Chicken Parmesan & Stuffed Squash Blossoms

A few months ago, I planted some zucchini squash and they're now flourishing like crazy. Just about every morning, I'd be greeted by its blossoms, and in the course of about 4 days, I had collected two short of a dozen. Coincidentally, I found a recipe for stuffed blossoms in the "Eating by Color" cook book last week and gathered all the ingredients to make this tonight.
Squash Blossoms

• part-skim ricotta cheese
• finely chopped fresh mozzarella
  
• freshly grated Parmesan
• tempura batter mix
• sparkling/soda water
• squash blossoms
  

Strain the ricotta in a strainer lined with cheesecloth for 2 hours. Depending on how many blossoms you have, I suggest just using half the amount of mozzarella and Parmesan to the ricotta cheese. The original recipe called for 12 blossoms with a cup of ricotta, so you'll have to use your judgment from there. Combine all the cheeses together.

I used tempura batter instead of flour, and my sister suggested using soda water to lighten up the batter even more. Add enough water (cold!) so that the batter is runny after mixing and let it rest for 30 minutes.

Spoon or pipe the cheese mixture into each blossom in equal portions. Holding the blossom by the stem end, coat with the tempura batter and let the excess drip into the bowl before plunging into the fryer, holding tips in first for a few seconds before letting go of the rest. Cook until golden and crisp, about 3-4 minutes. Remove the blossoms, shake and place in a brown paper bag to drain. Season to taste with salt and serve.

The result was not the success I hoped for...too oily although the flavor was good. I got the oil to 375° (the highest possible) and let it drain, yet was left with puddles of oil. It seemed that the tips of the flowers dragged and held in the oil.

The Chicken Parmesan was a success. I used a basic recipe from an online source, and I was pleased with how tender it turned out. I got the chicken breasts on bulk from Costco, which came in these little pouches of two and made storing and separating so convenient. Along with the blossoms, I actually got zucchini squash from the plant (imagine that), enough to line the entire bottom of the casserole dish just below the chicken so as to incorporate more veggies into our meal. The thing I would change next time is to flatten out a chicken and leave a corner or two uncovered by sauce so as to get a bit of crunch. Yum.

*Update: I tried frying the blossoms again, this time without the stuffing, and they turned out great! The trick was to make sure to fry them long enough (about 2-3 minutes on each side) so it's not soaking with oil. The flavor of the blossom is quite wonderful...like a subtler version of the squash in leafy form. Stuffing them made it too nerve-racking for me because I was afraid that the cheese would ooze out and get lost in the oil, which was why I didn't cook them long enough and wasn't successful in the first try. I continue to gather flowers and want to try them in a stir fry.

Chicken & Dumplings Again

Yes, I'd made this dish already but this version was so good yet different that I had to write it down so I would remember how to recreate it.

Last week, I bought a Costco chicken and we had half of it left (mostly because we were tired of eating it just roasted) after we made tacos, so I decided to make chicken & dumplings out of it tonight. I first boiled the whole thing (bones, skin & pulled meat) to extract as much chicken-ness out of it as possible (about 10 minutes), then removed skin, carcass and any other "floaties" hanging around. Use enough water to cover the chicken.

Next, I added about 3/8 tsp salt, 3/8 tsp onion powder, 1 cube vegetable bouillon and about 1/2-2/3 cup each of celery and carrots, and let them cook for about 30 minutes. I happen to have some chopped cilantro left over from our chicken taco meal and didn't want to waste them so tossed them in as well and let the soup reduce some more. The last step is to add the dumplings, which was just the standard procedure according to the directions on the biscuit mix.

The key to the intense flavors of this one was several fold: rich roasted chicken and the cilantro (who would've guessed?). I'm still cooking it right now (almost done) and it's already amazing! No gravy necessary this time.

**Final note: not necessary to add salt because flavors intensified once finished.

Ground Beef Tacos

I know there's already a tacos night, and this one's just a different version of it, mostly with whatever I had on hand so it's a little different.

about 3/4-1 lb. lean ground beef
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp cayenne powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 finely chopped jalapeno
5 chopped sweet peppers
1/2 can corn kernels
1 chopped tomato
1/4 cup chopped scallions
handful chopped cilantro

Brown the beef first, stir in the the dry seasonings next until it's mixed well, then add all the chopped stuff except for the tomato and scallions. Stir until the peppers are wilted, stir in the tomato, turn off the heat and mix in the scallions and cilantro at the very end.

