All posts by Angela G.

I'm a (pretty) good girl who says (pretty) bad words and makes (pretty effin') delicious dishes. Foodie for life. Delicious to death.

Ginger Scallion Chicken

This one is hardly a recipe in that ginger scallion sauce does all the heavy lifting.  As much as I feel that recipes within recipes can be daunting (I’m talking to you, Thomas Keller), the actual ginger scallion sauce is so simple that you’ll barely feel like you are tacking on extra steps.

My first dance with the glory of ginger scallion chicken was at my favorite haunt for Chinese food in the DC Metro area, XO Taste.  Prepared the traditional way with a whole poached chicken accompanied by small dishes of the spicy, complex ginger sauce, I was in love.  Not with the chicken so much as the sauce, which I wanted to drink by the canteen full if possible.  When I set out to make this recipe for myself, I tried to amp up the chicken a bit to include all of my favorite elements.  Rather than poach and serve with loose, rubbery skin, I decided to sear the skin on bone-in chicken breasts and then finish them off in the oven.  The result is crisp, crackly skin protecting moist, white meat chicken, all of which is adorned with ginger scallion saucy glory.  Victory is mine, and can be yours as well with a few easy steps. Continue reading Ginger Scallion Chicken

Lemony Tzatziki (Greek Yogurt with Cucumber and Mint)

One of my absolute favorite aspects of food blogging is being able to float down the rabbit hole (a la Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, and not the more macabre connotations of the expression) of food histories.  Maybe I get the desire from my mother, an expert etymologist and language expert.  Or from my father, the history buff with a memory like a steel trap for facts and figures of all kinds.  For whatever reason, I seem to approach all of my posts similarly – dig through my personal recipe book for dishes that I’ve been cooking for years, wade through the memories that accompany them, and then circle back on the actual history and general origins of the dish.  It always leads me to these tangential thoughts that are as much a delight for me as I hope they are for you, dear reader. Continue reading Lemony Tzatziki (Greek Yogurt with Cucumber and Mint)

Classic Mussels with White Wine and Herbs

Today’s guest post is coming at you straight from NYC courtesy of my good friend Arber.  We met under non-culinary circumstances during my time as the master of web goodness at The City College of New York.  I had the dubious honor of serving as the advisor for his student organization, a cluster of entrepreneurs, programmers and designers who created the brilliant website, In Your Class.com.  Funnily, in order to get their student organization up and running as quickly as possible, they found it easier to take over an already established group rather that go through the appeals process to create a new one.  Thus, although I am out and out Brazilian/Italian/African-American, I soon discovered that I was the newest advisor to the Albanian Students Organization.  The founders (Arber included) were all Albanian, so to prove my mettle, I showed them all I learned from Wikipedia about Albania and had them fill me in on the rest of the important details.  I adored the multiculturalism mixed with the laughs, and was totally honored that they asked me to be their advisor in the first place. Continue reading Classic Mussels with White Wine and Herbs

Simple Tabbouleh

Despite my undying love for New York City and all of its glories, I hate that sunshine there is at a premium.  With much of the year swathed in gray, there’s something endlessly appealing about the 364 days of sunshine that Phoenix has to offer.  I’ll probably never truly fit in here on the left coast (I’m an out-and-out East coast ex-pat, who bleeds 100% DC love when cut), but lemme just say that when Cali kids speak of their junkie-esque need for light on the regular, I kind of get it.  My move out here to the lawless desert has provided me with blissful sunshine and true blue skies that could cure the seasonally depressed in an instant, and I’m totally hooked.

Nothing speaks more to my adjustment to the bright perfection out here in AZ than my urges to whip up all sorts of cold salads.  From chilled pastas and crisp veggies sopping up vinaigrettes, to a simple toss of fresh berries, splashes of liquer and a chiffonade of mint, these chilled dishes keep my kitchen cool and my mood light.  Tabbouleh is a favorite of mine – this herby salad is a quick accompaniment to grilled meats, a homey companion on a mezze platter of hummus and olives, or a throw together potluck favorite that pairs up with any and everything on the buffet line.  Best of all, it’s a throw-together dish that is forgiving in terms of time – you can prep it ahead or even serve it right away.  Arabic for “little spicy,” tabbouleh is the marriage of tart, spicy, savory and sweet – all that you want for a cool summer supper. Continue reading Simple Tabbouleh

Ginger Beef with Snow Peas

Let’s talk about food worth lauding over.  The kind of dishes that don’t mess around with excesses and hit a balance of flavor and texture right on the nose.  Ingredients that are versatile – equally sassy doing the roger rabbit by themselves or the kid ‘n play with a friend.  This dish wants to rock right now – it’s Ginger Beef and it came to get down.  It’s not internationally known…okay, that’s probably enough of that.

Keeping the cooking on this one a breeze involves doing all of your chopping before even thinking about heating up your wok.  Call it your mise en place.  Call it your OCD.  Either way, you’ll be ready to wok and roll (and spout out bad puns, apparently).  Also, to get the beef to cook quickly, you’ll want to slice it so thinly, it’ll seem as if your shaving off pieces.  A trick to make this process easier is to slice the flank steak while it’s partially frozen.  The meat holds it’s shape and gives your knife stability as you cut away.  Yes, yes y’all. Continue reading Ginger Beef with Snow Peas

Ginger Scallion Sauce

Seriously, ginger scallion sauce, just stop.  You have definitively rocked my socks.  And all to the point that I say bad words when I see you.  You. are. greatness.  When Escoffier sang the praises of his transcribed mother sauces, he missed the mark with you.  If bechamel and hollandaise and and velouté rule the roost, you built the roost from ashes and sheer will.

