Chicken and dumplings

Laura called. She wanted a whine and wine night, one in which we all sat around and made dumplings. Asian dumplings, you know potstickers, wontons, shiu mai, gyoza, call them what you will, little noodle wrappers stuffed with vegetables, meat, shrimp, whatever. There are a million filling recipes for Asian dumplings. Of course, mine is the only one I recommend, because it tastes great, and I got it from Priscilla, who lived in China for 5 years and learned how to cook there. (Which is why she still uses oil instead of butter to fry eggs and omelets. Have you ever had an omelet made in oil? Not good.)

So Laura sends me her list of ingredients, which were all wrong. I won't go into detail, suffice it to say, I had most, but not all, of what she needed. No, that's not true, I did have it all, but not in sufficient quantities. I know, I'm such a loser.

Well, we decided we'd take a trip to the Asian grocery to stock up and, oh, while we were at it, we might as well get pedicures. And make sure we had everything for Laura's fabulous cosmos. (her secret is Rose's lime juice. Brilliant.)

As we eased ourselves into the pedicure thrones and dipped our toes into the swirling warm water, we began to talk about the upcoming evening's festivities and Laura's pedicurist perked her head up when she heard the word "dumplings"

"You're making dumplings? How do you do that? Do you use flour?"

"Well, yes and no," I replied, slightly puzzled. An Asian girl is asking me how to make dumplings? I could understand that if she knew me, of course, but she's never laid eyes on me before. "My good friend makes the wrappers herself, but she can't come tonight so we're cheating and using wrappers from a package."

"Oh, you're making Asian dumplings. I thought you were making chicken and dumplings. I'd really like to know how to make that."

Well, darling, it couldn't be simpler. I'll even let you cheat and use Bisquick. The recipe is on the box. The rest of you, though, get out the flour.

Chicken and Dumplings, Grandma Foodie Style (sort of)

Saute a sliced onion and a sliced carrot in a little oil until limp. Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper and brown on both sides with the onion. Add enough chicken stock or water to cover and simmer until chicken is almost cooked through, about 25  minutes. Plop big spoonfuls of dumpling dough on top of the stew and simmer, 10 minutes.

***Note: I can't believe I forgot to write this: after you remove the chicken and the dumplings, reduce the stock and add some sour cream to thicken. Spoon it all over the dumplings.

Dumpling dough
1 C sifted cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Break 1 egg into a 1 cup measuring cup. Add milk until the cup is half full, beat well and stir into the flour mixture. Add more milk if necessary, but keep the batter as stiff as possible.

Now, if you hate this recipe, tell me. If you think it sounds good, tell me. I need some comments, people! I know I let you all down by taking such a long blogging break, but your feedback is what keeps me motivated! I'd love to hear from you, good or bad. I can take it.

Quick Dinner

I had planned on making stuffed chicken breasts tonight, but lost my motivation. I still need to cook dinner, though, and those chicken breasts are still staring at me in the fridge. I also have no time tonight and dinner needs to be done by 5:00pm as we are being forced to go to a stupid "Wellness Night" at school where the administrators will all parade around in designer track suits and the gym teachers will act like they are important to our children's education. Oh, and they will promote their frozen organic low-fat baked chicken nugget lunches. I might want to puke. But I won't because we will have eaten a fabulous meal beforehand and I won't be tempted to eat their plain yogurt topped with granola and raisin snacks. I decided to pan-roast the chicken breasts with some sage and lemon and serve them with sauteed mushrooms and roasted carrots and sweet potatoes. Dinner's in the oven right now, it took less than twenty minutes. Here was my plan of attack:

