Flying Monkey

After tonight's karaoke at Memories Lounge, Kitchen Monkey is going away for the holidays. If he stumbles upon any wireless internet zones in DC or NYC there may be a post or two before Sunday, but otherwise expect the full rundown somtime next week. Thanksgiving dinner will probably be sushi in D.C.- there are a number of decent places. Saturday we'll hit Minca, a little Ramen place in NYC, and Saturday night, sushi at Masa! Just kidding. I not only don't have the reservation that you have to make over a month in advance, I also lack the $300 that gets you in the door.

In the meantime, I leave you with another monkey picture. Drink your OJ - the sick is going around!

Golden Boy and the Errant Summer Rolls

These were not the best summer rolls. Where did we go wrong? Maybe the wraps were to blame, they didn't seem to have as much stickiness as last time. They definitely should have been tighter. The mediocre shrimp didn't help, purchased because they were on sale, but lacking in flavor.

In any case, the peanut sauce, which I'm proud to say I winged, was really good. The salad was tasty too: a few leftover shitake mushrooms sauteed in sesame oil on a bed of spring mix with avocado and a potent ginger/garlic dressing.

So no recipe this time, not until I get the summer rolls straight. This post was really just an excuse to introduce you to this: (Cue angels singing...)



This is Golden Boy Fish Sauce, and it's very useful. It goes into all manner of Asian dishes, especially Thai and Vietnamese. This is by far my favorite fish sauce, and not because I'm some kind of connoisseur of fish sauce, but simply because the picture on the label is so freakin' bizarre. Look at him! This is the baby of your nightmares. His right foot bent into an impossible position. Why is he giving the thumbs up sign? Is it because he likes his fish sauce? Does the "thumbs up" signify the same thing in Thailand as it does here, or is it something sinister?

His mouth - why is it so red? What does it mean that he's sitting on top of the world? Sinister I tell you. However, the best part has to be the potentially infinite number of Golden Boys on this label. If only you had the microscopic vision, you could see the Golden Boy on the bottle that the Golden Boy on the bottle is holding and so on ad infinitum. Golden Boys stretching backward forever. Or at least until 1914.

Anyhow, I do recommend Golden Boy, it is a good fish sauce. Just don't look at the label too long, it might be the thing that finally causes you to lose it.

Pig Jam

No, this is not a recipe.

If you had read yesterday's post like you were supposed to, you would know that Kitchen Monkey and some friends made an hour and a half trek northeast to Plant City, Florida for the second annual Pig Jam BBQ contest. It was a little bit smaller than I expected; still, there must have been at least 50 or more BBQ "teams" vying for the grand prize of whatever. A trophy and some cash probably.

However you feel about the south, you have to admit that it knows BBQ, and for that alone it has the respect of my tastebuds. The gentleman above is a man named Big John, he is from Texas, and he is pulling some pork.

I've recently learned that Texas BBQ is known primarily for its beef brisket. As you can tell I am not an afficianado, but I'm learning, and hey, I only started eating beef again three weeks ago. That said, I had one of Big John's pulled pork sandwiches and it was incredible. A heaping mound of smokey pork on a hamburger bun. That was it. The bun was just a garnish, really. I then had two pork ribs from Bubba's BBQ stand, followed that with two slices of pork butt from Championship BBQ Team. Oh, and some pecan pie. And yes, that much pork all in the space of an hour will present you with many choices. Such as, would it be better for me to pay a visit to the Port-a-John, or just curl up in a corner and cry softly.

One thing I felt compelled to document was the number of signs that played on the different aspects of animal anatomy and their corresponding sexual double-meanings. Perhaps an example is in order:

Lastly, I couldn't resist the need to post a photo of these very relaxed gentlemen. In case you can't make out the sign, it reads "Lazy J BBQ." I have two new personal heroes.

No southern BBQ festival would be complete without a cover band that plays Skynnyrd:

And finally, if you've just eaten loads of pork and suddenly feel the urge to give blood, well...

An Exciting Week Ahead

Hello my fellow primates,

Kitchen Monkey won't be cooking quite as furiously in the next week, but there will still be some very interesting food (and drink) adventures in the coming days. For instance, tomorrow Nick (of I'm Cookin' Here), myself, and several others will be going to Pig Jam for some real southern culture and some awesome 'cue. For Pig Jam is, indeed, a huge BBQ contest. Don't confuse it with this Arkansas pig jam.

You have to love Florida. It's 78 degrees outside, it should be beautiful tomorrow for the contest, and it's mid-November. I'm sorry if I'm rubbing it in.
Anyhow, expect a full narrative and pictorial depiction of Pig Jam by Sunday.

