Bun Thit Nuong (Vietnamese Vermicelli)

My recent obsession has been Vietnamese Vermicelli with grilled pork, or Bun Thit Nuong. I was first introduced to this dish by a co-worker within the last year. Actually, I had my first try of this dish a few years ago when I decided to become adventurous at a local Vietnamese restaurant. Rather than ordering my usual Pho, I decided to give a dry noodle a taste. When I did, it really was a dry noodle. It wasn't bad. It was just that nothing stood out of the dish. Who eats just salad with noodles?! So I never ordered it again on my own.

Then one day, a few co-workers and I went out to lunch. We decided to share plates so we could try different dishes. One of my co-workers ordered the Bun. She poured all the sauce on top of the dish and mixed the whole salad up. She equally plated the noodle salad dish on each or our plates and then I took my first bite from a real Bun Thit Nuong. It was love at first bite. I realized that you don't just dip the meat in the sauce. The sauce was the dressing! DUH!!! lol. The sauce, better known as Nuoc Cham, made a whole difference in the world as I knew it. Aside from getting its flavor from the grilled pork, the sauce made the dish. From that day on, whenever there was Bun on the menu, its the only thing I order. Its a large bowl of lettuce and rice noodles with all kinds of different toppings - pickled carrots and daikon, sliced cucumbers, cilantro, bean sprouts, fried onions, crushed peanuts, and grilled meat. Its so filling, but so light. And I just love it.

This recipe is actually a shortcut recipe, in that I used a prepared grilled pork, a Filipino delicacy called Tocino. It has the same flavor as the grilled pork they put at the restaurant we went to. For the pickled Carrot and Daikon, I used this recipe from Hungry Huy. However, I have since been eliminating the daikon altogether. If you aren't familiar with a daikon, please be warned that though its supper yummy, it releases a very foul odor that lasts in the kitchen for a very long time. The Nuoc cham was made using this recipe from gas.stron.o.my. This dish came out just as good as the restaurant's. I was so excited, because now I can have Bun anytime I want. Maybe one day, I'll make the grilled pork from scratch. But to get a quick fix, I'll stick with the prepared tocino. For now.

chopped lettuce
cooked vermicelli/rice noodles
prepared grilled pork or Filipino tocino
cilantro leaves
cucumbers, julienned
bean sprouts
fried onions
crushed peanuts
pickled daikon & carrots (recipe below)
Nuoc cham (dressing recipe below)

1) Layer the bottom of a large serving bowl with chopped lettuce. Top with cooked vermicelli noodles.

2) Arrange the remaining ingredients in a nice pattern, except the nuoc cham, on top of the noodles.  When ready to eat, pour nuoc cham on top of the noodle salad and toss until evenly coated. Enjoy!

For the pickled daikon & carrots 
1/2 lb. daikon radish
1/2 lb. carrots
1 Tbsp. salt
1/2 cup hot water to dissolve 5 Tbsp. sugar
1 cup water
4 Tbsp. distilled white vinegar

(note: Daikon radish emits a very foul odor, but tastes so yummy. If the odor really bothers you, you can totally eliminate the daikon radish and double up on the carrots)

1) Julienne the carrots and daikon (you can use your food processor for your convenience). Sprinkle salt and toss well. Allow to sit for 15 minutes.

2) Rinse the carrots and daikon well, and squeeze out excess moisture. Dry and add in mason jars.

3) Dissolve sugar in hot water. Combine with the remaining water and vinegar. Pour on top of the vegetables until completely covered. Seal and store at room temperature until pickled to your taste, about 12-24 hours. Refrigerate up to 3 weeks until ready to use.

For the Nuoc cham
4 large garlic cloves, finely minced
2 Thai red chilies, finely minced (or 1 tsp. red chili flakes)
1 can coconut water (or 1 1/2 cup water)
6 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1/2 cup fish sauce
1/4 cup fresh lime juice

1) In a medium bowl, combine coconut water (or regular water) with the sugar. Whisk until sugar completely dissolves.

2) Add fish sauce, garlic, chilies and stir until combined. Add lime juice and stir.

3) Check for taste and add more sugar, fish sauce, or lime juice as needed. Store in an air tight container and refrigerate for up to 4 months.

