Kung Pao Chicken

This is based REALLY loosely on a recipe I found online through NPR of all places.
Ingredients

• 2/3 to 1 lb of chicken thighs, cut into 1/2" strips
  
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
  
• ginger to taste (maybe one lobe)
  
• 5 scallions chopped
  
• ~10 dried red chilies (didn't have these - I substituted for sriracha sauce later on)
  
• 1tsp sichuan peppercorns whole
  
• 2/3c roasted unsalted peanuts (I skipped this one)
  
• Marinade:
  
  
  
  • 1/2tsp salt
    
  • 2tsp light soy sauce
    
  • 1tsp mirin / rice wine vinegar
    
  • 2tsp cornstarch plus a little
    
  • 1tbsp water
    
  
  
• Sauce:
  
  
  
  • 1tbsp sugar
    
  • 1tsp cornstarch plus a little
    
  • 2tsp dark soy sauce
    
  • 2tsp light soy sauce
    
  • 1tsp mirin
    
  • 1tsp sesame oil
    
  • 1tbsp water
    
  
  

Get the marinade ready and place the sliced chicken in it and toss to coat. Let it sit while you get the sauce ready. Now, heat peanut oil (2tbsp?) in a wok and add the sichuan peppercorns (and the peppers if you're using them). Let that cook until it's fragrant - a few minutes (I'm not REALLY sure exactly how long). Now add the chicken and stir fry on high heat. When the chicken is starting to get a little more cooked, add the ginger, garlic, and scallions. Let it keep going until the chicken is fully cooked. Add the sauce and stir until the sauce thickens. (If you're using them, add the peanuts here). Serve over rice. Add sriracha to taste (a lot of it).

Thoughts: I really liked this. Sichuan peppercorns have a really unique flavor. The one thing is that when you bite down on them it makes your mouth tingly and leaves you with a slightly sour taste. But it goes perfectly in this dish. Claire feels that next time we should maybe cook the peppercorns and then remove them from the oil, adding them back in if we WANT (because she doesn't like to bite into them). This would give the dish the flowery aroma of the peppercorns without the tingly-ness. For the record, though, I liked the peppercorns... Anyway, next time I might use actual chilies, too, rather than just sriracha, but those like many ingredients aren't always readily available at Cap Centre Foods.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Bao

Ingredients

• Bread dough
• 2 packages yeast
• 1/2 cup lukewarm water
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 cup milk, heated to lukewarm
• 4.25 cups regular flour
  
• Filling
• 1 lb ground beef
• 2 green onions
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1tbsp cornstarch dissolved in 1 tbsp cold water
• 2 tbsp liquid chicken stock (for the beef)
  
• 2 more tbsp dark soy sauce (for the beef)
  
• 1 tbsp dry sherry (for the beef)
  
• 1/5 tsp honey (for the beef)
  
• 3/4 tsp salt (for the beef)
  
• 1 large garlic clover, crushed or chopped (for the beef)

To make the dough:
Mix yeast into water and then add the sugar. Allow to stand for a while. Heat the milk up for about 30 seconds in the microwave, or until it feels warm. Add the milk to the water and yeast.
Make sure the milk is not too hot. This is very important.
Stir in the flour and knead until smooth. Place the dough on the counter and cover with a greased mixing bowl (make sure it's a pretty big one). Allow to rise until the dough has doubled in bulk, about thirty minutes. When done rising, punch the dough down and let rise for another 20 minutes until the bowl.
To make the filling:
While the dough is rising, prepare the filling. Put the beef (make sure it's either fresh or thawed) in a frying pan with all the ingredients labeled (for the beef). Cook until the beef is looking close to done. Add the other filling ingredients. Add more cornstarch as needed. Allow to cool.
To put them together:
Punch the dough down and knead for 1 minute. Pinch off a piece of dough about half the size of your fist. Press them into 4-5" rounds. Put an appropriate amount of filling in the center of the round of dough. With your fingers, gather the edges of the dough and pinch them together in the middle as best you can. Pinch the dough so it will hold. Place the filled bun pinched side down on a square piece of wax paper. Put in a bamboo steamer. Place buns a few inches apart, because they will expand during the steaming. If they stick together, it's no big deal. When steamer basket is full, cover the steamer with a lid and allow the buns to rise until not quite doubled in size (30 minutes). Steam the buns for 15 minutes.

