book club dinner at iThai in san francisco

Just had another great meal at iThai in San Francisco!  iThai is one of our Book Club destinations when we don't feel like cooking--but want delicious dishes with super fresh ingredients.  Some of our favorites are the panfried chive dumplings, the crispy calamari (pictured above), larb salad,  BBQ chicken with cashews in a Thai country style glaze and wok-fried filet mignon with basil and peppers, all served with jasmine rice. Make a visit to the Post Street restaurant for many more great dishes.

tyler florence does the most delicious shrimp scampi with linquini

I had a craving for scampi with linguini and decided to make it for my book group.  The problem, finding the perfect recipe for a dish that has many subtle variations.  With great success from Tyler Florence's recipes in the past, I chose Tyler's Ultimate and it was fantastic.  The wine and lemon were the perfect amount of acidity and the shallot added extra depth to the flavors.  My slight change up--I made two pans of sauce so I could fully coat the shrimp in one and toss the linguini in the other. I plated the pasta and topped it with the prawns and extra sauce--yum!  So feel free to double up the sauce recipe and be sure to serve with a crispy, crusty garlic bread.  Makes 4 entree portions.

1 pound linguini

4 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling

1 large shallot, finely diced

5 cloves garlic, minced

Pinch red pepper flakes

24 large shrimp, peeled and deveined

Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

½ cup dry white wine

1 lemon, juiced

¼ cup finely chopped Italian parsley

Cook pasta in salted water for 6-8 minutes.  Drain and reserve 1 cup of cooking water.

In a large skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter in 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat.  Saute the shallots, garlic and red pepper flake until shallots soften, about 3 minutes.  Season the shrimp with salt and pepper, add them to the pan and cook until they have turned pink, about 2 minutes.  Remove from the pan and set aside.  Add wine and lemon juice and bring to a boil.  Add 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons oil.  Return shrimp, pasta and parsley to the pan along with reserved water.  Stir well, heat through and season with salt and pepper.  Drizzle with olive oil ( or extra sauce if you made it) and serve immediately.  Recipe courtesy of Tyler Florence

the valley of amazement and a recipe for pork wontons

To celebrate Amy Tan's latest book, The Valley of Amazement, I prepared some homemade Chinese food for the book group. The book is a non-stop read, spanning three generations of women whose lives and stories of love and loss intertwine from China to San Francisco and back. I prepared  my own version of cashew chicken, marinated thigh meat tossed with thinly sliced baby zucchini and onion, beef chow fun made with pappardelle and thinly sliced bok choy, and of course a hit at every party, crispy pork wontons.  You might think 48 pieces is more than enough, but guess what, ever bite disappears!

Pork Wonton Recipe:

1 lb fresh ground pork

1/3 cup chopped green onion
5-6 oz of water chestnuts, drained
2 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. corn starch
½ tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic chili paste
½ tsp fish sauce
1 tbsp. sesame oil
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp. minced garlic
1 egg, beaten
Vegetable oil
1 package wonton skins

In a small food processor, blend water chestnuts  and green onion till rough paste. In a mixing bowl, add all the other ingredients except the egg and oil.  Add the green onion mixture and mix well.  Cook a small piece of the meat mixture in the microwave to taste for seasoning—and add if needed.

Line a cookie sheet with wax paper or foil—spray with non-stick spray.  Lay out a wonton wrapper, moisten 2 sides with beaten egg, add tsp of pork filling, fold over, seal well and pull points of wonton up into a little U.  Place on cookie sheet and repeat.  Recipe will make 45-50 wontons.  You can cook them immediately or the wontons can be covered with foil and frozen on cookie sheets till ready to use.  Fry in a large Dutch oven or heavy pot in oil heated to 350 degrees till golden brown and serve with favorite sauces (hot mustard, sweet and sour sauce, garlic chili sauce, etc.)

To stack cookie sheets in a small freezer, use a couple of small bowls as risers.

 Frozen wontons go from the freezer directly into the fryer with no problem.

 

asian beef salad recipe

I had the book group over for dinner last week. We read a mystery, Dark Places by a new writer, Gillian Flynn.  Good book with a main character with enough head problems and issues to keep you wondering how it will end and it does have a little twist at the finish.  For two weeks prior to dinner I had been hooked on making different variations of one of my favorite meals, Asian salad, so I thought it appropriate to make one for my friends.  Some dim sum for appetizers from Dim Sum Bar right in the neighborhood, pomegranate and mango sorbet drizzled with vodka for dessert and it was a fresh and healthy July summer dinner.  Here is the recipe for the salad.  Serves 4-5.

1 head of savoy cabbage,  4-5 outer leaves reserved, 1 1/2 cups of cabbage shredded
2 cups of baby arugula leaves
2 cups of baby spinach
1 serrano chili, seeded and finely chopped
1/2 lb cooked spagetti, chilled
1 cup shredded carrot--long threads, if possible
4 green onions, chopped on the bias--reserve 2 tbl for garnish
1 cup fresh bean sprouts
3-4 tbl of Girard's spinach dressing--thanks Donna! This is good stuff--use it on a classic spinach and bacon salad, too.
2 lb top sirloin steak--longer is better than thicker
hoison sauce
salt and pepper
2 tbl crushed garlic
4-5 tbl vegetable oil

From the savoy cabbage, separate the 4-5 large outer leaves, clean, and save to be the base to place your salad. Slice and shred 1 1/2 cups of the cabbage and reserve. Marinate the steak in garlic and 2-3 tbl oil in a zip lock back in the refrigerator for an hour. Salt and pepper the steak and in a hot heavy skillet, add about 2 tbl of oil and cook steak about 4 minutes on each side (med rare).  Cover and let rest 10 minutes. Combine the rest of the ingredients up to the Girard's dressing, reserving 2 tbl of green onion for garnish.  Place a savoy cabbage leave in an oversized bowl or plate.  Arrange mixed salad on top.  Slice beef in thin slices, brush with hoison and place 3-4 on top of salad.  Garnish with reserved green onion. Enjoy!