Red Curry Shrimp

Feel free to make your own curry paste.  It’s really easy and willl be worth the effort.  Recipe to follow.

1 (14 oz.) can Coconut Milk (Regular or Lite), (divided)

1 1⁄2 Tbs. Red Curry Paste (see recipe below)

1 Tbs. brown sugar


2 kaffir lime leaves, minced (Or zest and juice of 1/2 lime)

1 lb. large shrimp, shelled and deveined

2 Tbs. fish sauce

1/4 cup basil, chopped

1/2 head cauliflower for rice

In a wok or heavy skillet heat half a can of the coconut milk. Stir in red curry paste and cook until well blended. Add the remaining coconut milk, brown sugar and kaffir lime leaves (or zest and juice) and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add shrimp, and cook until shrimp are orange-pink in color, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in fish sauce and chopped basil.

Meanwhile, shred the cauliflower and place in a microwave safe bowl.  Add a few tabespoons of water and microwave covered for about 6 minutes.  Serve shrimp over the “rice”

Red Curry Paste

6-8 dried red chilis

1 stalk Fresh lemon grass OR 1 ts Dried lemon grass

5 Garlic cloves, peeled

3 md Shallots, peeled or about 1/2 medium onion

1 ts Kaffir lime zest OR Lemon zest

1 ts Galanga, fresh or dried* (or use ginger if you can’t find galanga)

Directions

Cut the chili peppers into small pieces & soak them in a cup of cold water for 15 minutes. Separate the seeds & discard them.

Place the prepared chilies into a mortar or food processor. Add the remaining ingredients & blend well until a thick paste, like peanut butter is formed. If the ingredients are too dry, add a few drops of cold water. Put the curry paste in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator until ready to use.

* If using dried galanga, soak in cold water for 15 minutes.

Makes 1/2 cup

Baked Cod in Orange Sauce

4 (6 ounce) cod fish fillets

1/2 cup fresh orange juice

1/2 tablespoon dried thyme or 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped

1/2 tablespoon orange zest

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Arrange cod fillets on sheets of foil or heavy parchment papper


Combine remaining ingredients in a small bowl.

Pour over cod, wrap the foil or paper edges tightly to form a seal and bake for 12-15 minutes until fish is opaque throughout.

Spoon orange sauce over fish and serve with vegetables or rice. Garnish with sprigs of thyme and orange slices, if desired.

Calculated for 1 serving (203g)

Recipe makes 4 servings

Calories 156

Calories from Fat 11

Total Fat 1.3g

Saturated Fat 0.3g

Polyunsat. Fat 0.4g

Monounsat. Fat 0.2g

Trans Fat 0.0g

Cholesterol 73mg

Sodium 93mg

Potassium 775mg

Total Carbohydrate 3.8g

Dietary Fiber 0.3g

Sugars 2.6g

Protein 30.8g

Meatless Tacos

1/4 cup lentils

1/4 cup chopped onions

1 8oz can tomato sauce (or 11oz gf salsa)

taco seasoning (GF)

8 oz tofu (firm) drained and finely chopped

8 100% corn taco shells, warmed


1/2 cup shredded lettuce

1 medium tomato, chopped

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (optional)

RInse lentils, drain.  In a medium sauce pan combine lentils, onion and a 1/2 cup water.  Bring to boiling, reduce heat.  Cover and simmer for about 30 or unti ltender and liquid is absorbed. 

Stir in tomato sauce (or 8oz of the salsa) and seasoning mix into lentils.  Simmer, uncoveredfor 5 minutes.  Stir in tofu, heat through.  Spoon into taco shells.  Top with lettuce, tomatoes, more salsa and cheese if desired.

This could also be made with rice or cauliflower rice for those with soy allergies.

Spicy Basil Chicken

This was one of the dishes from IAmGlutenFree‘s party this weekend that I still owe an entry about.  This was superb.  I’m changing the recipe up a little bit, but here’s the main rendition of it.

