(Thai) Peanut Noodles with Shrimp

I’m not really sure what makes this recipe so “Thai.”  I mean, maybe peanut noodles is just a Thai staple, or maybe whoever sent me this recipe is just racist.  I’ve seen peanut noodles that weren’t Thai.  Wikipedia says that it’s frequently used in Indonesian and Chinese cuisine as well as Thai.  I think this should really just be ‘Peanut Noodles with Shrimp that may remind you of Thai food.’

Anyhow, the recipe is super simple, and I think it turned out really well this time around.

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger (I had over .5 tablespoon left over, but you can just freeze whatever’s left)

1/2 cup soy sauce

3 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 teaspoons hot sauce (sriracha, my fave)

3 tablespoons light brown sugar

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

1/4 cup peanut butter

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (or 1 lb of shrimp)

salt (optional-I omitted and it was perfect)

1 lb rice noodles

6 scallions, sliced thin

1. Bring water to boil over high heat. Meanwhile, whisk garlic, ginger, soy, vinegar, hot sauce, brown sugar, peanut butter, and sesame oil in a small bowl. You can either reserve some of this sauce to marinate the chicken/shrimp in before grilling or just mix the meat in at the very end.

sauce, pre-stirring

2. Depending on what kind of noodles you buy, the directions to make them can differ.  I bought them at the local Giant and decided to follow the box directions.  It called for putting the noodles in very hot water and letting it soak up for 25-30 minutes until al dente, without letting it oversoak.  I’ve seen other recipes which say to add 1 tablespoon salt and noodles to boiling water and cook until al dente. I think either should work.  Drain well, rinse under cold water until cool and drain again. Toss noodles, peanut sauce and scallions together in a large bowl.

3. Grill chicken/shrimp and serve in/with the noodles.  I grilled the shrimp on medium heat with a little bit of the peanut sauce while the noodles were soaking, and timed it so that they were both done at the same time.  Glorious.

then mix it all up

Some thing that I noticed was that this dish turned out surprisingly spicy.  I didn’t think it would because it was only 2 tsp of hot sauce, but it definitely has a kick.

Also, while mixing the sauce with the noodles and shrimp, I thought the sauce looked really runny, but actually it was just fine.  While it looked kind of thin, the taste is all there, and wasn’t watery at all.

Lastly, don’t overcook the shrimp.  I remember my first time making shrimp, I cooked it until it came out rubbery and gross.  Pretty much, as soon as it’s pink all over, it’s done.  It’s practically bursting with its flavor, and that’s how I like my shrimp–borderline explosive.

Teriyaki Salmon Fillets with Sauteed Green Beans

Intro

I like Michelle’s approach to writing this blog, so I’m going to copy her.  It’s been so long since I’ve written anything that wasn’t an email to some uptight attorney that I hate, I don’t even remember how to do this.  Anyway, I’ve been having a bad week, at work and elsewhere, so I really didn’t feel like going out and doing anything special on Friday night.  I just wanted to hang out with Jo, cook dinner, and watch a movie.  And get crunk on a bottle of wine.  Neither Jo nor I could figure out what we wanted to eat that night.  So after a bit of looking on Tastespotting for some inspiration, we decided on salmon–something neither of us has really prepared before.  So, there are some interesting mistakes and lessons we learned along the way, which I’m sure I’ll repeat time and time again.

Recipe (serves 2, with leftovers)

For the Teriyaki Salmon
2 six ounce salmon fillets (I believe these are different from salmon steaks, fyi)
1/2 c soy sauce
zest and juice of one orange
1.5 tb brown sugar
2 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
0.5 tb minced ginger
0.5 tb white sesame seeds (I omitted this, I didn’t think they were necessary)

For the Sauteed Green Beans (according to Jo)
3 big handfuls of green beans (maybe less than 1 lb?)
3 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
1 tb butter
0.5 tb olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

For the salmon dish, combine all of the ingredients except the salmon (and the sesame seeds if you choose to include them) into a saucepan.  Bring it to a boil and then slowly simmer until a syrupy consistency is attained, about a 50% reduction.  Let it cool completely.

To hasten this process, Jo had the idea of loading the sink up with ice, and sticking the entire pan into the improvised ice bath.  It was cool within a few minutes—just stick your finger in there to test the temperature when you think it’s cool, but be careful.  If you don’t have a grill to cook the salmon on, then start preheating your oven to 500 F now.

The original recipe said to add the sesame seeds and salmon into the sauce and let it marinate for an hour.  We decided 15 minutes was good enough (and it was).  Joanna made up some article she read that said one needn’t marinate meats for longer than half an hour, because everything after that was ineffective.  Whether or not that is true, the short amount of time was really just fine for this recipe.  So let the fillets marinate in the sauce for about 15 minutes, make sure to put the meat side down (seems obvious, but I mean, I don’t know).  Also, Jo rubbed the sides of the fillets with the sauce, just to make sure it was completely covered.  After marinating, remove the salmon from the sauce.

The recipe calls for grilling.  If you don’t have a grill (like I don’t), then you’re probably thinking to yourself, “Uhhh… now what?”  Have no fear, you can bake the salmon, and it works just fine.  If you have a grill, it says to cook for about 3-5 minutes per side.  Occasionally brush the salmon with the sauce.  If you don’t have a grill, then stick the fillets on a cookie sheet or a baking pan.  Either grease your baking pan or lay foil over the cookie sheet.  This will help with removing the fillets once they’re cooked, and it’ll help with not burning your house down.  Bake for about 12 minutes.  Poke at them to check when they’re done.  If they flake—if the layers of the meat come apart easily, and it looks cooked—then it should be done.

marinating

nom

For the green beans, wash and cut off the ends of the green beans.  Then par-boil them, meaning put them into boiling water for about 4 minutes.  You only want to partially cook the green beans.  Remove the greens, drain, and set aside.  In a pan (or the same pot you used to boil them—we’re lazy), add the butter, garlic, and olive oil, and set the burner for medium.  Add the green beans.  Cook until they’re tender, but crisp.  Add the salt and pepper.  We served the salmon and green beans with some white rice, and voila!  All done.

Lessons Learned:
1.    If you end up making all of the elements of this meal together, then make sure to time them together.  The salmon will take the longest, followed shortly by the rice and green beans taking around the same amount of time to prepare.  If you’re a slow vegetable chopper (like Michelle), then be sure to get all of that stuff ready beforehand.  We mistimed it all and ended up waiting around for 15 minutes to use the oven, and then we had to reheat our cold food in the end.
2.    If you bake the salmon with the marinade, be sure to lay down some foil to help lower the risk of setting off the smoke alarm.  We definitely realized this way too late—as soon as we opened the oven door, we thought, “Fuck.  The smoke alarm.”  Then we ended up having to do the ‘fan the smoke alarm with a rag so it will stop beeping’ dance.
3.    Check for bones beforehand.  We found a few before we cooked, but it really ruins the meal when you have a mouthful of fish bones.

waiting around to use the oven... whoops.