Chicken Lo-Mein: NY Chinese Take-Out

I spend a lot of time extolling the virtue of NY Italian food and the impact it had on my culinary development.  However, there is a dish that I grew up with, that was not homemade, but an important thread in my culinary history: Chicken Lo-Mein.  When I was growing up we only had a couple of places we ordered take-out from (far less than my family does now) - there was Joe's Pizza and Imperial Wok.  We had pizza at Joe's once a week on Thursdays after tennis lessons with our friends and about twice a month my dad decided we would order Chinese. 

I had two staples that I liked to order; chicken fried rice and chicken lo-mein.  I don't think my tastes were wild and crazy at the age of eleven so I kept it simple and easy.  And since then, I have lived in San Francisco and been exposed to the insanely wide variety of Asian cuisines, fell in love with Thai fried rice with tofu and Pad Kee Mao and so on and so on.  But my basic, simple, chicken lo-mein could never be replaced in my heart.

Unfortunately however, there weren't that many great Chinese places in San Francisco (lots of Vietnamese, Thai, Cambodian, Japanese, etc.), Chinese take-out seemed to almost be unique to New York.  When I moved to Austin, the situation only got more dire.  We have even less Asian take-out and just about one decent Chinese place.  No offense to some of the staples here like Mama Fu's and Madam Mam's, but its just not the same.  Thank goodness for Titaya's Thai Cuisine that absolutely hits the mark for Thai fried rice and Pad Kee Mao, but I am sorely out of luck on Chicken Lo-Mein.  It just constantly blows my mind that I just can't get it here - you can walk in to almost any Chinese place in New York and get a solid serving of Chicken Lo-Mein that tastes the same.

Anyway, I am getting too deep on my feelings for Chinese take-out.  The point is, I only get to eat lo-mein when I go home to see my mom, which is just not enough.  This was the first year we didn't go to New York for Christmas in my entire life (which was wonderful for some reasons and sad for others, but that's another story for another day) and so I didn't get an opportunity to feed my craving.  I've been thinking about it for weeks and finally decided to give it a go making it at home.

Y'all it was so worth it.  SO WORTH IT.  This was an insanely easy concept once I didn't some reading and comparing of recipes and decided on a game plan.  I wanted chicken in mine, so I chopped up the chicken into bite sized pieces and tossed it in the crock-pot and let it ride all day until I was ready to make dinner.  Then it was as simple as boiling the noodles and then sauteeing the veggies and tossing it all together.

Chicken Lo-Mein

Serves 8

For the Chicken:

• 4 skinless chicken breasts (or breasts and thighs) sliced thin into bite sized pieces
• 1 cup Teriyaki sauce
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup sesame oil, divded
• 1 tbs. ground ginger, divided
• 2 tbs. sugar

For the Sauce:

• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 3 tbs. sugar
• 1/4 cup sesame oil
• 2 tbs. ground ginger
• 2 tbs. Sriracha mayo

For the Lo-mein:

• 16 oz. Lo-Mein egg noodles
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1 cup chopped green cabbage
• 1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms (I used baby bellas)
• 1/2 white onion, diced
• 2 tbs. minced garlic
• 1 cup snow peas (optional)

Whisk together the ingredients for the sauce in the bowl of a crock-pot.  Add the chopped chicken and stir to coat.  Cook on low for 4-6 hours until cooked tender.  Remove from crock pot with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Bring a large stock pot of water to a boil and cook the lo-mein noodles according the directions on the package.  Drain cooked noodles into a colander and rinse well with cold water.  Set aside.

Whisk together the ingredients for the sauce together in a small bowl and set aside.

In a large saute pan or braiser over medium-high heat.  Add a few tablespoons of sesame oil and the garlic.  Saute until fragrant, just a minute or two.  Add the onion, carrots, mushrooms and snow peas.  Saute until onions are translucent.  Add the chicken to the pan and cook for a few minutes.  Add the cabbage and saute until wilted.  Pour 1/3 of the sauce over the veggies and chicken and saute until evenly mixed.

Turn the heat down to medium-low and add the lo-mein noodles, using tongs to toss the noddles with the veggies and chicken.  Add the remaining sauce as you go, tossing to distribute the sauce evenly and cook for a few minutes more until the flavors are blended. 

