Category — Chinese Food

[Be sure and read to the end to day, folks.  There's a very special announcement for you.]

O.k.-O.k.-O.k.  I. am. SO. EXCITED.  Today when I got the mail, guess what?!?  I got a package addressed to little ol’ me!  And it’s not even Christmas.  Or my birthday.  Or Mother’s Day. 

And when I opened it guess what I got?!?  Hmmm, you’re dyin’ now, aren’t ya?  Hmm?!?

LOOK!!

And, who, you may be wondering, would send me tangerines and a navel orange?  Well, I’m going to tell you.  Todd and Diane over at White on Rice Couple sent them to me. These are a couple of super funny, mighty talented, and unbelievably friendly folks.  And even if they hadn’t sent me goodies, I’d still say those nice things.  Because they are true.  If you don’t believe me, you should hop on over to their blog and check it out, because they send free stuff to people all the time.  All you have to do is ask.  They call it “Sharing the Love” and I call it groovy.

You know something else that is mind boggling cool?  They GREW these!  Holy Sh!t people!!  I live in Michigan.  Do you know what it looks like here right now?  Kinda grey, kinda brown, gloppy, muddy, wet, mushy - with parking lots spotted with cement colored snow hills from months of heavy plowing.  (Those snow hills will still be here in MAY!)  It’s really not pretty.  Nothing but mold and lichens growing here.  And they sent me gorgeous home grown food.  Unreal. 

As I opened the package Katie walked into the dining room.  “Look!  Todd and Diane sent me fruit!  From California!  They GREW these.  In their backyaaard.”  She furrowed her eyebrows a little and said “They grew them?  That’s weird.  Are they safe to eat?  I thought they were supposed to come from a temperature controlled truck.”  Fricken’ smart ass.  But, do you see how deprived we are here?  My kids think that oranges don’t really grow on trees in backyards.  They come from trucks.  Sigh.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Todd and Diane.  You’ve made my day, my week, my month!  And, you’ve let me teach something new to my children.  And I think you’ve taught me a thing or two about giving, too. 

Speaking of giving, tomorrow I’ll be offering free downloads of my last cookbook; Angie Pangie Celebrates:  Chinese New Year.  Be sure and check in so you can get be among the first to get your first copy.  If you use Twitter you can follow me here.  I’ll send an update when I release the cookbook. 

Chinese New Year is about to Culminate with The Lantern Festival this Thursday, February 21st.  You can read a lot more about Chinese New Year over in my articles section, thanks to my friend, Sophia, who wrote several articles about CNY for my cookbook and website.

To acknowledge The Latern Festival in our home, I decided we we would try out a recipe that was a recent finalist in the 2007 Southern Living Cook-Off in the Quick and Easy category.  The recipe was submitted by Deborah Biggs of Omaha, Nebraska, and is titled “Szechuan Burgers With Cilantro Slaw”.

I made this a week last week at lunch time for Hubby and I.  I’ve made it twice since then.  And, today, when I went shopping, I bought the stuff to make them again.  Yeah, they’re that good.  If there was one thing I would change about this recipe . . . hmm, let’s see.  Oh, I know, I’d double the slaw, because it’s really awesome and I always run out.

The contest is a brand name contest, so several of the ingredients are, of course, listed as name brand choices.  I’ve changed the recipe in that I’m not listing the name brands.  Also, the original recipe calls for cucumber ranch dressing, and I’ve just been using regular ranch, since I’m too cheap to I didn’t want to buy TWO bottles of salad dressing for one recipe.  Oh yeah, and they are shaped like burgers, and they go on buns, but beyond that - not really a burger here.  They’re made from ground chicken.  Don’t care if they’re burger imposters.  Love ‘em!

This recipe didn’t win the contest, and I’m sorry for that.  Deborah, if it were up to me, you’d have taken a big fat blue ribbon! 

Another bonus to this recipe is that I was forced to try a new salad dressing (oh, poor, poor me!) - Asian Toasted Sesame Dressing - which is a Kraft product.  Can I just say - YUM!  There’s a great Japanese Steak House a couple of towns over from here that offers an unbeatable ginger dressing on their salad, and while Kraft’s version isn’t as good as Genji’s, it is a close second and it’s definitely going to be a regular purchase here.  Well, at least until I figure out how to make my own version taste just as good (so far no luck).

Well, onto the recipe.  The pictures were taken with the old camera, and just don’t do these bad boys justice.  Please do yourself a favor and try these out!

