Christmas Dinner in Hawaii

cranberry sauce and turkey

Christmas dinner is always a huge family affair in which everyone brings tons of food over, stuffs themselves, then takes home plates and plates of leftovers. It's also one of my favorite days of the year because I get to see all of my family in one place.

This Christmas, even though Brad's family couldn't come over, they were with us in spirit. To accompany the Christmas turkey, I made a cranberry sauce using the recipe that Brad's sister used for Thanksgiving. I also made his family's sweet potato casserole and a crab deviled eggs. It was nice bringing a touch of the South to Hawaii.

The dishes were a success. Everyone raved about the sweet potatoes and the cranberry sauce, and the deviled eggs disappeared in minutes. I got the recipe for the deviled eggs from epicurious. Here are the ingredients I used.. Click here for the full recipe.

Crab Deviled Eggs

• 8 large hard-boiled eggs, peeled
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
• 1 tablespoon minced shallot
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
• 8 ounces crabmeat

• Fresh tarragon sprigs (optional)

dad's macaroni salad and pork ribs

beef stew

crab deviled eggs

mochi and anpan

My Uncle's (And Tyler Florence's) Ultimate Roast Chicken Recipe

For New Years day, my uncle made Tyler Florence's Ultimate Roast Chicken. He swears that the secret to this recipe is choosing a "local" chicken... I think you'd do just as well choosing a free range chicken, though, like the recipe calls for. The chicken came out beautifully and even though we served it with gravy, it didn't even need it.

• 1 (5 1/2 pound) free-range chicken
• 1/2 bunch each fresh oregano, thyme, and parsley
• 1/4 pound unsalted butter, softened
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 orange, halved
• 1/2 head garlic
• 1 medium white onion, halved, plus 1 onion
• 6 strips smoked bacon
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1/4 cup dry sherry
• Serving suggestion: roast potatoes , watercress and gravy.

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Rinse the chicken with cool water, inside and out. Pat it dry with paper towels. Divide the herbs, keeping 1/2 of them whole. Finely chop the other half. In a small bowl, mash the softened butter with the chopped herbs, until combined. Rub the herbed butter under the skin, as well as all over the outside of the chicken. Season the bird all over with salt and pepper. Stuff the cavity with the orange, garlic, 1 onion, and the remaining herbs. Tie the legs together with kitchen twine to help hold its shape. Place the chicken, breast-side up, in a roasting pan. Put the remaining onion into the pan, which will help color and flavor the sauce. Lay the strips of bacon across the breast of the chicken and roast for 25 minutes.

Remove the bacon and baste the chicken with the drippings and cook for another 25 minutes to brown the skin. The chicken is done when an instant-read thermometer reads 165 degrees F when inserted into the thickest part of the thigh (the legs of the chicken should wiggle easily from the sockets too.) Remove the chicken to a platter and let stand for 10 minutes, so the juices settle back into the meat before carving.

Meanwhile, remove the softened onion from the roasting pan. Tilt the pan so the drippings collect in 1 corner, skimming off as much fat as possible, and leaving the drippings. Place the roasting pan on top of the stove over medium heat and take a wooden spoon to scrape up the flavor from the bottom of the pan. Stir the flour into the drippings to make a roux-like paste. Pour in the chicken broth in stages; continue to stir to dissolve the flour evenly to prevent lumps. Stir in the sherry and season with salt and pepper.

To serve, carve the chicken tableside and squeeze the oranges from the cavity over the meat.

Smoke Roasted BBQ Rubbed Whole Chicken With Cider BBQ Sauce

Here's a chicken recipe that imparts that sweet and sour bbq flavor to the bird, but kicks it up with the addition of a good amount of celery seeds, orange zest and apple cider. The result is vinegary, sweet, and smokey. This recipe is from Gourmet's June 2008 issue. I cooked the chicken in the oven instead of the grill, and it still came out tasting great.

The side dish is roasted red peppers and cauliflower with caper vinaigrette, from Gourmet's June 2008 issue. It's so simple to make, and I even broiled the red pepper in the toaster! This was a perfect accompaniment to the chicken.

