The year’s focus on eating healthier continues right along with a renewed focus on fusion cooking, my favorite means of taking flavors and textures to new heights.  Our weather has been unseasonably warm and the market had the most beautiful baby bok choy, so I had to find something that would go well with it and salmon just seemed to fit the bill.  Add some pan fried noodles and not only do you have yourself a wonderfully healthy and filling meal, but one you can feel good about eating.  no compromises here!

The inspiration for the salmon came from an episode of Gordon Ramsay’s F-Word, but only loosely, as I couldn’t remember exactly what he’d done to his salmon, just that he’d used soy to glaze the fish, which sounded wonderful.  The rest of the dish was whipped up on a whim with ingredients I had on hand, but the combination was perfect for a firly warm evening and a lovely meal with my wife.

The recipe may sound complicated, but in actuality it doesn’t get much simpler than this.  There are only three primary ingredients and a few accompaniments that can be found at nearly any supermarket in the Asian section, so even if all you have access to is a BigScaryMegaMart, you should be able to get everything needed for this recipe in a single trip and for just a few dollars.  It really is worth it, trust me.

Read more…

Popularity: 4% [?]

The Holiday Season is here.  That means that in the next day or so this blog is going to be full of baked goodies, cookies, candies and mounds of Holiday-style comfort food goodness.  But what will the food blogger himself be eating through all of this? Probably something a lot like the dish pictured above.

This lunch, like many I find myself eating lately, is the result of having very little time to focus on myself while either getting things ready for one of my blogs, trying to find something in the freelance market that I’m willing to do for what they aren’t willing to pay, or dealing with the thousand little things I have to learn that goes along with my son’s therapy. It’s something I can throw together in just a few minutes, tastes good either hot or room temp and can be snacked on for hours while I’m in the middle of other things.

The ingredients are simple, the result is satisfying, and there’s very little effort involved in making this one.  Consider it my way of sharing a little secret with all of you.  I’m not always eating what you’re seeing.  Sometimes those dishes are made just for my wife.

Besides.  I really love this stuff!

Read more…

Popularity: 2% [?]

Seafood and noodles is something that I just love together. The combination is simple, tasty, filling and has more than enough flavor to satisfy any seafood lover. Add in some lime, a bit of cilantro and a touch of heat and you have what I consider to be one of the best summertime lunch dishes I can think up, especially when the thermometer reads over 100 degrees.

I usually make shrimp when my wife is going to have to stay at the office during lunch, since it’s not her idea of a mid afternoon meal on most occasions.  The plus side is that I can have the shrimp working in the marinade while I’m feeding our son and getting him down for his nap.  That way Dad gets to eat as soon as clean up is completed and we’ve finished the ritual of “I just want a cookie!”.  A little peace, a little Bourdain and a great bowl of flavor makes for a much nicer afternoon.  Don’t you think?
(Note: When mom is home for lunch, we all eat together.)

If you’re not a huge fan of ramen noodles (though I don’t know why you wouldn’t be!), somen or soba noodles work just fine for this as well.  If you’re not fond of cilantro, use parsley, mint or Thai basil.  You won’t break my heart.  Not a fan of chili paste?  A good roasted pepper puree with a bit of garlic added would work just as well.  Have fun with it!

Read more…

Popularity: 2% [?]

There’s simply nothing better on a cold windy day than a good bowl of piping hot soup. Add a bit of drifting snow to the equation and it’s almost mandatory that a good hearty soup come into play. Thursday was that day. Though the snow never did stick, the temperature shifted from the mid 70’s to a crisp 28 degrees. Add wind-chill and you’ve got 20 degrees and a pot of soup on the stove was the perfect way to take the chill out of the house, and us.

This variation on the classic chicken noodle soup gains a lot of flavor from the addition of chorizo, both to the broth and as an addition to the finished soup. The addition is simple, but the flavors the spicy little sausages adds to the broth is amazingly rich, deep and filling in ways that no “normal” chicken noodle soup could ever be. The broth is also made with a bit of cilantro for a further depth and the addition of a slightly earthy flavor that is just a bit unexpected in a bowl of chicken soup, but is immensely satisfying.

Read more…

Popularity: 3% [?]

