Table for Two - Sticky Garlic Chicken

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...This is an adaption of a recipe that has been on the internet for over a decade. I can't find the source of the original recipe, so I'll have to save my thanks to its creator for a later date. I've gone ahead and altered the recipe to feed a family of two and in the process have found yet another way to use those huge pterodactyl breasts that are sold in supermarkets today. Our supper tonight was a single breast that weighed 1-1/2 pounds. I normally save these huge breasts for soups, stews and stir fries, but I knew this adapted recipe was a perfect way to use one the three huge breasts in my sale package. I honestly don't know how a chicken this size can move, much less fly, but I'll just have to assume that nature somehow finds a way. Breasts are not the most flavorful part of the chicken, so one of my cautions to those of you who follow in my stead, is to be sure and liberally season the meat with salt and pepper before you cook it. I season my chicken before I tenderize it, and I've found that using a jaccard helps to season the interior of the meat as well. I, by the way, routinely use a jaccard to tenderize chicken breasts and I think it works wonders. I've also doubled the amount of sauce I make to serve with the breasts for two. With the understanding that tastes differ from one person to the next, I thought the most popular version of this recipe produced a dry and under-seasoned chicken. That was easy enough to take care of and the recipe below reflects the changes I've made. You might want to make changes of your own. I like this recipe. I wouldn't serve it to guests but I think it makes a great family meal. I served our chicken tonight with oven roast potatoes, but the chicken is also wonderful when served in a Cobb or Caesar salad. I do hope you'll give this dish a try. Here is how my version of it is made.

Frugal Foodie Friday - Chicken Karaage (Japanese Fried Chicken)

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I don't often serve deep fried foods, but when I do no holds are barred. I was introduced to Karaage Chicken four decades ago, and it was a case of love at first bite. The salty marinade and crisp crust for which this dish is famous makes for an unforgettable taste treat. The chicken is inexpensive to make, easy to prepare and guaranteed to make your socks go up and down as long as you keep a couple of things in mind. Cornstarch is absolutely necessary to the success of this dish. Flour simply will not produce the crispy crust that has made this chicken famous. It is equally important to keep the temperature of your oil constant. Don't overcrowd your fryer and make sure to bring it back to temperature before frying the next batch. Quickly drain the chicken and get it to the table while it is hot. That constraint makes it next to impossible to serve this dish to guests, but friends and family are fair game and will love you for your effort and the introduction to this dish. You'll find that lemon adds enormous flavor to the chicken and helps to keep the saltiness of the soy sauce in check. These days I actually use a low-sodium sauce to make the marinade, but I urge those of you who have access to tamari to use it instead. Japanese tamari is thicker, richer, and less salty than most soy sauce and it is wonderful in this marinade. Because the dish is made with chicken thighs it is inexpensive to make and well within the reach of most budget conscious cooks. I love chicken prepared in this manner and I highly recommend it to all of you. Here is how it is made.

Frugal Foodie Friday - Japanese-Style Chicken Drumsticks

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The Discovery Fit and Health website has included One Perfect Bite in the Chilled Soup and Summer Salads link of their round-up, 7 Low-Calorie Summer Recipes. You can find the complete feature, here.  Try not to miss it. It contains some great recipes and  you'll enjoy the time you spend there.


From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...This week's Frugal Foodie Friday feature is the first in a series of posts that will explore ways to use inexpensive chicken parts. Not to worry, I'm talkin' chicken drumsticks, not innards or parts with odd sounding names and slippery surfaces. For reasons I don't fully understand, the cost of drumsticks has not inflated as quickly as other chicken parts and they remain a bargain, even when not on sale. Tonight's recipe comes from Food.com where it has it's called, Japanese Mum's Chicken. Chicken prepared in this manner is very popular in Japanese homes and there are as many versions of this recipe as there are Japanese moms to cook it. This recipe, though simple, is exceptional, but it contains one ingredient that is beyond the reach of those with truly limited food budgets. Balsamic vinegar is expensive and its cost could feed a family of four for at least two nights. I have found a way around that with a simple substitute that is workable in this recipe and others like it. If you combine a tablespoon of apple cider or red wine vinegar with a 1/2 teaspoon of sugar you have a reasonable substitute for balsamic vinegar. In the recipe below, a mix of 1/2 cup vinegar with 4 teaspoons sugar will give you a sufficient quantity of poor man's vinegar to make this recipe workable. This method of cooking and the marinade in which the drumsticks cook works well for chicken wings as well. This recipe is fast, easy and inexpensive. It is also delicious. I hope you will enjoy it. Here's the recipe.

Japanese-Style Chicken Drumsticks...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Food.com

Ingredients:
8 chicken drumsticks, skin on
1 cup water
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup soy sauce
2-1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 garlic clove, peeled and bruised
1 small hot chili pepper, slit open, seeds removed

Directions:
1) Place all ingredients (chicken through chili) in a deep skillet and bring contents to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, spooning off surface scum as needed, for about 20 minutes.
2) Increase heat, turning drumsticks frequently, and cook until liquid has reduced to a sticky glaze, about10 minutes longer.
3) Arrange chicken on a serving platter, remove garlic clove and chili from the liquid, then spoon remainder of glaze over chicken. Serve immediately. Yield: 4 servings.







