Tag Archives: Chicken

Asian Chicken and Lettuce Wraps

Two weeks ago, I heard my bathing suit calling for me, well not actually calling, more like mocking me, from the bottom drawer of my closet. It was daring me to pull it up over the pasty white flesh of my legs and then over the lumpy bumpy flesh of my hips and belly. Aaaagh! Can there be anything more scary than putting a bathing suit back on after a winter of consuming comfort foods?

Last December, basking in the warmth and love of a family celebration (my mom’s 75th birthday), my 5 siblings (4 sisters and 1 brother) and I decided it would be a great idea to take mom away on a little trip to celebrate this milestone. There were lots of phone calls and e-mails back and forth as we tried to figure out where and when to go. We almost had a BBM (Blackberry Messenger) family group formed, which would have made communication so easy, but then my brother had to go and join the dark side… he bought an iPhone! Just between you and me, I think he did it on purpose so we would stop BBMing him.

Choosing when to go was no easy feat. Two of my sisters are school teachers so taking time off during the school year is challenging. My brother is an accountant and January-April is a special period of hell for him, also known as tax season. To complicate matters, we decided that no children or spouses were to be included on this trip. Just mom and her kids. So child and pet care arrangements had to be made. Finally a long weekend in June was found to be was agreeable to all.

We decided on Bermuda as it was a short flight for all and the weather would be lovely in June. A little bit of sightseeing and some beach/pool time suited everyone. Thing seemed to be moving along quite well until it was time to decide who would room with whom. It has been at least 35 years since my older sister and I shared a room and I was not that keen on doing it again any time soon! Finally rooming arrangements were figured out, with just a few insults, snide remarks and residual hurt feelings flung about.

Then it was time to choose seats on the plane. There was quite a scurry and commotion about who would sit with mom on the plane. I will not disclose whether the direction of the scurry was towards or away from mom. Finally all the arrangements were made and just the waiting and packing remained. With less than a week to go, I mustered up the courage to try on bathing suits. That’s when the realization hit me. Time to start eating a little bit lighter, although I was doubtful that a week of light eating could undo the damage of a carb loaded winter.

I had seen a recipe in the June issue of Bon Appetit that called for serving a chicken stir fry in a lettuce wrap. They looked perfect for a light weeknight dinner. I decided to bulk them up a bit with the addition of lots of vegetables. I settled on a mixture of mushrooms (shitake, white button and cremini), carrots, snow peas and yellow peppers. A little bit of garlic, ginger and cilantro would help to bring it all together.

Vegetables were done, now onto the chicken. Many years ago, when working at Dinah’s Cupboard, a food shop in Toronto, I learned a trick to create a tender and juicy chicken stir-fry. Dinah called it the “velvet glove” treatment. The chicken is given a protective coating before stir-frying. The best coating is a mixture of cornstarch, egg white and rice wine vinegar. I think of it as a sort of sun block for chickens!

Since my daughter is a vegetarian, I also prepared some tofu. I cooked the vegetables separately from the chicken and tofu. Begin with some ginger, garlic and green onion, then add the mushrooms. They will take about 5-7 minutes to give off their moisture and cook down and brown. The carrots, snow peas and peppers are added at the very end, so that they are heated through briefly but still retain their crunch.

Boston lettuce and hearts of romaine make a really nice wrapper. We finished the wraps off with some sweet chilli sauce for heat, some cilantro for its brightness and some cashews for added crunch.

To print the recipe for Asian Chicken and Lettuce Wraps, click here.

The quest for the perfect turkey burger

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I have been on a quest to find the ultimate turkey burger for quite some time now. Come to think of it, I have also been on a quest to find the perfect pair of black pants for an even longer while now. If you are a woman, you will know exactly what I mean. The ultimate pair of black pants would skim over your hips without actually clinging and accentuating any lumps, bumps or dimples. With a pair of heels or killer boots, you would look long and lean and your legs would appear to be a mile long. The pants would be perfect for day and night, and depending on what you pair them with, they would be equally at home at a funeral or a night club. I am not so sure such a pair of black pants exists. I have come close, 9 pairs in my closet at last count, but none of them quite right.

But I do believe that my quest for the ultimate turkey burger is finally over. For a while there I was adding breadcrumbs and egg to the burgers, to help them bind better, but that just made them tough and dry. Then I tried mixing the turkey with garlic and lots of chopped fresh herbs but that was way too overpowering for delicate turkey meat. I thought I had found the perfect one in June of 2008, when Oprah said, “I believe (it) may be the best turkey burger in the entire world.” She was referring to the turkey burger at Mar-A-Lago, Donald Trump’s private club in Palm Beach. If Oprah said they were the best, I had to try them.

