Thai Chicken with Young Corn

Okay, so maybe this seems a little funny right before Christmas--I mean, Thai food?  Where's the frosting?  Where's the cooked fruit?

Or maybe it's exactly what you need:  light, fast, a little sweet, a little tang on the tongue.  

It comes, unadulterated, from Thailand:  The Beautiful Cookbook.  It's a small-ish recipe, but doubles well. 

Thai Chicken with Young Corn

Enough cooked rice for your family (I usually do 2 cups for the five of us)

3 Tablespoons oil

1 lb. boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized slices

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 cup baby corn

1/2 cup sliced mushrooms (straw or otherwise)

2 Tablespoons oyster sauce

2 Tablespoons fish sauce

2 Tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground peppercorns

2 green onions, cut into 1-inch pieces (or smaller, if you have fussy buggers)

1. Cook rice according to instructions. 
2. Cut up your chicken and slice your mushrooms.
3. Rinse the baby corn.  This helps give it a fresher taste
4. In a small bowl, mix together oyster sauce, fish sauce, sugar, and peppercorns. 
5. Heat your wok or skillet to high heat.  Add oil. 
6. Stir-fry chicken and garlic for 2 minutes. 
7. Add everything else.  Stir-fry for two more minutes.  
8. Serve hot over rice.  

Family Ratings: 

Will, who really is starting to develop an appetite:  10

Lucy, who was fighting the flu:  7

Jamie, who is becoming a fussy butt:  8

Ellen, who's not crazy about mushrooms:  10

Paul, who still resents the fact that he wasn't able to go to Thailand because of the red-shirt revolution:  10

Baked Spaghetti That Doesn't Suck

I'm sorry, but when someone says "baked spaghetti," I think church luncheon and midwestern caterers.  I mean, if you're going to have spaghetti, why not do it right instead of dumping a jar of Chef Boyardee on overcooked noodles and cheddar cheese?

My sense that baked spaghetti was the realm of culinary hacks was confirmed when Lucy decided that that's what she wanted to make for dinner last week.  Because, I assumed, I didn't have a recipe on my shelf, I went straight to Epicurious.com.  Guess what?  No baked spaghetti!  Ha.  

So I went to allrecipes.com, which is another good site.  They have several versions of BS, all of which, at that crucial moment, explicitly said, "Now dump a jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce into the mix."  

A simple question:  if I wanted jarred spaghetti, why would I be on-line looking at recipes?  

Feeling smug, I hit my bookshelf--Bittman, Betty, even the NYT cookbook, which carries some pretty crazy stuff.  Nothing that looked good.  

At this point, I was pretty much ready to switch over to Chinese fried dumplings.  At the last second, though, I pulled down one of those old church cookbooks where all the women of the church--"Ladies," they used to be called--shared their favorite recipes in an attempt to raise money for a new organ or baptismal fount.  You know the kind of book I'm talking about, where the recipe for Chicken Dumpling Soup explains that if you want a really good stewing chicken "old hen is the best."  (I'm not making this up!)  This is the same book that contains Will's all-time favorite fajita recipe, and I figured if anyone would know how to make baked spaghetti that didn't suck, it would be some old Lutheran lady from western PA.  

Dang, was I right.  What follows goes waaaaaaay beyond "not sucking" into the realm of oh. my. god. It's just tasty.  The only change I made was to include some Italian sausage.  Otherwise, it's exactly as Dolores Kupsh created it all of those years to go.  

I love you Dolores.  Truly, I do.  

Baked Spaghetti That Doesn't Suck

1/2 lb ground beef

1 lb mild Italian sausage

1 cup chopped onion

1 clove garlic, minced

28 oz canned chopped tomatoes

4 oz. mushrooms, sliced

2 cups (8 oz.) shredded mozzarella (it's a pain, but I'd suggest grating this by hand, because the pre-grated is always dry)

1/3 cup grated Parmesan

15 oz. can tomato sauce

2 tsp. sugar

1.5 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. basil

8-12 oz. uncooked spaghetti

1. Cook spaghetti al dente (basically, cook it according to directions, only taking it out of the water 2 minutes earlier than the lowest time listed)
2. In a dutch over, brown the sausage, beef, onion, and garlic, until there's just a touch of pink left in the meat. 
3. Drain the grease.  
4. Stir in the tomatoes, tomato sauce, mushrooms, sugar, oregano, salt, and basil.  Bring to a boil and boil gently for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. 
5. Preheat oven to 375. 
6. Drain the spaghetti and stir it into the sauce. 
7. Place half of the sauce mixture in a 13x9 pan.  Sprinkle with half of the mozzarella.  Top with the rest of the sauce mixture, then top with the remaining mozzarella and the parmesan.  
8. Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes.  Serve with crusty bread and lime-jello salad with shredded carrots in it (just kidding!)

