Homemade Thai Red Curry with Cod

I decided to go out of my comfort zone and cook Thai Red Curry tonight.  I made Thai curry once….. I think green? Or whichever. and it was meh, it was also in college… and me and my then boyfriend had to taste and tweak the entire time – It wasn’t bad… so glad my cooking skills have improve since then

I Vitamixed all the ingredients… added extra thai chilis, a habanero, extra ginger and extra lemongrass and garlic for more punch I don’t like going by recipes…. I’m a rebel

After the sauce started bubbling [oh I used LIGHT coconut milk for a little more healthy kick] I added in my veggies… chopped green beans, multi colored peppers….. red onion and eggplant…

After cooking for awhile I put in my cod and slowly added in some fresh basil

One for mama, one for me

Spicy, ilght and delicious!!!!!  FULL of veggies and delicious Cod.  Can’t wait to make it for J <3

BTW, Crazy bruins game tonight…. we were leading and then WTF 3x OT!?!?!?!

No worries… we let you win tonight Chi…… so it doesn’t look as bad when we win the rest :]

A simple steak dinner tonight…

I’ve been in recovery… and been totally vegetarian and on a liquid diet…

but while I’m supposed to be in bed rest, I craved some meat…. beef… rare beef to be exact.  So simple steak dinner it is.

Filet Mignon [rare for me, medium for mama] sprinkled with salt, pepper, cinnamon and cayenne…

with a reduced red wine, butter, chicken broth, shallots, garlic, mushroom, shallot sauce from the pan drippings….

I steamed some green beans… and poured me some Merlot from bottle and voila!  A delicious dinner tonight for mama and me.

OKAY. More updates from Taiwan, Frisco…… and of course stuff that I’ve cooked and eaten at back in the States, ASAP!!!!

Homemade Pita Pizzas at Midnight

I was feeling particularly hungry the other night and made myself some delicious pita pizzas.

I first baked the whole wheat pitas in the oven for a bit on each side til crisp… added a bit of mozzarella cheese to melt on top of each.  Put some Scarpetta arrabbiata sauce on top

Sugo all’arrabbiata (arrabbiato means angry inItalian—the name of the sauce is due to the heat of the chili peppers) is a pasta sauce made fromgarlic, tomatoes, and red chili peppers cooked inolive oil. Basil is sometimes used, although many chefs do not. The dish is usually served with pasta(especially penne and may have chopped freshparsley sprinkled on top.^[1]

…and topped them with toppings and extra extra cheese. Shredded AND fresh mozzarella.

Not sure if I really enjoyed the sauce, need to try it with pasta.  I love you Scott Conant but not sure if a pasta sauce with a shelf life of a year is really my thing.  I was lazy but I should just stick to making my own sauce like I usually do.

Oomphed up Margherita Pizza… extra basi and TONS of extra cheese…  with some freshly cracked black pepper.

Veggie Pizza – Red Onions, Mushrooms, Golden Cherry Tomatoes and Basil – with extra cheese!!!

All ingredients were bought at Whole Foods that afternoon :] And both were topped with a heavy hand of hot pepper chili flakes. I have a HUUUUGE tub of it that I bought at Costco :D

LaFrieda Black Angus Ribeyes a la Me

So the other week was Steak & BJ Day… and I special ordered us Pat LaFrieda steaks… sexy Black Angus Bone In Ribeyes… And before I get into how delicious it was… I have a small gripe to pick.

I got them next day delivered and paid like 40$ for shipping for it, but they didn’t come til the following week, almost a week later! WTF! Okay, fine, I wrote them an email the day I thought I was going to get them and didn’t even get a reply until 2 days later :[ Boo!

And okay I get it I ordered them on Thursday at midnight, but still, get my order right - I didn't order burgers, lady.  Sigh, okay, fine, but the steak was good.

"Pasture raised, grass fed, grain finished, center cut, Rib steaks.

Breed: 100 percent black angus, genetically certified
 
No Antibiotics – EVER!
No Added Hormones – EVER!
No Growth Promoting Drugs – EVER!
No Artificial Ingredients – EVER!
100% Vegetarian Diet of grasses, hay, and finished on corn
Sourced Verified to Ranch of Birth
Humane Animal Handling Practices"

I still have one in the freezer, since the timing was off, but I did have one the other day.  They come in packages like this... and I bought two, delicious 16 oz of amazing.

I opened it up, seasoned it with coffee, cinnamon, cayenne, salt & pepper and pan fried it on a sizzling hot pan.  As the fat melted, I added in some whole garlic in with the fat and flipped it.  Jus a few minutes on each side gave it a wonderful medium rare... rare near the bone.

