Dan-Dan Noodles

Another recipe from my class this week, a vegetarian version of a popular street food in China. There is quite a bit of interpretation in this recipe. I'm not sure what makes it Dan-Dan noodles besides spicy (as it came out of Sichuan cuisine) and noodles. I'm even willing to drop the spicy if it gets you to try it out.

You can use fresh noodles, even Italian pasta such as fettucini or linguine. Or you can use dried Chinese egg noodles. If you are very ambitious, you can make you own egg pasta. Takes a bit of time and elbow grease rolling it out. Lots of fun and the resulting pasta has a very satisfying bite. I understand if you want this to be fast and easy, though.

Many of the recipes use stir fried ground pork. This is vegetarian, and I substituted tofu for the pork. The tofu, which is pretty bland stuff on its own, absorbs the sauce nicely, as do the noodles. My students, some who said they didn't care for tofu, declared it quite tasty.

Dan-Dan Noodles
(serves 4)

Sauce
3 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 Tablespoon cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon Asian sesame oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 scallion, minced
1 teaspoon chile oil (optional or use more if you like hot)
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

14-16 oz. soft tofu, cut into small cubes
½ pound fresh egg noodles or 6 oz. dried noodles
2 Tablespoons chopped roasted peanuts

In a large bowl, combine the sauce ingredients. Add the cubed tofu and gently toss so the tofu doesn't break apart.

Cook the noodles in a large pot of water until just tender. Drain and put in the bowl with the sauce. Toss to cover the noodles in the sauce. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts. When serving, use a spoon to make sure you get the tofu along with the noodles.

Cabbage Dumplings

Class this week! My students requested dumplings and noodles. We're making our own noodles - pasta is easy and fun - and adding some Asian sauces. We are not making our own dumpling wrappers however. Thank goodness for decent wonton wrappers in most every well-stocked supermarket! This is a vegetarian dumpling, stuffed with cabbage and shiitakes. It's served with a simple hot-sour-spicy dipping sauce.

Using a cole slaw mix makes this a bit quicker. It's a lot cheaper to chop your own cabbage but we're trading money for time in this recipe. There are often large pieces of cabbage or carrot in the cole slaw mix. Quickly chop the cole slaw to cut down any chunks. This makes it easier to put in the wrappers later.

Leftover filling makes a good Asian "frittata." I'll be posting that super-simple recipe later this week.

Cabbage Dumplings with Hot and Sour Dipping Sauce
(makes a bunch, about 30)

14 oz. bag cole slaw mix, chopped into small bits
6 fresh shiitakes
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 scallions, minced
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 ½ Tablespoons soy sauce
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon Asian sesame oil

1 package (around 1 pound) round wonton wrappers
non-stick cooking spray

Hot and Sour Dipping Sauce
4 Tablespoons soy sauce
3 Tablespoons cider or rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
chile oil, Siracha sauce, or chile garlic paste (optional)

Remove the stems from the shiitakes (stems are too tough to eat but you can add them to soup for flavoring). Chop caps into small bits. Mix with the cole slaw.

Heat a wok or large skillet over high heat. Add the oil. Add the garlic and scallions. Stir fry for 20 seconds. Add the cole slaw mix. Stir fry until the cabbage is no longer crunchy, stirring so that it doesn't burn. It's OK to get a little char; this brings out the sweetness in the cabbage but you don't want to incinerate it. Add the soy sauce, salt, and pepper. Stir until the soy has been absorbed by the cabbage. Remove from the heat and add the sesame oil. Stir then let it cool for 10 minutes in the fridge.

To wrap dumplings, place 1 heaping teaspoon of filling in the center of the wrapper. Carefully pick up the wrapper in your hand and hold in your palm. Using 1 finger on your other hand, smear a little bit of water along the edge of half of the wrapper. Press the edges together to seal. If you want to impress your friends, learn how to pleat the edge but that's just showing off. :-) Fill and seal all the dumplings.

