I was super pleased with this recipe tonight: it was delicious, and both my girls ate bok choy without complaint, and Olivia almost said she liked it. I love bok choy and would make it MUCH more often if others agreed. Post-supper, I was out of the house tonight and when I came home, the whole house still smelled of fish sauce. Maybe not so good. From March 2014's Chatelaine: Chicken & Bok Choy with Crunchy Shallots.
Chicken & Bok Choy with Crunchy Shallots
Cover 125 g fine rice-vermicelli noodles with boiling water in a large bowl. Let stand, stirring frequently, until tender, 5 to 7 min. Drain. Return to bowl.
Dice 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts. Combine with 3 tbsp brown sugar, 2 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tbsp fish sauce and 1 tsp hot chili-garlic sauce in a medium bowl. Stir to coat. Heat a very large non-stick pan over medium-high. Add 2 tsp canola oil, then chicken, reserving marinade. Cook until chicken is no longer pink, 2 to 3 min. Move chicken to sides of pan and add 10 baby bok choy, halved lengthwise. Cook, stirring often, until tender-crisp, 2 to 3 min. Transfer chicken and bok choy to a platter.
Add noodles to pan along with reserved marinade. Cook until heated through, at least 2 min. Divide among 4 plates. Top with chicken and bok choy and any liquid. Sprinkle 1/3 cup fried shallots over the plates and serve with a wedge of lime.
Makes 4 servings.
A couple notes: the recipe called for 10 baby bok choy, halved. I find they come in such varying sizes, you have to play this one by ear. I bought 8 (shout out to Farm Boy, who sells them in bulk!) and probably could have bought less, but I do love bok choy and I'll eat them all myself. I split them into leaves, then sliced up the bigger leaves. I fried them in two batches, for 6 minutes each. That almost doubled the overall cook time. Plan accordingly!
The recipe called for packaged fried shallots. I couldn't find these, nor do I imagine they are very good for you, so I made my own: I diced up shallots and lightly fried them in olive oil, then sprinkled panko crumbs on top and fried a few minutes more, then salted and peppered. Delicious.
I always think of a chowder as being a cream- or milk-based soup, but this clam "chowder" is a tomato- or clamato-based soup. While being a clam soup, it is also vegetable rich, and tasty. Turns out, this is a "Manhattan-style" chowder as opposed to "Boston-style." Mystery solved. It was quite yummy, or so thought Sadie and I, who ate the lion's share. Greg and Olivia were a bit more iffy about the whole thing. I recommend it, and might sneak it into my "try again" pile when fussy fussters aren't watching. From March 2014's Chatelaine: Chunky Clam Chowder.
Chunky Clam Chowder
Heat a large saucepan over medium-high. Add 6 finely chopped bacon slices. Cook, stirring often, until bacon is crisp, about 5 min. Remove bacon, leaving fat in saucepan. Add 2 peeled, chopped carrots, 1 chopped celery stalk, 1 peeled, finely chopped yellow potato, 1/2 chopped onion, 2 minced garlic cloves and 2 tbsp tomato paste. Cook until onion is tender, 3 to 5 min. Add 2 1/2 cups Clamato, 1 cup water and 2 thyme sprigs. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, uncovered, until vegetables are tender, about 30 min.
Stir in 142-g can baby clams. Garnish with reserved bacon and 1/4 cup chopped parsley. Add a dash of Tabasco.
Makes 4 servings.
The only thing I changed here was to double the amount of bacon called for, as I thought it made all the difference with the flavour. Don't leave out the Tabasco! It also brings it all home.
Served with a baguette on the side.
Still have a bit of Clamato left over. Looks like somebody will be drinking birthday Caesars.
I swear, I forget the Oscars every year. You would think I would remember, because they are always the same week as my birthday, and occasionally fall on my birthday, if my birthday happens to be on a Sunday. I hate when that happens. I do not want to spend my birthday night glued to the TV. I suppose I could opt out of watching the Oscars, but somehow I never do.
That's my excuse for not blogging about Sunday night supper. Glued to the TV. Putting the kids to bed, I missed Jared Leto's speech, the only one I would have wanted to see (swoon), and I missed Pharrell Williams singing, the only song I would have like to have seen. Then I went to bed before the final three big awards were awarded. Clearly, I should not have bothered. I should have just blogged.
Alas. Sunday night I made fish tacos. I believe I've made fish tacos once before, but didn't blog about it at the time: one of my non-blogging moments. I think that time I made a recipe from November 2012's Chatelaine: Roadside fish tacos. This time, I used one from March 2014's Chatelaine: Tropical fish tacos. Going entirely from memory, I recommend the former recipe over the latter. But I'll talk about the latter here, as I can't guarantee my comments on the former.
Tropical Fish Tacos
Stir 1/2 cup sour cream with 2 tsp lime zest and sriracha sauce to taste (1 1/2 tsp for us) in a small bowl. Combine 1 cup finely shredded red cabbage with 1/4 cup finely sliced red onion and 2 tbsp lime juice in a medium bowl. Set both aside.
Pat 400 g cod fillets dry with paper towels. Sprinkle with 1/2 tsp salt. Season with fresh pepper. Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high. Add 2 tbsp canola oil, then fish. Cook until browned, 2 to 3 min per side. Remove from heat. Cut fillets in bite-sized pieces.
Assemble tacos by filling 8 warmed flour tortillas with cabbage slaw, fish, sour cream mixture, 2 cups chopped fresh pineapple and 1/4 cup cilantro leaves.
Makes 4 servings.
I've altered the original recipe slightly, as I found it didn't have enough sauce or pineapple, and had too much slaw. This recipe was good but we didn't love love it, so we'll toss it. I'll have to try that other recipe sometime again.
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