First off I am going to apologize for not have pictures of this one. Silly me forgot to charge my camera batteries so you are going to have to trust me on the fact that this was really yummy. I was looking for something new to make with chicken (aren't we always) and I came across a Gordon Ramsey recipe for "Sticky Lemon Chicken". His recipe called for honey and I thought oh good I can use some of that yummy home made honey that a patient gave me.... Yeah could not find the honey, don't remember if it made the move with us. So I improvised and used brown sugar. Next time I will use honey instead as I think it would taste really good with the lemon. Gordon also used a whole cut up chicken, use what ever you have in the house. If you are interested in seeing Gordon's much more involved recipe search "sticky lemon chicken" on youtube.
1 10 oz chicken breast (I always butterfly one breast in half and John and I split it, use how ever much you need and just adjust the ingredients accordingly)
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp vinegar ( I used malt that's what I had handy)
2 cloves garlic chopped
1/2 lemon juiced 1/2 lemon cut into rings
Season the chicken with salt and pepper, brown in about a tsp of EVOO and remove. Add soy, sugar, vinegar, garlic and lemon juice cook for about 3 minutes until it starts to boil and reduce. Lower heat and add chicken and lemon rings back to sauce. Cook for about 5 minutes turning the chicken a few times. The sauce should be thick and sticky and coat the chicken.
I served this with roasted sweet potatoes and broccoli.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Guacamole
If you have never had home made guacamole you are defiantly missing out. Avocados are probably my favorite fruit, they are so rich and creamy, just really delicious. There are many different recipes out there, some people put in tomatoes (you will very rarely see me use fresh tomatoes, I do not like them at all), some people add sour cream. This is the way I like to make it.
Simple Guacamole
2 ripe Avocados
1/2 small onion diced
1/2 jalapeno pepper diced
1 lime, juiced
salt to taste
Picking out a avocado can be difficult if you do not know what to look for. First off you want a avocado with dark green skin. Next you want to gently squeeze the fruit, if you squeeze it to hard you will bruise the flesh and when you cut into it you will have brown spots. If the avocado is very soft it is over ripe and you do not want it. If it is rock hard it is not yet ripe. If you plan on using it later in the week it is OK to buy them like this and wait for them to ripen, just leave them out on the counter and check them in a few days. A perfect avocado should just give slightly when you squeeze it. If you find yourself with ripe avocados and are not ready to use them put them in the refrigerator and they will stay perfectly ripe for a few extra days.
I think another thing that deters people from eating avocados is they do not know how to cut them. Take a sharp knife and cut all the way around the avocado vertically. Twist the 2 halves and pull them apart.
Use your knifes blade to carefully whack the seed, twist it gently and the seed should come right out.
Be very careful taking the seed off the knife, I like to use the edge of the cutting board to pull it off.
Next you want to take a spoon and scoop the avocado flesh out of the skin into a bowl. Juice your lime and pour it over the avocado, if you let the avocado sit out with out the acidic lime juice it will start to turn brown. (You can also use lemon juice instead if you prefer.)
Next chop up your onion. This is how I chop mine, cut yours in what ever way is most comfortable to you. You could even pulse it in the food processor if you want.
First cut the ends off the onion. Slice it in half and peel off the outer layer. Stand your onion half up, and carefully make horizontal cuts leaving about 1/4 - 1/2 an inch uncut at the bottom.
Next lay your onion cut half down and make vertical cuts leaving the same small amount uncut at the end.
Leaving the onion cut side down slice it horizontally and you will have a perfect diced onion.
Now for the jalapeno. I always wear gloves when I do this, I do not trust myself not to touch my eyes. If you do not have gloves make sure you wash your hands very well, rubbing lemon juice on them will help, and do not touch your eyes or your mouth. You can buy boxes of latex gloves at the hardware store, I buy mine from the beauty supply store. Start by slicing the jalapeno in half.
The real heat is in the seeds and the white membrane, you want to carefully remove these.
I use 1/2 of a jalapeno for medium heat guacamole. If you like it hot use the whole thing. If you like fire throw some seeds in. If you like it mild leave the jalapeno out completely. Simply slice the pepper vertically and then horizontally to form a small dice.
