Low Fat Baked General Tso Chicken

This sweet and spicey chicken is one of my favorite things to find at a good Chinese buffet and I sometimes make this lower fat version at home using baked chicken pieces instead of deep fried. Most people who have tried it say they would not have been able to tell that it was not deep fried. This recipe works well with baked chicken wings as well, some would say even better!

2 -3 pounds boneless chicken thighs or breasts, cut in strips
1 egg + 2 tbsp water whisked together to make an egg wash

Combine

1 cup flour
½ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
3 tbsp ground ginger
2 tsp salt

Dip the chicken pieces in the egg wash then dredge them in the flour mixture. Place on a lightly oiled baking sheet and lightly drizzle or the tops with a little more olive oil. Bake at 375 degrees F for about 25-3o minutes. Flip the pieces at half way through the cooking time.

While the chicken is baking, prepare your sauce. Don’t walk away from this sauce; it gets very hot when making the caramel base and can burn easily so pay careful attention while cooking it.

In a small bowl, mix together

4 tbsp soya sauce
4 tbsp rice wine vinegar (white wine vinegar is fine in a pinch)
¼ cup water
2 tbsp toasted sesame seed oil
2 tbsp hot chilli paste or sauce (use more or less to taste if you don’t like it very hot)
½ tsp salt
2 tsp corn starch
3 cloves minced garlic
3 tbsp freshly grated ginger

Set this mixture aside

In a medium saucepan boil together

1 cup sugar
¼ cup water

Boil this over medium heat, watching constantly until the caramel starts to turn a light amber color and you can begin to smell the caramel. When it reaches this stage, give the other ingredients in the bowl a quick stir to make sure the corn starch is dissolved then add it all at once to the hot caramel.

Be careful at this stage because this sauce can foam up considerably for a few seconds and it is very hot. Simmer for only few minutes and remove from the heat and allow to cool down slightly.

Toss the sauce with the cooked chicken pieces and serve over plain steamed rice.

Easy Italian Sausage and Chorizo Baked Penne with 3 Cheeses

It's been a busy few weeks for me and my blogging has slowed down because of a backlog of work at school but we are still not going hungry at our house.

This is a pretty quick and easy pasta dish that is a bit of a twist on a similar lasagne that I make.This dish is a hearty family meal or a great pot-luck dish made with ground beef, chorizo and italian sausages and a trio of cheeses. The ground fennel in the sauce compliments the sausages nicely too.


1 pound lean ground beef
1 pound hot Italian sausage
½ pound chorizo sausage

Combine the sausage meats and brown in a little olive oil in a large saucepan, breaking up the meat into small pieces as it cooks.

To the browned meat add:

3 cloves minced garlic
1 small minced red onion
2 large cans crushed plum tomatoes
1 small chopped red pepper
2 tsp ground fennel seed
½ tsp black pepper
½ tsp salt
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tbsp fresh tarragon

Simmer over low heat for 15-20 minutes. Add about

6 cups cooked penne pasta

Transfer the pasta and sauce to a greased lasagne pan. Top with a mixture of

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups shredded part skim mozzarella cheese
½ cup fresh grated parmesan or asiago cheese

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 30 - 45 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown. Serves 6 to 8.

Sweet Potato Salmon Cakes

The idea for this recipe is one that has been swimming around in my head for a while and I finally got around to executing this past week. The result was quite delicious. The mixture of sweet potatoes and white potatoes allows the mixture to be able to be formed into cakes which is not possible if you use only sweet potatoes.

You may have to play with the proportions of sweet potato and russet potato to get the right mix for you. I would suggest baking an extra russet potato or two to have on standby in case you need more as you are preparing this dish.

I'm planning to try a smaller version of this recipe to serve as an appetizer soon too. I think smaller cakes might be nice with a dollop of lime mayo on top.

1 ½ to 2 pounds salmon
4 large russet potatoes
3 large sweet potatoes
½ bulb roasted garlic
1 beaten egg
6 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon
Salt and pepper to taste
Salt and pepper to season
1 ½ cups Panko crumbs
Canola oil for frying

Wrap all the potatoes in aluminum foil and bake for about an hour until fork tender and let them cool completely. You can roast the garlic at the same time using the same method but take the garlic out of the oven after a half hour.

Poach the salmon in gently boiling salted water for about 10 minutes. Cool completely, remove bones and skin and break into bite sized pieces.

Remove the cooled sweet potatoes and russet potatoes from their skins and mash them together. Mash the roasted garlic cloves with a fork before adding them to the mashed sweet and russet potatoes. Add the beaten egg and stir well. Fold in the tarragon and salmon gently. You don’t want to break up the salmon too much as you blend it into the mashed potatoes. Season with salt and pepper.

Form the mashed potato and salmon mixture into balls about the size of a small orange. Roll the balls in Panko crumbs and pat them into 1 inch thick cakes and fry in canola oil over medium low heat until golden brown. Serve with a squeeze of lime.

Almond and Italian Parsley Pesto

Here's the recipe for this tasty pesto that many readers asked for when they saw it combined with penne pasta in the pork chop recipe earlier this week. It's a great simple addition to any dish you would use pesto like tossed with any plain pasta or spread on crostini for a simple appetizer.

