Sweet and Zesty Sesame Chicken

If you aren't familiar with the website epicurious.com yet, you should take this moment to go explore.  They are part of publishing groups like Gourmet, Bon Appetit, and more. So, they draw from lots of great, vetted recipe sources. The inspiration for this recipe came from their "inspiration" email "Not Your Mother's Chicken Skewers."  Of course, I couldn't actually follow their recipe... of course.  Kebabs sounded really interesting, but it was so blazing hot outsize, I couldn't touch the grill with bare hands.  Nix that.  Wok in the comfort of my air-conditioned kitchen! Win!

I started 2 cups of rice in the steamer...

Sweet and Zesty Sesame Chicken



2 lbs chicken, cut into bite size pieces
2 T oil for wok, I used coconut - olive is my other go-to

In small bowl, combine and set aside:
  1 T corn starch
  3 T cool water

Sauce:
Stir together in bowl or measuring cup and set aside.
  1/2 c dark brown sugar
  1/2 c cooking wine (sweet but dry)
  1/2 c light soy sauce
  1/4 c rice vinegar

Sprinkle:
Mix together and set aside (refrigerate any unused since it's not completely dry).
  4 T roasted sesame seeds (you can find these in large quantity, pre-roasted at your local asian foods
  market - much better value than the supermarket)
  2 T parsley, chopped fine
  Zest of 1 medium lemon, about 2 tsp.
  1/2 t red pepper flakes, I used the ones Stan keeps on hand for pizza and picked out the seeds
Mix together and set aside (refrigerate any unused since it's not completely dry).

Heat oil in wok over high heat. When hot, add chicken all at once and toss to coat in oil.  A bamboo spatula with a long handle is really nice about now.  Stir again every minute or two for 10 minutes, you might see a little color on a few pieces. Add sauce and let simmer to finish cooking chicken, about 5 minutes.  Stir in corn starch mixture, return to boil, then reduce heat to low.

Serve over rice, sprinkle with sesame mix. We had a simple green salad to round out the meal.

For the kids plates, I used wooden skewers to pick up 6-8 pieces of chicken to serve.  It was a big hit.  They both cleaned their plates and wanted more!


 Inspired by: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/soy-sauce-chicken-kebabs-with-sesame-lemon-sprinkle

Ranch Chicken

And... we're back!  After struggling through the first trimester, (yes, I'm pregnant with baby #2!) I'm finally back to cooking.  Though my sciatic was killing me by the end of dinner AND dessert preparation - it felt so good to be back in the kitchen!  And creating a new recipe to boot.  Love it.  Baby is doing a happy dance too.

Ranch Chicken

1.5 lbs chicken, chopped to bite size (about 1" squares)
2 T olive oil

In bowl or gallon zip-top bag combine:
1 packet ranch seasoning
1 T corn starch
1 T parsley flakes
1 t dill weed
1 t onion powder
1 t salt
1/2 t garlic powder
1/4 t ground pepper

I use a non-stick wok for cooking dishes like these.  I love the wok because you can cook lots of food very rapidly.  I use it for most of my chicken recipes and recommend investing in one.  Pick up a non-stick version, and grab a set of bamboo tools while you're at it.  That angled spatula will be your go-to for the wok.  This is now my second and I've never spent over $30- so even an inexpensive one should last you 5-7 years.  Well worth it to be able to cook chicken in 14 minutes!

Okay - enough about the wok.  Because, you can make this in a traditional pan - just select a big enough pan that you give the pieces plenty of surface room so they can brown up.

Toss chicken in spice mix.

Preheat olive oil on high.  Add chicken and toss to coat, then let sit until browned. This will happen pretty fast due to the corn starch in this recipe, so keep close watch. Stir with a downward thrust into the middle of the pan, shifting the bottom pieces up to the side, and the side pieces down to the bottom.  Allow to brown again, then stir again (same motion).  Once you've reached the browning that you want, just keep stirring.

With the heat on high, you don't want to let it sit very long in one place or it will burn.  If you will not be able to give this pan your attention for 10 solid minutes, you should give your active time to browning and then turn the heat down to medium to continue cooking.  It will just take longer.  I like to check the doneness of my chicken by cutting a piece in half with my spatula.  If it breaks quickly and the juices run clear, it's done.  If I have to really push to get it to cut, or if the juices are still pink/red, it needs more time.

I served this over mashed red potatoes, broccoli, and some fresh pineapple I snagged on sale!  We had enough for dinner and lunch, since the potatoes also helped to fill our tummies.  

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For dessert we had chocolate cupcakes with vanilla italian meringue buttercream.  I'm a big fan of the easier preparation on the italian version, but I like the slightly denser texture of the swiss meringue buttercream.  (Read: I could make myself sick on frosting shots. This from the girl who will scrape traditional buttercream frosting off a cake to avoid it.  I'm a frosting snob. Sigh).
If you've never made a meringue buttercream, I highly recommend it - assuming you have access to a stand mixer, it is well worth the effort.  HERE is the recipe I used for the italian version.  The swiss is out of my Joy of Cooking cookbook.  I used a chocolate cake mix, and added 1 T cocoa powder and 1 t vanilla.  Because you can't go wrong with extra chocolate and vanilla.