Per usual, my blogs have been few and far between. I really have no excuse for December's lack of blogging, except for perhaps two week's worth of finals. Psh, I know. Such an excuse for the weak!
So hopefully everyone had a happy and safe holiday with their families and loved ones! I was tucked away in the woods of Preston, CT- enjoying all the comforts of home for a good 12 days. There, I indulged in all the foods that my mom likes to stock pile when my sister and I are home. I had aspirations to do a blog or two when I was home, but the fact that my mom was there, cooking FOR me... well, I just was enjoying being spoiled too much to be bothered to concoct my own recipes.
All in all, I had a great, great time in CT. Of course, all good things must come to an end.... that is for better things! The rest of my winter break was spent in Colorado enjoying high altitude, fresh air, and especially good company. I had my first experience snowboarding in CO and lets just say, when forced to go down runs called "The Moz", uhh, there is a lot of shrieking before many impacts that follow the shriek. But, the upside is, I didn't break anything, no tripping in parking lots, and make it back to Chicago in one piece for the most part.
Okay, so after a quick recap of my life, lets get back to why I am blogging about Wonton soup. I know, I've blogged it before... but this time, there is an actual recipe!! Having a craving for a good meal made with my own hands, I thought I would give the wonton soup a shot. Leaving CO, where 38F feels AWESOME because of the dry desert air, to come back to the city where the temp is 3F WITHOUT the windchill, that just means one thing: SOUP.
I made a chicken/shrimp stock (I will not blog because it came out part disastrous, part really good) as the soup base. But for this blog, I'll only post how to do the filling and wontons. To make a reasonable broth, just heat up some chicken stock and add a splash or two of fish sauce.
Wonton, as my mom makes it, is a combination of shrimp and pork ground together in a food processor. Since I am always cooking for myself, portion control is a HUGE problem. This time intensive soup is not meant to make just one serving. For the pork, I bought a small chunk of pork belly from Whole Foods and about .5 lbs 50-60 cnt head on shrimp, which I then proceeded to devein, peel and behead to toss the shells and shrimp head into the stock pot.
I think the most difficult part will be finding good wonton wrappers (who likes thick wonton wrappers? certainly not I!) and good, fresh wonton noodle. You'll want to hit your local asian grocery for that. Lucky for me, I keep that stuff handy in the freezer. The sauces and spices in the filling should be easily found in the international food aisle, but if you are already at the asian grocery getting your wonton wrappers and noodles, you might want to pick up the fish sauce and oyster sauce there too. Be warned though, Fish sauce only comes in 1 litre bottles.
FISH SAUCE? ewwwwww you might say. But I would take that back if I were you. I bet if you ever ate anything asian, there's most likely at least a splash of fish sauce, if not more. It's sort of the magic sauce that makes everything really tasty.
You'll also note that I did not use any salt in the filling. The fish sauce IS the salt seasoning for the filling, so you won't want to add any additional salt.
I sort of gauged my filling seasoning by smell. Kind of weird, I know. But you sort of just KNOW when it is seasoned just right via smell, plus I am a very scent oriented person so, it works for me. Also, something about taste testing raw pork and shrimp... Trichinosis anyone?
Wonton Dumplings
ingredients
~.5 lbs uncooked shrimp, you can just get already peeled, beheaded ones. or beheaded, deveined and then peel them
~.5 lbs pork belly (also known as pork side), cut into .5inch chunks
1 small shallot, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 teaspoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon sesame seed oil
2 teaspoon oil oil
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1 package wonton wrappers
1 egg, cracked into a bowl
instructions
1. into your food processor, grind up the pork 2-3 minutes, then toss in the shrimp. Grind for an additional 1-2 minutes. You'll want to be able to see medium chunks of shrimp
2. put in garlic, shallots, and spices/sauces. Grind for 1-2 minutes. Shrimp chunks should be small.
3. put filling into a bowl, and mix with a spoon until all spices/sauces have bee evenly distributed.
4. Taking your wonton wrapper, wet 1/2 of square, diagonally with the egg.
5. Place about 1 tsp of filling into the center of the wrapper.
6. Fold the wrapper along the diagonal so that the egg wetted half meets the dry half. taking the two further corners of the triangle, pull them together to make the little wonton pocket. pinch together with a little egg wash to stick it together.
7. dunk into a pot of boiling water for 6-8 minutes, until floating.
8. enjoy with wonton noodles in a broth or by themselves dipped in some soy sauce!
makes about 3 dozen wontons
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Gingerbread People!
Ahh, November was an ephemeral month. Between constant exams and then Thanksgiving, it was a whirl wind of a month. Gone before I even knew it and now it's almost mid December...
You would have thought that I would have blogged SOMETHING over the holiday break. I hosted Thanksgiving for those that didn't go home along side my friend Christopher. It was an intense experience. Photos of Thanksgiving will eventually be retroposted...
