Meatless Mondays: Green Curry with Bok Choy

This past week, I prepared yet another "first" in the kitchen. I cooked tofu, something I'd never done before. In fact, I've only eaten tofu about three times total; this Green Curry with Bok Choy was the third. It's definitely not as scary as I thought it would be; in fact, it's actually pretty pleasant! It's especially good in dishes like this curry, since it just assumes the flavor of whatever it is in. This curry is packed with great, exotic flavor.

The "green" parts of this curry are plentiful. There's fresh broccoli and bok choy in this recipe, along with a heaping helping of fresh cilantro and a couple of serrano peppers. The cilantro and peppers are added to a few other ingredients and processed until they form a smooth paste. This paste becomes the base for the sauce of the dish. More green components, such as Kaffir lime leaves, basil, and mint are added as aromatics, making the dish smell heavenly and taste just as great. I wish that I had Kaffir lime at the time that I made this; I can see how it would have enhanced the dish so much more. It was still wonderful, but the lime leaves would probably have taken it over the top.

The tofu is cut into cubes and added to the sauce to simmer. A can of coconut milk (light, since this is a Cooking Light dish), fresh lime juice, soy sauce, sugar, and sesame oil round out the sauce, and after a brief thickening period, the pre-cooked veggies are thrown in to warm through. The curry is served on top of rice, and garnished with the basil and mint. I loved the ease of preparation here; the whole thing maybe took me half an hour. I couldn't tell you for sure, since I made this in different steps throughout the day, but each step was quick and simple. The dish tasted fresh, flavorful, slightly spicy, and just interesting enough to be deemed fancy. We really loved it. It just goes to show you that a fast dinner with a global flair really can be thrown together in the comfort of your own home!

Green Curry with Bok Choy
adapted from Cooking Light
makes 4 servings

Ingredients
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 Tbsp. chopped, peeled fresh ginger
2 tsp. ground coriander
2 tsp. ground cumin
8 garlic cloves, peeled
3 small serrano chiles, stemmed and seeded
2 large shallots, coarsely chopped (I used 1/2 an onion)
4 cups coarsely chopped broccoli florets (about 1 head)
2 cups (1/2-inch-thick) slices baby bok choy
2 tsp. dark sesame oil
4 tsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. lower-sodium soy sauce
3/4 tsp. kosher salt
3 Kaffir lime leaves (I omitted)
1 (13.5-ounce) can light coconut milk
1 (14-ounce) package water-packed organic firm tofu, drained and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2 cups hot, cooked, long-grain white rice (I used brown jasmine rice)
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh mint (I omitted)

Directions
1. Combine the first 7 ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth. Set aside.

2. Cook broccoli florets in boiling water in a Dutch oven for 3 minutes, or until crisp-tender. Remove broccoli from water with a slotted spoon; drain and rinse with cold water. Return water to a boil. Add baby bok choy to Dutch oven; cook 1 minute. Drain and rinse with cold water; set aside.

3. Drain water from Dutch oven and heat over medium-high heat. Add sesame oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add cilantro mixture to pan; saute 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add sugar and next 4 ingredients (through coconut milk) to pan; bring to a boil. Add tofu; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 6 minutes or until slightly thick. Add broccoli, bok choy, and juice; cook 1 minute or until heated through, tossing to combine. Discard lime leaves (if using). Place 1/2 cup rice in each of four bowls; spoon 1 1/2 cups tofu mixture over each serving. Sprinkle 1 Tbsp. basil and 1 1/2 tsp. mint over each serving.

Sloppy Bombay Joes

Being the Food Network-aholic that I am, I was following this past season of The Next Food Network Star. It's your garden variety reality competition series, in which foodie finalists compete to win the grand prize of their very own cooking show. Said show is then aired on weekend mornings on the channel, and if their first, six-episode season turns out to be a success, then the winner continues their cooking show. It's a pretty cool concept, and I've enjoyed watching for 3 or 4 seasons now. I can't say, though, that I have ever been as excited to make the winner's food as I was to make Aarti's food.



Food blogger Aarti Sequeira took home the title this year, and her cooking show, Aarti Party, began two Sundays ago. In her show, she tries to take the mystery and challenge of cooking Indian food, and turn it into something accessible for the home viewer. She likes to put an Indian spin on ordinary American dishes, thus showing the home cook how to utilize Indian techniques and spices to turn the familiar into the exotic. It sounded like a great way to branch out and try new things. Plus, I thought Aarti was great when I watched her all season long. She has a very calm, soothing presence on camera, and she definitely seems knowledgeable and creative in her cooking.



