Shrimp Corn Chowder

I found a shrimp corn chowder recipe in this (next) month's issue of Real Simple. It looked fine but it didn't look quite as good as my trusty lobster corn chowder recipe from Williams-Sonoma. The recipe can be found on the Williams-Sonoma site.

This chowder ideally should be made at the height of summer when both corn and lobsters are plentiful but I did not want to wait for summer so I decided to make a few substitutions to the original recipe. I used frozen sweet corn kernels and shrimp instead of the ears of corn and lobster. The chowder still tasted pretty good without the corn cobs and lobster. I made the stock using homemade chicken stock, shrimp shells and the legs from the lobster I bought for the curry.

I served it with a nice crusty sourdough.

Lobster in Prik Khing Curry

I don’t know why but I’ve been craving lobster all week. March is not a great time for craving lobster because it ain’t lobster season and I do try to eat what is in season. (I’m eating tons of citrus right now.) Although it is not lobster season, you can still get lobster pretty much all year round at the Asian store. I was not disappointed. They had a tank full of live lobsters. I paid $10.98 a pound. Not the cheapest but not too bad. I asked the guy for one of the larger ones. It was just over two pounds.

Initially, I was planning on making ginger scallion lobster but I wasn’t up for the deep frying part so I decided to cook the lobster in a Thai curry sauce. It is my favorite way to cook crab so I figured it should work well with the lobster. I’m not too fond of the typical steamed and served with clarified butter route. I don’t usually order lobster at American restaurants because they are often prepared this way but I took the bf out for his birthday dinner and ended up adding a rock lobster tail to my entrée.


Lobster in Prik Khing Curry:
2 ¼ lb lobster
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 ounces prik khing curry paste(half of the small can)
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ onion, sliced
7 ounces coconut milk (half can)
2 kaffir lime leaves, torn into smaller pieces
1 stalk lemon grass, cut into 2 inch pieces and smashed
MSG, to taste
Fish sauce, to taste
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
½ red bell pepper, sliced
1 egg
handful cilantro, roughly chopped
handful Thai basil leaves
5 stalks green onion, cut into 1 inch pieces


Mise en Place:
1. Cut lobster into 12 pieces. Using a heavy cleaver cut the body into four pieces, the tail into two, and the claws into three pieces each. Crack each piece.
2. Prep all vegetables.

Directions:
1. Heat oil in a large wok. Add prik khing paste; fry until fragrant. Add garlic and onions; continue to cook until onions are soft. Add coconut milk; fry until fragrant. Add lime leaves, lemon grass, MSG, fish sauce and sugar. Simmer for a few minutes.
2. Add lobster pieces, red bell peppers and egg. Toss to coat lobster with sauce. (Add a little water if the bottom of the pan is scorching.)
3. Cover and cook until lobster is red. Turn off heat, add cilantro, basil, and green onions.

Say hello to Lenny the lobster. I have been trained to quickly and humanely kill lobsters but every time I do it, I still freak out. It's really hard to kill a living thing. Lenny was very much alive and active when I took him/her out of the fridge. I stored the lobster in a paperbag and covered the gills with strips of wet newspaper. I was sure the lobster would die in the fridge. It flopped its way on the counter and even sent the spice container across the room.

I chose Prik Khing Curry Paste but any Thai curry paste will work. The dark green stuff in the lobster body is called the tomalley. The tomalley is considered a delicacy but recent reports show high levels of toxins and pollutants in the tomalley of lobsters from the Maine/New England areas.

Veggies are prepped and the lobster has been hacked into small pieces and the the claws have been pre-cracked.

Cooking method in photos:

I know I've been MIA lately. Many food lovers go through blah periods, where nothing tastes good. I haven't been craving anything until the lobster. I cooked regular (uninspiring and unblog-worthy) meals.

Dinner at Oceanaire Restaurant. I ordered the mahi mahi and I debated between getting it Oscar style or adding a lobster tail. The lobster tail won. The bf ordered salmon. We "shared" the fried green beans with the aoli. I ate two bites of the fish and ended up giving most of it to the bf. I filled up on the yummy sour dough bread.

Here's a picture of baby Jack's first birthday birthday cake. It was Hungry Hungry Caterpillar theme.


And the birthday boy after enjoying the green frosting from his cupcake.

Challah French Toast

My favorite bread for french toast is challah (my second favorite is brioche). Whenever I find challah french toast on the menu of a hip breakfast joint, I always have to order it. I think I make a pretty darn good french toast. (I used the same recipe but with a soft french baguette during out snow trip earlier this year. I ended up feeding 30 adults plus several children.)

2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup milk
pinch salt
1 extra large egg
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon brown sugar
6 thick slices challah bread

1. Mix all ingredients (except bread) together. Whisk together.
2. Heat a skillet or griddle. Coat with butter and oil. Dip each slice of bread in mixture and fry each side until golden brown.

I usually buy my challah at the Whole Foods in Cherry Creek. They usually carry the braided loaf most of the year and the braided crown around Rosh Hashanah.

Chinese Sesame Balls (Jin Dui or Jien Duy)

I've been feeling a little tired and uninspired lately. However, I did manage to do some cooking over the weekend. I had leftover adzuki beans from a different recipe and decided on the sesame balls instead of red bean dessert soup. I used dried adzuki beans to make the red bean paste. (This took a very long time.)

The recipe can be found here. These sesame balls are very similar to those found at dim sum restaurants. (I also like the Vietnamese version called bánh cam or bánh rám. The Vietnamese version is usually filled with sweetened mung bean paste.)

The pictures are not the best. The sesame balls happen to be one of the last items I cooked. It was already dark by the time I started the recipe. (It was cloudy most of the day so even the pictures I took during the day were crappy.)

The dough is slightly tan because of the dark brown sugar. The recipe calls for glutinous rice flour. If you buy a Thai brand, then it's the bag with the green writing. I always get confused between the red and the green writing. Green = Glutinous rice and Red = Regular rice. The red bean paste was made from dried adzuki beans, sugar and a pinch of salt.

Napa Cabbage Soup

My mom made this really simple soup when I was home a few weeks ago. She bought about fifty pounds of napa cabbage because she found a great deal on it (5 pounds for $1). When I returned to Denver, I sent the bf to get some napa cabbage from the store.


Chicken (Use bone-in chicken for more flavor. I used drumsticks.)
Napa cabbage, sliced
green onions, sliced
ginger, cut into matchsticks
salt
MSG
fish sauce

Method:
Simmer chicken in a medium pan. Add the rest of the ingredients. (I'm sorry. It's not much of a recipe.)