Lazy Chinese Stir Fry

We had a stir fry a few nights back that I wanted to post about as it’s a super quick and easy meal. This is some prepackaged help but, if you have the vegetables and want to chop, good on you. On Friday I had to tell you about this beer.


Perfect pairing with the stir fry. Mmm mmmmm. I pulled this old cookbook out that had not seen the light of day for well over a year:



Instead of buying the broccoli, snow peas and all of it separately I made it easy on myself by purchasing a large package of stir fry veggies all cut up. The package was only $3 and there was enough to make a stir fry twice. So…a bargain and a time saver.



In keeping with the spirit of the title of this post – Lazy Chinese stir fry – I used frozen eggrolls. Preheat the oven and get the rolls so they will be done same time as the rice.


Pulled out the rice cooker – what an amazing little machine. The rice comes out sticky clumpy as served in Chinese restaurants.



Before you start cooking measure out a ½ cup chicken broth, 1 tablespoon cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of soy sauce. Mix well.



Get out the wok, pour in a bit of sesame oil. Fry the veggies and toss in some water chestnuts. When they are done to your satisfaction, crunchy or soft, remove veggies and keep warm while you stir fry the shrimp. Naturally you can use chicken strips or beef…whatever you like. When the shrimp is pink, put the veggies back in the wok.


Pour in the chicken broth mixture and stir.




It was well timed with the rice cooker and the cooking time for the eggrolls. Everything was done at the same time.

And we’ve already talked about the Ommegang ale so I won’t go on about it.



Maybe one more photo.

Celtic Woman Concert & a Pizza Stone

The Celtic Woman concert was wonderful. We had seats just 5 rows back from the stage. Perfect seating as you aren't first row craning your neck backwards to see the performers and just far enough to see their faces clearly.
If you click HERE you can see a bit of each performer.

Mairead Nesbit is a world class fiddle player and described as a demon with the fiddle and her dancing skills. I don't know how on earth she can twirl around in heels, skip across the stage and play the fiddle as one who is possessed. She is mesmerizing. If you have the oportunity to see her solo or to see a Celtic Woman performance. please go.


Sunday we bought a pizza stone. See here:



My SIL Barbara kindly sent me pizza dough recipes and I have been meaning to give them a go. Now that I have a stone, I am all up for it. So, this evening I'll be making vegetable soup, pizza dough (for tomorrow), roasted root veggies and Doug will grill a fat New York strip steak.

The soup is my mom's recipe and the one I used for the Cook the Books submission. If you want that one again click here.

Mondays are always hard enough and I think a thick, tender and bloody steak will make up for getting up so god awful early.

Ommegang Belgium Ale

We had this with Chinese stir fry last night. I will post the meal later but had to make a quick mention of this wonderful ale. It has such body, it's like eating bread. Good bread. Similar to the Hennepin we had last week, this was the perfect match with shrimp stir fry.

From the bottle:

Ommegang is a Belgian Abbey Ale - top fermented and bottle conditioned, yielding a rich, fruity, aromatic burgundian brew.
I like it better than Chimay. And I like Chimay.

Today, farmer's market trip, library to pick up some cookbooks and a concert - Celtic Woman performs here this evening.

Happy weekend everyone!

Chocolate Pear Pudding Cake

Soldiering on through Nigella's book we decided to have the gooey, chocolaty pear dessert that, in my opinion, ranks up there with the Eton Mess as a favorite. One of THE tastiest desserts we've had in awhile.

The desserts in this book are phenomenal but I'm afraid that we may have to give them a break in plowing through this book. For a bit. I have gained weight. Doug has gained weight. The dogs have gained weight....and no matter how I try and justify that some ingredients are low calorie like pears for example....the cup of sugar can't be helpful. AND most of her desserts call for heavy cream.

I love Nigella and her recipes......but I may have to space them out a bit.

Here are the essential ingredients. Stuff you'd most likely have in your pantry.
Get ready for an ooey, gooey, chocolate treat in just 45 minutes after you start!

28 ounces of pear halves in juice

1 cup sugar

¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon flour

¼ cup cocoa

10 tablespoons soft butter

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Ready.... this is so easy.

Step 1 – Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease an 8 ½ inch square ovenproof dish.

Step 2 – Drain pears and arrange in base of the greased dish.



Step 3 – Put all remaining ingredients in a processor and blitz until you have a batter. I don’t have a large processor and just used a hand mixer. Worked fine!



Step 4 – Spread batter over pears and bake in oven for 30 minutes.



