And I mean GARLIC! Sometimes I just have to brag. This rules. Too easy. TOOOOO EASY! I whipped this up tonight before I packed for my trip. I always pack my bags way too late. This time I’m early. I usually pack them in a rush before the cab gets here. Hopefully, I’ll have it all done tonight. Have fun with this while I’m gone. Sayonucci!
- 2 chicken breasts, cut into chunks
- 6 large garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 5-6 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- ¼ cup flour
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup white wine
- Salt & freshly ground black pepper
- Dash of crushed red pepper flakes
- Handful of chopped green onions
Toss chicken in flour till each piece is coated well. Flash fry garlic in olive oil over high heat until it’s just turned brown (not burnt), remove. Use a wok or stir fry pan if you have one. In remaining olive oil fry chicken until cooked and a bit crispy. Add red pepper flakes, oyster sauce, wine, sesame vinegar, green onions, soy sauce, salt, pepper, water, and remaining garlic and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring often. Serve over a bed of steamed jasmine rice.
You can take this in a million different directions. Try another vegetable instead of green onions. Like carrots, celery or okra. Maybe baby corn. Try a combination of whatever you can think of. But make it something that will compliment the garlic and the tangy hint of vinegar. Next time I’ll sprinkle freshly chopped flat leaf parsley over the top just before serving. Yankees suck!
I love great chili. I’ve never looked up ways to make my own chili seasonings, though. I never really cared since McCormick’s & Lawry’s packages do just fine for me. I always add some of my own stuff though. Give it a shot!
1 ½ pounds ground beef or a mix of 50% ground beef, 25% ground pork & 25% ground veal
1 15oz can diced Roma tomatoes
1 15oz can tomato sauce
1 15oz can black beans
1 can white shoe peg corn
2 ½ packages McCormick’s Original Chili Seasoning Mix
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 large shallot, minced
½ cup red wine
1 teaspoon (or a little less, this stuff is potent) chicken base paste
Beef broth
Wondra Powder
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
Add olive oil to a large, hot sauce pan or pot. Sautée garlic and shallots for a few minutes under medium-high heat and add chicken base paste and stir till paste has melted. Add beef, season generously with salt and pepper and stir well. Brown beef and crumble down to your liking. Add tomato sauce, canned tomatoes, black beans, corn, wine, McCormick’s seasoning mix and ½ cup of beef broth. Stir well, cover and heat to a slow boil. Stir well and lower heat to bring it down to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring often. Take a quick taste. If it’s not spicy enough for you, add the last ½ package of chili seasoning mix and/or add a few dashes of ground cayenne pepper.
With chili, consistency is very important. Everyone has their own liking when it comes to consistency. Some people like it loose and soupy, some people like it thick and hearty. I’m a bit in between, but I make it different every time. This time around I made it thicker than usual and served it over garlic infused rice. If you like it soupier, add more beef broth. If you like it thicker, add less beef broth or add a few sprinkles of Wondra Powder, stir well and it will thicken up. When you add Wondra powder to anything, make sure what you’re adding it to is very hot. Stir well ass you sprinkle it in. Better yet, dissolve the Wondra Powder (or flour, or corn starch) with some water first, then add it in.
There are a million different ways you can take this. Add your own ingredients. Try black eyed peas instead of black beans. Add some freshly chopped jalapeño peppers. What I forgot to do this time is sprinkle freshly chopped Italian flat leaf parsley over the chili after it has been plated. I usually eat mine with saltine crackers and green onions on the side Namaste! Yankees suck!
My trick for cooking rice in a rice cooker is to add one teaspoon of salt, one smashed garlic clove and one tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil per cup of rice to the water and rice in the cooker before cooking. Every now and then I use chicken broth instead of water for a nice flavor twist.
A good rice cooker should reside in the kitchen of every self-respecting cook. They make rice quick and easy. I use rice in at least half of my dinners. Below are a few links to some good rice cookers, varying in price. Yankees suck!
I absolutely love risotto. I’ve never tried to make it before. I wanted a delicious side to the Korean BBQ Chicken I made last weekend. I took a nose dive into some of my Italian cookbooks and cruised around the web a little for information on risotto ingredients and preparation techniques. Here’s what I found …
A quick read on risotto history and recipes can be found here. Most of my cookbooks really didn’t explain what risotto really was and the caveats on preparing it. One recipe I found in Lidia Bastianich’s cookbook Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen really caught my attention. It explained that once you understand how to prepare a basic risotto, you can parlay that skill into making any type of risotto you could imagine. The basics are the key to pretty much all cooking and just about everything else in life.
