Summery Vietnamese Noms Part 1: Chả cá

Our first meal in Hanoi

This week's 87 degree weather officially made Washington the hottest state in the nation which makes us only want to tell the weathermen to shut up so no one else moves up here and screws up traffic even further.

When it's warm, I like to eat something summery, fresh and cool. And from my last post, perhaps I have to eat something healthy.

Behold! Chả cá La Vong - also known as Vietnamese Tumeric fish with dill

We had some at the place in Hanoi where they charge at least six times as much as any other place because they are known for it. If you're in Hanoi, have some at either Chả cá La Vong or Chả cá Thanh Long which are the two most famous spots to grab this specialty.

The famous place... unassuming I know...

You cook it at your table in Vietnam

 

I've been making this dish a lot because it's really simple. In Ann terms, that means I can now make it without use of a measuring cup. It's a good eyeball recipe but I'll include some measurements for you.

 You need:

Fish & marinade:

• 1 lb of white fish (traditionally, we use catfish but I've been mostly using sustainably caught cod. Any flaky white fish like cod, halibut or tilapia works)
• 1 tablespoons of tumeric
• 1/2 tablespoon of ginger powder (or galangal if you have it)
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 1 clove minced shallots
• 1/2 tablespoon salt
• 1/2 tablespoon of sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon of fish sauce (nuoc mam)
• Enough olive oil to coat the fish - about 1/4 cup but use more or less, depending upon your preference

Mix the ingredients sans fish in a big bowl until you have what looks like a thick yellow, chunky oil. If you're lazy with the mincing, you can just toss everything without the fish in a food processor.
Slice the fish in smaller portions; 2-3 oz cuts. Add the fish to the marinade and make sure everything is well combined but be careful not to mush the fish. Put it in the fridge and let it sit for a minimum of one hour but you can also let it sit longer or overnight in the fridge.

Everything else:

• One onion - either red onion or sweet onion, sliced into half moons
• A small bunch of green onions. Whites chopped in small rings, and dark green part chopped in wide rings
• A bunch of fresh dill, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup dry-roasted unsalted peanuts, very slightly crushed
• A box of vermicelli noodles (bún) - boiled and drained. (If you're eating healthy, I found brown rice maifun noodles from Whole Foods which are pretty yummy. If you're eating paleo, you can use zucchini noodles, kelp noodles or any substitute.)
• Accompanying herbs: cilantro, mint, Thai basil, tia to

Nước chấm/dressing

• 4 tablespoons cup nước mắm (fish sauce) but adjust to taste
• 1/2 cup hot water
• Juice of two limes
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1-2 small garlic cloves, finely minced
• 1-2 tablespoons of mirin or rice vinegar
• Chili garlic sauce or Sambal Oelek, to taste (not the same as Sriracha - it's a chunky cousin but still the Huy Fong rooster brand)              

Dissolve sugar with the hot water, add the rest of the ingredients and mix. Taste it and see if you'd like it spicier or fishier or more vinergary. Set aside.
.

Saute the onions in a large pan until they're soft and throw in the whites and the light green parts of the green onions. Add the fish and gently sear according to the thickness of the fish until you get a nice sear and the fish is cooked through but be careful not to overcook the fish. You want it to have a nice sear on the outside but still be soft on the inside. This is about 2-3 minutes on the first side and another 2 minutes once you flip the fish if you're using small portions of cod. Once you plate the fish, sprinkle generously with the dill, sprinkle the remaining green onion and roasted peanuts. Serve with noodles, herbs on the side and nước chấm. People can add as many herbs and sprinkle as much dressing as they'd like.

The finished product

Notes:

• I like freshly roasting the peanuts a bit because you get better flavor from the nuts. You can just stick them in the oven for a bit or move them around in a hot pan for a few seconds.
• Some places (like Cha Ca La Vong) serves the fish cooked in the oil at the table or on a sizzling plate. This recipe uses a fajita platter so the dish is sizzling when it comes to you. I don't have a fajita platter or else I would have done the same.
• You can also serve this dish and the nước chấm with quick pickled shredded carrots and daikon (or use jicama if you can't find daikon).
• If you're eating paleo or trying to forgo sugar, you can skip it in the marinade. You might be able to use a little bit of sugar alternative like an agave syrup in the nuoc cham or splenda but try it out first to see if it tastes metallic or not. You can add additional rice vinegar and it might taste fine without any sweetener.
• Traditionally this dish is served with a fermented shrimp paste but it's incredibly pungent and most people cannot take it. See this recipe if you want to try the shrimpy version.
• I also made the dish and wrapped them in rice paper wrappers for a summer roll version of the dish. It was super delicious!

