Week 3: Orange Chicken

I was inspired to cook this by the many good dishes of orange chicken I have had at various Chinese restaurants and other food vendors--namely, Lee Ann Chin and Hy-Vee. It's one of my favorite foods. Yet what I did not realize was how involved the whole thing is. The whole thing takes about an hour and 45 minutes start to finish. I thought this was going to be a nice, simple recipe. I even chose an orange-sauce recipe that had just four ingredients in it to make the recipe even more user-friendly. Yet that didn't do much for me. Perhaps it seemed overwhelming because I had a long day at work, so I think I'll try this again sometime with some revisions.

The recipe below is adapted from a recipe on thenoshery.com (http://thenoshery.com/2010/03/19/better-than-takeout-orange-chicken/), which is itself adapted from a recipe on blogchef.net (http://blogchef.net/orange-chicken-recipe/). The orange sauce is borrowed from a recipe on norecipes.com (http://norecipes.com/blog/orange-chicken-recipe/). I didn't like the complicated recipe from "The Noshery," so that's why I made a hybrid of the two. Yes, it's very convoluted.

Ingredients (for about four people):

The Chicken

2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken of your choice (breasts, thighs, tenderloins, etc--I used tenderloins)--cut into bite-sized chunks (eyeball it)
1 1/2 cups of cornstarch
2 cups of panko bread crumbs (regular bread crumbs work, too, but I think the panko is intended to give it a little extra crunch and lightness)
4 eggs, beaten
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Oil (for frying--take your pick; I used grapeseed oil)

The Sauce

1 1/3 cup orange juice
2/3 cup orange marmalade
2 tsp corn starch
1 tsp salt

1. Mix the cornstarch with the salt and pepper in a bowl. Make a second bowl with the eggs and a third bowl with the bread crumbs.

2. Dump a couple of large handfuls of chicken into the eggs. Transfer to the cornstarch. Dip the pieces a second time in the eggs, then finish with the bread crumbs. Repeat this until all of the chicken pieces are breaded and ready to go.

3. Heat the oil in a pan on medium high until it is around 375 degrees (this takes about two or three minutes, give or take). Fry the chicken until it is done--about 10-15 minutes, turning every three minutes or so. This really depends on the size of the chicken pieces and how thawed they were at the time of breading. More on this later.

4. In a large saucepan, combine the orange juice, marmalade, cornstarch, and salt. Stir on medium heat for a few minutes until the mixture starts to thicken (look for a syrupy consistency). Allow it to boil for a few minutes before switching the heat off.

5. Pour the sauce over the chicken and stir to coat. Serve how you would like (we ate it with prepared Uncle Ben's Oriental Rice and some green beans with roasted carrots and broccoli).

A few notes are in order in reference to this recipe. First of all, I have doubled the eggs, bread crumbs, and the whole sauce recipe. This is because my brother thought we needed more sauce for the chicken. The flavor was nice, but it wasn't bold enough for us. While doubling may result in a little extra sauce, I don't think that's the worst thing in the world. It's better than not having enough and being sad about it. The chicken also sucked up more of the bread crumbs and eggs than I thought it would, so I needed to increase those ingredients. Another note is that this recipe is an absolute mess. It's advisable to wear a good apron because there will be a lot of cleanup other places (i.e., the counter, the floor, the stove, etc...), and your clothes should not be one of them. A third note is that if you wanted to make this a vegetarian recipe, you could use tofu or some other faux-meat product in place of the chicken, but I would have to investigate to see if any changes to the recipe would be necessary. I wouldn't think so. Finally, try to work with chicken that is as thawed as possible, and try not to cut the pieces of chicken too big. That way, the chicken will cook faster, and you won't be standing over the stove drooling because it all smells so good but isn't quite done yet. Don't be me. Learn from my mistakes, young ones.

One thing that I also would have liked to change is getting the chicken browner and more evenly coated with the bread crumbs. There were a lot of exposed pieces, and the dish didn't have that nice bubbly appearance that I'm used to. I think I just need to practice flipping the pieces in the pan so that all sides get the same amount of exposure to the bottom of the pan. Mom says that over the summer, she will teach me how to make beef cutlets, which will be a similar experience, so I will get more practice with frying breaded meat. Huzzah!

That said, this was a really well-received recipe. Even my sister's picky-eater boyfriend indulged and admitted liking it. Score! I do have to divulge that my master cook of a mother helped me quite a bit with this one. She coached me as to how to set up my breading station, how to cook the chicken thoroughly while retaining the brown crunchiness of the bread-crumb exterior, how to replenish the oil, etc. She made the sides we ate with it and cooked the second batch while I was busy chowing down with my sister, her boyfriend, and my brother. Needless to say, it felt really good to finally sample what I had been working on. This is obviously not something I am going to make a lot because it sort of stressed me out. I think I learned a valuable lesson about how I can't be too ambitious yet and maybe I was taking things a little too quickly in my eagerness. Hopefully next week's meal will be less stressful. I guess I also learned that cooking is no fun when you make a chore out of it. I suppose I should have put this one off until Friday, but I wasn't sure if I'd end up at work longer than expected again. Oh, well. I think I made the best of the situation considering all the factors and such. I did really enjoy the sauce. It had a nice consistency and sweetness. I love orange marmalade, so I liked biting into the orange peel pieces every now and then when I ate a chunk of the chicken. I hope that, with practice, I will soon get the chicken up to par with my favorite restaurants, although I'm beginning to see how they made their money. Some things are just not very reproducible in the home kitchen (but this was probably a more healthful version, "so I got that going for me"...kudos to you if you get that movie reference). Until next time, chitlins!