The first main dish she made on her new show was this: Sloppy Bombay Joes. She turns the average, everyday sloppy joe into international cuisine by transforming the messy, tomato-ey sauce we're used to in this dish into an Indian-style sauce. I was intrigued, and the food looked delicious on the show.

As it turns out, I loved these sloppy joes! The flavors were at once familiar and unknown, as the Indian spices mingled with the traditional tomato sauce and the meat and veggies. Her addition of raisins and pistachios was, I thought, inspired. The idea of extra textures in my sloppy joe was a welcome one; it made the meat mixture more interesting and much more flavorful. I didn't know how I'd feel about all these components working together, but it was fantastic.

If I had any gripes about this dish, they'd be very trivial. I felt like the slop was almost too sloppy, if that's possible. I mean, just by looking at this recipe's title, you'd think I'd be prepared for a mess. But I think I made my sauce a tad too runny. I'm sure I could have simmered everything longer and thickened it up a bit more, but I guess I was just eager to eat! I just served the meat mixture up with a slotted spoon to drain some of the excess liquid, and it was fine. My buns began to fall apart while being eaten, but I can imagine that the joes could be served up in pita bread or even tortillas, and still taste great.

Now that I've tasted her food, I can't wait to see what else Aarti's got in store for us. I'm sure this was just the first of many of her creations that I'll be trying out!

Sloppy Bombay Joes

adapted from Aarti Sequeira's recipe, found on Food Network.com
makes 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients
For the sauce:
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 Tbsp. fresh ginger, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 serrano chile, seeded and finely minced (save the other half for the turkey)
1 tsp. garam masala
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 cup water

For the turkey:
3 to 4 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1/4 cup shelled pistachios (about a small handful)
1/4 cup raisins (about a small handful)
1 tsp. cumin seeds (I had to use ground cumin; I had no seeds)
1/2 white onion, finely diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and finely diced
1/2 serrano chile, seeds intact (not chopped)
Kosher salt
1 lb. ground turkey
1/2 tsp. honey
1/4 cup half-and-half (I used 1% milk)
Small handful cilantro, chopped (soft stems included)
4 to 6 hamburger buns

Directions
1. Begin by making the sauce: Warm the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, until it shimmers. Add the ginger, garlic, and serrano pepper. Saute until the ginger and garlic brown a little. Add the garam masala and paprika and saute for 30 seconds. Stir in the tomato sauce and water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, until thickened, about 15 minutes.

2. Begin the turkey: In a large skillet, warm 2 Tbsp. of oil. When shimmering, add the pistachios and raisins. Cook until the raisins swell up and the pistachios toast slightly. Remove from the pan and set aside.

3. Return the pan to medium heat, add 1 to 2 more Tbsp. of oil, and warm until shimmering. Add the cumin seeds and allow them to sizzle for about 10 seconds, or until some of the sizzling subsides. Stir in the onions and bell pepper; saute until softened (since I had ground cumin, I just threw the cumin in with the onions and peppers). Add the serrano pepper. Saute for another couple of minutes, seasoning with the salt. Stir in the turkey, breaking up the big lumps. Cook until opaque, about 5 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, your sauce should be ready. Pour the sauce into the skillet with the turkey. Stir and bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer until the mixture has thickened slightly, about 10 minutes.

5. Once the turkey has cooked and the sauce has thickened a little, remove the serrano pepper. Add the honey, half-and-half, pistachios, and raisins. Stir through and taste for seasoning. Before serving, garnish with fresh cilantro (I stirred my cilantro in at the end).

6. Toast the buns, fill with the turkey mixture, and serve. Eat (with your hands!) and enjoy!

Homemade Taco Shell Salad

This is one of those meals that was extra fun to make because I took several ideas from different places and kinda smushed them all together into one thing. The idea for a nice salad served in a cute little taco shell cup originally came about when I was thumbing through my latest issue of Cooking Light and saw a recipe for a shrimp salad. I had chicken to use up, so I decided to go with that instead. The recipe also used premade taco salad bowls, but I thought it might be fun to make my own. How hard could it be, I figured? Plus, I had just bought myself some ramekins, and I wanted to break them in. Sure, it would have been nice to break them in by actually baking a little cake or souffle in them, but this would do!

