Asparagus and Shiitake Mushroom Stir-Fry

asparagus and shiitake mushroom stir-fry with rice

Before you say “asparagus? not again, Andreea”, just take a moment to think about how amazingly delicious asparagus is during spring and then consider making this dish It is quick, healthy and delicious! I made an asparagus stir-fry dish a few years ago, but it had hoisin sauce, and while that can be delicious, I wanted something lighter this time around. Cook’s Illustrated (CI) has a recipe in the May-June issue that looked closer to what I was envisioning for my stir-fry, plus CI always has some nice tips for their recipes that so far haven’t failed to deliver! I’ve made this once following the recipe closely (well, I did add some chicken that was begging to be cooked) and then a few more times changing the ingredients a bit to make the dish more to my tasting, in this case more tangy ginger (chopped, not grated) and a bit of spice. The main lesson from the CI recipe was to add water to the sauce and have that steam finish cooking the asparagus. This gives you flavorful, crispy on the outside, nice and tender on the inside asparagus spears…what more can an asparagus lover want?

Ingredients (serves 2 with rice or noodles):

• sauce: 1 Tb water, 1/2 Tb soy sauce, 1/2 Tb dry sherry, 1 tsp brown sugar, ~ 1 inch piece of ginger chopped into small cubes, 1 tsp toasted sesame oil, 1/2 Tb sambal
• 1 Tb peanut or vegetable oil
• 1/2 lb (~ 1/2 bunch) asparagus, ends snapped and cut into 1 – 2″ pieces
• 4 oz (4-6) shiitake mushrooms, sliced
• scallions slices or cilantro for topping (optional)

If serving with rice, make sure to start the rice first as this dish is fast

Whisk together the sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Heat oil in a skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add asparagus and mushrooms and cook until asparagus is crisp on the outside and browned in spots (~ 4 min). Add the sauce and cook until asparagus is tender (2 – 3 min). Serve with rice or noodles!

As I said, super-fast and easy. I really like dishes like this that come together fast, are full of flavor and very versatile. You can obviously make this with an array of veggies/mushrooms/meat. Now, if only my grocery store would stop carrying the wilted sad asparagus bunches and replace them with fresh springy ones, I could be eating this a lot more often!

Chicago Urban Race for Children with Congenital Heart Defects

the friendly polar bears by the Apple store fountain

This past weekend I participated in my first urban race, and I had a blast! I mean, races are fun in general, but running around the city and solving clues is even more exciting! One of my co-workers has been participating in urban races for quite some time so she convinced several of us to sign up for the Chicago Urban Race for CHD. We split into two teams: the friendly polar bears pictured above and the deep sea penguins. Having two teams made it a lot easier to take pictures of each other at the clue locations. 

The race started shortly past 11:30 am, which was good because I could sleep in, but not so good because I had a bit too much time to think and was getting a little nervous as I didn’t know what to expect  In the end, the clues were not too bad and the tasks were easily solvable. I’ve heard some urban races can get quite intense, but this one was not too bad. As long as you could make it to the locations, there was no reason to fail to complete the challenges. 

We started the race at a little cute bookstore in downtown Chicago where we had to find a few books and then take a picture with a sign in the bookstore. 

Becks Bookstore

After the trip to the bookstore we finished solving the clues and had to make a decision about where to go next. Most of the clues were further north and we had to take public transit to get there. We decided to go to the farthest out place, a pizzeria on the north side, but in retrospect we should have skipped that one (you get to skip one of the non-mandatory clues). There was some confusion when we got there as the guy outside the store was asking people to take pictures in front of the pizzeria and tweet them, but then there was a challenge inside as well (where there was a big line!). The guy inside asked us if we checked in with the twitter dude, so we went back outside. I found it strange when he said that not all the team members had to be on the picture and I asked if it mandatory, and he said no, but it’s highly recommended…dude, I don’t care about it if it’s not mandatory…this is a race!!!! Anyways, that clue took a little more than it should have and we probably would have been better off skipping it.

proof we did the pizza challenge

After this clue, things got a little faster. We ran to the Nest furniture store and I used my memory skills to solve the challenge.

nest furniture is comfy

We made it to a sporting goods store as well. I thought it had a strange name, but it turns out it’s just nowhere spelled backwards!

erewhon

We also got to go to McFadden’s bar. I’ve been to this bar many years ago and all I could remember were sticky floors and annoying guys. I was happy to see that the floors are indeed cleaned during the day The challenge was to dress up and take funny pictures in a photo booth…how fun do these pictures look?

