Chicken schnitzel doesn't exactly sound sexy (if I had to pick a sexy-sounding schnitzel it would be duck schnitzel like the one they serve at The Marrow). And it doesn't look sexy. But I feel like I keep running across recipes for it lately and honestly, schnitzel can be really tasty (provided it's not dried out and flavorless, which can be a serious problem with chicken breasts and/or pork). Alex and I have long been fans of breading and cooking chicken. Generally we bread the chicken with some panko and/or cornflakes and throw it in the oven because it's easy and the breading tends to fall off on us when we try to cook it in a pan. But this recipe worked out beautifully - the panko was beautifully golden brown and crispy and the chicken was cooked through without being dry. And none of the breading fell off! Plus when you added the piccata sauce it makes everything that much more delicious. Who doesn't love browned butter with capers and lemon juice? I think chicken schnitzel always needs a sauce because
the breading often isn't seasoned and even though the chicken breasts here weren't
all dried out and overcooked, it's still boneless, skinless chicken
breast with breading. By definition the combination is a little dry. This piccata sauce works nicely, but a spicy sriracha mayo (or a simple squirt of lemon juice) works too.
As for the asparagus salad, I love asparagus salads. And this one worked nicely with the chicken schnitzel because it is crisp, bright and acidic. It cuts through the slight richness of the chicken nicely. This isn't my favorite raw asparagus salad that we have ever made, but it was really nice and fresh, but the dressing gives it a little creamyness and umami. I would make it again.
Recipes after the jump!
In mid-April I started thinking tacos and Cinco de Mayo. Mexican food screams warm weather to me and I have been dreaming about warm weather since about December... If only I had visited the farmers' market on Monday I would have made these charred asparagus tacos for Cinco de Mayo but I didn't have time to visit the farmers' market before today. Before today I hadn't been to the farmers market in 2 weeks so I was pretty excited when I went today and saw all of the fresh spring veggies. Thank goodness for spring! I was so sick of winter and so very excited for fresh asparagus. When sugar snaps finally make it to the farmers' market I will do a giant happy dance. Moving on. My other Cinco de Mayo alternative was to make carnitas (Smitten Kitchen posted a slight variation on Homesick Texan's carnitas recipe and it looks super simple and tasty and Bon Appetit has a Beer-Braised Carnitas recipe that I find intriguing), but because Cinco de Mayo fell on a Monday this year it wasn't going to happen. I don't know about you, but I am barely prepared enough on Monday to throw something together - roasting or braising pork shoulder for 2-4 hours (or cooking it all day a slow cooker) just isn't going to happen.
So I guess you can fairly say that this recipe was my backup. Alex occasionally orders chicken tacos but I don't think I ever do. Then again, I do like chicken enchiladas so I guess it's not all that different. But chicken generally seems like such a cop out to me. I decided to try out this recipe anyway because what did I have to lose? It sounded good and the pictures looked good. And to be honest, I didn't have anything else planned. I was looking for a little more depth of flavor - instead I mostly tasted the chipotles and adobo sauce. And once I topped the chicken with tomatillo salsa I mostly tasted heat. The tomatillo salsa added brightness and acidity, but I wish we had made an equally bright and spicy pineapple salsa or maybe a mango salsa instead. I think a little sweetness would have been a good counterpoint to the chicken tinga tacos and some textural contrast would have been a really welcome addition. With the salsa and the braised chicken you ended up with a mouthful of fairly wet and somewhat mushy taco. Pineapple would provide some texture, but adding jicama to any salsa would work too. If you do make these tacos, make sure to drain the chicken fairly well before putting it on the tortilla. Same goes for the salsa. Otherwise you end up with a pool of liquid in your taco, which leads to a rapidly disintegrating corn tortilla...
Recipe after the jump!
This is totally embarassing. Alex and I made this roast chicken back in February or March. And then I forgot to post it. I really thought it was up on the blog. And then I was looking today today at other recipes that I had bookmarked to try and came across the draft of this post. The recipe was on there, the picture was too (even though it's not a very good picture), but I never got around to adding any text. Fail.