My love affair with shrimp is legendary. It began when I was just a kid and ordered something called “prawns” at the local A&W. (these were not, in fact, prawns; just jumbo shrimp. We Americans seem to have an issue with the distinction.) At that time in my life, it was something new, exotic, and completely different from anything I’d previously experienced. It was before I’d had crayfish, or salmon, or lobster. I was a seafood virgin then, but one taste of those little breaded and fried crustaceans was enough. I was hooked, and there was no turning back.

I have since learned that shrimp is far more versatile than I ever could have imagined at the time. It’s flavor can go from savory to sweet, it plays well with others, and it’s a breeze to prepare, especially if bought frozen and peeled. Simply take the number of shrimp you want, placein a bowl and run under cold water for three to five minutes and they’re ready to go. No fuss, no muss, just pat dry and get to cooking!

This dish was created in true Seat of my Pants style. All I knew for certain when I started was the I wanted to use cellophane noodles, and that I wanted a stir fry. The rest I just came up with as I went along. The result… Spicy, sweet and satisfying. The shrimp could be used as an appetizer by themselves if you wish, I just really wanned those noodles!

Read more…

Popularity: 2% [?]

I love Japanese and Chinese noodle soups almost as much as I like stir fry. The flavors are simple, pleasing and sustaining while still managing to be very light, something most American soups and stews cannot accomplish. This is an Asian inspired soup. This dish was not made from any traditional recipe, I just added flavors that remind me of other soups I’ve had in the past and with a pretty good result if I do-say-so-myself.

If you’re looking at the title and wondering where to get yourself some nyumen noodles or why you’ve never heard of them, they are simply somen noodles served warm. The Japanese are famous for giving a whole new term to something if it’s prepared differently, and this is one of those cases.

This meal actually started its life as a stir fry, but just as I was getting ready to go to it, my wife mentioned that she’d like a soup. In my mind there really wasn’t an issue there, and I grabbed the last of my somen from the pantry and put it on to boil, using a method I learned several years ago for cooking udon noodles, which I will detail below.

Read more…

Popularity: 1% [?]

If you’re looking for a quick, light lunch for those warm summer days, look no further than your freezer and pantry to deliver something insanely satisfying in just a few minutes time.

Here on the Texas/Oklahoma border, summer has been late arriving. We finally got one of the first really “summery” days about a week ago, and the thought of noshing something heavy in 90°F weather was more than I could bear. The heat of the day called for something on the lighter side, but a quick check of the cupboards wasn’t revealing much in the way of “light”, and we hadn’t been doing too many salads when the wind was blowing and torrential rains were falling.

The answer to my culinary dilemma presented itself in the form of a partial bag of frozen shrimp, a bit of cilantro I had from a previous entrée and a half-lemon I had left over from a vinaigrette I’d made the night before. Just add some noodles and you’ve got yourself a light-refreshing lunch with all the flavor you could ask for. In this case I turned to my old standby of Ramen noodles, but this would work equally as well with linguine or angel hair pasta.

Read more…

Popularity: 1% [?]

I’m a bit embarrassed to admit it, but I’ve been letting the kitchen go for quite some time. Oh, not that I neglect to do the dishes or to wipe down the counters, it’s the pantry and the fridge I’m talking about.

I think we’ve all been guilty of it at one time or another. You shop and go to put everything away, but realize that there’s no room for “this” in its regular place, so it gets put where it will fit. You promise yourself that just as soon as you’ve used up the box/package/can that you’d forgotten you had in the cupboard, you’ll put the new addition in its place, and all will be as it should be.

Mmmmmmmmm Hmmmmmm…

Read more…

Popularity: 1% [?]

In case you hadn’t noticed, I make a lot of chicken dishes. This is partly due to the cost. I find it wonderful to think dark meat is so out of vogue that they just dump it off in bags for around $6.00, and most of the flavor of a chicken is in the darker meats, which leaves me happily trying out new combinations.

This particular recipe like many others I’ve posted here, was born from necessity. Mrs. seat of her Pants had picked up some fresh pasta (Linguine) a few days earlier for something that she had been planning to make, and then forgotten about as deadlines loomed. It was up to me to save those lovely, fresh strands of yumminess!

The big question was… What was I going to make it with?

Read more…

Popularity: 2% [?]

Sometimes you just want a good, warm, satisfying meal. That’s what was on my mind today when hunger pangs hit me. I wanted something that would keep me going until dinner. But what do you make for yourself when you’re by yourself and you’ve got a fussy four-month old who sounds as if he may start wailing at any moment?

You make ramen! Well, you make kicked-up ramen. Read more…

Popularity: 1% [?]