Paul & Conrad, two of my fellow alums from CCSU currently reside in the Wriggly area. Perfect! Paul hosted an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. I ended up with an epic Kelly Green Scottish wool sweater (everyone, be prepared to see me in the following months mozying around the Armour Academic Center in it). I'm not going to lie, I kind of love it! Pictures will be posted via Paul's Flickr, but in the mean while, check out his website: http://www.pauloctavious.com/
Great dishes included a spin/art dip, meatballs in a cream of mushroom/sour cream/heavy cream mix, peppermint mojitos and Rick Bayless inspired Eggnog!
Anyhow, my little dish to bring was some gingerbread men. Gingerbread cookies have always been a little tricky for me, either I bake too long and they are crispy critters or take them out too soon and they don't harden up quite right and fall apart.
This time, I have perfected the timing (I am going to say my recent successes in cookies is due to the fact that I've got a gas stove) and they came out quite tasty. When eaten without the Royal Icing, the sweetness is subtle and the spices' interactions with one another make a perfectly seasoned cookie! With each spice kind of coming out as you chew the cookie- Cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and ginger. Yum!!
Add the Royal Icing and well..... that just speaks for itself. Shena got creative with the decoration and put on some suspenders and ties for these little guys.
Now, you are wondering: WHAT IS UP WITH THAT GIANT SIZED COOKIE? Well, all of my cookies came out the same: 4" gingerbread boys (like those three little fellas there). But, I just had to make a giant cookie, so there he is, 9" of towering, giant sized, Gingerbread Man. Hand drawn stencil and cut out with a knife. I'm not going to lie when I say I kind of feel like it was a masterpiece of a gingerbread man.
Once again, I snaggled the gingerbread recipe from SimplyRecipes. Love Elise's Blog. For royal icing, I used the classic "Joy of Cooking" for a perfect icing.
Few notes: Baking time = essential, so pay close attention!
I am to impatient when it comes to making cookies, so I used straight-out-of-the-fridge butter rather then RT. So To soften up the butter faster, I cut up the butter into .25 in cubes and threw it into the mixer (with paddle attachment) to let it whip around while I prepped everything else.
Note that the flour is sifted twice, once BEFORE you mix in your spices, and sifted again to incorporate spices.
Royal Icing- if you've never worked with it before, know that it dries out wicked fast! So when you aren't working with it, cover it up. I put a damp tea towel over the bowl.
Gingerbread Cookies
ingredients
1.5 sticks (or .75 c.) butter (at RT)
.5 c dark brown sugar, packed
.5 c unsulfured molasses
1 egg
3.33 c sifted, AP flour
.75 tsp b.soda
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
.5 tsp ground cloves
.5 tsp ground nutmeg
.25 tsp ground black pepper
.5 tsp salt
instructions
1. To your mixer bowl (paddle attachment), cream the butter. Add sugar & beat until fluffy
2. While that is creaming and beating, sift together all your dry ingredients.
3. To mixer, add egg and molasses and mix until super fluffy
4. After your wet mixture is really fluffy, slowly add your dry ingredients, a little bit at a time until a nice dough ball forms.
5. Divide into 3rds and wrap in plastic wrap. chill for at least 1 hour or overnight (I did over night).
::one hour or overnight later....::
6. Preheat oven to 350F, take dough out and let warm for 5-10 minutes.
7. Roll out to ~1/8 inches thick. If the dough seems too sticky then a. maybe you are impatient and didn't let the dough chill for 1 hour or b. you just have a wet dough, so as you roll out, sprinkle on some flour.
NOTE: I also found this easiest to do on wax paper, making it easier to flip over and roll in case it got a little sticky.
8. Use your cookie cutter or stencil and cut out your gingerbread people.
9. Place cutouts on to an ungreased cookie sheet, and put in the middle rack of the oven.
10. Bake for 9-12 minutes, until golden ish brown and slightly crisp looking, let cool for 2-3 minutes before transferring to wire rack to finish cooling.
11. Decorate with Royal Icing (recipe as follows).
makes about 18 gingerbread people, and 1 giant sized one
Royal Icing
Royal Icing is made with either meringue powder or egg whites. You can substitute regular egg whites for powdered egg whites. If you are going to use regular egg whites, I suggest to do what I did, use the microwave! Heat up the mixture such that we can zap out the bugs that might be present in the albumen!
ingredients
2 egg whites
2 tsp lemon juice
3 to 4 c. powdered sugar, sifted
1. In a GLASS mixing bowl, whip egg whites, lemon juice and 1 c. of powdered sugar together.
2. Place in microwave for 10 seconds
3. Whip mixture again.
4. Microwave for 20 seconds
5. Whip again.
6. Microwave for 20 seconds.
7. Whip again. Do this until you have reached a temperature of 160F (use a candy thermometer!).
8. Add the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, whipping between additions until you have nice stiff peaks form. If they don't form after adding 3 cups, keep adding sugar until they do. I actually did this by hand, wow, I am spoiled with a Kitchen Aid mixer!!
makes ~3 cups icing
You would have thought that I would have blogged SOMETHING over the holiday break. I hosted Thanksgiving for those that didn't go home along side my friend Christopher. It was an intense experience. Photos of Thanksgiving will eventually be retroposted...
