Thai pork salad

From the New York Times.

If you're feeling feisty, chop up the cucumbers a few days in advance and make quick pickles with rice wine vinegar, salt, and sugar.

Thai pork salad

serves 6

Create the marinade and dressing

Combine in a food processor:
5 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tbsp. peanut oil
6 tbsp. garlic olive oil
2 tbsp. fish sauce
3 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tbsp. sambal olek
juice of 4 limes (~6 tbsp.)
1 tsp. kosher salt

Add and puree until smooth:
3" fresh ginger, peeled and rough chopped
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and rough chopped
2/3 cup cilantro, packed flat

Place 2 pork tenderloins in a gallon zip-lock bag. Add 1/3 cup of mixture as a marinade. Marinate in the refrigerator overnight (or at room temperature for 2 hours).

Save remaining marinade mixture for dressing the salad.


Cook & assemble salad
Broil pork for 20 minutes, turning the meat after 10 minutes.

Boil rice noodles for 5-7 minutes, until al dente.

Combine and let rest for 10 minutes:
1 head of Napa cabbage, shredded
half the remaining dressing

Add to salad and toss:
5 green onions, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced into strips
3 Persian cucumbers, sliced
1.5 cups cilantro leaves
1.5 cups mint leaves
1 cup basil leaves
all the remaining dressing
kosher salt, to taste

To plate, add rice noodles first. Top with dressed salad, then sliced pork.

Shopping list

2 pork tenderloins (1 package)

1 head Napa cabbage (or 8 cups pre-shredded)

green onions

red bell pepper

3 Persian cucumbers

2 jalapenos (or seranos, or Thai bird chilis)

4 limes

3" fresh ginger

2 bunches cilantro

1 bunch mint

1 bunch basil

Check the pantry

soy sauce
sambal olek
peanut oil
garlic olive oil
fish sauce
brown sugar

Soy ginger dressing

Recipe slightly modified from My Recipes, to swap out the fresh ginger and add sesame oil.

Soy ginger dressing
makes 1/2 cup

Combine:
1/3 cup soy sauce
3 tbsp. lime juice
2 tbsp. rice vinegar
2 tbsp. peanut oil
1/2 tsp. sesame oil
1/4 tsp. powdered ginger

Caesar salad dressing

Avoiding garlic has made buying commercial salad dressings impossible. Fortunately, it's easy to make your own.

I've adapted the Caesar salad recipe from Once Upon A Chef to be low FODMAP. I swapped in garlic olive oil for whole garlic, and swapped soy sauce for Worcestershire. To compensate for the lost tang from the Worcestershire, I added one additional teaspoon of Dijon mustard.

Parmesan cheese varies greatly in salt content. Be sure to add the cheese first before adjusting the salt level to your taste.

Caesar salad dressing
1.5 cups

In a medium bowl, whisk together: 

2 Tbsp. lemon juice (juice of one lemon)

2 tsp. garlic olive oil

2 tsp. smooth Dijon mustard 

1 tsp. anchovy paste

1 tsp. soy sauce

1/4 tsp. black pepper

Add and whisk until homogeneous:

1 cup mayonnaise

Fold in:

1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan

Adjust salt to taste (up to 1/2 tsp).

Chicken soup from leftover roast chicken

Chicken soup from leftover roast chicken
serves 8

Strip remaining meat from chicken carcass and reserve it for the finished soup.

Stock:
Using a cleaver or kitchen scissors, break up the carcass into several smaller pieces so that they will fit in an even layer in the bottom of a large pot or Dutch oven.

Roast in Dutch oven over medium-high for ~8 minutes:
1 tbsp. olive oil
chicken carcass pieces

Turn pieces occasionally, until lightly browned all over.

Add and simmer for 1.5 hours:
12 cups water
1 medium carrot
1 medium celery stalk
1/2 medium yellow onion
2 fresh thyme sprigs, coarsely chopped
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

Soup:
Strain the stock, then bring the clarified stock back to a simmer over medium-high heat.

Add and simmer 20 minutes:
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. fresh thyme
fresh ground black pepper

Meanwhile, cook 1 cup dried egg noodles if desired.

When the vegetables are tender, add reserved shredded chicken and cooked egg noodles. Simmer until the flavors meld, about 5 minutes more. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.

Roasted chicken over potatoes and kale

This is my first stab at a low FODMAP recipe from The Quiet Gut Cookbook. Savory cooking without garlic or onion is quite tricky, and it's nice to have some base recipes to riff on.

Roasted chicken over potatoes and kale
serves 4-8

Combine in a large stock pot:
3/4 cup Morton's kosher salt (or 1/2 cup table salt)
8 cups cold water
4-8 chicken leg quarters

Brine in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 450.

In a large roasting pan, combine:
1.5 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, sliced with a mandolin to 1/4" thick
1.5 pounds kale, lightly chopped after the central stems are removed

Add and stir to evenly coat the vegetables:
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tsp. salt
fresh ground black pepper

Pull the brined chicken out of the refrigerator.

Combine in a small bowl:
1/8 cup olive oil
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper

Rub spice mixture under the skin of brined chicken leg quarters. Then place the leg quarters on top of the bed of potatoes and kale.

Seal the roasting pan with foil, and bake at 450 for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and cook for a further 30 minutes, or until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165.

To finish, squeeze the juice of one lemon over the roasting pan.


To buy:
4-8 chicken leg quarters
1.5 lb. Yukon gold potatoes
1.5 lb. kale (~2 bunches)

Mashed potatoes with dill (dairy free)

The New York Times recently published a dairy-free mashed potatoes recipe, and I took it upon myself to make it fully FODMAP-compatible. I brought some to Easter supper and they were a big hit.

The dill is optional, but adds a buttery-like quality and a nice zing.

Mashed potatoes with garlic and dill
serves 6-8

Cut 2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes into 1-inch chunks.

Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add potatoes and 2 tsp. salt, and cook at a brisk simmer until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.

Drain potatoes and mash.

Stir in:
1/4 cup of garlic-infused olive oil
1/2 cup water (to achieve a creamier consistency)
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill (or about 1 Tbsp. dried)

Salmon with cumin and cilantro

Taken from a New York Times recipe.

Salmon with cumin and cilantro
serves 6

Combine in a small bowl:
2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
1/8 cup olive oil

Place whole salmon fillet on a foil-lined baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper, then rub liberally with spiced olive oil mixture.

Cook at 350 for 15-18 minutes.

Combine in a food processor:
2 bunches cilantro, rough chopped
1/2 cup sliced green onions or chives
2 tbsp. fresh lime juice
1/2 cup olive oil + garlic-infused olive oil (3:1 ratio recommended)

After sauce is blended, add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve salmon with cilantro sauce spooned over top.