It's Been a Journey

It's daunting to sit down again and type.  To think of everything that has happened since my last post, all the excuses I have for abandoning this space, all the food that's been cooked, everything that has changed and all that hasn't.  I think about that, and then I try to figure out how best to re-enter this little world.  I'm drawing a blank.  A big fat blank.

But I check the stats every so often and it seems, however incomprehensibly, there are still those of you who still stumble upon these pages of my past.  I get the occasional nudges from friends or family who'd like to see this blog resurrected - how is it that you haven't given up entirely?  I didn't mean to leave you hanging.

So, let's give this one more go, yeah?

I thought about dredging up some older recipes and just playing a bit of catch up, but that idea poses a few problems.  1) I pretty much stopped taking pictures of what I was making except for a few random Instagram snaps.  I'm not trying to recreate past social media feeds in this space.  2) There's a very high chance that the recipes I really want to tell you about would be seasonally inappropriate at this juncture.  Zucchini noodles in the dead of February?   I wish.  You'll just have to wait.  In the meantime I offer you a compromise.  A new-to-me recipe with an iPhone photo!  (Baby steps, okay.)

Radicchio, and chicories in general, are fast becoming one of my favorite winter ingredients.  They bring a refreshing pop of color when we're buried in a sea of earth tones and deep green at the market.  Their bitterness balances out the hearty, fatty dishes we crave as the temperatures drop.  And if you've never grilled radicchio or escarole before you're truly missing out.  Their sharp bite of bitter softens and new flavors of smoke and caramelized sweetness come out to play.

Here, however, there is just raw and vibrant radicchio.  We want it's natural bite, it's bitterness tamed by creamy cannellini beans, rotisserie chicken and the bright snap of a parsley-lemon vinaigrette.  A few stalks of thinly sliced celery and some scallions for good measure and dinner is served.  It's preparation is simple, but the flavors are not.  It's earthy, but lively.  This is the kind of salad you keep diving your fork into, bite after bite, until there's nothing left on the plate.  This will get you out of your winter rut.

White Bean and Radicchio Salad with Parsley Vinaigrette
adapted from Bon Apetit, April 2012

I used rotisserie chicken because I had some that needed using up but the original recipe calls for a high quality tuna packed in olive oil, either would be great, really.  Whatever you do, don't leave one or the other out, it'll mess up the perfect balance this salad has going on.  Also switched up the vinaigrette to make it a little more acidic and less heavy on the olive oil.

serves 4

1 cup (packed) flat-leaf parsley
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon champagne vinegar
1 garlic clove, crushed
salt & pepper


1 medium head of radicchio, cored, leaves coarsely torn
1 15-ounce can cannellini beans, rinsed, drained
2 celery stalks, sliced thinly on an extreme diagonal
1 cup shredded rotisserie chicken
2 scallions, thinly sliced

Vinaigrette:
Pulse parsley, oil, lemon juice, vinegar, and garlic in a blender until well blended. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Salad:
Place radicchio and celery in a large bowl; drizzle with a few tablespoons parsley vinaigrette and toss to coat. Season radicchio to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to a serving platter, spreading out in an even layer. Arrange cannellini beans and shredded chicken and sliced scallions on top of the radicchio. Drizzle with a little more vinaigrette if desired.

Devine Eats

I cannot believe that in over two years of posting on this blog I have never posted about this chicken club salad. I'm embarrassed.  Even more so because it's now showing  up in this hastily photographed state.  I had to snap this with my phone before I even finished mixing it all together because I knew the second that it was ready, it would disappear in the blink of an eye.  My apologies for a messy bowl and unevenly distributed dressing.

Chicken club salad is the food of gods. This is not an exaggeration. Right up there with the perfection of a summertime BLT or this lovely dish of Vietnamese noodles, stir fried beef and veggies, this salad has been a favorite from first bite. I've made it for friends and roommates who have in turn made it for their friends or special someones and every last one of those people has proclaimed this "salad" as devine perfection. I can give you references if you don't believe me, or you can just go and make it yourself. Like, right now.

