Tag Archives: weeknight dinners

Mar21

Miso udon with fried tofu, spinach, and eggs

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For a quick and healthy lunch, I made miso soup with udon noodles. For added texture and deliciousness, I fried the tofu first. I got the idea from those little packets of instant miso with tiny dehydrated pieces of fried tofu. Yum!

Miso Udon with Fried Tofu, Spinach, and Eggs
(serves 2)

6 cups of chicken or vegetable broth
Handful of dried shitake mushrooms, soaked in water for at least 20 minutes
4 cups of spinach
2 hard-boiled eggs, shells removed, sliced in half lengthwise
1/2 container of firm tofu, cut into 1/2-inch slices
vegetable oil
1 small package udon noodles
2 T white miso paste
2 scallions, finely chopped

First, fry the tofu:
Lay the tofu on a plate or cutting board, over three paper towels. Place three more paper towels over the tofu slices, and press to remove the excess water. Repeat with additional paper towels if necessary.

Once the tofu is dry, heat a tablespoon of oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the tofu and fry for 2-3 minutes until golden brown. Flip and fry the other side. Remove from the pan, and cut into bite-sized pieces.

Now, make the soup:
Heat the chicken broth over high heat. When the water is simmering, add the mushrooms (including the water they’ve been soaking in), spinach, and udon noodles. Allow to simmer for a couple of minutes, then stir in the miso paste.

To serve, put a few pieces of tofu and the hard-boiled eggs into soup bowls. Ladle the soup and noodles into the bowls. Garnish with scallions.

Mar15

Broccoli, cauliflower, cheese soup

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There has been half a head of fancy organic local cauliflower languishing in our vegetable crisper, and we added some fancy organic local broccoli to the collection on Sunday. Since it’s a chilly 61 degrees in Los Angeles today, I’m making a broccoli, cauliflower, and cheese soup for lunch. My version will be healthy-ish, as I like to preface a meat-heavy dinner with a vegetarian lunch.

We use 1% milk, so I added a couple of tablespoons of cream for richness. You can probably skip this step if you use whole milk, or add more if you prefer a richer soup.

Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Cheese Soup

1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T butter
2 T flour
Kosher salt
Black pepper
2 cups of milk
2 cups of chicken stock
(optional) Half-and-half or heavy cream for richness
5 cups of broccoli and cauliflower florets
3/4 c (or more) shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Nutmeg or mace

Melt the butter over medium heat. Saute the onion and garlic in the butter until soft, seasoning with salt and pepper. Add the flour stir into the butter to make a roux. Allow the flour to cook for about 30 seconds to a minute.

Add the milk, chicken stock, and cream or half-and half. Bring to a simmer, then add the broccoli and cauliflower. Cover and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes.

When the vegetables are soft, you can puree the soup in a blender or use a potato masher to break up the florets. Add the cheese and stir until melted.

Taste and season with nutmeg or mace and black pepper. Serve with lots of Tabasco!

Mar8

Pork chops and fried rice

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When I saw the Pioneer Woman’s post about Pork Chops with Pineapple Fried Rice and realized that I have both pork chops and pineapple in my fridge, I decided that I had to give the recipe a shot!

Her pork chops look delicious, so I followed the recipe closely and made a sauce out of onions, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sriracha, and honey. I brined my pork chops first for added juiciness.

To brine: Dissolve a spoon of sugar and a spoon of salt in a cup of hot water in a large bowl. Add ice cubes and cold water until the bowl is 2/3 full, then add your pork chops. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 4 hours before cooking. Rinse the pork chops before cooking. Do not salt them!

For the fried rice, I made my usual version, with ginger, garlic, red bell pepper, spinach, pineapple, and peas. The only additional seasoning that I added to the rice was a drizzle of sesame oil, since I cooked it in the same pan as the pork chops and the sauce. Taste your rice and add soy sauce, sriracha, fish sauce, or sesame oil as desired.

Serve the pork chops with onions and sauce over the rice. Enjoy!

Feb27

The Pioneer Woman’s steak sandwich

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I have wanted to try one of the variations of the Pioneer Woman’s Marlboro Man Sandwiches, so for Friday’s dinner, I decided on this one. It was quite delicious, and the perfect base for what we suspected might be a long night!

Cube Steak Sandwich
Adapted from The Pioneer Woman

3/4 lb of cube steak (tenderized steak)
seasoned salt
black pepper
butter
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced into rings
1 onion, thinly sliced
1/2 lb crimini mushrooms, in thick slices
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 T worcestershire sauce
1/3 c sherry
Tabasco
2 rolls
cheese (I used mozzarella)

Slice the cube steak into strips against the grain. Season with seasoned salt and pepper.

Heat a skillet over high heat, melting a tablespoon of butter in the pan. When the pan is hot, add the steak and allow to brown on one side. Flip after a minute or two, and allow to finish cooking. Remove from the pan.

Reduce the heat to medium high. Add a little bit more butter or oil to the pan if necessary, then add the onions, garlic, and bell pepper to the skillet. Cook for a few minutes, until soft but with a little bite left. Remove from the pan.

Add the mushrooms to the pan, then add the sherry, worcestershire, and a bit of Tabasco. Allow to simmer for a few minutes, stirring, until the liquid has reduced by a third. Add the meat and vegetables back to the skillet and combine. Allow the meat to heat through.

Halve and toast the buns (with butter if desired). Spoon some of the sauce over both sides of the bun. Add the meat and vegetables to the bottom bun, then sprinkle with cheese. If desired, melt the cheese in the broiler (I didn’t bother since my cheese was already shredded). Then add more meat and vegetables, and cover with the top of the bun.

Enjoy!

Feb24

Linguine all’amatriciana

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Our dinner plans for the other night were postponed, so we decided to stay in and open a bottle of wine instead of going out two nights in a row.  After browsing through Anne Burell’s Cook Like a Rockstar, I decided on a modified version of her bucatini all’amatriciana.

I used bacon and linguine because that’s what we had on hand, and the whole point was to not leave the house!  I also had to add garlic and only used one onion (the recipe in her book uses 2 onions for each 28 oz. can of tomatoes). In the picture you can see that I added peas, but honestly they didn’t add much to the sauce, so I didn’t include that in the recipe.

The sauce turned out really well!   Simmering it for an hour really developed the delicious bacon-y flavor.

Pasta All’Amatriciana
Adapted from Anne Burrell

olive oil
8 oz pancetta or bacon, diced
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
kosher salt
black pepper
1 28 oz can whole tomatoes, pureed in the food processor
1/2 lb. bucatini, spaghetti, or linguine
grated parmigiano reggianno

Coat a deep skillet with olive oil and heat over medium heat. Add the pancetta or bacon, and cook until the meat is crisp and the fat has rendered out. Remove the pancetta or bacon from the pan, and drain on paper towels. Drain off about half the fat if using bacon, which is generally fattier than pancetta.

Add the onion and garlic to the pan and stir to coat in the fat. Season with salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. When the onions are soft, add the tomatoes. Pour about a cup of water into the empty tomato can and pour the water into the pan (this rinses out the remaining tomato juice). Add 2/3 of the pancetta or bacon to the pan as well.

Bring the sauce to a boil and simmer, stirring occasionally, for an hour. Taste and reseason, adding more water to thin it if necessary.

Cook the pasta in salted water for a minute less than the instructions on the package. Remove two cups of sauce from the pan and reserve, then add the cooked pasta to the sauce. Allow to simmer in the sauce for a minute or two to finish cooking.

Serve the pasta with some of the extra sauce if necessary.