That first week back from vacation is a killer, isn't it? We were lucky enough to be out of school and out of the office for over a week this year and I've realized that's just long enough to get really used to a new pace, schedule and way of doing things. And if you've been away, it's also long enough to leave you with an empty cupboard and fridge. When we were faced with a quick-dinner night mid-week, we had to be pretty creative.
We had: ground turkey, celery & carrots. The cupboard had a lonely mix of israeli cous-cous and pilaf (the package says it only needs to cook for 10 minutes, but from past experience, we knew that was shy by about half).
The hens, who have been slacking off during all this cold, dark weather (as is their nature) did manage to provide a couple of eggs. So, inspired by a stir-fried-rice recipe I'd read earlier in the week, we decided to try a cous-cous stir fry. At the outset, I thought "this could work...or it could be a total glop-flop and we'll order a pizza."
I'd say we were mostly successful. While the pasta mix cooked up, we sauted the ground turkey (about 3/4 lb.), took it out of the pan and sauted the carrots and celery (chopped into bits) with some garlic. When those pieces were getting a little tender, about 8 minutes later, the pasta was done. So we drained that and added it to the pan, along with the cooked, ground turkey, and stirred a while longer until things were dried out.
The next part was fun. We made a hole in the middle of the glop and cracked two large eggs into the pan. Stirred around slowly, they scrambled in the pan, cooking all those little eggy bits between the pasta and veggies. It looked like stir-fried rice! One of my cardinal faults in the kitchen is impatience. This time, I managed to wait, and wait. It didn't take long, but giving the mix some time to brown and crust on the bottom of the pan was really important. It gave some great texture to the dish and helped the egg have enough time to cook thoroughly.
A couple of dashes of soy sauce and ponzu sauce and we were ready to eat.
Since we were playing around with this one, I don't have an accurate recipe (yet!) but the general formula is below.
1. cook rice or noodles,
2. saute meat until cooked through; remove from pan (drain fat if necessary, depending on type of meat used),
3. saute vegetables until tender,
4. drain starch and saute until extra liquid has evaporated; add meat to the pan and stir,
5. make a well in the center of the pan, make sure your heat is high and add one or two eggs (depending on quantity in the pan; you'll want enough egg to spread throughout the dish),
6. stir slowly, allowing the egg to scramble in small pieces throughout, once the egg is mostly cooked, let the dish sit over high heat long enough to form a crust on the bottom,
7. season with salt, pepper, soy sauce or other flavors, depending on the nature of the ingredients. If you're going for an asian-inspired mix, soy sauce, ponzu, mirin and spicy pepper oil are all good additions.
8. serve and enjoy.
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