Red Curry Salmon

There's a Thai restaurant near my work and I've just been absolutely addicted to their Red Curry Salmon. There was one week I ate it twice that same week for lunch. Talk about addiction!

Well, since I seem to be spending too much at the restaurant, I decided to see how difficult it was to make the dish. To my surprise, it's quite simple!

I have to admit, the restaurant's had a more distinct flavor--probably from having the curry "sit" or "cure" for a while. Nonetheless, what follows is delicious and most of all, so simple to make and takes no more than half hour and it's ready!

Needed:
1 T canola oil
1 - 2 T Thai red curry paste
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can coconut milk
1 lb salmon fillets, cut into chunks
7 - 8 basil leaves
salt to taste
Thai fish sauce, optional
1/2 T white sugar
Sliced vegetables: your choice of asparagus, baby corn, green beans, red pepper, green pepper, yellow squash, or all! Maximum of 4 cups vegetables combined as a ratio for the sauce and salmon

How to make:
1. Heat oil in a large pot with lid. Saute the curry paste first, then the chopped onion. Cook until onion is transparent.

2. Add coconut milk and allow to boil softly. Continue to let boil and add vegetables--place the harder-to-cook vegetables in first and cook (for example, put in green beans first as they are firmer in texture and will require longer to cook). Then, add the other vegetables gauging which ones will need to cook longer and putting those in the pot before the others that will take lesser time to cook. Let simmer to let the vegetables cook, until crispy (not mushy).

3. When the vegetables are cooked, add the salmon. Do not stir and just allow the salmon to cook in the sauce. Stirring will cause the salmon to break up.

4. Season with salt or Thai fish sauce according to your liking. Add a bit more red curry, for desired spiciness. Add sugar to enhance flavor. Cook for another 5 minutes. Salmon does not take very long to cook and if left too long, will become chewy and dry.

5. When ready to serve, ladle salmon, vegetables and sauce in a bowl. Stir in basil leaves.

6. Best served with warm white or brown rice. Or even Thai sticky rice (I'm sorry, I don't know how to make. LOL!)

Leche Flan Ice Cream

Others may call this recipe, "Caramel Ice Cream," but when I made it, to me, it tasted so much like "Leche Flan Ice Cream" so I've renamed it, as well as put my twist to it. You will see that the ingredients really is what you would use to make leche flan.

As with my previous ice cream recipe, I used my Old-Fashioned Ice Cream maker to churn this ice cream. While other homemade ice cream recipes say that you don't really need an ice cream maker, you will have to check on the ice cream regularly to stir and ensure that ice crystals do not form. For me, that's just too much work. LOL! With an ice cream maker, you can churn the ice cream and then just finish off freezing in the freezer.

This type of homemade ice cream is custard based--meaning, using eggs and milk as the base for the ice cream.

Needed:
1 1/8 granulated white sugar (1 cup separated for the caramel)
2 1/4 c heavy cream (1 1/4 c separated for the caramel)
1/8 t salt
1 t vanilla extract
1 c milk (I used reduced fat milk)
3 large eggs

How to make:
1. Heat the 1 cup of sugar in a heavy saucepan. Over medium heat, stir constantly until all sugar has melted. Do not over stir. Once the sugar has melted, simply swirl saucepan around to ensure even heating. Continue to melt until sugar turns golden brown. Turn heat down.

2. Add 1 1/4 cups of cream to the heated, melted, caramelized sugar a little at a time. Be careful when adding because the caramel will boil over once the cold liquid is added. Continue to add over low heat until completely combined. Transfer to a bowl, add salt and vanilla then allow to cool.

3. In another saucepan, mix together milk, remaining cream, remaining sugar and bring to just about boiling. Do not let boil. Remove from heat.

4. In another bowl, whisk eggs and add milk mixture slowly. Be careful to not add all at once because the heated milk will scramble the eggs. Add remaining milk and combine thoroughly. This is now your custard base. Return base to saucepan and heat to 170 degrees Farenheit on a cooking thermometer. If you don't have a thermometer, bring to a point where the mixture sticks to the back of a spoon.

If you remain in the heat longer, the eggs will cook thoroughly and you will have to start over again.

5. Strain custard into a fine sieve to rid of lumps. Collect custard in a separate large bowl. Once all custard has been strained, add cooled caramel mixture and cool at room temperature.

6. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

7. Churn mixture in ice cream maker per manufacturer's instructions. The consistency will be that of soft-serve ice cream.

8. Continue to freeze in freezer until hardened.

9. Enjoy within one week.

Tips:
* Your ice cream maker canister and mixture must be really cold to make successful batches.

* Place mixture/base in freezer just before churning in ice cream maker. This gives the mixture a bit more chill for better results.

* It's best to let ice cream harden more after churning.

* Plan ahead for the ice cream making process. I typically make the mixture/base a day before, leave in the fridge overnight, then churn the next day. I let harden in the freezer about 4 hours for best results.

Enjoy!

Homemade Ice Cream

I absolutely love ice cream and what better way to feed my love for this dessert than to make my own! A Bed Bath and Beyond wedding gift card resulted in an Old-Fashioned Ice Cream Maker. I have never made ice cream before and this process is fun, relaxing, and reminds me of science experiments! LOL!

I made the basic vanilla ice cream as below. I researched many recipes online and this one proved to be the easiest. It's also not custard based, so the result was simple and lighter than custard mixtures. I was very happy with the texture and the ice cream maker really does let it have the store-bought consistency and without crystals.

Needed:

1 c milk

3/4 c granulated sugar

pinch salt

2 c heavy cream

1 t vanilla

How to make:

1. Whisk together with milk, sugar, salt until sugar is completely dissolved.

I whisked this by hand using a wire whisk. You can also use an electric hand mixer, but there is really no need to when this can be done by hand.

2. Stir in heavy cream and vanilla until completely blended.

3. Chill until very cold. Be careful that this mixture does not freeze up.

4. Prepare ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.

5. Pour mixture in ice cream maker and churn until almost firm. You can add chocolate chips or nuts at this point prior to finishing, but should be added only when ice cream has thickened like soft-serve ice cream. 

Ice cream pictured above includes chocolate chips and walnuts. I did not toast my walnuts and in hindsight, I should have. Without toasting, the walnuts tasted raw. You can also bake the nuts coated in sugar for candied nuts.

6. Finish freezing in an air-tight, freezer-proof container.

7. Serve within one week.