Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Roast Chicken with Rice and Gravy
If I had to pick my favorite old fashioned, comfort food type meal it would definitely be roasted chicken and fluffy white rice with gravy and little salad with oil and vinegar. Something about all those tasty flavors together is just the best. I was dying to have this dinner but as yesterday afternoon progressed and I was out doing errands, I realized I was running out of time to roasted my own chicken at home before it would be time for bed. So, I will admit, however, while I was at Sams Club, I decided to pick up one of their rotisserie chickens and make my life easy. By adding a few homemade side dishes and an easy and delicious gravy, I turned that humble chicken into a fantastic dinner.
Perfect Rice
1 cup white rice
2 cups water
1 tablespoon butter
salt
pepper
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat and add the rice. Stir completely to coat each grain of rice with the butter. Season with about 1/2 teaspoon salt and some fresh ground pepper. Add 2 cups of water, cover with a lid and cook without peaking for 18 minutes. Remove from heat and let rest for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and serve.
Easy Gravy
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup of chicken stock
pan drippings from roasted chicken
salt
pepper
In a sauce pan combine butter and flour and cook over medium heat for about 1-2 minutes until raw flour taste is gone. Whisk in the chicken stock and pan drippings and simmer for about 5-10 minutes until thickened. Season with salt and pepper. If it gets too thick add a bit more stock. If too thin simmer a tad longer until it reaches the perfect consistency.
Pom Royale Featuring Pom Wonderful Pomegranate Juice
Yesterday I celebrated my brothers birthday with my family. Steve and I made a yummy cocktail featuring the pomegranate juice and they were a big hit. If you dont like strong drinks this one is definitely for you, its sweet and refreshing and goes down very easy. This is best in a champagne glass but my parents (who arent big drinkers) dont have champagne glasses (perhaps it would be a good gift for Christmas) so we used a wine glass. You dont get as many bubbles but it still tastes great!
Pom Royale
Cooking Light Magazine
November 2009
Ingredients:
2 cup water
4 tablespoon sugar
2 cup pomegranate juice
8 cups Champagne or sparkling wine
Directions:
1. Make simple syrup - Combine water and sugar in a small saucepan; bring to a simmer, stirring until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat. Let cool. Refrigerate.
2. Pour 2 tablespoons pomegranate juice and 1 tablespoon simple syrup into 4 Champagne glasses. Top each serving with 1/2 cup Champagne. Serve immediately.
Salute!
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Ca Ro Phi Kho Gung Xa Tilapia in ginger lemongrass caramel sauce
(Tilapia braised in Ginger & Lemongrass Caramelized sauce)
Read More..
Tilapia is a white fluffy fish. It is one of my favorite fish to cook with. Very easy, quick and best yet it is very delicious. When I braised caramel any kind of fish, I normally add some kind of herb or even vegetable like tomatoes or onions to get rid of fishy smell. However, this time I did not use any of those on this tilapia fish recipe at all. And surprisingly, it comes to be one of my favorite fish dishes that I’ve ever cooked. Now, when come to caramel dish, most of our Vietnamese families do their caramel sauce on their own, which is a combination of sugar and oil, and let it cook until form a caramel color. I am not really good of doing it! I get it burn most of the time so I usually buy a dark soy sauce, which also gives you that really nice caramel sauce. But if you are familiar with doing your own caramel sauce, you can leave dark soy sauce part out. So let’s get this delicious braised tilapia to our dinner table, shall we~~
Ingredients:
1 whole big tilapia fish
1tbsp finely chopped ginger,
1tbsp finely slice lemongrass
1tbsp (3-4 cloves) finely chopped garlic
2tbsp oyster sauce (dau hao)
1tsp black or white pepper
½ tbsp sugar
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp cooking wine (any kind)
1 tsp dark soy sauce (nuoc mau)
1¼ cup water
For the fish, when you buy, some are already cleaned and packed. For some market that I mostly find are in Asian store where you buy, you can ask fish cleaner or employee to clean and halve it for you. However, when you bring it home, make sure you clean it very well again. As I showed in the picture on your left, when you open the fish, you will see the black thing that attached to the fish. I don’t really know what it is call, but make sure to clean white on the inside. People make a lot of mistake when cooking fish, no matter what they put, they still find a strong fishy smell, well that black is the reason why as well as the vein that attached closely to the fish bone. So make sure to clean it very well.
