Thai Pumpkin Laksa with Roasted Chickpeas

And the pumpkin craze continues. (On a related note, if you haven't seen Alton Brown's Good Eat's pumpkin episode it is definitely worth watching)

This soup really brings out the pumpkin flavor in a unique way. (And let's be honest, I'm a sucker for broccoli and soy sauce in any form)

"Young Blood" The Naked and Famous

Taken from Half-Baked Harvest

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced or grated
• 1 inch fresh ginger, grated
• 1 red fresno pepper, seeds removed + chopped (may use a jalapeno if needed)
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 3 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 small pumpkin, peeled + cut into cubes (about 3 cups)
• 1 rounded tablespoon creamy peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 (13 ounce) can unsweetened coconut milk
• 1 large bunch broccolini, stems trimmed
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh mint, chopped
• 8 ounces rice noodles
• arils from 1 pomegranate
• For the Roasted Chickpeas
• 2 (15 ounce) cans chickpeas, drained + rinsed
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• salt + pepper, to taste

Directions

Heat a large soup pot over medium heat and add the sesame oil. Once hot, add the garlic, ginger, fresno pepper and green onions. Cook 30 seconds to 1 minute or until soft + fragrant.

Slowly stir in the chicken or vegetable both and then add the cubed pumpkin. Bring the soup to a boil and simmer 15-20 minutes or until the pumpkin is fork tender. Add around half to 3/4 of the soup to a blender or food processor and blend until completely smooth. Return the soup to the pot.

Add the peanut butter, soy sauce, fish sauce and coconut milk, stirring to combine. Add the broccoli and cook until tender, about 8-10 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the rice noodles according to package directions.

Once the broccoli is tender, remove it from the heat and stir in the cilantro + mint. Ladle the soup into bowls and add a big handful of rice noodles. Top with crunchy chickpeas (recipe below) and pomegranate arils. 

For the Roasted Chickpeas

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Spread the chickpeas out on a towel and dry them completely. Add the chickpeas to a baking sheet and toss with the olive oil, cinnamon, brown sugar, salt + pepper. Toss well to evenly coat. Roast for 20 minutes and then stir the chickpeas around and roast another 20 minutes or until the chickpeas are browned and crunchy. Remove from the oven and serve warm atop the soup. 

Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry

As you can probably tell from the complete scarcity of posts, this winter has been completely crazy! Between school, work, college applications, and scholarship applications, cooking and blogging have fallen to the wayside. 

Snow days have come to my rescue! We've gotten about 6 inches of snow the past couple days, and that combined with plunging temperatures, well-timed wind, and President's Day has caused this to be most likely a one day school week. Hooray!

"Opus 28: Opus 28" Dustin Ohalloran

Ingredients

• beef, chopped into one-inch pieces
• broccoli, cut into florets
• peppers, julienned
• zucchini, julienned 
• onion, diced
• soy sauce
• vegetable oil
• red pepper flakes, optional
• garlic
• ginger

Directions

Heat oil and soy sauce in saute pan and add garlic, ginger, red pepper and onion. Cook until onion is translucent. Add zucchini and broccoli. Cook until broccoli florets have turned bright green. Add peppers. Cook until soft. Remove pan from heat and put vegetables in a bowl.

Add beef to saute pan and cook until desired doneness. Combine vegetables and beef. Serve with rice. 

Seared Teriaki Salmon

Alright, senior year! It's been a bit hectic, so that's why I haven't posted in over a month. I haven't had time for cooking, much less blogging. But since I have a three day weekend, I'm almost done with my college apps for November 1st, and the cross country season is now over (*sob*), I'm trying to get back into the swing of things.

Also, I went to Moosewood a couple of weekends ago when I went to visit my brother in Ithaca, New York, and I had some of the best salmon I've ever had. (Marinated in coconut milk and topped with cashews and shredded coconut leaving it melt-in-your-mouth tenderness- need I say more?) This salmon now seems a little dull in comparison.

If you haven't had life-changing fish for dinner recently, this salmon is fabulous. And it's ridiculously easy to make.

"Shake It Off" Taylor Swift (Yes, I know, but it's been stuck in my head for a week)

Ingredients

• salmon
• teriaki sauce

Directions

Heat saute pan on high heat and add 1 tbsp of teriaki sauce. When the sauce begins to boil, place fish, skin side up, onto the pan and sear until the edge is browned. Flip and cook until the fish is cooked through. 

Carrot and Broccoli Lo Mein

 I made this for lunch and to use my super cool plates.

"Lollipop"

Ingredients:

• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1 head of broccoli, chopped
•  1 cup pasta
• 3 tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 tbsp. hosin sauce 

Directions:

Heat pan on high heat with soy sauce and hosin sauce. Add carrots and broccoli and cook until tender. Add pasta and cook until crisp. Serve immediately.

Vegetable Lo Mein

                                     Warning! Very catchy, I listened to this on Monday while 
                                        making the Lo Mein and I've had it stuck in my head all week!


This is what I made on Monday to go with a non-existent orange chicken. I've made this a few times and still haven't bought hoisin sauce. If you were thinking of making this without it, I'll clue you in that it makes the meal. I used peanut butter since its more readily available, but you can use beans. I used honey instead of molasses. 

