My favorite Asian market in Gainesville tends to sell Thai basil in large quantities, hence I wind up with a lot of it. This is a great fridge-emptier dish to use up all that basil and whatever vegetables/leftover protein you have on hand.
 
I recently completed a full kitchen remodel and my one real splurge was for a 36” 6-burner range by Zline with a wok burner. Being able to send burner flame up the sides of my wok was, well, pretty awesome. Anyway, this is a good dish.
 
Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 3-4tbsp cooking oil
  
• 4 cups cooked jasmine rice, chilled
• 6 large garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 Thai chiles, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped, or red cabbage, broccoli, you name it.
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 eggs
• 4-8 ounces of your protein of choice
• 2 cups Thai basil, leaves left whole
• 1⁄2 cup cilantro (optional)
• 2 scallions, diced for garnish

 
Directions

• Whisk together oyster sauce, fish sauce, soy sauce, and sugar. Set aside.
• Spray a wok or large frying pan with olive oil spray and heat over medium-high heat.
• Add the garlic and chili (or serrano) peppers and stir fry for 30 seconds.
• Add the red pepper and onion and stir fry until the onion is translucent. If using chicken or beef, add it with the the onion and red pepper. Cook until chicken is done, or beef is about medium.
• Push ingredients in the wok/pan aside and quickly scramble the egg.
• Add the oyster sauce mixture and stir everything together.
• Raise the heat to high and add the chilled rice. Stir until blended with the sauce and other ingredients, breaking up clumps of rice.
• Add more soy, oyster, or fish sauce, if necessary (or to taste).
• When everything is blended together and rice is hot, remove from heat and stir in the basil.
• Garnish with cilantro and scallions.

 

Chili crab is one of Singapore's iconic dishes, and during Singapore Food Month I used to get coupons for free servings at Changi International Airport on my way into town.

It is currently (May 2022) soft shell crab season in north central Florida, and my shellfish farmer of choice has had "whale" size soft shell crabs for a few weeks. I thought I'd try out a version of the dish using some of these large soft shell crabs and it came out pretty well. Instructions below. I adapted this recipe from the original at Serious Eats here.

Soft-shell Singapore chili crab
Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon (8g) cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons (30g) water
• 1/4 cup peanut or vegetable oil
• 2 to 3 whole shallots, minced (about 1/2 cup)
• 1 1/2-inch knob ginger, grated (about 2 tablespoons)
• 6 medium garlic cloves, minced (about 2 tablespoons)
• 4 Thai chiles, minced
• 4 large soft shell crabs, trimmed and patted dry of excess moisture
• ½ cup lump or claw crab meat (optional)
• 2 cups low sodium vegetable or chicken broth
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1/2 cup hot-sweet chili sauce
• Salt, to taste
• 1 large egg, beaten
• ¾ cup thinly sliced scallions
• 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves and thin stems
• Cooked jasmine rice

Directions

1. In small bowl, whisk cornstarch with 2 tablespoons water; set aside.
   
   
2. In large wok or skillet with lid, heat half the oil over medium heat. When it is beginning to shimmer, add the crabs in a single layer. Cook for 3-4 minutes, turn and cook for another 3-4 minutes, until cooked through. Remove from heat and cover loosely with foil on a plate.
   
   
3. If necessary, add a tbsp or two of oil and bring back up to heat. Stir in shallots, ginger, garlic, and chiles. Cook and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute.
   
   
4. Add broth. Increase heat to medium high and bring to a boil. Cover loosely, lower heat, and simmer about 6 minutes.
   
   
5. Remove cover and stir in tomato paste and chili sauce. Simmer 1 minute and season to taste with salt, sugar, or chili sauce. Fold crab meat in if you’re using it. Stir in cornstarch mixture and bring to a boil to thicken.
   
   
6. Remove from heat and whisk in egg. Stir in half the scallions.
   
   
7. Scoop a serving of jasmine rice (3/4 to 1 cup cooked) into each of four large plates or bowls, flatten slightly, and top with a crab. Ladle a generous helping of sauce over the crab and rice, sprinkle with cilantro and the remaining scallions, and serve.
   