You might think, after taking a quick glance at the ingredient list, that this is merely a salad or panzanella form of a BLT, but in fact it's a whole different beast.  Sure, it has brightly acidic tomatoes, and bacon, and mayonaise and toasted bread but then that mayonaise gets transformed when it's blended with basil and yogurt and lemon juice.  And there are cubes of gently poached chicken and thin rings or green onion dotted throughout.  This is nothing like that classic sandwich.  I'll repeat: this is the food of the gods.

A recent search for the original recipe lead me to a Food Network page saying the contents I was searching for could no longer be found.  Which would really be a shame, except I have here my version, one I've tweaked over the years and I think is even better.  There are more croutons for more crunch!  I use half mayonaise (Best Foods only, please!) and half plain yogurt for the basil dressing and then slather the whole thing over the salad instead of a measly 1/2 cup.  And the bread, use whatever your heart desires as long as it has some structure to it.  One time I used an Italian loaf with lemon zest in it and it was heavenly.

You're welcome.  I single handedly just saved the internet.

Chicken Club Salad
adapted from Sara Moulton

There are several elements to assemble here: poach the chicken, make the croutons, blend up the dressing, fry the bacon and cut up the veggies, but all of this can be done in advance if need be. Store the croutons in an air tight container, the veggies, dressing and chicken separately in the fridge but the bacon is probably best freshly crisped up. About 10 minutes before serving toss everything together in a big bowl and you're good to go.

6 to 8 servings

6 cups of 3/4-inch cubes day old country loaf
3 tablespoons olive oil
6 slices bacon, chopped
3 pounds whole chicken breasts OR 1½ pounds boneless/skinless breast, poached and the meat cut into bite-size pieces
1 pint cherry tomatoes, quartered
4 scallions including the green part, sliced thinly
Quick Basil Mayonnaise, recipe follows
Salt and pepper

Quick Basil Mayonnaise:
2 cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves
½ cup mayonnaise

½ cup plain yogurt 

4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper

In a food processor or blender blend together the basil, mayonnaise, yogurt and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper.  Refrigerate until ready to use.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a bowl drizzle the bread cubes with the olive oil, tossing them to coat evenly, and season generously with salt and pepper. Spread the bread cubes in a jelly-roll pan (or cookie sheet) and toast them in the middle of the preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until they are golden.  Let them cool. 

In a skillet cook the bacon over moderate heat, stirring, until it is crisp and transfer it with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain. 

In a large bowl combine the chicken, tomatoes, scallions, bacon, quick basil mayonnaise, and salt and pepper to taste. Just before serving, mix in croutons and let sit 5-10 minutes.

Salad Days

Dear reader, it's been a while, I know.  

You see there were big projects due (business proposals for school! student elections to run in! peer educator positions to apply for!), and then finals to take and the semester to finish promptly followed by a few days where I just sat my butt down on the couch and watched TV for hours.  I really needed to relax and recharge.  Then it was family time with my brother and sister road tripping up here from San Diego and playing tourist with me for a week in the city. In the meantime I also sent out some resumes, applied to a few jobs, interviewed for one job and TOTALLY NAILED IT.  Yup, this girl now has a job.  A job at a pretty fantastic restaurant in the neighborhood (hello, walking to work) that I'm really stoked on.

May was busy, busy indeed.

And I don't imagine this summer is going to be lazy, either.  Luckily, summertime is salad time and salads like this one will probably make frequent appearances in our fridge.  It's great because all the elements can be assembled ahead of time and then just tossed into a bowl when hunger strikes.  I'll be working 3 nights a week and D will most likely be putting in long hours at the lab, so dinners with a minimal fuss-factor are ideal.