Paul & Conrad, two of my fellow alums from CCSU currently reside in the Wriggly area. Perfect! Paul hosted an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. I ended up with an epic Kelly Green Scottish wool sweater (everyone, be prepared to see me in the following months mozying around the Armour Academic Center in it). I'm not going to lie, I kind of love it! Pictures will be posted via Paul's Flickr, but in the mean while, check out his website: http://www.pauloctavious.com/
Great dishes included a spin/art dip, meatballs in a cream of mushroom/sour cream/heavy cream mix, peppermint mojitos and Rick Bayless inspired Eggnog!
Anyhow, my little dish to bring was some gingerbread men. Gingerbread cookies have always been a little tricky for me, either I bake too long and they are crispy critters or take them out too soon and they don't harden up quite right and fall apart.
This time, I have perfected the timing (I am going to say my recent successes in cookies is due to the fact that I've got a gas stove) and they came out quite tasty. When eaten without the Royal Icing, the sweetness is subtle and the spices' interactions with one another make a perfectly seasoned cookie! With each spice kind of coming out as you chew the cookie- Cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and ginger. Yum!!
Add the Royal Icing and well..... that just speaks for itself. Shena got creative with the decoration and put on some suspenders and ties for these little guys.
Now, you are wondering: WHAT IS UP WITH THAT GIANT SIZED COOKIE? Well, all of my cookies came out the same: 4" gingerbread boys (like those three little fellas there). But, I just had to make a giant cookie, so there he is, 9" of towering, giant sized, Gingerbread Man. Hand drawn stencil and cut out with a knife. I'm not going to lie when I say I kind of feel like it was a masterpiece of a gingerbread man.
Once again, I snaggled the gingerbread recipe from SimplyRecipes. Love Elise's Blog. For royal icing, I used the classic "Joy of Cooking" for a perfect icing.
Few notes: Baking time = essential, so pay close attention!
I am to impatient when it comes to making cookies, so I used straight-out-of-the-fridge butter rather then RT. So To soften up the butter faster, I cut up the butter into .25 in cubes and threw it into the mixer (with paddle attachment) to let it whip around while I prepped everything else.
Note that the flour is sifted twice, once BEFORE you mix in your spices, and sifted again to incorporate spices.
Royal Icing- if you've never worked with it before, know that it dries out wicked fast! So when you aren't working with it, cover it up. I put a damp tea towel over the bowl.
Gingerbread Cookies
ingredients
1.5 sticks (or .75 c.) butter (at RT)
.5 c dark brown sugar, packed
.5 c unsulfured molasses
1 egg
3.33 c sifted, AP flour
.75 tsp b.soda
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
.5 tsp ground cloves
.5 tsp ground nutmeg
.25 tsp ground black pepper
.5 tsp salt
instructions
1. To your mixer bowl (paddle attachment), cream the butter. Add sugar & beat until fluffy
2. While that is creaming and beating, sift together all your dry ingredients.
3. To mixer, add egg and molasses and mix until super fluffy
4. After your wet mixture is really fluffy, slowly add your dry ingredients, a little bit at a time until a nice dough ball forms.
5. Divide into 3rds and wrap in plastic wrap. chill for at least 1 hour or overnight (I did over night).
::one hour or overnight later....::
6. Preheat oven to 350F, take dough out and let warm for 5-10 minutes.
7. Roll out to ~1/8 inches thick. If the dough seems too sticky then a. maybe you are impatient and didn't let the dough chill for 1 hour or b. you just have a wet dough, so as you roll out, sprinkle on some flour.
NOTE: I also found this easiest to do on wax paper, making it easier to flip over and roll in case it got a little sticky.
8. Use your cookie cutter or stencil and cut out your gingerbread people.
9. Place cutouts on to an ungreased cookie sheet, and put in the middle rack of the oven.
10. Bake for 9-12 minutes, until golden ish brown and slightly crisp looking, let cool for 2-3 minutes before transferring to wire rack to finish cooling.
11. Decorate with Royal Icing (recipe as follows).
makes about 18 gingerbread people, and 1 giant sized one
Royal Icing
Royal Icing is made with either meringue powder or egg whites. You can substitute regular egg whites for powdered egg whites. If you are going to use regular egg whites, I suggest to do what I did, use the microwave! Heat up the mixture such that we can zap out the bugs that might be present in the albumen!
ingredients
2 egg whites
2 tsp lemon juice
3 to 4 c. powdered sugar, sifted
1. In a GLASS mixing bowl, whip egg whites, lemon juice and 1 c. of powdered sugar together.
2. Place in microwave for 10 seconds
3. Whip mixture again.
4. Microwave for 20 seconds
5. Whip again.
6. Microwave for 20 seconds.
7. Whip again. Do this until you have reached a temperature of 160F (use a candy thermometer!).
8. Add the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, whipping between additions until you have nice stiff peaks form. If they don't form after adding 3 cups, keep adding sugar until they do. I actually did this by hand, wow, I am spoiled with a Kitchen Aid mixer!!
makes ~3 cups icing
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Chocolate White Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Sandwich
November has been a very quiet blogging month. I don’t think I can truly say that I live in Chicago. Maybe instead I will tell everyone that I lived at Rush University Medical Center, specifically at either cubby numbers 9 or 11 in the library of the MedCenter during my 12 months here in Chicago.