   

Note: adding the lump or claw crab meat is optional, but traditional Singapore chili crab sauce is rich with crab flavor because large pieces of crab are simmered in the sauce to cook. This addition provides that extra crab flavor.

Down here in Gainesville, FL, I have the luxury of ocean on both sides and one of them (Gulf side) is home to some great bivalve farmers. One of those - http://www.oystercatchershellfish.com/ - is my go-to CSA for clams and oysters (try grilling the latter sometime!). Last week I got some beautiful topneck clams and put together this dish for friends.

Clams in Fennel Broth with Squid Ink Pasta
 
Ingredients
 
1/3 cup olive oil
1 cup julienned celery 
1 cup julienned fennel, fronds reserved and set aside.
1 cup julienned leeks 
1 cup julienned shallots 
2 tablespoons minced garlic 
2-3 sprigs fresh thyme
6-8 sprigs fresh basil, separated from stems and sliced thinly
1 bay leaf
2/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil
12 oz hot Italian sausage (pork, chicken, plant-based will all do)
1 cup white wine 
2 cups clam juice
2 cups vegetable broth
1lb pasta squid ink fettucine
30-40 top neck clams 
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Toasted baguette, for serving
 
Directions
 

1. Saute the sausage until well browned and fully cooked and set aside.
   
   
2. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. Add the celery, fennel, leeks, shallots and garlic and cook on very low heat until they become tender and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, bring a pot of water large enough to hold the pasta to a boil.
   
   
3. Add the thyme, bay leaf and white wine, increase the heat to medium and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the clam juice and broth, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.
   
   
4. Add the clams, cover the pot, and cook until all the clams have opened, about 10 minutes. Remove the clams with a slotted spoon and set aside. Cook the pasta until about 2 minutes shy of recommended cooking time. Drain the pasta and add to the pot with the broth, fennel, etc., submerge in the liquid, and allow to cook for 2 minutes. Then add in the sun-dried tomatoes and sausage, stir, and season with salt and pepper.
   
   
5. Add a serving of pasta and vegetables to each bowl, then top with clams. Pour over a healthy ladle of broth for each bowl. Sprinkle fennel fronds and basil over each bowl. Serve with the baguette for sopping up the broth.

 

This is perhaps my favorite soup, and it is the maiden recipe for Single Dad Ninja. Five or six years ago my daughter and I hosted her BFF, a sweet but typically picky little eater. Not this time. I made roasted garlic soup, roasted some brussels sprouts and made grilled brie sandwiches. When her mom arrived to pick her up after dinner she was busy begging for seconds of everything. 


Here are the ingredients:
INGREDIENTS
3 large whole heads, plus 3 cloves, minced
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 cups minced onion
1 cup minced carrots
1 large potato (1 1/4 cups), peeled and cubed
3 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh-ground pepper
1/2 cup heavy cream ( at least… be generous)
PREPARATION
1. Roast the garlic: Preheat oven to 350°F. Using a serrated knife, cut the top off each garlic head so that the tip of each clove is exposed. OR peel the cloves in advance. Place the garlic heads on a large piece of aluminum foil and drizzle with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the bay leaves and fold the foil to form a packet. Place the packet in the oven and bake for 45 minutes. Cool slightly. In a small bowl, squeeze the garlic head until all of the roasted flesh is released. Discard outer husks and bay leaves.
2. Make the soup: In a large heavy-duty saucepan, heat the remaining olive oil and butter, add onions, and cook over medium heat until translucent—about 4 minutes. Add the carrots and continue to cook for 5 more minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the potato, chicken stock, white wine, roasted garlic, salt, and pepper. Cover and bring the soup to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and continue to cook for 35 minutes.
3. Finish the soup: Using a blender, puree the soup in small batches until smooth. Return the soup to the saucepan over medium heat and whisk in the heavy cream. Heat until warmed. Do not boil. Keep warm until ready to serve.
Note: I found this soup to go extremely well with a grilled brie/sautéed mushroom sandwich. I layered each side of the bread with brie and stuffed the mushrooms in the middle before buttering each side and grilling it. 

