Pad Thai

Super simple but AMAZING-tasting pad thai! A much lighter, brighter option than take-out. I made them without egg and I did not miss that factor at all. Also swapped peanuts for cashews.

INGREDIENTS:

-4 tbsp. canola oil

-2 garlic cloves

-4 shallots, thinly sliced

-8-10 medium sized fresh prawns, cleaned and deveined OR 8 oz. chicken OR BOTH!

-2 eggs, lightly beaten

-1 pkg. Annie Chun's Pad Thai Rice Noodles (cooked, drained, and rinsed as directed)

-1 cup bean sprouts

SAUCE:

-4 tbsp lime or lemon juice

-3 tbsp fish sauce

-3 tbsp sugar

-1-2 pinches crushed chilies or pepper flakes

GARNISH:

-2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped

-3 tbsp roasted peanuts, crushed

-3 tbsp scallions, thinly sliced

-1 lime, cut into wedges

DIRECTIONS:

Mix sauce ingredients together. 

Prepare pasta. 

Heat wok or pan over high heat. Add 2 tbsp oil, garlic, shallots, and prawns. Cook until prawns are opaque. Set aside. 

Add remaining 2 tbsp oil and 2 eggs, then scramble. 

Reduce heat to low; add sauce and noodles. Toss until well mixed. Add prawns and bean sprouts. Toss well. Garnish with cilantro, peanuts, scallions, and lime wedges.

Korean Chicken Tacos a la Blue Apron

It's been fun scamming the Hello Fresh/Blue Apron system (getting free trial boxes of ingredients and recipes then canceling immediately) and although Hello Fresh has emerged as the winner in terms of cool recipes, this Blue Apron chicken came out tasty enough that I wanted to preserve it for future reference.

NOTE: Blue Apron thinks all humans eat about 1/4c of food per meal. Proportions are weird, but the recipe yielded enough sauce to coat about 2 chicken breasts, so up to you to determine the ratio of sauce to protein.

INGREDIENTS:

-10oz. chopped chicken breast

-4 tortillas

-1 lb. sweet potato

-1 tsp furikake (sesame seeds and seaweed)

-2 tbsp creme fraiche

-1/2 lb. cabbage

SAUCE:

-2 tbsp black bean sauce (SOOOOO GOOOOOOD)

-1 tbsp gochujang

-1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

-1/4 c sushi sauce

-cornstarch *I recommend adding some while you are cooking the sauce to nicely thicken it up

NUTRITION: 820cal per serving (2 servings total)

DIRECTIONS:

-Roast the sweet potatoes however you want at 450 and garnish with the furikake when done.

-Thinly slice the cabbage and drizzle with half the rice wine vinegar and some olive oil.

-Mix the sauce ingredients together, adding gochujang to taste (try it beforehand--I used about half of it! REALLY good...)

-Chop and cook without stirring to brown the chicken (I used a wok)

-Add the sauce and cook til the sauce is nice and thick (add the corn starch if you want)

-Serve your chicken in the tortillas smeared with creme fraiche (with a little salt sprinkled on it) as well as the cabbage. Stuff the sweet potatoes in there too if you want! Otherwise, just a nice side. 

Pancakes V: Yogurt

Another variation on the pancake theme - had a tub of yogurt that was probably nearing its expiration and a quick Google search showed that this is actually a thing:

Recipe

1 c flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 egg
1 c yogurt
1/4 c water

Combine dries, then wets, then together.  Scoop by quarter cups or so onto your griddle (or cast iron skillet) and cook until they bubble, then flip and cook till golden brown.

Notes

So my morning reading comprehension or math was not up to snuff and I only used half the prescribed yogurt (was pretty much all I had left anyway).  That left my batter way too dry, so I added some extra water and milk.  All of that to say, didn't come out great, not picture worthy, but still tasty and worth trying again soon...

Pork Fried Rice

Was looking for a good use of the last (still large) serving of carnitas, plus odds and ends of some vegetables left over from the holidays.  Some Googling suggested this idea for a kind of Asian-Latin fusion, took cues mostly from here & here...

Recipe

~1/2 lb pork, pre-cooked (e.g. Chinese barbeque or that carnitas)
6 c rice, cooked
1 egg
butter

Veggies - your choice of:
broccoli
carrot
frozen peas
mushrooms
onion
bell pepper
bok choy
etc.

