FoodNerd!

Day 4 was a dinner party with friends. The pork belly and pickled bean sprouts went over a treat, and we made some shrimp on sugarcane (yum) and green papaya salad (turns out I really like cucumber in it) and some Pok Pok wings (holyshitOMGnoms).

The actual wings served at Pok Pok in Portland were better, I will grant, but these have a salty-sweet intensity that punched all my buttons. Everyone involved wound up with wing sauce everywhere and needed a bit of a scrubdown before the main course. Noms.

Also: avocado smoothies. Swoon.

A friend made this for a party last weekend and it was really good.

Walnut cake
Serves 12

Butter (for the pan)
Flour (for the pan)
1 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
2 cups walnuts, ground medium-fine in the food processor
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs

1. Set the oven at 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9-inch springform pan.

2. In a bowl, sift the flour, salt, cinnamon, and cloves; set aside.

3. In a food processor, grind the nuts until they are medium fine; set
aside.

4. In an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, if you have one, or the
whip, cream the butter. Add the sugar gradually in three stages, beating
after each one.

5. Beat in the eggs, one by one, beating only until they are incorporated.

6. Remove the bowl from the mixer stand. With a rubber spatula, stir in the
nuts, then fold in the flour mixture.

7. Pour the batter into the pan, smooth the top, and bake the cake for 45
minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out
clean.

I found this recipe in Saveur last month and it seemed pretty easy, and I had some butternut squash in the house.  I made adjustments as is my wont, and it turned out fricking terrific!  It’s in heavy rotation now, as it is easy, absolutely delicious, and violates none of the dietary constraints I am half-assedly semi-adhering to at present.

Here’s my version:

Melt a few tbsp butter in a saucepan over medium-high. Add a few cloves of chopped garlic, a chopped onion, and, if using, whatever kind of chilies you have or like; I use dried jalapenos and/or crushed red flakes.  Go easy unless you like it spicy (I do).  Cook until golden or at least soft and fragrant.  Add a container of Trader Joe’s cut butternut squash, a few cups chicken stock to cover (works fine with part water too), a shake of dried thyme, and a bay leaf; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium; cook until squash is very tender, 30–35 minutes. Discard bay leaf.  Add a tablespoon of curry powder, a squeeze of lime juice if you have it, a grating of nutmeg, salt, and pepper.  Puree with the immersion blender.  Simmer a little more if you can stand the waiting and then have at it.

I omit the dairy because it’s not really needed, but if you felt like swirling something in at the end, I wouldn’t stop you.

10-12 small cucumbers, washed and prepped (slices)

4 medium onions, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup salt
1.5 cups packed brown sugar
1 pint cider vinegar
2 (3″) sticks cinnamon, broken (or not)
1 tsp whole allspice
1 tsp white mustard seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp celery seeds
1/2 tsp cayenne

Place cucumbers and onions in layers in bowl or colander, each layer sprinkled generously with salt. Let stand overnight or at least an hour or so. Drain vegetables, rinse well with cold water, and drain thoroughly. Dissolve sugar in vinegar in a kettle. Add cinnamon and allspice and boil 1-2 minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients. Add drained cucumbers and onions, and scald 25-30 minutes, over very low heat but do not boil. Spoon pickle into clean glass jars, let cool, then put on lids and store in refrigerator.

If you are super lazy, you can just divide the rinsed and drained cuke/onion into the jars, divide the spices into the jars, and pour over the hot sugared vinegar to cover. Let cool, lid, then put in fridge.

Also, you may want different proportion of onion/cucumber — that should not affect the flavor much.