Copycat Recipe - California Pizza Kitchen's BBQ Chicken Pizza

Hello! Happy New Year! We are close to the end of January and here I am fresh off my resolutionary agenda, which included "I MUST BLOG MORE" in the list ;-)

I'm back this time with a super easy pizza recipe that you can whip up in no time if you have a craving for pizza.

Or BBQ.

Or something hot out of the oven. Preferably topped with a lot of gooey cheese.

Or ALL OF THE ABOVE.

California Pizza Kitchen is a chain restaurant known for their incredibly thin pizza crusts and varied toppings with a distinctive California flair. The BBQ chicken pizza claims top honors as one of their most popular items  ever since it was introduced in CPK's first restaurant in Beverly Hills in 1985. Here is a quick and easy way to create it at home.

The following cast of characters are what you will need on hand (adapted from "America's Most Wanted Recipes"):

- Pizza dough - either go the store-bought route or whip up a batch of your own. I will admit I was always wary of store bought pizza dough after one particularly crappy cardboard-like experience in the past, and so I always preferred to make my own pizza dough, but I was recently surprised at the quality of the store-bought dough on hand at groceries now. Go for the freezer dough rather than the dried out-on-the-shelf brands.

- 2 cups cooked and cubed chicken - Again, if you have cooked chicken on hand, grab that, or use deli chicken, rotisserie chicken leftovers - anything that vaguely resembles chicken will do or quickly saute 1 boneless chicken breast in a splash of oil till cooked through.

- 1/2 cup BBQ sauce and a little extra for drizzling - whatever brand you have on hand. I got a bottle of free BBQ Memphis sauce on a recent grocery expedition, and this was my turn to try it out.

- 1 cup shredded mozarella cheese

- 2 Tbsp shredded Gouda cheese - I didn't have any, I substituted Monterrey Jack cheese

- 1/2 small red onion - sliced thin. I didn't have that either, I used regular yellow onions.

- 2 Tbsp fresh cilantro - chopped

1. Toss cooked chicken in half of the the BBQ sauce. Heat in a skillet over medium heat until the chicken is thoroughly coated and the sauce has reduced slightly and become thicker (about 3 minutes).

2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. (If using store bought dough, use temperature on package).

3. Prepare pizza crust or follow directions to prepare store-bought pizza dough. Form the pizza dough into a circle and place on a baking sheet or pizza pan.

4. Spread remaining BBQ sauce over pizza crust. Top with chicken, cheese and onions.

5. Bake for 10 minutes or until crust is crisp and golden.

6. Sprinkle cilantro over pizza before serving. (Another option is to bake the cilantro with the pizza, but I personally found that it dried out the cilantro too much).

A 30th Wedding Anniversary Menu and A Winner for the Giveaway!

So I don't date myself too much here, not MY 30th wedding anniversary, but rather a 30th wedding anniversary party that my parents and I hosted for my aunt and uncle who got married on the same day as my birthday. I was a bratty flower girl at their wedding, and as a surprise to me, they rolled out a birthday cake onto the reception floor which I got to cut, and then I graciously returned the favor by throwing a tantrum for all their wedding gifts.

My aunt, the young bride, who was probably exasperated with me at that point for stealing their thunder, steely bartered one gift to me in exchange for good behavior. Thinking I had won the duel, I smartly marched up and selected the largest and shiniest gift box, only to open it up and find a three speed metal blender.

Defeat.

As pay back, I threw them an impromptu little party last week because my parents were in town unseasonably and my mom always complains how she never gets to do anything for her little sister's anniversary.
Since I now pretty much exclusively cook out of all your blogs, this turned out to be another installment of I Ate Your Food, and since I needed to post my giveaway winner..I rolled it all into one post! Scroll down for the winner...yes, I am evil that way.

Here is the menu that my mom and I drummed up for the party. Our idea was to re-create their wedding reception menu, which none of us could actually remember. Yes, I remember my STEEL BLENDER but failed to remember other details of the evening. My dad vaguely described roast chicken, potatoes and salad and so we ran with it:

Lentil Soup With Sauteed Scallops

Garlic Rolls

Hearts of Palm Salad With Cilantro Vinaigrette

Flavors of India Roasted Cornish Hens With Carrots, Celery and Leeks

Hasselback Potatoes

Broiled Salmon with Spicy Mushroom Sauce and Saffron Rice

Lemon Coconut Cake with Raspberry Preserves

As is the case with all meals, as the dinner progressed, I got caught up and couldn't take pictures of all the items, so I'm just leaving a link to the master recipes that I used =(.

But as is always the case, many thanks to all the talented bloggers out there whose recipes I use with much success.

Lentil Soup and Sauteed Scallops - sourced entirely from Chicho's Kitchen with very little adaptation at all.

