Chicken Parmigiana

My brother got me a food processor for Christmas! Anyway, I don't really feel like writing I feel a bit sick, so instead I'll just post the amazing recipe I cooked myself for dinner tonight.

Chicken Parmigiana

Ingredients

1 egg, beaten

2 ounces dry bread crumbs (About two slices of bread)

2-4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

2 cups of your favorite maranara sauce (See Best Maranara Sauce post)

1 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a medium baking sheet.
2. Pour egg into a small shallow bowl. Place bread crumbs in a separate shallow bowl. Dip chicken into egg, then into the bread crumbs. Place coated chicken on the prepared baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until no longer pink and juices run clear.
3. Pour 1/2 of the spaghetti sauce into a 7x11 inch baking dish. Place chicken over sauce, and cover with remaining sauce. Sprinkle mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses on top and return to the preheated oven for 20 minutes.

What The Fudge?



Well the love of cooking and feeding people let me to some extreme baking. I baked a total of  204 cookies, 272 pieces of candy, and 2 1/2 lbs of peppermint brittle. The majority of the goods were placed into gift tins for friends and family (plus a few of my employees) but the remainer was brought to game night. This is just a small sample of some of my work.

Christmas dots

Candy cane blossoms

Chocolate turtles

Orange Cranberry Cookies

Choco-caramel Nuget

PEPPERMINT FUGDE

The fugde was by far my favorite.



The best thing about Christmas time is that I can cook over one thousand things and not be judged. I can give away everything so I don't have to gain 200 pounds.

It's getting late so I should get some sleep. I'll post the recipes on a later date.

Keep cooking,

DaSha

Brownies and Cookies? It must be Funday!

Last Sunday I went to church (as custom in Utah). I had already volunteered to make the treat for Game Night. Michelle had also planned to bake cookies for something she was doing that night. She had the brilliant idea to bake together.
Anyway, I made my Lemon-Filled Short-bread Cookies  (I haven't perfected the name yet). I've made these many a times in the past usually around Christmas. And I kinda invented a new recipe. Cheesecake brownies.

 Lemon-Filled Shortbread Cookies recipe

COOKIES:

1 cup butter (no substitutes), softened

1/3 cup confectioners' sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Lemon Zest, pinch

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

FILLING:

2/3 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1 egg, beaten

3 tablespoons lemon juice (Juice from 1 medium lemon)

2 tablespoon butter or margarine, melted

Directions:

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar and lemon zest. Beat in vanilla. Gradually add flour. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes or until easy to handle. Roll into 1-in. balls. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Using the end of a wooden spoon handle, make an indentation in the center of each. Bake at 350 degrees F for 12-14 minutes or until lightly browned. 

Make filling as cookies cool off.

For filling, combine the sugar, cornstarch, lemon peel and salt in a saucepan. Stir in egg, lemon juice and butter until smooth. Cook over medium-high heat until thickened. Reduce heat; cook and stir 2 minutes longer. Cool. Spoon 1/2 teaspoonful into each cookie while still warm. Allow cookies to cool completely before enjoying. 

Cheesecake Brownies recipe

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup butter, divided

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided in half

1/2 cup white sugar, divided in half

2 eggs

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour, divided (two 2/3 cups)

1 teaspoon baking powder, divided in half

1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 7x11 inch glass baking pan.

Combine cream cheese with 1/2 cup sugar and 2 egg in a mixing bowl; beat until smooth. Set aside.

Fill a double boiler with water and bring to a boil. (If you don't have one this is what I did Fill a pot with water and bring to a rolling boil. Turn the heat off, and set a frying pan over the water.) In the top pot or pan, combine 1/4 cup butter with one cup of chocolate chips; stir until just melted and blended together. Stir in  1/4 cup sugar, then sift together flour, and baking powder; stir into chocolate until evenly blended.  

Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan spread it to coat the entire pan. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the chocolate layer.  Repeat step two this time adding 2 eggs before flour add salt with flour mixture.

Top cheesecake layer with chocolate mixture (this doesn't need to completely cover the cream cheese layer). Using a knife, swirl the top chocolate layer into the cream cheese to make a marble pattern.

Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 to 40 minutes, or until top is crinkled and edges pull away from sides of the pan. Cool thoroughly. Cut into 16-20 squares. Store in the refrigerator.


The cheesecake brownies are extremely moist and rich. Someone at game night said "It's like a cheesecake wrapped in brownie!"

ENJOY!!!! 

Sesame Chicken Stirfry

So I just cooked dinner for myself. Yes, I had dinner at 3 pm. I work tonight so I figured I had to eat earlier than usual. So anyway I mulled over the many dinner posibilities for hours and landed quite nicely on stirfry. Upon checking my refrigerator for vegetables I found my sesame seeds. Then I thought why not sesame chicken? 

This is what I came up with...

