Easy Stovetop Mac and Cheese

I had a block of cheese in my fridge for a while, but I was waiting for my sisters to come home. Otherwise, I would not have been able to eat all of the mac and cheese by myself. This recipe is super easy--you cook it all on the stove and took about 15 minutes to make. From foodnetwork.com

1/2 pound pasta
4 tablespoons butter (I didn't add the butter but it turned out okay)
2 eggs
6 ounces evaporated milk
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
1 teaspoon kosher salt
black pepper to taste
3/4 teaspoon dry mustard
10 ounces shredded cheddar cheese

1. Boil and cook your pasta. Drain the pasta, then put it back in the pot. Add the butter, and stir around until melted.

2. While the water is heating and the pasta is boiling, whisk the eggs, evaporated milk, hot sauce, salt, pepper, and mustard.




3. Shred your cheese if it wasn't already shredded.


4. After you've drained the pasta and added the butter, pour the milk mixture into the pasta. Stir for about a minute over low heat.


5. Add your cheese and continue to stir until it's all creamy.




I love cheese!

Chicken Tikka Masala

Hey guys! Oops...my creativity has been waning. I haven't posted anything in a while because I haven't cooked anything worthwhile to post. The other day I was looking at recipes online and came across chicken tikka masala. I really liked eating it the few times that I've had it at India Cook House. I decided to try it out because I almost had all of the spices in my pantry already, and I've never tried making Indian food before. I'll need your expert opinion on the finished product, guys. Here goes...this recipe is from http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/.

Chicken Tikka Masala:

3 or 4 chicken breasts

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

2 tablespoons butter

28 ounces crushed tomatoes

1 large onion, sliced or diced

5 cloves garlic, minced

1"x3" strip ginger, pureed

Cumin

Coriander

3 tablespoons garam masala spice

Cilantro, chili optional

Garam masala spice:

1 tablespoon coriander; ground

1 tablespoon cumin; ground

1 tablespoon ground black pepper

1 tablespoon cayenne pepper; ground

1 tablespoon fennel seeds; ground

1 tablespoon ginger; ground

1 tablespoon cardamom; ground

1 tablespoon nutmeg; ground

1 teaspoon cloves; ground

1. Set your oven to broil. Sprinkle salt, cumin and coriander over the chicken breasts. Slather on the yogurt.



2. Broil the chicken for about 8 minutes on each side, or until they are starting to char. I have to say, the chicken tasted really good just by itself! I've never used coriander before, but I like it. It has a sharp, almost citrus smell to it. I'm not really sure how to describe it, haha. Anyway when the chicken is a bit cooler, dice into little pieces.

3. Melt the butter in a pot and brown your onions.

4. Add the minced garlic and processed ginger. I didn't have ginger at home so I didn't add any.

5. Add the garam masala spice and chili. Stir for a few seconds, then add the tomatoes. Simmer for a few minutes.

6. Add the cream. I love the color it makes. Adjust your spices if you need them, and add your chicken into the mix.


I think I added too much cream when I free-poured it into the pot. Haha, that makes me think of making cappuccinos--free-pour.

Tex-mex Soy-Sauce Chicken Recipe from Bon App.

Hey sorry this is going to be a brief post. I mostly need to type it up before I forget what I did. I didn't really know what I was going to get when I made this this week. It was just a "hmmm we have chicken, and spices, lets see what I can marinate the chicken in" recipe that allowed me to avoid going to the grocery store since Chris and I have so many dinner plans this week. As a result there aren't many pictures, but it turned out pretty good and is really easy.

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
2 large lemons
about 4 tablespoons of soy sauce
about 2 tablespoons of sugar
2 teaspoons of chili powder
1 teaspoon of Cayenne pepper (which I never know how to spell)
1 teaspoon of oregano (dried)
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

1 small onion
1 medium bell pepper

1 half a head of cauliflower
1 cup of rice

Serves 4

Defrost the chicken.

