I'm finally back home. We have had a stressful and heartbreaking two weeks as we flew out to the west coast for my Father-in-Law's funeral. We've eaten from take-out windows while driving in the car more times than I can count and I'm surprised I don't have scurvy yet from surviving on french fries, sushi and Starbuck's coffee. I'm so ready to cook a delicious, healthy meal in my own kitchen with my own hands and sit at my own table. Thank you all for your kind words and prayers. It was so encouraging and totally put a smile on my (stressed out) face.
Before all the calamity ensued, Steve and I had some friends over for a homemade Chinese food feast where we served up some delicious Chinese Steamed Spareribs in Black Bean Sauce, Lemon Chicken with Fried Rice and this simple and delicious side dish. It was a bit of an accident we whipped up one night with some leftover vegetables in the crisper. And a happy accident at that.
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Serves 4
Any combination of vegetables you like (My fave is mushrooms, broccoli and celery), chopped into 1 inch pieces
Minced garlic
Sesame oil
Vegetable oil
Sesame seeds, toasted (totally optional)
In a wok or frying pan over medium high heat, add a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil. When pan is hot add the vegetables and stir-fry for a few minutes. Add the minced garlic. I find that if you add the garlic now instead of at the beginning you avoid burning it....burned garlic is very bad. Very bitter and very bad.
Stir-fry for about 5 more minutes until the vegetable are to desired tenderness. They should be soft but still have a bit of a crunch left. Drizzle over about a tablespoon of sesame oil. You don't want to use the sesame oil to fry the veggies because it has a very low smoke point (Read: it will burn). It's not a cooking oil, but a seasoning or a flavoring. Toss to coat well and top with toasted sesame seeds.
Click here for printable version of Sesame Stir-Fried Veggies.
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THE RESULTS?
This is one of my new favorite ways to cook vegetables as a side dish. I love the simplicity. I once tried to get all complicated by adding soy sauce and ginger and it came out all wrong. The flavors of the vegetables got lost and so did the fragrant sesame flavor. Plain and simple is best.
It's too bad I had to learn that lesson when I was trying to impress my company.
I'll make this short because my patience and my energy have been ground very thin.
My father-in-law died on Good Friday. He was a good man and I can't even begin to describe how much he will be missed. We canceled our Easter plans and flew out to Vancouver. This trip has done nothing short of turn my brain into mush from all the funeral planning, estate settling, and nasty cold and flu Eva and I both got. She has been incredibly whiny and sometimes unbearable when our emotions have been especially fragile. After all the "business" we've had to take care of in the last week, our family finally got to enjoy some down time at Stanley Park. We had 3 blissful hours where we could laugh, smile and have our shoulders feel light again....only to return to our rental vehicle having been broken into and my husband's back pack stolen which held his laptop, bible that I gave him for Christmas, the girls birth certificates and a bunch of other stuff. On top of the huge load of things that need to be taken care of before we fly back on Wednesday, we will also be making a trip to the police department, dealing with car insurance and the rental company.
Vancouver is kicking my ass.
What do you do when you are having serious cravings for Chili Fries, Taco's and Nacho's all at once? Combine them into a super delicious supper that is filling, fun and frugal.
And eat your heart out.
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Serves 4
4 large potatoes
Vegetable oil
Salt and pepper
3/4 lb ground beef
2 tbsp taco seasoning (homemade or store-bought)
1 tomato, seeded and chopped
3 green onions, chopped
Sour cream
3/4 cup grated cheddar (or Monterey Jack)
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Scrub potatoes really well. Cut in half length wise, and then cut into 1/8 inch slices. Spread potatoes out on two baking sheets in a single layer. Drizzle with vegetable oil and then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes. Take the oven fries out and flip them over and place back in the oven for another 8-12 minutes. The baking time is very dependent on how thick you sliced your potatoes. If during the halfway point you are trying to flip the potatoes over and they are stuck to the pan, just place them back in the oven for a few minutes. They will release from the pan when they are crisped up, then you will be able to flip them.