My mom's been making a version of sesame peanut noodles from Martha Stewart for years now - which I love - but the added cabbage slaw and poached chicken in this version make it feel more like a meal.  I love the crunch from the lime-y cabbage and radish slaw (no really, go wild with the lime juice) against the creamy noodles and the super succulent poached chicken helps stretch the dish a bit further.  It packs well for lunches, can feed several people if you're bringing it to a potluck and makes a great make ahead meal to be kept in the fridge for a few days.  Topped with squeeze of extra lime and Sriracha, I'd say you've got a winner on your hands.

Peanut Noodle Salad with Chicken and Cabbage Slaw

Adapted from Serious Eats

I tinkered with this one to really maximize some flavors and tailor the serving sizes a bit.  I used whole wheat spaghetti simply because I didn't feel like making a special trip for soba noodles, but by all means, if you've got, use it.  I also added some aromatics to the poaching liquid for the chicken to infuse a bit of flavor there.  Otherwise, get that cabbage slaw dressed with plenty of lime and salt and pepper and you'll be on your way to greatness.  If you're vegetarian, or vegan or just feel like going meatless, I think this dish would still be wonderful without the chicken.

4 servings

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 large cloves garlic, divided

2 inch piece of fresh ginger, divided in 2

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon (or more to taste) Sriracha
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
1 pound Savoy cabbage, shredded
3/4 cup radishes, thinly sliced
3/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves
2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 pound whole wheat spaghetti (or soba noodles)
3 large scallions, julienned

Thinly slice a 1-inch segment of the ginger and 1 large clove of garlic into a saucepan of well salted water.  Bring to boil. Add the chicken breasts to the pot, bring to a simmer, and cook for 6 minutes. Cover, turn off the heat, and allow to slowly poach until the chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes more. Remove chicken, allow to cool, and thinly slice or shred into pieces.

In the meantime, grate the remaining ginger piece and clove of garlic over a microplane.  Combine with the peanut butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar, chile sauce and half the sesame oil in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Add a 1/4 cup water to achieve a looser texture for coating noodles.  If more is needed add 1 tablespoon at a time.  The final sauce should coat the back of a spoon, but not be thick and sticky.

In a large bowl, toss together the cabbage, radishes, most of the cilantro, the olive oil, lime juice and the remaining sesame oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Cook the noodles in abundant water until just al dente, then drain and rinse to remove excess starch. Dress with the peanut sauce.  Top the noodles with the cabbage salad, the remaining cilantro, the scallions, and the sliced chicken. Serve with more lime wedges if desired.

An Enchilada Tale

And now for my next trick, I give you a rather involved and lengthy recipe for enchiladas.

I'm pretty hardcore loyal to quite a few recipes.  My way or the highway kind of loyal.  I only have eyes (and tastebuds) for the way I've come to love a dish, loyal.  Enchiladas are such a dish.

If we're talking chicken enchiladas, my one and only is Rick Bayless's Enchiladas Suizas.  A creamy, tomatoey and spicy affair that, aside from making the sauce, is simple and straight forward.  Good fresh corn tortillas are key.  Most likely they will try and fall apart as you take them out of the pan.  They may not look pretty and perfect on a plate.  In fact they tend to resemble a messy heap rather than an enchilada.  None of this bothers me because I love them so.  What they may lack in looks they sure have in flavor.

If we're going the less traditional and vegetarian route, D's Dad makes these killer tofu, mushroom and green onion enchiladas that the family calls "pincheladas".  I don't know the whole story but what I gather is that the name is in reference to the spiciness of the  enchilada sauce, "pinche" being a not-so-nice Mexican slang word.  They're earthy and bright at the same time and I especially love the unexpected addition of rosemary.  Again, good corn tortillas are key (they always are).

That's it.  That's all I need.  Just those two recipes for enchiladas and I'm set.  But then I ran across this recipe and it somehow lodged itself it my brain and the only way to stop thinking about it was to make it.  Boy am I glad I did.  They're the opposite of what I like most about the above two enchilada recipes.  There's quite a few steps, the sauce is thick and creamy and they're made with flour tortillas.