Cooked @ your table in Hanoi

So I guess we're supposed to eat better now...

I guess I have to stuff myself into a wedding dress at some point so I started boot camp, hot yoga and running again. All of that work is nullified if you aren't eating healthy foods either. Damn.

But I swear this blog won't get boring.

I made a super simple and refreshing dish last night for dinner that can be tasty, healthy and for you crazy people, gluten free and paleo.

Zucchini Noodles

This is so ridiculous easy to make, you'll have no excuses not to cook at home.

Bring a pot of water to a boil; salt it if you'd like.

Take a zucchini and simply strip it with a vegetable peeler or a mandolin lengthwise until you get thin strips of zucchini. It's easy to peel on one side, then flip it over, peel the other side and simply switch back and forth until you can't peel anymore. It will look like this:

You might not be able to peel all of the zucchini when it gets too thin in the middle; it's ok. Just leave the center bit for now.

Add to the pot of water like you would pasta but only cook it for 1-2 minutes so it's only a little tender. Drain and rinse in cold water to prevent the zucchini from continuing to cook. You can also do the same with orange sweet potatoes but sweet potatoes tend to break down more quickly and get soggy/mushier a little more easily.

If you want to be fancy, you can get a spiral vegetable cutter like this one but a vegetable peeler works well too.

You can serve the zucchini with any sauce you'd like or dress it up with a pesto:

Pesto, chimichurri or stuff you throw into a food processor

Pesto is ridiculously easy to make and I don't use a recipe or measure anything. You sort of throw things into a food processor and taste it.

If you buy a big package of basil, just throw the leaves in a food processor along with some extra virgin olive oil, a clove or two or garlic, a dash of salt and pepper and a handful of nuts. Traditionally, pesto is made with pinenuts but you can also use walnuts or almonds or whatever is on hand. If you're not eating paleo, shave a bunch of parmesan or romano in as well.

Let it go in the food processor until it resembles pesto. Taste it and see if it needs a little more salt or nuts or garlic you'd like a nuttier or more garlicky pesto.

You can even throw in the zucchini centers you couldn't slice and make a zucchini pesto.

A chimichurri is essentially an Argentinean pesto. Instead of basil, you'd blend parsley, garlic, oregano, olive oil, a dash of vinegar, salt and pepper and red chili flakes.

Play around with whatever herbs and veggies you have in your house to make your own pesto. I'll next try an Asian-inspired one with cilantro, peanuts, a dash of fish sauce and chili flakes.



YUMMY!

I tossed the zucchini noodles with a pesto I made with basil and almonds. It would have been paleo if I didn't shave parmesan in as well. This can be used as a pasta replacement for a main dish along with a protein or you can use it as a good picnic side dish or even a starter salad.

Happy healthy eating!

Baking with Booze

Incorporating alcohol into one's cooking and baking can make you seem like a lush... or it can be awesome! I am famous for my top-shelf jello shots but I also like baking boozy cakes and cupcakes. Baking also seems daunting and time consuming but it can be just as easy to bake from scratch or modify a mix as it is to bake straight from a cake mix; it just happens to be more delicious, fresher and better for you. I'm more of a savory cook than a baker or pastry chef so these recipes are easy enough for any dude to don an apron and bake away. Feel free to sip on any extra alcohol as you bake.

Chocolate Stout Cake

This is one of my favorites that I make for St. Patrick's day every year - although this cake is a delicious way to indulge any time of the year. I use this amazing recipe which has been foolproof each time. It results in an irresistibly moist, rich and decadent cupcake without being too sweet. Recipe notes:

