Tag Archives: entree

March 11, 2014 · 11:22 am

Thai Pumpkin Curry

Pumpkin Curry is one of my favorite things to order at Thai restaurants. Luckily, it is also a meal that you can make at home and end up with restaurant-quality results.

I usually use a butternut squash, but if you have an Asian grocery store nearby, kabocha squash works really well. It is a small green pumpkin that doesn’t get mushy or stringy when cooked. The squash is roasted before adding it to the curry. Half of the squash is pureed with coconut milk and the other half is cut into chunks to stir back into the curry before serving.

I love the thicker texture that the pureed squash gives to this curry. Leave out the chicken and you still have a hearty vegetarian meal.

Choose your favorite vegetables to pair with the squash. I like shitake mushrooms, carrots, red peppers, fresh spinach and zucchini (if you can find decent ones in the winter). In the summer, I add Thai basil from my garden. In the winter, I either use regular sweet basil, or just leave it out.

RECIPE:

Thai Pumpkin Curry

Servings: 6
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1 butternut squash or kabocha
olive oil, salt and pepper

1 lb boneless chicken breast, cut into very thin strips
1 Tbs Thai red curry paste
2 Tbs soy sauce

2 Tbs olive oil, divided
1 small onion, sliced
½ red bell pepper, julienned
1 medium carrot, julienned
1 medium zucchini, julienned
½ cup sliced shitake mushrooms

2 cans (14 oz) coconut milk
2 Tbs soy sauce
2 tsp Thai fish sauce
1 Tbs brown sugar (or low-carb golden sweetener)
1 tsp salt
2 Tbs lime juice (or 4 kaffir lime leaves, chopped)
2 Tbs Thai red curry paste (adjust amount to personal taste)
1 cup fresh spinach or other greens
1/3 cup fresh basil (Thai basil preferably), coarsely chopped

Cut butternut squash in half lengthwise and scoop out seeds. Brush cut sides with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast at 425°F for 20-30 minutes, or until soft and cooked through.

While squash is cooking, combine sliced chicken, 1 Tbs curry paste and 2 Tbs soy sauce in a Ziploc bag. Let marinate at room temperature while squash cooks.

Heat 1 Tbs oil in wok or large saucepan. Add onion, red pepper, carrot, zucchini and mushrooms. Cook over high heat until crisp-tender. Remove from pan. Add remaining 1 Tbs oil to pan. Add chicken and cook over high heat, stirring until chicken is cooked through.

Peel and cut half of the cooked squash into cubes. Set aside. Place remaining half of the roasted squash (peeled) in a blender with one can of the coconut milk. Puree until smooth.

Add the pureed squash, remaining can of coconut milk (use to rinse out blender), 2 Tbs soy sauce, fish sauce, brown sugar, salt, lime juice and remaining 2 Tbs curry paste to the chicken in the pot. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Stir in squash cubes, spinach, basil and cooked vegetables. Heat until spinach wilts. Serve in bowls with or without rice.

NoEmptyChairs.me

Ginger Beef Stir-Fry

We eat a lot of stir-fries in our house. They are a fairly quick meal to get on the table, and they are one thing that I don’t hear complaints about from anyone. This Ginger Beef is not a saucy stir-fry, but is very flavorful. The beef marinates for about half an hour at room temperature and then is cooked in small batches over very high heat. Fresh ginger, cut into thin matchstick shapes, green onions and sliced serrano chiles (hot, but not overpowering) provide additional flavor. Because this dish is not as chock-full of vegetable as some other stir-fries, I often serve it with Szechuan green beans (recipe coming soon!).

RECIPE:

Ginger Beef Stir-Fry

Servings: 4-6
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Marinade
5 Tbs soy sauce
2 Tbs unseasoned rice vinegar
1 Tbs honey (or 5 drops liquid stevia)
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
½ tsp red chile pepper flakes
½ tsp ground cumin

Stir-Fry
1 ½ lb flank steak or top sirloin steak
2 Tbs oil, divided
2-3 hot chiles, preferably red serranos, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 ½” piece of fresh ginger, peeled and cut into thin matchstick shapes
1 bunch (about 5-6) green onions, cut diagonally into 1” pieces
1 Tbs sesame oil

Mix together all of the marinade ingredients.