The result is larger-than-usual enchiladas, stuffed with chicken, black beans, sauteed zucchini and just the right amount of cheese to hold it all together.  Here you don't need to seek out the best tortillas, just whatever your local grocery store happens to have.  The homemade goodness of fresh flour tortillas would be too rich, giving them too much weight and likely making the whole thing a bit doughy.  As it is the tortillas soak up a good amount of sauce ensuring that every bite has just enough heat from the jalapeno (use one with a good kick to it) and just enough heft from sour cream to keep you satisfied.  A pop of color from sliced green onions and fresh cilantro leaves and I just may keep this recipe in my arsenal for future use.

Chicken and Black Bean Enchiladas
Adapted from In the Small Kitchen


The original printed recipe made double this amount and split it into 2 distinct batches.  One with the black bean and zucchini filling, the other with chicken.  However in the headnotes it offers the suggestion for combining the two and since I don't really need TWO 13x9 pans of enchiladas I first halved the recipe, then incorporated the filling recipes together.  For all the work you do though, if you want to make it worth more of your time, wait until you have a crowd to feed and double this one up.

makes 8 largish enchiladas

filling:
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, poached (about 3/4 lb)
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1/2 red onion, diced
1/2 pound zucchini, cut into 1/4 in dice
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 - 3/4 cup black beans
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves

sauce:
1 tablespoons butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 jalapeño, minced
1 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup sour cream
4 oz can fire-roasted mild green chiles
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Cayenne pepper, to taste

enchiladas:
Eight 8-inch flour tortillas
1⁄2 pound Monterey Jack cheese, shredded and divided
cilantro leaves
Thinly sliced scallions

Make the filling:
Allow the poached chicken to cool slightly, then shred the breasts using two forks or your fingers. Set the meat aside and toss with 1 tablespoon dijon mustard.

Add just enough olive oil to a large nonstick or cast-iron skillet to coat the surface and place it over medium heat. Sauté the onion until softened, 5 to 8 minutes. Add the zucchini and continue to sauté, stirring occasionally, until the zucchini is tender and browned, another 6 minutes or so. Add the garlic, beans, chili powder, cumin, and salt, and cook until the beans are tender and the garlic is fragrant, about 5 minutes. Let cool for a bit then mix in the shredded chicken and chopped cilantro.

Make the sauce:
Melt the butter in a small to medium sauce pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and jalapeños and cook until they are softened but not yet beginning to brown, about 4 minutes. Add the flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Still stirring, slowly add the stock in a steady stream. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a boil. Then reduce the heat and simmer until the liquid has reduced and the sauce has become opaque, about 5 minutes. Let it cool slightly.  Transfer the thickened stock to a blender, add the sour cream, chiles, cumin, chili powder, salt, and cayenne, and puree until smooth.

Preheat oven to 350F.

To assemble:
Reserve about 1 cup of the shredded cheese to top the assembled enchiladas.

Coat the bottoms of a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with some of the sauce.  Fill each enchilada with about a 1/2 cup of the chicken/bean/zucchini mixture, along the center of each tortilla. Top the filling with a generous tablespoon of shredded cheese. Roll the sides of the tortillas over the filling and place them, seam side down, in the baking dishes.

Pour the remaining green chile sauce evenly over the enchiladas and sprinkle with the reserved cheese. Bake the enchiladas in the oven for 30 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese is beginning to brown. Garnish with more cilantro leaves and scallions and serve.

J'aime le Pizza

In high school I had this French teacher who taught next to nothing of the language.   It was pretty much like hanging out at your Grandma's house, if she were French and lived in a classroom in the middle of campus.  We made crepes, watched dubbed Disney movies; she'd even bring in Petit Ecolier cookies as treats. Perhaps she thought all this would romance us into learning a thing or two, that one day something would click and we'd all flit around the classroom with a flurry of française issuing from our mouths.  Too bad we were all ungrateful teenagers who'd rather exploit our teacher's weaknesses than attempt at appeasing her.

