Earlier this week, Houston and the surrounding areas experienced a torrent of wind, heavy rains, and flooding. Thankfully, from where I live it was mostly just lots of rain and a few big thunder claps. After the rain, the temperature has dropped significantly and it’s freezing outside (freezing to this Texas girl is 60 degrees or colder). As I’m still getting over a cold I picked up over New Year’s, I decided it was the perfect time to make a piping hot bowl of soup.

As an added bonus, while I was making this recipe I achieved two cooking milestones – I made homemade chicken broth for the first time and also worked with an entire chicken for the first time! I never thought I’d be so excited to get my hands on a dead bird (raw meat still makes me cringe sometimes). To split up the work, I made the chicken broth the night before, refrigerated it overnight, and made the soup this morning. You could totally use low-sodium boxed chicken broth instead, nothing wrong with that.

What I love about this recipe is that it’s hearty enough to be a real meal. It’s got it all – pasta for carb lovers (that’s me), pancetta for meat lovers, and peas so you get your greens in. It’s also a really quick and easy recipe, perfect for those cold rainy days. Stay warm and enjoy!

It’s a shame I can’t turn this into a scratch-and-sniff picture, because the smell of butter + onions + pancetta = heavenly. Yes, I stood over the pot and inhaled in this bliss as it cooked. That’s not weird, right?

Minestra di Pasta e Piselli (Soup with Pasta and Peas)

• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 medium white onion, finely chopped
• 2 oz. pancetta, diced
• 1/2 tsp minced fresh thyme
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 6 to 7 cups chicken broth
• 1 small piece of the rind from wedge of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (optional), plus 3/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
•  1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups of your favorite small pasta (e.g., tubetti, ditalini, conchigliette, etc.)
• 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen peas
• Kosher or fine sea salt

1. Warm the butter and olive oil in a Dutch oven or other heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. When the butter has melted, add the onions and pancetta and saute for 5 minutes. Add the thyme and a few grinds of black pepper, then saute another 5 minutes, or until the onions are transluscent and the pancetta has just begun to crisp but is still mostly tender.
2. Pour in 6 cups of the broth and raise the heat to medium-high. Toss in the Parmigiano rind (if using). Bring the broth to a boil. Stir in the pasta, adding 1 1/2 cups if you want soupier soup or 1 3/4 cups if you want thicker soup. Stir in the peas. Cook the pasta until al dente (use the cooking time per the package instructions). Add additional broth if the soup seems too thick.
3. Remove the soup from the heat and stir in 1/2 cup of the grated Parmigiano. Taste the soup and add additional salt or pepper if needed. Ladle into bowls and serve with the remaining Parmigiano sprinkled over the top.

Source: Adapted from The Glorious Pasta of Italy

Now that I’ve moved to the diverse metropolis that is Houston, I have access to a bounty of international restaurants and grocery stores, including of course Houston’s amazing Chinatown. Perhaps this is what inspired me to (finally) get a wok and try making some Chinese dishes. When I mentioned my dinner plans to one of my best friends, her first response was “Wow, you never make Asian dishes!” Yah, that about sums it up. I just wasn’t one of those kids that stood in the kitchen and watched my mom cook. It doesn’t help that my mom is a “pinch of this” and “dash of that” kind of cook, so figuring out her recipes is tricky. This is why I grabbed this recipe from somewhere else (sorry Mom). This recipe hits it right on the money – crisp-tender broccoli, delicious tofu, all coated in a garlic sesame brown sauce. Yum.

Most of the ingredients in this recipe should be available at local grocery stores (check out the Asian/International food aisle), but I did have to make a special trip out to Chinatown to pick up the dried, seasoned bean curd cakes. I know this tofu isn’t going to win a beauty award anytime soon, but don’t be afraid of the bean curd cakes, they’re legit. Delicious, dense, chewy, they absorb all the flavors from the sauce – you won’t even notice there’s no meat in this dish! Except for the fact that I just told you. Oops.

This recipe calls for an additional step of blanching the broccoli. At first I was wary of the extra work (I can be lazy in the kitchen), but the broccoli florets turn this beautiful bright green color the moment you put them in boiling water (see pictures for proof). It also starts cooking the broccoli so you don’t need to stir-fry it as long. Just be sure to really drain the florets because you’ll be putting them into extremely hot oil – water and hot oil are not friends!

As with true chinese stir-frying, all cooking was done at high heat, so it was really important to get all my ingredients measured and ready (set up my mise en place) before I fired up the wok. Once the ingredients hit the oil, I had to keep them moving constantly to prevent burning. The good news is, the dish comes together in a flash! If you don’t have a wok, don’t fret. I also tried making this in my Le Creuset dutch oven, and it came out perfectly. Woks just make me feel more Asian. And I found an inexpensive wok at Williams-Sonoma here.

Even after being subjected to extremely high heat, the broccoli still retained most of its bright green color – blanching works! I’m the kind of girl that likes plenty of sauce to drizzle over my rice, so I think next time I’ll try doubling the sauce portion. Serve this up over a fluffy bed of white rice and enjoy (man man chi!)!

