White Fungus Soup

Most Asian stores pack snow fungus. There is no substitute I know for this ingredients, and given its long shelf life and wonderful flavor, not to mention wonderful nutritional profile, should you try to replace it.

White Fungus Soup (based on this recipe)

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cooking Time:

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

1 package snow fungus

6 cups chicken broth

2 browned and shredded chicken breasts

1 cup peas

white pepper

Preparation:

Soak the fungus in warm water for fifteen minutes. Drain, place into a pot covered in water and bring to a boil. Boil it until it gets soft (around fifteen minutes). When it's finished, drain, and trim the "petals" from the hard inner body. Chopped the fungus into small pieces.

Cooking:

Heat the chicken broth and add the chicken, peas, snow fungus, and white pepper. Serve immediately.

Syrian Chicken

Sure, saffron's not cheap, but it can be very worth it for that gorgeous color. If you want to prepare this for fewer dollars, then you could replace it with anatto...

Syrian Chicken with Saffron (based on this recipe)

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cooking Time: 45 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

2 tsp salt

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp cracked black pepper

1 tsp ground turmeric

4 lb chicken breast, cut into chunks

1/3 cup olive oil

2 red onion, thinly sliced

1/4 cup ginger, grated

5 cloves garlic

2 chillies, minced

2 tomatoes, chopped

2 pinches saffron

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/4 tsp thyme

1 lemon, zested and juiced

2 tbsp honey

4 oz currants

1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped

water or chicken stock

Substitutions:

currants - raisins

saffron - 1/2 tsp anatto

Preparation:

Combine salt, cumin, cinnamon, black pepper, and turmeric in a plastic bag. Shake the chicken pieces in it until well coated.

Cooking:

In a large, heavy pot, eat olive oil. add chicken and brown on all sides. Remove and set aside.

Add onions, garlic, ginger, and chillies to the pot and cook for three minutes, or until onions are translucent. Add tomatoes, saffron, cumin seeds, and thyme and cook for two minutes.

Return the chicken to the pan and add lemon juice and zest, honey, and currants.

Add enough water or chicken stock to cover the chicken. Bring to a simmer, cover, and simmer for ten minutes or until chicken is done and sauce is slightly reduced.

Stir in cilantro. Serve with rice.

Kiev Chicken

This famous dish is incredible and worth every second of effort. It is, of course, appallingly bad for you, but what's a few arteries when you're enjoying yourself?

Kiev Chicken

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cooking Time: 25 minutes

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

4 skinless chicken breasts

4.5 oz flour with pepper and salt

3 eggs, beaten

7 oz bread crumbs

Butter Mixture:

5 oz of butter

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 bunch pasley, finely minced

salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Preheat an oven to 375.

In a food processor mix the garlic, butter, parsley, salt, and pepper. Mold the mixture into 4 logs and refrigerate.

Pound the breasts flat with a mallet, and coat in the flour mixture.

Wrap the chicken breasts around the butter logs, and then seal closed using skewers or toothpicks.

Pan Frying:

Put the flour, beaten eggs, and bread crumbs into separate bowls, and dip them in each one.

Pour enough oil in a pan to pan fry the chicken just over half of each breast, and pan fry each side until it is golden.

Baking:

Remove the breasts from the oil, and transfer to the over for five minutes, or until the internal temperature is 165 F.

Slice into rounds and serve.

Brown Stew Chicken

This recipe is interesting. The stew is rich and thick, and has a beautiful dark brown color.

Brown Stew Chicken

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Marinade Time: 1 hour

Cooking Time: 45 minutes

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

2 lbs chicken meat, cut into stew chunks

splash of lime juice

3 sprigs fresh thyme

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 onion, chopped

3 scallions, sliced

1 scotch bonnet pepper, minced

1 green bell pepper, chopped

3 cloves garlic

1/2 inch ginger, grated

3 tomatoes, chopped

3 tbsp flour

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp browning (Jamaican burnt sugar)

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 cups stock

Substitutions:

Scotch Bonnet Pepper - Habenero

Prepare a marinade:

Mix together the salt, pepper, thyme, onion, scotch bonnet pepper, green bell pepper, garlic, ginger, and tomato, and let marinade for one hour.

Mix the flour into 1/4 cold water carefully making sure there's no lumps, until you have a smooth mixture.

Cooking:

Scrape the marinade off the chicken and set aside. Brown the chicken in a frying pan until lightly browned.

Remove the chicken and set aside. Add the marinade and fry for three minutes.

Add the stock, soy sauce, and browning and simmer for five minutes.

Mix some of the liquid into the flour/water mixture slowly to bring it up to temperature and mix it without lumps. When it is diluted, add it to the stew, along with the chicken.

Simmer five minutes, stirring gently, until all ingredients are cooked through.

Serve with rice.

Jerk Chicken

"Jerk" spice mixes are common in the states, but the flavor of making your own is far better.

If you can't find Scotch Bonnet Pepper, habenero is similar in appearance and heat, although the flavor is nowhere near as good. (based on this recipe)

Jamaican Jerk Chicken

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Marinade: at least 1 hour

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1 tbsp ground allspice

1 tbsp thyme

1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1 1/2 tsp ground sage

3/4 tsp nutmeg

3/4 tsp cinnamon

2 cloves garlic

1 tbsp sugar

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup soy sauce

3/4 cup white vinegar

1/2 cup orange juice

1 lime, juiced

1 scotch bonnet pepper, minced

3 scallions, chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

4 to 6 chicken breasts

Prepare the marinade:

Mix allspice, thyme, cayenne, black pepper, sage, cinnamon, garlic, and sugar. Mix in olive oil, soy sauce, white vinegar, orange juice, and lime juice. Add scotch bonnet pepper, scallions, and onion.

