Portuguese-Style Grilled Chicken Wings

If you love chicken wings, but you would never cook them yourself.. This recipe couldn’t be easier, I promise! It was included in my weekly email from FoodNetwork.com right before the 4th of July and was also featured in the Food Network Magazine. These wings are cooked ON the grill but IN foil! There was one FN recipe for Caribbean Jerk Chicken Wings (with sauce) or a much simpler Jerk wing recipe included in 50 Things to Grill in Foil, but as I didn’t have any jerk seasoning I decided to make my own Portuguese inspired rub. This rub works so well with a whole chicken, chicken wings or even just some skinless chicken strips.

For about two dozen wings, I combined a couple tablespoons of Paprika, a large heaping tablespoon of Cumin, a couple teaspoons of Garlic Salt, a teaspoon or so of red pepper flakes and if you like it extra spicy add some more Chili Powder or Cayenne. Mix these together and be sure to taste! Add it to a large ziploc freezer bag with the wings, the juice of 1 or 2 Limes and a few large tablespoons of Canola or vegetable oil. If the marinade looks a bit dry, add more oil so that the rub is evenly distributed. Leave it in the fridge for a few hours or overnight if possible.

Get the grill hot with high heat. Cut out a couple long pieces of foil, drizzle lightly with more oil and using tongs arrange the wings so that they lie flat. First fold the long sides together and then the short ends to seal. Be sure that it’s fully sealed but do it loosely. Close the grill and let them go for about 15 minutes. Using tongs, gently open the foil packets and turn all the wings over once. Re-seal and let them cook another 10-12 minutes. When you turn them over they should have a nice caramelized color/crisp. When they’re done, open the packets up and squeeze fresh lime juice and sprinkle chopped Cilantro/Coriander. Serve them hot and I guarantee that you’ll be licking your fingers!

If you don’t have time to make this rub yourself, try some Nando’s Peri-Peri seasoning, jerk seasoning, Cajun or just any fajita/taco seasoning. A bit of fresh lime juice is a perfect finish for these juicy wings!

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Thank goodness for ready-made puff pastry!

This little snack I just made is so yummy that I couldn’t wait to share it! Yesterday I watched Ina Garten make these Savory Palmiers on her show Barefoot Contessa, and I thought it was a perfect use for the large container of leftover coriander/cilantro pesto I had in the fridge. I didn’t quite follow the recipe as I added Borsin Garlic & Herb cheese instead of goat cheese, and my pesto isn’t basil pesto. And I added walnuts instead of pine nuts. But hey – same idea and brilliant result. They aren’t as ‘pretty’ as hers came out, but oh my goodness I love puff pastry! Thank goodness for the person who thought to sell ready made puff pastry.. I have so much more respect for it after making my own at LCB last summer. It’s always perfectly flaky and crisp and buttery. I literally just took these out of the oven and “had to” test one.. And then I had to have just one more to be sure they were okay.. And I’m trying desperately not to have anymore before Chris comes home 🙂

I highly recommend making this as a warm hors d’oeuvres for a dinner party. You could easily skip the sun dried tomatoes and maybe use roasted bell peppers. Some of the reviews use feta in place of goat cheese. There are definitely a lot of possibilities, but no matter what they’re yummy! Just make sure that you don’t keep opening the oven when they cook or they may not rise. But do keep an eye on them. Also be careful not to get too much of the pesto oil when you’re brushing it on.

P.S. I used coriander/cilantro pesto in this which I made exactly like a basil pesto. It had leftover coriander/cilantro, walnuts, garlic, parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and extra virgin olive oil. When I googled coriander/cilantro pesto there were lots of different variations. Most are Asian style but this one from Bobby Flay is more Italian and has parsley in it as well.

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WHAT I’VE BEEN COOKING..

Hi All. As I don’t have class today, I’m finally taking the time to catch up with my backlog of recipes and dishes I need to share! Before school started a couple weeks ago, I was keeping myself busy with making new healthy dishes. I also had to work my way through our cupboards and all the various pastas, grains and seeds/nuts I’ve accumulated. So here are a couple dishes but many more to come! Links to recipes are below but you can also go direct to the recipe pages.

