Grilled Thai Steak and Ever So Grateful

Posted on August 24, 2015 by Our Growing Paynes

It was a very long week last week but everything went well with my dad’s surgery. Yesterday they discharged him from hospital and now he is recuperating at home. We were all breathing a sigh of relief. Still are if you want to know the truth.

So he’ll be causing trouble for a good long while now and we wouldn’t have it any other way!

As you can imagine I’m a bit backed up with blog posts and getting everything else back on track. Kids are back at school this week so we’re winding down the summer the next couple of days. Making sure they get back into the routine of things.

Last weekend I was in the mood for Thai flavours and decided to do a grilled steak with rice noodles. We have had some success with growing fresh garlic this year and we also had ginger and cilantro on hand.

In a bowl mix 2 tablespoons peanut oil, 2 tablespoons oyster sauce, 2 tablespoons amino acid, 1 tablespoon lime juice, one to two teaspoons of fresh chopped cilantro, a large clove of garlic, finely chopped, and salt and pepper. Add the steak to marinate for at least an hour.

When it is time to cook, heat up a couple of tablespoons of peanut oil. Add a few cloves of garlic, finely chopped, and a couple of scallions, chopped. Saute until the garlic starts to soften. Add a cayenne pepper. When slicing use gloves, saves on burning skin. We keep the seeds but some may find that too hot. Saute for a few minutes.

Add a cup of chicken stock and bring to a simmer. I made the mistake of adding the rest of the veg too soon. I like my veg on the crispy side. If you like them soft then add the peppers and mushrooms when you add the stock. Also add carrots. I added a couple of tablespoons of green curry paste, a tablespoon of oyster sauce, a tablespoon of amino acids, and a splash of lime juice. Continue to simmer. As it cooks adjust the flavour to your liking.

Grill the steak to medium rare.

Take the leftover marinade and add it to the skillet and continue to simmer. While the steak is resting add half a cup light coconut milk. Add a few more teaspoons of freshly chopped cilantro at this stage as well.

While this is being created cook rice noodles according to the package. Toss the noodles in the sauce and serve. Top with the steak and peanuts.

I enjoyed this dish. The heat was mild but you could always add more hot pepper as you cook. Tonight we are doing Pad Thai for dinner. Another one of our favourites!

Grilled Pork Salad With An Asian Flair

Posted on June 10, 2015 by Our Growing Paynes

I heard from my mum this morning and she wanted to know what I was feeding my kids as they are growing like weeds! I wish I knew! I know it can’t just be they have a tall dad. I have one as well but I didn’t get very far with the height thing. And I did eat my vegetables though for all the good it did me. 🙂

It is strange coming into the last bit of the school year. Both kids are finishing up at each of their schools and getting ready to move up to the next school. Which means a flurry of celebrations and year end events. A lot of lasts. My son’s school has a cookout for the whole school with activities outside. They finish off with a water balloon toss with the oldest students and the teachers. They absolutely love that bit!

A big change from when I was a kid though would be the new tradition of having a graduation for every level of school including preschool! At least our son’s celebration is called a recognition instead of graduation. It’s a bit much. Don’t get me wrong, I’m insanely proud of our kids. I love watching them grow and becoming fabulous people. They are really coming into their own.

The other day I planned on grilling pork in an Asian marinade to put over salad. Great plan until I realised we had run out of gas for the grill. Plan B was grilling on the stove top.

In a bowl mix together the following:

4 tablespoons of peanut oil

3 tablespoons of oyster sauce

3 tablespoons of rice vinegar

1 tablespoon of lime juice

2 tablespoons of amino acid

3-4 finely chopped garlic

A couple of teaspoons of cilantro

Marinate the pork for at least an hour. Also, take some of the marinade and marinate a few mushrooms. If you are lucky enough to have a working grill on hand, grill away until the pork is cooked. Otherwise continue with plan b.

While the pork is resting grill the mushrooms.

Slice the pork and mushrooms and top your salad with them. For a dressing I quickly mixed up a bit of peanut oil, rice vinegar, and lime juice.

A great light meal for the hotter weather. And we’ve since rectified the gas situation so no more plan b for the time being!

Asian Meatballs and the Education System

Posted on February 25, 2015 by Our Growing Paynes

Mind boggling. That is how I felt last night when we were talking about school. Both kids had tests yesterday. Both mentioned how they had to finish them today. I asked what they meant finishing it a day later. Apparently that is the norm in our school system. If you don’t finish it in time that is ok. This just blew my mind. Growing up if I didn’t finish a test in the set amount of time that was on me.

This really concerns me because as a parent I want the best education for our kids. I don’t want education to be a limiting factor to whatever progress our kids make. Last year the US was ranked 14th in the world when it came to education. The past couple of years think tanks have mucked about with different ways the kids should be taught without really vetting the programs. Common core has been a nightmare. I’m sorry 2+2 does not equal 5! I get that kids should learn to think through the process and understand how they got to the answer but it is not ok if the answer is wrong.

It is hard for me to understand the overall disconnect between what I see our teachers doing locally and how our students stand vs other countries. The teachers our kids have, bar one, have been amazing. They are dedicated to our kids, they work long hours, they work to try to tailor lessons for each student, and communicate with us. So I have to think our system is held back at the higher level. For example there is an OK senator who wants to cut funding to the AP History classes because it “teaches students what is bad about America” It doesn’t promote “exceptionalism”. Constantly chanting “We’re #1” isn’t leadership, it’s insecurity.

