Repeated Recipes


Posted in Food, Images on 12/18/2009 07:40 pm by Valerie

My plan to cook my way through some more recipes was interrupted last week, after I had some bad food-related experiences. I won’t get into details, but let’s just say that my digestive system was not behaving nicely for a number of days, so I’ve had to watch what I’ve been eating.

I’m back on fairly normal foods again, though still watching how things go, but I’m going to start with some dishes I’ve made and liked before. Tonight’s dinner was cashew chicken, which I first made in February, and it turned out as well as the last two times. It’s not that difficult to make, and it has a nice flavor, so there we are.

Cashew Chicken 3 (by Valerie.)

When I went grocery shopping for the ingredients, I also picked up the ingredients for Spicy Asian Noodles with Chicken, Poached Eggs with Smoked Trout and Potato Hash, and a new-to-me, vegetarian recipe with lentils and orchiette pasta, so those are going to be coming up in the next few days. The guy at the meat counter gave me a bit too much chicken, so I’ll need to figure out what to do with an extra chicken breast.

I’m also thinking of making the Asian Salmon and Rice Soup again, possibly for when the stores are mostly closed for Christmas, or maybe even New Year’s. I haven’t decided yet though. And maybe some chocolate chip cookies mixed in somewhere.

 

Chocolate-Mint Truffle Cookies and More


Posted in Food on 12/09/2009 11:07 pm by Valerie

I spent the afternoon baking and making cookies and candies with my friend A, and we ended up with quite a pile of sweet things. We melted chocolate candy chips and covered dried cranberries and balls of marzipan with them. There was also a batch of caramel that has to sit overnight (though we’re not sure if it made it through, as it’s rather hard). And then there were the cookies.

They’re called Chocolate-Mint Truffle Cookies, a recipe from a magazine called Taste of Home, and they are quite potent. You basically smash up Andes mints (A did the honors), mix them in with flour, cocoa, melted chocolate chips, and other bits, and then after baking them, you dip them in chocolate and add sprinkles. Plenty to make them sweet.

We were a bit haphazard in our baking, not entirely following the order of how to blend things, but everything got into the bowl in the end. And I think I mixed it well enough. When all was said and done though, they didn’t quite look like the photo.

Exhibit A: Official recipe photo
Chocolate Mint Truffle Cookies (official recipe photo)

Exhibit B: Photo taken in my kitchen (after the cookies had traveled home in a plastic sandwich bag)
Chocolate-Mint Truffle Cookies (by Valerie.)

A and I thought that perhaps we used bigger portions per cookie, but they ended up looking vaguely like brownies in cookie form when they came out of the oven. And then we followed the instruction to “dip” the cookies in the melted chocolate chips and shortening mix, but the photo looks like they were dunked and soaked in it. But appearances aren’t all that important, as long as the food tastes good.

As for these cookies, they are potent! The mint is especially powerful, but the cookies are also pretty sweet. I think both come from the Andes mint chunks, but the sprinkles (we used peppermint-flavored) may have a hand in this as well. I can’t see how you could eat more than one in a sitting, they’re so sweet.

All in all, this afternoon sugar fest has made me think more about baking, in addition to the cooking I’ve been doing lately. I think the last time I baked anything before this was about a year ago, when I made kolachkies (Polish cookies), so I might have to do some again. I’ve already pulled out the kolachky recipe, but I’m already thinking about chocolate chip cookies (they must be chewy!) or homemade marshmallows or maybe even cupcakes. As long as I can find someone to share them with, of course.

 

Linguine with Tuna and Tomato Salsa


Posted in Books, Food, Images on 11/28/2009 08:54 pm by Valerie

Continuing to work my way through the book Noodles in 60 Ways: Great Recipe Ideas With a Classic Ingredient, I decided to go with one that was even easier than the last one.

For dinner tonight, I made Linguine with Tuna and Tomato Salsa, with the only cooking being the prepration of the linguine. The rest of the ingredients became a salsa and topping for the pasta, and it only took a bit of chopping and mixing everything to get that together.

The ingredients are very simple, including cherry tomatoes (I had to use sugar plum grape tomatoes, since that’s what I was able to find at Whole Foods), red onion, fresh herbs (basil and parsley, the latter of which I left out), olive oil, garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. And then tuna from a can, which they suggest having separately. You mix up the salsa, flake the tuna, and then put it all together with the pasta.

