{IHCC} Potluck with Donna Hay

These potluck weeks seem to roll around so quickly each month.  Fortunately I don’t have any trouble finding a recipe, just deciding which one to use.  This month I chose one from Donna Hay.

Donna’s coconut and salmon laksa soup.  I had just come from the store with some very nice Atlantic Salmon and knew that is what I wanted to use this month for the potluck.  And I am so glad I did.  It was just the right meal for a just cool afternoon.  The spiciness of the laksa with the sweetness of the coconut milk.  YUM!

• 5 oz dry rice vermicelli
• 4 Tbl laksa paste
• 1 Tbl shredded ginger
• 1 kaffir lime leaf (optional)
• 3 1/2 cups veggie stock
• 2 cups coconut milk
• 8 oz fresh salmon, chopped
• 4 baby bok choy leaves, separated {I only had regular so used one leaf}
• chopped cilantro and red chilies for garnish

Cook the rice noodles as directed.

Place the laksa, ginger and lime leaf in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until it is fragrant.

Add the veggie stock and coconut milk and lower the temperature to low.  When all is hot add in the bok choy and salmon.  Cook for another 2 minutes or so.

Place the drained noodles in a bowl and add the broth with salmon and bok choy.

Garnish with the chilies and cilantro if desired.

I made 1/2 of the recipe and it was plenty for two meals.  I left off the chilies but added just a little extra laksa for the heat.

Darn good stuff!!

The recipe is on page 58 of Donna’s new food fast.  For more potluck this month visit IHCC.  Pretty sure there will be some more deliciousness there.

 

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{WWDH} chicken poached in coconut curry

If he recipe has the word CURRY in it you can bet I am going to make it. The word just conjures up far away places and exotic flavors. Kayte’s pick for this weeks Wednesdays with Donna Hay did just that. I opned up new food fast to read the recipe and found I had already made it for IHCC last December and it wasn’t one of my fave dishes.

But I decided to make it again with a couple of tweaks!

While Donna says to simply halve the chicken thighs I cut them into smaller pieces. I also cut the sweet potato into smaller bites. I made only 1/2 the recipe but kept the Red Curry Paste at 3 Tbl. MUCH better. And then I added a touch of salt which brought out the flavors more. I thickened the broth some and served it with some browned rice. Also much better. But…. there is still something lacking to my taste buds. I want to like this but it just isn’t there for some reason.

Did the other Ladies of WWDH like Kayte’s pick? Check out their posts by hopping over to the WWDH Website where we all leave our links.

The recipe is on page 67 of Donna’s new food fast.

And anytime you want to join us for some really good food just leave a comment for one of us or on the website. We would love to have you.

 

{WWDH} White Fish with Pine Nut Brown Butter

When it comes to favorite foods I would have to list seafood and fish on the top rung. Shrimp. Crab. Oysters. Fish. If we out that is what I usually order. Shrimp Poboy at the Magnolia Grill in Natchez. Oyster Poboy at the Magnolia Restaurant in St. Francisville. But if you can find good recipes for seafood at home I am all over it. Like this fish recipe from Donna Hay.

Thanks to Kayte I have another fish recipe to add to my list. Its a quick – less than 15 minutes – and nutty with the browned butter and pine nuts. In fact, that’s all the ingredients – fish, butter, and pine nuts and just a little lemon juice. If you can make a nice brown butter – and it took me ages to learn how – you can make this dish.

Make sure you use thin slices of the white fish. I used cod and the pieces were a little thick. I think we would really like it with some small catfish fillets.

Instead of the steamed greens that Donna suggested we had ours with some pasta I mixed with the buttery sauce. O, goodness, it was tasty.

The recipe is on page 30 of Donna’s New Food Fast and if you would like to see what the others did with the recipe you can visit all of us at Wednesdays with Donna Hay where we all leave our links for each dish.

The schedule of dishes is also there if you want to follow along, cook, and blog with us. We’d love to have you.

 

{WWDH} Hokkien Noodles with Sesame Chicken

If I know I am going to be alone for a meal I usually make Indian or Asian dishes. This time, since it was my pick for Wednesdays with Donna Hay I went Asian with her Hokkien Noodles with Sesame Chicken. Little did I know that THOSE particular types of noodles are not available any where withing 1000 miles of Podunk, USA. So I subbed in some ramen noodles and then just went on with the recipe. Perfectly acceptable sub!!