Fish Fillet w/ Basil

One of my family's favorite restaurants is Newport Seafood in Rowland Heights, and one of my favorite dishes there is the fish fillet with basil. Last week, I bought a package of frozen orange roughy (we could all use more fish!), and wanted to do something different with it rather than just baking or steaming it and topping it with a sauce. I thought back to the Newport dish, mulling it over in my head for a couple of days until finally attempting to recreate it tonight. Let me just say...OFF THE HOOK! It tasted pretty close to the restaurant version and none of it was left over at the end of our meal. I can't wait to make this for my parents!

2 fish fillets, sliced into bite-size pieces
1/2 cup flour, seasoned with garlic salt
1/2 cup basil leaves
2-3 cloves of chopped garlic
3 tbsp King Soce black pepper steak sauce (99 Ranch or TJ's carries something similar)

In a stir-fry pan, heat up enough oil to cover half the fish. Dredge the fish in seasoned flour, fry each side until lightly browned and drain on a paper towel. Dump out the used oil and heat up about a tablespoon of fresh oil. Add the garlic and cook until lightly browned, then add the basil and about 1/3 cup water, and give it a stir before adding the pepper sauce. Finally, toss in the fish pieces until each is completely coated, taking care not to break them.

The best way to enjoy this is to serve it over rice and you'll want to make sure you have plenty of sauce, so adjust the amounts of water and sauce to taste. The one thing I left out from the restaurant version is the jalapeno pepper. Personally, I like just a hint of heat but Ken doesn't so it wasn't a big deal exclude it. I also made stir-fried fresh egg noodles with beef, broccoli and green onions, and fish paste patties.

Fool Proof Guacamole

As you know, I love short cuts. This one just takes minutes to make with a few simple ingredients and a lot less work. First smash up an avocado. Mix in a few squeezes of a lemon, a small amount of ground cumin, and some freshly chopped cilantro. Now this is the shortcut I used: add a few tablespoons of your favorite salsa. Mine is Jack's Special Salsa. That's it! If you think about it, the same ingredients that go into a guacamole are found in salsa, so why go through all the trouble?!

I Want My Baby Back Ribs

I love baby back ribs. For some reason, I'd been intimidated about making them. I finally took the plunge when I saw how easy it was on one of the Food Network shows. Basically, I rubbed the meat with a store bought spice rub (Stubbs) and brown sugar. Make sure to use dark brown sugar, and not light brown, which I mistakenly used. Cook in a deep pan and add some water to it. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 250F for 2 hours.

Since it took so long to cook, I made this the night prior and grilled it the next day. To warm the meat after removing from the refrigerator, I let it sit in a warm oven before grilling. Baste it with your favorite BBQ sauce and grill for about 15 minutes. The meat was so tender when it went on the grill that it feel apart, so it might help to cut the rack in half prior to cooking.

On the side were the remainder of the potato medley with chopped garlic & parsley in grape seed oil, and sauteed corn, roasted red pepper and smoked turkey sausage.

Ken enjoyed this more than he thought he would, because he thought there wasn't going to be much meat or be too fatty and found it quite the opposite. We had everything but the ribs left over. This is a keeper. I found some more ideas on how to make ribs online, which I hope will give them more flavor (minus smoking).

*3/28 Update. I made this again today and made a change to the dry rub. In addition to the Stubbs and brown sugar, I used Lawry's seasoning salt, smoked paprika, and a small amount of cumin powder, and cooked it in beef broth with some water. We also had some beef ribs and didn't cook it quite as long, so the meat wasn't fall-off-the-bone. Regardless, they tasted better this time.

Happy St. Patrck's Day!

So I attempted to make corned beef and cabbage in celebration of Ken's Irish heritage. I picked up a brined packet of corned beef from TJ's and put it in the slow cooker according to the instructions on the packaging while we were at work. As for the cabbage, the suggestion I found online for a traditional Irish meal was to add it to the corned beef broth, but after a few minutes, I didn't like the idea of everything tasting the same so I took it out and sauteed it instead. And an Irish meal wouldn't be complete without potatoes. TJ's had a colorful medley of tiny potatoes, which I baked with grape seed oil, garlic salt and rosemary in the oven.

