Produce-Packed Chicken Pot Pie

This pot pie is loaded with veggies.  The mashed cauliflower gives it wonderful texture and helps to thicken the mixture.  Less milk or flour could be used because of the addition of cauliflower.  I used the normal ratio as I preferred to have a creamy filling.

I used silkie chicken, but any chicken will do.  Silkies have black skin, and the flavor is amazing.  Chinese chickens are not proportioned like American chickens.  In America, we want large breasts, but in China, chickens seem to more naturally proportioned.  I used half a black chicken and a couple China-sized white-meat chicken breasts.  When I opened the saran-wrapped chicken, I found a nice little surprise inside.

In China, they don't waste anything.  When you buy a whole chicken, you will get the head, the feet, the neck, and all the delicious parts.  If you're cooking a stock, it's great to use the neck and feet for added flavor.  They don't have a lot of meat, though.

Yield : 5 small pot pies

Adapted from Southern Living 1987 Annual Recipes

Ingredients:

• 2 T butter
• 2 pounds chicken (bone-in)  (about 1 1/2 pounds boneless)
• 1 pound green leafy vegetable (I used 莧菜 Amaranth), but spinach would work
• 2 small heads cabbage, steamed and mashed
• 1 small head broccoli, chopped into small florets
• 1 medium potato, chopped
• 2 leeks, white only, chopped
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 bulb garlic, minced
• 2 medium carrots, chopped
• 3/4 c mushrooms, chopped finely
• 1/4 c flour
• 1 1/2 c chicken stock
• 1 1/2 c milk
• salt
• seasoned salt
• ground pepper

Recipe:

• Butcher the chicken (if using whole chicken).  Lightly sprinkle meat with seasoned salt, mix, and rest 10-20 minutes.
• Steam cauliflower until very tender and press through potato ricer or mash with fork. Set aside.
• Steam leafy vegetables and chop finely.  Amaranth have a crisp stem, so I boiled the amaranth for about 20-30 minutes until very tender and then used my immersion blender to puree the drained amaranth.  If you are using spinach, simply steam for a couple minutes and chop finely.
• Saute chicken in butter until just cooked.  Cook with a small amount of oil, and after seared, add some water and cover until cooked. flipping occasionally. Do not overcook.  Let cool and shred.
• Cook potatoes until crisp-tender.  I cooked the potatoes separately, because Chinese potatoes are quite hard and must be cooked longer.  If you are using potatoes that quickly become tender, you can cook potatoes with other vegetables.
• Reserve chicken stock from sauteed chicken.  Add leeks, onions, garlic, and carrots and cook about 1 minute.  Add mushrooms and cook until slightly tender.  Add broccoli florets and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes.  Add mashed broccoli and green vegetables. Combine.
• Add flour and cook 1-2 minutes, stirring.
• Add chicken stock and milk, stirring frequently until mixture is thick and bubbly.  Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat.
• Use filling with any pie crust recipe.  For my mini pot pies, I only used a top pie crust. 
• Bake at 190°C (375°F) until crust is browned, about 30-40 minutes.  Place baking sheet under pies during baking to catch any filling that may leak during baking.

Japanese Mushroom Omelet

These Japanese omelets are delicious for dinner or lunch with a small bowl of white rice and steamed carrots and topped with teriyaki sauce.  This recipe should produce 3 large omelets.

Ingredients

Filling

• 2 T oil
• 1/4 lb ground pork
• 1 bulb garlic, minced
• 1 T ginger, shredded
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 lb mushrooms
• half large onion, diced
• 1/2 c water
• 1 T granulated chicken bouillon
• 1/4 t sugar
• 2 T soy sauce
• 3-4 T ketchup
• 1/2 t mirin (optional)
• 1-2 t Sriracha (optional) 

Omelet

• 6-7 large eggs
• 3 T milk
• butter or oil

Recipe

• Heat oil in pan.
• Brown pork.  
• Push cooked pork to the side of the pan and add garlic and ginger. Cook until fragrant and slightly golden, about 30 seconds, stirring.
• Add onions and mushrooms and mix.  Add salt and sweat onions, cooking on high heat and stirring 3-4 minutes until onions are slightly tender.
• Add water, pouring around the edge of the pan, cover, and cook until mixture thickens, about 5 minutes.  Stir occasionally.
• When mixture thickens slightly, add chicken bouillon and combine.  
• Add sugar and stir until mixture begins to caramelize.
• Add soy sauce and ketchup, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens, about 1 minute.  
• (Optional) Add mirin and/or Sriracha, stirring until combined and remove from heat. Set to side.
• Whip eggs and milk together.
• Butter or oil a non-stick skillet and heat.
• Use egg mixture to make an omelet. Cook until slightly runny.
• Fill omelet with mushroom filling and fold omelet over mixture.  Fold four corners towards the center of the omelet, like a burrito.
• Top with teriyaki sauce and serve with white rice and steamed carrots.