The chicken is cooked iwth sesame oil, onions, soy sauce, miso paste, {one of the reasons I chose this because I finally found some….}and greens. You could use either bok choy or spinach. I went with the spinach. The sesame seeds were sprinkled on top.

This was good. Definitely a nice quick dish and definitely repeatable.

The recipe is from Donna’s New Food Fast {page 68}. Check with Gaye, Sarah, and Chaya to see if they liked it as much as I did.

 

{IHCC} It’s a Mystery!

I know I haven’t been here since we started a new chef but life has been crazy. So many directions we have had to take. I knew, to keep my sanity, I would have to slow down, breathe, and cook!! So I managed to fit in this Weeks Mystery Box Madness!! for IHCC. What is that, you ask. Well, once a month (and this a new treat with he group) we are given a list of ingredients. We pick one of our past/present chefs, pick at least three of the ingredients and and then cook or bake using them. This month we had:

chocolate
cherries
cinnamon
rolled oats
couscous
pomegranate
curry
coconut milk
lentils
hot peppers/chiles

Interesting mix, but in there I saw the makings of a curry. And I am always open to a curry. And Donna Hay had a perfect one to try.

Chicken Poached in Coconut Curry

As usual, Donna’s recipe was quick and easy.

3 Tbl red CURRY paste
6 chicken thighs, halved
2 cups chopped sweet potatoes
2 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 cups COCONUT MILK
1/4 cup cilantro leaves
1/4 tsp dried CHILI flakes {I added this for a little heat}

Place the curry paste in a frying pan over medium-high heat and cook for 1 to 2 minutes or until fragrant.
Add the chicken and sweet potato to the pan and cook for another 2 minutes.
Add the stock and coconut milk and reduce heat to low.
Allow to simmer gently for about 12 minutes {Mine took about 20 minutes} until chicken and sweet potato are cooked.
Serve over steamed rice sprinkled with the cilantro leaves. Instead of steamed rice, I used COUSCOUS So I managed to just get in four ingredients. Maybe the chilis were a cheat!!??

Overall it wasn’t bad. I like the mix of the chicken and the sweet potato. It is not a combo I would have thought of.

The recipe is from Donna’s new food fast and is on page 67.

Since every member of this group is creative I am anxious to see what their MYSTERY dish contained. Click on over the IHCC for their finds.

 

{IHCC} It’s seasonal

Fall started 41 days ago. The season changed and a whole new cornucopia of freshness became available. Pumpkin. Spaghetti Squash. Butternut Squash. Honeycrisp apples. Figs. Just to name a few. So when this week’s theme came up for I Heart Cooking Club – In Season – I knew I would make something with PUMPKIN. Especially since we have piles of pretty little pumpkins left from the garden. Our first time planting pumpkins.

pumpkin and feta risotto

Creamy, cheesy. Okay, not as creamy as I would have liked but it was cheesy with the Parmesan. And pumpkin-y.

500g (1 Ib) sweet pumpkin, such as jap or butternut, peeled
and chopped
oil
sea salt and cracked black pepper
51/2 cups (44 11oz) chicken or vegetable stock
1 tablespoon oil
2 cups arborio (risotto) rice
1/4 cup chopped chives
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
cracked black pepper
150g (5 oz) marinated fetta cheese in oil

Preheat the oven to 220°C (425°F). Place the pumpkin on a baking tray and toss with oil, salt and pepper. Bake for 20 minutes or until soft.
To cook the risotto, place the stock in a saucepan over medium heat and allow to simmer. Place the oil in a separate saucepan over medium heat. Add the rice and cook for 1 minute or until translucent. Add the stock, 1 cup (8 fl oz) at a time, and stir until absorbed. Continue until all the stock has been used and the rice is creamy. To serve, stir the chives, parmesan, pepper and pumpkin through the risotto. Top with the fetta and its oil. Serves 4.
Okay, not bad, but not a repeat. I don’t know why, but it didn’t really have much flavor. I think I’ll try it again with butternut squash. It is sweeter than the pumpkin.

This recipe came fro Donna’s new food fast page 94.

Hop on over to I Heart Cooking Clubs and see what else is “In Season”