Handling Noodles

I've been a bit lax the past few weeks, and I've burnt through my backlog of posts. I needed something easy to get back into the cooking swing of things, and Jap Chae kept coming up in my recipes. I opted for the 101 Easy Asian Recipes version, as it's super colorful and I had most of the ingredients already. Bonus! 

Just a note of caution, this recipe makes 8 servings, so if you're cooking for two, like I do most of the time, cut it in half. It'll save you a lot of prep work too! 

I would definitely make again, it was really really easy, and super delicious!

Generally So-so Chicken

I love Chinese food, whether it's more "authentic" like salt and pepper duck tongues, or something more Chinese-American such as pork fried rice. One of the Chinese-American dishes I crave most often is General Tso's Chicken. 

It's sweet, tangy, and spicy. The chicken is still crispy. Broccoli is usually included, smothered in the sauce and still crisp as well. 

The problem is, I don't live near any good sources of General Tso's. It's usually overly sweet, never ever spicy, and once Tom and I ordered Orange Chicken and General Tso's and we literally couldn't tell them apart. Which is really sad because Orange Chicken is the bee's knees too. So I decided to make it myself!

With help from Serious Eats of course. I highly recommend their recipe. It hit all the flavor notes I wanted, spicy, tangy, sweet. And I was able to follow it closely with great success! 

You can cook the broccoli in a wok, or blanch it ahead of time and bring it up to temp when you mix everything together, but I just microwaved it until it was the consistency I wanted. There were so many dishes from the main dish, it was nice to just dirty a piece of Tupperware with steam and green bits. 

I also recommend The Search for General Tso, a documentary following the inception of the dish. Just make sure you watch it after you've made this for dinner!

Slammin' Salmon Soba

Sometimes I follow recipes for my meals. Other times I just cook what I know. I don't need instructions anymore to roast chicken thighs with make green beans and potatoes. Then there are the times that I kind of have an idea of what I want to make, but I'm not entirely confident in my own ability to mix flavors. Miso Salmon over Peanut Soba Noodles falls into that latter category. 

It makes for a situation in which I have no actual recipe, as I just combine and adjust as I go along. 

The recipes I got the basics from for this are from Jacques Pepin, and Lucky Peach, mixed with a fondness for cold peanut sesame noodles my mom always ordered from the local Chinese restaurant. 

I think it's this mixing and matching that eventually leads to recipe writing. Now that I no longer have a day job, hopefully the extra time will allow for more brainstorming creations like this, as it was definitely something I'd like to make again. And maybe eventually write down.