My only note would be to serve this soup piping hot. I tried to use a soup warmer thingy seen in the pic that I had bought, and it ended up not working right, so my soup reached the table barely warm, a point my loud guests noted quickly. Grrr....

Garlic Rolls - the detailed and step-by-step instructions on Suhaina and Nag's Edible Garden blogs are testament enough. These were killer rolls, perfect in every way and my favorite part of the meal!

Hearts of Palm Salad with Cilantro Vinaigrette - adapted from Food and Wine magazine Recipe by Carolina Buia and Isabel González.

Dressing:

2/3 cup cilantro leaves
1/4 small red onion, finely chopped (subst. for shallots) 
juice of 1 lemon 
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons agave nectar (subst. for honey) 
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste 

Salad:
2 clementine/oranges, peeled and sliced into segments (pith removed) 
1 14-ounce jar of hearts of palm, drained and sliced 
2 bunches Romaine lettuce - rinsed, dried and chopped
1/2 red onion, sliced thinly
a few grape tomatoes, halved
 
1.In a blender, combine the ingredients for the dressing except olive oil and salt and pepper. With the machine on, add the olive oil in a steady stream and blend until smooth. Season the vinaigrette with salt and pepper.
2. Toss together all ingredients for the salad, serve immediately with dressing.


Flavors of India Roasted Cornish Hens With Carrots, Celery and Leeks - I adapted this recipe from Whole Foods website.
I substituted Cornish hens (one per two guests) and the recipe came out perfect.  I added 2 cups each chopped carrots, leeks and celery to the roasting pan with the hens and served the veggies alongside the meat. They still took a good 1.5 - 2 hours to cook, but came out moist and flavorful.


Broiled Salmon with Spicy Mushroom Sauce and Saffron Rice - again entirely sourced from Bong Mom's Cookbook.
I've made this recipe several times now, and I love the mushroom sauce that goes with the easy to bake salmon.

Hasselback Potatoes - these truly deserve their own post, but here is some eye candy to enjoy in the meantime. I adapted the recipe from Seasaltwithfood and added flavored ranch butter to the potatoes as they baked.
They need to be served right away, which I made a mistake on, I made them well in advance, so they lost some of their appeal when sitting out and growing cold.

..and finally dessert. I had to make them cake, in honor for my cake all those years ago, so I chose Dorie Greenspan's Perfect Party Cake, which truly was perfect in every single way. What a keeper of a recipe. I ran out of time with this item, so instead of buttercream icing, I just used whipped cream both in the filling and to cover the cake.

Apologies for zero pictures, I kick myself for not grabbing my camera before everything was chopped up and eaten!
And now for the winner of my first ever blog giveaway. The $40 Amazon.com gift card goes to comment #....

........1! As pronounced by random number generator - that is Divya all the way in India who blogs at Easycooking. Congratulations Divya, and thanks to all who participated!

To be honest, I always though the first and last comments were unlucky as they stood no chance against all the other numbers, but I guess that proved my theory wrong! Bang, the first comment got selected, early bird gets the worm...in the form of a gift card =).

Grilled Ginger Chicken Yakitori with Leeks - and an old Trip to Japan

In a previous post, I mentioned a tiny Japanese restaurant in the heart of suburban New Jersey that became a firm fave of mine and gave my husband and I a new-founded respect for Japanese cuisine.

Then I actually got to go to Japan and ate McDonalds there for three days straight. More on that disturbing fact at the bottom of this post....

Aside from a delightful rolled beef and spirng onion dish (Beef Negimaki) that we constantly ordered, we would also alternately fluctuate between the chicken yakitori and tonkatsu. The former is chicken grilled in a teriyaki sauce, and the latter is more of a deep fried cutlet.

But in the mad rush that is the home kitchen, I realised I'd never actually attempted making these dishes at home, until Joanne's Regional Recipes came along showcasing Japan, and I thought "Well, now is the time or never!". Or I might have to settle for McD.

I saw a recipe on Food and Wine magazine (my new cooking muse) and I liked how they had incorporated ginger, leeks and bell pepper to this simple grilled dish.

We have the usual cast of characters to make the teriyaki sauce - yes people, we are making our own teriyaki, no store bought here!

Let me introduce you to Mirin, Sake and Soy Sauce - the same ingredients that were used in the Beef Negimaki marinade as well.

Grilled Ginger Chicken Yakitori with Leeks and Bell Peppers
(adapted from Food and Wine magazine)

Ingredients
1/3 cup sake
1/4 cup mirin
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp sugar (you can ramp up to 2 Tbsp as per the orig recipe, I just don't like too much sweetness)
2 tsp grated or crushed fresh ginger
~2 lb boneless chicken (thighs or tenderloin)
Optional - yellow miso paste (3 Tbsp) - I did not use this
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cored, cut into squares
1 leek, white and light green part only, washed thoroughly, halved and cut crosswise

1. Soak bamboo skewers in water for ~ 4 hours so that they do not burn while grilling.
2. Mix sake, mirin, soy sauce, sugar and ginger in a small saucepan. Simmer over low heat for about 5 - 10 minutes.

