Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Chicken Tetrazzini



I was so hooked the first time I had this pasta.  I went home and made one the next day.  Eventually, made another one because it is just so delicious!! 

I. Step 1

A Ingredients
Chicken breast           4 pieces
Salt and pepper             to taste
Butter                         2 tablespoon
Olive oil                     2 tablespoon


Directions:
1. Sprinkle salt and pepper both sides of the chicken breast. 
2. Heat up the butter and olive oil in a large frying pan, add the chicken to pan when the oil is heated.  Cook until the chicken is golden brown on both sides, around 3-4 minutes. 
3. Take the chicken out into a big mixing bowl.  Using the same pan, don’t turn off the heat, proceed into next step.

II. Step 2

B Ingredients
Butter                           1 tablespoon
Olive oil                        1 tablespoon
Garlic, minced               1 tablespoon
Mushroom, sliced      2-3 cups (around 2 lbs)
Onion, sliced                 1 head
Thyme, dried                 1 teaspoon
Salt                                ¼ teaspoon
Ground black pepper     ¼ teaspoon
Dry white wine               1 cup
Directions:
1. Heat butter and olive oil, add the minced garlic into pan to cook until fragrant, a couple of minutes, then add the mushroom slices to pan, cook until golden, around 3 minutes, then add the onion and dried parsley into pan, add the salt and pepper, toss well and cook for 5-8 minutes until the onion is softened and translucent but not quite golden. 
2. Add the white wine, let reduce, aroud 4-5 minutes. 
3. Meanwhile, shred the chicken into small long shreds.  Do not cut for the chicken will absorb more juice and flavor if shredded.  Place the shredded chicken back into the mixing bowl. 
4. When the wine is evaporated, add the content into a big mixing bowl with the shredded chicken.  Using the same pan, do not turn off heat, for the next step. 

III. Step 3

C Ingredients
Butter                                 3 tablespoon
Flour                                1/3 cup
Milk, room temp                 4 cups
Heavy whipping cream       1 cup
Nutmeg, ground               1/8 teaspoon
Salt                                      2 teaspoon
Ground black pepper           1 teaspoon

Directions:
1. Melt butter in pan, add the flour, cook until the raw flour smell is gone. 
2. Using a whisk, whisk in the milk and heavy whipping cream.  Add slowly at the beginning so the roux can absorb the liquid.
3. Add the ground nutmeg, salt and pepper, simmer until the sauce reduced a bit, around 8-10 minutes. 

IV. Step 4
D Ingredients
Linguini                            1 package (around 16 oz)
Frozen sweet peas            1 cup
Chicken stock                   1 cup
Bread crumbs                   ¼ cup
Parmesan cheese,grated    1 cup
Parsley, fresh minced        ¼ cup
Salt and pepper                      to taste

Directions:
1.  Cook the pasta in a pot of boiling water with a couple teaspoons of salt until al dente, still a bit undercooked.  Drain the noodle form the water. 
2. Preheat oven 450°F/230°C.
3. Coat a 13x9x2 baking dish with oil or butter to prevent sticking. 
4. Pour the cooked pasta into a big mixing bowl, pour 1/3 of the C sauce into the mixing with the noodles, sprinkle some black pepper, toss well.  Then add the prepared chicken and vegetables, sauce, and frozen sweet peas, toss well.  Then slowly add enough chicken stock so that the mixture isn’t too dry and clumpy.  Pour the entire content into the prepared baking dish. 
5. Sprinkle the top with Parmesan cheese, minced parsley, and bread crumbs. 
6. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minute until golden brown, let cook 5 minutes before serving.

Serving: 8
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Friday, November 30, 2012

Italian Bread Crumbs





When I first started learning how to cook, small ingredients like the break crumbs always gave me a headache.  It’s quite expensive and I only need a tiny little bit.  Nowadays I learn to buy bulk at markets so that I will have no leftover ingredients to deal with.  My thanksgiving dinner was a raving success.  I saved money and pantry space!!

Now if your family is anything like mine, you’ll have pieces of bread here and there.  This is a great recipe to get rid of stale bread.  Enjoy!

Ingredients
Toasts, stale                  3 slices
Garlic salt                     1 teaspoon
Italian seasoning          ½ teaspoon

Directions:
1. Preheat oven 300°F/150°C.
2. Cut the slices of toasts, then put the toasts into a fod processor or blender, pulse until fine. 
3. Add the garlic salt and Italian seasoning into the crumbs, pulse a few more times to mix. 
4. Spread the crumbs evenly onto a baking sheet, bake in the oven for 5-7 minutes.  Let cool completely after baking, the store in air tight containers.

Serving: 1 cup

Thanksgiving Dinner 2012


Some of the dishes only made it till lunch, as you can see, 
we still had a table full of goodies. I miss having my pretty plates, 
they're all still in boxes all over the place!!!
Herb Ginger Brined Turkey
This turkey takes a few days to make. I started defrosting it in the
 frig one week before baking. Two days before it was put in a liquid 
brine and was completely room temp and  herb rubbed before 
going in the oven. This is by far the biggest, most meaty 
turkey I've ever made.  So delicious. 21.15 lbs, 4 hours 
baking time, not bad, eh? 
 
 Coconut Shrimp
with a homemade pina colada dip. This was a huge hit as well.

