Pad Thai and June’s Book Club Pick -- Hungry Monkey

So here is a little tidbit about me, I have to read for at least half an hour every night or else I can't fall asleep. Some might think that I would go through book after book, but I read at such a slow rate that it's kind of like a cruel joke. Also, after 30 minutes I am out like a light and only a few pages closer to finishing the book. Because of my reading narcolepsy and slow pace I only get through a book or two a month making Noëlle’s Simmer Down Book Club right up my alley. Each month a book related to cuisine is chosen and read by participants all over the globe. At the end of each month several questions about the book are posed by Noëlle.

This month’s steamy read (ha, I’m so funny… or sad) was "Hungry Monkey" by Matthew Amster-Burton. The story is a hilariously cute and comical tale of what my father and I like to call a "Daddy's Little Princess" (can you guess what I am?!?) and her dad on a culinary adventure to feed a toddler "real" food. Amster-Burton and little Iris explore everything from Sushi to Pad Thai... oh, and plain cheese pizza! Yes, in the end we find out that no matter what eccentricities and spices you introduce to a child in their younger years, they will always gravitate back to the repulsive basics.

I thought it would be nice to make a recipe from each book that we read, plus I have been looking for a killer Pad Thai lately and with a couple of tweaks to suit my tastes I think I found it.

Oh, also because I don’t have a child, I decided to comment on my cats eating habits.

(Coco also likes cooking from my A la Di Stasio Cookbook...)


Question 1
Food obviously plays a huge role in the Amster-Burton household. What role does food have in your household? Do you feel that kids need to know "where food comes from" and participate in food preparation, or is it enough just to make sure they're eating reasonably healthy foods?

Well since the only child that I have is my cat I will elaborate on her. My cat is getting fat. She can lie on her back with her legs in the air... buutttt the food that I feed her has gotten rid of her gingivitis (yeah, who knew). It's very expensive food and I would put her on a diet but trust me, a cat without food at 3am is probably just as bad as a screaming child. Once I put her on a diet and now she has anxiety attacks every time her bowl is half empty. I have thought long and hard about her food but seriously, she doesn’t care where it comes from, just as long as it’s there. She does like dolphin safe tuna though.


Question 2
Not every family can spend the time and money the author does to introduce his daughter to so many foods. What can working parents or parents with less means do to bring cooking and diverse foods into their children's lives? Or do you feel this is even important?

Really, I only have a cat, and I would do anything for her. Unfortunately when we change her food it doesn’t go well. That all I have to say on the subject.


Question 3
Both the author and myself had some pre-conceived notions about picky eaters. Did the book change any views you may have had, or (for those of you who are parents) reinforce what you already knew to be true from experience?)

I didn't think that one could accomplish what Matthew Amster-Burton has. I just figured that most tastes had to be acquired and no child would enjoy sushi in their first years of life. I guess I was wrong!


Question 4
The author confesses that he was, in fact, a very picky eater as a child, but turned out to be an avid food-lover. Most of you reading this are probably adventurous eaters; is this something that you came to on your own, or did your parents nudge you in that direction? Do you think being a "food lover" is innate or learned?

I think that being a food lover is learned, all I wanted to eat when I was a child was ketchup sandwiches and luke-warm milk, now look at me! My dad actually steered us away from vegetables because he didn’t like them. We would be alienated at the table if either my brother or I were caught with a piece of broccoli on our plates! Not that this bothered us, no veggies, great!! We did eat a ton of fruit growing up and now I love veggies as much as fresh cherries or any fruit out there.


Question 5
The author describes being forced to try sushi as a kid and almost throwing up, but trying it again in college and loving it. He credits this to the fact that the second time he tried it, he expected to like it. Do you agree? Can you think of a food that you probably liked because you expected to like it, or anything you didn't like in spite of thinking you would?

I remember the same thing happening to me with sushi. Everyone was eating it so I gulped it down the first time and the next day I wanted more. I think it was probably peer pressure! One thing that I didn’t expect to like was mussels. Once when my brother and I were younger we dared each other to eat a mussel at a local buffet. I did it and have loved them ever since, where as he didn’t and got into trouble for wasting food. Ha. Score one for the big sister!



