Pickled Eggs with home made pickling spice

This is something that I love and SO does not. Not a lot of people seem to like them actually, not sure why. They make a great snack, and is healthy to boot. I usually get these small jars at the store - they are almost $6 for as many eggs, which to me seems kind of steep.  But maybe not, given that I just bought a dozen eggs for the same price; of course, they were from chickens that were free to range, were not fed any antibiotics, that nested with perches, and that listened to Mozart in the evenings. Maybe they'll taste different. Probably not, but I feel a tiny bit superior.

So why not make my own, seems pretty easy. And it was. The best part was mixing up a batch of home made pickling spice, well right after peeling off large intact pieces of shell from of the eggs - that was pretty sweet.

Pickling Spice

Most recipes seem to suggest letting them sit for 3 to 5 days before eating - makes sense. I found that even after 10 days they were not strongly flavoured like the store bought ones, but still tasty.

The final product. Pickled eggs with home made pickling spice,
brown from the cinnamon and unfiltered brine.

Next Time: I'll omit the cinnamon next time, and maybe filter the brine through cheese cloth

Me: 8/10
SO: n/a
SSO: n/a

Shrimp Laksa

Another great idea from my SO.  This has to be one of my first Malaysian dishes. According to Wikipedia, it is a Chinese Malay dish, so therefore you would find various types of this in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. I had to improvise a bit since we didn't have all the usual ingredients that you would normally put in this dish. Most notable in their absence was lime, lemon grass, and rice noodles. What did I substitute? Well lemon juice mostly, although I also added Kaffir Lime Leaves as well.  As for the noodles, well I added the only thing I had which was gluten-free spaghetti. They are actually made partly from rice, but they taste like conventional spaghetti which is not ideal.

Further research revealed that there seem to be two main classes of Laksa - curry based, and tamarind based. I opted for the curry form. I don't have Tamarind on hand, maybe next time. I ended up blending about 5 recipes, since they all had either ingredients that I didn't have or found undesirable, or used overly complex methods. I didn't have carrots, fish cakes, or tofu puffs;  I didn't want macadamia nuts or mushrooms; I didn't feel like manually grinding 19 spices or simmering and de-boning a whole fish; and finally I didn't have or want ready-made curry paste. This may turn out to be Kraft Dinner for a Malay, we'll see.

Shrimp Laksa

The prep turned out to be a bit involved, but mostly because of all the ingredients. If you just used shrimp paste and curry powder it would go faster. But the actual cooking was very quick, and in the end a nice hot soup is both satisfying and fortifying.

Next Time: Make sure I'm not missing ingredients beforehand, esp. lemon grass and lime. Maybe try tofu puffs as well.

Me: 9/10
SO: 9/10
SSO: 9/10 (liked the plain shrimp and pasta - no sauce)

Roasted Lemon Basil Chicken

I don't remember much about this recipe, it was a month ago that I made this. It is one of those fantastic Sunday dinner meals though so I had to write this down.  We are starting to enforce the eating at the actual dining room table on Sunday evening. The rest of the week it is really easy to eat on the couch in front of the t.v.  We borrowed all 6 seasons of "The Big Bang Theory", and have been methodically going through it. Not terribly conducive to family talk and bonding, but at least we're sitting together. Nice to unwind after a stressful day.  Anyway, what could be easier than potatoes and chicken in a roaster.  I think we may have thrown in some frozen corn in the microwave at the last minute, since I realized the only veggie making an appearance was the cherry tomatoes.

Tossing the potatoes with basil-lemon puree

Can't say enough about these all-in-one easy dishes. It's nice to get complicated and fancy once in a while, but "easy" means that we'll end up with some quality food rather than something processed. Came out looking a bit strange with the roasted basil on top, but it tastes better than it looks.  And with the size of chicken breasts these days, three were enough for the 3 of us PLUS leftover for a lunch for me the next day.

Roasted Lemon Basil Chicken

Next time: maybe throw more veggies in there, and would season the chicken a bit more

Me: 8/10
SO: 8/10
SSO: 5/10