Orange Chicken

This recipe was sent to me quite a while back by a friend of mine. The first time I made it for a large group of people and they all loved it. Recently I made it for just me and my hubby and we again enjoyed it immensely. While you do have to hand dip each piece of chicken into an egg wash and corn starch, the entire prep time is quite quick and well worth the "dipping" time. I serve the orange chicken with broccoli and rice making it an entire, delicious, citrusy meal.

Orange Chicken

Recipe from Summer K.

Picture by Caroline

Chicken:

4 chicken breast halves, cut into 1” cubes
1 beaten egg
1 tablespoon water
¼ cup cornstarch
2 tablespoon margarine (or olive oil)

Sauce:
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup soy sauce
½ cup orange juice
¼ cup vinegar
5 or 6 green onions, green part only cut into 1” long slices (*this is my addition)

1 tablespoon cornstarch in 2 tablespoons water for thickening sauce (cornstarch slurry)

1. Cube chicken and pat dry with a paper towel. Dip chicken pieces in egg wash made of the beaten egg and water, then coat with cornstarch. Brown chicken in margarine or oil until cooked through and place in shallow (greased) baking dish.
2. Combine remaining ingredients except cornstarch slurry in pot and bring to a boil. Add cornstarch slurry as needed for a thin sauce. Stir and adjust seasonings if wanted. Just before you take the sauce off the stove add the green onions if desired.
3. Pour sauce over chicken, stir, and bake, covered with foil, for 20 min in a 350°F oven; remove cover and stir. Bake for an additional 15 minutes.
4. Serve with steamed broccoli and rice.

Chinese Egg Rolls and Ginger Sauce

This recipe comes care of our friends K and P Lowe, who were generous enough to "invite" me over so they could make these fantastic egg rolls. I use the word "invite" loosely because I pretty much demanded them for dinner. I couldn't help it- a bit of cabbage and garlic was just what I was craving, and the Lowes make some of the best!

These aren't difficult to make, but they do require some assembly, which is pictured step-by-step below. My recommendation is to recruit an assistant to help with the rolling. Call it a date night and egg-roll it with your significant other!

And finally, although not pictured in this post, the Lowes have an excellent ginger sauce they serve with these egg rolls. I highly, highly recommend it. They usually dye it red for aesthetic purposes, but there's no real need for it. Bear in mind that the Lowes make their ginger sauce powerful enough to knock your socks off, so if you're new to the world of gingery foods, you may want to cut back by a tablespoon or so of the ginger in the sauce. Enjoy!


Chinese Egg Rolls
Recipe by K. and P. Lowe
Pictures by Kelly

1 pound sausage
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon oregano
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
1 cup purple cabbage, chopped
1/4 cup green onion, chopped
1 egg
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 package egg roll wraps
oil

1. In a large pan, cook sausage until well done, stirring frequently. Drain excess grease from pan. Add chili powder, oregano, ginger, cabbage, and green onions. Saute 1-2 minutes.
   
2. Push meat mixture to the side and add egg. Cook egg until mostly firm, then break and scramble. Stir into meat mixture.
3. Lay out several egg roll wraps flat on the counter. Add 1 heaping spoonful to each wrap. Fold up like a burrito and seal the sides by moistening the edges with a wet cloth.
   
4. Heat oil to medium heat in large fryer or large pan. Fry each egg roll until golden brown, about 2 minutes on each side. Serve with ginger sauce.

Ginger Sauce
Recipe by K. and P. Lowe

3-inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup white sugar
1-2 tablespoons corn starch
1/2 tablespoon water
Red food coloring (optional)

1. In a small sauce pan, combine ginger, vinegar, and sugar. Heat until sugar is dissolved.
   
2. Add 1 tablespoon of cornstarch to 1/2 tablespoon water and stir until smooth. Add to ginger mixture and stir until mixture has thickened. Add more cornstarch if a thicker sauce is desired.
   
3. Add food coloring and serve.
   

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

After a nice, but altogether too short spring break, we're back. We hope you missed us.

This dish is not your typical lasagna. It's layered with vegetables and a white sauce (béchamel) rather than meat and tomatoes. And it's really good. I can't wait to make it during the summer when I can pick all of these ingredients from my garden.



