Category Archives: ASIAN INSPIRED DISHES

EGG DROP SOUP

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Yesterday I was in the mood for soup. I know, what’s so amazing about that? But for those of you who are new to this site, I should bring you up to speed. I am an inveterate fan of homemade soup and am not in the least bit ashamed to admit to this predilection. In fact, I’m quite proud of the fact if truth be known. And I know, it’s much more romantic and sophisticated to claim a love for caviar or champagne or Italian truffles shaved over freshly made pasta. But I’m neither ridiculously romantic or trendy cool, so my love of homemade soup is much more revealing of who and what I represent. But, when it comes to soup, I do draw a very firm line. For me, the soup in front of me must be absolutely delicious. Regardless of how much time and effort went into the process. In fact, I’ve found that a truly great soup doesn’t always require a complex combination of ingredients. And this simple recipe for egg drop soup is proof of that statement. (So is Avgolemono, if you need another example of a delicious soup that’s exceedingly easy to prepare.)

I found this recipe on the omnivorescookbook.com site. I had decided to look for an egg drop soup recipe because I didn’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen last evening and the soup was going to be only part of our evening meal. (I had made pizza the night before, and the leftover pizza was going to make up the main portion of our dinner.) And I know, pizza and egg drop soup aren’t known to be a standard pairing. To that I say, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!

And I must say, this was such an easy soup to prepare. And spot on for flavor. And just exactly what I needed. And it contained green onions. Allow me to explain.

My mother used to tell me that as a toddler, if given a choice of a green onion or a bowl of ice cream, I would invariably choose the green onion. And I have no doubt about the honesty of that statement. Because I still love green onions and use them all the time in my cooking. In fact, I get kind of anxious if there isn’t at least one bunch of green onions in the veggie crisper portion of my refrigerator. So, a soup where green onion plays a starring role is perfect for me. And please know, this recipe produces a better egg drop soup than you will most likely ever find in a restaurant. It is absolutely stinkin’ delicious. Plus, because it is homemade, the cook has control over the quality of the ingredients. Which is always a plus in making dishes from scratch. (No hidden MSG, for example.)  

So, as always, think fresh, think delicious, and in some cases, think quick and easy. We all have those days when even contemplating an exhausting effort in the kitchen is more than we can handle. That is just fine. We aren’t machines after all. But some of us, myself included, can find ourselves feeling guilty if we don’t perform to our own self-imposed culinary standards. Cut that out! And cut yourself some slack. Repeat after me – “I am not a robot. I get tired like everyone else. And some days I just don’t feel like cooking!” And because we are human, those are the days when preparing a very simple meal is the best we can do for our self and our family. (Makes us less grumpy and less likely to feel picked upon. I speak from experience here!) Or better yet, if you are able, order a take-out meal. My dear husband knows me very well after all these years. And when I mention take-out, he doesn’t bat an eye. He knows, for what ever reason, I need a break. He also knows that by tomorrow, I will most likely be back in the kitchen happy as a clam. With no feelings of guilt for taking a break. So, in this one case, do as I say, and do as I do. Oh, and if you have the strength – make this soup.

Peace and love to all.    

4 c. chicken broth

3 fat or 4-5 skinny green onions, chopped (white and dark green parts separated)

1 slice fresh ginger

4 tsp. cornstarch

¼ tsp. white pepper

¼ tsp. fine sea salt (or more to taste)

1/8 tsp. turmeric, for the yellow color, opt.

2 T. water

4 lg. eggs   

2 tsp. toasted sesame oil 

Combine the chicken broth, the white part of the green onions, and the slice of ginger in a soup pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Bring broth to a low simmer and let burble for a good 10 minutes.  

Whisk the cornstarch, white pepper, sea salt, turmeric, and water together in a small bowl. Make sure the cornstarch is completely dissolved. Swirl into the soup and mix well with a spatula. Keep the soup at a low simmer while you get ready for the next step.

Beat the eggs in a small bowl. To add eggs, hold a fork vertically across the rim of the bowl. Then slowly drizzle the beaten eggs through the tines of the fork into the soup. Move the bowl around as you pour the eggs, so that all the egg doesn’t land in one spot. Let the egg set for a few seconds, then stir gently to break up the egg into desired sized pieces.

Just before serving, drizzle the sesame oil into the soup. Then sprinkle with the remaining green onion. Stir, taste and adjust seasoning, discard the slice of ginger, and serve immediately.

Dreary day here on Camano Island. Can barely see the water and mountains – what mountains? But my furry buddies Miles on the left and Max just next to my computer, are helping me write todays post. Helping me in the only way they can. By not trying to walk on my computer, grab at my leg from the floor (demanding that it is treat time), or jumping on the back of my chair. For this I am grateful. Plus, they are so darn cute when they’re asleep. I so love kitties. Can you tell?

