Larb! (Laotian Ground Chicken & Rice)

Larb doesn't sound like the most appetizing name for a dish, but this dish is truly fantastic. It's easy, cheap, filling, endlessly customizable and tastes delicious. 

Larb is a traditional dish of Laos, in Southeast Asia.  This version isn't traditional, but it has the qualities of Larb and is so simple. 

All you really need is ground chicken and rice, and any additional veggies you like. The simple sauce is sweet and tart, made with easy-to-find Asian ingredients.  It's awesome. 

Pickled onions add some crunchy tang to the ground meat and rice. 

You can serve the larb over rice or along with rice in boston lettuce leaves.

Either way this dish is a winner.  You can adjust the spice level with more or less chilis, add mushrooms and/or greens, or any other veggies you like.  My favourite addition is water chestnuts - I love the crunchy texture. 

Here's what you need...

Ingredients:
1/2 a medium red onion
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 lb (around 500g) ground chicken (you can also use ground turkey, pork or beef)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 small hot peppers, minced 
1 bunch green onions, sliced
4 tablespgroons soy sauce
1 teaspoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon Sambal Oelek (chili garlic sauce)
Butter or Boston lettuce leaves for serving
Cilantro for serving
Lime wedges for serving

Optional additions:
Finely chopped mushrooms (cooked with the ground chicken)
Chopped greens such as bok choy, kale, or spinach (added with the sauce and wilted)
Chopped water chestnuts 

Directions: 
First steam some rice and make quick pickled onions by thinly slicing half a red onion and soaking it in rice vinegar while everything cooks.

In a large skillet, heat the oil and add the ground chicken, breaking it up and cooking until no longer pink.  Add the garlic chili peppers and white parts of the green onions and continue to cook until the liquid evaporates and the chicken starts to brown. 

Add the soy sauce, fish sauce, brown sugar and sambal oelek, stirring to combine.  Add the green parts of the green onions and any other additions (leafy greens, water chestnuts) and cook until liquid is mostly evaporated. 

Serve over rice, topped with pickled onions, cilantro, and a squeeze of lime.  Even better, serve it all wrapped in lettuce leaves. 

Enjoy! 

Quick & Easy Pho

Pho is one of my favourite winter comfort foods.  It is widely available and pretty cheap to get a bowl of pho in most places these days.  My medium-sized city has dozens of pho restaurants that sell a huge, steaming bowl of beef, noodles and broth for $8 or less.

But sometimes - like this weekend - it is just too cold to go outside. We've had a huge snowfall in the past few days, so making pho at home is a warming treat.

Pho broth is usually made with beef bones cooked with charred onions, ginger and spices. Serious Eats' The Food Lab has a great tutorial for traditional pho.  I highly recommend checking it out, whether to make the recipe or read an interesting history of the dish.

But I've rarely got oxtail on hand, or the time to boil bones all day.  So this quicky shortcut using store-bought beef broth is a makes home made pho a weeknight meal.  It also adds in mushrooms and greens which, while not traditional, make an even heartier, healthier meal.  This recipe is inspired by Epicurious Detox Pho.

Here's what you need for this tasty soup.  You could double the broth and freeze it for a winter treat any time.

Putting Up With: Tomatoes Two Ways

My "Putting Up With" series is a play on the phrase 'putting up' as a colloquialism for canning.  But in this case, it's particularly apt, because the only way I can put up with (tolerate) tomatoes is when they're canned, cooked or preserved in some way.  

I was a very picky eater when I was younger, but I've learned to tolerate, and even enjoy, some of the things that horrified me as a child.  I now cook with all types of peppers and mushrooms and even occasionally use mayonnaise and beans, all things I couldn't stand a few years ago.  But I've never grown to love raw tomatoes. Both the texture and taste are repulsive to me.  These recipes have helped me use up all the tomatoes I get every week from our garden and my CSA box.  

Tart of the Month - Carrot and Herb Tart

April's tart of the month is not exactly seasonal. Carrots are available year round but at their peak in late summer and fall. But the fresh herbs and ricotta make this tart light and spring-like, and the beautiful, multi-coloured carrots are striking. 

This is one of those incredibly easy puff pastry tarts that can be whipped up in 30 minutes or so. 

This beautiful tart comes from Bon Appetit magazine. Here's what you need:

Gnocchi with Sausage & Spinach

I've made home made gnocchi and it's great, but you can buy shelf-stable gnocchi and keep it on hand in the pantry for a quick meal any time.  You can boil it, but in this recipe from Eating Well magazine, you fry it until tender instead of boiling to make a quick, easy meal. 

Here's what you need for this tasty, easy dinner.  

Pork with Roasted Tomatillo Sauce

In the spring we planted four tomatillo plants in our garden.  Tomatillos are in the nightshade family, related to tomatoes.  I haven't had much luck with tomatoes in my garden, so I wasn't expecting much.  

But our tomatillo harvest has far exceeded expectations!  In August we harvested twelve pounds of tomatillos, and we have plenty more still growing.  

Tart of the Month: Spring Asparagus & Goat Cheese Tart

We have an asparagus patch in our garden and it is the greatest.  Every year it gives us more and more fresh asparagus in the spring.  But not quite yet this year.  The asparagus from this tart came from the store but maybe I'll make it again with garden asparagus when it's ready.  

This tart also uses spring onions if you can find them.  They are the ones with large white bulbs and green stems.  Once again, I didn't have any ready yet so I used regular green onions.  

Here's what you need for this spring tart:

Patty Melts

This may be obvious to many people, but patty melts are great!  I'd never had one before and was pleasantly surprised by how simple and delicious they are.  It's not a particularly healthy choice, since it's basically a burger crossed with a grilled cheese sandwich, but it really hits the spot. 

All you need is:
Ground beef
Rye bread
Swiss cheese
Onions
Butter