Sriracha Sauce. Love it or loathe it? I am from the love it camp, although I do admit, not so much that I squirt/paste it onto everything I eat like some people do. I prefer to be a tad bit choosy about where I put it and this fried rice recipe is one of my favourite ways to use it.
I think you might have to be living under a rock not to know what Sriracha sauce is, but just in case you don't Sriracha sauce is a type of thick hot chili sauce, which is made from chili peppers, garlic, vinegar, sugar, salt . . . It originated in a city in Thailand called Siracha, which is where it gets its name.
We are so blessed to live in a world where things like this are readily available to us. Nothing like this was ever even in my imagination when I was a child. We ate pretty normal, extraordinarily ordinary simple food, which is what was available to us. I don't think I had even heard of Broccoli until I was a grown up and my first experience with it was in a Chinese restaurant. We just never had it at home.
Absolute truth, first experience with Pizza was when we were making them for a Winter Carnival in high school. I know . . . how did I ever get to that age without pizza! Sheltered limited life. That's how.
Anyhoo, back to Sriracha . . . how do you say that? I prefer to just say that hot garlic sauce . . . because that I can pronounce, lol. I'm lucky I can even spell Sriracha!
Anyways, I had one chicken breast I wanted to use up the other day and I thought fried rice . . . a great way to feed two people. We love fried rice suppers in this house. They are a fabulous way to stretch out few ingredients, quick, easy and a great way to use up all the bits in your refrigerator! Today I added some Sriracha sauce and it was amazing. Totally amazing. Try it!
*Shriracha Chicken Fried Rice*
Serves 2
Quick, easy and delicious. (I know you must be getting tired of hearing that, but its true!)
2 tsp vegetable oil
1 large or two small boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bits
1 tsp Sriracha sauce
1 red bell pepper, chopped
handful of fresh sugar snap peas, washed, de-stringed and cut diagonally
3 medium spring onions, green and white bits separated and sliced
1 tsp finely chopped fresh ginger root
1 clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped
4 tsp soy sauce
1 TBS packed soft light brown sugar
1 pouch cooked white rice (1 1/2 cups)
2 TBS fresh lime juice
Heat half the vegetable oil in a large skillet. Add the chicken,
cook, stirring for a minute or so. Add the Sriracha sauce and cook for a
minute or so longer until the chicken is beginning to turn golden and
is no longer pink. Scoop out with a slotted spoon and keep warm.
Add
the remaining oil to the skillet. Add the red pepper, peas and whites of
the onions to the skillet. Cook for two to 3 minutes, until crispy
tender. Add the garlic, ginger root and cook until fragrant. Stir in the
soy sauce, brown sugar and rice. Cook to heat through, stirring
frequently. Stir in the cooked chicken and lime juice. Heat through,
then serve garnished with the chopped green bits of the spring onions.
The clever cook could substitute baby shrimps for the chicken in this recipe with excellent results. Colourful, crunchy, a tad bit spicy, with a bit of a tang. A main dish for two, or a side for more. Easy to multiply to feed more. This makes a quick, easy and fabulous mid week supper! Bon Appetit!
With all of the lovely warm and sunny weather we have had recently all of the berries in our garden seem to be ripening at once. I'm not complaining!
I just wish they lasted longer! Our strawberries are pretty much finished now, but the blueberries and raspberries are just beginning, so we will have them to enjoy for a few weeks yet!!
This recipe today makes a beautiful use of all the ripe berries in the garden.
Fresh Berry Crostini. Beautiful crisp toasts topped with creamy rich mascarpone cheese, and then sprinkled with fresh berries and some sweet honey!
The hardest part is toasting the bread, literally . . . these are such a simple doddle to make!!!
They are delicious for breakfast if that's how you wish to serve them . . . or for a brunch occasion.
Perhaps as a simple dessert for all of those Al Fresco happenings in your little corner of the world . . .
Or maybe you are having the gals over for a tea party. In that case I would do them on smaller toasted slices of baguette, two bite sized . . . cute!
Use a fragrant flavourful honey, and don't be afraid to drizzle it on generously and pass the napkins.
You can vary the cheese as well if you like. Use cream cheese, or mix a couple of creamy cheeses together. These really are adaptable to a variety of flavours.
They are so pretty and jewel-like everyone will be ooh-ing and ahh-ing when they see them. Fresh, light and delicious. What more could you ask for!
*Fresh Berry Crostini*
Serves 4 - 6
These
make a fabulously light weekend breakfast, a delightful surprise for a
summer afternoon tea or a simple but elegant finish to the meal!
