Hainan Chicken Rice (Vietnamese style)

The traditional way to serve Hainan chicken rice is to have a whole chopped chicken alongside of the garlic rice. It also take hours and hours to get it done right. My grandmother spends a whole day cooking whenever we had Hainan chicken rice for dinner. I remember watching her pick out a chicken from the Los Angeles Chinatown live chicken shop, take it home, and spend the afternoon prepping the chicken. I always looked forward to it - I thought it was the most delicious dish she made for us. In this variation of Hainan chicken rice, Trang's recipe allows you to have a lot of the original flavor of the dish with a lot less work involved.

Garlic Rice

Ingredients:

3 cups long grain jasmine rice

3 tsps garlic

6 cups chicken broth

3 tbsps fish sauce

3 tsps sugar

Method:

1. To make rice, first rinse rice and strain. Heat up the sauté pan and toast uncooked rice with garlic and oil. Once rice is golden color, add to rice cooker. Combine chicken broth, fish sauce, and sugar, and also add to rice cooker. Cook according to instructions of rice cooker.

Hainan Chicken Salad (Vietnamese style)

Ingredients:

4 lbs chicken

1 large onion, thinly sliced

3 tsps salt

2 tsps sugar

4 tbsps lime juice

1 cup fresh Vietnamese coriander, chopped

Black pepper to taste

Method:

1. Bring pot of water to a rolling boil, add chicken and cook until chicken is just done. This is indicated by when juices from the meat run clear.

2. Once chicken is done, remove meat from boiling pot and plunge into an ice bath. This stops the meat from cooking and becoming dry.

3. When meat is cool enough to handle, shred chicken into thin strips. Mix shredded chicken with onion and chopped Vietnamese coriander. Season with lime juice, salt, sugar, and pepper.

4. Separately, puree fresh ginger with some fish sauce vinaigrette.

5. Serve Hainan Chicken Salad with garlic rice and ginger fish sauce vinaigrette.

Vietnamese Shrimp Cakes (banh khot)

This is one of my favorite Vietnamese dishes that a lot of non-Vietnamese eaters have never been exposed to. There's a special cast iron pan that you use for this (see picture below), and luckily my apartment mate Trang has one! She played around with the batter recipe, and here's the best one we got. I loved tasting the coconut milk in the shrimp cake, and the outer crust is slightly crunchy.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. shrimp

1 lb. rice flour

1 cup corn starch

3 cups cold water

1 cup coconut milk

1 tsp salt

5 tsp turmeric

1 cup green onions, chopped

Method:

1. Peel and devein shrimps. Cut into small pieces (3-4 pieces per shrimp) and sauté with a touch of oil and minced garlic. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Set shrimp aside.

2. Mix remaining ingredients in a mixing bowl to make batter for shrimp cake.

3. Heat up pan on medium to medium-high heat. Vietnamese shrimp cakes are made in a specialty pan very similar in shape to an Ebelskiver pan.

4. In each depression, add a tiny bit of oil, pour in batter to fill the depression about ¾ way, and immediately add a piece of shrimp. Cover and cook until batter is no longer translucent (about 2-3 minutes).

5. Uncover and cook until cakes no longer stick to pan and bottoms are crispy.

6. Plate and serve with fish sauce vinaigrette (recipe can be found in previous Vietnamese dinner meet post), and fresh lettuce and mint.

Pecan Tarts

This recipe came from my mom, and I've been using it frequently to win over friends - everyone loves it! The tart shells do take a bit of time to make; they're probably the most time-intensive part of the recipe. However, you won't be sorry you tried them: they are absolutely scrumptious, with a flaky crust and just the right amount of filling to make you want that second, third, and fourth one. :)

Makes 24.

