Passionate about Panang!

I LOVE THAI FOOD. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE.

 Panang Curry is one of my all-time favorites.  Recently, I saw Jet Tila making Chicken Panang on his show.  I found his recipe online, modified a bit, and made a fantastic dinner tonight.  Panang is rich and deeply flavored with coconut, basil and fish sauce.  One thing I changed about Jet's recipe is that I had to omit tamarind paste because our lame ass grocery stores act like this is an ingredient that I made up.  Not having the time or energy to go across town for it, I omitted it. He calls for the ever-exotic (NOT) bamboo shoots. My Publix, which has been sucking tailpipe lately, had no bamboo shoots at all.  I broke down and had a little "Come to Jesus" meeting with the manager over this. I also had no makrut lime leaves, so I subbed in basil, in chiffonade. 

Look at these beautiful ingredients!  I thinly sliced the chicken at a bias, so it cooks in no time.  Basil from my dad's giant plant. Jet Tila calls for red bell pepper, onion, zucchini and basil.  I used all that, but added pea pods and carrots. 

Before I tell you how I put all this together, here's an important detail I learned from Jet. When you are using coconut milk, DO NOT SHAKE IT UP first. Open the can and scoop off the cream that rises to the top. You'll use this to start your curry sauce, or "roux" if you will, then stir up the milk in the can.

Chicken Panang Curry

• 2 boneless chicken breasts, thinly sliced
• 2 cans full fat coconut milk, 3 TBS cream set aside
• 4 TBS Panang curry paste (see your Asian market)
• 6 large basil leaves (or lime leaf if you can get it) cut into ribbons (chiffonade)
• 1/2 c. onion, thinly sliced
• 2 tsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1/2 zucchini, sliced
• 1/2 c. bamboo shoots
• 1/2 c. pea pods
• 1/2 c. sliced carrots
• 1/2 c. chopped basil

1. In a heavy bottomed pot, heat coconut cream over med-high. When it starts to sizzle, stir in the curry paste, like you're building a roux.  Add in the onion and half of the lime leaf, or basil ribbons. Stir fry the paste until it starts to thicken, dry out and becomes fragrant, about 1 minute. If it starts to sputter, add a small amt of coconut milk to keep the paste moving. Cook until it's about the consistency of peanut butter.
2. Stir in remaining coconut milk. Increase heat a little (don't walk away from it!) and bring to a good boil. Allow the curry to boil until it reduces by about 25%, or coats the back of a wooden spoon, 10-15 minutes.
3. Reduce to a simmer. Add chicken, fish sauce, sugar. Let chicken cook a couple minutes, then add the pea pods, bell pepper and carrots and cook another 3 minutes or so. Then add in your zucchini and bamboo shoots. Stir in the chopped basil. Serve over jasmine rice and garnish with the remaining basil ribbons. 

At first, I worried that the curry was going to be too spicy for Vivian, so we had milk at the ready, but after getting all our vegetables and chicken in the sauce, it all leveled out and she didn't need the milk after all. It still had a little punch to it, but in a good, balanced, level way. This is one of the best Thai curries, in my opinion. It's got all the elements that Thai cooking is known for: sweetness, spiciness, protein and veggies all together in harmony. And, it takes practically no time to make this dish. You'll be so happy with yourself when you make it. 

Teriyaki Chicken Bowl

Driving along today, I was having a familiar internal monologue, "What do I do with freakin' chicken today?"  As most of you know, I can get into my "I hate chicken and am so bored to death with chicken" mindset very easily.  As I ran through past recipes in my mind, I had a thought of something else.  Thank God!

Teriyaki chicken rice bowls! 

I mixed up a simple marinade of lemon, soy sauce, hot sauce, oil, garlic and ginger. I scored my chicken breasts and got them marinating for a few hours.  Next step was preparing the teriyaki sauce.  In a small saucepan, I combined the following and brought to a boil.  Once boiling, turn off the heat and let it boil by itself for 1 minute.  Strain it (easier to do this while it's still hot) and set aside to cool.  

• 1/4 c. water
• 3 Tbs brown sugar
• 1 Tbs cornstarch (or flour)
• 1/4 tsp grated fresh ginger
• 1/4 tsp minced garlic
• 1/4 c. soy sauce
• 1/8 c. apple cider vinegar
• 1 Tbs honey

Next, I marinated some edamame in Mirin and prepared some scallions with a  light coat of oil.

