Chicken Egg Foo Young

So after a recent trip to Happy China - just your run-of-the-mill take-out Chinese place, I decided to stray from the ordinary, and delve into some Egg Foo Young.

This was my first experience with Egg Foo Young, so I really had no idea what to expect.  After getting the take-out home, I discovered that it was pretty much just an amped-up omelette with a special "gravy".  It was tasty though, a little greasy, but maybe it was supposed to be that way?  I don't know.

Anyway, for breakfast/brunch yesterday, I decided to tackle Egg Foo Young at home.  The result was something much less greasy, and with tons more flavor!

Ingredients:

Egg Mixture:


3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
4 green onions, chopped
2 cups mung bean sprouts
1 cup sliced portobello mushrooms
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, sliced
salt and pepper, to taste
6 eggs, slightly beaten

Sauce:

1 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons cold water

In a large skillet under medium high heat, add vegetable oil and heat until shimmering.  Season chicken with salt and pepper and add to skillet.  Cook until white throughout, about 5-7 minutes.  Remove from pan with a slotted spoon and set aside in a large bowl.

Adding more oil if necessary, add ginger, green onions, bean sprouts, mushrooms, and green peppers to skillet.  Saute for about 6-8 minutes, or until vegetables start to soften.  Season with salt and pepper. 
Add vegetables to large bowl with the chicken.

Pour eggs into bowl with vegetables and chicken, and combine.

Heat a non-stick skillet under medium high heat, adding about a tablespoon of oil.  Add about half of the egg mixture to the pan and cook for about 3-5 minutes or until eggs have solidified.  Carefully fold half of the mixture over (like an omelet) and cook for an additional minute or 2, or until cooked throughout.

Repeat with remaining egg mixture.

For the sauce, combine chicken broth, soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar in a small saucepan.  Bring mixture to a boil.

Make a slurry with the cold water and cornstarch.  As soon as the chicken broth mixture is at a boil, at the cornstarch slurry.  Heat for about 1-2 minutes, or until mixture thickens.  Pour gravy over eggs.

This was definitely delicious.  We had 2 huge Egg Foo Youngs and we both only ate half of it.  Not that we didn't like it, but we were just so full!  These things seriously pack a lot of stuff in!  Feel free to vary up the toppings, just like an ordinary omelette - but it's really the sauce that makes these special!

Have a great Tuesday guys, and see you all tomorrow!

Restaurant Recreations: Granny's Apron

It's been a while since I've done a Restaurant Recreations post, so I figured I'd start the week with one!

Now, a while back, I posted on my Facebook page that I would be trekking around Louisville to find a hole-in-the-wall diner to try.  Upon just seeing the name of this place - Granny's Apron - we knew we had to give it a go.

The restaurant itself is pretty inconspicuous, it's basically a plain brick building - you wouldn't really know it's a restaurant unless you already knew it was there.

We walked in and were promptly seated.  The restaurant was about half full, so you know that something had to bring them there.  One look at the menu and it was a hard decision to pick what we wanted.  They have all your basic comfort foods, from country fried steak to meatloaf.  We decided to do two appetizers, the onion petals and some mozzarella cheese sticks.

The onion petals tasted like a spicy version of a bloomin' onion, and were served with a sauce very similar to bloomin' onion sauce.  They were tasty though.

The mozzarella cheesesticks wern't anything fancy - in fact, they probably came from a frozen package - but hey, we weren't anywhere fancy, so I didn't expect anything more.

For our entrees, Andy chose the fish sandwich and I chose the prime rib burger.

Now let's talk about this fish sandwich.  This thing was huge.  I mean - HUGE.  4 people could have eaten off of this.  And the kicker here?  The sandwich was like $6!  After the sheer shock factor of how big this thing was, Andy said the taste of the fish itself wasn't anything spectacular.

Seriously huge!

There was pretty much only one word for my burger - messy!  It was juicy though!  It had sauteed mushroom and onions on it, as well as some swiss cheese.  Then to top it all off, there was a boatload of gravy on top.  It was definitely way too messy.

Sorry about the blurry picture - but you can obviously see this thing was messy!