Crust Ingredients:

1/3 package (8oz) cream cheese

6 tbs softened/melted butter

1 cup flour

Crust Instructions:

1. Knead ingredients together. Make sure the ingredients are incorporated and the dough is smooth.

2. Cut the dough into 24 even pieces and place the pieces in the tart trays.

3. Form each tart shell by lightly pressing the dough down and up the sides.

Filling Ingredients:

1 egg

2/3 cup dark brown sugar

2 tbsp melted butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

2/3 chopped pecans

Filling Instructions:

1. Whisk all ingredients except for the pecans together. Once the mixture is smooth, stir in the pecans. Make sure the pecan pieces are coated evenly.

Baking Instructions:

1. Before you begin filling each tart shell, pre-heat the oven at 350 degrees. Make sure the rack is on the middle level of your oven.

2. Fill each tart shell with 1 tsp of the filling.

3. When the oven reaches 350 degrees, place the tart trays into the oven. Bake for 20-23 minutes, until the crust is lightly golden.

Ratatouille

Ratatouille, from all accounts, takes a really long time if you want to do it right. It is a simple dish in that it doesn't require a huge amount of kitchen know-how and technique; however, it is quite complicated in the number of times you need to chop vegetables, add things to the pot, take things out of the pot, let the ingredients boil, etc. This dish takes time! Thus, though I truly wanted to try ratatouille in the traditional sense, I settled on this particular recipe because it looked like I could get something on the table in less than two hours. The flavors were delicious, but I think it could have used that additional time on the stove were we not in a rush to eat.

This recipe I took from www.epicurious.com: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Ratatouille-354344

Parmesan Couscous

This was a great and easy side to soak up the flavorful sauce of the ratatouille. In fact, it would go great with anything that had a spicy, tomato flavor like Italian meatballs perhaps. Give this a try if you want an easy starch to go with your main entree.

Ingredients:

4 cups chicken broth

2 tbsp butter

2 packages (10 oz.) plain, uncooked couscous

2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

Method:

1. Bring the chicken broth and butter to boil. Stir in the couscous, cover, and remove from heat. Let stand for 6-8 minutes.

2. Stir in the Parmesan cheese, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and ground pepper. Fluff with a fork, and serve immediately.

Potato Latkes

It's been a long time since my last post - apologies! I'm finding time now, as the holiday season starts up, to post these recipes from a month ago. You have here a potato latkes recipe that I first tried for a quick dinner. I later introduced this to the Dinner Meet crowd. Quick, delicious, and with a short list of vital ingredients - I think I might start putting this into my regular cooking rotation! The below recipe serves 2-3 people.

Ingredients:

2 cups peeled and grated potatoes

3 tbsp grated onion

1 egg, beaten

2 tbsp all-purpose flour or Matzo ball flour

1 tsp salt (slightly less than a full tsp)

1/2 cup canola or peanut oil

Method:

1. In a medium bowl, stir potatoes, onion, egg, flour, and salt together.

2. In a large, heavy-bottomed skillet over medium high heat, heat the oil until hot. Place large spoonfuls of the potato mixture into the hot oil, pressing down on them to form quarter-inch to half-inch thick patties. Brown on one side, flip, and brown the other side. Let the finished patties drain on paper towels. Serve hot with applesauce, chopped chives, and/or sour cream

Mochi Cupcakes

[An EurJean post, since I wasn't at their Dinner Meet.]

It helps to use two spoons to ball the an and scoop it into the middle of each cupcake. This cupcake does not rise as much as traditional cupcakes, so feel free to fill almost to the top. I bake them until the tops are very lightly golden brown. I also usually make a handful of no-an cupcakes for those who do not like red bean. I'm experimenting with making flavored mochi versions, like chocolate.

Ingredients:

1 box Mochiko (rice flour)
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 can soft or coarse an (Japanese sweet red beans)

Method:
Thoroughly mix the first six ingredients. Place cupcake paper in cupcake pan and fill half way with mix. Place one heaping tsp of an into center of each cupcake. Use remaining mixture to fill cupcake - about 80% full.

Bake at 375 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes or until done. Makes 24 cupcakes.

Note: If mochi cupcakes get hard or dried, place in microwave or wrap individually and heat. Can also be stored in freezer for later use.

