Ramen

Midnight Ramen: a quick meal for those who don't care if they turn into gremlins. It's late at night. You've just returned home from a long hard day of strenuous labor - day in which you had no time to stop for a proper meal. What to do? You've used up the leftover rice and beef from the other night. Hmm...there's some leftover chicken, but what to eat it with? It's time for another entry in the continuing "Ramen" series.

Ingredients:
1 pack instant Ramen Noodles (not in a cup)
1 leftover chicken breast (sliced or whole, preferably sliced)
1/4 cup diced white onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon Amateur Chef's Steak Sauce
2-3 teaspoons Amateur Chef's Asian Spice
1 teaspoon Amateur Chef's Original Spice
1/2 - 1 teaspoon garlic
1/2 - 1 teaspoon peppercorn medley

Steak Sauce will be covered in a later post. For now you may substitute the same sauce from previous entry:
Teriyaki Sauce
Soy Sauce
Tabasco Sweet Asian Sauce
Worcestershire Sauce
Amateur Chef's Original Spice

Leftover chicken should be plain or lightly seasoned.

Process:
If leftover chicken is not already thinly sliced, do so.
In a large pot or medium sautée pan, add olive oil and stir diced onion over medium heat. Once onions begin to take color, add the chicken. Drizzle the steak sauce (or the replacement sauce) and stir. Add 1 teaspoon of AC's Asian Spice, 1/2 of the garlic and 1/4 of the peppercorn medley. Stir until onions have taken the color of the sauce, and chicken has warmed. Remove from heat and set aside.
In medium pot, add enough water to cover noodles. Add a pinch of salt, and 1 teaspoon of AC's Original, and another of AC's Asian Spice. Add half of the peppercorn medley using a grinder or pre-ground pepper. (The fresher, the better) Cook Ramen as per instructions. For this recipe, I used chicken flavored, but you may use you favorite. Once noodles are ready, strain the water. To ensure the tenacity of the flavor, I like to add after noodles are strained. Add another 1/2 teaspoon of AC's Asian Spice, along with the garlic, and peppercorn medley. For a little added flavor, add a touch of the steak sauce. Stir to fully integrate spices.
In a large bowl, combine noodles, chicken and onion. Serve immediately.

Serves 1 or 2 people.

A better midnight ramen, you will be hard pressed to find - savory, tangy, sweet, spicy, and comfortingly warm. It is how a midnight snack should be.

Beef Teriyaki Stir Fry

Your refrigerator is full of leftovers. What are you to do? One thing that can easily be done is to take those leftovers and crate an all new dish. I look in the fridge and I see some leftover beef, and some rice. quickly glancing around the fridge I see some other ingredients, and inspiration strikes.




Ingredients:
1 small steak sliced
1/4 cup zucchini sliced lengthwise
1/3 cup onion sliced
1/3 cup Teriyaki sauce
1-2 tablespoons Tabasco Sweet Asian Sauce
1/2 - 1 tablespoon freshly cracked peppercorn medley
1 - 2 teaspoons garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon Amateur Chef's Asian Spice
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1 bowl of leftover rice

Process:
In a zip-top bag marinate the sliced steak in a mixture of peppercorn medley, garlic, Asian Spice, and Tabasco Sweet Asian Sauce. Close bag and mix by squeezing with hands and turning over and over. Let sit for 15-20 minutes.
In a large skillet, heat up the oil over medium. Add steak and marinade. Stir, and add the zucchini and onion. Stir and add the rice. Continue to stir until rice has taken color and onions are translucent. Add more teriyaki and seasonings if desired.
Serves 1-2

There are many was to spice up leftovers. All you have to do is experiment.

Panini

Among many other things, I got a panini press for Christmas, and today decided to try it out. So I scrounged through the kitchen in search of ingredients. It was an experiment, and I was surprised at how it turned out.

Ingredients:
2 slices of sourdough bread
1 pack of tuna
lettuce
2 full cross-section slices of onion
2-4 slices of bell pepper
3-4 slices of boiled egg
mustard
honey mustard

Procedure:
Warm up the panini press
In a pot filled with water, boil 1 or 2 eggs. I like hard boiled, but soft boiled is also fine. Let cool off, remove shell, and slice up.
Spread mustard on one piece of bread, and the honey mustard on the other.
To build sandwich, start with the mustard slice on the bottom. Lay the lettuce, followed by the onion, bell pepper, and egg. Add the tuna and top with the honey mustard slice.
Lay the sandwich on the panini press and... well... press. Keep an eye so it doesn't burn. It only takes a few minutes, if that. Remove from press, being careful because it is hot, slice in half and serve.

There are many possibilities with the panini press, and I hope you will all come along with me as I take my food journey.

Scrambled Eggs

Here's a great recipe for scrambled eggs I developed over the last week.





