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Pad Thai

Posted in Easy meals, Recipes on May 26, 2011| 2 Comments »

Pad Thai in the pan with lots of cabbageSo sad… it’s missing cilantro because I didn’t have any. 😦

This Pad Thai recipe is adapted from a fabulous little book called “Gourmet Meals in Crappy Little Kitchens” by Jennifer Schaertl (See another recipe I cooked from that book: stuffed chicken breast). It’s so easy, and you can dress it up or down (why do I feel like I’m talking about a purse or a pair of shoes?).

The book says it makes 4 servings, but it’s definitely closer to 6-8. Or maybe I just overdo it on the cabbage. But whatever. I love cabbage. Thank you and you’re welcome.

Ingredients

The ingredients are very forgiving, so if you don’t have something, a substitute will probably taste just as delicious. The first time I made it, I used egg noodles instead of rice noodles, oyster sauce instead of fish sauce, white vinegar instead of rice vinegar, brown sugar instead of cane sugar, olive oil instead of vegetable oil, ground ginger instead of fresh ginger, and red pepper flakes instead of red Thai chili pepper. See what I mean? My name is Hannah, and I have a problem with following directions.

Actually, I am a MAJOR rule-follower, except when it comes to food. And maybe a few other random things. No, I don’t claim in any way to be normal. Why do you ask?

I felt like it could’ve used a little more sauce next time, but here’s what I used last night:

  • 8-10 oz. dried rice noodles (you can use egg noodles instead, but I have a very deep love for rice noodles)
  • 1/4 cup oyster sauce (you can use fish sauce instead)
  • 3 Tbs rice vinegar (you can use white vinegar if you need to)
  • 2 Tbs brown sugar
  • 2 Tbs olive oil + 1 Tbs chili oil (use 3 Tbs olive oil if you’re a pansy)
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger (you can use more, but I’m not a huge fan of strong ginger flavor)
  • 1 tsp red pepper flakes (the result isn’t spicy at all to me, but more sensitive types might want to scale back on the pepper flakes)
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken cuts (I used some chicken breasts I had in the freezer, but you can use thighs or whatever you have. It equals about 2-4 chicken breasts depending on how much chicken you want.). Dice the chicken into small chunks.
  • 1 regular cabbage, thinly sliced (I love cabbage. If you aren’t such a fan, you can use as little as 1/2 a cabbage and probably get away with it.)
  • 1/2 cup toasted (or roasted) and chopped peanuts (preferably unsalted, but salted works too)
  • 1 lime, cut into wedges
Cilantro is a very important ingredient too, but I didn’t have cilantro last night (insert sad eyes and a pitiful sniffle). If you happen to have cilantro, you’ll use a whole bunch.

Directions

It is incredibly quick and easy (unless you shell the peanuts by hand like I did…).

  1. Boil some water, remove from heat, and put the dried rice noodles in the water to soften. The water should fully cover the noodles. The noodles can just chill out in the pot while you’re cooking the rest. After 20 minutes, strain all the water out of the noodles.
  2. Whisk the oyster sauce, vinegar and sugar in a small bowl and set aside. If you use the whole cabbage, you may want to make more sauce than the recipe suggests.
  3. Heat the olive/chili oil in the biggest sauté pan you have over medium-high heat. If you don’t have a big sauté pan or wok, use a big pot. Add the ginger, pepper flakes and garlic, sautéing for about 1 minute.
  4. Pat the chicken pieces dry with a paper towel and add them to the pan. Sauté until completely cooked (2-4 minutes).
  5. Add the cabbage, 1/2 of the cilantro bunch, 1/2 of the peanuts, and the sauce mixture. Fold everything over until it’s all coated and mixed well. Sauté for a few minutes, until the cabbage begins to wilt.
  6. Stir in the drained noodles and toss until they’re warm and coated with sauce.
  7. Serve immediately, sprinkling some peanuts and cilantro on top. Garnish with a lime wedge (squeezing it over the noodles adds a wonderful flavor).
It keeps really well in the refrigerator, too. I had leftovers for lunch today.
You will probably want to chop your chicken into smaller pieces, but I was tired of cutting after shelling and chopping all the peanuts by hand.
Sautéing chicken in the pan with spices and oil
Draining the rice noodles
Draining the rice noodles
It’s amazing how long it takes to shell 1/2 cup of peanuts.
Chopped peanuts on the cutting board with a knife
Mmmmm
Chopped chicken simmering in juices
I have a huge pan, and this is AFTER the cabbage wilted down – and BEFORE adding the noodles. Let’s just say I’m busting out the big guns (14-inch wok) next time.
Pan of cabbage in sauce

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Apricot salmon with a kick

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , on May 19, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Apricot salmon with mushroom risotto and corn on the cob

This is Part 2 of the Meal of Deliciousness. Admittedly, the picture isn’t all that great, but this is one of my favorite salmon recipes (discovered haphazardly in one Suzanne H.’s kitchen on that fateful day in college). The ingredients may sound a little weird, but just trust me on this one. The finished product mixes them divinely.

