Coaching Cooking

I made the white chop chicken today because I have craved it for days. Here are a few notes:

Wash the chicken carefully and make sure the skin is smooth (remove any bits of feather…my chicken was kosher so it still had remnants of the feathers stuck to its skin).

The chicken should cook in about an hour or an hour and fifteen minutes. If you cut the chicken in half and find that it is still quite pink, you can return it to the hot water for about 10-15 minutes. Be careful with the cooking time. Too much cooking time will result in a dry, overcooked chicken. I made that mistake this time and the chicken was dry in some parts.

Be sure to dry the skin well after removing the chicken from the hot water. Basting the chicken skin with salad oil or canola oil results in a juicier chicken.

Finally, try the green-onion sauce. It is simple and tangy and goes great with white, steamed rice.

Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund

April 16, 2007, will be remembered as one of the darkest days in the history of the Virginia Tech community and the world beyond.

To remember and honor the victims of those tragic events, the university has established the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund to aid in the healing process and generate financial support.

The fund will be used to cover expenses including but not limited to:

• Grief counseling
• Memorials
• Communication expenses
• Comfort expenses
• Incidental needs

If you plan to give, please click the link below:

Using the leftover chicken from the white chop chicken recipe, you can make a refreshing Chinese chicken salad. This is my favorite way to use leftover roasted or steamed chicken. It makes a great weekend lunch or light dinner. Mandarin oranges aren’t authentic, but then again the salad itself is more American than Chinese. So, I present my Chinese-American chicken salad.

Jenny’s Chinese Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

1 cup of shredded chicken
3 cups of washed salad greens (use romaine or butter lettuce for best results)
2 green onions (the white part and some of the green tops), thinly sliced
1 small can of mandarin oranges, drained
1/3 cup of toasted almond slivers
optional: 2 teaspoons of sesame seeds and 1/3 cup of cilantro leaves
salad dressing (recipe to follow) ingredients:
1 tablespoons of light sesame oil
2 tablespoon of soy sauce
2 tablespoons of canola oil or salad oil
salt and pepper to taste

**Note**: This salad is definitely open to interpretation. I suggest also adding thinly sliced carrot rounds or cucumber rounds. You can also add wonton strips or those (in my opinion) horrific chow mein “noodles” that come in a can (okay, they taste good too). I’ve also had Chinese chicken salad with uncooked, crumbled ramen noodles on top. Experiment with the ingredients that you like to eat. And of course it’s more fun if you make this salad your own.

Directions:

Shred the chicken into thin, small pieces. Combine all of the salad dressing ingredients in a small jar by shaking a few times until everything is combined. In a large bowl, mix together all of the salad ingredients except for the mandarin oranges. Add the salad dressing and carefully toss all of the ingredients together. Sprinkle the salad with sesame seeds and cilantro leaves and then top with the mandarin oranges. Serve immediately. Enjoy!

As I was re-reading “My Life in Franceâ€? by Julia Child (with Alex Prud’homme), her words of wisdom struck me as particularly charming on a night after I had cooked a quick pasta dinner. We live in such busy times and it is often tempting to eat out or to pick up a quick meal at the grocery store. And hey, sometimes that’s all you need. But Julia is the quintessential hedonist because she loves fresh, delicious food prepared with a caring hand. In fact, as she states at the end of “My Life in Franceâ€?:

In Paris in the 1950s, I had the supreme good fortune to study with a remarkably able group of chefs. From them I learned why good French food is an art, and why it makes such sublime eating: nothing is too much trouble if it turns out the way it should. Good results require that one take time and care.

And I truly believe Julia. Fast food is always tempting and available and it does satisfy a need and a hunger for those on the go. Great cuisine, and even just a simple, good meal, takes time and care and the desire to elevate a meal beyond a tally of calories.

The recipe below calls for frozen shrimp because it is easy and saves time. And I often believe in splitting the difference during the week and using fresh ingredients or mostly fresh ingredients with taste results. Of course, you can also buy fresh shrimp and cook it in seasoned water and savor the delight of eating seafood at the peak of deliciousness. The choice is entirely up to you. Either way, I think you’ll enjoy the following simple salad (and eat it with someone you love, why doncha?).

