Satay Chicken Skewers

Last night I decided to make myself something different and tasty for dinner. I didn't rush and didn't set any timers, but I think I was done in a little over 30 minutes. I skipped the fruit dessert and decided to save it for another time.




182. Chicken Skewers, Amazing Satay Sauce and 183. Fiery Noodle Salad (Jamie's Meals In Minutes, page 110)




First things first, I soaked some wooden skewers in water. My big quandry with this recipe was whether or not to use the cilantro called for, as no one in the house likes it but me. I compromised by keeping it out of the salad (since I figured I could add it to mine separately right before eating) but I used some of the stalks in the satay sauce, since it was processed to a smooth consistency. Apparently it was a good call, because my son ate both dishes without raising an eyebrow. :)


The sauce was quick and easy to whip up in the food processor...peanut butter, fresh red chili, cilantro, lime zest and juice, garlic, soy sauce and fresh ginger root. Half is slathered over the skewered chicken breast, and the other half is reserved for dipping. Then the skewers are placed under the broiler for 8 - 10 minutes on each side. While the chicken was cooking, I started on my noodle salad.


I rinsed out the food processor quickly and then whizzed up half a red onion and another red chili. I soaked some Chinese egg noodles in boiling water for a few minutes, then rinsed them under the cold tap before combining them with the veggies and some olive oil, soy sauce, lime juice, fish sauce, sesame oil and honey. In a frying pan, I toasted some cashews, adding a squirt of honey when they started to brown and candied them. I scattered them over the noodle salad.









Jamie serves both the noodles salad and the chicken in little lettuce cups. I did the same, for presentation, but my romaine was really too large to actually pick up and eat that way. The chicken was very good, and I am not usually one to rave about chicken breast, which I usually find too dry. Not this time, not at all, it was quite juicy. The sauce was really tasty, and the noodle salad was fiery as described. I took the left over salad to work for lunch today and it was even better after having sat in the fridge over night. Unfortunately, there was no chicken left over, as my son ate it all!

Perfect Day....well almost

Yesterday dawned up sunny and warm, and my first stop was the farmer's market. I resisted buying many veggies (still have quite a few to use up) but got fresh eggs, fresh tortillas, and a variety of different types of tomato plants. Six, to be exact. The helpful lady selling them said that it wasn't time to plant tomatoes or peppers yet, but I disagree. It's the May long weekend, the May 2-4, the traditional tomato planting weekend! The 14 day trend does not show the temperature dipping below 11 C so as far as I'm concerned, I'm not missing this window of sunny opportunity. So my next stop was a garden centre for bags of soil with compost, and then home to get to work.

I still had half of one garden patch to rake before spreading the soil. After that ordeal I rested and watched a little Nurse Jackie, then went grocery shopping. Then back out to plant tomatoes and peppers! They filled one entire patch (but I gave the tomatoe a generous amount of space, because last year I crowded them terribly. I'm thinking I could probably sqeeze some pole beans in there somewhere still.....

After some Top Chef Canada I headed back out to plant the other patch with bush beans, zucchini and cucumber. Wheeee, I'm done! What a relief to finally get everything in, before the rains come back again for the week. Now the biggest chore is keeping the dogs out LOL.

After another brief rest I decided I was getting quite hungry, since I'd only been snacking all day. I didn't want to heat the house up by putting the oven on, but I figured that I could improvise a little bit by using the BBQ for most of the recipe. Yeah, it's a 30 minute meal, but there's nobody here but me, so who's counting? I took my time and enjoyed the process.

179. Steak Indian-Style, 180. Spinach & Paneer Salad, Naan Breads, 181. Mango Dessert (Jamie's Minutes In Meals, page 216)

JamieOliver.com recipe link


The first thing I did was get my left-over jalrezi paste out (I had defrosted it earlier) and mix that in a bowl with some lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. This became a marinade for my steaks. I priced out some Patak's curry pastes at the supermarket (although they didn't specifically have a Jalfrezi) and they are over $5. Good in a pinch but so easy to make yourself, if you already have all the ingredients.

The second job was mixing some plain yogurt with lemon juice, adding some chopped mint and salt, and setting it aside. Then I needed to mix more jalfrezi paste with coconut milk to create a quck curry sauce. Jamie suggests doing this in a pot, but I was doing such a small amount for one person that I decided to do it in a ramekin and microwave it instead.