3.Thread chicken, bell pepper and leek pieces alternately on bamboo skewers and place on foil rimmed pan. Brush or pour marinade onto the skewers, refrigerate for about 30 minutes. Do not discard marinade, you will want to re-use it for basting while cooking.

4. Preheat oven broiler or fire up a BBQ grill, grill the skewers while basting with the remaining marinade and turning the skewers over so that all sides of the meat and vegetables get cooked. (It took me about 10 -15 minutes in an oven broiler).

5. I served the yakitori with steamed broccoli, boiled potatoes that had been tossed in butter and red chilli flakes, and some fried carrot and celery rice.

Back in the day (prehistoric - I didn't even have a digital camera!) I got to visit the magnificent country of Japan. However, I was also pregnant, and when we reached (literally) the other side of the world, my olfactory system went into overdrive and I very conveniently developed the most horrific case of nausea, which would then plague me for the rest of the pregnancy.

Nice going Ann, way to kick start your vacation in Japan!

Every restaurant sent me into shudders as the new smells and sights put my over-reactive digestive system into tremors. I sadly moped along the roads looking for something  to placate me, and my eyes fell on those golden yellow arches. Yes, people, I dare to divulge that I ate McDonalds (horrors!) for the next three days. Even though we couldn't quite figure out what we were ordering from the bright, cheery menu boards, fries are fries at the end of the day in any continent. Go on, laugh. I'm already planning a second trip to make up, suckers.

It didn't stop me from taking in the sights and sounds (maybe just not the smells) of Japan. I left in awe of the clockwork efficiency of the country and the homogeneous nature of its people. We never felt unsafe, we learnt their systems and traditions quickly thanks to the help of kind passer-bys and we marveled at their stoic and proud heritage.

At the revered Sensoji Temple in Asakusa district. I've always wonderd in Pier 1 carries that lantern in that size and more importantly, what could have happened if it had fatefully fallen on me.

Attempting to not cross a street at Akihabara - the electronics retail section of Tokyo. Very difficult to do, because you get swept in a sea of mankind and they politely deposit you on the other side of the road. Stores displayed every range of electronics from the latest in computerized toilet seats (heat and water strength monitors) to what looked to us like funny miniature walkmans which would then arrive Stateside as Ipods. They were 5 years ahead of us!

At the entrance of the Meiji Jinju temple in bustling Harajuku. Yes, the same Harajaku neighborhood of Gewn Stefani notoriety with its strange mix of British punk teenagers had this ethereal lush green Yoyogi park. The noise of the city is miraculously silenced here and you are transported into another era. Seriously, I kept thinking "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" characters were going to leap out of the trees.

Walk thorough the park for twenty minutes and you come across the majestic Meiji Jinju temple. And guess what, it was apparently "Perfect Day to Have a Wedding" Day in Japan, we walked into FOUR separate Shinto weddings taking place, and the families let us watch. A completely other world and beautiful experience, though I will give a fashion shout out to that priest, take a look at his Lady Gaga-esque platforms.

This bride was going through several kimono changes with her assistants for a wedding photoshoot and gamely let me capture a shot of her. Check out the elaborate hairdo.

Finally, as we were leaving we bumped into an army of little tots, dressed up in regalia escorted by their grandparents for some sort of children's bendiction. This sweet grandma let me take a picture of her cutie pie, who in turn flashed some sort of gang sign at me.

This very lengthy post goes off to Joanne who is hosting Regional Recipes - Japan this month!

Ruby Tuesday's Sonoran Chicken Pasta with Spicy Black Beans

Heard of Ruby Tuesday's? They are a chain restaurant in the USA offering super-sized plates of good ol' American fare, usually smothered in some highly calorie intensive sauce or fried and battered up more than is good for you. I found it mildly funny that our local Ruby's was located right outside the entrance to the Cardiovascular unit of our local hospital. Strange coincidence?


So I spotted this dish on Noor's site, for those of you who don't know her, Noor is a native of the beautiful Southern US state of Tennessee who now resides in Saudi Arabia with her family and blogs at Ya Salaam Cooking. And moving from the gorgeous state of TN hasn't dampered her cooking prowess, she has some of the most innovative and international dinners in town, thats for sure. I love seeing what she whips up for her family, and I took a particular fancy to this dish when she re-created it at her home.


The pasta dish consists of seasoned, grilled chicken in a heavy cheese sauce that has mild American Southwest flavors courtesy of a liberal dose of salsa, alongside a nice serving of black beans. Since I've never actually had this dish at Ruby Tuesdays, I thought I'd play around with the ingredients and make "my" version. Even though there are three components - pasta, chicken and black beans, it doesn't take too long to whip up each part, and you can always go the short-cut route and use pre-cooked rotisserie chicken.