Now, I will admit to one short-cut here. I used a pre-made, frozen vegetable fried rice by Innovasian as the base.  Grilled the scallions and chicken, glazing the chicken with the teriyaki.  Then, Viv and I built the bowls with rice, grilled/charred scallion, sliced grilled teriyaki chicken, edamame and toasted sesame seeds, all drizzled with a sriracha mayo we mixed up.  Such a great change for our lowly chicken!  The crunch of the sesame was a fantastic textural element and I must say, the sriracha mayo was just perfect. I hope you may decide to give this a try. Definitely helped us with the chicken doldrums!

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

 You know that feeling when you make something to eat and you love it so much that you're just really impressed with yourself?  Yeah, that's where I am right now. 

 

I made some Asian-inspired chicken lettuce wraps tonight. Not only am I really happy about this dinner, but there is plenty left for later in the week for lunches or more dinner.  Takes a little prep work, but hey, we're talking about cooking.  Comes with the territory.

Sauce:

• 3 Tbs soy sauce
• 3 Tbs hoisin sauce
• 1 Tbs sesame oil
• 1 Tbs rice vinegar
• 1 Tbs peanut butter
• 1 Tbs honey
• 2 tsp Sriracha
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger (powdered)

Mix all this stuff up with a whisk until smooth.

Filling:

• 1 lb ground chicken
• 1 Tbs oil
• 1/2 onion, minced
• 1 c. chopped/minced red bell pepper
• 3/4 c. chopped/minced carrot
• 8 oz can water chestnuts, minced

Heat your oil until hot, then add the chicken. Brown it like you would with hamburger. Add onions and carrots and cook for about 5 minutes until onions start getting translucent and carrots are softening. 

Add the peppers and water chestnuts and cook about another 4-5 minutes until peppers are softening. Add sauce and simmer to heat everything through and get meat and veggies nicely coated with the sauce. 

Serve in lettuce leaves with chopped peanuts on top, if you like.  I like tender lettuces for this, like Bibb or butter lettuce, but you can use iceberg, romaine or green leaf, whatever you prefer. 

Keep any leftover filling in the fridge in a ziplock or tupperware type container for the next 5 days or so. Easy to heat up and make an instant lunch or dinner, no effort at all. And, be prepared for one really nice side-effect: your house is going to smell divine!

Thai Food: Simple and Quick

 Funny how so many of us think "ethnic" cooking must be difficult.  But, it's really not.  I think people can easily become overwhelmed when they see a long list of spices/herbs, but think about it.  We're talking about taking some small bottles out of the cabinet and employing a measuring spoon.  Piece of cake, right?

Thai food is one of my favorite cuisines of the world.  I have a fantastic cookbook entitled Quick and Easy Thai. 

Its author spent 3 years in Thailand as a Peace Corps volunteer.  Her book features an array of true Thai dishes but easy for American cooks.  One of my new favorites from her book is simply called "Chicken with fresh basil."  

Check how easy this is to prepare:

You saute some chopped onion and garlic in a bit of oil. As soon as it all starts smelling good, add in some chicken cut into bite sized pieces. I usually use about 12 oz of chicken breast. Get your meat browned then add some fish sauce, soy sauce, a bit of water and sugar, and a chopped up serrano or two.  Stir in about a cup of fresh basil leaves to wilt, then serve. Not sure, but I'd be willing to bet my vegetarian friends could do all this with firm tofu. 

It's great on its own, or over some jasmine rice.  In the photo above, you'll see that I accompanied mine with marinated edamame.  I warmed the edamame in some boiling water for a few minutes, then added it to a mixture of garlic and soy sauce to marinate for about an hour. 

Obviously, I had some prep work: chopping onion and garlic, cutting up chicken and chopping the pepper, but actual time to cook the dish was probably about 12 minutes.  If you want rice, remember to start it first, since you need to give it about 20 minutes to do its thing. 

If you're a fan of Thai food, go seek out this cookbook.  I freaking love it!  The recipes are literally quick and easy so that you can whip up great tasting Thai on the proverbial weeknight.  Here are a few of my other favorite recipes from this book: Pad Thai, Red Curry Shrimp with Pineapple, Mussamun Curry Beef with potatoes & peanut, Green Curry Chicken with zucchini, and Chiang Mai Curry Noodles. I could go on and on...

