Recipe: "Fried Rice" Quinoa

Once again, I had no recipe planned for dinner, so when I told my mother "Hey, I'll make dinner tonight if you'd like me to," I then immediately thought "Wait...why did I just say that? There's no chicken thawed out, we just had pasta (which is my go to ingredient), and I've got job applications to work on today....what the hell am I gonna make?" My mother offered to bring chicken up from our extra freezer (you know the one...it sits in your garage or basement, crammed with packs of chicken, some years-old bags of frozen veggies, and a box of Popsicles or ice cream sandwiches). I knew I didn't want pasta, I didn't want to bother with rice, and my initial plan to make polenta fell through because I barely had 1/4 cup left. I had three boxes of quinoa beckoning me to cook some, and a small collection of vegetables stashed in the bottom drawer of the fridge, alongside a forgotten chunk of fresh ginger, so I thought I'd go for an Asian-style quinoa. The idea of fried rice came to mind, so I decided to replace the rice with quinoa and use the chicken to make the dish more substantial and filling. This kind of dish is perfect, because you can use pretty much any vegetable you have on hand—I had snow peas, onions, and cauliflower—and you could use any meat (chicken is a staple in our house, but shrimp, steak, or scallops would work well). This dish pulled together easily and the sauce blended into the quinoa mixture popped with the flavors of garlic, fish sauce, soy, and mirin.

Sadly, my lovely, white plating plate was in the dishwasher during this shot

Serves: 4
Prep. time: 10-15 minutes
Cooking time: 20-30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients
For the chicken marinade

• 2 chicken breasts, cut into 1-2 inch cubes
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 tbsp. mirin (cooking sherry works as well)
• 1 tbsp. oyster sauce
• 1 tsp. fish sauce
• 1/2 tsp. sesame oil
• 1 tbsp. rice vinegar
• 1-2 tsp. freshly grated ginger (dry ginger works as well)
• 1 clove garlic, minced

For the sauce

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup water
• 1-2 tbsp. mirin (cooking sherry works as well)
• 1 tbsp. oyster sauce
• 1-2 tsp. fish sauce
• 1 tsp. sesame oil
• 1 tsp. rice vinegar
• 1-2 tsp. freshly grated ginger (dry ginger works as well)
• 1 clove garlic, minced

For the remainder of the dish

• 1 cup dried quinoa (I use Ancient Harvest's Traditional Quinoa, which calls for 1 cup quinoa and 2 cups water; it cooks in 10-15 minutes)
• Peanut oil, enough to lightly coat the bottom of a large pan or wok
• Approx. half a head of cauliflower, cut into florets
• Approx. 6 oz. snow peas, cleaned
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3-4 eggs, scrambled

Directions

Mix together the ingredients for the marinade in a medium bowl, add the chicken, stir to coat, and set aside in the fridge. Mix together the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl, and set aside. Cook the quinoa according to package instructions. While it's cooking, steam the cauliflower until tender, yet crisp (you can also parboil it, then shock it with ice and water to stop the cooking; steam or parboil any hard vegetables you plan to use, like carrots or broccoli). Heat peanut oil in a large pan or wok over medium high heat. Add the chicken (do not pour in the marinade though) and cook until about half done, then add the onions. Add the cauliflower and snow peas (or whatever vegetables you've chosen) after the chicken has just about cooked through. In a small, nonstick pan, cook the eggs until you've got fluffy, scrambled eggs, then break them up and add them to the pan with the chicken and veggie mixture. Add the finished quinoa and toss to combine. Pour in most or all of the sauce and thoroughly mix it in. Serve with additional grated ginger on top, as desired.

Quinoa is a great alternative to rice, and it's incredibly healthy. Its fluffy texture and nutty taste work in just about any dish, and it absorbs the Asian flavors in the dish nicely. Crispy snow peas and cauliflower, paired with fluffy eggs, and softened onions add flavor and texture to the dish, and chicken helps turn this side dish into a real meal. 

Recipe: Penne with Roasted Asparagus, Bacon, and Shredded Gouda

I had asparagus still wrapped in its green plastic grocery bag sitting sadly on the top shelf in the fridge. In the cheese drawer, a package of bacon and a variety of cheeses intermingled, alongside a misplaced candy bar or two (my mother insists on stashing a few in the drawer—something about liking cold chocolate). As usual, I had no recipe planned out for dinner last night, but that asparagus was on its way out, so I decided to roast it and toss it with pasta, alongside crispy bacon and aged Gouda. The resulting dish was a little smoky, a little salty, and a little nutty—absolutely delicious, especially on a cool winter evening. Roasting the asparagus really brought out its flavor and helped crisp it up and it paired perfectly with the cheese and bacon.