In a medium size Tupperware, so one big enough to fit two chicken breasts in plus a good amount of sauce, mix all of the sauces and seasonings listed after the chicken. Taste the sauce and add more of what you think is missing. I thought it was a little sweet last time, so I think I might add a little more soy sauce next time. You need the sugar for the caramelization that happens when you cook the chicken so do not skimp on that. Add your two chicken breasts to your sauce concoction and then place the lid on the tupperware. Shake to coat the chicken in your marinade. Then let it sit in the fridge for at least an hour. The original recipe called for breasts with skin on them and for you to let it marinate over night...I didn't do that and it turned out fine. I also shook up the tupperware after about 30 minutes to coat the top of the chicken breasts again.

Then start your rice in a separate pot/rice cooker.

Take a medium size skillet and put it on over medium high heat to warm up.

Also chop up your cauliflower and steam it in a pot of water. See explanation for how to cook broccoli below. Cauliflower wont turn green obviously, so I usually poke it after the water starts to boil furiously to see if my fork slides in easily. That usually means it is done. So then I strain it. If after straining (i.e. holding the lid of the pot at an angle that keeps the cauliflower in the pot but allows the water to flow out into the sink. Don't burn yourself on the steam!) the cauliflower is still too hard for my taste I leave it in the pot with the lid on. It will "cook" a little longer like this.

The place your chicken and about 3/4 of your marinade in the skillet to cook. Let it cook for about 6 minutes on that side. Then turn and cook another 6 minutes on the other side. This was the perfect amount of time for one of my chicken breasts, but the other one was really thick and needed more like 8 minutes on each side. Just slice your chicken open to make sure it is white on the inside and not clear/pink at all. While your chicken cooks be sure to scoop up sauce in the skillet and pour it over the top of the chicken to make it get nice and caramelized.

While your chicken is cooking cut the onion and bell pepper in to strips. Like cut the onion in half and then do slices from that piece. Bell pepper, cut it into length-wise strips and then cut those in half. Once the chicken is done take it out with tongs/knife whatever, just keep the sauce in the pan. Then add your veggies to let them get soft and absorb some of the flavors as well as add some liquid to your sauce. About 3 minutes.

Then serve your chicken, veggies, and sauce over some rice. Makes for a great and quick meal.

I will add pics once they are uploaded to the computer.

Miso Salmon and Lemony Green Beans

I'm trying to recreate dishes that I've had from restaurants. I went to a place called Garlic Joe's in Newport Beach with friends once, and we all liked the miso salmon. I also like green beans from Bucca di Beppo because it's super lemony and perfectly cooked.

Miso Salmon:
1 pound salmon (that's an estimate, I had four good-sized pieces)
1/8 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon hot water
1 tablespoon miso
splash of vinegar

Lemony Green Beans:
Juice from half a lemon
Zest from said lemon
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter
half an onion
1 pound green beans

1. OMG my dad cooked my salmon that I was defrosting when I wasn't home! Noooo. Well anyway, take your salmon and lay if on a piece of foil. Set your oven to 450 to broil, as the original recipe said. Today, I used my toaster oven.


2. Mix the rest of the ingredients for the miso sauce. Lay some of the sauce on the bottoms of the fish, and spread some on the top. Reserve some sauce for basting later.

3. Broil for about 12 minutes or until the fish is flaky. Halfway through the broiling, put more miso sauce on top of the fish.


4. For the green beans, start off by microwaving your green beans for about 90 seconds, so that the beans are halfway cooked.

5. Zest your lemon. Combine the juice, sugar, and salt in a bowl. The green beans from Bucca are really lemony, so if the mixture is too sour, add more sugar.

6. Cook the onions in some oil on medium or medium-high until browned. Add the lemon juice mixture and the green beans.


7. When your green beans are almost fully cooked, add the butter. It's ready to serve when the butter melts in.

Taa-daa! Serve with some rice.