12 (1/2 inch thick) slices of fresh French bread
120g mascarpone cheese (1/2 cup)
2 punnets of fresh berries (I use strawberries, blueberries and raspberries, 2 cups)
85g Orange blossom, white truffle or lavender honey (about 1/4 cup)
Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Put
the slices of bread onto a baking sheet. Toast in the oven for 12 to 15
minutes until golden brown. Remove and let cool until you are ready to
use them.
A clever cook could cream together some mascarpone and creamy blue cheese, or even some cheddar with the mascarpone. Serve with sliced figs or apple wedges.
You could also place the toasts in a basket along with a choice of cheeses, fruits and several honey choices. (Think Greek Mountain, Acacia, etc.) Whichever way you choose to serve these, people will be pleased, and it makes for a simple, delicious and easy finish to any meal! Bon appetit!
I am about to show you something totally dangerous. You might want to look away now, before its too late . . . oops . . . too late. Sorry about that. ☺
With these warm summer temperatures, nobody can blame a person for not wanting to spend much time in the kitchen slaving over a hot stove, especially when it comes to baking goodies.
Although that has never really been a problem with me. I bake anyways. Glutton that I am through and through.
The heat never really gets to me, whereas high humidity does. Thankfully we only ever very rarely get a day here in the UK in which the humidity combined with the heat is totally unbearable.
When we do though, a recipe such as this one is just the ticket for feeding your sweet tooth and the kiddles.
These are such a simple make. As simple as stirring a few things together in a saucepan and simmering/boiling them on the stove for a short time . . . sweetened condensed milk, brown sugar, butter . . . and milk . . .
This gets layered in a baking tin along with crisp buttery rectangular shaped crackers. I have used TUC because that is what we have over here.
But you could use whatever buttery rectangular crackers you have available to you.
TUC crackers on their own are dangerous enough for me . . . love their buttery crunch . . .
Anyways, layer them into the tin, three layers of crackers and three layers of toffee, starting with the crackers and ending with the toffee.
Do make sure you line the tin with foil and butter the foil as they will stick on the sides if you don't. Toffee is like that.
Finally on top you melt some chocolate chips and spread them all over.
The original recipe once upon a time said to use milk chocolate chips, but I like semi sweet myself. These squares are sweet enough without adding to that with milk chocolate chips.
You don't have to use chocolate chips, you could just break up a large bar of milk chocolate, or even a bar of white chocolate, but the chocolate chips melt quicker.
Just spread the melted chocolate over top of the last layer of toffee and then if you want you can sprinkle on some cupcake sprinkles, not necessary, but they do dress them up a bit.
They might not be the prettiest girl in the class, but they sure are the tastiest! These are so delicious that I cut the recipe in half (yes you can do that and it works beautifully), but that's not all . . .
I keep them in the outside refrigerator so it takes an extra special effort on my part to go out and get one.
Oh, it also helps to give half of them away. Just sayin' . . . these are really scrumptious and dangerously addictive!
*Refrigerator Toffee Bars*
Makes 48
An
oldie but a goodie. I have had to adapt some of the ingredients to
what is available here in the UK. Something sweet to feed your kiddos
when the temperature rises and you don't want to be baking.
about 90 buttery rectangular crackers (Here in the UK I use TUC, but I think in
North America they are Keebler Club House)
1 (397g) tin of sweetened condensed milk (14-oz tin)
200g soft light brown sugar (1 cup)
125g butter (1/2 cup)
60ml milk (1/4 cup)
360g semi sweet chocolate chips (2 cups)
Line a 13 by 9 inch pan with tinfoil. Spray with low fat cooking
spray. Place 1/3 of the crackers in the bottom of the pan. Set aside.
Place
the sweetened condensed milk, brown sugar, butter and milk into a heavy
based saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until the butter has
melted. Increase heat slightly and bring to the boil. Boil for five
minutes, stirring constantly. Pour 1/3 of this mixture over the
crackers in the prepared tin. Top with another 1/3 of the crackers.
Pour on 1/3 more toffee. Cover with the final third of the crackers and
then the remaining toffee.
The Clever cook could sprinkle the warm chocolate on top of the bars with cupcake sprinkles to dress them up prior to refrigerating. Or you could top them with chopped roasted salted peanuts. In this case they would be almost as tasty as a Snickers Bar! Then again, they are pretty tasty no matter what! Bon Appetit!
I am always on the lookout for a new macaroni salad. I love macaroni salads in the summer. Why? Because there are no potatoes to peel, you just boil the macaroni, prep any other ingredients, drain the macaroni and stir it all together with a dressing. Easy.
