Category Archives: Pasta
Sicilian Spaghetti and Gravy
Do you slave over a hot stove for hours perfecting your generations-old spaghetti sauce? The one your grandmother made, the one your mother made, the one your aunt across town made and to whom you traveled on Sundays because “her 
gravy was THE ONE!”
I don’t. At least not any more.
Blame it on Nino.
He is Nino Elia. He’s a chef of note here in the Lancaster PA area, who specializes in-home dinner parties, small events, and private cooking classes. Ellen and I met him doing a cooking-class presentation at my new favorite gourmet shop in the area, Zest! They called it Date Night with Nino!, and boy was it ever. Sixteen (mostly) cooking enthusiasts who love to get together and have a good time. This particular event was all about cooking Sicilian.
Nino presented pan-fried Kalamata olives with rosemary and ricotta salata, pollo alla vucciria–which he called Chicken Chaos (aptly named!), and spaghetti con pomodoro arrosto al forno, which basically is spaghetti with oven-roasted tomatoes and basil. It was all amazing.
When I was single and living in Olde City Philadelphia I used to make the spaghetti dish almost every night, because it is filling, healthy, cheap, and simple. But I didn’t know it had a name–to me it was spaghetti with a quick, fresh tomato and basil condiment.
Nino has raised this dish to an art form, taking it to a place beyond what I knew of Sicilian cuisine. It isn’t actually very far from what I used to make, but far enough to have awakened in me a new appreciation for what gets made for dinner in Sicily. I can imagine this dish being served nightly at homes all over the Italian island, and no one ever tiring of it–in fact, one can imagine alterations from time to time to keep the idea fresh.
So no more long, loving hours in the kitchen with red gravy (save that for some other recipe). Don’t cook your sauce to death. This one reeks of fresh ingredients. But also, it is so quick and simple that you will likely want to make this one of your go-to “dinners in a hurry.” That’s the way it ought to be.
Spaghetti con pomodoro arrosto al forno
Ingredients:
12 ripe Roma tomatoes
5-8 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 bunch fresh basil, divided
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
kosher salt and pepper to taste
Parmesano Reggiano
Preparation:
For the sauce: Cut the tomatoes in half and place on an olive-oiled baking sheet, skin side down. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic, chopped basil, and olive oil. Bake for 20 minutes in a pre-heated 400-degree oven. After 20 minutes turn the tomatoes cut side down an bake for another 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, cover loosely with foil, and set aside until just before the pasta is finished. Pick off the skins and spoon half the sauce into a large saute pan over low heat. Chop or mash the tomatoes into chunks (a potato masher works well), taste for salt and pepper and adjust the flavor.
For the pasta: Bring a large pot with four quarts of water to a rolling boil. When the tomatoes come out of the oven, add two tablespoons kosher salt to the boiling water and stir once. Then add a box of spaghetti, stir once or twice, and cook for 2 minutes less than the recommended time on the package for al-dente pasta (the timing is important–the pasta will continue to cook after you remove it from the water). With a slotted spoon, remove the pasta from the water (SAVE THE PASTA WATER!), let it drain over the pot for a moment, and place it in the pan with the sauce. Toss lightly to coat the pasta with the sauce. If you’d like it a bit saucier, add some pasta water (start with about a half cup), toss, and let it rest a couple of minutes to absorb the sauce.
Serve the pasta topped with the remaining sauce, garnished with more freshly chopped basil, freshly grated Parmesano Reggiano, and a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.
Want to see more of Nino? Check him out at: https://www.facebook.com/Nino-Elia-145679935496202/
Mangia!
Penne Pasta with Vodka Sauce
So today I’m faced with a challenge. We went to a new Italian restaurant for supper the other night, and it was wonderful—Salt & Pepper in the new Worthington shopping plaza on Oregon Pike, about halfway between Roseville Road and Landis Valley Road in Manheim Township. The best Italian food we have had since we moved here, other than homemade.
I had delicious linguine and clams in red sauce, E. had an excellent chicken Parmesan and spaghetti, and M. had spaghetti in vodka sauce, a light and creamy red sauce. It was an excellent meal.
