Moved to Wordpress

I have decided to move my blog to wordpress. Here is the link if you are interested;

http://chezstarz.wordpress.com/


Food is our common ground, a universal experience.

Chicken Chow Mein

My daughter told me her favorite meal is now chow mein so I thought I would give the homemade version a try. I looked through my Jamie Oliver Food Revolution cookbook and sure enough he had a healthy version of chow mein. She liked this dish so much that she asked me to make it every night...success! I changed a few things to our liking from the original recipe.

Picture and recipe taken from Jamie's Food Revolution cookbook and website.

  • a thumb-sized piece of fresh root ginger
• 2 cloves of garlic
• ½–1 fresh yellow chilli, to your taste
• 1 large skinless chicken breast
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• a small bunch of fresh cilantro
• 4 oz chow mein noodles
• peanut oil
• 1 heaped teaspoon cornflour
• 2–3 tablespoons soy sauce

These are the ingredients I left out if you want to add them for more flavor; 2 scallions, 1 baby bok choy, 4 shitake mushrooms, 1 x 8 ox can of water chestnuts, 1 small lime.

To prepare your stir-fry
• Put a large pan of water on to boil
• Peel and finely slice the ginger and garlic
• Finely slice the chili
• Slice the chicken into finger-sized strips and lightly season with salt and pepper
• If using, cut the ends off your onions and finely slice
• Pick the cilantro leaves and put to one side, and finely chop the stalks
• If using, halve the bok choy lengthways
• If using the mushrooms, either tear into pieces or leave whole

To cook your stir-fry
• Preheat a wok or large frying pan on a high heat and once it’s very, very hot add a good lug of peanut oil and swirl it around
• Stir in the chicken strips and cook for a couple of minutes, until the chicken browns slightly
• Add the ginger, garlic, chilli, cilantro stalks, mushrooms (if using) and half the onions
• Stir-fry for 30 seconds, keeping everything moving round the wok quickly
• Add your noodles and bok choy to the boiling water and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, no longer
• Meanwhile, add the cornflour, water chestnuts and their water to the wok and give it another good shake to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom
• Remove from the heat and stir in 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
• Halve the lime, squeeze the juice of one half into the pan and mix well
• Drain the noodles and bok choy in a colander over a bowl, reserving a little of the cooking water
• Stir in the noodles and bok choy with a little of the cooking water to loosen if necessary, and mix well
• Have a taste and season with more soy sauce if needed

To serve your stir-fry
• Use tongs to divide everything between two bowls or plates, or to lift on to one large serving platter
• Spoon any juices over the top and sprinkle with the rest of the spring onions and the coriander leaves
• Serve with lime wedges 

Delectable Marinated Chicken Thighs

I was looking for a marinate for the boneless, skinless, chicken thighs I wanted to BBQ later and I came across this one on Allrecipes.com I did not have the smoke flavoring or sesame seeds and my son dislikes teriyaki sauce so I omitted all three ingredients. Also, I used olive oil instead of canola oil. The children devoured the chicken and my son's friend, who joined us for dinner, asked me to let him know the next time I am making these so he can join us again. It was a hit. Picture and recipe from allrecipes.com.


Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce
• 1 teaspoon liquid smoke flavoring
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic pepper
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs

Directions

1. Mix together Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, liquid smoke, and molasses in a resealable plastic bag until the molasses has dissolved. Add sesame seeds, brown sugar, paprika, garlic salt, garlic pepper, minced garlic, and canola oil; mix well. Coat chicken thighs with the marinade, seal, and marinate for 4 hours in the refrigerator, redistributing the chicken in the marinade occasionally.
2. Preheat an outdoor grill for medium heat.
3. Remove chicken from marinade and shake off excess. Grill on preheated grill until the chicken has reached an internal temperature of 165 degrees F (75 degrees C), and is firm and opaque, about 12 minutes per side. Discard any remaining marinade.

Best-Ever Barbecued Ribs

I use to bbq ribs so tender, I never needed to bake in the oven or boil to start, the good old days. For some reason, lately, all my ribs are turning out dry. So I tried this recipe found in the July 2012 issue of Bon Appetit and damn! They are tender and good. Give this recipe a try. Recipe and photo from Bon Appetit; July 2012 issue.


2 1/2 tbsp kosher salt
1 tbsp dry mustard
1 tbsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
8 lb baby back pork ribs (Okay, I admit, I did not make this many ribs, make enough for however many people you are feeding)
low salt chicken broth
1 1/2 cups store bought or homemade bbq sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degree. Combine first 5 ingredients in a small bowl. Place each rack of ribs on a double layer of foil. Sprinkle rub all over ribs. Wrap racks individually and divide between 2 baking sheets.
Bake ribs until tender but not falling apart, about 2 hours. Carefully unwrap and pour juices into bowl, reserve. Let ribs cool completely.
Build a medium hot fire in a charcoal grill. Add broth to rib juices to make 1 1/2 cup. Whisk in bbq sauce to blend. Grill ribs with direct heat, basting with bbq sauce mixture and turning frequently, until laquered and charred in places and heated through, 7-10 minutes. Serve with additional bbq sauce.

