Tag Archives: Rice

October 10, 2012 · 2:30 am

Asian Steak


If I was forced to cook only one cuisine for the rest of my life, it would hands down be French food. It’s rich, it can be deceptively simple, and to me it’s the most comforting. The BF would heartily disagree. Whenever I make anything even remotely Asian-inspired he’s over the moon about it, but it happens to be my least favorite type of food. It’s a CONSTANT source of arguments between us, and the one hurdle we must face in our relationship.

Ha. Ha.

So this one’s for him! On this, our two year anniversary. Thanks for willingly putting up with me for 730 days.

On the menu:
Asian Steak
Serves 2

2 1-lb. steaks, 1 inch thick (any cut that fits those size perameters will do)
2 Tbsp ground coriander
2 Tbsp honey
6 Tbsp soy sauce
3 Tbsp olive oil plus 2 Tbsp, divided
3 cloves of garlic, halved

In a large bowl, whisk together the coriander, honey, soy sauce, and 3 Tbsp of olive oil. Rub the steaks all over with the halved garlic and then add the garlic to the bowl with honey mixture. Put steaks in the bowl and cover with honey mixture. Refrigerate for at least an hour, or let sit out at room temperature for around 45 minutes before cooking.

Once marinated, heat 2 Tbsp of olive oil over medium/high heat in a large skillet. Sear steaks on either side for 3 minutes. Lower the heat and finish cooking over medium heat for 10 minutes on each side.

Let rest for at least 15 minutes before serving alongside white rice with a splash of soy sauce if you like.

Leave a comment

Filed under Cooking, Recipes

Tagged as , , , ,

October 9, 2012 · 2:00 am

Seared Tuna Sushi Bowl


This is a super healthy, easy peasy meal that comes together in 20 minutes and will satisfy your sushi craving without all those fancy sushi kits and chopsticks. Try and avoid purchasing bluefin tuna! It’s overfished and is considered endangered.

On the menu:
Seared tuna sushi bowls
Serves 2

3/4 cup sushi rice, rinsed
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
2/3 pound sushi grade tuna
1/2 cucumber, seeded and chopped
1 avocado, cubed
3 scallions, sliced
1 small sheet nori, thinly sliced
1 tsp sesame seeds
2 tsp soy sauce

Put the rice in a saucepan with 1 cup of water and a generous pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Cook until the rice is tender and all of the liquid is absorbed, about 10 – 15 minutes.

While the rice cooks, put a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Rub the tuna all over with the oil and sprinkle with salt. When the pan is very hot, add the tuna and sear on each side (including the edges) for around 3 minutes per side. The fish will be raw in the middle. Transfer meat to a cutting board and let it rest for at least 4 minutes before thinly slicing.

Once the rice is cooked, divide it between 2 bowls and top with tuna. Sprinkle with cucumber, avocado, scallions, and nori. Add soy sauce and sesame seeds and serve.

2 Comments

Filed under Cooking, Recipes

Tagged as , , , , , ,

March 26, 2012 · 2:13 am

Spring Risotto


It’s no secret to those devoted Food E. readers that I love risotto. It’s easy to prepare for company, it’s impressive to present, and it’s one single dish to make sure is ready by meal time instead of two or three separate dishes that you have to coordinate. Also, most people love it. This past weekend The BF and I had some friends over for dinner and I prepared this risotto with a small arugula salad with cucumbers to start. The original recipe calls for calamari and if you have a grill or a grill pan, I’d definitely suggest trying it. I went with calamari’s good friend, shrimp.

On the menu:
Spring pea and lemon risotto with shrimp
Serves 4

6 cups chicken stock
5 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium leek, white and light green parts only, sliced thin
1 tsp of fresh lemon juice, plus zest of one lemon
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup frozen peas
2 Tbsp butter
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 pound fresh shrimp, de-veined and tails removed, patted dry and lightly sprinkled with garlic salt and flour

Heat chicken stock over medium-high heat until it simmers, lower heat and leave the stock on a low simmer.

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot over medium heat and sautee leeks until softened but not brown, about 7-8 minutes. Remove leeks from the pot and set aside on a plate. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and add rice. Stir rice for one minute until fully coated with oil.

