Week 21: Not Your Mother’s Chicken and Rice

I remember my mother making chicken and rice dishes, mostly casseroles that were heavy on some sort of canned creamed soup. Edible but not terribly flavorful, they were a staple in most households in the 1960s and 1970s. Given my subsequent aversion to casseroles and anything containing a creamed soup, I have avoided such dishes for 30+ years…until now.

In the most recent Sunset magazine, I found a recipe for Chicken Steamed Over Ginger-Garlic Rice. Full of flavor, utilizing only one pot and taking only 30 minutes, the family has determined the recipe a keeper and I can now proudly cook chicken and rice casserole.

Rather boring in color, due to the dual colors of white (rice, chicken) and green (sauce), it is anything but bland. The recipe contains bold flavors—ginger, garlic, cilantro, sesame oil and jalapeno—that give the moist steamed chicken a great kick, although not so spicy that children won’t eat it.

The recipe is low in salt, easy to prepare and a quick and hearty weeknight meal. While the recipe says it yields four servings that would be a huge amount of rice per person. I used 2 pounds of chicken (rather than the 1 1/2 it called for) and it served 5 adults, with enough leftover for one lunch. I have adjusted a few things in the recipe to satisfy our palate, but if you want the original recipe, you can find it here.

Butcher Son and Mr. B added some sriracha to up the heat quotient, our guest tried it with a bit of soy, but Brilliant Daughter and I found it perfect just as it is. Now it’s your turn to debunk the myth that chicken and rice casseroles have to include creamed soups!

Recipe on the next page...

Week 20: 40-Minute Hamburger Buns

I’m sure you are wondering why I have two posts in a row dealing with yeast breads, albeit very easy to make and tasty recipes. Our family loves fresh bread of any kind and there are few things better than warm steamy loaves coming out of the oven and eaten hot with melted butter dripping down your chin, at least in our estimation.

It is also something I am trying to become more comfortable with. Yeast breads can be tricky. I’ve been making cinnamon rolls for years but have rarely ventured out of that niche. Maybe I am trying to channel my husband’s grandmother, who baked a dozen or more loaves a week. All of five-foot-nothing, she had the strongest hands of any woman (and most men) that I had ever met. When she took you into her embrace, there was no squirming out of it until she was good and ready, and when she pinched your cheek, you felt it for hours. She would bake huge batches once or twice a week and deliver them to friends, relatives and would use them to barter with local farmers for produce.

I started making a 5-minute artisan bread back in April of 2012. It is one of those recipes that should delight every suburban cook. It takes very little time (ummm…5 minutes), only 4 basic ingredients and yields a hearty round loaf reminiscent of something you would buy at the bakery, similar in texture to a sourdough boule. I make it once or twice a month, much to the delight of the family. The focaccia recipe from last week has also received rave reviews from friends and family, and I have even talked several into making it themselves. Now they are hooked as well.

As for why I would even attempt hamburger buns, the rationale was twofold. I had initially planned hamburgers for dinner (topped with freshly smoked bacon and some creamy avocado) but had forgotten to buy buns. Yes, I could have driven to one of any number of stores to pick them up, or asked Butcher Son to bring me some home from Robert’s Market, but I got to wondering if I could make them. Secondly, I really am trying to learn to make a lot of what we eat from scratch. I have mastered the jam/jelly thing, pickles, salsa, tomato sauce and marinara, and even BBQ sauce. I have a number of mustards and rib rubs in my repertoire, as well as fruit syrups. I make sausage, bacon, pancetta. And of course, I am proficient with sweet baked goods. So this was just another thing to try.

I found a recipe on Taste of Home for 40-minute hamburger buns. Sure enough, within about 40 minutes I had hamburger buns. The original recipe made 12 buns, but they were only slightly larger than slider buns and not really big enough for my hamburgers, so on a second try I made 8 buns. Better, but I’m thinking that for a big juicy cowboy burger, you should just make 6. Or if the kids want sliders, you could probably get 16 perfect slider buns. The ingredients are basic pantry and fridge items, so no need to get anything fancy. The texture overall is denser than your average hamburger bun, but it doesn’t squish down like Wonder Bread and soaks up any juices that might be leaking from your burger. Overall I was very happy with the result and the recipe got the thumbs up from the family. So now it’s your turn to try.

