Sichuan Chicken Noodles

I was feeling so confident after my chicken Marvasala dish (below) that I invited a friend over to taste this dish that I found from the "America's Test Kitchen 30-minute suppers" book (www.cooksillustrated.com). However, when I went to the door to buzz him in, my husband took a taste of my concoction and said that it was...well not up to par. Therefore, he added some special ingredients. See below. I will get there!

Recipe serves one Ironman triathlete, and two normal people.

Lesson learned from this recipe:
• It is important to read the directions...instead of the 1/2 cup of peanut butter, I added a full cup by accident!
• Use Asian noodles instead of linguine...(the linguine stuck together and it was a real mess!)
• Add some additional veggies...this will make it healthier and more exciting.
• Joe added some fresh basil from our basil plant, "Mr. B"
• He also added a little bit of Splenda to taste.

Here is the recipe:
1 pound chicken breast sliced into bite sized pieces.
3 T rice vinegar
3 T soy sauce
1 T chili garlic sauce
1 1/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup peanut butter
3 T oyster sauce (DO NOT smell this...ewwww)
1 T olive oil
1 T grated fresh ginger
Salt to taste
1 pound dried Asian noodles (do not use linguine)
1 1/2 cup button mushrooms
1 1/2 cup tomatoes sliced to your preference

1. Bring 4 quarts water to a boil in a large pot for the noodles. Combine chicken, 2 tablespoons vinegar, 1 table spoon soy sauce, and chili-garlic sauce in medium bowl, whisk broth, peanut butter, oyster sauce, remaining vinegar, and remaining soy sauce.

2. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add chicken mixture and cook until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms here and cook for another 5 minutes.

3. If you have a small grater, grate the fresh ginger and then stir in ginger and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add broth mixture and the tomatoes and simmer until slightly thickened, about 4 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, add 1 tablespoon salt and noodles to boiling water and cook until al dente. Reserve ½ cup of cooking water, drain noodles, and return to pot. Add sauce and toss to combine, adding reserved pasta water as needed. Serve with love and serve cupcakes for dessert!

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Chicken Marvalasala and Pappardelle with Rosemary Gravy

Here is another recipe that I liked. I was watching Rachel Ray on TV...my husband is not the biggest fan of Rachel Ray...and when he came home, I had to quickly change the channel and pretend like I was watching something else! So I did a search on Food Network and found the recipe.

I used whole wheat pappardelle pasta that we got from Trader Joe's. It was deeelish! The only drawback was that the kitchen looked like Thanksgiving when I was done.


Ingredients
3/4-pound pappardelle pasta (wide ribbons, substitute fettuccine if unavailable)
Salt
4 large, thin pieces boneless skinless chicken breast cutlets
Ground black pepper
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 large cloves garlic, crushed
2 portobello mushroom caps, sliced
12 shiitakes, stemmed and sliced
4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons tomato paste, look for this in a tube (it's easy to store that way)
1 1/2 cups chicken stock, eyeball it
2 tablespoons minced rosemary leaves, a couple of sprigs
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, eyeball it
2 tablespoons capers, drained
1/2 cup Marsala wine
Grated pecorino Romano cheese
A couple handfuls arugula or baby spinach leaves, thinly sliced

Directions
Put a large pot of water on to boil for the pasta. When it comes up to a boil, salt the water, drop in the pasta, and cook to al dente.

While the pasta is working, season the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat a large nonstick skillet with 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan, over medium to medium-high heat. Add the chicken to the pan and brown lightly on both sides; remove to a platter and cover with foil to hold in heat. To the same skillet, add 2 tablespoons more extra-virgin olive oil and 1 clove garlic. Cook garlic a minute or so, then remove and add the mushrooms. Let the mushrooms brown evenly and become tender, 8 to 10 minutes.

While the mushrooms work, start gravy for pasta. In a deep medium skillet melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Add a clove of crushed garlic and cook a couple of minutes then remove. Whisk flour and tomato paste into garlic infused butter. Cook the flour a minute or 2 then whisk in the stock. Add rosemary and whisk in tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce. Simmer to thicken, 5 minutes. Season the sauce with salt and pepper, to your taste.

To the cooked mushrooms, add capers and Marsala and reduce a minute or so. Add 2 tablespoons butter in small bits to finish sauce and shake the pan to incorporate. Slide the chicken back into sauce and warm.

Drain pasta and toss with sauce and a handful of cheese. Serve pasta alongside Chicken Marvalasala. Scatter arugula or spinach across both the chicken and pasta, to garnish.

In a pinch, try Trader Joe's Punjab Spinach Sauce

I stocked up on these Trader Joe simmer sauces. Easy to just throw in some chicken breast and have a meal in minutes. Tonight I am using a jar of Trader Joe’s Punjab Spinach Sauce.
What else you will need:
• ½ pound of chicken breast
• 1 c. Jasmine rice
• A glass of Sauvignon Blanc (this is for you to drink to take the edge off)

So when Joe left for his jog, I did the following:
1. Take a cup of Jasmine rice and then run it through water a few times to make sure it’s not all gross and dirty. Make sure you drain it.
2. Then I followed the directions on the rice cooker that we got on Clement Street. The rice took about 40 minutes to cook, so do this first.
3. Cut up the chicken breast into bite sized pieces. (I use a fork and a big knife that we got as a wedding gift. I don’t know how to do that fancy cutting thing that chefs do.)
4. Add the sauce to the pan.
5. Then fill the jar half way with water and then add that to the pan.
6. Once it simmers, add the chicken.
7. After about 10 minutes, lower the heat.
8. Let it all simmer for about 20 more minutes stirring every so often.
9. I do the dishes while it’s simmering.
10. You can let it hang out in the sauce for a little longer if need be. While Joe showered, I plated it.
It was pretty darn good if I do say so myself. It was pretty easy too!

Why I started this blog.

Being married to a chef is a very cool thing I have to say. Every day is a new adventure into the culinary world. One day at work a colleague asked me what I was eating as I opened up my steaming Tupperware preparing to dive in to my lunch. “Duck confit with blueberry compote,” I replied. I will never forget the look on his face; and it was then that I knew I had it good. Night after night, delicious meals would cross my palate…one better than the next. There was Thai and Indian, homemade ravioli on Sunday—you name it, I ate it.

“How can you be married to a chef and not gain weight,” people would ask. Oh yes, I was a triathlete. “Was” being the key word here. About six months after we signed up for our first Ironman race together, I was forced to drop out of the race due to a botched foot surgery that I am still dealing with.

Now Joe trains about 20 hours per week while I catch up on my reality TV. For Joe, working 50 hours per week and training 20 leaves little time to keep up with his culinary dinner delights. So I am now forced to reach out of my comfort zone and prepare meals.

Join me as I attempt this feat. I am going to start with easy to prepare meals and go from there if it goes well.