While the oven fries are baking, brown the ground beef in a large skillet over medium high heat. Once the meat is browned, add the spices and a couple tablespoons of water. Cook for a couple minutes then remove from heat.
Place a pile of oven fries on a plate. Top with seasoned ground beef, shredded cheese, diced tomato, and top with a dollop of sour cream. Sprinkle with green onions. We love to save the packages of hot sauce from our favorite Mexican restaurant and serve the mexi-fries with hot sauce or salsa.
Click here for printable version of Mexi-Fries Deluxe.
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THE RESULTS?
Can I just say this was a BRILLIANT idea. My husband and I both scarfed down our plate of mexi-fries, Steve saying between bites "this is soooooo good babe!" Your favorite hot sauce is just the icing on the cake....or the hot sauce on the nacho fries, I mean. Whatever. It's good, cheap and I will be making this again for sure.
This recipe is being entered into the May round up of Original Recipes on Culinarty. Lore hosts this blog event every month and it showcases blogger's own concocted recipes.
On Sunday our Secret-Secret Geography Club got together for some Malaysian fare. We wanted to do a country that was really quite foreign to us, so we had to research recipes and use ingredients we weren't familiar with. I was really looking forward to trying food that was totally different.
Our group delivered the delicious goods as usual. Lindsey brought a Malaysian Spicy Fruit Salad called Rojak. It was a combination of cucumber, pineapple, jicama, mango, and green apple tossed with a dressing of chili, sugar, lime juice and shrimp paste. But after Lindsey opened the jar of shrimp paste and smelled it, she decided to skip out on it. It's REALLY strong smelling and I can understand why she would shy away....kinda almost like fishy dog food. But stronger. Anyways, the whole mixture was topped with ground peanuts and black sesame seeds. It was really interesting. The combination of spicy, sweet and sour seemed to really work. It was refreshing.
Lindsey also brought a dish of chilied eggs. Yes, I know it looks weird. There was just no salvaging the look of it for the picture. It's essentially eggs in a chili-coconut sauce. The eggs were first hard-boiled, then fried, then simmered in the coconut sauce. This one was just a little too weird for me. I think everyone felt the same. 
I made Beef Rendang from Rasa Malaysia's website. It was a long process that took about 2.5 hours to prepare but sooooooo worth it! I loved the flavors of the chili's, lemongrass, ginger, garlic, and coconut combined with the warm spicy star anise, cinnamon and cloves. I hate to say it, but I think I'm really starting to like anise and cinnamon in savory dishes...if it's done right of course. After frying a homemade spice paste the beef, coconut milk, toasted coconut and more spices were added and then simmered and stewed. You let the mixture stew until all the liquid is gone and by the end the pieces of beef are being fried. At the end of the 2-3 hour process all the spices and flavorings have combined to create this amazing earthy, spicy beef that is just incredible. Steve thought it was possibly the best thing I have ever cooked. Now that's a compliment!
Dan also purchased some shrimp paste, but he actually ended up cooking with it. It went into these spicy long beans. After smelling the shrimp paste and the odor filled the room as Dan cooked with it, my stomach was turning thinking about eating these beans. But just like fish sauce can be potent and you would never eat on it's own, when you cook with it in small portions it adds great flavor. So shrimp paste and all, these beans were good. Like...really good.
It seemed we couldn't have Malaysian food without Malaysian satays. Dan made these and they were incredibly delicious. They tasted just like the satays I made with a recipe again from Rasa Malaysia. Everyone was fighting over the last few skewers.
Can't have satays without homemade peanut sauce.
I think we all loved our Malaysian feast and all the unexpected flavors. The last couple months have been filled with countries we love like India, China and Mexico, but they were all very familiar dishes. Besides the skewers, I had never tried any of these dishes before. New, exciting and delicious.
The next country we are going to explore is the culinary delights of France. That means fresh spring vegetables, butter, cream, pastry, cheese and copious amounts of wine.
I can hardly wait.
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