Friday Dinner: Panda Express Orange Chicken

There's something about Panda Express's orange chicken. It's not 'real' Chinese food, it's fast food, and yet there is something. Something awesomely yummy. I love a bowl of orange chicken with some fake chow mein and doused with liberally with Sriracha hot sauce. I don't have it very often, for health reasons (and on principle, to avoid Panda Express), but I would be the last person to try and claim that it isn't yummy.



When I found a copycat recipe online for this very orange chicken, I brought it up with Trix as a dinner possibility, and being that she is only human, she said, "If it's wrong, I don't want to be right." It seems a fitting last Friday dinner. Gasp! Why last? Because we're moving to Mondays. Same bat channel, but different bat time. Anyway, back to this Friday dinner.

Here's the thing about Panda's orange chicken -- there's actually no orange in it. They might try and fool us by placing slices of orange in the pan afterward, but the flavoring doesn't actually have any orange (possibly it was named after the color of the glaze once on the chicken?). This recipe calls for an optional amount of orange zest, which I used, and I can confirm: way too orangey for Panda's orange chicken. But that's not to say it wasn't worth adding.

The chicken in Panda's version has a much harder/crunchier coating -- possibly fixed by frying the pieces of chicken for longer, or giving it a thicker coating. The chicken in the homemade version is much more tender, however, and longer frying might compromise that. Many comments to the copycat recipe indicated that doubling the sauce would be a good idea, so we did, and we concur that that's a good idea. One change we'd make, however, is that rather than adding to the just-boiled sauce, we'd thicken it first, then add the chicken. That might help the chicken retain some crispness.

And now, a pictorial of the efforts Trix and I made...

Here's Trix's chicken frying (I used my deep fryer, so there's really nothing to see):



Here's about half my chicken draining on a paper towel:



Trix's chicken in the thickened sauce:



My chicken, plated. It probably would have looked more attractive if I hadn't heaped the entire portion on there, but oh well:



Trix's chicken, plated:



And now here is our improved copycat recipe for orange chicken, which is very good, even if not exactly like Panda Express's.

Orange Chicken

Ingredients

• 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken, chopped into bite sized pieces
• 1 egg
• 1½ tsp salt
• Pinch of white pepper
• 2 tbsp oil, divided, plus more oil for frying
• ½ cup + 1 tbsp cornstarch, divided
• ¼ cup flour
• 1 tbsp ginger, minced
• 1 tsp garlic, minced
• ½ tsp crushed hot red chili pepper
• ¼ cup green onion, chopped
• 1 tbsp rice wine
• ¼ cup water
• Zest of ½ an orange (optional)

For the “Orange” Sauce

• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 tbsp water
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup white vinegar

Method

1. In a large bowl, mix together the egg, salt, pepper, and 1 tbsp of oil. Mix well. Stir in the chicken pieces.
2. In medium bowl, stir together the flour and ½ cup cornstarch. Add the chicken pieces, stirring to coat.
3. Heat oil for deep frying in a wok or deep fryer to 375°F.
4. Add the chicken, small batches at a time, and fry for 4-5 minutes until golden crisp (but avoid overcooking the chicken). When done remove the chicken from the oil with tongs and drain on paper towels.
5. Clean the wok if you used it and heat for 15 seconds over high heat. Lower to medium high and add 1 tbsp of oil.
6. Add the ginger and garlic and stir try until fragrant, about 10 seconds.
7. Add the crushed chiles and green onions, then the rice wine, stirring for a few seconds.
8. Add the orange sauce and bring to a boil.
9. Stir the remaining 1 tbsp of cornstarch into the water, add this mix to the chicken and heat until the sauce has thickened.
10. Add the cooked chicken, stirring until well incorporated.
11. Turn off the heat and stir in the orange zest if using.
12. Serve over white rice.

Friday Dinner: Baked Garlic Parmesan Fries

Here was our attempt at being healthy and bad at the same time. Fries, being made of potato, which is all starch, are never really "good" for you. But there's bad, and then there's slightly less bad. That's what we had on Friday.



