Pad Thai

My husband got a french cookbook for children a few weeks ago, and when I was making up our grocery list I told him to pick a recipe in there to try out. He decided on Pad Thai, and made it with the kids last week. I had my doubts, but it was actually very good (even if it didn't make it to the table until 6:45pm!) So much for a quick and easy recipe. But don't blame the recipe - I think in the hands of anyone except my dear husband, this meal would take roughly 10 minutes to prepare and 30 minutes to bake.

PAD THAI (this is a double batch of the version in the cookbook)
500 g rice noodles (the flat ones that look like linguine)
1 c. ketchup
1 c. water
4 tbsp. oil
2 tbsp. soya sauce
2 tsp. garlic salt
1 tsp. ground coriander
a few drops of sesame oil
Garnishes:
cooked shrimp and/or chicken
1 green onion, sliced
bean sprouts
crushed peanuts

Pour boiling water over the noodles and let them sit for 7-10 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk together remaining ingredients (except garnishes.) Drain noodles and add them to the sauce, mixing well. Pour into a glass baking dish and cover with tinfoil. Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes. Serve on a plate and let people add the garnishes they like.
This really was quite impressive, considering:

• it was from a children's cookbook
• it used ketchup
• my husband made it

I was skeptical, but pleasantly surprised. I might just have to let this man cook more often!

Fresh Rolls, Potato Skins, Samosas with Chutney, and Pinepple Cream Cheese Carrot Cake

I had the girls over for Splurge Night last night, and spent a good portion of my day making these appetizers! It was well worth the trouble though - everything turned out great (at least I think it did... my friends ate everything, so it was either really good, or they are just extremely considerate of my feelings!)

I made my absolute favourite recipe for Fresh Rolls, served with some store-bought peanut sauce. (Superstore's Schezwan sauce is the best.) I discovered it's so much easier making these rolls if you buy the large rice papers instead of the small ones. I used shrimp instead of pork this time, still in the same marinade (1/4 c. each of soy sauce, Hoisin sauce, and honey, plus a little garlic and chili flakes.) This recipe makes a huge batch... I think I made 18 rolls, and I still have some leftover so I can make more rolls tomorrow for lunch.

Next I made Potato Skins adapted from a friend's recipe blog:

POTATO SKINS
8 baking potatoes
1/3 c. oil
2 tbsp. Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. Smoked Spanish Paprika
2 tsp. Garlic Potato Topper
salt & pepper
16 slices of bacon, crumbled
4 green onions, sliced
3-4 c. cheddar cheese, grated

Scrub potatoes and pierce on all sides. Place in oven and bake at 400 F for 1 hour, turning once. Slice potatoes in half lengthwise and scoop out the insides. (Save some for your samosa filling!) Mix together oil, Parmesan, paprika, garlic, salt & pepper, and brush over the inside of each potato. Bake at 475 F for 8 minutes, then fill each potato skin with bacon, green onions, and cheddar cheese. Bake for another 5-8 minutes, and serve with sour cream.

Now I was ready to make Samosas with Mango & Saskatoon Chutney. The samosa recipe came from Rachael Ray's website, but I first heard of it on Sook's blog, My Fabulous Recipes. The filling is easy to make, and tastes heavenly! The pie crust was a bit of an obstacle for me... it was dry and cracking, and it took me a while to start making pretty samosas. The first ones looked like they had seen better days. But they tasted wonderful, and I would definitely make them again. Here's my slight adaptation of the recipe:

SAMOSAS

1 tbsp. oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1 tsp. ginger paste
1/2 tsp. garlic paste
1/2 tsp. coriander seeds
1 1/2 tsp. Curry Dip Mix
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 large potato, cooked (I diced up one of the potatoes that I used for potato skins)
1/2 tomato, seeded and finely chopped
1/4 c. frozen peas
2 tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped
1 package (2 9-inch rounds) store-bought, raw pie dough
1 egg, beaten

Heat oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook for 5 minutes. In a small dish, combine jalapeno, ginger, garlic, coriander seeds, curry, cumin, Pumpkin Pie Spice, salt & pepper. Add to onions and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add potato, tomato, peas, and cilantro and cook for couple minutes. (If the filling looks too thick, you can add a splash of vegetable stock, but I didn't need to.) Allow filling to cool.