Ingredients:

Seasame Chicken-

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon pinapple juice

2 dashes sesame oil

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons water

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon canola oil

4 (5 ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 1-inch cubes

vegetable oil for frying

Sesame sauce-

1/2 cup water

1 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup rice vinager or distilled white vinegar

1/4 cup cornstarch

1 cup white sugar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons sesame oil

1 teaspoon red chile paste

1 teaspoon Ginger

1 teaspoon Nutmeg

1 clove garlic, minced

Stir fried Veggies-

2 tablespoons vegatable oil

1 green bell pepper, julianned

1 red bell pepper, julianned

1/2 lb sugar snap peas, trimmed

1 large carrot, sliced or julianned

1 small head broccolli, chopped

minced ginger, optional

Sesame seeds

Directions

1. Combine the ingrediants for sesame chicken. Mix well; stir in the chicken. Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
2. Heat oil in a large wok or large saucepan to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
3. Combine the ingredients for sesame sauce in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Turn heat to low and keep warm, stirring occasionally.
4. Fry the marinated chicken in batches until cooked through and golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Drain on paper towels.
5. Transfer the chicken to a large platter, top with sauce, and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
6. Heat 2 tbs vegetable oil in wok or medium sized skillet. Stir fry the vegetables with ginger 2-4 minutes. Add Chicken mixture heat for 2 min longer serve over rice.

 

It's Almost Here...

First Test Kitchen day coming soon! The meal is all Italian or possibly a dash of French.

The tentative menu is:
Buschetta with Fresh Tomatoes and Garlic
Swiss Chard Pansotti with Walnut Pesto OR Tortelli with Potatoes
Stuffed Chicken Breast with White Wine Vinegar
AND
Tiramisu with Savoiardi OR White Chocolate Raspberry Mousse OR  Crème brûlée

Throughout the meal I'll serve my Fresh Italian Bread and my Not-Yet-Famous Garlic Infused Olive Oil Dressing.
The servings in Italy are smaller, not as small as Japan but smaller, the foods are more filling and MUCH more delish. Because of the smaller size however I decided that instead of doubling the 'recipe' I'll be better off adding a dolce or dessert course instead of the traditional Fruit and Cheese course. You don't need to eat a lot to enjoy good food.

The only problem now is choosing between my "or's". Actually I also have to choose the friends I invite. I can only fit a few in my new apartment. (BTW did I mention I have a new apartment? Well I do, I haven't moved in yet but I love it nonetheless.) I'm thinking I'll invite maybe five. So there will be six in total. I have so many friends who like food that it's hard to choose.

I think I've selected three already based on "what they'll bring to the table." Friend One is so sweet that even if he/she doesn't like it he/she will complement me to keep me happy. Friend Two is new so I can get fresh prospective of the meal and he/she wouldn't know how much confidence I have in my cooking. Friend Three is like Friend One but has a bit of knowledge of the authentic stuff.
I like to have at least two guys at these things, just so that I don't only have one. That being said I would like to have another guy but I won't worry about it too much. 

Best Marinara Sauce...PERIOD (and EXCLAMATION POINT)

Lately I've been missing my good friend Jasmine. She was my first REAL friend in college we were roommates. I haven't seen her since November! That's insane so I decided it was well past time for us to hang out and catch up. If you know me there is only one way for this to happen...with food. Or, better yet, over food.

I put together this menu just for that occation:
Chicken Parmigiana
Fresh Baked Italian Bread
and
Pasta Primavera

Do you see a theme? (HINT it's all Italian)

Now for the Chicken Parmigiana I need a really good marinara sauce. I thought it was time to give up on buying jars of pasta sauce and start making my own. I figured it couldn't be too hard and it's WAY cheaper. I used
1 28-ounce can of whole peeled tomatoes
1 6-ounce can of Tomato paste
about 5 whole basil leaves
1 1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano
1 tablespoon of white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
pinch red pepper flakes
1 clove garlic, minced
1 avocado
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/3 cup finely diced onion
a few leftover pieces of yellow squash

I put all of these in a blender and pureed it for a few minutes. I added a little more pepper to taste pulsing after each addition.
Next I let it simmer for about 35 mins. to bring out the flavor of the basil and cook the vegetables to perfection.


To sum it up this is the Best Marinara Sauce...Period (and EXCLAMATION POINT).
By the way that's now the official name of the sauce. Best Marinara sauce or BMSPaEP for short
(I'll post the other recipes after I make them)

DaSha's Test Kitchen

So, I've been giving some serious thought to starting my own test kitchen before I open my restaurant in the distant future. It's just a way for me to test out my new recipes. Once I feel inspired to create a mini masterpiece I'm the only one who knows what it tastes like. I need other people to honestly give me their opinion of my food I do a good enough job but I am kind of bias you know.
I'm not fishing for complements, though they are nice, what I really NEED is constructive criticism. You don't have to be a foodie just someone who likes food with little to no dietary restrictions like food allergies preferably.
I really want to test my food on willing participants before I serve it to unknowing dinner party guests. That being said I will have the "test days" on separate days from the dinner parties, most likely according to my volunteer 's preferences.

On to the search for the perfect guinea pigs!