Thoughts: This was hella complicated. The original recipe balls for barbecued pork, but we used ground beef instead. The original wants you to marinate the pork for several hours before cooking it up and putting it in the bao. That would have given them more flavor, which Dan says the bao definitely needed. The beef was still good, but not as good as BBQ pork would have been.
Next time we would let the dough rise for the full time. We cut the first rise short by half and hour. The dough was a little dense. We also overcooked the beef a little bit. Next time we should stop short of the full cook time because they cook a little extra in the steamer. Dan also thinks the dough could use a little more salt. Dan thinks that chicken would also be a good filler. You can always do this with vegetables too, if you WANT. Cabbage would be a good addition.

Disaster Index: 2/10

Silver Palate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 stick butter
  
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
  
• 3/8 cup granulated sugar
  
• 1 egg
  
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
  
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
  
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
  
• 1/ tsp salt
  
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.
Cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. We used the kitchen aid. It worked well.
Add egg and vanilla and mix well.
Stir in dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.
Add chocolate chips to the batter and form cookies. We use a small ice cream scoop to maintain a uniform size.
Bake on greased cookie sheet for 10-15 minutes.

Thoughts: These were pretty standard. They spread out a reasonable amount, and they were pretty thin. I prefer puffier, chewier cookies. These bordered on crispy. In the future, we would cut the amount of baking soda (which causes the cookies to spread out) and add more baking powder (which makes them puffier). Taste-wise, they were unobjectionable though. But this recipe isn't any better than any other chocolate chip cookie recipe. Pretty standard stuff.

Disaster Index: 2/10

Simple Berry Cobbler

Ingredients

• Blueberries & Strawberries (see below)
  
• sugar to mix with the berries - about 2tsp per ramekin.
  
• Where X is the number of ramekins you are making:
  
  
  
  • 1/4x c flour
    
  • 1/2x tsp baking powder
    
  • 1/8x tsp baking soda
    
  • 1x tsp butter, melted
    
  • 1x tbsp milk
    
  • 1 pinch salt
    
  • 1x tsp sugar
    
  
  
• Optional cinnamon, vanilla extract in any part you really want
  

Cut up strawberries (if you're using them) and fill the ramekins with blueberries and strawberries, leaving about 1cm room on the top. Put them in a 400 degree oven for about 20-30 minutes, until they're bubbling (a little) and hot. In the mean time, combine the topping ingredients in a bowl. You can mix it with a spoon pretty easily. Add flour or milk at the end until it reaches a medium-dry but slightly greasy dough consistency. Pinch it into separate pieces and form into discs to top the ramekins. When the ramekins come out of the oven, put the dough discs on top and return to the oven for an additional 15-20 minutes. Let them sit a few minutes before serving with vanilla ice cream.

Thoughts: This recipe is simple enough that you can make it for desert without any premeditation and without much effort, but the results are delicious. I've tried putting cinnamon in with the berries themselves and with the topping, and I've put vanilla in the topping. Any way you want. You know, there's leeway with this recipe. My only suggestion is: don't put the ramekins in the oven alone - put them on a baking dish, because the berries WILL bubble over and you WILL be sad when you're cleaning burnt sugar syrup off the bottom of your oven. Still, really good.

Note: the first time I did this recipe, it turned out WONDERFULLY, but the second time it was a little iffy. The dough didn't rise and the berries didn't really congeal. Next time, consider adding a little corn starch with the berries and (added since I tried it most recently) some baking soda in the dough. Finally, let it cook a little longer the second time around.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Asparagus Lasagna

Most of the directions are in the "ingredients". I've given them in the order they were prepared. I've made this twice so far, and this was the most successful version. I do all of the ingredients in one pot, incidentally. This works out to be about a half-batch, but I make it in a deep bread 9x5" bread pan.

