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Although i have made other recipes that called for them, this is my first time actually using Japanese Panko breadcrumbs. They were fantastic!
The whole meal went very well together. The stir fried bok choy was soft and salty, and the panko ‘fried’ chicken was crunchy and spicy on the outside and moist and tender inside. The following recipe made enough for dinner and lunch for two of us.
Panko ‘Fried’ Chicken:
(adapted from Gourmet Magazine)
- 1 1/2 cups panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
- 1/2 t red pepper
- 1/4 t ground ginger
- 1 t salt
- 1/2 t black pepper
- 1/3 stick unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 t salt
- 1/4 t pepper
- 1 whole chicken breast (equivalent to two conventional breasts + two tenderloins) rinsed, patted dry, and cut into 10 serving pieces
- Preheat oven to 450F.
- Meanwhile, toss breadcrumbs with red pepper, ground ginger, salt, and pepper in a shallow baking pan.
- Mix together butter, 1/2 t salt, and 1/4 t pepper in a bowl. Coat chicken pieces with butter, dredge in breadcrumb mixture, then arrange on baking sheet.
- Bake in preheated oven for 30-40 minutes, or until golden brown and cooked through.
Stir Fried Bok Choy
- 2 heads of regular bok choy
- 1 1/2 T vegetable oil
- 2 slices ginger, julienne cut
- 3 T soy sauce
- 1 t sugar
- 1/2 t salt
- 1/4 C water
- After thoroughly washing bok choy, separate stems from leaves. Cut the leaves across and the stems on diagonal.
- Heat oil over medium in large skillet. Add ginger slices and fry until fragrant, 30 seconds.
- Add bok choy stems, stir for a minute, then add the leaves. To save on dishes, I quickly mixed up the soy sauce, sugar, and salt while stir-frying the stalks.
- After adding the ’sauce’, turn heat up to high and cook for a minute.
- Add water, cover, and cook for 2 minutes.
This was some of the best chicken i have ever had! The rub smelled amazing and was pretty fun to prepare. The recipe came from The New Best Recipe (I might be getting this book for Christmas!). Once we had the rub, we just lifted the skin off the chicken breasts, rubbed inside, and rubbed the whole outside of the chicken. Two medium sized chickens fed 5 people with plenty leftoveer for lunch.
RUB:
- 3 T Cumin
- 2 T Curry
- 2 T Chili
- 1 T All Spice
- 1 T ground black pepper
- 1 t cinnamon
- Mix together all the spices to make the rub. coat the outside of the chicken and between the skin and the breasts with the spice mixture.
- fire up the grill on medium high and roast chickens for 15 min.
- rotate then cook for 15 min more.
- flip then cook for 10 more.
- Rotate for another 15-25 minutes. Carve and serve!
I got (okay – stole) this blueberry vinaigrette recipe from my mother in law, who found it in the newspaper. I like any recipe that gives me an excuse to use my food processor! The balsamic chicken recipe is from an old shape magazine. I should have cooked the chicken longer – both Joe and i like our chicken pretty dry. It started to blacken the pan while i was cooking it tonight, and probably only cooked it for 15 minutes. Next time i would go for 20.
Blueberry Vinaigrette:
- 1 C fresh blueberries
- 1 t Dijon mustard (mmm…grey poupon!)
- 1 t brown sugar
- 1/4 C chopped onion
- 1/4 C red wine vinegar
- 1/4 C evoo
- 1/4 C water
- S + P to taste
- combine all the ingredients in a food processor and puree until smooth.
Balsamic Chicken:
- 1 1/2 t dried thyme
- 1/2 t salt
- 1/4 t black pepper
- 1 t olive oil
- 2 chicken breasts (we used tenderloins tonight)
- 2 T balsamic vinegar
- 2 T honey
- Combine first 3 ingredients; sprinkle over both sides of chicken.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 7 – 8 minutes on each side or until chicken is done.
- Transfer chicken to a platter; keep warm. Reduce heat to medium-low; add vinegar and honey to pan. Simmer 3 min., or until glaze thickens; stirring constantly. Pour glaze over chicken.
I was still not feeling top notch today after my minor surgery yesterday, so we had a simple dinner. I copied Joe’s chicken ‘recipe’ form a couple weeks ago and baked it in a 375 F oven covered in Subbs BBQ sauce for 45 minutes.
For the squash, i sauteed two yellow squash and one zuchhini, for 12 minutes in a large pan with one sliced onion, 2 cloves garlic, olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper. I sprinkled some parmesan cheese immediately after serving.
With that we had a salad of romaine lettuce, blueberries, and feta cheese.
This is the best BBQ sauce i have ever had. It is the original Stubbs Barbecue Sauce. Joe just baked the chicken in the oven for 45 min. at 375° F in this sauce and it came out GREAT. We would have grilled it, but the condo/ apt. building we live in has restricted grill use to apartment renters only and put PADLOCKS on the grills. Now hardly anyone uses them, it is such a shame. If we could rig a small fire on our balcony, we would…
We served the chicken with couscous (leftover from last night’s picnic) and a romaine lettuce, kalamata olive, sun dried tomato, and walnut salad.
I know my plating skills leave something to be desire, but these enchiladas are undoubtedly better than last time. more vegetables and less cooking time. I made these with a side of guacamole and homemade chips, while joe prepared the dark and stormies.
- 2 chicken breasts
- 1 medium onion
- 1 1/2 C plain yogurt
- 1/2 C shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 small green pepper, chopped
- 1 C black beans
- 1/2 C frozen corn kernels
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 1 t oregano
- 1 t black pepper
- 1 t garlic powder
- 1 t onion powder
- 1 t chili powder
- 1 can enchilada sauce
- 1/2 C shredded cheddar cheese
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Cook trimmed chicken breasts in a large skillet over medium heat until no longer pink. remove from skillet, shread, and return to skillet with onion, yogurt, and 1/2 C of cheese.
