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.