Day 20: Edamame Stir-Fry Uppercut...

When you’re backed into a wall, when your options are limited, you bring out the big guns and fight back!

My challenge for today was to start cleaning out the fridge and freezer. All I had were some frozen, shelled edamame and a bag of mixed asian vegetables.

Suspecting that this combination might be a tad drab, I kicked up the rest of the ingredients for extra flavour, and does this have a healthy kick.

For those who like spicy food, double the number of chilies.

I don’t always have the time to take photo’s, but today I did, so enjoy.

Stir-Fry Fever...

Since I have, as of late, been making a lot of stir-fried food, I thought I should say a few words about this style of cooking. First and foremost, you may have noticed the similarities between all the recipes I’ve posted so far.

Most asian stir fried food consists of a protein in a marinade, some aromatics, vegetables, sauce and maybe some seasoning and a garnish. By understanding this, you can mix things up and create great stir-fries as long as you stick to these four or five groups.

Always start with frying the aromatics in very hot oil, which can be any combination, or all, of garlic, chilies, ginger, onions or green onions.

Then before the aromatics burns, add the marinated protein (can be beef, chicken, pork, shellfish, tofu or soybeans).

Next up comes the veggies and then the sauce. What’s in it is up to you.

When ready to serve, it’s customary to garnish with sliced green onion or cilantro or both.

That’s pretty much it. Now that my secret is out, you’ll find that most of the recipes I post follow these same steps and procedures. If you get familiar with what combinations work best, you can make any number of stir-fry’s in any number of ways.

Knock yourself out...

Day 19: Breakfast Sausage...

Though this isn’t exactly a new recipe, I have been tinkering with it over the years, and have it pretty much locked down to this.

I highly recommend trying this one out. It’s been a hit wherever I make it.

Day 18: Last Minute Noodle...

This is the kind of recipe I like. It’s late, been working hard, and I need to make dinner. So what do I do... Well I open the fridge and look at what I have. I’ve got some Shanghai bok choy that will go bad if I don’t use it up right away, ditto for some snow peas, shitake mushrooms, beef and pork, and a half bag of fresh Chinese egg noodles.

So I rounded up my blocks and thought, “Okay, now what do I do?”

“Well there’s a lot of Bock Choy, and they don’t have all that much flavour, however healthy they are, so what can I add other than the obligatory ginger/garlic aromatics I normally use?

“And that’s when it came to me... Been a long time since I used the Curry Powder!”

The rest was dead easy...

Day 17: Baked Sweet Potatoes...

Here’s a nice side, suitable to go with pretty much anything. It’s a great, sweeter option than regular potatoes. Not to mention dead-easy and quick to make...

Day 16: Earthquake Barbecue...

I was going to call this South Asian Barbecue, but then not long after eating lunch, the biggest earthquake I've ever experienced hit the Ottawa area.

Yet again I have been disappointed by the quality of BBQ at Rib-Fest, so I hope you'll give this recipe a try and realize that great barbecue isn't some magical, unattainable thing. Great barbecue can be had for dinner, with a bit of work and knowledge.

Day 15: Kimchi a la Keith...

Korean Kimchi is one of life's great delicacies. For those who have not tried it, need to give this fiery explosion of flavour, that they call a pickled cabbage, a sample and decide for themselves.

This is actually an old recipe that I have recently perfected. It doesn't take all that much time to make (if you're at home on a weekend), but you will have to wait for it to pickle. Once done, you will have a ready made source of vegetables that are not only healthy and convenient, but extremely tasty. Make up a batch on the weekend, and in 5 days you'll be able to start spooning a helping of this sweet, salty, spicy, and savoury preserve over rice and put your feet up.

You may need to go to an asian grocery store to get the red pepper chili powder though. DO NOT grind whole chili peppers as a substitute, or you will burn a hole in your mouth trying to eat it. The Korean powder is hot enough, and it turns the cabbage a required reddish colour.

I'm getting hungry just writing this...

Day 14: Spicy Sweet Beef Noodle...

This was what I had for lunch today, and I might have to change the name to Ottawa 2010 Earthquake Noodle. Shall we put it to a vote?

Day 14: Vietnamese Mango Style Salsa...

I've been so busy that I almost forgot to post today!

In keeping with the summer season, I thought I'd add another salsa recipe. This one inspired by my exploration of Vietnamese food.

I think I know why the Americans invaded so many years ago, it was for the food!

Day 13: Pizza Dough...

One thing before I get too far into today’s recipe. Do me a favour, if you like these recipes I’ve been posting, or know someone who's interested in food, please feel free to share this link with as many people as you can! I’d like to see that site counter shoot up!

Okay, so far last week I’ve made so many pizza’s I was starting to think I’d opened a pizzeria... So what could I do but share my recipe for pizza dough. I guarantee that the one thing that keeps ANY restaurant pizza flavor down is the crust. There is so much taste packed into this dough that it doesn’t matter what toppings you use, it’ll be better than anything you normally pay for.

Do yourself a favour and try it. Do it once, and you may never go back to restaurant pizza again...

For further reference: Making a Dough Window Pane, and Shaping Pizza Dough...

Day 12: Edamame Salad...

This is a great salad for many reasons. First it’s tasty, and second, it’s handy. It can be made quickly and refrigerated until company comes over, so that you aren’t rushing to prepare everything at the last minute.

