Chicken Satay

by Peg Cochran

The first time I had chicken satay was on a trip to the Far East.  My husband was in Singapore on business for several weeks, and I flew out to join him.  We traveled through Malaysia to Kuala Lumpur, to Bangkok and Hong Kong.  It was an amazing trip and one I'll never forget!

We stayed at a hotel on the South China sea in Quantan, Malaysia.  My husband suggested I try the chicken satay for lunch.  I loved it so much that I had it for the next four days!  It came served on large banana leaves with a side of sticky rice.  I don't know how authentic this recipe is, but it's delicious and you can find all the ingredients in your local grocery store!

Marinade
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons corn oil
1/4 cup sherry
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 tsp ginger

Combine all the above ingredients--I find a large plastic ziplock bag works great.  Marinate chicken for a couple of hours.

You'll need a package of chicken breasts (three small to medium sized breasts).  Since I was making this as a main course, I cut the breasts into strips and threaded them onto metal skewers.  If you were doing this for an appetizer for a party, you would want to create smaller pieces of chicken and put them on bamboo skewers that have been soaked in water.  For a great appetizer presentation, cut a cantaloupe in half (or melon of your choice) and place cut side down on a platter.  Stick skewers of chicken into the melon (it will look like a porcupine!) and serve with dipping sauce (below).  To make things easier, you can grill whole chicken breasts and then cut into pieces and thread on bamboo skewers.

Cut chicken into strips or bite-sized pieces and grill marinated chicken on a gas or charcoal grill or on a grill pan over a gas flame until done.   

Dipping Sauce
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tsps sriracha sauce or sambel oleek or to taste depending on how hot you like your food
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 limes, juiced
1/2 cup hot water


Combine all of the above (except hot water) and blend in a blender or food processor until smooth, dribbling in as much hot water as you need to create a smooth paste.  *This makes a lot of dipping sauce.  You can halve the sauce if making smaller portions.

Serve with rice and a veggie and enjoy!  It's a great alternative when you are sick of barbecuing hamburgers, hot dogs and ribs!  

Place plastic ziplock bag in a bowl to steady it and pour in marinade

For a main course, thread chicken pieces on metal skewers--one or two per person

Grill chicken until cooked through

Ready for dipping sauce!

Serve with dipping sauce.  I added grilled corn on the cob and rice.  Yummy!

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Thai Black Bean Salad

by Sheila Connolly

I am a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, thanks to a dozen or so ancestors who I can prove fought in the Revolutionary War. Since Razing the Dead (the Museum Mystery coming out in FOUR DAYS!) revolves around a Pennsylvania battle from that war, it seems logical to seek inspiration from a cookbook issued by the Massachusetts Daughters a few years ago—one to which I contributed a clutch of my own recipes. While almost all of my 18^th-century ancestors came from (and stayed in) Massachusetts, I can point to one who spent that infamous winter at Valley Forge, so I’ll claim a small connection to Pennsylvania.

The recipes in this volume are surprisingly diverse. I have to point out one submitted by a member of my chapter, who also put together the cookbook, from inspiration to proofreading. Her first recipe includes: 1-1/2 gallons red wine, 1 quart gin, 1/2 pint Benedictine, 1/2 gallon Jamaican dark rum, 1 quart brandy, 1-1/2 quarts whiskey, the juice of 18 lemons and the same quantity of limes, and 2-1/2 pounds brown sugar. Oh, and throw in a case of champagne at the end. She says it serves “75 for 2 hours.” Wonder if they’re still standing by the end of two hours? (I have known this woman for a decade, and she is no inebriate, but rather, a sober and responsible person!).

Anyway, even though the temperature in Massachusetts is still dipping into the 40s this week and my heat is still on, I’m thinking summer and barbecues and happy thoughts, so I decided to try this recipe, which is easy to make ahead, colorful, and would go well with anything cooked on the grill.

Thai Black Bean Salad

2 cups corn kernels (fresh or frozen)

1 can (16 oz.) black beans, rinsed

1 small onion, diced

½ cup diced red pepper (I used the little ones just because they’re cute)

1 jalapeno, stemmed, seeded and minced (fresh or canned)

2 cloves garlic, minced or crushed

1 Tblsp grated fresh ginger

2 Tblsp sesame oil

2 Tblsp rice vinegar

Juice of one lime

Coarse salt

In a large bowl, combine the corn, beans, onion, red pepper, jalapeno, garlic and ginger.

