Dutch Oven Chicken with Lemon, Garlic and Rosemary

Last summer, I posted a recipe of this chicken cooked in a pressure cooker and promised to post a recipe using a Dutch Oven.   Every time I made this chicken, either one wing or a drumstick was already eaten by my family before I took out my camera to shoot a picture for my blog.   I have to say this is one of my family’s favorite dishes.

I like to use a Dutch Oven to bake the chicken as it keeps the meat very moist and tender, and it allows me to cook the potatoes and carrots together.  Once everything is cooked, I have both a meat and a vegetable dish to serve.

The chicken is best to be marinaded overnight.  It may take some time to prep, but the work is easy after you put the pot in the oven.  Some people may not like rosemary which can be substituted with other herbs or simply be omitted.

Ingredients:

1 (3-4 pounds)	Whole roasting chicken
2 Tbsp	Butter (melted)
2 Tbsp	Lemon zest
2 Tbsp	Rosemary (chopped)
3 Tbsp	Minced Garlic
3 tsp	Salt

Spices for Chicken Skin:

1 tsp	Chili powder
2 tsp	Paprika
2 tsp	Garlic powder
1 tsp	Salt

Vegetables:

1	White onion (chopped)
5	Medium size carrots (cut)
1 pound	Red potatoes (cut into cubes)
2/3 tsp	Season salt (or salt and pepper)

Ingredients for Gravy:

2 cup	Low sodium chicken broth
2 Tbsp	Corn starch
2 Tbsp	Cooking wine/water
	Salt to taste

Chicken Marinade:

1. Clean the chicken and pat dry.
2. Melt butter in a microwave and prepare all herbs.  (picture 1)
3. Use a chopper to chop garlic, rosemary and lemon zest together.  (picture 2)
4. Mix butter, salt and herb mixture in a container.  (picture 3)
5. Rub herb mixture evenly underneath the chicken skin and cavity.  (picture 4)
6. Cover with cling wrap and put the chicken in the fridge overnight.
7. Combine all spices for chicken skin in a bowl.  (pictures 5 & 6)
8. Remove chicken from the fridge and sprinkle the skin evenly with the spice mixture right before cooking it.  (picture 7)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 °F.
2. In a large Dutch oven, heat 3 tablespoons of oil with a sprig of rosemary and 2 garlic cloves.  Brown the chicken until all sides are evenly golden brown. (pictures 8 & 9)
3. Cut potatoes, carrots and onion into cubes, season with season salt. (picture 10)
4. Add potatoes, carrots and onion to the Dutch oven, place them around the chicken. Chicken breast should be facing up before putting it in the oven. (picture 11)
5. Cover with lid and transfer the Dutch Oven to the preheated oven. Bake for an hour or until the thermometer registers 165 degrees Fahrenheit when inserted in the thickest part of breast. (picture 12)
6. Transfer the chicken to a serving dish and let it rest for 20 minutes before carving and transfer vegetables from the Dutch Oven to a big container. (picture 13)

To make gravy:

1. Reserve the juice from the Dutch Oven and skim the fat from the top.  Place the Dutch Oven on stove top on medium heat.  Add 2 cups of chicken broth.  (picture A)
2. Dissolve 2 tablespoons of cornstarch in 2 tbsp of water/cooking wine.  Pour the cornstarch slurry into the pot and use a spoon or whisk to mix (don’t pour in all cornstarch slurry, if gravy is still thin, add more in until it’s slightly thickened.)  (picture B)
3. Transfer gravy to a sauce boat and serve hot. (picture C)

Japchae (Korean Noodles)

Japchae

Japchae is a classic sweet and savory Korean dish everyone loves.  It is made from sweet potato starch noodles stir fried with vegetables and you can add your choice of meat.  I have eaten at some restaurants where Japchae is served on top of rice (yes this sounds a little weird!), but most restaurants serve it as a banchan (Korean side dishes) or as a full dish.  If you are gluten intolerant, this is the dish you should consider.

