I love Asian food- you name it Japanese, Thai, Korean, not so much Chinese, but you get the idea. I love the flavor profiles. Ginger, garlic, tamarind, soy sauce (wheat free of course), thai basil and on and on. I also love how simple a lot of the recipes are. I mean have you ever gone out to a Thai restaurant and marveled at how quickly your food came. It is because the ingredients are 1) simple and 2) get cooked quickly over high heat. No baking, no complications, simple, delicious. I crave Thai food alot and sushi even more than that.

Today, I was craving something I never crave: white rice. For the most part, I only eat white rice when it is a part of sushi or when I am having stomach problems and need to eat something incredibly basic and bland. Anyways, I was craving white rice. Be still my sisters heart. She loves rice. And she owns the one kitchen tool that I do not: a rice cooker. Even better, so I can cook it perfectly. Starting from wanting white rice is not exactly an inspirational jumping off point, most of the time. However, for some reason when I think of white rice and actually craving it, I think about a dish my sister, her ex-boyfriend and I use to make and eat relatively often when I lived with them about 3 years ago: Kao Gra Prow. Kao Gra Prow is ground meat (usually chicken), with fish sauce, chili peppers and lots of basil. It is delicious and simple. As soon as it came into my head, I was sold. It was exactly what I wanted. I headed to the grocery store to pick up the ingredients and started writing the recipe and working through the flavors in my head. When I got to Real Food, I was happy to find all the ingredients I needed and then ran into the kicker that took this recipe from good to great: ground ostrich. Considering Real Food in Sausalito does not carry very much meat at all, it was awesome to see that they had it! I grabbed it and headed home to get cooking.

This meat and rice dish is super simple, hugely flavorful and incredibly nutritious. The ostrich is so lean and the flavor combination of the roasted red chili paste, garlic and basil meld together for a very satisfying. Because of the noticeable absence of veggies in this dish, I decided to do some quick cooked asian greens on the side. Once I took the Kao Gra Prow out of the skillet, I simply added a bit of coconut oil and cooked the greens for a few minutes. I plated it all together and honestly, after a few bites of each separately to check flavor, texture and see if I liked the recipe, I mixed it all together and it just bumped up the whole dish to a whole new level. The two dishes can easily and fantastically stand alone, but they can combine to make a balance, nutritious, gourmet, even dare I say, traditional dish, which I will definitely be making again.

Ostrich Kao Gra Prow

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons garlic, minced
1.5 tablespoons olive or peanut oil
3 tablespoons roasted chili pepper sauce, divided
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 lb. ground ostrich
1-2 pkgs fresh basil, chopped

Directions:

In a wok over high heat, heat olive or peanut oil up and add garlic and 1 tbsp of the roasted red chili paste. Brown garlic, add ostrich and break up using a wooden spoon and cooking until beginning to brown. Add another tbsp roast red chili paste, soy sauce and dark brown sugar. Cook another minute. Add final tbsp of roast red chili paste. Add chopped basil and toss together. Remove from heat.

Serve over white rice (optional: once plated crack a raw egg over top of hot meat/rice and mix together) and side of quick cooked asian greens.

Makes 4 servings. Cooking time: 15 minutes.

(Cont. below)

Quick Cooked Asian Greens

Ingredients:

.5 tablespoon coconut oil
1 large bok choy, chopped
1 cup red cabbage, shredded
1 tablespoon soy sauce

Directions:

In a hot wok (perhaps the same wok used for the Kao Gra Prow), heat the coconut oil. Toss the bok choy and red cabbage into the wok and stir to coat with oil. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Add in soy sauce and cook 1 more minute. Greens should be crisp tender.

Serves 1. Cooking time: less than 10 minutes.

Somedays just come together in a way that you can’t even imagine being more perfect, where you go to bed with a smile on your face because you know you accomplished everything you wanted to do and more. While I live my life in a way that means that hopefully I experience that sense of satisfaction and bliss on a daily basis, somedays you have to experience that in spite of the circumstances that arise, instead of the day itself insisting it. Yesterday, it would have been hard not to have a great day.

My day started really early with a 4:20am wake up to go on a 10 mile run with my sister before she headed off to work. She is a teacher and often has to get up incredibly early in order to accomplish her training. That is dedication and I admire and support that commitment. I know it is easier to pull yourself out of bed at that hour when there is someone else also getting up, it makes you feel counted on and so I volunteered to get up and run with her. I am running twice a day, per my coaches instructions and though my second runs on occasion end up longer than prescribed because I am running my sister’s schedule with her, my body is handling and enjoying the mileage and the second runs are accomplishing what they should. We ran a nice out and back into creepy folds of fog and darkness. By the time we returned, the sun as starting to make its way up and the fog was burning off. It looked like it would be a beautiful day. We both felt extremely refreshed and not a bit tired after the run, but nonetheless I headed to Poggio to grab us each a nice Americano.

The day unfolded naturally and pleasantly from there. I worked a bit, ate a delicious breakfast of berries, bananas, prunes and goat’s milk yogurt. I blogged a bit and then headed out for my own run in the Marin Headlands. It was absolutely glorious.

Frankly, I had a hard time stopping myself from just running around for the entire day. As I ran, I dreamed about what I wanted to cook for dinner. I knew after the mileage I had done for the day and the addition of a tough tough CrossFit workout at CrossFit Marin that I would need a filling, healthy meal but given that the temperatures were pressing into the mid to upper 70s, I didn’t want something too heavy. As I ran, I started drooling over the idea of  garlic-y spinach and green beans and I got it in my head that I would really like something like sloppy joes and fries. But not exactly. Sloppy Joes and fries don’t exactly fit the “healthy” part of what I was looking for in their traditional forms, so I decided to make them so.

