What's On My Plate » Main Course

Pork Dumpling Soup

Tonya — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:08:23 +0000

As a food lover, I’m always reading about food. Wednesdays are pure gold when the newspapers typically do their food sections but on a day-to-day basis it’s all about blogs. Truth be told, I rarely make things that I see on other blogs. Usually I just get inspired by what I see and either make it my way or find another recipe to riff off of. BUT every once in awhile something will catch my eye and I just HAVE TO MAKE it. Like this Pork Dumpling Soup that I spied over at The Kitchn. The recipe is from Bee at Rasa Malaysia who is a new-to-me blogger but is apparently super popular and has a great site.

During the winter months I’m all about making soup and I have an obsession with dim sum so dumplings are always top of mind with me. So how could I resist dumpling soup?

I had all sorts of grand plans of making the dumplings one night and then making the soup the following evening. But alas laziness kicked in and I was “forced” to make everything in the same evening… for dinner that night. Let’s just say that making 30+ dumplings from scratch on a Tuesday night was not one of my finest moments. It’s not that dumpling making is hard (especially when you buy the wrappers) it just takes time AND you can’t even snack because your hands are covered in raw pork. Needless to say every time I boiled up another batch I snatched one out to eat.

The dumplings themselves were a revelation. I’ve made dumplings before (maybe once or twice) and they turned out well but these dumplings had all sorts of touches that made them extra special. These were pork and shrimp dumplings but then you also add in wood ear mushrooms, water chestnuts, ginger and green onion. As for seasonings you get to add in sherry, chicken bouillon, fish sauce and other goodness. The flavor combination was so good and made the dumplings so official… they literally tasted like dumplings from a Chinese restaurant (and isn’t that the goal?). I’m totally inspired to start making dumplings all the time. Plus on a lazy, snowy (if we ever get snow) Sunday afternoon it’s the perfect activity. And you can make a bunch and freeze them.

The soup itself was super simple. We’re talking chicken broth and water. I had homemade broth in my freezer that I used and was perfect. The broth is almost a bit too simple, next time I’d consider throwing in a piece of ginger or something to give it another note. It wasn’t bad it just could’ve used a lil’ sumthin sumthin.

This soup is high on my list of things to make over and over and over again. It’s inexpensive and really not that hard to make. If you can rope someone into helping you with the dumplings it will go by in a flash.

Pork Dumpling Soup

Makes 12-20 dumplings or serves 4-6 as part of a multicourse meal

20 Siu Kow or wonton wrappers
4 cups (1 liter) water

Filling
1 small wood ear mushroom
6 oz (175 g) ground pork
4 oz (100 g) shelled and deveined raw shrimp, cut into small pieces
2 peeled fresh or canned water chestnuts, minced
1 tablespoon finely chopped green onion (scallion)
1 tsp finely chopped ginger

Seasonings
1 1/2 teaspoons oil
1 teaspoon Chinese rice wine (Shaoxing) or sherry
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
3/4 teaspoon chicken bouillon powder
1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 dashes white pepper

Soup
1 3/4 cups (425 ml) Homemade Chicken Stock (page 00) or 1 can (14-oz/400-g) store-bought chicken broth
1 cup (250 ml) water
3 dashes white pepper
Salt, to taste
Garnishing
1 green onion (scallion), trimmed and cut into small rounds

1. Soak the wood ear mushroom in warm water until soft, about 15 minutes, and then cut into thin strips.

2. To make the filling, mix the mushrooms, ground pork, shrimp, water chestnuts, green onion, ginger, and all the Seasonings ingredients. Chill the filling in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

3. To assemble the dumplings, place a piece of the wrapper on your palm and spoon about 1 tablespoon filling onto the wrapper. Wet your index finger with water and circle around the outer edges of the dumpling wrapper. Fold the dumpling over and seal by pressing the edges with your thumb and index finger.Place the dumplings on a floured surface or baking sheet and cover with a damp towel so that they don’t dry out.