Homemade Thousand Island Dressing

I was watching The Best Thing I ever made on the Food Network a few days ago and Adam Gertler made a Reuben Dog. Oh-Em-Gee did it look good. Unfortunately, making the hot dog looked pretty complicated. But I so wanted to eat something like that. It consisted of a pastrami flavored hot dog, topped with Gruyere cheese, thousand island dressing, and coleslaw. Doesn't that sound yummy?

For dinner the other day, I wanted to somehow recreate that yummy dog. So I picked up a few links of Bratwursts and Gruyere cheese at a local German deli, made my own coleslaw, and then decided to make Thousand Island Dressing from scratch modifying this recipe from cooks.com. Man-oh-man. I'm not sure what Adam's Reuben Dog tasted like, but this is one of the best dogs I've ever had. So delish! The thousand island dressing really tied everything together. yummy!

1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 sweet pickle relish
1 hard boiled egg

1) In a medium bowl, add mayonnaise, ketchup and relish. Grate hard boiled egg through a sieve over the the mixture. Stir until well combined. Chill before use.

Salted Caramel Sauce

I've been meaning to search for other great recipes to use my Fleur de Sel, because I absolutely love that sweet and savory flavor. My daughter love, love, loves brownies. And I came across a brownie recipe (more on that on my next blog post) using Fleur de Sel in Caramel Sauce from Beantown Baker.

I've been making Salted Caramel Sauce a lot more frequently, but I've never really added it on this blog. Because I had planned on making brownies with caramel sauce, I decided to make some again. This sauce can be stored up to a month in the refrigerator and can be used in just about anything from ice cream, pies, brownies, or just eaten by the spoonful. Which is my favorite way of consuming :)

1 cup water

2 cups sugar

1 cup heavy cream

2 Tbsp. cold unsalted butter

1 tsp. Fleur de Sel

1) Add water in a saucepan. Gently add sugar into the middle of the pan. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat.

2) Once mixture begins to boil, place a candy thermometer into saucepan. Continue cooking mixture until temperature reaches 300 deg F and mixture just begins to change color, about 15-20 minutes. 

3) Reduce heat to medium and continue to cook until temperature reaches 350 deg F and syrup is amber in color. 

4) While syrup is cooking, heat cream in a microwave or in a saucepan until it begins to simmer. When syrup is ready, remove from heat and carefully pour 1/4 cup of warm cream. Mixture will bubble furiously. Once bubbling subsides, add remaining cream. Once bubbling stops, whisk to fully incorporate. Add fleur de sel and butter and whisk until combined. Refrigerate up to 1 month.

Make-Ahead Gravy

I've always wanted to make gravy from scratch for Thanksgiving, but because I deep fry our turkey, I don't have turkey pan drippings to make the gravy. So I always resort to the powder or bottled version from the supermarket. Then I got the idea of making gravy using stock after doing some searches online. And what perfect timing it was when this recipe came up on my reader from The Brown Eyed Baker. I happen to always have Turkey stock made from the turkey carcass of our Thanksgiving luncheon, so this recipe came in handy.

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1 1/2 cup finely chopped onions

1/4 cup all purpose flour

3/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

2 cups turkey or chicken stock, heated

1 Tbsp. heavy cream

1) In a large saute pen, melt butter over medium heat. Add onions and cook for 12-15 minutes until lightly browned. (Do not rush this step!)

2) Sprinkle flour into pan and whisk. Add salt and pepper. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Whisk in stock and cook uncovered for 4-5 minutes until thickened. Add cream and serve.

(Note: This gravy can be frozen. When ready to use, thaw in refrigerator and reheat over the stove or microwave, adding a splash of stock to loosen the gravy).

Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce

I used to have a go-to Alfredo sauce a while ago buried in my binders of recipes. Unfortunately, I lost the recipe. But after doing a quick search, I found another great recipe for Olive Garden's Alfredo Sauce. I used to always buy a pint of Alfredo Sauce from Olive Garden and so I was really excited to have found this recipe. This is a nice sauce to keep in the fridge and use for a quick dinner. You can add shrimp and chicken to it when you're ready to use it and you've got a nice, delicious meal for the family.