Put an inch of water in a pot that fits the steamer and bring to a boil. Spray the steamer with cooking spray and place the dumplings in the steamer in a single layer and not touching (or they will stick together). Place in the pot over boiling water. Cover and steam for 8 minutes. Serve with dipping sauce.

To make the dipping sauce: combine soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, and chile oil in a small bowl and mix to dissolve the sugar. The soy and the vinegar are the base. If you like it really sour, leave out the sugar. If you like it spicy, add the chile oil/sauce.

Dumplings can be made ahead then frozen. If frozen, cook for 10 minutes.

Korean Grilled Chicken

Korean dinner: grilled spicy chicken, kimchi cucumber and some simple green beans

It's still grilling season and here's a delicious combination of flavors. There are a lot of ingredients in the marinade but they are all easy to find. If you can find Korean crushed red pepper - it's much milder than the stuff you shake on pizzas - use that. Rather than searingly hot, it's slightly hot and fruity. On the heat/flavor scale, I think it's close to Aleppo pepper, though that isn't much easier to locate than Korean chile! If you must, use the crushed red pepper. Or you can leave out the chile because there is a lot of flavor going on here.

This marinade is also great on veggies, such as chunks of red peppers, shiitake mushrooms, whole scallions, or spring onions.

Korean Grilled Chicken
(serves 8)

2 pounds skinless boneless chicken breasts

3 Tablespoons soy sauce
⅓ cup rice wine or dry vermouth
3 scallions, white and light green part, finely minced
8 cloves garlic, pressed or finely chopped
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 Tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted
4 walnut halves, toasted and finely chopped
3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 Tablespoon Korean red chile flakes or Aleppo pepper OR ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 ½ ground black pepper
pinch of salt

oil for greasing grill
salt

Cut the chicken breasts into 1" thick slices. Mix together the remaining ingredients in a large glass baking dish. Add the chicken and coat with marinade. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Heat up your grill on high. Brush with oil to prevent sticking. Reduce heat to medium. Remove chicken from the marinade, sprinkle lightly with salt, and cook until done, about 20 minutes, flipping to get some light char on both sides. Serve as whole pieces, or slice on the bias (as in photo above).

From Growing Up in a Korean Kitchen: A Cookbook by Hi Soo Shin Hepinstall, Ten Speed Press, 2001.

Cold Spicy Noodles with Shredded Vegetables

I used whole wheat spaghetti. It adds a nice nutty, hearty flavor.

It's heating up and this is one of my favorite cold dishes for summer. Cold noodle salads are very popular in many Asian countries, including China, Vietnam, and Japan. The type of noodles changes as do the seasonings, but they are all packed with flavor and cooling on a hot summer night.

My version is most like the Chinese version with the toasty flavor of Asian sesame oil, and a good dose of chili oil. If you don't have chili oil, you can use Siracha sauce. You can leave out the chili if you don't like spicy and it will still have good flavor.

Cold Spicy Noodles with Shredded Vegetables
(serves 4 as a main dish)

Salad
1 pound spaghetti
1 Tablespoon salt (for cooking water) plus 1 teaspoon salt for salad
1 red pepper, cored, seeded and sliced thinly
2 carrots, shredded or grated
4 scallions, thinly sliced for garnish
1 Tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted until golden and cooled
cilantro leaves for garnish (optional)

Dressing
1 teaspoon sugar
2 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 Tablespoon seasoned rice vinegar
½ to 1 teaspoon chili oil or Siracha sauce
2 Tablespoons Asian sesame oil
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add salt. Cook spaghetti until just al dente, about 9 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water until noodles are cold. Dump onto a clean kitchen towel to dry off - you don't want to add a bunch of water that is sticking to the noodles because it will thin out the dressing.

Combine sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and chili oil in a medium bowl. Whisk until sugar and salt dissolves. Whisk in sesame oil and vegetable oil.

Toss together spaghetti, red pepper, and carrots in a large bowl. Whisk dressing on more time then pour over spaghetti. Toss to coat. Best if served really cold, after sitting in the fridge for a couple of hours. To serve, mound up salad and sprinkle with sesame seeds and cilantro leaves. Leftovers will keep in the fridge for up to 2 days

Spicy Stir-fried Cucumber

Americans don't usually eat cooked cucumber. But, it's very tasty cooked, holding onto its crunch and absorbing flavors readily, like stir-fried zucchini. It cooks in a flash - just enough time to heat it up is enough.