Serve immediately, or refrigerate and consume in the morning after a rough night out.

Chicken Pot Pie

There are a few dishes that I make that I pretty much have never even seen a recipe for.  Things that I've always just...made.  One of those is chicken pot pie, I just kinda did what I figured seemed like the right things to do.  Chanel has even made it with me so often that she just knows how its done.  Normally, when we make chicken pot pie, I have used canned biscuits and just stretched them out over individual ramekin servings.  However, a long time ago I had seen a picture of a gorgeous lattice-topped, buttery, flaky perfection of a chicken pot pie casserole on the cover of a magazine and thought it was gorgeous.  So today, when Chanel suggested making chicken pot pie for dinner, I set my goals high.  We were going to make a puff pastry from scratch and it was gonna be pretty, damn it!  Well, we were pretty proud of our finished product!

Making chicken pot pie is really simple to be honest, so we did manage to make something that is pretty easy, much more involved than it needed to be, but we are still on a little bit of a high because it looked SO NICE.

There are two ways you can go about preparing this recipe.  We interchange the method depending on the day and what we have going on.  You can either make it in the crock pot or on the stove top.  Obviously, either way still needs to be finished in the oven.  I am going to write out both options for cooking it, they will both taste fantastic. 

Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 5 cups of chicken broth, divided
• 1 tsp. ground sage
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 1 tsp. ground thyme
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 2 bay leaves
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 3 celery stalks, diced (about 1/3 cup)
• 3 medium carrots, diced (about 1/3 cup)
• 1/2 medium white onion, diced (about 1/3 cup)
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 6 tbs. butter
• 1 cup flour
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1 batch puff pastry (recipe below)

Note about vegetables: As long as the vegetables are in equal amounts, it doesn't really matter how much you use.  It really depends on how much you like carrots, celery and onions.  However, I think these are an appropriate proportion.

Note about seasonings: I always like to taste the filling before I put it in the pan and you may want to add more seasonings, particularly salt and pepper depending on your tastes.

Note about an egg wash: If you prefer, you can brush the top of the puff pastry with an egg wash (1 egg scrambled with some water) before baking.  It will give it a more shiny finish, but it will also brown a bit quicker.

Stove Top Instructions:

1. In a large dutch oven, place the chicken breasts and cover with 4 cups of chicken broth.  Add the seasonings (sage through bay leaves) and season with salt and pepper.  Cover and bring to a boil.
2. Add the celery, carrots and onion to the pot.
3. Lower the heat and boil the chicken until it comes apart with two forks. When the chicken is cooked, turn off the heat and take the chicken out and place it in a large bowl, set aside. Remove the bay leaves, cover the remaining broth in the dutch oven and set aside.
4. While the chicken cools, prepare your puff pastry.
5. With the chicken cool enough to touch, use two forks (or a hand mixer) and shred the chicken. Set aside.
6. Return the dutch oven to medium heat, melt the 6 tbs. of butter into the broth and vegetables.  Whisk in the flour until smooth, whisking out any lumps.
7. Add the heavy cream and remaining cup of chicken broth.
8. Stir in the shredded chicken and frozen peas.  Heat until warmed through and the peas are thawed (just a couple minutes).  Remove from heat.
9. Butter a 9x9 baking dish. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
10. Pour the chicken filling into the dish and even out with a spatula.
11. Remove your puff pastry from the fridge and place it between two sheets of plastic wrap or waxed paper.  Roll the pastry to 1/8 inch thick with a rolling pin.
12. You can just lay the pastry in a sheet over the top of the filling and trim it with a knife.  If you are feeling ambitious like we did, cut your pastry into 1/2 inch strips and create a lattice pattern on the top.
13. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and bubbling.

