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Posts Tagged ‘quick dinner’

Quick & Healthy: Thai Red Curry Chicken

Posted in Healthy Meal, Recipes, tagged , , , , on January 13, 2012 | 4 Comments »

I’ve been on a real Thai kick lately. Probably has something to do with the temporary mental lapses I seem to encounter whenever I enter the “specialty” foods section of a supermarket and see all the appropriately-Americanized foreign ingredients staring down at me. I get overwhelmed. I get intrigued. But most importantly, I get hungry. And this is probably why in the past week, I’ve wound up coming home on three separate occasions with light coconut milk, dried pad Thai noodles, and a small jar of red curry paste.

But I’d say the biggest, most substantial reason that I’ve been eating so much Thai food lately is that it just makes sense. Thai food, and curry in particular, is jam-packed with a lot of spice and flavor, that doesn’t necessarily translate into extra fat and calories. Finally, an exception to the “Fat = Flavor” rule (sorry, culinary school).

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that all Thai dishes are flavorful and healthy. There are plenty of exceptions, like Pad Thai, or my one true Thai food love, Pad See Ew. BUT. And that’s a big but. With a little curry paste, and a little creativity, you can make a dish that has all the essence of cravable, rich Thai take out, but is low in calories and high in nutrients.

Okay I’ll prove it. So first, get yourself a jar of this.

Thai Kitchen makes a variety of pre-packaged sauces and pastes in all flavors and types. There’s pad thai sauce, peanut sauce, you name it. But I love the Thai red curry paste because there’s just 25 calories in one tablespoon, and you really don’t need more than that to give your whole dish a beautiful, deep, rich foreign flavor.

Now, I took a Thai cooking class a while back with my family at the Natural Gourmet Institute in NYC, and here I learned all about the amazing things a cook can do with coconut milk. I was intrigued by the way the fatty solids of the coconut milk (the coconut cream) rises to the top, while the thinner, coconut-water-like liquid sinks to the bottom. Combined, they form the rich, tropical basis for many a sauce, soup, or curry.

Unfortunately, regular coconut milk is rather fattening and caloric. However, most grocery stores carry light coconut milk, which is essentially the “skim milk” version – less of that coconut cream component. This is your second secret weapon.

In the end, all it takes is a little of your curry paste, light coconut milk, and some pantry staples like garlic, onion and chicken broth to create a delicious, light curry sauce that makes dinner feel like a real treat. Customize it to your liking with whatever veggies and protein you have on hand – it works great with delicate white fish as well as chicken.

Did I mention this is done in thirty minutes? Yeah. Pretty unreal.

Thai Red Curry Chicken – Serves 1 

Ingredients
  • 1 3-4 oz chicken breast, cut into 1 inch pieces
  • 1 teaspoon canola or vegetable oil
  • 1/4 cup of finely chopped onion
  • 1 clove of garlic, minced
  • 1 teaspoon of Thai Kitchen Red Curry Paste
  • 1/4 cup of light coconut milk
  • 1/2 cup of reduced sodium chicken broth
  • 1/2 teaspoon of fish sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
  • 1 cup assorted chopped or shredded vegetables (I used 1/3 shredded carrots, 1/3 sliced baby bella mushrooms, and 1/3 green peas)
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Heat a medium saute pan over high heat. Coat with cooking spray and season chicken with salt and pepper. Cook chicken for about 1 – 2 minutes on each side, until nicely browned. Don’t cook chicken through. Remove chicken and set aside.

Add the canola oil to the pan, reduce heat to medium and add chopped onion. Saute for about 3 to 4 minutes, until softened. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more. Add red curry paste and using a spoon, mash the curry paste into the oil and onions. Once the onions are coated with curry paste, add the coconut milk, chicken broth, fish sauce and brown sugar. Simmer gently for a minute or two.

Add the vegetables and continue to simmer until sauce has reduced to desired consistency (note: sauce should coat the back of a spoon) – about three minutes more. Add the chicken and finish cooking in the sauce, about another minute, adding water if the sauce gets too thick.

