Perry's Kung Fu (Kung Pao) Chicken Stir-Fry

Perry, my silent and deadly significant other, is very fond of his mom's Kung Pao Chicken. And like all ninja-girlfriends, I need to learn how to make his favorite foods so I can win his way to his heart through his stomach to fuel his iron fists.

Kung pao chicken is diced chicken with chili peppers and cashew nuts. Its pretty healthy and packs a good punch in the spice department! This version adds a serving of vegetables and a pinch of sugar. Serve over a bowl of fresh rice with a side dish of veggies.

Perry's Kung Fu Chicken
Serves two - about 15 or 20 minutes

Two chicken thighs or breasts, diced approximately into 1/2 cubes
3 tsp cooking wine
2 tbsp soy sauce
dash sriracha (because i feel like it, ok?)
2 tsp sugar
dash sesame oil
1 tsp cornstarch
two cloves garlic, smashed
one thin coin ginger
one large red pepper, diced into 1/2 cubes
1/2 tsp chili paste (adjustable)
one jalapeno, minced, no ribs or seeds if you're sensitive to spicy
one large scallion, sliced thinly
1/2 cup cashew halves, unsalted. (if you have salted, its fine but cut down the salt/soy sauce in the recipe)

1. Put the diced chicken in a large bowl. 
2. In another bowl, combine cooking wine, soy sauce, sriracha, sugar, and sesame oil. Stir well and then add the cornstarch pinch by pinch. Mix well until you have the consistency of a sauce (aka, you dip a spoon in and the marinade sticks to the spoon so that when you draw a line with your finger in the back of the spoon, it still shows after a few seconds).
3. Pour marinade over chicken and mix well immediately. You should not have a lot of marinade puddling in the bottom of the bowl - the marinade should be thick enough to coat the chicken so its not sitting in tons of marinade. Marinate for about 10 minutes.
4. In the meantime smash the garlic, cut the ginger, dice the onion and pepper. Wash and cook the rice.
5. Heat a wok or skillet on HIGH heat. Add a tablespoon of oil. Stir fry is awesome because things cook fast, and to cook fast you need a lot of heat. 
6. When the pan is hot (you see waves of heat off it or a drop of water spits and evaporates) toss the ginger in and fry for 20 seconds. Add the garlic and fry for a bit to season the oil. Add the jalapenos. 
7. When fragrant, add the chicken. Spread chicken out in pan in a single layer (up the walls of the wok). When the chicken is cooked and browned on one side, act fast and stir everything together, flipping the chicken over.
8. When the chicken is all cooked on the outside, add the red peppers and chili paste. Toss until cooked. 
9. If you have a lot of water accumulating at the bottom of your pan, you can do one of two things: 1- keep cooking on medium heat until the water evaporates or 2 - make a cornstarch slurry. 1/2 tsp cornstarch plus tsp of water mixed WELL. Pour little by little into the puddle of water in the pan and mix thoroughly with contents. Only use as much as you need or it will taste starchy! (this is similar to a roux).
10. Taste. Season. Add more chili paste or sriracha if its not as hot as you like. Make sure everything is cooked. Then add the scallion and toss. They don't need long to cook.
11. Right before serving, add the cashews and mix in. The cashews are meant to be crunchy and if left in the dish too long,will get soggy after an hour. If you are planning for leftovers, don't add cashews to the leftover portion - add the cashews always right before eating.

Enjoy!

Secrets to Tender Chicken: Simple Stir Fry

Its 9 pm - I walk in after a long day and want something hot and filling but will get me in bed sooner rather than later. Stir fry fits the bill exactly. My mom always said the secret to good stir fry (other than good ingredients) is cornstarch. Say wha?

Lets talk to about.com: "The starch binds together the liquid ingredients in the marinade and seals them to the meat, poultry or seafood being marinated.  This technique is particularly important in quick cooking stir-fry dishes as it helps give the food more flavor. When a Chinese recipe calls for cornstarch in the marinade, always add it last unless the recipe specifically calls for blending it with the other ingredients before adding it to the food being marinated."