Fresh Crispy Tuna Cakes

We bought fresh tuna steaks from the seafood market a couple weeks ago and promptly froze them for later use.  Today, inspiration hit, and we grabbed one of the steaks for tuna cakes paired with yellow rice and creamy snow peas.

Ingredients

• Tuna steak (1/2 lb)
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 hot pepper, chopped finely
• 2-3 t season salt (or Old Bay)
• 1/4 t pepper flakes
• 1/2 t Sriracha
•  1/4 t Worcestershire sauce
• 1 T mayonnaise (Japanese or Korean - we used Kewpie)
• 1 egg
• 1/4-1/3 c bread crumbs

Recipe

• Preheat oven to 180°C (~375°F)
• Quickly sear tuna steaks.  Do not overcook.  Later, you will further cook the tuna.  If you fully cook the tuna now, the tuna cakes will be overcooked.
• Set tuna aside to cool and then shred tuna into small pieces
• Saute onions, hot pepper, and garlic until slightly tender, about 2 minutes.  
• Combine tuna, sauteed vegetables, seasoning, Sriracha, Worcestershire sauce, mayonnaise, and egg.
• Add breadcrumbs until mixture is no longer wet and sticks together
• Form 4 cakes 1 inch thick and 2-3 inches in diameter
• Heat 1/4" oil over medium heat in skillet
• Pour extra breadcrumbs in a shallow pan and bread tuna cakes in breadcrumbs
• Place tuna cakes in hot oil and fry 2-3 minutes until golden brown. Flip, flatten with spatula, and cook for additional 2-3 minutes until golden brown on all sides.
• Place tuna cakes on oven sheet and bake for 5-10 minutes until crunchy. Do not overcook.
• Remove and plate. Garnish with your favorite seafood sauce.  We made a Japanese shrimp sauce, but you can use tartar sauce, cocktail sauce, remoulade, or even ketchup.  These crab cakes would be amazing between two pieces of toasted rye.

Roast Lamb Steak with Mushroom Gravy + Creamed Cauliflower

Roast Lamb

Ingredients:

• lamb steak (1 lb)
• Worcestershire sauce
• garlic & herb seasoning (garlic, oregano, salt)
• mint sauce (make yourself with chopped mint, oil, and a little sugar)
• pinch of salt

Recipe
We used a small George Foreman-style grill to cook the lamb.  Gas or charcoal are much better, but unavailable to us here in China. Also, an iron pan can be used.

• Sprinkle lamb steak with garlic & herb seasoning, salt, and Worcestershire sauce and rub with mint sauce. Marinate for at least one hour.
• Trim excess fat.
• Preheat the pan/grill. It is very important that the cooking surface is very hot so as to sear the outside of the meat and lock in the juices.
• Cook lamb to your liking.  Based on the firmness of the meat during cooking, you should be able to determine how well it is cooked. We prefer our lamb steaks medium rare.  
• After grilling, remove from heat and let the meat rest on a platter for 2-5 minutes to lock in the juices.

Gravy Sauce

• Any type of gravy recipe is okay.
• We used a standard brown gravy mix and added the grilled lamb cracklings, sauteed mushrooms, and 2-3 spoonfuls of the lamb juices (not the fat)

Creamed Cauliflower

Ingredients

• 2 medium heads cauliflower
• 1/2 c milk
• 2-3 T heavy cream 
• 1 t salt
• 1 T granulated chicken bouillon or chicken stock
• 1/4 c water
• 1 t garlic paste
• optional: cheese (any Italian hard cheese like parmesan, asiago, romano)

Recipe

• Steam cauliflower until very tender and drain.
• Lightly oil a pan or skillet. Use a light oil such as sunflower or grapeseed oil.
• Preheat pan over high heat. Add cauliflower, milk, salt, chicken bouillon, garlic paste and water.
• With a spatula, chop the cauliflower into smaller pieces.  Cover and stir occasionally until it reaches adequate heat, 2-3 minutes.
• Remove cover and add heavy cream. Add water as necessary, making sure that the cauliflower mixture does not stick.  Continuously stir, fold, and chop the cauliflower mixture until it reaches the consistency of a chunky polenta.  .  Most of the liquid should be evaporated from the mixture.  Remove from heat.  If desired, add grated cheese and combine.