Ingredients:

1 lbs	Beef (flank, sirloin or rib eye)
14 oz – 1 lbs	Korean potato starch noodles (Dangmyeon)
2 medium sticks	Carrots (julienne)
1 small	White onion
1/2 lbs	Spinach
7-8	Dried shiitake mushrooms (soaked until soft)
2	Eggs
2	Garlic cloves

Marinade for Beef:

2 Tbsp	Light soy sauce
2 Tbsp	Brown sugar
1 Tbsp	Corn starch

Sauce for Noodles:

6 Tbsp	Light soy sauce
5 Tbsp	Brown sugar
4 Tbsp	Sesame oil
4 tsp	Roasted sesame seeds

Directions:

1. Combine all sauce ingredients in a small bowl and mix well.  (Picture 1)
2. Soak dried mushrooms in hot water until soft.  Cut the stems off and slice into thin strips.  Season with 1 tablespoon of the sauce above.  (Picture 2)
3. Peel and julienne carrots.  (Picture 3)
4. Cut onion into slices. (Picture 4)
5. Slice beef against the grain (you can cut into slices or strips).  Marinade beef with soy sauce, brown sugar and corn starch.  (Picture 5)
6. Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil and blanch the spinach until they are just wilted (about 1 minute).  Drain quickly and rinse spinach under cold running water.  Squeeze excess water from spinach and set aside.  (Picture 6)
7. Cook the noodles in a large pot of boiling water (follow the package directions for cooking time).  Drain and rinse the noodles under cold running water.  Set aside.  (Picture 7)
8. Heat up 1 Tbsp of oil in a skillet/wok and stir fry onion until it turns brown.  Transfer onion to a plate and side aside.  (Picture 8)
9. Add 1 Tbsp of oil and one garlic clove to the same skillet/wok and stir fry carrots for about 1 minute, then add in mushrooms.  Add 1 Tbsp of water and cook for 1 minute.  Transfer carrots and mushrooms to a plate and set aside.  (Pictures 9 and 10).
10. Add 2 tablespoons of oil and one garlic clove to the skillet/wok and stir fry beef until it’s cooked.  Now return onion, carrots and mushrooms to the wok and mix them well with beef (just 1 minute).  Set aside.  (Pictures 11 and 12)
11. Whisk 2 eggs in a small bowl and cook the eggs in a skillet sprayed with cooking oil in medium heat.  Cut cooked eggs into strips and set aside.  (Picture 13)
12. Pour sauce into a medium size pot and cook on medium heat until sugar is dissolved and sauce is slightly bubbling.  Add noodles into the pot and toss well until all noodles are coated with the sauce and then add all cooked vegetables and beef, toss well. (Picture 14)
13. Garnish with egg slices and toasted sesame.  (Picture 15)

Zucchini Ribbon Salad

This is the perfect salad for summer and is one of my all time favorite salads, I never get tired of making it.  This recipe is very simple, but peeling and grilling the zucchini ribbons could be time consuming if you make for a party.  I just made it yesterday for dinner for 2 people, it only took me 20 minutes.

Ingredients:  2 servings

2 5 oz 7 2 Tbsps

Zucchini Spring mix (baby lettuce, baby spinach, Argula, Radiccho) Roasted almonds (chopped) Feta cheese

Dressing:

50 ml 30 ml 1 Tbsp 1 tsp ½ tsp 1 tsp

Olive oil Balsamic vinegar Red wine vinegar / red rice vinegar Dried oregano Salt Pepper

Directions:

• Cut off the ends of the zucchini, then use a vegetable peeler to slice the zucchini into thin ribbons.  Peel down four sides until you hit the seeds.

• Heat a cast iron pan (on stove top) or an outdoor grill over medium high, lightly coat with olive oil.  Line zucchini ribbons on the grill pan and grill for about 30 seconds and turn.  Make sure they cool completely before adding them to your salad.
• In a small bowl, whisk olive oil, balsamic vinegar, red rice vinegar, dried oregano, salt and pepper.

• Toss zucchini and spring mix with the dressing, sprinkle with roasted almonds and feta cheese.  Serve immediately.

Note:

1.  If you don’t have a grill, make sure to use a cast iron pan.  It will enhance the flavor.

2.  You can use the remaining parts of the zucchini for another dish.

 

Green Onion Pancakes (Scallion Pancakes) 葱油餅

Whenever we visit a Chinese dumpling restaurant, we always order green onion pancakes.  When served hot, these flaky and savory pancakes are crispy outside, and chewy and soft inside.  Many people like them, even though they are not fond of green onions.  Most restaurants make good scallion pancakes, but occasionally we had some doughy and thick ones which my kids didn’t even touch.  If you never tried Green Onion Pancakes, just remember they are not pancakes at all as they are not made out of a batter.  They are more like crispy, multi-layered flat bread filled with green onions.

