Orange Walnut Chicken

4 servings

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons orange juice concentrate
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 garlic, clove minced
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1 tablespoon butter
4 green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup orange marmalade
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons honey
1-2 tablespoon orange zest
2-3 tablespoons grated fresh lemon rind
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
hot cooked rice

Preparation:
In a large resealable plastic bag, combine orange juice concentrate, 2 T. oil, soy sauce, and garlic. Add chicken; seal bag and turn to coat. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

Remove chicken; reserve marinade. In a skillet, cook chicken in remaining oil until juices run clear. Meanwhile, in a saucepan saute walnuts in butter until lightly browned; remove and set aside. Set aside 1/4 of green onions for garnish. Add remaining onions to saucepan; saute until tender. Add reserved marinade and the next 8 ingredients. Bring to a rolling boil; boil for 2 minutes. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered for 5-10 minutes or until sauce reaches desired consistency.

Serve chicken over rice; top with sauce and reserved walnuts and onions.

Baked Chicken Wings

4 servings

Ingredients:
2 pounds chicken wing drumettes
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup sherry
1 Clove garlic -- minced
1 tablespoon ground ginger

Preparation:
Combine sugar, soy sauce, oil, honey, sherry, garlic and ginger in a large zipper lock bag. Add chicken to bag, seal and shake bag to coat wings. Let wings marinate for 3-4 hours (best when marinated overnight).

Arrange wings in a baking dish. Bake at 350F / 190C for 30 minutes, basting as needed with marinade.

5-Spice Shrimp

28 Cooks will publish food bloggers mug shots on 31st january. Until that time we are going back to recipies.
Let's the cooking begin ^_-

12 servings

Ingredients:
STEAMED RICE:
3 cups basmati rice
41/2 cups water
as needed salt

CANDIED WALNUTS:
41/2 qts. water
12 ozs. walnut halves
21/4 cups sugar
3 cups vegetable oil

MARINATED SHRIMP:
3 lbs. uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
as needed salt and white pepper
6 each egg whites, lightly beaten
6 tsps. sesame oil
3/4 cup cornstarch

SAUCE AND VEGETABLES:
3 each green bell peppers
3 each red bell peppers
3 each carrots
3 each yellow onions
11/2 each pineapples
6 each green onions
11/2 cups ketchup
11/2 cups water
11/2 cups sugar
11/2 cups white vinegar
6 Tbsps. soy sauce

Preparation:
RICE: rinse the rice three times, pouring out excess water. Add water and cook according to package directions; fluff with fork and keep warm.

WALNUTS: bring water to boil and add walnuts. Boil for 5 minutes. Add sugar and simmer until almost all liquid has evaporated. Drain walnuts of excess liquid and fry for 3 to 4 minutes in vegetable oil at 350F. Drain and dry on paper towels; set aside.

SHRIMP: combine shrimp with salt and white pepper, egg whites, sesame oil and cornstarch. Marinate up to 1 hour. Drain and separate shrimp. Dredge in additional cornstarch and fry in vegetable oil at 350F about 2 minutes. Do not brown. Dry on paper towels; set aside.

SAUCE AND VEGETABLES: cut carrots in slices; cut all other vegetables and pineapple into 1/2-in. squares; set aside. Mix together water, ketchup, sugar, white vinegar and soy sauce; bring to a boil. Remove from heat; keep warm.

FINAL TOUCH: Saute vegetables and pineapple in a little oil until caramelized. Add fried shrimp, walnuts and sauce. Toss until shrimp is wellcoated with sauce. Arrange shrimp, walnuts and vegetables on rice; garnish with green onion brushes or angle-chopped green onions.

Behind the Apron

This blog contains mostly cooking tips & recipies - not too much of my own writing. There are two reasons for that. First: it's my first blog, created to learn something about blogging, web sites & html. Not really to help me to become a writher. Second thing is, that my english is still far away from proficiency. This blog helps me also with that.

Why I'm telling you about it? To justify this post. It's not really about food, it's not another recipe.

This time it's about the face behind the apron. That's a title of round-up event being held by 28 Cooks food blog. I always loved mug shot treats on forums I read. Taking a pick at the other side of computer screen makes me feel like Alice in Wonderland ^_-

Food gains a soul, when you know who cooked it, or even who told you about this, or that recipe... :}

So here I am - pic taken during last spring yachting:

Mayonnaise Walnut Shrimp

Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 lb of large or medium shrimp, and peeled
1/2 cup walnuts
5 cups water
1 cup sugar
2 cups oil
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup egg whites
2 tbs honey
3 tbs mayonnaise
1 tbs fresh lemon juice
1/2 tbs condensed milk
1/2 cup oil

Preparation:
Clean walnuts, then boil in 5 cups of waterboil with sugar till dissolved. Heat 2 cups oil until almost boil then deep fry walnuts until brown, no longer golden. Put walnuts to cookie sheet, let cool.

Mix cornstarch and egg whites together to form a thick, sticky feel and mix well with Shrimp. Set aside. Mix honey, mayonnaise, lemon juice, and condensed milk in a bowl until smooth.

Heat oil until boiling, then deep fry the Shrimp until golden brown. Drain, then put in the honey mayonnaise mixture. Mix it all together, sprinkle with walnuts, and arrange on platter.

Spicy Scallop Dumplings

Makes 24 to 26 dumplings

Ingredients:
1/2 lb. fresh scallops, finely chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped white onion
1 1/2 tablespoons Seasoning Blend for Satay Chicken
1 tablespoon Cooking Soy Sauce
24 to 26 round dumpling wrappers (gyoza)
2 tablespoons canola oil, divided
1 cup water, divided
Soy and Chili Dipping Sauce

Preparation:
Combine scallops, onion, Seasoning Blend and Cooking Soy Sauce in a large bowl; mix well.

Dip one edge of wrapper into water. Spoon about 1 1/2 teaspoons of scallop mixture into center of wrapper. Work with 1 wrapper at a time (cover remaining wrappers to keep them from drying). Fold the wrapper over to form a half circle, pressing the dry edge on to the wet edge. Pinch the edges together to seal. Repeat with remaining wrappers and filling.

Place dumplings on baking sheet. Cover loosely with a towel to keep them from drying.

Mix 1 tablespoon oil and 1/2 cup water in large, nonstick skillet. Arrange half of the dumplings in a winding circle in the skillet, leaving just a little space between each one. Cover , than cook over medium-high heat for about 10 minutes or until dumplings turn light brown and puff up.

Repeat procedure with remaining oil, water and dumplings. Serve warm with Soy and Chili Dipping Sauce.