I’ve told you before, but I will mention it again, I am a big fan of hard boiled eggs. They are so simple to make and provide a quick energy boost when you have a busy schedule. I have been hooked on the 8 minute eggs, but then again I am always thinking of other creative ideas such as these Son-in-Law eggs. If you have never heard of Son-in-Law eggs, don’t worry, that’s why I am here to tell you about them, and after you make them, you can thank me. Trust me, these are wickedly awesome.
I’m not too sure of the naming of this recipe, but it probably has something to do with having a man’s mother-in-law inflict a bit of fear into the man, that if you do not treat her daughter with respect and love, well, she will indeed inflect some fear into you and well, you probably get the point. But there is something beyond this, and something so amazing about the combination of flavor and texture that really makes this dish shine.
This is a perfect use of hard boiled eggs, and believe it or not, the eggs are deep fried. Yep, deep fried. Who would have thought?
The sauce has this great sourness and spice that when paired with the creamy deep fried egg and shallots, just blows ones mind. Again, trust me. You will probably want to use the sauce on things like fried chicken or fish. It’s awesome.
Let’s get started.
Ingredients:
3 whole eggs, cooked to your hard boil liking (I go with 8 minutes for a creamy, yet set yolk)
1 tbsp cooking oil
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp palm sugar (you could use light brown sugar as well)
4 tbsp tamarind sauce
1 clove garlic, grated
1 Thai chili pepper, smashed
1 pinch of chili flakes
3 cups of cooking oil for deep frying
1 large shallot, thinly sliced
1 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
Start by making your sauce.
Add the one tablespoon of cooking oil to a small pot. Bring to medium heat, then add in your garlic. Cook for about a minute, then toss in the fish sauce, palm sugar, tamarind, and chili pepper. Cook for a couple of minutes, then remove from the heat and set it to the side.
Peel your hard boiled eggs.
Heat another pot with the cooking oil on medium heat. After a few minutes, add in the thinly sliced shallots, and cook for about 5 minutes or so, until they are lightly browned and crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon and set them on to some paper towel to drain.
Bring the oil back to about 350 degrees, then carefully add the peeled hard boiled eggs. Cook for about 8 minutes or so, until they are lightly browned. You can go longer if you want, but I always think they are going to explode. Once lightly browned, remove with the slotted spoon and let them drain on the paper towel, lightly patting.
Slice the eggs in half and add them to a serving plate. Shower the eggs with the fried shallots, then pour the sauce over the eggs. Shower with fresh cilantro and dig in. Feel free to serve with cooked jasmine rice if you desire.
Again, the flavor combination is out of this world. Thai food at it’s best in terms of texture, and flavor. Hope you enjoy!
I’m a huge fan of larb. Often referred to as laab, larb, laap, or lahp, it is a minced meat dish that can utilize chicken, pork, beef, or heck, even shrimp for all I know. The real key to larb is the combination of the ingredients that really make this dish shine. You get fresh herbs, toasted rice, and shallots, chilies, and lime that when brought together gets you wanting more, and more. Larb could possibly be one of my favorite dishes to eat along with Thai sticky rice. My kids are a big fans of larb as well, and when I make it for them, I typically leave out the fresh chilies and serve them on the side. This past week I made a fairly big batch of larb and had plenty of leftovers. That’s when it came to me, well it came to me as I was looking at the leftover larb and grated cheddar cheese in the refrigerator that I would make a larb quesadilla. It was awesome.
Get started by making your favorite larb.
Ingredients:
1 tbsp canola oil
1 lb of ground chicken
2 shallots, minced (approximately 3 tbsp)
1/2 cup of fresh mint leaves, chopped
1/3 cup of toasted rice powder
2-5 Thai chile peppers, minced
3 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 tbsp palm sugar, or regular sugar
1/2 cup roasted peanuts (optional)
1 whole lime, juiced
2 flour tortillas
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
Begin by adding the oil to a large skillet and warm it to a medium, high heat. Once the oil is heated, add the ground chicken and begin cooking until it is fully cooked. This is will take about 10 to 15 minutes.
During this time, prepare the remaining ingredients. If you have never toasted rice before, add about 1/2 cup of rice to a dry skillet. Bring it to medium heat, and give it a good shake about every 2-3 minutes. Your goal is to brown the rice, and once brown, add it to a coffee grinder to make into a course powder.
Once the chicken is fully cooked, make sure you break it all up with a wooden spoon as you do not want any clumps. Drain off any excess water from the chicken, then add the chicken to a mixing bowl.
