Funghi Faux Food

I've been going veg about 3-4 times a week these days - seeing as I don't eat lunch either, a veg dinner usually comes in the form of pasta, since it's substantially heavier, and oh well, I am on a mission to complete 101 ways with it!

One of my favorite kitchen staples are dried exotic mushrooms, because they go a really long way. The re-hydrated liquid that they soak in also has tons of flavor, and can add to a pasta sauce, soup, or risotto very well.

The trick to cooking dried mushrooms is this - first, use very hot water so it doesn't take forever and a day to rehydrate. Next, once the mushrooms are hydrated, give it a really good squeeze to get rid of excess liquid.

(I know, sounds ironic right? First they are dried, then you add liquid, and now you want to remove the liquid... Make up your mind already!)

Then, before using the mushroom liquid, strain it to remove any fine grit and dirt that tend to be prevalent in dried mushrooms.

I usually end up stir frying (which is why they have to be fairly dry) the mushrooms because when your brown them, it caramelizes and brings out this really delicious flavor. To stir fry them, just heat a little oil, and throw in some garlic, then add the mushrooms, and resist stirring so parts of the mushroom bits can get nicely browned.

So anyway, back to this pasta dish - it rips off the flavor from browning mushrooms, and then adds green goodness with the spinach and peas. It's pretty tasty - check it out. If you want to go on the lighter side of things, skip the heavy cream, and reduce a cup of white wine instead!



Wild Mushroom & Spinach Capellini

Serves 2

2 oz Dried Wild Mushroom Mix
12 oz Bloomsdale Spinach, or other thick stemmed spinach. Don't use Baby Spinach or Chinese Spinach
1 cup Fresh or Frozen Peas
6 ea Garlic Cloves, sliced
4 Tbs Olive Oil
0.5 cup Heavy Cream
1 cup Grated Hard Cheese, like Parmesan
2 Tbs Parsley, Minced
2 servings Capellini or other noodle pasta, cooked according to instructions
Salt & pepper to taste

1 Soak the dried mushrooms in 1 cup of very hot water for about 15 minutes
2 Hang squeeze water from soaked mushrooms and reserve mushroom liquid
3 Heat 2 tbs olive oil in saute pan, then throw in garlic and cook for about 30 seconds until garlic is lightly browned
4 Add the mushrooms to the pan and quickly saute until edges turn light brown
5 Add the spinach and the remaining olive oil, and saute until spinach starts to wilt
6 Add the reserved mushroom liquid and the heavy cream, and reduce until sauce starts to coat the back of a spoon
7 Add the peas and and cover pan until peas are just cooked, about 1 minute
8 Season pasta sauce accordingly, then toss noodles, cheese, and parsley well
9 Serve immediately

Baht for Your Buck?

I kick started 2010 with an awesome weekend in Bangkok - it was kind of a "getting away from getting away" from my trip to Singapore, and just about enough time to spend in a hot, crowded, traffic infested city (wait, sounds like Singapore). I had not seen my friends Kim and Jane in 2 years, so it wonderful to be able to spend some quality time with them.



Also, while I visit Phuket almost every year, this was my first time to Bangkok - meaning that there was plenty to eat and explore from Thailand outside beach food!

I arrived in the evening on a Saturday - and the first stop for us was dinner at a local Thai cafe, with re-invented local cuisine. The owner of the restuarant started off by making her own ice cream, and then branched out into serving food. We had deep fried meatballs, crispy chicken wings, green curry served with a flaky pancake, much like Singaporean Roti Prata, and my favorite dish, the softshell crab yellow curry, served over fettucine pasta.



The next morning, I requested that we vist the local market. As I've mentioned in several other posts, the markets are often most representative of the local cuisine, and are always a stop on any trip!

Bangkok cuisine, like many other southeast asian coutries, is highly dependant on prepared street food. So, when we visited the market, it was no surprise that half of it was lined with hawkers selling either ready to eat food, or prepared food that you could take home with you and jazz into a dish with some fresh produce or protein.




For example, a housekeeper or a mom might come and purchase several different curry sauces and add chicken or fish to make a substantial curry, or buy fried, flavored fish flakes to serve on rice.





The market is also a place where you can get a quick snack - we munched on pork satays and sticky rice, which is what all the school kids eat after class! There was much we wanted to try, but sadly, our stomachs were too small!




Steamed curried fish paste, the equivalent of Otak-Otak


My favorite Thai dessert, coconut jam steamed in pumpkin

Thailand is country that is truly blessed with milk and honey. The land is abundant, and the climate is perfect for agriculture. Varieties of fruit are grown in abundance, many of which cannot be found in the west; Langsat, a golden brown fruit with white fleshy segments on the inside,



Durian, the king of all fruits, (and banned on the subway in Singapore)




My favorite durian candy when I was growing up

and Tamarind, a tangy pod fruit that is usually eaten as a candy, or is a staple ingredient that gives asian food that sour taste.



Similiarly, the waters around the area are teaming with all sorts of critters that you can eat - from giant river prawns the size of lobsters, to fresh crab, mussels, oysters, and scallops!




Dog's tongue fish







Who would want to eat anything but local in a country of this abundance?

We spent the rest of the afternoon in the refuge of air conditioning at the Jim Thompson house. Jim Thompson was an American Soldier who fell in love with Thailand and made it his home in the '50s, revitalizing the Thai silk and textile industry. There is some scandal to his story, as he was a former officer of the Office of Strategic Services, and sort of pre-cursor to the CIA, and in the late '60s he disappered in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia, where no remains were every found. The story continues to be a mystery - was he killed, kidnapped, or did he really die of natural causes?

That aside, the Jim Thompson brand is a standard of quality in the textile industry, and I offloaded my shopping urges by picking up some good silk and linens. (*sigh of contentment)

The Jim Thompson brand recently expanded into food service as well, and we had lunch at the Jim Thompson House. My two favorite was the little handheld salads, a mix of nutes, crunch veggies in a leaf, and topped with plum sauce, and the fried catfish flakes with green papaya relish.







The food was very good, but it was kind of like eating hokkien mee at the hyatt.

The best food that I had in Bangkok though, was definitely the meals I had at Kim's place. There's something about home cooked food that really warms the soul, and cannot be found or replicated in any commercial kitchen.

Breakfast on both days was noodles - teochew beef ball with rice noodles, and fried noodles with all the good stuff!





And finally, dinner the night before I left - Crabs, northern duck, fried pork, salad, and soup!











It was the perfect way to end my glut fest - simple & homemade, just the way I like it after a weekend of indulgence.

Bangkok, I'll be back!