Witch'n'Kitchen

Pho Luck

2009-08-13T10:08:00.000-07:00

I made some very good Pho for lunch today. Pho is a Vietnamese soup with rice noodles, broth, carrots, spices, chicken or beef, and fresh herbs. I didn't follow the recipe exactly because I didn't have all the spices.

Pho

6 oz rice noodles
1 1/2 cups snow peas, ends trimmed
1 cup shredded carrots
1 piece ginger (1/2 inch thick), peeled and chopped
1 star anise
3 whole cloves
8 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/4-inch strips
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and cut into thin strips
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
1/2 cup chopped scallions
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
4 sprigs basil
1 lime, cut into 4 wedges

Boil noodles in salted water for 3 minutes. Place snowpeas and carrots in a colander; drain noodles over them; rinse; divide among 4 bowls. Tie a sachet of ginger, star anise and cloves in cheesecloth; place in a large pot with broth; boil 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium; add chicken; simmer 5 minutes. Add bell pepper and lime juice. Season with salt. Remove sachet. Ladle into bowls; top with remaining ingredients.

I tweaked the recipe to my needs and ingredients. I started by boiling some Japanese rice noodles (enough for just 2 though). I brought 1 cup chicken broth and the rest of my white wine & herb broth to a very slow slimmer and added some chopped onions and garlic. Meanwhile, I chopped up a carrot and strained the noodles over them. While you're cooking, constantly toss the rice noodles so they don't clump together.

I prepped some fresh cilantro by removing the stems and put it all in the broth. I didn't have chicken or beef, I only had some pork chops that were frozen. I didn't know they were frozen so I had to defrost them in the microwave. So once the pork chops were mildly defrosted, I sliced them up into small thin, strips and seasoned them with salt, pepper, curry powder, and ginger. I coated a small frying pan with olive oil, added chopped green onions, and pan fried the pork strips. I squirted some lime juice over the pork and in the soup.

While the pork was cooking over a medium flame, I prepped the fresh basil. Pho is garnish with bean sprouts, jalapeno peppers (not my cup o' tea), and fresh basil. I only had basil, so I plucked the leaves and set them aside.

Once the pork is cooked through, add the meat and green onions to the soup. Let simmer for a few minuets. I got my two bowls of rice noodles and with a ladle poured the soup over the noodles, gave it a good stir, and garnished with some basil leaves. Dad put Vietnamese hot chili sauce in his. It was very good, even without some of the more potent spices like star anise.

Sweet Potato Pancakes

2009-08-12T08:26:00.000-07:00

There was no cereal this morning for breakfast so I decided to make up some sweet potato pancakes from this mix I bought from a local gift store. Sorry the picture is sideways, I forgot to flip it on my parent's computer. Woodpecker Farms is apparently run by decendents of the Washington family from George Washington's sister's family. Cool huh?

It's simple to make; 1 cup of mix, just under 1 cup milk, let stand for half an hour. After half an hour, stir in an egg. I put my skillet over a medium low flame and sprayed some olive oil PAM to prevent sticking. I don't like eating large pancakes, I'm no lumberjack. So I decided to make silver dollar pancakes, which are 2 couple inches in diameter and made from tablespoon of batter. Here's a picture of my test pancake.

These pancakes are very good, lightly sweet and slightly gooey when fully cooked. I've been nibbling on them all morning and I don't think they need any maple syrup, the sweet potato in the pancakes adds natural sweetness.

Oh My Chocolatey Goodness!

2009-08-11T12:54:00.000-07:00

I had an ides a few days ago, I've made what I've called 'Reeses Cookies' a couple times before. These are essentially peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. I love how the chocolate chips are gooey and molten on the inside and I thought, what if I took that molten goodness through out the cookies? What if I I melted the chocolate before mixing it in to the batter? Well, that's exactly what I did, amazing... just amazing! I used a recipe from the Cooking Light Book of all the 2009 issues.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup granulate sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup canola oil
2 teasp. vanilla extract
2 large egg whites
1 large egg
------------------------
2 2/3 cup all purpose flour
1 teasp. baking powder
1 teasp. baking soda
1/2 salt
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2/3 semisweet chocolate minichips

1.) Preheat oven to 350
2.) Combine first 8 ingredients in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth.
3.) Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 3 ingredients in a small bowl; stir with a whisk. Add flour mix to the peanut butter mix, stirring til just combined. Stir in minichips. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls 2" apart on 2 baking sheets. Bake at 350 for 12 minuets until golden. Cool on a wire rack. Yields 3 dozen.

I essentially followed the recipe until the stirring in the chips. Here are all the ingredients I used (always have everything out before you start baking).

