Classy Vegetable Stir-Fry

No picture, my apologies. The hard drive with all our photos on it is not yet set-up, but will be shortly. Once it is I will include some super photos of us attempting to unpack the kitchen. Which I am sure you are all dying to see.

In the mean time, here's a dish we whipped up in honor of my sister coming to dinner for the first time in the new house! She is vegetarian and so I have made it my mission to find some tasty vegetarian dishes to make for her when she visits that she, as a college student, may not have time/money/facilities/motivation to. Alas, she is not big into pasta, so that eliminated about 90% of my initial ideas, but Mr. Heart suggested a vegetable stir-fry. So we took it up a notch by including a wide variety of vegetables, and made it simple by only adding the bare minimum of seasonings. It came out delicious. We served it up with couscous and a dark rye bread. And then we ate cookie dough and played cribbage like old people.

"I'm so proud of myself," Mr. Heart said, as we drove back from dropping off Sister Heart, "Before I met you I wouldn't have even touched a dish like that." And he liked it! Excellent. So I AM having a positive culinary influence. My main challenge with him? Legumes. Some day, some day...

Classy Vegetable Stir-Fry
Serves 2-3

1 Portabello mushroom cap, diced
1 bell pepper, diced (or half of a red and half of a yellow)
3-4 green onions, chopped
1/2 medium zucchini, cut into 1/4 inch crescents
1/2 cup sugar snap peas, cut in half
2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 lb spinach, roughly chopped
1/4 cup cashews
1 - 2 TBS olive oil
a good squeeze of lemon juice
salt and pepper

(for omnivores: add a link or two of your favorite chicken sausage, sliced)

1) In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat until shimmering, but not smoking.
2) Add bell peppers and green onions. Sauté until peppers start to brown, stirring often.
3) Add zucchini, mushrooms, and garlic. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper to taste. Continue to sauté, stirring often, until vegetables are just tender.
4) Add spinach, snap peas, and lemon juice. Toss together, then cover for 1 -2 minutes, or until spinach is wilted and cooked down.
5) Add cashews toss to combine. Cook for 1 -2 more minutes, until cashews are heated through. Add more salt and pepper as desired.
(For omnivores: Transfer vegetables to a separate dish and cover to keep warm. Add sausage and a splash of oil. Sauté until lightly browned, scraping up browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add vegetables back to pan and toss to combine. Cook an additional minute to heat through.)

Peanut Chicken with Vegetables

So the recipe I had hoped to use was a Chinese five-spice chicken stir-fry, but alas, our ever friendly Shaw's Market is going through major renovations and none was to be found. So instead we picked up some peanut sauce.

I know, I know, peanut sauce is easy enough to make, but hey, we were feeling lazy AND we're going to Europe this week, so the last thing we wanted to do was buy more ingredients. After sifting through several mixes and jars, we settled on Thai Kitchen Peanut Satay Sauce. We chose this because it seemed to have mostly natural ingredients and very few (if any) preservatives. We've also had some success with their products in the past (I buy their rice noodles to make Pad Thai.)

However, it seemed to lack a little something when used as a sauce over all of the ingredients in this dish. I'm not sure what it was, maybe it needed a little more spice, a little more zing. It wasn't bad, it was just kinda plain.

But when we used this to make wraps for lunch (peanut sauce, cucumber, shredded chicken, rice, and fresh red pepper) I thought it tasted great. Mr. Heart was still not a huge fan. So I would say it might be worth a try. Or you can always just make your own.

Feel free to substitute any vegetables in that you like! This is what we had on hand. I actually served it over orzo, which was tasty. I am sure it would be equally delicious over rice.

Peanut Noodles with Vegetables
Serves 2

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1" chunks
1 TBS plus 1 tsp canola or peanut oil
1/2 cup cornstarch
salt and pepper
pinch of ground red pepper
1/2 head of cauliflower, cut into florets (~1 cup)
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 red pepper, cut into thin strips
1/2 cup fresh green beans, trimmed
1-3 TBS water
1/4 cup peanut sauce mixed with 2 TBS water or chicken broth
1 TBS peanuts, chopped fine (for garnish)

1) In a ziplock bag, combine cornstarch and salt/pepper/red pepper to taste. Add chicken and toss to coat.
2) In a large non-stick skillet, heat 1 TBS of oil over medium heat until hot, but not smoking. Remove chicken from ziplock bag, shaking off any excess cornstarch. Add chicken to pan. Cook until a golden crust has formed, turning frequently, about 5 minutes. Transfer chicken to a paper-towel lined plate and set aside.
3) Warm the remaining teaspoon of oil in the skillet until hot, but not smoking. Add the vegetables a cook, stirring, for 1 minutes. Add 1 TBS of the water to the pan and cover. Cook for 2 more minutes, or until vegetables are tender (add more water as needed, if the pan gets too dry).
4) Add the chicken and peanut sauce mixture to the pan, tossing to coat. Cook an additional minute until heated through.
5) Serve over rice or orzo and garnish with chopped peanuts.

