Carbonara - by Eric Liftin of Food52

Greetings from the land of vikings-
Ha~ It's Sunday again, which means time for me to cook in bulk for the upcoming week! I have been so busy in the lab this weekend working full days and I am definitely not feeling making anything complicated. So, I happened to stumble upon this very simple recipe on my favorite food blog at food52.com. I decided to give Eric's "Daddy's Carbonara" a try since it was voted recipe of the week. However, I made a little twist to this dish by adding some sweet red onion (my friend Krista Bledsoe makes hers this way)...absolutely love it!

All you need are a few relatively inexpensive ingredients: (serves 6)

• 1lb spaghetti 
• 1/4 lb bacon (the original recipe calls for 1 lb- i think this is a little to much for us skinny bitches), if you are vegetarian- omit the bacon, if health conscious- sub with turkey bacon
• 10oz frozen sweet peas
• 1 cup freshly grated parmesan 
• lots of black pepper
• 4 eggs (beaten)
• 1 red onion, chopped finely (the original does not call for this, but i think it makes the pasta tastes better)

1. Boil the pasta until al dente
2. Cut bacon across the slices into 1/2" wide blocks. Cook in a skillet over medium heat until bacon turns brown and crispy
3. Steam peas with a little water and microwave 3-4 minutes, until they are warm, stirring halfway through.
4. In a large bowl, mix the egg, parmesan, and pepper. It should have the consistency of thick batter.
5. When the pasta is done, drain it quickly. Don't linger, as it's good to capture some of the water. Dump the steaming spaghetti into the egg mixture, and quickly mix well with a tong to cook the egg. Mix in the bacon, peas, and red onion.

Momma Chan's Stir Fry Green Beans w/ Eggs

Greetings from the land of vikings-
This dish was first created by our mother, Momma Chan- amazing mother of 3/ housewife/ cook :)
Since I have some free green beans- thanks to the courtesy of Josh from his backyard, I decided to make this dish to go with my roasted vegetables.
The ingredients are pretty simple as follow: (serves 3)

• 1lb green beans
• 2 eggs
• 3 cloves garlic (minced)
• 4T oyster sauce
• 2T soy sauce
• 3T vegetable oil

- Heat frying pan at medium high heat and add the vegetable oil
- Add in the garlic and sautee until fragrant
- Add 2 eggs and lightly scramble them in the pan
- Add the green beans and stir fry it for 1-2 min, then add the oyster sauce and soy sauce
- Put a lid over the pan and steam it for 5 min, or until the vegetables are tender with a little crunch

- Posted by skinny bitch #2

Roasted Vegetables

Greetings from the land of vikings-
I decided to make this dish last night because I got home late and I was tired. This is the most simple dish I can think of to go with my rice. It consists of ingredients that I have in my fridge waiting for me to be used before they rot.  
The first time I had this dish was at the Red Square, a Russian restaurant/ bar in Baltimore, MD. It came as a side dish of my main course, which I can barely recall ...some chicken breast stuffed with chesee (obviously the side dish outshines the entree). It was the most flavorful roasted vegetables I have ever had! The vegetables were a little charred from the roasting, and developed a nice nutty flavor, and the onions were sweet and tender (totally opened up my pallet!). Before this I had never thought of roasting vegetables, so I tried to re-create this dish myself at home...and voila, this is it! so EASY! Ever since then this dish has been a great hit among us- busy working sisters.

Ingredients: (serves 5)

• 1 head of broccoli crown
• 1 head of cauliflower
• 1 large onion (sliced)
• 4 cloves of garlic (miced)
• 2-3 sticks of carrots (depending on the size)
• generous amount of salt
• 1T black pepper
• 1/4 cup Extra virgin olive oil

- Preheat oven at 365F.
- Chop all the vegetables into bite size and toss them together with the salt, pepper, and olive oil
- Roast vegetables for 50 minutes
- Enjoy!
(Note: you can also add bell peppers if you have any)

-Posted by skinny bitch #2

Malaysian Char kuey teow

almost taste like malaysia!

yo yo yo holler from B'more. Here's a southeast asian delicacy, SPECIFICALLY Malaysian (sorry you Singaporeans out there). A simple flat noodle stir fry with stinky but oh sooooooo yummy "belacan", aka dried shrimp paste.  If you're making anything with shrimp paste, best be making it in a well ventilated location, and that's a warning!
a'ight, basic pantry must have to stay true to the Malaysian char kuey teow (fried flat noodles):

-oil for stir frying, of course
-1 packet of dried flat noodles, or fresh, whatever floats your boat
-2 eggs
-a bunch of bean sprouts or your favorite crunchy veges, such as bell peppers
-LOTSA garlic, at least 6 cloves
-soy sauce, enough to coat all noodles brown (a great cook can't tell you exact measurements sometimes!)
-sugar, by taste
-your choice of meats, shrimp or hard tofu >>> depicted in the picture, and no, not the grocery store type firm tofu, you have to go to special asian store to get the "fake chicken" tofu>> TASTE LIKE CHICKEN!
-Spring onion (scallions, if you don't already know they are interchangably used)
-Cilantro

Basic sambal sauce: if you can make a big batch once and store it, this would just create the stink only once!
-3 tbsp stinky shrimp paste
-2 shallots
-3 tbsp sambal oelek 2 tsp sugar
- vege / corn oil for stir frying (again, its a guestimate >2 tbsp?)

Start out with the sambal sauce, coat pan with oil, add in shallots and fry on med/high for a few minutes, throw in sambal and shrimp paste, simmer on low heat for 5-10 minutes, then add sugar and simmer for another 3 minutes.

On a separate pot, boil flat noodles until  Al dente (asians are just like italians!), drain and keep the boiling water in a reservoir, and throw in noodles to continue cooking outside of heat > this is the trick to not let the noodles stick and overcooked while you are still getting your other shit together! no other recipes tell you that, and i am giving you the chef's tip!

Coat wok, pot, whatever you have, with oil, and throw in your loads of garlic, before it turns brown, scramble in 2 eggs, then add your meats, cook till almost done, add in the rest of your veges, cook till soften, then ...at this point, you should add some salt to taste to all the ingredients >> you need to layer in your salt flavor!

Then, add in your flat noodles, toss in your sambal mixture and stir fry GENTLY so you don't kill your noodles.  Add in more soysauce to coat your noodles, and also SUGAR >>> a very important ingredient to balance out the taste. I can't tell you how much to add, man you just gotta get down and dirty and experiment with your own palate!  Trust me, the end result is a very fulfilling accomplishment when you cook a great dish!
Lastly, add in some scallions and cilantro (or not, if you hate those 2 flavors).

and.. Voila..

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