Vietnamese Vermicelli (Bun) with Ginger-Grapefruit Sauce - Recipe

Vietnamese Vermicelli (Bun) with Ginger-Grapefruit Sauce

Bun (pronounced, roughly, boon), when well made, is just about one of the greatest foods ever invented. Super-thin Vietnamese rice noodles are topped with a variety of cooked and fresh ingredients, lots of herbs, and a sweet and savory sauce to make a light, healthy and superbly delicious meal-in-a-bowl. Salad and entree in one package.

I'll drop everything and run to the nearest Vietnamese restaurant whenever I need a bun fix. A vegetarian version with tofu instead of meat is always available for the asking, even if it isn't on the menu. The only problem is the sauce (nuoc cham), which contains fish sauce. Sometimes the kitchen will make a vegetarian version of that as well, but if not you'll have to make do with whatever condiments are on the table.

Better yet, you can make a terrific bun at home. You have the luxury of gathering great fresh ingredients which may well be better than you find at the corner joint, and you can make a sauce that is vegetarian by design, with big bright flavors. The version I'm offering you today uses grapefruit. The segments go in the bowl, and the juice is used for the sauce. (If you've never cut citrus into supremes - segments without any pith - Ming Tsai has a good video to show you how.)

The key to bun is all in the mise en place. You have quite a few ingredients that need preparation. Nothing complicated, it just takes a little bit of time to get them all together, and you want to be organized for final assembly.

My choices for ingredients and sauce can just be a starting point; you can add or subtract anything you like; as long as it fits within the Vietnamese flavor profiles it will still be a great dish. Other things I love to include: Thai basil, lemongrass (sauteed with the tofu), roasted peanuts, papaya.

Vietnamese Vermicelli (Bun) with Ginger-Grapefruit Sauce
Vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free
Serves 4

• 8 oz. Vietnamese rice vermicelli noodles
• 1 cup shallot rings, sliced about 1/8" thick
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil, divided
• 1 pound extra-firm tofu, cut into approximately 2" x 2" x 1/3" squares
• 1/4 cup sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)
• 2-3 grapefruits
• juice of 2 limes (reserve zest from one)
• 2-4 tablespoons sugar (palm sugar if you have it)
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• salt
• 1 cup julienned carrot (use a mandoline if possible)
• 1 cup julienned daikon radish (use a mandoline if possible)
• 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
• 1 head romaine lettuce, sliced into bite-sized pieces
• 2 small hot chile peppers, thinly sliced
• 1 medium cucumber, seeded and diced
• 3 green onions, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced
• 1 ripe mango, diced
• 1 cup lightly packed cilantro leaves

1. Heat a pot of water to boiling, remove from the heat, add the rice noodles and let sit for ten minutes. Check the texture - they should be tender but definitely not mushy. Drain and reserve.
2. Cut the grapefruit into supremes, working over a bowl to catch the juice. Strain off the juice, squeeze all of the leftover pieces of the grapefruit in with it, and add the lime juice, 2 tablespoons of sugar, ginger, soy sauce and 1 teaspoon of salt. We'd like to have at least 1.5 cups of an intensely citrus-ginger flavored sauce that is distinctly sweet and just slightly syrupy. Taste and adjust seasonings, remembering that it will need to be strongly flavored to play off of all the other ingredients. Depending on how many you needed to make the sauce, you might have more supremes than you want to serve: cooks treat.
3. Fry the shallot rings in 2 tablespoons of oil over medium-high heat until dark brown. Remove to paper towels and season with salt. As they cool, they will become crispy.
4. Add the remaining oil and fry the tofu, working in batches as needed to get the squares brown on both sides. Drizzle with the sweet soy sauce (kecap manis) and continue frying for another 30 seconds so it can caramelize.
5. Combine the carrot, daikon, rice wine vinegar and sesame seeds and set aside to pickle a bit.
6. To assemble, divide the lettuce among 4 large bowls. Top each with a big handful of the rice noodles. Then top with an attractive arrangement of the remaining ingredients: tofu, grapefruit supremes, mango carrot/daikon salad, chile pepper, cucumber and finally the shallot rings, green onion, and cilantro. You can either pour on the sauce yourself or divide into individual bowls for your guests to add as they see fit. Offer Sriracha-type hot sauce on the side.