Ruby Tuesday's Sonoran Chicken Pasta with Spicy Black Beans - adapted from RecipeLink and Ya Salam Cooking


Sonoran Cheese Sauce
4 tbsp butter or margarine
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
3 small clove garlic, minced
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup hot water (*Adjust based on how thick you want the sauce)
2-3 tbsp chicken stock
1 1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used Monterrey Jack)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp hot pepper sauce, or more to taste
3/4 cup prepared salsa (medium hot)
2 Tbsp sour cream


1. Melt butter in a saucepan and add onion and garlic. Saute until onion is transparent.
2. Stir in the flour to make a roux and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring often. Do not brown.
3. Mix the half-and-half, hot water*, and chicken stock. Add mixture slowly to roux, stirring constantly with a whisk to avoid lumps. Allow to cook 2-3 minutes.
4. Add cheese, cayenne pepper, hot sauce to sauce. Stir to blend until cheese is melted. Do not allow to boil.
5. Add salsa and sour cream to sauce and blend.
*Start with small quantities of hot water and chicken stock. If the sauce is too think, you can always thin it out with more hot water or chicken stock.

Spicy Black Beans
1 large can black beans, pre-cooked or soaked (~10 or 11 oz)
1 Tbsp oil
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 small green bell pepper, finely chopped
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
Salt to taste
Optional - 1 green chilli, chopped or 1/2 tsp chilli powder


1. Rinse black beans in water and drain. Reserve.
2. Heat oil in a medium saucepan, add onion and garlic, fry till onion is softened. Add bell pepper and chilli (if using). Saute and then add spices.
3. Add in black beans and fry for about 2-3 minutes. Adjust salt and spice seasoning to taste.


Pasta and Chicken
1 bag cavatappi (or any medium sized pasta like penne) ~ 16 oz/1 lb
2 cups chicken breast


1. Prepare pasta as per package directions (boil in salted water, drain and reserve. Keep warm).
2. Season chicken with salt, pepper and any preferred spices e.g Cajun seasoning or a combination of chilli,coriander and onion powder and grill till done. Slice and reserve.


To Garnish
1/2 cup fresh tomatoes, chopped
4 stalks green onion, chopped


Assembly
In a large serving bowl, toss pasta and sauce while pasta is warm.  Add chicken and toss.
I usually add in the black beans as well, or you can serve those on the side.
Garnish with tomatoes and green onions.

I am sending this dish in to Presto Pasta Nights , a long-running blogging event that celebrates PASTA! PPN is the brainchild of Ruth, and is being hosted this week by Bellini Valli of More Than Burnt Toast.

Vietnamese Caramel Ginger Chicken

Am I the only one that's been intrigued by the Pei Wei billboards in town advertising their new Vietnamese Caramel Chicken? However given that I am the only one who doesn't care for Pei Wei restaurants that much except for their awesome, awesome chicken wraps ( I HEART THOSE CHICKEN WRAPS!), I thought I would give this dish a try at home first because I stumbled across the recipe in Food and Wine magazine.
Correction.
I stumbled across two recipes for Caramel Chicken in Food & Wine magazine. Which begs the question, was it the editor's off day? The recipes were somewhat similar, so I decided to mish-mash the two and picked and chose what tickled my fancy.

And we have a winner - I loved this dish. The salty fish sauce was perfectly offset by the sweet caramel sauce resulting in neither a too-sweet nor too-salty dish. Because trust me, I would never be a fan of chicken in sugar or chicken in fish sauce, the latter which would have the aroma of the trap-door to hell.

The folks loved the dish. The hub loved the dish. Crikey, the MIL actually complimented me on the dish. Houston, we have a WINNER! I do have to mention that the kids ran away because I went a little overboard with the chilli (duly noted below). I'll just have to work on that little fault of mine.
Of course, the fact that Joanne is spotlighting Vietnamese cuisine at Regional Recipes was another incentive to try this dish too.

And why do I have those tiny clay pots featuring in the pictures. This dish is traditionally made in a clay pot, so if you are lucky enough to own one, do give it a whirl in that.