40-Minute Hamburger Buns

2 tablespoons active dry yeast

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water (110 to 115 degrees)

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon salt

3 1/2+ cups, all purpose flour

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add oil and sugar; let stand for 5 minutes. Add the egg, salt and 3 cups flour to form a soft dough. Pour remaining 1/2 cup flour out onto counter or breadboard. Add dough and knead until smooth and elastic, about 3-5 minutes. You may need to add more flour if the dough become sticky.

Do not let rise. Divide into 8 pieces; shape each into a ball. Place 3 inches apart on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.

Bake at 425° for 8-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.

Yield: 8

Week 19: 5-Minute Herbed Focaccia

Back in 2012 I did a post on 5-Minute Artisan Bread. I had my disbelievers, but once they made the bread, they were hooked. It really was that simple. This recipe, for Italian focaccia, is even easier and also lends itself to a variety of flavors, depending upon what you have on hand in your garden or pantry.

You don’t need anything special to make this tasty treat, just the basics will do. But I like to dress mine up, usually with fresh herbs from the garden, but I think some kalamata olives and sundried tomatoes would work nicely as well.

The base of the bread is flour, sugar, salt, yeast, egg and butter. It all mixes up easily in a bowl and then you just let it sit for an hour to let the yeast do its magic. Then you knead it a few times, throw it in a greased pan, sprinkle it with some salt and herbs (dry or fresh) and shove it in the oven. I like to chop fresh herbs and use half inside the dough (which I add while kneading) and the rest sprinkled on top with the salt.

This focaccia can be served on its own, piping hot from the oven, with a meal, or let it cool and use it as a base for a sandwich.

It literally takes 5 minutes of your time, with an hour to rise and about 20 minutes to cook. I suggest you double the recipe, because it won’t last long once it comes out of the oven. I even served it with some of the leftover chimichurri sauce from last week’s tri-tip recipe and it was beyond good. A little schmear went a long way.

So what are you waiting for? 

Recipe after the jump

Week 15: Molten Dulce de Leche Cakes

Sunday dinner with the family always involves some good wine, food, and conversation. We always end the night with dessert, which is a perfect time to test out new recipes. My family doesn’t mind being guinea pigs and I get more feedback than during the week when Mr. B is the only one around. Bless his heart, he rarely complains about anything I cook, probably as much out of fear that I will stop feeding him as the fact that he really likes everything. I mean, the guy ate brains and eggs, raw lamb kibbe, baby goat, and a myriad of other things as a kid that I wasn’t introduced to until adulthood.

This week for dessert I tested out a recipe from Bon Appetit. It was originally from Florencia Courreges, the pastry chef at La Huella restaurant in Uruguay. It is her south-of-the-border take on the traditional chocolate lava cake. The simplicity of it boggles the mind, as it only takes 3 ingredients, 3 simple steps, and 20 minutes from start to finish. And you don’t even start it until after dinner is over! (That’s one way to get everyone else to do the dishes…)

The basis for the cake is dulce de leche, a sweet thick caramel that is nothing more than sweetened

condensed milk cooked slowly. There are ways to make your own in a crock pot or even from scratch if you are so inclined. I use the Nestle brand, which makes a 13.4 ounce can (which turns out to be the right amount for this recipe). These can be found in the Hispanic food aisle or with sweetened condensed milk in your baking aisle

The result is a sweet, light cake with a warm molten center, served right out of the oven. The directions recommend that you unmold the cake before serving. This will, of course, give you a more dramatic first bite, with the caramel-colored goodness oozing out onto the plate, but I think it would be perfectly fine served within its ramekin. I should warn you that due to the one-dimensional note of the dessert, I found it wise to serve with a small scoop of ice cream. I recommend vanilla, Florencia recommends banana as well. (I tried whipped cream, but it melted too soon and didn’t cut the sweetness properly like the vanilla bean ice cream did.)

I should also note that the original recipe said it made 6 servings, but the cakes were a bit small, and cook so quickly that unless you check them every 30 seconds once you hit about 9 minutes, they overcook. Making a second batch (and doubling it for the whole family) made 8 good-sized cakes and took about 12 minutes. The center should be jiggly – and when I say center, it should measure the size of a quarter or more, because while you get them out, move them off the pan and unmold them, they have continued to cook a bit and the centers start to firm up. You definitely should serve them right away, although Mr. B did have a second one the next day, chilled, and said it was delicious. (Good man!)

