This one is my own creation based on how my family would marinate beef and me trying to emulate PF Chang’s Mongolian beef sauce.
The husband’s verdict was two thumbs up.
A few things:
- Use a tender cut of beef that is not too flavorful (e.g. don’t use scotch filet/ribeye). I like the filet mignon
- For best results, marinate your meat overnight but if not, do it at least 30 minutes.
- If you have Chinese red dry cooking wine, it is preferred. In my case, I had some dry sherry which worked in a pinch
Marinade Ingredients:
- 2 TBSP corn starch
- 2 TBSP Soy sauce
- 2 TBSP water
- 1 tsp baking soda
Sauce Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup Soy sauce
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tsp corn starch
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 TBSP sherry/cooking wine
Main Ingredients:
- 1 lb Beef, cut into slices
- 1 head of broccoli or other vegetable of choice (optional)
- lots of cooking oil
- 1 clove of garlic finely chopped
- 6-8 slices of ginger
- 1-2 green onions sliced
- If making vegetables, bring a large skillet of salted water to quick simmer and have a large mixing bowl of ice cold water close by. Drop enough vegetables into skillet without disrupting simmer. After 2 or 3 minutes use a slotted spoon and take a piece out and drop in the cold water. Taste test for your desired level of doneness. If it is ready, take all pieces out and drop in the cold water to cease cooking. Repeat for the rest of the vegetables. When all done, pat vegetables dry and arrange on serving plate.
- Combine marinade ingredients and add beef.
- When well mixed, pour 2 TBSP cooking oil over this. Cover and place in fridge (30 min minimum, best if overnight)
- In a large skillet, heat up enough oil to cover meat for a deep fry.
- Over high heat, deep fry beef for 2 minutes
- Drain and pat dry with paper towels
- Whisk sauce ingredients together in a mixing bowl
- Clean out your pan, add 2 tbsp oil and fry garlic and ginger until slightly brown over medium-high heat
- Add sauce to pan and bring to boil
- When the sauce is bubbling, add beef and green onions and stir until combined (1-2 minutes)
- Arrange on serving plate.
I’ve always preferred French cuisine over Italian - French food has richer, more complex flavors and the cooking process is fun. Back in Auckland, walking past Little Italy on Victoria Street always made me nauseous because of the overwhelming smell of Parmesan coming from that restaurant. I think it reflected more on this restaurant than Italian food
But I always wanted to try making this dish - a staple of American Italian homecooking.
After countless hours of research, I found there are a million and one variations on it. Purists have said that the dish has become bastardized with using pasta sauce from a jar, the addition of multiple spices and mushrooms and other vegetables. It has taken away from the simple dish it originally was.
So I went with an authentic recipe that uses minimal ingredients. Because it is so simple, the quality of the ingredients makes a huge difference.
I adapted the recipe from The Italian Chef with a few modifications made after reading reviews and feedback from American Italian chefs.
Baked Ziti
1 pound Ziti pasta
4 Cups Marinara Sauce (Recipe follows)
8 ounces Fresh Mozerella
1/2 Cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese
1 pound Ricotta (Optional and makes this a Sorrentino)
1/4-1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream
1 pound Italian sausage (without skin)
- Preheat oven to 375 F
- Put Ricotta in food processor and pulse while adding whipping cream a tablespoon at a time. This step is to ensure the ricotta is smooth (otherwise it can taste very grainy)
- Bring a pot of liberally salted water to a boil, add pasta and cook to almost al dente. This took me 6 minutes
- Strain pasta but don’t shake the colander so some moisture is still retained
- While the pasta is cooking, brown the sausage in a skillet over medium-high heat. Make sure it is broken up.
- Transfer pasta to a 3-4 quart baking dish.
- Add the sausage, 2 cups of marinana, 4 ounces of mozzarella, 1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, all the Ricotta
- Toss until well mixed
- Top with remaining sauce and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top
- Place dish in oven in the middle rack and bake for 15-20 minutes until all the cheese has melted and slightly browned.
Classic Marinara Sauce
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves of garlic sliced (I used minced garlic, still worked)
35 oz can of imported Italian tomatoes (San Marzano is preferred but I didn’t have any so used Del Monte)
Salt and Pepper to Taste
3 Leaves of basil chopped (I didn’t have fresh so I used 1 tsp of dried Basil)
- Place garlic and oil in large saucepan
- Heat on medium until garlic is soft and lightly brown
- Crush tomatoes and add to pan with the juice
- Fill empty tomato can with 1/4 water and add to pan. Season with salt and pepper to taste
- Bring a boil and then simmer for 20-25 minutes (stir to avoid burning)
- Add basil at the very end and cook for an additional 1 minute
Seven years ago on this day, I lay in a hospital room in labor. It was agony, it was fear, it was joy.