Click here for the chicken recipe:

http://www.gourmet.com/recipes/2000s/2008/06/smokeroastedchicken

Ingredients:

FOR CHICKENS

• 3/4 cup ketchup
• 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 whole chickens (3 to 3 1/2 lb each)
• Kosher salt to taste

FOR BARBECUE SAUCE

• 1 cup apple cider
• 1/2 cup cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons minced orange zest
• 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon celery seeds

Click here for the red pepper and cauliflower recipe:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Roasted-Red-Peppers-and-Cauliflower-with-Caper-Vinaigrette-242872

Ingredients:

• 4 red bell peppers
• 2 heads cauliflower, trimmed and cut into 2-inch florets
• 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup large capers (not salted), drained and rinsed
• 
  

Charlie Trotter's Panko And Ginger Crusted Chicken With Stir Fried Vegetables And Sweet And Sour Mustard Sauce

This fast and delicious recipe is from Charlie Trotter's cookbook, Home Cooking with Charlie Trotter. It was featured in the Gourmet December 2008 issue, on page 58. I thought this dish was so easy to make, but yet it looked and tasted like something you'd get at an upscale Asian fusion restaurant.

The panko adds a light crunch to the chicken breast, similar to what you'd get in fried chicken but without all the grease. The honey mustard sauce complimented the chicken and vegetables perfectly. I used dijon mustard instead of the Chinese mustard the recipe calls for, and I left out the water chestnuts and bean sprouts.

Serves 4

Sauce

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup Chinese mustard

2 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar

Chicken

4 Boneless, skinless chicken breast

2 cups Panko Bread Crumbs

2 Tablespoons peeled and minced fresh ginger

1 egg (lighly beate)

2 Tablespoons canola oil

Vegetables

2 Tablespoons canola oil

1 Tablepoons peeled and mince fresh ginger

2 cups coarsley chopped bok choy

1/2 cup juliened leeks (white part only)

1/2 cup sliced water chestnuts

1 cup bean sprouts

Prepare sauce: Combine the honey, mustard and vinegar in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes or until warm.

Chicken: Cut each breast lengthwise into 4 strips and season with salt and pepper. Combine the panko bread crumbs and grated ginger in a shallow dish. Dip each chicken strip in the egg and coat with panko mixture. Heat the canola oil in a large saute pan over medium heat and add the chicken strips. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Remove from the panand drain on paper towel.

Prepare the Vegetables: Heat the canola oil in a large saute pan over medium heat.

Add the ginger and cook for 30 seconds. Add the bok choy, leeks and water chestnuts and cook, stirring for 3 minutes. Add the bean sprouts and cook for 2 minutes or until the vegetable are just tender.

Spoon some of the vegetable in the center of each plate. Arrange the chicken over the vegetables and drizzle the sauce over the chicken and around the plate.

Cook the panko coated chicken

Let the chicken pieces rest on a paper towel

Saute the vegetables

The Honey Mustard Sauce

The finished dish!

Rachel Ray's Creole Chicken Breasts Stuffed With Crab And Artichoke

Ok, I admit it; I was skeptical about Rachel Ray's promise of 30 minute delicious meals. Thumbing through Rachel Ray's book Classic 30 Minute Meals, I found this recipe. Surprise-- with both Brad and I it only took 15 minutes and the results couldn't have been more impressive.

The combination of artichoke hearts, crab and buttery toasted bread was delicious in the stuffing. Adding the sherry was a great finishing touch. This is a recipe that we will definitely be making again and again. It looked like it took a lot of work, yet it was finished in no time at all. Thank you Rachel Ray!

Oh by the way, if you think that crabmeat is too expensive for an "everyday meal", look for it in a can. At Trader Joes, canned lump crabmeat is only $2.

Here's my version of Rachel's recipe. To make Rachel's exact recipe, add a chopped celery rib to the stuffing.

Ingredients:

1 to 1.5 lbs chicken breast cutlets (thin cut), pounded thin

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

A few pinches of poultry seasoning

Crab and Artichoke Stuffing

2 shallots, finely chopped

2 Tb EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)

1 can artichoke hearts in water, drained and chopped (15 oz)

1/2 cup chicken broth

8 to 10 ounces canned crab meat

2 slices white bread, toasted and buttered (I used rice bread)

1 tsp Old Bay seasoning

salt and pepper to taste

Creole Sauce

1 Tb EVOO

1 pat butter (1/2 Tb)

1 cup dry sherry

1 cup chicken broth

1 Tb cornstarch dissolved in a splash of water or broth

Season chicken with salt, pepper and seasoning. Put aside.