Recipe after the jump....

 

Week 13: Going Old School with Grasshopper Pie

Okay, this is not strictly adhering to my goal of trying a new recipe every week. In fact, this recipe is one that I have been making since I was a teen. Grasshopper Pie was one of only three desserts my mother made (the other two being a Sherry Pound Cake and a Harvey Wallbanger Cake). March 25th would have been her 75th birthday, so to celebrate that we had a Grandma Diane dinner. That meant a London Broil, baked potato with sour cream, salad and…Grasshopper Pie.

Grasshopper Pie is one of those things that I secretly love. (Deep-fried Twinkies are also one of those culinary delights I generally keep hidden.)  It not only evokes memories of my mother and childhood, but it is a perfect after-dinner dessert. Minty, with a soft, cloud-like texture and a crunchy hit of chocolate from the crust. It’s like having a postprandial Andes mint. Only cold. And fluffy.

This is also one of those typical 1970s recipes. It’s what I call a shortcut dessert. Shortcuts were a working woman’s saving grace back then. Working full-time but still expected to put dinner on the table every night like their own mothers, many women got very creative. Crockpots became a big hit. Fill it, set it, forget it, serve it. Packaged mixes like Lawry’s Spaghetti Sauce Mix or Hamburger Helper could take a pound of ground meat and turn it into a meal in 30 minutes. Casseroles became popular, combining a type of meat, pasta or rice, and Campbell’s soup that you mixed up to throw into the oven. And who had time for baking layer cakes, even with a box mix? Nope, you did slice and bake cookies (or just bought packaged cookies like my mother did) or made shortcut desserts like Grasshopper Pie or the aforementioned alcohol-laced pound cakes (which required a box mix, one pan and no icing).

This recipe is pretty easy to put together and you can even buy a premade chocolate cookie crust to further cut down on the preparation time. Not everyone keeps crème de menthe and crème de cacao in the house, but you can try and search out airplane-sized bottles at your local BevMo, borrow some from a friend, or just bite the bullet and buy them. (Crème de menthe is delicious served over vanilla ice cream or you can whip up an adult hot chocolate with a bit of both of these liqueurs…topped with whipped cream, of course.)

Grasshopper Pie

Crust:

1 1/4 cups crushed chocolate wafers

1/3 cup melted butter

Filling:

2/3 cup scalded milk

24 large marshmallows

2 ounces green crème de menthe

1 ounce white crème de cacao

1/2 pint whip cream, whipped

For crust, mix wafers with butter and pat into 9-inch pie pan. Chill.

Add marshmallows to scalded milk in double boiler, stirring often until blended into smooth mixture. Cool to room temperature and add liqueurs. Fold in whipped cream and stir gently until completely mixed. Pour into chilled crust. Freeze for at least 2 hours. If frozen overnight, thaw before serving. Shave chocolate onto the top for decoration.

Serves 8

Week 12: Mini Lamb Meatballs with Pilaf

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I know how hard it is to come up with a quick meal that can be fixed in 30 minutes or less. Having had 3 children with various school, work, and activity schedules on top of my own work schedule made it difficult for us all to sit down together every night, but I made it work utilizing two methods. One, I shopped every Sunday morning then settled into the kitchen for 2-3 hours cooking meals for the week. Soups, stews, roasted chicken, meatloaf, whatever I could make that could be cooked or reheated quickly once we were all at home. Two, finding recipes that were easy to make and quick to cook for weekday meals.

One of those quick recipes is a lamb pilaf. I wrote a post about it back in 2006, which caused me to be somewhat nostalgic when I read it. The gist of the post was that I felt it necessary that my children be able to cook once they lived on their own. Brilliant Daughter is an excellent cook, trying new recipes, modifying old ones, devising new ones, while Electrician Son relies primarily on a few standards and lots of grilling. At the time of the post, Butcher Son, my youngest, was just embarking on his career as a butcher and was only adept at breakfast foods. The post was an attempt to teach him how to cook something new and easy, so he wouldn’t have to rely on eggs and toast.

