Simple Dinner

Rotisserie Chicken w/ Saute Chard, Porcini Mushroom & Bulgur Pilaf

Chard Saute with Sesame Seeds

Bulgur Pilaf

Rotisserie Chicken

Thai Chicken with Coconut Milk

This is my friend Christel's Thai Chicken recipe. She made it for me one time and I really liked it. It is very easy and fast. This time I made it with Edamame but you can use any vegetable.

Thai Chicken with Coconut Milk:


Ingredients: (tbs = tablespoon)

· 3 tbs Asian fish sauce (nuoc nam) + 1 tbs Soy Sauce (If fish sauce not available use 4 tbs Soy Sauce instead)
· 1 tbs brown sugar
· 4 small skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (4 oz ea.), sliced crosswise into ¼” thick slices
· 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
· 1 large onion cut into ¼” thick slices
· 2 green or red chile (Serrano or Jalopeno), remove seeds and cut into matchstick thin strips
· 2 teaspoons minced, peeled fresh ginger
· 2 garlic cloves, crushed
· ½ can coconut milk
· 1 ½ cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves


Directions:

1. In medium bowl combine fish sauce, soy sauce and brown sugar, stir in chicken strips to coat and marinate for 5 minutes.
2. In non-stick 12” skillet heat vegetable oil over medium heat until very hot. Add chicken with marinade and cook, stirring occasionally until chicken slices are no longer pink. (3-4 minutes). Remove chicken to a warm plate, leaving marinade in skillet.
3. Add onions to skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender-cristp (4 minutes).
4. Stir in ginger, chiles, garlic and cook for 1 minute longer.
5. Return chicken to skillet, heat through.
6. Add coconut milk and bring to a simmer.
7. Stir in Basil just before serving. Garnish with Basil sprigs.

Guten Apetit.

KISIR ( Bulgar Wheat )

This dish is very similar to Tabbouleh and I think the main difference is the this is that the Tabbouleh is very dry and has no tomato or pepper paste.

2 cups Bulgur ( fine grain ) http://www.tulumba.com/storeItem.asp?ic=FB500315UB288

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 bunch flat leaf parsley

1 bunch green onion

5 mint leaves

1 lemon juice

1 finely chopped cucumber

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 tbsp pepper paste http://www.tulumba.com/icy_qsrch.asp?ops=s&x=top&tag=&s=pepper+paste

1 tbsp pomegranate sour ( optional mulberry vinegar or omit it ) http://www.tulumba.com/storeItem.asp?ic=FB424041RE784

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp salt

• Put the bulgur into a large bowl
• Boil 2 cups of hot water and pour it over the bulgur and stir it twice.
• Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and let it stand for 7 minutes.
• Chop the green onions, mint and parsley finely.
• Stir the bulgur with a large wooden or silicon spoon and make sure bulgur soften and doubled the size (if not add some more hot water )
• Add the tomato and pepper paste and stir well.
• Add the lemon juice, paprika, green onion, parsley, mint, salt and pomegranate sour and mix well.

I used tomato and mint to decorate. Serve this with Pita or as a snack or as a side dish. This is one of my favorite party dish. It's easy to make and healty.

Pears in Red Wine

This recepei from the Mediterranean The Beatiful Cookbook.

3 cups (24 fl oz/750 ml) dry red wine

1 cup (8 oz / 250mg ) sugar

2 cinnamon sticks

4 whole cloves

1 orange or lemon zest strips

1 teaspoon fennel seeds or aniseeds

a few peppercorns

6 large firm pears

• Peel and core the pears from the bottom and leave the steams intact


• In a sauce pan combine everything except the pears. Stirr the sugar to dissolve and bring to boil. Simmer for 5 minutes.


• Then put the pears into the liquid, cover the pot and simmer untill the pears are tender for about 30 minutes.


• Take the pears into a serving plate and refrigerate.


• Discard the seeds, zest and cinnamon sticks, cloves and peppers and thicken the liquid into a sauce (reducing it) until it is tick enough to coat a spoon, then remove from the heat and let cool.


• When the syrup is cold, pour it over the pears. Re-cover and chill for a few hours before serving.

I served this with Kaymak, Turkish Tick Cream .

Rhubarb & Orange Crumble

This recipe is from 1000 Classic Recipes for Every Cook.

Prep Time: 15 min

Cooking Time: 35 min

Serves: 6-8

FRUIT MIXTURE

3 or 4 stalk of Rhubarb

2 large cooking apples (I used Fuji)

Grated rind and juice of 1 orange

1/2 - 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup light brown sugar

CRUMBLE

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1/2 cup light soft brown sugar

1/2 cup or more toasted chopped hazelnuts

• Cut the rhubarb into 1 inch lengths and place in a large saucepan.
• Peel, core, and slice the apples .
• Grate the orange and add the rind and the juice to the apples.
• Bring to a boil and then simmer for 2 to 3 mintes.
• Add the cinnamon and sugar (1/2 cup sugar) and transfer to a oven proof dish (I used pyrex)
• Put the flour in a bowl and add the butter cubes and mix until it resembes fine bread crumbs ( a food processor can be used)
• Stir in the sugar and the nuts.
• Spoon the crumble mixture evenly over the fruit and even the top and sprinkle some nuts.
• Cook in preheated oven at 400F for 30-40 minutes, until the topping is browned. Serve hot or cold.

I adjusted the ingredients according to my taste. I like lite deserts so I am using less flour than the original recipe calls for. I made this 3 times already. The second and third times, I added blueberries into the fruit mixture and they were great. I never had rhubarb before and I love it.