Roll out each pie crust on a floured surface, and cut into 8 wedges. (Next time I might do 6 wedges so I could make bigger samosas and have better luck with rolling them.) Put 1 tsp. of the potato filling on each wedge. Brush the edges of each wedge with egg. Fold the pointed end up over the filling so it touches the wider end, then fold the two sides over top and pinch it closed. Place samosas on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and brush with egg. Bake at 375 F for 15 minutes, then turn them over and bake for another 5 minutes.

CHUTNEY
1/2 c. saskatoons
1/2 c. mango, chopped (I used frozen mango, and last time I made this recipe I used rhubarb instead)
3 tbsp. raspberry vinegar
1/4 c. brown sugar
2 tbsp. onion, diced
1/8 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. ginger
dash of chili pepper flakes

Put everything in small saucepan and bring to a simmer for 20-30 minutes. Cool before serving.

For a sweet treat, I cracked open a box of carrot cake mix and made 2 round cakes. Then I made a delicious icing and slathered it between the two cakes and all around the outside, and topped it with a few pieces of Crystallized Ginger.

PINEAPPLE CREAM CHEESE ICING

1 container (8 oz.) spreadable cream cheese

1 single-serving container of pineapple yogurt (or whatever flavour you like)

1 1/2 - 2 c. Cool Whip

1/2 c. icing sugar

Beat ingredients until smooth. Add more icing sugar if it's too thin, or more Cool Whip if it's too thick.This icing was awesome. (And the cake was pretty good too, thank you Betty Crocker!)

And that's what we ate last night. Enjoy!

Thai-ish Stir-fry

I don't know what to call this recipe. My husband wanted me to make Lemongrass Scallops & Shrimp with Lemongrass & Coconut Milk, but I had no scallops or shrimp, and it turns out I also had no lemongrass (although I thought I did at the time.) So I thought I'd sort of mix together that recipe with this recipe for BBQ Lemongrass Pork, but use chicken instead (because I had no pork.) So basically I had chicken, but none of the other main ingredients for either recipe (turns out I was out of fish sauce too.) I did, however, have a box of Coconut Ginger Rice that was on sale at Safeway. Woo hoo! (Although it's not very complicated to make your own.)

Anyway, here's what I made. I think it still counts as Thai food, even if I was missing tons of ingredients. It tasted amazing, so I don't really care what you call it, as long as you try it out for yourself some night!

THAI STIR-FRY

1 tsp. Hoisin sauce

1 tsp. ginger (I used prepared ginger, or you could grate some fresh ginger)

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp. sesame oil

2 green onions, sliced

1 tbsp. brown sugar

1 tbsp. soy sauce

1/2 c. coconut milk

2 chicken breasts, cut into pieces

1 c. bell peppers, sliced

Mix together the first 8 ingredients and pour over chicken. Heat a wok with a little bit of the coconut milk mixture, then add everything and cook chicken for 10-15 minutes. Stir in bell peppers near the end and let it simmer so the sauce reduces slightly. Serve over coconut ginger rice.

More Thai food, more baby presents

As much as I love living in Canada, let's face it, the best food comes from everywhere but Canada. (Except for Quebec... they've got maple syrup, blueberries, and tourtière.) I guess that's the joy of living in Canada though... we have so many cultures all mixed together, and that exposes us to some great cuisine! (When I lived in Mexico, people would ask me what "Canadian" food was, and I didn't really know what to tell them! Macaroni & cheese? Casseroles? Perogies & cabbage rolls?)

Anyway, I've mentioned before how much I love Thai food, so tonight I'm making a couple recipes from my awesome Thai cookbook, and sharing them with friends of ours who had a new baby recently. (Someone pointed out to me that the curry and beans in my previous meals for new parents might make the mothers' breastmilk a little fiery, so I'm toning things down tonight!)

