Sesame Chicken

I have been wanting to make a good sesame chicken dish at home for a very long time, but it has eluded me so far. I tried one preparation several months ago that just tasted like flour. Blech! When I saw this recipe on Culinary in the Desert, I thought it would be worth a try. Instead of using a heavy flour coating on the chicken, it is dipped into a mixture of cornstarch and egg whites to give it a faux deep-fried crust. I changed a couple of things in his recipe, so here's mine!

For the sauce:
3 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons teriyaki sauce
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 inch length of fresh ginger, grated
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted

For the chicken:
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts or chicken tenders, cut into bite-sized chunks
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 egg whites
Peanut oil
Salt and pepper

Whisk together all of the sauce ingredients in a small bowl. If you didn't buy toasted sesame seeds, dry fry your seeds in a small skillet over medium high heat until they start to change color. Give them a flip every now and then to prevent them from burning.

Season the chicken pieces well with salt and pepper. In a large bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and egg whites until thoroughly combined. Dip the chicken pieces in the mixture to coat. Warm up a tablespoon of oil in a large nonstick skillet over a medium high flame.

Swirl the oil around the pan and add about half of the chicken pieces. DO NOT stir fry the chicken--just let them sit there and cook until golden on the underside, about 5 minutes. Flip the chicken over and let cook for another 3 or 4 minutes. The pieces will be sticking together by this point because of the egg whites. Gently break them apart from each other with a wooden spoon and turn out onto a plate. Add another tablespoon of oil to the pan and repeat with the rest of the chicken.

Once the second batch of chicken is cooked, throw the rest of the chicken into the skillet. Pour over the sauce, and stir to coat. Let it come up to a bubble to thicken slightly.

I served my sesame chicken over white rice and steamed broccoli.


Rating: This is not awesome

It didn't blow me away. Back to the drawing board... :-(

Mozzarella in Carrozza

It was dinner for one tonight, as Wei had a work thing to attend. I decided to make this recipe from Nigella Bites; I remember watching her make it on her show a looooong time ago and thinking it looked fantastic. Sadly, it wasn't. The outside of the sandwich was crispy and delicious, but the inside of the bread was all soggy. The overly moist texture was enough to make me not want to eat it. I don't know if I did something wrong. Maybe this could be saved by toasting the bread before frying it? It was quite a letdown after years of anticipation :-(

4 slices of white bread, crusts removed
2 boccioni of fresh mozzarella, cut into 1/4 inch slices, then strips
1/4 cup milk
3 heaping tablespoons of all-purpose flour
1 egg, beaten with salt and pepper
Olive oil
Marinara sauce for dipping

Make sandwiches out of the bread and mozzarella, leaving a little margin around the edges unfilled with cheese, and press the edges together with your fingers to help seal. Pour the milk in one shallow bowl, the egg in another, and spread the flour on a plate. Warm a few tablespoons of oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Dunk to sandwiches, one by one, very briefly in the milk (use a really light touch with the milk), then dredge in the flour and dip in the beaten egg. Fry in the oil on each side until crisp and golden and remove to a paper towel. Cut in half and serve with some warmed marinara sauce for dipping.



Rating: This is not awesome
I really, really wanted to love this too. I think I need to go eat something crunchy to get the memory of that soggy bread out of my mouth!

Almond Encrusted Chicken Cutlets with Rice Pilaf

I was watching Food Network on one of the mornings last weekend. I saw Rachael Ray make these chicken cutlets, and I thought they looked pretty yummy. I gave them a try last night, making my own little changes to the recipe.

They did not turn out great. If you want to try making this, I suggest you use her method, because mine obviously didn't work. I can't say if hers will be good, although the picture on her website looks a LOT better than mine!

I will give the recipe for my rice pilaf, because that actually turned out well. I wasn't feeling the rice dish RR suggested, so I came up with my own.

1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup long grain rice
2 cups chicken broth or stock
1 can artichoke hearts, drained, rinsed, and chopped (optional)
Olive oil

Heat up 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until they are soft and translucent, about 10 minutes. Stir in the rice and garlic, and keep stirring until each grain of rice is coated in the oily, oniony juices in the pan. Add the chicken broth and bring up to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and put a lid on top. Let it simmer for 15 minutes.

Check the rice after 15 minutes. If there's still liquid in the pan, give it a few more minutes simmering with the lid on. When all the liquid is gone, stir and fluff the rice and add the artichoke hearts if you're using them. Put the lid back on and let the pan sit for at least 10 minutes; 15-20 minutes is better if you can manage it.