1. I peeled six carrots and cut them into pieces. I cut two sweet potatoes into chunks. I threw all of it on a baking sheet, drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled salt and pepper, dusted it all with cumin, tossed it in the oven at 425.
2. I heated 2 T of olive oil in an oven-proof skillet. I removed the breast bone(the long white one) from the breasts that still had it, but left the rib bones. I will re-iterate for those of you who may have forgotten: BONELESS, SKINLESS CHICKEN BREASTS ARE THE STUPIDEST FOOD ON THE PLANET, if you don't count spam, or organic, low-fat, baked chicken nuggets. The skin and bones add flavor and keep it from drying out. Which it will, if you take them off. I sprinkled them with salt and pepper and put them skin-side down in the heated skillet and let the skin get nice and brown. While they were browning, I threw in some chopped sage. When the skin side was brown, I turned them over, squeezed a lemon over them, threw the rest of the lemon into the pan with the chicken, and then put the whole thing in the oven. It will be done in about 40 minutes. In a few minutes I will start sauteing the mushrooms in butter, making sure not to crowd them so that they brown so nicely, a la Julia Child. See you at wellness night. I'll betcha to get there in time you made organic, low-fat, baked chicken nuggets. Sucker.

English Chicken Curry

Grandma Foodie is off in Florida visiting relatives and cooking dinner for massive crowds almost every night. She called and requested I put up this recipe from her dear friend in California, Sandy. Sandy is from the U.K. and this recipe is an authentic version of English Curry, which as you may (or may  not) know is the British adaptation of Indian food from Colonial days. While the Indians may turn up their noses at it, I would not. You'd be bloody daft not to try it, too. (Do you like my sly British vocab references? I find myself ever so clever. Simply brilliant.)

The point is: this is damn good stuff. I made it to take down to DC with us on our recent trip. It is a great dish to make ahead, you can adjust the quantity as needed, and everybody loves it. Even my mother-in-law. Which is saying something, because, hey, if it is not Italian, it is "so unusual".

As Sandy said, this is her own made-up recipe, so adjust the spices as you like. It also has no measurements. Sorry., but it will be good practice for you.

Sandy's Chicken Curry

Add plenty of sliced onions to pan and fry in ghee or oil for about 20 minutes, slowly until golden brown. Add lots of chopped garlic and fresh grated ginger. Fry for two minutes. In another pan, add ghee or oil and add garam masala, cumin, coriander, tumeric, red pepper flakes, and curry powder. Use them to your taste, but use a little at a time.

Add onions to spices after they have been fried. In another pan, brown chicken thighs for a few minutes, then add to onion mix along with a couple of chopped tomatoes, use canned if you like, half a cup of coconut cream, and salt and pepper. Sandy also adds some par-boiled, chopped potatoes, but you do as you like. Simmer with lid on for 20 mins, then with lid off for 10 mins. Add a little water or cream if it is too dry. Serve sprinkled with cilantro and over basmati rice.

There you go, Grandma Foodie, get cookin'.

Garlic-Lemon Chicken

I told you I was trying to get back to it. Here I am, a mere two days later, posting yet another fabulous recipe. Of course, it is all because of my friend Deb, who is giving a party in my honor. How could I not help her? I suggested this marinade for chicken. It is wonderful and I have made it for parties for years.

For 3 1/2 lbs of chicken you will need:

1/2 c lemon juice
4 tsp grated lemon peel
2 1/2 tsp pepper
2 tsp dijon mustard
3 cloves of crushed garlic
1 C olive oil

And it is really not more complicated than whirring it all together in the food processor, doing the oil last in a slow, steady stream.
Marinate the chicken for a day or so, then grill. This chicken is great with grilled bell peppers and chili hollandaise, but totally fine on its own, as well.

Boneless, skinless, chicken breasts

Well, in my quest to ferret out bad food bloggers, I ran across one who is actually pretty good. Her website, simply recipes, has some great looking stuff, but I did run across a recipe which I found to be completely WRONG!!!!! She posted a recipe for Boneless, skinless, chicken breasts with mushroom sage sauce. Now, the sauce looked good, and easy to prepare, but please, NO ONE SHOULD EVER USE BONELESS SKINLESS CHICKEN BREASTS! They are dried out, rubbery messes! Taking the skin off robs the breast of the only thing keeping it moist. Removing the bones takes away substantial flavor. You can cook plain chicken breasts if you want to, but at least leave the skin on. You can even remove the skin after you cook it, but give the bird a small chance at being moist and flavorful.

