Stir Fry

I used to make stir fry all the time when I was single. But Joey's not a huge fan of the stuff and it's dropped off my rotation mostly. However, I recently came into some chicken (buy one get one free*) and had a bunch of vegetables and dinner alone and decided stir fry was quick and easy and perfect for the weather.

My stir fry recipe is sort of throw together and make it up dish that I don't really revise much at all in the sauce but totally change in the ingredients. I started making stir fry in Austria when I was not yet a real cook and didn't have all the choices of ingredients that I do here--this version is a lot better but I can't necessary advertise my sauce as mainstream. But I love it!

*You can swap in any meat or vegetables that you have on hand but be sure to mix textures so that it is more interesting to eat.

Stir Fry for 2

1 t vegetable oil or the like

1 clove garlic, smashed

2 thinly sliced chicken breasts

1 handful rice noodles

1 bunch baby bok choy

1 tomato

1 skinny eggplant

1 bell pepper

1 squeeze siracha

1 1/2 T rice vinegar

1 squeeze deli mustard

1 t soy sauce (or to taste)

1. Chop all the vegetables and the chicken

2. Heat oil in a wok or medium frying pan over medium heat. Set a pot of water on a different burner and bring to a boil.

3. Add the garlic to the pan and cook until fragrant. Add and brown the chicken

4. Just before the chicken is brown add the eggplant and peppers and let them cook down

5. Cook the noodles according to directions about 5 minutes and drain

6. Mix the vinegar, mustard, siracha and soy sauce and set aside

6. Add the tomatoes and bok choy just as the chicken becomes cooked through

7. Once the bok choy is cooked to your favorite texture, add the noodles to the stir fry and mix together. Add the sauce and cook briefly until everything is well mixed and serve immediately.

The Great Squash

My mom sent me vegetables from the family farm in Indiana--through the mail all the way to California for my birthday. She said she wanted to know how far they could travel. She sent me a sweet potato and she sent me a squash which I mis-identified initially as a yellow zucchini.

The yellow vegetable arrived in not quite ship-shape condition in case you are planning to send vegetables across the country to your relatives. It was wrapped in a wet paper towel inside a ziploc bag and the very end had to go right away--the rest though was fine. It made the box smell like farm water--and if you've had the opportunity to smell farm water before, you know it's a little putrid. The sweet potato looked as though it had been just picked and filled up the box, but that's a different story.

I'm not a big squash fan. I couldn't think of many family recipes in which squash was a factor. I hemmed and hawed. Finally I decided to make this. I bought all the ingredients and then I put it off. I didn't make it and the squash sat. Finally I told myself that this squash was ready to be eaten and I was going to do it, no matter what.

So I hunkered down and decided against the ribbons (I'm not a fan of the vegetable peeler). I cut up the squash into discs. I cut up part of the red onion into little pieces. I cut up a green pepper that might be sweet--but might also be spicy--I don't remember. I cut up a little bit of sweet yellow pepper. And I cut up a little tiny spicy pepper that I got for something else--and I don't know what it is or what the spice content was--but it's pretty.

I sauteed the onion in a little bit of olive oil for a little and when it got fragrant I added the remaining ingredients and sauteed some more. I added a little salt, a little pepper, a little Jamacian Jerk Seasoning (I'm more aware of the Jamacians than usual because of the Olympics!) And when I could see a little browning and smell the squash I decided it was done--the only thing worse than squash is squishy squash.

The verdict? A pretty good vegetable stir-fry.