Saute shallots in EVOO over medium heat in a skillet for 2-3 minutes. Add in artichoke hearts and broth, and cook for one more minute. Add the crabmeat and heat it up, breaking the meat. Chop the toast into small cubes and add it to the pan. Add the Old Bay, salt and pepper to taste. Mix well then remove from heat.

Put small mounds of the stuffing in the chicken and roll it up, securing it with a toothpick.

Make the sauce by adding the EVOO and butter to the same pan over medium high heat. Put the chickens in the pan to brown them for 2-3 minutes on each side. Remove the chicken and then add the sherry. Reduce the sherry to half volume (about 1-2 minutes). Add the broth, bring to a boil, then add the cornstarch mixture and stir. This will thicken the sauce. Finally, return the chicken to the pan and cover and simmer until the chicken is cooked through. This will take about 5 minutes.

Serve with a green salad and crusty French bread.

Sauteeing the Stuffing

Extra stuffing!

The chicken after they're stuffed

The finished dish!

Baked Chicken Meatballs With Peperonata

I came across this simple recipe in the August issue of Gourmet. It takes 45 minutes from start to finish, with only 25 minutes of active time--perfect for a lazy Sunday evening. The recipe makes 12 meatballs, which means... leftovers!

The chicken meatballs are much lighter than regular beef meatballs and reminded us of "meatball clouds", if that makes any sense. The peperonata was excellent. It's great how such simple ingredients can come together to make an exquisite side dish.

Click here for the full recipe :

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Baked-Chicken-Meatballs-with-Peperonata-354471

Ingredients..

For Peperonata:

3 red bell peppers, cut into strips
1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 1/2 tablespoons drained capers
1 teaspoon red-wine vinegar
1/8 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

For meatballs:

3 slices Italian bread, torn into pieces (1 cup)
1/3 cup milk
3 ounces sliced pancetta, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 small garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 large egg
1 pound ground chicken
3 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon tomato paste

The Peperonata

Tyler Florence's Chicken Mole Poblano

"What is Mole Poblano?"

Mole poblano, whose name comes from the Mexican state of Puebla, is a popular sauce in Mexican cuisine and is the mole that most people in the U.S. think of when they think of mole. Mole poblano is prepared with dried chili peppers (commonly ancho, pasilla, mulato and chipotle), ground nuts and/or seeds (almonds, indigenous peanuts, and/or sesame seeds), spices, Mexican chocolate (cacao ground with sugar and cinnamon and occasionally nuts), salt, and a variety of other ingredients including charred avocado leaves, onions, and garlic. Dried seasonings such as ground oregano are also used. In order to provide a rich thickness to the sauce, bread crumbs or crackers are added to the mix. (from Wikipedia)

I love mole. My favorite place in L.A. to get mole is at the restaurant Guelaguetza. Their famous mole negro is out of this world!

When I saw Tyler Florence make this recipe on the Food Network, I knew I had to try it. The only problem was that I couldn't find Anaheim and Chipotle chiles at any of the grocery stores near me! And this is L.A... (granted, it's West L.A., but still...) Ah well, I made it with only the Ancho chile, and it turned out great.

The nice thing about this recipe is that it makes double the sauce that you need, so I have leftover sauce in the freezer for another night. You'll see why this is so great once you taste the sauce. The nuts and spices add such depth to it, and the little bit of bittersweet chocolate brings out the sauce's richness. The end result reminds me of a really good "South of the Border" Chili sauce.

Here's the recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/chicken-mole-poblano-recipe/index.html

The LONG list of ingredients:

• 2 dried ancho chilies, stemmed and seeded
• 2 dried anaheim chilies, stemmed and seeded
• 2 dried chipotle chilies, stemmed and seeded
• 1/4 cup golden raisins
• 1/4 cup whole almonds
• 1/4 cup sesame seeds
• 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
• 1 cinnamon stick, preferably Mexican, broken in pieces
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano, preferably Mexican
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 onions, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 serrano peppers, stemmed and seeded
• 6 plum tomatoes, chopped
• 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, preferably Mexican, chopped
• 1 capon or large chicken, cut into 10 pieces
• 1 lemon, juiced
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 4 radishes, thinly sliced
• 1 lime, juiced
• Cilantro leaves, for garnish
• Cooked white rice, for serving

Toasting the spices that go into the mole sauce

The spices after going in the grinder

Brown the Onions and Serrano

Soaking the toasted Chiles in hot water for 30 minutes

The mole sauce

Pan frying the chicken to brown it

Finish cooking the chicken in the mole sauce