Chicken With Cashews & Steamed Yardlong Beans

This dish, Chicken With Cashews was featured last week in the Food section of the Washington Post. The Chinese-Australian who wrote the article said this dish is a "new" soy sauce free version of the usual Chinese chicken. But I have been preparing and have eaten this dish many many times in restaurants in Binondo in the Philippines. This dish is also in 3 of my Chinese cookbooks, one of which is 25 years old.

Chicken With Cashews
1 pound boneless, skinless dark or white chicken meat, cut in 1 inch pieces
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger
1 tablespoon sherry
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg white
1 tablespoon light olive oil
3 spring onions, sliced into ½ inch pieces
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon sesame seed oil
1 cup roasted cashews (or walnuts, or petite green peas)
2 teaspoon cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons water

• Mix first 4 ingredients and let sit for 20 minutes. Mix in egg white. Stir fry in hot oil for 3 minutes, reduce heat to medium and continue to cook for 2 minutes. Add the spring onions, cook for 2 minutes, then add salt, sugar, sesame seed oil, and cashews, stir fry for 2 minutes. Stir in the cornstarch mixture, cook for 1 minute. Serve with rice and steamed and salted, or sauteed yardlong beans.

Hazelnut Crust Apple Tart

I love apple pie/tart/pizza with Nutella and am always looking for recipes that use both. I have a pound of ground hazelnuts in my pantry waiting to be made into something yummy. I pressed half a cup of ground hazelnuts onto one unbaked 10-inch pie shell, sprinkled 2 tablespoons sugar then layered thin apple slices, poured ¼ cup of melted butter all over, sprinkled 3 more tablespoons of sugar and baked the tart for 40 minutes. The best part is the slightly burnt caramelized pieces, and with a drizzle of Nutella, it is just divine.

A variation of this tart is using ground almonds in place of hazelnuts on the tart shell and adding a layer of almond meringue before layering the apple slices, then brushing the top with warmed apple jelly after baking, instead of drizzling Nutella.

Winter Zen

the view from inside my front door

and from the rear of the house

There's only 4 inches of snow on the ground but it is still snowing steadily which looks like we'll get a foot or not....Thankfully it's a Sunday and people are sleeping in or maybe like me catching up on my movie and book lists (just finished the mediocre and adjective heavy THE DOUBLE BIND by Christ Bohjalian - not recommended). Hmm, this weather is urging me to bake an apple tart or fry some churros.

Sauteed Ground Beef and Fried Egg

This is a Filipino dish called arroz a la Cubana, I guess because it is eaten with fried ripe saba banana which is a little bit similar to plantains. I can't find any similar dish in my Cuban cookbook but there is a note that says fried ripe plantains are usually eaten as a side dish to beef or chicken dishes.

Philippine Arroz a la Cubana
1 pound lean ground beef
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tablespoons soy sauce
salt & ground black pepper to taste
hot steamed rice
fried ripe plantain or saba if available
fried eggs

• In a wok or pan, heat olive oil and add garlic and onion, cook for 3 minutes. Add beef and saute for 5 minutes, stirring constantly, then add soy sauce and pepper. Cook for another 3 minutes, adding a little water if it appears dry. Taste and add salt if needed. Serve with steamed rice, fried eggs, fried plantains and tomato or banana ketchup.

• I prefer my sunny side up fried eggs with runny yolks like this one. Cook on a medium-low heat, covered, for exactly 3 minutes. For fully cooked but not hard yolks, cook for a further 1½ minutes.