After weeks of exam after exam, Thanksgiving break is around the corner and thankfully for the BTN students, a mini break from exams too! With an easy, *almost* study free weekend, I broke out the cookie sheets and gave my Kitchen Aid mixer a bit of exercise.
Of course, John Y. is also visiting me during his driving from CA to CT (I seem to be the landing pad for many of these West Coast to East Coast road trippers!). He is an avid cookie eater and ice cream fan, so I concocted pretty much a No-Fail cookie recipe. I know it’s a pretty bold statement to make: No-Fail, but these are pretty yum.
My sister and I seem to always make it a point to go to Diddy Riese, an amazing ice cream cookie shop in Westwood when I am in town. One of those times, earlier this year included John . I was astounded that we had never thought to go there sooner together (see photo caption). No Diddy' Riese's in Chi, so I made my own amazing Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches!
It’s a basic chocolate chocolate chip cookie, but instead of using the regular semi sweet chocolate chips, I used white chocolate chips. Also, I opted not to add chopped nuts this time, but the recipe can easily accommodate the addition of some nuts. My roommate, Dave, isn’t the hugest fan of nuts, so in an attempt to have him eat some cookies, I left them out.
The resulting cookie is soft and chewy, which makes it a perfect candidate for making ice cream sandwiches. I haven’t quite made the dive for the ice cream Kitchen Aid attachment yet, so just popped in some Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. I know some of you readers out there are haters of the Ben & Jerry’s (and of course for legitimate reasoning) but lets just say, the B&J’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough blows the Häagen-Dazs’ Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough out of the water. :] Usage of the cookie dough ice cream, as John stated “Isn’t that like eating chicken and eggs at the same time?” All I could reply back was “Like a Southwestern Omelet!”
Also, the cookie is perfect to be consumed as is, sans ice cream. Rich, chewy and soft, it is a great solution to any girl in need of a chocolate fix!
Chocolate White Chocolate Chip Cookies
ingredients
1 stick unsalted butter, softened (8 tblspn)
.5 c white sugar
.5 c brown sugar, packed
1 egg beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbl spn milk
.25 c cocoa powder
1 c flour
.5 tsp salt
.5 tsp baking powder
instructions
1. preheat oven to 350F
2. cream together butter and sugars
3. in a small bowl, beat eggs, vanilla extract and milk
4. add to creamed butter/sugar mixture and mix well, add cocoa powder
5. in another bowl, mix together flour, salt and baking soda
6. add to moist ingredients in 3 portions, mixing well between each dry addition
7. aliquot out onto an ungreased cookie sheet: 1 tablespoon sized dollops (it should be a relatively stiff and fluffy cookie dough)
8. bake 10-12 minutes until firm
9. let cookies cool to room temperature
10. make sandwich of cookie, ice cream, cookie
11. consume with utter happiness!
yields 18 cookies or 9 ice cream sandwiches!
After weeks of exam after exam, Thanksgiving break is around the corner and thankfully for the BTN students, a mini break from exams too! With an easy, *almost* study free weekend, I broke out the cookie sheets and gave my Kitchen Aid mixer a bit of exercise.
Of course, John Y. is also visiting me during his driving from CA to CT (I seem to be the landing pad for many of these West Coast to East Coast road trippers!). He is an avid cookie eater and ice cream fan, so I concocted pretty much a No-Fail cookie recipe. I know it’s a pretty bold statement to make: No-Fail, but these are pretty yum.
My sister and I seem to always make it a point to go to Diddy Riese, an amazing ice cream cookie shop in Westwood when I am in town. One of those times, earlier this year included John . I was astounded that we had never thought to go there sooner together (see photo caption). No Diddy' Riese's in Chi, so I made my own amazing Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches!
It’s a basic chocolate chocolate chip cookie, but instead of using the regular semi sweet chocolate chips, I used white chocolate chips. Also, I opted not to add chopped nuts this time, but the recipe can easily accommodate the addition of some nuts. My roommate, Dave, isn’t the hugest fan of nuts, so in an attempt to have him eat some cookies, I left them out.
The resulting cookie is soft and chewy, which makes it a perfect candidate for making ice cream sandwiches. I haven’t quite made the dive for the ice cream Kitchen Aid attachment yet, so just popped in some Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. I know some of you readers out there are haters of the Ben & Jerry’s (and of course for legitimate reasoning) but lets just say, the B&J’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough blows the Häagen-Dazs’ Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough out of the water. :] Usage of the cookie dough ice cream, as John stated “Isn’t that like eating chicken and eggs at the same time?” All I could reply back was “Like a Southwestern Omelet!”
