San Francisco-Style Vietnamese American Garlic Noodles

 INGREDIENTS

Yield:

4 servings

4tablespoons unsalted butter

20medium garlic cloves, minced or smashed in a mortar and pestle

4teaspoons oyster sauce

2teaspoons light soy sauce or shoyu

2teaspoons fish sauce

1pound dry spaghetti

1ounce grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano (heaping ¼ cup)

A small handful of thinly sliced scallions (optional)

PREPARATION

Step 1

Melt the butter in a wok or saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant but not browned, about 2 minutes. Add the oyster sauce, soy sauce and fish sauce, and stir to combine. Remove from the heat.

Step 2

Meanwhile, bring 1½ inches of water to a boil in a 12-​inch skillet or sauté pan over high heat. (Alternatively, heat up just enough water to cover the spaghetti in a large Dutch oven or saucepan.) Add the pasta, stir a few times to make sure it’s not clumping, and cook, stirring occasionally, until just shy of al dente (about 2 minutes short of the recommended cook time on the package).

Step 3

Using tongs, transfer the cooked pasta to the garlic sauce, along with whatever water clings to it. (Reserve the pasta water in the skillet.) Increase the heat to high, add the cheese to the wok, and stir with a wooden spatula or spoon and toss vigorously until the sauce is creamy and emulsified, about 30 seconds. If the sauce looks too watery, let it keep reducing. If it looks greasy, splash some more cooking water into it and let it re-​emulsify. Stir in the scallions (if using), and serve immediately.

SEAFOOD & SAUSAGE GUMBO - Hollie Phượng-Hồng

 RECIPE FOR SEAFOOD & SAUSAGE GUMBO:

Hollie Phượng-Hồng

Savoie’s roux (dark or light)

Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning

Homemade turkey neck stock

Gumbo filé (optional)

Frozen cut okras

Onions, chopped

Green onions, chopped

Celery, chopped

Louisiana crawfish tails

Shrimp, peeled

Richard’s Andouille sausage, cut in halves lengthwise and sliced into 1/4” thick pieces.

Crabmeat

Scallops

Butter or cooking oil

Quantity of ingredients used will depend on your number of servings, so use accordingly.

Follow instructions on the roux jar to add the amount of roux into your stock pot. Since the roux is thick, you may want to dissolve it with some hot water or hot stock before adding it into the stock pot. That way, there is no lumps.

Season with the Creole seasoning. Bring the stock to light boil. Add the celeries, onions, and okras. People add green bell peppers, too but since I don’t like to eat them, I don’t put them in my gumbo.

In a skillet, add some butter or cooking oil (personal preference, I used butter). Sauté the crawfish tails. Add them to the pot.

In the same skillet, add some butter and sauté the sausage. Add the sausage to the pot. Cook on simmering low heat.

Add some gumbo file (about a tsp) if you want to thicken it more. But I find that to thicken your gumbo, add lots of okras. That’ll do it.

Taste your gumbo and see if more seasoning is needed. Let it cook on low heat until all the veggies are soften and the seasoning is sipping through. Add shrimp, crabmeat, and scallops just 5 minutes before serving. I sometimes add oysters, too if I can get some good ones. Basically, add your favorite seafood. Add the green onions and serve with white rice.