Prick the chicken all over with a fork, and place chickena nd marinade into a zip lock bag and refridgerate at least one hour.

Cooking:

Preheat an outdoor grill, or oven to broil, and cook 6 minutes per side, or until meat reaches 165 degrees. Baste with marinade.

Bring leftover marinade to a boil and serve on the side as sauce.

Odyssey

I can't rave enough about how fantastic this soup is.

Lemon Chicken Soup

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Serves: 8-12

Ingredients:

8 cups chicken stock

1/2 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup shredded carrots

1 chopped onion

2 stalks celery, chopped

6 tbsp chicken base

1/4 tsp ground white pepper

1/2 stick butter

1/4 cup white flour

1 cup cooked rice

1 cup diced, cooked chicken meat

16 slices lemon

8 egg yolks (you don't need to white for this, go make some meringue or something)

Cooking:

In a large pot, combine the chicken stock, lemon juice, carrots, onion, celery, and chicken base, and bring to a boil, then lower and simmer for twenty minutes.

Produce a Roux:

Melt the butter in a pan over very low heat, and mix in the flour. Cook very slowly, stirring constantly. There's an art to this, and it takes patience. If you burn it, throw it out and try again. In about five minutes the mixture will be peanut butter colored. This mix, known as a Roux (pronounced "roo") will thicken your lemon chicken soup.

Add it Together:

Gradually mix the roux into the soup, and simmer it for 10 minutes more. Then beat the egg yolks seperately, and slowly pour a few spoonfuls of soup into the mixture, stirring constantly. Slowly bring the yolks up to temperature this way, and then mix them into the lemon chicken soup. Add the rice and the chicken.

Garnish with lemon slices.

There Can Be Only One!

The Scottish have an incredible knack for giving foods the silliest names possible. For example, in America a soup like this would have been named "Chicken Leek Soup" or "Chicken Vegetable", or something else equally drab.

To get Chicken broth, you can use chicken base, canned broth, or make your own by boiling chicken bones. While the last one sounds difficult, you'll produce a much better tasting soup with it. Based on this recipe (but modified because chopping up hot chicken is a pain in the arse)

Cock-A-Leekie Soup

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 45 minutes

Serves: 3-4

Ingredients:

2 lb chicken meat, cut into 1" cubes

4 cups chicken broth

1 carrot, sliced

1 celery stalk, sliced

1/2 cup barley

2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 bay leaf

2 sliced leeks

Cooking:

Heat all ingredients except leeks, and simmer for 30 minutes. Add leeks. Simmer 15 minutes or more, until chicken is done.

Skim the foam off the broth and remove bay leaf.

Serve.

Chicken Satay

One of Indonesia's most prominent contributions to Southeastern cuisine is Satay, a spicy peanut marinade. It's simple and delicious:

Chicken Satay

Prep Time: 15 minutes & overnight marination

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup lime juice

1 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp curry powder

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1tbsp hot pepper sauce

6 boneless chicken breasts, cubed

Preparation:

Combine creamy peanut butter, lime juice, brown sugar, curry powder, garlic, and hot pepper sauce in a bowl and marinate the cubed chicken breast overnight. Put chicken onto skewers, and cook for five minutes each side.

The result is wonderful and easy. You also might be able to find premixed satay sauce in your area, making it almost no work at all.

Royal Garden Blues

Alonside wonders such as Alligator and Crawfish, it's easy to underestimate the more... normal ingredients. Take chicken, for example: half of every weird meat you'll ever try "tastes like chicken", yet all too often we underappreciate this cheap little gem.

Chicken Creole is a simple dish, and takes chicken into the forefront.

Chicken Creole
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour, ten minutes
Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

1/2 stick butter
3 lbs chicken, mixed light and dark meat
1 onion
1 green bell pepper
several stalks celery
2 tbsp flour
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 clove garlic
2 bay leaves
cayenne pepper
1/4 cup chopped parsley
2 1/2 cups chicken stock

Prep:

Chop the onion, bell pepper, and celery.

Mince the garlic.

Cook:

In a large pot, melt 1/2 stick of butter over medium heat, and sauté the chicken, until browned. Then remove the chicken and set aside. Place onions, bell peppers, and celery and sauté for five minutes, until translucent. Add the garlic, tomatoes, bay leaves, salt, cayenne pepper, and chicken stock. Simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chicken, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes.

Produce a Roux:

Cook very slowly, stirring constantly. There's an art to this, and it takes patience. If you burn it, throw it out and try again. In about five minutes the mixture will be peanut butter colored. This mix, known as a Roux (pronounced "roo") will thicken your chicken creole.

Finish:

Add the roux and parsley and cook for an additional five minutes. Serve over rice.


And with that, we're done with Cajun/Creole food. We stepped out from Acadia richer, or at least fatter, and we're off to somewhere far away. Cajun and Creole cooking is certainly quite unlike American, as you might think of it in the midwest, and despite hurricanes and oil spills, it is unlikely to go away anytime soon.