Hello Dark Meat, My Old Friend

With all the food mags I read and cookbooks I pore over, you’d think I’d have a larger store of recipes I turn to again and again. Granted, my time for looking through recipes is severely limited these days, but I think even if I had more time, there’d be very few that made it to my pantheon of “turn-to’s.” My turn-to’s are usually one-pot or one-dish, don’t have 50-bajillion ingredients, and are fairly easy to throw together.

Here’s a delicious Asian-inspired crockpot chicken stew (that’s crock-full o’ veggies) I actually just made last night. I tweak it by adding a tablespoon or two of brown sugar and squeeze of lime at the end…long with some fresh cilantro. It’s delicious, and yeah, nutritious. (BTW, I misspelled “nutritious” at first and spellcheck offered up “nutria*.” Which I DON’T recommend you eat, although I’m sure it’s very nutritious.)

Here’s a Thai-inspired composed salad I was obsessed with for months and will be making again when I have the opportunity.

Here’s a really easy crockpot short ribs recipe with a little Asian flair. It’s so so so satisfying.

Finally, here’s a lovely coconut-based soup that I pretty much swam around in for months and months and inspired my own take on a Thai-inspired soup recipe, which I’ll put here:

bspencer’s Thai-inspired Green Curry Fish Soup

• 5 cups chicken stock
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1-2 heaping tbsp.Thai green curry paste (according to your heat level preference)
• 3 tbsp. fish sauce
• 2-3 tbsp. brown sugar
• 1/2 cup fresh mint, basil, thai basil or some combination of the aforementioned
• 1-2 cups edemame and/or green peas
• 2 cups veggies of your choice (I usually use some variation of the following: green onions, thinly-sliced squash, thinly-sliced tomatoes, thinly-sliced bell pepper, thinly-sliced carrot) Use whatever the hell is in  your fridge.
• A couple of white fish filets cut into big chunks
• The juice of two fresh limes
• 1 tsp. oil

Saute the green curry paste and your sturdier veggies in the oil for a minute or two. Add in the stock, coconut milk, and brown sugar. Let the soup simmer for about 10 minutes or so (to melt the paste and let the flavors get to know each other). Add your more delicate veggies and your fish chunks. Cook for about 5 minutes more or until your fish is cooked through. Finish your soup with your fresh lime juice, your fresh herbs and the fish sauce. If desired, serve over some rice and finish with some Sriracha or Sambal Oelek.

OK, here’s the fun part: Which recipes do you turn to again and again? Please write them out in the comments! (Or link to them.)

*Yep, people do hunt and eat nutria.