Martini Chicken

Charlie had a specific request for dinner tonight: Martini Chicken with egg noodles and Alfredo Sauce.

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 Srausman.

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.

First published October 2007

Copyright 2007 Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Thai-Style Korean Short Ribs

The lead-in to this recipe from Night+Market cookbook was " Korean Short Ribs as Made by Thais Who Have Never Been to Korea"

The Korean name is Kalbi.

1/3 C grated ginger
1/4 C. garlic
2/3C. Soy Sauce
1/2 C. sesame oil
3 T. sugar
1 T. ground white pepper
1&1/2 lbs. LA cut beef short ribs
4 green onions, cut thin strands
2 T. toasted sesame seeds

Combine ginter, garlic , soy. oil, sugar and w. pepper with sugar until dissolved.  Marinate an hour, grill 2-3 minutes, to with green onions and sesame seeds. Serve with rice.

Chislic again

Charlie wished we could have chislic again but the store didn't have any lamb. He suggested I try the nearby Mexican meat market and they had some.  My fiend in Junction City, I suspect, didn't season them except for some Creole seasoning and that is what I will try next time. This time I tried the same recipe I did recently.

Thai-Style Korean Short Ribs

That was the title of the recipe but I had some pork loin ribs and decided to try them. I cut them apart and cooked them like steaks.  Next time I should try smoking them whole long and slow fork a few hours.  Charlie said they were really good and so I think I'll try them on the smoker next time I pick up baby backs or even other ribs.

Marinade
1/3 C. peeled and grated fresh ginger
1/4 C. minced garlic
2/3 C Soy sauce ( I used half black soy and half regular soy sauce)
1/2 C. sesame oil
3 T. sugar
1 T. ground white pepper

1 1/2 lbs. beef short ribs, cut into 1/2- inch slices across the bones


4 green onions, cut lengthwise into strands
2 T. toasted sesame seeds

Cut ribs apart and marinate 1 hours.  Let set at room temperature 30 minutes.

Cook over very high heat on the grill. Garnish with green onions and sesames seeds.  Served with steamed rice.

Thai Orange Chicken

I don't remember for sure where I saw a list of recommended new cookbooks.. it might have been in an email from Fine Cooking, but I  picked out half a dozen or so and had Charlie narrow it down to two.   The one that we have tries so far is called Night + Market.  The first one was not very good.  This one was better.  Charlie went to a Korean store today and brought back some cucumber kimchi and kimbob which we had with rice and the chicken deep fried with tempura batter.

The tempura batter was not from the book. I made it with a cup of flour, two teaspoons of cornstarch, salt and 1 1/2 C. of cold club soda.  The sauce was made with two teaspoons of cornstarch and enough water to make a slurry, heated with 1/4 C fish sauce, 1/4 C. white vinegar, 1/4 C. orange juice,  3/4 C. sweet orange marmalade, and a pinch of salt.  The recipe said to garnish it with green onion slices, orange zest and roasted chili powder which I forgot to do.