crabmeat dressed as simply as possible, allowing the sweetness of the crab to command center stage.

Feb 04, 2010 | 4 comments View Post
Asian Lettuce Cups

Asian Lettuce Cups

When we have friends over for dinner, or when we host parties, one of the things that’s fun to do is to push the boundaries of “finger food.”
Face it. Sometimes you’d rather serve things that people can use their fingers to eat so  you can manage the volume of dirty dishes and silverware.
And when you [...]

Jan 24, 2010 | 2 comments View Post
Smoked Trout Mousse

Smoked Trout Mousse

I first tasted smoked trout when we lived in Baltimore. At a farmers’ market near our home, owners of the Metropol Café had a booth where they served all kinds of smoked seafood as well as cheeses. I remember the wonderful aroma and flavor of the smoked trout. One of the two women had gone [...]

Dec 27, 2009 | 0 comments View Post
Tasty Thai Fish Cakes — Tod Mun

Tasty Thai Fish Cakes — Tod Mun

Besides Thailand, I’ve lived in Singapore, Houston, Fort Worth, Austin, Baltimore, and now Salem, to name a few, and in each place there has been an abundance of Thai restaurants. 
How do I tell the good ones from the not-so-good ones? 
There is one dish I order at every new Thai restaurant I encounter so I can [...]

Nov 01, 2009 | 3 comments View Post