HONEY SOY SAUCE GLAZED CHICKEN THIGHS

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I am forever looking for ways to serve chicken. And of course, of utmost importance, the chicken must taste good. Duh! And more often than not, I want recipes that take only a short time to prepare. Add to this wish list, accompanying dishes that are also easy to fling together. I know, every tired cooks dream meal.

Well, the other evening I took a recipe I found on the cafedelites.com site (great site BTW) and adapted it to fit my needs. And I’m here to tell you, the chicken was a winner. And it had been a dream to prepare.

First of all, you get to do the prep work way before it’s actually time to do any real cooking. I like that. You now have time to take off your apron*, and maybe sit down and read or get some other household chore accomplished. And then when it’s actually time to cook, by first donning your apron* of course, it’s only a few minutes before the whole meal is on the table. (There’s an asterisk by the word apron for a reason. You can go to the bottom of this post to read all about it.)

So the other evening by preparing this dish, throwing some rice in my rice cooker, and steaming some fresh broccoli, a really tasty dinner was on the table in no time flat.

Now I know what you’re thinking. And yes I have been talking a lot lately about simple recipes. It’s because not only am I getting older and standing up for long hours in the kitchen is becoming harder and harder, it’s because for some of you, your lives have become busier because of the coronavirus pandemic. Where before you got your kids off to school and you found your home looking exactly as it did when all of you got home that evening, now it’s probably twice as difficult to keep it tidy, much less clean. Children are not tidy by nature. They are messy little creatures with no compunction not to leave a trail wherever they go. So my hat is off to all of you for whom your whole carefully choreographed life has been turned upside down. The only thing I can do to help, is provide you with easy recipes that I am sure your family will enjoy. (Sounds terribly altruistic, but in helping you I am definitely helping myself even more. So no loud applause please!)

As always, be safe, be sensitive to the needs of your family, and give yourself a well-deserved pat on the back. As cooks, we are very important to keeping our families healthy and comforted. Good, home cooked food is a blessing each of us can give to our family members. Peace and love to all.

3 T. honey

3 T. low sodium Tamari or soy sauce

2 finely chopped green onions

1 tsp. toasted sesame oil

1 tsp. white vinegar

2 garlic cloves, finely minced

2 tsp. freshly minced ginger

pinch kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

2 T. vegetable oil

2-4 boneless skinless chicken thighs, as much fat removed as possible

sesame seeds

Whisk the honey, soy sauce, green onion, sesame oil, white vinegar, garlic, ginger, salt, and pepper together in a shallow glass container. (I use a glass bread loaf pan.)

Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and add to the container with the marinade. Toss the chicken in the marinade until all of the meat has been introduced to the marinade. Cover the container and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to several hours. (I marinate mine for about 3 hours.) Remove from refrigerator about 30 minutes before you plan to cook the chicken.

Heat the vegetable oil in a large enough frying pan to fit all of the chicken in a single layer. Remove the chicken from the marinade, reserving as much of the marinade as possible, and fry the first side until it’s a lovely dark brown. Turn the chicken and continue cooking until it’s done. Chicken should reach an internal temp of at least 165 degrees to be considered “done”.

Pour the reserved marinade over the chicken and cook it until it boils. As it boils it will thicken considerably. It can also burn because of the honey. So watch it carefully. To make sure the marinade, now a glaze, is safe to eat, take its temperature. Foodborne bacteria die at 165 degrees F, so this is your target temperature. When the chicken is done and the glaze (formerly the marinade) has reached at least 165 degree, take it off the heat, garnish it with sesame seeds, and serve immediately. Serve with steamed rice and a simple green veggie or salad, and dinners ready.

*For anyone who knows me personally and has been to our home for a meal, you have undoubtedly seen me wear an apron while I am cooking. Or even after the food is cooked and I am serving the food, or even when I am eating the food. This is not a once in a while thing. My wearing an apron is a habit I formed decades ago. And at the time, it wasn’t for health reasons. It was simply because I wanted to keep my clothes from getting stained. That is still a valid reason for wearing an apron, but there is more to it than soiled clothing. There are the health benefits for not only myself, but for the person or persons for whom I am preparing the food.

When we enjoy food prepared outside the home, there is always a risk of getting infected and suffering from serious illnesses. That risk is not confined to eating restaurant food however. It is equally applicable to home cooked food as well. (Maybe even more so because home kitchens are not subject to safety and health inspections the way restaurant kitchen are.) As home cooks, our clothes that we have been wearing throughout the day have lots of germs on them. And these germs can easily be transferred to the food we prepare. A simple step like wearing an apron can go a long way in reducing this risk. 

Wearing an apron prevents our clothes from coming in contact with the food, hence any germs, dust, cat hair, cleaning products etc., stay within the apron and off whatever food we are handling. Wearing an apron also keeps any loose clothing firmly secured to our bodies and therefore away from open flames, etc. From a practical standpoint, an apron (or 15 like I have) is one more way to stop the spread of disease. And of course, sloppy people like me from walking around in stained clothing.