Ingredients

• 1/2 of a largish vidalia onion or 1 medium onion, sauteed with olive oil until translucent
  
• 3c asparagus, (I'm guessing - bunched up they were about 2-2.5 inches diameter) steamed about 5 minutes until just tender
  
• 1 small zucchini or 1/2 of a large, sliced thin and sauteed in olive oil until tender
  
• 4 whole wheat lasagna noodles (yeah, only 4) cooked until al dente
  
• 14oz tomatoes, cooked with a spoonful of garlic and pesto (to taste). Cook down until reduced about 10-20% and a little thicker.
  
• 8oz ricotta cheese
  
• .25lb mozzarella (total ballpark), cut into thin slices
  
• salt and pepper to taste in just about every step of this
  
• Optional basil leaves
  

Preheat the oven to 350. Stir together the onions and the ricotta until well mixed. Put a layer of sauce at the bottom of the 9x5" bread pan. Thin layer. Add a layer of noodles (because of the size of the noodles, it does not take 2 full noodles to cover, so cut accordingly). Add a layer of ricotta/onions (about half the mixture). Add the asparagus, then another layer of sauce. Add another layer of noodles on top, then layer the zucchini across that. Top with the remaining ricotta, and any sauce that you might have left (once I didn't have any left, once I did - doesn't make much difference). If you are using basil leaves, place them evenly across the top at this point, and then cover the whole thing with slices of mozzarella. Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes.

Thoughts: This is a delicious lasagna. It's also like my 3rd time ever making lasagna. I have to say, one of the most important things about this recipe is that you cook down the tomato sauce a bit. Otherwise it will be too liquidy and not as good to eat. Otherwise, this is super good. You could PROBABLY expand the recipe for use in a normal 9x11 sized pan (or however big) but the number of layers really necessitates steep sides, and if you make it in a bread pan then it's just enough for up to 3 people, or for 1 person with a few days' leftovers.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Oven Fries

Ingredients

• Any potatoes you have
  
• olive oil
  
• salt, pepper, parsley, rosemary, anything else you could possibly want
  

Peel the potatoes (you really probably don't have to, but we did) and cut them into wedges - about 10 per russet or sweet potato, though you can go more or less depending on the size. Submerge all of the slices in a bowl of water - that's right, water - and let them sit for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven for 475.

Done that? Fish the wedges out and pat them dry between two sheets of paper towels. Put them in a bowl and drizzle with olive oil. Add seasonings (be generous) and toss to mix (yes, you can use your hands). Spread the potatoes recklessly across a baking sheet and cover in foil. Put them in the oven and bake for about five minutes. Pull off the foil and let them go another 10 to 15. Take them out and flip them over. Back in for another 10-15 minutes.

If they look brown enough for you at this point (will probably depend on your potatoes / your oven) then take them out. Otherwise...

...you COULD leave them in for longer and hope they brown up, but I turned on the broiler for about two minutes. Check them OFTEN because they WILL BURN if you do this for too long. Makes them really crisp really fast. When they're just right, pull them out and serve. Caution everyone that they will be too hot to eat, and then burn your mouth trying to eat them anyway.

Thoughts: We've tried a couple oven fry recipes, and this is the most successful so far.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Fried Plantains

Plantains are good for you. Who knew?

Based on a recipe by Aaron McCargo Jr.

Ingredients

• One medium yellow-skinned plantain
  
• 2 tbsp neutral oil (I used peanut oil)
  
• 2-4 tbsp honey
  
• A little margarine (apparently optional)
  

Cut the plantain on a diagonal, with slices about 3/4" apart to create... a series of elipses, I guess. Anyway, heat the oil in a sautee pan or frying pan over high heat. When it's good and hot, drop the plantains in - make sure they don't stick together. Turn the heat down to medium-low and continue to let cook for about 3 minutes, until lightly browned on both sides. Add honey and margarine (actually, I think I added a little more oil) and stir to coat, cooking continually. Remove from heat and serve.

Thoughts: Plantains have this interesting flavor that's like a banana with a hint of lemon. And the texture is really unique, too. This was delicious served over french toast, and it's incredibly filling. One of my favorite new ingredients after this recipe.

Disaster Index: 1/10