Las Vegas Food Adventures

Sesame Noodles

Sesame Noodles can be found on just about every Chinese menu these days and for good reason, Sesame Noodles are wonderfully addicting just by themselves, served as a side dish with grilled chicken or served topped with crisp stir fried vegetables. They also travel well and are a perfect dish to take to a potluck or picnic.

Fresh Chinese egg noodles are best for this recipe and luckily they’re becoming available in many American supermarkets these days. They’re worth looking for, but regular dry spaghetti can also be used with excellent results.

1 pound Chinese egg noodles
2 tablespoons sesame oil
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons Chinese rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sesame paste (Chinese or tahini)
1 tablespoon smooth peanut butter
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 tablespoon finely grated ginger
1 teaspoon finely minced garlic
2 teaspoons chili-garlic paste, or to taste
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and julienned
¼ cup chopped roasted peanuts.

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add noodles and cook until barely tender, about 5 minutes till al dente. Don not over cook. Drain, rinse with cold water, drain again and toss with a teaspoon of the sesame oil.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the remaining sesame oil, the soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame paste, peanut butter, sugar, ginger, garlic and chili-garlic paste.

3. Pour the sauce over the noodles and toss. Transfer to a serving bowl, and garnish with cucumber and peanuts. Serves 4

2010: 02/09
CATEGORY: Recipes
2 comments

Butter Salmon

Based on one of India’s most popluar dishes, Butter Chicken (or murgh makhani), this recipe substitutes salmon for the usual chicken. It’s a rich, vibrant dish and only needs plain rice or Indian flat bread to accompany it. Don’t be put off by the rather long list of ingredients, the dish goes together quickly. Since the sauce and salmon are cooked separately, the sauce can be made a day or two ahead, refrigerated and reheated to serve when the salmon is ready to serve.

The aromatic spice mixture garam masala is a blend ground spices and can include black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, star anise, cardamom, nutmeg and bay leaves. Every household in India has their own favorite blend. In the U.S. it’s available in the spice section of most major supermarkets.

Sauce
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon grated ginger
2 large cloves garlic, finely minced
1 teaspoon garam masala
½ teaspoon ground cumin
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup thick plain full fat yogurt
1 cup light cream (reserve ¼ cup for garnish)
1 cup tomato puree
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
¼ teaspoon salt
1 pinch black pepper
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup water
Salmon
1 tablespoon peanut oil
4 fresh boneless salmon filets or steaks
1 teaspoon garam masala
salt & pepper
sliced green onions or chopped fresh coriander, for garnish

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Saute the onion until soft and translucent. Stir in butter, lemon juice, ginger, garlic, 1 teaspoon garam masala, cumin and bay leaf. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add tomato puree, and cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in ¾ cup of the cream and yogurt. Reduce heat to low, and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Season with salt and pepper. Mix the cornstarch with the water, then stir into the sauce. Cook for about 5 minutes over medium heat or until sauce comes to a boil and is thickened. Set aside and keep warm while cooking the salmon.

Season the salmon filets or steaks on both sides with salt, pepper and garam masala. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook salmon until lightly browned on each side but not quite cooked through. Remove from the saute pan and add to the saucepan with the warm sauce. Over low heat, gently simmer the salmon in the sauce for 5 minutes to finish the cooking. Serve with a generous amount of sauce over the top and drizzled with the reserved cream. Garnish with sliced green onions and serve with plain rice.

Serves 4

2010: 02/07
CATEGORY: Recipes
5 comments

Ciao Ciao

Ciao Ciao Apizza Angelato
Las Vegas has no shortage of strip plazas. They’re a treasure trove for food exploring, sometimes you get lucky and find a real culinary gem and sometimes you find something that isn’t. Ciao Ciao falls someplace in between.

The atmosphere, service, and our Chianti selection sparkled. The food did not. Primarily an upscale pizza place with a “flame fired” oven, it smells and looks great when you enter the restaurant. On a recent early (5:30) Friday night visit were greeted by a friendly hostess and served by an attentive and knowledgeable server. He steered us in the right direction with a pleasant bottle of Chianti (Piccini 2008, $22.00) and gave us enough time to peruse the short menu and take in the 22 TV screens that line the room.