Ken really enjoyed the corned beef, as well as my dad. For me, the flavor was pretty good but not the smell...something about all the brininess didn't appeal to my nose.

Hamburger w/ a Twist

I bought some herb chevre cheese because I've never had it and was curious as to what it tastes like. Unfortunately, it's not my favorite to eat for a snack. Since there's still quite a bit left (even for a small tube), I wanted to use the rest and thought it'd be interesting to incorporate it into a burger. I cut about 1 tbsp of it and mixed it with about the same amount of chopped scallions, then stuffed it in between ground beef that I've added about 1 tsp of olive oil and balsamic vinegar to. Although I added some garlic salt to the ground meat, it could've used more. To top it off, I cut a piece of a herb foccacia bread the same size as the patty and lightly grilled it with garlic butter. It was different but tasty nonetheless. The chevre worked really well this way.

Rack of Lamb a la Julia Child

Ever since I saw "Julie & Julia", I've been really into learning more about Julia Child. Ken bought me her "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" as well as as "Julia's Kitchen Wisdom", an essentials guide. Today, my colleagues got me her "My Life in France" as a belated birthday gift which I'm looking forward to reading.

As it turned out, I happened to buy a rack of lamb from Costco and was going to prepare it my usual way: cut into chops and marinated in olive oil, rosemary and garlic, seared on both sides then roasted in the oven, and served with a red wine reduction. This recipe called for the rack to be roasted whole, which I haven't tried before. She had a sauce to go with it but it was too time-consuming (um, simmering lamb bones for 2 hours), so I just made something up with the ingredients I had.

Yeah, I know...the whole thing is one color (including the plate). It's dinner so having something tasty was my main concern. I loved the crunch of the bread crumbs and how well it worked with the mushroom sauce. Usually, when something tastes good, I'll hear a quick "mm" from Ken. With this, there wasn't any sound but I knew he liked it because he systematically chomped down one chop after another by holding it by the rib rather than using a fork and knife like a civilized person. There was nothing left by the time we were done with this meal (it's not as much as it looks). It's been a week since I made it so my memory's a little foggy on the sauce, but I'll try my best to remember what I did.

Herbal Garlic & Mustard Coating
Whisk together a mayo-like consistency 1/3 cup Dijon mustard w/ 3 large cloves of pureed garlic, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1/2 tsp ground rosemary & 3 tbsp light olive oil. Spread over lamb and marinate 1/2 hour or cover & refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Rack of Lamb
Scrape off any fatty meat between the ribs & from top of bones. Score the fat side of the ribs lightly & paint w/ mustard coating. Roast for 10 minutes at 500F, sprinkle 1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs over the meat & drizzle on a little melted butter. Roast 20 minutes more, or to internal temperature 125F for red rare or 140F for medium rare. Let rest 5 minutes before cutting into chops.

Mushroom Sauce
Saute about 1/2-1 cup (your preference) sliced mushrooms in a little extra virgin olive oil & butter. I added about 1 cup of dry sherry because that's what I had on hand. I had a demi-glace (Gold brand) paste in the pantry and made about 2/3 cup of stock according to the packet instructions, which I added after the the sherry reduced by about half. When the sauce reduces, add about 3 tbsp butter at the end and season with salt to taste. In the future, I would use different types of mushrooms, something more earthy, and maybe add herbs as well for a deeper flavor. It's fun to experiment.

Pot Roast Tacos

We still had some of the pot roast left over from last week, so I thought it'd be a good idea to make tacos out of it. I thought we had taco seasonings and discovered we didn't, so I had to improvise with what we had on in the pantry. I added 1/8 tbsp of cayenne and chili powder and 1/4 tbsp of cumin powder, smoked paprika, and chopped cilantro to the roast and the rest of the broth, and simmered the meat for about 45 minutes, adding chicken broth so it doesn't boil down too far and pulling the meat as it tenderized. The broth should boil down enough to just cover the meat. We made the tacos with flour tortillas, added shredded cheese, fresh chopped cilantro and Jack's Special Salsa. I was surprised how good it turned out. Ken liked it so much he ate the rest.