Scotch Eggs

At son's request, made some for him to grab and go for early morning class.

Scotch Eggs

Cook it British!

Brian Turner's Favourite British Recipes 

So fattening but so good! This recipe makes 6 Scotch eggs.

6 hard-cooked eggs, well chilled 

1 pound breakfast sausage 

1/2 cup flour 

2 eggs, beaten 

3/4 cup fine bread crumbs 

Vegetable oil for frying

Peel eggs and set aside. Divide sausage into 6 portions. Roll each egg in flour and with hands press a portion of the sausage around each egg.

Dip sausage-wrapped eggs into beaten eggs and roll in bread crumbs. Heat vegetable oil to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cook each egg in oil about 4-5 minutes or until sausage is cooked and browned. Drain on paper toweling. Serve warm.

Martini chicken and pasta puttanesca

Breast of Chicken, Martini-Style

This recipe for breast of chicken, martini-style, is from "Two Meatballs in the Italian Kitchen," the cookbook by chefs Pino Luongo and Mark Strausman.

INGREDIENTS

Serves 4.

• Coarse salt

• 8 ounces green beans or haricots verts, trimmed

• 4 carrots, cut into thin strips, about 2 inches long

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (6 ounces each), tendons removed

• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

• 3 large eggs, beaten

• 1 1/3 cups freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

• 2 cups safflower or corn oil

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

• 3/4 cup dry white wine

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Prepare an ice-water bath; set aside. Add carrots to boiling water and cook until tender-crisp, about 3 minutes. Drain and transfer vegetables to ice-water bath to cool. Drain and set aside. Repeat process with green beans.

3. Place each chicken breast half between two sheets of plastic wrap on a cutting board. Using the flat side of a meat mallet or the back of a skillet, pound chicken breasts until they are 3/8 inch thick.

4. Remove chicken from plastic wrap; season with salt and pepper. Place flour, eggs, and cheese each in separate large, shallow dishes. Coat each chicken breast half evenly with flour, shaking off any excess. Then di !p in egg, followed by cheese to coat.

5. Heat oil in a deep large skillet over medium-high heat. When oil is very hot, reduce heat to medium and, working in batches, add chicken. Cook chicken, turning once, until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. Repeat process with remaining chicken, allowing oil to reheat between batches.

6. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add lemon juice and wine; stir to combine. Pour butter mixture into the bottom of a large baking dish. Arrange chicken in baking dish and top each with an equal amount of beans and carrots. Brush some of the butter mixture over the chicken and vegetables and transfer baking dish to oven. Cook until vegetables begin to brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven and serve immediately.

Sugo alla Puttanesca

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup pitted black olives, sliced
• 4 boned salt packed anchovy fillets - Well rinsed
• 2 cloves of garlic - thinly sliced
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon rinsed salted capers, minced
• 1 1/2 C of basic tomato sauce
• Dried red pepper flakes to taste
• 1 lb spaghetti

Method:

Add the garlic and the red pepper flakes* to a sauté pan and sauté in the oil with the anchovies, stirring the mixture about to break up the anchovies. 

When the garlic’s lightly browned, add the olives, capers, and tomato sauce. 

Check seasoning. 

Simmer the sauce for fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Meanwhile, cook the pasta, 1 minute short of al dente. 

Stir the pasta into the sauce.

Cook together to finish the pasta and have it absorb the flavors of the sauce.

*You can add the red pepper flakes at the very end and get a mild sauce with an occasional hit of heat or pass a bowl of the flakes to your diners to add at their pleasure.

Serves 4

chicken mushroom soup made with leftover stock

from last nights pork dumpling soup

Last nights pork dumpling soup is tonights chicken mushroom soup. The pork dumplings are gone so left over soup got more chicken, mushrooms, onion added as well as some bok choy stems and some Creole seasoning.

Pork dumpling soup

With fried won tons, crab rangoon, rice, salad, spinach, bean sprouts, snow peas and rice.

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)

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 with warm water for about 15 minutes. Cut it into thin strips.

2. Make the filling by combining the wood ear mushroom, ground pork, shrimp, water chestnuts, green onion, ginger, and all the Seasonings ingredients together. Chill the filling in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

3. To assemble the water dumplings, place a piece of the wrapper on your palm and spoon about 1 tablespoon filling onto the wrapper. Do not overfill. Dip your index finger into a small bowl of water and circle around the outer edges of the dumpling wrapper. Fold the dumpling over and finish by pressing the edges with your thumb and index finger to ensure that the dumpling is sealed tightly and there is no leakage. Repeat for the remaining wrappers and filling. Place the dumplings on a floured surface or baking sheet. Cover them with a damp kitchen towel to prevent drying.