1 pint heavy cream

2 sticks butter

2 Tbsp. cream cheese

3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 tsp. garlic powder

salt & pepper to taste

1) In a medium saucepan, combine heavy cream, butter and cream cheese. Simmer on medium heat until everything is melted, stirring occasionally. Add Parmesan cheese and garlic powder. Simmer on low for 15-20 minutes.

2) Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve over your favorite pasta.

Tomato & Basil Marinara Sauce

Spaghetti is one of my favorite dishes. Its my daughter's all time favorite too (I guess she takes after mommy). In fact, any pasta is a favorite of ours. However, spaghetti is number one. I love using Trader Joe's Tomato & Basil Marinara sauce whenever a recipe calls for prepared marinara sauce. It tastes fresh and not from a jar. But I've always secretly wished that I could make tomato/marinara sauce from scratch the way I see the Italians do it on TV. They all had secret recipes that their "mama" taught them.

While searching for new recipes to try out, I came across a recipe for Vodka Sauce that included a tomato sauce recipe from Smells Like Home. It looked pretty easy and I figured I should try it out tonight since its a vegetarian sauce that we can eat for Lenten Friday tomorrow. It came out pretty tasty. Almost like Trader Joe's sauce, but probably a lot healthier because it doesn't have the preservatives. I added more basil to the sauce because I just love the flavor of basil. This is a great recipe to double up and freeze for later use whenever we have a craving for spaghetti. Since this recipe isn't from my "mama," maybe my daughter can take pride that its from her mama.

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

2 (32 ounce) cans crushed tomatoes

6-10 basil leaves

2 dried bay leaves

salt and pepper to taste

4 Tbsp. unsalted butter

1) In a large pot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and saute until soft and translucent, about 2 minutes. Add celery and carrot, then season with salt and pepper. Saute until all the vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, basil, and bay leaves and reduce the heat to low. Cover the pot and simmer for 1 hour or until thick.

2) Remove bay leaves and taste for seasoning. If sauce tastes too acidic, add butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, to balance the flavor. Pour hot tomato sauce in a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. Sauce will freeze well for up to 6 months.

BBQ Sauce

I've been wanting to make BBQ sauce from scratch for the longest time. But I haven't found a good recipe that caught my eye. Then I found this Slow Cooker BBQ Ribs recipe made of Homemade BBQ sauce, from What's Cookin, Chicago? which was adapted from the Neely's on the Food Network. So I had to give it a try.

It came out a little spicy, so I modified it and lessened the black pepper and added honey to the mix. I like sweet BBQ sauce. After using this on my pork ribs, however, I felt like it needed a lot of salt. I'm not sure if this is the BBQ sauce I'm looking for yet. I guess my search continues.

2 cups ketchup
1 cup water
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
5 Tbsp. light brown sugar
5 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 Tbsp. onion powder
1 Tbsp. mustard
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1) Combine all the ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and continue simmering for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring frequently.

Homemade Taco Seasoning

I had a taste for my Creamy Taco Mac one day, but realized I didn't have the taco seasoning that it called for. So we had hot dogs instead :( Then I found this Taco Seasoning recipe from Annie's Eats. What a great idea! So I decided to make a batch in case I find the need again for some taco seasoning. Because, frankly, I'd hate to make a trip to the grocery store just to buy taco seasoning.

4 Tbsp. chili powder

3 Tbsp. ground cumin

3 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. paprika

1 Tbsp. plus 2 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

1) Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix until well incorporated. Store in an airtight container until ready to use.

*Two heaping tablespoons replaces a package of taco seasoning

**To make taco meat, cook 1 lb. of meat with taco seasoning and 1 cup of water. Simmer until liquid is almost completely evaporated.

Guava Jelly

Hubby and I always love taking back some Guava Jelly from Hawaii. We haven't been to a Hawaii in a while and I MISS not only Hawaii but Guava Jelly. Our neighbor has a guava tree and when the guavas are really ripe, our backyard smells of sweet guava that reminds me of guava jelly. I've always been tempted to just climb over and pick some sweet guava so I can make guava jellym but never get the nerve to do it. Well, yesterday, one of my co workers brought some guavas from her tree. Score! I can now finally make some. So off I went to look for a guava jelly recipe and found this one. I got home from a party today to the smell of guava in my house. The guavas I got yesterday were starting to over ripen, so I figured now was finally the time to make it. It came out pretty good. The recipe didn't really call for exact measurements, so I've modified the recipe a bit with my measurements. This'll definitely tie me over until our next trip to Hawaii.

