General Tsao Chicken with Vegetables.

One of my favorite dishes. Most Chinese restaurants here are Cantonese or Szechuan. 

General Tsao's Chicken has almost as many variants as there are spellings of his name. His real name was Zuo Zongtang and he lived in the Hunan province of China during the Qing Dynasty. And no, there's no record of him ever enjoying this dish. Shame. But... you will.

You'll need:

8 chicken thighs or 4 breasts, boneless, skinless, and cut into bite sized pieces
small bunch of broccoli florets, blanched
1/2 red and 1/2 green pepper, cut into bite sized pieces
1 medium red onion, chopped

For the dredge:
1/4 cup corn starch
1/4 cup flour
1 tbsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. onion powder
1 tbsp. paprika
dash pepper
dash salt

For the sauce:
1/2 cup chicken  stock
4 cloves pressed* garlic
2 tsp. grated fresh ginger
3 tbsp. honey
2 tbsp. soy sauce ( I prefer Red Star Dark, but any will do)
2 tbsp. white wine
1/2 tsp crushed pepper flakes (I use Saambal Oelek, an Indonesian chili paste)
1 tbsp. corn starch

1 cup uncooked rice (we use Basmati)
vegetable oil
sesame oil

Cook the rice according to instructions.

Thoroughly mix all the dredge ingredients in a wide bowl. Heat the wok and add oil (about 1/4 cup plus a tbsp. sesame oil) and when it starts to smoke slightly, dredge the chicken and cook in small batches.

Is it pretty? Nah... but we're not shooting for presentation. Yet.

While you're cooking the chicken, go ahead and mix all the sauce ingredients together. Bet you can smell the fresh ginger and garlic, huh?

Set your oven to warm and take a cookie sheet out, laying a layer of paper towel in it. Place each drained batch of cooked chicken on the pan so it'll keep warm.

Fresh and colorful... and tasty!

Once you're done cooking the chicken, drain any residual oil and wipe out the wok. There will be a lot of cornstarch residue from the chicken, and you want to keep that to a minimum. Add another splash of oil and sesame oil, get it hot, and stir fry the onions, peppers, and garlic until crisp - tender.

With all the goodies - amazing!

Add the chicken and sauce. Heat the sauce until it begins to reduce and add the broccoli. Simmer till sauce thickens and remove from heat.

Serve on a bed of warm rice.

(Eat well, live better.)

Chicken Arrabiata Penne.

Chicken Arrabiata Penne. Nom.

This is an easy recipe for chicken breasts. It's a garlic lover's treat, and is ready in about an hour!

You'll need:

4 chicken breast cutlets, pounded flat

6-7 large cloves of garlic, chopped

1 bunch of chopped basil

1 tsp of hot sauce

3tbsp chopped cooked bacon

10 sliced grape tomatoes (I use Marzano)

1 can (28 oz) garlic and olive oil diced tomatoes

1 cup crushed tomatoes

1/2 cup red wine

olive oil

for the coating:

2 eggs

1 cup milk

3 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp pepper

1tsp salt

12 oz package of penne

Heat some olive oil in a deep pan, but not to smoking. Toss in garlic and sautee until fragrant, about one to two minutes. Add bacon and stir, then add the crushed and diced tomatoes. Let simmer a few minutes and add sliced tomatoes, hot sauce, wine, and basil. Let simmer for a while, adding a little chicken stock if it reduces too much.

Mix the egg and milk together in a shallow bowl and set aside. In a large freezer bag, mix garlic powder, pepper, salt, and flour thoroughly.

Put on a pot of water to boil for the penne (add a generous pinch of salt.) Cook penne, Drain.

In a second pan, heat more oil. Put each cutlet in eggwash and dredge in flour mixture, then brown for 3-5 minutes at medium heat. Remove and place on cutting board. Let rest for 5 minutes, slice, then put into sauce. Remove from heat let sit for a few minutes, then mix with penne in pot.

Garnish with a couple of spinach leaves and enjoy!

Total time: approx. 1hr