Crock Pot Instructions:

1. In the bowl of a crock pot, cover the chicken breasts with 4 cups of chicken broth.  Add the seasonings (sage through bay leaves) and season with salt and pepper.
2. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6 hours - until the chicken is fork tender and pulls apart very easily.
3. Remove the chicken from the crock pot and set aside in a bowl.  Reserve the broth in the bowl of the crock pot.
4. While the chicken cools, prepare the puff pastry dough.
5. When the chicken is cool, use two forks (or a hand mixer) to shred the chicken.  Set aside.
6. In a dutch oven, melt the 6 tbs. butter over medium heat.  Add the celery, carrots and onion.  Saute until onions are translucent.
7. Sprinkle 1 cup of flour over the vegetables and whisk until evenly coated.
8. Add the chicken broth from the crock pot, 1 cup at a time, whisking to prevent lumps.
9. Stir in the heavy cream and remaining cup of broth. Bring to a boil.
10. Reduce to a simmer, and add the shredded chicken and frozen peas.
11. Heat until the peas are thawed and then remove from heat.
12. Butter a 9x9 baking dish. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
13. Pour the chicken filling into the dish and even out with a spatula.
14. Remove your puff pastry from the fridge and place it between two sheets of plastic wrap or waxed paper.  Roll the pastry to 1/8 inch thick with a rolling pin.
15. You can just lay the pastry in a sheet over the top of the filling and trim it with a knife.  If you are feeling ambitious like we did, cut your pastry into 1/2 inch strips and create a lattice pattern on the top.
16. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and bubbling.

Puff Pastry Dough

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 sticks of butter (20 tbs.), cold
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 1/2 cups flour

Cut two sticks of butter into small cubes, place in a bowl and return to the refrigerator.

Dissolve the salt into the cold water.

Cut the remaining 4 tbs. (half stick) of butter into small cubes and combine in a food processor with 1 cup of flour.  Pulse until combined.

Add another 1 cup of flour to the food processor and half the cold butter.  Pulse until combined.

Add the remaining butter to the food processor and pulse until combined. 

Pour the contents of the food processor into a large mixing bowl.

Add the salted water to the flour and combine using your hands.  A little at a time, add the remaining half cup of flour until it forms a stretchy dough, but not so sticky it won't come off your hands.

Roll the dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for an hour or until you need to use it.

King Ranch Chicken Casserole

Until I moved to Texas I didn't eat a lot of casseroles, I'm gonna be honest.  Excluding baked ziti and lasagna, I don't think my mom just ever made any.  Turns out, I was missing out on some pretty awesome, easy to make, fantastic casseroles. 

Another thing I had missed out on, but have since converted to the church of, is the crock pot.  So truthfully, when I find a recipe that uses the crock pot and is a casserole, I pretty feel like I knocked it out of the park. That's exactly what this King Ranch Chicken recipe is. 

Truthfully, I also didn't know what King Ranch Chicken was before I moved to Texas.  If I had tried to guess from the name I would have though it was some kind of giant chicken breast, seasoned with a packet of Ranch dressing. But I was introduced to this amazing Texan Lasagna when I was the Curriculum Coordinator at a preschool in Round Rock and our super talented chef, Kathryn, would make the kids King Ranch Chicken.  She fed it to me once, when I was dying of morning sickness and it was my savior.

Kathryn's recipe, however, would not be easy for me to replicate since we are a family of 4, not 140, so the proportions might be off.  Also, I'm not particularly a fan of using cans of condensed soup for the base of recipes.  They can be very high in sodium and I'm not really a fan of the taste.  So when I came across a recipe for a completely from scratch version on Five Heart Home and gave it a shot and liked it a lot.  This is my tweaked, crock-pot-added, mushroom-optional version.

King Ranch Chicken Casserole

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS:

For the Chicken:

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 3-4 cups chicken broth
• 2 tbs. garlic powder
• 2 tbs. adobo seasoning
• 1 tsp. chipotle powder
• 1 tsp. cumin
• Salt & pepper

For the Sauce:

• 6 tbs. butter
• 4-6 oz. baby portabella mushrooms, diced small (optional)
• 6 tbs. flour
• 2 cups of chicken cooking liquid from crock pot
• 2 cups milk
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. adobo seasoning
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1/2 tsp. chipotle powder
• Salt & pepper

For the Casserole:

• 10 small corn tortillas
• 4 cups shredded cheddar cheese, or jack blend
• 1 cup of chicken cooking liquid from crock pot
• 1 small can Rotel
• Diced jalapenos (optional)
• Fresh cilantro or parsley, chopped (optional)

In the bowl of your crock pot, cover the chicken with the chicken broth and add the seasoning.  Stir to coat the chicken and cook on high for 4-6 hours, until the chicken comes apart easily with a fork.  Once the chicken comes apart easily, roughly break apart the chicken breasts into smaller pieces to cook for 15 more minutes on high (I feel like the smaller the pieces the moister the chicken).