4 1/2 cups quartered, ripe guavas

1 cup sugar

2 tsp. lemon juice

1) Boil guavas in 8 cups of water until softened. Remove guavas from the water. Push softened guavas through a sieve (you may have to mash it through with a spoon. You'll end up with approximately 2 cups of puree).

2) Mix guava puree with sugar and lemon juice. Return guava mixture to heat and cook until temperature of the mixture reaches 220-225 deg. F using a candy thermometer.

3) Pour guava mixture in a prepared mason jar. Skim off the foam that forms on the top. Cover and cool.

Cilantro Pepita dressing (Mexican Caesar Salad dressing)

After making my Tequila Lime Chicken and adding it to a salad, we used a store-bought Thousand Island dressing, which was all we had in the fridge. It tasted okay. But I thought to myself that a creamy cilantro dressing would go great with this salad. So after searching online for a cilantro dressing, I found this awesome recipe on CDKitchen. It turns out, this was also the recipe for El Torito's Mexican Caesar Salad dressing, which I had when we last visited there with my office. SCORE! That visit to El Torito left me with a very lasting impression. From there, I was inspired to learn how to make my Chile Verde. Now I learned to make their salad dressing.

I had to go to 2 different stores to buy all the ingredients for this dressing. They don't normally sell Pepita (or shelled Pumpkin seeds) at the grocery store, so I went to a local Mediterranean market to buy some. Going to the Mediterranean market is always an adventure for me because I find a lot of unique ingredients not normally found at the regular grocery store.

Anyway, this dressing was delicious! Very flavorful. My next conquest from the El Torito menu will probably be their sweet corn cake. We'll see how that goes. Hubby loved this one and said it was restaurant quality. So this will definitely make it on my regular rotation.

2 medium Anaheim chiles, roasted, peeled and seeded

1/3 cup roasted pumpkin seeds

2 garlic cloves, peeled

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cup oil (olive or vegetable)

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

5 Tbsp. Cotija cheese

2 small bunches of cilantro, stemmed

1 1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup water

1) In a blender or food processor, place all the ingredients except cilantro, mayonnaise and water. Blend for 10-15 seconds. Add cilantro a little at a time until blended smooth. Set aside.

2) In a stainless steel bowl, whisk together mayonnaise and water until smooth. Add the cilantro mixture into mayonnaise mixture and mix until well incorporated. Place in an airtight container and refrigerate until ready to use. Dressing will keep for about 3 days. Serve with chopped romaine lettuce, tomatoes, corn, avocado, crushed tortilla chips and crumbled cotija cheese.

Strawberry Jam

You know that summer is on its way when you head to the grocery store and you find that they start selling a lot of fruits. Watermelons, peaches, mangos, and STRAWBERRIES! I bought a huge box of strawberries at my favorite store, Costco, hoping that my daughter would love eating them as much as I do. Well, she didn't quite fancy them. Yet. But I'm working on that. In the meantime, I had a huge supply of unused strawberries that were beginning to over-ripen. So I had to find ways to use them up. I froze some of the good ones for use later on. The rest that were too soft to freeze, I decided to make jam with them.

I searched for ways to make them, and they were all pretty much the same. The hardest part of this recipe is finding fruit pectin. Where the heck am I going to find that??? Well, I did find it in the most unlikely places in the supermarket. Next to the fire logs, at the front of the supermarket, where I would never look. They also had the mason jars that you would use to store the jams. Perfect.

The recipe is a 1:1 ratio of sugar and fruit. If you don't like it too sweet, I suggest you lessen the sugar. Which is what I did.

4 cups whole strawberries (cleaned and stems removed)

4 cups sugar

1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1 Tbsp. (powdered) fruit pectin

1) In a food processor or blender, puree strawberries to your desired consistency. Place in a medium saucepan. Add sugar, lemon juice, and fruit pectin. Stir until well incorporated. Simmer on medium heat for 5-10 minutes.

2) Remove the whitish foam that forms on the top. Pour into warm, sterilized jars all the way to the top. Cover for 10 minutes. Invert the bottle on its lid until cooled. Store upright.

