Not sure Toonces is really sexy, but it certainly is brilliant.
Important Sexy Cat: Toonces
Dear readers,
It’s almost lunch time (somewhere), and therefore is the perfect time to let you know about the extensive research I have been doing. In the name of research (scientific research!) I have been sampling as many Vietnamese sandwiches around San Francisco as I can. To me, the ideal Vietnamese sandwich has the following things:
- barbequed chicken - the pork ones are fine, but chicken is really where it’s at for me;
- cucumber - an often overlooked but very important ingredient
- plenty of shredded, pickled carrot and radish
- cilantro - should be practically busting out the top
- a small amount of jalapenos - I don’t want none, but I also don’t want to die
Ok! So, now that we have established criteria, let the judging begin! I will judge from least favorite to most-favorite-would-be-happy-eating-every-day.
- Baguette Express: Nothing super special about this sandwich. The chicken didn’t really have enough seasoning for me, and the bread was a little too soft and not quite crusty enough. Still, it was a good sandwich, and if you find yourself in the middle of the Tenderloin, hungry, and only wanting to spend $3-$4 on some food, this is a good spot to try. (Side note: service was also excellent.)
- Pho Clement: This is a great restaurant in a great neighborhood. Their sandwiches are super yummy, the bread was really fresh, and it was chock full of fresh ingredients. However, once again, the chicken was good, just not barbequey or spicy. Like Baguette Express though, you really can’t go wrong with a filling sandwich that costs $3.50.
- Vietnam: Located on Broadway almost right at Columbus, Vietnam is a tiny restaurant that serves fantastic food. Their sandwiches are big, tasty, and filling (also only $3.50), but they just miss qualifying for the top two. That’s ok though, because if I go here for lunch, there is a 97% chance that I am not ordering a sandwich, I am ordering their vermicelli-salad-bowl extravaganza that is probably my favorite lunch in the city.
- Saigon Deli Express: Holy crap so delicious. These sandwiches are slightly more expensive ($4), but so flipping tasty. Their bread is always fantastic consistency, the chicken is nice and spicy, and they use lots of veggies (could maybe go a little heavier on the radish, but that’s just me). This is my default spot for lunch since it’s only a short walk from my office. Just missed first place.
- That’s because Saigon Deli Cafe is the come-from-behind winner. The winning sandwich (pictured above) is just the perfect blend of flavors. It may not even have met all the criteria I mention above, but man, it didn’t matter. Definitely barbequey, definitely spicy but not trying to kill me, plenty of veggies, wonderful bread. Who’s ready for lunch?
I know you’re thinking, “Hey - that looks familiar. But it was so delicious the first time, I wonder what she’s up to now. I sure hope it’s a variation on that amazing braised lentil recipe.” Well, never fear. Last time we brought you, Braised Lentils Spanish-Style, and now we bring you an easy variation, Braised Lentils, Ethiopian-Style! (Note: this is a much spicier dish than the Spanish style. If you’re not really into spice, I would stick with the original version. If you are into spice, good for you! Onward!!)
Take the recipe from last time, and omit the celery, carrot, bay leaf, and the smoked paprika. Instead, to get started with this version, cook the onions in olive oil as you did before. After they are nice and soft (about 10 minutes), add the garlic and about 1-2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger. Cook for about a minute. Then add 1/2 teaspoon each of the following: allspice, coriander, cardamom, and fenugreek. (Yum!) Also add 2 tablespoons of regular or sweet paprika. So much spice! So much deliciousness! Cook all the spices into the onions, garlic, and ginger for about a minute. The whole mixture will start to resemble a paste.
After that, just follow the instructions as before: add the wine, stock, and lentils. Bring to a boil, and then simmer partially-covered until the lentils are ready. Remember to add water or extra stock if the lentils start to stick or look too dry.
I ate this with quinoa, and topped with some fresh parsley and then a little sour cream (not pictured). Ethiopian restaurants always have this amazing sour yogurt in the middle of the plate. Sour cream is not as good as the yogurt dip, but it achieves the same basic idea and tastes pretty good.
