FIFA party--challenging KFC fried chicken

No one thinks fried chicken is healthy, but it's just so great, for some people, it's something they have to eat regularly. You can never imagine how awesome KFC is in China, it's something we miss back at home.
It's so hard for me to make it without a deep fry thermometer, well we eventually made it , left a house of smoke...

This is buttermilked fried chicken. Buttermilk makes wonderful battery by those magical chemical reactions. Everything sounds more tempting after put ' buttermilked' before it: buttermilked pancake, buttermilked waffle, buttermilked onion ring... buttermilked fried chicken
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buttermilk

I have read /watched bout buttermilked fried many times, theoretically:
1.Brine: soaked the chicken in season buttermilk overnight: 2cup buttermilk with 2Tbs kosher salt( 1Tbs table salt)
2. pat chicken dry: chicken +seasoned flour +buttermilk+seasoned flour: press to let more flour stick on the chicken
3.let chicken sit 0.5-1hr before deep fried
4. 375F
Besides those, we also put chicken in 425F oven to 'raise-up' the skin
A lot of effort and smoke,  not too bad as a firstime work . But after we checked out KFC product, got to know:
1. more salt rate in brine, (KFC is a little bit salty for me though), I will adjust to 1.5 Tbs salt with 2cup buttermilk
2.more layers, at least three to achieve the crispiness.
well, ours couldn't be counted as 'crispy' but ok to be as 'original' ones, I guess.

I am just so not good at fried food, my onion rings failed 3rd times, things getting frustrating, but other food seemed very welcomed.

Cheese puffy:
it's made from "pâte a choux doug", like make roux first(cooked), then add egg and other stuffs( usually cheese here) , then bake or deep fried.
more information: http://blog.ruhlman.com/2009/01/pate-a-choux.html
If baked, high temperature to form the shape, then medium to bake inside

buttermiked fried chicken with cheese puffy

Baked almond  crusted goat cheese, strawberries with fig +blueberry balsamic syrup

Everything in this salad is cooperated perfectly, baked goat cheese is pretty simple, as you bake crusted fish or chicken, layers are: cheese+flour+washed eggs+almond, 350F baked about 10min, check them frequently. The dressing is I mixed my secrete fig balsamic syrup with blueberry syrup( which made in Acadia :P

cucumber with beet hummus  , goat cheese, mint/basil

Beets hummus : I like beets, impressed by its stunning color( like red velvet cake, color is really something important in food). It is just to replace chickpea with baked beets in hummus,recipe from simply recipe:

• 1/2 pound beets (about 4 medium sized beets), scrubbed clean, cooked, peeled, and cubed*
• 2 Tbsp tahini sesame seed paste
• 5 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 small clove garlic, chopped
• 1 Tbsp ground cumin
• 1 Tbsp lemon zest (zest from approx. 2 lemons)
• Generous pinch of sea salt or Kosher salt
• Fresh ground pepper to taste

this is the family bucket we got on the same day for a night snack.... It's a long long way to go to make perfect fried chicken~~~~

made in KFC

Thorndike Lab-poached chicken breast stuffed with goat cheese and sun-dried tomato pesto

Temperature kills our chicken breast's juicy flavor, so basically I think there are three ways to fix it:

1. punch the chicken to break down the muscle

2. low temperature cooking（like steam, poach)

3.high temperature +short time cooking( like fried, cook it in the way in  Chinese cuisine 

4. acid( lemon , lime, vinegar） 

Today, I use the healthier way 1+2+4

Sun-dried tomato pesto

1 cup drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes (about 6 ounces)

1/2 cup grated Romano cheese or Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil or 1 tablespoon dried

2-3 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted

3 garlic cloves, pan roasted

1/4 cup olive oil

method

1. pan roasted garlic in olive oil

2. use a blender, blend all the ingredients together

Poached chicken breast stuffed with goat cheese and sun-dried tomato pesto

1. make stuffing: mix sun- dried tomato pesto and goat cheese,1: 1 or so , depends on your preference

2. punch the chicken breast, make it thinner 

3.sprinkle both sides of chicken breast with salt pepper, drizzle with lemon juice on one side, which you are going to put stuffings on。

4,because your chicken breast is really thin, so you can wrap them as making a taqueria, the using cooking string to tighten them, then using plastic wrap  wrap them, then put them in a zip bag

5. boil a pot of water, after boiling, reduce the heat and wait until it simmer, then put the zip bag in the water, poach, covered

the differences between poach, simmer, and boiling 

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Information/PoachingSimmeringBoiling.htm

6. 14-15mins, take them out and let them cool

7. I would like to pour the juice that in the zip bag on the chicken roll, to keep them juicy and add more flavor

8. enjoy~~

I hope the above is a good recipe...