Spicy Stir-Fried Cucumber
(serves 4, costs $2.40)

2 cucumbers
1 Tablespoon oil
½ red pepper, diced (optional; it adds nice color)
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon minced or grated ginger
1-2 Tablespoons minced Jalapeño chile
1 Tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
¼ teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon salt

Peel the cucumbers. Cut off the very ends; they tend to be bitter. Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds using a spoon. Cut them into 1/8's lengthwise (so cut in half again, then once more). Cut the strips into 1-1½" pieces.

Heat a wok or skillet until very hot. Add oil, ginger, garlic, and chile. Stir fry for 10 seconds, then add cucumber and red pepper. Stir fry for 1 minute. Sprinkle on soy sauce, sugar, and salt. Stir fry for 3 minutes. Serve immediately.

Note: Other spicy things - Chinese chile sauce with garlic, Siracha sauce, serranos - can be used instead if you want more spicy punch. Jalapeños are fairly tame, by chilehead standards.

Vegetarian Spring Rolls

I am a huge fan of rice wrappers. They are cheap. They are easy to handle once you get the hang of it. They are light and they look so cool! I used them instead of the traditional Mu Shu Pancakes last year in a class. Huge hit. I brought them back for another class this month in the form of vegetarian spring rolls. They are filled with lettuce, mint (though you could use basil if you prefer), a carrot-cucumber salad, and baked tofu. The tofu is baked in a peanut sauce which does double-duty as the dipping sauce. Delicious!

Whole lot of wrappers - you can wrap a lot of goodies with one package

There are a few tricks to using these.

• Use warm water and don't leave the wrapper in the water too long. When they start to get pliable, take them out and lay them flat for filling. I like to put the water in a pie pan or cake pan that is big enough to hold the wrapper without any bending.
• Don't overfill them. They do stretch but if you have pointy things sticking out, like stems of herbs or lettuce, they will rip. 

  

  This is about as much as you want to fill these.

• Don't stack them or let them touch once you have rolled them. They will stick to each other, ripping the wrapper.

Vegetarian Spring Rolls

(makes 12 spring rolls)

1 pound firm tofu, sliced into 8 slices (see Note)

Sauce

¾ cup creamy peanut butter

1 large clove garlic, minced

3 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar, natural or seasoned

3 Tablespoons Hoisin sauce

3 Tablespoons soy sauce

½ cup warm water, approximately

1 to 3 teaspoons Siracha sauce (adjust to your desired spice level)

juice of ½ lime

Carrot Salad

2 medium carrots

2 medium cucumbers

4 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar

2 Tablespoon sugar

½ teaspoon salt

12 rice spring roll wrappers

about 4 large lettuce leaves, washed and torn into pieces that will fit in the wrappers

24 large mint leaves

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a medium bowl, mix together peanut butter, garlic, rice wine vinegar, Hoisin sauce, soy sauce, and Siracha. Mix until smooth. In the beginning, the peanut butter will resist combining with the liquid ingredients, but keep at it. Add water to thin to a saucy consistency. You want it thin enough so you can dip but not so thin that it drips off the spoon. Place the tofu in a single layer in a baking dish (8"x4" or 9"x11"). Pour on about ⅓ the sauce and turn to coat the tofu. Bake for 20 minutes. Set aside to cool.

While the tofu is cooling, prep the carrot-cucumber salad. Peel and julienne (cut into thin strips) or shred the carrot. Peel, seed the cucumber. Cut them into 3" lengths and slice thinly the long way. (If you want more knife practice, you can julienne them too.) Combine the rice vinegar, sugar, and salt in a large bowl and mix until the sugar dissolves. Add the carrot and cucumber. Toss to coat. Let marinate for 15 minutes.

