Sweet and Sour Chicken

Aaahh I have nothing witty to say tonight. On to the food.

I had two chicken breasts defrosting in the fridge and nothing exciting planned. I needed something quick that could be thrown together after getting home from a late day at work (which usually means walking in the door at 7:30 at the earliest). I found this recipe on EatingWell.com and it fit the bill.

It helped tremendously to have Nate get things started when he got home (thanks, man) so we could brine the chicken and use the grill, but you could easily skip the brining step, use boneless breasts, and either broil or saute them for speed. I just happen to prefer brined* chicken breasts, and I really like to grill.

The chicken recipe originally called for drumsticks, but I used bone-in, skinless breasts and drizzled the dipping sauce over them just before serving. The glaze is sweet and has a subtle hint of mint, and would probably also be really great on grilled shrimp, grilled fruit, or maybe even grilled pork tenderloin.

*a note on brine: I will now grill chicken and shrimp only if they've been brined first. It keeps the meat so moist and juicy, you pretty much can't dry it out, which is always a danger with chicken and shrimp. A 30 minute brine for each is really all you need, and I usually stick with salt and sugar. Sometimes I'll throw in maple syrup, or a lemon, or some chili powder...I don't know if I can actually taste the difference, but it makes things seem fancier.

Menu
Sweet and Sour Chicken Breasts
Corn on the cob
Grilled pineapple
Steamed broccoli
Sliced tomatoes
Grilled Peaches with Honeyed Ricotta

Sweet and Sour Chicken Breasts
adapted from EatingWell.com



Chicken
4c warm water
2 T kosher salt
2 T sugar
2 bone-in, skinless chicken breasts

Glaze
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated orange zest
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cider vinegar, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint

1. Stir the salt and sugar into the water and dissolve. Place chicken in a bowl, pour the brine over it, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

2. Heat the grill to medium and grill the chicken until done, about 10-15 minutes per side.

3. While the chicken cooks, make the glaze. Whisk together the orange zest and juice, water, honey, 1 T vinegar, 1/4 tsp salt, and coriander in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and 1 tsp vinegar and add slowly to the orange juice mixture, whisking constantly until thickened, about 30 seconds. Remove from heat and stir in the mint.

4. Slice the chicken and drizzle the glaze over each serving.



Grilled Peaches with Honeyed Ricotta




1 peach, just ripe and still firm, halved and pitted
2 T part-skim ricotta cheese
1 tsp honey
1 tsp chopped mint

1. Mix together the ricotta and the honey and place in the refrigerator.
2. Place the peach halves on the grill, cut side down, for 3-4 minutes or until grill-marks appear.
3. Serve the peaches warm with a dollop of the ricotta mixture. Sprinkle with mint.

I has a hard life.

If a python bites you in the forest...

Dinner plans for the last two nights were usurped by various other functions like Biology/Philosophy grad department parties and veterinary continuing education events. I know, you thought we were nerds down here on Rue de Fleur; but now you know just what kind of jet-setting socialites we really are.

Topics discussed this weekend at the events in question (and extra points for whomever can match the topic with the event):
1) Are pythons conscious; i.e., do they make a conscious decision to bite you, or is it just instinct?
2) Bacterial infections contracted via the transitive property while having improper relations with a mortician in a strip club...
3)The travesty that is the current movement toward NOT killing a bunch of animals for the purpose of learning how to do surgery...
4)Space travel
5)Futurama quotes
6)Antibiotic resistance (terrifying)

Good food was had by all each night, but none of it was cooked by me or Nate. So we're back on track tonight (drum roll.....)!

Nate requested salmon burgers and corn. Far be it from me to discourage this recent interest in exotic foods, so I pieced together a few different recipes and came up with my own version. I hope it was everything he hoped for and more. This was a bit more involved than a typical weeknight dinner, but these burgers could be made ahead and frozen and thrown straight on the grill. Also, I think these could be made with canned salmon instead of raw, which would be a lot faster.

