 As I was watching my entree cook in the oven, I was beginning to question the look of it. Too monochromatic; too flat. I had spent so much time thinking about how it would all come together and I hate when reality doesn't match imagination.....Hmmm. -- Wait! I know! I will char that sugar and make it nice and crusty. And it worked. *** And so it is with most things in our life. Add a little fire and it gets exciting pretty quickly. Chicken is no exception. And I got fired up about this recipe when I saw how great it turned out, so I knew it deserved a place on the blog. The dish you see here is a conglomerate of leftovers, (My specialty, really.) and made good use of stuff that would otherwise have died in the dark corners of my fridge. I shall leave out the mundane, like why I made chicken instead of, say, eel. So, let's just begin at the fun moment, the prep, and go from there. 1. Leftover chicken. One intact breast, one cut into pieces. Solution: cut the other one to match and use 3 inch cubes. That was easy. 2. Leftover bean sprouts. Crunchy or cooked? Garnish or integral ingredient? Camouflage or flaunt? -- Cooked, integral, camouflaged. DONE! Okay... 3. Leftover rice. Seriously, just leftover rice goes in everything so easily, but I still pondered on it for a short moment. Every ingredient deserves pondering. 4. Leftover Garlic. Four little petal cloves remaining in fridge; languishing as the last loved pods of a ravished whole clove. Yeah, gotta add lots of garlic. 5. Sweet Thai chili sauce. Aw! So sad! Only a tiny bit left in the bottle. Sure, come to the party, too! What will bring it all together? SUGAR! And away I went, mixing, tasting, tossing, baking, frying. Yeah, the party in my mouth was not a disappointment.  Brown sugar, garlic, sweet Thai chili sauce and a splash of fish sauce. Now mix it and rub over the oiled and seasons chicken breasts and place in a baking dish.  First, I patted the breasts dry. Then rubbed with a little oil and sprinkled salt and pepper on them. Then the sauce above was mixed and I hand rubbed it all over the chicken. Oh how I love when those little garlic bits wave hello in the sauce! YUM.  I'm so making this again and using it as a base for a lot of fried rice dishes. Oil, then add the bean sprouts and rice, and then peanuts and soy sauce. That's the stage you see here. Then I added some lime juice, and a beaten egg, and then finished with cilantro. A very spicy mango, Sriracha glaze over the top finished it perfectly!  Turning the broiler on high for the last 2 minutes or so was the kicker. Look at that gorg caramelization! And see the bubble line around the edge? Phew! Removed it from the oven just in time. Otherwise that sugary syrup would have gurgled mercilessly over onto my oven floor. Oh, well. Wouldn't be the first time.... So, I guess I liked how it turned out since I couldn't stop taking photos!!! Look at how pretty it is! Make my BROWN SUGAR GARLIC BAKED CHICKEN WITH BEAN SPROUT PEANUT FRIED RICE AND A MANGO SRIRACHA GLAZE. Don't forget to garnish with extra cilantro and a swish of hoisin sauce! YUM!!!
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 Wanna know what I did Thursday? I hung out with Vicky and the Spiralizers. No, it isn't Charlotte's latest new band, although when we cook together we do rock! We were trying out Vicky's new kitchen gadget. As you spin the crank, it turns zucchini into spirals that come out looking exactly like noodles. Hence, the name of the toy. After our various girl's night humor about the shape of our food, we then gained our composure, and proceeded to make them into a delicious meal. Want the recipe? Click Zoodle Shrimp Pad Thai. It is from the blog whiteonricecouple.com! Now, there's very little we won't tackle but this was positively easy. Coming together in about 15 minutes after all the prep was done and the ingredients staged, I think we'd all give it a collective forks-up on the tasty scale. Because it is quick, I highly recommend you be READY with all the ingredients before you start. Then turn on the heat, grab a spatula and cook!
 Haku, potatoes, celery, onion and Indian Jalfrezi over rice. Social media has taken over our subconscious minds. We think far too much about whether or not we've posted often enough, with varied content that thrills, and/or spoken in a way that connects to our audience. There is the worry that our selfies were awkward; the spoon resting a little too contrived next to the plate and ruining the composition. But really!!! Who are we thinking about when we post? Sadly, ourselves and not those to whom we seek to fulfill. In our relentless pursuit of becoming viral by praying to our internet marketing deity, we are only speaking out to space. Makes me nervous. So, who is our audience? Who, beyond the faces of those friends and family we love, is really paying attention? Well, here's the good news about being a food blogger. Your audience is everyone who eats. There's something about a photo of delicious food that smooths our path through life and we can't get enough of it. Nourishment can happen on many levels, and apparently the visual appetite is as insatiable as the physical one. And sometimes the word YUM is all we need to validate our experience. Because this isn't my full time hobby yet, (I hate it when your real job, isn't your real job. Don't you?) the postings must often revolve around the priorities of my life. And quite frankly, as much as I love to cook, write, photograph and develop recipes, I find myself realizing that walks with my husband do indeed trump sitting in front of my laptop working on the 140-characters-to-greatness quotient. But you deserve to be fed! You deserve to have your virtual taste buds sated with a collection of organic obsessions. Ready? Scroll down and enjoy!  It's true. Spaghetti squash is very fun and lends whimsy to every recipe. Here I baked Tilapia with an Indian spice rub, topped it with a savory peach salsa, and then created some cheesy potato pancakes. Colorful and full of flavor! Recipe here for my Spice Rubbed Tilapia over Spaghetti Squash, Potato Pancakes, with a Soy Maple Reduction and topped with Peach Salsa!  Strawberries that have been in the fridge for a few days may not make the grade for pie, but they're sure perfect mixed in with my Strawberry Honey Poppy Seed Muffins. Moist, billowy, sweet and beautiful. Tender sweet veal meatballs will make you want to eat alone so you don't have to share! Try my Veal and Caper Meatballs with Shells in a Lemon, White Wine Sauce. Plus, these are seriously the best leftover!!! Chicken Breasts braised in butter and stock, come alive atop a ham, cheese and leek twice baked potato casserole. The red pepper and clementine relish is crunchy, sweet and the perfect texture to complement the savory chicken.
There, bet you feel better already! |
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Meet the Cook...
My name is Camine Pappas and I love to create beautiful and delicious food that anyone can make. My signature style centers around a love for combining things in a way you might not expect as I work to find a hidden combination of colors, textures and flavors from the things that are in my pantry and/or easy to obtain. Archives
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