Slice the tofu into long, thin slices when cool enough to handle. Set everything out where you can reach it: all the ingredients, a pan with an inch of warm water for softening the rice wrappers, and a surface for rolling. Lay down a piece of lettuce, a couple of mint leaves, a little carrot salad, and a few tofu slices. Roll up like a burrito - fold in the sides, fold up the edge closest to you, then roll the whole thing up to the top.

Add the lime juice to the remaining sauce and stir. Serve with rolls.

Note: You can make this with tofu right out of the carton, but the texture is better if you freeze it first. Slice it into 8 pieces, put them on a cookie sheet in a single layer, and put it in the freezer. Freeze for an hour or longer. Thaw and blot dry before baking.

Faux Pho

This season of classes is driven more by my students. This week's class is a quicker version of pho. I will be the last person to claim this is actually pho. Pho is a light, clear broth with lots of goodies in it (like beef tendon, something many folks probably don't consider a "goodie"). You can recreate the goodies but the broth is another thing. This recipe uses commercial beef stock which is nothing like pho broth. Beef stock is made in the French way, with roasted bones and mirepoix (carrots, onions, and celery). Nothing like pho. So, don't make this and tell me it isn't pho. I know that. I ate my version side-by-side with my favorite pho in Boulder. Similarities, but I'd be a fool to call it pho. Hence the "Faux" in the name. It's still tasty, however!

I tried a number of commercial cooking beef broths in testing this recipe. I liked the King Soopers (part of Kroger's) brand the best. Kitchen Basics has a similar product, but its flavor is more vegetal and tart and I did not like it. Better Than Broth, my favorite for chicken broth, is much saltier than Kroger's brand but its flavor is good.

It's difficult to slice steak as thinly as most pho shops. If you decide to slice the beef yourself, put it in the freezer for 30 minutes to firm it up. I found stir fry beef, if sliced thinly enough, works well. Or, see if the meat counter will slice some up for you. Asian markets with butchers are the best place to find beef sliced to the thinness of your local pho joint.

Pho noodles come in a variety of sizes. Try to find the small to medium size which will cook in a minute. Thicker ones will take a bit longer. You'll find the best selection in Asian markets. Thai basil is not something in most supermarkets either, but try to find it. It was a unique spicy aroma that really says "pho."

Faux Pho
(serves 8 generously)

Broth
1 medium onion, peeled and cut into 4 thick slices
1 4" piece of ginger, cut in half lengthwise
4 quarts low-sodium beef stock (under 500 mg per cup)
2-3 star anise (see Notes)
3 3" cinnamon sticks
2 Tablespoons fish sauce
2-3 Tablespoons brown sugar
salt to taste (see Notes)

Garnish & Condiments
8 ounces pho noodles
8 ounces thinly sliced beef, such as sirloin, loin, or eye of round
2 large sprigs Thai basil (or regular basil though it's not as good)
8 sprigs cilantro
4 cups mung bean sprouts
4 scallions, thinly sliced
1-2 serrano chiles, thinly sliced (optional)
2 limes, cut into quarters
hoisin sauce
Siracha sauce

Broil onion slices and ginger for 15 minutes, until they start to blacken. Put in a large soup pot. Add beef stock, star anise, cinnamon sticks, fish sauce, and 2 Tablespoons brown sugar. Stir to dissolve sugar. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 30-60 minutes. Strain and keep hot. Adjust salt and add more brown sugar - the broth should be very slightly sweet and how much you need will depend on the flavors in the broth you use.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Soak pho noodles in warm water for about 20 minutes. Get all your condiments and garnish ready to go before cooking beef and noodles. First, cook the beef in boiling water for 1 minute. Remove and set aside. Cook noodles for 1 minute until slightly underdone. They will continue to cook in the broth. Drain noodles and divide among 8 large bowls. Place beef slices on top of noodles. Add bean sprouts, sliced scallions, and chile. Pour over 2 cups of broth. Serve with basil, cilantro and lime as garish. The hoisin sauce and Siracha is for dipping the meat. You can use just Hoisin or combine it with Siracha as desired. Serve while piping hot.