More on making the actual taco bowls later, though. For my salad, I just used what I had on hand (as usual). I tossed together some romaine lettuce, fresh radishes, and red onion. In the same issue of Cooking Light that I had found the taco salad in (the August issue), there was an advertisement for Kashi and they had a couple recipes in the ad. The chicken recipe they had listed really caught my eye, so I decided to use their ideas for a chicken marinade and a vinaigrette.

I sliced up my chicken into long strips, then marinated them for 30 minutes in a mixture of lime juice, cilantro, garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Once they were done marinating, I cooked them on my indoor grill pan for roughly 5 minutes per side, until cooked through. While that was cooking, I made the vinaigrette.

Oh, this vinaigrette. It was so easy, so fresh, and yet it just created so much flavor. We thought it was amazing. I had to alter it slightly; it's not exactly the original version. That is mostly because the original is a poblano spinach vinaigrette, and I had no poblanos! I did, however, have serrano peppers, so I used them instead. It made the dressing spicy, but that was fine with us. If you read this blog somewhat occasionally, you've probably caught on by now that we love our spicy food!

Now, for the taco bowls. I admit I was sort of winging it, and I didn't really figure out how to do it properly until I had already made most of them. I'll tell you what I did, both right and wrong, so hopefully you won't make the same mistakes if you ever try this!

With the help of my 4 year-old son, I would take a flour tortilla, squish it down into a ceramic ramekin, and then spray it with nonstick cooking spray. A little sprinkle of salt and pepper, and they were ready for the oven (the above picture shows this method). I baked them at 350 degrees for around 12 minutes.

Well, this did work...sorta. What happened was this: at 12 minutes, the tops of the shells were crisp and slightly browned. The insides, however, were still very soft. This may have to do with the fact that my son really sprayed these a lot, so they may have been too wet. The other issue these had was that they were a little too scrunched up, so they were pretty hard to fill up with the salad. Oops.

Then I tried them a different way, and it worked much better! I flipped the ramekins over, so they bottoms were facing up. I sprayed the ramekins with cooking spray, as well as the flour tortillas. Then, I molded the tortillas to the ramekins, and they adhered pretty well because of the spray. While they baked, they maintained that nice shape, and once they were finished they were crispy throughout (though maybe they could have used an extra 4-5 minutes in the oven this way). The finished product picture below shows the bowls made the second (and much smarter!) way.

This was a fun experiment, and the meal turned out scrumptious. The salad was light and yummy, the vinaigrette was a welcome pop of flavor, and topping everything off with a dollop of sour cream and a dash of fresh salsa never hurt anything! It was a blast to eat, and I'm always grateful when I can make something that my picky son can enjoy!

The original inspiration for the taco bowl salad (titled Chipotle-Rubbed Shrimp Taco Salad) can be found here. You can find the full recipe for the Cilantro Lime Chicken on Kashi's website, here. I've included it below, since I did change it slightly.

Grilled Cilantro Lime Chicken Taco Salad
adapted from Chef Keith Snow's recipe for Kashi and from Cooking Light
makes about 4 servings

Ingredients
For the chicken:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced thin
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 lime, juiced and zested
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
pinch black pepper

For the vinaigrette:
2 serrano peppers, roasted and skin removed
1 cup fresh spinach, steamed for 2 minutes and squeezed to remove excess liquid
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 of a red onion, minced
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, minced
4 Tbsp. fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)
1 heaping Tbsp. Dijon mustard
3-4 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup chicken broth
pinch kosher salt
pinch black pepper

For the salad:
1 head romaine lettuce, torn into pieces
1 bunch radishes, thinly sliced
1 red onion, thinly sliced
4 flour tortillas
nonstick cooking spray
salt and pepper, to taste
salsa, for garnish
sour cream, for garnish

Directions
Assemble the marinade: 1. Whisk together the olive oil, lime juice and zest, garlic, cilantro, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Combine marinade with the chicken in a shallow dish or sealable ziploc bag, coating chicken thoroughly. Allow to marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Make the vinaigrette: 1. Combine all ingredients in a blender (I used my immersion blender) and puree until smooth. Keep at room temperature until ready to use. The leftover dressing can be refrigerated (and is great on just about anything).