Everything is alright-chicken pot pie in late April

Sit back and relax, everything is alright

,let me love you @

Outdoor:  70F

Indoor : 72F

Oven : 400F

Chicken pie: 200 F

Chicken pot pie: 

for chicken: chicken thigh, pan fried

for pie filling:  roux, milk, chicken broth

                    cubed  chicken, 

                    pearl, onion, parsnip, carrot, pea, mushroom,thyme , shrimp(optional)

Biscuit crust:

It's supposed to use butter and vegetable shortening together but I don't have shortening, using bacon grease instead

*Butter has to be cubed ahead, chilled

* never overdo your dough if you want it to be flaky

Still very new to making pastry dough,  a long way to be perfect

--------who hasn't taken his piece of pie?

gaogao: me, me!!!

Legend of Fall Series II(squash) -- Let me cook for you [Assignment]

Hot Chilli Chicken in Squash Bowl

I read something about ' if the food is prepared for you, it will be extremely delicious ', and it just reminded me Mommy's food, those kizzas, chicken and super handmade dumplings... yes they were, not only I could taste it but also I could feel the attention and affection in it , and the good taste as well as the feeling of being loved both will be lasting. And that is also the reason that I don't quite like buying food from stores, especially after I saw them preparing the food in a very casual way, ( I guess they are complaining the time passes so slowly) so the taste in my imaginations was already degraded. Well, I understand them, they are serving hundreds of people everyday and to some point, it was just a job. But without any reason, I just believe the happy single Executive Chef in the Friendly was full of passion , making sandwich, quesadilla, sundae and all kinds of friendly food, I feel happy for those customers that could enjoy his work.

So, every time, when I cook, I will imagine cooking for you, you , and you, and let my food achieve the most top level of gourmet:

every bite has the taste of Love

This is an assignment based on JoJo Taibei's Hot chilli chiken. I was amazed when I had the first bite, it is such a hit to add (A LOT) cilantro to balance the spicy, no wonder it is the start food in that restaurant, (of course, thanks to the genius foodie that ordered this for us). I had wanted to make it for long, but not sure if I was really busy or just a slacker, I never go to Chinatown to get Chinese hot chilli sauce(剁椒).

Until recently, I accidently found this guy, very similar to Chinese hot sauce, so I gave it a try. But in fact, they are not the same, to make Chinese hot chilli sauce, it also uses some alcohol for fermentation , so it comes with more flavor, and it is sweeter.

It is actually  very simple to make your own and it is fresher and much much more healthy than the one from stores, which could be in my age.

Scientific Fact:

When vegetable are brined (like pickle~~), and the process is actually to produce nitrate, and the longer it is brined, the higher the nitrates contains. So, eat fresh and drink green tea.

Squash bowl: brushed with bacon grease, sprinkle sweet paprika, bake until tender.

Hot chili chicken:

The secrete to stir-fried meat in Chinese cuisine is: Hot Wok, Quick Work,

1. Pat diced chicken with flour(or meat tenderizer) , mix in scallion or minced arlic or minced ginger, depends on what flavor you want to emphasis.

2. Heat enough oil in the wok, until it is hot enough, quickly stir fried chicken until 80-90% done.

3. Take them out of the wok, then you can cook other things, like vegetables and make sauce. For this hot chili chicken, I used medium heat to saute garlic , then adjust to high heat, add cilantro and hot chili pepper, the next step is season, adding soy sauce and sugar( important)

4. Put chicken back to the wok, stir a bit, and it is done

This is my submission, which I cooked specially for YOU ^_^

Legend of Fall(Series I), Apple, Apple, I love you--I hope you will find the moon cake you like

Grilled chicken with Sage Pesto and Grilled apple, Raisin Salsa

I drew a sheep for the little prince and right now he is riding his sheep going back to his little planet to meet with his rose, I think this is the happy-ending most people would like it to be. I wonder when he passed China, if he got chance to have a piece of moon cake, did he enjoy it?

I hope when the moon is full and bright again in the fall next year, the little prince will be enjoying the moment with his rose together and at that time, he is lucky enough to find the moon cake he likes : P

Go back to my Apple:

(I call all of them as ' Grilled', if I cook with the cast iron pan)

It was an apple , sage pesto ,grilled chicken sandwich from Epicurious. I made a little change here to make it as an entree and I grilled the apple and make an apple raisin salsa。

About the salsa: there must be something sweet in it, I used to use super sweet corn, but raisin goes better with apple here. And it can't lack lime; I think , to some point , lime defines salsa :)

I didn't have jalapeno, so used cayenne pepper instead, and it works too.