Ingredients

There are absolutely no measurements to this concoction, but I’ll do my best to estimate. The estimated measurements are for one serving of salmon.

  • 1 serving of fresh salmon
  • 1 Tbs apricot preserves
  • 1 Tbs honey
  • 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (a few sprinkles, based on how much of a kick you want it to have)
It would also be delicious with orange marmalade instead of apricot preserves.

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°. It really couldn’t be much easier. The biggest issue is deciding whether you want to tent-bake or bake it in a pan.
  1. To tent-bake, place the salmon on a piece tinfoil about the size of a dinner plate. Sprinkle on the cayenne pepper, then spread the apricot preserves over the top, and drizzle with honey.
  2. Connect 2 sides of the tinfoil at the top and fold that edge to seal it. It should now look like a tube-shaped tent. Fold up the ends to seal so that no air can escape.
  3. Place on a pan and bake 15-20 minutes depending on how big the salmon is. If you use the tent-baking method, you must split up the salmon into separate servings and “tent” each serving separately.
  4. If you use a pan instead, use something with a lid (or seal with tinfoil). Just place the salmon directly on the plan, place the toppings, cover and bake.
I really with I had a better picture to show this dish in all its simple, delicious splendor. Oh well. I guess you just have to make it for yourself.

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Creamy mushroom risotto

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , on May 17, 2011| 3 Comments »

Dinner plate with salmon, corn and mushroom risotto

Mushrooms are probably my favorite food. Salmon makes the Top 10. Fresh corn is pretty high up on the list too. All that to say…. this was a good day.

I’ll post about how to make the Apricot Salmon With a Kick later in the week, but I want to talk about the mushroom risotto today. I had always wanted to make risotto, but I never got around to it until I saw this recipe from Rachael Ray. She calls it “Wild Mushroom Risotto,” but I don’t even know what porcini mushrooms are, so I just used plain ol’cheapo ‘shrooms. It turned out delicious, so I guess I have no idea what I’m missing with the porcini mushrooms.

Ingredients

I changed around a few minor things from her recipe. Here’s my version.

  • 1 8-oz. carton mushrooms, chopped into chunks
  • 1 quart beef broth
  • 1 quart water
  • 2 Tbs olive oil
  • 1 Tbs butter
  • 1/4 cup onion, chopped small
  • 2 cups Arborio rice (or any short-grain rice, if you can’t find Arborio)
  • 1/2 cooking sherry
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • 1/2-3/4 cup parmesan cheese
  • Salt & pepper to taste
I actually had most of this on hand already. I only had to buy the mushrooms – and they were on sale!

Directions

You can’t toss it on the stove and walk away for 20 minutes, but I learned that risotto is a lot more low-maintenance than I was originally led to believe.

  1. Place mushrooms, broth and water in medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer.
  2. Melt the butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium or medium-high heat. Add the onions and sauté for about 2 minutes. Add the rice and sauté for a couple of minutes more, stirring frequently.
  3. Add the sherry and let the liquid evaporate. Add several ladles of the beef broth and reduce heat to medium, medium-low. Simmer and stir frequently until the liquid is mostly absorbed.
  4. Remove the mushrooms from the broth and add them to the rice. Add several more ladles of broth to the rice, and continue stirring until the liquid is mostly absorbed. Continue this pattern of adding broth and letting it absorb, until the rice is cooked to al dente (almost completely soft).
  5. Stir in thyme and parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste (I would go lighter on the salt since the broth is already salted). The actual cooking process (not counting prep) should take 20-30 minutes, but like I mentioned, you don’t have to totally babysit the thing. You can have other things going at the same time. When you’re finished, the risotto should be a creamy consistency from all the starches releasing. Note: You might not use all the broth, so don’t worry if it seems done and you have some broth left over.

We had the leftovers with lunch the next day, and it kept really well in the refrigerator. I’m not a huge fan of being able to taste a lot of thyme in my food, but this dish was SO GOOD. I’m pretty sure I had to stop Stephen from getting thirds (“Don’t you want some tomorrow with lunch?”).

Apricot Salmon With a Kick to come in a later post.

Sautéing the rice as the sherry evaporates:

Sauteing the arborio rice for risotto

Broth with mushrooms:

Beef broth with mushrooms

With the first round of broth:

Cooking risotto with beef broth

After adding the mushrooms and the second round of broth:

Making mushroom risotto

I lost count with the broth…

The risotto is getting close to being done

After mixing in the thyme and parmesan:

Mushroom risotto with thyme and parmesan cheese

All done!