photo booth challenge

Back downtown, a sweet challenge was waiting for us:

sweet challenge

And to end, my least favorite part of the race. We made it to SweetWater Tavern where after taking a fancy(?) mango juice shot, we were handed a t-shirt that we had to sell to strangers for $15!!!!!! It was quite embarrassing and I just wished they would have asked us to pay a little more for the race entry fee or make us wear the t-shirts during the race to raise awareness for CHD. I’ve heard this has become quite common during urban races, so if any race organizers are actually reading this, please STOP! It’s not fun begging strangers to buy your t-shirt after you’ve been running all around town solving clues. 

trying to smile while dreading having to sell the t-shirt

After the last challenge, all we had to do was to sprint to the finish point! Easier said than done, as we were more than 0.5 mi away, had to run uphill, down metal stairs, over a metal bridge, cross the street on yellow….but we made it!!! Technically, we came in in 11th (and 12th for the second team) place, but the team in front of us (by a few seconds!!!) was so disappointed that they didn’t win any money (only top 3 got cash prizes) that they didn’t stay to get their pictures checked so I guess technically we’re number 10 now While exhausted, we were really happy to finish in top 25 (at the bigger races this is the cut off to make it to nationals so we used this as a measure of success). This was a lot of fun and I’ve already signed up for the great urban race in July…that one will be a little more challenging and has involved eating mealworms (eek!!!) in some cities so wish me luck

While some people tried to run us over (including a police car while we had the green man!), some didn’t willingly make room on the sidewalk for us to pass, some Chicagoans were really nice to us and they even let us take a picture with them eating hot dogs for our tic-tac-toe clue!

friendly Chicagoans

I love this city!

 

 

Dan Dan Noodles with Chicken

Chicken Dan Dan Noodles

As I mentioned earlier, I recently came into the possession of a Sichuan cooking book that is full of appetizing authentic recipes. The only problem with authentic recipes is that it can be hard to find all the ingredients. While, I rarely follow recipes without adapting them, I really wanted to follow this recipe especially since I have never had Dan Dan Noodles before The most difficult ingredient to find was the Sichuanese ya cai, preserved vegetables. However, I persevered and after visiting three Asian stores, I came upon a dusty packet that looked exactly as the one described by Fuchsia Dunlop, the cookbook author on her blog. I almost did a happy dance in the store, but I was already getting weird looks for spending so much time analyzing the food on the shelves

The recipe required ground pork, but I decided to use cubed chicken breast instead. Also, in my excitement about finding ya cai, I totally forgot to buy chili oil so I ended up making my own!

Ingredients (serves 2):

• 8 – 10 oz fresh Chinese egg noodles
• 1 Tb peanut oil
• 4 Tb Sichuanese ya cai
• 2 scallions, green parts only, sliced
• 1 1/2 Tb light soy sauce
• 1/2 Tb dark soy sauce
• 3 Tb chili oil (for 1 cup: 1/4 cup red pepper flakes, 1 cup peanut oil, 1 piece ginger)
• 1 1/2 tsp Chinkiang vinegar
• 1 tsp ground roasted Sichuan pepper
• chicken topping: 1 Tb peanut oil, 1 chicken breast cubed, 1 tsp sherry, 2 tsp light soy sauce

If you do not have chili oil, make your own a few hrs or the day before. Place the pepper flakes in a ball jar. Heat the oil with the ginger until very hot. Let cool for 5-10 min (225 – 250F). Pour over the pepper flakes, stir and let sit for a few hours or overnight. 

Heat up a pan over medium heat. Roast your Sichuan pepper until fragrant. Remove from heat, let cool, and grind in a mortar.

Heat up oil over medium high heat. Stir fry the ya cai for 30 sec or until fragrant. Place in a bowl and mix with the remaining sauce ingredients and scallions.

Dan Dan noodle sauce

Wipe the skillet clean and prepare the chicken topping. Stir fry chicken in peanut oil for a few minutes, add the sherry and soy sauce and continue cooking until the chicken  is cooked through.

chicken topping

Cook noodles according to package directions (mine took about a minute of boiling in water). Assemble the dish by first placing some sauce in a bowl.

assembling the dish: ya cai sauce

Add your noodles and mix with the sauce.

egg noodles and sauce

Top with chicken and serve!

Dan Dan Noodles – served!

