Category Archives: Recipes

Eggrolls, Pak Choy Salad and Barely Asian Soup

07 Saturday Jul 2012

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As mentioned a few posts back I needed to do something with the Pak Choy in my garden, well I waited a bit longer than I should have.  I was able to salvage enough for an Asian feast for Mr. E and I but not enough to feed anyone else.

So the menu was going to consist of homemade egg rolls, Pak Choy salad with an Asian vinaigrette and Beef Pho soup. Well I read a few recipes on how to make beef pho, and honestly, it sounds like a pain. Since I’ve never had pho I wasn’t confident in my ability to pick a good recipe.  Add to that the fact that I didn’t have hardly any of the ingredients the recipes called for and I ended up taking a shortcut and buying a beef pho broth at Sprouts. 

Well, THANK GOODNESS I decided to give it a smell and taste before I poured the whole thing into a pot to make the soup.  OH my Lord!  The overwhelming smell of beef marrow and anise almost caused me to pass out.  Whew!  So what do I do when a food item is suspect???  I turn to the best taste tester in the world… Mr. E!  I heated up a small amount in the cup thinking, well maybe it’s just that initial opening of the container that made the pho smell so strong, and passed the cup to him.  “Taste this and let me know if you think I’ll like it”  LOL yes, that’s exactly what I said.  He smelled it, tried to be open-minded and took a healthy size sip.  “Well…” I said, scrutinizing his face for any indication that the taste is a putrid as the smell.  He looks me dead in the eye and says… “Well, it’s unique.  I don’t mind it, but I’m not sure if you will like it.”  Hmmmm this is a new response to me.  Usually he’s pretty direct about if I’ll like something or not.  I decide, against my better judgment, to taste it.  It took me three times to actually get it past my nose and into my mouth.  I wish I could say that it was good, I wish I could say that the smell didn’t reminded me of gravy train dog food and that the taste is what I would imagine heated gravy train dog food would taste like.  But…I can’t.

I looked at my counter, with all the veggies and everything chopped and ready to go for the making of this feast and thought… hunh…what now.    Okay, I can do this… I can make an Asian soup with beef flavoring to add noodles, Pak Choy and mushrooms to… I know I can. (I hope).  The results were pretty good! Especially given that I don’t have many of the staples such as a good quality oyster sauce or a good fish sauce.  Yep, I’m quite happy with it!  I’m going to call it my Barely Asian, Asian Beef Soup. LOL.

Barely Asian, Asian Beef Soup

1 green onion (or scallion) sliced, green part only
1 large garlic clove (add more if you would like it hotter), minced
1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
1/8 cup onion, chopped
3 mushrooms, 1 – diced, 2 thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
Sriracha, optional and to taste
4 cups beef broth
1/2 a package of Pad Thai noodles
Pak Choy (Bok Choy)
Salt & pepper
Sesame oil
Butter
Water chestnuts, optional sliced
 
Pour sesame oil in the bottom of a pan and add a little butter.  You won’t need a lot of either, just enough to coat the bottom.  Add onion and diced mushroom, sauté on medium heat until both onion and mushroom have browned.  Approximately 7-8 minutes.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Add ginger and garlic and continue to sauté for about 30 seconds, until fragrant. 
 
Turn heat up to medium high and add the beef broth.  I had yummy flavors browned on the bottom of my pan so I used the beef broth to de-glaze.   Add soy sauce, Sriracha, water chestnuts, the green onion and mushrooms. I couldn’t decide how I wanted to work in the sliced mushrooms so i added a few to the pot and then also put some in a bowl with the Pak Choy.  I think next time I’ll just put it in the bowl and let the broth heat up the mushrooms when I serve it.  Let simmer for 10 to 15 minutes so all of the flavors can meld together.
The Pad Thai noodles we got needed to be boiled, so we did that while the soup was simmering. We added the cooked Pad Thai noodles to each of our serving bowls, which already had the thinly sliced mushroom and Pak Choy.
 
We poured the simmering broth over the Pad Thai noodles, mushrooms and Pak Choy and enjoyed!! 

I’ll be adding the recipes for the egg rolls and salad soon and will link them to this post so everything will be handy for you to make your own Asian feast! Link to egg rolls and salad

Chicken Tikka Masala, Basmati Rice and “The Killing” Viewing Party

27 Wednesday Jun 2012

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There are a few TV shows that I religiously follow – one of them is The Walking Dead (this show is totally preparing me for the Zombie Apocalypse – KIDDING sort of) and the other is The Killing. Hmm, I’m not sure this is painting a good picture of me – I ALSO love puppies and rainbows…LOL.

 So, when The Killing season finale was broken down into two episodes, we decided to invite our equally as addicted friend over and have a dinner-viewing party to watch the last two episodes together.  So, let’s see The Killing takes place in Seattle and the only really “cultural” part of the show was that the victim’s family was loosely connected to the Russian mob…what do I make for dinner? Indian Food!!  Makes total sense right?  I mean there IS a connection somehow right? LOL I think I am lacking in my ability to pair food with events.

