Photo by Ramsey (he stole my camera while I was in the kitchen and took the best shot of the evening)
Most people cite family members as having the most influence over their personal taste and culinary development, but for me, that person is my friend Vince. We’ve known each other since I was born, and without him, I would have never experienced such a wide range of foods and cooking styles over the years. He’s managed to track down every wonderful restaurant off the beaten path in our declining upstate NY hometown, including Korean restaurants hidden in strip malls, Thai restaurants on residential side streets, small restaurant/bars serving cocktails and sticky toffee pudding. He researches new restaurants in New York and is always ready with a recommendation when he is in town (he took me to Momofuku Ssäm Bar for the first time). The man even gives me cooking supplies and candied chestnuts as gifts on holidays.
Culinary finds aside though, I believe what’s had the most influence on me is Vince’s attitude towards food: he works hard to find the best and shares it with those around him. Meals are meant to be shared with friends and food is a glue that holds together the social fabric of a circle of friends, or brings together new ones.
One of Vince’s finds during our college days was a dish listed on a menu as “Awesome Chicken” at a Thai restaurant in Buffalo. It was chicken with peanut sauce over rice, but as I discovered during one of my visits to the city, the restaurant was correct in their assessment. I tried to recreate it last night, and while I don’t think it reached “awesome” status, I’d dub it “pretty good.”
Thai Peanut Chicken
-3 tbs. creamy organic peanut butter
-2 tbs. rice vinegar
-2 tbs. soy sauce
-1 tbs. brown sugar
-1 tsp. chili powder
-2 garlic cloves, minced
-3 chicken breasts, sliced into thin strips
-2 tbs. scallions
-2 tbs. vegetable oil
-1 cup jasmine rice, cooked according to package directions
-cilantro for garnish
1) Mix together peanut butter, vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar, and chili powder in a medium bowl and set aside.
2) Heat oil in a large skillet and add garlic. Stir until fragrant, then add the chicken and cook over medium-high heat until almost cooked though. Add peanut sauce and scallions and reduce heat to medium. Cook for five minutes, stirring often.
3) Serve over rice and top with a sprinkling of cilantro.
Stir-fried Bok Choy and Red Pepper
-3 large stalks of bok choy, cut into chunks
-1 large red bell pepper, chopped into 1.5″x1.5″ squares
-1 clove garlic, minced
-1 1/2 tbs vegetable oil
-1/2 tsp sesame oil
-1 tsp. soy sauce
1) Heat vegetable oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic and cook until fragrant (about 1 minute), then add the bok choy, bell pepper, sesame oil, and soy sauce. Cook until tender, approximately 5 minutes (you may need to remove the bok choy leaves from the pan before the stalks to avoid burning them).