The Mar-a-Lago turkey burger is reminiscent of turkey stuffing, chock full of apples, celery and scallions. Then to help keep the burgers moist Major Grey’s Chutney is added to the mix. This is a mango based chutney with tamarind, raisins, vinegar and lots of spices, including cloves. The first time I tried the burgers I did not care for them but I made them several more times, because Oprah said they were the best, and because I could not put my finger on why I didn’t like them. I finally gave up on them when I realized it was the overpowering flavour of cloves that put me off.

Then, last week, while reading the June issue of Martha Stewart Living, I had an “aha” moment. Don’t build flavour into the turkey burger. Ground turkey has a delicate flavour that you don’t want to fool with too much. Leave the ground turkey alone, save for a little bit of olive oil and salt on top before grilling. Add flavour through the toppings. This one relies on guacamole for moistness, caramelized onions for sweetness, and pickled jalapenos for heat. I have made them twice now in the past 4 days.

Try to find ground dark turkey meat, instead of ground turkey breast. It has more fat and will be much moister. I decided to top mine with lettuce and tomatoes, as well, when I encountered these beauties at the grocery store this week.

When I was in line at the check-out, the cashier, a young girl, maybe 17 , picked up the tomatoes, made a face and asked me if I wanted to go back and exchange them for ones without any creases or cracks. It was all I could do hold my tongue and not lecture this poor innocent youngster on organic, heirloom tomatoes. Those cracks and creases mean that these tomatoes actually taste like tomatoes, unlike those smooth red orbs that have all the flavour engineered out of them. I just smiled and said, “No thanks, I like these tomatoes.”

I made a simple guacamole with avocados, cilantro, lime and salt. Try to find Haas avocados, the black pebbly ones. I find the flesh creamier than the smooth green-skinned avocados. Don’t mash the guacamole too fine. Leave it a bit chunky.

Cook the red onions on low heat for about 20 minutes, in order to caramelize them.

Toast the buns for extra flavour and crunch. I found some really great ciabatta buns as well as some multigrain foccacia buns. Add some pickled jalapeno peppers from the jar, and sliced tomatoes and lettuce.

To print the recipe for Turkey Burgers, click here.

P.S. I promise to keep you posted if I ever do find that perfect pair of black pants.

Peruvian Garlic-Lime Chicken

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If you are a vegetarian, or at all squeamish about handling chicken, this post is not for you. I went to cooking school with this woman who was terrified about shoving her hand inside a chicken or turkey. She used to have nightmares about it. If that sounds like you, avert your eyes now and perhaps check our some of my gentler, kinder cookie posts.

I went through a phase where I bought just about any cooking/baking gadget available. My sister-in-law and I would spend many happy hours wandering up and down the aisles of Williams Sonoma, fondling all the new gadgets. Sort of the way I scrutinize the anti-aging aisle at the drugstore these days. During one of those shopping trips, I bought a vertical roaster for chicken. The advantage of this gadget is that the chicken roasts standing up so you do not have to turn it while it is roasting, and it gets evenly browned all over.

It gathered dust in my kitchen cabinet and then I relegated it to the storage room in the basement and forgot all about it. That is, until I read the March/April 20111 issue of Cook’s Illustrated. They featured a recipe for Peruvian Roast Chicken, cooked on one of those vertical roasters. Apparently, Peruvian Chicken joints are popping up all over the States. They have yet to make it up here to Ottawa! Reading the Cook’s Illustrated description of this chicken sent me scurrying down to my storage room to find my vertical roaster.

“The rotisserie bird that they serve, known as pollo a labrasa, in the mother country, is deeply bronzed from its slow rotation in a wood fired oven and impressively seasoned with garlic, spices, lime juice, chiles and a black paste made with huccacatay, or black mint. Off the spit, the chicken is carved and served with a garlicky, faintly spicy, mayonnaise like sauce.”

Leave it to Cook’s Illustrated to come up with a way to recreate this in your own kitchen. And that’s where the genius of the vertical roaster comes into play. Since we don’t have a rotisserie in our kitchens to turn the chicken, so that it roasts evenly, they suggest placing it upright on a vertical roaster. But, don’t despair if you don’t have one. Apparently, excellent results can be had using a half filled can of beer to stand the chicken on. Just don’t use a beer bottle. The smokiness that they achieve in Peru, from using a wood fired oven is replicated using smoked paprika to give you that smoky taste.

Most of the ingredients needed to make the marinade are fairly simple to find. Most specialty food shops carry smoked paprika these days. I substituted a serrano chile for the habanero pepper called for in the original recipe. Everything gets thrown into the blender and whizzed into a smooth paste.

