Creamy Crab and and Goat Cheese Pasta

 

I don’t really like pasta (I can practically hear an audible gasp here), but for whatever reason I really was craving it last week. I have a habit of buying bottles and other sundry food items and taking my sweet time to use them up, so lately I’ve really been making and effort to use up more items; this pasta is a result of me trying to cook out of my pantry.

Red pepper.

Green onions, salt and pepper.

Minced chillies.

A can of crab meat. I envy people who can get fresh crab meat in bulk. That mean pretty much everyone south of the Mason-Dixon line.

Cooked through with tomato sauce added.

Delicious goat cheese.

Melted through.

With cooked spaghetti and fresh parsley added in at the last moment.

Creamy and delicious. Bliss my friends.

del.icio.us Tags: Pasta,Crab,Seafood

Japanese Chili Pork Ramen

You’ll rarely see me post pasta recipes because honestly, it’s just not my thing. I do however, have a thing for ramen noodles, even though it has been years since I have had some. Traditional Japanese ramen is a huge bowl of broth, ramen noodles, and different vegetables and meats depending on the recipe; each region in Japan has their version. You’ll notice there is no broth in my version. This is just personal preference as I have never particularly cared for the broth and have always felt that it just made it messier to eat.

For this recipe you will need:

Ramen noodles	Minced pork
Sambal Oelek or another chili sauce	Green onions
Fresh cilantro	Minced garlic
Roasted sesame seeds	Salt and pepper
Baby spinach

 

First of all you cook your pork until nearly browned.

Then add minced garlic.

Roasted sesame seeds and salt and pepper.

Once the meet is cooked thoroughly you put in a few tablespoons of Sambal Oelek. If you don’t have any feel free to use another type of chili sauce or you could even puree red chillies and use that instead.

 

Next, green onions and spinach go into the pan.

I usually use frozen baby spinach, since I can never finish the fresh kind before it goes bad.

And also some fresh cilantro, right at the end.

Give it a good stir and you’re ready to serve it. If you like your green onions very well cooked leave it on the heat a while longer, personally I like when they still have a bite to them as it makes for a good textural contrast with the meat and noodles.

While all of that is going on you can start your noodles. Try to get actual Japanese ramen noodles and not just the no name stuff in the styrofoam containers.

Since I don’t care for the broth I used just enough water to cook the noodles and two of the flavour packets that came with them. If you like the broth, use more water and all the flavour packets.

To serve just take some noodles and broth, if you’re using it, put them in a large bowl and add a generous amount of the pork mixture on top.

I really enjoyed this. It had been so long since I had eaten ramen so it really hit the spot. And I finally bought a pair of chopsticks to eat it properly. The Husband can’t eat with them so he thinks I have some kind of amazing talent to be able to do it. Poor boy, so gastronomically sheltered. I’ve tried to expand his horizons, but alas, no dice. This made lots of leftovers and overall it is a really cheap meal that can easily be stretched out. The biggest expense is the ground pork but the noodles are a buck or two per package and you could add more noodles and keep the same amount of meat. This meal is both tasty and budget friendly.

del.icio.us Tags: Japanse food,Ramen

Baked Tofu and Soba Wakame Soup

I collect food like other people collect knick knacks. While I plan out the week’s menu in advance and shop accordingly it still doesn’t stop me from tossing in various other things into the grocery cart. Lately, to use up some of the surplus, I’ve been trying to cut back on the pre-planned meals and improvise in order to use up everything I’ve been hoarding. This recipe was the result of me poking my head into the pantry and trying to figure out what I was going to have for dinner at the last minute.

I’m one of those people who actually likes tofu, even though it is pretty tasteless by itself.

Instead of adding in plain tofu I decided to marinade it before I tossed it into the oven to bake. I used a mixture of garlic (sorry, I was having a lazy food blogger day and used the stuff from the jar), ginger, sesame oil, maple syrup and rice vinegar. I was short on time so the tofu ended up just soaking for five minutes.

Going into the oven.

After 10 minutes at 450 I took them out of the oven to turn them.

After 20 minutes they were done. They look a little burnt but it’s just the marinade that makes them look so dark.

Instant soup. *gasp*. I can’t find dashi or dried wakame where I live so I ended up using instant soup packets. Even though I try to avoid using pre-packaged food sometimes I don’t have much of a choice.

I had some soba noodles that had been hanging around the pantry for a while that I decided to add to the soup. I love soba even though I don’t think about using it often. The noodles are made out of buckwheat flour and have a hearty texture and a slightly nutty taste.

Also some green onions.

I threw all the ingredients into the pot and let them boil away until the noodles were tender.

For an improvised meal this was pretty good. I liked the flavour of the tofu but next time I will let it marinate a lot longer so that the flavour gets stronger. The broth was savoury and went perfectly with the taste of the noodles. For a veggie meal this was rather filling. I don’t make a lot of Asian meals so this was a nice change.

del.icio.us Tags: Asian Food

Cheesy Beef Noodles (a.k.a. Homemade Hamburger Helper)

This is another recipe to put in the “Husband Friendly Food” file. I’ve never actually had hamburger helper but I image that this is what it tastes like. This recipe is pretty basic: cheese, noodles, sauce and meat but it’s pretty tasty and economical.

First off onions. I think there are very few recipes that don’t start off with chopped onions.

While that was going on I started boiling some egg noodles.

The original recipe calls for ground beef but The Husband bought ground bison instead. I personally like ground bison better than beef, it is actually leaner and has a nicer taste. It’s becoming more and more available. If you see it in the supermarket do give it a try.

I browned the meat along with the onions in a pan and added salt, pepper, minced garlic and chilli powder.

Also a dash of Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce.

To make the sauce I threw in a heaping tablespoon of flour and roughly a cup of chicken broth as well as a generous amount of cheddar cheese.

I let everything come to a boil until the cheese was melted and the sauce had thickened.

Once the noodles were done I drained them and stirred them into the sauce. I turned the heat on low and let the pasta sit so the flavours could come together and everything could thicken further.

This a nice change from the usual tomato based meat sauce and comes together really quickly. It really is one of those recipes for which you do not need to measure and pretty much any meat loving spouse or small child will eat.

del.icio.us Tags: Noodles,Beef