Pad Thai
adapted from Hungry Monkey
this is the way I like it to make it

Pad Thai Sauce
1/4 cup concentrated tamarind paste, without seeds, sold in a plastic container
3/4 cup boiling water
1 tbsp. Sesame seed Oil
1/2 tbsp. peanut oil
2 tbsp. fish sauce
1 1/2 tbsp. rice vinegar
3 tbsp. sugar

Pad Thai
1/2 cup pad thai sauce
1 chicken breast chopped into 1 inch pieces
20 shrimp (optional)
1 cup Firm Tofu, cut into 1 inch squares
10 oz. Rice Noodles
2 eggs
2 tbsp. chopped cilantro
1 tbsp sesame seed oil
2 Handfuls of bean sprouts
1 tbsp green onions
1 lime quartered
4 tbsp. crushed peanuts

Pad Thai Sauce
Pour boiling water over the tamarind in a bowl mixing to get rid of large chunks of paste. Add all other ingredients to tamarind in a bowl and stir until the sugar is dissolved.

Pad Thai
Cook the noodles as directed on box, but make sure to cook till al dente. Heat the oil in a large pan or wok. Toss in chicken and tofu, cook for two minutes. Push everything off to the sides and in the middle crack the two eggs. Scramble the eggs vigorously, then continue sautéing everything until the chicken is cooked. Add the noodles, shrimp (if using) and sauce, sauté until all the liquid is soaked into the noodles. Place on plates and top with chopped green onions, bean sprouts, cilantro, crushed peanuts and a slice of lime.

Key Lime Cheesecake -- DB's

Ian and I have been waiting to post this for quite a long time now; it's the Birthday Cake that I made for him... which also doubles as the Daring Bakers Challenge this month. As you probably know by now Ian looooves citrus, making this his new favourite dessert.

I once made a key lime pie with an Oreo crust and candied limes on the top so I knew this combination would turn out great. I just switched out the recipe for key lime cheesecake then baked them in my mini springform pans and they tasted so creamy and delicious. And yes, this was the dessert that I was making when the thumb injury occurred. Watch your fingers around a mandolin…

I heard that cheesecake could be made with a few less calories so I used two regular bars of cream cheese and one low fat bar. I also switched the full fat cream for 15% and I don’t think anyone knew. It tasted like it was a heart attack waiting to happen, just as a cheesecake should.

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake:

crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
** I substituted 2-1/2 cups of Oreo crumbs with 1/2 stick of butter for the crust.

cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake
**Key lime - add zest from one lime to sugar before mixing with cream cheese. Substitute lemon juice, alcohol, and vanilla with key lime juice.



DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Pan note: The creator of this recipe used to use a springform pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil "casserole" shaped pans from the grocery store. They're 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.

Loopy Mini Cupcakes

Ok, today we have become kids again, but now we are free of all those binding rules (sorry mom, love you).

I saw these loopy mini muffins and thought "Ian will go crazy over these, I am going to make them for him" because seriously, we are grown ups now, we can eat cereal with our dessert, or even dessert for breakfast. This freedom is pretty much all that I wanted when I was young. I also wanted to eat only chocolate bars for a week straight, but mini cupcakes will do.

The thing that makes these little guys killer is that the fruit cereals flavours are in the batter. Orange, lime, and lemon paired with Fruity Cheerios™ (sorry, not Froot Loops™, the Cheerios version is made with real fruit juice, smaller, and they don’t tear apart the roof of your mouth) that completely increase the cereal flavour. There is even milk in the recipe! I made one batch and they were gone before they could cool, so was the second batch for that matter.

Loopy Mini Cupcakes
adapted from The Breakfast Cereal Gourmet by David Hoffman
makes 18 mini cupcakes

4 tbsp. unsalted butter
½ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
¾ cup sifted all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
¼ cup milk
Zest of half and orange
Zest of half a lemon
Zest of half a lime
¾ cup Fruity Cheerios
Powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and egg, mixing in well. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix into the butter mixture alternating with the milk. Add orange, lime, and lemon zest to batter. Spoon the batter into muffin pans lined with cupcake paper cups, filling them three-quarters full, and pushing cereal in to the top of each muffin, covering the surface. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the cupcakes are puffed and firm in the center. One cooled dust with powdered sugar.