Roast chicken is one of my favorite things if it is well done. And Peruvian roast chicken seems to be, on average, a lot better than your average roast chicken. I don't know how they season it traditionally but their rotisserie chicken is magical - even the white meat is juicy and flavorful. I also love that spicy green sauce you get at Peruvian restaurants to go with their roast chicken. It's pretty much the best thing in the world. So it's a little shocking that it took me this long to make it at home. In my defense - it turns out that there is a whole lot of mayo and sour cream in the sauce. I don't know why the addition of mayonnaise and sour cream to a sauce that I know will be spicy and delicious bothers me when I make it at home, but it throws me for a loop. However, I am going to have to get over it because this stuff was pretty delicious. It's creamier than what I usually get at the Peruvian restaurants that I go to, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It also doesn't taste quite the same, but for a homemade version (that we adapted from Serious Eats), this was close enough for government work. Ours had some pretty good kick so if you want your green sauce a little milder, leave out some of the jalapeno seeds.
Recipe after the jump!
Oops. I totally missed Chinese New Year again. That's ok. We all knew it was going to happen. And I swear that I will post a week's worth of Chinese meals eventually. It might take me a month or so to get through it all, but I do have a lot of recipes picked out and/or ideas on tap. I want to make some noodles (I'm thinking Uyghur laghman with lamb), some dumplings, some seafood... The plan is to make another Chinese recipe tonight (provided that we can find everything we need at the grocery). Sadly, we made this meal last weekend (it was one of the first things we cooked upon our return from Whistler) but I just haven't had the time to post about it. Fingers crossed I will be able to post about tonight's meal a little more promptly.
There are a number of different simple Sichuan chicken dishes in Land of Plenty: Authentic Sichuan Recipes Personally Gathered in the Chinese Province of Sichuan that I love to make because they are easy and tasty. You can easily poach a few chicken breasts (or a whole chicken if you want to make some stock, which is what we were doing) and then shred the meat and toss them in one of several different dressings that vary from this sauce, which is very sesame-y or others which are full of Sichuan peppercorns. It's all a matter of what you have in the kitchen and/or what you are craving. The last time we made one of these recipes we made the "Hot and Numbing Chicken Slices (Ma La Ji Pian)", but we the shredded chicken on top of a bed of broccoli and just made a little extra dressing to coat the broccoli as well as the chicken. It was delicious and easy. I actually might prefer the hot and numbing sauce, which is lighter and spicier than this heavier, more sesame-y sauce. Either way, I find these dishes to be perfect for summer when you really want something light, but flavorful that doesn't involve an extended period of time in the kitchen. It's a nice alternative to yet another salad.
Recipe after the jump!
We have made a bunch of variations on this salad before with our Spicy "Fried" Chicken Cutlets. We tend to vary the type of greens, the dressing and the veggies that go in the salad, but this might be my favorite combination yet. I thought the buttermilk dressing was really nicely fresh and tangy and it worked really well with the spicy "fried" chicken. I have always been hesitant to use mayonnaise in salad dressing, but it worked beautifully here. Now that I have learned my lesson I won't be such a chicken in the future when it comes to using mayonnaise in my salad dressings and/or sauces. You can include any number of veggies (we had cucumbers and radishes in the fridge) and any salad green (baby spinach this time) so consider those ingredients as mere suggestions, but I highly recommend the combination of the dressing and the chicken!
Recipe after the jump!
I'm not sure how or why I ended up deciding that roast chicken or roast duck would be the perfect meal for New Years Eve, but I got it in my head that I wanted to roast a whole bird of some sort and I went to Fairway to buy both. And then I looked at the recipes I wanted to make and decided that we would make the chicken for New Years Eve and make the duck on January 1. We had to re-evaluate the duck and push it back until the weekend because the bourbon-pickled jalapenos need to pickle for 3 days so I'll report back sometime this weekend on how the duck worked out. I'm pretty excited.
Anyway, it has been a long time since we last roasted a whole chicken. For the most part we roast bone-in chicken breasts because it is far less time and labor-intensive than roasting a whole chicken. It also seems a little wasteful to roast a whole chicken when I'm really only interested in the breasts. But every once in awhile we give it a shot. And this recipe has me totally inspired to go out and roast more whole chickens. It was delicious - the smoked paprika rub gave the chicken a really wonderful smoky, earthy flavor. We were both a little worried when we pulled the chicken from the oven that it would be totally overdone (just look at how brown the skin is) but it wasn't at all. The chicken was moist and juicy. And when you ate it with the romesco (which was wonderfully smoky, bright and acidic and ever so slightly spicy) it was delicious. I also loved the grilled scallions on the side. We had some king oyster mushrooms in the fridge that I wanted to use so we threw them on the grill too while we were grilling up the scallions. They kind of look like sunchokes in the picture, but they were mushrooms. I can't wait to bust this recipe out at some future date. There is more than enough romesco for 2 whole chickens. I think if I were to have 4-6 people over I would cook two chickens, double the number of scallions, grill up some more mushrooms and serve it all with a salad and some nice bread. Done. Maybe I would start off the meal with some cheese and some Marcona almonds, but it would be a totally wonderful and relatively simple meal. Now that I am back into the whole roast chicken game, there is an Ina Garten roast chicken recipe that I have been meaning to try for awhile that might just be my next attempt...