They were good -- I made half the recipe, which called for 1 1/2 pounds of potatoes, and I ate every last one. But were they just like regular french fries? Not so much. Frying gives fries the texture that makes them fries; baking them is an OK substitute, but in the end you're really just roasting potatoes in the shape of french fries. And hey, that's OK too. It's certainly easier to bake them -- there are more steps involved -- but not having to deal with large amounts of frying oil is a reward in itself. At the end of the day, I'll say that both methods of making fries have their strong and weak points, and really, when you get to eat potatoes at the end of it, there's not much to complain about.

Making fries isn't new to me... after all, I've fried them properly and tried baking them as well. But this was a slight twist on the latter method. It required first baking the fries, then tossing them with butter, garlic, parmesan cheese, and parsley. It took the full 50 minutes of baking time to get my fries as brown as they look, and they didn't even start remotely looking brown until about 41 minutes. Alas for Trix, whose oven must not run as hot as mine, never got hers to be even half as brown after 60 minutes. Depending on your oven, you may find that you need to keep your fries in longer (or take them out earlier).

As usual I kept the skin of the potatoes on, as I like how they look, they don't taste any different to me, and they add what minimal nutritional value there is to fries.



Baked Garlic Parmesan Fries

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 lbs russet potatoes (about 4 medium-sized ones), peeled or not
• cooking oil spray
• 2 tsp canola oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp butter
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Layer a baking sheet with parchment paper and spray with cooking oil.
2. Using a knife or mandolin, slice potatoes into fries about 1/4" thick. Blot away moisture as best as you can. (If you're a slow chopper or are doubling the recipe, you may want to immerse your potatoes in water as you cut them so they don't oxidize. Be sure to dry them thoroughly before baking.)
3. Place the fries into a gallon-sized plastic bag along with the canola oil and salt. Seal the bag and massage the contents so that all the potatoes are well coated.
4. Layer the fries onto the prepared baking sheet, spreading them out into a single layer as best as you can.
5. Place the sheet into the oven and bake for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove the baking sheet from the oven and turn the fries (I just kind of give them all a toss). Put them back in the oven for another 30 minutes or until golden brown.
6. During the last minute or two of baking, heat the butter in a large pan. Saute the garlic for 30-45 seconds, making sure that they don't brown. The garlic should remain soft for best flavor. Turn off the heat.
7. Add the baked fries to the garlic and butter. Using tongs or a spatula, carefully move the fries around (they're more delicate than their fried counterparts) so that they're coated. Top with parmesan and parsley. Give everything a quick toss, place on a dish, and serve.

Friday Dinner: Fish Tacos

You know what I loved about this Friday Dinner? Well, actually, I loved a few things. But you know what was the best thing? The fact that Trix and I both made fish tacos, and yet almost everything about them was different. We both used tortillas, salsa, and fish, but none were the same. The other things I loved: 1) it's a healthy meal; and 2) it was delicious, yet fast and easy to prepare.



Trix used corn tortillas; I used flour. She used regular cabbage; I used Napa cabbage. She added shredded carrot to hers; I didn't. (The recipe we were basing this meal off of used shredded carrot and jicama -- I didn't feel like using carrot and I couldn't find jicama at the store, even though I've bought it before.)

I pan "grilled" my fish (flounder) using my new Le Creuset grilling pan:



She broiled her fish (halibut) in the oven:



I made a traditional tomato salsa while Trix adapted an avocado and mango salsa to an avocado and pineapple salsa. Mine was OK; she said hers was excellent. I think when mangoes are in season I'm definitely going to be trying that salsa!



We both warmed our tortillas -- she in the oven, me in the microwave -- then piled on the goodies. Since there isn't much of a recipe for this, the recipes I'll share are the two salsas!



Mango Avocado Salsa

Ingredients

• 1 ripe and firm mango, peeled and chopped
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 1 tomato, diced
• 2 avocados, peeled and chopped
• 1/4 red onion, diced
• 1 dash garlic salt (optional)

Method

1. Combine all the ingredients in a medium bowl. Cover and chill 20-30 minutes before serving.

Tomato Salsa

Ingredients

• 1 14.5oz can petite diced tomatoes
• 1/3 cup diced red onion (about half a small-sized one)
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp chopped cilantro
• 1 tbsp fresh jalapeno, diced (about half a medium-sized one)
• 2 tsp garlic, minced (about 2 cloves)
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Method

1. Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl.

