Orange Ginger Broth with Soba Noodles

Here's another recipe involving oranges. This one is from Michael Smith of Chef at Home andChef at Large.  He's another one of my favourite chefs, as he often cooks without a recipe. This is something I strive for - the ability to know what ingredients go together to make an interesting flavour blend! 

Ingredients:
1 x small package soba noodles
2 cups orange juice 
2 cups chicken stock 
2 inch piece of ginger, frozen
1 tbsp soya sauce
1 cup sliced green onions
2 cups baby bok choy, chopped
1 cup bean sprouts
1 x carrot, grated
1 tbsp sesame seeds

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. 
   
2. Season with salt and then add soba noodles. 
   
3. Boil just until they have softened, about 3-5 minutes. 
   
4. Drain and rinse.
   
5. Bring orange juice and chicken stock to a simmer.
   
6. Grate in frozen ginger, reserving some for garnish and add soya sauce, green onions, bok choy, sprouts and carrot.
   
7. Stir until bok choy is wilted. 
   
8. Place some soba noodles into soup bowls.
   
9. Ladle in some broth and vegetables and garnish with sesame seeds and grated ginger.
   

 

Rob and I made a few changes to this recipe. First of all, Rob is vegetarian so we used veggie broth instead of chicken broth. Other changes we made...

1. We used rice noodles instead of soba noodles. If you're making rice noodles, just put them in a bowl and cover with boiling water, then let them sit. Don't boil them like regular pasta (what a mushy mess that makes, trust me!)
2. We used a jar of minced ginger instead of frozen fresh ginger. Same diff!
3. We added a bit of garlic.
4. We also added mushrooms and broccoli to the mix. I recommend you throw in as many veggies as you like!
5. We did the 2 cups of OJ/2 cups of broth combination. In retrospect, the next time I try this dish, I will use less OJ and more broth. While the orange was a nice flavour, it was a little overpowering at times. 

Overall, I really liked this recipe and would definitely make it again. 

Orange Fennel Salad

This recipe is done by Roger Mooking of The Everyday Exotic. I tested this out this weekend and found it to be a success!! It's very simple, but the flavours are awesome. 

Ingredients

3 x oranges, segmented

1/4 red onion, thinly sliced

1/2 bulb fennel, thinly sliced

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

1/2 bunch mint, leaves picked

1/3 cup almonds

salt

Directions

1. In a bowl, add oranges, red onion, fennel, and vinegar.

2. Season well with salt.

3. Add mint and almonds just before serving.

Here are some notes that I had...

1. If you have a Chinese mandolin to slice the fennel and the onions, use that instead of a knife to slice them. If the fennel or onion pieces are too big, the flavour will overpower everything else.

2. Segmenting oranges is tricky. Segmenting oranges is cutting the peel and the skin off, then slicing the orange so that you have wedges that have none of that transparent skin on them.

3. When you have segmented the oranges and added them to your bowl, squish a little bit of the juice from the remaining bits into the bowl to add flavour. 

4. Let your salad marinate overnight. I tried some immediately after I made it yesterday, then tried some again today. Today the salad tasted much better, since the flavours and juices had time to blend together.

And finally... if you have any remaining mint leaves left over, make a MOJITO!

Enjoy!

I've always wanted my own cooking show...

Well, it's sort of true anyway. Over the past few months, I've developed what some might call an unhealthy addiction to the Food Network. I, however, like to call it not "addiction", but rather "learning by osmosis". Maybe if I watch it enough, one day I'll try cooking and just realize that I am an expert chef. 

Sadly, as I have attempted a few Food Network recipes in the recent months, this has not always been the case. Sometimes things turn out to be awesome... and sometimes not so much! Ask my boyfriend Rob - sometimes I have subjected him to eating some pretty nasty dishes.

So I've developed this blog as a way to track the recipes I try, the success or failure I've had with the recipe, and any changes I'd like to make when I try the recipe again. Hopefully I post more successes than failures, but as I like to think - if we never fail, we never learn!

So enjoy the recipes, and if you try one out for yourself, be sure to let me know how it goes!