If I lived in Bon Temps, you would call me a fangbanger.

 

Ever since watching The Lost Boys as a too little girl, I find it easy to fall hard for undead heroes.  I spent most of high school daydreaming about Louis and Lestat. 

While late on the bandwagon, I’ve quickly become a devoted fan of True Blood.  Now, I daydream about Bill Compton and his southern drawl.

In honour of the Season 2 premiere, I reached into my freezer and pulled out a leftover treat from my Baking By Hand Made Easy course; the same course where I made the white bread and the addictive vanilla pastry cream.

The real reason I took the course was to learn how to make a pie crust.  The elusive pie crust.  It has always seemed such a daunting task, and truth be told, still does.  But, under the watchful eye of an excellent instructor, I pulled it off and at the end of the night I had two cherry pies ready for the freezer. (My initial inspiration was Agent Cooper.)

There was never a more perfect time to bake my last blood red pie than for the return of Bill and the rest of the colourful crew from Louisiana.

 

 

 

 

After Sugar served a perfect pappardelle main, we took plates of cherry pie and vanilla ice cream into the living room to await all the bad things that were sure to take place on television that night.  The episode did not disappoint—neither did the pie.

 

There are many pie crust recipes available, and every family seems to have a tried and true recipe.  So, instead of giving you another one, I’ll pass along the pie tips that Sugar and I learned to help you on your way.  With the summer fruit season upon us, put any crust trepidation aside and go for it.

 

 

 

 

Pie-making Tips 

 

- When adding the liquid to your dough, blend just until the liquid “clears” or is absorbed.  The average time in class was about 7 seconds.

- Pies are best baked from frozen.

- Don’t introduce new ingredients.  For example, if there are no eggs in your dough, do not use an egg wash on top.  Simply use water.

- Don’t wash the edges of your crust with egg/milk/water.  Just the centre.  And sprinkle lightly with sugar…again, just the centre.

- Your pie is ready to be taken out of the oven when you jiggle the pie pan and the pie freely moves from the edge.

 

 

 

 

See you at Merlotte’s!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mondays. Sigh. The start to the week, the official end to the weekend. When the days turn balmy, I find myself feeling ever so slightly lazy and in search of simple fresh food in the kitchen. Though tempted to melt in the heat and get take out, I persevered with the planned menu for the evening, turned again to Bill Granger in "Bill's Open Kitchen", and quickly sorted out a pretty, fresh, and delicious dinner. A perfectly light  follow up to last nights delicious but heavy parpadelle with spicy Italian sausage pasta dinner (a future story unto itself for a cooler day), which was the  prelude to kicking off another season of Bill Compton and Sookie Stackhouse with Cream and my main squeeze. Simple pan fried fish, in this case a basa fillet, paired with a tangy lemon potato salad. The lightness of the lemon dressing paired with the crisp diced peppers, hints of chili, fresh mint, and cracked pepper, make this a salad that works with anything. The fish is beyond simple, but still something I find is often poorly executed. I nearly always follow the same formula for pan fried fish, prawns, or scallops, with excellent results. There is nothing I dislike more than a soggy piece of fish that's been soaking up oil in a frying pan. Here are my simple tips for perfectly seared fish or seafood. 1. Pat fish/seafood dry with a paper towel. 2. Drizzle with olive oil to ensure all surfaces are lightly coated. Coating the fish with oil rather than throwing it into an oil filled pan is a great way to get a nice crisp salt and pepper sear while keeping it soft and tender on the inside. 3. Sprinkle generously with coarse sea salt and fresh cracked pepper on both sides. 4. Heat your pan on high...get it good and hot so you get a nice sear when it hits the pan. The goal is a nice golden brown on each side. 5. Don't over cook it! Fish, prawns and scallops cook quickly. A few minutes on each side (or less depending on the fish) will do the job. This is a great base for making any seafood taste great with a drizzle of lemon when it comes out of the pan, or tossed with fresh made pesto, spiced up with a few dried chillies, or hit with the freshness of parsley and cilantro. Tonight's version from the pan will be on heavy rotation this summer. Pan Fried Fish with Lemon Potato Salad For the fish: olive oil basa fillets or other firm white fish fillet, skin removed coarse sea salt fresh cracked pepper lemon wedges Follow steps one through five above for perfectly pan fried fish. For the lemon potato salad: one pound bag of baby potatoes cut in half 1 tsp coarse sea salt 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil 1/2 fresh squeezed lemon juice freshly ground black pepper 1 yellow pepper, finely diced 2 red chilies, seeded and finely diced 1/4 cup fresh chopped mint 1/2 cup chopped Italian parsley 6 green onions, finely sliced Bring a large pot of salted water to boil over high heat. Add potatoes, reduce heat to medium, and simmer for 8-10 minutes until potatoes are tender. Remember not to overcook them as they will continue to cook when removed from the water. Mix olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a bowl and stir to combine. Pour half of the dressing over the hot potatoes and stir gently. Leave the potatoes to cool. Once cooled, add yellow pepper, chili, mint, parsley, green onion, and remaining dressing and stir gently. A nice ending to another manic Monday. I wish it were Sunday, cause that's my fun day...

