Chicken Chow Mein

If you've been following my foodie blog long enough you'll know that I have a huge affinity for 'one-pot' meals, whether it's using one of my slow cookers, or having a casserole bubbling in the oven or as here, using a large skillet for a stir-fry.  I used what I had on hand for this one, but obviously combinations of whatever you have or your favourites can be substituted.

Chicken Chow Mein
4 servings

1 Tbs vegetable oil
3-4 chicken breasts, sliced
1 green pepper, sliced
1 red pepper, sliced
1 small red onion, sliced
2 cups vegetable stock
1 cup frozen peas
4 cups chinese style noodles
2 Tbs cornstarch
4 Tbs soy sauce (I use Tamari)
4 cups baby spinach

• in a small bowl combine the cornstarch and soy sauce and set aside.
• using a large skillet over medium to high heat, cook the chicken in the oil until no longer pink (I actually used some chicken that I had already roasted earlier in the day just because it was available, but whichever you have is great).
• add the peppers and onion and saute for a couple of minutes until they've softened slightly.
• pour in the vegetable stock and frozen peas, mix well, cover and let bubble for 5 minutes.
• add the noodles and mix well..
• pour in the soy sauce mixture and stir to coat everything.
• simmer for a couple of minutes until most of the liquid has been absorbed.
• turn off the heat and fold in the baby spinach to wilt it.
• serve and enjoy :o)

 Chicken Chow Mein ingredients.

(I used some chicken breasts that I had roasted earlier in the day)

Oops, I forgot to add the baby spinach to the ingredients photo....here it is :o)

slice the chicken and the veggies into fairly uniform pieces.

saute the chicken, peppers and onion until the chicken is cooked through and the veggies have softened.

the chinese noodles are hard to begin with, but they soon soften up with a little liquid and heat.

it only takes about 30 seconds to wilt the spinach right at the end before you serve.

Yummy!!

Coconut and Beef Curry with Noodles

I'll be honest, I had absolutely no idea what we were going to have for dinner tonight.  First thing this morning I searched through the freezer and got out some frying steaks to defrost, but even looking at them I didn't really have any inspiration at the time.  Shall we have some Philly cheesesteaks - no.  How about some steak and blue cheese mini roulades - no (mainly because I don't have any blue cheese!!).  Dilemmas, dilemmas, dilemmas....

...after a search from front to back of the pantry and a browse through some cookbooks to give me some ideas, I decided on this curry.  Even though it would, I'm sure, taste wonderful if I had the inclination to mix up all the authentic spices and herbs, the easier and quite frankly just as delicious route is the use of the ready made curry paste that I found in the pantry.

Coconut and Beef Curry with Noodles
4 servings

8 oz vermicelli (rice noodles) or angel-hair pasta
2 Tbs vegetable oil
1 lb beef frying steak, cut into thin strips
1 red onion, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
2 bell peppers, thinly sliced
1/4 cup water
1 Tbs Thai red curry paste
1 can (14 oz) unsweetened coconut milk
1 Tbs lime juice

• bring a large pot of water to a boil; add a generous amount of salt and cook the noodles until tender; drain.
• meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the vegetable oil over medium-high.  Season the beef and cook, turning, until browned on both sides, 4-5 minutes.  Transfer the beef to a plate and set aside.
• add onion, peppers and the water to skillet; season with salt and pepper; cook, stirring occasionally until vegetables are crisp-tender, 3-4 minutes.
• add the curry paste and cook, stirring, until paste is combined completely and fragrant, about 1-2 minutes.
• return the beef and any accumulated juices to the skillet and add the coconut milk.
• simmer until sauce thickens slightly, 4-5 minutes.
• remove from heat and stir in the lime juice, and season with salt and pepper if required.
• serve over the prepared noodles.

 Coconut and Beef Curry ingredients

cut the beef into thin slices, and then fry off in the oil until browned.

cut the vegetables fairly thinly, that way they don't need too long in the skillet.

 once you've fried the beef and set aside, saute the vegetables until crisp/tender - the hand belongs to my hubby - it's always a pleasure to have such a handsome helper :o)

fry the vegetables until crisp-tender, then add the curry paste - the smell at this stage is amazing.

add the beef back into the skillet with it's juices.

it might seem very 'liquidy' when you add the coconut milk, but within a couple of minutes it will thicken up nicely.

I'm not a big drinker, but today our niece and her fiancee had their first little baby girl, so we opened a bottle of wine to celebrate :o)