I spent a couple of years poring through roast chicken recipes from good chefs--Batali, Keller, Bourdain, etc. In the end I've settled on a variant of Keller's because the ratio of yum to work is so high. So here goes.

1. Splurge a little and get a free-range chicken. 3 1/2 - 4 1/2 lbs. For two of us we go on the lighter end and still have plenty for sandwiches the next day plus wings as a starter the following night. 

2. 60-90 minutes before you want to cook the bird, pull it out of the fridge, put it in a rack in a roasting pan and sprinkle it liberally with kosher salt. I mean like 3-4tbsp per side.

3. 30 minutes out preheat the oven to 450. Yep, 450. Trust me.

4. Some people say rinse all that salt off. No way. Pour 1/8 to 1/4 cup good olive oil over the bird and rub it all over the skin. Slide it into the oven, still on the rack in the roasting pan.

5. Pull whatever root vegetables you have in the fridge out. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, radishes, etc. Cut them into 1" chunks or so, toss in a large bowl with olive oil, salt and pepper. Put them too in a roasting pan and drizzle with honey or maple syrup. You should be 15 minutes or so into the cooking now so slide them in next to the chicken (you did buy matching pans that fit side by side in your oven, right?)

6. At 30 minutes for the chicken pull it out, cover the wing tips with foil, turn it around and put it back in.

7. At an even hour pull both out. Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes, then carve. If you're not super familiar with that check this out - https://www.nytimes.com/video/dining/1194817096866/the-butcher-carves-a-turkey.html - only do it smaller. Place it all on a platter and drizzle with melted butter so you have cow juice on top of egg dads. Serve.

8. Save the carcass and the leg bones afterwards, throw them into a Ziploc and save them for a pot of Mexican chicken-tortilla soup. Recipe to follow.

Tasty as this dish is, the photos weren't doing it justice so you'll have to bear with me old school style. And don't worry, I haven't gone fully vegetarian on you, it's just the new things I'm working on in the kitchen don't happen to have any meat at the moment.

Anyway, earlier in the week my daughter asked if we could center a meal on barley. Surprised as I was I quickly agreed and, given my love for risotto of all kinds and for tweaking it with grains and seeds other than arborio rice I thought I'd give this a go. The main procedural difference between barley and traditional risotto is that since it's more robust it needs a spell up front being simmered with the cover on. Then you can uncover it and add stock 1-2 cups at a time as with regular risotto.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups pearled barley
• 1 1/2 quarts stock (I used mushroom stock mostly plus some chicken I had in the fridge)
• 1/4-1/2 cup white cooking wine
• 1 lb mushrooms, sliced
• olive oil, salt and pepper
•  8 oz goat cheese (I crumbled 4 oz of plain and held a log of honey chevre as you'll see below)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2-3 shallots, sliced finely
• 1/4 red onion, diced

1. Saute the mushrooms over medium high heat until you've fully cooked the liquid out of them and they brown nicely. Set aside.
2. In a 4-6 quart sauce pan or stock pot heat some more olive oil over medium heat. Saute the garlic, shallots and onions until nicely browned, 8-10 minutes. Add the barley and saute for another 4-5 minutes to begin browning it. Add the wine and 3 cups of stock, stir well, reduce heat to low-medium and cover for 10-15 minutes.
3. Uncover, add another cup to 1 1/2 cups of stock and stir periodically, adding more stock as it's absorbed. I ended up cooking it for 30-35 minutes.
4. Once it's still al dente but tender enough to eat, remove from heat and let sit for a few minutes.
5. Fold in the mushrooms and then, at the end, the goat cheese crumbles. Top each serving with a couple of medallions of honey chevre--the sweet really compliments the savory and tangy of the dish nicely.

Vegan Tacos?
If you've looked at any of my other posts you know by now that I'm not vegan, or even vegetarian except for those stints in between meals containing meat.  However, my fondness for Indian cuisine among others has made it clear that there are an infinite array of options for meals full of flavor. In part because I've been in rehab for a couple of months nursing a torn tendon, I'm more attentive than usual to getting a broad array of nutrients into my system. I figured I might be able to get that accomplished without meat, so here's a full meal plan that start to finish took 45 minutes.

