test blog: January 2008

I love making Thai Green Curry paste, since it uses my two favorite herbs - Cilantro and Basil. Typically you should be using Holy basil also called Tulsi, but those leaves are much harder to come by, so I end up doing this with a very practical version usually readily available ingredient such as sweet basil and ginger instead of galangal. The results are quite acceptable. It makes for a quick and flavorful curry.

Green Curry Paste

Ingredients

1/3 cup fish sauce
1 lump size palm sugar
10 green chillies
2 tbsp freshly ground coriander
1 2-inch piece ginger or galangal
2 cloves garlic
1 cup chopped cilantro- leaves and stems
1 cup chopped basil
2-3 kafir lime leaves or 1 tsp grated lime zest

Method of Preparation

1. Dissolve the palm sugar in the fish sauce. This takes a little bit of time, so I actually do this first and then prep and chop the remaining ingredients.
2. Add all the remaining ingredients into a food processor.
3. Add in the fish sauce with sugar and process till smooth.

Green chicken curry with zucchini

Serves 4 people

Ingredients

2 tbsp oil
2 shallots, finely chopped
1/2 cup green curry sauce
1/2 lb chicken cut into large chunks (boneless thighs work well for this recipe).
1 can light coconut milk
2 green zuchinis was and cut into a dice to match the chicken

Method of preparation

1. Heat the oil and add the shallots with the green curry sauce and chicken and cook for about 10 minutes.
2. Add the coconut milk and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Add in the zucchini and cook for 5-7 more minutes.
4. Serve with white or brown jasmine rice.

Method of Preparation

1. Disolve the sugar in the fish sauce, this takes some time to dissolve so I actually leave this to soak while I prep the remaining ingredients.

2.

Well, everyone has sent quite and interesting collection of recipes, we start with Peter who as sent us this cheese and chilly appetizer recipe. One of my favorite combinations, sounds very interesting. The recipe uses a Greek red chillie pepper and Peter says,

"What makes it unique is that Boukovo is oven dried or better yet, the red chili gets dried over smoky, burning embers. Think smoky red chili flakes."

http://kalofagas.blogspot.com/2008/01/chillies-cheese-snack-moukobo.html

Next we have a lovely winter soup from Anne-Marie of Ambrosia and Nectar. This is celeriac, cabbage and chickpea soup. Anne Marie adds some kale and tops it with a generous dash of parmasan cheese. The interesting flavor here is fennel seeds.

http://divineambrosia.blogspot.com/2008/01/celeriac-chickpea-and-cabbage-soup.html

Gay from A scientist in the kitchen presents us with a wonderful steamed tilapia in banana leaves using the three stapple ingredients of the filipino kitchen - onion, ginger and tomato.

http://ascientistinthekitchen.net/weekend-herb-blogging/stuffed-tilapia-steamed-in-banana-leaves/

Meera from Enjoy Indian Food, presents us with the method of growing your own Wheatgrass and then making wheatgrass juice. Sounds like a lot of fun and healthy too!

http://enjoyindianfood.blogspot.com/2008/01/wheatgrass-juice-superfood.html

Tami from running with tweezers presents a simple and beautiful recipe pairing tomatoes with tarragon. Now, this I have never tried, but given how well tomatoes work with mint, cilantro, basil, .... why am I surprised. Have to add this to my list of must tries.

http://runningwithtweezers.typepad.com/runningwithtweezers/2008/01/the-simple-life.html

Katie from A Thyme for cooking, shares her mothers food philosophy, and trying to ensure my two youngsters get a nutritious balanced upbringing I cannot agree more with "mom's" wisdom and a lovely recipe for sausages and sauerkraut.

http://thyme2.typepad.com/thyme_for_cooking_/2008/01/my-mother-had-z.html

Lalaine from "The Cook mobile" presents an elegant and classic recipe of salmon paired with a cilantro almond pesto, served with crusty bread.

http://thecookmobile.com/roasted-salmon-with-cilantro-pesto/

Kevin from Closet Cooking sends a recipe for wild mushrooms sauted with butter, sherry and lemon, sounds perfect with almost anything.
http://closetcooking.blogspot.com/2008/01/wild-mushrooms-sauteed-in-butter-sherry.html

Syrie from Taste Buddies, uses cilantro, mint and parsely to create a wonderful shrimp salad. The shrimp is marinated in Harissa and sumac and then served topped with baked onions and fennel and crumbled sheep cheese. Sounds like a perfect mix of flavors.

