Sunday, January 18, 2009

Shrimp Stew with Coconut Milk, Tomatoes & Cilantro

I might have mentioned before that I read food magazines obsessively, AND that I have some OCD tendencies. So it probably won't come as a surprise that I go through magazines and cut out recipes and then file them in a binder by type of cooking. They are even in little plastic sheet protectors. Anyway, it seems like a good idea, but in this digital age, I hardly ever refer back to the binder. Today was 'clean up day.' I didn't have a lot of time, so it wasn't a full clean up, but I went through and threw away a bunch that I have never made and probably never would and added some new ones from my latest months of magazines. The good news, was that I found a few recipes for this week that had been in my binder all along. Most I have made before, so it was fun to see them again. This time though, I made a few minor changes for the kiddies, so I will share the first one with you today. The shrimp stew was warming and therapeutic, especially because I was nursing a little hangover from too much wine last night. As usual, I didn't add the spiciness to the dish, but again added hot pepper sauce at the end just for Dan and I. The kids both really like shrimp because it's fun to eat while holding the tails. Also, most kids will love anything cooked in coconut milk, so they gobbled up the rice with the sauce poured over it. Just make sure to start your rice in advance because this is a quick recipe. I used brown, but you could use white too.

Shrimp Stew with Coconut Milk, Tomatoes & Cilantro (Adapted from Fine Cooking Magazine, February/March 2006)

Timing - 25 minutes (plus additional to cook the rice)
Ingredients
2 lbs shrimp, peeled and deveined
Kosher salt
2 T olive oil
1 large red bell pepper, sliced into very thin 1.5 inch-long strips
4 scallions, thinly sliced (white and green parts kept separate)
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
4 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 T curry powder
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
1 14 oz can coconut milk (light or regular)
1 lime, juiced

How to Make
In a large bowl, sprinkle the shrimp with 1 teaspoon of salt and set aside.

Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large dutch oven or other heavy pan with deep sides. Add the bell pepper and cook, stirring, until almost tender, about 4 minutes. Add the scallion whites, half of the cilantro, garlic and curry powder. Continue to cook until fragrant, about one minute.

Add the tomatoes and coconut mil and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to a medium simmer and cook for about 5 minutes to let the sauce come together and thicken a little.

Add the shrimp and continue to cook, partially covered, until the shrimp are just cooked through, about 5 minutes. Add the lime juice and season to taste with salt. Serve over rice sprinkled with scallion greens and cilantro. Serve hot chili sauce on the side if desired.

Serves 6

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Chicken Piccata

Chicken piccata is a very kid-friendly dish and there aren't a lot of 'out there' ingredients, so it's pretty easy to whip up any day. My kids call this lemony chicken nuggets, which is kind of what it is, in larger form. You can serve with some noodles or rice and a salad and you have a great meal. There are many versions which I have tried, some which are easier, but there is something about the triple-step breading that makes these kind of special.

Chicken Piccata

Timing - 30 minutes

Ingredients
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
flour
2 eggs
Italian seasoned bread crumbs
salt and pepper
olive oil for frying
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 lemons, juiced
2 T cold butter, cut into small pieces

How to Make
Preheat the your oven to 350 degrees and line a cookie sheet with foil.

Between two sheets of saran wrap, pound each chicken breast with a meat mallet until about 1/4 inch thick. Salt and pepper the chicken to taste.

Heat some oil in a large frying pan. It should be medium high heat so that when you cook the chicken, it gets golden brown.

Set out three flat bowls, one with some flour for dredging, one with the eggs, beaten, and one with the bread crumbs for breading. Dredge each chicken breast in the flour, then the egg and then the bread crumbs shaking off after each layer.

Cook the chicken breasts, in two batches, for about 2-3 minutes per side until they are golden brown. It's important to do them in batches so that you don't crowd the pan. Place the browned chicken on the baking sheet and finish the cooking in the oven while you make the sauce.

Wipe out any black pieces from the pan and then pour the wine in and cook about one minute so the alcohol evaporates out. Add the chicken stock and lemon juice and simmer on medium-low until the sauce starts to thicken (about 3 minutes). At the end, take the sauce off the heat and slowly stir in the butter pieces to make a rich sauce. Pour over the chicken and serve.

