A new year is upon us.

In other news, Happy Birthday Mark Lamarr!

 

(Picture lovingly stolen from The Guardian.)

...want...

 Portrait by Trevor Leighton, donated by the artist to the National Portrait Gallery. This is a double whammy of interest for me since it's dead sexy and a bromide print. I am such a dork.

I stole this from somebody's tumblr... and I genuinely don't remember which, and I can't find it via google. My bad.

Moving on. Food.

I decided to celebrate the New Year by making a pie. I also had a 1/2 pound of lard in the fridge, so I figured I might as well used it for pie. I used the same recipe for the peach pie I made back in the fall here, but using apples instead. I think it turned out quite well.

While I was home for Christmas, my mom was clearing out her old Canadian Living magazines. She held on to them so I could rip out any recipes I wanted before she actually recycled then. Thanks mom! One of the recipes I got was for Chicken with noodles, shiitake mushrooms and snow peas, and it looked pretty easy. It became one of my first lunches that I took back to work in the New Year. I'll definitely be making it again, it was really easy, super fast and really delicious.

Chicken with Noodles, Shiitake Mushrooms and Snow Peas
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 lb (454 g) boneless skinless chicken thighs, thinly sliced
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 2 tsp minced fresh ginger
• 2 cups stemmed shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp sambal oelek or hot sauce (I actually forgot to put this fine, but it tasted fine without it!)
• 4 pkg (7 oz/200 g each) fresh Udon noodles
• 1 cup snow peas, thinly sliced lengthwise
• 1 tsp sesame oil

Preparation

In wok or large skillet, heat vegetable oil over medium-high heat; stir-fry chicken, garlic and ginger until chicken is lightly browned, about 5 minutes.

Add mushrooms; stir-fry until beginning to soften, about 2 minutes. Stir in water, hoisin sauce, oyster sauce and sambal oelek; bring to simmer.

Add noodles and toss to combine; simmer until sauce is thickened, 2 to 3 minutes. Add snow peas and sesame oil; cook for 1 minute.

Chicken stir-fry or sorts.

It was one of those night where I had a variety of stuff in the fridge, none of which was really enough to make a recipe I already had. Time to MacGyver it! I loosely followed a recipe from a Canadian Eat Right: Quick & Healthy Family Meals for Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry that I really like, mostly using the sauce and technique for making the dish, but I used chicken and a lot more vegetables.

Chicken Stir-Fry

Ingredients:
3 Tbsp Oyster Sauce
1 Tbsp Cornstarch
1 Boneless, skinless chicken breast
2 Tbsp Hoisin Sauce
2 Tbsp Vegetable oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 Tbsp minced gingerroot
1/2 cup of frozen peas, thawed
1/2 cup - 2/3 cup of sliced mushrooms
large handful of spinach (can be omitted, wasn't great in the finished dish)
thinly sliced green onions
1/2 package of rice noodle.

-In a large bowl of boiling water, submerge the rice noodles. Add some more boiling water about half way through the cooking process for the stir-fry, and then ignore them.
-In a small bowl, whisk together 3/4 cup of water, oyster sauce and cornstarch. Set aside.
-Slice chicken into small 1 inch pieces and mix with hoisin sauce in bowl. Set aside.
-In frying pan, over medium high heat, heat half the vegetable oil. Cook the chicken until no longer pink inside. Remove from pan unto plate.
-Add remaining oil to pan and stir-fry mushrooms, garlic and ginger for 1 minute. Cover and then steam for 2 minutes.

-Add peas and spinach, if using, and stir. Return chicken and any juices, and add oyster sauce. Mix well and cook until slightly thickened, 3 minutes. Remove from heat.

-Drain rice noodles in a colander, and rinse in cool water so they can be handled. Ensure the noodles are soft to the touch and taste. Place in the frying pan and mix well.
-Garnish with green onions and serve!

Working away at the computer, as per usual these days.

Doesn't it look good though? The recipe in general worked out really well, but I found the spinach was a little too bitter, so I probably wouldn't use it again for this. It did make up for how much time I had to spend working on my literature survey and 3 presentations I have to give this upcoming week. All by Tuesday night. Weehee. I may be eating a fair bit of take-out and instant stuff due to lack of time for the next few days.