Like most Filipino dishes, there is no “right” way to make Pancit. Each family has its own take on the dish, and within any given family, there are variations. The basics are Pancit Noodles, meat, vegetables and hard-boiled eggs. Beyond that, the sky is the limit. You can put just about anything but the kitchen sink into your Pancit, and it would be just fine.
Continue reading “Filipino Pancit with Everything but the Kitchen Sink”
When Hubby and I first got together, he took me to a dive of a Mexican restaurant – a real hole in the wall joint with linoleum floors that slopped toward the kitchen and rickety tables. Hubby insisted they made his all-time-favorite Mexican dish – Chicken Mole. He was right, it was very good. Because I love Hubby with all my heart, and as a blushing bride, I wanted to make his favorite Mexican dish at home. Have you seen the ingredients in authentic Mole sauce?! Oh me, oh my . . . raisins, nuts, chocolate, chilies and on and on . . . hours of simmering. Oh no!
See me in my kitchen, doing a happy dance. I am so thrilled with how the pan-fried chicken came out – a technique I had struggled to master. I remember the first time I attempted to make batter fried chicken for a lemon chicken recipe. To say it was a disaster would be putting it mildly. The recipe called for the chicken to be dipped, then fried in a wok. The problem I had with my wok was that the chicken did not have room to spread out, to be surrounded in hot oil. The result was a big clump of chicken. When I tried to break it apart, most of the batter pulled away from the chicken. It was one hot mess. I gave up and began baking the chicken instead. Baking, while healthier, did not produce that golden puffy goodness you expect with Chinese Chicken dishes. I surrendered to the fact that the only way to get good, crisp fried chicken like the ones you get from a Chinese Restaurant was to order take-out or eat at a Chinese restaurant.
For whatever the reason, I decided to give it one last try at home. I read my recipe, remembered all the different dos and don’ts I have seen on all those cooking shows, and thought about my own failed disasters. Failure isn’t failure unless you learn nothing from the experience. Believe me, I learned. All those lessons have been incorporated and now I am proud to say I’ve got this. While this recipe is for Sweet and Sour Chicken, the cooking technique of the chicken is the same for many dishes – simply by changing up the sauce, you can create perfect Orange Chicken, Lemon Chicken, or a whole host of yummy dishes. This batter could also be used on shrimp or scallops as well.
Sweet and Sour Pan Fried Chicken
Sweet and Sour Sauce
1 (8 oz) can Pineapple Chunks, juices reserved
1 1/2 cups water
3/4 cup White Sugar
1/2 cup Distilled White Vinegar
4 drops Orange Food Coloring
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup Chicken Broth
Place a strainer over a cup or bowl, drain pineapple and reserve the juice. Set pineapple chunks aside.
In a saucepan, combine water, sugar, vinegar, reserved pineapple juice and food coloring.
Place saucepan over medium-high heat and stir until sugar has dissolved. Let liquid come to a full boil.
In a small bowl or measuring cup, blend cornstarch with chicken broth. Set aside until liquid in saucepan comes to a boil.
Remove saucepan from heat. Slowly add cornstarch mixture to the saucepan. Continue to stir until the mixture begins to thicken.
Return to low heat and let sauce simmer, stirring occasionally.
Pan Fried Chicken
2 1/4 cups Self-rising flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 egg
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups water
3 large Boneless, skinless Chicken Breasts
Vegetable oil for frying
In a large bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, salt and white pepper. Whisk to blend.
In a small bowl, whisk egg with vegetable oil. Pour egg mixture into flour mixture and stir to blend.
Add water, 1/2 cup at a time and blend with a fork to create a thick batter. Set aside and let rest.
Rinse chicken breasts and pat dry with paper towels. Lay breasts on a cutting board and cut into 1-inch chunks.
Place chicken pieces into the batter. Stir to get all the chicken pieces well coated. Set aside while the oil heats.
Heat oil in a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat to 350 degrees. Oil should be about 2 inches deep.
Using tongs and working in batches, remove chicken one piece at a time and place in hot oil. DO NOT overcrowd the pan or allow pieces to touch while frying. Fry for about 5 minutes, turn or roll over and continue to fry another 5 minutes, until pieces are golden and puffy.
Remove chicken pieces from skillet using a slotted spoon, drain on paper towel to absorb excess oil. Repeat until all the chicken pieces have been fried.
Garnish
1 Red Bell Pepper, chopped
1 Orange Bell Pepper, chopped
Pineapple Chunks
While chicken is frying, core and cut bell peppers into chunks. Spread out in a microwave safe dish. Place into microwave and heat on high for about 3 minutes. The peppers should be warm yet retain that fresh crispness.
Remove peppers from microwave, add pineapple chunks and toss to combine. Set aside until ready to use.