The smell of warm sugary chocolate was amazing. It was hard to let it sit 5 minutes.



Step 5 – Let stand 5 or 10 minutes and cut. Look at it...it's oozing chocolatly goodness and I assure you, melts in your mouth.



The recipe suggests you serve with chocolate sauce but we used Kahlua one night. Another night we used ice cream on the side.

Nigella Express
Store cupboard SOS section, Page 373

Mary Margaret and a Roasted Lemon Chicken

My dear friend, Mary Margaret, visited me for a few days this week. It was quite a journey for her as she lives in Alaska. MM and I were dining in Applebees when we were alerted that Mt. Redoubt had erupted and was spewing ash - all flights to Alaska had been canceled. Fortunately she did not have to return home just yet as she is spending another week in south Florida to visit family.


Mary Margaret - washing up. This is Sunday. This cleaning up bit was not a priority of mine but...she is the guest so she can do what she likes. And for some reason, she likes doing dishes!


Mary Margaret chatting with Doug. See little Aja sitting on the white rug, blending in? Geez, this makes my kitchen look so spartan.


Oh no....we are too drunk to focus.........

Right...that's better.


Ok...on to one of the meals we shared. This is a good one but it takes an hour and half total to roast. Totally worth it.

The Roasted Chicken

Start with three lemons, dried tarragon and a chicken.

Place one and a half teaspoons tarragon inside the chicken cavity. Slice the lemons in half. Place one half a lemon inside the cavity of the chicken.


The lemon stuffed chicken should look like this.


Peel 4 or 5 onions and slice in half.

In small saucepan melt a quarter cup unsalted butter, then add 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard and the juice from the lemons.

Place the chicken in the roasting pan breast side down.

Brush the chicken and onions with about half of the butter mixture.
Roast in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes then brush the chicken with butter mixture again.

Thirty minutes pass and you pull the roast pan out of the oven. Brush the onions with balsamic vinegar. I just pour it over the onions. More than 2 tablespoons should do it.

Pour a glass of wine and have some bread and cheese. Now put the chicken back in the oven and roast 30 more minutes.

Pull it out - now turn the chicken over so the breast side is up, being careful not to send the onions coasting across the pan. Because then the onions won’t be as good when they are broken up.


Brush the chicken and dab the onions with more butter mixture. Roast another 30 minutes or until done. If you haven’t had onions cooked this way you will be in for a treat. They are so flavorful and caramelized by the time the balsamic and butter meld in the onion.

Fork that bad boy and prepare to be carve. Be careful removing the lemon. Hot!


Look at it, all brown and lemony.



Toast! Slainte!






This is Monday. Mary Margaret - doing her thing. She loves washing up.


Nothing went to waste with this one. The leftover meat made soup and chicken salad. The bones went to making another pot of broth.

I'm sorry that we were so bone-headed that we forgot to take more photos. :-(

Next time.......

Tangerine Chicken

The Dark Parade of Meal Problems

My recently acquired food porn, a Rachael Ray magazine (my free sample), has thus far given me a paper cut, a knife cut which took a nice sized chunk out of my thumb, two bills for the free magazine (delivered prior to my actually receiving the sample mag, I may add) and managed to cause us to swap our traditional pizza night due to missing ingredients in the house.
OK, I can't blame Rachael for my forgetfulness and leaving the damn tangerines at work. Or being out of Worcestershire sauce. Or stock. (deep sigh)

It just seemed like a bad luck recipe but I will say, it was very good. We will make it again...not soon....but we'll have it.


Rachael's Tangerine Chicken (Adapted by Tina)

If you don't have any broth in the house (which somehow I did not) then you'll need to make some. I used roasted Cornish hen remains, some carrot, bay leaves, peppercorn, etc.


The recipe calls for breasts but we like dark meat and used boneless thighs.


When they have cooked about 10 minutes, remove from the pan and set aside, keeping warm.

Next you will need a finely chopped red onion (naturally I did not have one and used a white onion), a cup or 2 of finely chopped carrot. I used the food processor for this. Chicken broth, 2 chopped scallions, 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce and 2 tablespoons brown sugar.



You will need two tangerines to grate and the juice of these tangerines. (Watch out for your thumb as you grate and use the knife) I am using my Nigella citrus reamer in a Rachael Ray recipe. Hmmmmm.......






Fry the onions until soft. Then add the tangerine juice and peel, Worcestershire sauce and brown sugar. Toss the chicken back in the pan to get coated with the tangerine mixture.