• I've made it in the past using only whole-wheat flour which usually makes it denser and poundcake-like. If you want this cake to be on the lighter or fluffier side, you can use cake flour or use half all purpose and half cake flour.
• I subsitute sour cream with Greek yogurt because I eat a lot of Greek Yogurt.
• My favorite beer so far is Young's Double Chocolate Stout. It works really well and has a great and smooth chocolatey finish. I love Guinness but I didn't think it tasted as good and I've tried other Oatmeal Stouts and most recently, a Cappucino Stout but Young's has still been the best.
• This recipe makes A LOT of batter. It will easily make four dozen cupcakes or a bundt cake and two dozen cupcakes so unless you want to make a layered cake like in the recipe, you'll want to half the recipe.
• If you make a bundt cake, I use the slighty cooled chocolate ganache icing as an icing drizzle over the cake. This year, I drizzled the icing over the cupcakes, then frosted them with a Bailey's frosting using a modified version of this recipe. I added some cream cheese to the frosting because I like the richer taste and texture you get instead of only using butter.

Miracle Margarita Flan Cake

This cake is also incredibly delicious yet deceptively simple. You would think a fancy baker made it but you can enjoy it for Cinco de Mayo along with some margaritas or micheladas. I got the recipe from a great margarita cocktail book I got for my 21st birthday but I also found the recipe online here. It combines two delicious desserts - a caramelly rich flan with a coconut yellow cake - but tastes like a glorious margarita. Making this cake is like pure magic; it makes you seem like a fancy and skilled pastry chef but requires the skill of a drunken frat boy. And if you're taking swigs from the tequila bottle as you're baking, that may very well be you.
Go bake. It will be a fun and delicious alternate way to consume alcohol. If you're further interested in baking with booze, I recommend this book which my cousin Jennifer so generously bestowed upon me one Christmas. My dad isn't much of a dessert person so for his birthday one year, I made him a cake incorporating some of his favorite things: beer and nuts. He adored it and its hefeweizen icing goodness.

I said YES to many things at Willows Inn

Sometimes you enjoy a tremendous meal and it goes down in your head and on your tastebuds as one of the most memorable experiences of your life. We had such an experience this weekend that was a little more special than just the food... more about that later...

I bought Nick a new pair of skis this past Christmas and he got me a Willows Inn reservation. We had both been dying to eat at this raved-about restaurant and Nick knows that I prefer experiences over material presents.

We started with a couple of old fashioned cocktails which they make with a hint of walnut while we enjoyed the sunshine and view before heading into dinner. Willows Inn does a six course fixed dinner that seems to proceed endlessly because you are regaled with a ton of snacks and bites before and in between courses. Servers poured champagne glassed filled with local fresh, sparkling apple cider which was a crisp palate cleanser. Then a pretty wooden box was set before us which contained sunflower root baked slowly with locally foraged lichens and mosses to help impart additional earthy and smoky flavors. The root's texture was a little reminiscent of Vietnamese candied yams but its center was soft and rich like a roasted eggplant. The second bite was a crisp crepe surrounding a salty and sweet burst of cream and salmon roe brightened up with chives. Then we were served a slab of stone with something that looked like it was plucked from the woods; toasted kale with black truffles and rye. While it looked like fungus growing on a dried leaf, the kale chip was a heavenly salty crisp that could have perfectly accompanied a cold beer and some Sunday night football.

Oysters on river rocks frozen in water in a dish. Elegant & beautiful.

The next snack had a gorgeous presentation: a pickled oyster sprinkled with sorrel. Nick usually doesn't love oysters like I do but this was soft and creamy with a hint of the ocean and herbs without tasting murky. Keeping with the delicate shellfish theme, the next bite was a weathervane scallop in dill milk served with herbs that imparted a grassy flavor. We delighted in the campfire taste of fire-roasted shitakes that were impossibly juicy and smoky before getting served the most complex and buttery chardonnay from Walla Walla to kick off our actual courses.

Weathervane scallop with dill and milk.

The first course was a dish of organic ancient grains bound in watercress and dotted with geoduck. the dish was as bright as its springy kelly green color; the flavors were herbaceous, fragrant and light while the geoduck imparted a slightly salty chewiness.

It looks like rabbit food but it's delicious.

Then Nick nearly doubled over from an in-between course snack: salmon smoked over green alder. This simple piece was just lightly smoked to impart a delicate caramelly sweetness but balanced so it still retained a soft texture without being too dried out. It was amazing and in Nick's words, "Best piece of salmon I've ever had."

Perfectly, lightly smoked salmon caugh just off the island in reefnets.