 

BROCCOLI CHICKEN WITH GREEN ONIONS AND CASHEW NUTS

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I like life to be easy, because I’m basically a simple person at heart. I don’t like conflict, I don’t like snarky people, and some days I don’t like spending hours in my kitchen. And yesterday was one of those days when I was not in the mood to spend hours preparing our evening repast. Plus Mr. C. had a 6:00 pm zoom meeting with the rest of the board members of our HOA (Home Owners Association). Never fun to begin with, but with Covid-19 to consider, and the annual meeting less than 2 months away, there was a long agenda with many important decisions to be made by these valiant members of our community. And since we enjoy a late and leisurely dinner, we decided to postpone dining until after the meeting. So I knew that whatever I was going to serve had to be prepped ahead of time so that it could be cooked and served right after the meeting was over. So what to fix?

First of all I knew that my rice cooker, with its helpful warming function, would keep perfectly cooked rice warm until we were ready to eat. So then, what to go with brown rice?

Since there is rarely a time when I‘m not in the mood for Chinese American food, I decided to fix a chicken and broccoli dish. I desperately needed to use the head of broccoli that had been in our last farm box. Plus I wanted to use some of the chicken thighs that are currently residing in our slowly dying freezer, the demise of which is imminent! So I went online and found the bones of this recipe on the errenskitchen.com site. We enjoyed this dish very much. And it was perfect for this occasion. I had been able to prep everything ahead of time, so that when Mr. C. opened the pocket doors to our den, announcing that the zoom meeting had been adjourned, dinner was on the table within about 10 minutes.

So if you too would benefit from having a recipe for a delightful and easy to prepare chicken and broccoli dish that can be prepped well in advance, you now have a way to make that happen. (The means are up to you.)  

As always, keep smiling, stay positive, and keep cooking delicious and healthy food for yourself and your family. Peace and love to all.

1 lg. head of broccoli, peeled stems and florets cut into bite sized pieces

2 T. vegetable oil, or more if required

4 boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite sized pieces

2 tsp. toasted sesame oil

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

4 green onions, sliced  

1-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped

pinch crushed red pepper flakes

3 T. Tamari or soy sauce, or more to taste  

2 T. hoisin sauce

6 T. chicken stock

2 T. honey, or more to taste

1 T. water

1 T. cornstarch

⅓ c. roughly chopped cashews

sesame seeds, opt. 

Steam the broccoli until crisp tender. Set aside.

Heat a heavy frying pan over medium heat. Add the vegetable oil. When the oil is hot, add the chicken and cook lightly on all sides. (The chicken doesn’t need to be totally cooked at this point.) Remove chicken to a container and set aside. 

Add the sesame oil and additional vegetable oil if necessary to sauté the garlic, green onions, and ginger for 30 seconds.

Add the crushed red pepper flakes, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, chicken stock, and honey; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and add the partially cooked chicken and simmer until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce is reduced by about half.

Whisk the cornstarch and water together and add to the sauce. Add the broccoli and simmer until the broccoli is heated through and the cornstarch has thickened the sauce.  

Stir in the cashews, remove from heat, and lightly sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve immediately. Perfect with steamed brown rice.

    

MARINATED GRILLED FLANK STEAK

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OK, sometimes I don’t even have the strength to mess with someone else’s recipe. And you know what, in this case it was absolutely the right thing to do. OK, I did halve the marinade ingredients, because I often find that some cooks are much more liberal with ingredients than I am. And it makes me feel that I am being wasteful if I use more of an ingredient than I think is necessary. Even though the cost might not be that great, I just can’t make myself do it. (And yes, I am over 70!) Some might even go so far as to call me stubborn, but pig headed works just as well. Anyway, I made this recipe a couple of days ago, marinated the meat for about 7 hours, and Mr. C. grilled it to perfection that evening. Absolutely delicious, tender, and just right served with oven roasted new potatoes and steamed fresh green beans.

So I actually don’t have much more to say today. I’m feeling terribly lazy, and with temperatures in the 80s, I’m being drawn outside. The Cascade Mountains including Mt. Baker are out in all their glory, the birds are having a raucous time flitting from tree to bush to fountain. And the water (Port Susan Bay) is calm and absolutely replete with boaters. (Two boats – that’s a lot for Port Susan Bay.) Plus the protagonist in the book I’m reading is in desperate trouble. I feel it only right to get back to him and offer any help this benign observer can offer. (Like I can change the plot line and help him defeat the bad guy! But I’m there beside him none-the-less!) So, I’m going to keep this post short and sweet. (Well as sweet as it’s possible for me to be!)

BTW- this recipe is courtesy of Sara at dinneratthezoo.com. (Visit her site. She cooks good stuff.)

As always, from our sunny home to yours – peace and love to all.

