Recipes Discovered

Black Bean and Bulgur Salad

This “salad” is incredible simple, yet very tasty. It’s a nice alternative to beans and rice and to pasta salad, plus a great summer salad with no mayo. I simply sauteed a shallot for a minute before adding bulgur, water, chicken bullion, and sun-dried tomatoes. Once the water evaporated, about 10 minutes, I added frozen corn, rinsed black beans, diced red and green peppers, and seasoned it with cumin, salt, pepper, and red wine vinegar. Seth and I ate it at room temperature, and it was great. The peppers stayed crunchy, the corn was sweet, the sun-dried tomatoes were tangy. The dressing was simple, but added a lot of flavor to the bulgur. It was such a quick meal, but I thought it was pretty impressive.

Fried Rice with Scallion, Edamame, and Tofu Recipe

We have a lot of Chinese restaurants in town, but I don’t think any of them can make great fried rice. There is always something I would change – less salt, more flavor, less dry – and the list goes on and on. I’m not saying this is the greatest fried rice ever, but it’s fairly versatile and it tastes great.

First, heat oil in a large skillet or wok, and then add some garlic, scallions, and ginger. Saute it for a minute, or until it smells outstanding, and then add rice, peppers, edamame, carrot, and tofu. Anything can really be added at this point. The original recipe called for red pepper and corn, but traditional fried rice has peas and carrots. Shrimp would be great in place of the tofu. I really like the edamame, which, in it’s shell looks similar to a pea pod and out of it’s shell looks kind of like a lima bean. It’s actually a soybean, and it’s quite tasty. I’ve seem them whole in the produce section of the grocery store, but I found a bag in the frozen food section that were already shelled. Anyway, after adding the rice and veggies, stir-fry everything until it’s hot, and then make a well in the center of the pan. Add some more oil and then eggs. Cook them until they are almost set and then stir them into the rice. Season everything with soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and some sesame oil, and it’s ready to be served. It’s quite and easy, but like I said, it’s better than any fried rice I can get around here.

Fried Rice with Scallion, Edamame, and Tofu Recipe

Butternut Squash, Sausage, and Rice Soup Recipe

When it’s really cold outside, I love to have a nice, hot bowl of soup. This recipe for butternut squash soup is great because it includes sausage and rice, so it’s a complete meal in a bowl.

First, I peeled, seeded, and chopped a large butternut squash into 1 inch cubes. Then I roasted it with a little olive oil for about 45 minutes, until it was really tender. Once it cooled a little bit, I put it in the blender with enough chicken broth to puree it, about a cup. While the squash was roasting, I cooked some brown rice in chicken broth with some onions. That also took about 45 minutes, so it was done the same time as the squash.

After the squash and rice were cooked, I added some olive oil and the sausage to my dutch oven. Once sausage was browned, I added the rest of the onions and the corn. I was really uncertain about the corn in this recipe, but in the end I was glad I added it. It adds a difference sweetness and texture to the soup. When the onion was soft, I added the squash puree and chicken broth. I added 3 cups of chicken broth, but I like a fairly thick soup. Add as much as you like, and remember, more can always be added later. I covered my pot and let everything simmer for 20 minutes before add the rice and cooking for another 10 minutes. At that point, I seasoned it with a little salt and pepper and served the soup with a sprinkle of fresh parsley.

To me, the soup was perfect. It was very thick and creamy, plus it was sweet from the squash, smokey from the sausage, and had a nice texture with the rice and corn. Seth even agreed with me, and he generally isn’t that into soup. I wish I had made more because I hear it’s going to be cold for quite awhile.

Butternut Squash, Sausage, and Rice Soup Recipe

Easy Lobster Paella Recipe

My dad called me the other day to tell me about a recipe that was in the local paper. He wasn’t exactly sure what is was, but he said the picture looked really good. I found out later it was actually a paella recipe, which is a Spanish rice dish, and, coincidentally, I had just seen Ina Garten make on her cooking show. When I was home visiting my parents, I decided to make it for them for dinner.
Although I based my paella on Ina Garten’s recipe, I made a lot of changes to it. The biggest being the substitution of shrimp for lobster. A lot of people that had reviewed the recipe suggested this substitution, mainly because of cost, but also because the shrimp seems to hold up better in the dish. The other changes I made were basically just seasoning alterations, based purely on taste. The base of paella is rice and saffron, and then various meats and vegetables are added. I believe any long cooking rice will work for this recipe, although basmati rice is recommended since it stays firm during cooking and won’t stick together. I used risotto rice (arborio rice), which is a starchier rice, but I think it worked out okay. >> Read more