Spam Musubi

[Another post by EurJean since I couldn't make their Dinner Meet. Thanks so much, EurJean, for making my life easy!]

We made a 1/3 cup ratio of sauce for 2 cans of spam musubi and it was plenty of sauce. Don't be grossed out by the mayo, it's surprisingly good! We also made a vegetarian version of spam musubi for Thomas using pressed teriyaki tofu (followed the same steps).

Ingredients:

1 can Spam
3 cups (measured uncooked) sushi rice
Equal parts sugar/soy sauce/mirin (preferably brown sugar)
Nori
Kewpie mayo (optional)
Musubi-maker (optional)

Method:

Slice spam into 8-10 pieces. Mix sauce (sugar, soy sauce, mirin). Fry spam until each side is crispy/browned. Add sauce to pan until it thickens and carmelizes. Assemble musubi: lay a 2-3 inch strip of nori down, put the musubi maker in the middle of the strip (horizontally), press a layer of rice down, sprinkle furikake and/or mayo layer, put in a slice of spam, sprinkle furikake and/or mayo layer, press a final layer of rice down, and fold over the pieces of nori (using a little rice to seal if necessary). This makes a sandwich style musubi (nori/rice/spam/rice/nori). You can also make a more traditional musubi (nori/rice/spam/nori).

Spinach (Korean inspired)

[Another post from EurJean since I wasn't at their Dinner Meet.]

I got this recipe online, since I don't measure anything when I make it myself (just eyeball to taste). I prefer my spinach with less soy sauce (only one tbsp) and more garlic. It is also good with a dash of mirin, red pepper powder, and ginger powder.

Ingredients:

1 lb spinach (preferably organic baby spinach, pre-washed)
3 tbsp soy sauce (preferably low-sodium)
1 tbsp sesame oil (preferably toasted)
2 cloves finely chopped garlic (pressed works as well)
2 tsp sugar (preferably brown sugar)
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sesame seeds (optional, preferably toasted)

Method:

Mix non-spinach ingredients together in a medium bowl. Blanch spinach in boiling water for 30 seconds (mix until entire bunch is mostly wilted). Squeeze excess water. Mix warm spinach with remaining ingredients in bowl.

Tonkatsu

[Everything below is written by EurJean since I was unable to make their Dinner Meet.]

Tonkatsu is traditionally served on cabbage (which is thinly sliced, soaked in cold water, then drained/dried). I also like to make this recipe with Italian bread crumbs, which is something my mom did growing up when we didn't have panko on hand. This is one of the first recipes my mom taught me.

Ingredients:

10 Thin-sliced pork cutlets
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Salt
Pepper
Flour (approx. 1-2 cups)
Lightly beaten eggs (approx. 3 eggs)
Panko (approx. 1-2 cups)
Vegetable oil for frying
Tonkatsu sauce (store-bought, my favorite brand is Bulldog)

Pork prep:
If thin-sliced pork cutlets are not available, you may cut pork chops in half or slice a pork tenderloin into cutlets. Wash and pat dry the pork. Slice and remove any bone or fat. For each pork cutlet, put between two pieces of plastic wrap (or wax paper) and pound with a meat tenderizing mallet (or the blunt side of a knife) until flattened to an even thickness. Sprinkle each cutlet with garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper on both sides. It's optional, but cutlets can be seasoned with grated onion juice instead of onion powder.

Tonkatsu assembly:
For each pork cutlet, dredge in flour, shake off excess, dip in egg, shake off excess, then press panko crumbs lightly until completely covered. Heat oil on medium-heat until panko crumb bubbles and browns readily (2-3 seconds). When frying tonkatsu, avoiding turning more than once. Fry each side for approximately 3 minutes until golden brown. Put browned tonkatsu on drying rack (or paper towels).

New recipes coming up!

I'm horribly behind on Dinner Meet posts! Sorry about that. Hopefully the slew that assaults you now will make up for it. First up are the Dinner Meet recipes from EurJean and Bobby's Dinner Meet back from 11/11. They hosted a wonderful Japanese themed Dinner Meet. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend, but from all accounts, it was a success!

