Week 3: Pad Thai

Michele was the one who started making Pad Thai, and I kinda followed her. I didn't use her recipe, but I found one on the internet that appealed to me.

There are a few ingredients that you can't buy at your local grocery store, as i knew would be the case, so I took my huge pink backpack to Belleville, one of the two neighborhoods in Paris that I know of where you can buy Asian products.

It is 40 minutes away and I am never in the area, so I decided to buy everything that I could possibly need for a few additional recipes, so I filled my backpack with curry pastes and noodles and cans and sauces. I couldn't even find everything in the same store!
I really wanted to weigh my bag when I got home but I forgot-- let me tell you though.... IT HURT!!............

...............BUT... IT WAS WORTH IT!! This recipe for Pad Thai is AMAZING and my meal came out great!



I took the recipe from Chez Pim :

http://chezpim.typepad.com/blogs/2007/01/pad_thai_for_be.html

and I made few changes. I made the 'vegatarian' version (normal fish sauce, but no chicken, only tofu, but that is actually because I didn't releaze until I stated cooking that my chicken was expired!!) I also didn't use peanuts because I forgot to buy them, so I used peanut oil, instead of whatever oil she says to use, to make up for it! I also didn't make indiviual portions (note: the amount of sauce she says to add is for one portion, not the whole meal!)

I really recommend this one!

Week 2: Paella

This is something that I've wanted to make for a while. I always hesitated because saffron is really expensive, but I decided that it was time.
I followed a recipe from All Recipes.com:............

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Paella-I/Detail.aspx

But I made some changes. First of all, I didn't put in peas and I didn't add any of the seafood on the list (for a few reasons, I can't eat shrimp, I couldn't find good squid...) So, I ended up using a pound of bay scallops instead.

Nothing in the cooking of this meal went smoothly. The rice wasn't absorbing the broth as it should have, my pot wasn't big enough...



All in all, I was disappointed.

Week 2: Lemon Butter Chicken

I am slightly embarrassed but the amount of calories in this dish, but it is really good. I used less butter and I was very light on the sauce, but it tasted great anyway. I got the recipe from AllRecipes.com http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Amazing-Italian-Lemon-Butter-Chicken/Detail.aspx

Week 1: Tempura!

I made veggie and chicken tempura. I used a recipe from about.com
http://japanesefood.about.com/od/tempura/a/cookingtempura.htm
My friend Michele and I made it together.

I used their batter recipe but with wheat flour because it was the only thing i had. It was yummy, but it was heavy. I would recommend this to anyone who likes fried veggies, but not so much if you want real Japanese tempura.

On the other hand, we made a tempura sauce that was to die for. It is not the original sauce that you would get from a restaurant, but it tasted about the same and was really easy to make, other than shredding the ginger and radish.
here is the link from Yahoo Answers for that one:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070927171127AAau00M

Week 1: Risotto!

I've never actually eaten risotto, but after hearing about it on Top Chef countless times, I decided to make it!
This is the recipe that I used:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/gourmet-mushroom-risotto/detail.aspx
It is from Allrecipes.com
I followed the recipe exactly except that I bought a variety of mushrooms and I didn't exactly measure.
Having never tasted risotto before, I'd say it was a great success, but I'd love someone with experience to come taste it one day.

I started a blog

I've decided to make two recipes a week that I've never made before.
I plan on posting these recipes on this page so that everyone can see what I did and how it came out. Please comment if you want and PLEASE leave a comment if you've tried it!