It’s no secret that I’ve always been enamored with ginger, but this sauce paints it in the finest of lights.  Grated ginger and minced scallion are barely cooked in hot oil, taking away all of the bite from the aromatics and leaving behind a condiment that can make the most stubborn palate sing.  This sauce is BFFs with poached chicken as the dynamic duo, “Ginger Scallion Chicken”.  I don’t limit the stuff, though – string beans, skirt steak, steamed fish, my fingertips.  I’ll attack this sauce with calculating ruthlessness.  It’s mine, and I don’t want to share.  Ok, I’ll share, but you bring the ginger and scallions next time.

This sauce isn’t hard to make, but it’ll seem a little scary the first time you make it – don’t fret.  You’ve got this.  When you add hot oil to wet ginger, you’re gonna get a bit of sizzle.  This subsides quickly, and if you make this expecting a science-fair baking soda volcano, you’ll be underwhelmed rather than shocked.  This is a good thing.  Just make sure to use a heat-proof bowl or 1-qt saucepan for the ginger-oil reunion and you’ll be golden. Continue reading Ginger Scallion Sauce

Hot and Sour Soup

Hot and sour soup gets the bum rush – most places that craft it poorly do so by phoning it in.  It’s so simple to the point that it’s ludicrous that it could be butchered, and yet I’ve been affronted with some shady knockoffs standing in for the real thing.  Rather than flirt with disappointment, I just whip a pot up myself and call it a day.  No more fishing out rubbery tofu and incredulously huge pieces of celery (what the eff?) Just hot and sour action at its best. Brilliant!

The soup is comprised of savory vegetable stock studded with slivers of bamboo shoots, scallions and tofu.  An essential for me, and what separates the real deal from the imposters, is the use of wood ear mushrooms.  Sometimes referred to with the not-so-pleasant monniker of fungus, these pleasantly chewy mushrooms can be purchased dry in many upscale markets.  If you can score some, get on it, because their texture and color lend an air of the exotic to the soup. Continue reading Hot and Sour Soup

Gnocchi Feast Menu

Recipe for The Daring Kitchen
When I first learned about The Daring Kitchen, I was excited to join a group that would provide me with monthly culinary inspiration. This month’s assignment (and my very first with TDK) was created by Steph from Stephfood, our Daring Cooks’ July hostess. Steph challenged us to make homemade noodles without the help of a motorized pasta machine. She provided us with recipes for Spätzle and Fresh Egg Pasta as well as a few delicious sauces to pair our noodles with! Steph also encouraged us to make noodles that celebrated our culinary heritage.

In that I had just done quite a bit of pastamaking as part of the Feast of the Seven Boars (along with doughs of all kinds for all of my potsticker exploits), I asked Steph if gnocchi were legal within the strict rules of the challenge. She explained that they were and off I went on a journey into dumpling majesty on a whole new level. Continue reading Gnocchi Feast Menu

Potato Gnocchi alla Sorrentina

Recipe for The Daring Kitchen
When I first learned about The Daring Kitchen, I was excited to join a group that would provide me with monthly culinary inspiration. This month’s assignment (and my very first with TDK) was created by Steph from Stephfood, our Daring Cooks’ July hostess. Steph challenged us to make homemade noodles without the help of a motorized pasta machine. She provided us with recipes for Spätzle and Fresh Egg Pasta as well as a few delicious sauces to pair our noodles with! Steph also encouraged us to make noodles that celebrated our culinary heritage. See Full Gnocchi Feast Menu

Authentic-tasting gnocchi are a tall order, but inspired by the charm and panache of the Franks (Falcinelli and Castronovo) of Frankie’s Sputino in Brooklyn, everyone is an expert Italian chef. Although this recipe was a part of my goal to make four gnocchi dishes for The Daring Kitchen, the preparation of the dish proved hardly a challenge. And not because the fickle gnocchi gods* were smiling at me that day, but rather that this recipe must be the master recipe for the most perfect gnocchi. In the amount of time that it took me to boil a pot of water and futz around with a marinara sauce, I had a dough that was pliant, smooth and gorgeous. A little effortless rolling and cutting resulted in photo-ready dumplings. And a quick trip into a jacuzzi of water yielded gnocchi that tasted of heaven. Where were the Franks grandmas so that I could kiss them on both cheeks and throw my hands up in the air? Continue reading Potato Gnocchi alla Sorrentina

Malfatti with Bolognese

Recipe for The Daring Kitchen
When I first learned about The Daring Kitchen, I was excited to join a group that would provide me with monthly culinary inspiration. This month’s assignment (and my very first with TDK) was created by Steph from Stephfood, our Daring Cooks’ July hostess. Steph challenged us to make homemade noodles without the help of a motorized pasta machine. She provided us with recipes for Spätzle and Fresh Egg Pasta as well as a few delicious sauces to pair our noodles with! Steph also encouraged us to make noodles that celebrated our culinary heritage. See Full Gnocchi Feast Menu
Malfatti, despite the aggressive name (“poorly made” in Italian) are a revelation. I first tasted these babies at a restaurant off of the Piazza del Campo in Siena. Trying to get away from the tourist traps lining the heart of the city, we stumbled into Serafino’s, a small family restaurant run by the daper patriarch of the place, Serafino himself. We made fast friends with the owner/head chef and fell in love with his culinary prowess. Sampling the malfatti, dumplings made of spinach and ricotta held together by sheer will, I knew that we’d stumbled upon something special. How the hell were they made? Continue reading Malfatti with Bolognese