Tag Archives: quick meal

It’s like fried rice, but it’s made with pasta

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As a young girl growing up in a northern suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota, I had little exposure to ethnic foods other than the Hungarian and German foods prepared by my grandma, my mom and my aunts. But, there was a Chinese restaurant not far from our house that we sometimes went to for supper when my mom was too tired to make a meal after a long day of work as a business manager at a small manufacturing company.

It was the fried rice that was always my choice. It was brought to the table hidden under a bowl. When the bowl was lifted, there was the rice, a mound the shape of an upside-down bowl. The rice was brown with soy sauce and speckled with bits of scrambled eggs, onions and peas, maybe some sprouts, and small bits of either chicken or pork.

Years later, married with two young children and living in Fargo, North Dakota, I took a Chinese cooking class from Andrea Halgrimson. And, that is when I learned to make a mean bowl of fried rice that was pretty close to the rice I use to get at the Roseville restaurant.

After a recent meal of Baked Orzo with Vegetables (in my last blog post) and grilled Marinated Sesame Chicken Kabobs, there was some of each leftover. A couple of days later I turned it into Fried Orzo with Chicken. It was a quick and easy meal that was full of flavor. I used the Fried Rice recipe that I still have from Andrea’s class back in 1984. With a couple of embellishments, it was a wonderful way to turn leftovers into a brand new meal. It’s like fried rice, but it’s made with pasta.

Fried Orzo with Chicken

  • 3 to 4 cups Baked Orzo with Vegetables or plain cooked orzo
  • Leftover cooked chicken, onions and peppers from Marinated Sesame Chicken Kabobs, chopped
  • 1/2 cup frozen green peas
  • 3 eggs, beaten
  • 1 tablespoon canola oil
  • 1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
  • soy sauce
  • pinch of sugar
  • salt
  • freshly ground pepper

Heat canola and sesame oils in wok or large saute pan over medium heat. Add beaten eggs and stir-fry until partially set. Turn out of pan onto a plate. Add a little more oil to pan and heat. Add chopped chicken, onion, pepper and peas to pan. Stir-fry until heated through. Add Baked Orzo with Vegetables and partially-cooked eggs and continue to stir-fry until hot. Add soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Tip from the cook

To serve Fried Orzo molded, lightly spray a glass custard cup with non-stick vegetable spray. Pack Fried Orzo into the bowl. Invert bowl onto plate and remove bowl, leaving a perfectly molded serving of orzo on the plate.

 

 

In the pod or not, edamame is hot

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The buttery green beans look like baby lima beans, don’t they?  But they’re not. They’re soy beans — edamame (pronounced eh-duh-MAH-may) — harvested at an immature stage in their development. The word edamame literally means "beans on branches," as they grow in clusters on bushy branches.

If you are not familiar with these protein-packed beans, you’re not alone. I first heard of them several years ago from my son who was in college at the time. During his Senior year he took a gourmet foods class. He called to tell me they’d made edamame to eat as a snack. He liked it a lot and said I had to try some. He was in Fort Worth, Texas. I was in Bemidji, Minnesota. I was sure there would not be edamame in the grocery stores I shopped at.

My next trip to the store, I did find edamame in the freezer case. I bought a bag of the shelled beans. As my son had instructed, I boiled them for a few mintues, drained them and sprinkled them with coarse salt. I wasn’t impressed.

During the years since that first introduction to edamame, my son occasionally referred to the edamame he’d make for a quick, healthful snack. I couldn’t understand the appeal. Until I ordered edamame at a restaurant. A few weeks ago when I was in Minneapolis, I stopped at Chino Latino. It was my first visit to this hopping Minneapolis restaurant near Hennepin and Lake. Wok-Fried Spicy Edamame was one of the menu selections. I had to try it.

Oh, they were spicy all right. And they were served still in the pod. The server must have read the expression on my face when she placed the heaping edamame platter on the table in front of me. Acting as if she had to explain to all her customers about the eating part of edamame, she kindly told me how to do this. Slide the fuzzy pod that looks like a large sugar snap pea into your mouth and use your teeth to hold the beans as you pull the pod out between your lips, catching the slightly crunchy beans in your mouth. It worked. The edamame were hot and spicy and so delicious. I felt as if I was eating popcorn, quickly placing one pod after another through my lips, pulling them out, depositing the nutty beans into my mouth, leaving a big  pile of empty pods behind. They were not only tasty, they were fun to eat. No wonder edamame is quickly becoming popular in restaurants and bars and home kitchens. It’s a hot and healthful food choice these days.

I realize now why my son likes them so much. He used the edamame in the pods. I was buying the wrong kind when I picked them from the freezer case at the store.

I made some spicy edamame a few days after I got home from my trip to the Twin Cities. I’m hooked on this healthful snack filled with vitamins and minerals. Edamame is a good source of protein and fiber, too.