Szechuan Burgers With Cilantro Slaw

For Slaw:
1/3 cup ranch dressing
2 tablespoons minced cilantro
2 teaspoons orange juice
1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1 1/2 cup shredded coleslaw mix
1/2 cup diced green onions
1 tablespoon black sesame seed

For Burgers:
1-1/2 pounds ground chicken breast
1/4 cup Asian toasted sesame dressing
2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoon szechwan seasoning (a bottled spice blend)
6 sesame seed buns

Whisk together the first three ingredients and 1/4 teaspoon of salt in a bowl.  Stir in coleslaw mix, green onions, and sesame seeds.  Cover and chill 30 minutes or up to two hours.  (Note:  I make this, and just let it refrigerate while I am making the burgers, this is long enough.)

Combine ground chicken, next 3 ingredients, and remaining salt in a large bowl until blended.  Shape into 6 (3/4 inch) patties.

Grill patties, covered with grill lid, over 300 to 350 degree medium heat for 5 minutes on each side or until done.  Grill hamburger buns, if desired.

Place one burger on top of each bun; top evenly with coleslaw mixture and bun tops.

I’ve had this little idea poking around in my brain for a couple of years now.  I know I want to write a cookbook, I’ve known it for a long time.  My problem hasn’t been motivation.  Frankly, I’m typically sharing at least one recipe a day with others -either one I’ve found and really liked, or one that I’ve tweaked, or one that presented itself to me in one way or another.  I like sharing my recipes, and I don’t lack motivation to help others cook.  Nope, that’s not an issue.  I think my problem has been that I don’t know what write.  I have recipes, but I don’t have one idea that gels together.  Crockpot?  Quick and easy dinners?  My goodness, there are hundreds of these out there already, and one thing I don’t want to do is be just like everyone else.

It happens like this sometimes; I’ll be sitting on my bar stool, and an idea will just be there in my little noggin.  I don’t really know where these food ideas come from, but when they happen, they’re usually good.  So, today, again - sitting on my bar stool, it finally came to me.  My first cookbook idea. 

You see, I’ve been planning for several months to host a Chinese New Year’s party this year.  As it turns out, I’m not going to get to have the party (of if I do, I won’t be able to have it around the Chinese New Year - it comes really early this year - February 7th), but that doesn’t change the fact that I’ve spent the last 6 months testing, developing, and (sometimes not so kindly) insisting that my friends and family eat a lot of Asian food.  So, there it is . . . simple, really.  A Chinese (Americanized, of course) New Year’s cookbook - a collection of recipes that one could use to host the party I won’t be hosting this year.  Why didn’t I think of this sooner.  And then, well, then, I realized how perfect the whole thing is . . . I love to host themed dinners.  This could definitely be my niche.

So, I got busy straight away.  I had hubby go with me to the thrift store and I combed the bric a brac.  I mean, I need plates, platters, dishes!  I found some true gems, all sure to look fantastic in my cookbook pictures.  Then, I set hubby to calling around and recruiting folks for one more Asian dinner.  Tomorrow night we will feast on Chinese food, but not before I take pictures of all of the cuisine.  I sat a deadline to finish this e-Book and, with any luck, a week from this Friday my first cookbook will go live. 

The best part of all of this is (aside from how excited I truly am), the flood gates of ideas have opened.  I’m not going to share with you just yet what else is coming up, but I will say this - keep watching.  This could get really good.

Oh, and since I’m here, I’m giving you the recipe for the chicken I made for dinner the other night.  It was really tasty.  It was supposed to be “Sticky Chicken”, but it wasn’t.  It turned out not so sticky, so I changed it a little - added a nice sauce over the top and served the whole sha-bang on a bed of wild rice.  Sometimes it’s good when things don’t turn out right, this was one of those times.

Crockpot Rubbed Chicken w/onion gravy

2-3 pounds of boneless chicken breast

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. white pepper

1 tsp. celery salt

1 tsp. thyme

1 tsp. cayenne pepper

2 tsp. paprika

3 tsp. kosher salt

2 medium onions, quartered

1 tbsp. cornstarch

Combine all spices in a small bowl. 

Place chicken breast into a large ziplock bag and sprinkle spices over the top.  Shake the bag to distribute the spices well.  Place the bag in the fridge and allow the chicken to sit 24-48 hours, if possible, but no less than 8 hours.  Turn the bag every few hours to let the seasonings distribute well.

When ready to cook, place chicken breasts in crockpot and cover with onion pieces.  Place the lid on the crockpot and cook for about 5-6 hours on low. 

When chicken is done, remove the breasts to a plate and keep warm.  Turn the crockpot on high.

Combine cornstarch and 1/4 cup cold water in a small bowl.  Pour cornstarch mixture into the crockpot drippings, stirring to avoid clumping.

Serve chicken with the onion gravy over the top.