January 15, 2012: Asian Sauced Pork Tenderloin Medallions Recipe

Here’s another recipe I devised based loosely on one I found in the current issue of Cooking Light magazine. My recipe makes it just a bit more diet-friendly and the best part? My husband absolutely loved this dish! He said it tasted as if I’d fried up sausage in the pan and then added the pork, which made him believe there were plenty of fat calories when it reality, it is quite healthy and low cal.

Asian Sauced Pork Tenderloin served with Whole Wheat Linguine with Vegetables and Slow Cooker Sesame Green Beans

Asian Sauced Pork Tenderloin Medallions

1 t. minced ginger

1 t. honey

1 T. soy sauce

1 t. rice wine vinegar

½ t. Asian red chili sauce

3/4 lb. pork tenderloin, sliced horizontally into 3 thick pieces

1 t. olive oil

Combine marinade ingredients in a glass dish and add pork loin pieces. Marinate, refrigerated, a minimum of two hours.

Heat a heavy skillet to medium high. Add olive oil. Remove pork tenderloin from marinade and carefully add to hot skillet, being careful not to splatter yourself with the hot oil. Reduce heat to medium. Cook medallions for about 3 – 5 minutes each side (depending on thickness) until cooked through. Add remaining marinade and about 1/3 cup of water to deglaze the hot pan and make a sauce. To serve, place one medallion on each plate and spoon about a tablespoon of sauce over each.

3 servings, 312 calories each

January 5, 2012: Low Fat Oriental Chicken Salad

I wanted to use a bit of leftover chicken I had in the freezer for dinner. My first thought was to make this chicken casserole that my husband so loves but, unfortunately, it’s filled with tons of calories. I decided, instead, to turn it into a lovely Oriental Chicken Salad. I used several different recipes to come up with this combination; the salad dressing is fat free and virtually calorie free so feel free to use as much as necessary to flavor your salad.

Low Fat Oriental Chicken Salad

Dressing

2 cups water

2 T. Truvia

3 t. dry pectin

1 T. rice wine vinegar

1 t. soy sauce

1 t. minced garlic

1 t. kosher salt

¼ t. black pepper

¼ t. paprika

1 package ramen noodles

1 cup water

½ t. chicken bouillon

3 cups torn green leaf lettuce

1 cup shredded Napa cabbage

2 green onions, white and green parts sliced on the diagonal

2 mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 rib celery, thinly sliced

½ cup cooked, shredded chicken

3 baby carrots, cut into matchsticks

1 T. roasted sunflower seeds

Combine dressing ingredients in a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat to boiling, whisking frequently. Cook at a low boil for about 10 minutes, until slightly reduced. Remove from heat, cool, and refrigerate.

Bring cup of water to boiling in saucepot. Add ramen noodles and boillon. Boil for 3 minutes then turn off heat and allow to cool (noodles will absorb excess liquid).

Combine lettuce, cabbage, onions, mushrooms and celery. Toss with 1/3 to ½ cup of dressing. Place in serving bowl and top with chicken, ramen noodles, carrots and sunflower seeds.

Serves one with approximately 525 calories – but this is a BIG salad and has enough protein to satisfy.

December 28, 2011: Orange Chicken Recipe

Unlike the very popular Orange Chicken you find on the menu at many Chinese restaurants, this recipe has fewer calories and a fresher taste. It’s easy to prepare and yummy served with plain or fried rice and a side of crisply sautéed veggies.

Orange Chicken served with fried rice.

Orange Chicken

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Salt and pepper

¼ cup cornstarch

1 t. sesame oil

1 T. soy sauce

1 T. rice wine vinegar

1 T. water

2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced on the diagonal

3 green onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal, white and green parts separated

Sesame seeds

Vegetable oil

Orange Sauce:

1/3 cup orange juice

1 T. soy sauce

1 T. honey

1 t. ginger, finely minced

1 t. sesame oil

1 t. cornstarch

1 t. water

Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt and pepper on both sides. Cut chicken into approximately 1 1/2-inch square chunks. Toss together with cornstarch, soy sauce, vinegar and water. Refrigerate for several hours.

Prepare orange sauce by combining all ingredients in a small bowl.

Add enough oil to a wok to cover the bottom. Heat to medium high. Carefully place the chicken chunks into the oil and fry until completely cooked, turning as necessary, for a few minutes. You may have to cook two separate batches to ensure the chicken gets crispy and doesn’t overcrowd the wok. Remove with a slotted spoon to a paper plate or plate lined with paper towels. Set aside.

Reduce wok heat to low. Remove all but one tablespoon of oil from the wok. Add the white parts of the sliced green onions and garlic. Saute for one minute. Add the sauce and slowly bring to a boil. When sauce has thickened, add the cooked chicken back in and heat through.

