Cookbook Challenge: Chloe’s Kitchen, Part Deux

A couple of these are actually from her blog, so I don’t know if they’re in her book or not.  Anyway, my second week with Chloe’s recipes was all about the Asian flavors!  And noodles.  And sandwiches.  It was a pretty good week.

First up are the Garlic Sesame Soba Noodles from her blog.  I used shiitake mushrooms instead of oyster, because they were way less expensive.  I do love oyster mushrooms, but I thought that the shiitakes worked well here because they absorbed the sauce better than the oysters would have.  I also added some thinly sliced zucchini and carrots, to up the veggie ante.  I have been craving vegetables of all kinds lately, and these were a nice addition.  The zucchini absorbs the flavor of the sauce (which is true to its name – garlicky and sesame-y) and the sweetness of the carrots complements it all very nicely.

Chloe says she likes these served cold, so that’s how I ate the leftovers, and I think they’re equally good either way.  I might be a little numb to cold leftovers though, since I don’t have a microwave at home and sometimes am too lazy ravenous to get up to use the microwave at work.  Also, can I just say…any excuse to use chopsticks is a good excuse?  I love chopsticks so so much.  I have quite the collection.  Oh, recipe notes:  I would cut down on the oil, of course.  She is always a little oil heavy in her recipes, I’ve learned.  The tablespoon of sesame oil could be cut down to a teaspoon, and the same amount of sesame flavor would be present, I’m sure.  That stuff is generally pretty potent and a little dab will do ya, right?  Otherwise, a win!

 

These are the Thai Chickpea Burgers with Sweet and Spicy Sauce from her book (Chloe’s Kitchen, just to make sure we’re all on the same page).  I was being absent minded last week (I had kind of a crummy week, honestly) and added the two tablespoons of oil to the burger mix instead of reserving it for frying them.  Oops.  So they were a little less firm and a little fattier than they were supposed to be.  Oh well.  It didn’t seem to affect the flavor (canola oil, thankfully), which was delightfully reminiscent of Thai food.  Gingery.  Mmm.  The sweet and spicy sauce was, like all of the other sauces I’ve made of hers, meh.  Combined with the burger it was good, though.  I added some lime juice to it, but it was just kind of overwhelmingly tomato-y.  These were generally good though.  I would definitely make the patties again.

So, I’ve never had Pad Thai.  I know, I know.  It’s just that the ingredients list always seems so long?  But these Pad Thai Noodles from her blog had a pretty short ingredients list, so I gave them a whirl.  And they were ok.  I dunno, they seemed like they were missing something.

Some oomph.  I ended up adding extra soy sauce and some red pepper flakes for a little zing.  And I regretted adding in the chopped peanuts, because apparently I hate peanuts!  But I like peanut butter and peanut flavored things.  Odd how that works, eh?  But they were totally edible and unoffensive.  And I love broccoli and the lime was great.  And again, noodles…and chopsticks.  So I’m not complaining.

I’m tired.  I feel like it’s pretty obvious that I’m tired right now.  I’m sorry, everyone, if this was the most boring, non-helpful post ever.  Also, I took a break from the challenge for the current cookbook, because I don’t own it and none of the internet recipes looked great to me.  I’ve been cooking from Appetite for Reduction instead, because after all that oil and noodles and sandwiches, I could maybe use just a pinch of reduction.  Still photographing everything though, so I’ll post next week with those AFR recipes I tried!