Scottie's Fatty Cheese Lasagna

This is my boyfriends's lasagna recipe and it is super cheesy and delicious. He changes it up each time but this is the basic recipe. The difference from many lasagna recipes is that you slice, not shred, the cheese. Also, you add Monterey jack into the mix.

1 pound ground beef
1/2 yellow and 1/2 red onion, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 jars of your fav spaghetti sauce or make it homemade (see spaghetti n meatball recipe)
1 pnd mozzarella cheese, sliced
1 pnd Monterey jack cheese, sliced
1 pnd part-skim ricotta
1 small can black, pitted, olives, sliced
Salt
Pepper
Italian seasoning
1 pnd lasagna noodles

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Heat olive oil and sauté onion until tender in large sauté pan. Add ground beef with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Cook until browned. Dispose of grease and add spaghetti sauce. Meanwhile, boil noodles as directed on package. Mix ricotta cheese with olives and season to taste. Layer the lasagna by starting with sauce, noodles,  a layer or ricotta mixture, noodles, sauce, mozzarella cheese slices, noodles, sauce, Monterey jack cheese slices, noodles, sauce.....until lasagna is complete. 

Cover with tin foil and bake for 30 minutes, uncover and bake for another 25 minutes.

Grilled Lobster Tails

Picture and recipe from
http://www.savoryreviews.com/
This is a delicious grilled lobster tail recipe I found online. Enjoy!

• Lobster tail(s)
• Skewer(s) – one per lobster tail
• 1/4 stick of butter per lobster tail
• 1 clove of garlic per tail
• 1 tsp of lemon juice per tail
• salt (to taste)
• pepper (to taste)

Light your grill, you want to cook the tails over indirect heat.Then  make the garlic lemon butter.Melt the butter, garlic, salt, pepper and lemon together. Using a pair of kitchen shears, cut a slit down the back of the lobster tail all the way to the tail fan. Flip over the lobster tail so that it is on its back. Making sure that the lobster is flat, insert a skewer right underneath the tail fan. Then push it through the center of the meat to the other end. Place the tails cut side down on the grill right on the edge of the heat zones. Right between the hot and cool sides of the grill. Cook for 7-8 minutes and then flip the tails. Move them over a bit just until they are not directly over the coals. Cook with the lid closed. Next baste the tails with the garlic lemon butter. Make sure to get a lot of the butter into the sliced portion of the shell. Cook for another 3-5 minutes. Cook with the lid close. When the meat is opaque, it is done. Remove from the grill. Baste one more time with the butter and cover with aluminum foil. Let the meat rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Jamie Oliver's Chicken Fajitas

I finally bought my first Jamie Oliver cookbook. I choose the Food Revolution because it was the only soft cover, therefore the cheapest. This is the first recipe I made from it and it was so simple yet very good. You will see in the directions that it is copied directly from his book as well as the picture posted above. Looking for an easy recipe, this is it.

1 red bell pepper
1 medium red onion
8 ounces skinless, boneless chicken breast fillets
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
A small pinch of ground cumin
2 limes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/16 teaspoon sea salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 x 8-inch flour tortillas
½ cup plain yogurt
2 ounces Cheddar cheese

For the salsa
½–1 fresh red chile, to your taste
15 ripe grape or cherry tomatoes

about ½ cup a small bunch of fresh cilantro

1/16 teaspoon sea salt

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 lime

For the guacamole

a small handful of cherry tomatoes

about ¼ cup

½-1 fresh red chile

a few sprigs of fresh cilantro

½ ripe avocado

1 lime

·         Put your grill pan on a high heat. Halve and seed your bell pepper and cut it into thin strips. Peel, halve, and finely slice your onion. Slice your chicken lengthways into long strips roughly the same size as your bell pepper strips.

·         Put the bell peppers, onion, and chicken into a bowl with the paprika and cumin. Squeeze over the juice of half a lime, drizzle over a lug of olive oil, season with the salt and pepper and mix well. Put to one side to marinate for 5 minutes or so while you make your salsa.

·         Finely chop your chile. Roughly chop your tomatoes and the cilantro, stalks and all.

·         Put the chile and tomatoes into a second bowl with the salt and pepper and the juice of 1 lime. Then stir in your chopped cilantro.

·         Use a pair of tongs to put all the pieces of bell pepper, onion, and chicken into your preheated pan to cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until the chicken is golden and cooked through. As the pan will be really hot, keep turning the pieces of chicken and vegetables over so they don’t burn – you just want them to lightly chargrill to give you a lovely flavor. Give the pan a little love and attention and you'll be laughing.

·         To make the guacamole squeeze a handful of cherry tomatoes on to a board. Finely chop up the flesh with ½ -1 red chile and a handful of cilantro leaves, including the top part of the stalks.

·         Halve the avocado, leaving the side with the pit for another use. Then squeeze the one side of the avocado over a board so the flesh comes out of the skin. Discard the skin. Squeeze over the juice of 1 lime and chop everything together until fine. Taste and adjust the flavors if needed.

·         Warm your tortillas up in a microwave or a warm dry frying pan. Divide your warmed tortillas between your serving plates.

·         Halve your remaining lime and squeeze the juices over the sizzling pan. Serve with bowls of plain yogurt and guacamole alongside your Cheddar, a grater, and your lovely fresh salsa.