Coconut Curried Fried Rice

Fried Rice

Fried rice

Wow. So this recipe happened a long time ago. I’ve recently started rehearsals for a show (my first professional show) in Portland – The Sound of Music! I’m a nun. I know, silly silly. But oh well. So between work, nannying, social media, and rehearsals, I have been a bit fried. Kind of like this rice. So it’s all very fitting.

This rice is easy and delicious. What else do I need to say? I found the recipe on A Cozy Kitchen, a blog I really enjoy. I’ve adjusted it a bit to include things I really like in my fried rice.

Coconut Curried Fried Rice

Ingredients

Turmeric Coconut Rice

1 1/4 cups water
1 cup basmati or jasmine rice
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 piece cinnamon stick

Curry Fried Rice

1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tablespoon green or red Thai curry paste
1 medium carrot, peeled and diced
3/4 cup frozen peas
1 can pineapple chunks
1 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1 firm or extra firm tofu, chicken, or other protein (optional)
soy sauce

Instructions

Turmeric Coconut Rice

Combine all ingredients in a rice cooker or a pot and cook. When rice is ready, remove the cinnamon stick and either use immediately or you can refrigerate for a few days until you’re ready to make the fried rice.

Curry Fried Rice

Have all of your ingredients prepped and ready to go when you start as the process moves a little quickly. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large skillet or wok. Add the eggs and cook on medium-high heat. When the edges of the eggs begin to set, gently flip them over or just scramble them, if that’s easier for you. Once the eggs are cooked, remove them from the pan and cut into pieces or strips (that step isn’t necessary if you scrambled them). Wipe the wok clean with a paper towel.

Heat the rest of the oil on medium heat. Add the carrot and cook for a minute, then add the garlic and curry paste and cook for a minute, stirring constantly. Add the rice, peas, and pineapple and cook until heated through. Stir in the egg strips, soy sauce and lime juice.

Meanwhile, slice up your tofu (or chicken or other protein) and cook it to your liking in some Asian influenced sauces. I like to do a little soy sauce and fish sauce or hoisin sauce… the possibilities are endless.

Serve the rice with the tofu, and season with soy sauce and sriracha if you like it hot!

Candy for Grown Ups (or Roasted Tomatoes)

roasted tomatoes

Every summer, I get excited about the produce that will soon be available and all the delicious things I can make with it. I’ve already started with the rhubarb. I am waiting impatiently to go to Sauvie Island and pick strawberries. Soon there will be peaches and nectarines aplenty for me to use for things like salsa, smoothies, pies, etc. The other thing I love? Tomatoes. My little sister worked at a tomato stand at various farmer’s markets in Seattle last summer, and is slowly teaching me the joys of all these different weirdly colored tomatoes. But my favorite thing to do with tomatoes is to season them a little and roast them in the oven forever. And last week I got antsy. I couldn’t wait for the perfectly ripe, soft tomatoes to arrive at the markets. So I went to New Seasons and bought a bag of not-the-ripest roma tomatoes. I left them in our fruit bowl for a few days to soften up, and then I made roasted tomatoes.

Simple Roasted Tomatoes

Ingredients

Tomatoes (any kind will do – I usually go for just regular old vine tomatoes or romas or whatever is prettiest looking)
Olive Oil
Garlic
Salt
Dried basil and/or oregano

Instructions

All of the amounts of the ingredients above are based on your personal taste. If you like garlic, use a bunch. If you are trying to cut back on salt, don’t use it. They’re also great without the basil or oregano.

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. If you have more time to cook, you can heat your oven to 250 degrees. Drizzle some olive oil into a large baking dish. Slice your tomatoes in half and, if you want, cut out the little stem bit. Rub the tomatoes sliced-side down in the olive oil, then flip them so the sliced-side faces up. Mince the garlic and sprinkle it over the tomatoes. Now sprinkle on some salt and whatever other seasoning you want (this is the time for the basil or oregano if you’re using it). Now here’s the fun part: set it and forget it. Throw the suckers in the oven and let them cook for 3-4 hours. I took these ones out at 4 hours because we were leaving the apartment, but they probably could have gone another 30 minutes. You’ll want to check on them after the 3.5-4 hour mark, as the way they cook will depend on the kind of tomatoes and the temperature of your oven. When they’re caramelized and cooked to your liking, remove them from the oven.

I suggest letting them cool enough to eat one before using them for anything else, just so you can taste heaven. After enjoying one all by itself, the rest is up to you: cut them up and put them on a pizza or in a salad, throw them in your food processor or blender for soup (I suggest looking up a recipe so you know what else to add) or pasta sauce. Also, the oil that is still at the bottom of the pan is delicious, so scrape this into whatever container you’re saving them in so you can use it too. These things are amazing. The kids I nanny for didn’t like tomatoes until I made these; I made a giant dish of roasted tomatoes, and they were almost gone by the time their mom got home from work. That’s how hard it is not to eat these all up.

Restaurant Review: Oven & Shaker

Last week, Jonah and I went to see Alabama Shakes (and some other great bands) on the waterfront. The concert was part of the Rose Festival, and I bought tickets for Jonah as an anniversary present. It was on Sunday night, started at 5:30, and probably went till 10:30, though we left at 9:45 (we were hungry and also weren’t crazy about the last band). Finding a place to eat at 10 p.m. on a Sunday night was not the easiest, but after a little hunting on my phone, I found that Oven & Shaker, a very hip pizza place in the Pearl, was still open. Not only were they open, but it was happy hour, my favorite. Now, the ampersand – & – is a thing in Portland. All these hip places have two words with an ampersand between for the title: Beaker & Flask, Salt & Straw, Oven & Shaker. Is it bad that I had previously judged this place because of the ampersand? Probably. But hey, I wanted to try it anyway.