Also, the cookie is perfect to be consumed as is, sans ice cream. Rich, chewy and soft, it is a great solution to any girl in need of a chocolate fix!
Chocolate White Chocolate Chip Cookies
ingredients
1 stick unsalted butter, softened (8 tblspn)
.5 c white sugar
.5 c brown sugar, packed
1 egg beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbl spn milk
.25 c cocoa powder
1 c flour
.5 tsp salt
.5 tsp baking powder
instructions
1. preheat oven to 350F
2. cream together butter and sugars
3. in a small bowl, beat eggs, vanilla extract and milk
4. add to creamed butter/sugar mixture and mix well, add cocoa powder
5. in another bowl, mix together flour, salt and baking soda
6. add to moist ingredients in 3 portions, mixing well between each dry addition
7. aliquot out onto an ungreased cookie sheet: 1 tablespoon sized dollops (it should be a relatively stiff and fluffy cookie dough)
8. bake 10-12 minutes until firm
9. let cookies cool to room temperature
10. make sandwich of cookie, ice cream, cookie
11. consume with utter happiness!
yields 18 cookies or 9 ice cream sandwiches!
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Thyme & Sage Brined Chicken
It's been nuts at school with some kind of exam going on every week. Last week was terrible, having two huge midterms (I will miss you S.P Kwan), I had nothing but time for books and eating at the hospital's Au Bon Pain and Trader Joe's rice and bean burritos. I can easily say that I hope I don't have to do a marathon of eating ABP for a while... and by a while, I bet it will happen in about 3 or 4 weeks when we begin to prepare for finals. TJ's rice and bean burritos, I am still a fan... I do have to try and get there sometime soon and restock my supply though.
So in the craziness of midterms, I haven't been able to properly feed myself. Sunday, Jen F. took me on an excursion to "The Burbs". We went to Skokie and to the most amazing asian grocery store ever! It was huge! Aisle of rice noodles, an entire corner devoted to all sorts of kim chee, and rice cookers! Asian pears are in season, so I stock piled.
I bought a plethora of produce, chicken, and other asian yummies that I wouldn't have been able to get elsewhere (I sense me trying to create Bun Bo in the near future....) So thank you Jen F. for a fun Sunday and the most ultimate grocery experience! I feel whole again, with a fully stocked fridge and a fruit box full of bananas, asian pears, apples and a pineapple.
Since I am at RUMC at least 10 hours a day (sadly, I am not exaggerating), it's hard to come up with something that is quick and easy. So when I get back home at 8 or 9 or 10 at night, I really want to be able to put something together and have something halfway decent. This AM I got up early enough to package away all the chicken I bought and thought to myself, "Well, if I can brine turkey, why not chicken?" and that is how it led to this great creation that I let brine all day long while I was at RUMC, came home, tossed some veggies into a pan and let bake! Most of these roasted chicken recipes call for some kind of starch element, such as potatoes. I had yucca root on hand, and used at as my starch instead of the usual Yukon gold. I also tossed in an apple. The apple added the slightest bit of sweetness and lots of moisture. Has anyone noticed a trend? I like to add apples to savory things.
Brining the chicken yields an amazingly moist and tender chicken packed with flavor and a near "melt in your mouth" delightfulness. Your brining ratio is up to you, depending on how salty you want your end result to be.
I've also like to make a note that I've gotten MUCH better at proportions. This recipe is made for about 2 servings (Lisa sized of course!) so I had some for dinner, and will be toting the rest tomorrow with me for lunch. Yum!
Thyme and Sage Brined Chicken
ingredients
for the brine:
2 tblspn salt
1.5 c water
2 tsp chopped thyme
5 sage leaves coarsely chopped
.25 c chopped red onion
1 chicken quarter, cut into drumstick and two parts
For the roasted veggies:
.5 c yucca, 1 inch cubes
1 apple, 1 inch cubes
.5 yellow bell pepper, cubed
.33 red onion, cubed
1 tomato, wedged and cut in half
3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
2 tsp sea salt
fresh cracked pepper
2 tablespoon olive oil
instructions
1. In a 1 quart zip lock bag, mix all brine ingredients together and shake well, making sure the salt is dissolved.
2. If you have a particularly muscular chicken leg, I highly suggest cutting down the drumstick and slightly pulling the meat away from the bone, sort of like if you were to butterfly a chicken breast.
3. Add the chicken to the zip lock bag.
4. Let brine all day in the fridge (I assume you can let it brine for 1 hr minimally, but I wouldn't know.. my chicken sat in brine from 815AM until 730PM)
(time elapses to dinner time)
5. Preheat oven to 450F
6. Toss all veggies and garlic in olive oil and S&P.
7. Place in a small pan
8. Remove chicken from zip lock bag, rinse in the sink
9. place skin side down onto your veggies
10. Cover in foil and bake for about 20 minutes
11. Flip over chicken, so it is skin side up. Cover again in foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes.
12. Remove foil, turn on the broiler to high to golden up the skin.
13. Consume!!!
yields 2 Lisa sized portions OR if you are some hungry dude, I am sure you could eat the whole thing. After all, it's only a quarter of a chicken.