All in all, our meal was okay.  It wasn't anything spectacular, but for under $20, we got your typical diner food - and let's not even talk about the "entertainment" we received while people-watching.



So let's get to the recreation!

I liked the idea of my burger, loaded with goods, but the restaurant version was way too messy!  So I decided to "clean" it up a little bit and here's what I ended up with...

Ingredients:

1 lb. lean ground beef
8 oz. portobello mushrooms, sliced
1 small onion, sliced
6 tablespoons orange juice
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
4 slices bacon, cooked and divided
Hamburger buns
Swiss cheese slices

Heat a large skillet under medium high heat and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil.  Add mushrooms and onions and cook until softened and slightly caramelized, about 10-15 minutes.

In a medium bowl, combine the beef, orange juice, soy sauce, olive oil, apple cider vinegar.  Chop up 2 slices of bacon and gently combine in the mix, as well.

Form mixture into 8 patties and season liberally with salt and pepper.

Heat a charcoal grill under medium high heat.  Grill patties for about 4 to 5 minutes per side (for a medium rare), or until at desired doneness.  About a minute before burgers are done, add cheese slices on top (if desired) and cook until melted.

Assemble burgers and top with onions, mushrooms, and leftover bacon slices. 

These were extremely juicy burgers!  I don't normally include a lot of acidity like orange juice or vinegar in burger mixtures, but it really worked here.  And you could taste a slight orange flavor in the meat which was a welcomed change!

The burgers were still slightly messy, but manageable, due to the fact that I decided to omit the gravy.

Give these burgers a try for your next grilling adventure and you won't be disappointed!

Have a great Monday guys!

Herb-Braised Chicken Halves

What a weekend!  It seems that we'll be able to check out our potential wedding venue next Tuesday!  We're pretty sure this is THE one!  We had breakfast at Toast on Market, which happens to be right next door to the venue... so we just walked around it a bit, and you know, I just got that feeling.  That it was the right choice.  Am I crazy?  Or do I just have that wedding-planning bug?  Either way, the fact is... we're so close to settling on a date, a venue... which means that this wedding is sooooo gonna happen!  Not that I didn't think it was, but you know, the more that is set in stone, the more real it all feels!

And we committed to a photographer this weekend too!  It's my friend Adam who does some awesome work, and he's cutting us a great deal, so it was extremely hard to resist! 

So our tentative date is April 28th of next year, so hopefully we'll be able to book that date next Tuesday when we check out the whole place!  Cross your fingers!

I sound like an elated school child don't I?  I just can't help it!

Anyway, let's talk chicken.  A while back, Sommer, over at A Mama With Flavor, posted a recipe about how she cooked a chicken in a dutch oven.  I'm sure this is somewhat common, but to me, it was a totally new way of cooking chicken.  I was quite intrigued.  Especially since my favorite part of a chicken is the crispy skin!  This would have no crispy skin, but it would definitely render a tender and moist chicken, that rivals even the best of the crispy-skinned chickens that I've cooked!  So thanks for planting that seed in my head Sommer, because I finally took the plunge and cooked a chicken in the dutch oven, and I quite possibly may never go back to the regular roasting method again!

Ingredients:

Didn't want to get all that chicken juice on my new cutting boards!

4 lb. whole chicken
salt and pepper, to taste
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 celery ribs, sliced
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1 onion, sliced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup madeira wine 
3-4 cups chicken stock
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
5-8 sage leaves, chopped
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/8 cup flour

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Pat chicken dry and sprinkle both sides with salt.  You can be somewhat generous, but don't overkill here.  Place chicken in glass bowl or dish and cover.  Refrigerate for at least 6-8 hours.

Take chicken out of refrigerator and wash off salt.  Pat dry.

In a large dutch oven (big enough to fit the whole bird and cover it) under medium high heat, add olive oil.  Add chicken and sear until both sides are a golden brown, about 10-15 minutes total.  Remove chicken and set aside.

Add garlic, celery, carrots, and onion to dutch oven.  Cook until vegetables start to soften, about 5 minutes or so.  Stir in tomato paste and cook for another minute.  Add madeira wine and cook until it is reduced by half, about 5 minutes.