I have to admit that the ya cai didn’t smell super appetizing to me, but it was addicting once I started eating it! My only gripe is that it was quite salty so next time I may try soaking it in water first to get rid of some of the salt.

This was another quick (assuming you have the chili oil ready) and delicious dinner and I am looking forward to cooking more dishes from my Land of Plenty cookbook!

Asparagus, Prosciutto and Egg Flatbread

Asparagus, Prosciutto and Egg Flatbread

Have you ever wished that time would pass faster let’s say to be able to enjoy some warmer weather or finally wrap up your PhD, but also in the same time to have it move slower so you can have time to finish all the work you have to do in the meantime? As it happens, you cannot change how fast or slow time moves and as proof of that as of last week I am in my last year as a 20 something year old…yikes! It’s been about a week of good food and catching up with friends, but it is again time to get back to planning some tasty homemade meals and keep up with my running. This Saturday, I am actually participating in the Chicago Urban Race with a few co-workers so besides running, I also need to sharpen up my clue solving skills! Any advice is much appreciated

As you may have noticed, I really like my spring asparagus and this is a recipe I’ve been meaning to try for quite sometime. I was not quite sure how it will turn out, but I am happy to report that it made for a great breakfast! It could, of course, also be served as an appetizer.

Ingredients (makes 1 flatbread):

• 1/2 dough recipe from here
• olive oil
• 2 slices of prosciutto
• 5 – 7 asparagus spears, ends snapped
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup cheese (I used a combination of mozzarella and cheddar)
• 1 egg
• parmesan shavings (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 F. Roll out the dough. Brush with olive oil. Top with prosciutto and asparagus.

assembling the flatbread: prosciutto and asparagus

Top the asparagus with cheese.

add cheese (mozzarella and cheddar)

Carefully break the egg making sure it stays contained.

put an egg on top!

Bake for 15 – 20 minutes or until the dough and egg are cooked. Sprinkle with parmesan and serve warm.

yummy flatbread!

You can also choose to fry the egg independently and then place it atop the flatbread, but I chose to bake mine. The top of the egg did get a bit more cooked than I was hoping for, but the middle was still nice and soft!

 

 

Shamrock Shuffle 8K (April 7th, 2013)

Shamrock Shuffle 8K finisher

You guys, this Sunday I ran a really cool race, the Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle 8K. I highly recommend it if you are in Chicago. This was a huge race, similar in size to the Hot Chocolate, but so much better organized. Here are some of my favorite things about the race that all race organizers out there should pay attention to:

• They separated the runners into 2 waves: wave 1 with Elite and corrals A-E in which you could only get in based on a time from a previous race (I was lucky to barely make it based on my Santa Hustle 5K time) and a second wave for people with slower race time or first time racers. I am not sure how wave 2 went, but it was very easy to run in wave 1 and only stumbled upon a few walkers on the last mile.
• Volunteers handing out Kleenex during the run! I always bring my own tissues, but it is so cute they thought about it!
• We had to run over a few bridges whose grates were quite rough on the feet, but they taped carpets on both sides of the bridges! Another really nice detail that shows they care.
• Timing matts at every mile and an additional one at the 5K point. It is really great to see your results mile by mile as the mapmyrun GPS was a little confused and ended up calculating 5.61 mi which gave highly inaccurate mile paces.

I ended up with a pretty decent pace per mile and could have probably done a little better if my neighbors wouldn’t have been hammering in the middle of the night and if my left foot would have felt a little better. I really hope my foot will recover soon (I self diagnosed it with extensor tendonitis…auch), if not I may have to see a doctor about it. I had mixed feelings signing up for a race so close to my 10K, but the reviews of the shuffle were very positive and I am really glad I chose to run it. Also, the weather was quite nice. It was a bit hard to dress for it since it was quite chilly in the morning, but it got warm towards the end of the race. I tried to run  in the shade, which was quite surprising given all my other runs where I was searching for the sun  

Here are my race results if you’re curious how they did it:

I knew I was under 10 min/mile (my targeted pace) based on the clocks at the mile markers, but it is really nice to see the more accurate numbers

Now, time to rest my foot and then prepare for the next adventure: the Color Run in June! Very excited for this one since I have heard lots of great things about it and also we have quite a big team signed up for it. It should be loads of fun

Chi-Town 10K (March 24th, 2013)

finishing strong (grey sweatshirt)

After I successfully finished my second 5K race, I kept thinking that I should step up my workouts and try to run longer than 3 mi, but it hasn’t been easy. For some reason, I run slower on the treadmill than outdoors, which means that by the time I get to 3 mi, I am already very bored and all I want is to just end the run! I would run between 3 and 3.75 mi a few times a week, but I soon realized that if I wanted to run longer I needed to do two things: 1) sign-up for a 10K race and 2) run outside! The first task was easy: one my lab mates had a good time running the Chi-town 10K last year and we decided to sign up for it.

