IACP Cooking Teacher of the Year, 2002 Recipes Vietnamese Rice Noodle Salad with Grilled Honey-Glazed Pork Award Winning Hummus I've been known to drive across town in the middle of a hot summer day for a big bowl of this cool, refreshing salad at my favorite Vietnamese restaurant (Le Cheval in Oakland, CA). Any time of year, Bun Cha--pronounced BOON CHAW in Vietnamese--makes a substantial lunch or simple one-dish supper. If you prefer, substitute shrimp, beef, or boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs for the pork. Look for the Asian fish sauce and rice noodles in the Asian section of well-stocked supermarkets.You'll probably have some sauce leftover. I find that it keeps for a couple of weeks--covered, in the fridge--till just about the time my next craving for this dish sets in again. Be sure to serve this in deep pasta bowls so you'll have plenty of room to layer all the ingredients. Glass bowls make a particularly striking presentation. Let me know what you think of this recipe. Vietnamese Rice Noodle Salad with Grilled Honey-Glazed Pork Serves 4 Secrets To prevent bamboo skewers from charring and splintering on the hot grill, soak them in water for at least 30 minutes before threading them with the meat. You'll need 16 ten-inch bamboo skewers for this recipe. To easily turn the skewered meat on the grill, use two skewers to thread each serving of meat, holding the pair of skewers parallel, about 1 inch apart, as you thread the meat onto them. This way, when you grab a skewer, the meat will come with it, instead of the skewer just spinning around in your tongs while the meat sticks to the grill (which tends to happen with single skewers). To cut pork, chicken, or beef as thin as possible before marinating, partially freeze it for an hour before cutting. Use the sharpest, thinnest blade in your knife block, and cut thin slices across the grain. Alternatively, ask your butcher for a pound of thinly sliced pork for sukiyaki. Traditionally, a marbled cut of pork, such as pork shoulder or country-style ribs, is preferred, but pork loin or tenderloin is a suitable--and leaner--alternative, although not as flavorful. I use garlic powder in marinades for grilled food because minced garlic would burn and develop an acrid flavor over the high heat. Use a good quality garlic powder--not garlic salt--that's more granulated than powdery. The latter tends to become airborne when you shake it. I like Trader Joe's garlic powder. Pork 1/4 cup packed brown sugar (light or dark) 1/4 cup soy sauce 1 teaspoon good quality garlic powder (see Secret above) 1 pound thinly sliced pork from country-style ribs or tenderloin (see Secret above) Vegetable oil for grill 1/4 cup honey Dressing 1/3 cup Asian fish sauce 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice, from 4 to 8 limes, depending on size 1/2 cup sugar 1 cup hot water Salad 10 ounces dried rice vermicelli (also called rice sticks) 2 teaspoons kosher salt 1 small head romaine lettuce 1 small English cucumber 1 1/2 cups (4 ounces) bean sprouts, picked over and rinsed well 1/2 cup packed fresh mint leaves, rinsed and dried 2 medium carrots, shredded on medium or large holes of box grater 1/3 cup sliced green onions, green parts only, from about 4 green onions 1/2 cup roasted, salted peanuts, chopped into 1/4-inch pieces Marinate the Pork: In a shallow bowl or baking dish large enough to marinate the meat, combine brown sugar, soy sauce, and garlic powder. Stir in sliced pork, stir to coat meat, and marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes (or up to 4 hours in the refrigerator). Soak 16 ten-inch bamboo skewers in water while the meat marinates. Make the Dressing: Whisk together Asian fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, and hot water. Stir until sugar dissolves completely. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Set aside at room temperature for flavors to blend. (Dressing can be made up to 24 hours ahead, covered, and refrigerated.) Prep the Salad: Bring a 4-quart pot of water to a rolling boil. When water boils, add salt. Cook rice noodles in boiling water for 4 to 5 minutes, until tender to the tooth. They should be resilient, chewy, and not chalky inside. Drain noodles in a colander and immediately rinse with cold water until noodles are cool to the touch. With kitchen shears, cut noodles into roughly 4-inch lengths. Set aside. Cut romaine lettuce crosswise into half-inch ribbons, wash, and spin dry; set aside. Cut cucumber into thin slices. Stack a few slices on top of each other and cut into julienne (matchstick-size pieces); set aside. Equally divide and layer salad ingredients among 4 large shallow pasta bowls in the following order: romaine, cucumber, bean sprouts, mint leaves, noodles, and carrots; set aside. (This step can be done up to 2 hours in advance. If doing ahead, cover plates and set aside in a cool place, but do not refrigerate, as the texture of the noodles will suffer.) Prepare a stovetop, gas, or charcoal grill. When grill is hot; carefully oil the grill rack with some wadded up paper towels dipped in vegetable oil. In the meantime, thread all the pork onto 8 pairs of skewers (use two skewers for each brochette, according to Secret above), gathering up pork into ruffles as you weave it onto the skewers. Pork should be bunched up, not flat, so it stays moist while grilling. There won't be much of the skewer showing by the time you thread on all the pork. Place pork skewers on a cookie sheet. Place honey in a shallow bowl and, with a pastry brush, coat both sides of pork with about 2/3 of the honey. Grill pork just until cooked through and charred on all sides, about 6 to 8 minutes total. Turn skewers frequently to prevent meat from drying out while cooking, and baste with remaining honey as meat cooks. Lay 2 skewers of grilled pork on top of each salad in a crisscross pattern. (Or remove pork from skewers and divide among the salads.) Scatter green onions and peanuts on top of salads. Stir the dressing and drizzle some over each salad. Serve remaining dressing at the table. Copyright Linda Carucci, 2003. All rights reserved. Hummus, California Style This is a variation of a recipe I entered in the Los Angeles Times Best Recipe Contest back in 1981, before I even considered going to cooking school. I had recently moved to California and couldn't find an adequate store-bought version of this refreshing, lemony spread, so I concocted my own. My original recipe contained scallions and was selected Recipe of the Week. I received a check for $25 and a letter congratulating a "Mrs. Carucci" (this would be my mother, as I've never called myself a Mrs.) for her good sportsmanship. Later, when I was an entrepreneurial cooking student, I made and sold this zesty Mediterranean spread to San Francisco's first computerized grocery delivery service, Grocery Express. They could barely keep it in stock. Makes about 1 quart 3 cloves garlic 1/2 cup tahini (sesame seed paste) 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice 1/2 cup water 2 cans (14.5 ounces each) garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained (see Note for dried beans) 1 tablespoon soy sauce 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper Kosher salt Pita bread and/or crudités for serving Peel garlic and mince in a food processor. Scrape bowl. Add tahini, lemon juice, and water and process until smooth. Add drained garbanzo beans and process until smooth. Scrape bowl. With motor running, add soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, pepper, and about 1 teaspoon salt through the feed tube. Process until mixture is smooth. Taste and adjust texture and seasoning with more water, lemon juice, salt, and/or pepper. Before serving, allow hummus to stand for about 20 minutes for flavors to meld. Serve as a spread or dip for pita bread and cruditÈs. Cover and refrigerate any leftover hummus for up to 3 days. Note for using dried beans: If time permits, you can use 8 ounces of dried garbanzo beans instead of the canned beans. Soak the dried beans overnight, rinse, and place in a 4-quart saucepan. Cover with cold water, bring to a boil, and reduce heat to a simmer. Skim off the scum and simmer until beans are tender, 45 to 60 minutes, depending on the age of the beans. Proceed with recipe as directed. For a refined, smoother version, peel the garbanzo beans before pureeing them. Copyright Linda Carucci. All rights reserved. Return to Top.