I cut myself. See. I had another photo that showed the huge damage to my thumb but it made my arm look fat. So look at this one instead. It is more flattering. And consider it a warning against frivolously handling a sharp Global knife.




Now get out another saucepan, heat a tablespoon olive oil and saute carrots and scallions. Add some chicken broth, curry and turmeric. You are meant to mix this in with couscous.



Continuing on with my non award winning methods for handling this recipe we decided to use rice and serve the carrot - scallion mixture on the side. I mixed that into my rice. Oh...it was sooo good.

Goes well with Hennepin ale. It was recommended (in the magazine) that something like Newcastle Brown Ale would suit this meal.




Got all the leftovers out of the fridge and had some reheated polenta too. Doug did dishes and helped with most of the rest of the meal after I cut myself. It was a bad spot and just wouldn't stop bleeding. And I am such a baby.

I am playing catch up on mail and blog posts today. Was able to post to Laquet and then, blocked out again. Same with Donna. By the way Donna, feel free to use my photos of the citrus reamer :-)

My friend Mary Margaret left yesterday morning - 4 bloody thirty in the morning we had to get up! Too short a visit...it was fun. More later..........

Roasted Cornish Hens

I have catching up to do. My friend Mary Margaret visited me, coming all the way from Alaska and 14 degrees to sunny Florida and 75 degrees. We had some fun, I took time off work and I made a few of Nigella's treats. I will post on that later.

This morning I was so excited to open Laquet's blog and see I could post a comment! I thought, problem fixed, as I actually posted. But her next blog entry had me blocked from commenting. Rats! Same with Donna at My Tasty Treasures.

Before I start in on that rant, or my friend's visit, here is another one to check off my Nigella Express list.

Nigella's Cornish Hens and Sweet Potato Chunks

Don't they look like pathetic little birds laying about, all white and tiny and looking like they have no promise at all. Well, they may have had promise....but that ship sailed before the birds made it to the table.

The cinnamon and cumin are essential for the potatoes.



The potatoes were saturated in spices and olive oil.


If you have the book please look at the photo of the finished product. It looks world's better than mine. Now, I followed the directions but it did not look as appealing. Whether her recipe tasted better, I do not know.

Doug and I thought the hens came out a bit bland...like they needed salt or something. They needed taste. The sweet potatoes were fabulous and the combo of cumin and cinnamon works well. Maybe I ought to have rubbed that all over the little hens.



Alas, they gave their lives for a bland dinner, not to be remembered after this post.

Nigella Express, Everyday Easy section, page 20.

Whinge and whine

Finished the Maeve Binchy book. It was nice, but she has written others that are by far better(in my opinion). There was a relationship that didn't seem like it would, or should, work out which she tried to tidy it up so it would be all happy endings. I won't say what or who in case anyone plans to read it and has not done so yet.

Dinner complications...... no wait, let me get to that in a minute. The comment issue has me more pissy than the dinner.

I have not figured around the comment problem on two blogs I like. So, Donna if you are reading this - I am very much enjoying your blog My Tasty Treasures. Your giveaway looks amazing, as does your chicken Marsala. I see you buy a much better brand of Marsala than we do. Does the better quality make a difference do you think? I made something similar to your dish and also used Marsala in a lamb recipe recently. When it hits the pan the smell is incredible. Makes you hungry immediately!

Also, another fun blog I can read but not comment to is Chez le Laquet! and so we will get around our communication issue by chatting this way.

I agree with you, the low energy light bulbs don't seem to be as bright. A trade off I guess. Loved the description of the farmers market. Doug says he'll stay with Simon at the ale stall.....sounds great. The pancetta fried up with a few veggies is definitely going on the list of things to try here. Yum!

Ok, the dinner. Well, I was going to give Nigella a one night break because I have been fairly diligent about knocking off the recipes in her book. So, since I had just acquired a Rachael Ray magazine and dog-eared a few promising recipes - thought I'd give the Tangerine Chicken a shot.


The main ingredients are chicken breasts, tangerine (obviously), Worcestershire sauce and more... So I decide I am going to measure it all out, chop all the veggies it calls for and do it as seen on cooking shows. When they are ready to toss things in the pan and stir and it's all neatly measured out.

I will admit to substituting boneless thighs for breast because we are just not great fans of white meat. It seems to dry out quickly. But no problem there as it is a matter of personal taste. I see that it calls for red onion. I thought I had a red onion. I did not.