Running outside turned out not to be so bad after all. In the fall, I would check the weather and only run outside if the weather was in the high 40s, but after winter set in, I slowly went from running only in high 30s no wind weather to bellow freezing and wind when I had to do a final long run before my race. Thanks Santa again for the nice running gloves and hat, they definitely helped keep me warm on my long runs

Come race day, I was all ready to run my 10K on a day that turned out to be quite cold, but I managed to finish before the snowflakes made into the city. Luckily, we had a good support team and we were able to keep our winter jackets on until a few minutes before the start time, not a second earlier The race started on time, and we were soon on our way going north on the lake path watching the cute golden retrievers overwhelmed by the amount of people on their morning run. Maybe half a mile in, we were cheered on to separate from the half-marathoners and head south on the lake path. I remember thinking to myself how this race is so well organized with the turning points clearly marked and staffed appropriately,  unlike the Polar Dash. However, as we kept running south, things got weirder: no mile marker after 1 mile, ambulance in the middle of the running path and then some crazy guy in jeans running to set a record, or so it seemed. It turns out, the guy was the race director and he freaked out when he realized we were turned at the wrong time and have been running in the wrong direction for about a mile, for a total of ~1.5 mi. He suggested we all restart the race. My friend and I got some water, walked back to the start line and did it all over again!!! I have to admit, it got pretty rough around mile 5, which I guess it was be expected as I only trained for a 10K with my longest run only being 6 mi. I slowed down for a little bit, removed by gloves to cool down a bit and managed to keep the pace along my friend for the remainder of the race. I will definitely over train for my next race

Upon finishing, the race director made an announcement apologizing for their mistake and told us we could ask for a full refund. It seems there was some miscommunication with the volunteers at the turning point. They were told to stand in the right place, but in the excitement of the moment, they crossed to the other side and turned us around at the beginning of the race, instead of towards the end of the race. I  have great appreciation for the volunteers and do my best to thank them as they’re handing out water/snacks at the races, but obviously some of them can’t be left alone on the race course!!! I really hope those girls won’t be allowed to volunteer ever again!

Despite the misstep, I think All Community Events are pretty good at organizing races. Picking up the packet on the race day was a breeze, the race started on time and at the end there was a nice array of snacks waiting for us. The race director was mortified at the volunteers’ mistake and I believe he will learn from his mistakes, but I guess only time will tell

Papaya, Prosciutto and Feta Cheese Spinach Salad

Papaya, Prosciutto and Feta Cheese Spinach Salad

Papaya is a delicious fruit! Do not let anyone convince you otherwise I like papaya a lot, but unfortunately it is quite heavy and can get expensive. Luckily, this weekend I found it on sale for under a $1 a pound and got myself a 3 lb deliciously smelling and tasting papaya. I usually eat it as is or maybe sprinkled with some lime juice, but on my way home from work tonight I was craving a salad and decided the sweet papaya could go well with some salty prosciutto..and it did! I also added some feta and it wasn’t only because of my obsession with feta , it actually goes quite well with the papaya, but you could probably use some parmesan as well.

Papaya is rich in vitamin A and C and a good source of dietary fiber. According to wikipedia it is used to treat digestive issues, but also to treat cuts and rashes. Apparently, during the Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Harrison Ford was treated for a ruptured disk with papain (enzyme from papaya) injections. The things you learn from wikipedia Bottom line, eat papaya, it can be good for you!

Ingredients (serves 1):

• 2 handfuls of baby spinach
• 1 – 2 cups papaya chunks
• 1 slice of prosciutto cut in slices
• 1 – 2 Tb crumbled feta cheese
• olive oil, lime juice (from 1/4-1/2 lime) and freshly ground pepper

Place spinach on a plate. Top with papaya, prosciutto and feta cheese. Drizzle with olive oil and lime juice. Sprinkle some ground pepper and serve with a glass of white wine while waiting for the sunset  

papaya spinach salad