You'll need cilantro, garlic, some kind of toasted nuts (I used pecans, since I had them and I hate pine nuts), lime juice, Parmesan, oil and salt. The measurements of these are relative, since it really depends on how much cilantro you have.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Cilantro Pesto - what to do with leftover cilantro stems
Whenever I buy cilantro I always use just a bit of it and then let the rest go bad. I'm attempting not to waste anything these days, and figured out that cilantro stems can actually be used to make really good pesto, and it's a lot cheaper than basil.
You'll need cilantro, garlic, some kind of toasted nuts (I used pecans, since I had them and I hate pine nuts), lime juice, Parmesan, oil and salt. The measurements of these are relative, since it really depends on how much cilantro you have.
Pretend that the balsamic is garlic, since I never actually used any. I think I used about 6 cloves.
If you have a Cuisinart food processor, that's perfect to make pesto. Start by throwing in the cilantro, garlic and nuts. Chop them up about as much as they will go, then add the oil, salt, lime juice and Parmesan.
I froze about half of the batch, and then put the other half in the fridge. Toss with pasta, spread on bread, make chicken salad, etc. Basically anything you'd do with regular pesto you can do with this stuff.
You'll need cilantro, garlic, some kind of toasted nuts (I used pecans, since I had them and I hate pine nuts), lime juice, Parmesan, oil and salt. The measurements of these are relative, since it really depends on how much cilantro you have.
Cranberry Orange Banana Cream Cheese Bread
Because sometimes 30 ingredients are necessary for me to be satisfied.
Adapted from this recipe. We had a bunch of really stale candied orange peels that needed to be used so I exchanged the grated orange peel for those. I also used brown sugar instead of white sugar and cut out about 1/4 cup.
Ingredients:
5 tbsp butter, softened
4 oz cream cheese (1/2 package), softened
3/4 - 1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 medium bananas, mashed
1/4 cup chopped candied orange peels or 1 teaspoon grated orange peel
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Combine cream cheese, sugar and butter and mix. Blend in bananas and egg.
Add remaining ingredients and mix until the dry ingredients are moistened.
At this point, you can either pour the batter into a greased and floured pan or put it in a bread machine. I have a bread machine and love it, so I used that. Bake at 350 degrees for at least an hour until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center.
This was sooooo good. I kind of love it when recipes come together based on "what the heck do we have in the house yeah let's use that" as a theory.
Spread with butter or cream cheese or just eat it as is.
Adapted from this recipe. We had a bunch of really stale candied orange peels that needed to be used so I exchanged the grated orange peel for those. I also used brown sugar instead of white sugar and cut out about 1/4 cup.
5 tbsp butter, softened
4 oz cream cheese (1/2 package), softened
3/4 - 1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 medium bananas, mashed
1/4 cup chopped candied orange peels or 1 teaspoon grated orange peel
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Combine cream cheese, sugar and butter and mix. Blend in bananas and egg.
Add remaining ingredients and mix until the dry ingredients are moistened.
Spread with butter or cream cheese or just eat it as is.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Scrabble Tile Pendants
I have been dying to make these ever since I found the tutorial here.
Start by grabbing a bunch of Scrabble tiles. Instead of ordering replacement parts from Hasbro since it would take too long and I couldn't wait, I just broke into the Scrabble box we have lying around collecting dust because I live with a bunch of illiterates.
Then I used an x-acto knife to cut out squares the same size as the Scrabble tiles. I'm risky and just held the tile in place over the paper and cut around it at the potential expense of a finger. There's surely a better way, but I prefer to live dangerously.
Glue the paper to the tiles with Tacky Glue. Then you're supposed to wait 20 minutes and file the edges so they are smooth, but I'm just so wonderful that I didn't need to file it. Actually I couldn't find a file, so I'm just going to live with it.
Then you glaze the paper over with Modge Podge. Or is it Mod Podge? I can never remember but I'm sure you know what the heck I'm talking about. Wait about 20 minutes and then grab some Diamond Glaze. I couldn't find Diamond Glaze but I bought some stuff called Paper Glaze and it worked beautifully. You start by lining it as close to the edges as possible and work your way in to the center.
I got lucky and found the right kind of bails at Michael's, but I highly advise ordering them through Etsy or something if you're going to really get into this. I attached the bails with Super Glue.
I think you're supposed to let these dry for about 24-48 hours before sporting them, or giving them out as gifts or whatever. But they are adorable!