To serve, spoon chicken and sauce onto plate or over plain cooked rice. Sprinkle with green parts of sliced onion and sesame seeds.

Serves 2

December 17, 2011: Christmas Party Hors d’oeuvres Ideas and Recipe

This year, the most popular appetizers for a party are served on a stick. Yep, they look cute and they’re easy to eat, to boot, which is especially important if your guests are encouraged to stand and mingle while eating.

The menu for my holiday party includes (items with asterisk denote recipes included here):

• Assorted Christmas cookies and candies
• Strawberry Pecan Cheese ball (seasoned with a mix) and Pringles honey wheat stix
• Tray of pickled jalapenos and okra (that I canned over the summer)
• Crackers topped with Alouette Spinach Artichoke soft cheese and slices of smoked sausage
• Meatball skewers (using my baked meatball recipe but made much smaller) with cheese cubes and olives
• Korean Pork skewers*
• Goat Cheese Phyllo cups* (look for recipe in tomorrow’s post)
• Spiced Apple Cider
• Hot Chocolate
• Egg Nog with Brandy

Photo courtesy of yourlife.usatoday.com

Korean Pork Skewers

This recipe courtesy of USA Weekend magazine

1 pound pork tenderloin

3 T. Asian chili sauce

2 T. each soy sauce and rice wine vinegar

1 T. each minced fresh ginger and garlic

½ t. hot red pepper flakes

Thinly slice the pork tenderloin into about 30 pieces (freeze it slightly to make slicing easier).

Combine remaining ingredients in zip-top bag. Add pork. Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

Thread pieces of pork onto small bamboo skewers. Place on grill rack over a broiler pan. Broil close to heat about 5 minutes, until cooked through. Garnish with thinly sliced green onions, if desired.

Makes 30 hors d’oeuvres

October 14, 2011: Ramen Noodle Cabbage Salad Recipe

I first tasted this recipe at one of our women’s Bible study meetings, courtesy of the wonderful Linda Davis (thank you Linda!!), but apparently it’s been around awhile. I fell in love with the Asian flavors. I was able to easily find the recipe online but had a concern over the extra calories added by butter. I decided to make a slimmed down version packed with lots of flavor and this is what I came up with. And since October is National Pasta Month, this recipe is perfect to include right now!

Ramen Noodle Cabbage Salad

½ head Napa cabbage

2 green onions, sliced on the diagonal

1 T. sesame seeds, toasted (toss them in a heavy skillet on medium heat for a few minutes)

2 T. sugar

2 T. rice wine vinegar

1 T. sesame oil

1 T. water

Seasoning packet from ramen noodles

1 package ramen noodles, Oriental flavor

Slice the cabbage head in half and remove base; slice the green leaves thinly. Combine cabbage with remaining ingredients, except ramen noodles, in serving bowl. Refrigerator for at least an hour to allow flavors to blend. Just before serving, crush the noodles in the packet and add to the salad (if you want them crispy; if you prefer them soft, add right away, before refrigerating).

Serves 4

Tip: If you want to make this into a main dish, simply add cooked, shredded chicken breast meat.

June 21, 2011: Asian Spiced Pork with Sugar Snap Peas Recipe

I was looking for something new to do with pork chops the other day… Yes, I enjoy grilling them in these hot summer months but that gets old, particularly when I’m feeding a very picky husband and niece. So I decided to take four pork chops and slice them to make a Chinese main dish. But I wanted something new so I consulted my Hot, Hotter, Hottest chile cookbook. I took the basics of a Thai-style sauce and gave it my Candy spin to come up with this recipe.

Asian Spiced Pork with Sugar Snap Peas

1 ½ lbs. pork chops, trimmed of fat and bones and thinly sliced
One 2” piece of cinnamon stick
1 t. fennel seeds
1 T. coriander seeds
1 T. black peppercorns
1 T. minced garlic
1 t. minced ginger
2 t. Hunan red chili sauce
2 T. rice wine vinegar
2 T. soy sauce
One 1 lb. package sugar snap peas

Sauce:
1 T. cornstarch
1 t. sesame oil
2 T. soy sauce
2/3 cups chicken stock

Combine the cinnamon stick, fennel seeds, coriander seeds and peppercorns in a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat to toast the spices until fragrant. Remove from heat and crush finely.

Combine one teaspoon of the crushed spice mixture (save the rest to use in place of Chinese five spice powder) with remaining ingredients up to soy sauce; add pork slices. Marinate for at least half an hour.

Heat a wok or large skillet to medium high heat. Coat the bottom with about one tablespoon of vegetable or peanut oil. Slowly add the pork, being careful not to splash oil on yourself. Stir constantly for about 5 minutes, until the pork is browned on all sides. Add the sugar snap peas, stirring constantly. Cook for a couple minutes, until the peas are bright but not soft.