Remove the chicken from the crock pot with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool.  Turn off the crock pot, allow the remaining broth to cool and set aside.

Meanwhile, make the sauce.  Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat.  If you are using the mushrooms, sautee the mushrooms in the melted butter for 3-5 minutes, until cooked.  If omitting the mushrooms, just skip ahead.  Add the flour to the butter and whisk until blended.  Do not allow this to burn.

Add the milk and 2 cups of broth (from the crock pot) to the sauce and whisk until smooth.  Whisk in the seasoning and bring to a boil, then remove from heat and set aside.

Using two forks, shred the chicken as fine as possible.  Pour the sauce over the chicken and mix together.  Set aside.

Butter a rectangular baking dish.  Pre-heat an oven to 350 degrees. Assemble all the components of the casserole within easy reach (tortillas, chicken mix, remaining chicken broth, shredded cheese, drained Rotel and optional toppings).

Spread half of the chicken mix in the baking dish, top with shredded cheese, some Rotel and jalapenos.  Cover with a layer of tortillas.  I tear mine in half to make sure they cover every inch, overlapping is fine.  Drizzle some of the chicken broth over the tortillas, making sure to get the edges.

Top with the remaining chicken mixture and another layer of tortillas.  Top the tortillas with cheese, Rotel and other optional toppings. 

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 15 minutes.  Remove the foil and bake until bubbly, about another 15 or 20 minutes.

Buffalo Chicken Wraps

A typical conversation this summer for me and Chanel has been about what to eat for lunch.  Seriously.  We go through this conversation nearly every day we are together.  After walking early in the morning with the kiddos to beat the heat, we are generally pretty hungry, but also really hot.  The combination of those two things makes us irritable (hangry, perhaps) and indecisive.  Being hot does not make anything that could be very filling sound particularly appetizing.  

During one of these endless conversations, Chanel finally said she wanted buffalo chicken.  I immediately said no.  It's not really a secret, but I'll share it again for those who don't know: I hate messy foods.  I absolutely can not eat things that make me messy while I am eating them, it ruins the whole experience to me, not enhances it.  This mean that things like wings, ribs, drippy ice cream cones, and the like are immediately off the list. 

The second she said Buffalo chicken, I thought of all the sticky wing sauce and nixed that right away.  But she persisted.  So we finally worked out a way to appease us both - shredded buffalo chicken wraps!  They came out with immense flavor, moist-fall-apart chicken, and wrapped up with veggies for a super filling, but light lunch.  The final bonus? They all came together really fast and with not a whole lot of ingredients.

Buffalo Chicken Wraps

Makes about 4 Large Burritos

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed
• 2-3 cups of chicken broth
• 1-2 cups of buffalo sauce (we used Frank's)
• 4 large burrito-sized tortillas
• Spinach, for garnish
• Red onion, sliced, for garnish
• Avocado, sliced, for garnish
• Blue cheese crumbles, for garnish (optional)
• Blue cheese dressing (we used Brianna's, my absolute favorite)
• 2 tbs. butter

In a stock pot, over high heat, combine 2 cups of chicken broth with 1 cup of buffalo sauce.  Add your chicken breasts*, and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat slightly, so it is gently boiling, cover and boil until the chicken is cooked through.** 

*If this amount of liquid isn't enough to cover the tops of your chicken, add more chicken broth and/or buffalo sauce depending on your spice preference.  I do not recommend attempting to boil chicken in just the sauce alone, it will stick and burn to the bottom of your pot and your chicken will not absorb enough moisture.

**Depending on the size of your chicken breasts, cooking time will vary.  You will want to stir the pot every five minutes or so to ensure your chicken doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot.

Crock Pot Variation: I'm sure you could achieve the same results with a crock pot.  I would set the crock pot on low and let it cook for six hours, tear the chicken in to smaller pieces, then cook on high for 30 minutes to an hour, if need be. 

While your chicken is cooking, prepare and slice your wraps.  We used chopped spinach, sliced red onion and avocado.

