One of the recipes from our cultural dinners years ago for China that I most liked was Beggar's Chicken -- which came from the International Cookbook for Kids. I think Nate appreciated the story behind the recipe more than anything, but he also enjoyed the finished product.
The legend is that a beggar stole a chicken from a farmer. The beggar built a fire and began to roast the chicken, but quickly heard the farmer coming on his horse. So, he pulled the chicken off the fire, wrapped it in lotus leaves and buried it. The farmer couldn't find his chicken, so he rode away. The beggar dug up the chicken and found that the mud had created a shell around the hot chicken and cooked it perfectly.
Ingredients:
4 cups self-rising flour
1 1/2 cups milk (I used coconut milk)
3 T canola oil
extra flour for kneading
6 medium sized chicken breasts
1/2 lb ground pork
1 green onion, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1/4 cup chopped bamboo shoots
1 t salt
1 T hoisin sauce
Place flour in large bowl. Combine milk & 1 T of oil, pour into flour and mix well into a soft dough. ( I needed to add about 1/2 cup more flour)
Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead until it is smooth.
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, place in bowl, cover with towel and let rest for 30 - 40 minutes
Heat a wok on medium-high heat. Add 1 T oil and heat for a few more seconds
Add ground pork and cook until browned (4 - 6 minutes)
Remove pork and add remaining 1T oil. Add onions, celery & bamboo shoots. Stir-fry for 2 minutes.
Return pork to pan and add salt and hoisin sauce. Cook for another minute or 2, making sure all is well combined.
Put stuffing in a bowl and cool completely. Refrigerate until ready to use (this is the stuffing to put on top of the chicken.
Preheat oven to 375
Unwrap the dough and divide into 6 equal pieces. Roll out each piece to about 6 inches wide.
Lay 1 chicken breast in center of dough. Top with 2 T pork stuffing. Gently fold dough over the chicken and seal edges.
Place chicken in greased baking pan.
Repeat for all chicken breasts.
Bake for 40 - 50 minutes.
Serve hot.
I don't have a picture of the final product, but it was a pretty dish. It could be cut up with knife and fork, or even eaten out of hand.
Friday, March 17, 2017
New Favorite Chili Recipe
Olive oil
2 lb flat iron steak, cubed (or any meat you can chunk. I'll confess I don't know what cut of beef was frozen in the freezer - but it chunked nice and tasted great)
1/4 cup tequila or water
6 cups diced tomatoes
2 green bell peppers, seeded & diced
1 white onion, diced
3 T Fajita seasoning (either make your own or use store-bought)
2 T minced garlic
1 1/2 cups beef broth
1 can tomato paste (the tiny cans)
1 can black beans, drained & rinsed
1 can corn (or 1 1/2 cups frozen or fresh)
2 T lime juice
Heat 1T oil in soup pot or dutch oven over med-high heat. Brown half the meat and transfer to slow cooker. Brown remaining meat in additional 1T oil and transfer to slow cooker. Deglaze pot with tequila, scraping all the bits into the liquid and then pour in slow cooker.
Add tomatoes, peppers, onion, and Fajita seasoning. Stir in beef broth and tomato paste. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours.
Stir in beans, corn, and lime juice. Cook another 20 - 30 minutes.
We top with shredded cheese and serve with cornbread. Delicious!
2 lb flat iron steak, cubed (or any meat you can chunk. I'll confess I don't know what cut of beef was frozen in the freezer - but it chunked nice and tasted great)
1/4 cup tequila or water
6 cups diced tomatoes
2 green bell peppers, seeded & diced
1 white onion, diced
3 T Fajita seasoning (either make your own or use store-bought)
2 T minced garlic
1 1/2 cups beef broth
1 can tomato paste (the tiny cans)
1 can black beans, drained & rinsed
1 can corn (or 1 1/2 cups frozen or fresh)
2 T lime juice
Heat 1T oil in soup pot or dutch oven over med-high heat. Brown half the meat and transfer to slow cooker. Brown remaining meat in additional 1T oil and transfer to slow cooker. Deglaze pot with tequila, scraping all the bits into the liquid and then pour in slow cooker.
Add tomatoes, peppers, onion, and Fajita seasoning. Stir in beef broth and tomato paste. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours.
Stir in beans, corn, and lime juice. Cook another 20 - 30 minutes.
We top with shredded cheese and serve with cornbread. Delicious!
Easy Peasy Holiday Fudge
There are only 3 ingredients -- 3 cups chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet), 1 can sweetened condensed milk, 1/4 cup butter.
I melted the ingredients together in a large Pyrex bowl in the microwave, ran the microwave 1 minute at a time and stirred to mix it all together and when the chocolate had a good sheen I mixed in a 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts and poured it into a buttered 8x8 pan. It set up in the refrigerator, and tasted yummy! It would be easy to add in other mix-ins -- we were thinking of peanut butter, or marshmallows, next time. Really it took me 5 minutes from start to finish! If you want an easy fudge recipe, I highly recommend this one!
I melted the ingredients together in a large Pyrex bowl in the microwave, ran the microwave 1 minute at a time and stirred to mix it all together and when the chocolate had a good sheen I mixed in a 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts and poured it into a buttered 8x8 pan. It set up in the refrigerator, and tasted yummy! It would be easy to add in other mix-ins -- we were thinking of peanut butter, or marshmallows, next time. Really it took me 5 minutes from start to finish! If you want an easy fudge recipe, I highly recommend this one!