http://allthingsnice.typepad.com/tastebuddies/2008/01/moorish-prawn-s.html

Another nourishing soup, a garbanzo, white bean and lamb soup seasoned with rosemary. This one is from the creator of WHB, Kalyn at Kaylyn's kitchen. Sure wish I had a bowl of this soup right now.

http://kalynskitchen.blogspot.com/2008/01/garbanzo-and-white-bean-soup-recipe.html

Joanna from Green Giraffe Gourmet, sends us a beautiful purple and green creation of Beetroot Gnocchi and Pea Pesto, everything high on the the nutrition index, she warns us about the extra flour needed in this recipe.

http://gggiraffe.blogspot.com/2008/01/whb-beetroot-gnocchi-with-pea-pesto.html

Helene from New from my Kitchen, sends me a recipe for Blushing Agaricus, which is a dish consisting of mushrooms, tomatoes and chicken with garlic. A simple and complete meal.

http://neuesausderkueche.wordpress.com/2008/01/17/whb116/

Rosa from Edible Adventures in Paris, sends a smooth and satisfying rice pudding recipe seasoned with saffron and lemon. I was very intrigued by the use of creme fraiche in this recipe since I had always assumed that this would curdle the milk.

http://rosajackson.blogspot.com/2008/01/saffron-rice-pudding.html

Ulrike, from Küchenlatein, sends a very seasonal stew of winter vegetables, fried sausage and parsely.

All of this compiling is now making me very hungry.

http://ostwestwind.twoday.net/stories/4620335/

Laurie from Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska, sends us her cure for the winter chills - Black Peppercorns, which she uses generously in this beef stew.

http://medcookingalaska.blogspot.com/2008/01/recipe-peppery-beef-stew.html

Susan from the well seasoned cook sends us, these very delicate and elegant looking green tea cream puffs, that look like they would be perfect with green or black tea,

Green Tea Cream Puffs

Anna from Morsels and Musings sends us a rice recipe, Arroz con Palmitos, where she pairs rice, cheese and palm hearts in a well-seasoned and satisfying casserole.

http://morselsandmusings.blogspot.com/2008/01/rice-w-palm-hearts.html

Pam from the backyard pizzeria, sends us a well-spiced version of ratatouile, and I agree with her that the movie by the same name is an absolute must-see.

http://backyardpizzeria.blogspot.com/2008/01/rmy-does-ratatouille.html

Haalo, from Cook Anything at least Once, decides to try lemon verbana. A delicate herb that is a must try for lemon lovers. This is combined with cucumber, to make a very delicate light green sorbet, something my daughter would love.

http://cookalmostanything.blogspot.com/2008/01/weekend-herb-blogging-116.html

Jerry from Jerry's thoughts musings and rants, sends us another interesting post on fennel and tells us about one of his Christmas gifts, that you guessed it, was a cookbook.

http://jdeq.typepad.com/jerrys_thoughts_musings_a/2008/01/oven-slow-roast.html

Chris from Melle Cotte, sends us another soup recipe, this one is a split soup, that is cooked using a herb bouquet.

http://melecotte.blogspot.com/2007/12/split-pea-soup.html

Jennifer from Likes to Cook, sends a soup recipe using farro (an ancient wheat variety) and chickpeas. The soup also uses majoram for seasoning which sounds very flavorful and interesting.

Here it is

Wandering Chopsticks, sends in a recipe for yam and shrimp fritters that sounds lovely, would go well with any of these soup recipes.

http://wanderingchopsticks.blogspot.com/2008/01/banh-tom-vietnamese-shrimp-and-yam.html

Finally, the last soup recipe, is one using carrots and mint, this is my contribution to this weeks, WHB, thank you everyone for participating.

http://cookingwithrinku.blogspot.com/2008/01/i-think-i-can.html

Ok, so somemore that I missed...

A very interesting recipe for Savory soy pancakes served with a cilantro topping. I actually try something similar with good old fashioned bisquick, but these seem much healthier.

http://cookingfromatoz.blogspot.com/2008/01/soy-pancakes-not-kidding.html

Lia from swirling notions, sends us a recipe for an orange kumquat cake. She replaces quite a bit of butter in the cake with silken tofu. Sounds quite intriguing and healthy too.

http://swirlingnotions.com/2008/01/12/though-shalt-not-covet-thy-neighbors-oranges/

Liz's at "from our kitchen" sends us a recipe for Faux Stowe Crackers with rosemary.

http://etherwork.net/blog/?p=495

So, yes if you do stop by this blog, do check out these additions.

Please visit all these wonderful blogs, to check out the recipes.