The menu is heavy on pizza. There are a few appetizer, sandwich and pasta choices, but this “flame fired” oven they tout lured us in. Skip the appetizers. The generous portion of calamari ($7.95) was soggy and greasy. You might want to also skip the sausage on the pizza. Our sausage and pepperoni pizza (large $18.95) was loaded with very odd, thin, flat, gray, rectangular strips of gyro-like sausage meat and huge, Frisbee-like disks of semi-burnt pepperoni that posed a logistical eating problem. The sauce was fine with no signs of corn syrup. The crust advertised as “aged” dough (??) wasn’t anything special. It was OK but we’ve had better pizza crust with “non-aged” dough around Las Vegas. While we were waiting for our bill we were presented with a pleasant, complimentary sampler of six of the dozen or so gelato flavors on offer that evening.

Ciao Ciao is an admirable attempt at a Las Vegas locals upscale pizza place. We liked the interior, were impressed by the service and could really tell that management cares about the business. We weren’t totally unhappy with our visit, just confused. What the heck WAS that rectangular gray stuff on our pizza? With that flame fired oven, they might do well to try traditional sausage, normal sized pepperoni , a crispy, chewy crust…and skip the pretentious upscale frou-frou.

Large pizza (2 toppings), appetizer, bottle of wine, a shared desert and tip, $70.00.

Ciao Ciao Apizza Angelato
4460 South Durango Drive
Las Vegas, NV 89147-8614
(702) 889-2700

Website http://www.ciaociaopizza.com/

2010: 02/06
CATEGORY: Restaurant Reviews
1 comment

Glazed Salmon Cakes

These luscious salmon patties start with fresh salmon that is very coarsely chopped, leaving some larger pieces so the buttery texture of the salmon isn’t lost and the cakes stay moist inside. The lightly seasoned salmon is glazed with a spicy sweet mixture that really plays well with the richness of the fish.

1 lb boneless fresh, uncooked salmon
1 egg white
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tsp sherry
½ tsp salt
½ tsp white or black pepper
canola or other light oil for sautéing

Glaze
3 tablespoons Asian chile garlic paste
4 tablespoons light brown sugar
4 tablespoons soy sauce

Chill the salmon in the freezer till very cold. With a very sharp chef’s knife dice the salmon into small pieces and chop slightly leaving larger pieces of salmon. A food processor may also be used if caution is used to not over process.

Combine the chopped salmon with the egg white, cornstarch, sherry, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix well. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate till well chilled at least and hour or up to 4 hours.

Mix the glaze ingredients together and stir to combine, set aside until ready to glaze the cakes during sautéing.

When the salmon mixture is well chilled form into 4 patties. Preheat a nonstick pan over medium heat and add enough oil to the pan so barely coat the surface. Gently add the salmon cakes and sauté for 3 minutes until light brown. Gently turn the cakes over and spoon some of the glaze over the top. Flip again when side two is light brown and glaze again. Flip one more time and sauté until the glaze on the second side has just begun to caramelize. Don’t overcook. Serve right away with any leftover glaze, if desired.

2010: 02/04
CATEGORY: Recipes
4 comments

Beef Paprikash

Take the winter chill off with this delicious Hungarian style beef stew that features a generous amount of paprika. Paprika has more vitamin C by weight than lemon juice and is high in a number of antioxidants, welcome additions for fighting off the winter blahs (drinking the second half of the bottle of beer called for in this recipe won’t hurt, either). Use fresh, high quality paprika for the tastiest result. Paprika doesn’t store as well some other spices and can loose it’s brilliant color and rich flavor when stored for an extended time.

1 ¼ pounds boneless beef chuck cut into 1 inch cubes
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
6 tablespoons Hungarian paprika
1 ½ cups beef broth
6 ounces (½ of a bottle) beer
1 cup sour cream

Heat oil in large skillet and sauté beef strips until no longer pink. Remove from skillet.

Sauté garlic, onion and bell pepper until softened. Add salt, pepper and paprika, stirring to combine.

Add beef broth and beer to onion mixture and return beef to the skillet. Cover and simmer for 45-60 minutes or until the beef is fork tender (larger cubes may require longer cooking).

Stir in sour cream over low heat and stir just until hot. Remove from the heat and serve with boiled potatoes or egg noodles.

2010: 02/03
CATEGORY: Recipes
4 comments

Pomelo Seafood Salad

Pomelos are the largest of the citrus fruits and the grandfather of the more familiar grapefruit. They look like grapefruits on steroids and the botanical name, Citrus maxima pretty much says it all. Unlike grapefruit, the segments inside are much less juicy, almost dry in comparison. The segments are less bitter than grapefruit and can be either white or pink with very few seeds. A favorite fruit in Asia, pomelo are frequently used in salads.