THAI SPICY BEEF SALAD (it's not that spicy, honest!)
1/2 lb. ground beef
4 mint leaves, chopped
2 stalks lemongrass, diced
1 tbsp. fish sauce
2 tbsp. lime juice
3 green onions, sliced
3/4 tsp. red chilies, diced (or as much as you like)

1 tomato, diced

1/4 English cucumber, diced

Boil beef for 3-4 minutes, making sure it doesn't clump together. Drain and rinse with cold water. Toss together with remaining ingredients.

BBQ LEMONGRASS PORK
3 tbsp. coconut milk
3-4 stalks lemongrass, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 green onion, chopped
2 tbsp. fish sauce
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tsp. sesame oil
1/2 tsp. red chilies, diced
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 pork tenderloin

Slice pork crosswise into 1/2" pieces. Combine ingredients and pour over pork in a shallow dish. Marinate for several hours, then grill for 4-6 minutes per side.

COCONUT GINGER BASMATI RICE
1 c. brown basmati rice
1 c. coconut milk
1 c. water
1 tsp. grated ginger

Bring everything to a boil, stir well, then cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 40-45 minutes. (Or make whatever rice you have and follow the directions on the bag, substituting half the liquid with coconut milk and adding a little ginger.)
I made a double batch of the pork (two tenderloins and twice the marinade) and made a slightly larger batch of rice, but followed the salad recipe as it's posted. I took half to our friends and saved half for our own supper. We fed 3 adults and 2 kids tonight at our house, and everyone left the table happy! (I hope everyone's happy at our friends' house too!)

Thursday is Thai night!

No it's not, but it's been ridiculously cold all week, so I'm going to heat things up a little in the kitchen tonight with a Thai-inspired dish. And while I'm at it, I'll share a few of my favourite recipes from an awesome Thai cookbook that a friend gave to me last year.

But first, here's what we're having for supper tonight. A few months ago, a friend sent me this recipe from her blog and I was missing a few ingredients, so I used what I had and came up with this instead:

CHICKEN SATAY STIRFRY
4 chicken breasts, pounded out and cut into small pieces
1/2 c. flour
sea salt & pepper, to taste
1/2 c. bell peppers, sliced
1 tbsp. Satay Seasoning
1 tsp. lemon juice
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/8 tsp. chili pepper flakes
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. rice vinegar
1 tbsp. fish sauce
1 tbsp. peanut butter
1 green onion, diced

Put chicken in a ziploc bag with flour, salt & pepper. Shake until well coated. Heat oil in a pan and brown chicken on all sides, and cook through. Add bell peppers and sauté. Remove from pan and keep warm in a covered dish. Combine remaining ingredients and pour into the pan. Simmer until slightly thickened, then stir in cooked chicken and veggies. Cover and let it simmer until heated through. Serve over vermicelli rice noodles.I thought this tasted like ginger chicken that you'd get from a Chinese restaurant, but way better.

Now, here's one of my all-time favourite meals (from the Thai cookbook). It's so simple and quick to make, and it's delicious!

SCALLOPS & SHRIMP WITH LEMONGRASS & COCONUT MILK

3/4 c. coconut milk

3 stalks lemongrass, thinly sliced (white part only)

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 shallot, thinly sliced

1 red chili, diced

2 tbsp. fish sauce

2 tsp. sugar

Combine ingredients and bring to a gentle boil for 4 minutes. Add 1 c. raw shrimp + 1 c. raw scallops and cook for 4-5 minutes. Squeeze in the juice of 1/2 a lime and sprinkle in 1 tbsp. shredded cilantro leaves.

And here's a nice salad recipe (although I think I'd leave out some of the shallots next time, it was a little potent.)

CRISPY CUCUMBER SALAD (from Thai cookbook)

3 tbsp. lime juice

2 tbsp. water

1 tbsp. fish sauce

2 tsp. sugar

1 english cucumber, thinly sliced

1 tomato, sliced

2 shallots, thinly sliced

1 red chili, diced

chopped cashews, mint leaves, and cilantro to garnish

If you like Thai food, seriously, you should get the cookbook I mentioned. It's so easy to follow, and there are tons of great recipes. Get yourself some lemongrass, coconut milk, chilies, lime, and ginger, and you can pretty much make half the cookbook. You can throw a little Thai-themed dinner party, and pretend it's not -35 C outside anymore!