4. Bring a pot of water to a boil and slide the dumplings in. Cook until they float to the top, about 3 minutes. This may take several batches. Remove dumplings with a slotted spoon or spider and set aside.

5. Bring to boil the chicken broth and water in another pot. Add the white pepper and salt to taste.

6. To serve, put a few dumplings (4-5) in a bowl and ladle on some of the soup and garnish with green onions.

Cajun Jambalaya

Tonya — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 06:11:23 +0000

Every once in awhile I get these random cravings for things that I rarely eat. Take this jambalaya for instance. I’ve had jambalaya less than a handful of times and really don’t have any particularly memorable jambalaya experiences that I can refer. Honestly, I can’t tell you where exactly I had it or who made it, but I know I’ve eaten it. I have a vague memory of even making it eons ago. But of course, a few weeks ago I got this crazy idea in my head that I had to make jambalaya. Go figure. I honestly think that in a past life I was a Southern grandmother or something.

For the uninitiated, jambalaya is Lousiana creole rice dish. It’s similar to a Spanish paella to a certain degree. It can contain chicken, sausages, seafood and occasionally other types of meat. Sometimes it has tomatoes and sometimes it doesn’t. And it pretty much always has the “holy trinity” in it (celery, onions and peppers). Honestly, what’s not to love? Rice? Good. Sausage? Good. Shrimp? Good. Holy Trinity? Good. See, pure goodness.

The ingredients are pretty straightforward and easy to source. Well unless you live in Toronto and need to find Andouille. Luckily I did some digging and the question of where to find Andouille in Toronto has been asked before. I had to go to St. Lawrence Market which is hardly a chore (even if I did go on a Saturday). And the folks at Sausage King were even nice enough to give me the exact quantity that I needed, meaning they split a pack for me. Now that’s service.

Maybe it’s just me, but I hear the words jambalaya and I think that there’s some sort of involved process coming up. Not at all. There isn’t a ton of intricate chopping required and the cook time is minimal and you end up with a one-pot meal. I made this on a weekday and it didn’t faze me one bit.

The recipe is via Emeril Lagasse. I went with an Emeril recipe because a.) it had been reviewed over a hundred times and b.) Emeril knows Lousiana goodness. I’ve never been a huge Emeril fan and as I’m typing this I realize that I haven’t seen Emeril anywhere in AGES. Anyone know what Emeril is up to these days?

As expected, Emeril did not disappoint. This dish was simple, satisfying and full of flavour. I’m not a big fan of chicken generally so next time I might pass on the chicken in favour of turkey or leaving out poultry altogether. This is definitely a winner.

Cajun Jambalaya

12 medium shrimp, peeled, deveined and chopped
4 ounces chicken, diced
1 tablespoon Creole seasoning, recipe follows
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped celery
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon hot sauce
3/4 cup rice
3 cups chicken stock
5 ounces Andouille sausage, sliced
Salt and pepper

Combine the shrimp, chicken and Creole seasoning together in a bowl and mix.

Heat the oil over high heat and sautée the onion, pepper and celery for about 3 minutes. Add garlic, tomatoes, bay leaves, Worcestershire and hot sauces. Slowly stir in the rice and add the broth.

Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until the rice absorbs liquid and becomes tender, about 15 minutes. When rice is just tender add shrimp and chicken mixture and sausage. Cook for about 10 minutes or until the meat is fully cooked.

Season to taste with salt, pepper and Creole seasoning.

Emeril’s ESSENCE Creole Seasoning (also referred to as Bayou Blast):

2 1/2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme

Mix all ingredients together and store.

Yield: 2/3 cup

Ginger-Sesame Steamed Fish

Tonya — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 13:57:17 +0000

I’m always on the hunt for different things to eat. I go through phases where I’ll eat vegetarian for days on end (unintentionally) and then stretches where I’m basically a carnivore (equally unintentionally). I often find myself looking for balance and often turn to fish. Usually my go-to fish is salmon, pretty much for convenience but I’m trying to get better about buying other types of fish. Oftentimes when I go to Asian restaurants (particularly Thai and Chinese restaurants) they do some really striking whole fish dishes that I always want to order but never do. I decided to play around and try to recreate one of those dishes chez moi.