The salad was a quick mix of baby spinach, watercress, cilantro leaves and a carrot shredded with a speed peeler. I had purchased a block of paneer (and Indian cheese) from the Indian food booth at the farmer's market, so I sliced about half of it up and arranged it in a frying pan with a bit of olive oil. That, I took out to the BBQ with me. I put a piece of naan bread into a damp bit of parchment paper, brushed with olive oil, and put this all into the toaster oven for a few minutes. Then, I headed outside.







I should have let the BBQ get hotter than I did. I put the steaks on and turned the burners up high but I had a hard time getting any caramelization going. Usually, I burn things, but not this time. I managed to brown the paneer on one side, so I flipped it over and sprinkled it with some sesame seeds. Eventually, I took the steaks off, but I knew that I'd overcooked them inside while not achieving much browning outside. I prefer my steak quite rare. Back in the house I went to put the entire meal together.







Other than the over-done steak, I was in seventh heaven. I loved all of it. I ate more than I should have. My calorie count, with the paneer, was off the radar, but I figure I countered a lot of it with all the hard work in the garden. I was so full that I had no room left for the mango dessert (even though mangoes my favourite). So I decided to leave them until morning, when I could eat them for breakfast.







The whole day would have been perfect, except for the fireworks that started going off about 9 pm, which always send the dogs into fits. Perhaps tonight I will compensate by putting the TV up really, really loud...

Rainy days and Mondays

Wow, what a miserable Monday yesterday was. Where did our warm, spring weather go? I managed to get one of the gardens dug up on the weekend but then never got a chance to plant because it's been raining ever since. Looks like I may not get the chance until next weekend, if the predictions are correct. Oh well, as long as I get everything in by June 1st I think I'll be ok. I am pleased to see that the torrential rains seem to have started my carrots, beets, and chard germinating. That's something I guess.


So what does one do when it rains? One cooks! I've been playing around with recipes that I've made before, but making some twists. I also picked up some wonderful produce from the market on Saturday....my first Ontario asparagus of the season, some lovely little baby bok choy leaves (great for stir fries!), some red chilis, and some live basil and watercress (which is a new-to-me veggie that I've been wanting to try forever). My kids think it weird that I pick and munch on watercress while I'm cooking, but it's very peppery, I like it!


So Sunday, I decided to make another pot of Aloo Gobi, however this time I thought I'd substitute sweet potato for the potato (lower in calories, higher in fibre, just an all around healthier choice I think). That turned out great! I have a container of it for lunch today. Then last night I threw another half batch of Tapioca Pudding in the crock pot, but this time I used some vanilla pods and cardamom seeds, as I'd recently seen another blogger's rice pudding recipe. I figured that whatever you did to rice pudding, you could do to tapioca pudding, right? It turned out yummy, if a bit too thick, because I halved the measure for everything except the eggs (oops!). But still good.

May flowers

Wow, here we are almost mid-way into May and I haven't made one single post. Never fear, I've been cooking! But mainly tried and true recipes, like Jamie's Chicken Fajitas, Chicken/Beef Chow Mein, Burgers and Sticky Chicken Thighs. My kids really like a lot of the Food Revolution recipes. I couldn't tell you how often that book sits open on my counter when I'm making dinner. A lot of times I take liberties with the ingredients, but it's nice to have the base recipes, you know? I'm even considering buying a paperback copy....it has a totally different picture on it, and my hard cover is pretty beat up (and stained with food). ;)

I planted some of my garden early and I'm now worried that a freak hail storm may have ruined it. So far, none of the beets, carrots or swiss chard have come up. If they aren't up by next week I may have to replant. I'm hoping that the leeks survive....they were bashed up a bit but they are still kicking. I plan to get the back garden ready this weekend (weather permitting) because my peppers are about 6 inches tall and ready to go outside! I have started some zucchini and cucumbers in the house as well, and have seed packets of other veggies ready to plant. I'm going to buy tomatoes from a greenhouse when it's time.

I'm looking forward to the farmer's market tomorrow morning (even if I do have to go out in the rain) and maybe it'll inspire me to cook something new again. Stay tuned!