Real Thai Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce

Real Thai Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce
Edited and changed
Originally from http://thaifood.about.com/od/thairecipes/r/thaichickensate.htm

I can attest that this is quite mouth-watering and savory.

And don't worry, you don't need a grill to make my version. Just an oven.

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 60 minutes
Yield: SERVES 4 as a Main Entree
Bake at 350 F.
Don't forget to start your rice now. I cook mine in a rice cooker. I do about 3 cups, we like to have leftovers for packed lunch for Adam.

Ingredients:
4-6 chicken breasts, thawed

SATAY MARINADE:
1/4 cup minced lemongrass , fresh or frozen (can substitute lemon juice/lemon zest/or leave out completely)
2 shallots OR 1 small onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic
1-2 fresh red chilies, sliced, OR 1/2 tsp. to 1 tsp. cayenne pepper, to taste (only did a sprinkle, kept it mild for my child.)
1 thumb-size piece galangal OR ginger, thinly sliced
1 tsp. minced fresh turmeric OR 1/2 tsp. dried turmeric
2 Tbsp. ground coriander
2 tsp. cumin
3 Tbsp. dark soy sauce (available at Asian food stores) (just used regular soy sauce)
4 Tbsp. fish sauce (substituted soy sauce)
5-6 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
Dipping Sauce: see Easy Satay Peanut Sauce below

Preparation:

If using wooden skewers, soak them in water while you prepare the meat (to prevent burning). The kitchen sink works well for this.Cut chicken into thin strips and place in a bowl. Place all marinade ingredients in a food processor or chopper. Process well.

(just mixed the marinade together in bowl, I didn't bother with the food processor.)

Taste-test the marinade - you will taste sweet, spicy, and salty. The strongest tastes should be SWEET and SALTY in order for the finished satay to taste its best. Add more sugar or more fish sauce (in place of salt) to adjust the taste. You can also add more chili if you want it spicier. Pour the marinade over the meat and stir well to combine. Allow at least 1 hour for marinating, or longer (up to 24 hours).

(didn't wait, cooked chicken as whole breasts immediately in marinade in glass dish in oven, baked at 350 F for about 25 min., the juices from the cooked chicken marinade are great drizzled over rice, tasted fine without the skewering and long marinading.)

When ready to cook, thread meat onto the skewers. Tip: Fill up to 3/4 of the skewer, leaving the lower half empty so that the person grilling has a "handle" to easily turn the satay during cooking. Grill the satay on your BBQ, OR on an indoor grill, basting the first time you time it with a little of the leftover marinade from the bottom of the bowl. OR you can broil in the oven on a broiling pan or baking sheet with the oven set to "broil" Place satay close beneath the heating element and turn the meat every 5 minutes until cooked (be sure to soak your wooden satay sticks in water before skewering). Depending on how thin your meat is, the satay should cook in 10 to 20 minutes. Serve with rice and my Easy Satay Peanut Sauce for dipping. ENJOY!

(We put the chicken breasts over a bed of rice, poured some of the chicken juices over the chicken and rice, and cut the chicken in bites to dip into the peanut sauce. Mmm! Fast and easy.)

Easy Satay Peanut Sauce -

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Yield: SERVES 4-6 as a Dip

Ingredients:
1 cup fresh-tasting dry roasted peanuts, unsalted
1/3 cup water
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. dark soy sauce
2 tsp. sesame oil
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 to 2.5 Tbsp. fish sauce - for vegetarians: substitute 2.5 to 3 Tbsp. regular soy sauce
1/2 tsp. tamarind paste OR 1/2 Tbsp. lime juice
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper, OR 1 tsp. Thai chili sauce (more or less to taste)
1/3 cup coconut milk

Preparation:
Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Blend or process until sauce is smooth. If you prefer a runnier peanut sauce, add a little more water or coconut milk. Do a taste test, adding more fish sauce (or soy sauce) if not salty enough, or more cayenne if not spicy enough. If too salty, add a squeeze of fresh lime juice. If you'd prefer it sweeter, add a little more sugar. Serve warm or at room temperature with my Thai Chicken Satay, Thai Pork Satay, or Vegetarian/Vegan Thai Satay. It also makes a great dip with fresh veggies, fresh rolls, or other Asian finger foods. Or combine with noodles to create a Thai-style noodle dish or cold noodle salad. Enjoy!

Note: This sauce tends to thicken as it sits - just add a little water or coconut milk to thin it out, as needed. Otherwise it stores well if kept covered in the refrigerator (keep up to 2 weeks; freeze thereafter).