Following that Dinner Meet was one that I hosted, a "Scrumptious Vegetarian" night. I wanted to try for an all-vegetarian menu that wouldn't make us miss meat. I think it was fairly successful there, too, though the ratatouille really took a long time to make.

Without further ado, I begin the backlog. :)

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Garlic Oil and Fried Sage

This is a great recipe for Thanksgiving if you're still looking for a solid sweet potatoes recipe. It's simple, and the roasted sweet potatoes are delicious with a slightly crusty exterior and the soft centers. Again, the recipe hails from Epicurious. Check out the recipe here.

Turkey Chili

This dish really hits the spot on a cold, autumn night. Best of all, it doesn't require hours and hours of simmering which a lot of chili recipes call for. I also like that the recipe uses chunks of turkey instead of the more unhealthy (and more common for chili) ground beef. This recipe also hails from Epicurious; for the cooked turkey, we pan fried some turkey cutlets seasoned with salt and pepper before cutting those up into chunks for the chili. Here's the recipe.

Spinach Salad with Bosc Pears, Cranberries, Red Onion, and Toasted Hazelnuts

You can't go wrong with recipes from Epicurious, I say. We've tried a couple already from this illustrative site at this Dinner Meet and previous ones, and the dishes have been fantastic. I was particularly enamored of this salad because the various ingredients truly contributed to the overall tastiness. A true test of a successful salad is when people go back for seconds... and thirds... That happened for this salad. :) I won't bother reposting the recipe here when we followed the recipe to a T. Check out the recipe here.

Sign up for Japanese-themed Dinner Meet

It's time for another Dinner Meet - next Wednesday, 11/11, starting at 7pm. It'll be in Foster City this time. EurJean and Bobby will be hosting this one.

I know it's a bit of a ways to travel for most of you, so let me know if you'd be interested in carpooling from the Mountain View area around 6:30pm. I'd be happy to drive.

Here's the proposed menu:

Spinach (Korean inspired)
Tonkatsu (Breaded pork cutlet)
Sushi casserole or spam musubi
Mochi cupcakes

Let me know by Friday afternoon, and I'll confirm spots by Saturday morning.

Sign up for Dinner Meet!

It's time to sign up for another Dinner Meet! The next Dinner Meet will be hosted by Mike B. in the Mountain View/Sunnyvale area. Proposed menu as follows:

• Roasted sweet potato rounds with garlic oil and fried sage
• Turkey chili
• Cranberry and vanilla bean sorbet

Does this sound good to you? It does to me! Sign up by Thursday evening, and I'll be sending out spot confirmations by Friday. Cooking will commence at 6pm on Sunday, 11/1. As always, we'll be splitting the grocery costs amongst participants, minus the Head Chef.

Tiramisu

This is one of those dishes that gets better with age. The ladyfingers require some time to soak in all the wonderful goodness of the cream and liquor. Sure, it's good when you've left it refrigerating overnight, but it's even better if it's been refrigerating for two days. Give it a try - you won't be disappointed!

Ingredients:

5 egg yolks

1 cup sugar

8 oz. mascarpone cheese

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 (12 oz) packages of lady fingers

1 cup coffee liquor

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Method:

1. Start boiling water for double boiler.

2. Put chocolate chips in food processor and pulse until chocolate becomes bits. Do not chop until chocolate is powdered.

3. Combine egg yolks and sugar in top of double boiler over boiling water. Reduce heat to low and cook until mixture reaches 160°, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and transfer to mixing bowl.

4. Whip yolks until thick and lemon-colored. Add mascarpone and beat until combined.

5. In separate bowl, whip cream to stiff peaks. Gently fold into yolk mixture and refrigerate.

6. Dip lady fingers in liquor and line bottom of large glass bowl. Spoon cream filling over lady fingers. Sprinkle chocolate bits over cream. Repeat until out of ingredients.

7. Optional garnishes to consider: cocoa powder, chocolate curls, whipped cream rosettes. Refrigerate overnight and serve chilled.