Next week Kitchen Monkey is going up to D.C. to hang out with his sister, and NYC to hang out with friends; so while there won't be many posts during Thanksgiving Weekend, expect to read about his culinary adventures in our Nation's capitol. And if anyone reading this is from NY and knows of a killer, never-fail sushi restaurant somewhere in or near Manhattan (I don't want to, and can't, spend $100, so something reasonable) let the monkey know!

Cheers

Moroccan Chicken (Mutation)

According to it's official government website, the kingdom of Morocco has, since independence, been undergoing "deep socio-cultural mutations." I like how the translator put this, and it makes me wonder. Was it simply an innocent but odd choice of synonyms by someone who didn't grasp the connotations behind the word--or does the person feel that what Morocco has experienced is not simply a "change", a "restructuring", or even a "revolution", but a mutation?

In any case, this delicious Moroccan chicken dish has undergone some mutations, since I mutated it from what I believe was a Bon Appetit recipe, and there's a good chance they mutated it from whatever traditional form it may once have had.

This dish has a lot of pungent flavors that play off each other really well. The smell is amazing when you add the ginger, cumin, and cinnamon, and the sweetness of the prunes and honey is counterbalanced by the lemon juice. It was served with a really tasty cous cous and vegetable dish that Liz made. On the side we had two popular mezze: hummous and tzatziki.

The origin of the term mezze isn't clear, it's probably from early farsi or arabic, or a combination of the two, but it's meaning is well known across the Middle East and North Africa. Mezze means appetizer. I'm actually a bit proud of my hummous recipe. I've been making it for almost ten years, and small tweaks here and there have made it better and better. You can have my hummous recipe, but not yet. One day soon I'm going to cook a big Middle Eastern spread, with all kinds of mezze, including my favorite: dolma, stuffed grape leaves. You can have the hummous recipe then. The tzatziki is a simple dip made of cucumber, yoghurt, fresh dill, salt, and lemon juice. Toast some pita. Yes!

Without further blathering on and on, the recipe:

Ingredients:

6 skinless chicken thighs (chicken breast is fine but dark meat is better for this)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
2 or 3 large garlic cloves
1 tsp cornstarch (use more if you want the sauce thicker. Flour will work too.)
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin
1 can of chicken broth or stock, low salt if possible
1 cup pitted prunes (you can also use dried apricots, or if you're just a little wild, prunes and apricots. Whoa there! Slow down!)
3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp. honey (spun honey is my favorite)


Instructions:

1)Wash the chicken thighs then salt and pepper them, let them sit for a few minutes.
2)Heat the olive oil in a skillet or casserole and brown the chicken well on both sides. You should probably use tongs and even a splatter screen, since the water released by the chicken will make the oil jump. Remove the chicken after about 3 or 4 minutes on each side.
3)Add the onions to the same oil and saute until translucent.
4) Stir in starch, ginger, cumin, and cinnamon. Aromatic, no?
5) Gradually stir in broth. Keep stirring!
6) Once you've got a nice bubbling going, add the prunes, lemon juice, and honey, and finally, return the chicken. Simmer until the chicken is done and the sauce is reduced. Serve with cous cous or rice and season with salt and pepper if necessary.

Mmmmmmm, mutation.

Vegetable Smörgåsbord

With all the red meat we've been eating lately it was time for a smörgåsbord of green and yellow vegetables. Maybe it was more of a medley, but honestly how many times will I get to use the word smörgåsbord? Incidentally the word smörgåsbord originates from a combination of Swedish and Norwegian dialects, and means "bread and butter table." Smörgåsbord. Say it aloud, repeatedly, in a Swedish accent for fun, especially if you are at work and there are people around.

Now then, as I said, it was time for a little Vegetable Atonement. The meal was relatively simple, but very tasty and very pleasing to the eye.

We had:
Baked Spicy Yellow Squash & Rosemary Tomatoes
Roasted Green Peppers & Olives
Sauteed Green Beans and Wax Beans with Garlic and Wine Sauce

I started by cooking some basmati rice with a liberal amount of saffron stirred in for color and flavor. While it cooked I prepared a spice mixture for the little yellow squashes. It involved coriander, oregano, dried red chiles, a garlic clove, kosher salt, and peppercorns, all of it ground up in a mortar with olive oil added afterward.

The mixture was spread on the face of the halved squashes and they were set on a baking sheet along with two halves of a tomato. The tomato halves were drizzled with olive oil and sprigs of rosemary. Everything went into the oven to bake at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes or so.

The wax beans were mixed with the green beans, washed and snipped, and sauteed in butter and olive oil before adding minced garlic and a little white wine.

In the meantime I roasted green pepper slices in our toaster oven, of all places, since I do not have a gas burning stove, yet. Someday. Sigh.
The peppers once finished were mixed with black olives and chopped parsley and drizzled with good olive oil.

Everything was arranged around the rice, and finished off with a slice of avocado.

Smörgåsbord.