When ready to serve, pile chicken in the center of a large serving platter. Arrange peppers and pineapple in a circle around the chicken. Drizzle some of the sauce over the chicken, reserve remaining sauce to be added at table side.
Serve chicken with the sauce and enjoy!
The first time I read this recipe, I had my doubts. Alfredo sauce and Spaghetti sauce blended together – really? I like them both, although with cheese filled pastas and seafood filled pastas, I’ve always been partial to a light, creamy sauce such as an Alfredo over the robust, tomato-based Spaghetti sauce. It never occurred to me to marry the two together in one dish. Oh my stars, what a great combination!
Growing up in a mixed culture household, rice often graced our dinner table. While other families dined on mashed potatoes with creamy gravy, we ate a ton of white rice smothered in that same delicious gravy. Oh sure, if there were a roast in the oven, it was a safe bet that our starchy side for the evening were potatoes. However; more often than not those spuds were not mashed but rather quartered and roasted alongside the beef, soaking in all those wonderful flavors of the pan drippings.
Continue reading “Mom’s Basic Fried Rice with a Dash of Tagalog”
Lately, I’ve been in a breakfast frame of mind. I adore weekends – those mornings when there is no need for my guys to rush out the door and skip the most important meal of the day – breakfast. During the holidays, with the long weekends it gave my guys that precious time to savor the mornings. Omelettes, scrambled eggs, piles of buttery pancakes – this breakfast loving gal has been in heaven! It’s always a treat when we can start our mornings together, sitting down to a nice, hot breakfast. Can you tell – I adore spending time with Hubby and Kiddo.
Continue reading “Sunday Morning Scrambled Eggs with Diced Ham”
I love chicken and dumplings, especially on cold, wet winter nights. There’s something so down to earth and simple about sitting down to a big pot of chicken with an incredible broth, chunks of vegetables and steamy dumplings. It warms the soul and conjures up a wave of fond childhood memories. I remember a crowded kitchen bathed in yellow glow and a family gathered around the table. I can see my parents now, making sure there was plenty of cold milk and warm food on the table. It was a simple time, with simple needs. This simple dish brings it all back so vividly for me. Now mind you, my parents broth wasn’t so well seasoned as the one I serve today, and the dumpling recipe they used came from the back of box of Bisquick, but the essence of the meal remains.
It was not my plan to post a recipe this late in the day. It was not my plan to share this recipe at all. It was not my plan to use this recipe for my ribs. I was going to make our usual ribs – slow baked for a few hours, then finished off over an open fire on the grill. Yeah, that was the plan. But Mother Nature had other plans. From out of nowhere, a cold front moved in. The sky turned dark as night. Streaks of lightening lit up an angry sky. Thunder boomed – rattling the windows. In a matter of minutes, the temperature dropped fifteen degrees. The clouds opened up and hail pelted the ground. Hubby and I looked at each other – no firing up the charcoal grill today. The last thing either of us wanted was for Hubby to be standing in a pool of water with long-handled barbecue tongs in his hand. Bad combination with a lightening storm.
How would you like to have dinner on the table in under ten minutes? Mind you, this doesn’t count for the time it takes to peel, devein and remove the tails from your shrimp. If you do that little chore in the morning or the night before, then cook to serve is under ten (count ’em 10) minutes.
Continue reading “Sizzling Chili-Garlic Shrimp on a Bed of Rice”I don’t know about you, but I am EXTREMELY picky when it comes to eggs at breakfast – be it fried or scrambled. With a good fried egg, I want the white fully set, with the yolk bright and runny. As for scrambled – they MUST be cooked through without being dry or rubbery. I’m no expert when it comes to eggs, I just know what I like, what my family will eat and what works for me.
Continue reading “Picky About My Eggs”Here it is, the third Friday of Lent, and even something as simple as a grilled hot dog is beginning to sound pretty good right about now. So let’s spice up the night with a little something from Mexico.
Continue reading “Cheese Enchiladas to Spice Up Friday Night”
This isn’t so much a recipe for Sub Sandwiches – that’s open to so much interpretation anyway. This is more a walk down memory lane.
