Faux Chicken Pho

Hot cold hot cold hot cold.

This has been a very odd winter. For the most part we've had above-freezing temperatures, punctuated by the occasional reminder that this is Canada, at the time of year of short days and long nights with howling winds and fluttering snowflakes.

When temps vacillate as they have, people fall ill. It seems as if every third or fourth person I speak to is sick. Snuffly, feverishly, earpluggingly, barking like a mad seal coughingly, cracked voicingly and goopily sick.

Many of us grew up with the notion that chicken soup will cure whatever ails you. I think that's doubly true with Indian, Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese soups filled with warming spices and revitalizing herbs.

Like many soups, I think a good pho can be made with what you have on hand--your choice of veggies and meats. The key, I think is in the broth--sweet, salty, hot and slightly sour. Once you get the broth tasting as you wish, the rest is up to you.

Chicken Pho
Serves 2-4

Ingredients
For the Broth
625ml (2.5c) chicken broth or stock
2 garlic cloves, minced
1.25cm (0.5") ginger, grated or minced
1 star anise pod
2dspn (20ml/4tsp) nam pla (fish sauce)
1tsp (5ml) brown sugar
1-2tsp (5-10ml) soy sauce, to taste

For the sustenance (suggested)
Rice noodles, cooked
Shredded chicken
Carrots, raw and thinly sliced
Deep, leafy greens, such as kale, chard or spinach, raw and chiffonaded
Mushrooms, raw and thinly sliced (or, if using enoki, broken apart)
Green onions, thinly sliced (both the green and whites
Red chilli pepper, such as bird's eye/Thai chilli, minced

Bean sprouts
Coriander leaf, chopped

Method
Add all the broth ingredients together and bring to a gentle boil, then reduce the flame and let simmer for about 15-20 minutes

To serve
Add as much of the sustenance to each bowl and ladle stock over top

Notes:

• You can substitute turkey for chicken
• You may want to fish out the star anise before serving, but you can leave it in the pot, so it can keep flavouring the broth

cheers!

jasmine

I'm a quill for hire!

Feast: Gung Hei Fat Choi! Kung Pao Prawns and Squid

Welcome to the Year of the Dragon!

According to this cbc.ca article, the Dragon brings optimism, as well as high amounts of energy and prosperity, and specifically movement.

Whether or not you believe in zodiacs, is truly beside the point. It's a cause for celebration...and with celebrations come food. (Really...I don't know of any joyous moment where food is not present).

This year I decided to play with a favourite at many Chinese restaurants: Kung Pao Chicken.

Like many dishes, this one is open to interpretation. At its heart are chicken and chillis and nuts. I've had some really salty versions (where the only seasoning seemed to be soy sauce) and I've had others where it seemed to be a chicken and veggie stirfry with chilli peppers and peanuts.

My version is heavily borrowed from a Kung Pao Chicken recipe I found on NPR, by the wonderful Fuschia Dunlop. Apart from the pedigree, one ingredient struck me: Sichuan peppers.

I first used the fizzy, rose-tinted pods when I reviewed Beyond the Great Wall a few years ago. They are gorgeous, tiny little pods that make your tongue go tingly and fizzy...and, if you're like me and tend to snack on such things, just a wee bit numb. Apart from their signature buzz, there's a citrussy note to them that, to me, borders on juniper. They aren't peppercorns per se, but the Chinese prickly ash seeds. They aren't necessarily the easiest spice to find in shops (unless you've thorough spice merchants or gourmet shops in town), but you can purchase them online.

I really can't think of another spice you can use, that has a similar effect to Sichuan peppercorns. If you don't have them, you could use lightly crushed black pepper (not fully ground pepper) and you should be fine, and add a squeeze of lemon near the end of the recipe.

As it's the Dragon, I thought I'd take liberties and make this a seafood kung pao, with jumbo prawns and squid. I suppose you could throw in some scallops as well, or just leave it as one type of seafood--it's up to you.

This is a very quick and easy recipe to pull together--the important things to keep in mind are to realise there's a balance of flavours: salty, hot, sour and sweet and not to overcook the seafood.

Gung hei fat choi!

Kung Pao Prawns and Squid
adapted from Fuschia Dunlop's Kung Pao Chicken Recipe
Serves 4

Ingredients
225g (0.5lb) jumbo prawns, cleaned, deveined and chopped into two-three pieces each
225 (0.5lb) squid, cut into rings

2-3Tbsp (30-45ml) flavourless oil, as needed
0.5-0.75tsp (2.5-3.75ml) Sichuan (Szechuan) peppercorns
1-2 fresh red chilli peppers, seeded (if you wish), finely sliced, to taste
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 thumb (4-5cm/1.75"-2" piece) ginger, grated
6 green onions, white and light green parts only, cut in 2.5cm (1") pieces, slit in half

200g (250ml/1c) toasted cashews

For the marinade
0.5tsp (2.5ml) salt
1Tbsp (15ml) light soy sauce
1.5tsp (7.5ml) rice wine vinegar
2dspn (20ml/4tsp) water

For the sauce
2dspn (20ml/4tsp) brown sugar
1.5tsp (7.5ml) cornflour (cornstarch)
1.5tsp (7.5ml) light soy sauce
1.5tsp (7.5ml) dark soy sauce
1.5tsp (7.5ml) rice wine vinegar
1Tbsp (15ml) black Chinese vinegar
1.5tsp (7.5ml)sesame oil
2dspn (20ml/4tsp) water

For the garnish:
finely minced spring onion greens (to taste)

Method
Mix squid and prawns in the marinade ingredients and let sit for about 15 minutes.

