Caprese panini

I love caprese salad! I also like to eat vegetarian every now and then. When I have fresh juicy tomatoes and aromatic basil, there's nothing stopping me from whipping up a caprese panini for lunch.

Yield: one sandwich 

Ingredients

2 slices of French bread or any white bread

3 slices of tomato

2 thick slices of mozzarella cheese

1/2 Tbsp Sundried tomato pesto(Classico has a great one)

1/2 Tbsp mayo(optional)

1-2 Tbsp of freshly chopped basil

Butter

A few splashes of balsamic vinegar

Instructions

1. Preheat panini press to medium/high.

2. Butter the slices of bread on one side. Place butter side face down.

3. Spread mayonnaise on to one slice of bread and sun-dried tomato pesto on the other. 

4. Place slice mozzarella on top of mayonnaise. Pile the sliced tomatoes above mozzarella and top off with basil. Season with salt & pepper and balsamic vinegar.   

5. Sandwich the last piece of bread on top. And place onto panini grill and allow to cook for 2-6 minutes. Cook time depends on a golden crust and if the cheese is melted. Enjoy!

If you don't have a panini press, you can easily make this on your stove with a skillet pan. Once sandwich is assembled, place sandwich onto a medium/high heat skillet. Cook until golden and flip to begin cooking the other side. Once again, cook time depends on how long it takes to turn the crust golden and the cheese to melt.

Canh Chua Tom (Sour shrimp soup)

Canh chua, A classic Vietnamese soup made of tamarind, pineapples, and veggies. Whenever I miss the comfort of my grandma's cooking, I make myself a pot of canh chua. She use to make it for me all the time just because she knew it was my favorite. This recipe is for my favorite kind of canh chua, canh chua tom(shrimp).

Yield: 2 Qt. soup, 4 servings

Ingredients:

1/2-1 lb of cleaned shrimp with heads.

1 quart of water

2 cups of chicken broth or water

8 oz can of pineapple chunks

1 Tbsp of tamarind paste

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup of brown sugar or granulated sugar

2 Tbsp of fish sauce

1 Tbsp salt

1 large stalk of bac ha (taro stem)

12 okra pods

2 tomatoes 

2 cups of bean sprouts

Ngo om(rice paddy herb)

Directions

1. Heat garlic in a medium/large stockpot with olive oil to release aromas. Add sugar and fish sauce. Stir until sugar dissolves. Add tamarind. Continue to season to achieve desired taste. Use salt instead of fish sauce to avoid fishiness. 

2. Fill stockpot with water and broth. Bring to boil. Add okra, bac ha, and tomatoes. Cover and cook until vegetables soften up a bit.

3. Add cleaned shrimps with head intact. Cover and cook for about 6-8 minutes. Add bean sprouts and cook for another 2 minutes.

4. Transfer into serving bowl. Garnish with chopped ngo om and chili peppers. Enjoy.