You'll notice that I've used instant flour as a possible ingredient in the recipe below. This is another restaurant technique that I use in my own kitchen. The flour can be found in a canister in any large super market and it has become my favorite coating for meat and poultry that needs to be dredged before it is sauteed or fried. Instant flour - the best known brand is Wondra - has the consistency of baby powder, but, like cornstarch, it produces meat and poultry with a lighter and crispier coating than that produced by all-purpose flour. The coating helps prevent toughening of the surfaces exposed to direct heat. Lest you think the use of instant flour is something I've conjured from the miasma, you'll feel better knowing that Jacques Pepin, David Bouley, Eric Ripert and Mario Batalti are also fans of he product.
I'd also like to talk about the use of dry vermouth in this and other of my recipes. Overtime, this has become a convenience for me. The Silver Fox and I are not big drinkers. We are not prudes, but we've both reached a point in life where calories count, and we've made a conscious decision to chew rather than sip our calories. That means I rarely have a bottle of white wine in the refrigerator, and vermouth, which has a shelf life of 3 to 6 months, is a simple and obvious substitution for it. Vermouth is a fortified white wine that is mildly flavored with herbs, spices, and fruits. It is a lot less expensive than the dry white wines that are suitable for drinking, and while its flavor is a little different from a straight white table wine, it works wonderfully well when cooking savory dishes. I recommend you find a brand you like and stick with it when you cook. Flavor is not consistent from one brand to another and the balance of herbs and spices can throw off a recipe, so stay with what you know. Cook's Illustrated has recommended the use of Gallo Dry Vermouth. It is not too highly spiced, so its components won't go to war with the ingredients in your dish. It is also cheap! I do hope you'll give this recipe a try. Here is how the cutlets are made.
From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Years ago, Lady Luck was with me and this simple recipe won a contest that took the Silver Fox and me to Hawaii for 3 weeks. Whether it merited such a prize is arguable, but the salad is very nice, quite easy to make, and I think your family will enjoy it. Regular readers may be surprised to find that the recipe uses convenience or "shortcut" ingredients that aren't present in most of the recipes I feature. That's because these contests were sponsored by food companies who had products they wanted to feature. Winning recipes had to use those products, have clear directions and be prepared quickly. While I've removed the product sponsor's name, I'm sharing the recipe as it was written for the contest. I think you'll like this salad. Here is how it's made.
From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...The Silver Fox and I are attending a covered dish supper this weekend, so I spent some time today filtering ideas and thumbing through recipes to come up with something that might be unexpected at an affair of this type. I finally settled on a recipe I made years ago and had quite honestly forgotten about. It is for meatballs that have an Asian flair and it is also one that my older grandsons liked to help assemble when they were younger. The meatballs are easy to prepare, relatively inexpensive to make and the recipe can be doubled or tripled if you have a gang to feed. The recipe is self explanatory and you'll have no trouble following it. I know those of you who give the recipe a try will enjoy the meatballs. Here is how they are made.
From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...t was a busy day today. Fortunately, I had forewarning, so I planned an easy, two step, chicken dinner. We occasionally have a curry and because the weather turned colder, I thought it would make a perfect spring supper. I used a recipe from about.com and because it was a braise, I did the prep work and browning early in the day and finished the chicken in a low, slow oven once I made it home. The chicken is savory and can pack some heat depending on the type of curry powder you use. The recipe is easy to follow and you'll have no problem making this curry, though I suggest you use butter instead of oil to brown the chicken and aromatic vegetables. Served with a green salad and rice or grits, it makes a great weeknight meal. I hope you will give it a try. Here is how the chicken is made.
From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...This is a quick and easy entree that's perfect to prepare when there are just two people sitting at your table. It is a simple chicken saute and so easy that even new cooks will have no trouble successfully preparing it. The only trick to its preparation is not overcooking the chicken. The dish can be served with rice or couscous, but I love to serve it with sauteed potatoes. I hope you will give this simple dish a try. It is surprisingly good for something that is so easy to prepare. Here is how it is made.
