Innie or Outie

As if the weather knows summer is coming to an end, the temperatures and humidity are starting to rise again. Given that, Hubby decided to prepare a cool and refreshing salad of his own that also reflects the increase of produce available in local supermarkets,
Papa’s Chicken Salad:

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For the salad, hubby used recently new produce times, sliced red onion and red radishes, with standards cherry tomatoes and iceburg lettuce, threw in some homegrown greens and arugula, and topped that with sliced deep-fried chicken nuggets, and completed the dish with a creamy sesame dressing.

This is a take-out store’s version of a local bento meal. Spinach-tofu chanpuru, deep-fried pork cutlet with sauce on a bed of julienned cabbage, pork luncheon meat, scrambled egg slice, pickled radish, meatball, rice, and seaweed.

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This is a simple way to have home cooked pizza as a snack or an entrée with in-the-pantry items, Mini Pizza:

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For each pizza, use one flour tortilla with 1 tablespoon of Italian herb tomato paste spread on it; add one sliced sautéed spicy sausage link, 1 tablespoon chopped onion, mushrooms, and bell pepper previously sautéed in sesame oil; one sliced cherry tomato; one crumbled teaspoon-size baby cheese chunk; and three chopped fresh basil leaves. First microwave for 1.5 minutes; then fry in 1 tablespoon olive oil until the bottom is light brown. Remove, slice, and add garnish (3 Spanish olives or whatever you desire).

Hubby came up with this unusual and flavorful in-the-pantry meal, Papa’s Mustard Sauce-Pork Dinner:

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For the meal, he boiled pork roast in water with dried rosemary and thyme flakes; sliced the pork and plated it on a bed of homegrown salad greens; and topped with a sauce made of whole grain mustard, fresh rosemary leaves, minced ginger paste, minced garlic paste, finely chopped arugula, dried thyme flakes, nira (garlic chives), and milk. To go with the pork, hubby sautéed frozen spinach and asparagus in sesame oil adding a little butter and soy sauce. To completed the meal by adding rice sprinkled with cracked toasted sesame seeds; and garnished the plate with chilled whole cherry tomatoes.

One of my favorite aspects of home cooking is taking whatever can be found in the pantry and creating a dinner with the items. This is one such meal, Grilled Mini-Meatball Kabob Dinner:

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What I found readily available in the pantry to use for this meal was:

2 medium potatoes
1 slice bacon (diced)
1 slice large onion (thinly diced)
1 small carrot (sliced)
1 teaspoon-size chunk baby cheese (diced)
1/2 cup heavy cream
7 medium frozen shrimp without shells (coarsely chopped)
1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon powdered nutmeg
1 teaspoon powdered paprika
1 package 10 frozen cocktail mini-meatballs in sauce (defrosted)
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 small bell pepper (chunk-style diced)
1/8 large onion (chunk-style diced)
5 small cherry tomatoes
5 bamboo skewers (soaked in water to prevent charring – something I forgot to do, ugh…)

When I first envisioned this meal, I wanted a version of twice-baked stuffed potatoes. Unfortunately, the pantry potatoes were the wrong type. Instead, I created Baked Creamy Shrimp-Potatoes:

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Microwave potatoes until tender (about 8 minutes); remove skin; coarsely mash with baby cheese, cream, shrimp, parsley, white pepper, and nutmeg; put mixture into a baking dish and sprinkle with paprika; place in preheated oven at 200 Centigrade for 15 – 20 minutes (until lightly browned).

To accompany the potatoes, a side dish with a twist, Baked Glazed Carrots:

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While potatoes are in the microwave, sauté bacon and thinly-diced onion until browned; place bacon mixture with fat on top of carrot slices and, after the potatoes are finished microwaving, microwave for 3 minutes; place microwaved carrot mixture in an aluminum foil packet and top with cocktail sauce gently scraped from defrosted mini-meatballs; seal and bake in oven at the same time as the potatoes.

For the entré, something a little different, Grilled Mini-Meatball Kabobs:

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As the potatoes and carrots bake in the oven, sauté bell pepper and chunky-diced onions in sesame oil until onions are slightly translucent; alternate sautéed bell pepper and onion, cherry tomatoes, and meatballs on skewers (use a salad fork’s prongs to slide the bell pepper and onion into place if too hot to handle); grill until lightly charred (about 5 minutes each side on low heat in a gas pair-broiler).

The kabobs, potatoes, and carrots should be done at about the same time. Simply plate and serve.

(NOTE: Although this meal sounds difficult, it really was quite uncomplicated because of the timing and rhythm of the preparation and cooking of the individual dishes.)

Hubby’s back in the mood for cooking Mediterranean-influenced edibles, Papa’s Olive Chicken Pasta:

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For the entrée he sautéed chicken breast chunks in olive oil, added julienned yellow and green bell pepper, fresh mushrooms, sliced green and black olives, and garlic chives. He tossed the mixture with assorted pasta; plated; and sprinkled with parmesan cheese. To complete the meal, hubby served a small salad of homegrown greens, iceberg lettuce, cherry tomatoes, bacon bits, and herbed croutons with an olive oil, white wine vinegar, and shikwasa (Hirami lemon) dressing.

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Getting down to the final three meals making use of that package of 25 (70 gram) servings of Japanese pasta, Apple-Pepper Pork on Almond-Mint Cream Sauce Somen:

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This entrée consisted of somen tossed with toasted almond slivers and chopped fresh mint cream sauce; topped with julienned onion sautéed in olive oil with sliced pork and apple, julienned yellow and green bell peppers, tarragon, cornstarch, white pepper, and finely-chopped fresh basil; garnished with fresh basil leaves; accompanied by Basil-Baby Cheese Garlic Brown Bread to complete the meal.

This is a combination bento meal from a local vendor that offers a choice of preselected combinations or an individual’s own choice of various dishes. The entrée bento was one of the preselected items that are very representative of typical local cuisine. The preselection consisted of green beans and julienned carrots sautéed in sesame oil, a stir-fried cabbage, carrot, and tofu dish, thin slices of pan-fried pork, a sunny-side up fried egg, rice, and a pickled plum (umeboshi). Accompanying the entrée was a cup of miso-tofu soup and as a side-order a sautéed dish of broccoli, bacon, tofu,and spinach.

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Finally getting down to the last few servings of somen. This is another original dish with a mild Spanish-influenced flavor, Golden Chicken in Tomato Sauce on Almond-Basil Somen:

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For the dish, thoroughly mix turmeric, dried tarragon flakes, white pepper, dried parsley flakes, paprika, dried oregano flakes, minced garlic paste and olive oil in a zip-style plastic bag; add chopped chicken breast chunks and completely coat in olive oil mixture; place in refrigerator to marinate.

About 30 minutes prior to serving, brown chicken mixture in frying pan; stir in diced onion, diced yellow bell pepper, and diced green bell pepper; cook until onion turns translucent.

Meanwhile, in a small frying pan, sauté sliced spicy sausage and start boiling somen water; remove sausage and toast almond slivers in remaing grease; add chopped stewed tomatoes with sauce and sausage to chicken mixture bringing to a light boil; reduce heat, add sliced black olives, and simmer until somen is ready.

Cook somen; remove toasted almonds from heat; strain and toss with chopped fresh basil, almonds, and olive oil; plate and ladle-on chicken mixture; top with fresh basil leaves. Serve.