Carrot cocktails sometimes end up tasting oddly healthy. But this one from Chad Hauge of Chicago’s Longman & Eagle is just pure fun. It’s salty, bright, smoky, and fresh—the kind of thing that’ll get you dancing. Orange and lime juices give the carrot juice a lift, and leathery mezcal finds its match in a rim of salt and smoked paprika. If you don’t have a bottle of mezcal, you should get some. Liquor store’s closed? Blanco tequila will do.
What do you do when you have leftover chicken from khao mun gai or gai yang? You turn it into a dish befitting the situation. My mother did that best, letting very little go to waste. You could poach chicken just for this salad and it would be delicious, especially if you serve it slightly warm. What’s even better, the next time you make khao mun gai, poach extra chicken to make yum gai the next day. If you’re not starting with leftovers, poach raw chicken and tear it into strands. I like adding the skin — it provides richness and moisture, the way oil does in Western salads. Slice it into thin strands.
Homemade graham crackers and stovetop condensed milk give my Key lime pie a freshness you won’t find in other recipes, and a more balanced sweetness. From the earthy crunch of the crust to the tangy yet creamy filling, these DIY ingredients take the pie to the next level.
This recipe is a companion to the recipe for Wasabi Pea–Crusted Salmon. But it is so useful as a salad with other main courses (try it with grilled shrimp). Ginger juice is a great ingredient as it adds spicy flavor without the tough texture of the chopped root. You’ll be glad to have the left over pesto to add zest to plain rice or noodles.
Steak turned sweet and caramelized from the honey, sharp from the lime, and with a sting from the chiles. This is a simple-to-make recipe with a profoundly complex taste.
You can put whatever you like in this as long as it’s green—kale, Chinese leaf, small zucchini, raw young peas, fava beans, whatever. You can reduce the range, too, so you don’t have to use all the herbs. Take care with the dressing. It needs a good sweet-sour-salty-hot balance, so taste and adjust it as you go before tossing with the vegetables.
Ingredients
Also known as lap and lahb, this minced-meat salad is the national dish of Laos. Some Lao and Thai versions include fish sauce and some favor mint over cilantro, but the core of the dish remains a chopped salad of lightly spiced pork, beef, chicken, or duck brightened with fresh herbs.
Throughout Jalisco, this refreshing drink is served in large, wide-mouthed clay bowls, called cazuelas. Citrus wedges are eaten or squeezed into the drink. Partakers pop chunks of watermelon and fresh pineapple into their mouths and sip the tequila-laced libation through a straw.