Mexican-ish chicken soup

My goal of clearing out my pantry is mostly going well... except for those times when I design a dish specifically for a certain ingredient (ahem, canned green chiles) then proceed to omit them entirely. Sigh.

This soup is based on the Barefoot Contessa's Mexican Chicken Soup, which I loved the first several times I made it. I loved the combination of what is essentially chicken soup, but with a twist: the addition of tomatoes as well as a nice kick from some spices. Over the years, I have varied it slightly, cutting down on some of the ingredients, or sometimes making a vegetarian version with beans. This is my latest.

Lasagna with Swiss chard

I came *this* close to using up all of the no-boil lasagna noodles I had while making this lasagna with Swiss chard, tomato sauce and ricotta but still managed to have a few sheets left. Argh!

Nonetheless, it turned out to be a nice, lighter lasagna (no mozzarella), similar to the spinach lasagna I made a while ago.

Salmon frittata

This meal was built entirely around a small can of salmon that I had languishing in my pantry. Canned salmon is not something I would usually buy, but my mom sent it to me. We Seattle folk are rather drawn to salmon. The town where I went to high school even has a salmon festival every year when the salmon would "run" (i.e. spawn). In person, this is quite the sight - the creek would fill with these enormous salmon, all crowding and jumping around each other trying to swim upstream. So crazy.

Anyways, when my mom sends me a care package, there is always some sort of salmon product. And when I visit home, there are at least one or two meals involving salmon. (It's kind of like in 'Mystic Pizza' where in Mystic, as a lobster hub, all they eat is "lobstah, lobstah, lobstah.")

Pantry purge: Miso ramen with shrimp and corn

Mmm, I just love miso-based noodle soups, especially the kind that use the potent Korean version of miso. This ramen is based on a version I had at Momofuku Noodle Bar. The Momofuku restaurants are all very meat-centric so usually I only eat their ginger scallion noodles - which are super yummy, so I don't mind.

But over the summer, I went for lunch, during which they have a rotating menu, and had a delicious shrimp and corn miso ramen, and have been attempting to replicate it ever since. This is my homage.

Cutting the fat... literally and not so literally

I already admitted I am addicted to the farmer’s market. I have one more, somewhat related, confession: I am a food hoarder. I stockpile foods in my pantry and freezer “for future use” and while I slowly use up a can here or there, I continue to buy and stock up more.


For instance, right now in my pantry, I have, among other things:

• white rice
• soba noodles
• Israeli couscous
• fish sauce
• vacuum-packed gnocchi
• 3(!) types of pasta (lasagna, spirals, spaghetti)
• a can of sardines
• dried chickpeas
• a can of green chiles
• coarse-ground and fine cornmeal
• stuff for Korean stock (dried shiitakes, kelp, etc.)
• chocolate chips
• steel-cut oats
• rolled oats
• a can of coconut milk
• dried blueberries
• chicken bouillon
• a can of salmon
• sesame seeds
• canned pumpkin
• panko
• etc.

In my freezer:

• several containers of chicken stock
• corn
• peas
• shrimp
• mixed seafood
• puff pastry
• tortillas
• rice
• leftover chana masala
• some cannellini beans
• walnuts
• pecans
• pine nuts
• jjajangmyun-style noodles
• anchovy powder
• frozen cubes of cilantro, parsley, and pesto
• chicken bones and random veggies (for future stock)

And don’t even get me started on my fridge!

Rice vinaigrette

Of course I have to start the new year with a salad. Like eating ddukguk on New Year's Day, it's tradition to attempt to start the new year with some healthy eating.


This is a vinaigrette that my cousin taught me years ago. It's a very simple formula - 2 crushed cloves of garlic (which I mash to a paste with a sprinkle of salt), 2 tablespoons of dijon mustard, 2 tablespoons of rice vinegar, black pepper and about 1/4 cup or so of olive oil. In fact, this is a general formula I use for most salad dressings, substituting the rice vinegar with other types (balsamic, champagne) and adding other extras (shallots, dried basil, oregano, thyme, etc.), maybe a little more or less of the dijon depending on my mood. Sometimes I add a little sugar to balance out tang of the mustard and vinegar.

Happy new year!

Ah, the annual feast. New Year's Day is the only day of the year that I wake up and eat Korean food for breakfast. Oh sure, I could have had one of those oranges sitting on the table, but I couldn't think of a better way to start the year than by overindulging on some ddukguk.