Take-Out Fake-Out And A Mis-hap

There is an awesome antique/country store called Buy The Season in Salem where we head for gifts, home decor and general cool stuff.  They've got everything from primitive signs to barn stars and organic dog treats.  Suz works close by, so she goes over there on her lunch break sometimes. On one of those trips, she came across a stack of Martha Stewart Everyday Food magazines.  For under $5, someone was selling 16 issues of the little mag from 2009 and 2010.  We're always looking for new inspiration, so she grabbed them up and has slowly been going through them (it's a lot of recipes!). When we came across the chinese food recipes, we knew we'd hit the jackpot!

Cashew chicken is April's fav, so we knew we had to try it; and the dumplings look simple and yummy, so we figured we'd try a takeout fake-out!  And because wonton wrappers come in large packages, we've added this not-so-chinese dessert to the menu (and it just sounds awesome!), creating an entire meal based on Martha Stewart - it's "a good thing"! :)

Tonight we had our first kitchen disaster - not bad considering we've been blogging since August!  But boy, did we make up for lost time!  April's oven runs about 25 degrees hot, so we set the temperature at 375 to bake off the wontons for dessert. 

Suz popped the wontons with the butter and sugar on them into the oven and when she opened the oven to check on them less than 5 minutes later, smoke started billowing out of the oven.  She quickly closed the oven door and turned on the exhaust fan.  Alden started screaming about the smoke - thank God both kids were strapped into high chairs!  April ran around the house, opening doors and windows.  Once we had everything wide open, Suz re-opened the oven and ran outside with the charred remains of the wontons to cool off. We waited to try again until after dinner, with much more positive results! 

Pork-and-Chive Potstickers

from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food October 2009

1/4 pound ground pork

1 tablespoon minced chives

1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce

1 1/2 teaspoons dry sherry

1 teaspoon minced peeled fresh ginger

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

1/2 teaspoon cornstarch

20 wonton wrappers (from a 12-ounce package)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Soy-Ginger Dipping Sauce (recipe follows)

In a bowl, combine pork, chives, soy sauce, sherry, ginger, sesame oil, cornstarch, and 1 tablespoon water.

Place a heaping teaspoon of pork mixture in center of a wonton wrapper. Lightly wet edge of wrapper, fold over, and press to seal. Repeat to form remaining dumplings (makes 20).

In two batches, cook dumplings in a large pot of boiling water until cooked through, 4 minutes; transfer to a plate with a slotted spoon. In a large nonstick pan, heat vegetable oil over medium-high. In two batches, cook until browned, about 1 1/2 minutes per side. Serve with dipping sauce.

To make Soy-Ginger Dipping Sauce,stir together 1/4 cup soy sauce, 3 tablespoons rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger, 2 teaspoons sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil in a bowl.

Serves 4 with a PointsPlus value of 6.

Suz: This is one of the most simple potsticker/dumpling recipes I've ever seen - most have a ton more ingredients with pretty much the same outcome.  I doubled the meat mixture - I find it hard to believe that 1/4 pound of pork would make 20 dumplings; 1/2 pound made about 25 total, and I only used about 1 tablespoon of meat for each of them. I also changed up the method of cooking the potstickers, to help keep them from falling apart, which was the major complaint on the website where I originally saw the recipe.  Rather than boil them and then fry, I did the opposite.  Heat the oil in the pan, then add 5-6 dumplings.  Once they have browned on both sides, add about 2 tablespoons of water to the pan and cover with a tight-fitting lid.  Steam them for about 2 minutes and they're ready - still crispy, not slimy, and perfectly cooked through!  For the dipping sauce, I also added some crushed garlic, about 1 teaspoon or so... it was great!  The dumplings and the sauce were very tasty - I'll definitely make again! 

April: I'm not a big fan of the wonton dumpling stuffed with funky  meat. However... this was absolutely fabulous. Actually I had trouble pushing them to the side and somehow managed to save John a couple for a late night snack. YUMMY. The sauce was the perfect combination of flavors... my mouth is watering just at the thought of them :O)



Cashew Chicken

from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food October 2009

1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces

2 tablespoons dry sherry (or cooking wine, or leave out)

2 tsp. minced, peeled, fresh ginger
3 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
coarse salt
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2/3 cup unsalted cashews, toasted*
2 green onions, white and green parts separated and thinly sliced

In a medium bowl, toss chicken with sherry, ginger, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch; season with salt. Refrigerate 30 minutes. In another bowl, combine broth, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, and 2 teaspoons cornstarch. Set sauce aside.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat. Add half the chicken and cook until golden and cooked through, about 5 minutes. Transfer chicken to a covered plate. Add 1 teaspoon oil to skillet and cook remaining chicken (reduce heat if chicken is over-browning). Transfer to plate.


To same skillet, add 1 teaspoon oil, garlic, cashews, and green onion whites. Cook, stirring constantly, until garlic begins to soften, about 30 seconds. Whisk sauce and add to skillet along with chicken. Cook until sauce thickens, about 30 seconds. Top with green onion greens and serve with rice or noodles.

*To toast cashews, place in a single layer of a dry pan over medium heat.  Toss periodically until you can just start to smell the nuts and they have a light brown color (3-4 minutes) - if you leave them still too long, they'll burn.

Serves 4 with a PointsPlus value of 12.

Suz: We made some Jasmine Minute Rice to go along with the chicken (neither April nor I are very good at making rice) as well as some steamed broccoli florets.  I loved this chicken!  The only thing I might add next time is a pinch of red pepper flakes for a little heat, and I'd toss the broccoli, or maybe some green beans, in with the chicken and sauce at the end.

April: This being my favorite dish... this recipe didn't quite add up to what I had hoped. It lacked veggies... flavor... umph. Needs more to it I do believe. Doesn't have to be pork but definitely has to be some more veggies!

Crisp Wontons with Strawberries and Yogurt

from Martha Stewart Everyday Food May 2010

12 wonton wrappers
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup whole natural almonds, finely chopped
1 cup plain 2 percent Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons honey
1 1/4 cups fresh strawberries (8 ounces), hulled and sliced

Maggie liked the yogurt...

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place wonton wrappers on a rimmed baking sheet and brush with butter. Sprinkle with sugar and almonds. Bake until golden brown and crisp, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer wontons to a wire rack and let cool.



...a lot!

 Dividing evenly, top 6 wontons with yogurt, a drizzle of honey, and strawberries, then sandwich with remaining wontons. Serve immediately.

 Serves 6, with a PointsPlus value of 4 each.

Suz: Apparently I couldn't stop myself from making changes to the recipes this week!  I used honey-flavored greek yogurt, then added about an additional tablespoon of honey (from Taylor's dad's hives) to the yogurt.  After tasting it, I decided to add some orange zest to the mix and that took it totally over the top.  I dry roasted the almond slices (didn't finely chop them) and sprinkled them on top of the yogurt before adding the strawberries.  These came out beautiful, but we had a hard time deciding how to eat them.  I ended up using my hands and dipping the wontons into the strawberries and yogurt.  Soo good - nice enough to serve to company!

April: My entire family like these... well Alden ate the strawberries, but the rest of us enjoyed this very much so. Maggie cried when I took her bowl away screaming MORE MORE! She had licked it plum clean. To the moms who read this... if nothing else make the yogurt!