Sasha's Kitchen: Coconut and Lemongrass Soup

My mom recently got my husband a cookbook.  This cookbook has some great techniques for preparing healthy and type 1 friendly foods that we both have really enjoyed so far from New York Chef Sam Talbot (of Top Chef fame), who is a juvenile onset diabetic.  I do like to cook plenty of sweet stuff as well, but it's good to have some balance.  I've enjoyed each of the meals I have made from Sam's cookbook so far and plan to try one of his noodle recipes soon.  The first recipe I made was for this delicious coconut lemongrass soup, which uses agave nectar to sweeten slightly, naturally, rather than sugar or honey.

Coconut & Lemongrass Soup (recipe adapted from Sam Talbot's The Sweet Life)
3 T extra virgin olive oil (instead of using my own roasted garlic olive oil, as the recipe called for)
1 small red onion, sliced thinly
1/4 cup chopped lemongrass
1/4 cup chopped fresh ginger
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced (original recipe calls for two)
3 garlic cloves, smashed and finely chopped
2 cups low sodium chicken stock
2 cups light coconut milk
2 T agave nectar
1 cup bean sprouts
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
juice of two limes

In a medium soup pot, heat the oil over medium heat and add the onion, lemongrass, ginger, jalapenos and garlic.  Cook until the onion is translucent and the ginger and garlic have softened, about two minutes.  Mix in the stock, coconut milk and agave nectar.  Increase the heat to high and bring the mixture to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer and cook uncovered for about thirty minutes.  All the flavors of the ginger, lemongrass etc. will absorb into the broth.  Strain the soup if you prefer (as we did and reserved the flavorful broth).  Mix in the bean sprouts, cilantro and lime juice and serve.  This was a flavorful and healthy dinner!

Sasha's Kitchen: Coconut and Lemongrass Soup

Sasha's Kitchen: Lemongrass Grilled Strip Steak

I will have to preface this recipe by saying that although it just looks like a slab of meat, it was a great marinade and a delicious thai inspired steak.  I was inspired by my old (but beloved) Caribbean and Pacific Rim cookbook, to create a lemongrass flavored marinade for steak.  My recipe is totally different from the one in the cookbook, but stays true to two things used to flavor the steak: soy sauce and lemongrass.  You can use either fresh or dried lemongrass for this recipe and I recommend fresh lemongrass if you can get your hands on it.  I used a nice organic cut of strip steak for the recipe, which was lean and absorbed the flavors well.

I marinaded the steaks overnight, which gave them a wonderful strong flavor from the marinade.  This wasn't intended as we wound up saving the steak for a day due to some last minute dinner plans.  I took the steak out of the marinade after about 10-12 hours though so not to over-marinate it.  I like how this worked out - the soy and pineapple juice made for a lovely marinade, with flavors of both lemongrass and cilantro.

Sasha's Lemongrass Grilled Strip Steak
2 organic strip steaks
2/3 cup of soy sauce
2/3 cup pineapple juice
5 T lime juice
5 T minced lemongrass
1 T sesame oil
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 jalapeno, diced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
1 T brown sugar

To prepare the steaks, it is very simple.  Just combine the ingredients for the marinade in a bowl and marinate the steaks overnight (or for at least 5 hours).  Then, use a grill pan to grill the steaks to your liking.  I'd suggest serving with potatoes, fried rice or a salad.  I like this dish with a first course of a homemade Caesar salad.  My husband had his with an egg served sunny side up, which worked nicely, he said.

Sasha's Kitchen: Lemongrass Grilled Strip Steak

Sasha's Kitchen: Scallops With Organic Mushrooms, Spicy Lemongrass-Thyme Coconut Broth, and Pomegranate

Scallops make perfect small plates.  I'm really never in the mood for a full size scallop entree, so whenever I make scallops, it is almost always as a small plate with a delicious broth and dressing and other ingredients to dress it up.  This is the first of two scallop appetizers I plan to post this week.  This dish served as the introduction to our home-cooked Valentine's Day dinner, after a fabulous night out last night for Valentine's Day eve, capped off with a scrumptious chocolate fondue.


Without further ado, as I am writing between the commercial breaks of the olympic pairs figure skating and moguls, here is how I prepared my impromptu scallop small plate.  This dish features a thai-spiced coconut broth, and a medley or organic mushrooms.  The combination of flavors was dynamic, and the pomegranate seeds were the perfect accompaniment to finish off this winter dish.  I love how the broth turned out - it was delicious and complemented the scallops nicely.  The mushrooms were high quality and flavorful, while the pomegranate seeds gave the dish a nice, tart lift.