So in the craziness of midterms, I haven't been able to properly feed myself. Sunday, Jen F. took me on an excursion to "The Burbs". We went to Skokie and to the most amazing asian grocery store ever! It was huge! Aisle of rice noodles, an entire corner devoted to all sorts of kim chee, and rice cookers! Asian pears are in season, so I stock piled.
I bought a plethora of produce, chicken, and other asian yummies that I wouldn't have been able to get elsewhere (I sense me trying to create Bun Bo in the near future....) So thank you Jen F. for a fun Sunday and the most ultimate grocery experience! I feel whole again, with a fully stocked fridge and a fruit box full of bananas, asian pears, apples and a pineapple.
Since I am at RUMC at least 10 hours a day (sadly, I am not exaggerating), it's hard to come up with something that is quick and easy. So when I get back home at 8 or 9 or 10 at night, I really want to be able to put something together and have something halfway decent. This AM I got up early enough to package away all the chicken I bought and thought to myself, "Well, if I can brine turkey, why not chicken?" and that is how it led to this great creation that I let brine all day long while I was at RUMC, came home, tossed some veggies into a pan and let bake! Most of these roasted chicken recipes call for some kind of starch element, such as potatoes. I had yucca root on hand, and used at as my starch instead of the usual Yukon gold. I also tossed in an apple. The apple added the slightest bit of sweetness and lots of moisture. Has anyone noticed a trend? I like to add apples to savory things.
Brining the chicken yields an amazingly moist and tender chicken packed with flavor and a near "melt in your mouth" delightfulness. Your brining ratio is up to you, depending on how salty you want your end result to be.
I've also like to make a note that I've gotten MUCH better at proportions. This recipe is made for about 2 servings (Lisa sized of course!) so I had some for dinner, and will be toting the rest tomorrow with me for lunch. Yum!
Thyme and Sage Brined Chicken
ingredients
for the brine:
2 tblspn salt
1.5 c water
2 tsp chopped thyme
5 sage leaves coarsely chopped
.25 c chopped red onion
1 chicken quarter, cut into drumstick and two parts
For the roasted veggies:
.5 c yucca, 1 inch cubes
1 apple, 1 inch cubes
.5 yellow bell pepper, cubed
.33 red onion, cubed
1 tomato, wedged and cut in half
3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
2 tsp sea salt
fresh cracked pepper
2 tablespoon olive oil
instructions
1. In a 1 quart zip lock bag, mix all brine ingredients together and shake well, making sure the salt is dissolved.
2. If you have a particularly muscular chicken leg, I highly suggest cutting down the drumstick and slightly pulling the meat away from the bone, sort of like if you were to butterfly a chicken breast.
3. Add the chicken to the zip lock bag.
4. Let brine all day in the fridge (I assume you can let it brine for 1 hr minimally, but I wouldn't know.. my chicken sat in brine from 815AM until 730PM)
(time elapses to dinner time)
5. Preheat oven to 450F
6. Toss all veggies and garlic in olive oil and S&P.
7. Place in a small pan
8. Remove chicken from zip lock bag, rinse in the sink
9. place skin side down onto your veggies
10. Cover in foil and bake for about 20 minutes
11. Flip over chicken, so it is skin side up. Cover again in foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes.
12. Remove foil, turn on the broiler to high to golden up the skin.
13. Consume!!!
yields 2 Lisa sized portions OR if you are some hungry dude, I am sure you could eat the whole thing. After all, it's only a quarter of a chicken.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Bison Stir Fry over Brown Jasmine Rice
Back home in Connecticut, somewhere between Buttonwoods Farm (best ice cream EVER) and my house, there is a Bison Farm. All summer long Andrea, Vaughn and I discussed doing from scratch, homemade burgers (condiments & buns included) and using Bison as the protein. But before I knew it, summer came and went and I was packed to the brim in my little Corolla and making my way to the Windy City! Our homemade burger endeavors never came to fruition. Bummer.
I'm also not going to lie when I say I've been wanting to try bison for quite sometime. It's a red protein and it has less fat, calories and cholesterol then chicken! I've had just about everything else: rabbit, venison, veal, quail, squab, ducks, turkeys, what ever, but the Bison! It's eluded me FOREVER.
So I thought I was going to get to fulfill the dream of having Bison when I was in Colorado. For some reason, I was under the impression that there was a bounty of Bison everywhere! And that when I got to either Boulder or Breckenridge, I would be stuffing my face in a nice, delightful, tasty, Bison Burger. That was a Fail alright!
Christel was like "Lisa I don't know why you thought that there would be Bison here." I don't know either Christ, I sure don't.
Anyhow, with a craving for red meat, on the hunt for some quality beef, I stumbled across this fridge full of South Dakota Bison at the local Whole Foods. The stars aligned just right and that was it. It was love. Today was the day. I was finally going to have some Bison.
