Global Comfort Food 2

Following on previous thoughts about global comfort foods, I thought I'd share another favorite with you: pad thai. This stir-fried noodle dish is a national dish of Thailand, and its name implies simplicity: pad thai, or phat thai, merely means "Thai-style fried noodles."


Learning to cook pad thai was, for me, a necessity - my cravings for it were often sudden, and usually late at night at very inopportune times. Not only was it getting troublesome having to locate pad thai in a rush before restaurant closing times, but I also disliked having to pay $10 or more for something stir-fried. So, when I found a Thai recipe book forgotten on my mother's bookshelf the last time I was at home, I imported it all the way back to the US and, now, can enjoy pad thai whenever I want.

Here's what it takes (from Chalie Amatyakul's "Best of Thai Cooking"):

-Flat rice noodles (We buy the boxes by "A Taste of Thai," and use the whole box because it provides us with ample leftovers. But, half a box is probably more manageable.)
- Protein (prawns, tofu, beef, etc.)
- Handful bean sprouts
- Red chillies (or dried, whatever you have; quantity based on your taste. I suggest 2-3.)
- Shallots (1-2)
- Fish sauce (a couple tablespoons; adjust for your personal taste)
- Sugar (again, a couple tablespoons; adjust for taste)
- Tamarind paste (adjust for your taste. You can buy tamarind paste pre-made at some stores. I found a brick of tamarind pulp at my local Indian grocery store for about $1.99, which is fantastic because you can just cut off what you need and it doesn't need to be refrigerated. If you're using a brick, cut off a bit and soak it in water, making a paste with your fingers.)
- Lime juice (about half a tablespoon; adjust for your personal taste)
- Veggie oil

Soak the noodles in hot water until they are soft, then prep your protein if needed (such as washing and peeling your shrimp). Place the chillies, shallots, fish sauce and sugar in a big mortar and pestle and pound, then add your acids: tamarind and lime. Mix it all well till it's all smooth.

Next, heat the oil in a wok or large skillet. When it's really hot, add the sauce (watch for splatters!) and stir-fry for a few minutes, until you get a really nice fragrant smell from it. At this point, add your protein and stir fry in the sauce till just about done, then add your drained noodles.
You can season it all with something else you like, like sesame oil, or soy sauce, black pepper, etc. If things start to stick, add water to it. I like to serve this with fresh cilantro and lime; if you have any fresh chilli, that would add a nice counterpoint. You can also add fresh chopped peanuts if you like that crunch. (Usually by this point, it smells so good that I just want to eat it and can't be bothered.)

Another thing I like to do is, before I stir fry anything, add some oil to the wok and add some scrambled egg to make a sort of eggy pancake. Once the egg is cooked, you can lift it out of the wok and, when it's cooled, cut the egg into strips and toss it into the stir fry when it's all done.

As you can see, this dish allows you a lot of flexibility in terms of your tastes - more salt, more heat, more sour, depending on the amount of chillies, fish sauce, tamarind, lime, and whatnot that you can add. This, for me, makes a great comfort food because you can tailor it to your mood!


This dish is hugely comforting to me. Not only can you curl up with a hot bowl of stir-fried noodles (and thus not have to worry about scalding yourself with soup), but the flavors are truly a wonderful blend: tart lime and tamarind, savory egg and whatever protein you choose, fresh bursts of cilantro and, if you wish, crunchy peanut and bean sprouts. Even better? I can eat bowls and bowls of this and not worry about it being too unhealthy (e.g. filled with cheese, butter, etc.). If that's not comforting, I don' t know what is.

Summer Grilling: Pork Belly and Rainbow Trout

Since it took us about four frustrating hours of assemblage to put together the grill we bought back in the day, I think it's justified that we break out the grill as soon as the snow begins to melt outside (or even sooner). Here are two delightful dinners we've charred, seared, and crackled so far this season, along with the seasonal veggies we've either grown ourselves or purchased from our local farmers.

The first was a grilled pork belly with peaches and arugula.

As soon as our garden yielded its first full leaves of arugula. For this, we bought a pound of pork belly from our wonderful butcher, and marinated it for a few hours in the fridge (for ideas on marinades: here and here). If I remember correctly, this involved some honey, soy sauce, pepper flakes, and other spices, as well as minced shallot and garlic. This combination made it especially nice with the peaches, but so would a sort of Southwest, cumin-y sort of blend with a nice salsa on the side (pineapple, anybody?)

Make sure you get the grill nice and hot, because the fantastic thing about grilled pork belly is the crackling--the crispy, seared skin that pops and bubbles when you put it directly on the heat. We didn't achieve this as much as I would have liked this time around, thanks to a debate about how much charcoal we should put in the grill -- but next time...!

For the salad, we simply cut up a peach, placed the slices on a bed of arugula, cracked some pepper on top and drizzled with a bit of olive oil and sweet balsamic. The result: sweet, juicy peaches and balsamic, with savory, crunchy pork and the peppery taste of arugula!

Our second memorable grill feast so far was just the other night, when Mark biked down to the market and returned with a one-pound fillet of rainbow trout, tomatoes and corn in his bag.

For this meal, we decided to go with pretty simple flavors, letting the grill and the natural flavors of our herbs and veggies do all the work. We seasoned the fish with pepper, salt and fresh thyme from the garden, placed the whole thing on a piece of aluminum foil and set it on the grill for about 10 minutes (until the meat started to flake). The nice thing about this was that when it was time to serve up, the fish came away from the skin very nicely.

We also grilled up some tomato halves, garnished with strips of fresh garden basil...


Grilled garlic scapes...

Fresh corn on the cob...
...and potatoes tossed together with a little cheddar cheese, spring onion, and salt and pepper and packaged in aluminum foil to finish off on the grill (par-boiled first for faster cooking).

I would highly recommend doing a simple fish grill in the summer sun. While the fish may seem pricey, it's well worth it (especially if you can find it on sale like Mark did), especially when served up with the sweet, seasonal vegetables around right now. And, if you are restrained enough to have left over fish afterwards, you can treat yourself to a nice trout (or salmon, whatever) hash breakfast the next day!