This is a Thai recipe that went with a Vegetable Stir-Fry and Pineapple Fried Rice. It’s very simple to make, with lots of wonderful flavour.

Unfortunately, I only took a picture of the tilapia waiting for the grill – I forgot to photograph it once it was done!

Marinated tilapia, ready for the grill

I’ve talked about Rick Browne’s book, The Best Barbecue on Earth, quite a few times now. It has many, many recipes I love and want to experiment with.

Belle’s note: This is a very lovely dish, and it’s definitely one I’ll ask for again. The tilapia really absorbs the flavours of the Thai-spiced marinade, but it’s still mild enough that you can pair it with more robust tasting side dishes.

The following recipe is adapted from The Best Barbecue on Earth.

Grilled Koh Samui Tilapia

10 cloves garlic, cut into quarters
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup organic lime juice
2 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tsp white peppercorns, ground in a mortar and pestle
2 tsp golden brown sugar
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp sea salt
4 tilapia fillets, skinned

1. In a blender combine the garlic, cilantro, olive oil, lime juice, fish sauce, pepper, sugar, coriander and salt and blend until smooth.
2. Place the tilapia in a re-sealable freezer bag. Pour mixture in and mix well without breaking the fillets.
3. Place in the fridge for 1-2 hours.
4. Heat, clean and oil the BBQ grill over medium heat.
5. Drain the tilapia and discard the marinade.
6. Place disposable grilling trays on the BBQ grill or use aluminum foil.
7. Grill the fillets for 4-6 minutes per side.
8. Serve

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One of the best parts of this dish is the dish. You hollow out the pineapple and serve the rice inside. It’s a very attractive way to serve it.

Making this reminded me of a curried shrimp dish I made last year that was also served in a pineapple … I will have to dig that recipe out and make it again soon. It was good. And there’s also a French onion soup I’ve made before that’s served in large hollowed out onions, which was also memorable (not the same recipe as The Ultimate Onion Soup, which is still hands down my favourite French onion soup recipe).

But on to the Pineapple Fried Rice. This is one of Thailand’s signature dishes, and for good reason. My oldest son, who does not like rice, ate two helpings at dinner the night I made it, and then had it for breakfast the next day too! And up until then, I didn’t even know he liked pineapples.

Give this a try even if you don’t want to go to the trouble of hollowing out the pineapple. The recipe here does give you lots of leftovers, but in our family that’s a requirement. Everyone likes leftovers for late night snacks and breakfast. Since my wife is Asian, she’s used to savory breakfasts. We are definitely not toast and cereal people!

Feel free to reduce the quantity of rice, but I’m sure if your family likes rice, the leftovers will not last long.

Belle’s note: This rice was so delicious! I know Ward was surprised that our son had so many helpings, since he doesn’t really like rice, but what surprised me was that Ward himself enjoyed this dish so much – he doesn’t like pineapples. I think this dish might have changed his perspective on pineapples somewhat.

The following recipe is adapted from The Best Barbecue on Earth, by Rick Browne.

Pineapple Fried Rice

1 whole pineapple
4 tbsp peanut oil
4 cups cooked rice (I use a rice cooker: so fast and easy)
3 shallots, sliced thinly
5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped
3 tbsp water
3 tbsp organic vegetable stock
1 free-range egg
2-1/2 tbsp fish sauce
3 tsp Thai curry powder
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 medium size carrot, grated
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
5 scallions, finely chopped for garnish
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped for garnish

1. Slice off the top quarter of the pineapple, leaving the top intact.
2. Using a melon ball or tablespoon, begin scooping out the pineapple to a bowl (don’t keep the hard center core).
3. Place plastic wrap over pineapple bottom and top and place in fridge until ready to serve.
4. Cut the pineapple flesh into bite size pieces. You will need about 1-1/2 cups to 2 cups. The quantity of pineapple pieces you have will vary based on the size of your pineapple.
5. Reserve the rest of the pineapple pieces for something else.
6. Put a wok on high heat and add oil. When the oil is hot, add the shallots, garlic and chili, and stir-fry 3 minutes.
7. Add the water and stock, then stir. Add the egg and stir it into the rice quickly.
8. Add the fish sauce, curry powder, peas and carrot, and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes.
9. Add the rice and pineapple and mix well. Cook for about 3 more minutes.
10. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
11. Fill the pineapple shell with the rice. There will be a lot left over, which you can save for the next day’s breakfast or lunch, or for a late night snack.
12. Garnish with scallions and cilantro

With my daughter being a vegetarian I’m always on the outlook for interesting vegetarian meals that are healthy and easy to make. (I usually make a meat dish for the rest of us so it’s like making two meals every night.)

