[Sca-cooks] Dinner last night (long, OP)

[Michael Gunter]

Y'know, being a cook can sometimes be a bit like being Dr. Frankenstein.

Case in point, the other night one of my roommates calls and asks if I know
how to make Thai Chicken/Coconut soup. Not really but I'm willing to give
it a shot.

Well, you can't just have soup for dinner. I had to build a whole menu up.
And, considering that I would be visiting my local ethnic markets for much
of the fixins it may as well be an international dinner. Unfortunately one 
of
my roomie's mother and brother also arrived. They are from the Eastern
part of Texas and not known for adventurous dining habits. Okay, well,
time to hit the internet and see what I can find.

For one thing I found several dozen recipes for the Chicken/coconut soup.
None of them the same. And I have no idea just which recipe the restaurant
that Miguel attends uses. Joy.

Then, for some reason, mainly because I visisted a Fiesta market the meal 
went
from Thai to Mexican. After bouncing around the internet for assorted 
recipes
I went to the Fiesta armed with a shopping list and the gleam of 
experimentation
in my eye. My squire, who mainly eats pizza and tacos, went with me looking 
pale.

I picked up some chicken thigh quarters, breasts, red snapper filets, lemon 
grass,
banana leaves, green mole, rice, lentils, onions, garlic, jalapenos, 
haberneros, anchiote
paste, fruit empanadas, tres leches cake, roma tomatoes, coconut milk, 
chicken stock,
limes, and fish sauce.

Armed with this I went home and decided to play Dr. Frankenstein. The first 
thing I
did was make an anchiote marinade for the snapper. I took the package of 
anchiote
paste (this is made from peppers and spices and vinegar and smells 
wonderful!) and
mixed it with lemon and orange juices until it was a smooth sauce. Then 
painted it
onto the red snapper fillets and stuck them in the fridge to marinate for a 
couple of
hours.

The second project was the roasted habenero sauce. Since there were a couple 
of
more delicate tastes in the party I only used one babenero and three 
jalapenos. I pan
roasted the peppers until they had blackened and then pan roasted the 
tomatoes. Heh.
This proved to be unpopular as the fumes kept everyone coughing and 
sniffling. I then
put the seeded and roasted peppers with the tomatoes, some water and salt 
into
the food processor and blended until smooth. One small occurance was when I 
reached
into the salsa to check the consistancy and nicked my finger on a blade. The 
nick
didn't hurt much. The pepper juices in the nick....did.

After several inventive bad words I was ready to continue. I browned the 
chicken and
then added the green mole sauce and just let it simmer happily on the back 
burner for
a couple of hours. Easy and wonderful.

I put on the lentils to boil and then attacked the soup.
There are so many different ways of preparing this soup and methods for 
cooking it I just
said to hell with it and made it up on my own. I poured chicken stock into a 
saucepan and
then added the split lemongrass, ginger, onions, fish sauce, lime juice and 
coconut milk.
Once it started simmering I added the chunked chicken breast.  I tasted it 
and added a
tablespoon or so of sugar and then just let it simmer. Miguel was a little 
disappointed it
wasn't pink like at his restaurant but I have no idea what the hell recipe 
they use.

Once the lentils were done I sauteed some onions, garlic, a bit of the 
roasted jalapeno I
had left over and carrots. Added them to the drained lentils and made a 
dressing of
toasted sesame oil, truffle oil and red wine vinegar. Throw that in the 
fridge and it's
done.

Once the rice was boiling it was time for the fish.
Okay. This is something that looks good in theory but you wonder about the 
execution.
Now, Rick Bayless made this look easy so it should be. I took the banana 
leaves and soaked
them in boiling water. Then had the grill set to medium. I laid the leaves 
on the grill and
then placed the fish right on top. Close the grill and let cook for 10 
minutes.
When the grill was opened there was burned banana leaves everywhere. But the 
fish
was perfect. I'm not sure if that is what Rick intended but the fish didn't 
burn through
and the leaves didn't stick to the grill.

The end result was that everything was wonderful. I'm a pretty harsh judge 
of my
cooking and I'm happy with the results. The roasted haberno salsa was hot 
but not
overpowering and brought out the flavors of everything. The soup was very 
good. Not
like any Thai chicken coconut soup I've had, but wonderful anyway. The fish 
was perfectly
cooked, not dry or underdone and the anchiote marinade with the salsa was a 
perfect
compliment.

None of us ate the empanadas or tres leches cake because we flat didn't have 
room.

This was the first time I've really tried some of these different ethnic 
recipes and am eager
to try more.

Yers,

Gunthar

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