In a small bowl, whisk the sesame oil, vinegar and lime juice.

Pour the dressing over the vegetable mixture and toss to combine. Season to taste with salt.

Chill until ready to serve (it’s best if it’s made early in the day or even the day before, so the flavors can blend).

Serves 4--generously. (The recipe can easily be multiplied to serve more.) And no, I didn’t stand shivering over the grill outside (it was 45 degrees!), but grilled on the stove. Summer is coming soon, right?

Oh, yes--there's this new book out next week. You can enjoy Nell Pratt and a big-city, hot-shot developer tramping around an old dairy farm in bucolic Chester County, PA--and tripping over a body. 

Easy Stir-Fried Beef and Broccolini from @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: As usual, it's been a busy week re-entering real life after vacation. Cooking was not my first priority. But I'd snagged a handsome bunch of broccolini at the farmer's market that I wanted to use. (Broccolini is a relative to broccoli, with long thin stalks and smaller florets.)

Lucy to her husband: How does cheesy polenta with steamed broccolini sound?

John (face falling): It sounds fine. I'm glad I'm not cooking so it's fine.

But I could see it wasn't really fine, and he is a good sport about eating about anything I serve and then cleaning up. (Besides that, we have an anniversary coming up tomorrow!) So I made a quick trip to the grocery story and added...meat!

And, I wanted an excuse to use our Japanese souvenirs--new chopsticks and chopstick holders. Aren't they adorable?

Ingredients

1/2 lb beef (I used a small steak), sliced
1 bunch broccolini
1 bunch scallions, cut into inch-long pieces
1-inch chunk ginger, peeled and chopped
1 heaping tsp cornstarch
1 tsp sesame oil
 1-2 Tbsp soy sauce

2 Tbsp sherry
1 cup or more beef broth

Slice the steak and marinate it in the cornstarch, soy sauce, sherry, and sesame oil.



Prepare the scallions, broccolini, and ginger (you could add chopped garlic if you like)



Stir fry the scallions and ginger in hot oil until brown and fragrant. Set that aside.



Add the broccolini to the hot skillet along with 1/3 cup or so of the beef broth and steam until almost tender. Set that aside.

Drain and reserve the marinade, and then add the beef to the skillet (more hot oil first). 

 
To the reserved marinade, add the other 2/3 cup beef broth. When the beef is almost cooked, add the vegetables back into the pan with the marinade. 

Cook several minutes until bubbly. Serve over brown rice.

Lucy Burdette is the author of the Key West food critic mysteries, including DEATH WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS--coming in December! Follow her on Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter 

Lucy (aka Roberta) and John 22 years ago

Veal Scallopine, Gluten-free #recipe, too, from @DarylWoodGerber

From Daryl aka Avery:

Do you ever walk through the grocery store and think, "Hm, what's for dinner? What have I not made ever? Do I feel daring?"

Veal scallopine. By its very nature, it sounds hard to make, doesn't it? But don't let the Italian word scare you. Scallopine simply means thin cutlets, fried. 

Anyway, there I was the other day, in the market, and I saw some beautiful veal in the meat section of the market and thought all of the above. New. Daring. Hungry.

I pulled up a recipe via the Internet (on my cell phone - what did we ever do without the darned contraptions?) and made sure I bought all the ingredients necessary, and then determined that I could definitely make the recipe gluten-free. After all, the flour is just a coating. It's not making anything thicker, like a soup roux.

So I returned home to make a mess. Yes, a mess. Scallopine, because it's fried, is a messy affair. But oh, so delicious! It has become my husband's new favorite meal. Of course, he's not making the mess. I did beg him to help me clean up. And he did! Begging works. Who knew?

Give yourself a good hour to make this, simply because of the mess. I made it using corn starch, which works for both regular flour eaters and gluten-free flour eaters.  Serve with a crisp salad. 