Layered Angel Fruit Cream Cake for a hot summer's day

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Doesn't this hot summer weather stink? I am roasting, I tell you, ROASTING! I wish it were more temperate. Here is a great dessert to help you beat the heat. It is a great show piece so it's perfect for a family gathering or party, and technically it is a no-bake cake too, so it's relatively easy. You could get your two-year-old to help you! The assembly is a little time consuming, and there is freezer time involved as well. But you will be well rewarded, and you might get audible "Oohs and Aahs" from the people about to enjoy the cake. It does't just look good; it tastes amazing. My nephew licked his plate clean. Apart from the bad manners, it was quite the compliment and made me laugh. You will also need a large chiffon/angel food metal cake pan and enough space in the freezer for this to set up for two days.

I got this recipe out of a magazine called Home Living, Aug 2011 issue. I went with Adam to Jefferson City, MO, for his swearing in as an attorney after passing the Missouri Bar. Good work, Adam! I think it's a local Missouri magazine. Oh, now I'm seeing more info about the recipe on the page I tore from the magazine. I picked up the magazine while we were getting lunch at a delightful little cafe not far from the state capitol building. The recipe is by Denise McMillen and she can be contacted at denise@newstribune.com. If you like her recipe enough, you could send her a Thank You e-mail to let her know you appreciate her. :-)

In case all my words have not persuaded you, maybe this picture of the cake will. (Please forgive the fact that it came out of a torn and folded magazine page.)

This cake is as lovely as a Shakespeare sonnet. So without further ado (much ado?), the recipe, maestro.

Layered Angel Fruit Cream Cake

Serves 8-10 people.
Time needed: 30 min. assembly, and 2 days to set up in the freezer.

Ingredients:
1 angel food cake
1 3oz. pkg strawberry gelatin, dry
1 3oz. pkg lime gelatin, dry
1 3oz. pkg orange gelatin, dry
20 oz. frozen strawberries, thawed and drained of juice, but save the juice
1/2 gal. vanilla ice cream
1/2 gal. orange, lime, and lemon sherbet blend
1 large can pineapple tidbits, drained
1 large can mandarin oranges, drained

1. Divide the angel food cake into three layered sections. Slice each layer into small cubes and place in three separate bags or bowls. Sprinkle the dry strawberry gelatin onto one layer of cubed angel food cake until all four sides are colored as heavily as possible. Repeat with the lime gelatin and again with the orange gelatin. You will have a few tablespoons of the dry gelatin powder remaining in your bag or bowl and can discard.
2. Depending on the size of your tube pan, you may/will have leftover ice cream and/or sherbet. Take the cake cubes flavored with the strawberry gelatin and place them in the bottom of a large tube pan. Add the drained strawberries on top of the cake, distribute evenly and drizzle some of the juice over the cake. Add enough softened vanilla ice cream to cover the strawberries completely.
3. Add the lime gelatin angel food cake cubes, then sprinkle pineapple over the cake and cover with a layer of sherbet. Layer the orange gelatin angel food cake and cover with mandarin oranges. Cover up with another layer of vanilla ice cream.
4. Freeze for two days, take out and let thaw for about ten or fifteen minutes, invert onto platter, and slice when ready to serve. Enjoy.

Moroccan Chicken Tagine

I made my first Moroccan Chicken Tagine. It was quite serendipitous. Adam had set up the free Amazon Prime streaming videos to our Blu-Ray. (Thanks for the Christmas present, Mom and Dad Rowley!) I was looking for something to watch. Then I saw America's Test Kitchen. I had never seen an episode before. My sister-in-law Sarah had been telling me about how great it was (a year or so ago). So I gave it a chance. I was looking through the episodes, and the Moroccan one sounded great! I'd love to travel there someday. One of my friends went there recently and he took the BEST photos of all the amazing mosques and architecture and his whole amazing experience. Since I can't go there right now, I could still get a "flavor" of the country by experiencing some of the food. I watched the episode, and then the next day, my delusions of grandeur took over and I tried to cook the dish. I only had the episode (duh, I should have pulled up the recipe on the internet), and it took FOREVER because I had to fast-forward and rewind and make sure I hadn't missed a step or an ingredient. That was definitely NOT the best way to cook the recipe. Adam had come home and I still wasn't done, and I think I was teaching a voice lesson after dinner so I was really stressing and I had to have him dive in and help me with watching the episode and getting everything all cooked and finalized. It came off as a success (thanks Adam for the help!) and was SO DELICIOUS! I highly recommend it.

If you will watch the episode (it's long and they take a lot of tangents talking about the best way to cook couscous, etc.) then you can see it here. You might have to give you e-mail address. That part is a little annoying.

Moroccan Chicken Tagine

This is what you could be eating!

Other things I did differently:
I only had chicken breasts on hand, so that's what I used. I didn't bother with all that breaking down of the chicken, although in the show they give very good instructions on how to do it. Looks like fun and I want to try it sometime. I also didn't add the olives, we're really not that big of fans. I did make the lemon salt garlic paste by scraping it with the flat part of the knife. That part was really interesting and fun. I didn't have a dutch-oven pot, so I just used a big soup pot. Maybe that goes without saying. I don't think I had the fresh cilantro either. It still tasted good without it, but I do love my fresh cilantro!