I took a break from salads yesterday, cooking a simple pasta dish that is not only quick and easy, but quite QUITE delicious! Spicy Tomato and Sausage Pasta. Its a bit of a cheat in that it uses jarred marinara sauce, which is quite time saving. If you use a really good quality one however, it won't really matter.
You begin by browning off some Italian sausage meat. Just push it out of the casings and crumble it into a heated saucepan. I used the Riverway Foods Hot Italian Sausages that you can get at Costco. They have a lovely flavour that I really like. So you brown them off, breaking them up a bit. (You won't need them all, but you can freeze the rest for another time.)
You add some chopped onion and let them soften, finally adding some garlic. The original recipe (from Seriously Simple, by Diane Rossen Worthington) called for 3 cloves of garlic. You can cut back on that a bit. The Italian sausages I used are plenty garlicky so I only used 2 cloves of garlic and small ones at that.
Then you add the marinara sauce and let it simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, upon which time it should have thickened up a bit. I used the Lloyd Grosman Tomato and Basil Marinara Sauce which is really nice. Just use whatever kind is your favourite. At the end of that time you stir in some prepared Basil Pesto which gives the sauce a really nice basil kick.
Spoon a thin layer of the sauce into the bottom of a large shallow baking dish, and then stir your cooked pasta into the remaining sauce along with some fresh baby spinach. I like to remove any thick or long stems from the spinach. Its a texture thing really. I don't like a lot of stringy stuff in my sauces, so I just remove them. The heat from the sauce and the pasta will cook the spinach.
I also like to use whole wheat pasta. Seriously I can't really tell much of a difference between regular and whole wheat. If anything, to me, the whole wheat pasta tastes better!
Then you stir in a quantity of Mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. Coz you JUST got to have cheese . . . its Italian. Pour it into your prepped baking dish and scatter the remaining Parmesan on top.
Bake for half an hour in a hot oven, upon which time the cheese will have melted and the top will be golden brown. And that's all there is to it!
You can divide it up and bake it in two smaller dishes, freezing one for a later date . . . I made mine in one really small dish and one larger dish, which I sent down to Ariana and Jose. Ari will be having her baby any day now. I thought she would appreciate having a meal delivered. It has been so hot and I know she is feeling a bit exhausted with the pregnancy and everything.
It was very much appreciated. She texted me later to tell me how good it was. And Jose works in a premium Italian restaurant, so if he thought it was good, then you know it was really good!
This has so much going for it flavour-wise. I have fallen in love with it and I know I am going to be making it for the Missionaries one day as I am sure they will also really enjoy it!
I love dishes like this that go together quickly without much fuss or faff. To me they spell winner/winner!
*Spicy Tomato & Sausage Pasta Bake*
Serves 6 to 8
I
cheat a bit with this by using a good jarred marinara sauce, but I
think you will agree that this dish is fabulously tasty! Quick, easy
and delicious!
For the sauce:
splash of olive oil
1 pound Italian sausage links, casings removed and discarded
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
2 730g jars/cartons of good marinara sauce (2 26-ounce jars)
6 TBS of good Basil Pesto
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
You will also need:
450g penne pasta, uncooked (1 pound)
230g of finely diced or grated mozzarella cheese (8 ounces)
180g grated Parmesan Cheese (1 cup)
170g baby spinach leaves (6 ounces)
Heat a large heavy bottomed pan over medium high heat. Add a small
splash of olive oil, then crumble in the sausage meat. Cook, breaking
up with a spoon, until the sausage is evenly browned and no pink
remains. Add the onion and saute for about 5 minutes longer. Add the
garlic, cook for 1 minute and then add the marinara sauce. Reduce the
heat to medium. Simmer for about 10 minutes, then stir in the pesto,
salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasonings to your taste. Set aside.
Cook the pasta according to package directions in a large pot of lightly salted water. Drain well.
Preheat
the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 6. Butter a 9 by 13 inch baking
dish. Spoon a thin layer of sauce over the bottom of the dish.
Combine
the pasta with the remaining sauce, the spinach leaves (I like to try
to pick off and discard any large stems), the mozzarella cheese, and 60g
of the Parmesan cheese (1/3 cup) Mix well to combine and then spoon
into the prepped casserole dish. Scatter the remaining Parmesan cheese
over top.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes, until the casserole begins to bubble and the cheese is golden. Serve hot.
I saved some of the sauce out and Todd had it on a baked potato with some cheese on top. He, as you know isn't overly fond of pasta, although he will eat it when push comes to shove. He really enjoyed it on his potato. The sauce itself would also go very well on spaghetti, or even ladled over polenta!
However you choose to enjoy it I am sure you WILL enjoy it. This is . . . simply put . . . quite fabulous! Bon Appetit!
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