Spicy Basil Chicken

(Gai Pad Gra Pow)

Ingredients:

1 cup fresh Thai holy basil* (bai gra pow), or Thai sweet basil (bai horapa) leaves

1/2 to 1 cup fresh Thai sweet basil* (bai horapa)

2 to 3 Tbsp. oil

4 to 6 cloves garlic, minced

2 to 3 shallots, thinly sliced (or substitute with 1/2 cup sliced onion)


1 lb. boneless chicken, chopped or cut into small bite-sized pieces

2 to 3 fresh jalapeno, cut into large slivers; or 4 to 8 Thai chilies (prik kee noo), minced or chopped

2 small kaffir lime leaves, very finely slivered (optional)

1 to 2 tsp. sweet black soy sauce

1 to 2 Tbsp. Thai Kitchen Premium Fish sauce (to taste)

1 Tbsp. Sugar

ground white pepper (a few dashes to taste)

Directions:


Clean and wash basil leaves. Fresh basil leaves should be left whole; the flowers may also be used. Pull off leaves and flowers and discard the stems.

In a wok add oil and heat until the surface is smoking hot. Add garlic and shallots. Sautee until fragrant. Add chicken. Stir-fry until browned.

Add chilies, kaffir lime leaves (optional) and dried holy basil leaves. Add black soy sauce and stir-fry for an additional 30 seconds. Season to taste with fish sauce and sugar. Stir-in fresh basil. Toss well. Stir-fry another half a minute or until the basil is wilted and the chicken cooked through. Sprinkle with white pepper. Stir and transfer to a serving dish or spoon over individual plates of cooked Thai Kitchen Select Harvest Jasmine Rice.

* Note: You can substitute you favorite basil if specified basil is difficult to find.

New link

You’ll notice a new link in the Health section.  It’s for the Pancreatitis Supporters’ Network in the UK.  My good friend (and mother-in-law) Margaret suffers from this condition.  Anyone with it can’t eat fat.  So I’m hoping that by linking to them, people will submit some wonderful low-fat and no fat recipes for not just my wonderful mother-in-law, but for everyone who has this condition.  C’mon folks… start submitting!! :D

So much food, so little time

I’ve been BUSY this week!!  I have so much to post about, recipes, wine, the party for IamGlutenFree that I helped out with on Saturday.  There is so much going on.  But the point of this particular entry is how I’ve been spending my mornings.

We have two pugs who now have gotten the idea that daylight=walks. That means I’m awake no later than 7:30.  I work 11am to 7pm.  How do I fill the time?  I cook!  I’ve started making our meals up in the morning, either by cooking them outright or like this morning - cooking and prepping another.  Today I had 4lbs of chicken that I was going to use up.  I was using part of it for Sweet and Sour Chicken, the rest was destined to be marinated later on for Lemon Mustard Chicken.  I usually just throw the chicken in a ziplock bag to marinate later, but today I fugured, “You are already going to the effort of bagging it, do something with it!”.  So I went ahead and got the marinade whipped up, and the veggies for the side dish prepped and stored.  Then I shredded all the cauliflower so it’s all ready for the sweet and sour, as well as the Thai Beef and possibly the Spicy Basil Chicken later in the week.  While that was cooking in the microwave, I got the chicken all ready and cooking.  Now I’m just waiting for the chicken to cool so it can be packed away for lunch and dinner.

Not a bad use of my morning if you ask me.  It got me up out of bed, something that is a feat even with coffee.

Grilled Shrimp in Lettuce Leaves with Serrano-Mint Sauce

Big shout out to Rita for finding this recipe for me.  I searched everywhere for it.  She did this for our friend Liz’s baby shower and it totally rocked!

Grilled Shrimp in Lettuce Leaves with Serrano-Mint Sauce

1 pound large shrimp (about 36), peeled and deveined

3 tablespoons canola oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper

12 leaves green curly leaf lettuce

Serrano-Mint Sauce, recipe follows

Chili oil, for drizzling, optional

Fresh cilantro leaves

Preheat the grill to medium-high. In a large bowl, toss shrimp in oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill the shrimp for 1 to 2 minutes on each side or until just cooked through. Be careful not to overcook the shrimp, or they will be tough and rubbery. Remove from the grill.

