Meal Makeover: Jambalaya

Frozen meals are great when you're in a pinch and need something fast and delicious. But one or two additional steps can take that one bag meal from this:

To THIS:

Bumblebee has these new frozen seafood meals and we got to try one for FREE! The meal itself looked good enough, but I couldn't help trying to kick it up a notch. So I decided to use their Spicy Shrimp Romesco to make jambalaya. The result? A festival of awesome.

2 cups diced peppers
1/2 cup diced yellow onion
3 cloves garlic, sliced
5 sausages, sliced
1 tbsp vegetable oil*

1 tbsp paprika

1/2 tbsp onion powder

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp worchestershire sauce

1/3 cup chicken broth

1 package Bumblebee Spicy Shrimp Romesco 

1 can small red beans, 14 ounces, rinsed and drained

2 cups cooked rice

Salt

Hot sauce

Heat a large pan over high heat. Add peppers and onions. Caramelize until golden.

Add oil, garlic and sausages and cook until garlic is golden brown. Reduce heat to medium and add chicken broth to deglaze the pan.

Add paprika, onion powder, pepper, worchestershire sauce, beans and Spicy Shrimp package contents. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes.

Stir in rice. Salt and hot sauce to taste. It's time to eat!

*Don't use olive oil or any other oil with a low smoking point.

Spicy Thai Tuna

I don't cook fish. It's not that I dislike fish - I love fish. It's the fear of walking that very thin line between undercooked and overcooked. But recently, I have been testing the waters. And there's no better way to conquer a food I'm afraid of than with the support of my beloved cast iron griddle. I sliced the tuna into 1/4" slices and cooked it for about 2 minutes on each side on a very hot griddle. It came out perfect!

Soon my brain was flipping through my mental rolodex of flavor pairings and preparations. So what pairs well with tuna? The bright flavors of lime and chilies. The sweet crunch of carrots and green onion. And the distinctive flavor of black vinegar. And sesame! Don't forget that! Oh, what about ginger? And that was how this laundry list of ingredients turned into an actually delicious meal.

Ingredients
1/3 cup fresh cilantro
2 medium ahi tuna steaks, sliced in 1/4" slices
1/2 cup finely shredded carrots
5-7 green onions, cut into 1/2" pieces
1 tsp fresh lime zest
juice of half a lime
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp red pepper flakes
3/4 cup chicken stock
1/2 tbsp. black vinegar
5 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
rice noodles or angel hair pasta, cooked al dente
1 1/2 tbsp. sesame oil
1 tsp hot chili oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp. sesame oil
1 tbsp. soy sauce

Toss sliced tuna with 1 tbsp. sesame oil and soy sauce.

Heat cast iron skillet, griddle or sauté pan over high heat. Sear tuna, about 2 minutes on each side.

In large sauté pan, heat remaining oil, garlic, ginger, pepper flakes, lime juice and lime zest over medium heat. Add stock and black vinegar and simmer about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and add noodles, carrot, green onion, cilantro and tuna. Toss to coat and serve hot.

It's time to eat!

A Chinatown Adventure

We recently decided to increase our cookbook library and the addition of Bee Linn Low's Easy Chinese Recipes required us to stock our kitchen with items like black vinegar, chili oil, and sesame oil. Most of these things can be found in a large enough supermarket with a whole 'ethnic foods' aisle. But where is the fun in that? So this weekend Richard and I set out on a grand adventure to Chinatown. If you are lucky enough to have a Chinatown or Asian market in your city, it is certainly worth the trip.

Chinatown is a festival for the senses. Tourists waddle slowly through the streets while locals gracefully weave through the throng. Street vendors clang spatulas and shout their wares in a sing-songy tune. Bins and baskets outside small markets overflow with colorful mushrooms, chilis, dried fruits, and dried fish.

If you could stand in the middle of a Chinatown market blindfolded (You couldn't. You'd be run over by the masses.) the smells alone would be enough to send you digging into your imagination for something familiar.

As a lover of new adventures, I browsed the aisles all wide-eyed and curious. I must have looked like a small child as I bombarded Richard with "What's this?" and "What's that for?" every three seconds. I don't know why, but I believe he knows everything - even when he doesn't. ;)

After a long day of shopping, we came home and got right to work on our first recipe out of the book - Sichuan Chicken! We instantly changed some of the ingredients to suit our palates. First, we switched out Sichuan peppercorn oil for sesame oil since the recipe already calls for chilies and chili oil and we wanted to control the heat. We also added green bell pepper for some crunch. You could just serve it with steamed veggies, but I really liked the textural addition of a crunchy veggie. Be warned, if you do not like spicy food, this is not the recipe for you.