Ingredients: (Makes four 6” pancakes)

260g (2 Cups) 120 ml (½ Cup)* 50 ml (¼ Cup)* 2-3 stalks

All purpose flour Boiling water Room temperature water Green onion (minced) More flour for dusting

*  I used milligram (ML), it’s more accurate as 1/4 cup is about 60 ml, then the water amount is a little too much.

Ingredients for oil mixture:

2 Tbsp 1 tsp 3 Tbsp

All purpose flour Salt Cooking oil

Directions:

1. Place 2 cups of flour in a mixing bowl, add ½ cup of boiling water, mix well.  Then add ¼ cup of room temperature water and mix well (when adding cold water, do not pour in all water at once, you will need to feel the dough when kneading.  It should not be too hard or too sticky) . (Picture 1)
2. Knead the dough until the surface becomes smooth and is no longer sticky.  If the dough is too dry, add 1 Tbsp of water to the dough; if the dough is too wet, add a Tbsp of flour to the dough.  Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest for 20-30 minutes.  (Picture 2)
3. In the meantime, prepare green onions and oil mixture – Cut green onions into small pieces.  Set aside.  (Picture 3)
4. Put 2 Tbsp. of flour, 1 tsp. of salt and 3 Tbsp. of cooking oil into a small bowl and mix well.  (Picture 4)
5. Divide dough into 4 portions.  (Picture 5)
6. Working with one dough ball at a time.  Place the dough ball on a lightly floured work surface and roll the dough to a thin disc with a rolling pin.  (Picture 6)
7. Apply a thin layer of oil mixture to the disc.  (Picture 7)
8. Sprinkle green onion to the disc but leave one edge open for sealing.  (Picture 8)
9. Start to roll the dough into a cylinder.  (Picture 9)
10. Flatten the log a little and coil it up like a sneak.  (Picture 10)
11. Turn the dough so that the swirl side is facing up.  (Picture 11)
12. Flatten the dough out with a rolling pin.  (Picture 12)
13. Repeat steps 6-12 for the rest of the dough. 

1. Now the dough is flattened, add a tablespoon of cooking oil into a skillet over medium heat.  (Picture A)
2. Transfer the pancake dough onto the pan and cook until both sides are lightly brown (keep flipping the pancake).  (Picture B)
3. Scrunch up the pancake a little bit by using serving tongs or two wooden spoons/turners.  (Picture C).  Serve immediately.

See how flaky the pancake is.  It’s crispy outside and soft inside.

Pizza

It was Super Bowl night.   Super Bowl Sunday still holds the record for most pizza delivered in a single day.  Studies showed that 1.25 billion chicken wings would be consumed and 29 million slices were projected to sell on Super Bowl Sunday.  I’m not surprised as almost 95% of Americans planned to watch the Super Bowl.  Today, I joined the party (not to watch the game but make my own pizza)!  The pizza dough and pizza sauce were made from scratch.  The sauce recipe was adapted from KitchenTreaty and was made with fresh tomatoes.  I can taste its freshness.

Ingredients (Pizza sauce) (about 3 cups sauce):

1 Tbsp 4 cloves 1 tsp 2 pounds 1 tsp 1/2 tsp

Oil Garlic (minced) Dried oregano Tomatoes Brown sugar Kosher salt Black pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Dice tomatoes and set aside (picture 1).
2. In a medium sauce pan, heat oil over medium high heat.  Add minced garlic and cook until aromatic.  Add tomatoes, dried oregano, sugar, salt and black pepper.  Keep stirring (picture 2).
3. Leave over medium heat, stir occasionally, until boiling.  Reduce heat to low and simmer UNCOVERED for 45 minutes or until sauce is thickened (picture 3).
4. Allow the sauce to cool and blend the sauce in a food processer (picture 4).
5. Pour sauce into a bowl and let it cool (picture 5).

Ingredients (Pizza dough) (make about 5 small pizzas):

2 tsps 1 cup 3 cups 1 1/4 Tbsp (4 tsps.) 2 tsps 1 1/4 Tbsp (4 tsps.)