The challenge, then, is to recreate the spaghetti in vodka sauce and make it even better than the restaurant’s version. I liked it, but I wished it had had a bit more of a spicy bite. I like my red sauces to have a little punch. Vodka sauce, on the other hand, is not particularly robust, relying on subtle but complex flavors mixed to perfection.
So what to do?
What I’ve done is replaced black pepper with white pepper, minced shallots instead of garlic, caramelized red onions instead of minced yellow ones, and a bit of sweet paprika and more red-pepper flakes than what most recipes call for. These changes add complexity to the dish. One further adjustment is that I use Absolut Peppar as the vodka in the recipe, but that is a personal vanity. Most any good vodka will do, but I truly like the layer of black pepper flavor it imparts. My favorite vodka is Blair and Brown, a true potato vodka made right here in Pennsylvania, but I’d rather savor that on the rocks with a bit of tonic and lime. Perhaps together?
Try this recipe at home. Use penne or linguine instead of spaghetti, and whole-wheat pastas will add a bit more bite to the dish. I’m certain you’ll like it, and will serve it to guests. It’s a true winner, sure to garner oohs and ahs from your friends and naysayers who think that vodka sauce is a bridge too far. That’s a bridge I willingly cross.
Penne with Vodka Sauce
Ingredients:
1 (28 ounce) can whole tomatoes (preferably San Marzano) , drained, liquid reserved
1 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 medium red onion, minced (about 1/4 cup)
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
2 tablespoon tomato paste
2 medium shallots, minced
1 teaspoon sweet Spanish paprika
1/4-1/2 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
kosher salt and freshly ground WHITE pepper (much better than store-bought fine-ground)
1/3 cup vodka (try it with Absolut Peppar)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 pound penne pasta
2 whole sprigs fresh basil, plus 2 tablespoons minced fresh basil leaves
Grated Parmesan cheese, for serving
Preparation:
1. Puree half of tomatoes until smooth. Dice remaining tomatoes into 1/2-inch pieces, discarding cores. Combine pureed and diced tomatoes in liquid measuring cup (you should have about 1 2/3 cups). Add reserved liquid to equal 2 cups.
2. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat until shimmering. To caramelize the onion, add onion and brown sugar and cook over a low-medium heat, stirring occasionally, until onions are light golden brown and soft, about 15 minutes. Add tomato paste, and cook, stirring constantly about three minutes; add shallots, paprika, and pepper flakes and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
3. Stir in tomatoes and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Remove pan from heat and add vodka. Return pan to medium-high heat and simmer briskly until the alcohol is cooked off, 8 to 10 minutes; stir frequently and lower heat to medium if simmering becomes too vigorous. Remove the basil sprigs and stir in cream and cook until hot, about 1 minute.
4. Meanwhile, bring 4 quarts water to boil in large Dutch oven over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon salt and pasta. Cook until just shy of al dente, then drain pasta, reserving 1/4 cup cooking water, and transfer pasta back to Dutch oven. Add sauce to pasta and toss over medium heat until pasta absorbs some of sauce, 1 to 2 minutes, adding reserved cooking water if sauce is too thick. Stir in the minced basil and adjust seasoning with salt. Divide among pasta bowls, garnish with chopped basil, and serve immediately.
Canning a Fabulous Marinara Sauce–Quickly and Simply
This is going to be a short note about canning and tomato sauce.
I know…I know…there are a billion places on the web where you can get canning advice, and there are even more tomato-sauce recipes, likely you make your grandmother’s recipe (or your mother’s recipe, or a neighbor’s recipe, or Alton Brown’s recipe or…or…or…
I’m going to add one more voice to the Greek Chorus, and while these are probably the most overused food-column subjects on the planet, I humbly suggest you actually try this one, because it is so bloody simple and so bloody tasty that I may actually influence you to give up your day-long adventure in kitchen drudgery, which most tomato sauces tend to be–no self-respecting grandmother I know would ever subscribe or give props to a sauce that doesn’t simmer all day, and which likely takes even longer to clean up. Besides, the longer you simmer, the more sugar you’ll have to add, because long simmering makes tomatoes bitter, not better (notice there’s no sugar in my recipe? Just a little in the ketchup to offset the vinegar a bit. Is there sugar in your recipe?).