In a small bowl, combine butter, sage, and thyme in a small bowl.  Spread the butter mixture underneath the skin of the chicken and on top of it.  This will ensure good flavor throughout the meat and keep a little moisture too.

Carefully place chicken back into dutch oven and pour about 3 cups of chicken stock into the pot.  Cover and place in oven.  Roast for about 1 & 1/2 hours or until chicken is white throughout. 

Carefully remove chicken from pot and let rest on cutting board for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring liquid from pot to a boil on stovetop.  Remove about 1 cup of the stock and mix it with the flour in a small bowl.  When flour is dissolved into stock, slowly pour back into dutch oven.  Whisk until mixture has thickened slightly.  Strain the vegetables from the pot, and at this point, you can either save them, throw them out, or use them as a side.  I don't like wasting things so I just served the vegetables alongside our chicken. 

Cut chicken in half and serve alongside vegetables or chosen side.  Spoon gravy over top, if desired.

Seriously, this was a great idea.  The meat was probably the most tender I've ever had, and the flavor was just amazing!  Definitely try roasting a chicken in a dutch oven if you get a chance!  Enjoy guys!

Beef Tips & Gravy

Well, today I took my first step into fully deciding I'm going to graduate school as opposed to pharmacy school. I bought a GRE study book. Now, some may think, just because I bought the book, doesn't mean I'm going to study it, or actually take the exam. But on the contrary, I wouldn't have shelled out the cash if I wasn't going to deliver. It's kind of a subliminal message to myself that hey, maybe things (such as rejections) happen for a reason and your path at life isn't supposed to go the way you thought and maybe it's supposed to go this way. Trust me, I know about things happening for reasons and life taking detours. I've had plenty. Anyway, I'll keep you updated on the school front.

Now, beef tips and gravy I think is just one of those comfort food recipes. Not your normal meat and potatoes kind of dish, there's tons of flavor here.


Ingredients:

1/4 cup canola oil
5 onions, roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves, sliced thinly
1 tablespoon dried marjoram
1 & 1/2 tablespoon tomato paste
3 tablespoons paprika
1 & 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup red wine (I used a Shiraz)
6 cups chicken stock
2 bay leaves
zest from 1 lemon
3 lb. sirloin, cut into chunks
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon cold water
salt and pepper to taste

Turn a crockpot on high setting.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the onions and cook until soft, about 25 minutes. Add garlic and marjoram and stir until fragrant and garlic softens, about 2-3 minutes. Add in the tomato paste and stir constantly for about 3 minutes. Add paprika and cayenne pepper and stir well. Remove from heat and let flavors meld together.

Add the mixture to the heated crockpot and add vinegar. Stir well, cover, and let vinegar absorb into vegetables for about 2-3 minutes. Add in chicken stock, bay leaves, and lemon zest.

Sprinkle sirloin chunks with salt and pepper. In same skillet for onions, add beef chunks (you can wipe the skillet if you want to, but I think it adds to the beef so I didn't). Brown chunks on all sides and then add to crockpot. Deglaze skillet with red wine, scraping the sucs from the pan. Add wine to crockpot as well. Stir mixture, cover, and let cook on high for at least 3 hours. The longer it sits, the more tender the meat will be.

Uncover crockpot and carefully take out beef with a slotted spoon and transfer to bowl. Tent with aluminum foil. Pour crockpot liquid and onions into a large sauce pan and bring to a boil until reduced to about 5 cups, about 15 minutes. Let cool momentarily and blend with immersion blender until mixture is nice and smooth. Season with salt and pepper. If you want to thicken the liquid just a tad, mix 1 tablespoon cornstarch with 1 tablespoon cold water in a small bowl. Add to liquid and stir. Then add blended liquid, along with beef chunks, back into crockpot. Turn to low or warm setting. Let simmer for about 5-10 minutes and serve along with rice or egg noodles and some roasted vegetables.

This was truly some good comfort food. It was slightly chilly outside and this was a hearty enough meal to truly warm one up! Enjoy!