Quick Shrimp Salad for Two

Ingredients:

16 frozen shrimp (use the kind that is raw frozen and peeled with only the tails)
2 heaping tablespoons of Greektown “Billygoat” seasoning from The Spice House (or a seasoning that you like)
1 head of butter lettuce
¼ of a red onion, sliced into thin strips
4 cherry tomatoes, quartered
4-5 tablespoons of Brianna’s Poppyseed or Chipotle Cheddar Dressing (you have to try these sometime, they are fabulous!)

optional toppings: boiled egg sliced into thin rounds, shredded carrot, thin slices of cucumber, chopped green onion or chives, bean sprouts, kidney beans, or whatever you like!

Directions:

Cook the shrimp in boiling water according to the package directions (for about 2-3 minutes). You can add seasoning to the water before you add the shrimp. I tried adding Greek seasoning from The Spice House with great results, but you can also add garlic powder, parsley, cumin powder, Italian seasoning or any flavors that you enjoy.

While the shrimp is boiling, prepare a large bowl with 4-6 ice cubes and 4 cups of cold water. Remove the boiled shrimp from the burner after it is done cooking and drain quickly then drop all of the shrimp into the ice water bowl. Let the shrimp sit in the ice water for about 2 minutes until the shrimp is cooled. Drain the shrimp again and set aside.

Clean the butter lettuce and tear into bite-size pieces. Divide the lettuce among the two dinner plates. Top with the onion, the cherry tomatoes, the optional toppings and ring each plate with 8 shrimp. Drizzle the salad dressing on top. You can also serve this salad with a wedge of lemon.

This salad is a great starter to a spring or summer meal. Serve it with a chilled white wine such as Chardonnay or vinho verde (one of my favorite summer wines). I highly recommend looking for vinho verde as the weather warms up. It is such a crisp, refreshing summer wine and it pairs well with summer fare including salads, grilled meats, pasta, appetizers of all kinds and vegetable dishes.

Bon Appetit!

Julia Child, words of wisdom, shrimp, shrimp salad, vinho verde, summer salad, Brianna’s salad dressing

Tonight was barbecue night. AB loves to grill burgers and we decided to add some chicken wings to the mix.

Here’s a quick recipe for chicken wings with an Asian marinade. It is light and tasty with a spicy tang.

Tuesday Night Chicken BBQ Marinade:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of dark soy sauce
3 tablespoons of Mae Ploy sweet chili sauce
2 teaspoons of sesame oil
3-4 dashes of Sriracha chili sauce

Directions:

Whisk the ingredients together and add the chicken wings. I marinated my chicken wings for about 30 minutes, but you can also prepare the marinade ahead of time and add the chicken wings. Keep the marinating chicken wings in the fridge until you’re ready to grill.

As you grill the chicken wings, brush the sauce over several times. Discard the remaining sauce.

Happy grilling!

There have been times when I’ve questioned my diet and times when I’ve hoped to reform my caloric intake to reflect a style of eating (vegetarianism, the Hiroshima diet, macrobiotic diet). Then I scrapped it all and just started enjoying all foods. So, in defense of fats, I must give my support to the villainized fat (butter, meat, cheese, oil, sour cream and on and on). We are encouraged in this day and age to live cautiously and to devour the latest scientific reports on what is healthy and what is evil. People often refer to foods as good or bad. They might say, “Oh, I’m being bad today. Diet starts tomorrow!” And some foods (chocolate, fried foods, desserts of all kinds) are labelled as sinful. And yet, I submit that perhaps it is okay to stray from rigid ways of eating. Who reaches the end of their life and wishes that they’d eaten more green vegetables or bran cereal?

This reflection brings me to a central idea, namely, that fat is good. Fat tastes good. Fat adds flavor to foods. I’m not suggesting that one should smear all dishes with unlimited tallow or butter. Instead, I just want to promote the fact that fat is sometimes an unloved component of our culinary repertoire. Give me a steak with some marbling or some potatoes sautéed in a little olive oil or butter. Yes, flavor can be added using a variety of other flavorings (chicken stock, broth, herbs, to name a few).

