Tonight’s dinner
Tonight’s dinner was Thai green curry with tofu. I spent nearly 2 hours in the kitchen, but about 20 minutes of that time was devoted to preparing pizza crusts for tomorrow night, and a great deal more could have been saved if I’d done more prep over the weekend. I also wasn’t hurrying because I’d had a late lunch and I knew that Scott wouldn’t be home until closer to 10.
This is an adaptation of the recipe on the side of the Thai curry paste jar, filtered through my own eagerness to improvise and my sense of what I want it to taste like. I chopped a bunch of vegetables–eggplant, onion, green pepper, carrots, mushrooms, red potatoes. I also pressed most of the liquid out of some extra firm tofu, then cubed it. (My preference is to freeze the tofu first–just throw the package into the freezer when you’re putting away groceries, then take it out a day or so later and let it thaw. The texture is better, but I didn’t think I had time to let it thaw. Our freezer sometimes freezes very effectively.) And I mixed the sauce–some vegetable broth, green curry paste, light coconut milk and fish sauce. Once I had all the chopping done (or close to it) I heated some oil in a skillet, browned the tofu cubes, added onion, and then added other vegetables; then I poured in the sauce and brought it to a simmer, then let it cook until the potatoes were done. In the meantime I put on the rice cooker and chopped a bit of cilantro to add toward the end. I didn’t think to take pictures until I was nearly done. (I did get pictures of the pizza dough in process, but I’ll include those tomorrow.)
Here is the curry mixture in the skillet:
And here it is on rice:
Other things
I’m itching to get my hands on a copy of Mark Bittman’s new book, Food Matters, which appears to be yet ANOTHER example of a capable writer, cook and scholar taking unfair advantage of having actual experience and knowledge on an issue to write a book that expresses much of my core philosophy and get it published, while I’m still just babbling on a blog. It’s good that he did, of course. (See here for an interesting review from Salon.com.) Until I do get a copy, I’ll point you to Bittman’s latest Minimalist column, which offers excellent guidance for those wishing to improve their diet and cooking in the new year.
What’s fun about Mark Bittman is everything. I love his point about cutting out the needless crap and just stocking up with what’s essential. That’s the way of life! Did you see the too cute tv show w/ him and Gwynneth Paltrow (and was it that Spanish famous actress, forget her name) tooling around eating all over Spain?
I didn’t see that show but it sounds great! The Minimalist column is one of the best things in the NYT.