Midnight in the Kitchen of Good and Eatin'

First off let me state that I am not a "soup person". Soup as a meal never seemed like a good idea to me because, in my formative years, it was just a can of liquid with a little bit solid stuff floating around in it with neither amounting to enough to be a meal. It was always something you had while you waited for the entree. A time killer. As I got older, and started cooking for myself, soup was a base to which I added mountains of meat and/or vegetables to end up with a stew. In the back of my mind, however, I kept thinking that there must be something to this soup-as-a-meal thing, that there must be a bowl of liquid out there that would be hearty enough to stand on its own. Serendipity stepped in to change my thinking as I had bought a large acorn squash a week ago thinking I would do with it as I usually do: slice it into rings and bake it with a buttery maple glaze. Then I remembered having tiny cups of butternut squash soup served as an appetizer at some of the events...

  A while back I was working in a kitchen in Shady Grove, MD and, every day on my commute, I would pass a little strip mall in Redlands. One day I stopped in to go to the post office there and came across the Spice Lanka grocery store. Always on the lookout for spicy condiments, one of the things the very friendly owner urged me to try Katta Sambol because it is very popular in Sri Lankan cooking. While it's not much spicier than, say, Hungarian paprika, it has a nice citrus tang and has a little chewiness because, according to the label, it's made with "red onions, Maldive fish , chili pieces, salt, lime juice & permitted preservatives (E211 & E224)". Outside of this recipe I like katta with any buttered starch, especially rice or baked potatoes. What you'll need: about a lb of yuchoy, washed well (it can be sandy) and chopped Mmmm! I love YuChoy!     a medium-sized onion sliced 1 or 2 tbls minced garlic 1 to 2tbls. katta sambol* sli...

I love the Thai Market in Silver Spring, MD and it has been my go-to place for Asian food staples like coconut milk, pork foo, and Vietnamese beef meatballs more so than, even, my other favorite place, H-Mart . The only drawback to Thai Market is that they don't have fresh fruit and veggies but it is a phenomenal place to stock your pantry with packaged ingredients for (mostly) Asian cooking. For such a small store they often have better prices, on some items, than H-Mart! However, one of the best things about Thai Market is their carry-out where I had Thai Eggplant with Basil that is as good as what I'd eaten when I worked for the Thai House Restaurant in Atlanta. When I worked there this was a seasonal/special dish because Chinese eggplant was pretty scarce in 1980s Georgia and substituting the big purple ones just doesn't taste the same. H-Mart has a good variety of Asian eggplants to choose from: long purple Japanese ones to the small round Thai versions in green, pu...

The reason this is called a "dry curry" is because it is cooked until the liquid in it is nearly all evaporated. With this, it's the coconut milk, that is reduced until it's very thick and the oil in it has started to separate. The traditional way to cook this requires a lot of ingredients that I rarely, if ever, have on hand like garam masala . I know it's probably easy to make my own and even easier to just buy it already made but, hey, I'm lazy and  cheap so I have to be more creative with the ingredients. One ingredient that I do manage to always have on hand is  Maesri  Red Curry paste. It come in little 40z. cans and I tend to use about a teaspoon at a time and it keeps for a long time in the fridge. That having been said, my version of this doesn't have any garam masala but it does have some of the ingredients in it only because I just happen to have them around fairly often. about 2-3 tbls. minced garlic, fresh or from a jar 1-2 tbls. m...

Who needs a wok when you have a trusty cast iron skillet?  I usually get the cheapest cuts of meat for stir frying. Though most serious recipes specify leaner cuts I like to use beef with some light to moderate marbling of fat just because it seems to me to have more flavor and, when it’s sliced very thinly, it’s not going to be tough to chew. For this recipe I used some chuck steak. Chuck steak sliced across the grain as thin as you can get it without injury 1 med./lg. onion (I like Vidalias) cut in half lengthwise and sliced thinly 1 bell pepper sliced into whatever shapes you like As much chopped garlic as you like (I like lots of garlic) About 2 bunches of yu choy , stems and leaves, chopped 1 Korean long hot pepper or other hot pepper sliced on the diagonal (optional) Soy sauce Sesame oil Nampla (Asian fish sauce, optional) Freshly ground pepper (I use a combo of black peppercorns, Sichuan peppercorns and red pepper flakes) to taste Heat a s...

At the request of my friends and acquaintances over at Facebook I have started this blog to post the recipes for the food that post photos of in the "What's For Dinner" group. Actually, there are only one or two actual recipes for what I eat on a regular basis with lots of variations stemming from what ingredients I have on hand at the time. The title of this blog refers to the fact that, due to my work schedule and near chronic insomnia, I'm often cooking my dinner around midnight. The "Evil" part will, most likely, refer to my failed attempts at cooking something beyond my skill set or the times when bad luck rears it's ugly head by causing the top to come off my salt shaker or exploding sweet potatoes.