Look at that sexy pool of fat on top :] NOM!

The cinnamon gave it almost a bit of a sweet taste… the coffee added lots of depth and the cayenne gave it a touch of heat. I ate it with a nice glass of Chianti. NOM

Even Didi enjoyed it :]  It was a fatty piece of meat but oh so juicy!

I ate EVERYTHING.. except some of the fatty bits, and this was all that was left.. gnaw gnaw gnaw.. gnawed on the bone!

Can’t wait to make my other one on my next solo dinner date with myself and my puppy :D

Bone Marrow & Red Wine for Dinner…. Because I can…

I’m home alone and when I’m by myself I always eat random.  Sometimes I forget to eat.. sometimes I just live off of edamame and cheese.  I slept in.. really late, because SOMEONE kept me up on the phone all night :] so I made some oatmeal, had some chicken soup and ate a bowl of steamed green beans – see I eat weird. And I didn’t even have coffee today.  Since I’ve been eating so simply I decided to go all out for dinner – why not?! I do what I want! HMMMM, what to eat.

In the mood for Bone Marrow!!!  These sexy, decadent HUUUUUGE pieces of bones with chunks of meat to gnaw off around it.

BTW, I realized I freaking hoard salts. These are just SOME of the salts I have around the kitchen. WTFreak?! I’m so weird… #salthoarder

I cook my marrow super simply.  I sprinkle with salt, pepper and rosemary and sear all sides and pop it into the oven until the middles start oozing out.

I toasted up some Whole Wheat Heavy Cream Shoku Pan from Japonaise while the marrow was bubbling away in the oven. Ugh I love this bread – so fluffy… toasted and crispy on the outside and still fluffy on the inside. MMM I love thick bread.

I sprinkled each bite with some truffled salt. Took it to a whole new level. For realz for realz…

Dinner a la Miss Tiffie

So decadent and rich I thought I was gonna have a nose bleed. There was SO much!  I don’t think I’ve ever eaten this much marrow at once.  The bowl was deep with oozy marrow fat which I happily sopped up with more toast!!! Happy happy joy joy.

Oh. And btw, this may be dinner, but it’s still early. So I’m lying. I’m sure I’m gonna eat a whole pizza before bed time. LOL.

Healthy Baked Rainbow Trouth w/ Succotash

After a nice brunch….. and a nice shopping spree at Burberry with my Gaga hair bow ;D… I headed to H-Mart for some protein and eats to cook tonight – I wanted to be in the area since I left my car at my bestie/sister’s Katy‘s house again.

I found a beautiful fresh rainbow trout… de-gutted, de-scaled but otherwise kept whole… I LOVE trout, I remember fishing for it in lakes with my daddy growing up in New Mexico.. I went on SO many camping trips in the mountains and had my own fishing rod.. trout it SO tender and is TOTALLY under-appreciated.

I usually just do a light pan fry with trout. easy, simple etc.. but I wanted to go a different route…

Healthy Rainbow Trout with Rainbow Succotash

1 Whole Trout, de-gutted, de-scaled, de-finned
6 Cloves of Garlic
1/2 Red Onion Chopped
1 Orange Pepper, Chopped
20 Chopped/Split Cherry Tomatoes
1/2 Carton of Frozen Corn
A Few Mushrooms, Chopped
[All veggies are to taste]
Add Salt & Pepper & Paprika to the succotash

A few slices of lemon
Scallions, half chopped and half cut into long lengths

Orange peppers & Tomatoes

Tsp of Grapeseed Oil, Red Onion & Pepper

I added the Tomatoes, Peppers, Corn, Mushrooms and some Sea Salt

When it was cooked I added some beer/lager and scallions

Here’s the cleaned beautiful FATASS thick trout <3

I stuffed it with lemon slices and long pieces of scallion

And then stuffed it with the “succotash” I made, and all around it.. salt & pepper and more beer

For a side dish while the fish baked at 450 degrees for about a half hour – 20 min in foil, 10+ minutes with the top foil off
Baby Gai Lan with rice wine… basically oil and garlic… then add the vegg…. then right before you turn off the heat to serve, add as much rice wine as you want – a few glugs :]

YUM!

Here’s how the fish turned out ;D Sexy

I sprinkled cilantro on top for that added crunch/freshness.. if you don’t like cilantro you could always add just more fresh scallion!

I decided to pop some bubbly since it’s been awhile since I cooked something significant and out of the blue…. :D

YUM!

