Chix Teriyaki

This picture makes our dinner look rather spartan but tonight's meal was full of flavor! The menu consisted of chicken teriyaki, steamed cauliflower, brown rice with mushrooms and boiled edamame.

I marinated the chicken all day in a teriyaki and soy sauce concoction. When I got home, I chopped it into small pieces and pan fried it in sesame oil and lots of garlic until cooked. I cooked the rice in the rice cooker with chopped mushrooms. It turned out perfect. I steamed the fresh cauliflower in the microwave until soft. Unfortunately, I would call the texture closer to semi-soft. The veggies probably could have cooked for a few minutes longer. Finally, I boiled edamame in the shell according to the directions on the bag. I especially happy about the edamame since it's been tough to find on our local grocery store. I topped everything with a little soy sauce.

Johnnycakes was extra pleased with the meal, probably because he didn't have to lift a finger. He's been pitching in a lot in the kitchen lately so it was nice to serve him a meal he didn't have to prepare.

As I said in my last post, we're trying to get back on track with home cooking and being healthy. I'd say this meal fits those perimeters.

Sensational Asian Inspired Chicken

Johnnycakes and I can't stop commenting on how much we enjoyed tonight's dinner. It all just came together without much forethought and it was one of the tastiest dinners we've prepared in a long time.

I should probably mention that we are in another one of those critical times when we desperately need to go to the grocery store. We are really getting to the bottom of what we can eat but it's an interesting exercise to say the least.

I set out some boneless chicken thighs to thaw while we were at work. We decided to go with an an Asian theme since we haven't went in that direction lately. I was sort of in the mood for rice so I prepared about two cups in the rice cooker while we started to prepare dinner.

I coated the chicken in World Harbor Hawaiian Style Teriyaki Sauce. I am a big fan of all the World Harbor sauces. It's basically all corn syrup but I've used the brand in many dishes, especially when I go to a party.

Johnnycakes heated a large deep frying pan coated in sesame oil. He chopped 2 cloves of garlic and a large chunk of fresh ginger. Once that started to cook, Johnnycakes added the chicken thighs to the heat and covered the pan. The meat, combined with some of the teriyaki sauce, gave off a lot of moisture so the meat almost boiled in the juices.

I chopped a whole red onion, julienned 2 carrots, sliced some canned pineapple rings and steamed some frozen broccoli while the meat cooked.

We slowly added the onions and carrots to cook until soft. Once the veggies were soft and the meat was cooked thoroughly, we combined the rice, pineapple, meat and vegetables and tossed. The combo was a little dry so we added some pineapple juice and some extra teriyaki sauce.

Yum! The end result was great. We both went back for seconds which I usually try to refrain from. I think it was the sweetness that made the dish so good. I am a new convert to chicken thighs since I think they have a lot more flavor than chicken breast. We thought some salty peanuts in the mix may have been good but, in retrospect, I think it was the sweetness we savoured and enjoyed.

A Couple of Cooks Creation: Johnny's Wontons

Tonight we made one of our classic dishes. Johnny's Wontons! I promised a while back that I would describe how we make them in an earlier post http://coupleofcooks.blogspot.com/2007/05/clean-house.html.

These are the best because, though they take a while to assemble, we always have leftovers in the freezer and get to enjoy them at a later date. Of course, we each had our share of the little treats tonight.

Usually Johnnycakes takes the lead on assembling the wontons but we were pressed for time tonight, so I helped.

Johnny's Pork Wontons

Pork Filling:

1 lb. ground pork

2 tsp. ground ginger

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp. Soy Sauce

2 scallions, chopped

1 carrot, shredded julienne style

Mix all together and stuff each wonton wrapper with about 1 tbsp. of meat mixture.

The assembly line involved several steps:

1. First, you take a wonton wrapper and wet the edges on just two adjacent sides of the wrapper.

2. Then you stuff each wrapper with about 1 tbsp. of meat
3. Then you fold the wrapper diagonally, making sure that no meat pops out the sides.
4. Seal the wrapper by crimping it with a fork.

5. Fold the two sides inward so that they touch each other at the center of the wonton. (No Photo!)

You can either pan-fry the wontons in sesame oil or steam them. I prefer them steamed because they end up with a softer texture. They steam for about 15 minutes covered but you probably want to test them for doneness with a meat thermometer. I'm kind of crazy about that "doneness" kind of stuff.

We serve the wontons with a dumpling sauce. We usually use a store-bought variety but we decided to try and make our own. It turned out quite well.

Homemade Dumpling Dipping Sauce

1/2 cup of Soy Sauce (reduced sodium)

2 tsp. sugar

2 tsp. garlic juice (from jar of minced garlic)

1 tbsp. rice vinegar

1 tsp. sesame oil

I know it seems like a lot but you always end up with extras in the freezer. Johnnycakes are always so glad that we took the extra time to make them. The tasty reward is always worth the effort!

Sweet and Sour Surprise

I don't know how we pulled it off but Johnnycakes and I came up with a creative dinner tonight despite zero forethought or planning.

I usually plan the meals but completely spaced out thanks to my foggy post vacation brain. I forgot to pull meat out of the freezer and didn 't even think about it until lunch time. Luckily Johnnycakes thought ahead and pulled out some drumsticks to defrost.

When I got home, Johnnycakes was in the mood for "hot wings" style chicken but I was able to deter him from the idea since we didn't have any blue cheese dressing or really any clue how to make the sauce. Instead, we opted for Sweet and Sour Drumsticks. Here is a recipe for the sauce.

Sweet and Sour Sauce

1 TBSP. Sesame Oil

2 TBSP. Apple Cider Vinegar

2 TBSP. Brown Sugar

1TBSP. Ketchup

1 TBSP. Soy Sauce

1/2 TBSP. Minced Ginger

1 Carrot shredded

1/4 cup Red Pepper, chopped

2 TBSP. scallions, chopped

Heat all ingredients over low heat for 10 minutes until thickened and vegetables are soft.

We basted the grilled chicken with this delightful and easy sweet and sour sauce. We rounded out the meal with some broccoli spears and Chinese cellophane noodles that have been in our pantry for an eternity.

Oddly and surprisingly enough, this was a tasty dinner! I couldn't have predicted this thrown -together sweet and sour Asian-influenced dinner, hence the surprise. The sauce might go well with pork as well...