Honey Garlic Soy Chicken Wings

Chicken wings are a staple in our home. My usual style of cooking wings is simple - add chicken seasoning and Lawry's Seasoned Pepper, bake at 375F oven for 35 minutes.

For an Asian infused chicken wing, try this recipe:

2 dozen chicken wings

1/2 cup water

1/4 soy sauce

3 tablespoons honey

3 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon sesame oil

Marinade all ingredients for 3+ hours for maximum flavoring.

This is the baked version at 375F for 30 minutes. Be careful with the last 5-10 minutes of cooking time as the marinade does tend to burn. I rotated the pan to prevent additional burning.

With the summer season upon us, I had my grill master barbecue the same marinaded chicken wings on the charcoal grill.

It took 25 minutes on the open fire but was heavily charred. There was still a tremendous amount of flavor but some of the skin was too burnt. I've read about 2 zone grilling and will have my grill master try that technique next time.

Asian Lettuce Wraps

I'm sure glad that I stumbled upon this Asian Lettuce Wrap recipe from My Recipes. My family and I have often ordered this great Chinese dish and it's so simple to put together. The children also have fun wrapping their own food which is double bonus for this mum! Give it a try, I highly recommend it.

Ingredients 

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 pounds ground turkey

1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth

2 tablespoons hoisin sauce

2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce

1 cup bean sprouts (about 4 oz.)

2 carrots, shredded (about 1 cup)

24 large Boston or butter lettuce leaves

Soy sauce, optional

Preparation

1. Warm oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and saute until softened, about 3 minutes. Add garlic; saute 1 minute longer. Stir in turkey and cook, stirring, until almost cooked through, about 5 minutes. Add broth and hoisin sauce. Cook, stirring and breaking up clumps of turkey, until turkey is cooked through, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in teriyaki sauce, bean sprouts and carrots. (You should have about 6 cups of filling.)

2. Spoon about 1/4 cup of filling into center of each lettuce leaf. Serve with soy sauce, if desired.

My side notes: I added 1/2 red pepper and 3 celery stalks, omitted the bean sprouts, teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, added 1 tablespoon of cornstarch to the broth and turkey at 5 minutes, and added 1 tablespoon of hoisin after removing from heat.

Summer Desserts

Happy summer everyone! I offered to bring dessert to a summer barbecue this past weekend and here was my dessert menu: chocolate pecan pie from True Confections, homemade creamy lemon crumb squares and flower shaped stained glass JELL-O.

The dessert restaurant offered to add a message on the pie so I requested the wording "Summer BBQ" which turned out beautifully. Did I happen to mention that this is my husband's all time favorite dessert?

I often treat myself to a lemon square at least every season from my local bakery. This is certainly a reason to covet a recipe of my own so I did a quick search and found a handful of recipes. I ultimately decided on this recipe from The Pioneer Woman.

Ingredients

• 1-⅓ cup
 All-purpose Flour

• ½ teaspoons
 Salt

• 1 teaspoon
 Baking Powder

• 1 stick
 (1/2 Cup) Butter, Slightly Softened

• 1 cup
 Brown Sugar (lightly Packed)

• 1 cup
 Oats

• 1 can
 (14 Ounce) Sweetened Condensed Milk

• ½ cups
 Lemon Juice

• Zest Of 1 Lemon

Preparation Instructions
PREHEAT OVEN TO 350 DEGREES.

Mix butter and brown sugar until well combined.

Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder.

Add oats and flour to butter/sugar mixture and mix to combine.

Press half of crumb mixture into the bottom of an 8 x 11 inch pan.

Mix together condensed milk, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Spread onto the bottom layer of the crumb mixture. Top with the other half of the crumb mixture, but don’t press.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown.

Allow pan to sit on counter for 30 minutes after baking. Cut into squares and refrigerate for a couple of hours or until cool.

Serve cool.

These creamy lemon crumb squares were absolutely fantastic! My compliments to Ree, thank-you!

The last dessert was strictly for the children. I've always wanted to try rainbow JELL-O but I'm often intimidated by the whole process - it sounds too time consuming. My latest attempt was no different because instead of layering the JELL-O, I did the stained glass (or broken glass) effect courtesy of The Food Librarian. 

4 small boxes (3 oz. each) of JELL-O 
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
Directions: For each flavor, dissolve one 3 oz box of JELL-O in one cup of boiling water. Pour into a container and chill. After chilling the four flavors, cut them into small blocks.
Please note: Only add 1 cup of water to each box of colored JELL-O. Ignore the instructions on the box of JELL-O (they say to use 2 cups of water). Use only 1 cup of water so the JELL-O is firm and can be cut into blocks.
Carefully mix the blocks in a 9 x 13 pan.In a separate bowl, sprinkle 2 envelopes unflavored gelatin into 1/2 cup cold water. After the gelatin blooms, add 1 1/2 cup boiling water and dissolve. Add the can of condensed milk. Stir and cool. Pour cooled milk mixture over JELL-O and chill overnight. (It is a good idea to skim off the bubbles for a nicer finished product.)

I was so pleased with the final result. This was the perfect ending a summer barbecue! Thanks Mary - this version is a breeze!

Strawberry Cream Puff Cake

With the summer season almost upon us, I found it fitting to finally try baking a cream puff cake.

For the puff recipe, please see my previous post Raspberry Cream Puff.

I filled an 8" cheesecake pan with 3/4 of a batch of profiterole/cream puff/choux pastry and swirled it with a small offset spatula with hopes of giving it an interesting depth underneath the filling (which took approximately 45 minutes to bake thoroughly). 

I whipped up a 500 ml carton of whipping cream and added 1/4 cup of strawberry puree. Spread healthy amount to fill.

