Loose pasta bake

I'm very sorry for being so remiss in my postings. Largely it's because I haven't really done anything new. Well, I'm back.

Another good name for this dish would be "lazy person's lasagna." But I'm going with the post title instead.

Ingredients:

150 gr. any type of flat pasta shapes (I used bows), cooked to taste
150 gr. green cabbage, chopped
75 gr. soybean sprouts
10-20 snow peas
4 large mushrooms, sliced
1 bell pepper, chopped
1/4 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. olive oil
4-6 tbsp. Ricotta cheese (The one I get is more like a spread)
4-6 thin slices of turkey ham, diced
2 jars of spaghetti sauce, 540 gr. each
Grated Parmesan cheese to taste

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 180 C (around 460 F)

In a deep pan or wok, heat the olive oil. Saute the onion, garlic and bell pepper (I like my bell pepper well-cooked and soft) until the onion begins to turn translucent. Add the mushrooms and keep coking for 2-3 minutes. The  add the rest of the vegetables and cook until the cabbage is soft, say for 10-15 minutes.

While this is going on, cook your pasta shapes.

In a baking dish ad a layer of sauce and spread it with a rubber spatula. Then add a layer of pasta (not all the pasta), again, flattening and spreading it with the spatula. Add the ricotta, again flattening and spreading it Add the vegetables and ham, flattening as needed. Next another layer of sauce. Another layer of pasta (now use it all up. A last layer of sauce to cover it all, and spread some Parmesan on top.

You may want to add a little low-fat sour cream or Greek yogurt on top as well. This is entirely optional, naturally. I actually used fresh jocoque, which is a kind of strained yogurt. I like it better as a sour cream substitute, as it is thick and not sweet at all.

Place the dish in the oven for 25-35 minutes, or until the sauce bubbles.

You'll need a spoon to serve it. When you do, it will look like this:

Enjoy!

Sweet and Sour Cabbage, Second Draft

I'm more nearly there, I think,  but the recipe still needs some work.
I went in a different direction, foregoing ketchup entirely and using canned pineapple bits in syrup, which happen to be sweet and sour.

Ingredients:

Sauce
1 Cup chicken broth
1/4 Cup Rice vinegar
1/4 Cup white sugar cane vinegar
1/3 Syrup from canned pineapple bits
210 Gr.tomato puree
1 Teaspoon powdered turmeric
3 Tablespoons Soy sauce (low sodium)
3 Tablespoons corn starch dissolved in 1/4 cup of water

1/2 Head of green cabbage
1 Carrot, cubed.
1 Cup snow peas
1 Red onion in thin slices
2 Cloves garlic
1 Teaspoon sesame seeds
1 Cup pineapple bits, drained of syrup

For the sauce mix the chicken broth, both types of vinegar, syrup, tomato puree, turmeric and soy sauce in a  bowl and whisk vigorously. Set aside. As always, taste it and adjust ingredients to your taste.

In a pot heat some olive oil. Saute the onion and garlic for a few minute, then add the sesame seeds and saute for another two minutes. Add the cabbage, carrot and snow peas. Don't add the pineapple yet. Stir fry until the vegetables soften a little. Reduce heat to minimum and add the sauce and pineapple. Stir well so everything is well covered in the sauce.

Let the dish come to a slow boil. When it boils, add the corn starch solution and stir well, again making sure everything gets well covered. You'll feel the sauce thicken while you stir. Let it simmer for a minute or two, let it cool a bit and serve.

I'm not satisfied with the dish as it is, or with the sauce. But I think I'm headed in the right direction. I'll likely rest from sweet and sour, and tomato puree (see following post, eventually) for a week or two, then get back to it.

But the way, the sauce does look a little more red than it shows in the photo.

Sweet and sour cabbage, first draft

I thought this one up while at work late this afternoon. I've tried some sweet and sour recipes before, but was disappointed with the results. This one comes close to meeting my expectations, but it's not all it could be yet. Think of it as first draft.

