Sesame Noodles with Shrimp

These sesame noodles are so yummy, and the addition of shrimp to the original recipe made it even better!  This meal was a little bit sweet and a little bit spicy and totally beats take-out. 

Luckily, I've been cooking a lot of Asian food lately so I had almost all of the ingredients already.  I was able to quickly throw together this recipe for an easy weeknight meal that didn't take a lot of effort.....the most time consuming part was peeling the shrimp and waiting for the water for the pasta to boil.  All in all, definitely doable after a long, tiring day.

To make this even better next time I make it, I will add in some fresh minced ginger at the same time as the garlic, and I will also add some chopped cilantro when I serve it (I have reflected these changes on the recipe below).

Ingredients:

1 (16 ounce) package linguine pasta (I might try whole wheat next time)
3/4 lb. raw large shrimp, peeled and deveined with the tail removed, and seasoned with salt and pepper
EVOO
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
4 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons safflower oil (you can substitute canola oil if you want to, but I like to keep safflower oil on hand for when I make stir-fry)
6 tablespoons rice vinegar
6 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon sweet Asian chili sauce
1 teaspoon Sriracha
6 green onions, sliced
1 teaspoon sesame seeds, toasted
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Directions:

Bring a pot of lightly salted water to boil. Add pasta, and cook until al dente, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain, and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat about a tablespoon of EVOO in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp and cook until just pink (about a minute per side for medium shrimp and slightly longer for larger shrimp).  Remove the cooked shrimp from the pan and set aside.

Keep the skillet over medium-high heat and add a tablespoon of the safflower oil to the skillet.  Stir in garlic and ginger and sautee for about a minute.  Add sugar, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, sweet Asian chili sauce, Sriracha, and the rest of the safflower oil. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, until sugar dissolves.

Mix the sauce with the cooked linguine and the shrimp, and toss to coat. Garnish with green onions, cilantro, and sesame seeds.

Source:  Adapted from allrecipes

Asian Lettuce Wraps

I have to admit that before I made these, I'd never actually eaten lettuce wraps.....a meal without carbs?!  How could that be???  I stumbled across this recipe on The Noble Pig blog and decided to give it a try since I've been trying to eat a little healthier lately.

I'm glad I gave this a try because it made a tasty, healthy meal for us.  I'll admit that I wouldn't have turned down some eggrolls or potstickers to go with this, but it was definitely filling on it's own and good for my waistline.  I also loved the presentation, and I think this would make a good appetizer when you're entertaining guests.  I will definitely be making these again :)

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-1/2 pounds ground turkey or ground pork (I used a 1.25 lb. package of ground turkey)
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 Tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 Tablespoons teriyaki sauce
1 cup bean sprouts
2 carrots, shredded (about 1 cup)
24 large Boston or butter lettuce leaves (I used 1 head of butter lettuce....you could also use regular iceberg lettuce to cut the costs a little bit)
Soy sauce, for serving

Directions:

Warm oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add onion and saute until softened, about 3 minutes.  Add garlic, saute 1 minute longer.

Stir in turkey and cook, stirring until almost cooked through, about 5 minutes. Add broth and hoisin sauce. Cook, stirring and breaking up clumps of turkey, until turkey is cooked through and some of the liquid cooks down, 5 to 7 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in teriyaki sauce, bean sprouts and carrots. (You should have about 6 cups of filling).

Either spoon about 1/4 cup of filling into center of each lettuce leaf, or serve like I did below so that each person can just make their own lettuce wraps.  Serve with soy sauce if desired.

Source:  The Noble Pig

Thai Chicken Flatbread Pizza

Just thinking about this thai chicken flatbread makes me want to put it on the menu again for next week.....and I just might do that!  It tastes amazing, and it's really quick to put together.  I'll admit, I'm too lazy to make my own pizza crust most of the time (and I'm not into using Pillsbury or Boboli crusts anymore), but I found a solution that I have been using whenever I want a super thin crust pizza.....store bought flatbread!  I buy packaged flatbread from the bread section of my grocery store, top it with whatever I want on my pizza, and bake at 450 degrees for about 8 minutes or so.