Let's say, it's just you. You can't eat 8 servings of soup. No problem. Cook up only the amount of noodles and beef you need. Heat up 2 cups of broth for one bowl of soup. The rest of the broth can be refrigerated for a few days or frozen for longer term storage.

Notes

• The star anise is a powerful spice. If you are not a big fan of anise (licorice), use 2 whole ones. 
• Pho broth is quite salty. This is not so salty. Season it to your liking. We go pretty light on the salt at School of Eating Good (see this post).

Caribbean Grilled Chicken

Here's a boldly flavored marinade/BBQ sauce. Most of the sauce is used to marinate the chicken. It's a quick marinade so you don't need to think far ahead to make this on a summer night. The rest of the sauce is drizzled on the cooked chicken.

You can use all lime juice, or substitute some lemon or orange juice for some of the lime juice.

Caribbean Grilled Chicken
(serves 4, costs $9.35)

¼ cup chopped fresh basil
2 Tablespoon grated or minced fresh ginger
¼ cup fresh lime juice or ½ lime and ½ lemon, or orange juice
¼ cup oil
2 Tablespoon brown sugar
¼ cup soy sauce
2-3 teaspoons Siracha or Asian chile sauce
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground allspice
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
1 to 1 ¼ pounds boneless chicken breast or thighs

Combine all the ingredients except the chicken in a 2 cup measuring cup. Mix well to dissolve the sugar. If the chicken breasts are thick, cut into 2 thinner pieces by slicing the breast in ½ horizontally. This increases the amount of marinade in contact with the chicken and speeds grilling. Place the chicken in a glass dish or plastic bag. Pour on ⅔'s of the sauce, reserving the remaining sauce to serve with the cooked chicken. Marinate the chicken for 15-30 minutes, and no longer than 1 hour (the lime juice will make the chicken mushy). While the chicken is marinating, heat up the grill on high. Just before placing the chicken on the grill, reduce the heat to medium. Grill the chicken about 5 minutes per side. Serve with remaining sauce.

Spicy Tomato Sauce - the Indian version

This spicy tomato sauce is going to be the base of our next Meatless Monday dish. It's really easy to make in the microwave. You can make it ahead for that meal but it cooks so fast, you don't really need to plan ahead. If you don't like spicy, go with 1 Tablespoon chile. If you do like spicy, definitely use 2 Tablespoons. It's still not that spicy so if you are chilehead, feel free to add more!

Besides using in our next Meatless recipe, you can serve it over roasted chicken or fish, with a grilled steak, or over rice. You could also poach eggs in it - delicious for brunch.

Spicy Indian Tomato Sauce
(makes about 4 cups, costs $2)

1 ½ Tablespoons vegetable oil or butter
1 Tablespoon minced or grated ginger
½ medium onion, minced
1 - 2 Tablespoons minced seeded hot chile (serrano or jalapeño)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1 26 - 28 ounce can of chopped peeled tomatoes

Heat oil or butter in 2 quart microwaveable dish for 1 minute on HIGH. Add the onion, chile, and ginger. Microwave on HIGH for 1 minute. Add cumin and salt. Microwave on HIGH for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and microwave on HIGH for 4 minutes. Stir, and microwave for 4 minutes.

It's cabbage time...

But, only for a very short time. Every year just before St. Patrick's Day, cabbage goes on sale for unbelievably low prices. The lowest price I've seen is 19¢, for organic cabbage no less!

Like Brussels sprouts, cabbage gets a bad rap. If you cook it to death, it can exude eau du stinky vegetable. Fortunately, there are lots and lots of ways to cook cabbage that are  delicious and not stinky.

This hot salad recipe - really a stir fry - is not Irish. Unfortunately, the Irish have a habit of cooking their cabbage until dead, dead, dead. This recipe comes from Southeast Asia. It's fresh. It's light. It's very spicy (you can reduce the chile if you don't like spicy). Like Southeast Asia, about as far away from Ireland as you can get.

[Just for the record, I'll be eating corned beef and long-cooked cabbage this weekend because I like cabbage that much.]