Some things it requires having around the house:

• canned chipotle peppers in adobo
• canned black beans (or if you're feeling industrious a good recipe for simmering them in advance is here)

The meal will give you enough of everything for tacos for 4 and a corn-kale vegetable side for that many too.

                                                                  Ingredients:
Vegetable side:

• 3-4 cups fresh kale, chopped
• 2 cups frozen or (maybe June-August if you live near Nebraska) fresh sweet corn
• olive oil, salt, cumin and some kind of ground chile (we used ancho powder)

Tacos

• 1lb seasoned seitan (ours was lightly marinated in soy sauce)
• 2 cups cooked black beans, partially mashed so the consistency is like refried beans
• 1 avocado
• salsa
• 1 lime
• 2 chipotle peppers, finely chopped with their adobo sauce
• salt
• 2-3 taco size tortillas per person (we used flour)

1. Make some quick guac (recipe here at this older post on SDN)
2. Heat a skillet to medium, lightly pan grill the tortillas in a tbsp or so of olive oil, wrap in a towel and put to the side.
   
3. Turn the skillet up to medium high, add 2tbsp olive oil and the kale. Sprinkle some cumin, salt and chile powder over it, cover for a couple of minutes so it begins to wilt, then uncover and stir. Add the corn, stir, let it sit a minute and brown on one side, then flip and let the other side brown. 4-5 minutes with both vegetables in there should be enough.
4. Scoop the corn & kale into a serving bowl, give the skillet a quick rinse and add some more olive oil. Toss in the seitan, stir to coat lightly with oil and add the chipotles and adobo. Squeeze 3 lime quarters over the seitan, toss once and let it sit a couple of minutes to brown. Turn, let brown again and put that into a bowl. Prepare a bowl of black beans to bring with you.
5. Bring everything to the table. Schmear a spoonful of black beans onto a tortilla, scoop some seitan on top of it, add guac and salsa. Get yourself some corn and kale. Put in mouth. The smoky/salty of the seitan is pretty meat-like, no?

Enjoy! #singledadninja

Garam masala means something close to "warm spices" in Hindi, or so Google Translate tells me. To me it means the flavor foundation for most Indian dishes I know how to make. My starter ingredient list originated, like many of my favorite Indian things, in Monica Bhide's Everything Indian cookbook, a great reference with 300+ recipes and a wealth of good pairing advice. I've modified it to suit me and here list volumes to make around 1 1/2 cups of it.

Note: unless you already cook Indian often you may not have many, or any, of these things around. Change that: many towns in the states now have either an Asian grocery with an Indian section, an Indian market, or both. Gainesville, FL, where I live and work, has 3 separate pan-Asian groceries and 2 Indian markets. Asiaphile foodie heaven... Also: for grating fresh nutmeg there is nothing better than a fine wood planer like the Microplane Classic. It's actually made for woodworking but works brilliantly for nutmeg, hard chocolates and cheeses and many other things. Finally, I have an inexpensive coffee grinder that I use only for spices. It's really worth that tiny investment for such nice fresh spices.

Ingredients:
~30-32 cloves
5 tbsp cumin seeds
12 green cardamom pods
8 black cardamom pods
 2 2-inch cinnamon sticks
3 tbsp coriander seeds
4 tsp black peppercorns
4 bay leaves
1 tsp fresh grated nutmeg (added last, once other ingredients are roasted).

Heat a small cast iron skillet at medium (no oil--it must be completely dry). Add the spices and dry roast while stirring frequently. After a few minutes they'll start to become nicely aromatic and to turn brown. Turn off the heat, move the skillet to a cool surface and grate in the nutmeg. After the spices have cooled for 5 minutes or so, add them one batch at a time to the grinder and grind. Don't be alarmed when it smokes--the big spices like cardamom, peppercorn, coriander are releasing the inner smoke. Shake it lightly every 5-10 seconds to keep the bigger pieces moving until they're finely ground.