Serve on a bed of brown rice or barley.

Nutritional Info: 270 calories, 6 grams of fat, 4.3 grams of fiber, 29.5 grams of protein, 20.5 grams of carbs.

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Practically Take-Out Chicken and String Beans

Posted in Healthy Meal, Recipes, tagged , , , , , , on November 3, 2011 | 1 Comment »

I’ve been on an Asian food kick lately.

Okay, fine, I’m always on an Asian food kick. But can you blame me? One castaway thought of thick, chewy Chow Fun noodles, or a memory of the sweet tangy sauce of Pad Thai, and the cravings for a warm, comforting bowl of something foreign set in, relentless until they are relieved. Luckily, there’s a dumpling shop downstairs from my boyfriend’s apartment that sells Pork and Chive potstickers (the only flavor worth having) four for a dollar, so this craving is usually quashed easily.

But then there was last night. I opened my fridge, and staring me back in the face were rows of bottles left over from this adventure in Thai Cooking this summer. These bottles were filled with every variety of thick, dark, aromatic fermented seasonings; umami that goes by the name of extra dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce, chili oil, sesame oil. Though I’m sure it will take me many months to work my way through all of these flavorants, last night seemed as good a time as any to make a dent.

This was certainly a meal thrown together with things I had on hand, but it wound up being so good that a) I felt compelled to blog about it and share the recipe, and b) I’m confident saying this recipe is so good, it’s worth going out and getting the ingredients for it. Yep, it’s a recipe worth going out of your way for. That’s really saying something!

I’ve mentioned this in the past, but one of my biggest frustrations with cooking Asian food at home is that it just never turns out quite like the stuff you get in a big plastic container from your neighborhood take-out joint, and since Chinese food is generally pretty cheap, what’s the point? I’ll be honest, usually I cave and just order in. But after seeing how quickly and easily this Chicken with String Beans in Brown Sauce came together last night, and how fresh and vibrant the flavors were, unweighed down by the greasy aftertaste of a well-used wok, it might be time to turn over a new leaf. Come with me, won’t you?

Chinese Chicken and String Beans in Brown Sauce - Serves 3-4

Adapted from Food.com

Ingredients

  • 1 pound of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1″ cubes
  • 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 Tbsp dark soy sauce
  • 2 Tbsp light soy sauce
  • 3 Tbsp dark brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups of low-sodium chicken broth
  • 1 1/2 cups of frozen green beans, defrosted (you could also sub in snap peas or broccoli)
  • 1 Tbsp butter
  • 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
If you don’t, like me, have cornstarch*  (a standard ingredient in Chinese cooking) on hand, you can make a quick roux to thicken up your brown sauce. In a small pan or pot, melt the butter. Then, add the flour and stir into the flour until a smooth paste forms. The roux is ready once it is the color and consistency of wet sand. Reserve in a small bowl.
 
Heat a large skillet and add the vegetable oil. Season the cubed chicken with salt and pepper. Once the skillet is hot, add the chicken and brown on both sides. Though the chicken won’t be cooked through, remove it and reserve.
 
To the same skillet, add the garlic, dark and regular soy sauce, brown sugar and chicken broth. Stir to combine and dissolve the sugar. Add the chicken back in and cook at a gentle simmer for another 2 minutes. Add the green beans and cook for another minute  or until the chicken is cooked through.
 
At this point, remove the chicken and green beans from the sauce and place on serving dish. Bring sauce
to a boil and boil for about five minutes, or until sauce has reduced. Depending on how thick you want the sauce, you can add some or all of the roux and whisk it into the sauce, over low heat, to thicken it. Once sauce has reached desired consistency, add chicken and green beans back in and toss to coat.
 
Serve immediately on a bed of fluffy Jasmine rice.
 

*Note – 1 Tbsp of cornstarch can be substituted for the roux – just reserve 1/2 cup of the chicken broth initially, and mix that with the cornstarch. Add this mixture to sauce after chicken and string beans have been removed, and cook until thickened.