Chesham High Street Market

First up is Scallops with Sauce Vierge. So for a couple of weeks, I was passing by the fish monger in the Chesham high street market, looking but never buying anything. But I finally gave in and bought some of the beautiful, fresh, giant scallops which is really one of my favorite seafood dishes. I wanted to be a little different though as scallops are very often wrapped in bacon.  I also had seen sauce vierge come up in many cookbooks/sites recently. It’s such an easy thing to make and is so versatile. The key though is to have a really nice extra virgin olive oil. If extra virgin is too strong for you, then use a milder olive oil. I didn’t use red wine vinegar, but some recipes call for it instead of the coriander seeds. Since scallops aren’t exactly the most affordable seafood, I made this dish as a starter with three scallops each. We mopped up the rest of the sauce with some fresh bread. But you could easily turn this into a main dish by serving on a bed of angel hair pasta. The sweetness of the scallops and tomato together are so nice. If you want contrast, some red chili flakes would actually be quite nice. And if you can’t get scallops or don’t like them, you can always serve with some large grilled shrimp or chicken. Hope you like it!

Scallops with Sauce Vierge

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Cooking For One – Part 2

This time around I decided to stop being redundant and put up my recipes first. This way on my posts you can look at the more important thing – the pictures 🙂

Next up in my cooking for one was a spinach salad. Spinach just happen to be on sale the other day, so I bought two huge tubs of it and it lasted me more than a week. Basically I’ve been super loaded up with iron these days. But I never get tired of it somehow. I love it in a salad, or sandwich or sauteed. And I might just stop using frozen spinach if I can help it. The flavor just isn’t the same. Anywho – you can find the recipe here.

This time I tried something a little different and made my super basic balsamic vinaigrette with white wine vinegar instead. As you can see I’m not super creative when it comes to salad dressings. I stick with my basics because normally when I feel like a salad, it’s a last minute thing and I want it to be simple. I also used some of the leftover chicken I bought on sale (and used in the last post). Because I didn’t want to mess up my Dad’s grill, I decided to just quickly pan “grill” it. I pounded it thin since I find it cooks faster and I like to take little bites. Seasoned it with garlic salt, black pepper and chili flakes. After cooking, I sliced into strips, used some in my salad and saved the rest for another day.

Healthy chicken fajitas

Chris arrived the next day and because I had so much darn chicken I decided we were going to have fajitas! In the spirit of being healthy, I decided I would make my own seasoning since it’s pretty easy to look up online and allowed one less ‘store-bought’ thing in our meal. I didn’t really measure and kind of just threw in an assortment of ingredients I found in various recipes online (the basics really). Find the recipe here.

For veggies, I decided to go a slightly different route since I’ve been reading lots about how bell peppers give you heart burn (aka make you gassy, not exactly romantic). Even though it is a summer squash, I’ve recently read about the benefits of eating zucchini (or known in the UK as courgette). It’s low in calories and a good source of vitamin A.

Healthy, homemade chicken fajitas

I also used mushrooms since (1) Chris and I both love them, (2) they also have great health benefits like being low in calories and a good source of potassium, and (3) we were at Costco and decided to get a huge box of them.

As you can see, we had a corn salsa with our fajitas. I decided to omit the black beans and bell pepper this time to make it a little lighter.

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Healthy Superbowl Snacks

While I’m not a crazy football fan, as a foodie the superbowl is always a great excuse to pig out. However, in the past few months I’ve been trying to eat a healthier diet while allowing myself to still splurge a little. So last minute eats on the big game day included:

• Nacho cheese dip with jalapeno peppers (not healthy but Mom craved it)
• Corn and black bean salsa
• White corn tortilla chips (store bought but baked in the oven adds a little crisp)
• Orzo with feta, olives, zucchini and sausage
• Cuban pork with black beans and rice (courtesy of my aunt, Bac Oanh)