The salsa is the hit for the (sage) pesto chicken, very juicy and refreshing. I am so enjoying my Apple cooking journey so far. Today, got the new bon appetite, it is one of the most exciting moments for me in the everyday life, and most of it is about thanks giving, of course, it is full of the color of fall. I have never felt fall is such a lovely season as much as now. Although it predicts the winter, for me it is also connected to the word 'warm', look at those warm color, comfort food, I'd rather let the time stop at now and save the fall for me :)

Farewell, my grill and a cooking assignment 'A'--curry chicken skewer with cucumber yogurt

Grill sold@200909019

I can draw an umbrella on the wall , and when it rains but I forget to bring it, I might smile even still frustrated;
I can draw a motorcycle, and with the fall coming, it will remind me the bright summer when I so wanted a bike.
I can draw a cup of hot chocolate, it also looks a like a cup of coffee though , but I write 'L.A.Burdike' on the mug ^^
But one of the things that is difficult to draw is vanilla ice cream without waffle corn, I can only imagine the happiness feeling it brings to me.

I drew you, my grill, you are gone, but you are part of this summer, for ever, ever and ever...

I think I will keep the chimney, even when I get a gas grill later.

Gaogao+Chimney

vs.

Léon + Houseplant

This is a cooking assignment, it is also something I can't draw . I wish I made it in the summer...

Cut chicken breast into strips, rubbed them with green curry mix, and also added some soy sauce.Marinade for several hours, make skewers. Brush them with cooking oil, Grilled them using griddle. Squeeze some lime juice during grilling.

Cucumber yogurt dip:

cucumber

yogurt

salt

call for mint(I used extract instead)

lemon juice

It looks exact the same as the ones from restauranta :PP

XGs will give it a A, I am so confident about that.

PS: I know, grilled food, CaNcer, CAnCer!, But

don't you think there are something that will remain as dreams until we die??

It's about nothing but show-off--paprika grilled chicken breast

Quoted the original word I told to Xiao danan, I LOVE that pan to DEATH!

It is so pretty, love the red color, underneath is bacon, walnut and raisin couscous.

The new book I got is also talking about something happened to the author(the prince) in the culinary school. as he said, he had to eat what he made, so as long as he had class, he would have food. It sounds a little horrible for me, I can't eat that much, I want to be a skinny chef !! And since it's about learning , so no too much variety, for example, if today's topic is about eggs, that means you have to eat eggs that are boiled, baked, scrambled, poached; with mushroom, with basil, with cheese... I guess one important qualification for a good chef is you should never be sick of any kind of food, no matter how much you have had ^^

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No 17, opened@0916200910AM

Can't help, bought Special K again; I often imagine a day that each meal comes with Special K, but never make it:

Morning: smoothie;

Lunch salad( it's really good with sweet dressing ,apple cider vinaigrette, cranberry walnut, even wasibi one or balsamic syrup, much more healthy than croutons);

Dinner : one kind of sweet soup: carrot soup/Gazpacho(never like oyster cracker);

Maybe I should recommend myself to Kellogg Company and show them my big 'K' , and they might award me a honour customer, and I would enjoyfree Special K for life, never knows >_<

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If my life had only 1 year left, one of my wishes would be to try the food prepared by Iron Chef...

Love the cast iron pan--blacken chicken grilled pepper avocado salad with ranch

Cast iron pan, an amazing toy, I want to use it everyday for everything. E said I can't have grilled food too often , it's not healthy. Well, I do not want to get sick, I have so many dreams that haven't come true, I can't die !!

Grilled avocado: toss avocado with lime juice and seasoned with salt pepper( I used bread dip mix)

Grilled pepper: tossed with olive oil, and seasoned
Blacken chicken: boneless chicken thigh(" I love chicken thigh, it doesn't dry out when you cook it" ) rubbed with smoke paprika, Cajun mix as well as some oil---- it really can kick CBC's ass .

Tortilla chips: brushed with olive oil and canjun mix, 300F 10mins, remeber to turn them over once in the half way

Dressing: Ranch

This low-carb tortilla chip is not as crunchy as the whole wheat one, but it's low-carb, which makes me very happy. When I cook for myself, I always use heathy choices, but for others, I am always afraid the heathy stuffs would degrade the taste, so always whole milk, heavy cream, butter, non-wheat bread. I remember when I shopped panko, I hesitated for 30 secs between whole wheat one and original one.
We have to admit, it is difficult to get both healthy/diet and good taste. French cuisine loves butter, there is a trailer of 'Julia and Julie' about french scramble eggs, I believe it is good, but I don;t think I want to cook myself scramble eggs in that way.
Well, as long as most of time , we stick to a healthy way, it's fun and enjoyable to have high-calories good eats.

Can I make it without cheese--bacon wrapped chicken breast with non-cheese stuffings

My super sweet Zhaozhao let me take her A/C and I had such a super sleep, didn't get up until 930am; well, my Zhaozhao called me in the morning to ask me about if she could park there, since I didn't get up , so missed her call. and my poor Zhaozhao got a ticket ~~~~. also she got her car the first scratch.

