Spicy Szechuan Tofu

For years, I was never a huge fan of Trader Joe's - when I lived in Los Angeles, it was the worst place to go on the weekend.  Every single one had the world's smallest parking lot, and it was a madhouse.

But these ladies are huge fans, and even wrote a book about it - Cooking with all Things Trader Joe's - and it has absolutely beautiful pictures to go with it, taken by the ladies themselves. Itcombines their love of Trader Joe's with simple, quick recipes that ANYONE can cook with just a little TJ's help.

I marked this recipe on my first glance through the book, and I kept going back to it because it reminded me so much of mapo tofu, which is a spicy Chinese tofu dish.  When my mom made it, she always used silken tofu, so it was more soupy, but this version uses firm tofu cubes, making it a bit easier to eat.

This recipe was extremely easy to make.  The prep is minimal, and the prepared General Tsao stir fry sauce really speeds things along in flavorville.

My main changes to the recipe - first, I used ground turkey, as I didn't feel like beef and I could not find ground pork (the traditional meat in mapo tofu) at the grocery store.  Second, I added mushrooms, because they were on sale, and I wanted to bulk up the dish a bit.  Both are delicious additions.

Oh, and one hint - I didn't buy the sesame oil at TJ's - I actually got it at a local Japanese market.  Be careful when purchasing - I somehow grabbed the sesame oil with cayenne extract.  Ouch.

If you're a Trader Joe's fan, this book is definitely worth a glance!

Spicy Szechuan Tofu from Cooking with all things Trader Joe's.  Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 package firm tofu (I recommend extra firm)
• 1/2 lb ground turkey or beef 
• 1 glove garlic, crushed, or 1 cube frozen crushed garlic
• 1 tsp crushed ginger (I used powdered)
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1/2 cup General Tsao Stir Fry Sauce
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 2 green onions, chopped (I omitted this, since I don't like raw green onions.)

Directions:

1.  Cut the tofu into 1/2 inch cubes.  Place cubes between paper towels and press to draw water out.  Set aside.

2.  Cook turkey/beef/pork in a skillet, breaking it up as it cooks.  Add garlic, ginger, and peas; cook 2 minutes longer.

3.  Add tofu, stir fry sauce, soy sauce, and sesame oil.  Cook for 3 minutes or until heated through.

4.  Add green onions and remove from heat.  Serve over steamed white rice.

This recipe makes you look like a Chinese cooking genius, when all the work is done by the delicious (and not that spicy) stir fry sauce.  Yummmm.

Light Turkey Meatballs

"How do you spend so little on groceries?"

"Well, I buy groceries based on what is on sale that week, and I plan meals around it."

"That's too much work."

FINE THEN, don't take my advice!

It really is the simplest way to save money when you are trying new recipes - just wait until the main ingredient is on sale.  For example, today I am posting about turkey meatballs.  Usually turkey is $5.99 for a 20 ounce package.  At Safeway, I received a special promotion with my club card, making the package only $1.99.  Of course I'm going to plan meals around the promotional price of ground turkey, and you'd be a fool to turn that price down - ground turkey never seems to get that cheap.

Now that my preaching is out of the way...

Everyday Food had a recipe in November for Asian Turkey Meatballs with Carrot Rice.  I was tempted to make these meatballs, but I am not a fan of hot sauce, so the amount of Siracha scared me.  I turned to other Martha turkey meatball recipes and discovered an Everyday Food recipe for Light Turkey Meatballs.  Unfortunately, this recipe only shows you how to make the actual meatballs, but they did link up to meatballs with tomato sauce over whole wheat pasta, which provided the instructions on how to cook the meatballs.  The instructions also said to use jarred pasta sauce, which would be faster, but I found the perfect excuse to try another tomato sauce recipe (coming soon!)

I found the meatball recipe to be extremely easy.  Easy is our friend.  They did seem a bit wet, and I cut myself cutting the scallions (darn ceramic knife!) but I really liked the taste.  Mr. UoC said they were a bit dry, and I admit I overcooked them (oops) but better safe than sorry sometimes, right?  I made the meatballs really large (I wound up with 20) so next time, make them much smaller! 

See what I mean about them being a bit too large?  Meatballs in a pot are never attractive, are they?

Light Turkey Meatballs from Everyday Food, January/February 2008.
Light Turkey Meatballs over Whole Wheat Pasta from Everyday Food, January/February 2008

Ingredients:

• 3 slices whole wheat (I used whole grain white) sandwich bread
• 1/4 cup of milk
• 1.5 pounds of ground turkey, 93 percent lean, dark meat (I only used 1.25 pounds)
• 3 scallions, finely choppd
• 2 small cloves of garlic, finely minced
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (I cheated, used dried parsley)
• 1 large egg
• Coarse salt and pepper
• Olive oil

Directions:
1.  Place bread in a food processor, pulse until fine crumbs form.  In a small bowl, mix breadcrumbs with milk, set aside at least five minutes.  (You can also rip up the bread by hand and almost grind it into fine pieces if you don't want to use a food processor.)