Hot and Sour Cabbage
(serves 6, costs $1.10)

1 pound of cabbage, (about ¼ of a medium head), shredded
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
½ - 1 teaspoon Siracha sauce or Sambal Oelek (fresh ground chile paste)
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
½ teaspoon sesame oil

Heat a large skillet or wok over high heat. Add oil and swirl around pan. Add chile sauce. Careful! It will spit and spatter. Immediately, add cabbage. Stir fry for about 1 minute. Add brown sugar and salt. Stir fry for another minute. Add soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil, toss to mix, and serve.

Adapted from Healthy Salads From Southeast Asia by Vatcharin Bhumichitr

Meatless Monday - Black-eyed Peas and ?

This is a riff on Hoppin' John, the New Year's Day tradition of serving black-eyed peas with rice. You could serve these with rice. Or pasta, or potatoes, or...up to you. Pasta is the quickest. I like it on rotini, corkscrew pasta.

As discussed in our Cajun Meatloaf, this is Louisiana Style because of the combination of celery, onion, green pepper, and garlic. The first three are called the Holy Trinity and garlic is the Pope, down in Cajun country. No wonder I love the food down there!

You can use a can of cooked black-eyed peas. They are OK. I like to cook them myself and unlike many other beans, they don't require soaking, and cook in under an hour. About 45 minutes, in fact. Instructions on cooking the beans are at the end of recipe.

Though obviously not meatless, this is also a great place to use up a little bit of cooked ham, sausage, or chicken. About ¼ - ½ cup is good. Add it along with the black-eyed peas.

Louisiana Style Black-Eyed Peas
(serves 3, costs $3.10 with canned black-eyed peas)

1 15 oz. can black-eyed peas, drained (use 1 ¾ cups if you cook them yourself)
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
½ onion, chopped, about ¾ cup
½ large green pepper, seeded and chopped, about ¾ cup
2 stalks celery, chopped, about ¾ cup
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ to ¾ teaspoon salt, depending on saltiness of black-eyed peas
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 bay leaf
2-3 Tablespoons of white wine, broth or water
½ to 1 teaspoon hot sauce (such as Tabasco)

3 servings pasta (6 oz. dry), cooked or 3 cups cooked rice
grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
additional hot sauce

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, green pepper, celery, and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes until onion is translucent. Add black-eyed peas, salt, pepper, the bay leaf, and a few Tablespoons of liquid. Cover, reduce heat to low and cook until black-eyed peas are hot. Remove from the heat, add hot sauce, stir, and remove the bay leaf. Serve over hot pasta or hot rice.

To cook 1 pound of dry black-eyed peas, rinse off the peas, removing any non-pea debris. Bring 4 cups of liquid (stock or water) to a boil in a 2-3 quart saucepan. Add the black-eyed peas and reduce the heat to maintain a simmer - gentle bubbling. Cook for 35-45 minutes until peas are tender. Try a few beans to make sure they are all done. If any are crunchy, cook for another 5 minutes. Drain before using. Since you won't need all the beans for this recipe, refrigerate the reminder, or freeze them. They freeze extremely well.

Jalapeno-Glazed Chicken

Next week, we have another class at CU. The theme is chicken, requested by the students. Chicken is quick, easy, versatile, and reasonably priced. That makes it a popular choice with time-strapped students on a budget. We'll be posting the recipes we are cooking next week right after the class, but we'll get things started with a very easy but intensely flavored dish.

It's a Mexican-inspired recipe that takes advantage of the sweet and spicy flavors of jalapeno jelly. Jalapeno jelly is not terribly hot but it is very flavorful. You can use green or red jalapeno jelly. The red version is less grassy and herbal tasting than the green. If you don't like cilantro, substitute parsley.

Jalapeno-Glazed Chicken Breasts
(serves 4)

⅔ cup jalapeno jelly, about 7 ounces
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 Tablespoons white wine vinegar
4 chicken breasts halves, preferably with skin (about 1 pound total)
salt and black pepper

Preheat oven to 400°F. Combine jalapeno jelly, cilantro, and vinegar in a small saucepan. Heat over low heat, stirring, until jelly is dissolved. Keep warm.