Friday Dinner: Milk-Braised Pork

Whaaaat? Pork again? Well, yes. When we find yummy-sounding recipes, particularly ones that sound yummy and simple, we don't turn them away. This one involved cutting slits into pork, inserting slivers of garlic, browning, and using milk as a braising liquid.



The verdict? I can't speak for Trix, but I thought this was a good recipe. If someone else made it for me, I'd eat it for sure with no qualms. But as something I make for myself, there are pork recipes out there that I like better, such as last week's roasting method, and would probably make again before I made this one. That may not be true of everyone. This was good pork, and I'd encourage you to make it so you can decide for yourself if this is one for your regular repertoire.



So why didn't I like it as much as other pork recipes? First, while the meat was tender, I don't think this one maximized pork's potential; the flavor, while pleasing, was a little bland. It could have been any meat. Second, for an otherwise simple recipe, the step of having to blend the braising liquid in order to turn it into a gravy for the meat wastes time and requires having to wash something that I usually find annoying/unwieldy to have to wash (my blender). Trix used low-fat milk and there weren't as many curds so she didn't have to blend her sauce, but the trade off was that it was the consistency of milk. Mine wasn't much thicker, but that could also be due to the fact that I was too lazy to remove the onions and blended them right into the sauce.



Neither Trix nor I could find pork roasts, which is what the recipe originally calls for, so she used a tenderloin and I used rib chops. I think any cut works; you just have to adjust the braising time accordingly.



As for sides I went the lazy route and prepared two things that could be roasted alongside the pork: asparagus and garlic potatoes. I washed, patted dry, and trimmed the asparagus (best method is to grasp the asaparagus toward the stem with both hands and bend it until it breaks -- it will break off at the point where tough meets tender), placed it in a baking dish, and seasoned with coarse salt, a dash of pepper, olive oil, and a tiny bit of truffled oil. For the potatoes I chopped Yukon Golds into bite-sized pieces and tossed them in a baking dish with Lawry's seasoned salt, 2 cloves of minced garlic, and 2 tsp of minced chives, then placed small dabs of cold butter, about 1 1/2 tbsp, over the top. While roasting I stirred both side dishes 3-4 times over the course of an hour. Trix made creamed broccoli and Ruth's Chris au gratin potatoes.



Milk-Braised Pork

Ingredients

• 2-3 lbs pork roast, tenderloin, or chops
• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
• 2-3 cups of milk, preferably whole
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp olive or canola oil

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Cut slits into the pork and place a sliver of garlic in each. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a large frying pan or Dutch oven. Briefly cook onions on high heat until they start to brown on the edges -- this shouldn't take very long. Remove to a dish. In the remaining oil, sear the meat on all sides until browned, 3-4 minutes per side.
4. Transfer meat to a roasting pan unless you're using a Dutch oven, in which case the meat can simply be braised right in it. Pour in enough milk to just about cover the pork. Layer the onions over the top. Cover the dish.
5. Place the Dutch oven or roasting pan into the oven and braise 1-2 hours -- if you're using a thick roast, cook it for longer; if using chops, an hour will do. When done, an instant thermometer will register 150°F when inserted into the center of the meat.
6. When the pork is ready, carefully remove it to another dish or a cutting board if you're planning to slice it. You can remove the onions at this point or not -- your choice. They will be very limp, so if you don't want them as part of the sauce (they make it sweeter), you might want to strain it.
7. If you used whole milk you will probably find many curds in the braising liquid. Transfer the liquid, curds and all, to a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Pour the gravy over the pork. Serve hot.

Ruth's Chris Au Gratin Potatoes

Ingredients

• 5 medium russet potatoes, peeled
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1-1/2 tbsp flour
• 1 large clove garlic, pressed
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp fresh black pepper
• 1 tbsp butter, softened
• 1-1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
• 1 tsp finely chopped parsley

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Cut the potatoes into 1/4 inch slices, then quarter each of those slices.
3. Beat together the cream, milk, flour, garlic, salt, and pepper by hand just until well combined.
4. Coat the inside of a large baking dish with the softened butter.
5. Arrange the potatoes in the dish and pour the cream mixture over them.
6. Cover and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake another 40 minutes or until the potatoes are starting to brown on the top.
7. Sprinkle grated cheese over the top and continue to bake for another 5-10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and slightly browned and the potatoes are tender.
8. Sprinkle parsley on top and serve.