This recipe was great to find. I had planned on making it the other day but my older son decided he wanted something with tomato sauce so I made home made pasta and Bolognese sauce instead.

It was only going to be Belle and I. Dylan had already had more homemade pasta with his friend Matthew and I got down to 27 minutes for 1 pound of pasta on the table. It’s my personal challenge to get as fast as Jamie Oliver (under 15 minutes). But I digress.

Belle and I were going to have Churrascaria Marinated Steaks with Chile-Lime Sauce, Rosemary-Garlic Pan-fried Potatoes and Lemon Spinach. I was marinating the steaks and my daughter announced she would be home for dinner. I thought to myself, “the tofu dish I didn’t make the other night, we have everything for it and since it uses spinach I can make that instead of the Lemon Spinach.”

It went well with the steak, which was delicious (but not vegetarian, of course!).

Belle’s note: I love cold tofu salads! This made a lovely side dish and would be a wonderful main course with some sides, or a light lunch. The dressing is nice and strong, so you don’t have to go heavy with it.

The following recipe is adapted from Entertaining at Home With America’s Top Chefs, from a recipe contributed by Chef Andrew Gibson of Bacara Resort & Spa,  Santa Barbara California

Spinach Tofu Salad with Spicy Miso Dressing
Adapted from Entertaining at Home With America’s Top Chefs

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp organic soy sauce
2 tbsp organic white miso
1 tbsp sambal oelek
1/2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp pickled ginger, chopped
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 cup canola oil
24.6 oz (698g) extra firm silken tofu (2 boxes), cut into 1″ cubes
1 bag organic baby spinach (approx 8 oz)
3/4 cup green onions, sliced
freshly ground white pepper to taste

1. Combine the rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, white miso, sambal oelek, sugar and ginger in a blender until smooth.
2. With the blender running, drizzle in the two oils to form an emulsion.
3. Pour the dressing into a large bowl and brush the tofu cubes with the dressing.
4. Toss the spinach in the bowl with the dressing, and add the green onions. (Belle preferred a little less dressing; if this is the case at your house, too, you might want to dish some out into a smaller bowl before adding the spinach, reserving the extra for anyone who might want more dressing rather than less, and for drizzling over the salad after plating.)

Plating

1. Place a few cubes of tofu in the center of the plate then add some of the baby spinach you’ve just tossed with the remaining dressing.
2. Add more tofu and more spinach until you have a nice stack of tofu and spinach.
3. Drizzle with some of the remaining dressing from the bowl (or from your reserved bowl of dressing) and serve.

I just went to Amazon and see that The Barbeque Bible! is now a colour edition – my copy is in black and white. I’m thinking about ordering the colour edition myself because my copy is now very messy (I’ve used this book so often!)

This is a very easy dish to make. You can add these as a last minute thought when you are cooking something else on the barbeque, like Grilled Baby Bok Choy.
The picture isn’t very exciting but don’t let it fool you.

Belle says: This eggplant dish is the same dish we’ve ordered in many different Japanese restaurants. It’s delicious, and filling enough to be the main course of a vegetarian meal!

Grilled Eggplant with Miso Barbeque Sauce
Adapted from The Barbeque Bible! by Steven Raichlen

4-6 Asian eggplants (the long thin ones)
1/3 cup organic white miso
1 tbsp sake
1 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp mayonnaise
2-3 tbsp dark sesame oil for brushing

1. Pre-heat your BBQ for direct grilling’; clean and oil the grates.
2. Cut the eggplants in half lengthwise. Make criss-cross cuts into the eggplants about 1/8″ deep and very close together on the flesh side.
3. Mix the miso, sake, mirin, sugar and mayonaise together in a bowl until smooth.
4. Place eggplants flesh side down on the BBQ and grill 3-5 minutes (until brown).
5. Using tongs, turn the eggplants over and brush with the miso mixture.
6. Continue grilling 6-8 minutes or until brown and soft from the sides.

The source for this dessert was a bargain cookbook we’d bought a while back, from which I have since made countless meals: Simple Japanese by Silla Bjerrum.

The recipe says to use ginger biscuits instead of the usual digestive biscuits but I had to find ginger biscuits without a nut product. The only ginger biscuits I could find had coconut in it.

(I found out later that people with nut allergies are usually not affected by coconut. In 2006 the FDA defined coconut as a tree nut so caution should be taken, but generally people are not affected by coconuts.)