Vietnamese Caramel Ginger Chicken (adapted from two recipes in Food & Wine magazine  - "Clay Pot Ginger Chicken" by Chef Mai Pham and "Vietnamese Lemongrass Chicken with Caramel Sauce" by Joyce Jue)

3 Tbsp sugar
1/3 cup hot water
3 Tbsp vegetable oil (divided use)
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/4 cup Asian fish sauce
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp cornstarch
1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs, visible fat removed and cubed
3 Tbsp lemongrass stalks, chopped (I used jarred lemongrass stalks)
1 medium onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2 Tbsp fresh ginger, (1 Tbsp crushed and 1 Tbsp cut in slivers)
1 tsp red chilli flakes (this made the dish very hot! Adjust as you see fit)
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper powder
1/4 tsp salt (omit if fish sauce is salty)
2 scallions, chopped
A few springs of cilantro for garnishing

Method
1. In heavy based pan, heat sugar on medium heat till it starts to turn amber and caramelizes, make sure all sugar has dissolved by swirling the pan. Remove from heat, .
3. Be very CAREFUL with next step, add the hot water a bit at a time, it will cause the caramel to splutter. After all the water is added, return the pan to heat if there are clumps of caramel that did not dissolve and boil until there is a caramel syrup with no lumps. Remove from heat. Add lemon juice and reserve.
4. In a bowl, mix 2 Tbsp of fish sauce, cornstarch, black pepper and the chicken. Stir to coat.
5. In a wok or clay pot, heat 2 Tbsp of oil until smoking and add lemongrass, onion, garlic and the crushed ginger. Stir-fry until the garlic and onions are golden. Add the remaining 1 Tbsp of oil.
6. Add the chicken mixture and cayenne pepper and stir-fry until the chicken turns white.

7. Add all the caramel syrup and remaining fish sauce and cook over moderate heat until chicken is glazed and cooked through. Check for salt  and adjust with fish sauce or salt (I did not add any salt, the fish sauce used to this point was salty enough).

8. Add the scallions, ginger slivers and cilantro and mix well. Either reduce the sauce if you do not want the gravy or remove from heat and serve with plain rice.

This recipe goes off to Regional Recipes - Vietnam.

Thai Red Chicken Curry

I sometimes get a little fanatical when it comes to new cuisines. I'll go all out in an attempt to conquer it and force feed it to my family, despite their lame attempts to escape. My latest obsession has been Thai food. With its luxurious fragrances and medley of spices all blended in fragrant coconut milk, it seemed an unattainable goal for me since all its ingredients seemed way too foreign for my grasp. Galangal? Kaffir Lime leaves? Lemongrass? Shrimp paste? Uh uh, honey, ain't none of this stuff deep in the heart of Texas...

Speaking of which, Thailand has now racheted itself up on my bucket list of places to visit. If anything, I'd like to go there to buy those ingredients and bring 'em back home!
(pics courtesy of National Geographic) Enter the local Asian store where I trotted off in search of the above. Unfortunately, they didn't have any of the ingredients fresh, but I did find some bottled, dried and jarred varieties. (P.S. If anyone out there lurking by this post knows where to get these ingredients FRESH in Houston, do drop me a line!). And then I bumped into the vegetable stocking guy.

"Uhm, excuse me, do you have any kaffir lime leaves?"
"What?"
"Kaffir lime leaves"
"Lemon?
"No K-A-F-F-I-R LIME. Leaf"
"Why you want the leaf? I got beautiful key lime, green lime, ..."
*silence*

I tried this recipe from a little cookbook called "Thai Cooking" (quel surprise!) by Carol Bowen. I had to play around with the spices and add a little of my own because it did not really result in the fiery red color I was expecting.

Secondly, I also tried making this dish with just the jarred red curry paste that you get in all the grocery stores. And it PALED in comparison to when you make the recipe below with the authentic ingredients. Well, the authentic jarred ingredients. So head off to your local Asian store (Whole Foods had the same jarred ingredients), and try out this curry. It's lip-smacking good and pretty close to what you get served at a Thai joint.

I served this along with some cashew beef, chicken satay and pad thai noodles for a "Thai-Themed" dinner I hosted for my niece who is off to Thailand to volunteer there. And if you assumed a little girl can go off to Thailand on her own, well, an interesting fact is that my husband is the youngest of 8 children, so his older siblings have children that are older than him. And subsequently me. Yes, I have nieces and nephews who tower over me, are older, and still have to respectfully call me AUNTY.
Bend your head around that one...

*Reposted to include fresh basil leaves, and cook's note on not heating coconut milk on high heat*Thai Red Chicken Curry (adapted from Carol Bowen's "Thai Cooking")
4 Tbsp vegetable oil
2-3 garlic gloves, crushed
14 fl oz or 1 3/4 cups coconut milk
6 chicken breast fillets, skinned and cut into bite size pieces
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 Tbsp fish sauce
sliced red chillies, fresh Thai basil leaves and chopped coriander to garnish

Red Curry Paste:
8 dried red chillies (deseed for less heat)
1 heaped Tbsp galangal or ginger, chopped
3 stalks lemongrass chopped (I used 2 heaped Tbsp jarred lemongrass)
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 tsp shrimp paste (this stuff smells like death, so I used less then the orig recipe)
1 kaffir lime leaf, chopped (I subst. zest and juice of a key lime)
1 heaped tsp coriander powder
3/4 tsp ground cumin powder
1 tsp paprika (optional)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder (optional)
5-6 fresh Thai basil leaves, roughly chopped (optional)1 tsp each salt and black pepper powder (adjust as you see fit, both fish sauce and chicken stock can be salty!)

