This might be the most addictive snack cocktail party history - even though it takes minutes to prepare, and only requires five ingredients, my SRIRACHA PARTY PEANUTS have been a wildly popular snack for cocktail parties for friends and clients alike. Potato chips are soooo 2020 - trust when we say, “you can’t eat just one…”
Like so many food experiences from my past, I’ve since worked studiously at replicating the mysterious comfort of Tom Kha; the meaning of the words together are quite simple, TOM translated as “boiling a broth” while KHA is “galangal” and then when listed as the familiar TOM KHA GAI, it’s served with chicken. I love it with poultry and shrimp, but the base soup also stands up brilliantly to vegetables; hence, my version with peppers and hearty mushrooms is every bit as satisfying as other recipes with chicken, shellfish, or meat.
I first had curry style mussels while traveling outside of Birmingham Alabama with my daughters nearly 10 years ago; we stopped in at a restaurant called the Red Pearl and enjoyed the most intriguing meal of our trip through the deep south, and one of the standout dishes was yellow curry mussels that I’ve been trying to replicate ever since.
All great chefs and home cooks have special secrets when it comes to making great dishes when time is short. This TOM YAM SOUP WITH SHRIMP is a brilliant example of how I make an impressive, dinner party worthy meal in just minutes. The whole shrimp steeped in the spicy broth appears to take center stage, but the real star of this recipe comes from the ultra intense Blue Elephant TOM YAM SOUP soup paste, chock full of all the flavor and ingredients of this iconic Thai soup.
Sometimes I’m most turned on by the subtly and nuance of cuisine; that whisper of flavor that takes a moment to decipher or translate. When hosting a dinner party for friends or clients, I love when my guests seem to find a far off place with furrowed brow, trying their best to decode something quietly and carefully placed in the sensory experience before finally conceding…”what is that flavor at the back of every bite of this bite.?”