6 T. low sodium soy sauce

2 T. extra virgin olive oil

2 T. brown sugar, packed

1½ tsp. apple cider vinegar

1½ tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

freshly ground black pepper

2 lg. garlic cloves, finely minced

1½-2 lb. flank steak, trimmed of silver skin and as much fat as possible

Combine the soy sauce, olive oil, brown sugar, cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and pepper in a re-sealable bag; seal and shake to combine. If you prefer, marinate the steak in a shallow pan. Works either way.

Reserve 2 tablespoons of the marinade for later use. Stir the garlic into the marinade. Add the steak and marinate for several hours.

Heat an outdoor grill to medium-high. Place the steak on the grill and cook for 3-6 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of your meat and your desired level of doneness. For medium rare, the internal temperature should read about 130-135 degrees.

Remove the meat from grill and tent with foil. Let stand for 5-10 minutes and then slice diagonally against the grain into thin pieces with a very sharp knife. Drizzle with reserved marinade, then serve.

OVEN BRAISED KOREAN BEEF

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In the past, Mr. C. and I have gone together with his sister Katie and her husband Rick to share a half beef. And I have absolutely no trouble using up the ground beef, tender steaks, or various other choice bits. But then I am left with chuck steak, rump roasts, arm roasts, chuck roasts, and heel of round. Some of which I have no idea how they should be prepared. Except for one thing that each of these cuts have in common. They are not tender cuts of beef. They are going to need special attention and fussing over to help them achieve greatness. So that equates to a whole lot of braising action that’s going to have to happen at Chez Carr within the next few months. So standby for more recipes of this ilk to come your way.

So armed with the knowledge that I would need to do something noteworthy to the meat to make it palatable, I asked Mr. C. to pull a couple of packages of chuck steak from the freezer, while I went on line to research recipes.

Now I’m a sucker for anything with soy sauce as an ingredient. So I searched under beef and soy sauce and found this recipe on the damndelicious.net site. I messed a bit with Chungahs recipe, mainly because her recipe was designed to be cooked in an Instant Pot. I prefer the more intense flavored braise that happens when meats are left to their own devices in a Dutch oven. So I adapted the recipe to my own personal preferences. Plus I really appreciate the way braising meat flavors the air in my kitchen while it’s bubbling and tenderizing away in the oven. (As with soy sauce, I’m also a sucker for good cooking smells wafting through the house.) 

Anyway, I made this recipe and we both enjoyed it very much. And aside from browning the meat, this was a quick and easy main dish to put together. Then serving it with steamed brown rice and Sunomono, well there was very little prep time involved for this dinner. And sometimes I really appreciate the less time the better in my kitchen. I think getting older is having that effect on me. Although there are still days when all I really want to do is play in the kitchen. Perhaps it’s just that some days preparing food seems more like work; other days it seems a lot like play. I think that happens to most of us who spend any time in our kitchen. At least most of the time cooking still feels more like play than work. So I guess for now at least, you can count on new recipes coming your way via my kitchen.

As always, stay safe, and please respect yourself and those around you by wearing a mask when in public. Also, remember to cut people some slack during this rough time. You haven’t walked in anyone else’s shoes, and many people are wearing multiple pairs of shoes right now. As parent, teacher, spouse, cook, wage earner, shopper, gardener, etc. etc.

So please remain stalwart in all your dealings with others. Compassion, understanding, and empathy never go out of style. Neither does good food. So get cooking. If nothing else it will keep you busy. And busy hands are happy hands. Or so the old adage goes. Peace and love to all.

1 c. beef broth

1 c. water

½ c. reduced sodium soy sauce

1/3 c. brown sugar, packed

1 T. sesame oil

1 T. rice vinegar

1 tsp. Sriracha, or more to taste

1 tsp. granulated onion  

1/8 tsp. white pepper or freshly ground black pepper

2 tsp. vegetable oil

2 lb. beef chuck roast or other tough cut of meat (bones, fat, and grizzle removed as much as possible), cut into 1-inch cubes

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 T. freshly grated ginger

2 tsp. corn starch

sesame seeds

2-3 green onions, thinly sliced

In a large bowl, whisk the beef broth, water, soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, rice vinegar, Sriracha, granulated onion, and white pepper together.

Heat oil in a covered Dutch oven. Add the meat cubes and fry until brown. Add the garlic and ginger; cook for one minute.

Pour the sauce over the meat, cover, and place in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 1½-2 hours, or until the meat is very tender. (Check after an hour to make sure there is enough liquid. If not, add a bit more water or beef broth.) Meanwhile mix the cornstarch with ¼ cup water. Set aside.

When the meat is tender, remove from oven and stir in the cornstarch slurry. Cook over medium heat on your cooktop until the sauce thickens. Adjust seasoning. 

Serve garnished with green onions and sesame seeds. Great with steamed brown rice and Sunomono (Japanese cucumber salad) or a lovely roasted veggie. 