Start by grabbing a bunch of Scrabble tiles. Instead of ordering replacement parts from Hasbro since it would take too long and I couldn't wait, I just broke into the Scrabble box we have lying around collecting dust because I live with a bunch of illiterates.
Then I used an x-acto knife to cut out squares the same size as the Scrabble tiles. I'm risky and just held the tile in place over the paper and cut around it at the potential expense of a finger. There's surely a better way, but I prefer to live dangerously.
Glue the paper to the tiles with Tacky Glue. Then you're supposed to wait 20 minutes and file the edges so they are smooth, but I'm just so wonderful that I didn't need to file it. Actually I couldn't find a file, so I'm just going to live with it.
Then you glaze the paper over with Modge Podge. Or is it Mod Podge? I can never remember but I'm sure you know what the heck I'm talking about. Wait about 20 minutes and then grab some Diamond Glaze. I couldn't find Diamond Glaze but I bought some stuff called Paper Glaze and it worked beautifully. You start by lining it as close to the edges as possible and work your way in to the center.
I got lucky and found the right kind of bails at Michael's, but I highly advise ordering them through Etsy or something if you're going to really get into this. I attached the bails with Super Glue.
I think you're supposed to let these dry for about 24-48 hours before sporting them, or giving them out as gifts or whatever. But they are adorable!
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Garlic-Sesame Shrimp with Peanut Ramen Noodles
Thursday lunch, and probably dinner as well!
Start with about 1 lb of shrimp. Mine are straight from the freezer so I just run them under cold water in a colander for a few minutes while I prep my other stuff. Once defrosted, remove the tails and any other parts you might not want to eat (my son and husband and I like the tails, my daughter does not) and cut them into smaller pieces to stretch out the shrimp.
Boil some water and cook some ramen noodles as directed. You can use spaghetti noodles, I'll allow it. Heck, use bow tie noodles, we can still be friends. I won't tell. My MIL uses the seasoning packets out of packets of ramen for random Korean food, and leaves little ziplock baggies of spare ramen in my pantry. So I tend to have extra sitting around. I probably used 1 package worth.
I have this garlic sesame dip mix so I decided to sprinkle about half the packet on the shrimp. I think a good substitute would be actual chopped garlic (maybe 2 cloves) and some sesame seeds/oil, but I'm lazy.
Melt about 2 tbsp of butter in a pan. Add about 1-2 cups of chopped broccoli or some mixed veggies or whatever you like (I had a head of broccoli) and fry it for about 3-5 minutes until cooked enough.
Add the shrimp and cook them only as long as it takes for them to change color. By change color I mean they should go from grey to pinkish-white.
I have Trader Joe's Peanut Sauce but you could use any kind. If you make your own, all the better, I guess! I used a cup of this and let it get all melty in the shrimp pan, then tossed this with the cooked noodles.
For garnish, you could use chopped green onion, peanuts, cilantro, or all of the above. I had cilantro and peanuts so there ya go. I also added a bunch of crushed red pepper because I felt like my nose wasn't runny enough.
The perfect bite.
Nutritional Information:
2 servings
Calories per serving: 578
Total Fat: 21.2 g
Saturated fat: 9 g
Cholesterol: 155 mg
Sodium: 1698 mg
Potassium: 143.2 mg
Carbs: 91.9 g
Fiber: 2.8 g
Sugars: 8.1 g
Protein: 25.9 g
Vitamin A: 13.8%
Vitamin C: 65.5%
Calcium: 12.8%
Iron: 3.2%
Start with about 1 lb of shrimp. Mine are straight from the freezer so I just run them under cold water in a colander for a few minutes while I prep my other stuff. Once defrosted, remove the tails and any other parts you might not want to eat (my son and husband and I like the tails, my daughter does not) and cut them into smaller pieces to stretch out the shrimp.
Boil some water and cook some ramen noodles as directed. You can use spaghetti noodles, I'll allow it. Heck, use bow tie noodles, we can still be friends. I won't tell. My MIL uses the seasoning packets out of packets of ramen for random Korean food, and leaves little ziplock baggies of spare ramen in my pantry. So I tend to have extra sitting around. I probably used 1 package worth.
I have this garlic sesame dip mix so I decided to sprinkle about half the packet on the shrimp. I think a good substitute would be actual chopped garlic (maybe 2 cloves) and some sesame seeds/oil, but I'm lazy.
Melt about 2 tbsp of butter in a pan. Add about 1-2 cups of chopped broccoli or some mixed veggies or whatever you like (I had a head of broccoli) and fry it for about 3-5 minutes until cooked enough.