Eight years later, he has far surpassed my expectations. In fact, he has gotten together with friends every Monday night for the past two or three years to prepare feasts to share. One person decides the menu and they all pitch in on the cooking end of things. And we are not talking burgers and fries here; they make meals centered around Steak Diane, horseradish-crusted beef tenderloin, and stuffed chicken breasts, among other things. Ahhh, but I digress.

That original lamb pilaf recipe, which takes about 30 minutes start to finish, pays homage to my husband’s family, half of which are Lebanese. Lamb and rice were a part of his childhood and became part of our repertoire. But cooking lamb takes hours, and even shish kebab requires marinating to impart flavors into the meat. So the lamb pilaf recipe was a way to get the flavor we loved without the long preparation or cooking time. And while we still cook the pilaf at least once a month, I thought it needed an update, a new twist. So I took the basic ingredients and changed them up a bit. What I came up with is mini lamb meatballs served on top of the pilaf with a lemon-mint yogurt sauce. The preparation time is still around the half-hour mark, easy enough for anyone to do (in fact, you can get the kids involved in rolling the meatballs), and it’s just as tasty as the original version.

Oh, and for the record, I am very proud of my children, not just for their culinary prowess but also for the very special people they have become. I am one lucky mama!

Recipe after the jump....

Week 11: Easy Grilled Thai Chicken

My family loves Thai food and while you might not think that it is appropriate for children, let me tell you that my own offspring have been enjoying Thai food for the last 19 years. That’s when I finished work on my first Travelers’ Tales book, an anthology on Thailand. Working amongst well-traveled writers at that time was intimidating, as I had not seen much of the world, but because I have always had a curiosity about cooking, I began a ritual whereby I learned to cook the cuisine of the country we were working on. As soon as a book was sent off to the printer, we would celebrate with a meal appropriate to that destination.

This was back in 1993 when the internet was still in its infancy for most people, and I actually did research for articles on an old-fashioned microfiche at the library! But those same libraries provided me with cookbooks on international cuisine that allowed me to produce some truly memorable meals. Ten years later, in 2003, when we prepared Travelers’ Tales Thailand for an update, I actually jetted off to Southeast Asia and went to two cooking schools: a three-day affair at the famed Hotel Oriental Cooking School in Bangkok and a weekend course at Mom Tri’s Boathouse in Phuket. It is my most memorable travel experience by far, and Thai food has become one of my favorites, with bold flavors, fresh ingredients and a simplicity that normally requires nothing more than a fork to enjoy.

This recipe was clipped back in 2009 from Issue 86 of Fine Cooking. It is quite simple to prepare, quick to cook, and has an amazing amount of flavor. I should note that the recipe calls for you to marinate the chicken for 2-24 hours, but I only had an hour to throw this together and it was absolutely delicious. I can only image how much more flavorful the chicken would have been given longer to marinade in these wonderful Thai flavors. So if you can remember, just throw it together the night before in a Ziploc bag and you’ll only need 15-20 minutes to cook them up when you are ready for dinner.

While the recipe serves 12 people (great for a party!), it can easily be cut in half for a family dinner. I did make one addition to the recipe—fish sauce— a quintessential Thai ingredient that I felt belonged in the marinade. Don’t be put off by the exotic ingredients, I had no trouble finding the fish sauce and lemongrass at my local Safeway and the I keep dried Thai bird chilis in my pantry (although jalapenos or serranos will also add the requisite heat).  And while it might not quite be time to break out the grill in many parts of the country, feel free to cook this on the stove with a grill pan. The smokiness won’t be present, but the multilayered flavors of the marinade will still shine through.

And apologies for the lack of pictures, we just couldn’t wait to chow down!

Grilled Thai Chicken

1-1/4 cups chopped fresh cilantro (leaves and tender stems)

1 can coconut milk

1/4 cup finely chopped lemongrass (from about 2 stalks)*

12 fresh basil leaves

3 Thai bird chiles, 2 jalapeños, or 2 medium serranos, stemmed, seeded, and finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 tablespoons salt

2 teaspoons packed brown sugar

4 tablespoons fish sauce

1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

3/4 teaspoon ground coriander

12 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, trimmed

Fresh chopped cilantro for serving

2 limes, cut into wedges for serving

Combine the cilantro with the coconut milk, lemongrass, basil, chiles, garlic, salt, brown sugar, fish sauce, pepper, and coriander in a food processor or blender and purée until smooth. Arrange the chicken breasts in a nonreactive baking dish or other vessel large enough to accommodate them in a snug single layer or place them in a large Ziploc bag. Pour the marinade over the breasts and turn to coat them well. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 1 day.

