Curry Turkey Meatballs

I made these bite-sized turkey meatballs flavored with curry powder, ginger, garlic and cumin a while ago.  In the original recipes, they're made into patties; stuffed into flatbreads and eaten with mango chutney and various toppings, but these can be transformed into party appetizers as well if you make them small.  I made quick-pickled red onions to go along with it; basically sliced red onions marinated in vinegar and salt.  With sliced red peppers, cucumbers, pickled red onion, they are party in your mouth!

Curry Turkey Meatballs

Serves 4

2 slices stale white bread, crusts trimmed

Whole milk, for soaking

1 1/4 to 1 1/2 lbs. ground turkey breast

Salt and pepper

1/4 cup mango chutney, plus more for topping

1/4 cup plain greek yogurt

1 egg beaten

1 small red chile pepper, such as fresno, seeded and chopped

3-4 think scallions, finely chopped

1 piece (1-inch) ginger, grated

2 large cloves garlic, grated

3 tablespoons finely chopped, toasted pine nuts, almonds or pistachios

1 tablespoon curry powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

A small, handful cilantro, finely chopped

Melted butter or vegetable oil, for frying

Toppings:  hot giardiniera or pickled peppers, cucumber slices, lettuce leaves, tomato leaves, pickled red onion

On a rimmed platter or in a pie dish, soak the bread in the milk to soften.  In a large bowl, crumble the ground turkey and season with salt and pepper.  Squeeze the milk from the bread over the meat, then add the bread.  Add 1/4 cup chutney, 1/4 cup yogurt, the egg, chile, scallions, ginger, garlic, nuts, curry powder, cumin and cilantro.  Mix and form into about 12 bite-sized meatballs.

Heat a griddle or large skillet over medium-high heat.  Brush with melted butter (or oil).  Add the meatballs and fry, turning often, until opaque, about 10 minutes.

Serve with topping of your choice on a platter with toothpick for easy picking.

Source:  adapted from Everyday by Rachael Ray, January/February 2013.

Chicken Pot Pies

My son has been begging for me to make chicken pot pies for dinner this weekend. His list of dishes to be served for the dinner was quite long; from the main dish, side dishes, to dessert and drink but I wasn't too keen to make all of them since I had a full and busy week.  In the end I managed to make chicken pot pies from scratch for him. Oh, and he helped too. A bit of honest fact about me:  I'm not a mom who loves to have my kid in the kitchen since I prefer to make things in a methodical and accurate manners (read: neat freak and controlling person) :) Also, I'm no fun to be around in the kitchen since I tend to bark orders around so people in my household tend to leave me alone. But honestly, I love having people in my kitchen, it's just they would need to be in different roles that what they'd like to do otherwise like helping cleaning the countertops, washing the dishes, and vacuuming and moping the floor.  See, no wonder nobody wants to be with me in the kitchen :)

But lately I've come to realize that maybe I shouldn't be so strict in the kitchen. Any instructions on how to cook and bake would be helpful for him when he's older. So I let him help me quite a bit in making the dish. His job was to chop vegetables and to stir things in the pot, starting with mushrooms, carrots, and then pearl onions. Drops of hot oil jumped from the pot and he would in turn jump away from the stove :) He also helped dry up dishes (I love it, I really should ask him to help more). I knew he's quite proud of what he's accomplished because he mentioned to my mom that he helped me making it. And my mom said wholeheartedly that it tasted delicious. I've read that when kids help prepare the food, they'd likely to eat everything on the plate. I saw that this is true since my son ate mushrooms and pearl onions, two ingredients that he usually won't touch.

The chicken pot pie was truly delicious, the crust is crumbly and buttery; the one thing that I love to nibble on. I didn't get to make every dishes that my son asked but he didn't mind it and you know what, he's already planning the next set of meal!

