TERIYAKI CHICKEN THIGHS

Posted in Poultry by sallybr

This is a special recipe for me, because it’s from the first cookbook I ever bought here in the US, back in 1986, when my English was poor and my cooking not much better. Since then, I moved between different countries a few times, but always managed to take this cookbook with me. Ironically enough, it is not one of those “classic” cookbooks, but a simple, down to earth publication from Sunset called “Easy Basics for Good Cooking” (first published in 1982). My copy shows the passing of the years, with stains marking many of the recipes that I cooked again and again ;-). Maybe it’s not the fanciest cookbook in the world, but whenever I pick it up I cherish the memories, remembering how I was nervous trying to translate everything correctly, to find the right ingredients, and to cook a nice meal. Allow me to share with you a recipe that I’ve made so many times, in so many different settings, that I could probably make it with my eyes closed.

TERIYAKI CHICKEN THIGHS
(adapted from Easy Basics for Good Cooking)

8 chicken thighs
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup water
3 T honey
2 t grated fresh ginger
3 T dry sherry (see comments)
1 clove garlic, minced
2 t red pepper flakes

Place the chicken in a plastic bag or bowl. Combine all the other ingredients to form a marinade, mixing them well to fully dissolve the honey. Seal the bag or cover the bowl, and refrigerate from 4 to 24 hours.

Remove chicken from marinade and place all pieces skin side down in a single layer. Pour some of the marinade over them, to reach the level of the bottom fourth of the layer (see photo after the jump). Bake, covered with aluminum foil in a 325F oven for 1.5 hours. Remove the foil, turn the chicken pieces skin side up, and bake at 425F for 20 minutes more. If you like a particularly crispy skin (we do!) turn the broiler on and watch carefully, as the honey from the marinade might burn.

Serve it with white rice and some sauteed vegetable (baby bok choy is also perfect!).

Enjoy!

jump for additional comments and photos….

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23Aug2009

BBA#14: FRENCH BREAD

Posted in BBA Challenge, Breads by sallybr

Another bread I was looking forward to! We arrived from the other side of the world a little tired, but after a nice shower I grabbed the book and prepared “pate fermentee”. It’s a fancy name for a simple thing: flour, salt, yeast, and water, kneaded together, allowed to rise for one hour and placed in the fridge overnight.

French bread is reasonably easy to make, but tricky to shape, as the dough contains a high proportion of water. Refrain from adding too much flour and you are half the way there.

These photos show the complete dough (pate fermentee’ + more flour, salt, yeast and water) before and after rising for 2 hours at room temperature. I cut the dough into three pieces, shaped as baguettes, taking care to deflate it as little as possible.

The baguettes rise one more time, at least 45 minutes, then go into a 500F oven. I need more practice shaping baguettes, but overall I think they worked quite well.

The crumb is not very open, but the bread has excellent flavor and texture. They were a nice complement to our dinner tonight!

22Aug2009

We are home…

Posted in General by sallybr

We are home!

Three simple words that convey so much happiness and peace….

Goodbye, Oahu! We had a great time!

21Aug2009

Dining out on Oahu: 21 Degrees North

Posted in General, Restaurants by sallybr

Vacations are an amazing, revitalizing, much needed break, but some things are a bit tricky when away from our cozy home. Like cooking, which is not that easy in someone else’s kitchen. After several days of “not-exactly-home-cooking” in a bungalow close to Waimea Beach, we treated ourselves to a dinner last night at “21 Degrees North,” in the Turtle BayResort. The name reflects its location on the planet, at 21 degrees north of the Equator. What a gorgeous setting, we had a table window overlooking the ocean, totally romantic…

Not to detract from the aura, the restaurant lightning was dim, which meant bad news for blogging. But, my husband managed to snap a few reasonably good photos (thanks, honey!). First, the appetizer that we shared, foie gras potstickers, joining two of my favorite things in the gastronomical world.

His main course was a crab-crusted Hawaiian sea bass served over mixed beans and sauteed spinach, in a lemongrass coulis. Very delicious, with a quite stunning presentation…

I had a fantastic pepper-seared ahi tuna, cooked to perfection (nearly raw inside…), served over thin ribbons of zucchini, carrots, and summer squash in a miso sauce, with corn crisps (think about a thin corn pancake, crisp on the outside, tender and creamy inside). Sorry, no pictures of my dish.

Their signature dessert is a chocolate souffle with creme anglaise, a classic that was scrumptious.

And to keep the touristic chronicle going, here are a few photos from the last couple of days,
click to enlarge them.

Turtle Bay

Surfing lessons at Turtle Bay – yes, I was a little tempted…. 😉

Waimea Beach, our favorite

A tree, with fruits and amazing seed pods… called “Autograph Tree” (thanks for the info, Rhea!)

they do look like some extra-terrestrial beings! Amazing!
(make sure to click on this last photo to enlarge it)

19Aug2009

Greens + Grapefruit + Shrimp = Great Salad!

Posted in Salads, Seafood by sallybr

This recipe comes from one of my favorite cookbooks: Secrets of Success, by Michael Bauer, who is a restaurant critic for “The San Francisco Chronicle”. In this wonderful book, we encounter 300 recipes of “signature dishes” from San Francisco restaurants. More than providing the recipe, he shares little secrets used by the chefs: small details that often mean the difference between a good and a great meal.

At some point in my life (ca. 1989) I left my heart in the Bay Area, 😉 so buying this book and cooking from it was a nice way to fight my withdrawal symptoms.

This recipe comes from chef Fabrizio Laudati (owner of an Italian restaurant called Panta Rei). It was offered as an appetizer in his previous restaurant, Baraonda, that no longer exists. I find it perfect for a summer dinner: it’s light but substantial enough to fill you up, especially if you serve a good loaf of bread with it. In this case, the recipe will feed 2 or 3 happy people.

MIXED GREEN SALAD WITH GRAPEFRUIT AND WARM SHRIMP
(serves 6 as an appetizer course)

Para receita em portugues, veja o final desse texto, na proxima pagina

for the shrimp
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup grapefruit juice (freshly squeezed)
2 garlic cloves, minced
salt and pepper to taste
12 ounces uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 T butter

for the vinaigrette
1/4 cup olive oil
2 t balsamic vinegar
2 t grapefruit juice
1 garlic clove, minced (I omitted)
salt and ground white pepper

for the salad
3 ounces mixed baby greens of your choice
2 heads Belgian endive, separated into spears
2 pink grapefruit, peeled and cut into segments (see my comments)
1 t minced fresh Italian parsley

To prepare the shrimp, combine the oil, the grapefruit juice and the garlic in a bowl. Add the shrimp, season with salt and pepperand refrigerate everything for 6 to 24 hours.

To make the vinaigrette, combine all ingredients until blended.

Place the greens, endive and grapefruit segments in separate bowls, adding the vinaigrette to each bowl and tossing the ingredients. Make sure to save any grapefruit juice that runs out of the segments.

Heat a skillet that will hold all the shrimp over high heat. Add the shrimp and the marinade and stir them until the shrimp are cooked and the sauce slightly reduces, about 3 minutes. Add the butter and toss the shrimp until it melts, then remove it from the heat. Add the reserved juices from the grapefruit segments to the skillet and stir to blend.

For nice presentation, assemble the salad by placing the endive spears in a circle on individual plates. Add a grapefruit section on top of each spear,and pile a mound of greens in the center, topping the dish with two hot shrimp and another grapefruit piece. Drizzle with a little of the sauce; sprinkle with parsley.

Bon Appetit!

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