Food Porn III

dim sum @ 888 Seafood

Thyme Chicken Marsala

Still on the health kick here, folks. Yes, so disappointing. But when I get started making bad food, it's really really bad. I can go through entire POUNDS of butter. I mean, my mashed potatoes have cream cheese, butter and half-and-half in them! That's why I don't make mashed potatoes that often.

There is a minimal amount of pan drippings after you add the marsala wine, so you may want to add a bit more. The alcohol burns off, right? Ha.

Thyme Chicken Marsala
Serves 2

2 medium skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (1 lb)
1 Tbps flour
2 Tbps olive oil
1 medium carrot, cut into thin bite-size strips
1 small red sweet pepper, cut into thin bite-size strips
1 small yellow sweet pepper, cut into thin bite-size strips
1/2 small onion, sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup dry or sweet Marsala wine
1 Tbps fresh thyme or 1/4 tsp dried thyme, crushed

Place each chicken breast, boned side up, between 2 pieces of plastic wrap. Working from the center to the edges, pound lightly with the flat side of a meat mallet to 1/4-inch thickness. Remove plastic wrap. Sprinkle a thin layer of salt and pepper over the pieces. Coat the chicken with flour, shaking off excess.

In a large skillet, heat 1 Tbsp oil over medium heat. Add onions; cook and stir for 2 minutes. Add carrot strips; cook for another 3 minutes. Add sweet pepper strips, garlic, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper. Cook and stir until vegetables are crisp-tender. Divide the vegetable mixture between plates; cover and keep warm.

In the same skillet, heat the remaining 1 Tbsp oil. Add chicken. Cook for 4-5 minutes or until chicken is tender and no longer pink, turning once. Place the chicken on top of cooked vegetables.

Add Marsala wine and thyme to skillet. Cook and stir for about 30 seconds, scraping up any crusty browned bits from the bottom of the skillet. Pour the Marsala mixture over chicken.

Boyfriend ate his over linguine; no carbs for me.

De-virgin-izing My KitchenAid Stand Mixer

For my birthday last year, I received the most extravagant present ever. A KitchenAid stand mixer!! I've always wanted one of these babies - I think everything you make with it will magically come out amazing. I even knew which color I wanted - Spring Green, to match my retro looking rice cooker from Taiwan.

My family has always used this particular brand of rice cooker. My mom swears that she's used the same one since 1985. The new-fangled rice cookers weird me out; the kind that you only put water in with the rice. I like it when you put water in the rice AND into the cooker before setting the rice pot within. This is because you can also steam something else on top of said rice: steamed eggs, chicken legs, fish, etc. If you don't have a rice cooker, go buy one!! They make cooking rice so easy. This particular one was carted by my dad from Taiwan for me. Twice. The first time he checked it with his luggage, and when he got home, everything was smashed to smithereens. I forced him to carry-on a second one.

Boyfriend surprised me with this for my birthday last year, but alas, I haven't been on any sort of baking streak lately. Generally, baking is used as stress relief. I guess I must not be stressed! Or I've just been uninspired. He threatened to re-gift it back to me for our two-year anniversary at the end of the month if it wasn't used. That mixer was busted open and de-virgin-zed that very weekend!

Wee! Look at it go! Spin spin spin!

I made an absolute monster of a coffee cake for my first project. I figured there was no way in hell my hand-held mixer would be able to tackle this challange. Adam Roberts of The Amateur Gourmet also made it, and thought it was every bit as amazing as I did.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake
from Baked: New Frontiers In Baking

Crumb topping:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup pecans or walnuts, toasted
6 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes

Chocolate cinnamon swirl:
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp dark unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp cinnamon

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, soft but cool, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
16 ounces sour cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Make the crumb topping by putting flour, sugar and salt in a food processor, pulsing to mix. Add the pecans or walnuts (I used walnuts) and pulse until the nuts are finely chopped and thoroughly incorporated. Add the butter and pulse until combined until it looks like coarse sand. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Make the chocolate cinnamon swirl by whisking together the sugar, cocoa powder and cinnamon in a small bowl.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter a 9x13 inch baking pan with unsalted butter. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together into a medium bowl.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter until smooth and ribbonlike. Scrape down the bowl and add the sugar. Beat until the mixture is smooth and starts to look fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the bowl and mix again for 30 seconds. Add the sour cream and vanilla and beat just until incorporated.

Add the dry ingredients in three additions, scraping down the bowl before each addition and beating only until each addition is just incorporated. Do not over mix.

Pour one third of the cake batter into the prepared pan. Use a spatula to spread the batter evenly. Sprinkle half the chocolate cinnamon swirl mixture over the batter, covering the entire surface of the batter.

Spoon half of the remaining batter over the swirl mixture in blobs and spread it evenly. Top with the remaining swirl mixture, then the remaining batter, and spread the batter evenly. Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the top of the batter.

Bake in the center of the oven, rotating the pan three times during baking, for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes, then serve.

Panko Crusted Chicken

Boyfriend and I went to Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan about a month ago. I gained seven pounds. SEVEN! In two and a half weeks! It's insane. Granted, I think a lot of that was water weight - for some reason, drinkng water wasn't that important to me. Also, when I did drink something, it would be in the form of some sugary goodness, such as fresh milk with black sugar boba, or black tea with boba, or milk tea with boba ... it's a wonderful combination of a caloric sweet drink and empty carbs.

Extreme dieting when I got back. I lost eight pounds in a week - that's how I knew a lot of the extra weight was attributed to excess stored water. That meant little to no carbs, lean meats, veggies/fruits and NO pastries. It has been a sad time since I've gotten back - I love my cakes. Instead of cakes and pastries, I had to make do with healthy healthy stuff like this chicken. Luckily, it tasted pretty good - fried chicken without the deep frying.

Panko Crusted Chicken
Serves 2

2 bone-in chicken breast halves
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
3/4 tsp pepper
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 cups panko
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
nonstick or olive oil cooking spray

Preheat oven to 425F. Season chicken breasts with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Put egg in a shallow dish. Mix panko, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and remaining salt and pepper in another shallow dish.

Dreg each chicken breast in the egg, and then in the panko, pressing the crumbs onto the chicken. Put a wire rack into a baking sheet and set the chicken on top. Spray lightly with cooking spray; this will make the panko crunchy instead of soggy.

Bake at 425F for 15 mintues, then lower the temperature to 325F and bake for another 30-35 mintues, depending on the size of the chicken breast. Rest for 10 minutes before serving.

I made gai lan (chinese broccoli) with oyster sauce, and diced up some avocado, tomato and cucumber mixed with soy sauce and a hint of sugar, to serve with the chicken. So healthy.

Food Porn II

tonkotsu ramen with soft-boiled egg @ Daikokuya