And I even got served first.. how sweet.. the fish was SO tender… just too many bones – ugh to trout and their bones, next time I’m totally buying fillets – but it was DELICIOUS!

LOVE from here <3 Trout Fish Head Says Hi!

麻油雞 – Sesame Oil Chicken w/ Rice Wine

Feeling Asiany lately and I’ve been opting for homecooked Chinese food a lot more than going out lately…. so gonna do another Asian recipe post :]  And semi-freaky I suppose.. since it’s almost Halloween :]

Note to self: Do a Freaky Food Memory post in honor of Halloween! WOOT

Alright alright! Let’s get AASSSSSSSSSSSSIIIANNN!!!! *freaky-like*

SO quickie intro to this recipe… People who have been following my twitter/blogs/fb should know that I’ve gone through low points, health wise. Insanely low weight – I’ve been 90lbs and I’m 5’7,5″ – I’ve battled severe anemia and other things I don’t really want to get into right now.  So my mom is constantly trying to make me foods that make my health better… herbal soups, etc etc, you know how us asians do… healing naturally thru herbs and food is better than any pharmaceutical thing… haha… “drugs” :]

SO.

One great recipe to help “heal” the body and “warm” it up – I’m always so cold – is Sesame Oil Chicken aka 麻油雞. It sounds like a nice little dish but it’s got bite. Why?  TONS of booze in it.  The recipe is super simple… and it basically is just a mish mash to taste.  I keep it simple.. and extra boozy :] No salt, sugar or water.

All you need is quality 米酒 Rice Wine, 麻油 Sesame Oil, Ginger and a whole Chicken – preferably bone in..

Doesn’t this remind you of Hapi Djus – YAY Eurotrip

psssst

FLǕGGȦ∂NKđ€ČHIŒβǾLʃÊN

Sorry I get distracted easily.. back to the recipe

Heat up your wok/pan  and pour in about 3 tablesppons of 麻油 Sesame Oil… My mom has a special Black Sesame Oil that she uses specifically for this.  The smells are amazing.. the flavor just packs so much more punch. Use more if you want more sesame oil flavor.  Once it heats up, add some thinly sliced ginger – or chunks of you don’t want to eat it, but I love eating ginger.. the more the merrier – especially for me since I love ginger – and stirfry it til it’s browned and the sesame oil and ginger smell amazing.  Pop in the chicken pieces… and brown it. I love chicken feet like crazy – plus the collagen in it is SUPER good for the skin… it’s how we asians stay so young ;] – and once browned add.. a bottle of rice wine.  Hell, add more if you want, the more the merrier :]  It’ll get a nice orange/tan color – make sure you skim off the excess fat/oil on top of the soup before you drink.

Don’t judge. I love chicken feet [鳳爪<3].

It’s pretty strong though… and too much is a bit “上火” – kind of like the imbalance of your yin and yang… too much firey foods like alcohol, spicy, fried, etc make it off-balanced and it’s too much “fire” aka 火 – Just simmer for like 10-15 minutes or so until chicken is fully cooked and tender and drink and eat away… make sure only to eat a bowl at a time – with noodles it’s AMAZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZING…..  my mom and I love it with 麵線 [miàn xiàn] which is a super skinny salted wheat noodle… NOM NOM NOM

I didn’t have mine with noodles last night, I went more caveman approach to NOMMING it… but here’s a look and feel:

Source: Flickr

Side Note: This is a GREAT dish to heal the body after you’ve just given birth, just saying… my grandma did it for her daughters and my mom plans to do it for me.

Cheesy Grits with Bacon and Shrimp

grits + water
3 tbs butter
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1/4 cups pepper jack cheese, grated [optional]
paprika, to taste [optional]
black pepper, to taste
chopped scallions [optional]

cook the grits per instructions [water:grits ratio] and cover fo 12-14 minutes. add in butter and cheese and add the paprika and black pepper to taste. since the cheese is already salty, i didn’t find extra salt necessary. i just added additional pepper jack cheese for more spice and a kick to the grits. right before serving, i stirred in the scallions and served hot.

1 lb shrimp
1/2 minced onion
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 lemons, juiced
splash of white wine
salt & black pepper, to taste

sautee the onion and garlic til soft, add the shrimp, lemon juice and splash of wine to the pan… salt & pepper to taste

a few slices of bacon, small chunks
2 large eggs
avocado, chopped
cilantro [optional garnish] 

after frying the bacon, save the bacon fat and fry the eggs in it to top the grits.

i plate by putting grits in a bowl, put shrimp on top of that. sprinkle bacon bits on top, add the fried egg. avocado on the side, a slice of lemon and a sprinkle of black pepper and cilantro on op. NOM!