Chicken Pot Pie

Serves 6

For the crust:
9 oz. (2 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
6 oz. (12 Tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into 10 pieces

For the filling:
5 Tablespoons olive oil
2 1/2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 lb. medium cremini mushrooms, quartered (2 cups)
1 1/2 cups frozen pearl onions, thawed and patted dry
4 medium carrots, peeled and sliced 1/2-inch thick (1 1/2 cups)
3 medium cloves garlic, minced
2 oz. (4 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 3 pieces
2 1/4 oz. (1/2 cup) unbleached all-purpose flour
3 cups lower-salt chicken broth
1 cup half-and-half or heavy cream
1 3/4 lbs. red potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch dice (5 cups)
1 cup frozen petite peas, thawed
1/4 cup dry sherry
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
1 1/2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard

Make the crust:
Put the flour and salt in a food processor and pulse to blend. Add the butter and pulse until the butter pieces are the size of peas, 10 to 12 pulses. Drizzle 3 Tablespoons cold water over the mixture. Pulse until the dough forms moist crumbs that are just beginning to clump together, 8 or 9 pulses more.

Turn the crumbs onto a large piece of plastic wrap and gather into a pile. With the heel of your hand, gently smear the dough away from you until the crumbs come together (two or three smears should do it). Shape the dough into a 4-inch square, wrap tightly in the plastic, and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.

Make the filling:
Heat 2 Tablespoons of the oil in a 7- to 8-quart Dutch oven over medium-high heat until very hot. Generously season the chicken with salt and pepper. Working in two batches, brown the chicken well on both sides, 4 to 5 minutes per side, adding 1 Tablespoon oil with the second batch. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and cut into 3/4- to 1-inch pieces (it's fine if the chicken isn't fully cooked; it will finish cooking later). Put the chicken in a large bowl.

Add 1 Tablespoon oil to the pot and heat over medium-high heat until hot. Add the mushrooms. Cook without stirring for 1 minute. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until well browned, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer the mushrooms to the bowl of chicken.

Reduce the heat to medium and add the remaining 1 Tablespoon oil and then add the onions and carrot to the pot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the edges are browned, 8 to 9 minutes. Add the garlic and stir constantly until fragrant, about 30 seconds more. Scrape the vegetables into the bowl of chicken and mushrooms.

Melt the butter in the same pot over low heat. Add the flour and cook, whisking constantly, until the texture, which will be clumpy at first, loosens and smooths out, about 4 minutes. Slowly whisk in the chicken broth and half-and-half. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, whisking to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom the pan. Reduce the heat to low and add the potatoes, chicken, and vegetables (and any accumulated juice), and a generous pinch each of salt and pepper. Partially cover the pot and simmer gently (adjusting the heat as necessary), stirring occasionally, until the potatoes and carrots are just tender, 15 to 18 minutes. Stir in the peas, sherry, parsley, thyme, and mustard. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Assemble the pot pies:
Distribute the filling evenly among six ovenproof bowls and ramekins that are 2 to 3 inches deep and hold at least 2 cups.

Let the dough soften slightly at room temperature, about 20 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a 1/8-inch-thick rectangle. With a round cookie cutter (or using a plate as a guide), cut 6 dough circles that are slightly wider than the inner diameter of the bowls (re-roll the scraps if necessary). Cut one small X in the center of each circle.

Top each bowl of stew with a dough round. With your fingertips, gently press the dough down into the edge of the stew, so that it flares up the sides of the bowl.

Bake the pies:
Position a rack in the center the oven and heat the oven to 425ºF. Put the pot pies on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. Bake until the filling is bubbling and the crust is deep golden-brown, about 45 minutes. Cool on a rack for 20 to 30 minutes before serving.

Source: Fine Cooking, March 3, 2011.

Honey Citrus Chicken

Okay, even though it's still raining, cloudy, and cold in Oregon, I wouldn't let them stop me from grilling food outside.  The weather was much better weeks before; this week is definitely wetter.  I made this Honey Citrus Chicken at the end of February and was pleased with the recipes.  The chicken was marinated with pineapple, orange, and lime a day before.  The marinade was then mix with honey to be used for brushing the chicken while they're grilled.  The remainder of it was reduced to make a sauce.  I didn't put the jalapeno in the marinade because my son wouldn't be able to eat it; instead, I sliced it thinly for my husband and I.

