Wednesday, January 21, 2009

ORANGE SAUCE FOR CHICKEN

Original recipe here. I tweaked it and thought it was perfect. Even Her Excellency of Mousehole said it was perfect. Then she threatened me. "Don't do anything more to it. You'll ruin it!" She knows me well. I'm a fiddler, can't resist the urge to just add one more thing. So I didn't fiddle and it was a good thing.

ORANGE SAUCE FOR CHICKEN


1 cup water
1 cup orange juice, fresh squeezed if possible
¾ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup rice vinegar
¼ cup lemon juice
3 Tbs. soy sauce
2 to 3 Tbs. chopped green onion
1 Tbs. grated orange zest
½ to 1 tsp. grated ginger
½ to 1 tsp. pressed or grated garlic
¼ tsp. red pepper flakes or a healthy pinch of cayenne pepper--be careful. I put too much in my last batch!

2 Tbs. cornstarch
2 Tbs. water


Mix everything but cornstarch and 2 tablespoons water together and bring to a boil. Mix cornstarch and water together and stir into orange mixture. Boil one minute, stirring constantly. Serve over chicken fingers and rice or noodles.

THE MEATBALL THAT FELL OFF THE TABLE

The Meatball that Fell off the Table. This is where I got this meatball recipe.
This is the way I served them, with Barbecue sauce and egg noodles. Recipe for the barbecue sauce here.I don't cook with beef. Never. Well, now I will have to say almost never because the other day I picked up a four pound--yes four-pound--package of ground beef, put it in my cart and when I got home--I paid for it first--I said to Phil, "I don't know what possessed me to do this." He didn't know either.

So I went online and looked for recipes to use the stuff. If nothing else, I thought, I could make meatballs and take them to people who were sick. (I actually did this last night along with a batch of homemade barbecue sauce--I could see they didn't have any dinner started so it was a good decision.) I also served it Sunday with the barbecue sauce and it was good. I haven't tried the "soup" gravy recipe yet but will as I still have three packages of frozen meatballs in the freezer
THE MEATBALL THAT FELL OFF THE TABLE

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 egg
1 pound ground beef chuck
1 cup plain dry bread crumbs (I used Italian)
1 teaspoon garlic salt (I used ½ tsp. garlic powder and ½ tsp. salt)
1 teaspoon ground coriander (I left this out)
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley or 1 tsp. dried
ground black pepper to taste
2 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
2 tablespoons water, or as needed

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions; cook and stir until tender and lightly browned.

Whisk the egg in a large bowl. Add the onion, ground beef, bread crumbs, garlic salt (or garlic powder and salt), coriander, nutmeg, parsley and pepper; mix well using your hands. Shape into meatballs using your hands or an ice cream scoop. (I made tiny meatballs and liked them that size)

Place the meatballs into the skillet, and set over medium-high heat. Cover, and cook until browned on the bottom. Turn, and continue cooking covered, until meatballs are browned on all sides and no longer pink in the center, about 20 minutes. (I cooked mine in the oven. The beef I used was so very lean I didn't even put them on a rack but would have, otherwise. I baked them at 350° for 25 minutes.)

Drain on a paper towel, and pour excess grease out of the skillet. Pour the cream of mushroom soup into the skillet, and stir in enough water so that it is still a fairly thick gravy. Return the meatballs to the skillet, and stir until coated. Serve over potatoes or egg noodles. (I had made them the day before and refrigerated them so I added them to the barbecue sauce and simmered until they were hot.)