Category: recipes

Recipe: Teriyaki Chicken and Dressing

Last night some friends from work came for a little dinner/knitting party. I made teriyaki chicken and served it with rice, kimchi, and salad. I love this teriyaki chicken recipe: it’s super easy.

Both of these recipes are from my awesome Japanese neighbor Yuki, who generously loaned me a cup of soy sauce last night when I ran out! The teriyaki recipe is definitely a keeper for us: it’s free of E’s food allergens and he loves it.

Teriyaki chicken

  • 1/2 C. brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 C. water
  • 2 Tbsp honey
  • 3 cloves minced/pressed garlic
  • 1 tsp fresh grated ginger
  • 3/4 C. chopped green onion + extra for garnish
  • 3/4 C. soy sauce
  • 4 lb chicken thighs (remove skin and fat)

In a large pot, mix all ingredients except for chicken and green onions for garnish over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Add chicken, bring to a boil, cover, then lower heat to about medium. Cook until done, stirring occasionally, about 45 min to an hour. Place chicken on a platter and garnish with extra green onions. (Don’t forget to serve the gravy from the pot on the side, it’s great over rice!)

Asian Sesame Dressing

  • 1/2 of a yellow onion, chopped
  • 1/2 of a carrot, chopped,
  • 1 small clove of garlic
  • 30 gram (4 1/2 of Tbsp) – sesame seeds
  • 50 gram (4 1/2 of Tbsp) – white sugar
  • 350 ml – vegetable oil
  • 100 ml – rice vinegar
  • 130 ml – soy sauce

Blend together in a blender for a couple of minutes until smooth and then strain and discard the pulp. Will keep in the fridge for 1-2 weeks. (This recipe makes a whole blenderful; you’ll probably want to halve it.)

Featuring Roastmaster Faith

I am trying to be a better cook. During the week N and I take turns cooking dinner. N is by far the better cook and can whip up a Thai curry or coconut chicken soup in no time and without a recipe. I, on the other hand, am totally helpless without a recipe and often fall back on serving meals that include a pre-made component from Costco. (Have you tried their carnitas? SO good in burritos or tacos.) Anyway, I really need to raise my game.


I am trying to build a reliable repertoire of meals and have lately been trying my hand at pot roasts. I know, I know, they’re notoriously easy but two out of the three I’ve made in the last few months have been dry and pretty tough. I was complaining about my pot roast failures to my sister-in-law Mindy (who is one of the best cooks I know) and she said she would send me a recipe she likes to use.

Last night I cooked the pot roast recipe she gave me and it was great! It was flavorful, tender, and moist. I served it along with its vegetables and baked sweet potatoes. I really recommend this recipe. It’s by Tyler Florence from the Food Network. It’s online here and I’m also including it below.

  • 1 (3 to 4 pound) piece beef chuck roast, trimmed of excess fat
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 cup canned crushed tomatoes
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 red onions, halved
  • 2 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 8 carrots, sliced
  • 2 celery stalks, sliced
  • 1 cup button mushrooms, stems removed
  • 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
  • 4 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 2 bay leaves

Season all sides of the beef with a fair amount of salt and pepper. In a large Dutch oven or other heavy pot that has a tight cover; heat 2 tablespoons of the oil over moderately high heat. Brown the meat on all sides, taking the time to get a nice crust on the outside. Pour in the tomatoes and the water. Scatter the vegetables and herbs around the pot roast, season with salt and pepper; and drizzle with the remaining tablespoon of oil. Cover the pot and reduce the heat to low. Braise for about 3 hours, basting every 30 minutes with the pan juices, until the beef is fork tender.

Slice the pot roast and arrange on platter surrounded by the vegetables. Serve with the pot juices.

Enjoy!

Recipe: Wacky Cocoa Cake

I don’t know how often I’ll be posting while I’m out of town, but I prepared this post in advance. If everything is going well, E. and I are currently frolicking in the Pacific Northwest September sunshine (or more realistically and just as awesome, I am sleeping in while my mom plays with E.)

Last week my friend Emily came over for lunch along with her cute baby boy. Her son J. is only one week older than E. and so it was fun to see them ‘play together’ (i.e. try to claw each other’s eyes out and steal each others binkies).

Emily knew about how E. and I can’t have dairy or eggs, and so she brought this cake over for dessert. It was super good. I think I’m going to make it for E.’s birthday in November. Emily said that her mom got the recipe from a cocoa recipe booklet and from what I can tell, there are a couple of different versions of it online. This version also has a recipe for non-dairy frosting to go with it. (I’m super grateful for all of the vegan resources that exist for avoiding eggs and milk products, but I have to admit that I feel like a bit of an impostor when I buy my vegan margarine, soy milk, and no-dairy, no-egg cookies. What would the hippie clerks at the health food store say if they knew how much I love a good medium-rare sirloin? Worst…vegan…ever!)