The Menu:
Salmon Burgers with Lemon-Dill Aioli
Arugula and Potato Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette
Grilled Corn!
Steamed Broccoli


Salmon Burgers with Lemon-Dill Aioli




I cobbled this recipe together after reading about ten different recipes for salmon burgers. The technique was borrowed from a New York Times article by Mark Bittman; Bittman's recipe did not call for egg, but every other recipe did, so I used two egg whites. Boy, that mixture got awfully goopy...I should have listened to Mark. The guy knows what he's doing. Next time I'll either cut the eggs out altogether or just use one white. I put the burgers in the freezer for about two hours before grilling, otherwise I think they would have fallen apart.

Burgers
makes 3 4-inch patties

8 oz salmon fillet, skinned
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp paprika, half-sharp (or 1/4 tsp cayenne)
2 scallions, sliced, white part only
1 T grated ginger root
1 1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
2 T dried breadcrumbs
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
salt and pepper

Aioli
2 T mayonnaise (I used light, olive-oil mayo)
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1/2 tsp dried dill (this would probably be nicer with fresh)

1. Cut the salmon into chunks.

2. Put about 1/4 of the salmon into the food processor with the garlic powder, ginger, and paprika and blend until pasty. (I know, gross. Pasty fish. Just go with it.)

3. Add the rest of the salmon, the scallions, and the lemon zest and pulse a few times until combined and the salmon has been cut into 1/4" pieces. Do not over-process.

4. Fold in the egg whites and the breadcrumbs.

5. Form into 3 patties, wrap with plastic wrap, and place in the freezer to firm up.

6. Oil or spray a grill pan and place patties over medium heat. Grill about 3-5 minutes per side, depending on how frozen they were to begin with.




6. Blend the mayonnaise, lemon juice, and lemon zest with the dill in a small bowl and refrigerate until ready to eat.



Arugula Potato Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

This salad was inspired by a recent post on the lovely Zen Kitchen blog. I had a bunch of arugula to use up, and this was perfect. I decreased the potatoes, added grilled corn, and used the salad as a base for the salmon burger. This salad could easily carry grilled shrimp, chicken breast, or just stand alone.

Serves 2

1/4 pound small red creamer potatoes
1/2 c grilled or steamed corn kernels (about 1 ear)
1 small shallot
1 tsp plus 1 T olive oil, divided
2 T wine vinegar (I used a citrus champagne vinegar, but use whatever you like)
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
2 tsp stone-ground mustard
1/2 tsp salt
pepper to taste




1. Peel a strip around each potato. Steam for 15 minutes, then thread onto a skewer, baste with olive oil or cooking spray, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.




2. Grill over medium heat until crisped, about 3 minutes per side. Let cool and place potatoes in a salad bowl. Stir in corn.

3. Heat 1 tsp olive oil in a small pan and saute sliced shallot for about 1 minute. Set aside.

3. In a small bowl, mix together the vinegar, mustard, lemon juice and zest, salt, and pepper. Stir in shallots. Whisk in 1 T olive oil until smooth. Taste for seasoning; add a pinch of sugar if too tart. Toss the potatoes and corn with the dressing.

4. Toss arugula with potato mixture and serve.

I can has salmon burger?

113F, 3% humidity

That's right, 3%. That's why they call it a Dry Heat. Perfect grilling weather! We don't even have to light the grill! We just throw slabs of meat out on the pavement for a few minutes.


No, just kidding, I actually lit the grill. I like having grill marks on my chops, and that's really hard to do on concrete.


Tonight's dinner for Elaine is brought to you by Mark Bittman. Both the main dish and the salad were adapted from his leaden tome, How To Cook Everything.

The salad was lovely, and I far prefer almonds to peanuts, so I would repeat that. Baby arugula is peppery and holds up really well to the spicy dressing. This was a perfect foil to the slightly sweet honeyed pork.


I'm rediscovering pork tenderloin lately. It's super-lean, fast-cooking, doesn't need much prep, and stores easily (it's tube-shaped and slides neatly into the freezer). It also makes great leftovers. Pretty much any recipe that calls for chicken can be made with pork, and vice versa.