Occasionally she'd put her stern face on and insist that we speak the language in class, this being our second year and all, and we'd respond with the one stock phrase we'd managed to retain - "J'aime le pizza."  It didn't matter the context or the question we were asked the answer was always "I like pizza".  We were a pretty hopeless bunch.  Truly, if there was any point in the next year of my foreign language career where I could communicate in full sentences, I most certainly have forgotten it all now.  3 years and nothing to show, besides a pre-programmed response declaring my feelings on pizza.

So here I stand, 10 or so years later, reciting this silly phrase to myself as I pull this pizza out of the oven.  The Thai peanut sauce smelling sweet and savory under the chunks of chicken and bubbling cheese.  Everything getting covered with a pile of shredded carrots, sprouts and green onions.  It's a pizza!  Covered in salad!  Pure genius I tell you.  But of course there was a salad on the side as well, lest we forget how January is all about being healthy and reforming our diets.



Chicken Satay Pizza 

If you've got a favorite pizza dough recipe, use it here, or if you have a favorite store bought dough, by all means.  I'm partial to this one from Peter Reinhart (although this recipe will make enough for 2-3 pizzas).  With some rotisserie chicken from the store and pre-made dough this is a cinch to whip up any night of the week, and a million times better than any of those frozen things. 

1 - 12" pizza

pizza dough

3 tablespoons peanut butter
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon soy sauce
a few dashes of fish sauce (optional)
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 large clove of garlic, grated

1 cup shredded or chopped cooked chicken
1 cup, packed, shredded mozzarella cheese
small handful cilantro, roughly chopped

1 small carrot, julliened
1/4 cup sprouts (spicy, alfalfa, mung bean)
2 green onions

With a pizza stone on the lowest shelf, preheat oven to 500F for about 30 minutes.  You'll want a super hot oven and an equally hot pizza stone to bake upon.

In a bowl mix together the peanut butter, water, soy sauce, red pepper flakes, ginger and garlic.  Stir until the sauce is smooth and a spreadable consistency.  Mix 1 to 2 tablespoons of the sauce with the shredded chicken and set aside.

On a piece of parchment paper - this will make it easy to transfer to the oven - roll the pizza dough out to a 12-inch circle.  Spread over the top the remaining sauce almost to the edges, leaving about 1 inch exposed.  Scatter chicken pieces, then cheese then cilantro over the sauce.  Transfer, using the parchment paper to assist you, to pizza stone and bake 15 minutes or until the crust is a puffed and golden and the cheese starts to bubble and brown.

Meanwhile, toss together the cut carrots, green onions and sprouts.  When the pizza comes out of the oven, top with vegetable mixture, slice and serve.

Chicken Soup for the (adaptive) Soul

It's beginning to look a lot like soup weather.  That time of year where I'm guaranteed to make soup so frequently I'll begin to wonder when the last time I didn't eat my meal out of a bowl full of liquid was.

Oh soup, you take so many forms!  Pureed and smooth, chunky with vegetables, thick with cream.  They can be swimming with broth or they could be a rich and hearty stew topped with dumplings.  First course, only course or lunch.  Three cheers for soup!  Every bite is soul-warming and satisfying; the steam warming your face as you lean in, the bowl your personal hand warmer.  I think the chilled evenings are getting to me.

If you took a peek at my rapidly expanding - and let's be honest, completely out of control - list of bookmarked recipes, I'm sure you'd find that almost 1/4 of them are a soup of some form, rivaled only by the list of desserts and sweets.  Obviously, I have my priorities in order.

For no particular reason, other than striking my fancy at just the right time (that right time being when I sat down to make the week's meal plan and corresponding shopping list), I plucked this recipe out of list-oblivion.  A rotisserie cooked chicken and leftover rice soup, studded with bright red Thai chile slices and punched up with cilantro basil and lime.  So simple, so quick, if only a wrench weren't thrown into to the works; the store had sold through their rotisserie birds for the day.  Being stubborn and not wanting to try another store or wait another day, I instead poached some chicken breast I had at home and then used the poaching liquid in place of the chicken stock, supplementing just slightly to make up the volume.  You're no match for me, wrench!  And if I hadn't forgotten to toss in the handful of shrimp, I bet it would have been even better.  But I'm not beating myself up over it.  There's plenty more soup weather ahead, an entire winter's worth of soup making opportunities, to be precise.


