Thai Inspired Red Curry Satay Chicken Soup

I can't get enough of the Thai flavors. The red chilis, lemongrass, peanuts and coconut milk to name a few. You name it- I'm hooked. Last night's dinner was simple to make and fabulous to slurp. And served with Jasmine rice, well it was over the top delish. Want to make this? I can't wait to re-live putting this simple dish together. And don't let the long ingredient list stop you from making this. It's mostly a "can opener" experience and very little prep. Let's get going.

Red Curry Satay Chicken Soup
Serves 4

1-1/2 to 2 pounds bone-in chicken breast or breasts with skin removed
Kosher salt
1 T canola oil
1 small onion diced
2 T Thai red curry paste (I use Thai Kitchen)
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 can (14 oz) lite unsweetened coconut milk
1-1/2 cups water or chicken broth (I used water)
1-1/2 T fish sauce
2 T brown sugar
1/2 cup Thai Kitchen Peanut Satay Sauce (easy to find in international aisle of your market)
1-1/2 T chili garlic sauce
1 red pepper sliced
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup frozen corn
Juice of one lemon or lime (I used a lemon, no lime in the fridge)
chopped dry roated peanuts for garnish
scallion slices for garnish
Fresno chilis sliced for garnish

Clean and wash your chicken breasts. I had a breast in my package that was soooo big, I ended up just using the one. It was about 1-3/4 pounds. Remove skin, sprinkle with kosher salt and set aside.

In large soup pot on stovetop, add canola oil and heat on medium to low heat. Add onions and sweat for about 3-4 minutes. Now add your chopped garlic and red curry paste.

Let aromatics cook for a few more minutes on low until you can smell the chili and lemongrass in the paste. It's now time to add the coconut milk, water, fish sauce, brown sugar, peanut satay sauce, and chili garlic sauce. Stir together with a spatula to combine and add your chicken breast(s).

Well, I had a nice photo array of the chicken cooking, veggies being added and it seems that my photos are no longer compatible with my blog. So, trooper that I am, I'm finishing the post without anymore new pics. Grrrrrrrrr. That's directed at you Google.

Anyway, cook chicken on low, covered, until done. Don't over cook it. My whopper breast cooked for 36 minutes on low/simmer and rested for about 10-15 minutes until I could handle it and shred it.

While chicken is resting, slice your red pepper in strips, prepare your garnishes and make your Jasmine rice in a separate pan. I'm not a great rice cooker so I use the Success brand Jasmine rice. Ready in 9 minutes.

Add shredded chicken to soup, add sliced red pepper and let them cook together 10-15 minutes. Now add the peas and corn. Cook about another minute and add the juice of one lemon or lime. When plating, I put a dome of rice in the center of each bowl and added the soup around the edges. You see, sometimes I just enjoy a mouthful of rice with very little broth and sometimes I like it nicely mixed. This way you can do both. Garnish with scallions, Serano chilis and crushed roasted peanuts. Cilantro would be a natural, but there was none available in my market. I hope you enjoy this. I had a taste tonight before writing and it's just as good if not better than yesterday. And look at that fabulous color. A very happy meal I must say!

Oven Baked Creamy, Cheesy, Chicken and Brown Rice Casserole

Diane Smith is one of my go-to cooks on the internet. So when she posts a yummy recipe (especially a casserole), you can be sure I'm right there, writing down the ingredients and making plans to put her good cooking and excellent instincts to a test run in my kitchen.  This dish is inspired by Diane and I sure do have to give her the credit for her timing in cooking brown rice in the oven. As many of you know, I am seriously brown rice impaired, and Diane made it simple for me to pull together a perfectly cooked, creamy chicken and rice dish in one pot no less. Her original recipe can be found here, and it's made with poppy seeds. I am not so much a poppy seed fan, but love the combo of creamy, cheesy anything and want to share my little journey putting this beautiful and tasty oven baked dish together. Warning- It's not a 45 minute casserole, but worth every minute in the oven.

Oven Baked Chicken and and Brown Rice with Tarragon, Dijon and White Wine
serves 4

Ingredients:
1 c uncooked brown rice
salt and pepper
8 oz cheddar cheese grated
2 large boneless chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces
1 10 oz can non fat/low sodium condensed cream of chicken soup
1/2 c lite sour cream
1-1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 to 1-1/2 tsp dried tarragon
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
1/2 c dry white wine (I used chardonnay)
1/2 sleeve of Ritz crackers crushed
1/4 c unsalted butter melted

Let's cook: Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8 inch pan with cooking spray or butter. I was feeling decadent and used the butter, (good choice I decided later). Spread uncooked rice evenly over prepared pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Spread 1/2 the cheese over rice and place chicken on top.

