Weekend cookery

A few notes from my weekend cookery.

I tried the ginger scallion sauce from the Momofuku cookbook, a deceptively simple combination of oil, ginger, scallion, and other flavorings. Although it was good, and probably would have been very good with enough ginger (I used about 2 tablespoons instead of half a cup, as suggested), I think the interesting contrast here is with Mark Bittman's pad thai recipe, published this weekend in the Times. The dishes are cousins - both served as a default with noodles, both a combination of sweet and sour, both involving a liberal amount of scallions. But Bittman's is less oily and yet, to my mind, much more satisfying -the sweetness of the tamarind set off by the veritable shower of lime juice I loosed on the noodles I made on Sunday. What's more, Bittman's recipe is just as adaptable as Chang's - I made my pad thai with shrimp and egg and bean sprouts, but it could just as easily have been seitan or tofu or chicken breast or dried squid or pressed thai shrimps or anything else.

The pineapple upside down cake in the ad hoc cookbook (picture to come) is extremely forgiving and good. It's even good with fake oil-based "butter" - a real mark of distinction.

Chilean sea bass (bad banquet hall - the poor fish is near extinct) is completely impossible to overcook.

UPDATE: It occurs to me that the pad thai recipe - without noodles - would be great as a sort of "larb" (aka, protein salad), piled in small lettuce leaves. I'll try this and report back.