Add white wine to the rice and stir until liquid is almost completely absorbed, around 3 minutes. Add one cup of stock and occasionally stir. Keep adding stock cup by cup until one cup remains, around 20 minutes*. Add lemon juice, zest, leeks, peas, and last cup of stock to the rice and stir until incorporated.

When you add the last cup of stock, heat remaining two tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and place shrimp in the pan. While the shrimp are cooking: add cheese and butter to the risotto and stir. Turn the heat off of the risotto. Flip the shrimp in the skillet after 3 minutes, cook for another 3 minutes on the other side.

Plate the risotto and place shrimp on top. Garnish with extra grated parmesan cheese if desired.

*Note: the best way to test your risotto for doneness is to taste it. Grains should be just barely hard in the center when you turn off the heat to complete the cooking process.

Leave a comment

Filed under Cooking, Recipes

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , ,

February 24, 2011 · 2:00 am

This dish is Asian because I added soy sauce

Hello friends! This has been a particularly busy week for some reason, but a little birdie told me that a loyal reader really missed my posts (hi Ron!). This dish seems mundane to me, but if I can spark an idea in just one brain for an easy and delicious dinner that travels easily to work the next day for lunch, well… then I think it’s worth it.

On the menu:
Chicken stir fry

1 large chicken breast, diced
2 cups vegetables*
2 Tbsp canola oil
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp garlic salt
2 Tbsp soy sauce
3 Tbsp unsalted peanuts

Heat oil over medium heat. Add chicken and brown on all sides. Add vegetables to the pan along with 2 Tbsp of water and cover. Cook for 10 minutes. Remove cover. Add brown sugar and garlic salt and stir. Cook for another 5 minutes. Add soy sauce and peanuts and toss until everything until coated. Serve over cooked white rice.

*Note: I took a short cut (so SUE me) and bought a bag of “Oriental Vegetables” (hey Krasdale: it’s 2011, time to update) frozen and then threw them into the pan. It was easy as pie. You can surely add raw vegetables to this, though, and as many or as few as you like. This tasted delicious with broccoli, green beans, mushrooms, and onions.

Leave a comment

Filed under Cooking, Recipes

Tagged as , , , , ,

November 11, 2010 · 9:29 am

Kabocha Squash

A few weeks ago I posted a recipe for butternut squash risotto, of which my boyfriend and his roommates picked out all the squash. Boys. Who understands them anyway?

So in anticipation of making dinner for a lady, I turned once more to squash for a revamp on the risotto recipe. And this time I’m turning it inside out.

This is a terrible cell phone picture; I've noticed when I'm REALLY eager to eat something my pictures come out blurry. Go figure.

On the menu:
Stuffed kabocha squash with wild rice and chicken
Serves 4
Loosely inspired by this recipe from Martha Stewart

1 large kabocha squash, quartered, seeds removed
2 Tbsp butter
1 shallot, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
16 oz. baby Portobello mushrooms, chopped
1 tsp dried rubbed sage
Salt and pepper to taste
6 oz wild rice blend (I used an Uncle Ben’s box and threw out the seasoning packet)
3 large chicken breasts, diced into 1 inch cubes
1 Tbsp olive oil
8 oz parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a baking sheet, arrange squash with one cut side down. Roast until tender when pierced with the tip of a paring knife, about 40 minutes (test doneness after 40 minutes but if it isn’t tender, leave it in for another 10).

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add shallot, garlic, mushrooms and sage; season with salt and pepper. Cook until tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Add rice and 1 3/4 cups water; bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to low. Cook until tender, without stirring, about 25 minutes.

Heat olive oil over medium/high heat. Cook chicken until cooked all the way through and browned.

Remove rice from heat, and stir in chicken and cheese. Season stuffing with salt and pepper to taste. Plate squash, skin side down, and heap stuffing into squash quarters. Top with more grated parmesan cheese. And if you’re like my friend Meagan, grate a tiny pile of parmesan cheese on your plate and eat it with a fork. Ain’t no shame.