Hey, I love my sandwiches with some chilled mayonnaise. I adore steamed artichokes with a small side of mayo. Pork chops taste bland without a little pork fat to make those chops sing. AB loves broccoli with a light dusting of grated parmesan. Just a simple plate of bread, soft garlic butter and a good French cheese is enough to make me forget about all other foods.

The “mouthfeel� of food includes that richness brought in by fat. If you’ve ever tried to replace sour cream with that nonfat garbage then you know exactly what I mean. I’m not seduced by nonfat milk. It’s like drinking white-colored water! Try a little silkiness and spring for the one percent or go crazy and get two percent (you know you want it…).

Sometimes, just a simple pat of butter can elevate a dish from good to great. Experiment and find just the right amount of richness. Sure, you may not ever look like Halle Berry, but at least you can say that you ate like a queen.

There was some beef leftover from our delicious Valentine’s Day fondue dinner. I also had some pea pods, red onion and udon noodles plus soy sauce, sesame oil and sriracha chili sauce. At times, some of the most satisfying meals come from whatever is in the fridge.

Lazy Friday Beef Stir-Fry

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups cubed beef ribeye (or any cut of beef)
1/3 cup of sliced red onion
1 1/2 cups of pea pods, washed and ends trimmed
1 package of udon noodles (these can be found in the supermarket near the tofu, usually placed near the produce section by the other refridgerated Asian items)
3 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
1 tablespoon of sriracha hot sauce
2 tablespoons of canola oil or vegetable oil

Directions:

Cook the udon noodles in the microwave with 2 cups of water for about 4-5 minutes until the noodles are warmed. Drain the noodles and set aside.

Marinate the raw beef cubes in the soy, sesame oil and sriracha hot sauce for a few minutes while you prep the vegetables.

Heat 1 tablespoon of canola oil in a nonstick pan on high heat. Quickly cook the pea pods for a few minutes. Then set the pea pods aside until later.

Add the remaining tablespoon of canola oil to the pan and saute the onions until they are browned and tender. Then add the beef and cook for about 5-6 minutes so that all pieces of beef are brown on all sides.

Cook the beef until medium or medium-rare. You can test one cube of beef while the rest is cooking. Cut a cube of beef in half to check the doneness.

After the beef is cooked to your liking, add the udon noodles and pea pods and stir together. Continue cooking everything for a few more minutes so all the flavors combine.

This noodle dish tastes great with ginger ale or beer. Here’s a quick cucumber salad that makes a great side dish:

Cucumber Salad

Ingredients:
1 cucumber, washed, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch rounds
2-3 teaspoons of sugar
2 tablespoons of rice vinegar
1 tablespoon of sesame oil

Directions:

Combine all of the ingredients and refridgerate for at least 30 minutes. Serve cold. Add black and regular sesame seeds for color. You can also add chopped cilantro leaves on top.

I just received a package from my sis who lives in Boston. Enclosed inside was a very cute “Love Duckie” and a chocolate bar from Bloomsberry & Co. I’ve never tried their chocolate before so I’m doing a mini-tasting and I’ll post some notes later. I absolutely love chocolate and AB is probably the only man I’ve ever met who likes chocolate even more than I do (and he’s still able to cling to his manliness so I give him extra points…not that it matters because who doesn’t love chocolate except for a few of you out there who I don’t get).

Happy Valentine’s Day! May your evening include lots of hedonism…chocolate or otherwise!

I am someone who loves to go out to eat. Yes, it might seem strange since I also like to cook. But, it’s pretty clear that it’s hard to enjoy a meal that you’ve made if you’ve been making it for several hours. Yes, there have been many wonderful, truly indulgent meals.

Still, this year (mostly due to budget cuts in my life), AB and I are making Valentine’s Day dinner together. There’s also something so homey and cozy about dinner at home when you can eat with abandon, spill food on your clothes (or anywhere else for that matter). Plus, when dinner is done and you’re feeling a bit sloshy and full: hey, you’re already home! And there’s no horrific bill to sign because you already paid for everything. Plus there’s a great big box of chocolates and maybe even a movie to commemorate the occasion (try “Singles” or “Annie Hall” or “Sex and Lucia”).