To rise back up the ranks, kids need to have positive learning experiences while being prepared for the real world. They need to stop being let down by those who forget separation of church and state actually exists, to be allowed to actually learn science and the truth about history, and to know that 2 + 2 doesn’t equal 5.

We are fortunate that our kids love to learn and seek out ways to learn new things. But not all kids have that support.

We did have a nice meal to go along with the enlightening conversation. I was in the mood for meatballs and wanted an Asian flair. And guess what my husband found at the co-op?

Galangal! How cool is that? In a bowl I mixed up a half pound of beef with a few tablespoons of freshly grated galangal. I found it to be very dry and flaky. I also added chopped chives and couple of teaspoons of amino acids. Otherwise known as gluten free soy sauce. Then roll the meat into meatballs about an inch to an inch in a half in diameter. In a skillet heat up a few tablespoons of peanut oil.

Brown the sides of the meatballs then finish off in an oven heated to 350F/175C. Meanwhile, saute chopped veg of your choice. I did up peppers, scallions, garlic, carrots, and mushrooms.

I messed up on the portion of sauce vs the portion of rice noodle. I made enough sauce for two people but enough noodles for 4. So I would double what I’m putting here. Otherwise the dish ends up bland and trust me, the sauce wasn’t bland! I added 2 tablespoons oyster sauce, a couple of teaspoons of amino acids, a few splashes of fresh lime juice, and a teaspoon of red pepper flakes. Bring to a simmer and add a cup of homemade chicken stock. Reduce down a bit then add the meatballs.

Cook the rice noodles per the directions then serve with the meatball sauce.

Next time I make this I will definitely increase the sauce because the flavour was amazing. Just wish the rice noodles hadn’t dulled it down.

Grilled Sockeye Salmon with an Asian Flair

Posted on September 3, 2014 by Our Growing Paynes

The local co-op had some lovely fish for sale which put me in mind to grill some salmon. I got all excited when I saw the Scottish salmon but then I paused when I saw it was farm raised. What popped into my head was the thought how humane can it be to farm raise salmon, never mind fish in general? Salmon go miles in their life cycle. So how can you properly raise them in the cages? Plus there are places that do GMO farm raised salmon and thus far the label laws in the States are appallingly lax it makes sense to avoid farm raised. Which is such a shame as Scottish salmon is amazing.

However all was not lost! They also had some wild sockeye salmon which is fabulous. As it is seasonal I look forward to this time of year when it shows up in our stores.

I had a bit of oyster sauce left over so I thought I’d an Asian inspired marinade for the salmon.

I chopped up a small scallion and 2 cloves of garlic. In a small bowl, mix 1-2 tablespoons of peanut oil, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, a splash of fresh lime juice, some grated fresh ginger and 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce with the scallion and garlic. Mix well.

Season the salmon with salt and pepper.

Earlier this year I started grilling the salmon on lemon slices. I love how it adds citrus notes to the meal.

Grill until it’s cook to medium. Serve with the grilled lemons.

My daughter and I enjoyed this with grilled corn and potato while my husband and son had jalapeno chicken sausages. All in all a great meal!

Oh Pad Thai, Where Have You Been?

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Our Growing Paynes

I have yet another example of oh duh, why didn’t I try this before? I suppose it is similar to writer’s block. You know the dish exists and you hear good things about it but for some reason you don’t try it. There isn’t any rhyme or reason to it. But after making this dish I am really wishing I tried making it before. I’ve never had it before but I knew my husband liked it so I wanted to make it for him.

It’s not overly complicated but there are a few steps. I followed this pad thai recipe somewhat closely with just a minor change or two.

About an hour before making the dinner I got the sauce and chicken prepped. I cubed a half pound of chicken and tossed it in 2T of low sodium soy sauce and 1 tsp of cornstarch. Place in the fridge until it’s time to cook.

In a separate bowl mix the juice of two limes, 2T rice vinegar, 5T oyster sauce, 5T brown sugar, and at least 1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes. If you want more heat add more flakes. The original recipe asked for fish sauce but I had oyster sauce. I’ve been waiting for a recipe to come along so I can try it. It’s fabulous so I need to find more recipes!

Before starting to cook get the rice noodles ready for the dish. Follow the directions on the packet. The noodles will be finished off in the wok so don’t cook them all the way separately. Finely chop 4 cloves or so of garlic and a 1/4 cup of chopped scallion. Heat 2T of sesame oil then saute the garlic and scallion for a few minutes.

Add the chicken and cook through.

Remove the chicken, garlic and scallions and set aside. Add a bit more oil to the wok and beat 3 eggs. Add the eggs to the wok and start to scramble.

When the eggs are about halfway cooked add the oyster sauce mixture and stir well. Add the chicken, noodles, about a cup of bean sprouts, and chopped cilantro.

The original recipe says to cook until the sprouts are soft but we like them crunchy so I cooked it until it was heated through. Serve immediately garnishing with chopped peanuts, lime, and cilantro.

This was delicious! I am kicking myself for waiting so long to make this. And even try Pad Thai. This has moved up the list of meals I like to make on a regular basis. 🙂

Our Growing Paynes

A journey about cooking, traveling, gardening, and crafting.

Tag Archives: oyster sauce

Grilled Thai Steak and Ever So Grateful

Grilled Pork Salad With An Asian Flair

Asian Meatballs and the Education System

Grilled Sockeye Salmon with an Asian Flair

Oh Pad Thai, Where Have You Been?