There are a lot of different flatbread pizzas that I have to share, but this one is the hands-down winner for both Kevin and me.  Just a warning....the sriracha that I top it with makes it very spicy so if spicy is not your thing you might want to leave it off.  I didn't measure to find exact measurements when I made this, but I tried to give my best estimates.  Try this great combination, it's a great pizza :)

Ingredients:

2 pieces of store-bought flatbread (you can of course substitute your favorite pizza crust)
A little over half of a 7 oz. jar of peanut sauce (or enough to thinly spread all over your pizza crust)
1/2 lb. cooked chicken, diced into small, bite-sized pieces
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (you can use more or less depending on your tastes....I think I probably used a little more than this!)
4 scallions, chopped
2 jalapenos, chopped
3/4 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Sriracha hot sauce, to taste

Directions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

2.  Spread the peanut sauce all over the flatbread crust in a thin layer.  Arrange the chicken pieces over the pizza.  Sprinkle on the shredded cheese, jalapenos, and the scallions.

3.  Bake for about 8 minutes, or until the cheese has completely melted and the crust has browned a little (you'll probably need to cook this a bit longer if you use regular pizza crust instead of flatbread).  Top cooked pizza with shredded carrots, cilantro, and sriracha (be careful - a little goes a long way.....you can look at the amount I used in a picture to give you an idea of how much to use if you want it very spicy).

This is sooooo good!

Source:  Inspired by lots of restaurants where I've had something similiar and from a recipe I saw on allrecipes

Pork & Shrimp Egg Rolls

To go along with the orange chicken that I made for dinner, I decided to make some homemade egg rolls.  I've been wanting to make homemade egg rolls for awhile because the frozen kind just doesn't cut it for me.  Kevin loves egg rolls so I decided to go ahead and give it a try.

These turned out great!  I will say that it did take me quite a bit of time to make these since you have to roll up each invidual egg roll, (we ended up not eating dinner that night until 9ish instead of 8 like I had planned) but if you have the time it's worth it.  I think my first time making egg rolls was a success.  My only advice is to buy extra egg roll wrappers if you have never made egg rolls before because I tore quite a few of them in the beginning.  It took me awhile to get the rolling down (and you have to be very gentle otherwise the wrappers will tear open), but eventually I got the hang of it. 

I got this recipe from allrecipes.com, and it ended up making about 30ish big egg rolls so I fried up 8 and froze the rest for later (which I would suggest doing - this recipe is definitely a process so you want to make a bunch while you're doing the work so that you can eat these over several meals).

Ingredients:

1 (16 ounce) package wonton wrappers (I bought 2 packages of big eggroll wrappers.....each had 21 wrappers so I definitely needed 2 or else I would have had extra filling)

1 pound lean ground beef (I used ground pork instead)
1 pound shrimp - peeled, deveined and coarsely chopped
5 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 pound bean sprouts
2 green onions
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 medium head cabbage, finely shredded (I just bought a bag of coleslaw mix to make it easier)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon MSG (I omitted, but I seasoned the filling with salt & pepper)
1 cup vegetable oil
Sweet and Sour Sauce, for serving

Directions:

1.  Place cabbage, bean sprouts, celery, and green onions in a large wok and stir fry over a high heat until vegetables cook down. Mix in shrimp, stir fry until cooked (I actually cooked the shrimp seperately to make sure I didn't overcook them.  Then I added into the mixture at the same time as the ground pork).

2.  In a large skillet, brown ground pork. Drain grease and add the meat to the vegetable and shrimp mixture. Continue to fry over a high heat; add oyster sauce, soy sauce, garlic, and salt & pepper. When well blended, remove mixture from heat.

3.  Place a tablespoon of the meat and seafood mixture (or more, depending on how large your egg roll wrappers are) into the center of each egg roll wrapper. Fold the wonton skin over to make a package of the meat mixture inside, and seal the skin closed by dipping your finger in a little water and pressing the ends together (the back of the egg roll wrapper package had instructions for how to roll the egg rolls up).  If you are freezing some of the eggrolls, freeze them on a baking sheet at this time and then move to a ziploc bag once they are frozen.

4.  Fry the wontons in 1/4 inch of vegetable oil until golden brown (if you are frying up the frozen ones, just go ahead and fry them from frozen and just fry a few extra minutes).  Serve with sweet and sour sauce.

Orange Chicken

Lately, I've been having cravings for chinese food.  I used to always order take-out instead of cooking it myself, but ever since I made sweet and sour chicken that turned out really great, I decided to try to make some orange chicken at home.  I found this recipe on a great blog called, What's Cookin, Chicago?  The recipe is originally from the cookbook, Cooking at Home with America's Test Kitchen. 