Now add everything together and throw in a generous sprinkling of salt. You do not want to leave the salt out, it pulls all of the flavors together and the guacamole would be lacking without it.
I like to mash the guacamole together with a potato masher, you can also use a fork.
Serve this with tortilla chips, on tacos, over chicken, on sandwiches you have so many options. If you were to ask my sister Leeann I bet she would say it is best served with a frosty margarita!
Simple Guacamole
2 ripe Avocados
1/2 small onion diced
1/2 jalapeno pepper diced
1 lime, juiced
salt to taste
Picking out a avocado can be difficult if you do not know what to look for. First off you want a avocado with dark green skin. Next you want to gently squeeze the fruit, if you squeeze it to hard you will bruise the flesh and when you cut into it you will have brown spots. If the avocado is very soft it is over ripe and you do not want it. If it is rock hard it is not yet ripe. If you plan on using it later in the week it is OK to buy them like this and wait for them to ripen, just leave them out on the counter and check them in a few days. A perfect avocado should just give slightly when you squeeze it. If you find yourself with ripe avocados and are not ready to use them put them in the refrigerator and they will stay perfectly ripe for a few extra days.
I think another thing that deters people from eating avocados is they do not know how to cut them. Take a sharp knife and cut all the way around the avocado vertically. Twist the 2 halves and pull them apart.
Use your knifes blade to carefully whack the seed, twist it gently and the seed should come right out.
Be very careful taking the seed off the knife, I like to use the edge of the cutting board to pull it off.
Next you want to take a spoon and scoop the avocado flesh out of the skin into a bowl. Juice your lime and pour it over the avocado, if you let the avocado sit out with out the acidic lime juice it will start to turn brown. (You can also use lemon juice instead if you prefer.)
Next chop up your onion. This is how I chop mine, cut yours in what ever way is most comfortable to you. You could even pulse it in the food processor if you want.
First cut the ends off the onion. Slice it in half and peel off the outer layer. Stand your onion half up, and carefully make horizontal cuts leaving about 1/4 - 1/2 an inch uncut at the bottom.
Next lay your onion cut half down and make vertical cuts leaving the same small amount uncut at the end.
Leaving the onion cut side down slice it horizontally and you will have a perfect diced onion.
Now for the jalapeno. I always wear gloves when I do this, I do not trust myself not to touch my eyes. If you do not have gloves make sure you wash your hands very well, rubbing lemon juice on them will help, and do not touch your eyes or your mouth. You can buy boxes of latex gloves at the hardware store, I buy mine from the beauty supply store. Start by slicing the jalapeno in half.
The real heat is in the seeds and the white membrane, you want to carefully remove these.
I use 1/2 of a jalapeno for medium heat guacamole. If you like it hot use the whole thing. If you like fire throw some seeds in. If you like it mild leave the jalapeno out completely. Simply slice the pepper vertically and then horizontally to form a small dice.
Now add everything together and throw in a generous sprinkling of salt. You do not want to leave the salt out, it pulls all of the flavors together and the guacamole would be lacking without it.
I like to mash the guacamole together with a potato masher, you can also use a fork.
Serve this with tortilla chips, on tacos, over chicken, on sandwiches you have so many options. If you were to ask my sister Leeann I bet she would say it is best served with a frosty margarita!
Monday, May 3, 2010
Wedding Cake take 1
Over the next few weeks I am going to be testing out a few different cake recipes. I am making a wedding cake in June so I have a little time to get things just right. The last wedding cake I made I used a doctored box mix. It came out good but I would like to make the cake from scratch this time.
The tricky thing about wedding cake is you want it to be moist but firm and sturdy, especially if it is being covered in fondant.
For my first test I used this recipe http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pound-Cake-III/Detail.aspx with a few modifications that I got from reading the reviews.
Modifications:
1 1/4 cup buttermilk instead of plain milk
1 1/2 tbsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon extract
I think one of the most important things you can do to make any baked good come out good is to cream the butter and sugar properly. When you start out the mixture will be crumbly.