Place about 3 shrimp in each lettuce leaf. Drizzle with the Serrano-Mint Sauce and with a little chili oil, if desired. Sprinkle with a few cilantro leaves. Roll up the lettuce leaves, and eat immediately.

Serrano-Mint Sauce:

1 cup tightly packed mint leaves, plus more for garnish

2 serrano chiles, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

2 teaspoons sugar

1/4 cup white wine vinegar


2 tablespoons fish sauce

Salt

Place all ingredients, except for salt, in a blender. Pulse until smooth. Season, to taste.

Lemon Chicken Stirfry

A friend of mine sent me this the other day.  Now I’m not huge on stirfries.  Especially chicken.  I can cook all sorts of meals and use all sorts of techniques to cook, yet the hubmle stirfry eludes me.  I’ve never been able to master the art of keeping the chicken moist.  Mine always used to end up as these little grey lumps in the midst of the veggies.  However, I’ve not tried a stir fry in a very long time, probably a good 8 or 9 years.

This recipe will hopefully change that.

I will be giving this a whirl tonight.  Wish me luck.

Lemon Chicken Stir-Fry

Makes 4 servings

Lemon chicken most often appears as pieces of chicken battered,


deep-fried and topped with a thick, lemony sauce. While tasty, it’s

tricky for the home cook to get just right, plus the dish is laden

with calories.

By stir-frying strips of chicken and adding asparagus, then adding the

lemon sauce toward the end of cooking, this recipe becomes a true

one-pot—or one-wok—dish

*  1/4 cup lemon juice

*  2 tablespoons honey

*  1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest

*  1/2 teaspoon plus 2 teaspoons minced garlic

*  1/4 teaspoon salt


*  1/4 teaspoon grated ginger, plus 2 teaspoons minced ginger

*  1/3 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth

*  2 teaspoons cornstarch

*  3 tablespoons canola oil

*  Three 6- to 8-ounce boneless, skinless chicken breast halves,


cut in 1/4-inch strips

*  1/2 pound thin asparagus spears, trimmed and cut in 2-inch

lengths

*  2 large carrots, peeled and cut in 2 x 1/4-inch strips

*  1 small red onion, halved lengthwise and cut in 1/4-inch slices

1. Stir the lemon juice and honey together in a small bowl to dissolve

the honey; stir in the lemon zest. Mash the 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

with the salt using the back of the tines of a fork to form a paste;

stir the paste into the lemon mixture along with the grated ginger.

Stir the chicken broth and cornstarch together in a separate small

bowl.

2. Heat 2 tablespoons of the canola oil in a wok over high heat; swirl

to coat the sides. Add 1 teaspoon of the remaining garlic and 1


teaspoon of the minced ginger to the wok and stir quickly. Add the

chicken; stir-fry until the chicken is no longer pink in the center

when cut with a knife, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove.

3. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon canola oil to the wok; swirl to coat

the sides. Add the remaining 1 teaspoon garlic and the remaining 1

teaspoon minced ginger; stir quickly. Add the asparagus, carrots, and

onion; stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add the lemon mixture and bring to a

boil. Boil, stirring often, until the vegetables are crisp-tender, 2


to 3 minutes.

4. Add the reserved chicken. Stir the cornstarch mixture to blend;

pour into the wok. Bring to a boil; boil until thickened and clear,

about 1 minute. Serve with rice to soak up the lemon sauce.

Make Ahead: Have everything prepped and assembled in advance.

Recipe from The One-Dish Chicken Cookbook

http://mail.publicradio.org/site/R?i=-ZQcFZcaWB_NMNpCs7arxQ..

by Mary Ellen Evans. Published in 2006 by Broadway Books, a division

of Random House, Inc. © 2006 by Mary Ellen Evans.