Keeps for a few months... so use it often :)

First things first: copyright credit. I cribbed this recipe from the new issue of Food and Wine, available here: http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/mini-kale-mushroom-calzones-with-smoked-mozzarella
Theirs were minis. Mine are maxis, and I've modified the recipe to make it weeknight kid dinner friendly. Still, this was a great idea for combining flavors and the kid loves them--lunch today, dinner tonight, asked for it for lunch tomorrow too (I wound up with 4 giant ones totally nearly 5 1/2 lbs and 3 of them have provided 4 total meals so far).

Ingredients:
2 lbs pre-made pizza dough (I like Trader Joe's)
10 oz fresh kale, rinsed and chopped
8 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
~1 cup dried wild mushrooms, reconstituted in hot water for 30 minutes
8 oz fresh grated mozzarella
~ 3oz fresh grated asiago
1 tbsp Liquid Smoke
1 can black olives
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup fresh parsley
lots of extra virgin olive oil and butter
salt & pepper
marinara sauce

1. First, make olive tapenade. Drain the olives and put them, a clove of garlic, the parsley, and some olive oil into a food processor. Blend. Mix with an equal part marinara sauce.
2. Saute the mushrooms in butter and/or olive oil over medium heat until they're fairly dry. Put them in a bowl and add olive oil. 
3. Add the kale and ~1/4 cup water to the pan, cover and let braise for 6-8 minutes until it cooks down. Remove cover, salt and pepper to taste and add the Liquid Smoke. Stir well, keep cooking until the water has cooked out and it's fairly dry. Place in the bowl with the mushrooms. 
4. Stir in the cheeses and mix well to combine.
5. Separate the pizza dough into halves (4 total. I like making 4 big ones; easier and you can slice them into portions). Roll out the first ball of dough on a floured cutting board with a rolling pin to 10" or so in diameter. Spread a ladle full of the olive-marinara mixture to within 1-1 1/2" of the edges and then spoon 3/4 to 1 cup of the mushroom-kale-cheese mix onto one half. Fold the other side over, crimp the edges nice and pretty like. Place in an oiled rimmed baking sheet. Repeat until you've got all 4 made, should fit on two sheets.
6. Bake at 400. If you've got two sheets, switch after 15 minutes and then go 10 minutes more. They should be done at this point.
7. Let cool for 10 minutes or so and serve with small bowls of marinara for dipping. Be worshiped.

My daughter loves this one. I do too. The first time I added the bacon and Chipotle Tabasco she oohed and aahhed while trying to guess what the new twist was. Once I made it on Halloween night and a teenager out trick-or-treating begged me to put some in her bag (she got two Snickers mini bars--that sauce was for ME). It is rich, thick, smoky, garlicky and coats pasta in a way not even cream sauces can. Not to mention it's actually good for you.

3 slices smoked bacon
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 white onion, diced
1 shallot, thinly sliced
12 oz fettucine
2 cans Northern White Beans, drained or about 2 cups cooked from 1 cup dry
1/4-1/2 cup white cooking wine (more or less depending how thick you'd like it)
1 8-10" sprig of fresh rosemary, chopped coarsely. Grow it; it's impossible to kill and it's delicious.
1 tbsp Chipotle Tabasco

1. Put a pot of salted water on the stove and get it heating. Heat a deep saute pan 10-12" wide on medium heat.
2. Cook the bacon until nice and crisp. Remove to a paper towel to drain. Put the onions, garlic and shallot into the pan with the bacon fat and a little olive oil. Saute it all for 8-10 minutes until it's soft and smells tasty.
3. Add the beans, cooking wine, rosemary and Tabasco, stir and bring to a simmer. Turn it down to medium low and with a potato masher smash about half the beans so that the sauce thickens. Let it simmer; by now your water should have come to a boil. Add the pasta and a healthy pinch of salt.
4. While everything is coming together grate some asiago cheese. If you didn't already have that around that's your own problem; it is a delicious cheese so you have no excuse.
5. Drain pasta, top with sauce, top with cheese, put in mouth.