Sorry, Zhaozhao, let me cook some good food for you as a compensate, and we could deal with it together . Be happy, you are never alone, :)

I came up with this chicken bacon thing because they are in the refrig.
The original idea is I want chicken tender , stuffin juicy and bacon crispy.
I was going to use tomato as stuffing but was afraid it is difficult to be held , so I spreaded tomato paste, then minced garlic and basil leaves.

The reality is:
a little bit dry and garlicky~~~~

I checked some recipes online and they all use cheese as stuffing, I don't like to use it, because bacon is salty, cheese also contribute salty, I want something fresh!
After I thought over and over, I finally figured it out: it needs some fat in it, that is why people use cheese as stuffing. Bacon will lose fat after baked +broiled

So I come up with these ideas:
Butter version---
1) still the same ingredients, but spread with BUTTER, let butter cook garlic~~~

2) I remember the first big project I worked with sK was panchetta wrapped pork tenderloin , where the stuffing is lemon peel and rosemary. I think it is a good idea to borrow, but I would mix with butter(I may make some lemon rosmary butter square, which is easy to spread)

Cheese version---
1)mix tomato paste with some soft cheese/creamy cheese, not sure it will work

Prevent chicken from being dried---
Wrap the roll with foil when baking, then use broil to re-cook bacon to make it crispy.

Well, it is not that bad, NEVER GIVE UP, keep TRYING and EXPERIMENTING.
I might have a little faith on myself :)

Tomato Chuntey Sauce Chicken with Ginger Cilantro Brown Rice

About the sauce:
Tader joe's tomato chutney. It has cumin, curry spicy in it. I couldn't imagine how it would taste like, just curious, so got it. After I had the first taste of it, I was amazed, it is terrific! Beyond your imagination!
---I know I am not very knowledgeable, haven't had too much Indian food before~~

About the marinade:
I just did it in my way, mixed sauce with ginger, garlic, onion, cumin powder( whatever I have that also is listed in the tag), cut the chicken thigh but not break it, so those cuts can hold more sauce. Also , remember to add some sauce under the skin.

About the chicken:
My chicken had been lying in that terrific marinade for 4 days!!

My original idea:
I made it for my guest on Sunday, but baked it in the oven, broil it to finalize it. It was good, but still not dry enough. I know the best way may be grill or I can let it sit on rank and bake it, but it will take so long. So I was thinking about using pan and then use broil to get the crispy skin afterwards.

The real process ( sK encouraged me to be honest here )
Skin down first, but after I turned it over, I found because the sauce has sugar in it, so the sugar were burned and stick to the skin, very ugly.( Lesson1: sugary sauce is easy to get burned) and I didn't think broil would give me a crispy finish up. So I just threw away the skin. and kinda copied the brick grill way, covered my chicken by a foil , put another pot on it and presses it hard. if i had real heavy bricks, I think I could have my chicken done, but I didn’t. ( Lesson2 bone -in chicken is soooo difficult to be cooked in a pan). So, just broil it.

I remember in an ep of Good eats, he used brick to press the game hen on the grill. sK was wondering if that would make the chicken lose moisture. Now I know it is just great when it is dry, maybe it is only for chicken thigh or tender game hen? Next time, I will use my griddle and real brick! But i have to season it first :(

About the rice:

Very exciting! I read about the ginger rice a while ago in Bon appetite but didn't get chance to have a try. It is simple, just ginger and some butter. But you have to be generous to use 3 inches long ginger( minced of course) to match with 1cup rice. People made review saying that the ginger aroma was full of house; it did smell good but not as people said. Maybe because I didn't use rice cooker, or I was just lazy use fresh crushed ginger from tube instead of fresh ginger??

After rice is done, I wanted to create some colorful effects, so mix hot rice with cilantro leaves. And it came out very very very good. (I almost want to clain ' Cilantro is my second favourite herb!! But it is a tough decision with tarragon there) And since I am fan with ginger+lemon recently, but I was afraid it would go well when serve hot, so just a touch lemon zest as garnish.

About the platter:
The Indian flavor chicken and ginger cilantro rice are really perfect combination. It is a huge surprise.

I think sK will like to cook it with me, this summer, on a T-storm night, not very hot :)

Red Chili Chicken with Mexican Rice, Salsa Plate

Our red chili sauce is going to do big thing!

Heat some oil in the pot, pour into our red hero, drop some white vinegar( I use white balsamic),

then wait for it cool down.

Chicken thigh( prefered, I used legs, also good) with skin on, marinade them in the red chili sauce overnight.

Grill------I don't have a grill :(

Oven----350 F Bake around 30-45 mins( depends on the amount), when the chicken temperature gets to 150F, change to broil( Low ) for about 10 -15 mins, brush oil several times. the cooked chicken temperture is 165-170 F( depends on different parts of chicken)

Served with mexican rice and salsa, avocado