Directions:
In a round sauce pan or a pot (big enough to place the fish), heat 1tbsp cooking oil, and add in the ginger and lemongrass. Let it cook until slightly turn golden, then add in your garlic. Make sure you don’t walk away while in the process of frying ginger, lemongrass and garlic because it cooks really fast. When turn golden color, pour in 1¼ cup water, and add the rest of the ingredients (oyster sauce, black or white pepper, sugar, salt, cooking wine and dark soy sauce). Bring to a boil; add the fish, and let it cook for 3 to 5 minutes with the lid cover. Turn the fish over, lower the heat, and let it simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and sprinkle any green on top for garnish. Serve it over jasmine rice or fry rice, whichever you prefer. Enjoy!!
BBQ Chicken Salad with Avocado Ranch Dressing
Mmm, another salad. This one has a great combination of flavors. BBQ chicken (well, shredded chicken mixed with BBQ sauce) and a tasty avocado ranch dressing with cilantro and lime juice. Its kind of southwestern-y too and I like it. :)BBQ Chicken Salad
2 large chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1 cup bbq sauce
1/2 head romaine lettuce
1/2 head iceberg lettuce
1 can corn, drained
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 bunch green onions, chopped
4 roma tomatoes, diced
2 avocados, diced
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
shredded cheese, Mexican blend or cheddar
crispy tortilla strips*
Stir shredded chicken in with the bbq sauce until well coated. Toss all but last 2 ingredients together or let everyone pile their own salad together. Top with cheese and tortilla strips. Drizzle avocado ranch dressing (below) over the salad and enjoy!
Source: Sisters Cafe
Avocado Ranch Dressing
1 ripe avocado
1/2 c. ranch dressing
1/4 c. milk
1/4 c. sour cream
1/8 c. fresh lime juice
1 tsp. hot sauce
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
handful of cilantro
Blend all ingredients together in a food processor or blender. Chill until ready to serve.
Source: Modified from myrecipes.com
*To make crispy tortilla strips: Preheat oven to 420 degrees. Chop corn tortillas into thin strips and place in a single layer on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until lightly browned and crispy. Watch carefully and do not broil. You may start a fire! (Trust me, I know from experience). :)
Jewels at the Santa Monica Farmers Market
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| Gorgeous fresh picked carrots in a rainbow of colors. |
This week at the Santa Monica Farmers' Market the jewels of the season glow. Among my favorites? The rainbow carrots in orange, ruby, purple and gold. Some roots were so young they were the tiniest of crooked fingers, delicate and naturally sweet. These carrots make wonderful crudities for hummus.
Serve raw with:
Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
Jalapeño Lime Hummus
Classic Hummus Tahini with Spiced Olive Oil
Read more + get the recipe >>
Monday, March 24, 2014
Lamb Souvlaki Flatbread Sandwich with Tsatsiki Sauce
I have been thinking about this Lamb Souvlaki Sandwich with Tsatsiki Sauce way before we decided to have lamb for Palm Sunday Dinner, as a matter of fact, I really wanted to the lamb roast just so I could get the leftovers to make this dish. This is jusst my take on Greek food as, once again, I have absolutely no greek running through my veins, so I apologize in advance to all of the Greeks reading this for its lack of authenticity.
I made the tsatsiki sauce by combining 1 small container of Greek yogurt with 1/4 cup of grated English cucumber, 1 grated clove of garlic, 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh dill, 1 tsp. of lemon zest, the juice of half the lemon and salt and pepper. Mix well and refrigerate for about 2 hours or more before eating.
Next step was to create a mini Greek salad to tumble over the sliced lamb sandwich. For the salad, I cut 1 tomato into wedges, sliced some English cucumber, tossed in several Kalamata olives and a few chopped Romaine lettuce leaves. Stirred them combine with 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar and 2 tablespoons of olive oil, some dried oregano and salt and pepper.
Instead of raw onions, I decided to try them caramelized which I did by slowing sauteeing 1/2 of a sliced red onion very slowly in a skillet with olive oil, salt and pepper. When the onion were just about finished caramelizing in about 20 minutes, I added the thinly sliced lamb to the pan for just a second until it was heated through.
I assembled the sandwich, which I ate open faced with a knife and fork, by warming a roasted garlic Naan bread instead of pita and smearing it with a layer of the tsatsiki sauce. I layered on the warmed lamb and caramelized onions, the greek salad and another little dollop of sauce for good measure. The perfect way to showcase that left over holiday lamb!
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