Steak Fajitas

Don’t be put off by the list of ingredients. The fact is, you can substitute chicken, and ingredients to suit your taste. The sauce is nothing but mixing spices and marinating the meat. Then it’s just pan-cooking and folding everything up in tortillas.

Ingredients 

• SIRLOIN STEAK, ¾ pound
• OLIVE OIL, 2 tablespoons, divided
• LIME JUICE, 1 tablespoon
• LIME ZEST, ½ lime
• GARLIC, 1 clove, finely minced
• CHILI POWDER, ½ teaspoon
• CUMIN, ½ teaspoon
• HOT PEPPER FLAKES, ¼ teaspoon (more or less as desired)
• BLACK PEPPER, ½ teaspoon
• SALT, ½ teaspoon
• FLOUR TORTILLAS, 8 eight-inch
• ONION, 1, sliced into strips
• SWEET PEPPERS, 2 green, red, or yellow, sliced into strips

Directions 

1. Slice steak into strips.
2. Mix olive oil, lime juice and zest, garlic, chili powder, cumin, hot pepper, black pepper and salt in a bowl.
3. Add the steak strips, stir, set aside.
4. Warm tortillas in foil in a 350°F oven for 5-10 minutes until heated through.
5. Slice onions and peppers into strips.
6. Heat remaining olive oil in a large non-stick skillet, add the onions and peppers and cook until softened. Set aside.
7. Add marinated beef to skillet, cook until medium.
8. Return onions and peppers to skillet, stir for a minute or so.
9. Spoon some beef mixture onto a tortilla, fold the bottom and both sides in.

Pineapple Shrimp

It's as delicious as it's easy to make. No mysterious, complicated Chinese sweet-sour sauce, just ketchup, vinegar, sugar, and canned pineapple. Dress it up however you like, to your heart's content.

I use a Japanese mandoline to thinly slice the onion and sweet red pepper.

Ingredients

• SHRIMP, 20, shelled and deveined
• CORN STARCH
• CANOLA OIL
• KETCHUP, ½ cup
• APPLE CIDER VINEGAR, ¼ cup
• SUGAR, ½ cup
• PINEAPPLE CHUNKS, 1 15-ounce can, juice reserved
• ONION, ¼, thinly sliced
• RED PEPPER, 1/8, thinly sliced
• SALT and PEPPER to season 

Directions

1. Combine the ketchup, vinegar and sugar in a sauce pot and heat to boiling.
2. Add the onions and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the pineapple chunks and half the reserved pineapple liquid and continue simmering, stirring often.
4. Dust the shrimp with cornstarch and deep fry, then drain on a baking rack.
5. Transfer the sauce to a deep pan, then add the shrimp.
6. Season to taste, adding reserved pineapple juice if desired.

Baked Honey-Mustard Chicken

This is absolutely delicious. The chicken turns out moist and tender.

Ingredients 

• CHICKEN BREASTS, 3
• HONEY, ¼ cup
• MUSTARD, ¼ cup
• SALT AND PEPPER
• CUMIN, ½ teaspoon
• PAPRIKA, ½ teaspoon
• GARLIC POWDER, 1 teaspoon

Directions 

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Combine honey, mustard, salt and pepper, cumin, paprika and in a small bowl.
3. Immerse chicken in the bowl.
4. Place sauced chicken in a baking dish.
5. Pour the remaining honey-mustard sauce over the chicken.
6. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.
7. Slice the chicken breasts on a bias, arrange on a serving dish and drizzle the sauce on top.

Namasu

Easy pleasey recipe for a favorite Japanese side dish – sweet and sour (vinegary) pickled cucumber, with carrot and daikon thrown in for good measure.

No cooking required, just a lot of thin-slicing.

Ingredients 

• CUCUMBER, 1 large English or 2 Japanese
• CARROT, 1 medium, skinny
• DAIKON, ½ small
• VINEGAR, ¼ cup white, ¼ cup rice wine
• SUGAR, ¼ cup
• SALT, ¼ teaspoon
• GINGER, 2 teaspoons grated

Preparation 

1. Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise, remove seeds, and peel strips lengthwise off of each half.  Slice the cucumber into ¼-inch pieces and set aside.
2. Peel the carrot and daikon and slice thinly.
3. Mix the sugar and salt into the vinegar until they dissolve, then add the ginger until dissolved.
4. Combine everything in medium size bowl. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Mochiko Chicken

Two methods – one for baking, and one for frying, depending on your mood or health concerns. 

Ingredients 

• CHICKEN WINGS, 2-3 pounds
• MOCHIKO (rice flour), ¼ cup
• CORNSTARCH, ¼ cup
• SUGAR, ¼ cup
• SHOYU, 1/3 cup
• EGGS, 2, lightly beaten
• GREEN ONIONS, ¼ cup, thinly sliced
• SESAME SEEDS, 2 tablespoons
• GARLIC, 2 cloves
• OIL, if frying
• GREEN ONIONS or CILANTRO, for garnish 

Directions: Marinade 

1. Pat the chicken wings dry.
2. Combine the rest of the ingredients (except for the garnish) and mix well until batter is on the thicker side.
3. Add chicken wings and mix well to make sure they’re well-coated.
4. Marinate at least 4 hours to overnight. 