Another reason I like this dish is, for those trying to lose weight, it’s healthy. Not only is it full of vegetables (which shouldn’t deter you, because it really is that tasty, and doesn’t leave you with that empty, dissatisfied feeling you carnivores out there might expect), but it is a low carb option best suited for dinner. You really don’t need carb intake in the evening, because all you’re going to do is go to bed. Carbs is human rocket fuel, so unless you plan on exercising, save the carbs for lunch.

Serve as is, it’s pretty complete for dinner, or serve with chinese dumplings.

Day 11: A Linguini Incident...

This is a nice, easy, but tasty way to impress company for dinner, or lunch. I obviously threw this together with my leftover ingredients I had from making the Caprese salad earlier in the week.

One thing I must confess to, which helps me improvise so easily, is I keep a large collection of ingredients in the fridge from week to week. By constantly updating my stock of fresh herbs (like basil, mint, oregano), I can throw together Thai, Vietnamese, or Italian and Spanish food any time. It all depends on what I have, and what I feel like. The only challenge is making enough time to keep cooking so that they don’t wilt!

Day 10: Texy-Mexy Salad...

Obviously this isn't a traditional recipe, but when you're getting into South American cooking, and have corresponding ingredients lying around, you tend to improvise these hybrid recipes. This one turned out very nicely.

Perfect for a Friday night dinner, and a Mexican beer with a lime slice...

Day 9: Arroz Sucio...

A Veracruzan rice pilaf recipe inspired me to make this. It’s easy to make, and makes a great side dish to any Mexican dinner.

If you don’t have a spare coffee grinder to mix the spices, don’t worry. Just get ground spices. It won’t taste as good, but it will suffice...

Day 8: Not-So-Savage Salsa...

I've been dabbling in South American cuisine, and I took a moment to do something more mainstream and make a salsa. It's great on tortilla chips and with cheese on top...

Nacho's!!!

Day 7: Caprese Salad with Mushrooms...

A friend asked me for a salad recipe, well it just so happens that I made this up after buying a few ingredients I’ve never tried before. One of the things I picked out of the cheese isle was something called Bocconcini. Not being Italian I didn’t know that these are little quarter sized balls of mozzarella cheese packed in whey.

I highly recommend getting into the habit of buying something you’ve never tried before each week. Otherwise I’d never have found these tiny little morsels of flavour.

Day 6: Fruit Punch Sorbet...

Went to a weekend barbecue where I got to test out yesterday’s chicken wings, and today’s recipe. Both were a success, and now you can make both, and have it all the time!

Day 5: Southwestern Chicken Wings...

It’s the weekend, and I feel like a barbecue! Luckily the chicken wings at the grocery store were on sale...

Day 4: Simple Tortellini...

Here is another recipe built for speed. Even the slowest chopper can have this whipped up in under half and hour. Great for a rushed dinner after work. Simple, tasty, and reasonably healthy.

Day 3: Chocolate and Strawberry Sorbet...

Today I’m being a bit daring, given that I’m posting this recipe without having tasted it. Right now it’s in the refrigerator chilling. I will only find out how it tastes tonight. I’m reasonably confident, because you can’t go too wrong with that much chocolate and sugar. It’ll be tasty on some level.

Enjoy.

Day 2: Baked Marinara Sauce...

Yesterday I posted a recipe for how to make something quickly. Today, let’s assume it’s the weekend, you have company coming over, and you want to impress.

This one should do it.

I would start several hours before the meal is supposed to begin, because it takes a while. One great thing about this recipe is that, though it has a long cooking time, you are not expected to slave over the stove for hours. Nope, you can let your oven do the work, walk away, and do something else, because you BAKE this sauce, more than cook it in a pot.

By baking the dish, you caramelize the ingredients to bring out their flavours much more than if you had just kept them boiling in a large pot.

Again, the ingredients don’t matter all that much. Any collection of veggies appropriate for tomato sauce will work. It’s more of a method of cooking than a strict recipe - chunk it - bake it - blend it. It’s that simple.

Day 1: Nearly Instant Marinara Sauce...

When it comes to recipes, I think a great place to start is with a quick one, since most people say, "I don't have time to cook!"

I've always disputed this notion. Time only widen's your options. It's a lack of knowledge that keeps you from making good food quickly.

Since the advent of frozen dinners, microwave’s and increased work hours, we have less and less time to cook, and as a result, we now have a generation that never learned to cook. Recipes have not been passed down, knowledge has not been shared.

Today I change that. Enjoy...

Nearly Instant Marinara Sauce...

The first thing to understand is that I’m advocating a style of cooking here, rather than a recipe. Other than making sure you have a few key ingredients, you don’t have to stick to my recipe. If you’re new to cooking, try it as-is, but as you get more experience, try it with other herbs, different liquids you think might taste good with pasta sauce. Then you can call it your own recipe!

One bit of advice I would recommend in regards to sauces, is that the quicker the cooking time, the more I would advise using fresh herbs. They taste better, and they impart their flavours quicker than with dry herbs, which are better suited to slow cooking.

A Recipe A Day...

A buddy of mine asked for some recipes, which I'm always glad to do, but it got me thinking. I do a lot of cooking, and it is often improvised. Sometimes I write the recipe as I cook, but as of late, I have been a bit lazy.

So when my friend asked for a recipe, I decided that if I continue to create new dishes, I should give myself a challenge. Create a new recipe every day (which I do anyway), and write it down, posting the recipes here.

So starting this June I will, for an unspecified time, create a recipe a day. If I keep doing this for a year, I will have myself enough for a cookbook...

Stay tuned for Day 1: Nearly Instant Marinara Sauce...