On Friday, my oven stopped working. I was in the middle of trying out a new recipe for snickerdoodle bars, and the oven refused to heat up beyond 165 degrees. The repair man said he wouldn’t make it out to our house until this Friday, so I’m stuck making stove-top meals.

sesame chicken stir-fry recipe — sesame chicken

Well, maybe “stuck” isn’t the right word when I can cook things like this wonderful stir fry. It is has a thick, sweet sauce and works equally well with chicken or beef. Unlike the sesame chicken or beef you usually find at Chinese take-out places, this meat isn’t deep fried. I like the un-fried taste for this dish, but if you want to try crispy chicken in the sesame sauce you could use the chicken from my General Tso’s recipe.

Sesame Stir Fry

print this recipe

3 whole boneless chicken breasts or 1 pound of beef

Marinade

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon rice wine

1 tablespoon tapioca starch

a few drops of sesame oil

Cut the meat into 1-inch cubes. Mix the marinade ingredients and marinate the meat for 20 minutes.

Sauce

½ cup water

¼ cup tapioca starch (or cornstarch)

1 cup chicken or beef broth

1/8 cup rice vinegar

¾ cup sugar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons sesame oil

1 clove garlic (minced)

Mix together the water and tapioca starch in a small sauce pan. Add broth, and the remainder of the sauce ingredients. Set aside (you’ll be heating this to a boil in a little while).

Cooking

Sesame beef stir-fry recipe — Sesame Beef

Fry the meat in a wok or deep skillet until done. Add desired vegetables and stir fry. I typically use carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and mushrooms. When I have them, I add bamboo shoots and cabbage. Really, you can use whatever you like.

Just before vegetables are finished cooking, bring sauce to a boil, stirring continuously. Pour the sauce over the chicken and vegetables. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve with rice.

print this recipe

bow ties are cool Doctor Who invented pasta — Bow-ties are cool

This is the first pasta recipe I made that my dad (a confirmed anti-pasta man) actually liked. It had a long, tumultuous history. My first attempt at making it was a disaster of soggy noodles, but there was something in the flavor that made me think it could be perfect. As a Doctor Who fan, I know that bow-tie pasta was the solution, and I was right (actually, any pasta that stays pretty firm when cooked, like penne, would have fixed [most] of the problems with this dish). Even after the pasta switch, though, I had to tweak the sauce several times before it got to it’s current state of yumminess. So, without further ado or sci-fi digressions, here’s the recipe.

Bowtie Pasta Bake

print this recipe

6 ounces dried bowtie pasta

3/4 pound boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces

1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms

1 head of broccoli, chopped

1-2 carrots, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ cup chicken broth

bow tie pasta bake ready to go in oven — Ready to sprinkle with bread crumbs and bake

1, 10 ¾-ounce can condensed cream of chicken soup

12 ounces dairy sour cream

1 teaspoon onion powder

¼ teaspoon pepper

1 slice of bread, lightly toasted and crumbled

1 tablespoon butter, melted

Coat a large skillet with olive and cook chicken until it is no longer pink. While cooking, sprinkle chicken with powdered garlic and black pepper to taste.

Cook pasta until al dente according to package directions. Drain. Rinse with cold water and drain.

Cook mushrooms, broccoli, carrots, garlic, and chicken broth in small sauce pan. Bring to boiling and immediately remove from heat. Do not drain.

Add soup, sour cream, onion powder, and pepper to large bowl. Stir in chicken, pasta, and vegetables. Spoon into a 13x9x2-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.

bow tie pasta bake recipe — fresh from the oven delicious

Mix bread crumbs and melted butter. Sprinkle over noodles. Cover with foil. Bake in a 350°F oven for 15 minutes. Remove foil. Bake 5 minutes more or until heated through.

print this recipe