Here’s our Valentine’s Day 2007 menu: (the starred* items have recipes below)

Dungeness Crab cocktail
Prosciutto-wrapped asparagus*

Beef fondue with mushrooms and pea pods*
Roasted red potatoes with herbs
Red wine (help me out here, Farley)

See’s chocolates (you HAVE to try these some time…they’re no Maison du Chocolat, but they are really great)
Bonny Doon’s Framboise

Recipes and links:

Prosciutto-wrapped Asparagus

Ingredients:

1 bunch of asparagus, washed and stalks trimmed (the bottom few inches) to remove the tough outer leaves
1/4 lb. of prosciutto (AB recommends San Daniele brand prosciutto)
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup of good olive oil

Directions:

Blanch the asparagus in salted water for a few minutes until the asparagus are bright green, but not mushy. Drain asparagus and cool to room temperature. Mix the balsamic, olive oil and salt and pepper together in a small bowl. Wrap a thin slice of prosciutto around each asparagus stalk and arrange the wrapped asparagus on a platter. Serve with the balsamic dipping sauce. Feed to your lover….or to your loved ones!

Beef Fondue:

Here’s a link to basic ingredients for beef fondue plus sauces. I also recommend using an electic wok for greater surface area (so more people can cook the beef cubes). Beef fondue also goes great with some dipping sauces including:

**horseradish cream
**soy sauce, sesame oil, and chopped green onions
**barbeque sauce (one of my favorites is this one from Stonewall Kitchen)
**worchestershire sauce
**okay, some people out there like ketchup. It tastes great with the cheaper cuts of beef. If you’re serving filet mignon, I have to say no. Find a fancier sauce.

Serve beef fondue with fresh vegetables as these can also be cooked in the fondue or wok pots.

Beef fondue can also be cooked in chicken broth. Then serve it with cubes of tofu (cooked in the broth as well) and vegetables. After the fondue has been used for a while, the broth can then be served as a flavorful soup with udon noodles, tofu and thinly sliced (or quick-cooking) vegetables like napa cabbage, spinach or baby bok choy (thrown these in to cook for a few minutes). Fondue is so much fun to serve at a dinner party or just with the one you love (feeding each other is optional and probably best done only when the two of you are together and far away from the rest of the unsentimental world!).

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Apologies in advance for the estrogen-laden comments in this post. I own all of the “Sex and the City” seasons on dvd and now many episodes have entered themselves into my daily lexicon. Sorry, guys. I am truly sorry.

So, although I am now married, I still desperately cling to random behaviors from my past (and I’ve also developed new ones). I won’t bore you with all the details, but here are a few:

knitting while watching anything on iTunes, making a quick lemonade in my Nalgene bottle with lemon slices, sugar, lemon juice and several large ice cubes, painting my toenails red while watching Law & Order…and now on to the food…

Lately, I’ve realized that many people have secret single behaviors that involve peanut butter (and yes, the ones I speak of are all G-rated, so don’t get too excited).

My secret single behavior involves Trader Joe’s mini stone wheat crackers, peanut butter and jam. See below:

Somehow this combination is vastly superior to pb&j with the crusts cut off (sorry, Bender). There’s a quick crunch of the cracker plus the immensely satisfying creaminess of the peanut butter and the sweet tang of jam.

Peanut butter is one of those foods that inspires plenty of SSB or at least some brief attacks with a large spoon. Here are some other combinations that might inspire SSB or a nice snack:

Spoonfuls of peanut butter with honey (this is a nod to my father-in-law, Mark)

Spoonfuls of peanut butter and chocolate chips

Peanut butter on toast with honey and coconut

And there are many more…enjoy your secret single behavior with peanut butter. I know my furniture secretly enjoys the break it gets while my yappy mouth is busy chomping away at pb&j on crackers.

Tim at Wii Rally alerted me to this game that will be available later this year.

Even if you don’t play video games (I am included in that category) you HAVE to check out the demo for this game. It combines a healthy dose of chopping and food prep with the creepiness and glorious faux emotion that Japanese games often include (um, anyone who has played Bust-A-Move can agree with me on that one). Plus the stilted English dialogue is nothing short of hilarious (okay, or it is at least quite entertaining).

Thanks, Tim. This game looks like a lot of fun and will make anyone feel like a pro chef (or a virtual pro chef with the remote).