 Brussels Sprouts Salad
I fell in love with this at Le Grande Orange. This is my
 take on this tasty California fare freshness. ♥
Brussels Sprout Stalks
This is what Brussels Sprout look like.  It's very interesting.
My mom once found a package of Brussels sprouts seeds. 
 She planted them about 1 inch apart thinking it's gonna 
grow into 1 little Brussels Sprouts.  I showed her a google image 
of Brussels Sprout and replanted the seeds much farther apart. 
Well...our hen, Buck Buck dug up the seeds and sprouts
 and ate every single one not long after that.  
 
 Apple Hazelnut Stuffing
This stuffing is a great accompaniment for white meat 
meals. It accentuates the taste. I love the hazelnuts in it!!
Buttery Brussels Sprouts
Ginger, sugar, and lemon made this a recurring dish 
on every thanksgiving, back by popular demand!!! ♥
 
 Almond Green Beans
This recipe is a courtesy of Sondra. My cousin Debbie's 
mother in law. I make this dish for every major meal 
now. It helps digestion. Trust me.
Pecan Crusted Yam Souffle
 I created this dish several years ago and it's the most 
requested dish on my Thanksgiving dinner table. 
 Everyone loves it. 
Turkey Pot Pie
A few dishes went into this delicious pie. 
Butternut Squash Soup, Turkey, Decorating apples. The 
butternut squash soup gave this dish a great looking mouth 
watering natural color. This is a great way to make your 
leftovers, a little less leftover-looking, don't you think?



 Turkey Stuffing Shepard's Pie
Again, a few dishes went into the making of this pie. 
First the apple hazelnut stuffing made a tasty crust, 
then turkey and buttery Brussels sprouts made this 
filling. Last but not least, leftover mashed potato completes 
the top. Drizzled with gravy, made me look forward to 
Thanksgiving Day brunch. Don't you?

Signature Mashed Potato
I've always been a fan of the mashed potato at Cheesecake Factory.  
So I made this similar one at home with red potato.  Everyone
always loves it.  It goes perfectly with many different entrees. 

 Pumpkin Pie
This is my signature pumpkin pie. But tell you a secret, 
this particular one in the picture is made of butternut 
squash instead of pumpkin!! Just this one 
exception. (ran out of pie pumpkins!!!)

These two sheets were the planning worksheets of my 
Thanksgiving meals and shopping list.  It works much better
than having everything in my head. 

Fried Pork Chop
This was the dinner the day before Thanksgiving.  But hey, 
it was worth every calories.  
Pie Pumpkin
I got this cute little pumpkin at Trader Joe's.  It's just the right s
ize for one pumpkin pie, rather than having all the left 
over mashed pumpkins.  But it's petite and cute, 
didn't wanna cut it!!! 

Fried Rice
This dish was planned for dinner but only made it to lunch.  
Everyone's still gotta eat lunch and this way we will be 
able to give each dish more attention.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Sesame Bread Pockets




This is the most popular Chinese breakfast item for hundreds of years.  It’s not that difficult to make.  I love these bread pockets.  I also eat roasted duck with them, too. Delish~

A Ingredients
All-purpose flour                  450 g
Salt                                           ½ teaspoon
Lard                                         15 g
Peanut oil                                 25 g
Hot water (80-100°C; 175-210°F)       225 g
Cold water                           30-50 g

Directions:
1. Measure the all purpose flour and salt into a mixing bowl, add lard and the peanut oil to the flour and break apart the lark into the flour using your fingertips until all the big chunks are broken. 
2. Mix the hot water into the dough, a bit at a time, try to pick up all the loose flour at the bottom of the mixing bowl.  Add enough cold water into the flour to make a dough.
3. Knead until smooth, cover with plastic wrap and let rest at room temp for 30-40 minutes. 

B Ingredients
Cake flour                  120 g
Peanut oil                     50 g
Lard                             25 g

Directions:
1. Heat the peanut oil and lard in a frying pan until fragrant and lightly smoking. 
2. Add the cake flour into the pan and cook until the raw flour smell is replaced by cooked flour smell and the color is light golden. 
3. Scoop out the filling into a bowl.  Place the bowl in frig until the dough is ready for assembling.

C Ingredients
White sesame, toasted               ¼ cup

Directions:
1. Put the dough onto a lightly floured surface.  Sprinkle generously with flour to prevent sticking. 
2. Roll the dough out into a 12x18 inch flat, spread the filling evenly onto the flat, leave a 1 inch edge at the sides empty. 
3. Roll up the dough from the long side into an 18 inch log, sealing the opening by pinching the dough together as the dough roll up, then seal the two ends. 
4. Mark the long dough log with the back of a knife into 12 equal portions.  Snap each portions off with your hand, sealing the opening with your fingers. 
5. Place the dough, sealing-point at the center, on a lightly floured surface, press down with palm, roll out into a long rectangle, smooth side down, fold towards the center like a letter. 
6. Seal side down, turn 90 degree, roll the dough out to a long rectangle, turn the dough over so the smooth side is down, pick up the two short sides, fold towards the center, then fold the dough in half at the center, like a book, this is a book fold. 
7. Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C.  Seal side down, spray a bit of water onto the top side, then press the water side into the bowl with toasted sesame.  Place the dough on a floured surface, sesame side up.  Roll the dough into a long rectangle about 2x6 inches.  Place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, sesame side down.  Repeat for the rest of the dough. 
8. Bake in the oven for 6 minutes, remove the baking sheet, flip the pockets over, bake for an additional 15-17 minutes until puffy and slightly golden. 

Serving: 12