Monday’s Bread Bowl: Curried Shrimp

Spice it right

The Mixed Stew crew was looking for a spicy alternative for seasoning and spicing up shrimp while creating this dish. Pungent curry powder and rich coconut milk combine and enhance the seafood and veggie flavors in this tasty entree. Here’s our recipe:

What you will need:

1 wooden spoon
1 fry pan with lid
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1-2lbs raw shrimp, peeled and shelled
3 garlic cloves, diced small
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 (14 oz) can of coconut milk
1 bell pepper, chopped
2 broccoli crowns, cut into bite-sized pieces
Salt and to taste

Cooking and Preparation:

Heat pan on medium-high heat. Pour in oil. Throw in garlic, salt, and onion. Stir well and sauté ingredients until onion turns translucent. Next, pour in shrimp, curry powder, and pepper flakes. Stir well, lower heat to medium, and cover pan with lid. Let shrimp cook for 8-12 minutes. Add bell pepper, broccoli, and coconut milk. Mix well and return lid. Let ingredients reach a simmer and cook for another 10 minutes. Serve immediately.

Friday's Last Spoonful: Food Surfing

A triple dip

Food Surfing will feature fun food links from around the Blogosphere, including leads to hardcover helpers. These recommended links may give you other interesting ideas for making your life taste better.

The Mixed Stew crew likes hunting through cookbooks for a good recipe or three. We recommend The Complete America’s Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook for classic and traditional American recipes. This book is a great kitchen bible.


Eat Shrink & Be Merry has fun ideas for parents that wanna get the kids involved in cooking. Choose from quirky recipes, such as Glad Thai Dings, Ooh-la-la-sagna!, and Loaf Potion #9. This book can cause hunger and make you laugh at the same time.


Do you like fine cheeses? The World Cheese Book is something you might love cutting into with info on over 700 types of cheeses.


Note: If you order via the links above, The Mixed Stew creators will get a tiny referral fee.

Thursday’s Side Dish: Salad Noodles

Another use for a versatile product
Choose among variety of widths for egg noodles to make a yummy salad that’s just as good as any macaroni or fine Italian pasta made from semolina. Combine with ingredients, such as diced pimento, mayo, chopped carrot, and minced parsley. And you could also mix in diced cucumber and canned tuna. Also, add this ingredient to your soup and most stir-fry recipes instead of the more expensive selections on store shelves.

Wednesday’s Helping: Egg Noodles

Curly favorites to enjoy

Look for packages of “Egg Noodles” in most grocery stores. Don’t be fooled by their lack of a better name since they’re mostly made of the same ingredients in Linguini, Penne, and Farfalle. You’ll find packages of “Egg Noodles” next to or below the usual Italian macaroni and semolina pasta products. These curly and stringy noodles come in wide, medium, and fine. The Mixed Stew crew found a big 1lb bag at Giant for less than a $1.00, which is very easy on anyone’s budget. We also suggest buying and substituting these noodles for making Italian inspired pasta dishes and soups.

Tuesday’s Cupful: Beef Stroganoff Background

Beef in cream sauce and all that jazz
This may very well be the first Mixed Stew dish with a Russian pedigree behind it. Beef Stroganoff usually consists of slices of beef or ground beef that have been sautéed, seasoned, and cooked in a sour cream-based sauce. The yummy additions of mushrooms and onion also lend much flavor to this entrée. Several urban legends exist regarding how this dish was invented. One popular story says that Count Pavel Stroganov, a member of nineteenth-century aristocracy, first served this dish in his home in St. Petersburg, Russia. Historians have discovered a cookbook from 1871 that lists a recipe. The dish has caught on throughout the world with different renditions taking hold in many countries. The Brazilian recipe features heavy cream and tomatoes while Stroganoff appears in the Nordic region with sausage instead of beef. Some people prefer serving this dish on rice while others like it on a bed of noodles. And yesterday, we showed you a twist using chicken.

Monday’s Bread Bowl: Garlic Chicken Stroganoff

A twist to a beefy standard

We like this reinterpretation of Beef Stroganoff. Again, we’ve chosen to use dark meat from the chicken’s thigh portion for flavor and juiciness. Plain yogurt works as a healthier alternative to fat laden cream or sour cream. The al dente and curly egg noodles can be a hit with the kids.
Here is our recipe:

What you will need:

1 wooden spoon
1 fry pan or skillet with lid
3 tablespoons cooking oil
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup chicken stock
½ yellow onion, diced
1lb curly egg noodles, cooked until al dente
1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
2 tablespoon tarragon, sliced
1 teaspoon nutmeg
4 chicken thighs, deboned and chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste

Cooking and Preparation:

Heat pan on medium-high heat. Add oil. Toss in garlic, salt, pepper and onion. Stir well. Sautee until onion turns translucent. Distribute pieces of chicken meat in pan and cover. Let chicken cook for 10 to 15 minutes or until brown. Next, add chicken broth, mushrooms, yogurt, and nutmeg. Mix well. Cover and when liquid starts to bubble, reduce heat to low. Let ingredients in pan simmer for at least 20 more minutes. Finally, add tarragon and serve immediately with egg noodles.

Friday’s Last Spoonful: Field Trip

Soul Boat: Catonsville, Md.

There’s no dining room at this fairly new carryout establishment. Soul Boat specializes in Southern food that’s not for anyone that’s watching their diets. We sampled the Oxtail w/ Gravy ($10.50), Fried Chicken (Mixed Pieces $6.95), and Seafood Combo Special ($7.75). The combo special comes with fried shrimp and fried scallops. The fried cat fish ($7.95) and fried lake trout ($7.50) also caught our eyes. Customers’ platters come with corn bread and a choice of two sides, such as mac-n-cheese, lima beans, candy yam, and collard greens. Interested in lighter fare? Order half a pound of seasoned steamed shrimp for $6.50. You can also order several of their seafood selections as sandwiches for less than $6.95. Meanwhile, servings of the Manhattan Clam Chowder and New England Clam Chowder run for $4.25.

Soul Boat
5748 Baltimore National Pike, Catonsville, MD 21228
(410) 719-8888