Chicken

Chicken, Dinner, Simple Sundays, Technique

{Simple Sundays} Everything but the Bagel Chicken

March 29, 2020April 7, 2020by thebusyspatula1 Comment

How’s quarantined life? We’ve been trying to eat somewhat healthy with the wedding coming up in October, but we gave in and had Five Guys to go yesterday. As blessed as I feel that I was able to eat a burger when I wanted, I felt as if I was missing something. After some thought, I figured it out. It was the experience of eating at a dining establishment. It is strange how being in an environment with other people changes the experience of eating food, isn’t it?

I haven’t done a Simple Sundays post in a while. It’s a series where I post a ridiculously simple recipe that seems kind of odd to write down and share. This chicken recipe can be done with two ingredients. It’s more the technique than anything. Lining your slow cooker with balls of aluminum foil to keep the chicken from braising in its juices gives you a roasted chicken. The best part is the delicious smell of chicken that slowly wafts through your house as it cooks.

No Everything but the Bagel seasoning? Try it with smoked paprika, salt, pepper and butter or Mexican or Cajun seasoning. Really anything goes.

Everything but the Bagel Chicken

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken (3-5 lbs), innards removed, patted dry
Everything but the Bagel seasoning
salt and pepper (optional)

Instructions

In a large slow cooker, place 4 medium sized aluminum balls in the bottom of the slow cooker pot.
Season the chicken liberally inside and out with the EBTB seasoning. You can add salt and pepper to the chicken if desired. Go easy on the salt because the EBTB seasoning has salt in it.
Set the slow cooker to high and cook for 4-5 hours.
Remove chicken from slow cooker and season again if desired. The initial seasoning will be softened from the chicken juices. If you want the crunch of the seasoning, season once more.
Slice and serve.|

Chicken, Dinner, Meat, Mexican, Sandwiches, Vegetables, Vietnamese

Bánh Mì Quesadillas (Vietnamese Quesadillas)

October 3, 2014September 3, 2015by thebusyspatula7 Comments

I found something that has changed my life: cook-and-serve flour tortillas from TortillaLand. After reading this post about these tortillas, the first thing I did was do a quick search and found that the only Walmart that carried them were over 10 miles away. Now, I know 10 miles is nothing in other parts of the country, but for me? 10 miles is far, especially when there is a Walmart less than 4 miles away. I almost gave up on them, but I was haunted by their flaky, perfectly puffed up pictures and I had to have them. So I dragged my butt over to the Walmart and acquired a package of it. And as much as I wanted to have them right away, I couldn’t! I mean, yes, I could’ve tossed in a few well-chosen ingredients and called it a day, but these were special and I needed the final product to be as special as its base.
If you are not familiar with a bánh mì, it is a Vietnamese sandwich that is filled with meat, a mayo-based spread, cucumber, pickled carrots and daikon, cilantro, and chili peppers inside a baguette. If you’ve ever had a great bánh mì, you would know that it is an explosion of flavor and contrasting textures. In this spinoff, the mayo spread is replaced with mozzarella cheese, the bread with the tortilla and the meat with a Vietnamese fish-sauce shredded chicken.
Before I go on about the awesomeness of this quesadilla, I must warn you about this Vietnamese fish-sauce shredded chicken. It is a modified version of the famous Pok Pok’s wings. I’ve made the fried wings for this year’s Star Wars Day and it was the most delicious chicken wing I’ve ever put in my mouth (and I’ve had my fair share of fried chicken wings). The only downside is it will make your house smell like fish sauce. Now for some people, this might be a deal breaker but I swear to you, it is worth suffering a day of a fish sauce stink for it.
This is a minimum two-day project. You need a day to pickle the shredded daikon and carrots. It wouldn’t hurt to make the shredded chicken a day before either because it’s a little complicated than the average chicken recipe. But when you bite into that crispy flaky tortilla filled with warm melty cheese, garlicky chicken, tangy pickled vegetables and the crisp crunchy cucumber and jalapeño, it will make you say, “I can eat this every day of my life.” Because I did… every time I made it this week.
Bánh Mì Quesadillas (Vietnamese Quesadillas)

Pickled Daikon and Carrots

Ingredients:
1 large carrot
1 small daikon
2 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
½ c. vinegar
¼ c. sugar
½ c. water

Instructions:

At least a day before making the quesadillas, grate the carrot and daikon over the large holes in a box grater.
Heat vinegar, water and sugar together until sugar dissolves.
Place carrot, daikon and cilantro in a heatproof bowl and pour the vinegar mixture over the vegetables.
Once cooled, marinate in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours.