I hope you will seek out this book. It can give your everyday cooking repertoire a nice shot in the arm! 

Indian Quickie

Monday is "laundry day," right?  Well, as good as a big pot of red beans and rice sounds, I had no means to produce that today.  I did do a boatload of laundry, however.  No, for us, it was mommy's super quick Indian night here at the grand Chez Akre.


I am an uber-enthusiastic fan of the Indian "simmer sauces" found at Aldi.  These sauces are how I first introduced the Wunderkind to Indian food, which is one of her favorite cuisines, to this day. These jars of goodness simply call for you adding veggies and meat of choice and it's dinner time.  

I already had a baked chicken breast in the fridge, so I chopped that, chopped some fresh spinach, and half an onion.  For added protein, texture, etc. I also used 1/2 can of garbanzos. All I had to do for our dinner tonight was start a pot of Basmati rice, saute the onion, add my pre-cooked chicken, veggies and sauce and wait.  

I also had one more piece of naan (also available at Aldi) in the fridge.  I smeared on a thin layer of ghee, to add some flavor and popped it in a 400 degree oven for about 5 minutes, as my entree simmered. 

In literally minutes, we had Indian curry on our plates and in our mouths.  


 This is an incredibly easy way to introduce yourself or others to the flavors of Indian cooking.  Of course, doing it all from scratch is a wonderful adventure.  However, on a weeknight when nobody wants to spend tons of time in the kitchen, you can't beat this simmer sauce.  We've tried the Jalfrezi, Tikka Masala and the Korma and love them all. Couldn't be any quicker to cook and it's still an interesting and hearty meal without a whole lot of work.  Try it!  You'll like it!

 

Kitchen Six: Seriously Good Food

We all know the phrases/sayings/cliches about how lucky we are if we end up with one good friend. I am fortunate to be able to say that I have 5, not counting my sister. I've explained this so many times to my daughter, who is at the age where she experiences the "friend du jour" concept. My true golden friends are all ladies I met in college. My friend and roommate at Wofford, Heidi, will attest to my freshman assertion that we were there to form "Big Chill relationships."  We succeeded.

So, this is the year that we all hit 50.  Except one December baby, who quietly already celebrated hers and then tried to con the rest of us into thinking it was this coming December. (You know who you are.) Heidi hosted Leigh, Lourdes and myself at her home in Atlanta this past weekend for us to reunite, laugh, cuss like sailors, drink like hobos and generally bask in the glow of our 50 year old awesomeness! (I'm still 49, btw.)

I could go on and on about the weekend, but you are here because you like FOOD.  So, get this...Heidi and her husband Lloyd, along with friends, have invested in a restaurant in their neighborhood of the big ATL. They've been in business for a little over a year.  Their executive chef,  Jason Jimenez, has been named as one of Atlanta's "Up and Coming" chefs. He creates a menu features 6 appetizers, 6 entrees, 6 desserts, every 6 days.  

***KITCHEN SIX***

 

Leigh, Me, Heidi, Lourdes

 

It's like going to Cheers, but a lot nicer. The interior is upscale, yet casual and comfortable and hip. The staff all seem to enjoy being there and were in tune with their customers. To say the atmosphere is friendly is an understatement.  And, from what I've been told, the goal was to create an environment for neighbors to see each other and enjoy some really damn good food.  Having been there, I can affirm that they have achieved that goal.

Ok, let's talk about the food.  The best part, right?  So, we clearly set out to really explore this menu because we almost ordered everything on it.  Per Heidi's recommendation, we started off with the hushpuppies and pimento cheese.

The pimento cheese was served with homemade crackers which were wonderful. They were firm enough to stand up to the cheese but yet tender enough that they just melted in your mouth.  The cheese was topped with pickled peppers and homemade bread & butter pickles.  The flavor of the cheese was prominent, which is sometimes lacking in other pimento cheeses I've sampled.  When my buddy Lourdes bit into a hushpuppy, I thought I was in that "When Harry Met Sally" diner scene.  Yes, I'll have what she's having too.  They were phenomenal.  Everything you want in a puppy...super crispy, not greasy, the inside was tender and then spiked with shrimp and peppers. To take it one step further, they were served with a poblano cream.  Ohhhh, Jason...