A few notes on these ingredients; for my cookies I used both regular Splenda and brown sugar Splenda, and regular sugar. I wanted to use up what was left of my Splenda and apparently, Splenda makes brown sugar substitute these days too. I usually prefer using the natural sugar but my parents are dieting and I suppose I should use the 'healthier' alternative. Unlike regular Splenda, which is cup for cup with regular sugar, brown sugar Splenda is half cup per 1 cup regular brown sugar. I also only have crunchy peanut butter so that adds to the cookies texture. However, when the sugar and peanut butter were mixed with the wet ingedients, it looked kind of like watery baked beans because the chunks of peanuts.

I was slightly worried when I saw this was going into my cookies, but I trusted the recipe. When I added the flour and the other dry ingredients I was relieved at the return of a peanut butter like texture. Here is where I deviated from the recipe. I took a small prep bowl and poured in some Ghirardelli chocolate chips (60% cocoa bittersweet) and proceeded to melt them in the microwave. I nuked the chips at 10 second intervals, stirring regoriously to a smooth molten chocolate.
Then, I took a small spoon and drizzled chocolate all over the dough. I gently folded the chocolate into the dough (don't over mix).

Then on to the last stage of the baking process, I took a tablespoon and scooped the dough onto a parchment covered baking stone. As you can see, the cookies have a chocolate marble effect. I baked them according to the recipe and I was very happy with the final prouct. They were round, perfectly raised, and full of peanut buttery, chocolatey goodness. I had one or three of these warm with a glass of milk and I went to heaven for a few delectable moments. With each batch I added more and more chocolate. I like these more then with chips! I don't know if anyone else has tried this, but I highly recommend it!.

Sweet Potato Chips

2009-08-10T19:07:00.000-07:00

These are so much better then regular chips! They're thicker and have more texture, not greasy at all, and better for you. Sweet potatoes are an excellent source of carotene and Vitamin A. Not to mention they've got more flavor then more other potatoes. I just wish more came in a bag.

Ravioli-oli-oli!

2009-08-10T14:45:00.000-07:00

On weekdays I usually just go for a quick fix, and tonight that was ravioli. I actually have pictures this time. Here are the ingredients; basil oregano, tomato sauce, and ravioli (meat and cheese stuffed).

Don't forget the all important olive oil!
Here's the first step, bring some water with a shot of olive oil (prevents pasta from sticking together) to boil. Then, add a generous shaking of the herbs to the oil-water.

Once fragrant, add the ravioli and let cook for 5 minuets. Strain but don't rinse and pour sauce over the pasta and enjoy.

The Impotance of Being Onion

2009-08-09T21:40:00.000-07:00

Warning, there's no recipe here, this is just some food related-rambling. I find it pressing to discuss the major ingredients in my cooking; onion, garlic, and olive oil. It may seem silly but I think that these three ingredients are often over looked and/or taken for granted.

I used to think I hated onion in my food until I started cooking in earnest. I began to realize that cooked onion is a great contributor to many dishes. Properly cooked onion adds taste and texture to the meal. That's another thing I've learned very recently; the importance of cooking low and slow. I used to be a little impatient when cooking my onions but when cooking my chicken mango curry, I realized that one shouldn't over cook the onion! For most recipes, flash heating the onion into submission does little good because it doesn't allow the flavor to release and make the onions mushy. Slightly cooked onion that are translucent and still a little crunchy make a world of difference.

Garlic is also tremendously important. I haven't quiet gotten the hang of sauteing garlic yet, but I think going low and slow is also a better idea. I've been recently using the jars of minced garlic despite my preference for fresh ingredients. I like elephant garlic more then the regular kind because it's much easier to dice. However, I haven't seen any elephant garlic in awhile so I'll just make do with the prepped stuff.

Olive oil, or corse, is the base to many recipes. I prefer sauteing onion, garlic, and the like in olive oil then in butter. I think it's healthier and well, tastes better (sorry Julia). I like the light flavor and sent of olive oil because it doesn't over power the rest of the ingredients.

Mango Curry Lamb

2009-08-09T19:04:00.000-07:00

Dinner was delicious tonight! I didn't use a recipe this time, I just improved. So here it is:

Mango Curry Lamb

1 1/2 lbs lamb (cut into bite-sized chunks)
1/2 a large onion, chopped
3 large cloves garlic, minced
olive oil
garlic paste
ginger paste
red chili paste
salt & pepper
mango curry sauce

First thing's first; prep a good size skillet and barely coat with olive oil, set over a low flame. Chop the onion and mince the garlic and when the olive oil is just smoking, add onion and garlic to the pan.