Sprinkle a little more salt and pepper on top of the chicken. Set the chicken aside and mix your condensed soup, sour cream, tarragon and Dijon mustard

Spread mixture on top of seasoned chicken. In a medium size measuring cup, combine chicken broth, and wine and pour over the top of the casserole. This flavorful liquid along with the condensed soup is going to magically cook your chicken and rice to perfection. Looks good already, doesn't it?

 Place casserole uncovered in oven and cook for 1 hour 45 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle remaining cheese on top.

And now my favorite part...the Ritz crackers and butter. Top casserole with the crackers and drizzle butter lovingly on top of the crackers. Place casserole back in oven.

 Bake another 25 minutes and dinner is done. And well worth waiting for. How delish is this?

I'll answer that since you haven't made it yet. It's creamy, cheesy, crunchy, and oh! so flavorful. It tastes like a meal fit for a king or queen. Plus the possibilities for this dish are endless. I might add some veggies next time- like baby peas or asparagus. Or some roasted red peppers. As I said to Diane, "this is not just a recipe- it's another way of cooking chicken and rice to perfection.... which is not easy!" As always, thanks Diane for a wonderful cooking experience! Loved every minute, especially the eating part. LD

Pork Sirloin with a Thai flair

I became a fan of Thai food in the 80's. A restaurant called The Star of Siam opened across the street from my office building and I went there for lunch or ordered in almost every day. Guess what- lunch at the time was $4.95, how could I go wrong? I just loved the flavors they offered. And I never got tired of their menu. Now this was before I got into cooking, so you can imagine that when I started experimenting in the kitchen I had to learn a few Thai dishes. Here's one I came up with tonight that I can't say is by any means authentic, but the Thai flavors are there: Red curry, peanuts, chilis and lots of veggies. I braised this dish on the stovetop, and I'm pretty sure Thai cooking does not involve braising. But it is so delish I have to share. Any ingredients that you are not familiar with are most likely available in the International aisle of your local grocery store.

Braised Pork Sirloin with Coconut Milk and Thai Spices
This recipe was inspired by Kathy Griffin, a favorite internet cooking buddy who made me remember how yummy cooking pork with coconut milk is

2 pounds pork sirloin
salt and pepper for seasoning pork
2 T canola oil
1 onion diced
1 T red curry paste (I used Thai Kitchen)
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 can unsweetened coconut milk
1 cup fat free low sodium chicken broth (I had this left over in my fridge- I think you can sub 1 cup of water instead of opening a new can or box of broth)
1 T fish sauce
2 T brown sugar
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup Thai Kitchen Peanut Satay Sauce
1 T chili garlic sauce
Juice of 1 lime
3 T chopped dry roasted peanuts for garnish
2 T cilantro leaves for garnish

Jasmine rice
4 oz mushrooms
6 oz string beans
1 red pepper sliced

Ready to cook? Let's make the cooking sauce/liquid first. I used my blender. Put your red curry paste, garlic, coconut milk, chicken broth, fish sauce, brown sugar, Thai Kitchen Peanut Satay Sauce, peanut butter and chili garlic sauce in a blender. This is an easy blend and you'll be done in less than a minute. Look at that beautiful color.

Set the sauce aside and let's tend to the pork. Liberally salt and pepper both sides of the sirloin.

Heat canola oil in a skillet and brown pork on all sides. As tedious as this sounds, this is an important step because you want to seal all the juices inside the pork. So sear the top, bottom, sides and ends.

Remove pork from skillet and place in large soup pot. Add the chopped onions. Why would you add onions to a Thai dish? Truth be told, my mom added onions to all braised dishes. And it didn't hurt this dish one bit and added some lovely flavor. After the long cooking time they almost evaporated.

Now, get that delicious braising liquid out of the blender and add it to your soup pot.

Bring liquid to a boil, lower temp to simmer and braise (covered) on stove top for 2-1/4 hours. If you have the time, turn the roast every half hour or so. I usually babysit my braised roasts, but I don't think it's necessary.

While roast is cooking make your rice and prep you veggies.