½ cup toasted whole almonds
1 cup chopped Italian Parsley (or basil if you prefer)
1 clove minced garlic
1/3 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
½ cup extra virgin olive oil (aprox)
Salt and pepper to season

Toast the almonds for 3-4 minutes in a 375 degree F oven. Combine all ingredients together in a food processor. You may want to add more or less oil to the pesto according to taste or the way you plan to serve it. Season with the salt at the end because the parmesan cheese will add some salt to the pesto.

Perfect Parmesan Panko Pork Chops

These delicious crispy pork chops are baked and not fried although you could fry them in canola oil in a non-stick skillet if you wanted. I just put a thin coat of oil on the baking sheet and then just mist the tops of them with an oil sprayer so there is very little added fat. I also use lean boneless center loin chops for this recipe. They are pictured with Whole Wheat Penne Rigate Pasta tossed with Almond and Italian Parsley Pesto. A great tasty workday menu that I made in about a half hour.

These are also very good with your favorite Marinara or Puttenesca sauce over the top too.

6 center loin pork chops
½ cup flour
1 egg + 1 tbsp water whisked together (eggwash)
1 cup Panko crumbs
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to season

Season the pork chops with salt and pepper. Mix the parmesan with the panko crumbs. Dredge the pork chops in the flour, then dip in the egg wash and finally in the Panko crumbs. Place the chops on a lightly oiled baking sheet and mist or drizzle the tops with a little olive oil. Bake for about 35 minutes in a preheated 375 degree F oven. I like to flip them over half way through the cooking time.

Orange Bundt Cake with Cointreau Marinated Strawberries

This was Spouse's dessert that she made to go with our "casual turkey" dinner. We make several desserts that combine orange and strawberry fllavours and the orange flavoured Cointreau liqueur in this one adds a very nice touch to the strawberries.

The cake is a slight variation on my Lime Bundt Cake; substituting oranges for limes in this case. That recipe can be found here:

http://www.rockrecipes.blogspot.com/2008/06/lime-bundt-cake.html

The Marinated Strawberries use the same method for those used in my simple strawberry shortcake and can be found here:

http://www.rockrecipes.blogspot.com/2008/04/strawberry-orange-shortcake.html

Turkey Dressing and Gravy Panini

I think I have a new favorite comfort food!! This was Spouse's idea of a panini using leftover turkey, traditional savoury stuffing amd some wild cranberries or cranberry sauce. Luckily I had some turkey gravy in the freezer from last week to dip the sandwich in. If this was on someone's menu in town, I'd be there twice a week at least!! It was absolutely awesome!

I do lightly butter the outside of the sandich before putting it in the panini press to make it just that extra little bit crunchy. Good bread is a must for a good panini and here I've used Belgian Loaf from Georgetown bakery yet again; I love it for all my paninis.

If you need a good recipe for roasted turkey, try this one:

http://www.rockrecipes.blogspot.com/2008/03/turkey-basted-in-roasted-garlic-sage.html

The recipe for traditional savoury stuffing used in this sandwhich can be found here:

http://www.rockrecipes.blogspot.com/2008/02/savoury-stuffing-or-dressing.html

A good cranberry sauce recipe if you need it can be found here:

http://www.rockrecipes.blogspot.com/2009/02/cranberry-apple-sauce.html

Chocolate Orange Truffle Cake with Chocolate Cointreau Glaze

Here is another offering in my ongoing love affair with anything combining chocolate and orange. This is an idea I came up with a few weeks back as a dessert for a few of Spouse's friends who were visiting for an evening of "Sips and Nibbles". It was a huge hit from the first bite and I have made several of these since for other visiting friends and one for Teacher Appreciation Week at my kids' school...and appreciated it was. I even have an advance request from Spouse to make it as her birthday cake again next week. It might be a new recipe but it is moving up the ranks very quickly to being an all time favorite.

Chocolate Cake

2 cups sugar

2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 cup soured milk

1 cup black coffee

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla flavouring

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and beat with electric mixer for 2 minutes.

Pour into 3 greased and floured 9 inch cake pans, or 2 9 inch round pans that can be split into four layers when cooled. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Chocolate Orange Filling
Gently melt together and cool to almost room temperature

3 cups dark chocolate chips
½ cup whipping cream
Zest of 2 oranges, very finely minced

Meanwhile, whip to firm peaks
1 ½ cups whipping cream

Slowly fold in the chocolate mixture in 3 portions mixing well after each addition. If this mixture is too runny chill it in the fridge for a few minutes and then whip again with an electric mixer until it is firm. You may need to repeat this procedure a couple of times if necessary. Use this orange chocolate filling between the layers and for a thin coat on the top and sides of the cake. If desired, each cake layer can be sprinkled with 1 ½ ounces of Cointreau liqueur before filling and frosting. Chill for about an hour before finishing with the glaze.

Chocolate Cointreau Ganache Glaze
1 1/3 cups dark chocolate chips
1/3 cup whipping cream
1 ounce Cointreau (or other orange liqueur)
2 tbsp honey

Scald the whipping cream almost to the boiling point and pout the hot cream over the chocolate chips in a small bowl. Let stand for 45 minutes, then stir until smooth.
Add the Cointreau and honey to the chocolate mixture and stir well until completely smooth. Pour this glaze slowly over the chilled cake. A metal decorators spatula can be used to spread it equally over the sides if you prefer (as shown) or simply let it drip and fall naturally over the sides. Garnish with candied orange peel or supremed orange wedges.