Stir-Fried Tofu with Broccoli

For the sauce:

• 2 Tbsp. oyster sauce
• 2 tsp. dark soy sauce
• 2 tsp. Shaoxing wine
• 1/2 tsp. sesame oil
• 1 1/4 tsp. sugar
• 1 Tbsp. cornstarch
• Pinch of ground white pepper
• 1/2 cup vegetable stock

• 3 heads broccoli, 1 pound each
• 2 quarts water
• 1/2-inch-thick slice ginger, peeled and slightly smashed
• 1 Tbsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda (optional)

• 3 Tbsp. peanut oil
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 6 seasoned bean curd cakes (8 oz.), cut into thin slices about 1/8-inch thick
• 1/4 tsp. salt

1. To make the sauce, in a small bowl, mix together all of the ingredients and reserve.
2. To water-blanch the broccoli, first trim the broccoli heads into florets. In a pot, bring the water to a boil over high heat. Add the ginger, salt, and baking soda (if using). When the water returns to a boil, add the broccoli and blanch for 10 seconds, then turn off the heat. Drain and rinse immediately with cold water to stop the cooking process and keep that bright green color on the veggies. Discard the ginger.
3. Heat a wok over high heat for 30 seconds. Add 1/2 Tbsp. of the peanut oil and coat the wok with the oil. When the oil begins to smoke, add the garlic and saute briefly until the garlic starts to brown. Add the bean curd slices and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat, transfer the bean curd to a small dish, and reserve.
4. Heat the wok again on high heat. Add the remaining 1 1/2 Tbsp. peanut oil and the salt and stir for 45 seconds, or until very hot. Carefully add the reserved broccoli and stir-fry for 2 minutes, making sure the broccoli is well coated with the oil. Add the reserved bean curd and stir-fry for 1 1/2 minutes, or until all the ingredients are well mixed and hot. Make a well in the center of the mixture, stir the sauce, and pour it into the well. Stir and mix for 2 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened and bubbled. Take off the heat and enjoy!

Soure: Adapted from Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking

Yeehaw! Chicken-fried steak is a big deal to us Texans and, although I’ve eaten it in restaurants more times than I can count, I’ve only tried to make this at home twice. The first time was years ago, and it was a disaster. The moment that poor steak hit the oil, its breading started falling off until it was as naked as the day it was born. That was a sad day.

Fast forward to the present – I decided to give this dish one more try. This time, I used a different recipe and the breading actually stayed put! The recipe includes an interesting method of scoring the meat, dredging it in flour, and then pounding the flour into the meat to help the final coating stick better. It may seem like a lot of extra work at first, but I promise once you get past the pounding part, it’s really not that bad. And you can leave the dredged steaks in the fridge for up to 4 hours before you fry them, so this gives you time to make the gravy and any side dishes.

The final result was better than any chicken-fried steak I’ve ever ordered at a restaurant. The breading was perfectly crunchy and flavorful, and when I cut into it – surprise! The steak inside was juicy, tender, and medium rare. Uhm, I just made a medium rare chicken-fried steak. Life doesn’t get much better than this. Oh wait, there was gravy too. Ok, life just got even better. You’ve got to try this one and experience it for yourself. God bless Texas (and chicken-fried steak)!

Chicken-Fried Steak

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1 Tbsp. garlic powder
• 1 Tbsp. onion powder
• 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• Salt and pepper
• 4 large eggs
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 1 pound beef flap meat (aka steak tips, sirloin tips, or flap sirloin), cut into four 4-ounce pieces
• 1 1/2 cups peanut or vegetable oil

1. Whisk flour, cornstarch, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, baking powder, 1 tsp. salt, and 2 tsp. pepper in large bowl. Transfer 1 cup of this seasoned flour mixture to shallow dish. Beat eggs in a second shallow dish. Add milk to bowl with remaining flour mixture and rub with fingers until mixture resembles coarse meal.
2. Pat steaks dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Lightly score the steaks with a sharp knife at 1/4-inch intervals in a cross-hatch pattern. Repeat on the other side. Dredge meat in seasoned flour and, using a meat pounder, pound steaks to between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick. One at a time, coat steaks lightly with seasoned flour again, dip in egg mixture, and then transfer to bowl with milk and flour mixture, pressing to adhere. Arrange steaks on wire rack set inside rimmed baking sheet and refrigerate 15 minutes (or up to 4 hours); do not discard the milk and flour mixture.
3. Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Return 2 steaks to bowl with milk and flour mixture and turn to coat. Fry 2 steaks until deep golden brown and crisp, about 2 to 3 minutes per side. Repeat with remaining steaks. Serve.

Cream Gravy

• 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper

Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat. Stir in flour and garlic powder and cook until golden, about 2 minutes. Slowly whisk in milk, salt, and pepper. Slowly whisk in small amounts of the chicken broth until the gravy is desired consistency (you may not need all of the broth). Simmer until thickened, about 5 minutes. Serve. Gravy can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.

Source: Adapted from Cook’s Country Skillet Suppers 2011 Special Issue