Daily Loaf

(Check out these other pumpkin recipes: Cassava Pone from Sayroo West Indian Market, Pumpkin Cheese Pie, Baked Pumpkin Pudding.)

Maybe you don’t want to the fuss of cutting into a pumpkin for homemade pie — those cans are so damn easy — but chances are you’ll be carving a jack-o-lantern for the front porch. Instead of scooping the slimy innards directly into the trash, save the seeds for a roasted treat that almost makes handling the slippery stuff worthwhile.

Here’s a basic technique to get you started, with a list of seasoning options to jazz up the seeds: Read the rest of this entry »

Saigon Deli
4 stars
3962 W. Waters Ave., Tampa, 813-932-0300

I have a friend who is, to say the least, an adventurous eater. He’s my go-to guy for pickled meat and brown Scandinavian cheese tastings. But when it comes to actually sitting down for an extended meal from some of the more mundane ethnic cuisines, he balks. Especially when it comes to Southeast Asia. Why? He misses the bread.

Thankfully, there is one Pacific Rim culinary hotspot that can treat him right. One remnant of years of French colonial influence in Vietnam is a tradition of bread-making that is completely out of character to the bean- and rice-flour culinary cultures that surround the country (and, to be certain, dominate inside Vietnam, as well.) Baguettes are still a rare side in most spots — besides the occasional hunk of crusty bread with soup or stew — but there is one bready, largely-Western treat that the Vietnamese enjoy with relish: banh mi.

Banh mi are the same kinds of street food sandwiches that you see on every street corner in Paris, just a simple combination of meat and accompaniments that’s perfect for a light meal on the go. In France, these portable snacks are astounding thanks to great bread and good cheese. In Vietnam, the accompaniments are what elevate the banh mi to world-class standard.

And Saigon Deli is a mecca for some of the best banh mi in the Bay area. Read the rest of this entry »

Memorial Day may have signaled the beginning of grilling season for our northern friends, but down here it’s almost the opposite. As we head into the humid months of summer, big slabs of barbecued meat seem a tad heavy in the scorching Florida weather.

But that doesn’t mean we need to shun the grill. For a recent pool party get-together, I wanted an easy, mid-day dish that I could cook on the patio, but wouldn’t weigh my guests down. Refreshing, light and simple.

Vietnamese bun salad did the trick. Read the rest of this entry »

In order to be the iron chef of your kitchen, you need to find your local Asian supermarket. Tampa has quite a few of them, usually Chinese- or Vietnamese-owned. Every foodie should have one of these on their shortlist. Oceanic Market is mine.

I was first introduced to Oceanic by a Vietnamese friend and have been going there every weekend since. Not strictly Chinese, the market is more a pan-Asian shopping spot, offering everything from ingredients for sushi to Szechuan peppercorns and wood ear mushrooms. The store has a produce department that offers a wide variety of hard to find yams, herbs and vegetables at very cheap prices, as well as a deli and a meat department.

Located in a transitional area just north of downtown Tampa, Read the rest of this entry »