For months, I felt you grow inside me. I loved you before I met you. I promised myself I would always be there for you, I would never let anyone hurt you. Nothing can describe how it felt when you finally arrived and they lay you on me, how you cried and cried as you entered this world but went quiet immediately when I said your name to soothe you. You were perfect to me, you still are - autism or not.
Today, I sit here in a pool tears a thousand miles away. I feel a sense of real loss and sadness that I have now missed two of your birthdays.
It saddens me that those that get to see you every day begrudge the “obligation” to celebrate the day of your arrival to our world. I don’t believe for a second that you don’t know what a birthday is, that you wouldn’t enjoy the day, that that you would ruin it for everyone else by attacking other children or creating havoc with the candle flames.
When I saw you in May last year and had a Make-Up Birthday with a big Thomas cake, the joy on your face as you blew out the candle and smiled at everyone singing you a birthday song was REAL. I believe you are a wonderful and REAL person that not everyone can see behind the mask of austim.
You can’t read yet and you can’t talk to me on the phone but I want you to know that not a day goes by that I do not think of you. Today is especially hard for me because it was our day. It was the day we physically became two people through the cutting of the cord and you taking your first breath, the day I could finally hold you in my arms.
There are things out of our control that has meant that I can not spend every day with you. Sometimes it makes me feel hopeless and helpless. At times like this, all we can do is have Faith that God/The Universe has meant for things to be the way they are and I just have to believe that there will be a way through it.
No matter how far away I am, you will always be my child that I love and cherish with all my heart.
Happy Birthday Izaak.
- chicken pieces cut into 1 inch squares (about a supermarket tray)
- Marinade: 1 Tbsp Soy sauce, 1Tbsp Cornflour, 1 egg yolk
- Sauce: 5 Tbsp Sugar, 4 Tbsp White Vinegar, 4 Tbsp Ketchup, 5 Tbsp Water, 1 tsp Sesame oil, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp Corn flour
- Others: lots of oil, lots of corn flour
- Optional: Pineapple pieces, onion, peppers/capsicum
- Prepare marinade mixture and Sauce mixture
- Leave chicken in marinade for at least 30 minutes
- Coat chicken pieces in corn flour
- Heat up a wok/pan of vegetable oil
- Deep fry chicken in oil for 2 min
- Drain chicken and set aside
- Heat up 2 tsp of oil in the pan and if you have the optional pineapple, onion etc here is where you would fry them
- Pour Sauce mixture into the pan and heat until it is bubbling
- Stir chicken into sauce until all pieces are covered
- Off heat and serve
All my life I was taught to be the bigger person, to turn the other cheek, to let others go first, to keep my head down and one day someone will recognize and reward me for my humility and patience. I will reap my rewards some other way.
Yes those are nice sentiments but they were drilled in me to instill a sense of duty and obedience to suit someone else’s needs and not in my interest. I was made to believe these were my values because it suited someone else’s model of control.
When I rebelled against this as a child, I was told I was worth nothing and having an opinion meant I ‘had a bad temper’. They appealed to my natural desire to please and told me if I didn’t do exactly as they asked, I would not be loved by them or by anyone else. They told me their love for me was dependent on my behavior.
That has only brought me pain and frustration for thirty years of my life. I let people trample all over me and did not speak up in my defense when it mattered. I had no sense of self-worth and I did not feel like I deserved to be treated with respect and dignity. I spent thirty years striving to do everything by someone else’s standards for the crumbs of their approval so I could finally feel like I was worth something because I measured my self-worth by their approval.
It got to a point where I let my dependents (grown adults completely capable of self-sufficiency but chose the luxurious life of living off me instead) feel like they were in a position to reprimand me and tell me what to do with my life, my uterus and my finances.
My base nature is strong, independent and passionate but having independent thought, a strong will and a sense of self-worth were all frowned upon because it meant someone couldn’t control me… so I was raised to feel inferior, to feel flawed, to feel less of a person if I were ever true to myself and did anything against someone else’s master plan.
People that truly love you believe in you and make you feel like you are worth something in this world.
I look at Emma and I want to tell her every day she is kind, she is smart, she is important. I want her to believe she can do anything she wanted to in her life and she deserves the best of everything.
For every bad hand I have been dealt, I will redeem it by ensuring my children are never made to feel like I did. They will be empowered to be who they want to be and to shine and make the best of their lives without ever having to look back and worry that I am not there for them… that I would turn my back on them if they didn’t please me… and that they are less than perfect to me
Justin Bieber and pedobear.
this is probably the best thing I’ve made on jibjab so far. At least I’m getting quite a kick out of it right now.
This pic totally cracks me up! Hooray for boobies!
gpoy: a girl, not yet a woman
Baby Smith’s nursery in progress
Fools on tumblr and twitter saying “It’s been 10 years, let it go already! I was too young to remember it”.
Your freedom and rights to express your opinions without persecution, the warm, cosy home and safe streets you are taking for granted right now as you type your ignorant nonsense… They all came at a price and are the very heart of the tragic events of 9/11.