Add in all of the remaining ingredients, and give it a good mix. If you are serving kids, I would suggest removing the chile peppers from this recipe, or divide the mixture before adding the chile peppers. I would recommend 1-2 chile peppers for the mild at heart, and 3-4 chile peppers for those that love the heat. Regardless if it is one chile or four, the balance is perfect.
To make the quesadilla, add a flour tortilla to the bottom of a skillet, and keep on medium heat.
Add 1/2 cup of the cheddar cheese to the tortilla. Add about 1 cup of the larb on top of the cheese. Top with remaining cheese, and place the second tortilla on top. Lightly press. Cook for a few minutes, or until the tortilla lightly chars. You should be able to smell it, if not, lift with a spatula to check. Flip over, and cook on the remaining side, for another few minutes.
Remove, and slice, or eat whole, you’re call.
This larb quesadilla was was ridiculously good. It had everything you love in a classic quesadilla, but elevated with great Thai flavors. Give this one a shot, and let me know what you think. Hope you enjoy!
Begin by adding the oil to a large skillet and warm it to a medium, high heat. Once the oil is heated, add the ground chicken and begin cooking until it is fully cooked. This is will take about 10 to 15 minutes.
During this time, prepare the remaining ingredients. If you have never toasted rice before, add about ½ cup of rice to a dry skillet. Bring it to medium heat, and give it a good shake about every 2-3 minutes. Your goal is to brown the rice, and once brown, add it to a coffee grinder to make into a course powder.
Once the chicken is fully cooked, make sure you break it all up with a wooden spoon as you do not want any clumps. Drain off any excess water from the chicken, then add the chicken to a mixing bowl.
Add in all of the remaining ingredients, and give it a good mix. If you are serving kids, I would suggest removing the chile peppers from this recipe, or divide the mixture before adding the chile peppers. I would recommend 1-2 chile peppers for the mild at heart, and 3-4 chile peppers for those that love the heat. Regardless if it is one chile or four, the balance is perfect.
To make the quesadilla, add a flour tortilla to the bottom of a skillet, and keep on medium heat.
Add ½ cup of the cheddar cheese to the tortilla. Add about 1 cup of the larb on top of the cheese. Top with remaining cheese, and place the second tortilla on top. Lightly press. Cook for a few minutes, or until the tortilla lightly chars. You should be able to smell it, if not, lift with a spatula to check. Flip over, and cook on the remaining side, for another few minutes.
My wife and I are big fans of hummus. Typically I make a batch every few weeks or so, so that we can take some to work to snack on, or have some when we come home from work as a quick dip for chips for vegetables. My standard is the classic. A bit of garlic, chickpeas, lots of tahini, and a bit of lemon juice, salt, and cold water. But there are times when I go off that beaten path and do something a bit different, as in this case. I wanted to use some leftover sun dried tomatoes, and what better than to put them into hummus and ‘kick it up a notch’ as the good Emeril Lagasse once said.
The base remains the same, however the addition of the sun dried tomatoes really adds a nice depth of flavor.
Let’s get started.
15 oz can, chickpeas, rinsed and drained
4 cups water
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons tahini
4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes
6 1/2 tablespoons ice cold water
Salt, to taste
Add the chickpeas to a pot, and cover with water. Bring to a simmer, and cook for about 15 minutes. Drain, and add them to a food processor.
Add the tahini to the food processor, along with the garlic, lemon juice, salt, and sun dried tomatoes. Turn on the processor and build a nice, smooth consistency. Drizzle in the ice water as you continue to process. It should be nice and smooth. Taste, and adjust any salt to your liking.
Simple, easy, and delicious. Who doesn’t love that, right? Hope you enjoy!
This past week, a couple of my colleagues and I took a nice long walk to a local pizza place that we love near work. Sal’s Pizza to be exact. We typically head there for a slice (or two), but on occasion we will take on one of their stromboli’s. These things are awesome, and they make a really great stromboli. I’ll admit theirs can probably feed a family of three, and you can load it how you want it. The result is a perfectly crisp and garlic butter exterior, loaded with your favorite pizza toppings, and then a bowl of marinara served on the side. It’s genius, and I love them. But that got me thinking, while conversing with my coworkers, and the topic came about regarding the endless stuffing’s you could come up with, and that led me to making a loaded breakfast stromboli.
I’m a big fan of utilizing leftovers so this breakfast stromboli was right up my alley. You can use whatever ingredients you desire that you love for breakfast, but here was my take as I had plenty of things just laying around waiting on me.
Let’s get started.