We were then served a Poet's Leap riesling with crisp apple flavors along with the most delicious buttery wild onions, caramelized local mussels and toasted breadcrumbs. I was to try to emulate those onions at home... need to experiment. After that, we were served another simple and fantastic snack.: A loaf of whole wheat and rye bread with a sourdough started demonstrated expert baking with a crispy crust and an amazing light chewy and melt-in-your-mouth center served with salted sweet churned butter and a dish of herbed chicken drippings for Nick and onion boullion for myself. Bread can be the most simple and amazing thing and we were excited to devour this loaf.

Our next wine pairing was a bordeaux blend that was slightly sweet with a soft fruity finish that accompanied Lummi Island stewed stinging nettles with fresh milk cheese and magenta salmonberry shoots. The cheese was like a rich milky panna cotta and the dish was bright and floral with the stewed nettles that hinted faintly of a grassier spinach.

Those salmonberry flowers are all over the island.

We got a crunchy snack of halibut skin served with razor clams dusted with seaweed powder. It was reminiscent of a puffed Asian shrimp chip except it was sprinkled with chewy clams.
Our last savory course was served with the most berry and jammy pinot noir from the Willamette valley that was fragrant with a lingering marionberry finish. It wasn't too heavy and paired well with a sablefish served with trumpet mushrooms. They gave us what looked like a dragonglass dagger; it was a rock arrowhead type knife with a deer antler handle and was bound by deer sinew. It was certainly the most rustic cutting utensil I have ever used. The fish was rich, buttery and almost woody with a slight sear but barely cooked so it still melted in your mouth. The chewy mushrooms made this a great amalgamation of earth meets sea umami.

We cleansed our palates with a soft and fresh sheepsmilk frozen yogurt served in wheatgrass and dill. This tasted like the farm in a fresh and grassy way that is hard to put to words with my somewhat poor food vocabulary. It honestly tasted like cartwheels in a field on a bright summer's day.

We had a dessert riesling that was sweet, syrupy with honey tones but it was hard to finish the glass. I was focused on dessert of sweet potatoes served with whipped cream, a fresh melted marshmallow, pine and crunch from sugar and nut crumbles. The pine leant it a uniquely sweet and earthy flavor profile that was piney without tasting like Pine Sol. Then we topped off the most fabulous meal with flax caramels!

This meal ranked among my top meals of all time, if not the top. I've eaten at some of the most delicious and award-winning spots around but what made this restaurant a standout is what they do with fresh and hyper local ingredients. It was all healthy, hearty and absolutely Pacific Northwest fare without being gimmicky, using molecular gastronomy tricks or pulling out the stops with needless ornateness. It was as if Chef Blaine Wetzel woke up, made a fire, got the smoker going, rummaged through the garden, caught some fish and thought - I'll just throw this stuff together for dinner. Obviously it's much more meticulous and well-crafted than that, but we took a stroll around the island and noticed that there were little farms everywhere - goats, fresh egg signs, cows - as well as fishermen a few hundred yards away. We noticed salmonberry blossoms from dinner all around. There was an abundance of great produce and ingredients all around us on that island, which were carefully showcased for us in simple and delicious ways.

Another reason why this dinner was so memorable was just hours before while we were walking along a private beach, Nick got down on a knee and asked me to marry him. And I said yes.

 

 

The rest is just gratuitous food porn and includes our breakfast the next day. Enjoy. 

Baked sunflower root with lickens and mosses.

Picked oysters!

Kale chip

Crepe with salmon roe and chives

More kale chip - see why it looks like leaf litter?

Someone is excited for his oyster

Fire-smoked shitakes.

Course one. Simple, delicious, healthy.

Best. Salmon. Ever.

Smoke mussels with that amazing wild onion.

Bread porn.

More bread porn - a piece with butter and dipped in the bouillon.

Bright and delicious fresh cheese over stewed nettles.

Halibut skin chip.

Sablefish with trumpet shrooms.

Cartwheels barefoot in grass on a summer's afternoon. Seriously.

Dessert - sweet potatoes.

Flaxseed caramels.

Breakfast at Willows Inn... worth waking up early for!

Homemade granola over fresh yogurt.

Freshly baked rye bread crisp with salmon, dill and cream.

Poached eggs with creamed spinach and mushrooms

Ham. Nuff said.

Homemade english muffins.

Brekkie of champions.