Southern-Style Collard Greens, Veganized - Recipe

Veganized Southern-Style Collard Greens

So my brother and sister-in-law were browsing their farmer's market in Greensboro, North Carolina a few years ago when they spotted a pile of unfamiliar leafy greens. They asked the farmer how to prepare them, and her answer was simple: "well, you just boil them three times. Just like you would with any other salad."

Now I'm from Louisville, and I realize this is actually just a colloquial use of the word salad. But it does make a good point. In the American South, the standard treatment for bitter greens (collards, mustard greens, kale, beet greens, and so forth) is to boil the heck out of them, generally with some pig parts.

I don't eat pigs, but I do know some other tricks for adding an umami counterpoint to the vegetal intensity of these greens. If you don't like bitter greens, this recipe isn't going to convert you. But if you are like me, and can't get enough, you are in for a treat.

Specifically: fresh shiitake mushrooms and soy sauce. Now I know that sounds like I'm making an Asian dish, but hold on a second. The shiitakes are going to be sliced thin and fried to extract their flavor, and the soy is used in a small quantity, just to add background complexity. A bit of smoked paprika adds another layer of flavor.

Serve this up with cornbread and fried green tomatoes, maybe some red beans and rice, and you've got yourself a feast.

Southern-Style Collard Greens, Veganized
Vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free
Serves at least 4 as a side dish

• 2 big bunches collard greens
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  
• 12 fresh shiitake mushroom caps, thinly sliced
• 1/2 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika (pimenton de la vera for example)
• 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
• 2 teaspoons shoyu, tamari or other good soy sauce
• salt to taste

1. Strip the collard greens from the stems, wash thoroughly in three changes of water, and slice into 1" ribbons.
2. Heat a dutch oven or soup pot over a medium flame. Add the oil, shiitake, and onions and cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes until they have some color. Add the collard greens, chili flakes, soy sauce and 1/2 cup water, reduce the heat to low, and cover. You may have to add the collards a bit at a time if the lid won't fit on.
3. Cook for, oh, at least 45 minutes, until completely tender, checking occasionally to see if they need a little more water.
4. When the greens are fully cooked, remove the lid and cook off the water. Taste and adjust the seasonings; they will probably want more salt or soy sauce, and maybe more of the smoked paprika.

Jalapeno-Sorghum Butter - Recipe

Cornbread with Jalapeno-Sorghum Butter

Last weekend I was making a traditional Southern meal of collard greens, fried green tomatoes and red beans and rice, and I thought maybe I could use one item of flair to embellish it. My favorite brown butter cornbread fit the bill. Normally I like cornbread very pure, but this time I thought I'd gild the lily with a bit of jalapeno-sorghum butter.

Yes, I realize some might say that a traditional Southern meal with no meat is a contradiction. Ask me if I care.

These kinds of compound butters are a snap to make. You can improvise with just about any herbs, spices or other flavors that will complement the dish you want to serve them with, and no precision is required. For today's dish you could easily substitute maple syrup or honey if you don't have sorghum.

The basic method is simply to take a chunk of high quality, sweet cream butter (unsalted) at room temperature, knead in your flavorings, and then allow it to chill and infuse for at least an hour. If you want to be fancy you can roll it into a log wrapped in wax paper, and then slice it for serving, but it works just fine to pass it in a ramekin.

Think about a compound butter with any food that you would normally garnish with plain butter, e.g. an ear of corn, mashed potatoes, an omelet.

Here's a rough recipe, but you should feel very free to adapt it to your meal, mood and pantry. Add a comment and let me know what variations you make!

Jalapeno-Sorghum Butter
Yields 1/4 lb (8 tablespoons)

• 1/4 lb. (1 stick) high quality sweet cream (unsalted) butter, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon sorghum syrup (or try maple syrup or honey)
• 1 tablespoon jalapeno pepper, seeds and ribs removed, very finely diced
• 1 pinch sea salt

1. Knead together all ingredients. Taste and adjust seasonings, keeping in mind that the jalapeno will grow stronger as it infuses. Fill into a small ramekin and chill for at least 1 hour.