Spicy Noodles

The Best Spicy Noodles

If you love Spicy Noodles, you’re in for a real treat.  I’ve created a fusion recipe by combining both Italian and Asian ingredients.  It’s sweet, spicy and only takes about 15 minutes to prepare and cook, from beginning to end.  It isn’t time consuming and the results are tremendously delicious.  Plus you can add Chicken, shrimp or more vegetables if you would like to make it an entire meal.  It’s totally up to you and your creative control.

Spicy Noodles, Italian or Asian pasta

For this Spicy Noodles recipe, I used Angel Hair pasta but you’re going to have to go with your gut on this one or just use what ever you have.  I’ve made this successfully with Fettuccine and Ramen noodles.  So, that’s going to be up to you.  In the past I have professed, religiously, that it’s a cardinal sin using Italian pasta to make Chinese recipes like Chow Mein or Lo Mein.  But, since this is a fusion recipe, those commandments don’t apply.  The secrets to cooking your pasta, to attain the correct texture, is explained in my video tutorial.

More Asian noodle recipes I’ve posted include my Garlic Noodle, Restaurant style Chicken Chow Mein, Eastern Chow Mein, Vegetable Lo Mein with Ramen, Rice Noodles(soft or fried), How to make Pasta or Egg Noodles and a whole slew of Italian pasta recipes, too.  All of which have the correct Asian Noodles or Italian pasta for each one.  So, look into those if you want more options.

Spicy Noodles Sauce and Ingredients

The Sauce for this Spicy Noodles recipe is very straight forward and simple because I just combine 3 pre-made bottles of sauce; ketchup, sweet chili sauce and sriracha.  Originally Spicy Sauce only contains the ketchup and sriracha, if you want to try it that way, but the sweet chili adds so much depth it can’t be denied.  You can add soy sauce too, if you like but it really isn’t necessary.  Even the sriracha might be a bit too much for some because there are already chili flakes in sweet chili sauce.  So, that will be up to you.  The other bottled ingredient you will need is sesame oil.  If you don’t have it, it’s okay.  This dish still tastes great with out it.  You can even add chicken broth to a bowl of Spicy noodles and eat it more like an authentic bowl of homemade Ramen noodles.

Spicy Noodles Ingredients: Serves 6 to 8

1 pkg Angel Hair or Fettuccine pasta
1/2 gal Boiled Water

1/2 tsp Ginger, grated or chopped
2 Cloves Garlic, chopped
2 Green Onions, chopped
5 Fresh Basil leaves, chopped

Sauce
1/2 cup Ketchup
1/2 cup Sweet Chili Sauce
1 tbsp Sriracha, optional

1 tsp Sesame Oil

If you want to add chicken or shrimp to this recipe, I recommend seasoning it first with salt, pepper and smoked paprika and you want to use red onion instead of green.  Cook the meat with the garlic and ginger first, then add the red onion and noodles and proceed with the recipe as I have instructed in the Spicy Noodles video tutorial.

 

American Greek Gyro

The Best Greek Gyro is Here!

A Greek Gyro is great way to celebrate a food.  Not only are they great tacos, they’re 3 times the size of a street taco and, considered by some, much more like a sandwich.  The basic shell is a flat bread called, Pita and the meat and filling can vary but traditionally the vegetables are consistently the same; lettuce, tomato and red onion.  The one thing that is absolutely irreplaceable, however, is the Tzatziki Sauce and it is the secret sauce added to every gyro.

Greek Gyro Meat

Believe it or not, an authentic Greek Gyro isn’t made with Beef and Lamb or even Veil, for that matter.  Recipes that have those mixed meats originated outside of Greece.  The Greeks use a an intensified marinated pork that cooks rotisserie style.  This enables the cook to trim a just little bit off the outside at a time for each Taco as the rest of the meat continues to cook towards the middle.  The meat is sliced thin to begin with, so the trimmings from the outside tend to be very tender. And, thanks to the Marinade, very tasty.

In this recipe, I use a 1/2 pound steak cut from a Beef Chuck and 2 quarter pound Lamb Chops cut from a shoulder and I run the cuts through a meat grinder, using a large die.  This gives me 1 lbs of ground meat to marinate.

Greek Gyro Marinade

Though the mixture of Ground Beef and Lamb can be very tasty, it isn’t enough flavor to stand alone in a Greek Gyro.  A marinade must be added.  The marinade I used in my Pork Gyro recipe works great in this one is well.  The only real difference is that I cut the ingredients down because there’s less meat to season.  Also, marinating the meat itself for a time isn’t necessary.  You can cook it as soon as everything is mixed in and incorporated.

Greek Gyro Ingredients:

1/2 lbs Beef Chuck Steak, ground
1/2 lbs Lamb Chops, ground

Marinade
1/4 Red Onion, grated
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 tbsp cup Olive Oil
2 tbsp White Wine Vinegar
1 tbsp Rosemary
1 tbsp Oregano
1 tsp Smoked Paprika
Kosher Salt and Pepper to taste

Toppings
Tzatziki Sauce, Click Here for Recipe
Baby Spinach or Lettuce
Tomato, diced
Red Onion, diced

Depending on your filling, you Should be able to get 6-8 Gyros from this recipe.

Lime Margarita Frozen and on The Rocks

The Best Lime Margarita

The Lime Margarita is, by far, one of my all time favorite cocktails.  It’s the basic foundation for all Margaritas, from Strawberry to Mango and even a fantastic Watermelon or Blueberry Margarita because you’ve got to add Lime.  So starting out with that foundation, I’m going to show you a real simple and basic way to make a frozen Margarita and a Margarita on the Rocks using my Lime Margarita Mixer recipe.

Virgin Lime Margarita

If you want to make a virgin Lime Margarita, it’s easy to do.  Just leave the Tequila and Liqueur(Triple Sec) out.  Triple Sec provides an orange flavor that helps balance out the bitter taste in the drink, so I would recommend adding orange juice to the mix, instead.  If you didn’t get a chance to read the Lime Margarita Mixer Recipe I posted, you should because there are a lot of different things you can do to tweak your Margarita’s until they are absolutely perfect for you.

When it comes to Tequila, you’re going to drink what you can afford or what you’re willing to pay for.  But, like any Alcohol, the quality goes up the more money you’re willing to spend and a Lime Margarita is no exception.  This drink gets better with higher quality booze.  Personally I land right in the middle.  When I buy cheap, I regret it and I regret it bad.  My personal favorite is Cazadorez, which runs around $30 a 5th.  Which, of course compared to the almighty Patron, is a great price.  But I’d be lucky to see a bottle of either one of those even on my birthday.  Cuervo is alright but I really don’t prefer it.  For the same price and in this video I used Lunazul.  I’m not affiliated with them and I don’t make a dime for talking about, for or against any of these brands, it’s just my personal opinion.  So you do what you want and my the Margarita Gods smile upon you!

Lime Margarita Ingredients:

1/2 cup ice
2 oz Tequila
1 1/2 oz Triple Sec
3 oz Lime Margarita Mixer

1 1/2 oz Amaretto, optional for Italian Lime Margarita