Friday March 1, 2013

Dinner for 1

Udon Noodles with Chicken and Baby Bok Choy

Well today was one of those rare Fridays where I was cooking only for myself.  They may become more common place as my anchor guest (my sister) moved away this past summer.  No one has volunteered to be my anchor yet.

Friday night dinners started because my husband was always traveling for work and a group of friends would support me, in my single parenthood, by inviting me over or by me having them over for company.  It helped a lot during the time that I was living overseas, far from my family, and my husband was mostly working on another continent.  

I sure hope this is a rare occurrence.  I prefer at the very least cooking for the two of us. 

Tonight's dinner was pretty simple and my daughters did share in it.

I cooked the Udon Noodles then rinsed them.  

I cut one chicken breast into thin strips then stir fried it in a little peanut oil. When it was cooked through I set it aside to keep warm.

I wiped out the wok and added a little more oil plus 2 cloves of garlic minced and a teaspoon of finely grated ginger. That was stir fried for 30 seconds and then I added half a red pepper cut in strips and 8 baby bok choy trimmed and rinsed.  That was cooked for a couple of minutes then the chicken and noodles were added to the wok followed by a slurry of 1/2 cup of stock, a table spoon of oyster sauce, 1/4 teaspoon of sesame oil and a teaspoon of corn starch.  Everything was tossed together with a splash of soy sauce and then topped with sliced green onions.

It was pretty tasty.  I would have put in some shitakke mushrooms but I was hoping the girls would eat it so I left them out.  I also would have preferred a little more heat but that again that would put the girls off.  I could have added a chilli but opted to add a little sirachha to my plate.  Yummy!