Personal Chef

I’m thinking seriously of doing some work as a personal chef on the side.  I really do love to cook and enjoy the challenge of making foods gluten-free, plus I would love to help others that have been diagnosed to realise that they *can* eat real food.  I remember the trials of first going gluten-free (as well as dairy-free, soy free, rice free and for a while sugar free) so I really can sympathise with people going through it.  Here’s the ad I posted on Craigslist:

Gluten free personal chef available!

Got a party to cater? Looking for gluten free alternatives to your old favorites? Recently diagnosed with celiacs disease, and looking for a way to eat real food?

I am an experienced home cook and caterer. I have been gluten free, rice free, soy free, dairy free and egg white free for over a year, and still cook every night for my family and host parties for friends. I know the pain of celiacs disease and accidental gluten poisoning.

I can cook you fantastic tasting real meals. I can cater your dinner parties for you and your friends.

I can create you a meal plan and a grocery planner so you can eat healthily every night of the week with no guess work.

Kitchen cleansing also available ... I can make your kitchen a gluten free and safe environment. Avoid accidental gluten poisoning from cross contamination!

Example dishes:

Gluten free sweet and sour chicken!

Gluten free soy sauce!

Gluten free tomato ketchup!

Gluten free Firehouse chicken!

Gluten free lamb stew provincial!

Gluten free Thai beef lettuce wraps!

Gluten free spiced steak and chips . Great for the coming summer!


Gluten free chocolate chip brownies!

 

 

Murghi Badami

        MURGHI BADAMI

Murghi Badami is a richer version of Chicken Korma, where the chicken is cooked entirely in natural yogurt and single cream. No water is added to the chicken and the result is a thick and silky gravy with delightful taste.

              SERVES 4-6 people

2.2LBS CHICKEN BREAST SKINNED

1 TSP SALT

1” ROOT GINGER CHOPPED & PEELED


3-4 CLOVES GARLIC CHOPPED & PEELED

1 TSP FRESH GROUD BLACK PEPPER

1TBS LEMON JUICE

275g/10 OZ THICK SET YOGURT

50grms / 2oz GHEE OR UN SALTED BUTTER

2 MED SIZED ONIONS FINELY SLICED

6 GREEN CARDOMON PODS SPLIT ON TOP


1 TBS GROUND CORIANDER

1 TSP GROUND TURMERIC

150/5FL.OZ SINGLE CREAM

¼-1/2 TSP. CHILLI POWDER

1 HEAPED TBSP GROUND ALMONDS

1 Cut chicken breast in half. Wash and dry. Make small incisions on both sides of chicken with sharp knife

2 Add salt to ginger and garlic and mash to a pulp. Mix with the pepper and lemon juice. Rub this mixture into the chiken, cover and keep aside for 1 hour.

3 Beat the yogurt until smooth and set aside.


4 Melt the ghee or butter over medium heat and fry the onions until well browned [ 10 to 12 mins]. Remove pan from heat and drain off excess fat by pressing onions on side of pan. Transfer the onions to a plate.

5 Return pan to the heat, add cardamom pods and coriander, stir fry for 30 seconds. Add the chicken until it changes colour [5 to 6 mins] stirring continuously.

6 Stir in the turmeric and yogurt and simmer,cover the pan and cook for 15 mins, stirring occasionally

7 Reserve 2 tbs of the fried onions and add the rest to the chicken along with the cream and chilli pdr mix well. Cover and simmer for a further 15 to 20 mins. Stirring occasionally

8 Sprinkle the ground almonds and mix well, cover and simmer for 6 to 8 mins. Remove from heat

9 Put the chicken in a serving dish and garnish with the remaining fried onions

Serve with any Inian bread, Saffron or Pilau Rice

Taken from Complete Indian Cookbook by Mridula Baljekar.

Another lamb night

Lately, I’ve been trying to do some stuff with lamb.  I’ve never been a huge fan of it, but I know the DH loves it.  It all boils down to being bored with chicken and beef.  We eat a lot of both, as it’s the easiest to do stuff with.  You can grill it, fry it, bake it, broil it and usually it’s all good.  He’s not a big fish fan, and while I love fish like salmon and tuna, I’m not as keen on cod or other mild white fish so we tend not to eat a lot of fish.  For me, shrimp belongs in a shrimp cocktail and little else.   So finding new meats and new tastes are right now key to keeping me interested in cooking and not getting too down about having CD. 