Add the shrimp and cook them only as long as it takes for them to change color. By change color I mean they should go from grey to pinkish-white.
I have Trader Joe's Peanut Sauce but you could use any kind. If you make your own, all the better, I guess! I used a cup of this and let it get all melty in the shrimp pan, then tossed this with the cooked noodles.
For garnish, you could use chopped green onion, peanuts, cilantro, or all of the above. I had cilantro and peanuts so there ya go. I also added a bunch of crushed red pepper because I felt like my nose wasn't runny enough.
Nutritional Information:
2 servings
Calories per serving: 578
Total Fat: 21.2 g
Saturated fat: 9 g
Cholesterol: 155 mg
Sodium: 1698 mg
Potassium: 143.2 mg
Carbs: 91.9 g
Fiber: 2.8 g
Sugars: 8.1 g
Protein: 25.9 g
Vitamin A: 13.8%
Vitamin C: 65.5%
Calcium: 12.8%
Iron: 3.2%
Stromboli - the generic kind
Stromboli is one of my favorite foods to make for a party. It's also just really good for dinner. My husband's cousin expects it every time he sees me, which is fine since it takes about 0% of my brain activity to make it. I totally ripped this recipe off a friend of mine who is known for it, so I have to be careful where I actually bring this to, but she gladly showed me how to make it so it's her own damn fault.
You can use the Pillsbury tube of pizza dough or any store bought pizza dough. I'm cheap and I have a bread machine, so I made my own out of:
2 cups flour
3/4 cup water
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp yeast
You can double that and freeze half of it for later. I find the above is just enough to make a huge stromboli and give my kids a wad of dough to roll out for fun.
Roll out the dough (or unroll if you're rolling Pillsbury style) with a rolling pin until it's spread out nicely. You want it to look like you're making a thin crust pizza.
The next ingredient is PORK. I would specify but there's no need to do that. Salami, pepperoni, cooked bacon, ham, mortadella, capicola, prosciutto, bologna, whatever, use it. I tend to use what I have laying around, like if I bought stuff for sandwiches then I can use that. I bought a ridiculous amount of pepperoni from Costco like four months ago so I tend to have that lying around since I froze it in about 19 individual bags. I had some ham for this as well. No matter what meat you use, just make sure it's cooked. Putting raw bacon inside of stromboli would be hard to cut and completely disastrous. Cover the entire sheet of dough with a nice layer or two or four of PORK.
Cover the PORK with cheese. You don't need to pile it on like you would a pizza. Remember that when this sucker gets rolled up, it will be oozing and too much cheese = too much ooze. Just a nice thin layer of shredded mozzarella or whatever. If you have sliced provolone that's perfect too. There is no wrong way to do this.
Then I like to add something spicy because, well, apparently I lost my taste buds in the war. Don't ask which war, because I won't tell you. For this one, I improvised some giardiniera out of chopped green olives, sport pepper and shredded carrots. I've used roasted red peppers, black olives, mushrooms, etc. All you want is a thin line of the relish-y stuff down the middle of the stromboli. Don't spread it all out all over the whole thing or the flavor will be overwhelming. Just a little bite of it is good.
You can sprinkle crushed red pepper or parmesan on the inside, too. I usually do.
Next, roll up the whole thing. To seal it, press the dough along the side. Carefully put the tube on a sprayed baking sheet and spray the tube with Pam or olive oil or something. I like to sprinkle oregano on top, just because it's pretty. I'm almost positive it adds absolutely nothing to the flavor. It might get you a few extra "ahhhhhhh"s when you pull it out of the oven for an audience.
If you can manage to wait, let it rest for 5 minutes. You'll thank me when you slice it up.
Nutritional Information:
4 servings
Calories per serving: 570
Total fat: 27.3 g
Saturated fat: 12.8 g
Cholesterol: 93.8 mg
Sodium: 1886.3 mg
Potassium: 105 mg
Carbs: 50 g
Fiber: 1.5 g
Sugars: 8 g
Protein: 31.7 g
Vitamin A: 9%
Vitamin C: 0%
Calcium: 30%
Iron: 20.5%
You can use the Pillsbury tube of pizza dough or any store bought pizza dough. I'm cheap and I have a bread machine, so I made my own out of:
2 cups flour
3/4 cup water
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp yeast
You can double that and freeze half of it for later. I find the above is just enough to make a huge stromboli and give my kids a wad of dough to roll out for fun.
Roll out the dough (or unroll if you're rolling Pillsbury style) with a rolling pin until it's spread out nicely. You want it to look like you're making a thin crust pizza.