Kung Pao Chicken (Rachel style)

Okay here is the updated version of Kung Pao chicken. Bare with me a little bit for the pictures since I need to upload them from my camera. But once I do that matzo ball soup and some awesome Vietnamese burgers will be coming too so the wait will be worth it. :)

Anyways, this is even easier than I remember it. So here are the numbers.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
1-1 1/2 tablespoons of sesame oil (depends on how oily/sesame-y you like it)
2 tablespoons of water
1 tablespoons of hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon of sugar
2 teaspoons of corn starch (this last time I used about 1/2 a teaspoon because we had barely any left but it still turned out great so don't worry too much about this it is mostly for the look and consistency.)
1-2 hot chilis like thai or jalapenos, chopped and seeded
2 chicken breasts
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1-2 stocks of celery chopped
handful of chopped carrots
broccoli or any other veggies you want to add
1/4 cup of dry roasted peanuts

So first mix all the ingredients up to the chicken together in a small bowl. Then I tasted it and added more of what I wanted, like if I wanted it saltier I added soy sauce, sweeter more sugar (mostly because I don't like the hoisin sauce our store had), diluted more water, etc. You want your sauce to be some what opaque so that way it will thicken when you cook it and be like the classic kung pao chicken sauce. If it still looks super clear then add a little more corn starch. I don't remember my exact proportions hence the estimates here, because I did exactly what I described. Also if you want it to be saucier then add more of the liquids and the corn starch. I like saucy things so that is what I did.

Then chop your chicken in to bite size cubes. Add the chicken to the bowl that your sauce was in, or vice versa whichever container is bigger, and let it sit for about 15 minutes. During this time chop your veggies. Again probably about bite size proportions, since after all you are eating this. Also the smaller the pieces the faster they cook so be warned.

Put a skillet on the stove over medium heat to warm up. Add the chicken and cook until you can no longer see the pink/it is not translucent. Then add your veggies and cook until they are cooked as you like (starting to get tender). Take off the stove and serve over rice. The whole cooking on the stove process should take about 15 minutes. Veggies cook slower when not immersed in water.

The Famed Pizza Potatoes

This recipe is thanks to my mom. I have no idea where she found it but ever since I was a little kid it was a treat. This also makes a GREAT recipe for camping, since it is kind of like a fancy version of hash. It is also a riff on a twice baked potato. And well I already know the girls from school love them just as much. So here it goes:

Makes 6 servings
Ingredients:
3 russet (the big brown ones) potatoes
1 lb uncooked Italian sausage
3-4 tablespoons of tomato paste
1/2 cup of milk
red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, and oregano to taste
1 cup of grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

First use the microwave to bake your potatoes as it saves time. Wash your potatoes and then pierce them with a fork about 5-10 times all over. Place them in a bowl and press the baked potato button on the microwave and then the amount of potatoes. Or just cook the potatoes in the microwave for about 8 minutes to start. The potatoes are considered "baked" when they are soft to the touch. Don't actually touch them since they will be hot, but push down on the skin with a fork. If it doesn't budge microwave the potatoes longer. If the potato is kind of squishy then they are done. Put them to the side and let them cool a little bit.



In the mean time, preheat the oven to about 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Put a large skillet on the stove over medium high heat. Then squeeze your sausage out of the casing and into the pan. Use the spoon to break up the sausage into smaller pieces. As the sausage cooks slice your potatoes in half length-wise. Then begin to scoop out the potato trying not to break the skin. You will end up with potato on a plate/in a bowl, and then halves of potato skins with about 1/4 inch of potato left on them. Arrange the potato skins in a 13X9 inch baking pan



Once the sausage is cooked add the scooped out potato to the pan. Then add the tomato paste, milk and 2/3 cup of mozzarella. Stir until everything is slightly red and then season to your taste with the seasonings I listed. Then scoop the potato mixture back into the potatoes skins, sprinkle the remaining cheese on top including the Parmesan cheese. Place the potato in the oven and bake for 5 minutes so the cheese melts.


Once the cheese is starting to brown take the potatoes out and serve.