After doing some research, I discovered the shelled edamame is often cooked and tossed into salads, pasta, soups and stews.

Spaghetti with Green Sauce and Edamame is a meatless main dish. In the time it takes to cook a box of spaghetti, you can make the sauce and cook the edamame. It’s a quick, healthful meal.

So, now I know — shelled edamame for soups, salads, pasta, stews, dips and whole pod edamame for appetizers and snacks. And, don’t eat the pods.

I’ve got it down. I can cook them. I know how to eat them. And I’ve got edamame in the freezer.

If you’d like to read about the hot and spicy edamame appetizer I made, go to my column this week. Click here.

Spaghetti with Green Sauce and Edamame

  • 3 chubby cloves garlic, peeled
  • 1 bunch of parsley, leaves only
  • 1 handful of fresh chives
  • Juice from 1/2 of a lemon
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 heaping cup frozen shelled edamame
  • 1 (14.5-ounce) box spaghetti, uncooked
  • Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  • Black pepper to taste

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Stir in edamame and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, according to package directions. Drain edamame and rinse with cold water. Set aside.

Cook spaghetti in a large pot of boiling water, just to al dente, or firm to the bite. Scoop some of the cooking water into a glass measuring cup, saving about 1 cup of the water. Drain cooked spaghetti and leave in colander while making Green Sauce.

Place garlic in a blender or food processor. Run machine to chop garlic. Add parsley, chives and lemon juice and process. If ingredients are sticking to the sides of the blender, pour in a tablespoon or two of the saved hot cooking water from the spaghetti pot. Run the blender until all of the ingredients are minced and mixed together. With the blender running, drizzle in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil.

Place cooked spaghetti and edamame in a pasta bowl. Add green sauce and toss all together until pasta is coated with sauce. Add a little more pasta water for more moisture, if needed. Sprinkle all with grated Parmesan and freshly ground black pepper. Serve immediately.

 

Chicken a la what?

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After cooking up a bunch of boneless and skinless chicken thighs the other day, I decided to turn some of them into chicken a al king. I don’t know what made me think of this dish from the past — white sauce with chicken and vegetables stirred into it. For one thing, I’ve never really cared much for it. It brings back bad memories of creamed chipped beef and canned peas that my mom used to make when I was a child. She’d serve it over toast. The peas were mushy, the toast was soggy and the chipped beef was — well — chipped beef. I did not like it. Not one bit.

So, why would chicken a la king even drift through my mind? I used to make it every once in a while, but that was years ago. When I mentioned chicken a la king to my husband the other day, he said it had been so long since he’d even heard of it that he’d forgotten all about the creamy gravy-like dish.

I dug out my old recipe and gave it another try. I have to say that on a cool autumn evening, the dish was very satisfying. And quite tasty. I made toast cups to serve with the a la king. I didn’t have one, (remember, I don’t care for soggy toast) but my husband was raving about what a great match the crunchy toast cups and the hot, creamy chicken a la king were.

This chicken creation could easily be served over waffles, biscuits, rice or egg noodles. I’d like it over mashed potatoes.

The cooked marinated chicken thighs I had chopped up were full of delicious flavor that kicked up this chicken a la king. I rarely use canned soups when I’m cooking, but this recipe from years ago called for a can of cream of chicken soup. It adds a creamy richness to the white sauce. I happened to have a jar of Peppadew peppers in the refrigerator, so I chopped some up and stirred them into the sauce. They have a unique mild, yet sweet and spicy flavor and add a nice burst of color to the dish. Chopped pimentoes would also work well. Most recipes for chicken a la king include mushrooms in the ingredient list. I leave them out.

Chicken A La King. It’s a blast from the past. But, when you’ve got some cooked chicken on hand, it takes no time to prepare. It’s budget-friendly. It’s just the kind of dish we are looking for right now.

Chicken A La King

  • 1/2 cup chopped onion
  • 1/2 cup chopped celery
  • 1/2 cup chopped carrot
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cups milk
  • 1 (10 3/4-ounce) cream of chicken soup
  • 2 to 4 cups cut up cooked chicken (I use Now and Again Chicken Thighs, which you’ll find in my column this week)
  • 1/2 cup chopped Peppadew Peppers
  • 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf Italian parsley

 

Put chopped onion, celery, carrot, bay leaf and garlic in a saucepan. Add broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover pot, and simmer until vegetables are tender. Set aside.

Melt butter over medium heat in a Dutch-oven. Add flour and whisk until smooth. Cook and stir for a few minutes. Remove from heat. Add milk. Stir constantly until mixture comes to a boil. Add cooked vegetables and their liquid (remove bay leaf first). Stir to mix. Stir in cream of chicken soup, blending well. Add chicken, peppadew peppers and parsley. Mix well and heat thoroughly. Serve piping hot in toast cups.