Serves: 4
Prep. time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• 1 bunch asparagus, washed, ends clipped; cut each of the stalks into 2 inch pieces (each stalk can be cut into approx. 4 pieces)
• 4-6 strips bacon; reserve 2 tbsp. bacon fat
• 8 oz. penne pasta, or other small pasta (rotini, ziti, etc.)
• Approx. 3/4 - 1 cup finely shredded Gouda (I used a hard, 5 year-aged Gouda from Whole Foods that was excellent)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-2 tbsp. butter
• 1-3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, plus some for roasting the asparagus
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450*F. Bring a medium-to-large pot of salted water to a boil for the pasta. While heating the water for the pasta, heat up a medium pan over medium high heat and add the bacon, cooking until crispy. Set the bacon strips aside on a paper towel-covered plate and save approx. 2 tbsp. of the bacon fat in a small bowl or cup. Evenly spread the asparagus pieces in a shallow, oven-safe dish and add a splash of extra virgin olive oil and some salt and pepper—toss to combine. Place the asparagus in the oven and roast for 10-15 minutes, or until cooked through but still crispy. While the asparagus is cooking, add the pasta to the boiling water and cook until done (about 12-14 minutes). Drain the pasta and return it to the pot, along with some or all of the reserved bacon fat (depends on how "bacon-y" you want it), butter, olive oil, and minced garlic, then toss to combine. Crumble the bacon strips and toss the pieces in with the pasta. When the asparagus is finished, remove it from the oven and toss it in with the pasta. Sprinkle the shredded Gouda into the pot and stir to combine—reserve some for the table so everyone eating can add more, if desired. Serve and enjoy.

This dish is packed with strong flavors that blend beautifully, creating an amazing aroma and delicious taste. The Gouda, especially if you get a good quality, aged cheese, is nutty, while the bacon is smoky, and both add salty flavor to the dish. Adding in fresh garlic gives it a pop of flavor and it smells wonderful. Adding butter, bacon fat, and olive oil creates a light, but flavorful sauce that easy coats the pasta and asparagus. 

2013: An Apology and a Look Into What's Been Going On In My Life

So, obviously, I haven't been putting as much time into the blog over the past few months, and for that, I apologize. No amount of explanations—"I've been working a lot," "I've been out of town a lot," "I've been making a lot of repeat meals that are already on the blog"—will make up for that. So, I'm going to be honest: the next few months are going to be a little crazy (hopefully in mostly good ways) and I can't predict the frequency with which I'll publish new posts. I'm going out of town this weekend to visit my cousin, then working two days and immediately going out of town again to Nashville with my best friend. I'm planning to move out in February or March (finally!) and I've been making looking for a job my full time job on my free days. I have been cooking, and I've got a few recipe posts to catch up on. I've also been eating a lot of repeat meals, leftovers, and restaurant meals. Late in November, I tried sweet breads (creamy and a little odd, but tasty) and wild boar (robust and delicious) for the first time at Spoon in Pittsburgh. In mid-December, I had the most amazing coconut shrimp sushi and Crab Rangoon dip at The Cowfish Sushi and Burger Bar in Charlotte, NC and got to have a date night with John at our favorite restaurant in Greenville (The Cazbah). For Christmas, I helped my mother prepare an excellent meal, complete with my absolute favorite sweet potato casserole (no gross mini marshmallows or straight-out-of-a-can-and-into-the-pot sweet potatoes for us) and the best Brussels sprouts (the key to enjoying them is LOTS of bacon). Just this past weekend, my best friend's sister made us a Cuban meal, complete with crispy, salty plantains, and the next evening had us putting together pizzas with friends (while drinking and playing TABOO, which made for a fun night for sure). I've certainly been enjoying food and cooking, and I hope to start showing that more again on the blog. While I don't think I can be a "three or more times a week" poster, I can certainly promise to do my best to keep up with this blog and continue to share my recipes and my passion for the food world with you, the readers, as I continue to move forward in my life.