Ingredients:

12 ounces dry whole-wheat penne or multi-grain blended pasta
1 pound asparagus, trimmed, sliced into 1″ lengths
1 pound peeled and deveined frozen shrimp, thawed
8 ounces snow peas, trimmed and halved on the diagonal
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 ounces crumbled feta
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint leaves

Procedure:

In a large pot of boiling salted water, add pasta and cook 6 minutes. Add asparagus - cook 3 minutes. Add shrimp and snow peas - cook 2 minutes. Reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water - drain pasta mixture and return to pot. Check package directions for your pasta, you may need a little less or a little more - you want to start adding the fresh vegetables 5 minutes before al dente. To the pot, toss in oil, lemon juice, garlic and about 1/4 cup of the reserved pasta water. Season to taste with salt and fresh ground black pepper and mix until well combined. Gently mix in feta and mint. If the mixture looks a little dry, add the rest of the reserved pasta water. Makes about 4 to 6 servings.

A typical Isan/Lao recipe, Nam Tuock (pork neck) is normally eaten with sticky rice, but here I’ve used it with rice paper to form parcels. Also inside the parcel are vegetables and rice noodles to bulk it out, giving a good balance between meat, vegetable and noodle.

Ingredients:

10 pieces rice paper
150 grams pork neck (or pork with fat)
1 tablespoon toasted sticky rice pounded
1 tablespoons dried flaked chilies
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons fish sauce
20 grams rice noodles
20 grams onions
20 grams carrot
20 grams coriander leaves, chopped
20 mint leaves, chopped

Procedure:

Slice the pork meat thinly and dry fry in a frying pan until cooked. Slice the onion and carrot, and add to the pan. Add the toasted rice, flaked chili, lemon juice, fish sauce, and stir fry for 2 minutes. Boil the rice noodles in a saucepan for 3 minutes, then rinse with cold water and set aside on a plate. Soak the rice paper in warm water until it’s just soft, then remove from the water. Make the parcels by placing some of the pork mixture, the noodles, and some coriander leaves and mint leaves into the center and roll up the parcel.
Serve with the spicy dipping sauce.

For Spicy Sauce:

Ingredients:
5 bird chillies
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon sugar
1 garlic clove

Procedure:
Chop the chilies and garlic, and pound in a Thai mortar to break them up. Add all the other ingredients and pound just to mix them.

Ingredients:

1 kg. of beef short ribs
water
cooking wine
soy sauce
black pepper
brown sugar
garlic
green onion
onion
sesame oil
carrots
radish
shiitake mushrooms
corn syrup

Procedure:

Soak 5 shiitake mushrooms in warm water for about 4-6 hours. Soak short ribs in cold water in a large bowl for at least 30 minutes and change the water a few times. Boil water in a large pot. Put in the short ribs. Boil for 5-10 minutes. Take out the ribs from the boiling water and wash them with cold water to remove unnecessary fat or floating bubbles. Throw away the boiling water and clean the pot. Place the clean beef short ribs in the pot. Prepare a bowl to make seasoned water by mixing 2 cups of water, 4 tablespoons soy sauce, 8 cloves of minced garlic), 1/2 sliced onion, 1 tbs rice wine, and 1 tablespoon brown sugar. Add it to the short ribs in the pot. Boil it over medium heat for 20 minutes. While it boils, you can prepare the other ingredients. Cut carrot and radish into 5 cm-size cubes and round the edges to make several balls (the size of the balls should be like ping pong balls ). Cut the soaked shiitake mushrooms into bite size. Open the lid of the pot and add all ingredients (carrot, radish, shiitake mushrooms) to the pot. Let it simmer for about 1 hour over low heat.
Tip: Stir the ribs and other ingredients with a wooden spoon from time to time. Pour the liquid from the bottom of the pot over top of the meat.
Open the lid and check if the meat is cooked fully. Use your chopstick to poke the meat. When it is smoothly going through the meat, the meat is tender enough. Add 2 tablespoons of corn syrup, 1 tablespoon sesame oil, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, and heat it up over high heat. Mix it well until liquid evaporates. Transfer beef short ribs to a platter before serving.

Ingredients:

1 carrot
Salt as needed
1/2 lb. daikon
3/4 lb. beef rib-eye thinly sliced (yakiniku)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon sake
1 garlic clove minced
1/4 teaspoon grated ginger root

Procedure:

Cut the carrot into 3- by 1/4-inch sticks. Blanch in lightly salted boiling water until soft yet crisp, about 3 minutes. Drain and set aside. Cut the daikon into sticks the same size as the carrots. Blanch in the same water until soft-crisp, about 1 minute. Place 1 carrot stick and 1 daikon stick on the narrow end of a beef slice. Place a daikon stick on top of the first carrot stick and a carrot stick on top of the first daikon stick to give a checkerboard appearance from the side. Roll the beef around the vegetables, placing seam-side down. Combine the soy sauce, sugar, sake, garlic and ginger root in a large skillet over medium-low heat and cook until the sugar has dissolved, about 2 minutes. Add the meat rolls, seam-side down. Cook, turning until all sides are cooked, 12 to 15 minutes. The seam side will take the longest, about 4 to 5 minutes. Cool. Slice diagonally in half. Arrange on a platter with the diagonal cut on top.