what's for dinner tonight: kimchi fried rice (kimchi bokkeumbap)

With my remaining jar of kimchi, stored in the back of the fridge for weeks, and some old steamed rice, I was determined to try a Korean classic.

Ingredients:

2 cups of white rice, cooked

1 cup of kimchi, chopped

1/2 a small onion, chopped

1/4 cup of corn

1/4 cup of peas

4 tbsp. of olive oil

1 tbsp. of sesame oil

3 tbsp. of soy sauce

Salt to taste

Fried egg, to add to the top of the rice

Chopped green onion, for garnish

Take out about 1 cup of kimchi from the jar.

Chop the kimchi, and reserve the juices..

Chop up the onion and green onion.

In a wok, heat the olive oil on high, and add the onion. Stir fry until it starts to yellow, about 1 minute.

Add the kimchi and stir fry for about 1 minute.

Add the rice, peas, corn, and green onion. Mix well. Add in the sesame oil and season with soy sauce and salt if needed.

Serve with a fried egg on top. A giant squirt of Sriracha sauce will really make the dish.

Enjoy! Nom, nom, nom...

what's for dinner tonight: roasted bell pepper pesto and vodka pasta

I told you I liked noodles. I could probably make an entire menu of just pasta dishes! This recipe was extremely simple, and it took about 15 minutes to make total-- including prep time. That actually ended up working wonderfully for me, I was out of the house for 12 hours today! I'm definitely sleepy now after eating this warm dish...

Ingredients:

1 lbs of pasta, I used rotini

1 small yellow onion, chopped

3 large cloves of garlic, minced

1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup of vodka 

1 jar of roasted red bell peppers

1 tbsp. of dried basil

3 tbsp. of olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Grated Parmesan cheese

Start by cooking your noodles until al dente. Season the water with salt and olive oil before adding the noodles into a boiling pot of water. By the time you finish your sauce, the noodles will be done too.

In a blender or food processor, liquefy the roasted red bell pepper. Add the basil as well.

After, in a deep skillet, warm up the olive oil on medium high heat. Saute the onion and garlic when the oil is hot.

Pour in your vodka and allow the alcohol to simmer into the garlic and onion.

Once most of the vodka has evaporated, add in the bell pepper and basil sauce.

Mix together...

Add in your heavy whipping cream.

Mix again!

By now, the noodles should be done. Drain the noodles.

Add the noodles into your sauce.

Mix, mix, mix!

Serve with some grated Parmesan.

Enjoy! Nom, nom, nom...

what's for dinner tonight: shrimp and chive wontons

I remembered a dim-sum dish I used to eat as a young child on Sunday mornings: shrimp and chive dumplings. I've always loved chives, I grew up growing chives in the backyard of my home. They have an aroma that just makes my mouth water. I decided to make some shrimp and chive wontons to reminisce those days I spent in Bolings. They turned out so tasty!!! 

Ingredients:

20 large shrimp, peeled and deveined

3 1/2 cups of chives, chopped

1 package of wontons

2 inch piece of ginger, minced

Salt

White pepper

Garlic powder

1 egg

Garlic chili sauce

Black vinegar

Sesame oil

Soy sauce

Defrost 20 large shrimp in room temperature water..

De-vein and peel the shrimp.

Slice the back of the shrimp and pat down both sides with a knife. Fold the shrimp back up. This will allow for easier mincing.

Mince the shrimp. Put this in a large mixing bowl.

Chop up some chives, make sure they're sliced thinly and evenly.

Chop up the chives. Make sure they're thin slices.

Combine the chives in the mixing bowl, along with the minced ginger, salt, white pepper, and garlic powder.

Mix together well.

Beat one egg, this will become the sealer for the wontons.

Take a wonton skin, and put about one tablespoon of filling in the middle. The cats were caught in this photo, they smelled the fish!!

Take a brush, and brush the beaten egg onto two consecutive sides of the wonton. Fold in half, diagonally.

This recipe made about 60 wontons. In a large pot, in boiling water, cook the wontons until they float, or about 4 minutes. 

Meanwhile, mix together the sesame oil, garlic chili sauce, vinegar, and soy sauce. This will be your dipping sauce.

