Lemon Grass-p My Coconut Chicken

Call me masochistic but somehow I'm always perusing FoodGawker.com when I'm hungry. Stupid? yes because I want to make and eat everything on there. The presentation makes my stomach grumble thinking about it but I digress. 

I happen to stumble upon this idea of poaching chicken in coconut milk when I was trying to figure out ways to jazz up poached chicken. 

Lets face it, despite the excellent amount of protein it provides, chicken has a tendency to BORING. Just because I'm eating healthier doesn't mean I'm forfeiting flavor.  

Find your nearest 99 ranch market and lets this magic sauce and chicken change your life :)

Ingredients

Sauce:

1 stalk of lemongrass ( diced for maximum flavor extraction)

2 substantial size Thai green chili pepper (split so heat can be extracted)

1 can of coconut milk ( whichever brand you prefer)

1/2 tablespoon of minced garlic

Fish sauce (3 crab brand)

sugar ( season to flavor) 

Chicken (filleted)

Cilantro

julienne carrots 

julienne cabbage

minced garlic

cooked rice (optional: you can serve over anything)

Directions 

Turn head to medium-low-med and seep the coconut milk with lemongrass, chili pepper, and garlic. Let that come to a slow simmer.

Once its simmering add the fish sauce and sugar to flavor (little bit each time). Taste and adjust accordingly.

I filled the chicken breast so it wouldn't take forever to cook. 

Add the chicken breast and simmer until cooked through and take out and cool on place.

Turn heat to med high and simmer to reduce the sauce.  

In the meantime. stir fry the carrots and cabbage in a bit of oil with garlic. I didn't season the veggies because I think the sauce will season the veggies when I drizzle on top.

Top rice with the stir fry veggies, chicken, and pour your preferred amount of sauce on top and garnish with cilantro.

Enjoy happy healthy eating!

Vampire Repellent: Hawaiian Garlic Shrimp

Every Wednesday they have these food truck rallies in Irvine and I got to sample Dos Chinos Hawaiian Garlic Tacos and fell in love:  the hot Garlicky shrimp with a cool pineapple salsa. Of course I would try to make it myself :) Here goes!

1 1/4 pounds White Shrimp, deveined (heads on okay, U-15's if you can get 'em)
extra virgin olive oil
3 heads fresh garlic
1 lemon 
1 White or black pepper to season
salt
Cayenne Pepper ( season to taste level)
1/8 teaspoon paprika
white wine (if you're nasty :)) 


Pineapple salsa
Pineapple (cut into small salsa size pieces) 
Red onion (quarter of one, minced)
Cilantro
Lemon


mexican creme (optional if you're watching what you eat)


Directions 


Preheat oven to 400 F
Cut off the tops of two garlic bulbs and drizzle with EVOO. Wrap in foil and bake until soft, roughly 35 mins. Squeeze those soft jewels into a bowl and mash with a fork.


Mince the remaining bulb of garlic, yes the entire bulb.


In a large skillet, put a couple tablespoons of EVOO and put the raw mince garlic in and slowly warm and cook on medium. When, this garlic is soft, add the roasted garlic and mash with a spatula in the pan for a creamy consistency. 


Dust in the cayenne, paprika, salt and pepper. 


Squeeze in the juice of half a large lemon


Pour in 1/4 cup of white wine and let the sauce simmer for a bit on med-low heat( I used a pinot grigio..so good)


Turn heat up to medium high and put in the raw shrimp in an even layer. Cook until pink. Take care not to overcook ...no one likes rubbery shrimp!


Serve either with rice or do it dos chinos style and put it on some tortilla




Pineapple salsa


Chop and entire pineapple and toss with the red onion and chopped cilantro. 
Season with a few sprinkle of salt and lemon juice. So easy. 

Enjoy! 

How to make a Dutch Baby without a baby daddy.

1. Pancake Mix
2. Hot Cast Iron Skillet
3. Oven.
Add those three together and a Dutch Baby is made.

In all seriousness, these suckers are surprisingly easy to make and incredibly filling...could be the dulce de leches bananas ... 

The best thing about dutch babies is that they're extremely versatile in terms of what you can put inside. I prefer to make mines sweet.

Here is the recipe, I got it from Alton Brown.

INGREDIENTS

• 3 tablespoons butter, melted and divided
• 2 3/8 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 1/2 cup
• 3 tablespoons vanilla sugar, plus extra for serving
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup whole milk, room temperature
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• Lemon wedges

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Place 2 tablespoons of the melted butter into a 10-inch cast iron skillet and place in the oven. Set the remaining tablespoon of melted butter aside to cool slightly. Wait 10 minutes before assembling the other ingredients.
Place the flour, vanilla sugar, salt, milk, eggs and remaining tablespoon of melted butter into the bowl of a food processor or blender and process for 30 seconds. Carefully pour the batter into the preheated skillet. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until the edges are puffed and brown. Sprinkle with additional vanilla sugar and serve with lemon wedges.


I just used regular sugar. 


Dulce De Leche Topping:
Marsala Wine
Bananas
Dulce De Leche Sauce in a can
Salt
Vanilla
Butter


Pan on medium with a pat of butter. 
Sautee Bananas until they're slightly bruleed and pour a splash of marsala wine and ignite to burn off the alcohol.
Put in a pinch of salt and splash of vanilla.
Put a scoop of the dulce leche sauce to warm.
Pour on Dutch baby and serve with some powdered sugar. 




HAPPY EATING! 

Give that Pork Belly a Rub a Dub Dub

For those of you who are avid Top Chef followers, you know what I mean when I say pork belly is a necessity. I have yet to watch a season where pork belly isn't featured! After watching so many seasons, I've decided to give pork belly a whirl, see what the fuss is about. Verdict: unctuous, supple, and melt-in-your-mouth good! 

I stumbled across this recipe for Yuzu pork belly. Yuzu is a very expensive Japanese citrus so I went with the next best thing...Lemons. Maybe next time I'll use a combination of both lemons and limes and see if that makes a difference. Overall, I like that the citrus doesn't make the pork belly taste as rich.

Personally, I think the best way to eat roasted pork belly is between Chinese buns/mantou with some spicy chili-hoisin sauce and some thinly sliced green onion. 

Using a vegetable peeler, I took off all the lemon peels without taking off any of the pith (white bitter stuff). Slice the peels if you feel like chopping or take it easy like me and put it all into a food processor. 

Combine table sugar, coarse sea salt into the food processor and pulse!!!!

Ingredients:

Pork Belly

Coarse Sea Salt

Sugar

Lemon Peel

Directions: 

Rub the belly with salt/sugar/lemon mixture and let marinade for at least 5 hrs ( I got lazy and skipped this)

Brush off extra salt crust when you take out from fridge

Preheat oven to 450 and put belly in for an hour to crisp up the skin

Turn the heat down to 250 and cook for another 2 hours. 

Take out let cool overnight in fridge and slice into 1/4 inch slices or thinner. 

I mixed hoisin with chiu chow chili sauce! Spicy and Sweet FTW!

Thanksgiving Turkey Pictures!

Moist Turkey Starts with a BRINE

Roasted Garlic

Basting is a MUST =) 

ENJOY =)