4. Bring the water to a boil in a pot. Gently transfer the wrapped water dumplings into the boiling water and boil until they float to the top, about 2-3 minutes. You may have to boil the dumplings in more than 1 batch, according to the size of your pot.

5. Remove the water dumplings with a slotted spoon, drain the excess water, and cover them to prevent drying.

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

7. Transfer 3-4 water dumplings into a soup bowl, add some of the soup into the bowl, garnish with some chopped green onion and serve immediately.

Norms note. I made chicken stock from scratch, add salt to taste,  then added some chicken leg and thigh meat, cut up and some mushrooms. Taste for salt. Added the dumplings at last minute, heated through. Garnished with green onion and sesame seeds.

Fried won tons are the exact same as the pork dumplings except deep fried instead of boiled

Spinach and bean sprouts, both boiled briefly then well drained and dressed with the same dressing below

SPINACH,Korean style         2 servings

10 oz. spinach 1 T. Sesame oil

2 T Soy sauce 1 T scallion, minced

2 tsp Sugar 1 tsp vinegar (optional)

1 1/2 tsp sesame salt salt & red pepper (optional)

BLANCH SPINACH IN BOILING WATER UNTIL BRIGHT GREEN ( ABOUT 2 MINUTES).  PLUNGE INTO COLD WATER.  SQUEEZE OUT EXCESS WATER.  MIX REMAINING INGREDIENTS AND  TOSS WITH SPINACH.  SERVE IMMEDIATELY OR REFRIGERATE UP TO SEVERAL DAYS.

Crab Rangoon recipe from Trader

    Vic's, San Francisco, CA 

    1/2 pound crabmeat, drained & chopped (you can use 

    the imitation crab meat too for this) 

    1/2 pound cream cheese, room temperature 

    1/2 tsp A-1 steak sauce 

    1/4 tsp garlic powder 

    2 1/2 to 3 dozen won ton wrappers 

    1 egg yolk, well beaten an 1 tablespoon water. 

    oil for deep frying 

    Chinese mustard or red sauce 

    Combine crabmeat, cream cheese, A-1 sauce and garlic powder. 

    Heap 1 teaspoonful crabmeat mixture in center of one won ton 

    wrapper. Gather edges together, moisten with egg and pinch or 

    twist to seal. Heat oil in electric frypan or skillet to 375 

    degrees F. Fry in bunches until golden brown, about 3 minutes. 

    Drain on paper towels. Serve hot with Chinese mustard or red sauce. 

    Makes 2 1/2 to 3 dozen.

Snow peas nuked two minutes in bag, then buttered and salted.

Dipping sauces, store bought Asian sweet chili sauce and soy sauce steeped in ginger and green onion with a little rice vinegar.

Pork chops with mushroom cherry sauce and potato cakes

CHERRY & MUSHROOM-STUFFED PORK CHOPS

Printed from COOKS.COM

 Instead of stuffing, I used thin chops and made the stuffing as a sauce and served it over the chops

2 tbsp. canola oil, divided

1/4 cup finely chopped celery

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

1 cup fresh shiitake mushrooms, chopped

1/4 cup dried sweetened cherries, chopped

1/4 tsp. dried thyme

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. black pepper

4 boneless pork loin chops, 1-inch thick

1 tsp. all-purpose flour

1/4 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup cherry juice

In large skillet, heat 1 tbsp. oil over medium-high heat. Add celery, onions, and mushrooms. Cook, stirring, for 4 minutes. Stir in cherries, thyme, salt and pepper. Remove from heat.

Cut deep pocket in side of each pork chop. Fill with 1/4 of cherry mix. Skewer pockets closed with toothpicks. Reduce heat to medium. Add remaining 1 tbsp. oil. Add pork chops, brown over medium heat for 8 minutes per side or until no longer pink.

Remove chops from skillet. Pour off fat. Add flour to skillet, cook, stirring for 30 seconds. Stir in chicken broth and juice. Scrape brown bits from skillet, cook 1 minute more to thicken sauce slightly.