Once you chicken is cooked, you will want to use two forks to pull it apart into smaller chunks, while it is still simmering in the pot.  You are not shredding it all the way, just pulling it into the smaller pieces it will break into with little effort.  Allowing the smaller pieces to simmer in the sauce for longer will make the chicken pieces more moist and flavorful.  Continue this process every five minutes or so until the chicken is very tender.

Remove the pot from the heat, and using a slotted spoon, transfer the chicken from the pot to a mixing bowl.  Using two forks, shred the chicken to your desired size.  Give it a taste and drizzle some buffalo sauce over it and toss together.

Heat a large non-stick skillet (or flat top) over medium-high heat.  

Assemble your wraps.  We layered chicken, topped with spinach, onion and then avocado.  We drizzled a little buffalo sauce and blue cheese dressing over top.  Then we wrapped up our burritos.

Melt your butter in the skillet, it should be bubbling.  Place your wraps seam side down onto the skillet and using a flat spatula, apply pressure to the top to keep it from rolling over or popping open.  Cook for 3-5 minutes, until the bottom is golden brown, then carefully roll it over, and using your spatula to keep the bottom closed, repeat this process for the top side of the burrito.  Transfer to a plate, drizzle with blue cheese dressing, buffalo sauce, and garnish with some avocado and enjoy!

Beef and Broccoli: NY Chinese Take-Out

There are a lot of things I love about living in Texas, and lots of foods I love eating in Texas, but there is one (of a couple things) that I can not get here that just kills me: Chinese Take-Out. 

When I lived in New York growing up, we could get it anywhere really.  Every town had at least two different places, and truthfully, they tasted the same, the menus were the same, and they were perfect.

My asian-take-out game stepped up a few notches when I moved to San Francisco in college - suddenly, there wasn't just chinese.  There was Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Pan-Asian, Asian-Indian, the list goes on.  SO. MUCH. GOOD. FOOD.  And, it was all take-out. 

Such simple beauty in just calling it in, picking it up, boarding a cold, wet, smelly, MUNI bus, sitting in a cold, hard seat smelling it's delicious aroma through its Styrofoam encasement, and finally walking up three flights of stairs to your apartment, flopping down on your bed and devouring take-out perfection with a plastic fork and trashy TV.

Beauty like this does not exist in Austin, Texas.  Sorry, Austin, but take-out is not your forte.  The only thing I could order for delivery to my house when I first moved here was Pizza.  That was it. And even if I wanted to venture out and drive to get it myself, there was ONE decent Chinese place and it was so far away, it wasn't worth the effort.

Four years of missing Chinese later and I stumble upon this recipe from Table for Two and everything changed. A little tinkering on getting it right, and before I knew it, I could close my eyes and pretend I was eating it out of a cardboard contained with plastic fork, and I wouldn't be the wiser.

I am still missing my Chicken Lo Mein, but man, this hits the spot for beef and broccoli any day.

New York Style Beef and Broccoli

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. boneless beef roast, sliced into thin strips
• 2-3 cups beef broth
• 1 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 2 tbs. sesame oil
• 2 tbs. garlic powder
• 1 tbs. corn starch
• 3 tbs. flour
• Broccoli florets, large bag, frozen
• Cooked white rice, for serving

Cut the strips of beef in to 1-inch pieces.  Set aside.

In the bowl of a crockpot, whisk together 2 cups of beef broth, the soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, and garlic powder.  Add the meat to the bowl and toss to coat.

If there is not enough liquid to cover the meat, add just enough broth to ensure the meat is all covered.  Sometimes the roast I am able to buy is heavier than 2 lbs, but not to waste I just use it all - in this case I adjust my liquid appropriately.

Cook on high for 5 hours (or until meat is cooked to your preference, I like it very tender to a fork).  Keep in mind with crock pot cooking times, that all crock pots vary greatly depending on how large the capacity is and your cooking temp options.  Check your your meat as it cooks and when it is done, its done, don't fret over what the recipe says.

In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and flour.  Whisk in 4 tbs. of the broth from the crock pot to form a paste.  Stir this paste back into the crock pot and allow the sauce to thicken for 20 minutes.

After the sauce has thickened a bit, add in the desired amount of frozen broccoli florets.  I happen to love broccoli so I put in an entire bag, but its entirely up to you.  Stir, re-cover the crock pot and let the broccoli heat through (about five minutes). 

Serve over rice immediately.