A couple of years ago, wanting to learn more about my favorite cuisine, I purchased a copy of Cracking the Coconut by Su-Mei Yu. This cookbook focuses on authentic Thai home cooking and had been very highly praised. Since then, I have gotten into the habit of, every few months, picking the book up off my shelf, reading through it, drooling over many of the recipes and then putting it back down again without actually cooking anything from it. This is not a criticism of the book. The recipes certainly look enticing but the ingredients lists are very long and call for lots of exotic items and the recipes are highly labor intensive. To make any of the recipes would require much time and planning so, for me, this had become a book full of beautiful recipes that I fully intended to cook “some day soon.”

Earlier this month, I finally decided to stop pretending and force myself to make one of Su-Mei Yu’s recipes. I settled on Squid with Roasted Chilies in Oil which seemed somewhat less complicated than the other recipes. I took a trip down to my local Asian market to stock up on ingredients and proceeded to spend a good part of that Sunday soaking dried red chilies and tamarind, roasting fermented shrimp paste, frying (separately) mass quantities of shallots, garlic, dried shrimp and dried red chilies and then pureeing all of these ingredients together with palm sugar and fish sauce. All of this effort resulted in a small jar of thick, black paste called Nam Prik Pow. Once the paste was done, the rest of the recipe was a snap, requiring nothing more than a quick stir-fry of garlic, nam prik pow, soy sauce and squid with some thai basil added in at last minute. It looked great, the little rings and tentacles bathed in a deep ruby-colored sauce.  Unfortunately, it way too salty (and, coming from me, that’s saying a lot because I love salty foods.) I would have been sad that all of my hard work had resulted in such a disappointing dish but I knew that I still had enough paste for 5 or 6 more dinners, surely enough attempts to allow me to achieve perfection. Last night, I made the same dish with shrimp instead of squid. I used a full 2 tablespoons of nam prik pow (double what I had used before) and a combination of soy sauce and water in place of the full amount of soy sauce. It was delicious! The shrimp was juicy and deeply-flavored, sweet and just a little bit salty. It went wonderfully with the brown jasmine rice and stir-fried gai-lan that I served it with. Finally, an authentic and delicious Thai dish from my very own kitchen! I am now re-inspired to try more of Su-Mei Yu’s recipes. With one successful dish under my belt and a large tub of fermented shrimp paste sitting in my refrigerator, I have no more excuses.

I selected an Italian Pinot Grigio for today’s winesday: Montelvini 2005. My meal to match was Chickpea and Octopus Bruschetta, Creamy Fennel Soup and a simple salad of mixed greens and radishes. I recently found out that Jennifer McIlvaine, creator of the bruschetta recipe and owner of Bruschettina, a popular food stand at several of Seattle’s farmer’s markets, is selling her business and moving to Italy. Sadly, I never had the chance to try her famous bruschetta but, thanks to Sunset magazine, I was able to get the recipe for her signature dish and thought I would give it a try.

I have never cooked octopus and it kind of freaked me out a little. Not in a vomit-inducing sort of way like when I pull the guts out of squid. It was more of a ghoulish experience, appropriate for the current Halloween season, I guess. I had a tough time finding baby octopus but finally managed to get my hands on some at Uwajimaya. Unfortunately, I had to buy 2 whole pounds and it was sold encased in a giant, heavy block of ice. I didn’t need the full 2 pounds for this dish so, last night, I decided to partially thaw the block so that I could break it into smaller sections and then refreeze what I didn’t use. I lugged the block out of the freezer and peered into its murky depths. I could just barely make out a mass of tentacles splayed out everywhere within the ghostly ice. At this point, I was already a bit spooked. I began to run water over the ice and slowly, one by one, as they defrosted, individual tentacles managed to squirm, poke and flop their way out of the block. They appeared to be coming to life like octopus zombies. Very creepy. Finally, one little octopus became thawed enough to fall completely away from the rest of the pack and then, when I was able to see it in its entirety and confirm that it was indeed dead, I relaxed. I was able to pick it up without fear and even considered chasing Robert around the house with it.

For the bruschetta itself, I used hominy bread from Tall Grass Bakery which is what Jennifer McIlvaine uses at Bruschettina. It had a really good flavor and texture and resulted a very different bruschetta than I am used to. Combined with the chickpea and octopus topping, it was very rustic. The wine might have been “rustic” as well. I see that on the descriptions for Italian wines a lot but, really, what does a rustic beverage taste like? I do know that this wine was very pale in color with a bright, fruity aroma and crisp, citrusy taste. And, as with most wines, I liked it!

I unintentionally went with a Greek theme this time around. First, a flavorful spread named after the peppery cheese found in the Cyclades islands, Kopanisti is made with feta cheese, mint, red pepper flakes and pickled Italian peperoncini. It may sound like an odd mix but, if you like spicy foods, you will love this appetizer. In my next recipe, Calamaria Gemista, squid are stuffed with a mixture of rice, currants and pine nuts and then baked in a light tomato sauce. This comforting dish is perfect served with olive bread and a chilled bottle of Greek wine. Finally, although it is more Middle-Eastern than Greek and certainly not traditional for either region, my last recipe is named after a figure in Greek mythology, Persephone. Gin, lime juice, pomegranate molasses and fresh mint are combined to make a delicious and unusual cocktail that is not to be missed. Enjoy!