Hoisin chicken stir fry.

Marion’s. Made us all very happy this evening and also quick to make, which is a bonus after a longish wait for Izzie’s vaccination earlier this afternoon. We got home after 6pm, by 7 we were fed and onto the cookies- more of which later.

Thinly sliced chicken breasts were marinated in soy sauce, dark soy sauce ( today substituted by a bit of oyster sauce, but I have an order coming from Oishii Planet), Shaoxing wine, some bicarb of soda and some cornflour.

Basmati rice was steaming away, I prepared the veggies and then the stir fry sauce; a good splash of Hoisin, some soy, some Shao, brown sugar, rice vinegar and black pepper.

Onto a very hot wok went some oil, roughly chopped onions, quickly caramelised, then the chicken, which I left in peace for about 3 minutes to catch some colour. Some chopped garlic, peppers and a handful of edamame, which I found in Esselunga, miraculously. Finally the stir fry sauce, around the edges, a minute or two, spring onions and we were good to eat.

It was very much enjoyed, The Child had seconds. A keeper.

Courtney gave me some Swedish cookies at school, made by Daniel, I’m told they are called kolakakor. And I even obtained the recipe. Very nice indeed, sugar intake for today was quite, erm, significant.

Focaccia.

From Food Language again. And again with good results.

I started it right after breakfast, together with the ragu, so that we had dinner ready later after the muddy garden work- the lights on the drive are taking shape at long last.

I used 280ml of water and dissolved 7g of yeast in it, before adding 350g of bread flour and 8g of salt ( could have used more, I later decided). All mixed well with a little extra water added, as it didn’t seem wet enough for me, then also 2 tbsps of olive oil added.

Covered and left to rest for 30 minutes.

Then, as it seems standard with this chap’s recipes, with wet hands one lifts the dough and folds it over, then lifts and slaps it back.

30 minutes rest.

Some sun dried tomatoes were chopped, ready and waiting, another round of folding to the centre, lifting and slapping, tomatoes in. Left to rest for 10 minutes.

The baking tray was prepared with lots of olive oil, the dough went in, spread nicely, drizzle with more olive oil. The final 30 minute resting time, then with wet hands a bit of massage, nice and deep, then a sprinkle of sea salt, a drizzle of water on top and into the oven at 230 degrees for about 17 minutes- the recipe said 20, I took mine out, the colour was very convincing.

I don’t remember ever making a better focaccia. 🙂 It was enjoyed for lunch in the sunshine, then some more with ragu in the evening. Very pleased with it!

Sticky soy-garlic chicken.

From Marion, who doesn’t seem to put a food wrong. I came across this recipe when looking for inspiration of how to make chicken breasts exciting again. I’ve been trying to feed us more protein lately, there are eggs in the morning even mid week now, also trying to wave sugar goodbye as much as possible, with various results…..

This, however had to be tried, at least for science and research, as I have never marinated meat in mayo before. Eh? Oh yes, it does work.

So, before we went to school I sliced 2 chicken breasts sideways, in order to have 4 pieces and seasoned them with salt, before making a marinade out of some Heinz mayo, soy sauce, 2 grated garlic cloves and some vinegar. It sat in the fridge for nearly 3 hours ( Marion says even overnight would be awesome) . Once back home I got some plain rice ready and made the sauce. I had no dark soy sauce, so I used a tbsp of char siu sauce from the jar, also soy sauce, some brown sugar, rice vinegar, sesame oil and more grated garlic.

Onto a very hot pan went the chicken, being turned around a couple of times, until evenly cooked, beautifully browned, it took around 8-10 minutes. Sauce in, quick action and then just to finish, a small piece of butter. The kitchen smelled Asian! Served with fresh chili and cucumber. 2 hours later I would have some more. But no such luck. 🙂