Linguini with Spicy Red Clam Sauce - 3 stars

this was a really easy 20 minute weeknight meal. it was decent, but it could have been better if i invested more time & money. if you have more time, say 40-45 minutes, make this dish instead.

nonetheless, this dish worked well for the needs-to-be-cheap-and-easy circumstances that i was in the day i made it. i used fresh linguine, which was quite yummy, and for the sauce, i used some canned clams, canned diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and a few teaspoons of fresh herbs (parsley, oregano, and basil). i had my normal spinach salad on the side.

i don't think i'll make this again though. i'd make either the spaghetti vongole that i linked to above, or i'd sub in ground beef or sausage for the clams in this recipe.

however, if you'd like to try it........ the recipe is:

1 (9-ounce) package fresh linguine
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon bottled minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 (14.5-ounce) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes, undrained
2 (6.5-ounce) cans minced clams, undrained
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain.

Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, and crushed red pepper to pan; sauté 3 minutes or until onion is lightly browned. Stir in tomato paste and tomatoes; cook 4 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly. Stir in clams; cook 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat; stir in parsley, basil, and oregano. Serve with pasta.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 cup pasta and about 1 cup sauce)

CALORIES 292 (17% from fat); FAT 5.4g (sat 0.5g,mono 2.5g,poly 0.8g); IRON 3.9mg; CHOLESTEROL 17mg; CALCIUM 47mg; CARBOHYDRATE 45.1g; SODIUM 806mg; PROTEIN 15.5g; FIBER 3.6g

Cooking Light, NOVEMBER 2007

Mexican Tortilla Soup - 3 stars

i made this soup for the first time on a sunday, about a week and a half ago. i've been craving this for awhile - i haven't ordered it from a restaurant, because i'm wary of what dairy might be lurking in the soup base, so i finally took the time to make it from scratch.

i started by making the chicken broth myself. it looked so good! i put the chicken in the stock pot, added carrot, celery, onion, turnip, garlic, fresh thyme, and bay leaves. i filled the water just to the top of the chicken and let it simmer for a couple hours. but... it was really bland and watery when it was done! every article i've ever read has raved about the flavors of homemade chicken broth, and they've claimed that once you make it, you'll never want to go back to store-bought. i didn't find this to be the case AT ALL. i'll have to research this more before i make chicken broth again.

the good thing about making the chicken broth is that there was tons of cooked, shredded chicken at my disposal. i used some in this meal, and the rest to make enchiladas (i'll write about those later).

anyway - to make the tortilla soup base, i sauteed onion, garlic, jalapeno and fresh tomato together for 15 minutes, added the chicken broth and simmered for another 20 minutes. when i sampled the chicken broth and realized it was flavorless, i decided that this soup was going to be flavorless as well if i didn't add something extra, beyond what's listed above, to the pot. at this point, i couldn't tell you what i dumped in there. cumin, chile powder, cayenne pepper, oregano, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder? who knows. i kept adding different spices until it was close to something palatable.

so while my soup base simmered, i fried up the corn tortilla strips to go on top of the soup. these were the best part of the whole meal, in my opinion. :-) i cut corn tortillas into strips, fried them in oil, and drained them on papertowels. while they were still hot, i sprinkled some emeril's essence that i had mixed up a couple weeks ago over them. mmmmmmm. yummmy. i snacked on them quite a bit. :-)

once everything was ready, i ladled the soup base into my bowl, added the shredded chicken to the bowl, and topped it with fresh avocado, cilantro, sour cream (soy for me!), and the fried tortilla strips.

it was a solid meal! it was filling, fairly tasty, had a nice kick to it without being too spicy... but i just wasn't a fan of the soup base part of it. i think i put too many dried herbs in it (resulting in an almost gritty texture from all the herbs), and ended up overcompensating for the initial lack of flavor. i'd try the whole thing all over again, but using a different chicken stock and soup base recipe. :)

oh, and we had spinach salad with sliced strawberries, pineapple, pomegranate and white onion on the side. the salad was fantastic.

Garlic Beef with Capsicum (Red Bell Pepper) - 3 stars

i made this for dinner last night out of my wok cookbook. (it's actually called The Essential Wok Cookbook - it's a fantastically authentic southeast asian and chinese cookbook.)

it was a really easy stirfry - i marinated the beef in some chinese rice wine, garlic, and soy sauce for ~ 15 minutes. meanwhile, i prepared the rest of the stirfry. the key to making a good stirfry is to have all your stirfry ingredients prepped before starting the stirfry. if you don't do this, your stirfry will end up an abysmal soggy failure.

i sauteed the red bell pepper first, removed it from the wok, and then sauteed the beef in batches and removed from the wok. i made the garlic sauce in the bottom using a fantastic amount of fresh chopped garlic, some chicken broth, chili pepper oil, chili garlic sauce and oyster sauce. oh, and some cornflour to thicken it. i returned the beef and pepper to the wok and tossed until heated through and mixed well.

this stirfry was saucier than some i've made lately, which was great. if there's not enough sauce in the stirfry, the rice it's served over tastes too dry. when i first tasted the sauce out of the pan, it seemed really good... but when i actually sat down to eat a few minutes later, it just wasn't all that flavorful. it had a good spice from the chili oil & chili garlic sauce, but other than that, it was bland. i had to add soy sauce to it to make it more palatable. a good stirfry should not require the addition of soy sauce in your bowl - the stirfry itself should be full of fresh, potent flavors all by itself.

next time, i'd modify the garlic sauce to improve the flavor. :)