Hoisin Five Spice Chicken Legs

I love chicken drumsticks and thighs. I had some in the freezer that I needed to use up. I found this recipe at epicurious.com and it seemed simple and easy enough for a weeknight meal.

The original recipe called for only hoisin, 5 spice powder and chicken. However, I read the reviews and decided to add some more ingredients to add a little extra something. I halved the ingredients because I had only 4 drumsticks, but the recipe called for 4 whole chicken legs.

I was also hesitant with baking something at 500°, but I remember seeing chicken wings baked at 500° before with no problem. The smoke detector did go off when I was making this! I guess it was because the garlic burned…

Hoisin Five Spice Chicken Legs
Adapted from: epicurious.com

Ingredients:
4 chicken drumsticks
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1/2 tsp Chinese 5 spice powder
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp soy sauce

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 500°F.

2. Put chicken in a shallow (1-inch-deep) baking pan lined with foil. Spray foil with nonstick spray.

3. In a bowl, stir together all the ingredients. Brush liberally all over chicken. Bake in upper third of oven until skin is browned and chicken is cooked through, 25 to 30 minutes.

My chicken was probably bigger than normal. I baked for about 35+ min. I also removed the skin from the chicken before I brushed it. Next time, I will probably add garlic powder instead of minced garlic because it did burn on the chicken. Other than that, the flavor was similar to a Chinese style barbeque.

Steamed Chicken and Shitake Mushrooms

I wanted to try to recreate a dish my mom made for me when I was growing up. I knew it had various chicken parts with shitake mushrooms, but I didn’t know what else was in it. I also knew it was steamed, as were a lot of recipes she made.

Although my recipe was not exactly like what she made, I think it was a good try and tasted equally as delicious. Mine seemed to come out lighter and didn’t feel as heavy as the one my mom makes. It was good enough to make Gary go back for seconds!

Ingredients:
2 boneless skinless chicken thighs
6-7 fresh shitake mushrooms, stems removed and sliced
2 scallions, cut into 1 inch pieces, white parts removed
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine
1 tablespoon cooking oil
2 teaspoons white sugar

Directions:
1. Cut up chicken to 1 inch wide strips. Remove stems from mushroom and slice. Clean and cut up scallions into 1 inch pieces. Place all into a bowl.

2. Combine the rest of the ingredients into the bowl, toss to coat together.

3. Transfer to a shallow dish with edges (liquid will form), place in steamer or wok with steamer rack in water. Cover and steam for 20 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Serve with rice.

We also didn’t have a steamer, our wok was what we used for basically everything. With a wok and a rice cooker, we were set in the kitchen. With that said, this recipe is also being submitted to Joelen’s Tasty Tools event for the month of March. Be sure to check her site at the end of the month for other tasty recipes using the wok!

Alton Brown’s “The Chewy”

If you’re a foodie and watch Food Network at all, you should have heard of “The Chewy” by now. If not, have you been living under a rock? …I kid, I kid.

But anyway, The Chewy is Alton Brown’s creation for an episode where he made different types of cookies for his sister, Marsha. He made 3 different cookies: The Thin, The Puffy, and The Chewy. The one that called out to me was of course, The Chewy!

These cookies were certainly chewy, however they didn’t spread as much as I hoped. I had to flatten them out before I put them in the oven. I didn’t use the cookie scoop to measure out the dough, instead I used a medium cookie scoop which is a little bigger than a tablespoon. I also usually don’t have milk on hand, so I used milk powder reconstituted with water. Bridget from The Way the Cookie Crumbles recommends cutting the milk in half to allow the cookies to spread.

Although these cookies are good, I don’t think it’s my favorite cookie. I still like my tried and true recipe better.

Alton Brown’s Chewy
Adapted from: Alton Brown/Food Network

Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons milk (I used milk powder reconstituted with water)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 375° F.

2. Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.

3. Pour the melted butter in the mixer's work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add the egg, yolk, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

4. Chill the dough, then using a medium cookie scoop, scoop onto parchment-lined or silicone baking sheets. Flatten slightly with the palm of your hand. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown, checking the cookies after 4 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

These cookies were not flattened before I put it in the oven. It came out a bit puffy and didn’t seem to spread that much. I had to flatten the next batch before I baked them.

Crockpot Hawaiian Chicken with Coconut Rice

I saw this recipe come up on my Google reader, and I knew I had to try it. It was a great use of ingredients I had usually had on hand. I was also home and I wanted to put the crockpot to use while I did other things around the house. I know, I know, the crockpot was meant for things such as when you’re out of the house and need to have dinner ready when you get home. However, I still get paranoid (all Gary’s fault) if I leave it plugged in for an extended period of time without supervision. I’ll probably have to use it a few more times under my watch before I leave it on when I’m away. I also don’t have a programmable one, so that’s one of my concerns too. Mine just has low, high, and warm. It doesn’t shut off after a certain amount of time.