You want to cream it until it is light and fluffy looking, a good 5 - 10 minutes.
While I was creaming the butter, shortening and sugar I sifted the dry ingredients.
Once the sugar mixture is light and fluffy you want to keep the mixer on low speed and add in the 5 eggs one at a time. The add in your extracts. Now what you want to do is keep the mixer on a low speed and add your dry ingredients and milk alternately starting and finishing with the dry (dry, milk, dry, milk, dry). At this point you will have a super light and fluffy cake batter.
I made this in a bunt pan (because I have not unpacked my 8' cake pans yet) and had enough batter left over to make a dozen cupcakes so I am thinking I could have easily filled around 4 8' pans.
Here is a great tip for greasing pans I learned in cake decorating class. Mix together equal parts flour and shortening to form a paste. Brush this on the inside of your cake pans and they will not sick. I use this method every time I make a cake and it has not failed me. It is extra important to grease a fluted bunt pan well.
The recipe says to cook the cake for 90 minutes. Mine was done in 60 so I would start checking it around 45 - 50 minutes, it just depends on your pan size.
Let the cake cool for about 10-15 minutes before removing from the pan.
I just mixed up some powdered sugar, a bit of milk, a drop of vanilla and lemon extract together to make a quick glaze since I was going to take this into work with me.
The verdict: This cake has allot going for it. It was moist and had a great light lemony flavor. I don't think it has the firmness I was looking for though. I will keep it in the running for now but I hope to find a recipe that has more of a pound cake texture to it.
*Edit to add:
I am changing my mind about this cake. It is on the top of my list. The cupcake that I had last night was nothing like the bunt cake I had this afternoon. After being refrigerated and taken out this was typical pound cake consistancy, moist and firm, with great flavor. This recipe does not make good cup cakes, make sure to use a bunt, loaf or cake pans.
The tricky thing about wedding cake is you want it to be moist but firm and sturdy, especially if it is being covered in fondant.
For my first test I used this recipe http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pound-Cake-III/Detail.aspx with a few modifications that I got from reading the reviews.
Modifications:
1 1/4 cup buttermilk instead of plain milk
1 1/2 tbsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon extract
I think one of the most important things you can do to make any baked good come out good is to cream the butter and sugar properly. When you start out the mixture will be crumbly.
You want to cream it until it is light and fluffy looking, a good 5 - 10 minutes.
While I was creaming the butter, shortening and sugar I sifted the dry ingredients.
Once the sugar mixture is light and fluffy you want to keep the mixer on low speed and add in the 5 eggs one at a time. The add in your extracts. Now what you want to do is keep the mixer on a low speed and add your dry ingredients and milk alternately starting and finishing with the dry (dry, milk, dry, milk, dry). At this point you will have a super light and fluffy cake batter.
I made this in a bunt pan (because I have not unpacked my 8' cake pans yet) and had enough batter left over to make a dozen cupcakes so I am thinking I could have easily filled around 4 8' pans.
Here is a great tip for greasing pans I learned in cake decorating class. Mix together equal parts flour and shortening to form a paste. Brush this on the inside of your cake pans and they will not sick. I use this method every time I make a cake and it has not failed me. It is extra important to grease a fluted bunt pan well.
The recipe says to cook the cake for 90 minutes. Mine was done in 60 so I would start checking it around 45 - 50 minutes, it just depends on your pan size.
Let the cake cool for about 10-15 minutes before removing from the pan.
I just mixed up some powdered sugar, a bit of milk, a drop of vanilla and lemon extract together to make a quick glaze since I was going to take this into work with me.
The verdict: This cake has allot going for it. It was moist and had a great light lemony flavor. I don't think it has the firmness I was looking for though. I will keep it in the running for now but I hope to find a recipe that has more of a pound cake texture to it.
*Edit to add:
I am changing my mind about this cake. It is on the top of my list. The cupcake that I had last night was nothing like the bunt cake I had this afternoon. After being refrigerated and taken out this was typical pound cake consistancy, moist and firm, with great flavor. This recipe does not make good cup cakes, make sure to use a bunt, loaf or cake pans.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)