Easy Chicken Stir Fry
serves one, 10 minutes

4oz chicken, diced, room temperature
splash of soy sauce, cooking wine/beer
pinch of cayenne, cumin
1/2 tsp cornstarch
5oz of your favorite veggie (green beans for me!)
1 clove garlic, smashed

1. Take the chicken and toss in a bowl. Add soy sauce, cooking wine, and spices. Mix thoroughly and add cornstarch. Mix well again and set aside.
2. Heat oil in your skillet, wok, saucepan, whatever. Wait until its REALLY hot. Then toss in the garlic and you'll hear it sizzle. 
3. When the garlic is browned and fragrant, add chicken. let it brown and cook thoroughly on one side first so that when you go to stir it, it should unstick by itself . Then cook the other sides.
4. Add the veggies after the chicken is opaque on all sides. If things are starting to stick too much, the veggies will release some water to "deglaze" the pan and keep things from burning. But if the veggies aren't enough, add a few teaspoons of cooking wine or water. Cover veggies and let cook for  a few minutes until they're bright green (assuming the veggies are green to begin with)
5. Stir and make sure everything is cooked through. Serve!

Breakfast of Champions: Fiesty Frittata

Frittata is an egg-based dish similar to an omelette or quiche, either simple or enriched with additional ingredients such as meats, cheeses, vegetables or pasta. It may be flavored with herbs.

When I had a 1.5 hour commute last summer, I had to leave the house by 7:15 am to get into the city on time. Getting up extra early means you run out of steam much earlier than lunchtime and you ed up regretting not eating something before hopping in the car! That's where this super frittata comes in - its like a protein brownie, filled with all my favorite things and sealed together with an egg. You can replace the ingredients for anything you like, so feel free to wing it. But DO have everything chopped and prepped before you turn the skillet onto the stove - trust me, there isn't enough time to chop or wash in between.

You will need one special tool - a non-stick oven safe skillet or saucepan with 2 inch (at least) tall sides. And a spatula that won't scratch up the pan!

Feisty Frittata
one hour - includes ALL prep and 20 minutes of baking
One nine inch skillet = 6 large breakfast portions

1 small onion, diced.
3 italian sausages. Squeeze the meat from the casing so you get ground sausage.
3 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups frozen spinach, microwaved and pressed out so there's no extra water
1.5 cups diced mushrooms (1/2 inch cubes)
1 tsp tomato paste
1 cup cheese

6 large eggs (8 small ones) , cracked in a large bowl and beaten (ie for scrambled)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
1/2 tsp sriracha - optional
1 tbsp freshly minced parsley

1. Prep all your ingredients. Everything must be chopped, minced, squeezed and cracked before moving on. This takes the longest, but I guarantee its worth it!
2. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
3. Heat up your skillet on high. Add 1 tbsp of oil (canola in my case) and coat the pan AND the sides generously. everything goes in this pan and you do not want to be scraping egg off the pan at the end of the meal! Don't skimp here.
4. When the pan and oil are hot, add the sausage. Use the spatula and a spoon or something to break the sausage up so it crumbles like ground beef. This takes work. If you use bacon or diced chicken, its not as bad, but make sure the pieces are tiny - 1/2 inch cubes are good.
5. The sausage will take a while to cook through and things will start to stick. Add the onions and garlic here to deglaze the pan while you keep working at cooking the sausage through.
6. When sausage is cooked mostly through (no visible pink) add the mushrooms and spinach. Make sure the spinach is as dry as possible! Mushrooms and spinach give off a lot of water and you have to cook off all the water before adding the egg.
7. Add the tomato paste, salt, pepper, and hot sauce (if applicable). Keep cooking off more water. The contents of the pan will significantly diminish as the water evaporates. Lower heat to medium.
8. While you're cooking off water, beat the eggs in a large bowl and then add the milk. The milk helps make eggs fluffy! And we like fluffy :)
9. When you've cooked off all the water (the bottom of the pan should appear dry) you can mix in the cheese and parsley slowly, one handful at a time. Check the amount of stuff in the pan. The pan should be no more than 50% full (to the rim of the pan.) If you have more than that, scoop it out and serve that over rice or something. Scrape down the stuff from the edge of the pan to the bottom. If you leave stuff on the sides of the pan, it may burn when you bake the frittata.
10. Pour the egg-milk mixture over the sausage-spinach mix. The egg will fill the spaces between the mixture. Do not fill the pan past 75% up the side of the skillet! (The egg will rise cuz they're fluffy). Mix the contents of the pan gently - you don't want all the yummy stuff to be on the bottom of the pan, you want it to be incorporated throughout. Help some of the stuff get suspended in the egg. Let this cook on medium for about five minutes and make sure your oven has reached 350.
11. Pop the whole thing in the oven on the middle rack. If you don't have a oven-safe skillet, you can make everything in the pan first, transfer the stuff to a baking pan, and then top with the egg mix. Cook for 20 minutes until top is slightly browned and the whole frittata is cooked solid. Let the frittata rest for at least 5 minutes before serving.
12. Cut with a spatula that won't hurt your pan. Serve warm or cold, with a side of bread or salad.

