So my first week at Texas A&M, I was helping a friend from high school move in and his mother took us out to Phở John’s in College Station. I fell in love with the food and the management. What was truly a joy for me was, they would stay open for students who showed up ten minutes before closing. I loved bringing friends to have their first experience with Vietnamese food. This is a simple, healthy, fresh dish that I love. Enjoy.

Vermicelli with Charboiled Chicken

1 lb chicken (white or dark), cut in small pieces
2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
2 shallots, finely chopped
1/8 cup vegetable oil
2 cups lettuce of choice, torn in to large pieces
1 cucumber, peeled and julienned
1 cup carrot, julienned
1 cup bean sprouts
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup unsalted roasted peanuts, chopped
1/2 cup rice vermicelli, uncooked
Salt and pepper to taste

Nước chấm | Spicy Sweet Fish Sauce

1/2 cup water
2 tbsp lime juice
1/4 cup fish sauce
2 tbsp sugar
1 garlic clove, minced or pressed
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (or more to taste)
2 teaspoons vegetable or olive oil

1. In a bowl, mix the nước chấm ingredients and set aside.
2. In another bowl, combine the chicken, shallots, garlic, salt, pepper, and oil. Set aside to marinate for 15-30 minutes.
2. Bring a large saucepan of water to boil. Add the carrots and blanch for about 30 seconds. Remove them to a bowl of cold water, drain, and set aside.
3. Place the rice vermicelli in a bowl and pour the boiling water over them. Let it sit for five minutes or until almost soft. Drain, rinse in cold water, and set aside.
4. Add equal amounts of the carrots, sprouts and lettuce to each serving bowls. Place equal amounts of rice noodles on top of the vegetables.
5. Heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a frying pan over high flame. Remove the chicken from the marinade and cook quickly until cooked through. Place the chicken in the bowls to cover about 1/3 of the noodles. Place the cucumber over another 1/3 of the noodles. Place the cilantro and mint over the remaining 1/3.
6. Sprinkle peanuts over all and serve with nước chấm to be poured over the noodles to taste.

Variations

Sources:
Whats4Eats (Bún Thịt Nướng recipe)
RecipeZaar

Pad Gai Grapao (Basil Chicken)

1 lb ground or minced raw chicken
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
5 shallots, thinly sliced
2-3 tbsp peanut oil
2 tsp black soy sauce
1 cup fresh holy basil (can substitute other type of basil)
6-12 Thai chilies (I used peppers I could find like jalapeño and cacho de cabra)
1-2 tbsp Fish Sauce, to taste
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp palm sugar

1. In a mortar and pestle, grind the garlic, shallots, and chilies together.
2. Heat the peanut oil in a wok and swirl it to coat the surface.
3. Briefly (ten seconds) stir-fry this chili-garlic-shallot paste to bring out the flavor and aroma.
4. Add the chicken and stir-fry for a minute or two, until most of the chicken has started to change color and is no longer pink. 5. Continually stir the ingredients.
6. Sprinkle the soy sauce over the mixture and stir-fry for 15-20 seconds.
7. Add fresh basil leaves, palm sugar, oyster sauce, and fish sauce to taste. Stir-fry and mix well.
8. Stir-fry another half a minute, or until the basil is wilted and the chicken is cooked through.

Serve the dish hot over jasmine rice and a fried egg on top.

Note: The smaller the chicken is cut, the greater the surface area to coat with the flavors of the herbs and sauces, and the more flavorful the stir-fry will be.

Sources:
Kasma Loha-unchit
simply-thai.com
ThaiTable.com (illustrated)

Last Monday, I, again, had the pleasure and honor, rather, honored pleasure to cook with two fine gentlemen. As it has become a tradition, every once in a while Jeff, Mark, and I get together to cook something divine. This round was of the Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Jeff had the Kielbasa; Mark had the Mixed Berries Custard Kuchen, and I had the Hot Potato Salad. Scrumptious.

Yes, it’s still there.

Sauerkraut und Äpfel = yum-oh!

KUCHEN!

Oh so good.

Vinegar, EVERYWHERE!

Freundschaft vereint in Küche

Berry Custard Kuchen

-from allrecipes.com

Ingredients
* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup cold butter or margarine
* 2 tablespoons whipping cream
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 3 cups fresh raspberries (or bag of mixed frozen berries)
TOPPING:
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
* 2 eggs, beaten
* 1 cup whipping cream
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a bowl, combine 1 cup flour and salt; cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in cream; pat into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking pan. Combine the sugar and remaining flour; sprinkle over crust. Arrange raspberries over crust. For topping, combine sugar and flour. Stir in eggs, cream and vanilla; pour over berries. Bake at 375 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve warm or chilled. Store in refrigerator.

Kielbasa

-from allrecipes.com

Ingredients
* 6 apples - peeled, cored and chopped
* 1 (32 ounce) package sauerkraut
* 1/4 cup brown sugar
* 2 pounds kielbasa sausage, sliced

Combine the apples and sauerkraut in a deep skillet over medium heat. Bring to a simmer then cook for about 10 minutes, until apples are starting to soften. Stir in the brown sugar and kielbasa. Cook for another 5 minutes, or until heated through. It took a bit longer. Also cook with lid off to reduce vinegar conent.

What Jeff said:

We used three cups of sauerkraut and four apples. I added green onion toward the end, but this should have waited until just before serving. I spiced it up some with some cruched red pepper. Also, using a pound and a quarter of sausage, the sausage was browned some in a separate pan before adding to the apple/saurkraut mixture.

Hot German Potato Salad

-from about.com

Ingredients
* 1/4 cup butter
* 1 onion, chopped
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 3 Tbsp. flour
* 3/4 cup cider vinegar
* 1 cup water
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1 lb. fully cooked Polish sausage, cut into chunks
* 6 cups cooked, peeled, sliced potatoes (6 medium russets)
* 1/2 cup sour cream
* 1 tsp. salt
* 1/4 tsp. pepper

Melt butter; add onion and garlic. Cook and stir until crisp tender. Add flour; cook and stir for one minute. Add vinegar, water, and sugar; bring to a boil and cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add sliced potatoes and sausage and stir. Add sour cream, salt and pepper and heat thoroughly (do NOT boil), stirring gently.

So, if you did not know, I love to cook. A my favorite people to cook with are here in Santiago; who would have thought? A year after cooking our infamous paella together, Jeff, Mark, and I convened on the house of Dean to return to our Spanish roots.

The menu:

Apple & Murcia Cheese Salad with Walnuts
Esparragos de Mariscos (Seafood Asparagus)
Tortilla de Patatas (Potato Omelette)
Jeff’s Concocted Chicken in a White Wine Mushroom Sauce

Tapas are very easy to make and are rich in flavor. I recommend the apple and cheese salad and seafood asparagus. The two are simple and make a great light meal together.

Denise get out of the kitchen.

Huh?


Yo Pierce!

Nice job, Pierce.

A proud man and his tortilla.

Refreshments

In the words of Mace Williamson, “Oh yes daddy.”

Testing

Happy gentlemen.