The next ingredient is PORK. I would specify but there's no need to do that. Salami, pepperoni, cooked bacon, ham, mortadella, capicola, prosciutto, bologna, whatever, use it. I tend to use what I have laying around, like if I bought stuff for sandwiches then I can use that. I bought a ridiculous amount of pepperoni from Costco like four months ago so I tend to have that lying around since I froze it in about 19 individual bags. I had some ham for this as well. No matter what meat you use, just make sure it's cooked. Putting raw bacon inside of stromboli would be hard to cut and completely disastrous. Cover the entire sheet of dough with a nice layer or two or four of PORK.
Cover the PORK with cheese. You don't need to pile it on like you would a pizza. Remember that when this sucker gets rolled up, it will be oozing and too much cheese = too much ooze. Just a nice thin layer of shredded mozzarella or whatever. If you have sliced provolone that's perfect too. There is no wrong way to do this.
Then I like to add something spicy because, well, apparently I lost my taste buds in the war. Don't ask which war, because I won't tell you. For this one, I improvised some giardiniera out of chopped green olives, sport pepper and shredded carrots. I've used roasted red peppers, black olives, mushrooms, etc. All you want is a thin line of the relish-y stuff down the middle of the stromboli. Don't spread it all out all over the whole thing or the flavor will be overwhelming. Just a little bite of it is good.
You can sprinkle crushed red pepper or parmesan on the inside, too. I usually do.
Next, roll up the whole thing. To seal it, press the dough along the side. Carefully put the tube on a sprayed baking sheet and spray the tube with Pam or olive oil or something. I like to sprinkle oregano on top, just because it's pretty. I'm almost positive it adds absolutely nothing to the flavor. It might get you a few extra "ahhhhhhh"s when you pull it out of the oven for an audience.
If you can manage to wait, let it rest for 5 minutes. You'll thank me when you slice it up.
Nutritional Information:
4 servings
Calories per serving: 570
Total fat: 27.3 g
Saturated fat: 12.8 g
Cholesterol: 93.8 mg
Sodium: 1886.3 mg
Potassium: 105 mg
Carbs: 50 g
Fiber: 1.5 g
Sugars: 8 g
Protein: 31.7 g
Vitamin A: 9%
Vitamin C: 0%
Calcium: 30%
Iron: 20.5%
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Mac and Chorizo
Once a week at my husband's work the Mac and Cheese Truck comes by. A couple of weeks ago he brought home mac and cheese with Italian sausage and giardiniera and I was inspired.
I started off by making a pot of mac and cheese. Not the nasty Kraft kind, because that ain't right. I won't go into how to make mac and cheese because you can figure that out on your own. I did use gouda and colby jack instead of the usual cheddar, because I felt daring.
Then I fried up some chorizo. The smell was downright intoxicating.
Dumped the chorizo and some giardiniera relish into the pot of mac and cheese. Love the oil! It's good for your skin, right?
All mixed together and ready to bake! I put it in for 25 minutes at 350 degrees. I also broiled it for the last 2 minutes so that the top could get a little bit more brown and bubbly.
Ready to eat! This was really, really amazing. Even the husband liked it, and he doesn't like anything except Kraft. Definitely too spicy for the kids, but I'll be making this one again sometime.
Nutritional Information:
Number of servings: 6
Calories per serving: 625
Total fat: 36.2 g
Saturated fat: 18.8 g
Cholesterol: 139.2 mg
Sodium 1208.1 mg
Potassium: 298.5 mg
Carbs: 37.5 g
Fiber: 1.5 g
Sugars: 5.5 g
Protein: 32.8 g
Vitamin A: 22.8%
Vitamin C: 11.6%
Calcium: 52.7%
Iron: 10.6%
Nutritional Information:
Number of servings: 6
Calories per serving: 625
Total fat: 36.2 g
Saturated fat: 18.8 g
Cholesterol: 139.2 mg
Sodium 1208.1 mg
Potassium: 298.5 mg
Carbs: 37.5 g
Fiber: 1.5 g
Sugars: 5.5 g
Protein: 32.8 g
Vitamin A: 22.8%
Vitamin C: 11.6%
Calcium: 52.7%
Iron: 10.6%
Hot Dog Fried Rice
Bastardizing good Asian cuisine the only way I know how!