I did an overnight marinate of soy sauce, hoisin sauce, garlic, chopped basil, brown sugar, agave nectar, chili flakes, shallots, splash of red wine vinegar and olive oil.
Then with a myriad of veggies: mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, red onion, & red bell peppers, I sauteed them up in olive oil, garlic, crushed fresh ginger, and a splash more of soy sauce (salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste of course).
Over all success: I'd rate pretty high. It's hard to screw up a stir fry... unless the Salt Lady came and fell right into your dish... but thankfully, that didn't happen! Bison itself, if you gave me beef stir fry or bison, I wouldn't have known the difference. Next time, I am going to have to try to just as it, grilled with some sea salt and cracked pepper.
I'm also not going to lie when I say I've been wanting to try bison for quite sometime. It's a red protein and it has less fat, calories and cholesterol then chicken! I've had just about everything else: rabbit, venison, veal, quail, squab, ducks, turkeys, what ever, but the Bison! It's eluded me FOREVER.
So I thought I was going to get to fulfill the dream of having Bison when I was in Colorado. For some reason, I was under the impression that there was a bounty of Bison everywhere! And that when I got to either Boulder or Breckenridge, I would be stuffing my face in a nice, delightful, tasty, Bison Burger. That was a Fail alright!
Christel was like "Lisa I don't know why you thought that there would be Bison here." I don't know either Christ, I sure don't.
Anyhow, with a craving for red meat, on the hunt for some quality beef, I stumbled across this fridge full of South Dakota Bison at the local Whole Foods. The stars aligned just right and that was it. It was love. Today was the day. I was finally going to have some Bison.
I did an overnight marinate of soy sauce, hoisin sauce, garlic, chopped basil, brown sugar, agave nectar, chili flakes, shallots, splash of red wine vinegar and olive oil.
Then with a myriad of veggies: mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, red onion, & red bell peppers, I sauteed them up in olive oil, garlic, crushed fresh ginger, and a splash more of soy sauce (salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste of course).
Over all success: I'd rate pretty high. It's hard to screw up a stir fry... unless the Salt Lady came and fell right into your dish... but thankfully, that didn't happen! Bison itself, if you gave me beef stir fry or bison, I wouldn't have known the difference. Next time, I am going to have to try to just as it, grilled with some sea salt and cracked pepper.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Peanut Butter Cookies
Ellen and Jonatha came to visit me this past weekend. Ellen is allergic to nuts but not peanuts and Jonatha's boyfriend is allergic to peanuts but not nuts. Jonatha loves peanuts but never gets to eat them because the boyfriend is allergic to peanuts.
Peanuts- fun fact, they are not a nut! They are actually a legume meaning they are part of the bean family! So that's how Ellen is allergic to nuts but not Peanuts.
These cookies, first out of the oven might seem the slightest bit dry (I thought so, but the girls did not) but the next day, and the day after, and the day after, they are SOOOOO GOOOD. I sent some out to a friend via USPS on Monday AM after baking them up on Sunday night. USPS Priority 3 day mail is not always 3 day priority. I have not yet heard back how they fared through transit.
They also came out in the perfect consistency and density to make into ice cream sandwiches. They were especially tasty with the chocolate ice cream I currently have on stock: Trader Joe's Ultra Chocolate Ice Cream. Yummm!!!
Side note, I used organic peanut butter. If you have ever used all natural or organic peanut butter, it is much runnier in consistency then regular peanut butter, so I adjusted in my recipe for the Organic Peanut Butter. Make sure to stir the jar well before measuring out.
Peanut Butter Cookies
ingredients
1 stick butter, soften
.5 c sugar
.5 c brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
.75 cup organic, creamy peanut butter
.5 tsp salt
.5 tsp baking soda
1.5 c + 2 tblspn all purpose flour (if you are using regular PB, omit the extra 2 tblspn AP Flour)
instructions
1. preheat oven to 350F
2. cream together butter, sugars, and vanilla.
3. add egg and mix together well
4. add peanut butter, mix well
5. in a separate bowl, whisk-mix together flour, salt, and baking soda
6. mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients in 3 portions
7. make slightly smaller then golf ball sized balls of dough
8. place on ungreased cookie sheet
9. ::smoosh smoosh:: criss cross with forks across the dough ball
10. bake for 10-13 minutes, until it turns slightly golden brown. Also, I like to rotate the sheet halfway through baking time
11. Enjoy with milk and ice cream!
yields approximately 18 cookies, 2.5-3 inches in diameter
Peanuts- fun fact, they are not a nut! They are actually a legume meaning they are part of the bean family! So that's how Ellen is allergic to nuts but not Peanuts.
These cookies, first out of the oven might seem the slightest bit dry (I thought so, but the girls did not) but the next day, and the day after, and the day after, they are SOOOOO GOOOD. I sent some out to a friend via USPS on Monday AM after baking them up on Sunday night. USPS Priority 3 day mail is not always 3 day priority. I have not yet heard back how they fared through transit.