Finished mushroom risotto

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Sushi rolls

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , on May 5, 2011| 7 Comments »

Sushi roll on blue cutting board

I know, I know. It isn’t officially “sushi.” There is no raw fish, nor is it entirely authentic. I don’t care. It’s delicious, and I can eat it without cleaning out my wallet. Don’t get me wrong – I loooooove “real” sushi. But a girl can only afford to eat so much “real” sushi before thinking real hard about her retirement fund.

So anyway…

Sushi rolls. The type that you can make at home with just a few basic tools. All you need is a little bamboo sushi mat for rolling, some sheets of dried seaweed, and some rice. The rest of it is entirely up to you. I’ll include what I used this time.

Ingredients

Sorry… there is no way I can include measurements. It all depends on how much sushi you want to make, so you can just estimate how much you want to use for your particular roll.

  • Several sheets of dried seaweed. This is the “wrapper” on the outside. (Yes, it’s edible.) I bought a pack of 20 from World Market for a few dollars.
  • Short-grain white rice (you can buy official “sushi rice,” but any short-grain white rice will do. Short-grain rice is more sticky than longer-grain varieties.
  • Fake crab meat cut into thin slices (it comes in packages, it’s fully cooked, and it’s usually made out of other types of fish. It looks similar to crab meat, but it’s a lot cheaper.) You can also use cooked shrimp instead if you like.
  • Avocado, cut into thin slices
  • Carrot, shaved into thin strings with a vegetable peeler
  • Cucumber, shaved into thin strings with a vegetable peeler
  • Cream cheese, cut into really thin strips from a block of cream cheese
  • Ground cayenne pepper
These are just suggested ingredients – use whatever you want!

Directions

The most time-consuming part is (a) cooking the rice, and (b) slicing the vegetables.
  1. Cook the rice the the recommended amount of time. Let it cool before using it for sushi, or else the heat will distort the seaweed wrapper.
  2. Slice everything into strings.
  3. Spread rice onto a seaweed wrapper, staying away from the edges so it doesn’t ooze out.
  4. Make a little indentation in the rice, and line up all the “innards.” I sprinkled a little cayenne pepper on it too, for some extra kick.
  5. Gently roll everything up using the mat. Press it gently, but don’t squeeze too hard or it will come out the sides.
  6. Slice with a damp knife. Using chopsticks. Dip in soy sauce and/or wasabi paste. Sigh with contentment.
vegetables sliced up on cutting board
Sushi before rolling
4 sushi rolls on a plate
Close-up of sushi roll
Dipping sushi in soy sauce with chopsticks

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Chocolate peanut butter shake with no ice cream

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , on April 15, 2011| 12 Comments »

Frozen drink chocolate peanut butter milkshake in a glass

I don’t keep ice cream in our home. I will eat it. I’m fine with eating ice cream in isolated instances at another place, but there is just no sense in keeping ice cream here. I will eat it. All of it. Bad idea. ANYWAY…. that means that I never have the essential milkshake ingredient. I was really feeling a milkshake tonight, though, so I did what I do best: I scrounged.

Ingredients

Oh man. Did I measure? Of course not. Just dump it in the blender. But I’ll give you my best guess. 🙂

  • 20ish cubes of ice
  • 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 1 heaping Tbs unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 3-4 Tbs sugar (or a few good squirts of honey might be good instead)
  • milk (pour it into the blender last, until it goes about halfway up the mound of ice and peanut butter)
The great thing about milkshakes is that they’re incredibly forgiving. You don’t have to be exact. You can throw a bunch of random stuff in there and there’s a pretty good chance it will turn out delicious. And if not, throw something else into the mix and it will probably balance out the problem.
Have I mentioned that chocolate and peanut butter were made for each other?

Directions

Well, it doesn’t get much easier than this.

  1. Dump all ingredients into the blender.
  2. Blend.
  3. Wash the blender (I had to include another step in there somehow).
It was a total experiment, and I thought it was delicious! I proudly handed Stephen a glass of it, and after taking a sip, he announces: “That’s DECENT!” (Apparently that’s a huge compliment in some parts of Mississippi, according to his friend. I didn’t take it as such. He said he was just teasing. And then he jumped up and down and fake squealed in excitement. I’m not sure which reaction I prefer.).
But seriously, folks. Despite the surrounding drama, we both thought it was delicious, and certainly healthier than ice cream.
Disclaimer: Stephen is no drama queen. And I’m not a delicate flower whose emotional stability teeters on the edge of milkshake approval. He was totally kidding. And he really did love it. We’re just weird like that.

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