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Monthly Archives: December 2014

12 Buttermilk Recipes for Every Meal from Breakfast to Dessert Slideshow – Bon Appétit

12 Buttermilk Recipes for Every Meal from Breakfast to Dessert Slideshow – Bon Appétit.

I find myself using buttermilk quite often as an ingredient in all types of recipes, from biscuits, breads and cakes to chicken and everything in between. It is pretty versatile and adds some great flavor to all kinds if dishes. Bon Appetit has put together 12 recipes that make use of buttermilk so you can incorporate it into a bunch of different meals. Check it out!

 

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Crazy Days of Inconvenient Crashes and Cashew Chicken

It has been a crazy day, or actually a crazy week around here as my computer keeps going up and down. My laptop kept crashing several times a day until we finally decided to do something about it and ended up replacing it with a new desktop instead. In the meantime I kind of put everything else on hold so I haven’t been able to do much as far as work, blogging, or just about anything else as we tried to get everything set up. Along the way, I haven’t had much time to do any cooking either. I did manage to do a couple of meals so I do have a few new recipes to share, and I did a couple of recipes without an any pictures being involved, so I do have some things to post. One that we tried recently was for a takeout favorite of cashew chicken. Just like any other stir fry recipe, it is pretty easy to put together and doesn’t take a lot of effort on your part so you can make this just about any night of the week when you feel like having something a little bit different. Most of the ingredients are things you may have around most of the time anyway, other than perhaps the water chestnuts where the cashews themselves.

 

Cashew Chicken

For the Chicken:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, thinly sliced

3 tablespoons dry sherry

1 teaspoon ground ginger or 2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger

3 cloves garlic, sliced

4 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch

3/4 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup soy sauce

5 tablespoons hoisin sauce

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 teaspoons vegetable or canola oil

1 cup cashews, chopped or cashew pieces

2 scallions thinly sliced

1/2 can water chestnuts

1 green, yellow, orange, or red bell pepper, roughly chopped

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional

For the chicken, in a medium bowl, combine the chicken, dry sherry, ginger, garlic and 2 teaspoons of the cornstarch. Cover the bowl and chill the mixture for 30 minutes. In a separate small bowl, combine the chicken broth, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, and red pepper flakes, if using, and 2 1/2 teaspoons of the cornstarch; whisk until the ingredients are well blended. Set the bowl aside.

Sauté 2 teaspoons of the vegetable oil and half of the chicken mixture in a large skillet set over high heat for 2 minutes, then turn the chicken pieces over and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Transfer the cooked chicken to a plate and add the remaining chicken to the skillet. Cook the chicken pieces in the same manner, turning after 2 minutes and cooking until they are heated through. Add a little more vegetable oil to the pan if it is needed. Add the peppers to the pan, sautéing the peppers for about 2 minutes until they are tender. Return the 1st batch of cooked chicken to the skillet. Stir in the chicken broth mixture and add the water chestnuts then bring the mixture to a low boil. Turn the heat down to a simmer and cook until the sauce begins to thicken, about 1 to 3 minutes. Add the cashews to the skillet and mix to incorporate them into the dish. Top with the scallions, if desired, and serve.

This is the ideal dish to serve with fried rice if you feel like making it for the dinner, though I just served mine with white rice. This tastes just like the cashew chicken you would get from any takeout Chinese restaurant and you have better control over the ingredients yourself. You could easily use boneless thighs if you prefer dark meat for your chicken and add any vegetables that you like to the dish if you want. The sauce is the real winner here as it is great with the combination of sticky sweet with a bit of heat from the red pepper flakes. it is a very easy dish that is perfect for a weeknight meal.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by on December 5, 2014 in Cooking, Dinner, One Pot Meals, Poultry, Stir Fry

 

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75 Holiday Appetizers – Photo Gallery | SAVEUR

75 Holiday Appetizers – Photo Gallery | SAVEUR.

The holiday season is upon us and that means family meals, parties and more that you will be hosting or attending. If you want some unique and different appetizer ideas for things to do in your own home or to bring to a party, Saveur has put together 75 great holiday appetizers that will dazzle and delight a crowd. Check it out!

I’ve been having some computer issues with crashes and what not on my laptop and I am in the process of setting up a new computer to use for work and leisure, so as soon as I have everything up and running and am caught up with work I can get back to blogging again. I’ll be back shortly!