My lamb was still partially frozen, but that actually made it a little easier to cut into chunks. I did my best to trim as much fat off as I could and cut as much meat off the bone too. I saved the scraps and bones for later to make lamb stock (hey why not?). I took the lamb chunks and put them in a medium sized bowl (make sure there's enough room to toss with the spices).

A note on the spice pastes; I found these handy little tubes of spice pastes all packaged together in the produce section of the market, right next to the fresh herbs. They're just enough for one or two recipes so there's no waste, and the pastes are grouped to accent each other. I added plenty of each, finishing off the garlic and ginger and half of the pepper paste. Season with salt and pepper, and well, anything else you have and think will taste good. Toss the lamb chunks and get them good and coated. If you have time, do this ahead so the lamb can marinate in the fridge.

Finally, put the lamb into the skillet and bring the heat up slightly to a medium-low flame. Brown the meat on both sides. The lamb will ooze juices, and I thought about draining them from the pan and I'm glad I didn't. The lamb juices are fantastic with the curry sauce. After the meat's browned on both sides, turn down the heat and pour in the sauce. Simmer for a while and serve.

For a side I opened up a can of okra, corn, and tomatoes. Instead of just nuking in the microwave, I pour the stuff into a small sauce pan. I put in a little butter and a little brown sugar, mixed, and heated thoroughly. This was also delicious. Just the right accent to the lamb.

Sorry there aren't any pictures for this one either, my hands were covered in raw lamb slime. Not a good idea when handling a camera.

Spicy Coconut Shrimp

2009-08-08T18:42:00.000-07:00

I have left over coconut milk from my mango curry chicken from earlier this week and I decided to use it with shrimp. The recipe was on the back of the can of the coconut milk. Here it is:

Spicy Coconut Shrimp

1 lb shrimp
2 Tbs Thai chili sauce
1 cup chicken broth
2 medium tomatoes
1 tsp brown sugar
2/3 cup coconut milk
Jasmine rice
green onion

Combine shrimp with spicy sauce, blend and refrigerate. In a wok or large skillet, bring stock to a boil. Add tomatoes, kaffir lime leaves, lemon juice & brown sugar. Reduce heat & simmer for 8-10 minuets til orange-pink in color, about 1-2 minuets. Transfer to a warm serving dish, remove kaffir lime leaves. Garnish with green onions. Serve over cooked rice.

Now, my parents won't eat rice so I had to use whole wheat couscous (I'm not complaining, I love couscous). I don't know what kaffir leaves are but I managed without it. I don't have a wok yet so I just use my Le Cruset skillet, I need a bigger one.

Anyway, this is a pretty easy recipe and took about half an hour. I actually got to use fresh, non frozen shrimp. The shrimp were already delved and de-veined but I still had to get the shells off. I put all the peeled shrimp in a wide, large metallic mixing bowl. I put them in a wide bowl because it's far easier to even toss and coat with the the chili sauce. Now, the recipe calls for 2 Tbs of Thai chili sauce, but I'm not that brave. I only like a little spice so I only used 2 teaspoons. I also tossed the shrimp with garlic and ginger pastes for some extra flavor.

After putting said shrimp into the fridge, I set my beloved Le Cruset 10" skillet over a low flame. In this apartment there's only a gas range as opposed to electric that I'm used too. I spill a lot of crap into those gas burners. Anyway, a note on the chicken broth. I find that getting a large container isn't a good idea because I don't use all the broth up before it gets moldy. So to my great delight, single serving containers of broth come in four packs! Each little carton has 1 cup of broth, just the right amount for me. So I brought 1 cup of broth to a steady boil, like the recipe requires.

I have one of those chop dice things, so I thought to cut down on the mess I'd use that to chop my tomatoes. They chopped just fine but the tomato juice squirted everywhere and not cutting down on mess. So I'd recommend just slicing and dicing with a knife, at least the tomato guts won't be projectile.

It was a late night so I was a little pressed for time and so I didn't have time to completely boil off the liquid. So I added the coconut milk, simmered for 4 minuets. I brought out the shrimp and proceeded to finish up the main dish. I almost forgot to fix up the couscous. I used instant whole grain couscous. I still had some coconut milk left over, so I used 1 cup water, 1/4 cup coconut milk and olive oil. This made a delicious, thicker, creamy consistency.

I served the shrimp and sauce on top of some couscous. Dad said it was kind of like southern style shrimp and grits. Over rice might have a thicker consistency. I'm sorry I don't have any pictures this time, I'll make sure to take some of tonight's lamb with mango curry.

Desperate Times

2009-08-07T19:42:00.000-07:00

I'm very bored, so I'm going to give this a shot. I'm going to try to document my cooking exploits with pictures, recipes, and other such ramblings. I'll gather these recipes from my cookbooks, the interwebs, and any other sources available to me.