In the midst of all this was the GA mule.  I can't even remember exactly what ingredients the Kitchen Six folks used to make this cocktail, but suffice to say, you need to order one. I had a Hendrick's and tonic because I haven't had it in forever. 

Lourdes and her GA mule.  It's like I'm sitting next to a movie star.

 Our fantastic waiter informed us of a special salad not on the menu that day.  We opted to have one to share.  It was beautiful.  Mixed baby lettuces, apricots, toasted almonds and a blueberry vinaigrette.  Simply delicious.

Leigh and Lourdes both chose the Roasted Chicken because Heidi said she doesn't know "what he does to that chicken" but it's so good.  They agreed.  It was served with cute fingerling potatoes and a grilled lemon. 

 Heidi selected the Pan-Roased Red Fish which, honestly, I don't know if I've ever had. The skin was so delightfully crisp and the fish was perfectly cooked.  Another winner.

 I decided on the Glazed Baby Back Ribs.  It was a toss up between these and the Beef Short Ribs.  The baby backs were served alongside grits and with a side of sauteed apples.  As the lady placed my plate on the table, she said "These grits are gonna change your life."  Instantly intrigued by that prospect, I dove into those grits.  They were indeed fantastic and I do, in fact, feel much better about my world! The ribs were great; nice and meaty and lean (y'all know how I am about fat on meat.) I'm not sure exactly what the glaze was composed of but it doesn't matter because it was just delicious and I wasn't there to dissect anyone's recipe!

Now it's time for dessert.  We took Heidi's advice again and ordered the Decadent Cake, which is a flourless chocolate cake and the Vanilla Pot de Creme.  Ok, I'm not a huge sweet eater, but good Lord, these were good.

This is the Decadent Cake.  I put a dramatic filter on this picture to illustrate to you the sheer gravity of this cake.  You can just imagine this showing up in a film like Casablanca. It's like a bite of the best ganache-y fudge ever. Chocolate fanatics would sell their souls for this cake. Like the grits, this will change your life. 

The Vanilla Pot de Creme is also pretty life-changing.  Rich vanilla flavor with a nut crumble and whipped cream on top.  One of us, who shall remain nameless, practically licked the bowl. 

The moral of this story is this:  if you live in, around or near Atlanta, you should seek out Kitchen Six.  If you find yourself visiting Atlanta, you should seek out Kitchen Six.  If you know people in Atlanta, you should tell them to seek out Kitchen Six. I think my friends (and their friends) and this chef have created a very special environment and exceptional food.  I wish we had something like this place in my neighborhood.  But, we don't, so I'll just have to get to Atlanta more often.  Heidi, just keep my room ready.  

Broke My Own Rule

I know, I know. I've said it a million times before.  I don't think chicken has any place on a pizza. But, I'll admit that I've had chicken pizzas before and it wasn't terrible.  Probably because I still maintain that pizza is the world's perfect food.  All food groups can be (and should be) represented. 

The other day, I cleaned out my fridge.  How does one family of 3 come up with so many jars of stuff?  Horseradish, capers, 5 kinds of jelly, wasabi, 4 hot sauces, maraschino cherries, just to name a few.  And, two half full bottles of BBQ sauce. That sauce, and the leftover roasted chicken in my fridge, got me thinking.  You know where I'm going with this.

I pulled out the bread machine and whipped up some pizza dough.  I really love this machine and need to remember more often that I have it. And, the fridge ingredients got involved to create our version of a BBQ chicken pizza.

I started early in the afternoon with caramelizing onions. If you have the time to slowly caramelize onions the right way, you'll be so pleased with yourself.

This is 3 medium-large sized onions

 

Starting to get a little color

Browning up more

Slowly but surely, we're getting there

OMG, isn't this beautiful?

My chicken was already cooked, so I just shredded it and tossed it around in some of that BBQ sauce from the fridge clean-out.  I rolled our homemade dough out nice and thin and placed on my trusty pizza stone.  After brushing with some olive oil, I put it into a 500 degree oven to prebake and get crisp.

For the pizza, we used a layer of BBQ sauce instead of tomato pizza sauce.

Since we're going with red BBQ sauce, some cheddar made sense.

Then, I just continued on with the chicken, some chopped (cooked) bacon, my gorgeous caramelized onions, pineapple chunks and mozzarella. 