Oh and Lien you can make these too if they sound good. All you need to do is follow the recipe up to the baking part. You don't have to bake them because everything is cooked already by the time you put them in the oven. So you can just sprinkle more cheese on top and eat it like fancy mashed potatoes, or you could put it back in the potato skins and then sprinkle some cheese on top and zap it in the microwave for like 30 seconds to a minute to melt the cheese. Then it will be just the same. :D

Panko Chicken with Broccoli and Rice

So on my way to Irvine for my Fulbright interview I decided I needed some magazines for the plane ride in case I got bored. Of course by magazines for entertainment I mean food magazines, what else would entertain me. This next recipe is adapted from and courtesy of Bon Appetite, the October 2009 issue I believe. It is a breaded chicken recipe and is really quick, easy and delicious. I have even made it twice now.

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
1/4 cup of chopped Italian Parsley (It is also called flat leafed parsley, and it is not the parsley that is scrunched up and looks like the garnish you get on plates at restaurants.)
2 teaspoons plus 2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard (I just used deli mustard.)
1 egg
1 cup of panko (Japanese bread crumbs) If I can find them in Missouri you can find them in CA.
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons of maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter

1 head of broccoli

1 cup of rice
2 cups water

Serves 4

This is random after so many recipes with chicken but I realized Tammy and I have not said this yet. If you are cooking with frozen chicken it is ideal to take the chicken out of the freezer around lunch and place in the sink to thaw. If you cannot do that the take it out the night before and place it in the refrigerator. Worst comes to worst you can place it in a bowl of warm water about an hour and a half before you want to cook. This just isn't ideal because it is not the healthiest way to thaw chicken because it breads bacteria more easily as well as thaws the chicken unevenly but I still do it all the time.

First take your chicken breasts and cut them in half horizontally, so the shorter way. Then place all of them in a big ziplock bag or taking turns put one in a smaller ziplock. Take a pot and smash them till they are about a 1/2 inch thick. Technically you should use a meat tenderizer (which is a wooden mallet) or a rolling pin but my father and I have both discovered the quick nature of a big heavy pot for this task. Its great at home because my dad puts the chicken on the floor to do it and then you hear this giant crash. Anyways, here is what the chicken should look like afterwords.


Then combine your "coating" for the chicken. That is take your chopped parsley, your egg, and the 2 teaspoons of mustard and combine it in a big bowl. Mix it so the egg is broken, like you are making scrambled eggs with this stuff. Then add the chicken and completely coat the pieces.



Then chop your broccoli into bite size pieces. There is a picture below. Place it in a pot and fill it with water so that way the broccoli is at least floating in the water, probably put at least 1 1/2 to 2 inches of water below the broccoli so that way when the water boils it does not boil off leaving the broccoli on the bottom of the pan. You don't want a ton of water in the pot though otherwise it takes forever to boil. Put on the stove over medium high heat.



Now is also a good time to start your rice since that takes on average about 15 minutes to cook. If boiling on the stove then you need 1 cup of rice and two cups of water. A nice thing to remember is that the never fail ratio for rice is 1:2 with the rice on the left and the water on the right. Place that in a pot and put on medium high-high heat. High heat means turn it down once it starts to boil.

Then place the 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. While the oil heat bread your chicken. Take in out of the bowl one at a time and place in the Japanese bread crumbs, the panko. Turn over so that way as much of the panko as possible sticks to it. It is easy to do this on a large plate. You probably cant do this to all of the chicken at once unless you move the chicken some where else. So once you have fit as much chicken as possible and covered it with panko on that plate put that chicken in your skillet. The oil should be hot now. Cook the chicken about 4 minutes on each side or until cooked through. You want the panko to be nice and golden on each side. Once the chicken pieces are cooked through remove from the heat and place them on another plate. Repeat with the rest of the chicken.



Then check your broccoli and rice. Turn the rice down if it is starting to foam to the top. Stir it as well to make sure the rice is not sticking to the bottom of the pan. The broccoli should cook about 5 minutes from the time the water starts to boil. This way it will still be crunchy. A fork should go easily in it but the broccoli should not be falling apart or mushy, granted you can cook it longer if you like it like that. Once it is cooked to your liking, strain it with a strainer or by using the pots lid to keep the broccoli in the pot while pouring out the water. This is what my broccoli looked like.