No sir or ma’am, I don’t roll in that direction. If you’ve read this space before, you know that perhaps only second to fresh and local, I am all about quick and simple. I have teen-age daughters. I don’t have time to spend all day in the kitchen. And don’t bother removing the skins and seeds from the tomatoes unless you have all the time in the world. I don’t. There is grass to mow, shopping to get done, laundry to do, trash to take out, swimming (or, currently, field hockey) practices to drive to, dance classes (soooooo many dance classes)…so who has time to give an entire day to a tomato sauce?
Not me. And in this recipe it really doesn’t make that much of a difference. And the seeds will signal to your guests that it really is garden-fresh sauce.
So here, I’m going to give you a simple variation on the marinara sauce with which I am most familiar–the one from South Beach.
It’s spicy (but not too spicy), sweet (but not too sweet), garlicky (but not too…oh, hell, yes it is…), and made with a surprise: white wine along with the red. Heresy? Sure. But just wait till you taste.
And then, I’m going to suggest that you can the sauce, so that you’ll have plenty of fresh-ingredient sauce all winter. I just know that by now, you have too many tomatoes in your garden, and people are leaving more and more every day on the break-room table, right? So you look right past them, thinking, “Oh, God, not MORE tomatoes!!!”
I say, TAKE ‘EM! Make sauce. Keep making it until your fingers ache. This is such a simple recipe you’ll make it over and over and over. The hardest part s chopping the herbs–there are lots and lots. But give this a try. Then can as much as you can. If you don’t have canning supplies, spend thirty bucks on a cheap canning set: a large pot, a set of canning tools (look ’em up on Google or at the website of one of the big boxes. A dozen pint jars cost about eight bucks, quart jars about ten. Compare this to the cost of one quart of decent sauce at the store. You’ll be converted, because it’s so simple, and it is so much better.
Here’s the scoop:
CHEFFZILLA’S MARINARA SAUCE
Ingredients:
Fresh tomatoes; it takes about 2 1/2 pounds of tomatoes per pint (5 pounds per quart) of finished jars. This recipe is for six pints. 15 pounds of tomatoes; I like San Marzanos, but use any kind, just make sure they’re ripe.
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large sweet onion, diced fine
1/2 to 1 cup minced garlic. I know it’s a lot. But trust me here. It makes a difference. You can actually use garlic from a bottle sold in the grocery store’s produce section. I didn’t, because I had lots of garlic laying around from Caitlin and EmmaKate’s CSA at Blue Rock Farm
1 cup good quality red wine (don’t use cooking wine or cheap table wine–buy decent wines to cook with. Rule of thumb: if you wouldn’t drink it, don’t cook with it.
1/2 cup good quality dry white wine (same rules apply–if you wouldn’t, don’t)
1/2 cup each fresh parsley and basil leaves plus a few whole branches of basil
1/4 cup each fresh oregano and thyme
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes (optional, but c’mon!) Want a Fra Diavolo? 1 tablespoon
Preparation:
1. Wash the jars and lids in the dishwasher with just a little bit of soap; or hand wash. Set the jars in the canning pot and fill with water until there is about 1 inch of water above the tops of the jars.
2. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees; wash the tomatoes, cut them in half (quarters if they are large), lay them out on a baking sheet or two, lay the basil branches over the tomatoes, spray with a bit of olive oil spray, and roast for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to “handling” temperature.
3. Chop all the herbs together into a large pile until they are all mixed up and finely chopped.
4. In a large heavy enamel or stainless-steel pot, heat the olive oil until it shimmers, turn down the heat to medium, and add the onions, stirring occasionally until they soften and turn translucent, about 15 minutes. Turn the heat up to medium-high, add the minced garlic and stir constantly for 60 seconds. NO MORE! Add the wine to the onions and garlic, stir to mix well, then add the herbs and stir again until fully mixed. Turn the stove down to medium-low and allow the wine, herbs, and aromatics to simmer until the wine is reduced by half.
5. While the wine is reducing, place the tomatoes, in batches, in a food processor and pulse four or five times, until the tomatoes are chopped fine, but not so they are completely pureed. When the wine is reduced, add the tomatoes to the pot, add the ketchup and vinegar, stir well, and reduce the pot to low-medium, bring to a simmer. Salt and pepper to taste. Reduce the heat further, until the pot is just bubbling lightly and partially cover the pot, allowing steam to escape. Stir every fifteen or twenty minutes and cook for two hours.