Anyway, this cake is great for people with food allergies or those living overseas who might not have convenient access to baking ingredients (Hi, N.’s mom and dad in Pusan!)

Wacky Cocoa Cake
(This is a doubled recipe: it makes enough for two round pans)

Mix together in a large bowl the following:

  • 3 cups flour
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1/2 cup cocoa
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt

Then add the following liquid ingredients:

  • 2 cups water
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 Tablespoons vinegar
  • 2 tsp vanilla

Stir until no lumps remain. Pour into two 8″ or 9″ rounds. bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. That’s it!

I know I’ve been remiss about posting new photos of E. but with things having been so crazy the last couple of weeks, I haven’t taken any. I will make up for it while we’re on this trip and will post photos when we get back. Have a good weekend!

Recipe and ENT Follow-Up

Last night we had dinner with some friends. It was a lot of fun (Thanks for having us over, B. and E!) We brought along a dessert which was a sort of ice cream cake. I had seen an episode of Rachel Ray’s show and got the idea from her. I thought of it as a sort of frozen strawberry shortcake. There were only 3 ingredients: pound cake from Costco (yum!), strawberry ice cream, and some sliced strawberries for a garnish. Like Rachel Ray’s receipe, I used a pyrex meat loaf pan.

  1. First we lined the pan with plastic wrap, making sure there was plenty of extra hanging over.
  2. Then we sliced some strawberries and arranged them in an overlapping pattern on the bottom of the pan. (Note: they will freeze solid and so make sure to cut them thinly or else they may be a little too chunky like ours were.)
  3. Spoon in some ice cream and spread it out evenly into about an 3/4″ layer.
  4. Slice the pound cake horizontally into about 3/4″ layers. Lay a slice of pound cake over the ice cream and cut smaller pieces of pound cake to fill in any gaps.
  5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 up to the top of the pan, ending with a cake layer.
  6. Then wrap the extra plastic wrap over the top of the pan and press down on the whole thing a little. The ice cream should be a little soft so it mushes around and fills in any gaps.
  7. Pop it in the freezer for at least 2 hours.
  8. To unmold, dip the pan in a hot water bath for a half a minute to loosen everything up a bit. Then turn the pan upside down and wriggle it out of the pan by tugging on the extra plastic wrap. Discard plastic wrap.
  9. Slice the cake vertically and serve. (Note: It doesn’t look that great when it comes straight out of the pan, but once you slice it into pieces, it looks pretty good. The end pieces don’t look as nice though, so either slice off a skinny piece from the end and discard it or give the end piece to your husband/roommate/boyfriend/child/dog to eat. You made it, so you should get a pretty piece!)

This morning I took E. back to the ear/nose/throat doctor today for his two-week follow-up appointment. The good news is that E.’s ears are all cleared up! The bad news is that E.’s was still a bit of a pill over the weekend. If his ears aren’t bothering him, I’m not sure why he’s been fussier than normal. Maybe he’s finally decide to teethe? He doesn’t have a single tooth yet. *shrug* Who knows.

What I do know is that my monthly report for work is due tomorrow and I still need to put in a lot of work on it. E. just went down for a nap and so I’ve got to get busy.

Recipe: Bulgogi

Last week I made bibimbap for the first time. My Korean cooking skills are almost nonexistent but my expert sister Jan walked me through it over the phone. Among other things, I made bulgogi to go on top of the bibimbap. (Yeah, I was cooking for 2+ hours.)

This is the bulgogi recipe that my sister uses. It has a few more ingredients that other recipes I’ve seen, but it’s really delicious. (I made a huge batch so I would have extra to freeze. You might want to halve this unless you’re feeding 10+ people)

Ingredients

  • 4 lbs. beef chuck roast, sliced thinly (I get the butcher to slice it about 1/8″ thin.)
  • 1 yellow onion, roughly chopped
  • 3 Tablespoons of Garlic, crushed
  • 1 kiwi, peeled
  • 1/2″ piece of ginger, peeled and then sliced (slicing prevents it from being stringy when blended)
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 1 ripe Asian pear, peeled and cored
  • 1 cup Korean soy sauce
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions, green parts only
  • sprinkle of roasted sesame seeds

Directions

  1. Add all ingredients except for green onions and sesame seeds to blender or food processor and process until well blended.
  2. Put sliced beef into a couple of gallon Ziploc bags, add marinade, and mix to coat. Refrigerate for approximately 1 hour (According to Jan, if you marinate the meat for too long, the acid in the marinade can “make the meat mushy.”)
  3. Cook beef (in batches if necessary) in large skillet over high heat. Add green onions towards the end.
  4. Garnish with sesame seeds and serve with rice (and lettuce if desired).

When I made the bulgogi, I was struck by how easily and quickly it came togther. It only took about 30 minutes to peel/rough chop everything and throw it into the food processor for the marinade. And cooking the meat went very quickly as well because it was sliced so thinly. I’m going to try and make it for dinner more often.