Allrecipes Recipe Test: Mick's Thai Beef Salad

Recently, I posted about how much I dislike most of the recipes on Allrecipes.com.  The recipes that people there rate five stars baffle me.  It's a culinary wasteland of Velveeta and bland, overcooked food.  This recipe is one in a million on that site...it's actually amazing.  This recipe was absolutely fantastic with only one change to the ingredients and one change to the preparation.

Here's the recipe:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Thai-Beef-Salad/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Thumb&e11=thai%20beef%20salad&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Recipe&soid=sr_results_p1i1

I followed the recipe exactly, except I omitted the added sugar.  I didn't think it was necessary because the sweet chili sauce gave enough sweetness.  And anywhere you can reduce your refined sugar consumption is healthful.

In the preparation, Mick suggests cooking the steak 4-6 minutes on each side.  My steak was not thick enough to cook it this long and expect a juicy, tender medium-rare result.

You can follow along with Mick's recipe above, or here's how to make it:

You'll need:

2 green onions, chopped
1 lemon grass stalk, chopped
1c fresh cilantro
1c fresh mint (I used slightly less)
1c lime juice
1/3c fish sauce
1T sweet chili sauce (such as Mae Ploy)
Steak (I prepared one large strip steak)
1 head of leaf lettuce (I used petite Romaine), torn to bite sized pieces
1/2 English cucumber, diced
1 pint Cherry tomatoes, halved
Optional: thinly slices of jalapeno or Serrano peppers


Prepare the dressing by combining the green onion, lemongrass, cilantro, mint, lime juice, fish sauce, and chili sauce in a medium bowl.  Not a small bowl--you'll be adding the steak after you cook it.

Season steak with salt and pepper and broil or grill to your desired doneness.  Allow to rest to reabsorb juices, then slice into thin strips against the grain.  Add meat to the dressing and chill for about three hours.

When ready to serve, tear the lettuce and place in bottom of bowl.  Top with cucumber slices, tomato halves, and steak and sauce.  The recipe calls for the tomato to be on top of the steak, but I actually prefer the steak and sauce on top of the tomatoes so the dressing flavors the tomatoes.  Garnish with fresh cilantro leaves, and if desired, thin slices of jalapeno or Serrano peppers.  I love peppers, so I added these to give some extra heat.

The recipe did not yield 4-6 servings as Mick suggests.  This made three large entree salads.

This Thai beef salad is such a winner!

This recipe has lots of freshness, sweet heat, and juicy steak.  All winning components for me!  The lemongrass really adds a delightfully aromatic component.

This one will definitely be a favorite, just in time for summer!

Bon Appetit Recipe Test: Thai Chicken Soup

I'm kicking the tires on another recipe for you today.  I found this one in a Bon Appetit magazine Tweet--27 ways to make boneless chicken not boring.  This recipe is a hit!

My husband doesn't do ethnic food.  He has the stomach of a child sometimes--after a trip to an Indian restaurant, he ate something spicy and laid on the sofa for hours moaning and rubbing his tummy.  When I'm craving Vietnamese or Thai food, I call up girlfriends and have a girls' night out.  I didn't tell him this was Thai-inspired until afterwards.  He ate it up, proclaimed how fantastic the broth was, and didn't have a stomachache at all.  Then I told him it was Thai and he looked surprised.

By the way, I fully believe in "Jewish Penicillin"--chicken noodle soup--when you're feeling unwell.  This soup might replace the simple chicken noodle or matzo ball soup though.  It's that good.

I followed the original recipe closely, but not exactly.  The original recipe can be found here:
http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/thai-chicken-soup

My changes were mostly out of convenience and to cut down on miscellaneous leftover produce in my fridge.  For example, instead of measuring out the mushrooms or sugar snap peas, I tossed in a whole package.  The more veggies, the merrier, right?

Here's my rendition:

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 chive pieces (five bulbs, each with about four stalks of green onion on it)
4 teaspoons minced garlic
4 in. piece of fresh ginger (consider using more if you like more zing)
handful of baby carrots
1 jalapeno (consider using two if you like heat)
1 package of sliced white mushrooms (about 8 oz.)
1 package of organic, boneless chicken tenderloins (there were no 1 lb. packages so I used 1.3 lbs.)
1 can coconut milk (this can was 13.5 oz.)
1 quart organic chicken broth
1 package of sugar snap peas (I think it was about 8 oz.)
Fish sauce to taste (I used about 2-3 tablespoons)
2-3 oz. lime juice
2 handfuls of cilantro

Outside of all the washing and chopping, this is very easy to make and has minimal clean up.

Wash all produce.

Put large soup pot on stove on medium heat.  Add the oil and the garlic.  As garlic becomes golden, chop up the scallions and carrots, add to pot.  I used one handful of baby carrots, next time, I'll consider using two since I really like carrots.

Use carrot peeler to scrape the skin off the ginger, then grate into the pot.  I couldn't find out grater, so I was using a serrated knife.  My patience wore off at four inches of the ginger.  I wish I'd used more, so if you like zing, keep grating away.  The original Bon Appetit recipe calls for 1 inch.

Next, I added the a tablespoon of fish sauce, chicken broth, and coconut milk, then all the chicken tenderloins.  Just toss the chicken pieces into the soup pot whole.  Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce to simmer, and set timer for 20 minutes.

While the chicken is simmering, slice the jalapeno thinly.  I de-seeded it to keep the spicy level lower for my husband, but next time, I'll use two jalapenos.  Chop the sugar snap peas into small pieces--they'll look like over-sized rings of green onion.  I always chop mine across or slightly diagonally to make sure I cut across where strings could be.  I tend to find strings, even if the bag says the peas are string-less.

At the 20 minute mark, remove the chicken tenderloins and place on large plate.  Add the pea and jalapeno to the soup pot.  Using a fork and knife (it's hot!), pull the chicken into pieces that will fit on a spoon.  The chicken was really tender and came apart very easily.  Return the pulled chicken to the pot.  Add 2-3oz. of lime juice (I used half of a little green plastic reconstituted lime juice container).  Stir and taste.  At this point, I wanted more salt.  Instead of adding salt, I added another tablespoon or two of fish sauce to get that salty/umami taste I needed.

Taste it to check for the right balance.  Need saltiness or umami?  Add fish sauce.  Need zing?  Add lime juice and or grated ginger.

Remove the cilantro leaves from the stems.  Now you're ready to serve.

For best presentation, use a slotted spoon to scoop up the right balance of chicken and veggies.  Then ladle the broth around the chicken and veggies so you can see them peaking through the surface.  Top with fresh cilantro and serve immediately.

The delicious finished product--Tom Kha Gai inspired Thai Chicken Soup.

Don't add the rest of the fresh cilantro to the leftovers.  It will wilt when sitting in the liquid then during reheating.  Top each reheated bowl with fresh cilantro.