Noodles & Minced Meat - My Kind of Fast Food

Several years ago I was introduced to Ginger-Scallion Sauce, and since then, it has become my go-to sauce whenever I want something tasty to eat, fast! There is essentially no 'cooking' involved in making the sauce, you simply grate, and or finely mince the ingredients and pour hot oil over everything. Easy, right? The best part is that this sauce goes well with many things - noodles (all types, including pasta), rice, boiled ground provisions, spread over thick crusty toast or even tossed with a garden salad. You can also serve it with seafood and poultry or over grilled skirt or flank steak. Grilled pork chops? Yeah, that too!

My friend Nadini introduced me these no-cook chowmein noodles and they come in 2 varieties - fine and broad; in this dish I used the broad noodles. Like the sauce, there is no real cooking involved. Just as you would pour boiling water over rice noodles to rehydrate them, the same process is involved here. You see what I am saying about fast food here?

Most of the time I never include meat in my ginger-scallion noodles, I eat it just so, and too much of it. LOL. However, the other day I had some cooked minced beef left over from another dish I made... I think you see and know where I am going with this. I simply heated a wok (or use any deep pan you have), drizzled in some oil, reheated the cooked mince, tossed in the ginger-scallion sauce and noodles, toss, toss, toss until everything was heated through and mixed together. Done!

SAUCE

• 4 - 6 scallions sliced thinly (white/purple and green parts)
• 2 tablespoons grated fresh root ginger
• 2 teaspoons grated garlic
• Finely minced hot pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon rice wine, apple cider or white vinegar
• Salt to taste
• 6 - 8 tablespoons vegetable/canola oil
• 3/4 teaspoon toasted sesame oil (optional)

To make the sauce

1. Mix together the scallions, ginger, garlic, pepper, vinegar and salt in a deep, heatproof bowl.
2. Heat the oil until almost smoking hot and pour over the ingredients in the bowl and mix well with a fork.
3. Add sesame oil if using and mix in to the sauce. Set aside for 10 minutes so that the flavours can meld.

NOODLES

Use any noodles of your choosing and cook/prepare according to package instructions.

ASSEMBLY

Toss the noodles with the sauce (depending on how much noodles you cooked, you may not need to use all of the sauce. Store the remainder in the refrigerator in an airtight container. Will last for a week).

ADDITIONS

Ground meat (beef, pork, chicken, turkey) and shrimp can be added to the noodle mixture as well as vegetables. Here's what's to do: stir-fry the meat or shrimp and vegetables, then add noodles and sauce and toss to mix.

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This Salsa is NOT made in San Antonio or in New York City!

This salsa is made in my humble kitchen right here in the Caribbean and it can be made in your kitchen too, regardless of your location. All you need is fresh ripe tomatoes.

Here in Barbados, we have been an enjoying a long season of tomatoes selling for as little as $1-one dollar (BDS) per pound (1 BDS dollar = US 50 cents). I have been making all kinds of sauces, chutneys, choka(s) and pickles with tomatoes. Totally loving this season.

I use my salsa with many things - bakes, roti, ladled over ground provisions, with chicken, seafood, eggs, biscuits (crackers). In other words, with everything but the traditional tortilla chips.

Making this salsa is easy and keeps for 2 weeks in the refrigerator and freezes easily. A few notes before the recipe.

• I add a half-ripe tomato to the mix of tomatoes, this gives the little tartness that one would expect from the addition of fresh lime juice.
• Steam-cook the tomatoes until a knife inserts easily with a little resistance in the center.
• Sprinkle the finely diced onions with a little salt as it sits waiting for the tomatoes to cook.
• Steam the hot peppers with the tomatoes rather than adding it raw to the sauce; the flavour and heat are better incorporated into the sauce since they will be pureed together.
• Pulse intermittently when making the sauce in order to control the texture you want.
• Puree the steamed pepper first, before adding the tomatoes, this way, the pepper can be completely pureed and not be in large pieces. De-seed the peppers if you only want the flavour and not the heat.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 lbs ripe tomatoes, steamed and skins removed
• 1 large scotch bonnet pepper (I used 2 because I wanted it very hot)
• 1/2 cup finely minced red onions
• 2 - 3 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro/coriander
• Salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Add the pepper to the bowl of a food processor and puree. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then add the tomatoes and pulse to your desired consistency for the sauce.
2. Add the onions, cilantro along with salt to taste and pulse only 1 - 2 times to mix in the ingredients. Over-pulsing will affect the texture of the sauce. Taste for salt and adjust if necessary.
3. Pour the sauce into a bowl and stir a few times to mix well.
4. Serve immediately or set aside covered for 1 hour to serve at room temperature. If not serving right away, store in sterilised glass jars and refrigerate. Access the sauce always with clean utensils.

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Fresh Tomba Sauce

Got yah didn't I? Tomba Sauce? (smile) Tom = tomato, ba=basil

So, how's the New Year been treating you so far? Very well I hope.

College re-opened today so it's back to work. I really do like the Semester system! I stretched out on the lounge chair in the patio as I watched others scramble to get themselves back to work on January 3rd. My best friend, Susan had to travel back to Seattle on New Year's Day! My mom spent a few extra days with me and then returned to Guyana this past Friday.

This time of the year in the Caribbean is absolutely perfect. It's our version of "winter". The days are sunny and bright but the breeze is constant and cool. The nights are nippy enough for you to pull the sheet up to your neck and the mornings are dark and lure you to sleep in. Pure bliss.

One of the nice things about living in a tropical climate is that you get certain things all year round even if you have to pay a few more dollars because it is not in abundance. However, these cherry tomatoes, I bought back in October and made some fresh tomato and basil sauce then, that I am now sharing with you. We all strive to use the freshest and best quality ingredients at all times but more so when making something with few ingredients and in a state as fresh as this sauce. You want only the best.

This sauce is rustic. You want to make it using a mortar and pestle - wooden, granite or whatever you have. Or, take a bowl and a muddler and have at it. Sure you can use a food processor or blender but if you do then it becomes a homogenous, non-discript mass. It will lose its character.

Use it on pasta, use it as a chunky dip, ladle it lavishly over some toasted bread and let the bread soak up all the juices. Boil some ground provisions and pour this sauce over it. Fry a piece of fish and douse it in this sauce or... there are lots of things you can do with this sauce. There's really no recipe, but I do appreciate that some people need to be told quantities and directions.

FRESH TOMBA (TOMATO-BASIL) SAUCE

INGREDIENTS

1 pound fresh cherry tomatoes (if using other tomatoes, chop them roughly)

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/2 cup torn basil leaves (use more if you like)

Salt to taste (use sea salt if you have)

1/2 teaspoon minced hot pepper

3 tablespoons olive oil (use your favourite)

DIRECTIONS

1. Add all of the ingredients except the oil into the mortar and mash, squishing the tomatoes and mixing it with the other ingredients. It does not have to be completely smooth.
2. Add the olive and stir in vigorously into the mixture. Taste for seasoning (salt) and adjust if necessary.

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