Recipe after the jump!
For a long time I had a strict no dark (poultry) meat policy. Considering how much I love duck it made absolutely no sense. Clearly I don't a problem with greasier, moister meat. I just don't like dark meat chicken or turkey. It's both a textural and a flavor issue for me. I know it doesn't really make sense, but I just can't help it. In the past few years I have discovered that I do like dark meat in a few limited applications. When I order Indian or Chinese chicken dishes I try to plan my orders around those dishes that will involve chicken breasts, rather than chicken thighs or legs. When I order fried chicken, I eat the breast and then give Alex the legs, thighs or drumsticks. The Perfect Pan-Roasted Chicken Thighs and Mario Batali's Leo Maya's Chicken with Green Sauce are among the only recipes we have made at home using dark meat chicken that I have enjoyed. There are a few Asian stir-fries where I haven't minded the use of chicken thighs, but left to my own devices I would use chicken breasts and deal with the potential dryness if necessary.
So I guess it's not too surprising that I didn't love this dish. Don't get me wrong - it was fine. And the sauce was actually quite flavorful. I was pretty happy with the sauce and would definitely use it to braise things in the future. But the sauce didn't really penetrate the chicken legs. If it had, the dish would have been immeasurably better. Once you got past the surface layer it was just... dark meat chicken. And maybe if you actually like the flavor of dark meat chicken that's not such a bad thing. But I don't... Like I said, it's no surprise that I didn't love it.
Recipe after the jump!
I don't have a lot of experience with Burmese food, but I got pretty excited when I saw that Naomi Duguid had a new cookbook. Hot Sour Salty Sweet is one of my favorite cookbooks and I'm always thrilled to try new cuisines and cookbooks, especially when I have reason to think that they might be good. Given the author and the general beauty of the cookbook I had pretty high hopes from day one. For our first meal I bookmarked a number of recipes and then let Alex pick which one(s) to make. One of the great parts of being an attorney is an endless supply of flags and post-its, which I put to good use marking documents (as well as cookbooks). He picked the chicken and I decided that we should make the simple cabbage-shallot salad to serve on the side. It didn't occur to me (although it really should have) that both recipes would be on the spicy side. I'm pretty good at entirely ignoring aspects of a recipe while salivating over it. I usually do that with the amount of time it will take to make something (long marinades or braises always kill me), but it never really occurred to me just how many cayenne chilis these recipes called for. Granted, the chicken is much spicier than the cabbage-shallot refresher, but neither one is suitable for people with a wimpy palate. If you like just a hint of heat, go with the cabbage-shallot salad and maybe cut back on the chili a little. I would pick an entirely different entree because the spicy punch of the chicken really makes the dish shine. It's spicy and funky and fun. The next time I make the chicken I will probably cut the amount of water in half and/or add a little cornstarch slurry to the dish to thicken it up a bit. The ju-ju (for lack of a better term) is pretty thin and watery, but if you thickened it up a bit I bet it would be delicious. The chicken itself absorbed a ton of flavor from the ju-ju - heat being one of the predominant flavors, along with the savory flavors of ginger and garlic and the tartness of the lime juice. It was really good, and very different.
As for the cabbage-shallot refresher, I would totally serve this with both Asian and non-Asian meals (with a few minor twists). For instance, I could totally see skewing it a little Latin and using it on top of tacos or serving it with enchiladas. I liked how bright and fresh it was.
Recipes after the jump!
For the record, Alex rocks. Sometimes my job explodes and I basically disappear. I would say that it's like magic, only the use of the word "magic" makes it sound fun and exciting when it is often exhausting for both of us. Last Sunday he did the laundry, made us both dinner and cleaned up after dinner while I was on an epic conference call for work from 6:00 pm to nearly midnight. And that's after I basically worked all evening on Saturday as well. He also made me this Red Cabbage Salad with Warm Pancetta-Balsamic Dressing for lunch. I picked out all of the recipes and bought most of the ingredients, but he handled everything else and there is a lot to be said for a meal magically appearing in front of me while I tap away at my laptop. It's pretty awesome. This meal started with the Japanese sweet potatoes that I picked up at a little Japanese deli near my office. Once I had the sweet potatoes I needed to figure out what to do with them. This sweet potato recipe seemed like a perfectly simple recipe to feature the Japanese sweet potatoes but not drown them in sugar and other stuff. And the chicken naturally followed. If we were making a miso-scallion butter for the sweet potatoes, why not marinate the chicken breasts in miso and aromatics?
In some ways this dish was exactly what I needed to get me through that conference call. It was warm, conforting and had good flavor. It was also easy to eat one-handed (and relatively easy for Alex to prepare on his own). I really liked the combination of miso-scallion butter with the sweet potatoes. The delicate sweetness of the sweet potatoes worked really nicely with the savory butter. I was surprised by how the texture of the sweet potatoes differed from the American sweet potatoes that I am used to. The flesh was a little drier and starchier (which required more butter than I typically use with sweet potatoes). I also liked the marinade for the chicken and was pleasantly surprised by how much flavor the chicken picked up. I could imagine using these chicken breasts in a number of dishes. They would be delicious either in a salad or a sandwich. They were also quite nice as a stand alone entree. They didn't have any noticable heat to them, but I was ok with that. I think that the addition of more Korean red pepper flakes would have detracted from the overall comforting quality of the dish. And after hour 3 of my conference call I was dying for some comfort.
Recipes after the jump!
Sometime last fall Alex and I tried a Turkish restaurant called Peri Ela on the Upper East Side based on a recommendation from a friend. The food there was pretty good, but my absolute favorite dish that we had there that evening was a dish called yogurtlu chicken adana (which the menu described as "spicy ground chicken, sliced and served over yogurt-garlic and pita bread"). I was essentially picturing a wrap/open-faced sandwich or pizza of some sort, but it was so much better than that. The pita bread was toasted and cut or torn into large croutons and then topped with spicy chicken kebobs, onions and peppers and a garlicky-yogurt sauce. The croutons soaked up the juices from the chicken kebobs and the sauteed onions and and peppers but still retained some of their crunch and texture. The chicken kebobs themselves were nice and flavorful. It was totally spicy, creamy and delicious. Sunday afternoon I picked up some Turkish bread from Zabars and immediately starting thinking about trying to recreate that yogurtlu chicken adana with the bread. Seeing as I am far from an expert on Turkish food I tried to find a recipe to follow online but I couldn't find any. I found plenty of lamb or beef kebob yogurtlu recipes but nothing with chicken. So I decided to just make something up. I always like yogurt-marinated chicken so step 1 was marinating the chicken in labneh, herbs and spices. Step 2 really winging it since I couldn't find a really good recipe to follow. We did take inspiration from the various lamb or beef kebob yogurtlu recipes but from that point we basically threw in whatever ingredients seemed to make sense.
Given that I basically had no idea what I was doing here, I thought the end result was surprisingly successful. The chicken itself was my least favorite part (next time I will tweak the marinade to make it more flavorful or make chicken adana), but the pide soaked in the tomato sauce and yogurt sauce was pretty delicious. While we were eating Alex and I both came to the conclusion that next time we might want to cook the chicken 90% of the way and then add the bread, chicken and tomato sauce to a shallow casserole or baking dish and throw it in the oven for a few minutes. I think that way the bread will absorb more flavor and the dish will just meld together a little better. Even if I don't bake the combined dish in the oven, I will serve the dish in shallow bowl or baking dish because serving it on a plate is just asking for trouble. As Alex and I tried to toss the bread, chicken and sauces all together it was a battle to keep everything on the plate and not fling chicken, etc. everywhere. While our execution wasn't perfect, the flavors were pretty good. I thought the combination of the tangy-ness from the yogurt sauce, the sweetness and slight smoky flavor from the tomato sauce and the heat from the cayenne in the butter sauce worked really nicely together. I was worried that the cauliflower salad would be too heavy/dense to serve with the kebobs but it was surprisingly light. I really liked the lemony dressing, which was bright and fresh but not too acidic. I also liked the slight hint of heat of the crushed red pepper flakes.
Recipes after the jump!
This soup was... well we can call it a labor of love. You might have noticed a bit of a theme to our posts this weekend. Alex has been sick with a head cold and in a fit of wifely good intentions I bought a ton of ingredients (we're talking 3 lbs of pork neck bones, a whole chicken, 3 lbs of chicken parts, herbs, veggies, etc.) on Friday to make some homemade stocks and soups to help him feel better. I don't know about you, but I love soup when I don't feel well. I made an everyday Chinese chicken and pork stock on Friday (although we haven't quite figured out what kind of soup we are going to make with it yet) and I figured I would make some homemade chicken stock or chicken noodle soup too.
Then I had an epiphany at spinning Saturday afternoon - we're in NYC, matzo ball soup is the only appropriate cold remedy. Of course that required another trip to the grocery store to buy matzo ball soup ingredients (like leeks and rendered chicken fat, although if I had really thought about it I would have realized that making homemade chicken stock provides you with more than enough chicken fat). Strangely enough, Zabars didn't have any rendered chicken fat. They had a zillion different kinds of rugelach, babka and other Jewish baked goods, as well as a selection of kosher meats, but no rendered chicken fat. So I went to Fairway and they came through with all of the matzo, matzo meal and rendered chicken fat I could ever need. But by the time I found a recipe, hit Zabars and Fairway and got home it was late afternoon. And when I looked at the recipe I realized that the stock needs to simmer for 3 hours, and then the matzo balls need to chill for 30 minutes and then simmer in the finished stock for 45 minutes... And when you considered how much prep work, etc. we had to do, that meant we wouldn't be eating dinner until 10 pm. Oops. So I started the broth on Saturday night and let it hang out overnight in the fridge and finished the soup on Sunday. Never having made matzo ball soup before I'm not sure if this was an entirely typical recipe (or if I picked a recipe that was inordinately and unnecessarily complicated for matzo ball soup) but I knew that the recipe sounded interesting. All of the matzo ball soups that I have tried have not included anything beyond the matzo balls themselves in a relatively mild chicken broth. But I liked the idea of including the poached chicken and herbs in the soup. And since I was the one picking the recipe I went with the chicken matzo ball soup. I briefly considered making this Leek and Ginger Matzo Balls in Lemongrass Consomme, but I decided that was taking things a little bit too far. Generally for my first attempt at a classic dish I want to stick at least a little closer to the traditional version.
More (including the recipe) after the jump!
I wasn't going to include this dish as one of our (Belated) Chinese New Year meals because we have already included a chicken dish and I had another that I was considering making, but I loved this recipe so much that I couldn't resist. The flavors were different from everything we have featured thus far - relatively fresh, simple and subtle. Rather than being hit over the head with spice, fermented black beans or Sichuan peppercorns, this dish features the more subtle flavors of oyster mushrooms, ginger and garlic. It was just so lovely and so very satisfying. I wanted to keep eating and eating and eating. This is a dish that I can imagine serving my kids (first I have to get around to having kids, but you know what I mean). We served the chicken with some blanched greens that were equally homey and delicious. Pouring sizzling oil over a pile of aromatics on top of the lightly blanched greens and then drizzling a mixture of soy sauce and water over the whole kit and caboodle imparts a lot more flavor to the greens than you would think. Alex mentioned that he was totally surprised by how flavorful the greens were. Again, the flavors are subtle (rather than in your face), but each bite of choy sum is nicely seasoned and flavored. And for once, Alex didn't complain or comment that he wished dinner was spicier.
Recipes after the jump!
Look everyone - I finally put together our first (belated) Chinese New Year meal! And we have a bunch of other meals planned so stay tuned. I am trying my best to not just cook from our new Fuchsia Dunlop cookbook, but there are so many recipes that I want to cook that it is difficult. But I had to start off with two recipes from the cookbook that I have been dying to make. As you can see, I am still squarely stuck in my broccoli phase. And I threw in some chicken because why the heck not? You can't have Chinese New Year without chicken. Granted, the chicken is usually served whole and not shredded for New Year, but I'm taking a little creative license here. Don't worry - the dumplings and noodles are both coming, but it's going to take a little time so you are going to have to be patient. Whole fish is also traditional but as of right now the only concrete plan we have for seafood is for shrimp. We might still make a whole fish because our plans aren't set in stone yet (and I have a few recipes set aside in case I switch things up), but I'm just giving you a sense of what is to come. There will also be tofu, some more veggies, another chicken dish... And then we will have to see what we decide on for our final Chinese New Year meal. We went to Chinatown today for ingredients and noodle inspiration (more on that later), so we should be on track to post 3-4 more (Belated) Chinese New Year meals by the end of the week! We might need to re-stock a bit or pick up a few minor ingredients along the way, but we are now re-stocked with the essentials.
As for the chicken and broccoli, if every dish we make from this cookbook turns out as well as these two, I will be very happy. These recipes were not the best Chinese dishes we have ever cooked, nor did they particularly stick out amidst the other Chinese New Year meals we have prepared. However, they were so easy to make that I really can't complain and I think they totally lived up to the premise of the cookbook (i.e. simple Chinese home cooking). The broccoli was incredibly simple and it had really nice flavor. I liked the combination of Sichuan peppercorns and whole chilis. The broccoli was nicely cooked and lightly perfumed with sesame, heat and the sour, numbing flavor of the Sichuan peppercorns. It's the perfect easy (and vegetarian) Chinese side dish. As for the chicken, I have always been a fan of cold Sichuan chicken salads. I love the combination of luscious poached chicken, spice, slight sweetness and scallion. I have had better versions of this salad (and worse versions if we're being honest). But I have never made a better version at home. And that makes me happy. We made a few minor modifications to each recipe - an extra dash of sesame oil here, a little extra sugar there, but isn't that what all home cooks do? I would totally make both of these recipes again and bring them into the office for a fantastic lunch at my desk. Or just make them for dinner again sometime - perhaps a potluck? That's another totally viable option.
Recipes after the jump!
Alex and I are going out of town next week so I am currently fighting a battle to use up everything in our fridge. I happened to buy some chicken breasts and labneh at the grocery store last week and some mint and other herbs this week that I wanted to use. This recipe was great because it helped me use some of the chicken (the rest we froze), along with some of the herbs and the labneh. It was also really easy to prepare (which was key because I was throwing the marinade together and chopping the chicken while making Mediterranean Salad with Prosciutto and Pomegranate and Spicy Chickpea Soup for dinner Tuesday night, as well as egg salad for lunch). I read the reviews on the Food & Wine website and knew that I probably wasn't going to be blown away by the flavor of the recipe as written, but I figured we could make a few variations and bump up the flavor a little bit. Sadly, I still wasn't blown away with the flavor. I doubled the amount of red curry paste in the marinade and the chicken kebabs still weren't very spicy. And the minty yogurt sauce just tasted like yogurt and mayonnaise to me. So we added more lime juice and threw in a few other ingredients and it still mostly tasted like yogurt and mayonnaise. But at a certain point, we came to the realization that nothing we did was going to create a really killer sauce with the base we had. So we declared it good enough for government work and sat down to dinner. Don't get me wrong - it wasn't bad. Nothing about dinner was bad. Even with all of our modifications we still weren't blown away by the flavor. We ended up serving our kebabs with warm naan and an Asian kale salad (which I will post later) and it made a pretty decent, reasonably easy midweek meal. It wasn't amazing, but it was ok. And sometimes ok is... ok.
Recipe after the jump!
I know that I blather on fairly often about how the flavor of a dish would be improved by grilling over an open flame. But this dish wasn't just written for the grill, it was literally made to be grilled (which makes sense because the original recipe was "Grilled Chicken Breasts with North African Spice Paste"). The combination of spices would be absolutely magical grilled along with a nice crispy skin that grilling can give you. Don't get me wrong - this was still a really nice and well-seasoned roast chicken breast without the flavor of the fire from the grill. It was also an insanely juicy roast chicken breast. But the grill would have punched the flavors up a few notches and made it really sing. And we got a little nervous searing off the chicken skin in the cast iron because we didn't want the spices to burn and turn acrid from the direct contact with the hot pan, which would be less likely over the indirect heat of the grill. You also wouldn't lose quite as much of the spice paste over the grill as you would in a pan. Either way, until I get a grill I am going to continue to make this recipe on the stove top because it is a really different and fun take on roast chicken breasts, which we make all the time, plus it involves ingredients that we always have in the apartment so it's easy to throw together.
P.S. If you haven't noticed yet, a busy December at work has caused a serious back log for me with posts. There will be a few more coming today and over the weekend. Barring any craziness I should be caught up after this weekend, but I make no promises.
Recipe after the jump!
This chicken pho recipe has been a long time in coming. I think we made it 3 weeks ago, but I have been pretty swamped at work (and as you will notice below, the recipe is really long) so I haven't had time to post about it. But instead of attending a holiday party that we were invited to, I'm stuck at home this evening with a pretty awesome head cold, so I decided this was the perfect opportunity to post about the soup. First things first - this broth was amazing. It is totally worth the extra steps to char the onions and ginger, parboil the chicken parts, and strain it. It was delicious and very complex. It was also clear (hurray for parboiling) and rich. We used the leftover broth in two more soups later that week (and the following week), including a Shrimp, Pumpkin and Coconut Soup we have already posted about and a fantastic hot and sour soup that we haven't posted about yet, because you end up with a ridiculous amount of broth from this recipe. The recipe probably took 4 hours from start to finish, but I thought it was well worth it. The chicken breasts were succulent and had an almost silky texture. Andrea Nguyen says that you should start with a quality bird for this recipe and I totally agree. We used nice locally raised organic chicken and chicken parts that we picked up from Fairway. The soup might have been even better with some of the nice organic chickens from the farmers' market, but we used what we had.
We made another Vietnamese chicken soup called mien ga from Andrea Nguyen's Into the Vietnamese Kitchen cookbook some time ago. I think this pho ga blew the mien ga right out of the water. The broth was so nuanced and yet the dish had the freshness that the other soup was lacking. The fresh herbs had a lot to do with that freshness, but it was also the broth itself. I'm not sure how you make such a rich broth still taste light and fresh. It was just so bright and had so much flavor. I loved it. Clearly this isn't a soup that you could make every day (or even every month), but it is definitely going into my lazy Sunday rotation for the future. The broth alone is well worth many repeat visits.
Recipe after the jump!
Two weeks ago I was struck with a vicious Vietnamese chicken salad craving. I wanted cabbage, peanuts, poached chicken, dressed with lime juice and fish sauce. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out a single place near my office that serves Vietnamese chicken salad so I had to go without. And last weekend I decided that if I couldn't find a restaurant that would serve me Vietnamese chicken salad I would just make some for myself. First I had to go down to Chinatown to buy all of the various ingredients - it goes without saying that the grocery stores on the UWS aren't exactly chock full of things like long beans, green papaya and Thai shrimp paste. And then after we bought all of the ingredients we spent what seemed like several hours, chopping, cleaning and prepping the various salad ingredients. Peeling, de-seeding and chopping up the green papaya felt like it took 30 minutes alone. Once you add in all of the other ingredients that needed to be julienned/chopped/shredded - tomatoes, cucumbers, carrot, napa cabbage, long beans, etc., it's no wonder that this salad took forever to prepare. Even the nuoc cham dressing was more labor-intensive than usual. I have never toasted shrimp paste for a nuoc cham before. But I will be the first to admit that the dressing was pretty kickass. We were worried that it would be overly salty/fishy but it worked beautifully. I would use this dressing on any future Vietnamese chicken salad attempts. Actually, I would use it on any variation on a Vietnamese salad - shrimp, beef or chicken, noodle-based or not. It was that good. The only problem is that the dressing does not improve with age. By the next day the dressing had lost its piquancy and the salad just seemed a little limp and sad. But the day that we made the salad it really hit the spot. It was bright and flavorful, as well as full of crunch and texture. I really enjoyed the combination of the various ingredients (although it was pretty painful to chop and prep all of the vegetables) and I thought that the chicken itself was very tender and flavorful. In the end, I think the two things that I would definitely use again from this recipe are the marinade/cooking method for the chicken and the recipe for the nuoc cham. While I enjoyed them, I'm not sure that the green papaya and long beans added enough to the salad for me to trek down to Chinatown every time I want a Vietnamese chicken salad. And I probably won't go out and buy a whole bunch of celery just for the celery leaves again. I can (and probably will) make a passable version of the salad with just chicken, cucumbers, carrots, cabbage, cilantro and peanuts.
Recipe after the jump!
First things first - the hurricane hit and we are A-OK. I know that much of lower Manhattan (as well as various suburbs and boroughs of Manhattan) are underwater and without power, but we survived pretty much unscathed. While we were cooped up in the apartment we ended up cooking quite a bit, so this is going to be one large post containing a number of new recipes that we made over the past few days, in no particular order. We also made a bunch of recipes that we have made before (like these Buttermilk Biscuits with Green Onions, Black Pepper and Sea Salt) And due to the weather, we don't have pictures of all of the recipes, which is unfortunate, but what can you do?
First up is this brussels sprouts recipe, which I saw on Serious Eats and got really excited about because it couldn't be easier. Once I started reading further I realized that it is a little finnicky and tedious in that you are supposed to make sure all brussels sprouts are first added to the pan cut-side down, and then "turn each sprout over carefully on its back" after the brussels sprouts have seared up nicely on the cut side. We cut corners a bit and weren't as precise in the cooking process as perhaps we could have been. Things I will use from this recipe - the cooking method. You get an unreal amount of caramelization on the brussels sprouts in a fairly short time period. I would probably try different vinegars and seasonings in the future, but it was a beautifully simple recipe. You got nice sweetness from the balsamic, balanced nicely against the nutty flavor of the caramelized brussels sprouts. It wasn't the most amazing recipe I have ever made, but it was a really nice, simple side.
Now for the Mexican chicken soup. This was something of a day long endeavor. I started prepping the stock while on a conference call at 11:00 am. The stock took about an hour to prepare, before we let the chicken cool in the stock for another few hours. Around 6:30-7 pm we got started on making the soup to serve to some of our neighbors. It smelled wonderful while it simmered away. By the time the soup was ready I was really hungry and excited to finally taste it. We don't often go to the trouble to make homemade stock and every time we do it really excites me because soup made with homemade stock is better than soup made with boxed stock by several orders of magnitude. And when you make homemade stock you can season and modify your stock so that the flavors best suit the soup you are preparing. This time I added various ingredients that are typical of chicken stock (onions, carrots, celery, thyme, garlic, bay leaves) and a few ingredients that I think of as being typically Mexican (chilis and cilantro). I think that the flavors of the soup were really interesting. I was a little worried about the texture of the blended hominy and chilis, but it ended up being nicely thick and hearty. The chilis gave the soup a nice slightly sweet, slightly spicy flavor. I will definitely be making the soup again because it's great cold weather fare and pretty simple.
Now for the Lettuce in Sesame Sauce. I'm not really sure what there is to say about this recipe - I have a feeling that the sesame sauce is not going to appeal to a lot of palates. I told Alex I thought the salad would go really nicely with a batch of Sichuan Dumplings in Chili Oil. The combination of the thick and nutty sesame sauce would be nicely offset by the sweetness and heat of the chili oil. We ate it with fried rice, which wasn't the most ideal pairing, but we had a limited selection of ingredients left by Tuesday afternoon...
Recipe after the jump!
I really love a good meatball so this recipe sounded really interesting to me. Buffalo wings are awesome. Meatballs are awesome. Why wouldn't they be awesome together? The problem with these meatballs is that they are lacking a key component to the buffalo wings - texture. When you bite into a nice buffalo wing you have the crispy deep-fried skin with the moist chicken. These meatballs have the right flavor. And they are moist. But they are one big ball of smush. There was literally no texture to them. I had hoped that the celery and the shallot would provide a little texture, but no such luck. When I saw how wet and soft they were I decided to broil them for a few minutes at the end of the cooking process to try to get a crust to form on the exterior. No dice. The broiling did help to firm them up a little, but no crust formed because they were too wet. The blue cheese dip was pretty chunky (which was a conscious decision on our part to provide texture). I also ate my meatballs with celery sticks because I needed the crunch. And I really enjoy the combination of buffalo wings, blue cheese and celery. It works for me. Alex took one bite of the celery and gave me the rest. Sometimes it's not such a bad thing that Alex doesn't like celery.
Recipes after the jump!
I am of the opinion that most things in life are not improved by the addition of mayonnaise. I know that BLT's and other sandwiches need at least a touch of mayonnaise to be palatable (otherwise they are just too dry) and you need a little mayo in tuna salad. But I can't really think of anything else that is improved by the addition of mayonnaise. I have heard that you can use mayonnaise instead of butter when making grilled cheese sandwiches to help the outside of the sandwich toast up golden brown but I haven't tried it out so I can't speak to that. But when Alex wanted to add mayonnaise to our Korean chicken salad I was very skeptical. I think I made stink face at him when he brought it up. And again when I tried it. Had I been about two decades younger I probably would have thrown in an "ewwwww - mayonnaise!" But it was really good with just a touch of mayonnaise! The kewpie mayonnaise somehow pulled it all together - it thickened the dressing a little and gave it body, plus it balanced all of the flavors out somehow and added some sweetness and a touch of tartness/acidity. It was yummy and it made the chicken salad (which was already pretty good but missing something), just that much better. I heart this chicken salad, which by extension might mean I heart kewpie mayonnaise. But let's not be too hasty.
P.S. The chicken by itself was really delicious and would make an excellent entree, or you could use the meat for sandwiches or soups or other things. I was set on poached chicken breasts because I think their gentle chicken flavor and texture works really well for chicken salads, but Alex prefers roast chicken breasts (hence Alex's Roast Chicken Breasts). Since he was cooking he got to choose the cooking method and in this instance, I might have to agree that he was right as I think we will be making those chicken breasts again in the future!
Recipe after the jump!