Sasha's Small Plate Scallops With Organic Mushrooms, Spicy Lemongrass-Thyme Coconut Broth & Pomegranate (Serves 2 as an appetizer)


1 can lite coconut milk
1 cup low sodium organic chicken broth
1 sprig of thyme
2 tsp dried lemongrass
1/3 tsp red pepper flakes (add some heat, or leave out for a milder broth)
6 sliced organic shiitake mushrooms
handfull of organic tiny chanterelle mushrooms
3 T canola oil
4 scallops
1 T butter
salt and pepper to taste
2 tsp pomegranate seeds


First, prepare the broth, by combining the coconut broth (use lite broth, which is much lower fat), chicken stock, thyme, thai lemongrass and red pepper flakes.  Bring to a boil and then allow to simmer for about twenty-five minutes.  In a saute pan, saute the mushrooms in canola oil (about 2T) and then add to the broth.  


Pan sear the scallops in a mixture of a tablespoon of canola oil and a tablespoon of butter, seasoning liberally with pepper and a bit of salt.  Pan sear until slightly browned and cooked through.

Plate by serving the scallops in the coconut broth with the mushrooms, and top with the pomegranate seeds and a bit of chives.  I love the way that I executed this dish from start to finish, and I was very pleased with the plating.

Sasha's Kitchen: Scallops With Organic Mushrooms, Spicy Lemongrass-Thyme Coconut Broth, and Pomegranate

Sasha's Kitchen: Wegmans v. Whole Foods, And Thai Stir Fry

Tonight's kitchen calisthenics were delayed due to problems with the NYC subway. After leaving work, I made a quick stop at Whole Foods to get some unusual ingredients, and then got on the subway in Union Square. What is usually a 20 minute trip from Union Square to my front door took and hour and 15 minutes, as the train was stuck on the Brooklyn Bridge (or perhaps it was the Williamsburg Bridge?) for about 40 minutes. I was not pleased

Prior to this subway disaster, I made my first visit to the Union Square branch of Whole Foods. I have to say, I don't understand Whole Foods - it's like a crowded yuppie food playground of expensive designer organic foods, that are no healthier than the half-organic / half supermarket brands I normally buy, but cost twice as much. This is not to say that Whole Foods doesn't have some great stuff for select things, as they do (great cheeses, by the way), as well as some unusual things that are hard to find at conventional grocery stores, but it's just not necessary to do all of your routine grocery shopping at a place like Whole Foods if you want to cook with great ingredients.

In addition, the shopping atmosphere at the Union Square Whole Foods is totally ridiculous. The check out lines are longer than the lines at Disneyland - I think you could get on Space Mountain sooner than you could reach the end of the full check-out at Whole Foods. There are two check-outs - one for people crazy enough to do a large grocery shop here, and one for people like me buying less than 10 items. The longer line was about a 40 minute wait. I waited for about 10 minutes. When I got to the end of the checkout line, there were beeping lights and an automated voice that told you which cashier to go to. Once you got the signal, you had to run to the cashier or someone behind you or from either of the lines beside you would beat you to the register. I managed to get it right on the second try.

Whole Foods only wishes it could be as good as Wegmans - Wegmans has 1000 times better customer service, more space, many more food/products (there is NOTHING Wegmans doesn't carry, it is truly amazing), plus that friendly upstate New York vibe, minus all the urbanite uber-cool yuppies in a mad rush. Plus, the check outs at Wegmans are simpler and much better than the ones I experienced today. Wegmans has all the same expensive brands as Whole Foods but they also have the whole spectrum of alternatives from the generic brands to the designer brands, so you can decide what is best for each food product. Further, Wegmans heavily promotes their own brands, as my mom pointed out, which are generally very high quality.

So what did I buy at Whole Foods - a few things I could not find at my local grocery stores in Park Slope (Associated, Union Market and Key Food), all of which probably would have been available at Wegmans. I bought a bag of Key Limes (for my next Key Lime Pie. I also bought some Meyer lemons and lingonberries, which I will be discussing in my next post.

Now that I have taken this tangent into the battle between the food titans of Wegmans and Whole foods, I will discuss tonight's dinner recipe - my Thai stir fry. There are a bunch of ways to make this and I do little variations each time, always trying new flavors. Here's how I made it tonight:

2 pounds thai stir fry beef
2 red peppers (cut)
1 1/2 tsp diced garlic
2 dried chile peppers (for a mild hint of spice; add more if you want more spice)
2 T fish sauce
1 T sugar
1 T dried lemongrass
1 cup fresh basil (add at the very end, about 30 seconds before you take off the heat)
1/2 onion, diced
salt and pepper to taste
(I usually make this with some kaffir lime leaves as well, but I had run out. I guess I'll check for them next time I brave the lines at Whole Foods).

I did get a late start, but luckily this recipe is a quick and easy stir fry.

Sasha's Kitchen: Wegmans v. Whole Foods, And Thai Stir Fry