A mother, a daughter, and a “frozen” lunch

When we began the assault on the home kitchen after the stores, we were hungry for lunch. So it was time to cook the first dish, sockeye salmon fillet over “Pad Thai” noodles. We called these “Pad Thai” noodles because the base of the sauce for the noodles was called “Pad Thai Noodle Sauce.” Cuz wasn’t sure how long she owned the sauce but was sure that it was from one of two trips either two or three years ago. I wasn’t worried about it being good or not because it is sugar and soy sauce. So off we go.

Chicken soup and roasted chicken will also be going by the time we sit down to lunch. The roasted chicken will make the husband/babysitter happy tonight while we go out for Indian food at a friend’s restaurant. Search “stir fry noodles” or “pad Thai” and you’ll get the idea of where we are going here.

Put a pot of water on to boil the noodles -- the Japanese vermicelli that she already had in the cupboard.

Open the sauce and taste so you know what you have. This one was the consistency of honey and would just need some heat, fresh cilantro, chopped garlic and onion, chopped almonds and/or peanuts, and a fresh squeeze of lime juice.

Chop the above veggies and put the onion in a wok or sauté pan over medium/low heat and let cook until translucent, add garlic when onions are translucent.

Grab one of the sockeye fillets out of the bag and put in the microwave on defrost for 3-5 minutes. Cut a slit in the salmon package so there is no steam trapped in the bag. If it is still solid then throw it back for another couple of minutes, microwaves vary in power and effectiveness.

OK, lunch is going so let’s get the rest of the groceries into their proper places. When you grab the frozen veggies, snag two handfuls for your lunch then put the rest in the freezer. We both try the dark chocolate cashew clusters with a fresh cup of coffee from the French press. I turn back to close the bag quickly -- we could eat a lot of these in just a tiny bit of time.

Take two of the chickens and put them in a crock pot or stock pot with chopped carrots, onion, and celery, cover them with water and slow cook for three hours or until the meat is tender but the chickens are not falling apart. If you are good with a knife, take off the breast meat before cooking and freeze them for a separate dinner. If not, the meat will be good for tacos or the stuffed shells.

Freeze the third chicken and get ready to roast the fourth. Quarter an onion, leave the skin on, and place in the roasting pan to make a rack for the chicken along with halved russet potatoes, carrots, and celery if you like celery. Put the chicken on the bed of veggies and rub with salt and smoked paprika and whatever oils you happen to have in your pantry. Toss some cloves of garlic into the cavity and roast the chicken in the oven for an hour at 350 degrees. If you have a convection oven, it will take less time. Great -- it is time to finish lunch.

Tips: use timers so you don’t forget (they have saved me countless times) and have plenty of hand soap and surface sanitizer to avoid cross contamination. Funny how they don’t emphasize these things on cooking shows.

Now you know why the veggies in the wok were on low: it helps me to not burn things when I get distracted. Add your garlic, turn up the heat to medium high and let’s go. Look at the noodles you are going to use. Whatever the cooking time is on the package, tells you when to drop them into your now boiling water. If you are using a vermicelli (angel hair thin)-type pasta, it takes 2-3 minutes. You should smell the garlic by now, so pour the veggies into a bowl, add 2 tablespoons fresh oil, salt and pepper your salmon fillet and place into the wok. You’re going to brown both sides so it doesn’t matter which side goes in first about 3 minutes per side or more if you like your salmon well done, I don’t.

When the salmon is done, set aside on a plate, and turn your wok to high. Add your onions and garlic back in, your pasta with a little bit of the water, ½ cup of the pad Thai sauce, the frozen veggies you have set aside, cilantro, and whatever heat you want. I added a healthy squeeze of Sriracha chili sauce. Toss and let the sauce thicken. I like the sauce to still be a bit soup-like, or you could add a cornstarch slurry (2T cornstarch to ¼ cup water) or arrowroot slurry to thicken instantly. When it is the way you like it, add the squeeze of lime juice and chopped cilantro. Toss toss. Place on a stylish platter of your choice, cut the salmon in half and place on top and serve.

Lunch for two for $5 -- that includes sockeye salmon (much better nutrition than farm-raised) and veggies are as good. Fresh would be better but good quality frozen veggies are tasty and a real time saver. Not to mention there is no waste.
As we have lunch the roast chicken is done so just pull it out of the oven and let it cool to room temp.

We finish lunch and clean a bit. The pasta water pan gets rinsed out and we pour the bag of dried red beans in, cover with water, and bring to a quick bubble (to hurry the soak process) then turn off to soak in the fridge (we chilled things outside today since it was 28 degrees in the shade). The wok is rinsed with soapy water, dried, and sprayed with a fresh coat of oil and wiped down with a paper towel since this is a more traditional metal wok. If you have a non-stick wok it is basically the same process, you don’t use harsh detergents or scrape the cooking surface of either one. R packs up junior, I put the chicken in the fridge, and off we go to the WW2 memorial.