Indonesian Chicken Satays

This is another favorite recipe of ours; we actually like a lot of the recipes in this cookbook. I recommend mixing up the marinade before you head to work, and let the chicken and marinade work its magic in the fridge during the day. Also, you should serve it with a peanut sauce. I recommend making the peanut sauce the night before, just to make things easier. Here is a link to a peanut sauce recipe.

Indonesian Chicken Satays

Clare Ferguson

"Chicken: From Maryland to Kiev"

pg. 103

Ingredients:

• 1 TBSP. brown sugar
• freshly squeezed juice of 2 limes
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. freshly cracked black pepper
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 TBSP. soy sauce
• 1/3 cup thick coconut milk, from the top of the can
• 1 TBSP. molasses
• a handful of cilantro roots and leaves, chopped
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, about 1 1/2 lb.
• 2 TBSP. peanut oil
• 16 bamboo satay sticks, soaked in water for 30 min.
• Peanut Sauce

Directions:

1) Put the brown sugar, lime juice, salt, pepper, garlic, soy sauce, coconut milk, molasses, and cilantro into a saucepan and bring to a boil.

2) Simmer for 3-4 minutes, then remove from the heat and cool quickly over ice.

3) Transfer to a shallow glass or china dish.

4) Slice the chicken lengthwise into even strips or ribbons. Add to the marinade. Stir well to cover. Marinate for 20 minutes or up to 8 hours in the refrigerator.

5) When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

6) Drain the chicken, then push an even number of strips onto each satay stick, threading them on in pleated waves.

7) Brush each satay with a little peanut oil.

8) Lay the bamboo satay sticks across a baking pan. (I use something like this)

9) Baste the chicken with the marinade

10) Cook for 15-20 minutes, turning over after 10 minutes.

11) Serve with peanut sauce.

Note: The recipe in the cookbook also provides instructions for making these on the grill, in a stove-top grill pan, or in the broiler. We have only made them in the oven so far.

Trinidadian Split Pea Soup

When I was in high school and as a freshman in college, I was a vegetarian. I ended the vegetarianism when I traveled to Cuba for two weeks. It seemed like it would be inappropriate of me to request special meals when people there were living off of rations.

My mom always worried about me getting enough nutrients. When I came home from college for winter break, my mom and I went to the book store, and bought this cookbook. My mom and I chose a recipe together, and then went to buy the ingredients. She wanted me to learn how to cook and eat a healthier vegetarian meal than what I had become accustomed to eating (I didn't really like vegetables back then). She and I made this soup together. I made it a few weeks ago, and it was still as good as I remembered it to be.

Trinidadian Split Pea Soup

from Madhur Jaffrey's "World Vegetarian"

Pg. 602-603

Ingredients:

• 3 TBSP peanut or canola oil (I used peanut oil)
• 1 "good-sized" onion, peeled and finely chopped (I used my special chopper to quickly chop the onion, celery stalk, garlic, and chile)
• 1 celery stalk, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 fresh hot green chile, finely chopped
• 1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme (I used dried thyme)
• 1 TBSP. finely sliced chives (I used green onion)
• 1 cup coarsely grated peeled carrot
• 1 cup yellow split peas (picked over, rinsed, drained)
• 6 cups vegetable stock
• salt
• pepper
• 1 cup of diced yam (one large yam diced into 3/4 inch pieces)
• Tabasco sauce, or lime juice and cayenne pepper to season the soup.

Directions:

1) Put the oil in a large pan and set over medium-high heat. When hot, put in the onion, celery, garlic, green chile, thyme, and chives. Stir and saute for 5 minutes; a little browning should be encouraged.

2) Add the carrot and continue to stir and fry for another 3 minutes.

3) Add the split peas and stock and bring to a boil.

4) Cover partially, turn the heat down to low, and simmer gently for 1 1/4 hours.

5) Add the yams. Simmer for about 15-20 more minutes; until the yams are soft.

6) When done, taste for salt, adding as much as needed. Also add black pepper to taste.

7) Mix together lime juice and a little bit of dried cayenne. Use this to season the soup at the table. Be careful, because a little cayenne goes a long way. You could also set out Tabasco sauce or another pepper sauce for seasoning the soup at the table.

Recipes from October and November

Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies

• I made these on Halloween, in between groups of trick or treaters. A few times, E had to answer the door by himself because my hands were full of cookie dough. I also brought a few of these cookies to my grandpa while he was in the hospital.
• I highly recommend this recipe. We baked 2 dozen cookies that night, and I froze about 4 dozen cookie dough balls for later. Yummy!

Corn and Black Bean Quesadillas with Pepper Jack Cheese

• A couple of weeks ago, I bought a block of pepper jack cheese when it was on sale for 99 cents. We also had a lot of frozen corn, and some frozen crockpot black beans. This seemed like a good recipe for using them up.
• We made a double batch of these, because this recipe only serves 2, and we like to make at least 4 servings of a recipe so we can have leftovers for lunch.
• We both really liked these, and they were pretty easy to make.

Bacon Chicken Alfredo Pizza

• We had frozen rotisserie chicken, and quite a bit of bacon, and we didn't know what we were going to do with it. This was an easy recipe (nothing is from scratch) to make on a Monday night when we both worked during the day, and didn't feel like cooking a complicated dinner. It was good, too :)

Yam Fries

• I had an extra yam leftover after making Trinidadian Yellow Split Pea Soup (I will post the recipe soon). I made a half recipe of baked yam fries as a snack on Halloween. I thought that the color of the yam was very festive. And the fries were delicious :)

Updates

It's been a while since I've updated this blog. Things have been really busy at our house. First, a few weeks ago, we returned our original set of pots and pans to BB&B. Because I am a receipt saver, I still had the original receipt - and it wasn't that hard to find. We bought them (using gift cards from our wedding) when we returned from our honeymoon in August of 2008. Unfortunately, the pots and pans did not hold up as well as we had hoped. BB&B and Calphalon have great return policies (Calphalon has a lifetime guarantee), so it worked out fine for us. We ended up getting a set of stainless steel pots and pans, since we didn't want a whole set of non-stick pans. We really like this set; hopefully this one will hold up and be our set for a long long time. Because of the way BB&B calculates store credit (even with our receipt), we still had a decent chunk of store credit that we needed to spend there. We ended up applying the credit towards a breadmaker. I have not quite mastered the art of breadmaking yet, but hopefully it will happen soon :)

I was also sworn into the state bar a couple of weeks ago. That was exciting :)

Finally, today E and I ran a little over 2 miles without stopping. It was pretty windy and cold, but I was really proud of us. I keep thinking that we are on our last run outside for the season, but then the weather keeps tempting me. Especially since I prefer running outside to running on a treadmill.