SHRIMP FRIED RICE

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I always exceed when I make rice. In others words, I always make too much. For me it’s kind of like turkey dressing. If a little bit is good, a whole lot is better. So as with dressing, I always have leftover rice. You’d think after all these years I would have learned the meaning of restraint. But when it comes time to fill my rice cooker with raw rice and water, that’s just what I do. I start with the best of intentions, a small amount of rice and the appropriate amount of water. But it never looks like enough, so I add more rice and more water. Every single time! I’m not proud of this culinary quirk, but never-the-less, it is a fact of life. And earlier this week, I really went crazy and fixed way, way too much rice. Anyway, the upshot is that I had lots of left over rice smirking at me every time I opened the fridge door. So what to do, what to do?

And I knew I couldn’t just throw the rice away. (Tempting, but I just couldn’t do it.) So OK, I could have frozen it. But that means packaging it up and taking it downstairs to our freezer. But as is often the case, I’d probably just end up throwing it away anyway next time I cleaned the freezer! (I am nothing if not predictable.)

So, instead I decided to make fried rice. And what a yummy dish this turned out to be. Full of veggies, tender shrimp, and beautifully flavored rice. And it was a one dish meal. And believe me, I am just fine with one dish meals, thank you very much!

Now I could have used all kinds of different veggies in this dish. But I just used what I happened to have on hand. But by all means, let your inner vegetable lover go wild. The secret is in the sauce anyway, regardless of what other ingredients you choose to incorporate. And should you prefer to use chicken, pork, or beef instead of shrimp, knock yourself out. Just don’t overcook the meat. With chicken just cook it until it’s done, then immediately take it out of the pan. With pork and beef, cook until a bit of pink is still showing, then remove from pan. If you have leftover cooked meat, add it at the very end as you would the cooked shrimp in this recipe.

So next time you have leftover rice, or plan ahead to have cooked rice on hand for fried rice, give this recipe a try. It truly is yummy. And very easy to prepare.

And as a side note, I do plan to get better at fixing the right amount of rice for the meal I have planned. But until I get it right, you will likely find another recipe or two that uses cooked rice sometime in the future. I may have a few redeeming qualities, but moderation in all things is not one of them.

As always, virtual hugs from Chez Carr. And peace and love to all.

4 T. Tamari or soy sauce

2 tsp. fish sauce

2 tsp. mirin (can use sherry or Shaoxing)

1 tsp. granulated sugar

1 tsp. oyster sauce

1 tsp. + 2 T. vegetable oil, divided

1 can water chestnuts, cut into small pieces

1 T. sesame oil

1 lb. lg. raw shrimp, peeled and cut in half

kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

1 carrot, grated

½ c. chopped onion

1 stalk celery, thinly sliced

¾ c. very thinly sliced green cabbage   

6-8 button or cremini mushrooms, sliced

2 garlic cloves, finely minced

2 tsp. finely minced fresh ginger

3 eggs

3-4 c. cooked white or brown rice 

4-5 green onions, sliced into thin diagonals

½ c. frozen petite peas

½ c. sliced pea pods or pea shoots

1/3 c. slivered almonds

Combine the Tamari, fish sauce, mirin, sugar, oyster sauce, and 1 teaspoon of the vegetable oil in a small saucepan. Heat to boiling. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Remove from heat and add the cut up water chestnuts. Then set aside.  

Heat 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil in a large non-stick skillet or wok. Add the shrimp. Lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sauté the shrimp only until they’re done. (Shrimp are perfectly cooked when the exterior is pink and the flesh is slightly opaque and a little “white” in color.) Avoid overcooking. With a slotted spoon, remove shrimp to a small container. Set aside.

Add the remaining 1 tablespoon veggie oil and the sesame oil to the pan. When the oil is hot, add the carrot, onion, celery, cabbage, and mushrooms. Cook until vegetables begin to soften and start to brown, stirring often. Add the garlic and ginger; cook for 1 minute.

Push the vegetables to one side of the skillet. Add the eggs to the other side, and scramble while they cook. When set, remove the eggs to the same container with the shrimp.

Add the rice, breaking it up as it heats. Then stir in the green onions, frozen peas, and pea pods. Drizzle on the soy sauce mixture (complete with water chestnut pieces); stir well to coat the rice. Cook for about 2 minutes. Add the shrimp and the scrambled eggs. Cook just until the shrimp is heated through. Stir in the slivered almonds and serve immediately.

   

SHRIMP, GREEN BEAN, AND MUSHROOM STIR FRY

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While I was face timing with daughter Paula the other night (I think “face timing” is the right term for her being able to see every wrinkle on my face and me being able to see how beautiful she is), she told me about a great shrimp and green bean dish she had prepared for dinner that evening. It sounded just like the kind of dish that Mr. C. and I would also enjoy. Easy to prepare, containing ingredients I almost always have on hand, and easy to prepare. (Oh wait, I already said that, but it bears repeating.) So of course I asked for the recipe. Being a good, dutiful daughter, she gladly acquiesced. So I served this dish last evening with steamed rice. And there was much rejoicing at the Carr dinner table over my decision to give this delightful dish a try.