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Sausage and Peppers Quinoa

Posted in Healthy Meal, tagged , , , on September 22, 2011 | 2 Comments »

Last night’s dinner was a total win, if I do say so myself. Better yet, it was an unexpected win, since expectations were pretty minimal and didn’t have very long to get inflated.

The conversation went something like this:

Me: “Hey, what do you have to eat in your apartment?”

Adam: “Um, Italian sausage, chicken thighs, ground meat, onions, quinoa, pasta, pasta, and more pasta”

Okay, maybe I added that “pasta” part.

But I latched on to the healthiest ingredient available – quinoa - and the one I knew would be most likely to make him happy – Italian sausage – and fed them to my favorite time waster – Google.

I got this little gem of a recipe for Sausage and Peppers Quinoa back in return, so I immediately proposed it. Adam was pretty skeptical that it would be good with quinoa, but as per the usual, cooking executive powers were relegated to me, so we decided to move forward with the plan.

One quick trip to Whole Foods later (thank god peppers are back down to normal, i.e. not $499 for ONE, prices), and we were ready to rock and roll. I set the quinoa to steam, manned Adam’s shockingly great quality IKEA saute pan, and got to chopping while he poured the wine. Drinking wine while cooking is sort of mandatory, if you ask me. Note to Culinary Schools: look into this!

Between the wine drinking, the chit-chatting, and the subconscious decision to cook this all super-slowly, I wasn’t paying the closest attention to what we were doing, so it truly took me by surprise when this dish turned out off the charts delicious! Seriously, I almost dropped my fork after the first bite, because deep down (I’ll admit it), I sort of doubted that an Italian classic like Sausage and Peppers could really taste that good mixed with quinoa. But, it did. You live and you learn, folks! The sausages were super crispy on the outside, moist and juicy on the inside, and lent an incredible amount of flavor, smoothness, and a bit of heat to the quinoa. The peppers and onions were cooked to tender-crisp perfection, and the quinoa provided the perfect fluffy base for soaking up all those juices and a little carby resistance, sort of the way bread does in a Sausage-and-Peppers sandwich, but without all that weight.

And the best part? We didn’t even lapse into food coma afterwards! In fact, we both felt pretty great – full and satisfied, but not on the road to an early bedtime since the quinoa packed more protein than carb overload. Such a pleasant surprise :)

Italian Sausage and Pepper Quinoa – Serves 2

Adapted from WAHM.com 

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of quinoa
  • 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth, or water
  • 1/2 teaspoon of cumin
  • Pinch of red pepper flakes
  • 1/4 teaspoon of dried oregano
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 large onion, minced
  • 2 large green peppers, seeded and cut into 1 inch strips
  • 1 large red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1 inch strips
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil, divided
  • 1/2 cup of beef broth, divided
  • 4 medium Italian sausages, uncooked
Method
 
In a medium saucepan, add quinoa, chicken broth (or water), cumin, red pepper flakes, oregano, salt and pepper. Uncovered, bring to a boil and then reduce to a very low simmer, cover, and cook covered for 15 to 20 minutes, or until all liquid is absorbed and quinoa is tender with a slight crunch. Turn off the heat and leave quinoa covered.
 
Meanwhile, in a large saute pan, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium  heat. Add onion and sweat for about 3 minutes, until softened. Add peppers and saute for a minute or two, then cover the pan and lower the heat slightly. Allow peppers and onions to cook covered for about five minutes. Then, remove the cover, add 1/4 cup of beef broth, and simmer until nearly all the liquid has evaporated. Add cooked peppers and onions to the saucepan full of quinoa, and add salt and pepper if needed.
 
Add the remaining olive oil to the saute pan and heat over medium high heat. Add sausages and brown on each side, about 1 to 2 minutes. Once sausages are brown, lower the heat, add the remaining beef broth, and cover the pan. Cook covered for an additional 1 – 2 minutes. Then, add the quinoa-peppers mixture to the saute pan with the sausages, and cook until all the beef broth has been absorbed by the quinoa, which should be moist and fluffy. Serve hot in large bowls, with two sausages per serving.
 