Place chicken in a 8x5" baking dish. Season with salt and pepper. Bake, skin side up, for 25 minutes. Spoon glaze over chicken and bake for another 5 minutes. Serve with remaining glaze.

Cajun Meatloaf

Meatloaf - comfort food of the first order. It's easy to make and delicious as a leftover. This recipe is adapted from Bon Appetit's Fast, Easy, Fresh. What makes it Cajun? The Holy Trinity, the Pope and a good dose of heat. "What are you talking about? What does religion have to do with Cajun meatloaf?" The hallmarks of Cajun cooking are 4 ingredients: onion, celery, green pepper, and garlic. The onion, celery, and green pepper make up the Holy Trinity. Garlic, highly revered in Cajun cooking, is the Pope. With a bit of cayenne and Tabasco sauce, there's plenty of heat, if you want it. The meatloaf is still full-flavored without it.

Cajun Meatloaf
(served 6, cost is $6.15)

 2 Tablespoons butter or olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
½ green pepper, chopped
2 stalks celery, minced
½ teaspoon dried thyme, crushed
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ - ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper, depending on how spicy you want your meatloaf
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 pound ground beef
1 egg
½ cup fine dry breadcrumbs (see Note)
½ cup ketchup
1 Tablespoon Tabasco or other hot sauce

Preheat oven to 350°F. Heat butter or oil in a medium skillet over medium-low heat. Add onion, garlic, green pepper, and celery. Cook for about 10 minutes. Add thyme, salt, black pepper, cayenne, and cumin and cook for another minute. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 15 minutes.

Mix together ketchup and Tabasco in a small bowl.

Combine ground beef, egg, breadcrumbs, and about ½ of the ketchup mixture in a large bowl. Add vegetables and mix with your hands. Form into a loaf in a 8"x8" baking dish (it fits best if you form it on a diagonal) or a 11"x7"x2" dish. Bake for 20 minutes. Spread top of meatloaf with remaining ketchup mixture and bake until cooked through, another 40 minutes.

Note: To make your own breadcrumbs, allow bread to dry out until hard then grate it on the smallest holes of a grater. Great way to use up odds and ends of bread.

Chipotle Deviled Eggs

Where did all the eggs go?! Guess they liked them.

Another recipe for our Egg Class on Tuesday: Deviled eggs - that popular picnic dish. This one has some kick, however. You don't need much chipotle because they are smokey-hot! They are dried smoked, ripe jalapenos with an unmistakeable flavor. Chipotles in Adobo are the reconstituted chiles in a vinegary tomato sauce. They come in a small can. It may seem extravagant to buy a can for 1 ½ teaspoons of the stuff, but they will last forever in your freezer. Freeze them in a few small packages and pull them out little by little. They last a pretty long time in your fridge too. If you like spicy-smokey, these are the deviled eggs for you. If you really like the heat, use 2 teaspoons.

Chipotle Deviled Eggs
(serves 6)

6 large Eggs, hard-cooked
¼ cup Mayonnaise
½ teaspoon Salt
1 pinch Black Pepper
1 ½ teaspoon Chipotle In Adobo, finely chopped

Cut eggs in half lengthwise. Gently remove yolks and place in a medium bowl. Mash the yolks with a fork. Stir in remaining ingredients and mix until smooth. Using a small spoon, pile stuffing into egg centers.

Pad Thai

Pad Thai is a hugely popular Thai noodle dish. It's a dish that comes together fast. There isn't even much knife work involved, like for many stir fry dishes. The rice noodles cook in no time. You boil some water then let the noodles steep in the hot water for about 5 minutes.

This recipe is spicy, not sweet. Many restaurants make Pad Thai fairly sweet. This is not that kind of Pad Thai. There is a little bit of sugar for balance but it's not the dominant flavor. This sauce is about fish sauce, chile, lime, and soy. Fish sauce smells quite intimidating - very fishy, as you might imagine, given that it is a fermented fish product. But, that very fishy odor cooks off, leaving just a mild fish flavor that gives so many South East Asian dishes that special something. Don't leave it out. Fish sauce will keep for generations in your fridge so don't worry about buying a bottle. It will be waiting for you the next time you get an urge for Pad Thai.