Now to tell you the truth, I had been a bit concerned about the combination of green beans and shrimp in a dish. Green beans and mushrooms, no problem. But shrimp and green beans together? Can’t say I’d ever tasted these two lovely ingredients sharing equal prominence in the same dish before. Then I went on line. There are an abundance of fantastic recipes for shrimp and green bean dishes out there. Which rock had I been hiding under all these years? Because after preparing this recipe, I tasted for myself that shrimp and green beans are indeed a great combination! And what better way to use these two fabulous ingredients than in a delicious and easy to prepare stir fry! (There’s that “easy to prepare” statement again. Must be true if I’ve bothered to mention it THREE TIMES in this post!) Anyway…………

Now you too have a great new dish with which to dazzle and delight your family. And don’t we all need a little “dazzle and delight” right now. I don’t know what it’s doing outside where you live, but here on Camano Island it’s Juneuary in full bloom. Foggy (I can’t even see the water, much less the mountains), rainy (actually pouring would be a better descriptor), and chilly. And yes I have lived in Western Washington long enough to know that June is often rainy (and cold). But that still doesn’t make it OK in my book. Bring on the summer sunshine and warmth of August darn it!

But aside from the weather, the inhabitants of Chez Carr are still doing well in spite of the extraordinary circumstances which we are currently experiencing. (The Coronavirus threat still alive and well, hostile reactions to peaceful protests, fake news, and political leaders for whom the words compassion and humanity appear to be totally foreign concepts.) But through all of this we have steadfastly remained sane (not easy in today’s world) and committed to each other and to the well-being of those around us.

So as always – please think love rather than hate, display strength rather than weakness, and please, please reflect empathy rather than condemnation. Love and peace to all.

water

1½ tsp. granulated sugar, divided

2 T. vegetable oil, divided

1 lb. fresh green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces

¼ tsp. kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

1 lb. large raw shrimp

5 tsp. sesame oil, divided

½ med. onion, chopped

8-10 mushrooms, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

2 T. minced fresh ginger

1 T. oyster sauce

1 T. soy sauce

2 T. mirin (can sub dry sherry or sweet Marsala wine in a pinch)

2 tsp. corn starch

Bring a pan of water to a boil. (Just enough water to cover the beans.) Add 1 teaspoon of the sugar, 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil, and the green beans to the boiling water. Cook the beans for 4 minutes, remove from heat, then pour into a colander. Rinse with cold water (to stop the cooking process) and set aside.

Whisk the salt, pepper, and 1 teaspoon of the sesame oil together in a medium sized bowl. Add the shrimp and stir to make sure every bit of each shrimp is coated with the mixture.

In a large fry pan or wok, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Add the shrimp and cook just until done. Do not overcook. Using a slotted utensil, remove the cooked shrimp to a small container and set aside. Add another 2 teaspoons of the sesame oil to the pan, along with the onion and mushrooms. Cook until the onions are softened and the mushrooms start to brown. Add the garlic and ginger; cook for one minute.

While the onion and mushrooms are cooking, whisk the remaining ½ teaspoon sugar, oyster sauce, soy sauce, mirin, 2 remaining teaspoons of sesame oil, and corn starch together.

After the garlic and ginger have cooked for one minute, add the cooked green beans and the cooked shrimp. Stir in the soy sauce mixture and stir until all of the veggies and shrimp are covered with the sauce and the sauce is slightly thickened. Serve immediately. Great with steamed rice on the side.

        

BAKED TERIYAKI PORK TENDERLOIN

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And yes, I forgot to garnish the meat with sliced green onions before I took this picture. But I was hungry, and in a hurry to get dinner on the table. But the green onions were great in our scramble this morning. Sometimes the old lemons/lemonade thing is just what is needed.

I love teriyaki. I love chicken teriyaki, beef teriyaki, shrimp teriyaki, halibut teriyaki, the list goes on and on. But, and this is a big but, to make a great teriyaki dish, you have to start with a really, really good teriyaki sauce. And this my friends, is the best teriyaki sauce I have ever made. Or eaten for that matter!

I found this teriyaki sauce recipe (actually classified as a glaze) by Emeril Lagasse when I was looking for a new recipe for halibut. After making and posting Emeril’s fabulous halibut recipe (Baked Teriyaki Halibut), I thought at the time that the sauce would also work beautifully for other meat or seafood dishes. I hate to brag, but I was spot on in my thinking.