For some extra oomph, drizzle some bacon fat on top <3

Squid Ink Pasta with Squid Ink Wine Cream Sauce and Seafood Medley

Squid Ink Pasta
2 Servings
~ 1 3/4 cups of all purpose flour
~ 1/2 tsp of olive oil
~ 2 extra large eggs
~ 2 packets of squid ink [4g each]

Dump flour onto a board [or I actually kneaded it in a huge mixing bowl] and make a volcano [a cup at the top of the mound] Add in oil, eggs and squid ink. Slowly mix it together with a fork by adding in flour from the sides of the mound until it comes together. Once it’s coming together start kneading it. It’s sticky so make sure you don’t have jewelry on. I was kneading it until all was incorporated for about 20-30 minutes. And then wrap it in plastic and let sit for at least 30 minutes.

When ready to make your pasta… flour the countertop and cut the dough into fourths.

I kneaded each quarter, rolled it out super thin and flat, cut it in half and rerolled it so that each quarter produced 4 thick flat long squid ink pastas.

Boil in sea-salty water fofr about 6-7 minutes until el dente.

Squid Ink Sauce
~ 1/2 Spanish Onion
~ 4 cloves of garlic
~ 1 cup of heavy cream
~ a few glugs of white wine

Soften onions and garlic – cool down and then add the cream, the squid ink and some white wine and cook down. I soften the onions and garlic first and cool it down while i make the pasta so then when it’s cool I can start cooking it down til it’s thick and chunky. Ok, not gonna lie I added a few secret spices in it :D But that’s just for me to know and for you to eat when I make it for you – hehehehe

Seafood Medley
~ Shrimps
~ Calamari [cut into rings]
~ Scallops
~ Lump Crabmeat
~ Littlenecks
~ White Wine
~ Salt & Pepper

I first steamed the littlenecks and then pulled them out of their shells under cold water.

Chop all of the seafood into similar sizes and between sauteeing with some oil, onion and garlic. I started with the calamari than added shrimp and scallops, since the lump crab is already cooked I don’t add it in until everything is almost done and I just heat it up with a squeeze of a lemon and a splash of white wine. Don’t forget to salt&pepper!

The final products:
His

Hers

We toasted up some pita bread to dip balsamic vinegar, evoo, black pepper and some left over squid ink pasta sauce :] OH and sprinkled some chopped up fresh parsley on top :D NOM! And so pretty…..

On Top of a Pizza…

All covered with cheese….
I lost my poor meatballs…….
When somebody sneezed…. :[

Ok. I lied. Nobody sneezed and the meatballs weren't lost... they were reformed :]

Before I show you the meatballs… guess what Z and I saw at Whole Foods when we went shopping for pizza ingredients:

ANYWAYS, back to unlost unsneezed on meatballs….

These were made from six meatballs. “If they’re smaller you can eat more, you don’t feel as guilty”

But BEFORE we talk about the MEATBALL pizza.. here was the test mini margherita pizza Z made for us to test on our new pizza stone!!! [omg I used the "our" word]

Just simple sauce, mozz and basil on regular dough. Tasty tasty.. the pizza stone helped cook it so much more evenly than last time.. yum.

OK now onto Z’s Meatball pizza….

His dough, super super thin, may not be the “prettiest” but it was tasty…. the meatballs, he reformed from 6 big meatballs, into little ones and seared them and then cooked them in some pizza sauce.
Pizza sauce, mozz and meatballs… add basil and sprinkle EVOO on top after baking for ~10min and it’s done.

Nom nom nom nom!!!

And then there was my more complicated pizza

Balsamic Onions

Cutting Pears

Rolling out and stretching out my multi-grain dough

Mine was a white pizza.. I drizzled some EVOO on the dough, added a LOT of mozz, pears and balsamic onions…

I put the prosciutto on but then realized it was gonna burn if I left it in the oven for 10minutes…. so I cooked it with it off.. and added the prosciutto and fresh arugula on AFTER it came out.  Also a sprinkling of EVOO :]

That’s the bottle of Spanish red we drank with the pizzas….

Care for a slice? Sharing is caring :D

FOR DESSERT….Since I adored Joe’s Stone Crabs’ Key Lime Pie so much, Z made me some – delish!!!

SOOOO freaking good.. and such a simple quick recipe. SO FLUFFY!!!!!