Actually, since I'm married to a sort-of Asian, I've learned that hot dogs are indeed truly Asian food. Asians are obsessed with hot dogs. In Japan they have hot dog sushi. When I go to the Korean market, the special of the day in the cafeteria has hot dogs in it. My MIL makes kimchi pancakes with hot dogs in them, or rice cakes with hot dogs, and so hot dog fried rice is truly authentic Asian fare. I once heard a comedian talk about how he was shocked when he couldn't find hot dog fried rice on a Chinese menu.
Really, it's just the way people get kids to eat Asian food. The funny thing is, it's really, really good. And it's really really easy to throw down in 15 minutes or less. Really. Rearry.
For lunch, I made the slightly grown up version. I used turkey hot dogs because I'm attempting to save my calories for dinner tonight. Normally I'd use Vienna Beef, because those are the only hot dogs anyone should use, but the Jennie-O ones were 99 cents, and so I couldn't resist.
I won't go through the steps picture by picture. It's too easy. Just melt some butter or Smart Balance or oil or bacon grease or anything resembling rendered animal fat and add diced hot dogs (1 per person you're serving is a good rule) and a handful or two of frozen veggies. Cook those for about a minute or two and push them to one side of the pan. Crack an egg (or two if you want to make a lot of rice) and let it cook on the empty side of the pan. Don't mix the uncooked egg with the hot dogs and veggies, or you'll have them coated in this weird way that isn't very appetizing. Stir the egg around and then when it's nice and scrambled, mix everything together. Add 1/2 cup of cooked white rice per person you're serving and maybe some more butter. At this point feel free to add salt, pepper, red pepper, sesame seeds, 5 spice, whatever. Go crazy.
I added red pepper and this stuff to my rice. I also added a dash of light soy sauce, but not until I turned off the stove.
But I wasn't done yet. I wanted to make the adult version, remember? So I used some seaweed wraps and Sriracha (which we fondly call "Cock Sauce" in our house, 2 and 4 year old kids included in that generalization) and made little rolls filled with the goodness that is hot dog fried rice.
Nutritional Information:
1 serving
Calories per serving: 358
Total fat: 9.7 g
Saturated fat: 3 g
Cholesterol: 240 mg
Sodium: 1247.5 mg
Potassium: 87.2 mg
Carbs: 44.2 g
Fiber: 5.5 g
Sugars: 10 g
Protein: 16.5 g
Vitamin A: 63%
Vitamin C: 14.5%
Calcium: 6.6%
Iron: 24.5%
Actually, since I'm married to a sort-of Asian, I've learned that hot dogs are indeed truly Asian food. Asians are obsessed with hot dogs. In Japan they have hot dog sushi. When I go to the Korean market, the special of the day in the cafeteria has hot dogs in it. My MIL makes kimchi pancakes with hot dogs in them, or rice cakes with hot dogs, and so hot dog fried rice is truly authentic Asian fare. I once heard a comedian talk about how he was shocked when he couldn't find hot dog fried rice on a Chinese menu.
Really, it's just the way people get kids to eat Asian food. The funny thing is, it's really, really good. And it's really really easy to throw down in 15 minutes or less. Really. Rearry.
For lunch, I made the slightly grown up version. I used turkey hot dogs because I'm attempting to save my calories for dinner tonight. Normally I'd use Vienna Beef, because those are the only hot dogs anyone should use, but the Jennie-O ones were 99 cents, and so I couldn't resist.
I won't go through the steps picture by picture. It's too easy. Just melt some butter or Smart Balance or oil or bacon grease or anything resembling rendered animal fat and add diced hot dogs (1 per person you're serving is a good rule) and a handful or two of frozen veggies. Cook those for about a minute or two and push them to one side of the pan. Crack an egg (or two if you want to make a lot of rice) and let it cook on the empty side of the pan. Don't mix the uncooked egg with the hot dogs and veggies, or you'll have them coated in this weird way that isn't very appetizing. Stir the egg around and then when it's nice and scrambled, mix everything together. Add 1/2 cup of cooked white rice per person you're serving and maybe some more butter. At this point feel free to add salt, pepper, red pepper, sesame seeds, 5 spice, whatever. Go crazy.
Nutritional Information:
1 serving
Calories per serving: 358
Total fat: 9.7 g
Saturated fat: 3 g
Cholesterol: 240 mg
Sodium: 1247.5 mg
Potassium: 87.2 mg
Carbs: 44.2 g
Fiber: 5.5 g
Sugars: 10 g
Protein: 16.5 g
Vitamin A: 63%
Vitamin C: 14.5%
Calcium: 6.6%
Iron: 24.5%
Sweet and Crispy Chicken
I took this recipe from here.