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Roasted Tomato-Rosemary Soup

Posted in Healthy Meal, Recipes, tagged , , , , , on September 16, 2011 | 3 Comments »

Have you been outside lately?

In case you haven’t noticed yet, it’s fall. Hard to believe, because when I woke up yesterday morning, it was still warm, humid, and the usual sweltering descent into the 63rd street F train was still kickin’. But at some point, a cool, light breeze must have blown in, because by the time I left work in the evening, it had become Autumn - just like that. The air was crisp and clean-smelling, the beginnings of dried leaves were blowing in swirls off the curbs, and the sky seemed to be hanging a little lower, a little closer than usual.

As I walked home from the train, I couldn’t help but relish the change in weather. Suddenly I felt revitalized, and  I just couldn’t stop thinking about everything great that would come with the fall weather: a weekend spent outside in the cool fresh air, shopping for sweaters and scarves and boots, and hot, thick homemade soup to warm you from the inside out.

It’s pretty obvious that I love soup making. What could be better than throwing whatever vegetables and random ingredients you have hanging out in your fridge into a pot, cooking it until all the wonderful flavors ooze out, and then pureeing it all into a smooth, creamy bowl of paradise? Soups provide the ultimate combination of healthy nutritional value, since everything stays in the pot and nothing is “lost” in the cooking process, while still being hearty and filling, not to mention insanely comforting. Yes, as I walked home last night I couldn’t stop thinking about how a bowl of homemade soup would be just the ticket for dinner.

Then I remembered the bag of assorted tomatoes from my mom’s garden that was still hiding out in the bottom of my fridge, and it was on.

As a non-discriminating soup lover, it’s really hard for me to pick a favorite. I love everything from carrot-ginger, to acorn squash, to French Onion and even Amy’s organic split pea (it’s green, and I like it). But there is perhaps no soup as classic or lovely as the Tomato soup. There’s a reason it’s an age-old favorite.

This soup is pure tomato – there’s no cream, which is classic and you could certainly add, but frankly I didn’t have any and the idea of simple roasted tomatoes sounded pretty divine  me. The rosemary and thyme add an extra layer of earthiness to the dish, and are quintessentially fall, though you could swap them out for basil in the summer, or tarragon basically any time of year. This soup would be fantastic topped with a large, crunchy, buttery slice of baguette topped with melty Gruyère or a crisp layer of Parmesan. I personally served mine with a handful of salty pita chips, which I alternated between crumbling over the top, or dunking right in salsa-style (who doesn’t love foods that you DIP?). One big old bowl of this left me feeling full, warmed through and through, and one-hundred-percent satisfied for the rest of the night. If that’s not soup success, I don’t know what is.

Roasted Tomato-Rosemary Soup

Adapted from Epicurious

Ingredients 

  • 10 medium or 4 very large ripe tomatoes (about 4 pounds), cored and cut into equal sizes
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil plus extra
  • 2 shallots, coarsely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 (28-ounce) can fire-roasted crushed tomatoes
  • 2 sprigs of thyme
  • 2 sprigs of rosemary
  • 1/2 cup dry white wine
  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt

Method

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lay the tomatoes on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with the extra olive oil and roast them until they look wrinkly, about 30 minutes. Set aside.

While the tomatoes cool, heat the 2 tablespoons olive oil in a medium sauce pan. Add the shallots, chopped garlic, thyme and rosemary sprigs, and sauté over medium-low heat until they turn golden brown and caramelized, 15 to 20 minutes. Add the wine and deglaze the pan, then reduce the wine by half at a simmer.

Add the fire roasted tomatoes and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for about ten minutes until the flavors start to develop. Add the roasted tomatoes, season with salt and pepper, and continue to simmer for another 15 minutes.

Adjust the seasoning one final time. Remove the thyme and rosemary sprigs, and puree the soup in a blender or using an immersion blender in the pot. Serve hot with a crostini, scoop of fresh ricotta, or sprinkling of herbs.

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