Family Ratings: 

Will, who would probably really like lime-jello salad:  10

Lucy, who loves sausage, and likes getting her way even more:  10

Jamie, who wants to show his enthusiasm, but isn't sure how:  42

Ellen, who's not all that crazy about ground meats:  8

Paul, who's going to track down Dolores and give her a big smooch:  10

Beef Scalliion Stir Fry

Even if your kids HATE onions, do not dismiss this recipe.  The green onions in it basically cook down to the nothing and your kids can easily pick them out.  Left behind in the beef, though, is the lovely buttery flavor of scallions--so not only will you get to eat something that tastes great, they'll also, slowly and without even knowing it, become acclimated to the taste of onions.  How wonderfully Machiavellian is that?

This should be served with rice, of course, so be sure to figure that into your cooking time.  If you hate cooking rice, and use this as an excuse to not make this dish, then perhaps it's time to suck it up and invest a whole $19.99 on a rice steamer.  They're so easy even a distracted monkey can do it.

This recipe comes from Helen Chen's Easy Chinese Stir Fries, an excellent book that lives up to its title.

Beef Scallion Stir Fry
1 lb. flank steak, trimmed
2 Tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 Tablespoon corn starch
1 Tablespoon Chinese rice wine or dry sherry (I use the sherry)
1 teaspoon sugar
3 Tablespoons canola oil
2 round slices of unpeeled fresh ginger
1 garlic clove, crushed and peeled
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 small can of slice bamboo shoots, drained
5 green onions
1 teaspoon sesame oil

1. Cook your rice, according to instructions.  
2. Slice the beef with the grain into 2-inch wide strips. 
3. Slice the beef against the grain into 1/8-inch wide pieces. 
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the hoisin sauce, the soy sauce, the cornstarch, the wine, and the sugar. 
5. Add the beef to the sauce and mix well.  Set aside.  
6. Slice the roots off the green onions.  Then cut the bulbs off and cut them in half, lengthwise.  
7. Cut the rest of the onions (the green stems) into 2-inch long segments. 
8. Heat your wok over high heat.  Once it's hot, add the oil and heat until it shimmers. 
9. Now add the ginger and garlic.  Cook for ten seconds.  Do not let them brown!
10. Add the beef mixture and stir-fry for 1 minute. 
11. Stir in the broth and the bamboo shoots, stirring constantly, for another minute. 
12. Add the green onions and cook, stirring, for 1-2 minutes until the scallions are wilted.  
13. Turn off heat.  Drizzle sesame oil and mix.  
14. Remove ginger slices and serve!

Family Ratings

Will, who never takes seconds but did for this dish:  10

Lucy, who's not crazy about bamboo shoots:  9

Jamie, who's still getting the hang of this numbering system:  88

Ellen, who's not a big red meat fan: 9

Paul who loooooooves onions:  10

Weekend Chicken Pot Pie

Okay, so:  A)  This dish takes a little too long to make on a weeknight; and B) It uses a pre-made crust, something that, snob that I am, I generally try to avoid.  But even so?  Dang, it's GOOD!

This comes to me from my friend Jane, who got it from a blog somewhere.  I've cut back on the boiling times, because Lucy doesn't like overdone veggies and I hate chicken that's been cooked so long it's stiff.  

Keep in mind, this dish will be great with your store bought chicken, but if you take the time to find a local meat cutter who carries local foods, you won't regret it!

Weekend Chicken Pot Pie

3 medium carrots, chopped

2 large stalks of celery, chopped

4 small red potatoes, peeled and chopped
1/2 head of cauliflower, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 quart chicken stock (I use store-bought broth; I'm just lazy that way)

6 T butter

1 yellow onion, diced

6 T flour

1.5 lbs chicken breasts

1/4 cup cream

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2 sheets frozen puff pastry (Pepperidge Farm is good)

1 egg, beaten

1. Take the puff pastries out of the freezer to thaw.
2. Peel and slice all of your veggies. 
3. In a large pot, bring the stock to a boil and add the carrots, celery, cauliflower and potatoes.  Simmer for nine minutes, or until just tender. 
4. Remove veggies with a slotted spoon.  Pour stock into a measuring cup for later use. 
5. Simultaneously (or afterwards, whichever) bring a pot of water to boil.  Add the chicken breasts and simmer for 10 minutes. 
6. Drain the chicken, allow it to cool, then cut it up into tiny bits.  
7. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
8. Melt the butter in a dutch oven.   Add onion and cook for five minutes, stirring occasionally. 
9. Add the flour and stir to make a roux.  Cook for another 3-5 minutes, until the roux starts to darken a bit and give off a toasty smell.  
10. Slowly stream in the reserved stock and stir constantly.  Don't panic if it starts to thicken.  Just keep adding the stock steadily.  
11. Cook for another three minutes, then turn off the heat and slowly add the cream. 
12. Add the veggies and chicken to the sauce, along with salt and pepper.  Mix well and pour into a 9 x 13 baking dish.  
13. Layer the puff pastry over the top of the pie.  Brush with egg for shine.
14. Cut small slices into the crust to allow steam to escape. 
15. Bake for 10 minutes. 
16. Cover with foil and bake for 25 more minutes.  