So yesterday I got a hankering for a teriyaki dish. I decided to use the lone pork tenderloin I had been eying every time I opened my freezer door. We love pork tenderloin BTW. So it sounded really yummy to combine the same teriyaki sauce recipe I prepared for the halibut dish, with this lean, mouth-watering hunk of succulent pork.  

So that’s just what I did. And I am so glad I prepared this last evening. It was an easy dish to throw together. And the flavor was beyond excellent. The pork was tender because I only baked it to 145 degrees. (Any longer in the oven and it would have tasted like teriyaki jerky. Which in and of itself is lovely, but not what I was going for last evening.) So be careful not to ever overbake a pork tenderloin.

Anyway, the flavor of the marinated pork was marvelous, the texture perfect, and the sauce lightly dolloped on plain steamed rice was like a gift from the teriyaki Gods. Served with Sunomono (Japanese Cucumber Salad), our evening meal was a pleasure. (See recipe below.)

So to all of you cooks out there who are valiantly trying to keep your family well fed through this most difficult time, I salute you. This coronavirus pandemic is crazy difficult. But don’t hesitate to prepare this recipe, although it’s crazy too. But in the case of this pork tenderloin dish, it’s crazy good!

As always – peace and love to all.   

1/3 c. mirin or rice wine

½ c. low sodium Tamari or soy sauce

1 T. sugar

2 tsp. minced fresh gingerroot

1 garlic clove, finely minced

pinch cayenne

1 pork tenderloin, silver skin* and extra fat removed, then cut in half lengthwise

sliced green onions, garnish

Combine the mirin, soy sauce, sugar, ginger, garlic, and cayenne in a small saucepan. Pour about a third of the mixture into the bottom of a baking pan. (I use a 9×9-inch Pyrex dish.) Place the tenderloin halves on the sauce and turn to coat. (If need be, cut the tenderloin halves to fit into the pan in a single layer.) Marinate for 1 hour on the first side. Flip the meat and marinate for another hour or 2, or until you are ready to place in the oven.

Meanwhile, bring the rest of the teriyaki sauce to a boil. Lower heat and simmer until reduced a bit. Remove from heat and set aside.  

Bake the tenderloin in a pre-heated 400 degree oven for 9-15 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 145 degrees. Remove from oven and loosely tent with foil for about 5 minutes before slicing on the diagonal.  Serve garnished with green onions. Pass the remaining teriyaki sauce. Great served with Sunomono. (See recipe below)

* The silverskin is sinew on one side of the pork tenderloin and looks like thin, silvery fat.  You need to remove it because it will become tough and chewy when cooked.  To remove the silver skin, slip a very thin, sharp knife in between the silver skin and the meat, then cut it all away. Take care to just remove the silver skin and not a lot of the beautiful meat itself!

SUNOMONO (JAPANESE CUCUMBER SALAD)

2 T. white distilled vinegar (that’s right, the old fashioned kind)

2 T. sugar

pinch kosher salt

1 English cucumber, partially peeled and very thinly sliced

Combine the vinegar, sugar, and salt in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Allow to cool to room temperature. When ready to serve, pour the cooled dressing over the cucumber making sure each slice is coated with the sauce. Serve immediately.

VEGGIE STIR-FRY

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In an attempt to get more veggies down our gullets, I sometimes have to take desperate measures. Oh not for me. I love veggies. I am referring to the man I love. (Wow, that should be a song title! The Man I Love. Oh wait. I think George beat me to it.) Anyway – the man I love is not as much of a veggie aficionada as I am. Oh he will eat them. But not because he craves them the way I do. 

So last evening, as I was pondering what to do with several veggies in my fridge, it dawned on me that I could build a stir fry. Ta Da! So that’s just what I did.

I loved it! Mr. C., not as much. But then why would I expect this veggie dish to be any different from all the hundreds of dishes containing vegetables I have set before him over the years? But because I am ever the optimist I had great expectations. (Wow, another fabulous title.)

Now I don’t want to discourage you from fixing this dish. I think it’s terrific. In fact it was one of the best stir fries I have ever made. I just want to remind you that everyone has foods that they simply like better than others. That’s why there are so many choices on most restaurant menus.

But as a cook it can be disheartening after you have spent time and effort on a dish, to find it wasn’t well liked by someone else at table. It happens to all of us. Heck, there are times when I don’t particularly like what I have just prepared. Doesn’t mean I’m not a good cook. It just means that I know what I like, and this ain’t it!

So to all you cooks out there who strike out once in a while – just keeping going. And just because someone else doesn’t like what you’ve fixed, don’t let it stop you from enjoying it yourself. If anything, it means that you get all the leftovers. And I’m telling you true. Today’s leftover rice and stir fry was delicious. And I had it all to myself.

So keep cooking healthy food. Keep laughing. And don’t take it personally. Mr. C. doesn’t love me any less because I keep trying to feed him more veggies. He knows that I do it because I love him and want him to remain healthy. If anything it reinforces how much I care.