Which brings me to lamb.

I’ve been playing around with it a bit, starting with that French Provence lamb slow cooker dish I did a few weeks ago.  It was really good, but I wanted to try something else.  I found this minted lamb recipe and wanted to try it.  Thursday night I pull the meat down from the freezer to have it ready for Friday.  Friday night I’m all ready to cook it and guess what?  It needs to marinate for at least four hours!!  Now what?  I look closely at the list of ingredients for the marinade.  I could do a dry rub with part of it then the liquids could be made into a sauce and reduced a bit.  Cool, let’s get started.  Hmm.  The 8 bits of lamb I thought I had?  Try 4 big pieces.   Oops.  Ok, no biggie, two skillets should do the trick and just split the sauce between both.  Except one of my skillets is steel and the other is hard anodized aluminum.  It was a bit tense trying to watch both, as they were wanting to cook at different rates, and one was smoking (First time I set off the heat/smoke detector in a while.) and while all this is going on, I’m trying to roast up some carrots to go with it.  As frantic as it all looked, it came together well.  I can definitely see doing this again, and I’d probably do it the same way, except I’d get a chunk of bobneless lamb and cut it up.

Minted Lamb Chops

8 lamb rib chops with bone, cut 1” thick

1/4 cup snipped fresh mint

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons worth)

2 Tbsp cooking oil

2 Tbsp water

1 Tbsp fresh grated ginger


1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 to 1 tsp bottled mince garlic or 1-2 cloves fresh

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1-2 Tbsp finely shreddded mint

Trim fat from chops.  Place chops in resealable plastic bag or in a shallow dish.  For the marinade place all the ingredients except the finely shredded mint into a bowl and mix.  Pour over chops. Seal the bag, if using.  Turn the chops to coat. Cover if in a dish.  marinate at least 4 hours or up to 24 hours, turning occasionally.

Drain chops, discarding the marinade.  Place chops on a grill or in broiler 3-4 inches from the heat.  Grill or broil til desired doneness, turning once halfway through cooking.  Aloow 12 minutes or so for medium-rare and 15 or so for medium.

If using the skillet method, heat pan over medium high heat.  Add a bit of oil.  When the oils starts showing the first wisps of smoke, add the chops.  Wait for several minutes, oil the side facing upwards, then flip, letting them sear.  Cook until desired doneness.

Transfer chops to a serving platter and sprinkle with shredded mint.

italian bake chicken

Tender Italian Baked Chicken

Submit a recipe photo

“Flavorful and moist baked chicken.”

Original recipe yield: 4 servings.

Prep Time:


  10 Minutes

Cook Time:

  20 Minutes

Ready In:

  30 Minutes

Servings:

  4

INGREDIENTS:

  * 3/4 cup mayonnaise

  * 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

  * 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder

  * 3/4 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs

  * 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).

  2. In a bowl, mix the mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese, and garlic powder. Place bread crumbs in a separate bowl. Dip chicken into the mayonnaise mixture, then into the bread crumbs to coat. Arrange coated chicken on a baking sheet.

  3. Bake 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until chicken juices run clear and coating is golden brown.

Iron Chef Pantry

The other day we came home from work and needed to make some dinner.  Now I hadn’t planned *anything* and most of the meat I had was still up in the freezer.  The only thing down was mince (hamburger).  I was going to use that for the Thai Beef, but we just did that for friends the night before, so I didn’t want to make it again.  What should I do with it?  I could’ve made hamburger patties out of it, but that had no appeal.  I don’t have the makings for a meat loaf, and I really couldn’t think of much to do with it.

So what do you do?