Overall, I really liked this meal.  I really liked the flavor of using chicken thighs instead of chicken breast in this recipe.....I just think the thigh meat is a little more flavorful and juicy.  The sauce was really good and easy to make.  The only thing that I would do differently next time is to brown the chicken a little longer in the oil to make it crispier and more golden brown.

Ingredients:

Marinade and Sauce-

1 1/2 pounds boneless, skineless chicken thighs, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
3/4 cup low sodium chicken broth (I used regular chicken broth)
3/4 cup juice, 1 1/2 teaspoons grated zest and 8 strips orange peel (each about 2" long by 1/2" wide) from 2 oranges (it took me 3 oranges to get enough juice and peel)
6 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup darn brown sugar (I used light brown sugar because that's what I had on hand)
3 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1/4 cayenne
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons cold water
8 small whole dried red chiles (optional - I omitted)

Coating and Frying oil-
3 large egg whites
1 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
3 cups peanut oil

Directions:

For the Marinade and Sauce-
Place the chicken in a 1-gallon zip-lock bag; set aside. Combine the chicken broth, orange juice, grated zest, vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, and cayenne in a large saucepan (I used a 2 quart saucepan); whisk until the sugar is fully dissolved. Measure out 3/4 cup of the mixture and pour into the bag with the chicken; press out as much air as possible and seal the bag, making sure that all the pieces are coated with the marinade. Refrigerate 30-60 minutes, but no longer.

Bring the remaining mixture in the saucepan to a boil over high heat. In a small bowl, stir together the cornstarch and cold water and whisk the cornstarch mixture into the sauce. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until thick and translucent, about 1 minute. Off the heat, stir in the orange peel and chiles, if using; set the sauce aside.

For the Coating-
Place the egg whites in a pie plate, and using a fork, beat until frothy. In a second pie plate, whisk together the cornstarch, baking soda and cayenne until combined. Drain the chicken in a colander or large mesh stainer; thoroughly pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Place half of the chicken pieces in the egg whites and turn to coat; transfer the pieces to the cornstarch mixture and coat thoroughly. Place the dredged chicken pieces on a wire rack set over a baking sheet; repeat with the remaining chicken.

To Fry the Chicken-
Heat the oil in an 11-to 12-inch dutch oven or staight sided saute pan with at least a 3 quart capacity over high heat until the oil reaches 350 degrees on an instant read or deep fry thermometer. Carefully place half of the chicken in the oil; fry to golden brown, about 5 minutes, turning each piece with tongs halfway through cooking (next time I'll fry a bit longer than 5 minutes to get a good golden brown color). Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. Return the oil to 350 degrees and repeat with the remaining chicken.

To Serve-
Reheat the sauce over medium heat until it simmers, about 2 minutes. Add the chicken and gently toss until evenly coated and heated through. Serve immediately.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

I haven't really made too many Asian dishes (well about a month ago I made mongolian beef but it didn't turn out like I thought it would), but this one turned out great! I found this recipe on this really great blog called My Kitchen Cafe that I came across while surfing the internet, and the recipe looked really tasty with not too many ingredients so I decided to give it a try. It was a winner with my husband so I'll definitely make it again. I didn't make any changes to the original recipe, but the only thing I may do next time is to make the sauce on the stovetop and then bake the chicken seperately for a little less time and then mix together at the end (just because a whole hour in the oven dried the chicken out a tad).

Ingredients:

Chicken -

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

salt and pepper

1 cup cornstarch

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup canola oil

Sauce -

3/4 cup sugar

4 tablespoons ketchup

1/2 cup vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon garlic salt

Directions:

Cut the chicken breasts into chunks. Dip chicken in cornstarch first and then in eggs.

Fry in a little oil until golden brown but not cooked through. Place in a single layer in a baking dish. Whisk up the sauce ingredients and pour over the chicken.

Bake for 1 hour at 325 degrees. Turn chicken every 15 minutes.

If you like extra sauce, make another batch of sauce and bring it to a boil on the stovetop. Stir constantly and let cook over medium heat until thickened and reduced - about 6 to 8 minutes.

I served this over jasmine rice with a side of potstickers and it turned out to be a great meal!