Serves 4

Chinese noodles with turkey and bok choy

This week, there was an article in The SF Chronicle about how versatile noodles are and how you can make so many inexpensive dishes with them. They had a few great looking recipes for stir fry, so I modified a little to make this recipe. The original recipe called for ground lamb, but I opted for all white meat turkey because it's January and I am still trying to be good this year;) I had never cooked with 'Mirin' before, but this Japanese rice wine turned out to be the key flavor in the dish. I also picked up baby bok choy at the farmer's market this week. I got a huge bunch for a dollar, so I think this whole meal was maybe ten bucks total. The kids loved the noodles and they also liked the ground turkey a lot. Jacob even went for the bok choy. Dan and I really like these kinds of dishes spicy, so I served ours with some hot chili sauce (like Sriracha-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sriracha) on the side.

Chinese noodles with turkey and bok choy

Timing - 25 minutes

Ingredients
2 T mirin
2 T soy sauce
1 T sesame oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1.5 lbs ground turkey
1.5 T corn starch
2 T ginger, grated or finely minced
1 large or 2 small leeks, white and light green only, chopped into half moons
4-5 heads baby bok choy (about 3 cups, chopped; for baby bok choy, you can use the stems and leaves)
1 lb Chinese rice noodles (wide or thin - you could also use vermicelli in a pinch)
Canola oil

How to Make
Boil the water for the pasta and cook according to package directions for al dente. Drain the noodles and set aside.

Combine the mirin, soy sauce, sesame oil and one of the minced cloves of garlic in a bowl. Pour half of this marinade over the turkey and let sit. Combine the corn starch with 1/4 cup COLD water and combine with the remaining marinade.

Heat a wok or large frying pan to medium-high heat and then add about 1.5 tablespoons of oil. When the oil is very hot, brown the turkey breaking up but leaving in fairly large pieces, until it is nicely browned and cooked through. Remove the turkey to a bowl.

Add another tablespoon of oil to the pan. Stir fry the remaining garlic, ginger and leeks for about a minute until they start to cook and then add the bok choy. Cook until the vegetables are just crisp tender. Remove the vegetables from the pan and add them to the turkey.

Add 1.5 final tablespoons of oil to the pan and then fry the noodles for about 45 seconds. Add the sauce and vegetables/turkey to the pan and cook a few minutes to incorporate and until the sauce thickens slightly. Serve with additional soy sauce and hot chili sauce.

Serves 6

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Sweet potato and sausage soup with kale and white beans

The last few weeks have been full of travel, restaurants and a sad break from home cooked food. I did cook on Friday night though, and I have a whole refrigerator full of food for this week! On Friday, there was a chill in the air, so I went for soup. I wanted to fill the bowls with tons of nutrition after way to much junk the last few weeks, so I came up with this 'kitchen sink' recipe that was a hit with everyone across the board. Of course the kids wouldn't try the kale because it was way too green for them, but they loved the beans and sausage and Lucas loved the sweet potatoes as always. I made a very large batch with this recipe so that we'd have enough for another meal. You could definitely cut it in half. The chicken apple sausage wasn't totally intended, but since that's what Dan picked up when he went to the store, I went for it. Actually, it paired really nicely with the sweet potatoes, and I added some hot chili sauce to the finished soup for the grown-ups which was a nice play on the sweet and spicy.

Sweet potato and sausage soup with kale and white beans

Timing - about 30 minutes

Ingredients
olive oil
1 package fully cooked chicken apple sausage (5 or 6), chopped into small rounds
3 small carrots, chopped
2 small ribs celery, chopped
1 large shallot, chopped
3 small sweet potatoes or yams, peeled and chopped into bite size pieces
4 sprigs thyme
1 T fennel seed
2 t cumin
8 cups chicken stock (2 boxes)
2 cans white beans (cannelini), drained
1 bunch kale, chopped

How to Make
Heat a large soup pot over medium high heat and add 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil. Saute the sausage until it is golden brown and then remove with a slotted spoon. Saute the carrots, celery shallots and sweet potatoes for about 2 minutes until they start to brown and then put a lid on the pan for another 3 minutes to soften the vegetables more. Add the cumin and fennel and the thyme sprigs and stir until fragrant. Slowly add the chicken stock, scraping the bits from the bottom of the pan.

Bring the broth to a slow boil and then add the kale and put a lid on the soup for 10 minutes. Finally, add the beans and return the sausage to the pot and warm through for about 3 minutes. Serve with crusty bread for dipping.

Serves 8