Eggs to go!

I recently started a new project that transferred me to work in another office. It adds 30 minutes to my commute every day and they're a little stricter about being timely and hitting the ground running. AKA for me, no shredded wheat and yogurt at my desk at 9:30 am - I need to eat before I get there. (Getting up EXTRA early? Super bummer.)

As you may have figured out by now, I'm a big fan of poached eggs. Eggs make perfect breakfast foods because they are single small servings that are packed with protien that will keep you running through the day. I made a serving of bacon kale last night for this morning and splurged on buying turkish pide bread I found at my supermarket. But I wanted to have my egg and eat it too!

The microwave-engineers-that-be are one step ahead of me! http://www.whatscookingamerica.net/eggs/microwaveeggs.htm

Microwave poached egg

Grab a mug and fill with half a cup water. Mugs are perfect because they're deep and will make your egg the perfect circle!
Grab a fresh egg. Crack the egg and gently ease it in the mug. The egg will fall to the bottom. If the yolk is still whole, poke it with a fork. (The yolk can explode).
Cover the mug with plastic wrap.
Cook the egg on full power for 1.5 to 2 minutes.
If you're doing this for the first time, better to overcook when in doubt. If the egg doesn't looked completely done, let it sit in the water for another half minute and make sure the egg white is solid. (Mine took 2.25 min but I was also running the toaster for my pide!)
Pour out excess water slowly over a slotted spoon. Serve with a pinch of salt and pepper

Brunching in Style: Poached Egg over Collard Greens with Bacon

Weekend mornings are special times. You wake up late and want something rich and decadent, not too much, but enough to last you until dinner. This is how brunch was made, my friends.

Today's brunch is rich and full of color. Its sure to impress if you had a midnight guest and will be filling enough to last you through the afternoon.

The collard greens can be replaced with spinach or green beans or practically anything. But the richness of the egg yolk and bacon complement the slight bitterness in leafy greens. The bacon renders a lot of fat so you should not need any oil (unless you replaced it with turkey bacon or ham).

Serve with toast triangles, a mimosa, and follow with coffee and a piece of chocolate.

Poached Egg over Collard Greens with Bacon
Serves one. 30 minutes

2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 red onion, halved, then thinly sliced (julienned if you will)
5 big leaves collard greens. Separate leaves from stems. Leaves should be sliced in ribbons, stems diced. (It looks like a lot but it shrinks)
1 1/2 slices bacon, diced 1/3rd of an inch squares (I like thick cut canada bacon, and try to get the leanest one. We like fat, but not enough to kill you)
1 egg, as fresh as possible.

1. Heat a pot of water to boil. Put a drop of oil in a ladle and spread around. Put you egg on the counter so its room temperature.
2. Meanwhile, heat up your skillet to high. Wait several minutes so you know its sizzling hot (a drop of water should hiss and evaporate)
3. Drop in the bacon and let cook in a single layer. Cook for about 3-5 minutes, so they're cooked through but not crispy yet.
4. Turn heat down to medium, add garlic, and onions. Stir to deglaze the pan, pulling all the flavor from the bacon on the bottom of the pan.
5. Add collard green stems, cook for two minutes before adding leaves. Try to push the greens to the bottom of the pan and layering the bacon garlic onion compote on top. Add salt and pepper to taste and reduce to low heat while you poach your egg.
6. Crack the egg into the pre-oiled ladle. Hold it in the boiling water for about 5 minutes. Don't submerge it until the egg white starts to turn solidify. You'll lose some white but just make sure to not puncture the yolk. Cook as desired - I like my yolk thick but a little runny.
7. Plate the greens and bacon into a little mound on the plate, creating a hollow in the middle for the egg to sit. Drain all the water from the ladle before separating out the egg. Drop egg carefully in center of collard green nest.

Enjoy!

Leftovers --> Stuffed Peppers

Facts of life: Suanne hates leftovers. Suanne hates processed food (I'm looking at you condensed soup). Suanne also hates wasting food and taking obscene amounts of time to make a meal.

So what does she do when she has a cup of tofu casserole and half a cup of chinese sliced mushrooms? She reinvents dinner - and makes it look good to boot. These would look fantastic for entertaining and just replace the leftovers with other yummy things, like fresh mushrooms, sausage, quinoa, cilantro, salsa... You get the idea. If it goes will with peppers, you're golden.

Stuffed Peppers
3/4 cup stuffing + 1 pepper = 1 serving. Today's recipe came out with about 4 servings so I'm going to halve the recipe here since I bet you don't want leftovers either.
Total time = 30 minutes prep and 30 min in the oven.