Basically, when I make Korean food, it never, ever, ever turns out as good as my MIL's. So I really should learn to stop, but it's like a train wreck, I just can't stop looking online for something in hopes that maybe, just maybe, I won't have to endure my MIL's company for the period of time it takes for her to whip me up some amazing Korean food.
But I digress.
We didn't love this at all. We won't make it again. Part of the problem was the burned soy sauce flavor. I know a million people who aren't bothered by burned soy sauce. My husband grew up with the smell of burned soy sauce constantly. I feel the same way about roasted eggplant that he feels about burned soy sauce. I don't want to be anywhere near it, and once I smell it, it ruins my appetite.
So if burned soy sauce doesn't bother you (or it didn't, until I mentioned it) and you want something pretty easy to make, try this.
Start with about a pound of diced chicken thighs (or whatever floats your boat, you could use wings, breasts, drumsticks....), an egg, a 1/4 cup of flour and a 1/4 cup of tapioca starch (the recipe said starch, I had tapioca and corn so I went tapioca, though I imagine it should have been wheat starch), salt and pepper, dump it in a bowl, mix it by hand, shuddering the entire time. Seriously, it felt like grinding chalk with my molars.
Fry that nastiness in a bunch of oil and put it aside on a plate with about 16 paper towels. You'll thank me for that advice later.
For the sauce, you'll need 1/2 cup water (not pictured), 1 tbsp soy sauce (so you can smell the burning!), 1/8 cup rice vinegar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup thinly sliced ginger, 1/2 cup honey. The recipe called for corn syrup, but I don't think I ever have corn syrup around so honey seemed like a good substitute, and perhaps a bit healthier, though not much.
Start by bringing the water to a boil in a pot or a wok. Once that boils, add the sliced ginger. Then add the soy sauce, vinegar and brown sugar. Let that boil for 5 minutes on medium heat. Doesn't that smell absolutely horrid? No? Then you'll probably like this dish!
Once the soy/water/vinegar/sugar/ginger mixture has boiled for 5 minutes, add the honey. Let this boil on medium to low heat for 30 minutes and thicken up. Basically, it should slowly fall off the spoon if you hold it above the pot. The color should lighten up too. Make sure not to overboil it or it will harden up.
At this point, you can either add the chicken right away to the sauce and serve it, or turn off the heat, cover the pot and reheat it later and add the chicken.
Added the chicken to the sauce and added about 1 tbsp of crushed red pepper and 1 tbsp sesame seeds.
Served with rice and fresh roasted peanuts sprinkled on top.
I'm not really sure how I could improve this. Perhaps if I just removed the soy sauce altogether it would be better? It would be less Asian-y but definitely lose the burned soy sauce smell. I could also imagine twisting this recipe into a really good orange chicken recipe, maybe using orange juice instead of soy sauce and water and adding orange rind instead of ginger? It would certainly make the rinds "candied" in flavor. That was one of the best parts of the recipe, was the candied ginger pieces. I think this is a good recipe for learning a cooking method that I wouldn't have really known much about, but I will definitely not make it the exact same way again. The nice part is I had all of the ingredients on hand (I store ginger in the freezer, and I had frozen chicken thighs so I literally had to buy nothing for this).
Nutritional Information: (without peanuts)
Total servings: 4
Calories per serving: 522
Total Fat: 11.5 g
Saturated Fat: 3.5 g
Cholesterol: 123.8 mg
Sodium: 269.2 mg
Potassium: 312.5 mg
Carbs: 80.5 mg
Fiber: 1.1 g
Sugars: 62 g
Protein: 26.7 g
Vitamin A: 1.5%
Vitamin C: 3.8%
Calcium: 3.9%
Iron: 14.3%
Basically, when I make Korean food, it never, ever, ever turns out as good as my MIL's. So I really should learn to stop, but it's like a train wreck, I just can't stop looking online for something in hopes that maybe, just maybe, I won't have to endure my MIL's company for the period of time it takes for her to whip me up some amazing Korean food.
But I digress.
We didn't love this at all. We won't make it again. Part of the problem was the burned soy sauce flavor. I know a million people who aren't bothered by burned soy sauce. My husband grew up with the smell of burned soy sauce constantly. I feel the same way about roasted eggplant that he feels about burned soy sauce. I don't want to be anywhere near it, and once I smell it, it ruins my appetite.
So if burned soy sauce doesn't bother you (or it didn't, until I mentioned it) and you want something pretty easy to make, try this.
Fry that nastiness in a bunch of oil and put it aside on a plate with about 16 paper towels. You'll thank me for that advice later.