I decided to just see what I had lying around the pantry.  I found taco shells, so tacos was a thought The problem is, I *loved* tacos with lots of cheese and sour cream.  I’ve never really been able to enjoy tacos since losing the ability to eat dairy.  Just the meat and lettuce was never appealing.  As a kid I used to scrape all the letuce and tomato off so there was more room for cheese and sour cream.  I never cared much for guacamole in tacos either - just meat, cheese, sour cream and taco sauce.  Having said all that, I decided to see if I could make tacos my own again, without the dairy.  It would have to e something that really added to the flavour of the mince. 

So I rummaged around in the pantry some more.  I found some tomato sauce.  Ok, that’s a start.  A tin of kidney beans - cool.  Hey, where did that jar of salsa come from??  Onions? Garlic? Wait - I have green onions in the fridge and a whole head of roasted garlic, let’s use them up instead.  Spices - let’s see, cumin, chili powder, cardamom (just a pinch), a bit of cayenne, salt and pepper.  That should work.

I started browning the beef, just like the old days of taco making.  Turn on the oven to 350 for the shells to warm up. Now usually at this point I’d just open the packet of taco seasoning and finish up.  Today though. I started adding the scallions and the whole head of roast garlic, then the jar of salsa and about half the tomato sauce.  Inspriation struck and I pulled out some cilantro (coriander) and a lime.  I juiced the lime and diced up some cilantro.  Into the skillet with you.  Ok, it’s getting close - pop the shells in the oven to warm up.

I have to say it turned out gorgeous.  No dairy was needed at all.  There was a lot of flavours and smells.  I wanted to get some corn in there, but didn’t have any on hand.  This was seriously one of those Iron Chef moments where you just go with what you have on hand and go for it.  If I hadn’t had the salsa, no biggie - it just would’ve taken more tomato sauce, more onion and some red chili flakes to make up the difference.  I can finally eat tacos again and enjoy it.  The DH loved it and requested it be put in the food rota.   To me, tat was the best complement of all.

Dinner plans

Tomorrow I’m “hosting” a dinner for seven.  Our friend Liz just had her baby and we thought it’d be fun to get together and have some food.  She wanted to try the Thai Beef in Lettuce, so I’m making a Thai night out of it.  I’ve got the beef all ready and most of the stuff prepped.  I still need to prep the “rice” and get a cucumber.  The starter will be a Tom Yum (Hot and Sour ) soup.  It should be really good.  The base is sitting in the fridge now with the lemongrass and limes marinating away.  I don’t have any chili paste, but opted to make my own.  (Chilis, oil, salt.  How can you go wrong? )  For dessert, I’m thinking something basic, like oranges in a simple syrup.  There’s a great baked pineapple recipe I found, but that takes an hour!!  Another time though, definitely.

At any rate, here’s the Tom Yum soup recipe.  It’s from Thai Kitchen, but I’ve definitely strayed from this.  It needed much more in the way of veggies and stuff like the “normal” soup I’m used to.

Tom Yum Hot & Sour Soup

12 oz. chicken, or cleaned shrimp, shelled and

  deveined, or firm tofu, strained and cubed

3 cups chicken or vegetable stock

3 pieces fresh lemongrass (tender bottom 2/3 inch of stalk only)

2-3 Tbs. Thai Kitchen Premium Fish Sauce

1/3 cup fresh lime juice

2 kaffir lime leaves (optional)

1” piece fresh galangal (Thai ginger) or Chinese ginger,


  sliced and bruised

2 Tbs. sugar

2 Tbs. Thai Kitchen Roasted Red Chili Paste

1 (15 oz.) can straw mushrooms, drained

Optional garnish: sprigs of fresh cilantro

Bone and skin the chicken; cut into large pieces. In a large pot, combine the stock, lemongrass, fish sauce, lime juice, kaffir lime leaves, galangal and sugar. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add roasted red chili paste and stir well to incorporate. Add the mushrooms and the chicken and simmer for an additional 10 to 15 minutes until chicken is cooked. (If using shrimp or tofu, simmer for an additional 10 minutes then add into soup. Cook until shrimp turns orange-pink in color or tofu is tender, about 1 to 2 minutes.) Remove lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and galangal from soup before serving. Garnish with cilantro. Serves 4.