Ingredients:

1/2 A head of green cabbage, shredded
1/3 Onion, quartered
2 Cloves of garlic, minced
1 Cup soybean sprouts
1 Cup snow peas
1 Cup chicken broth (Ok, I used a cup of hot water and one cube of low sodium, low fat chicken bullion)
3 Tablespoons soy sauce (low sodium)
4 1/2 Tablespoons vinegar
1/4 cup Ketchup (I used low-sugar ketchup)
2 Tablespoons Splenda (you can use sugar in the same proportion)
Black pepper to taste
1 Teaspoon sesame seed oil
3 Tablespoons corn starch dissolved in 1/4 cup of water

Preparation:

First do the sauce. In a bowl mix the chicken broth (cold or warm, not hot), ketchup, soy sauce and vinegar. Whisk until you can't see lumps of ketchup. Taste to see if it's sour enough. if it isn't, add more vinegar (carefully, you don't want it too sour). Add the Splenda and whisk again. Taste again to check if the sweet and sour balance is ok. if not, adjust as needed by adding more sweetener or vinegar. Just be careful not to mess it up, or to add too much liquid. Set it aside.

Heat the oil in a pot. Add the onion and garlic and saute for a couple of minutes. Add the cabbage, snow peas and soybean sprouts. Sprinkle with pepper, if you want, and stir well. Stir-fry for ten to fifteen minutes, or to the point where you think the veggies are soft enough.

Reduce the heat to minimum and add the sauce (it won't hurt to give it a last whisk). Stir well so everything gets coated. You may need to toss it like a salad. Let it simmer for three minutes and add the corn starch dissolve din water. Stir/toss well again, insuring everything gets well-drenched in sauce. Let it simmer for 3 to 5 minutes, remove from heat and serve.

I need, and I will,make some improvements. For one thing I should add sliced carrots and pineapple bits in syrup (which would alter the sweetener amounts). It might also serve for sweet and sour meats like chicken or pork.

Enjoy!

Ginger Chicken

This is one of my first recipes, the very first to use chicken. It's very simple, but there's a lot of chopping involved.

Ingredients:

3 Chicken breasts
Sesame seed oil
Half an onion, chopped,
2 Cloves of garlic, chopped,
1.5 Carrots, chopped
2 Stalks of celery, chopped.
1/3 of a head of cabbage, shredded
1/3 cup jicama, chopped.
10-15 snow peas
2.5 teaspoons fresh ginger (2 minced, 1/2 grated)
3 teaspoons soy sauce
1/3 teaspoon turmeric
3 teaspoons corn starch dissolved in 1/4 cup of water
1 1/2 cups chicken broth






First saute 1 teaspoon of minced ginger with some sesame seed oil for 2 minutes, then cook the chicken. Cut it into bite-sized pieces and set it aside. In the same wok, stir-fry the vegetables with the rest of the ginger and 1 teaspoon of oil. Cook until the vegetables are as soft or crunchy as you want them.


Add the soy sauce and turmeric to the chicken broth and stir well. Add the chicken to the vegetables, pour the chicken broth on top and mix well. Add the corn starch mix and again mix everything well. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for about 5 minutes, mix occasionally so that everything is covered in the sauce.


This dish goes well with plain white rice or with  curry rice

Stir-fried Red Cabbage with Soy Sauce

Sometimes I'll go to the grocery store and just pick up some vegetables I think will go well together. This is one such result. You may notice it's similar to my cabbage soup. That's no coincidence. I tend to try similar things from time to time.

Again I used jícama in this recipe. And again it's not essential.You can skip it or use a substitution, like celery, or even mushrooms if you don't want more crunchy veggies.

Ingredients:

200 grs. red cabbage shredded
100 grs. soybean sprouts
1/2 red bell pepper chopped
100 grs. snow peas whole
100 grs. jícama, cut into short strips.
1/4 onion finely chopped
1 clove garlic minced
3.5 tablespoons soy sauce (low sodium)
1 tablespoon teriyaki sauce
1/2 teaspoon vinegar (any kind, but white sugar cane vinegar works best)
The juice of one lime
Sesame seed oil
Ground black pepper to taste

Heat a few drops of oil in a pan or wok. Add the onion and garlic and stir fry or saute until the onions begin to turn translucent. Add the rest of the vegetables and sprinkle some pepper. You may want to add some more oil in this step. if you do, move the onion and garlic to the side and add the oil to the center of the pan or wok.

In a cup mix the soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, vinegar and lime juice. Add it to the veggies before they're too soft. Stir well and continue cooking until you achieve the desired softness for your vegetables.

A good side for this dish is curry rice, which you can see on the picture. I'll post that recipe tomorrow. Or try plain, boiled white rice if you like it.