Seafood can be intimidating, so straightforward and simple is the name of the game, and each and every seafood recipe I have to offer you is back- to-basics. The thing about fish is that it cooks more quickly than other proteins, which means it’s prone to being overcooked, so it’s best to keep a close eye on it. Good thing eating fish is good for eye health. Puttanesca is a fairly simple Italian sauce made with anchovies, olives, capers, and a chunky tomato base. It’s bright and briny, and comes together as quickly as the fish cooks within it, resulting in a beautifully pungent dish that’s shore to make a splash. (SOMEBODY STOP ME, PLEASE.)
If you ask me what my last supper would include, this dish would absolutely make the list. It features a combination of some of my favorite ingredients: lemon, Parmesan, garlic, and butter. I’ve been making this dish for weeknight dinners for over 20 years, especially on Mondays as it’s a good way to use up any sesame bagels or baguettes left over from the weekend.
A total winner of a Tuesday dinner. What takes the longest is the marinating of the shrimp—the rest happens in 5. How can you beat that?
This is real carbonara—pasta coated in an impossibly creamy but very much cream free sauce made from egg, guanciale, pepper, and pecorino.
This is a perfect brunch party dish when served with shrimp and a poached or fried egg on each plate. Leftover grits can be used to make griddled grit cakes or saved and warmed for later.
Tanto was the nickname we gave one of my close childhood friends. He is a priest today, and I sometimes wonder if anyone who knows him as Father Francis realizes that once upon a time, his irreverent friends affectionately renamed him after the elephants (tantors) in the land of Tarzan, whose comic books we consumed voraciously. When we were young, a bunch of us went camping together a lot. Each of us was responsible for a meal, and for whatever reason, Tanto always made a tomato-potato curry. Truth be told, this is nothing at all like his original dish, but I still think of him every time I make it. Some memories are funny that way. This curry is hearty and delicious; it’s not very saucy, so don’t be surprised by that (for more on what a curry is and is not, see page 19).
There are many obvious similarities between New Orleans po boys and Vietnamese bánh mì, which are both essential sandwiches in the city. They start with the same style of French bread, are built around meat, and are dressed with cool veggies and creamy and spicy sauces to balance everything out. The natural intersection of these two cuisines speaks very directly to me, so I decided to meld them even further into a single sandwich. It’s a true hybrid, like me, and also extremely đặc biệt!
The bánh mì sandwich is incredibly versatile. I’ve gone with fried shrimp (my favorite po boy) for the filling, coated with a fish- sauce caramel. But you can use any protein from the book—from the Grilled Lemongrass-Marinated Meat to the Curry- Blackened Fish—topped with any combination of pickled carrot, cilantro, and cucumber. Just don’t skip my Vietnamese Aioli. It’s basically an umami bomb that comes together in literally seconds. If you think you hate mayonnaise, try this recipe and it might convert you.
This is the fan-favorite soup at Dad’s. Sweet, savory, a little salty, a little sour, with a host of beautiful aromatics, it has a lot going on. But it’s one of those recipes where I don’t do everything from scratch. I make my own coconut milk for desserts, but not for soups, where it gets loose and watery. Canned coconut milk typically has guar gum in it, which holds it together when hot. As for the Madras curry powder, my favorite is from Sun Brand. Established in 1876, they’ve had time to dial in their spice blend. I could be brash and say I’ll make curry powder myself, but I’m certainly not going to do it as well. Some things you leave to other professionals.
I am 10,000 percent convinced that this recipe will the breakout star of this book. In India I had tender coconut ice cream from Naturals, a famous Indian ice cream franchise, and I will never be the same. It had chunks of soft tender coconut in it that gave it a rich texture. The tender coconut filling requires a bit of work since it's made with fresh young coconuts, but it's necessary to get that fresh tender coconut flavor! You can usually find young coconuts at the grocery store in the fresh produce section. This recipe ended up being my husband Rhut's favorite, and I've made it no less than fifteen times in the last few months!
I decorated the pie with colored shredded coconut to mimic the sunset over the salt flats and mountains at Kalo Dungar, in Kutch Gujarat. I highly recommend using Thai Kitchen's full-fat coconut milk in a carton instead of canned coconut milk, as it has a fresher taste and does not contain any thickeners or preservatives.
Sausages and peppers are a classic combo that is not only delicious but easy to prepare with only a sheet pan. By using chicken sausage, we can limit saturated fat while maximizing that savory Italian flavor that we’re going for. Add some gnocchi and serve on top of a bed of calcium-rich spinach. Done and done!