As always, peace and love to all.

1 T. extra virgin olive oil

1 c. cut fresh green beans

1 c. thin carrot slices

1 c. cauliflower florets

¼ med. onion, sliced

½ c. sliced celery

1 c. sliced mushrooms (button or cremini)

½ bell pepper, sliced

1 c. halved sugar snap peas

1-2 small zucchini, diced

3 garlic cloves, finely minced

2 tsp. finely minced ginger

1 (8-oz.) can whole water chestnuts, roughly chopped   

tiny pinch crushed red pepper flakes

¼ c. low sodium Tamari

2 T. honey   

1 tsp. sesame oil   

½ c. veggie broth

1 T. cornstarch

chopped green onions, opt. garnish

sesame seeds, opt. garnish

In a wok or large skillet heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the beans, carrot, and cauliflower. Sauté 4-5 minutes or until veggies are crisp tender. Add the onion, celery, mushroom, bell pepper, and sugar snap peas. Sauté for 2-3 minutes or until the bell pepper is just starting to soften. Add the zucchini, garlic, ginger, water chestnuts, and crushed red pepper flakes; cook for 1 minute.

While the veggies are cooking, whisk the Tamari, honey, sesame oil, veggie broth, and cornstarch together in a small bowl. Pour over the veggies and cook until the sauce has thickened. Garnish with chopped green onions and sesame seeds, if desired. Great served with brown rice that has been cooked in veggie broth, with a bit of seasoned salt, black pepper, and butter thrown in for good measure.

Please note: Use any veggies you want in this stir fry. I just listed the vegetables I happened to have on hand. It’s really about having a nice variety of veggies. And of course, it’s about the sauce. This sauce is da bomb!

If you want to add protein to this stir-fry, just add some cooked chicken, pork, beef, shrimp, etc. If you don’t have cooked meat on hand, start by cooking the meat before sautéing the veggies. Then set the meat aside. Add pre-cooked or just cooked meat to the pan just before you add the Tamari and veggie broth mixture.   

On an earlier post I showed a picture of Mr. C. reading a book while Miles and Max (our orange kitties) were on the back of the sofa. This is Squeaky, the resident princess happily lounging on Andy’s desk chair while I write at my desk about 4 feet away. It’s nice to be loved.

GROUND BEEF AND BROCCOLI STIR-FRY

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As we are still confined to quarters, I remain steadfast in my desire to not only cook new and interesting dishes for Mr. C., but also to help you to do the same for your family.

Now anyone who knows me is aware of my love for Chinese food, ground beef, and broccoli. (Not always in combination, but you know what I mean!) So, the other evening I was hungry for Chinese food. I knew I had some broccoli that needed to be used and a pound of ground beef thawing on my counter. So before you could count from one thousand backwards, I had glommed together this recipe after perusing various cooking sites. None of the recipes I found were just what I was looking for. But I had cooked enough Chinese dishes over the years to have a pretty good idea of the flavor combination I was looking for. So with a little assistance from some of my favorite recipe writers, I hit upon this combination of ingredients. And lucky for me, I had everything I needed without having to get in our car, drive to our local grocery store, don a mask, gloves, and a standoffish attitude!  

So if you too love a good stir-fry and don’t want to spend bunches of money in the process, give this simple dish a try. It truly is tasty and very simple to prepare.

As always – have fun in your kitchen, be kind to those around you, and take extra special care of yourself. Cooks should always be appreciated (and thanked BTW), but probably never more than during this pandemic. So from this cook to you – thanks for all you do for your family. You do make a difference. Never forget that.

1 T. vegetable oil

1 lb. lean ground beef  

¼ tsp. kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

4-6 c. fresh broccoli florets and peeled stems, cut into bite sized pieces

½ med. sized onion, halved then thinly sliced

2-3 garlic cloves, finely minced

2-3 tsp. finely minced fresh ginger  

2 tsp. sesame oil

½ c. water

1 tsp. beef base (I use Better Than Bouillon – Beef flavored)

¼ c. low-sodium soy sauce

2 T. brown sugar

pinch crushed red pepper flakes

2 T. cornstarch

2 green onions, sliced on the diagonal

1-2 T. sesame seeds, opt.

steamed rice, for serving

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the ground beef and season with salt and pepper. Cook until no longer pink. Remove from pan. (Don’t break the meat up too much as it cooks. You want some nice sized chunks.)

Add the broccoli and onion. Cook over medium heat until the broccoli is crisp tender, about 4-5 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for 1 minute.

Meanwhile, whisk the sesame oil, water, beef base, soy sauce, brown sugar, crushed red pepper flakes, and cornstarch together.

Once the broccoli is finished cooking, add the meat back to the pan. Stir in the soy sauce mixture and cook until thickened, 1-2 minutes, stirring the entire time. Stir in the green onions. Garnish with sesame seeds. Serve over rice.