Bolognese Sauce

Looking for a hearty, meaty pasta sauce that's loads better than something you get out of a jar? Check out this recipe for some meaty goodness. I love the aroma of the red wine that's added to the sauce - yum!

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 carrot, peeled and chopped

1 stick of celery, chopped

2 oz. streaky bacon, diced

12 oz. lean minced beef

14 oz. can of chopped tomatoes

2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 cup red wine

2 tbsp tomato puree

Salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the onions and cook for 3 minutes.

2. Add the garlic, carrot, celery, and bacon. Saute for 3-4 minutes or until just beginning to brown.

3. Add the beef and cook over high heat for another 3 minutes or until all of the meat is browned.

4. Stir in the tomatoes, oregano, and red wine. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and heave to simmer for about 45 minutes.

5. Stir in the tomato puree and season with salt and pepper.

Pesto Sauce

Looking for a pesto sauce that isn't too salty, basil-y, garlicky, and other sorts of "y"-ness? This is your recipe. All of the ingredients came together in delightful blend of PESTO. Be sure to coat the HOT pasta with this pesto as soon as it's ready so that the pesto isn't so raw.

Ingredients:

2 bunches fresh basil

2 tbsp garlic, minced

1/3 cup roasted nuts (almond, walnut, pine)

1 cup olive oil

1/4 cup grated fresh Parmesan

Salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

1. Blanch the basil in boiling water for 20 seconds, then strain and plunge into ice water to stop the leaves from cooking. (It also helps to retain the bright green color.)

2. Wring out all the excess water from the basil and remove the heavy stems.

3. Put all the ingredients into a blender and puree until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

4. Toss the pesto sauce with hot pasta immediately and serve.

Puttanesca Sauce

I think this was my favorite sauce of the night. Tomato-based, zesty, and hearty - I can see why a bowl of pasta with puttanesca sauce hits the spot on a cold night. Yeah, the list of ingredients seems a bit off-putting (anchovies?! olives?!), but they really came together in this delicious sauce that will have your taste buds reminiscing for the next week. (Mine still are!)

Ingredients:

1/3 cup olive oil

2 tbsp garlic, minced

6 anchovy fillets

1 1/2 tsp dried oregano

1 tbsp capers, minced

1/4 cup black olives, sliced

1/4 cup green olives, sliced

2 tsp red pepper flakes

2 cans whole peeled tomatoes, crushed by hand

1/4 cup white wine

1 cup fresh basil, torn or chopped

1/2 cup Italian parsley, chopped (remove stems first - it's bitter)

Method:

1. Heat a skillet over high heat and add the olive oil, garlic, anchovy fillets, oregano, capers, black olives, green olives, and red pepper flakes. As the anchovy melts and the bubbles begin to subside, add the tomatoes and wine.

**Note: If the garlic starts to brown, immediately add the tomatoes and wine.

2. Let the mixture cook over medium heat until it reaches a nice tomato sauce consistency. Season the sauce with a little pepper, and add the herbs to heat through. Add salt to taste. (Probably won't need this.)

3. Toss with pasta thoroughly. Heat through, and garnish with grated Parmesan.

Fresh Pasta

The pasta was delicious! It also didn't take as much effort as I thought. (Perhaps I'm only saying that cuz I wasn't the responsible party in charge of making pasta - Bhumi and Nelly were.) It was especially easy due to Trang's pasta roller/cutter attachment that she purchased for her KitchenAid stand mixer. All we had to do was roll out the dough with a rolling pin, and then run it through the stand mixer attachment a couple of times to get it to the desired thinness. Then we ran it through the cutter attachment to create fettuccine noodles. These fresh noodles cook a lot faster than the store bought ones, so you'll want to keep an eye on them as they're boiling away on the stove. You won't be sorry you tried this though - fresh pasta is far superior than that store bought stuff. I guarantee it! :) The below recipe serves six.

