Chinese Chicken Salad with Ginger Vinaigrette

One of my favorite salads is the Chinese Chicken Salad from Joan's on Third here in LA. I remember when I worked at a production company in Hollywood, every time we ordered from there, I would always get the Chinese Chicken Salad and one of their delicious cupcakes. It was so good. It's been a while since I had it. Plus now-a-days, I try to avoid eating out as much.

To appease my Chinese chicken salad craving, I made my own for dinner several night ago. Let's see this salad consists of a mix of shredded lettuce, carrot, cucumber and parsley. I baked a chicken breast with some seasoning and I pan-fried some wonton strips. You know...those delicious crispy things that Chinese restaurants sometimes serve as an appetizer with their sweet and/or mustard sauce. To bring it all together I made a ginger vinaigrette using fresh grated ginger.

About the seasoning for the chicken, I had gotten a sample of some of Emeril's seasonings. Yes, the guy who yells "BAM!" I received the original and chicken rub seasonings along with some of his brand of chicken stock and horseradish mustard. One of the perks of being a Foodbuzz Featured Publisher is trying out products. I figured I'd try the chicken rub for this. It had my usual chicken seasoning of salt, pepper, and paprika plus some extra spices. But you can make the chicken any way you want. I was really please with the taste. I just rubbed a little olive oil some of the chicken rub and baked for roughly 25min. The result was a nice tender juicy chicken. Yum! I remember I had also gotten a coupon for a free bottle of Nakano rice wine vinegar. I've used them before and I like the taste of it. It just so happened that I was running low on that, so it was perfect timing that I got to use the coupon.

From the picture it seems a lot, but trust me, it's not. The lettuce that makes it look so big. So don't be afraid by this. I'm a small person and this was just the right amount for me. Not too filling and not too light. It was just right.

Serves 2.




Chinese Chicken Salad with Ginger Vinaigrette

1 large chicken breast
salt
pepper
paprika
Olive oil
additional spices (optional)
1/2 head iceberg or romaine lettuce (shredded)
1 carrot (shredded)
1/2 chopped fresh parsley (chopped)
1 medium cucumber (chopped or sliced)

Ginger Vinaigrette:
1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 Tbsp Vegetable oil
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 tsp sesame seeds
salt to season

Wonton Strips:
8 wonton sheets (cut into slices)
canola or peanut oil, if pan-frying
Olive oil, if baking
salt

Note: you can use prepackage salad mix and ready made wonton strips, if you're limited on time.


Preheat your oven to 400˚F

Lightly rub the chicken with a little olive oil and season the with salt, pepper and paprika. you may use your own rub or seasonings.

Place on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for roughly 25min until chicken is cooked through.

When cooked remove from the oven and cover with foil. Let it sit for 5 min to let the juices redistribute. Cut or shred into pieces before mixing salad together.

At the same time while the chicken in baking, you can make the wonton strips. Cut them into 1/2-inch strips.

If pan-frying, coat the bottom of skillet with a good drizzle of oil (1/4-inch deep) on a med to high heat. When the oil is really hot drop in strip for 5-10 sec, flip if needed then place on a paper towel to drain off excess oil. Season with a little salt

If baking, lightly grease a baking sheet, layout the strip and brush or drizzle some olive oil and sprinkle a little salt over the strips. Bake for 3-5 min on a 400˚F oven. Or 2-3 in the broiler.

For the vinaigrette, whisk all the ingredients together in a bowl. Set aside.


Putting it all together:

Mix the lettuce, carrot, parsley and cucumber. Top or mix in the chicken and wonton strips.
The vinaigrette MUST be added right before serving.

Sweet Potato Buttermilk Biscuits

Don't you just love it when you get inspired by the most random thing. Sometimes when I'm writing at night, I have the TV on or some music or both. I need to have a little noise in the background to concentrate. This one particular night, Diner's Drive-In's and Dives was on Food Network and it showcased this place that did sweet potato biscuits. I wrote it down on a little post-it and stuck it on my desk along with the 100 other post-its scattered about. I'm a post-it fiend. It kinda sad really. I need a better way to put down reminders and other scribbles.

I took my regular buttermilk biscuit recipe and just added the some mashed sweet potato. I didn't make any modifications to it. Sorry about the cross-section pic. I accidentally smushed it while I was breaking it in half. Soft, chewy and yes, they really do look orange.

Make 9-10 biscuits.


Sweet Potato Buttermilk Biscuits

3/4 c Cooked and Mashed Sweet Potato (roughly 1 medium)
2 c flour (plus extra for dusting)
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp Sugar
1 Tbsp Baking Powder
2/3 c Buttermilk
1/3 unsalted butter


Note: if you want to buy a whole carton of buttermilk, simply add 1 Tbsp lemon juice or vinegar to 1 c milk and let it stand for a least 10min.