- stir over medium-low heat until cheese is melted. then add green pepper, spices, canned tomato, black beans, and corn. simmer for 5-8 minutes.
- Scoop a portion of the filling into a flour tortilla in a 9″ x 13″ baking dish. Roll the tortilla over so that the seam side is down, or on the side. Repeat with as many tortillas will fit in the pan. I always have leftover filling, but it is good by itself.
- cover the rolled tortillas with enchilada sauce and sprinkle with last 1/2 C of cheese.
- Bake for 20 minutes in preheated oven.
Click here for Guacamole recipe.
Beach dinner #1 – marinated chicken + cherry tomatoes + red and green peppers + mushrooms + onion
Well yesterday, it was our turn to make dinner at the beach. We made some kickin’ chicken kabobs in a chili-lime marinade along with veggie kabobs. The following makes enough marinade for enough chicken for four. I doubled it for the 7 of us.
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 lime, juiced
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 tablespoon sriracha chili-garlic sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper to taste
Mix all the ingredients together then add chicken cut up into skewer sized pieces (~1 breast per person). You could probably get away with marinading for a couple hours, but the longer the better. Meanwhile put your wooden skewers in a pan of water. I’m not sure why you’re supposed to do this, but I’ve seen it in many places. Must be something to do with keeping them from burning on the grill. Just before you get ready to cook them load up the skewers.
You can serve these by themselves or with vegetable kabobs. We made vegetable kabobs of onions, red and green peppers, cherry tomatoes, and mushrooms. I cut them up and tossed with some olive oil, vinegar, and salt and pepper.
When your kabobs are ready cut throw them on your preheated grill. Put the chicken on the middle where its hottest and the vegetables on the periphery. Doing it this way they should both be done about the same time.
Guest cook in the kitchen tonight – Joe Jenkins! (Just kidding, Joe)
1 lb chicken breasts
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoon oyster sauce (we use the vegetarian oyster sauce)
1 can coconut milk
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons peanut butter or Harris Teeter thai peanut sauce
bag of baby spinach
1/2 a red bell pepper, diced
handful peanuts
Cut the chicken into bite sized cubes. Mix 1/2 tablespoon oyster sauce with the corn starch and a little bit of water. Pour the mixture on the chicken and let sit for a few minutes.
Meanwhile pour about half the can of coconut milk into a skillet and mix together with the curry powder. Heat over med-low heat until it starts to simmer. Add the chicken into the sauce and let it cook for 3 or 4 minutes.
In a bowl, mix the coconut milk the rest of the oyster sauce, the sugar, and peanut butter. I had some extra Harris Teeter brand Thai peanut sauce from a previous meal so I added that in too. Pour the concoction into the pan. Cook together with the chicken for about 8 minutes or until the chicken is cooked all the way through. Add in the spinach until it wilts. Serve with rice and garnish with red pepper and peanuts.
we were having our friend, Jeff over for dinner last night, and i wanted to make something relatively simple that would he would hopefully like. I think he did!
I cannot take total credit for these delicious quesadillas, however. I think the reason why these tasted 5 x better than last time is because of the tequila lime chicken marinade that Joe made.
Chicken Marinade:
- 1/4 C gold tequila
- 1/2 C freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1/4 C orange juice
- 1/2 T chili powder
- 1/2 T minced jalapeno pepper
- 1/2 T minced garlic
- 2 t salt
- 1 t freshly ground black pepper
- 3 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (i know – tisk, tisk)
combine all ingredients in a large plastic bag and marinade in the refrigerator for 6 hours.
QUESADILLAS
- 3 marinated chicken breasts
- 1 can black beans
- 2/3 C frozen corn kernels
- 1/3 C salsa
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 T evoo
- 1 T oregano
- 1 T brown sugar
- 1 1/2 C shredded cheddar cheese (i used a combo of Cabot sharp cheddar and the orange stuff)
- 10 8″ flour tortillas
- cook marinated chicken in a large skillet of over medium heat in a little bit of the marinate and 1 T of oil, then set aside.
- rinse out the skillet, heat up the remaining 1 T of evoo and saute the onion for about 2 minutes. Then add the corn for 2 minutes, then add the beans, cooked chicken, salsa, oregano, and brown sugar. let the mixture simmer for about 5 minutes.
- Set the mixture aside in a large bowl, rinse out the pan (AGAIN) and heat the skillet over medium. Once it passes the sizzle test (a drop of water sizzles on the pan) melt 1/2 T butter to coat the pan. Place a tortilla in the pan, then spread out 1/5 of the mixture, some cheese, and cover with another tortilla. cook and flip until the golden brown on both sides.
What better to go with my new Christopsmosos loaf? Plus, after a full day of bread baking, i am ready to take it easy with dinner. Joe made the dressing and i marinated and cooked the chicken. It would have been better grilled, but we don’t have access to one.
SALAD:
- red lettuce
- feta cheese
- red onion
- sliced sun dried tomato
- kalamata olives
CHICKEN MARINADE:
- 1/4 C olive oil
- 1/4 C lemon juice
- 3 cloves garlic, sliced
- 1 T rosemary
- 1 T oregano
- 2 t thyme
- 1 t salt
- Marinate the chicken for 8 hours (i only got in 3 1/2 and it was still good). Cook in a pan (scoop in some of the sliced garlic and rosemary as well) or on the grill for 15 minutes per side – or until golden brown.
DRESSING:
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
- 3/4 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Dijon-style mustard
- 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
- shake it all together in a carafe.