Now there are those of you, my friends, who will say, "But June, they cook so fast and they are better for you." Guess, what? I don't care! Ease of preparation should never be an excuse for serving shoddy food. Unless I need to make dinner for my kids in 10 minutes flat. Then out comes the ramen noodles.

Mario Batali was once asked if there was any food he would not cook. His reply? Boneless, skinless, chicken breasts. So there, dear readers, is my justification. How about using chicken thighs instead? The tasty, moist, dark meat will take just about any preparation for which you would use breasts. If you don't have a lot of time and haven't shopped for any special ingredients, try making a chicken fricassee. The basic preparation method allows for endless creativity, or not, depending on the contents of your pantry. It is a great fall or winter meal served with some soft, herbed polenta. One of Hannah's friends like it so much, she ate four pieces one night. And then another day said she would do a favor for Hannah if she could get her mom to make "that really good chicken' again. Come on over, I can have it on the table in 30 minutes. Matter of fact, this is what I am making tonight. I'll add the polenta to pour the pan juices over and some roasted broccoli. And a salad. Because my mom would kill me if I didn't serve a salad.

Chicken Fricassee

Heat 2 T olive oil (I don't have to say extra virgin, do I?) and add 6 well-seasoned chicken thighs, skin down. Brown well. Throw in a clove or two of chopped garlic, and/or chopped onion, carrot, or celery and cook until vegetables are softened.(See, it I told you you could get creative) Add about 1/2 cup white wine and some fresh herbs, kosher salt, and fresh ground pepper. I like thyme and rosemary, but tarragon, marjoram, oregano, or chives also work well. You can use dried herbs if it is the middle of winter and you can't fight the two foot deep snow drifts to go the twenty minutes to Wegmans to get some fresh ones. Put a lid on the pan and cook for about twenty minutes. At this point you can add some fresh mushrooms or kalamata olives and cook another few minutes, or just serve as is, with the pan juices. You could also add a little cream or butter to the pan juices, but I find it not really necessary. Adjust the seasonings and serve with pan juices.

Here is my favorite polenta recipe.

And this is how I roast broccoli: Cut broccoli into florets. Drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper. Roast in a 450 degree oven for 10-15 minutes. Finish with a drizzle of balsamic glaze, if desired. My kids LOVE this broccoli.

Most requested recipe

Almost anytime I am asked to send in a dish for a teacher luncheon, my husband's office party, a pot luck or whatever, I bring or send my Curried Chicken Pasta salad. It is REALLY good. Of course. Why would I make it if it wasn't? The only problem is that EVERYONE wants the recipe. Which I can understand. It is that good, if I do say so myself. But I have found myself hounded by people; everytime I see them they beg, "Oh, can I PLEASE have the recipe?" And of course I say "Yes!" And then promptly forget about writing it down. I have avoided people at the grocery store over this. That and I don't want them to see the hohos in my cart.

So from now on, I will just tell them, "Sure, go read my blog" And then I can alienate them and they'll avoid ME at the grocery store.

Curried Chicken Pasta Salad

2 Lbs chicken, roasted (or use one of those $4.00 roasted chickens from the grocery store)
1 Lb medium pasta shells, cooked and cooled. (DO NOT OVERCOOK THE PASTA!!! If you cook your pasta any softer than al dente, you're an idiot. The time on the box is too long, so don't go by that either)
1/2 C raisins
!/4 C slivered almonds, toasted
1/4 C diced celery
1/2 C chopped green onions

Put it all in a bowl and top with dressing:

1/2 C mango chutney, chopped. (yeah, I know it is expensive. Get over it if you want the best pasta salad you ever ate)
2 tsp curry powder (get it at the Indian grocery, the stuff in the regular grocery sucks)
1 1/2 C mayo
1 tsp tumeric

Blend with a whisk.

Let me know how you like it.