They also came out in the perfect consistency and density to make into ice cream sandwiches. They were especially tasty with the chocolate ice cream I currently have on stock: Trader Joe's Ultra Chocolate Ice Cream. Yummm!!!
Side note, I used organic peanut butter. If you have ever used all natural or organic peanut butter, it is much runnier in consistency then regular peanut butter, so I adjusted in my recipe for the Organic Peanut Butter. Make sure to stir the jar well before measuring out.
Peanut Butter Cookies
ingredients
1 stick butter, soften
.5 c sugar
.5 c brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
.75 cup organic, creamy peanut butter
.5 tsp salt
.5 tsp baking soda
1.5 c + 2 tblspn all purpose flour (if you are using regular PB, omit the extra 2 tblspn AP Flour)
instructions
1. preheat oven to 350F
2. cream together butter, sugars, and vanilla.
3. add egg and mix together well
4. add peanut butter, mix well
5. in a separate bowl, whisk-mix together flour, salt, and baking soda
6. mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients in 3 portions
7. make slightly smaller then golf ball sized balls of dough
8. place on ungreased cookie sheet
9. ::smoosh smoosh:: criss cross with forks across the dough ball
10. bake for 10-13 minutes, until it turns slightly golden brown. Also, I like to rotate the sheet halfway through baking time
11. Enjoy with milk and ice cream!
yields approximately 18 cookies, 2.5-3 inches in diameter
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Whole Wheat Semolina Pasta
I've been obsessed with two different things in the kitchen as of late. 1. Pumpkin everything (I bought a giant cooking pumpkin) and 2. Homemade pasta.
After making a semi-successful Pumpkin Ravioli (yum filling, crappy dough), I refused to NEVER EVER roll pasta dough out by hand EVER AGAIN. On an afternoon run downtown, I cruised past a store that happened to have one in stock, so for $16.99 (plus the 10.25% chi/IL tax) I picked up a great little pasta roller.
With a mixture of whole wheat flour, all purpose and semolina, I concocted a little ball of pasta dough (and surprisingly proportioned for just 2 people!!!). An easy to put together recipe, longest part is letting it rest, and cranking it through the machine, some yummy, healthy homemade pasta!
Note: this only makes about .75 lbs ish of pasta (I am guessing), you can easily double this recipe
Also Note: I used my Kitchen Aid stand Mixer, dough hook attached, on low
Whole Wheat Semolina Pasta
ingredients
0.5 c AP flour
0.5 c whole wheat flour
0.5 c semolina flour
0.25 tsp sea salt
2 large eggs,
2 teaspoon olive oil
instructions
1. combine dry ingredients
2. make a well
3. in a separate bowl, beat the eggs and olive oil together,
4. pour into well
5. mix slowly until a dough ball forms, knead for another 3-4 minutes
6. if needed, add 1-2 teaspoon water to make dough ball
7. once dough is together, wrap in plastic
8. let rest for 2 hrs in the refrigerator
9. roll it out! Let the ball come up to room temp, cut in half, and roll into desired thickness and shape. In the photo, I rolled out to dial number 5, fettuccine cut ** if it is a little sticky, dust flour as needed **
10. put in pot of boiling water, boil for 4-5 minutes.
makes ~0.75 lbs pasta.
After making a semi-successful Pumpkin Ravioli (yum filling, crappy dough), I refused to NEVER EVER roll pasta dough out by hand EVER AGAIN. On an afternoon run downtown, I cruised past a store that happened to have one in stock, so for $16.99 (plus the 10.25% chi/IL tax) I picked up a great little pasta roller.
With a mixture of whole wheat flour, all purpose and semolina, I concocted a little ball of pasta dough (and surprisingly proportioned for just 2 people!!!). An easy to put together recipe, longest part is letting it rest, and cranking it through the machine, some yummy, healthy homemade pasta!
Note: this only makes about .75 lbs ish of pasta (I am guessing), you can easily double this recipe
Also Note: I used my Kitchen Aid stand Mixer, dough hook attached, on low
Whole Wheat Semolina Pasta
ingredients
0.5 c AP flour
0.5 c whole wheat flour
0.5 c semolina flour
0.25 tsp sea salt
2 large eggs,
2 teaspoon olive oil
instructions
1. combine dry ingredients
2. make a well
3. in a separate bowl, beat the eggs and olive oil together,
4. pour into well
5. mix slowly until a dough ball forms, knead for another 3-4 minutes
6. if needed, add 1-2 teaspoon water to make dough ball
7. once dough is together, wrap in plastic
8. let rest for 2 hrs in the refrigerator
9. roll it out! Let the ball come up to room temp, cut in half, and roll into desired thickness and shape. In the photo, I rolled out to dial number 5, fettuccine cut ** if it is a little sticky, dust flour as needed **
10. put in pot of boiling water, boil for 4-5 minutes.
makes ~0.75 lbs pasta.
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