2.  In a large bowl, combine turkey, scallions, garlic, egg, 1.5 teaspoons of salt, 0.5 teaspoons of pepper (eyeball those two last measures) and breadcrumb mixture.  Mix gently with a fork.  I used my hands.  (I also wore gloves because I'm a wimp like that.)

3.  Using your hands, shape into balls, about 2 tablespoons each.  You can also use an ice cream scoop to make your life easier.

4.  (Now going onto the second recipe)  In a skillet, heat olive oil over medium high heat.  Add meatballs and cook until browned on all sides, about 5-7 minutes.  Set aside.

Tomorrow, we move onto the sauce!  And the final results!

Turkey Chili

It's not a secret that I worship before the altar of Martha Stewart's empire.  I subscribe to Martha Stewart Living, Everyday Food, and when I was planning my wedding I purchased Martha Stewart Weddings the day it hit the newstands.  Although Lucinda Scala Quinn is threatening to move into the altar, Martha is number one.

The January/February issue of Everday Food is traditionally the "Light" issue to go along with resolutions of losing weight and eating healthier (and by the time we reach October it's all about savory meals and desserts...) I love this issue as I usually get the most ideas for meals from it.  It looks like a well worn in book!

I love chili... to a point.  If it's spicy, then I won't eat it.  It cooks such a large amount, it's hard for me to eat it by myself.  Mr. Unoriginal Chef is picky, so I figured he wouldn't eat it.  But I just had to make the Turkey Chili from the January/February issue.  Calorie count per serving:  171.  AWESOME. 

I also thought chili was difficult to make, but it was really pretty easy.  The hardest part was making sure my pot was big enough (I used a 3.5 quart saute pan with a lid, just big enough!) You should have seen me adding up the contents of all the ingredients to make sure it fit in my pan.

Math + cooking = friends when it's easy.

Also, a quick note on tomatoes.  America's Test Kitchen and EDF/MSL recommend using whole canned tomatoes, and then breaking them up in a food processor, with a spoon, whichever.  I understand the reasoning behind it (more flavorful tomatoes) however my grocery store only carries whole tomatoes by Muir Glen.  Each can is 3.99.  That gets pricey after a while, especially when I had a promo for the store brand canned tomatoes for 0.49 a can.  For me, it's a no brainer just to buy the already diced tomatoes, especially when they say to break up the tomatoes during cooking anyways.  Am I losing flavor?  Maybe, but the dishes still taste fine to me.  I'm going for simple, everyday meals that are affordable.  A 4.00 can of tomatoes versus 0.98 for two cans might not be much, but I'm looking at things in the long run.  (And to think I sucked at studying economics.)

The flavor of the chili on day one and two was intense.  It was so flavorful, a great mild kick without being spicy, and so hearty that I didn't think that this was a lower fat recipe.  Day three and four, the chili powder flavor started to wane, so definitely eat this within the first two days.  Also, I substituted the cut up pieces of turkey with ground turkey (NOT turkey breast, regular ground turkey) as I was too lazy to cut up turkey (and try to find turkey pieces.)  The ground turkey worked fine.

So much deliciousness.

Turkey Chili, Everyday Food, January/February 2011

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 1 pound boneless, skinless turkey thighs, cut into 1/2 inch pieces.  (I used 1.25 pounds ground turkey)
• 1/2 large white onion, diced small.  (I used 1 small yellow onion, diced finely.)
• 2 garlic cloves, diced small
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 2 tablesppons ancho chili or regular chili powder (I used regular chili powder.)
• 1 bottle amber lager beer or 1 1/2 cups of low sodium chicken broth (I used chicken broth)
• 1 can (28 ounces) whole peeled tomatoes, pureed.  (I used 2 14-15 ounce cans of peeled diced tomatoes.  Do not get the lower sodium tomatoes.)
• 1 can (15.5 ounces) pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• Coarse salt and pepper (I found this to be optional, it had plenty of flavor.)

Directions:

1.  In a large heavy pot, heat 1 teaspoon oil over medium high.  Add turkey and cook, stirring occasionally, until cooked through.  Transfer turkey to a bowl with a slotted spoon and pour off juices.  (Since I used ground turkey, I kept stirring to cook the slab of ground turkey all the way through... and I didn't pour off the juices.  I just threw it in the pot for more "flavor.")

2.  Add 1 teaspoon of oil to the pot.  Add onion and cook until translucent, about 4 minutes.

3.  Add garlic, cumin, oregano and chili powder.  Cook until fragrant, one minute.

4.  Add beer (or broth) and cook, scraping up bits from the bottom of the pot until liquid thickens, about five minutes.

5.  Add tomatoes, turkey, beans, and 1/2 cup water.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium low, partially cover, and simmer until chili is dark and thick, about 45 minutes.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  (I don't think this is needed, as there is a lot of sodium in the tomatoes and also with the beans.)

Simmer baby, simmer!

Serve with tortilla chips (mmm), sour cream, greek yogurt, diced onion, jalapeno, cheese, anything that floats your boat.  If you cook it down thick enough, you can make some monster nachos out of this chili!

Noms.