1 cup of leftover stir fry. Will also work with pasta sauce, possibly mac n cheese, or rice casserole. Try it and find out! The less carbs, and the more veggies or meat, the better.
4oz of chicken, boneless, skinless, diced. (Leftover is fine here too)
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp tomato paste
3/4 cup spinach, cooked and drained.
big pinch of oregano
tiny pinch cayenne and cumin
two red peppers - medium sized.
1 mozzarella stick
1 tbsp cream cheese
parmesan or bread crumbs for topping (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees with the baking rack in the middle of the oven.
2. Heat up your saucepan on high with a tsp of olive oil. Saute the garlic, then the onions for a minute or two.
3. Add the raw chicken (if applicable.)
4. Add tomato paste. Toss in all your leftovers here and reheat them. Try not to add in extra water - you want a moist stuffing, but not soggy. When you've incorporated everything together, turn the heat off.
5. Now take the mozzarella and shred it.
6. Wash your peppers and take a look at them - you want to figure out how to cut them to get the most stuffable space. Most of the time people remove the stem and stuff through the top. I had a curvy pepper so I slit mine sideways. Slice a bit from the bottom so it stands up.
7. Take a baking pan with walls that are a few inches high. I used a glass 9x9 cake pan. Wipe the bottom with a few drops of olive oil.
8. By now the stuff in the pan should have cooled off. Stick it all in the food processor and give it a few pulses. Add the mozzarella and cream cheese. Just aim to get rid of the big chunks and make sure to scrap down the sides. If it doesn't look you have enough stuff to fill your two peppers, you can consider adding nuts, leftover rice, or more veggies!
9. Stuff the peppers. The stuffing doesn't expand so feel free to make a big mound on top. If you like, press breadcrumbs and/or parmesan cheese on top of the stuffing mix. Stand the peppers up in the baking dish.
10. Bake for 20 - 30 minutes, until the pepper is cooked through. Since the inside is cooked already, don't worry about undercooking it.
11. Remove the peppers from the oven and let them stand for about 10 minutes. Then devour!

Sesame Mustard Chicken

My oh so very awesome mother bought me some goodies this weekend: Sriracha hot sauce (my fave!) and sesame oil. Sriracha hot sauce is slightly sweet and is a warm hot. Its addictive, especially on dumplings. Sesame oil is great for marinades and soup - it imparts a very distinctive scent and flavor even with a tiny drop. Tonight's dinner incorporates both.

Sesame Mustard Chicken
single serving, super quick (25 min)

4 oz chicken diced (equivalent to one chicken thigh, no skin or bone)
1.5 tsp mustard (regular American French's is fine!)
2 squirts honey
2 squirts Sriracha (big pinch of cayenne/paprika is fine)
1/4 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp cooking wine (again, I have leftover beer so that was used instead)
1 pinch ginger powder (or one minced ginger coin)
1 clove ginger, minced

(optional, 4-5 oz chopped spinach, kale, collard greens, broccoli to make it stir fry. Served over half a bowl of white rice.)

1. I keep all my chicken pre-diced in the freezer in ziplocs. Toss all the ingredients into the ziploc bag with the chicken EXCEPT the garlic. If you forget, that's okay too.
2. Defrost the chicken - that's right. After you toss stuff in when its frozen, the liquids will help it unfreeze. I also popped mine in a bowl and then the microwave (one minute on 50% power) to speed the process along.
3. Come back in 10-15 minutes. The longer you let it marinate, the more flavorful it will be. A 10 minute time leaves a very light, sweet mustard taste, so if you're in a rush, no pressure. If you're making this stir fry, chop your veggies here. Or reheat your rice, do 50 crunches, or turn on the TV.
4. Take the chicken and make sure its defrosted enough so that the pieces are separated from each other. 
5. Take your skillet, heat it up on high, and toss in a teaspoon of canola oil (or other. Peanut would be yummy but its not something I usually have). Swirl your pan and coat it evenly with oil.
6. Toss in garlic, cook a minute until fragrant.
7. Use chopstick or a fork to scoop and drain the chicken from the bag and into the pan. Leave the rest of the marinade in the bag - you'll be using it in a bit. 
8. Saute the chicken for about 3 minutes on each side. The marinade is watery compared to the oil in the pan, so the oil will pop. Don't freak, just wear long sleeves. As the chicken begins to stick, stir in a little of the marinade to deglaze the pan.
9. Turn the heat down to medium. Add veggies if you're stir frying.
10. Make sure your chicken is cooked through and serve!