I started out with a visit to my usual fishmonger in Kensington Market where we’ve been buying fish for years. I opted for Red Snapper because it’s one of my favourite types of whole fish. I also find it to be pretty versatile and the flavour isn’t too obtrusive. Price-wise it’s generally affordable and is usually in the $3-4/lb range.

I did some searching and liked the idea of flavours that I’m used to like ginger, sesame, garlic and soy. I also wanted the preparation to be simple so I wanted to do some sort of steaming in a packet type deal. After some research I decided to do a simple technique where I put the fish in a foil packet and top with a sauce, seal it and cook. Easy to execute and and better yet, easy to clean. Everyone wins!

This fish turned out really well. The sauce was just what I needed with the fragrance of the ginger and garlic, nuttiness from the sesame and a wee bit of heat from the pepper. It also made for a striking presentation. I have traditionally been freaked out by fish heads but I was able to overcome this and even deboned my fish myself. Clearly I’m growing up. For the record I did NOT put the fish head on my plate, that stayed in the kitchen. I could not have those eyes looking at me. My only beef was that I wish the skin was crispy. Obviously you don’t get crispy skin by steaming but I kind of wish you could.

Ginger-Sesame Steamed Fish
2 whole fish fish, cleaned (I used red snapper)
1/2 cup sliced scallions (green part only)
2 tablespoons fresh julienned ginger
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup oil (olive, veg, peanut, whatevs)
2 teaspoons sesame seeds
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon chili garlic paste
1/2 teaspoon sugar

Preheat oven to 450°.

Combine the scallions, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, oil, sesame seeds, sesame oil, chili paste and sugar in a bowl. Whisk to combine.

Get a long piece of foil (enough to turn into a packet for one fish) and put a fish on top of it. Turn up the edges a bit. Season fish with salt and pepper all over. Pour the sauce over the fish and seal edges of foil around fish to form a packet (you want it fairly roomy).

Bake the fish allowing about 10 minutes per inch (of thickness) of fish). Remove from oven, open packets and serve fish on plate with some of the sauce. Sprinkling with scallions and sesame seeds if you’re feeling fancy (you likely are at this point).

Best Ever Shrimp and Grits

Tonya — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 13:02:45 +0000

Shrimp and grits is likely in my top 20 favourite foods. I make it fairly regularly and if I go out and see it on a menu I must order it. Unfortunately shrimp and grits is a bit of an anomaly on Toronto menus so it makes the dish even more special.

The other day I was craving shrimp and grits but wanted to switch things up a bit. I didn’t want to do a fancy shrimp and grits but I wanted something a bit above just making grits and sauteeing shrimp. I ended up on one of my fave sites, the kitchn and came across this recipe.

First of all the photos on that post make the food look amazing. I love the way the gravy clings to the shrimp! What really sucked me in was the liberal use of bacon (I know, what a surprise). And. That. Gravy. Heaven only knows how I’m not 500lbs!

If you don’t mind the looming threat of 3rd degree grit burns, this recipe is dead easy. I can’t be the only one that has to duck from sputtering spattering grits as they cook? Am I? The shrimp comes together while the grits cook and dinner ends up on the table in less than an hour. Seriously, this dish is a party in my mouth each and every time.

Shrimp and Grits

For the grits
4 cups milk
1 cup stone ground grits
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon butter

For the shrimp
1 1/2 pounds peeled and deveined shrimp
1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
1 lemon, cut in half

For the gravy
6 slices bacon, diced
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup chicken stock, preferably homemade
Kosher salt, to taste
Thinly sliced green onions, for garnish (optional)

Bring milk to a slow boil in a pot. Whisk in the grits and reduce the heat to low. Whisk the grits occassionally as they cook. Cook the grits for about 45 minutes until they are thick and creamy. Add salt and butter. Prepare shrimp and gravy.

Put shrimp in a bowl and sprinkle with Old Bay and the juice of half a lemon.