Friday Dinner: Apple Dijon Pork

This meal is a solo edition of the Friday dinners, as Trix had an emergency with her dog and couldn't participate. There was also no Gossip Girl watching, which is sad only in that it means we still have 4-5 episodes to go before we can start Battlestar Galactica.



I love pork. I love it in soup, in barbecue, in sandwiches, and basically any way it's prepared in a restaurant. At home I'm most successful with cooking pork when it involves slow cooking somehow, whether in the Crock Pot or in soup. (And I'm talking about cuts of pork rather than, say, bacon or ham.) Otherwise, it tends to be tough rather than tender, and is always just a little bit disappointing.

This recipe has shown me what I've done wrong all this time -- I've been overcooking it. According to the recipe, "Pork tenderloin is a very tender and lean cut of pork, and should not be served well done. Pork is completely safe to eat cooked medium, and may be slightly pink in color if cooked properly." I've always been very careful to make sure my pork was well done, because I was raised in the camp of thought that that was the only safe way to cook and eat pork. It's particularly painful for someone who enjoys her beef medium rare, which is why I generally avoid cooking cuts of pork -- I don't really enjoy sawdust in my mouth. I felt very daring the one time I had medium rare pork at El Greco. Now knowing that it's perfectly safe to eat it medium, well -- I won't be avoiding pork cuts anymore, because this was simply wonderful. The meat was tender and flavorful, and it was very simple to prepare.

As for the apple dijon sauce in this recipe, I can take it or leave it. I'm not a huge fan of sweet sauces to begin with, but the combination of the sweetness and the overabundance of rosemary (I like it in small quantities) is a little too much for me. Since the pork was so wonderful just seasoned with salt and pepper, the sauce was, for me, extraneous. If you like sweet sauces and/or rosemary, you might enjoy it a lot more than I did. In the interest of full disclosure I should admit that I used dried rosemary rather than fresh, which is what the recipe calls for, so I might have overdone it.



Rather than searing the meat in a frying pan then transferring it to a roasting pan, I used my new Le Creuset roasting pan right on the stovetop. I heated it up, added the oil, and seared the meat. Then I just placed the whole thing into the oven. If you have a cast iron roasting pan, you can do the same -- otherwise, just follow the directions as they are.



I also didn't use a pork tenderloin. I used pork sirloin, which was on sale at the market when I went. And I had just read this in the latest issue of Gourmet magazine: "Sirloin pork cutlets or chops come from the part of a pig's (very long) loin nearest the hip. The fact that they're inexpensive and naturally dark or two-toned in color doesn't mean that they're of poorer quality than paler loin chops or rib chops. In fact, they are tender, juicy, and full of wonderful flavor. They also behave beautifully during cooking: Both loin and rib chops have a tighter, dense texture that turns bouncy or cottony if cooked a second or so too long; sirloin cuts are much more forgiving."

Now I'm not sure if the tenderness of the meat was due to the cooking method or the fact that I used sirloin! I let it sit out longer than the 10 minutes the recipe suggests, because I made 3 sides and was putting the finishing touches on 2 of them when the sirloin was ready. Gourmet was right though; it must have been extremely forgiving, because they were still great even by the time I got to slicing them.

As for the sides, I made Zuni Cafe's buttermilk mashed potatoes (hey, I had Yukon Golds and buttermilk in the fridge, so why not), broth-boiled kale, and a new recipe for creamed broccoli that I also got from the latest issue of Gourmet. The head of broccoli I used was smaller than the suggested size, so the dish turned out a bit too thin, and next time I will probably just use a sprinkling of nutmeg rather than the full 1/4 tsp it calls for, but was otherwise very tasty -- I'll be making it again, but with a bigger head of broccoli!