Vietnamese Fish-Sauce Shredded Chicken

Ingredients:
8 large cloves of garlic
½ tsp. kosher salt
¼ c. warm water
½ c. fish sauce
½ c. sugar
1 ½ lb. chicken, cooked and shredded

Instructions:

Finely mince the garlic and place into a small bowl.
Sprinkle salt over it and add warm water to the bowl and stir. Let rest for 5 minutes.
Pour the garlic mixture over a sieve and push the garlic to extract as much juice as possible. Reserve the garlic juice and garlic bits separately.
Stir fish sauce and sugar together with the garlic juice until sugar is dissolved.
In a small pot, pour a few tablespoons of oil and heat until oil shimmers.
Fry the reserved garlic bits until it turns golden brown and drain on a paper towel.
Add the fish sauce mixture into the small pot and simmer until it becomes a thick sauce.
Once thickened, pour over the shredded chicken and mix until completely covered.
Add the fried garlic pieces and mix thoroughly.

Assembly

Ingredients:
pickled daikon and carrots
Vietnamese fish-sauce shredded chicken
seedless cucumbers, sliced into thin strips
mozzarella cheese, shredded
jalapeño, sliced thinly
flour tortillas*

Instructions:

Heat a nonstick pan over medium heat.
Toast the tortillas on both sides. (If using the cook and serve tortilla, cook the tortilla on both sides.)
Spread mozzarella cheese evenly across a tortilla and melt.
Once the cheese has melted, spread the shredded chicken over half of the tortilla.
Layer the pickled daikon and carrots, followed by the cucumber and then the jalapeños.
Fold tortilla in half and press down to secure the fillings.
Remove from pan and cut into wedges.
Enjoy

* I highly recommend the cook-and-serve flour tortillas from TortillaLand.
** Picked daikon and carrot adapted from All Recipes.
*** Vietnamese fish-sauce shredded chicken adapted from Pok Pok by Andy Ricker.

Beef, Chicken, Dinner, Meat, Mexican, Simple Sundays

Easy Galbi Tacos {Simple Sundays}

August 31, 2014March 25, 2015by thebusyspatula8 Comments

I wasn’t sure if I should really put the word “Galbi” (aka Kalbi / 갈비) since this recipe isn’t a traditional Galbi recipe. Galbi is a Korean grilled dish made by marinating meat in a soy sauce based sauce. It usually requires grated onions and Asian pears, and to be honest some days I don’t even have the time to do that. So this is my extremely simple version of Galbi sauce. You literally put everything in a glass bowl, whisk, put meat in and you are done. The only utensils you need are measuring cups and spoons, and no cutting boards, or knives are required. Is it going to taste traditional? No. But it’s darn tasty, I can guarantee that.
On the weeks I know I will be short on time, I cut up whatever meat I have on hand (usually short ribs or chicken breasts) make this marinade and toss it in. Over the next few days, I’ll cook it up little by little incorporating it to whatever dish I decide for the day.
Kalbi Tacos 2 Whenever I decide to make tacos, I usually buy more corn tortillas than I need and freeze the leftovers for another day. If you toast it over a (clean) gas burner, it reheats well and becomes soft and pliable in the middle and toasty crisp on the edges. I happened to have some frozen corn tortillas in the freezer and decided to make quick tacos.
You can really top this with whatever you’d like. On this particular day, I ran out of cheese, sour cream, parsley, avocados… pretty much every traditional taco ingredient and put my meat on a bed of mixed greens, topped it with Sriracha and sesame seeds. It still turned out delicious.
Easy Galbi Tacos

For the marinated meat:
½ c. brown sugar, packed
½ c. soy sauce
¼ c. water
2 tbsp. mirin (rice wine)
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
2 tsp. granulated garlic
1 tbsp. sesame oil
½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 lbs. of meat, cut into strips (I usually use chicken breasts or short ribs)

Instructions:

In a large glass bowl, whisk all the ingredients (minus the meat) until combined.
Place meat into bowl, turning to coat.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap and put into the fridge to marinate.

