Secrets of the Southern Table

I received a very nice cookbook from Michele a few months ago and decided it was time to cook from it. Secrets of the Southern Table, by Virginia Willis was totally unknown to me but the book is really good reading and beautifully photographed. Ms. Willis is a chef, and an award-winning cookbook author, and her recipes really vary from good Southern recipes to some really diverse recipes from Thailand and China. I really like that kind of cookbook where one can mesh Southern with other cultures. She calls the book “a food lover’s tour of the global south”.

In two weeks I am going to prepare her black pepper biscuits with ham and Moravian sugar cake for coffee hour at church. Bur recently I tried her chicken larb with Georgia peanuts. I just love larb, a Southeast Asian salad from Laos and Thailand. The South isn’t known for its Thai food, but a family from Atlanta is developing an outsize reputation for this cuisine. Charlie and Nan Niyomkul own Nan Thai Fine Dining and Tamarind Seed Thai Bistro; their daughter Dee Dee and her husband opened Tuk Tuk rated as one of the top Thai restaurants in the United States. You don’t have to use Georgia peanuts in this recipe since I know Alabama has good peanuts. But as Ms. Willis shows in her book, you can use Southern products in very international recipes.

This is a really good dish. Lots of flavor and low in calories.

 

Chicken Larb with Georgia Peanuts

Serves 4-6

1 pound ground chicken or turkey

2 cups cold water, more if needed

2 cups fresh mint leaves, washed and dried

1 cup fresh cilantro leaves, washed and dried

¾ cup unsalted roasted peanuts

Juice of 2 limes

3 tablespoons fish sauce

2 Thai red chilies, or to taste, seeded and finely chopped

2 shallots, very thinly sliced (about ½ cup)

3 green onions, chopped

1 cup carrot matchsticks, or 3 carrots, grated

¼ cup finely chopped fresh ginger

1 head cabbage, cored, leaves separated

Place the chicken in a small saucepan. Add cold water to cover (about 2 cups). Bring to a (boil and then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer. Cook gently, breaking up the chicken with a wooden spoon as it cooks, until the chicken is opaque, 5 to 7 minutes. (Skim the foam that rises to the top while cooking. It’s simply coagulated protein and doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with the chicken.)

Remove the chicken from the heat and drain well. Reserving the cooking liquid for another use. (You can use it as a light stock to cook with or even season it and sip it.) Transfer the well-drained chicken to a medium bowl and set aside to cool just slightly.

Add the mint, cilantro, peanuts, lime juice, fish sauce, chilies, shallots, green onions, carrot, and finger. Stir to combine. To serve, spoon a few tablespoons or so of the larb into a cabbage leaf, fold the cabbage somewhat like a taco, and eat.