Pumpkin Pie

Halloween is approaching, and one of John Mark's favorite desserts is pumpkin pie.  Recently, we traveled to Macau and picked up some cream, a precious, almost unheard-of ingredient in China.  This purchase called for pumpkin pie.  I made the crust with a small amount of butter because butter is so expensive in China.  I used a Chinese pumpkin, which seems to be a little bit sweeter than the traditional American pie pumpkin.  Therefore, I was able to use less sugar in my recipe.  If you are using an American pie pumpkin, you might need to use more sugar in your filling.

Crust

Ingredients

• 3/4 c whole wheat flour
• 2/3 c all-purpose flour
• 2 T butter
• 2 T vegetable oil
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 t sugar
• 1/2 c ice water

Recipe

• Combine all-purpose and whole wheat flour.  Place in freezer.
• In a separate bowl, freeze vegetable oil.
• Keep in freezer for at least one hour.
• After one hour, remove flour and combine dry ingredients.  
• Add butter and oil to flour mixture and mix with pastry blender until mixture is crumbly.
• Add 1/3 cup ice water combine.  Continue to add water 1 T at a time until mixture is no longer dry.
• Place in saran wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, make your pie filling.  After the pie filling is finished, remove the pie crust and roll out your pie crust.  Be sure to flour your cooking surface.  Roll out pie crust, place into pie pan, and form pie crust.  There is no need to pre-bake the pie crust.

Pumpkin Pie Filling

Ingredients

• ~3 lb pie pumpkin (~2 cups roasted), roasted
• 1/2 c brown sugar
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/8 t nutmeg
• 1/8 t allspice
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1 t grated ginger
• 1 c cream
• 1/2 c milk
• 3 eggs

Recipe

• Sprinkle pumpkin with cinnamon and nutmeg.  Place pumpkin cut-side down on foil-lined oven sheet.  Cook for 45-60 minutes at 190°C (~400°F) until tender.  After fork-tender, remove flesh from skin and place in measuring cup. I had slightly more than 2 cups pumpkin puree.
• Mix spices, salt, and sugar. Beat in eggs.
• Stir in pumpkin puree.
• Stir in cream and milk.
• Whisk until incorporated.
• Pour into pie crust.
• Bake at 190°C (400°F) for about 30-40 minutes, until thickened.
• Remove from oven, cool, and enjoy.  Top with whipped cream if you are lucky enough to have access to whipping cream.

Honey Sesame Chicken Wings

Ingredients:

• 12 chicken wings (.6 kg)
• 1 t salt
• 1 t seasoned salt
• 1/4 c honey
• 1 1/2 T soy sauce
• 1/2 t sesame oil
• 1 T ginger paste 
• 1/2 t garlic paste
• 1 T sesame seeds
• optional: 1-2 t kochujang (korean pepper paste)
• 2-3 green onions, chopped (for garnish)

(If you do not have access to ginger paste or garlic paste, you can make your own using a mortar and pestle)

Recipe:

• Preheat oven to 200°C (~400°F)
• Heat 2.5 cm (1") vegetable oil in a cast iron skillet over high heat.
• In a bowl, season chicken wings with salt and season salt and mix to coat.
• Fry chicken wings in preheated vegetable oil, cooking until crispy and browned, about 5-7 minutes. Turn wings every couple minutes during cooking.
• Meanwhile, make your marinade.  Combine honey, soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger paste, garlic paste, and sesame seeds.  If you prefer spicy wings, add gochujang to taste.
• Remove chicken wings from oil and place onto foil-covered baking sheet. Transfer to preheated oven and bake for 2 minutes.
• Remove chicken from oven and drizzle chicken wings with marinade, using about 1 t marinade per chicken wing.  Reserve excess marinade for after baking.
• Bake chicken wings for about 5 minutes or until golden, then broil for 2 minutes until sesame seeds are slightly toasted.
• Plate chicken wings and drizzle with remaining marinade. Garnish with chopped green onion.
• Pairs well with steamed broccoli.  Any remaining marinade can be used on broccoli.
• Eat and enjoy.