I followed Lidia’s “master plan” for preparing risotto and made a few of my own changes along the way. Nice!
4½ cups hot chicken stock
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium white onion, minced
1 leek, white parts only, trimmed, cleaned and chopped
6 scallions, white and green parts chopped separately
2 cups Italian Aborio rice
â…“ cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons butter, cut into four pieces
â…“ up freshly grated Parimigiano-Reggiano cheese
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
Pour the chicken stock in a small sauce pan and keep it hot over medium heat. In a large sauté pan, heat the oil over medium heat and stir in the onions. Sauté the onions until softened, about four minutes. Stir in the leeks and white parts of the scallions and sauté for another six minutes. The onions should start to brown. Stir in the rice making sure all of the grains get covered with the oil. Keep stirring often for the next two to three minutes until the edges of the grains become translucent. Pour in the wine and let it boil. Keep stirring the rice till the wine has evaporated.
Season the rice with salt and ladle enough of the hot chicken stock into the sauté pan until it barely covers the rice. Bring to a boil then lower the heat to maintain a lively simmer. Continue cooking while stirring constantly until all the stock has been absorbed and you can see the bottom of the pan when you stir. Continue cooking, pouring the remaining hot stock in small batches. Each addition of stock should be only enough to completely moisten the rice. Continue doing this until the stock has been absorbed. All this should take 15-20 minutes from the time you added the wine.
Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the butter and green parts of the scallions until the butter is completely melted. Stir in half the grated cheese. Taste the risotto and add more salt if you like and then add the freshly ground black pepper. Top with grated cheese and serve immediately.
I like a creamy risotto so I used another two cups of chicken stock. This also added to the cooking time since I had 50% more stock to absorb. I also squeezed a little lemon juice at the end. This basic recipe can be taken into an infinite number of directions. Try adding some smoked chicken at the end. I’d like to add some saffron to the chicken stock next time I make it. Shrimp risotto should be good. Maybe I’ll try making an asparagus risotto. I’m guessing all I would have to do is add some steamed & chopped asparagus tips to the risotto at the end of the cooking. Yeah, that’s the ticket! Arrivederci! Yankees suck!
2 cups Indian basmati rice
3 tablespoons light olive oil
1 small white onion, peeled & finely chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
1 fresh garlic clove, finely chopped
½ teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon salt
2 ½ cups chicken stock
Garam masala is a seasoning made by blending dry-roasted, ground spices, such as black pepper, cumin, cloves, and cardamom, used Indian dishes.
Place rice in a large metal seive and rinse under cold running water. Place the rinsed rice in a large bowl and cover with 4 cups of water. Let soak 30 minutes. Drain in the sieve for 20 minutes. Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over a medium flame and add the onion when hot. Stir and fry until the onion bits have browned lightly. Add the rice, jalapeno, garlic, garam masala and salt. Stir gently for 3-4 minutes until all the grains are coated with oil. If the rice begins to stick to the bottom of the pan, turn the heat down slightly. Pour in the stock and bring the rice to a boil. Cover with a very tight-fitting lid, turn heat to very, very low, and simmer for 25 minutes. Serve hot.
Sometimes it’s just easier to make something packaged, but you still want to tweak things up a bit. Here is a way to make some pretty quick, easy, delicious, semi-homemade rice pilaf. Whenever a packaged box of rice calls for water, I typically use chicken broth. It changes things up pretty good while keeping it lean. Whenever I make this recipe, I have to force myself not to munch on the mushrooms before it’s all done. Thanks Rachael!
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
10 white mushrooms, stemmed & chopped
1 ¾ cups chicken broth
1 package rice pilaf mix (Near East brand is a good one)
2 tablespoons chopped parsley leaves
In a medium pot over medium to medium high heat add a tablespoon of oil and a tablespoon of butter. When butter melts, add chopped mushrooms and sauté 3 to 5 minutes. Substitute chicken broth for the water dictated by the instructions on the box. Add broth and cover the pot and bring to a boil. Add rice and pilaf packet to broth. Stir to combine, reduce heat and cook 20-25 minutes. Add parsley, fluff with fork.
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