Linguine with Tuna and Tomato Salsa (by Valerie.)

Everything came together nicely, though I’d definitely recommend mixing everything up together a bit more than I did. I sort of just plopped it on top of the linguine, which was pretty to look at, but then I ended up with patches of plain pasta.

I think I’d make this one again, since it’s pretty easy, though it seems more like a spring or summer dish than fall or winter one. The recipe also suggests using tuna and dill instead of tuna and basil as an alternative, and that sounds pretty good.

Here’s a close-up of the salsa on its own, since the colors are so nice, and then the recipe following:

Close-up of Tomato Salsa (by Valerie.)

Linguine with Tuna and Tomato Salsa
Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 13 1/2 oz linguine
  • 9 oz canned tuna, flaked into chunks
  • Salsa
    • 9 oz cherry tomatoes, halved
    • 1 red onion, sliced
    • 5 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
    • 5 tbsp chopped fresh basil
    • 3 tbsp olive oil
    • 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
    • Salt, to taste
    • Ground black pepper, to taste

Preparation

  1. Prepare salsa. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
  2. Bring a pot of salted water to the boil. Add linguine and cook until al dente. Drain and transfer to a large bowl.
  3. Add tuna flakes and salsa to pasta and mix well. Serve warm or at room temperature.
 

Udon with Chicken and Spring Onions


Posted in Books, Food, Images on 11/27/2009 09:32 pm by Valerie

As I currently have a bit of time on my hands, I’ve decided to do a bit more cooking and try out some new recipes. I picked up a few cookbooks about noodles and Japanese food, and have picked out a bunch of them to work my way through. We’ll see how many of those I get around to, but first up I went for an udon dish that seemed simple enough.

The recipe is Udon with Chicken and Spring Onions and it comes from the book Noodles in 60 Ways: Great Recipe Ideas With a Classic Ingredient. I wasn’t entirely sure about the book after noticing some poor editing and possibly translated content, but I went ahead anyway.

The ingredients were fairly easy to gather, though I had to stop by the local Chinese market to track down light and dark soy sauce (not be confused with low-sodium and regular soy sauce). Oh, and I had to settle for baby shiitake because Whole Foods didn’t have larger ones. But then it’s simple.

You basically boil dashi, then add the soy sauces, mirin, salt, and sugar. Next comes the pieces of chicken breast, then the veggies (cabbage, green onions) and mushrooms. Heat up some udon noodles, pour the broth and toppings over it, and you’re done.

Udon with Chicken and Spring Onions (by Valerie.)

As you can see in the photo, the end result didn’t quite look like the photo in the book. The broth was much darker than I thought it would be, which made the chicken end up looking like fried tofu (it’s chicken, really!). The flavor was all right, not too salty, not too sweet, just sort of in between. But it wasn’t really anything remarkable. Maybe even a little underwhelming. Ah well. :)

Here’s the recipe if you’d like to try it out:

Udon with Chicken and Spring Onions
Serves 4-6

Ingredients

  • 8 cups dashi
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 3 tbsp dark soy sauce
  • 3 tbsp light soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 2 tbsp mirin
  • 1 lb chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
  • 6 spring onions, halved lengthways then cut into 2 inch pieces
  • 6-8 shiitake mushrooms, wiped clean and stems discarded
  • 1/4 head cabbage, cut into squares
  • 1 lb udon

Preparation

  1. In a large pot, bring dashi to the boil. Add salt, soy sauces, sugar, and mirin. Stir until sugar dissolves.
  2. Bring broth back to the boil and add chicken. Simmer for 10 minutes or until chicken is tender. Skim off any foam that rises to the surface.
  3. Add spring onions, mushrooms, and cabbage and simmer for another 2-3 minutes.
  4. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add udon, stir, and cook for 3 minutes or until udon is tender. Drain and rinse under cold running water then drain again.
  5. Divide noodles equally among 4-6 serving bowls. Ladle hot dashi broth over udon and serve immediately.
 

Fortunes


Posted in Quotes on 11/20/2009 09:15 pm by Valerie

Here are today’s fortunes from a Chinese food lunch:

“Every exit is an entrance to new experiences.”

“Cleaning up the past will always clear up the future!”

Rather fitting given what’s been going on for me, and they both have my lucky number on them to boot!

 
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