Edamame Fried Rice and Teriyaki Sauce

I hate to waste food.  Hate it.  My tendency to remake leftovers into "new" dishes wears on my husband a bit, since not all of my creations are good ones.  He also distrusts leftovers in general - I've heard stories about when he was a child and they'd eat the same giant pot of something for days on end.



I can understand where his mom was coming from with the cooking in bulk, but I also see his point.  You gotta mix things up.



Every now and then I make something from leftovers that is different enough from the original thing that it can't even be classified as leftovers.  Fried rice falls into this category, and it's a great dish to serve alongside baked tofu or teriyaki salmon to round out a meal.  With the edamame it can even stand on its own as a one dish meal.

Edamame Fried Rice


1 T coconut oil
2 cups leftover cooked rice

2 T soy sauce, tamari, or Dr Bragg's Liquid Amino Acids

2 T teriyaki sauce (optional, recipe follows)

1/2 c chopped carrots
1/4 c frozen peas
1/4 c shelled edamame
2 eggs
3 green onions, sliced



In a large heavy skillet, heat coconut oil over medium high heat.  Add rice, soy sauce, and teriyaki sauce.  Cook about 5 minutes, until rice is no longer chunky and absorbs some of the soy sauce/teriyaki sauce.


Stir in carrots, peas, and edamame, cook another 5 minutes.


Push rice and veggies to the sides of the skillet, leaving a round hole in the center.  Add a bit of coconut oil to the hole, allow to heat.  Pour in gently beaten eggs and cook without stirring for 2 minutes.  Scramble eggs gently within hole.  After eggs have mostly set (about 2 minutes), stir rice and eggs all together.


Stir in green onions, and serve.

This teriyaki sauce recipe was shown to me in college by my friend Jasmine.  It's so simple, and a good recipe to have in your toolkit since bottled teriyaki sauce is so expensive.  You can simmer lots of other things in it to give it different flavors: minced garlic, red pepper flakes, minced fresh ginger.


It makes a great marinade and sauce for the baked tofu shown above, and is absolutely fabulous on grilled pineapple.



Basic Teriyaki Sauce



1 part soy sauce
1 part sugar (1 c of each is about the minimum to use)


Combine in small sauce pan over medium heat.  Stir well.  Simmer until slightly reduced, about 15 minutes.  Sauce will continue to thicken as it cools.

Thank you Jasmine!

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What's Cooking: 5.20 - 5.26

Miracles are happening.  Above is this week's menu.  As in the current menu.



Monday - linguine with clam sauce.  Make yourself some!  Served with apple blue cheese salad and broccoli.  Two veggies - bam.

Tuesday - brisket sandwiches from the giant slab of meat that was smoked this weekend.  Fries and salad.

Wednesday - edamame fried rice, baked tofu, and sesame ginger salad.

Thursday - dinner out.  Subway, to be exact.  I have been addicted to their Veggie Patty on a salad for years.  It looks like dog food but it's tasty and vegetarian.  

Friday - pizza party, with salad and raspberry hot fudge sundaes.  I came across Santa Cruz Organic Raspberry Chocolate Sauce at Grocery Outlet and am so glad I got it... we've been loving it on coconut sorbet with fresh raspberries!

Saturday - camping.

Sunday - ribollita (vegetable stew, "reboiled" in Italian), garlic toasts.  Hoping to post about the soup soon.



Let's see if I can keep up this current momentum with posting the weekly menus.  Stay tuned!

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An Easy Classic: Linguine With White Clam Sauce

When I first came across this recipe several years ago, I was skeptical about it.  Could homemade clam sauce from canned clams really be good, or was this one of those recipes that tries and fails to recreate at home something that is delicious only in restaurants?  But the lure of a different (meaning not tomato based or heavy cream) pasta dish that incorporated seafood, a protein our whole family eats, was too much for me.  

