Feed Me Meat, Please!

This vegan thing is getting out of hand. Even when I'm making lunch for just myself with an assortment of easy forms of nourishment such as pate and cheese and baguette at hand, I opt for cold soba noodles with kale and tofu. I said No to Manchego. I said No to Gouda with cumin. I said No to Terrine de Campagne. I think I'm coming down with something, and I seriously hope it's not a case of veganism.

I made these earlier this week when I was working from home. I then proceeded to MSN my colleague to tell him that my lunch was better than what he just had in the cafeteria. Yes, I'm popular at work. Somehow I was thinking of this, my workday lunch, on a Sunday afternoon. I won't analyse it too much, but I will share the recipe with you.

Soba with Kale and Tofu for 1
90 g soba noodles
50 g tofu, cut into small cubes
oil
1/3 c blanched kale (frozen)
1/2 Tbsp peanut of sunflower oil
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 Tbsp lime juice
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 clove garlic, minced
1 small red chili, chopped
chili flakes (optional)
fish sauce (optional)
2 Tbsp cilantro, chopped
1/2 very small red onion, sliced finely or 1 green onion, chopped

Bring a small saucepan with water to a boil. While water is boiling, warm oil in a pan to saute tofu.
In a small bowl, add all ingredients except cilantro and onion. Mix. Kale will sill be frozen.
After noodles have cooked al dente, drain them and toss in the bowl with sauce. The warm noodles and the frozen kale will counteract one another, stopping the cooking of the soba and thawing the kale.
When tofu has an adequate crust, remove from heat & drain. Add to noodles & toss.
Garnish with onions and cilantro.

As I type this, I'm watching a Wallonian family cook eel on TV. Maybe this will inspire me to eat an animal again. This vegan thing is scaring me. Even if it is tasty.

Vegans Don't Drink Wine

The not-so-secret life of the workaholic is: he works. We had agreed to go grocery shopping today to buy meat and fish but something came up. I made it to the market on my own this Saturday, and while I am mobile on my own, shopping's way more fun with him. So I'm at home with frozen shrimp and ground beef and a whole lot of fresh veggies. I made a vegan dinner for the second night running, and part of me believes that this is somehow a good thing. Healthy. Environmentaly responsible. Promoting my reclusive nature. All bonuses.

Tonight was just soba noodles with broccoli & tofu in a miso glaze. Soba noodles were cooked, rinsed, drained & sprinkled with sesame oil. Broccoli was cut, steamed covered in a sauce of soy, ginger, garlic, chilli & a bit of starch to solidify. Tofu was sliced & coated in a mixture of miso, wine, sugar, chilli. Then it was broiled. This vegan thing is easy. And it doesn't taste that bad. The problem is: wine is made from yeast & is therefore not vegan. The workaholic vetoed this vegan thing immediately. But being a yeasto-vegetarian - that's just fine.

Chicken Soup for the Rain

As you may have gathered by now, we are in the middle of an unseasonably wet summer in Germany. It's not raining again, it is raining still. Sometimes I don't understand our perceptions of food and weather. In cold weather, we eat warm soup. Yet in South East Asia, the temperatures are hardly polar, yet they still eat soup. Maybe it's just because soup is good. I like soup a lot & I often lament the fact that Europe sees soup solely as an appetizer. Granted, there is the potage or stew, but it's not the same - it's thicker & not quite as messy. I love phô in all its forms and would immediately marry the man who takes me to a phô restaurant on a first date. OK, maybe not, but he'd score huge points, in spite of broth in his beard.

The idea was to grill the chicken for the soup. It's summer. I'm supposed to grill things. In spite of the rain, or perhaps because of it, I'm not going outside to use the BBQ. I'll use a frying pan instead to brown my meat.

Grilled Chicken Soup

2 chicken thighs, cut at joints
2 Tbsp red miso
1 tsp garlic powder
2 Tbsp red wine
1 tsp neutral oil
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp minced ginger
1 Tbsp minced lemon grass
100 g mushrooms, chopped
500 ml chicken stock
1 dried chilli
90 g cooked soba noodles (1 prewrapped roll)
100g spinach, cooked or frozen
2 green onions
handful chopped cilantro

Create marinade of miso, garlic powder & wine. Add chicken, score legs lightly to allow marinade to penetrate. Set aside.

Over medium heat, warm oil & sautee garlic, ginger, lemongrass & mushrooms. Add chicken stock & chilli, lower heat to simmer & cover.

In frying pan over med-high heat, brown chicken, skin side down, turning to brown evenly. Chicken will not be cooked through before you remove from heat.

Place chicken in soup mixture. Allow to cook until cooked through.

Shortly before serving, add cooked spinach, (if using frozen, allow to thaw in soup), add noodles, onions & cilantro.

As in winter, I was grateful for a warm broth. I'm not grateful for the mild winter of July, but all things considered, at least it's a mild winter. I think I should just move to Spain.

Codes, Rules, Instructions

I finally got around to reading The Code, a set of ethical rules/regulations/recommendations for food bloggers. While I think this is a good idea, it amazes me that there is a necessity for such a code.

The princinples of the code are as follows:

1. Be accountable
2. Be nice
3. Be honest

Aren't there certain things that are just understood? While I am new to blogging, I am not new to writing, and I believe that most bloggers, foodies or otherwise, have been taught to do all of these things. It may have been a lesson in Kindergarten including sharing or something. Maybe it's another one of my overestimations of humanity that will cause me to be crushed and disappointed when I see that this is not the case.

I decided that tonight, I will actually follow a "code". Recipes are models, which you have to be able to read, that is, you have to be able to decipher the code.
While I can come to terms with rules of writing, I still have issues with following instructions. Nonetheless, I tried my best to follow this recipe for Stir-Fried Snow Peas With Soba.

Here is photographic evidence of the fact that I can't follow directions. The gustatory evidence can only be described as: I put in more hot red pepper oil to my taste than suits most other people's taste. I still thought the peanut sauce was awesome, and I have been asked to do it again, just "tone it down a little".

This kind of writing code I can deal with very easily. What I have difficulties dealing with is the code of recipes. OK - it's more like my inability to follow directions. But the code? Being a responsible writer? This is easy.