 After 2-1/4 hours of cooking your roast add the vegetables. Cook for an additional 15 minutes and add the fresh squeezed lime juice. Your dinner is ready. When plating, add some chopped peanuts and cilantro for a garnish and enjoy! It's a feast you will make again and again. I have quite a bit of sauce/gravy left over and I'm thinking I'm either going to spoon feed it or intravenously inject it to myself, or make a soup. I think the soup idea is the best option.

Dig in, this a dish you will enjoy!

Sizzling

I love scampi. I love the garlic, the decadent sauce and of course the shrimp. Tonight I added a twist to my regular scampi recipe and I'm so thrilled with it I had to postpone the kitchen clean up and get this quick little recipe down in writing. Over the last year I have been playing with (what I believe is a Portuguese spice blend) Sazon con Azafran. I buy it in the international aisle of my grocery store. Here's what it looks like.

It comes in a box with small envelopes inside. For this recipe, because of all the garlic I only used one envelope. Anyway, this is a quick prep, a quick saute and a meal you'll want to linger over.

Scampi con Azafran
This should serve 3- but I think since it's so good, plan on it for 2 (or double the recipe for 4)

1 pound large shrimp, peeled and de-veined- I like the 16-20 shrimp/pound measure
3 T unsalted butter
3 T extra virgin olive oil
2 T minced garlic
1 packet Sazon Goya con Azafran
1 lemon zested
1 lemon squeezed of juice
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
4 cups cooked brown rice- tonight I used 2 Uncle Ben's Boil n Bags
chopped scallion, cilantro or parsley for garnish

Finely chop your garlic. I used 2 humongous garlic cloves and that gave me the 2 T of what I needed. Zest your lemon and then squeeze it for the juice. Mix your salt, pepper and azafran together in a small bowl and we're ready to start cooking. In large saucepan heat your butter and oil over medium low heat. You'll be adding your garlic next and you want it to gently cook, so medium low is the temp. Trust me- once you've burned garlic, you'll never cook it on anything but medium low again. Add your garlic and cook about 1 minute. Now add your shrimp.

Time to give this dish another flavor boost, so add the salt, pepper an Azafran.

Mix in the spices and cook about 5 minutes, turning the shrimp over halfway through. Just before you're ready to plate, add your lemon zest, lemon juice and red pepper flakes. Toss again.

Serve with brown rice and enjoy! And don't forget a pretty green garnish.

The shrimp is cooked to perfection, the sauce is succulent and the flavors work so well together you will most definately eat more that you planned. My advice: Wear stretch pants tomorrow!

Maple-Soy Chicken Thighs

I have a very warm feeling for Cooking Light magazine. I've been a subscriber for 10 plus years and have even participated in one of their annual cook offs. And just when I think they can't teach me anything more, a recipe for baked Maple-Soy Chicken jumps off the page, the ingredients land in my shopping cart and the finished dish wows me and quickly becomes a new favorite. This recipe is from Julianna Grimes and Hannah Klinger and is featured in the Budget Cooking section of the August 2012 issue. It's not only wallet friendly, but after the marinade combines with the chicken for one hour, it's a quick fix with easy clean up. I followed their recipe precisely and added my own little twist at the end with the brown rice I served as a side.

Maple-Soy Chicken Thighs
from Cooking Light

1/2 cup maple syrup- I used Archer Farms 100% maple syrup
1/4 cup fresh orange juice- I had a huge navel orange and squeezed half of it
2 T low sodium soy sauce
1 T grated peeled ginger
1 tsp dark sesame oil
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
2 gloves garlic minced or grated- I always grate if I'm cooking the garlic
8 bone-in chicken thighs, skinned
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 T scallions sliced

To make the marinade: Combine the first seven ingredients in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk.

Place marinade in a large zip-lock plastic bag. Add chicken to bag and seal. Refrigerate and marinate chicken for 1 hour. Pre heat oven to 375 degrees. Remove chicken from bag, pouring marinade into a small saucepan. Place saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil.

Cook until marinade reduces to about 1/4 cup (about 5 minutes). You'll notice that it thickens a bit. I let mine sit off the heat a few minutes more to allow it to thicken even more. I wish I had a picture of it when it got really thick. It became gooey, rich.

Arrange chicken in a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet and baste with 2 T cooked marinade and sprinkle with salt. I baked mine in two 8 x8 inch pans as my regular baking dish was in use.