Sauce
3 tbsp soy sauce
5 tsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp sugar

Heat a tbsp of butter and heat up your pork.  Next add your veggies and stir fry until tender.  Crack in your egg next and scramble it up.  Then add in your rice (you cooked it already, right?) and the sauce mixture and finish stir-frying.

Notes

 Great call - filling and delicious, enough veggies to be probably healthy?

One of those recipes said to start with uncooked pork loin, which is worth considering too I guess depending on what you have on hand - most everything else should be lying around!

New Orleans Red Beans & Rice

Despite this tragedy:

...the Knicks actually pulled out a rare road victory in New Orleans!  If you look closely, the Pelicans' jersey sponsor is Zatarain's.  Coincidentally, I'd already decided to go behind their back and give this recipe a shot.

Recipe

1 lb kidney beans
1 lb andouille sausage, sliced
1 onion, finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, finely chopped
4 celery stalks, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
~1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp ground sage
4 sprigs thyme
3 bay leaves
salt & pepper & oil

optional
hot sauce
cider vinegar
1 smoked ham hock
8 oz pickled pork shoulder
white rice

OK you have to start by soaking the beans in (a lot of) salted water, 8-16 hours, then drain and rinse.

Once you're ready to get started, heat a tbsp of oil (or lard) in a big dutch oven and brown your andouille.  Then add the vegetables (and a sprinkle of salt) and soften, then the garlic briefly, then the cayenne, sage and a bunch of black pepper also briefly.  Next in go the beans, cover them with water (6-8 cups), and add the thyme and bay leaves.  Boil, cover, and simmer 2 hours, give or take, until the beans are soft.  Remove the lid and continue to cook until it thickens.  Remove the inedibles (bay leaves, thyme stems), add hot sauce and cider vinegar, and serve over rice.

Notes

This one takes a long time!  (Denver elevation probably didn't help get those beans soft quickly.)  Ton of flavor between the sausage and spices!  And there's actually a good bit of vegetables in there with the "Holy Trinity" - but I added an avocado even though it's not technically cajun but it ended up fitting in nicely.  My main mistake seemed to be adding too much water so the gravy didn't seem too thick - next time I'd start more conservative and add more as needed.

Dan Bing

Saw this a while ago; no idea if dan bing is (still?) cool but finally got around to giving it a shot.

Recipe

Crepe
1/4 c flour
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 c water

Eggs
1 egg
1 scallion, sliced
sesame oil
salt & pepper

Sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp rice vinegar
chili / sesame oil
garlic

Mix together the crepe, egg, and sauce elements.  Heat a lightly-oiled nonstick skillet over medium, add crepe batter, and swirl to to coat the bottom.  Cook until the top is set (3-4 minutes) and flip over (maybe slide off onto a plate then back on?).

Add the egg, keeping it mostly on top of the crepe, and cook until mostly set.  Flip and finish for about 10 seconds.  Roll it up, slice it, and serve it with the sauce.

If you want to scale up, you still have to do each serving individually like this - can make one bowl of batter and another of sauce, but do the eggs one at a time.

Notes

Pretty good!  Obviously have a ways to go before getting up to Taiwanese grandmother level of proficiency overall (or even French crepe fluency).  Pic coming once I refine the technique...

Skillet Sausage Pasta

Stuck at home recovering from losing soccer finals / a foot injury; unclear which one hurt more :( but the second thing made it tricky to get to the store.  A little Google homework and turned up this recipe.

Recipe

1 lb sausage
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 c broth
8 oz pasta (~2 1/2 c)
1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes
1/2 c half and half or cream
Monterey jack cheese
green onion, sliced
olive oil, salt & pepper, crushed red pepper

Start the sausage and onion in some olive oil in a skillet.  Once that's lightly browned, add in the garlic for a minute or so, then the broth, pasta, tomatoes, some crushed red pepper, and salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer until the pasta is cooked.  Once that's done, stir in the cream and simmer for a minute or two.  Remove from heat and springkle with grated cheese and green onion.

Notes

This one actually worked out with most of the ingredients already on hand, with some minor tweaks (water instead of broth, milk instead of cream, chopped up old cherry tomatoes instead of canned diced, gouda instead of jack).  All worked pretty well for an easy, more southwestern pasta!