Cambodian Chicken and Rice Soup
 Adapted from Food & Wine, March 2008

The original recipe has you use a 3 lb. store-bought rotisserie chicken and already made (or purchased) chicken stock.  However I had frozen chicken breast on hand so I decided to poach that instead and use the poaching liquid, now a light chicken broth, in the place of pre-made stock.  But if you're looking for a quicker weeknight meal, I encourage you to use all premade broth and the rotisserie chicken as was originally intended.  Also there were some shrimp that were supposed to be tossed in towards the end which I left out by accident.  Next time little shrimp, next time.

4 servings

1 pound chicken breast
4 cups water
1 carrot, quartered
1 celery stalk, quartered
1/4 of a small onion
salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup (or one 14oz can) chicken stock
3 tablespoons Asian fish sauce
1 teaspoon honey
1 cup cooked jasmine rice
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/4 pound shelled and deveined shrimp (optional)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons chopped basil
1 Thai chile, thinly sliced
Lime wedges, for serving

Trim chicken breast of fat and place in a saucepan with 4 cups water, chopped carrot, celery and onion and a good pinch of salt.  The chicken should be completely covered by the water.  Bring to just a simmer and cover, leaving the lid just slightly ajar and cook for 20 minutes.  Turn off heat and let the chicken cool in the liquid.  Once cool enough to handle (maybe an hour) remove the chicken to a cutting board and with a slotted spoon remove and discard the vegetables, reserve the liquid.  Cut or shred chicken into large pieces.

In a large saucepan, heat the oil. Add the ginger and garlic and cook over moderate heat until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the reserved poaching liquid plus extra broth, fish sauce, honey and rice and bring to a boil. Add the chicken pieces and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in the shrimp (if using) and cook just until opaque, about 1 minute. Stir in the lime juice, cilantro, basil and chile and serve right away, passing lime wedges at the table.

A Tangle of Noodles

Sometimes I think I should rename this blog "The Improvisational Kitchen".  I don't have much in the way of fancy gadgets and my selection of cooking pots and pans is short and sweet.  Also, mostly small.  Meaning that making large sautees or cooking for a crowd takes some creativity.  No food processor here, just a blender that sometimes works double duty.  No stand mixer.  I do have an ancient hand mixer, but for all intents and purposes it has one speed, and that's high, and I only use it to make whipped cream or occasionally cream butter and sugar.  There's a teeny tiny toaster that fits smaller sized sandwich bread and bagels and that's about it.  But I'm not complaining, really, it's about all my kitchen can handle anyway.  Just sometimes cooking and baking turns into an exercise of improv.

So the other night when I was making this chow mein, I sat staring for a bit.  3/4 of a pound of noodles plus all these add ins is a hefty amount and I was seriously perplexed as to how this was going to go down.  Aside from making it in a stockpot, which would be just plain weird, I didn't think I had a pan large enough to accommodate the recipe's size.  And then I remember that we have stuffed away at an odd angle into the very last space we had in our cabinets for storage a very well seasoned and previously well loved wok - perfect!  So I chopped chopped away, prepping all the ingredients, because this recipe like most stir-fry type dishes are heavy on the chopping prep work, happy that I wouldn't have to awkwardly cook in several not-quite-right pans.  Nevermind that my cheap apartment stove is wimpy when it come to providing heat - but it's gas! - and so what if the cooking takes a bit longer.  These noodles are everything Chinese take-out is not.  They're fresh, light, not in the least bit greasy and really packed with the vegetables.  I like the lots of veggies part.