Enjoy! Nom, nom, nom...

what's for dinner tonight: penne con la ricotta

Pasta is always such a wonderful meal for friends. I had a couple friends over for a Friday night potluck. We had a wonderful and warm meal with wine and bean dip! This meal was modified from a Pinterest pin I saw a little while back. The recipe itself was incredibly easy to make, it was yummy, and it pleased those who ate it. I made about 10 servings with this, cut the recipe in half for a small family dinner.

Ingredients:

5 cloves of garlic, minced

2 lbs. of penne

2 cans of diced tomatoes

20 oz. of Ricotta cheese

1 1/2 cups of basil, chopped

4 tbsp. of lime juice

6 tbsp. of olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Shredded Parmesan 

Roughly chop the basil.

In a large sauce pan, heat up the olive oil on medium-high heat. Once the oil is warmed, saute the garlic for less than a minute, or until the garlic starts to brown.

Add in the basil. Most recipes do not call for the basil until the sauce itself is almost done cooking, but I like to add the basil at the very beginning mostly because the basil aromas are much heavier in the sauce this way.

Add the diced tomatoes after the basil leaves begin to wilt.

Wait until the sauce starts to simmer before turning the heat to medium-low. Cover the lid and let it simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the penne until al dente. Season the noodles with salt and add some olive oil to prevent the noodles from sticking.

After 20-30 minutes, season the sauce with salt and pepper, and add in the Ricotta cheese.

Mix well.

Drain the noodles, then add them into the sauce, mix well.

Garnish with some additional basil leaves and shredded Parmesan.

Enjoy! Nom, nom, nom...

what's for dinner tonight: mango tofu

I recently went to Encore on Mass St. in Lawrence and ordered their mango tofu-- fell in love. It was absolutely delicious, so I thought I'd try out my own recipe, to try to re-create it. I came pretty close!

Ingredients: 

1/4 cup of white vinegar

1/4 cup of ketchup

1/4 cup of brown sugar

2 tbsp. of soy sauce

1 tbsp. of Worcestershire sauce

1 can of pineapple juice, from a 15 oz can of pineapple chunks

1 1/2 tbsp. of potato starch 

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 inches of ginger, minced

2 tbsp. of chili flakes

1/2 red bell pepper, sliced

1/2 green bell pepper, sliced

1 mango, slightly ripened

1 container of firm tofu, sliced

Olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Take your tofu out of the container and pat dry with paper towel. Slice up your tofu into long, 3 inch pieces.

In a skillet, heat up a few tablespoons of olive oil on medium-high heat and pan fry the tofu until they are golden on all sides.

Line a plate with a paper towel, and let it soak up any additional oil.

Mince both the garlic and ginger. Thank goodness for my mini food processor!! Such a time saver.

Slice up the red and green bell peppers.

Skin off the first two layers of the mango, using a vegetable peeler. When you pick out your mango, you want to make sure it's ripe, but that it's still relatively hard. Using a very ripe mango will end up a mushy mess after it's been cooked.

For those who have little to no experience with mangos, the pit is directly in the center, so be careful when slicing the mango. Slice it in thirds and throw the pit away. I was able to get a little bit of mango meat from the sides, since the pit is an oval shape. 

Slice up the rest of the mango into long strips.

In a skillet, on medium-high heat, saute the garlic, ginger and chili flakes in a few tablespoons of olive oil.

Combine the vinegar, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar and soy sauce.

Put the liquid into the skillet.

Add the pineapple juice.

And lastly the potato starch. I made the mistake of forgetting to mix the starch with some room temperature fluid, which ended up clumping together in the sauce. It took a while for that to separate, so I'd recommend mixing it into the pineapple juice before putting it into the skillet.

Mix well, and let the sauce simmer, it will begin to thicken.

Once the sauce begins to thicken (about 2-3 minutes), add the red and green bell pepper and mango. Toss well, and let this cook for about 5-8 minutes, or until the vegetables begin to soften.

Add in the tofu (we add the tofu last, or the skin of the tofu will begin to soften from the sauce and cooking).

Serve on some rice!

Enjoy! Nom, nom, nom..