Make the taco bowls: 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Turn 4 ramekins or heatproof bowls over so the bottoms face up, and place them on a baking sheet. Spray each with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Take each of your 4 tortillas and, one at a time, arrange them on a ramekin or bowl so that they are draped over them. Spray the tops of the tortillas with cooking spray and sprinkle each with salt and pepper. Bake for 12-17 minutres, until crispy and lightly browned all over.

Assemble the salad: 1. Preheat a grill or indoor grill pan to medium-high. Spray with cooking spray. Cook the chicken strips for approximately 5 minutes per side. Remove to a plate.
2. Meanwhile, toss together the romaine lettuce, radishes, and red onion. Divide the salad among the taco bowls, add some chicken strips to each, and drizzle with as much vinaigrette as desired. Garnish salads with sour cream and salsa, and serve.

Bucatini with Jalapeno Pesto

I know I just posted about another pesto recipe last week, but this is one is so completely different that I thought it'd be okay to post about it today. This one is not made with basil, pine nuts, or even any cheese like the last one was. It isn't like any other pesto I've ever had. No, sir, this one uses green bell, jalapeno, and serrano peppers as its base!

As soon as I read over the ingredients list for this one, I thought it just sounded too crazy to work. However, that usually just makes me want to make something even more, because I just have to see for myself if it's going to be successful. So I decided to go for it.

You start out by toasting some pumpkin seeds in the oven. When they come out, in go some bell peppers and jalapeno peppers to roast. I used a combination of jalapeno and serrano as well as the bell, because that's what I needed to use up. Once the peppers are cool, and the skin is removed, you throw them in the food processor with the cooled pumpkin seeds, some cilantro, and some garlic, and coarsely chop. Stream in some olive oil and some lime juice, add salt and pepper to taste, and that's all it takes to produce a wildly flavorful, tangy, nutty, and very spicy concoction that tastes unbelievable on pasta.

The recipe I used (which I found on the site which used to be Recipezaar, but they've now switched it over to Food.com) added some halved cherry tomatoes in with the pasta and the pesto. Since I've discovered that I really love roasted, burst tomatoes, I went with that method for mine, and it was delicious. I'm sure any number of other veggies would be great in this, all tossed together with the pasta. I can see zucchini being delicious in there, asparagus, even peas. The possibilities are many for things to pair with this pesto!

Be prepared for the heat, though. This pesto is kinda killer! Granted, you can easily adjust the heat level to your liking by altering the combination of peppers you use. I love having that versatility with a recipe. I'm sure this would even work with just red and green bell peppers, and no hot peppers. However, for my tastes, I loved this just the way it was!

Pasta with Jalapeno Pesto

adapted from Recipezaar (now Food.com), recipe #13141

makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients

5 Tbsp. shelled pumpkin seeds

2 green bell peppers

1 jalapeno pepper

2 serrano peppers

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

3 cloves garlic

1/4 cup olive oil

2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice, plus the zest of half a lime

1/2 tsp. salt

freshly ground black pepper

1 lb. bucatini pasta (the thick spaghetti with a tiny hole down the center)

1 1/2 cups halved cherry tomatoes (roasted or not, it's up to you)

1/2 lime, cut into wedges

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Toast the pumpkin seeds in a single layer on a baking sheet for 6-8 minutes, until fragrant and crunchy. Crank up the oven temperature to 450 degrees F.

2. Place all the peppers on a baking sheet, and roast them for 20 minutes or so, turning frequently. The smaller hot peppers take only about 10-15 minutes.

3. When the skin of the peppers has blistered, remove them from the oven. Let them cool a bit (I placed mine in a glass bowl covered in saran wrap to let them sweat a bit), then pull the skin away from the flesh. Discard the skin.

4. Place the peppers in a food processor, along with 4 Tbsp. of the reserved pumpkin seeds, the cilantro, and the garlic. Blend until the contents are coarsely chopped. With the machine running, slowly stream in the oil and lime juice. Blend in salt and pepper to taste.

5. While the peppers are roasting, you can start the pasta. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain the pasta, then return it to the pot. Add the tomatoes and the pesto, and stir well to combine everything. (If you decide to go with burst cherry tomatoes, you can throw them in the oven on a separate baking sheet while the peppers roast. Simply coat them with a bit of olive oil, some salt and pepper, and let them cook for 10-15 minutes, until shriveled and bursting.)

6. Divide the pasta among shallow bowls, then sprinkle the reserved 1 Tbsp. pumpkin seeds and half the zest of a lime over each serving. Serve with lime wedges on the side.