Curried Noodle Patties

Since Andrea and I are under the weather, we needed food that 1) did not require us going to the grocery store, 2) lifted our spirits, and 3) opened our nasal passages. Upon opening our pantry, I noticed we had oodles of noodles. Upon spying said noodles, a memory was triggered that I had recently purchased the ingredients for a curried noodle patty recipe I ran across on the very first food blog I read called 101cookbooks. Go the site right now. Even a person who does not have the slightest interest in cooking can be amazed by her ability to photograph food.

On a side note, I apologize for my horrible food photos. I need to grab the two photography textbooks I own and teach myself how to make my creations appear more visually pleasing on the site. Or, somehow, just somehow, try to convince Nebraska Photographer of the Year (2x) Matt Miller (see his site, link on the right) to teach me how to do it.

Back to the noodles. Since curry was a crucial ingredient in the recipe, we deemed it the perfect meal. Here are the ingredients:

1-2 teaspoons (red) Thai curry paste
4 eggs
6 ounces tofu, diced (roughly 2/3 cup)
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
6 green onions, chopped
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
4 cups noodles, cold (I used soba noodles.)
2 tablespoons sesame or olive oil
peanuts, green onions and cilantro for garnish

Smash and spread the curry paste around the bottom of a medium bowl. Add one of the eggs and stir until the curry paste is well incorporated. Whisk in the rest of the eggs. Stir in the tofu, cilantro, green onions, and salt. Add the noodles and mix by hand.

Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. I think sesame is the best. (Miller this is a good recipe for your cast iron.) Swirl 1/3 cup of the noodle mixture on the skillet and cook in batches for 3-5 minutes on each side, until golden. Be patient when frying. Make sure each side gets crusty brown. That will ensure the noodles inside will stay within the patty. Season with salt and garnish with a sprinkling of green onion, cilantro, and peanuts. (We did not have peanuts in the pantry. Andrea took them to work. Boo.)

I loved the outcome. Crispy on the outside, warm and tofu-y on the inside. Andrea thought they were good "good and Asian-y." Make sure to season them with salt after frying them. Next time I make them, I think I'm going to make a dipping sauce.

Southwestern Chicken Soup

I was going to make a batch of Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate Biscotti this weekend. I got the recipe from Leite's Culinaria. The recipe can be found in the book "Great Cookies" by Carole Walter (Clarkson Potter, 2003). Even though her cookbook title could use some re-tooling, I thought the recipe was worth attempting. After you bake the biscotti, you finish them off by dipping one of their tips in a chocolate glaze. [Insert Homer Simpson drooling sound here.] However, Friday afternoon I found out my parents were going to stay with us Saturday night, so I thought I would focus on Saturday night dinner. The dinner was inspired by the lunch I had at Stauffers Cafe & Pie Shoppe (5600 S. 48th St, Lincoln, NE). I woke up with a sore throat Saturday morning and so I ordered a healing bowl of their homemade chicken noodle soup. The soup was perfect. It was so perfect in fact that Andrea braved infection and ate some of mine. We left wanting more. I didn't have time to make chicken noodle soup from scratch that afternoon because we had other things to do, but I did have a recipe I've made before that would fit the bill. It was an easy recipe because you essentially chop everything up, throw it in a crockpot and let it simmer all afternoon. The recipe is courtesy of Natalie Haughton.

Southwestern Chicken Soup

2 (14.5 oz) cans chicken broth
1 (14.5 oz) can diced peeled tomatoes
1 (4 oz) can diced green chiles
1 (16 oz) package frozen corn kernels, partially thawed
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into thin strips
1/2 teaspoon garlic pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Seasoned Salt (I used Lawry's)

In a 5-quart electric slow cooker, mix together the broth, tomatoes with their liquid, green chiles, corn, red and green peppers, onion, chicken strips, and garlic pepper. Cover and cook on the high heat setting for 1 hour. Reduce the heat to the low setting and continue cooking 3 to 4 hours or until the chicken is cooked through and tender. Stir in the ground cumin and season with seasoned salt to taste. Serve immediately. (Bronson mod: I placed a bowl of chopped cilantro and a plate of lime wedges on the table and encouraged people to top off their soup with them prior to eating. I loves the cilantro.)

There was all this great fruit on sale at the grocery store. So, I got to practice my knife skills with citrus fruit, kiwi, and mangoes. Grapefruit supreme, anyone? All of this was prepared while listening to The Shanghai Restoration Project - Instrumentals. A good album to have on in the background. I tried pairing the soup with Hopluia. It was okay. Great beer, good soup. I didn't get any fireworks with the combination, however.

Welcome Back, Blogger.

It has been three months since my last post. Three months! I am a horrible blogger. No doubt about it. I suck. When my wife and I had a blog, I contributed about 25% of the time and that is even stretching it. I think it comes down to the fact that, while I have an opinion about things, I don't think they are important (or interesting) enough to share with others. As a result, I avoid blogging. (I also lack in comedic delivery. If you want funny. Check out my wife's blog. She's waaaaay funnier. )


I do like to write about food, however. My interest in food may keep my interest in blogging alive. I realized this when I sent an e-mail to two friends of mine about creating an e-venue to discuss our interest in cooking. I had them over to our house the previous weekend and we got to talking about the things we like too cook/bake. So, I sent them an e-mail. Here's what I wrote:

"I am proposing that we start an amateur food dialogue of sorts. All of us are interested in cooking in some way or the other, right? And, we cook/bake somewhat frequently. I am interested in what you do and when I find things food related, I want to share them with someone. And since, I am not good at blogging, I thought e-mail would be better. Since we have talked about food recently I have chosen you two as my partners in crime. With enough exchange, and perhaps more people, we might amass our own food knowledge base. I have a kagillion food blogs on my RSS reader and this recipe crossed my way. I might try it this weekend. I'll let you know how it goes. You two interested in sharing ideas?"

This led to a brief discussion about how busy life gets and how it makes us feel like we don't cook much. However, the both of them were interested. So, I sent out my first e-mail. I shared with them the list of food blogs I read. After writing and sending it, I thought to myself, "You could have easily posted this on your blog and avoid clogging up your friends' e-mail."

So, here I am.