Return chops to skillet. Turn to coat evenly. Spoon remaining sauce over chops before serving.

POTATO CAKES

-4 small gold potatoes, peeled and shredded, soaked in a bowl of salty water, or frozen store bought hash brown

1/4 finely chopped green onions or your favorite herbs 

 fresh grated nutmeg

salt, pepper to taste

 1 egg

• 1 cup of plain breadcrumbs

How to do:

place grated potatoes in strainer, pour a cup of very hot water over it

- Drain shredded potatoes, squeeze with paper towel if needed

- combine all the ingredients

- heat nonstick pan, add 1/2 inch of oil

- carefully spoon potato batter in the pan, one after another

- cook about 5 minute or until it turns brown, flip over and cook for another 5 minutes

Malaysian Chicken

The grocery store had boneless, skinless chicken thighs so that made this dish a lot easier for me and I got some but when I got home I discovered I didn't have jalapenos- used chili powder and pepper sauce. Doubled sauce recipe and added a dash of sesame oil cut back on ginger.  Charlie noticed the missing jalapeno.  This dish was concocted when we went to a Chinese buffet and son asked me to try to duplicate it.  

Malaysian Chicken by Norm version 2 “Aa”

5 chicken thihgs, skinned, boned and cut bite size pieces (“A” version used legs, thighs, wings and tenderloins)

5 Cl. garlic, minced (A version, used 1T. approx, garlic salt)

4 T. Oyster sauce or to coat

1 T sesame oil

1/2 tsp. curry powder

Coat chicken with the above ingr. marinate 30 minutes, meanwhile

1 onion in large chunks

1 fresh jalapenos sliced, or equlivant pickled sliced

2 T. peanut oil

Heat oil, add onions and jalapenos and saute til soft, add

1T. chicken base (“A” version used 3/4 T.)

1/2C. water 

1T vinegar

4T. brown sugar

1T. oyster sauce.

2 tsp fresh ground ginger

add above ingr. to onions and jalapenos and simmer

Add fry mix from Asian (“A” version used tempura mix)  market to marinated chicken, to coat, heat 1 inch of oil in cast iron and fry in batches until browned,  Remove with wire strainer, transfer to sauce until all pieces are fried.  Toss to coat all the chicken pieces with sauce, cover and simmer another 10 minutes.  Serve with steamed rice.

Chicken vegetable soup made with chicken carcass

Made chicken stock with back, wing tips and breast bones them made soup with whatever was in the refrigerator and a couple tablespoons of cream.  I also used tortilla strips but they kind of melted.

I will give as much of the recipe as I can remember. I didn't use one that is written down. Left over raw chicken back and breast bones with wing tips and neck with a yellow onion, un peeled, a carrot un peeled and a stalk of celery, covered with water and simmered uncovered for about an hour and a half. There is enough water that when it cooks down by half, the chicken is still covered. Refrigerate. Next day remove and discard vegetables and chicken bones, saving any meat. Chop a carrot, onion, green bell pepper and saute in butter, add to chicken stock along with a celery stalk, chopped and half a tortilla cut in strips, bring to a boil, add aa package of Saxon Goya, salt to taste and simmer until heated through. Add a couple tablespoons cream per serving and serve. I put a parsley stem in for the photo but it sank and you can barely see it. The tortilla pretty much melted into the soup and did not stay like noodles as they usually do. This is Sazon Goya. Latin and Asian markets have it and often is in the latin section of regular grocery stores.

Eggplant and Chicken Cutlet Parmesan

I used the same recipe that I used on Oct 4, 2011, but did a layer of eggplant on the bottom and three chicken cutlets on top.

Korean Chicken Wings dinner Jan 6 2011

Charlie is making dinner tonight

Korean Spicy Chicken and Potato (Tak Toritang)

Prep Time:
15 Min

Cook Time:
45 Min

Ready In:
1 Hr

 

4 servings

• 2 1/2 pounds chicken drumettes
• 2 large potatoes, cut into large chunks
• 2 carrots, cut into 2 inch pieces
• 1 large onion, cut into 8 pieces
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 3 tablespoons hot pepper paste

1. In a large pot over medium heat, mix the chicken, potatoes, carrots, onion, sugar, and garlic. Pour in water and soy sauce, and stir in sugar and hot pepper paste. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 45 minutes, until chicken juices run clear, vegetables are tender, and liquid has thickened.