Apple Dijon Pork

Ingredients:

• 2lbs pork tenderloin or sirloin (about 2 pieces), trimmed of excess fat
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 2 tbsp cider vinegar
• 2 cups apple cider, or juice
• 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp fresh rosemary, minced
• 2 tbsp cold butter

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Season the pork tenderloins well with black pepper and salt to taste.
3. Heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan, over medium-high heat, until it begins to smoke. Sear the pork on all sides, about 2 minutes per side.
4. Turn off the heat, transfer to a shallow baking pan, and place the pan in the oven. Roast the pork for about 30 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 145 degrees F.
5. While the pork is cooking, pour off the excess oil from the frying pan. Place over high heat and add the garlic. Cook for 30 seconds.
6. Add the vinegar, apple cider, Dijon mustard, and rosemary. Cook until the sauce reduces by about 2/3, and begins to slightly thicken. Turn off the heat and whisk in the cold butter, stirring constantly until the butter is gone. Taste and adjust seasoning.
7. Remove the pork from the oven and move to a platter. Allow to rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving with the warm sauce.

Creamed Broccoli (adapted from Gourmet)

Ingredients

• 1 bunch broccoli (1 1/4 lb)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
• 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 3 tbsp grated parmesan
• 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice

Method

1. Peel broccoli stems, then corasely chop stems and florets. Cook broccoli in boiling salted water (1 1/2 tsp salt for 4 qt water) until just tender, 4 to 6 minutes. Drain in a colander and run under cold water to stop cooking. (Note: Broccoli can be boiled 1 day ahead and chilled.)
2. Simmer cream, garlic, nutmeg, salt, and pepper in a medium saucepan, uncovered, until slightly thickened and reduced to about 2/3 cup, about 5 minutes.
3. Add broccoli and simmer, mashing with a potato masher, until coarsely mashed and heated through, about 2 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and stir in parmesan and lemon juice.

Friday Dinner: High Roast Chicken

This last Friday, Jade and I roasted a chicken. Well, what passes for roasting these days (it's really just baking) -- there was no open fire or anything. I've baked my share of chickens, but I've always found it kind of annoying to have to baste it repeatedly in order to achieve that lovely golden skin all over, it took what seemed a long time, I never found a marinade that really pleased me consistently, and even when it was done cooking, it wasn't the end of the meal preparation, as I'd still have to make sides.



I think this method of cooking chicken has managed to accomplish the impressive feat of solving all those problems. First, the skin is crispy and nearly golden all over (enough to satisfy me) without requiring any basting at all. Second, it takes 40 minutes to roast. Third, flavoring it is very simple and really delicious. And finally, with a little extra effort, you're making a yummy side at the same time. It's great!

Before:



After:



The key to even browning and quick cooking is butterflying the chicken by cutting out the backbone. If you have really good kitchen shears, this may not pose much of a challenge for you. I have mediocre kitchen shears and I was able to cut it out with moderate effort -- nothing that made me break a sweat. Trix wasn't so lucky; her shears didn't do the job and so she ended up using a knife, but that is definitely not the ideal method for removing the backbone (you end up hacking other parts you don't want to be hacking at).

The other thing you need for this is a broiling pan -- both the top part with slits in it and the roasting pan it goes on top of. While the chicken roasts, its delicious juices trickle through the slits into the bottom ... which will have a layer of lovely scalloped potatoes! Make sure you cover it with foil for easy cleaning, and make sure you spray cooking oil on the foil to help the potatoes brown (if you forget, as both Trix and I did, the potatoes won't brown nicely -- though at that point you could layer them in a cast iron pan and cook at high heat until they are golden and crisp). If you like, you can make a second side, something with color, like baby carrots or green beans. Since I had half a head of cabbage in the fridge, I went for the tried and true spicy stir-fry cabbage that I love so much.



The flavoring of the chicken comes from brining (which needs at least an hour, or overnight) and an easy flavored butter that you make from mixing unsalted butter with Dijon mustard, thyme, garlic, and pepper. The mustard seems very strong once it's mixed in, and I was afraid that the resulting meat would taste too much like mustard -- but that was not the case at all. It mellowed while baking into something amazingly tasty.

To get even more mileage out of your chicken, I really recommend saving the bones and making a flavorful stock from it. Because it's only been cooked for 40 minutes, there's still plenty of chicken essence to be eked out.

