In a sweep-the-kitchen mood, I set out to make some fried rice from the LAN party leftovers. I intended to make a simple Filipino-style fried rice, all garlicky goodness, yet threw in some unusual suspects, asparagus and roast turkey. The result was good ol’ fashioned comfort food.

1 cup day-old steamed rice (actually 5 days old)
1/2 lb leftover roast turkey
2-3 cloves peeled/chopped garlic
1 bunch asparagus, ends trimmed
8oz package of mushrooms, sliced
peanut oil
medium sweet soy sauce
Lawry’s garlic salt
pepper

Starting with a drizzle of peanut oil in a pan at medium-high heat, toss in some chopped garlic and fry until golden brown. Next, dump the asparagus into the pan to soak up the flavors of oil and garlic…add a little more peanut oil to make sure all the stalks are coated evenly. Pan-broil them until tender-crisp, season with a dash of Lawry’s garlic salt, then remove from heat.

Drizzle more peanut oil into the pan and toss in the rest of the garlic. Mmmm, enjoy the aroma of garlic while it browns, then toss in the mushrooms. Add more peanut oil to coat, if necessary. To this mix add the cold turkey, which was mostly dark meat which I chopped and shredded off the bone beforehand. After sauteing for about five to ten minutes in medium-high heat, add the rice and start tossing. After everything was combined, I drizzled in soy sauce, just enough to color all the rice. Crack some pepper over the mix for seasoning, then remove from heat and serve. Yum!

Feeding the troops for the New Year’s LAN party teaches you a few things: patience, planning ahead, and preparing more food for unexpected guests. And…last minute improvisation.

I went with a turkey (Kroger brand again), this time a 17-pounder. Luckily, it barely fit in the brining pot, but it displaced a lot more liquid than my Thanksgiving turkeys. Two things that I observed with the New Year turkey was the milder flavor and the white meat seemed less moist. The reasons were obvious: too much ice water diluted the brine, the turkey had only brined for 12 hours and the breast was not facing down while brining. Let that be a lesson!

Three of my recipes for the weekend worked out reasonably well. The first covered here today was a vegetarian dish of bok choy and chinese mushrooms.

1-2lbs green bok choy, halved and separated
dried chinese mushrooms, rehydrated and stemmed
chopped garlic
ginger
peanut oil
medium sweet soy sauce
corn starch

Normally I would choose the baby bok choy for being smaller and tender, but the asian market was out. Also, I didn’t measure how much mushrooms I put in the recipe, I simply plucked a handful of mushrooms from a pile that I had rinsed and de-stemmed.

In hot peanut oil, I lightly browned strips of ginger and chopped garlic, then added the mushrooms to absorb the flavors. I suppose if I had chopped the mushrooms into strips, they might’ve soaked up the flavors faster. The mixture sauteed for about 10 minutes before I added the bok choy leaves. I covered the pan to help steam the bok choy without turning it limp and watery. Finally, I mixed a tablespoon of cornstarch into a small bowl of soy sauce and water, then threw it into the pan to thicken slightly. When the sauce thickened, I added some more water. If it got diluted, I just added some more soy. Within 15-20 mins, I took it off the pan and served it in a glass dish. Tasty!

More adventures in cooking coming up!