Ingredients:

1 lb white flour

2 tsp salt

4 eggs, beaten

2 tbsp olive oil

Method:

1. Sift the flour into a large bowl and stir in the salt.

2. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add the eggs and 2 tbsp of oil. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the eggs, gradually drawing in the flour. After a few minutes, the dough will be too stiff to use a spoon, and you will need to use your fingers.

3. Once all the flour has been incorporated, turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes until smooth and elastic. If you find the dough to be too wet, add a little more flour and continue to knead. Cover with cling film and leave to rest for at least 15 minutes.

4. The basic dough is now ready. Roll out the pasta thinly and create the pasta shapes required.

** For us, we used Trang's handy KitchenAid stand mixer's pasta roller and cutter set. This made the process much, much, MUCH easier. Totally worth a buy if you like fresh pasta, and you have a stand mixer.

Bruschetta

What's one of the best combinations in the world? Tomato and basil. Love that stuff. Especially love it in the form of a caprese salad with fresh mozzarella, balsamic vinegar, and fine olive oil... But that's another recipe altogether. Tonight, we made bruschetta. Rather, Trang made bruschetta the night before, and we simply toasted bread and spooned her prepared mixture onto the baguette slices. Deliciousness. Give it a try and you'll see how simple it is. I think having it sit overnight really allows the flavors to mingle and develop into something addictively good. Yum!

Ingredients:

2 tomatoes, cubed

½ cup fresh basil, julienned

4 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

2 tbsp olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

Salt, to taste

Ground black pepper, to taste

Method:

1. In a medium bowl, mix oil, garlic, and basil, to help infuse the oil with the garlic and basil flavors. Set aside while preparing tomatoes or other dishes.

2. Mix in tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, seasoning salt, and ground black pepper. Cover and chill in the refrigerator 8 hours, or overnight, before serving.

3. Serve mixture on top of toasted French baguette slices.

**If time constrained, all ingredients can be mixed in all at once before chilling.

A Night of Pasta (and Sauces)

Not that I was expecting a disaster or anything, but fresh pasta was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I'll save more commentary on that for the fresh pasta blog entry. However, just wanted to get it out there - all you whiners about fresh pasta taking forever - no it doesn't! At least it doesn't if you use a handy dandy KitchenAid stand mixer pasta roller/cutter attachment. Jeebus, that is one sweet set to have around the kitchen.

Aside from my awe with the stand mixer attachment, I was also tickled to see how all nine of us were able to swarm in a happy chaotic mess around the tiny kitchen of our apartment and yet still manage to create such deliciousness in the form of three different pasta sauces and fresh pasta noodles. (Trang, bless her heart, worked on the bruschetta and tiramisu ahead of time.)

Anyway, it sure was a fun Dinner Meet - thanks ever so much for hosting, Trang!

Broccoli and Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breast

I was pleasantly surprised by this dish. Honest truth, I was thinking that we had way too much cheese on the menu, and that this cheesy entree would be overkill. It wasn't - in fact, it was a very satisfying meal in one since it had protein, dairy, and vegetables in it! (Okay, it's probably not THAT healthy.) It tasted great! The broccoli cut through the heaviness of the cheese, and the panko crusting on the chicken kept it light as well. Also, I love that it presents well; I'll be adding this to my "fit for guests" recipe stash. :) Enjoy! The recipe below is for 8-9 people, so you should halve it if you're feeding less.

Ingredients:

6 chicken breasts

2 eggs

4 cups of broccoli florets

6 ounces of Italian seasoned breadcrumbs or Panko crumbs

7 slices of cheddar cheese (can substitute with Swiss or other preferred cheese)

½ cup of shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Toothpicks (to hold the rolled up breast together)

Baking tray with aluminum foil

Method:

1. Steam broccoli for about 5 minutes, remove, and rinse with cold water (to retain green color). Chop the broccoli into small pieces.

2. Beat eggs in a bowl. Fill a second bowl with the breadcrumbs.

3. Preheat oven to 350°. Butterfly the chicken to get thin cutlets: press down firmly on the breast with one hand, and use the knife to slice parallel to the cutting board all the way through.