6. A half hour before the sauce is finished, bring the canning pot and jars to a boil. When the water is boiling hard, set the timer for 10 minutes. At the end of this time, turn off the heat but do not remove the jars. Add the lids and discs to the pot.
7. When the sauce is done, remove the jars, one at a time (do not touch the inside or the screw threads of the jars), pour out the water, and fill with sauce to within 1/4 inch of the top. Be sure to leave 1/4 inch at the top of the jar. Remove a lid from the water, screw it on tight, and place the jar back in the water; repeat with the remaining jars, removing enough water from the pot to ensure that the pot doesn’t spill over (If you have any sauce remaining, use it right away, even if you must simply dip good bread into the sauce and finish it yourself). Be sure there is at least an inch (two inches is better, three is even better) of water above the top of the jars.
8. Bring the pot back to a boil and set the kitchen timer for 75 minutes for pints or 90 minutes for quarts (add five additional minutes for each 1000 feet above sea level your kitchen is). When the timer beeps, turn the heat off, remove the lid, and allow the jars to rest five minutes unmoved. Then remove the jars from the water and set on a cooling rack or towel to cool, keeping them separated enough that they don’t prevent each other from cooling. Allow to cool completely, to room temperature, listening all the while for the lids to pop as they cool. All the lids should pop inward and they should be snug. If a lid doesn’t pop, place it back in boiling water for an additional 35 minutes and repeat the process. Allow the jars to sit, unmoved, for 24 hours. If a lid doesn’t pop again, refrigerate and use the sauce within 7 days.
These jars should keep in a cool, dry place for a year or more, but the sauce is so good, they won’t last that long. Trust me.
And one more thing:
MANGIA!!!
Vegetable Lo Mein
I was in the Asian market today picking up fresh sprouts for a batch of pad Thai I plan to make for supper tonight, and another customer in the store asked the clerk if anyone in the market had a recipe for lo mein. When no one in the market could give her an idea of how to go about it, I offered to help her out. Not my favorite dish, although I do love a good plate of vegetarian lo Mein, here is a simple recipe for the noodle dish for beginners. There are certainly other, more complex recipes, and had I time (today is “Free Rita’s Day” here in Lancaster), I’d produce a recipe with much more complex flavor, but most neighborhood restaurants don’t go for complex, they go for fast and tasty. Here is one I got from a neighborhood restaurant in Alexandria, VA, when I lived in the Rosemont neighborhood. If you don’t know Rosemont, you haven’t lived. This is a wonderful, simple dish made with vegetables. It can be augmented with chicken, Chinese roast pork, shrimp, or tofu, and will taste even better.
This recipe comes from Grace Young’s The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen: Classic Family Recipes for Celebration and Healing. In the book, Grace says: “Vegetable Lo Mein is one the easiest dishes for a beginner to make. The mastery comes in correctly slicing the vegetables and not overcooking the noodles. You will find a variety of fresh egg noodles in the refrigerator section of most Chinese food markets. The best noodles for lo mein are about 1/4 inch thick, and come either uncooked or precooked. Either noodle can be used and will require one to three minutes of boiling, follow package directions.”
Vegetable Lo Mein
Ingredients:
1-pound package Chinese narrow, flat egg noodles (resembling linguine)
6 dried Shitake mushrooms
1 small can Chinese straw mushrooms
1 medium onion, halved and sliced in half-moon rings 1/4-inch thick
2 stalks celery, one-inch slices, sliced diagonally
1 broccoli crown, florets separated
6 Napa cabbage leaves
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons peanut oil
1 tablespoon finely minced ginger
1 cup julienne carrots
2 scallions, finely shredded
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
Optional: 1 chicken breast, trimmed of fat, cut in half lengthwise then sliced crossways into small strips; or 24 31- to 36-count (medium) shrimp, peeled and deveined; or 1/2 pound extra-firm tofu, pressed dry, marinated 1/2 hour in 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon rice-wine vinegar, and 1 teaspoon sesame-seed oil; or 1/2 pound Asian-roasted BBQ pork, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
Preparation:
In a medium bowl, soak the Shitake mushrooms in 1/4 cup cold water for 30 minutes, or until softened. Drain and squeeze dry, reserving soaking liquid. Cut off and discard stems and thinly slice the caps.