Veal Scallopine

Regular/Gluten-free

Ingredients:

For the veal:

1 pound veal cutlets

4 tablespoons corn starch

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground pepper (10 grinds)

2 tablespoons butter plus 1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/3 – 1/2 cup chicken broth

2 teaspoons parsley flakes

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon capers

For the grilled onions:

½ onions, sliced

1 tablespoon butter

Directions:

In a small skillet, heat butter for onions. Slice onions and set in the butter. Grill on low to tender, about 5-10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a re-sealable plastic bag, combine the corn starch, salt and pepper. Add veal; seal bag and shake to coat.

In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons butter and 1 tablespoon oil.

Add flour-coated veal; cook over medium heat for about 1 minute on each side. Remove and keep warm.

Stir broth into skillet, stirring up any browned bits. Add parsley and the additional tablespoon of butter. Stir and cook 2 minutes longer or until slightly thickened. Pour over veal.

Add capers and a squeeze of lemon juice. Top with grilled onions.

******************

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A Writer's Snack: No-Guilt Mini Pizzas from Cleo Coyle

   

Writing novels for a living appears to be a perfectly safe occupation. As my fellow authors know, however, the writing life comes with one major hazard. No, we don't dodge flying bullets or psychopathic killers (though our characters may). What we combat every day is a more sinister villain: Excess Calorie Man. He lurks behind every extra handful of peanuts, chunk of cheese, or silver of pie.

As you can imagine, it’s even worse for a culinary mystery writer. Testing recipes, especially delicious ones like the chocolates in Murder by Mocha or firehouse recipes in Roast Mortem, gives Excess Calorie Man free reign. Well, today I’m going to show you one way this writer reigns him in...

May you eat with joy
and in good health!
~ Cleo

Cleo Coyle has a partner in

crime-writing—her husband.

Learn about their books

by clicking here and here.

Cleo Coyle's

No-Guilt
Mini Pizzas

Journalist Mark Bittman became famous with his 101 foodie idea articles. I swear my Italian-born mother and aunt could have written one on 101 things to do with squash. 

As a kid, I took all my pop's homegrown veggies for granted. As an adult, I miss them dearly. This recipe makes good use of zucchini, especially baby ones at the start of summer. It makes a fun, quick snack or lunch. It's kid-friendly, too; my mom and aunt used to make it for me as a little girl. 

Of course, my family used homemade red sauce. And if you'd like to make your own meatless Italian spaghetti sauce from fresh tomatoes, click here for that recipe (or click the link below to download a free PDF of that recipe).

Click here to download a free PDF of
Cleo's homemade, meatless Italian
spaghetti sauce recipe from
fresh tomatoes.

Today, I took a shortcut in my recipe and used jarred pizza sauce. The brand I picked up was quite tasty, and I can recommend it as a time saver.

Ingredients:

- Small to medium zucchini 

- Pizza sauce (jarred or homemade)

- Mozzarella, shredded (whole milk or part-skim)

- Toppings (see note*)

*Note: Use your favorite pizza toppings from veggies to meat, just be sure any meat is already cooked. Topping suggestions: sauteed, chopped mushrooms; sliced olives; chopped peppers; regular, turkey, or
meatless pepperoni or cooked and
crumbled sausage, etc.

Directions: (1) Cut the zucchini into slices of 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick. You want the slices thin enough to cook fast under the broiler but thick enough to hold their shapes for handling after toppings are added. Place the slices on a sheet pan. 

Tip: for easy cleanup, line the pan with a sheet of aluminum foil and lightly coat with non-stick cooking spray. 

(2) Spoon pizza sauce onto each slice. To save time, use jarred. (If you need a recommendation, I like the Ragu Homemade Style Pizza Sauce, "100% Natural.") Sprinkle on your shredded mozzarella and toppings. As noted, because these pizzas are finished in a flash, make sure your meat toppings are already cooked. If using mushrooms or peppers, I would chop them finely and saute them in a bit of olive oil before adding. 

(3) Place the pan of mini pizzas under your broiler for 1 to 3 minutes--time will depend on the intensity of your oven's broiler. No matter what, keep a close eye on these because they cook very quickly and the cheese can burn fast. Remove and...eat with (guiltless) joy!

F o o d i e 

P h o t o s

To download a free PDF of this

recipe that you can print, save
or share, click here.

Eat and Drink

with Joy!

~ Cleo Coyle

New York Times bestselling author of

The Coffeehouse Mysteries

Yes, this is me, Cleo (aka Alice). 

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See the book's
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by clicking here.

*** 

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