Peel and cut the sweet potato into cubes and place them in to some boiling water. Cook them until tender. Cool them off in some cold running water, then mash. Set aside 2/3 c for the sweet potato.

Preheat your oven to 425˚F

Combine flour, salt, sugar and baking powder in a bowl. Cut in the butter until it resembles crumbs. Add in the mashed sweet potato and the buttermilk. Mix it all together until it forms a dough ball.

Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead a few time. Roll out the dough to 1/2-thick. And cut into 9 or 10 round biscuits.

Place them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake for roughly 10-13 min.

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

Salsa number TWO! I remember Reeni from Cinnamon and Spice using these green guys for one of her recipes lately. I've seen them many times, but I never really had them. I've mentioned many times on this blog that I LOVE tomatoes, so why haven't I tried these? I finally had my chance to get a hold of them I when I walked into the farmer's market over the weekend. I go to one of the usual vendors I shop with and the first thing I see...voila! Tomatillos! Fresh and a whole bunch of them, too. I literally perked up with delight proclaiming, "They have tomatillos!!!!" Trying to sound like I know what I'm talking about. So I pick out 5 good ones.

pic from wikipedia

They have a kind of sticky residue on them once you peel the leaves off. Just gently wash it off with some water and it'll be fine. Since I didn't want to do the conventional way of roasting them. I placed them in the broiler for 5-10 min to soften them up. Gave them a quick turn half way to even out the roasting.

I put everything in the food processor and scooped away with some blue corn tortilla chips.

Again, I put the non-food processor version as well. For those who don't like cilantro, you can substitute it with parsley for a milder flavor.

Make around 3 cups.



Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

5 medium tomatillos
1-2 jalapeno peppers (removal of seeds is optional)
1-2 c fresh cilantro or parsley
4 green onion stalks
juice of one lime
salt to season


Preheat your broiler.

Remove the leave and genty wash the tomatillos with cold water to remove the sticky residue. Place on an ungreased baking sheet and roast for 5-10 min. Give them a turn halfway through.
Remove from the broiler and let them cool completely.

Finely chop the cilatro/parsley, jalapeno peppers and green onions. Place them in a large bowl.

When the tomatillos are cool enough. Quarter and finely chop them. As you place them in the bowl lightly mash them to release some of their juices.

Squeeze in the lime juice and season with a little salt. Mix thoroughly.

Place in the fridge, if not serving immediately.

Food Processor:
Place the cilantro/parsley, jalapeno peppers and green onions in the food processor and pulse chop until they are look fine. Place the mixture into a large bowl.

Place in the tomatillos and pulse chop until it looks of a mashed consistency. You still want some chunks. Remove and add to the bowl.

Squeeze in the lime and season with some salt. Mix Thoroughly.

Mango Pico de Gallo (and a guest post)

Hey dudes and dudettes!! Before I get started, just want to let you know that I'm doing a guest post over at My Food and Life Encounters today. It's a completely different and new recipe, so stop on by and check it out. It's Sweet Potato Croquettes with Yogurt Sauce. (here)

Now on with today's recipe.

Today and tomorrow will be salsa. Woohoo!!!! I was in a salsa mood, so I decided to make two. I do like to dance the salsa, too. A little too much info there? Haha... Alright. Here's the first. Mango Pico de Gallo. It's got the base for your usual salsa, tomato, cilantro or parsley, green onion, garlic, jalapeno peppers. Then there's the star ingredient, the mango.

The reason I put parsley on the list is because some people aren't fans of cilantro. It just won't have that kick usually has, but parlsey is a great substitute for a milder taste. It's still taste awesome!

I used a food processor to finely chop all the ingredients. The knives I currently have a pretty old and the sharpness of them isn't worth risking my fingers make this. You can also just finely chop them. I put both methods in the instructions below.

I don't need buy that store jarred stuff. It's better to make salsas at home. Really easy too. A lovely mango flavor all around. Mmmm...I wish I had made a bigger batch. I have a habit of taking big scoops of salsa on one little tiny and sometimes flimsy piece of tortilla chip. But it's so good! Did I mention I love salsas?

I had these with some blue corn tortilla chips. Yum yum!

Makes about 2-3 cups.



Mango Pico de Gallo

1 ripe medium mango
2 medium to large tomatoes (remove seeds)
2 c cilantro or flat leaf parsley
1-2 jalapeno peppers
2 garlic cloves minced
4 green onion stalks
juice of 1 lime

Non-food processor method:
Finely chop the cilantro/parsley, jalapeno pepper, and green onion and place them in a large bowl.

