Recipe : : Kuky Ideas

Stir Fried Beef with Snow Peas and Cashews

Friday, July 30, 2010
Posted in: Food, Recipe

I’ve been in the mood for beef and snow peas for days. But it’s such a bother to hunt for the recipe. And I know I told myself to put recipes up here or on Flickr but I haven’t been doing it. Why? Because I obviously want to make things difficult for myself.

Well, I’m doing it now. Finally.

Stir Fried Beef with Snow Peas and Cashews

Ingredients

1 1/4 pounds flank steak, cut into thin slices
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/3 cup hoisin sauce
1/3 cup water
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 pound snow peas
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1/2 cup unsalted roasted cashews

Instructions

Put the raw steak in the freezer for 15 minutes for easier slicing. Slice steak into three long strips with the grain. Then slice each strip into 1/8 inch slices.
Mix the steak with soy sauce and cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Whisk hoisin sauce with water and pepper flakes and set that aside.
Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a large nonstick skillet over high heat. Add half of the steak and cook for 1 minute. Then toss until they’re a little brown on the edges. Set that aside and repeat with the other half.
Heat the last 2 teaspoons of oil and cook snow peas for two minutes. Then in the center of the pan add the garlic and ginger cooking for 45 seconds. Then toss in the steak.
Rewhisk the hoisin mixture then pour it into the pan and let it thicken for about a minute. Stir in the cashews and it’s good to eat.

Number of servings: 4

Yum! I know what I’ll be making this weekend.

4 Comments

Root Beer Jello Floats

Saturday, February 27, 2010
Posted in: Family, Food, Recipe

This recipe is from Cook’s Country April/May 2005 issue. They call it root beer float but when I think of root beer floats I think of root beer and ice cream so I’m calling this root beer jello floats.

Root Beer Jello Floats

Ingredients

2 (12 – ounce) bottles or cans of cold root beer
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup heavy cream

Instructions

Open only 1 can of root beer. Soften the gelatin by placing 1/2 cup of root beer in a bowl and sprinkling the gelatin over the top. Leave for 5 minutes to soften the gelatin.
Bring 1 cup of root beer and the 1/4 cup sugar to boil in a small saucepan stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove it from the heat and whisk in the gelatin mixture until all the lumps are dissolved. Pour into a different bowl and let it cool to room temperature. Once it’s cooled, open the second can of root beer and gently stir in the remaining 1 1/2 cups of root beer trying not to deflate the bubbles. The idea is, since you opened the 2nd can later, it won’t be flat and you’ll have more fizz for a bubbly root beer cap. I could never manage that though. Refrigerate until firm, at least 6 hours or up to 1 day.
When the root beer is firm, start your whipped cream. Beat the heavy cream with the 2 tablespoons of sugar until it holds soft peaks.
Spoon 1/8 of root beer jello into 4 cups. Top with 1/8 of whipped cream. Repeat with the rest of the jello and whipped cream and top with the cap of bubbly root beer. Or in my case just more jello since all my bubbles deflated.

Number of servings: 4

I like this recipe though it was strange at first. I’m not used to jello being carbonated but it grew on me. Weird but in a good way. But I’m the only one who eats this. Alan thinks root beer jello is strange and Isabelle will only eat the whipped cream.

If anyone makes this let me know what you think, I’m curious to see other people’s reaction. Am I just strange in liking this?

5 Comments

Easy Peasy Side

Monday, February 08, 2010
Posted in: Food, Recipe

The other night we had lechon (roast pig) for dinner. Mmmm yum but very very heavy. So I paired it with this easy peasy side.

This recipe comes from Cook’s Country April /May 2005 issue.

Sauteed Sugar Snap Peas and Cherry Tomatoes

Ingredients

1 T olive oil
1/2 pound sugar snap peas, ends snapped off and strings removed
2 cups of cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 t sugar
1 medium garlic clove, minced
1 t grated zest and 1 T juice from 1 lemon
salt and pepper

Instructions

Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat until it’s shimmering. Then add the peas and cook for about 2 to 3 minutes until the peas are sort of tender but still crisp. I like them with a bit of snap to them.
Transfer to a serving bowl then add the cherry tomatoes (I used heirloom tomatoes in this picture), sugar, garlic, and lemon zest to the skillet and cook for 30 seconds. Add the lemon juice and sugar snap peas. Toss well. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

According to the magazine the sugar balances the acidity from the lemon juice. Snap peas and cherry tomatoes are yummy by themselves so sometimes I don’t even bother adding the sugar, lemon, or garlic.

See, easy peasy side.

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Asking to be Fed

Saturday, March 08, 2008
Posted in: Daily Comic, Family, Food, Illustrations, Recipe

The other day I made some bread pudding. Alan doesn’t like bread pudding but Isabelle does. I mean she REALLY likes it. Maybe that’s why she prefers to have it fed to her, instead of doing it herself. That way she doesn’t lose a single bit.

Update- I combined two recipes (one from Cook’s Illustrated and one from Cook’s Country) to make these individual bread puddings. I’m not exactly sure what I did but here’s what I think it was:

Individual Bread Pudding for Four

Ingredients

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for greasing ramekins
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup sugar, plus 1 tablespoon for cinnamon sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
4-5 slices of firm white bread, cut into 1 1/2 inch squares (5 cups)
OPTIONAL, 4 tablespoons chopped bittersweet chocolate

Instructions

Butter 4 ovensafe ramekins.
Make cinnamon sugar by mixing 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon with 1 tablespoon of sugar. Set this aside.
Whisk the eggs and 1/3 cup of sugar in a large bowl. Add the milk, heavy cream, vanilla, salt, and nutmeg. Whisk together and transfer to a large measuring cup for easy pouring.
Set aside 1 cup of bread. Fill each ramekin with remaining bread squares (if you want a hidden surprise you can add 1 tablespoon of bittersweet chocolate after the first layer of bread slices). Pour custard over bread. Let sit for 20 minutes while you heat the oven to 325 degrees with the rack in the middle position.
After the 20 minutes wait, put remaining 1 cup of bread in each ramekin pushing down to partially submerge. Brush the exposed bread with melted butter then sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar. Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes. The puddings should be set but still a little bit wobbly. Let cool and then scarf it down.

Number of servings: 4

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