For the tacos:
½ lb. mixed greens
12 corn tortillas, toasted
¾ lb. cooked, marinated meat
Sriracha sauce
toasted sesame seeds

Instructions:

Cook the meat to desired doneness.
Top toasted tortillas with mixed greens.
Top with meat, Sriracha and sesame seeds.
Consume.

Appetizers, Cakes, Chicken, Chocolate, Desserts, Dinner, Drinks, Fruit, Holidays, Parties, Pie, Pies, Soup, Star Wars

Star Wars Day 2014

May 6, 2014March 24, 2015by thebusyspatula12 Comments

This is the third year I’ve hosted a Star Wars Day party. It involves good food with punny names, watching SW movies and SW themed board games. The first SW party I threw was just a small surprise for a special someone but through the years it’s evolved into a bigger celebration. I can’t say that I’m a huge fan of Star Wars, but I can say that I love throwing themed parties. So in a way, I do love Star Wars Day.
This year‘s party theme was Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, so all of the food and activities were centered on Episode 1 characters and settings. Here are the things we made for SW Day*:
The centerpiece of the table was my Darth Maul-ble Cake, a marble cake with chocolate frosting and a chocolate transfer of Darth Maul. There was a small chorus of “wows” when I revealed it. Chocolate transfers can take a bit of time, but it is straight forward and simple to do. I used the same technique for this piece and it turned out fabulous.
I think Darth Maul is quite scary. To be completely honest, I got a wee bit frightened trying to find the right photo for the transfer. Filling in the chocolate parts was no walk in the park either, he was just as scary. I know it sounds silly, but if your imagination runs as wild as mine does I’m sure you understand. Revenge of the Six-th indeed. 🙂
Darth Maul-ble Cake

You will need:

1 Chocolate Marble Cake – Recipe Below
1 Batch of Chocolate Frosting – Can be found here
Black Candy Melts
Red Candy Melts
Yellow Candy Melts
White Candy Melts
A mirrored image of this printout in a black circle

Instructions:

Tape the printout onto a baking sheet or any desired flat surface.
Tape a piece of parchment paper over the printout making sure it covers the entire image.
Melt a small amount of black, red, yellow and white candy melts (do not meld the colors together).
Remember, chocolate transfers are all about layering. Each time you fill out the next step, you will be going over the previously filled portion.
Using either a toothpick or a piping bag fitted with either a #1 or #2 round tip, fill in the pupil of the eye with the black candy melt. (As shown in the above photo.)
Mix the yellow and white candy melt to get a light ivory hue for the horns. Fill in. (As shown in the above photo.)
Once the pupil is set, fill in the iris with the yellow candy melt. Let set. (As shown in the above photo.)
The outer edge of the iris has a red outline. Carefully, trace a red border around the yellow candy melt. Let set. (As shown in the above photo.)
Fill in the sclera with the white candy melt. (As shown in the above photo.)
Fill in the white edge of the hood while the sclera sets. (As shown in the above photo.)
Using the red candy melt, start filling in the mask like patterns on the face. Try not to lose the detailed edges because that’s what makes the image pop. (As shown in the above photo.)
Once the red candy melt is set, melt some black candy melts. Make sure it is not piping hot because you will lose some detail if it is.
Smooth over the entire circumference with the black candy melts. Let completely set.
Place on top of frosted cake and you’re done!

Chocolate Marble Cake

Ingredients:
1⅔ c. all-purpose flour
½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. kosher salt
4 oz. unsalted butter, melted
1 c. sugar
1 egg, room temp
¼ c. Greek yogurt
¾ c. + 1 tbsp. milk, divided
1 tsp. vanilla extract
¼ c. unsweetened cocoa powder

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350˚F and prep a 9” cake pan by coating it with nonstick spray and lining the bottom with parchment paper.
Mix melted butter and sugar in a mixing bowl. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt until combined.
Add the egg, Greek yogurt, ¾ c. milk and 1 tsp. vanilla extract to the butter mixture and mix until homogenous.
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and fold until smooth.
Transfer ½ of the mixture to another bowl, mix in 1 tbsp. milk and cocoa powder until a thick chocolate batter forms.
Put half of the vanilla batter into the prepared cake pan and spread out.
Pour all of the chocolate batter on top of the vanilla mixture.
Pour the rest of the vanilla batter over the chocolate batter.
Using a toothpick or a butter knife, make swirls all over the cake. Be careful not to over swirl, or you will lose the marbling.
Bake 18-25 minutes until golden brown or a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.