If you've ever wanted to feel like a professional cook, just march into your local grocery store, walk up to the nearest worker and confidently ask for sambal oelek. (saam-baal-ow-lek) I can tell you from experience that if you live in rural Georgia, chances are good that grocery store employees will have no idea what it is and consequently assume that you're a professional chef who knows how to use exotic ingredients. 💁🏻♀️ I chose to ignore the fact that, a week ago, I didn't have any idea what it was either. 😂I actually had to work on my pronunciation of this foreign ingredient, before I went to the grocery store so that I wouldn't look like a complete amateur. 😅 Despite the confidence that I had leaving the grocery store with my Sambal Oelek, when I got this jar of goodness home, I realized that most of the information on the label was written in characters that I couldn't read. 🤦🏻♀️What was clear, was that it's made from spicy chilies and it was H.O.T. hot. 🌶 Apparently, the chili pepper is a universal symbol for spicy. My husband is especially sensitive to spicy foods which made me a little nervous about adding it to my dish so I decided to give it a little taste test first. I consider myself a fan of chilies and most things spicy, so I innocently put a spoon in the jar and took a generous mouthful of this new and unfamiliar condiment. 🔥 Wowza! I think I turned 6 shades of red and downed a full glass of water before I could even speak again. 😂 I would say that "hot" accurately describes Sambal Oelek. But despite it's spicy nature, it's also super flavorful and I definitely didn't want to eliminate if from my recipe. You might think that I whimped out by only adding 1/2 teaspoon instead of the recommended 2 teaspoons but I'd like to think of it as saving my taste buds from suffering. 😅 Shrimp Fried Rice 1 cup long grain white rice 8 ounces shrimp, peeled, deveined and tails removed 2 teaspoons soy sauce 1 1/2 teaspoons brown sugar 1 Tablespoon oyster sauce 2 teaspoons sambal oelek 1 1/2 teaspoons dry sherry 1 1/2 teaspoons ketchup 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper 1/4 cup oil 2 eggs, beaten 4 scallions, sliced 1 garlic clove 1/2 frozen peas
Stir in shrimp and scallion greens and cook 1 minute until heated through. This Shrimp Fried Rice was amazing. I had to really hold back from eating ALL of it myself. 😋 It really was THAT good. Normally, I hesitate to invest in unfamiliar ingredients if I don't think that I can use them in other recipes but at less than $2.00 - this one was definitely worth a try.
Ciao!
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Ever been grocery shopping on an empty stomach? I don't know about you but that never ends well for me. 😅 I've learned that if I want to stick to my list - I better grab a snack BEFORE walking through the doors of the grocery store. And in case you're wondering - the skill required to simultaneously shop and eat a snack or drink a cup of hot coffee is not one that I possess. 🥤Trust me - I've got the stained shirts to prove it. 😂 My hunger level not only drives which food get added to my grocery cart, it also seems to dictate the recipes that I choose when I'm doing my menu planning. There are times when I browse through cooking magazines and nothing sounds appealing. But I can pick up the very same magazine on another day, and every recipe sounds like such an amazing culinary experience and I can't decide which one to make first. 💁🏻♀️ Apparently I was craving some serious seafood when I copied this recipe for fish and clams while I was flipping through the latest edition of my Milk Street magazine. I'm a diehard seafood lover but this recipe was definitely out of my seafood comfort zone. Unfortunately, when I went to the grocery store to get the ingredients - there were no clams. ☹️ I decided to substitute mussels because I had a feeling that if I waited too long to continue my clam search, my enthusiasm for this dish would be gone. I tend to lose my momentum to make recipes, the longer they sit in my blog cue. So here's my modified version of Milk Street's Fish and Clams in Parsley Garlic Sauce. Cod and Mussels in Parsley Pesto Sauce. Delicious and clearly - adaptable to whatever seafood you prefer. (or might be available when you go to the grocery store.) 😉 Cod and Mussels in Parsley Pesto Sauce 1 ounce manchego cheese, cut into 1" pieces 1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted 5 cups fresh parsley leaves, chopped 1/2 cup olive oil 1/4 cup water 4 (6 ounce) firm cod filets 5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced 1 cubanille pepper, halved and thinly sliced 1 cup dry white wine 2 pounds littleneck clams (or mussels) 2 Tablespoons flour
Pour sauce over fish and top with clams.
Don't get hung up on the green color. This sauce is ahhhmazing. I could not get enough of it. It's super flavorful and definitely worthy of being sopped up with some crusty Italian bread. You know - so you don't waste it. 😅 I am certainly glad that I didn't waste any time in making this amazing dish. And I may have to make it again, the next time that I find clams at the store. 😉 Ciao! Let me start by saying I love where I live. 🏡I love the weather in middle Georgia and I genuinely love the people that I've met here. 🌞 I love the schools and neighborhood that my children were privileged enough grew up in and I love that I've been able to witness the transformation of this small town into a thriving community with great parks, business and restaurants. 🍻 "BRAKE LIGHTS OUT GETTING FIXED ASAP DONT HIT ME PLEASE". 😂 I parked next to this vehicle in our little front of the fanciest restaurant in our little downtown. 😅 It's really an ultra polite way of informing other motorists that the vehicle is in need of maintenance. Polite - yes. Effective? - Maybe not so much. 🤷🏻♀️ I do love the fact that the owner of this vehicle had the chutzpah to think that attaching this handwritten sign to the tailgate would serve as sufficient warning to the other drivers in our small town. Like I said before - I love the people that make of this community. Another thing that I love about living here is the fact that I can grow new and different things in my yard here than I could in the colder climates that we've lived in. I've been the proud owner of a Meyer Lemon tree and it's grown to quite an impressive plant over the past 12 years that it's been under my care. 🍋I realize just how "impressive" it really is every Fall when I have to bring it indoors for the winter. 😅 It's definitely a hassle to move but the giant lemons that I get from my tree makes it worth all the effort. My meyer lemons are precious and I carefully scrutinize all lemon recipes because I don't want to sacrifice one of my cherished home grown lemons on an unworthy recipe. Most of the time, I use store bought lemons in new recipes but this Lemon Garlic Fettuccine was an exception. The ingredients are simple. The lemon is highlighted and I deemed this one worthy of one of my beloved lemons. Lemon Garlic Fettuccine 2 Meyer lemons 2 teaspoons white sugar 3 Tablespoons olive oil 9 ounces fettuccini 2 garlic cloves, minced 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped Parmesan cheese, for serving
Toss again until pasta is sauced. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with parmesan.
My pictures might look a little different from your recipe because I cut the recipe in half. You know - cooking for two. 👫 It was actually super simple to divide the recipe. I served this pasta as a side to some breaded chicken breasts. We both ate more than we probably should have - and still had leftovers. 😉 Ciao! |
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