The Lederman Kitchen

Living abroad can be tough for many reasons, and not being able to eat or find your favorite foods is one of the things that can make it tough.  If found, they can be a huge comfort in a far away place. Vietnamese and Mexican food, not surprising, are the 2 cuisines we miss the most here in Dublin.  Having moved from San Francisco, we had been spoiled with the abundance of delicious and authentic dishes of both.  We ate them often, and really, really miss them over here. I'm super lucky because, even though we can't find Vietnamese at all here, and the Mexican just isn't the same, I have my husband who will cook them for us. I've mentioned before how spoiled I am to have a husband who not only likes to cook, but is also pretty amazing at it.  Brian has been determined to bring our favorite foods to Dublin.  Last week, I shared his version of banh mi , which we thoroughly enjoyed and we've already had again since. And now, he is perfecting street tacos....

Sunday night we had the best Banh Mi in Ireland.....cooked by Brian. We ate Vietnamese pho & banh mi often in San Francisco.  Brian would have a banh mi for lunch pretty much every time he didn't pack his own lunch.  I often would go out for pho with co-workers.  And on any given rainy, or non-rainy weekend, we would often grab a bowl of pho or banh mi.   As always, what you really want, you can't have.  Ever since moving to Dublin, and learning of the lack of Vietnamese food (aka it doesn't exist), we crave it all the time. Brian had been planning on making banh mi for a while now.  He had been scouting the Asian Market for pickled or fresh daikon and pickled carrots, since those are really the only unique ingredients needed.  When he came up empty handed, there was only 1 solution - bring a daikon home from London, and do the pickling himself.  And that he did. Step 1: Pickle the carrots and daikon - this should be done ...

Although we haven't been blogging about it, we've been cooking almost all of our meals over here.  I've definitely been doing more cooking than usual. Last night I was trying to use up some lettuce and pasta shells that we had from earlier in the week, and came across a Martha Stewart recipe, Pasta with Sausage, Leeks & Lettuce .  I only needed to buy 3 ingredients, perfect! I have to admit, Brian helped/advised a little but I did most of the heavy lifting. And the outcome?  In Brian's words, "The best dinner we've had yet".  Nothing like a little kitchen confidence for me.  It's definitely one for the recipe box.

I get it, not everyone likes seafood pizza.  It's so good though...  I had to make this one while Michelle was out of town because she doubts this one.  Trust me though, if you like clams and you like shrimp, then you'll love this pizza.   You will need: Pizza dough - store bought or homemade 2-3 cloves of garlic mozzarella cheese ricotta cheese small amount of bay shrimp (maybe 1/2 cup) can of clams, drained (or you can use cooked fresh clams) dried thyme dried oregano salt and pepper If you are making your own dough, then you'll need an hour or so to let it rest.  If not, just preheat the oven to 500 and start prepping the ingredients. Start by chopping up some garlic and slicing the cheese.  Fresh mozzarella has a lot of moisture so I like to slice it early and place on a paper towel to drain off some moisture so our pizza isn't soggy.  Drain the clams and add to a bowl with the garlic and shri...

As I continue my quest to broaden my cooking horizons, I continue to dip my toe into Indian cuisine.  This super easy Chicken Masala recipe is a great jumping off point.  The meal comes to together quickly, is super tasty, and is not overpowering for those new to Indian cooking.   You will need:  1 cup plain yogurt 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon garam masala 2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt 1 large garlic clove, pressed 1 4- to 4 1/2-pound roasting chicken, cut into 8 pieces, or individual chicken pieces 2 small onions, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices I made this while Michelle was out of town so I took the opportunity to only use dark meat (thighs and wings) for this recipe. I also paired it with some store bought naan, homemade raita, and brown basmati rice.  Raita is a very tasty yogurt sauce that is often used to cut through the heat of certain Indian dishes.  Whil...

I came across this great recipe a while back and at first was not sure how the ingredients would all come together.  We loved it so much that this recipe made its way into our regular rotation. This recipe is enough for 4, or in our case dinner and lunch for 2: 1 1/4 cups pitted brine-cured green olives 1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley 1/2 cup olive oil 1 (2 1/2-pound) head cauliflower, cut into 1-inch-wide florets (8 cups) 1/2 teaspoon salt 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped Scant 1/2 teaspoon dried hot red-pepper flakes 1/4 cup water 3/4 pound dried spaghetti or linguine 1 ounce finely grated Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano-Reggiano (1/2 cup) plus additional for serving 3/4 cup whole almonds with skin (3 3/4 ounces), toasted and coarsely chopped I decided to make homemade whole wheat spaghetti for this, but store bought is of course fine.   Instead of using the pasta roller, I decided to try and make the spaghetti using the...