 
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Posted by on December 4, 2014 in Appetizers, Cooking, Cooking Websites, Holidays, Snacks

 

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Back Home for Pan-Roasted Chicken with Vegetables and Dijon Jus

After spending last week visiting my family in North Carolina it’s back to the real world of work, school and cooking here in New York. We had a great visit with everyone and had a fun time over the Thanksgiving holiday, enjoying a great meal and good times with the family. It was good to get home after a long drive back so we took it easy Saturday and had a nice one dish meal on Sunday, making use of a whole chicken, some fresh veggies and this recipe from Serious Eats for a pan-roasted chicken with vegetables in a Dijon jus for some added zest and flavor. it’s another great one dish meal that you can put together pretty easily and is packed with great flavors.

Pan-Roasted Chicken with Vegetables and Dijon Jus

16 fingerling or yellow new potatoes, scrubbed

3 carrots, 2 peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks, 1 roughly chopped

Kosher salt

16 Brussels sprouts, halved

Freshly ground black pepper

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

1 whole chicken (about 4 pounds), cut into 8 serving pieces, backbone reserved

1 cup dry white wine

1 onion, split in half

1 celery stalk, roughly chopped

3 to 4 sprigs fresh sage

2 bay leaves

2 cups chicken stock

1 shallot, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon juice from 1 lemon

2 teaspoons fish sauce

Adjust an oven rack to the center position and preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Place the potatoes and the carrots cut into 1-inch chunks in a medium saucepan, cover the vegetables with cold salted water and bring them to a boil, then simmer the vegetables until they are just tender, about 10 minutes. Drain the vegetables and transfer them to a large bowl. Add the Brussels sprouts, season the vegetables with salt and pepper, toss with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and set the vegetables aside.

Transfer the chicken backbone to the now-empty saucepan. Add the roughly chopped carrot, onion,celery, sage, and bay leaves. Set the saucepan aside. Season the chicken pieces thoroughly with salt and pepper.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large cast iron skillet set over high heat until the oil is lightly smoking. Add the chicken pieces skin side down and cook, moving the chicken pieces as little as possible, until the chicken skin is rendered and a deep golden brown, about 10 to 14 minutes. Flip the pieces as they finish and lightly brown the second side, about 3 minutes longer. Transfer the browned chicken pieces to a plate and set them aside.

When all the chicken is browned, add the white wine to the skillet and scrape up any browned bits with a wooden spoon. Transfer the white wine to a medium saucepan and put in the reserved chicken backbone. Pour in any juices that have accumulated on the chicken resting plate and wipe out the skillet with a paper towel.

Add the chicken stock to the saucepan with the chicken backbone. Bring the stock to a simmer over high heat, reduce the heat to the lowest setting, cover and let the stock gently bubble while the chicken roasts. Add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil to the skillet and heat the skillet over high heat until the oil is lightly smoking. Add the vegetable mixture and top the vegetables with the chicken pieces, skin side up. Transfer the skillet to the oven and roast until the chicken breasts register 150 degrees and the chicken legs register at least 165 degrees on an instant read thermometer, removing the chicken pieces and transferring them to a clean plate as they finish roasting, about 45 minutes total.

When all of the chicken pieces have finished roasting, add the shallots to the skillet with the vegetables and toss them to combine. Return the skillet to the oven and continue roasting, flipping the vegetables occasionally, until the vegetables and shallots are browned all over, about 10 minutes. Remove the skillet from the oven, add the parsley, toss to coat and then place the chicken pieces directly on top of the vegetables.

Strain the simmering chicken broth mixture into a small saucepan or bowl. Whisk in the butter, Dijon mustard, lemon juice and fish sauce. Season the jus to taste with salt and pepper. Serve the chicken and vegetables, serving the jus at the table.

This meal is packed with ingredients and lots of great flavor. You get a really nice browning on the chicken pieces and I liked everything set over the vegetables to get even more flavor onto the veggies. I actually added the shallot in from the start and roasted the vegetables just with the chicken, tossing them lightly when I took the chicken out and then put the chicken right back in the skillet. The Dijon jus was a nice touch with the chicken and vegetables, with a good mix of the mustard, lemon juice and fish sauce. It all came together very nicely and mostly in one dish (outside of the prep work) so it was easy clean-up as well.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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