Wash the cabbage leaves in several changes of cold water and allow to thoroughly drain in a colander until dry to touch. Trim 1/4 inch from the stem end of the cabbage leaves and discard. Stack 2 to 3 cabbage leaves at a time and crosswise into 1/4-inch-wide shreds.
In a 4-quart saucepan, bring about 2 quarts of water to a boil over high heat. Add noodles , return to a rolling boil, and boil 2 to 3 minutes. Rinse under cold water and drain the noodles thoroughly. Transfer to a medium bowl, add sesame oil and 1 tablespoon soy sauce, and mix well. Set aside.
Heat a 14-inch flat-bottomed wok or 12-inch flat skillet over high heat until hot but not smoking. Add 1 tablespoon peanut oil and ginger, and stir-fry 20 seconds. Add the onions, celery, carrots, scallions, and mushrooms, and stir-fry 1 minute, or until vegetables are just limp. Transfer vegetables to a plate.
Add 1/4 cup water and broccoli; cover and steam 3 minutes, then drain and place on the plate with the other vegetables.
[Add protein ingredients here if you choose–see note*]
Add the remaining 2 tablespoons vegetable oil and cabbage, and stir-fry 1 minute, or until cabbage begins to wilt. And the cooked carrot mixture, noodles, and reserved mushroom soaking liquid, and stir-fry 2 to 3 minutes, or until noodles are heated through. Swirl in the remaining 1 tablespoon soy sauce and oyster sauce and toss to combine. Serve immediately.
* Note: If you choose to add protein ingredients such as chicken, shrimp, tofu, or pork, stir-fry them until just barely done after stir-frying the vegetables but before the cabbage. Set aside on a warm plate. Then resume the recipe with with the cabbage and continue until hot and well mixed. If you add protein ingredients, double the oyster sauce and increase the soy sauce by 1 tablespoon.
Yet Another Pad Thai
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12 ounces dried rice noodles
 1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
1/4 cup fish sauce
2 tablespoons tamarind paste
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast
halves, sliced into thin strips
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
|
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic, minced
4 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 tablespoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup coarsely ground peanuts
2 cups bean sprouts
1/2 cup chopped fresh chives
1 tablespoon paprika, or to taste
1 lime, cut into wedges
|
| 1. | Place rice noodles in a large bowl and cover with several inches of room temperature water; let soak for 30 to 60 minutes. Drain. |
| 2. | Whisk sugar, vinegar, fish sauce, and tamarind paste in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, remove from heat. |
| 3. | Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook and stir until chicken is cooked through, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from heat. |
| 4. | Heat 1 tablespoon oil and minced garlic in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Stir in eggs; scramble until eggs are nearly cooked through, about 2 minutes. Add cooked chicken breast slices and rice noodles; stir to combine. |
| 5. | Stir in tamarind mixture, 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, and salt; cook until noodles are tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in peanuts; cook until heated through, 1 to 2 minutes. Garnish with bean sprouts, chives, paprika, and lime wedges. |
Meatball and Spaghetti Soup
What can be more kid friendly than a bowl of soup with spaghetti and meatballs! Lean turkey meatballs are cooked in a light tomato broth with cut up spaghetti. This is a one pot meal my whole family loves and leftovers are great for lunch.
This is a recipe from the archives that has been greatly overlooked. I finally got a chance to re-photograph this one, something I wanted to do for a while because it’s very popular in my home and I’m sure it will be popular in yours. A delicious quick family-friendly meal for under $10!