 

Cook noodles in salted water per instructions. Drain and mix with the sesame oil. Combine the hoisin and soy sauce together in a small bowl then set aside. 

 

Add the mushrooms, carrot, bell pepper, red onion, and green onion, and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 2-4 minutes. Add the ginger and garlic and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.

  

Remove from the skillet into a bowl and set aside.

Add the other 1/2 tablespoon of canola oil to the skillet and add the noodles. Cook, stirring often, for 3-5 minutes or until light brown. Pour the hoisin mixture onto the noodles followed by the veggies, sprouts, and half of the cilantro. Stir until evenly coated and well combined. Pour into the serving dish and sprinkle with the remaining cilantro. Serve immediately. Enjoy.

 HOUSIN SAUCE adapted from CDKitchen

 INGREDIENTS:
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons peanut butter or black bean paste
1 tablespoon honey or molasses or brown sugar
2 teaspoons white vinegar
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons sesame oil
20 drops chinese hot sauce, habenero or jalepeno
1/8 teaspoon black pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Simply mix together. At first, it does not appear like it will mix but if you use a funnel to put it in a bottle and shake it, it mixes well.

Vegetable Lo Mein adapted from For the Love of Cooking

Yield: 4

Prep Time: 15 min.

Cook Time: 20 min.

Total Time: 35 min.

Ingredients:

8 oz Whole wheat spaghetti noodles, cooked per instructions
1/2 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp canola oil (divided)
1 cup of mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup of shredded carrots
1/2 cup of baby bell peppers, sliced
1/4 red onion, sliced
2 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup of mung-bean sprouts
1/2 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped (divided)

Directions:

Cook noodles in salted water per instructions. Drain and mix with the sesame oil. Combine the hoisin and soy sauce together in a small bowl then set aside.
Heat 1/2 tbsp into a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the mushrooms, carrot, bell pepper, red onion, and green onion, and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 2-4 minutes. Add the ginger and garlic and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Remove from the skillet into a bowl and set aside.
Add the other 1/2 tablespoon of canola oil to the skillet and add the noodles. Cook, stirring often, for 3-5 minutes or until light brown. Pour the hoisin mixture onto the noodles followed by the veggies, sprouts, and half of the cilantro. Stir until evenly coated and well combined. Pour into the serving dish and sprinkle with the remaining cilantro. Serve immediately. Enjoy.

 

Orange Chicken

I was planning on making this over the long weekend, but as so often occurs in life, it didn't happen. The frozen chicken sat in the fridge to thaw for one night. Then, at eight the next night, my mom and I rushed to cook it. So this chicken had soaked in the sauce for a good twenty-two hours by the time I finally got to eat it, poured over rice.

My dad made out-of-a-box gnocchi, complaining the whole time about the smell of the chicken (I'm pretty sure it was the sauce, but whatever). I tried a little of the gnocchi; holy cow! I'm not a potato pasta lover, but if you haven't tried it, I highly recommend you do. If you have then, you know what I'm talking about. I, personally, can't stand the heavy-thickness, but loads of people can't get enough of it. 

 

Combine water, orange juice, soy sauce, lemon juice, vinegar, brown sugar, orange zest, ginger, garlic, and green onion in a saucepan over medium-high heat and bring mixture to a boil.  In a separate bowl, dissolve 1 tbsp cornstarch in 1-2 tbsp of water, and then slowly pour into sauce.  Reduce heat to low and stir until sauce thickens into a syrup-like consistency.  Remove from heat and allow to cool a bit.  

Meanwhile, prepare chicken.  Coat chicken in cornstarch, adding more cornstarch as needed and then heat oil in another skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken pieces to skillet and brown on all sides, letting chicken cook through (work in batches if necessary). 

 

Drain any excess oil before adding sauce mixture to chicken.  

                     Try to “coat” both sides of chicken in the sauce and simmer on low for 5 minutes. 

Ingredients

For the sauce (slightly adapted from Blog is the New Black)

• 1 1/2 C water
• 2 tbsp fresh orange juice
• 2 1/2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 C fresh lemon juice
• 1/3 C vinegar (I used balsamic)
• 1/2 C packed brown sugar
• 2 tbsp orange zest
• 1/2 tsp minced ginger
• 1/2 tsp minced garlic
• half bunch of green onions, chopped
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1-2 tbsp water

For the chicken:

• 1 lb. boneless chicken tenderloins, cut into small bites
• 1/4-1/2 C cornstarch
• 2-3 tbsp cooking oil

Directions

1. Combine water, orange juice, soy sauce, lemon juice, vinegar, brown sugar, orange zest, ginger, garlic, and green onion in a saucepan over medium-high heat and bring mixture to a boil.  In a separate bowl, dissolve 1 tbsp cornstarch in 1-2 tbsp of water, and then slowly pour into sauce.  Reduce heat to low and stir until sauce thickens into a syrup-like consistency.  Remove from heat and allow to cool a bit. 
2. Meanwhile, prepare chicken.  Coat chicken in cornstarch, adding more cornstarch as needed and then heat oil in another skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken pieces to skillet and brown on all sides, letting chicken cook through (work in batches if necessary). 
3. Drain any excess oil before adding sauce mixture to chicken.  Try to “coat” both sides of chicken in the sauce and simmer on low for 5 minutes. 
4. Serve with rice or noodles if desired.