Menu:
Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Honey and Cumin
Tender Greens with Peanuts and Tomatoes
Grilled corn on the cob
Steamed broccoli
Grilled pineapple slices

Tender Greens with Peanuts and Tomatoes
How To Cook Everything

2 servings

2 c coarsely chopped young, tender arugula, dandelion, mizuna, romaine lettuce, or other greens (trimmed, washed, and dried) (I used baby arugula and did not chop it)
1 1/2 tsp peanut oil (I used 1 tsp dark sesame oil)
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 c roasted peanuts, with or without salt (I used 2 T roasted, unsalted slivered almonds and a few grinds of the salt shaker)
1/2 cup cored, peeled, seeded, and chopped ripe tomatoes (Feh! Who does all that to a tomato? Just chop it up and throw it in.)
juice of half a lime

1. Place the chopped greens in a bowl.
2. Place the peanut oil in a small saucepan and turn the heat to medium. Add the chili powder and cook, stirring, until the chili powder darkens, 30-60 seconds. Add the peanuts, toss, and cook, stirring constantly, for about a minute. Add salt if necessary.
3. Toss together the greens, peanuts, and tomatoes. Taste for salt and add more if necessary. Sprinkle the lime juice over all and serve.


Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Honey and Cumin
adapted from How to Cook Everything

1 lb pork tenderloin
juice of half an orange
2 T honey
1 T orange juice
1 T ground cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder

1. Prepare the grill.
2. Squeeze the juice from half an orange over the tenderloin and let marinate while preparing the rest of the ingredients.
3. In a small bowl, combine the honey, 1 T orange juice, cumin, and garlic powder and mix well. Set aside.
4. Sprinkle the tenderloin with salt and pepper and sear over medium-high heat, about 5 minutes per side. Baste the tenderloin with the honey mixture and cook about 3-5 additional minutes per side or until cooked through to your liking. Watch carefully to avoid burning the rub, as honey will char easily.
5. Remove from grill and rest for 5 minutes before slicing. Serve immediately.
(This recipe originally called for chicken breasts rubbed with olive oil. I did not find that the tenderloin needed oil at all, nor do I think chicken would. I bet this would be really tasty on chicken thighs, too. Also, you can substitute sherry, white wine, or water for the orange juice in the basting mixture.)

Grilled corn and pineapple have become summer staples around here lately. They're both very tasty, very easy, and not too bad for you.

Corn: After the meat is grilled (or while it's on the grill), arrange the husked corn over the coals and grill, turning about every 3 minutes, until the kernels start to brown.

Pineapple: Place sliced pineapple over the hot coals and cook about 5 minutes per side until char marks appear to your liking. This caramelizes the sugars deliciously. Alternatively, eat it raw. It's great either way.

For an easy dessert, serve grilled pineapple over vanilla ice cream. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar or minced fresh basil macerated with sugar. This also works well with grilled peaches.

Sparkle sez: I can has tenderloin? Or corn, I'm not picky...

I eat food so I can grow up to be a doctor.

"We eat food at home so I can grow up to be healthy and strong and a doctor."

So quoth the 3 1/2 year-old daughter of my coworker today when she came to visit Mom at the office. I wish I had known how easy it is to become a doctor; I wouldn't have tried so hard in school. I feel like such a chump.

On to the food reporting (sorry to keep you waiting, Elaine):

Tonight we went out for pizza. OK, you might think that, this being only my second day of blogging about cooking healthful and tasty and easy weeknight dinners, I have failed as a blogger. That I have failed as a practical, realistic cook. That, most importantly, I have failed Elaine.

But no! This was not just an ordinary screw-it-I'm-too-tired-to-cook-we're-getting-pizza go out for pizza night. This was the opening night of the new Two Hippies Pizza restaurant a mere 0.6 miles from our house, on a strip of 24th St. that is dominated by McDonald's, Circle K, a PayDay Loans getup, and a creepy cell phone repair shop that advertises exclusively in stenciled spray-paint signage on faded plywood boards.

Two Hippies Pizza, complete with hippie bus

Two Hippies is, I hope, an indication that this stretch of Central Phoenix might actually start attracting some signs of life and promising retail that we so desperately need. And Nate and I will gladly--selflessly, even-- help support this local business by eating their pizza. We are true martyrs.

They have a few quirks to work out (they haven't nailed down the menu, and the place doesn't have AC, which will be a challenge a few short weeks from now), but they are excited to be in the neighborhood and they serve a mighty tasty pizza with handmade dough, fresh local ingredients, and cheap, creative menu items (our bill tonight was $11 for two sodas and a 12-inch pizza). We heartily approved of our meal, even if they violated Nate's cardinal pizza rule of not allowing stray Beck-toppings to invade his naked cheese half (the offending creatures tonight were the well-known miscreants, black olives).

