Vermicelli Noodles and Vegetables in Peanut Sauce from Vicki Delany

Another no-recipe recipe. I like to throw things together when I have an abundance of vegetables.  Sauté them up, add a bit of flavoring and mix in cooked rice or noodles. Voila, fast, cheap, simple, and delicious.  The bottle peanut sauce I used here is the same as in the chicken pasta salad from a couple of weeks ago. Its very versatile.

Feel free to add any chopped vegetables you have on hand and enjoy.

The ingredients below are for one person. Obviously, everything can be increased according to number of people you are feeding. 

Vermicelli Noodles and Vegetables in Peanut Sauce 

1 tbsp. vegetable oil

1/2 onion, diced 

mushrooms, thickly sliced

1 red pepper, thickly sliced 

other vegetables as desired, chopped or sliced

1 tbsp. soy sauce

2 tbsp. Thai peanut sauce. 

1/2 package of dry vermicelli noodles

MURDER SPILLS THE TEA: The Third Tea by the Sea mystery by Vicki Delany

Cranberry-Orange Scones as Served at Tea by the Sea from Vicki Delany

In the Tea by the Sea mysteries, Lily Roberts bakes traditional English scones in her tea room.

Like Lily, I am not a fan of flavours or added ingredients in scones. A true teatime scone should be unadorned and ready for the addition of butter, jam, and clotted cream.  However, I will make the occasional exception and this recipe is one.  

The orange flavour is just enough that it works well with orange marmalade or maybe peach jam. 

Teatime scones are often prepared with raisins or currents (and Lily does make some like that), and the cranberries here make a nice replacement for those who don’t care for raisins.

 Cranberry-Orange Scones

 Ingredients

 2 cups all-purpose flour

½ cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon fresh orange zest

½ cup cold butter

½ cup dried cranberries

6 tablespoons milk

1 large egg

 

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425°.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and orange zest, whisking until incorporated. Cut butter into flour mixture until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add cranberries, stirring to combine.

In a small bowl, combine milk and beaten egg, stirring well. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until combined.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface, and knead gently a few times. Roll dough to a ¾-inch thickness. Using a 2½-inch round cutter, cut scones from dough and place on baking sheet.

Bake until edges are golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes.

Enjoy scones the day of baking, or freeze.  These freeze well. Reheat frozen scones in a 350 degree oven for 12 - 15 minutes. 

Find more of Lily's teatime and B&B breakfast recipes in the Tea by the Sea series.  The third book, MURDER SPILLS THE TEA, will be released on July 26 by Kensington Publishing.  

Rhubarb Pie from Vicki Delany

PIE! Is there anything better? Particularly when fruits are in season.  Most rhubarb pie recipes come with a combination of rhubarb and strawberry but I love this one for the pure rhubarb flavour.  The fruit is cooked first, which cuts some of the sourness and provides a thicker filling for pie.  If you don’t have a favourite pastry recipe, you can find the one I use here.

Classic Rhubarb Pie Filling

Ingredients:

• 7 cups chopped fresh rhubarb , cut into 1/2-in. pieces, about 750 g
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla

To finish crust:

• 1 egg , beaten
• 1 tbsp water
• 1 tsp sugar

Instructions:

• Combine rhubarb with 1 cup granulated sugar in a large saucepan and set over high. Boil, then reduce heat to medium. Cook, stirring often, until mixture is very thick and reduced to 2 1/2 cups, 20 to 35 min. (Time will depend on water content of rhubarb.) Stir in vanilla and cool slightly, 5 min.
• Position rack in lower third of oven. Preheat to 375F.
• Beat egg with water in small bowl. 
• On a lightly floured surface, roll out 1 pastry disc into a 13-in. circle. Lift onto a 9-in. pie pan. Press dough over bottom and up sides of pan, leaving 1-in. overhang. Scrape rhubarb mixture into pastry. Brush overhang with egg wash. Roll out second pastry disc into a 12-in. circle, about 1/8 in. and place over filling tucking edges into overhanging bottom crust
• Brush with egg wash. Sprinkle with coarse sugar.  
• Bake in lower third of oven until golden brown, 50 to 60 min. Transfer pie to a rack to cool completely, 1 hour.

 

Coming July 26: MURDER SPILLS THE TEA, a Tea by the Sea mystery from Vicki Delany and Kensington