Stir Fry

You really can't go wrong with stir fry. Originally I had planned to make steamed chicken and Kang Kong (On choy/Kai Xin Cai), but the whole chicken had gone bad ><. I don't understand why though, today was the day the chicken said to use it by. Anyways, that led to the use of chicken breasts instead and a somewhat improvised recipe for it since we didn't want to waste the already cut ginger, shallot, and garlic.

(Improvised) Chicken and Onion Stir Fry:
Pretty good for something made on the fly, but could've used stronger flavoring. It wasn't bland, it just came out lighter than usual. Came out to $8 for this dish, serving 5 of us and still yielding a bunch of leftovers.

• 4 lbs Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
• 3/4 Onion (chopped)
• 1/2 head Garlic (minced)
• 1 Shallot (minced)
  
• 2 tbsp Ginger (minced)
• 2 cup Soy Sauce
• 1 1/4 cup Rice Wine
• 1 Green Onion (chopped)
• 3 tbsp Sesame Oil

Cut the chicken breasts into small bite size slices and place in a bowl with the chopped onion. Add 1 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup rice wine, and 1/2 chopped green onion and mix. Let sit to marinate. Heat oil in large pan on medium-low. Saute the garlic, shallot, and 1 tbsp of ginger until golden brown. Remove this from heat and set aside.

Bring in enough chicken and onion to fill the pan (about 1/3 of it). Add 1 tbsp sesame oil and 1 tsp ginger, stir, and let cook for 4 minutes (covered). Add 1/3 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup rice wine, and 1/3 of saute. Stir, cover, and cook for another 3-4 minutes. The chicken should be white all the way through by now. Remove from heat and set aside. Repeat for other 2/3.

Home Style Eggplant:
I called home for this recipe - I missed it a lot. Eggplant is one of my favorite veggies and I really like the way we make it at my house. Maybe next time I'll try cooking in a clay pot. This time the eggplant came out cooked but still a little crunchy as the slices were a little thick. It was still tasty though and I would do it again. $4 for this one and we still have half of it.

• 3 Chinese Eggplants
• 1/4 Onion (minced)
• 1/2 head Garlic (minced)
• 1/3 cup Oyster Sauce
• 1/3 cup Rice Wine
• 1/3 cup Soy Sauce
• Olive Oil

Preheat oven to high broil. Cut the eggplant into diagonal slices and arrange on a baking sheet. Cover with olive oil (I poured olive oil over it, coating it poorly. Probably better to do this with a brush). Broil for ~10 minutes, when the skin begins to turn brown and the eggplant is still firm but is more soft. In a large pan heat oil on medium heat. Saute the garlic and onion. Add the oyster sauce, rice wine, and soy sauce and stir. Add the eggplant and stir. Let sit for 2-3 minutes. Should be mostly soft through the eggplant slice when done.

Both dishes were served with rice and eaten together. Enjoy.

Gluten and Cheese...

Hey All,

Tonight was for Italian food, a rarity since we generally cook asian-esque food here. It was still great though, albeit more filling than expected ><. It came out really well, despite a few slight mishaps (we forgot we had the garlic bread in the oven... it came out a little on the dark side...). Enough for introductions though - on with the recipes!

Chicken Parmesan:
We were looking for a way to burn through the rest of the cheese and panko we had left over from the weekend and figured this was a good way to do so. Followed this recipe here (1). Although we ended up buying more bread crumbs, it still ended up pretty cheap in the end. ~$11 went into it for 7 servings. As only 3 of us were eating... it was quite a bit. Here's how it went:

• 7 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (cheaper to cut the bones out of half breasts)
• 2 cups Flour
• 5 Large Eggs
• 3 1/2 cups Bread Crumbs (1 cup Panko + 2 1/2 cups Bread Crumbs in our case)
• 1 cup Parmesan Cheese
• Salt and Pepper

Mix flour, salt, and pepper in a bowl. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs together. In yet another bowl mix the cheese and bread crumbs. Take a chicken breast and dredge it in the flour. Next dip it in the egg, and then dredge through the cheese and crumbs mixture. Set aside. Do the same with the other breasts. Heat up vegetable oil in a pan on low heat so its not too hot. Place up to 3 breasts on the pan after the oil is hot. Keep there for 8 minutes and then flip. Wait another 8 minutes and then remove to a plate with paper towels on it to pat the breasts dry. Should be golden brown and cooked through (check!). Serve with Pasta Sauce.

Spaghetti:
For those of you who haven't made Spaghetti before, here's how we cooked the noodles:

• Box of Spaghetti
• Water
• Salt

Bring enough water to boil in a large pot to completely contain all the noodles which are going to be made. Add some salt (this helps prevent the noodles from sticking to each other). Add the noodles let sit for 10-15 minutes (depending on whether you like it undercooked, just right, or over - today ours was undercooked but done so intentially). Don't forget to stir (like we did ><) else it will clump together and some noodles on the edge won't cook. Bring off heat and pour off water. Cool with warm water and drain with a collander (bowl with holes in the bottom) if you can. If you don't have one, then hold the cap on the pot on enough such that water comes out, but not the noodles. This portion is as expensive as the noodles: about $3 for enough for 6 for us.

Pasta Sauce:
Pasta sauce is always fun. Mostly you start with a tomato sauce you buy at the supermarket, and then you make it better by adding your own ingredients. Almost anything will do (depending on how much there is and you want to put in), but here's our version:

• 1 medium jar or 1/2 large jar tomato sauce.
• 6 cloves Garlic
• 1 Onion
• 1 Shallot
• 1 box Mushrooms
• 2 cups Red Wine
• Garlic Salt

Bring sauce to boil in a pot on low heat. Mix in chopped mushrooms and minced garlic, onion, and shallot. Bring back to boil, add wine and let simmer. Garlic salt to taste. Serve warm. (Note: If I were to do this again, I would fry the garlic and shallot with olive oil in the bottom of the pot and then add the sauce everything else. The fried garlic would give a sweeter taste I feel.) End cost: ~$4.

Garlic Bread:
We always eat garlic at our place (can't recall the last meal with out it here) and this hits near the top of our one time garlic usage. What does this mean? Delicious is what. Would've been better slightly less burnt, but for $4 for a whole loaf of garlic bread I'd try it again. Anyhow this was the way it went down:

• 1 loaf French Bread
• 1 stick Butter
• 18 cloves Garlic
• Olive Oil

Preheat oven to high broil. Mince garlic and mix with butter. Drizzle a bit of olive oil over the loaf. Spread over bread cut in half. Place on a baking sheet covered with tin foil and place in oven. Broil for (less than!) 15 minutes, or when the top starts to turn golden brown.

All in all everything goes together well. Mix and match to find your own favorite combinations (I personally found a sandwich made of chicken parmesan and pasta sauce flanked by garlic bread pretty fantastic). Probably easiestly/most normally served with the chicken over a bed of spaghetti with sauce on top! In the end, way too much food for 3 people (maybe enough for 7?) for around $22. I hope you guys enjoy!

Cheers,
---Chris

Cites:
(1) http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chicken-Parmesan-Heros-107587