I also made the couscous pilaf to go along with the chicken, and it is NOT included in the recipe below. It can only be accessed through the part of the website that you have to pay for (boo!) so I was going to watch the show again and transcribe that part and include it. Only I haven't done that yet. Sorry. Also, I didn't have couscous on hand so I used rice and toasted in the pan before cooking. It turned out very well! Good luck and I hope you enjoy! The recipe is a little involved, but I love how unusual it is and I love to challenge myself every now and again. I can go back to easy lazy cooking tomorrow and the rest of the week!

UPDATE: The couscous recipe is added now and can be found at the bottom of the post. Thanks!

Moroccan Chicken with Olives and Lemon (Chicken Tagine)

Serves 4
Bone-in chicken parts can be substituted for the whole chicken. For best results, use four chicken thighs and two chicken breasts, each breast split in half; the dark meat contributes valuable flavor to the broth and should not be omitted. Use a vegetable peeler to remove wide strips of zest from the lemon before juicing it. Make sure to trim any white pith from the zest, as it can impart bitter flavor. If the olives are particularly salty, give them a rinse. Serve with couscous (see related recipe).

INGREDIENTS
1 1/4teaspoons sweet paprika
1/2teaspoon ground cumin
1/4teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2teaspoon ground ginger
1/4teaspoon ground coriander
1/4teaspoon ground cinnamon
3strips lemon zest (each about 2 inches by 3/4 inch)
3tablespoons fresh lemon juice, from 1 to 2 lemons
5medium cloves garlic, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 5 teaspoons)
1 whole chicken (3 1/2 to 4 pounds), cut into 8 pieces (4 breast pieces, 2 thighs, 2 drumsticks; wings reserved for another use) and trimmed of excess fat
Salt and ground black pepper
1tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, halved and cut into 1/4-inch slices (about 3 cups)
1 3/4cups low-sodium chicken broth
1tablespoon honey
2 medium carrots, peeled and cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick coins, very large pieces cut into half-moons (about 2 cups)
1cup Greek cracked green olives, pitted and halved
2tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Combine spices in small bowl and set aside. Mince 1 strip lemon zest; combine with 1 teaspoon minced garlic and mince together until reduced to fine paste; set aside.

2. Season both sides of chicken pieces liberally with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large heavy--bottomed Dutch oven over medium-high heat until beginning to smoke. Brown chicken pieces skin side down in single layer until deep golden, about 5 minutes; using tongs, turn chicken pieces and brown on second side, about 4 minutes more. Transfer chicken to large plate; when cool enough to handle, peel off skin and discard. Pour off and discard all but 1 tablespoon fat from pot.

3. Add onion and 2 remaining lemon zest strips to pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions have browned at edges but still retain shape, 5 to 7 minutes (add 1 tablespoon water if pan gets too dark). Add remaining 4 teaspoons garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add spices and cook, stirring constantly, until darkened and very fragrant, 45 seconds to 1 minute. Stir in broth and honey, scraping bottom of pot with wooden spoon to loosen browned bits. Add thighs and drumsticks, reduce heat to medium, and simmer for 5 minutes.

4. Add carrots and breast pieces (with any accumulated juices) to pot, arranging breast pieces in single layer on top of carrots. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of breast registers 160 degrees, 10 to 15 minutes.

5. Transfer chicken to plate or bowl and tent with foil. Add olives to pot; increase heat to medium-high and simmer until liquid has thickened slightly and carrots are tender, 4 to 6 minutes. Return chicken to pot and add garlic-zest mixture, cilantro, and lemon juice; stir to combine and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

TO MAKE AHEAD: The recipe can be prepared through step 4, cooled, and refrigerated for up to 2 days. To serve, gently warm until the chicken is heated through, then proceed with the recipe from step 5.


Authentic Moroccan Couscous

Ingredients:
3 Tbs unsalted butter
3 shallots, sliced thinly (or 1 onion, seriously, who buys shallots?)
2 cups couscous
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 cup water
1 cup chicken broth
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
3/4 cup toasted almonds, chopped


Add the butter to a sauce pan at medium-high heat until it melts. Add the shallots and cook in butter for 5 minutes until toasted and caramelized. Add the garlic, cook for 30 seconds or until fragrant.

Add couscous, toast to golden for about 5 minutes, but keep your eye on it! It can go from toasted to burned quickly. Then add the water and chicken broth, stir, let sit for 1 minute. Add the salt, stir, and put on the lid and remove couscous from heat. The couscous will continue to cook and absorb the liquid. Let it rest for about 7 minutes. When liquid is absorbed by the couscous, add lemon zest, lemon juice, parsley, and toasted almonds and stir in together in the couscous. Enjoy!