Wild rice with rotisserie chicken

2012-3-3

Quick, yummy, and healthy I can claim. My recipe, not so much.

A friend had delivered a cooked chicken, a rotisserie chicken. I purchased a couple packages of Near East wild rice (with spice packs), a package of organic carrots, a package of organic celery, and a red onion.

I cooked the wild rice on stove top.

In a pan, I caramelized the finely sliced red onion, using olive oil, on medium heat. Once the onion was done, I added the carrots and celery. I added chicken broth and sea salt. Placed a lid on the pan. Cooked the carrots and celery on the stove for approximately 15-20 minutes.

I preheated the oven to 375. In a stoneware rectangular pan (like one used to bake lasagna), 9 x 13 (I think), I covered the bottom with the contents of the frying pan (carrots, celery, red onion, broth). Next layer up, I sprinkled freshly grounded peppercorn (mine had a variety of colors, different kinds of peppercorn), followed by rotisserie chicken torn into pieces. The top layer was the cooked wild rice. I covered the stoneware with aluminum foil and baked the dish for 45 minutes.

Time was spend peeling carrots, washing celery, and cutting the vegetables. Other than that, the dish doesn't take much effort or time to make. And the dish was popular amongst the friends with whom I had shared.

Seared Tuna with Caramelized Onion

2010-7-15

Bought some Ahi Tuna at the store today. Since we've been in this house one year as of today and that's anniversary of sorts, thought we'd celebrate.

I caramelized a red onion, by cooking it on lower heat with a bit of olive oil, until the onion turned a bit transparent. Then i added the tuna. It wasn't frozen when I was ready to cook it. So, I cooked it no more than a few minutes on each side, adding a bit of sea salt on each side.

Simply Shrimp

2010-5-25

Simply Shrimp

Simply put, I pan fried a finely sliced red onion until it started turning transparent. Then I dropped in frozen, raw shrimp into the pan. When the shrimp was almost done, I added some sea salt and red pepper flakes. Careful not to overcook the shrimp, as that shrinks the shrimp and makes it somewhat rubbery.

I had this to eat over rice, along with some Swiss chard and pickled kohlrabi.

Here's the somewhat more picturesque version of the recipe:

Ingredients

Uncooked easy peel shrimp of the large variety. Six of them.


A small red onion.


Olive oil. Just a tid bit.


Sea salt. Again, just a bit.


Red pepper flakes. A few shakes.


Directions

Cut the red onion finely.


Then cut in half in the perpendicular direction.



The six shrimp up on the chopping block (to be cooked).


Place the cut onion into a pan with just a tad of olive oil.


Separate the onion into its individual pieces and fry until somewhat transparent.


Then add in the shrimp. Cook the shrimp just until it turns orange. Don't overcook this.

Garlic and Onion Chinese Eggplant

2010-2-12

Garlic and Red Onion Chinese Eggplant

As a kid, I wasn't a fan of eggplant. Not even close. Couldn't stand the texture, it's mushiness; and, as a result, I couldn't stand the taste either. When I was pregnant with my second born, for some odd reason or another, I fancied Chinese eggplants, I stir fried them with diced tomatoes and garlic. I ate so much of that, along with some other foods, the mere thought of them wasn't appetizing to me.

Another piece I'd like to share at this juncture is that conquering the challenge of cooking something in a tasty, nutritious fashion has been a bit therapeutic at times. Like today. I've had these Chinese eggplants sitting in my refrigerator for just over half a week and haven't done anything with them. Felt so great succeeding at making something smell so good and taste so mouth-watering-good. And, this is my very own concoction.

Per usual (to me), I don't have exact measurements on everything.


Ingredients:

• 3 Chinese eggplants (coarsely peeled and cut into circles, as seen in the picture below)
  
• 1 small red onion (I halfed the onion and then cut it very thinly, as can also be seen below)
  
• 3-4 cloves of garlic (diced)
  
• 2 tbsp (tablespoons) rice vinegar
• 2 tsp (teaspoons) worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• sea salt
• chicken broth
• olive oil
  

Above: Chinese eggplants coarsely peeled and cut into circles. Below: a cut red onion.


Directions:

In a frying pan, stir fry the red onion and garlic in a small amount of olive oil on medium heat (or slightly below). When anything gets dry, I added a bit of chicken broth (add water instead if pinching pennies or if you're wanting to cook a vegetarian version); avoid buring the onions (or eggplant for that matter). Once the onions and garlic are decently cooked, add the eggplant. Add a bit of sea salt and perhaps chicken broth (just enough so nothing will burn) to it. Cover and let simmer for a few minutes. Then add the rice vinegar, worcestershire, and soy sauce (I mixed the three in a separate bowl ahead of time). Let it cook long enough to let the flavor soak into the eggplant. Ready to eat! I ate it with rice.

Another photograph of the finished product: