Beef Stew

I love beef stew. It's the thick, "stick to yer ribs" kind of stew. The only thing that should accompany a really good beef stew is a loaf of fresh baked bread. The only thing that should garnish the stew, in my world, is a couple of really great turns of your pepper-mill.

In this recipe, I build a foundation of strong flavors that will come through in an amazing chorus once it's been presented in your bowl.

Total time from start to finish was about five hours, with some cheating on the side. 1.) I stewed the dish in a crock-pot set on low. I had three hours and the veggies were still pretty tough. 2.) I moved everything to a large Dutch oven over the cook top and cranked up the heat for about an hour and a half. The result finished just fine, but the next time, I'll just keep everything in the crock-pot, and set it on High next time and leave it for four hours...

Face it; nobody likes cleaning the Dutch oven.

Beef Stew

2 - 3 lb beef roast cap (cut in bit sized pieces)
1 1/2 C Teriyaki marinade sauce (I used Melissa's Teriyaki)
1/4 C chili sauce
1 lemon (zested and juiced)
1/2 C flour
2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp paprika
3 12 oz cans Low-Sodium V-8 vegetable juice cocktail
28 oz can extra-chunky tomato sauce
3 cloves garlic finely mince
1 C heaping chopped carrot (peeled and trimmed)
3/4 C celery
1 large sweet onion (chopped in large chunks)
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 C red potatoes (peeled, chunked and set aside)

Marinade:

After you've cut up the roast into bite sized pieces, assemble the marinade. Combine Teriyaki marinade, chili sauce, the lemon zest and juice and wisk it together until well blended. Add the meat pieces, cover and set aside for a minimum of 1 hour. (The longer...the better the flavor of the meat when it's served.)

Clean, rinse, chop all of the vegetables and the minced garlic after the meat has been marinating for a least an hour. In a large bowl, mixed the vegetables and the garlic well and set aside.

In a plastic zip-locked freezer bag, add the flour, salt, pepper and paprika. Heat a large sauce pan and add the canola oil. Using a spider, or a slotted spoon, pull the meat out of the marinade and add it to the freezer bag. Coat the meat with the flour mixture and add the pieces to a plate, adding more meat to the flour, etc. Once the floured meat has been done, add the pieces to the oiled skillet and sear all of the meat pieces. Flour cracklings, excess flour can be removed and thrown away.

While you're cooking the meat, add 1/3 of the raw vegetable mixture to the bottom of your crock-pot. Add some of the browned meat and then more of the vegetable mixture. Once you have three layers of both the meat and vegetable mixture, add the V-8 vegetable juice, the tomato sauce and the Worcestershire sauce.

Set the crock-pot on High and set aside.

After two and half hours, add the potatoes and stir them into the beef stew. Every half hour, stir the entire mixture deeply and smoothly and then leave it to continue to cook for another half hour. Vegetables should be firm but not raw and the meat will be tender and full of great flavor.

Garnish with freshly cracked black pepper. Serve with freshly baked loaf of garlic bread and a glass of chilled dry white wine.

Enjoy!!

Hearty Chicken and Muschroom Chow Mein

The word "chow mein" translates as "assorted bits". Which is a great opportunity to simply have fun making this dish: Just go crazy with it!

I love chow mein, and I love to push the envelope when I'm chopping and sauteing and having fun. Give it a try and experiment as you like!

Here's my version of Hearty Chicken and Mushroom Chow Mein:

3 Tbsp safflower oil (or any high heat oil like Canola)
3 ribs celery (chopped)
2 carrots (grated)
3 heads baby bok choy (or 1 "adult" heads) (rinsed and chiffonade)
1 green bell pepper (roughly chopped)
1 large sweet onion (roughly chopped)
1/2 lb mushrooms (chopped) white, shiitake or baby portabellas or mixed!
3 chicken breast (rinsed and cut up into 1 1/2 inch strips)
1/4 C Chinese-style chili garlic sauce (I love it-so I throw in a full 1/2 cup!)
3 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or tamari sauce)
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 C low sodium chicken stock
2 Tbsp corn starch
2 Tbsp water
6 oz package chow mein noodles

Mix the chili garlic sauce with the soy and the Worcestershire sauce and set aside. Work on the chicken breast and add to the sauce mixture as a marinade set aside to soak while you work on all of the vegetables. Make sure that chicken is fully coated with all of that sauce before you set it aside to rest.

The corn starch and the water mixed together to make your slurry, so that'll be the last thing you'll have to mix.

Once everything is prepped, heat up your wok until it's piping hot. A drop of water should sizzle and dance on the wok's floor. Drain the chicken pieces in a colander and push out a little bit of the liquids that have collected. Add the oil to the wok and with a pair of tongs, carefully add the chicken pieces to avoid the splatter.

Let the chicken cook, stirring occasionally, for 6 to 12 minutes. Once the chicken has cooked, remove all of it with a slotted spoon leaving the liquid in the wok. Set the chicken aside for now and add all of your vegetables. The bok choy and all of the vegetables will cook down and the mushrooms will soak up the chili garlic and chicken juices. It will take approximately 8 to 10 minutes for the vegetables to thoroughly cook. Once they're done, return the chicken to the wok and pour in the chicken stock. Once everything's bubbling, mix the corn starch and water for your slurry and drizzle it into the wok by going around the whole circumference. Give a few good stirs, let it sit for a minute or two. When you come back to it, that liquid will have become a beautiful sauce that'll be just delicious!

Serve over chow mein noodles along with a pile of hot white rice.

Easily serves 3 people.

Enjoy!

Orange Salad with Mint and Cream Cheese Dressing

I, quite literally, bumped into this website talking about a fruit salad. After I read through it, I decided to simply re-engineer the entire dish. The original recipe not only reads terribly, but even a mere amateur like me could make a far better improvement than what they've put up.

My result was outstanding. And I think you'll agree when you construct your own.

A point to note: One of my favorite places to shop is at Trader Joe's. The reason? They carry a line of these 2 lb bags of wild blueberries at around $2.90 per each. It's not only a great deal, the wild blueberries are far more flavorful than the "tame" berries. When using them in this recipe, add the blueberries when you serve up the dish. If you add them while constructing the salad, the blueberries will stain the entire dish and you'll send up serving a bowlful of "blue fruit"!

The Salad
3 oranges, peeled and cut into large chunks
1 pt strawberries, hulled and thoroughly rinsed
1 can pineapple, drained
1 bunch, green (seedless) grapes, thoroughly rinse
1/2 lb wild blueberries - set a side for serving

The Dressing

8 oz cream cheese at room temperature
Grated zest of one orange
2 Tbsp orange liqueur
1 tsp sugar

The Garnish
1 bunch mint - roughly julienne

Assemble the salad, keeping the blueberries set aside. In a bowl using a hand-mixer, combine the cream cheese, the zest, the liqueur and the sugar. The dressing will turn into a thin creamy liquid (especially if you add more liqueur!).

Serve the salad in martini glasses with the added blueberries and the mint. Drizzle the sauce on top and enjoy.

It's guaranteed: You'll love this recipe.

Orange Potatoes

Well, at least they looked orange!

8 to 10 B-sized red potatoes (roughly peeled)
1/4 cup low-fat Philadelphia-style cream cheese
1 1/2 Tbsp Dijon-style mustard
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup low-fat (1%) milk
1/2 Tbsp sweet paprika
1/2 Tbsp black pepper

Boil the potatoes until they'll freely fall off the fork when they've been jabbed. Add the remaining ingredients and blend well with the potatoes using an electric blender.

So easy - and so delicious.

Enjoy!

Skirt Steak Fajitas

I was watching the Food Network this morning and somebody was making Fajitas out of a skirt steak. I was really disappointed on how she put everything together. So, I hopped into the car, drove to the butcher and bought a nice skirt steak for myself. I put this together and I think it'll be awesome.

Marinade:

1/4 C Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 C Red wine vinegar
4 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce (tamari)
4 cloves garlic
1 tomatillo
2 chipotle peppers
1/2 medium white onion
1 lime - zested and juiced
1/2 bunch cilantro
2 Tbsp common taco seasoning
2 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp mace
1 Tbsp cumin
black pepper

Pull the steak out flat on a cutting board and put it in the freezer while you're assembling the remaining ingredients. Everything into the food processor and blend extremely well. Once the steak has been in the freezer for about 15 minutes, take it out and cut it into strips at a bias against the grain. Put each strip into a bowl and once it's been completely cut up, pour the marinade over on top. With your hands, mix the meat extremely well to make sure it's very well coated. Cover the bowl and let it sit in the marinade at room temperature for one day.

Grill the strips and serve with your favorite toppings.

Enjoy!

Spareribs Asian Style

I bought this book called Fresh Chinese by Winnie Chan and I just love it. All of the recipes are easy and the dish turns out wonderful, guaranteed. She always has a few words of introduction to the recipe and offers some great ideas as to the history of the food or tips on making the dish.

(Click on the picture to go to Amazon to purchase your own copy!)

However, there's one recipe that I just could not figure out. She calls for the spareribs to cook at 475F for an hour and then an additional 45 minutes at 375F. I've ruined pans, scorched the meat and I finally gave up and took my own detour. I decided that she had an editing dilemma and it was too late when it was discovered.

I'll type the original recipe in italics, and my own variations in bold normal font. We don't disagree on too much, except for the cooking.

Note: Szechwan peppercorns are extremely difficult to find here in the United States. I recommend a organic grocery store, you might get lucky at an Asian grocery store. But if all else fails, you're welcome to use my secret weapon on Hard-to-Find Spices and Herbs:

Penzey's Spices

Here's my own take on Spareribs:

2 lbs, country-cut boneless pork spareribs
2 1/2 pints stock (pork or chicken)

1 tsp five-spice powder 2 star anise (I don't bother)
1 Tbsp Szechwan peppercorns (coarsely ground)
1 Tbsp black peppercorns (coarsely ground)
2 large shallots, minced
1/4 C orange juice
1/4 C bourbon
1 heaped Tablespoon hoisin sauce
1 Tbsp shoyu or tamari sauce
6 slices fresh ginger (peeled and grated)
6 scallions (chopped)
2 Bay leaves (coarsely chopped)
1 orange (cut into wedges) (I use two oranges)

4 tsp cornstarch 4 Tbsp water

2 C rice (Cooked)

Setting the meat and the stock aside, mix all of the rest of the ingredients together. This should have the consistency of a thick cake batter. Place the meat in a Pyrex baking dish and pour the marinade over it. I have been known to make a double batch of the marinade just because I know how good it's going to taste when it's all be said and done.

Now the cookbook authors want you to put this on a cookie sheet and bake it for two hours: 1 hour @ 475F and forty-five minutes @ 375F. The remaining fifteen minutes is guaranteed to be spent scrapping all of that delicious marinade off your very expensive pork chops!

I'll guarantee it!

Here's my detour:

After twelve hours in the marinade, place them in a slow cooker or a crock-pot, marinade and all. Add the stock, cover and set the crock-pot on high for three hours. Turn the pot down to Low and add an additional two hours.

Once the meat has finished, take them out of the crock-pot and cover with a blanket of foil to rest for fifteen minutes. Take everything in the crock-pot and pour it in a saucepan. Remove the orange wedges and set them aside. Heat it until you get a rolling boil, turn the heat down for a nice simmer. Mix the cornstarch with the water to make your slurry, and slowly add to the marinade. Stir until it thickens.

Serve the meat over a bed of white rice and pour the marinade over the meat and use those orange wedges as your garnish. It's a beautiful dish.

Enjoy!

Drunk and Naked Pork Chops

This is one recipe that's been in my brain for a long time now. When I was released from the hospital from my heart attack three years ago, I wanted to find a better way to handle my proteins. Most meats, as they're prepared in restaurants and grocery stores are loaded with salts. I was in a tiny rat-hole of a Asian grocery store and was introduced to Tamari Sauce, which is a very low sodium soy sauce. As the weeks past after the hospital, I found an organic grocery store that carried a low sodium Tamari sauce.

I like it better than the regular Tamari and I like it a lot better than the soy. It seems that the lower the sodium, the richer and nuttier the sauce tastes and the body of the flavor is so much beter.

One day, I came across the paper for an orange glazed pork chop and I've since just made my own version of a:

Drunk and Naked Pork Chop

2 to 4 pork chops thawed and trimmed
1 C orange juice
6 oz can pineapple juice
1/4 C low-sodium Tamari sauce (or soy sauce)
1/4 C orange liqueur
4 Tbsp taquila
4 Tbsp honey
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1/4 inch ginger root (minced) or 2 tsp ginger powder
1 large shallot (minced)
2 Tbsp corn starch
2 Tbsp water

Mix the orange and pineapple juices along with the Tamari, the two liquors and the honey. Blend it together until the honey has dissolved. Add the garlic, ginger and the shallot and drop in the pork chops.

Marinate the meat for no less than four hours - preferably over night.

Preheat the oven at 400F
On a Silpat or a foil lined cookie sheet, place the chops and season with fresh cracked pepper and reserve the marinade. Bake the chops for 30 minutes or use an instant meat thermometer.

In the last ten minutes of baking, pour the marinade in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Once setting in a nice rolling boil, mix the cornstarch with the water to make the slurry. Turn the heat down to a medium and drizzle the slurry into the marinade.

Caution: There's a lot of alcohol in the marinade, so if you're cooking on a gas stove or near an open flame, be aware: You're working with something extremely flammable!

Remember - you're supposed to cook the chops...not your arm!

Once the marinade has thickened nicely, remove the pork chops and plate them by liberally pouring the marinade over them. They got drunk, they were baked naked and now you get to enjoy them with a nice sweet glaze.

Enjoy!

A perfect Chocolate Orange Cheesecake

It's Valentine's Day and for dinner, we're headed over to these really great friends of ours who are graciously hosting a small dinner party. Tohn, our "Hostess with the Mostest" is making his secret recipe meatloaf with a red pepper gravy, B-sized red potatoes and grilled asparagus with olive oil and garlic. It sounds fantastic and out of this world.

So here I am and I opened my giant sized mouth hoping for instructions from the "Hostess" on what should I bring. "Dessert!" he said. "Bring anything you want!"

I immediately thought of some fancy place over in St Paul like "Bread and Chocolate" or "The French Meadow Bakery" in Uptown, Minneapolis. Those guys will make the most fantastic desserts you've ever tasted and they'll charge you an arm and a first born son! What can I say? I have to admit it: "Their desserts are worth an arm and at least one off-spring!"

My husband recommended cheese cake. "Don't you remember when you made me that lemon cheesecake and you made your own lemon curd? That was so good! You should make that again."

Then it hit me: "There ya go... Go for the challenge. Go for the grit. Tohn said they had invited another couple over to join us - Show 'em all how much of a Queen you really are and knock them out with a perfect cheesecake! No cracks! No explosions! Just make the "perfect cheesecake".

My husband dug out the recipe in our pantry, which was an old newspaper flyer advertising strawberries on sale at Supervalue for $.68/ quart. (I said it was old...) The title was "10 Twists on one great cheesecake." My husband cruised through it and found what he really wanted after all: "Here!! You can try this one! Chocolate Orange Cheescake!! Doesn't that sound good?!" (He's a chocolate hound... he was only goofing on "lemon curd cheesecake"... He was itching for chocolate and he got lucky with an alternative from the original.)

The trick to making a cheesecake that won't crack is based on a few conventional thoughts:

1. Eggs, cream cheese, and your cream must all be at room temperature.
2. Beat the batter until smooth. The cake will crack if the cheese isn't well incorporated.
3. Eggs will trap air in the batter so; slowly add them last and mix them slowly. Once the eggs have been incorporated - stop! Don't over mix it!
4. Bake the cheesecake in a hot boiling bath of water.
5. Surround the cheesecake with foil.
   
6. Cool the cake slowly as the temperature change causes the texture to split.

I consulted a number of sources, on the Internet and a few phone calls.

Shall we start? Let's do this, Yolanda...

A Perfect Chocolate Orange Cheesecake

3 Tbsp softened butter (divided)
8 oz Famous Chocolate Wafers
3 8 oz bricks of cream cheese
1 C sugar
2 tsps vanilla
4 tsps orange zest
1/2 C orange marmalade
1 1/2 Tbsp orange liqueur
1/4 C heavy cream
1/4 C sour cream
3 large eggs (room temp)
heavy duty aluminum foil for the pan

The Chocolate Glaze

1/2 C heavy cream
4 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 Tbsp butter

Set a pot of water on the stove and set to boil.
Set the oven for 325 F

Melt the butter in the microwave and set to grinding up the chocolate wafers. The Famous Chocolate Wafers come in a 10 oz box, so set a few on the side for nibbling. I threw my wafers in a blender and used a wooden spoon handle to make sure all of the wafers are ground to a pulp. Add the melted butter and mix until thoroughly incorporated.

(Hint: For portability, take a piece of tin foil and cut out a circle to cover the bottom of the spring-form pan. Once the cheesecake has fully cooled, you can unlock the spring-form pan and slide the bottom of the spring-form pan from underneath the tin-foil.)

Melt remaining butter and brush the sides of your spring-form pan. Pour in the cookie-crumb and melted butter into the bottom of the pan and pack everything tightly at the bottom - including the sides.

In an upright mixer, add the cream cheese and begin on the cake. Add the sugar slowly, constantly stopping by scraping down the sides. Add the vanilla, the orange zest, the liqueur and the marmalade. Add the heavy cream and the sour cream and mix thoroughly.

(Hint: Look for lumps... keep mixing until the only lumps you see are the ones from the bits of marmalade.)

Take the mixing bowl from out of the upright and with a spatula, add each egg one at a time and hand mix very slowly. Once the yellow from the yolks has disappeared, add the next egg. Once the last egg's yolk has disappeared, stop. Your batter is finished and it's time to slowly pour over the top of your cookie-crumb crust.

Take a toothpick and run it through the batter looking for any air pockets without scraping the bottom.

Baking Prep:

Take two sheets of aluminum foil and form a giant X on your counter. Carefully place your cake in the center of the foil and bring the excess foil up along the sides. In a deep 9" x 13" Pyrex dish, place your foil-lined project in the center and add the boiling water to the bottom of the entire project without overflowing.

Place the entire project on the center rack of your oven, close it up and set the oven timer at 45-minutes.

The cake is finished once you see a golden coloring appearing along the edges. It should wobble in the center and be firm along the cake's shoreline. Once it's finished, turn off the oven and leave the cake in by re-setting your oven's timer for 60 minutes. The cake will fully cool in the oven.

Twenty minutes after you've turned off your oven, begin the chocolate glaze. In a large pan, fill it 1/4 full of water and set it to boil. In a metal bowl, add the cream and the chocolate chips. Once the water is at a strong simmer, place the bowl on top of the water to form a double-boiler. Once the chips were completely melted, add the final Tablespoon of butter until full melted.

Gently pull out the Pyrex pan and spread the foil back away to add the glaze. With your mixing spoon, close to the surface of the cake, pour the chocolate glaze into the spoon and let it fall on the cake until it is completely covered. (I touched both the cake and the chocolate surface to estimate that both are just about the same temperature.) Once covered in chocolate, return it to the oven to finish cooling.

Once your one hour wait is finished and the oven is at room temperature, pull it out and set it on the stove top and place a plate on top to fully cool. After four to five hours, place the cake in the refrigerator or get ready to transport it to it's final destination.

Enjoy!

Update: This cheesecake turned out fantastic. As Tohn had said: "This is like having a slice of cheesecake that costs about $50.00!" And he's absolutely correct. This recipe gives Bread and Chocolate and the French Meadow Bakery a run for their money. I'll take my first born back with this one. With all due humility, one of the other dinner guests was stunned that I had made it. He was visibly shocked.

Here are my personal critiques:

• Most cheesecakes can are far too dry, it's a common problem and nothing to be ashamed of. It's why we make luscious toppings for the cheesecake in the first place. The topping is an excuse! However, this cheesecake was a touch too moist. Therefore, I would recommend ditching the liqueur or adding only 1 Tbsp or reducing the marmalade. There was too much of an oozing "liquidy" texture to it.
  
• Bake time listed in the newspaper flier was 45-minutes. Total bake time for me was 56 minutes. I recommend a bake-time of a full 60 minutes. Those extra few minutes would established the perfection. (Perhaps too much liquid ingredients in a ratio of too little bake-time?!)
  
• The aluminum foil lined bottom was a waste of time. Forget it. We transported the cake in the spring-form cake-pan on a dinner plate inside a Tupperware cake dome and carried along a plain white serving plate. Run a knife or a thin rubber spatula around the edge and release the spring-form pan and place the cake (with the spring-form bottom) on the serving plate and you're golden.

I took along an extra orange and my Microplane. At the time to serve, I zested half of the orange and the other half I sliced and cut into quarters. I sprinkled the zest on the top of that chocolate shell on top and made a ring of the quartered slices pointing outward.

It was truly outstanding.

Pasta Salad with a Chocolate Vinaigrette Dressing

This past weekend, I took a break and did one of my favorite things to do on weekends... Take a short nap. I close the blinds, turn on the television and relax until right about to fall asleep...and I turn off the television and head off to the Land of Nod. Yesterday was no different, and it was the Food Network's Sandra Lee. I don't like her very much. I find her shows to be "over the top", and she talks to camera audience like we're all a bunch of 2nd Graders. (Don't get me started on those "tablescapes" of hers.) But I tuned into the third segment of her show -- She was making a Beef Stew with Chocolate, and she was adding shaved chocolate to beef broth and a package of meatloaf seasoning and I was intrigued.

"Chocolate? ...In a beef stew?!?!"

So, I started it and that's what's in the crockpot on my kitchen counter now. But her recipe called for two tablespoons of finely shaved chocolate! If I'm going to use one of my good 1 oz Bakers chocolate squares, what am I going to do with the rest of it?!

I had plans to make a pasta salad to marinate over night and serve with tomorrow's dinner. I love a hearty pasta salad and I typically make enough to feed everybody living in Wisconsin right now. But by the time I got to making my dressing, the idea hit me: "I wonder what chocolate vinaigrette dressing would taste like?" And, it's fantastic...!

Here's my idea of a Pasta Salad with a Chocolate Vinaigrette Dressing.

1 small package grape tomatoes (halved)
5 slices Provolone cheese (cubed)
1 green bell pepper (chopped)
1 C cheddar cheese (cubed)
4 oz shredded Parmesan cheese
1 leek (sliced and rinsed)
1/2 C fire roasted red pepper (roughly chopped)
1 1/2 C ham steak (cubed)
1 C pepperoni slices
13 1/4 oz Fusilli (corkscrew) 7 grain pasta

Chocolate Vinaigrette Dressing

1/2 c Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 Italian red wine vinegar
1 generous pinch of thyme (dried)
2 cloves garlic (finely minced)
4 Tblsp bittersweet chocolate (finely shredded)

In a large dutch oven filled with water and heavily salted, bring the water to a boil. Meanwhile, get busy chopping, cubing, rinsing and slicing everything else.

Once the pasta is al dente, drain off the hot water and give a quick rinse in cold water. (I like the pasta to be warm when I mix them in because the cheese will cling to them). Pour the dressing over everything and let the salad marinate in your refrigerator over night.

Enjoy

Mashed Potatoes with Herbed Chevre and Roasted Red Pepper

I have a fingernail on my "swear finger" that seems to be infected (or something). Since I'm a touch-typist, every time I hit the keys "E", "D" and "C", I'm saying "ouch!" (Yes, that was three extra-ouches just typing those keys.)

This recipe I made up in my head this afternoon. I had this 4 oz herbed chevre' (goats cheese) package in the fridge expecting to use it in another recipe about five (ouch!) days before. I didn't make it after all and wondered about using it with mashed potatoes all afternoon today. The entree was served with a marinated salmon roasted with lemon slices and a garden salad, so the potatoes went nicely together.

I googled "mashed potatoes chevre" and came up with one disappointing recipe. I decided to strike out on my own and did this instead:

5 med/large potatoes, peeled and chunked
1 clove garlic, minced and pasted
3 tsp garlic/pepper blend
2 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp sour cream
3 spring onions, chopped
4 large filets of roasted red pepper (from a jar) roughly chopped
3 oz herbed chevre (1 oz set aside for a salad)
1/4 c milk (1%)

While the potatoes boil and soften, throw the rest of the ingredients together. When the potatoes are fork tender, drain and then add to the ingredient bowl and blend thoroughly.

Not only is the dish beautiful, the taste is absolutely out of this world...

Enjoy

Lemon Chicken with White Rice

So that was dinner! Egg Roles with Black Bean Sauce and this entree' as a main course:

2 Chix breast (thinly sliced)
1/2 C flour
1/4 C corn starch
1 egg (raw - scrambled)
Seasoned course ground black pepper & kosher salt
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 lemons (juiced) sparing one halved lemon (3/4 C fresh lemon juice)
2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 Tbsp white sugar
4 Spring Onions, scissored

2 cups cooked rice <- Please note! Here's what you do:
The Rice.
Rule #1: It is always 2 (liquid) versus 1 (dry grain).

I use chicken stock as the liquid for my rice. You can use plain water if you're str8 or transgendered. (Lesbians should consider balsamic vinegar, 10W - 30 Motor Oil, or carburetor cleaner as an alternate to any of the above.) When you're working with rice, the math will always be the same: 2 parts liquid with 1 part grain.

The rice will take 30 minutes to cook: So why not start it now?

The Protein:
Heat the skillet, spraying it with a squeeze bottle of Olive Oil.

While that heats up, mixed the flour, corn starch, the black pepper and the salt, and spread out on a pie tin or in a freezer bag. Dredge the chicken pieces in the egg mixture and then a dip in the flour bag (or tin). Once they're coated, throw them into the hot skillet. Let them cook up and as they finish, remove them from the heat and continue adding chicken pieces until everything is cooked.

While the chicken cooks, add the sugar and the red pepper flakes to the lemon juice. Grab a whisk and give it a vigorous stir for about a minute - maybe add an additional 30 seconds of whisking for good measure.

Everything is cooked? Good! Now crank up the heat, add all of the chicken back to the skillet and pour the lemon juice mixture over everything and cover.

How's your rice doing? Got about ten minutes left? Adjust your heat accordingly.

Make your corn starch slurry with 2 Tbsp water mix with 2 Tbsp corn starch in a low-ball/drinking glass.

Once everything has heated up, remove the chicken pieces and slowly add the slurry to the remaining juices. Let that heat with a slow stir. (Hint: Drizzle the slurry, and then stop. Stir. Then drizzle some more of the slurry and then stop. Stir. Then drizzle some more of the slurry... You get the picture. Keep doing that and you'll thicken that lemon sauce right up and nice. ...I'll trust ya!)

Plate the hot rice with those peppered chicken pieces on top. Once the lemon sauce has thickened, pour it over your entree' making sure you're fair to your dinner mate as you ration out the lemon sauce.

Hint: It's the lemon sauce will be something worth fighting over, so be warned and be fair!

Garnish with the chopped spring onions and the lemon slice you spared at the beginning of this adventure.

Enjoy!

EnK

Egg Rolls with a spicy black bean sauce

I have thought about starting a blog about cooking for about a year now. As I learn more and experiment more, I find myself thinking - Hrmmm... this is really good! But what to call the blog? Well, since I'm gay and I'm mostly cooking for my (gay) husband - why the heck not?!

Cooking for Gays

Sort of like - Cooking for Days - but with a bit of a queer flare to it all.

Shall we start?

Asian cooking, I find, is admittedly tedious, but incredibly versatile. You don't have to follow my recipe to the letter - but experiment on your own. However, I found this recipe to be very delicious and it might be the first egg rolls with a Black Bean Sauce recipe out there. Here we go:

1/2 lb ground chow mein meat (ground beef, ground pork, ground chicken, ground turkey, etc)
1 whole carrot - shredded
1/2 medium red 0nion thinly sliced
3 to 4 medium sized mushrooms thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic minced
1/2 green bell pepper diced
1 Tbsp dried lemon grass
1 1/2 Tbsp Black Bean Sauce
1 1/2 Tbsp Chinese style Chili Garlic Sauce
1/2 tsp Chinese style rice vinegar
3 Spring Onions (chopped and set aside)
1 Package of Egg Roll Wrappers

In a heated skillet, throw in the meat(s). As the meat cooks add the garlic and the onion. Simply add all of the other vegetables into the skillet at you prep each one. The Black Bean Sauce and the Chili Garlic Sauce I added towards the end but as long as everything is well cooked and mixed. Once everything is finished, add the Spring Onions last so they don't cook and get soft. (The onion is your "crunch".)

If you're not familiar working with egg roll wrappers, I have two words of advice:

• 1.) Use a kitchen towel as your work surface. The egg roll wrappers will stick to your counter tops or your cutting board unless you've heavily floured them (which is a mess)
• 2.) Rolling, or folding egg rolls are a piece of cake, especially if you follow these directions.
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• Preheat your deep fryer. Allow your deep fryer to heat through thoroughly. Try to use peanut oil if possible, as it adds a pleasant nutty flavor to the egg rolls.
• Stuff your rolls. Place your wraps on a clean surface so that the points are up and down and left and right (should appear as a diamond, not a square). Place the filling onto the rolls.
• Wrap your rolls. Take the bottom point of your wrap and fold it over top of the filling. Fold the sides in towards the middle and roll the filling towards the top point of the wrapper.
• Seal the egg roll. To prevent the egg roll from unwrapping in the deep fryer you need to seal the seams, this also prevents oil from filling the inside of the egg roll. In a small dish or bowl place a beaten egg. Dip your finger into the mixture and use this as glue to seal the top point of your wrap and any openings where you feel the wrap needs to be glued together.
• Cook your egg rolls. Since deep fryer temperatures will vary and size of the egg rolls will affect the cooking time, there is no set cooking time. Place 3-4 egg rolls in the deep fryer and allow to cook until golden brown. Roll the egg rolls in the oil to evenly brown the wrapper. Avoid overcooking the egg rolls.
• Serve immediately. Egg rolls are best served as soon as they have finished cooking. Serve with a chilled bottle of sweet cherry sauce, plum sauce, sweet and sour sauce, or anything you enjoy on egg rolls.

These will make about 10 egg rolls, which you can freeze or share with all of your (gay) friends.

Enjoy!