Now I’m no stranger to Thai basil but I’ve never had it outside of typical Thai food, which is usually made with the sort of ingredients that are rarely found in my kitchen. Well, except for the obvious new bundle of Thai basil. Oh, and fish sauce. Must have that for truly delicious burgers.

I searched for Thai basil recipes on epicurious and stumbled across this one, which has enough crossover with what I happen to have on hand today (namely, onions, garlic, and chicken) to inspire what Wayne humbly calls “The Scrumdillyiciousness” and what I have more humbly dubbed Thai Basil Chicken Mess.

Serves two

Ingredients

• 1/2 pd of boneless chicken
• 10-12 sprigs of thai basil
• 8 cherry tomatoes or equivalent in regular tomatoes
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 onion
• 2 tbsps of fish sauce
• 1 small Carmen pepper, or equivalent
• cooking oil

Preparation

1. Chop the onions coarsely. Chop the pepper finely (and remove any seeds if you dislike even mildly spicy food). Remove the leaves from the basil sprigs and chop finely. Slice the garlic thinly. Cut the cherry tomatoes into quarters.
2. Add oil to frying pan along with the onion, pepper, basil, and garlic. Saute over a medium fire until onions start to turn translucent, stirring occasionally.
3. Slice the chicken in thin strips and add to the peppers and onions. Add fish sauce and tomatoes and saute until chicken is cooked through.
4. Serve as is or, over rice or orzo, as below. Bread and butter mandatory if you’re serving Midwesterners.

Postprandial Notes: This is a really nice blend of Asian and Italian. One of those dishes that came together perfectly and I’m sure I’ll never be able to replicate exactly again. As usual, it’s highly improvisable – regular basil could probably be substituted as could beef or pork strips, a spicer pepper, and more vegetables (perhaps bell peppers).

There have to be about a billion (almost typed a dillion – ha!) pickle recipes. I am pretty openminded about my pickles – I like most except really sweet bread and butter types. The pickling cucumbers were pretty big and looked like they’d already been off the vine for a few days so I decided to go with something simple with ingredients I already had on hand.

To be honest, the real challenge was finding a big enough container – I had just enough large enough pickles that they didn’t neatly fit into any of the jars I had on hand. After a 30 minute crash course study of cucumber volumes in various glass containers, I decided to use my ceramic nabe.

Ingredients

• 3 pounds-ish pickling Cucumbers
• 8 sprigs of fresh dill, chopped
• 5 fat cloves of garlic, sliced fine & slightly crushed
• 2 cups of vinegar
• 2 cups of water
• 2 tbsps of non-iodized salt

Preparation

1. Put pickles in a suitable storage container, ideally not metal or plastic. Chop the dill and slice the garlic and throw in container.
2. Mix water, vinegar, and salt in a bowl and whisk until salt is completely dissolved. Pour over cucumbers.
3. Close container and park in the back of the fridge for at least 2 weeks before eating.

The pickles about 15 days in. Sampling data was taken at this point and results compiled below.

Postprandial Notes: I used a mixture of apple cider and white wine vinegar for my first batch. They were received pretty well but they’re a bit on the sweet side for my taste. I think I’ll go with a different vinegar next time. I may throw some raw onions and mustard corns in as well. For a different opinion, let’s have a look at Wayne below.

In the famous words of some random kid, “He likes it! Hey Mikey!”

This is a pretty basic salsa recipe (adapted from this one I found on Epicurious and easily customizable to your favorite tomato type or heat tolerance. I used a combination of yellow and cherry tomatoes because that’s what I have on hand and I encourage you to experiment with your own favorite tomato/pepper combinations.

Ingredients

• 2 medium-sized tomatoes
• 1 cowhorn pepper
• 12-15 sprigs of cilantro
• 1 large garlic clove
• 1 small onion
• juice of a half a lemon
• Salt to taste

Preparation

1. Chop the tomatoes and onions and add them to a bowl. I chop them coarsely but, depending on your onion tolerability, you may want to chop them finely.
2. Chop the garlic, the pepper(s) and the cilantro finely and add to the onions and tomatoes. Add lemon juice and salt and stir till well blended.
3. For maximum raw onion kick, serve immediately. For maximum flavor blending, let the salsa sit covered overnight in the refrigerator.

Postprandial Notes: I also made a batch of guacamole, substituting a cowhorn for two jalapeños. Here it is slathered all over a freshly grilled burger. Yum.

One morning in late May, I woke up to find that someone had pilfered nearly all the sprigs from my baby thyme bush. All but two of its lovely 12cm springs had been surgically snipped right at the base of the plant. I checked over the other herbs but they had remained untouched – who, I wondered, had so brazenly helped themselves to my thyme?

