If you are one of the 5 people who regularly listen to What's Cookin' Now! then you already know but just in case... Grandma Toy is my husband's ex-wife/baby momma's mom and is from Bangkok, Thailand. She is a wonderful cook and gracious hostess. She invited me into her kitchen and taught me a few of her classic recipes. I must admit that I change the eggroll recipe a little. I add carrot because I think it makes them prettier.They are more a fried springroll than an eggroll but she calls them eggrolls so I call them eggrolls too. Who am I to argue with her about Thai food names!??! Anyway, I haven't made them in forever because it takes a while when your kitchen helpers are away at college. But I was craving them... Soooo, I cooked a pound of ground beef and boiled 1/2 pound of shrimp. Chopped onion, celery, green onion and cilantro, shredded carrots, soaked and chopped bean thread, added some seasonings and got Sam to mix it all up. I ended up rolling 27 eggrolls.
Fried a few because you have to test to make sure they are good! 
We ate 6. Yes, 3 each for dinner and put the rest in the freezer for future easy deliciousness.
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
The dipping sauce is made of pancake syrup, white vinegar, sweet chili sauce and salt. Weird huh? But soooo tasty.
Then, I needed to use up a bunch of tomatoes that my nice co-worker Kasey gave me so I decided to make a from scratch spaghetti sauce. 
Blanched, peeled and tossed those ^ tomatoes (2nd batch was a ton of tiny tomatoes) into a pot with a little water and a little salt and put it on medium heat. A couple hours went by, stirring sometimes and adding water if needed. The more it cooked, the more seeds came out. seeds, seeds, seeds. They were everywhere. It was waay too seedy to make spaghetti sauce so I decided to try a blended tomato basil soup. Sauteed some garlic and onion in a little olive oil till it was soft, picked some basil off the back porch, chopped it up, added everything to the tomatoes and pureed the whole mess with my immersion blender.
Blanched, peeled and tossed those ^ tomatoes (2nd batch was a ton of tiny tomatoes) into a pot with a little water and a little salt and put it on medium heat. A couple hours went by, stirring sometimes and adding water if needed. The more it cooked, the more seeds came out. seeds, seeds, seeds. They were everywhere. It was waay too seedy to make spaghetti sauce so I decided to try a blended tomato basil soup. Sauteed some garlic and onion in a little olive oil till it was soft, picked some basil off the back porch, chopped it up, added everything to the tomatoes and pureed the whole mess with my immersion blender.
If you don't have an immersion blender, buy one. They are affordable, handy, easy to clean and kinda fun to use. The soup turned out great. It needed a little salt, black pepper and a dash of cayenne to be perfect. And then I succumbed to the power of cheese. I added a little fresh grated Parmesan and let that melt in. It was so much more perfect-er. I'm going to take it and some good bread to share share with my sisters in the ville for lunch tomorrow. 
Jenny has her fancy tasting spoon and this is mine. Handmade by Appalachian Artisan Center Studio Artist Michael Holliday.
See you on the radio! Next show Campfire Cuisine. It's gonna be hot! Don't miss it!
No comments:
Post a Comment