Experiments in Asian Cuisine: Singapore Noodles with Shrimp

Both Marshall and I adore Asian cuisine.  We have become lovers of Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Thai food; always looking for that amazing hole-in-the-wall local place where the food is delicious and authentic.  I know I'm always on the look-out for amazing ramen (if you've got suggestions, let me know!).  The problem is, while I can easily cool in the Western-European style, I am a complete klutz when it comes to Asian-style cooking.  I honestly would LOVE to find an Asian cooking class and take it at some point in my life.  I know that a white girl like me could never really master the true art of Asian-style cooking, but I would really like to get close.  There's a philosophy and a method to Asian cooking that I just can't seem to grasp.  I loved having an Italian grandma, but if only I could've had a Chinese grandma, too!  There's this balance of fast cooking and big flavors (without being TOO big) which I fumble all the time.  Hell, I can barely steam rice!  One of our wedding registry gifts was a wok.  My sister gave it to me for my birthday before the wedding and, while I was looking forward to receiving this gift like nobody's business, I was also highly intimidated.  My sister also got me this beautiful Asian cookbook from William and Sonoma with amazing recipes from all over the Asian continent and sub-continent.  So far, Marshall and I have experimented with the noodle recipes, which have so far yielded acceptable-to-good results.  This particular recipe, though, came from the all-wonderful-and-amazing America's Test Kitchen: Cooking for Two 2010 from last year.

I know Marshall is always up for cooking Asian-style foods, even if he isn't always up for going out for Asian-style food (still haven't figure out how that works...), so I decided to give this recipe for Singapore Noodles with Shrimp a shot.  Since we live in such a culturally diverse area, we have access to many Asian markets and we can usually find the new or sometimes "odd" ingredients listed in some recipes.  Luckily, all the ingredients listed for this recipe can easily be found at your local Safeway in the "Asian aisle".  You could also find them at other more special stores like Whole Foods.  All in all, this turned out to be a successful dish and I didn't fumble it too much while cooking.  Since stir-frying is a very fast-paced method of cooking, it's is invaluable to have all your ingredients prepped (chopped, sliced, measured, etc.) before heating up the wok or pan.  This prep stage can be time-consuming, but it is definitely worth it.  This is one of the many reasons why I absolutely love my set of mise en place bowls from William and Sonoma.  They are a godsend when it comes to cooking this way!

No grill? No worry!: Steak Tacos with Sweet and Spicy Pickled Onions

A good portion of our last summer was spent discovering and perfecting the Mexican street taco.  We made batch after batch of carnitas and carne asada with various toppings, kept simple to be authentic, and hit our stride after a while.  Marshall's birthday last year even had a taco theme.  We had a huge BBQ at my parent's house and backyard with close to 30 people and Marshall and I cooked up chicken, carnitas, carne asada, and marinated portobello mushrooms.  I threw together homemade guacamole, pico de gallo, and salsa verde, as well as the below-mentioned pickled onions.  Lime wedges and warm Trader Joe's homemade corn tortillas were provided and we flew through all our food.  Everyone enjoyed our tacos and Marshall was delightfully pleased with his grilling and cooking skills.  Since I'm usually the one to cook for our parties, it was great to hand over the responsibilities to Marshall for his birthday. 

After my previous post (in addition to the above paragraph) talking about how great it is to grill, it seems rather scandalous that I would follow up with a recipe for steak tacos without using a grill.  But I am.  The thing is, these steak tacos are awesome.  They're not carne asada (only modeled after), but they do taste authentic and entirely delicious.  They're also very easy to make AND, like I said earlier, they don't need a grill.  You actually don't miss the lovely grill flavor, since the steak is so incredibly tasty and succulent.  This was also a wonderful way to make really great steak tacos when it's too cold to grill or when you don't have a grill at all.  You don't need an indoor grill (like a George Foreman), either, which is great.  These are perfect apartment tacos-you can ferret away for an evening to the dusty streets of Mexico City and sink your teeth into these incredibly tender and tasty tacos!

Oh, and did I mention the recipe is built for 2 people?  That's right.  I found this awesome recipe in America's Test Kitchen's Cooking for Two 2010 collection.  You can, of course, increase this recipe as needed, but it's great for being on your own or sharing with the one you love, like, or just live with.  :)

Best Salad Ever: Bacon, Lettuce, and Cherry Tomato Salad with Aioli Dressing

Everyone knows that bacon makes everything better; I think it's common knowledge by now.  What I think is the epitome of food perfection is making a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich at the height of tomato season.  Soft sourdough surrounding crisp clean leaves of lettuce, sweet juice tomato, with crunchy and salty bits of bacon, all blanketed with creaming mayonnaise.  I don't know what else is better than that.  Oh wait, I do - this salad I found in last July's Bon Appetit!

You can almost forgive the absence of sourdough bread in this salad, although you can do what we did and toast some yummy ciabatta bread brushed with olive oil and scraped with garlic.  This salad is light and refreshing.  The presence of the crispy bacon standing out prominently from the crisp Romaine lettuce and sweet, juicy cherry tomatoes.  What is great is that the aioli dressing on this salad is not over-powering and it doesn't drench the salad at all.  There is just enough dressing to add enough flavor and creaminess to make you reminisce about the equally delicious sandwich variation. 

While you can certainly make this salad all-year-round, you'll miss out on how sweet and tangy cherry tomatoes can be in their height of their respective season.  Living in California, though, we are spoiled and can find rather tasty cherry tomatoes (and other small tomato varieties) even in the dead of winter.

This is a hefty enough salad to stand as a main dish, although can easily  be a side dish.  However, I wouldn't want this as a side dish as I would find myself eating more of this salad than anything else on my plate!