4. For each cutlet, lay it out flat and put half a slice of cheddar in the middle. Add chopped broccoli bits on top. Sprinkle some Monterey Jack cheese on top. Tightly roll the the breast together with the broccoli and cheese inside. Use toothpicks to secure the rolled breast. Dip the rolled breast into the egg. Then dip it into the breadcrumbs, rolling it around for an even coating. Once finished, place the rolled breast onto the baking tray.

5. Once all cutlets have been prepared and placed onto the baking tray, bake the chicken for about 30-35 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Serve warm.

Blue Cheese Deviled Eggs

Creamy, smooth, and slightly addictive with the distinctive blue cheese taste. I was afraid the blue cheese would overpower the egg, but instead it was the perfect complement to the yolk. This was a fairly simple recipe to follow. You can just boil the eggs straight without any fancy business, but I was reading this deviled eggs recipe book the other day; did you know that there are things you can do to make sure the yolk is perfectly centered in the egg?? Crazy. Things like putting your egg carton on its side the night before so that the eggs are lying on their sides. Anyway, I won't go into a dissertation on deviled eggs, but if you follow this recipe, you'll get some fine tasting ones. We decided to play around with "decorations" and added some seaweed sprinkles to some for a more Asian taste, and we added Cajun seasoning to others. To be honest, the decorations didn't really do much in terms of enhancing the taste, but they were fun. :)

Ingredients:

12 eggs

½ cup blue cheese (crumbled)

4 tablespoons mayonnaise

Tabasco sauce, to taste

Salt, to taste

Pepper, to taste

Paprika (optional)

Method:

1. Boil the eggs. We basically laid the eggs on their sides in a large pot, filled it up with water, and turned on the stove. Let the water boil, wait about 10-15 minutes, and you should have boiled eggs from that. If the eggs are floating on the surface, then they are boiled.

2. Remove the eggs and immediately rinse them with cold water. (This keeps the yolk from turning green.) Peel the eggs and slice them in half, length-wise.

3. Scoop the yolks into a mixing bowl and set the whites aside. Mash the yolks with the blue cheese, mayonnaise, Tabasco sauce, salt, pepper, and paprika. Make sure the mixture is smooth before moving to the next step.

4. Spoon (or pipe) the filling back into the egg whites. Optionally sprinkle with paprika for a bit of color. Cover and refrigerate before serving. (We didn't refrigerate though; we were too hungry to wait!)

Spinach and Artichoke Dip

I don't know if we were super hungry or it were just too darn tasty (or perhaps both!), but this dip lasted maybe 10 minutes once it came out of the oven. I've always been a huge fan of a good spinach-artichoke dip, and this recipe makes it easy for me to have it everyday if I wanted! (That is probably not a good idea if I were keeping an eye on my girlish figure.) Give this one a try. Too bad my picture of it is so poor - it really is quite marvelous!

Ingredients:

1 bunch of spinach (make sure to rinse before steaming)

1 ½ cups of frozen or canned artichoke hearts (make sure to rinse before steaming)

6 oz. cream cheese (reduced fat is fine)

¼ cup sour cream (lite is fine)

¼ cup mayonnaise (lite is fine)

1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

½ tablespoon red pepper flakes (it really does need this to add flavor; you can't really taste the spiciness)

4 cloves of garlic, minced

Tabasco sauce (optional)

Salt, to taste

Method:

1. Steam spinach and artichokes until cooked (drain any water). Once the spinach leaves are limp, remove both, and cut them up. You can leave them chunky or chop them up finely.

2. Sauté garlic with red pepper flakes and a bit of oil over medium heat. Don’t allow the garlic to brown; you’re just trying to take out the raw bite of the garlic.

3. Preheat the oven to 350°.

4. Soften the cream cheese by heating it in the microwave. Once heated, stir in the spinach, artichoke hearts, the sautéed garlic and red pepper flakes, the sour cream, mayonnaise, about 8/10 of the Parmesan cheese, and Tabasco sauce, in an oven-safe dish. The Tabasco sauce doesn’t make it spicy as much as it adds an interesting tang to the dip. At this time, you’ll also want to taste test and see if the dip requires some salt. Add salt to taste. Once the taste has been adjusted, sprinkle the remaining Parmesan cheese on top.

