Deep Fried...Something

Teriyaki Chicken

I have to admit, I was initially completely intrigued when I saw this recipe.  When I think of teriyaki, I think of soy sauce, ginger, and sugar.  I've never even considered balsamic vinegar, miso paste, and mirin!  I went on a search for the ingredients, which ended up taking me to 5 different stores before I found the miso paste.  Then, of course, I didn't read the recipe properly ahead of time, so I went to make it only to realize it needed to marinate for several hours.  I finally made the marinade on Thursday night and cooked up the chicken on Friday.  It was ok, but not worth the effort of going to 5 stores.  Now I have to figure out what to do with a 32-ounce bag of red miso paste!

Teriyaki Chicken

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2/3 cup honey
• 2 teaspoons freshly chopped ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 teaspoon red miso
• 2 teaspoon mirin
• 2 Tablespoons water
• 3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Directions:

1. In a small saucepan, over medium heat, bring the balsamic vinegar, the honey and the pepper to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  Allow to cool, then add the rest of the ingredients.
2. Put chicken in a 1 gallon ziploc bag.  Add sauce and refrigerate, turning occasionally, for 8-24 hours.
3. Remove chicken from bag and grill or pan-fry.  Pour sauce into small saucepan and bring to a boil.  Cook for 5-10 minutes.
4. Serve chicken with extra sauce.

Notes:
The original recipe called for agave syrup, but I used honey instead.  I served it (as the picture shows) with steamed broccoli and carrots, on a bed of red and white quinoa.  The sauce really is fairly tasty, it's just not worth all the effort to find the ingredients.

Peppery Brown Sugar Salmon

This recipe originated here, but I made a few changes based on what I had in my spice drawer and fridge. 

Peppery Brown Sugar Salmon

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lbs salmon fillets (bones removed)
• 3 Tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 3/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon zest (or dried lemon rind) 
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. 
   
2. Line a shallow baking sheet with foil.  Pat the salmon fillets dry with paper towels and place on foil.
   
3. Melt the butter and lemon juice in a small bowl and brush the salmon liberally with the butter.
   
4. Combine the rest of the seasonings in a small bowl and mix.
5. Sprinkle the seasonings over the salmon and press down gently.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes, then turn broiler on and broil for 1 minute.

Notes:
I put it under the broiler for 1 minute, I think I should have done 2-3 minutes to caramelize the brown sugar a little more.

Scallion Cheese Puffs

I originally saw this recipe here, and it looked too good not to try.  This was my first attempt at baking bread-like food in a long time, and they came out really well.  Next step: something with yeast.

Scallion Cheese Puffs

^{Picture from original recipe}

Ingredients:

• 1 cup water
• 5 extra large eggs
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1  cup gruyere cheese, shredded
• 1/2 cup scallions, sliced thin (white and light green part only)
• 1 cup unbleached flour, sifted
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• shredded gruyere for topping

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Combine water, butter, and salt into a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. 
3. Remove from heat, and add the flour all at once.  Whisk vigorously  for a few moments, stirring constantly until the mixture has thickened and is pulling away from the sides of the pan, a minute or less.
4. Stir in 4 eggs one at a time, making sure each egg is fully incorporated before adding the next.  Stir in the cheese and the scallions.
5. Line a shallow baking sheet with parchment paper. Drop the batter by the tablespoon onto the baking sheet, spacing the puffs about 1 inch apart.
6. Beat the remaining egg with a teaspoon of water in a small bowl. Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the tops with the egg. Sprinkle lightly with shredded gruyere.
7. Bake for about 20 minutes on center rack, until they are puffed and golden brown - they should sound hollow when tapped. They can be made a few hours in advance and reheated at 375 degrees for about 5 minutes. They freeze well - just thaw and reheat in a 375 degree oven again for 5 minutes or until heated through.

Notes:
The recipe says it makes 18, but I had 24 on my baking sheet with a little batter left over.  I think I also made them slightly too big (heaping tablespoons), because they took around 25 minutes to be fully cooked.

Homemade Butter

I was stumbling through food recipes the other day and found this remarkably simple recipe for homemade butter.  I couldn't believe that it was this easy, so I tried it myself.  Sure enough, in less than 5 minutes, I had butter.  As the original site says, you could flavor this pretty much however you want (garlic, honey, chili pepper, etc.).  For us, half the fun was just watching the cream go through its different stages in the Cuisinart!

Homemade Butter

Ingredients:

• 2 cups heavy whipping cream (do NOT get table cream)

Directions:

1. Pour cream into food processor.  Attach the lid and turn power on.  Cream will go through several stages (soft, firm, whipped, etc.) before suddenly separating out into butter and buttermilk.  The entire process takes 3-5 minutes.
2. Drain butter, reserving liquid if you'd like (it's buttermilk!).  For best results, press butter down into strainer to get as much liquid out as possible.  Store in airtight container.  Butter will keep for longer if you store it with a layer of water on top.  Just dump the water off, use the butter, and put fresh water on top each time.

Notes:
I stopped the Cuisinart once during the whipped cream stage to scrape down the sides.  If you're not sure if it's been on long enough, keep mixing it.  It will be very clear when it suddenly becomes butter.