Thinly slice the steak (partially freezing the steak will make this easier) and place slices in a Ziploc bag. Pour marinade over the sliced steak. Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. This can also be prepared ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator. Remove beef from fridge 30 minutes before cooking.

Place 1 Tbs oil in a wok or large skillet and heat over high heat until very hot. Place a small amount of the beef (about ½ cup at a time) in the hot pan. Sauté beef slices over high heat until juices in pan almost completely evaporate. Transfer cooked beef to serving bowl. Repeat with remaining beef.

Add remaining 1 Tbs oil to the pan and sauté the sliced chiles, minced garlic and ginger matchsticks for 1 minute. Add the beef back to the pan with the sliced green onions. Stir in the sesame oil and cook for 1 minute. Serve immediately over steamed rice.

(recipe adapted from Simply Recipes)

NoEmptyChairs.me

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Tagged as beef, Chinese, entree, food, ginger, main dish, recipe, steak, stir fry

April 23, 2013 · 11:30 am

Layered Chicken Taco Salad in Baked Tortilla Bowls

Sure, you can eat taco salad on a regular plate, but it is much more fun to eat it out of an edible tortilla bowl. Tortilla bowls are also a great enforcer of portion control. Have you ever noticed that when you layer taco salad on a plate it seems to grow well beyond your original intentions by the time you add all of the toppings you want? Tortilla bowls are the perfect solution, especially for the kids in my family who usually end up with a plateful of food they can never finish.

Intimidated by the thought of shaping and deep-frying tortillas? Me too. Good thing these are simple to make, and baked instead of fried. All you need is a super-old-scratched-and-rusty muffin pan.

To make your baked tortilla bowls, warm tortillas slightly in the microwave (just enough to soften). Spray both sides of tortillas lightly with olive oil cooking spray (or brush very lightly with oil). Turn a muffin tin upside down. Press tortillas into the spaces between muffin cups. Make sure the bottoms of the tortilla bowls are flat so that they will not wobble when served on a plate. Bake at 400F for 8-10 minutes, or until crunchy and just beginning to brown.

You can layer your regular taco salad fillings in the bowl (seasoned ground beef, cheese, lettuce, etc) or try this layered shredded chicken salad. It is similar to some of the semi-fast food Mexican restaurants where you build your own burrito/salad. There are layers of seasoned chili-cilantro rice, black beans, crock-pot cooked shredded chicken, and a cilantro ranch dressing.

This Green Chili Cilantro Rice is also great served alongside other Mexican dishes or grilled meats.

RECIPES:

Layered Chicken Taco Salad in Baked Tortilla Bowls

Servings: About 8
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Crock-Pot Shredded Chicken
Green Chili Cilantro Rice
Tortilla Bowls
Cilantro Ranch Dressing
Black Beans – mix with 1 Tbs lime juice
Shredded Cheese
Corn
Lettuce
Chopped jalapenos or banana peppers
Salsa
Sour Cream

Place baked tortilla bowls on a plate. Layer with rice, black beans (these are really good mixed with 1 Tbs lime juice!), shredded chicken and other desired toppings. Top with cilantro ranch dressing and serve.

Crock-Pot Shredded Chicken
2 lb boneless chicken breasts or tenderloins
1 cup prepared Italian salad dressing
½ cup salsa
1 Tbs taco seasoning
2 cloves garlic, minced

Stir together all ingredients in a crock pot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, or until chicken can easily be shredded. Shred chicken, stir in sauce from pot and serve. If the sauce is too thin (this will especially happen if you use chicken that is injected with broth), shred chicken and return to crock pot, then cook on high with the lid OFF until sauce thickens.

Green Chili Cilantro Rice
1 ¾ cup chicken broth (or water+2tsp chicken bouillon)
1 can (4 oz) diced mild green chilies, undrained
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbs olive oil
½ tsp salt (omit salt if using bouillon)
1 cup Basmati rice (or other long grain variety rice)
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro

Combine broth, green chilies, garlic, olive oil and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Stir in rice, cover, and simmer over low heat for 20-25 minutes, or until rice is cooked. Stir in chopped cilantro. This can also be cooked in a rice cooker: combine all ingredients except cilantro in rice cooker and cook according to directions; stir in cilantro.

