Shrimp Ramen Soup

This probably isn't 100% authentic as I believe traditional ramen soup is made from pork stock - but it tastes pretty darn good.  I also went overboard on the vegetables, so it is quite thick, almost a stew.  But, that's the way I like it.

Then rent or netflix The Ramen Girl

Ingredients

• 8 cups chicken stock (preferably salt free)
• 1 pound small shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 2 Tbl miso paste
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 4 cloves garlic thinly sliced
• ½ Tbl grated ginger
• 3 large carrots julienned
• ½ large onion thinly sliced 
• 1 red bell pepper thinly sliced
• 8 oz mushrooms thinly sliced
• ½ head napa cabbage thinly sliced
• 2 packages ramen soup noodles (minus flavor packets)

Equipment

• Pot large enough to hold everything.  The 8 cups stock should fill less than ½ the pot
• Julienne cutter

Directions

• Heat stock in a large pot.
• Add onion, carrot, and bell pepper and cook for about 20 minutes
• Add mushrooms and napa cabbage and cook for another 10 minutes
• Add shrimp and cook for a couple of minutes until pink in color
• add ramen noodles and cook for 2 minutes.  Be sure to break noodles apart
• Serve in bowls with japanese soup spoons

  Notes

1. I used some homemade chicken stock from the freezer.  I do not add any salt when making my own stock as I feel it's best to season whatever is being made from the stock.  The miso paste will add some salt. If you feel it needs a bit more salt then add a bit more miso paste or, perhaps, some fish sauce.  If you use commercial chicken stock then be sure to use the low sodium variety and then add the miso paste to taste.
2. Just throw the flavor packets from the ramen soup away - they are mostly salt and not of much use for anything else.
3. If you don't have a julienne cutter cutter then thinly slice the carrot as I think grating it would make it too small and it would get mushy in the soup.  Then add a julienne cutter to your christmas list :)
4. Thinly sliced chicken or pork would also work well.  I'm not so sure about beef - but I suppose it could work too.
5. Snow peas or sugar peas would also work

Chicken Fried Steak

A Texas treasure - the Chicken Fried Steak.  I've tried making chicken fried steak at home in the past - but it never tasted as good as that which you can get in the better restaurants.  It was bland and oily.

To overcome the blandness, I experiemented with different seasonings in the flour.  A little seasoned salt can go a long way to overcome the blandness; but, too much makes it too salty; so, I added other seasonings.  Using buttermlk in place of regular milk also adds a bit of acidy goodness.

To overcome the oilyness and lack of crispyness, I turned to the cooking god himself - Alton Brown.  I highly recommend watching his chicken fried steak episode; although, I think he makes it far more complicated than it needs to be.  But, he does have some good ideas worth incorporating.  For one, using the double dip method (seasoned flour -> milk/egg -> back to seasoned flour).  For another, letting the breading sit on the meat for a bit before cooking allows to to stick better to the meat.  Also, draining the meat on paper towels to remove as much of the oil as possible and the putting in a warm oven helps to keep it crispy.

For the meat, I just use cheap cube steak from the grocery store - usually I picked it up on the used meat bin (the "about to expire" meat bin) for a couple of bucks per package and then stick it in the freezer until I'm ready to use it.

Ingredients

• 4 cube steaks (about 1½ pounds)
• 1½ + ¼ Cups all purpose flour (divided)
• 1 tsp seasoned salt (like Lowrey's)
• ½ tsp onion powder
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp black pepper
• ½ tsp ground thyme
• ½Tbl smoked hot paprika
• 1 Cup buttermilk
• 1 Egg, slightly beaten
• 2 Cups milk
• ½ tsp kosher salt
• smoked salt
• oil

Equipment

• cooling rack on top of a baking sheet
• Another baking sheet to place in oven
• 12" cast iron frying pan
• Plate covered with paper towels
• Tongs
• Whisk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees
2. Mix together in a flat bowl 1½ flour, seasoned salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and paprika.
3. In another flat bowl, mixed together buttermilk and egg
4. Lightly sprinkle both sides of cube steaks with smoked salt
5. Dip cube steaks in seasoned flour, then in buttermilk/egg, then back in seasoned flour and place on cooling rack
6. Let steaks sit with breading on cooling rack for 15-20 minutes
7. While steaks are sitting, preheat frying pan with about ½ oil
8. Place steaks in oil, 2 at a time, and cook about ??? miuntes per side.  Be careful not to crowd them.
9. When steaks are done, remove to plate to drain for a couple of minutes and the move to cooking sheet in oven to stay warm and crisp
10. When all steaks are cooked and in oven, drain all but about 3 Tbl of oil from pan, being careful to leave the crispy bits in the pan.
11. Add ¼ cup flour to pan to stir to brown for a minute or two
12. Add 2 cups milk and quickly whisk together until gravy thickens, stirring constantly.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with mashed potatoes and some other vegetable, like green beans.