To make the crazy heat a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook until just shy of crispy. Remove the bacon from the pan and allow to rest. Leave about 2 tablespoons of bacon fat in the pan, discarding the rest. Add the shrimp and sautee until cooked through. Remove shrimp and place in bowl with the juice of the other half of the lemon.

Melt the butter in the same frying pan and cook the onions until tender. Add the garlic and cook for about a minute. Stir in the flour and cook until absorbed. And the wine and allow to reduce until the mixture has thickened. Add the chicken stock and cook until the gravy reaches the desired consistency. Season with salt and add the bacon and shrimp into the gravy. Serve over grits.

Recipe from The Kitchn

Salmon in a Bengali Mustard Sauce

Tonya — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 05:08:17 +0000

As I’ve mentioned before salmon is a staple in my kitchen. For better or worse. Truth be told I’m getting kind of tired of salmon. It’s not the most interesting fish. It’s ALWAYS around. And it’s an easy fish to make look good. Maybe I just need a challenge, but I’m kind of bored with salmon.

Despite being bored, I have a lot of salmon in my freezer to go through which means playing around with different flavours. I’ve been wanting to do a fish with Indian flavours and this recipe by Madhur Jaffrey sounded just about right.

One thing I love about my kitchen is just how stocked my spice cupboard is. I make food from a variety of different cultures so I’m constantly buying new spices. Even I was surprised to see that I had every single spice required for the recipe including brown mustard seeds and fennel seeds. Who knew?

This is one of those dishes that is quick and ridiculously easy. The salmon only has to marinate for 30 minutes and then the actual cooking time is pretty negligible. If you know how to stir and simmer you can make this.

The salmon turned out well, although I wish there was a bit more sauciness to it. There was a lot of flavour because of all the spices and a nice kick of heat from the chilies. I served this with rice and if I weren’t feeling lazy would’ve made a vegetable alongside, but that wasn’t in the cards.

Salmon in a Bengali Mustard Sauce

Rub
3/4 pound skinless salmon fillet
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Other Ingredients
1 tablespoon ground mustard
1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons mustard oil (use extra virgin olive oil as a substitute)
1/4 teaspoon whole brown mustard seeds
1/4 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
1/4 teaspoon whole fennel seeds
2 fresh hot green and/or red chilies (bird’s-eye is best), slit slightly

Cut the fish into medium-sized pieces (about 2″ x 1″). Rub the pieces of fish with the salt, tumeric, and cayenne and allow to marinate in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Combine the mustard powder, cayenne, turmeric, and salt in a small bowl with a tablespoon of water. Add another 7 tablespoons water and mix. Set aside.

Heat oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot add the mustard seeds. Once the seeds start to pop and the cumin and fennel seeds. Stir the seeds and add the mustard paste along with the green chilies and allow to come to a gentle simmer. Add the fish pieces and simmer until the fish is cooked through, about 5-7 minutes.

Serve the fish with the sauce.

Tea-Smoked Salmon

Tonya — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:00:18 +0000

A few weeks (months? time flies) ago thanks to The Twitters I was connected with the folks at one of my fave tea shops, David’s Tea. They sent over 3 different teas for me to do some experimenting in the kitchen with: Exotica, The Glow and Honeybush Lemon Ginger.

The obvious thing to make was some iced tea with some inclusions. Those will come, but with fall setting in I’m not really in the mood for iced tea. Then I remembered reading about a technique called tea-smoking. Tea-smoking is just what it sounds like – you smoke food using tea leaves. The tea leaves are combined with rice and usually sugar and you smoke away.

I’ve heard about this technique being used with fish and even chicken. Since I’m not much of a chicken fan I decided to smoke some salmon. I smoked salmon a few months ago using my wok with great results. I did a traditional smoke with wood chips. Knowing that my wood chip smoking worked I was totally pumped to try it with tea.

I wanted to do salmon with Asian flavours so I put together a simple marinade with a bit of soy sauce, ginger, garlic, honey and chili flakes and let it marinate for about an hour. My tea of choice in this case was the Honeybush Lemon Ginger because I thought that it mind lend a nice hint of citrus and ginger to the fish.