5. Bake the dish for about 10 minutes to warm the dip. We didn’t do this next step, but I would recommend turning the oven setting to broil for another 2-3 minutes while leaving the oven door open a crack. I think that would brown the Parmesan cheese on top and add a nice crust to it.

6. Serve with chips or crusty baguette bread. Delicious!

Dinner Meet with the Chongs

Another delicious Dinner Meet to add to the tally! This evening, nine of us gathered at the Chong residence to prepare some deliciously cheesy eats. I'll be updating the blog soon with pictures and recipes from the evening. The menu consisted of the following:

- Spinach and Artichoke Dip

- Blue Cheese Deviled Eggs

- Broccoli and Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Thanks for having us over, Hamilton and Sanders. Fantastic job on the Dinner Meet! :)

Sauteed Pea Shoots with Garlic

This is one dish that I make fairly often whenever I cook at home. It's not limited to pea shoots either; feel free to substitute with whatever Chinese veggie you like. I'm a personal fan of making this dish with baby bok choy. When you see how easy (and cheap) this dish is to make, you'll hate having to pay so much at a Chinese restaurant for it. Ugh. :) Candace's recipe below.

INGREDIENTS:
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb pea shoots (dou miao), washed and drained

Salt, optional

METHOD:
1- Saute garlic until fragrant, about 30 sec.
2- Add pea shoots and stir fry until cooked through. Pea shoots will reduce greatly in size.
3- Add salt, if desired.

Ma Po Tofu

One of my favorite comfort foods of all time is ma po tofu over rice. I've always made ma po tofu using the store-bought seasoning packages from Asian supermarkets. I was under the impression that the sauce required a lot of work. However, Candace proves me wrong with this tasty ma po tofu recipe. Fast, quick, and easy - I'll never buy that pre-packaged seasoning again! Candace's recipe below.

INGREDIENTS (amounts are approximate):
3/8 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice wine
2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp chili sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp minced ginger
3 stalks of green onion, chopped
1 lb ground pork
2 packages of tofu, drained and cubed
1 tsp corn starch

METHOD:
1- Mix together soy sauce, rice wine, sugar, and chili sauce in a bowl and set aside.
2- Saute garlic, ginger, and green onions until fragrant, about 30 sec.
3- Add pork and stir fry until almost cooked through.
4- Add soy sauce mixture.
5- Add tofu.
6- Simmer and add corn starch to thicken sauce.

Savory Sticky Rice

This was one of my favorite dishes growing up. I can't believe I haven't asked my mom for her recipe before we made this at Dinner Meet. The recipe turned out to be fairly easy to execute. The one catch is that there are a couple of things that require pre-soaking, like the dried shrimp and the mushrooms. However, if you don't have time for that, you could always buy fresh shrimp and shiitake mushrooms instead! Candace's recipe is below.

INGREDIENTS (amounts are approximate):

1 1/2 tbsp fried shallots
~15 black Chinese mushrooms, sliced
3/4 cup dried baby shrimp, soaked in water until tender (at least a few hours) and then drained

1 lb pork, sliced
3 cup sticky (glutinous) rice
soy sauce
sesame oil
pepper
corn starch

METHOD:
1- Marinate pork with soy sauce, sesame oil, pepper, and corn starch.

2- Cook rice until almost done, about 30 min.
3- Cook pork, remove from heat.

4- Cook shrimp, remove from heat.
5- Saute shallots until fragrant, about 20 sec. Add mushrooms and stir fry for 30 sec.

6- Add back in shrimp and pork (including juices). Stir fry 20 sec.
7- Add soy sauce (~1 tbsp).
8- Add rice and approximately 1/2 cup water and 2 tbsp soy sauce.

9- Cover and cook over low heat for 30 min, stirring occasionally.