Peeling a pomelo is much like peeling a grapefruit once you get past the substantially thicker white pith on the inside. Once the pith is remove the segments can be separated and used in stir fry recipes, eaten as is with a bit of sugar or added to savory seafood salads. If unable to find pomelo in your grocery store, regular grapefruit segments are a perfectly delicious substitute in the following seafood salad

1 pomelo, peeled and segmented
½ lb cooked, peeled medium shrimp
¼ lb shredded crab meat
1 carrot peeled and julienned
1 cucumber peeled and thinly sliced
½ cup peanuts finely chopped
2 green onions minced
leaf lettuce washed and dried

Dressing
4 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons water
½ tsp chile paste (or to taste)
4 teaspoons fresh lime juice

Combine all of the dressing ingredients, set aside.

Combine the pomelo pieces, shrimp, carrots and cucumbers. Toss with the half of the dressing. Arrange the pomelo mixture on top of the leaf lettuce. Drizzle the remaining dressing over the top. Garnish with the chopped peanuts and green onions and serve.

Serves 2

2010: 02/02
CATEGORY: Recipes
4 comments

Baby Bok Choy Soup with Pork Meatballs

Bok choy, a mild flavored member of the cabbage family is readily available in the winter time in the produce section of most supermarkets when other fresh vegetables are few. It’s a great side dish just briefly sautéed until wilted in a little hot oil with a touch of garlic or in this easy Asian style soup.

Homemade chicken stock is best, but in a pinch start with a good quality store brand that’s low sodium for this recipe.

Soup
5 cups basic chicken stock
2-3 slices unpeeled fresh ginger
2 minced green onions
2 tablespoon sherry (of Chinese cooking wine)
2 tablespoon soy sauce
6-8 bunches fresh baby bok choy

Meatballs
1 lb ground pork
½ tsp mashed garlic
½ tsp grated fresh ginger
½ cup very finely minced green onions
2 tsp light brown sugar
3 tablespoons soy sauce
scant 1/8 tsp sesame oil

Bring the soup ingredients-except the bok choy to a simmer.

Combine all of the meatball ingredients, mix well and form into 1 inch sized balls.

Drop the meatballs into the simmering soup and simmer gently without boiling for 15 minutes. Wash the baby bok choy and cut each head in half. Drop into the simmering soup and simmer just until the leaves wilt. Serve when the bok choy has wilted garnished with addition minced green onions and a drop of sesame oil if desired.

Serves 4

2010: 01/31
CATEGORY: Recipes
5 comments

Bacon Wrapped Mini Meatloaf

Forming a meatloaf into individual sized portions and wrapping in bacon means more bacon goodness with each serving.

1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork
1 cup breadcrumbs (regular or panko)
1 egg
½ cup milk
½ cup ketchup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
½ tsp seasoned salt (Lawry’s)
¼ tsp black pepper
12 pieces thin sliced bacon
1 cup red wine, broth or sherry

Preheat over to 350 degrees.

Combine all of the ingredients except the bacon and wine in a large bowl. With clean hands, gently combine the ingredients well, being careful to not over mix or the meatloaves may become tough.

Form into six equal sized oval loaves and wrap each with 2 slices of the bacon to cover the surfaces evenly. Place in a large baking pan an inch or more apart to help the bacon to brown.

Bake for 45 minutes uncovered. For extra brown bacon place under a preheated broiler for a few minutes if desired.

Drain off all of the grease from the pan and make a sauce by deglazing the bottom of the pan with 1 cup broth, red wine, sherry or a combination of these liquids. Boil until the liquid reduces slightly and serve with the meatloaves.

Makes six mini meatloaves.

2010: 01/30
CATEGORY: Recipes
6 comments

Fresh & Easy

An offshoot of UK based retail giant Tesco, Fresh & Easy is a pleasantly curious grocery shopping option in the Las Vegas valley. At first glance it’s easy to think Fresh & Easy is a convenience store but it’s actually fully stocked grocery store with all of the grocery departments one would expect to see in large supermarket.