Roasted Vegetable Lasagna
Recipe adapted from Gourmet May 2007
Pictures by Caroline

1 large eggplant, sliced 1/4 inch thick
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 medium zucchini, cut in half lengthwise, and then into 1/4-inch-thick slices,
2 red bell peppers, cut into 1/2 inch slices
6 button mushrooms, cut into 1/2 inch slices
1 yellow onion, quartered
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 package no-boil lasagna noodles

1. Preheat oven to low broil. In a large bowl, toss vegetables with salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons oil. Arrange vegetables onto large baking sheets (you may need two), and roast about 15minutes, or until vegetables are lightly browned and tender (but not mush).
2. Meanwhile, soak noodles in hot water just until pliable, 8 to 10 minutes.
3. Spread 2/3 cup sauce in an 8-inch square baking dish. Drain noodles and place a layer of noodles over the sauce. Top with eggplant, 1/2 cup sauce, then another noodle layer. For the second layer, spread peppers, onions and mushrooms, 1/2 cup sauce, and another noodle layer. For the third layer, spread the zucchini, 1/2 cup sauce, and final noodle layer. Top with remaining sauce. Sprinkle more cheese on top, if desired. (As an alternative (simpler) layering method: mix all the vegetables together and spread them, 1/3 at a time, over the noodles. Top each layer with 1/2 cup sauce).
4. Bake at 425 F until golden and bubbling, 25 to 30 minutes. Let stand in pan on a rack 20 minutes.

Béchamel Sauce:
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 1/2 cups whole milk
3 ounces Italian Fontina, coarsely grated (1 cup)
1 ounces Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, finely grated (1/2 cup)
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1. While vegetables roast, cook garlic in butter in a 1 1/2- to 2-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, whisking frequently, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Whisk in flour and cook, whisking constantly, 2 minutes.
2. Add milk in a slow stream, whisking, and bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Reduce heat and simmer, whisking frequently, 8 minutes (sauce will thicken slightly when it first comes to a boil). Remove from heat and cool béchamel sauce, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes. Stir in cheeses, basil, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Chicken in Persian Pomegranate Walnut Sauce

This dish is a specialty from a Persian kitchen. Although its unique flavor and slightly chunky texture are definitely a change from the typical American/European sauces, it's easy to love. The first time I served it to my "American dishes only" father-in-law, he was slightly wary of the sweet cinnamony scent and brownish color of the sauce. But after his first bite, he went back for more...and more...and more.

This recipe is fast enough to make on a week day and elegant enough to serve to company. Pair with Asian Pear Salad with Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette and Chocolate Pound Cake.


Chicken in Persian Pomegranate Walnut Sauce
recipe adapted from Feast from the Mideast
Pictures by Caroline

2 tablespoons olive oil
3-4 chicken breasts, chopped into 1-inch pieces
1 large onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups walnuts, finely chopped
1 tablespoon flour (optional)*
1 1/2 cups pomegranate juice
1/2 cup water or chicken broth
1 tablespoon tomato paste
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon sugar
juice of half of 1 lemon
salt and pepper, to taste

1. Heat oil in large skillet. Add chicken and saute over medium-high heat until brown. Remove chicken from pan.
2. Add onion to pan and saute over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until golden. Reduce heat to low and stir in flour and walnuts. Cook over low heat, stirring, for 1 minute.
3. Stir in water (or broth) and pomegranate juice. Bring to a simmer, stirring frequently.
4. Add chicken. Cover and cook over medium-low heat until chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes.
5. Add tomato paste, cinnamon, lemon juice, and sugar. Simmer 3 more minutes. Serve over rice.

*The flour will make the sauce slightly smoother and thicker. I usually include it, but it doesn't hurt to leave it out.

Fried-Green Tomatoes

If your kitchen is anything like mine, you have a box of newspaper wrapped green tomatoes waiting to ripen, and you are wondering how you are possibly going to eat all those tomatoes. So I was glad when I saw a twolittlechefs reader request a recipe for to use up her green tomatoes.

Now, I had never had fried green tomatoes, but have wanted to try them for years, probably ever since I saw the 1991 movie Fried Green Tomatoes. So I searched and found many recipes, some where very involved and some were much simplier. I choose two from the Food Network, one for the batter and one for a dipping sauce to serve on the side.

Sautéed Chicken in Mustard-Cream Sauce

This is a great little recipe that looks and tastes great, but is in fact quite simple. The mustard sauce is quite tasty and goes well over other vegetables - in fact I would suggest serving it with some steamed asparagus and with our recipe for Roasted Cauliflower. This sauce would also be delicious over grilled fish or roasted potatoes.

Sautéed Chicken in Mustard-Cream SauceRecipe from Everyday Food, Great Food Fast
Pictures by Caroline
Makes 4 servings

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (6 ounces each)
Coarse salt and fresh ground pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
¼ cup dry white wine or chicken broth
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon dried tarragon (or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh)*
*I didn’t have tarragon, so I substituted ½ teaspoon fennel seeds

Directions:
(Note: I always like to fillet my chicken breasts before I fry them so that they have more flavor. To do this, use frozen chicken and let partially de-thaw. Then, using a sharp knife, place one hand on the top of the chicken breast and slice horizontally through the middle to have two even halves.)
1. Sprinkle each chicken breast with ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken; sauté until cooked through, 19 to 12 minutes, turning once. Transfer to a plate; keep warm.
2. Pour the wine into the hot skillet; cook, stirring, until reduced by half, about 1 minute. Whisk in the cream, mustard, and tarragon. Cook, whisking until thickened, about 2 minutes.
3. Pour any accumulated chicken juices into the sauce. Right before serving, drizzle the cream sauce over the sautéed chicken.

