On To Southeast Asia

The Meal to Come
We are switching cuisines again, leaving the warm waters of the Caribbean for the warm waters of Southeast Asia. Early summer crops like cucumber, basil, cilantro, mint, salad greens, onions, and carrots are a natural fit for foods from countries like Vietnam and Thailand.

This Saturday, we'll be making Beef Satès with a Tamarind Dipping Sauce served with a Cucumber, Carrot, and Daikon Salad. We'll be using natural beef along with local onions, garlic, cilantro, mint, carrots and cukes (Amyo Farms, Macias Farm, Chispas Farm, and Erda Gardens).

To sate your sweet tooth, our pastries will be Mango Lime Tarts with Old Windmill Dairy goat cheese. We will reprise the crowd favorite Death by Chocolate Drop, this time adding a dusting of green tea for an Eastern flair. We'll also be serving our Coconut Drops, which are made with organic coconut.

The baked goods will use organic butter, local Nativo organic wheat, and Amio Farms eggs.

At the Market this Week - Salad Showdown!
The Downtown Growers Market holds a special event each month and this one is great if you're a fan of things like Iron Chef or secret basket cooking challenges. The market is hosting a cooking competition with local chefs. The event, dubbed The Salad Mixer, will take place from 9 am until 11 am. The chefs will create salads using market produce and their own secret ingredient. Throwing down for street cred and bragging rights are the culinary masters from:

• The Grove
• jennifer james 101
• Slate St. Café
• Artichoke Café
• Sunshine Café

It will also be a fun jump week for the kiddies. As usual, there will be live music. So come on down to cheer on your favorite chef, bounce around, dance to the music, sit in the shade, buy some great veggies, and visit the Good Nosh girls.

The Great Cubano Experiment
For those of you that tried our Cubanos, please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can leave one here on the blog or on our Cubano thread at Duke City Fix. For the uninitiated, the Cubano is a pressed sandwich with ham, roast pork, Swiss cheese, and pickles. We did two weekends with Cubanos. I think we really hit our stride in week two. I swapped out the traditional mustard for a habanero, lime, scallion mayo and added some Chimayo red chile to the roasted pork. I also got a lot better at cooking those gooey, crispy devils (yes, it is more challenging to cook a perfect 'wich on a propane grill than a panini press or griddle). Judging from the 7am Cubano orders (!!), this sandwich seems to be well-loved in 'burque.