Fresh Ginger

Living with someone who works at a library allows us a multitude of cook books.  We have about 14 of them borrowed right now.  So, we are trying to just pull something from each of them to try.  It is a cook the book week of sorts. My sweetie pie has sudden inspiration after perusing through Martin Yan’s and Ming Tsai’s books.  So, we are pausing for some extra Asian this week – no problem by me!  He picked out over half of this weeks menus and several for next week too.  I love looking at the books for inspiration, as a guideline for recipes and to get new ideas.  He is a recipe follower.  My dishes sometimes don’t turn out, but his generally do.  As I type this he is working on this evening’s meal.  It is a nice change of pace.

This week’s ingredient is peppers and is hosted by Cheryl of Gluten Free Goodness.  I think with all the Asian food we have planned this week that we will probably see peppers most days.  Make sure you click on over to Cheryl’s blog and check out all the recipes.  You can see what is ripe in her garden too.

Sunday:  Asian fusion

Salmon rubbed with a spiced, smoked tea rub (using Ming’s recipe for the rub), Thai salad with cucumbers, cilantro, mint and crisp shallots, lemon scallion rice, oh and we made a fried squid app with rice flour and sweet chile garlic dipping sauce.

Monday:Asian fusion but still grilling out for the holiday

Lunch: spicy crab cakes from Ming Tsai

Dinner: Hoisin and lime marinated country ribs, glazed leeks with vinegar sauce (both from Ming Tsai), pork and tofu pillows (app from Martin Yan) and I am insisting on potato salad even though it is not Asian.  A nice dill, onion, vinegar and oil dressing for the potatoes.  I was just called in to taste (devour) the pillows and they were amazing and light.  We dipped them in garlic chile sauce.  We did snatch a brief photo to tempt you.  But since they are now ready to grill and I am still typing, I am way behind on my potato salad and will post photos later.

Tuesday: Mexican (Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen)

Red chile braised chicken with potatoes and greens (both from the garden)

Wednesday:  Vietnamese

Bun Rieu or crab soup with tofu and rice noodles – lots of peppers in this one!  My sweetie insisted that he was in a tofu mood this week and we had to get two packages – he loves tofu, but not mushrooms and to me the textures are very similar – but at least he loves tofu.

Thursday: Cajun

Jambalaya with andouille sausage and loads of peppers over rice.

Friday: Indian

Lamb Korma and spiced potatoes from The Spice Trail.

Happy Labor Day!

i’m out