Souvlaki with Yogurt-Garlic Sauce

Greek week continues. These souvlaki are delicious, seriously. The grilled meat and vegetables combined with the yogurt sauce make a perfect pair. In fact, if you have been looking for a good Greek-style yogurt sauce, you needn't look further, because this one is great and is quite simple to make.

This recipe calls for a lot of marinating time, so plan ahead if you can, the longer you can marinate the more flavorful everything will be. To make it a complete dinner, we paired these souvlaki with our Greek Salad recipe and warmed flat breads. It turned out to be a truly wonderful dinner. It was fresh, healthy, and delicious.

Souvlaki with Yogurt-Garlic Sauce
Adapted from The New Greek Cuisine by Jim Botsacos with Judith Choate

Pictures by Caroline
Makes 4-6 servings

1 ½ cups extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
1 tablespoon dried Greek oregano (I used regular oregano, and it tasted great)
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
2 pounds very lean boneless lamb from the leg, or filet of beef, cut into 1 ½ inch cubes
3 yellow bell peppers cut into 1 inch squares
36 red pearl onions, peeled and blanched (I couldn’t find pearl onions, so I used red onion instead)
36 cherry tomatoes

Yogurt-Garlic Sauce (below)

1. Combine the olive oil with the garlic, oregano, and salt and pepper to taste in a small mixing bowl. Remove ¼ cup, reserving the remainder. Place the meat in a medium mixing bowl, add ¼ cup marinade, tossing to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
2. Remove the meat from the refrigerator. Working with one skewer at a time, thread on the meat, onion, and tomatoes in a random order. (Note: I generally soak my wood skewers in water before using, so that they won’t burn on the grill.)
3. Place the filled skewers in a shallow nonreactive pan large enough to hold them in a single layer. Pour on the reserved marinade, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 8 hours. (Note: I didn’t have 8 hours to marinate, only about 1, and they were delicious. Marinate as long as you can; the longer the better.)
4. Heat up your grill. Remove the souvlaki from the refrigerator, carefully remove any excess marinade with your fingers; season with salt and pepper to taste. Place the skewers on the hot grill, turning occasionally for about 8 minutes, or until meat is lightly charred and medium-rare. The time will depend on the desired degree of doneness for the meat.
5. Remove the skewers from the grill. Serve with the Yogurt-Garlic Sauce and warmed flat bread.

Yogurt-Garlic Sauce from The New Greek Cuisine

by Jim Botsacos with Judith Choate
Makes about 1 ¼ cups

½ large hothouse cucumber, peeled
3 garlic cloves, minced
¾ cup Greek yogurt*
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Line a colander with a double layer of cheesecloth. Place the colander over a bowl deep enough to catch the draining liquid without the liquid touching the bottom of the colander.
2. Roughly chop the cucumber and then place it in a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Add the garlic and process just until finely chopped. Transfer the mixture to the colander and set aside to drain for about 30 minutes, or until all the juice has drained off.
3. Pull the cheesecloth up and tightly twist the ends together to force out any remaining juices into the bowl. Discard the cheesecloth and cucumber, remove the colander, and reserve the juice in the bowl. (Note: We actually did this backwards; we used the drained cucumber in our sauce, and discarded the juices.)
4. Place the yogurt in a nonreactive mixing bowl. Whisk in the reserved cucumber-garlic juice along with the lemon juice. The sauce should be the consistency of creamy vinaigrette. You may not need all of the juice. When blended, season with salt and pepper.

*You can either buy Greek yogurt, which is creamy, thick, and rich. Or you can make your own alternative, which is what I did, and it worked out really well. Line a colander with a double layer of cheesecloth and place it in a bowl deep enough to catch the draining liquid. Use four cups of conventional, plain yogurt to get 2 cups of drained thick yogurt. Place the conventional yogurt in the prepared colander and let it drain for 12 hours (I did it for about 6 hours and it worked great). Discard the liquid and measure out the desired amount of the thick yogurt.

Salmon in Phyllo

If you like salmon, or you only like it so-so, this is the recipe for you. Why? Because you get the healthiness of the fish (although this recipe includes a lot of butter), but it's wrapped in dough, and you get to dip it in a creamy, mustard sauce...hard to go wrong there. Here are a few hints, when you make the mustard sauce stir it constantly after you put the cream in so that it doesn't burn. Cook it until it's thick enough that when you pull a spatula through it leaves a trail for a moment (as seen in the above, left picture). Next, use fresh phyllo dough, which I didn't and it made things, shall we say, difficult. I've made this recipe before and it was much easier with fresh phyllo dough. I had some in my freezer that had already been open, and it was dried out and made wrapping difficult. If you use fresh dough, it is much easier, I promise.