Oven & Shaker
Kyle making pizza in the wood oven.

So after the concert, we found a parking spot right out front (score!) and headed inside. We were immediately seated at the chef’s counter (our choice) so we could watch them make pizzas and, my favorite part, be warmed by the giant wood oven. We were greeted by a little blond hipster who was flinging dough around and asked us if we had ever been before. After hearing we hadn’t, he gave us a spiel about traditional cooking style with local ingredients bla bla bla…the same as most portland restaurants. He then left and another guy (whose name I later learned was Kyle) took over his station on the line. Now this guy, I liked: he seemed down to earth, asked how our weekend had been, chatted about the concert we had just been to, and said to ask if we had any questions or wanted to try anything. I like that.

We ordered drinks, the Nostrana salad (radicchio, parmigiano, rosemary-sage croutons, Caesar style dressing), and the goat cheese pizza (goat cheese, leeks, chives, basil, and speck). What’s speck, you ask? So did we. Kyle told us that speck is like prosciutto, except it has been smoked before being cured. While we waited for our food, we overheard some great conversations amongst the staff. My particular favorite was the bartender telling Kyle about the “margarita popcorn” he had made: tequila butter, lime juice, and salt-tossed popcorn. Kyle asked if it was a “Clyde Common popcorn” which I found entertaining. (Clyde Common is another very hip restaurant downtown that has fancy popcorn – think pimenton or truffle – as an appetizer.) We also overheard a conversation about a chitlin dish they were planning for the menu the next week.

Oven & Shaker
A slice of our goat cheese pizza (with a bite missing).

Anyway, after a short wait, our salad came, and man was it delicious. The raddichio wasn’t too bitter, the salad was perfectly dressed, and the croutons were deliciously flavored and crunchy. Yum! Then came the pizza. The crust was up there with Ken’s (another famously delicious pizza place in Portland), and the toppings were delicious. Ours didn’t have sauce on it (tomato or other), but the leeks, goat cheese, and ample olive oil that had been sprinkled on kept it from seeming dry. The speck was delicious. And the goat cheese was SO GOOD. Perfectly creamy and melty. I really liked this pizza a lot. We finished the whole thing. Not too shabby. As we were finishing our pizza, Kyle brought us a small plate of the chitlins we had heard them discussing earlier! Made from the prosciutto skin (instead of the pig intestine as they’re usually made), soaked for 12 hours, and then fried and sprinkled with lime zest and some other seasonings, he explained that this was the latest incarnation the chef had made and asked us our thoughts. I’ve never had chitlins before, and I’m not sure I would ever order them at a restaurant, but these were pretty good! We finished our chitlins and our pizza, thanked Kyle for a lovely meal, and headed home, perfectly full and content.

Pasta Salad with Feta and Snow Peas

Pasta salad

Pasta salad

One of my resolutions this summer is to have more picnics. This shouldn’t be too hard, seeing as we have a lovely park a few blocks from our house. So a couple weeks ago, we had our first picnic! I texted a bunch of friends and asked everyone to bring some food and we all met at the park.

Jonah and I brought this miniature amp we have and hooked my phone up and played some music, we had chips, strawberries, veggies and ranch dip, and this delicious pasta salad that Jonah made. It was perfectly filling and refreshing. Great for a summer day! And it was a big hit.  We found the recipe on Martha Stewart’s website. We adapted a little bit (because I’m not a huge fan of bell peppers, which is beginning to change), so here’s our version.

Pasta Salad with Feta and Snow Peas

Ingredients

Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 pound fusilli
4 oz snow peas, strings removed, cut in half
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 cup (4 ounces) crumbled feta cheese (we did a bit more)
2 Tbl olive oil
2 Tbl rice vinegar
1 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Instructions

Cook your pasta according to the package. During the last minute of cooking, add in the snow peas so they’ll be a little cooked. Drain the pasta and peas and rinse with cold water to cool and stop from cooking. In a large bowl, combine the pasta and peas with scallions, cilantro, feta, oil, vinegars, salt, and pepper. Toss to combine, and serve chilled or at room temperature.

Roasted Corn with Serranos and Onion

Corn

Corn

This corn recipe makes a lovely summer side dish. My dad taught it to me years ago. And it’s one of those recipes that’s really hard to mess up. Want it spicier? Add more serrano (or add more seeds). Want it more caramelized? Roast longer. The only thing I don’t like is how much it cooks down. So it can often turn out to be less than you anticipate. So be aware of that.

Roasted Corn with Serranos and Onion

Serves 2

Ingredients

3 ears of corn
1 medium white onion
Olive oil
Salt

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Shuck the corn and cut the corn off the cob with a very sharp knife. This part can be a little tricky, so be careful not to cut off your fingers. Sharp knives make this step way easier. And cooking much easier in general. I got a really nice knife for my birthday, and let me tell you, it makes a world of difference.

Moving right along. Put the corn into a baking dish – I used a pie dish, but if you’re making lots, one of those big casserole pyrex dished is good. Chop up the onion, throw that into the dish too. Now, chop up the serrano. Careful not to touch your face. More seeds means more heat, so be aware of how much you’re adding. Mix that in with the corn. Toss with olive oil until just evenly coated (you don’t want it too oily) and salt.

Bake in the oven for anywhere from 30-45 minutes. The longer you cook it, the more roasty and caramelized the corn will get. But be sure to check on it; there’s a point when it crosses the line from roasty and delicious to dehydrated and a little tough. When it’s cooked to your liking, remove and enjoy!