Now that we know this recipe, it's going to be hard to buy one of those ready-made rotisserie chickens in the market again!



High Roast Chicken

Ingredients

• a 3 to 4 pound chicken
• 2 ½ pounds potatoes, peeled (preferably ones with a lot of starch, such as russets)
• 1 tbsp + 1 tsp of olive oil, divided
• Salt and pepper to taste

For the brine

• 2 quarts of water
• ¼-½ cup table salt (to taste -- ¼ cup is on the bland side)
• ½ cup sugar

For the flavored butter

• 2 tbsp unsalted butter, slightly softened
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp fresh thyme
• Pinch of pepper

Method

1. Prepare the brine, at least an hour before you plan to roast the chicken or overnight. Mix the salt and sugar into the water and make sure it’s dissolved well. Place the chicken in the brine and leave for about an hour, or overnight. Cover and put into refrigerator.
2. In the meanwhile, prepare the flavored butter. Mix all the ingredients except for the pepper. Let it sit until you are ready to flavor the chicken.
3. Place a rack on the lower middle rung of the oven and preheat to 500°F.
4. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator and rinse it off (remaining sugar crystals on the skin will burn). Pat the chicken dry. If there's visible fat, use the paper towel you're using to pat dry to simply pull it off and discard.
5. Butterfly the chicken by cutting out the backbone with kitchen shears (use the tail as guidelines on where to cut). Flatten the chicken down by pressing on it with the heel of your palm – you will probably hear bones break.
6. Stretch out the pockets of chicken skin around the breasts, thighs, and legs – this will not only create crevices for the butter, but will separate the skin from the flesh, which will make for a crispier skin.
7. Add a pinch of pepper to the flavored butter and mix. Put dollops of butter under the chicken skin on the breasts, thighs, and legs, massaging the butter in through the skin.
8. If the chicken is still wet, pat it as dry as possible. (At this point, you could put it in the refrigerator overnight on a sheet pan to get rid of even more moisture.)
9. Place the chicken on top of a broiling pan. Rub it with 1 tsp of olive oil and sprinkle some pepper on top.
10. Line the bottom of the broiling pan with heavy duty aluminum foil. Spray it with nonstick cooking spray.
11. Fit the slicing blade attachment to a food processor. Scallop the peeled potatoes by placing them one at a time through the feeding tube. If a potato won’t fit, peel off some more or use a knife to cut off a small amount until it will fit.
12. Place the potatoes in a large bowl and season with 1 tbsp of olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. (Remember, the chicken drippings will also season the potatoes, so don’t over season during this step.) Mix well, then layer in the prepared foil-lined bottom pan.
13. Place the top of the broiler pan with the chicken on it over the bottom pan of potatoes.
14. Roast in the oven for 40 minutes. Cut into a thigh and if the juices run clear it’s done. If the juices run pink, keep it in the oven for another 10 minutes or until juices run clear.
15. Remove the chicken from the oven and let it sit while you prepare the potatoes. Dab grease from the top of them using a paper towel. Place a cutting board over the potatoes, then flip the whole thing over. Carefully remove the foil – it’s likely that even with the nonstick spray some of them will stick to the foil. Again dab them with a paper towel to remove as much grease as possible.
16. Cut the chicken into fourths (or however many pieces you desire) and serve with potatoes.

Friday Dinner: Clam Chowder

I've been remiss in blogging about two Friday dinners in a row! Maybe it's because, subconsciously, I want to keep two wonderful recipes to myself. :D Nah, that's not it. I don't really have a good reason; I'm just a procrastinator at heart (and everywhere else).

The previous Friday, Trix and I made our first-ever attempt at clam chowder. It was nearly a rousing success. I say nearly because we had to make individual adjustments to the recipe to get it to our liking -- mostly to do with consistency. The flavor of the chowder is quite good, if a little too infused with bacon (which is something neither of us thought we'd ever say).



I used whole clams, because live Manila clams were available at my local 99 Ranch, and because I can't forget the memory of the best clam chowder I ever had at a Gladstone's in Malibu, which had whole clams in it. It's the only clam chowder I've ever had that used whole clams. This was more than a decade ago, however, and I've heard that they've since stopped doing that (probably cost prohibitive) -- which is too bad. But all the more reason to make it myself, if possible.

