pork and veg stirfry

Thanks to Amy for the inspiration on this. I was musing about what to do with thin-cut boneless pork chops and she pointed out that she usually uses them in stir-fry. I thought sounded like a great idea, and this is how it came out:



I made a quick marinade for the pork out of 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce, 2 TBSP brown sugar, 1 TBSP toasted sesame oil and 3 big cloves of garlic, grated (I grate them rather than mince them...WAY easier). I sliced the pork into strips and threw it into the marinade, then sliced up a red pepper, an onion, two summer squash, and a head of broccoli. I stir-fried the meat first, then added the veggies and stir-fried until tender. I added about a cup of chicken stock with 1 TBSP of cornstarch stirred in and let it boil away for a couple minutes until thickened. It could have used some rice to soak up the sauce but we don't generally eat rice so we skipped it.

barbecue chicken burritos

I fully intended to make chicken fajitas tonight, but on the way home from work I started hankering for something different. This...is my story. (cue Law and Order bum-BUM sound)

I took 3 chicken breast halves, cut them into 3rds, and put them in a pot with water to cover. I let that simmer for about 15 minutes while I cut a green and a yellow pepper into strips and sliced an onion into strips. When the chicken was no longer pink in the middle when cut, I took it off the heat. I put the onions and peppers in a frying pan with some olive oil on medium and let them cook, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, I drained the poached chicken pieces and quickly shredded them with two forks. The shredded chicken went back into the bowl and mixed with about half a cup of Sticky Fingers BBQ Sauce (seriously, if you haven't tried it, get some. Best stuff EVER). By then my onions and peppers were softened but still fairly crisp...just the way we like them! I spread out a couple tortillas on two plates, scooped some of the barbecue chicken onto each one, sprinkled a layer of the pre-shredded cheddar-jack cheese on, and piled on a bunch of the onion and pepper mixture. I served them with a little extra barbecue sauce and some plain yogurt (rather than sour cream) for dipping.



Quick, relatively healthy, and also pretty cheap. And most importantly...YUMMY!

broccoli chicken "carbonara"

It's not really carbonara, but it was still pretty good. It was also pretty easy and quick...and only used one pot! I boiled the linguine first and threw a bunch of broccoli florets in about 3 minutes before the pasta was done. When the pasta finished, I dumped it and the broccoli into the colander and let it drain while I did the rest. I chopped up 4 slices of bacon and cooked it down in the bottom of the pot that I cooked the pasta in. When it was crisp and the fat was all rendered, I scooped it out to drain and dumped all but 1 Tbsp of the fat. I put the pot back on the burner and tossed in 3 cut up chicken breast halves. Those cooked in the bacon fat until no longer pink (about 4 minutes), then they came out to drain while I wiped the fat out of the pot. Next, I put in a cup of chicken stock and 3 cloves of minced garlic. I let the garlic simmer in the chicken stock for about a minute while I whisked a tablespoon of flour into a cup of milk. The milk mixture went into the garlic and chicken stock and I let it simmer, whisking constantly, for about 3 minutes until it thickened up a little. To that I added the crumbled bacon, 1 Tbsp of butter, 1/2 a cup of parmesan cheese, and the chicken. It took a bit of stirring to get everything to melt and blend into sauce consistency but once it got there, I dumped the broccoli and pasta back into the pot and tossed to coat.

It was decent, though if I did it again, I would use more garlic and Parmesan, I think. It was just a little...bland.

super quick supper: angel hair pasta with peas and bacon

Just like it says on the tin, basically. While the pasta water boiled, I cut up and cooked off the bacon, drained all but a tablespoon of the fat, then sauteed some garlic in the fat (OMG best smell EVER, just for the record), threw in two cups of frozen peas, and a cup of half and half. I let that cook down while I drained the pasta, then added the sauce to the pasta. I used a wee bit of pasta cooking water to thin the sauce as I mixed it in, then split it between the serving plates and topped with the crispy cooked bacon.

It was pretty good, though I think I'll try it with broccoli next time instead. Frozen peas always seem a little chalky to me. All in all, it was a nice quick cheap supper, though.

beef bulgogi

Flipping through one of my cookbooks this afternoon, I came across a recipe for Beef Bulgogi. A light turned on in my head and I remembered the beef bulgogi I had at a little Korean place several times during pilgrimages to Northampton, MA, with friends. It looked so simple. I HAD to try it.

The recipe called for rib eye steak. I used chuck instead because it was WAY cheaper and because I like the taste of it better. I used two big red onions, a green pepper, and I made a marinade of soy sauce, sesame oil, brown sugar, ginger and garlic. The meat and veggies both sit in the marinade (separately!) for 20 min or so, then you stir-fry and serve either with rice or in lettuce "cups". Easy peasy...and I'm telling you, SO GOOD!! The sesame oil combined with the fat in the beef creates an amazing nutty buttery-ness. I just wanted to keep eating it and eating it. And really, aside from the fact that it's red meat, it's actually really healthy. It was a little too juicy to be easily eaten just wrapped in the lettuce, but I can tweak it a little to fix that. This could be my new favorite quick week-night dinner. I don't think I can sell Mark on kimchi to go with it, though...;)

brownie night at my house!

I had a bunch of baking chocolate and cocoa I wanted to use up, because letting them sit on the shelf all summer long doesn't do them any favors. I decided that brownies were the way to go.

To use up the cocoa I made Alton Brown's brownie recipe, which starts with beating the bejeezis out of 4 eggs, then adding both white and brown sugar, flour, salt, vanilla, and a whole lot of melted butter. They're good, but not quite as fudgey as I'd have liked. I used cake flour, and I think that might have had something to do with it.



The second batch I made was to use up the baking chocolate. I decided to do mint brownies, because both my husband and my mom really like mint and I figured that was a good way to get rid of them so that I wouldn't eat them...;) This recipe was basically the same in the brownie part, except it called for melted chocolate mixed into the beaten eggs, rather than cocoa...and it had less sugar by about half! The fun part was the layer of minty frosting (made from butter, powdered sugar, milk, and mint extract). The frosting was spread on the mostly-cooled brownies, then the pan was put in the fridge for an hour to firm up. The final layer was unsweetened chocolate melted with butter, left to cool a little, then spread across the top of the minty layer and allowed to set in the fridge. I really liked this recipe. The unsweetened chocolate on top helped cut the sweetness of the mint frosting, and the cake flour didn't seem to make these brownies as crumbly as the other ones.

buttermilk baked chicken with carrot cumin slaw

Another simple and yummy chicken supper. I took chicken thighs and drumsticks and dipped them in cultured buttermilk mixed with salt, pepper, and some Tabasco...then dredged them in breadcrumbs mixed with Parmesan and a dried Herbs de Provence mixture. I put the chicken on an oiled baking sheet and cooked at 425 for about 40 minutes, until nicely golden and crispy.

The slaw is made of one quarter of a head of cabbage and 3 shredded carrots, and one medium bunch of parsley, chopped. It's dressed very simply with olive oil, the juice of one lime, a little bit of salt, and 1/2 tsp of ground cumin. I was kind of if iffy about the slaw while I was making it, but I really liked it a lot and I'll definitely make it again. The chicken was great. The skin was nicely crispy, and the buttermilk keeps the meat moist while it's in the oven.