Chicken Kiev and Almond Rice

Chicken Kiev has virtually nothing to do with Kiev.
~Mark R. Vogel

"Can you also do Kiev?" inquires my nephew.

Chris, Chris, Chris...

The Recipes

Chicken Kiev
Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 c butter, softened
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp chives
1 tsp crushed garlic
Salt & pepper
1 c flour
2 eggs, beaten
2 c bread crumbs
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 375
Pound chicken breasts to aprx 1/8" thickness
Spread garlic on each chicken breast, salt and pepper to taste, sprinkle with parsley and chives
Slice butter into 4 portions and put on chicken breasts
Wrap the chicken around the butter, tucking in ends, then roll up tightly
Dip rolled up chicken into beaten eggs, then in flour, then back in eggs, then in bread crumbs
Place in oven safe dish and bake for 40-50 minutes

Almond Rice
Ingredients:
1 c white rice
1 1/2 c water
1 c milk
1/4 tsp almond flavoring
Pinch nutmeg
1 tbsp butter
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 c toasted almonds
Preparation:
In a large, microwave safe bowl, add rice, water, milk, almond flavor, nutmeg, butter, salt and pepper
Cover bowl
Microwave on High for 9 minutes
Reduce microwave heat to Medium and cook for 18 minutes
Add toasted almonds and stir

Served with a salad of baby lettuce.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

We have the best gastronomy in the world.
~French President Nicolas Sarkozy



The Recipe

Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 pieces thin-sliced ham
1 c shredded gruyere cheese (swiss will work too)
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp tarragon
1/2 c white wine
Salt & pepper
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 375
Slice chicken breasts almost in half and pat dry
Wrap shredded gruyere in a slice of ham and stuff into the chicken breast
Pour wine over breasts
Sprinkle with thyme, tarragon, salt, and pepper
Cook uncovered in oven safe dish for 45 minutes

Served with:
Gougere (recipe here)
Blanched fresh Broccoli Florets

Pork Fried Rice

The [American] restaurant convention of ordering a dish of fried rice with numerous other main' courses, or ordering it in place of white rice, is Western and not Chinese at all.
~The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cook Book

We've been snow-bound for a couple of days and I've been so busy that I didn't think to take anything out of the freezer to thaw for dinner. After I finished work I had to attend to some snow removal, all the while knowing that there was housework and homework that urgently needed my attention. Well into the evening, I began scanning the cupboards and fridge looking for "What's for Dinner?"

The Recipe

Ingredients
4 cups cooked rice
Leftover pork, chopped in small pieces
Sesame oil
Soy Sauce
4 eggs
Fresh or frozen veggies as found, chopped or shredded into small bits

Preparation
Cover the bottom of a deep pan with sesame oil
Sauté the pork until it is hot
Add the rice to the pan
Add veggies (in this case some frozen baby peas and some fresh shredded carrot)
Add soy sauce to taste (remember, it is very salty!)
Stir until soy is well mixed
Lightly beat the eggs in a bowl and then pour over the rice
Stir rice vigorously until the eggs are cooked

According to the Food Timeline: Fried rice...is a standard method of cooking leftovers, involving frying cold boiled rice with chopped-up meat and vegetables.

This standard method of using up some leftovers is extremely yummy!

Special Dessert Post! Sanders Hot Fudge Cream Puff

A special treat tonight - my mother brought over hot fudge cream puffs for dessert! They taste just like Sanders!



She made the puff pastries with butter, water, flour and eggs, oh, and a little salt (I think that is all the ingredients). Slice the pastries in half, put a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream and put the top back on the pastry. Cover generously with Sanders Hot Fudge! Very tasty!

Thanks Mom!

Honey Glazed Pork Roast w/ Mandarin Orange Sauce

He who cannot eat horsemeat need not do so. Let him eat pork. But he who cannot eat pork, let him eat horsemeat. It's simply a question of taste.
~Nikita Khrushchev


The Recipes

Pork Roast
Ingredients:
Pork Roast - 5#
1 cup Honey
1 can Mandarin oranges
Salt & pepper to taste
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350
Line oven safe pan with foil
Place roast fat side up on the foil
Pour honey on roast
Pour oranges, including liquid on roast
Wrap the aluminum foil so the roast is marinating in the sauce while cooking
Salt and pepper to taste
Bake for 25- 28 minutes per pound
Remove from oven and let rest 15 minutes or so before slicing
Pour some of the sauce from the pan over the slices

Apple Sauce
Ingredients:
6 medium size apples
Apple crisp mix (available at the grocery store)
1 stick butter
Preparation:
Peel apples and slice into bite-size pieces
Layer into a shallow glass pan
Sprinkle generously (or less generously as you prefer) with apple crisp mix
Slice butter evenly over the top
Put it in the oven where it can cook right alongside the pork chops (about 25 minutes)

Served with fresh blanched broccoli, rice, and bread.