Beef and Snow Peas with Pan-Fried Noodles

This is another Epicurious recipe.  It's easy, flavorful, and different.  The recipe is a basic stir-fry of flank steak and snow peas.  What makes this different is you pan fry the noodles on both sides, pressing into a kind of cake.  The first time we made this, the flipping was problematic.  The second time, we pressed more and it was much easier.  You then transfer the noodle cake to a cutting board and cut into wedges, serving the beef and snow peas on top.   I thought of serving this with an wonton soup, maybe, but it didn't happen.  It was a stand-alone dish and quite filling on its own.

*Note:  Obviously photography isn't my calling.  The dish looked much more appetizing than it does in the picture.  I'll try to stick to images I find on the web.

Quick Italian Dinner Fare

 


Insalata di Puntarelle is apparently some kind of Italian chicory salad. This recipe is not made with chicory but with Belgian endive and celery cut into thin strips. The dressing is garlic, anchovies (I used anchovy paste because I had it on hand), extra-virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar, dijon mustard, and Kosher salt. Super easy to make. Seriously, the prep time was all of 10 minutes. The trick, and do not skip this step, is to place the sliced endive and celery into a bowl of ice water in the refrigerator for an hour. You drain it then and toss with the dressing. Fantastic! It's fresh and crisp and has a nice little bite. I also refrigerated my salad plates, too, to prolong the chill of the salad.

 

 I found this salad recipe when I was searching for a pasta dish for dinner.  I found a Capellini with Shrimp and Tomato Cream Sauce that sounded interesting, and easy.  The good folks at Epicurious had made that recipe part of its Quick Italian Dinner Fare menu, which the salad as a first course and Apricots with Amaretto Syrup for dessert.  All the recipes were easy.  The Capellini was good but a little bland.  Next time I'll try some more red pepper to spice it up.  The Apricots were good, too.  They weren't what I had been expecting, but that was probably because I used canned apricots (sorry, it was what I had on hand).  It was also very sweet.  I think next time I'll cut down on the sugar (and use fresh apricots) and see if that helps.

All in all, it was an enjoyable meal.  Easy to prepare (hurray!) and tasty.  I should have probably started this post with the main course, but it's the Insalata di Puntarelle that I've been craving and has become a staple in my kitchen.







Grilled Lemongrass Chicken with Red Quinoa and Vegetables

I was looking for a recipe for the red quinoa I found in the health food aisle of my local grocery store. I had cooked quinoa before - I have a great, spicy vegetarian quinoa stuffed pepper recipe that I got from my sister - but not red quinoa. As is my habit, my first stop was Epicurious. I find myself at that site so often primarily because I can usually find a recipe that strikes my fancy using the ingredients I have on hand. Everyday cooking is so much more fun (and bearable) for me when I'm trying something new.

This recipe is easy to put together--a simple marinade, cooking the quinoa (like rice), and sautéing some snap peas and red bell peppers in the same pan as the chicken. I'm one of those people that like to eat my food separately--meat first, then veg, then starch--but not with this dish. The quinoa is rather bland on its own, but with the lemony chicken and vegetables it sings. This is a simple, two-pot meal that has great flavor.  The mix of textures adds another layer of interest to the dish and lifts it above the pedestrian. I served it with a Robert Mondavi Chardonnay (one of my Grandfather's favorites). The pairing was nice, but I think next time I'll try an unoaked Chardonnay. The Mondavi is a nice wine that I think I would have appreciated more on its own, both for its drinkability and for the warm memories it always brings to mind.

Pork Stew with Hard Cider, Pearl Onions, and Potatoes

This is a time consuming recipe that I thought would be great for a snowy, cold lazy winter day and night. I found the recipe in the February 2010 issue of Bon Appetit magazine. For a little background, pork was only okay in taste, in my opinion. That all changed when I bought some at my local farmer’s market, despite the higher price. What a stunning discovery! The pork chops and bacon actually tasted like they came from an animal. I was a convert and a beginner food-source snob.

My new attitude is well and good, but it’s winter now and the farmer’s markets are closed, Whole Foods isn’t convenient or economical, and so I have to take what I can get. I had never tried a pork stew before but, looking for new ways to make grocery store pork taste like something, I thought the recipe sounded interesting. It had parsnips in it, too, a vegetable I hadn’t yet tried to prepare myself. That was another plus this recipe had going for it because I needed something to help me out of my vegetable rut. You know, routine cooking with all the old faithfuls—beans, peas, carrots, broccoli, and asparagus on the grill in summer. I only recently started eating beets despite hating them my entire life because I think they taste like dirt. But, I hear they are good for your liver and, with the wine that I drink, I could use all the help I can get. Surprisingly, the flavor of beets grew on me as well. Anyway, a red light should have gone off in my head when I was reading the list of ingredients. You see, I’m the kind of person that doesn’t like my food to touch. Moreover, I eat one thing at a time until it’s gone—all the meat, then the potatoes, then the vegetables. I’m happy with this system and don’t plan to change either. So, when I saw that there were apples in the stew, I should have stopped to consider what I was planning.

The pork and vegetables smelled heavenly as the stew was simmering. I think I would have enjoyed it enormously if I had stopped before adding the final ingredients—Calvados (apple brandy), apples, and mustard. Those last few items seemed to throw the stew into overdrive. There was a whole lot going on in that pot and a whole lot of competing flavors in each mouthful. It didn’t help that I took the recommendation in the magazine and served Hard Cider with the stew instead of a nice Gewürztraminer like I was considering. It was apple overdose. On the Epicurious website, most reviewers who did not add the Calvados loved the stew, so maybe that makes the difference. Even hearing that, I don’t think I would make this recipe again, even with the changes and omissions. It really was laborious for a so-so result.

Here's the link to the recipe:  Pork Stew with Hard Cider Pearl Onions and Potatoes