Let me back up here and say one of the people coming for dinner has a nut allergy. Anyway, I decided to err on the side of caution and bought digestive biscuits as well. I decided to use the digestive biscuits and later found out my guest was not allergic to coconuts. Next time I make this cheesecake I will try the ginger biscuits.

My local grocery store, which is a big national chain here in Ontario, used to carry crème fraîche but no longer does. Neither does anyone else around here, or so it seems. Now as I am writing this I just realized there is a local dairy nearby that I have not checked out, so tomorrow I will stop by to see if they carry it. Belle did find me a recipe on-line to make your own crème fraîche but I had forgotten about it. So I went with whipping cream and my trusty electric hand mixer.

I will definitely make this again.

You’ll notice that there is no picture of the green tea cheesecake with whipped cream and a dusting of green tea powder! I barely had time to take this picture.

Come to think of it… I didn’t even get a piece. My older son came home later with some friends and they finished it off.

Next time I’ll remember to take a picture of this as an individual serving. Maybe with crème fraîche.

Belle says: This unusual green tea dessert is a light and airy cheesecake that’s not very sweet, which is in keeping with a lot of Asian desserts. It has just the right hint of green tea. I definitely enjoyed it!

The following recipe was adapted from Simple Japanese.

Green Tea Cheesecake

Ingredients:

200g (7 oz) digestive biscuits
60g (1/4 cup) butter
75ml (about 1/3 cup or 2.5 fluid oz) double cream
3 tbsp green tea powder (matcha)
225g (8 oz) full fat cream cheese
3 tbsp caster sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
200ml (6.8 fluid oz) whipping cream

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Spray a 9” spring-form cake tin with non-stick cooking spray.
3. Place biscuits in food processor, crush and place crumbs in a bowl.
4. Melt the butter in a small sauce pan, add to the biscuits and mix.
5. Pour the biscuit mixture into the cake pan and press down to create a firm layer.
6. Chill crust in the fridge for 10 minutes to allow it to set.
7. Bake crust in the oven for 10 minutes, then set aside and cool.
8. Reduce oven to 300 degrees F.
9. Heat the double cream in a small sauce pan and add the green tea powder. Do not let the cream get hotter then 185 degrees F or it will separate.
10. In a large bowl, using an electric hand mixer, mix the cream cheese and sugar until smooth on low speed.
11. Add the egg, egg yolk and the double cream mixture and mix on low until smooth.
12. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake in the lower third of the oven for 30 minutes (at 300 degrees F).
13. Take the cake out, let cool for one hour.
14. Whip the whipping cream.
15. Cut the cheese cake, add whipped cream and dust with green tea powder.

So I thought, how about sesame oil, a little hot chilli oil, salt and pepper? You fire up the barbecue and you’re done in minutes. I must admit I don’t time how long to cook it – I just look at it and figure it is wilted enough, flip it, and when it is starting to look good I take it off.

(Sorry the pictures leave a lot to be desired but it does taste a lot better then it looks!)

Belle says: This is one of those dishes that are so tasty, yet so simple. I love when Ward prepares this as the side dish to a meal, and if we have any  leftovers, they never last long. It’s even good cold!

Grilled Sesame Baby Bok Choy

Ingredients:

baby bok choy, quartered lengthwise and washed
sesame oil, to taste
hot chilli oil, to taste
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Start the BBQ on high. Clean the grill after 10 –15 minutes.
2. Toss the bok choy with the oils in a large bowl, and add salt and pepper.
3. Turn BBQ down to medium, add bok choy
4. After 5- 10 minutes, flip the bok choy with tongs. Remove after an additional 5 minutes.
5. Serve.

So I used the ingredients in that recipe to make a marinade instead of a glaze. I marinate the steak 4 –24 hours, cook it rare on the grill or frying pan, slice it against the grain and serve. It is a big hit around here.

I have since seen many recipes for flank steak using virtually the same ingredients so this is a very common combination.

Because of the soy sauce and red peppers I did not need to salt or pepper the meat but guests may like it so have it on hand when you serve the steak.

Asian Marinated Flank Steak

1/4 cup organic soy sauce
2 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp rice vinegar (not aged)
1 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tbsp sunflower oil, divided
1 flank steak
Maldon salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Combine the first 6 ingredients and 1 tbsp oil in a bowl.
2. Cut the flank steak in half, across the grain.
3. Place flank steak in a re-sealable bag and pour in marinade. Refrigerate for from 4 to 24 hours.
4. Remove the  bag from the fridge and let come to room temperature.
5. Heat a frying pan over medium heat, add the remaining oil (add more depending on the size of the flank steak).
6. Fry for about 3 minutes on one side, flip with tongs and continue to fry for another 4-5 minutes. The length of time will vary based on the thickness of your flank steak and how rare you like it. We like it quite rare.
7. Remove the flank steak to a cutting board and let rest (about 5-10 minutes)
8. Slice the steak against the grain and arrange on serving platter.