From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I had some bean dip leftover from yesterday's featured post, and because refrigerator space is at a premium this week, I wanted to finish it up so I wold have room for some other dishes that need chilling. The dip has a decidedly southwestern flavor, so I thought it would make a fabulous base for sandwich wraps that would also have a southwestern flair. I had some leftover chicken that I paired with corn and black beans for my off-the-cuff experiment. The combination proved to make a great filling for the wraps, and, better still, they came together in about 15 minutes. Here is how I made them.
From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...This quick chicken dish harkens back to the days when the words braise or saute were unknown to me. My culinary vocabulary was even more limited than my cooking skills and if a dish wasn't fried or roasted I was quite frankly asea. Fortunately, Julia came along and changed all that. By applying techniques she demonstrated, this bride's chicken became edible and over time received favored family status. As a matter of fact, I made it so often that my family eventually tired of it and it was entombed in the shoe box I called recipe heaven. Lately, I've been de-cluttering, and while I postponed as long as I could, the box, which has survived three moves unscathed, came under scrutiny. Most of the old recipes were tossed into the circular file, but a few of them, including Chicken Rosmarin, were deemed worthy of an encore performance. The dish is simple and inexpensive to prepare and it makes a great weeknight meal. If you are looking for a quick and easy entree to help carry you through this busy holiday season, do give this recipe a try. Here is how the chicken is made.
From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...This recipe is at least a decade old and it was among those I pulled from my old recipe box last week. It, like many of the others buried there, was often used and retired only because we had it so often we tired of it. I made it for our dinner tonight and was reminded why it originally found such favor with my family. I think your family will enjoy too. It is reasonably quick to prepare and it can be on the table within an hour. Properly garnished, it can serve as a company as well as a family meal and I know you will be pleased with it. Here is how it is made.
From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...This is one of the first dishes I made as a bride. A quick look at the recipe will show you why. It is effortless to make and tasty to boot. Back then, there was one type of soy sauce in grocery stores. It came in an 8 ounce bottle, and because not a lot of Asian cooking was done, that bottle could last a year or two. Not many "50's" brides made it to Hawaii, so shoyu chicken and those exotic Hawaiian plate lunches were known to us only because they were occasionally featured in the ladies magazines of the day. I can't tell you from which of the magazines this recipe was clipped, but I can tell you I've been making this version of shoyu chicken for nearly as long as I have been married. I'd share that number with you, but experience has made me wary. Folks tend to check if I'm wearing shoes when they hear how long the Silver Fox and I have shared a table. This version is a bit different than most because it uses lemon juice in addition to soy sauce, to marinate and glaze the chicken. Shoyu is Japanese soy sauce. It is sweeter and lighter than its Chinese counterpart and these days you can find it in any large supermarket. The chicken is baked in its marinade, turned once and then served over rice which absorbs the pan juices. A true plate lunch typically consists of a scoop or two of rice, a scoop of macaroni salad and a saucy meat entree like kalua pork or shoyu chicken. Plate lunches are considered a Hawaiian staple. They evolved from the leftovers Japanese immigrants carried in their lunch pails as they worked in the sugar cane or pineapple fields. This is such a simple dish and many would dismiss it, but it is one that I treasure because it is so easy to make. If you are looking for a quick week night meal you might want to give this chicken a try.
From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I fortunately live in an area where fennel is plentiful and inexpensive. That makes it possible to prepare this dish without having to surrender a king's ransom. Truth be told, I like this riff on bouillabaisse so much that I would probably make it even if I had to pay an exorbitant prices for the fennel. The stew is easy to make and I know those of you who give it a try it will be smitten. Here's what I had to say when it first appeared on One Perfect Bite.
From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...While I can't be more specific, I have made this chicken hundreds of times since it made its way into my permanent rotation. It is one of those strange dishes whose simplicity makes it difficult to talk about at length. Julia Child had a bit more complicated version of it in The French Chef Cookbook - a compilation of recipes featured on her first TV programs. I tried her version as soon as I had the recipe in hand. Several years after that, I stumbled on this simpler version and it has been in my permanent rotation ever since. It's hard to spoil this dish. The only caution I would share with you is a warning not to overcook the chicken. It's meant to be moist and if it becomes dry and stringy you will not speak well of me. If you are looking for a quick and reliable meal to serve to guests, as well as family, this recipe has your name on it. Here's what I had to say about it back in 2008. I had the gift of brevity back then.
