More Everyday Asian Meals

I've been on a Japanese/Asian food kick for a month or so. When I don't feel like going off of a recipe, I have been whipping up these instant stir fry meals that are so easy and delicious.

Here are the ingredients I typically use:

bean sprouts

thinly sliced carrots

napa cabbage

onion (white or green)

egg

thinly sliced beef or pork

japanese greens like mizuna or turnips

soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste

you can garnish with...

shredded nori

bonito flakes

sriracha sauce

sriracha and mayo mixed

Rachel Ray's Lamb Chops with Mint-Mustard Dipping Sauce

Friday night, Brad and I were tired from a hard week of work and needed to make a quick but tasty meal. Enter Rachel Ray's lamb chops with mint mustard sauce. This recipe is found on page 181 of her Classic Rachel Ray 30 Minute Meals cookbook.

The lamb chops are cut ahead of time to make cooking quick (only about 3 minutes on each side). The mint mustard sauce is refreshing, sweet and spicy at the same time, and leftovers even doubled as a salad dressing the next day.

The only adjustments I made were using endive leaves instead of radicchio and using smooth dijon mustard instead of grainy mustard. The results were surprisingly tasty for the minimal effort, and would even be impressive for a dinner party.

Here's Rachel's version...

Ingredients:

2 cloves garlic, smashed

2/3 cup EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)

12 loin lamb chops, 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick

salt and pepper to taste

3 rounded Tb grainy mustard

2 Tb white wine vinegar

1 Tb honey

1/4 cup mint leaves

4 leaves radicchio lettuce

Preheat broiler to high.

Put garlic in small saucepan with evoo. Cook over low heat for 5 minutes then take out garlic. Put lamb chops on broiler pan and drizzle with 3 tsp of the garlic oil. Brush over lamb. Season with salt and pepper.

Make dipping sauce by putting mustard, vinegar and honey in a food processor or blender. Stream in the rest of the garlic and oil. Add mint and pulse grind.

Broil the lamb chops for 3 minutes on each side (this cooks them to medium). Let them rest for up to 10 minutes. Serve sauce on the side. Garnish with sprigs of mint and serve radicchio leaves alongside the lamb chops.

Mint Mustard Dipping Sauce

Julia Child's Hamburger

Yup, Julia Child's Mastering The Art Of French Cooking has a section on hamburgers. Let me tell you, these are so moist and savory. The red wine sauce made from the pan brownings compliments the burger perfectly.

The recipe starts on page 300. I added some dijon mustard and parsley too. Here's my abridged version so you get the gist, but please use the book's version if you have it!

Ingredients:

3/4 c finely minced yellow onions

2Tb butter

1.5 lbs lean ground beef (8 to 10 percent)

2 Tb softened butter

1.5 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

1/8 tsp thyme

1 egg

1/2 c flour spread on a plate

1 Tb butter and 1 Tb oil to coat skillet bottom

1/2 c red wine

2-3 Tb softened butter

Cook onions slowly in the butter for 10 minutes until tender but not brown. Set aside in a bowl. Add the beef, butter, seasoning and egg to the bowl and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon to blend. Make patties 3/4 inch thick.

Dust patties lightly with flour. Cook over moderately high heat in butter and oil. 2-3 minutes on each side. Set patties aside on a warm plate.

Pour fat out of skillet and add red wine and boil down rapidly until it reduces to a syrup. Off heat, swirl in the butter by half tablespoons.