“World’s Healthiest” Food #3 that I (sort of) like: Dandelion Greens
I mentioned before that I have a love/hate relationship with dandelion greens, but a more accurate way to describe it is that I am forcing myself to like them. Or, that I am incredibly determined to like them because they are so ridiculously good for you. I mean, the health benefits are super ridiculous, and the amount of calories is laughable (in a good way). However! Dandelions are incredibly tricky and sly little rascals! They are so bitter, a friend of mine described the taste as, “it’s like they are trying to kill you.” This is no exaggeration. I hope to find one great recipe that can be my go-to recipe for any time I feel the need to detox my liver, or boost up my Vitamin A and Vitamin K levels, or, you know, cleanse by gallbladder. I have not been as successful in this endeavor as I would like, but there’s no backing down now!
- Attempt #1: Boil, drain, and season with salt. Result: Please do not attempt this. Holy crap it was bad.
- Attempt #2: Marky-Mark Bittman has a recipe for a dandelion green salad with warm bacon dressing. I have made this twice, once with real bacon, and once with tempeh Fakin’ Bacon or whatever its cutesy name is. The dressing is basically this (I don’t have it in front of me, so I could be missing some key steps or ingredients): chop up some good quality bacon and heat it in skillet. Add some minced shallot to the pan and saute with the bacon for the last minute or so. Once crispy, remove the bacon pieces but keep the fat and the shallot (when using tempeh, I added quite a bit of oil to the pan first). Add some red wine vinegar, some dijon mustard, salt and pepper to the pan. Cook until the mustard dissolves and everything is heated through and bubbling a little. Add the bacon back to the pan, and pour over several cups of washed and torn dandelion greens. This was not bad, and I think I liked it equally with both real and fake bacon. (It’s highly doubtful that the bacon I was using would qualify as “good quality”. I also doubt that I am using high quality red wine vinegar, and I think that would help the flavor as well) I think the key to making this taste good is making a lot of dressing. If I try this method again, I plan to try it with tempeh again and see how it goes. I am also tempted to try adding the hot bacon mixture to a regular balsamic dressing that has been warmed and see how that goes.
- Attempt #3: Boil for 3 minutes, drain, blanch in ice-water bath, drain, and season with salt and lemon juice. See results from attempt #1. Bleck.
- Attempt #4: As I mentioned last time, I added some dandelion greens into the GBIMT I made recently. I stir-fried them with some minced ginger over high heat for several minutes and then added to a larger dish. This worked well, and I would do this again, however, I kept thinking how much better kale would have tasted. I have been told that this is the more appropriate route to take: to stop trying to center a meal around them and to just incorporate small amounts into larger dishes. I think this is probably a good idea, although it feels like admitting defeat.
And so, the great Dandelion Green experiment continues! If you have any suggestions or recipes you know of, please send them on.
What to do on those nights when you have several ingredients in the kitchen, but only a little bit of each one? That’s right! Giant Bowl of Ingredients Mixed Together! GBIMT is one of my favorite dinners: it’s a great way to use leftovers, it makes me feel like I’m not wasting anything, and there’s not enough of any one thing to get sick of. The one in the photo above was especially messy and especially yummy. Here’s a little description of what was going on (and how to recreate):
1. Start by making a large quantity of your grain of choice. Mine that night was brown rice, and it was a good choice (also a convenient one since my cupboards were otherwise pretty bare). It’s very substantial and holds other flavors really well without competing.
2. Slice an onion and cook in a skillet with some olive oil and a little salt. I cooked the slices for about 20 minutes. They didn’t quite caramelize, but that’s the idea we’re going for. Once the onions were just about done, I added in some sliced white mushrooms, and cooked them for the final 3-5 minutes (or just cook them to your liking).
3. When the rice was done, I moved it to a large bowl and mixed with generous amounts of the gingery marinated chickpeas I made a few days earlier. Make sure to add a bunch of the marinade. I liked the flavor of these so much that used it as the basis for the rest of GBIMT. I also tossed in some baked tofu croutons I had in the fridge.
4. I added the onions and mushrooms to the bowl, and then heated a little more olive oil in the same skillet. I then added some minced fresh ginger, cooked it for a minute, and then added some washed and torn dandelion greens. (I have a love/hate relationship with dandelion greens that I will expand on at a later date.) I cooked them at a high heat until they were good and oily and gingery and slightly crispy (probably about 5 minutes at med-high heat), and then added them to the bowl.
5. Mix everything together with some salt and generous amounts of fresh pepper and give it a taste. If it needs something more, you can always drizzle some more olive oil in there, or add some red wine vinegar.
I realize this seems like a lot of ingredients, but again, GBIMT works best when you have quite a bit, just not enough of one thing to center a meal around it. This also tasted really good reheated for lunch the next day.