Directions: Baking 

1. Preheat oven to 425F.
2. Arrange chicken on a baking pan lined with foil. Discard the marinade and remove green onion pieces from the chicken (they’ll burn, otherwise).
3. Bake the chicken for 25-30 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. 

Directions: Frying 

1. Heat 1 inch of cooking oil in a large skillet.
2. Fry the chicken pieces for 12-15 minutes until evenly browned and cooked through, turning occasionally.

Chinese Chicken Lettuce Wraps

P.F. Chang’s has nothing on me. Their lettuce wraps are excellent, but then, so are these from a recipe I picked up at 12tomatoes.com.

I guess they were meant to be appetizers, but frankly, the recipe makes enough to feed at least four people for dinner. No steamed rice or pickled veggie sides needed. Just load up the lettuce leaves and munch away.

Ingredients

• BOSTON BIBB or BUTTER LETTUCE, 16 leaves
• CHICKEN (Breasts or Thighs), 2 pounds, boneless, skinless, cut into cubes
• COOKING OIL, 1 tablespoon
• ONION, 1 large, diced
• HOISIN SAUCE, ¼ cup
• GARLIC, 2 cloves, minced
• SOY SAUCE, 2 tablespoons
• RICE WINE VINEGAR, 2 tablespoons
• GINGER, 2 teaspoons, minced
• GREEN ONIONS, ½ cup, chopped
• CARROTS, 1 large, grated
• SESAME OIL, 1 teaspoon
• ASIAN CHILE PEPPER SAUCE/PASTE (Optional), 1 tablespoon

Directions

1. Rinse the whole lettuce leaves and pat dry. Don’t tear them. Set aside in the refrigerator so they stay crisp.
2. (Optional) I then mix the hoisin sauce, garlic, soy sauce, and rice wine vinegar in a small bowl and let the flavors combine.
3. (Optional) I do the same with the green onions, carrots and sesame oil.
4. Lubricate a large, nonstick skillet with cooking spray, add the cooking oil, and cook the chicken for about 3 minutes.
5. Drain off the grease, and add the onion and ginger, cooking for an additional 3-4 minutes.
6. Stir in the hoisin sauce, garlic, soy sauce, vinegar and (optional) the chili pepper. Cook for an additional 2 minutes.
7. Add the green onions, sesame oil and carrots and let it all cook for an additional minute, mixing everything until the chicken shows no trace of pink.
8. Spoon the mixture into the lettuce leaf centers.

Skillet Shepherd's Pie

A good friend posted a picture and recipe of this dish on Facebook. I like shepherd's pie a lot, but don't make it often because the wife's family would rather have steamed rice than mashed potatoes.

And you know it isn't shepherd's pie without the mashed. I made a few changes when I cooked:  Canned corn instead of frozen, because we had a lot of Costco cans; and a shredded Mexican mix of five cheeses in place of just cheddar, because that's what we had in the fridge.

Also, you'll notice I arranged a few asparagus tips on top.

Ingredients

• GROUND BEEF, 1 pound
• ONION, 1 cup
• FROZEN CORN, 1 cup, thawed
• FROZEN PEAS, 1 cup, thawed
• KETCHUP, 2 tablespoons
• WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE, 1 tablespoon
• GARLIC, minced, 2 teaspoons
• CORNSTARCH, 1 tablespoon
• BEEF STOCK 1/2 cup
• SOUR CREAM, 1/2 cup
• MASHED POTATOES, 3-1/2 cups
• CHEDDAR CHEESE, shredded, 3/4 cup

Directions

1. In a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.
2. Stir in the corn, peas, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and garlic.
3. Reduce heat; cover and cook for 5 minutes.
4. Combine the cornstarch and beef stock until well blended; stir into beef mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.
5. Stir in sour cream and heat through (do not boil).
6. Spread mashed potatoes over the top; sprinkle with cheese. Cover and cook until potatoes are heated through and cheese is melted.

Hawaiian Dream Cake

I don't usually make desserts, especially ones that lack apples. But this recipe looked so easy and sounded so appealing that I gave it a try.

The only difficulty I ran into was when I dusted the inside of the baking pan with flour. It made one helluva mess.

But y'know, the cake WAS easy to make, and it tasted damn good. So I guess the tsk-tsk looks I got from the wife were a small price to pay.

Mac nuts, coconut and pineapple – three Island icons. And that's why they call it “Hawaiian.” No hula skirt or ukulele required.

Ingredients

• YELLOW CAKE MIX, 1 package
• CRUSHED PINEAPPLE, 20-ounce can drained, reserve juice
• CREAM CHEESE, 8-ounce package
• INSTANT VANILLA PUDDING, 3-ounce package
• COLD MILK, 1 cup
• COOL WHIP, 9-ounce container
• CHOPPED MACADAMIA NUTS and SHREDDED COCONUT

Directions

1. Prepare cake mix according to package directions, using the reserved pineapple juice and water for the liquid called for in the directions.
2. Bake at 350°F for about 35 minutes in a greased and floured 9-1/2 x 13 pan. Cool in pan, set aside.
3. In a large bowl, blend together cream cheese, pudding mix and milk until smooth. Fold in drained pineapple.
4. Spread over top of cake, cover with whipped topping and sprinkle with nuts and coconut. Refrigerate.