1. Assemble ingredients for red curry paste, place in blender and process till smooth (may need to add a little water or lime juice)
2. Heat the oil in a large wok or non-stick pan. Add garlic and cook till it turns golden.
3. Stir in curry paste and cook for 10-15 seconds or till raw smell disappears. Gradually add in coconut milk, stirring constantly (mixture may look curdled).
4. Add in chicken pieces and turn in sauce to coat. Cook gently for about 5 minutes.
5. Stir in stock and fish sauce, mixing well. Cook for a further 2 minutes or till chicken cooks through. Cook's Note - cooking this dish on high heat can cause the coconut milk to separate out into oil and cream, beware! It may took longer to cook on a medium flame, but will be more worth the effort!6. Add chopped coriander and red chillies, let sauce reduce a bit or to your preference. I found reducing the sauce down gave the meat more flavor. Serve with plain white rice.

Barefoot Bloggers - Indonesian Ginger Chicken

Here comes a quick and easy recipe from the Barefoot Bloggers this month. Yes, I am trying to get back up to speed on this group after falling off their wagon the last few months! Todd of A Cooking Dad has chosen this recipe for January.

Save for the overnight marination, this dish is a snap to put together. Marinate chicken in a blend of garlic, ginger, soy sauce and honey, and then bake for a yummy treat. The kids should take to this dish because of the sweetness of honey. I personally love ginger and garlic on any type of meat, so this dish was a done deal from the get-go.

I didn't quite follow the quantities in the original recipe because I used chicken legs/drumsticks as opposed to a whole chicken, so my quantities are reflected below. I also added some crushed red chilli flakes for some heat and added a tablespoon of Kecap Manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce) for kicks!

If there was anything I would do differently the next time, I will puree the ginger and garlic in the soy marinade in a blender to get a more uniform "sauce".

Thanks Tod for a great choice!

Indonesian Ginger Chicken (adapted from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook)

1/4 cup honey
1 Tbsp Kecap Manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tsp crushed red chilli flakes
10 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced
8 chicken legs

1. Cook the honey, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger root in a small saucepan over low heat until the honey is melted. (Add salt to taste if using reduced sodium soy sauce). Add Kecap Manis and red chilli flakes if using.
2. Arrange the chicken in 1 layer in a shallow baking pan, skin side down, and pour on the sauce.
3. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil. Marinate overnight in the refrigerator.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
5. Place the baking pan in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.
6. Uncover the pan, turn the chicken skin side up, and raise the temperature to 375 degrees F.
7. Continue baking for 30 minutes or until the juices from the meat run clear and the sauce is a rich, dark brown.

Leftover Shepherd's Pie

Surveying the scene, I sized up the repeat offenders.
- The Turkey.
- A few clumps of mashed potatoes.
- Almost all of the cornbread, scowling angrily at the mashed potatoes and bread rolls that jockeyed them out of their league.
- Multi-colored Vegetable Crudites strewn across their appetizer tray. Their dip long gone, they now lay stark naked and cold with nothing to blanket them.
- A bowl of gravy fighting back its tears at the thought of being unceremoniously dumped in the trash, when hours before it had been the Queen of the table, passed down the table like Cleopatra on a palanquin.

Have no fear my little leftovers - I will resurrect thee!

The following one-pot dish will wipe out all your leftovers, and can easily be thrown together the day after Thanksgiving, or after any party with similar menu items. It is absolute comfort food for cold days, I almost climbed into the casserole dish and lived there for 2 days straight, eating nothing but it.
But lets get out of that visual...Update! No shepherds were hurt during the making of this dish. I was wondering why Hannibal Lechter showed up several times to view this page and after I gave the title to this post more thought, I felt the need to clarify that actual shepherds were not used in the recipe either.

Shepherd's Pie using Leftovers (slightly adapted (and using my version of leftovers) from the Good People at Good Housekeeping)

2 tbsp butter + 2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp flour
1 can (14.5 oz) stock
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 cups leftover cooked white meat (turkey or chicken), diced
2 cups leftover vegetables (I steamed celery, carrots and red bell pepper)
1 cup crumbled cornbread (or leftover stuffing)
2 cups leftover mashed potatoes
1/2 cup shredded cheese

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Lightly grease a casserole dish.
3. In a large sauce pan, melt butter and add oil. Whisk in flour until smooth, cook for a minute.
4. Whisk in stock and Worcestershire sauce, heat until boiling.
5. Reduce heat to low, and simmer for about 5 minutes.
6. Stir in cooked turkey (or other white meat) and pre-cooked vegetables. Heat through and then remove from stove top.
7. Make a layer of cornbread or stuffing in the casserole dish.
8. Top with turkey mixture. Spread mashed potatoes on top and finally sprinkle with cheese.
9. Bake for about 20 minutes or until cheese melts and casserole is hot and bubling on the edges. 10. Serve with gravy, if she doesn't mind....

