Quick & Easy

I work full time, a regular Monday through Friday 8 to 5 job that I love a great deal.  I have a 5 month old baby a husband and because I didn’t feel like that was enough stress I go to school part time.

Adding to that my husband works night shift Friday through Tuesday so dinner time on Thursday is something precious to us.  I need it to be quick, tasty and give us a chance to catch up with each other while feeling somewhat like a normal couple.

Enter Shrimp with Coconut Sauce.  This is something I found online and have tailored for our own tastes and I think, after 3 tries I’ve hit it right on target.

Ingredients

2 cans Unsweetened Coconut Milk

4 tbsp Fish Sauce

1 tsp Sugar

1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper

1/2 tbsp Curry Powder

2 tbsp Oliver Oil

2 tbsp Sesame Oil

2 pounds Large Shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 Small Onion or 1 large Shallot, chopped.  Personally I prefer the Shallot

8 Cloves Garlic (yes I know that seems like a lot but trust me on it)

1 bunch of Asparagus

1/4 cup Dry White Wine

1 2-inch piece of Ginger peeled and chopped finely.  You can also cut it into tiny matchsticks if you prefer.

1 pound Mushrooms, sliced (I have used both Baby Bella in a pinch and a mix of Oyster & Shiitake both came out lovely)

3 cups Jasmine rice

1/4 cup chopped Cilantro

Directions:

Rinse the rice and cook it according to package or your rice cooker’s directions.  Don’t have a rice cooker?  Get one.  I picked mine up for under $20 at Wal-Mart and it’s the best thing ever.

In a small bowl whisk together the coconut milk, fish sauce, sugar, salt, pepper & curry.  Set aside.

Heat the oils in a large pan and cook the shrimp until they are just barely cooked through.  Remove from pan and add to the sauce.

Add onions, garlic and ginger to the pan and cook until soft and fragrant, about 2 min.  Add the wine to deglaze the pan and let it boil down a bit, about 1 min.  Add the asparagus and mushrooms and cook until the asparagus is tender to your taste.

Add the shrimp and sauce and bring to a boil. I usually let mine simmer for a few minutes to let everything marry together well and finish cooking the shrimp.

Serve over rice. Garnish with the cilantro.

Shrimp in Coconut Curry Sauce

Last weekend when I brought home the groceries I cleaned the shrimp and put them in the freezer.  At about 5:10 Thursday, just as I was arriving at the day care to get my daughter I realized I’d forgotten to take the shrimp out of the freezer to thaw. When I started cooking I put the shrimp in a bowl (still wrapped) of warm but not hot water.  Then did the dishes from the night before, and started prepping the veggies and everything else I’d need.  By the time I started and got to the point where I needed to cook the shrimp rinsing them well was all I needed to do to them so it was perfect.

From start to finish, including cleaning the kitchen up a bit we were eating in just over 45 min.  Not too shabby if you ask me.

PLUS…and this is big for me.  There was enough for my husband to enjoy a second helping as well as lunches for the both of us the next day and two more “Rainy Day” portions for the freezer.  Which makes this easily one of my favorite week day meals.  Not only is it pretty quick and tasty…it makes the next day run pretty smooth as it reheats very well, even when it was frozen first.

OH…the inspiration for this was found at Shrimp Recipes.Org

Cooking With Christopher Walken

As much as I love the process of cooking, the chopping, the basting or sautéing.  I love it when a simple meal comes together after a quick prep and utilizes only a few simple ingredients.

I stumbled across this video at work the other day.  I was testing out a new phone (my job is awesome) and noticed that the You Tube widget linked to this video:

This “recipe” seemed pretty simple.  4 ingredients. Chicken, pears, salt, pepper.  An easy and quick prep and an hour later you have food.

So tonight I tried it out.  The prep was simple. I was running late home from work after deciding that I should stop at Wal-Mart on the way home for just a few things. So I got started a little later than I would have liked to roast a chicken on a work night…but the prep was quick, less than 10 min and that included me rooting around for just the right pan.