 It’s a small world after all when you take a moment to think about how common certain culinary elements are across the globe. The Marco Polo did-he-or-didn’t-he specifics are not very important to me; I just find it interesting to note how perogies are similar to ravioli, the variations on a theme in Central American street snacks, and how most of the world relies on a starch for soaking or sopping things up.

    In Vietnam, I ran across noodles as often as rice—fat or skinny, in a soup, as a salad, or on their own.  My spaghetti dreams were adequately filled. At the Red Bridge Cooking School, I had the opportunity to make my own noodles for pho.  I stirred the thin batter, poured it on taut cotton, steamed it, carefully lifted the thick rice crepes, and then cut them into noodles to add to my soup.  I’m not sure I could ever do it again without the watchful eye of Chef Phi, but it was an experience I won’t soon forget.

 

 

 

Most often, I order bun at home with a lemongrass protein (usually beef or chicken) rather than something on a skewer or only spring rolls. I like that the lemongrass sauce as it were adds another layer to the nuoc cham sauce that comes on the side.  (Note:  If you’re only getting straight fish sauce as your bun dressing, you’re getting cheated out of flavour.)

 

 

  I went with beef, and as my Vietnamese cookbook had no recipe for bun, I took amalgamated inspiration from bun bo xao recipes that came from Food Safari and Williams-Sonoma.  I’m not a big fan of bean sprouts so I left those out. I found brown rice vermicelli and just followed the directions on the package (even with the trendy fibre, they are ready in less than 5 minutes).  My shredded carrots were in the nuoc cham.  The beef was marinated for about 20 minutes.  The Food Safari recipe calls for perilla.  If you can find this herb, I highly recommend using it (with mint like I did).  It has quite a strong flavour and is almost warming when compared to the freshness of the mint.  As important as the lemongrass is for flavour, so is the nuoc cham that you add before eating.  Make sure you have enough.  In my previous post, my friend Hong posted her recipe and it is very close to what I made.  I will reproduce hers as parts are easier to multiply than measurements.  I would go with one clove of garlic and one chili per serving.

 

 

 

Hong's Nuoc Cham 

1 part fish sauce 4 parts water 2 parts fresh lime juice 2 parts sugar fresh chillies (chopped) fresh garlic (minced/chopped) Stir everything together. This “dressing” can be kept in your fridge for a couple of weeks. She uses this for everything (eggs, salads, meat, fish, etc). 

Don’t forget to mix! 

 

[caption id="attachment_398" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Green papaya salad with shrimp, Mango Rooms, Hoi An"][/caption]

 

Green papaya and green mango salads quickly became an obsession.  Few things seemed more perfect on a hot afternoon than a cold salad of crunchy fruit in a salty dressing.

 

[caption id="attachment_399" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Green papaya salad, Hoa Sua School, Hanoi"][/caption]

Hoa Sua School

KOTO

[caption id="attachment_400" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Banana flower salad, KOTO, Hanoi"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_401" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Banana flower salad, Red Bridge Cooking School, Hoi An"][/caption]

 

The salads were what I wanted most when I came home.  An inspired bowl of cold-spicy and salty-sweet to offset the persistence of dry radiator air.  Something that would be kind to my waistline after one too many baguettes and cones of "young rice" ice cream.  For a quick fix, I headed to Lucky 97 to get some ingredients to go with the rotisserie chicken I had at home.   

 

  With the exception of the dressing, I didn't really follow a recipe.  For two girls who were to stay in and paint their nails, I bought two mangos and one green papaya.  Purple basil, cilantro, and mint.  Shredded carrots.  One diced chili.  Scallions.  Sesame seeds.  The chicken.   A super simple dressing c/o Red Bridge:  juice of one lime, 1 teaspoon of fish sauce, 1 garlic clove crushed, and 1 tablespoon of sugar. 

It was too cold for a cold beer, but that's what was then needed. And as they say in Vietnam:  Yo!