Ingredients:
4 large grade-a chicken eggs
1 - 2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup white onion, diced
1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup green bell pepper, diced
1 large jalapeño, diced
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon Amateur Chef's Original Spice Mixture (found in an earlier post)

Process:
In a large pan or skillet, cook onion and peppers in olive oil.
Sprinkle garlic powder and gently toss until onions are lightly browned.
Add the eggs; either individually, or mix them beforehand in a bowl or measuring cup and add the mixture all at once.
Stir continuously until eggs are completely cooked.
Season with Original Spice Mixture and serve.

This dish serves two people, or one very hungry person.
Optional: serve with dashes of your favorite hot sauce. My favorites include: Frank's, Tabasco, and my own Amateur Chef's Original Hot Sauce (to be featured in an upcoming post)

Holiday Traditions

I know technically New Years Eve isn't an actually holiday, but by gum we all celebrate it. In my family we have a tradition. Every year on New Years Eve, my dad makes Fejoada, a traditional Brasilian dish consisting of black beans, sausage, and roast beef; seasoned with onions, peppers, and garlic; and served over rice. It's a more complex for of the traditional black beans and rice. I love this dish, it keeps me in touch with my Brasilian roots. I plan on learning the recipe and continuing the tradition once I start my own family.

Happy Thanksgiving

Its that time of year again where we gather together with family and friends to celebrate that which we are thankful for.
But what is Thanksgiving?
Being a strictly US holiday, not many people in the world understand it. Traditionally it is supposed to be in remembrance of when the pilgrims and the natives came together in celebration of peace, love, and good will toward all peoples. Well if you know anything about history, that didn't happen, but it is a romantic notion which fills us with those warm fuzzy feelings. And there's nothing wrong with that.
But really its just an excuse to pig out on turkey and dressing. Which is one thing I always had a problem with - not pigging out or the dining selection, but in that people have convinced themselves that it is the only time of year to eat said foods. Why? There is no reason. I would eat turkey and dressing all year long if I could. I love it. And that brings us to the best part of Thanksgiving: the leftovers! Unfortunately in my family the leftovers have become scarce as of late. We just aren't making as much food as we used to, and that's a shame.
This Thanksgiving week I helped out at a local restaurant and catering service. Every year the good people at Goldie's Express in Vicksburg, MS, prepare both turkey and ham dinners. These dinners can come complete with a choice of dressing, cranberry sauce, peas, yams, baked beans, red beans and rice (its a southern thing), giblet gravy, potato salad, and a choice of either a pecan pie or sweet potato pie. Of course you could order everything, and there are quite a few people who do. The days leading up to Turkey Day are filled with preparation - making the sides, packing them, organizing the turkeys and hams, making sure there's enough food to fill the orders and finally putting the orders together and the pick up. Those who ordered dinners can pick up at the shop the day before T-Day, and all they have to do is heat up the food.
For my part in this great service, I made nearly a ton of dressing. I enjoyed it, because I was actually thinking of making a dressing entry for this blog, and this kind of does that for me.

While I don't know the exact measurements because I was making it in bulk, I will share the ingredients and process as best I can.
In huge containers, I broke up slabs of conrbread. This was then mixed with half a bag of Uncle Ben's dressing mix, a cup of black pepper, 3-4 cups of sliced boiled eggs and probably around a gallon of a chicken stock mixture. The chicken stock was boiled with diced onions and celery. When this is mixed thoroughly, the dressing is moist and delicious. Remember this is the process for a 5-10 gallon container and not for individual portions. I think by Christmas I'll have a more refined recipe.

I had a lot of fun making the dressing, but that was not the end of my participation. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I helped organize the orders and hand them off to the customers. I know that there are a lot of people who will be enjoying their Thanksgiving dinners this year, and it gives me a feeling of satisfaction.

From the Amateur Chef, I wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving in the real sense of that phrase: pig out on great food in great company.

Parmesan Chicken and Mini Farfalle in Cream Sauce

I had an itch for experimentation and this is the result.

Ingredients:
1 chicken breast
1 egg
1/4 cup Italian bread crumbs
Parmesan cheese
1 cup mini farfalle (bow-tie noodles)
2 tsp powdered garlic
1 tsp Eric's Original Spice
1-2 tsp fresh ground peppercorn medley
1/2 cup milk
1 tbs olive oil

Process:
Dip the chicken breast in the egg and bread with the Italian bread crumbs. Top with Parmesan cheese. Fry in medium skillet until thoroughly cooked. Be careful not to burn the cheese.
Boil the noodles in a medium pot until al dente. Drain noodles. In the same pot, add the oil and seasoning. Stir well to mix. Slowly add the milk and continue to stir until the sauce is a creamy texture.
Serve on a plate with the chicken cut up on top of the noodles. Sprinkle some more Parmesan cheese for a little more flavor.

This turned out to be a delightful little dish with great Italian flavors, and the recipe can easily be doubled for a nice little dinner for two.