Faux...Vietnamese style noodles...quick recipe

Ok, so I know it's PHO, but this was my imitation recipe because I did not have the proper ingredients to make authentic soup base.

Faux Pho

Pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup. It is usally served with beef(pho bo), or chicken (pho ga). Rice vermicelli noodles are used, and is often served with basil, lime, bean sprouts, onions, and peppers.

The soup base is usually made by simmering beef (oxtail, and other parts) or sometimes chicken bones as well. Other thins added are onion, cinnamon, star anise, ginger, black cardamom, coriander seed, fennel seed, and clove. However I did not have some of these ingredients, nor did I want to spend hours simmering stock.

So here's what I used for this recipe:

For Soup base
2 cups water
2 cups low sodium Beef Broth
2 tbsp Soy Sauce
1 tbsp BBQ sauce(...yes bbq sauce!)
1 tbsp Rice Wine Vinegar
1 tbsp Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Thyme
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
2 large pieces of sliced Ginger
2 Garlic cloves diced
1 Large Onion chopped

Fry yo rice yo!

Sexy Shrimp Fried Rice

Here's a yummy shot with my new free camera (Sony Cybershot DSC TX9) which I received from Air Miles rewards. Yea free stuff! Just testing out the quality on my lunch today.

Sony Cybershot DSC TX9

Enjoy, and rock on!

Sam

Chinese claypot rice...without the claypot

Chinese pot rice is yummy! It's a popular dish in asian cuisine. You can put in any ingredients you want. Some staples in pot rice are chicken, pork, cha-siu, black bean, bok choy...the list goes on. You can essentially add anything you like. It is usually cooked in a clay or ceramic pot. I didn't have one handy, so just used a stainless steel pot. It still worked.

Potato Pork Pot Rice

Here's what you'll need for 1 large serving:

Ingredients:

2  cups long grain white Rice
3-4  cups of liquid (water/broth) (depending on how much rice you use)
1/2  pound of lean Pork (slice into 2 inch cubes)
1/2  cup Shiitake Mushrooms (slice into 1/2 inch strips)
1  Carrot (chopped into 1/2 inch slices)
1  cup small Red Potatoes (chopped into approximately 2 inch size)
2  large Scallions (chopped)
2  Garlic Cloves (minced)
Ginger (minced and optional)
2  tbsp Olive Oil (to fry pork)
1  tbsp Canola Oil (to coat rice)
Salt and Pepper to taste

So I think I have a pasta fetish...

I was looking back at the more recent things I've been making, and I seem to have a pasta fetish. It's not a bad thing right? Here are some original pasta recipes I made.

Here's some pasta porn for you :) Enjoy!

Fusion Fettucini

Sweet BBQ Beef Penne

Earthy Tomato Thyme Spaghetti

Spicy Meatball Rotini

Seasame Chicken Udon - Keeping it simple

Udon noodles are one of my favorite types of noodles. They are a type of thick wheat-flour noodle popular in Japanese cuisine. The chewyness, and length of noodle...slurp*
Soo good, and so easy to prepare! It is very versatile; you can have it with a soup base,
or stir fried, hot, or cold.

I decided to keep this one simple, and just stir fry up some chicken in some sesame oil to go with it. I was craving something warm, so decided to keep it a soup-based udon.
I had some organic Miso paste in the fridge, which was perfect for this.

Miso Paste

Udon noodles


Here's what you'll need for 1 large bowl of goodness:

500g Udon noodles (that was 2 pre-packaged for me)
large bunch of Romaine Lettuce
2 large Spring onion (Scallion)
1 1/2 teaspoon Grapeseed oil
1 1/2 teaspoon Sesame Oil
1 teaspoon Soy Sauce
1 teaspoon Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Worchester Sauce
1/2 teasppon Rice Wine Vinegar
1 large chicken breast
1 cup Chicken Broth
1 1/2 tbsp organic miso
1 cup water
Salt and Pepper to taste

[Prepping Udon + lettuce]:
1) Boil pot of water
2) Once boiling add frozen noodles and lettuce (once water comes back to boil, leave for 1 minute then strain)
3) Set lettuce aside, then run cold water over strained noodles for 20 seconds.
3) Set aside

[Prepping Chicken]:
1) Salt and Pepper surface of chicken
2) Sear chicken in hot pan with grapeseed oil
3) Set aside

[Final Assembly]:
1) Bring cup of water and broth to boil
2) Mix in miso paste and scallion
3) Add salt or soy sauce to taste if necessary
4) Put noodles in serving dish, top with chicken and lettuce
5) Pour broth over noodles and serve
6) Rock on!

Good food takes your problems away!

Ok, no. Good food does not take your problems away. So I was having a pretty rough day yesterday; but, it's amazing how a little something like a good meal can put a smile on your face(even if it's just for that short amount of time).


Lunch is served.

Sesame Chicken Udon

[Recipe to follow...stay tuned]

Concert times - Joe Satriani

So last week I went to Joe Satriani's concert in Edmonton. I have never seen him live before. Last time he was in town, I didn't find out until after the concert (needless to say I was disappoint...very disappoint), so this time I was not going to miss out.

Joe with the band

Ticket prices weren't too bad for the venue, Jubliee Auditorium. Kinda cool seeing a rock concert in a hall that used to be home of the Edmonton symphony orchestra.

The opener was fellow Canadian, and also fellow parker player, Dave Martone. He's not the reason I picked up my Parker guitar, but it's cool to know someone as accomplished as him also using the same kinda gear!