Friday, July 3, 2015

Carrots are the Stars

I grew these carrots.  

I know, right?  


They are beautiful. They were so pretty I had a hard time deciding how to eat them.  Okay, I may have crunched on one while I thought about it, but anyway, after soliciting feedback on Facebook (thanks, friends), I went the simple route-pan sautéed with butter, ginger, and then sprinkled with parsley (also from my garden).  
I wanted the carrots to be the star of this plate, so I kept everything else simple-a panko crusted chicken breast cooked in a little olive oil on the griddle, and cooked some rice.  For the chicken, I just dredge in wheat flour, then in egg, and finally press it in panko seasoned with salt and pepper.  

My trick with rice is to use half chicken stock and half water for some added flavor.  Other than that, I just cook it according to the package directions.  I had a little extra parsley, so I stirred that into my rice as well.  

The last thing I did was make a little pan sauce.  Take the carrots out of the pan, toss them with some parsley, and add a good splash of chicken stock, the juice from half a lemon, and whisk it with the left over butter and ginger until it reduces by about half.  I then poured a little over the chicken and some more over the rice. 


                                   

This was one tasty, simple dish. There really aren't many things better than eating the things you grow yourself!

Sunday, June 7, 2015

noodle bowl

Hi world!  I know I've been absent for a long time, but that doesn't mean I've forgotten about the Hungry Monster.  

The other night I was chatting with a friend about things we have been cooking, and she told me she's been making "upgraded ramen" dishes a lot lately.  I had given pad thai the other day, but it was kind of a bust...  so today for lunch I thought I'd give the noodle bowl a whirl.  I just used what I had in the fridge- this was a spontaneous dish, not carefully planned out, so keep that in mind. You can use whatever you have around, too!

I used:

a serving of rice noodles
1 link of chorizo-sliced
1/3 of a bell pepper, sliced thin
a handful each of peas and snap peas(mine were fresh from my garden, but use what you have)
1 jalapeno diced
a handful of salted peanuts
chopped parsley and basil to taste
chicken broth- about a cup
a splash of fish sauce
a few dashes of soy sauce
sesame oil
salt and pepper

I had left over broth, veggies, and sausage, enough for lunch tomorrow, so if you doubled the noodles, this would be good for two!

Cook the rice noodles according to the package, scoop the noodles out and into the bowl when you finish. While they are cooking, saute the chorizo in a little sesame oil and heat up the broth with the fish sauce and soy sauce.  When the broth is heated through and simmering, pour some over your noodles and add as much meet and veggies as you would like.  

Enjoy!