If you can't find live clams, using the canned minced kind is perfectly acceptable -- Trix used them and she's made this chowder twice already.

We both found that cooking the chowder for the original time specified wasn't nearly enough time for the soup to thicken to a consistency we liked. I don't particularly like my chowder too thick, but nor should it be as thin as broth. She found that cooking it longer (therefore melting the potatoes further and allowing more moisture to evaporate) made the consistency work better for her; I found that adding more flour made it absolutely perfect for me. I'd recommend trying her method if you have the time, and if it doesn't get to the consistency you want, add flour. Or if you're pressed for time and want to get thicker results more quickly, just add more flour from the start.

We're still doing some experimenting with this recipe (we definitely like it enough to make it many times!), such as trying to figure out if the smoked ham is absolutely necessary, or if there are different points in which we should add potatoes, to make sure they're not all melted in the final result.

Clam Chowder - adapted from a recipe found here

Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 4oz. bacon, diced
• 2oz. smoked ham, diced
• 3 cups minced clams, drained and juice reserved
• 3 cups chopped onions
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 cups water + reserved clam juice
• 3 cups whole milk
• 6 cups potatoes, diced
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Butter and paprika (optional)
• Finely minced chives (optional)

Method:

1. Saute the bacon and ham together, until the bacon is nearly crisp. Add onions and saute until limp. Set this mixture aside, but do not drain.
2. In a heavy bottomed pot, add the potatoes, and salt and pepper to taste. Pour what reserved clam juice you have into a measuring cup and add water until it reaches 2 1/2 cups. Cook until the potatoes are tender, 15-20 minutes.
3. To the bacon, ham, and onion mixture add the flour and make a roux. Mix theroux into the potato mixture and bring to a boil. Stir down when it's boiling, then add the milk and clams.
4. Simmer until hot, stirring often. Do not allow the chowder to boil again once the milk is added or it will separate. If the chowder isn't thick enough, add more flour (if you use a thickener like Wondra, you can just sprinkle it directly into the chowder; if you use regular flour you'll probably want to make a thin paste with some water before mixing it in or it'll just be lumpy).
5. Serve when the chowder is thickened to your liking and hot. Garnish each bowl with a dollop of butter, a dash of paprika, and/or chives.

Note: If you're using fresh clams, as I did, you'll want to steam them first. Get about an inch of water boiling in a large pot that has a lid. Wash the clams and put them in a heatproof bowl that will fit into the pot when covered. Put the bowl into the pot while the water is simmering. Cover. Steam for 3 minutes; you'll probably start to hear some of the clams pop open. Set the lid aside and remove the clams that have opened. The ones on the bottom probably haven't, so you'll want to put the lid back on and repeat those steps until all the clams are open. Remove the clams from their shells (up to you if you want to include the ligament) and place them in a separate bowl until ready to use in the chowder. Discard the shells. The bowl you used to steam the clam will probably be full of clam-infused water; you should reserve it to use in the chowder. Safest thing to do is line a strainer with some cheesecloth and strain the juice through it (in case there's sand).

Friday Dinner: Mexican Breakfast

This week Trix and I seemed to have one of those brain-melding moments in which we had very similar thoughts about what we should do for dinner on Friday, even though it wasn't necessarily the exact same thing. I don't even know how we came to the conclusion we did, how it was raised in the first place: that's a blur. All I know is, we brought up the topic of dinner, and about 5 minutes later we had decided on Mexican breakfast.

I have to admit from the outset that I was at a disadvantage, having never actually eaten what I was proposing to make in a restaurant. Due to a recipe I'd seen at Homesick Texan, I was very eager to try making my own chorizo -- and one of the classic ways of eating chorizo is with scrambled eggs. It sounded easy enough.

Trix decided on huevos rancheros, which was more complicated than chorizo and scrambled eggs, particularly because she wanted to find an authentic ranchera sauce. She eventually found one here.

