The problem is that when I cleanse (or fast, for that matter) I still have to cook for the family, and that kind of sucks. It is hard to see and smell yummy food and NOT TASTE IT. One of the difficulties I face is that I always sample the food as I am cooking to adjust seasonings. Especially since I rarely measure, tasting is essential. Oh well. I would have to make do.
I made a few dinners while on the cleanse. One night was Omlette Night, which was easy to not taste. Another night, I made a salmon. I popped it in the oven and then left Alan and the kids to figure it out.
As always, this is super easy to make. In a large ziplock bag add about half a cup of soy sauce. (As usual, I use Bragg's Liquid Aminos because it is gluten free) and about a quarter cup of real maple syrup. (I never use the fake crap). Add a few cloves of minced garlic and toss in the fish and seal. Allow it to marinate in the fridge for anywhere from half an hour to day. Normally I would BBQ this, maybe even on a cedar plank, but it was cold, rainy and nasty outside and I really didn't want to smell the yummy smoky torture if I wasn't going to get any, so I laid it on a baking sheet in a 350 oven for about 15 minutes.
I have no idea how it tasted but it smelled great. Alan and the kids told me it was delicious. It must have been. I was expecting enough leftovers to feed the kids dinner the next night, but there wasn't enough. It was probably a good thing that I wasn't eating, because they all descended on it like hungry buzzards. Which meant I had to cook again. Which led me to my next improvisation for dinner. Pad Thai.
My kids LOVE Thai food. My 11 year old son can make Thai Coconut Curry Mussels himself (recipe to be blogged about in a future post). A lot of thai food is gluten free and dairy free, so its one of the few types of restaurants we can go to that can easily accomodate Alan and his dietary needs. Thank God we all love Thai!
So to make Pad Thai, you need rice noodles. I had a batch of medium thick ones in my cupboard.
Thai food is great, because it satisfies the palate with a perfect blend of salty, sweet, sour and spicy, not that I would satisfy my palate on this day. In a bowl, I mixed fish sauce (salty), rice vinegar (sour), sugar (sweet, duh) and some thai chillis for the heat. It was roughly equal parts of fish sauce and vinegar, a couple teaspoons of sugar and however much heat you want. We like it hot.
I mixed it all together and voila! Instant pad thai sauce.
The most important thing to remember with pad thai is to get everything ready before hand. With the wok you move pretty fast, so it needs to be ready to go. I chopped up all my veggies and had them waiting. I used onions, garlic, carrots cut into matchsticks, sugar snaps, enoki mushrooms, red cabbage, cilantro and bean sprouts. You can add any other veggie you like, that fries up nicely. Peppers, zucchini, celery, eggplant, you name it. Or you can delete any of the above you don't like. I also used my vita mix to crumble a nice handful of almonds. I didn't have any peanuts in the house, so almonds substituted nicely. Also, have an egg or two beaten and ready to roll.
Boil the rice noodles until they are al dente, probably about 5 minutes. It depends on the thickness of the noodle. If they are really narrow, you might even be able to just soak them for a time. I never get the timing right on soaking them, so I find a fast boil works just fine. Drain when ready and set aside.
This recipe calls for a wok. I have no idea how old my wok is. I remember cooking my very first ever meal in it. I was in grade 8 at the time, which puts me at 12. I no longer have the original lid for it, and I don't know what happened to the base ring. I just put it right down on the burner as is. My wok is well seasoned. After each time I use it and then wash it, I give it a quick wipe with oil to keep it from rusting out. This wok is almost as old as I am. Quite possibly it is in better condition.
Oil the wok to cook in. Normally, I like to use EVOO with everything, but with a stir fry it is not the best choice. You need an oil with a high smoke point, because you fire that wok till it is SCREAMING hot. I used:
Once its screaming hot, add your onions and quick fry. Start adding all your other veggies, except the ones like cilantro and the sprouts. Those are for when you are ready to serve, since they don't need cooking. They are really garnishes.
Once your other are veggies ready, toss in the noodles and keep tossing. Add your sauce, and then the eggs. It should go fairly quickly.
Once it is all cooked, toss on your cilantro, sprouts and nuts. Serve. And in my case, walk away.
Apparantly, it was very tasty. Crap.
No comments:
Post a Comment