Combine all sauce ingredients. Reduce skillet or wok heat to medium low and slowly pour in the sauce. Cook, stirring constantly, for a couple more minutes until sauce is thickened.

Serve over rice.

Serves four.

June 4, 2011: Potato Crusted Cod Fillets Recipe

I enjoy making fish for dinner one or two nights a week and I particularly like cod. Unfortunately, my husband prefers his cod breaded and fried. Since I’m struggling with weight and health issues for both of us, I needed to find a recipe that could be a nice compromise between our preferences.

The recipe I’m sharing with you is based on one I found at the Food Network website, from Guy Fieri. As usual, I’ve made a few minor changes. Here’s my version of Guy’s Crispy Potato Nugget Hoisin Halibut.

Potato Crusted Cod Fillets

Marinade:
4 cod fillets
1 T. minced ginger
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ cup rice wine vinegar

Combine all marinade ingredients; add cod and let marinate for half an hour.

Potato Crust:
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
¼ cup Asian fish sauce
¼ cup soy sauce
2 T. rice wine vinegar
½ t. sesame oil
4 frozen hash brown patties, thawed
1 cup panko bread crumbs

Combine all ingredients.

To assemble:
Remove fish from marinade, shake off excess. Dredge in flour.

Apply one quarter of the potato crust mixture to one side of each fish fillet. Heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil over medium heat in a sauté pan. Carefully place the fish fillets, two at a time, potato crust side down, in the heated pan. Cook until potato crust is lightly brown and crispy, several minutes. Carefully turn the fillets over and cook for two minutes on the other side. Keep warm in oven while cooking the remaining two fillets.

Just before serving, sprinkle with green onions and sesame seeds (if desired).

Serves 4

April 14, 2011: Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipe

Many years ago, when my dad needed to something to do (i.e. a hobby), he enrolled in a Chinese cooking course. He came away from that class with a small cookbook authored by the instructor and a passion for making Chinese food each and every day, using the methods he’d learned. I can definitely say that he has mastered the art!

Dad passed that cookbook along to me and I’ve used it ever since. Although it only contains eight menus of a few recipes each, it’s invaluable. The dishes are all ones that I’d eat (as opposed to some of the more exotic Chinese recipes I’ve come across) and the instructions are clear.

This recipe for Sweet and Sour Chicken (actually it’s for pork but I used chicken instead to go along with this month’s theme) comes from that cookbook, entitled Be a Chinese Cook Tonight by Sue Nelson. Ms. Nelson recommends using dry sherry in the sauces but that’s not an ingredient I normally have around the house so I’ve included here my own substitution.

Sweet and Sour Chicken served with Jasmine Fried Rice and sauteed snow peas with water chestnuts

Sweet and Sour Chicken

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into ½ inch cubes
1 T. + 1 t. cornstarch
1 T. rice wine vinegar
1 t. honey
½ t. salt
1 t. sesame oil
2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
½ bell pepper (orange or red is a nice change from green), cut into ½ inch cubes
½ onion, coarsely chopped into ½ long pieces
1 ½ cups fresh pineapple, cut into ½ inch chunks
Coconut or peanut oil, for frying

Combine the cornstarch, vinegar, honey, salt, and sesame oil in a large, nonreactive bowl. Add the cubes of chicken and let sit at room temperature about half an hour.

Meanwhile, prepare the vegetables and the sauce.

Sweet and Sour Chicken in the wok

Sweet and Sour Sauce:
Juice from pineapple
3 T. soy sauce
2 T. ketchup
2 T. chicken broth
2 T. rice wine vinegar
2 T. sugar
1 T. cornstarch

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.

Heat up your wok (or a large, deep saucepan) to 375 degrees. Add enough oil to cover one third of the chicken cubes. Fry the chicken in batches for about 5 minutes each batch, until done. Transfer to a bowl lined with paper towels and keep warm.

Drain off excess oil until you have about one tablespoon left. Heat to 325 degrees. Add a teaspoon of sesame oil. Quickly stir fry the garlic and onion, then add the bell peppers. Cook just until tender-crisp. Add the pineapple and stir fry for another minute. Pour in the sweet and sour sauce and reduce heat to low, stirring constantly until sauce thickens. Add in the reserved, cooked chicken and toss together until heated through.

Tips: To make cutting the chicken easier and the resting time safer, don’t thaw it all the way.
You can also use an 8-ounce can of pineapple in place of the fresh fruit.

To make the menu as shown above, start by frying the chicken cubes; reserve any leftover oil. Next, quickly stir fry the vegetables and remove; keep warm in the oven along with the chicken. Prepare the fried rice (recipe for fried rice here) and place in an oven-safe dish to keep warm alongside the vegetables and chicken. Finally, prepare the vegetables and sweet and sour sauce for the main dish and keep warm in the wok until dinner is served.