Weekend Recap

Happy Inauguration Day!!!! I especially enjoyed James Taylor's 20 seconds of limelight this morning :-)



I had a pretty awesome weekend - did a lot of cooking.

On Friday I tried out a recipe for General Tso's Chicken which my boyfriend devoured! I will definitely be adding a copy to my permanent recipe box. I found the recipe on yahoo last week but I tweaked it a bit so my adapted recipe is as follows:

Serves 4

1 cup      all-purpose flour
1/2 cup   panko bread crumb
1 tsp.      sea salt
1 tsp.      freshly ground black pepper
2 cups     milk
1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed and diced into 1" chunks
1 cup      water
1/3 cup   soy sauce
1/8 cup   apricot jam
1/8 cup    honey
3 tbsp.    hoisin sauce
1 tbsp.    chinese cooking vinegar
2 tbsp.    cornstarch
2 tsp.      vegetable oil, plus 1/2" in saute pan
4 garlic   cloves, finely grated
1 tbsp.    fresh ginger, finely grated
1/4 tsp.   red pepper flakes

1. Cover chicken pieces in shallow bowl with milk - set aside

2. Combine flour, bread crumb, salt and black pepper in shallow dish - set aside

3. Whisk water, soy sauce, jam, honey, hoisin sauce, vinegar, and cornstarch until well combined in a medium sized bowl - set aside

4. Heat 2 tsp. oil in a large saute pan over medium heat, add garlic, ginger, and pepper flakes. Cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Whisk in soy sauce mixture, bring to a boil then lower to simmer and cook until thickened, 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat and keep warm.

5. Meanwhile, heat 1/2" oil in large skillet over medium heat. Dredge milk-soaked chicken through flour mixture and pan fry in oil until browned and chicken pieces register 160 degrees on an instant read thermometer, about 5-7 minutes. (Turn once to fry both sides)

6. When chicken is cooked, return the sauce to a burner over medium heat and toss with the chicken to coat. Serve with steamed rice.
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Saturday night we had some friends over for food and drink so I cooked down some fruit that I had to make a nice bright simple syrup to go in our cocktails :-)

(a handful each of blueberries and pitted cherries, simmered with the juice of a lemon and 1 cup of sugar)

Surprisingly - Sunday morning I woke up early and eager to bake! I found a quick biscuit recipe on thechew.com c/o Michael Symon. I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing - snacking on biscuits, eggs, and other accoutrements . Here is a peak at how they turned out.