With that said, I made this with chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts, because that’s what I usually have on hand. I’m much more of a dark meat fan myself. The pack had 5, so I added it all in there. I also used pineapple chunks instead of rings. I thought I had rings, but I was mistaken. It worked just the same though. I also paired it with some coconut rice that made this a great meal. We both enjoyed this a lot.

The others mentioned that it was a bit sweet, but I didn’t find it sweet at all. I think it was the extra piece of chicken or because it was paired with the coconut rice that balanced it out.

Crockpot Hawaiian Chicken
Adapted from: Stephanie Cooks, Lauren’s Kitchen, and …and a cookie for Dessert, originally from the Easy Slow Cooker Cookbook.

Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I used a pack of 5 boneless skinless thighs)
salt to taste
1 (15 ounce) can pineapple slices, juice reserved (I used a can of pineapple chunks)
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 cup cornstarch

Directions:
Place chicken in slow cooker sprayed with non-stick spray and sprinkle with a little salt.

Place pineapple slices (or pineapple chunks) over chicken.

In a small bowl, combine pineapple juice, brown sugar, lemon juice, ginger and cornstarch and stir until combined. Pour over chicken.

Cover and cook on low for 4 to 5 hours or high for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Serve over rice.

See below for coconut rice recipe.

Coconut Rice
Adapted from: About.com

Ingredients:
2 cups Thai jasmine-scented white rice (note that other types of rice, such as brown rice, do not work for this recipe)
1 1/2 cups thick, good-quality coconut milk (not "lite")
2 cups water
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. sugar

Directions:
Place rice in rice cooker. Add the water, coconut milk, salt, and sugar. Stir well (use a plastic or wooden utensil to avoid scraping off the non-stick surface).

Cover and set to cook.

Once your rice cooker switches to "warm" mode, allow another 8-10 minutes for rice to finish "steaming". This will ensure your coconut rice is fully cooked and pleasantly sticky.

Gently fluff with chopsticks before serving.

This is the recipe that uses a rice cooker.
For Coconut Rice made in a pot on your stovetop, see: Thai Coconut Rice Recipe (stovetop version).

Before I started the coconut rice, I had a can of coconut milk that was new and not opened. I opened it up and saw that it was in chunks! It still smelled like coconut, but I couldn’t use it. I guess it was because I put it in the fridge when I bought it. DO NOT PUT CANS OF COCONUT MILK IN THE FRIDGE. If you do, this is what it will look like:

Luckily, just this past weekend, I found coconut cream powder at the Chinese supermarket and bought it.

This was a life saver! It had instructions for both coconut cream and coconut milk. Whew!

Chicken Sausage Pepper Stew

We had a bunch of leftover ingredients from our dinner party that we needed to use up. One was part of a package of turkey sausages, and the other was some chicken we were supposed to use, but didn’t end up making it. While I was thinking about what to make with it, I turned on Food Network and Rachel Ray was on. She just so happened to be making something with Chicken and Sausages! What a coincidence. As I watched, and as she went along, I was thinking, “I have that, I have that.” It wasn’t until the end that I thought it seemed so simple to add whatever to the pot and would come out as a great dish. I didn’t have everything she used, so I winged it from the first 2 ingredients.

I started thinking about the summer cookouts and how we always made sausages with peppers and onions. I wondered if that would work in stew form. It definitely did! This was a great dish, and it reheated very well the next day too!

The chicken I had was previously seasoned with salt and left in the fridge overnight. We were supposed to use it during the dinner party, however it ended up being forgotten, or we didn’t have time to make it in the end. If you have time to preseason the chicken overnight, go for it. If not, seasoning it right before should be fine. It was also pounded flat, but I don’t think it’s necessary.

Chicken Sausage Pepper Stew

Ingredients:
5 turkey sausages, casings removed
5 pieces chicken thighs, cut into 1 inch strips
2 medium onions roughly chopped
2 bell peppers sliced (I had partial pieces of 3 different colored bell peppers)
2 cups chicken stock
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 tsp dried thyme
pinch red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste 

Directions:
1. Heat a dutch oven on medium high heat. Add olive oil. Remove the casing and break up the sausage into 1 inch pieces. Place into the pot stir around to brown. Cut the chicken into 1 inch wide pieces. Add to the pot.

2. Cut open the peppers, discard seeds and slice into half inch strips. Roughly slice the onions into thick slices. Add both to the pot. Stir around for a few minutes until chicken turns opaque.

3. Add chicken stock, bay leaf, parsley, thyme and red pepper flakes. Mix well, cover and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and let simmer for 30 minutes.

4. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove bay leaf. Serve over rice.