Oh God, the OLIVES!!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!

The pizza in question was half cheese (and wandering olives) and half Mediterranean (roasted red peppers, black olives, anchovies, zucchini, and feta cheese). My half was excellent, and I have a new favorite pizza topping: anchovies. Yum, salty fishy goodness. The feta was supposed to be goat, but it didn't arrive in time for opening night. The crust was thick and soft on the inside with a good crisp crunch on the outside. Perfectly baked and piping hot. I look forward to sampling their other combinations.

The Hippie in his natural habitat. He is actually playing with his iPhone here, but that didn't seem very Hippie.

So while we didn't cook at home tonight, we did go out and support a local neighborhood business that we hope will be the beginning of all sorts of excitement in the neighborhood. We'll be back on track tomorrow.

And since I'm already a doctor, I wonder what I'll become if I keep eating food? The president, maybe? (Oh goodness, I hope not...or at least, I hope someone fixes the spill in the Gulf before I get to the Oval Office...)

What's for dinner tonight?

"So where does one get healthy, easy dinner ideas?"

This question was posed by my friend and former college roommate, Elaine, on Facebook recently. It prompted a slew of helpful suggestions from friends, and I started reporting my dinner plans as examples for Elaine. Elaine, in turn, started following my lead and recreating a version of my menus a day later.

In my words, Elaine is mooching off of my sweat and tears in the kitchen.

In Elaine's words, "Elaine is brilliant."

Then Elaine started to get demanding whenever I was late with the menu, so rather than continue to bore my Facebook followers with unending lists of what we eat, I thought I'd join the masses and create a blog to keep track.

I realized that, not only is it helpful for poor, starving Elaine to have a running supply of dinner ideas, but it is also helpful to me to have an archive of what I have thrown together on nights that seem to scream for takeout.

So for starters, I'm going to report on last night's dinner, simply because tonight is really just leftovers from that.

So here you go, Elaine: Eat up!

Big Tomato Sweet-Sour Salad
The Splendid Table's How To Eat Supper




Dressing:
1 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil or bacon fat (I used 1/4 cup oil)
1 medium red onion, thin sliced lengthwise into long strips
salt and fresh ground pepper
8 large garlic cloves, thin sliced
2 tight-packed tablespoons brown sugar

Tomatoes:
2 or 3 large, delicious, ripe tomatoes (1 1/2 to 2 pounds), cored and cut into 1-inch chunks
3 medium green tomatoes (about 1 pound), cored and cut into 1-inch chunks (You could easily use all red tomatoes, but the greens added some nice crunch)

Finish:
1/3 light-packed cup coarse-chopped fresh dill leaves (I could not find fresh dill anywhere, so I used about 1 tsp dried. Fresh would have been much nicer)

1. To make the dressing, first pour the vinegar into a small saucepan and boil it down to about 1/2 cup, about 5 minutes. Set aside.
2. In a 10-inch skillet set over medium heat, warm the olive oil or bacon fat. Stir in the onion, sprinkling it with a little salt and a generous amount of pepper. Saute for a minute, or until the onion is softened but not browned. Stir in the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds to 1 minute. You want to soften the garlic but not brown it. Pull the skillet off the heat and blend in the brown sugar to melt it. (You can set the dressing aside at this point for several hours, or refrigerate it for up to a week.)
3. Put the tomatoes into a large serving bowl. When you are ready to serve, warm up the onion mixture if needed--it should be warm, not hot. Pull the pan off the heat, and stir in the boiled-down vinegar and any liquid from the tomatoes. Carefully (the dressing could be quite hot) taste for seasoning and sweet-tart balance. Pour it over the tomatoes, folding in the dill.
4. If you made the salad with olive oil dressing, serve it warm or at room temperature. If bacon fat was used in the dressing, it's best to eat it warm.
5. I broiled a salmon fillet and served it on top of the salad, spooning the dressing over all of it. The dressing was also quite tasty the next night served with grilled chicken breast basted with honey-barbecue sauce.