Tortilla Bowls
Flour tortillas
Olive oil (or olive oil cooking spray)
Muffin tin

Warm tortillas slightly in the microwave (10-15 seconds; just enough to soften). Spray both sides of tortillas lightly with olive oil cooking spray (or brush very lightly with oil). Turn a muffin tin upside down. Press tortillas into the spaces between muffin cups. Make sure the bottoms of the tortilla bowls are flat so that they will not wobble when served on a plate. Bake at 400°F for 8-10 minutes, or until crunchy and just beginning to brown.

Cilantro Ranch Dressing
1 package ranch dressing mix
1 cup mayonnaise
½ cup buttermilk or regular milk
2 tomatillos** or 4 Tbs green salsa
½ bunch of cilantro (about 1 cup chopped)
2 cloves garlic
1 lime, juiced
1-2 jalapenos (with or without the seeds; with seeds=spicier)

Combine all of the ingredients in a blender or food processor. Blend until well mixed. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours before serving for optimal flavor.

**Optional: Roast tomatillos for 20 mins at 400°F before adding them to the blender. If you are using a spicy green salsa instead of the tomatillos, go easy on the jalapenos.

NoEmptyChairs.me

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Filed under Main Dishes, Salads, Tips and Tutorials

Tagged as baked tortilla bowls, cafe rio, chipotle, cilantro ranch dressing, crock pot, entree, main dish, moes, recipe, shredded chicken, taco salad

October 23, 2012 · 6:14 am

Taco Cornbread Pie

Our Little J is a Mexican food junkie. When she doesn’t like what I serve for dinner, she makes her way to the spice drawer and returns with her jar of “Taco Magic” (known to the rest of the world as chili powder). She then proceeds to turn any meal into tacos. Meatloaf, meatballs, any roasted or baked chicken dish: instant tacos. A generous sprinkle into most soups: taco soup.

So when she hears that I am actually making a “real” Mexican-flavored dish, she is giddy with excitement, and during dinner the Taco Magic jar stays in the spice drawer where it belongs.

If you have an oven safe dish that can also go on the stovetop (like a dutch oven, cast iron skillet, or skillet with oven-safe handles), this is an easy one pot meal. I always love cutting down on dishes.

Taco Pie is the Mexican version of a Shepherd’s Pie or Pot Pie. The filling is a taco flavored combination of ground beef, black beans, tomatoes, corn, peppers, green chilies. All of the great ingredients of tacos without 600 little bowls to wash. The crust is a cheese-topped cornbread that bakes in the oven on top of the filling.

(Please ignore that cheese-less wedge. How anyone could dislike cheese and end up in my family is beyond me)

RECIPE:

Taco Cornbread Pie

Servings: 8-10
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Taco filling:
2 lb ground beef
1 red pepper, chopped
1-2 hot peppers, finely chopped (adjust to taste)
1 onion, chopped
1 Tbs chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp oregano
½ tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
1 can chili-seasoned tomatoes
1 small can diced green chiles, undrained
1 small can sliced black olives, drained
1 can corn, drained
1 can black or kidney beans, drained & rinsed

Cornbread topping:
1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix
¼ cup butter, melted
½ cup Greek yogurt or sour cream
2 eggs
2 cups shredded cheese

Optional garnishes:
Salsa, sour cream, diced avocados (or guacamole)

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Brown the ground beef in an oven safe skillet.** Drain fat. Add peppers and onions to the skillet. Stir in chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper. Cook for 2-3 minutes, or until onions just begin to soften. Stir in tomatoes, canned chilies, olives, corn and beans. Simmer mixture over low heat, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Taste and add additional salt, if needed.

Cornbread topping: In a mixing bowl, stir together melted butter, yogurt or sour cream and eggs. Stir in corn muffin mix with a rubber spatula until just mixed.

Spread the cornbread batter over the hot filling in the skillet. Bake at 375°F for about 30 minutes, or until cornbread is cooked through and lightly browned. (Exact cooking time will depend on the diameter of your baking dish. If the top of the cornbread is brown, but center is not set, cover with foil and continue to cook until set). Top with cheese. Cook 5 additional minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Serve with sour cream, avocados, and/or salsa, if desired.

**NOTE: If you don’t have an oven safe skillet (or dutch oven), then cook meat mixture in a regular skillet, and transfer to a large baking dish.