Portuguese Chicken Soup
Ingredients
3 bone-in chicken breasts
3 stalks celery
1 large onion
3 crushed garlic cloves
liberal sprinkle of red pepper flakes
salt
pepper
zest from one lemon (from our backyard!)
juice from 2 lemons (again, our yard!)
rice
juice from another lemon
Directions
Cover chicken breasts with about 2 extra inches of water in large pot. Coarsely chop celery and onion. Add spices to taste. Add lemon zest and lemon juice. Bring to boil and then turn to simmer for about 45 minutes to an hour.
Remove chicken breasts and set aside to cool a bit. Strain broth and discard vegetables. Return broth to pot and bring to boil. Add rice (the recipe called for 1/4 cup, which didn't seem like enough to me. So I threw in a cup, which was too much, but it was what was left in the bag I had in the cupboard. Luckily, I also had chicken broth in the cupboard, so I just added more broth later and it all worked out fine. I should have done 1/2 cup) Simmer for 20 minutes, or until rice is tender.
Remove chicken skin and shred chicken. Add to broth. Add juice from another lemon. Simmer for 5 - 10 minutes. Enjoy!!
I really enjoyed the zing the lemon juice gave the soup, and the soup received a thumbs up from all 5 members of my family. If I would have had any carrots, I would have added them in as well. The original recipe called for mint, but I didn't have any.
3 bone-in chicken breasts
3 stalks celery
1 large onion
3 crushed garlic cloves
liberal sprinkle of red pepper flakes
salt
pepper
zest from one lemon (from our backyard!)
juice from 2 lemons (again, our yard!)
rice
juice from another lemon
Directions
Cover chicken breasts with about 2 extra inches of water in large pot. Coarsely chop celery and onion. Add spices to taste. Add lemon zest and lemon juice. Bring to boil and then turn to simmer for about 45 minutes to an hour.
Remove chicken breasts and set aside to cool a bit. Strain broth and discard vegetables. Return broth to pot and bring to boil. Add rice (the recipe called for 1/4 cup, which didn't seem like enough to me. So I threw in a cup, which was too much, but it was what was left in the bag I had in the cupboard. Luckily, I also had chicken broth in the cupboard, so I just added more broth later and it all worked out fine. I should have done 1/2 cup) Simmer for 20 minutes, or until rice is tender.
Remove chicken skin and shred chicken. Add to broth. Add juice from another lemon. Simmer for 5 - 10 minutes. Enjoy!!
I really enjoyed the zing the lemon juice gave the soup, and the soup received a thumbs up from all 5 members of my family. If I would have had any carrots, I would have added them in as well. The original recipe called for mint, but I didn't have any.
Emily's Potato Corn Cheddar Chowder
This recipe is a go - to Lent recipe in our house! Perfect for Fridays in Lent, matched up with Irish Soda Bread!
oil, butter or water for sauteing
1 large onion
red, yellow, and green peppers, chopped (frozen is fine)
1 cube bullion or canned soup stock (optional - use veggie stock to make it a vegetarian meal)
4 to 8 good size potatoes, diced
1 can (or small bag frozen) corn
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk (fat-free, soy, whatever)
1 8 oz package of cubed or shredded cheese
salt and pepper to taste
extra milk if you like a thinner chowder
In large soup pot, saute peppers and onions until soft in water or oil. Place potatoes in pot and cover with water one inch higher than potatoes. Add bullion if desired and boil potatoes for about 15 minutes (less for smaller pieces), until potatoes are soft enough to chew but not dissolving, and turn heat down low.
While potatoes are cooking, melt butter/margarine in separate small sauce pan and stir in flour, stirring constantly until mixture is smooth. Add milk and stir until mixture thickens (you're making a white sauce at this point.) Add cheese and stir until melted. Add undrained corn to soup pot (and a bit of water if using frozen corn), and heat through. Add cheese sauce to soup pot and stir thoroughly, adding milk if necessary to achieve desired consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve with oyster crackers.
Feeds 4 - 5
oil, butter or water for sauteing
1 large onion
red, yellow, and green peppers, chopped (frozen is fine)
1 cube bullion or canned soup stock (optional - use veggie stock to make it a vegetarian meal)
4 to 8 good size potatoes, diced
1 can (or small bag frozen) corn
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk (fat-free, soy, whatever)
1 8 oz package of cubed or shredded cheese
salt and pepper to taste
extra milk if you like a thinner chowder
In large soup pot, saute peppers and onions until soft in water or oil. Place potatoes in pot and cover with water one inch higher than potatoes. Add bullion if desired and boil potatoes for about 15 minutes (less for smaller pieces), until potatoes are soft enough to chew but not dissolving, and turn heat down low.
While potatoes are cooking, melt butter/margarine in separate small sauce pan and stir in flour, stirring constantly until mixture is smooth. Add milk and stir until mixture thickens (you're making a white sauce at this point.) Add cheese and stir until melted. Add undrained corn to soup pot (and a bit of water if using frozen corn), and heat through. Add cheese sauce to soup pot and stir thoroughly, adding milk if necessary to achieve desired consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve with oyster crackers.
Feeds 4 - 5
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