Food from Vietnam

.... is delicious and I wish I could eat it every day.

 

This is a good visual of the approximate quantity of fruits I ate.

 

This is a terrible picture of some banh (Hue-area specialty small dishes) - they were tiny dishes with a sticky glutinous rice base, topped with little pinches of what seemed to be seafood and egg, finely chopped and fried crispy?  Or something.  It was tasty even for a this-week-only seafood eater.

OK, the interwebs say it is banh beo, "Silver-dollar disks of rice flour. Topped with mung bean powder, ground shrimp, and oil-moistened green onions. Served with nuoc cham."  Thanks Banh Guide:  http://dina-n-brian.com/Alice/Banhguide.htm

 

Fried corn with shallots and tomato (and some nice fresh springrolls in background).

 

So. Many. Kinds. Of. Delicious. Leafy. Greens.  Usually served with garlic and inadequate English words to cover all of them.  Oh, and tiny crabs, but I certainly didn't eat any of those.

 

Fruit:  Not only delicious but decorative.  I miss the fruit.  Denver is not so fruitastic.

 

Some meat thing Chris ate that he said was tasty but I didn't pay attention to what it was b/c it's meat.  Pretty, no? 

 

Now THIS was a taco of earthly delights.  Crispy rice-flour taco filled with fresh veggies and shrimpies and herbs (and pork if you like), with a peanut-based sauce to pour in.  Single most delicious Thing of the trip.  It is called banh khoai and I will not die without eating it again.

 

One of many hotpots. So wonderful in pouring rain.  With fruit for dessert.

Pasta al Limon

I'm sure everyone and their dog made this recipe when it came out in the NYT (I know my mom and I did - she was visiting me in my Brooklyn apt during law school and came bearing amazing lemons from a colleague's New Mexico relative's tree).  But just in case you're the person who didn't, it really is amazing and worth doing (unlike the accompanying tart recipe, or so I hear).

I think using fresh pasta really helps, and I served it with bok choy and kale, cooked over high heat in oil and maple syrup in a closed pan, which made them kinda caramelize and get toothsome and brown.

Also, if you mistakenly use a reactive saucepan for the  wine-reducing stage and your reduced white wine tastes crazy bitter... and you don't have a NONreactive pan around... might I suggest a mug and the microwave.  You're welcome. 

Butternut Squash Enchiladas

Filling:
1 roasted butternut
1 can corn
2 small onions, caramelized with LOTS of chopped garlic
Cumin & cinnamon*

Sauce: Canned green enchilada (tomatillo) sauce with juice of 2 lemons and one package cherry tomatoes added

Cheese: A salty white.

1 package (14) 8-inch flour tortillas.

Fill each tortilla with cheese & filling, nest together into 2 glass baking pans, cover with sauce, and bake at 35 for 25 minutes.

*One wise in the ways of the squashilada tells me"a little coriander doesn't hurt, either."