Meatball stir-fry (with a picture!)

I promise, from now on we'll have pictures with the posts I write!  (More than this one, which is brought to you courtesy of Peter's sculpting skills and my remembering at the last minute that we need to take at least ONE picture of the food I make, not grasping that it would probably be useful to also show the finished product.  Whoops.)

After one month of not eating out AT ALL, Peter and I celebrated my getting a fantastic internship at a big non-profit in Chicago by going out for sushi last night.  As delightful and special as it was, we decided upon getting home that we really like just cooking at home on a regular basis and that blogging about what I cook is a big motivation for me to keep pushing myself in that area.  Yay for making adult decisions!
On that note, this week's recipe is something that I made up last Saturday, but is a variation on a stir-fry we usually make around once a week.

Meatball stir-fry with vinegary rice

For the rice:
2 cups water
1 cup white rice
1/4 cup either apple cider (my favorite) or rice (Peter's favorite) vinegar

For the meatballs:
1 lb. 96/4 lean hamburger meat (or 90/10, whatever you prefer)
1.5 tsp toasted or regular sesame seeds
1-2 tsp five spice powder
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp dried onion (or finely chopped fresh onion)
1 Tbsp chili paste such as sri racha,
1 egg

For the vegetable portion of the stir-fry
2/3 cup sliced button mushrooms
1/2 medium sized yellow onion, sliced into 1/4 inch strips
1/2 red bell pepper, halved widthwise and cut into 1/4 inch strips
1/2 cup broccoli florets
1 can sliced bamboo shoots
1 can sliced water chestnuts
2-3 Tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp garlic powder

Combine all the meatball ingredients in a bowl, and mix with your hands (sorry, but it's the most efficient way to do this).  Roll into 1-inch meatballs, and place in a 10-12 inch pan over medium heat.  Feel free to check them every couple of minutes and turn them as necessary to get them browned all over.  They're small, so they tend to cook rather quickly!
While those get going, start the rice.  Place the water in a medium-sized saucepan, cover, and bring to a boil over high heat.  Pour in the rice and vinegar, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until the rice is done.
When the meatballs are browned all over and seem reasonably cooked through, remove them to a paper towel-lined plate. Don't get rid of the juices in the pan though!  Add the mushrooms, onion and bell pepper to the pan, and increase heat to medium-high.   Sprinkle the veggies with a little garlic powder and the soy sauce.  When the onion is transluscent and the mushrooms have released their juice, add the broccoli, bamboo and water chestnuts.  Cover and simmer for about 2-3 minutes, and then uncover and add the meatballs back into the stir-fry, stirring gently to not break up the meatballs.  Add more soy sauce and garlic to taste, and serve the stir-fry over the rice.  Serves 4.

We both hope you all have a wonderful fourth of July, and I'll see you next week!  Stay cool!

Lazy gazpacho

So this week, I was very lazy on the food front.  Maybe lazy isn't the best word for it so much as "summery."  Enter the cliche about no one wanting to spend time over a hot stove in the summer--now that domesticity is a routine and significant part of my life, I totally get that now!  I DON'T, in fact, want to always come home and just stuff something comforting and rich in my face after a long day.  I can put thought and planning into what P and I eat, which is lovely, although I pump him for ideas once in awhile.  So when I whined to him on Monday that I didn't know what to cook and it was too hot to cook anything (hoping he would relent on our pact to not eat out for the month of June, damn him and his discipline), my crafty fiance suggested gazpacho.  To which I instantly turned up my nose.
See, for being a foodie, I have a weird relationship with fresh tomatoes.  Cook them in any fashion, and I'm fine.  I even like the taste!  It's more that I can't stand the goopy, seedy stuff on the inside of the tomato.  But I've always had gazpacho that was basically squeezed tomatoes and seemed to have no other spicing besides salt and pepper.  Hence my reticence at making it.  BUT once I looked at a couple recipes and realized that if I make it then I can control how it tastes and its consistency, I made the tastiest gazpacho (for my tastes, anyway) I've ever had.  The recipe that follows is REALLY loose, and you should really feel free to play with it as you want.  But here goes.

Lazy girl gazpacho
1 1/2 cups tomatoes (I used grape)
1 cup cucumber, roughly chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic
1/8-1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp cilantro
2 Tbsp lime juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Wash tomatoes, and place a small saucepan with 2 cups or so of water over high heat.   While water heats up, take a paring knife and lightly cut an x on the bottoms of the tomatoes; they don't have to be deep cuts, just through the skin.  Take a bowl, and fill it with ice and cold tap water. When the water reaches a boil, dump the tomatoes in for about 15-20 seconds.  Immediately take them out of the boiling water, and dump them into the ice bath until they're cool enough to handle; this should take 1-2 minutes.  Gently peel off the skins of the tomatoes, and pop them into your blender.  Add the other ingredients, and puree until smooth.  Taste, and adjust seasonings as needed.  Refrigerate until ready to serve, and enjoy!

Serves 2.

I really liked eating this with crusty bread and salad.  One possible variation is to peel the skin off the cucumber, it completely blends in but might give the soup a slightly different consistency.  Try it if you like, and let me know what you think.  Stay cool!

Tasty, tasty enchiladas

Yay I made something unusually tasty today! I was thinking of something semi-summery to make for dinner last night, and came up with chicken enchiladas. I realized, though, that I really didn't want to use canned enchilada sauce since it doesn't, um, have any flavor. So I made my own! And I had chicken on hand, and so made chicken enchiladas. Glory ensued.
The enchilada sauce is a recipe I (shamefully) took from Emeril Lagasse, damn him. Here we go:

Enchilada Sauce

3 Tbsp. vegetable (or olive, I used olive) oil
1 Tbsp. flour
1/4 cup chili powder
2 cups chicken stock
10 oz. tomato paste (or use 12 oz., and add a little extra stock)
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. salt

Heat oil in a medium saucepan, and add flour. Stir with a wooden spoon and cook for one minute, until there are no lumps of flour left. Then add the chili powder, and stir for 30 seconds. Add stock, paste, and the other spices; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for around 15 minutes. The sauce will be velvety and smooth. Taste, and adjust seasonings to your preferences. Enjoy! It's SO much better than the canned kind.

Chicken enchiladas

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 lb. boneless, skinless thin-sliced chicken breast, diced
1/2 medium or large green bell pepper, diced
1/2 large vidalia onion, diced
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cumin
1 cup frozen corn
1 Tbsp. cilantro
12 taco size corn tortillas
1 batch Enchilada sauce
1 cup shredded mild or sharp cheddar cheese
Nonstick cooking spray

Heat olive oil in a 12-inch pan over medium-high heat. Add chicken, onion and green pepper and add garlic, salt, and cumin. Saute until the chicken is cooked, then add the corn. Cook until corn is unfrozen and not watery anymore. Take off the heat, and stir in cilantro until thoroughly blended in mixture. Spray a 9x13in pan with cooking spray, and then ladle a cup of enchilada sauce into the bottom of the pan. Heat the 12 tortillas in the microwave for about 45 seconds, to make them more pliable. Turn on the broiler in your oven, and adjust the oven rack to second-highest position. To assemble the casserole, take one tortilla and fill with around 1/3 cup of filling. Roll up, and place, seam side down, in the pan. Repeat with the 11 other tortillas, filling the casserole as you go.
Top with the rest of the enchilada sauce, and spread evenly over the enchiladas. Top with cheese, and broil for 2-3 minutes, until cheese is melted and slightly browned. Enjoy!

Serves 4.

Enjoy! Peter and I loved this!