noodles

easy pad thai

by Patricia on May 11, 2010 · 45 comments

pad thai

I have had a love-hate relationship with Pad Thai for a while now. I loved it when I had it in Thailand and I hated it anytime I ordered it at a restaurant stateside. You see, the so-called Pad Thai I’ve had in restaurants has always been coated in this weird orange-colored sauce that scares me. It tastes funny too. But when I visited Thailand 7 years ago, I learned that real Pad Thai is not orange or scary. Not even a little bit.

I also learned that the peppers in the panang curry in Thailand are not bell peppers like they are over here. I learned this as the locals in the restaurant all laughed at me when I burst into flames. Well, maybe I didn’t burst into flames and maybe they didn’t laugh at me, but it was a lesson I will never forget. Peppers in Thailand are hot… even the ones that look like bell peppers.

Anyway, enough about spontaneous combustion. I was telling you about my love-hate relationship with Pad Thai. I still sometimes order it, holding out hope that I’ll find the same light, fresh noodles sans freaky orange sauce that I loved in Thailand only to be disappointed once again.

But no more. Not since I found an easy and tasty Pad Thai recipe in the latest issue of Everyday Food (which by the way is quickly becoming my favorite food magazine).

magazine

Granted, the recipe is not 100% authentic — it doesn’t use fish sauce and tamarind and the 100 other ingredients the authentic version calls for — but it is light and fresh and easy with a capital E. You can seriously have this ready in 30 minutes flat (and most of that time is just soaking the noodles). I’ve made it 4 times in 2 weeks and unless I am on a beach in Thailand, I am never ordering Pad Thai in a restaurant again.

Now, let’s make some Pad Thai…

[Continue reading...]

Tagged as: , , , , , ,

{ 45 comments }

Dinner in 5 minutes

by Patricia on January 9, 2009 · 3 comments

dinner in 5 minutes

I forgot to eat lunch today. That sounds silly, I know. But do you ever get into one of those modes? Totally focused on something and its like your stomach stops checking in until you’re STARVING. That was me today. I worked from home and was checking things off of my todo list: check check check, when around 5pm my stomach screamed “Stop! Feed me!”. I needed something quick, but most things I think of first as “quick” are full of bad-for-you things so I stopped buying them. What’s a girl to do? My stomach was tempting me to break a resolution (eat healthy) : “Eat the marshmallows… And wash them down with cookies. And… chocolate.” But I stood firm, I want to eat healthy. I feel better when I eat healthy even if I do LOVE dessert. I also want to eat the food I have on hand (I’ve been bad in the past about eating a little bit of something and letting the rest go wasted. But that is expensive and decidedly not green. And also on my list of resolutions are “save money” and “be greener”. I did very well in 2008 adding green habits, but there is always room to improve… ). I have been good eating leftovers, not eating out as much, and eating good-for-me meals most of the time (not all of the time. I have to leave some room for brownies and other treats some of the time).

Anyway. Back to my empty belly and how I filled it… I’m not sure why or how, but I thought of the leftover capellini noodles I had in the fridge and next thing I knew, I had a psuedo-chow mein noodle stir fry dinner. And it was good. I’m not talking crazy good like the shrimp the other night, but for a 5 minute, healthy meal it was really tasty. I wish I had some shrimp or chicken to throw on top of it, but I settled for an all veg. version.

While prepping and gathering ingredients, I started to heat:
about 1 tbsp canola oil
about 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil (for flavor)

Add:
2 cloves garlic, minced (sort of)
a little fresh ginger, also sort of minced

Let it get fragrant and just start to brown a little, then add:
1 tbsp or so of sweet jalapeno sauce (very similar to thai sweet chili sauce)
about 1/5 bag of frozen veggie medley (carrots, peas, green beans)

When that is heated through, add:
some leftover noodles (I had capellini, but I think any noodles would work)
a dash of soy sauce

Mix it up. When mixed and hot, push to one side of the pan and scramble 1 egg on the empty side of the pan. Stir it all together, put it in a bowl with a couple of grinds of fresh pepper… and víola. Enjoy.

Tagged as: , , , ,

{ 3 comments }

Dinner Tonight: Souped-Up Top Ramen

by Patricia on November 16, 2008 · 1 comment

Ah, ramen. It has been ages since I have had ramen. But as I got caught up on my blog reading this morning, I ran across this post from Not Eating Out In New York and I was inspired. So I ventured out to my local megamart (as Alton Brown would call it). What happened? I remember when you could get Top Ramen 10 for $1 or 20 for $1 if you found a sale. But now? 10 for $3! Talk about inflation. My inner college student whinced, but then I got over it and bought 10 packs of the sodium enriched noodley goodness.

Tonight, inspired by the aforementioned blog post, and as an homage to my mom’s occasional ramen dinners, I whipped up a packet of Ramen. I poached an egg in the pot with the cooking noodles and added some baby spinach in the last minute and topped it with green onion. Yummy.

I really need to remember to take pics of the food before I devour it…

Tagged as: , , ,

{ 1 comment }