Thai pork skewers and Lebanese zucchini with walnuts: an all-American dinner – 7 January 2012

I made my first recipe from Thai Street Food, which combines wonderful recipeness with coffee-table-bookness in a stunning and somewhat intimidating volume. I did choose a rather simple recipe, but still I found two ingredients I could not get (at least not yesterday) at Berkeley Bowl. Amazing. [coriander root and palm sugar in a cake]

The Thai recipe was for pork skewers. These are marinated in coriander root (I used ground coriander, half as much), fish sauce and soy sauce, garlic, and sugar (I used dark brown sugar, half as much), and grilled. The pork was one thick chop from Costco – about a half pound – cut into perhaps 1/8″ thick slices. During grilling, the pork should be dabbed with coconut milk, which causes smoking and adds to the grilled flavor. I served these over leftover Thai jasmine rice, which I intentionally cooked too much of yesterday for lunch, in anticipation of this dinner. I just microwaved it for a few minutes, with gaps in between the minutes to let the heat spread.

For a veggie, I cooked zucchini with walnuts, an incredibly easy recipe from Lebanese Cooking by Susan Ward (though I have a different edition – 1992 hardback – than is shown in any online offer I’ve found). I sauteed 2 small zucchini, sliced thin, in olive oil, then stirred in chopped walnuts, salt and pepper, and a tiny bit of allspice. Parsley is strewn over the top before serving.

D chose a different Nobilo Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc called Icon, which we both liked quite well. We’ve never had it before, but I would buy it again. It was $15, so not a cheapo. I really don’t know where we bought it. We had to ice it down quickly before dinner, but it worked well at the temperature we got it to, which was less than ice cold.

 

~ by berkeleybarb on 2012/01/07.