And can somebody please tell me what it is about Chinese food that makes it taste so much better when it's leftovers?  Eaten straight from the take out box, cold, fridge door still open.  I don't even particularly like Chinese (or rather, American style Chinese) food, but I like it so much more as leftovers, especially the noodles.

Chicken Chow Mein
Adapted from Cooking Light

The key to this recipe is getting the prep work done before you start cooking anything.  Once the cooking starts, it moves rapidly and it's better to have all your ingredients next to you ready to toss in than to stress yourself out over time constraints.  I grouped the carrots, peas and celery in one prep bowl.  The chicken and 1 tablespoon soy sauce in another.  Mushrooms and garlic in a third.  And the sauce in a final bowl.  The recipe indicates 4 total servings, but I feel like it's closer to 6, especially if you serve it with a vegetable side dish.

 4 - 6 servings

1 cup matchstick-cut carrots
1 cup snow peas, trimmed
2 stalks of celery, thinly sliced on a deep angle
12 oz dry chow mein noodles
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil, divided
1/2 pound chicken breast tenders, sliced into thin strips
3 tablespoons soy sauce, divided
3/4 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup sliced mushrooms
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup sliced green onions

Cook carrots, snow peas, celery and noodles in boiling water 3 minutes; drain and set aside

Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet (or wok) over medium-high heat. Add chicken and 1 tablespoon soy sauce to pan; stir-fry 3 minutes. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm.

Combine remaining 2 tablespoons soy sauce, chicken broth, oyster sauce, grated ginger, and pepper flakes, stirring well. Heat remaining 1 teaspoon oil over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and garlic to pan; stir-fry for 3 minutes. Add broth mixture, and cook for 1 minute, bringing the sauce to just under a boil. Add noodle mixture and chicken to pan; cook 1 minute, tossing to combine. The sauce should soak up into the noodles within this time.  Sprinkle with green onions and serve.

Typical

The other day this idea popped into my head: I have yet to share with you a full meal picture.  I post pictures of individual dishes and talk about them, or maybe even what I served with them, but not once have I documented the whole shebang.  Never the plate of food that actually gets consumed.  So here you go.  It's not exactly my dinner plate, but this sums up a lot of dinners around here.

I find that salads are a good way to get the boy eat more veggies.  It's not that D doesn't care for them, but given the choice, it's not the first thing he'll put on his plate and usually not at the top of his list of things to eat either.  So I make a salad and throw veggies from the crisper on top.  Okay, I kind of pile them on, but that's how we do around here.  Also, since salads are mostly composed of staple items there is always guaranteed to be some veggies to go along with a meal.  Even when I'm too lazy or forgetful to plan something.  Oh!  Behold those rich red beauties!  Once again, these are from D's Mom's garden (Hi! Want to be an official blog sponsor?), finally tomatoes that taste like tomatoes and not some watery mealy lump.  They were too good to throw into the salad, best enjoyed on their own, also my brother was around and he has some weird physical aversion to tomatoes.  They may not be a year-round fixture but hell if I'm not going to eat them every opportunity I get this summer.

As for the roast chicken, it's probably the most frequent meat-based dish I make.  Actually, it's one of only a handful of recipes that I RE-make.  Most of the time, I make something, decide whether or not I like it and then move on.  Not because it didn't warrant not making again, but more because there is this whole world of the internet and cookbooks and blogs out there with delicious looking food that I get distracted.  That's where D comes in, he's the one who, when asked for dinner ideas, is always suggesting food I've already made.  It's a nice balance.  The success of this roast chicken is due to three factors.  One) When there's only two people around to eat, and you roast a whole bird, it's nice that it's so adaptable for leftovers.  Sandwiches, quesadillas, salads, cold and sprinkled lightly with salt, you don't have to eat the same leftover meal over and over.  Two) I like the white meat, D likes the dark meat.  Three)  I get to make stock with the leftover carcass.  And even if I don't feel like making it right away, I can always freeze the carcass and make the stock later.  Voila!  No more buying that sodium laden stuff from the store.  It's a no fail recipe.  The skin always gets nice and golden and crispy, the meat stays moist and the aromatics from the herbs and lemon and garlic will make you anxiously dance around your oven, waiting to eat.