Servings: 6 • Size: 1/6th (about 1 1/2 cups) • Old Points: 4 pts • Points+: 5 pts
Calories: 212.9 • Fat: 3.2 g • Carb: 27.4 g • Fiber: 3.9 g • Protein: 22.1 g • Sugar: 2 g
Sodium: 738.7 mg (without added salt)
Ingredients:
For the soup:
- 5 cups low sodium, fat-free chicken broth
- 2 cups water
- 2 chopped cloves garlic, divided
- 4 tbsp chopped fresh parsley, divided
- 1/2 onion, chopped, divided
- 3-4 tbsp tomato sauce
- pinch crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
- kosher salt and fresh pepper
- 6 oz dry cut up spaghetti, I used a low-fat whole-wheat product, but try it with whole-wheat macaroni. It’s easier for kids to eat with a spoon
For the meatballs:
- 16 oz 99% lean ground turkey
- 1 small egg
- 1/4 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 tbsp fresh chopped basil
Directions:
In a soup pot over medium heat, bring chicken broth, water, 1 clove crushed garlic, 2 tbsp chopped parsley, 1/4 of the chopped onion, tomato sauce, crushed red pepper flakes and fresh black pepper to a boil; simmer about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, make the meatballs by combining ground turkey, Parmesan cheese, egg, remaining garlic, remaining onion, remaining parsley, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper. Form into little 1 inch meatballs (about 36). Drop meatballs into the broth, cook about 3 minutes; add pasta and cook according to package directions. Add fresh basil, adjust salt and pepper to taste and serve with grated Parmesan cheese.
Vegetable Pad Thai — Weight-Watchers Style
Here is a vegetarian version of Pad Thai. It is wonderful, slightly different, and tasty nonetheless.
Ingredients:
4 oz. flat rice noodles
2 teaspoons canola oil
1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
2 large carrots, cut into matchsticks
6 scallions, thinly sliced
2 Thai chili peppers or 2 teaspoons Asian red garlic-chili paste
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced fine
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 cup fresh bean sprouts
1/2 container extra-firm tofu, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped and divided
2 tablespoons unsalted peanuts, coarsely chopped
Preparation:
1. Place noodles in a large bowl and cover with hot water; let stand until noodles are soft, about 20 minutes. Drain, rinse with cold water, and drain again.
2. Heat oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add bell pepper, carrots, scallions, chili peppers, and garlic, and stir fry until the vegetables are soft, about 3 minutes. Add fish sauce, brown sugar, and soy sauce, stir fry until the sugar dissolves, about 30 seconds. Add noodles, sprouts, half the cilantro, and tofu. Toss gently to mix all the ingredients and coat everything with sauce and heated through, 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat to a serving bowl and sprinkle with remaining cilantro and peanuts.
Serve either hot or at room temperature.
Serves 6
Serving: 1 cup
PP4
Chicken Pad Thai–Weight-Watchers Style
I have a weakness for Asian dishes, and I’m always looking to learn new ones. Perhaps my all-time favorite Asian recipe is Pad Thai. I can’t get enough of this dish, but traditionally, made in Thai restaurants, the calorie count is measured in the billions. Having recently joined Weight Watchers, I now have to “skinny down” some of my faves. What I’ll present here is an absolutely wonderful rendering of this Thai favorite, but beaten into submission. This low calorie version has everything you could ask for in this dish, and yet has a much better PointsPlus value than traditional chicken Pad Thai recipes. It’s a great healthy meal idea to help satisfy your craving for Thai food, while still keeping you on track with Weight Watchers.
Pad Thai with Chicken
Ingredients:
6 oz chicken skinless, boneless chicken breast, chopped into bite size pieces
4 oz dried rice noodles
1/4 cup egg beaters
2 cups bean sprouts
1/2 cup sliced scallions
1/4 cup shallots, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tsp peanut oil
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tbsp chopped dry-roasted peanuts
2 tbsp fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp chili-garlic sauce
Instructions
1. In a large bowl, soak rice noodles in warm water until they are limp and white, about 30 minutes.
2. Heat oil over high heat in a wok until very hot. Add the shallots and garlic and stir-fry until golden, about 10 seconds.
3. Add the egg and cook, stirring, until scrambled, about 30 seconds. Add chicken and stir-fry until mostly cooked through, about 5 minutes.
4. Drain the noodles and add to the wok, tossing with tongs until they soften and curl, about 1 minute.
Add bean sprouts, cilantro, scallions, vinegar, fish sauce, sugar , salt and chile-garlic sauce; toss until the chicken is fully cooked and noodles are heated through, 1 to 2 minutes.
Sprinkle with peanuts and serve immediately.
Cooking time (duration): 45
Serving size: 1 cup
Serves 4
PP 7
Cheffzilla’s Kitchen 