Chicken stir fry...it's whats for dinner...I guess.

So what do you do when your short on time, have no leftovers, have no groceries and are an all around looser?  Make a stir fry!  It's the chili of the East.  Open the fridge, and start throwing stuff on the stove.  Just take whatever you have on hand, whip it up with a little garlic and sesame oil and....voila!  It's something resembling dinner!  I had some Korean style glass noodles in the pantry, but you could use Soba noodles instead, or even rice if you'd like.  I had chicken breasts in the freezer, so we are making this a chicken stir fry.  But you can you any protein you'd like.  Or just veggies...whatever your desperately under stocked fridge can 

produce....

Chicken Stir Fry

6 servings (at least)

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut in to 1/2 inch strips

1/2 cup soy sauce

2 TBS rice wine vinegar

1 TBS honey

2 garlic cloves, smashed

1 TBS plus 2 tsp toasted sesame oil

2 large scallions, cut in 1 inch pieces

3 carrots, julienne

2 cups shredded cabbage

2 eggs

1/2 lb glass noodles

1 tsp chili oil*

1 TBS vegetable oil

Place chicken, along with soy sauce, vinegar, honey, 1 TBS sesame oil and garlic cloves in a zip-lock bag to marinate  while you prepare the veggies, at least 30 minutes (I wouldn't marinate it for more than a few hrs, the meat will start to break down).

  

Prepare noodles according to package directions, letting them cook 1 minute less than what the directions call for.

Heat 1 TBS oil over med heat.  Remove chicken and garlic from marinade and place in pan to stir fry.  Oil should be hot.  Discard marinade.  Cook chicken until browned and marinade remnants are beginning to thicken, about 10 minutes.  

With a slotted spoon, remove chicken from pan, tent with foil, and set aside. Add chili oil to the pan, bring heat to medium and add carrots and cabbage, and continue cooking til veggies begin to soften.  When veggies are tender-crisp crack eggs into pan and scramble into the veggies.  Cook for another 3 minutes, allowing eggs to firm up.  

Remove pan from heat and add noodles and chicken.  Mix in scallion pieces, drizzle with remaining sesame oil toss well and enjoy!

*Chili oil is not for the faint of heart.  It has a lot of heat and a little goes a loooooong way.  So be careful.  I really like to use chili paste for heat also.

Eggplant Bruchetta Baby

After work today I took a trip to a local farm stand where they had some really amazing looking eggplants.  Im not a huge fan of the purple plant (unless breaded, deep fried, and smothered in cheese) so I wanted to try something a little different.  I had on hand at home some beautiful plum tomatoes (from my garden), a block of feta and some other odds and ends.  Mind you, my eggplant is from a garden, so it's not the kind on steroids you'd buy from the supermarket.  It's fairly small.   This is what I came up with....

Eggplant Bruchetta

1 TBS extra virgin olive oil

1 medium eggplant sliced into 3/4 inch rounds

1 oz of feta cheese

3 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced

1 clove of garlic, diced

1/2 tsp dried basil

1 tsp red wine vinegar

salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Coat a large baking sheet with the olive oil.  Arrange eggplant rounds in a single layer.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Roast for 15 to 20 minutes.  Carefully flip each round.  The undersides should be dark with a charred appearance.  

Once flipped, sprinkle them with more salt and pepper and return to the oven for an additional 10 minutes, until the tops match the bottoms.

Meanwhile,  mix up the remaining ingredients.  Taste for seasoning.  The feta is pretty salty, so I didn't add anymore, but a little extra ground pepper is good.  Add vinegar to taste. 

When eggplant rounds are done, arrange them on a serving platter.  Scoop a spoonful of the salad over each round.  Enjoy immediately!

I love cooking, I'm undecided about blogging...

So while making my way through an EXTREMELY slow day at work (it's a holiday and everyone is off but me), surfing the web and making unnecessary phone calls I was struck with a semi brilliant idea.  I should start a cooking blog!  I know I'm probably the 1 billionth person to make this decision, but I'm gonna go for it anyway.  I love love love food blogs.  I think they are great.  Whenever I need inspiration in my kitchen (which is far to small by the way) I go to my select standard food blogs and get an infused with creative ideas.  However, every now and then I'm hit with my own delish idea and want to share it with friends, family and anyone else who is interested.   I'll be the first to admit I'm not tech savvy.  Not in the least.  In fact I'm having trouble with this...which is, I'm sure, a very simple setup.  So stay tuned....here goes nothing!