Yet another craving for Baja Blast leads me to drink the nectared poison that is Mountain Dew’s answer to a chlorinated pool in beverage form. Hence:

Technorati Profile

Here’s a picture of a great avocado that AB and I bought in Hawaii, on the Big Island, during our honeymoon:

It was the size of a canteloupe and it tasted perfectly of ripe, glorious avocado flavor. We proceeded to eat mass quantities of guacamole. I wish I’d had time to make an omelet with shredded Monterey Jack, sauteed onion and chopped avocado.

Avocados are delicate and difficult to keep for long periods of time. Here are a few tips about testing for ripeness and storing avocados.

Ripe avocados: Avocados are ripe when the flesh gives just slightly under pressure. Don’t wait to long to eat ripe avocados! Sometimes avocados feel very soft to the touch and that usually means the avocado has developed brown spots in its flesh. Ripe avocados look yellowish green and they do not taste overripe (overripe avocados have a dull, rotten taste). I usually buy avocados hard and ripen them slowly in a bowl for a few days.

Storing avocados: My suggestion is to use the avocado as soon as it is ripe. You can keep avocados overnight by covering the avocado flesh with lemon juice and wrapping tightly in plastic wrap (so it doesn’t brown when it’s exposed to air).

For more tips, see helpful information about buying and preparing avocados here and here.

Farley at Wine Outlook, mentioned a salad with avocado that she loves to cook. This salad reminds me of that classic avocado salad dressing, green goddess. To my surprise, the original green goddess dressing does not include avocados. Here’s a great recipe for the original green goddess. My suggestion is to add chopped avocado to this mix for a creamier, more delicious salad. Here’s a Paula Deen recipe from Food Network’s website for an avocado salad dressing with Worchestershire sauce.

Next time I will include my recipe for an Avocado Omelet with Monterey Jack and sauteed onions and mushrooms. Bon appetit!

Whether you want to call them fruits or vegetables (okay, they are technically fruits), avocados are the creamy, green loves of my life. I’m still waiting to see how badly California avocados were hit by this fearsome winter. And I absolutely love pretty much any dish that includes avocado.

Avocados grow in many parts of the world including California and Mexico. The California Avocado Commission has a website with recipes. Also Hass avocados have their own website also replete with recipes.

Here’s a link to some great avocado recipes from the San Francisco Chronicle. And here’s a list of some of my favorite avocado dishes (with recipe links included):

Guacamole with cilantro

Guacamole with tomato, onion and hot sauce

Guacamole with step-by-step pictures

Avocado spring rolls (serve these with an Asian sweet-sour dipping sauce like Mae Ploy)

Mayan salad with citrus and avocado (from an earlier post)

Chicken and avocado sandwiches

Pasta with shredded parmesan cheese, butter and avocado (this is a diy dish that you can adjust to include anything you like…shredded chicken, shrimp, other veggies)

Although I am ready to eat avocados with pretty much anything (except dessert), here’s

Avocado shakes or smoothies: see this one complete with a photo to get your juices flowing (or at least your brain a-tinglin’). The CA Avocado Commission also includes this one with a disclaimer (which really doesn’t make me want to make their recipe!).

Last week, Mark Bittman, known as the Minimalist, wrote an article about a delicious Chinese dish that incorporates shrimp and eggs. The article is still available through New York Times Select, but you have to have a membership to access the article.

Here’s a quick version of that shrimp and eggs recipe. It’s very easy to make and requires a bit of practice because the eggs cook very quickly. Enjoy!

Shrimp and Eggs

Ingredients:

8-10 peeled and deveined shrimp
3-4 eggs
2 green onions, coarsely chopped into half-inch pieces (include some of the green tops)
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
1 teaspoon of soy sauce
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil or peanut oil
salt to taste

Directions:

Beat the eggs gently and fold in the shrimp, green onions, soy sauce and sesame oil. Place a medium-size nonstick skillet on medium-high heat and immediately add the oil then the egg mixture. Push the eggs around the skillet so that curds form and make sure the eggs do not clump up too much so that the entire egg dish stays creamy. Cook until the shrimp are pink, but not raw. Serve immediately with steamed, white rice.