Penultimate Pea

So, I cooked lentils for the first time the other night. I like to think that Ryan and I eat pretty well, but unfortunately that doesn't necessarily mean we eat healthfully (what can I say, I like butter. and cheese. and potatoes. and pasta. mmmmmm). I was a picky eater and notorious vegetable hater for much of my life (which made the seven years I was a vegetarian a bit tricky!), and over the past few years I've been trying to make a conscious effort to eat more and a greater variety of vegetables. So Wednesday night, in a fit of adventurous optimism, I decided to make this recipe for Sausage and Lentils with Fennel. The lentils smelled a little healthy as I was cooking them, but I pressed on. It looked okay when I was done with it:

And the flavors were a good, interesting mix. But I only made it through a few bites before I had to admit defeat. I think there were just too many different textures for my delicate palate: the oily, crumbly sausage, the soft sauteed vegetables, the tender-but-not-mushy lentils…but I think what really did it were the dry, feathery fennel fronds sprinkled on top. They were just too much for me.

But I was still hungry. So, I did the only logical thing—I made brownies.

Brownies

4 oz. semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp instant espresso powder (optional)
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 Tbs cocoa powder
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease and flour an 8x8inch pan. Break the chocolate up and put in a medium-sized microwave safe bowl. Cut butter into pieces and add to chocolate. Microwave in thirty-second increments, stirring between each, for about a minute and a half. The butter should be completely melted, but there should still be visible pieces of chocolate; stir until the hot butter has melted all the chocolate and the mixture is uniform. Add espresso powder, vanilla, and brown sugar and stir well. Add eggs and mix until incorporated. Add cocoa powder (you might want to sift it), flour, salt, and baking powder and stir gently until all are incorporated and no streaks of flour remain. Pour into pan and bake for about 30 minutes. Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting. Or, if you're like me, allow to cool for about three minutes and then scoop hot brownie over a bowl of vanilla ice cream. Mmmmmm.

There used to be a restaurant in Northampton called ChaChaCha! that served awesome Thai chicken burritos that were the perfect spicy-sweet-tangy-crunchy-soft-peanutty mix (so perfect, in fact, I'm not sure I ever tried anything else from there). We tried for a while to replicate them at home and got pretty close, though of course I never wrote down the recipe. A few years ago ChaChaCha! changed ownership and then eventually closed, and we kind of forgot about Thai chicken burritos, so I was excited to resurrect the recipe when Ryan requested them for his birthday meal last Friday.

The recipe that follows is rather imprecise and probably completely inauthentic to actual Thai food, but it is pretty tasty. It's also a little labor intensive due to the various components, so it's not really a last-minute weeknight meal. If you try it, let me know what you think!

Thai Chicken Burritos
components:
rice (I like jasmine rice, but long-grain white or brown rice would probably be fine)
chicken (I used boneless skinless breasts and sauteed them; I think thighs would work fine as well)
red onion
peanut sauce, recipe below
ginger slaw, recipe below
large tortillas

You're completely on your own for rice and chicken quantities and directions. The peanut sauce recipe made enough for four burritos but could pretty easily be halved or doubled. The ginger slaw recipe makes enough for at least 6-8 burritos. Both will keep in the fridge for a few days (reheat the peanut sauce if you make it ahead of time). Assembly is pretty self explanatory—put a mound of rice in the middle of the tortilla, spoon on a generous amount of sauce, put chicken on, maybe a little more sauce on top of that, lay a strip of ginger slaw down the middle, lay thinly sliced red onion on top of that, roll up burrito style (edge in front of you folded up, both sides tucked toward the middle, rolled up to cover the top edge).

Spicy Peanut Sauce
1/2 cup peanut butter, preferably smooth & natural
1 7oz can coconut milk
2 tsp red curry paste*
1 tsp sriracha hot sauce*
2 tsp soy sauce
2 Tbs brown sugar
1/2 cup water

Combine ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat and whisk until smooth. Simmer for a few minutes, stirring frequently, until sauce is thickened.

*In the past I used just sriracha; I thought the red curry paste would make it more authentic, but in hindsight I think it was fine with just sriracha; you could also just use cayenne. As with anything spicy, I'd recommend starting with a smaller quantity and adjusting it to your taste. It'll work best with the other burrito components if it starts off a little sweet and builds into a decent "kick", but doesn't leave your mouth on fire afterward.

Ginger slaw
1/2 small red cabbage, finely shredded (about 5 cups)*
1 tsp salt
2 Tbs sugar
3 Tbs fresh ginger, grated or very finely minced
1 Tbs toasted sesame oil
2 Tbs rice vinegar
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp mirin

Sprinkle cabbage with salt and sugar in a colander, toss to coat, and allow to wilt for at least one hour (or up to three). Press cabbage against colander to drain. Whisk remaining ingredients together in a medium bowl, add cabbage, and toss to combine.

*why are cabbages so huge?? sorry, you're on your own in figuring out what to do with the rest of it.