Chef's Table "People Born on Your Birthday" - and the stupid satay sauce by Suzy

I call it stupid as in, "No, it's so good, it's STUPID! STOP IT! Suzy, you're a maniac with your stupid satay sauce!" I think it was the siracha. One can always blame the siracha ...

Hi guys,

This was the sauce recipe you asked for Joy and may wish to add to blog, Pam.

I used a natural peanut butter instead of the peanuts,

lime juice not tamarind, siracha sauce not cayenne and added some fresh cilantro.

Take care,

S.

From the website, http://thaifood.about.com/od/thaicurrypasterecipes/r/Easy-Satay-Sauce-Recipe.htm

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For an authentic satay sauce, try this easy Thai Satay Sauce recipe! While most Western versions of satay sauce are made with peanut butter, this one starts with real peanuts - and you'll taste the difference! At the same time, this is a very easy recipe to make - just throw everything into your blender or food processor and blitz. Satay sauce can be used for a variety of purposes, from a dip for chicken or beef satay to an Asian salad dressing or a dip for fresh rolls. Or use it to make a yummy cold noodle salad or as a marinade for grilled chicken or tofu (vegetarian instructions included). ENJOY!

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Yield: SERVES 4-6 as a Dip

Ingredients:

• 1 cup fresh-tasting dry roasted peanuts, unsalted
• 1/3 cup water
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp. dark soy sauce
• 2 tsp. sesame oil
• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 to 2 Tbsp. fish sauce, depending on desired saltiness/flavor - Vegetarians substitute 1.5 -2.5 Tbsp. regular soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp. tamarind paste OR 1/2 Tbsp. lime juice
• 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper, OR 1 tsp. Thai chili sauce (more or less to taste)
• 1/3 cup coconut milk

Preparation:

1. Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Blend or process until sauce is smooth. If you prefer a runnier peanut sauce, add a little more water or coconut milk.
2. Do a taste test, adding more fish sauce (or soy sauce) if not salty enough, or more cayenne if not spicy enough. If too salty, add a squeeze of fresh lime juice. If you'd prefer it sweeter, add a little more sugar.
3. Serve warm or at room temperature with my Thai Chicken Satay, Thai Pork Satay, or Vegetarian/Vegan Thai Satay. It also makes a great dip with fresh veggies, fresh rolls, or other Asian finger foods. Or combine with noodles to create a Thai-style noodle dish or cold noodle salad. Enjoy!

Note: This sauce tends to thicken as it sits - just add a little water or coconut milk to thin it out, as needed. Otherwise it stores well if kept covered in the refrigerator (keep up to 2 weeks; freeze thereafter).

Our Classic Disney-themed Chef's Table. Phase 1: John's dish and recipe.

The always gracious and wonderful John Corona quickly shared his recipe with me a scant two days after our Disney-themed Chef's Table.  It is now about an hour from our next Chef's Table - and I am just now getting to post this.  I'm usually a lot better with posting things, but this summer has been a whirlwind.  So I do apologize.  The Disney theme may be in my all-time favorite Chef's Tables, so I will post more photos, even if people don't send me posts.

 

So, enough about me - how about John's magnificent dish?

 

 

 

Pam---

Thanks so much for sharing your home with us to host Chef's Table.  What a glorious time!

Could not have enough of your Earl Grey sugar cookies -- and Ben's melange of 4 different soups was tasty, and off-the-hook!

Below are the ingredients and brief directions for the Mango Salad with Pork Floss.

Pork Floss--this is the garnish

Basically -- roast pork tenderloin (325 per lb for 45-60 minutes or until interior is 165 degrees)
(Some will boil the tenderloin)
Shred the meat with a fork (some use two forks 'in opposition').
If you have a wok -- set heat at lowest setting and slowly heat until dry
Using a frying pan -- set heat at lowest setting and heat until dry..turning frequently
I used lime-infused olive oil which imparted a nice citrus flavor to the meat.