To smoke the fish I combined equal parts of the tea, brown rice and sugar. I lined my wok with aluminum foil and added my smoking mixture. Then I placed my bamboo steamer (loaded with the salmon) on top and started smoking. The mixture didn’t have any trouble smoking and burnt out quicker than expected. After about 10 minutes the salmon was cooked through.

For an extra blast of flavour I made a glaze of honey and ginger that I brushed on top of the finished dish.

Unlike wood-smoking, tea-smoking imparted a very subtle flavour to the fish. I definitely picked up on the grassiness of the tea leaves and also picked up a bit on the ginger (and not because it was in the glaze and the marinade). I think next time I’d play around with upping the amount of tea in the mixture to see how that works out.

Tea-Smoking Technique

Use your favourite marinade for salmon to give it flavour throughout and then use the technique below to tea-smoke it!

What You’ll Need…
1/2 cup tea leaves (I used David’s Tea Honeybush Lemon Ginger)
1/2 cup brown rice
1/2 cup sugar
Foil
Bamboo Steamer
A Wok

What You’ll Need To Do…
Combine the tea, rice and sugar in a bowl.

Line the bottom and sides of a wok with foil and dump the tea mixture on top of the foil. Turn the heat up under the wok to medium heat and allow the mixture to smoke.

Once things are smoking put the bamboo steamer on top of the mixture, place the fish in the steamer and cover. Allow the fish to smoke for about 5 minutes and then flip and cook for about another 5 minutes or until the salmon is cooked. If you find the mixture is burning to quickly turn the heat down a smidgen.

Mussels in Spicy Tomato Sauce

Tonya — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 14:39:41 +0000

I first wrote about mussels a few months here and it was the first time I had ever made mussels. Since then I have made that recipe a few times and it continues to be delicious.

Mussels are something that I make when I have the apartment to myself. My “roommate” doesn’t do mussels and I generally cook for two so I forgo them. Recently I was gifted with the place to myself for almost a week so mussels were definitely on that week’s menu plan. While I love my usual recipe I wanted something different so I turned to Lidia Bastianich and she had a recipe for mussels in tomato sauce.

Because of the lack of chopping here this recipe is EVEN EASIER than my usual recipe. How is that even possible? Bastianich recommends soaking the mussels in water with cornmeal in it to clean them. I decided to skip this step since a good scrub seems to do the trick. Once cleaning was done it was on to making the super simple sauce. And by super simple I mean frying sliced garlic and then adding tomatoes, herbs.

This dish could be a great appetizer sans pasta but with a ton of crusty bread to mop up the saucy goodness. I needed a meal so I served the mussels with pasta. In the end I had a lot of sauce left on my plate, luckily I had a baguette on hand to mop up the goodness.

I’m always amazed by how much of an elegant and cheap meal mussels make. This time around I paid $1.99/lb for the mussels. I bought only a pound since I knew I was eating pasta as well and it was the perfect portion. I’m sure if I calculated the cost of this meal it would come in under $5. This is definitely one of the greatest meals I’ve made in awhile.

Mussels in Spicy Tomato Sauce

2 pounds mussels
8 cloves garlic, sliced
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups canned crushed tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 cup dry white wine
A few basil leaves or one sprig fresh thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
Pasta to serve

Prepare mussels by scrubbing them and removing the weird beard. Discard any mussels that have opened.

Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat and sautee garlic until golden. Add tomatoes along with oregano and red pepper flakes and allow to simmer for about 5 minutes.

Add the mussels and wine to the pan. Once the mixture comes to a boil cover the skillet and allow the mussels to cook for 3 minutes. Once cooked remove the skillet form the heat and sprinkle with herbs. Salt and pepper as needed.