The recipes I use for these dishes are so very good that I don’t do any real modifications, except for using less onion than the recipes call for.  BUT, I do that for any recipe because, while I totally understand and appreciate the importance of onions in a recipe, they are not my favorite. However, I do love extra crispy onion rings though I often pull out the onion and just eat the crispy coating.  Mr. E. LOVES my onion ring leftovers…ha ha – not really, it usually embarrasses him a bit.   I think that’s why he eats my leftover onions; he doesn’t want the waitress to see a pile of onion rings without their coating sitting in the basket… This is reminding me of a time I was making fried chicken and decided to make little batter balls and fry and eat those instead of the chicken pieces…. It was delicious!  (Mr. E. did not partake in eating the batter balls – he stuck with the fried chicken – Fool)  LOL.

Chicken Tikka Masala via Food & Wine, contributed by Grace Parisi; Basmati Rice via Food Network, courtesy of Curtis Aikens.  The Garlic Naan was store-bought – I know, I know, I’m disappointed in myself too, but Trader Joe’s does such a good job!  Even though I didn’t really adapt the recipes, I’ve still included some pictures, because I always think it’s helpful to visually see some of the steps in a recipe.

The first time I made these dishes I had to make a run to the spice store because I didn’t have some of them.  I’ve become a huge fan of Penzeys, they have a great selection. The spices and herbs, I think, are good quality and I find the prices to be really reasonable. Plus you can buy smaller sizes!

I don’t remember where I saw or read this trick, but I think it’s really cool!  Using the tip of the spoon you can really easily scrap off the skin on a ginger root which is nice when working around all of the offshoots!

The recipe for the Chicken Tikka Masala has two steps; one is making the marinade and letting the chicken sit in it overnight.  Below is a picture of the marinade ingredients.  Lots of yummy garlic and ginger!!

The next day, you wipe of most of the marinade and then broil the chicken in the oven.  This step is really hard for me because the marinade smells so good and you just end up throwing it away!  I’m sure (at least I think) that you could cook the chicken with more of the marinade on it and make a dipping sauce and have a completely different meal.  I’m going to try that next… I’ll keep you posted regardless of its good or a FAIL.  The directions say to place the chicken about 8 inches from the broiler.  I was really worried about doing this and kept peeking every few minutes to make sure the chicken wasn’t burning.  Mr. E was making fun of my neurotic-ness until I reminded him about the times I’ve overcooked (aka burnt) garlic bread. 🙂

One of the ingredients for the sauce is using blanched almonds that you sauté in a pan with some oil until they are nice and golden… I don’t really think you need a visual of this, but I thought the picture came out pretty LOL.

The dinner came out fantastic and there was even some leftovers for us the next night!  A word of warning – if you use the amount of chili powder and cayenne the recipe for the sauce portion of the Chicken Tikka Masala calls for, it will be spicy.  Even more so the second day.  I thought it was perfect, but I do like it spicy.  If I had been making it for my mom, I would have halved the amount of both ingredients. 

I hope you give this a try – it is a bit time consuming and does require some planning, but the results are so worth it!!

Pasilla Chiles Stuffed with Quinoa

12 Tuesday Jun 2012

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After being sick last weekend and only being allowed saltines and warm 7up (which I’m still mad at Mr. E about) I was in the mood for two things, cooking and Mexican food. Wanting to satisfy both of these desires but trying to keep with our recent agreement of incorporating more meatless meals into our diet, I decided to make Pasilla Chiles Stuffed with Quinoa and served with a Ranchero Sauce. 

This came out so incredibly good! In fact, Mr. E said that if I don’t make this again, he’ll have to fight me.  (That means he really liked it.) 🙂 It’s also very easy, however the chopping does take a bit of time.

First I started with the Ranchero Sauce.  Which I should mention I have no idea if this is close to authentic or if that is even the right name for it, but when I first thought of this recipe that is what popped in my mind and its stuck lol.

I chopped the onions, red and green pepper, fresh tomato and garlic…. okay I have a confession… I was too lazy to go to the store (again) because I realized that I didn’t have any green peppers.  I almost trashed the whole idea and went to read a book. BUT then I remembered that Pasillas are typically very mild peppers and taste almost similar to bell peppers.  Soooo,  since I knew I would need to make a cut in the Pasillas anyway to stuff them, I just cut the hole bigger and used that excess to replace the bell pepper.  Yea!

I lightly sautéd the onions, peppers, tomatoes, garlic and seasonings. Remembering to breathe the fantastically wonderful smell of cooking garlic! I added the canned tomatoes with chilies and water; simmered for a bit and set aside.