My answer didn’t come until the next morning when noises outside my window broke my slumber. I sat upright and looked out the window just in time to see a grackle, perched on the edge of the thyme pot, close his beak around one of the remaining two sprigs and give a mighty tug.

“HEY!” I yelled, bolting out of bed towards the door, “Get offa my thyme!”

True to his thuggish nature, he gave me a quick once up and down before flying just far enough away so I couldn’t reach him. We locked eyes in a Mexican standoff – him alighted coolly on a branch, head tilted cockily to the side; me, arms akimbo, hands on hips, glaring from beneath a worried brow. He blinked slowly as if to say, “Eh, I’ll just wait until you go to work.” and flew off.

A little research on wikipedia revealed that male grackles often line their nests with fragrant herbs to attract potential mates. Last year, thyme was the AXE herb of choice for the local grackle population. It turns out that lady grackles grow just as bored with last year’s trends as their human counterparts. The thyme bush has been untouched in 2010 but the mint has been ruthlessly savaged.

So, if you’re stuck with a bunch of thyme on a hot day and want to make a nice refreshing salad that goes with with damn near everything, try this:

Ingredients

• 2 medium ripe tomatoes
• 2 medium-sized or 1 big fat cucumber
• 1 cup of cooked chickpeas, sans juice
• 2 tbsps of lemon juice
• 1 tsp of fresh thyme, chopped fine
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Chop the tomatoes and cucumbers into chickpea-sized bits. Remove thyme leaves from stems and chop finely. Toss in a bowl with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Serve immediately or chilled.

Postprandial Notes: The lemon juice has a nice, light flavor and the thyme gives it a little kick. If you wanted a more mediterranean flavor, you could substitute vinegar for the lemon juice and add a splash of olive oil. Chopped parsley instead of thyme or perhaps half and half with thyme might be a nice addition. Maybe some capers and possibly a few sliced black olives.

Ingredients

• 4 small potatoes (about kiwi-fruit sized)
• 1/2 a small onion
• 3 sprigs of dill, chopped fine
• 3 tbsps bouillon
• 1 tbsp meat fat or cooking oil, preferably vegetable
• salt & pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Rinse and dry potatoes. Without removing skin, chop into 1/2″ pieces. Peel and slice onion thinly. Place in a baking dish.
2. Chop dill sprigs finely. Sprinkle over potatoes and onions. Add bouillon, meat grease/cooking oil and mix until potatoes and onions are well-coated. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3. Turn on the broiler. Place baking pan on second highest oven rack and broil for 15-20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so.
4. Serve hot. Serves 2-3.

In this recipe, Hatch Green Chile Enchilada Sauce is playing the part of the “exotic import” sauce. I’ve been told that it’s a poor imitation of “REAL” New Mexico green chile sauce but it is the best I’ve found in a grocery store in DC. If you have access to locally made green chile sauce, I won’t begrudge you a chuckle at all.

That said, this is a quick recipe that requires minimal effort and yields excellent results. It reheats well too.

Ingredients

• 1 package of flour tortillas.
• 1/2 pound meat of choice – chicken is ideal but steak or ground beef works too
• 1 large onion
• 1 large bell pepper
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp cayenne (adjust to your liking)
• 1 can green chili sauce (if you’re in DC, Hatch is the way to go.)
• some oil for sauteing
• salt and pepper, to taste
• optional: cheddar cheese

Preparation

1. Cut the chicken or steak into thin strips. Peel the onion and cut into thin strips. Core and seed the pepper and cut into thin strips.
2. Add some oil to a saute or deep frying pan and heat. Saute onions for a minute until semi-transparent. Add meat and cook through. If using ground beef, be sure to break it up nicely.
3. Add half the can of green chili sauce, cayenne, and cumin. Salt and pepper to taste. Let simmer for 20 mins, or until sauce is thickened.
4. Preheat oven to 325°. Pour some green sauce into a 13×9 glass or baking dish. Spoon some of the cooked chicken & vegetable glop onto a tortilla and gently fold into a roll. You should be able to get 6-8 enchiladas into the dish. Pour the remaining sauce over the enchiladas. If you desire cheese, lay some slices of cheddar cheese on top of the enchiladas.
5. Place dish in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve hot. Lift gently out of the tray with a spatula, or if ya like your enchiladas sloppy, just scoop whatever you can get out and slop it on the plate.

Side note: I’ve been on the prowl for good, fresh handmade tortillas (preferably around Adams Morgan) – do you have a recommendation? If so, please post it in the comments.

Share →

]]>