Fine. I chopped a yellow one and figured it wouldn't make a huge difference. Next is two tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce. I look in the fridge at the two tall bottles in the door and one is malt vinegar for fish and the other is soy. I look and look....no Worcestershire sauce.

Now Worcestershire sauce has a bit of a kick. So now I'm thinking it won't taste anywhere near the same. But it's getting late and we live out in the sticks and a ride to the grocery store would take me 40 minutes round trip.

So, fine. I'll just make it with yellow onion and NO Worcestershire sauce. In the meantime I realize I am out of chicken broth so I shredded some leftover roasted chicken from the bones, tossed in peppercorns, bay leaves, celery, carrot, etc in a huge pot to make my broth.

I start frying the chicken in olive oil and then look around for the tangerines that I bought earlier in the day so I may grate the peel and juice two tangerines. Can't find them. I go out to the car to see if they fell in the backseat. Not there. Not in the hatch of the car.

I go inside the house, turn the heat off the simmering chicken and look again for tangerines. I am without three main ingredients and it's now 7:30 p.m. And the chicken broth is not quite ready. I am aggravated.

So we went for a pizza and watched some of season two of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Friday is our pizza night but....we had to improvise; so Thursday was pizza night.

The positive side is most of the veggies are chopped and I have the ingredients I need to finish up the tangerine chicken. By the way, the tangerines were on my desk at work.

Stay tuned for the Rachael Ray recipe..........

Grilled Amberjack

A hot charcoal fire was just the ticket for these two fat amberjack fillets. It's a great tasting fish yet inexpensive. It runs $6.95 a pound around here and it always tastes great. Very moist and flavorful.



Fry up polenta, about an inch thick each and roast some cherry tomatoes in a 350 degree oven. Toss in the French loaf from the night before to warm.



When the tomatoes come out of the oven arrange on a plate with the polenta and top with a bit of goat cheese. The tomatoes will be just hot enough to melt it slightly. It's a nice combo of flavors.

Rapid Ragu

Nigella Express
From the Instant Calmer section, page 172.

What a snap to make. Here are all the ingredients you will need to make Rapid Ragu. The ground lamb was from Wisconsin and the pancetta was purchased through the deli section at the local market. I had them cut off a hunk roughly 1 and half inches thick.



Here are the two main meat ingredients. The ground lamb is from Wisconsin. The pancetta I finally found in the deli section of the market.



Fry it up in just a touch of garlic infused olive oil.




Served on a portion of rice in large bowls, topped with shredded sharp cheddar cheese.

I have been hustling on the Maeve Binchy book that I can not renew at the libray so ahve been less active posting. Trying to get through the book.

And, I am a bit discouraged by the inability to post to some blogs. It's a recent thing and I am totally bewildered by it. sigh.........

Grilled Tuna Steaks

Before we get to the important parts, like eating and recipes, I was wondering if any of you bloggers out there could help me with a problem I have been experiencing with the comment fields.

I have been able to make comments on all other blogs for well over a year. Never had a problem. Now, suddenly, on two particular blogs I am seeing a drop down menu that is blank. On some other blogs, the drop down menu offers options to make a comment using your Google account, a name or anonymous. But for Donna and Laquet, I get the blank dropdown menu and then, error on page when I click submit.

Does make sense to anyone? If anyone could offer advice I'd appreciate it. I will say Donna and Laquet's comment field format looks different than others. I'm so sad..because I want to comment on their blogs and not send them emails.


Ok, to the important stuff. Look what Doug did! This was from a few nights ago when we gave Nigella the night off. The Spring weather we have been experiencing (even though it is not officially Spring) has just begged for something to be grilled. There is nothing like fine temperatures, a good breeze, alazeas in bloom and the smell of charcoal to put you in the mood for grilling.

Grilled tuna, nearly rare, generously smeared with extra virgin olive oil, salt and peppered. Paired with baked sweet potato which had been dotted with butter and a bit of brown sugar. The orange of the potato with the sprinkle of brown sugar made a nice contrast. Peas for the side. Red wine which did match up well.

Behold the tuna steaks ready to be tossed on the hot grill. I did not get a snap of Doug cooking. (Wait for those photos with his scallop scampi)


Get the Cuban loaf out of the oven and dig in.




So many strawberries left that we made the chopped fruit cups again.




Last night we did cook from Nigella's book - the Rapid Ragu. Oh my. You could hurt yourself eating that and I can't wait to get the photos downloaded. I'll post thyat one tomorrow.

Have a great Tuesday night!