I marinated the ground pork for the chorizo overnight. I was excited about using my new Mini-Prep food processor for the first time. There are many times when I want to use a food processor to make a bit of something, but my normal food processor is simply too large to be effective. Especially as I'm usually just cooking for myself, I don't need a big batch of sauce that a normal-sized food processor effectively makes. Just some photos to illustrate:









As you can see, it was the perfect amount for the Mini-Prep, which worked great. The marinade consisted of guajillo chiles, onion, garlic, and apple cider vinegar. It was then mixed into the ground pork along with some seasoning:







This mixture was marinated overnight. To prepare, I simply browned it in a cast iron pan until fully cooked. I then spooned some into another pan and added some beaten eggs with milk. I scrambled it well (how I prefer) and served with some fried potato coins. The finished product:



The following day, I had the same thing, but dressed it up a bit -- I added pickled jalapenos and cheddar cheese to the dish and ate the chorizo and eggs with flour tortillas.

Trix began her efforts by chopping up green bell pepper for the ranchera sauce:



When that was cooking away she also heated up some black beans and rice (the latter not pictured):



And the delicious finale, with fried eggs, the ranchera sauce, black beans, rice, and white corn tortillas.

Friday Dinner: Seafood and Vegetable Medley

This week was supposed to be a boring Friday night dinner. Trix and I both had food aplenty in the house and didn't feel like spending the time or the money to get more. We listed the items we each had, and the only things we had in common were vegetables -- and then, not even the same vegetables. Just in the fact that we both had vegetables. We could just have a generically themed dinner. What about a vegetable medley? I suggested. Trix said she had some scallops, and would use those in her medley.





Sometime during the week I discovered Melissa Clark's recipe for roasted shrimp and broccoli (one of the veggies I had), and I decided I wanted to make it, so the theme turned instead to a seafood/vegetable medley.



What started out as a plain, generic veggie medley therefore turned into a couple of delectable, repeatable meals -- one I'd personally like to have again and again.



The recipe for the roasted shrimp and broccoli is easy. Melissa's recipe calls for a few spices, but you could probably just toss the whole thing with salt or salt and pepper, maybe some butter, and it would be equally as good -- maybe even better. This is a recipe I'm definitely going to experiment with. As for roasting the broccoli in the oven, that's something I should have thought of doing long ago. I'm the one who loves broccoli pizza, after all, and go through the same steps when I use it as a pizza topping. So why haven't I ever just made it on its own?



Trix turned hers into a seafood/vegetable casserole by adding pasta and cheese to some squash and mushrooms.



To finish, we spent hours making raspberry & brie fillo rolls from scratch...okay, no we didn't. We took the easy way out and had some frozen ones from Trader Joe's.



They were yummy, but in my opinion, they really are better served as appetizers (as the box suggests) instead of dessert, even though to me, raspberry and cheese just screams dessert. It's not very sweet though, which is why the appetizer verdict. In retrospect I should have served it with some of the lemon curd I recently made from my Meyer lemons; I still have 10 in the package so I may yet do that. Perhaps the sweetness of the lemon curd will make these rolls work better as dessert.



On the side I had more veggies -- the shredded half of a head of cabbage, to be precise. I love stir-fried cabbage, especially when you cook it until it's completely wilted with some hot sauce and soy sauce or salt. Mmm delicious.



Roasted Shrimp and Broccoli (recipe by Melissa Clark, spice conversion by The Wednesday Chef)

Note: I halved this recipe with no problem, and used bottled lemon juice because I had it.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds broccoli, cut into bite-size florets
• 4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon whole coriander seeds (or 1/2 teaspoon ground)
• 1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds (or 1/2 teaspoon ground)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon hot chili powder
• 1 pound large shrimp, shelled and deveined
• 1 1/4 teaspoons lemon zest (from 1 large lemon)
• Lemon wedges, for serving

Method

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, toss broccoli with 2 tablespoons oil, coriander, cumin, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper and chili powder.
3. In a separate bowl, combine shrimp, remaining 2 tablespoons oil, lemon zest, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and remaining 1/2 teaspoon pepper.
4. Spread broccoli in a single layer on a baking sheet. Roast for 10 minutes.
5. Add shrimp to baking sheet and toss with broccoli. Roast, tossing once halfway through, until shrimp are just opaque and broccoli is tender and golden around edges, about 10 minutes more.
6. Serve with lemon wedges, or squeeze lemon juice all over shrimp and broccoli just before serving.