Mince the garlic cloves and add them to the bowl.

Quarter the tomato and remove the seeds. Finely chop the quartered slices as well. Add them to the bowl, lightly mashing when to release some of the juices of the meat.

Cut out the bone from the mango and scoop out the meat. Finely chop it and add to the bowl. Squeeze in the lime juice and mix everything together until blended.

For Food Processor:
Place the cilantro/parsley, garlic, green onion, and jalapeno into the food processor and finely chop them. Remove and place into a bowl.

Then quarter the tomatoes and remove the seeds and pulse chop until is a mashed consistency. You'd still want some tomato chunks. Add the tomatoes into the bowl

Do the same with the mango. Remove the core and scoop the meat into the food processor and pulse chop until it's little pieces. Add it into the bowl.

Squeeze the lime juice and mix it all together.

This may be made in advance. Keep in the fridge, if not serving right away.

Nutella Potstickers

Alrighty, you chocoholics! Today's ingredient is...Nutella. Cue the chorus of Oo's and Ah's. If you haven't tried this stuff, you're really missing out on some really addicting chocolate and hazelnut flavor. It's notable known for being a sandwich spread.

My daily ritual consists of reading an endless amount of blogs everyday. Day and night. Night and day. A couple weeks ago, I was browsing over at La Fuji Mama and she had this recipe for Nutella Banana Gyoza. I thought it was a brilliant idea. Perfect dessert for parties, potluck or whatever. It was just awesome. Have I mentioned yet how awesome Nutella is? I remember having it in sandwiches as a kid. I remember in elementary school begging for a trade with a classmate for her nutella sandwich with my plain ham sammie. Ah, those were the days.

As it just so happens, I had recently bought a jar of nutella few days before. I've been nibbling away at it for breakfast with my morning pan de sal. When I saw the recipe for the gyoza, I knew I had to make it. Last time, I had nutella on a dessert was on a crepe at the mall. The original recipe calls for gyoza wrapper, but the only thing I could find at the store was regular wonton/potsticker wrappers. They'll do. So I made about a couple dozen. One of my bestest and closest friends came by, so she helped make a few them. The ingredients were simple. Nutella, banana, and wonton wrapper.

I did a quick pan-fry of them. The key it make sure the oil is really hot. That way when you set them into the oil, they'll cook up within seconds preventing the oil from soaking too much into the wrappers. Drained them on a paper towel and then sprinkled them with a cinnamon sugar mix. You bite into them. The soft banana with the chocolate hazelnut flavor. So good. These are perfect for parties. Or if you're like me. just eat them for yourself. I did share a few. I ain't greedy.

If you don't like bananas, you can totally omit it and replace it with another fruit or just put a large dollop of nutella instead. Whichever is your choice. This dessert should be put in the "Will cause you to drool" category

Makes roughly 2 dozen or more. Adjust recipe to however many you want to make.



Nutella Potstickers
adapted from original recipe at La Fuji Mama

2 ripe bananas (sliced in 1/4-inch slice) - optional or your choice of fruit
24-30 wonton wrappers
1 jar nutella
egg wash (1 egg + 1 Tbsp water beaten)
canola or peanut oil

Topping:
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Combine the cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl and set aside.

Take a a wonton wrapper, lay it on a flat surface. Take 1/2 tsp of nutella and place a dollop on one side of the wrapper. Leave some room on the edge.

Then take a slice of banana, place it on top of the nutella.

Use the egg wash to wet one side of the wonton edge and fold over into a rectangle.

Do this same process for the rest of the potstickers.

In a large pan, Coat the pan with at least 1/4 to 1/2-inch of canola or peanut oil. Heat it on medium to high heat. You want it to be really hot.

Cook the potstickers for roughly 10-20 secs each side until lightly browned.

Place on some paper towel to drain off any excess oil, then sprinkle some of the cinnamon-sugar on top. Serve hot/warm.

Gooey Deliciousness!!!!!
The cross-section

Pan-Seared Scallops with White Wine Sauce

Sundays are usually when I try to make an elegant meal. But I had some place I had to be on Sunday, so I made the meal on Saturday night instead. I had bought some fresh diver scallops from the farmer's market that morning and I had been craving for some for quite a long while. I haven't really cooked with scallops before, so was nervous as to how it would turn out. I wanted to pair it with some kind of sauce and a vegetable.

Luckily, I had some thin asparagus in the fridge I've been planning on cooking. I researched the interweb as to how long I cook scallops. These scallops aren't cheap and I didn't want to blow it. So I prepared them, removed the cartilage which is the part that is attached to the shell and seasoning with some salt and pepper. Plus, a little coating on the top and bottom with panko crumbs. I cooked this meal in three stages. First, I sauteed the asparagus, then pan-seared the scallops for 3-4 min per side, and finally made the sauce. A white wine sauce.