Corn Chowder

Tonya — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 11:44:09 +0000

Now that fall has really set in it is officially soup weather. I LOVE soup weather. Problem is, I also love summer. Le sigh. I feel like corn chowder solidly bridges that gap. I mean corn to me screams summer. Local corn starts showing up in the markets around the same time peaches and tomatoes are at their prime simultaneously signifying the peak of summer but also the impending fall. Clearly a corn soup is an easy way to ease into the next season.

Corn chowder isn’t something that I usually eat. When I lived in New York I’d often buy soup for lunch at either Whole Foods, Pax, or Cucina & Co. so I was constantly trying new soups. Now that I pack my lunch if I’m having soup it’s usually because I made it. Somehow corn chowder hasn’t made it into the rotation.

When I set out looking for a corn soup recipe I wasn’t quite sure what I’d come across. I knew that I wanted corn, potatoes and thick creamy goodness. Interestingly enough there were tons of variations with various types of meat, some that didn’t involve any cream (!) and many that felt more like soups. The recipe that I ultimately selected (this one from Gourmet) wasn’t going to deliver on the thickness, so I modified by puree half the soup, otherwise it would have been way too watery. I also threw in a habanero for some heat.

This soup definitely hit the spot. It felt like a warm hug of goodness. The addition of the habanero was a great move as it gave the soup one more note to enjoy. This soup will for sure be in my pot come this time next year, if not sooner.

Corn Chowder

1/2 cup diced (1/4-inch) slab bacon (2 oz; rind discarded if necessary)
2 cups diced (1/4-inch) sweet onion (14 oz) such as Vidalia
2 large carrots, cut into 1/4-inch dice (1 cup)
1 celery rib, cut into 1/4-inch dice (3/4 cup)
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/4-inch dice (1 cup)
1/2 lb yellow-fleshed potatoes such as Yukon Gold (2 small), peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice
1/2 lb sweet potato (1 medium), peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice
5 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth (40 fl oz)
2 fresh thyme sprigs
3 cups corn (from about 6 ears)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 habanero pepper, whole with holes poked in it with a fork
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Cook bacon in a heavy soup pot until crisp. Remove the bacon from the pot with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Add the onion, carrots, celery and bell pepper to the bacon fat in the pot and cook for about 10 minutes, until the onion has softened.

Add the potatoes, broth, and thyme and simmer, covered, until potatoes are just tender. Add corn, cream and habanero and simmer, uncovered for 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper.

Remove habanero pepper and puree half the soup in a blender or use your immersion blender. Add pureed soup back to the pot along with bacon and allow to simmer for another 10 minutes.

Recipe from Gourmet Magazine

Baked Chicken Meatballs with Peperonata

Tonya — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 11:51:03 +0000

For whatever reason, sometimes I’ll make dinner and forget to take a photo which means no post. Or sometimes I’ll take a photo and it’s hideous, which means no post. OR sometimes I’ll take a decent photo, get lazy and not post. I’m not sure what happened the last time I made these meatballs but I definitely didn’t post about them.

When I do my menu planning I’m always looking for some variety in proteins and also for foods that make great leftovers, especially during busy weeks. As much as I like cooking if I’m working late the chances are that I won’t cook. This is particularly bad because I easily fall into a pattern of not having breakfast, barely eating lunch and then no dinner. Totally not healthy at all. Luckily this only happens when things get insane so it’s not a regular thing at all.

These meatballs are the perfect Sunday dinner. They aren’t too complicated to make but they do take some time since you have to divide your meat into balls. Perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon with a glass of wine (I can’t be the only one who drinks wine while cooking!) and some tunes.

The meatballs themselves come out nicely. They stay moist thanks to the bread and milk. Just be careful and make sure that your bread is really broken up, you don’t want to get chunks of bread in your meatballs. What’s truly delightful about this recipe is the peperonata. I’m a fan of roasted peppers and totally thought that this was a great accompaniment. I would totally use this alongside other dishes or on a sandwich.