Sichuan Chicken

4 boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 tbsp Chinese rice wine or sherry
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
oil, for frying
1 tbsp chili oil
1 tbsp sesame oil
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
20 dried red finger-length chilies, deseeded and cut in half
1/2 tsp chicken bouillon powder
1/4 tsp sugar
3 green onions (scallions), chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, diced

In medium bowl, combine cornstarch, rice wine and salt. Mix with a fork until fine and crumbly. Toss chicken in mixture and coat well. Allow to marinate for 15 minutes.

Heat 2 inches of oil in a wok or pot to 350 degrees. Gently drop the chicken into the oil and loosen them up with a spatula. Fry until golden brown. Remove from the oil and allow to drain on a dish lined with paper towels.

In a wok or skillet, heat chili oil and sesame oil over high heat. Add garlic, green pepper and chilies. Stir-fry until you can smell the aroma of the chilies.

Add the chicken, bouillon powder, sugar and green onion. Stir quickly with a spatula to combine all ingredients. Allow to cook for another 2 minutes. Serve with rice.

Ciao Bella! Southern Italian in your kitchen.

When I went to Italy, I probably ate enough food to sustain a small village. But my favorite Italian food experience was visiting a little restaurant in the middle of nowhere. These farm-based restaurants are called Agriturismo - a combination of the words for "agriculture" and "tourism" in Italian.

Starting in the 1950s and continuing through the 1970s, small scale farming in Italy became less profitable, and, as one might predict, farmers abandoned many farms to search for work in larger towns. But Italians value highly the traditions and produce of small scale production of food, and by 1985 a law defined Agriturismo, and many abandoned buildings and estates were restored, some for vacation homes, and many for agritourismo. These agritourismi allowed the small farmer to augment the income from the farm, and for vacationers to sample the bounty of a rural life in Italy.

There is rarely a menu, as they typically serve whatever is pulled from the garden that day. It is the freshest culinary experience I have ever had.

Parmesan Chicken Tartine

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts, butterflied
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan
1 egg, beaten
1 can (15 ounces) diced tomatoes with chiles
6 ounces tomato paste
1 can (14 ounces) tomato sauce
1 cup fresh basil
2 gloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, diced
2 tbsps dried oregano
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 slices of provolone cheese
1 baguette
5 tbsps olive oil

In a large saucepan, heat 2 tbsps of olive oil. Saute garlic and onion until onion is transparent. Add tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and tomato paste. Simmer for 15 minutes, until tomatoes break down. Add basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Simmer for at least 45 minutes, stirring ocassionally.

In a large skillet, heat 3 tbsps olive oil on medium high heat. In a shallow bowl, combine bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. Dip chicken in egg and then coat with bread crumb mixture. Place chicken in the skillet and cook until browned on both sides and cooked through.

Slice the baguette and toast it in the oven or a toaster oven. Drizzle the bread with olive oil then place chicken on top of the bread and cover with a slice of provolone cheese. Pour hot tomato sauce over the chicken and top with a sprinkle of cheese and a couple pieces of fresh basil.

Mangia!

Let's turn up the heat!

My fiance and I love Indian food. If you have been scared off by the unfamiliar smells and difficult names associated with Indian fare, give it another try. Americans tend to be most familiar with northern Indian dishes. But if you're adventurous, southern Indian dishes are spicy and full of flavor.

Chicken Tikka Masala is one of the most popular Indian dishes in the U.K. and U.S. It is basically, roasted chicken chunks in a rich and fragrant red or orange colored sauce. Masala means 'mixture of spices' so there are a wide variety of masala recipes and the flavor of the dish can vary dramatically from one restaurant to another.

After extensive experimentation, I have come up with a recipe that I really love. It has a good amount of heat, but you can certainly play around with quantities and ingredients. Serve it over rice to soak up all that sauce.

Chicken Tikka Masala

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts, cut into 1" chunks

Marinade:
6 ounces greek yogurt
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsps cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp ground ginger

Sauce:
1 tbsp butter
1 cup onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsps cumin
2 tsps paprika
1 tsp salt
1 15 ounce can tomato sauce
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tsps cilantro, finely chopped

In a tupperware, mix together all ingredients for marinade. Add chicken and coat well. Cover and refrigerate for two to five hours. (If you're in a pinch, you can skip this and just cook the coated chicken right away.)

Cook marinated chicken in a medium skillet until no longer pink in the middle.

In a large skillet, melt butter and saute onion and garlic until onion is transparent. Add turmeric, cumin and paprika and stir constantly. Cook until spices become very aromatic (about 1 minute). Stir in tomato sauce, cream and salt. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring constantly. Add chicken and cilantro and simmer another 10 minutes.

Servings: 2