Here it is before…

I followed it to the letter with one exception…I added a little olive oil.  I like the skin crispy.

And it was crispy.

And tasty.  I would make this again.

Which leaves one question, at the end of the video someone puts a cat down near the chicken.  Did Christopher Walken make the chicken and pears for the cat?

Gordon Ramsay, oh how I love you.

I wish I could put it into words, but there’s just something I love about Gordon.  I got one of his books for my birthday a while back and have pretty much cooked my way through it a few times.  It’s simple food with great touches that make everything seem a little more fancy than it is. You know how on Hell’s Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares he’s always going on about how good ingredients equal good food. He’s right.  A little bit of quality shows and the better the food the less you have to do with it.

Case in point, his Fish Cakes with Anchovy Dressing. One of my favorites, even though I always, always forget how long it takes to make this (there’s a “resting” step that helps make sure the cakes don’t fall apart when cooking). This time I thought ahead and made the potatoes much earlier today but still managed to take nearly 2 hours to cook it because it’s a little fussy. and as I said…resting/cooling.

I don’t want to bother with posting the recipe since it’s not mine, but it’s available in his book Healthy Appetite and I found a little video clip from the episode it’s featured in:

Gordon Cooks Fish Cakes on The F Word

Here’s my finished product…

I get pretty heavy handed with the dressing for this. In fact I tend to make double because I love it so.  Sadly it’s mostly anchovies and capers.  My ankles are already swelling up because of the salt but it’s so darn tasty!

One thing I did differently this time was make 8 small thin cakes instead of 4 big ones. I liked that they were easier to handle and crisper as there was more panko coating. I also took advantage of Christmas and used a piece of smoked fish (smoked whitefish, I’m sure I could get smoked haddock, but I bet it’s pricey) leftover from a party-we ended up not using it.  This was a great ending to a nice quiet, if not a little too lazy Saturday.

Mushroom Soup

Few things are more comforting that soup.  This one is one of my favorites as it pairs the richness of dried mushrooms with fresh mushrooms and soft rich polenta mixed with a generous amount of parmsean cheese and butter. It remains a favorite in my home as it comes together pretty quickly and can be made on a week night. It’s a bowl of warm, filling, rich tastiness that’s perfect on the cold and wet nights here in North Texas.

Mushroom Soup with Polenta.  Adapted from The New Soup Bible

Soup Ingredients:

1 cup dried mushrooms (any variety will do)

2 cups hot water

1/4 cup butter

1 large red onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, pressed

2 cups fresh mushrooms, sliced.  (I used shiitake because the chinese market by my house sells them cheap)

1 carton chicken stock (I think they are 32oz)

Water (if needed, sometimes-depending on mushroom variety it just needs more liquid)

1/2 cup red wine

2 tablespoon spicy brown mustard

1 pint cream or half and half

Salt & Pepper to taste

Chopped fresh parsely.

For the Polenta:

3 cups milk

1 cup instant polenta

1/2 cup butter

1 cup parmesan cheese.

In the warm water, soak the mushrooms as you chop the rest of the ingredients.  They should soak for at least 30 min, longer is better.  Once rehydrated drain, reserving the liquid squeezing out any excess moisture. Chop roughly.

In a large pot melt the butter and cook the onion and garlic until soft.  Add all of the mushrooms and cook until the mushrooms have reduced in size by about half and are slightly golden.

Pour in the wine to deglaze the pan and let simmer for a few minutes.  Then add in the stock and if needed the extra water.  Set to boil.  Continue cooking until the liquid has reduced by 1/3.

Remove from heat and scoop out about a third of the mushrooms, and with an immersion blender process the remaining soup until smooth.  Return the rest of the mushrooms to the pot and keep on low heat while you prepare the polenta.  The soup will be very thick so be sure to stir frequently.  Stir in the mustard and season with salt and pepper to taste.

In another pot, bring the milk to a boil. Slowly whisk in the polenta stirring quickly to ensure no lumps form.  Once the polenta comes together, and starts to pull away from the pot a bit stir in the butter and cheese.