Rating: This is Not Awesome for the chicken, This is Awesome for the rice!
I think I'm done with RR recipes for a little while. I declare that next week will be an RR-free zone!

Five Spice Chicken Burgers

I was pretty disappointed with this recipe. I got it from good ol' 365: No Repeats, and it was very heavy on sodium. Part of the problem might have been my fault; I don't think I used the full 1 and 1/2 pounds of ground meat that the recipe called for, so the finished burgers might have tasted overly salty to me. Even so, when I look at the sodum content on the various items in the recipe, I'm a little shocked that Rachael Ray would include so much of them. I guess I learned my lesson: always read the labels before you start dumping shit in!

She suggested serving this with pineapple chunks and "exotic vegetable chips." We used unexotic potato chips that we had leftover from our football party instead.

1.5 pounds ground chicken or pork
2 teaspoons five spice powder
1 tablespoon grill seasoning, like McCormick's Montreal Steak Seasoning
2 garlic cloves, minced
1-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
5 green onions, 2 finely chopped and 3 cut into thirds then thinly sliced lengthwise
3 tablespoons soy sauce
Olive oil
4 hamburger buns of your choice, split and toasted

Heat a nonstick skillet or grill pan over medium high heat. In a medium sized bowl, combine the meat with the five spice powder, grill seasoning, garlic, ginger, finely chopped green onions, soy sauce, and a drizzle of olive oil. Mix the meat thoroughly and form into four patties, roughly 1 inch thick. Cook the burgers for 6 minutes on each side.

Heat a small skillet over medium heat and add about a teaspoon of olive oil. Gently saute the sliced green onions until they are wilted, about 4 minutes. Serve each burger on a bun, topped with the warm green onions and any other toppings you want. RR said to saute some sliced shiitakes and cabbage with the green onions, and then toss the contents of the skillet with 3 tablspoons of hoisin sauce (more sodium!) to make a "Mu shu slaw topping." Since I didn't have any mushrooms or cabbage, I skipped that part.



Rating: This is not awesome
It tasted like a not-very-good chinese dumpling on a bun. I think it could be saved though; I would cut out the grill seasoning entirely. Its strong flavor doesn't go well with the other milder ingredients, and it contains a lot of sodium. With all of the soy sauce in the burger meat, it does not need more salt! Just add several good grindings of black pepper instead.

Side note: What is with RR and adding grill seasoning to everything? Does she own stock in McCormick's or what?!

Sauteed Salmon with Spicy Fresh Mango-Pineapple Chutney

Another RR recipe from 365: No Repeats tonight. I was a little gunshy about this one after last night, since pineapple and mango are both possible latex allergy triggers, but all seems to be well.

This isn't particularly groundbreaking, but I did love the flavor of ground coriander on the salmon. I might have to slap some on anytime I make salmon from now on! The outside of the fillets crisped up perfectly for me. And the skin on the underside...OMG...so tasty. Is it bad to eat the skin? Oh well, I don't care.

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 small yellow or red onion, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeds and membrane removed, chopped
Salt and pepper
1 8-ounce can pineapple chunks, drained
2 tablespoons honey
2 salmon fillets, about 8 ounces each
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 ripe mango, diced
Juice of 1 lime
1/4 cup fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
3/4 - 1 pound green beans, ends trimmed

Heat up one tablespoon of the olive oil in a medium sized saucepan. Add the onion and jalapeno, season with a little salt and pepper, and cook for 8 or 9 minutes until the onions are soft. Add the pineapple, honey, and 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil and then down to a gentle simmer.

If you want to serve steamed green beans with this, as I did, put a pot with a couple of inches of water on to boil, then get on with the salmon. Warm up the remaining olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Season the salmon on both sides with salt, pepper, and ground coriander. Place the fillets in the hot pan, skin side up first (I don't know if there's a reason for it, but that's how I cook it). Saute until just cooked through, about 5 minutes per side, depending on the thickness.

While the fish is cooking, put the beans in a steamer insert and place inside the pot of boiling water. Season with salt and clamp a lid on for 5 minutes. To finish the chutney, add the mango lime juice, parsley, and cilantro, stir to combine, and turn off the heat.

Serve each piece of salmon with some of the chutney on top and with green beans on the side.