One Year Ago Today: Pork Parmesan with Spaghetti

















Two Years Ago Today: Strawberry Sorbet

















Three Years Ago Today:  Fusilli with Walnut and Garlic Sauce














Four Years Ago Today: Eggs Florentine

Three Cup Chicken

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...This is but one of many versions of a Taiwanese dish called Three Cup Chicken. It gets its name from the ratio of the three main ingredients used to make it. The chicken is always made with equal portions of soy sauce, rice wine and sesame oil. I have several recipes for the dish in my files, but I rely on this one because it is so fast and easy to prepare. While it lacks the gorgeous color of the more classic braises, it delivers a wonderfully flavorful and unpretentious meal with a fragrance that draws people to the table. Cooking lore tells us the dish was first cooked for an official before his execution. It was made by a prison warden who had limited resources and he made the sauce for that dish using three wine cups, intended for worship, to measure the ingredients. Today, recipes use various measures of the basic three ingredients, but they must always be equal to each other for the dish to be called three-cup. I relied heavily on this dish when I was working and it would appear on my table once or twice a month. While it is best made with thigh meat, the breast can also be used if you cut back on the cooking time. I always serve this dish with steamed rice and just-wilted spinach. My family enjoys this dish and I think yours will too. Here is how Three Cup Chicken is made.

Three Cup Chicken...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Ching-He Huang

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
One 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into thin coins
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 6), cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/4 cup light soy
1/4 cup Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
1/4 cup toasted sesame oil (see Cook's Note)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 small handful Thai basil leaves, or Italian basil, plus extra for garnish

Directions:
1) Heat a wok or large skillet over high heat. When it is hot add vegetable oil and cook until oil smokes. Add garlic and ginger and stir-fry quickly for a few seconds. Quickly add chicken and let it sit in pan for 30 seconds before stir-frying until it browns, about 2 to 3 minutes.
2) Add soy sauce, rice wine and toasted sesame oil, Reduce heat to medium and cook for 6 minutes. Stir well and add brown sugar. Bring to a boil, then turn down heat to medium-low and simmer until sauce is reduced to a thick, sticky consistency and the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes. Turn off heat, stir in basil leaves and allow them to wilt slightly. Serve immediately. Yield: 2 to 4 servings.

Cook's Note: It's important to use toasted sesame oil, which reduces as it cooks, and not pure sesame oil, which will continue to cook and not reduce or thicken. The final dish should be slightly sticky.

One Year Ago Today: Milk Chocolate and Caramel Mousse Pie

Two Years Ago Today: Maine Shrimp Chowder

Three Years Ago Today: Baked Portobello Parmesan - A Dieter's Delight

Potatoes Anna and Japanese-Style Potatoes with Butter and Soy

Years ago Potatoes Anna were often a component of dinner parties and special family meals in our home. I stopped making them because they were so rich. Granted they were delicious, but anything made with that much butter should be be good! One of my daughters told me that Cooking Light had a recipe for Pommes Anna and suggested that I give it a try. I did, but I've found my tastes have changed. There's no denying the potatoes are delicious and beautiful to look at, but after such a long absence on our table I thought they looked a bit contrived and a bit too perfect for a table that has relaxed - considerably - with the march of time. Earlier this year, I had the good fortune to stumble on a recipe for Japanese-style potatoes with butter and soy on the blog Just Hungry. These potatoes are simple to make and they are really flavorful. As it happened we sampled the potatoes back to back and that made it easy to compare them. Both are delicious, but unless the pope or the president come for dinner the Japanese-style potatoes are a hands down winner.

Potatoes Anna

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
3 pounds baking potatoes, peeled and cut into thin slices
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 450 F.
2) Combine salt and pepper in a small bowl. Melt 2 1/2 tablespoons of butter in an oven-proof skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat.
3) Arrange a single layer of potato slices, slightly overlapping, in a circular pattern in pan. Sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper mixture.
4) Melt remaining 1 tablespoon of butter in a small, microwave-safe bowl. Drizzle 1/2 teaspoon of melted butter over potatoes in pan.
5) Repeat the layers 5 times, ending with butter and pressing down firmly after each layer to "pack" them together. Cover and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 25 minutes, or until potatoes are golden.
6) Remove from oven and loosen the edges with a spatula. Place a plate upside-down on top of the pan; invert the potatoes onto the plate. Sprinkle with parsley. Yield: 6 servings.

Cook's Note: For best color pat potato slices dry before layering. This recipe first appeared in Cooking Light magazine.




Japanese-Style Potatoes with Butter and Soy

Ingredients:
1 pound tiny Yukon Gold potatoes, washed and unpeeled
Salt
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon soy sauce
Black pepper

Directions:
1) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2) Put the potatoes in a pan and cover with heavily salted water. Bring to a boil and cook until just fork tender, about 10 minutes. Drain. Alternatively, potatoes may be placed in a single layer in a microwavable container to which 3 tablespoons of water is added; cook on HIGH power for 10 minutes, or until tender.
3) Melt butter in pan; add soy sauce. Return potatoes to pan; lightly toss to coat. Transfer to a baking sheet. Roast for 25 to 30 minutes, or until potatoes are brown and cooked through. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Garnish with chopped parsley. Yield: 4 servings.

This recipe was developed by Maki and can be found on her blog Just Hungry.

Im sending this entry to Christie at Fig and Cherry who is hosting this month's Potato Ho Down. The Potato Ho Down event is the brainchild of Cathy who can be found at Noble Pig.