Lime-Honey Dressing

After completely removing the rind, puree 5 key limes.
This should provide 3/4 to 1 cup of pulpy liquid
To this add equal parts (3/4 cup to 1 cup)
     Vinegar ( I used Rice Wine Vinegar)
     Honey (plain, clover honey)
     Olive Oil (I used lime-infused olive oil)

To this I added regular sugar (up to 3 table spoons)...then emulsified with a blender
After refrigerating over night...give container a good shake to re-mix

Lay a bed of-
    1 leaf Butter Lettuce
    2 leaves Spinach
    2 leaves Basil

Sprinkle with a tablespoon of pork floss
Add 2 tablespoons of diced mango
Drizzle 1-2 tablespoons of dressing over all

Happy Days!

John

Dancing With The Chefs RECAP

From Chef Gail:  What a delightful spring feast!  Beginning with a light, fruity beverage and spicy empanadas, continuing with a soup that literally "popped" and greens garnished with homemade chorizo and candied-cheese filled figs, a main dish of citrus marinaded pork tenderloin, caramelized onions and sweet potatoes and finished with a decadently fluffy dark chocolate and blackberry bread pudding with a berried hot butter rum sauce and port...yum!

 

Here is the link to the recipe I followed for last night's dinner:

http://www.tienda.com/recipes/porksirloinworange.html

I substituted a red Spanish wine for the expensive sherry, but otherwise I pretty much did what they said.  I put some of the olive brine in the sweet potato mash that Suzy suggested as a side and garnished with Manchego cheese and a mix of spicy Spanish olives.  Main instruction I would add is to not over cook the pork.  I seared it and then finished it in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes to an internal temp of 140-150.  Easy peasy.

Michelle Ho's "Chef's Table Masterpiece"!

During January 2013's Chef's Table excursion, I picked the artwork: "Family Concert" by Jan Steen.

 

Jan Steen was a Dutch painter of the 17th century while the "Family Concert" is an example of genre painting which is a scene of everyday life.

At first glance one would think that this was something of a scene of a fun family affair, and I would tend to agree until I started to really look at the painting in detail. There is a lot of disconnect going on in this particular painting... lots of harmony and chaos thrown together. 

Very much like a traditional family scene... so that was my inspiration... harmony and chaos:

A lover of the Dutch Baby Pancake, I decided to use that as my basis and popped that in the oven to cook for a while...

From here, I decided that I loved the idea of creating a quiche that I found a simple filling / recipe for a traditional quiche and changed things up to use ingredients that are probably more prominent in Dutch cooking as opposed to French (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/spinach-quiche/). 

I did a couple of test runs which provided very good results and the one presented at the Chef's Table had a bit of a "souffle" feel to it, which just added to the "organized chaos".

All in all this felt like a win in many levels... but not at all perfected... perhaps with a few tweaks here and there I would be happier with the results, but hey, that's the perfectionist in me ;-)

"Famous Paintings" Chef's Table: Gail's work of art.

On January 13, 2013, our little ragtag group of foodies took on the theme of "Famous Paintings".  Here is Ms. Gail's contribution:

The work of art I had to draw upon for inspiration was "The Watermill with the Great Red Roof" by Meindert Hobbema, a 17th century Dutch landscape artist.  

Looking at the painting, I put myself in the shoes of the little fisherman in the bottom left hand corner.  What would he like to eat if he were to take a little nosh break on this delightful day?  I began to research Dutch foods and quite honestly, I wasn't impressed.  All the dishes seemed rather bland and I simply could not bring myself to even taste pickled herring.  I decided to put together a little picnic combining a number of dishes I found recipes for and I wanted to recreate the painting, in an abstract manner on my plate.

I used triangular shaped Gouda cookies to build the structure.  The mortar was Heksenkaas, a surprisingly tasty Dutch sandwich spread of cream cheese, leeks, celery root and garlic.  Instead of pickled herring, a traditional Dutch treat, I used smoked salmon.  For the "red" element, I made a little slaw of roasted red beets and red onion dressed in peach red balsamic vinegar.  Snipped chives garnished the plate as well as a small triangle of Gouda cheese.

I was quite pleased with the results, even though I was kind of flying by the seat of my pants.  I never did a test run, but in the end, it all worked well together.  Below are the links for the recipes I used for my creation.

http://dutchfood.about.com/od/breadspastriescookies/r/GoudaCookies.htm

http://dutchfood.about.com/od/saucesgravies/r/Heksenkaas-Recipe.htm