Comfort Food

Happy Saturday!

I hope everyone is having a good weekend so far.  Here in So Cal, we're just trying to stay dry.  After almost 3 months of dry spell, Mother Nature decides to finally give us rain - and boy did she deliver!  It's been raining cats and dogs since Friday!  It's kind of nice having rain for a change, though it does cause a lot of inconveniences.  It was a little scary driving home tonight on the freeway.  There were parts of it completely flooded - my boys were shouting, "Yay! This is so COOL!" while I was trying so hard to focus on the road.  Leave it to kids to think something dangerous is "cool!"

Anyway, since it has been so cold and windy, I wanted some comfort food.  I made these dishes Thursday evening, and they sure did warm everyone up alright.  First up is Miso Soup.  I use a combination of chicken broth and water (3:1 ratio), and maybe about 3/4 cup of miso for every 1/2 gallon of liquid.  Then you add salt to taste, and cube some silken tofu to add to the soup.  Chop up some green onion, and you have yourself a pot of very simple yet delicious warm soup.

Next up is my chow mein.  My chow mein is so delicious, you should make double the suggested serving size for each person because everyone will ask for seconds!  Here's the recipe.

Chow Mein

Ingredients 

Marinade for Meat
1/5 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup wine
1 tbsp sugar
3/4 tbsp sesame oil
2 tsp corn starch

2 cups of oil
2 tsp salt
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 bag of spaghetti, cook about 2-3 minutes than directed on package (chow mein shouldn't be al dente)
1 lb of chicken, beef, or pork, cut into strips
3 stalks of carrots, peeled and julienne
1 onion, chopped into slices
3 cloves garlic, chopped into pieces
7-8 shitake mushrooms, cut into strips

Steps

1) Combine all marinade ingredients, put meat strips into marinade, set aside
2) Heat 3/4 cup of oil, throw in onions, stir fry until transparent
3) Throw in carrots and mushroom, sprinkle salt over vegetables, stir fry for about 3-4 minutes, scoop out, set aside
4) Heat 1/4 cup of oil, throw in meat, stir fry until cooked completely, scoop out.
5) Heat remaining oil, throw in the garlic pieces, stir fry until golden brown.  Put in boiled spaghetti, pour soy sauce over spaghetti, toss until all the noodles are evenly coated with oil and soy sauce.
6) Pour vegetables and meat over spaghetti, toss until everything is distributed evenly.
7) Serve and enjoy!

Serves about 8 adults

We usually eat out on Saturday evenings, but since it's so wet outside, we're having pizza inside tonight.  Happy cooking, everyone!

Xoxo,
Lin