*Note: My boss gave me 2 gorgeous kabocha squash from her CSA, one orange and one green. You could replace the kabocha with any squash that is on the sweet side: butternut, acorn, etc. Just test the doneness of the squash when roasting after about 25 minutes so it doesn’t turn to mush.

1 Comment

Filed under Cooking, Recipes

Tagged as , , , , ,

July 19, 2010 · 2:00 am

The Beauty of Queens

One of the reasons I love my neighborhood in Queens so much is that there are hundreds of different types of cuisine at your fingertips, and all of them made authentically. One stretch of road offers Brazilian, Italian, Spanish, Mexican, Ecuadorian, and Indonesian. On Sunday I braved the heat with friends to explore an Indonesian food bazaar at the Masjid Al-Hikmah mosque in Astoria, Queens and had quite the incredible Sunday meal.

I would love to go into detail about the names and ingredients of all of the authentic dishes, but to tell you the truth… I’m short on details. When I asked what each dish was, the woman behind the counter took pity on my blatant white-ness and described things as “ground beef inside pastry dough” or “ground chicken in fried dough.” My favorite description was “vegetarian patty” with a shrimp head blatantly sticking out of the side. Exhibit A: “vegetarian patty”:

We indulged in ground chicken mixed with spices tucked inside thick crusty dough, ground beef and spices inside thin layers of pastry dough (my personal favorite), rice wrapped around ground beef cooked inside a banana leaf, banana cake inside of a banana leaf, shrimp crackers, and sticky rice made with coconut milk, rolled in shredded coconut topped with plum sauce.

Again, I wish I could tell you all of the authentic names of these dishes but be happy with that incredible picture. The Masjid Al-Hikmah mosque in Queens has these bazaars quite a bit so it’s worth checking back to their website to find out when the next one is. The food is authentic, incredible, and dirt cheap. My friends and I probably spent around $20 total and ate until we couldn’t see straight. Sunday Success.

1 Comment

Filed under Miscellaneous

Tagged as , , , , ,

July 1, 2010 · 2:30 am

Malaysian Chicken Over Rice

Please note, this is the least appetizing picture I could've possibly taken of this dish - it was INCREDIBLE and I couldn't wait to stuff it in my face.

It’s always a good-eats weekend when Giuseppe is in town. He is such an incredible cook, and when you ask him for the recipe he almost can’t tell you because it’s all in his brain. I have oodles and oodles of respect for cooks that can just smell and taste when something is right. And oh man… was this right.

*Please note that this is a dish you HAVE to watch over, taste and smell. It takes some intuition! Just trust yourself.

On the menu:
Malaysian chicken over rice

6 chicken breasts
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1/4 cup green onion (scallion or Asian), just the green part
2 cups broccoli, frozen or fresh
1/4 cup unsalted natural peanut butter
1 Tbsp tamarind sauce
2 Tbsp fresh ginger, finely chopped
2 Tbsp garlic, finely chopped
1 Tbsp Sriracha
1 cup light coconut milk
1/2 cup snow peas
1/2 cup carrots
2 Tbsp Asian basil
2 Tbsp lemon grass
Salt to taste
3 cups roasted basmati rice [you can buy this already roasted, or roast it yourself in the oven]

Cut raw chicken into strips and pat dry. In a very large pot (you’ll be making everything but the rice in one big pot) heat the sesame oil over medium/high heat and add the chicken. Cook until the chicken is very lightly browned. Lower the heat to medium. Add onions and cook for another 2 minutes. Add broccoli and cook until the broccoli has just turned bright green, around 2 – 3 minutes. Add peanut butter, tamarind sauce, ginger, and garlic and cook until incorporated with other ingredients, around 2 minutes. Add coconut milk. When the chicken is cooked through (test a piece to check for pink inside), add the snow peas, carrots, basil, and lemongrass. Stir well and let simmer until the basil and lemongrass are fragrant.

The rice will take about 45 minutes, so best to start it at the beginning of prep.

Serve the stew over the rice and watch the faces around your table light up with glee.

1 Comment

Filed under Cooking, Recipes

Tagged as , , , ,