If I may just say a few words about my new blender. If loving an appliance is wrong, I don’t want to be right. I just bought myself a new blender, “The Blendtec HP3-A” to be specific. The jar on my old container cracked and they stopped making that model, so no replacement parts were available. Everytime I blended soup, it leaked all over the counter. I ordered the Blendtec on the advice of my little sister. Her husband is the king of blended drinks, so he had researched blenders very thoroughly and this was what he chose. It really is an incredible machine.

They call it the “The Blender with Brawn and Brains!” The blender’s microprocessor will do the work. The microprocessor automatically changes the blade speed drawing ingredients into the blade, giving it a smooth, consistent blend. One touch operation and automatic shut off will allow you to multitask in the kitchen.” Peruvian chicken marinade was its maiden voyage and the marinade was smooth in about 1 minute and 28 seconds. No scraping down or shaking the blender was necessary. Okay, blender bragging over.

Then comes the fun part, getting the marinade under the chicken’s skin. I found myself humming this song as I worked! They suggested using the handle of a wooden spoon to loosen the skin from the meat. I abandoned this method in about 30 seconds and went straight to using my hands. After getting the marinade under the skin, massage the remaining marinade all over the chicken. Then it rests in a zip loc bag in the fridge for 6-24 hours.

To print the recipe for Peruvian Garlic-Lime Chicken, click here.

In Peru, this chicken is accompanied by a spicy garlic mayonnaise. I never ended up making it, as I found the chicken wonderful without it, but if you want to try it the authentic way, here is a recipe to make the mayo..

I was so enthralled with this chicken that I made it a second time about a week later. I could not stop giggling when my second attempt came out of the oven. It looked like she needed an accessory to complete her outfit. A purse to hang on her wing would have been just the thing!

Pomegranate Chicken

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Now here’s something you don’t hear everyday. My children are blessed with 23 first cousins! My husband and I each have 5 siblings. He has 4 brothers and a sister and I have 4 sisters and a brother. (Didn’t they made a movie about that??) Every year, over the Christmas holidays, we take a vacation with his side of the family. Over the years the numbers have ebbed and flowed. This year we numbered 24. We spent 11 glorious days on the island of Anguilla. Going on holiday is joyful. Coming home, not quite as wonderful. I managed to avoid cooking for the first 2 days we were back but by the third day, the family was demanding to be fed. And sadly, room service was no longer an option. My go-to dish, when I can’t think of what else to make, is Pomegranate Chicken.

You may be wondering what is going on here? Why is she not feeding her family cookies or bread you may be asking yourself. Regular readers of this blog know that they can count on Salt and Serenity for all things baked. However, for the next little while, we may have to lay off the baking. If you followed me through my 8 days of holiday baking and then the Almond Berry Shortbread Torte , followed by 11 days of tropical cocktails, you may have guessed that we have put on a few pounds here. Or perhaps as my delusional husband said, “I think the scale is broken!” So with a little resolve and willpower, we hope to take off those excess pounds this month. Hence, today’s post for Pomegranate Chicken. Besides, I had to use up that wrinkled pomegranate that somehow missed the pre-holiday fridge cleaning.

Begin with grating some garlic and dicing a few onions. I usually use a jalapeno pepper in this recipe, but only had a Serrano pepper, so I used half of that. You may notice in the photos below that my fingers look like they have developed some scaly disease. Fear not, I am just wearing gloves for seeding and dicing the peppers. I once worked for a chef who told me that he went to the bathroom after chopping jalapeno and suffered mightily afterwards for many hours. I am an eye rubber and have been burned on more than one occasion so I always wear latex gloves when handling peppers.

When I was dicing the onions, my daughter asked me to make a video, showing the proper way to do it. She said that she tried to describe how to do it over the phone to her girlfriend, but couldn’t properly explain it, so Christina, this video is for you!

I like to use boneless skinless chicken thighs for this recipe. I find they have way more flavour than breasts and overcooking them is very difficult to do. The chicken gets seasoned with salt, pepper and paprika. Then it is browned on both sides and removed from the pan. With the remaining fat in the pan, saute the onions, garlic and jalapeno.

A can of plum tomatoes and some pomegranate concentrate are added next. This is different from pomegranate juice. It is essentially a boiled down concentrated pomegranate syrup. It is usually available at Middle Eastern stores. Then the chicken gets added back in and the whole thing simmers, covered for about 40 minutes.

I was very excited to try Nigella Lawson’s method for removing seeds from a pomegranate. I am happy to report, that while I do not look as gorgeous as her while removing my seeds, her method works quite well and is an excellent stress reliever!

Garnish with fresh pomegranate seeds.

To print the recipe, click here.

P.S. I was at the bookstore today and bought this. I know I should be feeling guilty, but I managed to convince myself that it is for research purposes and bedtime reading only. (And I call my husband delusional.)