 Toast Cups

Heat oven to 400 degrees. For each toast cup, flatten a slice of sandwich bread with a rolling pin. Use a sharp knive to make 1-inch lengthwise cuts into each corner of bread slice. Brush both sides of bread slice lightly with melted butter. Gently press each flattened bread slice into cups of ungreased muffin pan, overlapping crust to form cups. Bake in preheated 400-degree oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

 

Back to the ’60′s hotdish: Is that really you, Hot John?

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My husband watched as I placed a very hot casserole dish on the dinner table. As the aroma of melted cheese, pasta, ground meat and tomatoes drifted up to his nose, he said, "Smells just like a hotdish from the ’60′s." That’s a good thing — for him, anyway. In Minnesota and North Dakota, where we’ve spent most of our lives, a "hotdish" is an easy- and quick-to-prepare mixture of a protein, usually meat, a starch, most often noodles or potatoes and almost always some kind of canned soup that serves to hold the mixture together. More often than not, there is some kind of cheese involved, too. And seasonings? Nothing fancy. Just salt and pepper. It all gets scraped into a casserole dish and baked in the oven. Voila! It’s a meal. A meal that Dennis actually looks forward to eating. When we were young newlyweds on a tight budget, we ate lots of hotdish. Stretch a pound of ground beef with a pound of cooked noodles and that meal could be eaten for a couple of days, at least. All I had to do was bake a loaf of frozen bread dough to serve with the hotdish, and he was happy.

Because a hotdish can be prepared ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator until it’s time to bake, it becomes a convenient dish to bring to potluck dinners. Hotdish often shows up on buffet tables at funerals. When I was growing up, hotdish would occasionally show up on the dinner table. My dad wasn’t a hotdish fan, so my mom had to be a little careful about how often she placed one of these creations in front of him.

Hot John was a recipe my mom got from our next-door neighbor, Dot. I never did figure out how it got that name. Ground beef, spaghetti, onion, green pepper, a little bacon, a can of tomato soup and a handful of grated cheese. Hot John??

I recreated that old recipe, eliminating the tomato soup. I had to add some minced garlic. And, I must confess, I sprinkled the baked pasta dish with red pepper flakes at the table. One would never mix something hot or spicy into a hotdish! And one more little secret? I used ground bison rather than ground beef. Over all, I’d say this hotdish makeover produced a more healthful meal than the original recipe. It tasted pretty good, too. Just like the one from the 1960′s — family friendly, no stand-out flavors, lots of noodles.

I’d suggest using the recipe as a foundation for building your own hotdish. Add whatever vegetables you have in your refrigerator. I had pieces of green pepper, sweet red pepper and jalapeno (are you kidding me? Jalapeno in hotdish? No way!) in my refrigerator, so I chopped them all up along with grilled onion slices from another day. Bacon adds some nice flavor to the pretty bland concoction. I was tempted to add some pizza sauce that I had in the refrigerator, but I decided against it. It just wouldn’t have tasted like the Hot John of my childhood. I was already pushing it a bit by adding garlic! And noodles? The recipe calls for spaghetti. Dot and my mom would think I really stepped out of the hotdish box by using trumpet-shaped pasta, instead.

Give it a try. It can be a very economical meal. And if you remember the 1960′s, it will take you back there.

Yes, this really is Hot John — just spiffed up a little bit.

Hot John

  • 1 pound pasta (I used trumpets)
  • 4 slices bacon
  • 1 cup chopped onion
  • 1 green pepper, chopped (I used a combination of green, red and jalapeno)
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 pound ground beef (I used Bison)
  • 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes (I whirled them in the blender for a few seconds)
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste (It’s handy to have a tube of tomato paste in the refrigerator, to use as needed. I find the Amore brand in my local grocery store.)
  • 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (my own addition)
  • Salt and pepper to taste (and any other seasonings you dare to add)
  • Grated cheese for topping the hotdish (I used Mozzarella)

Cook pasta in a large pot, following direction on package. Cook al dente, so that the pasta is just a little bit chewy.

In a large skillet, fry bacon. Transfer to paper towel-lined plate to drain.

Saute onions and peppers in hot bacon grease until tender. Add garlic and saute for another mintue or two. Add ground meat. Cook and stir until brown and cooked through. Add tomato paste and tomatoes. (And if you’ve got some pizza sauce on hand, pour it in.) Mix. Add drained pasta to meat mixture. Stir to coat the pasta. Add grated Parmesan and gently mix so that the cheese melts.

Transfer pasta mixture to a lightly oiled casserole dish. Cover and bake in preheated 350-degree oven for 30 minutes. Remove cover. Top with grated cheese of choice. Bake 15 to 30 minutes, until hot.

  • If you refrigerate the Hot John before baking, add 10 to 15 minutes to the baking time.