Heat a gas grill to medium high or prepare a medium-hot charcoal fire. Grill the chicken (covered on a gas grill) until it has good grill marks on the first side, 4 to 5 minutes. Flip the chicken (cover a gas grill) and continue to cook until firm to the touch and completely cooked through (check by making a slice into one of the thicker breasts), 5 to 6 more minutes. Transfer to a platter and let rest for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with the fresh cilantro and serve with lime wedges.

*Before chopping the lemongrass, be sure to cut off the spiky green top and enough of the bottom to eliminate the woody core. Peel off a few of the outer layers until you’re left with just the tender heart of the stalk.

Yield: 12 servings

Week 8: Whole Grain Breakfast Bars

How many of you skip breakfast most mornings? Or go for the quick bowl of cereal or piece of toast? Mornings are a rushed time, trying to prepare for work or children for school, and unless you subscribe to the 1950’s model of meal preparation and serve a piping hot breakfast, you don’t have the time to make, let alone eat, a substantial meal. (And my guess is that if you have children, they don’t have the time either.)

When my children were school-aged, I often cooked food on Sunday for the week. Sometimes this would include a coffeecake, muffins, or scones that could be eaten on the fly but be substantial enough (with whole grains, fruit, and/or nuts) to satisfy everyone until lunchtime came around. Over the last year I have taken to making granola bars, of which you can whip up in 20 minutes and makes 20 full-sized bars. I like these because the varieties are endless. By using different kinds of nuts and dried fruit—or even mini chocolate chips—you can tailor the recipe to your liking. (My most recent version was tropical in flavor, with coconut, dried pineapple/apricot/mango with pecans and almonds.) But a new recipe is threatening to dethrone my granola bars.

Whole Grain Breakfast Bars are similar in nature to NutriGrain Bars, take only 15 minutes to prepare and make 9 squares that are similar in calories, low in fat and sodium, with 4 grams of protein and fiber. The original recipe called for raspberries, but I have found that blueberries and blackberries work just as well. I can make these over the weekend, cut them into squares and wrap each in wax paper or plastic wrap, ready to be grabbed on the go. So with a little bit of planning and minimum effort, you can have a healthy, tasty, lower cost breakfast bar to enjoy all week long.

Whole Grain Breakfast Bars

6 ounces blueberries, raspberries or blackberries (or combination)

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 1/2 cups oats (regular or quick)

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

2/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed

1/3 cup walnut or pecan pieces

1/4 cup wheat germ

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 large egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 9-inch square pan.

Combine berries, granulated sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until boiling. Lower heat and simmer, stirring constantly, for several minutes until sauce is thick and translucent. Remove from heat to cool.

Prepare base by combining oats, flour, sugar, nuts, wheat germ and cinnamon in a food processor until oats and nuts are ground. Combine the oil and egg and add to this mixture using the pulse feature, until thoroughly combined. Scrape the bowl once or twice to ensure all ingredients become moist.

Press half of the base mixture into the prepared pan, tamping down with your fingers or the bottom of a glass. Spread the berry filling evenly over the base. Top with the remaining base mixture, pressing down firmly. (Don’t get overzealous here, you do not want the filling to ooze up over the topping.)

Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool and cut into 9 squares.

Yield: 9

Week 5: Spicy Rainbow Chard with Bacon and Polenta

This week’s recipe comes from the December 2012 issue of Sunset magazine. I have been a loyal reader of Sunset since I was in my teens. I know that might sound strange, but it is the truth. My mother was not a very good cook and had a small repertoire that primarily consisted of spaghetti, meatloaf, pork chops, baked chicken, and casseroles. So I took over much of the cooking when I was in high school. Given that we had only 3 ancient cookbooks, my only source of current recipes was the monthly issue of Sunset that my aunt would drop off. It was kind of like a family subscription: my aunt paid for it, then I read it, then my mom, and then we would pass it off to my nana. Invariably she would pass that off to a friend as well. I’ve had my own subscription for many years, and I always find at least one recipe in each issue that I want to make.

