An Evening of Thai!

As I mentioned earlier, I was recently asked to cook a simple supper for a book club gathering, and it was requested that the food be Thai. With the help of Mrs. Kelly, who is an exceptionally good cook and organizer, I found a recipe online for Spicy Curry Noodle Soup with Sweet Potato and Chicken, which seemed like it would be suitable. Sheila also suggested a good salad dressing with Thai flavors for a wilted baby spinach salad. And, as I mentioned in an earlier entry, I decided on a Fallen Chocolate Cake for dessert. Pictured above is the spread at the dinner table, which I had no part in setting, but which I think is quite lovely.

Unfortunately, I didn’t stick around long enough to take any pictures of the soup after it was served and garnished, but I do have a few of the process. The recipe can be found at epicurious.com, and a lovely picture of a bowl of soup not mine, but probably quite similar in appearance to that which these ladies ate.

Because it was such a production, and because it was my first real catering job, I shall give you the blow by blow. The soup was relatively simple to make. I began by cooking in oil garlic, shallots, a little each of ginger and galanga root, lemongrass, curry powder, green Thai curry paste (I didn’t have the yellow the recipe called for), and spicy red chili paste in the bottom of a large pot until fragrant. I then added a lot of coconut milk and chicken broth, and some fish sauce, and brought it all to a boil. This was done a day ahead and refrigerated overnight.

Separately, and also a day ahead, I blanched snow peas and cooked cubed sweet potatoes and rice vermicelli noodles, which I then refrigerated along with the vegetables for garnish: red onion, sliced thin, green onion, and cilantro.

The day of book club, I boiled the broth and added the sweet potatoes and thinly sliced chicken thigh which cooked quickly. This was a new experience for me– I am a vegetarian and haven’t cooked much meat before, but this went pretty smoothly despite my worries.

Now for the salad. I dressed the baby spinach leaves fairly early in the day in order to let them wilt a bit– they seem to be easier to eat when they’ve had a chance to soften some. The dressing was of Sheila’s invention, and contained canola oil, natural peanut butter, ginger, rice wine vinegar, lime juice, and later after tasting it post-food processing, a couple handfuls of peanuts and some soy sauce. Although at first it tasted too citrus-y, when eaten with the spinach it turned out very well. I later added to the salad some mango, cucumber, and red onion, which looked very pretty pre-tossing.

Because the cake is meant to be eaten warm or at the very least, fresh, I timed it to be removed from the oven at the last possible moment. The soup too is designed for last minute assembly, so my mom helped me pack the peas, noodles, and garnish items in Ziplocs, and we put them with the salad and whipped cream (for the cake) in a large box to be transported to the party house. The cake remained in its springform pan, to be unmolded and dressed up later. The soup remained in my lap during the car ride, which proved tricky and a bit messy, since snowy roads do in no way make for a bump-free trip. But all arrived safely!

I later received word that the food was enthusiastically received and that there were recipe requests. I’ve been thinking it could be an outstanding summer job, if I organized well and could muster enough courage, and enough customers. Here’s hoping the next job goes as well as this one did.

Oh, and I can say for myself that the soup turned out well, because I did set some aside with no chicken so that Sheila, my dear consultant, could try some, and I got a bite as well. A winning recipe. Definitely Red Kettle material.