Bake chicken for 20 minutes. Turn chicken over and baste with 2 T more maple-soy mixture. Bake 15 minutes or until chicken is done. Sprinkle with chopped scallions for garnish. But you don't have to stop there. You can quickly make some rice! I took 1 cup of Uncle Ben's Instant Brown Rice, 1-3/4 cups of water, 2 T butter and whatever bits of the maple marinade I had left over (about 1 T) and added that to the mix.

Bring rice mixture to a boil, reduce heat to low and cover. Simmer 10-12 minutes until water is absorbed. Add a handfull of cooked edamame, fluff with fork and serve with your yummy Maple-Soy Chicken Thighs. I had half a navel orange left, so I sliced it and  added it to my dinner plate. Yum, Yum. This is a keeper. Thanks Cooking Light.

Vegetable Rice Pilaf

It was time to go through the fridge and do something with last weeks unused produce. I had half an onion, one lonely carrot, a green pepper and a package of button mushrooms that were desperately looking for attention. I also had an abundance of Near East Rice Pilaf bought on sale for a dollar a box that somehow seemed to fit into the mix. I decided to try a vegetable pilaf (you know how I love the combo of rice and orzo) and figured vegetable pilaf would go great with the two chicken breasts that also needed to be cooked. The chicken recipe- so easy I'm embarrased to post it. You can find it on any can of French's Onion Rings. It's quite good and I recommend it.

The pilaf, that's my contribution and it turned out great. Simple, versatile, yummy and a quick fix.

Vegetable Pilaf

1 box Near East Rice Pilaf Original flavor

1-1/2 tsp canola oil

1/2 medium size onion diced

1 carrot diced

1 green pepper diced

8 oz mushrooms chopped

Salt

Pepper

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

Grated Parmesan cheese for garnish

Cook rice according to package directions (I add 1 T of butter to the boiling water for richness and flavor). While rice is cooking, warm canola oil in large skillet on medium heat, then add diced onion, carrot and green pepper. Season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes if using. Cook a few minutes and add chopped mushrooms. Cook all vegetables until soft. Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper if necessary.

When rice is done, fluff with a fork and combine the veggies with the rice. If you're a fan of Parmesan, top the pilaf with a teaspoon or two of cheese.

One Pot Rice and Vegetables

If you like rice and vegetables cooked as a one pot dish, this recipe is for you. If you like it a little spicy and don't mind taking some help from packaged foods, then you're really going to be happy. I have never been a successful brown rice cooker, but somehow between Uncle Ben and Thai Kitchen, I've figured this baby out. My Thai inspired rice and veggies first come together with the help of Thai Kitchen Red Curry Paste.


This little 4 ounce jar is packed with flavor and has all the exotic spices you've come to expect when making curried Thai food. But all the work is done. There's no chopping or grinding or figuring out measurements. Sit back and check out this simple recipe.

Thai Inspired Rice and Vegetables

1 T canola oil
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 T Thai Red Curry Paste
3 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 tsp ground cayenne pepper (use less if you're not familiar with the heat)
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup lite coconut milk
1 14.5 oz can of low sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth
2 T fish sauce (available in the International aisle of your supermarket)
1-1/2 T brown sugar- this sounds like a lot of sugar, but it adds so much to the dish, that I wouldn't cut back on it)
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 red pepper sliced
4 oz fresh sugar snap peas
1 can 4 oz baby corn sliced
juice of half a lemon
2 bags Uncle Ben's Boil n Bag brown rice

Heat oil in large pot over medium/low heat. Add onions and cook for 5 minutes until onions are soft and translucent. Add garlic, curry paste, cayenne pepper and salt. Stir to combine and cook about 1 minute. Add coconut milk, broth, fish sauce, brown sugar and black pepper. Stir again until all ingredients seem to be incorporated. Bring liquid to a boil. Add vegetables and 2 packages of rice (remove the rice from the boil-n-bags). Cover, reduce heat to simmer and cook 10 minutes. Remove cover, add another pinch or 2 of salt, stir and cook uncovered 2 or 3 minutes more. Turn off heat and squeeze lemon juice into the rice mixture. Stir again and serve.

I love this dish. It's delicious served hot, cold or at room temp. And it can be made with different vegetables, or none at all. But what I like most about it, is that it is pretty much fool proof and in 20 minutes you've got a tasty dish to bring to the table. I consider this a lower calorie version of vegetable fried rice and would serve with an egg roll, fried shrimp or chicken fingers from the local take out and call it a meal. A delicious meal!