Italian Chicken and Tortellini

No picture today, but there's not technically a recipe either, so I guess it all balances out.  I opened the refrigerator today and realized I had some chicken breasts that I had bought but I wasn't sure what to do with them.  I decided to make pasta and chicken.  I didn't measure out any of the spices, but here's the general gist.

Italian Chicken and Tortellini

Ingredients:

• 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 3 slices bacon
• 1 bag Bertolli tortellini (I used Spinach and Cheese)
• Olive oil
• Garlic
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• Balsamic vinegar
• Italian herbs (I used this blend)
• Salt
• Pepper

Directions:

1. Chop chicken into bite-sized pieces.  Put in ziploc bag and season with Italian herbs, salt, and pepper.
2. Cook tortellini according to package directions.  Drain and set aside.
3. Meanwhile, chop bacon into small pieces.  Cook in large pan over medium-high heat until crispy.  Remove bacon with slotted spoon and set aside on paper towels.
4. Add garlic to bacon drippings in pan.  Cook for about 1 minute, then add about 1 Tablespoon of olive oil. Add chicken and cook until no longer pink.
5. Add undrained tomatoes and bacon and stir until warm.  Add chicken and sauce to pot with tortellini.  Add 2-3 Tablespoons of balsamic vinegar.  Cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes.  Season to taste.

Notes:
For having no recipe, this was probably the best thing I've cooked this week.  Which means, of course, I'll never quite be able to recreate it.

Farmhouse Butternut Squash Soup

I first saw this recipe in an e-mail from Gourmet magazine, but the e-mail left out a significant part of how to make it.  Luckily, once it was published in the February edition, the full recipe became available online.  I made a couple of minor modifications, mainly because I thought I had chicken or vegetable broth in my pantry but I didn't.  See the notes section for details.

Farmhouse Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients:

• 4 bacon slices
• 4 large garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
• 2 lb butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and chopped
• 1/2 lb carrots, chopped
• 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and chopped
• 3 thyme sprigs
• 2 Turkish bay leaves or 1 California
• 3 1/2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 2 cups water
• 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons cider vinegar

Directions:

1. Cook bacon in a 4- to 6-qt heavy pot over medium heat until crisp. Transfer bacon to paper towels to drain.
2. Add garlic and caraway seeds to fat in pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until garlic is pale golden, about 1 minute. Add squash, carrots, apple, thyme, bay leaves, broth, water, 3/4 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper and boil, uncovered, until vegetables are tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Discard thyme and bay leaves.
3.  Purée about 4 cups soup in a blender, in batches if necessary, until smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids). Return to pot and season with salt, pepper, and vinegar. Serve topped with crumbled bacon.

Notes:
I made the following substitutions:dried thyme leaves instead of fresh thyme and beef broth and V8 instead of chicken broth.  I also used an immersion blender for the blending step, leaving several chunks since the recipe seemed to lend itself to that idea.  It came out pretty good, but I'd like to try it again with chicken or vegetable broth.

Mongolian Beef

Sorry for the lack of posts lately.  Our son unexpectedly was in the hospital for 12 days, which made it rather hard to cook anything.  You can read about our ordeal over on Sarah's Blog.  He's doing great now that we're home, so on with the show!

I found this recipe using StumbleUpon, and it looked too good not to try.  I made a couple of minor modifications, and it came out really tasty.  I'll definitely be making this one again, perhaps with a *little* bit more hot pepper.  This was my first time using my Tien Tsin peppers (three times as hot as crushed red pepper), and I decided to err on the side of too little so as not to ruin Valentine's Day dinner. :)

Mongolian Beef


Ingredients:

• 1 lb flank steak, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 3 teaspoons of canola oil
• 1/2 teaspoon grated ginger (about 1/2 inch piece)
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic (about 2 -3 large cloves)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
• 2-4 Tien Tsin peppers (or 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes)
• 3 large green onions, sliced
• Rice, for serving

Directions:

1. For the meat, make sure the steak slices are dry by patting them with a paper towel. Slice them into strips, then add the cornstarch to the beef. Place the slices in a strainer and shake off excess corn starch. Begin to cook the rice while you prepare the rest of the meal.
2. For the sauce, heat half of the oil in a large wok or pan at medium-high heat and add the garlic and the ginger. Immediately add the soy sauce, water, brown sugar and hot peppers. Cook the sauce for about 2 minutes and transfer to a bowl. Don’t worry if the sauce doesn’t look thick enough at this point. The corn starch in the beef will thicken it up later.
3. Place the meat in the same pan with the remaining oil and cook, stirring until it is all browned (this is a quick thing). Pour the sauce back into the wok/pan and let it cook along with the meat, 5-10 minutes or until sauce reaches desired thickness.
4. Add the green onions during the last minute so the green parts will stay green and the white parts crunchy. Serve it hot with rice. Serves 2.

Notes:
I did a quick stir-fry of carrots, onions, broccoli, water chestnuts, and white onion before I cooked the beef.  The sauce was perfect for the vegetables and there was plenty for the beef and the veggies.  I used 2 peppers, I think 4 would be just the right amount.  I didn't cut them up, and I removed them when I added the green onion so we wouldn't accidentally eat them.