I broke down and made it, and it was so delectable I immediately added the recipe to my cookbook and the dish to our dinner rotation. 

It's easy, classic, flavorful, and has few ingredients, all of which are easy to keep on hand.  Except the wine.  Wine never lasts long around here, once opened.  But we actually had some leftover Chardonnay-Viognier in the fridge this week.  

This recipe claims to serve four, but I'd double it if you have a family of four or more solid eaters.

Linguine With White Clam Sauce

Serves 3 or so

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1/4 c butter 

2 cans minced or chopped clams, drained.  Reserve 2/3 c of the liquid

1/4 c white wine

1/4 t pepper

1 T chopped parsley

1 t sea salt

8 oz linguine or thin spaghetti

1/3 c freshly grated parmesan or pecorino-romano 

Leftover wine.  I hardly even know myself anymore.


Anyway, saute garlic in butter in a large skillet until golden.


Add clam juice, wine, pepper, and salt.  Simmer for 5 minutes, until slightly reduced.


Add half of the freshly grated parmesan or pecorino-romano, stir.  I use a Zyliss Rotary Grater and do it right over the pan.  Do you have one of these?  It might seem like a really specific and therefore frivolous kitchen gadget, but it's not.  You need one.  If I can't convince you, then the fact that every server at Olive Garden is equipped with one should do it.  Because Olive Garden is the undeniable leading authority on authentic Italian pasta.

In all seriousness, freshly grated cheese from a high quality wedge is much tastier than pre-grated "parmesan" that comes in a tub, or - gasp! - a shaker can (and more economical, in the tub's case).


I have strong feelings about cheese, and good kitchen gadgets for cheese (here's my other must-have grater.  Yes, you need two graters, at least).  Okay, back to the Linguine.


Add clams, stir till hot, and then add drained linguine directly to the skillet.  Toss.  Let it cook for 2 or 3 minutes.  The starch from the pasta thickens the sauce a bit.  Sprinkle on the parsley.


Serve immediately, adding the remaining parmesan to the top.  Or just put your favorite kitchen gadget on the table and let everyone have the fun of giving the Zyliss a few turns.




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What's Cooking: 5.13.12 - 5.19.12

I will admit it: in the last month or so, our weekly menus have been less than post-worthy (where there was even a menu at all).  Not that there's anything wrong with takeout, frozen pizza, and everyone-fend-for-themselves-style leftovers.  But it's not the way to eat healthy (ahem, pizza) or save money (ahem, takeout).



I finally got back on the meal planning last week, and it was because I needed to: Casey's dad stayed with us.  I don't think he'd mind my saying that the man likes to eat, so I knew I needed to plan ahead or it'd be Red Mill every night (again, doesn't sound so bad, actually...)



Monday - pesto pasta with salmon (this was a doctored up leftovers dish that turned out really well!  If I can recreate it, I'll post about it), broccoli

Tuesday - Casey made tacos while I went to a meeting

Wednesday - spaghetti.  Again, Casey cooked while I had a meeting

Thursday - my father in law arrives: let the meat cooking begin.  Crockpot chicken enchiladas and black bean enchiladas, avocado slaw, spicy black beans

Friday - typo on the board pictured above for which I received much flak: 'steelhead' should read 'salmon'.  A "springer," apparently, to be exact.  In any case, I served it with rice and broccoli, and I also made a Browned Butter Apple Pie.  Even though I've made it many times, this didn't turn out quite the way I'd hoped, but we ate it anyway.

Saturday - the guys smoked a brisket.  I made baked beans and salad.

Sunday - Casey's "pub" burgers were on the menu, but we had a Bad Meat Incident (I was agape when my father in law took a bite of the raw meat to determine if it was bad!  He thought it was fine but we overruled him on lack of judgment alone) and ended up going to... where else?  Red Mill Burgers instead!



Why hello there, Babe's Onion Rings.



What are your favorite dishes to make when you have houseguests?



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