Don’t get me wrong – I was dying for some buffalo wings and potato skins! However, our snacks were equally satisfying. Click on the links above for the recipes. Unfortunately I haven’t asked Bac Oanh for her recipe of Cuban pork, but the other recipes are very simple and just something I threw together. You can eat the salsa with fajitas, tacos or burritos or even on top of some grilled chicken. My recipe doesn’t include avocado, but if you have some around throw it in! The orzo can be made with many variations. It can also be made with whole wheat penne too. Maybe add some spinach in as well. A good trick for using spinach (frozen or fresh) with pasta is to put it in the bottom of your colander and drain your cooked pasta over it. This way your spinach is defrosted or wilted and you can mix it all together easily. Add some toasted pine nuts for crunch!

Hope all of you who splurged on barbeque and creamy dips had some for me!

Ingredients for the salsa

Corn and black bean salsa - usually made with cherry tomatoes but didnt have any that day

Orzo with feta, olives, sundried tomatoes, zucchini, yellow bell pepper and spicy smoked sausage with jalapenos!

My aunt's Cuban-style pork!

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The Year Of The Tiger And My Dad The Cook

Chuc Mung Nam Moi!  Gung Hei Fat Choy!  Happy New Year! 

On February 14th this year, many people will be celebrating Valentine’s Day. But if you are of Chinese, Vietnamese, Mongolian or Korean decent, you will be celebrating the first day of the lunar new year. For the Vietnamese, this will be the Year of the Tiger or otherwise known as Tet. According to OnlineChineseAstrology.com, it is the Year of the Metal Tiger for the Chinese. 

“The Norwegian story goes that, once a group of [white tigers] starts moving across the fields, they will charge ahead and unthinkingly run straight off a cliff to their doom… The point is now is the time to attack the most difficult issues you face. -OnlineChineseAstrology.com”
 

I think that that most difficult issue for the women in my family at the moment is that my Dad is kicking their butt in cooking. No offense Mom, Bac Oanh, Tata and Ba – but you know it’s true. I’ve heard you all moan over Dad’s Banh Chung! (pronounced bye-ing choong) For those of you who have not had the good fortune of eating this, it is a Vietnamese rice cake filled with sticky rice, mung beans and fatty pork seasoned with black pepper and (of course) fish sauce. This rice cake is normally bought at Vietnamese grocery stores but almost never served at a restaurant. It is one of the traditional dishes eaten for the Vietnamese New Year. The legend states that King Hung Vuong held a competition to determine his successor and his young prince Lang Lieu created the dish Banh Chung and won the throne. From then on, it was decided that Banh Chung would become one of the traditional foods of Tet. Now enough of the history lesson and back to the food.
 

Banh Chung - Vietnamese Rice Cake

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Proof That I Can Eat Healthy Too

Little Saigon, Orange County, California

This past weekend, I took a quick weekend trip to the LA area with my parents to visit my sister. Of course, if we’re going to drive all the way from Phoenix, it’s expected that we’ll go out of the way to stop over in Little Saigon (also known as Westminster or Garden Grove in Orange County, CA). My siblings and I usually moan about this since it adds another two hours to the drive, but we’re never disappointed once we’re up to our elbows in Pho.

The first thing we had when we arrived in Little Saigon was Banh Cuon (Banh Cuon Tay Ho, 9242 Bolsa Ave, Westminster, CA). This is one of my all time favorite Vietnamese dishes to eat both at home and out at a restaurant. If you’ve ever had Chinese Dim Sum, it’s very similar. Basically, banh cuon is a rice crepe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A1nh_cu%E1%BB%91n). It’s pronounced by-ing coon? (there are accents that cause inflection similar to a question). Please remember I don’t speak Vietnamese, so this is my best attempt at trying to spell this out phonetically!

