Dabbling in Asian Flavors

 
When SHE and I got married she said she wondered how I didn’t get bored with eating the same  salad every day with lunch.  There are only so many ways to put together lettuce, spinach, carrots, tomato and cucumbers.  Well, the obvious reason is its essential to get ones vegetable servings for the day.  The other reason is it helps when you change it up every once in a while by trying a different salad dressing.


Now let’s back up a few years.  Once upon a time I was taking some gourmet cooking classes with a well known local chef.  I learned everything from making a awesome osso buco, to grilling game, to some pretty nice salad dressings.  I kept most of the recipes he handed out and have them all filed.  Recently, I’ve been on an Asian Flavors kick and, to be honest, I feel comfortable enough in the kitchen to experiment with existing recipes and am adventurous enough to be willing to fail.  Fortunately, this was NOT a fail. ;)


One of the ways I wooed HER was to make a big meal one night and this home made salad dressing was on the menu.  So I took that basic recipe, feeling confident enough, and Asian’ed it up.  I served it over pan seared firm tofu and a spinach salad.


Asian Onion Cilantro Vinagrette


    •    1 cup fresh lime juice
    •    1 cup Rice Wine Vinegar (the kind that says, “for salad dressings” on the label)
    •    1 cup Toasted Sesame Oil
    •    1 egg yolk
    •    1 bunch Cilantro
    •    2 bunches of green onions
    •    1 large shallot


Instructions:

1. Roughly Chop (or rip with your hands--much more fun) Cilantro and onions and place in blender
2. Add Lime Juice, Vinegar, shallot, and egg yolk
3. Blend on "high" until vegetation is well chopped.
4. Drizzle in Sesame oil slowly until it is all incorporated and emulsified into dressing.

Tips:
    •    If it separates in the fridge, try adding another egg yolk.  Or a little mustard powder.
    •    You can adjust the ratio of onions to cilantro back and forth according to taste.


Now, I know some people don’t much care for the taste of cilantro.  Some people even suffer from a rare disorder that makes cilantro taste like soap to them.  So feel free to adjust those ratios of onion and cilantro back and forth.  I make it every time I get the chance.  Try it.

Pho (Feed) a Fever and Starve a Cold?

Luckily, WebMd.com says the answer is NEVER to starve.  Whew!

I’ve always been the type of GUY who got sick slowly and was even slower to realize he WAS sick.  So it took me until at least Thursday to realize that I was sick having come down with a pretty good cough the previous Sunday.  The final clue?  Sweating like a pork rind under a heat lamp at my Wednesday night yoga class.  Some soup for the body and soul was just what the doctor ordered.

Having taken pity on me, SHE brought me home some pho (pronounced closer to fuh than fo) from Pho1 on McPhereson.  Pho is a Vietnamese soup consisting of anise infused beef broth served with a variety of vegetation and rice noodles and of course beef.  Usually.  Chicken and different cuts of beef are usually offered as well.  The broth is additionally infused with coriander, fennel, and cardamom.  Traditionally, the broth is served scaldingly hot and the cuts of beef are extra thin and raw as to cook quickly in the broth.  Health laws being what they are, the beef is served slightly blanched as to only need a minimal reheating in the not-really-scalding broth

The noodles were plentiful and the vegetation included onions, bean sprouts, and cilantro.  Hmmmm, is that thai basil???  I could have used plenty more cilantro in my take out box, but that’s a small quibble.  I believe the slices of beef numbered four and I definitely could have used more of that.  I sat at home and placed my take out container of broth into an appropriately large bowl to hold everything and let the microwave do its magic.  What came out was aromatically overpowering and I deeply enjoyed the garden fresh aromas that survived the “nuking” process.  Upon later contemplation, I think the way to go is to heat the broth to boiling in a pot, preferably.  Then, pour the hot broth into a bowl holding the veggies, noodles, and meat.  This will preserve even more the freshness of the other ingredients.


I slurped and sipped my noodles and broth over an entire evening of unwatched episodes of Whale Wars and two bottles of Longboard Lager.   One shot of nighttime cold medicine and ten hours of sleep later, Saturday morning was welcomed with a fresh outlook and renewed sense of well being.


The price for our 2 person dinner: $20 (no drinks included)


Pho 1 is located at 7511 McPherson Rd, Laredo, TX / Phone: (956) 523-0220


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Carne Asada anyone?

I heard rumors that a new place had opened in San Bernardo Avenue, and being Friday the perfect day to explore the city and its culinary offering we decided to look for this new restaurant, after some help from our smartphones we found it in the same plaza as TKO, the restaurant is called LA CARRETA...

Mexican music filled the air and the smell of carne asada was good enough to lure anybody inside.


There was a good amount of people (you almost never want to go into a restaurant that is empty at dinner time) and so we decided to go in. As soon as we did we saw all this fresh produce and wines.


The restaurant is nice and clean, and the Mexican theme is carried around thru the decoration. The servers were very friendly and took care of us at all times. For what they told us the restaurant has been open for around 4 months and the best time to be there is during the weekend when they have live music.

Now, let me tell you about the food!


We ordered a couple of beers (they do have a wine list) and guacamole to start, it was creamy and they serve it with your choice of  warm tortillas. You also have the traditional chips on the table that were a little bit on the greasy side.


I ordered a 'well done' Arrachera (the House Specialty) and HE ordered T-bone... let's just say we were very happy with our choices.  Everything comes with creamy guacamole and beans, the meat was soft and flavorful! We agreed that they might not have prime beef cuts but the cooks surely do an excellent job preparing the food. The kitchen, especially the grill is visible thru a pair of glass windows, so depending on were you sit you might be able to catch a glimpse. The atmosphere inside the kitchen atmosphere looked relaxed and fun and yet our food was served really fast.

The price for our 2 person dinner: $35 (not bad at all)


La Carreta is located at 4120 San Bernardo, Ste. D / Phone: 956-724-1000


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