(T.V.) Dinner for One

So, I just had a whirlwind trip to Vegas with five of my closest girlfriends (you know, one of those where you arrive midday Saturday, party all night, get no sleep, and hop back on a plane at 6 in the morning to return home). Suffice it to say, Sunday (today) has consisted of me detoxing, drinking tons of water, and catching up on sleep. By 6 p.m. I was ready for dinner, but not in the mood to drive anywhere, so rummaging through my cupboard and refrigerator, I threw together the following t.v. dinner (I ate it very satisfyingly in front of my television).

Asian-Italian Fusion Noodles

2 rolls bean thread noodles

1 green onion, chopped

1 T. sweet white onion, chopped

1 large garlic clove, peeled and minced

1 T. sun-dried tomatoes, packed in olive oil, coarsely chopped

1/2 T. fresh basil, chopped

1 sardine, chopped (about 1/3 can of sardines in olive oil)

1 T. Grapeseed oil

1/2 T. unsalted butter

1 T. soy sauce

Soak the noodles in very hot water while preparing the rest of the dish. Saute half of the green onion with the white onion, and garlic for about 5 minutes in the grapeseed oil and butter on medium heat (the white onion will start to turn translucent). Add the sun-dried tomatoes and sardine. Drain the noodles and roughly cut them with kitchen shears. Remove the saute from heat and toss the noodles in. Using tongs, toss in the basil and soy sauce. Top with the remaining green onion and serve. The beauty of this dish is that you don't really need to season, not even with salt (the soy sauce and sardines have plenty of salt).

Cheese Plate for Dessert

Jarlsberg

Irish Cheddar

Gruyere

1 T. pepper jelly

Not sure that these cheeses completed complimented each other, but they are what I had in the fridge, so I enjoyed about a tablespoon-sized portion with each for dessert. I used the individual pieces of cheese as the carrier for the pepper jelly.

Sunday Night Dinner - A Variatian on the Philippines

I am not intending for this blog to focus on food, but I had to write about my Sunday Night Dinner experience this past weekend. We had decided to have a Filipino Food Night where I would do the cooking. I, of course, had to borrow from my mother's heritage. She is not Filipino, mind you, but Samoan, and Samoans seem to have their own variation on many Filipino dishes. So these are my variations, rather my mother's variations. They are all approximations; my mother's dishes (and her mother's dishes, and so on) have never been created in measurements, but rather in taste. I chose two Filipino dishes: chicken adobo and pansit. Usually the chicken adobo has bay leaves. I did not. The pansit (also spelled pancit) usually calls for pork, sometimes chicken, and rice thread noodles. I opted for shrimp and bean curd noodles.

Chicken Adobo

1 cup of water

4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced

3 green onions, trimmed and cut in 2 inch stalks

1/3 cup soy sauce (my mother uses La Choy)

1/4 cup white vinegar

1/3 cup granulated white sugar

5 chicken drumsticks, with bones and skin

5 chicken thighs, with bones and skin

salt and pepper to taste

Cut each chicken piece in two. You will need a meat cleaver. I did not have one, so I used one of my heavier, less expensive knives and, armed with a small pan as a mallet, I was able to cut through the bone (make sure to wear an apron and wrap everything on the counter around your cutting board with cling wrap). Lightly salt and pepper the pieces, and steam them in the water in a large pot on medium high for about 10 minutes.

In a bowl, combine the soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar. Mix until the sugar thickens the sauce (it will never completely dissolve). Add the sauce and garlic to the chicken at the 10-minute mark, and stir well. Let the chicken continue to steam, every now and again mixing the chicken in the sauce, for another 20 to 30 minutes, or until done. Add the green onions and gently stir. Serve over white rice (I used Botan Calrose white rice in a rice cooker, 4 cups of rice to 5 cups of water, rinsing only once).

Shrimp Pansit

2 celery stalks, cut on a 2" bias

2 carrot sticks, cut on a 2" bias

4 ozs. mushrooms, sliced

1 green bell pepper, seeded and sliced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced

2 handles of baby bok choy, cleaned and cut in fours

4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced

4 green onions, cut on a 2" bias

3 T. oyster sauce

3 T. Canola oil

3 T. soy sauce

1 lb. peeled, raw shrimp

1 package bean curd noodles, vermicelli-sized

In a wok or large sauce pan, add 2 T. of the Canola oil, oyster sauce, and soy sauce each to medium heat. Saute the celery and carrots (I covered the pan to help speed up the cooking without burning them). Add the mushrooms and bell peppers when the celery and carrots and softened some. In another pan, saute the shrimp in the remaining T. each of the Canola oil, oyster sauce, and soy sauce, over medium to medium-high heat. To the vegetable pan, add the baby bok choy, garlic, and green onions. When the shrimp is no longer translucent, add to the vegetable saute pan.

For the noodles, pour hot water (almost boiling) in a heat-proof bowl. Soak the noodles in the bowl for 5 minutes. With kitchen shears, cut the noodles up a little so they're not so long. Then fork them out of the water, letting as much of the liquid drain off, and add them to the vegetable saute pan, and toss. Add more soy sauce or oyster sauce to taste and as needed.