For the sauce, you'll need 1/2 cup water (not pictured), 1 tbsp soy sauce (so you can smell the burning!), 1/8 cup rice vinegar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup thinly sliced ginger, 1/2 cup honey. The recipe called for corn syrup, but I don't think I ever have corn syrup around so honey seemed like a good substitute, and perhaps a bit healthier, though not much.
Start by bringing the water to a boil in a pot or a wok. Once that boils, add the sliced ginger. Then add the soy sauce, vinegar and brown sugar. Let that boil for 5 minutes on medium heat. Doesn't that smell absolutely horrid? No? Then you'll probably like this dish!
Once the soy/water/vinegar/sugar/ginger mixture has boiled for 5 minutes, add the honey. Let this boil on medium to low heat for 30 minutes and thicken up. Basically, it should slowly fall off the spoon if you hold it above the pot. The color should lighten up too. Make sure not to overboil it or it will harden up.
At this point, you can either add the chicken right away to the sauce and serve it, or turn off the heat, cover the pot and reheat it later and add the chicken.
I'm not really sure how I could improve this. Perhaps if I just removed the soy sauce altogether it would be better? It would be less Asian-y but definitely lose the burned soy sauce smell. I could also imagine twisting this recipe into a really good orange chicken recipe, maybe using orange juice instead of soy sauce and water and adding orange rind instead of ginger? It would certainly make the rinds "candied" in flavor. That was one of the best parts of the recipe, was the candied ginger pieces. I think this is a good recipe for learning a cooking method that I wouldn't have really known much about, but I will definitely not make it the exact same way again. The nice part is I had all of the ingredients on hand (I store ginger in the freezer, and I had frozen chicken thighs so I literally had to buy nothing for this).
Nutritional Information: (without peanuts)
Total servings: 4
Calories per serving: 522
Total Fat: 11.5 g
Saturated Fat: 3.5 g
Cholesterol: 123.8 mg
Sodium: 269.2 mg
Potassium: 312.5 mg
Carbs: 80.5 mg
Fiber: 1.1 g
Sugars: 62 g
Protein: 26.7 g
Vitamin A: 1.5%
Vitamin C: 3.8%
Calcium: 3.9%
Iron: 14.3%
Monday, March 21, 2011
Lobster Pot Pie
This was a long process. I started off by making veggie stock because I have this weird thing about mixing seafood with poultry.
Started with purple onions, garlic, thyme, celery, carrots and cilantro (basically whatever crap I had sitting around in the fridge that could easily be thrown out in a couple of days) and sauteed them in corn oil for about ten minutes until everything got a little bit soft.
Then I added water (about 6 cups), turmeric, paprika, salt and pepper. I'm a sucker for the yellow color from turmeric, though I should know better because it stains everything.
Then I brought it to a boil and let it simmer for a bit, maybe 25-30 minutes. I turned off the stove, let it cool for about an hour and forgot about it. Then I strained it into a container, put aside about 2 cups of it to use and put the rest in the freezer to use for whatever else.
Cream sauces are really easy to make. I guess this would be considered cream of mixed veggies? Anyway, I made a roux with 2 tbsp of flour and 2 tbsp of butter, then poured in the 2 cups of reserved stock and 2 cups of 1% milk. I guess whole milk or heavy cream would taste better, but I had 1% milk and it works, and my hips are probably grateful. I also added some random onion and chive dip mix I had, maybe 2 tbsp.
Once the cream sauce is ready, it can be put aside and cooled off. I had two lobster tails sitting in my freezer which my mom had pawned off on me in an attempt to clean out her own freezer. I also had a can of white crab meat (though lump would have been fine) and some mixed veggies. I think the exact order of contents into the pot was butter, veggies, lobster, crab. In retrospect, I should have sprinkled in some Old Bay or something, but I think I used one or two shakes of Lawry's Seasoned Salt.
Once the seafood and veggie mixture is done, add it to the cream sauce and mix. If you're ready you can pour it right into a pie dish, or put it in the fridge up to a day or so. I put mine in the fridge for an hour and defrosted the puff pastry and preheated the oven to 400. Then I poured the mixture into a pie dish, lay the puff pastry down on top and popped it in the oven. One critical thing to do at this point is put some holes in the puff pastry, otherwise in insides will leak out of the sides and onto the bottom of your oven and cause it to smoke and set off the smoke detectors and make everyone in your house run around screaming.