Banh Cuon

It can be served plain or rolled with a filling which may include ground pork, minced wood-ear mushrooms, onions and garlic. It’s normally served with a combination of bean sprouts, cucumber, cilantro, fried onions, and a Vietnamese pork sausage (which might be fried or steamed). The dipping sauce is a Vietnamese favorite, nuoc cham, which is sweet, sour, salty and spicy. The version shown here is also served with sweet potato tempura. Now some might be afraid of the sausage or maybe the description of the dipping sauce (which I have to confess is made with the well-known Vietnamese fish sauce, not much different from Thai fish sauce). However, if you’ve never had this, trust me you will love it. And you can ease your way into it by maybe taking out the sausage and only using a little bit of the sauce. Unfortunately, this dish isn’t something you’ll find at the main stream Vietnamese restaurants or any of those fusion places (at least in my experience). 

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Vietnamese Comfort Food – The Real Fried Rice

As it is with most ‘foreign’ cuisines, there are a couple dishes that make it mainstream. For Italian, it might be pizza and spaghetti with meatballs; Mexican might be nachos and burritos; and Chinese might be fried rice and stir-fry. And like it is with all food, no matter where it comes from, the home-made versions can sometimes be very different. As a foodie, I am always seeking out the ‘real’ thing which isn’t always easy to find. A lot of the time, the only way you’ll ever get a true version of a dish is if you have it in someone’s home or go visit that country yourself.

There is one particular dish whose mainstream version has always bugged me – fried rice (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fried_rice). I’ve recently been looking a lot of things up on Wikipedia to see what ‘the world’ has to say, and the description for fried rice was pretty much what I expected. The first thing Wikipedia points out is that it is “a popular component of Chinese food”. However, with Chinese food becoming more and more mainstream over the past decade (example: Panda Express: http://www.pandaexpress.com/)   I feel like the true flavors of dishes such as fried rice have lost their way. I have to point out though that I’ve never been to China (only Vietnam and Thailand), and I’ve never had fried rice in someone else’s house (who wasn’t family). But with that said, I have to confess my constant disappointment when someone orders fried rice from a restaurant (whether it be Chinese, Vietnamese or other) because I just know it is SO easy to make and would be a million times better home-made. Do you notice that the restaurant version is usually brown and a bit dry? Don’t you find it pretty salty too?

To be true to my last blog though, I have to remain unbiased here. Everyone has their version and their preferences. Nonetheless, I thought I’d at least share one of my absolute favorite recipes (it’s also the only dish my boyfriend will actually request that I make). It’s probably one of the first dishes I ever cooked before I was even ten. It’s one of those dishes that is seriously comforting on a Saturday morning or even for a quick mid-week dinner. (Note – it’s great for hangovers too)

It can be eaten for any meal of the day, and I’ll give you ideas for variations at the end. It really is best to use day (or two) old rice, but fresh rice is possible too. The best type to use is Jasmine or any long-grain rice (in the UK, Tesco sells what they call Thai rice). If you’re not sure how to make rice, just order a couple extra servings the next time you order in Chinese or Thai. My version is made with Chinese-style sausage which can be found at any Asian supermarket. Unfortunately, I’ve never seen this at a ‘regular’ grocery store but it can be easily substituted with any leftover chicken or pork. You could even use some leftover rotisserie chicken. Just be sure to add a bit of oil when heating it up so that it doesn’t dry out.

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Serving for one (depending on your appetite just double or even triple the recipe!)

INGREDIENTS

2 shallots or half an onion  

2 garlic cloves or garlic powder

Small handful of cilantro (aka coriander)

Chinese-style sausage

~2 cups of cooked white rice

2 eggs

Maggi soy sauce or any other light soy

Vegetable oil or any other plain oil

Small piece of butter, to your liking 

Fresh black pepper

* Fish sauce is optional

* Sriracha hot sauce also optional

DIRECTIONS

If using cold rice, take it out of the fridge and let it sit at room temperature. This will help soften the rice a bit and speed up cooking. Try to break up any lumps while it’s still cold. It will allow the flavors to get into the rice easier.

Thinly slice your shallots. If using onion instead, chop into small pieces. Mince your garlic. See the picture for a little trick to mincing garlic. I cut it like I would an onion. Cut long slits into the clove. Then thinly slice it. This may not be the best description, but hopefully you get the picture. Roughly chop your cilantro and set aside to add in at the end. Finally, slice your sausage. If you’re using another type of meat just chop it up into small bite-sized pieces.

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