Also while your chicken is still cooking combine the chicken broth, syrup, salt, and the rest of the mustard in a small bowl or a measuring cup and wisk it till the mustard is no longer in clumps. Once the chicken is all cooked. Add the syrup mixture to the pan.


Once the mixture has reduced to about 3/4 of a cup, so basically cook it for about 4 -5 minutes so some of the liquid cooks off and it gets thicker, add 2 tablespoons of butter. When the butter is melted pour the sauce into a small bowl and the chicken is ready. Check the rice as it should be done. Keep an eye on it from once the first batch of chicken is done. Some people like wet rice and some people like completely dry rice. I like to cook mine until it is still slightly wet and then take it off the heat, stir it, and place the lid back on. This way the rice still cooks a little since it is in a hot pot, but the steam helps to get the stuck rice off the bottom of the pan. Once everything is done place on plates and eat.

Here we go:

Asian Fruit Basket Cake

Last week was my uncle's birthday. We didn't celebrate in big way, just his family plus my mom and I. I've been wanting to try making an Asian Fruit Basket Cake. I don't even know if anyone know what I'm talking about...anyone? Say so and it will make me feel better. When we order birthday cakes in my family, oftentimes it's this one...fluffy, with layers of whipped cream and fresh fruit. Here we go...

Chiffon Cake
adapted from kingarthurflour.com
fills one 9" cake pan

3 eggs, separated
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/8 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cups sugar
1 cup cake flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 1/2 cups chopped fruit
1 pint heavy cream
1/4 - 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 325. Beat oil, milk, egg yolks, and vanilla until the mixture is pale yellow.

It almost looks like art!

2. Sift in the flour, baking powder, salt, and 1/2 cup sugar. Beat until well blended.

3. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar on high speed. When it gets foamy, start adding 1/4 C sugar a little at a time (it separated into three additions). Keep going and it will transform into stiff peaks--when you flip the whisk upside down, the egg whites will stand up and doesn't wilt onto itself. It took me around 5 minutes.

Weird how it looks like whipped cream...but I wouldn't eat it.

4. Fold the egg whites into the batter. First, take 1/4 of the egg whites and mix it into the batter with a spatula like you normally would. Then, dump the rest of the egg whites into the batter. Gently scoop the spatula underneath all of that batter and you sort of slip the batter on top of the egg whites. The point is not to deflate all of the air you just incorporated in the egg whites. It took me around 8 or so turns to mix the whites into the batter. It's okay if there are small bits of white left.

5. Pour into an ungreased pan and bake at 325 for about 20 minutes. Then, bake at 350 for 10 minutes. When the cake is done, it will be golden brown and springy when you press on the center of the cake.


6. Cool the pan upside down for thirty minutes. I was really skeptical of this step, because I thought the cake would slide down for sure. But, it didn't, so thirty minutes later, I took the cake out and let it cool on the rack until it was room temperature.


7. Chop up your fruit. Use whatever you want...I used dragonfruit, bananas, canned peaches, and oranges. Also, get your whipped cream made. Beat the heavy cream on high until it almost looks like whipped cream, then add enough powdered sugar (or regular sugar) until it's sweetened to your liking.

8. Slice your cake into however many layers you want it to be. I was really horrible at this...they were not level at all. And I kept hacking at it too...first I sliced it in half, parallel to the board. It was so horribly unlevel, I kept trimming more and more off. Oh and as an afterthought, I should have trimmed as much browned stuff as possible. No waste though...the trimmings became breakfast.


9. Spread the first layer with some whipped cream. Sprinkle your fresh fruit on top of the whipped cream. Then add your next layer of cake. Keep going until you have all of your layers.

Told you it wasn't level

10. Frost the outside of the cake. Put a big glob on the cake, and then smooth it out. You have to put enough on it the first time, because if there isn't enough, and you try to add more, you'll get a mess and the crumbs will show through. As illustrated in my cake.

Doesn't look too bad huh?