Argentinian Chimichurri sauce

I LOVE Argentine food. Especially the chimichurri sauce. I learned about this delicious sauce almost 10 years ago, when I would go to lunch with some of my co workers at an Argentine restaurant. They always served complimentary crusty, french bread to dip into their house chimichurri sauce. I always seem to fill up on the bread and sauce, that I can never finish my delicious main course. Anyway, I haven't been to that Argentine restaurant in a while, and I used to crave Chimichurri sauce, so I searched for the recipe and found so many different versions. And so I came up with this one and have been making it ever since. I have fresh parsley and oregano growing like crazy in my herb garden, so this is definitely a great recipe for them. This is a great marinade for chicken, pork or beef, and its definitely a great dip for bread or empanadas.

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup water

2 Tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped

3 large garlic cloves, minced

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper (1 tsp. if you like it spicy)

1 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. fresh oregano leaves, chopped

1/2 tsp. ground pepper

Combine all ingredients in a glass jar with a tight fitting lid. Let stand at room temperature for 24 hours

Basil Pesto Pasta

I've been dying to have a basil garden again. So after a long wait, we were finally able to plant some basil before the winter season started a couple of months ago. We also have parsley, Thai basil and oregano. Alas, because hubby's been busy with school, I haven't had time to care for my herb garden and haven't kept up with watering them. We've had a few good days of rain during these 2 months. Unfortunately, it isn't enough as the basil started withering. So before they become completely useless, I decided to hurry it up and find a way to use up all that basil.

I've never had pesto before but have been wanting to make it for a while, ever since I started growing herbs a few years back. But I never got around to it. I've seen it being made on TV and thought how easy it was. I found this pesto recipe and decided to make it for dinner tonight. It obviously goes great with pasta, but I could see this being used to dip a good crusty italian bread or used as a marinade. It smells insanely good. If you're not a huge garlic person, you can probably cut the garlic to only 1 clove. I also added a little salt and pepper to put a more flavor to it. This recipe received a "thumbs up" from hubby.

2 cups fresh basil
2 large garlic cloves
1/2 cup pine nuts or walnuts
3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
2/3 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

1) Place basil, garlic, walnuts and parmesan cheese in a food processor. Turn on machine and slowly pour in olive oil while machine is running. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with your favorite pasta.

Cilantro & Mint chutney

I've found that Samosas taste better with cilantro & mint chutney.

2 cups cilantro leaves
1 tsp. red chili flakes
2 cloves garlic
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
water
salt to taste

1) Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Add water a little at a time to get your desired consistency. Chutney will last 3-4 days in the refrigerator.

Pasta Bolognese

I love cooking pasta dishes. I especially love eating Spaghetti. Spaghetti was one of the first few dishes I started making when I was younger. Back then, my spaghetti sauce would always taste different every time I made it. I never had a recipe. Toss in a little bit of this, and a little bit of that, until it comes out to be something edible. I still do that sometimes, but I've gotten a little better at it. This recipe is like a spaghetti sauce, but has a few other extra ingredients. I like making huge batches of sauces so that I can put them in little sandwich bags and freeze them for a later use. Its a great time saver for a working mom like myself and in a rush for a home cooked meal. I use this sauce for spaghetti or any pasta, lasagna, baked ziti and moussaka. Its a really versatile sauce.

4 Tbsp. olive oil

4 Tbsp. butter

4 Tbsp. onion, finely chopped

4 Tbsp. celery, finely chopped

4 Tbsp. carrots, finely chopped

1 1/2 lb. ground turkey or beef

salt to taste

1 cup milk

3/4 cup white wine

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

2-28 oz cans of tomato sauce

3 Tbsp. sugar

1) Heat oil and butter in a deep stock pot in medium heat. Add onions, celery and carrots. Cook for about 2 minutes.

2) Add ground meat, making sure to break up any large pieces with a fork. Add salt to taste. Cook meat until it is no longer pink.

3) Carefully add wine and turn the heat up to medium high. Cook until wine has evaporated, stirring occasionally.

4) Turn the heat down to medium and add milk and nutmeg. Cook until milk has evaporated, stirring frequently. Add tomato sauce and cook until sauce begins to bubble. Add sugar. Turn the heat to low and simmer uncovered for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Add more salt during the simmer as needed. Serve over your favorite pasta.