Ecuadorian Chicken Fried Rice - Chaulafan de Pollo

I had to post about chaulafan de pollo that I made recently and which I found on Laylita's blog. Do check out her site, what an assortment of recipes and regional delicacies from South America!

This chicken fried rice is found commonly in Ecuador, and y'all know how I love me some of that innernationaw food. So, I was splitting my sides when I further read her post and discovered that this dish is commonly prepared in Chinese restaurants (known as chifas) in Ecuador!

But even Chinese food takes on regional differences, this fried rice was a generously spiced and flavored mix of vegetables, chicken, bacon and rice. The best part to boot was that I also got three cups of homemade chicken broth out of the recipe as well.

aji criollo (Ecuadorian hot sauce) using another of Laylita's recipes. The aji is a hot chilli, garlic and cilantro condiment. This completed the dish for me, but the jury is out on that. My mom, for example, loved the rice by itself and didn't want the aji on it as she felt it detracted from all the flavors already in the rice. Which is odd, because she is the type of person who douses her pasta with Tabasco.

There is quite a bit of work involved in getting this dish ready, but it is so worth it. I also made an

I really did not deviate at all from Laylita's original recipe so I am not re-posting it here. The only change I made was to use paprika because I could not get my hands on achiote, which is a South American spice that is called for in the recipe. I stared down the international aisle of my local grocery store, and despite enlisting the produce manager, the store manager, the lady from the bakery and a random guy in a blue shirt, none of us could find it. (Though I later found out that Amazon.com carries it, if anyone knows which brand is best, please drop me a line!)

Chicken Mansaf - Cuisine of Jordan

I stumbled upon the Walima club, a group of food bloggers who have doggedly decided to blog their way through the Middle East, get this, one alphabet letter at a time. I LURV me some Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food, so I thought I'd tag along, and hopped on board at the letter J - which meant September was the month for the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Of course this is October, but hey, I guess that makes me a little Tardy for the Party.
Har, har, har.....
Petra - one of the Seven Wonders opf the World - is located in Jordan - (pic - source wikipedia)

There were two options, the savoury Mansaf dish, and the sweet Kunafa. I could not source the pastry needed for the Kunafa - it looks like a kind of vermicelli - so I went with making the Mansaf and used chicken instead of the more traditional lamb.
Mansaf is the de facto national dish of Jordan. It consists of meat stewed with spices in a fermented dried yoghurt called jameed.
Enter problem #1 - No jameed - so I subbed with yoghurt, strained to make it a little thicker because guess what people - I can never find Greek yoghurt in my local grocery store. Problem #2 - Greek Gods of Thick Yoghurt -where art thou in my neck of the woods?
The plating is apparently quite elaborate, first layers of traditional flatbread, followed by aromatic rice, finally topped with the meat, and garnished with pine nuts and almonds.

All in all, I liked my rendition (given I've never tasted the original dish!) - it has a fragrant thick and tangy sauce from the yoghurt, though I did go a little overboard with the bahaarat spice (Gulf Spice mix - which I sourced from the lovely ladies at Arabic Bites) and so my version had a little extra zing. After reading it up online, I chose to add the yoghurt after cooking the chicken in spice, which is the opposite of the original method. Chalk that up to an illogical fear of curdled yoghurt...I have issues, people....

Apologies for the appaling photo, it was late by the time I had the whole dish assembled and hungry hands were fast approaching....

Chicken Mansaf (sourced from Walima Arabia)

1lb chicken thighs - boneless, cut into bite sized pieces

1lb chicken breast - boneless, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 large onion

3 cloves garlic

2-3 Tbsp EVOO

2 Tbsp Gulf Spice mix

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp paprika

salt and pepper to taste

2 cups thick yoghurt

2 cups jasmine rice

1 Tbsp butter

slivered almonds and pine nuts - to garnish

3 pita bread - sliced in half and then cut into wedges

1. Mince garlic and onion, heat oil in large saucepan. Add onion and garlic to pan.

2. Add chicken pieces, gulf spice mix, turmeric and paprika and a little salt to taste.

3. Continue cooking till chicken is done, you may need to add water to allow for some gravy. Remove from heat. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.

4. In a heavy bottomed pan, heat yoghurt, whilst stirring all the time. When yoghurt begins to boil, remove from heat.

5. Add yoghurt to the chicken and stir well till combined over low heat. Keep stirring to prevent yoghurt from curdling and reduce further till a thick gravy forms.