Except my family never screams anymore. Apparently my smoke detector is so damn sensitive that it pretty much goes off any time I cook. No one panics anymore, and they tell me that my kids pretty much sleep straight through a fire alarm if they ever have a drill at naptime in daycare.
Anyway, bake this for about 35-45 minutes. If you can wait, let it sit for about 10 to solidify inside. It will be easier to serve. If you're like me, you can't wait and you just dig in and spoon the filling on top of some puff pastry and cover it with red pepper and eat it until your mouth is full of blisters.
This was so good. I'd never made lobster pot pie, only chicken, and I liked this better. Definitely would make it again if I had some random lobster tails sitting around!
If you don't have lobster, you can easily do this with chicken. Just replace the veggie stock with chicken broth or stock and the lobster and crab with shredded chicken from a rotisserie chicken.
Nutritional Information
Number of servings: 4
Calories per serving: 510
Total Fat: 24.4 g
Saturated Fat: 13.6 g
Cholesterol: 117.5 mg
Sodium: 875.6 mg
Potassium: 204.2 mg
Carbs: 41 g
Fiber: 3.9 g
Sugars: 10 g
Protein: 26.9 g
Vitamin A: 28.7%
Vitamin C: 6.5%
Calcium: 22.6%
Iron: 14%
Started with purple onions, garlic, thyme, celery, carrots and cilantro (basically whatever crap I had sitting around in the fridge that could easily be thrown out in a couple of days) and sauteed them in corn oil for about ten minutes until everything got a little bit soft.
Then I added water (about 6 cups), turmeric, paprika, salt and pepper. I'm a sucker for the yellow color from turmeric, though I should know better because it stains everything.
Then I brought it to a boil and let it simmer for a bit, maybe 25-30 minutes. I turned off the stove, let it cool for about an hour and forgot about it. Then I strained it into a container, put aside about 2 cups of it to use and put the rest in the freezer to use for whatever else.
Cream sauces are really easy to make. I guess this would be considered cream of mixed veggies? Anyway, I made a roux with 2 tbsp of flour and 2 tbsp of butter, then poured in the 2 cups of reserved stock and 2 cups of 1% milk. I guess whole milk or heavy cream would taste better, but I had 1% milk and it works, and my hips are probably grateful. I also added some random onion and chive dip mix I had, maybe 2 tbsp.
Once the cream sauce is ready, it can be put aside and cooled off. I had two lobster tails sitting in my freezer which my mom had pawned off on me in an attempt to clean out her own freezer. I also had a can of white crab meat (though lump would have been fine) and some mixed veggies. I think the exact order of contents into the pot was butter, veggies, lobster, crab. In retrospect, I should have sprinkled in some Old Bay or something, but I think I used one or two shakes of Lawry's Seasoned Salt.
Once the seafood and veggie mixture is done, add it to the cream sauce and mix. If you're ready you can pour it right into a pie dish, or put it in the fridge up to a day or so. I put mine in the fridge for an hour and defrosted the puff pastry and preheated the oven to 400. Then I poured the mixture into a pie dish, lay the puff pastry down on top and popped it in the oven. One critical thing to do at this point is put some holes in the puff pastry, otherwise in insides will leak out of the sides and onto the bottom of your oven and cause it to smoke and set off the smoke detectors and make everyone in your house run around screaming.
Except my family never screams anymore. Apparently my smoke detector is so damn sensitive that it pretty much goes off any time I cook. No one panics anymore, and they tell me that my kids pretty much sleep straight through a fire alarm if they ever have a drill at naptime in daycare.
Anyway, bake this for about 35-45 minutes. If you can wait, let it sit for about 10 to solidify inside. It will be easier to serve. If you're like me, you can't wait and you just dig in and spoon the filling on top of some puff pastry and cover it with red pepper and eat it until your mouth is full of blisters.
This was so good. I'd never made lobster pot pie, only chicken, and I liked this better. Definitely would make it again if I had some random lobster tails sitting around!
If you don't have lobster, you can easily do this with chicken. Just replace the veggie stock with chicken broth or stock and the lobster and crab with shredded chicken from a rotisserie chicken.
Nutritional Information
Number of servings: 4
Calories per serving: 510
Total Fat: 24.4 g
Saturated Fat: 13.6 g
Cholesterol: 117.5 mg
Sodium: 875.6 mg
Potassium: 204.2 mg
Carbs: 41 g
Fiber: 3.9 g
Sugars: 10 g
Protein: 26.9 g
Vitamin A: 28.7%
Vitamin C: 6.5%
Calcium: 22.6%
Iron: 14%
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