Active dry yeast Warm water Bread flour Sugar Salt Olive oil

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients (except dry yeast) inside the pan in the breadmaker.  Fill the yeast dispenser with dry yeast (usually it is on the top of the breadmaker).  Select the “Pizza dough” mode (refer to manual of your breadmaker to select the dough program).  After the kneading process, allow the dough to rise in the breadmaker for about 1 1/2 – 2 hours.
2. Deflate the dough, bunch it back and divide it into 5 pieces – You can use the dough at this point, but for a finer and nicer texture, after deflating and punching the dough, roll it into a ball and put it back into an airtight container and refrigerate overnight.  About 2 hours before you are going to make your pizza, remove the dough from the fridge, deflate again, and split into 5 equal portions.  Roll each portion into a ball and cover with plastic wrap.  Let them sit at room temperature for 2 hours.

Assembling Pizzas:

Ingredients (pizza toppings):

Pepperoni, thinly sliced
Italian sausages, cook ahead
Mushrooms, thinly sliced
Red onion, thinly sliced
Yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
Red bell pepper, thinly sliced
Mozzarella cheese, shredded
Mild cheddar cheese, shredded
Fresh basil leaves, chopped
Cornmeal (to slide the pizza onto the pizza stone)

** I made my pizzas with the above ingredients, of course you can add anything you want to your pizza, such as ham, BBQ chicken, even Kimchi.

Directions:

1. In a small sauce pan over medium-high heat, warm 1 tablespoon of the oil.  Add red onion and cook until it is slightly tender.  Transfer onion to a paper towel-lined plate.  (Picture 1)
2. In the same pan over medium-high heat, warm 1 tablespoon oil.   Add the bell peppers, stirring frequently, until just softened.  Transfer the peppers to the same paper towel-lined plate.  (Picture 2)
3. Now warm 1 tablespoon oil.  Add the mushrooms, salt and pepper and cook (stirring occasionally) until softened.  Transfer the mushrooms to the plate with the peppers and onion.

1. Preheat oven to 500 ºF and heat up the baking stone (or baking pan) in the oven.
2. Using a rolling pin to roll out your dough ball, flatten disc into an 8-inch circle.  If you don’t know how to shape your pizza dough by tossing it in the air, simply start at the center and work outwards, use your fingertips to press the dough to 1/2-inch thick.  Stretch the dough until it will not stretch further.  (picture 1)
3. Lightly sprinkle your pizza peel with corn meal.  Transfer one prepared flattened dough to the pizza peel.  If the dough has lost its shape in the transfer, lightly shape it to the desired dimensions.  (picture 2)
4. Top dough with a layer of sauce.  (picture 3)
5. Then sprinkle with cheese, and place your desired toppings on the pizza, sprinkle more cheese on top at the end.  (picture 4)
6. Slide the pizza off of the peel and on to the baking stone in the oven.  Bake pizza one at a time until the crust is browned and the cheese is golden, about 10 minutes. (picture 5)
7. You can use the pizza peel or a stainless steel spatula to remove the pizza from the pizza stone.  Serve immediately (picture 6)

• 

Potato/Mushroom Gratin

For the longest time, I thought potato au gratin and scalloped potatoes were the same thing. I was told they were slightly different – gratin is baked with a layer of cheese (or breadcrumbs) on top until it turns golden brown, while scalloped potatoes never includes cheese.  Both dishes are equally yummy!  This side dish is very easy to make, it may take some time to thinly slice the potatoes, but after putting the dish into the oven, you are completely done!  I put cheddar cheese on top since my kids like cheddar, but you can use any cheese you want.

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp	Butter
1	Garlic clove, crushed
2 lbs	Mushrooms, sliced
1	Egg, beaten
2/3 cup	Non-fat milk
2/3 cup	Heavy whipping creaqm
6 oz	Gruyere cheese or Cheddar cheese (grated)
	Salt and Pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F, rub an oven-proof dish with butter and garlic.
2. Thinly slice the potatoes (picture 1).
3. Start with a layer of potatoes on the bottom of your dish (picture 2), then add a layer of sliced mushrooms (picture 3).
4. Sprinkle salt and pepper, then repeat steps 2 and 3 to add another layer of potatoes and mushrooms (pictures 4 and 5).
5. After seasoning with salt and pepper, top with remaining potatoes (picture 6).
6. Mix together eggs, milk and cream and pour over vegetables (picture 7).  Bake for an hour.
7. Remove the dish from oven and sprinkle cheese over top (picture 8).
8. Bake 25 minutes or until cheese is melted and golden and vegetables are tender (picture 9).

Related articles

• Au Gratin Potatoes (thehappyhousewife.com)
• Potatoes au Gratin (deliciousonadollar.com)