There’s a big emphasis on earth friendly, additive free and locally sourced when possible. But unlike the other larger chains with same philosophy (Whole Foods, Wild Oats, Trader Joes, etc.), this doesn’t mean high prices at F&E. Items such as hormone and antibiotic free milk, meat and eggs are often priced the same or below the mega marts in town. Same goes for household cleaning items and frozen foods.

What is particularly appealing are the prepared heat & eat entrée choices, the selection of imported and domestic specialty foods and the wine selection with very attractive pricing. Being owned by the UK giant, the shelves offer a nice selection of British pantry staples and teas at very low prices. The wine department offers an interesting selection of wines, many under $10 with a few that are quite good (there’s a sparkling pinot grigio we love for $5.99). The prepared entrée department has an interesting selection of trans-fat and additive-free American and international heat & eat selections that are pretty darned good and reasonably priced.

F&E keeps their costs down by pre-packaging some things and by utilizing self check-out. With friendly, helpful staff on hand at the check-outs, there’s always someone to lend a hand packing bags. With the coupons that come with their weekly flyer, prices are even more attractive.

There are a number of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets strategically around Las Vegas as well as California, and Arizona. Favorite items we highly recommend are the fresh pomegranate juice, the Big Kahuna line of wines and the Fresh & Easy brand of nitrate free British style bacon and pastrami, olive oils, sourdough bread, English muffins and gelato (the pistachio gelato is outstanding).

2010: 01/30
CATEGORY: Las Vegas Food Shopping
1 comment

Nam Prik-Thai Roasted Chili Paste

This spicy roasted red chili pepper condiment is the Thai equivalent of salsa. It’s eaten as a dip for fresh vegetables, a topping for rice, eggs, grilled meats and as an ingredient in soups, stir fries and curry dishes. Thinned with soy sauce, fish sauce or lime juice it’s a perfect dip for crispy fried wontons, spring rolls, egg rolls, shrimp chips and pork rinds. There are many commercial versions available on Asian grocery shelves but it’s extremely easy to make it at home with the bonus of using the combination of ingredients that suits your own taste.

Dried red chili peppers are the base for all of the nam prik pastes. The end result should be a bit spicy, but not so fiery hot that it’s painful to eat. Choose a dried red chile with a heat level that suits your taste. Dried red Thai chili peppers work well, but so do dried red New Mexico or California red chili peppers. A combination of two peppers can be used as well.

This version is the basic version and is very good. In Southeast Asia the range of additional ingredients can include ginger (Thai or regular), lemon grass, herbs such as Thai basil or cilantro roots, peanuts, fermented fish, tiny dried shrimp or fruit. The final product should be a chunky paste that is sweet, salty, savory and a bit spicy. A mortar and pestle is used in Asia but a modern food processor makes quick work of the recipe.

This recipe calls for garlic and shallots briefly fried until lightly browned and crisp. Asian markets sell fried shallots in bags that make an excellent shortcut.

12 medium sized whole dried red chilies (more if using small chilies)
10 cloves garlic, sliced
15 shallots, sliced
3 tablespoons fish sauce
1-2 tablespoons palm sugar (or light brown sugar)
¼ cup tamarind pulp (or fresh lime juice)
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup peanut, vegetable or canola oil

1. Heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat in a pan and toss the dried chilies to roast them for 2 minutes. Do not burn; the goal is for them to become fragrant from the roasting. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

2. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in the pan. When it’s hot add the garlic and shallots, stirring until lightly browned and they begin to crisp. Remove from the heat and set aside reserving the oil they were fried in.

3. Remove the stems and most of the seeds from the toasted chilies and crumble into a bowl of a food processor. Add the fried garlic and shallots and pulse until mixture is the texture of coarse bread crumbs.

4. Heat the rest of the oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the mixture, stirring well until fragrant (about 2 minutes) Season with fish sauce, salt, tamarind (or lime juice) and palm sugar to taste and stir to combine.

5. Remove from the heat and allow it to cool then transfer to a glass container or bowl. Keeps for a very long time refrigerated.

2010: 01/28
CATEGORY: Recipes
5 comments

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From a Las Vegas native's point of view

Sesame Noodles

Butter Salmon

Ciao Ciao

Glazed Salmon Cakes

Beef Paprikash

Pomelo Seafood Salad

Baby Bok Choy Soup with Pork Meatballs

Bacon Wrapped Mini Meatloaf

Fresh & Easy

Nam Prik-Thai Roasted Chili Paste

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