This recipe caught my eye because I grow chard and love bacon. But then, I would eat bacon with just about anything. That being said, I am a bacon snob and generally only eat my own cured and smoked bacon. Butcher Son and I began doing this in 2011 when we acquired a smoker that belonged to my godfather. It is not a difficult process and the final product has a real smoke flavor that resonates throughout the whole slab of bacon…not that fake smoke flavor that leaves a bad taste in your mouth. I also love having the ability to cut the bacon to my own specifications, depending upon the recipe: lardons, thin cut, thick cut, and even end cuts which I use to flavor soups.

Somehow, I find myself in the odd predicament of being completely out of my homemade bacon; a rare occurrence that has caused me no lack of angst. This catastrophe led me to purchase thick-cut bacon to prepare this recipe. I thought Smithfield seemed like a good choice. They have been around for 70 years and seem to know their pork products.  However, opening the package, I found the bacon to be anything but thick cut. It stretched out when I tried to separate the pieces, each piece flopped in my hand, and when cooking it shriveled into weird shapes and did not cook evenly. A travesty from a company that espouses handcrafted excellence. But enough of my bacon rant and on to the recipe…

As usual, I did not follow the recipe to the letter, altering it based on my own preferences and ingredients. The original recipe called just for chard, but I also had a good crop of kale that needed to be harvested, so I mixed the two. (You can use two bunches of chard if you prefer.) The recipe also called for discarding the bacon fat and cooking the greens in olive oil. I really felt that the bacon fat would enhance the flavor of the dish, albeit make it less healthy. But I was willing to make the tradeoff.

Timewise, this dish took about 30 minutes. I set the polenta up to cook, while I prepared the greens and started the bacon. It’s a simple two-pan dish, does not require any particular skill, and was a keeper in the eyes of Mr. B. The small amount of chile pepper adds a good kick to the chard, but it will be too much for younger children. In fact, my kids would not have been fans until their late teens.

One last note: The recipe says it serves 4, but in my estimation, it would serve 4 as a side dish. Mr. B and I each had a serving and there was maybe a third portion left, and we are not gluttons. So I suggest you either serve a nice roasted chicken or grilled steak alongside, or increase the ingredients by half.

Spicy Rainbow Chard with Bacon and Polenta

1 cup polenta

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 slices thick-cut bacon

2 large shallots, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 large bunch rainbow chard

1 large bunch kale

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red chile flakes

1/3 cup water

2 tablespoons butter

2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Cook the polenta with salt as the package directs. Meanwhile, cut the ribs out of the chard and kale and slice into 1/4-inch pieces. Roughly chop the leaves. Chop up the garlic and shallot.

In a hot pan, fry your bacon until just crispy. Remove from pan and drain on paper towels.  Crumble once cool.

Reduce the heat of the pan and add your shallots, garlic, and chard ribs until softened. This will take 4-5 minutes. Stir in your chard and kale leaves, chile flakes and water. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook until wilted.

Stir butter and cheese into the polenta and spoon into bowls. Toss the chard with the balsamic vinegar and spoon over polenta. Sprinkle bacon crumbles on top and hit it with a final shot of Parmesan cheese.

Yield: 4 small or side servings

Quick & Easy: Asian Lettuce Cups

There are some days when I just don’t have time to spend hours in the kitchen cooking the family dinner, and for this reason I keep quick and easy recipes on hand that can be prepared in 30 minutes or less and will please all the palates at the table. This recipe, modified from Sunset magazine, is part of that repertoire.

Originally prepared for me by my good friend Jen Leo, it requires only 5-10 minutes of prep time and is ready to serve in about 25 minutes. I often double the recipe to use for lunches, which definitely impresses the co-workers.

While the recipe calls for ground chicken, you can also use ground bison or lean ground pork. Bison is becoming more available across the U.S. and the majority of American bison is grass-fed and privately—not mass—produced. Overall, bison is leaner than ground beef and contains more iron, as well as less calories and cholesterol.

