Uncle Brown

I have been promising a big fish photo for you all, and I finally have one. I did an overnight float trip recently on the South Fork of the Snake River where rainbow trout as a species have become a threat to the native cutthroat trout. The fish and game are encouraging folks to keep all of the rainbows they catch -- so much so they put up to $1000 microchips in the little buggers' heads. You turn your fish heads into fish and game and hope for a big bounty. We caught one rainbow and cooked it fireside. These photos look a little gruesome, but I am not entirely sure how one makes cooking fish appear humane and/or appealing. Nothing like dinner cooked fireside, though.

Let me introduce you to my friend Tuli:

Tuli gets cold easily so he wears a child's fleece jacket. I cannot look at this dog in this jacket without laughing out loud.

Each time we fish we are on a mission to catch grandpa brown -- granddaddy brown trout, that is -- the monster brown trout that will not only gobble my fly, but more than likely my arm and the boat, as well. While I didn't catch grandpa brown, I did catch uncle brown. I was fairly pleased with myself. Although, you can see me straining in the photo not to drop uncle brown and ruin the photo op.

Nice spots, eh?

Moving on from fish tales . . . my unwavering affection for noodles and Asian food is no secret here at Hail's Kitchen. It has been some time since I've posted either, and the following salad was my favorite dish to order for takeout as a child. The recipe is called BUN, which is a Vietnamese noodle salad. However, the restaurant where we frequently ordered this misspelled it on their menu as BONE. For years, my mom and sisters and I would order bone thinking we were correct in our pronunciation until somehow we discovered that we had been unwittingly botching the name of this delicious salad. Bone? Really? Gross.

It really is a fantastically delicious salad, and I can't believe I have never ventured to make it until tonight. You will find it is quite similar to other Asian noodle salads I have posted, but none can be called bone.

Excellent. The caption that you cannot see reads: Once tasted, ever wanted! What a slogan!

Familiar accoutrements: shredded carrots, bean sprouts, cucumber, green onions and cilantro.

The dish is commonly served with beef or pork, but I found some sustainable shrimp.

I marinaded them in 1 tbs canola oil, 2 tbs soy sauce, 1 tbs rice vinegar, 1 tsp sherry, 1 garlic clove, and 1 red chili pepper. This marinade would be good on just about anything!

Bone.

The sexual innuendoes are flooding out . . . but . . . my dad reads this site.

Bun, bone, Vietnamese noodle salad

1 package rice noodles, cooked according to directions

1/2 head cabbage or lettuce, sliced thinly

1/2 cucumber, cut into matchsticks

2 carrots, shredded

3 green onions, sliced thinly

handful cilantro, chopped

handful bean sprouts

dressing (nuoc cham) adapted from epicurious:

6 tablespoons fresh lime juice

3 tablespoons Asian fish sauce (preferably nuoc mam)

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup warm water

1 garlic clove, forced through a garlic press

2 small thin fresh red or green Asian chilies (1 to 2 inches long) or serrano chilies, seeded and chopped fine (wear rubber gloves)

Cook the noodles according to directions and set aside. Meanwhile, make the dressing. Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and stir to dissolve the sugar. Set aside.

To prepare the salad, toss the cooked noodles with a handful of carrots, cucumbers, onions, cilantro and bean sprouts. Place a handful of chopped lettuce or cabbage in a bowl or on a plate. Place the noodle mixture on top of the lettuce then top with cooked shrimp, beef or pork. Serve with a couple of tablespoons of the dressing -- I like to add my own dressing so perhaps allow your guests/family to drizzle their own. Serve immediately and enjoy!