NoEmptyChairs.me

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Tagged as cornbread, entree, main dish, Mexican, recipe, tacos

November 22, 2011 · 12:15 pm

Thanksgiving Turkey Leftovers

Just a few ideas for using your leftover Thanksgiving Turkey. Most of the recipes below call for cooked or shredded chicken, but work just as well with turkey.

My best wishes for a day full of family, friends, faith and gratitude. And lots of leftovers.

Southwest Turkey Vegetable Chowder

Turkey and Black Bean Chili

Enchiladas Verdes

Cream of Broccoli Soup with Shredded Turkey

Chinese Vegetable (and Turkey) LoMein

Turkey Pot Pie

Turkey and Cheese Enchiladas

Baked Taquitos

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Tagged as entree, leftover turkey, main dish, recipe, Thanksgiving

April 28, 2011 · 10:39 am

Chinese Vegetable Lo Mein

For Book Group this month we read Wild Swans, by Jung Chang, which chronicles the lives of a family of 3 generations of women in modern day China, It is an amazing look at the history of modern China and the rise of Communism under Mao Zedong. As I was hosting this month, I made this Chinese Vegetable Lo Mein, Chinese Almond Cookies and Homemade Fortune Cookies (I will share these recipes later).

This Lo Mein recipe is adaptable to a wide variety of vegetables and can be made with or without chicken (or other cooked meat). I served it cold, but it can also be served hot. When I am making this for a main dish, I usually serve it hot with both chicken and vegetables. When serving it as a side dish, I usually make it with just vegetables and serve it cold.

This time I used broccoli, asparagus, sliced carrots, red pepper, snow pea pods, and green onions. I like to slightly blanch the broccoli and asparagus by placing them in a large colander and pouring the hot cooked noodles and water over the broccoli and asparagus in the colander. Then rinse immediately with cold water to cool the noodles and vegetables. The other vegetables I leave raw and stir into the cold noodles with the sauce.

When I am serving it hot, I like to lightly sauté all of the vegetables until crisp-tender and then add the sauce and noodles to the skillet.

I prefer to use Chinese noodles, usually labeled Chow Mein or Lo Mein, but I have also used regular packaged linguine or spaghetti.

RECIPE:

Chinese Vegetable (and/or Chicken) Lo Mein

Servings: 6-8
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1 lb dried Chinese lo mein or chow mein noodles (or use packaged linguine)
1 Tbs sesame oil
1-2 cups cooked, chopped chicken (optional)
1-2 cups chopped raw vegetables (broccoli, asparagus, thin sliced carrots, snow peas, green beans, sliced mushrooms, green onions)

Sauce:
½ cup chicken broth
¼ cup soy sauce
3 Tbs Hoisin sauce
1 Tbs rice vinegar
1 Tbs sesame oil
1 Tbs honey
½ Tbs cornstarch
½ tsp chili paste (or more to taste)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp minced fresh ginger

FOR COLD NOODLES: Combine sauce ingredients in a small saucepan and heat until sauce begins to boil. Stir and cook for 1-2 minutes, or until sauce begins to thicken. Cool slightly while noodles cook.

Chop vegetables. If using, place broccoli, asparagus and/or green beans in the bottom of a large colander. Cook noodles according to package directions. Pour cooked noodles and water into the colander with the vegetables (to lightly blanch these vegetables). Rinse with cold water until cool; drain well. Transfer to a large serving bowl. Stir 1 Tbs sesame oil into noodles and vegetables. Add remaining raw chopped vegetables and cooked chicken. Stir sauce into noodles. Refrigerate until cold. Serve cold.

FOR HOT NOODLES: Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and stir 1 Tbs sesame oil into noodles. Set aside.

In the pot that you cooked the noodles, heat 1 Tbs vegetable oil. Lightly sauté chopped vegetables until barely crisp-tender. Add cooked chicken and heat through. Stir together sauce ingredients and pour over chicken and vegetables in the skillet. Cook for 1-2 minutes, or until slightly thickened. Add noodles to pot and stir to combine. Serve immediately.

NoEmptyChairs.me

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Filed under Main Dishes, Side Dishes

Tagged as Asian, chicken, Chinese, cold noodle salad, entree, lo mein, main dish, noodles, recipe, side dish, stir fry, vegetables