My well-deserved dinner. Photo enhanced by Instagram filtering.

Week 2: Zucchini Pasta Carbonara

This is another gem from “Simply Recipes.” I have made this recipe three before, both times with excellent results. I have a friend who doesn’t like cheese, so the second time, I left the Parmesan out of the eggs when I was stirring them into the cooked pasta. The result? Not as delicious. Part of the joy is the creamy, cheesy sauce at the end. Do not skimp on that unless you really dislike cheese or are lactose-intolerant.

 Again, this is the recipe almost exactly as it is written on “Simply Recipes”: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/zucchini_pasta_carbonara/.

Ingredients:

"Salt
3/4 pound egg noodles [one bag or box of pasta]
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 teaspoon butter
1/4 pound prosciutto, thinly sliced
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3-4 summer squash, yielding 4 cups chopped squash
Salt and pepper
4 eggs
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (plus more for topping)
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 cup basil leaves, sliced thin*

* To slice the basil leaves, chiffonade them by stacking basil leaves on top of each other, roll them up into a cigar shape, starting at one end and working your way down the "cigar" take thin slices from the end.

 1. To cook the pasta, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water [if you wish] (one tablespoon of salt for 2 quarts of water).

2. As the water for the pasta is heating, prep your vegetables and heat olive oil and butter on medium high in a large sauté pan. [I like to add all the squash and onions plus the minced garlic to one bowl so that when the meat is done frying, I can just dump the whole lot into the pan at the same time.] Working in batches, lay pieces of sliced prosciutto down in the pan. Fry gently on both sides until just lightly browned (no more than a minute, more likely 30 seconds each side, the prosciutto is very thin), remove from pan with tongs or a slotted spoon to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Once cool, tear [or chop] into bite-sized pieces. Reserve the oil in the pan.

3. Add pasta to boiling salted water. The pasta should take about 10-12 minutes to cook until al dente (cooked but still a bit firm), which is just about the right amount of time you'll need to cook the vegetables. Cook with a rolling boil, uncovered. 

4. While the pasta is cooking, add the onions, garlic, and summer squash to the sauté pan that you had used to cook the prosciutto. The heat should be medium high. Stir the vegetables so that they are all coated with oil from the pan, then spread them out in the pan, generously salt and pepper them. Cook until they are just lightly browned, stirring only occasionally. Remove from heat.

5. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs and mix in the grated Parmesan and lemon zest.

6. When the pasta is ready, reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid, then drain the pasta. Add the pasta to the squash and onions (or add the veggies to the pasta, depending on the size of your pans). Pour the egg, Parmesan, lemon zest mixture over the pasta mixture and quickly stir in with a wooden spoon. The heat from the pasta will sufficiently cook the eggs. Add a little of the reserved pasta cooking water if it looks a little dry. Stir in the prosciutto and basil. Garnish with more basil and grated Parmesan."

Note: You should mix everything together at the end without the pasta water first, then you can add more water to it if it is dry. It's my experience, though, that it's not necessary. It's better to be a little on the dry side versus having too much liquid. The third time I made it, I added too much water, and the result was basically zucchini pasta soup...

Wow. The pasta turned out great this time, though. I have never added the prosciutto before, but I would highly, highly recommend you do not skip it unless you are a strict vegetarian/vegan or just really don't like meat. It adds so much to the dish. It has a nice smoky, umami flavor that pairs well with the lemon zest in the cream sauce. The lemon zest helps freshen and brighten the dish so that the taste of the meat is savory without being overpowering. I am excited to make this dish many more times during the summer, when we will have fresh squash both from our own garden and from our half-share CSA box (my mom buys from Loon Organics, which has a stall at the Mill City Farmers Market on Saturdays).

I fried the prosciutto until it was nice and crispy. It should have a nice reddish-brown color to it that intensifies as it fries. That's how you'll know it's ready to come out of the pan and onto the paper towel.

I got a really good reaction from my family about this recipe, too. Everyone loved it. Overall, I think my only stipulation was that four eggs might be too much. I seemed to have too much of the custard-like sauce after I stirred everything in. Maybe you like a little extra sauce, but I would have liked everything to be a bit more lightly coated. Again, though, it's all a matter of taste. When it comes time for the mixing, I would say to do it quickly, but don't be in a rush, either. The pasta won't cool much that fast, so the sauce is very likely to turn out just fine if you work steadily but carefully. 

I'm pretty proud of myself for this one. This was one of the first recipes that I really started to make on my own, and it's not something that anyone else in the house ever makes. It's sort of like my pet recipe, and I think that if I were to host a dinner party, this is what I would serve the first time around. I also love that it's pretty flexible. You can add any kind of squash, any kind of salted meat (or not), any kind of bite-sized pasta (I prefer rotini with this recipe, but I didn't find a box until my mom pointed it out on the bottom shelf of our cupboard), or any kind of hard cheese (or not) to the sauce as you prefer. Furthermore, this is a really simple recipe that is very easy to accomplish single-handedly. If you use one box of pasta and are feeding yourself, you can get at least six meals out of it. 

In general, I just really like feeding my family and feeling like I'm pulling my weight around here. Even more than that, I'm just glad I decided to start this blog. It's just such a passion project for me, and I love to share my (admittedly pretty limited) knowledge of cooking with like-minded individuals. I'm thinking this is really going to be a good learning experience for me, as I'm hoping my readers (you're out there, right?) will share what they know with me in return. In the mean time, bon apetit! 

And here's the finished product. I wanted to snap a photo just after it was done, but I sort of forgot...I guess I just got carried away and wanted to eat dinner ASAP! Photo enhanced by Instagram filtering.