I prepared the quinoa according to package directions.  I made the full recipe even though I only needed half.  I turned the other half into lime and cilantro quinoa that makes a tasty substitute for ground beef soft tacos (it really does! I’ll prove it by adding the taco recipe soon) or added to a taco salad.

I chopped and sautéd the onion, red pepper, garlic and banana pepper. Then I added this mixture, plus the spices and cilantro, to the cooked quinoa. 

Stuffed the Pasillas, then covered and baked.

Throw some cheese on at the last minutes and….Taa daa!  Yumminess on a plate!

Pasillas Stuffed with Quinoa:

2 Pasilla Chilies (Poblanos would also work)
1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa (approximately)
1 large garlic clove minced
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 of a small onion, chopped
1-2 tablespoons of chopped banana pepper
1/8 teaspoon chili powder (I used chipotle, but any kind would be good)
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon chopped cilantro
Cheddar cheese
Queso Fresco cheese
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

In a sauté pan over medium heat, add a little oil, the onion and red pepper. Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper on top.  Cook for about 5 minutes until the onion begins to brown.  Add garlic and banana peppers and cook for about 30 seconds, just until fragrent. Set aside. 

Prepare quinoa according to package directions.  Once cooked, measure out about 1 1/2 cups, this should be about half of the cooked quinoa (assuming that the package directions  use 1 cup uncooked quinoa).  Add the above mixture, cilantro, paprika and chili powder to the quinoa. Mix and set aside

Wash the pasilla chiles and cut an opening from the stem to the end.  Remove the seeds and core.  Stuff the chiles with the quinoa mixture.  Cover with foil and bake at 375° for approximately 20 minutes.  Uncover, sprinkle cheese on top if desired, and bake for another 10 minutes or until the chile pepper is soft and cooked through.  Pour Ranchero Sauce (recipe below) over the peppers and enjoy!

Ranchero Sauce:

1/2 small onion, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 can diced tomatoes with green chiles, reserve liquid
1/2 cup to 1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 large garlic
1 fresh tomato, diced
Olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

 In a sauté pan over medium heat, add onion and peppers and cook a few minutes until the onion starts to become translucent.  Add fresh tomatoes and salt and pepper.  Cook for about 2 minutes, add garlic and cumin and cook 30 seconds just untill fragrant.  Added 1/2 of the canned tomato with green chilies, all of the juice and 1/2 cup water.  May need to add more water if sauce is thicker than what you would like.  Simmer 10 to 15 minutes just to let all of the flavors meld and the onion and pepper to cook thoroughly.

Fruit & Nut Granola Bars

04 Monday Jun 2012

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Fruit & Nut Granola Bars (oh so yummy!)

 Photo Source: Foodnetwork.com, Barefoot Contessa, Homemade Granola Bars
 
Ingredients:
2 c. old fashioned oatmeal 
1 c. sliced almonds (I get the slivered ones in the bulk section of Sprouts, a local grocery store)
1/3 c. sunflower seeds
1 c. shredded coconut, loosely packed
½ c. toasted wheat germ or wheat bran
 3 Ta. butter
 2/3 c. honey
 ¼ c. brown sugar
1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract
¼ tsp. kosher salt
½ c. chopped dried apricots*
¼ c. cranberries
¼ c. raisins
1/2 tsp. – 1 tsp. ground cinnamon (optional and amount depending on taste)
* Any combination of dried fruit would work. 

Preheat oven to 350.  Butter an 8 x 12 baking dish and line it with parchment paper.  Because I like my bars to be a bit thin, I used a cookie sheet and didn’t spread the mixture all the way to the end of the sheet.

Toss the oatmeal, almonds, and coconut together on a sheet pan (not the one buttered and lined with parchment paper) and bake for 10 – 12 minutes.  Stirring occasionally, until lightly browned.  **if you use slivered almonds don’t toast them or they will get too browned and burn during the 2nd round of baking.  Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl and stir in the wheat germ.  If you decided to add some cinnamon to this mixture, you would add it at this time.  I always add the cinnamon, because it just smells so good and adds such yummy taste to the bars.  

Reduce oven to 300.

Place butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a full boil over medium heat.  Cook, stirring constantly for about 2 minutes.  Pour over the toasted oatmeal mixture.  Add dried fruit and stir well

Pour the mixture onto the parchment lined pan or cookie sheet.  The mixture will be hot and sticky,  I used wax paper as a barrier between my hands and the mixture to firmly press it evenly on to the pan.  Bake for 25 – 30 minutes or until light golden brown.**

 **Because I use a cookie sheet miine only take about 15 minutes until they are a golden brown.

Once removed from oven, press the mixture firmly again.  Then let cool a few minutes and slide the parchment paper onto a cutting board and cut into bars.  I’ve found that if I let the mixture cool too much before cutting then I end up with lots of broken pieces, which still make an excellent granola, but is dissapointing if you wanted bars.