recipephile

Green or Brown Plantains?

Tiffany sent along an interesting challenge this week -- Plantains (1). My head was reeling with what I should do, so I headed to the vegetable store in Chelsea Market to begin my research.

There were two types of Plantains being sold at the market. A less ripe and very hard green version and a softer yellowish brown Plantain. Very good lesson here -- green and hard signals starchy and not sweet. Now, Plantains are not that sweet to begin with, but the green version, in my opinion, is not suitable for using in either recipes.

I tested both. The green was used for my savory dish -- Spicy Plantain Chicken Salad. Although my guests loved the green that was used in the dish I myself thought that they were dry and flavorless. You can obviously do whatever you want, but at the end of the day I would go for the yellowish brown Plantains for both recipes.

The dessert -- Dark Chocolate Plantains with Cilantro and Fleur de Sel (2) -- was awesome. The flavors went well together and I love the taste of salt and chocolate together.

Note that in both dishes the Plantains are fried first. You can use vegetable oil to fry your plantains (3).

I hope you enjoy both of these recipes.

Michael

28 Lobsters

Hello Everyone

My business partner, Kate, and I decided to do something after the holidays for our clients this year. We thought that throwing a party after the craziness died down would be a lot more fun. So on Friday night we gathered clients and friends for a lobster dinner.

The idea for lobsters came from our friend (and client) Emily Twomey. Emily's father (and grandfather and brother) are all lobstermen in Massachusetts north of Boston. Emily had her father ship us 28 lobsters. They were caught on Thursday and arrived in our offices on Friday morning. They were amazing. If you ever want lobsters, give Emily a call and she will act as your own personal "lobster broker" (email me for her number). Thanks Emily.

We also served a delicious corn casserole adapted from a recipe given to me by my mother and another recipe found online. The end result was delicious and I am excited to share it with everyone.

Special thanks go out to my neighbor Courtney who gave up her much larger apartment so that we could host the party. My 400 square feet just wasn't enough space for 28 lobsters and about 30 people. We actually cooked all of the lobsters ahead of time, de-shelled the little guys and served lobster meat on a platter. My friend Tres helped with the de-shelling and deserves a round of applause for his handiwork.

Hope you enjoy this weeks edition of RecipePhile.

Have a great week.

Michael

PS - I learned something very interesting about the term "Kafir" from one of my readers last week and have posted the email he sent me in FoodNoteworthies below.

Finding Kafir Lime Leaves

Hello Everyone

For the last few days I have been in San Francisco, visiting friends and also doing some business. So this week's RecipePhile comes to you from the City by the Bay -- one of my favorite places.

Many of you have heard of and had the opportunity to meet my good friend John. John has a passion for food that rivals mine. He is also wildly creative and an impeccable host. So when Tiffany sent along her weekly challenge -- Kafir Lime Leaves (1) -- I knew that John would be a great source for inspiration.

Our good friend Nick offered up his home and wonderful kitchen for the party and soon the list was filled with good friends, both old and new.

After coming up with the menu, John and I set out for the Embarcadero Farmers' Market (2) and Clement Street in the Richmond (3) to get our shopping done. This was an experience to say the least.

We soon discovered that Kafir Lime Leaves aren't the easiest thing to come across. John and I nearly gave up all hope when we asked the Chinese Herbalist if he had any idea where we could get our hands on these leaves - he looked at us like we were crazy. We decided to check out one more store. The heavens opened up and there they were -- Fresh Kafir Lime Leaves.

We made many dishes that evening, but decided not to include all of them in this week's RecipePhile. Honestly, some of them just weren't good enough. This just goes to show that not everything comes out perfectly and not everything tastes good, but the process and the creativity is what this is all about.

One cocktail and two dishes this week: Kafir Lemonade and Sake Cocktail, Red Snapper Baked in Sea Salt and Baby Bok Choy with Chinese Sausage.

Special thanks go out to Marc Jones and Scott Knudsen for all of their help on Saturday.

Have a great week.

Michael