Growing up as we did, family vacations were mainly “road trips” – pile all the kids in the back of a station wagon with a mattress (for napping) and lots of coloring books – and off we went. Mom and Dad took turns driving. No one wore seat belts or took any precautions to insure the safety of the children. We crawled around in the back of the family wagon, watching the world whisk by. Our destinations were usually to visit other family members – uncles and aunts and cousins living in other states. Stops consisted of gas stations and truck stops (to refill the thermos of coffee). Restaurants? Who needed a restaurant when you could pack sandwiches. Granted, a mile-high sandwich would have been unheard of – we ate baloney or PB&J sandwiches. Highways were two-lane roads winding through the country side. The folks would spot a safe place to pull over, usually near a meadow or other “picnic” spot. They would pass out the paper plates and fetch cold sandwiches from the stash in the cooler. We’d chow down, watch the nearby wild life and stretch our legs. Dad would whip out the Brownie Camera to capture the moment and then we’d all pile back into the wagon and off we would go. What a grand time we had! When our children were younger, we’d pile into the family car and head out. We had the advantage of fast food for cheap burgers. Other than that, the road trips were pretty much the same. Today, highways are speed traps. Meadows are fenced off. And everyone is strapped into the car, making it impossible for the kids to crawl about. But then, kids of today have video players and hand-held electronics and no one is looking out the window as the car whisks down the freeway. Even on vacations, we are all “plugged in”, with no sing-a-longs or conversations. How sad.
This fond memory gave way to another. Once upon a time, when our kids were just teenagers, we took road trips just like those I remembered. The only real difference was my kids were strapped into the back seat, all safe and sound. No station wagon, no mattress, but the joy of family time remained the same.
As I listen to the wind howling outside today, I am reminded of another cold winter day over twenty years ago. It was very cold and wet President’s Day Weekend, and our little band planned a get away to Lake Tahoe. Hubby worked for a company that owned a beautiful cabin near the lake. It was one of the perks for Corporate Officers, and Hubby was a Vice President. That particular President’s Day Weekend was one of the worst for traveling. Rather than take our passenger car, Hubby decided to take one of the company’s King Cab pickups with four-wheel drive. While Hubby went off to fetch our transportation, I was left in charge of packing. As I packed our suitcase with heavy sweaters and winter jackets, I also watched the weather updates. Chain requirements were in effect less than forty miles from our home – that was low, foothills low. Outside a frigid rain pounded against the roof. When Hubby returned, not only did I have suitcases at the ready, I had a small cooler packed with sandwiches, a thermos of coffee, one of hot chocolate and a pile of blankets. Hubby frowned. After all, the drive was just over a hundred miles – only a few hours. What in the world did we need with blankets and food? Half way up the mountain, avalanches blocked any thought of a retreat. A little further up the mountain, and more avalanches prevented any forward momentum. No turning back, no going forward. We were stuck. Let me tell you, Hubby appreciated the warm drinks, cold sandwiches and comfort of blankets! Twelve hours later, the roads were cleared and we reached our destination.
To this day, I like to pack sandwiches to take on the road. Not the Bologna sandwiches of my childhood – but big, meaty sandwiches. The sort of sandwich you can have for dinner on a warm summer night.
Mile-High Hoagie Style Sub Sandwiches
6 Hoagie rolls, 6″ each
1 Tablespoon Olive oil
1 Tablespoon Red wine vinegar
1/4 Teaspoon Italian seasoning
12 slices provolone cheese
12 slices Deli Ham
12 slices Soft Salami
12 slices Deli Turkey
12 slices Deli Roast Beef
2 sliced tomatoes (see note)
1/4-1/2 head shredded lettuce (see note)
1 Small Red Onion, sliced into thin rings (see note)
Split rolls. Sprinkle liberally with olive oil. Lightly sprinkle vinegar and season roll with Italian seasoning.
Place sliced tomatoes and onions on bottom of roll. Layer cheese and meats on top of onions. Top sandwich with shredded lettuce.
If desired, serve with potato salad, macaroni salad or chips.
Note: If packing the sandwiches for later, pack the sliced tomatoes, shredded lettuce and onions into separate bags. Wrap sandwiches in plastic wrap, then place into bags. Finish assembling sandwiches when ready to serve. This will keep the vegetables fresh and crisp and the sandwich won’t get soggy.
This recipe didn’t come from a cookbook (that I know of) or a website out there somewhere. At least that’s not how it came to be in our house. The original recipe is handwritten on a piece of yellow paper, tucked away for safe keeping. It is, in my opinion, as authentic as it gets.
Continue reading “Authentic Spicy Spanish Rice”On a beautiful Sunday, I wanted to serve up a real Southern meal – perfectly fried chicken, a mountain of fluffy mashed potatoes smothered in down-home pan gravy, sweet corn on the cob and fresh from the oven buttermilk biscuits. This was a supper that would make my Okie ancestors proud!
Continue reading “Buttermilk Pan-Fried Baked Chicken with Pan Gravy”
When you think Hasselback Potatoes, imagine Baked Potato meets French Fries, or Roasted Potato. It’s like having your cake and eating it too. Crisp on the outside like a French Fry, fluffy on the inside like a baked potato. Likewise, a Hasselback Potato can be topped with butter, sour cream and chives much the same way. You can even add some cheese and crumbled bacon if you like, or season them with a mixture of garlic and herbs much like you would for roasted potatoes.
Welcome to Rosemarie's Kitchen 