Mix the sauce ingredients and set aside.

Heat the oil over a high flame, until it's almost smoking. Drop in the Sichuan peppers and the chillis and stir until the the spices release their scents. Remove from the wok.

Add the garlic and ginger to the seasoned oil and stir until fragrant. Add the seafood and stir until the prawns are opaque and take on a pinkish hue.

Add the white and light green parts of the green onions as well as the fried chilli mixture. Stir to combine. Pour in the sauce, stir so everything is coated and the sauce thickens. Balance flavours to taste. Tumble in the nuts and stir.

Garnish with the minced stalks of the green onions and serve with rice and veggies.

Note:

• If don't have Sichuan peppers, you can use crushed black pepper instead ( you won't get the same buzz as with Sichuan peppers) and add a squeeze of lemon.
• Traditionally peanuts are used instead of cashews
• Of course, if you don't want to use seafood, you can use 450g (1lb) of chicken or pork instead

cheers!

jasmine

I'm a quill for hire!

Happy Birthday Edna: Butter-Fried Chicken with Milk Gravy

Happy Birthday, our Dear Edna!

Edna Staebler was a local gem who introduced the world to Waterloo County Cooking. Good, hearty fare that's very much rooted in country and Mennonite traditions.

When I was deciding upon which dish to present, my copy of Food That Really Schmecks literally fell open to page 57.

I think that's a sign.

Three recipes were on this page: a variation of Stuffing forRoast Fowl, Brown Gravy for Fowl and Butter-Fried Chicken with Milk Gravy.

Butter-Fried Chicken? I think Edna was definitely telling me something. And then I read the recipe:

"This is the way Mother cooked chicken most often and the way I like it best--even better than roast chicken--though that was supposed to be the most special. The milk gravy with this could be digested by a ninety-fve year old grandmother with a stomach ulcer, I'm sure, or a three-month-old baby"

She continued,

"This gravy--or sauce--poured generously over plain boiled or riced potatoes with the butter-fried chicken and fresh vegetables is my favourite of all meals--as I think of it at this moment."

Well, how could I not make this dish? Especially when she writes about how her mum would cut up a "nice yellow little hen."

That nice yellow little hen is hard to find in modern grocery stores as most of chickens offered are bred for today's lean palates. Not a layer of yellow fat to be seen. That's fine. It simply means less fat to skim from the pot. That said, if you are lucky to find a plump hen, skim the fat and keep it for frying or roasting, or even baking.

This is a very, very simple recipe: joint a chicken, cover it in boiling water, remove the pieces when they are tender and brown the pieces in butter. Reduce the boiling liquid to three cups, add milk and then a thickener.

I've made some changes to the recipe--adding aromatics to the cooking liquid, as if I were making a regular chicken stock. I'll probably revisit this recipe to play with the flavourings a bit--perhaps adding some middle eastern or Indian influences.

Oh...and the leftover gravy (if you have some)? Reheat it and pour it over some crusty bread. Edna says so.

Butter Fried Chicken with Milk Gravy

adapted from Edna Staebler's recipe in Food That Really Schmecks

Serves four

Ingredients

1 1.5-2kg (3-4lb) chicken

2L (8c) water

One onion, quartered

2 celery stalks, chopped into two or three large pieces

2 carrots, chopped into 5cm pieces

2 garlic cloves, smashed

1 bay leaf

1 sprig of thyme

1 sprig of sage

1 spig of rosemary

1dsp (2tsp/10ml) salt

1 rounded tsp black pepper

435ml (1.75c) milk, divided

35g (0.25c/60ml) flour

A handful (0.25c/4Tbsp/60ml) parsley, chopped

1-2Tbsp (15-30ml) butter

Method

Joint the chicken, that is to say, cut it into pieces: two legs, thighs, wings and breasts. If the breasts are large, cut them into two pieces each. Leave the skin on. Save the backbone, wingtips, neck and giblets (if your bird was lucky enough to come with its neck and giblets).

Layer the meat in a large pot, so the pieces don't overlap. Tumble in the vegetables, neck, wingtips and giblets, followed by the herbs and seasonings. Pour in water to cover.

Cover and set on a medium to medium high flame. Let the pot come to a boil and let it blurble for about five minutes, before turning down the heat to simmer the broth. Let simmer until the chicken is tenderly cooked--in total this should take about 30-40 minutes, depending upon the size of your bird and how long it takes to bring your water up to a boil.

Scum the broth. Remove the chicken pieces and pat them dry.

For the milk gravy:

Turn the heat up and let the stock, with the bones, veggies, etc, boil uncovered. When the liquid has reduced by half, remove the bones, giblets and veggies, then strain out any other bits (herbs, spices, any stray chickenny bits).

Return the strained liquid to the pot and let boil down to about 750ml (3c).

Stir in 250ml (1c) milk and let the gravy come up to a bare simmer. Taste and balance flavours according to your palate.

Make a slurry with the remaining 185ml (0.75c) milk and the flour. Whisk into the gravy let thicken. Check the flavours and adjust as you wish.

For the chicken:

Brown the chicken in batches by melting a couple of teaspoons of butter in a hot pan then adding three or four pieces of chicken to the pan. Turn the pieces to ensure any remaining fat is rendered out and that the skin is evenly browned and crisp. Remove the chicken and add more butter (if needed) and continue browning the chicken.

To serve:

Stir the parsley into the gravy just before serving.

Serve with veggies and potatoes (boiled, mashed, riced or roasted) or rice, pouring the gravy over the potatoes or rice...and chicken, if you wish,

cheers!

jasmine

I'm a quill for hire!