Roast Chicken


This is how I make my roast chicken.  Everytime.  I took elements from several recipes (Zuni Cafe, Thomas Keller, Jamie Oliver) and pieced together the parts that worked best for me.  I like my chicken simple, and the skin crispy.  The salting in the morning helps keep the meat moist throughout the roasting, it's like a dry brine.  The herbs under the skin lightly flavor the meat without overwhelming, as do the lemon and garlic stuffed in the cavity.  Actually, the lemon and garlic serve double duty.  After the chicken is roasted you can squeeze some of the lemon and smash the garlic into the pan juices to make an excellent sauce to either spoon over the chicken or swipe chunks of bread through.  And for the ultimate icing on the frugal cake, I save the carcass after the skin and most meat has been pulled off and make stock.

4-6 servings

4-1/2 pound whole chicken
kosher salt
several sprigs of thyme (or rosemary or sage)
1 lemon, quartered
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
pepper

In the morning, rinse and dry the chicken, discard all the bits inside (unless you have a better use, I don't).  Be sure to dry it well, paper towels do this nicely.  Salt the chicken generously inside and out and put back on a plate in the refrigerator until ready to cook.

Just before baking, preheat the oven to 375F.  Remove the chicken from the refrigerator, rinse again, pat dry.  Using your fingers separate the skin from the meat around the breasts and thighs and insert a few sprigs on thyme.  In the cavity stuff another few sprigs of thyme, the quartered lemon and the garlic cloves.  Again, salt the outside of the bird.  Sometimes I lightly grind some fresh pepper over the top, sometimes I don't, do as you feel, it's good either way.  Place breast side down in a Dutch oven or cast iron skillet, do not cover.  Roast for an hour and a half.  At this point, the skin should be a nice medium deep color and crispy, remove from oven and let rest in pan for 10 minutes.

Carve, cut, pull apart the chicken as you like

Eating in Patterns

Sometimes I get into these obsessive food kicks.  Actually, I suffer these obsessive tendencies towards food a lot.  I can and will eat the same thing for lunch everyday, for weeks on end, and still not get sick of it.  Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, crackers and cheese and apples, yogurt with pretzels and fruit salad, ants on a log.  (And would you look at that!  My lunch habits closely resemble that of an elementary school kid!)  The same goes for breakfast, Cheerios or Special K nearly every single day.  I can't help it, I like the routine.  No, I crave it.

Right now I can't get enough of Asian flavors - hello miso soup, hey there banh mi.  And now these lettuce cups.  While these are by no means traditional fare, or even indicative of one particular cuisine, the chicken salad certainly has the elements that I've been hankering after.  This recipe won't blow you out of the water, but it's solid and I'd say the flavors are easily accessible.  The creeping heat of the sambal oelek is balanced by a tangy yogurt dressing and crisp fresh lettuce.  Nothing too overwhelming.  Nothing too unexpected.  I did these up for dinner, serving three at a time, but honestly, I think they'd work better as an appetizer.  Preferably served with a refreshing Saison or Farmhouse Ale.

Spicy Asian Chicken Salad Lettuce Cups
Adapted from Food & Wine Magazine, September 2009

12 lettuce cups

1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4  cup plain yogurt
2 teaspoons sambal oelek
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1 pound chicken breast, poached and meat shredded
1/3 cup water chestnuts, coarsely chopped
2 scallions, white and green parts thinly sliced
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
12 Bibb lettuce leaves (not the biggest outer leaves)
1 Hass avocado, peeled and cut into 12 slices
Lime wedges, for serving

In a medium bowl, mix the mayonnaise and yogurt with the sambal oelek, mustard and sesame oil. Stir in the chicken, water chestnuts and scallions and season with salt and pepper. Spoon the chicken salad into the lettuce cups and top with a slice of avocado. Serve with lime wedges.