6. Fry washed and drained rice in butter in a separate pan, add water to cook.

7. Assemble in a platter - layer the wedges of pita bread, use some of the chicken gravy to "wet" the bread. Next add the rice, then the chicken. Finally, add some toasted pine nuts and almonds to garnish.

Ginger Honey Hoisin Chicken

This recipe appeared in our local newspaper's Foodie section which highlighted recent winners in this year's National Chicken Cooking Contest, held at the Culinary Institute of America - San Antonio. This little gem was submitted by Ruth Kendrick from Ogden, Utah and what drew me to trying it out myself was
a) it used thigh meat, I really don't have much passion for chicken breast meat
b) it had ingredients that were all on hand and I didn't have to do the mad dash to the grocery store
c) well, it just darn looked good.

Loved it! I like the sauce that it results in, so its a perfect pairing with white rice or noodles. I served mine up with plain rice stick noodles and blanched broccoli. The kids had seconds. C'mon now - that should be testament enough.

Ginger Scented Honey Hoisin Chicken Thighs - Ruth Kendrick - (as appeared in Houston Chronicle Flavor section)
1 Tbsp cooking oil
8 boneless,skinless chicken thighs
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 cup chicken broth
2 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds (I omitted, purely because I forgot)
1/4 cup sliced green onions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees
2.Add oil to a skillet big enough to hold allthe chicken. Over medium heat, add chicken and lightly brown on all sides.
3.In a small saucepan, mix soy sauce, honey, hoisin, chicken broth, ginger and pepper. Bring mixture to boil and simmer to reduce sauce (I preferred to have a little sauce to accompany the chicken, so I did not reduce much). Pour sauce over chicken to coat, and add to a baking dish.
4. Bake in oven for about 10-15 minutes, or until internal temperature is > 165 degrees.
5. Stir in sesame seeds and green onions, serve with plain white rice or noodles.(Because of the variety of sauces used, there wasn't a need to add salt, but add to taste if required...)

Tandoori Chicken

I once attempted to make tandoori chicken with a jar of ready-made tandoori paste.
Result : Never will I do that again, though I did get that fiery red color thing going, more on my dish towels and countertops than the actual chicken,.

Fast forward to a year ago, where I saw a review of a Williams Sonoma recipe on the now closed Trial and Errors blog (Nabeela, Nabeela, oh where art thou?) which etched itself firmly in the back of my head as The Recipe To Try If Ever...

I have to giggle though. Ironically, I defaulted to an American cookbook for a recipe of the most popular item in any Indian restaurant, both on and off the sub-continent. And as if stars collided, I also chose to post on tandoori chicken the same week HE did. OK, not that I'm proposing a recipe duel of sorts, but the recipe below was GOOD. Thanks Nabeela, for sharing, even though I don't know how to get that across to you anymore =(.

My Rating: 4 out of 5
Gripes: Requires previous day prep, so don't try to pull this one out for a surprise treat.
Glows: Restaurant style chicken right out of your humble oven

Adapted from Williams Sonoma - Essentials of Roasting and Trial and Error blog

Ingredients:
8 chicken legs , skins removed
1/2 cup yogurt
1/3 onion, cut into chunks
2 serrano chilis, cut into thick rings
mint leaves from 4-5 sprigs
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 to 1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp ground pepper
OPTIONAL - 1/4 cup tomato ketchup or tomato sauce
OPTIONAL - 1 drop red food color
Glaze:
1 tbsp butter
1-2 tbsp lime juice
Method:

1. Make the marinade by blending or processing in a food processor yogurt, onion, serrano, mint, ginger-garlic, turmeric, cumin, coriander, salt, chilli powder, garam masala, ground pepper, food color and tomato ketchup/sauce. Blend to a smooth puree.
2. Taste for salt and adjust. The marinade should be a little on the salty side so that the meat absorbs it.
3. Rinse the legs. Using a sharp knife, make a cut to the bone around the bottom of the drumstick, about 3/4 inch from the end. Remove the flesh and any tendons. This will ensure the meat will contract in a nice clump when you bake it. (Note - I didn't do this, the chicken looks like a giant lollipop when you do this, I left the tendons on.)
4. Slash 3-4 cuts on each leg to the bone to help the marinade penetrate further.
5. Place the chicken legs in a ziploc bag or bowl and pour in the marinade. Make sure the marinade covers the chicken pieces and gets into all the slashes.
6. Marinate for 12-24 hours in the fridge.
7. Take the chicken out of the fridge 30 minutes before roasting.
8. Preheat the oven to 500 F. You need this high temperature since we are trying to replicate a tandoor oven which can go to very high temperatures.
9. Take out the chicken from the marinade, place on the roasting rack and roast in oven for about 20-25 minutes, till the juices run clear.
10. Melt butter and add lime juice.
11. Brush butter-lime mixture over chicken before serving (it's best to serve the chicken hot).