I served this recipe with some white rice and steamed veggies, so I figured it would be okay to have some Peanut-Butter Finger Bars or Milk Chocolate Chunk-Peanut Butter Cookies (guess I in a peanut-butter chocolate mood; nothing unusual about that).

Salmon in Phyllo
Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens
Pictures by Caroline

Salmon:
1 pound fresh or frozen skinless salmon fillets, about ½ inch thick
1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted (I ended up using almost twice this amount because my dough was so dried out; again, use fresh phyllo)
2 tablespoons snipped fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dried dill
Dash salt
Dash black pepper
8 sheets frozen phyllo dough (18x14-inch rectangles), thawed
1 recipe Mustard Cream Sauce

1. Thaw salmon, if frozen. Rinse salmon; pat dry with paper towels. Cut salmon into 4 serving-size pieces, in necessary (I like to cut mine into about 2 inch pieces). Brush some of the melted butter over each salmon potion. Sprinkle with dill, salt, and pepper. Set aside.
2. Unfold phyllo dough; cover with plastic wrap. Lay 1 sheet of phyllo dough flat; brush with some of the melted butter. Top with another sheet of phyllo dough. Brush with more butter. Add 6 more sheets of dough (a total of 8 sheets), brushing each sheet with butter. Cut into four 9x7-inch rectangles (or as big as you need for your salmon pieces). Place a salmon fillet, buttered dies down, in the middle of a dough rectangle. Fold a long side of the dough over salmon; repeat with the other long side, brushing dough with butter and pressing lightly. Fold up ends. Repeat with remaining rectangles, butter, and salmon. Arrange bundles, seam sides down, on a baking sheet. Brush with butter.
3. Bake in 375° oven for 15 to 18 minutes or until phyllo dough is golden and fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Serve with Mustard Cream Sauce.

Mustard Cream Sauce:
1/3 cup dry white wine
3 tablespoons finely chopped shallots (about 1 small shallot)
1 cup half-and-half (I used milk and it worked fine)
4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon white or black pepper
1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard

Combine 1/3 cup dry white wine and 3 tablespoons finely chopped shallots in a small saucepan. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, about 5 minutes or until the liquid is reduced to about 3 tablespoons, stirring occasionally. Stir 1 cup half-and-half or light cream into 4 teaspoons all-purpose flour. Stir into sine mixture with 1/8 teaspoon white or black pepper. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly (sauce may look curdled). Stir in 1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard. Cook and stir for 1 minute more.

Fresh Tomato Sauce and Meatballs

I've never been a huge fan of most bottled tomato sauces; I think homemade sauce looks, smells and tastes better. Growing up, my best friend's mom used to make gallons of delicious fresh tomato sauce every fall. Her sauce was packed full of meatballs and sausage (complete with all the tasty grease that goes along with it) and was perfectly seasoned. It did, however, consume nearly an entire day with blanching, boiling, baking (meatballs), simmering, stirring, etc. It was always worth it in the end, but most of us don't have that kind of time nowadays. So here's an alternative for you.

This sauce is fast and healthy. And by using canned tomatoes, you can have relatively fresh sauce any time of year. It's perfect over pasta, in lasagna or on pizza. You can use it immediately or freeze it for up to 1 year. Did I mention that it's also quite versatile? You can skip the meatballs if you're short on time, add extra vegetables if you like your sauce chunky, or blend some of the tomatoes if you like your sauce a bit thinner. Try it out. I'm sure it will be an improvement from whatever Ragu or Prego sauce you're currently eating.

Meatballs
recipe and pictures by Kelly

1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 onion, shredded or very finely chopped*
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice

1. Mix all ingredients. Shape mixture into about 20 1 1/2 inch meatballs.
2. Heat a large non-stick skillet and carefully place in skillet. Brown all sides of the meatballs, being careful not to break them. Cook until no longer pink in the center.

*Shredding your onions prevents them from falling out of your meatball when they're cooking. It will also really bring out the flavor, so be sure to pug your nose while shredding!

Tomato Sauce with Meatballs
recipe and pictures by Kelly
makes about 4 cups

Serve with 1 pound pasta

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cans (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes*
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 red (or green, if you prefer) bell pepper, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat (or use the same skillet the meatballs were cooked in). Cook garlic and onion about 3 minutes. Add the bell pepper and cook until softened.
2. Stir in remaining ingredients, except meatballs. Heat until boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer about 15-20 minutes.
3. Optional: if using meatballs, add them and let them simmer with the sauce another 10 minutes.
4. Use sauce immediately, refrigerate for 2 weeks, or freeze for up to 1 year.