Once the polenta is finished.  Add the cream to the soup and bring back to a boil quickly.  Remove from heat.  Ladle the soup over the polenta and garnish with the parsley.

Spoon polenta into a bowl, laddle soup over top and garnish with parsley.

Not the best picture, but it’s soup.  I typically end up with Soft Polenta with Mushroom Soup, instead of the other way around. I love polenta. I mean corn with butter and cheese-so what’s not to love!

Today’s goal

Drink more water.

I seem to go in phases where I drink tons of water and those where I don’t. So today I’m going to restart the drinking a ton phase and commit to drinking 8 big glasses at work.

I’m on number two now, but as the clock creeps towards noon I’m starting to feel some pressure. Wish me luck, I’m going to need it I fear.

Crock Pot Meal

Monday’s suck. So when it comes down to figuring out dinner I’ll take the easy road any day possible.  Enter the Crock Pot.

This week’s Monday dinner was a last minute addition because chuck roasts were on sale yesterday at the grocery store.  The price was actually pretty good so I picked one out trying to stay under $10 and make enough for dinner plus two lunches.  I knew that I had lots of fresh herbs to add at home as well as some mushrooms I’d be picking up for another meal and tomato paste. Grabbed a few veggies and I was all set!

This morning I tossed it all together as I realized I was actually running late for a Dr’s appointment.  See? Monday’s suck.

Here’s what I added to the roast:

1 yellow squash

1 zucchini

1 small onion

Handful of baby carrots, roughly chopped

4 shiitake mushrooms chopped roughly

3 new potatoes left whole if small enough

2 cloves garlic, peeled

3 or 4 sprigs of Thyme

4 Bay Leaves (I used fresh ones, if you see them at the store pick some up. They seem to store well in the fridge wrapped in a wet paper towel then put in a plastic bag and are a completely different flavor than dried)

1 good sized stalk of Rosemary

Sage leaves

Garlic Pepper

Kosher Salt

Black Pepper

2 tbsp tomato paste

1/4 cup red wine

4 tbsp flour

3/4 cup water

FIrst I upwrapped then rinsed off the roast.  Patted it dry and seasoned it generously with the kosher salt and garlic pepper on both sides.  Normally I’d sear it off a bit but I was running late so I tossed it in the pot.  I then threw the herbs and garlic around the roast, laying the sage  and bay leaves over the roast and stuffing the rest around it.  I then poured all the chopped veggies into the pot.  Measured out 4 cups of water and stirred the tomato paste in to dissolve it.  Poured that in and made sure that most of the veggies were covered.  I put the cover on the pot, set it for 10 hours (aka as long and low as my Crock Pot will allow) and ran out the door.

When I came home I took the meat out, which as you can guess wasn’t exactly easy. The roast rightly fell apart as I lifted it out, as it was intended to do. I put it on a plate, covered it and then placed it in the microwave to keep it from getting cool too fast.  As a side note I have very little counter space in my outdated kitchen so I often use my microwave as storage.  It seems to stop me from knocking the food off into the sink or onto the floor.  I’m not too proud to mention that it took a few tries to figure this out.

Anyways…

So take the meat out and cover it so it doesn’t get cold.  Now all those veggies that were probably perfectly cooked about 2 hours after I turned on the crock pot are a little too mushy for me to enjoy and have lost a great deal of all their goodness but are still tasty and help to pull all the flavors of the meal together.  Take a masher and mash up all that stuff in the crock pot. Then use a fine mesh strainer to remove the liquid into a saucepan.  Afterwards, smush all the veggies and herbs even more. Place the pot on high on the stove and bring to a rapid boil.

Pour in the red wine, and continue to boil rapidly in order to reduce a bit. If I had the paitience I’d reduce it by half. But often I don’t.  Maybe you do though. The more you reduce the stronger the flavors will be.  Good luck.  I use this time to wash the crock pot out and figure out side dishes.  Tonight though I sort of forgot side dishes.  So I decided to use up the Herbed French Bread I made yesterday. I sliced it thick and since it was day old I put it in the toaster on a lower cycle.