There are different theories about the best way to cut mango. The easiest way for me is to cut down each side of the large, flat pit in the middle so you have what resembles two halves of a sphere. Hold one half in your hand, take your knife and, being very careful not to pierce the skin of the mango , cut grindlines into the meat of the fruit. Flip the skin inside out, and voila, you have mango cubes! If you are a master of dexterity, cut the cubes free from the skin. If you're not (like me), just pull them off.

Rating: This is not awesome
It was fine, but I'm not wowed.

Pork and Vegetable Stir Fry

I didn't know how to cook before I met Wei, my husband. He didn't exactly teach me, but he did give me a lot of inspiration. When I saw how easy it was for him to throw together something delicious with fresh ingredients, like a stir fry, it made me wonder why the hell I was cooking meals that came out of boxes and pouches.

My stir fry technique has become something like this: Cook the meat first, then take it out of the pan so it doesn't end up over cooked. Cook onion, then throw in the rest of the veggies and garlic. Add the meat back when the veggies are cooked. Season with cooking sauces and stir in a cornstarch slurry to bring the sauce together. Done! It's an easy way to get something fairly healthy on the table in a short amount of time.

This was the first time that I made one with a pork tenderloin. I don't know if I'll do it again. I liked the flavor, but tenderloins are such a pain to prep since you have to remove all of the silverskin and fat bits. Also, you have to be careful to cut it into small pieces, otherwise they take a long time to cook. It just doesn't fit in with my vision of a quick and easy stir fry!

This isn't a recipe as much as a suggestion. Use whatever meat and vegetable combinations you like, or make it all veggie. The only ingredients that I consider to be absolutely essential are the onions and garlic. They are the flavor base, and it just wouldn't taste right without them.

1 pork tenderloin, trimmed of fat and silverskin and cut into bite size pieces
1 yellow onion, cut into half moons
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 red, orange, or yellow bell pepper, sliced (use a green bell pepper if you want, but I just can't stand the flavor!)
1/4 pound shiitake mushrooms, sliced
2 tablespoons peanut, corn, or vegetable oil (peanut is best)
Soy sauce
Thai fish sauce
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Cornstarch
Chicken broth
Rice

Start by making the rice. You probably have your own technique, but this is how I do it. Put one cup of white rice in a medium-size pot and rinse the grains several times to remove most of the starch. I do this by swirling water around in the pot, dumping the water out (being careful not to lose any rice grains in the process), and repeating until the water runs mostly clear--about 5 or 6 times.

Once the rice is rinsed, add water to the pot so that the water level is 2 centimeters above the level of the rice. Put a lid partially on the pot, and put on a burner set to medium heat. Set a timer to 14 minutes, and it should be done when the timer goes off. Sometimes there's still some water in the pot at that time, in which case keep checking at 2 minute intervals. Basically, when there's no more steam coming out of the pot, it's done. Turn off the burner, clamp the lid on the pot, and let it sit until you're ready to eat it. This "sitting stage" is essential; it needs to sit for at least 10 minutes.

While your cut up pork is still sitting on the cutting board, season it well with salt and pepper. Sprinkle a small spoonful of cornstarch over the meat and toss it all together to distribute. Heat one tablespoon of oil over medium-high or high heat in a wok or a large, deep pan. Add the meat and cook until it's done. Remove to a plate and tent with tin foil to keep warm.

Wipe the inside of the pan or wok with a paper towel, and add the second tablespoon of oil. Keep an open can of chicken broth next to you in case the pan gets too hot and you need to deglaze it. Throw in the onions and cook until soft, about ten minutes. My test is that the onions are done when I can easily cut through one by pushing on it with my wooden spoon. Throw in the garlic and the bell pepper and mushrooms. Stir fry until cooked, about another 10 minutes.

Add the meat and any accumulated juices back into the pan. Toss everything with two tablespoons each of soy sauce and fish sauce and a splash of chicken broth. Add several grinds of black pepper. Make a cornstarch slurry by mixing a tablespoon of cornstarch and a tablespoon of chicken broth in a coffee mug until the cornstarch is fully dissolved. Pour over everything in the pan and stir together until the sauce is glossy and thicker. Taste for seasoning.

Serve over the rice, and yes, chopsticks are a must!

Rating: This is not awesome

Yeah, this wasn't my best work. It was too salty and not enough vegetables in my opinion. Truthfully, I had cut up a head of broccoli to use as well, but I was impatient and didn't feel like waiting for it to cook. If you want to make it like I did, you should probably cut the amount of soy and fish sauce down to one tablespoon each. If you use another veggie to bulk up the amount of stir fry, you should be fine with two tablespoons each.