Lemongrass Chicken

This chicken dish is a Vietnamese dish from an Asian recipe-book I've had for a long time. It's very tasty and you can make it as spicy as you like by adding or removing the red chili. Make sure you taste the chili before you add it to the dish or you might be in for a surprise. The chili can be very hot or not so hot, take a bite from the tip of the chili as that is supposed to be the most spicy part of the chili. Before using remove the seeds and finely chop. (from what I've heard the seeds if used will also take it up a notch spice-wise so if the chili is to mild you might want to add some)

Ingredients;

2 lb chickenfilet sliced thin
2 tbs corn oil for frying

Dry rub;

1 tsp ground pepper
2 inch lemongrass, chopped
3 red chili, chopped
2 scallions coarsely chopped
1 tsp "hot madras" curry powder
1 tsp salt
2 garlic cloves chopped
2 tbs dark brown sugar


1 tbs fishsauce
1/4 cup water

Garnish;

2 tbs cilantro chopped
2tbs scallions chopped

Add oil to a skillet and heat until it starts to smoke, then add the chicken (a little bit at a time)  and fry for 3 minutes. Remove when golden brown. Place the fried chicken in a bowl.

Add the dry rub ingredients to a food processor or a blender and blend on high until it makes a paste. Add the marinade to the fried chicken and toss to coat it all.

Let rest in the refrigerator for one hour then add to a pan and heat until warm. Add fish sauce and water and combine. Simmer until chicken is cooked all through.

Serve with rice, quinoa or just a green salad. Sprinkle with some chopped fresh cilantro and scallions.

Chevre Champignons

This is a great crowd pleaser. If served at a party as finger food use small mushrooms so that they will end up being finger size. If used as a dinner side use whatever size you fancy.

Ingredients;

1/2 lb bacon, chopped 

1 cup chopped onion

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

8 ounces chevre

2 tbs heavy cream

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 package fresh baby spinach ca 2.5 oz, chopped

36 white mushrooms if bite sized

Preheat oven to 350F

Chop the bacon and cook in a nonstick skillet over medium heat until cooked through, it should have a nice brown color without being burned. Remove bacon from skillet and put on a paper towel until ready to use. Add the onion to the pan with the bacon grease and season with some of the salt and pepper. Cook until onion is tender ca 5 minutes then remove from skillet and put on a paper towel to soak up excess fat. Add the spinach to the remaining fat (should not be much, just enough to cover the skillet) and cook until it collapses. Add the onion, bacon, the rest of the spices, the heavy cream and chèvre (crumbled) to the skillet and stir over medium heat until everything is well mixed and the chèvre is melted. 

Cook the mushrooms over medium heat, stems removed (I chop the stems, cook and add to the chèvre mixture but that is not necessary, I just don't like to waste good food) on both sides until golden brown and tender.
Put in an ovenproof shallow dish top side down and fill the mushrooms with the chèvre mixture.

Bake in the oven until the mixture starts to bubble and has a nice brownish color, 10 to 15 minutes or more.

Enjoy while warm!

Asian Style Chicken Wings on the grill

These chicken wings have a distinct Asian taste. They are rather sticky so make sure you have plenty of napkins at hand. Serve as part of a buffet or for dinner with a green salad on the side or perhaps a noodle dish.

Ingredients;

3 lb chicken drummettes

3/4 cup hoisin sauce

2 tbs Asian sesame oil

2 tbs rice vinegar

2 tbs soy sauce

2 tbs grated fresh ginger

1 1/2 tsp hot sauce

2 cloves garlic finely chopped

1/2 tsp ground cloves 

1 tbs toasted sesame seeds (toast in a dry frying pan over medium heat until they start to color making sure they don't get burned).

In a small bowl whisk all the ingredients except for the chicken drummettes and the sesame seeds. Pour 3/4 of the sauce into a ziploc bag and add the chicken. Toss the bag so that all the chicken drummettes are coated with the sauce. This can be done ahead but if you are not using the chicken right away put it in the refrigerator until ready to be used. 

Cook on the grill over medium-medium/high in a grill pan (I use the disposable ones because they tend to get rather messy) together with all the sauce for 20-25 minutes turning every five minutes or so to prevent burning. 

Transfer to a bowl, add the remaining sauce and sprinkle on the sesame seeds. 

Enjoy!