Baked Chicken Meatballs with Peperonata

For peperonata:
3 red bell peppers, cut into strips
1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 1/2 tablespoons drained capers
1 teaspoon red-wine vinegar
1/8 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

For meatballs:
3 slices Italian bread, torn into pieces (1 cup)
1/3 cup milk
3 ounces sliced pancetta (or bacon), finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 small garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 large egg
1 pound ground chicken
3 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon tomato paste

Make peperonata:
Preheat oven to 400°F.

Toss bell peppers with 1 tablespoon oil, then roast, stirring occasionally. Cook until softened and browned, roughly 35 minutes.

Combine the capers, vinegar, red pepper flakes, and remaining 1/2 tablespoon oil in a medium bowl and set aside.

Make meatballs while peppers roast:
Soak bread in milk in a bowl until soft and mushy, about 4 minutes.

Cook pancetta, onion, and garlic in 1 tablespoon oil with 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper in a frying pan over medium heat until onion is softened, about 6 minutes. Cool for a few minutes.

Squeeze out excess milk from bread and dump the milk. Lightly beat egg in a large bowl, then mix it with chicken, pancetta mixture, bread, and parsley. Form meatballs and place on baking sheet.

Mix the tomato paste with the rest of the oil and brush over meatballs. Bake meatballs until cooked, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Toss bell peppers with caper mixture. Serve meatballs with peperonata.

(Recipe via Gourmet)

Fragrant Ginger-Lime Chicken Fingers

Tonya — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 03:09:17 +0000

It’s funny how we all go through phases of what we crave and eat regularly. While I do make a lot of new dishes each week there are certain recipes that find there way onto my plate somewhat regularly. Oddly enough, this Spicy Szechuan Bean Curd always ends up in my monthly rotation. I also make a fair bit of pizza and this salmon with panko bread crumbs,

A recipe makes its way into my regular rotation for various reasons. It could be super simple to make. It could a good substitute for a fave dish at a restaurant. Or it could be something that I just crave. My weekly menu planning is usually culled together by things I’ve craved throughout the week, random dishes that pop into my head or something new and interesting that I’ve been wanting to make. There isn’t much rhyme or reason or strategy to it at all.

I always find it interesting to think back to some of my old go-to recipes. This recipe from The Whole Foods Market Cookbook for Fragrant Ginger-Lime Chicken Fingers immediately comes to mind. I used to make these a lot after I graduated from university and was living in New York. Which recent graduate doesn’t love chicken fingers? I loved that they were healthy, not pre-packaged and had a unique flavour combination. Also, they can totally be frozen for later use which is wonderful.

I hadn’t made these for at least 2 or 3 years when I had the craving for them the other day. So, I made them. They were as great as I remember them being. I even decided to make some sweet potato fries (in the oven) and a mayo-garlic dip to dip both the fries and the fingers in. Best. Decision. Ever. It was honestly just mayonnaise (which I typically hate), minced garlic and some crushed black pepper. Nothing fancy at all but such a great enhancement.

These chicken fingers are definitely as great as I remember them being.

Fragrant Ginger Lime Chicken Fingers

1 clove garlic, minced (1/2 teaspoon)
1/4 cup lime juice
6 tablespoons plus 2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
1 1/2 tablespoons tamari (or regular soy sauce)
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/8 cup water
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch-wide strips
2 1/2 cups dried bread crumbs
1/8 cup black sesame seeds
3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 large eggs whisked with 1/2 cup water
Canola or vegetable oil for spraying

Combine the garlic, lime juice, the 2 tablespoons ginger, tamari, sesame oil, cornstarch, and water in a bowl. Add the chicken and marinate for at least 4 hours but preferably overnight.

Once the chicken has marinaded, combine the bread crumbs, the remaining 6 tablespoons ginger, and the sesame seeds in a bowl.

Preheat the oven to 450°F.

Set up a dredging station with the flour in one bowl, beaten eggs in another and your breadcrumb mixture in the third. Dip each chicken strip in the flour (shaking off excess), then in the egg mixture and lastly in the breadcrumb mixture.

Place the chicken on a lightly oiled sheet pan and spray with cooking spray (it gives it some colour). Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the chicken is golden brown.

(Recipe via The Whole Foods Market Cookbook)