It's report card season and elaborate anything is the last thing I've wanted to do lately. But I still wanted to eat well. What was chosen at first seemed rather disparate but acutally pulled together into somewhat of a Thai-like dinner. Discussing T&T with Linda of kayaksoup, I realized there were a couple things I should use up in the freezer from there. Frog decided he was in the mood for squid. The other choice was frog legs. Yeah, you heard right--frog legs. Hey, you knew I was living with a Frenchman right? And it just so happens that T&T supermarket carried the ones we got for him.
Anyways, back to the squid. It's not easy to cook squid directly from frozen but it's not impossible. You just have to give yourself a lot of time. It will lose a lot of water but it helps steam them a bit. Once all the parts are separated you can pour off the extra water, add some butter and let it lightly saute on medium for about five minutes. The ones we had last night turned out to be extremely tender. All that was added was a tad of salt.
While I cooked the squid, I also made some packaged "Thai Kitchen" spicy Thai Rice. It wasn't bad, tastewise. Certainly better than the boxed Pad Thai they have. One of the nice things about having Shearwater across the way from here is that they carry different items at their store than ours does. One of them is a few of those "Thai Kitchen" items. The coconut milk is good, the rice is about a 6 and the Pad Thai is about a 2 on my scale. The box said the rice was spicy Thai chili. I'd rather say it was SPICED Thai because this chili-seared tongue has tasted hotter Thai food in many places.
The last-minute addition to this meal was some leftover frozen beans and carrots that needed using up. I decided quite quickly to try the tofu I got from Shearwater in it. I dunked the cubes in some Newman's Own Low Fat Sesame Thai dressing (actually that is a pretty good dressing for steamed veggies). I steamed the veggies in a pan along with some red pepper spears. Then I added the marinated tofu and some extra sauce and slowly simmered the mix. So easy and tasted very good.
I am very enamored now of Pete's Tofu--Super Firm, the tofu I tried. The texture and flavour were very nice. I even got the Frog to eat a tiny bit. He's had a horror of tofu since he came to North America. I finally convinced him to try a tiny bite of this, telling him it was better than any I'd ever had. He ate it and, either he was being polite or he actually thought it wasn't bad. That's a darn miracle as far as I'm concerned and should be advertisement alone for this company since it made a tofu that a tofu-hater allowed himself to swallow. ;-)
3 comments:
Looks like greta meal.
And I am beginning to suspect that tofu-hating is a guy thing. The nicest thing Rob ever said when I made tofu for him was "its not the worst thing I ever ate"
My boyfriend runs away screaming at anything that has a hint of 'healthy' in it, so I've just learned not to tell him what we're eating, and I usually get away with it :) I've never made squid at home, but I'd really like to try - and I'm glad to know it can go from frozen to tender without much trouble as I usually forget to take things out of the freezer. Our meals have been full of rather disparate ingredients lately too...only three days until payday (we get paid 1x a month, so the end is always a bit sparse)...I can't wait. Your dish(es) sound delicious!
Linda--I suspect that guys on a whole are more likely to hate the tofu thing but not completely, as crazy gaijin says. Strong flavours and certain methods of prep have been known to win over a few of them. And some guys will eat ANYTHING placed before them. We have a few of those here. And of course there is the vegetarian MALE teacher up here. He eats it. However, I suspect most males dislike tofu either because it doesn't have bones ;-)
michelle--frozen squid is actually quite easy if cooked from a medium low temperature. You need to do a thorough defrost of them over that heat and then quickly saute them in a bit of butter for good results. And at least you have to worry about month to month access to foods you want. I have to plan according to three-four months (school breaks when I can go south to Vancouver)
Crazy gaijin--I agree that tofu on its own can be an acquired taste but there are so many ways to prep it that there are bound to be some ways to prep for more quote unquote male tastes. Not sure if I'd like tofu drinks either.
Thanks for the compliment... I'm glad that my nowhere can be an interesting somewhere for someone else. I really do believe you! :D
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