Zenfully Good

In my last post I talked about making Asian inspired meatballs with leftover rice pilaf as a filler. I used the "Original" Near East Pilaf mix and with the help of a few pantry items, came up with these aromatic little dumplings that became the star of another new recipe- Lemongrass Noodle Soup.

To make the meatballs:

This recipe makes about 16-18 meatballs-too many for the 4 servings of soup,

but delicious later, warmed as an appetizer or light lunch

****

1 tsp garlic grated

2 tsp fresh ginger grated

1 large egg slightly beaten

1 T Hoisin sauce

1 cup cooked rice pilaf

1 tsp Sambal Olek

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1 pound ground chicken

****

IN LARGE BOWL combine all ingredients except the chicken and mix well. Add chicken and gently combine with your fingertips. The mixture will be slightly wet, so refrigerate for about an hour and let it firm up a bit. Pre heat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Form chicken mixture into 1-1/2 inch balls and place on prepared baking sheet. Bake 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.

****

To make the soup:

2 cans (14.5 oz each) low sodium, fat free chicken broth

3/4 can water

1 T Lemongrass Herb Blend

Zest of 1 lime

1 T fresh ginger grated

1 can (8.5 oz) corn

3 T fish sauce

2 T Splenda no calorie sweetner

2 Serrano chiles unseeded, thinly sliced in rings

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

Juice of 1 lime

4 oz uncooked spaghetti

3 oz snow peas

2 scallions diced in rounds (for garnish)

****

IN MEDIUM SAUCEPAN combine chicken broth, water, lemongrass blend, grated ginger and lime zest. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to simmer, cover and cook 10-15 minutes. Strain the aromatics out of the liquid and return the broth to the soup pot. Over medium heat add the next 7 ingredients (corn through lime juice). Bring soup to a boil, cover and lower heat to a gentle simmer. Simmer 20 minutes.

****

IN SEPERATE LARGE pot, cook spaghetti according to package directions. Two minutes before the spaghetti is due to be done, add the snow peas. Drain pasta and peas. Now it's time to assemble the soup.

****

INTO EACH OF 4 bowls place 2 or 3 meatballs, a helping of noodles and snow peas. Ladle broth (with chiles and corn) over the meatballs and pasta and garnish with chopped scallions (I, once again too anxious to eat, forgot the scallions when I served my guests).

****

This dish has a delicate balance of spices between the meatballs and the soup. And even though there are 2 unseeded chiles in the broth, the flavor is pleasantly mellow. It satisfies any noodle or protein craving you may have, and leaves you with a feeling of contentment. This is what I call Zen Soup.

Rice Pilaf Meatballs

A few weeks ago I was under the weather and my doctor put me on the B.R.A.T. diet.

B= Bananas

R= Rice

A= Applesauce

T= Toast

Boring I know, but I happen to like everything on the menu. The Elvis Bread took care of the excess bananas. But I still found myself with a cupboard full of Near East Pilaf.

I usually make my own pilaf but Near East does a pretty good job in a box- 20 minutes, with no chopping of vegetables or measuring anything but water. So today I decided to make a pot of Wedding Soup and incorporate some of the pilaf into the meatball mixture and avoid any hard work. The result- delish. The pilaf has an abundance of herbs and spices and they work well in this recipe. All I did was add an extra pinch of salt and pepper and a quick grate of a garlic clove into the melange. Here's the mix:

Rice Pilaf Meatballs

1 pound ground chicken
3/4 cup cooked rice pilaf cooled
1 egg slightly beaten
1 clove garlic grated
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup Romano cheese grated

Combine cooked rice with garlic, salt, pepper, egg and cheese:

Add ground meat/chicken and combine gently with your fingers. Now you're ready to make the meatballs.

If you want to jazz the meatballs up, add some chopped parsley to the mixture. Or even some crushed red pepper flakes which will give some heat. I would love to have shown you the meatballs ready for their swim in the soup, but my hands were so messy I couldn't get a grip on my camera. But you know what meatballs look like, and I bet yours will be as good if not better than mine. The pilaf meatballs were great in the soup and I guarantee they'll work in other dishes.

Try them in tomato sauce over a bed of linguini. Here's what you do: After you roll out the meatballs, put the little darlings on a greased cookie sheet and bake 25 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees . Add them to your tomato sauce, simmer a bit and enjoy the tasty, tender delight you've just created.

I'm so excited about using this tender, flavored rice in my meatballs I'm going to try this again with an Asian flair. I'm thinking ginger, garlic, and Sambal as additions. If it works, you'll hear more about pilaf meatballs again real soon.