Top it with fresh quartered strawberries.

Fyi we had a "turducken" for Father's Day dinner (in case you were curious) and an array of sweets.

"Turducken" From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A turducken is a dish consisting of a de-boned chicken stuffed into a de-boned duck, which itself is stuffed into a de-boned turkey. The word turducken is a portmanteau ofturkey, duck, and chicken or hen. The dish is a form of engastration, a recipe method in which one animal is stuffed inside the gastric passage of another.^[1]

Happy Father's Day!

High Tea At Home

I hosted high tea this past holiday long weekend. 

On my menu: green tea with rose, red onion and cucumber salad with a balsamic glaze, Jacques Torres' chocolate chip cookie, an apple brie open faced French baguette, and shortbread lemon tarts.

I found it difficult to enjoy a high tea that I had prepared myself - a lot more work (interpreted as more stressful) than I had imagined but, all for a very special guest!

Mother's Day Sugar Cookies & Cupcakes

I invited a couple of mom's this afternoon for coffee, tea and sweet treats! It was a pre-Mother's Day celebration.

I tiered the desserts on two stands. On the bottom tier, MOM sugar glazed sugar cookies. The recipes can be found on: marthastewart.com and allrecipes.com.

And on the top tier, my favorite cake in cupcake form: chocolate cake with a vanilla bean cream cheese.

Happy Mother's Day to all you mom's out there! 

Gabrielle xo

40th Birthday Dessert Stand

I captured a few photographs of the dessert stand that posted yesterday. It was placed on a rather tall buffet so the cake was hidden unless you are 7' tall.

I wish I snapped a few more shots in the daylight but I was distracted.

On the bottom tier were chocolate brownies topped with fresh raspberries.

The second tier had "40" hockey stick sugar cookies.

A view of the top tier with my arms far extended. This was taken later in the evening.

My friend removed the cake from the top tier to have her husband blow out his candles. Happy birthday, Geoff!

3-Tier Square Dessert Stand Tutorial

My friend's husband turned 40 this week and she's throwing him a cocktail party tonight in celebration of the big 4-0. She has hired a catering company to prepare the food and drinks but decided to organize the desserts herself. I suggested that she display the desserts on a tier stand and she was very receptive to the idea. I ordered the styrofoam square cake dummies on her behalf from a local cake decorating supplier. Here are the exact sizes:

7 Square Styrofoam Cake Dummies

1 - 16" X 4"
1 - 12" X 4"
1 - 8" X 4" *see note below
4 - 4" X 3"
*Please note: The bakery where she ordered the cake doesn't sell 6" cakes so she modified the top tier to 1 - 10" X 4" 

We managed to find another day out of the week to pick out more supplies. The color scheme she chose for the party is silver, green and black - we decided on a 4" spool of black ribbon, green wrapping paper and silver baking liners. She wasn't quite sure how to assemble it so I offered to do it seeing that I have so many dowels laying around.

I was astounded when she dropped them off. I love how the tiers looked merely stacked but I promised her tiers.

It was time to pull out my husband's measuring tape. I measured to the center of each square dummy and marked it. I then pierced the dowel through the center of each tier (and removed it) after measuring the centre of each dummy.

The final step was to build the stand from the bottom tier up.

I should also mention that the dowel was 22" tall and that I only pierced the top tier halfway.

And here she is! 

My friend picked it up yesterday afternoon and I am really excited to see the final display tonight. Hopefully I'll remember to take a photograph of the dessert table.

Philippine Inspired Marinated Pork

I have two favorite Philippine marinated pork dishes: tocino and barbecue skewers. Most recipes that I came across calls for a ton of sugar and/or lemon+lime soda. My solution to this is a recipe that I'm comfortable enough to feed to my own children.

Start with a package of pork butt or shoulder.

In a bowl add 1/3 cup soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire and chopped garlic.

Bring 2 cups of orange juice with 2 tablespoons of brown sugar to a boil and cool.

In a separate bowl thinly slice the pork and add dry rub (1 tablespoon of paprika, 1 tablespoon of garlic powder, and 1 tablespoon of white sugar). Mix.

Add cooled orange juice to the soy sauce and add pork. Mix. Marinade for up to 2 days in advance. I've marinaded my pork and stored it both in the refrigerator and in the freezer - I prefer the freezer method.

To cook heat pan on medium. Add pork and simmer with 1/4 cup of water. Boil until water evaporates and fry until fully cooked and golden in color.

Serve with rice and enjoy.

Chocolate Workshop

My friends and I had Groupon's to a local chocolatier that we purchased sometime ago and we finally nailed down a date that would fit with all of our 'mum' schedules.

Firstly, I'll have to say that it was a very informative workshop. We also had the opportunity to taste dark chocolate from five different regions (including cocoa butter and cocoa nibs) in their purest forms. The absolute best part of the evening was getting down and dirty by making our own box of truffles.

The tempering of chocolate was briefly discussed which was a beneficial topic for myself as I've had so my challenges making ganache in the past.

Almost everyone (the exemption being my friend and I) used cutters to mold the ganache. We clearly lacked the patience and/or concentration required for the molds so we cut basic square shapes with a knife. I'm the first to admit that this was much neater process on the overall.

We then hand dipped each piece of ganache into melted dark chocolate and decorated them with strawberry flavored white chocolate petals, cocoa powder, cocoa nibs, textured and star-patterned acetate. Our truffles were collected and set in the refrigerator (or was it freezer?) for a few minutes.

Meanwhile, I indulged in a cup of dark hot chocolate with in-house made spiked marshmallows.

Lastly, we packaged our truffles. It was a great end to a truly decadent evening.