Steak and Penne Stir-fry

So originally I was planning on doing a more Asian type stir-fry, but since we had rice last night, we decided to use pasta with tonight's dinner, and I felt inclined to shy away from typical Asian flavors. I still used all the same kinds of veggies, but the base of the very light sauce was beef broth rather than soy or teriakyi sauce (though I did use soy to marinate the beef... so sue me :) ). This is a nice, simple, light meal, and it's pretty quick (took me maybe 30 minutes) as long as you prep things in advance to cooking. Things go so much quicker if everything is already chopped to just toss in the pan when the time comes.

Steak and Penne Stir-Fry
Serves 2-3
8/10

1 lb. top-sirloin steak, sliced and cut into pieces about the size of a postage stamp
3 TBS soy sauce
2 TBS olive oil
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 TBS scallions, chopped
hamburger seasonings

1/2 red pepper, coarsely chopped
1/2 green pepper, coarsely chopped
1/2 onion, coarsely chopped
1 cup broccoli florets
1/2 cup snap peas, trimmed
2 TBS beef broth
2 TBS beef broth plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch, mixed to a paste
2 1/2 cups dry penne
2 TBS olive oil

1) Set a pot of water on to boil for the pasta. Plan to put the pasta in at about the same time you start cooking.
2) Combine steak, soy sauce, oil, garlic, scallions, and seasonings in a bowl or plastic bag. Marinate for at least 15 minutes.
3) Add pasta to boiling water. Set the timer for 3 minutes less than the suggested cooking time.
4) Heat 1 TBS oil in frying pan or wok until hot. Add steak, but discard marinade. Cook over medium to high heat until no longer pink. Remove meat and any remaining liquid from pan. Set aside.
5) Add second TBS oil to pan and heat. Add onions and peppers and cook until tender and the onions begin to brown (turn down the heat if the vegetables are cooking too quickly)
6) When timer goes off, add broccoli florets to the pasta and water for the remaining 3 minutes. When finished, drain pasta and set aside. Add broccoli to pepper/onion mixture.
7) Add steak and snap peas to the pan and toss. Add broth and cornstarch/broth mixture and stir until thickened and heated through.
8) Add pasta to pan and toss to coat.
9) Serve immediately!

Pork and Vegetable Stir-fry

My first attempts at food photo art!

This is a pretty easy and yummy recipe. My only real comments are to double the amount of "marinade" and use that as a sauce at the end if you're a big sauce person (which I will change in the recipe). I was fine, but the boy wanted a bit more. Also, the original recipe called for pork tenderloin rather than a pork chop, and then white mushrooms, carrots, snow peas, and scallions. I obviously took a few creative liberties with the vegetables, so you should too!

Pork and Vegetable Stir-fry
from Wok & Stir-Fry (with modifications)
Serves 2 (with rice)
8/10

1-2 boneless pork-chops, ~1" thick
1 TBS soy sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp chinese rice wine or dry sherry
2 tsp cornstarch paste (equal parts water and cornstarch, blended to a paste)
2 oz. snow peas
1/2 red bell pepper
1/4 cup broccoli florets
1/4 cup onions, chopped fine
2 oz. baby carrots, halved
1/4 cup vegetable oil
salt


1) Cut the pork into thin slices, each about the size of a postage stamp. Blend soy sauce, brown sugar, wine/sherry, and cornstarch paste. Pour half of this misture over the pork to marinate for at least 15 minutes.
2) Trim the snow peas, chop up the onion and red pepper, halve the carrots, etc. with any other vegetables you choose to add. With the exception of the onion, try to keep the vegetable pieces about the same size as the meat pieces.
3) Heat the oil in a preheated wok/skillet. Add pork and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes until color changes. Remove with slotted spoon and set aside.
4) Add heartier vegetables first, such as broccoli, and sauté until it turns a bright green. Add remaining veggies and stir-fry for about 2 minutes. Add salt (to taste) and pork (if the pan looks a little dry, add some chicken broth). Continue cooking and stirring for about one minute, then add remaining marinade sauce and blend well.
5) Serve over white rice.