Over the next 5-6 miles, I worked through the ingredients and flavor profile and came up with what, in theory, sounded like a perfect balance of familiar flavor, health and heartiness without heaviness. First for the fries, I decided to cook up some carrots and parsnips instead of potatoes and bake them in a hot hot oven to crisp them up without any oil. Then onto the Sloppy Joes. I thought about things that are included in Sloppy Joes and things that are included in their vegan counter-part Sloppy Janes and fused a bit into both. I decided to use vegetarian Worcestershire sauce (gluten free!) and kick up the vegetables. I also decided that I was going to use super lean and flavorful ground buffalo. I would have considered using ostrich, but that is not widely available at your whole foods counter. Would have been interesting though. Any super lean ground meat will work, but I liked the buffalo. I also decided that I would wrap mine up in a gluten free tortilla and top with bread and butter pickles and I would call it “Sloppy James”. I really like the name James, it reminds me a soldier I once met on an airplane flying back from Seattle to Pittsburgh at a very important juncture in my life. Our “single serving” interaction profoundly moved and changed me and I will always look back on that interaction as formative in the turn my life took from there.

Really, with the kicked up vegetables and the various twists, it just didn’t seem right to call them Sloppy Joes. The meal ended up perfect and I was able to enjoy it sitting on the deck, looking out over a clear night to Angel Island (see picture at top). The Sloppy James could easily be made into a twisted up Sloppy Jane by substituting steamed and crumbled up bits of tempeh. I decided to not make this for myself as currently (and potentially forever more where possible) I am staying away from gluten, soy and milk as these are my trigger foods for serious digestive problems. That said, I know from experience that this technique and the flavor of tempeh would lend itself nicely.

By the time I collapsed into bed exhausted at 10pm, I was ready for a blissful night of sleep. My muscles ached from the good hard work, my belly was satisfied with good food, my skin tingled from a bit too much sun (ok, way too much- I got a sunburn) and all I could do was sigh and fall asleep absolutely satisfied.

Garlic Green Beans and Spinach

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup green beans, trimmed
2 tablespoons water
3 cups fresh spinach
salt
pepper

Directions:

In a medium skillet over medium high heat, heat olive oil. Add garlic and saute until it begins to get golden. Add in green beans and saute and additional minute. Add 2 tablespoons of water to the pan (carefully as it will spit!) and cover with a lid. Steam for 4-5 minutes until the green beans are tender. Add in spinach and let wilt, tossing garlic and green beans and spinach together. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve! Makes 1 serving.

Carrot and Parsnip “Fries”

Ingredients:

2 medium carrots
1 large parsnip
chili powder
salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut the carrots and parsnip (peeled) into thick matchsticks. Spread the matchsticks into a single layer on the baking sheet and sprinkle with chili powder. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the bottoms are golden and crispy. There is no need to flip. Sprinkle with salt and serve. Makes 1 serving.

Sloppy James

Ingredients:

1 medium onion , diced
1 pound ground buffalo
½ bell pepper, diced
½ cup mushrooms, sliced
1 can tomato sauce (15oz)
2 tbsp. tomato paste
3 tbsp. vegetarian, gluten free Worcestershire sauce
4 tbsp. yellow mustard
3 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 tbsp. brown sugar
salt
pepper

Directions:

In a large skillet, over medium high heat brown the onion and buffalo, about 4-5 minutes. Add bell pepper, mushrooms and cook another 5 minutes. If there is any fat in the pan after that, drain off fat (though not likely as buffalo is incredibly lean). Add tomato sauce, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, yellow mustard, red wine vinegar, and brown sugar. Simmer together for 8-10 minutes over medium low heat until sauce thickens slightly. Salt and Pepper to taste. Serve in a gluten free rice tortilla or bun. Makes 4 large helpings.

I like holidays. They are the perfect excuse to cook a good meal, not that I need any excuse. They are even better excuse to cook a themed or regional meal. With Tuesday being Cinco De Mayo, I decided to cook up another batch of my Whiskey Spiked Slow Cooked Beef Chili, but instead of Whiskey, use Tequila instead. After all, we were going to have margarita’s as well, so there would be tequila on hand. I have to say, this beef “chili” is probably one of my more favorite original recipes. The flavors that are developed over 5-6 hours of cooking are intense, balanced and totally kicked up. I used a bit more heat this time (perhaps a 1/2 tsp more of cayenne), but the heat was still diffuse and not overpowering.

I started the whole pot going about 1:30 in the afternoon, added in the tequila, 1/2 of the mushrooms and the squash and zucchini at 5:30 right before my sister and I headed out for an 11 mile run in the Marin Headlands. Before we left, I also put two baked potatoes into the oven at 350, so that by the time we came back everything except the guacamole would be ready to go.  We rolled in the door to the glorious rich smell of the chili and I popped straight into the kitchen and whipped up some of my guacamole while my sister mixed up some margaritas (Tommy’s margarita mix- made with agave & lime juice, thats it & Don Julio Blanco Tequila)- the perfect way to rehydrate after a run! I served up the chili over the incredibly tender potatoes and toppped with a bit of fresh cilantro. On the side, I offered guacamole, pico de gallo and a chipotle mango salsa. The meal was well rounded, flavorful, complex and pretty darn healthy. If it hadn’t been a holiday we were celebrating, it sure would have felt like a holiday eating a meal like that.

The best part about this chili is that it keeps really well and is versatile. The next day my sister took it to school for lunch and wrapped it up in a nice warm rice tortilla (keeping it gluten free baby!) and topped with a mixture of sour cream and salsa. Delicious! I am so excited to have gotten into the kitchen 2 times this week after such a inconsistent (due to traveling) start to the spring. I am back in the kitchen tonight, so I am excited to see what I will come up with!