Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Farewell to Nigella at I Heart Cooking Club

I am pleased to be knocking off two more recipes from Nigella Express, pleased to send it over to I Heart Cooking Club but sad that this is the last week for the Nigella theme. That was a fast six months…..and there have been times that I just could not participate but have read the other foodies’ entries. Hop on over to I heart Cooking Club and see what delicious goodies our fellow foodies have posted in honor of Nigella Lawson these past six months.



While I will continue to slowly soldier on and cook my way through the cookbook Nigella Express…..here is the final entry for IHCC. (sniff sniff)

The theme is Easter Baskets. Since I do not have a traditional Easter dinner and am not, in fact, a traditional person by nature…I made Minestrone Soup and Rib-Sticking Stir Fry.



Nigella’s Minestrone recipe may be found HERE

This was soooo simple. Toss the beans in a soup pot, add the pasta sauce and broth. I actually un-vegetarianed the recipe by tossing in several handfuls of chopped roasted chicken. This will be our lunch for several days at work this week. We pair our homemade soup with yogurt….have a light lunch each day and a short stroll afterwards.



The Rib-Sticking Stir-Fry

Humorous story with this meal. I had everything I needed for the stir-fry and was set to make this quick meal. It calls for a ¼ cup of Chinese cooking wine and I guess I had overlooked that ingredient during my meal planning list. Since the egg rolls were cooking, the rice steamer was engaged in making nice sticky rice and I had already started sautéing the chicken strips…..I couldn’t very well switch gears and make something else, now could I?

I tipped in a third of a cup of Alice White Chardonnay in place of the Chinese wine. Australia … China …whatever. It would work. Nah….it actually did not. The stir-fry came out a bit dry. So then Doug asks if we still had the bottle of Mirin.



This had been purchased with plans to make a Crab Wrap (yes, Nigella style).

Well this was a D’OH! moment since Mirin is 8% Sake…(and perfect for the stir-fry I prepared). As we doused our veggies and chicken strips with Mirin, tipping back a few glasses of Chardonnay with the meal, a few more liberal sprinkles of Mirin….we became aware of a strong yet mellow buzz settling in. It was quite amusing at the time :-)

Anyway, Recipe follows…..



Heat a bit of oil in a wok. Behold my old red wok from circa 1984……..saute about 12 ounces of chicken or turkey strips. Add 4 cups of assorted chopped stir-fry veggies. Toss them around and let them soften….then add ¼ cup soy sauce and ¼ cup Chinese cooking wine.



Veggies.....stir, stir, stir!


Once the heat is back up and sizzling add a 14 oz. can cannellini beans. Drain them first!. Mix it up and serve.



This was better than I expected and I would have it again.

From Rib Sticking Stir Fry


The Minestrone in Minutes is from: Nigella Express, Storecupboard SOS Section, page 363

The Rib-Sticking Stir-Fry is from: Nigella Express, Instant Calmer Section, page 171


Cheers!

14 comments:

  1. Your Minestrone looks delicious. Love all your photos ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I loved every minute of cooking my way through Nigella's recipes and Nigella Express is by far my favorite book of hers. I definitely have more recipes I want to try from this book.
    I'd love to try the minestrone just because it comes together so darn quick.
    Love that you used the mirin in place of the cooking wine. I loved the rib-sticking stir fry and am going to be making it again.
    I hope you join us for some Bittman recipes:D

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kathleen - Thank you so much!

    Kim - You sure won me over with the Tyler Florence recipes you made so I bought Stirring the Pot. Thanks for the nice comments - I love Nigella and will continue on with her Express. Oh, the Mirin is good by the way!

    ReplyDelete
  4. The minestrone and the stir fry look excellent and make a delicious meal!

    ReplyDelete
  5. The minestrone is for me. Bookmarked! Easy-peasy and scrumptious has my name on it. Thanks for the inspiration.

    ReplyDelete
  6. 5 Star Foodie - It was all so good. Hey, I've been enjoying checking your posts out via Foodbuzz. I really want to get more active on Foodbuzz...you are so faithful to posting there!

    Carla and Michael - Hope you like it - it was very easy and good.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Both the minestrone and the stir-fry look amazing. I love mirin--perfect for stir-frys, salad dressings, etc.
    ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Deb - That was the first time I ever tried Mirin. Loved it! Thanks for the nice comments.

    ReplyDelete
  9. You did a great job with both recipes.

    ReplyDelete
  10. That stir-fry looks great - I love stir-fries for a quick easy evening meal, so this one is on my "must-try" list.
    Sue

    ReplyDelete
  11. Comfycook - thank you so much :-)

    Couscous - Thank you for the nice comments,. It sure was easy and love that Mirin!

    ReplyDelete
  12. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  13. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  14. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete

Welcome and thank you so much for visiting. If I don't answer you here I will get back to you on your blog. Also have had to switch to approving comments due to some SPAM lately. Alas...

It's been a good run...........