Family Ratings

Will, who's getting less fussy as he's becoming a teenager and starting to eat everything: 10
Jamie, who's getting more fussy as he figures out it's a way to draw attention away from his sister:  7
Lucy, who likes everything, particularly when she can help make it:  10
Ellen, who's pleased that there's no cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup in this:  10
Paul, who's been craving homemade pot pie for about a year now:  10

Friday Night Mac and Cheese

To understand this dish, it helps to know that I was stuck in Seattle during Hurricane Sandy.  While generally I like this city, I'd already been gone five days and I missed the kids and really wanted to get home.  When I finally got a plane back, it was diverted just as we flew into the Roanoke Valley due to wind sheer.  As a result, I finally pulled got home at 7 a.m., two-and-a-half days late, not having slept for 24 hours.

Fast forward to Friday.  I've worked all day and I have no idea what Ellen has in the house, food-wise. I'm too tired to run to the store, so I start digging through the fridge.  The results are as follow.  They may sound a little bizarre.  So be it.  You won't regret this dish.  

A note for the grown-ups in the family:  this dish pairs nicely with red wine, white wine, beer, or hard liquor.  

Friday Night Mac and Cheese

6 ounces grated Colby-Jack Cheese (grate it yourself; the pre-grated stuff lacks flavor)

2 ounces grated Gouda

1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan

12 ounces pasta of any kind (though I prefer penne)

1 small onion, minced beyond recognition

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 of 1 one-inch thick pepperoni stick, chopped into bite-sized pieces

2 Tablespoons corn starch

2.5 cups milk

2 Tablespoons butter

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Boil water for the pasta and heat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cook pasta until al dente
3. Meanwhile, melt the butter in the pan over medium heat
4. Add the onions, garlic, and chopped pepperoni.  Cook 4-5 minutes, until onions are just soft
5. Add the milk and the corn starch.  Stir well and bring to a boil. 
6. Add one cup of the cheese (Gouda and Colby-Jack only).  Stir until melted. 
7. Turn off the heat and remove the pan.  Pour the drained pasta into a 9x13 baking dish. 
8. Pour the melted cheese sauce on top of the pasta. 
9. Add the rest of the Colby-Jack and the Gouda, as well as the salt and pepper to the pan.  Mix well. 
10. Top with the grated parmesan.  
11. Place in the oven and bake, uncovered, for 25 minutes
12. Serve with baby carrot sticks and cherry tomatoes

Family Ratings

Will, who was done before I could even ask:  10

Lucy, who's idea it was to add the garlic:  10

Jamie, who's becoming increasingly fussy:  8

Ellen, who isn't one for American-style comfort food:  10

Paul, who felt rather clever (and still very sleepy):  10

Grilled Salmon with Thai Basil Sauce

This is one of my all-time favorite recipes.  I found it in Cooking Light way back in the nineties and the first time I cooked it for friends, it was s show stopper.  "This," my friend Greg said, pointing at it with his fork, "is really good."  I'm pretty sure it was the first time I realized that not only could I cook food that didn't suck, I could find recipes that: a) blew people away; and b) even I could make without overtaxing myself.  Seriously, this recipe can be made well ahead of time, it doesn't take very long, and I've never known it to fail.

One additional bonus is that since all of the spice is in the sauce, kids and adults can take it or leave it as fits their own personal tastes.

Grilled Salmon with Thai Basil Sauce

1 & 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves (divided)
1/2+ cup fresh mint leaves (not quite 3/4 of a cup)
1-2 Tablespoons minced, seeded jalapeno pepper
3 Tablespoons white wine vinegar
4 teaspoons minced, peeled ginger
1.5 teaspoons sugar
3 teaspoons fish sauce
3 garlic cloves, chopped

4-6 six-ounce salmon steaks, at least 1 inch thick

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

 4-6 lime wedges

1. Prepare the grill.
2. Set aside 1/2 cup basil and the limes for garnish.
3. Combine the rest of the basil and the next seven ingredients (through garlic) in a blender or small food processor.  Process until relatively smooth. Set aside. 
4. Sprinkle salmon steaks with salt and pepper. 
5. Coat a grill rack with cooking spray (I use a separate grilling basket), then grill the salmon, skin side down, for five minutes. 
6. Turn the salmon over and grill for five more minutes.  Should be flakey when tested with a fork.  
7. Serve salmon on individual plates, with sauce in a bowl.  Allow everyone to take as much sauce as he/she desires.  Or none at all.  

Family Ratings

Will, who likes fish but doesn't take much of the sauce:  8.5

Lucy, who swears she hates fish but really doesn't and who likes Thai food:  8 (but really probably 10)

Jamie, who can't understand why anyone would eat that green stuff:  7

Ellen:  "Are you kidding? 10!"

Paul who's essentially just a big show-off:  10

My Own Private Kitchen

A little piece I wrote for Roads and Kingdoms about the best private kitchen in Hong Kong.  Arguably the best meal I've ever had.  Feel free to read about it here.