Doesn’t that look delicious? Ward adapted the recipe from Seductions of Rice, by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid (an excellent cookbook that contains more than just rice dishes).

The classic Thai fried rice dish often has tomatoes in it; the first time Ward made this dish, the tomatoes added a sour taste to the rice, so this time around, he omitted them (the tomatoes we’ve been getting haven’t been very sweet).

We also didn’t have any nam pla prik (fish sauce with hot chilies) which, according to Alford and Duguid, is a traditional accompaniment to nearly everything Thai. I’d love to give it a try, though, so Ward’s going to prepare a batch and keep it in the fridge for the next time he makes this rice. It’s quite easy to make: mince a half a cup of chilies (you can use any kind, although bird chilies are recommended) and add to a cup of Thai fish sauce. Keep in the fridge in a glass container with a tight lid and serve in small individual bowls to accompany any Thai dish.

The following recipe for Thai Fried Rice is adapted from Seductions of Rice:

THAI FRIED RICE

Ingredients:

2 tbsp vegetable oil
10 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup oyster mushrooms, sliced
2 cups Thai jasmine rice, cooked and cooled
2 scallions, sliced into 1/2-inch pieces
2 tsp Thai fish sauce
1 tsp soy sauce

For the garnish:

1/2 English (seedless) cucumber, sliced thinly
1/4 cup fresh coriander leaves
1 scallion, sliced into 3/4 inch pieces

Directions:

1. Heat a large wok over high heat. Add oil and heat until oil is very hot. Add the garlic and fry about 20 seconds (be very careful not to let the garlic get too brown, as that makes it bitter). Add the sliced mushrooms and stir until softened, about a minute.

2. Add the rice, and stir constantly for about two minutes, making sure to break up any lumps.

3. Add the scallions, fish sauce and soy sauce. Continue stirring for another minute, combining everything together. Your rice should have a nice even color to it.

4. Serve in a bowl, garnished with cucumber slices, scallion and coriander.

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Like magic:

This is what he whipped up for lunch: Tataki-style beef with Mentsuyu dipping sauce. We didn’t have daikon on hand – it’s the traditional vegetable to use in a Japanese salad – so he used radishes instead and they were the perfect substitute.

Since this dish is very rare, we’ve found it’s best to use a good cut of beef; here we’ve used two tenderloin steaks.

Season the meat with salt, pepper and crushed garlic, then sear it on all sides in a very hot pan. Remove from the pan and wrap in foil to continue cooking on its own while you put together the dressing/dipping sauce and cut up your desired vegetables – here Ward used radishes, romaine lettuce and scallions.

Thinly slice the beef, arrange with your vegetables, and drizzle over with Mentsuyu sauce (recipe below). Serve the remaining sauce in small individually-sized dipping bowls. We didn’t use wasabi this time, but it’s great with wasabi, too, if you have some on hand.

This following recipe for Mentsuyu dipping sauce is adapted from Harumi’s Japanese Cooking:

MENTSUYU DRESSING/DIPPING SAUCE

Ingredients:

1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup mirin
3 tbsp superfine or fruit sugar
1 cup water
2-1/2 tbsp dried bonito flakes or other fish flakes

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together in a microwave-safe bowl. Do not cover. Microwave at medium power for 3 minutes. Cool and strain. You can refrigerate it until you need it.

In the Pan

Ward likes to press the rice into small ramekins or bowls and turn it out onto each plate, which really serves to jazz up your presentation with very little effort at all.

Individual Portions

The following recipe is adapted from Harumi’s Japanese Cooking:

Garlic Fried Rice (Ninniku Chahan)

Ingredients:

6 – 8 garlic cloves

mixed handful of fresh basil and mint leaves

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 cups cooked Japanese rice

1 tsp granulated chicken stock

soy sauce to taste

dried bonito flakes (optional)

coarsely ground pepper

Directions:

1. Chop the garlic finely. Cut the basil and mint leaves into 1/3-inch pieces

2. Heat oil in wok and fry the garlic just until you can smell it (cooking too long will turn the garlic bitter). Add rice and granulated chicken stock.

3. Add soy sauce to wok and mix it in. Remove wok from heat, add the basil and mint leaves and mix quickly.

4. To serve in individual serving portions, press spoonfuls of rice into ramekin, then turn out onto plate. Garnish top with dried bonito flakes (if using) and pepper.

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