Pad Thai
(serves 4; total cost is $8.90)

7 oz. dried rice noodles, linguine or fettucine width
2 + 1 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon chopped garlic
8-10 medium shrimp (about ¼ pound), peeled and deveined
½ pound boneless chicken or pork, cut into bite-sized pieces
3 Tablespoons fish sauce
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon dried red chili flakes
¼ cup water, to prevent noodles from sticking
3 green onions, coarsely chopped, about ⅓ cup
2 cups fresh bean sprouts
¼ cup coarsely chopped roasted, salted peanuts
2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice, about 1 lime
2-4 lime wedges

Bring a large saucepan of water to a rolling boil, add the rice noodles, and remove from heat. Let the noodles steep 5-7 minutes, until al dente, and then drain and rinse well in cold water.

In a large, deep skillet or wock, heat 2 Tablespoons of the oil over medium heat until a bit of garlic sizzles at once. Add the garlic, stir well, and then add the shrimp and chicken. Cook about 2 minutes, stirring now and then, until the shrimp and meat are cooked through.

Add the remaining Tablespoon of oil. Add the egg, and once it is almost set, scramble it and push it aside. Add the noodles fish sauce, soy sauce, sugar, and chili flakes and cook 1 to 2 minutes, stirring now and then. Add the water to prevent the noodles from sticking to the pan. Add the green onions and 1 cup of the bean sprouts and cook about 1 minute, stirring once or twice, until the sprouts are shiny and beginning to wilt. Sprinkle the peanuts and lime juice over the noodles and toss to mix everything well. To serve, mound the noodles on a plate, top with the remaining bean sprouts and place the lime wedges to one side.

Adapted from: Quick & Easy Thai: 70 Everyday Recipes by Nancie McDermott and Alison Miksch

Spicy Chipotle Wings

Chipotles in adobo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chipotlesenadobo.jpg)

Super Bowl time! Here's a zippy chicken wing recipe for your Super Bowl party. Chicken wings are great as an appetizer or party food, but this is also great as an entree if you use thighs instead. The chicken marinates at least 2 hours (or up to overnight), so plan ahead. Unlike Buffalo-style chicken wings, these are baked, simplifying the preparation.

Chipotle chiles are ripe jalapenos (which are red) that have been smoked. They are quite hot and they have an incredible smokey flavor. Adobo sauce is a tomato-vinegar sauce that chipotles are commonly packed in. Chipotles in adobo sauce are sold in small cans. You will only use 2 chiles for this recipe, but the leftovers can be transferred to a small glass or plastic container, and they will keep in your fridge for a very long time. They can also be frozen. If you like chili, a single chipotle added to your usual chili recipe will add an interesting smokey/spicy note.

Spicy Chipotle Wings
(adapted from Perfect Party Food)

3 pounds Chicken Wings, or drumettes or thighs

Marinade
¾ cup Seasoned Rice Vinegar
¼ cup Vegetable Oil
3 cloves Garlic, peeled
2 Canned Chipotle Chiles In Adobo, with 1-3 tsp adobo sauce (depending on your heat tolerance)
¼ cup Packed Fresh Cilanto Sprigs
½ cup Red Onion, coarsely chopped
¼ cup Honey

1 tsp Kosher Salt

Put chicken in a bowl or large ziploc bag.

Combine vinegar, garlic, chipotle chiles, adobo sauce, cilantro, onion, and honey in a food processor. Process until smooth. Pour over chicken and smush it around to coat chicken well.

Park in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours and up to overnight.

Preheat the oven to 375° F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Spray with nonstick cooking spray or rub with a little vegetable oil. Transfer the chicken and marinade to the baking sheet and spread chicken into one layer. Sprinkle with salt. Cook for 20 minutes, turn over chicken pieces, and bake for another 20 minutes.

Serve hot.