Ingredients for the Pizza Dough:
3 3/4 cup of bread flour
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
3/4 tsp table salt
3/4 plus a pinch of sugar
1 1/3 cups of room temperature water
Make the dough by adding the flour, yeast, salt, and sugar. Mix. Add the water, and with your wooden spoons, or hands, mix until blended. I use my KitchenAid for this process to keep everything in the bowl during the rising process. Mix for about 30 seconds. The dough should be a bit stiff. Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature until the dough has doubled in volume, about 2 hours.
Ingredients for the stuffing:
2 tbsp cooking oil
1/2 cup of onion, diced
1 cup cooked steak, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 whole serrano chili, chopped
1/2 cup cooked asparagus, chopped
1 yukon gold potato, cubed, and cooked until tender
1/2 cup corn, cooked
1/2 cup of sauteed mushrooms
1 tsp cracked black pepper
1 tsp salt, to taste
2 whole eggs
1/4 cup grated cheese
3 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried parsley flakes
1/2 cup of your favorite marinara
Grated parmesan cheese, optional
Again, use what you want. Much of this was from the previous night’s dinner, with the exception of the potato and eggs, so it was pretty much a throw together for me.
Preheat your oven to 500 degrees, with pizza stone if you have one, otherwise a pizza pan, or cooking sheet.
Start by heating a skillet on medium heat. Add in the oil, bring to temperature, then toss in the onion, peppers, and garlic. Stir, then toss in the mushrooms, potatoes, corn, asparagus, eggs, and steak. Season with the salt and pepper, add the cheese, and reduce the heat and cook for about 5 minutes, just to warm things through.
Add the butter, and garlic powder to a small bowl. Heat until melted. Toss in the parsley and set aside.
Lightly sprinkle a work surface with some bread flour, or all purpose flour.
Next, take about half of the batch of pizza dough, and work your dough on the surface, making about a 12 inch diameter. Add the toppings onto the middle, and spread out a bit, only to leave some room for folding and sealing. Seal all edges, slide onto the pizza stone, then liberally brush with the garlic butter.
Place in the oven for about 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove, shower with parmesan cheese, and serve with a small bowl of marinara.
The result is awesome. This is a gut buster so be ready to share with hungry kids. You get the great smell off the bat from that garlic butter, and when sliced into you get all sorts of great textures from the soft potatoes to the slight bite from the peppers, steak, and onion. If you are looking for something new and fun to make for breakfast or brunch, give this a shot. Hope you enjoy!
1 yukon gold potato, cubed, and cooked until tender
½ cup corn, cooked
½ cup of sauteed mushrooms
1 tsp cracked black pepper
1 tsp salt, to taste
2 whole eggs
¼ cup grated cheese
3 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried parsley flakes
½ cup of your favorite marinara
Grated parmesan cheese, optional
Instructions
Make the dough by adding the flour, yeast, salt, and sugar. Mix. Add the water, and with your wooden spoons, or hands, mix until blended. I use my KitchenAid for this process to keep everything in the bowl during the rising process. Mix for about 30 seconds. The dough should be a bit stiff. Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature until the dough has doubled in volume, about 2 hours.
Again, use what you want. Much of this was from the previous night’s dinner, with the exception of the potato and eggs, so it was pretty much a throw together for me.
Preheat your oven to 500 degrees, with pizza stone if you have one, otherwise a pizza pan, or cooking sheet.
Start by heating a skillet on medium heat. Add in the oil, bring to temperature, then toss in the onion, peppers, and garlic. Stir, then toss in the mushrooms, potatoes, corn, asparagus, eggs, and steak. Season with the salt and pepper, add the cheese, and reduce the heat and cook for about 5 minutes, just to warm things through.
Add the butter, and garlic powder to a small bowl. Heat until melted. Toss in the parsley and set aside.
Lightly sprinkle a work surface with some bread flour, or all purpose flour.
Next, take about half of the batch of pizza dough, and work your dough on the surface, making about a 12 inch diameter. Add the toppings onto the middle, and spread out a bit, only to leave some room for folding and sealing. Seal all edges, slide onto the pizza stone, then liberally brush with the garlic butter.
Place in the oven for about 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove, shower with parmesan cheese, and serve with a small bowl of marinara.
The result is awesome. This is a gut buster so be ready to share with hungry kids. You get the great smell off the bat from that garlic butter, and when sliced into you get all sorts of great textures from the soft potatoes to the slight bite from the peppers, steak, and onion. If you are looking for something new and fun to make for breakfast or brunch, give this a shot. Hope you enjoy!