One of the perks of being a featured published with Foodbuzz is being able to sample and try out various food products. I had recently received this large box of white wine from Black Box Wines. I felt it a perfect time to bust it open and use it for the sauce. I did pour a little extra to have a few sips while I prepared the meal. I like a little glass of wine every now and then. Besides, I haven't cooked with wine on this blog yet. I don't drink white wine often. I'm more of a red wine-kind of gal. It comes in a box with one of those push-button pour spouts. It's pretty neat. No opening a cork here, Just put your glass under the spout and press the little button, which surprised me as I was a bit skeptical about drinking wine from a box. I'm not a wine aficionado, but this coming from a red wine person, I did enjoy the taste of it. Now I'm trying to find any excuse to drink it or even cook with it. There's enough wine in it for 4 750ml bottles. That's quite a lot of wine. (*insert mischevious smirk here*)

Anyway, the sauce was made with white wine, unsalted butter, garlic, dry parsley, a dash of rice wine vinegar. The smell of it was intoxicating. I couldn't wait to pour it over the scallops. A good tip to know about cook with wine. ONLY cook with wines that you would drink. If you don't like the taste of a certain wine, don't use it. Simple as that.

Didn't take more that 20-25 minutes to make. I drizzled the sauce slowly over the scallops making sure it coated each one, then sat myself down by the table and enjoyed this delicious meal. My knife easily sliced through the scallops and was deliciously tender. Tasted fantastic with the sauce and asparagus. It was one of those "I wish I had made more" type meals. I am no longer afraid to cook scallops.


Serves 2.



Pan-Seared Diver Scallops in White Wine Sauce

4 Medium-Large Diver Scallops
1 bundle (2 dozen) thin asparagus (cut into match stick size)
2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 Tbsp panko crumbs
salt
pepper

Sauce:
1/2 c white wine
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp dry parsley
2 garlic cloves (minced)


Pat the scallops dry with a paper towel and remove the tough cartilage on the side, if it has not already been removed. Season with salt and pepper and coat the ends with the panko crumbs

In a skillet, heat 1 Tbsp of the olive oil and saute the asparagus for 3-5 or until tender. Season with a little salt and pepper.

Remove the asparagus from the skillet into a plate and cover with foil to keep it warm.

Heat the other tablespoon of Olive oil and sear the scallops 2-4 min on one end then flip and sear the other side 3-4 until cooked through.

Remove from the skillet and on to another plate, cover with foil to keep warm and let it rest.

Wipe the skillet clean with a paper towel and reheat. Melt the butter and saute the garlic for roughly 30-45 sec. Then add the white wine and rice wine vinegar. Add the dry parsley. Let it simmer on medium to low heat for roughly 5-8 min. Stir occasionally. If you see the scallops release some of their juice onto the plate at it to the sauce.

Putting it together:
On a plate, Place the asparagus on the bottom, then lay the scallops on top. Drizzle over the white wine sauce including the garlic bits.

Caprese Bake

Don't let this unassuming loaf fool you. Because there's some deliciousness inside. When I came home from watching Julie & Julia, I was feeling hungry. I had intended to make regular caprese sandwich, but I didn't have any bread left and I wasn't going to make any until the next day. I didn't want to go to the local bakery at that time as it was way too crowded of people who had just gotten off work. But I did remember that I had one last round of pizza dough left in the freezer. Sweet!!

I had some fresh mozzarella, one medium sized tomato and some fresh basil. Drizzled little olive oil and balsamic vinegar onto the dough, then layered the ingredients onto the rolled out pizza dough and wrapped it like the shape of a demi-baguette. The shape kind of reminds of those chicken bakes found at Costco. Have I mentioned that they have good cheap food? You don't need to be a member to buy from their food court. Hotdog and a drink all for 1-2 dollars. I do like their pizzas too. Oops...Got sidetracked there for a moment.

When you cut into it you get the gooey mozzarella goodness and the juices of the tomato oozing out. Ahhh...so good, so good.

Serves 2.



Caprese Bake

1 pizza dough (homemade or store bought)
1 medium tomato (sliced)
6-8 oz fresh mozzarella (sliced)
1 c fresh basil leaves (washed)
balsamic vinegar
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper

Preheat your oven to 350˚F

On a floured surface, roll out your pizza dough in a large rectangle shape.

Layer the ingredients: basil, tomato, mozzarella

Fold the side of the dough over and gently press to seal all the edges.

Place on an ungreased baking sheet seam side down.

Baked for 25 min or until golden brown.