Asian Lettuce Cups

1 pound lean ground chicken

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and minced

1 tablespoon garlic, minced

2 1/2 tablespoons Asian black bean sauce

1 1/2 tablespoons hoisin sauce (plus extra for serving)

1 8-ounce can water chestnuts, rinsed, drained, and coarsely chopped

1 bunch green onions, sliced (both white and green)

1 cup chopped roasted unsalted peanuts

1 cup chopped cilantro

1 large head butter lettuce, separated into leaves

Sriracha chili sauce

Heat oil in large fry pan over medium heat. Add meat, ginger and garlic, breaking up the meat as it cooks. Fry until meat is just cooked through, 6 to 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, break apart a head of butter lettuce, rinsing off the individual leaves, and drying on paper towels. Dab off excess water with paper towel and place leaves on a plate.

When meat is cooked, add black bean sauce and hoisin and stir just until combined. Stir in water chestnuts and onions and cook for one minute to heat through. Take off the heat, and mix in the cilantro.

Spoon mixture into a serving bowl. Serve with chopped peanuts, hoisin, and sriracha on the side.

To assemble, take one lettuce leave and smear with hoisin or Sriracha, top with meat and peanuts, fold in half and enjoy!

Serves 4

Blueberry Breakfast Biscuits

Sorry about that title, I just love alliterations. Couldn’t help myself. Anyway, I have been experimenting with a Blueberry Cream Biscuit recipe that I saw in Better Homes and Gardens. It is a new family favorite, not only for breakfast but topped with some additional berries and whipped cream for dessert, or Mr B’s personal favorite, reheated in a bowl and topped with some half-and-half.

These biscuits are quick to make, don’t require any fancy ingredients, and can be served with lemon curd, blueberry jam, or all on their own. What appealed to me was the basic biscuit dough. I have yet to find a good basic biscuit (buttermilk or otherwise) and am constantly on the search. Unfortunately this is more a cross between a biscuit and a scone, but my disappointment was tempered by their delicious flavor.

I have tried the recipe with different spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger), amounts of sugar, both whipping cream and half-and-half, topped off with sugar or not, and different baking times. I’ve come to the consensus that my small alterations to the original recipe improve upon the taste and it got big thumbs up from everyone in the household.

I happen to like a sweeter dough, so I increased the amount of sugar. This makes them perfectly edible on their own, without the need for the original blueberry sauce the recipe called for, or even butter, jam or curd. By sprinkling white or raw sugar over the top, you also get an extra bit of sweetness and crunch.

I also tried to make the recipe with half-and-half, as I was out of cream on one occasion. But the cream is significantly thicker and richer—a bridge between the traditional milk and butter called for in recipes like these. The half-and-half required an additional ½ cup of flour, which diluted the sweetness. Even with the additional flour, the dough was a bit hard to turn, as it was still a bit sticky. The result was a somewhat tough outer biscuit, not as light and fluffy as the cream-based version.

I also found that the baking time of 17 minutes from the original recipe was just too short. It was closer to 22-25 and my oven is well calibrated. Had I turned on the convection it might have been done in 17, but be warned. Taking the biscuits out too early means raw dough in the center.

These take about 5 minutes to make, and with cooking time can be on your table, piping hot, in less than 30. So what are you waiting for?

Blueberry Breakfast Biscuits

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

4 tablespoons sugar

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ginger

1 cup blueberries

¼ cup diced crystallized ginger*

1½ cups whipping cream

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl thoroughly mix flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and ginger. Toss blueberries and crystallized ginger with the flour mixture. Stir whipping cream into the flour mixture until just moistened.
Turn out dough on a floured work surface. Gently lift and fold dough four or five times, making a quarter turn between each fold. Place dough on the cookie sheet forming it into an 8-inch square, approximately 1 inch thick. Using a floured pizza cutter or knife, cut 12 to 16 squares in dough, leaving biscuits intact. 

Bake in upper half of oven for 22-25 minutes. until golden brown. Cut through or pull apart biscuits.

*The Ginger People make baker’s cut crystallized ginger chips, which are perfect for baking recipes (as well as to put in oatmeal, granola, etc). This is what they look like, although they are significantly cheaper (by half) at Cost Plus.