Around this time I decided I could wait no longer and set about to thicken the gravy.  In an small jar I mixed the flour with 3/4 cup of room temp water until it was mixed well.  Then I slowly stirred it into the still boiling gravy.  I let it boil for a few minutes to thicken as I stirred it, then tasted and adjusted the seasoning.

After it was done, I took two forks, broke up the roast a bit and placed it over the bread with the gravy. Easy, filling dinner on a cold winter night!

 

Perfect.

Oh…the bread was a recipe I found in the book that came with my bread machine.  To a regular French Bread recipe add some garlic, onion and parsley.  So it’s french bread with a little hint of something.  It was actually the perfect complement to this meal.

 

Macaroni & Cheese

There’s nothing like capping off the weekend with a great meal.  Growing up we always ate around the table with each other and on Sunday’s we usually had a “big” meal-usually chicken or pot roast.  So I try to make something big on Sunday evenings.

Since Vivien was born eating out in a restaurant where with silverware and wait staff is something that’s still a bit of a challenge so we’ve found ourselves cooking a little more gourmet than we did pre-baby. Thanks to careful shopping this dish isn’t too hard on the pocket book.

I adapted the recipe from one  saw with crab.  Crab is great, but I don’t have a source for good fresh cheap crab.  I try to shop for fresh seafood at an Asian supermarket.  Doesn’t seem to matter which one but most have similar pricing.  Especially on lobster.  For under $20 I got two good sized lobsters and I could have gotten them cheaper, they were just $7 a pound.  If you’re lucky enough to live near an Asian supermarket I urge you to stop in and see what they’ve got.  Now I will add that most Asian supermarkets also offer live crabs Blue (often $3-$4 a pound) crabs seem common. But I prefer lobster and frankly crabs are more of a pain than lobster to clean.

So here’s what I did with them when I got home.

First I used:

1 large shallot, chopped finely

2 large cloves of garlic

6 tbsp butter

1 pound macaroni or pasta.  I pick pasta by shape.  I used Trotolle which looks like this (I used single color pasta):

4 tbsp flour

1/2 tsp white pepper

Pinch Allspice

3 cups milk

16oz Brie (I got two wheels), cut a few small wedges to garnish but trim and chop the rest into chunks

2 small lobsters, about 1 pound each.  Cooked, shelled and chopped. I also reserved 2 claws to garnish mine and Ben’s plates.

4 tbsp Panko

2 tbsp Parsley finely chopped

Then I put them all together by doing the following:

Cook lobsters.  Shell.  This is the longest part of the process.  I’ll share a tip, I make good use of a tea towel and a meat tenderizer when not eating the lobster whole.  Wrap parts in the towel, bang with the meat tenderizer a few times and it’s pretty easy to shell quickly.

Cook pasta.  Drain.  Rinse if you like to rinse pasta.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a saucepan over medium heat melt half the butter then saute the shallot and garlic until the shallot is clear.  Slowly add the flour.  I measured 4 tbsp out but used about 3 1/2.  Keep stirring until you have a nice paste formed. Too much flour can make your mac & cheese seize up so I tend to eyeball it.  Once the flour cooks a bit ( you want to cook it to remove the “flour” taste) slowly whisk in the milk. Again I measured 3 cups, but didn’t use the whole amount.  I don’t like runny mac & cheese, but maybe you do.  I cook it, stir in a bit of milk cook, milk etc until I have it about as thick as gravy.  Coating a spoon but still very much a liquid.  Stir in pepper and allspice.  Stir in brie and keep stirring until melted.  Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.

Stir in lobster meat, then add pasta.

Pour into casserole dish.  Top with parsley, then add bread crumbs.  Melt the remaining butter and drizzle over.  Bake until crumbs are golden.

One of the things I like about this meal is that like any mac & cheese you can prep in stages. Cook the lobsters, let them sit and cool nicely.  Cook the pasta, set aside.  Etc.  If you’ve made mac & cheese from scratch you should have no problem with this at all!

Enjoy!