The finished product

Despite a pretty sophisticated palate, my sweet girl usually defaults to a cheese pizza (much to mama's chagrin).  However, she took one bite of this and declared it the "best pizza ever."  It's her new favorite.  Personally, I think I went overboard on the sauce.  It was tasty, but a little too sweet for me, but overall, I thought it turned out quite well.  The bacon and pineapple were great choices and really gave the pie a cool "flavor profile" as they love to spout off on The Food Network. Next time, I'll just use less sauce and I think it'll be pretty close to perfect. 

On a personal note: I dedicate this post to Paul Whitlark.  He was a nutty, looney, generous, kind, always hospitable friend to so many of us.  He will always be Rosewood's favorite "Pizza Man" and we will all miss him terribly.  Peace to all of his family. 

Our favorite Chicken Casserole

Growing up Southern, I think a casserole can be the perfect dish...comforting, creamy and gooey, easy, complex, helpful to a friend who is ill, church covered dish, awesome to have stocked up in the freezer.  Now, my Southern-turned-Minnesotan husband doesn't always share these sentiments.  One the one hand, it was his Mama who told me "every great dish begins with a can of Cream of Mushroom."  But, on the other hand, apparently, up in the Norse Land, they put anything and everything together in a casserole dish and simply call it "Hot Dish."  Neil grew to hate the words "hot dish" as well as the concept of "hot dish."  According to him, that's all the info you got...hot dish.  No clue as to what was in there.  And, he says it all pretty much tasted the same...crappy.  At least down here we're specific enough to let you know it's chicken casserole, crab casserole, green bean casserole.

It was well into our relationship that my casserole-lovin' self was finally made aware of this hot dish disdain.  I was flabbergasted!  How can one not love a good casserole?  As the story unfolded, I began to understand.  To this day, I serve casseroles very sparingly to be sensitive to Neil's old hot dish memories.  BUT...there's one that defies this casserole conundrum of his.  My chicken-almond-rice casserole.  Yep, it's a good ol' Akre family favorite at this point.

Akre's Creamy Chicken Almond Rice Casserole

 Originally, I got this recipe from a Weight Watchers cookbook. I've been making it so long and have tweeked it over the years, including adding almonds.  It's one of the few dishes that we do repeat around here and every one of us loves it.  I made it again recently and it dawned on me that I've never told you guys about it.  At least I don't think I have! 

Chicken Almond Rice Casserole
2-3 good sized chicken breasts, cubed bite-size
1/2 tsp garlic powder (I just sprinkle it over 'til it looks right)
olive oil mixed with a coating of PAM

Low sodium Rice-a-Roni
1 Tbs butter
2 1/4 cups water

1 can reduced calorie Cream of Chicken soup
3/4 cup reduced fat sour cream
1 cup sliced mushrooms (if you're 'shroom people that is)
1/4 chopped almonds
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup crushed crackers, bread crumbs, etc.
1 Tbs melted butter
1/2 tsp poppy seeds 

So, here we go:  cook the Rice-a-Roni with the water & butter measurement above, according to package directions. While that's cooking, coat another skillet with PAM and a little olive oil. Season the chicken with garlic powder and saute until it loses its pinkness.  If you're using mushrooms, cook them here with the chicken.

Combine the chicken, rice, sour cream, soup, almonds and pepper in a bowl and mix well.  Spread into your casserole dish.  Melt the 1 Tbs butter and combine with crumbs & poppy seeds.  Sprinkle on top and bake at 350 for about 35 minutes. 

2-3 chicken breasts, whatever is right for you

Make them bite-sized

The San Francisco Treat!

Toasting up the rice

Mix it up, Baby!

Buttery, poppy seed topping

Sprinkle over the top

Ready for the 350 oven

Get your biggest serving spoon!

Most recently, I combined this with a simple, yet delicious side dish of honey-gingered carrots. I'd gotten these beautiful, young, tender carrots in my www.BrownBoxVeggies.com box and wanted to use them. They were so brilliantly orange & juicy little carrots.  

Aren't these beautiful?

Simmered with a little butter, honey & minced ginger

Our dinner!

Here's a warning:  when I make this casserole, the three of us can plow through almost 3/4 of it in one dinner.  I'm telling you, it's just that good.  If you don't like mushrooms, leave them out.  Can't eat nuts?  I've used water chestnuts for crunch and that works just as well as the almonds.  You can have fun with it.  I hope you'll try it and enjoy it as much as we do.