This was paired with Orzo Salad with Vegetables and Herbs; an unapologetically refreshing combination and a sign that I couldn't wait for the spring to come.

Honey Citrus Chicken

Serves 8



3 large oranges

2 limes

2 cups diced pineapple

1 3-inch jalapeno pepper, seeds and membranes removed

1 teaspoon minced garlic

3 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

Freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons honey

8 6- to 7-ounce boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, trimmed of excess fat

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Kosher salt

Vegetable oil for oiling grill rack and for brushing chicken



Grate enough orange peel from oranges to yield 1 teaspoon and then juice them to yield 1 cup.  Grate enough lime peel from the limes yield 1 teaspoon and then juice them to yield 1/2 cup.  Set aside both zests and juices.

Combine diced pineapple, jalapeno, and garlic in a food processor in a food processor or blender and process until mixture is almost smooth.  Pour marinade into a large, nonreactive shallow dish, and add orange and lime zests and juices, soy sauce, chopped cilantro, chopped basil, and 1 tablespoon black pepper.  Stir to blend.  Remove 1/3 cup of the marinade to a small nonreactive bowl and whisk in honey.  (Cover and refrigerate the honey mixture until ready to grill chicken.)  Add chicken to dish and turn to coat in marinade.  Cover and refrigerate 4 to 5 hours, turning several times.

Remove chicken from marinade and using a rubber spatula, scrape excess marinade from breasts.  Strain marinade into a heavy, medium saucepan.  To make sauce, boil marinade in saucepan until reduced to 1 1/2 cups, about 15 minutes.  Whisk in butter and season with additional pepper and salt if desired.

Oil a grill rack and arrange 4 to 5 inches from heat source.  Prepare grill for a hot fire (high temperature).  Brush chicken with oil and grill, turning several times and basting with reserved honey mixture, until chicken springs back when touched with your fingers and juices run clear when chicken is pierced with a sharp knife, 4 to 5 minutes per side.

Arrange breasts on a serving platter with sauce.



Source:  adapted from The Big Book of Backyard Cooking by Betty Rosbottom

Steamed Chicken Soy-Ginger Sauce

My family loves to have chicken dishes so I have to constantly find recipes that are new and tasty.  One of things I look when preparing a chicken dish is that it also needs to be unfussy, imagine going home from work and I still have to slave for a long hours in the kitchen on weekdays for dinner.  This is one recipe that I found meets both criterias, easy and tasty.  The sauce is really gingery, which I like, but if you feel like it's a bit too much, feel free to lessen the quantity of the ginger.  The chicken is succulent because it is steamed and I love dark meat parts compare to white meat parts, that will be my husband's portion :)

Steamed Chicken with Soy-Ginger Sauce

Serves 4



One 3- to 4-pound chicken, cut in half

1 tablespoon soy sauce



For the sauce:

1/4 cup grated ginger

3 green onions, trimmed and minced

1 tablespoon sesame oil

2 teaspoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

12 iceberg lettuce cups



Arrange the chicken halves skin side up and side by side in a glass pie plate.  Rub the skin with the soy sauce.  Let stand for 15 minutes.

Prepare a steamer and heat over high heat.  Place the pie plate in the steaming basket, cover, and steam over high heat until the chicken is no longer pink near the bone, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the sauce:  stir the grated ginger, green onions, sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic, ground ginger, salt, and pepper in a small heatproof bowl.  Heat the vegetable oil in a small skillet just until it begins to smoke.  Carefully pour the hot oil into the ginger-soy mixture (the mixture may sizzle).  Stir well and let stand until cool.

Remove the plate of chicken from the steamer and let cool slightly.

Strip the meat from the bones and cut the meat into bite-sized pieces.  Place on a serving platter with the lettuce cups alongside.



Source:  adapted from Martin Yan's Chinatown Cooking